Increasing cellphone capabilities is myth or fact?

Question

i've heard that once you get a new cellphone, you should use it until the battery completely runs out and then fully charge it because the memory or something about the phone increases. is this true? and what exactly improves?

Answer 1

That used to be true, when cell phones had an older type of battery (nickel-cadmium or "ni-cads", to be specific.) If you didn't discharge them completely, they would not recharge completely. They would appear to "remember" a smaller capacity than it actually has. So that is called the "memory effect." It has nothing to do with actual memory in the phone or battery.

Newer batteries like nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries do not have a "memory effect", so you can charge them whenever you like. I believe all current cell phones use lithium-ion batteries.

So the answer to your question is, No, that isn't true, you don't have to run the battery totally out before you charge it. That is a myth.

There are other reasons that can cause a battery to hold less charge than you might expect, and actually, discharging it to zero can reduce a battery's capacity, as can overcharging, or just age. Those little chargers that come with your cell phone (or camera) usually aren't very smart, so they can't tell when the battery is full. So they often overcharge the battery, reducing its capacity. That is generally the reason why batteries seem to lose capacity, in fact. But there is nothing you can do about that, other than not letting the phone charge for days and days when it doesn't need it.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

That's true for cellphone made say 5 years ago or more that use NiCad batteries. Now they use Lithium Ion which doesn't have that memory effect that you were talking about so you no longer need to drain your battery all the way down. If someone told you that today they are wrong and it is false and a myth that is true only with the old Nicad phones which are very hard to find these days anyone still using one that old.