12 mo. ago • 88%

I like big phones and I cannot lie (22000mah Tank)

www.unihertz.com Tank - 22000mAh Largest Battery 4G Rugged Smartphone

Unihertz Tank is the cutting-edge IP68 rated rugged smartphone with a 22000mAh largest battery that can withstand harsh environments while still retaining the incredible powerful features. Featuring a 6.81" display screen, 66W fast charging, 108MP AI triple cameras, night version 4K video recording,...

Ok it's 4G and Android 12, so a little bit behind the times, and weighs over a pound, but it has 65 watt fast charging and a built in 1200 lumen flashlight (I wonder if that doubles as a video light). I found out about it a few days ago and have been fascinated by it since then. The weight isn't so bad if you consider that it gets rid of the need to bring a power bank.

Not gonna buy real soon but wow. Maybe they will do a 5G version sometime. I posted in another community that I want to be able to pull it out and say "that's not a phone, THIS is a phone".

Any thoughts?

23 comments

For regular every day use, I’d be a little worried about not getting any security updates.

But something like this with emergency satellite texts (like a Garmin InReach or a new iPhone), this would make for a killer backcountry device.

27
- Yeah, I think I'll wait for a newer version. The same place also makes a very tiny Android 13 phone that weighs around 4 oz. That would also be great for backcountry on the theory that you leave it turned off unless you need it. I've been looking at the Moto Defy satellite tranceiver (like an Inreach but with no screen, you control it from a phone) and unfortunately it has what sounds like an annoying proprietary app. I think the feature will make it into more phones soon though.
  
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  There is an updated one called the 8849 Tank 3 running Android 13. It has major upgrades like a 23,800mAh battery, Dimensity 8200, 16GB of RAM and 120Hz screen.
  
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Personally, I'd stay clear of phones like these if I were you.

I'm not sure why (electrical engineers please pitch in) but every phone with these massive batteries I've ever personally used, or had a friend use, would start to face serious battery issues within less than a year. Things like capacity massively dropping, or shutting down at 30%.

Maybe I'm super unlucky... But all my other normal devices (regular sized phones, GameBoys, Steam Deck, laptops) never had such problems.

I have no idea if this is just horrendous quality control, or something related to making gigantic lithium batteries fit a phone, but they do love to die prematurely.

15
- Electrical engineer here. I love extra large batteries in my phones, kept my LG v20 way longer than I would have otherwise just because I didn't want to give up my extended battery. If you're seeing premature battery failure it's likely either poor quality battery cells, which wouldn't be unexpected in cheap offbrand batteries, or you're shortening the batteries lifespan with fast chargers and discharging to 0% frequently.
  
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- I personally would rather have my phone be lightweight and carry a small power bank in my pocket or backpack or fannypack or satchel. The cord is a drawback as it can sometimes restrict mobility, and the phone gets hot. I live in a place where it is 15+ C in the fall and spring with 40+ C months long summer peaks. I have a phone cooler that has a fan, and the power bank has another port for it to plug into. Now I have two cables dangling from my phone. For some reason, I manage to always get them caught on knobs for drawers or doors.
  
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"The enormous 22000mAh battery on Tank offers a decent battery life."

I'd call that more than decent lmao

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I think you just like it for the 1200 lumen flashlight.

If I need that kind of battery capacity and illumination, I'll bring my Skilhunt EC300 and some spare 21700s and use it to top off the phone as needed.

11
- i've had such terrible luck with phone charging (USB connectors crapping out after not that many uses) that I like the idea of very large batteries for less frequent charging. I made another post in c/ultralight about this: https://lemmy.world/post/8305808
  
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  That's a fair complaint. My phone's USB port acted like it was dying this summer, but seems to be back to normal now.
  
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  Were they usb-c devices? I've never had a usb-c port crap out. Fuck micro usb though
  
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https://liliputing.com/unihertz-tank-3-smartphone-has-a-23800-mah-battery/ Bigger battery! 5G! Mwah hah hah!

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And it doubles as a bludgeoning device for murder on the go!

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- Sprint phone security commercial
  
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ha, battery life is very important to me, but this is a bit much

would be nice if someone would do a more reasonable 8-10000mah

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- 8000 doesn't seem much different than the 5000-6000 that almost everything now already has. Make it swappable and then we're talking.
  
  It occurs to me another advantage of a very large internal battery is that you can power the phone from it while something else is plugged into the USB-C port. There are probably splitters or hubs that let you plug a power bank and another device into the port at the same time, but it's more crap and more cables, impairing mobility.
  
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Check out the ulephone power armor 18 ultra, has the same shit but runs Android 13 and has 5g. I've had the non-ultra version a few months now and love it, about to trade up.

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- Old post but I just looked at that Ulephone and its battery capacity is "only" 9600 mah non-removable, while it weighs 409g and costs $550. I think that's not a big enough capacity jump to justify a weird heavy off-brand phone when a $150 Motorola has 5000mah and weighs 200g. Unihertz is also off-brand and expensive, but the 22,000 mah battery makes it interesting.
  
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It would be more interesting if one of these have swappable internal batteries, so it would be more of a portable battery pack that you can use as a phone in a pitch than the other way around.

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- Yeah it seems unfortunate to me that the battery pack in that phone is not swappable. I really want a phone that takes swappable 18650's straight up. But, that Tank phone is (at least spec-wise) pretty impressive as a phone, because of the many sensors, cameras, built in video(?) light etc. A 22,000 mah battery pack that weighs 1.2lb and costs $300 would be a non-starter unless the phone is pretty good. I've gotta say the new 5g version ($400+ and several ounces heavier) seems almost silly.
  
  I finally have a USB-C phone and it seems like a big improvement over the old micro USB. Will see if it stays able to reliably charge. That makes external battery packs easier to use, though there is still energy loss in the different voltage conversions, if you are charging the external pack from a low powered source such as a solar panel.
  
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