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I had seen one too many posts about people asking and complaining about battery drain issues on their G1 phones and it gets tiring to read it every 5-10 posts. So I decided to create this thinktank to pool in ideas from the community and create a set of best practices to maximize mileage of our phones. I'm currently using a HTC Dream with stock battery and my battery life is pretty good with light to medium usage. I would like to contribute to the community by creating this thinktank thread. I hope this can help as a guide for myself and for people who have been having numerous battery drain issues on 5.0.7-DS and variants of this distribution.
This is NOT the ultimate end-all solution for your battery problems. These are just steps to tackle the problem. If you want minimum to no battery drain keep it plugged to socket or plug it in a car battery.
If you would like to contribute your experience, or make any corrections please do not hesitate to post and I'll include them if they seem fit and attach your name as reference. I'll also do my best to give credit where credit is due. Please see the references at the bottom part of the post. Please do not clutter this thread by doing "I'll try this" or "It doesnt work" post. Its more important for all of us to know WHY it work/didnt work. Stick to topic, and be constructive. Be intelligent. Think first.
0. Update your Radio
Updating your G1's radio to the currently-latest version (2.22.23.02) should give you better battery life as well as signal reception (you can always switch back to 2.22.19.26I if it doesn't work out for you)
1. Recalibrate
Take note that BATTERY STATS ARE WIPED whenever you flash a new rom. (since full wipes are required whenever changing ROMS, and /data is where the battery info is.) This usually leads to inaccurate battery readings.
Here's how you recalibrate properly:
- Charge your phone till the GREEN LED shows up. Leave it for another hour.
- While plugged, go to recovery and wipe your battery stats.
- Right after the phone is booted up and settled, unplug and use as per normal till it shuts off. Then charge as per normal.
2. Disabling some basic phone hardware functionality
Turn off GPS, WIFI when not in use. And brightness set to manageable levels. Even loudspeaker. This is self-explanatory. Automation software like LOCALE can be useful, but usually all it takes for you to turn off your ringer, or turn on wifi when you're at a specific area is just a press on the Power control widget.
3. Overclocked kernels
Running on full overclock speed (by default is 528mhz or even higher on some kernels) will drain your battery faster and you'll notice significant heat increase when you're using your phone along with 3G.
Although im using pershoots 576mhz overclock kernel, I do not max it to 576 unless needed. The reason why I use his kernel is due to its UNDERVOLT capability. I have set up my phone using SetCPU
MAXFREQ: 480,
MINFREQ: 176
CPU Governor : ONDEMAND.
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Click to collapse
Usually I would set my phone to 384mhz if im going to stay on it longer (texting/long browsing etc). On the sleep mode I set it to 122mhz to 384mhz.
4. Tame your widgets, minimize using them.
Widgets that constantly connect to the internet, or constantly refreshing on the screen to update data being shown on the screen at extremely small intervals would also give you battery drain. Minimizing widgets can help minimize applications running in the background (free up memory) and avoiding your phone going on "partial sleep". Also tweak your widgets to update as less as manageably possible. If for some reason you can't see the next suggestion.
Aside from that you might want to disable Background syncing and do manual syncing. Aside from saving your data plan, it also saves battery life. You can disable it by doing the following:
Menu > Settings > Accounts & Sync > Background Data - OFF
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Click to collapse
manually update your facebook widget or contacts/gmail by
Menu > Accounts & Sync > Facebook (or GMail) > Sync.
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Click to collapse
5. 3G, 2G, switch off, or automate it.
You'll notice that inside the default settings for mobile networks. Setting to 2G will "save battery" which is actually true. The connection will definitely be slower, but if you like your phone to last longer throughout the day, either switch to 2G or turn it off altogether.
Also, similar to juice defender, I use 2g/3g toggle and toggle data as and when needed.
Another suggestion that I just found out recently is the use of Juice Defender app [d]. It automatically turns on or off your APN settings at intervals. You might want to try to look at that app if you cannot do #4
6. Disable live wallpapers. Auto Updating Sense
Remember that 2.1 isnt actually built for our old phones. and livewallpapers do require cpu/gpu processes. These are also running in the background and may run while your phone is asleep. So turning them off will benefit you.
7. Refrain from using Automated task killers and choose what you kill.
If you see that the app you had been trying to kill a few times keeps coming back. Stop killing it. Everytime you do, and whenever it respawns, CPU flies to 100%. Go back to #4.
8. Disable Market notifications.
- Open the Market application.
- Select the Menu key.
- Select Downloads.
- Select the Menu key again.
- Select Notifications.
- Select the Do not notify me radio button. press [Ok]
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Click to collapse
9. Make your phone sleep.
Open your spareparts application, Go to End button behavior. Select "Go to sleep"
10. Under the hood tweaks
10.1 Extending Wifi scan intervals
Edit the wifi scan interval in /system/build.sapphire.prop (or build.trout.prop if you have a G1)
# Time between scans in seconds. Keep it high to minimize battery drain.
# This only affects the case in which there are remembered access points,
# but none are in range.
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval = 45
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Click to collapse
Changing this number to just 90 second will half your wifi scans. Obviously larger numbers can mean less wifi scans which means more battery life, though it may take a little longer for your phone to pick up a remembered access point when in range. This is not just a CM/Eclair thing, it can also work for Donut phones.
This setting needs a reboot after editing the file. Edit it with Root Explorer, or nano as root if you have CM5, or pull the file with adb then edit it then push it back.
11. Remove your phone from your pocket whenever you can.
Body heat deteriorates battery life no kidding! there had been already studies to back it. I keep my phone either on my hand or outside of my pocket to keep it cool. Do whatever is manageable in your environment. If you're using your phone as a music player streaming using streamfurious and stuff. dont let your body heat add to the heat already been generated by your phone itself.
References / Updates :
[a] cyanogen recalibrating batteries : http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php/Troubleshooting#Battery_recalibration
thanks to mejorguille for correction on /data and wiping.
pershoot UV kernel: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=666850
[c] SetCPU main site : http://www.pokedev.com/setcpu/ - Thanks also to ShadowCH for tip.
[d] JuiceDefender : http://www.latedroid.com/2010/01/juicedefender.html -
- Thanks to shohid1234 for 3G-2G toggle
[e] Thanks to Jaymzz for tip on disabling market: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?/topic/94-i-fixed-my-battery-drain/
[06/02] thanks to Arkain2k for tip #0
[06/04] Thanks to Foo_Blyat's tip for disabling background sync and manual updates for fb/gmail (item 4) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6670907&postcount=36
[06/04] Thanks to Super Jamie for tip 10.1 extending wifi scans http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6684954&postcount=49
reserved in case something nice comes up
10. Remove your phone from your pocket whenever you can.
Body heat deteriorates battery life no kidding! there had been already studies to back it. I keep my phone either on my hand or outside of my pocket to keep it cool. Do whatever is manageable in your environment. If you're using your phone as a music player streaming using streamfurious and stuff. dont let your body heat add to the heat already been generated by your phone itself.
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Click to collapse
really? isnt warmth charging batterys? in my old gameboy years i always put my batteries on the heater when the drained completely and after an hour i could play again with the old batteries.
1. Recalibrate [a]
Take note NOT TO WIPE BATTERY STATS whenever you flash a new rom and your battery is less than 90%. This usually leads to inaccurate battery readings. If you already wiped your battery during one of your flashes, here's how you recalibrate properly:
- Charge your phone till the GREEN LED shows up. Leave it for another hour.
- While plugged, go to recovery and wipe your battery stats.
- Right after the phone is booted up and settled, unplug and use as per normal till it shuts off. Then charge as per normal.
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Click to collapse
This is true, but since battery stats are stored on the data partition, a data wipe also deletes the battery stats. A lot of rom's require a full wipe, meaning data and dalvik, so battery stats are deleted whether you select the option or not.
Since001 said:
really? isnt warmth charging batterys? in my old gameboy years i always put my batteries on the heater when the drained completely and after an hour i could play again with the old batteries.
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Click to collapse
Hi!
Yes Im very familiar with that practice because i do that too. The reason might be because of the composition of the battery (alkaline, non alkaline). Usually we put it under the sun so that the heat will help change the composition of the compound inside the battery in order for it to lower down its resistance. Leading to a "charge".
But now we are using Li-Ion batteries, and I do not suggest putting them under the sun because it will deteriorate your battery capacity holding charge and its lifecycle.
reference: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm see figure 1.
samaral said:
Hi!
Yes Im very familiar with that practice because i do that too. The reason might be because of the composition of the battery (alkaline, non alkaline). Usually we put it under the sun so that the heat will help change the composition of the compound inside the battery in order for it to lower down its resistance. Leading to a "charge".
But now we are using Li-Ion batteries, and I do not suggest putting them under the sun because it will deteriorate your battery capacity holding charge and its lifecycle.
reference: http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm see figure 1.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, that makes sense.
Made me lol to see that there actually is a "battery university"
Thank you! this post is noted
mejorguille said:
This is true, but since battery stats are stored on the data partition, a data wipe also deletes the battery stats. A lot of rom's require a full wipe, meaning data and dalvik, so battery stats are deleted whether you select the option or not.
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Click to collapse
Noted. I have edited the guide to reflect your insight.
Thank you very much
how about going to setting - about phone - battery use?
there you can find out exactly whats killing your battery and take appropiate action.
Also, similar to juice defender, I use 2g/3g toggle and toggel data as and when needed. Using these two widgets i have no battery issues.
Post noted and added on top
shohid1234 said:
how about going to setting - about phone - battery use?
there you can find out exactly whats killing your battery and take appropiate action.
Also, similar to juice defender, I use 2g/3g toggle and toggel data as and when needed. Using these two widgets i have no battery issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Noted. Your suggestion is added on top.
change preferred network type helped for me increasing battery life
Hello all,
as describe in post
forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=6432560&postcount=1
changing preferred network type worked for me.
default setting: WCDMA preferred drains my battery in a few hours, crazy
within CM 5.0.7-test7 I was able to change to: GSM/CDMA auto and it worked
But now in the final release 5.0.7-DS I can not select this setting. Perhaps it correlates to the this (PRL) info in brackets.
It seems that no "auto" setting want be working so I am trying WCDMA only right now and will see if I have a network in 2G networks too.
Bye morT
Hhmm let me think…
Running a prrocessor that's massively overclocked with software that was never meant to run on our g1's I have an idea.
****** off back to stock or get over it
I mean seriously people come on, we have set cpu for power profile management, basic battery usage which is dim screen, turn off wifi and 3g when not in use blah blah blah same **** written in every guide about battery life for ANY roms from cupcake to eclair.
As I said, get over it or go back to stock.
[highlight]Mod Edit: Please watch your language and don't flame others.[/highlight]
im sorry does turning on "display battery status" in spare parts still effect battery life? TIA
Ive noticed that bluetooth is killlllling battery life, but dont know if its normal. I charged to 100% and turned everything on, leaving screen on the whole time and what not.
While I was actively using the net over WiFi, I had nothing using the bluetooth, and both seem to eat up 20%..
This might be normal, might not be, but thought it was odd that it being on, but not in use, ate up just as much as functioning, in use, wifi.
whats funny to me is as soon as my phone dies i plug it up reboot it a few times and my battery is at 70%
.... i think its not reading correctly .. i mean fully charged play talk text browse till it shuts off .. plug it in turn it right back on then reboot ..
and my battery is back at 70% which is weird ... anyone else notice that???
also wifi, gps is on screen brightness is standard !!!
batteries really seem to be the least developed technology in our high tech phones. feels like a sportscar with a one gallon tank...the fun's over quickly...
turned off my 3G and got a lot of additional battery life. with bad 3G reception (like in the place I live in) the phone was sometimes sucked empty in just a few hours, now I get two days.
another thing that really helped me extend my battery life was turning on airplane mode when I went to bed.
how about dont use overclock or any other cpu speed up tool....maybe the speed they are factory set to is there for a reason...Hmmmmmmm
dcowboys2184 said:
whats funny to me is as soon as my phone dies i plug it up reboot it a few times and my battery is at 70%
.... i think its not reading correctly .. i mean fully charged play talk text browse till it shuts off .. plug it in turn it right back on then reboot ..
and my battery is back at 70% which is weird ... anyone else notice that???
also wifi, gps is on screen brightness is standard !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should go through a battery recalibration - steps on the first page.
Best Practices for Improving Battery Life for CM 5.0.7 (and variant ROMS) is to use this ROM, Thanks.
Do whatever you like, show or hide battery status in the Spare parts, calibrate or not....the battery remains....for loOng....enough time....
hot/cold controversy
Since001 said:
really? isnt warmth charging batterys? in my old gameboy years i always put my batteries on the heater when the drained completely and after an hour i could play again with the old batteries.
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Click to collapse
Since I have a background in electrical theory and chemistry, let me end this debate once and for all: heat makes atoms (and therefore molecules) move faster. Lack of heat (cold) makes them move slower. In general, fast-moving atoms in batteries mean MORE power, not less. The reason your car doesn't want to start when temperatures are subzero is that the battery acid (electrolyte) molecules are moving too slowly to oxidize (give off e-, electrons) and turn back into positive ions. The same is true for the ol' Gameboy AAs -- put them on the heater, the dry cell warm up, and more electrons are transferred to the anode by anions, the positive ions (cations) are more able to travel to travel back to the cathode (in the case of dry/wet-cell rechargeable storage batteries). Heat acts as a catalyst to produce electricity. Some of you may have even taken your car battery indoors if the electrolyte froze in the winter. Some of your cars may have battery blankets or even battery heaters if you live really far up north. In addition, the process of charging a Li-Ion, Ni-mH, or even lead acid battery will produce heat, because chemical conversion is bi-directional, but anyway . . . you charge the G1, it gets hot. You use it heavily, it gets hot. You know you're spending electrons somewhere when it gets hot period. Keeping the phone cool will not increase battery life or make it charge fast. What lower battery temperatures will do is lengthen the battery's overall life. What happens if you leave meat out in 100F/30C temperatures? It goes bad quickly. Same principle in Li-ion. The rechargeable battery is ideally an efficient, closed system of ion exchange that should work for many (hundreds) of duty cycles, but eventually heat plays a role in deterioration of the electrolyte and chemical catalysts inside.
So put your extra charged batteries (but you don't want a Li-ion or Ni-mH battery to sit very long in an discharged state, so be careful here) in the refrigerator in an airtight bag (rotating on a daily basis) if you really want them to last a long time, but don't charge them frozen (ka-boom!) and remember cold batteries charge slowly. Car batteries in sub-tropical areas are replaced at a rate of about once every 24 months, but in Sweden? Maybe every five or six years. Cold temperatures slow down chemical deterioration just like cold keeps that steak from becoming maggot food.
Again, a hot G1 may weaken its own internal components and batteries over time, but putting it on ice won't give you an extra 6 hours to oogle Miley Cyrus' vBlog
Hope this helps.
For me, unless I'm expecting a text or a call always have my phone on airplane mode. I turn it off every hour or so to see if I got any unimportant texts, and then turn it back on
Hi!
I installed samdroid kitchen mod, and I noticed, that the phone turns off, when battery level turns yellow (i'm not sure about percentage, but I think it's more than 5%), however, with stock 2.1-update1, battery could drop down to empty-red-crossed (about 2%?), and phone would still be turned on, and it still had about 15minutes of listening to music life.
With samdroid, phone turns off safely, when with stock it dies. I know it is safer the samdroid way, but I would really like to use my phone for few extra minutes...
Is there any way to change these values, when does phone display "low battery warning" and when does it turn off?
You should download a battery widget. The values given by the icon on top aren't accurate.
I use samdroidmod, but don't experience the same problems..
You can try flashing another kernel with a different battery driver, like qbanin's kernel.
Download coolS from market it will slow down CPU to half speed if not need performance and resumes it if needed, it lifes up your battery.
if not intall from recovery LK2.10.beta1, then convert your file systems from rfs to (EXT2 for system and cache then EXT4 for Data), reboot and apply samdroid turbo you'll have a circular battery with 1% and boost up performance.
test it, it's great.
Hi everybody!
So I am using CyanogenMod 7 Beta5.1 And I'm having huge battery problems...
It's draining abnormally fast (30% lost during night).
It started to happen when I got problems with my Defy and flashed 3.4.3-11
And now updated to 3.4.2-117.
Before these problems it usually drains only 3% during night!!
Also everytime I boot my phone, when it's completely booted I hear the camera sound (when you open camera app,it makes a physical sound).. It never happened before...
I overclocked my phone to 1100Mhz but I don't think it really affects the battery (when screen off it's set to 500Mhz)
Please help me!....
I was having that problem and I turned fast boot off and it solved the problem for me. The phone doesn't really shut down all the way if fast boot is on.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
schultzy001 said:
I was having that problem and I turned fast boot off and it solved the problem for me. The phone doesn't really shut down all the way if fast boot is on.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
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Click to collapse
fast boot? The one from setvsel?
schultzy001 said:
I was having that problem and I turned fast boot off and it solved the problem for me. The phone doesn't really shut down all the way if fast boot is on.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how can u shutdown fastboot? wanna give this a try...
schultzy001 wrote
"Sent from my Desire HD"
um... a new thread? really?
by the way, i have this problem too since beta 1.. i don't know why..
but i still like it because CM7 is so fast without OC.
i try to compare froyo and CM7, with same apps and same apps settings,
CM7 lost the battery faster than froyo, even when in flight mode.
the strange one is, even the memory usage is so low on CM7 (no motoblur crap),
but why battery still drains so fast..
in battery usage statistics,
on CM7, it shows that "Display" is the one who responsible drinking so much juice (60% and the other is just 3-10%).
on froyo, is not the "Display" which responsible drinking most of the juice, it is "Cell Standby".
i thought gingerbread should have good battery management, and the battery should last much longer than froyo.
i'm sure it is a bug on CM7 for Defy.
but whatever, at least we have a Gingerbread on Defy from a great dev like Quarx.
while motorola working so slow on releasing froyo with its motoblur crap.
Hi guys,
I'm having this issue too, and i note since a few days ago. I don't know why, but my Defy is sucking his battery too fast. Could it be a bug ?
it's a little bit difficult to follow the bugs and the solutions in a huge thread like the other one. so i think that this that could be a mayor problem for all of us should be treated in a differente thread.
I use Motocharge since 1 day to follow how it discharge during the day.
I say it in the other thread, the phone loose a lot of battery when i don't touch it. sometimes it loose like 5% in 15mins and i don't touch it. maybe it doesnt sleep well, i don't know..
I hope that Quarx can solve this, because in the other betas of him i don't have the problem. only in the 5.1.
battery draining
I think It´s a bug, because I used before BETA 5.0 and without any battery life was almost 3 days in normal use, bur now with BETA 5.1 only two days or less.
By the way I´d proved with 3 or 4 diferent roms, but the same result.
But I´m sure Quarx will deleted this bug in the next version
same problem for me,but b3 and b4 is ok
Sent from my MB525
apart from low battery life.....i noticed substantial increase in battery temp..normally its 32-34 deg cel.....but wid CM7 it raises to 42-45 deg cel.....waiting for a solution so that i can come back to CM7...
I use Toggle 2G/3G to switch to 2G when phone goes to sleep. I set wifi to never sleep and use it as much as possible over 3G. I also set brightness levels long time on 16 so that in the shadow I always use just a little energy. This way I almost get double battery live.
+ it's better for battery to charge every night, empty or not, and let it go lower just occasionally.
Link to Toggle app:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=739530
yes, this issue is really annoying, 30% battery drain overnight.
something is definitely running unreasonably... hope find it.
I think it depends upon what "type" of defy u have. My battery that only used to last for 12-14 hours in eclair now went for 2 days last 2 charges.
Also depends upon how many widgets and apps u running... hard with mobile phones to judge battery as so many independent variables.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App
OK Guys, this is an old thread, but I think it should be deleted or at least people should read this before registering this thread in their mind:
The battery drain 'issues' were almost always due to two things:
1- For the beta 6 version or older of CM7- there was a bug with the auto-brightness which was heavily stressing the cpu and making the system lag badly - hence: the battery drain. To fix this: you have to stay on auto-brigthness. So just make sure that the auto-brightness box is checked and ON. Additional info: some users also complained about the 4 action buttons (menu, home, back and search) not lighting up ---> fix: un-check auto-brightness and re-select it: done!
2- Users did not set their Network baseband properly. Fix: use the Defy Baseband Switcher application and select the newtwork that applies to you. If you don't do this, your phone might have signal reception (phone and sms) but it will use more power to communicate and get a proper lock to your phone service provider.
I don't know what is the exact build # that brought the Defy Baseband Switcher (as far as I can remember, CM7 beta 4.1 had it) but all the 'newest' CM7 will have it anyway.
And if you want to further decrease your battery consumption, you can still do it like this:
- use the bootloader cpu settings: OC'ing and governernor type to change the cpu speed. [From CM7 default 1000MHz to the Defy's stock 800MHz] and change the governor type from "interactice" default to "on demand" [OK: I'm not sure about governor change will improve or not but that is the Froyo's default I believe].
- install SetVsel to underclock --> by lowering cpu Vsel upon the 3 cpu frequencies. Do some reading; you might need to uncheck its "[email protected]" option AND also have Milestone Overclock installed for it to work properly.
- USE a recent nightly (post May 29th: there was a possible problem with custom recovery backup restoring prior to that) and you will be able to set your screen display brightness as low as you want [fix the bug described in point 1- above].
- use DroidWall and/or the CM7 built-in applications' permissions control to block some apps' access to internet and networks. BE WARNED though: changing permissions CAN make an application stop working or create problems - don't submit bug reports if you do that.
- Avoid high usage of apps that drain battery quickly (TuneIn radio is power-thirsty one that comes to my mind...) and apps that have to create catalogs and thumbnails (ex: Photoshop, Titanium Backup, Gallery, ...)
- If possible: use 2G network only, disable data synch, auto updates of apps and social networks.
- set your WiFi sleep policy to "Never" [while in Wi-Fi settings, press menu button/ Advanced] and avoid frequent Wi-Fi ON/OFF switching.
- Lower your display brightness and switch that screen off at any chance you got!
There are many other ways I'm sure, but those are the main ones anyway...
I've seen high temps yesterday on my Defy, but I later realized that I forgot to re-set my Baseband after a CM7 nightly install... It 'could' also happen when a (background) service goes "beserk" and overload the cpu: absolutely not necessarily related to CM7 --> faulty apps and bugs happen... Just stop and clear the cache of that app and/or reboot your phone and problem should be gone.
CM7 is now really stable; a VERY FEW little hickups remaining still (like with the camera, but negligeable), but the large amount of new user controls that it brings clearly overcomes the 1 or 2 minor bugs left --> IMO, just having control over each and every applications' permissions justifies forgetting about using Eclair and Froyo. Problems in CM7 are being actively sorted out and new user controls and other useful options are added in almost daily manner through the nightly builds.
I'm categoric: on CM7, I now have more control over where my battery juice goes that I've ever had on Froyo....
So please stop alarming people with high battery usage drainage on CM7 and give it a try by following the right proper steps; I'm sure that you won't regret it.
marhensa said:
um... a new thread? really?
by the way, i have this problem too since beta 1.. i don't know why..
but i still like it because CM7 is so fast without OC.
i try to compare froyo and CM7, with same apps and same apps settings,
CM7 lost the battery faster than froyo, even when in flight mode.
the strange one is, even the memory usage is so low on CM7 (no motoblur crap),
but why battery still drains so fast..
in battery usage statistics,
on CM7, it shows that "Display" is the one who responsible drinking so much juice (60% and the other is just 3-10%).
on froyo, is not the "Display" which responsible drinking most of the juice, it is "Cell Standby".
i thought gingerbread should have good battery management, and the battery should last much longer than froyo.
i'm sure it is a bug on CM7 for Defy.
but whatever, at least we have a Gingerbread on Defy from a great dev like Quarx.
while motorola working so slow on releasing froyo with its motoblur crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Display instead of cell standby showing up first in battery consumption means that Froyo (or CM7) uses less battery. The display just stayed the same of course, unless it's tuned brighter, the percentage increased because it's a relative measurement.
Hey guys,
So after many months with the XT720 and alot of flashing and trying to get the most out of my battery, i've come up with a few conclusions about battery life in general and how to extend it. I thought I'd share here. This is mostly aimed at people who are new to android and have not experimented like some of the more advanced users we have on this forum. Hope you find this helpful and please feel free to make additions.
General Battery Info
The XT720 was my first android phone, and I came from a long line of typical nokia phones whose batteries would last for ages. I had no idea the kind of power an android device would use. When I started out using it, i was surprised at how quickly the battery would die. You'd think with advancing software we'd have better batteries but sadly batteries are lagging behind in technology. Generally speaking you can expect the following battery life from your XT720.
Heavy use: 10-14 hours
Moderate use: 16-20 hours
Light use: 1 day - 1 day 12 hrs.
Note: New batteries improve with each charge cycle. It is recommended to go through a few complete charge cycles when you buy a new phone. After that, complete discharges are not recommended and its smart to start charging your phone when it hits the 20-25% mark.
How to improve battery life
1: Battery Calibration
If you've ever flashed a new ROM, you must have noticed a sharp decline in battery performance. This is partly due to old battery statistics left behind from your old ROM. Android is a smart OS and collects information over time. The more you use it, the more accurate it gets. In the same way it collects information from your battery usage and reports your battery percentages according to that. When you flash a new ROM, sometimes android thinks that your battery is 100% when its really lower than that and that causes relative reduced battery performance. To deal with that it is recommended that you use a nifty free app called Battery Calibration from the android market. What this does it removes the old battery stats and allows your new ROM to create its own battery stats. Charge your battery to full, use the battery calibration. Drain once till phone turns off by itself and charge to full again. You will notice a sharp increase in battery life.
2. Battery Managment
We all know that android has its own battery management built in but it usually doesnt give complete information about the phone. For that you need to dive deeper into the settings. Usually if you experience battery drain its because of a rogue app and believe it or not some common apps you wont think off drain unnecessary battery. To see your complete Battery Stats input this code into the dialer.
Code:
*#*#4636#*#*
This will take you to a bunch of options. What you're interested in is Battery History. When you tap that it will show you two drop down menu's.
1) Other Usage
2) Since last unplugged
Other usage shows you how long your phone has been running and how long it has been asleep. Also shows you how long your wifi has been on and running and how long your screen has been on. It is important to see how long your phone has been running. For example if your phone has an uptime of 20 hours and its been running 5 hours out of that. Your run time is 25%. Which is very good. Sometimes an app can run even when your phone screen is off. This will represent a longer run time even when you have your phone lying on a desk or something. See this setting and correlate with the amount you have used your phone. Does it seem normal? If no then use the first drop down menu and select
Partial Wake:
Partial wake is basically, any app which takes your phone out of sleep mode to use the CPU even when youre screen is off. These are apps which need to sync or use the phone resources. In this you will see a list of apps and how much they have caused a partial wake lock. See anything unsual? For me one app that caused unsual drainage was latitute. Yes, i had simply signed into it and i didnt know it was updating my location every 5 minutes. Extreme battery drain for me even when my phone was idle. See which app was draining your battery and either tweak the settings or remove altogether.
GPS, Sensors, CPU:
You can also see these in the first drop down menu. Certain apps like screeble use the sensors alot, and hence cause drain. Obviously games, camera, will stress the CPU. See if anything is causing drain in that and adjust accordingly.
Miscellaneous Information
After you have dealt with rogue apps that you don't use that drain youre battery your battery life will depend on how you use your phone. But hopefull these tips will help you with increasing your battery life. I do have some more information on different settings and supposed battery saving applications.
Autosync: When you enable auto sync, you allow google and other accounts to sync on a regular basis. This is important for people who need to use push email etc. It does not drain battery IF you tweak what you need synced. In google for example you can have your contacts, calendar, google+, google reader, gmail all to sync by default. If you just need email, please untick the rest. This will help you save battery life. Increase your update times for facebook and google+ if you dont recieve many updates all the time or turn them off altogether. If you have many services syncing at the same time you will get battery drain.
Wifi Sleep Policy: This is sort of a hidden menu. If you go into wireless & networks >> Wifi settings >> settings key >> advanced >> wifi sleep policy. This has three settings. Never close down wifi, never close when charging, or close with screen off. If you choose never your wifi will always be on, which will in turn crunch the **** out of your battery. If you use it off with screen off, remember it takes about 5 minutes to turn the wifi off. I personally use the never with plugged in. Its an intermediate. So when im plugged in wifi always stays on and when im not it follows the screen off protocol.
Wifi Vs Mobile Data: Having mobile data on all the time, does not drain battery. The only time the battery gets drained is when the data connection is active i.e you have many apps on autosync youll see your battery going down. If you arent doing anything and your phone is connected to Edge or 3G your battery will drain regularly. 2G networks drain less than 3G keep that in mind. If you are actively using your connection, wifi will take less battery because speeds are faster and you will be using it for a little time. Also your signal strength has alot of effect on battery. If you have crappy 3G signals your radio will actively be searching for a connection the same goes for wifi. That is important to keep in mind.
Control Background data: By selecting this option you can allow or disallow apps to connect to data without any permission. Some apps require this like the android market. If you uncheck this apps wont be able to sync automatically in the background.
Milestone Overclocking: This is fairly obvious. The higher you overclock with higher vsel the more battery drain you will have. Some use set cpu with profiles but I found that if i set the setcpu too low while idle It takes time for the cpu to charge up when i recieve a call or turn the screen on. Ringtones lag etc etc. I let android do my CPU management and its fine. and comfortable setting would be 850 MHZ, 56 vsel but you can change according to your phone usage.
Juice Defender/ Screebl / Task killers:
In my personal experience with juice defender ultimate I found that with the above precautions juice defender didnt make much of a difference and actually used more battery. First off theres an extra process going on in the back. Second activating and deactivating the connection everytime the screen goes off uses more juice because your radio has to search for the signal hundreds of times as compared to not having it in the first place. Screebl is good if you dont want your screen to annoyingly turn off while youre doing something but it surely doesnt save battery life. Task killers are a no no for android. They kill tasks which start up anyways, its better to use autokiller memory optimizer which tweaks androids internal memory settings and allows for more free ram without killing processes without reason.
System Apps:
Some system apps run uselessly in the background specially with stock ROM's this is called bloatware. Remove all unused system apps with titanium backup to stop them from running in the background for no reason at all.
A final word
Finally after all this tweaking, just use your phone as normal. Dont worry about the battery all the time checking how much its drained, itll mess your head up and make you enjoy your phone less. Battery temperature also changes battery life. Keep your phone out of the sun or in hot places.
Thanks, good article.
Very detailed and useful
Sent from my Milestone XT720 using XDA App
Thanks for this interessting article!
Could you make a list of the bloatware that can be safely removed?
I figured this would just list all the usual stuff I've heard. I'm glad to say I was wrong! A bunch of useful info here I now plan to put to use. Many thanks
Might want to mention the display being the biggest drain of battery on this phone. Setting it to automatic brightness or lower will increase battery life. I love the screen at full brightness so I don't really follow that, but for those looking to squeeze some extra time and don't mind less brightness...
Thanks guys, glad you people found it useful.
syrenz said:
Might want to mention the display being the biggest drain of battery on this phone. Setting it to automatic brightness or lower will increase battery life. I love the screen at full brightness so I don't really follow that, but for those looking to squeeze some extra time and don't mind less brightness...
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Click to collapse
Yes! Can't believe I missed that one out. In the start id use the lowest brightness setting, which would be fine indoors. But outside it was impossible to see the phone because of its insanely reflective glass. Since we have an ambient light sensor I use it on automatic and it does a good job. Full bright strains my eyes abit thats why I dont keep it on full bright So for people really wanting to save the juice you can keep your brightness on the lowest level. Also when you take the phone out of your pocket and use it, its better to put the phone to sleep with the power button than let it timeout by itself. Those 10-15 seconds for each time you use phone count towards many minutes of unused display time in the end and does make a difference.
This is a very gd post with lots o useful info!! ok i have a qn, is using the phone a lot while the charging good for the battery? And if u let the battery charge even though its already 100 percent for an hour good? srry if it is noob qn...
androidlover123 said:
This is a very gd post with lots o useful info!! ok i have a qn, is using the phone a lot while the charging good for the battery? And if u let the battery charge even though its already 100 percent for an hour good? srry if it is noob qn...
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Click to collapse
1. Using your phone while charging does not affect your battery life, and is neither good nor bad. It is perfectly normal to use your phone while charging and is sometimes recommended while doing battery intensive tasks for example navigating while driving, wifi tethering, playing memory intensive games and finally outputing video through HDMI.
2. Overcharging was a phenomenom is older lithium ion battery. New batteries have bypass circuits. So when your phone reaches complete charge, it does not charge any further. So you should not be worried about overcharging your XT720.
Hope this helps.
Excelent article and good quality info. Thanks and best regards!
awesome article! Great information. Thanks a lot for putting that together. I have already started using a few of the tips mentioned.
u da maaan dude, thanks for a very detailed and informative article
As some of you have been complaining about your Infinity's poor battery life, I thought we should start a thread on getting more out of its battery. I invite you all to share your experiences, hopefully we could come to sth helpful together.
Perhaps when the development's carried on further by more XDA developers, we can split this to stock ROM and custom ROMs, as probably the latter will have more of these already included.
1. Arguably full charge and discharge does nothing good on modern Li-Ion batteries and it's rather advisable to keep it balanced - discharge a little, don't push it with charging all the time (however in case of the Infinity, as with many other devices, the charger will just stop consuming energy after [almost] fully charging your device). There is one reason for doing a few full discharges and charges however - so that the battery monitoring apps/widgets can learn more about your battery's life and power consumption.
2. Monitor your battery life and monitor it wisely (don't use power-consuming apps and widgets). I personally like Battery Monitor Widget, as it gives you mA and % / hour (either drain or charge), which is pretty cool, as you can see how much your usage exhausts your battery in real time. This way I've found out that switching the WiFi off while reading books actually gives me battery drain closer to 10%/h than 15%/h etc. You can see some other in this apps thread. Try different apps and see what fits you best. Don't rely on system battery usage stats, see what other apps show us and what apps and processes drain the most of your battery, show most wakelocks, etc.
3. Use as low power mode as you need (administered most easily through ASUS/Android notification bar on the bottom of your screen). There are three power modes:
power-saving (keeps your CPU at 1 GHz according to some apps, 500 MHz according to others) <- can give you up to 2 additional hours
balanced (keeps your CPU at 1,5 GHz)
normal / performance (keeps your CPU at the highest speed - in stock kernel 1,7 GHz for the 1st core and 1,6 for the others)
You have to try these for yourself. Most games run well on balanced, but may sometimes need the performance mode (keep in mind that overheating your CPU and GPU may cause the clocks to actually slow down). You may also find yourself happy with the power-saving mode, which really helps your battery to last longer, but I've noticed issues with some apps while running it (problems with pdf rendering, for example), as it probably changes more than just the CPU clock speed, but also the system behaviour. I hardly ever leave the balanced mode, mostly when curious about benchmark results
There are also different CPU governors in Android/Linux kernel, which you can change if you are rooted, but perhaps leaving the default "interactive" one on should serve you well (you can also try "conservative", but it has been argued it doesn't save your battery so well in the long run).
(if rooted) You can also use CPU management apps like SetCPU, create your custom profiles or use the default ones according to your needs (for example ).
4. In ASUS setttings switch on both power-saving options at the very bottom of the list (WiFi and dock deep sleep [the former is the same as choosing "never" in WiFi advanced settings]).
5. Keep the screen brightness as low, as you can. It's better to adjust it manually through the notifications bar or a widget than to switch auto-brightness on (some recommend LUX app, personally I had problems with it trying to outsmart me when I was doing some manual changes). I like to keep it around 30-40% indoors during the day and 0-10% at night.
6. Switch WiFi off when you don't need it, unless you need it on constantly.
For me, it sometimes also helps organise my work too, when I don't get constant notifications or when I'm not eager to browse the web all the time, when just reading something and taking notes.
7a) (if rooted) Make your device fall into really deep sleep...
Add these to your build.prop file (see the thread on tweaking):
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=0
pm.sleep_mode=1
7b) ...and make it scan for available WiFi networks less often, for example every 180 seconds (same as above):
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=180
8. (if rooted) Switch off all the apps you don't need that auto-start on boot with a program like System Tuner.
(f not rooted) Use auto-killer for the apps you don't need (if rooted you can do the above two together as well).
You can also deactivate unused apps (settings -> apps -> [select app] -> deactivate). Remove bloatware, too (see the first few posts).
9. Adjust your minfree values, so the low level system task killer will take care of the apps running in the background for you (see the thread on tweaking). You can try with different settings and see what's better for you. Some apps drain your battery life even when you don't use them, while others don't and it's better to leave them in the memory than run them all over again every time. Do some tests and see what's best for you, if you have time for it.
10. Switch auto-syncing apps to lower values when possible (sometimes PUSH is better, sometimes worse for your battery life).
11. Keep it simple. Too many funky animations, floating wallpapers, lots of nice widgets will make your battery drain really fast.
12. Try different custom launchers, you can set more UI behaviour rules in these (see this apps thread).
13. Use a dark wallpaper and dark themes / night reading modes (see why).
PS JuiceDefender reported to having disabled deep sleep, so stay away if possible.
Hotmail app has been said to trigger wakelocks, while overriding system wifi sleep when screen is off, so keep that in mind if you want better battery life over constant e-mail syncing.
Hit [THANKS] if it helps.
First of all, thanks to d14b0ll0s for yet another great write up. I am one of those concerned with the battery life of the Infinity. Though some review says it got up to 9-9.5 hours with BALANCED mode I believe is the mistake. By using Power save mode, I think we can potentially get to that level but still hard.
My system is NOT rooted, but I have noticed significant change in my battery life so far with following:
1. Balanced Mode to Power Save mode.
This gets me like extra 2 hours or so. WIthout this change, 5-6 hours for my usage and with this it goes up to 7-8 hours screen time.
2. Under Wi-Fi Setting change Use wifi during sleep mode (mine is in Japanese so exact wording may be different) to never. Default setting was always. Prior to this change, I lost quite bit overnight unplugged; however, after the change it loses negligible amount.
Now rather than these, I am trying to play around with Juice Defender, which was recommended by d14b0ll0s in best application list he created. I have initially downloaded Juice Defender Free edition, and noticed may be minimal gain over #1 already instituted. But concept was great. So I ended up purchasing Ultimate edition, which allows us to control when to turn of WIFI per individual application based without Root i.e. while reading PDF I don't think I need WIFI connection.
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=juice+defender&c=apps.
I am still tweaking and playing with Juice Defender, but I am certain without change in #1,#2 (which are actually taken care by Juice Defender in its own way), I can gain same battery life and my hope/guess is I can get even more battery life.
So in conclusion, for those not rooted try Juice Defender (at least free version). I will let you all know how the ultimate version does in next couple days.
Thanks for this! ^^ Post 1 updated.
Have you noticed what power-saving mode changes apart from CPU (& GPU?) clock speed? Does it change auto-sync settings or unload some modules? I'm not using it, as it is too slow for me to render big pdfs consisting of scanned jpgs. But when I'm reading them with WiFi off on balanced, I normally get 9.9% drain per hour according to Battery Monitor Widget, which even with some other things that I do from time to time and some additional rendering when opening new files should give me about 9 hours on a single charge. Browsing over WiFi gives me about 7.
The Wi-Fi settings you mentioned are the same as WiFi power-saving settings on the bottom of ASUS setting list, but I've clarified that in post 1 now.
I'm happy JuiceDefender helped you, it's good to advertise it here. I'm adding the info about your post apart from the link to the list of apps.
Thanks
I would also add that it's good the deactivate unused apps/widgets (settings -> apps -> "select app" -> deactivate)
it's only possible for apps which cannot be uninstalled
Good point! ^ Added (-> p. 8).
Mine will be here this weekend.
Thanks d14b0ll0s
Look very useful! I'm about to try.
I think the standby time is awesome. Wifi off, power save mode enabled and left the tablet over night right after full charged battery w/o dock. After 10h still 100%.
Ali I Hagen said:
I think the standby time is awesome. Wifi off, power save mode enabled and left the tablet over night right after full charged battery w/o dock. After 10h still 100%.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
#nice
The system measuring system isn't exact, and early on so are all the indicators, so don't rely on it too heavily. There may be a variance of 1-3% and a lot more in the usage indicators. Try different battery / apps widgets and compare the results.
Anyway, deep sleep is nice indeed. It normally drains about 0.2% (-0,5%) per hour, mine is now 98% after the night off the charger and responding to a few e-mails in bed
Thanks for the info, it's appreciated.
Antutu's Battery Saver worked great on my 101, I'm observing how it will regulate the power drain on my 700. Hopefully it will keep the back of the tab cool as well.
i think the problem is when you have wifi on!
Ali I Hagen said:
I think the standby time is awesome. Wifi off, power save mode enabled and left the tablet over night right after full charged battery w/o dock. After 10h still 100%.
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this is good when you have wifi off. however, when you have the wifi on, it shows 80% wifi and 20% screen consumed by battery. you can stop network access by disabling wifi from Asus customized settings and also in wifi setting, you can keep wifi on during sleep to NEVER. this helps a lot..
Stock battery (usage) stats are not relevant, use other battery apps or widgets for that.
I've heard good things about AnTuTu's bat.sav., but also that it doesn't let you have more insight into what it's actually doing, so JuiceDefender seems a better option in that matter.
d14b0ll0s:
Do you know the specific voltage setting / configurations coming out of the usb line?
Is it 16V and how does it distinguish between 16V and 5V on the single USB cable.
For example does the voltage cable go on different lines for 16V and 5V for the TF700?
Or is it 16/5V dual switchable on the same power cable?
I'm asking this is because there's interest to charge the tablet by using alternative methods such as mobile battery with 16V setting.
If so, then does a DC to USB cable be suffice for the job? Or is the cable wired differently as proprietary ASUS?
Thanks!
Sorry, I wouldn't know that. There some ppl here that are doing some testing with the batteries and hardware, perhaps the_kreature or MartyHulskemper could know something. You should post it as a thread in Q&A too.
Redefined301 said:
d14b0ll0s:
Do you know the specific voltage setting / configurations coming out of the usb line?
Is it 16V and how does it distinguish between 16V and 5V on the single USB cable.
For example does the voltage cable go on different lines for 16V and 5V for the TF700?
Or is it 16/5V dual switchable on the same power cable?
I'm asking this is because there's interest to charge the tablet by using alternative methods such as mobile battery with 16V setting.
If so, then does a DC to USB cable be suffice for the job? Or is the cable wired differently as proprietary ASUS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, the charger gives 15V, not 16V. Avoid giving your tablet too much voltage as that can kill it...
Secondly, the included cable is a USB 3.0 cable and therefore has 5 extra pins (you can see them if you look straight into the USB plug). These extra pins are used to get 15V from the charger. I don't know exactly how that works, but I guess the tablet tells the charger it wants 15V over the power lines (same power lines as 5V) rather than the charger giving 15V over these extra pins (because that could be devastating to other USB 3.0 gadgets). This is why the tablet won't charge if you insert an old (USB 1.0 or 2.0) extension cable between the charger and the tablet.
Hey I'm running with wifi on during sleep and I seem to get great battery performance (2% loss over 11 hr standby). No build.pro tweaks so no deep asleep our anything like that. I'm wondering if anyone else has gotten similar performance?
I thought it was interesting because the results were the opposite on my tf300t, and my usage pattern hasn't changed much between the two devices.
Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T
watwat1234 said:
Hey I'm running with wifi on during sleep and I seem to get great battery performance (2% loss over 11 hr standby). No build.pro tweaks so no deep asleep our anything like that. I'm wondering if anyone else has gotten similar performance?
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Click to collapse
Same here. Battery life on deep sleep with WLAN is great!
But I think the Infinity needs a lot of power while reading news, tapatalk, Reader HD..
Not more than 4 hours Screen On Time!
And that with balanced mode and 50% brightness.
Any problems with the fifth companion core?
PS: Is there an app which shows the activity of the different cores?
FAbi
Gesendet von meinem ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T mit Tapatalk 2
this is crazy, i got my tablet on monday, used it about 3-4 hours restoring all my apps and signing in to everything, and i havent used it much since but today, i'm still at 76%, havent plugged it in it or docked it. I also forgot to mention my dad played with it a bit also...prob about 1 hour