Background data eating battery

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drbob500

30 posts

Geek

#113313 13-Jan-2013 16:38

The other day my sony ericson experia starting eating battery power, I assumed it was the battery so got a new one but that didn't help, after a restore and full factory reset the battery life would give me about 3 hours, after full restore I had no apps installed, only thing I had was email syncing, so not sure why data was using power

I turned off data and hey presto my battery now lasts, not sure what is causing it as there is nothing installed,

Does anyone know of an app to track data usage so I can see why it's chewing out batteries quicker than I can charge them?

thinking maybe it's one of Sony's apps that maybe is trying to update but can't trace it without some help.
cheers

robjg63

4087 posts

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#744129 13-Jan-2013 17:36

I would expect its the radio transmitter/receiver for data that is gobbling the power.
Its extra burden on the battery life - pretty normal way of conserving yor battery is to switch that off if its an issue.

Are on Vodafone/2degrees?

A thought just occurred ... as Telecom is pretty much a data only network (even the phone calls use the one network) whether it is actually a bit more economical on battery power - being as it doesnt have to be juggling the GSM/data duo - is that roughly true? Anyone know?

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

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drbob500

30 posts

Geek

#744174 13-Jan-2013 19:23

I'm on vodafone, been using the phone for over a year with data enabled and never had an issue, just happened in the last coupe of days, thats why I thought the battery may have been on its way out, the battery gets horrendously hot, the new battery does exactly the same, been working alright today as I have turned off data,

its just a bit strange that all of a sudden using the phone exactly as I have been and now it decides it needs a nuclear reactor to power it

johnr

19282 posts

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Inactive user

#744176 13-Jan-2013 19:36

Approx where do you live? Lots of work going on around Auckland North Shore in the last week and also this weekend

drbob500

30 posts

Geek

#744178 13-Jan-2013 19:39

Avonhead in Christchurch

sbiddle

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#744180 13-Jan-2013 19:42

robjg63: A thought just occurred ... as Telecom is pretty much a data only network (even the phone calls use the one network) whether it is actually a bit more economical on battery power - being as it doesnt have to be juggling the GSM/data duo - is that roughly true? Anyone know?

I don't really know what you mean by that comment - both Vodafone and 2degrees are dual mode GSM and WCDMA networks. Telecom is not a "data only network". It's the same WCDA technology that both Vodafone and 2degrees use that is used for both voice and data.

It's not until LTE that the mobile network becomes "data only" with the removal of the circuit switched component, but that too hampers battery life due to the lack of an IMS based voice solution, meaning that all voice calls fall back to GSM or WCDMA and typically don't support simultaneous voice and data as is the case with all WCDMA networks now.

mjb

996 posts

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#744192 13-Jan-2013 20:09

Tried disabling just email sync?

Get BetterBatteryStats, which will help you identify the process eating battery (there's a free version on XDA if you are a cheapskate).

My Data Manager or Onavo Count are good data usage monitors (that I've used, and know of).

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robjg63

4087 posts

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#744401 14-Jan-2013 10:47

sbiddle:
robjg63: A thought just occurred ... as Telecom is pretty much a data only network (even the phone calls use the one network) whether it is actually a bit more economical on battery power - being as it doesnt have to be juggling the GSM/data duo - is that roughly true? Anyone know?

I don't really know what you mean by that comment - both Vodafone and 2degrees are dual mode GSM and WCDMA networks. Telecom is not a "data only network". It's the same WCDA technology that both Vodafone and 2degrees use that is used for both voice and data.

That was sort of what I was getting at - I probably didnt ask too well....
Assuming VF and 2D use GSM and WCDMA does that mean the phone has to juggle between the 2 different networks?
I was wondering as Telecom is WCDA only, does that actually reduce the overhead on the phone at all?

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler