is more battery-dispendious shutting down or leave 3g on? I know that many apps (like messaging apps eg whatsapp or facebook) every time like 30 seconds, ask the server for push notifications.

I know that 3g has many state, when downloading data the consume is incresed, and when not in use (idle) it is less.

Since the apps are not synchronized toghether, the request from an app could be sent when 3g is just passed to idle state.

So i was wondering this: is more dispendious to shut down 3g and then reactivate it like 5 minutes later (to let apps download push notification) or just leave it on and let apps to use it when needed?

I know of cDroid which is a cloud-based android, and one of their feature is of course push-notification download synchronization.

Thanks for answers!
Turning off 3g and reactivate it later would consume less power, as all the data can be fetched once the 3g radio is in the high power state



When it is left idle, even for the most trivial data transfers, like checking the weather, the same cycle has to be repeated. Because of the long tail time that holds the device in a power mode, transmitting data as a series of small data bursts takes much longer and requires much more battery power than it does to send a single bigger burst.