SAMSUNG has warned all phone owners to follow an important rule – or risk ruining their handset’s battery life forever.
It’s a serious risk that you shouldn’t ignore, and can easily be broken if you’re not being careful.
The rule relates to the temperature of the place you’re using your phone.
Heat and cold can seriously affect your phone’s battery.
For instance, cold can cause your phone to shut off completely – while heat can permanently reduce its capacity to hold charge.
Samsung has revealed an exact temperature range that you should keep your phone within, or risk damaging it.
For Brits, that means sticking to 0C to 35C – and Americans will want to stay between 32F to 95F.
“Extended use or storage at temperatures above 35°C or below 0°C will exacerbate battery performance and may lead to unexpected shutdowns and shorter battery life,” Samsung warned.
It added that using it (or even charging it) in extreme temperatures can “accelerate” the deterioration of your battery.
Samsung also notes that your phone may start to behave oddly to protect itself in extreme temperatures.
This might include reducing performance or limiting charging.
The phone maker adds: “Do not use or place your device in hot environments, like a hot car on a summer day, for extended periods of time.
“Do not place or store your device in cold environments, like below-zero temperatures during wintertime.”
Of course there are plenty of other ways to improve your Samsung phone’s overall battery life and health.
For instance, you can go into Settings > Device Care to tweak your battery settings.
Here's Samsung's official advice...
To get the most out of your smartphone’s battery, you’ll need to charge it properly.
Most Smartphones have a lithium-ion battery that lives longer when charged regularly.
Unlike the nickel batteries used in older phones, lithium-ion batteries do best when kept above a 50 percent charge.
Repeatedly allowing the battery to drain fully may shorten its life and decrease its overall capacity.
If this happens, you’ll need to charge the battery more frequently and it may last only a few hours before needing a charge, for example.
Leaving the phone connected to the charger (when the phone is completely charged) while you are using it may lower battery life if you do it repeatedly.
You can see which apps are affecting battery life and place them into a “sleep” or “deep sleep” state.
There’s also an option to activate Power Saving Mode to preserve charge.
And you can run the Optimize feature to generally improve battery life.
Samsung also recommends only having Bluetooth switched on when you need it.
Try changing your Screen Timeout to have a shorter interval, and keep brightness lower where possible.
Also, note that your battery life will be worse if you’re in an area with bad signal.
So consider turning Airplane Mode on if you don’t need data and your signal is low.
