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There are some things I can't get my head around.
From the screenshots of all the cool user ROMs and themes available it's clear they've been designed by clever people who use their phones a lot. So why does it appear from these shots they use the Sense launcher, and their default home screen has a big Sense clock and hardly any apps?
Presumably, like me, these people are pulling their phones out their pocket and putting them back there many times a day. Presumably also, like me, these people use a number of apps and widgets in a day that hits two figures. With this in mind, I want to be able to get to those apps and widgets easily and quickly. I.e., with as few swipes/clicks/screen presses as possible. I'm sure these people do too, right?
So that rules out the Sense launcher doesn't it, with its 4x4 grid limitation and non-resizeable widgets. Not to mention its time-consuming spin-in carousel effect every time the phone's security screen is unlocked. I haven't found anything useful the Sense launcher does that another launcher can't, at least after downloading other apps.
Furthermore, who really keeps that big clock on their home screen, when 1. you probably wear a watch; and 2. you can see the time on the top right. It seems like a silly amount of screen 'estate' to use.
Or is it that these people in fact have a more practical default home screen and it's just tradition to post the screenshots they show?
Finally, why do so many of these otherwise brilliant ROMs not mod the battery icon to show how much battery is remaining, percentage-wise? Appreciate this can be modded using the kitchen website. But surely everyone wants this info from the off, so is it not included?
Well, I'd never call myself a hardcore user - although I believe that term should be defined too, because I'm not sure it's interpreted the same way by everyone. That aside though, here's what I think on tinkering with the launchers. You buy an Android phone - be it of any manufacturer. In general, and especially considering the top level models, it can be said that there isn't much diversity hardware-wise. What does make a difference is the UI, the services integrated and how the phone handles them. (And let's exclude synthetic benchmarks for now, I don't believe they represent real-life scenarios.) So, someone knowledgeable going for an HTC device (meaning it's not chosen because of price or because of how "pretty" it is), imo, means they're attracted to Sense: those little nuances that do make the difference. Ditch the launcher and you've pretty much ditched at least about half of what Sense - of what HTC is about. But then, why did you go for HTC in the first place? And the same can be said with Samsung and SE as well, those who quite heavily modify the Android UI. Sure, you can do it, you can dump the whole customized everything...but can doesn't mean that you should: if you're a "hardcore user", however we define the rest of it, you know you'll have an easier life with a phone that runs stock Android, there's no point in choosing something customized (read: more complicated), with risk of locked bootloaders and whatnots.
And you're right: you can get the puzzle pieces from the Market (or elsewhere) to create a Sense-like experience. That's because Sense offers so many good things in one package that ppl are aiming at re-creating it, but ask this: if you want to re-create it, why not spare yourself the hassle and use the real thing right out of the box?
As for the clock: I haven't even owned, much less worn a watch for at least about ten years, nor do I feel the need. Actually they seem pretty redundant now that mobiles have become as complex as they are and being carried everywhere. But as for the battery percentage - I couldn't agree more, I wish I knew why HTC itself doesn't make it available at least as an option.
In addition to the great points made by breathlesstao, I'll add the following:
Many devs concentrate on performance, stability and removing bloat when developing their ROMs, so if you want UI mods like battery percentage etc then the option is there for you to do it yourself. It would be nice if HTC could add percentage but they do have a battery widget that shows it.
As for on screen icons, I suppose many people like a sleek looking interace with not a lot of clutter. Plus, the more you have on the homescreens the more likely you are to experience lag when scrolling between the screens. Personally I have every app I use often on one of the 7 screens and if I need anything else it's only a few presses away in the all apps menu. I like it to be set up with each page having similar types of app, so on one I have music / media related stuff, another tools / settings type stuff... etc. See my helicopter view screenshot below for an example. My screen aren't crammed, but then they're not too sparse either.
I actually like the flipclock as it integrates local weather and just generally looks cool... I also haven't had a watch since the 1990s.
Choice and the ability to customise things are part of the many joys of Android, you set it up your way and use it your way.
The replies are right in. As for the launcher I have people coming to me all the time cause their phone is slow and lagging and whenbi unlock screen they have dozens of shortcuts all over the screen. Of course its gonna be slow when it need to reload a the launcher and all those Widgets. I swear some look so much like an icrap with all the shorcuts when I see it I have to double check. Lmao
As for the battery icon, you have to edit the coding for the file to add the extra 150 images that make up the % battery and charging icons and the bigger the file......
Now the clock well to be honest I remove the clock from the top bar any chance I get as I see it as pointless. We have Widgets for that.
As for sense it has its pluses like everything is prebuilt in. Social networking (not sure as I don't use FB at all) built into contacts and all the other handy apps that it comes with. I mostly run a senseless Tom my self but that is only due to it be long a resource hog. But the contacts and dialer work so well together that I have not found a better dialer/contact combo. The sense 3 lockscreen is just too good. I have widget locker but prefer the sense lock screen
Some very good replies, and here is my take, i've been modding my phone(s) now for a few years now (Since the Windows Mobile 5 Genre) and I would say function is not the only thing i look for. I want "coolness", "graphics"... I love the way the flip happens when you unlock a Sense ROM ..I strive to make it smoother !
Having said that I do resort to simplicity at times however, and you can too. have a look at Cyanogenmod and get Launcher Pro.. Ain't nothing simpler than that with the most "Function".
The ROM above will satisfy anyone who loves Function over Heavyness and also it has the option of showing percentage battery amongst plethora of other customizations neatly laid out in the settings menu.
But sometimes that just isn't enough for me..I want a ROM with More......Sense framework is probably the best Integration of everything I've ever seen. Yes its huge ! But then...this phone ain't that weak either...It is a beast
That is why you have an "option" my friend...an option to choose non-sense ROM or a Sense ROM. You could go for a Sense ROM (if you like all the integration of sense) and get yourself a different launcher from the market if you choose..customize it with the battery percentage mod.... yourself... The Dev's like to leave the option customize some aspects of their ROM's to the users... mostly because its personal preference.
The Sense Rom cooks, mostly, give u the most basic thing... A highly optimized ROM with a stock-like UI. You can choose to customize it the way you like ! After all thats what XDA is all about ..do it youself modding..
Hi all,
Your responses are appreciated and it's nice to have a polite conversation about this!
You're right breathlesstao, what the hell's a hardcore user. I just meant anyone who'd flash a ROM, root their phone, perhaps mod some element themself.
So I guess many of you - suprisingly for me - are happy to swipe between screens to get to their apps or widgets. You like what less clutter for doing this. Can see your point of view! I don't experience any lag though, zelendel, for packing my homescreens.
I suppose it was assumed that if you're more knowledgeable you'd be aware of apps and widgets with more options and functionality than the Sense launcher and its own widgets, and choose to use the former instead.
To be clear, I do like using other HTC features such as their contacts and dialler. It's just the homescreen layout I'm ranting about.
In particular for me, a good GUI, as well as looking pleasant, is as simple and quick to to use as possible. So when, for example, I'm going for a lunchbreak at work it's satisfying to be able to put my music or podcast-player on in a second without having to hunt it down.
i keep meaning to try a non sense rom but i like virtuous unity 2.39 sense 3.0 rom so much i´m loathe to part with it.
i know it only takes twenty minutes to go back to it but i just find it does everything in such a pleasant manner.. its smooth fast responsive and most of all it looks the buisness. plus as others have said you dont have to use all that sense stuff if you dont want to.
for music i do tend to use the stock player but i have been playing with other ones of late same with video but things like the clock and weather widgets for me are much more polished on the sense versions than anything comparible available from the market. plus i´ve not had any problem running low on ram or anything, the dhd is more than capable of handling sense 3.0 and whatever else one cares to throw at it without any hiccups
Circle launcher 1x1 widgets are the best
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium
killersloth, thanks for the heads up - it looks very useful.
ponk2k, you know I also use VU (2.39) but with Launcher Pro - have uninstalled the Sense widgets that aren't connected to anything else. You probably think what's the point! To answer my own question, I wanted a custom ROM for things like battery life optimisation, and the VU team's branding has seemed more user-friendly to me than the non-Sense ROMs. Though maybe I'll try one soon. While I've got you though, can I ask if you have a problem with the brightness dimmng slowly on command in most scenarios with that ROM version? More info in my question here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1292894
Capys runny 1.5 is perfection
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium
killersloth said:
Capys runny 1.5 is perfection
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium
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100% bug free? I was thinking of trying it.
CitizenLee said:
100% bug free? I was thinking of trying it.
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Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for. The roms here are for learning and trying new things. So there will always be bugs that need to be fixed. Plus some things that one person may see something a a bug while another sees it as a feature.
zelendel said:
Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for. The roms here are for learning and trying new things. So there will always be bugs that need to be fixed. Plus some things that one person may see something a a bug while another sees it as a feature.
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Thanks lol.
&by 'perfection' I definitely don't mean bugfree but it is everything I expect in a good rom. From the improvements to audio, the good battery life, and now decent skins too...
If it was bugfree what would be the fun in developing with it ?
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium
zelendel said:
Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for. The roms here are for learning and trying new things. So there will always be bugs that need to be fixed. Plus some things that one person may see something a a bug while another sees it as a feature.
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I meant with the basic day to day phone functions and stuff like WiFi, video playback etc. To me that's an expected level of functionality for any non beta ROM. I've flashed and tested many over the last 2.5 years of owning Android handsets so my standards are quite high
CitizenLee said:
I meant with the basic day to day phone functions and stuff like WiFi, video playback etc. To me that's an expected level of functionality for any non beta ROM. I've flashed and tested many over the last 2.5 years of owning Android handsets so my standards are quite high
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It is fully functional. I believe there is the bug in camcorder still where you have to watch play.the video in the same orientation you recorded it.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium
I haven't had any problems with vu dimming slowly no. I do find that the dimming settings on the ROM are a bit brighter than on the stock ROM though but with no noticeable battery drain incurred.
Thanks will have to investigate further.
zelendel said:
Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for.
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...aaaand potentially not even those. I mean, they're made by humans as well, and humans are bound to make mistakes, aye? It happens.
The most productive thread i ever encountered !!! Thanks to OP
Introduction.
In P350, we have little RAM, and everybody knows that. I'm constructing this thread to try maximize the performance on ICS.
The First Tip -> Gapps.
As we all know, in each version of Android, Gapps size is increased. In Froyo, Gapps like Google Maps and others really slowed the phone to the point of hacking it to improve performance. In Gingerbread, in most of ROM's, it wasn't a BIG problem. But in Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean, Gapps are landing direct hits on performance overall, because of 3 reasons:
It's size is now very BIG;
It has some unknown background apps that eats RAM;
Now the Gapps are consuming memory, CPU and GPU.
As a effect, some Devs and p350 users are searching a way to improve performance. But some problems occur in the way, like low memory RAM, discussions on thread and some others. So I'm giving the first TIP.
DO NOT USE FLASH GAPPS.
You are now asking yourself : "What the Hell are you saying Dark?"
I answer, it's very simple. Most of the Android Users (Yes, not only P350) do not use half of the installed apks. Saying by other words, Android users flash and don't use 50% or more of Gapps, so unknown apps are installed and are kept in phone. And most of the users only flash Gapps because they want them installed for nothing, without knowing what these apps are doing in background. To finish, a big part of New Android users only use Google Play. So, how we clear this?
DOWNLOAD THE DESIRED GAPPS FROM GOOGLE PLAY.
If you use some Gapps to work or any other reason, like Google Mail and Youtube, you might consider downloading then instead of flashing. But now you are asking yourself: "What is the difference?". I answer why downloading is better thant flashing them:
A great part of ROM's (if not all), do not need Gapps to work, so you can only download Google Play, setting your account on phone and start hunting the apps you use;
Because of this, you has an Greater control of deciding what app you need and want to install;
Unknown apps will not be installed on your phone;
No background apps active -> More RAM -> Better performance!
Now you have a better performance than before.
The Second Tip -> Uninstall what you don't use.
Yes, in every version of ICS the most worry of users is : "RAM is good on this ROM?", because little RAM, poor performance. In some versions, like ConnectMod betas, the RAM is very poor, according to dodo1255 . How to solve this problem?
UNINSTALL SYSTEM APPS.
Some ROM's come with unnecessary apps, and they consume your memory, both internal and RAM. To Advanced users:
Extract ROM, go to system/apps and delete manually the undesired apps.
To basic users, do this:
Download Root Uninstaller or Root Uninstaller Pro;
Open it and Search some apps that you don't use and uninstall them.
Attention: Before making anything make a Backup first! And, do not try this if you are New on Android world. If you want to do this, first search on net about this and what apps you can uninstall.
I'm not responsible for bricked devices, suicide, getting fired at your work because alarm app failed, or your mama kamikazing herself instead of jumping parachute because you didn't call her and tell what airplane to catch on airport. You decided of making these modifications. If you point your finger at me, I'll laugh of you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people just do this and get an improved performance, but if you want to go further.
The Third Tip -> Overclock and Swap.
Yep, it's a basic tip this one. But be aware of the limit of the overclocking in the respective kernel, and what's the most stable frequency on that ROM. And if you're planning Swap your ROM, do not use apps like Swapper, they do not help because they runs in background. Search and you'll find good tips on how to do it.
The Fourth Tip -> Download some optimizer apps.
Yes, i'm recomending because of other things that they can do. But do not install:
Apps that kills other apps, like task managers. They do not improve performance and really increase the number of Force Closes on your phone;
Apps that creates a big amount of cache;
You can install apps like:
Auto Memory Manager and RAM Manager Pro - Can help on improving performance;
AnTuTu CPU Master Pro - With some settings it helps on performance and battery;
Zdbox or other that cleans cache - Cleans your phone to a better level of performance.
The Fifth Tip -> Smoothing your phone in a easy manner.
This tip was suggested by gogyly.
This app, Seeder, was created by lambgx02 to reduce lags and to improve even better Any Rom. In the thread you can find more specifications.
I tested and works flawlessy, it's very good, a must-have app for us now.
Seeder
The Sixty Tip ->A GREAT Replacement for Google Play.
This tip is for those that only use Google Play when flash gapps. It's a custom market called 1Mobile Market. It's UI is like Google Play, feature the hottest apps for free (I found GTA Vice City to download here), you can log in with your google account and has a really amount of apps. I'm current using and is very good.
Link for download -> 1Mobile Market
Doubt of every ICS user ->Why my phone is having low battery fast?.
It's because of tweaks. Yeah, TWEAKS MAKE THE BATTERY LAST A FEW HOURS. I concluded this when i moved myself of ICS from my Genesis. They are almost equal on performance (with over my one reaches close , going to 2203 and ICS with stock freq. 2230). And, ironically, the two wastes battery even when i'm not using it. Result -> 1 day battery. Froyo, the more slow ROM, do not wastes battery when i'm not using it, even with overclock. Result -> 3+ day battery.
And 1 thing: Devs, do not put 2 or tweak packages on your ROM's, because some scripts was already used on other packages, making the system run 2 or more times the same script, wasting battery.
You can help on this list by suggesting some improvements that I do not listed here. If I help, press thanks.
So for Accounts syncing, Flash Gapps is not really needed? Only a account-related app, such as Gmail? Interesting... But how do I get Play Store without flashing Gapps?
dbarrera, account sync app come in some ICS roms. If not, you can download gapps and put this application on system/apps of the ROM. You can get Play Store apk file in XDA, or in others websites. If you cannot found, i have the .apk file so i can upload for you =D.
For instance, I'm testing JellyME ROM... It has Account & Sync app, but even with Gmail and Play Store (3.7.11 from a June dump, I dunno if its the latest) app installed, I can't add my Google account for it to sync Contact and Calendar data... Ideas?
Yes. Go to Settings -> Account & Sync -> Add Account, and do the step guide. First check your internet connection because it will be loggin to verify and associate your account to that phone and you're done. After all tap your account to find the options to Sync Contacts and Calendar. Hope i helped you. =D
Or use blackmart.
Sent from my LG-P350 using xda premium
Hi. I think u should try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=33999592
I've used this app on kamesh ICS, and it helps reduce lag. I didn'nt test it much on ICS (rolled back to MIUI), but on MIUI GB, realy reduces lag on minimum. I'm curently on powersaving governor and all is still buttery smooth. Check out and give your opinion. Cheers!!!
Sent from my LG-P350 using xda premium
Okay I'll try using it on my new ROM and soon i'll post results =D
Had to flash Gapps (tiny-gapps) for Google related data (Contacts and Calendar) sync...
I just hope that these tiny-gapps does not come with unnecessary apps. But you can do this step: Extract gapps and extract rom. Put the desired apps on system/apps of the ROM and make a .zip file with contents. That should do the trick next time =D
Just the APKs? In the tiny-gapps also comes some libs and stuff... Probably dependencies?
Maybe ... But here in my phone it wasn't a problem. Maybe these libs modifies system and allow unknown apps or other things to run in background.
Being that the case, GoogleBackupTransport (I guess this one keeps data backed up with Google), Google[Calendar | Contacts]SyncAdapter (I guess the name says it all), GoogleLoginService (Need to login into Mothership somehow), MarketUpdater, Phonesky (Play Store), Talk (Yes, I'm guilty of using it) should be the only ones to load directly into the ROM's /system/app folder?
Yes, theorically talking. But soon some ROM's will implant the useful Gapps, so we will not have to do this work =D
If the JellyMe developer includes Google Login without Gapps (and fixes the bugs already posted on his thread), I'm sold!
And how about any tips for battery life? I've tried some ICS ROMs, they were quite smooth,all good but I didn't like the battery life, that's why I'm still using CM7. Anybody running ICS can post some battery stats? On CM7, it takes 3%/8 hours with airplane mode, but with ICS 40%!! Did I do something wrong(I mean bad kernel or flashing gapps) or is it normal with ICS? Thanks
ICS is a really battery eater because more apps are running in background. And it goes fast. You can download different battery savers and check what's the best for you.
Well that's shame,because I'd really like to use ICS(CM9),it has some good functions(killing with back button,smoother and faster than CM7). The weirdest thing is it drains the battery even in deep sleep?!
Sent from my LG-P350 using xda app-developers app
Bender9467 said:
Well that's shame,because I'd really like to use ICS(CM9),it has some good functions(killing with back button,smoother and faster than CM7). The weirdest thing is it drains the battery even in deep sleep?!
Sent from my LG-P350 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't use ICS if you cannot adapt to its functionality. Yes it has bugs, and yes, you'll be in trouble if you dont know how to make remedies.
Sent from my LG-P350 using xda premium
rho57 said:
Don't use ICS if you cannot adapt to its functionality. Yes it has bugs, and yes, you'll be in trouble if you dont know how to make remedies.
Sent from my LG-P350 using xda premium
Click to expand...
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I don't want to be rude, because I know that there's a lot of hard, long and sometimes annoying work. I'm happy I can even flash ICS. I've just asked if there's any way to improve battery life (especially when phone is not used). I don't think that low battery life is a "functionality" which I should adapt to.
Hi. I have some questions regarding this device, for which I've bought for my son as an Xmas gift.
Firstly I've noticed a few things and confirmed things I've researched about this device:
- It is based on Android, which was obvious as soon as I side loaded es file explorer and checked out the SD contents.
- It is running at around 30-50% of its full potential, due to the super persistent Amazon apps that run in the background, and low amount of customisation options.
- The advertisements on the lock screen... WTF.
- Unable to use mx player pro as a default video player for lovefilm, which sucks.
- The carousel is nice looking but it auto adds things which is highly annoying.
- The parental controls are good.
So that's just a small list and I'm sure I haven't quite listed everything yet but I want to move onto some questions about rooting the device:
1. Does rooting and installing cyanogenmod improve the memory use and performance? May be an obvious answer but it's always good to know people's opinions.
2. Can any of the Amazon apps be used on cyanogenmod, so that the device still feels like a Kindle. E.g. the launcher and carousel, and the parental controls? I like the big HD icons. This will be used regularly by my son so I need strong security controls.
3. Being an unofficial port, does cm come with any usual and/or unusual bugs? Such as rotation bugs, fcs and reboots.
4. Does cm use the full quality of the sound and display? The resolution and sound quality is great as it is, I'd hate to sacrifice those for better memory.
5. Anything else that I might expect or information that would be helpful please.
FYI I've unlocked, rooted and flashed many devices, so I know roughly the benefits and disadvantages.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Want to know how to boost your devices performance and battery life? See my thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2495269
Your questions about cm are moot at the moment as there's no unlocked bootloader so can't install custom ROMs at this time.
In regards to the Amazon apps, try using greenify to hibernate them if you're rooted. I seem to recall it can hibernate system apps but it's not recommended, so I don't know what functionality will be lost or even if it'll be stable.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Note the thread title... I'm in the wrong forum! Haha sorry! Thanks for the reply though. :what:
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Want to know how to boost your devices performance and battery life? See my thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2495269
iKlutz said:
Hi. I have some questions regarding this device, for which I've bought for my son as an Xmas gift.
Firstly I've noticed a few things and confirmed things I've researched about this device:
- It is based on Android, which was obvious as soon as I side loaded es file explorer and checked out the SD contents.
- It is running at around 30-50% of its full potential, due to the super persistent Amazon apps that run in the background, and low amount of customisation options.
- The advertisements on the lock screen... WTF.
- Unable to use mx player pro as a default video player for lovefilm, which sucks.
- The carousel is nice looking but it auto adds things which is highly annoying.
- The parental controls are good.
So that's just a small list and I'm sure I haven't quite listed everything yet but I want to move onto some questions about rooting the device:
1. Does rooting and installing cyanogenmod improve the memory use and performance? May be an obvious answer but it's always good to know people's opinions.
2. Can any of the Amazon apps be used on cyanogenmod, so that the device still feels like a Kindle. E.g. the launcher and carousel, and the parental controls? I like the big HD icons. This will be used regularly by my son so I need strong security controls.
3. Being an unofficial port, does cm come with any usual and/or unusual bugs? Such as rotation bugs, fcs and reboots.
4. Does cm use the full quality of the sound and display? The resolution and sound quality is great as it is, I'd hate to sacrifice those for better memory.
5. Anything else that I might expect or information that would be helpful please.
FYI I've unlocked, rooted and flashed many devices, so I know roughly the benefits and disadvantages.
Sent from the dark side of the moon.
Want to know how to boost your devices performance and battery life? See my thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2495269
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Click to collapse
answered here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2553490
New to the world of Pixel phones, but love my device so far. Battery life is great, camera is superb, and a welcome change from my iPhone to the world of Android. I did a bit of digging, but did not find an exact answer, so I wanted to post this question up.
I have recently started using Substratum, along with the Swift Dark theme. While it looks beautiful on my device, I am seeing an increase in depletion of my battery. I have been using it for about four days now. While I have not ran any graphs or done extensive measuring on the device, it seems like I was losing an average of 6% battery per hour. Installed the theme yesterday, charged fully and unplugged at noon-ish. Used Pocket Casts on the drive home for 40 minutes, normal browsing on device, instagram etc and camera once or twice. When I checked around 7PM, I was at 63% battery.
Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong, or is there a fine tuning that I need to do while using Substratum? While I dig the dark look, I would rather have a battery that doesn't drain as fast.
Without Substratum, I can usually unplug at 730AM at full charge, and have about 60-70% battery when I get home at 5pm or so.
Thanks, appreciate all the users and bevy of info on this site.
AwkwardUberHero said:
New to the world of Pixel phones, but love my device so far. Battery life is great, camera is superb, and a welcome change from my iPhone to the world of Android. I did a bit of digging, but did not find an exact answer, so I wanted to post this question up.
I have recently started using Substratum, along with the Swift Dark theme. While it looks beautiful on my device, I am seeing an increase in depletion of my battery. I have been using it for about four days now. While I have not ran any graphs or done extensive measuring on the device, it seems like I was losing an average of 6% battery per hour. Installed the theme yesterday, charged fully and unplugged at noon-ish. Used Pocket Casts on the drive home for 40 minutes, normal browsing on device, instagram etc and camera once or twice. When I checked around 7PM, I was at 63% battery.
Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong, or is there a fine tuning that I need to do while using Substratum? While I dig the dark look, I would rather have a battery that doesn't drain as fast.
Without Substratum, I can usually unplug at 730AM at full charge, and have about 60-70% battery when I get home at 5pm or so.
Thanks, appreciate all the users and bevy of info on this site.
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Click to collapse
I use the same theme as you. Have never had any battery drain from a theme at all. Having said that, if your themeing any social media apps, you might start there and disable them. It could be a possibility. Any apps that have a native "dark mode" I don't theme them. That's my 2 pennies worth :good:
Badger50 said:
I use the same theme as you. Have never had any battery drain from a theme at all. Having said that, if your themeing any social media apps, you might start there and disable them. It could be a possibility. Any apps that have a native "dark mode" I don't theme them. That's my 2 pennies worth :good:
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Click to collapse
That is a good idea. I will start there and see what I can find out. I have not tried to theme many of the social media stuff yet, but will start removing items that already have a dark mode.
Thanks again.:good:
AwkwardUberHero said:
New to the world of Pixel phones, but love my device so far. Battery life is great, camera is superb, and a welcome change from my iPhone to the world of Android. I did a bit of digging, but did not find an exact answer, so I wanted to post this question up.
I have recently started using Substratum, along with the Swift Dark theme. While it looks beautiful on my device, I am seeing an increase in depletion of my battery. I have been using it for about four days now. While I have not ran any graphs or done extensive measuring on the device, it seems like I was losing an average of 6% battery per hour. Installed the theme yesterday, charged fully and unplugged at noon-ish. Used Pocket Casts on the drive home for 40 minutes, normal browsing on device, instagram etc and camera once or twice. When I checked around 7PM, I was at 63% battery.
Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong, or is there a fine tuning that I need to do while using Substratum? While I dig the dark look, I would rather have a battery that doesn't drain as fast.
Without Substratum, I can usually unplug at 730AM at full charge, and have about 60-70% battery when I get home at 5pm or so.
Thanks, appreciate all the users and bevy of info on this site.
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I've always wondered (and thought) the same thing, but the answer I receive from the community has been a resounding "no", especially with dark themes as they save a bit of battery with our types of screens. However, I'm still not convinced. Sometimes not only does the device seem to deplete the battery faster, but it also seems to not be as fluid.
MrBrady said:
I've always wondered (and thought) the same thing, but the answer I receive from the community has been a resounding "no", especially with dark themes as they save a bit of battery with our types of screens. However, I'm still not convinced. Sometimes not only does the device seem to deplete the battery faster, but it also seems to not be as fluid.
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Click to collapse
I totally understand that. I am still trying to get used to this Android thing again after being on iOS for years. While I love a good jailbreak, the openness and creation that you can do with Android has always had my ear.
I have enabled Swift Dark again now, and not enabled it for Instagram, WhatsApp, Spotify or XDA Labs, as Badger suggested about them having their own dark modes.
I still have issues understanding what we can do in Substratum, but from what I can grasp so far, I like it.
Intresting
I'm using swift black and 4 other themes for specific overlays since it themes 90% ofr the apps that i use
I'll disable the overlay and test it without it, tbh i also feel like this sometimes
Sent from my Google Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs
MrBrady said:
I've always wondered (and thought) the same thing, but the answer I receive from the community has been a resounding "no", especially with dark themes as they save a bit of battery with our types of screens. However, I'm still not convinced. Sometimes not only does the device seem to deplete the battery faster, but it also seems to not be as fluid.
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Click to collapse
Now fluidity, that's a different beast. To that I would give a resounding yes! There are some heavy duty themes out there that will cause a definite UI lag when opening certain apps. The Swift dark/black/white themes aren't in that mix from personal experience though. But it's definitely not your imagination ?
Badger50 said:
Now fluidity, that's a different beast. To that I would give a resounding yes! There are some heavy duty themes out there that will cause a definite UI lag when opening certain apps. The Swift dark/black/white themes aren't in that mix from personal experience though. But it's definitely not your imagination
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Which items would you suggest I theme with Substratum? I am currently running the theme on the System UI, as well as the google services. Instagram is disabled, Whats APP, XDA, Spotfiy etc.
AwkwardUberHero said:
Which items would you suggest I theme with Substratum? I am currently running the theme on the System UI, as well as the google services. Instagram is disabled, Whats APP, XDA, Spotfiy etc.
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I think your in good shape. Again, anything that has a native dark mode, leave alone. I do most everything you mentioned, I don't touch chrome or maps though. Also, just an FYI. When you get updates from play store that are currently themed, you may find them force closing on you because the theme hasn't been updated for those apps yet. So either don't update them, or just disable that particular overlay in the substratum manager ?
Some people are still arguing about this purely from anecdotal experiences.
That's a very good question and now I want to find this out as well... I've installed Gsam Battery Monitor, Greenify, Servicely and Naptime.
I'm on Xiaomi.eu Custom ROM (Stable). I used to have better battery life (especially on Standby!) when I was still on an AOSP-based Custom ROM (ArrowOS). I have a feeling that the MIUI Always-On-Display causes Android Doze to not activate and that my device is essentially awake the whole time. I'm not sure about this observation, but Settings > Battery > Sort by "Details" tells me that my device is on. The whole time...
I've unrestricted the Battery monitoring apps I've installed, I'll leave AOD enabled, and see for another night if it is actually preventing my phone from going into Doze Sleep. Next night I'll disable AOD, and the night after that I'll enable Extreme Doze-Mode in Naptime and see the behaviour then.
Rant about Xiaomi LOL:
One thing I know for sure is that MIUI is so horribly coded. I don't need to be an OS developer to know this, you can just feel how dirty their custom implementations are. Ranging from their AOD, their Navbar/Gesture Controls, to the Adaptive Refresh rate.
It's like Xiaomi is trying to make the software deliberately feel cheap, because otherwise their phones would be too good, because their hardware is really good for the price. You can't just make a Poco F3 300€. The hardware is insanely good, but the Stock ROM is crap.
cyanGalaxy said:
I've installed Gsam Battery Monitor, Greenify, Servicely and Naptime.
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I have stop using Greenify (it has not updated for 2 years) and lately have also replaced Naptime and Gsam/AccuBattery for BatteryGuru which combined both the main features (battery monitoring and aggressive Doze function).
I'm on ArrowOS 12.1 now, it seems Android11 gave me the best battery life, A12 was horrible and A12L is bearable.
I think it's time I stop worrying about battery and just replace the damn thing every 3 years lol.
mocmocmoc said:
I have stop using Greenify (it has not updated for 2 years) and lately have also replaced Naptime and Gsam/AccuBattery for BatteryGuru which combined both the main features (battery monitoring and aggressive Doze function).
I'm on ArrowOS 12.1 now, it seems Android11 gave me the best battery life, A12 was horrible and A12L is bearable.
I think it's time I stop worrying about battery and just replace the damn thing every 3 years lol.
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I don't think Battery Life is related to the Android Version you're using, but more which brand's ROM you use. For example Samsungs OneUI seems more trustable than MIUI in terms of Reliability.
But you're likely best served on Clean Vanilla Android, in terms of Battery Life at least.
But also make sure to use a trusted and genuine AOSP ROM. Not one of those, where the Main Dev can't write proper English and uses some obscure Custom Kernel or whatever.. Use one that's known and popular.
I did figure out that MIUI's Always-On-Display kept the CPU awake at all times. I could see it in Settings > Battery, and changing "Ranking" to "Details".
I don't know if that's normal for AOD or if it's MIUI's implementation of AOD, but my god.. AOD shouldn't drain that much. But now my battery life is normal again. ^^
cyanGalaxy said:
I don't think Battery Life is related to the Android Version you're using, but more which brand's ROM you use. For example Samsungs OneUI seems more trustable than MIUI in terms of Reliability.
But you're likely best served on Clean Vanilla Android, in terms of Battery Life at least.
But also make sure to use a trusted and genuine AOSP ROM. Not one of those, where the Main Dev can't write proper English and uses some obscure Custom Kernel or whatever.. Use one that's known and popular.
I did figure out that MIUI's Always-On-Display kept the CPU awake at all times. I could see it in Settings > Battery, and changing "Ranking" to "Details".
I don't know if that's normal for AOD or if it's MIUI's implementation of AOD, but my god.. AOD shouldn't drain that much. But now my battery life is normal again. ^^
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For all practical purposes, the best/definitive experience of Android is obtained on a Samsung device nowadays. So much so that Google released certain new features in some of their apps on Samsung devices ONLY to begin with, not even their own Pixel devices. And Pixel software experience is terrible. And Samsung has innovated so many new features that Google slowly incorporates into stock Android. Samsung Dex is still unparalleled. I personally don't like some aspects of Samsung UI. The squircle icons, the excessively round UI elements with large paddings.. Sadly, Google seems to have incorporated some of this into Android 12's Material You styling. Android 12 looks more like a Samsung One UI skin. That was my FIRST impression when I played around with Material You, i.e. how much it reminded me of Samsung's style.
I agree that Xiaomi's MIUI has a load of flaws in them. The latest is their custom per-app dark mode override has been broken since they released MIUI 13 and before that you had to do some funky things to make it show the list of apps. They never allowed us to see notification history for some strange reason. These are two issues I can think off right away. But otherwise I feel that the software is pretty decent and I had no major issues with it and the battery life with Stock ROM is quite good. I personally don't understand the vehement negativity towards MIUI. Perhaps in the past it was attrocious, but now it is decent. Just like Samsung's One UI. Remember the awful TouchWiz days!? I still have an old tablet with Samsung's touch wiz on it! Bottom line, MIUI is nothing exemplary, but definitely usable and fine, with some minor issues.
In fact, I do like some of the things in MIUI versus stock. I like the fact that the Settings button is immediately visible in the notification shade (like it USED to be on Stock Android) rather than having to swipe again to reveal the quick toggles. I do like some of their built in apps, like the Clock, Calculator (which is very feature rich) and Compass app. So, overall not too shaby.
But I ranted a lot in this thread and none of this is relevant for this topic! So back to relevance...
I do use GSam battery monitor and after a lot of usage I feel like my battery life on Stock MIUI is similar to Arrow OS. I used Arrow OS 11, I used MIUI 12 and 13 and the battery life on all of them was very similar. Arrow OS 11 had some weird bugs with incoming phone call sound and Bluetooth when using Navigation. But Stock MIUI has no such issues. I've slowly decided to stop paying close attention to battery life as it is mostly very good for my usage.
litetaker said:
For all practical purposes, the best/definitive experience of Android is obtained on a Samsung device nowadays. So much so that Google released certain new features in some of their apps on Samsung devices ONLY to begin with, not even their own Pixel devices. And Pixel software experience is terrible. And Samsung has innovated so many new features that Google slowly incorporates into stock Android. Samsung Dex is still unparalleled. I personally don't like some aspects of Samsung UI. The squircle icons, the excessively round UI elements with large paddings.. Sadly, Google seems to have incorporated some of this into Android 12's Material You styling. Android 12 looks more like a Samsung One UI skin. That was my FIRST impression when I played around with Material You, i.e. how much it reminded me of Samsung's style.
...
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Click to collapse
For me the hate for MIUI stems from all the little things.
Notification History & Log being hidden (Can be accessed through an Activity Launcher),
Holding a notification and clicking "More" doesn't bring to you to the specific notification channel,
No Gestures on 3rd Party Launchers,
Recents-Animations broken on 3rd Party Launchers,
Dolby Atmos Sound effect doesn't apply to the first volume step.
Touch Sounds are way too loud, regardless of users volume,
For Google Clock to work properly, you need to disable MIUI Battery Saver,
MIUI Boot Sound is way too loud, also regardless of users volume,
Annoying additional restrictions/permission-manager which cannot be turned off anymore,
Fullscreen Pop-Up with user-unfriendly 10 second timer when trying to change sensitive permissions,
Adaptive Refresh Rate only activating when Screen-brightness is >80%, and only after 2 second delay,
YouTube, Games etc are forced to 60 Hz,
MIUI Camera doesn't respect Default-Gallery setting and always uses MIUI Gallery,
Default Camera cannot be changed,
Monet Colours cannot be customised,
Almost all apps used to get forcibly themed dark (even when the app already had Dark Mode), and you had to individually disable it for all apps. This made text from some apps unreadable.
I do like a few changes Xiaomi has done to Android with MIUI, like bringing back down the Brightness-bar (retarded change from Google), Custom Fonts, the really cool Live Wallpapers, its Dolby Atmos and much more...
I also do like many of their apps like Mi Fitness and the Calc...
But all the little issues give me micro-aggression. It's not a 100% reliable OS in my opinion and I'm still a tiny bit concerned about its Privacy & Tracking.. it's still a chinese company and China is ruled by CCP. The chinese Gov't can control their Tech companies.
Samsungs OneUI does indeed seem like a good and stable experience. But I'm also not a fan of goofy rounded corners and padding.
I bought my Galaxy Note 8 when TouchWiz was still a thing. Then a System update came and upgraded me to OneUI 1.0 and I kinda didn't like it all that much. TouchWiz looked a bit more professional to me, but that's just personal preference.
I'm more into Edgy than Curvy ;D
Yes, Naptime still makes quite a difference with its agressive dove settings and disabling sensors.
Even with how optimized Android 12 is you cannot escape bad programmed third party apps, so use something like IceBox to freeze not often used apps too
cyanGalaxy said:
For me the hate for MIUI stems from all the little things.
Notification History & Log being hidden (Can be accessed through an Activity Launcher),
Holding a notification and clicking "More" doesn't bring to you to the specific notification channel,
No Gestures on 3rd Party Launchers,
Recents-Animations broken on 3rd Party Launchers,
Dolby Atmos Sound effect doesn't apply to the first volume step.
Touch Sounds are way too loud, regardless of users volume,
For Google Clock to work properly, you need to disable MIUI Battery Saver,
MIUI Boot Sound is way too loud, also regardless of users volume,
Annoying additional restrictions/permission-manager which cannot be turned off anymore,
Fullscreen Pop-Up with user-unfriendly 10 second timer when trying to change sensitive permissions,
Adaptive Refresh Rate only activating when Screen-brightness is >80%, and only after 2 second delay,
YouTube, Games etc are forced to 60 Hz,
MIUI Camera doesn't respect Default-Gallery setting and always uses MIUI Gallery,
Default Camera cannot be changed,
Monet Colours cannot be customised,
Almost all apps used to get forcibly themed dark (even when the app already had Dark Mode), and you had to individually disable it for all apps. This made text from some apps unreadable.
I do like a few changes Xiaomi has done to Android with MIUI, like bringing back down the Brightness-bar (retarded change from Google), Custom Fonts, the really cool Live Wallpapers, its Dolby Atmos and much more...
I also do like many of their apps like Mi Fitness and the Calc...
But all the little issues give me micro-aggression. It's not a 100% reliable OS in my opinion and I'm still a tiny bit concerned about its Privacy & Tracking.. it's still a chinese company and China is ruled by CCP. The chinese Gov't can control their Tech companies.
Samsungs OneUI does indeed seem like a good and stable experience. But I'm also not a fan of goofy rounded corners and padding.
I bought my Galaxy Note 8 when TouchWiz was still a thing. Then a System update came and upgraded me to OneUI 1.0 and I kinda didn't like it all that much. TouchWiz looked a bit more professional to me, but that's just personal preference.
I'm more into Edgy than Curvy ;D
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Click to collapse
I guess these can be frustrating issues for some, but none of this is an issue for me. I tend not to get overly worked up by minor software issues. In fact I do not mind the additional 10 second delay for sensitive permissions. For power users it maybe too annoying, but for ordinary users it is useful to show such warnings to help them avoid making big mistakes and messing up their phones or falling for scams. And anyway, it is just an extra 10 seconds delay. I do admit that blocking access to notification history is annoying but I have learned to live with it. Having the per app dark mode option is genuinely useful as it allows me to force dark mode on only some apps that I use that don't have a dark mode built in, rather than forcing it on all apps via Developer tools. Although this is not working anymore on MIUI 13.
litetaker said:
I guess these can be frustrating issues for some, but none of this is an issue for me. I tend not to get overly worked up by minor software issues. In fact I do not mind the additional 10 second delay for sensitive permissions. For power users it maybe too annoying, but for ordinary users it is useful to show such warnings to help them avoid making big mistakes and messing up their phones or falling for scams. And anyway, it is just an extra 10 seconds delay. I do admit that blocking access to notification history is annoying but I have learned to live with it. Having the per app dark mode option is genuinely useful as it allows me to force dark mode on only some apps that I use that don't have a dark mode built in, rather than forcing it on all apps via Developer tools. Although this is not working anymore on MIUI 13.
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Click to collapse
I think the Warning with 10 sec-timer is the most infuriating one. :x
About Notification History, you can download Activity Launcher, search "Notification History" and make a shortcut for that hidden Activity to your Home screen!
That's what I did, because I use Notification Log & Notification History regularly.
However Notification-History on MIUI is a bit broken. You have to enable Light Mode to see the text properly
cyanGalaxy said:
I think the Warning with 10 sec-timer is the most infuriating one. :x
About Notification History, you can download Activity Launcher, search "Notification History" and make a shortcut for that hidden Activity to your Home screen!
That's what I did, because I use Notification Log & Notification History regularly.
However Notification-History on MIUI is a bit broken. You have to enable Light Mode to see the text properly
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Click to collapse
Thanks a lot for the tip on how to get Notification History! That is very useful! It is stupid that Xiaomi blocks us from accessing this useful information natively and we need to use a third party app to expose this activity, but at least now I can see the history and get some info! Sometimes I get a ping on my phone and I am not sure which notification caused it. Now I can get more clarity! Yay!
BrokeBloke1969 said:
Yes, Naptime still makes quite a difference with its agressive dove settings and disabling sensors.
Even with how optimized Android 12 is you cannot escape bad programmed third party apps, so use something like IceBox to freeze not often used apps too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are now 1 year on, and Naptime + Servicely doesn't matter one bit on new devices. I've been running Android 13 for a while now and have never felt the need to install these two apps.
With Android 14 around the corner, app efficiency will be addressed even further by TARE and the introduction of new background APIs.
I'm still using naptime since a9/10. And see no reason to not use it. Induce deep sleep faster.
BTW, anyone noticed that naptime was removed from play store?
lapirado said:
I'm still using naptime since a9/10. And see no reason to not use it. Induce deep sleep faster.
BTW, anyone noticed that naptime was removed from play store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup i think Naptime and Servicely do improve my battery life! I can see from the Naptime Doze-logs that my phone goes to Deep Doze faster and the battery life does seem improved.
I just checked, and Naptime seems to be gone from Play Store, tho not Servicely. I think Google are being twats again...
cyanGalaxy said:
Yup i think Naptime and Servicely do improve my battery life! I can see from the Naptime Doze-logs that my phone goes to Deep Doze faster and the battery life does seem improved.
I just checked, and Naptime seems to be gone from Play Store, tho not Servicely. I think Google are being twats again...
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Click to collapse
Hi, I could not run Naptime on Oxygen OS without Root. Did you find a solution? It worked fine on OOS11.
skyNET said:
Hi, I could not run Naptime on Oxygen OS without Root. Did you find a solution? It worked fine on OOS11.
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Click to collapse
Does the app not start for you? You don't need Root, you can grant the permissions via ADB.
cyanGalaxy said:
Does the app not start for you? You don't need Root, you can grant the permissions via ADB.
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Click to collapse
First of all thanks for your answer.
Yes, of course, it doesn't start properly, it shuts down quickly. I gave permissions with adb in OOS11 and it was doing its job really well (Naptime). But after I upgraded to OOS 12, I saw that the following command string "adb -d shell pm grant..." did not work and gave an error. I can't get around this problem, have you tried it? Naptime is a really successful app and OOS needs it.
skyNET said:
First of all thanks for your answer.
Yes, of course, it doesn't start properly, it shuts down quickly. I gave permissions with adb in OOS11 and it was doing its job really well (Naptime). But after I upgraded to OOS 12, I saw that the following command string "adb -d shell pm grant..." did not work and gave an error. I can't get around this problem, have you tried it? Naptime is a really successful app and OOS needs it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What error?
Enable USB debugging, connect your phone to PC, get the Google SDK Platform Tools, open the folder in Terminal, and type the commands exactly as written.
If you are on MIUI, you also have to enable "USB Debugging (Secure Settings)"
cyanGalaxy said:
What error?
Enable USB debugging, connect your phone to PC, get the Google SDK Platform Tools, open the folder in Terminal, and type the commands exactly as written.
If you are on MIUI, you also have to enable "USB Debugging (Secure Settings)"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me show you the simplest with BBS!
skyNET said:
Let me show you the simplest with BBS!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try "adb shell" -> "pm grant ..........."
cyanGalaxy said:
Try "adb shell" -> "pm grant ..........."
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Like this?