Why does 4G use so much more battery than 3G? (even when not in use)

trebb

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First - this is NOT a complaint thread. I'm not complaining. I love this phone and I don't mind having to charge twice a day or buy an extended battery. No biggie to me. I'm a college kid constantly around outlets.

Now... I unplugged my phone this afternoon around 12. By 1 o clock, I was already at 80%. I literally used the phone for like 5 minutes. I'm running Das BAMF 1.2, had brightness at 20% and everything in my background is set to sync every hour. So it couldn't be that.

I tossed it back on the charger and got it up to 90%. I downloaded the 3g/4g toggle from the market and went to 3g. Now an hour and a half later and I'm at like 87%. That's a drastic difference.

I'm just wondering why this is, because in both instances I barely used the phone except for a text message or two. If nothing is happening, and the 4G network isn't even being utilized, why is it draining so quickly?
 
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FlyFishinX2

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Shouldn't this be posted in the battery forum ?

sent from my HTC Thunderbolt using droid forums app
 
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trebb

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Did not even realize there was a separate forum for the battery.. haha.

If a mod could move this it'd be much appreciated.
 
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trebb

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I paid .99c for the app "4G switch," but you can also download the application "phone info" for free from the market that does the exact same thing.

I'm seeing insane differences in battery with only using 3G... it upsets me because my entire university has 4G and it's super fast. But losing 20% in an hour while not using it is not worth the added speed bonus.
 
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