Anonymous Browsing, Exploding Phones: Five Tech Myths Busted

Some age-old technology myths busted. How many of these did you know about?

Phone Charging To Incognito Browsing: All Myths Busted

(Photo: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

Remember the first time you bought a phone? If yes, then you’ll surely remember the first piece of advice on charging your phone: “Do not overcharge it, else it’ll explode!!!”

Now, most of us know it’s a myth... you know that, right?

Well, here are a few myths related to technology and gadgets busted by yours truly, BTech Babua.

1. The more megapixels your camera has, the better the picture

It is a myth.

Very high megapixel count provides the high resolution necessary to capture finer details in a scene. But, high pixel count means that individual pixels are very small. And small pixels produce much noisier images than large pixels, especially when the lighting is poor.

2. Incognito browsing mode keeps your computer activity anonymous

This is also a myth, because while on incognito mode your activity won’t show in your browser history, your internet service provider keeps a track of what website you visit at what time.

3. More bars on your mobile phone mean better service

A myth again.

Understand the difference. Connectivity and strength are two different things.

The bars indicate signal strength, not the quality of available service. Imagine that standing at one place, you, your friends, your whole society is using the same network on their phone. As a result signal strength will weaken even if it is showing four bars.

4. Don’t recharge your battery until it is almost drained

It’s a myth.

It was applicable only to Nickel-Cadmium battery not to the modern-day Lithium-ion batteries. It's actually best to keep your device at 40-80% charge. You should ideally recharge it when the battery is at 10-20%.

5. Leaving your phone plugged-in destroys the battery

Your phone won’t explode if you leave it charging overnight. It's your phone and not a dynamite. Modern smartphones run on lithium-ion batteries and are advanced enough to stop charging when the battery is full.