CafeKampuchia

I bought my Wildfire S just over a week ago and have been lamenting the poor battery performance... having to recharge 2x/day. Under Settings/About Phone/Battery/Battery use “dialer” has been consuming 50-95% of the battery every day.

Today I came across a battery saving tip at XDA Developers ([TIP] Greatest Battery saving tip you'll ever find) that basically puts the phone in test mode (by dialing *#*#4636#*#*) so you can change preferred network type from WCDMA preferred to GSM auto (PRL). [BTW, no root or S-Off required!] From what I was able to scrounge up on Google, this keeps the phone from hunting for 3G networks in an area (like mine) where only Edge is available; it only looks for 3G when the bandwidth is needed. In other words, for calls and texts it stays on Edge/2G; for internet looks for 3G. (For a description of all the available modes, click here.)

I haven’t tested this yet. When the phone is done charging, I’ll unplug it and see how far it goes and post an update later.

Question: Is the phone constantly hunting for a 3G network what is causing dialer to consume so much energy, or is the dialer problem yet a separate issue?

BTW, my phone is an A510e running 2.3.3.

Last edited by CafeKampuchia; December 14th, 2011 at 08:03 PM. Reason: Mispelling

El Presidente

Hello, welcome to AF!

You've posted in the original Wildfire Section so I'll move to the Wildfire S section for you.

Generally, the dialer is pretty generic and relates to things like the light sensor, the proximity sensor etc and whilst it displays that high usage, it doesn't actually consume that much battery, it's just reported in a weird way.

Also, if it's the first week of the phone, I've found that smart phone batteries take around 10-14 days to settle and you won't start to see what they're really capable of until you've had it around a fortnight. What sort of life are you getting out of it?

Ways to increase battery life range from turning off autosync, turning off WiFi/3G when you don't need it and turning off auto brightness. I've set the brightness on my handset to around 45% and that does me fine.

To answer your question though, yes, you might see an increase in battery life if you change the modes using the 4636 menu.

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CafeKampuchia

Tks!

Tks again! And tks for the helpful info.

So far I've had the phone on for about 2 hrs. since the last 100% recharge and dialer isn't even showing up. That's never happened before. And I've left Auto Sync and Mobile Network on to see the contrast. The battery level is down to 80% already, but I did play a little bit of Angry Birds.

Cell Standby 37%
Display 24%
Phone idle 24%
Wi-Fi 15%

El Presidente

Like I say, it's hard to give an accurate portrayal of battery life after the first few days. My main handset, the Desire HD, was only lasting about 8-16 hours for the first week or so and even before I rooted and installed a custom ROM, I managed about 2 days on average.

Is this your first smartphone?

CafeKampuchia

Yeh, I haven't given up hope yet.

Yes. I suppose my Dell Axim X51v doesn't count since it wasn't a phone or running Android.

I'm longing to root it or at least S-Off to get the full Android experience, but here in Cambodia I doubt anyone has an XTC Clip.

CafeKampuchia

UPDATE

At over 7 hrs. with either Wi-Fi or Mobile Network on and auto syncing enabled, it's down to 46%. I've not made a phone call yet. Battery use is:

Cell standby 39%
Phone idle 31%
Display 15%
Wi-Fi 15%

Dialer still has not reared it's ugly head, but the phone is still running its battery down quickly.

CafeKampuchia

At 9 hrs+ down to 22%.

Cell standby 39%
Phone idle 29%
Display 19%
Wi-Fi 12%
Bluetooth 1%

This is definately a step in the right direction, but not a magic bullet. I think the only reason it helps me is that I'm in an Edge-only area so my phone isn't wasting battery hunting for a 3G network that doesn't exist. But it is interesting that setup this way dialer never appears in the list.

Harish Harris

Down to 22% within 9hrs?
That seems to be a poor battery performance.
Do you have wi-fi, GPS and network data on?

CafeKampuchia

Yes. As I said in the earlier posts, Auto Sync and Mobile Network (or WiFi) have been on all day. GPS not. Angry Birds occasionally.

Actually, I think it was an improvement. Before I wasn't getting 6-7 hours as the thing constantly hunted for a non-existent 3G network.

Harish Harris

Hmm i always have my GPS on. But i turn on Mobile Network only when needed. I listen to a lot of music, play some games too and i easily get 2 days out of my battery.

Illi Hisham

What actually dialer does? Does it have any relation with the mobile internet ? Cuz i'm suscribing to mobile internet service, n i'm connected to internet like 24/7

Caro332

I have mobile internet on all day (I just turn it off when I go to sleep because it does save on battery) and my phone lasts about 2 days if I use it moderately. I don't think the dialer has anything to do with mobile network.

Like Cafe, I live in a country where 3G is non existant. Well it exists but it sucks big time so I've changed my settings to use only edge so it saves on battery as well

Edit: What do you think turning off the radio would do? Would it affect anything in the phone or just disable radio?

Last edited by Caro332; April 5th, 2012 at 03:41 AM.

Illi Hisham

Hmmm, idk but somehow i have a strong feeling that mobile internet has got to do with the dialer, cuz i tried to do a method that can save the power usage by the dialer, that is, restart ur phone right after u made outgoing calls, still, when my battery ran out, i checked the power consumption, 97% from dialer....this really pissed me off, charge for 4 hours, battery runs out like approx 2hours after being charged, even tho i use my phone moderately

Caro332

I'm not sure if restarting your phone actually save on battery. I would think that it ends up using even more battery because the whole system needs to start again, which involves quite a big usage of battery..
Are you saying that after 2 hours your phone goes from 100% to 0%?

Calomax

My battery now lasts really well since I disabled pocket mode, a tip I picked up somewhere on the forum.

Illi Hisham

Hmm, ya from 100%, goes to 15%....o about restarting phone after making outgoing calls cud save up some power usage by dialer, that tip i found somewhere in this forum...i hope u cud help me regarding to this dialer problem.....maybe in one day, i try to not using mobile internet for all the time n at the same time try to make a phonecall, without restarting my phone then i'll give u a feedback on what happen to the power consumption