Save Battery life via Airplane Mode + WIfI on setting

[dan776]

Mine too. Airplane mode with wifi on doesn't solve the issue on my end. I'm not rooted, newest OTA

 

[robdroid]

There is no user who as demonstrated any measurable battery saving via EITHER method.

Both of these posters over at xda reported significant increases in battery duration after renaming (effectivly disabling phone and Telephony apk) :
xda-developers - View Single Post - WARNING: Do not rename the phone or Telephony apk!!!!
and...
xda-developers - View Single Post - WARNING: Do not rename the phone or Telephony apk!!!!

If you look at my own post here dated 5/16/2011 (http://www.androidtablets.net/forum/acer-iconia-tab-a500-forum/14811-gps.html#post89203) I ran my GPS (with wifi off) from home to work using Copilot. I charged the battery overnight- booted the tablet while in my driveway- and closed Copilot when I arrived at work. In that post I reported my battery was at 88% when I arrived at work.
Last night after renaming the phone and telephony.apk files I fully charged the A500 again- booted it up in the driveway, disabled the wifi and started Copilot. Drove the same route I take to work every day. When I arrived at work this morning my battery was at 91% capacity.
OK, so it was only a 3% decrease in battery use with phone and telephony.apk disabled - but it was only a 50 min trip. You could possibly see greater energy savings on longer duration runs.

To say "There is no user who as demonstrated any measurable battery saving via EITHER method" isn't quite accurate- I just sited three reports- two secondhand and one firsthand.

 

[robdroid]

Posters at xda have also reported that "airplane" mode has not stopped "cell standby" power drain:
xda-developers - View Single Post - [Q] Acer A500 Wifi, Extend Battery Life
xda-developers - View Single Post - [Q] Acer A500 Wifi, Extend Battery Life
xda-developers - View Single Post - [Q] Acer A500 Wifi, Extend Battery Life

 

[Bec]

Ouch, that rooting and renaming remains the only effective way.

Do updates still work after rooting?

 

[robdroid]

Ouch, that rooting and renaming remains the only effective way.

Do updates still work after rooting?

We've only had one update from Acer so far and I had no problem with it on my rooted A500.
Of course I renamed the two apk files back to their original names before accepting the update.

Again- if you're not comfortable with rooting, renaming system files- or don't understand the risks... don't do it.
The battery life gains are minimal and if you screw up and forget to rename the original files before updating or factory resetting your A500- you risk bricking your A500!!

 

[Bec]

Thanks, I'm a newbie but not a total greenhorn

I'm only afraid to lose updates because I installed so many custom roms on my galaxy s that I can't seem to find my way to factory & region default. Whatever I would try I can't get OTA or kies updates and I started to get bored of custom roms - they were only useful on 2.1 where the rfs file system was causing lags.

 

[vatermann]

Just a note...switching it to Airplane mode and manually enabling WiFI means you don't have to do the above steps and risk screwing something up. Not everyone wants to make those types of changes and this method (Airplane mode on with Wifi on) ensures you don't make root changes and still benefit from 20-25% extra battery life. Since I have made the change I have been getting an additional 2+ hours charge time.

Again, I posted this because not everyone wants to make root changes and doing this they don't have to.

Thanks, Epyx. I'm in the camp that doesn't want to root. I've got a Kyros 7012, and I've been able to get the Android Market and Netflix to work, and sync my Calendar and Contacts without rooting. I'm looking for ways to decrease battery consumption, though. I don't have the tablet with me right now, so could someone answer: Does the Airplane Mode + WiFI allow you to still get new email, facebook notifications etc, or are those disabled too? Thanks.

 

[Icebike]

Thanks, Epyx. I'm in the camp that doesn't want to root. I've got a Kyros 7012, and I've been able to get the Android Market and Netflix to work, and sync my Calendar and Contacts without rooting. I'm looking for ways to decrease battery consumption, though. I don't have the tablet with me right now, so could someone answer: Does the Airplane Mode + WiFI allow you to still get new email, facebook notifications etc, or are those disabled too? Thanks.

This is a very old thread, and should not be used any more.

This issue has been solved in release 3.2, and even before it was solved there was no reliable evidence that airplane mode or rooting actually saved any battery.
It was all a bunch of unscientific testing and users perception.

If your tablet is up to date and running 3.2 it makes no difference one way or another.

 

[J515OP]

Thanks, Epyx. I'm in the camp that doesn't want to root. I've got a Kyros 7012, and I've been able to get the Android Market and Netflix to work, and sync my Calendar and Contacts without rooting. I'm looking for ways to decrease battery consumption, though. I don't have the tablet with me right now, so could someone answer: Does the Airplane Mode + WiFI allow you to still get new email, facebook notifications etc, or are those disabled too? Thanks.

Wow, bringing back an old thread. The simple answer is yes apps that use data can use data on wifi only (no cell connection as with Airplane mode + wifi).

Unfortunately, if you read through all of the posts, you will notice that Airplane mode + wifi does not change the cell standby usage. Furthermore Icebike was correct in that the cell standby usage doesn't change the overall battery life for a device without a cell chip. The misconception come from the way Android reports battery usage. If you remove the cell standby reporting by editing the file all that happens is the percent that is recorded under that category is distributed to the remaining categories. This makes it look like less battery is being used but the actual battery run time will not be changed.

EDIT: Speaking of Icebike, he beat me to it