Cell phone battery life: The charge is yours

More features, less battery life
Burden cites Research In Motion’s BlackBerrys as having a good track record with battery life. Many of its models are rated to have a talk time of between 4 and 8 hours.

But, because new features are being added to some models in order for RIM to stay competitive, battery life is going to suffer, he said.

“If you look at the new BlackBerry Bold, there’s a lot of radios in that, there’s an extremely bright screen — and it probably has the poorest battery life of any BlackBerry that’s ever been built,” he said. “Unlike other BlackBerrys in the past, this one, you better charge up every day.”

The Bold, with Wi-Fi, GPS, video recording, e-mail and Web surfing, is rated for up to five hours’ talk time, and up to 13 hours on standby.

One of the selling points of the Samsung Instinct, an iPhone “killer” sold by Sprint, is that it comes with two batteries, considered very unusual in the industry. Each battery is rated for more than 5 hours’ talk time.

“This device is built for both voice and data needs, so we expect a good battery life experience,” said Michelle Mermelstein of Sprint. “The second battery ensures that you always have the power you need to stay connected.”

Apple’s iPhone 3G battery will provide up to 5 hours of talk time and/or Internet use using 3G, and up to 10 hours talk time using the slower 2G network, the company says.

The iPhone’s battery is built-in and cannot be easily replaced by the user. Apple charges $79, plus shipping, to replace the battery if the phone’s one-year warranty has expired.

The company states “a properly maintained iPhone battery is designed to retain up to 80 percent of its original capacity at 400 full charge and discharge cycles.”

A lawsuit against Apple by one iPhone owner in the United States contended that the company’s battery replacement fee amounted to an annual charge that is not disclosed at the time the phone is purchased. The suit recently was dismissed by a federal judge, who said Apple does provide adequate warning about the phone’s limited battery life.

Tips to prolong battery life
To help prolong the life of your cell phone battery, consider these recommendations:

• A battery’s life is determined by a combination of the number of times it can be charged and by time itself, says Buchmann of Cadex Electronics. “Batteries age from the day they’re manufactured,” he said. “Even if you’re not using the battery, it ages.” Most lithium-ion batteries will last for between 300 and 500 charges. But if you let the battery run down too much before charging, that can hurt its lifespan, he says.

“If you were to deep-discharge a battery each time before you charge it, you’ll get fewer cycles than if it only discharged a little before you charge again. “So, if you’re at home and near the phone’s charger, or cradle, plug it in. With lithium-ion batteries, you cannot overcharge ... There’s still a lot of confusion about that, from the days when nickel-based batteries were used in phones, and had to be fully discharged once in a while” before being charged again.

• Heat – especially in the car — is not your cell phone battery’s friend. It’s one of the elements that can shorten battery life the most, Buchmann says, so don't leave a cell phone on the dash or put it in the glove box.

• Turn off the Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and 3G radios in your phone when you’re not using them, and dim the backlight on the phone’s screen, says Burden of ABI Research.

• Turn off “push e-mail,” that is delivered to you as it is sent, and instead manually check for new e-mail. “The more frequently e-mail or other data is fetched, the quicker your battery may drain,” Apple says on its iPhone Web site.

• And here’s one for the frequent fliers who surreptitiously keep their phones on while they’re in the air: “When you get further and further away from a cell tower, the faster battery life goes down,” says Burden. “When you’re 30,000 feet in the air, you can’t get a signal, because all the signals are near the ground. But you’re phone is trying so hard to pull in a signal, that it drains the battery a lot faster.”

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