Battery Life and WiFi

[Anthony Meluso]

Probably a dumb question, but when they issue the fix to keep WiFi connected even if the screen is locked, would that help improve battery life? I work in a building that at best has one bar on the edge network. In this case my phone's battery will go about 10 hours. When I leave work and have a good LTE signal I get closer to 16. So if the WiFi connection is always on getting Email and other App updates, battery life should be stronger. Right?

 

[mdameron]

Sounds like you're in a perfect situation to be able to tell us.

As a Titan 1 owner, I commend you for being so optimistic that you will in fact receive a fix for your issue.

 

[Alex Rodriguez]

Sounds like you're in a perfect situation to be able to tell us.

As a Titan 1 owner, I commend you for being so optimistic that you will in fact receive a fix for your issue.

Remember what Microsoft said about Skype that i was going to run in the background without consuming power, so if anyone call you through Skype you are able to answer like a regular call cause the program is always running., i guess they will use the same principle with the wifi.
They just have to change the code and insert a few lines

 

[msdugn]

Probably a dumb question, but when they issue the fix to keep WiFi connected even if the screen is locked, would that help improve battery life? I work in a building that at best has one bar on the edge network. In this case my phone's battery will go about 10 hours. When I leave work and have a good LTE signal I get closer to 16. So if the WiFi connection is always on getting Email and other App updates, battery life should be stronger. Right?

This is true. The cellular radio burns a lot more power than the Wifi radio. Even worse, the cellular radio will burn even more power if it struggles to get a connection - which is why you want to be sure it's off for a plane flight (to save your battery).

Once MSFT makes the change to allow Wifi to stay connected when the screen is locked, many users will discover decreased battery consumption and reduced cellular data. Their apps will update in the background via lower powered Wifi radio instead of burning battery and data allotment over the cell.

 

[tibere86]

Results of some battery life testing using Always on Wifi vs. cellular data while phone is idling.

Always on Wifi -> 7 hours of idling, 12% of battery used.​

Cellular data (3G) -> 7 hours of idling, 4% of battery used.

 

[conanheath]

Results of some battery life testing using Always on Wifi vs. cellular data while phone is idling.

Always on Wifi -> 7 hours of idling, 12% of battery used.​

Cellular data (3G) -> 7 hours of idling, 4% of battery used.

First, thank you for posting your results as 3g and not leading everyone to think its LTE battery life. This is a WP8 post, right? Am I the only person who has LTE phone and lives in a LTE area and uses it? 3g numbers will always look better. LTE antenna uses much more power than 3g and you can't go by these numbers unless you are in 3g service area. When I'm on Edge, I can go four days without a charge. I read all these posts about amazing battery life only to find out its 3g or they turn off their data. They are LTE phones which I assume most people have in their area and use. If you aren't in LTE area, I don't care about how amazing your battery life is on a 2g signal. You're giving me a complex with my 12 hr battery life. Thanks again for specifying your service.

 

[tibere86]

First, thank you for posting your results as 3g and not leading everyone to think its LTE battery life. This is a WP8 post, right? Am I the only person who has LTE phone and lives in a LTE area and uses it? 3g numbers will always look better. LTE antenna uses much more power than 3g and you can't go by these numbers unless you are in 3g service area. When I'm on Edge, I can go four days without a charge. I read all these posts about amazing battery life only to find out its 3g or they turn off their data. They are LTE phones which I assume most people have in their area and use. If you aren't in LTE area, I don't care about how amazing your battery life is on a 2g signal. You're giving me a complex with my 12 hr battery life. Thanks again for specifying your service.

I'll do an LTE test next weekend