DO NOT USE "Best Wi-Fi performance"!

[crxssi]

This is an extraction of the very important information from my thread on the Evo LTE. ( http://forums.androidcentral.com/htc-evo-4g-lte/177470-do-not-use-best-wi-fi-performance.html ) I believe this might also apply to the USA One X. Please post your findings, either way.....

WARNING: DO NOT TURN ON THE "Best Wi-Fi performance" setting!!! It will DESTROY your battery life by consuming tons of CPU and keeping the CPU awake all the time, regardless of if you are using the phone or not. This has nothing do to with other settings such as "Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep" (which I have set to "Always" with no problem other than it doesn't keep it connected). I have tested this several times now, and have confirmation from numerous other users.

With the setting on, you will notice a battery drain of 200 to 300% faster. Under power-> battery use you will see unusually high "Android OS" percents. When clicking on that, you will see high "CPU total" and very, very high "Keep awake" times..... in fact, the "Keep awake" time will almost mirror your on-battery time.

After searching high and low, I can find no definitive explanation of exactly what that "Best Wi-Fi performance" setting really does, anyway. The word "performance" is meaningless- could be bus speed, chip speed, negotiated speed, battery impact, awake times, connect times, transmit power levels.... just about anything. Some users (and later HTC in a phone call to me) claim the option really does extend WiFi range. Hopefully HTC will fix this or at least disable the option if it cannot be fixed.

It has also been reported to HTC as a problem (for the Evo LTE), who claims it is "expected" behavior but recommend it is only used temporarily, for short times when you need a boost in WiFi range. If you find this same behavior on the One X, do share it below. And also report it to HTC here: HTC Smartphones and Tablets - Support for HTC Cell Phones and Tablets

 

[icebike]

MEH!

I was using Best WIFI performance for weeks and never noticed any battery savings after turning it off. It only makes a difference at extreme edge of the wifi coverage area.


I think this issue is overblown.

 

[crxssi]

MEH! I was using Best WIFI performance for weeks and never noticed any battery savings after turning it off. It only makes a difference at extreme edge of the wifi coverage area.

I think this issue is overblown.

I think you were not monitoring your battery correctly. I have DOZENS of people verify that the phone sucks through 200 to 300% more battery with that setting on. And you have seen it yourself in the Evo LTE thread.

The issue is not overblown.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

It does say "may consume more power" so I'm not sure this can really be classified as a problem.

They can't say how much more, because that varies too much.

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

 

[icebike]

I think you were not monitoring your battery correctly. I have DOZENS of people verify that the phone sucks through 200 to 300% more battery with that setting on. And you have seen it yourself in the Evo LTE thread.

The issue is not overblown.

Why don't you tell us EXACTLY how to measure our battery usage correctly.
Exactly, step by step, which apps to use, everything.

 

[crxssi]

It does say "may consume more power" so I'm not sure this can really be classified as a problem.

They can't say how much more, because that varies too much.

* "may consume more power" also means "may not consume more power". And yet, in every case, if the option is turned on, it uses 200 to 300% more power. If this seemingly broken behavior really is normal (see below) then at least the menu option should be reworded to something like "warning: uses considerable additional battery, use sparingly."

* And with such weak wording, it also implies it would use only a little more power. Most people would expect something like 2%, 10%, something like that.

* This option was available on the Evo 3D and other HTC phones (and I think even other brands of phones, but I don't have confirmation of that). None of them showed such insane battery usage.

* None of the battery usage is reported under WiFi- but under AndroidOS and evident by the phone being forced "Keep awake". This also tends to indicate something is wrong. Especially since being kept "awake" really has nothing to do with WiFi "performance".

Here is my analogy: someone gets shot in the knee five times with a gun, then is given a note note that says "may cause discomfort".

http://forums.androidcentral.com/htc-evo-4g-lte/177470-do-not-use-best-wi-fi-performance.html

 

[crxssi]

Why don't you tell us EXACTLY how to measure our battery usage correctly.

You are the only person that has said the option doesn't cause extreme battery drain; but you are also the only feedback I have gotten from the One X side. I am reporting this about the Evo LTE and assuming it will affect the Evo One X the same way since they use identical chipsets and nearly identical software.

I have been thanked profusely on the Evo LTE forum for finding this issue and making it known- saving people tons of time trying to figure out why their battery is "crappy" compared to everyone else. But on this forum I get told "it is overblown" and "it is not a problem"! I would prefer that some additional people TEST the option and offer feedback so we know if it really is a problem on the One X, also.

It really might not affect the One X at all... or cause more reasonable 2% or 10% drain, in which case that is great.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

All I said was that there was a warning by the setting, so the fact that it would cause higher battery drain shouldn't be a surprise.

I don't NEED to use it, because I get good wifi signal, so I'm not going to turn it on.

I'm pretty sure that all it does is send more juice to the wifi radio, giving it more tx/rx capability. There aren't really any other tricks to increase wifi performance other than that (unless they are talking about speeds and not range, in which case it might be different, but probably not).

I'm not saying this isn't a big deal (because some people just wouldn't investigate enough to figure out that's the setting causing the drain), but it's not a smoking gun that says HTC screwed something up.

 

[icebike]

You are the only person that has said the option doesn't cause extreme battery drain; but you are also the only feedback I have gotten from the One X side. .

So, still no information on how we should "properly" measure battery drain?

Shucks, I was really looking forward to doing some exacting measurements.

 

[crxssi]

I'm not saying this isn't a big deal (because some people just wouldn't investigate enough to figure out that's the setting causing the drain),

That is the biggest problem- when someone innocently sets the option, along with installing apps and changing a bunch of other things and then notices a MAJOR battery issue and can't figure out what went wrong. Or they set it on day one and didn't realize that 12 hours of battery life with moderate use is not "normal" for this device.

but it's not a smoking gun that says HTC screwed something up.

True, that would be memory management/multitasking

 

[port6805]

Thanks for your helpful post. However, I have not had any problem with Android OS power draw with that "Best wifi" setting on. My Android OS is running about 3-5%. What has been taking 40% of my battery is Maps. I have made sure that I have force closed Maps, and discarded the Maps card in Recent Apps. I do not have a traffic app installed, and GPS is turned off. I still am blowing through battery of late due to Maps. Does anyone else have this issue?

 

[crxssi]

Thanks for your helpful post. However, I have not had any problem with Android OS power draw with that "Best wifi" setting on. My Android OS is running about 3-5%. What has been taking 40% of my battery is Maps.

It would be really fascinating if this problem does NOT occur on the USA One X. (Or are you using an International One X?... there is a huge difference).

 

[wtdoor]

I have the AT&T branded HOX and definitely have Wifi issues.

My wifi connection drops for about 10-20 secs every 2 minutes or so at home and at the office -- and this can happen right next to the access point. I've used catlog to examine logging, and before each disconnect, I see the following three messages:
------
06-18 00:07:59.869 D/Tethering(415): [isWifi] getHotspotEnabled: false
06-18 00:07:59.869 D/Tethering(415): [isWifi] getHotspotEnabled: false
06-18 00:07:59.869 D/Tethering(415): [isWifi] getHotspotEnabled: false
-------
and then the connection resets (I'm not using tethering).

This problem does go away if I select the "Best Wifi" setting -- but this drains my battery quite fast. When "Best Wifi" is selected, I can see that "wifi_pwr_active_mod" has been set in the logs. Using System Panel to monitor processes, I can also see that a system process named "tpd" begins to run constantly, never allowing the CPU usage to drop below 10%.

 

[icebike]

Actually the messages you quoted are not germane to the problem.

Also remember that android is Linux, and in Linux logging is not absolutely sequential and lower priority tasks might take a while to get their logging done.

Your disconnect was triggered prior to this logging.

Sent from my HOX

 

[wtdoor]

Thanks for the tip; while there may or may not be a causal relationship from the messages above to the disconnect, they certainly seem to be correlated. The only time I've seen those messages has been during the connection reset after poring over multiple log files. Do you know what causes them messages above to get dumped to the log?

 

[port6805]

I am using the USA version from AT&T.

I think i found my problem: In the Sense weather app settings, i disabled the "My current location," and the phone held 100% over night.

 

[anon(59657)]

I started having the problem with "maps" consuming massive amounts of battery starting about 4 weeks prior to the ICS update. I can make it go away by disabling GPS. What seems to be happening is that some piece of software updated and is checking your fine (GPS) location quite often rather than using your coarse location. The GPS power seems to be reported as "Maps".

I suspect it is facebook, as I can make it somewhat better by opening the FB app, going into their settings, and turning off "Messenger location services". I haven't tried uninstalling updates on it to see for sure.

This problem with "maps" draining a lot of power when GPS is enabled has persisted for me through the ICS update, so it's not likely to be an OS problem. It's a bad app using fine location service rather than coarse.

 

[myrddincox]

Well, I, for one, noticed this exact issue today (AT&T One X). I had turned on the "Best" performance and began to watch the battery fall over the next 2 hours. Turned it off and my battery history immediately leveled off. A pretty dramatic effect in my case (although I did not quantify it).

 

[crxssi]

Well, I, for one, noticed this exact issue today (AT&T One X). I had turned on the "Best" performance and began to watch the battery fall over the next 2 hours. Turned it off and my battery history immediately leveled off. A pretty dramatic effect in my case (although I did not quantify it).

It is so dramatic, it is certainly "broken behavior". The phone needs a warning sticker on it:

"WARNING: DO NOT USE THE 'BEST PERFORMANCE' WIFI MODE OR YOUR BATTERY LIFE WILL BE CUT BY 50 To 75% AND PRETTY MUCH FOR NOTHING"

But it sounds like HTC is in denial about it, just like they are with "multitasking". They would rather people turn it on thinking it will help with something, then mysteriously develop severe battery issues, not know why, and then badmouth HTC products to everyone because battery life sucks.

 

[pounder001]

My .02
1X AT&T version stock - I've been following this thread and personally with "Best Wi-Fi Performance" off I have not noticed any significant change in battery performance/Certainly not a 50 to 75% difference.