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Does Android try to sync with internet off?

C

Cryssie

Well-Known Member
Ok, this is probably a monumentally stupid question, so please forgive me. But I was wondering:

I turn all my wifi and 3G off when I go to bed, because I just don't need instant email or fb friend requests when I'm sleeping. :p It just eats battery. I keep 2G on so people can call or text me in case of emergency.
I also toggle autosync off. I do not have very demanding sync settings, everything updates once per hour, but do I need to turn it off?
Can anybody tell me how the Android syncing works?
If I leave syncing on and internet off, will it turn on the internet to sync at schedule or will it patiently wait untill I switch the wifi back on?

Edit: I have an Xperia Ray, stock rom.
 
It wont turn the internet back on.It will try to sync, then see there is no connection, then log a fail of sync. Then it will try again as scheduled. Basically the same scenario as if you had no service, it will try to sync but find no connection available.
 
chanchan05 said:
It wont turn the internet back on.It will try to sync, then see there is no connection, then log a fail of sync. Then it will try again as scheduled. Basically the same scenario as if you had no service, it will try to sync but find no connection available.
Click to expand...

Aaaah, ok! Thanks :)
So basicly, in my case I'm better of to just switch it off at night?
 
If sync is on and 3G off, it will still sync via 2G. If wifi is on it will sync via wifi. IOW sync will use any available data connection, fastest first.

If sync is off it will not sync regardless of your connection settings.
 
Crashdamage said:
If sync is on and 3G off, it will still sync via 2G. If wifi is on it will sync via wifi. IOW sync will use any available data connection, fastest first.

If sync is off it will not sync regardless of your connection settings.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's entirely accurate. Please turn off 3G and wifi (4G if you have it) and manually fetch mail or access the web.

2G specifies digital voice and SMS only. If you get different results, please share phone and carrier, thanks.
 
Crashdamage said:
If sync is on and 3G off, it will still sync via 2G. If wifi is on it will sync via wifi. IOW sync will use any available data connection, fastest first.

If sync is off it will not sync regardless of your connection settings.
Click to expand...

Turn of packet data and it will not sync on 2G or 3G or whatever. How do I know? Experience.

I set up my kid sister's phone (Galaxy Fit) to have background sync on, at 2G only mode but packet data off. No data charges whatsoever on her bills.
 
chanchan05 said:
Turn of packet data and it will not sync on 2G or 3G or whatever. How do I know? Experience.

I set up my kid sister's phone (Galaxy Fit) to have background sync on, at 2G only mode but packet data off. No data charges whatsoever on her bills.
Click to expand...

Ok.
But the thing that I wonder about, if I leave it on during the night on 2G with wifi off, will the phone wake up, try to sync, fail etc and eat unnecessary battery?
 
Cryssie said:
Ok.
But the thing that I wonder about, if I leave it on during the night on 2G with wifi off, will the phone wake up, try to sync, fail etc and eat unnecessary battery?
Click to expand...

The battery cost is very negligible. If I leave my phone at night when I sleep with data off but leaving background sync on (I have Tweetdeck syncing every 15min, the email, fb, etc are per hour) I only use up 5% for the 6hrs.
 
chanchan05 said:
The battery cost is very negligible. If I leave my phone at night when I sleep with data off but leaving background sync on (I have Tweetdeck syncing every 15min, the email, fb, etc are per hour) I only use up 5% for the 6hrs.
Click to expand...

Hmn.... my battery use at night is somewhat the same, 5% in 8 to 10 hours.
I'm going to give this a go tonight and see what happens. Thanks.
(I got a little more carefull after I once got an email at night and woke up with 30% of battery charge gone because of the bloody notification light)
 
EarlyMon said:
I don't think that's entirely accurate. Please turn off 3G and wifi (4G if you have it) and manually fetch mail or access the web.

2G specifies digital voice and SMS only. If you get different results, please share phone and carrier, thanks.
Click to expand...
Unless data is comepletely disabled, of course I can access email or web even over 2G (or Edge, it's faster cousin). So of course sync works over 2G. Very slowly, but it works. On T-Mobile USA, not that it matters.
 
Just turn off your mobile data when going to sleep or turn off the phone. Otherwise, turn off auto-sync and background data.
 
Reporting back!
I went to sleep on 2G with data and wifi off and autosync on. Woke up with just 3% of the battery gone after 10 hours. :-) So I'd call that a succes!
I checked the use and the phone did not wake up to sync at all, the thing I was most afraid of :-)

Thanks for the help!!!
 
Cryssie said:
I considered that, I do not really care about twitter, facebook or email, but I need whatsapp to autosync. I cannot set it seperately, I think.
Click to expand...

Couple of weeks ago a friend was complaining about poor battery life with an LG phone he bought back from Hong Kong. Turned out it was the useless Facebook and Twitter apps fruitlesslly trying to phone home. Rooted the phone and removed them.
 
Crashdamage said:
Unless data is comepletely disabled, of course I can access email or web even over 2G (or Edge, it's faster cousin). So of course sync works over 2G. Very slowly, but it works. On T-Mobile USA, not that it matters.
Click to expand...

For those of on CDMA, not GSM or EDGE, it matters. ;) I think in future it'll be more helpful if I just refer to mobile data.

Congratulations on solving it, Cryssie. :)
 
i use an app called green power saver that manages my radios for me. you might find this app, or one like it, useful.

basically it shuts everything down for a set period of time and then turns radios on for short increments of time periodically to sync.

During the day I have it turning on for 1 minute every 15 minutes or so. At night I have it doing it once every 2 hours. In addition to this i have quiet-time set on all of my apps. I leave push and activesync on.
Ultimately what this means that over an 8 hour period at work, my phone is only actively transmitting data for 32 minutes. This is a HUGE energy saver and still keeps me in constant sync with my email and calendar.
Everything turns back on when i turn the screen on and i have it set to keep everything on when plugged into power. At day, at night I still only have it check for email every 2 hours.

This saves tonnes of battery and allows me to keep my phone ringer on. i don't want to get woken up by email spam at 3am but i do want to know if my phone rings.

However I do have to point out that ironically (and funny enough) this has lead to more situations where i'm running low on battery because i'm no longer a slave to my chargers with my evo. It used to be that i'd charge it all night, bring it with me to work at 8 or so and by 2pm that day i was getting the power-saver alerts so i'd never forget to charge at night, in the office and in the car. I regularly go a day or two without charging it which sometimes gets me into trouble. Either way, i'd rather user-error be the culprit, wouldn't you?:D
 
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