Easiest way to reduce power consumption to phone only

Question

Sometimes I'm in a situation where I can't charge and want to have phone service as long as possible. I won't care if nothing else is enabled.

What's the easiest way eliminate as much other power consumption as possible? Minimal apps, no sync, no data, GPS, Bluetooth.

I'm configured to easily turn off all the radios (BT, Wifi, GPS), but I'd like to strip down as much else that burns power as possible without spending a lot of time reconfiguring.

...AND I'd like to be able to return to normal use just as easily (rebooting would be fine for this, too).

In my case, needs to work on CDMA network, too.

I don't think conserving power is the right 'attitude'...why have a smart phone you cant use? I made a cable/battery box that I can plug the USB data/charge cable into, and charge my phone on the go - it has four rechargable batteries in it, so if I get short of juice, I plug it in, takes about as much time as the wall wart to charge the phone to full. You can buy commercial ones as well. — Mesh, Apr 26 '11 at 13:29
Yes, purchasing or rigging a mobile charger would be a possibility. However, there are situations in which I don't have access to all my gear and need to be able to keep voice communiation alive even if I have to sacrifice lower-priority features. — BrianCooksey, Apr 26 '11 at 16:27

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:18

4

See my related answer about battery conservation.

In your case, you want your phone to become a "dumb" phone. Use APNDroid to cut off your data. There's even a widget to make it a one button press. Other than that, keep your screen dim and you should be good to go.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:18

Community

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answered Oct 15 '10 at 18:42

Bryan Denny

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APNDroid says it doesn't work on CDMA. I'll have to look for a CDMA equivalent. – BrianCooksey Oct 15 '10 at 20:09
Really? I've used it before? – Bryan Denny Oct 15 '10 at 20:30
Yeah, vendor comments say "not designed for CDMA...". I guess that leaves room for it to actually work. But if you've had it working with CDMA, that's encouraging. – BrianCooksey Oct 16 '10 at 03:05
Yeah, I know I've gotten it to work on my Droid before. I haven't used it recently though – Bryan Denny Oct 16 '10 at 13:35
Terriffic! I was able to boost my battery life over 400% this weekend when I had no charging available. Thanks! – BrianCooksey Oct 18 '10 at 15:16

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 26 '11 at 13:15

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Gingerbread (2.3) has the setting:

Settings->Wireless & network settings->Mobile Networks->Data Enabled

for turning off mobile data without needing an app. Dunno if this is specific to Gingerbread - it's my first android and I've had it for less than a week,...

answered Apr 26 '11 at 13:15

Greg

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It's in CyanogenMod 6 (Froyo) and CyanogenMod 4 (Donut) as well. – Broam Aug 03 '11 at 03:37

Easiest way to reduce power consumption to phone only

2 Answers2