Taking Care of Your Battery.

Today you could consider that almost everyone has a cellphone. We live in the age of information, and for about 8 years, smart phones have become a big deal. Companies now offer a new version of their phone once or twice a year, and they usually make a big profit off each new product.  People are keen on upgrading their phone often, even though it can become costly, because their phone becomes slow, or their phone now has a very short battery life.  Though a phone becoming slow is usually a hardware issue that is out of your hands to control, there are many means for you to increase the battery life of your phone.

Most modern smart phones use a type of battery called Lithium Ion. A common smart phone will have a single cell Lithium Ion battery, and right off the shelf, will seem amazing. It's one of the lightest usable rechargeable batteries that we have created, and we continue to increase the capacity of these batteries.  They're very energy dense, which means they can hold a lot of power for their weight. Also they lose very little charge over time.  One of the biggest problems with lithium ion batteries is that they have a very short life. In research, most lithium ion batteries have a life of 2-5 years. Lithium Ion batteries at their current state, simply lose capacity over time. Though, it's not just simply time that causes lithium ion batteries to lose capacity, there are other factors in play. Depending on how much you discharge a battery can play a part in its life.  And the temperature of the battery can increase or decrease the decay of capacity. 

What does that all mean to you though? Well, depending on how you use your device, you can prolong the decay of capacity. If you use your phone intensively for a long period of time, you'll often notice that your phone is warm to the touch. This is not good for the battery.  The battery will decay at double the rate at room temp when it is around 95 degrees Fahrenheit.  So prevent your phone from getting too warm when you're using it. One other thing you can do is prevent you cell phone from completely dying, and charge your phone as often as you can.  Lithium Ion batteries in your phone has a capacity of completely discharging and recharging about 300-500 times. 

So when using your phone or tablet, keep in mind how you use your device. Are you keeping it cool, preventing it from getting to hot? Making sure that your battery doesn't go too low? If you are then you're sure to increase your life of your battery's capacity.

Links

• http://www.ingenuityworking.com/knowledge/w/knowledgebase/lithium-ion-battery-aging-factors.aspx
• http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/is_lithium_ion_the_ideal_battery
• http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries