New phone suggestion... 4 days battery runtime

[rkw]

Had to break down and buy a new phone, always a traumatic event once you realize the amount of work needing done after restoration of apps & data from backups…but I digress.

I grabbed a new Motorola G Power…it has a 500mAh battery (my Moto E5+ also had same size). It’s a big phone but it’s a monster battery and that is why I stuck with Motorola’s mid priced phones.

After a break of a week I started checking battery life. Moto’s claim was an easy 3 days with moderate use mixing video, web, phone, texting. etc… I couldn’t wait.

My first test was for screen on time… the phone played video for between 15-17hrs, yup those numbers are correct. Next was just normal use letting Xdrip do it’s thing… with moderate browsing and a few hours video it ran a total of 84hrs. Yes… eighty-four hours. I’m beyond jazzed.

I frequently have to be away from power for extended periods which even with the Moto E5+ (got between 38-42 hrs with it as long as I was frugal) I often would get that panic of losing comm with the CGM. I am golden now.

I tried a day with not heavy but above average use and got 39-46hrs. Of course mixing in 8+ hours of screen on time and were back at 17-30hrs. Still those numbers are ideal for my uses.

I’m frugal about phones and after several decades in It I see zero rational justification to spend $500+ for any phone. And at the prices of new Samsung , Apple and a could other $1000+ phones you might as well spend about $1200 on a Surface Pro system. Moto G Power is at my personal max comfort zone but I feel a reasonable price at $249 direct from Motorola and nicely discounted at Verizon, GoogleFi and a couple others for under $199 and I guess there are coupon codes for Motorola too (oops!)…

Anyway, the phone is worth considering if you’re needing something new. Direct from Moto there’s essential no added bloatware and outside of several phones direct from Google, the Android in pure Android. That sure helps keep the system stable.

Lots of reviews out there now so check around for sure. I don’t care about cameras & such but these are fine for snapshot level photos. It has Android 10 of course, 64gb, I stuffed a 512gb SD card in it so it now more spaces than I could ever imagine using. plenty of room for Xdrip backups for, ummm, the next 20 or 600yrs. ;).

As I mentioned for me it solves my biggest concern with battery life to run Xdrip for 2-3 days away from power. That’s a lot of relaxing freedom to me. oh, I am only T2 so no pump but given the pure Android install there ‘should not’ be any hurdles hardware or OS wise unless your device does something odd requiring specific a OS version.

Last, as with all devices it has quirks like the vibrate mode is rather weak. That’s a long running Motorola issue.

hope this makes sense but had to share.

[Hellis]

Thanks for the post!

I am assuming this is the Moto g8 power? Can I ask what hardware you are using with xdrip?

I currently have a G7 Power which I have been using with a dexcom g5 transmitter with no problems for a long time, but the recent upgrade of the phone from Android 9 to 10 has caused a lot of connection issues between the phone and transmitter. If the G8 power doesn’t have problems with the dexcom I would probably get one to avoid the headaches of trying to fix my current situation.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

[rkw]

Hi…so sorry I haven’t been back to respond!! Life, ya know??

Anyhow, being in the US there is no such animal as the Moto G8 Power only the Moto G Power. All their names is a total mind job for sure!! hahaha…

As far as the hardware I’m using the Dexcom G6 and that is it…I’m T2 so no pump to deal with which might reduce battery runtime for sure.

I came from using the Moto G6 Power and loved it. It sold me on the Moto G family for sure. It had the 5000mAh battery too but the chipset is different I guess. Still I got a solid 2+ days runtime and if I was careful 3-days was not out of the realm of possibilities. Generally though I got about 40-48hrs range just using it as a phone with very light web browsing, texting and letting Xdrip chug away. After a couple years, I’m actually a heavy video streaming user, the runtime started decreasing a bit…it still got me 24-36hrs of light use as I described but the screen on time with streaming was dropping to under 8hrs per full charge. Not awful still but a cool excuse to buy the G Power. It’s battery runtime is scary good. I can get 14-16hrs screen on time per full charge and a few times I snuck to about 18hrs, dunno how though.

I do use BT for speakers, I don’t game at all, well OK, I became a Candy Crush Soda addict thanks to the step brats. I just don’t game really.

About your Xdrip/BT issues after upgrading…I have read people can encounter them but I don’t know why. I haven’t noticed if it is mostly upgraders vs new with Android 10 installed already. I suspect upgrading might have issues. I do keep my Xdrip on the very latest nightly builds. If something behaves oddly I just grab the newest build and install.

I totally get the frustration these unexplainable issues which really should never happen, can be!! Stuff like that is why I retired from IT after xx-mumble decades.

While I can’t speak for all copies of the Moto G Power I have ZERO issues with BT connection with the Tx/sensor and the phone and Xdrip. I have had a couple times when the phone and Tx didn’t seem to want to connect but I just needed to be patient and as much as an hour later all was fine…that is the only issue I encounter at all. I don’t trust Dexcom and all their Tx variations. I really cannot imagine why a supposedly ready for market component of a medically critical system had it’s primary comm device needing to be refined a dozen times in the span of 12-18 months. That is the definition of a Windows, errrr, a beta product not a production release version. And gawds only know what games they play with the sensors. I have had so many issues with my supplier, Solara (zero supplies for 32-days…long typical story with them)…but I find the G6 system to be far more high-strung than the G5. When I switched from the G5 it was dead on accurate from hour one and sensors just worked. The G6 seems as if it should be easier and work better but my experience over the past year, granted I’ve been graced with maybe 7 months of supplies over that period, but it is twitchy as hell. Bad sensors, failed insertions, 5-7-day sensor life spans, you name it…meh, time will tell and when it works it’s the best out there for me for sure.

[Hellis]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with me!

As it happens I bought the G8 Power and it has been perfect so far, none of the connection issues that the G7 had after upgrading. So I suspect you are right, that somehow the upgrade process caused the issue rather than Android 10 itself… At any rate, all good for a few months now.

As for the G5/G6, maybe it is a good thing that the G6 still hasnt made it to market here in Australia! I have seen that it has been much harder to get the G6 to play nice with xDrip than the G5, and I am happy to avoid those headaches as long as possible. I have actually been keeping an eye on the Freestyle Libre v3 which sounds pretty great, but again, we don’t even have the v2 in Australia yet so who knows how long that’ll take to get here…

Again, thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with me, and all the best with the G6 issues!

Cheers.