New models of smartphones, tablets and laptops are produced every year, and operating system updates arrive periodically which after a while prove to be too advanced for our devices. Continuous updates, coupled with the desire to have the newest features available, have accustomed us to change our personal electronic devices quite often, even before they are actually needed. In fact, there is a tendency, supported or even facilitated by manufacturing companies, for example with trade-ins, to change them as soon as they start to work more slowly or when the battery life gets shorter.
But just as shoes can be resoled and sweaters can be patched up, so too can electronic devices be repaired. Furthermore, using them with some care can extend their life. We have put together a list of useful tips to do this.
Check the battery
The batteries can be recharged a finite number of times: after a while they stop being efficient and that is why over time they last less and they need to be recharged more often, even if we do not seem to have changed our habits in the use of smartphones, tablets and laptops. Battery life varies by model, capacity and usage. There are ways to find out how the one of your devices is in order to understand when it would be better to replace it with a new one.
Those who have a device with an iOS operating system, that is an iPhone or an iPad, can check the health of their battery by going to the Settings, then to “Battery” and “Battery status”: you can find out how much the maximum capacity has decreased over time (it is 100 percent at the time of purchase if the device is new).
If the battery needs to be replaced, a message appears giving instructions on how to do it. It is not essential to replace it as soon as the device suggests it, you can rely on your needs: as long as the iPhone or iPad in question maintains an autonomy that you consider sufficient, there is no need to replace the battery. Then you can consider changing it in an Apple Store. It is advisable to replace it when the maximum capacity falls below 60 percent of the initial one.
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With devices with an Android operating system, you can find out the battery capacity by downloading an app like AccuBattery, which also gives a lot of additional information, such as the estimated battery life depending on how the device is used. As for laptops, those with a Windows operating system can download the BatteryInfoView app, while for those with a Mac just click on the apple-shaped icon at the top left, then on “About this Mac”, ” System report “and finally” Energy “.
To make the battery of your smartphone last longer, a good advice is to use the energy saving function and avoid both the battery being discharged too much, and always charging it to its maximum capacity, for how these batteries work. Lithium-ion battery manufacturers usually recommend keeping between 40 and 80 percent as much as possible. Newer smartphone operating systems take special steps to keep charge levels within that range, which helps to extend battery life.
Cleaning
Dirt and dust that accumulate in the interstices of electronic devices risk making them overheat, which damages them and shortens their life. For this reason, as well as for hygienic reasons, they must be cleaned periodically. In the case of smartphones and tablets, the entrances must be cleaned, i.e. the spaces through which battery chargers, earphones and other accessories are connected and where dust and other dirt can get inside. To remove it you can use a toothpick (being careful not to damage the internal contacts) or a compressed air spray like this one.
As for computers, the fans should be cleaned once a year: dust accumulates on them and this too can cause overheating. To clean the fans you need to open the outer shell of the computer, then you can use a very small vacuum cleaner or, again, a compressed air spray, which can also be useful for cleaning the keyboard. On sites like iFixit you will find instructions to open the most popular and used computers.
And if you want to complete the job by cleaning the screen as well, you need a microfiber cloth. Some electronic device manufacturers such as Apple recommend not using alcohol-containing cleaners on their product screens, but only dry “lint-free” cloths. However, to sanitize them you can use a solution of isopropyl alcohol at 70% concentration and distilled water (to avoid impurities): just mix it in equal parts, put the result in a spray container and spray the solution on a cloth. The important thing is never to spray directly on the screens. And do not for any reason use detergents to clean the windows.
Jolie Kerr, a New York Times cleaning expert, suggests not feeling obligated to buy screen-cleaning sprays on sale at electronics stores, because even if they work, they probably cost more than the do-it-yourself solution. For possible stubborn encrustations on the keyboard, Kerr recommends using a melamine sponge like these, although he recommends using them only in cases of extreme necessity and with great care, as they are abrasive.
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Doing digital cleaning
Periodically it would also be good to clean up the memory of your devices from images, files and apps that you don't really need. Those who have an iPhone can monitor the situation in the “iPhone Space” section, which can be accessed from “General”, in the Settings: indicate which apps take up the most space and when they were used for the last time, gives some advice on how to optimize memory and find out what percentage of it is occupied by photographs, which are usually what take up the most space. You can also set your phone to automatically delete apps you haven't used for more than six months. In devices with Android operating system to do the same thing you need to download an app called Files.
To force yourself to delete unnecessary files, you can program an annual recurrence by setting an alarm. Unfortunately, the only way to delete unnecessary photos – such as screenshots taken to remember something, if you are one of those who have a habit of taking them – from the memory of a smartphone is to go and review them, which can take a long time.
In the case of computers, an efficient technique to eliminate unnecessary files is to go into the various folders and view what they contain in order since they were last opened.
People who have a hard time throwing away the items they have at home and even the photos saved in the phone, can try to preserve the memory of their devices by using external hard drives to attach to the computer or cloud storage (both Apple and Google provide a storage service for a few euros a month): but even in this case it is worthwhile to select a little what you care about, because infinite space does not exist or almost.
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And when you have decided to replace your devices with newer models, instead of throwing them away, if they still work, you can ask the schools in your neighborhood if they need them: the closure of schools linked to the coronavirus epidemic has shown that a computer or tablet that someone no longer needs can be very useful to someone else.
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