The weather is questionable as ever but as we’ve enjoyed slightly more sunny skies than grey of late, it’s fair to say that spring has sprung at last. ‘Tis the season for sorting stuff out, so give your phone a bit of a treat and get it spick and span before the real summer makes an appearance.
Tidy up your contacts
It’s easy enough to amass a whole bunch of out-of-date contacts and while you might think they make you look more popular than you actually are, in reality they just clutter your memory up. A quick squint through my own contacts reveals a membership number for a breakdown service I’m not a member of any more, ex-colleagues whose faces I can barely even remember and five separate phone numbers for my Dad.
Be ruthless and ditch anyone you haven’t texted or called in the last eighteen-months. Group numbers so that you only have one entry per person and be sure to give everyone a sensible name – hilarious code names will only mystify you three months down the line. Give everyone a relevant image too – even if it’s not their face.
Change your MP3s
You only have so much storage on your handset, so delete all those songs you’ve had on there for months and listened to a million times. Replace them with a whole new musical library of albums you’re yet to properly connect with. And, of course, make sure you have all the album artwork and track listings in order so it’s nice and pretty to look at.
Take a trip down memory lane by reading all your old texts and emails. Then delete them.
Get zen and clear out your inbox, especially if you don’t have threaded conversations. Even if you do, you’ve probably got a glut of messages from your network provider, taxi cabs and other marketing guff that you can absolutely live without. Emails are even peskier – mark as read any that you want to keep but can’t be bothered to actually read, then delete the rest from your phone.
Transfer your photos and videos
There are probably hundreds of photos in your gallery but how often do you actually look at them? By all means keep your favourites on the handset, as well as any wallpapers and contact images, but the rest can go. Unceremoniously delete the fuzzy, dark and in-pocket shots. All the photos that make the grade you can just transfer to your computer or, if you’re not keen on having them on your desktop, upload them to Facebook or an image service like Photobucket, Flickr or Picasa. If you’re super keen, you could even print them out and keep them in an album (how quaint!).
Arrange your apps by colour
No, really. Do it. It’s fun, pretty and satisfying. Or, if you’re boring, arrange them alphabetically. Or, if you’re sensible, by how often you use them.
Physically clean your handset
Your phone spends a fair amount of time in your grubby mitts, next to your more-germy-than-a-toilet-seat mouth and in your probably none-too-clean bag or pocket. So do yourself a favour and annhiliate those germs using an anti-bacterial spray and microfibre cloth. Turn the handset off and take the battery out so that you don’t have to worry about accidentally calling anyone while you clean. Use the spray sparingly and allow the handset to dry fully before you put the battery back in.
A clean toothbrush or make-up brush would be perfect for clearing out those fiddly bits between buttons, hinges and down the sides of the screen. If you have a screen cover, now would be a good time to replace it. Your camera lens can also get smudged and make photos blurry and rubbish – use a cotton bud with a tiny little bit of rubbing alcohol to wipe it, then a dry cotton bud to finish it off.
Get yourself a nice new case
Maybe you’re sick to death of your handset but still some months off upgrading – why not treat yourself to a nice new case to cover it up. Perhaps something spring-like, like this lovely case from Etsy or, if you’re feeling a bit flush, something more classic like a handcrafted leather case.
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