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Secrets To Extending Your Electronic Device's Battery Life

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- There is nothing more frustrating than your cell phone dying when you need it most.

With Lithium Ion batteries, the cell phone industry has found a more stable electrical supplier but they are still miniature batteries that are hampered by their size.

Even Verizon in its newest ad introducing the Droid Razr Maxx touts its ability to go longer on a charge. What they don't say is they've doubled the size of the battery that was installed in the original Droid Razr.

The experts say we would all get more life from our cell phones if we would shut down the applications we are not using. Often those apps are running silently in the background and there are apps that are designed to shut down the idle apps that are zapping your battery.

Also turning off your bluetooth, GPS, and WI-fi will help save your battery. Only activate those tools when you need them. Leaving your internet browser running and your email searching for the next message also are big battery drains. Set your email so it only syncs up to your email server when you ask it to, and make sure you turn off your browser when you are done.

Charging your battery every night may not be necessary. Lithium Ion batteries have a built-in limit to the number of times they can be recharged. That number averages around 300, so only charge your battery when it needs to be charged.

Finally, Motorola and other vendors have come out with portable battery chargers that are light weight and easy to slip in a pocket or purse. Reasonably priced in the $30 to $50 range, they charge just like a phone, and are able to pass along that charge to the phone anywhere, anytime.

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