How to: shut off DirectPush on the XV6700
I was kind of bummed out after upgrading the firmware in the XV6700 this morning. Oh, it went without a hitch, so I was lucky, but I was disappointed that the EV-DO radio would constantly be on. I figured I’d have to buy an extended battery because of the extra juice used. After doing a little digging over dinner, I realized that there’s a method to turn the Microsoft DirectPush feature off temporarily, which in turn shuts down the EV-DO radio until you need it later or for another use.
The answer lies on the Today screen as shown to the right. See those three shortcuts at the bottom right? They were always there, but the middle one has some different functionality.
When you click the shortcut, the XV6700 brings up the CommManager application, which it always did. I previously used it to manage my WiFi, Bluetooth and EV-DO radios prior to the upgrade. Take a look at the application now over to the right. Sneaky, sneaky: there’s an icon in the bottom that let’s you manage if Microsoft DirectPush is active or not! When you click this icon (the envelope with the arrow), it either turns DirectPush on or off so that you don’t have your EV-DO radio on if you don’t want it on. Sure, you can turn the EV-DO radio off completely, but then you can’t use it to hit the web or for any other purposes.
What a pleasant surprise this was; it doesn’t make up for the wait we had to endure, but it might have just saved me from purchasing another battery. BTW: the date on this ROM is 02/24/06….I assume it was VERY well tested over the past four months. ;)
-kct
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Or you can change the ActiveSync Schedule from “As items arrive” to “Manual” or an interval. Same results, woth more flexibility.
Ah… The ROM released here in New Zealand is dated 04/04/06 version 2.11.20, build 14928.2.2.0 (2.2.0 means AKU 2.2).
I’ve heard reports here in the States that changing it to “Manual” has no effect for some reason, but I’ll have to try it myself. The U.S. ROM version I show is 2.07.20….interesting….
Kevin, thanks for the tip. For some reason it didn’t occur to me to try this and I think this is an easier option than constantly changing the sync option within Activesync. Having had the Push feature active over EVDO since last Friday evening, I can confirm it’s battery sucking prowess. Today however, I’m in a 1RXTT area and the Push related drain is significantly less drastic. More so than I expected really. I own the Sprint 6700 and installed their AKU2 ROM offering dated 2/22/2006. I’ll speculate then that UTStarcom (an official partner of HTC probably due to their expertise with CDMA radios?) literally finished the basic Apache ROM for the Sprint device and then 2 days later completed the bluetooth/wifi crippled Verizon version?
While I understand the concern about the radio being on, are you sure it’s as much of a drain on the battery as you fear? My understanding for GPRS radios (and I am assuming EVDO is similar) is that most of the battery consumption occurs when data is being transmitted and that being connected is little different than having the GSM radio connected for egular phone operations.
Regarding ActiveSync scheduling, with MSFP installed, does of peak and and off-peak times remain?
Frank, I only have two days of the new ROM under my belt, but from what I’ve seen so far, I’d tend to agree with you. The battery doesn’t seem to be draining as much as I had feared because the EV-DO radio is in a dormant state the majority of the time. Yes, the off-peak and peak scheduling times are still there.
whats the great thing about this firmware? just microsoft pushmail? is that it? just wondering if its really worth it. dont really need pushmail myself.
The CDMA radio should use less power than a UMTS radio, and more information on http://www.geekzone.co.nz/Jama/28 (the author is resposible for mobile devices certification at Telecom New Zealand).
For a list of other things on this update check this article http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=5915 (the author was responsible for all O2 Xda products until moving back to New Zealand).
I have the verison version and when i had the microsoft directpush my battery only lasted only 3 max 4 hours. i then noticed it and shut it off. the battery lasted all day then. why is this such a battery hog?
3 to 4 hours? Wow. That would make sense if you were swamped with incoming e-mail and other data, but not otherwise.
I’ve had push e-mail enabled and noticed no major changes to battery life.
Hi there,
I recently installed the UTStarcom 6700 AKU upgrade (offered from Telus here in Canada), and it has caused some serious problems. Normally my data usage is about 30MB per month at the most, and all of a sudden, following the upgrade, my usage is now 250MB per month (with a 2500 bill that i’m fighting!) my usage habits have not changed at all, and i’m wondering what the software upgrade could have done to cause this? what sort of glitch is possible? i use pull e-mail (3 accounts, 1 every 15min, 2 once an hour), and don’t receive much e-mail at all (<10 oer day). I noticed that new envolope at the bottom of the comm manager, but for me, it doesn't do anything (it's stuch in the off position, and i can't turn it on or off). any suggestions of what to fix would be greatly appreciated, as Telus has not been too helpful in fixing the issue. Thanks very much ahead of time! – Dave
The firmware upgrade also fixes multi account mail checking in pocket outlook. With the prior release only the “active” email account would check every X minutes. Now all accounts configured to check will do so. This was a biggie for me but that’s about it.