Carphone Warehouse told me to first charge my mobile for 8 hours, is this correct?

[Guest joshjw]

I got a replacement for my Samsung Galaxy S2 at Carphone Warehouse, and the women said to charge it for 8 hours even if it gets to 100%. Is this correct, because this time round I want to make sure I get the best battery possible out of this phone, please help. Thanks.

[Guest dfghggfgfd]

No, the phone won´t charge the battery anymore when it says full.

Usually the battery is charged to 50% at least when you get it out of the package for 2 reasons.

First the battery is tested during the quality-control after the manufacturing-process and to test the battery you have to charge it.

And the worst thing you can do with a battery is to keep it somewhere completely discharged over a longer time. If the battery would lay on a shelf in a store for longer time without being charged first, the battery would be permanently damaged before the first usage, maybe even so much that it is unusable.

Lithium-based batteries have a very low self-discharge-rate, so usually there will be quite a lot left of the factory-charge.

Li-Ion-batteries usually need a few cycles to reach their full capacity, it doesn´t really matter if you do them with a few full charges and complete discharges or over time with some smaller charge/discharge-cycles, of course with the second option it may take somewhat longer to reach full capacity. Also the testing-procedure may have done a few cycles already, so it is possible that you reach the rated capacity pretty soon.

There is not much you can do for a Li-Ion-battery to extend its life. They will wear out even if you don´t use them.

The only thing you should avoid is a longer period of low charge and very high temperatures.

It doesn´t matter if you use the phone until it switches off, the charging-electronic will prevent to discharge the battery so much that it causes damage, but the self-discharge may damage the battery. As I said, self-discharge is very low with Li-based batteries, so there is no hurry if your battery runs flat, it should be OK if you recharge it when you come home in the evening, just avoid longer periods in this state.

There is no need to fully discharge the battery regularly, you can charge it anytime you want.

[Guest joshjw]

No, the phone won´t charge the battery anymore when it says full.

Usually the battery is charged to 50% at least when you get it out of the package for 2 reasons.

First the battery is tested during the quality-control after the manufacturing-process and to test the battery you have to charge it.

And the worst thing you can do with a battery is to keep it somewhere completely discharged over a longer time. If the battery would lay on a shelf in a store for longer time without being charged first, the battery would be permanently damaged before the first usage, maybe even so much that it is unusable.

Lithium-based batteries have a very low self-discharge-rate, so usually there will be quite a lot left of the factory-charge.

Li-Ion-batteries usually need a few cycles to reach their full capacity, it doesn´t really matter if you do them with a few full charges and complete discharges or over time with some smaller charge/discharge-cycles, of course with the second option it may take somewhat longer to reach full capacity. Also the testing-procedure may have done a few cycles already, so it is possible that you reach the rated capacity pretty soon.

There is not much you can do for a Li-Ion-battery to extend its life. They will wear out even if you don´t use them.

The only thing you should avoid is a longer period of low charge and very high temperatures.

It doesn´t matter if you use the phone until it switches off, the charging-electronic will prevent to discharge the battery so much that it causes damage, but the self-discharge may damage the battery. As I said, self-discharge is very low with Li-based batteries, so there is no hurry if your battery runs flat, it should be OK if you recharge it when you come home in the evening, just avoid longer periods in this state.

There is no need to fully discharge the battery regularly, you can charge it anytime you want.

Thank you very much that answered every question I needed, very grateful for your answer :). Sorry to be annoying with all the posts before relating to the same topic, I was just too concerned. I am also happy with answers from everyone else B)

Just doing a full cycle now, just charging it back up to full charge, from a full charge to a full discharge :D