main server at home:

- VDR - For receiving and recording TV shows

- samba - filesharing

- mosquitto - mqtt broker

- wireguard - vpn

- cups - printserver

- influxdb - time series database

- grafana - showing stuff from influxdb

- apache - webserver. Also for some self-built python stuff

additional RPI:

- rtl433 - receiving cheap wireless temperature sensors

another additional RPI:

- homeassistant

- ESPhome

Symbian was used and developed in a time before "always-online" was a thing. Check the battery life of your smartphone without internet connection. You'd be surprised. Also, Symbian phones did not have more than 2" displays, that were also very dark (compared to modern day >1000 cd/m² oled stuff). without any installable app (forget that shitty java mobile crap), the OS running on a specific phone was fragile and probably had lots of bugs and vulnerabilities.

This is the key. I'm running a 6 years old galaxy tab s2 for reading at night, about 10 to 30 minutes a day, with an OLED display in airplane mode. Due to the display and white-on-black colors, only standby really contributes significantly to the power consumption. Still, even though the battery is very old by now, with average use, the battery indicator is usually at around 60 % at the end of a week without charging.

Symbian had installable apps. For my Nokia 3650, I installed an updated video recorder from Nokia to record video and audio. And some games that were meh, and RealPlayer.

You're right that battery power with internet was trash. I recall the battery draining in 30-60 minutes if I was actively (WAP) browsing or streaming music.

Later versions of Symbian worked better, but I didn't run them. WhatsApp ran on Symbian and there was no platform push, so it had to stay connected to the servers; when I was there, we would routinely see Symbian users who had been connected for 30+ days.

> Symbian was used and developed in a time before "always-online" was a thing.

I remember that someone commented many moons ago (2000s) that 'less we talk about being "online" the more being online will become important'.

Back in the day, you were online when your home modem dialed into your ISP. Or when you were either at home or at work where you could get a wired Internet connection. Now, with wireless, we're (potentially) online all the time.

Agreed. Constant network wake-ups is the norm. I think apps should have a budget that they need to beg to increase.