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wall of shame

software Pushing my phone's idle until it glitches.

joined jan 1, 2024

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joined jan 1, 2024

'Dumbphones' are all the rage when it comes to cutting down on the cruft and distractions of modern life, but as someone who had the misfortune of using one to call all sorts of different clients in a former job, I caution everyone who dreams with indestructable, small, comfortable devices with crazy battery life, fast software and no distractions. So last year I have decided to do something a little funny with my Moto e20. As I've mostly disconnected myself from using the phone to do things and instead use my laptop, I wanted to see just how much the battery on this thing can go on a single charge if I don't do anything on it.

The rules were simple:

  • No using the phone unless absolutely necessary

  • Turn it off for the night and back in the morning, if I forgot to turn on early it would stay on for the night

  • Firewall stays ON. That means no 'Battery Saving' or 'Ultra Battery Saving' modes.

The Results!

The e20 has a 5000Mah battery which is quite alright by itself but it also runs on Android GO which is a much more lightweight version of Android. On top of that I also have completely dozed it from its bloat by disabling everything I didn't use, including Google Play Services.

That could have partially be to blame for the Settings menu's glitchiness after Day 20 after which the battery graph basically just gave up and started giving me a straight line downwards, with an... upwards projection that was sometimes separate from the end line. After Day 30 the Last Full Charge label also just reset and started counting from the start although the battery graph read more accurately. I couldn't finish the challenge fully as I did need my phone to be on me today but I calculate it would have gone on for another day or so. Overall, quite pleased with this experiment; I dare any 'dumbphone' to go toe-to-toe with 34 days (or 23 if we just count idle time) of battery life. It would be interesting to see.

edited 1/25/2024, 6:58 pm

software Pushing my phone's idle until it glitches.