JWBH wrote:
> On my Nokia 3120 and 2610 I have set it up to 'switch off' if unused for 8
> seconds, to conserve the battery.
>
> Annoyingly, they then takes another 15 seconds for the screen to switch off
> after that; which just seems uneccessay waste of battery. Is there any
> way to set up these phones to reduce this closing down time after the 'auto
> shut' operates ? thanks

It's unlikely it's using any significant power. I used to write programs
for Palm OS (i.e. Palm Pilots), and so got familiar with the devices that
were available and the basics of how they work. A common misconception
about Palm devices was that the screen used most of the energy in the
device. The LCD itself uses very little power. It is true that the
backlight does use significant energy, but it is still not a very large
amount compared to the other components in the system, like the microprocessor.

With a phone, you have a smaller display than a Palm device, and you have
other things that use power as well, namely the radio that it uses to
communicate with the towers. The battery is built to be able to power a
radio that can transmit to a tower over a mile away (sometimes further
in rural areas, I believe), so I would be surprised if 15 seconds extra
of LCD backlight is going to make any noticeable difference at all.
It might not even be a measurable difference if you got out the stopwatch
and the voltmeter.

You would probably have a much bigger effect if you just made your call
15 seconds shorter. (And you'd save airtime too.)

- Logan