How to Choose, Replace and Maximize Your Cell Phone Battery

Buying a phone? Replacing your dead battery? Choosing cell phone batteries is not as simple as buying a pack of AA batteries at your local Radio Shack store. There is more than one type of battery available for a given phone and many factors are to be taken into account: cell phone batteries have different weight, lifetime, talk time and thickness. All of this can have a significant impact on your cell phone experience. Here are my guidelines on how to make a wise choice, especially when buying a replacement battery, where you can be offered 4 to 5 different choices including the following:

NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride): A declining technology in cell phone batteries. Along with NiCad, these batteries are fading out and will be increasingly replaced by Li-Ion batteries.
Pros:
- cheaper than other batteries
Cons:
- they suffer from the "memory" effect: once in a while, you have to completely discharge and recharge them so they can retain their optimal capacity. Eventually, standby and talktime between charges will decrease.

Li-Ion (Lithium-Ion): These are considered the most advanced widespread cell phone batteries available. Eventually, they should totally replace NiMH and NiCad batteries.
Pros:
- lighter and thinner than NiMH or NiCad batteries
- usually have a longer lifetime
- are not subject to the memory effect that comes with most NiMH and NiCad batteries.
Cons:
- expensive (for example, a Nokia Li-Ion battery costs 59$ while a standard NiMH battery of the same capacity for the same phone costs only 39$, 20 dollars less.)

Li-Polymer (Lithium Polymer) is still quite rare and an even more advanced type of batteries. That technology helps make even thinner and lighter batteries.

Extend Your Standby and Talktime: Reduce Your Consumption

There are a few things you can do that won't necessarily affect your habits, while reducing your energy consumption, thus allowing you more standby and talktime between each charges:
- get rid of the little sound that the phone makes when you press a key. You should find how to do that in your phone's settings.
- use a ringtone instead of the vibration alarm whenever possible: ringtones drain less energy.
- The Backlight makes the screen and keys of your phone visible in the dark when you open the flip cover or press a key. As you will notice, that light times out, typically after two or three seconds. On most phones, you can adjust - and reduce - the backlight timeout.
- If you have a dual mode "digital and analog" phone, this one is very important: when you travel in an analog area and you know you won't need your phone for a while, turn it off, since the analog system is tougher on cell phone batteries. Digital phones actually have power management features - similar to those of your computer - that analog phones don't have. For example, a Nokia 6160 has 100 to 200 hours of standby time in digital mode but only 30 to 50 hours when in an analog area. A huge difference!

A Word on Cell Phone Battery Protection

Finally, cell phone batteries don't only have a standby time and talktime... they also have an overall lifetime. Usually, it is stated in charge cycles, as in "300 charge cycles". Typically, that means that you should expect to have to replace your battery every year, after it becomes inefficient.

But you can make a difference in the lifetime of your battery by taking care of it and one of the worst treat it faces is extreme heat. Never leave it close to a heat source or on the dash of your vehicle since heat will greatly affect battery performance.