The Mystery Of The Exploding Smartphone | TechTree.com

The Mystery Of The Exploding Smartphone

Exploring the challenge of exploding batteries and some smart ways to help conserve some juice on your cellphone

 

Developers at Apple must be grinning from ear-to-ear. Obviously one loves it when one’s archrival faces the same problem as one did some years ago. Yes! We are referring to the explosive batteries on the Samsung Note 7 and its impact on the cell phone industry as a whole and on market leadership in the segment.

News about the exploding batteries and the decision to recall Note 7 phones are now passé. To make matters worse, the airline industry went berserk with a call to power off the device in case it was found on passengers. However, there was nothing about what could cause these blasts and how one could overcome this hazard.

Of course, Samsung came to the fore and formally asked Note 7 users to power down their phones in order to avoid the batteries blowing up. However, they still did little to explain the phenomenon, just like archrivals blew away criticism of exploding batteries some years ago – was it the iPhone 4 or 4S? Who cares?

So, what exactly is the challenge? The Galaxy Note 7 comes with lithium ion batteries, which uses positive ions (cathode) and the other holding negative ions (anode). These ions move back and forth while charging and discharging. To ensure that the layers never come in contact, the phone carries separators.

However, the chemical reaction that allows batteries to charge also generates heat. So, experts claim that overcharging or fast charges could result in fires. Of course, in all this brouhaha, we tend to forget that amongst the millions of such batteries created, a micro-miniscule percentage has reacted adversely.

Having said so, is there some way one can ensure that the batteries stay calm and live long so that one doesn’t require a fast charge or an overcharge? Here is what you could do in the short-term… Avoid these apps or at least shut them down when not in use:

·         Battery saver apps aren’t really all that smart. These keep running in the background. While they are supposed to constantly monitor apps squeezing out battery life and shut them down, they sometimes end up playing the villain

·         Social media apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter etc. tend to drain battery life the most because these run in the background. Worse still are the messenger apps.

·         Anti-virus apps too have the same challenge. They scan the phone and quarantine risky apps. If the phone has many apps, the longer the anti-virus app takes to scan them. And the longer it takes, the shorter is the battery life.

·         Gaming apps are a drain too. In fact, research showed that most Pokemon Go players saw their smartphone lose juice very fast. Without doubt, the more graphically superior a game is, the further it drains the battery. 


TAGS: Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Apple, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, exploding batteries

 
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