Does turning on/off your data hurt your battery? - Epic 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So I'm using JuiceDefender and I was wondering if turning on/off the data when you turn on/off your screen is more battery draining than just letting the data sit idle?

I use juice defender too. I leave 3g off when possible, and i use wifi as much as possible cause it saves battery. The only time my 3g is on, is when im in a car, and need the internet real quick. In my opinion, its much better to turn it off manually with the widget than screen off/on.
Sent from my never been rooted, stock Froyo Epic.

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Wifi drains too much battery?

I've bought Desire 4 days ago.
I've been running in some battery problems a lot. I've heard that battery should have 4-5 full draining and charging before having its max capacity, but I have a life span of about 16-20 hours of battery with Wi-Fi on.
How i found out that: Yesterday I went to the country and messed around with my gps and navigation (never used one, so felt like a little child with a brand new shiny toy). So the battery went dead and i charged it almost full. When i got home i turned the wifi on. Didn't manage to connect to my home network, due to Android still not supporting Ad-Hoc networks (sharing through my notebook) so i didn't bother more and used my data plan, but forgot to turn off the wifi.
In about 2 hours, the battery was nearly 60% from 90. When i went to see what's draining the battery I saw it was the Wifi. I turned it off and since last night, up to now (about 14 hours) the battery is 50% (only 10 percent for 14 hours).
Is there any way to make the phone not scan so agressively for Wifi when it's on ? I'm comming from iphone and it didn't matter too much if i had my wifi on or off there.
First of all, what you're experiencing is normal.
In fact, dropping only 30% with 2 straight hrs of heavy use is actually quite impressive.
If you don't want your device to scan for wifi, turn it off. Simple as that. Keep the WiFi setting widget on one of your homescreens for easy access.
It wasn't heavy use I killed all apps and left it there. 30% are just from WiFi scanning.
I know I must turn off wifi, i have the widgy button, but sometimes i just forget i have to shut it down. (Though that's a bit killing, since i didn't have to do this on my iPhone. Actually this is the only shortcoming i can think of now, great phone. Seems i have to get used to killing extra stuff )
Sadly i couldn't find an option to tell it to scan on rarer occasion, just to help absent-minded people like me.
Try downloading "Y5 - Battery Saver" from the Market.
It automatically switches WiFi on and off depending on your location (as determined by cell location, not GPS).
It allows you to leave WiFi in locations where you know you have WiFi, and automatically switches it off when you leave those locations.
I've installed it, but not exhaustively tested as yet as I've not really been out of WiFi coverage since I installed it.
Regards,
Dave
Try getting the WiFi On/Off widget from the market.
It lets you turn off the WiFi with one touch. Will save you a lot of battery when not using it.
@Gana1991 - i've already noted that i have the widget (no need to download from market)
@foxmeister - thanks, i will try that. (I have been secretly thinking about some app with this function )
indeed, there is a WIFI widget builtin.
If you really want another widget, check the WiFi Toggle by "JQ Soft", nice design.
The Y5-Battery Saver is nice....it seems to work properly.
But i am affraid it was causing some problems here, so i uninstalled.
I will reinstall and do some more tests.
WI-FI usage is actually much better than using the network which drains the battery more.
But deffo only have on when using, not all the time.
Or you'd use the standard HTC energy widged or the android wifi switch wich can be found @ widged -> settings -> wifi
Put the HTC battery widget on the screen, not only does it show what % you have left but selecting the widget pops up a small menu where you can adjust display, turn on /off WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth, vey handy indeed
I leave my WiFi on all the time at home because of the data constantly changing between G/3G it drains the battery amazingly fast. leaving WiFi on helps me save battery and keep a data connection. I took my phone off charge at 9 this morning, WiFi has been enabled all day and I have 80% battery.
once the battery has had a week or 2 of charging it will run loads better. also charging with the phone switched off gets you a bit more juice because of a firmware problem.
Software Guru said:
Put the HTC battery widget on the screen, not only does it show what % you have left but selecting the widget pops up a small menu where you can adjust display, turn on /off WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth, vey handy indeed
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Where is this battery widget? I cant find it anywhere.
Oops, didnt know i had to look for it on the market. Found it.
Go settings, wifi, menu button and this brings up advanced settings. From there you can disable wifi after 15 mins of inactivity. When the phone wakes wifi kicks in. I have data turned off, wifi turned off, but if I forget to turn wifi off after using it, it's not too bad as it will be deactivated.
What's that widget called? All I can find is the power widget.
Ok found it
Only seems to be a meter though, no adjustments?
Go settings, wifi, then WiFi settings, then press the menu button,. From their you can select advanced WiFi settings.
When i got home i turned the wifi on. Didn't manage to connect to my home network, due to Android still not supporting Ad-Hoc networks (sharing through my notebook) so i didn't bother more and used my data plan, but forgot to turn off the wifi.
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If you were using your data plan then your wifi wouldn't be on as the phone turns it off when your connected via 3G, it only uses one or the other not both at the same time.
That's the way it is on my Desire.
I've not used WiFi at all today yet apparently its consumed 25% of my battery. I've got it switched off via widget and its also set to disable after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Any thoughts?
thanks for any help
It's just occurred to me that perhaps the percentages run and run and are not reset after a charge?
Anyone know how it works?

[Q] 3 Questions for Android Battery Life

Was wondering for android devices if having wifi on is best for the power.. as phones use power trying to find better signals. I have a wifi, and a good signal at my house, what should i use?
And also for battery life, when i hold the off button, there is an option to turn Data network on/off, if i turn it off, do i save power? Thanks!
Also.. is it bad for my phone if i swap between 2 batteries that have different levels of power on the at the time? like 40% and 90%? Thanks!
If you're at home with WiFi then turn it on and kill mobile data. WiFi can save more juice even if you don't necessarily have poor reception at your house. Your voice is still active. It's not like airplane which kills all the radios. But you can do that as well and still connect to WiFi.
As for the battery switching, I don't see why that would be an issue.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
When out of range of Wifi, turn Wifi off, When in range turn it on for best battery life
There's an app called WiFi Status that I use. When you go out of a wifi range, it notifies you to remind you to turn off wifi. Saves a lot of battery, as wifi isn't constantly scanning.
I think it's justified to make it stay on for smartphones. And my Atrix's battery life sucks. Irony is - it seems to be the best smartphone battery (for an Android device, yet).
And honestly, smartphones' battery benchmark tests should only be done with Wi-Fi turned on..
I use an app called Y5 https://market.android.com/details?id=pl.polidea.y5&feature=search_result. The app can record your wifi zone, and will disable wifi when out of range, and re-enable when in range. It saves me time and energy when I get home from work.
use wifi at home.
Yes turn on wifi only when needed.

To turn off, or not to turn off

I am using android 2.3.7 (inc deck gingerbread).
Ok, I just read that the GPS check box (in the setting menu, or quick settings or whatever) does not actually turn the GPS antenna on and off, it only gives permission to the apps (gps-using-apps) whether they can turn the antenna on and off. Therefore, changing the GPS checkbox does not really save any battery. Simply by turning off gps-using-apps the antenna gets shut down, and then the icon disappears. The checkbox is simply there in case I don't want the app to have the ability to turn it on, as needed.
I just was hoping to get confirmation that this is true, yes?
Ok so that leads me to wonder about the Wifi and and Mobile Data check boxes (or toggles, whatever). When my phone is connected to Wifi and the 3G icon disappears, does that mean my phone just automatically turned off the 3G antenna?
I just upgraded to the Pro version of that fabulous little app Automateit... and just wonder if it is pointless to set up a rule to turn off 3G when it is connected to Wifi.
Yep. I would keep GPS ticked on because it does not actually go on unless you have an app (like navigation) open.
- Other programs may use GPS for a few seconds just to read your location, then they turn it off (such as weather programs) - this type of GPS usage really doesn't affect battery.
When you turn WiFi on it does turns off mobile data (3G) and you only have 1x.
GPS is only used when asked by an app or maybe the browser. Wifi on the other hand is always scanning. I recommend turning it off if you don't need it.
Sent from my HTC Droid Incredible
Thanks guys.
I have my wifi scan interval set to scan every 5 minutes. Hopefully that won't waste too much juice. he he
And if that wasn't stingy enough... with Automateit, my GPS, wifi and 3g get deactivated when the screen is off (all activate when screen is on). My battery life is pretty good, even overclocked . When I plugged in, going to bed the other night, I had 85% of my battery remaining (14 hours unplugged).
I should probably stop worrying about battery life.
iowabeakster said:
Thanks guys.
I have my wifi scan interval set to scan every 5 minutes. Hopefully that won't waste too much juice. he he
And if that wasn't stingy enough... with Automateit, my GPS, wifi and 3g get deactivated when the screen is off (all activate when screen is on). My battery life is pretty good, even overclocked . When I plugged in, going to bed the other night, I had 85% of my battery remaining (14 hours unplugged).
I should probably stop worrying about battery life.
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Yeah you really shouldn't have to be worrying about battery life, it's something that use to drive me insane so I just bought a 2150mah battery and haven't looked back since.

[Q] Juice Defender messing with Data connection

So i installed Juice Defender and immediately noticed a sizable boost in Battery life... BUT... my Data connection was more flaky then it was at stock
So one day when it is critcal mass I uninstall it real quick so I can have the data connection I needed so badly at that moment. Well... after that the battery performance has been MUCH worse than it ever was before.
Anybody deal with this yet? Anybody know how to set the program not to mess with the data... or how to....????
My rooted GNEX config is in the sig.
I found that is messed up my data connection too but that's the most part if how it works to save your battery by switching to 2g when screen off and 3g while screen on. At least that's how its meant to be. I uninstalled it as 3g would rarely come back on.
Look into other settings to save your battery like screen brightness, auto snyc, GPS, wifi (if your not in a place with it), lock sounds, key press sounds, vibrate on touch, vibrate on key press in keyboard. There's loads of things lime that which really help.
Maybe also look into certain apps being high memory usage in settings menu and look into how many apps you got installed.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
This may not be of much help, but I used it for a long time with my tbolt and never had an issue, but no matter what I did with the bionic it would almost never regain data with screen on. So I think it *might* have something to do with the actual hardware. Don't quote me, just my two cents. However, after uninstalling on the bionic I didn't have anymore issues with data than I had before installing.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that juice defender saves battery by killing the data connection. It doesn't save battery any other way.
Same deal here. I just set the app to not mess with Mobile Data by clicking the customize button under profile and going into the new Settings tab that shows up then disabling the Mobile Data option. Still testing...
2x battery
I had trouble with juice defender also so I changed to using 2x battery and I have had much better results.
Toggle the 4G by swiping down and unselecting 4G, wait 10 seconds, then toggle 4G back on. It will come back, everytime for me.
ever since Gingerbread came out, JuiceDefender is not recommended for android OS
Pretty much the only major thing Juice Defender can do to "help" battery drain is turn off your network (or toggle it to 2G only on GSM phones, 3G only on LTE phones) when the screen is off.
It generally wastes more battery frequently toggling it on/off when the screen changes state than it saves by doing so. Not to mention that you can't get background alerts etc. when Juice Defender is toggling your data around.
The only time it ever really saves you anything is if you're not turning your screen on for long periods of time, in that case you could simply manually toggle off your data if you know that will be the case. Juice Defender runs as a process in the bakcground constantly, which effects your battery negatively also.
martonikaj said:
Pretty much the only major thing Juice Defender can do to "help" battery drain is turn off your network (or toggle it to 2G only on GSM phones, 3G only on LTE phones) when the screen is off.
It generally wastes more battery frequently toggling it on/off when the screen changes state than it saves by doing so. Not to mention that you can't get background alerts etc. when Juice Defender is toggling your data around.
The only time it ever really saves you anything is if you're not turning your screen on for long periods of time, in that case you could simply manually toggle off your data if you know that will be the case. Juice Defender runs as a process in the background constantly, which effects your battery negatively also.
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pretty much what he said. I used JD Ultimate for a month before I gave up on it. I don't notice any decrease in battery life since I did so. Betterbatterystats showed an awfully high number of wakelocks when JD was active. The wifi "Location" feature was nice though.
Like previous posters have said, the problem with JD is that when it toggles you data, it will force your phone into an awake state which drains a bit of battery. I'd like to add that, from personal experience, if you usually have JD toggle your data on more frequently than at 20-30 minute intervals, you might as well turn off JD. The battery saved from turning your data off and the battery wasted putting your phone on an awake state isn't worth it. On the other hand, if you toggle your data less frequently than every 30 minutes, the benefit exceeds the cost and JD actually helps you save battery.
Since I need my data more often than that I have turned off the data connection management. I still leave JD on for the location-based Wi-Fi management though. That's actually useful and saves me having to worry about turning on my Wi-Fi when I get home/to college.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
I'm never a fan of any so-called battery saving app.
All they do is turn off your data or turn down the brightness.
MilkPudding said:
I'm never a fan of any so-called battery saving app.
All they do is turn off your data or turn down the brightness.
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+1
I'm a fan of Back button long-press kills app. Then i just check for bg processes of said app and kill them as well.
If i have apps that need background sync, i always make sure either to leave wifi or data on (i know it won't need much, a few KBs maybe) so that apps will have connectivity when they need it, or, if available, sign out of the app (examples: gtalk, latitude). It will cost me more battery if the app keeps trying to find network connectivity and not having it, than the drain of wifi on or data call active.
martonikaj said:
Pretty much the only major thing Juice Defender can do to "help" battery drain is turn off your network (or toggle it to 2G only on GSM phones, 3G only on LTE phones) when the screen is off.
It generally wastes more battery frequently toggling it on/off when the screen changes state than it saves by doing so. Not to mention that you can't get background alerts etc. when Juice Defender is toggling your data around.
The only time it ever really saves you anything is if you're not turning your screen on for long periods of time, in that case you could simply manually toggle off your data if you know that will be the case. Juice Defender runs as a process in the bakcground constantly, which effects your battery negatively also.
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That explains why I have missed Kik and FB alerts all week! Cheers
#uninstalled
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Chrono_Tata said:
Like previous posters have said, the problem with JD is that when it toggles you data, it will force your phone into an awake state which drains a bit of battery. I'd like to add that, from personal experience, if you usually have JD toggle your data on more frequently than at 20-30 minute intervals, you might as well turn off JD. The battery saved from turning your data off and the battery wasted putting your phone on an awake state isn't worth it. On the other hand, if you toggle your data less frequently than every 30 minutes, the benefit exceeds the cost and JD actually helps you save battery.
Since I need my data more often than that I have turned off the data connection management. I still leave JD on for the location-based Wi-Fi management though. That's actually useful and saves me having to worry about turning on my Wi-Fi when I get home/to college.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
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I disagree. When I used it on my tbolt went from a drain of 40-60 mAh to 20-25 mAh using battery monitor widget polling at 60 sec intervals. And I never missed anything. But I used jd ultimate that allowed data when apps requested it. I also typically got 6 extra hours of use, which meant I could make it though an entire work shift vs. having to recharge after lunch. The only reason I'm not currently using it is because of issue with the bionic data not restarting. That's the reason I think it's an issue with hardware compatibility. Because even if I let the stock Android manage the data connection I still have issues with data restarting on the bionic.
Juice defender did really extend my battery but I found the only part I really used was the WiFi location feature. I started using WiFi unlock at home and got [email protected] to turn off WiFi when I'm away from home then turn it back on when I get home. Yes, I'm that lazy/forgetful.
JuiceDefender was great on Gingerbread and Froyo, but I've noticed that it just seemed to hurt more than help on Honeycomb and ICS. My battery life on my GNex, in my use case, went up when I uninstalled it, as did the data drops I'd been having.
I suspect that as stock power consumption continues to drop with new OSes, JuiceDefender is going to be viewed as a relic of a bygone era.
I will have to say that it has helped my battery but in my work environment I lose signal while my phone is in my pocket plus I can't check my phone for two hrs or more. So I would say in my case it has helped since I would forget to turn data off. I also changed my settings to toggle data every 30 min instead of the default of 15.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
1454 said:
I disagree. When I used it on my tbolt went from a drain of 40-60 mAh to 20-25 mAh using battery monitor widget polling at 60 sec intervals. And I never missed anything. But I used jd ultimate that allowed data when apps requested it. I also typically got 6 extra hours of use, which meant I could make it though an entire work shift vs. having to recharge after lunch. The only reason I'm not currently using it is because of issue with the bionic data not restarting. That's the reason I think it's an issue with hardware compatibility. Because even if I let the stock Android manage the data connection I still have issues with data restarting on the bionic.
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I was talking about JD's performance on ICS; on the Galaxy Nexus specifically. JD was great on my old Gingerbread and Froyo phones but with ICS it seems to be obsolete (under the conditions I described in my previous post at least). I don't know if it's just how ICS works or if it's because JD hasn't been optimised properly for ICS but that's how it is right now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
I bought JD Ultimate, and eventually had to uninstall it after I found it was causing too many glitches in ICS. I wasted 4.99, but live and learn I guess.

[Q] Turning off data when screen turns off for battery?

Hey guys, I was just wondering if my battery life would improve if I were to find a way to have my mobile data connection to turn off when my screen is off to save battery. And then have the connection turn back on when I turn on the screen/ My battery is TERRIBLE. I have a rooted m8 for tmobile running LiquidSmooth 4.4.4. I did not touch any CPU governors or anything like that. I always keep my screen brightness to minimum, or at least under 50% the whole day. A full charge might last me 12-15 hours with moderate use. I was wondering if there was any app out there that can turn off internet data and turn it back on depending if the screen is on or not. I have tried Tasker, but it's very hard to understand how to use lol. I got it to work (I think) but whenever I would turn my screen off, it would turn right back on! so maybe i'm not using it right. Any help?

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