Battery Life Fix

[Markdental]

Hi every one.

My battery life to was not good, that was until I tried this:

Background first: GSM 2G+3G ("WCDMA preferred") drains battery over 5 times faster than exclusive 3G ("WCDMA Only")

Average battery drain / hour when phone is idle with screen off:
1-Standard shipping mode WCDMA prefered, i.e. both 2G and 3G enabled, Wifi off): 10% / hour
2-Alternate WCDMA Only mode, 3G exclusively, no Wifi: 1.7% / hour
So I tried changing the phone settings from WCDMA prefered to WCDMA only. WOW battery life instanly better!!! 3G still works and phone OK.

To do this enter *#*#4636#*#* on phone dial pad, select phone information, then scroll down to selection box, change set preferred network type to WCDMA only. Switch phone to airplane mode, then switch airplane off and watch your battery performance increase by 300% plus...

You can also use the program Called "Anycut" in the Market to create a shortcut to "Phone Info" and do the same thing without doing the number dialing on the dial pad. That is what I did.

Anycut Instructions:

1)Download "AnyCut" from the Market
2)Longpress on your homescreen and choose "Anycut"
3)Choose "Activity"
4)Scroll to "Phone Info" select it and click Ok
5)Select your new Shortcut on your home Screen
6)Under "Set Preferred network type" Choose : "WCDMA only"

There you have it!!


See how this works for you...

 

[Sunflower1970]

Yep. I've done this. I was already getting good battery life, but did notice it was even better yesterday. Although I'm not too crazy about leaving it in WCDMA only mode since if I lose 3G it won't drop to EDGE. I'll lose signal altogether, which has happened a few times already...

 

[oniongirl]

So what happens if you are in areas that you know have poor 3G signal, and its nothing to do with the phone? Would this method prevent you from connecting to a slower (but more reliable) network?

edit: oh, Sunflower1970 just answered that for me. Thanks

 

[choffy21]

Yep. I've done this. I was already getting good battery life, but did notice it was even better yesterday. Although I'm not too crazy about leaving it in WCDMA only mode since if I lose 3G it won't drop to EDGE. I'll lose signal altogether, which has happened a few times already...

Exactly. I did this for a while and it's just not worth it. In my house I get an awful 3G signal (it's not T-Mobile, I literally live in cellphone hell; if you have AT&T or Sprint, good luck getting a simple text and Verizon is weak), but a perfect EDGE signal.

I'll take some service over battery life.

 

[Markdental]

Yeah, this is only good for areas where 3G coverage is good.

But if you have good coverage, this can save a ton of battery during down time.

 

[Esquire1]

If something like this works, it makes me think a more efficient OS upgrade can help substantially. The switching between 2G and 3G can be more efficiently done.

 

[mi_canuck]

Yep. I've done this. I was already getting good battery life, but did notice it was even better yesterday. Although I'm not too crazy about leaving it in WCDMA only mode since if I lose 3G it won't drop to EDGE. I'll lose signal altogether, which has happened a few times already...

that's exactly why this is not an absolute fix for many of us... we don't have enough full 3G coverage here in the US... maybe in the UK, but not here...

 

[androidtx]

Ok, had a strange experience.

According to the tmobile map, I am in solid 3g coverage, with 3g coverage being all around me for probably 20 miles. Usually in my house, the 3g signal is 2 or 1 bar, and often drops to edge. Well I just switched it to WCDMA only, and now I am getting a solid 4 3g bars in my house...odd.

 

[seeking]

how do i set this with anycut?

 

[Markdental]

how do i set this with anycut?

Added anycut instructions to my OP. Check up top

 

[afine1]

Not so sure I believe this post. I have done the change several days ago to get my 3g working. I in no way noticed any change in battery life.

 

[Markdental]

Believe what you want. The change is for idle battery loss. I noticed with even more use today, 25% more battery life remaining when I got home with this being the only change.

 

[seeking]

Added anycut instructions to my OP. Check up top

thanks!

 

[Fastmhz]

This actually helped! Thanks OP!

 

[Markdental]

Np, anytime!

 

[Esquire1]

I did this trick along with calibrating my battery. Because I did both concurrently, I cannot pinpoint which substantially helped my battery. I believe the OP did help the most, however, because Cell Standby usage has substantially lowered.

So for those who doubt, I'd say I gained SEVERAL hours of actual usage. Thanks to the OP.

 

[s00paSold3r]

how do you calibrate your battery???

I did this trick along with calibrating my battery. Because I did both concurrently, I cannot pinpoint which substantially helped my battery. I believe the OP did help the most, however, because Cell Standby usage has substantially lowered.

So for those who doubt, I'd say I gained SEVERAL hours of actual usage. Thanks to the OP.

 

[lutherinlondon]

Tried this out on my G1 a few days ago and it does actually help. Unfortunately, wasn't so successful on my N1 as O2 don't have a great 3G network here where as Voda UK have been brilliant so far.

 

[Markdental]

how do you calibrate your battery???

Drain your battery all the way down and kill it. Try to turn it back on, let it die. Repeat until it won't even turn on.

Then charge it all the way back up.

The batteries are not supposed to need this, but in devices that have a battery indicator, for every 30 discharges, you are supposed to do this to calibrate the battery indicator, not the battery itself.

 

[oniongirl]

The batteries are not supposed to need this, but in devices that have a battery indicator, for every 30 discharges, you are supposed to do this to calibrate the battery indicator, not the battery itself.

Yup. Otherwise you might end up with an indicator saying that battery's dead when it isn't, and telling the phone to shut off. Which is no fun.

 

[Fastmhz]

Just an update. I went 12 hours and 34min at 41% battery life left. I did a ton of texting, minimal web surfing and a few phone calls. I think that's pretty good.

 

[androidtx]

It definitely works, but I have found I am in areas that slip to edge coverage too often, and and up a with a phone in my pocket not receiving calls, so I had to go back to preferred.

 

[mi_canuck]

Just an update. I went 12 hours and 34min at 41% battery life left. I did a ton of texting, minimal web surfing and a few phone calls. I think that's pretty good.

that is pretty good... mine would be about 41% after 4 1/2 hrs... and doing nothing outrageous... so some are defective... yours appears to work as it should and/or expected...

 

[daffyduck]

that is pretty good... mine would be about 41% after 4 1/2 hrs... and doing nothing outrageous... so some are defective... yours appears to work as it should and/or expected...

Mine seems to be getting better as well - currently at 46% remaining after 11.5 hours......done surfing for 30mins on wifi and probably 20 mins on mobile.

 

[bluehaze013]

This does help the battery, the problem is though if you have a weak 3g signal you can't make or recieve calls when it goes out because it won't switch to 2g. I thought this was data only but it affects the phone service too had to switch mine back to preferred.