I have Verizon cell-phone service, and an LG VX4650 speaker phone.

I got it about 5 months ago, and for the last month or so, the battery-life indicator has been dropping to 2 bars out of four, within the hour. Even after a good, long charge.

I took it in to Verizon yesterday to see if I had a defective battery. It turns out, as I was told, I have been over-charging it.

Now, I thought the days of over-charging a battery were in the past… that if there was a device that had to be charged on a routine basis, either the battery or the charger, or both, would have something designed into them that would terminate the process when it was complete.

I was mistaken.

If you leave your charger plugged into the phone for more than four hours maximum—I was plugging mine in every night before bed—it causes overheating of the battery. They battery actually has several cells inside, and some of them had swollen from the heat, were permanently damaged and would no longer hold a charge at all. Since I brought it to their attention within the first six months, I was granted a prorated price on a new one: $20 instead of $40.

So, heads up, people—don’t just set it and forget it. It could cost your battery its life.

Update
The new battery I got was bad. Wouldn’t hold a charge. Had to return it the next day.

“Sometimes we get bad batteries. It happens,” the guy said.