More battery life!

[Guest Jumba]

WMLonglife

So I've decided to try WMLonglife on my Omnia - it's a small app that switches bands between 2G and 3G under certain conditions to save on power consumption. For example, it can be set to use 2G when the phone is not being used, or when roaming, and 3G for data etc. It's configurable with a whitelist of apps and runs quietly in the background until needed. So far I'm still testing but I've noticed my phone is quite happy making calls in 2G mode, which I'm sure is stressing the battery less than my finnicky 3G connection. No problems so far, and the benefits seem pretty good.

Download it from HERE

Flashing Battery Icon

Also, if you want a flashing battery icon in the taskbar when your phone is charging, install the attached cab. All it does is add the registry key "HKLM\ControlPanel\Power\DynamicChargeicon:1". If you want to go back to the original, uninstall the cab or install "Normal Battery Icon.cab" You'll need to restart for the changes to come into effect. Enjoy!

Flashing_Battery_Icon.cab

Normal_Battery_Icon.cab

Edited May 21, 2010 by Jumba

[Guest andrew.mazlim]

WMLonglife

So I've decided to try WMLonglife on my Omnia - it's a small app that switches bands between 2G and 3G under certain conditions to save on power consumption. For example, it can be set to use 2G when the phone is not being used, or when roaming, and 3G for data etc. It's configurable with a whitelist of apps and runs quietly in the background until needed. So far I'm still testing but I've noticed my phone is quite happy making calls in 2G mode, which I'm sure is stressing the battery less than my finnicky 3G connection. No problems so far, and the benefits seem pretty good.

Download it from HERE

Flashing Battery Icon

Also, if you want a flashing battery icon in the taskbar when your phone is charging, install the attached cab. All it does is add the registry key "HKLM\ControlPanel\Power\DynamicChargeicon:1". If you want to go back to the original, uninstall the cab or install "Normal Battery Icon.cab" You'll need to restart for the changes to come into effect. Enjoy!

Nice sharing. Btw, that small tweak you did, is it similar like NoData setting by disabling the 3G?

[Guest Jumba]

Nice sharing. Btw, that small tweak you did, is it similar like NoData setting by disabling the 3G?

Tnx. Nah, WMLonglife is far more sophisticated - from the link:

About

WMLongLife is an automatic 2G/3G band-switching solution. It will keep your device in 2G when you do not need to use 3G, and will switch to 3G automatically when you do need it. For most users, having your device in 2G uses much less battery, and thus your phone lasts longer on a single charge. 2G also usually generates less radiation than 3G, so it will likely be better for your gonads (if you have them) as well (see this thread for a discussion about that) - think of your hypothetical future children!

Main features

* 2G/3G (auto)/3G (only) automatic band switching based on:

- Running programs and their needs

- Availability of Wi-Fi

- Availability of USB

- Roaming [note: most roaming options have been removed, use the RoamFreely (marketplace) tool instead]

* Idle data connections disconnect based on running programs (note that unlike the registry tweak this does not break simultaneous voice/data)

* Manual band switching

* Automatically disable data when roaming (including AGPS)

* Pauses applications while switching bands (so you don't get networking errors)

* Several predefined applications supported

* Support for HTC/MSM72xx GSM devices (GSM/EDGE vs UMTS/HSDPA)

* Support for HTC/MSM75xx CDMA devices (1xRTT vs EV-DO)

* Support for various Samsung GSM devices (GSM/EDGE vs UMTS/HSDPA)

Is this guaranteed to save battery?

No, it is not. If it will or will not save battery is dependent on your configuration of WMLongLife, your 'average' network conditions, your radio, and usage. The default WMLongLife configuration will give you (also depending on those other factors) a nice average between least and maximum savings while trying to be not too annoying. Radio firmware is very tricky, and results vary all across the board. It is likely there is a radio thread for your specific device, if you are comfortable with flashing devices, flashing a different radio may give you better (or worse) connectivity and battery life. How your usage effects all this should be obvious: if all you do with your phone is watch YouTube until the battery goes flat, WMLongLife will not help you [at all]. If you pretty much use at as a phone with additional email and some browsing / Google Maps here and there, you may definitely see benefits. It all depends.

Now let's get to the most interesting part: network conditions. 3G [at least in theory] uses less battery than 2G under ideal conditions. However, these ideal conditions are hardly ever reached. A lot of battery is spent finding a decent/better 3G signal to use instead of 2G - and I mean a lot. If 3G is few-bars or just an unreliable signal in your area, your device will not just use a lot, it will use massive amounts of battery trying to get a [better] 3G signal. Aside from that, if the conditions are less than ideal, 2G may use less power than 3G. As an example, I am personally in an area with excellent 3G coverage (5 out of 5 bars of HSDPA) and my device still lasts nearly twice as long on a single charge with WMLongLife running. Your mileage may vary, of course. While it is completely possible that it may not make a relevant difference in your case, I would say there will be many people who this does make a difference for. This is also the reason you will see many people advising in "battery saving" threads to disable 3G and attesting to how much battery it saves for them, and others will always respond that it doesn't make a difference [for them].

Having an idle(!) data connection should theoretically not make a difference with power usage, you have the connection anyway, it's just a question about whether you have an IP or not. However, some background applications (inside services mostly) will initiate data transfers if (and only if) a data connection is already up. So if you have an idle data connection, these applications would start using data, while if you did not have a data connection (connected), they would not.

So definitely worth a try I reckon.

[Guest andrew.mazlim]

Well, I'll give a try.