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Time Without Signal, what does it mean?

C

cipher6

Android Enthusiast
Ok, I've searched all over, and can't really find an authoritative explanation of what exactly "Time without signal" means.


You find it here:
Settings -> About Phone -> Battery -> Battery Use -> Cell Standby



Some people seem to think it means the time your phone has been unable to connect to a network signal, because your in a dead zone or something. If thats the case, a higher number is worse than a low number, it means your phone can't find a signal x% of the time the radio has been on.

Others seem to think it means the time the radio simple doesn't need a signal, and disconnects to save battery life. If thats the case a higher number simple means your phone is sitting there not connected or sending data for x% of the time the radio has been on. A higher number should mean more battery life.

It also seems most people, at least in the forums go with the first explanation, and think a larger number means more unnecessary battery use, and there are a few tricks to "fix" the issue.

But before I try to "fix" it, has anyone found a good explanation of what exactly it means? An explanation by someone who knows what their talking about, not just some kid who hit ## and some numbers and swears his battery life doubled.

And better yet, what about a good explanation of what cell standby is measuring. It says cell standby, but the description says, battery used by cell radio, which seems like all radio use, not just standby. Is the cell radio cover 2g phone calls and 3g data?
 
This is time without signal:
cipher6 said:
Some people seem to think it means the time your phone has been unable to connect to a network signal, because your in a dead zone or something. If thats the case, a higher number is worse than a low number, it means your phone can't find a signal x% of the time the radio has been on.
Click to expand...
This is cell standby:
cipher6 said:
OiOthers seem to think it means the time the radio simple doesn't need a signal, and disconnects to save battery life. If thats the case a higher number simple means your phone is sitting there not connected or sending data for x% of the time the radio has been on. A higher number should mean more battery life.
Click to expand...

@slug:Sorry if my original post wasn't clear enough but was responding from my phone.
 
What I don't get is, if tws is when your radio wants a signal and can't find it why is that listed under standby? If standby is when your radio isn't looking for a signal. After watching it for a few days I tend to agree but would like a technical explanation of what exactly it is, not simple conculsions people have drawn by observations.

Also, if cell standby is when the radio is not in use, where does it list the battery used by the radio when it is in use? And why does the description under cell standby say, "battery used by cell radio?"
 
Cell standby is just the amount of time your phone has been on without using the cell signal. If you make a lot of calls/text/3g that percentage will go down. If you only use your phone for those things, the percentage will be low, but if you do a lot if things on your phone that don't involve those things or just let your phone sit with no use, that percentage will be high. Really no technical explanation to give you, it is what it is, percentage of time your cell radio is on standby. But remember it's a percentage of 100% so other things you do or use on your phone will effect that number. If one day you let your phone sit for a couple hours and that percentage shows 30% and the next day you let it sit for the same amount of time but also played 2 hours of angry birds during the day that percentage will be less.
Another good explanation can be found here:
http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f7/reducing-standby-idel-display-22767/

If you see a high percentage in the section about time without signal you will notice significant battery drain because your phone is searching for signal. If you have your phone on for an hour and if for half hour of that time you don't have a signal, that number will be 50%.
Android/google has just chosen this way to display battery percentages and only they know the exact reason why.
If you want to see a more detailed battery explanation, I believe there are apps in the market that can show you how much battery active radio has used. Some ROMS have that feature built in and can tell you exactly how many miliamps every process and application uses (MIUI).

I guess a question for you would be, what problem are you trying to fix or figure out?
 
Not really trying to fix anything, just understand my phone inside and out.

I've notice it does seem like the battery goes faster if I have a high TWS. I turned off, mobile data always on and that seems to help.

But, I just don't like going off only peoples observations of what makes their battery drain faster or not, because with all the roms, kernals, apps, widigets and settings, it seems close to impossible to isolate one variable.

I get decent life, 12+ hours with normal use.

I really just like understanding all the technical details.
 
The reason your battery drains faster when you don't have a signal is because your phone is pumping more juice into the radio to boost it's ability to locate a cell tower.
 
If that is turned on, it allows apps to access data anytime they need it. If it's off, weather, facebook, twitter, sports score widgets won't be able to get any data when your phone is idle.
 
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