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Hi,
We all knew that we should not use task killer to kill apps, because when we hit the back button, the app will not active anymore ... but it will still occupy some memory (RAM).
When Android OS needs more RAM it will remove in-active apps to free some.
Related article: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/ (GOOD READ)
We should not panic when we see a huge list of apps when we start task killer.
Ok, got it there ...
Now, I installed this app called Quick System Info (FREE):
http://www.cyrket.com/p/android/org.uguess.android.sysinfo/
Which you can use to see what kind of processes are still running or apps that are still occupying RAM. It could show you the amount of RAM and CPU resources that are being used by each app.
So, I went to the Quick System Info -> Processes, hit the "menu" button -> Preferences and set like this:
- Update Speed = Low
- Show Memory Usage [checked]
- Show CPU Usage [checked]
- Sort by = CPU Usage
- Direction = Descending
Go back and watch ...
Surprisingly, I saw "Market" app is eating 1% CPU resources once in a while ... again and again ...
Hey, I thought it (Market app) is suspended in the background? I don't have it active, I pressed the back button when I finished with it.
Why is it eating 1% CPU from now an then in the background?
Obviously, this will drain battery power for something that I don't need.
Any thought?
I am now wondering if I install other kind of process monitoring app, and see if the suspended Quick System Info is also eating CPU resources
Why should we not use task killers? I`ve used them on android for the last year otherwise like you say background tasks use resources slowing up the system.
Obviously dont close any system important apps but I`m always closing down background apps that I no longer require.
1% every now and again? I really wouldn't worry about that to be perfectly honest. The impact on battery life will be incredibly small, so much so I doubt you'd even notice if you weren't watching it like a hawk.
By far the biggest drain on battery life remains all of the wireless stuff (wifi, bluetooth and 3G internet) followed closely by the screen itself. Turn those off when not in use and the miniscule drain of suspended tasks won't be an issue.
I'm sure if Google thought suspended tasks would be an important factor in battery drain they would've designed it differently to start with.
Read this article
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
paulruk said:
Why should we not use task killers? I`ve used them on android for the last year otherwise like you say background tasks use resources slowing up the system.
Obviously dont close any system important apps but I`m always closing down background apps that I no longer require.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does every minute or so, and so far I found only this app (Market).
I just found out this morning before went to work, so I don't have time to inspect more.
Too bad I cannot see CPU TIME (the amount of time the process took 100% of cpu resources).
Noiz said:
1% every now and again? I really wouldn't worry about that to be perfectly honest. The impact on battery life will be incredibly small, so much so I doubt you'd even notice if you weren't watching it like a hawk.
By far the biggest drain on battery life remains all of the wireless stuff (wifi, bluetooth and 3G internet) followed closely by the screen itself. Turn those off when not in use and the miniscule drain of suspended tasks won't be an issue.
I'm sure if Google thought suspended tasks would be an important factor in battery drain they would've designed it differently to start with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that 1% would be it occasionally checking in with the market to see if any updates have been released for the programs you have installed, so that it can give you a notification when the update is released.
i would imagine that is what it is anyway.
and yes, 1% every so often is negligible, and if you killed just that process, i doubt you would notice any difference.
gogol said:
Surprisingly, I saw "Market" app is eating 1% CPU resources once in a while ... again and again ...
Hey, I thought it (Market app) is suspended in the background? I don't have it active, I pressed the back button when I finished with it.
Why is it eating 1% CPU from now an then in the background?
Obviously, this will drain battery power for something that I don't need.
Any thought?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure about this..
Have you noticed that you will get a notification if there is an update to application that is installed in your phone?
I think the marketplace doesn't have a push notification yet. So it periodically will check whether there is any update to the installed application.
Allright, that might be it ... the Market is checking for apps aupdate.
And most probably 1% is not much (I don't know how to measure this and translate it to battery life time). 1% every minute ... hmmm
1 hour of 1% cpu per minute = X % of battery life.
If we have N processes?
N = email check, weather check, friendstream check, RSS check, whatnot check
I`ll give you an example why I use a task killer.
Sometimes I use an app that goes online every few minutes and notifies me of any updates. I can 100% be certain this app even when in the background uses enough cpu to cause the phone to slowdown. Dont ask me why, maybe bad programming but this is the exact reason why I need a task killer to get rid of it.
Once its gone the phone is fine again. it happends on a few apps I own, so when I finish with them, I kill them.
I wouldnt recommend a task killer that kills everything, you just need to be selective.
That is a perfect example for using task killer
What I wrote in the first post is about using task killer to just kill apps without knowing anything.
In the past, I just select all and KILL ... Then the HTC Sense got reloaded
I was scared it could corrupt my phone ... lol.
paulruk said:
I`ll give you an example why I use a task killer.
Sometimes I use an app that goes online every few minutes and notifies me of any updates. I can 100% be certain this app even when in the background uses enough cpu to cause the phone to slowdown. Dont ask me why, maybe bad programming but this is the exact reason why I need a task killer to get rid of it.
Once its gone the phone is fine again. it happends on a few apps I own, so when I finish with them, I kill them.
I wouldnt recommend a task killer that kills everything, you just need to be selective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes thats a bit extreme killing everything.
I`ve also used startup auditor in the past. That stops some apps loading at startup , for example footprints, never use it so I kill it before it gets a chance to load up. Have to be careful what you limit though as some tasks are used by others.
That Startup Auditor is interesting, does it work as expected?
Or you encountered some quirks or issues with it?
Yeah, I don't quite like with the way Android startup (or HTC?), for example: FM radio ... it also started automatically after reboot.
paulruk said:
Yes thats a bit extreme killing everything.
I`ve also used startup auditor in the past. That stops some apps loading at startup , for example footprints, never use it so I kill it before it gets a chance to load up. Have to be careful what you limit though as some tasks are used by others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gogol said:
That Startup Auditor is interesting, does it work as expected?
Or you encountered some quirks or issues with it?
Yeah, I don't quite like with the way Android startup (or HTC?), for example: FM radio ... it also started automatically after reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems to work fine, not sure what help it is though hehe, in terms of speed/memory savings. I stop the radio , bluetooth,google talk and footprints. But I also use it to start some apps automatically.
I found this list of what you can/can`t disable. You can still run them after startup, just they wont load automatically when you start the phone.
safe
Google Partner Setup
Network Location (if not using apps which need geolocation regularly. ie. Gmaps, GeoTag, etc.)
Bluetooth Share (if not using BT device)
Email (if not using email service other than Gmail)
Messaging (if using 3rd party sms app, ie. Handcent SMS. or if infrequent texter)
Calendar (if calendar is not used regularly)
Calendar Storage (if calendar is not used regularly)
Voice Dialer (if not used)
Google Talk Service (if GTalk is not used regularly)
Maps (if GMaps is not used regularly)
unsafe
Clock
Media Storage
Android System
Gmail Storage
Sync Feeds
Dialer
System Updater (not sure about this one)
My Uploads (not sure about this one)
Download Manager (not sure about this one)
I'm trying to figure out if it's worthwhile to turn off mobile data when the screen is off, and turn data back on when the screen is turned on. It would also be necessary for me to occasionally switch mobile data on even when the screen is off in order to check email. (I'm thinking something like 15 minutes off, 3 minutes on)
Does anybody have any success stories or advice whether I am likely to see any noticeable battery savings by doing this?
I started doing this from when I first got my evo. Just turn off mobile data, you can still get texts and make calls, and then turn it on when you need it. Also turning off background data in settings also adds additional battery, but just enable it when you need the market. I went most of all day with about 80% of my battery still good between it just being off, using the mobile data here and there, and some texting.
Edit: I don't use a tasker, I just use the power widget in my notification, so I can turn on my mobile data on/off with just a tap. And if you're like me you don't know when you actually need it or for how long. So I find it easier and more effective to do it manually.
teh roxxorz said:
I started doing this from when I first got my evo. Just turn off mobile data, you can still get texts and make calls, and then turn it on when you need it. Also turning off background data in settings also adds additional battery, but just enable it when you need the market. I went most of all day with about 80% of my battery still good between it just being off, using the mobile data here and there, and some texting.
Edit: I don't use a tasker, I just use the power widget in my notification, so I can turn on my mobile data on/off with just a tap. And if you're like me you don't know when you actually need it or for how long. So I find it easier and more effective to do it manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
X2, i use switch pro to toggle mine. Battery drops about 2% per hr while data is of with screen off even when listening to music from my play lists.
I turn off the "always on " mobile data and noticed a big difference. The data turns on and off with the screen.
Sent from my Evo using Tapatalk
Over the months I have been an Evo user, I have collected some valuable information that all users should probably know in regards to maximizing battery life. Besides the stuff about 4G and a few specific options, these steps apply to pretty much any other android phone running 2.2, and a lot of them apply to versions below Froyo.
General Lithium Ion Battery Information
^^This link includes stuff about charging, including trickle charging aka SBC (Why NOT to use it, or at your own peril)
My tips for good battery life:
Tips for Non-Rooted users:
1. Turn off all radios when not in use.
(gps, Bluetooth, wifi, data, 4g) Use a widget like the default HTC power widget or Switchpro from the market. The radios of the phone draw power if on even if the user isn't actually utilizing the radio's functions.
To manually turn off radios without a toggle, go to menu>settings>wireless & networks.
Wifi uses less battery than 3G, so use wifi when you can.
**IMPORTANT DISCOVERY**When you turn on your 4G radio, then turn it off, it will keep scanning and turning off all by itself.
The problem is apparently exacerbated by a 4G toggle widget, which causes the phone to automatically turn on 4G at boot. This repeating of scanning and disconnecting severely drains battery life, and sadly, no matter what ROM or kernel you use, there is only one way to fix it:
-If you don’t use the toggle widget, then you have to reboot your phone after turning off 4G
-If you do use a toggle widget, then you have to remove the widget from your homescreens, then turn off 4G via settings, then reboot.
**To check to see if this is happening, download alogcat off of the market. Look for the lines saying: I/Wimax ( xxx): <DC> Try to establish a connection to DC server.
E/Wimax ( xxx): <DC CONNECT> IO error: msg=’/xxx.x.x.x:xxxx –
Connection refused’
Over and over again.
2. Juice Defender is one of my favorite apps. Basically it controls your data for you to maximize life.
More explanations are on their page, search it on the market for free, or upgrade for more features.
Here are my settings for it: Click me
Note that for me at least, juice defender likes to deny apps data privileges whether you allow them or not, so screen on = data on works best for me.
3. I love live wallpapers, and I’ve always been a fan of pixel zombies, but they are really only good for showing off due to their battery drain.
4. Go to menu<settings<wireless & networks<mobile networks<disable always on mobile data.
Product F(RED) said:
To clarify, "Always On Mobile Data", when turned off, lets the 3G modem go to sleep after the screen has been off for 5 minutes. It doesn't interfere with anything like email or any other application that requires an internet connection at that moment because it turns on on-demand rather than being on all the time and wasting battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5. Set your screen timeout to something that fits you
This will prevent your phone from staying on when you don’t manually turn off the screen. Also with this, manually turn off your screen when you’re done with your phone.
6. Everyone has that issue where the first ten percent go the fastest.
This is due to two things. One is that these types of batteries stop charging once they get to 100% to prevent damage, and begin charging again at 90%. This means that you could potentially unplug your seemingly fully charged phone at 90% actual charge. The second is number 7.5.
6.5. Use the trick described in this thread, it works.
My idea behind how often you should do it is once a month, if you flash a new ROM, or if you stop noticing the benefits.
This is the calibration technique recommended by HTC themselves. Check it out!
7. Task killers used to be the shiz, but no longer.
Here is the ultimate, in depth, graphically assisted, explanation by the famous Fresh ROM's chef, Flipz. Shortly, in light of recent testing, really don’t do anything but force apps that the android OS needed to be open, and thus didn’t close, to re-open. So try not using them, unless for stuff like trying to figure out why your phone isn’t sleeping with system panel. You really won’t notice a performance difference, and the adverse effects you aren’t seeing will stop
+=+ A good alternative is the application SystemPanel Pro. It has a free version, but I highly reccomend purchasing the paid app. It basically monitors everything going on with your phone's usage both in real time an in terms of usage history. If your battery is draiging fast, it tells you what app was doing it, how much it was doing it, and allows you to stop it.
8. People posting screenshots of the Battery screen as proof of long lasting battery are giving statistically irrelevant information.
See HERE That screen shows time since last REBOOT, not last charge. This isn't always the case, but a lot of people will post a lot of things about battery life, but look for definitive screenshots and testing results before you break down and cry due to the poster's life and yours.
9. I'm sure you have all heard around that your phone isn't "sleeping".
This is referring to the phone's "awake" time, hence the name. When you go to menu>settings>about phone>battery, you can compare the two numbers, "up time" vs. "awake time." Generally, up time refers to the amount of time since the last reboot. The "awake time" is how long the screen has been active. The problem is, a lot of the time, due to the endless possibilities of inconsistencies between apps/ROMs/kernels/phones, the phone will not go to "sleep", drawing power proportionate to the screen being in use when it reality the phone is sitting idle.
If you compare these numbers, and they are the same, or if you note the difference, turn off the screen for a minute, then re-check and they are the same, then your phone is not sleeping.
One solution is to reboot.
Usually, SystemPanel will show an app that has gone "rouge" and is keeping your phone awake.
Uninstall applications/reinstalling them slowly, checking after every install to see what is causing it is one tedious but surefire solution.
Lastly,
Follow these steps that I have discovered almost always work.
1. Reboot phone.
2. Instantly upon reboot, as soon as you gain control, open up some type of monitor/taskkiller
3. "kill all" tasks on startup; about 5 times in quick succession should do the trick.
4. Turn off the screen and leave it for about five minutes.
5. Check the up time v. awake time and see if they are the same.
6. If they are, repeat steps 1-5. If they are different, you are good.
Tips for Rooted users:
1. Try out custom kernels.
By going to the EVO 4G Android Development section of the forums, you can see all of the different kernels being developed. These allow for all kinds of modifications like underclocking the CPU and undervolting, both of which save battery. To see how to use them, read the FAQ's in each thread's OPs.
Here is a great guide to custom kernel's by mroneeyedboh.
2. Use SetCPU in compliance with whatever your custom kernel allows.
This site will explain the basics of SetCPU: http://www.pokedev.com/setcpu/
-Profiles from SetCPU should usually involve these for battery life optimization:
-Screen off at the minimum clock speed for both, with the max raised on level if sluggishness is apparent
-A temperature greater than “X”
-General power related profiles that lower cpu speed at lower battery levels
-Here are my SetCPU profiles: 1 , 2 , 3
-My profiles change a lot as time goes by, because different kernel creators recommend different settings. I suggest reading up on whatever kernel you are using to gather settings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES:
*Some apps or processes begin to run at startup and keep the phone awake. These apps are not detected by things like spare parts or system panel, unless sometimes represented in the "system" process, in which case its usage will be unusually high.
This shouldn't take more than three repeats, and if it does, you need to factory reset, and slowly add apps back to see what's causing the problem.
___--- When it comes to actually "calibrating" one's battery, there are a couple of methods floating around. The method I first learned is to charge the phone all the way, boot into recovery immediately, and "wipe battery stats". Then reboot quickly, and run your phone all the way to death without charging it, then charge it all the way without interrupting it, and you should be good to go. Do this when changing ROMs/kernels for best results.
----When it comes to people claiming 20 plus hours of moderate/heavy use out of their current setup or other ridiculous absurdities, consider my position: No matter what you do, the Evo battery is the Evo battery. You can tweak it and customize it with kernels, ROMs, and settings, but none of that will turn it into a car battery. The main problem (besides a false sense of pride) that leads to these reports is the misunderstanding of what the usage levels are, so here’s my best summary:
* *Light usage – Phone screen actually on for maybe 4 hours. Things like a few texts, some emails, 20 minutes web browsing, etc.
* *Moderate usage – You watched a few youtube videos or similar apps, sustained web browsing, hundreds of texts, some games. Hours range from about 5-10 of screen on
* *Heavy usage – LOTS of video watching and games, or some high def gaming/movie watching for at least an hour to an hour and a half in total, with lots of emails and texts, browsing, and other app shenanigans
*I’m sure everyone doesn’t agree with all these numbers, but this is most likely a good average of what powerusers think. All specific hourage may vary due to differences in phones, batteries, ROMs, and kernels… Which also means that most battery comparisons are pointless; it’s only what you can improve on that counts!
I’ll update this whenever I see good stuff, people remind me, or I remember/come across things I do.
Hope it helps everybody!
Hit the "THANKS" button if I help you!
*All this is available in the link in my signature
hfuizo said:
I'm trying to figure out if it's worthwhile to turn off mobile data when the screen is off, and turn data back on when the screen is turned on. It would also be necessary for me to occasionally switch mobile data on even when the screen is off in order to check email. (I'm thinking something like 15 minutes off, 3 minutes on)
Does anybody have any success stories or advice whether I am likely to see any noticeable battery savings by doing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am the owner of SuttCo. We developed the Locale Mobile Data Plugin (which can be used by Tasker). It has a condition that can keep tabs on your data use and a setting which can be used to shut off mobile data.
I know Tasker and Locale have screen off/on conditions. I don't have time to run any tests for you (busy working on a new plugin), but if you're willing to do a semi-scientific study and report the findings here... I'll comp you a copy of the plugin. Shoot me a PM.
Good stuff
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
glad i found this post... improving batt life all written up, great job!
Juice defender takes care of turning off ur mobile data and turning it on when needed, all by itself
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Not to say that turning off mobile data when you're not using it is a bad idea but I've found during my own personal experience with trying to improve my battery life for daily use that using titanium backup to freeze Google Backup Transport.apk is also a helpful solution. Other things that helped are going into Accounts & Sync and turning off background data because believe it or not, that stuff eats your battery up like a fat kid eating cake...hahahaha...Anyways, another tip would be to hit up Display and turn off Automatic Brightness and play around with the scroll until you come to a setting where you can see because I've found that the Automatic brightness eats up your battery too, not as fast but it does! Another thing that I've done is this and although there are task killers that would do this for you....I've decided to do this myself and after using an app such as Facebook or the brand new CNN app, I've gone into Applications and force close them out just to save battery and all of this nonsense I'm talking about has helped me out alot......NOT TO BRAG but using these little tips of mine, I've gone from 2 and a half hours and I was at 70 percent to 4 hours, 36 minutes and 48 seconds and I'm at 68 percent.....and that's with out turning my phone off, that's talking on the phone, texting, checking my facebook, downloading some apps here and there and just leaving it on in front of me at my desk.
Please don't start posting "Oh what, you want a FUC%ing cookie now" and all of this....all I intend to do is help someone by sharing my story....that is all! I got to get my butt to working again...hahahahaha
hfuizo said:
I'm trying to figure out if it's worthwhile to turn off mobile data when the screen is off, and turn data back on when the screen is turned on. It would also be necessary for me to occasionally switch mobile data on even when the screen is off in order to check email. (I'm thinking something like 15 minutes off, 3 minutes on)
Does anybody have any success stories or advice whether I am likely to see any noticeable battery savings by doing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have setup a few Tasker profiles to do this exactly. I did this instead of JD because the free JD doesn't do exactly what I want it to do, and I don't want to pay for JD when I can emulate it with Tasker.
The only thing I cannot do, that JD can, is keep data on while there is an active connection. With JD, if you turn off the screen while there is an active data transfer, it will wait until the transfer finishes to turn off data.
According to the Tasker website, there is plans to make a state/event "connection data rate" which would make it possible to do this. But that has been in their plans for quite some time. (I actually happened upon this post while searching for a way to check if there is an active data connection with Tasker.)
Also, with the way that Tasker views an "Open program", the program has to be open in the foreground in order to be considered open. This makes it tough to keep data on when a specific program is open, unless you're planning on keeping that program in the foreground all the time. To get around this, I created a profile that leaves data enabled while I have headphones plugged in, since I have headphones plugged in while using all the programs that I want to have constant data with.
EDIT: here are the profiles, and the tasks that go with them (I also included a profile that turns off the wifi antenna after disconnecting from a wifi access point.)
dl.dropbox dot com/u/4658512/profiles.zip
dl.dropbox dot com/u/4658512/tasks.zip
(It won't let me post links because I don't have enough posts, so just take out the spaces and replace dot with .)
Battery Save Like RandomKing
I find myself regularly repeating many of these suggestions on many threads to many different people on how to extend your battery life. When not in use, my phone loses at most only 1-2% battery per hour! So I'm making one thread in the Epic forums dedicated to maximizing battery life while trying to explain why these steps will work. Some battery improvements come at the cost of performance or lack of certain services. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of these steps.
Step 1: Brightness & Battery
Let's face it. Our Android phone screens are huge. This feature is the largest, and completely unavoidable battery-drain. The only way to limit it is to not use the screen... ergo... not use your phone. But that clearly makes no sense, so how to limit that drain? Well, a good step is to turn down your screen's brightness to the lowest you can read clearly, don't hurt your eyes! For night-time use, there's an app that can turn the brightness down even lower called Screen Filter(Thanks to iModMM for the find!). Also, choose a nice dark background, something in the black color range. For all phones, the darker the color, the less brightness used, less power consumed! But for our Epic's Super Amoled screen, specifically, a black pixel is technically an "off" pixel. That's right, every black pixel on your screen is a part of your screen not being powered, since the Super Amoled does not need backlighting. Blackle is also a good alternative to the standard Google site for a black themed search engine, though it doesn't seem to be mobile optimized. Also, lock your screen with that nice little button on the top right side of your phone. Don't wait for it to lock itself! As far as the battery itself goes, charging to 100% can be tricky. The moment that led turns blue, your phone has generally reached 100%, but it will generally trickle charge between 97 and 100 after that. A good way to charge to 100 percent is to use an external charger, which generally come with 1 or 2 spare batteries for about $20. This way, the moment your battery dies, shut down, and pop a fresh one in.
Step 2: Using a Custom Rom
At this point, there are many Epic 4G custom roms out, and if you're in this forum, you've likely rooted or are trying to root. Well I will not go into rooting directions here. Take a look at one and see how it fare's out-of-the-box for you. If you choose to use my customized rom, you will find a task manager with a preset ignore list, ready to use as a one-tap app-closing widget; as well as the service-freezing patch mentioned below in Step 8 ready for execution through a terminal, and my entire setup(among many other mods, apps, and tweaks tested for the greatest battery performance). These are just roms I've used myself to great results. Many others exist. Updated 7/6:
RandomKing's Customized Rom
2.2.1 EC05 v.1 Plus [Journaled w/Genocide 1.0] [Screenshots]
SyndicateFrozen Rom
2.2.1 EC05 v.1.2
Bonsai Rom
2.2.1 EC05 v.4.1.1 Not Supported on XDA. Sorry.
Midnight Rom
2.2.1 EC05 v.5.3
Step 3: Disable Unnecessary Services
First and foremost, disable all location services, wifi and gps based. This will affect certain apps like weather apps, you'll simply have to deal with static locations. Next, disable data sync. Contacts will not synchronize with Gmail while this is off. You will have to enable it sporadically. The Gmail app also will not function while this is off, I recommend using the email app and simply adjusting the refresh interval. You can always manually check your own email . Likewise, you may put your phone into airplane mode altogether if you don't plan to use it for an extended period of time, such as school, work, swim meet, movies, or on an airplane.
Step 4: Task Killers and JuiceDefender
First, let's get JuiceDefender out of the way. It's a neat app, and in certain ways, effective. However, it's own effectiveness comes with certain contradictions. It disables nearly all signals, which will include, for example, Google Voice. In my experience, this app hindered certain other services, and if anything may have drawn further on my battery. My recommendation is to stay away from it. Now onto Task Killers, they are good, and they are evil. Let me explain. Many of us may find issues closing all the apps we open, and sometimes forget we left something open. A task killer can easily ensure that you've closed all of your programs. Now onto the bad. Task killers can try to kill certain system services. This is generally BAD. Certain services shouldn't be killed, and others can't be killed, and the ongoing battle only further drains your battery while trying to kill services that AREN'T actually bad. So on that note, the worst part of task killers is AUTO-KILL. Disable it! Kill it! Kill it with FIRE! I use Advanced or Adao Task Killer, with no auto-kill. It is one of the only widgets I use, and I simply tap it before I lock my phone each time.
Step 5: Widgets
If you don't need them, don't use them. Almost all widgets make continuous unnecessary calls to the Android system, and this can be a huge battery draw. Even simple widgets. Through all my testing, there's only 2 widgets I have approved thus far: Advanced Task Killer, Power Control. Other disapproved widgets: Pandora, Winamp, Weather(ALL OF THEM), etc.
Step 6: SetCpu, Voltage Control, and Over/Underclocking
As with much of this thread, this is opinionated and empirical theories. Through my testing, Overclocking is unnecessary, and guaranteed to draw on the battery. Most of these roms come from fantastic devs and are, by default, blazingly fast. Overclocking is completely redundant in my opinion, and I'm generally all about speed. Underclocking/undervolting may preserve more battery, but my opinion on the matter is similar to my feeling on widgets. If you don't need it, don't do it. If you feel the need to use these apps, a generally accepted setting for battery preservation is to undervolt to 800 max. and 100 min. (if your phone can handle it, some may experience wake-locks, raise min. to 200) on conservative governor, adjusting your profiles for when the phone is locked, unlocked and etc.
Step 7: Unnecessary Apps
Free apps are great, aren't they? But how many have you gathered, just because they're free? Now how many of those don't you use, but regularly draw on your phone regardless. There's an easy way to roughly check. Open your settings. Now go to Applications. Manage Applications. Take a look at which are running that you have not opened. Using a task killer prior, and waiting a couple minutes to see what re-opens may be a good way to check which apps are continuously running in the background and evaluate if they can be removed.
Facebook --- Notorious for running in the background. Disabling notifications may help.
Latitude --- Largest offender of location service usage. Neat app. Huge battery hog.
QIK/Fring --- Any video chatter really. If you don't use them, remove or disable them.
Browser --- Large ram usage. Try Dolphin Mini or Miren.
Step 8: Freeze Services
Using Titanium Backup Pro, MyBackup Pro, or Bloat Freezer (yes, non-free apps) freeze any of the following services:
sns --- (Will disable sns)
snsaccount --- (Will disable Facebook contact integration)
drm --- (May affect media programs like mediahub)
drmcontent --- (May affect media programs like mediahub)
systemupdater --- (Best disabled if on custom rom)
Enter the following commands into the Android Terminal to manually freeze the above services:
Code:
su
pm disable com.sec.android.providers.drm
pm disable com.sec.android.app.sns
pm disable com.samsung
Simply enter the previous commands into the Android Terminal while substituting "enable" for "disable" to manually defrost these.
If you would like a shortcut for this method, check out the patch in This Thread Also Included In RandomKing's Rom..
Step 9: Journaling
Journaling... some love it, some hate it. The fact remains, journaling enables extra write cycles. While this will prevent data loss, it also means more cpu usage. It follows that battery should last longer with journaling disabled. You can use chris41g's mod HERE to turn Journaling on/off at will.
Step 10: Turn it Off and Spend Time With Loved Ones
That's right. You're obsessing with your phone. Leave it be. Do something meaningful and memorable. Have fun with life! This is just a phone.
More coming as it comes to me! Including mods, apps, etc. aimed at improving battery life. Feel free to leave your own suggestions or questions! If this guide and it's features have helped you in anyway, leave THANKS so I know whether or not to keep up on it!
Y is this in q&a?
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA Premium App
Because its an answer to many questions posted here.
-Sent from my Random Epic.
many good suggestions here RandomKing.
this stuff is all so useful to us newer users out here, maybe this should be stickied (either here or in general).
jarcher1971 said:
many good suggestions here RandomKing.
this stuff is all so useful to us newer users out here, maybe this should be stickied (either here or in general).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I have no control over where this belongs, I just know its an answer to many questions and would be noticed here.
-Sent from my Random Epic.
has anyone noticed an effect on the phone's ability to sleep when you manually reorder the apps alphabetically in the app drawer? I kept having problems and factory reset 2x. Now I did find 3 troublesome apps that although not apparently running in the background, kept my phone from sleeping simply by being installed. I also stopped ordering my apps, deleted the troublesome apps and now it seems my phone is working correctly. I wonder if that (editing the default order) could also prevent the phone from sleeping? Any thoughts?
rando991 said:
has anyone noticed an effect on the phone's ability to sleep when you manually reorder the apps alphabetically in the app drawer? I kept having problems and factory reset 2x. Now I did find 3 troublesome apps that although not apparently running in the background, kept my phone from sleeping simply by being installed. I also stopped ordering my apps, deleted the troublesome apps and now it seems my phone is working correctly. I wonder if that (editing the default order) could also prevent the phone from sleeping? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't say I've noticed this, but I've been on launcherpro for quite some time now. Perhaps you could share more details on your setup?
-Sent from my Random Epic.
I'm non rooted stock EC05. I used to use EDIT in the app drawer to rearrange my apps in alphabetical order (they don't arrange themselves automatically this way after rebooting). I had noticed in spare parts that my phone was never sleeping and killing my battery. I did a factory reset and it worked as advertised. I slowly added apps back until I found two that seem to prevent my phone from sleeping so I uninstalled them. Phone worked fine for a while but then started acting up again. I repeated the procedure, leaving only the apps my wife's phone had (hers always sleeps like a baby), but then my phone started up again. Tried another reset but this time decided to leave the apps in the order they put themselves and so far so good...wondering if that was doing something or if it is an app update that goes bonkers?
rando991 said:
I'm non rooted stock EC05. I used to use EDIT in the app drawer to rearrange my apps in alphabetical order (they don't arrange themselves automatically this way after rebooting). I had noticed in spare parts that my phone was never sleeping and killing my battery. I did a factory reset and it worked as advertised. I slowly added apps back until I found two that seem to prevent my phone from sleeping so I uninstalled them. Phone worked fine for a while but then started acting up again. I repeated the procedure, leaving only the apps my wife's phone had (hers always sleeps like a baby), but then my phone started up again. Tried another reset but this time decided to leave the apps in the order they put themselves and so far so good...wondering if that was doing something or if it is an app update that goes bonkers?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. If you can't narrow it down to a certain app, I'm not totally sure what it could be. Have you tried clearing the data/cache of Twlauncher? You could try a launcher like LauncherPro, you don't have to be rooted to use a different one.
No but if the problem comes back up I will try some of those...these are the 3 apps that when loaded caused problems: NIV Bible, Document Scanner, [I now have relacement apps for each of these now] and most recently Espn Score Center, but my wife had all of thse but the doc scanner and had no problems
i would check in spare parts to see which apps may be holding a partial wake lock. for me the facebook app was not letting my phone sleep until i disable all of its notifications.
jarcher1971 said:
i would check in spare parts to see which apps may be holding a partial wake lock. for me the facebook app was not letting my phone sleep until i disable all of its notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likewise. This is why I removed facebook altogether. The new mobile site has proven to be pretty useful now.
-Sent from my Random Epic.
Yeah I found the same thing...but I would log out of Facebook too. Also the problem reappeared after a factory reset and I had not gone into Facebook. Are you saying that even if you don't log in, it can stop your phone from sleeping? My phone started doing it again a few days ago for no apparent reason, and I was able to stop that behavior by: finding and moving 2 apps from the phone to SD card (I thought I had gotten all of them), clearing any cache from different apps, and rebooting.
jarcher1971 said:
i would check in spare parts to see which apps may be holding a partial wake lock. for me the facebook app was not letting my phone sleep until i disable all of its notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That wouldn't tell me anything when I had the problem. The only thing was Android System....and....the phone wouldn't sleep even if in airplane mode! Which meant it had to be a process or app doing it all the time. I had never thought to clear cache, but I wonder why doing that works? Also there's a menu option in Spare Parts about Button Behavior which leads you to believe you can make the phone sleep but the menu says "only available in Ver 1.5". I've checked the market and can't find a ver 1.5 Spare Parts...
rando991 said:
That wouldn't tell me anything when I had the problem. The only thing was Android System....and....the phone wouldn't sleep even if in airplane mode! Which meant it had to be a process or app doing it all the time. I had never thought to clear cache, but I wonder why doing that works? Also there's a menu option in Spare Parts about Button Behavior which leads you to believe you can make the phone sleep but the menu says "only available in Ver 1.5". I've checked the market and can't find a ver 1.5 Spare Parts...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it means android 1.5, because that says "End Button Behavior", and no new phones have Call and End buttons on them. Because the "Fancy Screen Rotation" says 1.5 only also.
Sent from the only thing i need.
RandomKing said:
Step 6: Unnecessary Apps[/CENTER]
Free apps are great, aren't they? But how many have you gathered, just because they're free? Now how many of those don't you use, but regularly draw on your phone regardless. There's an easy way to roughly check. Open your settings. Now go to Applications. Manage Applications. Take a look at which are running that you have not opened. Using a task killer prior, and waiting a couple minutes to see what re-opens may be a good way to check which apps are continuously running in the background and evaluate if they can be removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you mean "Now go to Applications. Running Services." Going to Manage Applications will show all non-system applications and not tell you what is currently running, AFAICT.
Or am I mistaken?
Thanks for this thread.
prodigyplace said:
I think you mean "Now go to Applications. Running Services." Going to Manage Applications will show all non-system applications and not tell you what is currently running, AFAICT.
Or am I mistaken?
Thanks for this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, there is a "Running" tab inside Manage Applications. An app doesn't have to have a service to be running.
Sent from the only thing i need.
zanderman112 said:
No, there is a "Running" tab inside Manage Applications. An app doesn't have to have a service to be running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for clarifying, Zanderman. Somehow I never noticed that tab before.
rando991 said:
That wouldn't tell me anything when I had the problem. The only thing was Android System....and....the phone wouldn't sleep even if in airplane mode! Which meant it had to be a process or app doing it all the time. I had never thought to clear cache, but I wonder why doing that works? Also there's a menu option in Spare Parts about Button Behavior which leads you to believe you can make the phone sleep but the menu says "only available in Ver 1.5". I've checked the market and can't find a ver 1.5 Spare Parts...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds to me like a system process may be the cause rather than any particular application. For me also I had issues early on with the SNS service forcing itself to restart continually and being a battery drain. It usually takes a force stop on that service followed by clearing data in the sns app and rebooting to fix. Don't know if that will work for you, but hope it helps.
Sent from the communications console of the NX-01 using a universal translator
My tips you can add:
1. I always, no matter what, always have brightness on lowest setting! If you have a hard time seeing in sun, than do auto, but turn off when don't need to, I have on low 24/7. Then at night, I have this app called screen filter which lets you lower brightness then default setting(good on eyes).
2. I always have auto-sync off. If you want emails etc. configure with ur preferences. And most of the time background data. But with background data off, you don't have access to market and have to enable for use. Don't get notifications. Lately, haven't been getting WhatsApp messages. This is optional.
3. In wifi settings, network notification turned off. Haptic feedback and all vibration disabled. Sounds on key clicks or anything disabled. Auto rotate screen off. No window animations. Screen timeout, 15 seconds. Keyboard timeout, 3 seconds. In location, use wireless networks and gps satellites unchecked.
4. No live wallpaper! No bright colors! I use a black background for wallpaper!! Try to go a little dark, not bright, stay away from white! Id recommened, the full black wallpaper. Also on ur homescreen, avoid widgets! Especially ones that use live web feed like, facebook, scorecenter. These are battery suckers!
5. I delete all apps I do not use! Stock and user. Download titanium backup to fix this issue. I freeze, system updates, swype, drm content, drm content launcher, sns, snsaccount. I uninstall the stock browser, use dolphin!! I also uninstall, all sprint bloatware, my files, gmail, email, talk, news and weather. Uninstall all stock and user apps you don't use! Check spare parts to see what runs in the background that you don't use. Another thing to add, I uninstall swype and android keyboard and use better keyboard gingebread edition 8.
6. Disable refresh interval in facebook, do it manually when you are going to use it!
7. Use setcpu. Undervolt to 800max and 100min on conservative governor. Set profiles, when phone is locked and etc.
8. Now lets talk about juicedefender and task killers. Juice defender will work and is a good app! BUT: if ur a person like me, I text a lot in whatsapp and when u lock screen it disables data, so u wont get texts. Download it, take a look at it, try it out. I recommend using agressive mode. Now lets talk about task killers. Personally, I think they dont work at all, and actually waste battery then save it. I just would say don't use one, and use samsungs stock task killer(actually works!)
9. Use a custom rom and kernel. Always be up to date on updates. I usually use, SRF and midNight. All about preference.
10. Extended battery FTW!!! Buy a seidio extened battery! May cost some money, but will greatly increase battery!!! Or get a cheap asian knockoff on ebay.
11. Disable data and put phone into airplane mode when it wont be in use for a period of time. Like at school or work. I usually keep data off during school. You will see a difference with data on and off.
12. Always keep wifi, bluetooth, gps, 4g off when not in use. They will drain battery crazy!!! Wifi will search for networks constantly, same basic thing with gps and bluetooth.
13. Also do full charges!! At night shut off phone and let it charge for a good 8 hours. Then in morning, turn on still plugged in. The charging indicator will be red, leave it alone till its blue. Go get dressed and eat some breakfast lol. Then when you come back it should be blue. And when on boot, let it finish media scanning, don't interrupt it!!
I can guarentee if you follow my tips, you will see a significant increase in battery life!
These are my tips!! I will add more if I can remember some more!
Typed this all on my Epic!!
Better Battery Life Tips
I've been using (and tweaking) Android devices since the original HTC Dream (aka G1, Android Dev Phone) was released, and I've had devices that are both good and bad at power consumption. In this thread I will share what I have learned and invite you to share what you have learned as well so that we can all get the most out of our devices.
Please note that I like to keep my smartphones "smart" and don't like to be manually toggling things on and off throughout the day. If you like to geek out 24x7 you can manually turn on/off every feature of your phone every time you use it to conserve juice... that's not me though!
Here we go...
-Consider a Different Browser
It seems like Opera Mobile and Mini are the kings of battery conservation. I tried Dolphin, Boat, Firefox, Chrome, the stock browser, and about 10 others... I didn't see significant differences in battery with any of them, but with Opera I noticed the difference. It makes sense since Opera renders the pages and optimizes the images remotely and then sends the bare minimum amount of data to your device to display the page.
-Location, Location, Location
Android's location related services can be a big drain. There are 3 different location settings you need to know about.
1) Location Access (Settings -> Location access): For maximum savings, you can turn off "Access to my location". However, there are many apps that make good use of your location. If you don't want to cripple them, leave this option turned on but at the very least uncheck "GPS Satellites" to save some juice.
2) Google Apps Location Settings (Settings -> Accounts:Google -> Location settings): Allows Google apps, such as Google Maps, to access your location. Why this needs to be separate from #1 above is beyond me, but turning it on requires the above setting to be on as well. If you don't use Google Maps, Now, Plus, or any other Google services that use your location you can turn this off.
3) Location Reporting aka Latitude (Settings -> Accounts:Google -> Maps & Latitude -> Location Reporting): This is the bad one. Really bad. Wakelock and battery drain city. I don't even know why anybody would want this. Kill it with fire. Set it so that it does not update or report your location.
-Turn off stuff you don't use
This should be common knowledge by now... if you aren't using GPS, Bluetooth, or even 4G... turn them off. If you don't need instant notifications and app updates you can even turn off Auto-Sync. If you decide to do that, I recommend the Synker widget from the Play Store. It is nice and configurable so that you can sync on demand with one touch.
-ROMs and Kernels
I'm not going to go into these too much here... there's a whole development section devoted to them with tons of info. Generally you get the best life from the stock based ROMs. Liquid Nitro and HO!NO!'s v20f (+Wind kernel) are quite good. Next best is probably HO!NO!'s CM9. The CM10.1 ROMS and kernels have a bit of catching up to do at battery consumption, but they keep getting better.
-Kill Google Talk!
If you don't use this program, disable it. It is always trying to do something on the network. Even if you turn off data and wifi you can still get NetworkConnectivity wakelocks from this app trying to do its business! Killing it is the first thing I do after flashing a ROM, especially CM10.1. From home hit: Menu -> Manage Apps -> All -> Talk -> Disable.
*Some report that disabling apps through the Android OS might not stick. If this is a concern for you, download NoBloat or Titanium Backup and freeze this app. Or if you're a nerd like me, use a root file explorer and move or rename the .apk file in /system/app
-Kill Google+ (Plus)
Just like the above, if you don't use it, deactivate it. It also uses data and location services pretty regularly. Disable it in the same way, or use NoBloat or Titanium.
-Kill Google Now
If you don't use it, deactivate it. It uses data and location services pretty regularly. I like its features and keep it enabled on my N7, but leave it off on my phone. To turn it off, go into the Google Search app (long-touch menu/search button), hit Menu -> Settings -> Google Now. You'll see the option to disable it.
-Data-Toggling Battery Saver Apps
These are pretty controversial, almost as much as app-killers were when they were very popular. In a nutshell they turn your data connections on or off based on whether your screen is on or off. They usually will check to see if you are downloading or streaming anything before they shut off the connection. Then, they periodically turn the connection on while the screen is off so that the device can perform a sync to get emails, etc.
Should you use one? If you are running CM10/10.1/AOKP4x then YES USE ONE!! EDIT: THE LATEST VERSIONS OF QUATTRIMUS AND WIND FOR CM10.1 HAVE RESOLVED THE BATTERY DRAIN ISSUE. Use of a battery saver is no longer essential. If you still want to use one, read on...
Whether or not you use a battery saver depends on how you use your phone, and if you are willing to accept the trade-offs. These apps get their savings from maximizing deep sleep time for extended periods with zero data concerns or interruptions. If your usage habits allow the app to do its job, use it. If not, don't use it.
[What follows here is some long drawn out jibber jabber about the pros/cons of these apps. Read it if you like]
Some people love these battery saver apps and swear by them; others hate them. The reason some like them is because they get a few more hours of battery life. The reason why some people hate them is because:
1) They wake the device periodically to do their job... which negates some of the power savings you get from having them. To some people these tiny wakelocks are the most horrible thing ever... even if their impact is quite small compared to the power being saved. These people are usually the ones who live and die by their BBS logs. I'll admit, I was one of those people
2) Syncs are delayed, so messages and notifications do not arrive instantly but when either of the following conditions are met-
a) The screen gets turned on (which triggers data on and autosync)
b) The program hits a scheduled time trigger (usually at user selectable intervals)
3) There's a small lag while data connects when the screen gets turned on. If the screen gets turned on very frequently the constant on/off/syncing can actually hurt the battery more than it helps.
But, if you are ok with the delayed syncs and you set up the sync intervals long enough apart you WILL see a gain in battery life. Your phone will sleep much more soundly as well. With one of these apps my Nitro HD on CM10.1 can sleep all night and will only lose maybe a percent or two.
*Note that these will NOT help you at all when the screen is on, which is a bummer because the Nitro screen sucks down a LOT of power. Also, your usage patterns may make them ineffective for you... in which case you are probably better off without them.
Personally I get about an hour or 2 of extra life if I use one, but it's a trade-off since I lose instant notifications and a there's a slight delay while it reconnects to the network when the screen gets turned on. And the more you turn your screen on/off, the more it disconnects/reconnects/syncs... meaning it is using a bit MORE power than usual for those seconds.
[/jibberjabber]
The following are my favorite data-toggling battery-saver apps. All of them have "free" versions and more advanced "pro/prime/advanced/whatever" paid-for versions. These are not the only ones out there; feel free to report back on ones you prefer. If you find one that you really like, I suggest buying the pro version not only for the additional customization they offer, but to support the devs for a job well done.
1) DS Battery Saver - Super easy to configure and since it kills background tasks before sleeping it puts your device into a nice deep sleep. Also combines the feature of CPU Sleeper if you are rooted... it'll shut off a CPU core when sleeping.
2) Green Power - Works really well. The interface is simple and well laid out. I used it for years before I discovered DSBS.
3) Juice Defender - Another decent app, similar to Green Power. I personally preferred the options and the interface of GP better, but you may not.
4) CleverConnectivity +++Battery - The interface is a bit weak, and I had problems with the full data on/off features working on my P930 w/CM10.1... BUT this program has one very cool feature- it has an option for dropping the connection speed down to 2G/EDGE when the screen is off instead of disabling it completely. This allows syncs to still occur while still saving some power in 2G. I've even streamed Pandora on 2G, so in theory you could do stuff like that too. This feature worked fine on my P930 dispite the normal data on/off failing intermittently. There is a moment of zero data while it toggles between 2G/3G. I think this app might be awesome when development advances some more.
-Underclocking (rooted users)
Capping your max CPU frequency at a lower limit can save power. Quite honestly, for 99% of my daily use I can't tell the difference between the CPU clocked at 1.2ghz and 1.8ghz except that at 1.8ghz my battery bar laughs at me and gives me a wedgie. On custom ROMs there is often a built-in method to set the CPU clock frequency (Settings -> Performance -> Processor). On stock-based ROMs you'll need a 3rd party app like Kernel Tuner, SetCPU, or any of the other 50 options in the Play Store. You can usually safely set your minimum frequency to 192mhz, but some phone/ROM/kernel/voltage combos will cause stability or lag issues with doing this. YMMV.
*If you are using a CPU controlling app like SetCPU that allows for profiles, you might be tempted to set the screen-off frequencies to the absolute lowest setting of 192/192... be careful! This setting could end up costing more power consumption because the CPU has to work for a much longer time to handle the tasks at hand at such a low clock speed. If it was allowed to ramp up a bit the task would be done more quickly and efficiently. Honestly I gave up on setting screen-off profiles. I just use governors based on smartass which have their own screen-off settings integrated. Less adjustments needed, similar results. This leads us to...
-Changing governors (rooted users with custom kernel)
There's about 50 different governors floating around out there. If you don't know what a governor is or what each one does, read this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1736168
In short: Any governor that is based on smartass, ondemand or interactive is going to be pretty light on battery, and you may not be able to tell the difference between them in normal use. I like smartassv2 and badass, which are both based on smartass. Conservative may sound the most battery friendly, but usually ondemand does better and is less laggy.
Try some out. Have fun with it. Eventually you'll want to start tinkering with the I/O Scheduler... that's a topic for another thread. There's not much battery life to be gained there anyway.
-Undervolting (rooted users with custom kernel)
WARNING: This can cause instability if done improperly. MAKE A CWM BACKUP BEFORE TINKERING WITH UNDERVOLTING!!! I've never seen *drastic* gains on any device, but you do get a little bit more life, and every little bit helps, right?
So if you want to do it, read this: http://bigfatreality.blogspot.com/2012/03/guide-to-undervolt-android-safely.html and then proceed with caution.
Generally you can aggressively undervolt at lower frequencies, but be careful at higher frequencies because your device needs more power under load and will not like it if it can't get it. If you're a car guy this is like running too lean of a fuel mixture
Kernel Tuner and IncrediControl have nice GUIs for fiddling with voltages. Remember, adjust in tiny increments, followed by thorough testing! If you get a crash or reboot then you've gone too far. DO NOT ENABLE "SET ON BOOT" UNTIL YOU ARE SURE YOU'VE GOT STABLE VOLTAGES!!!
-Screen dimming
Screen backlights use lots of power. This ain't no AMOLED where you can save power by using dark backgrounds- LCDs light up the entire display regardless of what is on them.
I suggest turning off auto-adjust and set your brightness at a level that is just bright enough to be comfortable. I keep mind around 30-40%. Auto-adjust periodically polls the sensor to get light data, and uses a small bit of power to do it each time.
Turn on the 'Status Bar Brightness Control' if your ROM supports it so that you can easily swipe your finger along the top of the screen to brighten or dim the display on the fly. In CM9/10(.1) this option is under Menu -> Settings -> System -> Status Bar -> Brightness Control.
If you MUST use the auto-adjust, consider adjusting the levels that it uses. Make them as dim as is comfortable for you. For stock-based ROMs you'll need a third party app like this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wsMSwyLDEsImNvbS52aXRvY2Fzc2lzaS5sdXhsaXRlIl0.
For CM/AOKP based ROMs this can be done from the Display -> Brightness sub-menu of your device's settings area. CM10.1 has an excellent and simple adjustment interface.
-Build.prop Tweaks (rooted users)
You can add the tweaks below into your build.prop file that may or may not help with battery life. Download BuildProp Editor from the Play Store and add them. They seem to help a bit, but it could be placebo effect. They certainly don't hurt anything so give them a shot and report back what you get. These seem to work with ICS and JB:
ro.config.hw_fast_dormancy=1
ro.ril.fast.dormancy.rule=0
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=1
pm.sleep_mode=1
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=180
net.tcp.buffersize.default=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.wifi=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.umts=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.gprs=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.edge=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
^ this forum keeps adding a space near the 16384... there shouldn't be any spaces. I think they get disregarded anyway if they are put in the file, so no biggy.
^some of these have presets in BuildProp Editor, some you have to enter yourself. I copy/paste them individually. Don't paste the "=" signs though. Everything before the "=" goes under "Property Name", everything after it goes under "Property Value". If you are experienced you can edit the build.prop file directly using a text editor. Just back it up first and don't screw with the permissions.
-Some other useful apps that help with battery life:
*CPU Sleeper (root users)- Shuts off all but one cpu core when the screen is off. This probably isn't required with a good kernel and governor setup (and a stable phone that sleeps well), and if you are running DS Battery Saver this feature is built-in to it. It uses barely any resources whatsoever, so give it a shot.
*Greenify (root users)- This essentially freezes selected apps when they are not in use. They cannot do background tasks or wake your phone when they are not active. When you attempt to open one of the apps it instantly thaws them for use. After you are done with them it freezes them back up. It is quite brilliant really! It eliminates a lot of wakelocks and battery drain from apps trying to update, gather location data, etc. Use with caution though- don't greenify apps that you actually need to have a data flow from or ones that you use widgets for.
*RootDim (root users) - You know how when you are using your phone in bed at night and the screen is just too bright, even on the dimmest setting? This app lets you go even dimmer. Less brightness means less power, so it will reduce battery usage in the process.
-Apps that help diagnose battery drains
*Better Battery Stats - Good for discovering the cause of battery-draining wakelocks. Just uninstall it when you're done using it to diagnose- otherwise it is constantly doing its thing which is not going to help battery life any!
*OS Monitor - See if your CPU is settling down like it should and see what is keeping it busy. It also has a ton of other advanced options and features.
...there's too many apps to list here! Share the ones you like I'll add more later.
-Adjust your advanced Wifi settings
Go to Settings -> Wifi, then hit Menu -> Advanced
Most people agree that Network Notification should be UNCHECKED, Keep WiFi during sleep should be 'Always', and 'Avoid poor connections' and 'WiFi optimization' should be CHECKED.
If you have a noisy wifi router (some Netgears are guilty) that keeps waking your device from sleep with wifi packets you may get better results if you change Wifi During Sleep to 'Never' or 'Only when plugged in'.
-Watch the reboots!
Every time your phone reboots, Android checks the SD card for errors and then runs the Media Scanner to take inventory of all media files. Both processes consume power, so try to limit unplugged reboots. The more files on your SD card, the longer Media Scanner has to work, so get rid of unnecessary files cluttering up your card. You may have some luck using .nomedia files to tag directories to be skipped during scanning. You can also use an app like this to disable the automatic Media Scanning Service. It also lets you scan on demand. Caution- If you don't ever do a scan, then new pictures won't appear in your gallery nor will new music appear in your player.
I'm sure I'll think of some things later that I have forgotten, and I'll discover new things... I'll update this when I do.
Please share your findings so that this can be the best battery saving thread... In the world.
Very interesting and helpful info.
Thank you very much !!! :good::good::good:
Couple things I'd add, especially if you're running a CM-based ROM
Get NoBloat and disable the following:
SuperUser - Get SuperSU instead, less battery drain.
CM Update Checker - Every time I use my phone to go online (I don't have data on 24/7) this thing pops up and wants to check for updates, but never properly gets flushed. Disabling this one app dropped my hourly drain by about 1.5% on CM10
jekostas said:
Couple things I'd add, especially if you're running a CM-based ROM
Get NoBloat and disable the following:
SuperUser - Get SuperSU instead, less battery drain.
CM Update Checker - Every time I use my phone to go online (I don't have data on 24/7) this thing pops up and wants to check for updates, but never properly gets flushed. Disabling this one app dropped my hourly drain by about 1.5% on CM10
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Click to collapse
Thanks for this- I just disabled CM Updater.
BTW with JB there's no need to download NoBloat- you can disable most apps (including this one) from the built-in App manager. Settings -> Apps -> All -> CM Updater -> Disable
Here's another trick for a specific type of battery drain: (you don't apply the fix in on your phone though)
Symptoms:
1) Your phone drains its battery while doing basically nothing while connected to your wifi router.
2) BBS shows massive amounts of wlan_rx_wake wakelocks
3) Android OS seems to be a high contributor to battery use
Fix #1: (Found HERE) "Change DTIM value in your router configuration from 1 (default) to 255. This value is usually in Advanced->Wireless tab on most routers."
^Seems to help a lot.
Fix #2: Set a static IP on your phone for your home network. The easiest way to do this is to find out what address range your router uses when it hands out IP address via DHCP, then hard-set an IP on your phone that is not in that range so that there won't be any conflicts with other devices that connect to your network. You'll need to consult your internets and googles to figure out how to get this information from your router, if you don't know how. Once you know a clear address you can use, go into your phones Wifi Settings, long-touch your network name, hit 'Modify', 'Advanced', punch in the static IP you wish to use. This might not be an option on corporate or shared housing wireless routers.
Fix #3: Check ALL computers on your network for the presence of the Dropbox software. Mac, Windows and Linux computers alike. If it is running in the system tray, click it, go into preferences, turn off 'LAN Sync'. This little booger wreaks havoc with wifi locks on some Android devices.
mpsantiago said:
Thanks for this- I just disabled CM Updater.
BTW with JB there's no need to download NoBloat- you can disable most apps (including this one) from the built-in App manager. Settings -> Apps -> All -> CM Updater -> Disable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found that for whatever reason the built-in app disabler doesn't always work. I still like using NoBloat better.
Second to this, once you do disable a bunch of apps it's good to boot back in to recovery and wipe dalvik/fix permissions.
jekostas said:
I've found that for whatever reason the built-in app disabler doesn't always work. I still like using NoBloat better.
Second to this, once you do disable a bunch of apps it's good to boot back in to recovery and wipe dalvik/fix permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree.
Thanks for all the info it is very interesting! I'll be trying this
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:59 PM ----------
Thanks for all the info it is very interesting! I'll be trying this
thanks you. it greats:good:
LTE battery drain
Any good tips for reducing battery drain in LTE and Wifi for 20c?
Updated the OP... from now on I'll just put new tips at the top of the list.
frankshi said:
Any good tips for reducing battery drain in LTE and Wifi for 20c?
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What ROM are you using and is LTE available in your area?
Awesome guide man, +thanks:good:
Oh this is kinda off-topic but Mattman86 I wanted to ask you, I just installed your Hono CM9 Full Throttle rom and I'm having some issues putting the apps onto my SD-Card. Whenever I move them (through titanium backup or just standard move to sd in settings) whenever my phone restarts the apps disappear and or say "app not installed" then they are a green default android icon and just don't work :\ Also does Wind Kernal work with your 4.0.4 Rom?
alainmona said:
Awesome guide man, +thanks:good:
Oh this is kinda off-topic but Mattman86 I wanted to ask you, I just installed your Hono CM9 Full Throttle rom and I'm having some issues putting the apps onto my SD-Card. Whenever I move them (through titanium backup or just standard move to sd in settings) whenever my phone restarts the apps disappear and or say "app not installed" then they are a green default android icon and just don't work :\ Also does Wind Kernal work with your 4.0.4 Rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't done anything with CM9.
I currently have the ROM in my signature with Wind Kernel 3.5 and Battery Guru along with SetCPU installed and I get roughly 23 hours of battery.
mattman86 said:
I haven't done anything with CM9.
I currently have the ROM in my signature with Wind Kernel 3.5 and Battery Guru along with SetCPU installed and I get roughly 23 hours of battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh then I'm tripping then haha, I have a question though. I tried installing Liquid Nitro and every time I tend to wipe data, wipe cache, wipe dalvik, and wipe system. It just hangs at the LG logo and I haven't had the ability to try out your v7 or for that matter any of the other previous Liquid Nitro. I'll send you a PM since I can't really post in the development section due to my lack of postage xD :cyclops:
On the CM 10.1M3 with wind kernel 1.8, after one day of normal use with WiFi off and Data Off and Location services off I got Google Maps being the worst offender battery wise, the weird part is that I didn't really used maps that day. So even with everything off some service is still eating bat in background.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
I have had the Captivate Glide for little over a month now. It was the rooted rogers version but I flashed AT&t's rooted ICS on to it.
Major issues were battery life and GPS.
Without changing any software I wanted to solve the issues or make them tolerable at the least. Probably better ways of doing this, but this is what works for me.
I assume everyone else is like me and downloaded tons of apps that we like. I personally have 30 downloaded with some form of Google being responsible for at least five of them. I also synced my google account, as well as my outlook account and skype account.
I do not game on my phone I prefer the console style of gaming but I digress.
Simple battery life can be saved obviously by closing or backing out of applications when not in use. You must be avid about this in order to preserve battery life. If you have not altered your ICS it comes with an "Active Applications" widget that makes this simple and easy. Within that widget is an even better function that allows you to clear memory on your ram. Do that for superior battery life as it will close down any program running including back ground processes.
You should also have widgets that allow you to toggle WIfi, and GPS, Bluetooth, brightness, screen time out, sync, and settings. <Extremely helpful in saving battery life. Wifi should be used whenever possible. If your phone is running processes that use data and it probably is, its better to use Wifi for your battery. Turn Wifi off when you can not secure a connection because the phone searching for wifi to connect will eat your battery.
Turn off GPS when not in use. If using an app that likes to have your location you can keep GPS on but turn it off when not directly in use it saves battery like no tomorrow.
Screen brightness is also a huge factor in battery Life. If you Go bright you die, simple as that. Make your screen as dim as you can but still comfortable to see depending on what you are doing. Again the widget makes this super fast and easy but you can go into the settings and adjust this by percentage if you are particular. Other wise the widget allows Bright, half bright, auto bright, and no bright. No bright will save tons of life so learn to see in the dark haha.
Screen timeout at 15s will save tons but can be annoying if your in the process of using your phone. I uses it and just tap my screen if I need it to stay light but trust me it gets old fast but so does a dead battery.
Go to your individual synced accounts and adjust the sync intervals to specified times if possible. Usually find it once you open whatever account and go to its settings. That gives the battery some life in between syncing which uses data and eats battery.
Go to settings and toggle system power settings. This Saves a huge amount of battery life and I have no idea why. You may be tempted to customize but don't. The system power saving is far superior from my experience so far.
One last and final thing to save battery life. The Google Play Store. It runs a ridiculous amount of Background processes. Go to settings, then, data, find the play store and click it, scroll to the bottom and restrict the background data. You will have to turn it back on in order to use the play store and some other apps which leads to my next topic...
GPS
This captivate glide has a notorious rep for being ****ty in these here forums. I am here to tell you its not all true. I am not a software guy as you can see all of my advice is simple common application usage advice. I previously had the SGH-I827 and its GPS was spectacular so I found it hard to believe the captivate glide GPS would not perform well. In fact when I began to use it, it did not. It was glitchy and unreliable. Terrible at best. I thought I was going to have to buy another phone or do some software stuff I had no clue of. I was patient.
And for myself I figured it out.
Everything you do to this phone is reflected in its functions.
All the things I suggested to save Battery Life impede the GPS of this phone. Take that in...
I started over from scratch resetting back to factory settings. (leaving the Stock rooted ics). If your google account backs up all your apps they will begin to re download immediately once you sync your account again, BUT STOP IT!
Don't let anything Upgrade or Download to your phone automatically. This is crucial.
Google maps upgrade must not be allowed. Instead use the current version that comes with the ice cream sandwich OS. (includes the navigate button we all like as well as the places icon) Everything else can then be downloaded or upgraded in the play store manually.
Now, for the tricky part. you have been saving battery life using all the propper previously mentioned techniques but now you want to use GPS. First thing you need to do is uncheck system power settings.. Then allow google play services to have its background data back. Settings, data, google play scroll bottom yea uncheck it. Turn your screen timeout to 10min. Now toggle GPS back on. But wait one more thing, Clear the ram. All done in that order Now when you go to maps you should get a lock in under a minute and it will be reliable. No way of stopping GPS from consuming a ton of battery but if you dim the screen and charge it while in use you will see battery life gains instead of losses.
Thanks for reading my personal usage experience so far. I have yet to take the update to GPS to see if it still works in the same fashion because I am a coward and I like my GPS right now. Let me know if anyone experiments further. With the rooted ICS OS.