Tag: battery

Signs you need a new phone

You know by now your phone’s battery performance degrades the older it gets. That’s just how lithium-ion batteries work, unfortunately. With each charging cycle, they wear down a bit. Eventually, it becomes too big a problem to ignore. 

Let’s look at the symptoms — and see how to check your battery health.

Signs you can’t ignore

  • Your phone’s battery used to stay charged for over a day. Now, you’re looking for an outlet by the afternoon.
  • You unplug your phone, only to see the battery level drop quickly, even though you’re not doing anything unusual.
  • You leave your phone plugged in for hours, but it never returns to a full charge.
  • Your phone is off-the-charts hot when it’s charging. You may even notice a physical bulge. Unplug it immediately if this happens, or you risk a fire or worse.
Luckily, there are multiple warning signs that you can watch for if you think your battery health is dropping. milkovasa – stock.adobe.com

Apple makes it easy

It’s simple to see if your iPhone battery is struggling with a few clicks. 

  • Open Settings > Battery > Battery Health & Charging.

At the top, you’ll see your battery’s maximum capacity. Don’t panic if it’s below 100%. Your battery’s designed to maintain 80% of its original capacity by 500 charges so that that percentage will tick down over time.

Under Peak Performance Capability, you’ll see whether your battery is operating normally. If it’s seriously degraded, you’ll see a message here.

Your battery’s designed to maintain 80% of its original capacity by 500 charges. prima91 – stock.adobe.com

It’s a little trickier on an Android

Most manufacturers have different steps. Here are a few to try:

  • Open the Phone app, dial *#*#4636#*#* and look for an option to check your battery health. If you don’t see it, try another option.
  • On Samsung, open the built-in Samsung Members app. Tap Get Help > Check Android battery health.
  • Apps like AccuBattery can provide a good estimate if all else fails.

Sorry, but your laptop battery won’t last forever, either. Here’s how to check yours.

Charge better

No matter how old your phone is, a few tips and tricks can help you get the most out of that battery.

The steps to check your battery health differ from iPhone and Android. Getty Images/iStockphoto

Don’t rely on knock-off chargers

High-quality chargers have circuits inside of them that switch off when there’s too much power draw. This protects your phone battery from overcharging, breaking, or overheating.

Heat is your battery’s biggest enemy. Some cheap chargers and cables have even led to fire and injuries. Saving money is excellent, but don’t skimp on quality here.

Be careful with power banks

Cheap power banks can ruin your battery over time. Be sure any power bank you use has overcharge protection. If not, you can still use it, but keep an eye out. Once your battery is almost full, unplug it.

It’s best to avoid power banks with quick charge options unless they’re from a reliable brand. Here’s a rule of thumb: Say no if you’ve never heard of it.

Don’t download battery-draining apps

Lithium-ion and lithium-polymer phone batteries only have limited charging cycles before they degrade. This is why most people encounter battery problems after two years of use.

There’s nothing you can do about your battery wearing down eventually, but some things have more of an impact. If you have performance apps that monitor your battery life, they could harm it in the long run. These apps constantly use power to monitor your battery life.

Be sure any power bank you use has overcharge protection. BullRun – stock.adobe.com

Don’t use your phone while it’s charging

Your phone is at 1%, so you plug it in. Leave it alone! Using your phone while charging can rapidly increase the temperature, putting strain on your battery, screen, and processor.

Take it out of the case

When it comes to charging, phone cases can cause temperature problems. When your phone battery heats up too much, it can cause damage to the rest of your phone. To be safe, take the case off while you charge — especially if you notice your phone heats up while it’s plugged in. 

If your phone starts to heat up during charging, make sure to remove the phone case to help the device cool down. photoschmidt – stock.adobe.com

Keep your tech-know going 

My popular podcast is called “Kim Komando Today.” It’s a solid 30 minutes of tech news, tips, and callers with tech questions like you from all over the country. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts. For your convenience, hit the link below for a recent episode.

Plus, your AI girlfriend collects a lot of data. Kim and Andrew also talk about the White House’s plan to tackle deepfakes and take a look back at the first kiss ever recorded.

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Listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for my last name, “Komando.”

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E-bike battery sparks another huge NYC blaze, guts grocery store and injures 7

An e-bike sparked a massive hours-long blaze that gutted a Bronx grocery store and injured seven people — two seriously — on Sunday, officials said.

An EMS worker and a civilian were seriously hurt when flames broke out around 10:40 a.m. at the Concourse Food Plaza at 2096 Grand Concourse in the West Bronx section, officials said. Five firefighters suffered minor injuries.

The quick-moving fire was blamed on a scooter’s lithium-ion battery and rose to five alarms, requiring over 50 units and more than 200 firefighters to douse it.

Mayor Adams went to the scene and used the incident to call attention to the batteries, which have sparked a slew of recent fires in the city, some of them fatal.

“We have witnessed this over and over again, and that is why we’re going to continue to amplify the message that a simple device like this, this charred scooter, is only a symbol of what is happening behind us and what has continued to take place since early this morning,” Adams said Sunday afternoon. “We’re still fighting the fire because of the type of device the fire started from.” 


An e-bike sparked a massive hours-long blaze that gutted a Bronx grocery store and injured seven people on Sunday, officials said.
Tomas E.Gaston

The fire was blamed on a scooter’s lithium-ion battery, requiring over 50 units and more than 200 firefighters to douse it.
Tomas E.Gaston

Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said the bike caused “extraordinary damage.

“This entire building behind me is completely destroyed,” Kavanagh said. “The roof is caved in. There’s nothing left. And it is all because of this single bike.”

Firefighters could be seen carrying the burnt bike away from the scene.

Fires caused by e-bike batteries killed six people in the city in 2022, officials said. Those blazes were among 219 started by the batteries last year and left another 147 people injured.

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Google Pixel 7 Pro Display Draining Its Battery Faster: Report

Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones are finally reaching customers in India, but there seem to be a few problems with the Pixel 7 Pro. The recently reported issues seem to be connected with the display in particular and as per a report, it only appears to affect the Pixel 7 Pro. The Pixel 7 Pro comes with a 6.7-inch QHD+ LTPO AMOLED display that offers 120Hz refresh rate and 1,500nits peak brightness. Meanwhile, the Pixel 7 gets a 6.3-inch full-HD+ AMOLED panel with 90Hz refresh rate.

A report by XDA points out how the Pixel 7 Pro’s display is a bit of a power hog. The report mentions that the Pixel 7 Pro’s 6.7-inch QHD+ LTPO AMOLED panel draws more power than expected leading to the battery depleting faster. This according to the source happens primarily when the smartphone is used outdoors where the ambient light sensor cranks up the display’s brightness. The Pixel 7 Pro’s display consumes about 3.5-4W at 600 nits, which is around half the brightness levels that the display is capable of. In high-brightness mode, which is around 1000 nits, the display consumes 6W. Samsung’s Galaxy S22+ in comparison consumes 2W at 600 nits and 4W at 1000 nits.

Gadgets 360’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro review units are still undergoing testing. But we can confirm that we have noticed battery drain issues with the bigger Pixel 7 Pro, which is lasting just a day with casual use (minimal camera and gaming usage).

A tweet by Prasad Naik also pointed out another display-related issue. His tweet explains how the display remains active for several milliseconds even after the smartphone has been locked. The display remaining active under the lock screen leads to random apps getting launched. So, users may find random apps opened up every time they unlock their smartphone.

Gadgets 360 can confirm this issue exists with our review unit as well. We can also confirm that the issue with the display remaining active exists on our Pixel 7 review unit as well. The issue seems to be triggered during the lock animation, when the screen remains active for a few milliseconds till the fade out lock screen animation is complete. It isn’t clear whether both issues will be addressed by Google in a software update, but we have reached out to Google for comment.

Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones went on sale in India yesterday. They are the first premium smartphones from Google to reach India after a four-year gap. The Pixel 7 is available at Rs. 59,999, while the bigger Pixel 7 Pro is available at Rs. 84,999 on Flipkart.

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