h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How long does one's average mobile 'phone last for before its likely to break?

It depends how long it can take the abuse I give it
My present one has survived two years, Including being left on the roof of the car when I drove off and getting dropped from the third floor and bouncing down the stair well.

However its predesesser lasted less than two weeks it fell off the desk at work and the screen broke.

Both were / are the same model.

Mine is two and a half years old and still going strong, except that the print has worn off the OK and Cancel buttons, so I have to guess which is which...

I have one that has lasted about 6 yeasrs now - but I am too embarassed to take it out with me these days as it is the size of half a house brick and heavier too.
I guess that with mobiles, as with clothes, changes in fashion mean that most are discarded before they actually break.
That said - with the "memory effect", my battery life oin the mobile is down to half what it originally was - and they no longer make replacements .
I think there should be a law that says anyone making an electronic devoce should ensure replacement parts are available for at least the next decade....I've thrown away soo much stuff for the want of a ha'penny washer!

Following on from Duncans post above.
The first one I used (circa 1989) was a car phone with an attached lead acid battery pack, to make it mobile (luggable more like), it weighed in at about 10 lbs.
Mere mortals like me couldn't afford one in those days and this one was issued to whoever was on call that week.

Its successor was a brick, sounds like the one Duncan still has, Battery life soon became a joke due to the memory effect and new batteries were needed every two years when the old ones reached the point where you couldn't make a 5 minute call any more, and that was after all the discharge and recharge tricks to reduce the memory effect.

All I can say is thank goodness for the new ones which actually fit in your pocket and don't leave you with one arm longer than the other from carrying it about

Even worse, the interference generated when it moves from one cell to another and you have a radio on; or when someone rings; can scare the life out of you.
On the other hand, the recharger is good in that you just drop the phone in a slot, and there's even a spare slot so you can recharge two batteries at once....no fiddling with silly little plugs for me

*looks girlie & dumb*

Memory effect?

Nickle Cadmium batteries lose storage capacity if they are repeatedly charge / discharge cycled without the cell being fully discharged before re-charging.
I'm sure theres some chemist out there who can explain why?

Mobile phones refuse to work unless the battery has a fair amount of charge in it and turn themselves off well before the battery is fully discharged so if you didn't drain the battery fully before recharging you gradually lost battery capacity.

New phones don't use a different combination in the batteries and don't therefore suffer to the same degree as the old ones.

Ahhh....
I shouldv'e known that...

I used to know the explanation for the memory effect, but... er... I've forgotten.
*loud groans from the other researchers*

Oh go on Vibe I'm sure you can dig it out

A really good source of battery info is

[Unsuitable link removed by Moderator]

It is a commercial site, but you don't have to register to get access, and their Battery Book and Battery FAQ are excellent.

For those with newsgroup access, sci.chem.electrochem.battery might be worth a look.

but for the record, always try and allow your phone (and other consumer products that use rechargables) to run out totaly before re-charging. My phone (motorola c520)sometimes has to be persuaded to charge up fully, when it has said it has finished I unplug it and then plug it in again and it then accepts more power.

CH

Okay, off the top of my head:
If you charge the battery before it's flat, it doesn't need the full amount of charging.
Next time around, you let the battery run down completely, but when you charge it, it only accepts the same amount of charge as last time, so it doesn't charge the battery fully. Therefore, if you keep charging it before it's flat, it accepts less and less charge each time.
Or something like that.

*emerges from delving in old threads*

So - is your mobile still working, J'eau-Anne?

(Mine is well over three years old, a Siemens C25 and boy was I glad I had it at the Meet, when I got lost!)

Most phone batteries, if not all, are now Ni-MH, Nickel-MetalHydride, as opposed to Ni-Cd, Nickel Cadmium.

Ni-MH don't suffer from a memory effect but at one time production costs were higher. Both types are easily rechargable unlike typical alkaline batteries (the electrolyte - the bit in the middle - in Ni-Cds is alkaline) which can be charged but need their temperature checked to avoid them making a poisonous mess all over the place.

SLAs, Sealed Lead Acid batteries, are the most versatile to charge except when they are fully discharged. The do not suffer any memory effect and can be charged on continuous or a charge/discharge cycle. The PD - potential difference or voltage, betweent the electodes stays very constant right up until the unit is nearly discharged. SLAs have a low internal resistance and are capable of sourcing large amounts of current but are very heavy and have a limited number of charge/discharges.

Erm I just left the room to answer the phone and I can't remember what I was going to say.

Here endeth the bloody boring post on batteries.

Oh - I've had my mobile for 18 months and have had to have the screen replaced once.

Liam.

Mobile phones - the spawn of satan

I have no idea how long the phone I handed back to my old employer lasted after I left. I hope it was a long time and all spent in great pain

My phones tend to last a year or so, when He-who-pays-the bill usually decides to change it. But as I'm rather fond of this weeny one and its pretty metallic peachy colour, I have hung to it for 14 months.

The ring tone will probably last longer as I've finally unearthed the M*A*S*H theme after months of searching.

Well, when I originally got my first 'phone I went through a bad run of having unreliable ones, which broke after a few days.
Then I had the same 'phone for a couple of years.
Then it started to deny the existance of its sim card, so I got a new one.
Then the old one started working again.
Then I lost the new one (don't ask how or where - it was pay as you go, wthout much credit, I searched high and low, and I think it was nicked, but it was uninsured) so I just went back to the old one. Then lost it.
Then I got another new phone, this time insured and on a contract and with a different company, which I've had happily for a few months. However, Andy's version of the same phone broke spontaneously after about 1.5 months of use...

*brushes off the cobwebs*
I've had two phones since I last posted here. Not because they broke, I just got bored with them.