It pays to have a good battery

In my previous instalment I deliberated on high tech specs in most smartphones and why one should be proud to own a super core processor smartphone with high graphic screen supported with hardware based software. HILE it is important to have the best specs on your smartphone it is vital that you have a good battery to power

Wyour phone. This is why Gtel caught the attention of the market when it released the GtelX 3, a smartphone with a very powerful battery that lasts beyond three days.

Apart from lasting for longer periods the Gtel X3 battery’s key attraction is that it can charge other cellphone batteries making it a priced asset.

While we have many smartphones on the local market very few have batteries with a range of 6,020mAh.

In the past, mobile devices used a type of battery that required you to drain them completely and charge them fully to maintain their standard capacity.

This is called the “memory” effect and for a long time it was common knowledge in the tech world. However, according to Green Batters this was only relevant to NiMH and NiCD batteries.

Today, we have Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries which do not need to be charged or depleted fully.

In fact, most Li-ion batteries perform better if you don’t let them go flat. Don’t worry, though, about running them go flat or recharging them early because it has no effect on the battery’s lifespan or total capacity.

If your device needs a more power then charge it, by all means. Now, it’s important to note that the number of charge cycles does have everything to do with the life of your device’s battery.

A charge cycle is when a battery is completely depleted and then recharged all the way. Li-ion batteries — or most rechargeable batteries — will degrade after a certain number of charge cycles: Popular technicians estimates this to be in the range of 500 to 1 500 charge cycles.

That’s why it’s a good idea to do the opposite, and keep your battery full more often even if it means charging from about 30-50 percent.

Depending on the design and chemistry of your lithium cell, you may see them sold under different nominal “voltages”. For example, almost all lithium polymer batteries are 3.7V or 4.2V batteries.

What this means is that the maximum voltage of the cell is 4.2v and that the “nominal” (average) voltage is 3.7V.

When the battery is in use the voltage will drop to the minimum which is around 3.0V. You should also remember that when you use different chargers to charge your phone they will not always charge your Android device at the same rate.

Some broken chargers might not charge your device as quickly as they claim they can. If you are unsure about the device you are using to charge your phone use android apps likes Ampere to gauge the rate at which your phone is charging.

The total capacity your battery has is stored as amperage, the bigger you have the more power one has.

An ampere-hour or amp-hour (A·h or A h or Ah ) is a unit of electric charge over time, equal to the charge transferred by a steady current of one ampere flowing for one hour, or 3600 coulombs.

The Writer is the editor of TechnoMag, Zimbabwe’s Premier Technology Magazine, more in depth on www.technomag.co.zw. Twitter @TechnoMagZw and Yout use TechnoMagZw Join our whatsapp group 263 774 061 300