How to Care for Your Cellular Phone

Here are some tech-savvy tips for caring for your cell phone that you can do to fix simple problems and prolong the life of your fav phone.

1. Keep it dry: Cell phones are worse than cats. Even small amounts of water can ruin a phone. The two most common causes I have run into as a repair technician are dropping them into the toilet, or in a puddle after a rainstorm. There is a round circle of litmus paper underneath the battery that will turn red when it gets wet, indicating that you have voided the phone's warranty. You can try letting it dry out, replace the battery and you might luck out and bring it back to life, but don't bother if the inside of the phone is saturated and fogged over with condensation. Although it isn't unheard of, I've never personally seen one come back to life after such a sapping, sadly.

2. Keep it clean: Probably the most common power supply problem I have run across is when dirt, lint or even hair get into the battery interface on the bottom of the phone, preventing the charger from making a good electrical contact Visibly inspect both the charger and the phone contact points to make sure they are clean, shiny and free of debris. On numerous occasions I have removed hair, including pet hair, from the phone charger interface, and presto! It was working again, no harm no foul. If there is a buildup of gunky scunge on the charger terminals, take a pin and carefully scrape it away until they are shiny again, making sure the phone and charger are unplugged, and the battery is removed, of course. If the phone still won't charge, try buying a new charger before cashing in the phone for a new one. It may be all that you need.

3. Keep it covered: Buy a nice carrying case for your phone, a.k.a 'skins'. A tight leather skin can prevent damage due to incidental droppage, and more importantly, keep the dirt and moisture out. This is especially important in wet or dewy climates, or if you work in a field where dust and dirt abound, such as dry walling or construction. I have seen 8 year old phones that were still in excellent condition because of the use of a skin.

4. Take good care of your battery and it will take good care of you: The Lithium -Polymer battery that powers your phone is a wonder of technology. About the size of a pack of matches, it should last about a year, although 1.5-2 years is not unheard of. You know when you need a new battery if it is more than a year or so old, and only lasts a few hours, or even minutes, before shutting down, even after an overnight charge.

Do not overcharge the battery. Keeping the battery on the charger all of the time will generate excessive heat and cause it to swell, making it puffy in the middle. If you put a swollen, overcharged Lithium Polymer battery on a flat surface it will spin. The best strategy for any rechargeable battery of any type is to fully charge it and let it run down as much as reasonably possible (but never completely dead) before recharging again. You'll get more life out of it that way.
Also, turn off the phone while charging the battery. This prevents the battery from overheating. Remember that heat is bad for batteries of all types.

Try not to charge the battery with your car charger if you can wait to get home and plug it into a wall socket. The electrical system in a car is not as well regulated as that in a house or apartment, and voltage surges may damage the phone and battery. When the time comes to buy a new battery, you may find that your carrier wants some sky-high crazy price for one, say 50-60 dollars, and that is intentional. They want to sell you a brand new phone, not a battery for an old phone. They make their money on the contract fees, not the battery.

Extended life batteries are widely available, but they are typically thicker, and require a new back cover for your stock phone to accommodate them. While extended life cells can increase your standby and talk time by 30 percent or more, they make your phone bulkier, and many of the included plastic backs are cheaper and flimsier than the original, so consider that first. Nothing kills the sleek, sexy lines of a RAZR or a KRAZR than a fat back battery, no doubt.

Buy batteries carefully. Some online dealers may try to pawn outdated 'gray market' batteries at a low-ball price (5-10 bucks or so) on unsuspecting buyers, so only buy from reputable firms that guarantee that they only sell unused, unrefurbished fresh batteries.

When the time has come to buy a new phone, please recycle the old one. Firms such as ReCellular or Batteries Plus normally accept, or might even buy, your old functioning phone, and resell them as used, or donate them to the needy.