Many cellphones use Lithium Ion Polymer batteries.  These have the great advantage of being rechargable, small, maleable, and light weight.  These batteries provide the back bone for almost all wireless mobile phones. 

However, like all good things, there is a small dark side. These batteries have charging cycles or cycle lives.  Each time you charge your phone device it uses a charging cycle or life.  Think of this as a cat with nine lives.  Once you’ve escaped death nine times, the tenth attempt won’t be as past experiences.  Once a cycle life is used, it is lost forever. 

Batteries generally ship with 500-800 cycle lives/charging cycles.  500 charge cycles is about 1 year and 4 months with charging once per day.  

“However, in recent years, manufacturers have been declaring upwards of 500 charge-discharge cycles before the capacity drops to 80% (see Sanyo).” -Wikipedia 

Once you’ve reached the charging cycle limits of the battery, the charge that it can hold will begin to diminish.  At our service center, this is a very common problem with phones over one year old. 

To help prevent from having battery problems, at least until you get the full rebate for the phone when you renew your contract, try these helpful tips.

1.  Turn off the phone when charging to get a complete and full charge without the phone systems draining battery life.

2.  Try to charge the phone fully every time you plug it in and use the charge as much as possible.  Every time you plug and unplug the device, a cycle life is used.  Use the phone as much as you can before charging it again.

3.  If your mobile life style requires you to charge in vehicle many times and then in the office/home, then you may want to invest in an extended battery for your device or get a spare battery that you can swap with during the day.

4.  On your next purchase, consider buying a bigger phone.  The larger the phone, generally the larger the battery.  Larger batteries tend to have more talk time and can carry a longer charge in between charging cycles.  This will extend the usefullness of the device, though you do trade off having that cute small device. 

These simple tips can help preserve your battery charge cycles and extend the life of your mobile device.       

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