[InControl]

Originally Posted by condor

Saket - happy for you ! And happy to help. One thing about Gururaj is that he is upfront - he will tell clearly, what is possible, what is not, and what may be. He also repairs Laptops !

In case anyone wants his number, please DM me. Bangalore folks - he is often there at his office on Sunday, in case you cant go on other days.

Good to know how this turned out at the end. I think you can safely share Mr Gururaj's number on the forum if he does not mind it so that everyone can benefit(else, please pm me).I have an iPhone 6 plus which is not getting updated to the latest os and would like to use his services

[vshankarhere]

Originally Posted by aan nhu mare?

I have been using Apple's 20W brick to charge my iPhone 12. I watched a video yesterday where they said fast chargers can degrade phone batteries faster due to heat produced.
Am I inadvertently causing harm to my battery in the long term?

I have got myself an iPhone 13 after exchanging my iPhone XR recently. I too had watched a similar video or maybe the same one when I was surfing in YouTube. The video talked about removing thick cases especially leather while charging the iPhone via wireless pads. Don't think it talked about any issue with charging the iPhone with Apple's 20W charger. I have bought the 20W charger and have also retained the charger from iPhone XR which charges at a much lesser wattage. In fact, I find the phone tends to heat slightly only while charging via the older, lesser wattage charger and is perfectly fine when charged via the 20W charger.

Few tips for increasing longevity of the iPhone batteries which I could muster from online resources

1. iPhones and other Apple products in general use Lithium ion batteries which do not suffer from "memory" issues like other battery technologies. So while we are trained to think to fully charge our phones to 100% and drain it to almost 0% to increase battery life and not make it suffer from "memory" effect, it is the other way it seems for Li-Ion batteries!

2. Li-Ion batteries do not like to be either at 0% or at 100%, the reason why Apple has introduced optimized charging tech in iOS. Since these batteries have limited charge-discharge cycles, say 2000, fully depleting and charging to 100% can limit the battery's lifespan.

3. It is always better to charge them till 80% and use and charge the battery when it reaches say 40% so that it does not achieve a full charge cycle. It will take two 40%-80% and one 60%-80% (40+40+20=100) or any similar permutation to reach one cycle. So more frequently you juice it up, lesser the number of charging cycles covered and better the longevity of the battery.

4. In case the phone is stored for some time, the best practice is to charge till 50% and store the phone.


Guess these tips should apply for any devices or even EVs which employ Lithium battery tech.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by raksrules

So glad to see many of the folks here still holding onto their 6S. Not sure if it their primary device or just backup. For me it is primary device and has undergone battery change 2-3 times till now. Last being from cashify person who came home and did for for Rs. 1350 and it seems to be holding up well for last 5 months. It was obviously a 3rd party battery but I wasn't going to pay 3K for apple battery due to my previous experience with it where it went bad in just 6-7 months.

My 6S is 2 years old has 88% battery health and this is my secondary phone - primary being a Motorola Edge 20. Small screen and battery drain are the main issues that is preventing me from using it as primary.

Flipkart has the iPhone 12 for 52K and I can get it for 44K after trade in and cashbacks. But I don't know if its all worth it since the 6S is on the latest iOS and is fast and fluid enough for everyday usage. Heart says upgrade, mind says no.

[rkv_2401]

I have a 6S Plus that I bought in 2015. I bought it with the highest amount of storage available then(64GB) and in a color that I liked, and obviously paid a pretty sum for it. When I bought it, I had plans of using it for 5+ years and even though the price was above my comfort zone, this way, I would actually save money because I wouldn't need to buy a new phone for a while. I took into account how fast the A8 chip on the iPhone 6 was even with 1GB of RAM, realized how long the A9 chip fabricated on 14nm (Intel still used 14nm fabs up until 3/4ths through this year!) would be peppy for with twice as much RAM as the iPhone 6, devised a plan to preserve the battery, etc.

Alas, it had the camera OIS failure problem (https://www.theverge.com/2015/8/21/9...-camera-defect) that plagued the previous model, and unfortunately I had to get another phone in 2018.

Up until that point, I had not so much as bumped it into a table and it still failed.
And to this day, 6 years later, it's fast and peppy for any browsing/small apps I run on it, doesn't overheat and still had 82% of it's battery health last time I checked running on it's original battery.

Best bit was Apple asking me to hand it over and pay 31k for a new iPhone 6S Plus, despite them offering to replace the camera for 10k earlier - because upon thorough inspection of the phone over one full day, they unearthed the following, fatal problems:

1) The silent mode toggle sometimes got stuck - the spring was sticky
2) My phone's camera OIS had failed
3) There were some scratches on the back panel from sandy dust getting inside my case

All things that I knew about before, and 2 out of 3 'problems' don't affect the functionality in anyway! And now, because there are 3 problems instead of one, Apple does not allow fixing of a phone despite the customer paying for it. And now I have 2 extra phones that I don't have a use for and wouldn't have needed if Apple had just fixed my phone when I asked them for it. I was offering to pay despite there being documented evidence of failure of, and a recall program for, the faulty OIS module. I use an iPhone 8 Plus 64GB now, and other than Wireless charging, there's nothing I prefer in this over my 6S Plus. I only bought this last year, so even if I were to keep it for the regular 3 year period it would be heavily outdated by then.

Thanks to this refusal by Apple, I was in a no-win situation. Even now, I would be happy to get my 6S Plus fixed, maybe a new battery, and switch to it for a year or so. But then what will I do with the 8 Plus? And as I continue to use the 8 Plus, there's a perfectly functional phone sitting in my drawer that I have good memories with and is depreciating in value every day. To muddy things further, my upgrade path is screwed thanks to the ridiculous pricing of the newer smartphones - back in the day of the Galaxy S3/S4, Lumia 920 et. al, flagship phones went for 30-35k and you got the best phone of that year (which was usually the best phone ever made, at that point of time) for that money. Now I don't even think you can buy a new iPhone for less than 30k?

The more than 3-year old XR 64GB is 35k? I'm not comfortable spending a lot more than 40k to maybe get a phone with inherent design flaws again, but buying the cheapest phone available means I will have to keep upgrading every 2-3 years..? Ugh!

[raksrules]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

My 6S is 2 years old has 88% battery health and this is my secondary phone - primary being a Motorola Edge 20. Small screen and battery drain are the main issues that is preventing me from using it as primary.

Flipkart has the iPhone 12 for 52K and I can get it for 44K after trade in and cashbacks. But I don't know if its all worth it since the 6S is on the latest iOS and is fast and fluid enough for everyday usage. Heart says upgrade, mind says no.

Since beginning of 2020, I have been planning to upgrade. When 12 came, I thought I will buy and then contemplated whether I want to upgrade as what will a new iPhone solve for me that my current one cannot. Didn't find any answer so did not buy.

2021 came and same situation and still didn't upgrade. But may be in 2022, when iPhone 13 may be available for under 40K in BBD sale or so then I may buy.

[Big Smoke]

Hello forum members.

I am a first year student, got into university this year itself.
I am in urgent need to upgrade my phone. Hence reaching out to you all.

Brief background-

I currently use an Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 since Jan 2019. This is my third phone yet, and I have always used stock android / near stock android phones only. I am firm about using stock android phones only in the future, it's my personal preference.

Consequently, I sought to buy a Google Pixel 6 Pro (128 GB) from the US, which my friend would have got for me while flying back to India (he is here now). It was costing around INR 74,000 from bestbuy.com. But I saw that I was getting an iPhone 13 Pro (128 GB, Unlocked) for INR 82,700 bucks.

My father has been an iPhone user for the last 9 years. I have used iPhones a fair bit myself as well, and I love the iPhone. So I placed an order for an iPhone 13 Pro (128 GB, Unlocked) from apple.com on 19 Dec 2021 to get it delivered to my friend's place in New York. For whatever (unknown) reason, the order got cancelled. Following that, I tried ordering the phone again (6 times), but for yet another unknown reason, my father's International Debit Card did not get authenticated and no transaction took place, hence couldn't place the order. I have talked to Apple Customer Support (US) about 9 times now to sort out this issue, but there seemed to be no resolution.
And all this while my friend was hesitant to buy the phone himself. So I couldn't get that done.

Therefore, I couldn't buy any phone at all and all my friends have now come back to India from the US. I have received the refund of my cancelled order as well.

Current Scenario-

I need a new phone by end of Jan 2022.
I have decided to buy the iPhone 13 Pro (first preference), or the Google Pixel 6 Pro (second preference). Problem is, I can't extend my budget beyond INR 85,000.

In India, as you know, both phones cost more than INR 1.15 Lakhs.

Please guide me, forum members. If any forum member is returning from the US, or has an acquaintance returning from the US, it would be very helpful if they could manage a phone.

Really looking forward to your guidance.

[Rocketscience]

Originally Posted by ashvek3141

Don’t worry about getting the battery replaced at Apple SC anymore. The genuine iPhone batteries are now readily available at third party repair shops and they do it for less than half the price what Apple charges.

Last year I got the battery of my IP7 replaced at Apple for 3500/-. Just two months later my friend got his from a trusted third party shop for merely 1750/- !! That’s the difference what Apple charges.

How are you sure that the seller outside has genuine apple battery? As far as I know no one outside of Apple in India atleast has access to their parts at all and all are chinese knockoffs of different qualities.

One can not be sure with these things because no matter where I have gone they all claim to use genuine or OEM parts and none of them are. Apple quotes around 7000 for all their own batteries for most phones I know, same price for iphone 6 and say 12 pro.

My cousin recently got his display changed for iphone XR by a third party shop for 10k which they obviously claimed was genuine and he believed them.
When I compared it with mine there is a night and day difference. The viewing angles are way inferior in his display, the gamma is off wherein the shadows are almost crushed in his phone giving a very contrasty look and all in all it is way off from a well calibrated display Apple provides (and overcharges for if you break it).
Now comes the fun part, just a few months ago I got my sister's iphone 6s's display changed from karol bagh for around 1300 bucks and that display has the exact same characteristics as my cousin's XR display, same crushed blacks, same blue tint, same poor viewing angles, I can bet anything they are made in the same factory.
So you see it is a wild wild west out there and you just can't trust these shops at all, they can charge anything because Apple already overcharges so much that you'll find it to be a great deal.

Also, the battery you are talking of, not sure about your reasoning but I got that changed in that 6S of my sister's too and got that done for 600 bucks. This battery looks exactly like Apple's, had about the same markings and the phone actually displays the battery health as 100% when it was connected, it is at 96 now i guess. Needless to say it is a chinese knockoff but many people will sell it as OEM, which it is not.

[AjinkyaP]

Hello!
I have an iPhone SE 2020 bought a year ago.
While form factor,performance,camera,software experience is delightful , the battery life is absolutely pathetic.

Will it be a good decision to go for iPhone XR? It won't be an upgrade for sure but may be a better battery performance?

Don't want to go back to android and not comfortable with spending more than 35-40k on a new iPhone.

[AJ56]

A lot of folks seem to be confused whether to let go of their 6S or not, speaking as someone who used the 6S for 5 years straight until Nov 2020, (got the 12 pro max then), all I’ll say is it was a great device by 2015 standards but it’s woefully outdated in 2022, be it the LCD panel or the small battery or the thick bezels and iOS 15 will likely be the final OS that supports it.

Now if all you do is check your mail and and messages and maybe watch some YouTube and don’t mind the small screen and short battery life then by all means continue with it. But if you want to do anything more with the phone, you’re seriously missing out on the experience the 13 pro’s provide, be it the cameras, screen, heat management, 120hz, etc. for me personally it was the 64gb storage on my 6S that put the final nail in it’s coffin.

[Sarinkrc]

I am using an Iphone 5 from 2013 onwards an now using iphone 5 as a backup phone. Few lessons learnt while using iphones are never use aftermarket unknown lightning cables. Use apple or apple certified cables like Amazon Anker cables. Try to replace the battery with the Original Apple Battery and not the duplicate batteries. My current Phone is a 7 plus which is working perfectly well after 5 years of usage and replaced the battery after battery reached 74% . The current issues I am facing is after replacing with original Iphone battery , battery degraded to 93% with 6 months and unlike Android phones. The battery drains quite fast after upgrading to ios 15.2 . Considering the high cost for apple phones really wonder what to buy . Only the 13 pro models get 120 refresh rates and others gets 60 hertz refresh rates considering you are paying hefty amounts. Android phones become obsolete after 3 years. But apple supports for longer times. For example bought Mi redmi note 5 pro for wife and the phone performance is exemplary . But now many apps not supported because its using android 9. But apple support old phones at the expense of battery life. I am sure my 7 plus would work perfectly for another 10 years but main issue would be short battery life. Hoping to upgrade to iphone 13 but dissapointed its using 60 refresh rate.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by aan nhu mare?

I have been using Apple's 20W brick to charge my iPhone 12. I watched a video yesterday where they said fast chargers can degrade phone batteries faster due to heat produced.
Am I inadvertently causing harm to my battery in the long term?

This whole charging, battery health and fast versus normal charging is being blown out of contention especially by the uTube brigade. They have to put out videos and make people click on them, it’s business for them and a lot of people stress out for nothing at all.

Do whatever you want to do, try every trick in the book by these uTube videos or otherwise, the maximum difference it is going to make is about three months in battery life terms. Seems very basic to me, please think about it, how on earth could it make more difference

Just use the phone the way you would use a phone when all this nonsense wasn’t propagated, enjoy life and the phone. Don’t waste it on unnecessary pursuits or thoughts.

Cheers

[tatafanatic]

Funny Anecdote from Urban life :

As a kid we used to take our daughter to the zoo, those days Zoo's had variety of real animals unlike taxidermy institutes of the day, once she fell for the mountain bear and wouldn't let go on us till we got her one, so one good day we got her a Pomeranian pup in black (i always thought they were white), and told her if she takes good care it will grow to become a bear, little kid fell for the trap and monitored progress diligently

Now she's grown teenager and we are holidaying in Mauritius and we visit Casela Lion Park, here one does a lion walk, both me and my wife wondered if the girl comes out demanding a lion cub we need to find one fat cat from somewhere, however tables turned when she started comparing photos from her phone (LG) with mine (I phone 8) and said "wow amazing pics dad, i want an I Phone"

[HammerHead]

Originally Posted by Big Smoke

I need a new phone by end of Jan 2022.
I have decided to buy the iPhone 13 Pro (first preference), or the Google Pixel 6 Pro (second preference). Problem is, I can't extend my budget beyond INR 85,000.

In India, as you know, both phones cost more than INR 1.15 Lakhs.

Please guide me, forum members. If any forum member is returning from the US, or has an acquaintance returning from the US, it would be very helpful if they could manage a phone.

Really looking forward to your guidance.

I was a huge Android fan. Used Samsung's S and Note series phones before moving over to Google's Pixel and then one fine day getting 'converted' to iPhone, I can confidently suggest you to go for iPhone 13 Pro.

I'm using iPhone 11 since its launch and also a iPhone 5s (my wife's phone as she moved over to Samsung S series) as a backup or rather 'OTP' phone. I'm fully satisfied with iPhones. I love the way iPhone 5s looks and I'm happy that the newer iPhones carry forward the design language of 5 series.

My next phone will be an iPhone unless Elon Musk drops in something interesting

Note : I still suggest Google's Pixel to those who are deep into photography.

[Aragorn]

Best intermediate way is to get a juice back which sticks to the back of the phone like a case. There are plenty available online.

Apple's official battery case for the iPhone 8 fits perfectly well on the 2020 SE. The juice pack holds enough charge for 2-3 charge cycles.

[aan nhu mare?]

Originally Posted by vshankarhere

I find the phone tends to heat slightly only while charging via the older, lesser wattage charger and is perfectly fine when charged via the 20W charger.
Few tips for increasing longevity of the iPhone batteries which I could muster from online resources
Guess these tips should apply for any devices or even EVs which employ Lithium battery tech.

Thanks. Yeah, the points were more or less same. Must be the same video. I'm not posting the link to it here because I don't want to advertise for that "expert" for free.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

This whole charging, battery health and fast versus normal charging is being blown out of contention especially by the uTube brigade.
Just use the phone the way you would use a phone when all this nonsense wasn’t propagated, enjoy life and the phone. Don’t waste it on unnecessary pursuits or thoughts.

True, I guess. I was regularly charging my previous phone (Android) to 100% and letting it drop to around 20% before charging it again (in accordance with the wisdom prevalent at that time)
I used it for 6 years on original battery. Of course at the end of it, the battery was so degraded that the phone would shut down even with 70% charge left if I so much as opened Instagram or the camera app!
But the iPhone being a significantly more expensive gadget with expensive spares, I would like to maintain its battery health in peak condition and not have to worry about replacing it.