I was able to check a Moto Stylus 5G with Andorids 12 and it did not have the 85% battery setting. Instead there is some weird battery saver that stops charging after 3 days when pugged in and 100%. That is hardly a useful setting.
Need a Decent Phone
- Thread starter LunarMist
- Start date
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I've had a paid app, Accubattery, for years and years that limits battery charge. That is at least an option.
Yes, I use it. The charge does not stop. It just creates an alarm or notification that is useful if the operator is present. I think there is an IOT AC outlet than could be controlled, but that's too much hassle. At home I use a timed USB control. The app indicates battery capacity at 93% after 3.8 years using ~80% charging most of the time. I charge phones 100% on travel.
sedrosken
Florida Man
I use it to keep track of my battery health, but I found the alarm annoying as it'd constantly go off right when I was about to sleep. I don't really pay much attention to my charging habits but I somehow keep rolling sixes and none of my devices are significantly worn, even the ones I've had for years.
I've also given up on worrying about the battery heath on my devices. So far they've been fine after several years and numerous cycle counts of charging to 100%.
I don't even set my phone to vibrate any more, it's on complete silence except for my morning alarm clock.
I don't even set my phone to vibrate any more, it's on complete silence except for my morning alarm clock.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I actually customize the shit out of notification noises on Android, so I know who is emailing me.
sedrosken
Florida Man
I wouldn't keep my cell in my bedroom either, except I'm always on-call, and I don't have a TV in my bedroom to spit generic noise at me so I can actually focus on something other than my own thoughts for long enough to fall asleep anymore.
I customize ringtones by contact so I know who I can safely ignore until I'm actually available, but other than that I keep my notification noises pretty generic -- in fact they're all the "chord" error sound from Windows 95. Not 98 and up, that's actually a different, distinct sound. My alarm was set, as a joke, to a MIDI of a Depeche Mode song. I find it just annoying enough to wake up and shut off, but not annoying enough that I specifically want to change it back to anything.
I customize ringtones by contact so I know who I can safely ignore until I'm actually available, but other than that I keep my notification noises pretty generic -- in fact they're all the "chord" error sound from Windows 95. Not 98 and up, that's actually a different, distinct sound. My alarm was set, as a joke, to a MIDI of a Depeche Mode song. I find it just annoying enough to wake up and shut off, but not annoying enough that I specifically want to change it back to anything.
How does that work in OutlooK?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I have no idea. Outlook, like iOS and Western Digital, is a thing that should not be tolerated to exist.
Gmail/Android allows a custom notification sound based on labels and labels can be handled with conditional modifiers, so it's pretty easy to make my phone beep in particular ways. I don't actually use labels for filing anything but I do use them to tell me what's going on when I'm not immediately paying attention. This is useful for server monitoring vs getting a social message from a regular correspondent vs a UPS Delivery notice.
Do you use the recent large capacity Seagate Exons drives at home? I'm really disappointed in the ugly seek noise compared to the old 10TB helium models. I have no budget for hard drives until H2 2023 unless it becomes urgent, but I'm going for WD drives next time if they are quiet.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Almost all my 10TB+ drives are Exos or Ironwolf. I don't really notice the noises they make, but it's not like they're X15s, either. They live in a rack that's shoved into the back of a walk in closet. I'll probably be replacing the 8TB SMR drives that make up the bulk of my storage for at least a couple more years though.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Tmo will support the A-whatever. And it'll be a good phone with a great screen. Everything will be one step down from S-series at about half the price.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
The issues with hardware compatibility are largely gone since Sprint's CDMA network was retired and LTE and 5G carriers are essentially compatible other than specific outlier bands each carrier in the USA uses. OEMs don't have to make models with different transceivers any longer, so I'd fully expect any new model phone to be available for any network.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Tmobile uses a normal SIM that you could swap with any other normal carrier. If you buy from a carrier, it'll be carrier-locked until you complain enough to make them unlock it, and only if you aren't on a hardware purchase contract.
ddrueding
Fixture
When I was in the US I'd buy phones new on Amazon and use Google Fi as my cell carrier. Now that eSIM is a thing it is really easy.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Hilariously, a lot of phones in the USA with carrier specific models have eSim functionality blocked in the OS. This is particularly aggravating with Samsung because it makes phones with Snapdragon (good) or Exynos (not-so-good) SoCs. The Snapdragon models are only sold in the USA and Korea, and any Snapdragon will have eSIM use blocked.
sedrosken
Florida Man
It's my experience that eSIM worked both on my A53 5G, which was an AT&T phone, the S20 Ultra 5G I was using for work, and my S22, which are T-Mobile devices.
According to what I read online the A54 uses an Exogenous CPU, but the Samsung USA website does not specify it. What is the issue with the Samsung CPUs?
I don't order anything of much value from the Amazon. There is too much counterfeit crap on there. In this case maybe grey or diverted phones, who knows.
sdbardwick
Storage is cool
Ignore me. Repeating known information.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
From everything I read about it, US S-series Samsungs have locked eSIM capability. It's not model specific. Snapdragon = no eSIM. I hope that's gotten better since the S20, but that's the explanation I was given.
I believe that the Snapdragon SoCs have better support for US LTE and 5G bands than the Exynos. Exynos gets hotter, runs a little slower and doesn't last as long on a battery as the Qualcomm in a given generation. Europeans complain that they get the bad versions all the time.
ddrueding
Fixture
My Euro S22 Ultra is a Snapdragon and supports eSIM just as a datapoint.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Samsung says S22s get Exynos in all of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and whatever Russian satellites. The S23 does have a Qualcomm SoC in Euroland, though. Are you sure you didn't get an imported US phone? There is some demand for those, as they're widely known to be the superior option.
I can't speak to changes in policy on eSim, but the S20s are the last acceptable S-series model IMO and I had been contemplating a move to Mint since Tmobile seems extremely keen to push me out of my Sprint Employee contract. Every little bit of research I can find says no on eSim at least up to that point.
Samsung needs to either make a phone that isn't actively a regression from the S20 or AT LEAST make the option to get a 1TB phone a lot cheaper.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
It was a T-mobile MVNO that offered an unlimited* data plan for $30/month if paid annually. I'm currently on a Sprint employee plan, but there are more and more caveats to that plan and what I can do with it, as well as some new fees that raised the price for my phone plan above $30/month I've been paying since the early 2000s. I don't even like T-mobile's payment systems, as they're much more of a hassle than Sprint's were. They also turned voice mail and SMS back on my account, something I'd explicitly blocked for my phone number, which stepped on my last nerve.
The day after I received a Mint SIM, T-mobile announced that they're buying Mint regardless. So they're about to be the same thing.
I have the autopay on the T..Mobiles. I'm paying a little more than I could be on a newer plan, but my obsolete plan has things that are only on the most expensive plan now. I have three lines now, one for somebody else. I don't remember the phone numbers since I mainly use the home phone. Does your company subsidize the phone for business use?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
My company would subsidize only if I accepted an iphone.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I don't even want ONE phone. I don't think anyone should buy iOS devices. They bought me a company mobile phone some years ago. I just never turned it on and it was eventually taken to replace another phone when it was broken.
My company does not have my cell phone number. They have the number of a land line I had 20 years ago and a Google Voice number with a Colorado area code. I already get every message or alert before anyone else. I'd be much happier if I could just keep a tablet around that isn't tied to any voice or SMS service at all, but too many things make cell service a requirement for me to get away with that.
My company does not have my cell phone number. They have the number of a land line I had 20 years ago and a Google Voice number with a Colorado area code. I already get every message or alert before anyone else. I'd be much happier if I could just keep a tablet around that isn't tied to any voice or SMS service at all, but too many things make cell service a requirement for me to get away with that.
I can never figure out what exactly your job(s) is/are, so it is difficult to understand. 
I must have a smartphone to run many various bug business apps, either Android or iPHONE and also there is need for the "factor authentication" almost daily. Nobody at work actually calls me on it, since everyone uses the MS TEAMS. The new apps have a segregation of Work/Personal, but the MS is always notifying of something due to the global structure. I can't mentally deal with it 24/7, so I turn that damn phone off when not needed. But I just can't have the personal phone totally unresponsive if that's all I'm carrying on a Sunday morning. I don't have the OnStart or whatever similar version of that for my car. The subscription was more money than it was worth and I'm often in rental vehicles.
I must have a smartphone to run many various bug business apps, either Android or iPHONE and also there is need for the "factor authentication" almost daily. Nobody at work actually calls me on it, since everyone uses the MS TEAMS. The new apps have a segregation of Work/Personal, but the MS is always notifying of something due to the global structure. I can't mentally deal with it 24/7, so I turn that damn phone off when not needed. But I just can't have the personal phone totally unresponsive if that's all I'm carrying on a Sunday morning. I don't have the OnStart or whatever similar version of that for my car. The subscription was more money than it was worth and I'm often in rental vehicles.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I do a lot of things that add up to a full time job, which is more or less how my professional life has always worked.