It’s likely that when you’re shopping for a new mobile phone to buy, battery life is an important factor for you. A phone is only as good as its battery – after all, you can’t do much when it goes flat. Anyone who’s ever scrambled to find a place to plug their charger in so they can get through the day, or tried to get through an important call with less than 10% of charge remaining, knows just how much a good or bad battery can change your experience of the phone. Buying a second-hand mobile phone can save you a lot of money, but how do you know if your second-hand mobile phone will come with a good battery?
If you’ve heard about refurbished smartphones, you’re probably aware that they’re a little different to regularly used phones. While a refurbished phone has had a previous owner, it’s also been tested by a company like OzMobiles to make sure every component of the phone still works – that includes the battery. When you buy refurbished, you get a warranty with your purchase and a guarantee of a higher standard of quality. Refurbished phones have been factory reset as well, so there’s no danger of finding the previous owner’s files or photos on them.
So can you trust a refurbished phone’s battery health? And how do you check the phone battery health on a device you buy, whether it’s refurbished or new? How much does it matter?
Read on to explore the importance of a refurbished phone’s battery health and how you can be sure to find a phone with an excellent battery.
Battery Health Guide for Refurbished Phones
Refurbished phones are commonly sold in grades, so you know what kind of state you can expect them to be in. Some are in pristine condition, and in the case of ‘ex-demo’ phones, they have only been taken out of their boxes to be put on display in retail outlets. A standard part of the refurbishment process is that every part that no longer works properly gets repaired or replaced, and that includes batteries. Not every refurbished phone gets a new battery because not every refurbished phone needs one. All a refurbished phone needs is battery health of at least 80%.
Battery health refers to the number of cycles of charging and discharging left in a smartphone for the remainder of its lifespan. For example, iPhones have 1000 cycles when you buy them brand new. When 800 cycles remain, that’s battery health of at least 80%. Battery health differs from battery life, which refers to how much juice is left in the phone before it runs out and needs charging.
It’s easy to check your phone’s battery health on both iPhone and Samsung Galaxy: take a look in Settings > Battery > Battery Health and Charging on Apple and Diagnostics > Battery Status on Samsung. Other Android smartphones may require you to download an app or input a code in order to check your phone’s battery health.
If your refurbished phone’s battery health is poor, you’ll notice that even a simple task of making a phone call will cause it to drain very quickly. Your phone will need to be charged more frequently and may overheat even while you’re performing simple tasks.
When it comes to using a refurbished phone, battery health makes a major difference in how much you get out of it throughout the day.
The Effects of Battery Life on Phone Performance
Many of the signs of a bad battery are pretty obvious. If your phone runs out of power too quickly or the level of power drops as soon as you unplug it from a charger, that’s a sure sign of poor battery life. A battery running out of charge too fast can compromise your ability to perform even regular day-to-day tasks with your phone.
If your phone begins to bulge in the middle or overheat on or off the charger, that’s a bad sign. Exploding smartphones is rare but not unheard of.
An older battery can also cause the processing and performance speed of your phone to lag as your phone slows down to preserve your power for a longer time.
Whether you’re buying a new or a refurbished phone, battery health is worth protecting. Luckily there are some steps you can take to protect the battery health of your second-hand mobile phone.
Tips to Preserve Battery Life of a Refurbished Phone
How do you look after your refurbished phone’s battery health? If you want a battery that lasts for a long time and stays reliable (and who doesn’t?), here are some tips:
Don’t charge your battery to 100% or let it drop to 0%
Letting your battery run out completely and then charging it back up to full capacity doesn’t calibrate the battery (that’s a myth left over from the days of older battery types). By doing either, you’re just causing your battery unnecessary stress and shortening its lifespan. Instead, you should aim to charge your battery to 80% and avoid letting it drop below 30%.
Don’t let your phone overheat
Heat has a slow but powerfully destructive effect on the health of your smartphone’s battery. A phone kept between 25 – 40 degrees holds onto about 85-96% of its capacity after the first year, but letting the temperature get above 40 degrees on a regular basis reduces that to 65%. Overcharging, overusing fast-charging technologies, sleeping with your phone under your pillow or leaving it on the dashboard of your car can all be risk factors for battery overheating.
Don’t charge your phone overnight or leave it plugged in all-day
As common as these practices are, they tend to be two of the biggest risk factors for overstressing and overheating your battery. Avoid this by unplugging your phone before bedtime to ensure you don’t leave your phone to charge over time.
Don’t play games or watch videos while your phone battery is charging
Charging your phone battery while engaging in activities that take their toll on that charge leads to “parasitic loading”. This interferes with the charging cycle so that parts of the battery deteriorate faster than the rest.
With some care and planning, it isn’t too hard to protect your refurbished phone’s battery health. But it’s important to ensure you buy your refurbished phone from the right retailer too.
Guaranteed Battery Health for Refurbished Phones at OzMobiles?
If battery health feels like the biggest gamble when shopping for second-hand mobile phones, the safer option is buying a refurbished smartphone from OzMobiles. We have refurbished phones of all kinds, including iPhones, all covered by our Battery Health Guarantee.
Here’s how our Battery Health Guarantee works. First, we test all our devices at our Melbourne headquarters to make sure they meet the high standards you’d expect in Australia. This, of course, includes battery life, which we make sure is at least 80%. We offer a 12-month warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee. If your phone drops below 80% during the first 12 months (your warranty period), we’ll arrange to repair or replace it for free.
We’re not only focused on your refurbished phone’s battery health, but we also want to keep the price affordable for you as well. That’s why our shipping is free and fast. If you’ve found a better deal on the same phone elsewhere, we’ll beat that price by $10 (terms and conditions apply). We also help you pay off your new refurbished phone over time with services like ZipPay, AfterPay and PayPal Pay in 4 instalments.
For more information on refurbished phones, including how to find the right one for you and how to check your phone battery health, get in touch with the OzMobiles team!
