Rjglenn
Knowing that you're in a low service area you have definitely started to get down to the correct methods to stretch that battery. Your lack of service is definitely a different situation than mine, when I get out of 3G I'm usually out of 1x also, Verizon up here (upper peninsula Michigan) has 2 towers in my stomping grounds, both are 3g, once I lose those I just go to airplane mode and hope I have enough info cahed to find my way back with maverick and standalone GPS. I'm usually out in the woods shooting/hiking/running the dog or out on a boat for work when these scenarios arise.
Your set up is very similar to mine as far as stripping down and disabling the social junk and running just push E-mail. I have Google sync disabled via the dialer unless I have recently added something to the calendar or gotten new contacts with E-mail addresses then I will sync manually. I do use backup assistant and have it configured for update in the late afternoon as that is when I am usually getting home and can just about guarantee I have service so it won't start a wakelock searching for service. Honestly my configuration probably won't work as a blanket so I have a process to get the mileage out of my device and others in my close group of friends and family, they are on an array of providers not just VZW here it is;
In your situation I would start like this: #1 Go to dialer>*#*#4636#*#*>phone settings>scroll down to preferred network type>try "CDMA only" mode for a day, it should disable 3G. The setting I am on (and I believe is stock) is "cdma auto PRL". You won't run on CDMA only forever, if it works for your daily needs while you are in crap areas you will probably want to find a program or widget to control this for you in a later step. You should also try a day running "GSM/CDMA auto PRL" this setting should allow your phone to jump from cdma (VZW) towers to GSM (ATT) if CDMA is not available, from my understanding if you run GSM/CDMA auto you should also set settings>wireless & network> Mobile network> system select > auto. I have this set to home only as my work is literally 300 yards from a larger Canadian city but I think you could risk it all the way down there in FL. *Note for GSM/CDMA auto, I have heard of people up here near the border getting the "allow roaming access for this trip" message often when the GSM/CDMA is set but I have also heard from people in northern nowhere Oregon say they get better service that way and never see the roaming message. Now that you know which mode works best for you, if it's CDMA only, set it back to auto and go the the next step, if it was the GSM/CDMA auto you can most likely just leave it and move to step 3.
#2 Once you have done a couple tests on your radio settings, find an app or widget that can set the mode for you at your convenience, remember screen time is battery time: "Juice Defender" is a program that can do it automatically, only searching for a network while you have the screen on (may need ultimate if you want to configure data on or off on a schedule) but can do more that may not be needed and is a largish download. I have leaned towards this one on my wife's phone and a buddy here at work, I have them use it simply because it downs the 3g so push notifications from social networks when the screen is off, cutting down on wake time, I suppose it would be a similar situation with searching for service.
If you can't find a way/app that you like with CDMA only or GSM/CDMA auto you could make your method easier by using; "Mobile Data On/Off Toggle" by free wing, simple widget (or in one case a shortcut that acted as a widget) that will turn on/off mobile data from a home screen, its tiny (like 7KB) and appears to be the safest free version for CDMA phones, it essentially reduces your original step to a single click. Verizon is so much better about having service than the others (usually) that only 1 in 10 or so 1x/2g/3g toggles actually work on CDMA so go big red...
#3 After minimizing signal search, the next step in my configuration is to search for culprits of wake lock, anything is capable of waking the phone and you need to be the detective here. If you open your battery usage monitor (I actually assigned mine to the tactile key at one point for easy access) and tap at the top where it says #h ##m ##s on battery the graph should go full screen and at the bottom you will see timelines of when things were on or off, if you see blue speckled around all over the place under awake that doesn't line up with the screen on bar you have problems. You need to figure out what is; A. receiving or sending data automatically with or without a schedule (my 2 things are weather once every 3 hours and backup assistant once in the evening, out of the box I had several things going crazy that I just said the hell with and disabled like google sync in the dialer and the social stuff.) B. Polling a sensor (courtesy flip programs, vlingo in car audio cues, pocket quiet etc, luckily the commando didn't come stock with these programs but I have dabbled with them) C. Auto task killers, they are pretty much the android devil, if you disagree that's ok, I don't want to start a flame war so don't blast at me for that one but I assure you if you are using one, someone could find a better way to save battery with a little research. (juice defender is not a task killer, it is a radio killer). If you can't find your culprits there are programs to help, they do use extra battery but they can tell you what turns on when so you can take corrective action, then get rid of the battery draw/wakelock monitor program also after fixing your issues.
If you go through these steps you will likely get great battery life, my "compromise" was time to learn about the OS and how to make my device work for me, not to have to work for it for the next year and a half until it gets scrapped. I also compromise on my apps choices, my apps don't all look pretty but they do the job I need and don't constantly load ads or cause issues.
Rjglenn, I appreciate your start of this thread, I don't claim to know everything about android and I'm sure a true super user has better solutions than mine but for non-root devices I think I have figured out a bit about battery, in your low service area you definitely started to figure out exactly what to do, and if you like to do it manually every time you pull out of your driveway that's cool, I like my smart phone to run alone intelligently. I can't simulate your situation but I hope my process helps in the long run.
Good luck, if you want more specific info about my setup/location/usage etc just PM me, John
