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Don’t do anything fun on your phone

Seriously, not doing anything fun on your phone is the number ten way to make your cell phone battery last longer, according to a column in today’s edition of The Punch.

And here are the full details from the article:

If you have fun on your phone, your battery life will dramatically decrease. Accessing the web, playing games, navigating via GPS and capturing photos or video are not things to do while you’re in the middle of nowhere without a charger. Do these when there is a guarantee for your charging source.

We get playing games and capturing photos and videos, but since when did accessing the web and navigating via GPS become classified strictly as fun?

What if you are in the middle of nowhere and your spouse calls about a medical emergency that requires urgent funds – and you need to use your mobile web browser to effect an online transfer? Would that be classified as fun?

We can think of a number of other serious uses that someone could need web browsing for when in the middle of nowhere without a charger.

As for GPS, one would think that the primary purpose of GPS is for navigating especially when you are in the middle of nowhere.

We do think that this number ten point should read: “Don’t do anything not necesarry on your phone“. That sounds better.

Or are we nitpicking?


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17 Comments

  1. accessing the web is so important to me that I’ve dedicated my Sony Ericsson phone for web browsing and running other java applications and I bought a dual SIM Chinese phone strictly for phone calls, music and video and other things that I CONSIDER fun.

    Web access is strictly not fun for me

    SEMC-java 2.0 SEMC-java 2.0 SonyEricsson SonyEricsson
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  2. While reading the prelude to this article, i had thought that this rule was from Alireta. Thankfully it’s not; and you guys have aptly put it better.

    Even making unnecessary phone calls will drain your battery faster also.

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  3. While reading the prelude to this article, i had thought that this rule was from Alireta.

    He he :-D

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  4. Lets not forget the writer said are not things to do while you’re in the middle of nowhere without a charger. Do these when there is a guarantee of a charging source..

    I kinda agree with him except when of course in times of EMERGENCY as Alireta clearly stated ;)

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  5. nit·pick·ing (n t p k ng). n.
    Minute, trivial, unnecessary,
    and unjustified criticism or
    faultfinding.
    A new word to add to my vocab!

    ‘If you have fun on your
    phone, your battery life
    will dramatically
    decrease. Accessing the
    web, playing games,
    navigating via GPS and
    capturing photos or
    video are not things to
    do while you ’re in the
    middle of nowhere
    without a charger. Do
    these when there is a
    guarantee for your
    charging source.’

    The writer was trying to point out activities that can drain the battery faster (than sending sms and making INTERMITTENT calls). That may, you do not get caught with a flat phone battery.

    Browsing the web drains the battery faster than reading an ebook on a phone, for instance. .

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  6. In my opinion, the reason why these things are called mobile phones is because they should be usable and used away from the charger as much as possible.

    When shopping, I am always on the lookout for battery life. I believe that I should be able to use any of the built-in features (if only moderately) on my phone when away from the charger. Music, web, video, camera. That’s what the thing was built for.

    I do all those things on my phones when away from a charger. So far, I haven’t been disappointed with my choice of phones. They go 12 to 18 hours on a single charge. That has always been enough time to find a charger, though I can imagine that wouldn’t do in some rare extreme cases.

    Alireta, does the Punch article advice that consumers look out for phones with solid battery life?

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  7. Dayann,

    No; the article does not include that.

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  8. Too bad. Whoever drew up the list missed out the most important piece of advice

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  9. “Do not use your desktop in Nigeria because you may not be able to charge back your UPS”.

    We all know Nigeria is the middle of nowhere as far as electricity is concerned, but is the advice given above a reasonable one?

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  10. hey comon guys, this stuff is common sense! Why do non essential things on your phone when you are in the middle of nowhere?

    In fact even when I am in the middle of somewhere -my home- I am sometimes careful not to do “unnecessary” things on my phone cos NEPA (abi PHCN) is so unreliable I don’t want to run down my battery. I wait when electricity is available then do the “unnecessary” stuff while the phone is tethered to a charger.

    I am sure we can remember the last time one was checking out someone’s phone and after fiddling with it for a while the person snaps “don’t run down my battery!”

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  11. Why do non essential things on your phone when you are in the middle of nowhere?

    Isn’t this what we proposed, as against what the article suggested? “Unnecesarry” is the operative word; not “fun”.

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  12. Interesting discussion.

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  13. I consider my phone a work tool, and I hardly think of it and its features, which includes capturing photos and videos as having fun. Capturing photos and videos for me is serious work.

    I agree with Alireta that term unnecessary rather than fun should have been used.

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  14. To me, one has to decide between amusing yourself whilst in the middle of nowhere and making or recieving calls which is more important, for me i’ve two dedicated phone for self amusement and another for my phone calls. To me my calls are downright important to me. Word of advice: an additional battery might come in handy

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  15. Quick question, on the Nokia E71X now not the e71, the unlocked e71x where do you to change the wap configuration. Thanks

    The e71x is the at&t branded one

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  16. The title of this post should be ‘dont use your phone to do anything other than calls’.

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  17. :lol:

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