4G Toggle for VZW SGS3? - Galaxy S III Q&A, (US Carriers)

searched Google, Google Play and XDA. cant find a toggle widget or even a manual method to switch to 3g that works. anyone got any ideas?
the LTE is stupid fast in my area, highest i got so far is 47.7Mbps down and 14.5Mbps up buuuut.... its murdering my battery even at idle.
when i jump on WiFi battery life seems awesome. thinking 3g will be some ware in the middle?
thanks
EDIT
currently best answer : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28597188&postcount=7

40 views and not 1 reply?

I'm curious as well!
I would love to be able to toggle my LTE on and off.
I really hope someone figures this out soon.

Don't see anything out there yet...the Thunderbolt app doesn't work, either. I guess patience is our only option at this point.

Would be very interested in this as well. I used 3g on my thunderbolt 99% of the time to let it last all day, this is a necessary option to have.

yea. dont get me wrong. im really loving how fast the 4G network is. its literally the fastest network ive ever been on hands down.
but... i dont really need that much speed 90% of the time. for general stuff like email and random background data services its just not worth the hit on battery life. even at idle, when im away from Wifi i watch my battery % go down the tubes...

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/10/how-to-turn-off-4g-on-verizons-galaxy-s3/

incubus26jc said:
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/10/how-to-turn-off-4g-on-verizons-galaxy-s3/
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Click to collapse
that worked. thanks!

Thanks for link. Tried that method out, seems like all i get is 1X and never see 3G... Not sure if coverage would play a role in that cuz I have 2 bars at the moment where I work.

try toggling airplane mode to get in to 3G.
so far so good. 4G must have been why my battery was draining so fast. been 30min off the charger @ idle on 3G and still i have 100% battery left. on 4G it would already be down to about 96%.
if someone makes a toggle app that works for the VZW SGS3 i would gladly pay a few bucks for it. :good:

s0me guy said:
try toggling airplane mode to get in to 3G.
so far so good. 4G must have been why my battery was draining so fast. been 30min off the charger @ idle on 3G and still i have 100% battery left. on 4G it would already be down to about 96%.
if someone makes a toggle app that works for the VZW SGS3 i would gladly pay a few bucks for it. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried that and it worked after couple minutes but it keeps going in and out of 3G and sometimes goes into only 1X

must have something to do with the service in your area maybe?
mine seems to work pretty easily. going back into 4G is almost instant. but when i switch into 3G it does take about 30sec or so. sometimes i see it flash the 1X icon but its very quick and only seems to be doing it when i switch it, after that it just stays in 3G.
1hr 20min off the charger and down to 99% this is a HUGE difference from what ive been seeing on 4G. :victory:

maybe. The area is kinda crappy here where I work. Even on my Nexus i was getting 3G but it would go out. We'll see what happens when I leave

Related

Battery life with low reception

I am amazed by the battery management of the phone. Where i work is practically a bunker, almost no signal at all. The phone keeps jumping from sprint to roaming all day. And i still manage to get out of work with 30% battery left. My epic was always on the charger.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
TX2000 said:
I am amazed by the battery management of the phone. Where i work is practically a bunker, almost no signal at all. The phone keeps jumping from sprint to roaming all day. And i still manage to get out of work with 30% battery left. My epic was always on the charger.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine's been good at my office too (virtually no Sprint signal), I'm really happy with the battery life so far. I have missed some calls due to jumping between Sprint and Verizon, but I expected that to happen.
anything you guys did with settings or something, because that is NOT the case with me. In the back office where I work I get low signal and goes to roaming, phone barely lasts the time that im there.
Havent been at work the past two days and the battery life is great, went over 24 hrs without a charge with light usage. Dont really use it that much at work other than a few calls and txts and some very light web browsing in the areas I get data connection, not enough to kill the batter like it does I would think.
kilik64 said:
anything you guys did with settings or something, because that is NOT the case with me. In the back office where I work I get low signal and goes to roaming, phone barely lasts the time that im there.
Havent been at work the past two days and the battery life is great, went over 24 hrs without a charge with light usage. Dont really use it that much at work other than a few calls and txts and some very light web browsing in the areas I get data connection, not enough to kill the batter like it does I would think.
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Click to collapse
I have facebook, htc, etc to manual sync. Other than that is stock
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
If you don't use Facebook or any of the other carrier bloatware, uninstall it via the settings > applications menu. I was surprised how much I could remove without having root, it's really nice to see.
I managed 50 hours off of a single battery change over the past two days, battery saver mode (set to 15% threshold) finally kicked in this morning, but I have great signal strength at home and work.
IMO the battery life is much better at stock on the 3D compared to the 4G, but it still isnt great. Im sure once we get custom kernels and ROMs that things will get better.
TX2000 said:
I am amazed by the battery management of the phone. Where i work is practically a bunker, almost no signal at all. The phone keeps jumping from sprint to roaming all day. And i still manage to get out of work with 30% battery left. My epic was always on the charger.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have 3G on or just 2G?
It shows the 3g icon
Sent from my Xoom using XDA Premium App

Battery life/4G

I've considered switching to VZW from T-Mo. One of my concerns is battery life with 4G. Can 4G be turned off with something like Juice Defender? Do you really need 4G while your phone is sleeping, pushing e-mails?
You can change it to 3g only in the network settings.
The only time I need 4g is when im showing off.
Yes, there is usually a switch between forcing LTE mode, deactivating LTE, or allowing your phone to choose between 4G and 3G based on signal strength.
Another thing to remember is when you're at home, you can use your wifi connection.
I have had both the HTC Thunderbolt and Samsung Droid Charge, so from my experience keeping 4G on is craaaaazy fast battery drain.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Yes, but can I do it systematically? Also, can the phone pick up 4G while you are on a call to instantiate voice & data simultaneously? I would use the data speeds regularly, but don't need them while the screen is off.
BUMP......
It probably can be done with smart actions? I haven't taken a good look at it yet, but seems promising.
Bump bump bump
Bump........
there are 4g toggle apps in the market making swapping service very easy.. 2 nights ago i went about 10 hours w/ 4G on with moderate use before getting a 20% battery warning.. last night i tried 4g off, went to work, forgot to plug my phone in at night and woke up to 50% battery, unplugged for 20 hours (both nights i had a full charge before leaving for work).. it's a pretty drastic difference, 4G is blazing fast tho, i'd love to be able to keep it on 24/7..

Want to do an experiment (Please Read Edit 1 if participating!)

I want to test a theory guys. Anyone else who feels they want to be a part of this feel free.
This is what I want to do. I want to test the actual draw of the screen in a normal days use over 2 days. The first day set to ~25%, the second day set to 75%. What I want to see is how many minutes at those brightness the screen was on. And the difference in the usage on the battery on those 2 days.
You don't have to be dead on with your estimation of time the screen was on, but try to be within a few minutes. If there isn't much of a difference then I believe the screen actually is pulling power while "off" and killing our battery unnecessarily fast.
There is no reason on 12 hours of battery, with screen on less than 30 minutes total that it should consume 65% of the battery! I don't actually see my battery drain 65% right before my eyes while it is on, so something has to be happening behind the scenes.
Edit 1: Post a screenshot of your results from both days. Tell me what connection type you used through the day. What ~% your screen was set to on both days. I only need the screen percentage changed, as long as everything else is consistent it is irrelevant to this test.
Day 1 do a low 20-30% brightness, day 2 do a high 65-75% brightness.
Edit 2: I just realized that when under battery use you can click the specific process (here being Display of course) and it will give you the exact amount of time used by the screen. If you guys could, please post both screenshots, as well as give me the accurate amount of time the display used battery.
AtLemacks said:
There is no reason on 12 hours of battery, with screen on less than 30 minutes total that it should consume 65% of the battery! I don't actually see my battery drain 65% right before my eyes while it is on, so something has to be happening behind the scenes.
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Click to collapse
I don't know if you ever had the original Dinc (I see an Inc 2 in your sig) but on stock ROM that phone constantly reported 60%+ Display usage no matter what you were doing, even lightly used. I crank my brightness down to like 20% permanently. I don't use it outside, so I don't need it super bright. Did it on the Dinc, and I'm doing it with the Rezound. Usually see display around 30-40% unless I'm using it heavily.
And it's not consuming 65% of the entire battery, that is 65% of the total drain is attributed to the display. SO if your battery has gone from 100 to 90% in 30 minutes, and 65% of that is display, your display has drained 6.5% of the total battery.
This is why I said over a day dude. I didn't say tell me what it says right now. If you don't want to be involved in the experiment don't bother posting in this thread. That goes for everyone. I stated 65% of the total consumption. If you really think I am an idiot don't waste mine or your time posting because you will just piss me off and I will report your posts.
If you had read the post correctly you would understand that I get 12 hours or less of battery life while only using the screen for maybe 30 minutes out of that 12 hours. Yet it reports 65% of the consumption is due to the screen even on 20% brightness. Theoretically that means I should be able to use my phone screen for 30 minutes straight and should be able to watch my battery drain 65% in that 30 minutes, which it does not. Therefor there is something else pulling power either stating it is the screen, or the screen is drawing power when off.
Hostility unwarranted. I misread your post, simple explanation.
I'll try cranking my brightness up and see what I get over a day of moderate use, how about that to make up for it?
Lol, Sorry man, I haven't seen you post here before. There are so many members who just post to post. Everyone has their 2 cents, you know what I mean
Appreciate it though!
I'm willing to try this. I'd have to start tomorrow. I also have a few basic questions.
1. How are you estimating time screen is on? Is there a way to do it other than just me paying attention? Cuz that's hard for me.
2. Does that stats page need to be reset at the beginning of each day? Also, where the hell is that thing? I've been to every setting on this phone exploring it and then when I want to find something again I can't!
3. Does it matter what power mode the phone is in?
And I was thinking to add to the test it might be interesting to see what having the screen on "automatic" would do.
1. I don't know of a surefire way, if someone else knows let us know! Otherwise, just a rough estimate is fine 30 mins ~35 minutes really. As long as you don't overshoot too much.
2. You don't need to reset the stats, they do it automatically after being on the charger for an extended period. So if you charge overnight and take it off it will only show from when the phone was disconnected. Settings >About Phone > Battery >Battery Use.
3. Power mode should have no relevance. But I am using "normal".
You're going to have to specify if WiFi or 4g/3g is to be used. I have noticed over the past few days that 4G consumes roughly 1.5-2%/hour less battery than WiFi does. On my Dinc, WiFi would draw a lot less power over time than 3G, but not so with the Rezound. So now I leave it on 4G while it sits idle at work unless I need to download something big, in which case I'll switch to WiFi, even though I have unlimited data and technically don't need to care lol. But I found that with WiFi and 4G both on and WiFi connected, my phone was burning like 5.5% per hour of battery. With 4G on only, I'm going through ~2.5% per hour (these are both with the phone sitting idle, usually in the morning when I'm busy at work). That's pretty much what my Dinc was doing on Wifi. I'll have to try it sometime with WiFi only on, and 4G off to see what happens.
But regardless, please specificy WiFi or 4G. Any testers that volunteer for this will need to leave that connection on as their sole connection during the duration of the test, save for a few mins of variance here and there.
Doesn't seem that should affect how much power the screen itself uses though. He just wants to test screen battery usage, not overall battery usage.
EDIT: Oh, if we are talking percentages then yes, it would matter. I generally leave my phone on 4g unless it decides to turn it off. And I switched to wifi a bit ago since I was required to to download an app from Amazon.
rboddy said:
You're going to have to specify if WiFi or 4g/3g is to be used. I have noticed over the past few days that 4G consumes roughly 1.5-2%/hour less battery than WiFi does. On my Dinc, WiFi would draw a lot less power over time than 3G, but not so with the Rezound. So now I leave it on 4G while it sits idle at work unless I need to download something big, in which case I'll switch to WiFi, even though I have unlimited data and technically don't need to care lol. But I found that with WiFi and 4G both on and WiFi connected, my phone was burning like 5.5% per hour of battery. With 4G on only, I'm going through ~2.5% per hour (these are both with the phone sitting idle, usually in the morning when I'm busy at work). That's pretty much what my Dinc was doing on Wifi. I'll have to try it sometime with WiFi only on, and 4G off to see what happens.
But regardless, please specificy WiFi or 4G. Any testers that volunteer for this will need to leave that connection on as their sole connection during the duration of the test, save for a few mins of variance here and there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are describing exactly the opposite of my experience with 4G vs WiFi battery consumption.
Hmm, interesting. Maybe I just have really good 4G signal? I too thought it was weird, given my experience with the Dinc being exactly the opposite of the Rezound. Trust me, I'd love to know why it happens that way too lol. But again, I shouldn't care because I have unlimited data, and the 4G is faster than the WiFi here at work and about as fast as my home connection (I average on the lower end of the 4G scale, about 10-15Mbps), so I'll probably just leave it on 4G for now unless I'm at home and need to FTP to my laptop or something.
And feralicious, I agree to an extent, but to get truly accurate results we at least need to know what X person was using for data over Y person, since both connections will draw power at a different rate. The only other accurate way to do it would be to keep the phone in airplane mode. And since he's using approximately 5% per hour of battery, whereas I'm using 2-3%, maybe he's on Wifi where I'm on 4G. As in any testing you need to have a control along with the variables, and the data connection is a big variable that could easily be made a control. Just my $.02
rboddy said:
Hmm, interesting. Maybe I just have really good 4G signal? I too thought it was weird, given my experience with the Dinc being exactly the opposite of the Rezound. Trust me, I'd love to know why it happens that way too lol. But again, I shouldn't care because I have unlimited data, and the 4G is faster than the WiFi here at work and about as fast as my home connection (I average on the lower end of the 4G scale, about 10-15Mbps), so I'll probably just leave it on 4G for now unless I'm at home and need to FTP to my laptop or something.
And feralicious, I agree to an extent, but to get truly accurate results we at least need to know what X person was using for data over Y person, since both connections will draw power at a different rate. The only other accurate way to do it would be to keep the phone in airplane mode. And since he's using approximately 5% per hour of battery, whereas I'm using 2-3%, maybe he's on Wifi where I'm on 4G. As in any testing you need to have a control along with the variables, and the data connection is a big variable that could easily be made a control. Just my $.02
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I just realized that and edited my post, didn't see you had responded.
For the record, 4g seems to pull more power than wifi for me as well.
Just post a screenshot of your results, tell me the amount of time your screen was on, and what your primary connection was. This is the only info I need. Your connection will only minutely affect the percentage that the screen draws. I only want to know the difference between screen high and screen low. So long as everything else is consistent on your end your results should be accurate for what I need.
Looks like I have to extend it out a day. I set my phone to 75% brightness and go figure it is the day that the network is having outages. My battery lasted ~2 hours today doing nothing.
Wow. 2 hours?!?! Will start the official test tomorrow as well but for the record my screen was also at 75% and I got almost 10hrs and I texted, shopped for and played with apps and watched a few app videos. I turned on wifi for a few hours due to network outtage.
Posting results even though they're not considered official. My screen was on approximately 1-1.5hrs in my estimation.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
AtLemacks said:
Looks like I have to extend it out a day. I set my phone to 75% brightness and go figure it is the day that the network is having outages. My battery lasted ~2 hours today doing nothing.
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Click to collapse
lol I woulda been in the same boat, if I didn't have a coworker alert me that 4G was out. I hadn't looked at my phone all morning, and woulda had a dead phone from it constantly looking for a 4g signal.
punman said:
You are describing exactly the opposite of my experience with 4G vs WiFi battery consumption.
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Click to collapse
Ditto!! I get way better life with wifi!!
As for the OP, good luck! I do not have time but I am interested in the results!
feralicious said:
Wow. 2 hours?!?! Will start the official test tomorrow as well but for the record my screen was also at 75% and I got almost 10hrs and I texted, shopped for and played with apps and watched a few app videos. I turned on wifi for a few hours due to network outtage.
Posting results even though they're not considered official. My screen was on approximately 1-1.5hrs in my estimation.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! That is good curve for 1-1/2 hours!
nosympathy said:
lol I woulda been in the same boat, if I didn't have a coworker alert me that 4G was out. I hadn't looked at my phone all morning, and woulda had a dead phone from it constantly looking for a 4g signal.
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Click to collapse
I had no idea, my phone was in my pocket and I was busy all day. Never felt it ever get warm, pulled it out of my pocket when I had some down time to check my G+/FB/Twitter and BAM.. phone wouldn't turn on. Luckily a friend had a charger and let me hook up. Turned on the phone to see the battery had actually died. I took it off the charger at 11:30 and it was dead before 2.
didiwags said:
Ditto!! I get way better life with wifi!!
As for the OP, good luck! I do not have time but I am interested in the results!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I will be trying high brightness again tomorrow.
I couldn't get a reliable test because I had a stupid setting left over from my experiment with Economy mode that turned WiFi off after 15 minutes, so my data is skewed a bit from the first day to the second. (Plus the roving 4G outages caught me last night and my battery went from full to 5% overnight.)
Also, I use an app called SystemPanel (bought the Pro version) which gives me nice plots of my usage and screen on time, if you're interested in more data like that, you could look into it.
I just realized last night if you click the process in the battery use window that it will show the time that process uses power. Soooo.... I need everyone to start from scratch and give me the accurate amount of time the screen shot is on, for both dim and bright settings. Sorry guys! OP updated.

does using 3g noticeably kill the battery?

check out the pic. notice when i went to 3g when i went out for a bit, my battery just dropped... i didn't use the phone that much when I was out, and it still drained that much. hmm.
actually right now I can't upload a pic. anyone else having that issue from the app?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
No problems on my end bro!
VZW has had problems with their data system for the last 3 or 4 months. Your issues are probably related to to the problems all 4G phones are experiencing these days. You will see people in all the 4G forums complaining of losing data and low signals killing batteries. Saturday I was in a low signal area and kept losing 4G down to 1X and that also heated up my battery for the first time since I got the phone.
Sent from my HTC
LTE 4G Rezound
i just have nothing to compare it to, because everywhere i go, i use wifi all the time lol....i haven't used just 3g in SO damn long, so i don't have a basis to compare with the rezound
Idling on 3G doesn't seem to hurt me too bad (I usually let juice defender keep it off to mitigate the risk), but actually using it is way more draining than wifi. I can sit online all night at home on wifi, but only get about two hours of solid use when I'm out and about.
Going to a 4G city this weekend for the first time. Bringing backup batteries.
I think what may be happening is that once it drops to 3g or 1x it tries hard to get back to 4g and that is what hurts more than anything.
Try forcing it to 3g only and see if you have the same drop in battery under preferably the same conditions.
NilsP said:
I think what may be happening is that once it drops to 3g or 1x it tries hard to get back to 4g and that is what hurts more than anything.
Try forcing it to 3g only and see if you have the same drop in battery under preferably the same conditions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes,that is what happened to me Saturday,it dropped to 1X and overheated trying to get back to 4G.
I did force it to 3G and it still stayed hot. But I had that happen once with my Thunderbolt, so I feel it is the vzw data signal not the phone.
3G kills battery compared to wifi.
i shut off 4g the day i got it lol...yeah, i think 3g just uses noticably more battery tahn wifi
staticx57 said:
3G kills battery compared to wifi.
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Click to collapse
definately. i can sit at home, connected to my wifi, and i can get like 2 or 3 days out of the battery. with light usage that is. on 3g though, with light usage, i'm lucky if i can get a full day.
3g actually saves my battery, somehow 4g and WiFi take more battery for me
Sent from my HTC Rezound (Beast phone) Using XDA Premium
lmao, awesome username.

New to Note and AT&T - Battery drain question

I switched to AT&T last week from T-Mobile to get the Note. Overall the AT&T service has been good and the Note is great! My only concern is battery drain in no signal areas.
Specifically, I went to a movie last weekend and the theater was in the basement and there was no signal. At the start of the movie I had about 95% battery but by the end my battery was dead. I'm guessing the battery drained because it was constantly searching for a signal.
Is this common for the Galaxy Note? Is it common for AT&T? I ask because my t-mobile phones never did this. I've been to this theater many times, always had no signal, never had any battery drain on any t-mobile phones (sensation, galaxy s 4g, hd2, my-touch).
FWIW, my Note was completely stock but was rooted. I've since flashed UCLE2 and noticed the same drain in low or no signal areas. I'm sure I'll get suggestions to turn airplane mode on, or something like that. While I appreciate those suggestions I'm trying to determine if this is common to the phone or AT&T. I don't think I should have to switch off data/radio anytime the signal is low for fear of my battery draining in 2 hours.
Thanks!
While the battery does drain more with no signal, due to scanning for a network, as long as there is a signal it should be comparable to full service. That's a constant signal mind you if it goes in and out it is scanning.
I work downtown in a brick building surrounded by high rises, i get 1 bar in my office, my battery lasts me an entire work day.
What I did, spend the money on extended battery
Yeah I know you think 2500 mAH should be pretty good, but isn't, just spend the money on extended battery. Am at 26 hours, with fairly hard use, on Mugen 5400 mAH and have 15% remaining. Does add some depth to it, but that is the price, daughter ordered me case that fits over extended battery can't wait till it gets here. If you are interested can post pics once the case is here so you have idea on overall look.
Would no signal cause that much more drain? In the theater there was no signal. I couldnt browse or make a call. If memory serves there was a circle with a line through it where the 4g symbol would normally be. Still seems like an excessive amount of drain.
__McB__ said:
Would no signal cause that much more drain? In the theater there was no signal. I couldnt browse or make a call. If memory serves there was a circle with a line through it where the 4g symbol would normally be. Still seems like an excessive amount of drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah, if it is constantly looking for signal, will suck a battery down in no time. Job has me go to places in the mid-west, my supervisor and I just know to put in airplane mode or turn off in certain places or we will have bricks due to quick battery drain.
vanemburghj said:
Oh yeah, if it is constantly looking for signal, will suck a battery down in no time. Job has me go to places in the mid-west, my supervisor and I just know to put in airplane mode or turn off in certain places or we will have bricks due to quick battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Is this something unique to AT&T's service? I never had this occur with tmous. Maybe I'm just lazy but having to track if I have a signal all the time for fear of my battery draining that fast doesn't seem right.
__McB__ said:
Interesting. Is this something unique to AT&T's service? I never had this occur with tmous. Maybe I'm just lazy but having to track if I have a signal all the time for fear of my battery draining that fast doesn't seem right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not unique to AT&T, but once you figure out where you get no signal it becomes automatic reflex to go into airplane mode or turn off. Would assume since AT&Ts network coverage is larger than Tmobile would not occur as much.
just got one for me and bro.
i got no signal half a day during work and it keep searching for it.
by time i finished, lost about 5-10% most.
OutCastedSheep said:
just got one for me and bro.
i got no signal half a day during work and it keep searching for it.
by time i finished, lost about 5-10% most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow. Big difference from what I saw. I think I'll need to go back to the theater now that I'm running UCLE2. I'll install CurrentWidget and see what is going on.
Maybe it was a fluke...hopefully cause I love this phone!

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