I recently got a new phone and got unlimited internet via my carrier. At the moment the only way i can access the internet is through the sim card on my phone.
Now there are 2 ways i can connect my desktop to my phone: directly with a usb cable or by creating a wi-fi hotspot on my phone then connecting my pc to it.
Which of these options is worse for long term battery life? I heard that keeping your phone constantly connected to a charger will fuck up the battery, and my phone is always showing as charging while usb tethering.
If it worries you that much just use your old phone for tethering.
Andrew Garcia
Thanks for the idea, i considered this but it is very annoying to constantly switch the sim card between phones.
Kevin Perez
Use the WiFi Having your phone connected all the time will fuck it up more than changing it more because the hotspot drains your battery. A friend of mine had it connected to the computer with a usb for about a year and it fucked his battery up completely. Had to replace it. If possible do neither since both will decrease battery life. If not do And keep switching the sim if you want to go out but I doubt it
Blake Reed
Cutting the power wire in a USB cable while leaving the data lines intact may allow you to tether internet to your computer via USB without also charging your phone at the same time. It is also possible to clone some SIM cards, so you may be able to create a copy of your SIM card to avoid having to swap it between the two phones all the time. Keep in mind that I'm just hypothesizing here, I don't know if any of those methods would actually work.
Jack Allen
Thank you, any of these options would be great, but how would i cut the power line in a usb cable?
Liam Nelson
I'd suggest using the Wifi hotspot, using a cable fairly easily leads to physical damage on the USB port in an on-the-go situation and so on.
Just carry a 10Ah Xiaomi power bank for ~$15 shipped if you think you will not have enough battery at times. Yea, technically that will also use the USB port, but you know... less often, and you can pick the moments where you sit still for a while. This isn't necessarily the case for internet usage.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Pinouts >buy cheap USB to microUSB cable >carefully cut it open >cut the red/orange wire >optionally, check you cut the right wire using a multimeter
As for completely stationary use at home: Still, just use the smartphone for the hotspot.
It should easily last 1-2 years anyhow, and then you pay those $10 to get a replacement battery. No big deal.
Jayden Cook
You can also get a USB dongle that you insert your sim into. It's less hassle than a second phone.
Easton Davis
I'm going to guess he won't get himself another sim card because that almost always would mean another data flat rate contract.
And constantly swapping SIM card between phone and USB adapter is an arsepain to just avoid eventually replacing a battery [even if it's an internal one where you gotta open the phone and plug in a flex cable, it's usually no big deal on a typical reasonably well-made serviceable android phone].
Ethan Walker
electronics.stackexchange.com/a/178296 Oh well, apparently you can't just cut the power wire, because then your phone will most likely reject the USB connection.
Jordan Roberts
Of course USB uses less power.
Eli Peterson
Also, get a powerless usb cable or make one yourself if
Austin Fisher
Just leave it plugged in, I've been doing this with my galaxy s3 for over 2 years and nothing bad has come of it. Your battery will automatically stop charging once it hits the max safe voltage (4.2).
The only way to damage a battery is if you desoldered the safety circuits present both on your phone and battery and then soldered the + and - terminals directly.
Aaron Cook
The anons who say the USB port probably wears out the battery a little less should be correct. I don't think I agree with the people who say leaving it connected necessarily busts the battery, though. In general phones can regulate their battery just fine, even when it's constantly connected.
But in the overall context, I'm still of the opinion that the risk of USB port breakage in such usage is higher with the phone still being use as smartphone (making it impractical to just duct tape everything down).
Servicing a broken USB port on a phone is almost always considerably more annoying than just replacing a battery.
Logan Hall
Using USB it shouldn't charge constantly.
It should charge to 100% and then stop charging until it drops a few %. Assuming that's how your phone works it should be the best option.
Grayson Ross
...you are afraid of battery degradation I dunno why my post got truncated.
David Ward
>USB port breakage
What kind of shitphone do you think OPO has?
Jaxon Morris
Micro-B port, possibly. But you can still break Type-C connectors if you take the 2-4 year long perspective over which the battery also is at stake and you keep plugging / unplugging that phone and maybe drop it at some point or get snagged in the cable or whatever else can happen if you are dealing with a phone used as a phone as well as some USB internet tether .
William Reyes
Micro-B should also last tens of thousands of insertions.
Oliver Jackson
I have a type-C connector if that matters.
I googled for data only usb cable but such a thing apparently doesnt exist and is impossible to make since if you cut the power wire phone wont be able to detect the connection anymore.
My phone is always at 100% which means the it starts drawing power through the usb cable before it even reaches 99% so that sounds pretty bad. Is there any software solution to this, i.e. telling an android phone to NOT charge when connected to a pc?
Matthew Ramirez
>I recently got a new phone and got unlimited internet via my carrier. OK. >At the moment the only way i can access the internet is through the sim card on my phone. Just use the WiFi since you have unlimited PETABYTES from the regular internet as well. >Now there are 2 ways i can connect my desktop to my phone Why? >directly with a usb cable or by creating a wi-fi hotspot on my phone then connecting my pc to it. You said desktop but to me it sounds like a shitty laptop or gaymer with WiFi modules.
Unless you live in a third world you don't have to use the slow phone's internet to have unlimited gigabit internet for $25/month.
Carson Jenkins
On a side note, why don't they make phones work like laptops to extend battery life? I.e. just charge the battery to 100% then draw power directly from the charger to the phone and not use power from the battery until you unplug.
Michael King
If i had access to "unlimited gigabit internet" i wouldn't have made this thread.
Nathaniel Fisher
if you can root your phone you can install that app that halts the charge by 50% it's probably on xposed fw.
You can plug it in all day long but assuming you're going to drain the battery occasionally. If it gets warm then you should stop since you're using data while charging. Warm batteries shorten the lifespan and cause it to bloat.
Don't you have any router-modems?
Easton Morales
How would a router help since there is no getting around having to use a sim card.
Lucas Gonzalez
In the age of removable batteries, multiple Xiaomi models I came across could operate without a battery inserted and did this.
Not sure if they still do with the fixed internal batteries. OTOH I'd also not be surprised if they stopped caring.
Joshua Robinson
Just remove the battery while doing USB tethering.
Plug it into a powered usb hub if the computer can't give it enough juice
Carson Johnson
Either method is fine as long as you keep your phone cool enough. Try to make /diy/ cooler for your phone like in pic related. Or if you don't know how to do it, just place a heatsink(s) on top of your phone while also blow it with a table fan or something.