Mobile phone battery types can influence the efficiency of the phone and how you need to treat it when charging. The theory goes like this: the longer time you leave between charging your mobile phone, the lower your carbon footprint.

The better the battery, the better the software, the more ‘green’ your phone, the better for the planet. So a solar or kinetic powered phone wins hands down, but for those of us with battery driven phones, here’s a little info for you.

Nickel Cadmium (NiCa)

Do NiCa batteries suffer from depression? Actually it’s what’s called memory effect, which means you have to use all the power between charging or the battery gets damaged. Typically NiCa batteries are not environmentally friendly so most mobile phone companies have stopped using them.

Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH)

For the same size as a NiCa battery, these will run for up to 40% longer, they are less prone to ‘depression’ or the memory effect, and they are environmentally better as they don’t contain cadmium. However, after a while their power delivery drops, so they’re not that good for use in mobile phones.

Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)

These are fab, no memory effect issues and for size and weight they can offer up to 40% more power than the above two options. Whilst you can’t use them in older phones, they are the best on the market at present and they are very cost effective.

Lithium Polymer (Li-Poly)

These are really high-end batteries and the kind you would find on Star Trek, more of a pouch than the usual typical battery shape. They don’t suffer from the memory effect. Its possible that this design will replace the Lithium Ion design in the future, but right now whilst it has exceptional battery life and capacity, its just way too expensive.