Turn off LTE 4G on GN?

**ylomnstr** · 11-30-2011, 08:43 AM

As everyone else, I'm holding my breath until I can get this phone, but just wondering if anyone knows if you can easily shut off the 4G radio to conserve battery while in a 4G area?

**ManBearPig618** · 11-30-2011, 08:50 AM

Originally Posted by ylomnstr

As everyone else, I'm holding my breath until I can get this phone, but just wondering if anyone knows if you can easily shut off the 4G radio to conserve battery while in a 4G area?

Yes. It's a simple switch to "CDMA only" in settings.

**ylomnstr** · 11-30-2011, 08:53 AM

Awesome thanks.

**CynicX** · 11-30-2011, 08:54 AM

No reason you shouldn't be able too....

Here is the thing though and this is a perspective you never get. I got my Xoom when it was 3g only, then had the 4g radio installed. Even with cdma only it doesn't get as good as battery life as it did when it was 3g only....but it is better then having 4g on.

**openyoureyes** · 11-30-2011, 08:57 AM

Yes!

Note: "Network Mode"

**ManBearPig618** · 11-30-2011, 08:58 AM

Hopefully a dev will make a widget to do it without going into settings.

**Kmcferrin** · 11-30-2011, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by ManBearPig618

Hopefully a dev will make a widget to do it without going into settings.

I really like the "Power Control" widget that comes with Android. I use it to toggle Wifi, GPS, and Bluetooth on/off so that I only have them enabled when I'm going to use them. It would be great if they added a setting for LTE.

**ManBearPig618** · 11-30-2011, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Kmcferrin

I really like the "Power Control" widget that comes with Android. I use it to toggle Wifi, GPS, and Bluetooth on/off so that I only have them enabled when I'm going to use them. It would be great if they added a setting for LTE.

Yeah, I'm really not sure why they don't. I have power control on a home screen at all times, but it's annoying to have to dive into settings to toggle 4G.

**Mr. Poppalopolis** · 11-30-2011, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by ManBearPig618

Hopefully a dev will make a widget to do it without going into settings.

I know Cyanogenmod has a notification power widget toggle for network mode. I doubt it would be too hard for someone to make a homescreen widget for that.

**louisd13** · 11-30-2011, 01:03 PM

This may seem like a silly question, but if you are in a solid 4G area, can you turn off the 3G radio? Is this even possible? This might not save much battery, but every little bit helps.

**Spacemaker24** · 11-30-2011, 01:08 PM

Out of curiosity, why would you want to turn off the 4G?

**openyoureyes** · 11-30-2011, 01:10 PM

Originally Posted by Spacemaker24

Out of curiosity, why would you want to turn off the 4G?

Battery life

**Mr. Poppalopolis** · 11-30-2011, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by louisd13

This may seem like a silly question, but if you are in a solid 4G area, can you turn off the 3G radio? Is this even possible? This might not save much battery, but every little bit helps.

I think you can go to only 4G but I'm not sure. Does the 3G radio stay on when on 4G? Maybe for voice or something.

Originally Posted by Spacemaker24

Out of curiosity, why would you want to turn off the 4G?

Save battery.

**DessVZW** · 11-30-2011, 02:22 PM

I had actually asked @Pydepypper on Twitter (who has an LTE Nexus - he's affiliated with P3Droid) to turn off 4G all day yesterday and run his Nexus on 3G only and report the battery stats. He tweeted a few pics of battery use. The following pics are from his Nexus and reflect light usage across the day (texts, emails, few phone calls, etc.) - it's not amazing, but more promising than the 4-6 hours some try to make us believe the phone will last.

Pic 1:
Pic 2:

Looks like with medium to heavy usage, we might get 6-8 hours. Medium/light use on 3G should yield closer to 10-12 hours. Not great, but okay for a 4G phone, I suppose.

I am assuming with Wi-Fi turned on, battery life would be even better than on 3G only mode. But this is an assumption. I have no way of actually knowing that.

**tx_tuff** · 11-30-2011, 02:34 PM

Originally Posted by louisd13

This may seem like a silly question, but if you are in a solid 4G area, can you turn off the 3G radio? Is this even possible? This might not save much battery, but every little bit helps.

I wondered the same thing when I see people post about 4G and 3G switching back in forth on their phones (any 4G LTE phone). I had the same problem when I first got my 4G LTE Mifi and it drove me crazy!! Well on the Mifi you can make it 4G only and that solved the problem

But my understanding with the phones is the voice data in CDMA only, so you can't turn the 3G off. Now I don't own a 4G LTE phone so I'm not 100% sure, but I did read that somewhere on here in another phone sec.

**tx_tuff** · 11-30-2011, 02:36 PM

I plan on keeping my 4G LTE on all the time, that is one of the main reasons I want the phone! I always have a charger in my truck and wife's car and chargers at both my jobs. So if won't bother me to have it plugged in to keep the charge up when I need to.

**ManBearPig618** · 11-30-2011, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by louisd13

This may seem like a silly question, but if you are in a solid 4G area, can you turn off the 3G radio? Is this even possible? This might not save much battery, but every little bit helps.

Not as of yet. Its CDMA only or CDMA/LTE for existing devices.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

**diverbelow** · 11-30-2011, 03:12 PM

If you don't live in a 4G area

**DessVZW** · 11-30-2011, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by diverbelow

If you don't live in a 4G area

This ^

If you live in an area, like me, that isn't getting 4G for another handful of months, you can turn off 4G for a bit better battery life until 4G comes to your area.

**have24** · 11-30-2011, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by diverbelow

If you don't live in a 4G area

Exactly. I don't live in a 4G area as of now but will be getting it sometime next year. Therefore I want to be able to turn it off so my phone isn't constantly searching for 4g coverage. Hopefully will save me battery life.

**Spacemaker24** · 11-30-2011, 04:21 PM

I guess I forget that not everyone lives in a 4G area. Since I live in 4G area there's no way I'll be turning the 4G off to save the battery.

**jerrod6** · 11-30-2011, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by tx_tuff

I wondered the same thing when I see people post about 4G and 3G switching back in forth on their phones (any 4G LTE phone). I had the same problem when I first got my 4G LTE Mifi and it drove me crazy!! Well on the Mifi you can make it 4G only and that solved the problem

But my understanding with the phones is the voice data in CDMA only, so you can't turn the 3G off. Now I don't own a 4G LTE phone so I'm not 100% sure, but I did read that somewhere on here in another phone sec.

Well I am confused most of the time anyway....but. with my OG 3G droid when I am at home I use Wifi. The 3G data seems to never be used even for voice. I think the 3 and 4 G apply to data only. When I make a phone call it seems that I am using 1x or not even 3G but I am not sure.

**sherri** · 11-30-2011, 05:15 PM

For anyone who has turned off the 4G, are you able to connect to web with the 3G? I just bought daughter a phone (it was free as an upgrade, so "bought" is really the wrong word...) that has 4G. Works amazing in area that has it (the Radio Shack where I got it....about 2 miles from house...) but not in the house. We turned it off to connect to home wi-fi (she isn't on unlimited data...) so she could use You Tube.

Phone kept dropping connection. Wasn't the connection, ad my OG Droid was connected fine.

Any one seeing this or have suggestions?

Sent from my DROID using Tapatalk

**Mr. Poppalopolis** · 11-30-2011, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by sherri

For anyone who has turned off the 4G, are you able to connect to web with the 3G? I just bought daughter a phone (it was free as an upgrade, so "bought" is really the wrong word...) that has 4G. Works amazing in area that has it (the Radio Shack where I got it....about 2 miles from house...) but not in the house. We turned it off to connect to home wi-fi (she isn't on unlimited data...) so she could use You Tube.

Phone kept dropping connection. Wasn't the connection, ad my OG Droid was connected fine.

Any one seeing this or have suggestions?

Sent from my DROID using Tapatalk

3G stays on when you turn 4G off, but you have to make sure you don't turn all data off by accident. WiFi is totally separate from either and all mobile data should turn off when you're on WiFi.