Battery problem solution?

[Zweitaktmotor]

So far, we have learned how to switch the modem on via terminal commands to enable phone calls and texting.

However, it seems that the phone battery drains very quickly when this is on. Somebody mentioned power management to be developed.

Here is something else that occured to me:

On my Android phone, making phone calls and using mobile data are two very different things. Phone calls/texting is always on if I have a sim card inserted, but mobile data can be switched on and off. If it is on, it drains the Android phone battery just as badly as my Pinephone.

Can these 2 functions be separated on the Pinephone as well?

At the moment, my notification area (in Postmarket OS) shows 3 symbols:

- phone signal strength (vertical bars)
- 4G (mobile data)
- Wifi signal strength (scope bars)

If I was able to switch "4G" off but keep the other two going, I am sure it would improve battery life.

Is there any terminal command that can do that?

[wibble]

The underlying method will be the AT commands, but doing it that way may cause confusion on the higher level interfaces. At the top you've got NetworkManager / ModemManager, or connman, depending on distro. In between those and the AT commands you have Ofono. These should be able to turn off the mobile data while leaving the voice/text interface on. I'd hope that would reduce power consumption, but it depends what's going on inside the modem firmware.