This is a good discussion. I have not any problems with the ESP32C3, yes connecting the antenna is hard but very doable.
I have an 18650 soldering directly to back of board for my proto-type not a problem. I am using Blynk as my development platform to handle it does a lot of hard things for me, users can log into their device without me hard codding it.
BTW I do watch the power with constant WIFI and running an app it is running 90ma+. When I plug in USB it reverses 200ma+ charging so that works.
I want to start playing with turning modem off and on next, not sure how to do that yet.
Someone on this list asked how to tell if USB connected, no one answered, how do you do that?