[Q] Is 4G the main drain on the tbolt battery? - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I am considering switching from the charge to the tbolt. is the 4G radio the main drain on the battery? 4G is not available where I live, so I am wondering if I could get away with the stock battery until it is available in my area. Could I get battery life at least comparable to the DX until it is?

Unless I'm on business, I'm presently in an 3G-exclusive area, and with CM7 my battery drain is 50% cell standby. That said, on BAMF 1.6.3 (Froyo) I didn't experience this much cell standby drain. To be sure, 4G does draw a fair amount of current, especially if the signal is weak.

Not that I can tell. From everything I'm seeing its the half acre of glass on the front of the thing that sucks the battery dry. 4G signal strength shouldn't have any effect at all on the battery because it doesn't use code division multiple access technology which requires the signals from all devices on that tower to have signal strength reaching the tower to be equal. Instead, it requires an advance be built into the signal transmission so that the phone addresses the tower within its time slot. This has no effect on battery drain at all. What will still drain the battery in 4G areas is the connection needed for voice and text, which still uses cdma, if my understanding is correct.

nerozehl said:
Unless I'm on business, I'm presently in an 3G-exclusive area, and with CM7 my battery drain is 50% cell standby. That said, on BAMF 1.6.3 (Froyo) I didn't experience this much cell standby drain. To be sure, 4G does draw a fair amount of current, especially if the signal is weak.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree. If your 4g signal is somewhat weak, your battery will drain fairly quick. You might also notice your battery getting up to 103 degrees Fahrenheit because it keeps trying to get that weak 4g signal.
You could always change it to CDMA prl. That will save your battery and prevent it from drawing current to get a weak 4g signal.

Related

Battery life?

Why is it that when I'm on wifi, my battery last longer vs while I'm on 3G?
Sent from my HTC Aria using XDA Premium App
Wifi uses less power, it's a different frequency, as you're much closer to the wifi device than you would be the 3G cell mast.
plus, 3G need to find signal, when you in a place where 3G signal is weak, it will drain more battery
Use it when you need it...
After serval Test while I was in school and at home I found out:
Edge with Datasync on is the worst! Battery drains in 4 to 5h
Hspda/Hsupa with a good connection is way better. Batterylife 7h
If you just turn if off it saves a lot of energy! Up to 36h
So what I am doing now: I turn the Mobile Network off when I see that little E in the top right corner because the connection is so slow anyway..
Specs of my Phone:
HTC Desire HD with RCMix3D KINGDOM v1.1
1370mAh Battery
For actual data transfer, it depends on how often and how much is being sent.
3G transfers faster, so if you're just going after 1 thing, it can be less draining than 2G, assuming full signal strength on both, because it's in use for less time.
Yes radio and signal strength affect the battery. Some radios work better than others in certain areas thus giving a better signal. If you are right next to a tower your phone will last a while. The phone always tries to get a better signal thus causing drainage.
Thanks dudes, good info
Sent from my HTC Aria using XDA Premium App

Signal has effect on battery life right?

In West Palm I have full signal and wifi on and batt life is like 20 hours with heavy use. Here in West Broward I have 1 bar on and off and no wifi. 3G is ridiculous here. I get 2 hours max. Cant wait to leave tomorrow.
I Haz 3D
Yeah I only get 1 bar where I live and I have horrible battery life.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Signal significantly effects battery life. The more the radio fluctuates between signals and loss/recovery of signal the faster battery will drain.
I update my PRL at least once a week to receive new tower & roaming updates...
Check this out: http://opensignalmaps.com/
i was out riding my motorcycle yesterday and didn't have great signal the whole time. i chewed through 2 stock batteries yesterday. while sitting at Hooters with my phone on the table it would go back and fourth between roaming about once a minute.
needless to say i'm going to try to get it changed out tomorrow for a Photon, that was the last straw.
You are right, but you dont have to frequently update your PRL. Your device will find new towers even if they arent in your current PRL. The only time the PRL really matters is if your carriers gains a completely new roaming partner.
SpartanEvo said:
Signal significantly effects battery life. The more the radio fluctuates between signals and loss/recovery of signal the faster battery will drain.
I update my PRL at least once a week . . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Galaxy Tab using Tapatalk
pretty much, the less bars you have, the more power your phone has to use to get the signal.
My phone is on a death bed right now with this signal.
I Haz 3D
Was the same on the Evo 4G. Weak signal = battery gets raped. I wish they'd put a limit on the current draw. The phone can draw as much as 1 full amp of power searching for/holding a signal in fringe areas.
Mike

Best 4G Signal EVER!

Just realized that that thing I had to climb up to get to my front door is actually a Verizon Cell phone tower!
So, just noticed this condition today and thought I'd share. I have a Smart Action set up to enable my Home Wi-Fi based on location - Trigger is my location; Actions are to turn on Wi-Fi, turn off Data and Max Ringer.
While home this afternoon I just happened to look at my phone and noticed that my battery seemed to be dropping a little quicker than normal and my cell signal strength was max bars which NEVER NEVER happens at home - kind of on the fringe in my house and I'm lucky to get 3 on a good day. I checked network strength and my 4G was 2147483647 db. Gotta be a world record, right? oh wait . . . is more db bad?
Just got me wondering if, while on the fringe, the radio actively looks for a signal (like it does between 1X, 3G and 4G) and maybe gets stuck in some type of high output state. Would explain some of the intermittent hi-temp, unusual battery drain I experience occaisionally/intermittently. Just so we're clear - I'm not complaining at all about my Maxx battery.
Running stock .211 rooted.
jeff_roey said:
Just realized that that thing I had to climb up to get to my front door is actually a Verizon Cell phone tower!
So, just noticed this condition today and thought I'd share. I have a Smart Action set up to enable my Home Wi-Fi based on location - Trigger is my location; Actions are to turn on Wi-Fi, turn off Data and Max Ringer.
While home this afternoon I just happened to look at my phone and noticed that my battery seemed to be dropping a little quicker than normal and my cell signal strength was max bars which NEVER NEVER happens at home - kind of on the fringe in my house and I'm lucky to get 3 on a good day. I checked network strength and my 4G was 2147483647 db. Gotta be a world record, right? oh wait . . . is more db bad?
Just got me wondering if, while on the fringe, the radio actively looks for a signal (like it does between 1X, 3G and 4G) and maybe gets stuck in some type of high output state. Would explain some of the intermittent hi-temp, unusual battery drain I experience occaisionally/intermittently. Just so we're clear - I'm not complaining at all about my Maxx battery.
Running stock .211 rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought after 120 db it actually means you've lost signal.....optimal is between 80 to 120....
I could be wrong
I saw that exact same thing on my Maxx the other day. I also noticed battery declining due to it. Not sure what it means though.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium
squiggie said:
I saw that exact same thing on my Maxx the other day. I also noticed battery declining due to it. Not sure what it means though.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It means your have no signal, and your battery is dying from your LTE radio trying to find signal. dbm between -80 and -120 is not optimal, that is the range where verizon techs will tell you that you may experience data connectivity issues. The lower the dbm the better signal you have, however most extended 4g service areas are at this quality. I have seen some locations, closer to the towers, where I have gotten signal around -60dbm, which gave about 38mbps down and around 16mbps up.
I ordered a sleek 4g signal booster from wilson electronics, which will get here tomorrow, and will let you guys know how much improvement I get in areas with different signal strengths.
i've seen it countless times on my razr. I think it's just a bug
No signal but my signal bars show as full? That makes no sense whatsoever. I think I have to agree that it is just a weird bug.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium
I'll tell the truth. Wilson electronics sleek 4g-v is not going to improve SINR signal strength (that's what you need for better LTE speed), however it will improve RSSI signal, but this is not going to help for LTE. If you want a good LTE amplifier, you are looking to spend about $500 that includes outdoor, indoor antenna and SINR amplifier. SINR is more important then RSSI or DBM for LTE

Using Wifi in an area with poor GSM service?

It has been documented that using wifi when at home (for example) can conserve battery, however in most cases there is a stable GSM signal. For this reason the phone will not waste a lot of battery trying to connect to the cellular network over and over again. However, I have an unusual situation that I would like advice on. My office has TERRIBLE reception and in fact I constantly lose/regain signal all day long. I believe this contributes to relatively low battery life on my phone(s) that I use. We do have office wifi however, and I am wondering how connecting to it will impact my battery. Would that improve the battery drain, or would it actually make it worse?

[Q] Does poor signal affect the battery life significantly?

Hi all!
When I'm at home, I get about 3 bars of 3G signal. I have had this phone for about 3 days and the battery life is really bad, using basic apps drains my battery really fast. Should I change the network to 2G? Does the poor 3G signal affect the battery life significantly?
Much appreciated!
If 2G is enough for you, change it. It uses less battery even with good 3G signal...
And yes, a poor signal always uses much more battery life than good signal, no matter GSM/2G/3G/4G...
Yes, I have noticed that in areas where signal is poor (1-2 bars), battery drains significantly faster. It's quite irritating since this issue is non-existent on iPhones. I wonder if a software update can fix this.
Sharpshooterrr said:
Yes, I have noticed that in areas where signal is poor (1-2 bars), battery drains significantly faster. It's quite irritating since this issue is non-existent on iPhones. I wonder if a software update can fix this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's the technique of every phone, even on iPhones... the amount sure can vary, but it's not inexistent...
I have about 1-2 bars at home and over night it takes about 2-3% of charge, very similar like iPhone I had before...
it does on mine. at work i get full signal and though i use it a fair bit, it doesnt seem to use too much battery but at home where i get terrible battery life it seems to use more battery

Categories

Resources