For upcoming vacations, people may be taking trips by car, plane, or van. Some may be staying at a hotel and may be away from a power source for an extended amount of time. I have written about backup batteries recently but it’s always good to hear what’s new and effective out there.
Here are some tips on battery life:
Charge all of your smartphones when the batteries are close to being dead. That’s correct: People overcharge the batteries and wonder why after a year the batteries don’t work. It’s best to use the battery until its at the warning level, then fully charge it. Once it’s at 100 percent unplug the smartphone.
I switched from iPhone to Droid for this very reason. iPhones do not have a removable battery. Sadly, that’s why people have to get new ones after a year. Droid phones have a removable battery. But get a backup battery that is a brand name, not a knock-off. It’s never worth it. The cheap batteries could damage your smartphone.
Purchase two batteries and charge both of them in the phone. Then keep one battery spare.
If you are using Waze for watching movies, that will drain your battery real quick. Even if you have your phone plugged in, the battery drains.
There are many backup battery chargers one can purchase. These units may run on battery, but I find the ones that have a USB plug with outlets are better. The one that I like is the Lepow Stone. It has three ports: Two USB Micro (one that’s a rapid charger), and the third is for power. It comes with a carrying case and cords to charge smartphones. There is a button you can choose to show how much juice is left on the stone. It’s available on Amazon for $35.
About a month ago I was at a function and my friend’s car battery died. It was a cold winter night and he was asking for jumper cables. No one had a set. I did some research and found the PowerAll PBJS12000R Rosso Red/Black Portable Power Bank and Car Jump Starter. This unit had 3500 reviews on Amazon. Watch reviews: These companies will have all their staff and friends put five stars. Read the ones with 1 to 2 stars and see what they say. This unit has adapters for cell phones and all the laptops you can imagine. It has a blinking light for emergencies. So how will I test this? But what caught my eye is it has a port for jumper cables and it comes with the adapter.
On Sunday, a neighbor of mine who is suffering from a terminal disease was going to his grandson’s event. This took three to four people in a special van to bring him there. I saw my neighbors all huddled around the van. They asked me if I had jumper cables. I hooked the van up to the unit with all my neighbors looking skeptical. They had called AAA as well; the gentleman wanted to see if this IT nerd could get this going. It started on the first crank.
This is a must-have as you can charge the unit with AC power after its use. It has a great charge and in an emergency you can charge laptops and smartphones.
After the winter we had and the upcoming holidays? For less than a $100, is it worth it? I will let my readers decide.
If people have noticed that I push Amazon Prime: Amazon purchases are covered by Prime. Even if they are not, if you have an issue you can return it and leave the box right outside your door. Stay tuned: Amazon is coming out with a same-day delivery.
Can I dare to say that we can’t wait one day? Will Pizza Cave have their delivery man grab packages from Amazon? There is a story about someplace that delivers pizza and packages. Great idea, but not sure its time has come.
Shneur Garb is the CEO of The Garb IT Consulting Group in Teaneck. Please feel free to send any of your Tech questions to [email protected].
By Shneur Garb
