Keeping your cell phone clean and well-maintained may delay any decisions you have to make about repairs or replacement. This is particularly important for your cell phone's battery, which can cause harm to you and your phone if not properly maintained. Below are safety tips from our engineers and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), along with advice on keeping your phone's software up to date.
Cell phone battery safety tips
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• If you remove the battery (or if it has exposed terminals when it's in the phone), keep it away from keys, coins, or other metal objects in your pocket, which could cause a short-circuit.
• Buy the battery designed for your particular phone and buy from your wireless service provider or a reputable retailer. Avoid cheap aftermarket brands. A cheap battery carrying what appears to be a name brand may well be a fake and not properly manufactured.
• Keep the phone and battery away from sources of extreme heat, such as a stove or radiator. Don't leave your phone in your car's glove compartment on hot days.
• If you drop a phone with a fully charged battery, it could overheat and explode. Leave the phone on the ground for a minute to make sure there's no problem.
• Follow the phone manufacturer's instructions for charging. |
Don't overcharge the battery. Check the manual when you first purchase your phone. If the instructions warn against overcharging, be sure to unplug your phone after a full charge, as it may pose a fire hazard and reduce the life of the battery. But even if there's no warning, not overcharging can help save energy-particularly if you also unplug your charger between uses. For more information on using batteries safely, read our free report on The dangers in phone batteries.
Update your software. If your wireless carrier is Verizon, you'll have to dial *228 periodically to keep your phone's roaming capabilities up to date, Verizon recommends doing this once a month. Other carriers, including Sprint/Nextel, T-mobile, and Cingular, update their customers' phones automatically.
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