Help Alarm clock does not work when the phone is off?

[Logan47]

As I recall older phones were designed in a different manner as part of their function was hard coded into them thus they could power on for alarms. Simple kind of bios if you like. Real smart phones are no different than your PC. When they are off they are off, with only minimal power keeping settings and not wasting more than that so unable to initiate any preset function such as alarms.

 

[mattyboyo]

I am currently (as I type) waiting for my android phone to charge before I can go to bed because otherwise I might not get up at the time I need to be up in the morning.

As you wrote that, I was sleep in bed with the phone on charge next to me and the alarm set to wake me up on the morning. Best solution. I'm asleep, the phone it's fully charged in the morning and the alarm goes off. But of i'm in a hotel with no power by the bed then I put it in flight mode and it uses a couple of percent in 8 hours.

 

[matttye]

I couldn't agree more. All my old Samsung phones would switch on and sound the alarm. My old XDA orbit and orbit 2 both did this and they were old smartphones, running windows mobile. So anyway they did know what time it was when they were switched off.

I am new to Android and very surprised that android phones don't do this. It is particularly useful when you know that you don't have much battery left when you go to sleep and want to be sure that the alarm will go off and wake you up, instead of the battery going flat while you sleep. Would be nice if they did this. Especially as all the phones I've had over the last 10 yrs or more have been capable of it.

I am currently (as I type) waiting for my android phone to charge before I can go to bed because otherwise I might not get up at the time I need to be up in the morning.

Why dont you just charge the phone while you sleep?

 

[codral]

No it can't. Not many standard electronics can just turn them selves on.

If it's off, there is no power, so the phone doesn't even know what time it is, let alone if an alarm is running. Don't even think all PCs can turn themselves on at a certain time.

Wow... i've never had a phone which couldn't turn itself on for the alarm, my old Desire HD and desire could do it, the n95, my 8210 and all my other phones here and there... The backup battery in the phone I believe should keep track of the time.

As for PC alarms, i've also never owned a PC (except maybe an old 386), and i've had a few, that didn't have an alarm feature in the BIOS that would wake the PC or laptop up from being totally off.

Man that could have sucked, lucky I read this... Disliking this phone more every day!

(just tested, i9100GT and yeh, doesn't turn on... Wow. wonder how many times this screws me when I go camping etc)

 

[WilfMoralee]

Another omission is no LED message indication. Still otherwise the phone is fantastic...

try BLN, you'll need a custom ROM.

As for alarms, agree with 99% on here, flight mode the way to do it whilst charging overnight.

 

[Slug]

Wow... i've never had a phone which couldn't turn itself on for the alarm, my old Desire HD and desire could do it

That's odd, because neither the Hero or the Desire Z can power themselves on from a powered-off state.

 

[codral]

surely I didn't imagine it... I wonder if I did... that's friggin scary if that's the case, because I would frequently turn it off when travelling etc... Wow, after looking into this further neither of them worked... How the heck did I never discover this, that's scary as hell... I'm sure there were a few days when I could have sworn my alarm didn't go off but I'm always oversleeping so.. yikes!

 

[Slug]

Wow, after looking into this further neither of them worked... How the heck did I never discover this, that's scary as hell...

The human mind is a strange and powerful thing.

 

[Jonmon13]

My android powered phone when completely powered off turns itself on for alarms...

 

[Slug]

My android powered phone when completely powered off turns itself on for alarms...

Really? Which device would that be?

 

[Gearu]

I think some do it, I think it's up to the manufacturer more than having anything to do with android.

My old LG does it, it was flash not android, but they may have continued implementing it. If not possibly a random HTC phone.

It's funny that jonmon13 signed up just to write that.

 

[Avua]

I may surprise you now but recently I purchased Samsung Galaxy W (GT-i8150) in Samsung official reseller in China and it can actually turn on the phone when you set an alarm clock (just need to put a tick in alarm clock's settings). What's more, there is already a call recorder installed. You just need to press a single button while talking and voila - your call is saved (the sound quality is quite good btw).
I contacted Samsung today and they said that the Chinese somehow managed to make it work although they know nothing about it.
I believe we could demand Samsung to implement these technologies in their next updates.

PS I can make photos and video which proves that it actually works when I get back to China.

 

[sntaylor]

there surely should be no reason that a phone like this cannot 'wake itself'

if it can save and update the time when off/back o!

i like others here have resorted to just sleeping with phone in charge, i just kike to keep it switched off it i can!

 

[bertandla]

Download "wake my Android Pro" from Google Play, its a free app.
Install it, set it and forget it, all alarms and calendar reminders will now wake the phone.
Hope this solves your problem, it certanly solved mine!!

 

[Shazbat]

Download "wake my Android Pro" from Google Play, its a free app.
Install it, set it and forget it, all alarms and calendar reminders will now wake the phone.
Hope this solves your problem, it certanly solved mine!!

I've downloaded this but can you tell me what the 'invisible wake' settings are and what I should have them on, as so far my phone is still refusing to turn itself on when the alarm goes off?

Cheers

 

[speedycolzalez]

I haven't LOL'd so much at a thread for some while. Some interesting theories here

The reason old dumb phones can wake up for alarms is the clock and alarm circuitry is implemented in the hardware (like a watch) rather than the software (like a computer). Hence why if asks if you want to switch the phone on when an alarm goes off (at least my Nokias did).

Where as your Android phone is a computer and like a PC (be it Windows, a Mac or, ironically, Linux) when you switch it off, its off. It will not do anything until you switch it on again.

Android phones could wake for alarms if the chip manufacturers put the logic in their chips to support it (storing and firing alarms) like they do for the battery charging gubbins that comes up when you charge the phone when it's off. This is an example of functionality implemented in hardware.

Wake My Android Pro will not switch your phone on to fire an alarm. It simply stops the phone entering deep sleep so you phone won't disconnect from wifi hotspots or enter the "sleep of death" (according to the blurb).

 

[suicidallooney]

Too many people are confused as to why the alarm doesn't work so let me explain properly


The phone uses an operating system (android) just like a computer uses windows


In order for the phone to boot/load into the main OS(Android) it needs some form of instructions or a more basic OS... this is known as BIOS, Basic Input Output System.

This basic OS the "BIOS" operates buttons such as the on/off button. Once the system has been triggered by the on/off button it then loads from BIOS to android and from there on you can use the alarm clock and do other things

Untill android has been loaded/booted the alarm clock will not work as android is currently turned off. regardless if the phone screen is on or off (charging for example whilst turned off)

The Basic Input Output System does not include an alarm clock. That is controlled by android.

Older phones are able to use the alarm whilst turned off because the main "OS" is also the BIOS

Android and the phone BIOS are too different software. The BIOS is also a hardware/chip inside the phone.

If the BIOS does not include an alarm and the main OS is not booted, the alarm clock will not work.

"wake up" mode does not exist. BIOS never turns off unless the battery is removed it's always awake and able to keep track of time, it just doesn't have any software for an alarm...

On your computer it has a small battery inside the motherboard to keep the BIOS awake at all times

 

[Slug]

Android devices don't have a BIOS; when powered-up the bootloader runs, which contains the instructions necessary to boot the Linux kernel.

 

[suicidallooney]

That is true but it is the same difference, microsoft, apple, linux uses different terms to describe the same thing. my explanation is to keep it simple for those who don't even know what a bootloader is

 

[two won]

My old shity black berry did it and my girl friends I-phone s4 does it is there any way to make it do it. Like maybe kicking it cuz I need my alarm to work for camping wake UPS and things where I won't have the phone on all night wasting battery for emergencies

 

[sntaylor]

My old shity black berry did it and my girl friends I-phone s4 does it is there any way to make it do it. Like maybe kicking it cuz I need my alarm to work for camping wake UPS and things where I won't have the phone on all night wasting battery for emergencies

In fairness, with wifi on, my battery drops only 4% over night! So you could put it in aeroplane mode and be fine when camping!

 

[Slug]

you could put it in aeroplane mode and be fine when camping!

^this

Radios are disabled but notifications still function, so the battery lasts literally days.

 

[aaronmafia]

I was late for work today because of this terrible inconvenience. LOL. The thing that really gets me is that back in 2000 whenever one had those Nokia bar phones and junky flip phones, they could be powered off and would turn on (by itself) when the alarm went off. So my "SMARTPHONE" cannot provide me a service that was implemented in normal phones over 10 years ago. By the way I am using a Galaxy S3... Just wanted to give my opinion.

 

[nixf01]

Hate to join in the me-too scenario but this is bugging the hell out of, so much so that I had to register to comment. Not everyone wants to keep their phone on 24/7 and it genuinely never occurred to me that this basic option wasn't available as standard. As a result I nearly missed a really important meeting.

I've only had my phone a couple of weeks (Samsung Galaxy S2 - ok maybe I should have gone for a newer model, but I'm on a tight budget) but I'm really starting to wish I'd splashed the cash for an iPhone 4, despite my irritation with the whole Apple marketing machine. I don't find it at all user friendly and I'm not a technophobe by any stretch of the imagination...

 

[mattyboyo]

If you really want to turn the phone off till you need it and need an alarm to wake you up, buy an alarm clock. I gave a clock radio so I can see the time and have an alarm it I need to. It's great, works every time and wakes me up to a different tune every day