Some swear by charging their phones daily. Others insist on letting the power completely drain away.

But one way or another, mobile phone owners  will do anything to prevent their battery from giving up the ghost.

Now, experts have given their verdict: if you  want your battery to last, don’t charge it all the way.

Technology website Gizmodo has debunked some of the  myths around battery life including never charging it to 100 per cent, not  letting the battery charge drop below 50 per cent, avoiding wireless charging  and staying away from hot countries

Technology enthusiast Eric Limer  claims a  full charge is not good for phones. In fact, he argues they  should be unplugged  before they reach 100 per cent.

‘For the most part, going from all the way  full to all  the way empty won’t help; in fact, it’ll do a little  damage  if you do  it too often,’ he explained.

‘That said, it’s smart to do one full  discharge about once a month.’

Running down the battery in this way  apparently helps to reset the phone.

Mr Limer said users should try to keep batteries charged up to 50 per cent if possible – but warned that  leaving  phones plugged in after charging causes the battery to wear out.

In general, the optimum charge level is  between 40 per cent and 80 per cent, he said.

He also debunked the myth that you  should  charge a new phone for 72 hours before use so that it ‘remembers’ what it is  like to be fully charged.

This apparently works for nickel  batteries,  but not the lithium-ion type in new phones.

Mr Limer said: ‘Battery memory is a  real  thing, but it applies to nickel-based batteries.

‘Your trusty  sidekick doubtlessly has a  lithium-ion battery and it needs to be  treated a little differently.

‘It should be topped up whenever you get the  chance.’

You can also protect your battery by  keeping  your phone cool, he said.

The recommended storage temperature  for most  batteries is 15C (59F), while the maximum safe temperature is  typically between  40C and 50C.

Mr Limer said that at an average  temperature  of 25C, a lithium-ion battery will lose 20 per cent of its  maximum capacity  every year.

At 40C, it jumps to 35 per cent.

According to Battery University, phones must be kept  cool to protect the batteries. It claims the recommended storage temperature for  most batteries is 15°C (59°F); the extreme allowable temperature is 40°C to 50°C  (40°C to 122°F). At an average temperature of 32 degrees fahrenheit, a  lithium-ion battery will lose six percent of its maximum capacity per year. At  77 degrees that number jumps to 20 percent

As a result, it is best to avoid wireless  chargers: ‘The inductive, wireless chargers out there have this nasty habit of  generating a fair bit of waste heat. That heat will toast your battery,’ he  said.

Day to day, you can extend battery life by  turning down the brightness of your phone’s screen and turning off applications  that use GPS, such as maps.

In areas with poor signal, turn on airplane  mode to stop your phone from wasting charge searching for  a  connection.  It can also help to lock your phone when not in use and use a  quiet ring signal.

TOP TIPS FOR BOOSTING  BATTERY

Your  phone works best from 0° to 35°C. Keeping  your phone as near room temperature as possible (22° C or 72°  F) is ideal.

Viewing  Usage Statistics Awareness of how you use your phone and knowing how  long your battery typically lasts can help you improve its battery life.  Typically you’ll see two items:

Usage:  Amount of time the phone has been awake and in use since the last full  charge.  The phone is awake when you’re on a call, using email, listening to  music, browsing the web, or sending and receiving text messages, or  during  certain background tasks such as auto-checking email.

Standby: Amount of time the phone has been  powered on since its last full charge, including the time the phone has been  asleep.

Update to  the Latest Software: Always make sure your phone has the latest  software.

Optimise  Your Settings: Depending on how they are  configured, a few features may  decrease your phone battery life. For  example, the frequency with which you  retrieve email and the number of  email accounts you auto-check can both affect  battery life.

Adjust  brightness: Dimming the screen’s brightness extends battery life.

In addition, turning on Auto-Brightness  allows the screen to adjust its brightness based on current lighting conditions.

Turn off  push notifications: Instead of automatically syncing accounts, manually  sync them instead to save battery life.

Minimise use  of location services: Applications that actively use location and GPS  services such as Maps reduce battery life.

Use Airplane  Mode or Flight Mode in low- or no-coverage areas: Because your phone  always tries to maintain a connection with the network, it may use more power in  low- or no-coverage areas.

Lock Your  phone: Lock your phone when you’re not using it. You will be able to  receive  calls and text messages while it is locked, but nothing happens if you  touch the screen.

Use your  phone regularly: For proper maintenance of a lithium-based battery,  it’s important to keep the electrons in it moving occasionally.

Be sure to go through at least one charge  cycle per month (charging the battery to 100% and then completely running it  down).

Source:  Apple

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