Batteries! What’s not to love about them, right? They power our awesomely smart pocket computers, making sure that we don’t use cords wherever we are on the go. It’s what makes smartphones more special compared to clunky desktop computers connected to cords 24/7.
They’re cool and all, but there’s still a problem: batteries run out of power. And that’s a really big problem when you just woke up, 30 minutes before a class, long trip, or business meeting… and your most awesome smartphone is teetering to ten percent battery (with battery saver mode on). Yikes! But fret not, friends. You can still do something. Here are four tips to speed up that charging like a breeze.
Plug it in the wall socket
Please, plug your phone to a wall socket — not your laptop’s or clunky desktop’s USB port! Unlike wall sockets, USB ports have much lower power output. Usually, a USB port can give only up to 500 milliamps of current, while wall sockets can provide up to 15 amperes. And even if you don’t use all that 15 amperes to charge your phone, a measly 1000 milliamps of current from a typical wall socket-type charger will let you charge your phone at half the time that your laptop’s USB port would.
Turn it off
This one’s important if you are in a hurry. Turning off your smartphone lets it save on energy needed to run its battery-hungry features. So, instead of sending power to these features, they end up getting stored in the battery instead. That way, you can get to full capacity much sooner.
Usually, these battery-hungry features are your wireless communication sensors like cellular, wi-fi, Bluetooth, and GPS functions. If you can’t turn off your phone for some reason, then turning on airplane mode should help. Airplane mode is also a good feature if you are running low on battery while on the go. You can turn it off when you don’t expect a message, then turn it back on every 30 minutes or so when you want to check. Doing that won’t harm your battery levels, either. Turning your phone on and off instead slightly decreases your battery levels, making you lose more battery across the day.
Fast chargers
When in a pinch, you might thank the technology gods for this awesome blessing. But beware, using the wrong fast chargers can damage your phone. The problem here is that fast chargers can generate a lot of heat while charging, and high heat kills smartphone battery life. Usually, smartphone manufacturers design phones to be compatible with their own fast chargers, and some 3rd party manufacturers also make sure that their products don’t kill their buyers’ phones. But to be on the safe side, do your research on what works and what’s safe.
Follow the 20-80 rule
Okay, so by now your battery is doing good. It might not be at full capacity yet, but you probably have enough juice to last for the day. So here’s something that could help you in the long run: keep your batteries healthy to keep them charging well.
You can keep your battery healthy by sticking to the 20-80 rule. This means you should keep your phone battery within the 20-80% range. Why? Phone batteries hate extremes. They hate extreme heat and cold. But they also hate going from 100% to 0%. The latter makes them use up a complete battery cycle sooner, decreasing battery life.
Now there you have it. Hopefully, these tips were able to help you — and you’re not running late for whatever you’re supposed to do while charging your phone!
