6 Myths About Charging Your Phone You Neeeeeed To Stop Believing
While plenty of real rules exist, there are several rumoured ones you can simply ignore.
By John Lim
"Eh, you shouldn't charge your phone overnight lah!"
You've probably heard someone telling you this before, right? Or maybe you've read about it on the Internet.
Well, not really. Charging your phone battery is not rocket science but there’s a lot of incorrect information about batteries out there which should be ignored.
Or if your phone is waaaay beyond having a good battery life again and you're at the point where you have to charge it 5x a day, maybe you need to get a new and more effective smartphone. Browse through says.com coupon page for deals that will help you stay within your budget for smartphones.
When it comes to battery life, there are several rumoured "rules" you can simply ignore, just like this list of 6 myths that are just trying to hash your charging buzz:
MYTH #1: Don't charge your phones overnight
TRUTH: Quite possibly the most famous myth out there. The truth is, according to experts, it's alright to charge your battery overnight.
"Leaving your phone plugged in overnight is okay to do, it will not drastically harm your device," says Shane Broesky, co-founder of Farbe Technik, a company that makes charging accessories. "Your phone is very smart. Once it’s fully charged, it knows when to stop the current from coming in to protect your phone from overcharging."
Apparently, the technology regulating smartphone batteries has advanced to the point where it knows exactly when to stop feeding a charge into your device.
What you do need to worry about, according to Broesky, is overheating. So, if you are going to leave your phone charging overnight, make sure you place it in a relatively cool area.
MYTH #2: You should let your phone's battery fall to 0% before charging
TRUTH: On the contrary, completely draining your battery will make your phone unstable. So, don't do it.
If you're going to be shelving any lithium-ion battery for a long time, try to leave it with at least 40% battery power to tide it over. And when lithium-ion batteries get too low — like, literally zero percent — they get seriously unstable, and dangerous to charge.
TRUTH: It's understandable why people get behind this myth, considering that people have died from explosion while talking on a charging smartphone. However, the problem here isn't the charging, its the third-party charger.
As long as you are using the charger that came with your phone, or a certified replacement made by the same company, it is perfectly fine to use your phone while it is charging.
This myth does have a bit of a chilling origin, however. While it is safe to use your smartphone whilst charging it with its proper charger, it is not recommended to do so when using a third-party charger.
Yes, there is only a slim chance of that happening, you still shouldn't risk it. Off-brand, third-party chargers might be cheap, as mentioned previously, but they don't work as efficiently with your phone's battery, meaning there's a much higher chance of it overheating and possibly injuring you or others during periods of extended use.
MYTH #4: You shouldn't use chargers of a different brand
TRUTH: These chargers, while it's not optimal, should be avoided.
Aside from causing smartphones to randomly explode, off-brand chargers, though obviously not as good as the official thing, work just fine. Knockoffs barely even get the job done.
The people at Lifehacker ran an experiment comparing off-brand chargers and knockoffs. The findings show that official chargers are the best while knockoffs are a USD2 safety hazard.
MYTH #5: Turning off your phone is bad for the battery
TRUTH: Your phone might be a machine, but it also needs some downtime - to help preserve battery life.
An Apple Genius said that in order to maximise battery life, you should turn off your phone from time to time, especially when you go to bed at night. At the very least, Apple experts recommend turning your phone off once a week in order to preserve battery life.
It's worth rebooting your phone from time to time, rather than leaving it in sleep mode all the time. This can sometimes cure otherwise inexplicable battery draining problems.
MYTH #6: Always fully charge a new phone before using it
TRUTH: Your new phone should be able to use right straight from the box, since most phones are shipped at half capacity.
Many people think that the first thing they should do with a new smartphone is plug it in and charge it to 100%. This is simply a myth. Remember, smartphone batteries work best between 40% to 80%, and since most phones ship at half capacity, you should be good to go out of the box.
As a side note: If you fire up your new smartphone for the first time and the battery is below 40%, you might want to consider taking it back because that battery could be very old.
