Tips to keep your phone and laptop longer

By Kim Komando

Turn a cup of coffee and fry your laptop. Drop your tablet while taking a picture and you can dive into your destination. If you lose control of a smartphone, your $ 1,000 device could slip through a drain grate and disappear forever.

Most of us can not afford to exchange their devices regularly, so we need to take good care of them.

Based on my program's calls, emails, and questions in the technical support forums on my website, it lists five common mistakes.

1. Take the cheapest way

Theoretically, you can buy a "lightning" cable at your local store. However, many do not realize that the charger and cable included with a new device are designed specifically for this product.

If you lose the charger or the USB cable is worn out, do not buy the cheapest charger and cable you can find. The few dollars you spend on low-cost replacement are likely to negatively impact the performance of your device.

The most obscene secret you do not want to know from these standard cable and charger manufacturers is that their products often do not have the right voltage for your particular device. Why is it important? Your battery may not be getting the juice it needs to fully charge.

2. Be an overload

The latest battery packs for smartphones, tablets and laptops have improved significantly over previous years. Most of them are made of high quality lithium ions or lithium polymers. Although it may seem contradictory, overcharging the battery can damage it.

In general, your phone, tablet and laptop should be charged between 40% and 80%. Batteries containing a higher charge are more stressed.

As for your laptop, these batteries have a limited number of charge and discharge cycles. Frequently discharging the battery completely will degrade the charge and discharge cycle and reduce the expected life.

3. Charge all the time

Plug in your device and forget about it? Fortunately, the new generation of batteries have mechanisms to prevent overcharging when it reaches its maximum charge. This applies to tablets, smartphones and laptops.

Although it is not considered dangerous to connect your smartphone or tablet to the mains overnight, you should try to turn it off as soon as possible to replace it. A big added benefit is that the performance of a device is significantly improved by a power cycle.

Do not leave your laptop connected all the time.

4. Do not pass up

The latest cell phones are quite robust: resistant, waterproof and less likely to break in a fall. Leaving your device in a hot car or in the sun can cause serious damage. This can not only lead to leakage or overheating of the battery, but also to data loss or damage.

In extremely cold temperatures, your phone is also devastated. Lithium-ion batteries can stop discharging electricity in extremely cold climates, shorten battery life, cause display problems, and even break the screen glass.

5. be a pen

Whether you're cleaning your laptop, iPad, smartphone or favorite mouse, here are some useful cleaning items. You are flexible to store everything: compressed air; isopropyl alcohol; distilled or purified water in bottles; and soft rags.

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