u/ezekiel_xxx

i have been facing severe Battery issues with my 12 Mini since i installed The 1.0 Beta.

I always assumed it would get better but we are at what Beta v6? And still it's get worse and worse.

Was wondering if i am the only one facing this or is this because i replaced my original battery with an after-market one so i guess that could be the issue as well.

Lmk your thoughts and experience.

I've been living around Nainital for almost 20 years, and I keep seeing the same questions about visiting Nainital/Bhimtal during monsoon: where to stay, how much hotels actually cost, whether Bhimtal is cheaper, how public transport works, whether the rain is dangerous, etc.

So let me clear most of it up here in case it helps anyone planning a trip.

HOTELS (PLEASE HAVE A REALISTIC BUDGET)

If you're coming with 4–5 people and expecting to get a decent room for ₹1,000–1,500 total, that's honestly a ridiculous budget unless you're willing to compromise heavily.

You'll find places offering those prices, especially around Bhimtal and surrounding villages, but there's usually a reason they're that cheap AKA you compromise something.

A hotel might say "Bhimtal" while actually being 2–3 km away from main Bhimtal, somewhere away from the main road. Then you arrive and realise there's barely any public transport nearby and you're dependent on calling taxi's every time you want to go anywhere which will cost you more in the end because you ended up paying more to the taxi guy lol.

For a family of around 5 people, I'd personally keep ₹2,500–3,000 minimum in mind if you don't want a pathetic experience (THIS IS OFF-SEASON PRICING, DON'T EXPECT SAME PRICES AFTER OCTOBER BECAUSE ON WEEKEND'S AND HOLIDAY SEASONS YOU WILL BE LUCKY TO GET A ROOM FOR ₹6000)

Also, when searching Nainital hotels, don't look only at the distance Google shows from the lake.

1 km in Nainital isn't the same as 1 km in Delhi.

That 1 km can/will be straight uphill. Check the actual approach to the hotel, especially if you're travelling with parents or carrying luggage.

BHIMTAL VS NAINITAL

This mostly comes down to logistics.

If you have your own car: Bhimtal is wonderful. You can stay somewhere quieter/cheaper and drive around.

If you're completely dependent on taxis and buses: I'd rather stay in Nainital.

Bhimtal is roughly 20–22 km from Nainital. If your entire trip is about seeing Nainital, staying in Bhimtal to save a few hundred rupees can be stupid because then you gotta worry about a taxi and then you pay the money to the guys anyways.

You'll waste time finding shared taxis/buses, changing vehicles at Bhowali and then doing the whole thing again when returning.

Meanwhile, if you find accommodation around Mall Road/Mallital/Tallital, you can experience a huge part of Nainital on foot.

You can rent a scooty around here for roughly ₹500 + petrol, but obviously that doesn't solve anything if you're a family of five.

BHIMTAL → NAINITAL PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Shared Sumo/Max taxis are everywhere on the main routes.

From what I remember:

Bhimtal → Bhowali: ~₹30/person

Bhowali → Nainital: ~₹80/person

So expect roughly ₹110–120/person one way, depending on current fares.

There are buses as well and they're cheaper, but obviously less flexible.

KATHGODAM RAILWAY STATION → BHIMTAL/NAINITAL

If you're coming by train, the cheapest option is generally the local bus.

You'll hear people call them KEMU buses as well.

Otherwise, take a shared Sumo/Max taxi. Kathgodam → Bhimtal by shared taxi should be somewhere around ₹150/person, but treat that as an approximate figure because local fares change.

If you're a larger family, also ask what they want for the whole vehicle. Sometimes splitting a taxi between 4–5 people makes more sense than individually paying for everything.

MALLITAL VS TALLITAL

People overthink this.

Mall Road basically runs along the lake between Tallital and Mallital, and you're going to walk between the two anyway.

Most of Nainital is best experienced by walking.

The main tourist stretch is only a few kilometers long, so I wouldn't choose a bad hotel just because somebody told you Mallital is "better" than Tallital or vice versa.

Just try to stay reasonably close to the lake/Mall Road without having a ridiculous uphill approach.

HOW TO FIND CHEAPER HOTELS

The lakefront commands a premium because you're basically paying for the location and lake view.

Move away from the lake and prices generally start dropping.

But again: CHECK THE ELEVATION.

A cheap hotel that's "only 1.2 km from Mall Road" can become extremely annoying when you're climbing uphill in rain every time you return.

Saving ₹300 on the room and then spending money on taxis defeats the entire purpose.

FOOD

Almost everything directly on the Mall Road strip carries a tourist premium because... it's Mall Road.

If you're on a tight budget, explore the smaller local restaurants and older-looking shops away from the obvious tourist cafés.

A very simple trick:

Open Google Maps and search "Rajma rice Nainital", "Thali Nainital", or whatever food you want.

Then open restaurant menus/photos and compare prices before walking there.

Personally, I mostly go to Subway because other popular places sometimes have waiting lines and I don't want to wait around for food. Subway is usually empty and quick (also cheap for some reason).

Nainital economics generally don't work like a normal town anyway. A lot of things get marked up simply because it's a tourist destination.

WHAT SHOULD YOU ACTUALLY DO IN NAINITAL?

For a first trip:

Boating: obvious one. Expect somewhere around ₹500–600+ depending on the boat/ride/current rates.

Zoo: worth considering, especially if you're with family.

Snow View: recommended when visibility is actually good.

There's the 360 viewpoint Tower but please don't go up there expecting Himalayan views when the entire mountain is covered in monsoon fog. You'll see absolutely nothing.

There are also go-karting and other tourist activities around the Snow View Point.

Thandi Sadak: there's not much to "do" there, which is precisely why I like it. It's a peaceful walking route along the lake without ANY vehicle traffic because it's barred.

Governor's House / Raj Bhavan: absolutely worth seeing. Beautiful property and one of the places I'd recommend if you have time. Check the current visitor timings before going because access/timings can change but i think it's till 3PM then they shut down

And obviously there's Mall Road, Naina Devi Temple, Tibetan Market, the Flats, Bara Bazaar etc.

You can use YouTube/ChatGPT to build the rest of your itinerary depending on what you actually enjoy.

NOW THE IMPORTANT PART: MONSOON

People ask this constantly:

"Is Nainital safe in August?"

"It's raining, should I cancel?"

"Are landslides going to happen?"

Rain here during monsoon is NORMAL.

It can rain heavily for several consecutive days. There can be fog everywhere. You can wake up to clear weather and have the entire mountain disappear into clouds a few hours later.

That doesn't automatically mean your trip is doomed.

I've been here for almost 20 years and like yesterday it rained the whole day then sun came out after 3 days at 5PM, 2 hours later it rained so heavy like i never saw the level of strength with the pouring.

However, don't take that as ~ landslides/road blocks are impossible.

This is the Himalayas during monsoon.

Small landslides, falling rocks, debris and temporary road closures absolutely happens after prolonged/heavy rainfall.

So don't panic just because Google Weather shows rain.

What you should actually do is check conditions 24–48 hours before travelling.

Look for heavy-rain/orange/red weather warnings, actual road closures, landslide reports on your route, several days of unusually intense rainfall, and local administration advisories.

If it's just normal monsoon rain, that's part of visiting Nainital in August.

I'd still recommend booking something with free cancellation/refundable terms during monsoon. There's no reason to lock yourself into an expensive non-refundable hotel when conditions can change.

Also remember that viewpoints depend completely on visibility.

Going to Snow View when there's dense fog is pointless.

Definitely carry something warm to wear.

And don't build an itinerary where every single hour depends on perfect weather.

If you're looking for a quiet and affordable homestay around Ghorakhal, I have a place available here.

Ghorakhal sits pretty much between Nainital, Bhimtal and Bhowali, so it works well if you want to explore the area without paying Nainital/Mall Road hotel prices.

The main advantage is the location: you can do Nainital, Bhimtal, Kainchi Dham, Bhowali and nearby places while staying away from the crowds and tourist-heavy areas.

This isn't being pitched as some luxury resort. It's for people who want a clean, peaceful and reasonably priced place to stay, particularly families, couples or small groups travelling on a budget.

You can DM me and i'll sort you out.

ONE MORE WARNING: NAINITAL IS NOT A PARTICULARLY CHEAP TOURIST DESTINATION

Since the Kainchi Dham tourism boom, the entire belt has become increasingly commercialised.

Nainital, Bhimtal, Bhowali, Kainchi, Ghorakhal — tourists get charged for all kinds of things.

If you're bringing a car, expect parking charges/tolls/entry-related costs depending on where you're going.

Then you have tourist pricing for food, hotels and activities on top of that.

So even if you're doing a "budget trip", keep extra cash in reserve instead of calculating your trip down to the last ₹500.

You don't need to spend absurd money to enjoy Nainital, but coming here with an extremely tight budget and no buffer is asking for unnecessary problems.

That's basically everything I can think of.

Was wondering what are the ways to invest into a clothing brand? Can't really find a specific place where a clothing brand is looking to get funded for $x and x%

does anyone know a petrol pump that gets E10 or maybe more pure petrol?

I usually do Speed from Bharat Petrol around Walkway but they said it's E20 as well although the guy did mention that there's a new tank being installed for E10

Price isn't the concern, willing to pay 170 or whatever per Liter to have better fuel for my scooty.

Ok, super detailed story so you might as well just copy paste this into your AI models and ask for a summary...

Initially i bought my iPhone on Oct 2023 from some College Kid because i've always loved the size and the battery percentage was at 74%

Phone used to last a whole day because i don't game at all or heavy use it, just some usual normal functions and for payments but around Oct 2024 (1 Year later) i started a YouTube Channel and was editing heavily on the phone while using an Amazon Basics MagSafe power bank which used to heat the phone real good.

Now after abusing that for a month, the battery percentage dropped by 2% which didn't seem much but what messed everything up was the iOS throttling.

Generally when the battery % drops a certain amount, Apple Chips stop functioning at 100% efficiency and start to lag very badly because now they work at maybe 60% capacity and my phone was lagging super bad.

Now in my case, the throttling probably happened because i abused it for editing and the heat was too much that my hands would feel hot.

Then i got a secondary phone so it didn't matter much because that phone was 120Hz (lol)

Now i put my iPhone in the drawer for a couple of months because it was SUPER SUPER LAGGY

Like when i say laggy, i would press on A, and the keyboard would register it as F

my speculation was that i messed up the parts inside so i put my phone away but then one day randomly i searched up for a battery replacement and it was around $25 so i said sure, why not let's do it.

PS: i did go to Apple Certified store but those guys outright denied it because they were like your phone might get green screen so we don't want to do that and that is after i agreed to pay $90 for the original battery as well.

This was Oct 2025, and it got it replaced with aftermarket one which made my phone go from lagging to back to perfection.

However, i am not sure why this happened but it could be due to the battery being after market (Brand is MAXELON), the main camera got wrecked and shot very bad shots at low light (outdoor was ok) and the ear piece messed up as well. I have to use speakers now to attend a call.

And i couldn't even highlight these while getting the battery replaced infront of me because i noticed these issues 2-3 days later and the battery replacement center is 50Miles away from me.

Apart from that, since October the phone is still at 100% and gives me 4Hr SoT. I charge it every day once around 12PM and it's usually at 40% around that time but please keep in mind that i don't use this phone aggressively, i rarely push 2Hr / Day screentime on this because i'm mostly sitting on my PC.

I live in india so i got this battery replaced from Cashify.

So i guess overall the

Pros: Phone is powerful again
Cons: Main Camera is BAD at low lighting & Earpiece + Speakers are messed up.

But i'm sure the issue here was the battery brand.

https://preview.redd.it/jcm8ubb4jo6h1.jpg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=628988d9bc0b4251d1b220982f1eb4101b6775fb

https://preview.redd.it/8591kbb4jo6h1.jpg?width=3072&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78243e3f442c9e2b4bef72ce3de84c7f57863d3c

https://preview.redd.it/4z222eb4jo6h1.jpg?width=6144&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=410a34a42d76337676657aab8997efd79595c306