Three things we do wrong with the mobile (and they are useless) | Your Technology | The country

At the dawn of mobile telephony there were certain habits that were essential to acquire under penalty of degrading the already low battery of the first phones. Those who enjoyed those years of revolution in terms of telecommunications will know well the expression “memory effect” of batteries, a phenomenon that ruined the life of the first mobile phones on the market. Due to this, the battery degraded prematurely if full charge cycles were not carried out – that is, up to 100% of its capacity. This affected the first generation of batteries, but was completely overcome with lithium-ion batteries, which are in widespread use today.

We revive this memory because, even today, there are those who advise against partial charges in mobile phones and the issue of batteries has become one of the myths that still traps many users. What kind of beliefs are still established in the market? These are the most popular:

Myth 1: It is not good to charge the mobile overnight

It is one of the most deeply rooted beliefs and there are still those who charge the mobile and when the battery reaches its maximum charge, unplug it at full speed. This is not necessary, since modern phones (and above all, their platforms) have charge management systems that prevent any possible degradation. The main problem that a mobile connected to the current could face is overloading; that is, that the charger continues to power the battery when it is already at its maximum capacity. But the risk of overload is non-existent in modern mobiles.

Phones today have smart charge management systems, so when the battery reaches its maximum, additional power intake is cut off. Apple even has an optimized charging system that takes into account the user’s charging habits and cuts the power supply when it reaches 80% charge, then continues with the same so that 100% is reached when the user wakes up. Samsung, meanwhile, confirms that currently used batteries are not affected by what they describe as “charging myths.” “The negative effect that excess charging can have for a long time is negligible”, explains Santiago Izquierdo, product technical director at Samsung Electronics Iberia, “even so, the phone does not continue charging when it reaches 100%; the charge stops and recharges when it drops below 100%”.

“In general, batteries are replaced due to natural degradation and only in high-end models. It is very difficult to damage a modern battery by charging it incorrectly, ”Javier Sánchez-Romero, CEO of Bemovil, a company dedicated to mobile repair, explains to EL PAÍS. In short, you can safely leave your mobile in the charger at bedtime without any problem.

Myth 2: You have to force close applications to optimize performance and battery

As with the battery, there are beliefs so entrenched that they survive over the years, such as force closing applications, the classic gesture of sliding your finger up on the screen and fulminate the apps for the suspicion that there is some process in the background that devours the battery and affects performance. But reality, once again, stubbornly indicates the opposite: mobile phones are not only smart enough to manage these resources, but also alter this management by forcing the closure of apps it can only make things worse. This false belief went so far that even Craig Federighi, head of iOS – the iPhone operating system – denied it in an email in response to a client.

Systems “sleep” apps that are not used and park them until they are opened again when the user requests it; if it is reopened at the user’s request, part of the processes are already launched, saving resources. That is, forcing a complete shutdown forces the system to reload everything again and the paradox is that more resources are consumed than simply changing apps. “It is not necessary to close each application after using it,” explains Izquierdo, “the fact that it remains open makes it faster to start up the next time it is used, since it does not have to be loaded again,” he confirms.

Myth 3: Better to disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to save battery

Apple suggests as advice on its website, to have Wi-Fi always activated to save battery: “There are two very simple ways to save battery: adjust the screen brightness and use Wi-Fi”. Why keeping Wi-Fi activated can help us save battery? This wireless technology is more efficient in the consumption of resources than the direct data connection with the operator. That, on the one hand, but on the other, modern mobiles use this wireless connection to geoposition the device instead of GPS, which consumes more battery and is only activated when an application that requires it is opened.

The same can be said of the new versions of Bluetooth, designed so that their impact on the battery is negligible. In consumer tests, when it is activated and deactivated, there are no differences. Of course, when the Bluetooth connection is being actively used, for example, to listen to music, consumption here does have an impact on battery performance.

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