THE DEMAND for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets is on the rise, and along with it all sorts of information on how to use them and claims of this and that technical specification which makes one device more valuable or superior to others.
You can extend the life of your devices if you know how to take care of them— correctly. Here are common tech myths debunked.
Myth #1. Plugging the phone overnight hurts the battery.
This happens to everyone. You get home with a nearly dead phone, and leave it plugged-in all night so it would be full when you wake up.
Is this a good idea? Yes, it is.
It’s totally fine. Phones can handle this sort of thing. As the battery fills up, it automatically slows the rate of charging. For best absolute battery life, charging all throughout the day is good for your phone.
Myth #2 You need to manually close the apps.
A check on your smartphone or tablet may show tons of opened apps which may eat up your battery power faster. Is this a bad thing? Not really.
Operating systems like Android and IOS are really good in managing memory. Unlike a computer that starts to slow down when you leave stuff running, mobile operating systems closes the apps and activates when you come back, right on the last app you used.
Having a full RAM (Random Access Memory) on your phone is a good thing. That means you’re taking advantage of having as many apps ready to go when you need them.
You may be forced to close a “misbehaving” app, but other than that, there’s not much to worry about.
Myth #3 You need an expensive HDMI cable
We’ve been in numerous stores and saw this super amazing, diamond-platinum HDMI (high definition multimedia interface) cables that’s priced at P1,000. It looks expensive, but the truth is that you don’t really need it.
Unlike older video cables, HDMI is digital. That means that its signal is 100 percent identical regardless of what cable you are using.
Don’t fall for marketing pitches—expensive cables won’t give you better image quality. The only time when the extra cash makes sense is when you need a long cable. Normal HDMI’s measure about a meter long. High-end cables as long as 15 meters will cost fairly more.
Myth #4 All tech specs are created equal
When shopping for a new phone or laptop, it’s easier to compare units based on the specs stated in the box. More is better, right? Not necessarily. You cant always take specs at face-value.
Phone comparison videos done by Vlogger for example show the Samsung Galaxy S6 with its eight cores easily beating out the iPhone 6 with its two cores. But actual testing showed they’re surprisingly close.
The same thing goes for mega pixels in cell phone and tablet cameras. More is better in theory, but sometimes a higher mega pixel count can give you terrible image quality than a lower pixel count.
Myth #5 Computers should never run warm
In a perfect world, all computers would run at room temperature. But in reality, computers that run warm can actually be a good thing.
With devices getting thinner and thinner, it’s not uncommon to see the temperatures of processors reaching 100 degrees. So is it safe? Pretty much.