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From a battery perspective, should I use wifi? Most of the time i'm at home or at work where I have wifi. I also have good lte coverage at both. Speed aside, will I save battery by not using wifi or not?
You'll definitely save battery by using wifi when you can connect. I love the speeds over lte, but it is definitely a hog...
i also had boost of battery using WIFI
Using unlimited data plan makes me to consider using 4g, but I found that Wifi consumes much less battery.
Use wifi. The battery savings are huge.
yes i cant stress enough, wifi saves enormous amounts of battery so use it when ever possible. the difference is like night and day.
Compared to 3G
I've been leaving my wifi off since I have unlimited data and the 3G is pretty fast in my area, no 4G yet.
I've had pretty good battery life lately using only 3G, I'll have to do a few tests and see which one and I'm a fairly heavy user I'm approaching 4GB this month and none of that is tethering
3G or Wifi
Tested watching a streaming video of 22 mins
on 3G I lost 13%
on wifi I lost 8%
Wifi wins, of course standby is probably different, if 3G vs wifi loses this badly I'd have to imagine LTE vs Wifi is a slaughter battery wise
Actually I found something interesting...
For some reason, even when I am home using Wifi, the battery drains faster than I thought. Where I live is like a strange signal spot. If I turn off my WiFi I can see my TBolt constantly switching between LTE and 3G, sometimes it stucks on 1xRTT for a while then goes right back to switching between connections. If I am at work (downtown LA) where the LTE is pretty well covered, I still use WiFi at the office, the battery BARELY drain at ALL.
My theory is that even when WiFi is active, the phone somehow STILL does the LTE/EvDO switching on the background does draining the battery.
If somehow the devs or VZW can tell the phone to STICK to EvDO/1xRTT instead of going back and forth with the LTE while WiFi data is on, it'll solve the problem.
Also just FYI, I have the latest radio and BMAF 1.5 remixed.
SteveDusa said:
Actually I found something interesting...
For some reason, even when I am home using Wifi, the battery drains faster than I thought. Where I live is like a strange signal spot. If I turn off my WiFi I can see my TBolt constantly switching between LTE and 3G, sometimes it stucks on 1xRTT for a while then goes right back to switching between connections. If I am at work (downtown LA) where the LTE is pretty well covered, I still use WiFi at the office, the battery BARELY drain at ALL.
My theory is that even when WiFi is active, the phone somehow STILL does the LTE/EvDO switching on the background does draining the battery.
If somehow the devs or VZW can tell the phone to STICK to EvDO/1xRTT instead of going back and forth with the LTE while WiFi data is on, it'll solve the problem.
Also just FYI, I have the latest radio and BMAF 1.5 remixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pretty much correct. at least on the gsm side, when i connect to wifi at home, i can no longer see if the phone is on 3G or EDGE. but it definitely switches back and forth to those networks, while staying on wifi, you just dont see the icon switching, but its definitely happening. i dont see why cdma and 1x would be any different.
if this is the case then why don't you just turn data off when you are on wifi.
^_^_^'s tbolt
EEdaesung said:
if this is the case then why don't you just turn data off when you are on wifi.
^_^_^'s tbolt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are absolutly right! How come I never thought of that. Will do that when I get home tonight.
Thanks for the tip!
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Better yet get juice defender and automate it . Its very good app. Right now it says I'm almost adding fifty percent on to my battery.
I seem to be bucking the trend here, but LTE is working better for me than wifi. I usually have a good signal, so that's part of it.
The other part is that my wifi may be eating more juice than normal because the TB and my router may not be playing nice together. Ever since I added the TB to the network, I've had to reboot the router every coupla days. Before the TB, it was solid weeks on end.
Has anyone who is still having trouble on with batter on wifi set their wifi sleep policy to "Never" sleep? Mine is set to this and if I am home most of the day I will lose very little battery through out the day.
I believe by default the wifi is set to turn off after a period of time or when the screen is off so during this time I believe you are actually reverting back to using the vzw network. To turn wifi to always on go to settings>wireless>wifi settings>hit menu>advanced. The sleep policy is at the top, change sleep policy to never. This my reduce battery while not connected to wifi so I always use the power control widget to turn my wifi off completely while I am away from the house.
shovelheadhd said:
Has anyone who is still having trouble on with batter on wifi set their wifi sleep policy to "Never" sleep? Mine is set to this and if I am home most of the day I will lose very little battery through out the day.
I believe by default the wifi is set to turn off after a period of time or when the screen is off so during this time I believe you are actually reverting back to using the vzw network. To turn wifi to always on go to settings>wireless>wifi settings>hit menu>advanced. The sleep policy is at the top, change sleep policy to never. This my reduce battery while not connected to wifi so I always use the power control widget to turn my wifi off completely while I am away from the house.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah this is very important, set wifi sleep policy to never greatly increases battery life. Otherwise it switches back to 3g when screen goes off and drains way more battery. This is very important to set this otherwise you wont see the increase.
Is strongly recommend switching to cdma only if yore gonna use WiFi and plan on saving your battery. Otherwise what's the point. I personally don't even bother using WiFi just use LTE only mode. I'm getting better speeds than most WiFi connections using my LTE.
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Anyone else having this ISSUE? My last phones all had like 4-6% standby time on the battery. But this g2x has been 64-83%. If this can get fixed I think my battery will be much much better!
What can be causing this?
when you say 64-83% how many hours has it been in standby? What else is using the battery? I know the G2X in my office has like 70% standby but that's standby from 14 hours and it's still at 92% battery life. (work phone so pretty much just sitting in the office until we need it)
Standby usually drains faster if you're in an area with no cell signal from what I've noticed.
gqkevyn said:
Standby usually drains faster if you're in an area with no cell signal from what I've noticed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is very important to note. As the signal gets lower, your antenna has to increase power to maintain a connection with the tower. The lower your signal, the more battery required to keep a connection
My cell standby has been alot more then my display and I don't have it in standby. What is odd. My network connection says utms yet I have 4g showing and speedtest is 4-7mb dl. I can unplug my phone leave it on for an hour loose about 15-20% battery with it like at 70%+ cell standby. It's odd...
Maybe it's the 4g cell struggling to connect?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Do you have a lot of Widgets pulling data?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I have the same widgets on the G2x that I have on my Nexus S. I have pure calendar and pure calendar agenda both set to update when the calendar updates. I am still leaning towards more with the 4G struggeling or something.
I've always thought umts was pure 3G while hspa was an update to that which in turn you could get the hspa+. However my connection always says umts, yet I do get way above 3mb dl on the speedtest. It always gets between 4-7mb dl.
The battery life on this android reminds me of when I had the Eris, just blah!!
pinbak said:
My cell standby has been alot more then my display and I don't have it in standby. What is odd. My network connection says utms yet I have 4g showing and speedtest is 4-7mb dl. I can unplug my phone leave it on for an hour loose about 15-20% battery with it like at 70%+ cell standby. It's odd...
Maybe it's the 4g cell struggling to connect?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the EXACT same issue with cell standby. I think it's the 4g connection as mine is constantly switching between 4g and 2g (never 3G)
I can't remember can you click on the "cell standby" tab in 2.2 to get additional information? It will usually say something like xx% time without signal.
yes you can click on it but that option is not showing. I was thinking just like I could my Eris was place into airplane mode take it out and it would correct the cell standby issue. But the xx% without signal is not showing. Well at least on mine it doesn't.
I don't think it ever says 3G. Mine goes from 4G to 2g. I just traveled to Indianapolis and pulled 6mb down but at home we don't have 4g yet even though it says 4g. My download at home was the same as my nexus one = 700k
So while I see it drop to 2g... I think they replaced the 3G icon with a straight 4G icon.
Plus I thought utms was edge?
-sent from my LG 2Gx
Same here with the cell standby... Battery life isn't that terrible for me though (six hours down to 75 percent). Still this seems to be a big problem. Can we somehow force it to just use 3G for the time being?
Make air plane mode your best friend when your not using it. It could be widgets your using
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
runderekrun said:
Same here with the cell standby... Battery life isn't that terrible for me though (six hours down to 75 percent). Still this seems to be a big problem. Can we somehow force it to just use 3G for the time being?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish there was that option. But we can only set it to 2g now
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
Northern Cali has no 4g and mine always says 4g. Same issue here tho... cell standby way to hi
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
I was having the same issue, and battery life was terrible.
Performing a full factory reset as well as completely draining the battery several times solved the issue for me.
Before the factory reset Battery Monitor was reporting heavy battery use even while idle, after the reset it only uses 2-5mA while idle compared to over 150mA before.
Today I went from 5:45 AM to 4:30 PM and am only down to 70% charge left.
same exact issue here. My usage habits have not change from my mytouch 4g which only showed a few percent of cell standy and phone idle. I dont get it, but i think that is what is killing my battery.
Suprah said:
Wish there was that option. But we can only set it to 2g now
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We do have that option. Settings-->Wireless Networks --> Mobile Networks-->Network Mode --> WCDMA Only (3G & 4G Only)
flak0 said:
We do have that option. Settings-->Wireless Networks --> Mobile Networks-->Network Mode --> WCDMA Only (3G & 4G Only)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not the same. We want an option for JUST 3g as the problem (with the cell standby) seems to be a weak 4g signal...
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
I hate Widgets so I'm not using any at all.
Mine was also jumping from 4G to 2G.... Odd
jink25 said:
I was having the same issue, and battery life was terrible.
Performing a full factory reset as well as completely draining the battery several times solved the issue for me.
Before the factory reset Battery Monitor was reporting heavy battery use even while idle, after the reset it only uses 2-5mA while idle compared to over 150mA before.
Today I went from 5:45 AM to 4:30 PM and am only down to 70% charge left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad it worked for you but I am a little confused as to how could this fix this problem?
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
I've had the HOX for about a week now and I love it but I wish battery life was a bit better. I've gotten to about 50% with only a little over an hour of on screen time.
Here's what my settings are:
Auto-sync off, wifi off, gps off, brightness about 15%, and I'm running CleanROM SE. I do live in a LTE however, possibly that's what's killing my battery? I also have a CPU editor running on battery saver mode.
Any help?
Winters37 said:
I've had the HOX for about a week now and I love it but I wish battery life was a bit better. I've gotten to about 50% with only a little over an hour of on screen time.
Here's what my settings are:
Auto-sync off, wifi off, gps off, brightness about 15%, and I'm running CleanROM SE. I do live in a LTE however, possibly that's what's killing my battery? I also have a CPU editor running on battery saver mode.
Any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try keeping WiFi on when your in range. It seems to be better than the cell data for battery life.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
In my own experience LTE will chew you battery like nothing. Running apps like battery savers etc... actually doesn't save your battery it kills them faster... as they require process to run in the background... just my own tick on the subject.
Switch LTE off and I'm running on 4G I get around 1mb rate up and down for transfer so that's just as good as high speed internet. I'm not going to complain.
Screen brightness is at 35%
Screen timeout 1min
Wifi on
Data on
All others off
I'll average about 19hrs of battery life. Less if I'm going nuts on it like during weekdays at work.
On the weekend I can get 1day 7hours... ishh.
Winters37 said:
I've had the HOX for about a week now and I love it but I wish battery life was a bit better. I've gotten to about 50% with only a little over an hour of on screen time.
Here's what my settings are:
Auto-sync off, wifi off, gps off, brightness about 15%, and I'm running CleanROM SE. I do live in a LTE however, possibly that's what's killing my battery? I also have a CPU editor running on battery saver mode.
Any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Winters37 said:
I've had the HOX for about a week now and I love it but I wish battery life was a bit better. I've gotten to about 50% with only a little over an hour of on screen time.
Here's what my settings are:
Auto-sync off, wifi off, gps off, brightness about 15%, and I'm running CleanROM SE. I do live in a LTE however, possibly that's what's killing my battery? I also have a CPU editor running on battery saver mode.
Any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remove sense
Auto sync on
Wifi on (if within range)
Force 2g network
Auto brightness
LTE/3G only when absoultey necessary
Bluetooth off unless using
Leave GPS enabled
Download timelines free from the play store and periodically look at it to see if apps are continuously using CPU. Some do and need to be closed constantly. Facebook is an example of that.
I would force 2G also unfortunately that's not an option here in town. It's now either 3G, 4G or LTE 2G networks aren't available anymore... sigh.
seh6183 said:
Remove sense
Auto sync on
Wifi on (if within range)
Force 2g network
Auto brightness
LTE/3G only when absoultey necessary
Bluetooth off unless using
Leave GPS enabled
Download timelines free from the play store and periodically look at it to see if apps are continuously using CPU. Some do and need to be closed constantly. Facebook is an example of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fluxgfx said:
I would force 2G also unfortunately that's not an option here in town. It's now either 3G, 4G or LTE 2G networks aren't available anymore... sigh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats too bad because calls and texts sent over 3g consume almost twice as much battery. Time to start using google voice!
Your telling. I tried to get 2G on using the GSM only. I can make calls but there's no more data stream on 2G anymore. GSM band once it seems your attempting to make a data connection switches automaticly to WCDMA Preferred.
I wouldn't expect anything less in a Metro area lol... I guess if I was at the cottage I could bounce off the GSM towers to get my service a 2G lol.
seh6183 said:
Thats too bad because calls and texts sent over 3g consume almost twice as much battery. Time to start using google voice!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fluxgfx said:
Your telling. I tried to get 2G on using the GSM only. I can make calls but there's no more data stream on 2G anymore. GSM band once it seems your attempting to make a data connection switches automaticly to WCDMA Preferred.
I wouldn't expect anything less in a Metro area lol... I guess if I was at the cottage I could bounce off the GSM towers to get my service a 2G lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey well you know what thats not that bad. Use the 2G to make calls and text and just enable the better radios when you need them for data. This would be the best for battery. Just put the toggles all on switches so you have quick access.
Yes, LTE really destroys the battery. If you are using the phone (i.e. the screen is on), and you are using LTE (e-mail/web/etc.), you won't get more than 2-3 hrs of screentime. Without LTE - or in standby mode (i.e. screen not on) - the phone lasts for a long time, unless you are experience battery drain issues, which some of the LTE users are reporting when signal is lost and regained again.
Easy Answer:
D: None of the above! Enjoy your phone with everything on and buy one of these nice little babies and take it with ya for only $13.00.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10833&cs_id=1083311&p_id=7664&seq=1&format=2
thcue said:
Easy Answer:
D: None of the above! Enjoy your phone with everything on and buy one of these nice little babies and take it with ya for only $13.00.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10833&cs_id=1083311&p_id=7664&seq=1&format=2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hes right! Leave every radio enabled cause you never know when you may need to use them. Also turn brightness up to 100% because the screen looks awesome like that. Then all you have to do is have a giant battery hanging off the phone almost constantly. Perfect trade off if you ask me.
LTE is the biggest killer. With LTE on all the time, I get about 3 hours screen on time (which still blows all other phones that I've had out of the water). If I'm on wifi, I can get around 5 with the same type of use.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
How do you turn LTE off? I always have 3 or more bars around my area, so bad reception isn't a problem. I just think the big killer is LTE.
Try the CPU Editor, the link is in my sig. It will definetly help on your battery with the right settings eg., battery saver profile. Read the thread and try it out, let me know what you think.
smokin1337 said:
Try the CPU Editor, the link is in my sig. It will definetly help on your battery with the right settings eg., battery saver profile. Read the thread and try it out, let me know what you think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, I saw it on the news page and decided to try it out. It definitely helps, but it still doesn't last as long as I want/need it to.
Winters37 said:
How do you turn LTE off? I always have 3 or more bars around my area, so bad reception isn't a problem. I just think the big killer is LTE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check here, in the middle of the page - there is a way to disable LTE, worked for me:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1719227&page=6
LTE might be the culprit. I get GREAT battery life on CleanROM, but I'm in an only-HSPA+ area.
Some other basic things you might want to try:
1. Confirm that you aren't in a poor reception area. Your standby times will drop dramatically if your reception is poor for an extended period. If you DO have poor reception, consider flashing a new radio.
2. Look for any wakelocks (times your phone is awake while your screen is off). A few every now and then are good, but if there are a lot, or they are lasting for a long time, it'll also kill your standby time.
3. If you notice unusual wakelocks, use something like BetteryBatteryStats to track down what processe(s) in particular are causing them.
neocryte said:
Check here, in the middle of the page - there is a way to disable LTE, worked for me:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1719227&page=6
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just disabled LTE. Let's see if my battery can improve now. I'm mostly on Wi-Fi when I'm home anyway.
Keep us posted Winters - I have heard some people have issues with this method - that the 3G connectivity drops a lot. I haven't seen this yet, but haven't tested too much...
_MetalHead_ said:
LTE is the biggest killer. With LTE on all the time, I get about 3 hours screen on time (which still blows all other phones that I've had out of the water). If I'm on wifi, I can get around 5 with the same type of use.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it your new One X is doing well lol?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
I stay in a hotel room often without free wifi. Most of the rooms I get 1-2 bars, occasionally 3. A decent amount of the time I get no 4g and sometimes signal is so weak no internet at all. I notice this destroys my battery life. Is there someway to lower the extra strain on the battery when I know I will have a weak signal anyway without using airplane mode? I wanna lower the power being used by my phone to search for stronger signal while still being able to receive texts and calls. Would prefer to keep 3G on as well when it works.
On a related note, are there any products I can buy to boost my signal that work? And is there a rom or roms that are known to have great signal strength compared to the rest out right now? Thanks for any help.
sfetaz said:
I stay in a hotel room often without free wifi. Most of the rooms I get 1-2 bars, occasionally 3. A decent amount of the time I get no 4g and sometimes signal is so weak no internet at all. I notice this destroys my battery life. Is there someway to lower the extra strain on the battery when I know I will have a weak signal anyway without using airplane mode? I wanna lower the power being used by my phone to search for stronger signal while still being able to receive texts and calls. Would prefer to keep 3G on as well when it works.
On a related note, are there any products I can buy to boost my signal that work? And is there a rom or roms that are known to have great signal strength compared to the rest out right now? Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be fine disabling Mobile Data... You should get texts just fine and use the WiFi for all data purposes.
Im not using the wifi ever unless really important to get it, $15 everyday is too much. So i am trying to rely on mobile data.
Go download the free app "Phone Info", it will allow you to shut off 4G, shutting off 4G stops it from searching and draining your battery.
Once installed, click "Device Information" and scroll about half way down and change the drop box from "LTE/CDMA/EvDo" to "CDMA only"
Hope this helps!
I use phone info already, 3g over 4g definitely helps, but am I wrong in assuming that the phone is still destroying battery when the signal is weak even with 4g off?