Home launcher recommendation: Open Home - XPERIA X10 Themes and Apps

Been using this for nearly a week and I have to say its great. Not too dissimilar from the original home screen but with all the transition animations of 2.1 implimented. Thoroughly impressed and no battery life taking a hit either!
Just thought id let people know!
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Whats is your battery status, as I am using Helix launcher to preserve battery....

No noticed difference. I've typically had good battery life, lasting 2-3 days.
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Related

Battery improvements from returning?

Has anyone experienced significantly better battery life from returning their device for a new one?
1% batter per 1.5 minutes of browsing doesn't seen right to me..
Thanks.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Have you tried calibrating the power gauge? Run the battery until it dies, then turn it on again until it shuts off to be sure, and finally charge it turned off until it's full.
Some say to go eight hours, past the point when it reaches 100%, but I didn't and I still got some significant improvement.
yeah I've done that on two occasions and it showed slight improvement. What kind of battery life do y'all get and with what kind of usage? I can manage about 12-13 hours with push email and twitter, but I was hoping to get something close to an iPhone 4
Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
djgleebs said:
yeah I've done that on two occasions and it showed slight improvement. What kind of battery life do y'all get and with what kind of usage? I can manage about 12-13 hours with push email and twitter, but I was hoping to get something close to an iPhone 4
Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can go from 730am till 10-11pm at night. I use it moderately during the day and I have a twitter widget, facebook widget that update once an hour. I also have the sportstap widget and I think its set to update every 5 mins. I also use the weatherbug widget and not sure how often it updates. Some days at work I use it more (like yesterday) and it basically died right as I was leaving the office at 530pm. So its decent (better than an EVO) but not as good as a Droid X or Droid Incredible.
My friend at work has a droid incredible and he tells me he goes 2-3 days on his. But he's a very light user, mostly just uses it as a phone. The only widget he uses is the sense weather widget and he rarely ever surfs on it, etc.
I came to Captivate/Android from an iphone 2G and with my moderate to heavy use I could go for 2-3 days on it. I absolutely loved the battery life on it.
That sounds a lot more like the battery life I'm getting, thanks for the input.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Battery is absolutely garbage

Am I the only one?
I upgraded to a native android device from a modded HTC HD2 to hopefully have a longer battery experience.
This battery is absolutely trash. My 2 year old HTC HD2 running Sense Android Non-Native ran at almost exactly the same.
I tested my HTC HD2 side by side with a close friend who has an Evo 4g.. Both Devices still being HORRIBLE in battery life performed almost IDENTICAL.
HTC HD2 is TWO YEARS old, why is it so close in performance to our device..
I love the phone in general, it's snappy (once i removed all bloatware).. Boots fast, runs nice.. i have very few complaints about it.
But how does an 1100 MaH battery run the SAME as an 1600 MaH battery?
I thought technology is supposed to improve, but my non native android phone ran almost the same as this one. Took longer to restart/boot up, but general speed is the same, larger screen size.. similar settings, and same battery life. Pisses me off frankly.
That's how I felt. hopefully we will get rom's or gingerbread on this phone soon that will improve battery life. And by gingerbread I mean the leak from Samsung for the i9000. I've been reading reviews and it seems like it Greatly improved battery while speeding up the phone a lot.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
I have to disagree. I've owned may android phones including the evo. This phone has the best battery life in my opinion. I can easily make it almost all day with use without charging
Sent from my DAMN Galaxy 4G¡!
Well like I said, i admittedly abuse the phone.. but I'm comparing to other phones getting equal abuse. It stands up about the same, better yes, but not by much.
If I'm barely using it however.. let's say, mainly just texting, yes it will last all day. But that never really happens.
I love how people admit that they "abuse" the phone all day and then complain that the battery life sucks. If you're going to use your phone that much, bring your usb cord. Or strap a battery pack to yourself and plug it in for "all day" use and abuse.
It's the screen. If you want the super amoled you have to put up with the battery.
What i don't understand is that why the Droid x which has similar specs to our phone can go up to 10 hours of continuous web browsing when our phone/vibrant can only go up to 4 according to tests. Is it because of the screen? If it is then that's just stupid.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
It was horrible for me at first, but I then realized the system has to calibrate the battery first. I am getting about 16-20 hours with moderate usage now, which is better than the G2 I had before.
My g2 can go up to 28 hours with light texting and 2 hours of web browsing through wifi and 10 minutes of calls (manual syncs and low brightness also). Once I use the gps and browse through hspa, it's a different story. My sister has a SGS4G and her battery seems to drain faster than mine.
Oh, and if I keep my phone charged for a while after reaching the 100% mark, it stays at 100% even after 1 hour of heavy browsing and watching videos. I think we should all just assume that the battery meters are inaccurate.
I use juice defender and put my brightness setting on auto and I can literally go all day with "abusing" my phone.
DirtyPISTOLA said:
I use juice defender and put my brightness setting on auto and I can literally go all day with "abusing" my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WHAT? I have brightness on minimum with juice defender and all I get is 8 hours Max. All i really do on this phone is text and play words with friends so its not like i am abusing it or anything.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using XDA App
How did you calibrate thee battery
Sent from my Galaxy 4g using XDA Premium App
let the phone die, to the maximus. meaning once it turns off, turn on again until it doesnt turn on anymore. Now fully charge it, once again when fully charged restart the phone and charge it to 100 again. then let it die again, and full charge. should be fine then
i bought a 3500mah extended battery for my phone. the battery is designed to work with vibrant. it really made my life a lot easier.
I noticed if I set the phone to GSM only, battery lasts almost twice as long. If I'm on auto select (WCDMA/GSM), it lasts from 7AM till about 4PM.
But then again, I don't have a very good 3G/4G reception (or 2G connection for that matter), so my phone is probably working extra hard to find signal all day long.
The new Bali Kernel has shown tremendous battery improvement on my phone. I'm really impressed.
dualkiller said:
The new Bali Kernel has shown tremendous battery improvement on my phone. I'm really impressed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here.
I used to only have dark wallpapers and take all the other extra steps for my battery to make it through the work day, and as soon as i got home i had to charge it.
I'm now running fireflies live wallpaper, abusing the phone a little more then what i used to, and i still have battery to spare, not by the time i get home, but by the time i go to bed!!
i also have installed bali. seems to do well, as said its all about the brightness.
My problem with this phone is that wifi uses way too much battery. I have it to turn off when phone is asleep but i'll have the phone at 100% with wifi on. Put it on sleep. 4 hours later. battery is at 65%.
If i have wifi turned off. Battery will be at 98%.

Go Launcher Battery Drain?

Hi,
I'm currently on the Deck RC7 ROM, and loving the 2.3.3 gingerbread. I'm getting pretty good battery life, at around 14-15 hours of usage before charge, using Tiamat 3.3.4. I like the Go Launcher but I noticed that when I use it, I get around 8-9 hours, so I think it's causing battery drain. Thing is I can't tell from Spare Parts of from the About Battery screen.
I just wanted to ask to see if any one of you are using Go Launcher and seeing similar battery drain issues also.
Thank you.
I love the go launcher however it does kill the battery very fast.
Go launcher drains the battery on my x10 like a constant slurp of a straw and find I show the go launcher to friends for the wow phone factor then secretly switch to ADW or launcher pro to double my spare battery time. I don't use many widgets in go launcher either but maybe someone has found a solution.
I'm not having any battery problems with the go launcher. I actually have the set CPU to overclock to 1.1ghz and then 700mhz after i turn off the screen. It has saved my battery after heavy use. I'm doing a 30-day battery screenshot challenge as we speak with my buddy and I'm getting 17-18 hours average on moderate use. So far i see no battery drop in neither launcher pro, launcher 7 nor go launcher.
By moderate i mean 2000+ text messages and about 1gb of data per month
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Juice Defender... search on market, thank me later! I get 16-24+ hrs from a stock battery!

Clock widget?

I downloaded a clock widget to put on my home screen, I guess to make it nicer, does that kill battery?
The battery on this phone is so bad right now, I have to worry about every single, minute thing to keep my battery alive!
Mikeglongo said:
I downloaded a clock widget to put on my home screen, I guess to make it nicer, does that kill battery?
The battery on this phone is so bad right now, I have to worry about every single, minute thing to keep my battery alive!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never found a clock widget to effect battery much unless it had a weather widget that went along with it.
As far are your battery have you tried the factory reset, deleting your battery stats, and killing all unnecessary services?
Well I tried it on my first phone, and then exchanged it for bleeding issues. Didn't really see it work, but maybe I didn't give it time? And I don't use a taskkiller, I use Juicedefender. I heard most of the task killers are horrible for the battery, and I use Go Launcher's task manager for killing honestly but not a lot.
Honestly, I went to ebay and bought spare batteries just in case of an emergency. I literally wake up at 8:30 and get really low battery by 1:30, without doing much on the phone. Basically texting, but isn't texting so basic? Why would that kill the battery so easily.
Mikeglongo said:
Well I tried it on my first phone, and then exchanged it for bleeding issues. Didn't really see it work, but maybe I didn't give it time? And I don't use a taskkiller, I use Juicedefender. I heard most of the task killers are horrible for the battery, and I use Go Launcher's task manager for killing honestly but not a lot.
Honestly, I went to ebay and bought spare batteries just in case of an emergency. I literally wake up at 8:30 and get really low battery by 1:30, without doing much on the phone. Basically texting, but isn't texting so basic? Why would that kill the battery so easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just turn ur auto sync off and use edge or no data as much as possible and ur battery time will double easily...
Beautiful Widgets
Or
Battery doctor have Widgets and good settings to make switches fast n easy
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
Yeah Rich good point about the 2g/edge but what's the point of a smartphone if this battery is going to die so quickly, I miss my blackberry then without having to charge it at all during the day! Oh well, spare battery is where it's at, plus I might have to get a toggle widget. That'll do hopefully
Mikeglongo said:
Well I tried it on my first phone, and then exchanged it for bleeding issues. Didn't really see it work, but maybe I didn't give it time? And I don't use a taskkiller, I use Juicedefender. I heard most of the task killers are horrible for the battery, and I use Go Launcher's task manager for killing honestly but not a lot.
Honestly, I went to ebay and bought spare batteries just in case of an emergency. I literally wake up at 8:30 and get really low battery by 1:30, without doing much on the phone. Basically texting, but isn't texting so basic? Why would that kill the battery so easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well there is def something wrong with either your phone or your battery because I use my phone quite a bit during the day and after 5 hours I'm never under 50% I hope you didnt buy a knock off battery because those are horrid.
Straight from China. Exact same battery almost, my co-worker uses them and they are legit.
Well then I had problems with my phone 3 times then, because this is my 3rd g2x with a battery life so horrible.
Hmmm. Just dont be surprised if you get some funky behavior while using those batteries. They're usually way lower mah than they state and can randomly shut off and such. Just keep an eye out.
LG G2x
Will cm7, or the new update help battery life?
Possibly. No one will know till cm7 matures and oat updates from lg come out.
via LG G2x
Be careful adding Beautiful Widgets on your G2x. I have found a very odd compatibility issue. Causes calls not to go through sporadically. Not sure it is ONLY this application but it definitely does not happen when I uninstall.
Mikeglongo said:
I downloaded a clock widget to put on my home screen, I guess to make it nicer, does that kill battery?
The battery on this phone is so bad right now, I have to worry about every single, minute thing to keep my battery alive!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Poorly coded clock widgets are often cause for drained batteries, together with default 3minute refresh cycles on twitter clients, together with market killing your battery in 2 hours because you allowed autoupdate on a bad connection, causing it to retry, retry, retry.....
Instead of researching which clock widget didn't drain your battery, just accept not to use one.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

Extreme measures for better battery life

I finally decided I would take some extreme measures to aide the BL of my Androids. I have an HTC Inspire and HTC HD2 with Nexus S Android. The HD2 isn't all that bad...much better BL than the Inspire, but I wanted to apply this measure to both phones. Will it help? Only time will tell.
I started by removing all screen widgets. Then I sorted the screen icons so that a minimum of homescreens were needed...got it down to 2 homescreens. Then I deleted all widgets without apps not able to be opened through an icon. Then I went into Applications manager and cleared and stopped all non-used apps and services. I also deleted all duplicate services such as OEM email accounts and their associated syncing....using add-in apps for them. (example: built-in apps and widgets like Facebook, Twitter are uninstalled or disabled and am using another combining app like Seesmic. Same goes for the email app)
What I currently have is an Android iPhone. I'm using only icons on the 2 homescreens. And this makes me understand why Apple refuses to use widgets and stick with icons...to preserve BL. I hope this will improve the BL of my Androids because it is purely horrendous. And it is horrendous with all Androids I've tried and used.
Until the recently announced battery tech breakthrough is made available, this might have to be how Android is used from now on. But I doubt these extreme measures will actually help.
What is the difference between a widget and an application?
An application is a single, whole program package that is loaded into the phone. Examples would be Tapatalk, the default Calculator, and Angry Birds.
An application can have one or more widgets in it -- a widget is an interactive thing you can place on the home screen. It can give you information, and you can tap on it to change what it says. A good example of that would be Beautiful Widgets, or the little Android guy that tells you about how to use your new phone.
Sent from my Wildfire S
@Marty, how long was your battery lasting prior to the "Extreme Makeover"? Mine currently will last me 2 days. Admittedly, I've not loaded a lot of stuff on the phone yet, and I have the power saver mode start at 70%...but I only need to recharge every other day.
My desire lasts around 2 days with moderate usage. But on a good day (read: many boring moments), it's completely depleted by the end of the day. My biggest battery drainer is whatsapp, if I uninstall the app my battery will last a LOT longer.
If i really need my phone to last for a long time (when Im on a big trip or on a festival) I always use JuiceDefender with a very strict setting. This is a big help, but not for everyday use
whats the point? Where ever you sleep you have access to a plug/usb w/e so whats the big deal ? how hard is it to charge the phone every night? even thought my galaxy s2 hold battery for 40hrs+ i never need that :|
Ive dont the same thing, I also found some build prop and init.d tweaks that improve battery life.
my brightness is always at minimum, i have only one widget,
My battery could last two days BUT i use my phone a lot. like its on for 7 hours with 4.5 hrs screen on.
grudas said:
whats the point? Where ever you sleep you have access to a plug/usb w/e so whats the big deal ? how hard is it to charge the phone every night? even thought my galaxy s2 hold battery for 40hrs+ i never need that :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hilarious.
ther have been many apps and disucssions on BL. heres some common tips.
screen to lowest brightness possible setting. background data always off unless using market. disable -use wireless networks- options, no gps, no location. also turn off *back up my data*. wifi always off not in use. screeen timeout no more than 2 minutes. turn off animations and transitions. setcpu with moderate settings (if you can do a screen off profile it will be beneficial but beware Sleep of Death.) no live wallpapers. minimum widgets or none. minimum homescreens or 1. startup manger. adfree. location cache app. and battery calibration to get the most juice.
the issues seems to be alot with hardware the Htc inspire and HD2 have 1250 Mah Batteries , which are very small.
If some people are just like me... I can kill at 1800mah battery in 5 hours even at full charge...
I do everything on my smartphone. So anything to save the battery is a good way.
I have the Galaxsy S II and I've managed to drain the battery in 6hours of usage and since I'm not near a power source most of the time then yeah I need all the juice....
I don't sit in an office or am near a power source 80% of the time. I usually carry 2 spare batteries with me and a charger for them just in case.
Cheers! (Extreme power user).
grudas said:
whats the point? Where ever you sleep you have access to a plug/usb w/e so whats the big deal ? how hard is it to charge the phone every night? even thought my galaxy s2 hold battery for 40hrs+ i never need that :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
grudas said:
whats the point? Where ever you sleep you have access to a plug/usb w/e so whats the big deal ? how hard is it to charge the phone every night? even thought my galaxy s2 hold battery for 40hrs+ i never need that :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whats the point??
Here is my daily usage :
Alarm goes off at 6:30am (phone gets unplugged)
Blahblah (at work) reply to emails and messages throughout the day, on twitter A LOT (plume premium)
2 calls approx 30 mins each
Play some games at break and lunchtime (Drag racing KILLS my battery, a bit of plants vs zombies, grave defence HD and maybe some pinball deluxe)
more emails and twitter
another 20min call
a little more gaming while im waiting on customers (1hr or so??)
6pm go home for 6:30pm
BAM! battery is at 10-20% and i need to plug it in again.
this is a typical 12hr day for me and im sure others have longer days and i would appreciate not having to rush home (sometimes) if im expecting a call.
so as far as im concerned anything which will save some precious battery on my devices is appreciated.
btw i have reduced my homescreens to 3 and only have 2 widgets running and that has made a great difference to my battery life (esp. on the DHD)
Irvysan
Basically kill factory and carrier bloatware and you are getting better.
One thing I was amazed about was the eBook reader that comes with our Galaxy Tabs, and suppose others too.. it always working even if you dont have or use it.
And remember, the screen is what takes most out of your BL, always. Lower brightness? Get a better ROM with no bloatware and maybe undervolt the screen.
Homescreens dont change a bit. Widgets do, if they update a lot.. more than that notification stuff do. Like if you use a antivirus or antisomething, just check of notifications.. check of any unneeded notifications.
Vibration theorically is what consumes the most.. but since its not as used as the screen, you dont even compare them. But every little bit helps. Check off keyboard clicks and hepatic feedback - vibrations.
Wifi, bluetooth, data... don't actually consume much.. actually it's better if you leave a service stable on, than keep sleeping and switching it. So leave wifi always on, no sleep policy. But when you go out turn it of so it doesnt keep scanning all the time (unless you want to ).
Just like any PC, the more you install.... Just check what you got going on, learn how to check processes and services that keep on all the time, and there are some utils to help stop some crap from starting up. I use ROM Toolbox and Autostarts.. some stuff get activated just because you plug you device to charge!
DONT use task killers... dont let anything like that keep running... and no, GMail push notifications wont use any batt. Maybe pop/imap emails always pollling will use some.. but probably nothing compared to the examples above.
Cheers for my 2 cents.
EDIT: and after Xmas, remove those animated wallpapers!
Is Juice Defender a task killer? Not really sure what is it but I've been wondering about that.
Juice Defender Ultimate has been giving me about a 1/3 more time with screen on max. Why is my screen on max, because I was trying to drain the phone. It's on about 40% now which is still pretty bright. I wouldn't be mad to get more life but I think 20+ hrs with moderate use isn't bad. I think the most I did was search the net about 4 hours total. But I was also, customizing, so it the screen was lit for a while.
This is a TMO GSII I'm talking about.
There are a ton of things you can do, but the truth of it all is that our 3G/4G radios pull so hard they drain the battery, which is why you were on the right track when you disable active since, Facebook and Twitter.
The main two things I do, is
1. add a widget for turning off 3G or 4G (If its in your area).
2. Installed Startup Manager ( it disables startup programs in the unseen background, (my phone is rooted)).
by doing these two things I am able to get 17hrs+ on a standard HTC EVO 4G battery. Keep in mind the more you use the Internet the more it will drain your battery. So I only turn the internet connection on when I need it or the app needs it.
*I also only use one screen and remove unnecessary widgets but I find that doesn't help the battery life all that much, (my personal Preference)
*When I or my sons game on my phone I put it on Airplane more which turns off all Radios including the Phone (call/text)
*Drawback to turning 3G off, you have to wait a few second for the internet to come back on and MMS won't download through your messenger unless have it one.
I've been off the charge for 8hrs and my battery life is still at 65%
Sorry to be long winded but if I know anything its battery life
Completely agree. What's the point. Either you don't use your phone for ANYTHING, and watch the battery last for 2 weeks (literally), or you use it so heavily that it lasts only 2 hours....
I was sick recently, and as such couldn't use my phone (I couldn't open my eyes without getting dizzy, and even closed.... still was). Suddenly my HTC Inspire 4G used only 20% of the battery in 10 hours. The previous day, heavy mail, "friendstream" (HTC's facebook/twitter/etc app/widget), listening to music (well, audiobooks) for about 8 hours, and I had only 20% left. And i've found that overclocking the phone to 1.3GHz helps more than any other tweak.
Don't get me wrong, I'm obsessive about using my phone *and* getting awesome battery life out of it. But the ONLY way to true "maximize" your battery life is to *minimize* your usage. But then you might as well buy a feature phone.
And I know a few people with iPhones. a 3GS and a 4 and a 4S. They don't get any better battery life than I do. Heck, they get worse. Even under the same type of usage.
For me, the problem isn't the usage, isn't what's running, or what's loaded (but it does help/hurt). The problem is that battery technology has NOT kept up with consumer needs, or IT development. Your battery is dying as soon as it leaves the factory. Your battery is dying every time you change it. Especially when it gets hot. your battery dies faster when it's cold outside. We need better energy storage medium. Period.
Buy the biggest battery I can find on eBay....
Use the fsck out of my phone all day and have plenty of battery left.
Problem solved.
Drashna said:
We need better energy storage medium. Period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
<<<< What he said
I don't think the use of WiFi could be overstated.
On my Skyrocket, leaving Wifi on (indoors), it'll sip about 1% every hour. I go out and have 4G LTE on, it drinks up about 3% every hour.
Minimizing widgets also helps. I saw noticeably better battery after removing my facebook and Latitude widgets.
The screen also sucks up the most battery. Turn it off on every occasion. Just turning it off instead of letting it shut off by itself has made a difference for me.
Drashna said:
For me, the problem isn't the usage, isn't what's running, or what's loaded (but it does help/hurt). The problem is that battery technology has NOT kept up with consumer needs, or IT development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery technology has kept up with usage. However, battery size in relation to the power draw, has not.
Compare the size of the back cover on your phone, with the size of the battery. Why is the battery this tiny little 2" square, when the phone is 5" tall and 2.5" wide? Why aren't batteries the same height/width as the phone? Why isn't the battery the same size as the back cover? Why aren't phone manufacturers optimising the size of the battery (meaning, making it as big as possible)?
It would be so nice if phone manufacturers would stop with this stupid "race to the thinnest" crap, and started:
- releasing phones that are actually comfortable to hold like a phone
- releasing phones with batteries larger than a pack of matches
your battery dies faster when it's cold outside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, keeping a battery cool makes it last longer, not drain faster.

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