Disabling Background Data?

[TeeX]

(also posted this at RW, but not sure everybody goes there.)


one feature that I use on every phone is to disable background data. That means I just have to turn it back on when I want to access the Android Market, etc., but it saves a ton on the battery.

On my GNex, I can't find the setting to do that? I see that under "Settings > Data Usage", I can turn off "Mobile Data", but that shuts off all data (3G, etc.) to the phone.

Where can I keep my 3G/4G data on the phone, but turn off the background data?

Edit:
Does disablilng background data really save that much on battery, or should I just not worry about it?

 

[kodiak799]

What's the point of having a smartphone if you don't enable background data? Sort of the whole point of the convenience. Geez, people act like charging their phone mid-day takes a minor act of God.

Anyway, I don't think it uses that much juice unless you have a news widget downloading whole articles and pictures every 5 minutes. If it's really that big of an issue for you, I'd set something like Locale or Tasker to turn it on for 5 minutes every hour. Problem is I don't know that necessarily triggers some of those apps to poll at that precise time.

Most decent apps these days allow you to turn-off background sync, so then your battery drain is only minimal (and it's stuff you want running in the background). If it's just an occasional use, they either refresh on open or you can do it manually. Amazes me the effort people will put in to getting another 30 minutes out of their battery. Just charge the stupid thing, or get another charger for work or something.

 

[tc1]

(also posted this at RW, but not sure everybody goes there.)


one feature that I use on every phone is to disable background data. That means I just have to turn it back on when I want to access the Android Market, etc., but it saves a ton on the battery.

On my GNex, I can't find the setting to do that? I see that under "Settings > Data Usage", I can turn off "Mobile Data", but that shuts off all data (3G, etc.) to the phone.

Where can I keep my 3G/4G data on the phone, but turn off the background data?

Edit:
Does disablilng background data really save that much on battery, or should I just not worry about it?

Well I know with this RAZR and the smart actions app the default battery saver alone will easily quadruple my battery life.

If I have a day where I don't have a lot of time to mess with my phone, by the end of the day I can have 90% battery left.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[humanputting]

Leave it on and don't worry about it. Besides the biggest hog is the display. I'm averaging about 3% drain every 5 min I'm on the phone.

 

[droidhayabusa]

(also posted this at RW, but not sure everybody goes there.)


one feature that I use on every phone is to disable background data. That means I just have to turn it back on when I want to access the Android Market, etc., but it saves a ton on the battery.

On my GNex, I can't find the setting to do that? I see that under "Settings > Data Usage", I can turn off "Mobile Data", but that shuts off all data (3G, etc.) to the phone.

Where can I keep my 3G/4G data on the phone, but turn off the background data?

Edit:
Does disablilng background data really save that much on battery, or should I just not worry about it?

This dude is absolutely correct. Prior to ICS u could set your data to stop syncing once the screen had been off for 15 mins. I went from 8 hours per charge (bionic) to 24 - 72 hrs. It was a great setup because incoming SMS and gmails would still arrive no matter how long the screen had been off.

So I'm aiming this next bit at the folks who actually know what they're talking about here - don't use Tasker for this. It will piss u off to no end. You will pick up your phone and turn on your screen and have to wait anywhere from fifteen to ninety seconds for your data to reconnect. I know...I took someones advice in a forum and tried it.

Instead - just give it a shot the way it is. Everything I've heard about ICS suggests that they've reduced battery draw due to data syncing to a fraction of what it was.

Mine was syncing all night and I was at 90% this morning when I woke up. This certainly supports the above. Good luck all -


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums

 

[bukaka19]

Its in the developer options

 

[Htown315]

Under data you can disable background data for each individual app. I found by doing this I showed fewer awake times while sleeping.

 

[nleksan]

I have done this to help with battery life, but cannot claim to have had more than total of maybe 5-10% gain? Considering I disabled background data for everything but Yahoo Email, Messaging, Android OS, and System Critical programs (literally everything else... if it was on the Data Usage screen and it wasn't one of those, it got it's background data disabled), I would have expected bigger gains. After all, is it not the case that my phone no longer needs to sync constantly?

However, I AM on WiFi about 90-95% of the time, so it is hard to really compare. I could turn off WiFi, but the whole reason I use it is because it greatly improves battery life, and unless I happen to be in one of the few parts of my house/work/school where WiFi is spotty (i.e. Not near router or AP), the speed difference between LTE and 20/40mhz WiFi is not noticeable outside of speed tests.

I just ran two speed tests right now, and the results will follow... (11:18PM, Inssider shows 14 current detectable networks on both devices, so I have 2.4ghz set at Channel 1+4, with only 3 other networks on the channels and both with signals lower than -130dBm, and 5ghz set at 36+40 and currently no other routers detectable on the 5ghz spectrum).

WIFI THROUGH-PUT SPEED TEST
(NEW Asus RT-N66U N900 Dual-Band Wireless Router with 3x +7dBi gain omnidirectional/dual-band antenna located exactly 11 feet away, zero interference, line of sight)
*These tests are for throughput, so to eliminate my 50Mbps Down/20Mbps Up Cable connection as a variable, it is being tested with my Home Network's 4-Drive RAID10 Network Storage (4x3TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA3 newest-gen drives; 6TB space total) connected via USB3.0 directly to the router, with average LAN transfer speeds over 25' of CAT7E Wire being >500Mbps Sequential Read and >200Mbps Sequential Write (these HDDs are FAAAAST)
**The test is exchanging the exact same 910MB HD Video Clip
***I will include a set to show average internet access speeds at 11' and line-of-sight with this phone
2.4ghz (20mHz width)
Test 1: 22.4Mbps Down // 4.3Mbps Up
Test 2: 23.1Mbps Down // 5.8Mbps Up
2.4ghz (40mHz width)
Test 1: 26.9Mbps Down // 7.2Mbps Up
Test 2: 26.7Mbps Down // 8.5Mbps Up
5ghz (20mHz width)
Test 1: 33.8Mbps Down // 10.2Mbps Up
Test 2: 32.3Mbps Down // 9.5Mbps Up
5ghz (40mHz width)
Test 1: 38.5Mbps Down // 14.8Mbps Up
Test 2: 41.2Mbps Down // 17.6Mbps Up
Dual-Band Test (Full Capability)
Test 1: 51.8Mbps Down // 19.2Mbps Up
Test 2: 50.4Mbps Down // 21.1Mbps Up

Pretty quick, but compared to the triple-antenna dual-band 450+450 network card in my laptop, the speeds are only about 1/2-1/4th at the same distance (attributable to the much more powerful antenna in the laptop).

WIFI INTERNET SPEED TEST
(exact same setup as above, only variable being Time Warner "Road Runner Ultimate" Cable Internet with Motorola Surfboard DOCSIS3.0 Modem connected via Quad-EMI-Shielded COAX in-wall into 5' RG-6 4-Layer Coax Cable, then 1meter CAT7E Cable to NT-R66 Router; Cable Internet advertised speed is 50Mbps DOWN and 20Mbps UP consistent with "Speed Boost" up to 80Mbps DOWN and 40Mbps UP with DOCSIS3 modem)
Dual-Band Test (Maximum Bandwidth)
Test 1: 21.8Mbps Down // 12.3Mbps Up
Test 2: 38.9Mbps Down // 21.7Mbps Up
*Test 3: 26.4Mbps Down // 14.2Mbps Up
*Test 4: 25.9Mbps Down // 13.8Mbps Up

*Tests 3-4 were conducted due to the abnormally high speed of Test 2, which I cannot explain unless everyone else in the neighborhood suddenly logged off... However, these speeds are pretty good considering it is wireless and WPA2/TKIP2 Encrypted.

LTE aka "4G" SPEED TEST
(all background data disabled, "full bars" equating to -87dBm signal strength; I have seen this as strong as -40dBm, so these numbers should reflect and average of my speeds, over all times and places where 4G is present)
*Tests will be conducted by down-/up-loading a (same every time) 100MB File from my own personal "Cloud" server
Test 1: 23.72Mbps Down // 17.23Mbps Up
Test 2: 28.11Mbps Down // 18.17Mbps Up
Test 3: 14.83Mbps Down // 12.97Mbps Up
Test 4: 19.98Mbps Down // 21.03Mbps Up

That is the ONLY time I have seen my phone UPLOAD faster than DOWNLOAD! Maybe a network issue, as I did just run a 100MB HD Video file across the same towers 8 times in a very short time period, or maybe someone else was doing the same things, I have no idea.


Regardless, if you have good WiFi, DISABLE BACKGROUND DATA because it will AUTOMATICALLY COME BACK ON WHEN YOU TURN OFF WIFI!!

 

[omak2012]

here ya go

System settings > data usage > (press option soft key)> select "restrict background data"

 

[SLeepdepD]

What's the point of having a smartphone if you don't enable background data?

I'm going to a music festival and will have limited access to charge my phone...I'd still like to receive calls and text however. This is one good reason

 

[tiffanyel]

It's the background application which consumes battery power. not the data itself.