[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

My Samsung S8+ will turn 3 years old this June.

Oops. A8+ was launched in 2018. I own one. 3 years?

What could be the reason? Is this the sign of battery conking off? How long I can stretch this? Amidst COVID situation, I don't want to visit the service centre to get the battery replaced. Any way through which I can gauge battery health?

PS - Apart from this, I have no issues with the phone in terms of performance, camera or any other area.

On rooted phones, we used to delete a file, holding battery data which does not get wiped off with a full data reset or factory reset. Not sure if that file is still used.

My wild guess would. Be to do the following couple of times.

1. Wait for phone to switch itself off.
2. Do whatever to switch it on again.
3. Stop charging immediately.
4. Wait for phone to switch off.
5. Recharge till 100% at one go.

If you feel like repeat 2, 3 and 4 more than 2 times before doing 5.

This is only an experiment.

[GTO]

Guys, after returning from an outing, I overzealously applied hand sanitizer on my S9 to remove any virus. The damn ear speaker is now too soft. In some calls, I can barely even hear the other person.

What to do? Thanks in advance.

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys, after returning from an outing, I overzealously applied hand sanitizer on my S9 to remove any virus. The damn ear speaker is now too soft. In some calls, I can barely even hear the other person.

What to do? Thanks in advance.

The sanitizer if it was the gel kind has probably blocked the speaker holes (which are quite small). Try rubbing that part with a toothbrush to clear the holes a bit. If that doesn't work you can use a fine needle to clean them, but take care not to go deep inside as it could damage the speaker. Also you could try blow drying it a bit with a dryer as most sanitizers do evaporate (but if it was a gel type which contains aloe vera it may leave slight residue).

[harry10]

Samsung A50 has received the Android 10 update along with One UI 2.0 yesterday. Phone has become a lot more snappier.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

The sanitizer if it was the gel kind has probably blocked the speaker holes (which are quite small). Try rubbing that part with a toothbrush to clear the holes a bit.

Thank you ! Rubbed the area with a toothbrush for 30 seconds and my sound is back. Much appreciate the spot-on advice, pal.

[sairamboko]

Wanted to share this observation.With this lockdown and WFH, I am using mobile a lot. Hence charging is also often. I am charging almost twice every day. Phone is OnePlus 7T. Gives me around 5 hrs SOT. Will charging often and also using fast chargers damage the battery health? Any suggestions to extend battery life apart from not using the phone ?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

... Will charging often and also using fast chargers damage the battery health? Any suggestions to extend battery life apart from not using the phone ?

Batteries are usually rated for a number of charge cycles, not a set amount of time. Fast charging does seem to generate a bit more heat and consequent wear, but most tech opinions online indicate performance drop wouldn't be serious or even noticeable for the average use life of a device (2-3 years).

As long as you're not letting it discharge close to 0% before recharging, not much else should be necessary for upkeep.

As for charge speeds, consider charging it slower off your laptop's USB port when not in a hurry.

P.S. My previous device was a Moto Turbo XT1225 with gen1 fast-charging. I bought it year-old stock in 2015 and used it until mid-last year. Just charged it as normal, and there was no noticeable drop in battery performance in its 4 years of being my primary phone. My 7T now often sees two full charges per day (I work from my phone a lot). No issues so far. Use the thing as it's meant to be, battery swaps aren't that expensive when you eventually need one, so don't let that play on your mind.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by sairamboko

... Any suggestions to extend battery life apart from not using the phone ?

Use the Accubattery app and set the charge alarm at 79 percent if you are not rooted.
If your phone is rooted, install the Advanced Charge Controller module via Magisk and it will automatically limit your charge level to 80 percent (default). Apparently, you can extend your battery life by keeping the charge level below 80%.

[diyguy]

Got the android 10 update for my OP5T today. Noticeable difference is the dark mode on most apps. Let see if battery life improves due to this.

[RM Motorsports]

Remove China Apps, an Android app that claims to identify China-made apps on your Android phone and remove them, has gone viral in India. The app is currently at the top spot of Google Play's top free apps list and it has been downloaded by over 10 lakh users since its launch on May 17.

Remove China Apps is free to download on Google Play Store. The app does not require a login to a function and users can simply select "scan" to identify the Chinese apps on their Android phones.

Notably, the Remove China Apps only seems to be detecting the apps installed by users from Google Play Store or other third-party app stores on their phones, and not the ones pre-installed on Chinese smartphone makers.

https://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/r...from=home-tech

[knp]

Friends, any feedback on One Plus 8? I am looking for an upgrade from my OnePlus 3T, but could not get any of those popup invite codes

[rahulcmoulee]

Originally Posted by knp

Friends, any feedback on One Plus 8? I am looking for an upgrade from my OnePlus 3T, but could not get any of those popup invite codes

If you're not too particular about 5G, I would suggest you go for the OnePlus 7T. It has pretty much the same camera system with a more useful telephoto camera instead of a macro camera. 90Hz flat display which is easier to use and the Snapdragon 855+ is still a great processor and can handle everything thrown at it. All this at a much cheaper price makes the 7T a much better deal in my opinion.

[sukhoi]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

Need to buy a new smartphone.
…………..
Please help.

So as you could see from the above quoted post, I was planning for a new phone and had short-listed OP 7T / S10 Lite at that time. Both were good options, as the responses suggested and I was leaning towards S10 Lite but wanted to see the phone in person before I purchased it. Made multiple visits to Samsung showrooms, Croma & Reliance but no one had an S10 Lite available as a demo piece. Was thinking how to go about it when lockdown happened.

Cut to present day and I went to both Croma and Samsung showrooms today, they did not have an S10 Lite available (demo unit). However at both places they re-directed me to A71 saying that it has same physical dimensions, 4 back cameras (over 3 in S10 Lite) and is cheaper so you could consider it.

So am now wondering whether it is better to buy A71 and save a few thousand rupees or stay with S10 Lite. Based on what I could read online I get a better processor and OIS in the camera. But is the price difference enough to justify these two. Or are there any other aspects also which I am missing out on.

My primary usage is phone calls, SMS, taking pictures (lots of them), some photo editing, watching videos, listening to music, reading articles and social media. I do not play games except maybe Solitaire or Hearts or such card games.

Ideally I would like to buy a phone which is IP certified, has an SD processor, 90 Hz refresh rate (everyone says it makes the phone experience much better), UFS 3.0 (for faster performance) but most importantly has a very good camera. OP 8 Pro seems like a good fit but I want to stay away from Chinese brands due to higher SAR, even though acceptable, concerns around privacy (multiple posts in this forum, though more around Xiaomi) and am on the fence about buying a new Chinese product in the current scenario.

Between S10 Lite (getting it at INR 38999 on flipkart with 4K cashback on HDFC cards) & A71 (getting it at INR 30436 on Samsung site), I am ok to buy S10 Lite also budget wise but want to understand that I am actually gaining something by spending the extra ~9K over A71. I plan to keep my phone for at least 3-4 years, if that is a factor.
Any other options which should be considered around similar budget, for my above mentioned requirements?

Many thanks.

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Well we walked into a mall, and we just decided to head to the Samsung cafe to check out the a71.

How has the experience been with the A71, could you share feedback around overall phone and camera specifically please.

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys, after returning from an outing, I overzealously applied hand sanitizer on my S9 to remove any virus.

BTW, the IP 68 is mostly because I could safely sanitize my phone upon return from outside under current scenario. Is that really needed? Today I switch off my phone and wipe it down with dettol wipes or else dettol-mixed-in-water sprayed over a tissue paper and then use it. What do you guys do to disinfect your phones when you come back from outside?

[diyguy]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

What do you guys do to disinfect your phones when you come back from outside?

I have been sanitizing my phone for three years now, since i purchased it. It is a OnePlus 5T. I started this practice because i tend to drop my phone a lot and also travel a lot (flights). I have a habit of sanitizing the tray in flights and hence started this practice to my cell phone, hotel tv remotes etc. My phone is not IP68 and i have used all types of sanitizing forms - soapy liquid dispensed in most US airports, gel based sanitizers and more recently the watery alcohol based ones. I also used dettol diluted with water till i managed to purchase more sanitizers during the Lockdown. As long as one is careful not to let the liquid into any of the ports, i think a careful wipe should be fine for non-IP68 phones too.

[AYP]

Originally Posted by sukhoi

So am now wondering whether it is better to buy A71 and save a few thousand rupees or stay with S10 Lite. Based on what I could read online I get a better processor and OIS in the camera. But is the price difference enough to justify these two. Or are there any other aspects also which I am missing out on.

My primary usage is phone calls, SMS, taking pictures (lots of them), some photo editing, watching videos, listening to music, reading articles and social media. I do not play games except maybe Solitaire or Hearts or such card games.



Between S10 Lite (getting it at INR 38999 on flipkart with 4K cashback on HDFC cards) & A71 (getting it at INR 30436 on Samsung site), I am ok to buy S10 Lite also budget wise but want to understand that I am actually gaining something by spending the extra ~9K over A71. I plan to keep my phone for at least 3-4 years, if that is a factor.
Any other options which should be considered around similar budget, for my above mentioned requirements?

You are getting a previous gen flagship processor in the S10 Lite compared to one of the good mid range processor on the A71. You may not notice the difference much initially, but over the years, a phone with SD 855 will fare much better than a phone with a mid range processor. Since you are going to keep the phone for a long time and take a lot of photos(OIS in S10 Lite), the choice is very clear.

Now whether the price increment is justifiable is quite a personal thing IMO. One thing is clear though in general, the higher you pay, the less value you get. You have to be at peace with your buy. If you feel that after buying the A71 and saving 9K will make you happy due to a fatter bank balance, by all means go with the A71. But if you feel that you will keep on second guessing your decision of not spending the extra money for the S10 Lite, better to bite the bullet and go for the S10 Lite. I think you are more inclined towards the S10 Lite. Go for it.