Battery Life with 4G/GPS/WiFi etc ON?

[ali.fazal]

Just wondering...
What is everyone else's battery life like with all these features on and functioning?

This is my first 4g handset so its a little shocking how quick of a drain 4g is. I'm used to 3g handsets which will at least get you through a day.

I love the features too much to turn them off though ;-)

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[dbpaddler]

Well then get used to the battery drain. Why would you leave all those radios on if you're not using them all the time? It's not really rocket science. They all require power plain and simple. If you're not using nav, maps or something similar, turn off the gps. If you're not near or using wifi, turn it off. If you're just doing basic stuff where speed isn't a necessity, turn off 4g.

 

[KC2UUZ]

GPS doesn't use power unless it's actively pinging the sat's . As for All the other radio's you can't have them all on at the same time. 3g/4g shuts off when WI-Fi is enabled, and if you try to re-enable 4g/3g the handset instructs you to turn off the wi-fi radio. So essentially you may only have ONE data connection on at any given moment. The real problem is blue tooth. Don't turn it on unless your using it. As for 3/4g, I find that if I turn the wi-fi on when i know there's a good signal, It's a HUGE battery saver, because the 3g or 4g radio isn't hunting for a signal. Also, leave 4g off unless your streaming or downloading large files. You won't notice the difference for regular data. --Just my observations/opinions.

 

[ali.fazal]

Well then get used to the battery drain. Why would you leave all those radios on if you're not using them all the time? It's not really rocket science. They all require power plain and simple. If you're not using nav, maps or something similar, turn off the gps. If you're not near or using wifi, turn it off. If you're just doing basic stuff where speed isn't a necessity, turn off 4g.

Well, that just doesn't make sense. Usually when I need to use my GPS or get directions, I don't want to have to wait 60-90 seconds for my phone to get a locational fix. That just defeats the purpose. I might as well wait for an old Garmin to power up.

Same with turning off 4G. Say I'm with friends and decide to search for a restaurant's website to look at the menu. I would turn 4G on, wait 15-20 seconds for it to connect, then search. In the end, 4G might connect quicker but searching over 3G would have taken the same amount of time total.

It's not rocket science, but I don't know why you would shell out extra money for a phone and data plan without planning to use the features.

 

[KC2UUZ]

In my experience, the 4G connects VERY quickly. From the time I touch the button, close out, and open the web page in question, It's on line. But then again. I only really use 4g for streaming video and DL of large files. otherwise 3g is fine. (Take into consideration, I came from RIM. SO 2400 Baud is lightening fast)

 

[ali.fazal]

In my experience, the 4G connects VERY quickly. From the time I touch the button, close out, and open the web page in question, It's on line. But then again. I only really use 4g for streaming video and DL of large files. otherwise 3g is fine. (Take into consideration, I came from RIM. SO 2400 Baud is lightening fast)

Yeah, I think the Sprint 3G is just particularly slow in my area (Houston, TX). That's what I've heard. Actually both 3g and 4g are on the low end of their spectrum. So the 3G is really almost like 1X/EDGE.

4G however is still amazingly fast, and you're right, it does connect fairly quickly. Not quite as quick for me as for you (it takes a few extra seconds of waiting), but not as long as I thought.

 

[dbpaddler]

4g does seem to connect quickly. Gps connects quickly for me too. Not 90 seconds. Op askedabout what's the point of having the features, he should more so ask why the phones are designed around anemic batteries. That, and why things aren't toggled on and off automatically based off of what's getting used. If I don't have gps on, why can't google maps or nav automatically turn it on when I open the app or 4g turn on when I open the browser? Would make the experience more seamless.

As the one person said, the gps lays dormant when not in use, but many apps are location based. So if you have it on, even if you don't need it for those apps, it will make use of it. I don't always need location based info in searches and such, so it's better left off.

Bottom line is radios draw power. Active info draws power. The battery is only 1500mAh and battery management is only so good. If everything you do is a speed contest between you and your friends then leave it all on and carry a spare battery. I still search and find things pretty quick oer 3g. Beat out my iphone friends without resorting to 4g for something that simple.

 

[Aero]

I don't find GPS uses any power whatsoever without a GPS program using it. You don't need to turn it off. GPS is pretty passive even when on ay a few seconds to grab a location when you are doing a search,. the power use there is beyond trivially small. In fact when navigation with GPS, 90% of the power use is not the GPS per se, but the screen on full time, and the processor.

As for 4G vs 3G, it is actually a battery saver for me to leave 4G on. 4G seems to reduce i quality/speed in poor conditions whereas 3G seems to ramp up the power usage in poor signals.

Where the epic uses crazy amounts of power is 3G, normal cdma, and especially the screen. Another huge power drain is embedded 3g polling servies like drm