3G and battery consumption if pulled back to 2.5G

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cyril7

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# 13425 9-May-2007 19:44

Hi, I recently got a 3G handset LG KU800 as part of an upgrade, however I normally live out of 3G coverage, which does not really worry me as I only use email access occasionally. However I was wondering how folk had found battery consumption differences if going out of auto and locking down to 900Mhz. I guess what I am asking is have users noted the 2.1GHz rx scanning in auto mode for a base significantly increased battery consumption, in particular with this handset.

Cyril

Lipex666

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# 70065 9-May-2007 21:27

Yeah for sure if not using 3G lock to 2G you will find a huge difference in standby times. Got to do with how often the phone poles the network - 3G is more often.

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rscole86

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# 70066 9-May-2007 21:36

I have noticed better battery consumption with the Motorolla V3x and Nokia 6234 when not in 3G mode.

cyril7

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# 70071 9-May-2007 21:55

Thanks for the response, I knocked off 3g a few days ago and have noticed a significant improvement in battery life, just checking if others have found the same.

Cyril

Lipex666

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# 70073 9-May-2007 22:06

Great stuff and you may notice you don't miss the odd phone call as well. I found in a marginal area and on 3G the phone I use dropped off and when i went to txt I got VMS messages.

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freitasm

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# 70075 9-May-2007 22:23

I have just posted about the new Sony Ericsson P1 and this is remarkable:

The battery can deliver up to ten hours talk time on GSM networks and three hours and 30 minutes on UMTS networks.

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Lipex666

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# 70080 9-May-2007 22:47

That sums up the battery life nicely - large difference between GSM and 3G - I want one.

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cyril7

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# 70095 10-May-2007 08:18

Observation so far is that with 3G on and not a lot of use, it would show half bars after 1/2day, with 3G off, same usage we are now 2day in and 1bar just dropped. Till Kapiti gets a base station I will not be turning it on, and then only when needed.

Cyril

BrentR

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# 70108 10-May-2007 11:17

cyril7: Observation so far is that with 3G on and not a lot of use, it would show half bars after 1/2day, with 3G off, same usage we are now 2day in and 1bar just dropped. Till Kapiti gets a base station I will not be turning it on, and then only when needed.

Cyril

Whereabouts in Kapiti are you? They've had 3G off the main cellsite (on the hill above Pram station) for a few months now

cyril7

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# 70111 10-May-2007 11:19

Waikanae, around town here I have not noted 3g comeup.

got to pop to raumati soon on a job, well check it out.

Cyril

Paulb

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# 70416 11-May-2007 19:52

Turning off 3G adds up to 20% extra battery life, based on my own experience.

Biggest improvement you'll have is that it'll solve any 2G-3G handoff issues when moving in between coverage areas.

BrentR

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# 70421 11-May-2007 19:55

cyril7: Waikanae, around town here I have not noted 3g comeup.

got to pop to raumati soon on a job, well check it out.

Cyril

Raumati has pretty decent 3G coverage, better than 2G in spots.

alasta

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# 70429 11-May-2007 20:18

Jeffthechef: Raumati has pretty decent 3G coverage, better than 2G in spots.

If that's true then it's about time that Vodafone updated the coverage maps on their web site. It's extremely disappointing that they didn't take the opportunity to do this when they launched their new web site.

cyril7

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# 70433 11-May-2007 20:32

Yep definitely found 3G down south, but back in geriatrica 2G will do for now. Guess there are two things at play here after previously having a larger phone (ie bigger battery) and only 2G, this little 3GLG seems to suck through the coulombs compared to the old rig, and needs to suck on the Karapiro a little more often.

Other than that, not a bad little rig, I like the slide arrangement, the touch keypad is not as hard to sort out as many of the reviews have made out, just need to understand it. Managed to pickup a 1G microSD on Trademe for $25, so got me a not to bad MP3 player to boot. Interestingly I fed it WMA's that the manual makes no mention of and it seems to play them without any probs.

Cyril