Proof the cell radio is battery killer... - T-Mobile LG G2x

I've been using my Sensation for now so my G2X is simless with wifi on. I'm amazed how much better the battery is on standby and even in use without a sim. The cell radio on this phone must be sucking the battery dry.
I don't think this type of standby is possible with a sim inside.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Yeah they also get faster without the SIM card too. Whenever I took the SIM out on my N1 or any of my old HTC Windows Mobile phones you could definitely tell. Something about the cell tower polling takes quite a few resources.

Not sure about the following but if I remember correctly, the baseband/modem/telephony on Tegra2 chips isn't integrated into the SOC like on Snapdragon and OMAP chips. The Tegra's use a seperate chip from ICERA to provide the telephon/3g/4g portion of the phone. Not integrated means that it sucks more power than more integrated designs.

also, its a known fact that the cell radio uses significantly more power than wifi.

The thing I dont understand, is that with wifi calling enabled, why does the cell radio still consume so much power. The cell radio should be off.

So with the phone having no signal at all, you're amazed it will last more then a couple days? I'm confused my mytouch 3g, with me using it as my mp3 player I get about 3 days. Any phone gets substantial increase without cell radio usage.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Related

Battery life is bad because of the radio

I'm on the EagleBlood Rom and currently in Singapore. Becsause I'm not using T-Mobiles expensive service and WLAN is here everywhere I have used the phone with WLAN + GPS only (Airplane mode + manual turned on WLAN + GPS). I used Locus Pro extensivly to navigate through the city and record my track. Battery after first day 8:00AM til 9:00PM was 79%. Second day is 55%.
Therefore the Cell Standby is really the issue here I would asume. But hack what do I have a cell phone for if I can't turn on the radio???
Battery really sucks otherwise. When I go to work at 07:30am and come home at 4:30PM I can put the phone on the charger, even though I barly used it.
I'm in the states, this phone lasts from about 7:30 AM until 8:00 PM with no problem, regular use, 4G all day. I disabled the Wifi which helped a lot.
Wifi uses less battery due to not having to poll the network to renew the connection. Wifi calling uses even less battery because now you have no connection to the network and it can keep a static connection to the wifi network. No need to renew that connection so it just sits there and does nothing.
I've tested and confirmed this on more than one phone.
And of course the radio is using battery. It's second only to the display in battery use. Like you said, what good is a cell phone without having the radio enabled?
iamlilysdad said:
Wifi uses less battery due to not having to poll the network to renew the connection. Wifi calling uses even less battery because now you have no connection to the network and it can keep a static connection to the wifi network. No need to renew that connection so it just sits there and does nothing.
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This all true. Display and 3G/4G radio are the killers.
Unless you have wifi on and aren't connected to a network. Then your phone is polling for wifi connections in addition to 4G
Yay! Yet another battery thread that I get to comment on!
i use wifi/wifi-calling over 95% of the time and my battery rocks! The moment I turn it off... bam.... I get crappy life on a batter. the difference is from around 35hr and drops to around 20. Then if i had moderate to heavy use on it, I'm sure I'd be getting the 8hrs everyone is complaining about.
I like cheese
hire4blood said:
I'm on the EagleBlood Rom and currently in Singapore. Becsause I'm not using T-Mobiles expensive service and WLAN is here everywhere I have used the phone with WLAN + GPS only (Airplane mode + manual turned on WLAN + GPS). I used Locus Pro extensivly to navigate through the city and record my track. Battery after first day 8:00AM til 9:00PM was 79%. Second day is 55%.
Therefore the Cell Standby is really the issue here I would asume. But hack what do I have a cell phone for if I can't turn on the radio???
Battery really sucks otherwise. When I go to work at 07:30am and come home at 4:30PM I can put the phone on the charger, even though I barly used it.
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Click to collapse
I'm going to Hong Kong this Sunday, then will be in Singapore by the end of next Wednesday. I'm thinking to buy a local sim and use 2g only with manual WLAN, GPS off.
Agreed. I'm running CM7 #9. Took the phone off the charger at 8am. Checked my push exchange, twitter, and facebook updates. Went into work where we have no service. I have WiFi turned on for data.
I still have the cellular radio on, btw. At 3pm I have 88%.
CM7 has a WiFi bug which the WiFi won't stay on (goes to sleep with the screen off). But still pretty good.
it has been proved that 4g kills battery faster then 3g and 2g. http://blog.lifehacker.com/5741627/why-you-might-want-to-wait-for-a-4g-phone until there is a way for 4g radios to manage data more efficiently 4g is gonna kill you battery.
I'm using Eagle Blood 1.03 and my battery life is awesome right now. I think at this point, I could do a couple days before running out. I am just speculating right now, but I will try to leave off the charger tonight to see what I can get out of it.
cervantesjc said:
it has been proved that 4g kills battery faster then 3g and 2g. http://blog.lifehacker.com/5741627/why-you-might-want-to-wait-for-a-4g-phone until there is a way for 4g radios to manage data more efficiently 4g is gonna kill you battery.
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Click to collapse
If you saying only 4G I cannot share the expirience with you. I even turned of data completly, while I was still in the US and still got bad battery life with ONLY the radio turned on (WLAN + Data + GPS turned off)
jdaclutch said:
I'm going to Hong Kong this Sunday, then will be in Singapore by the end of next Wednesday. I'm thinking to buy a local sim and use 2g only with manual WLAN, GPS off.
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Click to collapse
Hong Kong Airport has free WLAN. Singapore has free wirless LAN called [email protected] through the whole downtown area. But there is a catch you have to have a Singapore Mobile number to register. They will send you the UserID and Password via text message. Lucky me I have a friend here sharing his user ID with me ... Therefore no need for the Radio to be turned on at all. And like I said the battery now last forever...
hire4blood said:
If you saying only 4G I cannot share the expirience with you. I even turned of data completly, while I was still in the US and still got bad battery life with ONLY the radio turned on (WLAN + Data + GPS turned off)
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Ok let me see if i understand (not trying to be a **** here), if all of the phone functions are turned off, what were you doing?, playing games?, watching videos?, i don't know, because to me it sounds like you phone was idle.
One more example that 4g kills battery is the thunderbolt, if you think that the G2x kills battery you should use that phone and comeback to the G2x, even HTC is selling bigger batteries for thunderbolt because customers are *****ing about the battery life.
You should try and use 2g only and see if this helps you battery life a little, i guess im just lucky, i have no screen bleed, no reboots and battery life for me is awesome, whit and without 4g.
cervantesjc said:
Ok let me see if i understand (not trying to be a **** here), if all of the phone functions are turned off, what were you doing?, playing games?, watching videos?, i don't know, because to me it sounds like you phone was idle.
One more example that 4g kills battery is the thunderbolt, if you think that the G2x kills battery you should use that phone and comeback to the G2x, even HTC is selling bigger batteries for thunderbolt because customers are *****ing about the battery life.
You should try and use 2g only and see if this helps you battery life a little, i guess im just lucky, i have no screen bleed, no reboots and battery life for me is awesome, whit and without 4g.
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Dude all the functions are turned on except the radio. I use the phone in airplane mode with WLAN + GPS enabled. I use GPS apps to track my way to Singapore. In downtown they have free WLAN everywhere. Phone last for 2 days this way, but makes no sence of course having a phone without a radio...
Oh and I use Sipdroid with Sipgate to receive and do free phone calls
cervantesjc said:
it has been proved that 4g kills battery faster then 3g and 2g. http://blog.lifehacker.com/5741627/why-you-might-want-to-wait-for-a-4g-phone until there is a way for 4g radios to manage data more efficiently 4g is gonna kill you battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just making sure here, but you know that T-Mobile's 4G is still using the same existing 3G connections, thus not requiring it to run on a different band, right? HSPA/HSPA+ connections share the same bands, and thus the "4G" connection is running through the same radio without affecting battery life. WiMAX and LTE operate differently and both run seperate from the EVDO that Verizon and Sprint use for their 3G.
That being said, a radio, regardless, will always drain the battery faster than anything, which is why Wifi Calling is so effective in keeping high battery life.
The other HSPA+ enabled phones on T-Mobile are getting fantastic battery life, as long as you aren't constantly using the displays.
I am leaning to believe that's a major reason why everyone's phones are dying so fast. They've got a new toy so they're always playing with it and killing it quickly. I've done that with every new phone I've gotten. My G1, the Cliq, the myTouch Slide, and now this. Give it a few days and when you're not turning the screen on every five seconds to just flick around the menus, and you'll see your life improve.
Yesterday, for example, I ran my phone off of charge from 11 AM EST until 6 AM EST (6 AM, Monday Morning). This was with moderate use.
Its not just that we're playing with our new toys. This phone most definitely drains battery like its going out of style. I had to drive 90 minutes to the client I was coming to work with today. I unplugged my phone when I left my hotel room (and it was at 100%) and when I got to the office, 2hours and 15 minutes later, having never turned my phone on since I was driving the whole time, my phone was at 82%. That's really bad for a phone idling. I think there's a radio bug or its polling too often because if I let JuiceDefender work, then in the same period of time this evening I was at 94% battery. That's a big difference.
hire4blood said:
Hong Kong Airport has free WLAN. Singapore has free wirless LAN called [email protected] through the whole downtown area. But there is a catch you have to have a Singapore Mobile number to register. They will send you the UserID and Password via text message. Lucky me I have a friend here sharing his user ID with me ... Therefore no need for the Radio to be turned on at all. And like I said the battery now last forever...
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I know HK airport has free WLAN, but places like starbucks/Mcd only offer 30 mins- 2 hours of free WLAN a day.I will be in HK for a month(after I got back from Singapore), so I might need to purchase a pre-paid internet plan..I will be in Singapore for a week, so hopefully they will have unlimited free WLAN there...
IT'S NOT 4G THAT'S KILLING BATTERY. As was stated above it uses the existing 3G network for faster data speeds. Phones like the Thunderbolt and EVO (and anything else that connects to WIMAX or LTE) need a completely separate radio (and thus controller) to connect to 4G.
HSPA+ is just really fast 3G so the existing SOC's that have support on-die for T-Mobile 3G frequencies just have to have a slightly updated version of the hardware (to support either class 10 or class 14 HSPA+).
This would be a perfect example as to why T-Mobile and AT&T shouldn't be able to market HSPA+ as 4G. It confuses people and makes them think that battery life will suck because of it like it does on Sprint and Verizon. When SOC's come out that have on die support for LTE and WIMAX (I think I heard 2012) then battery life for those phones won't suck anymore.
xenoletum said:
Just making sure here, but you know that T-Mobile's 4G is still using the same existing 3G connections, thus not requiring it to run on a different band, right? HSPA/HSPA+ connections share the same bands, and thus the "4G" connection is running through the same radio without affecting battery life. WiMAX and LTE operate differently and both run seperate from the EVDO that Verizon and Sprint use for their 3G.
That being said, a radio, regardless, will always drain the battery faster than anything, which is why Wifi Calling is so effective in keeping high battery life.
The other HSPA+ enabled phones on T-Mobile are getting fantastic battery life, as long as you aren't constantly using the displays.
I am leaning to believe that's a major reason why everyone's phones are dying so fast. They've got a new toy so they're always playing with it and killing it quickly. I've done that with every new phone I've gotten. My G1, the Cliq, the myTouch Slide, and now this. Give it a few days and when you're not turning the screen on every five seconds to just flick around the menus, and you'll see your life improve.
Yesterday, for example, I ran my phone off of charge from 11 AM EST until 6 AM EST (6 AM, Monday Morning). This was with moderate use.
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The antena-radio, is using more battery, just because is handling data at a higher rate.
Just like I said before, until there is a way or update to the radio to handle data more efficiently, 4g radio is gonna keep draining battery.
And yes hspa+ and wimax are similar yet incompatible technologies, but the way they handle data take a big chunk out of you battery.
And is a fact that radio is draining most of the battery, and until we get a radio update, battery is gonna drain fast.
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

Wifi drains more battery than mobile network?

Title says it all.
Sent from my HTC Inspire 4G using XDA Premium App
Sure does not.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Not even comparable... data takes up tons of battery
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA Premium App
If it's constantly in a loop of trying, unsuccessfully, to connect to a wireless network, I could see it increasing obviously, but in a normal connected state, as the others say, no way as much as mobile.
alright awesome ill keep using wifi
Scott_S said:
If it's constantly in a loop of trying, unsuccessfully, to connect to a wireless network, I could see it increasing obviously, but in a normal connected state, as the others say, no way as much as mobile.
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Scott is right. If you don't have wifi connected it will constantly search for it causing battery drain. If you leave and don't plan on being on wifi I would shut it off so that your phone isn't constantly searching for a network. There are some battery settings in the wifi menu that can help with that though just not very much.
P.S. oops edited sorry Scott lol
Carlrobling said:
...Mud is right...
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I'll take that as a complement.
I disagree, every phone i have seen uses significantly more battery having wifi turned on, I definately notice it on mine, and im talking about being connected to a wifi the entire time. My battery life with wifi on has always been **** compared to it being turned off, Iphone's all of them including 4, droid x, vibrant, captivate, inspire all the same result with wifi enabled.
Do a expierment charge phone to 100% before going to bed, lets say 10 pm to 6 am check battery power lvl, next night enable wifi, I am absolutely certain that u will have a much larger drain.
as for does it drain more while in use than 3g or 4g is another issue, some say it uses less than mobile network to transfer data because a mobile tower can be a few miles away while the router is no more than 200 feet. I personally think wifi still uses more battery, however i do use wifi when available to keep my data usage down. if u disabled 3g altogether then maybe. but with both on u are powering another radio.
jc2470 said:
I disagree, every phone i have seen uses significantly more battery having wifi turned on, I definately notice it on mine, and im talking about being connected to a wifi the entire time. My battery life with wifi on has always been **** compared to it being turned off, Iphone's all of them including 4, droid x, vibrant, captivate, inspire all the same result with wifi enabled.
Do a expierment charge phone to 100% before going to bed, lets say 10 pm to 6 am check battery power lvl, next night enable wifi, I am absolutely certain that u will have a much larger drain.
as for does it drain more while in use than 3g or 4g is another issue, some say it uses less than mobile network to transfer data because a mobile tower can be a few miles away while the router is no more than 200 feet. I personally think wifi still uses more battery, however i do use wifi when available to keep my data usage down. if u disabled 3g altogether then maybe. but with both on u are powering another radio.
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If you're saying that having WiFi on uses more battery than having WiFi off, which is how I read the first part of your post, I'd have to say you absolutely correct.
I think the question was whether WiFi used more battery than mobile data.
Mobile data uses more battery because its constantly trying to look for a better connection. E/3G/4G/ETC...
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
according to alot of other post about this same issue say wifi uses more battery either way because your 3g /4g radio is still on when using wifi
Both right
If you have WiFi always on, constantly polling for it, when not connected, you will use >battery. If you are connected to WiFi, and thus not polling all the time, <battery usage.
I use Llama to disable my WiFi when I am out not using GPS. It knows I leave home or work based on location as tringulated by the cell towers, thus GPS doesn't have to be on. Your phone is always polling for towers anyway, even with data shut off, so this does not use any battery to speak of. There are a lot of towers here in my basic hood, so Llama seems to identified that I leave home from 100-1000 meters, depending which direction I go.
You will use less battery if you shut off WiFi polling while you have no chance to connect to Wifi, that is for sure!
I use Llama to shut off and on all sorts of stuff based on location or a set of conditions. It is all logic based: If condition A exists, perform B toggle. Works great for me in an area with lots of towers so location at home vs. work vs. out is determined rather easily and accurately in my experience.
Edit: other conditions available include days of the week, time of day, headset or bluetooth enabled, etc.
Wifi definitively uses less battery than 3g from all the tests I've done and common experiences around the forum. Its not even close.
Can you change the wifi interval in the build.prop file to have it search after a longer delay? I know on mine it is set for 15 (seconds)?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App

Why does the phone needs the battery so much?

I've tried to take out the Sim card, and after 13hrs of normal use, mostly connected to wifi, my battery shows 67% remaining.
But when I put the Sim card back in, still on wifi, I don't even use 4g, still same usage, same location, after only 7hrs, my battery is at 35%, it takes so much more battery to receive a phone signal then surfing the Web or playing games, is it my phone that have a problem or is it normal?
I'm on the latest 2.2.3 infused
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using Tapatalk
That's how all smart phones are....
Even while on wifi, the sim still regularly communicates with the network.
Sent from my Samsung Infuse 4G - 1.6ghz
SSJ_Gomike said:
That's how all smart phones are....
Even while on wifi, the sim still regularly communicates with the network.
Sent from my Samsung Infuse 4G - 1.6ghz
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Click to collapse
7 hours to 35% with the phone mostly idle is a problem though. In that period of time I lose less than 10% in good signal and 20% in bad signal on Serendipity VII. CM7 would drop by 15-25% at most. (Not TO 15-25%, BY 15-25%, i.e. not going below 75%)
No clue why - probably a rogue app. No details as to which ROM he's using so I cant give more tips. If Gingerbread, Settings->About Phone->Battery Use can sometimes give useful info.

4g battery performance

Is it normal that when I turn on 4g/lte my battery dies 300-400% quicker than when I have it off? I'm on the latest ViperX Rom using the latest elementalX kernel.
As you can see in the pic I turned on the 4g/lte at around 3pm and it dropped rapidly.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
LTE does drain battery quicker, especially if you're in an area that doesn't have very good LTE signal.
Sent from my Evita
"Normal" is a loaded term. Experiences will vary widely depending on how good the reception is in your area (as mentioned). Trying a different radio might help; but don't expect that to necessarily be a silver bullet, either.
Personally, I get good battery life on LTE. Up to 48 hours on a single charge, with low usage, on WiFi when at home. But my area seems to have good LTE reception.
What radio are you currently using? I wonder if messing around with voltage settings of elementalx will make a difference as well??
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
That's definitely not normal. Does your area get good LTE coverage? Your screenshot is actually showing you have acquired a pretty major wakelock , meaning LTE really isn't draining the battery, something software-related is. What do you use to trigger LTE on or off?
Believe it or not, LTE can actually be easier on the battery than HSPA+ for two reasons: 1 - On standby, it uses the same amount of battery as HSPA+ through a system called circuit switched fallback, and 2 - When actually active , LTE uses a little more battery, but it will "race to idle" quicker, meaning it's probably using 30% or so more battery than HSPA+ but completing the task 50 to 100% faster, which is, at the very least, evening things out.
EliWay said:
That's definitely not normal. Does your area get good LTE coverage? Your screenshot is actually showing you have acquired a pretty major wakelock , meaning LTE really isn't draining the battery, something software-related is. What do you use to trigger LTE on or off?
Believe it or not, LTE can actually be easier on the battery than HSPA+ for two reasons: 1 - On standby, it uses the same amount of battery as HSPA+ through a system called circuit switched fallback, and 2 - When actually active , LTE uses a little more battery, but it will "race to idle" quicker, meaning it's probably using 30% or so more battery than HSPA+ but completing the task 50 to 100% faster, which is, at the very least, evening things out.
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Hmm that is interesting stuff. I am using the normal Mobile Data options from the standard Settings configuration. If you tell me how to trigger it and then monitor the wakelock I can do it.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

WIFI vs LTE vs E

Hi,
I am trying to get a clear idea on the battery consumption of N5 on Wifi, LTE and E. If the purpose is to be battery friendly, which one (LTE, Wifi, Edge) should I left my phone on most of the time?
Thank you,
Well id say not WiFi! I use Wi-Fi at home and battery life is OK, it actually depends on how much you use it. I'm usually on my tablet at home and on the road my n5. Idk what E is but I'm thinking it's edge so that's probably better than LTE battery wise.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
stagius24 said:
Hi,
I am trying to get a clear idea on the battery consumption of N5 on Wifi, LTE and E. If the purpose is to be battery friendly, which one (LTE, Wifi, Edge) should I left my phone on most of the time?
Thank you,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wi-Fi is by far, the most battery friendly connection because the device only has to transmit and receive from a very short distance. Mobile data signals have to travel to the cell tower so more power is used the farther away you are from it. Less bars, more power used to communicate with the tower. LTE is best because you get that transmission completed very, very fast. HSDPA is good as well. Edge connection is very slow and makes the device hang waiting on the package to be sent and received, thus using more power in the long run. I usually set my phone to edge when I'm not going to be really using it.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
You certainly want to be using WiFi at home. I tried going data only for a couple days because it's unlimited and the battery drain especially while idle was much higher than using WiFi. This is with full signal 90% of the time.
WiFi is your friend for extended battery life. Mobile data - whether it's LTE, 3G/HSPA+ or good old Edge/2G will vary in power but it's pinging the towers for signal & cycling, so it will use more data - that is, all other things equal in terms of settings including the newer/est KitKat features.
Wifi whenever you can use it.
As far as cellular, as long as you have a decent signal, faster is always better (so the modem can download what it needs and turn back off). So use LTE if you're going to be using any data. Knock it down to edge (or off entirely) if you don't want to use data at all, or just for the occassional notification.
So Wifi is clearly the best. So when my phone is idle for a long time, let say at night, should I leave it under Edge or Wifi?
I am writing a tasker profile, so I just try to see which one is better in term of battery.
stagius24 said:
So Wifi is clearly the best. So when my phone is idle for a long time, let say at night, should I leave it under Edge or Wifi?
I am writing a tasker profile, so I just try to see which one is better in term of battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you can always put it on airplane mode/turn off the mobile radio and switch on Wi-Fi after to just have Wi-Fi data. The catch is, you will not be receiving any calls or SMS/MMS while you have the mobile radio shut off... unless you're using a VOIP service.

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