Battery Life Tips for your Mobile Phone & Camera for Olympic Winter Games — Road to PyeongChang 2018
Did you know that the battery life in your mobile phone is zapped by 50% when the temperature reaches 0° Fahrenheit (0°C) as compared to 80° F (27°C)? With temperatures in the PyeongChang region last week reaching 11°F (-24°C), that means your expectations for battery life during the Olympic Winter Games in South Korea could be between 40–70% lower than what you regularly expect. Apparently, the colder the weather, the more internal resistance your battery faces which means the battery has to work harder to provide power to your phone and discharges faster. If you are interested in going deeper, this article describes it in detail.
With a Winter Games that is made for sharing with new technologies like Virtual Reality and 5G speeds being introduced, this is a major concern for everyone attending. Having a drastically reduced battery life will have a huge impact on taking video and snapping pictures of the action as it occurs which is such a big part of the Olympic experience. Furthermore, many fans have chosen mobile ticket entry as the way they want to receive their tickets and the last thing they want to do is show up at the entrance with a dead phone.
Below are my top tips for protecting the battery life of your mobile devices during the Winter Games:
Tip #1. Keep your phone close to your body at all times when it is not being used to keep it warm. Preferably in a base layer or pants pocket so your body heat will keep the temperature from impacting the battery life.
Tip #2. Bring a portable battery charger with you and only charge your phone inside where there are warm temperatures. Your charger too, will be affected by the cold weather and be zapped in a fraction of time. By charging indoors, you will maximize the amount of juice you are able to pump back into your phone.
Tip #3. Consider an insulated mobile phone case, like the Phoozy on Amazon.com. Designed to keep your phone warm inside the case, which uses NASA technology.
Tip #4. Minimize the time your phone is out of your pocket. Take pictures and videos quickly, post them and put the phone back into your pocket. Seconds matter in these conditions and the faster you’re able to get your phone back into the case, the more battery you will conserve. For example during Open Ceremony when conditions are likely to be -30°C with wind chill, you want to minimize any time where your device is exposed to the conditions. Resist the urge to pull out your phone every few minutes and consider posting your photos once you are in a warmer spot.
Lastly, your point and shoot camera or your DSLR will react the same way to the cold temperatures. The more you can keep the camera turned off, the better off you will be. There are also some other dangers if you transition from cold to warm too quickly, avoid changing lenses among other items. Here is a great reference for DSLRs in cold weather.
If you follow these tips, you will maximize the amount of battery you’ll have available to capture the amazing moments at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea.
(From Ken Hanscom’s, Ultimate Guide to PyeongChang 2018 which includes this and other helpful articles for your Olympics Winter Games planning: http://bit.ly/2Dai8Qg) . All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without proper attribution and/or a link to the full article.)
About Ken Hanscom:
Ken Hanscom is a veteran-fan of the Olympic Games and the recognized expert in ticketing, corporate sponsorships, traveling to and experiencing the Olympic Games. In his role as COO at InviteManager, during Rio 2016, Ken worked directly with the United States Olympic Committee, NBC Universal, Anheuser Busch, & Cartan Tours the authorized ticket reseller for 23 countries across the globe on their ticketing & corporate hospitality programs. While in Rio, Ken attended 30 events while guest blogging for the International Business Times, writing for USA Today, The Post Game, and appearing on ESPN Radio. For more information and interviews with Ken on the Olympics and the upcoming PyeongChang 2018 games, connect via Twitter or directly at kenh@ticketmanger.com.
