3G networks & battery life

underpants

Does anyone know if connecting and using a 3G network needs more battery power than the good old 2G networks??

long_b

Well, if you've set your phone to 3G and you're moving about, it'll keep checking for a 3G signal - that'll chew your battery anyways.

CivilEx

underpants wrote: »

Does anyone know if connecting and using a 3G network needs more battery power than the good old 2G networks??

If your phone is sitting idle on a 3G network, that in itself is not necessarily going to burn up the battery life. What happens though is that because the 3G network is capable of transferring so much more data that via 2G, the data transfer will consume more battery life.

If were using your 3G phone for making calls only (perish the thought ) then I doubt you would see much difference in the battery life.

It's the data tansfer that is the problem.

Jimmyjimster

Have people not started to notice though that the more modern our mobile phones get the less time it takes for the battery to be completley dead, i have to charge my nokia 5800 every day

Rsaeire

You will find 3G requires more power than GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth and even Wi-Fi. The power requirements alone for 3G chipsets in handsets is one cause, as well as the constant 3G preferential search that 3G handsets carry out. In addition to this, if a 3G handset is in an area of poor 3G coverage, the handset will go back and forth between 3G and GSM.

Rsaeire

Jimmyjimster wrote: »

Have people not started to notice though that the more modern our mobile phones get the less time it takes for the battery to be completley dead, i have to charge my nokia 5800 every day

The reason why some of the latest handsets do not have the greatest battery life is because they contain so many new features. Handsets are at the pinnacle of consumer technology and as a result, the latest features often end up in handsets before a lot of other devices. Also, with the advent of consumer touchscreen handsets such as the iPhone, HTC Touch HD, Samsung Omnia etc, a large drain from the battery can be attributed to the larger than average high resolution screens. Add additional features such as GPS to the list and you can see why some handsets’ battery life is heading south faster than usual.

professore

For battery life Sony Ericsson FTW.

Kashkai

For awful battery life - Apple iPhone. Jeez I have to charge it everyday. My old phone just needed a charge once a week.