Cell phones are getting tougher and tougher. With Apple now on its ninth generation for iPhones since their inception in 2007, the days of the easy shatter screens and accidental water damage are fast becoming things of the past. With all that progress it can be difficult to remember that these high tech gadgets are still very sensitive pieces of technology.

In fact, despite the huge strides that have been made towards making our phones more durable, they are still prone to damage. That is especially true for phone batteries.

As any phone owner knows, it can be hard to stop in the middle of the day to find a place to charge your phone up. Fortunately, by avoiding several practices, you can vastly improve the longevity of your battery.

1. Avoid Charging with Damged Cords

Easily damaged and constantly misplaced, the cord you use to charge your phone can seem like an afterthought. If these cords are damaged, however, you risk causing real damage to your battery as well. That is because a damaged cord can put a negative charge on your phone, which can have a dire effect on your battery.

2. Avoid Keeping Your Phone On All The Time

Turning off your cell phone from time to time has been advocated by many people, likely including your mother. But it actually has a tangible effect on the lifespan of your battery as well. The time off give your phone the time to recover.

3. Avoid Extreme Temperatures

Just like everything else, your cell phone has an optimal temperature range. Anything too hot or too cold can have an effect on your phone’s battery. Hot temperatures are especially can cause very permanent damage to your batteries capacity.

4. Not Updating the Software

While software can take up a great deal of space on your phone, it can make all the difference for your battery life. That is because these updates can fix subtle efficiency problems that you might not have noticed yet. This optimization means that you aren’t constant draining your battery life.

There is no doubt that cell phones are more durable than ever before. By avoiding the above situations, you can prolong their life even further.

If you are interested in learning more, or to learn about our affordable cell phone plans, contact the experts at one of Direct Paging and Cellular’s many cricket stores in Tucson. Or visit a Cricket store today!

Nearly two-thirds of Americans owned a smartphone in 2015. That means that there was somewhere around 200 million smartphones in use during that period. That is a lot of cell phones.

But smartphones are expensive, sometimes incredibly so. Not everyone has the ability to purchase a brand new phone every time one comes out, and so has to resort to purchasing a used cell phone. These are generally cheaper but have the exact same features as a normal, new, phone.

Myths About Used Cell Phones

Used cell phones, like many used products, have a bad reputation about being broken or defective or any other myths you may have heard. And that’s the truth, they’re myths. No cell phone provider or store would sell a defective product to a customer.

In fact, many retailers and carriers will offer a 30-day money back guarantee with the purchase of new phones, so many of the pre-owned phones are not actually defective or broken, just unwanted and returned.

There are many myths surrounding used cell phones, the most prevalent being them being defective, and all of them portray the phones in a potentially bad light. The truth is, however, that these used phones actually have a lot of benefits.

Benefits

Chief among these benefits is environmental. Buying used electronics cuts down on tech waste. New phones are produced at an alarming rate, and often have new models coming out just a year or two after the last one.

According to Forbes and the Environmental Literacy Council, the average lifespan for a smartphone is around 18 months. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) claims that somewhere around 90% of phones purchased will be thrown out without proper recycling, leaving only that remaining 10% to be recycled.

Another obvious benefit is the savings from getting a pre-owned phone versus a new one. They can save you a lot of money, anywhere from 25-30% when compared to a full-price unit. This allows you to get an upgrade out of your smartphone plan, and not pay large sums of money to do it.

So whether if you’re looking at getting a smartphone, or upgrading your existing one, consider getting a used smartphone. You could save yourself a lot of money, and benefit the environment, by doing so.

If you’ve been keeping up with Apple’s iPhone 8 teasers, then you have probably heard that they are making the switch to OLED.

While the term OLED is new to the world of smartphones, the technology has been a staple of televisions since 2013. They have since become the top option when it comes to color contrast and picture quality.

With iPhone leading the charge, other leaders in the manufacturing cell phone plan to start incorporating the technology, abandoning their old LCD systems.

But what exactly is OLED, and why is it better than the LCD systems that the iPhone 7 employed? Our experts at Direct Paging and Cellular, the leader for cricket stores in Tucson put together a primer to help you understand this new technology.

What Is OLED

OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode. At its simplest, an OLED system relies on an organic compound (typically containing carbon) that emits light when prompted by electricity.

Is It Really Better than LCD

OLED has a number of great benefits. For starters, they use less energy to produce images, in part due to the unique way they create color. Because an OLED screen requires no energy to produce the color black, then any color made with black pixels will require less energy to render on OLED than on LCD.

And speaking of the color black, the OLED system that is capable of producing a true black, meaning OLED lights have an infinite contrast ratio — something that no other system can truly claim.

How Does This Affect Cell Phones

For starters, it means that cell phones will become slightly more fragile. That is because the OLED panel is incredibly delicate, requiring protective glass panels on both sides. It also means a much greater image resolution and clarity which will better facilitate streaming videos. And while nothing is certain with the next wave of telephones, it is reasonable to expect the new OLED lights to allow for even thinner cell phones.

OLED is primed to become the industry standard for lighting and screen picture in cell phones. Hopefully, this guide has helped you understand it better because if you are one of the estimated 190.5 million smartphone users that our nation boasts, then it is only a matter of time until you’ll be using an OLED phone screen yourself.

If you are interested in learning more, contact the experts at one of Direct Paging and Cellular’s 8 cricket stores in Tucson.

In 2015, roughly two-thirds of Americans owned a smartphone and that number seems to be increasing every year. People rely on their phones more than ever, too. Because of how much time the average user spends on their phone, the batteries are dying at extremely fast rates. To stop using your phone clearly isn’t an option these days, so you need to find a way to preserve battery life while still being able to use your phone when you need it.

Here are some tips to keep your phone’s battery working stronger for a longer period of time.

1. Don’t leave your phone plugged in. Leaving your phone plugged in for longer than it takes to reach 100% battery life is actually very damaging to your phone. Doing this will result in your phone dying at a much faster rate and you’ll have to rely more on charging your phone, further ruining your battery in the process.
2. Disable your phone’s GPS. GPS apps usually take up the most energy of just about any other program on your phone. It’s one thing if you’re in need of a GPS or an app you’re using requires your location, but you shouldn’t always have your GPS on.
3. Don’t let your phone constantly search for a stronger signal. If you’re in an area with no signal, your phone will continue to look for a better connection. Doing this will use up a significant amount of power and eventually burn your phone out. Make sure you’re in an area with a good signal, are using quality cell phone plans, and aren’t letting your phone constantly search for a stronger signal.
4. Turn off vibrations. No one wants to be the person in the quiet movie theater with their phone’s ringtone going off every few minutes, but rather than just setting it to “vibrate mode,” you might want to consider turning your phone off or putting it on silent. Vibrations actually use more energy than ringtones do, so you’re much better off limiting the vibrations altogether.
5. Close out apps you’re not using. Using a bunch of apps throughout a week or month and not closing them out can be disastrous for your phone’s battery life. You should clear out your apps at least once a day to make sure you’re not wasting energy.
6. Don’t ever let your phone die. Try your best to keep your phone’s battery above 40% at all times. The lower your energy levels get, the more energy your phone will actually use to keep it going. If you let your phone’s battery life get down to 0% and die, your phone is going to get worse and worse.




Make sure that your cell phone plans aren’t resulting in wasted energy programs, too. Some cell phone plans include high roaming rates and strange fees, so make sure you’re working with a credible company when you’re deciding on a phone.

If you’re in need of quality cell phone plans, new or used cell phones, or want to learn more about preserving your phone’s battery life, contact Direct Cellular today.