3g eats battery

[fbroce]

I notice with the Optumus S, the primary source of battery drain is having 3G active.
If I toggle 3g off while I am not using data, the battery life is excellent.

Is there some way I can put the Optumus in a slow network mode that doesn't drain
the battery like 3g? All I really need it is to check email occasionally.

Tnx

Fred

 

[apinkel]

How are you turning 3G on/off?

You can sync email over 1x so if you leave your phone in 1x mode it will still sync... it's just going to be slower (obviously).

 

[fbroce]

I am testing that now..I am not sure that is a cure though.

 

[blackops1125]

why not just use a 3g switch! If I am not using data i turn off my 3G. Quick and simple

 

[fbroce]

I was doing that. I notice my old Sanyo Pro 700 last forever on a charge and can't see why an android shouldn't do better if your not using it but occasionally. I did install the roam control app and that's neat but I agree..the best solution is to just turn off data when your not using it.

 

[apinkel]

All you can expect out of a smartphone is one day's worth of battery life with the exception of some of the blackberries. The optimus is one of the bettery androids in terms of battery life (unless you are in a low signal area)... if you turn everything off and don't use your phone much you might be able to get two days.

 

[Axe]

With very light usage, I can get 3-5 days out of it, using airplane mode for nights.

 

[apinkel]

Yeah, that's a good point... if you just need your phone to be an alarm clock overnight you could turn off all radios using airplane mode. You could use tasker or some other automation tool to automatically turn on/off airplane mode during the evening hours only.

 

[bgiboidomo]

I called sprint and got my MSL number and Provisioning Setting dial codes, went to EVDO settings and set CDMA only this forced 1x always on for me.

 

[kiha123]

Lotsa interwebs nomnomnom's your battery
Durp.

 

[fbroce]

I tried 1X and it doesn't seem a lot better than 3g. The signal level at my house isn't that strong. I never drop a call but I am sure the xmit power is higher just to establish a connection.

With data off when I am not surfing battery life is excellent. I just turn on the data when I want to read email, google, etc. otherwise, I leave it off.

I was just trying to automate things. Thanks for all the ideas.

 

[the_maplebar]

With data off when I am not surfing battery life is excellent. I just turn on the data when I want to read email, google, etc. otherwise, I leave it off.

I was just trying to automate things. Thanks for all the ideas.

If you're trying to automate things, I believe Juice Defender has an option to turn off the data radio whenever the screen is off.

 

[apinkel]

IWith data off when I am not surfing battery life is excellent. I just turn on the data when I want to read email, google, etc. otherwise, I leave it off.

Are you just going to Settings-->Mobile Networks-->Data enabled (on/off)? I'm only occasionally in a low signal area so I'm curious if this is how you are doing it and how much it helps.

 

[uberjam545]

try using the juice defender app it turns off your 3g when your screen turns off and for me it says it increased my battery life by like 1.52 or something and i believe it does work very well