Could the M7 be used to stop phone from looking for a better signal?

[sportsfrk214]

One of the biggest gripes I have about my iPhone is its performance in areas with poor service. As I understand it, when my phone is in an area with bad service, it constantly keeps looking for better service, even though I'm not moving and it'll never find better service until I move to a new location. Also as far as I know, iOS does not address this in any way. I know it's a reality because I can get 6 hours of 3G browsing in an area with good service, but only 2-3 hours in a place with bad service.

But now wouldn't it be cool if the M7 processor could tell the cellular radio that, hey, this person isn't moving. The signal wherever this person is sitting is really bad, but they're not moving so continuing to search for a better signal is pointless. I think this would be really cool. In this way, the M7 processor would tell the cellular radio to stop searching for a better signal since it ain't gonna find one. When you finally got up and started walking around again, the M7 would know this and then signal the phone to start searching for good signal again. This would really benefit people who spend hours sitting in areas with bad signal, and watch their battery just disappear.

 

[C DM]

This kind of thing could already be done with what's in iPhone 5 and even 4 if not even earlier, but it hasn't been. It's not likely it'll be added just because of M7, but stranger things have happened.

 

[JoeyCloverfield]

But now wouldn't it be cool if the M7 processor could tell the cellular radio that, hey, this person isn't moving. The signal wherever this person is sitting is really bad, but they're not moving so continuing to search for a better signal is pointless.

From Apple's iPhone 5S webpage (under "M7 coprocessor"):

… And if your phone hasn’t moved for a while, like when you’re asleep, M7 reduces network pinging to spare your battery.

This kind of thing could already be done with what's in iPhone 5 and even 4 if not even earlier, but it hasn't been. It's not likely it'll be added just because of M7, but stranger things have happened.

One could argue that the A7 (and prior) require intense amount of energy to constantly keep track of whether or not you're moving. On the other hand, movement tracking is the M7's specialty, and I'm sure it does its job efficiently.

 

[Daveoc64]

One could argue that the A7 (and prior) require intense amount of energy to constantly keep track of whether or not you're moving. On the other hand, movement tracking is the M7's specialty, and I'm sure it does its job efficiently.

That would require far less energy than scanning for non-existent networks.

 

[grockk]

One of the biggest gripes I have about my iPhone is its performance in areas with poor service. As I understand it, when my phone is in an area with bad service, it constantly keeps looking for better service, even though I'm not moving and it'll never find better service until I move to a new location. Also as far as I know, iOS does not address this in any way. I know it's a reality because I can get 6 hours of 3G browsing in an area with good service, but only 2-3 hours in a place with bad service.

But now wouldn't it be cool if the M7 processor could tell the cellular radio that, hey, this person isn't moving. The signal wherever this person is sitting is really bad, but they're not moving so continuing to search for a better signal is pointless. I think this would be really cool. In this way, the M7 processor would tell the cellular radio to stop searching for a better signal since it ain't gonna find one. When you finally got up and started walking around again, the M7 would know this and then signal the phone to start searching for good signal again. This would really benefit people who spend hours sitting in areas with bad signal, and watch their battery just disappear.

With a poor signal, the phone must use more power to connect to the tower. This has little to do with "looking for better signal" and everything to do with the physics of sending a signal farther. Just takes more power.