Fortunately, there exists several techniques to extend the battery life of your cell phone. The biggest thing to look at considering battery life are how long the battery lasts between charges and prolonging the overall life of the battery. The following is several tips to prolonging the life of the battery, to make sure the phone is always working its best. The most critical function is when the cell phone is on, and away from the docking station. How long does the battery last between charges? Here are some tips to prolonging just how long that time is.

Simplest Technique of All

The simplest technique is to turn the phone off. Yes, Yes, easier said than done. However, if in an area with no signal, or if you just don’t want to talk to anyone, turn the phone off. It is the easiest way to prolong the life between charges. The same holds true if you find yourself in an area with low signal. The phone will constantly want that better signal. It will search until it finds one, eating the precious battery life in the process. Combat this by turning the phone off, or getting an antennae booster. Another serious saver is turning off unnecessary functions. Processes like back-lighting, vibrate, and connecting to the internet are a near constant drain. The same goes for bluetooth, infrared, wifi, GPS, and all of the cool functions that are not always necessary.

What Else Can I Do?

As far as the overall life span goes, there are several techniques to expand the life span. First know which battery is in the phone and operate accordingly. Nickel-Cadmium operate differently then Lithium-Ion. Make sure to fully charge the battery before use, for Ni-Cd charge for 16 hours before use. Then make sure to deep cycle and completely discharge the battery four to five times to get the optimum battery usage. For Lithium Ion, charge for 6 hours before use, and make sure to never fully discharge them. Every complete discharge for a lithium ion battery reduces the capacity. Other methods to keep the life going is to store batteries properly and to keep them cool during use.

These techniques will make sure the battery life will be there when you need it most. Don’t be caught stranded without your phone. Make sure to follow these simple techniques to optimize your battery life. Replacement batteries can be expensive, especially when using the smart phones of today. All of the nifty gadgets are cool, but only use them when necessary. Make sure you know how to take care of the battery, and it will take care of you. If all else fails and you just need a new cell phone battery, get it BatteriesInAFlash.com

Lenmar Battery has recently come out with a cover for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3Gs. The cover itself is a fairly standard hardened rubber sort of affair, with a couple of notable exceptions. For one it has a battery built into the case, which can be charged from an external USB source, it also addresses the lack of a flash on the iPhone.

The case has a super bright LED mounted into the back of it which is turned off and on with a small button on the back, the same button is used to switch the phone from using its internal battery to making use of the external one provided in the pack. While the LED isn’t anywhere near as good as the flash you’d find on an actual camera it does provide a passable amount of illumination for close up photos.

The battery pack itself is a 1300mAh Lithium Polymer battery which according to the documentation will provide you with an additional:

• 4 hours of 3G activity
• 4.5 more hours of Wi-Fi
• 17 hours of additional audio
• 5 hours of video
• Up to 240 hours of standby

The unit sets itself apart from the others in the category by being a fully enclosed case unit in two parts, once snapped into place on the phone it has a nice seamless look and adds very little (2 oz) heft to the iPhone, though it does bulk it up a little.

The battery case charges through a USB (micro) port and also has a handy three stage charge indicator light on the back of the case.

One of the more popular items for the holiday season this year will no doubt be the smartphone. Probably the most well known example of this is the iPhone 3G, the Motorola Droid is a fairly recent comer to the scene and has some very nice features.

The advertising campaign Verizon put out to compliment the launch of the Droid was fairly direct and made some less than flattering comparisons between its own 3G network and that of AT&T, the iPhone carrier network. I can attest to the AT&T network being less than stellar in a lot of respects, the dropped calls and spotty 3G coverage are widely known.

Appearance

The Droid of course can’t compare to the sleekness of the iPhone styling. With its sharp corners and slightly blocky appearance it doesn’t have the inherent grace that Apple imparts to its products. Though not hideous by any means, it does lack a certain something and occasionally the default screen image can seem a little ominous.

If the Droids’ design seems a little utilitarian and “boxy” the screen makes up for it. The Motorola Droid sports a brilliantly crisp 3.7” (the iPhone is 3.5”) WVGA display that does very well at delivering video and graphic content. Displaying up to 16 million hues at a resolution of 854×480 (16:9 widescreen) it displays those HD YouTube videos really well (though there’s still no Hulu support).

Keyboard / Usability

The keyboard on the droid takes a little getting used to. The keys are all mounted flush against each other and have very little actual tactile feedback. They’re slick and don’t go down very far when pressed which can make typing by touch a problem.

Eventually though you do get used to it, also there’s a sometimes useful directional pad on the keyboard. My fervent hope is that there will be some games that make decent use of this at some point.

Applications

The Apple Store has well over 100,000 apps for the iPhone, that’s a staggering number of applications and definitely gives credence to the “There’s an app for that” saying that Apple has been using to help market the iPhone.

The Android app store is up to around 10,000 entries. This is bound to increase as Google has taken pains to promote the “open” nature of their platform which allows developers more freedom when creating their applications. This may possibly be to the detriment of the app store as it’s definitely possible that a flood of low quality apps will surface. Time will tell. But at the moment it’s a safe bet that there’s probably an Android app for that too!

Also you may have heard about the GPS service that Google has launched. It’s FREE and works in with Google Maps to provide you with turn by turn directions. It’s just an app so while for the moment it’s only for Android it is definitely coming to iPhones in the not too distant future. This free service is going to play havoc with subscription based GPS (and it’s cool to get turn by turn on streetview).

Though of course you can only run one of those 70,000 apps at a time on the iPhone, so no checking Yelp while you’re streaming Pandora and emailing a friend about dinner plans. That’s a bigger deal than you might realize until you’ve gotten used to doing it I have to say. Background applications are a fabulous thing!

The Droid you’re looking for?

Overall the differences between the two phones aren’t that huge. They’re close enough that some of the deciding factors may be more to do with the service than the phones. The better call quality and somewhat negative public perception of AT&T’s service (possibly helped along by Verizon’s ad campaigns) might be a deciding factor in some people’s choice.

One hint though, if you’re looking to do some more research, avoid forums like the plague, fanboys are rabid and abundant on both sides!

Pretty much everything you want will be on sale at some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas so why not take advantage of it! But what to buy, there are so many things to choose from, all shiny and new. How are we to know the best price, the best product and which are the ones that will leave us with the bitter aftertaste of Buyers Remorse.

We’ve taken a stab here at compiling some of the more popular items that you might be looking at while out and about, drawn across from various sources across the web for your convenience. Of course a lot of these actual rankings are purely subjective (for instance if you have tiny square fingertips you might like the iPhone keyboard more than I do) but they do at least provide some means of comparison.

Top 10 Smart Phones / PDAs

(As according to Rumor Gadget)

The good folks over at Rumor Gadget have compiled a list of the top 10 smartphones on the market at the moment. Though obviously what you can get will depend a lot on your current carrier and how trapped you are in your current plan (ironically enough the follow up call from AT&T on my complaint got dropped). But it seems the overwhelming favorite this year is the iPhone 3GS, the sleek design, slick marketing and simple UI have combined to make Apples iPhone a standout hit.

Top 5 Basic Phones

(As According to CNet.com)

Not everyone wants or needs the often bewildering array of functions that a smartphone is capable of. Thankfully they still actually make phones that are mainly used to make calls (and send texts of course) but smaller and simpler is often better !

CNET.com has put together a nice listing of what they consider the best of the basic cell phone options. They put the Motorola i335 at the top of their list, citing its benefits as a low cost, easy to use and rugged platform with good audio quality.

Top 10 NetBooks

(As According to PCWorld.com)

Netbooks are light, small, portable and not exactly dripping with processing or graphics power. But if all you want is basic computing on the fly then they are an outstanding option. A Netbook is also great value, the top rated Toshiba NB205-N310 (by PCWorld) Netbook we feature here is currently retailing at around $380 or so.

A common problem with netbooks is a keyboard so cramped you feel it could only be used properly by a small woodland creature. But the NB205-N310 has a fairly roomy keyboard for a netbook, almost the same as a standard laptop keyboard.

Top 5 Digital cameras under $100

(As according to About.com)

Cameras are brilliant, but on the odd occasion you’re either giving one as a gift or you’re trying to take a photo somewhere you don’t want to take an expensive one. Thanks to the ever reliable onward march of technology you can now get a fairly serviceable digital camera for under a hundred dollars. The good people from About.com have come up with a list of cameras they consider to be the best of this ultra low price range.

The camera that they put at the top of the list for this product was the PowerShot A470 by Canon. For the price it’s fairly sturdy and takes a passable photo, and if you drop it over the edge of the Grand Canyon you won’t be too far out of pocket.

September 17 nears and anticipation builds as the supposed release of the Google Android dubbed the G1 goes into pre-sale that day. People are already began to say it will rival the Apples – AT&T’s iPhone or will it?. The phone hasn’t hit the market yet and there has already been a lot controversy over the phone. The Android’s development team is displeased with the overall development of the OS and Googles lack of support to say the least.

What is all the hype about?

Rumors have it that it will include a large 5in x 3in touchscreen (larger than iPhones 3.5in screen), a sliding QWERTY keyboard, 3.0 megapixel camera, 3G data plan and plenty of apps that will make users very pleased. The Android will be available for $150 for existing customer and $350 full retail. Take a look a YouTube video that was released on the phone. It is very grainy and hard to tell what the phone is really like but it is, at the moment; the only video.

What is the downside?

There is a time and place for everything is this world and Androids timing may not be the best thought out. The bar has been set with the iPhone’s unprecedented sales and Symbian going full open source, where does that leave room for the Android at the present time. Essentially what I’m saying: our plates are full and we are trying to digest all the recent technological releases and advances. Not to mention, the T-Mobile’s 3G data network will only work in New York and Las Vegas. A definite setback to others around the country, although T-Mobile is working diligently to get the service up and running in 20 something other cities by years end.

Not to sound cliché but only time will tell what the future holds for the Android. Ok, so I did sound really cliché.