So currently wifi kills more battery than 3g!
its been on an hour and already accounts for 13% of todays power use.
anyone know how to fix this bug?
irzero said:
So currently wifi kills more battery than 3g!
its been on an hour and already accounts for 13% of todays power use.
anyone know how to fix this bug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is hard but it could be many things, even other devices on your network in fact that's where I would first look, some sharing setting or some powersaving on or off setting in your router
irzero said:
So currently wifi kills more battery than 3g!
its been on an hour and already accounts for 13% of todays power use.
anyone know how to fix this bug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5Ghz or 2.4Ghz?
Supposedly 5Ghz would drain more if you aren't close enough to the source!
Sent from my SM-G925F
2.4 and my edge has no problems
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk
Check for am app that's throwing lots of wakelocks or alarms when on Wi-Fi. Some apps think they have free reign to check in all they want when you're not using cell data.
@OP
Had the same issue beginning 5.1.1. Turned out keeping the phone only on 5GHz instead of both 2.4 & 5GHz wifi did the trick for me. Try it out if you also have a dual-band wifi router.
Sent from my SM-G920I using XDA Free mobile app
What's the best way to find out with out root
Sent from my SM-G928F using Tapatalk
Many Playstore apps exist to measure wifi strength & effectiveness. "Wifi Overview 360", "Network Signal Info Pro".
My Sammy S6 has a much better wifi hardware than my cheap, old phones. But my home wifi routers are the same.
Wifi transmissions are bothered by:
1) poor hardware (old, cheap phones, etc), which drains battery with weak signals.
2) radio interference rubbish between the main sender, and your wifi receiver.
3) orientation of the two aerials, in relation to each other; horizontal, angled, vertical, ... (especially if 1), 2) above are bad
4) Whether the receiver unit is facing the main unit, sideways, backwards, frontwards, etc. On poor quality hardware, this is very important.
Being very crippled myself much of my time is just lying in my (nursing) bed. My Samsung Note Pro 12.2 floats above my head, in bed. Smartphones are affected if my head gets between the unit and the main unit.
My main wifi unit is about 20 yards/ meters away, but transmitting diagonally through a thick, metal-rod reinforced, load bearing wall. So I have a hardwired ethernet cable linked to another wifi unit under my bed, getting a faster, less power-wasting signal.
I have this on my work WiFi it drains the battery really quickly even idle it is about 1% per 5mins whilst connected to WiFi. On 3/4g it is significantly less drain.
But at home I don't have the issue battery life is good even on wifi.
It'd be nice to resolve it, have had it since I got my s6 in may so following this thread closely.
I opened my own thread back then which explains my experience a bit more:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3106313
Related
So, it seems the default policy for wifi on this device is never to disconnect itself to save power. The Vibrant defaulted to whenever the screen was off. That makes the default wifi policy between these two devices vastly different. In fact, there isn't even an option on this phone to disconnect from wifi when the screen is shut down. I wonder how this will affect battery life. I may think twice about enabling wifi.
The first thing I did after connecting it to my wifi was go to the wifi advanced settings and set the sleep policy to never. I'm glad it was already off by default. It shows that someone at HTC paid attention to that small detail and how it affected battery life. It greatly helps your battery life in my experience (with the Vibrant), since it's not constantly connecting and disconnecting from wifi which apparently uses more power.
Aspeds2989 said:
The first thing I did after connecting it to my wifi was go to the wifi advanced settings and set the sleep policy to never. I'm glad it was already off by default. It shows that someone at HTC paid attention to that small detail and how it affected battery life. It greatly helps your battery life in my experience (with the Vibrant), since it's not constantly connecting and disconnecting from wifi which apparently uses more power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree 100%.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Aspeds2989 said:
The first thing I did after connecting it to my wifi was go to the wifi advanced settings and set the sleep policy to never. I'm glad it was already off by default. It shows that someone at HTC paid attention to that small detail and how it affected battery life. It greatly helps your battery life in my experience (with the Vibrant), since it's not constantly connecting and disconnecting from wifi which apparently uses more power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? How would that *improve* battery life? I would have it to *detract* from battery life. If I'm at home basking in my wireless network, why would I rather have the connection permanent than to have it disconnected when the screen shuts off as it does by default with the Vibrant? If what you say is true, then setting the timeout from the 15 minutes timeout, as I have it now, to full time connection (never timeouts), will actually save on battery? To me, that flies in the face of reason, but then again, stranger things I've come across.
Just hoping for a reply to the above, and perhaps someone can explain why having wifi never time-out even when the screen is off can lead to better battery life?
think about it. having to connect and reconnect everytime you turn on your screen is bound to eat up. if your screen is off its not sucking in massive amounts of data so the battery drain is at a min
Lockeskidney said:
think about it. having to connect and reconnect everytime you turn on your screen is bound to eat up. if your screen is off its not sucking in massive amounts of data so the battery drain is at a min
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it's certainly not intuitive, and I am thinking about it, hence the post. In order to maintain an active wifi connection, there has to be continual pinging back and forth even with no active data connections from the device. Now, we all know that there *is* a lot of data being exchanged when the screen is off - whether it be syncing accounts, retrieving news items, emails, etc. This would all be taking place over a wifi connection by default. It is also my understanding that using your wifi radio consumes more power than your UMTS radio does. However, I'm not entirely sure of that last point.
Isn't it far more intuitive to believe (whether factual or not) that having the wifi radio powered on unnecessarily while in your pocket would consume more power than having it turn off? Even the seasoned users over in the Vibrant forums all recommend setting the wifi to turn off when the screen shuts off, which is a setting not available on the MT4G.
I'd like to believe that how HTC sets the default wifi behavior conserves power, but it sort of flies in the face of reason. I'm also of the belief that the device is set by default the way it is so that callers who use Wifi Calling can always be reached while at home on their wifi network. But, having such a wifi connection setting is actually eating up your battery life if you don't need wifi calling.
Wifi used less power that edge/g3/4g. Having it constantly on wifi with improve your battery life just because when wifi is enabled it shuts off cellular data.
option94 said:
Wifi used less power that edge/g3/4g. Having it constantly on wifi with improve your battery life just because when wifi is enabled it shuts off cellular data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, OK, well there you have it. Someone ought to tell those folks over the in the Vibrant forums then. Thanks...
floepie said:
Ah, OK, well there you have it. Someone ought to tell those folks over the in the Vibrant forums then. Thanks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have. I have a vibrant. Ordered the mytouch last night.
Also, can't have WiFi sleeping... otherwise WiFi calling won't work...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
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
Will the phone have a longer battery life if the cell modem is set to 3g vs lte?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Bump
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
Yes, in my experience with the S4 it's a pretty big difference UNLESS you get a very strong LTE signal. I'm on tmobile and now have the N5 and use the 3G setting which is HSPA/+ Plenty fast for me for what I do. When I want some extra speed I'll kick on the LTE
Does anyone have a more detailed answer for this? I just got this phone yesterday so I haven't been able to find out myself yet, just with 5hour battery life from 100% to 4% on what will only be half of its normal day I'm looking for anything to help right now till I get a battery case. This phone is one of only two to have a LTE radio that is supposed to use 30% less power than usual so I'm wondering if that makes it as efficient if not more than 3G for idle in your pocket to light stuff like FlipBoard.
it would depend on the quality of the data connection. im in brooklyn nyc, and use lte on my nexus 5 exclusively, used to use it on my nexus 4 as well. with 3g(hspa+), on both my n5 and n4, i average about 4-4.5 hours screen on time. when using lte, i average about 5-6 hours screen on time on both my nexus 5 and 4. after noticing this difference, i use exclusively lte on both my devices, as i average an hour more screen on time when using exclusively lte.
herqulees said:
Does anyone have a more detailed answer for this? I just got this phone yesterday so I haven't been able to find out myself yet, just with 5hour battery life from 100% to 4% on what will only be half of its normal day I'm looking for anything to help right now till I get a battery case. This phone is one of only two to have a LTE radio that is supposed to use 30% less power than usual so I'm wondering if that makes it as efficient if not more than 3G for idle in your pocket to light stuff like FlipBoard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Serious battery drain can have many reasons. One is having LTE on, syncing on(if you just booted it up, and input your Google account and let all your apps sync and download, its gonna drain your battery fast the first time), having locations on and wifi enabled. If you are in an area with poor reception, your phone will drain more trying to find connection.
Sent from a potato
simms22 said:
it would depend on the quality of the data connection. im in brooklyn nyc, and use lte on my nexus 5 exclusively, used to use it on my nexus 4 as well. with 3g(hspa+), on both my n5 and n4, i average about 4-4.5 hours screen on time. when using lte, i average about 5-6 hours screen on time on both my nexus 5 and 4. after noticing this difference, i use exclusively lte on both my devices, as i average an hour more screen on time when using exclusively lte.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the information. That's what I was wondering but I couldn't find anyone that had already tested this with these new radios. If I get the time this weekend maybe I'll do my own test in detail to compare LTE to 3G. Am thinking of using a TV episode on Netflix and see which makes the battery drop faster over the 30 or so minutes.
Slightly off topic, does anyone's WiFi show as always on in the battery monitor even if its been off? Still trying to figure out my battery drain issue, if it even is an issue with just me, I bought this phone knowing it had a small battery.
herqulees said:
Thanks for the information. That's what I was wondering but I couldn't find anyone that had already tested this with these new radios. If I get the time this weekend maybe I'll do my own test in detail to compare LTE to 3G. Am thinking of using a TV episode on Netflix and see which makes the battery drop faster over the 30 or so minutes.
Slightly off topic, does anyone's WiFi show as always on in the battery monitor even if its been off? Still trying to figure out my battery drain issue, if it even is an issue with just me, I bought this phone knowing it had a small battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go to the main phone settings, wifi, 3 dots on the bottom right, advanced, then disable scanning always available..
ill be interested in seeing your results
simms22 said:
go to the main phone settings, wifi, 3 dots on the bottom right, advanced, then disable scanning always available..
ill be interested in seeing your results
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems that's a whole other debate on weather leaving that on or turning it off helps battery life. Apparently if you turn it off then apps that want your location will turn the GPS on and waste battery (looking at you Facebook...), but if you leave it on the phone just tells the app your location from WiFi networks around you.
One thing I didn't think about is I had added my work WiFi yesterday but it wouldn't connect to it, wouldn't tell me why but I'm assuming it's because of bad signal as I'm a valet outside and the WiFi is from a bar across the street so I forgot about it but WiFi was left on with that network saved, my Nexus 7 can connect to it on most days and any laptop has no issues but with this being a phone I guess it doesn't have a big enough antenna. So I'm wondering if now that I deleted that WiFi network, and I always have my phone set to not notify me of public networks, if my battery won't die so fast today.
And now I'm just rambling but I just looked at my screenshot I took yesterday of battery use before plugging in at 4% and WiFi isn't even being shown on top six things that used the battery, lowest one being shown is a Chrome process using 3%.
EDIT: Well off to work now with my phone 100% charged, will have screen 100% (am outside in the sun), BT off, WiFi on (disconnected, no saved networks nearby, open network notifications off, always on during sleep, scanning always available, avoid poor connections, and WiFi optimization), LTE on/connected, NFC off. So lets see how things go. It will have tons of screen on time as all I do at work is read through FlipBoard, then if I run out of things on there I move to FB. Lets see how this goes...
http://www.qualcomm.com/media/docum...envelope-tracking-technology-3g4g-lte-devices
Nexus 5 has it and its doing its job saving battery
Sorry for digging up such an old thread, but with LTE my Nexus 6P, it switches between HSPA and 3G. When turned to 3G, nothing changes. Would that mean I would save battery?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
I just switched to the tmo $30 plan and setup Tasker to determine when I'm home. I do this by triggering when my phone's Bluetooth connects to the home phone. This turns on my WiFi so that any data is not against my 5gb. I typically leave my BT on all day. So when I'm in the car or come home o don't think about it. I was wondering if BT on all day consumes more battery then maybe triggering my location? Any thoughts.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
The Bluetooth is low energy so it just being on is not going to use much battery. But I am not between the 2 which would be better.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Why not have tasker determine your location by what radio cell you are connected to? Unless you are on airplane mode, then you will always have this on anyway, so absolutely no danger of any additional battery drain
I used to use llama to turn on/off wifi based on what cell tower(s) I was near. Then I tried to just leave wifi on all the time and disabled llama and noticed no battery difference really.
I used to do the same thing for GPS back in the day with older versions of Android but now I just leave those on all the time.
I don't use triangulation because when near my house I might not always be on the same tower. For me BT works well. Just wondered if anyone new the battery drain difference. My profile turns off the WiFi when away from home.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
dbldown768 said:
I just switched to the tmo $30 plan and setup Tasker to determine when I'm home. I do this by triggering when my phone's Bluetooth connects to the home phone. This turns on my WiFi so that any data is not against my 5gb. I typically leave my BT on all day. So when I'm in the car or come home o don't think about it. I was wondering if BT on all day consumes more battery then maybe triggering my location? Any thoughts.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on what else you've got running. If you're running other location-based services, then there probably isn't a huge difference. If you've cut other location services, then your phone will expend more energy looking for your location. This also depends on where you are during the day. If you are in large buildings, etc., where GPS signal doesn't come in, then there will be a cost.
BT is not a big drain, so that trigger is probably fine, battery-wise.
Things tend to get more complicated when you have multiple sites to link WiFi (i.e. home WiFi, work WiFi, etc.), where location-based triggers might be of more benefit.
Hi all
Im trying to find a way to make my nexus 5 automatically disable my 3g connection when i connect to my home WiFi, as i have horrendous 3g signal in my home and i think its affecting battery life.
Any ideas?
Thanks
You can always shut it off manually. I personally use Llama, to automate it everything
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
You can turn it off manually. I believe it stops you from sending pictures and receiving pictures through text though.
As for battery life, I don't think it would change anything since it's using WiFi for data as a Primary.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
if you are in WiFi, battery drain shouldnt be a problem.. all data will be routed via wifi and only voice and SMS/MMS would come via cell tower...
i suggest wakelock detector to see whats using the most battery
As suggested... If WiFi is on, a week signal won't drain your battery. WiFi off, then of course it will.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
This actually happens automatically. However doing it yourself does seem to be a quick fix for some WiFi related issues. Tasker or Llama if you think it will help.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
As mentioned: mobile DATA is turned off when wifi is connected.
You don't want to turn off the mobile radio entirely, as then you cannot receive phone calls or texts.
If you're in a low signal area, you'll have a small hit to battery life from this, but it's not anywhere near as bad as not using wifi.
but changing the radio to Edge or 3G when on WiFi should be better for battery life right?
I use the smart radio setting in cataclysm and I think it actually helps a little (indoors I get 2 bars of LTE on average vs 4 on 3G).
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
raul90 said:
but changing the radio to Edge or 3G when on WiFi should be better for battery life right?
I use the smart radio setting in cataclysm and I think it actually helps a little (indoors I get 2 bars of LTE on average vs 4 on 3G).
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, as it's not using the data services. It's only maintaining base voice capability.
raul90 said:
but changing the radio to Edge or 3G when on WiFi should be better for battery life right?
I use the smart radio setting in cataclysm and I think it actually helps a little (indoors I get 2 bars of LTE on average vs 4 on 3G).
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what others are talking about but from personal experience changing from 3g to 2g whilst on wifi did help battery life. People in this thread appear to forget the fact that even without data enabled, poor 3g/LTE signal will still drain more battery compared with having a strong 2G/3G signal as your phone's radio requires more power to maintain connection for base functionality (calls, texts).
daniel.kusy said:
I'm not sure what others are talking about but from personal experience changing from 3g to 2g whilst on wifi did help battery life. People in this thread appear to forget the fact that even without data enabled, poor 3g/LTE signal will still drain more battery compared with having a strong 2G/3G signal as your phone's radio requires more power to maintain connection for base functionality (calls, texts).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the phone is on WiFi, battery life is not affected much by whatever you switch your connection to. On data, then sure...signal issues are a big factor.
Switching from this to that to this while WiFi is on is really a lot of trouble for maybe a slight difference in battery life. ?
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
kj2112 said:
If the phone is on WiFi, battery life is not affected much by whatever you switch your connection to. On data, then sure...signal issues are a big factor.
Switching from this to that to this while WiFi is on is really a lot of trouble for maybe a slight difference in battery life. ?
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree with you on the fact that with data enabled on a poor 3G connection, your battery's gonna drain pretty quickly. After doing more research I found that changing from 3G to 2G can reduce power usage of the radio quite considerably (apparently up to 50% when in voice/sms mode only). Now as great as that all sounds, that's only around 50% power usage of the radio and I have no idea how much battery the radio actually uses during idle.. Looking at google's specifications it seems like the radio uses a pretty insignificant amount of battery when in idle (300 hours or so) so a 50% saving in idle radio probably wouldn't make nearly as much difference as say a more contributing factor to battery drain like screen on time or cpu usage. So yeah, I guess I gotta agree with kj2112 here, It's pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things if you're actually using your phone with wifi connected.
Interesting source if anyone was curious and wanted to learn more about radio affecting battery life: http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=362
daniel.kusy said:
I completely agree with you on the fact that with data enabled on a poor 3G connection, your battery's gonna drain pretty quickly. After doing more research I found that changing from 3G to 2G can reduce power usage of the radio quite considerably (apparently up to 50% when in voice/sms mode only). Now as great as that all sounds, that's only around 50% power usage of the radio and I have no idea how much battery the radio actually uses during idle.. Looking at google's specifications it seems like the radio uses a pretty insignificant amount of battery when in idle (300 hours or so) so a 50% saving in idle radio probably wouldn't make nearly as much difference as say a more contributing factor to battery drain like screen on time or cpu usage. So yeah, I guess I gotta agree with kj2112 here, It's pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things if you're actually using your phone with wifi connected.
Interesting source if anyone was curious and wanted to learn more about radio affecting battery life: http://www.speedguide.net/faq_in_q.php?qid=362
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it did make a big difference on WiFi....I'd have terrible battery life at home. There is no 2g on my carrier and my signal at home is horrible. But, I get over 24 hours and 6 plus screen hours always, whether at home (on WiFi always...and usually one bar of radio inside) or at work on LTE.
So for me, the weak signal does next to nothing to my battery.....while on WiFi. WiFi off, I get half those times at home.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
kj2112 said:
If it did make a big difference on WiFi....I'd have terrible battery life at home. There is no 2g on my carrier and my signal at home is horrible. But, I get over 24 hours and 6 plus screen hours always, whether at home (on WiFi always...and usually one bar of radio inside) or at work on LTE.
So for me, the weak signal does next to nothing to my battery.....while on WiFi. WiFi off, I get half those times at home.
Sent from my N5, N7, Moto X, G Tab 3 or S2.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not doubting you there, I pretty much summarised why in my previous post. When the radio is idling (connected to wifi) it's using a very small amount of power. Hence why it doesn't make much of a difference reducing an already very small power draw.