GSM vs. CDMA for Battery Life

[AJ McKay]

Based on this thread in another forum (2.1 users what is your Time without a signal %" [Archive] - xda-developers) I did both the Airplane trick and the following:

The problem is a bug in a lot of 2.1 roms out there now.
There is a fix:
1) Go to dialer, put in *#*#4636#*#*
2) Press Phone Information
3) Press Menu, and pick Select Radio Band (ITS NORMAL TO GET A FORCE CLOSE)
4) Go down and change GSM Auto(PRL) to CDMA Auto (PRL)

Both made my Juice Plotter (JD) increase in battery time left.

 

[entraik]

did both.. will report back with results...if any.

 

[chris61292]

odd, why would they have a cdma phone set to gsm

EDIT: Also all my bars are full now and not jumping around

EDIT Again: My phone seems to not be turning off 3g when wifi is available
-> Edit: Rebooting the phone fixed the 3g issue

 

[entraik]

odd, why would they have a cdma phone set to gsm

EDIT: Also all my bars are full now and not jumping around

EDIT Again: My phone seems to not be turning off 3g when wifi is available
-> Edit: Rebooting the phone fixed the 3g issue

you have full 4 bars? odd because im still a 1 bar.. : /

 

[AJ McKay]

you have full 4 bars? odd because im still a 1 bar.. : /

I've still 2 bars usually. Between -80 and -90 db.

 

[chris61292]

Still rocking 4 bars, "Time without a signal = 0%" with 1h 5m time on

You can check the time without a signal by going Home -> Menu -> Settings -> About Phone -> Battery -> Battery Use -> Cell standby

 

[entraik]

im at 1 bar.. sitting at -98 db.. i hope there isn't something wrong with my phone... :/

 

[chris61292]

im at 1 bar.. sitting at -98 db.. i hope there isn't something wrong with my phone... :/

Did you do the steps AJ posted?

 

[entraik]

Did you do the steps AJ posted?

yes..no change here

 

[AcePuppy]

Tried this, will see how it is tomorrow after a full charge tonight and then try the turning mobile networks off and see how that works for next day. Step by step will give better results as to what may be better battery life for everyone.

 

[AJ McKay]

Tried this, will see how it is tomorrow after a full charge tonight and then try the turning mobile networks off and see how that works for next day. Step by step will give better results as to what may be better battery life for everyone.

I'm approaching 24 hours since my last charge with moderate usage. If this is what I can expect out of the regular battery I'll be fine with it.

 

[ramcharger1979]

I'm approaching 24 hours since my last charge with moderate usage. If this is what I can expect out of the regular battery I'll be fine with it.

What is moderate use for you?

 

[AcePuppy]

Down to 60% battery usage, 15hrs up time with 1 hour awake time. 60% cell standby, 33% phone idle, 5% wifi, 2% android.

I haven't used it at all but to check the battery. So far the above trick is of no use in my eyes. If it gets down to 30% by 8pm which it looks like it will, then this doesn't result in any better performance.

 

[rushmore]

My Inc was already set to CDMA auto prl

 

[AcePuppy]

My Inc was already set to CDMA auto prl

The default was set to GSM to all phones. So you may have been lucky.

 

[Lefort1]

that's odd...why would they do such a thing? Mine was set to GSM uato prl

 

[frog8]

i can't figure this out..do you put in this number as if you would call it? i don't see where it says phone information...

 

[zemerick]

i can't figure this out..do you put in this number as if you would call it? i don't see where it says phone information...

Yes you do. *#*#4636#*#* and as soon as you press the last * it will pull up the menu listing. The menu menu at the top should be Phone Information. If you have a different screen popup, you need to use the back button ( It remembers which screen you were last at, and opens to that one when you next dial it. )

Also, after having entered it once, if you are at your home screen you can hold down the home button and a window will pop up with recently run items. This one will be called "Testing", just press that and it opens it right up instead of having to dial the number.

 

[drhill]

The default was set to GSM to all phones. So you may have been lucky.

Mine was CDMA as well.

 

[dslucki]

Mine was set to GSM so I made the change. Bars didn't really change much. We will see about battery.

 

[Lefort1]

It could just be my imagination but I swear my reception was only 1-2 bars before this. Now I'm seeing 4-5bars. It hasn't seemed to improved my battery life at all though

 

[litleclay]

Mine was CDMA already also....interesting.

 

[DonDraper]

Based on this thread in another forum (2.1 users what is your Time without a signal %" [Archive] - xda-developers) I did both the Airplane trick and the following:

The problem is a bug in a lot of 2.1 roms out there now.
There is a fix:
1) Go to dialer, put in *#*#4636#*#*
2) Press Phone Information
3) Press Menu, and pick Select Radio Band (ITS NORMAL TO GET A FORCE CLOSE)
4) Go down and change GSM Auto(PRL) to CDMA Auto (PRL)

Both made my Juice Plotter (JD) increase in battery time left.

This doesn't make a lot of sense as by default, my phone was already CDMA/Auto once I got to the Phone Information screen. Once I pressed menu then Radio Band, it then defaulted to GSM and I had to change it back. I suspect that if everyone looked before doing step 3 they would most likely see the phone is set to CDMA/Auto.

 

[roninld]

This doesn't make a lot of sense as by default, my phone was already CDMA/Auto once I got to the Phone Information screen. Once I pressed menu then Radio Band, it then defaulted to GSM and I had to change it back. I suspect that if everyone looked before doing step 3 they would most likely see the phone is set to CDMA/Auto.

I noticed the same thing. If you scroll down when you get to Phone Information, you can see this. And each time you do the Select Radio Band, it shows GSM Auto as the default. I think it shows this because it is at the top of the list.

 

[jprow507]

Interesting ..... mine was GSM auto as well ... will see If I notice any changes. Thanks.