Wifi vs. Battery life

[Zath]

Im currently getting pretty bad battery life and I think its due to poor signal. My cell standby is 40% of my battery and I am at 40% with just 3 hours moderate use. I have the battery saver set to maximum. If I use wifi will that help with the signal issue? And when wifi is on I am still showing a 4g signal icon. Is it still using the cell even when im on wifi? Thanks for any help!

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[gsDroid]

I also have a poor data signal at home and used a market app called DataSwitch to turn off data while I'm at home with a strong wifi signal. I have noticed that if I leave data on, both wifi and data are active. Wifi uses less power than 3g or 4g and is faster than 3g. It also helps to set your network mode to cdma only if you don't have strong 4g reception. Switching back and forth between 3g and 4g sucks battery. Look under settings > wireless > mobile networks > network mode > cdma only.

 

[Zath]

Yea I bought a 4g phone I can't bring myself to disable that feature. But to improve battery life I am ok with using wireless where I can. That data switch is awesome.. wish this kinda crap was built into android! Thanks for the tip!

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[Bionic]

Being in a weak coverage and/or 1x area definitely seems to deplete the battery. The phone gets very warm too. This has happened to me twice now. Both times I had to toggle airplane mode.

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[dparm]

Being in a weak coverage and/or 1x area definitely seems to deplete the battery. The phone gets very warm too. This has happened to me twice now. Both times I had to toggle airplane mode.

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This has been the case pretty much since cell phones came out. Weak signal means the phone is continually searching for a stronger tower or trying to reacquire the existing signal. Depletes the battery very fast.

 

[Bionic]

This has been the case pretty much since cell phones came out. Weak signal means the phone is continually searching for a stronger tower or trying to reacquire the existing signal. Depletes the battery very fast.

True, but this is much worse than anything I've experienced before. Not only does the phone get really warm, but if I were to stay in a 1x area for even an hour without enabling airplane mode, the battery would be completely dead. And that's in standby the whole time.

I have also noticed that even after I return to a better coverage area, the situation remains the same until I reboot or toggle the radio. This has happened to me on two separate occasions now. One with LTE enabled, and once in CDMA only mode. If it were just me, I'd go get a new unit, but it appears to be happening to others as well. Hopefully there's a fix before my two weeks is up.

Since both times this has occurred, I was in 1x, I'm beginning to think this may be a 1x issue - not just a weak signal thing.

Anyone know a way to disable data in standby when in a 1x area? That would probably be a feasible workaround for this.

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[Zath]

I got about 6 hours moderate usage with 10% remaining I swapped batteries.. best $30 accessory ever. I think id be pretty upset if I didn't have a spare. Between the two I rarely ever have the actual phone on the charger. Go buy the charging dock! It comes with the 1750 mah battery!

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[Zath]

Wifi didn't make a huge difference but turning off 4g did. I am at 9 hours on a 50% charge.. with 4g the battery is dead around 6. Just need to find a 4g toggle for when I need the speed instead of going through the extra clicks in settings. Kind of dissapointing that I have to turn off a key feature of a phone to get decent battery life but ill learn to manage I love this thing!

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[Bionic]

Agree. It's actually surprising there isn't a standard widget to toggle 4G - especially considering this is a common problem with all LTE devices.

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