Cellphone Spec & Info

It is important to keep your battery healthy. Healthy battery will provide longer life time and longer service. Proper maintenance will also help avoid problem to you battery. Battery can be a dangerous thing if not handled properly.

It is important for you to know how to handle the battery correctly. These are summary of tips taken from various cell phone manual:

• Battery life is measured in charge / discharge cycle, every recharging will reduce the battery life. NiMH battery has life around 500 charge and discharge. Do not charge too often, try to charge only when the battery if empty. This apply to all type of rechargeable battery.
• Buy the correct charger. Battery has specific requirement or charger. NiCd or NiMH does not have strict requirement, but lithium need extra requirement needed for safety and longer battery life. Lithium require specially built charger. A charger that does no meet the requirement may make the battery burn or explode. There are several case already where the lithium burn the entire house because of wrong treatment. There are also special chargers that can help improve the battery life, but many do not work as advertise. Be very careful when buying this kind of charger, especially if your battery is lithium based.
• Do not overcharge. Battery life reduced significantly when it's heated up. Heat will damage the chemical component of the battery. Battery life depends on its chemical reaction. Once the chemical is completely damaged, it will no longer work. Overcharging can produce excessive heat in the battery, this heat will damage the chemical inside the battery. Do not use the charger longer than what the manual suggest. Here is a quote from some cell phone manual:
  Nokia: "When a charger is not in use, disconnect it from the power source. Do not leave the battery connected to a charger for more than 72 hours, since prolonged maintenance charging of the battery could shorten its lifetime."
  Nokia: "Do not leave the battery connected to a charger. Overcharging may shorten its lifetime."
  Siemens: "Do not leave the battery connected to a charger for longer than a week, since overcharging may shorten its life."

  You may find that some manual mention the opposite suggestion, like mentioned bellow:
  Motorola: "You can safely leave the travel charger connected to your phone after charging is complete. This will not damage the battery."

  This means the Motorola charger has built in capability to prevent overcharging. However, it is still best practice not to charge for too long. Battery has limited capacity, once it fully charge the battery will no longer store the incoming charge but will convert it to heat instead. It is safer and will prolong the battery life if you charge according to what manual says.

• Turn off your phone when charging. Battery does not like to be forced to discharge and charge at the same time. Doing so will reduce its capacity and will affect its life. Some manual suggest us to urn off the phone while charging. Like what Samsung manual mention bellow:
  Samsung: The battery charges faster when the phone is turned off.
• Turn off your phone when not in use, especially if your location has weak signal strength
• Use power saving feature. Some phone offer power saving mode, it provide option to turn off the LCD screen while idle. LCD Screen takes decent amount of power from battery. Depend on the technology of the LCD screen that being used by the cell phone, turning it off can improve battery life up to hours more.
  It is also best to disable any feature you do not use. Bluetooth or wifi capability takes a considerable power from battery. Turning off the battery will reduce power consumption and allow the battery to power the cell phone longer.
• Place / store your battery (and cell phone) in moderate temperature. Battery designed to work best at certain temperature. Storing them in unfavored temperature will increase self discharge which in turn increases the charging cycle rate. These reduce the battery life. Some manufacturer mention the store condition specifically:
  • Samsung: Do not store the battery in high temperature areas for long periods. Its best to follow these storage rules:
    • Less than one month: 4º F to 140º F (-20º C to 60º C)
    • More than one month: 4º F to 113º F (-20º C to 45º C)
  • Motorola: Do not expose batteries to temperatures below -10°C (14°F) or above 45°C (113°F). Always take your phone with you when you leave your vehicle. When you do not intend to use a battery for a while, store it uncharged in a cool, dark, dry place, such as a refrigerator.
  • Nokia: Leaving the battery in hot or cold places, such as in a closed car in summer or winter conditions, will reduce the capacity and lifetime of the battery. Always try to keep the battery between 59°F and 77°F (15°C and 25°C). A device with a hot or cold battery may not work temporarily, even when the battery is fully charged. Battery performance is particularly limited in temperatures well below freezing.
  • Siemens: Leaving the battery in hot or cold places, such as in a closed car in summer or winter conditions, will reduce the capacity and lifetime of the battery. Always try to keep the battery between 15°C and 25°C (59°F and 77°F). A phone with a hot or cold battery maybe temporarily inoperable, even when the battery is fully charged.
• Charge the battery in room temperature only.
  • Samsung: In order to avoid damage, charge the battery only in temperatures that range from 32º F to 113º F (0º C to 45º C).
  • Nokia: Temperature extremes can affect the ability of your battery to charge. Battery will not charge at temperatures above 140°F (60°C).
  • Sonyericsson: The battery can only be charged in temperatures between +41°F (+5°C) and +113°F (+45°C).
  • Siemens: Charging is only possible within temperature range of +5°C to +40°C. If the temperature rises/falls 5°C above/below this the charge symbol flashes a warning.
• Do not use fake batteries or fake charger, on extreme case it may make the battery explode. Fake battery or charger may has poor quality. Lithium based battery contain fragile chemical. Poor manufacturing quality may increase the change of battery explosion.