Anyone know a phone that can stand up to the cold?

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devinpolitis

New member
Iphone SE here, and looking to upgrade. The worst part of my ski setup is my phone, which requires 2 socks and a hand warmer in order to stay alive for the duration of a ski day. Recently was doing some work outside and my phone died in my pocket in about 15 minutes, so I've decided it's time for an upgrade. Does anyone have any suggestions or especially positive experiences with their phone, especially with regard to battery life on a cold day? Appreciate it.
 
Most phones don't do better or worse than others in the cold. Anything exposed with a battery will suck balls. The sock hand warmer trick works good.
 
14172774:ScaryDumpTruck said:
Most phones don't do better or worse than others in the cold. Anything exposed with a battery will suck balls. The sock hand warmer trick works good.
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Big bummer, I saw some article about how Nokia phones are from Finland so apparently they could handle sub 0 temps, but it was back in 2012 when they were basically indestructible by any means XD. Didn't know if there was any other modern version but thanks anyway
 
Get a phone with a replaceable battery, keep a second battery in the lodge with your shit and swap out if need be. It's also nice to be able to replace it every couple of years when the old one starts to crap out. Leave shit running on your phone so it stays hot and the battery doesn't cool down as much.

The best winter phones that I have come across are the samsung galaxy actives. No issues with the battery lasting all day and into the evening, take that with a grain of salt as my sample size is very small.
 
Maybe it's the pants I use but I've never had a phone freeze while skiing, and I always put it in the front pocket. Might not work so well with shell pants.
 
A good rule of thumb is the bigger the phone is (screen size-wise) the bigger the battery, and so stay alive a tad longer. No miracles, but the iPhone SE is pretty small and it makes sense that it doesn't do great in the snow unfortunately.
 
14172774:ScaryDumpTruck said:
Most phones don't do better or worse than others in the cold. Anything exposed with a battery will suck balls. The sock hand warmer trick works good.
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Big fan here of the hand warmer trick. That should last you all day especially if you got an inner jacket pocket near your chest.
 
If you like the phone you could try just replacing the battery. Did it to my 6 a few years back and it worked pretty well. Just be careful you dont bend/puncture the old one when pulling it out

Also just out of curiosity, do you have the old SE or the new one?
 
14172834:Paul. said:
If you like the phone you could try just replacing the battery. Did it to my 6 a few years back and it worked pretty well. Just be careful you dont bend/puncture the old one when pulling it out

Also just out of curiosity, do you have the old SE or the new one?
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Old but i also have like 3 cases so its been hard to get rid of. New one looks pretty sweet though
 
14172846:devinpolitis said:
Old but i also have like 3 cases so its been hard to get rid of. New one looks pretty sweet though
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I hear ya, I have the old one as well. I love the size of it too much to upgrade right now
 
I have always found my android phones work better than my friends iphones. You gotta decide if you wanna make the switch though.

The batteries in androids still suck but they usually don't turn off whenever you need to use them.
 
Lithium batteries hate the cold and go boom when they are overcharged.

I’m assuming that you have the original SE. That’s a older phone. Try swapping the battery (with a original new battery) or upgrade to a new phone. It will do better in the cold.

You could try finding a phone that uses non lithium batteries or replaceable batteries, but you will never get that from Apple.

topic:devinpolitis said:
Iphone SE here, and looking to upgrade. The worst part of my ski setup is my phone, which requires 2 socks and a hand warmer in order to stay alive for the duration of a ski day. Recently was doing some work outside and my phone died in my pocket in about 15 minutes, so I've decided it's time for an upgrade. Does anyone have any suggestions or especially positive experiences with their phone, especially with regard to battery life on a cold day? Appreciate it.
Click to expand...
 
It could be nostalgia but I remember my Samsung galaxy s5 was amazing in the cold. My buddies iPhones were dropping left and right but she persevered
 
All about insulating your phone. Yeah a newer phone battery will last longer but if it gets cold enough it will turn off regardless of how much power it has.
 
i had an iphone se and now have a 7. i’ve never had any issues in the finnish winters with battery! i keep it in a chest pocket under a down jacket that’s under my shell. therr are also little pouches made from down that you can throw your phone in
 
14173097:Zdog26 said:
I have always found my android phones work better than my friends iphones. You gotta decide if you wanna make the switch though.

The batteries in androids still suck but they usually don't turn off whenever you need to use them.
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Nah the batteries in Android phones are tanks
 
That’s cuz you’re phone has Sisu!!!

14173513:kalle. said:
i had an iphone se and now have a 7. i’ve never had any issues in the finnish winters with battery! i keep it in a chest pocket under a down jacket that’s under my shell. therr are also little pouches made from down that you can throw your phone in
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14173577:ScaryDumpTruck said:
Nah the batteries in Android phones are tanks
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factss. I have a 2019 Samsung Galaxy S10e. Phone always either goes in pants pocket or coat pocket. Never dies personally. Just went skiing at American dream which is a toasty 28. Barely lost any battery the 2hrs on there.
 
14173646:Hellblazer_23 said:
factss. I have a 2019 Samsung Galaxy S10e. Phone always either goes in pants pocket or coat pocket. Never dies personally. Just went skiing at American dream which is a toasty 28. Barely lost any battery the 2hrs on there.
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I live in MN, I also have a Samsung. If it's in my pocket it never dies and in late January it can get -20 or -30F here. Obviously if I take it out to record it's a different story.
 
I’d personally love a new iPhone SE, the original size.

It’s just a fact, no matter the phone, lithium batteries degrade over time and hate cold.

14173444:Trumpkin2020 said:
All about insulating your phone. Yeah a newer phone battery will last longer but if it gets cold enough it will turn off regardless of how much power it has.
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Try keeping a little battery pack on you and charge your phone with it when it gets cold. I have a pack about the dimensions of my iPhone itself, maybe a little thicker. I can fully charge my phone about 2-3 times on it and I’ve never had an issue with it dying.
 
Samsung galaxy A5 2017. Dropped it in 2' of pow once, spent a whole day looking for it. 6 hours later in -20 Celsius, it hadn't even powered off yet. Took it into the lodge and of course it didn't last long, but no other phone has ever done that for me.
 
topic:devinpolitis said:
Iphone SE here, and looking to upgrade. The worst part of my ski setup is my phone, which requires 2 socks and a hand warmer in order to stay alive for the duration of a ski day. Recently was doing some work outside and my phone died in my pocket in about 15 minutes, so I've decided it's time for an upgrade. Does anyone have any suggestions or especially positive experiences with their phone, especially with regard to battery life on a cold day? Appreciate it.
Click to expand...

If I were you I would get a portable charger and fully charge it the night before, and then I would leave it in the day lodge and charge your phone at lunch or any chance u get.
 
14174148:weastcoast said:
Try keeping a little battery pack on you and charge your phone with it when it gets cold. I have a pack about the dimensions of my iPhone itself, maybe a little thicker. I can fully charge my phone about 2-3 times on it and I’ve never had an issue with it dying.
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Agreed, I keep a portable charger in my bag and I can charge my phone like 6 times full with a full charge in the cold. Works great. also you can keep it in your pocket with your phone if its small enough and your listening to music
 
Maybe its a placebo idk but I keep mine in a chest pocket and wrap it in an old mitten and it helps to insulate it from the cold a decent amount. Never had any real problems with android or apple but the mitten trick has worked since I tried a few weeks ago
 
14242182:SurfinCow said:
Maybe its a placebo idk but I keep mine in a chest pocket and wrap it in an old mitten and it helps to insulate it from the cold a decent amount. Never had any real problems with android or apple but the mitten trick has worked since I tried a few weeks ago
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This. Just put it in an inside pocket if you have one. I have some jackets that don't though and I haven't really figured anything out for that situation
 
No battery loves the cold but one of the biggest battery killers is when any phone is constantly searching for new Wi-Fi or Bluetooth networks or running apps constantly in the background.

Make sure all your apps have Background App Refresh turned OFF unless you need a ski app or something you want constantly running regardless what’s on the screen. Ski Tracks is my only app with it on.

Make sure your email Auto Fetch is turned off and put to manual or the phone will constantly be searching for emails every so often killing battery life.

Finally and most important is to turn off Wifi and Bluetooth unless you want it on during a chalet break but have it off while skiing. The phone constantly trying to join local wifi networks or Bluetooth devices kills battery life regardless of outside temps. Wifi not needed for Ski tracking apps if you have one.

Good luck!
 
I know that most phones that are not iPhones can resist some extra cold. My Samsung is doing just fine, even at the big time below zero temperatures.

**This post was edited on Feb 14th 2021 at 6:58:53pm
 
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