5 ms·

No sign of battery issues is huge, I'm still rocking my 3 year old Pixel 3a and recently replaced the battery, it was a night and day difference. General slowne

No sign of battery issues is huge, I'm still rocking my 3 year old Pixel 3a and recently replaced the battery, it was a night and day difference. General slowness/lack of responsiveness, half day battery life. Been like that with all my other smart phones since 2013. Would love my next phone to go on year 4 with no sign of battery degradation (although in lieu of that I'll take an easy to replace battery).

aqfamnzc 3y ago
> night and day difference > slowness / lack of responsiveness Are you saying that replacing the battery improved your phone's responsiveness? I knew there was a throttling thing with iPhones but hadn't heard of anything outside of that.
- bluk 3y ago
  Samsung, OnePlus, and other phone manufacturers have all been accused of throttling phones and have acknowledged the throttling and/or released patches to give more user control. You can google "<manfacturer name> throttling" and get new reports of throttling as recently as last year for Samsung.
  - joecool1029 3y ago
    > Samsung, OnePlus, Blame bad Samsung fab. Things like the Qualcomm 888 chipset were notorious for overheating like crazy requiring throttling (used in both Samsung and some Oneplus devices). Need TSMC. Apple had issues all the way back to like 6S era when they sourced from both and the TSMC ones just ran better. You can override it with a custom rom and messing with EFS on those devices but it's already flirting with battery dangerous temps doing gaming. Better to buy TSMC or strap an icepack to the phone lol.
- lwkl 3y ago
  A degraded battery can't deliver as much power as a new battery and for your phone to feel fast you have big cores to boost to over 3 GHz which requires a relatively high voltage. These voltages aren't possible with a degraded battery and that's why your phone feels slower.
  - usrusr 3y ago
    The voltage range of aged batteries is the same as the day they leave the factory. Or it could be even larger if the BMS is set up to sacrifice a little nominal capacity für lower wear when new, slowly widening the range as capacity decays. The temporary voltage drop while drawing a large current will be bigger on an older battery, that much is true. But that would still be a smaller delta than the one between fully charged and not at any age. If there's performance difference, I'd expect it to be from deliberately yearning performance/runtime trade-offs (which arguably are better to have than not have)
    - iopq 3y ago
      Why don't you actually take some lithium ion batteries and keep checking the voltage? Because mine have dropped to 1.3V now, I noticed they weren't 1.5V to start, so they are crap, but it seems it just only goes lower as they age
      - usrusr 3y ago
        What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen ion? A lithium ion cell at 1.5V is in deep discharge.
      - jacquesm 3y ago
        If your Lithium Ion batteries are at 1.3V they are way beyond their service life. Normal voltage range for Li Ion is 2.5 to 4.2V, nominal voltage is 3.7V, some manufacturers recommend you never discharge them lower than 3V. So something is off or you have your battery chemistries mixed up. See https://docs.rs-online.com/3f21/0900766b816d9301.pdf https://docs.rs-online.com/3f21/0900766b816d9301.pdf
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
        Kirby64 3y ago
        This is typically specified in open circuit voltage. Under load, lithium ion batteries can get to VERY low voltages due to internal resistance. 2.0V is not uncommon.
- pandaman 3y ago
  My wife's Nexus 6 would only play games at what appeared to be 2 fps unless hooked to a charger after three years. And those were just some 2D puzzle games, not COD, so I imagine other 2D apps were not running at full speed too but it was extremely apparent on games.
j45 3y ago
Only charge up to 80% battery unless you need the full charge and the battery generally lasts much longer
- rtpg 3y ago
  Is there a place that has empirical data on this stuff? Like what battery factoids are still true with the latest devices or not? I would honestly love for phone manufacturers to outright build in some software to build in best practices if they actually exist. Don't let me charge to 100% at first or something!
  - j45 3y ago
    I’m pretty sure you should be able to find data. Only a handful of battery manufacturers used. Phones typically are geared to use the full capacity of the battery. The demand towards the thinnest phones possible leaves smaller tolerances towards cramming in the biggest battery possible. I think the galaxy note 4 was the last one with a removable battery therefore something that could run a long time. An external battery case depending on how you use it can extend the lifespan of an internal battery too.
  - itsyaboi 3y ago
    Get into the quadcopter hobbyspace, you will learn more than you ever wanted about battery chemistries.
    - rtpg 3y ago
      I just want to know how much of this stuff is “batteries in the fridge” stuff
      - zweifuss 3y ago
        One way to slow down the aging of batteries is to charge them only up to 80%, but this is not the only factor that affects their lifespan. Other factors include the temperature of the environment, the power consumption, and the quality of the battery materials and manufacturing process, which may be hard or impossible to know before buying. https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/battery-lifespan.html https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/battery-lifespan.html
zw7 3y ago
How do you feel about the lack of security updates? I miss the smaller size of the 3a bit upgraded since they stopped shipping software updates. I'm hoping you can talk me in to resurrecting it.
- jonhermansen 3y ago
  I believe you can install LineageOS on any old Pixel and still get updates. Though the type of updates will be limited. https://www.lineageos.org/ https://www.lineageos.org/
  - pizza234 3y ago
    YMMV may vary a lot with LineageOS, unfortunately. I was a big fan, but: - Nexus 5X support was terminated - Pixel 1 support is broken; the device used to reset daily (works fine with the original OS) - They have at least one serious open issue (GPS not functioning, although it can be worked around) In the end, I had to buy a new phone, that is officially supported. I still donate, but I don't hold my hopes high anymore, anytime that a device gets out of official support.
ChoGGi 3y ago
Mind if I ask what battery you purchased?

aqfamnzc 3y ago

> night and day difference > slowness / lack of responsiveness Are you saying that replacing the battery improved your phone's responsiveness? I knew there was a throttling thing with iPhones but hadn't heard of anything outside of that.

bluk 3y ago
Samsung, OnePlus, and other phone manufacturers have all been accused of throttling phones and have acknowledged the throttling and/or released patches to give more user control. You can google "<manfacturer name> throttling" and get new reports of throttling as recently as last year for Samsung.
- joecool1029 3y ago
  > Samsung, OnePlus, Blame bad Samsung fab. Things like the Qualcomm 888 chipset were notorious for overheating like crazy requiring throttling (used in both Samsung and some Oneplus devices). Need TSMC. Apple had issues all the way back to like 6S era when they sourced from both and the TSMC ones just ran better. You can override it with a custom rom and messing with EFS on those devices but it's already flirting with battery dangerous temps doing gaming. Better to buy TSMC or strap an icepack to the phone lol.
lwkl 3y ago
A degraded battery can't deliver as much power as a new battery and for your phone to feel fast you have big cores to boost to over 3 GHz which requires a relatively high voltage. These voltages aren't possible with a degraded battery and that's why your phone feels slower.
- usrusr 3y ago
  The voltage range of aged batteries is the same as the day they leave the factory. Or it could be even larger if the BMS is set up to sacrifice a little nominal capacity für lower wear when new, slowly widening the range as capacity decays. The temporary voltage drop while drawing a large current will be bigger on an older battery, that much is true. But that would still be a smaller delta than the one between fully charged and not at any age. If there's performance difference, I'd expect it to be from deliberately yearning performance/runtime trade-offs (which arguably are better to have than not have)
  - iopq 3y ago
    Why don't you actually take some lithium ion batteries and keep checking the voltage? Because mine have dropped to 1.3V now, I noticed they weren't 1.5V to start, so they are crap, but it seems it just only goes lower as they age
    - usrusr 3y ago
      What's the airspeed velocity of an unladen ion? A lithium ion cell at 1.5V is in deep discharge.
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      If your Lithium Ion batteries are at 1.3V they are way beyond their service life. Normal voltage range for Li Ion is 2.5 to 4.2V, nominal voltage is 3.7V, some manufacturers recommend you never discharge them lower than 3V. So something is off or you have your battery chemistries mixed up. See https://docs.rs-online.com/3f21/0900766b816d9301.pdf https://docs.rs-online.com/3f21/0900766b816d9301.pdf
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - Kirby64 3y ago
        This is typically specified in open circuit voltage. Under load, lithium ion batteries can get to VERY low voltages due to internal resistance. 2.0V is not uncommon.
pandaman 3y ago
My wife's Nexus 6 would only play games at what appeared to be 2 fps unless hooked to a charger after three years. And those were just some 2D puzzle games, not COD, so I imagine other 2D apps were not running at full speed too but it was extremely apparent on games.

j45 3y ago

Only charge up to 80% battery unless you need the full charge and the battery generally lasts much longer

rtpg 3y ago
Is there a place that has empirical data on this stuff? Like what battery factoids are still true with the latest devices or not? I would honestly love for phone manufacturers to outright build in some software to build in best practices if they actually exist. Don't let me charge to 100% at first or something!
- j45 3y ago
  I’m pretty sure you should be able to find data. Only a handful of battery manufacturers used. Phones typically are geared to use the full capacity of the battery. The demand towards the thinnest phones possible leaves smaller tolerances towards cramming in the biggest battery possible. I think the galaxy note 4 was the last one with a removable battery therefore something that could run a long time. An external battery case depending on how you use it can extend the lifespan of an internal battery too.
- itsyaboi 3y ago
  Get into the quadcopter hobbyspace, you will learn more than you ever wanted about battery chemistries.
  - rtpg 3y ago
    I just want to know how much of this stuff is “batteries in the fridge” stuff
    - zweifuss 3y ago
      One way to slow down the aging of batteries is to charge them only up to 80%, but this is not the only factor that affects their lifespan. Other factors include the temperature of the environment, the power consumption, and the quality of the battery materials and manufacturing process, which may be hard or impossible to know before buying. https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/battery-lifespan.html https://www.nrel.gov/transportation/battery-lifespan.html

zw7 3y ago

How do you feel about the lack of security updates? I miss the smaller size of the 3a bit upgraded since they stopped shipping software updates. I'm hoping you can talk me in to resurrecting it.

jonhermansen 3y ago
I believe you can install LineageOS on any old Pixel and still get updates. Though the type of updates will be limited. https://www.lineageos.org/ https://www.lineageos.org/
- pizza234 3y ago
  YMMV may vary a lot with LineageOS, unfortunately. I was a big fan, but: - Nexus 5X support was terminated - Pixel 1 support is broken; the device used to reset daily (works fine with the original OS) - They have at least one serious open issue (GPS not functioning, although it can be worked around) In the end, I had to buy a new phone, that is officially supported. I still donate, but I don't hold my hopes high anymore, anytime that a device gets out of official support.

ChoGGi 3y ago

Mind if I ask what battery you purchased?