Develop Bugs

[Q] battery drain on gsm signal

hi all
recently i have just calibrate my battery.. and it works just fine
but now i found that it drains alot quicker using 3g signal compared to wifi...
the drain rate can take 10% /hour on 3g and only 4% / hour for wifi
why is that ?
is there something wrong on my gsm ?
btw am using leedroid froyo 2.0c and using latest radio 32.47.xxx
pls some one can tell me.. what to do ??any clues on this ?

3G has more power drain than wifi so it's normal.
Sent from my HTC Desire

elmalote said:
3G has more power drain than wifi so it's normal.
Sent from my HTC Desire
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oiya ? is it ?
coz on my iphone it was different... wifi was worse..
anyway.. is there anyway to slower battery drain ?

interqd said:
oiya ? is it ?
coz on my iphone it was different... wifi was worse..
anyway.. is there anyway to slower battery drain ?
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Click to collapse
My 3G has always had higher power drain than WiFi. There isn't really anything you can do about it other than to turn it off. Alternatively you can disable "Always on Data" under Wireless & Networks => Mobile Networks

interqd said:
oiya ? is it ?
coz on my iphone it was different... wifi was worse..
anyway.. is there anyway to slower battery drain ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disable automatic sync. My data networks are switched off since last week. Now my battery lasts 2-3 days. I only use wifi at home.
You can also use juicedefender to control battery use and sync intervals.

interqd said:
hi all
recently i have just calibrate my battery.. and it works just fine
but now i found that it drains alot quicker using 3g signal compared to wifi...
the drain rate can take 10% /hour on 3g and only 4% / hour for wifi
why is that ?
is there something wrong on my gsm ?
btw am using leedroid froyo 2.0c and using latest radio 32.47.xxx
pls some one can tell me.. what to do ??any clues on this ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This can also be caused by low/patchy 3G coverage in areas you are in.
If the 3G signal is weak then the handset will use a lot of power to try and keep the signal, as it prefers it over 2G.
If you don't mind the slower data speeds, switch to 2G/GSM Only as this does not use as much power (due to 3G cell breathing - Google it )

r2b2 said:
If the 3G signal is weak then the handset will use a lot of power to try and keep the signal, as it prefers it over 2G.
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One way to alleviate *some* of that is to set the phone to "GSM Auto (PRL)".
Go to dialer and dial "*#*#INFO#*#*". That should take you to the settings screen.

r2b2 said:
This can also be caused by low/patchy 3G coverage in areas you are in.
If the 3G signal is weak then the handset will use a lot of power to try and keep the signal, as it prefers it over 2G.
If you don't mind the slower data speeds, switch to 2G/GSM Only as this does not use as much power (due to 3G cell breathing - Google it )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely true. Your cell will consume much more power when you are outside of coverage area. The antena will keep searching the network according to your preference. So if you have 3G active all the time the phones internal antenna will keep looking for it and will drain your battery quicker.

okey..
thx all 4 d answers...
goo that to know there's nothing wrong with my signal or battery..
i think my problem is bad signal coverage.. as i always be in the shop which is so inside ....
but cant make it to edge/gsm as 2g speed is awful here in indonesia...
i think i'll just use juicedefender
thx..

[Q]Which is better for battery? 2g/3g auto or only 2g?

As you may know desire has a built in feature that monitors when you do need 3g connection and when not, so when you do not need it it automaticly switches to 2g. I have also read somewhere that this feature consumes less battery then being always on 2g. Is that true? I still heard a lot of people that are most of the time on 2g while they do not browse the internet, reporting decent battery lives.
So, as the title says, which is better?

2g uses less battery than 3g. Use 2g when not using data for the best battery life.
Whoever said that 2g and sometimes 3g uses less battery that 2g only needs to go back to school, its mathematically impossible if 3g uses more battery.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

lvnatic said:
As you may know desire has a built in feature that monitors when you do need 3g connection and when not, so when you do not need it it automaticly switches to 2g.
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are you completely sure about that? my phone seems to be always in 3G as long as it is available and switchs to 2G if it cant get a 3g connection.
anyway, 2G is the best option battery wise.

there is a video from google i/o 2k9 talking about this. I think it's this one : http://developer.android.com/videos/index.html#v=OUemfrKe65c

I have used both modes for some weeks, but i didn't see any difference.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=688492
How about this? Does it apply to desire as well? I am curently using gsm only when im not browsing the net.

2g only will use the least battery.
Auto is great but the issue is that it will preferentially seek 3g. To seek 3g more power is required. (Now this is a negligible amount on its own). However if comparing the battery use in only a 2g area the 2g phone will last longer.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

if you have signal i recommend to use 3g. the cells needs more power to have/transmitt fast data connections like hdspa and in that case the cellphone need less battery to connect to it. in Romania the network it's kinda new hardware, because we use cellphones later than anyone else and the tech was envolved when we first install the network, but remember if your cellphone go from 2g to 3g often, this will consume a lot of power.

Robert A said:
if you have signal i recommend to use 3g. the cells needs more power to have/transmitt fast data connections like hdspa and in that case the cellphone need less battery to connect to it. in Romania the network it's kinda new hardware, because we use cellphones later than anyone else and the tech was envolved when we first install the network, but remember if your cellphone go from 2g to 3g often, this will consume a lot of power.
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Click to collapse
So you recommend wcdma only? Even when I don't use the internet? Its true that I have signal most of the time, but I am on "gsm only" all the time, switching to wcdma only when I browse the net.

I would recommend GSM auto (PRL) from the testing menu ( *#*#4636#*#* ) then in phone information. Your phone will still use 3G but only when the signal is strong. Otherwise it will prefer 2G.
WCDMA preferred will try to force 3G even when the signal is weak. Consuming more battery.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

2G only uses the least power.
3G only uses moar power.
Constant switching uses the most, it peaks at 600mA battery drain in the process.
3G only will only give you signal outages, therefore I would not recommend it. It is not widespread as GSM signal is.

Oh I finally know how to acces PRL options, thanks. But regarding this, I found this thread on the nexus one section, which says wcdma prl is better. Any of you know how accurate that is?
Edit:
sheek360 said:
He mentioned that gsm auto prl will save the user a bit more power because it wont force the phone to continuasly hunt for a stronger signal. Typically this option gives our n1's a weaker signal and slower data speed. But he said it depends on our network in our city.
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Nvm, it wasn't battery related anyway. And I found what I needed. Thanks a lot.

Im back to gsm only, gsm auto prl didn't seem to be better in terms of battery saving.

GSM Nexus : Battery usage on 2G/EDGE vs 3/4G.

1:00 PM - Take phone out of charger.. Battery is at 100%
1:05 - 1:10 - Use Navigation for 5 minutes
1:10 - 2:05 - Use nothing.. but phone is on.
2:05 - Check battery.. it's at 98%
The whole time above, I had set it to use 2G only. Does using 2G only significantly save battery life? If so then I'll just use that.. as for my case, Talkatone is working fine with EDGE.

2g uses less battery, the download speed is slower, much slower then 3g/hspa.
Swyped on my CM9 Galaxy Nexus

Herman76 said:
2g uses less battery, the download speed is slower, much slower then 3g/hspa.
Swyped on my CM9 Galaxy Nexus
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Click to collapse
I can see the effects of 2g speeds while using web or facebook.. but with streaming or GPS, I see no difference.
Maybe I should manually set it to 2G when I come to work.. since I'm mostly streaming music while here. Switch back to 4G when I get out.

If you can live with 2G, it uses much less battery than 3G

I always have mine on 2g. I flick to 3g via a toggle before browsing anything. Can't remember the last time I had to charge before the day was out
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

krazykeyur said:
1:00 PM - Take phone out of charger.. Battery is at 100%
1:05 - 1:10 - Use Navigation for 5 minutes
1:10 - 2:05 - Use nothing.. but phone is on.
2:05 - Check battery.. it's at 98%
The whole time above, I had set it to use 2G only. Does using 2G only significantly save battery life? If so then I'll just use that.. as for my case, Talkatone is working fine with EDGE.
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On some phones, yes.
On the GN, however, standby on 3G is very close to 2G (270h on 3G vs. 290h on 2G). That said, 2G signal is usually significantly better than 3G - if you're in an area of poor coverage, I would expect the 3G standby time to take a bigger hit than 2G.

Network Mode CDMA/LTE

So here is a question, I reside in a city that is not even on the list of getting LTE in next couple of years. So my question is that if I change the setting under Network Mode to CDMA only vs. CDMA/LTE would that save me some battery (since it's not constantly scanning for LTE)?
And are there any side effect to CDMA only when it comes to data quality?
Thanks in advance

I switched mine to CDMA only within a few minutes of turning it on. I haven't had any problems with data. Couldn't say about battery savings, though, as I have no reference point.

Yeah it should save some battery since it's not searching for available lte.
sent from my L9HUNDRED

It increased my battery considerably. I was in a fringe area for lte last weekend and turning off LTE gave me considerably more battery.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

[INFO] 4G LTE and Battery Life

Just and observation on LTE and battery life if you are in an area that has been refarmed to get LTE but may not have the strongest signal for it yet.
I get constant LTE signal wherever I go in Baltimore. Download speeds are great. But the signal isn't super strong yet. So my phone does a lot of pinging the towers to stay connected. That is the yellow signal in my battery graph. This causes a decent amount of battery drain while the phone is asleep.
But 3G signal is great. That is the green line in the battery graph. You can see that when I switched to 3g (or HSPA as it really is) the battery drain while idle reduced dramatically.
So if you are in an area like this and you really need the battery to last longer, put it on 3G and it should help a lot. At least until T Mobile increases the LTE coverage, which I am sure they will.
And for when you need the LTE speed, I have an LTE button on my quick settings panel to activate it so I still get the speed when I need it, but not the battery drain when I don't. (Note, I'm using cm10.1 rom. I am not sure if the TW roms have that quick setting button available. But it can be done in settings.)
This option is not for everyone. But if you are not a heavy data user like me it might be great for you.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app

Skipjacks said:
Just and observation on LTE and battery life if you are in an area that has been refarmed to get LTE but may not have the strongest signal for it yet.
I get constant LTE signal wherever I go in Baltimore. Download speeds are great. But the signal isn't super strong yet. So my phone does a lot of pinging the towers to stay connected. That is the yellow signal in my battery graph. This causes a decent amount of battery drain while the phone is asleep.
But 3G signal is great. That is the green line in the battery graph. You can see that when I switched to 3g (or HSPA as it really is) the battery drain while idle reduced dramatically.
So if you are in an area like this and you really need the battery to last longer, put it on 3G and it should help a lot. At least until T Mobile increases the LTE coverage, which I am sure they will.
And for when you need the LTE speed, I have an LTE button on my quick settings panel to activate it so I still get the speed when I need it, but not the battery drain when I don't. (Note, I'm using cm10.1 rom. I am not sure if the TW roms have that quick setting button available. But it can be done in settings.)
This option is not for everyone. But if you are not a heavy data user like me it might be great for you.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda app-developers app
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How do I put it in 4gHSPA +

Awesome advice
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium

thetbg said:
How do I put it in 4gHSPA +
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There are many apps in the Play Store that allow you to do that.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

Never thought to have data go to 3g and lower.. I've always used tasker to disable... no off screen email but I go in and manually check it anyways so it works for me. I get 2.5 hours out of 1 percent when my device sleeps.