4G or wifi, which uses more power

[t00mies]

does anyone know which one uses more power? 4G or wifi?

I haven't run my own tests yet, was wondering if anyone else had tried one vs. the other and can share their experiences.


thanks,

 

[UTnick]

4g does.

 

[wado1]

4g easily.

 

[sniffs]

Heck, 3G uses more power than WIFI.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

4G sucks the battery dry, especially if the signal is weak. Sprint may have oversold the practicality of 4G at this point. Time will tell.

 

[xorg]

Sprint may have oversold the practicality of 4G at this point. Time will tell.

I don't know about that. 4G is great when you want to use it as a hotspot for laptop(s). You'll likely be able to charge phone while using hotspot.

But in-phone, the only benefit I'm seeing is high quality video and video chat - neither of which I use often. I do notice a significant bump downloading apps from the market but it's not like 3G is unbearable. More 4G specific apps will come now that the capability is there. WiFi hotspot is where 4G is very useful for me in the meantime.

Edit: Forget that the best indirect benefit of 4G is simultaneous voice/data thanks to separate radios.

It sure is nice to get this kind of performance...
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1238514/pics/snap20100608_233958.png

 

[meyerweb#CB]

For me, the real benefit to 4G, eventually, will be simultaneous voice and data. But that's only a real benefit if you can leave 4G on. Tethering is something I do rarely, but checking something online while on a call could be handy.

 

[Complex Pants]

Wifi is one of the lowest power options (if not the lowest) for phone data

 

[chaosrecords]

What will drain your phone the most is a weak signal.
The phone radio will actually increase its power output to get a better signal.

Leaving the WiFi on will SAVE you battery life as WiFi in your home will usually beat your reception indoors.

The 4g radio is a battery hog, requires more processing power to utilize and actually runs hot for some people. I'm sure they will find tweaks to fix this through scaling and throttling.

 

[Guillermo Sosa]

4G will use more power consumption than WIFI. however most of the apps in your phone are configured to execute tasks only when a WIFI connection is enable. As a result, you might see an increase of battery drain when your phone is in WIFI.

 

[BigDinCA]

Bang up job on the resurrection of a 5 year old thread.

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