Cell Phone - General Devices Questions

[#1]

HI! 

I have questions about these rumors I keep hearing about cell phones and batteries. 

Is it true that you are not supposed to charge your phone while it is turned on?

I have heard you are supposed to wait until your phone dies to charge it otherwise it is bad for battery life, is this true?

Basically when are you supposed to charge your cell phone? 

Thanks!  

[#2]

Hey,

It is okay to charge your phone while it is turned on, it just charges faster if it is turned off (but it really doesn't make that big of a difference).

It is NOT that good to talk or do anything on your phone while it is charging ... I know people who have hour conversations while their phone is charging, that is not good.

Also don't wait for your phone to completely die before charging it, usually one bar left will be good, but try not to charge your phone all the time for example: if your battery goes down only one bar.

Hope this helps!

[#3]

Back when batteries were Nickel based and not Lithium Ion, the batteries would have a memory effect that would cause the battery to remember that when it's at a certain point of charge that means it's empty, so if you kept charging it at half it would think half means empty.

With lithium ion, that is no longer the case and you can charge it at any time. The only reason to wait for it to die completely would be to simply get as much as use out of it as possible before having to recharge.

As stated above, talking while charging is not advised simply because it overheats the phone to an unecessary temperature.

[#4]

Charging batteries . . . . The eternal question . . .

The older batteries (nickel metal hydride or nickel cadmium) had to be drain and recharged completely because they could develop memories and then only take a partial charge.

The current batteries are lithium based instead of nickel based. They do not develop memories, however any rechargeable battery of any type (this also applies to rechargeable AAA, AA, C and D cells too) will only take so many charges (cycles), usually 4 or 5 hundred last I heard.

This means that you don't want to charge your batteries unnecessarily. So don't constantly 'top-off' your batteries. Also, don't short charge your battery constantly. I've known people who only charge their phone for a couple of hours and then complain about short battery life.

The chargers for your car may be rapid chargers and may not stop charging when the charge is complete. So, while it is a good idea to have one for emergencies you don't want to use it as your main way of charging your battery.

My preferred method for charging, and this is very subjective, is to charge my phone at night when it has one bar or has been on two bars for a couple of days. I turn it off and charge it overnight (8 hours plus). I have an LG-9100 and I charge it every 4 or 5 days.

[#5]

Is there any caveat on the Energizer Energi to Go battery charger? I used to use one for my old cell phone and it worked fantastic. So many times I was out and about and the phone died and I just took the battery charger out of my purse and connected it and continued on.

I'm wondering though if the charger has any kind of uneven signal that could damage the delicate electronics of the newer phones? I hope not... Any knowledge out there of known problems?

[#6]

None that I'm aware of, I wouldn't necesssarily use it as your primary charging source but as long as it's compatible it should work just fine.