OMG, this is so awesome, I didn't know my droid could do this!!!

Ok, I won't rehash my story about hating smartphones, trying them out, getting my first one/droid ect..ect.. you can read up about that here.

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/ne...ite-assistance/95344-i-must-outa-my-mind.html

Needless to say, i've been enjoying my Droid X alot and I thought I knew everything I really needed to know about. I was familiar with some kinda wifi enabled feature on it, but im a big believer in having all my computers and game consoles wired with my gigabit ethernet so I never bother with wifi at my home. I also don't have a laptop so I never need wifi when im on the go either as I have no use for it.

I was at a local hobby store the other day and I ran into my old IT proffessor from college inside. We chewed the fat for awhile and we eventually got into the subject about smartphones and I whipped out my Droid X, he got his Fascinate. He started telling about the crappy battery life he was getting when he'd use the 3G network for anything internet based.

He then said that you can actually connect alot of these smartphones to a wifi network they will use that instead of the 3g network for data transmission. Because of the design difference of wifi vs 3g, apparently wifi uses alot less battery power and depending on the feed to the wifii access point, you can have speeds beyond what 3g could ever offer, maybe even 4g LTE!

Keep in mind im pretty tech savy, as I do IT work for a large investment firm, build my own PC gaming rigs ect.... but I was pretty amazed as I wasn't aware my phone could do that but it got even sweeter! He said you can also program your phone to attach to multiple wifi networks at a time! He said he's got the wifi networks entered for the local mall, college campus, home, starbucks ect... With that, he apparently is rarely on the 3G network so his battery life has been much improved and he can surf and download much faster depending on the wifi connection!

Wow!!!! I had no idea my little Droid X could do that. I just turned back on my wireless on my gigabit router, found the wifi setting and decided to see what would happen. Sure enough, my Droid X attached right away to my local 18mpbs cable/wifi connection and disconnected from the 3G network. I then tried viewing some of my vids on my youtube channel. WOW!!!!! I couldn't believe the speed difference! Now I can't wait to take my phone around town and plug in several wifi spots so I can have maximum speed and see what that does to my battery life!

Im curious though, what happens to my data/txt message usage when im connected to a wifi network vs the 3G network? Is that even trackable via verizon whem im off the larger tower network? Does my phone maintain a basic connection to the towers so I can make/recieve calls without waiting for it to connect up? What certain apps/widgets will and will not use a wifi connection vs the 3g?

I'll never go back to a non smartphone ever again and hopefully, Droids only! dancedroiddancedroiddancedroiddancedroid

 

Hmm, well I've got unlimited text anyway, dunno how I feel about using a free txt service, there's gotta be draw backs

Sent from my DROIDX

 

Im assuming all voice calls are done via 3g no matter what? Will the phone connect to wifi or 3g based on which is fastest? Will I really save on battery life having the wick enabled?

Sent from my DROIDX

 

Even jesus doesn't know what you just said

Sent from my DROIDX