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Hi, I have been decorating my small bathroom today and I have had my N1 sat on a shelf busily streaming music from last.fm over a wifi connection.
I had the volume up full and was listening for a good 7 hours. The battery was at 95% when I started listening and I expected the phone to shut down by mid afternoon but it didn't.
At about 6.30pm I finished decorating (for the day!) and looked at the battery guage. It showed 64%. I couldn't believe it!
Battery use is shown as 26% cell standby (good 3G connection all day), phone idle 23%, mediaserver 2%, and wifi was just 10%.
I always thought wifi was a battery drainer but apparently not on the N1
i get steady drain when indoors @ the office where i only get Edge no 3G. Is the battery drain as bad when searching for 3G as it is searching for a signal in general?
aj
To my knowledge the screen uses the most battery (other than voice calling). So if you were not using either of them it should last you a long time.
andythefan said:
To my knowledge the screen uses the most battery (other than voice calling). So if you were not using either of them it should last you a long time.
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Yea the brightness of the screen is to blame for most rapid battery drains.
I've found that forcing 2G when indoors is the best way to go (unless you still generally have solid 3G).
If you are in a solid 3G area, then just force 3G...
This gives you a much more stable network connection and means the phone doesn't have to work as hard, switching between EDGE and HSDPA.
gsvnet said:
I've found that forcing 2G when indoors is the best way to go (unless you still generally have solid 3G).
If you are in a solid 3G area, then just force 3G...
This gives you a much more stable network connection and means the phone doesn't have two work as hard, switching between EDGE and HSDPA.
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Click to collapse
how do you force a 2G connection?
aj
edit: network settings. got it.
ghostrida said:
how do you force a 2G connection?
aj
edit: network settings. got it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to settings > wireless & networks > mobile networks and select only use 2g networks.
Edit: Nvm you ninja edited on me lol
gadgetgaz said:
I always thought wifi was a battery drainer but apparently not on the N1
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Click to collapse
FWIW, the specs on the Google page list 6.5 hours browsing the web on Wifi vs. 5 hours for 3G so it is at least better than 3G.
Also, streaming FM probably runs the Wifi in bursts with some buffering rather than continuously, wouldn't it?
Also, streaming FM probably runs the Wifi in bursts with some buffering rather than continuously, wouldn't it?
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I'm sure you're right but the wifi radio is switched on all the time even if it just accessed data in bursts.
gadgetgaz said:
I'm sure you're right but the wifi radio is switched on all the time even if it just accessed data in bursts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it supports the WMM extension along with the router then it can request some low power support for maintaining the signal which drastically reduces the power needed when not actually sending/receiving data. It was created for things like WMA (which this phone doesn't have), but can be used more generally.
Last time I checked the screen display only used 4% at about half brightness ( maybe I'm wrong but I checked with bettercut shortcut )
ghostrida said:
i get steady drain when indoors @ the office where i only get Edge no 3G. Is the battery drain as bad when searching for 3G as it is searching for a signal in general?
aj
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Click to collapse
Your phone uses a lot of battery when searching for signal. Enabling Edge only should make that stop. My phone fluctuates at work because I'm in a big building so I just connect to the wifi and leave it.
I too am extremely satisfied with the battery life, for as fast as the phone is I wouldn't expect so much. I'm amazed, seeing it with such a small battery, this phone sips power.
just as a note, have had the 2800mah battery now for the recommended 5 full charges...phone has been on for 3 days now and is at 40%...crazy
nmeofdst8 said:
just as a note, have had the 2800mah battery now for the recommended 5 full charges...phone has been on for 3 days now and is at 40%...crazy
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Click to collapse
Nice! How does the extended back affect your use?
wow, just 31% after 7 hours!!
I lose 10% just getting to work (1 hour) with very limited usage and edge only.
britoso said:
wow, just 31% after 7 hours!!
I lose 10% just getting to work (1 hour) with very limited usage and edge only.
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Click to collapse
bouncing between edge and 3g drains the battery also.
Basically, when I leave wi-fi on my phone has incredible battery life. If someone has already mentioned this feel free to bury this post, but to my knowledge it doesn't seem this has been posted yet.
With wi-fi off and 3g on
- Battery lost 5-6 percent per hour
Wi-fi on
- Battery lost 1-2 percent per hour (sometimes less than 1 percent depending on what your doing)
Right now after having my phone on for 34 hours my battery is still at 70 percent! I'm fairly certain this is because it disables the 3g radio altogether which apparently is a real battery hog. That or maybe my phone is just a fluke. I really don't know.
This also seems to be tied to the htc sense rom (correct me if im wrong) but if i remember correctly battery drainage increased when wifi was enabled in the stock rom. Currently, I'm using the latest htc sense rom from modaco, I'd really enjoy hearing if enabling wifi helps others extend their battery life.
your having better battery life with the Desire ROMs? that odd, my battery life with a Desire ROM was 20-30% worse compared to stock.
amlwaycooljr said:
Basically, when I leave wi-fi on my phone has incredible battery life. If someone has already mentioned this feel free to bury this post, but to my knowledge it doesn't seem this has been posted yet.
With wi-fi off and 3g on
- Battery lost 5-6 percent per hour
Wi-fi on
- Battery lost 1-2 percent per hour (sometimes less than 1 percent depending on what your doing)
Right now after having my phone on for 34 hours my battery is still at 70 percent! I'm fairly certain this is because it disables the 3g radio altogether which apparently is a real battery hog. That or maybe my phone is just a fluke. I really don't know.
This also seems to be tied to the htc sense rom (correct me if im wrong) but if i remember correctly battery drainage increased when wifi was enabled in the stock rom. Currently, I'm using the latest htc sense rom from modaco, I'd really enjoy hearing if enabling wifi helps others extend their battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it's a well known fact that 3G uses more power on most (every?) phones than Wifi... so you're not alone.
Hey when you say WIFI on..do you mean WIFI and EDGE or did you completely disabled the radio?
I never would have thought having wifi on would extend battery life to such a great extent though, in most of the latest cell phone reviews and what not everyone recommends to have wifi off saves battery life but in this case just the opposite is true. I kinda knew the wifi was more efficient but I never expected such a large benefit from leaving wifi on all the time.
@ram130 I haven't actually touched the radios at all so I expect them all to be on or at the very least have edge on, I am able to receive and send calls and txt so I'm assuming at least some cell radio has to be on. All I did was use the htc sense rom and enable wifi.
The cellular radio is still on, but 3G/Edge (data) are disconnected. I don't know how Edge compares to Wifi, but 3G is a battery killer in comparison.
uansari1 said:
The cellular radio is still on, but 3G/Edge (data) are disconnected. I don't know how Edge compares to Wifi, but 3G is a battery killer in comparison.
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amlwaycooljr said:
I never would have thought having wifi on would extend battery life to such a great extent though, in most of the latest cell phone reviews and what not everyone recommends to have wifi off saves battery life but in this case just the opposite is true. I kinda knew the wifi was more efficient but I never expected such a large benefit from leaving wifi on all the time.
@ram130 I haven't actually touched the radios at all so I expect them all to be on or at the very least have edge on, I am able to receive and send calls and txt so I'm assuming at least some cell radio has to be on. All I did was use the htc sense rom and enable wifi.
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Click to collapse
In other words you have "use 2G networks" checked right?
I'm gonna try this is now. I'm currently at 3hr 32m unplugged with 80% left. I have wifi enabled and on the stock rom. So I'll post back when I wake in a few a hours and see how it goes.
My only problem:
Wifi seems to disconnect alot during the hour regardless if sleep policy is set to NEVER. My wifi signal is -78dBm to -86dBm in my room and on channel 11(used wifi analyzer). Any suggestions why?
I have the same experience at home, I enable Wifi and leave the phone stay home for a couple of days and battery still 40%, when I go out and wifi is not connected, 3G kicks in and battery drops much faster.
I'm using cyanogen 5.0.4.1
Interesting. Did not know this!
I guess I won't feel so bad about leaving my phone on Wifi all day!
Also, does anyone know how much power is used by not having a radio signal and letting it constantly search? That seems to destroy my battery. But sometimes I am in an area with wifi but no radio access (deep within a building).
It's too bad this phone doesn't have UMA - that would make up for T-Mobile's lack of indoor coverage (at times), and probably improve battery life a lot in some cases.
But I have to say that on another phones I've used, especially WinMo devices, using WiFi instead of 3G seemed to always use more battery. But, it could very well be different on this phone...I'm definitely going to give this a try.
im not sure about the percentage but i agree,the battery drain is considerably more when searching for radio.im in a building most of the day and it doesnt take long.miss the UMA i had on my bberry.
Paul22000 said:
Interesting. Did not know this!
I guess I won't feel so bad about leaving my phone on Wifi all day!
Also, does anyone know how much power is used by not having a radio signal and letting it constantly search? That seems to destroy my battery. But sometimes I am in an area with wifi but no radio access (deep within a building).
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Click to collapse
I also Get. About 25% better battery on wifi
Well after 10hrs of the phone being on stand by I woke up. It was at 46%!! my god. Anyway I checked my email, read an article all taking around 15mins and guess what? I had 30% left!. I put it back to stand by for 3hrs and took a look at it and had about 16% left...
It is now charging after one hour with just 10min use of downloading apps ..Can ANYONE tell me why my battery is draining so much on wifi? When its on EDGE for the night after 10hr I would have around 70% left from a full charge. Anyone can help me out here?
I shall be getting a replacement battery for free Tuesday.
Stock android.
ram130 said:
Well after 10hrs of the phone being on stand by I woke up. It was at 46%!! my god. Anyway I checked my email, read an article all taking around 15mins and guess what? I had 30% left!. I put it back to stand by for 3hrs and took a look at it and had about 16% left...
It is now charging after one hour with just 10min use of downloading apps ..Can ANYONE tell me why my battery is draining so much on wifi? When its on EDGE for the night after 10hr I would have around 70% left from a full charge. Anyone can help me out here?
I shall be getting a replacement battery for free Tuesday.
Stock android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you set your phone to only use 2G networks also? If you're not charging, wifi will probably disable after not being used for a while..so it's probably rolling to 3G if you haven't disabled it.
I'm not saying it's convenient to constantly switch back and forth... but this explains why it may not be a good test of the battery life the way you're running it.
uansari1 said:
Did you set your phone to only use 2G networks also? If you're not charging, wifi will probably disable after not being used for a while..so it's probably rolling to 3G if you haven't disabled it.
I'm not saying it's convenient to constantly switch back and forth... but this explains why it may not be a good test of the battery life the way you're running it.
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Well yes I have it on 2G only. Any thing else could be contributing to it dying so fast?
Well I found a way to use my laptop as an AP. So I connected my N1 to it and getting full bars(-41dBm) in my room now. No wifi disconnects so far!(maybe it was my linksys before ?).. So far the battery is at 86% with some 3D games, been unplug for 1hr 50min now. I'll put it to stand by now and see how it looks after 10hrs.
I'm on a stock firmware(not rooted). 2G only selected.
The way I understand it is as follows:
Phone is on STANDBY:
3g==2g* which are both more efficient then wifi (that's why the default wifi policy turns wifi off if it's not being used)**
Phone is ACTIVE:
wifi is more efficient then 2g/3g because:
1) It's waaay faster and thus causes less battery drain* and
2) The AP (router) is much closer to the phone then the cell tower so in theory it doesn't need to use as much power to talk to the router.
*http://code.google.com/events/io/2009/sessions/CodingLifeBatteryLife.html
4:45min into it there is a power usage chart and 3G/EDGE idle power usage is about the same - also somewhere else in the video they talk about wifi vs 3g usage when transferring data.
** http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/wiki/NewStandbyTechnique
States that 3g standby is more efficient then wifi
drak0 said:
** http://code.google.com/p/sipdroid/wiki/NewStandbyTechnique
States that 3g standby is more efficient then wifi
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Click to collapse
Someone needs to test this ok. ...already testing wifi
Ok I'm at 11hrs 30min on wifi and its at 67% with light usage(checking email, news for 5min)..improvement? kinda, because since turning off my laptop it switched back to getting low signal(-81dBm) from the router in the next room. Weird? I'm still thinking. anyway I'm heading out so gonna use the phone more today, lets see if it gets me through the day.
Still no where near the thread starter 30hrs!! Maybe stock really sucks? bad battery anyone??
@ram130 I'm not sure how my battery is lasting as long as it has so far. I'm up to what would be an insane number, 65 hours 36 percent left .. this battery just wont die. I haven't the slightest idea how it's lasting this long I just leave wifi on all the time and turn wifi standby off. If anyone could explain how leaving wifi on more than quadruples my battery life I'd sure love to know.
I'm not sure if anyone else knows this, but I read somewhere that if you change the wifi sleep policy to never, it actually SAVES battery.
I thought this was insane, but if you think about it it actually makes sense. It stops your phone from the constant switch to Edge and 3G... which in return saves your battery.
Usually I can lose up to 5% in 30 minutes by not even using my phone.
Now that I have a constant wifi connection I have only lost 2% in an hour and a half.
Assuming you're connected to a wifi network, yes.
Otherwise, no.
JCopernicus said:
Assuming you're connected to a wifi network, yes.
Otherwise, no.
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure how that works when you're not connected to a network and the phone goes into sleep...
I use Y5 which uses cell towers to remember where I am able to receive wifi. If I leave a remembered spot it will turn off the radio for me. When I come back it will automatically turn it back on and reconnect.
lance713 said:
I'm not sure if anyone else knows this, but I read somewhere that if you change the wifi sleep policy to never, it actually SAVES battery.
I thought this was insane, but if you think about it it actually makes sense. It stops your phone from the constant switch to Edge and 3G... which in return saves your battery.
Usually I can lose up to 5% in 30 minutes by not even using my phone.
Now that I have a constant wifi connection I have only lost 2% in an hour and a half.
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Hmmmm
Wouldn't the phone continue to have it's cellular Edge/3g connection going while you have the WiFi on?
Whenever I have WiFi on in addition to 3g I always see, under battery usage, wifi at about 2-3% and Cellular signal at 5-6%
Seem's like when you have WiFi on as well as Data that both are draining the battery...
The phone turns off 3g radio when you have a data connection.
JCopernicus said:
The phone turns off 3g radio when you have a data connection.
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Click to collapse
Are you sure about that? I'm connected to WiFi on my phone and the Status screen under About Phone still stays UMTS rather than EDGE.
PrawnPoBoy said:
Are you sure about that? I'm connected to WiFi on my phone and the Status screen under About Phone still stays UMTS rather than EDGE.
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Click to collapse
UMTS is just the 3g network, that doesnt mean data. the 3G network is used for voice calls too.
so yes, when the phone is connected to wifi, the cellular data connection is terminated. always been like this.
and yes i've seen a huge battery increase with wifi set to NEVER sleep policy.
It will stop hop between 2G/3G even if you're not using the data. You'd have to force it to 2G only and then enable wifi to take advantage of this the most.
I second those findings. When at home, use no sleep policy, and going out - turn off wifi manually. Works very well.
My "always on while sleep" doesn't work.. it opt's out anyway..
Edit: Installed an app called Wifi Fixer. And my connection hold up now while sleeping. nice....!!!
Where do I find this sleep-setting?
Not looking for a flame because I'm still learning.
if you have juicedender and keep the wifi setting on what it is when your phone sleeps the phone will turn off wifi and juicedefender will turn of 2g/3g correct? If this is true then you can save double the battery by installing defender (free); right?
bberry said:
Where do I find this sleep-setting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into Wi-Fi settings.. Hit Options (the capacitive button you know...)
Ha! I've had my N1 for two months now and didn't realize there was more Wifi options if you click on the options button to the left of the home button. I wish they would add some sort of indicator that there's more to do if you click on that button. I've run into this soooo many times. It's kind of nice, though, because I keep finding goodies even months after buying the phone lol.
Yes it's often a mystery - it would be cool if it was possible for the capacitive menu button be lit only when there are additional options.
Sindroid said:
My "always on while sleep" doesn't work.. it opt's out anyway..
Edit: Installed an app called Wifi Fixer. And my connection hold up now while sleeping. nice....!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
..will try that Wifi Fixer too
kbeeveer46 said:
Ha! I've had my N1 for two months now and didn't realize there was more Wifi options if you click on the options button to the left of the home button. I wish they would add some sort of indicator that there's more to do if you click on that button. I've run into this soooo many times. It's kind of nice, though, because I keep finding goodies even months after buying the phone lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First rule of Android power-users:
Press Menu... Everywhere
Paul22000 said:
First rule of Android power-users:
Press Menu... Everywhere
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Click to collapse
I tried that on a hottie standing in line for coffee. I got slapped.
I've tried setting the wifi sleep policy on my phone (T-Mobile MyTouch Slide) to "never sleep," but I'm not sure it's helping. When I turn on wifi for a little while (say, an hour or two) and then look at the battery usage screen I see that wifi uses a pretty significant chunk of the battery, maybe 10% or so, higher if I leave it on for longer. This is even if I'm not using the connection much, sometimes I'll turn it on to do a little light browsing and then put the phone away for an hour and then check to see how much power the wifi connection ate. Today I turned on wifi for maybe 10 minutes to download a couple app updates and turned it off right afterward. The phone has been only off the charger for 3 hours, but wifi accounts for 8% of the battery drain (the rest is idle: 16%, standby: 31%, and display: 45%).
On the other hand if I stick to 3G data I don't feel like I see as much of a hit on the battery (though it's harder to tell how much of "standby" is going to 3G data).
I understand in theory that connecting to a wifi access point within the building should require less power than connecting to a cell tower a mile away, but I also disable "always-on mobile data" so hopefully I'm not maintaining a 3G data connection all the time either.
Those of you who leave the wifi connection on all the time and are reporting better battery life than with 3G data, how much of your battery do you see going to wifi in the battery usage screen?
Well for me when I leave WiFi set to never, I lost 11% in 12 hours. On 3g I lose way more in that same period.
I have a question on the battery drain of this phone. Here's the situation:
I usually have 0 bars at home (total dead zone) and use wifi exclusively. At work, I have no wifi connection but full HSPA.
When I have wifi on at work, it seems like my battery drains SLOWER than if wifi is off. Case in point, every day I unplug the phone at 7am, fully charged. If wifi is on, at 3pm I get down to about 60%, but if wifi is off, at 3pm, I get down to around 30%. Usage is the same in both situation. A few youtube videos, a few IMs, a few text messages, reading a book for an hour at lunchtime, etc. That sort of thing.
I thought having wifi on all the time is a battery drain. So why is the battery drain much slower when wifi is on than when it is off? And spin off on that, will it do the same when bluetooth is on vs. off?
nmw407 said:
I have a question on the battery drain of this phone. Here's the situation:
I usually have 0 bars at home (total dead zone) and use wifi exclusively. At work, I have no wifi connection but full HSPA.
When I have wifi on at work, it seems like my battery drains SLOWER than if wifi is off. Case in point, every day I unplug the phone at 7am, fully charged. If wifi is on, at 3pm I get down to about 60%, but if wifi is off, at 3pm, I get down to around 30%. Usage is the same in both situation. A few youtube videos, a few IMs, a few text messages, reading a book for an hour at lunchtime, etc. That sort of thing.
I thought having wifi on all the time is a battery drain. So why is the battery drain much slower when wifi is on than when it is off? And spin off on that, will it do the same when bluetooth is on vs. off?
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Click to collapse
I have found [in my case only] that Wi-Fi does not drain my battery near as much as Bluetooth. I leave my Wi-Fi on all the time and my battery is usually fine for 36 hours. If I use BT, my battery drains at a much higher rate.
Do you use wi-fi calling at work as well? With the cellular radio completely off, and a strong wifi signal, the battery drain might be less than a weak cellular signal.
I've also noticed that having wifi on doesn't drain the battery nearly as much as anticipated.
I don't use wifi calling at work since I don't get any wifi signal whatsoever. At home wifi calling is on. It's the only way I can make a call.
At work I have full HSPA speeds but the battery drain is ridiculous when wifi is turned off. I'm just curious as to why having wifi on would cause the drainage to be slower... not that I'm complaining.... it just seems counter-intuitive from what is supposed to be the norm.
I have Wi-Fi on almost 100% of the time and never turn off my cell antenna. I have great signal at home and at work. But I have tested the signal on nearby hotspots/wireless networks with low signal and it doesn't affect my battery anymore than when at home.
CBConsultation said:
I have found [in my case only] that Wi-Fi does not drain my battery near as much as Bluetooth. I leave my Wi-Fi on all the time and my battery is usually fine for 36 hours. If I use BT, my battery drains at a much higher rate.
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Click to collapse
36 hours??
wth
he underclocks heavily plus custom rom. I usually get 12-15 hrs with the wifi on but only 7-8 with the wifi off.
nmw407 said:
he underclocks heavily plus custom rom. I usually get 12-15 hrs with the wifi on but only 7-8 with the wifi off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bingo! You got it.
My friend told me that staying connected to a wifi connection is less demanding powerwise. I always thought keeping the wifi attenna on would drain more power because ur running to attenndas at once. Anyone care to chime in with their opinions?
I have no real data to back this up, but it does seem like my battery lasts longer with wifi on. I believe the 3G radio shuts off when there is an active wifi connection but i could be wrong.
lilgrass71 said:
My friend told me that staying connected to a wifi connection is less demanding powerwise. I always thought keeping the wifi attenna on would drain more power because ur running to attenndas at once. Anyone care to chime in with their opinions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct for the most part. So long as you're connected to a stable WiFi signal, of course.
3G data constantly looks for available HA's (Home Agents) to deliver the best upload/download speed, and, depending on how much you use your data, the constant on/off of using 3G causes the fast battery drain.
Modifying your HA in data settings will reduce the amount of ping attempts 3G will make, but you will still get the battery drain every time you use data. Keep in mind that sending SMS or making phone calls don't use 3G, but if you don't have 3G turned off, it will always switch to 1X during these processes. If you're a heavy texter, rule of thumb is to leave 3G off during the day unless you are going to be using it consistently for a period of time. This will save you a great amount of battery life.
Wifi is MUCH easier on battery for me.
^ Shift Faced
jesusice said:
Wifi is MUCH easier on battery for me.
^ Shift Faced
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Click to collapse
I totally agree. At home my battery stays between 90-100% for a full 24 hours before it starts to drop on my Moment using the ubuntroid 4.2 ROM. If I pull my phone off the charger in the morning for work I'm at 70% by the time I get back home.