3g vs 4g Battery Life for same tasks on each

[allenjgoldstein]

Does 4g really use more battery than 3g?
If performing the same exact tasks on both: i.e New Reader/Gmail/Facebook
3g phone (Droid2 Global: single core chip)takes longer to download and render, so the display is actually on longer until task is finished
4g phone (Razr: dual core chip) has much shorter download and rendering time, display is on less time

 

[Sydman]

Does 4g really use more battery than 3g?
If performing the same exact tasks on both: i.e New Reader/Gmail/Facebook
3g phone (Droid2 Global: single core chip)takes longer to download and render, so the display is actually on longer until task is finished
4g phone (Razr: dual core chip) has much shorter download and rendering time, display is on less time

That is not what is battery killing about 4G. It is the fact that your phone is constantly looking to maintain one of two different types of networks. If 4G goes down it needs to know 3G is available to switch to, and if on 3G and it finds a 4G signal it will switch over. So basically your phone is always searching for another signal, thus the battery drain.

 

[allenjgoldstein]

That is not what is battery killing about 4G. It is the fact that your phone is constantly looking to maintain one of two different types of networks. If 4G goes down it needs to know 3G is available to switch to, and if on 3G and it finds a 4G signal it will switch over. So basically your phone is always searching for another signal, thus the battery drain.

Can that be turned off?
For 10 minutes bursts of internet access is there really a significant drain?

 

[94lt1]

Can that be turned off?
For 10 minutes bursts of internet access is there really a significant drain?

You can change to CDMA only, and back to CDMA/ lte when you need it. The easiest way is to go to the PS and download 4g toggle.

DROID RAZR MAXXAMIZED!!!

 

[FoxKat]

That is not what is battery killing about 4G. It is the fact that your phone is constantly looking to maintain one of two different types of networks. If 4G goes down it needs to know 3G is available to switch to, and if on 3G and it finds a 4G signal it will switch over. So basically your phone is always searching for another signal, thus the battery drain.

Correct. Think of it this way...if you turn on one radio in your house, it will use only the power needed to run just that radio. But if someone else turns on another radio in a different room, even if the volume is turned down or if the radio isn't tuned to any channel.

In other words, 4G doesn't necessarily consume more power than 3G, but both radios need to be on all the time if 4G is active.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 using Google voice to text translation. Please excuse any minor spelling, punctuation, capitalization or grammatical errors.

 

[dsprik]

That is not what is battery killing about 4G. It is the fact that your phone is constantly looking to maintain one of two different types of networks. If 4G goes down it needs to know 3G is available to switch to, and if on 3G and it finds a 4G signal it will switch over. So basically your phone is always searching for another signal, thus the battery drain.

So how much of a drain is this? A minor one? i am in a strictly 3g area - right now - NW Lower Mich. However 4g is planned for the area this year. As always, VZN will not announce when this is available. It will just show up on my phone... If I switch to "CDMA only", I virtually will not know when they actually throw the switch. Therefore, I literally could go a month and not know that 4g had been switched on. Could be a little paranoid about that, but if 3g/4g doesn't really add a big drain on the batt, then I just as soon leave it on.

 

[94lt1]

I'm not really sure its major, but when i was in Billings MT recently, my phone was still on CDMA/LTE and my battery went down fairly fast. Billings is only 3g....
Switched to CDMA and my battery life dramatically improved. Of course yrmv.

DROID RAZR MAXXAMIZED!!!

 

[FoxKat]

I'm not really sure its major, but when i was in Billings MT recently, my phone was still on CDMA/LTE and my battery went down fairly fast. Billings is only 3g....
Switched to CDMA and my battery life dramatically improved. Of course yrmv.

DROID RAZR MAXXAMIZED!!!

Off-topic, but I've been on battery power since almost 6 hours ago, and I'm looking at 80% remaining, LOL! Man, I love my new MAXX.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 using Google voice to text translation. Please excuse any minor spelling, punctuation, capitalization or grammatical errors.

 

[C2Cab95]

Off-topic, but I've been on battery power since almost 6 hours ago, and I'm looking at 80% remaining, LOL! Man, I love my new MAXX.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 using Google voice to text translation. Please excuse any minor spelling, punctuation, capitalization or grammatical errors.

I have battery envy.

Your informed post however have improved my phone's battery performance to be satisfactory though.

I will most likely purchase a MAXX, but for now I guess I can't really complain.

 

[dsprik]

Thanks, Guys! I have switched my phone and my wife's phone to CDMA only. At least when we head back to Orlando in the fall (mid-Oct) we know we have 4g there...

 

[94lt1]

Off-topic, but I've been on battery power since almost 6 hours ago, and I'm looking at 80% remaining, LOL! Man, I love my new MAXX.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 using Google voice to text translation. Please excuse any minor spelling, punctuation, capitalization or grammatical errors.

Glad you're liking it. it is an awesome device. And to think, its only going to.get better in the near future!!

DROID RAZR MAXXAMIZED!!!

 

[Zandar]

There is a way to turn on 4G only, but it makes it so you can't make or receive phone calls and I didn't really see a significant battery improvement over CDMA/LTE mode.

 

[FoxKat]

There is a way to turn on 4G only, but it makes it so you can't make or receive phone calls and I didn't really see a significant battery improvement over CDMA/LTE mode.

I didn't know you could go to LTE Only, but it makes sense that there would be no cellular service since 1X and 3G EVDO Rev-A are the cellular voice transmission protocols and ride on the 3G radio only. 4G LTE is Data Only (at present although Voice Over LTE is in the works).

 

[Zandar]

Enter ##PROGRAM in your dialer. The password is 000000. Go to 06 Test Mode. Hit Next twice, and you'll get a list of things with drop down menus. You can go to LTE only under Network mode (plus lots of other stuff).

 

[FoxKat]

Enter ##PROGRAM in your dialer. The password is 000000. Go to 06 Test Mode. Hit Next twice, and you'll get a list of things with drop down menus. You can go to LTE only under Network mode (plus lots of other stuff).

Thanks.

I've been in this menu before, but didn't recall being able to set to LTE only.

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2 using Google voice to text translation. Please excuse any minor spelling, punctuation, capitalization or grammatical errors.