A gigantic wall of text just to say we don’t have free chargers for whatever reason. IMHO they totally miss the point of the controversy…
A gigantic wall of text just to say we don’t have free chargers for whatever reason. IMHO they totally miss the point of the controversy…
What’s your usage pattern for those devices? Almost full discharge + fast charge?
Asking because I only noticed a very small degradation (judging by reported charge %) in a flagship device after 3 years. A midrange phone from 2020 with heavy usage (charged twice a day sometimes, often using a fast charger) for 2-3 years did not have noticeable battery degradation. A low-end device from 2016 had no noticeable degradation after 4-5 years. Another 5+ years old second-hand phone had some, but nothing catastrophic. The only case of bad battery degradation (shutdown at 20%, unreliable gauge, etc) I have only seen in 10+ year old devices.
Typically, I use a slow-charger overnight (a plain ol’ USB type-A charger, which I think means 5W max), then top-up as needed during the day with USB-PD fast chargers. I generally do not top up to 100% during the day. I have adaptive charging enabled in settings.
That said, I’m a heavy phone user, and I’ve never had a phone that reliably lasts me a full day. According to aBattery, my current phone is at 750 charge cycles, which is just about 1 per day since I bought it. I’m not up to date on all the latest developments in battery tech, but I think it’s normal for a battery to drop to 80% of its original max charge after 500 cycles. I don’t think I have a dud on my hands, just an ordinary battery that is aging as expected. Like I said, it’s still “fine”. It hasn’t started unexpectedly shutting off or anything like that.
I still have my old Pixel 2 (now 7 years old) that I occasionally use as a wi-fi device. I used that phone heavily for 2 years and very lightly for the remaining 5. I’m lucky if the battery lasts half an hour at this point; it’s basically a desktop device now.
Same. This time I just said “fuck it”, and got a phone with huge battery. I mean, really huge. Lasts me 3 days when kept between ~ 20 - 90%. God knows what that percentage really means though.
It still shows 3.68V at “5%”, and keeps charging long past “100%”, so the way to ensure actual full charge is only with a USB tester. It also has some weird bugs with charging, so I recommend using a regular dumb 5V-only adapter or charge-only cable. In short - repeating split-second overvoltage on QC adapters, and no PC data after charging with original adapter until restart.
I don’t need to charge it during the day, so this is OK enough.
Anyway, most people would probably not want this. The battery is 22,000 mAh. Yes, really. And the phone is also 27.5 mm / 1.08 inch thick and 647g / 1.43lbs heavy. As I said, most people would probably not want this.
For comparison with your Pixel 2, it’s like 3 and a half of them stacked thick, and 4 and a half of them heavy.
Ulefone Armor 24. A cheap bug-ridden experience. However, a unique one.
10 years ago, all I wanted was a brick-sized phone with a battery that won’t quit. Now that we have cheap and reliable portable power banks, it’s dropped down on my priorities list.
I guess a 22Ah battery would have a longer effective lifespan, too. I mean, if it drops to 50% capacity after a few years, that’s still more that double most phones. So that would potentially solve my longevity issue.
And just for fun: There’s also Unihertz Tank 3 Pro which additionally has 5G and… A BUILT-IN PROJECTOR, because why not. But it’s also quite a bit more expensive. Of course, more performance for that price too.