by/credit to: by Casey Johnston -
A little over three years ago, you, the readers, asked us, the Ars staff, about the best way to prolong the life of a lithium-ion battery. Now that time has passed, the gadget landscape has changed, and it's time for an update. There are a few new things to look out for, but mostly the principles we stated then, stand today: "Use your battery. Not too much. Mostly for small apps."
A little over three years ago, you, the readers, asked us, the Ars staff, about the best way to prolong the life of a lithium-ion battery. Now that time has passed, the gadget landscape has changed, and it's time for an update. There are a few new things to look out for, but mostly the principles we stated then, stand today: "Use your battery. Not too much. Mostly for small apps."
The other tip that remains true is that you should keep Li-ion batteries in fair weather. They don't like extreme cold or heat, especially heat caused by running Crysis 2 clock-speed drag races or whatever the kids are up to these days.
An interesting development since we wrote the first edition of this article is that Li-ion batteries are less likely to find themselves in very hot environments as a result of the device they're powering. Devices are better at heat regulation today and, thanks to flash storage, tend to have fewer moving parts. We should now have an easier time getting long lives out of Li-ion batteries without having to change our behavior much.
These days, temperatures can be slightly more of a problem for smartphones, where hardware still has to operate in very tight quarters. For this reason, it's best to keep them out of situations that are already hot (sunlight, pockets, under pillows).
But it's also helpful to try and keep tabs on whether your phone is needlessly spinning its processing wheels, which is harder with some platforms than others. With Android, this is a little easier to suss out using the usage stats and process-manager interfaces. If something is idling and cranking up the temperature on your phone, kill it.
iOS devices are a little harder to manage in this respect, but overthought.org recently ran a great guide to troubleshooting a wayward device or apps that are draining the battery needlessly.
As we noted in the first edition of this guide, another of the Li-ion battery draining sins are fast, intensive drains:
Another piece of advice in the new age: as Gizmodo notes, while wireless charging is fun, using it may come at a cost to your device's battery longevity because it can produce excess heat, more so than a simple plug might. Given how much wireless charging solutions cost, I suspect if you're using one, you treat gadgets more like candy than children, so this may not be much of a concern.
Otherwise, the principle I first wrote stands: use your battery. Not too much. Mostly for small apps. Go forth and discharge. But gently. Ever so gently.
source: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/04/ask-ars-the-best-way-to-use-a-lithium-ion-battery-redux/