Charging My iPhone Overnight Will Overload the Battery: FALSE

The one thing all the experts agree upon is that smartphones are smart enough that they do not let an overload happen. Extra protection chips inside make sure that doesn’t happen in a tablet or smartphone or even a laptop. Once the internal Lithium-ion battery hits 100 percent of its capacity, charging stops. That usually happens within an hour or two, tops.

If you leave the smartphone plugged in overnight, it’s going to use a bit of energy constantly trickling new juice to the battery every time it falls to 99 percent. That is eating into your phone’s lifespan (see below).

 

The best thing to do: Don’t worry about this too much. Plug the phone in when you go to sleep; if you wake up sometime in the night, unplug it to prevent constant trickle-charging. If you don’t wake much, plug your phone into a smart home outlet that you put on a schedule so it turns off.

Potential problems that could be encountered while charging overnight:

1) It is hot in here? The trickle charge can cause some heating up. Many experts recommend taking a phone fully out of the case to charge overnight. At the very least, do NOT stack a bunch of crap like books or other devices on top of a charging device. And for the love of Jobs, don’t put it under your pillow. Do any of the above and you can expect the phone to get hot—not necessarily enough for spontaneous combustion, but at least enough to damage the battery (see below). If you are afraid of fire, some in the UK recommend leaving the charging device on a dish or saucer while plugged in, or put it on something metal that is more likely to disappate heat, like a heatsink does on the chips inside a PC.

2) Bad Cables. If you’re using a knock-off cable that isn’t from the manufacturer, or at least “certified” in some way (iPhone Lightning cables should be MFi certified, for example), it could be a problem. The cord and connectors may not be up to the specifications needed for the phone or tablet. Don’t skimp by buying chintzy cables.

Apple bows to mounting pressure, offers $29 battery replacements to regain trust

A week after it was first revealed Apple was slowing down older iPhones, ostensibly to stabilize performance, the company has succumbed to mounting pressure and, as an apparent gesture of goodwill, is offering owners of an iPhone 6 and later models a battery replacement for $29 — a limited-time $50 discount.

You are likely familiar with the rumor that Apple throttles older iPhones in an effort to make users resort to buying new devices. Of course, Apple maintains that’s not the case and it offered a statement regarding why iPhones may struggle as they get older.

Apple confirmed it slowed down older iPhones in an effort to better handle the power output that aging batteries can offer. Some users were upset. So much, in fact, that several lawsuits have been filed against the company.

“Defendant breached the implied contracts it made with Plaintiffs and Class Members by purposefully slowing down older iPhone models when new models come out and by failing to properly disclose that at the time the parties entered into an agreement,” reads a lawsuit filed by Wilshire Law Firm on behalf of Stefan Bogdanovich and Dakota Speas. The pair are seeking both California and nationwide class action status for their suit, according to a report from TMZ.

Apple Insider has reported that attorneys on behalf of Keaton Harvey have filed another suit against Apple. The class-action suit alleges that the company’s decision to slow down old iPhones “allowed Apple to conceal the true nature and scope of the battery defect and to avoid expending time, money, and effort on correcting it.”

The suit requests that Apple notify owners about changes to the OS, repair the flaws in the software that led to the throttling, and reimburse those who bought affected iPhones.

In light of the suits, on Thursday, December 28, Apple released an apology for the confusion surrounding battery and performance issues. In its apology, the company stated “we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.”

Apple also promised to release a software update in 2018 that will allow users to better monitor battery performance and health on their devices. Additionally, it stated it will reduce the price of battery replacement on all iPhone 6 phones and later to $29 for the next year.

Recent throttling accusations first appeared a couple of weeks ago, when a Redditor shared Geekbench results take right before and right after the battery in an iPhone 6S was replaced. According to the Redditor, who goes by the name TeckFire, the iPhone performed as much as 20 percent better after the battery replacement.

After the Reddit post, John Poole, who founded Primate Labs, offered a more visualized look at the link between battery health and iPhone performance. Benchmarking tests were performed on iOS 10.2.0 and 10.2.1, and show some pretty serious differences in performance. Apple introduced an update in iOS 10.2.1 aimed at fixing an issue where some iPhone 6S models shut down, thanks to uneven power delivery from older batteries in the phones. That power management feature is what was causing the performance dips on some iPhone models.

According to Apple, there is a good reason for the performance dip.

“Lithium-ion batteries become less capable of supplying peak current demands when in cold conditions, have a low battery charge, or as they age over time, which can result in the device unexpectedly shutting down to protect its electronic components,” Apple said in a statement to TechCrunch.

In other words, when an iPhone’s battery gets older, it becomes less capable of delivering enough power to the processor during a peak of performance, and when that happens it has to spread out the power requests over a few processor cycles. The result of that is a dip in performance.

That’s what is triggered when benchmarks are run — they look like performance peaks and valleys to an operating system, and as such on older batteries the power requests will be spread out. Upgrade to a new battery, and power will be delivered much more effectively.

It’s not all that surprising. As a battery ages, it stops working as well. That has always been the case and likely always will be. That doesn’t mean that the average performance of a device is being affected, nor does it mean that Apple is throttling your phone to make you upgrade. OF course, Apple could have been a little more transparent — a simple notification telling users that their battery is getting old and that they may see a performance dip because of it would go a long way. That lack of notification may be a serious point of contention when and if the new lawsuit ever gains ground.

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How to pick between the iPhone X and iPhone 8

Apple introduced three brand new iPhones yesterday. Three! They include the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, which have faster processors and better cameras than last year’s iPhone 7 — and now you can charge them wirelessly. And then there’s the iPhone X, a $1,000 smartphone that Apple is basically trying to market as a gadget from the future that arrived a little early. It’s the first iPhone ever to have an OLED screen, and even better, that stunning display basically runs edge to edge. iPhone X comes with other radical changes like the removal of the home button in favor of a new feature Apple is calling Face ID, which scans your face to unlock your iPhone instead of the traditional Touch ID method still used on the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.

So since there are three new iPhones arriving (almost) at once, you’ve probably been putting some thought into which is the best choice. For the purpose of this article, let’s go into it from the perspective of someone dead set on buying a new iPhone within the next couple months. You’ve ruled out the Pixel 2s and Note 8s of the world and have decided on Apple. Well, where do you go from there?

Why you might want to buy the iPhone 8:

  • The iPhone 8 is the first iPhone to support wireless charging. Apple changed up the iPhone’s looks a bit this year with a glass back instead of just making the whole thing aluminum. So you’ll be able to plop the iPhone 8 down onto any Qi-compatible wireless charger and it’ll start juicing up. Many of the places where you’d find wireless chargers (like Starbucks and inside some newer cars) already support the same Qi technology as the iPhone, so it’ll just work.
  • It has the same powerful A11 Bionic processor as the iPhone X. That sounds like something from a Mission: Impossible movie, but all you really need to know is that it’s the fastest chip that Apple has ever put in an iPhone — and the iPhone 7 already felt plenty fast. This new chip is also optimized for all the cool augmented reality tricks that you might’ve seen demos of. Soon, those will make their way to actual apps and games in the App Store. All recent iPhones can do AR, but Apple claims the 8 and X have been “optimized” for it.
  • You get the same primary camera as what’s in both the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X. The 12-megapixel f/1.8 camera has a “larger and faster” sensor than the iPhone 7, says Apple, so if all you care about is having one good camera, this should be excellent. It’s got optical image stabilization and can record 4K video at 24, 30, or 60FPS — just like the other new phones.
  • The display supports Apple’s True Tone feature, which adjusts the screen’s appearance and color temperature so that it always looks pleasant and less blue / harsh to your eyes in a variety of lighting environments.
  • Unlike the iPhone 8 Plus, the regular iPhone 8 is still relatively easy to use in one hand. The iPhone X should be too, but it’s also hundreds of dollars more expensive.
  • iPhone 7 cases still fit.

Why you might not:

  • It’s only got the one rear camera, so you lose out on Apple’s Portrait mode and the new Portrait Lighting feature, which can change the lighting of a subject’s face in your shot.
  • The 4.7-inch screen is smaller and lower-res (1334×750) than the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X. If you like things to look big on your screen and get lost in YouTube videos or your Instagram feed, the iPhone 8’s display might not be ideal.
  • It has the smallest battery of the three new iPhones. Apple has promised users will experience “about the same” battery life as the iPhone 7, so you might find yourself buying a battery case.

Why you might want to buy the iPhone 8 Plus:

  • Aside from their different displays and dimensions/weight — and those are important — the iPhone 8 Plus offers pretty much every single major new feature that the pricier $1,000 iPhone X does. It’s got the processor. It’s got the wireless charging. It’s got dual cameras on the back and can do the same new Portrait Lighting effects as the iPhone X. The 5.5-inch LCD screen has True Tone.
  • It has the familiarity of a home button and the versatility of Touch ID. Maybe you’re not convinced the iPhone X’s gestures and virtual home bar are really an upgrade. Plus, sometimes people just want to unlock their phone without having to look directly at it.
  • It has the best battery life of all three new models.
  • iPhone 7 Plus cases still fit.

Why you might not:

  • This thing feels like a “Plus” phone more than ever before when compared to the all-screen competition from Samsung, LG, Essential, and now Apple’s top-tier iPhone X. Other smartphone designs are getting more efficient, but the iPhone 8 Plus remains just as unwieldy as its three predecessors.
  • Although the 5.5-inch 1080p LCD has superb color accuracy, it’s not going to be as vibrant or eye-catching as the iPhone X’s new OLED screen.
  • It’s not really all that much cheaper than the iPhone X. If you get a 256GB iPhone 8 Plus, you’re already inching very close to that $1,000 mark.

Why you might want to buy the iPhone X:

  • Visually, it’s Apple’s most impressive and futuristic iPhone design ever thanks to the 5.8-inch edge-to-edge OLED screen on the front and its stainless steel frame.
  • It’s a big screen in a small overall form factor. The iPhone X measures a bit bigger than the iPhone 8, but it’s nowhere near the dimensions of the iPhone 8 Plus. It should be fairly comfortable to use in one hand. And in that hand is pretty much all display.
  • The OLED screen has better contrast than the displays on iPhone 8 and 8 Plus, and it supports HDR video.
  • You can unlock your phone with your face. If you like being the first to try Apple’s latest technology, Face ID is the biggest adjustment that iPhone users will have to make in years.
  • Animoji and Portrait mode on the selfie camera. All of the sensors that make Face ID possible are also used for Animoji, which are moving emoji that mimic your facial expressions, and allow you to take portrait shots with blurred backgrounds (and Portrait Lighting) using the front-facing camera. Other iPhones can’t do that.
  • The telephoto portrait lens on the iPhone X’s dual-camera has a better aperture than the iPhone 8 Plus. (f/2.4 vs. f/2.8).
  • Both rear cameras have optical image stabilization, which should allow you to use the telephoto lens in darker conditions. On the iPhone 8 Plus, only the primary camera does.

Why you might not:

  • It’s the most expensive iPhone ever.
  • There’s no home button or Touch ID. Unlocking your phone requires looking directly at it. Every time. Unless you want to go old school with the passcode.
  • Apple’s gestures for going back to the home screen and multitasking look somewhat awkward in early examples and demonstrations. At the most basic level, they’re definitely not as simple as just hitting a button with your thumb.
  • The notch that houses the front-facing camera and other sensors. It’s just kind of there all the time, and Apple is embracing that. That should be perfectly fine in apps, but the notch is likely to obscure content from time to time. We’ve already seen that it sticks out into videos if you play them full-screen in landscape orientation. Are you the kind of person who can ignore that? I’m not sure I am.
  • AppleCare+ is more expensive than for previous iPhones.
  • It doesn’t come out until November.

What do all three new iPhone models have in common?

  • Same processor: A11 Bionic
  • Same primary 12-megapixel camera
  • Same 7-megapixel selfie camera
  • Same video recording capabilities: 4K at 60, 30, and 24FPS. 1080p slo-mo at 240FPS
  • Wireless charging
  • “The hardest glass ever in a smartphone, front and back.”
  • IP67 water and dust resistance
  • Same maximum screen brightness
  • 3D Touch
  • Fast charging
  • 64GB or 256GB storage options

So if you’re already set on getting one of these new iPhones, for me it would come down to the iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X. The iPhone 8 is a little too small for my big hands, and I need a larger screen. Picking an ultimate winner between those two might come down to the wire before preorders for the former kick off early Friday morning. The iPhone X’s OLED screen is beautiful, but a home button and Touch ID still feel somewhat critical to me — at least until I’ve handled the X firsthand and can judge the gestures and face recognition myself. The release date of iPhone 8 / 8 Plus and iPhone X are far enough apart that if you start off with one of the 8s and come to regret it, you’ve still got enough time to return it and hold out for the X.

Shame that Apple didn’t just put the home button and Touch ID on the back of the iPhone X, though. That would’ve been just about perfect.

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4 ways to turn off annoying notifications on your Android phone or iPhone

So there you are, doing your best to connect with a friend over a cup of coffee, but you can’t help but notice the pulsing alert on your phone’s touchscreen. What if it’s your babysitter trying to reach you, or a nasty email from your boss?

You surreptitiously unlock your phone to see what the fuss is about—and just like that, you become one of those people who can’t keep their hands off their handsets, even when there’s a flesh-and-blood person in front of them. (Oh, and that message on the screen? It was a promo for a half-off sale. Great.)

The good news is that your Android phone or iPhone boasts a series of tools that can help you concentrate on the people who matter, rather than being distracted by random calls, messages, and alerts.

Read on for four ways to keep your eyes and hands off your phone, starting with…

Let Do Not Disturb mode screen your calls (Android and iOS)

Sure, activating Do Not Disturb mode for iOS (tap Settings > Do Not Disturb, or tap the Do Not Disturb button from the swipe-up Command Center pane) or Android (flick down with two fingertips to reveal Quick Settings, then tap the Do Not Disturb button) is a great way to keep your phone from buzzing during lunch, but you may still find yourself tempted to check your messages. After all, what if your spouse is trying to reach you—or your irate supervisor, for that matter?

Here’s a trick that’ll help keep your mind on your Caesar salad: just set Do Not Disturb to screen your calls and text messages, allowing only the most important ones through. That way, you’ll be confident that your silent Android phone or iPhone isn’t actually ringing off the hook with mission-critical calls, and more likely to pay attention during your lunchtime chat.

For Android:

  • Tap Settings > Sound > Do not disturb > Priority only allows, then pick some options. For example, you can set “priority only” to include incoming calls and texts from contacts, reminders, event alerts, and repeat callers. To restrict call and text alerts to your innermost circle, make sure Calls and Messages is set to Starred contacts only, then go through the Contacts app and star only those contacts who really, truly matter to you. Finally, a Repeat callers setting will allow a caller to get through if they’ve called twice within 15 minutes.
  • To enable Priority mode, flick down from the top of the screen to reveal Quick Settings, tap Do Not Disturb, then make sure the Priority only tab is enabled.
  • Finally, sit back and give your full, undivided attention to a (grateful) friend.

Note: Android’s version of Do Not Disturb boasts three different modes: Priority Only, which blocks specific alerts for apps, calls and texts; Alarms Only, which blocks all alerts except for the Android alarm clock; and Total Silence, which blocks all alerts, no matter what. While the Alarms Only and Total Silence modes will guarantee you a peaceful lunch hour, they may also block critical alerts, calls or alarms. In general, you should stick with Priority Only mode unless you’re certain you don’t want any interruptions, period.

For iOS:

  • Tap Settings > Do Not Disturb > Allow Calls From, then pick the Favorites setting. Once you do, calls and text messages from those on your iOS Favorites list will ring through even with Do Not Disturb mode switched on.
  • You can also pick a specific contact group for the Allow Calls From setting, but you can only set up contact groups using the Mac version of the Contacts app. Open the Contacts application on your Mac desktop, then click File > New Group to get started. As long as you’re syncing your contacts using iCloud, your desktop groups in Contacts will sync up with the Contacts iOS app.
  • You can also enable the Repeated Calls setting, which will allow urgent callers to break through Do Not Disturb mode if they call twice within three minutes.

Enable ‘VIP’ alerts for email messages

There’s little chance you’ll get through an important meeting without glancing at your iPhone or Android phone if your screen is constantly flashing with alerts for new email messages. Follow these steps to ease your email notification overload.

For iOS:

Mail’s ‘VIP’ alerts give you separate notifications for your most important email contacts, perfect for leaving you alone unless a message from a close friend or someone in upper management lands in your inbox.

  • Open the Mail app, back up to the main Mailboxes screen, tap the little ‘i’ next to the VIP mailbox, then tap Add VIP to add a contact to your VIP list.
  • Once you’ve added some names to the list, tap VIP Alerts to manage your VIP notifications. You could, for example, give messages from VIPs a special ringtone or a custom vibration when they arrive in your inbox, or allow VIP alerts—and only VIP alerts—to light up your lock screen.

For Android:

Android doesn’t have its own version of iOS’s handy VIP feature, but you can replicate it using filters in Gmail.

Turn on alerts for Gmail’s Priority Inbox—and off for all your other inboxes (Android only)

If you’re not interested in hacking iOS’s VIP alerts into your Android phone, you can take advantage of Gmail’s secret formula for determining which messages are most important to you.

Using your prior emailing habits as a guide, Gmail’s Priority Inbox sifts through your incoming messages, finds the email that you’re most likely to answer, and puts them into an “Important and unread” folder. Everything else (such as random email promos, newsletters, and other lower-priority messages) goes into the aptly-named “everything else” section of your inbox.

Once that’s done, you can set the Android version of Gmail to alert you only when new messages land in your Priority Inbox—and hopefully, you’ll feel better about leaving your silenced phone alone.

  • First, you’ll need to enable Gmail’s Priority Inbox feature. Open Gmail, tap the menu button in the top-left corner of the screen, tap Settings, pick a Gmail account, then tap Inbox type > Priority Inbox.
  • Tap Manage labels, then make sure that Priority Inbox is the only Gmail label with notifications turned on. (If you don’t see a Sound on, Notify once or similar tag next to a label, then notifications are off for that label.)

Turn off unneeded lock-screen notifications (Android & iOS)

So, you’re in a meeting, your phone is sitting dutifully—and silently—on the table in front of you, and you’re giving your colleagues your full attention. But then it happens: Your phone’s lock screen lights up, and your eyes can’t help but flick down to the display … which is nothing more than a random Facebook update.

Luckily, it’s easy to pare odwn your lock-screen notifications to an absolute minimum—or turn them off completely, even when you don’t have Do Not Disturb or Priority mode switched on.

For Android:

  • To keep your phone’s lock screen from lighting up when notifications come in, tap Settings > Display, then toggle off the Ambient Display setting. Or, here’s another option: Tap Settings > Sound > Do not disturb > Block visual disturbances, then enable the Block when screen is off setting. Doing so will keep alerts blocked by Do Not Disturb from lighting up your phone’s lock screen.
  • You can completely turn off notifications for a specific app by tapping Settings > Notifications. Tap an app, then enable the Block all setting. You can also choose to show an app’s alerts silently—but remember, even silent notifications can be tempting.
  • Another way to disable an app’s alerts is by long-pressing its notification when it appears. When you do, you’ll get the chance to block its alerts or show them silently.
  • While you’re at it, you might also want to turn off your handset’s pulsing notification light—you know, the one that’s saying “Look at me, look at me!” all the time. Go back to Settings > Notifications, tap the Settings button (the one shaped like a gear) in the top right corner of the screen, then toggle off the Pulse notification light setting.
  • Just below the Pulse light notification toggle is a setting that can disable all lock-screen notifications, regardless of whether Do Not Disturb is switched on. If you’re willing to forgo any and all lock-screen alerts, tap On the lock screen, then choose the Don’t show notifications at all setting.

For iOS:

  • To completely turn off an app’s notifications, tap Settings > Notifications, tap an app, then toggle off the Allow Notifications switch.
  • If you only want to disable an app’s lock-screen notifications, leave the Allow Notifications switch on but turn off the Show on Lock Screen setting.