Database Users

Batterylife, 3G vs. 4G

Okay, so WiFi is usually better than 3G when it comes to battery life; but what about WiMax? I don't have a stable signal yet so I can't reliably test the two. What are ya'll experiences (for those within a reliable 4G area)? Better, the same, worse, or a lot worse?

Award Tour said:
Okay, so WiFi is usually better than 3G when it comes to battery life; but what about WiMax? I don't have a stable signal yet so I can't reliably test the two. What are ya'll experiences (for those within a reliable 4G area)? Better, the same, worse, or a lot worse?
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I don't have reliable 4G in my area, but I notice that even turning on the wimax 4G radio dramatically drains my battery. Don't know if its becasue its constantly searching for signal or just becasue the radio is turned on. My 2 cents, but I know it's not very thorough..

Any time you have a radio turned on and do not have a signal it will drain the battery trying to find a signal.
If you go to an area with poor 3g service, your battery will drain crazy.
They are testing 4g in my area, so it is up and down a lot, so I cannot test.
From reading other posts, I believe 4g may take slightly more battery.

Since Froyo has been released, the 4G battery drain isn't nearly as bad as it was on 2.1. I've noticed that the speeds have substantially increased as well as better battery management as well.

infamousjax said:
Since Froyo has been released, the 4G battery drain isn't nearly as bad as it was on 2.1. I've noticed that the speeds have substantially increased as well as better battery management as well.
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Yeah, that's why I wanted to see how things are now. We all know how 4G got slammed by reviewers for killing the battery, but the new radio might have changed that. I'm just curious at how it compares to 3G now under ideal conditions (good signal).

I have full 4G coverage where I live and to be honest when 4G is on, the battery drainage difference is not much, when compared to 3G.

I have 4G in my area as well, but I leave it off because it goes back and forth from being connected to not being connected. I did notice last night that my battery went from 70% to 5% over night... Anyone know what could cause that?

pscalett said:
I have 4G in my area as well, but I leave it off because it goes back and forth from being connected to not being connected. I did notice last night that my battery went from 70% to 5% over night... Anyone know what could cause that?
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I have the same problem. I'm in the Baltimore area and the 3G/4G switches back and forth. I figured out that when the phone isn't in 4G, it searches for a 4G connection, but you can put it to 3G only (with an app called Phone Info) until Verizon is done with their 4G coverage.

4G uses more power than 3g, which uses more power than wifi.
4g<3g<wifi.

it's significantly worse on 4G, so much so that I have an extended battery and I still don't use it.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

AvatarOfFrost said:
I have full 4G coverage where I live and to be honest when 4G is on, the battery drainage difference is not much, when compared to 3G.
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there is something wrong with your phone then, maybe it's not sleeping. you should be noticing a huge difference.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

3rd day with phone, 2 self resets already

Ok, so what happenned on the 2 instances that this happenned was all of a sudden I lost cellular signal and the phone made a sound and the signal bars switched to a circular sign with the line across it. I put the phone in airplane mode but nothing happenned, within a min phone restarted it self...
The phone is stock. No root or anything like that.
Ps... using the keyboard to type this, and its much easier compard to my old droids kb.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Weird. Haven't experienced that before myself. I have had it lose signal and display the circle with a line through it but it's not very often and only for a second or two.

Just did it again when I went into pandora. I realized its actually not resetting, but the phone freezes up and everything reloads. Including signal and 3G... the screen shutz off and you can't turn it back on until it reloads
Sent from Epic 4G

I had the same problem with mine. I exchanged it for another one and have had no problems since
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Damn. Just when I get it the way I wanted it... Ugh...
What exactly was yours doing big jim?
Sent from Epic 4G

Your second thread mention "problems" you have with your phone. Go to a Sprint store.

I agree exchange it urs must be defective. A couple others have hd same issue.
Sent from my Epic 4G

I had the same problem on my original Epic. I had three problems in total on that phone.
Samsung's crap coding that caused the phone to not sleep. (fixed after 2nd update)
The phone would randomly restart itself
During calls, the screen would freeze while illuminated. The call wasn't interrupted, but aftwards I had to pull the battery.
In the end I had to exchange the phone for another. Only problem was, the new phone had that couple millimeter gap with the slider. Sprint said it wasn't enough for third exchange though.

Man, this sucks... Just when I put all the apps I wanted on it and got it running the way I want it...
I'm gonna give it 1 more week see what happens, then return perhaps for another epic. I'm pretty sure I'll be sticking to the epic though, i really like the camera capabilities of the phone.
I'm actually going to run 4 tests this week
I'm going to leave the phone untouched from 10:00 to 21:00 and note the percentage in battery with juice defender on/off and also noLED on/off, see what happens... to make it even, i'll just leave the phone in my car, and it won't be used except it's usual email checking/texts/missed calls etc.
my droid unused for that period of time usually was around 80%. it was running a custom rom with 1 ghz kernel as well, so same power requirements i'd say. except epic has a bigger battery.

Battery is pretty bad with the Epic but Im not surprised at all about that. I have about 50% right now with heavy texting, a few phone calls, and listening to music. 8hrs unplugged. I think it would make it to 14-15 hrs easy with heavy use.
Phone calls kill the battery the most I believe.
And I'm using Juice Defender.

Mine was dying with heavy texting, some GPS and browsing within 6-7 hours, no phone calls....
I did a little test today.
When I'm at the police academy my phone is in my car from 1000 to 2100. My rooted 1ghz droid would be at 80% by 2100. it'd get it's regular share of texting/emails and all that I couldn't look at until 2100.
I did the same thing today with the Epic, with juice defender, it was at 79%, so pretty much exactly the same...
tomorrow I'll do the same test with JD off and see if it makes a diff

HI
razorseal said:
Man, this sucks... Just when I put all the apps I wanted on it and got it running the way I want it...
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Use titanium backup and u can restore all ur apps n settings in a jif
Sent from my Epic 4G

I have just installed Juice Defender (free version) and using it as installed. I'll see if it helps. I have a question about the status of TRAFFIC, it is listed as "Leave Data/WiFi enabled while >50KB/15s", what does this mean? I can guess that JD will leave the Data connection ON, even if it is scheduled OFF, if the phone is sending/receiving data at a rate greater than 50KB/15s. Is this close?
Thanks
arewin

othan1 said:
Weird. Haven't experienced that before myself. I have had it lose signal and display the circle with a line through it but it's not very often and only for a second or two.
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Mine has been doing this every once in awhile. Even in a good signal area, its like the radio randomly decides to reset. I'm currently trying to see if its a software or hardware thing.

Sadly the modem was backported from the samsung moment. It has only partof it power managment system in it it will befixed swhen froyo comes
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

I am having the same problem with my phone suddenly. If I have multiple apps open, such as radio, browser, and facebook at the same time, it seems to cause it to reset itself. It's not a full hard reset, but more of a soft one, screen goes black and everything starts up as if the phone was just turned on.
Maybe it's time for a replacement?

"zzz" on the 4g sign

I have always wondered when the 4g sign gets the little zzz on top of it replacing the little wifi type sign, does it mean that the 4g is temporary disabled or that there's no data being transfered over its connection.
In short, is it equivalent to the arrows on the 3g sign being grayed out instead of colored in?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

yes, in other words its sleeping

Does that mean it's not draining my battery like it does on tha Evo ? Because they tell me to turn tha toggle off on my Evo if im not in a 4g area.I hope I made any sense.thx

Pito2k6 said:
Does that mean it's not draining my battery like it does on tha Evo ? Because they tell me to turn tha toggle off on my Evo if im not in a 4g area.I hope I made any sense.thx
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That is a good question. I want to know the answer to that myself. If your not in a 4g area then it will use up more battery because your device will be searching for a 4g signal. But if your getting 4g signal I don't really know if it uses more battery by keeping it on.
I keep my 4g on all the time. My battery life was crappy before using 4g and it just as crappy after using it.

Silent25r said:
That is a good question. I want to know the answer to that myself. If your not in a 4g area then it will use up more battery because your device will be searching for a 4g signal. But if your getting 4g signal I don't really know if it uses more battery by keeping it on.
I keep my 4g on all the time. My battery life was crappy before using 4g and it just as crappy after using it.
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i imagine that the radio for 4g uses more then 3g radios but thats because the tech is new.. so will it eat more battery idling then 3g? i imagine so

No, while ur 4g is on it pretty much drains the same amount of battery power, my advice is if ur not in a 4g area just b safe and cut it off...but the zzz's aren't really saving power if u wanna save power ull actually have 2 turn 4g off

I'm not an expert on 4G but I *think* the Zzz indicates 4G connected in sleep mode which keeps your mobile IP session up. This in turn gives the spectrum back to the tower you're on to use for active connections. If traffic originates on either side (e.g. from your mobile device or from the internet) the mobile IP session is still active so your device is addressable by IP, traffic can be routed to or from, and the tower base station controller (BSC) allocates some spectrum/RF to your device for the traffic to begin flowing. In theory, the base station controller could allocate multiple WiMax frequency bands if you needed the bandwidth, but that would depend on how the BSC is configured, the load on that specific tower (both on RF and backhaul), and what the demand was like. It would save some battery being in Zzz/sleep, but not as much as turning the 4G radio off entirely when you don't need it.
I'm on Quantum ROM 1.5 which is a Froyo Beta build - I've noticed I have enough battery life with this ROM to turn on 4G on all day if I feel like it, but frankly I'm around WiFi 95% of my day - so I don't bother with 4G unless I really need speed on the move (away from home/work).

shabbypenguin said:
i imagine that the radio for 4g uses more then 3g radios but thats because the tech is new.. so will it eat more battery idling then 3g? i imagine so
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I think you're right shabbypenguin. CDMA EVDO chipsets have been around for awhile and fairly mature. WiMAX chipsets are available from a few different vendors and haven't been around as long, hence probably not fully optimized for performance and power use/battery life.

Concerns about Xoom 4G upgrade (Verizon)

I have read some disturbing reviews about the Thunderbolt which is a 4G LTE Verizon phone. Although the phone itself sounds great, what concerns me are reports that the battery life is around 4-5 hours with 4G turned on.
So my question and concern is, once we upgrade the Xoom to 4G when available, are we going to be victims of the same poor battery life with 4G?

You're not required to have data connection on all the time. A toggle switch widget can fix the problem. Just turns it on when needed. But yeah I do agree that 4g and 3g will drain the battery.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

I already keep my Xoom on airplane mode to disable all radios that I don't specifically activate. Seems to help with battery life. I downloaded some toggle Widgets to shortcut all the steps.
[sent with Xooming Android technology]

wang1404 said:
You're not required to have data connection on all the time. A toggle switch widget can fix the problem. Just turns it on when needed. But yeah I do agree that 4g and 3g will drain the battery.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
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That is not really a solution. Currently with my Xoom, I can be on Wifi at home and when I am out, 3G kicks in. I do not want to toggle a widget when I need data (which is always) as I am sure most other people will not want to do. My battery life is totally acceptable currently with 3G and no toggling on/off. So will the 4G upgrade cause the battery life to be cut in half or worse?

keitht said:
That is not really a solution. Currently with my Xoom, I can be on Wifi at home and when I am out, 3G kicks in. I do not want to toggle a widget when I need data (which is always) as I am sure most other people will not want to do. My battery life is totally acceptable currently with 3G and no toggling on/off. So will the 4G upgrade cause the battery life to be cut in half or worse?
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I seriously doubt 4g will be much (if any) worse than 3g is now. The only way would be that you are on it more and keeping the screen on for longer times because it will RULE! lol

ghoticov said:
I seriously doubt 4g will be much (if any) worse than 3g is now. The only way would be that you are on it more and keeping the screen on for longer times because it will RULE! lol
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Just debating here but why do you think that? Why would Thunderbolt have a 4-5 hour battery life using 4G? You think that poor life is not 4G LTE related? And they have the luxury of swapping batteries which we cannot do with the Xoom.

I don't know how closely it is to sprint's 4g, but enabling 4g on my evo is a battery killer too. the good thing is that you can toggle 4g off and run in 3G mode. no need to disable data completely

madsquabbles said:
I don't know how closely it is to sprint's 4g, but enabling 4g on my evo is a battery killer too. the good thing is that you can toggle 4g off and run in 3G mode. no need to disable data completely
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That begs the question,why get 4g if you have to manage it manually like that?

keitht said:
That begs the question,why get 4g if you have to manage it manually like that?
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Keep in mind, that the 4g upgrade will be OPTIONAL and if you are seriously debating whether the upgrade will be worth it or not, then simply don't send it in for the upgrade! The less people to send it in (like you), would in turn mean faster return time for my upgrade! I personally don't give a damn about having to click a toggle switch when I want to download at crazy fast speeds!
Just my .02
I can also guarantee you that 4g will have a pretty noticeable impact on battery life. And to be perfectly honest with you, the HTC Thunderbolt (stock), even with 4g turned off, still has absolutely horrible battery life.

Instien said:
Keep in mind, that the 4g upgrade will be OPTIONAL and if you are seriously debating whether the upgrade will be worth it or not, then simply don't send it in for the upgrade! The less people to send it in (like you), would in turn mean faster return time for my upgrade! I personally don't give a damn about having to click a toggle switch when I want to download at crazy fast speeds!
Just my .02
I can also guarantee you that 4g will have a pretty noticeable impact on battery life. And to be perfectly honest with you, the HTC Thunderbolt (stock), even with 4g turned off, still has absolutely horrible battery life.
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Your response is very defensive and that is not the purpose of my questions. I am looking for meaningful conversation regarding the possibity that a 4g upgrade will significanty reduce battery life on the Xoom. All speculation but something to talk about.

So what I can gather is more or less around what everyone says. Get your 4g upgrade but don't turn it on and stick to 3g unless you feel you need the speed bump. So nothing will change except you know you have your turbo button-widget (yes old school) available.
That is unless it will be stuck on 4g at all times but looks like that is a feature that is toggled by today's hardware not permanent yet due to battery capacities.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA App

foreverinpanama said:
So what I can gather is more or less around what everyone says. Get your 4g upgrade but don't turn it on and stick to 3g unless you feel you need the speed bump. So nothing will change except you know you have your turbo button-widget (yes old school) available.
That is unless it will be stuck on 4g at all times but looks like that is a feature that is toggled by today's hardware not permanent yet due to battery capacities.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA App
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I am not one to complain without reason but I certainly hope this is not the case.

MY plan is to remove the dummy card right before shipping it out so I can put it back if I am unhappy with the battery life.

In theory, 4g should use less battery, not more. 3g chipset firmware is highly optimized, though, due to the technology having been around for a while.
It may be a few firmware revisions to hit minimum use for 4g, but it shouldn't use dramatically more than 3g.

The answer for this thread is simple. Yes 4G will use more battery power, that's the short end of the stick. If you live in a 4G area and don't need the speed boost and would rather save battery there will be a way to disable 4G and use 3G just like with the thunderbolt or evo
Sent from my Evo using Tapatalk

It isn't speculation. The evo has a long track record with 4g of a very similar type. 4g will be a battery hog. But I never use it on my evo unless I'm tethered or streaming. Otherwise I find 3g more than enough for most tasks. I will send my xoom in for the upgrade. But I don't activate it. I tether it to my evo. But yes it will be a battery hog. Whenever you use cutting edge technology they tends to develop the speed and reliability first and worry about power consumption last.

I work for Verizon and honestly rarely hear many complaints about the battery life on the Thunderbolt. Many of my customers get awesome battery life and we have 4g in my area. The LTE radio does consume more battery than 3g especially if you are downloading a large file or something. Another thing to consider is the Thunderbolt is like a big brother to the Incredible and that phone had HORRIBLE battery life. The Thunderbolt has a much larger screen, 4g, and does not have a very large battery. I don't see 4g having a huge impact for most people but for those that feel it helps there will always be a toggle widget or “turbo button” like someone said earlier. I will definitely be sending mine in right away...
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Ferradinho said:
I work for Verizon and honestly rarely hear many complaints about the battery life on the Thunderbolt. Many of my customers get awesome battery life and we have 4g in my area. The LTE radio does consume more battery than 3g especially if you are downloading a large file or something. Another thing to consider is the Thunderbolt is like a big brother to the Incredible and that phone had HORRIBLE battery life. The Thunderbolt has a much larger screen, 4g, and does not have a very large battery. I don't see 4g having a huge impact for most people but for those that feel it helps there will always be a toggle widget or “turbo button” like someone said earlier. I will definitely be sending mine in right away...
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk
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Sorry but you either live in a nice vacuum or a bubble or a cocoon because EVERYONE I know with this phone (friends, foes and customers too) loves it to death but hates the battery life with 4g on, and by default there's no way to turn off 4g when not needed.
Had to root for some friends and show them the 4g LTE off widget that came out the other day. At least that helps.
As for the Xoom, even if you might not want to use 4g or sign up, still send it in to be done. Definitely will help with resale value down the road.

my friend has the thunderbolt and the battery sucks, and he isn't in a 4g area. Mr verizon rep is on a feel good drug, or something.

keitht said:
I have read some disturbing reviews about the Thunderbolt which is a 4G LTE Verizon phone. Although the phone itself sounds great, what concerns me are reports that the battery life is around 4-5 hours with 4G turned on.
So my question and concern is, once we upgrade the Xoom to 4G when available, are we going to be victims of the same poor battery life with 4G?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's going to drain more then the cdma radio does, at least until the technology and the software support behind it is more mature. But that is to be expected with bleeding technology.
Also remember that part of the battery issues on the TB comes from the fact that people use it alot more then previous phones. Streaming data is alot more power intensive then just the comparable occasional usage their previous device saw. I have a TB and if I use the snot out of it then yeah I can kill the battery in a couple of hours. However if I am busy and use it like I used my D2 or DX then I can get through the day without having to recharge.
Also you can turn just the LTE radio off when you are not using it if you are that concerned
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

battery dropping quick HELP!!

i have a fully charged battery and it was at 80% and few minutes later, it just dropped to 12%. anybody have this kind of issue or similar? any help would be appreciated

What rom are you using.
try fully charging your battery, wiping battery stats, and see if the problem persists.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

I have noticed this in my DX. I was wondering if my battery was on it's way out.
Another thing to consider is that if you're in a poor 3G reception area, it seems to keep pinging away trying to find a good signal. I basically disable 3G and WiFi in some circumstances. But I still see this from time to time.
I'm currently on Liberty ROM v3.

mikecico said:
I have noticed this in my DX. I was wondering if my battery was on it's way out.
Another thing to consider is that if you're in a poor 3G reception area, it seems to keep pinging away trying to find a good signal. I basically disable 3G and WiFi in some circumstances. But I still see this from time to time.
I'm currently on Liberty ROM v3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The same goes for if your in a bad general service area. Putting your phone into airplane mode will significantly save battery life.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk