# Battery Life LTE vs CDMA



## Dr. Hax (Sep 24, 2011)

When I got my first 4G phone, the Thunderbolt, I was expecting AWFUL DREADFUL battery life - as all the reviews make it sound like the thing won't even last 2.5 hours. I got 4-5 hours consistently, so I wasn't dissatisfied, ESPECIALLY considering my Droid Incredible, a 3G-only phone would only average 6 hours. I was even a bit impressed that my Thunderbolt got so close to my DInc's battery life. Though it didn't touch my Droid X's battery life, which averaged 14 ours!
Disclaimer: I NEVER use Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi SIPS power. There's nothing impressive about long-hours of battery life when you were connected to your WiFi all day. I only turned LTE off on my Thunderbolt when I left a 4G area (went into my school) or to test CDMA battery life. I noticed no battery life gain from using CDMA only.

When I "rented" the Rezound, I EXPECTED much-improved battery life; but was disappointed when it could barely pull 6 hours.. I didn't even bother trying CDMA-only with this phone. I didn't like the phone either. I returned it for the Nexus.

First Nexus had radio issues so I kept it in CDMA mode all day until I replaced it. I think I averaged 6 hours still. Very disappointing. I got it replaced, battery life got better AND I kept LTE on. 7 hours. Still not much. Meh.
One day I noticed that when I do a freshly-installed ROM, my standby time is drastically improved than before. I narrowed this down to a single app that drastically drains my battery with the screen off:
Trillian. I liked the app. It was ok. But when I uninstalled it, my battery life nearly DOUBLED. I had it installed on all my phones before, so I still wonder how they'd fare without that app. (I no longer have them)

I have 2 points: One) That JUST ONE SINGLE APP can seriously be killing your battery life! And two) IN MY EXPERIENCE, there is no noticable gain in battery life when I use CDMA only. Today I'm testing my Nexus with CDMA only and I can almost swear my battery is WORSE than CDMA/LTE! The other day I got 14 hours with 1 hour and 40 minutes of screen time! That was with CDMA/LTE. Today I've pulled so far 7 hours and 4 minutes, down to 57% with only 41 minutes of screen time. I live in a poor signal area for both CDMA and LTE.

One more thing: Kernels affect my battery life more than network type. On franco.kernel, I get AWFUL battery life while on leankernel, my screentime is awful but standby time is ok. I can leave it on standby while I sleep for 12 hours and only lose 8% with LTE on!


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

It's pretty well known now that LTE will get significantly less battery life than CDMA only (3g).

The biggest factor in battery life will be your signal strength. I can get 1.5 hours screen time with bad reception & ~4 hours screen on time with excellent signal strength.

If you are getting excellent reception while testing LTE & horrible reception on CDMA only while testing, that could account for why you got better battery life on LTE.

Yes, one app can also make a huge difference depending on how often it checks for data & how it's coded. That's why there are apps like betterbatterystats & GSam Battery Monitor to figure out what is eating your battery.

OR, you have a magical GNex that gets better LTE battery life than CDMA only.


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## Dr. Hax (Sep 24, 2011)

Yes! Magical! Lol I love that theory :3


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## brkshr (Jun 16, 2011)

Dr. Hax said:


> Yes! Magical! Lol I love that theory :3


It helps if you have a unicorn on your phone too


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## Sandman007 (Sep 6, 2011)

Y'all just need to learn how to turn off 3G and 4G when y'all aren't using it. Use an app like juice defender of you want to keep data off and have it turn on automatically when you open up certain apps and off again when you close the app. Trust me it definitely helps.
Sent from my DROIDX using Xparent ICS Blue Tapatalk 2


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## error311 (Oct 14, 2011)

I have the LTE and I always was looking at my battery usage. Bought the extended battery didn't notice no difference in battery life. Saw abunch of people talk about the battery charger kit and I just recently bought it a month ago. I never look at my battery usage at all now. Battery dies throw in my fully charge one and never have to worry about it. I keep my brightness 50-75% and leave 4g on all the time. http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-ETC-CPK008GSTA-Verizon-Battery-Charger/dp/B006GBU0SO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1345227078&sr=8-4&keywords=samsung+galaxy+nexus+battery I recommend it, fuck extended battery or bricks that look like a phone from 1995. You'll never worry about your battery usage again, I promise that lol.


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## nhat (Aug 21, 2011)

Or just use the phone as you like and charge when necessary.


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## Dr. Hax (Sep 24, 2011)

I tend to have good battery days and bad battery days. It really tends to depend on my phone's mood ad my usage. Having LTE (in my experience) has little affect on batterylife.


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