This article was taken from the June 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
As first-world problems go, depleted battery life tends to sit pretty high on the list. Whether it's because the phone shut down at 13 percent again, or just the sheer speed of the power drainage, lithium-ion batteries don't get many compliments. However, Billy Wu, engineering professor at Imperial College London, explains that we may simply be charging them incorrectly. "You shouldn't keep your phone fully charged," he says. "There are certain fibre reactions that happen inside the battery that cause it to degrade over time -- and this happens faster at higher states of charge." His advice: don't top it up to more than 80 per cent. Here are some more of his power tips.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
