• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Help 3g toggle widget?

D

dmiller2007

Android Expert
Anyone know of a 3g toggle widget on the market like the one on the incredible? I live in a horrible reception area and my dx gets hot and gets a lot of battery drain searching for 3g. I noticed my incredibles battery life improved vast amounts when I turned the 3g off when I'm not using data.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong someone, but the built-in airplane mode is what turns 3g on and off right? For example, you can hold down the power button on top and then when the menu pops up, choose airplane mode.

They also make several widgets for an airplane mode toggle, such as the beautiful widget included one.
 
Airplane mode turns off all radios. I just want to turn the 3g off. And keep the 1x on, to receive texts and calls. The dinc had a toggle widget for it and I used it constantly. I also know that it will turn data off with the battery manager if I dont touch my phone for 15 minutea (lowest setting) but that doesnt happen often.
 
My wife has the Eris and it has a 3g widget too. I know the one she uses is a HTC widget. She has one for 3g, wifi, and gps. I hope the Dx is going to have one hidden somewhere as well. We do not have good 3g reception where we are at either and it saves the battery if it does not have to constantly search for 3g.
 
I know exactly what you want. It makes a huge difference for me too. Unfortunately, i'm not sure it's be figured out on android yet.

When you are in this poor reception area, can you use wifi? If so turn it on and set to never sleep. Battery will be way better than using mobile network.
 
Actually I can't use wifi. I live way out in the sticks and only have access to dial up internet or hughes net, which is a crock and waste of money. It is definitely an htc widget on my dinc. I was just hoping there was a similar one on the market. Some look they do that, but they don't.
 
There isn't yet, I looked. However, if you dial *#*#4636#*#* (or *#*#Info#*#*) you'll get a menu where if you click phone information, you can switch from CDMA auto (PRL) which is 2g/3g to just CDMA which is 2g, or Ev-do, which is just 3g.

The closest trick I have to making a widget is if you download anycut from the market, then add it as a shortcut on your homescreen of choice, and when it gives you the chance to select what you want it to do, select activity and scroll down to "phone info". Now you have a shortcut to those options on your homescreen. Not exactly elegant, but it's served my needs pretty well.
 
dmiller2007 said:
Anyone know of a 3g toggle widget on the market like the one on the incredible? I live in a horrible reception area and my dx gets hot and gets a lot of battery drain searching for 3g. I noticed my incredibles battery life improved vast amounts when I turned the 3g off when I'm not using data.
Click to expand...

You are exactly right. I wish there was a widget for this. I've got this feature / widget on my Eris and I use it for exactly this purpose. I turn off 3G whenever I need Internet and already have wi-fi access. Wi-fi uses much less juice than 3G does and is typically much faster.

Maybe Motorola is really doing something behind the scenes where if you have wi-fi on, that 3G never really comes in to the picture and the radio knows not to search for a 3G signal and consume more battery. If this is not true, then perhaps a future update might bring us such a widget?
 
scary alien said:
You are exactly right. I wish there was a widget for this. I've got this feature / widget on my Eris and I use it for exactly this purpose. I turn off 3G whenever I need Internet and already have wi-fi access. Wi-fi uses much less juice than 3G does and is typically much faster.
Click to expand...
You are turning off "mobile internet" not "3G". That's a big difference. The OP is only looking to turn off 3G.

The instructions above with anycut sound great. If I didn't learn the trick of leaving wifi always on, I'd want to go that route too.

Also, there's no need to turn off mobile network when you turn wifi on. It turns off by itself (look and you won't see the 3G/1x icon when wifi is on).
 
Yeah. Hopefully I'll be getting a switch box upgrade to dsl soon so that this won't be a problem. But thanks for the tips guys. I think weak 3g signal is one of the big reasons people complain about bad battery life on smartphones. I bet my incredible will last for days with 3g off and only using it for calls and txts.
 
Weak 3G kills battery big time. My last 2 phones, Moto Q and Touch Pro, leaving 3G on vs 1x only reduced battery life by a good 30% or more.
 
lexluthor said:
You are turning off "mobile internet" not "3G". That's a big difference. The OP is only looking to turn off 3G.

The instructions above with anycut sound great. If I didn't learn the trick of leaving wifi always on, I'd want to go that route too.

Also, there's no need to turn off mobile network when you turn wifi on. It turns off by itself (look and you won't see the 3G/1x icon when wifi is on).
Click to expand...

Well, guess I didn't realize how 3G vs. mobile internet would differ. What is the difference (turning off mobile internet even prevents 1X data transfers...that's the only thing I can think of)?

I know that 1X would still allow me internet access, albeit slower, and 3G would be much faster. And turning off mobile internet does not allow any internet access--not just via the browser.

I did realize that turning wi-fi on rendered 3G moot...

I guess that using airplane mode does what I want: turning off wireless and 3G access so that the radio doesn't use any battery when I'm not actively transferring data. So, I've added the Dazzle wi-fi and airplane widgets to my home screen and this does the trick for me.
 
mobile network = "the internet", but sms/mms still works
airplane mode turns off all radios and you will not get sms/sms
 
lexluthor said:
mobile network = "the internet", but sms/mms still works
airplane mode turns off all radios and you will not get sms/sms
Click to expand...

+1, you are correct, sir! :)

I put my phone in airplane mode, sent a text to it...waited...waited some more...didn't come... I then turned wi-fi on...still no text. Turned airplane mode on, then the text finally came (interestingly, I saw both the 3G and the wi-fi icons at the same time for a second or so, then 3G went bye-bye).

So, I'll have to weigh getting text messages vs. saving a little battery. :D

Cheers!
 
is it possible to be in 'airplane mode' with wi-fi enabled? the phone would appear to allow it, but then all radios are not disabled, are they?
 
dookie1 said:
is it possible to be in 'airplane mode' with wi-fi enabled? the phone would appear to allow it, but then all radios are not disabled, are they?
Click to expand...

Nah, airplane mode overrides wi-fi being on...(tried it--the Dazzle wi-fi widget turns red when airplane mode comes on). When you turn airplane mode back off, wi-fi wakes-up (and the widget turns green again) and you can surf again.
 
dmiller2007 said:
Anyone know of a 3g toggle widget on the market like the one on the incredible? I live in a horrible reception area and my dx gets hot and gets a lot of battery drain searching for 3g. I noticed my incredibles battery life improved vast amounts when I turned the 3g off when I'm not using data.
Click to expand...



Try the Smoda widget. It worked really well for me before I rooted. For some reason, now that I'm rooted it only works half the time. If not that, then from your home screen just press menu>settings>wireless & networks>wireless networks (on/off). It doesn't turn off your phone, it just turns off 3g. I do that for when I'm at work (I work under a tin roof, my phone is virtually useless except for a fancy clock).
 
EasySwitch.

It's on market. Not free, but does the job (check out the Trial). It successfully turns of CDMA 3g (just like 'mobile network' widget for HTC).

Just what the doctor ordered (except I don't like the colors and style)
 
SwitchPro. it's sweet. it allows you to pick what toggles you want to have. I have 7 toggles in the row, and one of them is 3G.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom