Smartphone battery: Good habits to follow for longer life

More than a thousand people have responded to our little questionnaire about the use of your smartphone battery. It’s time to publish the results and comment on them, especially at Oliver Simon’s company in charge. Score battery On DxOMark.

Everything is for autonomy!

According to our survey, the vast majority of you – 92%! – To wish for better battery life than charging your smartphone faster. Rather than a clear idea, let’s face it, it surprises us a little. In fact, a few years ago, batteries had an absurd autonomy and it was just tempting to charge faster. Today, the situation has clearly changed. The autonomy of the smartphone is usually more than perfect and fast charging is very effective in saving time. We (mistakenly) thought that fast charging would be the most important criterion for you. This can lead to a bad reputation, which weakens the health of the accumulator.

Beyond the power of the chargers, this is the voltage to be taken into account. “The higher the voltage of the charger, the more complicated it is to manage the battery.Oliver Simon underlines. Today, manufacturers are trying to use more amperage with lower voltage, thus increasing the life of the batteries.. For now, no study has come forward to confirm these reports.

DxOMark is currently working on the matter and will be prosecuted in 2022. However, to benefit from efficient fast charging, it is better to use a manufacturer-supplied charger because beyond the power supplied, chargers interact with smartphones. Improves charging. Intricate, impossible communication with the “classic” charger. A smartphone that accepts fast charging up to 66 W, the latter can control the power up to 10 W. “It simply came to our notice thenOliver Simon explains. The faster you charge, the more you will be asked to find out what the phone uses to charge. In some cases, it can detect the charger, but it is important to make sure that the cable passes through high ambers without taking any risk.

Rule 80-20 for charging

As for how to recharge your batteries, the results will be higher than our expectations. So, if the battery is less than 20%, you are at 60% to recharge your mobile, which is a good reflex to control wear and tear. In fact, as Oliver Simon explains, batteries degrade rapidly when the voltage is too high (over 90% of the charge level) or too low (below 20%). So it is better to multiply the short charging cycles than to discharge your smartphone completely.

Conversely, if your mobile is plugged into a power outlet when it is 100% battery, it will gradually drain your battery. In question, in “Small waves applied to the battery by the charger are already at maximum voltage to maintain volume”, Says Oliver Simon. These overvoltages affect the quality of the battery whether your smartphone is charged in wired mode or by induction. Know that it is better to charge the cooler battery and, conversely, it is better to use your smartphone at the right temperature.

Optimization of operating systems

However, iOS and Android operating systems manage search and battery usage better and better. A few years ago, Sony took into account the morning alarm to 100% recharge a few minutes ago. Strategy widely accepted by other manufacturers. Google has greatly improved its operating system, especially since the version 9 bag.

In the past, various manufacturers offered techniques to destroy background applications in order to reduce consumption, but this era is now over. We now know that restarting a service requires more energy in the end. With Mechanical learning Embedded in response to the sweet name of Automatic Awesome Battery, Android can now analyze its usage to improve the usability of the app. “If you use WhatsApp every 5 minutes, you do not need to delete WhatsApp in the background”, Details Our Spokesperson. Another example is by examining the mobile’s gyroscopes, Android can find out if there has been a physical displacement.“In the latter case, restrict the demand for energy-intensive geolocation by running application”.

Which is more efficient, iOS or Android?

In this contest for autonomy, who is the best? “In consumption, Apple and its iPhones are present in six of our top 10 devices”, Mentions Oliver Simon. Apple specializes in both hardware design and operating system, so it is easy for this computer company to upgrade battery usage. “Apple makes small battery, high battery capacity Android device”DxOMark Expert adds.

Often, the marketing figures displayed by brands do not make much sense. Therefore, specifying the capacity of the battery is limited information, which only gives a vague view of the autonomy that can be expected from a smartphone. “It’s like specifying the size of a car tank without taking into account the consumption characteristics.”, Oliver Simon laughs. So there is still a bright future for our autonomy experiments.

Some tips to maintain your smartphone battery

As we have seen, iOS and Android are optimizing battery usage and recharging as much as possible. The fact is that it can extend its life by respecting a few basic rules.

• It is better to recharge it when the battery is 20 to 80%. Do not wait until it falls down and recharging above 80% will damage your battery.
• Disconnect your smartphone when the gauge is 100% or earlier.
• Avoid using your smartphone while it is charging. Playing games, using a GPS app, making calls or leaving the terminal in the sun can increase its temperature while recharging, which can cause damage.
• If you do not need Bluetooth, WiFi or geolocation, turn them off because the device will constantly and automatically check for updates and start making power-consuming requests.
• For the same reasons, prefer a WiFi connection to 4G / 5G if possible.
• Use the original charger supplied / sold with your smartphone or recommended by the manufacturer (designed to improve the speed and optimal charging power of the model).
• If you have a smartphone with an Oled screen, use the Dark Mode for Android.
• Use the automatic brightness to adjust the screen backlight to suit the mood.

Finally, to save your battery, enabling energy saving mode on your smartphone is logically the first instinct. Restricts access to data from applications that are not on the front of the smartphone and GPS is disabled when the screen of the device is off.

⁇ Google’s tips to increase your battery life
⁇ The Score battery By DxOMark