Hacker News Reader

Comment by babypuncher | Hacker News Reader

> Bluetooth and Wi-Fi waste battery power on a phone, so the best thing is to leave them off anyway. Not that it should be vulnerable to this BT attack, of course.

Wi-Fi uses less energy than LTE/5G.

> Although to be fair, most people have no idea they're wasting power, and Apple defaults everything to ON and makes it a PITA to turn this shit off.

Because the vast majority people are OK losing < 2% of their battery life in exchange for the convenience of not having to turn all this shit on every time they want to use their headphones, listen to music in their car, cast something to their TV, etc... Hell, things like smart watches wouldn't even work with this approach.

View on HN

It doesn't matter if it uses less energy than cellular; it still uses ADDITIONAL energy.

I don't have to turn any of this shit on. If I want to listen to music, I use the headphone jack or dock connector. I have a real watch, so no issue there. And I never cast to my projector because casting sucks ass, so I use a Shield.

> It doesn't matter if it uses less energy than cellular; it still uses ADDITIONAL energy.

This is not true, because both cellular and wifi connectivity do not have a fixed energy cost. That is determined by both utilization and reception quality.

When you are on WiFi with a smartphone, cellular utilization goes through the floor because nearly all utilization is moved to your more energy efficient wifi connection. Even more so if your carrier supports WiFi calling.

I can prove this in my own house. When I turn WiFi off on my phone for whatever reason and forget to turn it back on before the end of the day, my battery drains noticeably faster.

The things you say were true 15 years ago. But technology has changed and improved tremendously since then.

One is saying: I don't want to consume electricity, so respect my choice when I light off in some rooms.

But all fans are replying: your living room consumption is less than your bed room one.

Sad.

Phenomenal, isn't it?

Is it that they don't read, or that they're so eager to prove their inapplicable "point?"

If I'm not at home, I'm not on Wi-Fi. So having it on is a waste of power, if nothing else.

If I am at home, I'm not using the phone except for actual phone calls. It easily lasts all day on cellular standby, and I don't have to remember to turn Wi-Fi off if I'm going to be out for a good portion of the day. I can also charge the phone right in front of me on my desk where I am most of time during the day.

These things are true today, right this minute.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com