How Healthy is Your Phone?

Hey, it’s Leslie and I’ve been reading and hearing a lot about the health of our smart phones. Sounds kind of funny to talk about the health of an inanimate object, but what I’m talking about is battery life.

Did you know that most phones lose about 10% of their battery life each year? So if your phone is 2 years old, even if you’re fully charging it, you’re still only getting about 80% of the original battery life.

So it’s not your imagination that your battery is dying more quickly, especially if you use your phone a lot. Many newer phones have a setting where you can check the battery life.

One of the things you can do to extend your battery life is to make sure your phone doesn’t overheat. Heat has a detrimental effect on phone batteries. So when you’re out in the sun, make sure your phone is not. I’ve even had my phone overheat while it was sitting in the sun inside my car. It’s actually shut down on me a couple of times. On my last trip to the beach, I actually kept the phone in a plastic bag, in a soft cooler with an ice pack. Phones may even overheat from fast charging.

If your battery is less than a year old, it may well be covered under a warranty.  If your phone seems to be working okay except for the battery, you can most likely take it into your mobile store and get the battery replaced for about $80. Not cheap, but certainly cheaper than a whole new phone.

My phone has been getting hot. The last time this happened, the phone completely died and not only did I have to get a new phone, but I lost a lot of pictures and text messages. Yeah, I’ve got my new phone ordered.

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