Is it worth to use 3G over 4G so save battery? I mean, I know if I stand still and if the 4G connection is good i'll save battery over 3G but if I'm moving (public transports) I guess 3G will save me battery because it won't always be switching between 3G and 4G.
My question is if it effectively saves enough battery for me to care about and keep my data connection in 3G
Thanks
No if signal is full, the more your phone takes to download stuff the more cpu uses so having faster internet means doing things faster and using less battery.
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Hi all,
Wondered if anyone knows which is worst for battery life out of
GPRS
3G
HSDPA (assume its the same as 3G)
Wifi
If was connected for the same amount of time which would be better. From my day to day usage i personally have found that Wifi didnt seem to guzzle as much battery as i expected it to.
Has anyone done any proper tests on this?
It depends on the usage. Here are two ordered lists on what takes the most battery (in my eyes).
Active data transfer:
3G
2G
WiFi
No data transfer
WiFi
3G/2G
It also takes more battery for searching a WiFi network compared to being connected to one.
but what about searching for a phone signal/data connection... is that worse than wifi searching?
any other opinions/results?
I live in an area that has 3G and 4G in certain areas im regularly in. Now Ive only used 4G a handful of times so i dont want that put into the equation at all. Out of curiosity what saves more battery a very strong wifi connection or 3G when im usually in an underground basement?
Wifi will give you much better battery life
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cool i figured as much since itd be a mucn better signal.
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.
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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.
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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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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.
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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.
I have recently moved location and its a bad area for my network provider. Because of this my desire had little to no reception and only get basic 2g internet.
Question is, when the phone has little to no reception and only 2g internet, does this use more power and thus create a larger battery drain?
I've noticed that the battery runs out quicker now.
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Weak signal usually means bigger battery drain.
If you have no 3G you can disable it the mobile network settings under wireless network settings.
If you have bad reception your battery will drain faster as it is constantly scanning all frequencies for a better 3G signal.
2g generally uses less battery but if the phone is scanning for a 3g signal as mentioned above it will use more. So just select 2g only to stop it scanning for 3g and save battery.
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Curious if its worth saving battery life to just keep the network on CDMA only during the day ?
I came from Sprint and they had the 4G toggle on most Android devices, I never used it, maybe 05% of the time, WiMax was such a battery hog, and so spotty to ever a hold a solid connection anyways, just seemed like a waste. But Sprints 3G really sucked too, like 1xEdge speeds.
Does keeping the Nexus on LTE cause signal issues ? Meaning does it jump back and forth between 3G and 4G causing dropped calls if you on the phone and move into a non LTE area ?
Thanks
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I only bother to switch mine off when I am on my days off from work. I get great 4g signal at work but none at home. I haven't payed close enough attention to battery usage to notice a difference though.
As far as battery life goes, I've found there isn't much difference at all if LTE is on/off. It's the screen that kills the battery. That being the case I don't bother switching it off anymore.
I leave LTE on all day and my battery lasts all day. As long as that's the case I don't pay any attention to battery life. I also never leave 4G coverage though.
I am new to Verizon. Live in the Chicago area, I would assume a big market like this has solid LTE coverage ?
I just know from Sprint, keeping the phone on 4G was a fast battery kill. If left on WiMax you were lucky to get 4 hours on a full charge.
Hopefully LTE is better than WiMax on the battery, I know for sure it way better network coverage.
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Zorachus said:
I am new to Verizon. Live in the Chicago area, I would assume a big market like this has solid LTE coverage ?
I just know from Sprint, keeping the phone on 4G was a fast battery kill. If left on WiMax you were lucky to get 4 hours on a full charge.
Hopefully LTE is better than WiMax on the battery, I know for sure it way better network coverage.
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Yeah better coverage and probably easier to find a signal due to frequency differences.
I use ihtfp69's LTE toggle to turn off LTE/CDMA to just CDMA when I leave work. I live in a pretty poor 3g signal area, so leaving LTE on just drains my battery unnecessarily. I turn it on when I get into the LTE area, works great since it's a widget.
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Usually the issue, IMO, is if you are moving between an LTE area and a non-LTE area or if you're at the edge of LTE coverage, so your phone loses its LTE connection, searches, reconnects, etc.
If you've got a solid LTE connection and it's uninterrupted you won't drain battery as fast.
As to whether LTE usage drains your battery faster than 3G usage... I can't say.
I usually leave my lte on unless I know I have to push my battery... coming from sprint evo then photon which are complete battery hogs on 4g due to the joke they call 4g coverage...
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The key issue is whether you have a weak or non-existent LTE signal. I find that in some areas such as these if the phone is on LTE I do not get 3G service, or the service goes on and off. If I switch to CDMA only 3G will work much better. I've only used the phone for limited times in areas with strong 4G so I couldn't compare batter life when set for 4G.
I toggle lte off when home, no 4g signal does drain my battery. At work with great 4g signal I toggle it back on. Gives me an excuse to look at the beautiful battery draining screen.
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