Among all the elements that define the performance of the smartphones, battery has always been a topic of discussion but less understood. Smartphone batteries are also a common topic that has many myths: from tips received over the years to information from the network. Knowing the truth makes you make the best out of it not causing any harm to your device or exerting extra pressure.
Here, we explain five myths about smartphone batteries and the science behind them for modern batteries.
Myth #1: Charging Your Phone Overnight Damages the Battery
The Myth: Most folks think that charging a phone at night and letting it sit on the charger overnight can actually do more damage than good to the battery.
The Reality: Most of the modern devices if not all are built in a way that can support and detect over night charging. They employ trickle charging technology, a process they know will take a long time to get a full charge once it is indicated that the battery is fully charged. This eliminates situations where a battery is fully charged and reapplied power only to reduce its life through charging and discharging. Most phones also shut off from the charger once it has been fully charged.
Why the Myth Persists: The oldest generation phones supplied with nickel-cadmium or nickel-metal hydride batteries exhibited problems of over charging. That is true, but today’s lithium-ion batteries work on more intelligent forms of charging.
Practical Advice:
Charging overnight is not bad at all but charging your phone to 20-80% battery level is better for the phone.
Chargers and cables should be original to avoid overheating of the devices or bringing in an electrical fire spark.
Myth #2: You Should Fully Drain Your Battery Before Recharging
The Myth: Some users believe that one should discharge a battery on a smartphone completely before recharging it back as it prolongs lifespan of the battery.
The Reality: Tri-chloro ethylene Sulfonyl group → Lithium-ion batteries, which are used in the latest models of popular handheld device known as the ‘Smart-phone’ actually charge best when never fully charged. Charging them completely often puts pressure or strain to the battery, therefore reduces the overall capacity or lifespan of the battery.
Why the Myth Persists: This belief stems from previous generations of batteries including nickel based batteries which are had a big problem called the ‘memory effect’. They had to be discharged to the brim in order to be recharged and used again when need arose Their capacity had to be recalibrated at certain times. As lithium-ion batteries have no such problem.
Practical Advice:
General rules tell not to let your battery charge drop below 10%. These are deep discharge schemes that can be damaging to the battery health if practiced often in a week.
There is an advice to charge your phone in short intervals if possible, instead of waiting the battery to drain completely and then charge the device.
Myth #3: Closing Apps Extends Battery
The Myth: Some of the users understand force shutting down apps in the background is beneficial as it leads to less energy usage.
The Reality: Interestingly enough, this strategy may in fact be more damaging to your battery than simply keeping the application open. But when an app is forcefully closed it has to use up a little more power when it is reopened again. Most of the apps that are found at the back ground are usually in sleep mode and thus are not so much of a drain on the battery.
Why the Myth Persists: The myths arise due to misconceptions concerning how operating systems such as Android and iOS work with the apps. Both of these systems are specifically designed to perform multiple tasks while at the same time using low amounts of power to support background operations.
Practical Advice:
Allow the OS handle background applications.
Don’t force close apps and instead try and limit some of the activities that tend to drain the battery such as using a high brightness setting or having apps that constantly update in the background such as GPS intensive apps.
Myth #4: Using a Non-Original Charger Will Destroy Your Battery
The Myth: A lot of people do not use third-party charger since they think they will cause harm to the battery or even cause the phone to explode.
The Reality: Third-party chargers are not bad news for your phone across the board. Chargers produced and recognized by the finest manufacturers and who are compliant with the corresponding safety measures like UL or CE approval are absolutely safe. The risk is showing signs of high voltage by chargers that are fake or made with substandard parts, which are likely to cause an element of heat thereby ruining the battery.
Why the Myth Persists: This myth owes its existence to stories of phones exploding because of a faulty charger or cable. Although such cases are not often reported, they are always related to fake or substandard chargers.
Practical Advice:
Only use chargers from reputable brands or ones that you’ve gotten from your smartphone manufacturer.
Stay away from non-branded chargers with prices that are tremendously low without safety ratings or standard compliance.
Myth #5: More mAh Means a Better Battery
The Myth: Most people believe the cellphone with the highest mAh rating will last longer on a single charge.
The Reality: Even if one mobile phone has a higher mAh rating than another, this does not always mean that it has better battery life. Battery power is based on software and hardware factors including optimization of software for specific tasks, efficiency of the processor used, screen size and usage. For instance, you can have two different phones; a phone that comes with 5,000mAh battery will tend to discharge than a phone with 4,000mAh battery even if both phones have similar qualities but this in case of a high refresh rate display or lots of demanding applications.
Why the Myth Persists: People use numbers to define performance without giving any credit to optimal energy management.
Practical Advice:
Battery aspects should also not be measured by mAh ratings alone when selecting one. Look for further battery tests in the reviews of the speakers.
Look at what adds to this capability such as the fast charging technology, battery saving options and software upgrades.
Tips to Maximize Smartphone Battery Health
Now that we’ve busted some common myths, here are general tips to help you maintain your battery:
1. Avoid Extreme Temperatures: Extreme temperatures either hot or very cold can reduce the battery capacity of your battery.
2. Turn Off Unnecessary Features: Bluetooth, location services or Wi-Fi are the options that use most of the battery, and normally are active even if not in use.
3. Enable Battery-Saving Modes: Smart phones have energy saving modes that limits extra uses and prioritizes the phone’s performance.
4. Keep Your Software Updated: It is not uncommon to consider some updates as introducing enhancements to battery life for instance.
Conclusion
To get the optimum out of the modern smartphone batteries, one needs to understand its charging mechanism. If you reject myths and obey nine rules, then your battery will deteriorate slower and work more effectively. As you surely know, the world changes and evolves and so does the technology we use, however, try and stick to the facts so that you don’t waste your time worrying, and, of course, keep your smartphone in the best state possible.
I also have noticed several other misdeas about batteries and some tips which you may also be aware of. Please share them in the comments section below and ma
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