Tip of the Week: 5 Surefire Ways to Ruin Your Smartphone

The best way to get the most life out of your smartphone is to take care of it. Or, you can ignore proven best practices and witness your smartphone meet its untimely demise. By not taking care of your smartphone in these five ways, you’ll be sure to doom your device.

Not Having a Case
For too many users, purchasing a case for their mobile device is an afterthought. After all, one doesn’t daydream about protective cases in the same way they do about a smartphone’s latest features. By skipping out on a case, your phone will have zero protection for the next time it’s dropped, which, let’s face it, is a matter of “when,” not “if.” Mobile device cases are inexpensive, and even having a cheap case is better than having no case. You have no excuse not to have a case for your smartphone... unless you’re this poor chap.

Pro tip: For maximum protection of your smartphone, look into purchasing a military-grade case.

Exposing Your Device to Extreme Temperatures
Mobile devices aren’t designed to handle extreme temperatures. A smartphone will overheat at 113 degrees Fahrenheit, which can easily be reached inside of a car on a hot summer day. When temperatures dip down to -40 degrees, a smartphone could cease working. Keep this in mind the next time you venture into extreme weather conditions, or even leave your phone in direct sunlight.

Never Turning Off Your Device
With PCs, it’s perfectly fine to rarely shut them down (and some would argue that it’s for the best). However, this rule doesn’t apply to smartphones. Instead, smartphones should be periodically turned off and on. TechRepublic explains: “At least once a week, reboot that device or (even better) shut it down for 30 minutes or so. Doing this will ensure that caches are cleared and subsystems are properly restarted. Shutting down the device once a week will aid with the longevity of the RAM on the device and allow certain diagnostics to be run at boot.”

Transporting Your Phone in Your Pockets
Sliding your phone into the pockets of your pants certainly is convenient, but keep in mind that doing so comes with a risk. For example, placing your device in your back pocket will put it at risk of being broken if you forget to take it out before sitting down, and the phone can easily fall out of the side pockets if you bend your legs in just the right way. Also, on very rare occasions, smartphones have spontaneously combusted inside the pockets of pants.

Even shirt pockets are a bad place to keep your phone, they can fall out way too easily. A better way to transport your device is in a purse, messenger bag, or belt clip.

Forgetting About Malware
While it’s true that mobile devices aren’t targeted by hackers the same way they attack PCs, that doesn’t mean your smartphone is exempt from attacks. Too often, mobile device users will completely ignore the threat of malware, despite the fact that threats for mobile devices are growing rapidly. To protect your smartphone from such threats, you should at least have a mobile security solution installed and run regular scans. Also, make sure to only install apps from reputable developers.

By avoiding these common smartphone mistakes, you’ll be sure to keep your mobile device in tip-top shape for years to come. For more tips and best practices, contact Heart of Texas Network Consultants and subscribe to our blog.