When the Government Can’t Bail You Out: Five Ways to Keep Your Phone Charged
The massive hurricane named Sandy hit the Northeastern part of our country at the end of October. Local and federal government groups responded with mixed reviews. The government can’t and won’t do everything for you. With that in mind, here is a quick summary of a helpful article we found at CNN. Five ways to keep your mobile phone charged in an emergency.
Our cell phones, like computers, are our links to the outside world. We have grown increasingly dependent on these devices, especially phones. Thanks to speed dial, most people don’t even know their loved ones numbers by heart any longer. A home phone is a rare sight these days, so it’s become very important to make sure that your cell phone is charged. With Sandy having left millions without power for extended amounts of time, it’s important to take a look at how you can plan to keep your cell phones functional in a power outage. Even for those who haven’t lost power in Sandy, it’s a useful thing to know. Almost everyone experiences power outages at some point or another.
“A backup charger for your phone or tablet can can keep you linked in longer. “Juice packs” can be bought for $100 or less (Mophie, for one, makes them for Apple and Android devices) and many of the chargers double as protective cases for your smartphone or tablet. Alternately, battery-powered backup chargers like the Zagg Sparq can provide several full charges for your mobile devices after the usual electrical options are gone. You can even find chargers that use solar power. So as long as you’ve got a dry spot and at least a brief break from the rain, Mother Nature can help bail you out.”
Car chargers are also a great option, as they ensure you will have juice on the go or in an emergency. A power inverter is another viable option, especially if you’re thinking about charging larger objects than phones. A power inverter could also keep a laptop charged. If the power is not out for too long, you can always charge your phone on your laptop. This is assuming that your laptop has battery life. Phone life is greatly compromised by certain applications, especially games, video, and internet. There are applications available that will help you see where your battery life is going. A better understanding of how much battery each application uses will help you make more efficient decisions when preserving power is important.