# Are all these open Android apps draining the battery? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336 "2011-08-19T17:22:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/21 "2011-08-23T21:32:32Z")
OK, what if I want only the voice/text radio functions on? have the wifi on only when the screen is on, and I have the Power Control widget (thanks for that), but can I turn off the 3G but leave on the voice/text radio? ---
**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/22 "2011-08-24T00:49:16Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > OK, what if I want only the voice/text radio functions on? have the wifi on only when the screen is on, and I have the Power Control widget (thanks for that), but can I turn off the 3G but leave on the voice/text radio? I assume you mean “can I leave on voice and SMS but turn off data?” The answer is “maybe”. Go to Settings \> Wireless and network settings \> Mobile Network settings. If you have a Data enabled option, turn it off. If you don’t, you can approximate the same thing by turning off automatic synchronization. Do this in Settings \> Accounts & Sync. Turn off Background data and Auto-sync. You’ll still have web access if you want, but everything else will be under manual control. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/23 "2011-08-24T01:14:04Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > …have the wifi on only when the screen is on… I don’t think that’s going to help much. If you aren’t connected to wifi, it’s best to leave it off so it’s not searching and trying to connect to stray signals. But if you’re at home and wifi is connected, it really doesn’t use much battery. Switching it on and off would probably use more that letting it stay idly connected. Out of curiosity, what is your battery life like? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/24 "2011-08-24T01:56:51Z")
Different question, to you Androidophiles. Is there a calendar that works like my old Treo? I’d like a standard alarm that I don’t have to set again and again. I make the entry, and the alarm sounds at a prescribed time before. It can even be 0 minutes before, and I’ll just set all events for the alarm time, not the actual event. I was used to that. Also, the alarm needs to sound like 3 times for each event if I don’t shut it off. Otherwise, it’s too easy to miss. Thanks. My battery life has definitely improved since I’ve done these things. The display and wifi have really dropped in percentage of my power usage. Now I want to find out what com.motorola.contacts is doing. I don’t think I have contacts synching with anything Motorola. What is synching? Email? This is 10% of my battery use. I haven’t tried just letting it run down over the course of a few days after I’ve made these changes. I would guess I’ve improved by maybe 50% with the changes I’ve made. I also have BT off, and often GPS, too. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/25 "2011-08-24T04:58:20Z")
> [@633squadron](#): > > If you’re around and about a lot, you may want to invest in a auxiliary battery pack like those made by New Trent. They’re about the size of a man’s wallet, and they’ll fully recharge a phone using a micro USB cable. Why carry around something like that? (Or pay for it?) Just get some spare batteries (for my phone, they’re $3.67 each on Ebay, including shipping). I always have two or three fully charged extra batteries on hand (in pocket or brief case). As a result, I almost never have to concern myself with how much power I’m using with my phone, or have to plug in my phone during the day–and my days are long. (But then, I don’t play games, etc. with my phone, either.) I almost always have the Bluetooth on, and usually have the wifi and sync on too. I turn off the GPS unless I’m using it. I set the display timout for 2 minutes, but when it’s on, it’s on 100%. In terms of power use, apps are really the last thing I’m concerned with. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/26 "2011-08-24T14:18:57Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Why carry around something like that? (Or pay for it?) Just get some spare batteries … One big advantage of an external battery is that you can connect/disconnect it any time, without shutting down the phone and then waiting for it to start up again. Also, an external battery can be used to top off multiple devices, e.g. your phone and an iPod. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/27 "2011-08-24T14:22:26Z")
> [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](#): > > I’ve found that using the 3G connection on my phone eats the battery about twice as fast as WiFi. And 4G is worse still. But you can force your phone to use 2G (EDGE) all the time (Settings -\> Wireless & network -\> Mobile Networks -\> “Use only 2G networks”). This seems to save quite a bit of power. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/28 "2011-08-24T15:02:49Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > One big advantage of an external battery is that you can connect/disconnect it any time, without shutting down the phone and then waiting for it to start up again. > > Also, an external battery can be used to top off multiple devices, e.g. your phone and an iPod. I see–good point. My phone takes friggin’ forever to boot, so if I can I plug it in to something while switching batteries. I can also see the value of an external battery while doing field work that requires various devices. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/29 "2011-08-25T19:19:38Z")
> [@Cardinal](#): > > …and I set wifi to only be on when the screen is on… Interesting - how do you do that? I’ve got a Droid X and haven’t noticed any setting like that. Semi-related: I just downloaded a new sleep tracking app - you touch a widget to tell it you’re going to sleep, or when you wake up. One of the optional settings in the app (Sleep Bot) is that you can have it turn off a bunch of things when you do that - like put it into airplane mode, silent mode, etc. automatically. ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336/30 "2011-08-26T01:50:20Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > And 4G is worse still. > > But you can force your phone to use 2G (EDGE) all the time (Settings -\> Wireless & network -\> Mobile Networks -\> “Use only 2G networks”). This seems to save quite a bit of power. AT&T removed that option on the Captivate. There are some hacks to force Edge, but I don’t use 3G enough to bother. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-these-open-android-apps-draining-the-battery/593336.md?page=1)