Battery drop in low coverage areas.

[mikes1]

I have a question with the battery. I went to see Django Unchained last night and I wanted to see how much my battery would drop in the movie theater. Now I realize that the movie theater doesn't have great reception and it would bounce from 3G to 1X on Verizon. I saw the movie which was 3 hours total with the previews and such, with my battery starting at exactly 50%. When I got to my car my battery was all the way down to 22% and I didn't even use it at all. That seems ridiculous. 3 hours to lose that much battery. Nothing was on either. No wi-fi or anything. Is losing 28% of battery in 3 hours in low service areas normal? Is there anything to combat this battery loss while in areas like this without going to airplane mode?

 

[silentwitness]

if ure in a low coverage area the battery would drain as it keeps searching for a signal. Best option is going to airplane mode. Dont know if there is any other solution to it.

 

[SUroot]

Try putting your phone in a locker and see the results. If the signal is low, the phone would constantly search for a better signal which uses power.

Non 3g / LTE connections use less power so maybe switch it to only use that. Also turning mobile data off will also help

 

[mikes1]

Ah yeah I didn't even think of turning off mobile data. I guess I wouldn't need that if I was seeing a movie. I still like to have service though just in case. Maybe I'll try that next time and see if it's any better. Thanks

 

[valorian]

What happens is when you are in a low coverage area, the PA (Power Amplifier) inside the phone has to ramp up to max power to hold onto what little signal it has. This is a big drain on the battery.

 

[mikes1]

What happens is when you are in a low coverage area, the PA (Power Amplifier) inside the phone has to ramp up to max power to hold onto what little signal it has. This is a big drain on the battery.

I guess I have a few more questions then. Would putting it in power saving mode help this at all? And also I'm running google now with the location services. I only have it active for traffic, weather, and sports though so since I did that I noticed during the day the battery has been fine. But does location services also cause battery drain when the phone itself or the PA is trying to get that signal?

 

[valorian]

The PA is only trying to hold onto the cellular signal strength from the cell tower. The GSP or other features are not controlled by the PA.