Well, I got as far as Developer Options->Do not shut off screen while charging.
So if I plug the charger in while on lock screen the charging animation shows with percentage charge.. for 5 seconds. It is still there running but so dim I cannot see it. So I have to tap the screen every time I want to know the percentage charge. I see lots of phone owners complaining about this but apparently you need to buy a flagship phone for this stuff to work. Really?