Batteries for your cell phone

What could be more annoying than finding out that your battery has run out of juice just as you need to make an urgent call? People stuck in hours of non-moving traffic will know how this feels, as well as those who forget to take their charger with them when they travel.

As more and more electronic devices enter our pockets and purses, battery technology has not progressed much. Fuel cell batteries and solar cell batteries are two potential replacements for the current Lithium-ion or the older Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries, but it seems we still have a long wait before they really mature. In the meantime, none of the current batteries live forever.

We can buy a replacement battery -- or a spare one for any of those frantic days -- from the original maker of our cell phones. You can usually buy original batteries from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson and others. The good thing is that they will give you batteries with the specifications that exactly suit your mobile. The bad thing is that they are usually very expensive.

Third-party batteries have been available for quite some time. Unfortunately, the market for third-party batteries has grown so big that quite a few unscrupulous people have been making a lot of profit by making fake batteries. Not only have they been able to make exact replicas of the original, or any of the popular third-party batteries, they can also wrap these counterfeits in perfect packaging that you can hardly tell whether they are original or not until you use them for a month or so.

If you decide to buy a third-party replacement or spare battery for your cell phone, find a reputable store first. There are several brands available on the local market, including Kingcom, Neosonic, Valentine and Worldlink. The most important thing is that you get at least a three-month warranty for the battery.

To guard yourself further against the despair of not being able to use your cell phone to send important messages with that dreaded "Battery low" warning, invest in a car charger. They do not cost very much, but they can be a great help when you are late for a very important appointment and need to let the others know that you are on your way.

The lifespan of a cell phone battery, like any other battery, depends very much on how you take care of it. You will need to read the manual for your new cell phone very carefully. Usually it is not recommended that you charge the battery for an extended period of time. A quick charger should probably not be used for more than four hours.

Remember that new batteries usually need a couple of complete charges/discharges before they can give you their optimum performance. Nokia, for example, recommends three complete charge/discharge cycles with the power turned off before you start using your new cell phone. A desktop charger is better than the quick charger, as it discharges the battery fully before charging it.

Finally, batteries contain harmful substances. The bad news is that in Indonesia there is no recommended way to get rid of the batteries or have them recycled. If you leave your old battery at the shop where you buy a new one, it may end up being offered as a brand new one to an unknowing customer. So, you will need to exercise good judgment. -- Zatni Arbi