Database Users

Battery life on GPRS vs UMTS/HSDPA

Hi all,
Could anyone clarify that running on UMTS/HSDPA data drains the battery faster than on GPRS/EDGE?
Personally, I do feel the difference. Pls correct me if I am wrong about this.
Cheers,
Mark

Hi Mark,
Although the manual says there is a difference and on paper UMTS does require more processing power and therefore battery usage than 2G (HSPDA more so again but it's only active when browsing on an HSDPA network) in real life use you will probably not be majorly effected.
It can also be down to the location you use the phone. If it's a weak UMTS signal then the phone will be working harder to 'decode' the UMTS signal or if you are near a location area boundry your phone might be switching between location area A and B and transmitting location update massages alot which in turn will use more battery again.
I tend to charge my phone overnight and not once have I ran out of battery - infact I don't think I've seen it bellow 60% and I'm connected to UMTS most of the time.
Gav.

turn ON/OFF HSDPA

hi all,
Can anyone tell me how can I turn on/off HSDPA?
As HSDPA drains my battery like hell compare to a normal UMTS network.
What I need to do is to turn off HSDPA when I need to remain connected for a long period of time such as agilemessenger. HSDPA can drain my battery from 100% to zero within less than 3 hours. I strongly believe a normal UMTS (without HSDPA) can last the battery a lot longer.
Pls tell me if you have any suggestions or correct me if my thought is wrong.
Mark

Hello,
You can do it with fit4cat hermes tweaker.
I attach this ZIP file.
Good use

can anyone comment on whether this indeeds help with battery life? I need my data on all the time so any help on that front would be cool. And if so how much does it conserve?
thanks

NOOOO ... dont use the fit4cat update for this .. it's not supposed to be used on production devices that have their HSDPA enabled already ..
best option will be to apply the reg hack to enable the phone band settings on the Cingular 8525 (Cingular wisely decided to disable this, look on the wiki for this reg update) .. and select GSM to back down to GSM network ...
Depending on your usage of UMTS the device might get hot .. so using the GSM bands will definitely be helpful if the 8525 is getting hot ..

i had also created a cab for the band selection
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=283797

gravejoker said:
NOOOO ... dont use the fit4cat update for this .. it's not supposed to be used on production devices that have their HSDPA enabled already ..
best option will be to apply the reg hack to enable the phone band settings on the Cingular 8525 (Cingular wisely decided to disable this, look on the wiki for this reg update) .. and select GSM to back down to GSM network ...
Depending on your usage of UMTS the device might get hot .. so using the GSM bands will definitely be helpful if the 8525 is getting hot ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your suggestions.
If you have read my thread clearly, I am not intending to downgrade my network back to GSM.
I am intending to disable HSDPA only, I still want my UMTS connection.
Mark

gui62112 said:
Hello,
You can do it with fit4cat hermes tweaker.
I attach this ZIP file.
Good use
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your attachment. I have successfully installed the tweaker, however, failed to run it.
Other than this tweaker, any other method to switch off HSDPA??
Again, I still need my UMTS, just want to turn of HSDPA (3.5G) only.
Mark

my bad ... didnt understand your first email properly ... And personally, I havent seen any such hacks to disable just HSDPA (UMTS still working) so far for the TyTN ... Maybe pof or Sleuth255 know something ...
Question tho - How do you know that HSDPA drains more battery than just UMTS?

gravejoker said:
my bad ... didnt understand your first email properly ... And personally, I havent seen any such hacks to disable just HSDPA (UMTS still working) so far for the TyTN ... Maybe pof or Sleuth255 know something ...
Question tho - How do you know that HSDPA drains more battery than just UMTS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Made a simple experiment.
As I have tried between 2 carrier SIM cards.
Carrier A supports HSDPA, it drains my battery from 100% to zero in less than 2.5 hours with MSN or agile Messenger connected.
Carrier B supports only normal UMTS, my battery managed to survive around 8 to 10 hours with messenger connected as well.
I think this can pretty much prove that HSDPA drains the battery much worse compare to a UMTS network.
Mark

IMO that does not necessarily mean that HSDPA network sucks up more power than UMTS .. it's possible that Carrier A might have a really bad data network where your handset is timing out while trying to make a data connection and is constantly re-trying .. this could be a real drain on the battery ...
Anyways .. just my 2c ..

I have the opposite problem. I get much better battery life at home on the HSPDA network than I do at work on a UMTS network...
I charged my phone Friday night and used it for maybe 30 minutes on Saturday/Sunday (voice) and an hour and a half of streaming radio on Saturday and was still at 30% early this (Monday) morning.

A lot of folks get similar battery life with just HSDPA/UMTS usage...

In idle mode it is always UMTS signaling ( even you see HS ) hence if you are not in a data session the battery usage is the same
In dedicated mode, Uplink is always UMTS but the downlink is HS. It is normal that the battery consumption increases with higher bandwidth. Notice that if you remain iddle for say t sec ( set by the operator) the system will downgrade you to UMTS.

markyeungcy said:
Made a simple experiment.
As I have tried between 2 carrier SIM cards.
Carrier A supports HSDPA, it drains my battery from 100% to zero in less than 2.5 hours with MSN or agile Messenger connected.
Carrier B supports only normal UMTS, my battery managed to survive around 8 to 10 hours with messenger connected as well.
I think this can pretty much prove that HSDPA drains the battery much worse compare to a UMTS network.
Mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this could be caused by carrier A's tower being farther away, causing the phone to transmit at a higher power level. the data transmissions will make the power draw even higher, and you'll see extreme differences in battery life between the two.
hsdpa is slightly less power efficient than umts for a number of reasons (processor overhead, different transmit power and channel management protocols) but i seriously doubt it's an 80% reduction in battery life. i can't see many manufacturers buying into hsdpa technology if such incredibly poor power management was a side effect.

2g to 3g power usage

Ive seen some apps that switch from 2g to 3g and vice versa in different situations such as when the phone goes to standby or when certain applications are opened. However on my g1 (i know they are different hardware and os) switching from 2g to 3g and vice Versa used more energy than simply leaving it on one of them. Is this the case on the hd2?

yes it is still the case.
I live on the edge of my 3g area, ranging from 3 bar 2g up to 3 bar 3g, and normally keep my phone on 2g only, but if I forget I lose around an extra 25% battery thought the day, say... 12 hours.

samsamuel said:
yes it is still the case.
I live on the edge of my 3g area, ranging from 3 bar 2g up to 3 bar 3g, and normally keep my phone on 2g only, but if I forget I lose around an extra 25% battery thought the day, say... 12 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, i guess ill just have to stick to 2g.

i live in an area with great t-mobile coverage (both 2g and 3g) and i noticed 3g uses a lot more power than 2g, so what i do is i keep it on 2g most of the time and turn on 3g when i need it the most (gps, quick google searches etc) battery lasts a lot longer than leaving it on 3g all day.

guys.. this pertains to your discussion. there is an app developed called wmlonglife
which keeps your phone in 2g mode until you launch an app that requires 3g then it auto switches it on then off when your done. it does other stuff too like turn off 3g when your screen is off... or turn off 3g when ur using wifi... its perfect. i got at LEAST +25 % longer time between charges on ym HD2 because of this app.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=478519
so there. hope that helps you out some
below is a snippet from that page
Code:
About
WMLongLife is an automatic 2G/3G band-switching solution. It will keep your device in 2G when you do not need to use 3G, and will switch to 3G automatically when you do need it. For most users, having your device in 2G uses much less battery, and thus your phone lasts longer on a single charge. 2G also usually generates less radiation than 3G, so it will likely be better for your gonads (if you have them) as well (see this thread for a discussion about that) - think of your hypothetical future children!
Main features
* 2G/3G (auto)/3G (only) automatic band switching based on:
- Running programs and their needs
- Availability of Wi-Fi
- Availability of USB
- Roaming [note: most roaming options have been removed, use the RoamFreely (marketplace) tool instead]
* Idle data connections disconnect based on running programs (note that unlike the registry tweak this does not break simultaneous voice/data)
* Manual band switching
* Automatically disable data when roaming (including AGPS)
* Pauses applications while switching bands (so you don't get networking errors)
* Several predefined applications supported
* Support for HTC/MSM72xx GSM devices (GSM/EDGE vs UMTS/HSDPA)
* Support for HTC/MSM75xx CDMA devices (1xRTT vs EV-DO)
* Support for various Samsung GSM devices (GSM/EDGE vs UMTS/HSDPA)

Battery Life Improvement Tips

this is by no means a definitive list, but here are a few links to articles i have read that have helped improve my battery life drastically. if you have any other useful information, please share.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
instead of thinking, 'i need to replace the battery because it doesn't last long enough', try thinking 'how can i use my phone in a manner which doesn't unnecessarily drain its battery'.
HowToGeek.com - Complete Guide to Maximizing Your Android Phones Battery Life
Lifehacker.com - Android Task Killers Explained; What They do and Why You Shouldn't Use Them
Reddit.com - I Stopped Using a Task Killer Last Week to See if There is a Difference; There is, and its Huge
Reddit.com - Further Discussion on the Proper Use of Task Killers
Lifehacker.com - JuiceDefender Simplifies Automated Android Battery Saving
Lifehacker.com - Watchdog Monitors Your Android for Runaway Processes

Thanks for this -

Good tips. Thank you for posting.
I found a tip about reconfiguring the radio settings here:
community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/96/p/7495/34268.aspx
"I have an HTC Aria, I found out that the radio is setup completely wrong (power hungry) by default. I can now get over 48 hours of moderate use out of a phone that was barely able to make it to 12 hours before.
First of all, on AT&T, GSM (which is the 2.5G EDGE network) is much more power efficient than CDMA (which is 3G).
The default settings for 2-3G, have the phone constantly trying to find the strongest CDMA tower-signal it can find for 3G. If it can't find any 3G, it switches to 2.5G (EDGE). This eats your battery and is why your fancy new smart phone has a usable life of only 8-12 hours.
Now, the reason that your phone is always searching for the best signal is that, in area with only average coverage, the phone will always be trying to get you the best connection. This makes AT&T's 3G feel fastest and you will always get the most 'bars' available - at least while your phone's battery holds out.
Luckily, some engineer over a decade ago came up with a solution. Instead of scanning, have the phone ask the current tower for a list of nearby towers. This is called a PRL.
The way the PRL works, the phone contacts the tower to which it is connected and asks the tower for a list of nearby towers and their power outputs. Then the phone will base its decisions to switch towers based on that list.
Where I live, 3G is everywhere and making the phone constantly search for a better tower is a waste of time and energy. So instead, I switched my phone to prefer GSM (ie. EDGE) over CDMA unless there is a poor signal, then it switches to scanning for 3G (which supposedly has more range and less interference) just like it used to.
The settings to do this are normally hidden by the carrier. For AT&T on the Aria, I had to enter a USSD code:
*#*#4636#*#*
Then select Phone Information from the menu. The drop down you want is called Set preferred network type: and the option I selected was GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) and my battery life has been fantastic."
Has anyone tried this? How did it go?
Thanks.
--fnds

fnds said:
Good tips. Thank you for posting.
I found a tip about reconfiguring the radio settings here:
community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/96/p/7495/34268.aspx
"I have an HTC Aria, I found out that the radio is setup completely wrong (power hungry) by default. I can now get over 48 hours of moderate use out of a phone that was barely able to make it to 12 hours before.
First of all, on AT&T, GSM (which is the 2.5G EDGE network) is much more power efficient than CDMA (which is 3G).
The default settings for 2-3G, have the phone constantly trying to find the strongest CDMA tower-signal it can find for 3G. If it can't find any 3G, it switches to 2.5G (EDGE). This eats your battery and is why your fancy new smart phone has a usable life of only 8-12 hours.
Now, the reason that your phone is always searching for the best signal is that, in area with only average coverage, the phone will always be trying to get you the best connection. This makes AT&T's 3G feel fastest and you will always get the most 'bars' available - at least while your phone's battery holds out.
Luckily, some engineer over a decade ago came up with a solution. Instead of scanning, have the phone ask the current tower for a list of nearby towers. This is called a PRL.
The way the PRL works, the phone contacts the tower to which it is connected and asks the tower for a list of nearby towers and their power outputs. Then the phone will base its decisions to switch towers based on that list.
Where I live, 3G is everywhere and making the phone constantly search for a better tower is a waste of time and energy. So instead, I switched my phone to prefer GSM (ie. EDGE) over CDMA unless there is a poor signal, then it switches to scanning for 3G (which supposedly has more range and less interference) just like it used to.
The settings to do this are normally hidden by the carrier. For AT&T on the Aria, I had to enter a USSD code:
*#*#4636#*#*
Then select Phone Information from the menu. The drop down you want is called Set preferred network type: and the option I selected was GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) and my battery life has been fantastic."
Has anyone tried this? How did it go?
Thanks.
--fnds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about the stock rom, but on cm roms there is the option to add this option into the power widget bar and makes switching between modes a one click affair. I keep my phone on 2g (gsm) unless I'm trying to watch a video. It definitely helps.
Sent from my cm7 Aria using XDA App

fnds said:
Good tips. Thank you for posting.
I found a tip about reconfiguring the radio settings here:
community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/96/p/7495/34268.aspx
"I have an HTC Aria, I found out that the radio is setup completely wrong (power hungry) by default. I can now get over 48 hours of moderate use out of a phone that was barely able to make it to 12 hours before.
First of all, on AT&T, GSM (which is the 2.5G EDGE network) is much more power efficient than CDMA (which is 3G).
The default settings for 2-3G, have the phone constantly trying to find the strongest CDMA tower-signal it can find for 3G. If it can't find any 3G, it switches to 2.5G (EDGE). This eats your battery and is why your fancy new smart phone has a usable life of only 8-12 hours.
Now, the reason that your phone is always searching for the best signal is that, in area with only average coverage, the phone will always be trying to get you the best connection. This makes AT&T's 3G feel fastest and you will always get the most 'bars' available - at least while your phone's battery holds out.
Luckily, some engineer over a decade ago came up with a solution. Instead of scanning, have the phone ask the current tower for a list of nearby towers. This is called a PRL.
The way the PRL works, the phone contacts the tower to which it is connected and asks the tower for a list of nearby towers and their power outputs. Then the phone will base its decisions to switch towers based on that list.
Where I live, 3G is everywhere and making the phone constantly search for a better tower is a waste of time and energy. So instead, I switched my phone to prefer GSM (ie. EDGE) over CDMA unless there is a poor signal, then it switches to scanning for 3G (which supposedly has more range and less interference) just like it used to.
The settings to do this are normally hidden by the carrier. For AT&T on the Aria, I had to enter a USSD code:
*#*#4636#*#*
Then select Phone Information from the menu. The drop down you want is called Set preferred network type: and the option I selected was GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) and my battery life has been fantastic."
Has anyone tried this? How did it go?
Thanks.
--fnds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am trying that out and using GSM (PRL), it seems to do very well, and automatically switches between HSDPA and EDGE

Just switched mine from WCDMA preferred to the CDMA/GSM Auto (PRL)
I'll see how it goes.

that battery has lasted longer than usual, even with the extreme cold of the midwest, since I was shoveling for 3 hours. 8 hours off of charger, moderate use, still at 80% with GSM (PRL) on

tried the GSM(PRL) thing, works great! thanks for this thread

Been noticing the drain, too. I've switched to CDMA/GSM Auto (PRL), but it still shows the "H" at the top? I think that's correct, but wanted to ask.

So how often is it kicking you guys to EDGE? It may give you better battery life, but your data will be slow as hell if you aren't on 3G no? Or do you guys not care?

gtg465x said:
So how often is it kicking you guys to EDGE? It may give you better battery life, but your data will be slow as hell if you aren't on 3G no? Or do you guys not care?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I switched to cdma/gsm auto (prl) about a week ago and mine hasn't switched over to Edge at all.
Sent from my cm7 Aria using XDA App

fnds said:
Good tips. Thank you for posting.
I found a tip about reconfiguring the radio settings here:
community.htc.com/na/htc-forums/android/f/96/p/7495/34268.aspx
"I have an HTC Aria, I found out that the radio is setup completely wrong (power hungry) by default. I can now get over 48 hours of moderate use out of a phone that was barely able to make it to 12 hours before.
First of all, on AT&T, GSM (which is the 2.5G EDGE network) is much more power efficient than CDMA (which is 3G).
The default settings for 2-3G, have the phone constantly trying to find the strongest CDMA tower-signal it can find for 3G. If it can't find any 3G, it switches to 2.5G (EDGE). This eats your battery and is why your fancy new smart phone has a usable life of only 8-12 hours.
Now, the reason that your phone is always searching for the best signal is that, in area with only average coverage, the phone will always be trying to get you the best connection. This makes AT&T's 3G feel fastest and you will always get the most 'bars' available - at least while your phone's battery holds out.
Luckily, some engineer over a decade ago came up with a solution. Instead of scanning, have the phone ask the current tower for a list of nearby towers. This is called a PRL.
The way the PRL works, the phone contacts the tower to which it is connected and asks the tower for a list of nearby towers and their power outputs. Then the phone will base its decisions to switch towers based on that list.
Where I live, 3G is everywhere and making the phone constantly search for a better tower is a waste of time and energy. So instead, I switched my phone to prefer GSM (ie. EDGE) over CDMA unless there is a poor signal, then it switches to scanning for 3G (which supposedly has more range and less interference) just like it used to.
The settings to do this are normally hidden by the carrier. For AT&T on the Aria, I had to enter a USSD code:
*#*#4636#*#*
Then select Phone Information from the menu. The drop down you want is called Set preferred network type: and the option I selected was GSM/CDMA auto (PRL) and my battery life has been fantastic."
Has anyone tried this? How did it go?
Thanks.
--fnds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my HTC Liberty using XDA App

I have know idea how to do this. I dial *#*#4636#*#* and it calls it and says blah blah wrong number. Can somebody explain please. I'm a noober on this one.
"the only good bug is a dead bug"

Figured it out. I use dialer 2 app for my default phone. Apparently you have to use the stock dialer to enter ussd code.
"the only good bug is a dead bug"

Wifi's effect on Battery life.

So, is it harder on my battery to be connected to wifi or not? TIA

No offense, but you start question threads on a development forum that are easily answered with google. A thread should only be started when all resources have been exhausted and the answer can't be found elsewhere.
Wifi effect on Battery life with android
good day.

No, it's not. 3G uses more battery, especially when the signal is fluctuating all over the place.

I'm actually a perfect candidate for this, as in my apt, 3G signal is rather weak. I'm gonna leave the wifi on and see what happens.
I've been getting GREAT battery life with stock Voodoo and no wifi at all, just GPS turned off except when Im using it, and now I'm gonna try with wifi on at all times at home, and at work, and see what happens.
I'll report back tomorrow after work.

I can verify that having wifi on in low 3g areas helps tremedously. At work I get 1 bar and it fluctuates between 1x and 3g so I have wifi enabled all the time. After being in the office a majority of the day for about 8 hours I'm down to about 75% when I leave. If I leave wifi disabled and rely on 3g I'll leave with about 49-55%. It's the same at home except it is 1 bar of 3g so battery drain isn't that bad. I use a program called y5 that enables and disables wifi according to location. It uses Cell towers instead of GPS so not too bad of a strain on battery. YMMV
jv

johnnyv5 said:
I can verify that having wifi on in low 3g areas helps tremedously. At work I get 1 bar and it fluctuates between 1x and 3g so I have wifi enabled all the time. After being in the office a majority of the day for about 8 hours I'm down to about 75% when I leave. If I leave wifi disabled and rely on 3g I'll leave with about 49-55%. It's the same at home except it is 1 bar of 3g so battery drain isn't that bad. I use a program called y5 that enables and disables wifi according to location. It uses Cell towers instead of GPS so not too bad of a strain on battery. YMMV
jv
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll go further than that. Even with a strong 3G signal at work having Wifi on uses less battery then 3G only on my stock (waiting for the right Froyo) Fascinate. With my crappy 3G signal at home there is no question like previously stated.