A Christmas Curse: How my phone died on Christmas Eve

I've had a Redmi Note 9 Pro from Xiaomi for the most part of almost five years now, and it has been my main phone this whole time. It has had its ups and downs over the years, there's no doubt about that, but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't the best phone I have owned throughout the years, as well as being the second Android phone I had ever owned. I spent my life on the old Nokias, the Motorola Razr, and a few Sony Ericsson bricks prior to the release of the iPhone, to which I had the iPhone 2G leading up to the iPhone 5. I stopped around there once Apple started to really increase their prices and the upgrades never really felt worth it. Once the iPhone 5 was on its way out, I purchased a Moto G, a super low budget phone that did alright for a few years as well. It was only once that phone started to bug-out and suffer from battery issues that I decided to switch on the early Xiaomi train. I was sceptical. I'm certainly no fan of the CCP and I'm fully aware of their devices capabilities in regards to privacy concerns, but in this era it isn't much different with the rest: both sides are endlessly spying on us, so I just went with the cheaper version yet again. That Redmi Note 9 Pro has incredibly good build quality, however. I have never used a phone case on it, and I have dropped it countless times over the past year as I've travelled around. A few dents and scratches here and there. No screen cracks or anything beyond cosmetics.

If you have been keeping up with some of my drone posts, you'd have seen that I had been complaining about how my drone was starting to disconnect while mid-flight. It was a problem related to the RC for the drone and my phone which led to constant disconnections. Flying the drone has been a pain when it should otherwise be easy and fun, leading to me flying it less out of fear or losing it or just damaging it or something else in the general area while I'm flying around all sorts of environments. I guess today revealed that it was in fact related to the phone itself. With a few problems here and there, nothing stood out that said "Hey, get out and buy a phone right now!" And today, on Christmas Eve, that changed entirely. Last night I tried to charge my phone and noticed that during the whole time it had barely gained a few percent. I figured it was due to a loose connection given the extension cables here aren't all that secure and wiggle around a lot. This morning, with my phone at 18%, I went to plug it in to prepare for a little adventure outside to get some last-minute Christmas items. My phone wasn't charging. I noticed the port felt loose. I wiggled it around, tried to find that spot. The cable only charged on one side, meaning the usually universe Type-C charging wasn't working at all. Chargers wouldn't fast charge it either. Panic set in at the realisation that all my 2FA was on this device currently sitting at 18% and depleting.

I knew that this thing was living on borrowed time, and wasn't backed up for the most part. Different cables were making no difference. Different sockets in the apartment made no difference. The only thing that did was holding the cable while plugged in, slightly applying pressure to the port at a certain angle. Even then it would still stop charging. I installed a battery monitoring app to get a broader picture: inconsistent current, but the battery was generally holding when charged. That was some good news. I charged it up to 45% and realised I had to run out and hope for the best that there would be something suitable for me to buy from the electronics shop at the mall. I grabbed a fairly cheap model, an upgrade of the current one: the Redmi Note 13 Pro which had pretty good specs and great storage, though I'm sure it was slightly overpriced. But at 212 GBP it was an unfortunate price I was willing to pay to get home and secure things as soon as possible. I was standing in the shop waiting for someone to notice me, to which when they finally did I told them immediately I'd take that model. A little bit of the normal purchasing stuff and warranty talks and I was on my way home. Now currently backing up the phone that sits at 1W charge current with the new 67W charger. This thing is on its way out at any moment!

I'll write a little review on the Redmi Note 13 Pro at some point though. The specifications seemed pretty good for the price. And in my case, a phone is a phone. I'm not looking for the hottest 'gaming' phone out there. I really just need something to show maps, make calls/texts, and browse the few socials I have every now and then. What a chaotic Christmas Eve!