Help Cell Standby, Battery Killer?

[howarmat]

if you have no service and you leave the radio on its gong to kill the battery, you should just shut the radio off if you have no service. You wont receive calls if you do that but if you dont have service it wont matter. if you have wifi available use that for data instead but you cant get calls over wifi.

 

[Odin3]

My friend read somewhere that the out of service number was time over a certain signal level. Let's say 100db. This makes sense because mine is sometimes around 70% and there is no way I am at 0 signal that much. BTW - I work in a building with low signal.

 

[joehero]

I can still make and recieve calls no problem. My data is what has no service. But this is a big problem if the phone dies in 3 hours because it wants 3g when it could get by on 1x if it needed to. I shouldnt have to switch something on and off all time.

 

[konradmule]

I get 23% now with no network (my operator has turned off intl roaming). I would like to turn off the cel and just use WiFi. Is there a way to do that? Airplane mode is handy when the phone is in standby, but not perfect solution.

 

[brandonhutch]

What about "phone idle". I would have thought this was the time the radio was active but not used for a call. Maybe cell standby is power spent without signal.

Bump.

What about this? To me, this seems like it should be the same thing as cell standby. I have both and CS is 42% and PI is 36%.

 

[howarmat]

they are different, the cell standby is only the CELL RADIO pinging the tower or whatever

the phone idle is more software related to the OS and other processes that are draining the batter

 

[MisterMixelpix]

Easy way to test this out: unplug your phone and don't let it turn off for an hour. Do a solid hour of messing around. See where "cell standby" is.

 

[Hom3Skill3t]

you guys think you have high standby numbers? I just checked mine and it is at 78% cell standby and android system is at 5%. Phone idle at 10%, maps at 9% and wifi and display at 2%.

Mine was even higher sitting at anywhere between 90-97% yesterday with the remaining 9-3% taking up display and phone idle. Which correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't phone idle be the primary one if the phone is not in use? I'm in a building with no coverage, however at my house, where I have coverage, cell standby was still sitting at 89%. I didn't do a thing on it all day yesterday, and was at 50% battery half way through my day from a full charge. Last week, I kept the phone in my office, and had utilized hardly any battery at all. I've tried the *# number and everything else mentioned here to no avail. So if anyone has heard anything else since the last post, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[bjanow]

I can still make and recieve calls no problem. My data is what has no service. But this is a big problem if the phone dies in 3 hours because it wants 3g when it could get by on 1x if it needed to. I shouldnt have to switch something on and off all time.

Wait a minute. You initially said you were in a building without signal. So how do you make and receive calls? If you just don't get data then you will need to turn off 3G (mobile networks) so the phone doesn't search for signal all the time. If you could get on wifi at the office, then turn off mobile, connect to the network and you have the best of both worlds. But in answer to your last point, all phones will search for signal so you do have to turn it off and on. Get the widget, it's very easy at that point.

 

[johnyjaknove]

i work in many different areas throughout the week and i've noticed that if i have 2 to 3 bars of signal my phone battery will last from 8am to 8pm with 60% battery left. That is with charging it the night before and not leaving it on the charger all night. But if i have 1 to 0 bars of signal the battery will barely make it to 6pm before the battery dies. Also i don't know if anyone has had this happen, if my phone has 0 bars and i'm somewhere that should have decent signal and i make a call magically my bars will go up (normally to 3 bars)? I usually stay around 1 to 2 bars on street level, in basements 0 to 1, and in office buildings 2 to 3. But when I make calls it jumps up? what the hell is up with that?

 

[howarmat]

your data signal is the 3G signal which will be weaker than your actual signal to call people. It shuts data signal down when you call someone or get a call. Therefore you see the stronger signal come thru

 

[johnyjaknove]

after charging my phone last night to 100% i turned off my 3G when i went to sleep. when i woke up my phone was at 99%. I left 3G off through the day only turning it on if needed or coming or via Tasker if the phone was unlocked for longer than 4 minutes and not in a call. I used the phone like normal (20-30 calls, 15-20 text messages, updated about 8 apps from the market, looked online several times). Phone has been unplugged for 18 hours, my cell standby is still 42%, phone idle 41% but my battery is at 75%. Its great my battery has never lasted this long and never had this big of a charge left at the end of the day. It seems my phone is constantly using 3G throughout the day draining the battery. How dumb is that shit! With 3G off my battery last a long time.

 

[howarmat]

after charging my phone last night to 100% i turned off my 3G when i went to sleep. when i woke up my phone was at 99%. I left 3G off through the day only turning it on if needed or coming or via Tasker if the phone was unlocked for longer than 4 minutes and not in a call. I used the phone like normal (20-30 calls, 15-20 text messages, updated about 8 apps from the market, looked online several times). Phone has been unplugged for 18 hours, my cell standby is still 42%, phone idle 41% but my battery is at 75%. Its great my battery has never lasted this long and never had this big of a charge left at the end of the day. It seems my phone is constantly using 3G throughout the day draining the battery. How dumb is that shit! With 3G off my battery last a long time.

because that is how phones work! if you want a constant data connection you have to leave 3G on so it constantly get data. of course its going to use battery. if you turn 3G off the phone only does sms and calls and that is it

 

[xwickedx]

Wow so i just noticed this standby thing just now and did a search and found this thread. My cell standby is at 72% which kinda made me think there was some kind of problem as i havnt used my phone at all really just few text messages after i woke up and batt is already down to 18% being unplugged from 100% before i went to bed.

So just to clear things up lets say im somewhere with wifi , i should just turn off 3g while at home then? could it be like my weather pinging for updates or any other apps like that.

 

[howarmat]

3G automatically gets shut down once on wifi

 

[stridr69]

because that is how phones work! if you want a constant data connection you have to leave 3G on so it constantly get data. of course its going to use battery. if you turn 3G off the phone only does sms and calls and that is it

Settings:Wireless and Networks:Mobile Networks:Enable always-on mobile data. Un-check this puppy. This will make 3G use on-demand only. Works for me most of the time. If your streaming lastFM, slacker, ect. then it needs to be checked as these programs like constant 3G.

Good Luck

 

[howarmat]

Settings:Wireless and Networks:Mobile Networks:Enable always-on mobile data. Un-check this puppy. This will make 3G use on-demand only. Works for me most of the time. If your streaming lastFM, slacker, ect. then it needs to be checked as these programs like constant 3G.

Good Luck

i am well aware of the setting, it doesnt improve battery life enough for me to justify late emails, im programs not working correctly etc.

 

[capkj]

because that is how phones work! if you want a constant data connection you have to leave 3G on so it constantly get data. of course its going to use battery. if you turn 3G off the phone only does sms and calls and that is it

Really? phones need to sit idle and be connected to 3G while it is doing nothing? When it's sitting idle I expect it to nothing EXCEPT keep it's little volitale memory alive waiting for me to tell it to DO something, and "LISTEN" for incoming calls and sms. As you stated 3G is not needed for that!

Here's how I look at it and where I am confused. My old Razr v3 could last a week no problem with occasional use. my android phone can make about one DAY with little use. My old Razr v3 had a little 680mAh battery My Defy has a big 1580mAh battery. Now for any of you who can do a little math...
Aprox. 200 hrs on 680mAh battery = 3.4mA/hr consumption
Aprox. 24 hrs on 1580mAh battery = 65.83mA/hr consumption
My defy averages aprox 40% cell standby power with little use.
That equals 26.33mA/hr consumption, or 774% more power to supposedly do the same thing, which is sit there and "LISTEN" for an incoming call or sms message. So what gives? Has cell phone circuitry become less efficient over the last five years? Or, is my battery meter lying about what is really using that 40% power?

 

[euph_22]

Really? phones need to sit idle and be connected to 3G while it is doing nothing? When it's sitting idle I expect it to nothing EXCEPT keep it's little volitale memory alive waiting for me to tell it to DO something, and "LISTEN" for incoming calls and sms. As you stated 3G is not needed for that!

Here's how I look at it and where I am confused. My old Razr v3 could last a week no problem with occasional use. my android phone can make about one DAY with little use. My old Razr v3 had a little 680mAh battery My Defy has a big 1580mAh battery. Now for any of you who can do a little math...
Aprox. 200 hrs on 680mAh battery = 3.4mA/hr consumption
Aprox. 24 hrs on 1580mAh battery = 65.83mA/hr consumption
My defy averages aprox 40% cell standby power with little use.
That equals 26.33mA/hr consumption, or 774% more power to supposedly do the same thing, which is sit there and "LISTEN" for an incoming call or sms message. So what gives? Has cell phone circuitry become less efficient over the last five years? Or, is my battery meter lying about what is really using that 40% power?

Because 1) because 3g is alot more power intense than the1x the Razr uses. 2) You probably have stuff updating in the background. Email refreshing itself, news, facebook, weather, so forth, so on and etc.
3) Android assumes you actually want to use your Smartphone to do smart (ie internety) things. Receiving emails (including push email like Gmail), mms, IMs, all need constant data connections. Also, it's a prettygood assumption the typical smartphone user doesn't want to wait 30 seconds to get reregistered on the network every time he/she goes online. Hence the constant connection. They're assuming people want there phones to DO things, instead of just sitting in the background. If you want it to behave like your Razr, you're perfectly free to change those settings.
4) You get "about a day" out of your battery. What more do you need? Why is it so critical you're phone can run for days on end without plugging it in? You can't just plug it in at night?

 

[howarmat]

Really? phones need to sit idle and be connected to 3G while it is doing nothing? When it's sitting idle I expect it to nothing EXCEPT keep it's little volitale memory alive waiting for me to tell it to DO something, and "LISTEN" for incoming calls and sms. As you stated 3G is not needed for that!

Here's how I look at it and where I am confused. My old Razr v3 could last a week no problem with occasional use. my android phone can make about one DAY with little use. My old Razr v3 had a little 680mAh battery My Defy has a big 1580mAh battery. Now for any of you who can do a little math...
Aprox. 200 hrs on 680mAh battery = 3.4mA/hr consumption
Aprox. 24 hrs on 1580mAh battery = 65.83mA/hr consumption
My defy averages aprox 40% cell standby power with little use.
That equals 26.33mA/hr consumption, or 774% more power to supposedly do the same thing, which is sit there and "LISTEN" for an incoming call or sms message. So what gives? Has cell phone circuitry become less efficient over the last five years? Or, is my battery meter lying about what is really using that 40% power?

you seriously are comparing a POS phone from 5 years ago to a new smartphone and think they opperate the same?

 

[Zeljko95]

My cell standby:39
phone idle:39
android system:15
And my phone need the whole one minute to wake up.
What can I do?

 

[SilentSpring]

Since the 2.3 upgrade last week on my htc incredibe s I have woken up twice with my phone showing no phone signal. It has apparently had no signal for 30% of the night since being unplugged from the charger, and the cell radio had been searching for reception, and cell standby had used 60% of the battery. I sleep with both wifi and mobile data off. When I test it by making a call, the cell reception jumps to full signal. We live in an area with very good reception. I am wondering if this may be an issue with the cell radio not being able to reconnect by itself. Hmmm...

 

[SilentSpring]

I have solved my cell standby problem by switching the preference in mobile networks from wcdma/gsm auto to gsm only. Apparently there is an issue with the auto setting that doesn't function as it should. Since switching, my time without coverage had been nill and the cell standby reduced- after 6 hours I had 95% battery left and 20% of the usage was on cell standby, which equates to 1% of total battery use. I hope this may help someone.

 

[euph_22]

I have solved my cell standby problem by switching the preference in mobile networks from wcdma/gsm auto to gsm only. Apparently there is an issue with the auto setting that doesn't function as it should. Since switching, my time without coverage had been nill and the cell standby reduced- after 6 hours I had 95% battery left and 20% of the usage was on cell standby, which equates to 1% of total battery use. I hope this may help someone.

Are you actually getting any signal with that setting? The incredible has a CDMA radio, not GSM. You might be getting great battery life because you've set the phone to use a radio it doesn't has, and thus isn't doing anything.

 

[engineglue]

haha i just read this thread and finally found the guy who gets it! took a week almost

haha Agreed. Hard to believe people can't understand percentages. Maybe the Android should show mah (milliamps per hour) for each instance instead of percentage. Just kidding of course, that would be even more confusing for these average-IQ-wanna-be-nerd-with-a-smart-phone peeps.

BTW (by the way) y'all could try disabling (shutting off) background data, if y'all hav'n trouble with battery depletion rates (battery life):

Settings->Data Manager->Data Deliver->Background Data