The price of a new smartphone can exceed $ 700, making it cost almost as much as a new laptop, and of course you care that this phone lasts longer than just the usual year or two for many users.

Fortunately, aside from the usual caveats, such as keeping it from falling into bathtubs or ponds, there are things you can do to keep your phone in service longer than you think.

Protect the screen
"Your screen is a crystal grid," says Kyle Wins, co-founder and chief executive of iFixIt, a company that provides guides, instructions, and parts needed to repair hardware. More likely to break than if the screen was not scratched. "

There are plenty of screen protectors, but the Otterbox Amplify Screen Protection offers up to five times longer screen protection and scratch resistance than the leading glass alternatives, according to Digital Trends. In making Gorilla Glass for smart phone screens.

The use of a screen protector keeps it from being scratched and thus protects it from breakage.

Protect your device from excessive cold or heat
Most phones are not designed to be used in extremely cold or extremely high temperatures. "Both iPhones and Android phones are designed to operate normally at temperatures between 0 and 35 degrees Celsius," said Toussillon Adegbija, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Arizona.

If the phone gets hotter or becomes too cold, it may slow down or stop working, and in extreme cases it may be permanently damaged, and the battery life may become permanently short. The phone can be heated by placing it in your pocket, but in case of overheating, turn off some functions such as Wi-Fi or GPS.

Replace the battery
Everything in your phone should actually last a decade or so, Wins says, except for a battery that wasn't designed for long life, adding that most batteries have about 500 charge cycles.

To find out how many charge cycles your phone has gone through, install the coconutBattery application on your computer, connect your iPhone and it will tell you how many cycles you have. As for Android, there is the application "AccuBatter" (AccuBatter).

Or you can plan to replace your phone's battery every 18 months, which is the time it takes for most of us to reach a limit of five hundred charge cycles.

Most of the smart phone batteries are around 500 charging cycles (Pixabay)

Delete some apps and files from your phone
In general, deleting some apps and using cloud storage services can help improve phone performance and reduce power consumption.

"Cloud storage can help free up your phone's storage space and reduce stress on your device," says Adegbiga. Instead of downloading documents, try Google Docs, which requires no processing power or memory space.

Stay away from suspicious apps
Although it's not very common for mobile phones to get infected with a virus or malware, it can happen, usually by downloading an app. "In general, the best way to prevent viruses or malware is to avoid downloading and installing applications that are not from Apple or Google app stores," says Adegbiga.

"This does not mean that all applications from outside these stores are malicious," he says. Rather, it is difficult for viruses or malware to access those stores. Also, to protect your phone and personal information, beware of email attachments or visit unsafe sites on your phone.