Make Your Cell Phone Battery Last Longer

Mobile phones are only as portable as its power source. When it comes to battery life, there are two separate, but connected, considerations: how to make the battery last longer between charges, and how to prolong the overall life of the battery. Today I will cover both.

1. Turn the phone off: This is the most effective, simplest and perhaps obvious way of conserving battery life. If you are not planning on using your phone or you are in an area where there is no signal, turn it off. You may also want to do this when you are in a roaming area, constantly searching for a signal depletes the battery quickly. Some phones have a battery saving feature, but it usually takes 30 minutes or more of searching for a signal to kick in. By then much of the battery life has been used.

2. Turn off the vibrate function and use just the ring. The vibrate uses allot of power and drains your battery quickly. Keep the ring volume as low as possible.

3. Turn off your phone’s back light. The back light is what makes the phone easier to read in bright light or outside. However, the light also uses battery power. If you can get by without it, your battery will last longer. If you have to use the back light, many phones will let you set the amount of time to leave the back light on. Shorten that amount of time. Usually, one or two seconds will be sufficient. Some phones have an ambient light sensor, which can turn off the back light in bright conditions and enable it in darker ones.

4. Avoid using unnecessary features. If you know it will be a while before you can charge the battery, avoid using the camera, internet and games. All of these are a large drain on the battery. Bluetooth should also be turned off when not in use, it drains your battery quickly as well.

5. Using your phone in 3G / Dual Mode will drain the battery quicker than if you just use GSM mode - have a look at your phones spec and you’ll see it will quote two different battery life times - normally 50% more for pure GSM use.

6. Initialize a new battery. New batteries should be fully charged before their first use to obtain maximum capacity. Nickel-based batteries should be charged for 16 hours initially and run through 2-4 full charge/full discharge cycles, while lithium ion batteries should be charged for about 5-6 hours. Ignore the phone telling you that the battery is full–this is normal but is not accurate if the battery is not initialized.

Battery Failure Indicators

• The usable time after recharging is shortened.
• The battery becomes unusually warm during a recharge cycle.
• The battery becomes unusually warm during phone use.
• The battery case often is swollen. This is detectable by feeling and viewing the inside/phone-side of the battery case. Also, when the battery is placed inside/phone-side down on a flat, smooth surface, it will rock and will sustain a spin motion. The case of a healthy battery is flat and will not sustain a spin motion.
• The battery develops a hard spot. This is detectable on the inside/phone-side surface of the battery by gently pinching about the surface between one’s fingers.