Verify Battery Performance Improvement

[edufur]

Ok, you are all going to think I am crazy... but at least I have a theory as to why this helps.

I have noticed that when I turn on my GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, Background and AutoUpdater, (but still leaving off the 4g)... my battery life is majorly improved.

My only explanation for this is that I noticed that even with those things off, the phone attempts (many times) (and times out) to check for those services. So even when they are off, your CPU is working hard to retry connections to them.

I am seeing almost double the battery life before needing to recharge. I am going to try to come up with something more scientific in terms of why this is happening... but thought I would share. Maybe you all could verify. This seems so opposite of what we would automatically do in terms of saving battery life.

[PPCGeeks4ME]

I'm now getting 40 hours of light use with GPS and WiFi on. Granted this is with a custom ROM and kernel undervolted for battery life.

When you say your WiFi is on, are you actually connected to a WiFi network? That's a major battery saver as the WiFi radio uses less power than the 3G radio.

As for GPS, it seems to me that the GPS doesn't actually turn on until a program needs it. The switch is more like a permission check, so you can make sure some app isn't tracking your location without your knowledge. I don't think it hurts battery to leave it on, but I don't think it helps battery either.

When I turn BT on, it uses about 25% of my battery according to the battery life screen, even if I'm not using it. I'm going to try turning it on again tomorrow to see what its real effects are.

[edufur]

Yes, I do have a WiFi spot in the house... and it is connected. But I think it would improve it even if I wasn't connected. Again, my theory is that all the timeout and retry activity by the CPU is what was killing my battery before. With all those things on, there is no timeout because the connection is there. the cpu isn't spending time waiting for connection acknowledgement. This is even the case when bluetooth is off... it keeps looking for it, and timing out.

Now I suppose if they got smart and programmed the phones such that turning off those things told the OS to NOT check for them, we would probably see some REAL battery performance gain... but as it is, the CPU activity to check is worse than the power savings of having them off. This is my experience anyway.... so I am keeping everything except 4G ON.

[SunnyGeek]

Thats interesting. I've noticed an improvement with BT and Wifi off. I'll keep checking this thread to see what you have come up with.

[edufur]

Interesting for sure. I wonder if there is any kind of variance also based on number of apps and how many times they may "request" a connection... playing out in a fashion that activates the cpu more...??

[edufur]

Ok, so I am not imagining it. I pulled battery off charger at 7am this morning with 100% charge. Here it is, 1pm, and I have used it for a long call, many texts, a few app loads, and it is still at 80%. Normally, I would be at 50% by now with that kind of usage. I am definately leaving everything except 4G in the ON position... who would have thought.

[zone23]

Here is the trick to great battery life:

1.) turn on full time WiFi

2.) turn off "Enable always-on mobile data"

3.) turn off data roaming

Here are the rest (some are pretty obvious):

http://www.goodandevo.net/2010/05/20...tery-life.html

[aman1127]

I have an airave so my reception
is always top notch. that really helps too. I think the radio always searching for better reception is the number one culprit of battery use. so having 5 bars means less strain.
that's just my logic.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

[edufur]

Originally Posted by zone23

Here is the trick to great battery life:

1.) turn on full time WiFi

2.) turn off "Enable always-on mobile data"

3.) turn off data roaming

Here are the rest (some are pretty obvious):

http://www.goodandevo.net/2010/05/20...tery-life.html

HOLY CRAP! So I hadn't done steps 2 and 3 yet. Before, having all my stuff turned on (except 4g) was almost doubling my battery life. Now, with always-on turned off, I am just about getting triple!! Holy cow! They should have set all of these settings as default!

BUT.... I HAVE to say... do NOT follow the advise of that link when it says to turn off WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS... keep those ON! They all improve the battery life!

[frazy]

this is...interesting. you would think it would suck up more battery for having those on and not using them.