Phones

[P-Dub]

Fascinating !! I am with Rogers LTE and I must say that it's damn fast. It takes about 1 second for me to download a song onto my device. So fast that I thought the download failed to start.....but it had started and finished in a second!.

Wow, a true example of, "Would you like to see that again?"

My best result from my hardwired work connection.

[P-Dub]

Finally made it to the Apple store to sort out my phone. Got a replacement 5s and am now finishing the restoring. Hopefully I will have a much better battery life now. Will be monitoring it over the next few days.

[P-Dub]

So far good news on the battery front, 2% drain after 6.5 hours standby and 18 minutes of use. That was overnight. Now to see how long it will last with a day of use.

[P-Dub]

I really feel like an idiot for not going to the Apple store sooner. After a weekend of use, my phone battery life is back to normal. Got 4:40 hours of usage and 19 hours standby and 29% left. I'm all set for my vacation. That will really put things to the test.

[Hdale85]

Well we signed up with Verizon today, I went with the HTC One M8 and loving it so far. I was looking at it and the new Moto X, the Moto X was just a bit too wide for comfort where as the HTC One I could comfortably reach the far side of the screen with one hand opperation. Also the HTC has a better camera and more storage and a full aluminum body etc etc, granted it is a more expensive phone but man is it nice and totally worth the 199 bucks although due to an old tag being on the display phone I got a 50 dollar credit on my bill as well so I got it for 149.

Now for the Verizon service, so far the signal strength is much better than what I got around here with T-Mobile. I love T-Mobile though and love how they are pushing the industry in the right direction just wish we got better signal in this area. So far with driving all over the area we are normally in I have not once dropped signal better yet I've not once dropped below LTE.

[madmac]

Well we signed up with Verizon today, I went with the HTC One M8 and loving it so far. I was looking at it and the new Moto X, the Moto X was just a bit too wide for comfort where as the HTC One I could comfortably reach the far side of the screen with one hand opperation. Also the HTC has a better camera and more storage and a full aluminum body etc etc, granted it is a more expensive phone but man is it nice and totally worth the 199 bucks although due to an old tag being on the display phone I got a 50 dollar credit on my bill as well so I got it for 149.

Now for the Verizon service, so far the signal strength is much better than what I got around here with T-Mobile. I love T-Mobile though and love how they are pushing the industry in the right direction just wish we got better signal in this area. So far with driving all over the area we are normally in I have not once dropped signal better yet I've not once dropped below LTE.

The HTC's are really well built! They are also known as very musical phones and have exceptional MP3 sound and functionality. Enjoy !

[Hdale85]

Yes it is! Full aluminum body and frame, amazingly nice screen. Also the way they profiled the phone makes it feel like a much smaller 5" phone than all the others I've used. As for sound quality it's decent the way it is. Of course I was using Google Music. There is a special Harmon Kardon edition of the phone though but they didn't have that over there. They had an old price tag on one of the display for a previous sale for 149.99 so the manager honored that price by giving us a 50 dollar credit on our first bill. Honestly even at 199.99 I think it's well worth it!

As for the Verizon service, it's definitely not the cheapest but I can say it works a lot better than AT&T and T-Mobile both of which I've had out here. Over the entire day yesterday I traveled probably a 30-40 mile radius of our house which is a pretty normal area we visit, this area is relatively rural and smaller town places and I not once lost 4G LTE and very rarely dropped down to one bar, most of the time it was 2+ bars if not full signal. So I'm relatively happy with the service, I just wish the data rates were a bit nicer lol.

[dyazdani]

I have Verizon and have found them to have good coverage as well.

[P-Dub]

I really feel like an idiot for not going to the Apple store sooner. After a weekend of use, my phone battery life is back to normal. Got 4:40 hours of usage and 19 hours standby and 29% left. I'm all set for my vacation. That will really put things to the test.

Well, the battery life was great on my vacation. No issues at all. Phone worked like a champ!

However, clumsy me I dropped my phone on the last day of my vacation. Was getting to go to the airport after resting at my sister-in-law's place. It fell out of my pocket as I was getting it out to put in my bag. Landed face first with a nice smack! Luckily I had just purchase a Spigen slim case and one aspect of this case is it has raised side ridges to protect the front screen. It's tough to seen the pic, but this saved my screen from cracking.


Unfortunately the fall was serious enough that my front camera and flash no longer work and the front facing camera is a bit wonky. That sucks overall, but if it had to happen, I'm glad it happened on the last day of my vacation.

Looks like I'll be paying a visit to the Apple store again, glad I have apple care.

[P-Dub]

Nice! The HTC One M8 is a really nice phone! I've held it a couple of times at Best Buy.

Speaking of replacement phones, my Moto Razr is scheduled to be replaced next month. Right now the contenders are the Samsung S5, maybe the Note 4, but it's a bit big and the HTC One M8. Right now we are leaning towards the S5, mainly for battery saving setting, the removable back to replace the battery and expandable microSD slot and the IP67 rating.

I dropped my Moto phone while I was pulling it out of my bag to take a pic in Australia. It was a nice smooth motion, reach into my bag on my left side with my right hand, pull it out to turn it on and take a pick, but have it slide out of my fingers and watch it fly in a nice arc just over my head and land on the top right corner and slide along the concrete pathway. Many witnesses thinking the same thing... "Oh SH!T there goes my/(his)phone!" But I dust it off and no problems! There's a little scuff mark at the corner, but everything else works fine. I don't have a case on this phone. The build quality can't be be questioned, kevlar back, solid aluminium case around and gorilla glass. Too bad it is just so slow.

The other strange thing is that the wifi works like it should in Sydney, Shanghai and Hong Kong. I know this sounds strange, but at home, I turn on the wifi and it just gets hot and drains my battery. But when I was travelling, there was no issue with the wifi. I connect no problem and there is no excessive heat nor battery drain when I leave the phone alone. FYI, I have had the same issues with 3 different wireless routers at home over the past year.

I am so glad I got the extended warranty on this phone. Will let you all know what I replace it with next month.

[madmac]

Well, we all drop our phones at one point or another. Some people drop them more than others. I've dropped my Note II a couple of times with no issues but yesterday it dropped out of my pocket because I yanked on the headphone wire (Big case for wireless bluetooth headsets here!) and the phone flied out of my coat pocket and smacked onto the asphalt driveway!

There was no physical damage to the phone but it turned off. When I tried to turn it back on, it would not start. FREAK OUT TIME !!. I'm only half way through my contract so this incident would have cost me untold hundreds of dollars! However, when I got it home, popped the cover and re-seated the battery, all was good and back to normal, and the phone started up!

Amen.

Incidentally......I once dropped my HTC Sensation on the hard, tile floor of a hardware store. The phone went flying even further and harder because I tried to grab it as it started to fall. The resulting fall was what looked like total destruction......phone blew apart....battery went flying out of it along with the back cover! But those damn HTC's are so well built.......click.... in goes the battery......clack on goes the back cover.......power button and all is well. NO DAMAGE!!. If my Note II took a fall like that, I'm sure the results would not be the same.

[impala454]

I'm almost due up for a new phone, and the Nexus 6 looks awesome, but I just can't justify a new phone. My Droid DNA is a 1920x1080 5" screen, has a great processor/RAM/etc. The thing that sucks is because it's two years old, HTC is not going to upgrade it to Android Lollipop .

[Hdale85]

That does suck, time to root it? I'm sure someone out there will update it lol. Lollipop is supposed to have huge advances in battery management.

[madmac]

It's Halloween!!!! I want a Lollipop too !

Oh.....and incidentally.......My Note II has decided recently (Even before the last drop) to randomly to re-start itself on occasion ! At first, I thought it might be a dodgy battery connection but now I'm not so sure. Any ideas at what would make a phone decide to do this by itself?

[impala454]

Yeah I assume someone will build a stock Lollipop ROM for it, but it's very quiet on the xda forums for my phone. Oh well. Perhaps I should "officially" complain to HTC.

[madmac]

It's Halloween!!!! I want a Lollipop too !

Oh.....and incidentally.......My Note II has decided recently (Even before the last drop) to randomly to re-start itself on occasion ! At first, I thought it might be a dodgy battery connection but now I'm not so sure. Any ideas at what would make a phone decide to do this by itself?

It appears that my randomly re-starting Samsung Note restarting by itself was indeed a dodgy battery connection. I opened the back and put a few strips of duct tape on the top of the battery to help it being held down better by the back cover and also a thin strip of duct tape on the back side of the battery so that it would seat more snugly against the battery terminal prongs and voila !!!.....problem gone!

[P-Dub]

Dan - Duck tape, the solution to everything. :T Nice that you were able to find a simple solution to the rebooting issue.

Well my first attempt to do an extended warranty claim on my Moto did not go well. Once the tests were done my rate of battery decay was within acceptable parameters. Before I brought my phone in I did a reset to stock, that may have 'cured' my drain, this would have been done as part of the test anyways. Now I have to see what program is killing the battery. Is it the custom Nova Launcher, or is it a Google Service or is it something else. Reloading apps is such a pain.

Looks like the live wallpaper that I had is no longer available. That kinda sucks as I quite liked it, am going to poke around. If true, then this is one knock against the Google Play store. In the Apple store, if you have an old app that is no longer available, you can still download it and use it, so long that it is compatible with your current iOS.

In the end I have a feeling I'll be stuck with this phone. Not exactly the outcome I was hoping for and basically confirming those extra warranties are sold one way and applied another way.

I may renew my contract with my carrier to see what other phone I can get. Was not really keen on renewing as I am assuming if I go month to month, I would for sure get to keep my plan plus may get 10% off the month bill as it would be like I brought my own device.

Looks like I could get the S4 for about $100 and the S5 for $400. I've got some credits that could bring this price down, but not much.

[madmac]

Dan - Duck tape, the solution to everything. :T Nice that you were able to find a simple solution to the rebooting issue.

Well my first attempt to do an extended warranty claim on my Moto did not go well. Once the tests were done my rate of battery decay was within acceptable parameters. Before I brought my phone in I did a reset to stock, that may have 'cured' my drain, this would have been done as part of the test anyways. Now I have to see what program is killing the battery. Is it the custom Nova Launcher, or is it a Google Service or is it something else. Reloading apps is such a pain.

Looks like the live wallpaper that I had is no longer available. That kinda sucks as I quite liked it, am going to poke around. If true, then this is one knock against the Google Play store. In the Apple store, if you have an old app that is no longer available, you can still download it and use it, so long that it is compatible with your current iOS.

In the end I have a feeling I'll be stuck with this phone. Not exactly the outcome I was hoping for and basically confirming those extra warranties are sold one way and applied another way.

I may renew my contract with my carrier to see what other phone I can get. Was not really keen on renewing as I am assuming if I go month to month, I would for sure get to keep my plan plus may get 10% off the month bill as it would be like I brought my own device.

Looks like I could get the S4 for about $100 and the S5 for $400. I've got some credits that could bring this price down, but not much.

Paul, is your phone getting hot lately?. Mine got hot awhile back and the battery drained real damn fast. I popped the back and cleaned all the contacts (Battery contacts too) and the issue went away after that. Also, if you press and HOLD the bottom large button on the phone it will pop up running apps and you can just swipe them to the right to turn them off.

[P-Dub]

The heat issue was seemed to be largely due to the wifi or when I had the wifi on, it would just get hot and drain the battery. I could not figure out what was using the wifi or if it was the radio itself. I think there must have been something due do with location services but turning those off did not help. Also, when I was in Australia and Hong Kong, I did not experience any issue with the wifi nor the phone getting hot.

My battery is built in, so I can't remove to do any cleaning. I also close off pretty much all my programs when done. Maybe it was weather underground or maybe it was my live wallpaper.

[impala454]

My contract is up next week, wavering now on whether I should get a Nexus 6 or Droid Turbo. I really like the idea of having a Nexus device, with no carrier modified software on it, but it is pretty huge. Though that's what I said about my HTC EVO with a 4.3" screen a few years ago. The Droid Turbo specs are pretty killer, though the outside is a little cheesy looking. Seems like all the new phones have nearly identical guts: Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge, S5, Nexus 6, Droid Turbo, Moto X, etc all have the Snapdragon 805 + 3 GB RAM + Adreno 420. Reviews seem mixed on all of them too.

[Hdale85]

Honestly spec's don't matter much anymore they are all pretty smooth and functional. I went with the HTC One M8 as it's got the 5" sized screen but the shape of the screen made the phone more comfortable in my hands and easier to use one handed compared to other phones like the MotoX.

[impala454]

The specs matter to me. They are what makes the devices smooth and functional. All being equal though I'll lean towards the Nexus devices for sure, as I want the guaranteed Google updates (unlike HTC dropping my current phone, which is ridiculous).

[Hdale85]

Well generally anything newer on the higher end of the scale these days is butter smooth, and if they aren't it's nothing to do with the hardware but more to do with the software or all the extra crap LG or Samsung do to the device. I'm not sure how they get it so bad and companies like HTC get it so good....

[P-Dub]

Got my 5s replaced and now doing the iOS updates and then restore from backup. It's going to take a while if last time was any indication. At least 3 to 4 hours. This is apps plus data, pictures, video, etc, etc, etc...

Chuck - I like the Nexus phones, pure Android and faster updates. The only thing is the physical size, as it is slightly bigger than the Note4. Samsung is nice, but their Touchwiz is very hit and miss. Some like it, others don't. I haven't had any real time with it, but have been looking at trying it as a replacement to my Moto.

I now see my carrier has the HTC One M8 for renewing customers. I may just upgrade to that device and then just live with my Moto Razr. The only thing is I wanted to get a device that takes a micro sim and the HTC uses a nano sim. I've got a couple of other carrier micro sims that will be useless to me if I go the nano sim route. Well not really as I do have a 4s that is unlocked.

Just as I was going to get a Nexus 5 for somebody at work, the Google stores shows it as out of inventory. I wonder how long that will be as I don't want to spring the big bucks for the Nexus 6.

[Hdale85]

You can get a nano to micro adapter.

Personally I can't stand what Samsung or LG does to the android ui, they are both bad IMO. HTC does have their little spin but they don't dramatically change the look and feel of android overall. I go from a a stock android LG G Pad to my HTC One M8 and really don't notice much beyond the visual upgrades and such.

[mjb]

I've got a couple of other carrier micro sims that will be useless to me if I go the nano sim route.

t-mobile (Germany) charges for replacement SIM's, so in the past I've just carefully cut mini's down to nano with scissors. There are templates online, but they don't really help. Just snip away until it fits the SIM carrier. They'll work just fine.

[Hdale85]

Tmobile has always replaced my Sims free in the corpcorporate stores. Even on our prepaid lines.

[mjb]

German T-mobile stores charge 30 euro's ($37.37) for a replacement SIM, which is why people get creative

[Hdale85]

Ah, that's nutty! lol I tried trimming down to a nano sim and it didn't go well, going to a micro isn't hard but I think I'd get a new sim for a nano as it's just so close to the actual chip and so tiny that it's hard to get it just right.

[impala454]

Possible big "phone" day for me, decided to pull the trigger on a Moto 360 Android watch, and might go ahead with the Droid Turbo as my new phone. Not 100% on the phone but will see.

[P-Dub]

Cool. The Turbo does look really good. Should have some great battery life.

I've got something in the works for work. Will see in a about a month or two if it works out. Will report back.

[impala454]

Got both the Droid Turbo and Moto 360 in hand! Seems I might have a DoA Moto 360 though. It wouldn't boot out of the box and while it appears to be charging, it's been charging for over an hour and still won't boot. Bummer. At least it seemed like Best Buy had lots of them and I should be able to exchange it on my way home if need be. Love the Turbo so far, though haven't really gotten to play with it much yet. Just disabled all the Verizon garbage.

[Hdale85]

I haven't heard much good about the moto 360, honestly I think these companies are going about the smart watch all wrong imo they should be an accessory to a phone and so far the only watch I've seen that does that well is the pebble watches.

[P-Dub]

Chuck - Will look forward to your thoughts on your new device.

I just got the notice that my Moto Razr HD has the Kitkat update is available. About freaking time! I'm dl right now. It's about 500+MB in size. Glad I'm on wifi.

[Hdale85]

Wow that's certainly a bit behind, everyone's talking about lollipop and you're just now getting kitkat.

[impala454]

Droid Turbo
Awesome device so far. My main reason for going with it over the Nexus 6 is the Nexus simply won't fit in my truck's cubby hole where I like sticking the phone while I drive. Also it's apparently not going to be offered on contract by Verizon.

I was able to disable all the Verizon/Moto stuff to really put the phone in a stock android config. I haven't done a ton of extra customization to it yet because I'm going to exchange it this morning for a different back. I got the ballistic nylon instead of the kevlar, and quickly found that, while it looks good, it's way too slippery for me so I'm going to swap for the kevlar back which is hopefully grippier. It has capacitive buttons which isn't what most stock android peeps go for but I'm fine with. I like the side buttons a lot, a textured aluminum. It'll take a little getting used to as my old phone had the power button on top, but most phones are going to the side button so it'll be good to get used to. It's crazy how fast and snappy it is. Also the battery is pretty insane supposedly. I'll report more once I get the final one and get all my stuff on it.

the two different back textures, the ballistic nylon on the right, which looks cool to me, but just too dang slippery. it also seems like over time it would unravel and get gunk in it easily.


Moto 360
I've only had it for about half a day so far but I really like it so far. My main reason for getting it is I've been without a watch for a long time and have been kinda wanting one. Most of the watches I like are pretty expensive, so I figured shoot, why not give this $250 watch a go? I always like stainless stuff so I got the stainless cased one, and will later get a stainless link band for it, love the look (see below). I like that I can just make a natural motion to look at the time and the watch comes on, no interaction required. Same when I receive any kind of notification from the phone, although I can flip through the notifications then as well. Same with sending a text, the voice req works very well. I can turn the watch as if I'm looking at the time, then say "OK Google, text Sarah Hey what's for dinner?" all in one sentence and it will show a quick 2-3 second confirmation of what you said with a chance to cancel before automatically sending the text. Same with email. It's very slick. The heart rate stuff is cool, though a little cheesy. I think as Android Wear develops more as a platform, more and more apps and functionality will come around. Supposedly the Android Wear Lollipop version is bringing a ton of new stuff and should be ready soon. The changeable faces is pretty cool and I see there being a virtually limitless amount of custom faces coming. So far I like it and it fulfills my need for a watch + a little geek factor

Dougie- I don't really understand your comment. All the Android Wear watches require an Android phone to function and are by definition a companion to the phone.

[Hdale85]

There have been several that just try to do to much and fail at
most everything. I think the big complaint with the Moto360 is the battery life as well as quite a few people have had some major issues with it. Me personally I couldn't use it because it's huge. Having to charge it all the time would likely make me stop using it at some point as I have hard enough time keeping my phone charged and that's before Bluetooth is on 24/7 lol. Idk it does look nice and maybe it's not as big as I remember? I was never too crazy about the big round faced watches.

[impala454]

Doesn't seem huge to me? Though I'm a pretty large person. Battery seems to be about as advertised so far. Took it off the charger around 7am, and it's sitting at 48% at 9pm. It charges very quickly though. It serves it's purpose great so far IMHO. I see notifications and can send quick messages without anything more than talking to my wrist. Pretty good bonus to me when all I really cared to get was a watch and I spent about $300 less than most of the watches I was looking at. Perhaps not everyone's cup of tea.

[P-Dub]

German T-mobile stores charge 30 euro's ($37.37) for a replacement SIM, which is why people get creative

30 Euro's! And I thought Cdn cell companies had the lock on gouging customers. I think it's about $10 here.

Wow that's certainly a bit behind, everyone's talking about lollipop and you're just now getting kitkat.

Yeah, I've been waiting for at least a year. So far it is pretty good. I don't know why they turned off the wifi and cell signal top bar indicators. Before the images would change to a blue when there was activity. Now it is just plain white all the time. With the new OS update, I am pretty sure I'll be sticking with this phone when my contract is up next month. I may try to see what I can get if I sign another contract, but I like my current plan and the chances are I would have to give it up for a new subsidized phone. I think I'd be better off buying off contract and keeping my plan.

Speaking of kevlar backing, the one thing I really like about my Moto phone is the build quality. It just feels like a good phone. The kevlar back has a nice texture that is nice and grippy.

It seams like the Moto phones needs some time to figure out usage patterns, then the battery life gets better. Not sure if this applies to other phones, but I did notice it on mine and heard it mentioned on another newer Moto review.

As for watches, I saw a 360 for sale at Costco. This was in the US so I may give it a try with my older phone. Even with the nice return policy, I probably won't take the plunge as I don't carry my Moto phone on a daily basis and won't really benefit from the features. The metal 360 does really look good!

As for smartwatches, I think there still needs to be a big breakthrough on the battery life. The average life being in hours and maybe a couple of days days. Sure we all plug in our phones daily, so why not a watch, but I'm not a convert just yet. I see a lot of potential and with a few more iterations, I think it might be something I may get.

Will be interesting to see how the Apple watch is going to do. They are going to sell lots, just because it is an Apple product. The prices for their high end out seems pretty expensive, I think the rumors are between $1,000 to $5,000 at the high end.

My next watch is going to be a mechanical one. And the prices I'm looking at are more than any smartphone and smart watch combination.

Speaking of phones, I'm still waiting for a 64GB 6+ for my boss. Put the order in through our corporate dealer before the Sept announcement and confirmed it the same day that this is the model we wanted. Seems like the supply is very limited for corporate dealers. Or as a customer I'm way down on the list. My other corporate dealer is facing the same issue as I've been looking at switching. They are helping me test out a couple of android devices in Dec.

[P-Dub]

Well it turns out I would still qualify for a small subsidy if I renew for another 2 years. I can keep my plan and get a new phone. Now to try and figure out which to get. I'll probably wait to see what sales will be coming in the next month.

[Hdale85]

Linus just posted up his review of the Droid Turbo

Chuck having to charge a watch everyday is a pain imo. If you're ok with that then that's cool I mean everyone has different threshholds. Honestly I think phones as well should have larger batteries just like Linus talks about in this video. We don't need phones any thinner than they are now and I'm perfectly ok with going a bit thicker to get a bigger battery.

[impala454]

Pretty decent review. I disagree with him on the ballistic nylon, it was so slippery to me it's unusable. Battery has been pretty awesome so far. I disabled almost all of the Verizon and Motorola apps (because I want as close to Android stock as possible) and given that, my current battery is at 80% after 10 hours on battery and 1:16 screen on time. Pretty awesome. The black levels on the screen are insane too.

The watch charging doesn't bother me. I thought it might, but the dock thing is Qi and very nice, and I just set it on there when I go to bed. Really no different than anyone taking off their watch and setting it down. It's not like I'd wear the watch to bed even if the battery lasted for weeks. I might try to find a nice large Qi pad that I can set both the phone and watch on though. So far it's served its purpose well and having Google Now voice access all the time on my wrist has been pretty awesome. We were watching the Texans today and wondering how old Andy Dalton was. I just picked up my wrist and said "Ok Google how old is Andy Dalton" and I get a little card back that says "27 (Born: October 29, 1987)" and his photo.

[P-Dub]

Would be interested in hearing how you like the camera and its ability to capture subjects in the various motion situations that the reviewer commented. Also I noticed how the review said the nylon was fine, but I knew you said it was way to slippery. I would side with your opinion on this matter.

So can you change the "Ok Google" command to something else? I recall hearing you could do that with the new Moto X and I would assume the same for the Turbo and it should link to the watch.

I like the review as well, I've seen him doing the NCIX tech reviews and such. I want to say he's based locally, but not sure. In this internet day, it really doesn't matter.

I've recently discovered reviews by Erica Griffen. Wow, she really goes into some detail with reviews. This is Part 2 of her HTC One M8 review.

Ok, here's Part 1.

On a side note, I finally got in to get some service done on a coworkers iPhone 4s. The speaker quit working. The Apple store was able to do a replacement speaker repair the same day. Dropped it off at 12:30 pm and picked it up at 2:30 pm. I think the standard repair cost was $65, but was free due to apple care. I was lucky in securing a good appointment time as they tend to fill up quick at some locations. Last week, I thought there was space at noon, but it was noon the following day.

[Hdale85]

Yeah I've been following Linus since he started at NCIX, now he's more or less his own company but still does some stuff for NCIX once in a while. I like his stuff, they do a tech news twitch show called The Wan Show as well.

He did say the woven back was a pleasant change but definitely not as grippy as other materials. I like his phone reviews a lot because he usually gets the phone in and then completely switches to it for several weeks to a month or so before doing a full review on it.

[impala454]

Paul, I think the thing with changing the "OK Google" command on Moto X (or any Moto phone for that matter) is the use of the Moto Voice software. I don't particularly care to use it, as all it does a lot of the time is take you to the google one anyways. I'd rather just disable it and use the google one. I know someone who changed theirs to "Go go gadget", ha. I'll play with the camera more soon and report back. Battery is insane on this thing I tell you. Now at 25 hours on battery and 60%, with 2:34 screen time.