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I recently went camping in an area where there was no data reception. My iPhone 6+ still had 17% battery left after 5 days of using it like a normal phone (voi

I recently went camping in an area where there was no data reception. My iPhone 6+ still had 17% battery left after 5 days of using it like a normal phone (voice and SMS). Smartphones have short battery life because we do so much more with them. I'm sure those friends of yours could have made their phones last through to the end of the evening by switching off data once they hit 30% battery, but they preferred to have access to all that functionality that data provides, knowing there was a risk of running out of charge. The point being, people have the power to make that choice with their current hardware, and they vote overwhelmingly to accept the lower battery life for higher functionality tradeoff.

frandroid 11y ago
I remember once when I was roaming at exhorbitant cost, I was regularly turning off data to save money and my battery life was greatly improved. I wish I could have finer control on the polling frequency and volume of most apps...
- jre 11y ago
  It should be doable to build an Android app that turns data on every X minutes. Does such a thing already exist ? Does it really help with battery ?
  - Pyrodogg 11y ago
    Tasker can do it, but it might require a rooted phone to be able to toggle the mobile data setting.
    - bentcorner 11y ago
      Personally, I tried to get it to do a "turn data on when I have the display on, otherwise turn data on every X minutes/hours", but handling all the corner cases was difficult. Plus, programming in the Tasker UI is fiddly.
    - andyjohnson0 11y ago
      According to this [1] StackOverflow answer there is no API support for enabling/disabling mobile data, but it can be done using reflection. Process requires CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE permission. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12535101/how-can-i-turn-off-3g-data-programmatically-on-android http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12535101/how-can-i-turn-o...
  - Piskvorrr 11y ago
    Yes, and yes. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gyagapen.cleverconnectivity https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gyagapen.c... It essentially disconnects data when screen is off (the algorithm is a bit more complex, but that's the basic idea). Especially in areas where my phone passes between 2G/3G/noSignal often, I see much improved battery life.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
  - fencepost 11y ago
    This is one of the major things that JuiceDefender on Android phones did, though the app has apparently been abandoned (last updated more than 3 years ago). I suspect that there are newer apps doing the same things, at least on rooted phones.
  - sp332 11y ago
    JuiceDefender does this. It can also disable Bluetooth until you start to make a call, and other tricks. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.latedroid.juicedefender&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.latedroid....
  - aduitsis 11y ago
    Sony Xperia devices have a Stamina mode that turns off data and wifi right after the screen is turned off. Big difference in battery life if one is not really interested in push notifications, etc.
    - Too 11y ago
      +1 for this, my z3 compact with stamina mode on lasts almost a full week(!) even though i do a few calls, check emails, browse a bit etc. Performance while using it actively is still 100%, so not like many other lame battery saving modes that reduces the frame rate to 1fps and brightness to 0.01% making the phone unusable. Only drawback is that background downloads get canceled when the screen dies but i don't have any downloads outlasting my active usage sessions anyway so i don't care really. Many people wouldn't like missing the push notifications from the mailbox but for me that is just another good reason to activate it.
mangecoeur 11y ago
It's true that it's a tradeoff, I just don't understand why people put up with this, why it's apparently still more desirable to shave 0.5mm of the thickness rather than have more reliable power. Or my pet peeve - reviewers who compare 2 phones with high density screens and clearly state that you can't see pixels with the naked eye on either one... then proceed to mark down the one with fewer pixels, even though it would be more power efficient. If this is how reviews go, it's not surprising we see impractical tradeoffs.

frandroid 11y ago

I remember once when I was roaming at exhorbitant cost, I was regularly turning off data to save money and my battery life was greatly improved. I wish I could have finer control on the polling frequency and volume of most apps...

jre 11y ago
It should be doable to build an Android app that turns data on every X minutes. Does such a thing already exist ? Does it really help with battery ?
- Pyrodogg 11y ago
  Tasker can do it, but it might require a rooted phone to be able to toggle the mobile data setting.
  - bentcorner 11y ago
    Personally, I tried to get it to do a "turn data on when I have the display on, otherwise turn data on every X minutes/hours", but handling all the corner cases was difficult. Plus, programming in the Tasker UI is fiddly.
  - andyjohnson0 11y ago
    According to this [1] StackOverflow answer there is no API support for enabling/disabling mobile data, but it can be done using reflection. Process requires CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE permission. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12535101/how-can-i-turn-off-3g-data-programmatically-on-android http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12535101/how-can-i-turn-o...
- Piskvorrr 11y ago
  Yes, and yes. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gyagapen.cleverconnectivity https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gyagapen.c... It essentially disconnects data when screen is off (the algorithm is a bit more complex, but that's the basic idea). Especially in areas where my phone passes between 2G/3G/noSignal often, I see much improved battery life.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- fencepost 11y ago
  This is one of the major things that JuiceDefender on Android phones did, though the app has apparently been abandoned (last updated more than 3 years ago). I suspect that there are newer apps doing the same things, at least on rooted phones.
- sp332 11y ago
  JuiceDefender does this. It can also disable Bluetooth until you start to make a call, and other tricks. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.latedroid.juicedefender&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.latedroid....
- aduitsis 11y ago
  Sony Xperia devices have a Stamina mode that turns off data and wifi right after the screen is turned off. Big difference in battery life if one is not really interested in push notifications, etc.
  - Too 11y ago
    +1 for this, my z3 compact with stamina mode on lasts almost a full week(!) even though i do a few calls, check emails, browse a bit etc. Performance while using it actively is still 100%, so not like many other lame battery saving modes that reduces the frame rate to 1fps and brightness to 0.01% making the phone unusable. Only drawback is that background downloads get canceled when the screen dies but i don't have any downloads outlasting my active usage sessions anyway so i don't care really. Many people wouldn't like missing the push notifications from the mailbox but for me that is just another good reason to activate it.

mangecoeur 11y ago

It's true that it's a tradeoff, I just don't understand why people put up with this, why it's apparently still more desirable to shave 0.5mm of the thickness rather than have more reliable power. Or my pet peeve - reviewers who compare 2 phones with high density screens and clearly state that you can't see pixels with the naked eye on either one... then proceed to mark down the one with fewer pixels, even though it would be more power efficient. If this is how reviews go, it's not surprising we see impractical tradeoffs.