using android as hotspot - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

im planning to use it for long term but battery consumption/heat is really great, is there way to lower the consumption? maybe lowering the range as im just using it in my room but how? or there's another way.. please anyone help me..

@nneko904
Phones already use more battery when using the internet than when not, but a hotspot demands much more than the phone's standard internet use, that's because the phone is not only relaying data from in and out of its hotspot network but also sending information to the connected devices.
If you make heavy use of the hotspot feature of your phone and battery life is an ongoing issue, it might just make sense to get a separate mobile hotspot device.

Related

[ROM-MOD]Radio Voltage Regulator (increase signal/save battery)

[ROM-MOD]Radio Voltage Regulator (increase signal/save battery)
Hi all!
I am looking for a mod or software that will allow me to regulate the voltage amount to my Raphael's radio.
The idea:
- By increasing the voltage I increase reception/signal but use battery more (good for emergencies and areas with bad signal).
- By reducing the voltage in an area with great reception/signal I save battery power.
I am technically on the verge of developing it myself. I just wanted to check if there already is one before I do.
Also, any information that can help me get closer would be greatly appreciated.
great Idea, but it should be automaticly reactink by checking the reception, or when a intrnrt connection is build. otherwise it's not going to be much helpfull.
s.
Afaik, that should already be done by the phone itself...
@s.zamani
Yes an automatic mode is definably a must, I agree.
@Rumpel78
If it did, then why do I have areas with no signal or lost calls? and even if it did, I want to test how far past the default variable I can go. But I don't believe it does.
Can anyone confirm this?
Or point me in the right direction to read documentation on this?
With my old nokia phone battery drain was much higher with bad reception than within areas with good reception.
And at work we use Siemens and Telit GSM-Terminals where you can measure the supply-current is much higher if the reception is low.
I must check if this also applies to windows phones - but i cant think of a reason why not.
I will look into this.
@Rumpel78
Thanks for looking into that, that data will help.
Think of it like this though. Even if phones adjust power distribution to radio automatically... Manufacturers know (for example) that their radio can't take more than 1.2v (lets say). So to be safe they set a cap variance at 1.0v. Now obviously when its running at cap it will drain the battery quicker. However, there are times when even that is not enough and I can be stuck with whats known as 'no signal' or even get a 'dropped call'.
In other words, we would be "overclocking" the radio.
How would it be beneficial? while there are plenty reasons for one to have such control over their radio I will go with the obvious ones. Emergencies. What if I am stuck in an elevator with no emergency response? or am in an underground surgery facility and I want to text my family that a loved one came out of the surgery well?
Normally I would be in the hands of g-d or would have to wait until I surfaced and possibly even exited the hospital (respectively to the situation aforementioned)
It just happens to be in my life that flawless communications plays a big role. This is the main reason I am pursuing this. Even if minute, this type of control can come in handy if not life saving for some people.
This is assuming phones (and in-particular the raphael models) already are adjusting power distribution to radio based on a min and max (cap) variance.
If they aren't, this is a major improvement.
If they are this is a situational improvement, used deliberately in particular situations where, normally, communications would not be available.
I'm not trying to overcome cellphone signal jammers, but wouldn't it be nice if you could try?
Also I can think of another situation. Many countries enforce their own electronics safety policy.
So going along with my last post. What if the radio could take as much as 1.5v but was set at a cap of 1.0v because of electronic security policies of the country we live in?
In a situation of emergency, i don't care much for those policies and will use speaker-phone/headset for my safety.
This is so true that when we really need a good reception or even good enough signal to establish connection. Just once of your life time, it can be beneficial.
Originally Posted by mskip
4. What is a Radio?
The Radio is the Firmware that works between the Operating System and the Cellular Hardware. It handles the Sound, Camera, GPS, Phone Calls, etc. The Radio must be compatible with the ROM's Operating System or you may experience problems with your sound and camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By that definition, I would like to specifically clarify, that I mean the part of the Radio that handles reception/signal and GPS. I see no need in adjusting voltage to sound or camera so unless someone specifically asks for it, that type of control will not be embedded.
P.S. Anyone who has knowledge in this field and can help me with the development please send me a PM as, at this point, I could use all the help I can get.
Anyone know whats the best forum board for help with new development?
benspens said:
Anyone know whats the best forum board for help with new development?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about...
Windows Mobile Software Development
hm..
as others have already said... this is already done by the phone's internal hardware, and the radio ROM. maybe even some on the windows mobile side.
Also, based on the sort of questions you are asking, adjust radio amp voltage sounds like a bad place to start learning how to do windows app development...
This is really not needed. The best solutgion for the outer 3G ranges where the device keeps pinging. looking, for 3G service & hence burning through the battery faster is to turn off 3G in the Comm Manager. That way it is forced to use Edge or GPRS & won't bother at all looking for 3G. There is no way to amplify the device reception (short of an antennae in the car/home or integrated into a cowboy hat), So forget about that.
Just go into the Comm Manager or the Settings & simply select to not use 3G in or to use only GPRS/Edge in Network Settings. Either way will save battery & you don't really need 3G unless you are surfing heavy sites or downloading/uploading files.

[Q] Juice Defender

I have seen many Threads regarding this. Some say it works some say it doesn't. Well it seems to save battery for me , but i have a question.. as it disables/enables your wifi and data(3G/4G) ..does it affect the hardware ..can it damage the hardware..the wifi/data adopters, etc.
From what I understand of it, being that jd runs in the background. As long as ur not a heavy user and u keep ur screen off most of the day. The system works. But as for damage, maybe. It gave me a load of connection issues. I still have some after I uninstalled. Even after an RUU to stock the issue still present. So, maybe. Maybe not
Sent from my HTC EVO shift 4G running the latest and greatest cyanogen using the XDA app.
MAYBE !! .. sounds scary ..hahah ..dont want to brick my hardware due to the constatnt enabling/disabling ..now wondering if i shud disable it (i had bought the premium version)
You will get connection issues and very good batterylife. I'm hoping someone can find a solution for the issues by using a tweaked profile or another app. It is not harmful, just annoying. Any usage of your phone will shorten it's lifespan, and I don't think turning radios on and off is any worse than lets say your screen.
Sent from my GT-I9100
I have been using JD for over a year now on different handsets (Moto Milestone, HTC Desire, SGS2). The current version seems (mostly) stable and claims to extend my battery life by a factor of roughly 1.8. Hardware damages are unknown AFAIK. Connection issues can sometimes arise (very rarely & I don't know whether it's actually JD). Usually it restores a connection (3G or WLan) within 2-5 seconds which is fine by me. Note that connecting speed to eg WLan not only depends on JD or the phone itself but also on the router.
Earlier versions of JD did indeed have grave problems with restoring data connections. But this was around version 1.8 (I think). The current version 3.5 works just fine. Try the free version & if you like it I can only recommend the paid version. Once trained properly, the location aware switching of WLan works well.
(I'm in no way connected to JD, just a satisfied user.)
thx for the responses.. will start using it again.. it did save battery for me ..was just worried it might damage my radio hardware..
thx

I think i figured out android os drain prob..

hey guys ive been really really trying really super hard to figure out why my android os is always at 80-90 percent cuz after 10 hours my battery is almost dead (in the red) so i got os monitor, cpu spy, and betterbatterystats to try to hunt the prob down and i have spent countless days since i got the phone to figure out what it is thats draining my battery so im on stock with codeworks kernal for cwm and rooted with superoneclick i froze a lot of apps and what not but still had the prob so i left my house one day to hit the beach and i said well i dont need wifi or gps so i turned it off for the 1st time and at the end of the day when i get home and pull out my phone from my bag it said it was on for 10 hours and i was only at 80 percent!!!! so i tested it some more and it seems that my android os is not high at all when wifi and gps are off plus i get awsome battery so my guess would be wifi drain i just want other ppl to try it also and see if that fixes there probs too idk just thought i would share my story sorry its so long but plz dont bash me if ive said noob stuff thx
Ya because when I'm right next to my router which is awesome I don't even get full signal so I think its the wifi.signal.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
You should always turn off WiFi and Bluetooth when not connected to something. WiFi has been a thorn in my side too. I don't use it very often, and sometimes when I use it at home I forget to turn it off.
One of the things I miss most from my WinMo phone was the constant LED and notification indication WiFi is on. With Android and iOS if you are not connected you don't have any icon showing its on. There should be a WiFi with an X, like when you have no signal, to indicate: Hey you! Yeah, you ... you left WiFi on, you dope! Or, an option built into the OS that will let you turn it off automatically when disconnected for so long. I know there are apps to do this (juice defender is a popular one), but this such a core common sense thing that should be built in. At least with Bluetooth you see the logo staring at you when you leave it on.
Sorry to rant, that's been bugging me for 3 years.
GPS on the other hand only activates and uses battery when needed. However all sort of apps can call the need. Again, this warns you when its in use, so its not a surprise later.
I get much batter battery life than with my captivate, but I keep on top of WiFi and BT when not using them.
Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
and this is why people use apps like JuiceDefender and Tasker or Locale
mbze430 said:
and this is why people use apps like JuiceDefender and Tasker or Locale
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For wifi you can just set the policy to When screen turns off.
So far, not a single person has been able to actually find a wifi bug.
Every time someone thinks they've found it, things have been working as intended.
If you have an app that causes lots of network traffic, it'll inhibit deep sleep, but since most of the time spent handling the network traffic is in excessive suspending/resuming, Android OS gets the blame and not the responsible app.
Useful references:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1290020 - the first 15-20 pages are garbage, but the last 15-20 has some excellent data collection
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1308030 - My list of known identified battery drainers
Let me guess - you are running Skype or another IM application that does not use Google C2DM? (As far as I know, only Google Talk and Tango use C2DM)
I'm surprised that turning off wifi didn't make things worse, unless in your case the app responsible behaves differently when on a cellular network, or you have packet data disabled.
BetterBatteryStats is almost useless for hunting Android OS drain, as it does not show kernel wakelocks. The only way to get the truth is to get the contents of /proc/wakelocks
thank you entropy for that info but yes im stuck at the fact that even on mobile network it dont drain like it does with wifi which im not a pro or anything but im just assuming that it cant be an app cuz if it was i would think it would use the same amount of data whether it was wifi or mobile cuz internet is internet but for me i dont know about other ppl everytime i turn off wifi my battery dramatically increases by alot and my android os is never the highest anymore when its off so i dont know if this will do anything but i will do a factory reset and try my testing again like that and see what happens.... plz correct me if i say anything wrong im just trying to help but i only know so much im not a dev lol
p.s. *edit* oh and to answer your question no i am not using any type of im like skype or what not the only thing i have on the phone is the talk thats on it but ive never even clicked it before so it has never been run yet or set up or w/e not sure of that matters but yea... but thank you entropy for that info it really helped me think a little bit more
quarlow said:
You should always turn off WiFi and Bluetooth when not connected to something. WiFi has been a thorn in my side too. I don't use it very often, and sometimes when I use it at home I forget to turn it off.
One of the things I miss most from my WinMo phone was the constant LED and notification indication WiFi is on. With Android and iOS if you are not connected you don't have any icon showing its on. There should be a WiFi with an X, like when you have no signal, to indicate: Hey you! Yeah, you ... you left WiFi on, you dope! Or, an option built into the OS that will let you turn it off automatically when disconnected for so long. I know there are apps to do this (juice defender is a popular one), but this such a core common sense thing that should be built in. At least with Bluetooth you see the logo staring at you when you leave it on.
Sorry to rant, that's been bugging me for 3 years.
GPS on the other hand only activates and uses battery when needed. However all sort of apps can call the need. Again, this warns you when its in use, so its not a surprise later.
I get much batter battery life than with my captivate, but I keep on top of WiFi and BT when not using them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree on Bluetooth. I disagree on wifi - Even for background data, wifi is FAR more efficient than cellular data in terms of power usage. There is no longer any reason to turn off wifi, unless you have a misbehaving app that consumes lare amounts of data when on wifi.
Unlike previous devices, the standby drain of the BCM4330 chipset in our phones is EXTREMELY low.
If Samsung's power_profile.xml numbers are correct, the wifi standby drain current of the BCM4330 on the Galaxy S2 is less than 1/10 that of the chipset used in the I9000/Captivate.
However, radio data is far less power efficient than it was on the I9000/Captivate - A change in the architecture of our phone's radio interface means that any radio data transfers, even for a single packet, incur a minimum 6 second wakelock penalty. (Compare to an average of 1 second for small wifi packets.) This doesn't even count the power penalties involved in transmitting to the tower vs. transmitting to a wifi access point.
In fact, when taking these two things together (high wakelock penalties for radio data, and wifi standby drain 1/10 that of previous devices), you should actually not only avoid turning off wifi, you should set the sleep policy to "never" so that it prefers wifi to the cell radio.
praramis said:
thank you entropy for that info but yes im stuck at the fact that even on mobile network it dont drain like it does with wifi which im not a pro or anything but im just assuming that it cant be an app cuz if it was i would think it would use the same amount of data whether it was wifi or mobile cuz internet is internet but for me i dont know about other ppl everytime i turn off wifi my battery dramatically increases by alot and my android os is never the highest anymore when its off so i dont know if this will do anything but i will do a factory reset and try my testing again like that and see what happens.... plz correct me if i say anything wrong im just trying to help but i only know so much im not a dev lol
p.s. *edit* oh and to answer your question no i am not using any type of im like skype or what not the only thing i have on the phone is the talk thats on it but ive never even clicked it before so it has never been run yet or set up or w/e not sure of that matters but yea... but thank you entropy for that info it really helped me think a little bit more
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are incorrect. Some apps specifically check whether they are on wifi or on cellular data and change their behavior accordingly. "Internet is Internet" is not true - cell data is fundamentally slower and more expensive in nearly all situations, and as a result, many apps behave differently on wifi.
For example, normally Google Talk will not allow video chat on cellular data, only on wifi, unless it has been hacked to change that behavior.
Some apps specifically have "use this feature only when on wifi" checkboxes, such as Amazon MP3.
I am 90% certain you have such an app somewhere driving data transfers.
Turn on wifi, reproduce the drain, and pull /proc/wakelocks as documented in the threads I linked above.
There has, to this day, not been a single documented case of the wifi chipset just randomly "wigging out" and keeping the device out of deep sleep - in EVERY single case, root cause was eventually traced back to network traffic, which could then be traced to an app. (For example, Skype in AndreLux's case.)
You might also want to install something like My Data Manager to see what is generating your network traffic.
When I first got my GS2, I was getting rapid battery drain and high heat. Turns out, I had put a SD card in that used to be in my old phone, and Google+ was uploading all the old pictures and videos that were on the card. My Data Manager showed me that this had used almost 800M of mobile data.
My data manager will show you what your usage is on mobile and on wifi, and which specific apps are using how much.
Entropy512 said:
Let me guess - you are running Skype or another IM application that does not use Google C2DM? (As far as I know, only Google Talk and Tango use C2DM)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trillian does as well.
jetarpon said:
You might also want to install something like My Data Manager to see what is generating your network traffic.
When I first got my GS2, I was getting rapid battery drain and high heat. Turns out, I had put a SD card in that used to be in my old phone, and Google+ was uploading all the old pictures and videos that were on the card. My Data Manager showed me that this had used almost 800M of mobile data.
My data manager will show you what your usage is on mobile and on wifi, and which specific apps are using how much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you guys are such a great help thank you but where can i find your data manager?
Entropy512 said:
I agree on Bluetooth. I disagree on wifi - Even for background data, wifi is FAR more efficient than cellular data in terms of power usage. There is no longer any reason to turn off wifi, unless you have a misbehaving app that consumes lare amounts of data when on wifi.
Unlike previous devices, the standby drain of the BCM4330 chipset in our phones is EXTREMELY low.
If Samsung's power_profile.xml numbers are correct, the wifi standby drain current of the BCM4330 on the Galaxy S2 is less than 1/10 that of the chipset used in the I9000/Captivate.
However, radio data is far less power efficient than it was on the I9000/Captivate - A change in the architecture of our phone's radio interface means that any radio data transfers, even for a single packet, incur a minimum 6 second wakelock penalty. (Compare to an average of 1 second for small wifi packets.) This doesn't even count the power penalties involved in transmitting to the tower vs. transmitting to a wifi access point.
In fact, when taking these two things together (high wakelock penalties for radio data, and wifi standby drain 1/10 that of previous devices), you should actually not only avoid turning off wifi, you should set the sleep policy to "never" so that it prefers wifi to the cell radio.
You are incorrect. Some apps specifically check whether they are on wifi or on cellular data and change their behavior accordingly. "Internet is Internet" is not true - cell data is fundamentally slower and more expensive in nearly all situations, and as a result, many apps behave differently on wifi.
For example, normally Google Talk will not allow video chat on cellular data, only on wifi, unless it has been hacked to change that behavior.
Some apps specifically have "use this feature only when on wifi" checkboxes, such as Amazon MP3.
I am 90% certain you have such an app somewhere driving data transfers.
Turn on wifi, reproduce the drain, and pull /proc/wakelocks as documented in the threads I linked above.
There has, to this day, not been a single documented case of the wifi chipset just randomly "wigging out" and keeping the device out of deep sleep - in EVERY single case, root cause was eventually traced back to network traffic, which could then be traced to an app. (For example, Skype in AndreLux's case.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you im learning every day because of ppl like you who like to share information like that i would love to reproduce the drain and pull the wakelocks but honestly i have no idea how to and i havent really searched for it either but i think i might just have to learn how to use adb and what not hopefully i can find out what app is draining my battery and causing android os to be super super high thx
I gave the ADB commands necessary for pulling the wakelocks file in one of the threads I linked on the first page.
For getting ADB set up, if you're on Windows you may want to look for Droid Explorer (Google it) - it's a pretty nifty frontend to ADB and I believe it helps you install ADB.
praramis said:
you guys are such a great help thank you but where can i find your data manager?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The name of it is "My Data Manager." It's in the market.
It's not mine, I just use it.
Okay..u guys should try out a app called "WIFI STATUS". It gives u a notification when your wifi is on but not connected. Really a awesome app.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
Entropy512 said:
I gave the ADB commands necessary for pulling the wakelocks file in one of the threads I linked on the first page.
For getting ADB set up, if you're on Windows you may want to look for Droid Explorer (Google it) - it's a pretty nifty frontend to ADB and I believe it helps you install ADB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you i will def look into that im actually installing right now.....
jetarpon said:
The name of it is "My Data Manager." It's in the market.
It's not mine, I just use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thx i will try this out
punjabiest said:
Okay..u guys should try out a app called "WIFI STATUS". It gives u a notification when your wifi is on but not connected. Really a awesome app.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On but not connected shouldn't be a problem for our devices - see my previous posts about the fact that our standby drain is supposedly VERY low.
On but transferring lots of background data when connected will go killtacular on your battery.

[Q] boosting Wi-Fi performance

hi.
Since I do not have any data plan, I pretty much depend on open W-Fi network to get a connection, which are often far away so I get a poor signal.
I have noticed my phone can't handle a poor Wi-Fi connection as good as an iPhone / iPod can. When I place my phone and my friend's iPhone close to each other and connect both of them to the same, distant network, the iPhone would get a slow but stable connection while my phone would frequently lose connection to the router. My phone also would not connect to some distant network at all while the iPhone can connect to them.
Is there any way to make the Wi-Fi work better? Maybe some hardware fix similar to the GPS hardware fix, or perhaps some system files I can change so the phone would not "give up" so fast if the network connection is poor?
Thanks a lot.
ICS glitch does include pmfast mode which may increase wifi
Only. Things I can think of..
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
You can install Wifi Killer if you want to have fun with your iphone friends
Sent from my Vibrant using XDA
trailblazerz11 said:
ICS glitch does include pmfast mode which may increase wifi
Only. Things I can think of..
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try it, thanks.
mikka06 said:
You can install Wifi Killer if you want to have fun with your iphone friends
Sent from my Vibrant using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very creative solution although I use the Wi-Fi only when theres no one around to talk with, for example when I am at a bus stop or during a (very) boring class.

Better for Battery Life: Wifi or HSDPA

Hi all, Blue here,
I am using a slightly modified rom made bsaed on the hktw rom made by a local. I am just wondering if wifi or data takes more battery generally?
BlueEditionE6 said:
Hi all, Blue here,
I am using a slightly modified rom made bsaed on the hktw rom made by a local. I am just wondering if wifi or data takes more battery generally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2g<wifi<3g<4g for battery drain, or at least that's what i've found from my side, with 2 g taking up the least battery, and 3g/4g taking up the most.
davtse said:
2g<wifi<3g<4g for battery drain, or at least that's what i've found from my side, with 2 g taking up the least battery, and 3g/4g taking up the most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the Droid Razr (and infact any Android device) wifi uses MUCH less power and resources than HSDPA/3G+ services. The reason being that the gain needed on the radios part to receive a packet via wifi is (generally) much less than over a cellular connection, due to the quality of the signal being much higher. It hasn't got to work as hard to get a good set of packets to work with. Your phone will be working like a mad thing trying to buffer a YouTube video on HSDPA - dealing with massive packet loss and syphoning the 'good' data from the 'bad' data - whereas on wifi with much less packet loss and a higher rate of that 'good' data being received, it can relax a little.
My advice on battery life - download a data "toggle" widget and place it on an unused home screen. Whenever you are not using any mobile data services turn it off using this widget. Leave wifi on only when at home/a location where you know you will be able to use it. Turn it off when you go out. When you want to use mobile data when wifi is not available, just toggle it on. I get 3+ days of always-on use using this method.
davtse said:
2g<wifi<3g<4g for battery drain, or at least that's what i've found from my side, with 2 g taking up the least battery, and 3g/4g taking up the most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FrankPlummer said:
On the Droid Razr (and infact any Android device) wifi uses MUCH less power and resources than HSDPA/3G+ services. The reason being that the gain needed on the radios part to receive a packet via wifi is (generally) much less than over a cellular connection, due to the quality of the signal being much higher. It hasn't got to work as hard to get a good set of packets to work with. Your phone will be working like a mad thing trying to buffer a YouTube video on HSDPA - dealing with massive packet loss and syphoning the 'good' data from the 'bad' data - whereas on wifi with much less packet loss and a higher rate of that 'good' data being received, it can relax a little.
My advice on battery life - download a data "toggle" widget and place it on an unused home screen. Whenever you are not using any mobile data services turn it off using this widget. Leave wifi on only when at home/a location where you know you will be able to use it. Turn it off when you go out. When you want to use mobile data when wifi is not available, just toggle it on. I get 3+ days of always-on use using this method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys, coz I notice that it seems like when I am using wifi, the batter goes faster. Maybe it's because when I am connected to wifi I use it more often? Thanks again
Sent from my XT910 using xda premium
It could well be. Or if you have applications that are configured to only sync/update when on wifi, this will naturally put your phone to more use than if say you only used 3G/HSDPA for checking email.
BlueEditionE6 said:
Thanks guys, coz I notice that it seems like when I am using wifi, the batter goes faster. Maybe it's because when I am connected to wifi I use it more often? Thanks again
Sent from my XT910 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say you have compared them with 3G , it means the phone's data sync causing this problem is out of question. As in both cases ( wifi and 3G) the phone would connect to data based on the set intervals.
Possible cause: if you have multiple wifi sources near your devices and you have granted them access, here your phone constantly tries to connect to the best available wifi . If this is true , just use wifi managers available on Play store or remove access to unwanted wifi routers/access points.

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