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Giving up on 3G nearly trebled the life of my phone
At nearly two years old, my Nokia 5230 has started to suffer somewhat in the battery department. On my current contract the available upgrades don't offer any improvements in screen resolution. Quite the reverse in fact, the Samsung Galaxy Y's 320 x 240 doesn't really compare very well with the 640x360 that I've become used to.
My phone's life has had an unexpected extension with a very simple change. I've turned off 3G access. The battery life has nearly trebled and the internet is still quite usable.
It's probably not a surprise that Vodafone (my network) don't recommend doing this. On their forum, one of the moderators makes it pretty clear that they don't recommend disabling 3G.
Alternatively, you might have set it this way in the hope of enhancing battery life. In reality, battery savings are small , so we'd always recommend you enable 3G, especially if you have a smartphone, to ensure you get the best mobile experience across both voice and the internetI beg to differ as even a doubling of battery life is significant and I haven't changed my usage of the phone in any way.
The difference in internet speed hasn't presented too big a problem. Leaving aside the fact that if I really do need fast access I can just turn 3G back on again, I access the internet using Opera Mini.
All web traffic passes through Opera's servers first where it is compressed to improve the access speed. There's no advantage if I want to download files such as ebooks, but it's fine for reading my Google mail account.
I've not spotted any difference in call quality either.
If you need to be connected to the internet with lots of apps, Spotify springs to mind, then you'll need to stick with 3G but if you want to use your phone primarily as a phone to call people, you might be pleasantly surprised at the improvements from stepping back from the cutting edge.
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Battery life
I have a LG Otimus ME and when i am at work it can only recieve 2g signal and i have no problem with internet etc. In the settings there is a tick box with "Use only 2G Networks" and text underneath says "Saves Battery" I have now ticked it. So go ahead forget about 3g and have an extended battery life, I do :)
Posted by Mark, 12 Jul 2012
True!
The battery life on my Nokia E6 doubled under 2G, while the experience did not change much - even web browsing was bearable! I turn it on only when tethering with my PC or downloading applications. No point keeping it on permanently. Any network that recommends 3G be on permanently probably has a relationship with your electricity provider, as I couldn't get a full day (24) hours of life from my E6 under 3G, whereas it lasts over 2days under the same use on 2G.
Posted by aw6789, 14 Jul 2012