Wi-Fi and Battery life

[DogPaw]

I have been testing this week and I get two days of battery life with Wi-fI off and only 1 day of life with Wi-Fi on. This is even if I am not surfing the web. I think I will use the Home++ button for Wi-Fi and only fire it up if necessary.

 

[StupidGenius]

Yeah, I only have Wifi on when at home. Does help with battery life.

 

[DessoThumbs]

I just saw this thread after thinking "need to turn off my wifi since I'm at work." LOL

 

[kodiak799]

I don't want to sound like a Locale shill, but you might accomplish this with similar programs (as opposed to remembering to toggle a widget all the time).

At home or work I can connect my droid to WiFi. I have a "standby" mode that, when I set my phone on the table, it turns off WiFi (and then when I pick it back up, WiFi will be enabled in 5-10 seconds - just in time to send that email or surf the web). When I'm not at home or the office, my default setting turns WiFi off and GPS on (haven't played with it much, but your phone can determine your location generally thru 3G, so you really don't need WiFi and GPS on that I've seen, other than GPS for using maps/navigation).

Although the battery usage cited here seems high. With my screen set to never sleep, Wifi always on will drain 5-8% of the battery which equates to only 2-3 hours over the course of a day. I should say in my case my home WiFi is in range, so my guess is the OP's case it had to be searching for a signal frequently which is why it drained so much battery.

 

[DessoThumbs]

I don't want to sound like a Locale shill, but you might accomplish this with similar programs (as opposed to remembering to toggle a widget all the time).

At home or work I can connect my droid to WiFi. I have a "standby" mode that, when I set my phone on the table, it turns off WiFi (and then when I pick it back up, WiFi will be enabled in 5-10 seconds - just in time to send that email or surf the web). When I'm not at home or the office, my default setting turns WiFi off and GPS on (haven't played with it much, but your phone can determine your location generally thru 3G, so you really don't need WiFi and GPS on that I've seen, other than GPS for using maps/navigation).

Although the battery usage cited here seems high. With my screen set to never sleep, Wifi always on will drain 5-8% of the battery which equates to only 2-3 hours over the course of a day. I should say in my case my home WiFi is in range, so my guess is the OP's case it had to be searching for a signal frequently which is why it drained so much battery.

cool beans,
what pgm are you running to do that?

 

[kodiak799]

cool beans,
what pgm are you running to do that?

I use Locale....$10 for the app, and I've spent another $3-$5 on plug-ins. There is a cheaper app (forget the name, not Timeriffic) that may even be better with many of the same features/plug-ins included. There are also a few Locale plug-ins that periodically pings and will only enable WiFi if a specific MAC is within range. One I tried caused too many force closes and so I uninstalled. Have not tried the other.

Right now, I have a "standby" situation in Locale which basically just turns off Wifi, 3G and maybe Bluetooth when I lay it on a table and leaves the other settings alone. Because this condition is triggered by the phone being almost perfectly horizontal, when I pick it up it reverts to whatever settings I've enabled for my current location.

Locale type apps I think are by far one of the coolest features of this phone. I'm becoming a power user and have only scratched the surface. Such apps will be key for utility/ease of use while maximizing battery life.

 

[butch350]

I have been testing this week and I get two days of battery life with Wi-fI off and only 1 day of life with Wi-Fi on. This is even if I am not surfing the web. I think I will use the Home++ button for Wi-Fi and only fire it up if necessary.

Just put the phone on it's charger when you go to bed and,

"voila", when you get up, your ready to face another wi-fi filled day!

 

[butch350]

I have been testing this week and I get two days of battery life with Wi-fI off and only 1 day of life with Wi-Fi on. This is even if I am not surfing the web. I think I will use the Home++ button for Wi-Fi and only fire it up if necessary.

I'm gonna ask a stupid (?), please forgive me in advance, but isn't there a
widget on the Droid that Controls,

WiFi, Blutooth, GPS, Sync Items and Brightness? I have it on the ole right screen, with it i turn on/off the above mentioned items. and the widget is
cheap too - It's FREE!

 

[kodiak799]

WiFi, Blutooth, GPS, Sync Items and Brightness? I have it on the ole right screen, with it i turn on/off the above mentioned items. and the widget is
cheap too - It's FREE!

Yes!

But therein lays my problem. You see, I'm somewhat obsessive-compulsive about being lazy. I'd rather not take up the screen space for the power widget on one of my frequently used screens. This means to turn that stuff on and off frequently throughout the day I have to scroll over a few screens and then physically hit the buttons (and remember to do it!). And so I'd rather spend hours trying to figure out how to avoid those precious seconds you waste each day.

I may have said as much in another thread, but basically this phone has the ability to KNOW what you want on and when, which should largely make toggling these options and sleep/wake/unlocking your phone a thing of the past. However, the apps aren't quite there yet though there are workarounds to varying degrees of complexity to address many of the issues raised here.

These battery discussions will largely disappear when the apps catch-up to the capability of the phone. I think some of the better apps are probably already doing this, but put simply something like bluetooth should never be on, but an app should turn it on with an incoming call if you talk with a bluetooth headset (and turn off when the call is over). Launch/close Pandora should turn your WiFi on and off if you're in range of one you specify. Most apps out there right now aren't nearly as smart as this phone.