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It's hard to describe what Tasker can do, as there's not much it can't do. I try to describe it like a high-level interface to the Android API. You can adjust hoards of Android settings programmatically based on Events (application, time, date, location, event, gesture).
Personally, I do some of the following:
Passively upload my GPS location to my website every 10m
Have the phone get fairly loud when I'm a home
Quiet when I'm at work
Nearly Muted when I'm in a meeting (matches a Calendar event)
Muted with Autosyncing disabled at Night while I sleep
Disable Rotation on my etext reader to work around a bug in the ereader which loses my position in my book when it rotates!
Make the screen brightness and sounds high when I'm running Waze (gps program) on AC power (plugged into car charger)
... more little things!
All of this is done using an easy to use GUI to build matching contexts and a task to execute when matched. There are lots of samples to start with on the website, and very easy to write your own. Basically it's a graphical programming language that anyone could use.
It's on the market as of today, and the website is here: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/
I have zero connection to the author besides an extremely happy user, decided I would post this here because he's exited beta testing and on the market now.
Here's even a few more examples of things that can be done, pasted from the website.. Still only the tip of the iceberg on things it can do:
passcode-lock sensitive applications (e.g. for child safety)
change phone settings by
application: long screen timeout in a book reader
time: screen brightness lower in the evening
location: ringer volume high at the office, turn off ke yguard at home
wake up with a random song from your music collection
Text-to-speech; read out loud: incoming SMS/ phone number, WiFi/Bluetooth status, when it's time for an appointment, when the battery is low etc etc (Android OS 1.6+ only)
launch a music application when your music SD card is inserted, otherwise a file browser
start the day with a particular application showing
change all your home icons and wallpaper every day, or in particular locations
turn the phone upside down to return to the home screen, tilt 90 degrees to the left and back to toggle speakerphone during a call
create a Home widget to
toggle bluetooth/wifi on/off
launch wireless settings dialog
show a menu of tasks to choose
send an emergency SMS with your GPS location
remap camera etc buttons to other applications, or show a menu of applications and/or actions
decrypt/encrypt and/or zip/unzip application data on the fly when an application is launched/exits
pause music playback while in a particular application, restart on exit
change the Home icon for any application
take a time-lapse photo series (possibly 'secretly')
make a regular backup of a file on the SD card
track your phone location via SMS in case of theft
extend the use of the media button on your headset: take a picture from a distance or go to the previous media track with a long press
record call times and destinations to the SD card
show a popup when an SMS arrives from a particular phone number
setup a birthday SMS to be sent months before it happens so you don't forget
record battery levels over time to a file on SD card
make automatic recordings of what you say during phone calls to SD card
during the night, turn on airplane mode to conserve battery/reduce radiation, but turn it off every 15 minutes to check for SMS/voicemail.
setup a vacation SMS message, with different messages for different callers
launch a music application when headphones are connected
Hrmmm, there's not much reviews for the app. I'm interested in trying out but I wish there was a trial or something.
Vulpix said:
Hrmmm, there's not much reviews for the app. I'm interested in trying out but I wish there was a trial or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't looked at his market version yet, but it shouldn't need validation for 14 days..
He sells it on the market and off of the market. If nothing else you could install it from his website. I'll ask on his forum, it shouldn't require purchasing to use immediately.
Everytime I try it I get a FC when setting up my profiles, and I lose all my changes. Gets annoying fast. I uninstalled and did refund.
Knether said:
Everytime I try it I get a FC when setting up my profiles, and I lose all my changes. Gets annoying fast. I uninstalled and did refund.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird, I've seen that like once when I first tried it.. You might want to get on his forums and see what he can do to help fix it, as if you're interested I don't think there's anything else out there that does anywhere close to what Tasker does.
Come to think of it, yes, I did see that maybe 2-3 times, especially when first messing around, but I haven't seen it in weeks, even though I've set up multiple profiles since then. Interesting. You could always set up some stuff, Apply, re-enter the app. At that point it's saved. If it crashes, you won't lose anything. However it'd be good to get logs from alogcat or such to figure out the crash problem.
Awesome.. tasker is too good and much better than locale and setting profiles (though UI could get a bit better)... I've been waiting for it to arrive on the market..
I guess I'm the only person who has troubles with the app.. ::sigh:: I want to love it..
I've actually been using the app for a little over two weeks, and I've found it to be indispensable! GPS drains my battery too fast, so I love coordinating tasks with calendar events in conjunction with network-based location. Not to mention auto starting GPS for specific apps and then shutting GPS back off when I exit said app. There are simply SO many uses for tasker, and its compatible with locale plug-ins.
Btw. Try using Foxy Ring's ambient noise feature to auto adjust ringer volume. It works great when constantly moving from quiet study areas into a loud common room.
Does anyone know how I can set up Tasker to switch to 2G at midnight and then back to 3G/H at 8am?
I have looked throught the options and I can see the settings for 2G, but when I add Time as the 1st context I then can't find anything relating to 2G for the next context.
I understand it's probably just me being thick but if any one could help it would be much appreciated!
Loving this app otherwise, well worth the small fee.
Thanks.
CitizenLee said:
Does anyone know how I can set up Tasker to switch to 2G at midnight and then back to 3G/H at 8am?
I have looked throught the options and I can see the settings for 2G, but when I add Time as the 1st context I then can't find anything relating to 2G for the next context.
I understand it's probably just me being thick but if any one could help it would be much appreciated!
Loving this app otherwise, well worth the small fee.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, Tasker doesn't have a "Default" profile, when a profile ends it returns what settings it changed back to what they previously were.. So if it's H going into your night profile, switch off 3G, then when the profile is over it'll return to H. The big difference here is that most likely you're going to have to run an external program, maybe APNDroid or something, to toggle 2G/3G, as apparently it's not in the API directly and Tasker can't do it. So you have an entry task and an exit task.
Yep, I just looked for apps that can do this, they all launch the option in the menus, can't do it directly... So doing this doesn't seem (directly) possible, but maybe there is something out there.. I just glanced. http://www.cyrket.com/search?q=3g&market=android
Profile
Context: Time 00:00 to 08:00
Enter Task
Run Program APNDroid (?)
Exit Task
Run Program APNDroid (?) (to toggle it back on, since it's not a setting here)
Found a nice review and guide for tasker here:
http://lifehacker.com/5599116/how-to-turn-your-android-phone-into-a-fully+automated-superphone
Looks powerful, and superior to locale.
psych2l said:
Found a nice review and guide for tasker here:
http://lifehacker.com/5599116/how-to-turn-your-android-phone-into-a-fully+automated-superphone
Looks powerful, and superior to locale.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kind feel sorry for Locale Tasker has it 100x over, plus it can use Locale plugins.
I haven't done much digging, but... maybe someone could help me with this one:
I have the Samsung vibrant which does not have a hardware camera button. Would there be a way to use this app to remap the power button when in the camera.app to use it as the shutter button?
Thank you
Anyone else having force closes when trying to set backgrounds for app menus? Don't dig the bland menu background that comes stock in the app.
Great app except the fact it is using 1/4th of my battery for two profiles.
UrbanMuppet said:
Great app except the fact it is using 1/4th of my battery for two profiles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have something misconfigured or you have insanely good battery usage then. I have Tasker using the GPS every 10 minutes, uploading that GPS data to my website. It reminds me every 2 minutes of missed email, phone calls, sms... It goes speakerphone if I flip it on a call. It changes profiles for home, work, work meeting, running GPS in the car... I think I have a profile to wash the dishes too, but I'm waiting on an enhancement from Pent to make that one function.
Seriously, post on his forum with the exact context and task, I bet something is done wrong.
Man I still have difficulty trying to make Tasker do simple things because I'm not really savvy with such stuff...
I have been trying to get Tasker to automagically switch keyboards based on orientation for like a few days now, no luck. I want to have Swype when in portrait mode, and then a custom HiRes keyboard in landscape...
can anyone help with this or if someone has done it already, please lend some advice...
Also, maybe this thread can become the official Tasker profile thread, if not, maybe a sticky with user created profiles?
ImSoHungry said:
Also, maybe this thread can become the official Tasker profile thread, if not, maybe a sticky with user created profiles?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been trying to a place where people dump their profile examples for the inept people who can't work out half the settings, like myself
Tasker works perfectly on my phone: HTC Desire, stock ROM, official Android 2.2 update
My profiles:
Profile: Running Navigation
Context: Application: Load app Sygic
Tasks:
- Misc: GPS ON
- Audio: Set Media Volume to max
- Display: Set Brightness to 200
- Set Speakerphone to ON
Profile: Silencing Hidden Caller-ID
Context: State: Incoming Call
Tasks:
- Audio: Set Ringer Volume to 0 - if %CNUM ~ 0
- Audio: Set Vibrate to OFF - if %CNUM ~0
Note: for the second profile, you need to use at least 1.0.6 beta 5 (%CNUM bug fixed).
I'm hoping this helps out I know with all the hype of the Thunderbolt there's quite a few users new to android that see how people are customizing and wanting to know, and repeat after repeat of questions and bringing a lot of unneeded hostility around here. Feel free to add what ever you guys think is something that is repetitively brought up. I'm running kind of short on sleep, so if I left anything out let me know!
Remember to always follow instructions and SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH before making a new thread
Remember to always Wipe Data/Factory reset/Wipe cache/wipe dalvik cache to insure a clean, fresh bug free install.
Also ALWAYS make a backup of what ever current rom before flashing a new one
Lastly, DO NOT treat the devs with disrespect they are losing sleep/girlfriends/what ever to give us these roms and kernels and everything else for free. If something gets messed up do not come at them with hostility or it will only be returned. The people of XDA will HELP you, but only if you've searched and tried to help yourself first. Also don't forget to donate to the dev's from time to time for their monster/beer/hookers and all their time and effort.
Thunderbolt Root Users Dictionary:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1143188
Back up Date before rooting
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1193901
How To Root your Thunderbolt
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=996616
How to Root via Mac OS
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011623
REVOLUTIONARY ROOTwww.revoultionary.io
Easy Auto Root:(Although this is not the recommended way, I've used it before and had no issues.)
Video guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQYoeFrJ1Jk
Download links
TB Auto-Root : http://www.multiupload.com/NOK55G17MZ
HTC SYNC : http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-and-Shell/Windows/HTC-Sync-81096.shtml
Lost data after rooting? Try these steps
oneders65 said:
This is what I did.
1.) Flashed my phone back to Stock S-ON usine this link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1009423
when you reboot the phone make sure you wait until you get a 3G/4G signal. If you start the process of setting up your phone to quick it will cause your phone not to activate the data connection.
2.) ROOTED my phone and at each boot made sure I had 3G/4G connection before setting up phone. (Downgrade and Upgrade).
3.) This let me keep my data connection all the way through.
Credits
Scotty2, jamezelle, jcase, and all of Team AndIRC
Testers, especially ProTekk and Trident
Thanks to scotty2 for WPThis
Busybox was pulled from a CyanogenMod ROM, source should be available here
psneuter was pulled from somewhere, credit to scotty2, source here
All firmware credit goes to 911sniper
Jaroslav from Android Police for editorial help
dbzfanatic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How To UNROOT your thunderbolt
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1009423&highlight=Un+root
To help decide whether you want Gingerbread or Froyo
Differences between Gingerbread and Froyo
http://androidheadlines.com/2011/01/differences-between-android-2-2-froyo-and-2-3-gingerbread.html
ROMS and Kernels:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1081930
Team Mikmik aka Gingeritis ROMs since people don't know where they went
http://www.themikmik.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=271
I see CyanogenMod around what is that?
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
I installed a GB rom and all my texts time stamps are off
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mattprecious.smsfix&feature=search_result
Activate>use phone time has fixed every issue with this for me!
Radios:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1048128&highlight=radio
Thunderbolt Themes and Apps:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=944
How to help Improve battery life (Courtesy of Guitarchris123):
If you easily get a full day's use with stock settings, then ignore this. But the ThunderBolt is a powerful 1GHz smartphone made by HTC with a fairly small stock battery, large 4.3" screen, LTE capability, and Sense UI, so battery life may be a concern to you. There is no magic app or single technique that will make your battery last all day with heavy use, but if you utilize some of the following tips you WILL notice a significant increase in your battery life. Everyone's use is different, so 6-9 hours on one charge may be enough for some while others need 12-15 hours. Some of these may not be necessary, appropriate, or desirable for all users, so just pick which ones work for your purposes and preferences. You might prefer to keep using some of the particular features mentioned, as the benefit for you might outweigh the minimal savings in battery life. The point of this is to show people how to disable or limit features they don't need, not force them to shut down everything the phone was built to do. Feel free to add your own suggestions as well or ask any questions about the techniques.
1. Settings: (use an app or widget that helps you quickly toggle them, eg. built-in widgets, or from market such as Elixir, Quick Settings, or MySettings)
a. Screen –go to settings/display, turn down Brightness (20-30%), set Timeout to 30 secs, manually turn off by quickly pushing top button when not using anymore (instead of waiting). I have personally found that I like setting timeout at 1 min better, and manually turning off the screen with the top button every time I am done using it before I put it down or away in my pocket, that way it doesn't waste itself timing out or shut off on me when I don't want it to yet.
b. GPS – always turn off when not using, and plug into car charger (or car dock if you have one) during extended use
c. Bluetooth – always turn off when not using
d. 4G – always turn off when not using, only use when you need the speed, (the TB will get a toggle either in an update or in app form at some point, in the meantime there are several methods to accomplish this)
e. Mobile hotspot – always turn off when not using, plug into charger when in use if you can
f. WiFi – turn off when not near a WiFi signal for an extended period of time, but always use when available (faster than 3G, uses less battery), go to settings/wireless & networks/WiFi settings, press menu button and tap Advanced then WiFi Sleep policy and select“Never”, this sounds counter-intuitive, but it actually uses less power because when WiFi sleeps 3G or 4G wakes up to sync, get email, and retrieve other data (WiFi connection disables 3G/4G). Also uncheck Best WiFi Performance if its checked.
2. Background/wallpaper - use a static image instead of a live wallpaper (but these are cool, so use one if you really want to, they only drain for the short amount of time you are looking at the launcher screens). Many say the live wallpaper drain is minimal, but I noticed a significant amount while using a live one so I went to static. Have any of you tried both and noticed much of a difference yet?
3. Window animations – go to settings/sound & display/animation and select“no animations”
4. Keyboard vibration – turn off vibration function (haptic feedback) for when you hit a key (helps with speed too), go to settings/language & keyboard/touch input/text input and uncheck vibrate when typing, you can disable haptic feedback in other areas of the system by going to settings/sound, and uncheck vibrate feedback
5. Notification lights – unless you really want/need to know when something happens on your phone when you are not looking, go to settings/display/notification flash and uncheck all the boxes
6. Vibration – unless you really want this function, go to settings/sound, and uncheck vibrate
7. Monitor battery use - go to menu/settings/about phone/battery use, this will show you what is eating the most battery, uninstall troublesome unneeded app, use Running services widget by going to shortcut/settings (helps identify processes running in the background and foreground), if you want more detail check out SystemPanel in the app market, if you want to be alerted to "rogue" apps check out Watchdog Task Manager in the app market
8. Disable“always-on mobile data”– go to settings/wireless & networks/mobile networks, uncheck “Enable always-on mobile data,”you will still receive emails, texts, and phone calls, as well as internet usage, but it may cause connectivity problems in some third party apps (use manual refresh feature when opening apps to update online data)
9. WiFi and 4G network notifications – go to settings/wireless & networks and uncheck Network notification box (so phone will not constantly scan to look for open networks to tell you about)
10. Background data – if you are not using Google life-management services, go to settings/accounts & sync and uncheck Background data box (so that apps cannot sync, send, and receive data whenever it wants to, even if not currently using them). Add a homescreen shortcut to quickly toggle this (allows you to update/sync only when you want/need to).
11. Auto-sync – uncheck Auto-sync in settings/accounts & sync, or at least limit what apps are set to sync, it is better to manually sync/update/refresh in the app when you open it (set to update at launch), set update/notification frequency (polling schedule), if you do not want to turn off auto sync, just change widget or app update/notification frequency (refresh interval) in settings/accounts & sync to 30 mins or 1-2 hours, or better yet set it to update at launch, useful for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, news, weather, Google apps, and stocks, be sure to manually sync/back up your contacts every once in a while in case you lose your phone or break it
12. Email – change sync option in settings, set email check frequency to 30 mins or 1 hour, or as items arrive, or better yet set it to never and manually refresh when you want to check/read your email
13. Camera app(s) – make sure they are not running in the background when not in use, exit/close when done
14. Video chat app(s) – make sure they are not running in the background when not in use, exit/close when done
15. Streaming app(s) – make sure they are not running in the background when not in use, exit/close when done, try to limit use or plug into a charger during use if you can
16. Google Talk – press Menu then tap All apps/talk/menu/settings and uncheck automatically sign in, make sure you exit the application by going to menu/more and selecting sign out when you are done (exiting the app by pressing home or back keys will not sign you out), if you want to receive IMs just open the application again
17. Adobe Flash Player – open browser, hit menu key, go to settings/enable plug-ins and set it to“On demand”(this way the browser only loads flash content when instructed to do so)
18. Update apps – hit menu key and to go My Apps to check for updates, even if you have selected“update automatically”because some apps require you to manually install updates (apps often get updated to use less power)
19. Location settings (updated) – go to settings/location settings. It is ok to have all of these checked, because it is the apps that use the GPS and consume power, not having these settings selected. GPS is only active when apps using it are in use.
20. Task killer – do not use them, uninstall if you currently have one, can harm phone and consume battery, just use back arrow key to exit apps instead of home key, simply monitor rogue apps instead and uninstall/replace. These are especially bad on pre-installed apps and services (many things rely on each other), so never "auto-kill" or "kill all." If you must use one, only use it on apps that you have installed that are misbehaving, otherwise let Android do it on its own.
21. Anti-virus – do not use them, uninstall if you currently have one, only download and use periodically or when you suspect a problem, do not download suspicious apps (check reviews and rating in market first)
22. Ad blocker – do not use them, uninstall if you currently have one
23. Battery meter accuracy – go to data/system and delete“batterystats.bin”after you have charged your phone to 100%
24. Tasker – can be used to automate settings (eg. based on time of day or app launched)
25. Juice Defender + Ultimate Juice – can be used to automate settings (eg. based on time of day or location)
26. Screebl - keeps backlight on while holding phone in "use" (vertical) position and turns it off when laying flat
27. Rebooting - reboot phone every few days
28. Delete unnecessary apps – determine which apps you do not need or use anymore and uninstall them, determine which apps you keep are causing the most battery drain and see if a comparable replacement from the market will do better
29. Widgets – turn off animations, do not use too many of them (choose them wisely), and delete unnecessary ones, they pull data in the background. At least make the interval/frequency of sync/updates longer for the ones you have. It may be better just to open some apps themselves instead of using the widget. Disable auto-updates on HTC Weather widget or at least set it to every few hours, manually update by tapping update icon on bottom of widget. Note that widgets that display battery, CPU, and memory utilization consume some power because they are polling the system for information.
30. No service – turn off phone or go into Airplane mode when you are in an area that does not have cell service
31. Chargers – have them handy at home, at work, and in car, and plug in when available. Try to get a 1A charger (same as included wall charger), many cheap aftermarket car chargers are only 500mAh and will not be enough to handle the GPS. VZW's car charger is 750mAh.
32. Rooting – (there are a lot more techniques that can be used with a rooted phone, such as removing bloatware and underclocking when then screen is off, but I will save that for a later thread)
33. If all else fails, buy an extended battery or have a spare handy just in case
Update1 - I came across another technique, it sounds a little strange but it apparently came from HTC regarding the EVO...some users appeared to have experienced gains from it:
34. "Calibrate" battery - (1) Turn device ON, charge it for 8 hours (or until LED turns green), (2) unplug and turn it OFF, plug it back in and charge for 1 hour (or until LED turns green), (3) unplug and turn it ON, wait 2 minutes, turn it OFF, plug it back in, and charge for 1 hour (or until LED turns green), (4) unplug it, turn it ON, and use normally. Repeat once a month or so.
Update2 - I found a few more things to suggest
35. Blockbuster app - open app, download update from market, then go to menu/settings and tap "disable movie updates." The app is set to automatically periodically scan for updates by default, and requires the new update to turn this off.
36. Friendstream - delete the widget from your home screen, open app and go to menu/settings and select update when opened. This way it isn't constantly refreshing, but rather only does so when you want to look at it by opening the app.
37. Signal strength - whether 3G, 4G, or WiFi, if whatever you are trying to connect to has a low signal strength the TB's battery will be draining trying to connect. Keep an eye on your connections, and try to be aware of when you are in poor signal areas and toggle off or switch connections if you can. Also keep in mind where your "fringe" areas are (ie. bounces between 3G/LTE/1X)
38. Apps - not all 3rd party apps are optimized for the TB, be sure to read reviews/ratings in the market to see what problems other users have had with them. Monitor your apps to see if any of them are hogging system resources (eg. CPU, RAM) and draining your battery, and delete or replace them accordingly. And remember to set the sync/update/notification frequency at longer intervals in settings within the apps that connect to the internet frequently.
39. Power saver - go to settings/power, and check enable power saver, the go to power saver settings and tweak (basically does a lot of the things we've talked about here for you automatically when you get low on battery, in case some things are left on or on higher settings than needed)
Another Battery Saver 3g/4g toggle switch:
https://market.android.com/details?id=net.andirc.lteonfoff&feature=search_result
What is SetCPU and where do I get it?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=505419
Just because it's free doesn't mean you shouldn't donate a little something to the dev!
Commonly used widgets
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=761517
How do I customize my home page and change the docks and such?
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.adw.launcher&feature=search_result
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.fede.launcher&feature=search_result
This is a nice and concise introduction. I needed this last week!
Upvoted for the phrase "beer and hookers."
One stop shop very nice!!!!....
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Thanks for that. I am going to have my wife read this so she can understand more on what to do with her phone, since it is not rooted and still has all that bloatware.
My phone is rooted and I have been testing with 4gLTE off/on, and seriously gained 5 hours when 4gLTE was turned off.
17-18 Hours Almost made it to 19 hours - 4gLTE off - This is with moderate use call/text/IM and some gameplay.
13-14 Hours - 4gLTE on - This is the same as above.
Trying now to talk my wife into letting me root her phone, but alas it is her phone and her choice.
Also if you want to update there is a 4G/LTE app in the Marketplace for the toggle - just search in the Market - LTE - it will show up as a Red Lightning bolt in a grey Circle.
Excellent post!
scubaskm said:
Thanks for that. I am going to have my wife read this so she can understand more on what to do with her phone, since it is not rooted and still has all that bloatware.
My phone is rooted and I have been testing with 4gLTE off/on, and seriously gained 5 hours when 4gLTE was turned off.
17-18 Hours Almost made it to 19 hours - 4gLTE off - This is with moderate use call/text/IM and some gameplay.
13-14 Hours - 4gLTE on - This is the same as above.
Trying now to talk my wife into letting me root her phone, but alas it is her phone and her choice.
Also if you want to update there is a 4G/LTE app in the Marketplace for the toggle - just search in the Market - LTE - it will show up as a Red Lightning bolt in a grey Circle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, very good! I forgot about the toggle switch. Added and thanked!
Lots of good info, thanks
Awesome, thanks for the tips, should make my experience better.
This is a great post!! I def used some of the battery saving techniques.
Awesome information - wish I would have found this when I first bought my Thunderbolt... better to learn from others than trial and error method sometimes. lol
Thank you for the info... Somw i knew some i didn't... Great one stop for quick reminder..
Sent from my A05PTH3ORYB0LT using Tapatalk
Good stuff. Thank you.
Great post. Just one question. Why do ad-blockers use more battery? Wouldn't it decrease data use and thus battery since it prevents ads from being downloaded?
Thanks for the info!!
def a one stop shop. thank you. info much needed.
Sorry kind of falling behind on updates. Anyone think anything needs to be added???
ScoobarSTI said:
Sorry kind of falling behind on updates. Anyone think anything needs to be added???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
may want to add in the "how to unroot for people who used revolutionary" thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1310014&highlight=revolutionary
Rooted with revolutionary...lost my gps CM7 ROM
Rooted my TB...with revolutionary, installed CM7 ROM. Now my gps doesn't work. Any ideas. Any advice?
I think CM7 has issues with GPS.
Thanks !!
Using Juice Defender lets me go a day and a half without charging. It's awesome !
General Guide to Maximizing Your Android Phone’s Battery Life
You’re no doubt reading this article because you’ve got a shiny new Android phone, but there’s just one problem: you’re so addicted that the battery runs out on a daily basis. Instead of putting the phone down, let’s maximize the battery life.
Saving your battery life isn’t rocket science—the general principle is to get rid of the things that are draining the battery the most, and trim down other things that you need to use, but maybe can tweak a little. Keep reading for the full explanation.
Use Android’s Built-in Battery Usage Screen
There’s a screen built into Android that most casual users probably don’t even know about, and it can tell you exactly what is killing your battery. Head into Settings –> About Phone –> Battery use to see what has been killing your battery life.
From this screen, you can usually see what apps are the worst offenders, and you will probably notice that the biggest problem—at least, the biggest one that we can fix—is actually the backlight on the phone. Personally I’d prefer to talk less to other humans, but that isn’t always an option!
Note: on my phone, I’ve already configured the backlight to not be very bright—normally that number would be a lot higher.
Adjust the Backlight to be Less Bright
Since we’ve already determined that the backlight is usually the biggest problem, you should probably adjust the settings. Head into Settings –> Display –> Brightness, where you can choose to automatically adjust, which usually works fairly well, or you can just turn the brightness down to the lowest acceptable level.
You should make sure that the screen timeout value is set to turn off quickly as well.
Disable Your Wi-Fi When You Don’t Need It
Wi-Fi can really speed up accessing data on your phone, but it can also be a big drain on the battery if you don’t need it enabled, especially when you are out and about… The phone will try and scan for a wireless network even though you may not want it to.
To enable Airplane mode, you can head into Settings –> Wireless & networks–> Airplane mode.
You can easily toggle the Wi-Fi on or off with a widget or shortcut—there’s a built-in widget included in Android phones, or you can use the AnyCut or BetterCut utilities to create your own shortcuts to directly turn them on or off without requiring a widget.
Disable Bluetooth if You Don’t Use It
If you aren’t using a wireless headset, there’s no reason to have Bluetooth running all the time, and you should probably cut it off to save the battery life. If you never use it at all, head into Settings –> Wireless & networks–> Bluetooth.
You can also enable or disable the Bluetooth when you do need it, using the power widget.
Use the Power Widget to Easily Toggle GPS, Bluetooth, Wireless, and Screen Brightness
Android includes a built-in Power Widget that can easily toggle these settings on or off—just long press on the background of one of your screens, choose Widget –> Power Control to add it to the screen. You’ll notice in this example screenshot that I’ve got my GPS enabled but I’m not using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth at the moment—the icon all the way on the right lets you easily toggle the screen brightness settings.
This is probably the simplest and easiest thing that you can do to save your battery without having to dig into the settings all the time.
Disable Apps that Sync Constantly
The built-in Email application (not the Gmail one, which uses Push technology) can suck the battery badly, because it syncs on a too-regular basis, especially when you have lots of accounts—each one of them is set to sync every 15 minutes. You’d be better off setting it up to sync manually, but if you want it to sync automatically, you should set it to sync less frequently.
Open up the Email application, head to your account, and choose Account settings –> Email check frequency from the menu. Change this to something more like an hour… or never. You can always hit refresh manually when you want to read your email.
The same thing holds true for other accounts, like Twitter clients, which are even less important to update all the time. For Seesmic, you can head into Settings –> Background Updates from the main screen. For the official Twitter app, the settings are similar.
The Facebook application polls automatically in the background, and you can customize the refresh interval for that as well—if you don’t need Facebook updating all the time, you should set this value as high as possible.
From the main Facebook screen—the one with the icons—head into Settings –> Refresh interval from the menu.
Disable the GPS Location Features
One of the biggest battery sucking features on my droid is the GPS… When I have navigation going, the battery dies far too fast, so I end up having to keep it plugged in the whole time I am driving. This makes sense… but what you might not know is that a lot of other applications use the GPS as well.
You can also change the GPS to use wireless networks, and uncheck the option for Use GPS satellites—this will make the GPS a little less accurate, but it will save your battery. Note that you probably want the real GPS enabled if you’re using Google Maps Navigation.
Additionally, you should turn off the geolocation features in your Twitter client, weather application, or whatever other apps that you really don’t need them in. If you want to keep it enabled, that’s great, just realize that it does drain the battery, so uncheck this option to help.
Use a Task Manager to See What is Always Running
It is a wise decision to have a copy of Advanced Task Cleaner or a similar application installed on your phone to help you kill applications that don’t need to be running, but more so that you can see what exactly is launching itself repeatedly in the background. You can setup an auto-kill list for applications you don’t use that often—make them cut off when you shut off the screen, or after an interval.
Note: If you’ve configured your application settings to not pull down lots of data or do checking in the background, it’s not quite as important to keep tasks killed all the time—that’s really what kills your battery, not having them sitting idle.
You can also configure advanced task manager to show you CPU usage for each app, which is a more useful meter than memory usage when it comes to battery life.
Disable or Remove Applications That You Aren’t Using
Once you have identified the application that you don’t want running all the time, check in the settings to see if it can be removed from running in the background. Some applications will give you an option for notifications that can be turned off if you don’t need them, making the application not check in the background so often.
It should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway—you should remove the apps that you don’t need anymore, especially the ones that are draining your battery as determined from the android battery panel or task manager. Head into Settings –> Applications –> Manage Applications and then you can click the Uninstall button for an app.
Disable Home Screen Widgets You Don’t Need
If you’ve got loads of widgets that are pulling data from the web, that means they are likely pulling down data in the background all the time. You should try not to go overboard with these, or remove the ones you don’t actually need.
Disable Animated Wallpaper
Yeah, that sweet animated wallpaper doesn’t help your battery any. Get rid of it for a small extra battery savings.
Use APNDroid to Kill Your Entire Data Connection When You Don’t Need It
If you’re using a phone that’s on the AT&T or T-Mobile networks, you can use the APNDroid utility to kill your data connection entirely with a simple widget. It doesn’t work on Verizon phones in my testing. It’ll disable the data but still allow regular calls and SMS.
Keep the Battery from Getting Too Hot
One of the quickest ways to kill a battery is to leave it out in the sun—try and keep your phone somewhere that isn’t too hot whenever possible. You’ll end up needing to replace the battery a lot quicker if you don’t.
Additional Notes
There’s a number of other things you can do to extend your battery life a bit—one of which is to use a rooted phone and install the Autostarts utility, which you can use to keep applications from launching themselves automatically. Since this isn’t something you can do on a stock phone, we’re not covering how to do it here.
You can also use an application called Tasker to automate certain actions, like turning on or off the GPS or Wi-Fi when you launch a particular application, or scheduling a time of day to make sure that Wi-Fi is disabled. Lifehacker has a great guide to using Tasker to automate your phone, and they also explain how to use a configuration to scale back data usage at night.
Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/25319/complete-guide-to-maximizing-your-android-phones-battery-life/
Other battery tips that useful for you^
1. Things You Should Know About Lithium Ion Battery
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1168036
2. Advanced Tricks for Saving Battery (it Works)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189755
<<< Please click on "Thanks" if you found this post helpful, your thanks are very much appreciated >>>
Thanks, very usefull information
As an addendum.
If you have an OLED device, apps with black backgrounds are much more power efficient. Therefore, switching your background wallpaper to something darker will help battery life.
Screen size is a major factor too, smaller screen, more power efficient.
I do 2 days with my S2, easily.
The list should get a better layout, but the provided information are good - thank you!
Another option for editing the syncing in applications are to go into your main settings, the accounts & sync. There it should list he apps that sync and you can change them from there rather than finding each app individually.
Mh, I only see a list of the connected accounts but no list of apps.
Sticky This!
Nice clear guide
One issue I have now is with Sense 3 ported onto an original HTC Desire.
It has a bigger memory footprint than the stock Sense 1, and the memory cleanup function seems too aggressive, causing it to flush & reload too often, causing big CPU use.
Is there a way to tune memory `harvesting` to be less aggressive for specific apps in stock Gingerbread ?
You could try this app:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rs.autokiller
Yeah - I'm aware of the various task-killer 3rd party apps.
In my experience they often tend to lead to greater battery consumption as they over-ride the already pretty efficient gingerbread memory management.
I was hoping for a setting inbuilt to GB to just set residence priority higher on the single Sense task.
tune memory `harvesting` to be less aggressive
kuraikaze said:
Nice clear guide
One issue I have now is with Sense 3 ported onto an original HTC Desire.
It has a bigger memory footprint than the stock Sense 1, and the memory cleanup function seems too aggressive, causing it to flush & reload too often, causing big CPU use.
Is there a way to tune memory `harvesting` to be less aggressive for specific apps in stock Gingerbread ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try out "autokiller memoery optimizer". It is a tool to change the value in the android underneath "low memory kill level". Maybe your current "low memory kill level" is too high (e.g. 250, means android will close your app when ur RAM is below 250). You can set it lower so android won't kill your apps too soon.
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It fine tunes android systems inner memory manager to keep your device fast over time.
- As a side effect it also lowers battery consumption.
- At certain free memory level (e.g. 250mb), the android os will automatically close those apps not in use (according to original android os logic)
copy from another thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1189755
Very useful thanks for the info...
Thank you
Thanks.
Nice guide. Thanks.
Thanks
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Thanks for this info. I have noticed that on my phone there is no direct way to close applications. Some application close when I use my back button but a lot just stay in memory. I would assume pressing the home button while an application is open will push it to the background. There seem to be no universal close button for applications other than using some application?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I doubled my battery life with this info. good stuff
thank you for your information,,, i will try it and hope it can solve my phone with battery problem,,,
Hi friends !!! i have written this thread in order to tell you how to get better battery life for your android phone . this always works for me !!!!
1. Find out where the power's going
The first step in prolonging your battery life is to find out which apps and components are using the power.
Press the Menu key, tap Settings, scroll to the bottom of the Settings menu and tap About Phone. Tap Battery Use in this menu to see what's eating the charge.
The chart at the top shows how long the phone's been off the charger and plots the rate of power drain over time. Tap any item in this menu for details and, if available, suggestions on how to cut its power use.
2. Use the screen wisely
For almost all users, the display is the biggest single drain on the battery. From the Settings menu tap Display to see the options. Tap Screen Timeout and set a short timeout to ensure that the screen goes dark when you aren't actively using the phone.
The Display menu has two options for controlling brightness; tap Brightness to select a constant screen brightness or to enable automatic adjustment to suit the ambient light. Tick 'Power saving mode' to have the brightness also vary to suit the image on the screen. You can improve things further by tapping the power button whenever you're finished with the phone, which instantly turns off the screen.
3. Turn off what you're not using
Radio interfaces help to make smart phones truly smart but they also suck up the battery's power. Drag the Notification bar down from the top of the screen to quickly toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS.
Leave Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off unless you're actively using them.
GPS can often stay off too, but try to turn it on a few minutes before you'll actually need it -- on many phones this speeds up getting an initial position, meaning less time spent faffing with the screen and burning even more battery power.
4. Running apps drain the battery
It's easy to use the Home button to get from an app back to the Home screen, but doing so leaves the app running in the background. That may be what you want, but if not, the app will be sipping needlessly away at the battery. Quit apps properly by pressing Back until you return to the Home screen.
If you've quit all applications but something still seems to be draining the battery, enter the Settings menu, choose Applications and tap Manage Applications. Tap Running to list all the running apps and services -- tap an item for the option to stop it. Restart the phone to close all manually-started apps in one go.
5. Watch out for widgets
Widgets can be useful, but many -- such as news tickers or weather forecasters -- need processing time and data downloads to stay updated.
Resist the urge to festoon your home screens with widgets -- create application shortcuts instead and only run them when you need them.
While we're on the subject, Android's live wallpapers might look cool, but they're a constant drain on resources. If power's an issue, swap them for a decent gallery picture.
6. Email can wait
If something's urgent, people normally call, so it's safe to save power by checking for email less often.
Start Android's Email app and tap an account, then press the Menu key, tap More and choose Account settings. Tap Email Check Frequency and choose Every Hour, then repeat for any other mail accounts.
You can do the same in many social media applications, such as TweetDeck.
7. Go easy on video and games
Android phones make great radios, music or movie players, but video playback is one of the biggest possible drains on a phone's battery.
It might sound obvious, but don't get carried away with iPlayer on the morning commute if you need your phone to last until you get home again.
The same goes for Angry Birds, Stair Dismount or any other game -- levelling up can leave you powerless.
8. Try a third-party power app
The Android system does many things to manage power use but there are third-party apps that do more. JuiceDefender is one of the best examples -- there's a free version in Android Market.
JuiceDefender works automatically to keep power use down and you can tailor the settings to be more aggressive if needed.
The Plus and Ultimate versions add more features, but check first that the free version works on your phone.
9. In an emergency
With 15 per cent charge remaining, Android's low battery warning pops up and it's time for drastic action. Immediately head for the notifications bar and turn off as many options as possible.
With that done, hold in the power button and turn off Data network mode. Now exit all non-essential apps, return to the Home screen and turn the screen off.
From this point onwards, it's best to treat your smart phone as just a phone. Leave it alone unless there's a call or text to answer and you'll save enough power for when you really need it.
10. Never pass up the opportunity to charge
You never know when you might need a three-hour phone call or a gaming marathon, so it pays to top up your battery when you can. Invest in a USB adaptor for the car and buy a Micro-B USB cable that you can use to grab a top-up from any spare USB port. Obviously, perhaps, charging is quicker with the phone off.
If using your handset as a modem, tether it with USB rather than creating a wireless access point so you can charge at the same time. If your laptop supports it, configure its USB ports to provide power even when it's switched off so you can boost your phone.
Finally, if even all of these tips can't get your phone through the day, buy a second battery for backup .
I am sure this thread helped you . do give me your feedback .
regards ,
Hussain .
btu simply using n app like the easy task killer or the advanced task killer can simplify the work.
just a suggestion.
There are a few things I don't care for in my new SG5. Hoping someone could help:
- Default applications won't stick. For instance I have several different applications that could open to make a phone call (Phone, Talkatone, skype, etc). It doesn't matter which one I select they always pop up for me to select again.
- When battery level is down (I think around 10%) it automatically turns down the brightness level (wayyyyy down. I can barely see it) and disables the brightness control in notification bar. It also disables camera altogether (not just flash). I would like to be able to decide what I want to use those last minutes of juice for. Maybe instead of my phone extending the battery so I can make a call I would like to use that juice to take an important picture. In the past I've only seen the flash disabled, now it's the ability to use the camera altogether.
- Is there anyway to get rid of the quick connect and S finder buttons on the pulldown notification bar?...and while at it is there a way to get rid of the toggles altogether or at least make them way smaller. I like a clean notification bar. To me this is just clutter.
- The ultra power saving mode is cool, but I wish you could make it so it automatically goes into that mode under certain conditions (i.e. when the screen is turned off or when the battery falls below a certain threshold). In addition I wish I could pick what apps I could use under this mode not just the ones that came pre-defined with the phone. I understand that obviously that may affect how long the battery would last given that any app could consume a lot more power than the pre-defined ones.
I know (hope) over time as ROMs start to appear all of these "wishlist" features will be made available, but was wondering whether there are already ways to do this.
I second the removal of the s finder and quick connect
It makes no sense for the phone to go into ultra power saving mode when u put the screen to sleep
You wouldnt be able to use it right away
You would have to wait the 10 seconds for it to come out of ultra ps mode every time u feel like checking fb
But auto turning on after a certain percent would be nice
Sent from my SM-G900P using xda premium
suarezn said:
- Default applications won't stick. For instance I have several different applications that could open to make a phone call (Phone, Talkatone, skype, etc). It doesn't matter which one I select they always pop up for me to select again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, this is VERY annoying
and what is even more annoying is it gives you a stupid reminder on how to reset setting that app as a default every time...its just 1 more extra button to press all the time