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Cellphones Communications Network Power Wireless Networking

5G Obliterates Your Phone Battery, But a Power-Saving Fix Is Coming (popularmechanics.com) 66

Posted by BeauHD from the power-saving-fix dept.
It's no secret that 5G networks drain battery. "To rectify that grim side effect, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Lille in France have developed a new radio-frequency switch they say is 50 times more energy efficient than the current solid-state switches," reports Popular Mechanics. From the report: The solution is actually rooted right in the problem. Because smartphones are packed with switches that perform duties like hopping back and forth between different networks and spectrum frequencies (4G to LTE, to WiFi, to Bluetooth, etc.), batteries drain much faster. State-of-the-art radio-frequency switches are constantly running in the background on your iPhone or Android device, consuming not only battery life, but processing power. So when the limited number of 5G-enabled smartphones on the market are constantly bouncing back and forth between 4G and 5G communications, for instance, the problem is amplified.

"The switch we have developed can transmit an HDTV stream at a 100GHz frequency, and that is an achievement in broadband switch technology," lead researcher Deji Akinwande, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a prepared statement. And the premise is simple: the switches stay off most of the time. Unless the radio-frequency switches are actively helping the device jump between networks at that precise point in time, they stay off, preserving precious battery life for other processes.

To build it, the scientists used a nanomaterial called hexagonal boron nitride, a newcomer in the materials science field that comes from the same family as graphene, a honeycomb-lattice sheet of carbon atoms used in everything from bike tires to cleaning up radioactive waste. According to research in Semiconductors and Semimetals, hexagonal boron nitride is only as thick as a single layer of atoms and is the thinnest known insulator in the world, with a thickness of 0.33 nanometers (for comparison's sake, a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers thick). In this case, these scientists used a single layer of boron and nitrogen atoms in a honeycomb pattern. Then, they sandwiched the layers between a set of gold electrodes. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Electronics.
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5G Obliterates Your Phone Battery, But a Power-Saving Fix Is Coming More

5G Obliterates Your Phone Battery, But a Power-Saving Fix Is Coming

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  • An example of devolving "progress". (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @06:11AM (#60134832)

    So its reception is way worse. Its battery life is way worse. And whenever it's actually faster, regular wifi would do a better job.

    Sorry, that't not progress.

    It's not regress either. But it's off in the
    *insane* direction, like imaginary numers in mathematics! ;)

    A perfect fit for razor-thinspired portless keyboardless monolithic locked-down condescendingphones.

    • Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)

      by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 )
      Down-mod me if you must but many asian countries had successful 5G roll-outs a long-ass time ago with none of these problems. America seems to be the shit-hole country at the moment.
      • When your entire country fits inside a postage stamp, a lot of things are relatively easy.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by shanen ( 462549 )

        Down-mod me if you must but many asian countries had successful 5G roll-outs a long-ass time ago with none of these problems.
        America seems to be the shit-hole country at the moment.

        Quoting you against the censor mods, but actually I think you're on the edge of the topic.

        First of all, the Asian roll-outs of 5G don't seem to be going that well. Amusingly enough, that may turn out to be in China's favor, at least in the midterm.

        Second and much bigger, I think marketing based on mathematical stupidity is wrong, and 5G is REALLY stupid if you look at the math. I haven't checked the latest marketing details for 5G, but the general principle has been to market on blazing speed, but with data

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The problem with wifi is that it's so congested. 5G gives companies an opportunity to have part of the spectrum to themselves, without interference from consumer grade crappy APs with the TX power turned up to 11.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mattr ( 78516 )

      Limited use cases but one is moving vehicles. And they have power so maybe your phone should just piggy back on your car's 5G.. Anyway curious about how robust a 1 atom thick layer sensor will be in the real world, sounds fun! It gets pretty humid in the rainy season starting this week.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hey! ( 33014 )

      I was thinking the other day about what makes a thing "overengineered", and I believe it's this: when nice to have features undermine must have ones.

    • Sorry, that't not progress.

      Nope, it's your ignorance.

      Like how reception is actually better at a same cell operating at the same frequency, Battery life of all new modems have started worse before the technology was shown to be vastly more efficient than previous generations in subsequent iterations, and I've read your WiFi statement 6 times and still have no fucking idea what drugs you were on when you wrote it.

      The only thing unique about this post compared to the rest of your usual drivel is that you found someone equally ignorant t

    • It's to be expected. Altering your DNA and sterilizing you takes a lot of energy.
    • Its progress if your only goal is to get people to stop using wifi and pay for more dataplan

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      We had the same discussions when 3G came out. In fact, phones often had a "3G Disable" switch that let you turn off 3G to get better battery life.

      Then we had the same discussion when 4G/LTE came out - it was killing your battery.

      So we have it again with 5G.

      The stuff evolves. By the time the second generation 3G phones came out, there was no need for 3G disable switches - the radios were more efficient and deployment was much larger so you didn't have to switch between 2G and 3G constantly.

      The only part of 5

  • It’s true that 5G consumes more power than 4G. Energy costs will also increase at higher frequencies as the need for more antennas and a denser layer of small cells. According to MTN, the power distribution will need millions of micro data centers globally! It’ll be interesting to see when the power saving fix comes, maybe more people will end up using 5G.

    • I fail to see how this is a fix. Here is my translation:

      The new 5g is draining your battery on your new 5g devices. We knew about this long before go-live but we went ahead anyway. Dont worry, we have a -fix- on the way, it will just require you to buy yet _another_ $1000 device on the heels of your brand new device. We conveniently released this -fix- after you mortgaged your house for your brand new device instead of going to market with the good hardware initially.

      • They've got you to give up your rights, your privacy, and every waking brain-minute of your consciousness. They've got you to pay for the privilege, monthly, with interest. They've got you to like it.

  • The power-saving fix we all have. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Angelwrath ( 125723 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @07:23AM (#60134938)

    Airplane mode. Want your battery to last longer? When you aren't using your phone for a long period of time, 10 minutes or more, put it in airplane mode. This turns off all radios, which are some of the highest power-draw circuits in smartphones today, and this will also result in less screen and CPU usage as well. Airplane mode can take any battery and, with strong usage throughout the day, give you all-day battery life.

    • Re:The power-saving fix we all have. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by thomst ( 1640045 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @07:36AM (#60134960) Homepage

      Angelwrath suggested:

      When you aren't using your phone for a long period of time, 10 minutes or more, put it in airplane mode. This turns off all radios, which are some of the highest power-draw circuits in smartphones today, and this will also result in less screen and CPU usage as well.

      And it will also keep you from being able to receive calls (and texts) on your smartphone ...

      • Re:The power-saving fix we all have. (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Ogive17 ( 691899 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @08:12AM (#60135030)
        Most of us should be old enough to remember life prior to cell phones. How did we go somewhere without being able to receive a call or text... AND LIVE?!?!?

        Unless your job requires you to be on-call, chances are any phone call or text message can wait 10 minutes. But obviously if you were waiting on an important contact, you would not put your phone on airplane mode.

        • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward

          Most of us should be old enough to remember life prior to cell phones. How did we go somewhere without being able to receive a call or text... AND LIVE?!?!?

          It's not 1962 anymore Gramps. There are a large number of people who have no POTS phone anymore. Turning your phone off, it's the same as turning the ringer off on your Model 500 rotary dial telephone. '

          Unless your job requires you to be on-call, chances are any phone call or text message can wait 10 minutes. But obviously if you were waiting on an imp

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
            Not even close, I'm Gen X.

            This trend of always being connected, just seems so tiring. There are times when I just want to sit back and relax and not worry about any incoming messages. I sit in front of a computer most of the day for work, constantly communicating with 10-20 people each day. When it's time to shut down for the day, I'll leave my cell in the computer room and disconnect for awhile.

            I was simply replying to someone that seemed appalled at the though of not being connected for 10 minutes.

        • "Unless your job requires you to be on-call, chances are any phone call or text message can wait 10 minutes."

          So your suggestion is to take my phone out of airplane mode every ten minutes to check for email, texts and voicemail?

          How about nope

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by kryliss ( 72493 )

            Yeah, I've got the same mentality. Why have a phone and keep it in airplane mode. I choose to get a good phone and turn off all the notifications for different apps. I keep my WiFi, phone and Bluetooth on all day with no problem. It's the apps that think that they need to be constantly running which is the problem.

        • Let me guess. You have no kids nor spouse, and don't think anyone else does, either.

          Emergencies happen, and if my kids need me, I want to be available. I don't want my power draw concerns to hurt my family. Why have a phone with you at all times if you aren't able to use it?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
            Wrong - I have one of each!

            Maybe we lead a very boring life but I can only think of one missed call in the past 20 years that I wish I would have answered. Even then I found the message shortly after that.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by antdude ( 79039 )

          Or ten hours. :) Important contacts? Bah, they can wait. :P

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Khyber ( 864651 )

        Voicemail exists for a reason. If it's important, they'll leave a message.

      • And it will also keep you from being able to receive calls (and texts) on your smartphone ...

        There are just no downsides are there!

      • Well, he did mention that his power saving trick is for when you aren't using your phone. Indeed, it will help to not use it if you turn off the radios. Better yet, just turn off the phone entirely, then you won't be playing an offline game or reading an eBook, thereby saving even more battery.
    • COURAGE!
    • I'd rather not have to do that myself. I have enough things to do throughout the day without adding another. I think most users can relate. Why not look for hardware and/or software solutions? I recall when the Doze feature was added to Android. It gave me hours more battery life on the same phone and was highly welcomed by the community. Why not welcome such solutions when they arrive? Isn't that part of why we work to advance technology -- to improve our lives?

  • Wrong focus for me (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Kokuyo ( 549451 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @07:28AM (#60134942) Journal

    Living in Switzerland with lots of hills about me, I have not yet felt that bandwidth was my limiting factor... reception was.

    I see little use in 5G for my the way I use my phone. I'd rather the had kept the throughput and improved the signal.

    • I think the only real hope for mountainous regions would be airborne bandwidth - like project loon (which you never hear about any more).

    • I see little use in 5G for my the way I use my phone.

      I'm sure when Coronavirus restrictions are lifted and you go to a football game or a concert or anywhere else where there's more than 5-10000 people in close proximity and your phone can't get a damn packet through despite showing full signal your tune will change.

      As for "focus". There are literally hundreds of changes and features introduced with 5G, the extra speed was barely a side affect of adopting different frequencies and quantitation methods. The "focus" has never been about raw speed, in fact the v

  • I thought 5G giving me Covid-19 was bad... (Score:5, Funny)

    by h33t l4x0r ( 4107715 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @07:33AM (#60134954)
    But messing with my battery life I simply cannot abide.

  • always the same (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sad_ ( 7868 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @07:41AM (#60134972) Homepage

    every time a new G standard comes out, it's just a battery drain, if you search /. you'll find the same stories for 4G and 3G.
    the next generation of communication chips deals better with it and battery usage returns to normal.

    • Battery life never returned to "normal", it used to be a week+.

      • Battery life never returned to "normal", it used to be a week+.

        Battery life is still a week+. Just enable low power mode on your phone and stay off Facebook. It's not the radio that is draining your battery. A modern 4G radio is far more efficient than a 3G radio. You're probably confused since you're carrying around a super computer in your pocket whereas you used to carry a dumb transistor radio.

        • I got 5 weeks of standby out of my Phillips Xenium 9@9, and there aren't many phones that can do that, low power mode or not. And they all have way bigger batteries than the wimpy 700mAh one the Xenium had. I was actually doing mobile phone chip design for about a decade, the power numbers went up with the iPhone. Nokia by late 00s still had the goal to have 100 hours music/ MP3 playback from one single charge of a 1000 mAh battery. Yes, there were chip sets that achieved that. With the phone connected to t
  • The mmWave 20GHz -> 100GHz type "5G" is new, consumes more power, and has very low penetration(e.g. will not go through walls).

    "5G" is primarily a marketing term. What you want is the latest LTE called LTE Advanced Pro [wikipedia.org]. "LTE Advanced Pro" is also known as sub-6GHz "5G"...
  • Yeah the evolution of 5G will make so many changes to technology https://www.tricksvile.com/ [tricksvile.com]

  • We can keep our present phones. (Score:3)

    by Futurepower(R) ( 558542 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @08:15AM (#60135040) Homepage
    Will My 4G Phone Become Obsolete When The 5G Network Is Rolled Out? [signalbooster.com] "By the year 2024, only half of Americans will actually own a 5G phone or other devices."

    No, 5G isn't going to make your 4G LTE phone obsolete [cnet.com]. "This transition is different from earlier cellular generation shifts, which means 4G could be useful a lot longer."

    5 reasons to remain skeptical about 5G in 2019 [computerworld.com].
    • Or put simply, 5G is not more capable than the preceding generations.
      In fact, it is much more limited in it's use cases to the extent that it can't actually replace 4G / LTE.
  • I have a Galaxy S20 Ultra. I have 5G in my house (I didn't the first couple weeks of ownership tho, even in the middle of Dallas, TX). My battery eats up about 30% per day. So I think this may be a bug on some phones, but clearly it isn't 5G being the culprit, but the 5G connectivity on some phones, as I do not see that issue.

  • The way I read it.... (Score:3)

    by Rick Zeman ( 15628 ) on Tuesday June 02, 2020 @08:31AM (#60135076)

    ...is your present 5g phone sucks, but you'll have to buy a new one to get the hardware battery fix when it rolls out.

    Some progress. Seems like once again Apple was more clever than the other kids and not delivering such a sub-standard experience.

    • ...is your present 5g phone sucks, but you'll have to buy a new one to get the hardware battery fix when it rolls out.

      Some progress. Seems like once again Apple was more clever than the other kids and not delivering such a sub-standard experience.

      What is it with Apple fanatics that can't admit Apple is generally late to the party?
      No, this has nothing to do with Apple being wiser and avoiding the 5G trend, and everything to do with them not have the capability of building the radios that Qualcomm and even MediaTek at making.

      Fear not, Apple will release a crappy 5G phone as well, and while it won't be any better than last year's Samsung, you will sing it's praises just the same.

    • Seems like once again Apple was more clever

      Trading off one feature vs another doesn't make Apple clever. It just makes people interested predominantly in good battery life stupid for choosing a current generation 5G phone.

      The only difference between Apple and other manufacturers is the others give you the choice, whereas Apple makes the choice for you and relies on its fans to make smug comments online about how their use case is the only right use case.

  • translation:

    The new 5g is draining your battery on your new 5g devices. We knew about this long before go-live but we went ahead anyway. Dont worry, we have a -fix- on the way, it will just require you to buy yet _another_ $1000 device on the heels of your brand new device. We conveniently released this -fix- after you mortgaged your house for your brand new device instead of going to market with the good hardware initially. Win-win for us as we gouge the shit out of you always-have-to-have-the-latest peopl

  • Fear not! Your batteries will soon be saved by the great country of China as thier academic "researchers" have already shepparded this technology back to the manufacturing powers in China; they expect to have fully tested models out for your consumption by next week! (this is half sarcasm)
  • In 2012, I worked on an Android app at a company back when 4G (or was it 4G LTE?) was fairly new still. I recall my boss having a Verizon Droid phone with 4G. He purposefully turned off 4G a lot of the time because of the battery drain. It seems to me 5G is just going through the same growing pains and that hardware tech is slowly finding a solution. Just the nature of tech and it seems like those of us who are in the tech industry should understand this and expect it.

  • My phone is primarily an internet tether for me.

    So I'm plugged into power.

  • This article does not make sense. I use RF switches in battery powered products running at about 900 MHz. The switches consume so little power I do not bother to account for it in the battery life calculation. The same switches can be used at higher frequencies that would cover 5G.

  • https://www.aip.org/fyi/2019/n... [aip.org] 5G just isn't practical for cellphones, anyway. Right now, it's just a reason for marketing people to throw away your present phone, and buy a new one.

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