In this day and age, what would we do without our mobile phones, laptops, iPods and iPads? Like it or not, gadgets are a big part of our lives. But sometimes they die on us, at least temporarily, when their batteries run out.

Have you ever wondered why battery life seems to be getting worse not better despite the advances in technology? It almost seems like battery technology is regressing.

It isn't NONE . But what's happening is that our gadgets are getting more and more sophisticated; and they can do more and more powerful things.

For example, a phone isn't just a phone anymore. It's a camera, it's a video recorder, it's a GPS device, it's a music player, it's a mini-computer. All these things are a drain on the battery.

Basically, while our gadgets are getting more powerful, our batteries are not. That's why they seem to die so quickly these days.

Sure, the batteries today are better than the ones, say 10 years ago, but only marginally so. In contrast, the laptops of today are miles ahead of laptops of 10 years ago. Every now and then you read about scientists working on creating super batteries but that's not going to happen anytime soon.

Still, there are things you can do to lessen the chances of your batteries running out of juice at crucial moments. I'm here to share with you some tips on extending the battery life of your gadgets.

You've probably heard all kinds of advice from different people about how to lengthen the shelf life of your battery. Some say you should charge the battery as often as you can. Others say the complete opposite, which is that you should drain the battery until it's completely dead and recharge again. Which is correct?

Actually, both are wrong. You definitely should avoid overcharging your batteries because that's one sure way to ruin them. But neither should you let your batteries run until they're completely out of juice.

mobilekini launch booth 221108 Moderation, literally, is the key to having good battery performance.

These harmful practices are throwbacks from another era when nickel cadmium batteries were used. These have a "memory effect" and they do need to be completely discharged from time to time and then charged fully in order to get maximum performance. But today's gadgets use lithium ion batteries and these do not have a memory effect.

Based on what I've read, it's best to keep your batteries charged between 20 percent and 80 percent. That means not fully discharged but not fully charged either. Strange but true.

Of course it's not easy nor practical to monitor your battery charging levels to ensure that it stops at 80 percent. So, the pragmatic thing to do is to just let it charge all the way to 100 percent but don't leave it charging. Remove it once it hits 100 percent.

Short lifespan

Most people are not aware of this but batteries have a relatively short lifespan of about two years. A little bit more if you take really good care of them. After that, they no longer have the capacity to keep a charge for long. We all know of people whose laptops die after 30 minutes. That's because their batteries are simply too old.

malaysian online laptop remote user in coffee cafe There's nothing you can do to revive such batteries. You have to bite the bullet and buy a new one. No doubt, laptop batteries are ridiculously expensive. Depending on the brand, some laptop batteries can run up to RM500.

I recently inquired about buying an extended battery (with nine cells instead of six) for one of my laptops and the price was a jaw-dropping RM800. I didn't buy it of course! Even phone batteries are terribly pricey. If you buy an original one, it could easily cost you over RM200.

In light of that, it makes all the sense in the world to take good care of your batteries. As they say, prevention is better than cure. Actually in this case there is no cure. Once your batteries are in bad shape, they need to be replaced.

Other than avoiding overcharging and completely discharging your batteries, the other thing you want to do, to increase their longevity, is to keep them away from heat.

That means using a cooling pad for your laptop and it means keeping your gadgets away from direct sunlight, like in your car.

This will also have the added benefit of not inviting thieves to smash your car windows to steal the gadgets!

OON YEOH's new social media book ' L ike Me, Follow Me ' is published by MPH. You can connect with him via Facebook and Twitter .