Category: Uncategorised

As impressive as modern smartphone technology is getting, batteries still rely on chemical reactions. This means these units are prone to some issues, one being battery swelling. It’s not a common issue for most, but the topic pops up from time to time. Apple , Samsung, and even Google devices have had problems with this in the past. It’s not only an annoyance, but a swollen phone battery can be dangerous. This is why today we’re showing you what to do if your phone battery is swollen.

If you find out your phone battery is swollen, you should be very careful with it, as it may be dangerous and is technically a fire hazard. The best you can do is stop using it, turn it off, and go to a professional to get the battery replaced. This may cost money, unless your phone is still under warranty or covered by insurance.
If the phone is no longer worth fixing, you should recycle it safely. You can find recycling centers at call2recycle.org.What causes a swollen phone battery?Galaxy iPhone and Pixel smartphones with selection of chargers 2There are multiple reasons why a lithium-ion battery may swell. There is usually one underlying cause for this to happen, though. Batteries usually swell because gas builds up, creates pressure, and expands them.

With that in mind, we must consider the more common causes for a battery to store gas. Manufacturer defects can happen. If the battery maker doesn’t make the battery correctly, gas can slowly build up during the charging process. This essentially means simply charging your phone enough times could be an issue, especially considering juicing up your phone also creates heat.
Heat commonly speeds the process, too. You should probably make sure not to leave a phone in the sun too much, or next to very hot items.
Additionally, physical damage to the battery can be a very common cause of battery swelling.

Have you ever dropped your phone? Maybe you accidentally punctured the battery?

This could be why your battery is swelling. Not to mention batteries get old, too. Chemical reactions can change, and parts weaken.
By the way, this shouldn’t be a common occurrence. Unless there’s a severe manufacturer defect, most batteries should last the couple or few years most users keep a device.

How to know if your phone battery is swollenpixel5a vancouver 1It’s much harder to tell if your battery is swelling these days, as handsets with removable batteries are becoming very scarce. We never really see our batteries anymore. This makes it harder to identify a swollen or damaged battery.
The easiest way to tell if a battery is swollen is by inspecting the device (or battery, if you can). Are there any bumps?

You may notice an unusual wobble when you lay it on a flat surface. Also, look for warped shapes or signs of the phone disassembling itself. Smartphone backplates start to come off as the battery’s swollen shape puts pressure against them.
While not as safe, the smell can also be a sign of a swollen battery.

We wouldn’t advise that you actively try to inhale chemicals, but this is something you may have accidentally noticed already. Does your phone smell odd? People describe a bad battery smell as metallic, and sometimes even sweet.
Even simple things like battery performance can be a dead giveaway. If your battery is charging too slowly, or the charge isn’t lasting as long as it should, this may be a cause of concern.
What to do if your phone battery is swollenMoto G Power 2021 back of phone in hand – Swollen phone batterySo you’ve found something odd with your smartphone’s battery. Is it safe to use a swollen phone battery? Definitely not! A swollen lithium-ion battery can be very dangerous. The pressure can make gases escape, and the battery can even catch fire or explode, especially if pierced.
Your first step should be to turn off the device immediately, and keep it off. Don’t plug it in or mess with it, either. Leave it in a safe place and keep it there, preferably away from anything that can burn.

A swollen lithium-ion battery can be very dangerous!If it’s possible, and safe to do so, you should probablyremove the battery. Just be careful not to mess with it too much in the process, and try to avoid smelling any fumes it may give off. We actually recommend taking the phone to a professional instead. Technicians will have the necessary knowledge and tools to do this easily. They can also find a suitable replacement for you. This will likely incur some charges and require replacement purchases, though.

If your phone is still under warranty or insurance, your best bet is to go with the carrier, retailer, or company handling the coverage.

How to dispose of a swollen phone batteryE Waste Recycle 2 – Swollen phone batteryIf you remove the battery yourself, you should get rid of it safely. You shouldn’t just dump it in the trash. A swollen phone battery is a fire hazard, and no one wants that at home.
If and when it’s safe, you should take your smartphone batteryto an authorized battery collection center or a recycling location. You can find your nearest one at call2recycle.org. You can ship them, but we wouldn’t recommend that either. Shipping usually entails a lot of movement, banging around, and packages being around plenty of flammable materials.

Apple Retail employees across the globe work tirelessly in the build-up to a new iPhone launch to ensure customers have the Apple experience they’ve come to know and love on launch day.
Usually, this means overnight teams working around the clock a few times over the course of iPhone launch week so that the Apple Store is ready for the busiest period of the year.

question (most often the night before), a strange new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claims that this year, Apple Retail Stores are actually planning for overnight updates on the same night as the September 12 “Wonderlust” event, possibly hinting at “near- immediate availability” forApple’s new iPhone. 
Gurman’s report indicates that this faster approach to an overnight could be because Apple is planning for a quicker launch than we’ve come to expect in previous years. Although, logistically, that would be incredibly difficult to coordinate. We still expect iPhone 15 preorders to open on Friday after the event (September 15), with the launch day scheduled for the following Friday (September 22).

Apple’s Wonderlust event is scheduled for September 12. We expect to see the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max alongside new Apple Watches like the Series 9 and Ultra 2 revealed.

While a rumored overnight update happening on September 12 would imply that Apple wants to have the Apple Stores ready quicker than ever before in time for the iPhone 15 launch, I think it’s far less interesting than the headlines would suggest.

 The store goes through loads of changes throughout an iPhone launch week, and this overnight update could be used to make the process smoother rather than relying on a single overnight shift the evening before launch. Overnights happen throughout the year, and while the most exciting ones are for new product launches where new products are installed on tables and secured to prevent theft, there are also overnight shifts to get the stock room ready for a launch, as well as updating software or changing in-store merchandising graphics.

Some Apple overnights even involve simply counting all the stock in a store to check the accuracy of stock levels, a twice-yearly event known as Physical Inventory — or they might just be doing a deep clean that happens to fall on the evening of the biggest event of the year (unlikely but again,overnights are common).

To think that Apple could speed up the Apple Store overnight updates to launch the iPhone 15 sooner would be almost impossible, considering Apple employees don’t get any info on releases in advance, and a three-day turnaround from the reveal would be incredibly difficult That said, Apple has shocked us in the past, but we’ll have to wait until September 12 to have more information on whether this is a routine overnight shift that’s made the news for no apparent reason or if Apple has chosen to defy the odds and drop the latestiPhone a week earlier than expected.

Apple started the trend of offering non-removable batteries to phones with iPhones.Phone makers had no choice but to comply with the latest trends and make sacrifices as consumers wanted more sophisticated smartphones. It was normal for phones to have removable batteries up until early 2010 . Even laptop manufacturers gradually stopped making devices with removable batteries. Let us whether discuss removable batteries are good for consumers. Let’s start with the advantages of non-removable batteries that made them a necessity for modern smartphones.

Advantages of non-removable batteriesSafety of the batteries and consumersBatteries have a thin electrolyte that separates the cathode and anode electrodes which store the energy. The electrodes can generate a lot of heat by causing a short circuit if it comes into direct contact. Moreover, this can lead to more internal thermal reactions that could eventually lead the battery to explode or burst into flames. Battery technology has developed batteries a lot in the past years, yet they are inherently dangerous.

To prevent accidental damage removable batteries need a hard plastic case, especially when they are not connected to a phone. Plastic cases add to the weight and bulk of the smartphone. So, engineers thought of installing a permanent battery when consumers demanded slimmer, lighter designs They ensured that the smartphones should be able to protect the batteries as they are non-removable.Improvement in battery technology

Modern smartphones last longer on a single charge as they come with lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries. This development of battery material and capacity helps phones to last all day even after consumption of battery increases for better displays and more powerful chips.The increase in capacity also means that users don’t need to have a spare battery to swap out in the middle of the day. Moreover, there have been improvements made in charging speeds as most modern phones take less than an hour to get fully charged .Protection from wear and tear

Smartphones are getting more expensive every day as they are getting more sophisticated. So, consumers want these devices to last longer and have a lot of protection. Consumers want these devices to withstand regular wear and tear and protection against occasional spills and drops.So, smartphone makers have sealed the outer case to make their devices more durable. But, users lost access to replaceable batteries as they got sealed. Furthermore, it is tough to design a slim and light device with a removable outer case.

Providing tracking abilities to the devicePremium smartphones lure thieves as they are expensive and are easy to steal and resell. Not just the device, but users also lose some highly sensitive data including financial information. So, smartphone makers allow passive phone tracking even if the device is switched off. This feature allows users to track their devices which acts as a defense against smartphone thefts.

But, the tracking capability can be killed by removing the smartphone’s battery, which is its power source. It becomes impossible for thieves to remove the batteries without equipment and expertise if it is sealed inside your phone’s case. The non-removable battery helps you to track your phone if it is missing and even switched off.

Disadvantages of non-removable batteriesThe non-removable batteries come with a lot of advantages, yet users still lose out on some functions and features with them. Now let’s talk about some drawbacks of non-removable batteries.Swapping batteries vs Charging batteries

Charging outlets and power banks takes time to charge your devices, especially if they are older ones. You have to wait about 15 -30 minutes to get your phone fully charged, even if both your power bank and smartphone have the latest fast charging.
On the other hand, replacing an empty battery with a fully charged one will most likely take a minute. Moreover, slim spare batteries are way lighter than smaller mid-sized power banks. Power banks add more weight and use more space in your luggage.Possibility of batteries bloating up

Smartphone batteries can also bloat up and this problem still exists even after all the advancements in battery technology. In such cases, the battery’s safety is compromised and users have to replace it immediately.

Replacing the old bloated battery with a new one is an easier process for removable batteries. But, most modern users have to take their devices to an authorized service to replace it as they usually come with non-removable batteries. Whenever a non-removable battery bloats up, it forces the case to crack open and can damage your phone’s protection.

Gets tougher for third party shops to repair phonesNon-replaceable batteries give us sleek and modern devices but the design makes it harder for third-party repair shops to fix broken

I’ve handled a lot of rugged smartphones , and I’ve come to expect big, chunky, heavy, rubberized units that look like tanks and can take knocks and bumps and scrapes — and dunks in water. What I don’t expect is a smartphone that feels like an iPhone 14 Pro Max in the hand.

Also: What is a rugged phone and which are the best?

While companies such as Blackview and Ulefone have popularized rugged Android smartphones, the Cat S-series handsets — built by Bullitt — were some of the first that I remember. The brand positions themselves as a professional, industrial brand that is aimed at demanding industries such as construction, surveying, and security.
The Cat S75 is smaller and less chunky than other ruggedized smartphones I’m accustomed to testing.

A big difference between phones from the likes of Blackview and Ulefone, and the Cat S-series handsets is that the latter feels more like premium smartphones. In fact, the S75 looks and feels so much like my iPhone 14 Pro Max that I was reluctant at first to subject it to any harsh treatment.Also: iPhone went for a swim? Here’s how Siri can help eject water from its speakers
One of the first things I wanted to test was waterproofing, so I used it to take some underwater photos.
This worked great, although I did get warnings about water in the port, and these warnings were hard to bypass because the display was unresponsive when it was wet. There may be a way to disable these warnings, but I’ve not come across it yet.

While a lot of ruggedized smartphones use rubber bungs on the charging port, the Cat S75 doesn’t, with the only rubber cover being on the SIM slot.
SIM slot cover on the Cat S75SIM slot cover on the Cat S75Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETAlso: This tiny smartphone accessory gives you a fantastic superpower
To get that SIM tray out, I had to use a tool. It’s not something that you need to do that often, but if you do need to do it, you’ll need something to coax the SIM tray out.

I also tested the cameras on land, and the outputs are more than acceptable for an industrial handset. I took some shots with both the Cat S75 and my iPhone, and while I felt that the iPhone shots had more “pop”, the underlying quality felt very similar.  

Sample output from the rear camera on the Cat S75Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETOn the ruggedized front, the Cat S75 is tough. 
Very tough.

Also: The most breakable iPhones? How the iPhone 14 fared in drop tests

It feels a bit weird initially to be dropping and banging a handset that feels like my iPhone, and the shell itself feels very plasticky, but this handset took all the punishment I could dish at it, no problem. I keep my iPhone 14 Pro Max in a case, and this makes it bulkier in the hand and pocket than the Cat S75.
That’s weird!

Giving the Cat S75 a soaking after drop testingAdrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETAs far as other aspects of the Cat S75 go — the display, call quality, performance, battery life — this handset oozes a premium feel. Yes, this is a rugged handset, but it’s a no-compromise rugged handset.  

The Mediatek Dimensity D930 octa-core processor, backed up by 6GB of RAM, keeps the handset running smoothly no matter what is loading. Not once did I feel the handset get bogged down or have any performance issues.
It offers a smooth Android experience.

Also: The best Android phones you can buy (foldables included)
One aspect of the Cat S75 I’ve not yet tested is the satellite connectivity, but I hope to put this through its paces real soon, and use it to pull off tricks that your iPhone can’t do.

Overall, the Cat S75 is a very nice smartphone. It shows that a rugged handset doesn’t have to be a huge brick, and that it can look equally at home in an air-conditioned office or a muddy field. Even putting aside the satellite communication feature, it’s a very well-made handset, and one that has been engineered, rather than overbuilt, to be tough.

iOS 16 has been out a few days and people are complaining about iPhone battery problems after installing the update.

These problems fall into three categories:
Rapid battery drop during the iOS 16 install processPoor battery life after installing iOS 16A noticeable drop in ” Battery Health” following the installation of iOS 16Let’s look at these separately.

Also: Problems downloading iOS 16? Here’s how to fix it fast
Is a big drop in battery life while installing iOS 16 normal?

Yes. This is perfectly normal.
A lot must happen when updating the whole operating system, from downloading and verifying the update, making sure there’s enough space for the update, carrying out the update, clean up after the update, and then housekeeping tasks such as updating search indexes in the hours following an update.
This all takes battery power, much more than you’d expect from regular day-to-day use, and it’s perfectly normal to see the battery plummet by many percentage points.
I’ve seen some precipitous drops in battery life happen over the course of a few minutes while updating, which is why I recommend having the iPhone on charge during this process.

Is poor battery life after installing iOS 16 normal?This is also so common that I consider it normal.
First, those housekeeping processes that happen after installing an update can take days to complete. One of those housekeeping tasks in battery recalibration, and this can give the temporary impression that the battery is draining more rapidly when in fact it isn’t.

My advice is to use the iPhone for a few days normally and chances are all the problems will solve themselves. Also, update your apps regularly (the problem could be a buggy app).

Also, when Apple inevitably releases the iOS 16.0.1 update, install this, because it’s likely to contain a bunch of fixes, and if there is an issue with battery drain, it might sort that out.Is a big drop in “Battery Health” normal, too?“Battery Health” is that number you can find by tapping Settings > Battery > Battery Health. The figure is quoted as Maximum Capacity, and I’ve written quite a bit about this over the years.
My advice is simple: Stop worrying about it.

“Battery Health” is a feel-good number that doesn’t really tell you anything meaningful about the actual health of your battery. My iPhone tells me that my battery is still at 94% capacity after almost a year of heavy use.
I guarantee you this number is wrong.

But it doesn’t matter. Your iPhone battery should be good for three years at least. After this, you probably need to think about getting it swapped out.
Also: Your iPhone battery is lying to you in weird ways
The bottom lineI’ve been updating iPhones for well over a decade, and if there’s one thing that I can guarantee that will happen when a new version of iOS is released, it’s that a lot of people will complain about battery life.
And remember, there are now over a billion iPhones in use. Even if only a small percentage of people notice deteriorated battery life, that’s going to amount to a lot of complaining.

And just to be clear, these people are not imagining that battery life has taken a nosedive.
It really is worse.
But for most of those users, it’s a problem that will have sorted itself out in a week or so (or until Apple releases a patch or there’s an update to a buggy app).
Just sit back, keep using your iPhone, and keep a charger or power bank nearby for regular top-ups.

And for a small group of really unlucky users, their iPhone’s battery will have waited until the new iOS update to decide to give up the ghost finally.
For those people, the only solution is a new battery (or a new iPhone).