10 tips to keep your mobile devices charged and happy
1.
For the quickest Tablet charge, use the original charger or a charger
specifically designed for it.
iPads and other tablets have large batteries, so they come with
chargers that can output lots of juice to recharge them quickly. For example,
the iPad's adapter can output up to 2100mA (2.1 Amps), which is more than
double the amperage that a typical USB port can support. This extra power
output makes a huge difference. In our tests, charging an iPad took 5 hours, 9
minutes with the iPad charger (which can deliver up to 2100mA), but it took 10
hours, 13 minutes with an iPhone 5 charger (which maxes out at 1000mA). In a
similar test with a generic USB travel charger, the charger took more than 24
hours to build up a full charge in the same iPad.
As these tests demonstrate, to reduce charging time to a
minimum, you need to use either the original charger or one designed
specifically for your device. Some devices contain circuitry that won’t allow
the battery to use the charger's full capacity unless the charger contains
a special authorization chip: otherwise, the device will charge at a much
slower rate. For instance, when we tried to charge an iPad 4 with a Samsung Tab
10.1's charger, the process took over 19 hours to complete, even though the
Samsung charger can deliver the same amount of juice as the original iPad 4
charger. That’s because the iPad 4, not recognizing that the charger could
deliver a larger flow of power, limited the incoming current to an unnecessarily
low level. The same was true of the reverse situation: When we tried to charge
a Samsung Tab 10.1 tablet with an iPad 4 charger, the process took more than
15.5 hours. In contrast, the original Samsung charger completed its work on the
Tab 10.1 in 4 hours, 46 minutes.
2. Most cell phones don’t need a specific charger.
Cellphones, which carry smaller batteries than tablets use, don’t require
high-current chargers. As a result, you can use a generic charger to transfer
power to them, without suffering a severe slowdown in charging time. When we
timed how long an iPhone 5 took to reach a full charge when fed by various
chargers, the differences ranged from 2 hours, 4 minutes with an HTC travel
charger to 2 hours, 59 minutes with a Samsung charger. The original iPhone 5
charger took 2 hours, 16 minutes—so you won’t suffer much of a penalty for
using a third-party charger with your cell phone or other small device.
3.
Use a charging USB port or a powered USB hub.
Ifyou don’t have a charger handy, you can recharge via a USB port. USB 2.0 ports
come in two types: standard and charging. The difference is in the amount of
juice they can deliver: A standard USB port delivers a paltry 100mA, whereas a
charging port can deliver a much more respectable 500mA. That’s why, when you
plug a power-hungry device into some ports, it either won’t charge at all or
will charge very slowly. Though many laptops offer a combination of standard
and charging USB ports, many manufacturers do a poor job of identifying which
ports are of which type; in such cases, the only way to find out is to try each
port in turn. Even more confusingly, some ports on fairly recent laptops can
provide up to 1.1 Amps of current when a device that can use it is plugged in.
Check with your system's manufacturer to see what types of ports it has and
what amperage they can deliver to your device, before relying on them to keep
your devices charged and ready to go.
AlthoughUSB 3.0 ports can deliver more juice (up to 900mA) than USB 2.0 ports can, they
perform at this level only with USB 3.0 devices. If you plug a USB 2.0 device
into a USB 3.0 port, the port will deliver the same maximum 500mA that a USB
2.0 port would.
Ifyou use an unpowered USB hub, the available current will be divided across all
of the ports, which won’t leave enough to charge your devices. A powered USB
hub can deliver the full amount of charging juice to each and every port, which
makes it a better option for charging your devices.
You can use any micro-USB
cable, not just the one your phone came with.
4. You can use any Micro-USB cable to charge your phone if the
phone has a Micro-USB port.
Fordevices that have Micro-USB ports, you can use any cable that has a Micro-USB
plug on the end for charging; you don’t need a special cable.
5.
The first time you charge a device, let the device charge completely, and then
discharge it until it runs out of juice.
Thefirst charge cycle of any device is important: It conditions the battery and
helps the device figure out how the battery behaves. So, when you first plug it
in, leave the device on to charge for at least 12 hours, then unplug and run
the device until the battery is empty.
6. You can safely leave devices charging.
Modernmobile device batteries contain circuits that control the flow of power, so it
is safe to leave them plugged in and charging for long periods. When the
battery is fully charged, the battery management controller will regulate the
flow of power to keep the battery topped up, but won’t overcharge it. Which is
a good thing, as an overcharged Li-Ion battery could explode.
7.
It is good for your batteries to occasionally completely run them down and
fully recharge the
It's not a bad idea to occasionally let a
battery drain completely.
Modern Lithium Ion batteries don't suffer from the memory effect problem that plagued their
older nickel-cadmium cousins, so you can safely recharge your device even if
the battery hasn't completely run down. Nevertheless, manufacturers recommend
running the battery down and recharging it fully at least one a month to maximize the battery's life, as this helps
keep the battery conditioned and helps preserve its chemistry.
8.
Treat your batteries with respect.
Ifyou treat them well, your devices' batteries will repay you with years of
service. But if you don’t treat them well, they won’t respond well—which is a
problem because the insides of batteries are dangerous places. It may help to
think of batteries as small chemical fires waiting to happen: You should always
carry them in the device or in a case (if you're carrying a spare). Never poke,
puncture, or otherwise mistreat them.
9.
Replace (and recycle) your batteries every two years or so.
Asbatteries get older, their ability to retain a charge diminishes, and
consequently your device's battery life gets shorter. This gradual but
inevitable process reflects chemical changes inside the battery. Most batteries
should be good for a couple of years, though: Apple asserts that the battery in
an iPad will hold 80 percent of its maximum charge after 1000 charges, and
other manufacturers make similar claims.
Whenyou do replace them, recycle the old batteries at a hardware store or other
designated rechargeable battery drop-off. The Call2Recycle website will help you find a
recycling station in your area. Don't discard any recyclable battery into the
trash, as its ingredients are quite poisonous and potentially combustible.
10. You can diagnose a USB power problem in a few simple steps.
If you're trying to use a USB port to
charge a device, but it isn't working, you can find tools in Windows that may
improve the situation. Unfortunately those tools are buried rather deep in the
system. To get to them, go to Control Panel > Device
Manager, and select Devices by Connection from the View
menu. Click the top item on the list (which should be the name of your PC), and
press the * key. This will open a list of all the devices connected to your
system. Scroll down until you find one called 'Generic USB Hub'. This
is your computer's built-in USB hub, which connects the USB ports in the
case. You may have more than one such hub, depending on your system.
Right-click Generic USB Hub and select Properties.
In the Generic USB Hub Properties window click the Power tab,
and you'll see a list of connected USB devices, together with the amount of
power that each one is drawing. This information can help you determine whether
the device will charge quickly (if the number is, say, 500mAH or above) or relatively
slowly (if the number is less than 500mAh). When I checked this list on my
computer, I found that my cell phone was drawing just 96mA. As a result, even
though the phone reported that it was charging, it was receiving only a trickle
of power, and would probably never have charged fully.
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