Alarm clock that works when phone powered off

[FishenFool]

Wouldn't the phone just get time from the provider making that time not being wrong statement null and void. Let a wifi only tablet go completely dead for awhile and power it back up after charging and see if you get the same results.

 

[chanchan05]

Wouldn't the phone just get time from the provider making that time not being wrong statement null and void. Let a wifi only tablet go completely dead for awhile and power it back up after charging and see if you get the same results.

Try doing that with a phone with no data connection or sim card. I've done it.

Plus it's almost standard on any electronic device. Even calculators have one.

 

[Deleted User]

Another analogy is like unplugging your TV, and then trying to use the remote to turn it on, while ignoring the fact that it draws a tickle charge while it's plugged in, so it can have enough power to "listen" for the remote.

 

[Simon_Gardner]

Think about it, a PC can't automatically boot itself out of shutdown...

Macs do after a power failure so that's pretty much a no external power situation until the power comes back.

 

[chanchan05]

Macs do after a power failure so that's pretty much a no external power situation until the power comes back.

AFAIK that's a hardware thing. The connection is left open. I had the same thing happen to a laptop, booting up immediately when plugged in because the switch mechanism broke and the line was left open. Plus in your example, there is enough power to trigger a bootup. In the case of a CMOS battery, that thing is just around the equivalent of a wristwatch battery, certainly not enough to trigger a bootup for an android phone.

 

[hiredgun]

We certainly got a lot of mileage out of a year old thread, lol, and I thank you all for such in depth responses. I guess I'll just go out and buy a "real" alarm clock to back up my Nokia!!!!Lol.

P.S. I just remembered that I have an old Nokia N-Gage at work that I used for gaming and has been in disuse for quite some time now. I can back up my Nokia with ANOTHER Nokia, WOOOO HOOOO! Lol.

 

[MLSS]

With all due respect, it's not possible that it's completely off if your Nokia still works. If it truly had zero power floating through it, how would the phone know to wake you up? It's unable to read a clock at that point, and would have no power to sound the alarm with either. Think about it for a minute. It needs power in order to function. Google around to see if Simon_Gardner is correct about a backup battery being installed on Nokia devices. I'd wager that there is truth to that comment.

Nokias had a separate battery just for the alarm clock. So you see it is possible......

 

[MLSS]

Try doing that with a phone with no data connection or sim card. I've done it.

Plus it's almost standard on any electronic device. Even calculators have one.

This is true. Shut your phone down, wait a few minutes and turn it on and it will keep the correct time. Pull the battery then restart and the time and date will be wrong. (assuming you do this without a data or wifi signal)

 

[hiredgun]

Nokias had a separate battery just for the alarm clock. So you see it is possible......

I was going to say that the phone was about as "off" as it could be, now I know I was right!

 

[chanchan05]

Just did it with my phone. Pulled the battery for a 15 minutes, then pulled the SIM out and booted it up. Time was correct. No SIM so no network pulling of data to correct time. It's the CMOS.

With regards to Nokias, a CMOS battery should be powerful enough to trigger a small monochrome display and beeping. Afterall wristwatches with their tiny batteries can do that. But an Android phone? With audio chips, graphics chips to handle sound and display? Doubt it. Unless it's done via hardwiring to leave a connection to the main battery open. I think that's what they did with the Moto X?

 

[Deleted User]

Nokias had a separate battery just for the alarm clock. So you see it is possible......

But that proves what I'm saying. It's getting power from somewhere. It's not COMPLETELY off.

 

[hiredgun]

I was a little reluctant to post this because I know I may take some heat on it, but it has happened TWO days in a row, so I am certain that what I am saying is valid!! And that is that using the "factory" alarm clock app that comes with my Huawei Daytona the phone's alarm clock DOES INDEED sound even though the phone is completely off!!! It actually happened yesterday too, but as everyone agree that Android can't do that I dismissed it as accidentally leaving the phone on at night even though I am very meticulous about things like turning it off. Last night I made sure the phone was totally off (waiting for the light to go off and hearing the little "buzz") and this morning at exactly 7:30 in the morning Sunny Seville time the phone's alarm clock went off loud and clear. I thought that it was at least of some interest to share this little "finding" with the community and I invite any other Daytona user to corroborate my finding!

 

[Hadron]

The statement is that _Android_ can't do that. You could produce a phone where a low-level program runs when it's "off" which manages such things (quotes because if so it isn't really off, just the main OS is shut down). So if that phone has been designed that way then you have a bonus

However, it's not something that an app can add to another phone.

 

[Simon_Gardner]

I was a little reluctant to post this because I know I may take some heat on it, but it has happened TWO days in a row, so I am certain that what I am saying is valid!! And that is that using the "factory" alarm clock app that comes with my Huawei Daytona the phone's alarm clock DOES INDEED sound even though the phone is completely off!!! It actually happened yesterday too, but as everyone agree that Android can't do that I dismissed it...

No. Nobody at all is saying "Android can't do that". They are saying Samsung and specifically the Note 3 can't do that.

Not the same thing.

 

[chanchan05]

The mistake here is that people think it's the Nokia OS or the Android OS that is responsible for making the phone alarm when off. It just is set as a separate program from the main OS that allows a trigger for alarm when the phone is off. It's not Android can't do it. It's merely, the phone isn't designed to do it.

 

[electricpete]

I said "android can't do that". I stand corrected.

 

[hiredgun]

I said "android can't do that". I stand corrected.

Thanks for backing me up on that Pete, I knew I heard it somewhere, lol!!

 

[Jeran2]

I think they meant "remove the battery to force it to really shut down. Then put it back in and see whether it still wakes for the alarm".

I wish they would have said it that way.

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

[Jeran2]

The mistake here is that people think it's the Nokia OS or the Android OS that is responsible for making the phone alarm when off. It just is set as a separate program from the main OS that allows a trigger for alarm when the phone is off. It's not Android can't do it. It's merely, the phone isn't designed to do it.

And my question is why doesn't someone design a modern android phone to do this?


Maybe it's the same reason they seem to be unwilling or unable to design an android phone that can tell the correct time all the time rather than unexpectedly being off by 5 hours from your local time, making them unreliable as an alarm clock?


Maybe this is why iphones are more expensive? Because they're worth more?

 

[Simon_Gardner]

Maybe this is why iphones are more expensive? Because they're worth more?

Shirley shome mishtake, iPhones are cheaper.

 

[electricpete]

AAnd my question is why doesn't someone design a modern android phone to do this?


Maybe it's the same reason they seem to be unwilling or unable to design an android phone that can tell the correct time all the time rather than unexpectedly being off by 5 hours from your local time, making them unreliable as an alarm clock?


Maybe this is why iphones are more expensive? Because they're worth more?

Personally I don't see the burning need behind this criticism. I don't turn my phone off at night. I silence mine every night and let it charge so it's ready for the next day. I also schedule my podcast download and my file backup activities to happen while I'm sleeping.

And keeping it on allows me to use it as an alarm clock. I have used two different android phones as my sole alarm clock over the last three years....has not let me down once. Nor have I seen any problem keeping time.

 

[chanchan05]

And my question is why doesn't someone design a modern android phone to do this?


Maybe it's the same reason they seem to be unwilling or unable to design an android phone that can tell the correct time all the time rather than unexpectedly being off by 5 hours from your local time, making them unreliable as an alarm clock?


Maybe this is why iphones are more expensive? Because they're worth more?

1. Maybe because hardly anyone really complains. Because majority of people don't turn off their phones at night. Putting it in airplane mode is enough anyway. In airplane mode, you lose what, 2,3,4% over 8hrs?

2. Never happened to me. As far as Incan tell, Android phones tell time perfectly.

3. Nah. Apple has always been overpriced. They would sell you a donut for $100 if they can get away with it.

 

[Jeran2]

Shirley shome mishtake, iPhones are cheaper.

iPhones are cheaper?

I bought a new Moto G for $89.

I doubt I could find a new iPhone for that price.

And there was no contract required. It was pay as you go, prepaid Verizon.

 

[Jeran2]

Personally I don't see the burning need behind this criticism. I don't turn my phone off at night. I silence mine every night and let it charge so it's ready for the next day. I also schedule my podcast download and my file backup activities to happen while I'm sleeping.

And keeping it on allows me to use it as an alarm clock. I have used two different android phones as my sole alarm clock over the last three years....has not let me down once. Nor have I seen any problem keeping time.

You're very lucky. Most of the people I know who have android phones have told me that they also experience the problems with their androids suddenly, for no reason, being hours off from the correct time.

I'm not a computer scientist. I don't know how hard it would be to write a program for androids to actually keep the correct time, but hey, my old Nokia from 2004 kept perfect time all the time. If they could write a program for that old phone back then, why can't they do it now?

My guess is that because these lower end androids are so cheap, they get the cheapest computer programs available, and unfortunately, these programs are riddled with errors.

The sad thing is that even these "cheap" androids are way more expensive than my old Nokia.

I may be wrong, but when I pay even more for something, I expect to get more. To at least get a phone that can keep time correctly.

It is something that is so simple, and yet they can't seem to do it.

 

[Jeran2]

1. Maybe because hardly anyone really complains. Because majority of people don't turn off their phones at night. Putting it in airplane mode is enough anyway. In airplane mode, you lose what, 2,3,4% over 8hrs?

2. Never happened to me. As far as Incan tell, Android phones tell time perfectly.

3. Nah. Apple has always been overpriced. They would sell you a donut for $100 if they can get away with it.

Android phones tell time perfectly?

There are so many threads on here and elsewhere complaining about this problem.

And as far as I can tell, I have never heard of an iPhone user complaining about this time keeping issue.

If Apple can do it, why can't androids do it?

When I can afford it, I am going to make the jump to Apple. They're more expensive, but at least they work. Androids are more like a toy than a real phone.