To Wi-Fi or not to Wi-Fi?!

[akarol]

Well, with the Palm Pre, leaving Wi-Fi on seemed to have yielded great battery improvement. Is that the same case with the EVO? Even though I mostly use the phone for data (e-mailing, surfind the net, facebook, etc), I feel like I mostly do those things away from Wi-Fi areas such as my house and work. What do you guys think? Should I just turn it on when I need the extra speed or leave it on at all times?

Thanks in advance...

BTW, is that the same with GPS?

 

[storino03]

i use wifi when i'm at home, but haven't went into the battery rate.

 

[saywut]

I havent't usesd Wifi yet. I'm sure it will use less battery being that the device isnt constantly looking for a 3g or 4g signal. Data will travel through your phone regardless cause of whatever you have going on with your phone, so that wont change unless you change....lol.

I will add that the device is WAY more faster on 3G than the Palm Pre, Im assuming that its probably the "O 1Ghz SnapDragaon Processor BATMAN"

 

[bmoore]

Dude, I'm an ex-Pre-owner as well. I also left the WiFi on to enhance battery life. The EVO is NOT the same. I downloaded Spare Parts app which details several different things; one of which is battery life. It'll also tell you how much of your battery life was used on a particular App, Service, etc... It showed that Wifi on/running is responsible for 93.6% of my battery loss. I have the extended 1750mAh battery from Siedio and it only lasts me until 3:00 w/ WiFi on (in WiFi areas). In other words TURN IT OFF!

Not sure if anyone else is experiencing the same thing.

 

[Rudementry]

Two things. First of all, how fast is your internet? If your internet sucks and isn't faster than 3MBPS then there is no point. Second of all, if you have access to wifi, why are you worrying about battery life, go plug the dang thing into the wall.

 

[wrecklass]

While I am at home, I can plug the phone in and keep it charged, so the WiFi speed is great to have. I will turn it off when I go out and see how the battery life changes then. For me, it is a good trade off of performance vs. battery life.

 

[Gekko]

WIFI kills battery life. i always choose 3G vs. WIFI. 3G "sleeps".

 

[gabbott]

WIFI kills battery life. i always choose 3G vs. WIFI. 3G "sleeps".

You can set the wifi to sleep too in the settings.

 

[Brainerd]

My WiFi seems to drain the battery, as well. The WiFi signal strength appears to be on the low side, even when one is in the same room as the WiFi router. There is a "sticky" on this subject.

Not to state the obvious, but the firmware running the radio seems to need some fixes. Hopefully, HTC is on this and will have an OTA update that improves the WiFi performance. If its range is increased, it won't use as much power trying to send and receive the signal to and from the router.

Many in the "Bad Wi-Fi Range" thread seem to think that this is just a software issue and it should be resolved with the next update.

 

[koxler]

I also read one battery saving tip was to go into wireless settings and turn off "Network Notification". It basically said that with this on it would always be polling for new networks. I have this off and leave wifi on much like I did with my Pre and haven't seen any ill effects. Frankly I haven't tried it with it off but today I unplugged with wifi on and only been in a wifi area for about 1/2 the day and am only down to 52% (8am-5:30pm) 3G only (4G off).

You will just have to see what works for you.

 

[akarol]

Well, turned Wi-Fi off midday today and I haven't noticed anything that can solidify whether it is a major drain or not. I guess I'll have to see in the upcoming days. I'll follow up with you guys. But one thing is for sure, Wi-Fi was always a 30%+ source in Spare Parts for me. Now I need to see if it's 30% of drain and not just usage. What do you think?

@gabbott, I hear that turning Wi-Fi Sleep policy ON actually drains the battery a lot more than setting it to NEVER. Many different threads have talked about this. Maybe the EVO behaves differently? What's your take?

 

[Septro]

I leave my wifi on all the time and I'm cooking at 14hours of battery right now on moderate use. I leave BT on too all the time.

I'm CRAZY yo!

 

[gabbott]

@gabbott, I hear that turning Wi-Fi Sleep policy ON actually drains the battery a lot more than setting it to NEVER. Many different threads have talked about this. Maybe the EVO behaves differently? What's your take?

I've heard the same thing as with it set to sleep will cause the phone to use 3g for data which uses more battery than wifi would. But was just pointing out that you can set the wifi to sleep.

On my pre, using wifi seemed to consume less power, I'd assume on the EVO that would be the same but havent been able to test all that much as my firewall/router at home and the EVO aren't getting along well together and DHCP isnt working, so can't test wireless at home.

 

[fonefanatic]

I too am coming from the Pre. I leave my WiFi on all the time and have not noticed any significant battery drain from it. It shows it is only using like 2 or 3 % of the battery! WIth my battery already lasting over 12 hours what difference does 2 or 3 % make? Just my 2 cents

 

[akarol]

I too am coming from the Pre. I leave my WiFi on all the time and have not noticed any significant battery drain from it. It shows it is only using like 2 or 3 % of the battery! WIth my battery already lasting over 12 hours what difference does 2 or 3 % make? Just my 2 cents

Well, I was getting 30-40% Wi-Fi on the battery. Perhaps that means that I am using my phone mostly on areas I have Wi-Fi coverage, while you're not? I don't know how these percentages help us any. Bottom line, does 3G consume more battery than Wi-Fi? If so, then me turning it off and relying on 3G to cover those 30-40% would yield more drain right?

12 hours is nice, but I need to go at least 16 hours (well, don't need to, but would like to).