Advice Needed from the Pro's...

[tcpdump]

Okay, first time poster so please let me know if im posting in the wrong place/ know of a better place to post.

So, I've never owned an Android phone, purely because I am locked into corporate phones most of the time, e.g. Nokia's/BlackBerry's and im not too keen on carrying more than one phone.

However, by profession im a techy, so anything that allows me to 'dig into' a device, is welcomed, hence me wanting Android.

This is what I want from from the phone/OS, can you guys put me in the right direction in terms of a phone and an OS.

As the Phone will mainly be residing in my laptop bag, I want it to be;

- Small and Light
- Must be able to Tether so I can bounce off my data plan
- An App. that can sms me if I get a miss call and forward sms's to another number.
- Battery Should be able to last a week without charge on Standby

a few points to bare in mind about the phone,
- I wont be using is for entertainment (movies, music, photos etc)
- I'll hardly be making any calls from the phone itself (i'll just use my corporate bb for that)

thanks in advance, if this is a big ask, then tell me where to stick it!

tcpdump

 

[snapper.fishes]

- Battery Should be able to last a week without charge on Standby

That alone will be damn near impossible. I have managed such a feat before, but that's because it was on plane mode all the time.

 

[cableguynoe]

That alone will be damn near impossible. I have managed such a feat before, but that's because it was on plane mode all the time.

+1

You'll definately need to buy an extended battery to even get close to that. But even then, i cant see more than a couple of days, even if the phoen isn't being used.
Airplane mode maybe, but i dont think you want in in airplane mode.

 

[tcpdump]

thanks for the replies, I did hear a colleague of mine moaning for almost 2 weeks when he got his HTC Desire HD (The huge screen HTC) regarding battery life.

I thought the issue would be isolated to large screened phones?

Just got the below regarding the HTC Wildfire;

Brand HTC


Model Wildfire


Air Interface GSM/HSDPA


Band Quad


Dimensions 106.8 x 60.4 x 12.0 mm


Operating System Android


Talk time Up to 7 hours


Standby time Up to 480 hours

Are they pulling my leg with the standby time?

thanks,
tcpdump

 

[cableguynoe]

Talk time Up to 7 hours


Standby time Up to 480 hours

Are they pulling my leg with the standby time?

thanks,
tcpdump

The key is the "up to"...

Try to hold a 7 hour phone conversation... wont happen.

 

[tcpdump]

hmmm, this could indeed be a game changer for me then, currently I toss a blackberry curve 8520 in my bag and the battery can go on (no wifi/ data plan) for 12+ days. I have an app that forwards sms's to me using my monthly sms quota and that's about it, calls are diverted too.

 

[tcpdump]

Specification Comparison

BlackBerry Curve 8520 Vs HTC Wildfire - Side-by-side Features, Specs and Deals

 

[Mostly Harmless]

Turn your phone on airplane mode and it will last a week with moderate use. I turned my old iPhone 3G into just an iTouch by leaving it on airplane mode and it will last me 7-10 days on a single charge with moderate use. The same phone with the radios turned on lasted me about 15-20 hours.

My N1 acts the same way. I recently went on a trip with no cell services and just used my phone for entertainment and it lasted me a few days instead, where it only last me about 15-20 hours with the radios on.

 

[HKM]

Well here is the thing if you want 1 week on standby I would recommended you buy extended battery. But if you don't want bulk size then buy stock size battery with higher mAh, this is good start.

Now you have to choose what you want the phone to do and how you will use it. For example just voice, email? Or are you actually going to use it lightly as in surfing web, ect. If its just voice and email for corporate useage then you can manage that.

Then comes the biggest battery hogger is display which I recommend you make the blacklight dim as possible. For data if you do want email, ect then I highly recommended you push your data in given interval for example every 30min and all data will be turned off meanwhile and every 30min it will sync and update. Also you want higher memory efficiency thus saving you resources which translate in to power. So disable all useless service you will not use at boot and setup service policies to keep it disabled if restarted.

Here goes little extreme along with what I stated above. Based on your phone remove the current stock rom and get bare stripped stock rom which wont be very intensive along with custom OC based kernel so you can underclock it. What you want to do is setup advance mCPU scale profile with custom kernel that when your screen is off you have custom governor at lowest frequency clock in powersaver. This alone will give you more efficiency compared to regular when phone is off. Then when phone is on -underclock it lets take 1ghz CPU so your scale profile should be min:368/max:768 using conservative governor.

Take it from me I went 24hour with my battery meter in 97% as my superior power consumption and memory management is posted all over. You wont have any problem for a week under those conditions I can manage that on the current phone I have for 1 week.

 

[tcpdump]

will 'airplane' mode drop all radio signals im assuming it will, e.g. gsm (for voice calls and sms's) the others things I can live without when not needed, e.g. data/gps/bluetooth etc.

HKM, thanks for the in-depth advice, but im starting to think an Android phone might not be best suited for my needs, despite my desire (ignore the pun) to root the phone/ run tcpdump on it for fun/ pass time.

I just need it to last for a week, tether with my laptop when I need it, and have one app that pushes my sms/ miss call info... I definitely dont want to be pulling it out my bag mid week to charge it.

thanks for the replies.

 

[HKM]

:O don't be like that dude resistance is futile, you are only here to serve the green R2D2 lol here is something to change your mind as I am ATM on my workstation uploaded screenshots after I saw your reply.

When I came across your post I was using my phone for few hours as I was reading this forum and XDA and making posts using WiFI as I always do and at the same time listening to music from MT4G. Look at the uptime and battery level and you tell me lol if you have your phone screen off you can't get 1day without below 97%. Always trust the XDA guy

 

[dan330]

ok.. you have 2 things that you requested that kill you.

1. 1 week battery standby

2. small...

if you get a big battery.. it is no longer small .. LOL


my suggestion... to get all you wanted.
- get and HTC device that has the NEW Sense. Desire HD or Desire Z
- use the htcsense.com to transfer text and calls to a different number
- put your phone on airplane mode...
or turn off (not sleep mode)... with Newsense, you can turn it on is less than 20 seconds.
airplane mode / standby (sleep).. should last over a week.. if you dont use it.
- root it to tether

 

[HKM]

ok.. you have 2 things that you requested that kill you.

1. 1 week battery standby

2. small...

if you get a big battery.. it is no longer small .. LOL


my suggestion... to get all you wanted.
- get and HTC device that has the NEW Sense. Desire HD or Desire Z
- use the htcsense.com to transfer text and calls to a different number
- put your phone on airplane mode...
or turn off (not sleep mode)... with Newsense, you can turn it on is less than 20 seconds.
airplane mode / standby (sleep).. should last over a week.. if you dont use it.
- root it to tether

Thats all void as his biggest thing that will kill battery is data connection when hes tethering. Then again he might able to pull it off if he connects it via USB and not wifi hotspot in that case the device will be charged while tether is enabled What I don't understand is why tcpdump just don't charge the thing I mean keep the charger in your car or at least charge it every 3days even then you can get away with moderate usage as I do, sounds like he is some type of spy is your name Michael Weston ooh NVM you are Barry?

 

[tcpdump]

haha, alright guys, im guilty of contradicting myself in some of my initial requests, nothing spy related I assure you.

I will only ever pull the phone out of my bag if I need to tether with my laptop, e.g. at airports, cafe etc where wifi isn't available, in which case I know the battery will take a knock, and I'll compensate by charging it.

In terms of playing with the phone to pass time, I know this will affect battery life, and I don't intend on doing it often.

It's when the phones totally not in use, which will be the most part, that i'm concerned about battery life. I simply want to leave the phone alone, I want it to somehow push miss call info and sms's to my corporate phone which will be with me at all times, surely I wont need the data services to be on for that right? If I can turn off the data/wifi/gps when not needed that'll save me a chunk of battery.

Another new Question, did someone say, tethering requires rooting the phone? uh-oh.

again, thanks for all the replies, HKM, that's an impressive configuration you have, I haven't jumped ship just yet.

the HTC Wildfire looks like a nice small contender...

 

[Mostly Harmless]

haha, alright guys, im guilty of contradicting myself in some of my initial requests, nothing spy related I assure you.

I will only ever pull the phone out of my bag if I need to tether with my laptop, e.g. at airports, cafe etc where wifi isn't available, in which case I know the battery will take a knock, and I'll compensate by charging it.

In terms of playing with the phone to pass time, I know this will affect battery life, and I don't intend on doing it often.

It's when the phones totally not in use, which will be the most part, that i'm concerned about battery life. I simply want to leave the phone alone, I want it to somehow push miss call info and sms's to my corporate phone which will be with me at all times, surely I wont need the data services to be on for that right? If I can turn off the data/wifi/gps when not needed that'll save me a chunk of battery.

Another new Question, did someone say, tethering requires rooting the phone? uh-oh.

again, thanks for all the replies, HKM, that's an impressive configuration you have, I haven't jumped ship just yet.

the HTC Wildfire looks like a nice small contender...

You can only tether from the Nexus 1 and Nexus 2 stock without paying for it.

I love pushing everyone towards android (have gotten quite a few BB users to jump ship and all of them now love android) but in your case it seems like you would be better off just sticking with BB. Could you do a week on your phone? Maybe, but with a lot of tweaking. I give you credit for researching this information before jumping ship. I have seen people jump ship before they knew what they were getting into and go postal on android because it didn't do what they thought it did. Good luck!

 

[dan330]

yes root is required if you want it free.. pay for it from your carrier and you dont need root.

transfer calls to other numbers without phone on.. can be done.. with carrier.
but sms.. I am not sure.