Droid RAZR/MAXX OTA Update Improves Battery Life Through CDRX

[cereal killer]

We usually don't cover update particulars, but this one is very interesting. Change logs always claim better battery life, and most of the time the end user does not notice a difference. That is about to change. If you find yourself scratching your head and wondering what CDRX is, do not fret, we didn't neither. Connected Discontinuous Reception, or CDRX is Motorola/TI's codename Wrigley 4G LTE baseband. CDRX will equate to better battery life and will be included in the 6.12.173.XT912.Verizon.en.US update that is rolling out to Motorola Droid RAZR/Maxx users at this time. Motorola has really stepped up their game in regards to battery life in regards to Smart Actions, the MAXX's massive battery and now CDRX.

For a detailed explanation of CDRX and how it will effect battery life, ANandtech wrote a fantastic article below.

Discontinuous Reception (DRX) is nothing new for UMTS based networks, and is a power reduction feature. The aim is simple - during idle periods, the cellular network tells the handset that it doesn't need to expect any traffic, and thus the handset can shut down the RF frontend and other power draining bits. The phone can then wake up the parts required to receive and listen to a paging channel when the discontinuous cycle ends.


The above is the way things work in UMTS, in 4G LTE things change a bit, but the concept is the same. However a new feature is the somewhat strangely-named connected DRX mode. The "connected" part comes from the fact that DRX now can work while the user equipment is in an RRC_Connected state, in addition to RRC_Idle. The result is that the handset can now shut down parts required to listen with much finer frequency, for example during the idle periods when a webpage is loading, as opposed to the longer idle periods when the phone is locked and in a pocket.

Source: Anandtech

 

[combatmedic870]

I think im going to get my girl a droid maxx. Shes always complaining about battery life on.....every phones shes ever had! Moto has a great build and great reception...usually. She doesnt root or anything(thought i root her phones to increase battery life and to get her tethering.).

What do you guys think? Is tethering possible yet with the maxx?

 

[metalspring]

hmm, hopefully these updates dont end up creating data connection/reconnection issues...it seems all too possible considering the nature of the update (if i understand it correctly)

 

[TRIKOTRET]

I think im going to get my girl a droid maxx. Shes always complaining about battery life on.....every phones shes ever had! Moto has a great build and great reception...usually. She doesnt root or anything(thought i root her phones to increase battery life and to get her tethering.).

What do you guys think? Is tethering possible yet with the maxx?

How about you get me the maxx and I'll give my OG Razor

Sent from my DROID RAZR using DroidForums

 

[bluefire7002]

Because 24hr battery life is not enough :hail:

 

[tjk629]

I wonder if Moto will push this to the D4 and Bionic.

 

[combatmedic870]

how about you get me the maxx and i'll give my og razor

sent from my droid razr using droidforums

never!

 

[bilbobaggins]

downloading this OTA right now in MA I'll post a screen when it's done.

 

[rlarson_mn]

Just finished the update. Unit seems more responsive if that's even possible. Location of icons on the menu are different. Actual icons are on the menu/settings menu. About Phone now lists the Model number as Droid Razr Maxx. I ran Quadrant and my scores averaged 300 points better (2965), ran AnTuTu and bench mark was 6095 with unit on 3G (a 1000 value improvement). As far as battery that will have to wait until the end of the day. My unit is at 100% after the update had finished so we will see. I do not know how much better they can get this battery to be but it will be interesting that's for sure.

 

[cereal killer]

Pulled update will report findings later

 

[Chocula78]

Got the update. The icons in the settings menu changed. Now they're all colorful and stuff. I prefer the old gray icons, but not a big deal to me.