[Sprint] Why does verizon get better battery life than sprint?

[natorade93]

Not sure where this went so feel free to move it.

Im wondering this because iv always had android phones on sprint, currently im using the evo 3d and i have to keep 3g off all day or even in my pocket idle the phone will run my battery all day like crazy. I always thought it was android because my cousin owns iphone 4 and 4s and talks of there excelent battery life. But today i took my other cousins ( verizon android) phone also dual core big screen and he said he gets excelent battery too, i noticed his full battery and yet he had 3g and wifi both on. Could this have to do with the carrier?

 

[El Presidente]

If one carrier gets a better signal than the other, the carrier with the worse signal will always get worse battery life. If the phone doesn't think the handset has an adequate signal, it will push more power to the radio in an effort to get one. This will obviously have an impact on battery life.

2 UK Carriers have just merged, Orange and T-Mobile and as a result, both networks can now piggy back on each others signal to increase coverage. In my house, Orange (my carrier) have a pretty poor signal whilst the T-Mobile signal is excellent. If I select Orange as my network, I'll lose 8-11% battery whilst asleep for 8 or so hours. Using T-Mobile, this drops to about 4%.

 

[natorade93]

If one carrier gets a better signal than the other, the carrier with the worse signal will always get worse battery life. If the phone doesn't think the handset has an adequate signal, it will push more power to the radio in an effort to get one. This will obviously have an impact on battery life.

2 UK Carriers have just merged, Orange and T-Mobile and as a result, both networks can now piggy back on each others signal to increase coverage. In my house, Orange (my carrier) have a pretty poor signal whilst the T-Mobile signal is excellent. If I select Orange as my network, I'll lose 8-11% battery whilst asleep for 8 or so hours. Using T-Mobile, this drops to about 4%.

That was the only thing i could think of. Because in my area verizon has excelent signal and sprint is horible. So i guess that confirms it. But how come 3g affects this? If i keep 3g off, it saves my battery drastucally. With or without 3g either way ill have the same bad service.

 

[El Presidente]

I'm not sure about that one unfortunately, I presume it must take more power to keep a better 3G signal than a 2G one. I've noticed it doesn't make much difference for me though, but that could be because outwith my house, my 3G signal is excellent.

There's also the fact that when you switch 3G on, all the apps that run in the background tick over, they sync, check for updates etc. That''ll will have an impact too (not sure how much though).

Sorry I can't be a little more helpful with that one.

 

[natorade93]

I'm not sure about that one unfortunately, I presume it must take more power to keep a better 3G signal than a 2G one. I've noticed it doesn't make much difference for me though, but that could be because outwith my house, my 3G signal is excellent.

There's also the fact that when you switch 3G on, all the apps that run in the background tick over, they sync, check for updates etc. That''ll will have an impact too (not sure how much though).

Sorry I can't be a little more helpful with that one.

Hmm yea that sounds about right. Well thanks. I guess sprint just has bad coverage. At least where i am anyways.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

Not every Verizon phone gets good battery life. In particular, their LTE offerings tend to suffer compared to 3G only models (the Thunderbolt's battery life is notoriously short, for example). Also, as already pointed out, signal strength will have a huge impact on your battery life, as will the make of the phone and the size of the battery. Does your cousin also have an HTC phone, or is it a Motorola?

 

[natorade93]

Not every Verizon phone gets good battery life. In particular, their LTE offerings tend to suffer compared to 3G only models (the Thunderbolt's battery life is notoriously short, for example). Also, as already pointed out, signal strength will have a huge impact on your battery life, as will the make of the phone and the size of the battery. Does your cousin also have an HTC phone, or is it a Motorola?

we are both using 3g. not 4g. and im not sure. come to think of it it might be a motorola? howd u know? are they known for better battery life?

 

[Gavisann]

The option to opt out of CIQ helps as well. With no CIQ, you will get better battery life.

 

[natorade93]

The option to opt out of CIQ helps as well. With no CIQ, you will get better battery life.

whats CIQ?

 

[Tommydaniel]

generally HTC phones get the worst battery life of the other manufacturers. Motorola usually gets the best, followed closely by Samsung. You can't really compare battery life of two difference carriers with two DIFFERENCE phones from difference manufacturers.

 

[natorade93]

generally HTC phones get the worst battery life of the other manufacturers. Motorola usually gets the best, followed closely by Samsung. You can't really compare battery life of two difference carriers with two DIFFERENCE phones from difference manufacturers.

why would the manufacturer affect battery? i thought opporating system and signal was the only affect

 

[Tommydaniel]

why would the manufacturer affect battery? i thought opporating system and signal was the only affect

Because the manufacturers tweak the OS to their liking...

 

[natorade93]

Because the manufacturers tweak the OS to their liking...

so the same version of android will perform different depending on the manufacturer?

 

[Tommydaniel]

so the same version of android will perform different depending on the manufacturer?

Yes, it is very possible. Slash Gear did a test with the Amaze 4G and the Galaxy S II with Tmo. Both Running 2.3, both use a 1.5 ghz dual core, but for whatever reason the battery life on the HTC was horrible and the Samsung was great.

Manufacturers not only tweak the OS but also add things like Sense, Blur, and touchwiz that will definitely change things.

 

[natorade93]

Yes, it is very possible. Slash Gear did a test with the Amaze 4G and the Galaxy S II with Tmo. Both Running 2.3, both use a 1.5 ghz dual core, but for whatever reason the battery life on the HTC was horrible and the Samsung was great.

Manufacturers not only tweak the OS but also add things like Sense, Blur, and touchwiz that will definitely change things.

hmm that stinks

 

[viber]

There is a lot of things that go into battery life.

Too much for any blanket statements like VZW gets better battery life.

Though, it does seem like all my friends with GSM phones have a better charge than I do after a few hours.

 

[KENNECTED]

generally HTC phones get the worst battery life of the other manufacturers. Motorola usually gets the best, followed closely by Samsung. You can't really compare battery life of two difference carriers with two DIFFERENCE phones from difference manufacturers.

I completely agree and would like to add, each smartphone is used differently.

 

[Citizen Coyote]

Earlier: yes, Motorola phones generally have better battery life than HTC phones. It likely has to do with HTC's use of Sense, which is more of a resource hog than whatever flavor of not-Blur Moto is using at the moment. My Photon has far superior battery life to my old Evo 4G, even though I don't think the latter was bad.

There is a lot of things that go into battery life.

Too much for any blanket statements like VZW gets better battery life.

Though, it does seem like all my friends with GSM phones have a better charge than I do after a few hours.

I have heard that CDMA phones draw a little more power than GSM phones, which would explain the slightly longer life on a GSM network. Going back to the OP, both Sprint and Verizon are CDMA however, so that would not affect battery life on 3G all else considered equal (signal strength, etc.)

 

[UnixPimp]

Not sure where this went so feel free to move it.

Im wondering this because iv always had android phones on sprint, currently im using the evo 3d and i have to keep 3g off all day or even in my pocket idle the phone will run my battery all day like crazy. I always thought it was android because my cousin owns iphone 4 and 4s and talks of there excelent battery life. But today i took my other cousins ( verizon android) phone also dual core big screen and he said he gets excelent battery too, i noticed his full battery and yet he had 3g and wifi both on. Could this have to do with the carrier?

The EVO 3D phone on Sprint supports WiMax, which makes it a 4G phone.
That is probably why your battery life is not as good as your cousins' phones.