Top Five Smartphone Maintenance Tips to Avoid Costly Repairs

Last Updated on September 9, 2021 by Rupesh Patil

Looking for the best smartphone maintenance tips? First, let us look at how smartphones are now an indispensable part of our lives. Be it buying the grocery, getting movie tickets, making banking transactions, capturing memories, connecting with friends and family, or navigating from one place to another; almost everything is now primarily being done using smartphones. But what happens when something goes wrong with your smartphone? That’s not such a hard question to answer. Your whole routine gets affected, and your productivity goes for a toss. While you can get it repaired within a matter of days, it costs a lot of money.

According to Onsitego’s internal data, getting a smartphone repaired on an average can cost anywhere between 27% and 41% of the device’s cost. But why should you spend that much money when you can avoid damaging your device? In this article, we will explain to you how to prevent costly repairs by following the top five smartphone maintenance tips.

1. Protect the Screen Using a Tempered Glass Screen Protector

Screen damage is the most common reason for smartphone repairs, and a screen panel is the second costliest component in a smartphone. Since screen damage is not covered under the standard manufacturer warranty terms, you wouldn’t want to damage your phone’s display accidentally. The best way to protect it is to cover it using a high-quality tempered glass screen protector. We advise against using plastic film-based screen protectors as they can save the display from scratches, but not against drops.

Various brands offer tempered glass screen protectors, but the following brands make the best ones: Amzer, Belkin, Caseology, ESR, Nillkin, Otterbox, and Spigen. Make sure that you install the screen protector carefully in such a way that it covers the whole screen surface. You wouldn’t want to let air bubbles or dirt to be present between the screen and the screen protector. We also advise you not to get a screen protector installed from streetside vendors. Take your time, buy a high-quality screen protector from online or offline stores, and install it yourself or take help from your family or friend during the installation.

2. Protect the Phone from Drops by Covering it With a High-Quality Case

All modern-day smartphones have attractive designs, but they use materials that can get easily damaged during drops. So, you need to protect the rest of the body of the phone. And you can do that using a high-quality case from brands like Caseology, ESR, Griffin, Incipio, Nillkin, Otterbox, Ringke, Speck, Spigen, Tech21, and UAG. There’s a good chance that you would find a high-quality first-party case from your smartphone’s own brand.

1. Here is the checklist to know if a case is of good quality:
2. Case coverage from all four sides of the phone and the rear.
3. A lip-like structure around the screen and the rear camera.
4. Clear openings for the charging port, headphone port, and mute switch (if any).
5. It should let you easily press power and volume buttons.
6. Prefer a case with a slightly soft surface and air gaps towards its four inner corners.

3. Avoid Frequently Charging Its Battery

Battery technology hasn’t advanced as much as general smartphone and charging technologies. These days, smartphone brands are offering extremely fast charging mechanisms, going as high as 65W. However, that isn’t healthy for the battery in the long run. After a year or two of consistently using fast charging technologies, only 70-85% of the battery’s capacity remains when compared to a new battery.

Every battery has a limited amount of charge cycles, and each time you connect a charging cable and remove it, the charging cycle is consumed. So, make sure that you use as fewer charging cycles as possible. The best way to charge your smartphone is to charge the battery completely, and then recharge it only after the battery level drops below 10%. Once you connect the charger, let the phone’s battery charge completely.

4. Don’t Cover the Phone While Charging It

Whenever a phone is charged, the voltage step down function occurs, which results in heat generation. This is why smartphones get a little warm while they are being charged. When this heat generation happens, the phone should be able to dissipate heat as fast as possible, and if the phone is covered, heat is not dissipated fast enough, causing the phone to keep heating up.

There have been several cases where a charging phone kept under a pillow caught fire due to excessive heat, causing fire damage to the mattress, bed, and even a user. So, you should never cover a smartphone using a pillow, let alone sleep overnight with a charging phone under your pillow.

5. Buy an Extended Warranty Plan, Spills and Drop Protection Plan

There are a few things that aren’t in our control, such as the phone’s motherboard or speaker getting damaged. Usually, such things are covered under the manufacturer warranty, but what if that happens after the brand warranty period is over? For such situations, you can protect yourself from costly smartphone repairs by buying an extended warranty plan for your smartphone.

If you are someone who has needs to travel during rains or if you have damaged smartphones in the past due to liquid or water spills, you would want to get yourself spills and drops protection plan that covers smartphone repair cost during such situations.

If you follow these simple smartphone maintenance tips, there’s a good chance that you would be able to keep your phone safe from any hardware damage. Apart from covering your phone using high-quality case and screen guard, saving the phone from getting liquid damage, and excessive charging, you can also avoid using smartphone skins and using the camera for an extended period under hot and sunny conditions.