Battery life - charge up everyday or let die?

Alright, let the debate begin!

For maximum battery life, do you:

- Charge it up each day
- Charge it when it says "battery low"
- Let it die completely and charge up full
- Other

??

Good question. I've always been told if you charge when it doesn't need it it'll kill the battery faster. But with a cell phone I used to have, i'd charge it everyday and the battery stayed good the entire time I had the phone. With the phone I have now, I charge it when it needs. I'm on my second battery with this one. Could just be a crappy phone though.

I always thought that it was important to charge the phone/laptop/other fully out of the packet then use it.

Although, when I bought my most recent phone I asked what I should do in regards to battery and he said that while it was important to do that charging on old batteries apparently with the new ones it doesn't matter so much.

I left my old phone turned of for about a week, after it ran out of battery, and now my battery life is really bad on it. So I think its probably best to recharge fully when it says "battery low".

The battery life on my cell is pretty good. I usually only charge it when it says low battery.
If I'm going somewhere for the day, I'll charge it just so it doesn't die on me.

I'm still on my first cell phone but I definitely killed the battery by charging it everyday. It still works alright but instead of holding 3 days of charge it barely holds one and only if I'm within range all day and don't text very much. >.<
It's a LG Chocolate so it's not too junky of a phone either. I actually really like it.

According to my dad who is a major computer expert (used to own his own computer fixing business) you should only charge your computer when it has about 10% of the battery left. You should never remove the battery at that point however because it can kill the stuff that makes the battery charge (don't remember what they're called).
With my laptop it was advised to remove the battery whenever it was fully charged and just have it plugged in if at all possible to preserve the battery. I've been doing that and it's been working well. I've only had my laptop since June however so I have no real long term knowledge of how that will affect my battery.

Sorry for the novel. >.<

That's how my phone is too but I only charge it when it needs to be charged so I don't think charging it everyday is what causes it. I completely forgot about laptops. Mine just altogether died a few months ago. The battery won't charge at all. I left it plugged in all the time so I don't know if that was the cause or not. My sister always tells me not to have hers plugged in unless the battery is low.

I was told it depends on the type of battery. However, I charge whenever it is convenient to me. The cordless phone goes on the cradle every night and is basically off of it all day. My cell phones have indicator lights -- as soon as they are fully charged, I unplug them as per instructions from the supplier. AA, AAA, C and D cells I charge when they don't work good enough anymore. The laptop is almost always plugged in with the battery installed.

I believe that with Lithium batteries, the best way to keep a good charge is to charge them fully prior to the first use and then let them run completely dead before charging them again. Don't leave the battery in a machine that is turned off for any length of time, and don't leave the battery on the charger longer than it takes for it to be fully charged. Most things now (cameras, phones, etc) have designator lights that indicate when the battery is fully charged. The camcorder batteries we have at work usually end up staying on the chargers all the time and most of them average about 5 minutes of filming battery life. }:( (which is why we have 6 of them for 2 cameras)

The early rechargable batterys would develope a memory and only
Accept so much of a charge. (power tools.) thus shorting the life
Cycle of the battery. (actually were regular rechargeable batterys
Soldered together in series in the case)

With the newer type batterys it doesn't hurt them to be charged
Before they completely die. They don't develope a memory.

Same here. :)