Surviving a weekend without a charger.

By the time you folks are reading this, I’m probably half-way to my destination at the Adriatic Sea. Taking a vacation for the first time in years was one of the most difficult decisions I had to recently take, but I’m leaving — for a tad more than a week — knowing that Pocketnow is in good hands with my dear colleagues I couldn’t be more proud of.

The Nokia Lumia 1020, with its camera grip case, is the main phone I’m packing, and you know why that is: pictures. I don’t plan on taking a lot of pictures, but those that I do choose to take, I want them to be good, and the Lumia 1020 is my go-to phone in situations like these. It also happens to be my primary navigation device with Here Drive+, Here Maps, and free, quality (at least for me, here in Europe), voice-guided, offline navigation. My secondary phone is my personal favorite phone of 2014, the Sony Xperia Z2, and, despite not being able to dip it in salt water (despite doing that in a recent trip to the Mediterranean), I just have to carry an Android for all the things I can’t (yet) do on a Windows Phone.

This is a battery experiment. I will take no chargers! I will also regret my decision… :)

That’s gonna be tough to pull, but I’ll try it out. My one and only power source will be a Harmonica Style Lumsing 10,400mah external battery. Let’s do some math: the Lumia 1020 has a 2,000mAh battery, its camera grip has a 1,020mAh power source (and since they’re going to be inseparable, why don’t we treat them as a single 3,020mAh battery?), while the Xperia Z2 has a 3,200mAh juice pack. 6,220mAh in total, so the chosen external battery will be probably good for one full charge, and another partial one for both devices.

We’re talking about a roughly 3,000km/1,800mile round-trip combined, where navigation will be essential on the Lumia 1020. Then, we’re talking about taking a lot of pictures, social media, listening to music, some phone calls and texts, as well as light email usage.

Somehow, I know I won’t be able to make it. If this was a three-day trip, I’d say it stands a chance, but I’ll be out, combined, for more than seven days. However, it will be a fun experiment to see how long one can last without power.

Expect to hear from me (and my stories of begging hotel receptionists for a quick charge) in week 30. Until then, you all stay safe! Meanwhile, share your experiences with us: how long did you go for, without a charger or power? What’s the size of your preferred external battery pack?