Here’s the potentially live-saving reason why your smartphone slows down during a heatwave
Find out why the soaring temperature causes a major slump in the performance of your mobile phone
YOU'RE not imagining it: your smartphone really does slow down when it's baking outside.
But before you start getting even more hot and bothered, we'd like to tell the very good reason why gadgets are designed to do this.
Smartphones are only designed to work at a certain temperature range because their batteries could blow up and start a fire if they overheat.
To combat this, tech firms fit device with special heat monitoring systems which slow down the performance when they begin to get too hot.
This means that devices become more sluggish when the temperature outside skyrockets, giving them a chance to cool down.
How to stop your phone overheating during the heatwave
- Make sure you don't leave the device sitting out in direct sunlight.
- Try to avoid using apps which make high demands on the processor, because this will cause the phone to heat up.
- Don't keep the device in your hot trouser pocket on a hot day.
- Close down all the apps running in the background.
- Turn down the brightness on the display.
- Take the phone out of its case to allow heat to dissipate.
- Switch off the device if you entering a place where it's going to be really hot.
- Make sure you keep an eye on your phone whilst it's charging up and don't leave it to charge overnight.
The iPhone, for instance, has an operating temperature of between 0° and 35°C.
Once it becomes hotter than this, the device stops working temporarily to give it time to chill out.
Battery life is also affected by the heat, with batteries taking longer to charge.
Phones have to work harder in the heat, meaning it munches through battery juice more quickly.
Samsung recalled millions of Note 7 smartphones in 2016 because several of the devices burst into flames.
Last year, one mum was horrified after her mobile phone overheated and burned her baby daughter's leg.
Here's why charging your phone overnight is a fire risk.
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