[clug] Android developer phones?

Michael Still mikal at stillhq.com
Fri Apr 10 02:52:54 GMT 2009


Arjen Lentz wrote:
> Hi Michael
> 
> On 10/04/2009, at 10:10 AM, Michael Still wrote:
>> Arjen Lentz wrote:
>>> On 10/04/2009, at 3:03 AM, Michael Still wrote:
>>>> Try turning off the 3G radio to further increase your battery life if
>>>> you don't care about data speed.
>>>
>>> That does require an extra little toggle tool that in fact needs to
>>> invalidate the APN by changing the name string.
>>> Bit of a hack - but it does work ;-)
>>
>> Really? Here's its just a menu item. Perhaps there is something odd
>> about AU APNs...
>>
>> What happens if you go into:
>>
>>  Home > Menu > Settings > Wireless controls > Mobile networks
>>
>> And select "Use only 2G networks"?
> 
> Well that's not quite the same, is it.

Pardon? I suggested disabling the 3G radio to extend battery life.
That's what using only 2G networks does...

> I'm on 3 (Hutchison) with is UMTS (3G) not GSM (2G).
> That's just for voice, not data.
> 
> I tried that switch and I think it does exactly what it says, namely
> disabling UMTS and its data friend HSDPA.
> So then I lose my voice connection as well (it then roams onto Telstra
> as that's how 3 works, but still, not what we want).

So, the problem there is that your carrier doesn't provide 2G as well.
That's pretty unusual in the great scheme of things, and I guess means
this isn't available to you as a battery saving option. All of the US
carriers have 3G and 3G networks, as do all the other Australian
carriers apart from "3".

> And actually, if I were with a provided that had 2G as well, the switch
> wouldn't turn off the 2G data, would it?
> So then it'd still try to make a data connection.

Correct. It will make a 2G data connection -- you'll note that I
referred to "data speed". Data is still available, just slower than it
would be if 3G was available.

Its not data that is eating your battery (although I suppose turning it
off would mean less radio time and therefore more battery life) -- it's
3G. 3G radios consume more power than 2G radios, even in voice mode.
That's why disabling 3G extends battery life. Battery life complaints
are common to all 3G phones. For example, the battery life of the iPhone
3G is poor compared to the previous 2G version.

Mikal


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