1. Smartphone Users
For us, let's face it, it's all about the Battery Charge, Bq!!
I’ve said this before, briefly, in my previous write-up about the strange life of the phone battery. The golden equation of charge retention for uninterrupted power outage and misery avoidance goes something like this
14 ≤ (Bq) ≤ 17; and valid for all integer (only) multiples of this value.
Any deviation from this rule will invariably involve frantic moments with high levels of perspiration, pockets bulging with chargers, constant charge monitoring of the battery level indicator and/or the cell phone dropping dead between a call!!
Scary, I know!
Of course, there are conditions apply to this rule too. Assuming that your typical work day starts by say 8 every morning, you are taken care of at least till 10pm; for the late nighters till about 1am!! Often with new age smart phones if this rule is met, it’s more than good enough!
Battery Blues
Imagine now you get battery backup in non-integer multiples.
So when Bq < 14, you may have to put it to charge just as soon as you might be reaching home; and then if your night involves a dinner out, you gotta charge it a little at least before you hurry out and then put it back on charging before hitting the sack!
When Bq > 14, you still have some charge left in your battery when you’re about to turn in for the night, and you are bugged thinking you really don’t want to charge when your battery is still 25% full!!
So either ways, you end up having to do a lot of math if you want to get your phone’s charging cycle right, and that’s almost every day!!
Why this matters?? (are you kidding me !)
Well, to the casual user these things hardly matter, but make this a practice, and soon you’ll see that your battery charge retention has gone down.
So after being through this frustrating mental exercise the first few months of my smart-phone usage, I reduced the time spent on non-phone features – most of which drains out my battery – games, heavy internet usage etc during the peak times of the day. If I’m left
with ample charge towards my day’s end, I then liberally use my phone for gaming and 3G surfing!
Still, I do a lot of math, and I don’t deny it does get difficult at times. But I’m slowly getting used it – most of it now comes to me as though it’s all hard wired into my system – am now one of those new age zombies \m/ !
Peace,
$ur
