New to RazorMaxx, Motorola and 4G! Help

[cgaines2101]

Hello everyone. I purchased the Maxx last night. I have been using the Samsung Fascinate for two years. So I think my move was well overdue. But now I have a few questions and maybe you guys can help.

3g vs 4g: LTE is sufficient in my area. So the 4gLTE is supported fine. My friend just showed me on the phone where I can choose between using 3g or 4g. My question is why would I? Do any of you switch between them and if so for what tasks?

Font: I see where I can change the size of the font but is there an option for changing the font itself?

Wifi: The Wifi is off and I have added the widgets for wifi, BT, GPS and airplane mode to my home screen for easy access. But if I open a game, facebook or any other app that is OTA, it pops up with a "WiFi available" screen and then turns my WiFi on. Why is this? Here's the really bad part ... my last device was eventually so pitiful that the GB ate my battery so bad, that I was sent an extended battery and new back cover and my phone either looked prego or like it had serious back! So I NEVER turned on my Wifi for fear of battery drain. Will you educate me as to when I would need the Wifi and when I wouldn't? Sorry but for two years I avoided it simply due to my circumstances.

Thanks in advance for your input!

 

[willip90]

3g uses less battery,,, unless your needing high speed Internet you can stretch your battery time out on 3g compared to 4g,, same. For the wifi,, with the wifi on you get solid internet and can save on your data plan using it,, and some applications require wifi from what ive seen,, hope this helps clear up a few things for you,,

 

[LBTRS]

If 4G works well in your area no need to switch to 3G. Those that live in a weak 4G area can put it in 3G to keep from constantly having to do the 3G/4G handoff which will save battery. If 4G works well in your area leave it on 4G and enjoy this great phone.

 

[rbess1965]

1) My 4g battery life has been just fine since the .181 update. Avg 18hrs on medium use with a live wallpaper. 2) I use app called My Profiles Lite to control all my switch needs. Smart actions work but you have to leave things on to trigger actions. My Profiles manages things better for me. 3) The built in Task Manager in the App drawer is my new best friend. It shows you what's running and gives you a simple way to add apps to an Auto Shut off list. Works great. Enjoy.
Also about the Wi-Fi message your getting, just unchecked the box that says notify me when Wi-Fi is available. That's found in the settings.

Sent using Droid Razr Maxx

 

[cgaines2101]

LOL uncheck a box. . . Sweet. You know I can actually read but I know for cerain I saw that and didn't know if I should "un check" it or not! LOL Thanks guys.

I appreciate the 3g 4g info too. I am grandfathered so I have unlimited data (until they take it for some reason) so if I run the 4G steady I will be able to gauge my battery usage with optimum network. No matter what, I feel like the battery will last longer running everything on this device than other devices limiting their usability on 3g and still charging twice a day.

Any word on Fonts yet? Not a big deal really, just want to know if it can be changed without adding some app.

 

[B. Diddy]

As far as I know, you can't change the system font. I don't think that's even possible with a rooted phone.

A note about wifi vs. 4G--although wifi generally uses a little less power, public wifi hotspots can sometimes be much slower than 4G, so the benefit of wifi's slower rate of battery consumption could be offset by having to remain connected for longer just to do what you wanted to do on the web. So in general, if you have a fast wifi connection, definitely use it. If wifi is slow, then use 4G (if it's available).

 

[cgaines2101]

One more thing .... if someone send you a MMS, how do you save the pic to your phone from the text message?

 

[Ry]

One more thing .... if someone send you a MMS, how do you save the pic to your phone from the text message?

Do a long press on the picture. The option to save it should appear.

 

[1fastmr2]

Do a long press on the picture. The option to save it should appear.

Thumbs up to RY for helping the OP:thumbup:

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Android Central Forums

 

[1fastmr2]

Hope you enjoy your RAZR MAXX phone ladybell

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Android Central Forums

 

[cgaines2101]

I am so far guys. Thanks for the helpful feedback. Got these things figure out now thanks to all of you.

 

[MikeLip]

OK, a 4G vs wifi battery consumption question. I initially ran my phone with both 4G and wifi on, since I have a fiber connection at home and a T1 at work, so my speeds on wifi are fast. But I looked at my batter consumption and even with me not messing with the phone, the single largest consumer of battery is wifi, even when not using data! I know there is always some chatter going on, but not a lot when the phone is idle. On my Blackberry, using the battery analyzer (nice!) it was always display using the most with wifi a distant 4th or 5th place. The Razr - wifi by far the first, display, phone calls, then OS. I was reading about this phone online and that seems to be an issue.

Since 4G is so fast I now usually leave wifi off unless I'm using a lot of data - the wifi switch widget is handy for that. And now battery consumption is mostly display, as it ought to be.

Is this something I can fix in settings, or something I have to live with using manual intervention?

 

[cordoni]

1) 3) The built in Task Manager in the App drawer is my new best friend. It shows you what's running and gives you a simple way to add apps to an Auto Shut off list. Works great. Enjoy.

Sent using Droid Razr Maxx

In regard to the task manager and auto-kill, you should never use auto-kill on an android phone. The way the android os works is that it loads free memory with your frequently used apps to reduce load times. This does not mean the apps are running using battery, but are just sitting quietly waiting to be used. If you start something else that needs the memory, the os will clear them out to make room.

Auto-kill is constantly clearing these apps out of free memory and then the os reloads them. This cycle then repeats constantly, with significant damage to your battery life. So do not use auto-kill. You are ultimately doing the opposite to your battery of what you want.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[cordoni]

OK, a 4G vs wifi battery consumption question. I initially ran my phone with both 4G and wifi on, since I have a fiber connection at home and a T1 at work, so my speeds on wifi are fast. But I looked at my batter consumption and even with me not messing with the phone, the single largest consumer of battery is wifi, even when not using data! I know there is always some chatter going on, but not a lot when the phone is idle. On my Blackberry, using the battery analyzer (nice!) it was always display using the most with wifi a distant 4th or 5th place. The Razr - wifi by far the first, display, phone calls, then OS. I was reading about this phone online and that seems to be an issue.

Since 4G is so fast I now usually leave wifi off unless I'm using a lot of data - the wifi switch widget is handy for that. And now battery consumption is mostly display, as it ought to be.

Is this something I can fix in settings, or something I have to live with using manual intervention?

That is interesting. Wifi is usually far more energy efficient than 4g. What strength do you get on wifi when you are connected?

Try a comparison of battery life of one day connected to wifi and one day connected to 4g. It could be that your 4g radio use doesn't show up in the tracker. Does "cell standby" show up in your list?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[MikeLip]

Cell standby shows and it's only 10% of my battery usage. With wifi off, display shows 28% so far today.

I have full bars on my phone all the time. I live in good coverage I guess.

I will do that test.

That is interesting. Wifi is usually far more energy efficient than 4g. What strength do you get on wifi when you are connected?

Try a comparison of battery life of one day connected to wifi and one day connected to 4g. It could be that your 4g radio use doesn't show up in the tracker. Does "cell standby" show up in your list?

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

 

[ClintRo]

Wifi uses far less battery than 4g. One reason it may show up high on the list percentage wise is that you are using less battery so maybe the more is actually less. If you get what I am saying?? (Just guessing)

When I am at home on the weekends I can get well over a day (20-30 hours easy) on a charge, but weekdays (no wifi at work) I make it about 12-15 hours depending on usage.

 

[MikeLip]

Maybe that's how it's supposed to be, but why would wifi use more battery than ANYTHING else including display? Seriously, that's not right. I''m not making this up - it's straight from the phones battery report. The BGR report mentioned this as well;

Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX review: A smart smartphone you shouldn't buy

Here is the applicable paragraph;

"I should mention, however, that the DROID RAZR MAXX doesn’t handle Wi-Fi connectivity well at all where power management is concerned. Some phones do better than others with Wi-Fi — the iPhone, for example, lasts nearly twice as long for me on a single charge when constantly connected to a Wi-Fi network compared to when Wi-Fi is not in range. With the RAZR MAXX, it’s just the opposite.

I found that the battery drains much faster when the device is connected to Wi-Fi. Using the handset’s battery monitoring feature, I could see that Wi-Fi was always the No.1 drain on the RAZR’s battery when I left it enabled. When I disabled Wi-Fi and relied on Verizon’s 4G LTE network for connectivity, the display became the No.1 drain on the phone’s battery, as it should be."

So I am not alone in noting this and it's kind of messed up.

 

[MikeLip]

Oh, and as to the title of the review, well, BGR like every other blog tends to use inflammatory titles to catch clicks and readers. I found nothing in the review that should convince anyone to not buy the phone.

I like the display, although I find colors far too saturated. Skin tones are poorly rendered for instance. However I have no problems with display sharpness. I just wish I could tone down color saturation.

 

[rbess1965]

In regard to the task manager and auto-kill, you should never use auto-kill on an android phone. The way the android os works is that it loads free memory with your frequently used apps to reduce load times. This does not mean the apps are running using battery, but are just sitting quietly waiting to be used. If you start something else that needs the memory, the os will clear them out to make room.

Auto-kill is constantly clearing these apps out of free memory and then the os reloads them. This cycle then repeats constantly, with significant damage to your battery life. So do not use auto-kill. You are ultimately doing the opposite to your battery of what you want.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

I do have a follow up question though. If we aren't supposed to use the auto stop function, why is the Task Manager & auto stop tab, installed on this phone and can't be removed? Like you I have seen others say don't use task killers on android, but on this phone the option was put there either by moto or vzw and it can't be removed. I figured they had a reason to. So what do you guys think?

Sent using Droid Razr Maxx

 

[cordoni]

I do have a follow up question though. If we aren't supposed to use the auto stop function, why is the Task Manager & auto stop tab, installed on this phone and can't be removed? Like you I have seen others say don't use task killers on android, but on this phone the option was put there either by moto or vzw and it can't be removed. I figured they had a reason to. So what do you guys think?

Sent using Droid Razr Maxx

Probably added since there are folks that do use it, even though they shouldn't. Look at how many downloads "advanced task killer" has in the market.

Just because someone in motorolla's company is putting features on a device, it doesn't mean that they understand how the underlying os handles memory. That is what happens when marketing folks decide what needs to be in a product and don't consult engineers. Believe me, i see that kind of thing alot.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2