Android setting questions

[bigboss]

yess, whenever I am home i immediately switch on wifi

battery drain is SIGNIFICANTLY much less while my droid x is on wifi, i'm talking like 10% decrease over 2-3 hours with CONSTANT use web browsing, messing around with settings, downloading apps, youtube, etc.

 

[ceriem]

yess, whenever I am home i immediately switch on wifi

battery drain is SIGNIFICANTLY much less while my droid x is on wifi, i'm talking like 10% decrease over 2-3 hours with CONSTANT use web browsing, messing around with settings, downloading apps, youtube, etc.

Truth. Especially if you're not in a great signal area. It's much easier for the phone to grab a Wifi signal than it is to grab a 3G signal. The technology itself requires less juice too. Wifi whenever possible is a great rule to live by.

 

[RayStinkle]

yess, whenever I am home i immediately switch on wifi

battery drain is SIGNIFICANTLY much less while my droid x is on wifi, i'm talking like 10% decrease over 2-3 hours with CONSTANT use web browsing, messing around with settings, downloading apps, youtube, etc.

without a doubt this is my experience too. i can browse over wifi seemingly forever with not much battery drop. wehn i do the same over 3G, my battery is just murdered.

 

[greydarrah]

I know im gonna catch hell for this question so please...be gentle.

With wifi on can i still recieve calls and texts?

With WiFi on you can also talk and browse the net/get emails (just like the iphone).

 

[greydarrah]

primarily dealing with battery life:

and i seriously do not understand how people are making their droid x last more than 24 hours with moderate use, i have every single setting turned OFF (gps, wifi, bluetooth, background data) and my screen brightness on 20%

Look at Juicedefender (free app). If you can afford to get your emails every 5, 10 or 15 minutes (configurable), it manages how often your phone makes a data connection when the screen is off (phone and texting are always on). After installing it, I'm coming off my charger around 7:30 Am and have 40 to 60% left when I go to bed at midnight.

 

[bigboss]

I actually have messed around with juice defender a little bit,
but here is my assumption and correct me if I am wrong:

JuiceDefender is GREAT for when your phone is idle (i.e. if you are at work and do not really use your cellphone much then JuiceDefender will save ridiculous battery life)

however, if i'm on my day off and I am playing around with my droid (like every 5 minutes i'll pick it up and mess around with a new app, web browse, show off my phone to other people lol) then could it possibly drain more battery life? (Since JD is turning off all data and 3g signals and then having to turn them all back on when i mess around with the phone every 5 minutes or so.)

 

[doctorlove316]

Look at Juicedefender (free app). If you can afford to get your emails every 5, 10 or 15 minutes (configurable), it manages how often your phone makes a data connection when the screen is off (phone and texting are always on). After installing it, I'm coming off my charger around 7:30 Am and have 40 to 60% left when I go to bed at midnight.

Are you sure this is configurable in the free verison? Mine only lets me 'Enable Data for 1m every 15m' or 'Enable Data for 2m every 30m'.

 

[.46caliber]

So then does this mean that keeping wifi on while at home will really help to conserve battery?

Yep, instead of your phone connecting, searching and re-connecting to the towers that are strongest, it stays locked onto the router that's 20 feet away. That saves battery, big time.

 

[Mudvayne622]

Yep, instead of your phone connecting, searching and re-connecting to the towers that are strongest, it stays locked onto the router that's 20 feet away. That saves battery, big time.

Thanks for the info. I recently had surgery so i am home all day almost everyday and with using 3g i have been getting about 18 hours out of my battery and even then it only drains down to about between 20%-30% by the time i go to bed. I will try using wifi more often over the next few days and see what happens with the battery life. So far my DX has been off the charger for 10 hours and im down to 60% battery and i have been keeping it on wifi most of the day with moderate use.

It really is kind of a shock coming from my Omnia which would still be at 60% after about 18 hours with heavy use to the DX and seeing the battery down to 30% with less use over the same period of time. I hope this is a useful tip. I have already had a few times where while on the phone with my g/f that the low battery alert has sounded and have had to put the phone on the charger in my bedroom and connect my bluetooth headset to continue talking in the livingroom. Im shocked they made the charging cord so short.

 

[.46caliber]

I don't consider it a charging cord. It's a USB cord that doubles as a charger. I have the Moto dock for my nightstand. It has a more traditional charger with a long cord.

Remember, the Omina didn't have the screen the X does. Screen eats the most by a long shot.

 

[RayStinkle]

The reason android phones get weak battery life is cause the OS keeps an always-on data connection at all times (unless you force data off in settings). At least on the gsm side, all my previous phones open and close the data session as its needed by this or that app. But android does not do this, its either all or nothing. To mimick my previous phones which just sat all day on my desk with no data session, I turned off data on android and battery life shoots up so much I lost like 15% the entire work day.