How to Make Your Phone’s Battery Last Longer and Hold More Juice

November 07, 2017

How often do you recharge your smartphone?

It’s different for everyone; personally speaking, my phone is charged (on average) every other day, but of course, this changes when I’m working “on the road” (conducting interviews or just hanging out in cafes working on my tablet or just with pen and paper).

A few years ago I worked as an IT technician, something that required me to have my phone switched on 24/7. This also meant almost perpetual charging, whether at home, in the office or in the car. That’s a lot of recharging; a lot of energy.

In a society where energy costs are rising, brownouts and blackouts are more common and the urge to stay connected is ever-greater, knowing how to manage your mobile phone’s battery as effectively as possible is increasingly important.

This isn’t only to keep costs down – it’s also about staying in communication with emails and social networking services as well as text messaging and phone calls.

Why Battery Life Decreases Under Different Conditions

Smartphones almost exclusively employ Lithium-Ion (aka Li-ion) batteries as these offer an affordable, high capacity solution for the various functions, services, and connections that smartphone users expect from operating systems.

Battery charge decreases on a day-to-day basis through constant use – but what factors affect the life of a Li-ion battery?

The age of the battery is most important, as this can affect that maximum charge. A 2010 study demonstrated that from a starting capacity of 88-94%, battery life after 250 charges reduced to 73-84%.

Internal resistance and self-discharge are largely redundant in modern batteries, and while age is something that cannot be easily managed (batteries can sit on shelves in their smartphones for months before purchase) all of this means that managing your battery life is something that you will need to monitor closely.