Smart networks boost smartphone battery life by 42%

Battery life is high on the agenda of both smartphone users and mobile operators. In recent tests of 3G radio parameters, the Nokia Siemens Networks Smart Labs team demonstrated how mobile operators can significantly raise smartphone battery life.

It all comes down to radio network parameter values. By measuring the impact of changes in parameter values, the Smart Lab experts were able to achieve significant improvements, up to 42%, in the battery life of a typical smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy S2 running on the Android 2.3.5 operating system in real 3G network conditions.

In this case, the team focused on the ‘Discontinuous Reception (DRX) paging cycle’, which determines the length of time in sleep mode and the response delay to a paging message. By measuring the battery consumption of the Galaxy S2 as paging cycle lengths rose from 640ms to 1280ms, the team showed that longer cycle lengths resulted in a corresponding increase in battery life.

On the flipside, longer DRX cycle lengths led to higher average call setup times. For example, when the DRX cycle length was increased from 640 ms to 1280 ms, the terminating call setup time was 320 ms higher on average. End-to-end capabilities are crucial here to see the ‘big picture’ and to optimize 3G network performance across radio and core networks. Many mobile operators are already using Nokia Siemens Networks equipment to increase cycle length and boost smartphone battery life time for subscribers.

The Nokia Siemens Smart Lab teams are committed to helping mobile operators analyze and improve network performance to optimize the subscriber experience with smartphones and mobile Internet apps. With locations spanning the globe, from Silicon Valley (US) to South Korea, the Smart Lab teams are able to support operators locally to find the ideal balance between the best user experience and the lowest impact on network performance.

This blog post is by Gerald Reddig from Nokia Siemens Networks’ mobile broadband team.