Tried an AI tool recently to sharpen up an image I took, and look...

...it worked decently on the people, whom I've veiled with a big white box since I'm not sure they'd want their faces shared here, but the surrounding?
Not so good.

Seems visual AI still has some growing to do.

...sure are getting pretty nimble ain't they? O_O

Hard Drive apparently.

Even if the split wording doesn't make it sound at all like a computer component.

There's not a single search result for the latter though! Seems people haven't even pondered the distinction, or the correct way of phrasing; of potentially conjoining words... just me. Maybe it's my Swedish grammar logic seeping through...

Just gotta hold these noble folks responsible! ;)

Surprise system malfunction on the Swedish site.

Double prompt. That led nowhere.

I bought a new phone recently. Or an old phone, depending on how you see it, but with better specs than my current one.

The thing I was most excited about was the camera. Even with newer models it's hard to find a good one for a decent price, so I opted for a refurbed classic, and OnePlus 3 fit the bill! It's a solid build in all areas, and seems to be modifiable to allow for updates past the intended date, which I aim to start experimenting with soon...

One caveat though. The battery.

I didn't read up beforehand, and it turns out it's bad.

But my initial impression was even worse.

I powered it on when I'd received it, and started receiving updates and what-not, transferring data, doing what you usually tend to do with a new phone. But before that I charged it, cause the battery was empty entirely.

It charged quickly at least - better than my older/newer phone - and when I was done with it I left it on flight mode, intending to get back to the upgrade/transfer/update process later, and when I did... it wouldn't turn on! It wouldn't charge either. It wouldn't do anything.

I started thinking about getting a refund, but looked online a bit for ways to maybe somehow force a charge anyway, or what could be wrong - I'd already transferred data to it that I wouldn't want to still have on it if I'd send it back, and stumbled upon some troubleshooting advice that mentioned just holding the power button for something like... a minute? Less?

It was longer than I'd tried already - I wonder if I've ever needed to do this with the current phone - and when I did... it booted! And shut down. And charged properly when I plugged it in then. Android protip.

I'm not sure what had happened to it during that brief moment of time in flight mode, but I suppose the system bugged out somehow, and the battery drained, and it entered energy-saving mode, and for some reason it stayed there, and only became responsive again after a forceful reboot.

Needless to say I was a bit skeptic about if this phone would hold up now, so I did some battery tests.

First I charged the phone again, up to 93% charge.

This took about two hours, about twice as much as it should take with a new phone, according to manufacturer specs. Though maybe there are other things that factor in, like temperature/voltage/what-not.

I'm not sure I was given an original charger either.

After that time for the tests! My observations:

- Lost 2% charge just starting up the phone. Down to 91%.
- In flight mode, with no open apps, no Bluetooth or Wi-Fi etc it was at 88% charge after a full day!
- Second day: Tested opening some apps but still leaving it in flight mode - just down to 78%! So ~10%/24 hours so far, with the phone mostly on standby.
- Third day: Not sure! Didn't have time to measure. It's still on.
- Fourth day: 69%! Still hasn't seen much active use but all things considered this is going very well...
- Fifth day: Didn't have time to check again, not sure.
- Sixth day: At least I think it was sixth day. Seventh, possibly?

I upped the test requirements now and watched some video material, took some photos, browsed the Internet etc etc.

Initially it lost roughly 1% charge/minute, which seemed alarming, but it evened out around 55% and depleted slower after that... and then I charged it up again.

After the first day or so a notice regarding 'inactivity optimization' popped up too - seems it has built-in functionality in regard to keeping things at bay while you sleep. This is activated automatically but can be turned off.

Overall I do get the impression the battery is worse than my current one, and a little unstable/inaccurately measured, or has a higher depletion rate when fully charged, but it doesn't seem that bad. Seems possible they swapped the battery during the reburbishment.

I don't plan on using this phone for longer durations of time at any one time, just for communication, photos and occasionally a little Google Maps navigation - that seems like the biggest threat to battery time. But if you have a charger nearby or with you, and if you have a USB connection in any car you might need to use it as a GPS for...

I think this'll go well after all. Battery test results. OK.

 rated 3.5/5: not bad at all

Courtesy of my main source of worldly (albeit mostly US) news these days.

Title's my own though. Must say it feels hella relevant at the time of writing - early human candidate Neuralink testing's currently on track too...