Smartphones technology is becoming sophisticated over time. Every year, smartphones company releases an upgrade to their hardware and software technology. Every people I know has smartphone which they used for personal and business communication. The higher the price of the your smartphone the more you take care of it. If your phone price is more than P20, 000.00, I am pretty sure you will buy a case and tempered glass screen protector just to make sure it’s shock proof and dust proof. As an electrical engineer, there are some tech tips I can share to you to optimize the life, safety and performance of your smartphones. Here’s the top 8 tips I can give:

1. Avoid using power banks.

Power banks are useful specially if you have a long ride however, I am pretty sure most of you used it the wrong way. Let me explain it. The lifetime of your battery depends on the charge-discharged cycle and for Lithium battery which is commonly used in smartphones, it has a 1000-1500 charge-discharge cycle only. This means that if you fully charge then fully discharge your battery once a day, you need to replace your battery in average of 3 years. Why improper used of power banks is bad? Because most of us will plug our phone to power bank then, when the percentage increased to 50% they will plug it out to save the charge of power bank. If you are doing that regularly, you have an incomplete charging cycle which degrade the life span of your phone battery. So to avoid this, make sure you fully charge your phone before removing it or avoid using power bank at all.

2. Used recommended charger by the manufacturer.

Rightly now, I am working in a power supply industry and cellphone charger is a type of power supply. Your cellphone charger undergoes intensive testing before you can used it. Your manufacturer such as Samsung, Sony and Vivo knows the right charger for your phone so better follow it. If you used the substandard charger your cellphone charging time and battery might be affected. It might degrade the performance of internal electronics of your cellphone. For a longer life of your battery and smartphone used the right charger.

3. Turn-off your cellphone when charging.

This is just for best practices. Most smartphones have high technology that can protect battery life when you used it while charging. The benefits of turning off your phone while charging is that it decreased the charging time. However, some smartphones are substandard and using it while charging might cause a battery explosion. Explosion of battery was usually caused by hydrogen build up inside the battery. It happens in LiPo battery when the voltage is less than 3V. If your phone is not smart enough to turn off itself when the voltage is less 3V, this may cause battery explosion.

4. Put your contact detail in your lock screen.

Is there any instance of your life where you found an smartphone and you want to return it to the owner but you don’t know how? Putting your name, email, company and address might help the person give it back to you. You might argue it’s impossible to find again your smart phones once you lost it. Who knows? There are still good Samaritan in our society. Trust me, I’ve known a lot of them. You can be one of them too.

5. Automatically backup your photos.

In your smartphone setting, set it to automatically back up your photos and videos to your google drive or icloud. This is important because you can access your pictures anywhere, anytime. Even if you lost your phone, you still have a copy of your happy moments with love ones and significant other.

6. Turn off GeoTagging.

When you take pictures, your smartphone automatically embed location data in your pictures. When you post it to social media that location data is embedded to that picture. If you have a stalker, it can be used to know where you are at the moment. If he wants to rape you or kill you he will know where you are. Same technique was also used by government to track criminals.

7. Always update your smartphone software.

This is very important in terms of security. Since you are connected to internet you are not invisible to hackers. Your credit card and bank accounts might be at risk. However, smartphones company always update their software to fight those malwares that are used by hackers. This is for your own good. Always update your phone software.

8. Install a Bible Application.

Some of you might disagree with this. Let me explain it further. We all know bible is the best selling book yet only few read it because it’s sounds religious. Installing bible app is free. When you can’t find meaning in your life, losing hope and thinking of ending your life? Turn to your bible app, He will give you meaning and purpose. Just let Him.

Conclusion

Smartphones are essential part of our everyday life. I can’t imagine how to live without my smartphone and internet. We use it for communication and entertainment. With all the positive impact of technology in our life, negative comes with it. So let’s spread the good practices in using smartphones so that we can lessen the negative consequences. Amen.