Wifi Tether - Battery Drain - Motorola Photon 4G

I love the free WiFi Tether app but it drains my battery even while using the wall charger. Anyone else experiencing this? Any solutions?

sjamie said:
I love the free WiFi Tether app but it drains my battery even while using the wall charger. Anyone else experiencing this? Any solutions?
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Turn down the transmission (Tx) power if you don't mind losing a little bit of signal. This is irrelevant if your device(s) are within close proximity to the phone anyway.

slmclarengt said:
Turn down the transmission (Tx) power if you don't mind losing a little bit of signal. This is irrelevant if your device(s) are within close proximity to the phone anyway.
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Ok, I'll give it a try. Do you also experience battery drain even while charging when using full transmission power?

Mine works without drain. When I'm gonna use it for a long time I lay it on an ice pack to avoid heating.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App

sjamie said:
Ok, I'll give it a try. Do you also experience battery drain even while charging when using full transmission power?
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Depends what else I'm doing. If you minimize power consumption otherwise (screen off, only 3G on, end background apps such as music streaming or navigation), you should be about even with power draw/charge. Note that if you use 4G to tether wirelessly (after rooting), that will drain more battery than its 3G counterpart. The stock charger is rated at 850mA so there really should not be any issues.

slmclarengt said:
Depends what else I'm doing. If you minimize power consumption otherwise (screen off, only 3G on, end background apps such as music streaming or navigation), you should be about even with power draw/charge. Note that if you use 4G to tether wirelessly (after rooting), that will drain more battery than its 3G counterpart. The stock charger is rated at 850mA so there really should not be any issues.
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I leave 4g on and tether and I never see it drain. It may be slower to charge but never seen it drain. Also my phone doesn't get hot just a little warm but that's bout it
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

slmclarengt said:
Turn down the transmission (Tx) power if you don't mind losing a little bit of signal. This is irrelevant if your device(s) are within close proximity to the phone anyway.
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I looked around the Settings in Wifi Tether for this but didn't find anything about the Tx power. Are you referring to the phone's Tx power?
I finally did a real test of this app while traveling this weekend and it felt overheated to the touch. I had it plugged into my computer via USB cable and it wasn't charging b/c it was so hot.
Is the Tx power reduction the best way to help this heating problem? I was really disappointed that the battery stopped keeping a charge and only after a few minutes, literally just about 10 minutes of running the tether app. This is the same thing that happened on my Touch Pro and I was hoping that this wouldn't happen when I upgraded to Android!

asuh said:
I looked around the Settings in Wifi Tether for this but didn't find anything about the Tx power. Are you referring to the phone's Tx power?
I finally did a real test of this app while traveling this weekend and it felt overheated to the touch. I had it plugged into my computer via USB cable and it wasn't charging b/c it was so hot.
Is the Tx power reduction the best way to help this heating problem? I was really disappointed that the battery stopped keeping a charge and only after a few minutes, literally just about 10 minutes of running the tether app. This is the same thing that happened on my Touch Pro and I was hoping that this wouldn't happen when I upgraded to Android!
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Try the Wifi Tether app from Open Garden - free in the Market.

pwrmedia said:
Try the Wifi Tether app from Open Garden - free in the Market.
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Thanks for the heads up, I see there's a little section for transmission power there. That said, after I install it, it says I have the ability to change Access Control, whatever that means.
Also, It doesn't appear to have a WPA Encryption method. I am not a fan of WEP. Is this an ongoing development that will eventually add WPA? I looked for a FAQ but it doesn't exist anymore.

Related

Does your phone get REALLY WARM/HOT after using GPS Navigation?

Does your phone get REALLY WARM/HOT after using GPS Navigation?
Is this normal?
Yes. Very annoying.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App
Neo3D said:
Does your phone get REALLY WARM/HOT after using GPS Navigation?
Is this normal?
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Click to collapse
Yes, seems to be fairly normal on this device (at least the CDMA version) as this was also an issue on the Sprint EVO. A lot of power is required to use both the GPS and Data at the same time for a long period of time. Definitely will warm the phone up, especially if you have it connected to a charger.
The power drain from the GPS radio and Data usage (WiFi or Cellular radio) can be more than some chargers supply and leave the device in a power draining state even though it is plugged in while using both of these radios at the same time.
No real work around for this from what I've seen, it seems to be a hardware power consumption issue.
Perhaps there might be some tweaks or tips to mitigate this issue but the best solution I've found is to not use GPS and Data simultaneously for too long ... A good battery and temperature monitoring widget I use to watch this information is the BatteryLife widget for free in the Android Market.
Hope that helps!
Your phone will always get hot when under a lot of use (GPS, YouTube, games, etc)...computers have fans, phones do not
Well, what I do is, I have a nice phone holder (it was originally a gps car holder), and I use it in a way so as the ac vent from the car, blows air directly to the back of the phone, and after that, I never had any more heating problems (even after hours of non stop road use while traveling)
Sent from my Nook Color
@dchamero - that's a good idea
dchamero said:
Well, what I do is, I have a nice phone holder (it was originally a gps car holder), and I use it in a way so as the ac vent from the car, blows air directly to the back of the phone, and after that, I never had any more heating problems (even after hours of non stop road use while traveling)
Sent from my Nook Color
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Click to collapse
In fact, here is a pic of my phone in the car

[Q] wifi tethering +battery care

hi, so lately ive been using my 3g connection for use with my laptop via wifi tethering. when i have enough battery, i let it drain, and then continue tethering while charging until full, and then drain it again
my question is, with the fast pace of draining and charging almost everyday, will it cause any negative effects on my battery or my phone?
Yes it will just like every battery has a life cycle.
But should you worry.. No as I do exactly the same and have on numerous devices.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
stylez said:
Yes it will just like every battery has a life cycle.
But should you worry.. No as I do exactly the same and have on numerous devices.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
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oh okay, glad to hear that, thanks!
if you have other methods that would do less damage to the battery in the long run, you can share it here
(maybe leave it plugged in even if full?)
Problem with leaving plugged in is heat as can get damn hot....
I tend to do a battery cycle very week or every flash of ROM/Kernel as the stats get awry since tether takes allot of juice.

Leaving bluetooth on but not using it..

So if my bluetooth is on and it's not paired to anything, will it drain battery?
I like the convenience of not having to pull my phone out of my pocket when I enter my car. The phone pairs up to the stereo automatically but I'm wondering how much strain it's putting on the battery the rest of the time when it's "on" but not connected to anything.
Now that i think about it, it is probably periodically polling to see what other devices it can see....since it would have to be doing that to "know" that it's now in the car and can connect but how battery heavy is that?
Yes, leaving it on, but not being used will drain the battery.
Scougar said:
Yes, leaving it on, but not being used will drain the battery.
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How much drainage are we talking about here? I guess I should just do a real world comparison and see what the dent is
abdeviation said:
How much drainage are we talking about here? I guess I should just do a real world comparison and see what the dent is
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I can't tell you exactly.
Do a full charge, turn on Bluetooth, unplug charger, and check your battery stats at the end of the day. That much drainage.
Let me know if that helped.
EDIT: There will be a percentage for the Bluetooth.
good call, i'll try that tomorrow.
abdeviation said:
So if my bluetooth is on and it's not paired to anything, will it drain battery?
I like the convenience of not having to pull my phone out of my pocket when I enter my car. The phone pairs up to the stereo automatically but I'm wondering how much strain it's putting on the battery the rest of the time when it's "on" but not connected to anything.
Now that i think about it, it is probably periodically polling to see what other devices it can see....since it would have to be doing that to "know" that it's now in the car and can connect but how battery heavy is that?
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Hardly any, I've had mine on since release day and haven't noticed much battery drain. Usually streaming Pandora is what drains it for me.
Alright check it out. I've been studying all day so the phone got minimal use today but doesn't look like the battery drains with the bluetooth on that much. I've been running 15 hours now and it's on 71% battery left. Screenshots beloww
good to know, thanks for the report
Yes that's a process that is running in the background and it will have a afect on the battery drain
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium
Thanks
Cheers mate, :good:
Thanks for doing that now I can confidently leave my Bluetooth on all day, so like you I can just jump in the car and be off with the beats pumping

Losing battery even while charging?

Hello,
I'm curious. I am not sure this was how it was before but I notice that when using the phone while charging (with the AC charger), I would still drain battery. Is this normal?
Thanks
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
No, it is not.
While on charger you should gain on battery, not discharge.
At least if you use phone in a normal way.
With BT and GPS navigation on (and some data traffic) my phone gains charge...
cool1007 said:
Hello,
I'm curious. I am not sure this was how it was before but I notice that when using the phone while charging (with the AC charger), I would still drain battery. Is this normal?
Thanks
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Yes, it may happen. It depends on the mAh of the power source.
Usually the USB port delivers less mAh then the AC power source.
In that case, if you are running a demanding application (games especially) the power consumption could exceed the charging rate.
It's possible, yes.
Depends on what the phone is doing at the moment, i.e. when it's on 100% CPU load for example.
Happens everytime I encrypt my S2 a rather full internal and external SDs storages, because the phone is "doing a lot of work".
If you then maybe add enabled WiFi, BT, GPS.... yeah, the power gets sucked out of the battery faster then the AC can pour new one in.
Only thing I'm doing is using tweetcaster while opening the ocasional web page with Dolphin browser, nothing intensive. I'm using the standard AC charger that came with the phone.
This morning after unplugging it, I noticed that in a couple hours time lapse, the phone was hot all the time and lost about 30% battery while on standby. So, I rebooted it and it stopped feeling hot on touch. Battery drain is still somewhat fast but not as fast as this morning.
I'm attaching a Battery Stats screenshot in case it helps.
Thanks
P. S. I'm using Hydra h2o rom
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
cool1007 said:
tweetcaster
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And there is the root of all evil.
And the phone getting hot also hints at high CPU load.
I am using TweetCaster myself a lot, and sometimes the app goes crazy and uses 100% of the CPU -> high load -> hot phone and empty battery.
I can reproduce it by deleting the temp folder of TweetCaster on the int. storage and either waiting some time or rebooting, the app will go wild at 100% CPU load for sure.
Ah ok then. Lol. Now I know what to do! Unless, do you recommend me another twitter app that is more battery friendly
Thanks sir.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
cool1007 said:
Ah ok then. Lol. Now I know what to do! Unless, do you recommend me another twitter app that is more battery friendly
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Well, it's a good app, I don't wan't to bad-talk it.
Sometimes you just need to keep an eye on it, esp. in situations where the int. storage is not available for apps (like when connected via USB mass storage to the PC).
Usually killing it off from taskmanager is enough, on some not-so-often occasions I needed to "kill -9" the process from a shell (Termnial Emulator app or via adb).
I also got a neat little thing called "CPUNotify" (on Google Play) running on my phone, it adds a little icon to the notification bar that always shows you the current CPU load - that way you can literally "see" spikes in load once they happen.
Some time ago I had the same problem.
The problem was on the original Samsung charger. It has shown that it loads, but it lost battery.
I bought another charger and now it charges
its possible. I see this situation everytime I travel. In car I use stock car charger and on phone ussually runs navigation, video recording software and plays music. And battery is drained!!! If additionaly I start My Track, then 7-8 hours and phone is dead. On hot days even had situation, when battery reached 65C temp and phone refused to charge it. So at this point SGSII is real crap
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

Battery problems?

Hello. I picked up my s3 this morning after having charged that night. I unplugged it at about 1 in the morning, with airplane mode on, bluetooth off, and WiFi connected. When I woke up though at 10, the battery had dropped down to 80 percent while in standby, with no recent apps even running. I'm not sure if this is normal or if it's a battery problem but it's quite annoying, because it drained 20 percent in 9 hours of standby. Any help is appreciated.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
SPLucas26 said:
Hello. I picked up my s3 this morning after having charged that night. I unplugged it at about 1 in the morning, with airplane mode on, bluetooth off, and WiFi connected. When I woke up though at 10, the battery had dropped down to 80 percent while in standby, with no recent apps even running. I'm not sure if this is normal or if it's a battery problem but it's quite annoying, because it drained 20 percent in 9 hours of standby. Any help is appreciated.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
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Return phone to seller or recharge the phone and try again standby drain 12 hours 5% .
jje
JJEgan said:
Return phone to seller or recharge the phone and try again standby drain 12 hours 5% .
jje
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Wow, so my drain is a bit extreme. I'll see what else I can do to try and fix this. Thanks for the quick reply though.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
start turning off all the Samsung rubbish, face awake, live wallpapers, check what you are syncing, turn off Google backup
What does battery usage say is draining your battery?
Sent from my GT-I9300
joshnichols189 said:
What does battery usage say is draining your battery?
Sent from my GT-I9300
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I will drain the battery and charge to full again tonight. After I check it in the morning, I'll note what the battery stats say is draining it. I don't want to do it right now because it's been influenced by my usage today.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
This looks similar to my problem, and happens only when connected to certain WIFI-networks.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30242130#post30242130
The things that it's say are draining it according to the usage stats are: WiFi, android os, phone idle, and android system.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
ZunRob said:
This looks similar to my problem, and happens only when connected to certain WIFI-networks.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30242130#post30242130
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Hmm. This could be my problem, but I'd need to try out some other WiFi networks to make sure.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Maybe caused by ~LG8 OTA combined with dual-band WiFi network?
I posted this over in another forum, but copying here to see what you all think...
..............
I don't know this for a fact, but I've read some things that lead me to believe the issue may (again, not confirmed), MAY be related to the recent ~LG8 OTA push. The root (no pun intended) cause is related to how the SG3 interacts in 802.11n band Wi-Fi networks that utilize multi-band (i.e. 2.4Ghz combined and 5Ghz running simultaneously).
One of the "features" of ~LG8 was to remove Advanced options for Wi-Fi networks, switching the connectivity logic to "automatic." If a GS3 is in a multi-band 'n' Wi-Fi network, it MAY be switching back and forth between bands, thus chewing up battery without actually pulling any data.
This is unconfirmed, so don't shoot the messenger. Can any of you validate whether or not the Wi-Fi networks where you see excessive drain is indeed a multi-band 'n' network?
CzechPleez said:
I posted this over in another forum, but copying here to see what you all think...
..............
I don't know this for a fact, but I've read some things that lead me to believe the issue may (again, not confirmed), MAY be related to the recent ~LG8 OTA push. The root (no pun intended) cause is related to how the SG3 interacts in 802.11n band Wi-Fi networks that utilize multi-band (i.e. 2.4Ghz combined and 5Ghz running simultaneously).
One of the "features" of ~LG8 was to remove Advanced options for Wi-Fi networks, switching the connectivity logic to "automatic." If a GS3 is in a multi-band 'n' Wi-Fi network, it MAY be switching back and forth between bands, thus chewing up battery without actually pulling any data.
This is unconfirmed, so don't shoot the messenger. Can any of you validate whether or not the Wi-Fi networks where you see excessive drain is indeed a multi-band 'n' network?
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This sounds like it could be a possible cause. I'll have to try out some multi band n networks in the next few days or so and see if there's any effect.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

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