Android Folks

[drmike]

Aldy's solution will likely leave the radio on in a searching state which will cause battery drain.  The solution I've posted turns the radio completely off.

Thanks much Phil!  I am a Droid novice truly.   Just know what I need to weed and prune.

Disabling the radio in these ways, any idea of how that might differ from turning on Airplane mode?   That's how I run my phones - Airplane mode on and then I manually enable WIFI only.

 

[MCH-Phil]

I haven't done much with android in almost a year + now.  Just trying to be helpful

Airplane mode from my understanding will disable all the radios in the device.  I think you run into this issue because you have to enable wifi manually afterwards (even when it's already enabled).  All the radios would include the voice, data, wifi, bluetooth and any other signals the phone may be putting out.  Data will be a separate radio with 4G.  

Whereas 4636 will just disable the voice / data radio and not wireless+bluetooth and etc.

From the 4636 screen you can also force your phones band.  BE CAREFUL DOING THIS! THIS IS A DIAG SCREEN AND SOME OPTIONS WILL KILL YOUR DEVICE!  If you live in a 4G area and have horrible 4G reception.  Setting your device to 3G only will improve battery life.  

AGAIN BE VERY CAREFUL IN THE 4636 MENU, IT IS A DIAG MENU THAT CAN BREAK YOUR PHONE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING.

Edit:  More for the disclaimer.  I know some phones that you change bands on and they will never change back.  Please check XDA forums for more information on what you can do with your specific phone.

 

[Aldryic C'boas]

Aldy's solution will likely leave the radio on in a searching state which will cause battery drain. The solution I've posted turns the radio completely off.

Correct, though I worked on the assumption that anyone with enough knowledge to force improper firmware without breaking the phone would also know to simply switch off the radio from the OS

 

[Shados]

I am fond of LG's phones.   Good solid workhorses in my experience --- after you cleanse them of carrier spyware and other nasty stuff (think they all require such though).

Both Samsung and HTC seem to be of rather high quality these days.  Samsung on paper leads on runtime/battery life specs.

I need a real hardened waterproof, shock proof, dust proof style phone.  The consumer stuff just doesn't handle so well. Knicks, scratches, ugly finger printing, filth all over it and rather impossible to clean up adequately.

Many of Docomo's variants are dustproof + waterproof (to a few meters, but enough for most situations). You can get them from http://kyoex.com if you don't have a friend in Japan to ship them to you (and yes, they're unlocked before being sent to you). I'm using the L-01E, which is a waterproof, dustproof Optimus G w/ a microsdxc slot and a removable battery. The phones aren't 'shockproof' per se, but honestly I've never had a phone die due to a drop or any other physical shock - is this a problem you've had before, or just something you'd like?

 

[drmike]

Neato @Shados.  Wasn't familiar with Docomo's phones until now.  Thank you.

The LG L-01E dual screen function sounds pretty interesting.   One very interesting phone.

As far as shock proof, well never killed one per se in such a manner.  Did have a digitizer go partially bad due to exposure to energy I suspect.

Physically dropping the phone and oddness, well yes, have seen weirdness there and not just shattered screens.

I'd love an aluminum fully isolated EMP proofed phone.  Unsure how they'd accomplish that though.