4 ms·

"most of us leave wifi on by default" I wonder if this is based on some real evidence. I don't see any reason to leave wifi on by default, and most phones i've

"most of us leave wifi on by default" I wonder if this is based on some real evidence. I don't see any reason to leave wifi on by default, and most phones i've owned don't enable it by default.

dhimes 15y ago
Good question. When I purchased my first smart phone 18 months ago, I was pretty compulsive about turning the wifi off if I was in a place where I couldn't use it. I figured it would save battery. I lamented how the phone (iphone 4) made it a little cumbersome to turn off the wifi (and bluetooth, also) and asked others what they did (maybe 5 people). They said they just left it on. Any lessening of battery life was outweighed by the convenience of getting out the phone and going through the menus every time you leave the house or office. Now, I also don't turn off my wifi.
- pyre 15y ago
  As of Gingerbread, the 'turn wifi on/off' button is in the top pull-down menu in Android (that was previously reserved mostly for notifications). It's as easy as swiping down and touching the button. EDIT: After reading this[1], it's probably a Samsung-only thing. My wife's Samsung phone is my only experience w/ Gingerbread. That said, I think that this is an awesome addition based on my experience with Froyo. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3868005 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3868005
  - schiffern 15y ago
    For jailbroken iPhones, there is NCSettings, which adds SBSettings-like settings options to iOS 5.0's Notification Center: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/03/26/ncsettings/ http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/03/26/ncsettings/
- gammarator 15y ago
  It used to be possible to make shortcuts that had access to these settings [1] on standard (non-jailbroken) iPhones. Unfortunately the most recent iOS update removed the preference links that made it possible. Really frustrating, as its very cumbersome to wade through those menus. [1] http://brdrck.me/settings/ http://brdrck.me/settings/
- beagle3 15y ago
  When people ask my why I jailbreak my phone, my verbal answer is that I like to be able to control what's running on my phone (and peek at what it is doing), and my convenience demo is showing how SBSetting lets me turn wireless off, change brightness, and/or airplane on in a 0.5 secs of swipe+click. I think that when I actively manage my battery life, I get 7-8 more hours to the 4S' 40 hours between charges of my normal use. It doesn't sound like much, but for me it's the difference between having to remember to charge all the time, and doing it opportunistically.

"most of us leave wifi on by default" I wonder if this is based on some real evidence. I don't see any reason to leave wifi on by default, and most phones i've owned don't enable it by default.

dhimes 15y ago

Good question. When I purchased my first smart phone 18 months ago, I was pretty compulsive about turning the wifi off if I was in a place where I couldn't use it. I figured it would save battery. I lamented how the phone (iphone 4) made it a little cumbersome to turn off the wifi (and bluetooth, also) and asked others what they did (maybe 5 people). They said they just left it on. Any lessening of battery life was outweighed by the convenience of getting out the phone and going through the menus every time you leave the house or office. Now, I also don't turn off my wifi.

pyre 15y ago
As of Gingerbread, the 'turn wifi on/off' button is in the top pull-down menu in Android (that was previously reserved mostly for notifications). It's as easy as swiping down and touching the button. EDIT: After reading this[1], it's probably a Samsung-only thing. My wife's Samsung phone is my only experience w/ Gingerbread. That said, I think that this is an awesome addition based on my experience with Froyo. [1] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3868005 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3868005
- schiffern 15y ago
  For jailbroken iPhones, there is NCSettings, which adds SBSettings-like settings options to iOS 5.0's Notification Center: http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/03/26/ncsettings/ http://www.idownloadblog.com/2012/03/26/ncsettings/
gammarator 15y ago
It used to be possible to make shortcuts that had access to these settings [1] on standard (non-jailbroken) iPhones. Unfortunately the most recent iOS update removed the preference links that made it possible. Really frustrating, as its very cumbersome to wade through those menus. [1] http://brdrck.me/settings/ http://brdrck.me/settings/
beagle3 15y ago
When people ask my why I jailbreak my phone, my verbal answer is that I like to be able to control what's running on my phone (and peek at what it is doing), and my convenience demo is showing how SBSetting lets me turn wireless off, change brightness, and/or airplane on in a 0.5 secs of swipe+click. I think that when I actively manage my battery life, I get 7-8 more hours to the 4S' 40 hours between charges of my normal use. It doesn't sound like much, but for me it's the difference between having to remember to charge all the time, and doing it opportunistically.