Here are some useful battery-care tips.

The joy of operating a cellphone generally means that you also have to become schooled in the art of battery chemistry. That’s because batteries are sensitive to the way in which they are charged, meaning the difference between long battery life and premature death.

Types of cellphone batteries:
NiCd, NiMH & Li-Ion

NiCd Most cellphones are packed with "standard" slim-line Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) types that operate within an unremarkable 500 to 650 milli Amp Hours (mAh) range. The "mAh" unit is the standard rating for rechargeable batteries. NiCds are also packaged in "extended life" 1,200 mAh to 1,500 mAh designs. The larger values usually indicate increased battery life, price and bulk size. NiCds tend to lose about 1% of their charge daily even when they're not being used and fully charged NiCds have a shorter life between charges. They deliver a slightly higher voltage over their life, but their voltage is lower at the start. A NiCd battery's voltage also tends to plummet abruptly, disabling the cellphone with little warning. "Memory Effect" They also suffer from an unfortunate chemical artifact called "memory" which arises when a part-used battery is recharged from that charge. The full charge however will however only last for as long as the point from which the battery was recharged. Thus for example a NiCd fully recharged when it still had 30% of its charge left will only allow 70% of its potential capacity. Recharge it when it is 60% full and you’ll only get 40% of its potential capacity. This "memory" artifact usually arises from use of the "quick" charger packaged with cellphones and the cigarette lighter chargers. To avoid it, its best to charge your battery with a special desktop charger/discharger which will discharge the remaining capacity before it begins a full charge. This "conditioning" regime will recoup your battery’s potential capacity for use. NiMH Then you have the newer Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) types, which though slightly more expensive, are rapidly replacing NiCds. Developed in the 1970s by a Detroit chemist and entrepreneur, Stanford Ovshinsky, the NiMH design languished unused for many years. When component prices tumbled however, NiMH batteries became the rage. It’s unusual chemistry enables it to pack twice as much energy into a given mass as NiCds so that they usually they last much longer than the equivalently rated NiCds. In some cases, a slim-line NiMH battery can sometimes give as much battery power as some of the bulkier extended-life NiCd batteries. And unlike NiCds, NiMH does not develop a "memory". That means that if you try to recharge a NiCd before it has fully discharged, it will release only some of its stored energy the next time it is used. NiMH batteries usually will have twice the life of other batteries, which means 700 to 900 cycles of charging and discharging compared with a typical cycle life of 200 to 400 for NiCds. Perhaps more important from a driver's point of view is that NiMH batteries can be 60% recharged in just 15 minutes using a car battery charger. Lithium-ion But NiMH is not to be the last word in battery chemistry. New Lithium-based batteries have finally made their debut. They are now standard in manynew phones. The new Lithium battery offers up to 250 hours standby time and almost 5 hours talk time. However the batteries are very expensive, and Lithium battery designs for current GSM handsets are still very scarce.

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