What consumes more battery Data or WIFI? what about Bluetooth?

[OzRob]

No, voice & SMS are not always there. The GSM radio can be toggled off and use BT or WiFi exclusively. If you had read one of MY earlier posts you would know that 3g/4G/LTE will consume a lot of power if it has to hunt for a signal because of spotty coverage. GSM power consumption has everything to do with strength of signal so what works for you or me, may not apply to the next guy.

How do you turn the GSM radio off (without putting the phone into flight mode)? It's the thing that keeps you connected to the cellular network.

 

[genuine555]

1. BT -> sucks the life out of your device before you could boot it

2. Data Connection -> compared to Wifi it also sucks quite a bit

3. Wifi ->lowest battery consumer out of the three


Also Background Tasks can suck life out of the battery.
Minimize those background tasks-<.m.

 

[SwimSwim]

1. BT -> sucks the life out of your device before you could boot it

2. Data Connection -> compared to Wifi it also sucks quite a bit

3. Wifi ->lowest battery consumer out of the three


Also Background Tasks can suck life out of the battery.
Minimize those background tasks-<.m.

I always leave BT on, and still get awesome battery life. Maybe if it's actively connected to something: then perhaps it's a battery hog.

Otherwise, it's impact on my 1020's battery is minimal to nonexistent. I like to leave it on so I easily pair my phone with my BT speaker, without any hassle or set up.

 

[anon(8657436)]

This question's answer depends on the state of the particular connection you are talking about, as in Active, Passive and Off.
Active means that data transfer is occurring, Passive means that the radio is switched on, Off means the radio is off.

Active: Bluetooth > 4G (LTE) > WiFi > 3G and 2G
Passive: Bluetooth > 4G (LTE) > 3G and 2G > WiFi

In the active state, bluetooth keeps looking for devices to connect to and broadcasts a bluetooth signal to allow other devices to discover it. The latter is one of the greatest causes of battery drain apart from actual data transfer. To prevent it, you should turn off "Visibility/Discovery" which is something not available on all devices.
The battery consumption from any cellular connection depends a lot on the signal stability and strength, so prefer 3G and 2G over LTE because as of now LTE doesn't have a great network.
WiFi in the active state doesn't consume too much power as the data transfers are completed in a shorted period of time and the radio remains idle for more time than compared to cellular connections.

In the passive state, bluetooth searches for discoverable devices making it drain too much battery. WiFi when idle has no network activity and hence the radio 'sleeps' to allow for power savings. (PS: Allowing your device to automatically discover hotspots will drain a lot of juice as it requires the WiFi radio to both transmit and receive WiFi signals.)

I hope I have solved your problems. :smile: :wink:

 

[HoosierDaddy]

In the active state, bluetooth keeps looking for devices to connect to and broadcasts a bluetooth signal to allow other devices to discover it. The latter is one of the greatest causes of battery drain apart from actual data transfer. To prevent it, you should turn off "Visibility/Discovery" which is something not available on all devices.

As you say that option isn't available on all devices, including my 925. However, it's settings seem to indicate that it is only in discovery mode while the Bluetooth setting page is open. So is that the equivalent of turning discovery off on the devices that have that option? And by equivalent, I am only talking about power usage, not the steps to pair a phone.

Also, aren't there different versions of Bluetooth that use power differently? And if so, do any of them change the hierarchy you listed?

TIA

 

[foxbat121]

Visibility/Discovery is more of a security measure to prevent unwanted pairing (as often happens in early days of smartphone to spread virus) than power usage. Even if that is turned off, your phone will still scan for device to connect if you already setup them in the connected list but not connected.

 

[Checki]

In general, using one of them consumes battery. Idle doesn't really matter, IF they don't look for new devices/connections in the background (turn off if possible).
Cellular consumes more because it looks for better networks all the time. If you set it on just 2G/3G it will consume less, cos it doesn't have to look for better network conection

L620 - Tapatalk

 

[onysi]

I thought it was the WiFi that drains it a lot, but depends on what's going on on your phone. I set my 5 emails on auto refresh every hr, so that drains it. Games download via WiFi too, but I have the habit of turning it on and off when ita necessary. I try to turn it on, but I also have limited WiFi. I only need a little.

 

[anon(8657436)]

Visibility/Discovery is more of a security measure to prevent unwanted pairing (as often happens in early days of smartphone to spread virus) than power usage. Even if that is turned off, your phone will still scan for device to connect if you already setup them in the connected list but not connected.

Yeah, but it saves the energy as it is a periodic task. Try this:
Turn off discovery and bring an earlier connected phone in range and try checking on that phone whether they get connected immediately. Kudos.

I'm not too sure about myself on that one though.

 

[anon(8657436)]

As you say that option isn't available on all devices, including my 925. However, it's settings seem to indicate that it is only in discovery mode while the Bluetooth setting page is open. So is that the equivalent of turning discovery off on the devices that have that option? And by equivalent, I am only talking about power usage, not the steps to pair a phone.

Also, aren't there different versions of Bluetooth that use power differently? And if so, do any of them change the hierarchy you listed?

TIA

I don't know if the heirarchy changes by using different bluetooth versions.

No, I don't think that it's equivalent to turning discovery off as the phone still has to be active just in case somebody tries pairing with you.
To make it simple, think of you in your home. People will knock at your door if they see there isn't a lock at your door and you will consume power while going to check who is it, somebody paired or unpaired. (equivalent to having discovery turned on) If you place a lock people won't bother. (equivalent to switching off discovery)

Bluetooth LE (version 4 i guess) is known for its low power consumption.

 

[FarStrider2001]

Honestly i think maybe sure the 1st gen umts lte devices werent power efficient but also we used to have control of wifi performance vs. battery saving now we dont since largely WMM APSD was introduced so were now at the mercy of the hotspot providers