Help wifi or 4G

[androidb]

Question about the Bionic. Which would be better on the battery to have on all day, wifi or 4G? I work from home now so I can be constantly connected to wifi, but would connecting to the 4G save battery? I had Android devices before but never used wifi because I was always out and about. I am now coming from an iPhone 4 and I could have wireless on all day and the battery would barely drain.

 

[droidosis]

Whichever one gives you more bars will save you more juice. The phone doesn't have to work as hard.

Although, I'd test after the .902 update to see if 4G connections can sleep now .. when the phone is not being used. That will save lots of juice.

-droidosis-

 

[libertus77]

Wifi is much better on battery because it requires much less power to transmit because of the shorter distances. My battery gets wiped out all day on 3g/4g. Stick with wifi.

 

[x026092]

I agree with Libertus77. When I am home, I use WiFi & only go thru 30-50% of my battery. On the road & unplugged, I can easily go thru more than 70% of the battery in less than a day. On 4G once, I watch the battery drain quickly.

 

[DruDog]

Question about the Bionic. Which would be better on the battery to have on all day, wifi or 4G? I work from home now so I can be constantly connected to wifi, but would connecting to the 4G save battery? I had Android devices before but never used wifi because I was always out and about. I am now coming from an iPhone 4 and I could have wireless on all day and the battery would barely drain.

Well, If you are working from home, why is the Bionic not plugged into the charger? Battery not being an issue then.

With that being said, connect to whichever gives you faster speeds.

 

[androidb]

Well, If you are working from home, why is the Bionic not plugged into the charger? Battery not being an issue then.

Good point. I have a thing about keeping phones plugged in all day though. Worried I might burn out the battery or phone being on a charge all day. I usually plug in to charge every night. Been running wifi pretty much all day today. 11 hours and 46 minutes on battery so far and I have 40% left.

 

[x026092]

I have to add it depends on your WiFi & 4G bandwidth. I have FIOS at home & the Bionic WiFi gets 25M Down & 15M up.... I don't get a strong 4G signal around 5M down & 1M up. So there is no one correct answer.

 

[doogald]

I have add it depends on your WiFi & 4G bandwidth. I have FIOS at home & the Bionic WiFi gets 25M Down & 15M up.... I don't get a strong 4G signal around 5M down & 1M up. So there is no one correct answer.

The original question was is WiFi or 4G better on the battery, and the answer is that WiFi is better, by about 90%.

See Anandtech's great review for charts of real-world battery performance of LTE, CDMA and WiFi: AnandTech - Motorola Droid Bionic Review - Dual Core with 4G LTE