Cell Standby? (and other glitches)

[Pete G.]

Looking at my battery usage, I see "Cell Standby" as the second-highest usage after the screen.  From a web search, this seems to be a utility looking for a strong cell signal.  Strange... because my unit is WiFi only!

Anybody have an explanation?  And know how I might  get rid of it?  (I'm fairly sure it wasn't there the previous time I looked, though I suppose I could have missed it.)

[rubus-3.142]

Looking at my battery usage, I see "Cell Standby" as the second-highest usage after the screen.  From a web search, this seems to be a utility looking for a strong cell signal.  Strange... because my unit is WiFi only!

Anybody have an explanation?  And know how I might  get rid of it?  (I'm fairly sure it wasn't there the previous time I looked, though I suppose I could have missed it.)

The WiFi thinking it's a phone has been reported a few times for various reasons so I am not too surprised by this - have you read this thread
where renaming a binary does the trick (but you need to be Root). For me this resulted in a 10x reduction in battery use during standby - I did all the measuring using Better Battery Stats so can't remember if it showed "Cell Standby" or not -

I have just looked on my WiFi only Gemini now - been on for 1 day 9 hours, with Wifi off and  a bit of use watching iPlayer on a flight it averages as  0.7%/hour  - the only two things showing on the standard battery monitor are screen 24% and Google Play Services (1%)

[Pete G.]

Yeah, I'll have to root my device sometime soon  -- haven't quite plucked up courage yet...  

So far, I've tried force-stopping everything that's stoppable, without any apparent effect.
I haven't used the Gemini much yet today, so since the last charge -- about 15 hours ago -- the screen has consumed 8% and 'Cell Standby" 1%.  Despite the WiFi being on and connected during all usage, it doesn't yet show in the Battery details.

[Pete G.]

Well, I guess nobody has more of a clue than I do...    I do have one more data point, though.

I fully recharged and rebooted it just before bed, so it sat overnight with no further activity.  After a little use today, the screen is the only thing that's taken any measurable battery (now 17%).  No sign of Cell Standby.

So, if it reappears, maybe I can figure out which app triggers it.

[Pete G.]

Well, I guess nobody has more of a clue than I do...  
If it reappears, maybe I can figure out which app triggers it.

Well, my device behaved itself for a while, but the glitch has returned so I thought I'd revive the thread.

This time it's a bit weirder still.  I suddenly noticed, in the Battery Status page> "MORE SETTINGS", that if I tap on the graph I see the activity of various components.  Most prominent at the top is "Cellular Network Signal" (!!), a solid green bar that started some time after the last charge. I was also seeing "Phone Idle" in place of the earlier "Cell Standby" usage. Currently it is back to "Cell Standby".

After another recharge, the Cellular Network Signal bar is still there, but sometime during the night it changed from green to red!  Just a little time ago it has switched to orange...

Can somebody who actually has a phone tell me what those colour changes mean? Does 'green' mean I'm getting a signal...Hunh?  I'm pretty much baffled. The Device Info insists that it's a WiFi unit    so I assume I don't have any 4G circuitry...

[ADDENDUM:  I notice that if I tap the "Cell Standby" field, I get some details.  It says "Time without a signal 42%".  Which about corresponds to the red bar in the "...Signal" field!  What signal was I receiving the other 58%??!!]

In addition to all that, at some point Firefox apparently got switched into WakeLock mode.  It had already consumed 3% -- as opposed to the screen's 5% -- when I went to bed.  In the morning the screen was (naturally) still at 5%, but Firefox had grown to 11%!  I checked and made sure no pages were open, but usage kept growing.  Finally a "Force Stop" fixed things there, but what could possibly persuade Firefox to stay awake?

All these little bugs... I thought Android would be a bit better than that.  Time for another reboot.  And I'll ask PC if they have a clue.