Hey guys-
I recently went from Liberated b005 to the FR008 and everything is working great except one thing: Exchange ActiveSync.
I have my normal email with gmail, and my business email & calendar is on Exchange. I am using the HTC "Mail" app on the phone. The problem is that it does not get the mail in a timely fashion. With the previous Liberated b005 Eclair it worked perfectly, just as expected, with no tweaking required. I'd get mail on my phone within a few minutes of when I got it on my PC. But now I generally have to open the Mail app and manually refresh it to get any Exchange mail.
Under "Accounts & sync" settings, I have "Background data" checked and "Auto-sync" (which I understand is aka "push email") is unchecked. Maybe it works right with Auto-sync checked but my battery life is horrible with it set that way.
I have "Exchange ActiveSync" account
Under "Data and synchronization" for that account, it has:
Schedule: Manual
Sync mail: checked
Sync contacts: not checked
Sync calendar: checked
If I click "Schedule", it has "Peak time" which is Mon-Fri 7:30am-7:00pm, and then "Frequency" Peak times: Every 15 minutes and Off-peak times: Every hour
I don't recall these "peak time" and etc. from the b005 settings. It just seemed to work as expected without me having to fool with it.
Any ideas why this isn't syncing my mail ever 15 minutes as I would expect during "peak time"?
Oh and by the way, thanks attn1 for the ROMs. This stuff is brilliant.
i don't think theres anything particularly wrong with what the app is doing.
you put that the schedule is manual...rather than you manually setting it, perhaps it means it only refreshes when you refresh it manually?
i would set it to auto sync and perhaps change a few other things to manage battery life better? disable gps/wifi when not needed, lower screen brightness all that stuff.
i know i'm not extraordinarily helpful, but thats all i've got.
Well, clearly under the "manual" settings, it appears that it's supposed to be doing something automatically.
I already manage gps & wifi and all that other stuff to improve battery life. I still have to charge the phone mid-day. Turning on Auto-sync may "fix" my mail issue (work around it, really), but the cost is way too high in terms of battery life.
mr72 said:
Hey guys-
I recently went from Liberated b005 to the FR008 and everything is working great except one thing: Exchange ActiveSync.
I have my normal email with gmail, and my business email & calendar is on Exchange. I am using the HTC "Mail" app on the phone. The problem is that it does not get the mail in a timely fashion. With the previous Liberated b005 Eclair it worked perfectly, just as expected, with no tweaking required. I'd get mail on my phone within a few minutes of when I got it on my PC. But now I generally have to open the Mail app and manually refresh it to get any Exchange mail.
Under "Accounts & sync" settings, I have "Background data" checked and "Auto-sync" (which I understand is aka "push email") is unchecked. Maybe it works right with Auto-sync checked but my battery life is horrible with it set that way.
I have "Exchange ActiveSync" account
Under "Data and synchronization" for that account, it has:
Schedule: Manual
Sync mail: checked
Sync contacts: not checked
Sync calendar: checked
If I click "Schedule", it has "Peak time" which is Mon-Fri 7:30am-7:00pm, and then "Frequency" Peak times: Every 15 minutes and Off-peak times: Every hour
I don't recall these "peak time" and etc. from the b005 settings. It just seemed to work as expected without me having to fool with it.
Any ideas why this isn't syncing my mail ever 15 minutes as I would expect during "peak time"?
Oh and by the way, thanks attn1 for the ROMs. This stuff is brilliant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my exchange account set as follows:
Days: Every day
Peak time start: 05:00
Peak time end: 22:00
Peak times: As items arrive
Off-peak times: Every 4 hours
Works brilliantly.
First off I think "Auto-sync" being off is your issue. I do not believe that the "Auto-sync" setting refers to "push mail". I believe the auto-sync setting is general for all apps and how they are allowed to sync data either manual or automagically, where as push mail has to do with your mail client only. I believe setting your exchange account to receive items as they arrive is "push mail". I have Auto-sync enabled.
Think of it this way, your schedule settings are for the exchange app in particular where as the "auto-sync" setting is for all apps that use a data connection so no matter what you specify in the app settings, the general data sync settings will over ride them. By turning off auto-sync you are telling your phone to not allow any app to sync on it's own but to allow the app to sync when it is launched manually.
The only other thought that comes to mind is that if you are using wifi and connected to the same network that your exchange server is on, your phone will not be able to sync your mail unless you turn off your wifi or you have your wifi set to sleep after 15 minutes of phone sleep. Once your wifi sleeps your exchange mail will use the carrier network and be able to sync.
OK, I get it.
"Background Data" is aka "push"? Or, in other words, there is no way to allow a timed sync like a normal old fashioned email app, while also disabling push email, correct?
mr72 said:
OK, I get it.
"Background Data" is aka "push"? Or, in other words, there is no way to allow a timed sync like a normal old fashioned email app, while also disabling push email, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Push refers to how an exchange server sends email to your mobile client, it has nothing to do with the "background data" or "auto-sync" settings. No matter how you want your exchange client to sync, either timed like every 5 minutes or immediately when items are received, you have to have "auto-sync" enabled for it to work.
Let's break it down like this:
With "auto-sync" enabled your mail should update per the schedule you set automatically without launching the app.
With "auto-sync" disabled your mail will only update when you launch it from the application shortcut.
Does that make sense?
NOTE: Background data must be enabled as well.
mr72 said:
Well, clearly under the "manual" settings, it appears that it's supposed to be doing something automatically.
I already manage gps & wifi and all that other stuff to improve battery life. I still have to charge the phone mid-day. Turning on Auto-sync may "fix" my mail issue (work around it, really), but the cost is way too high in terms of battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
turning on auto sync isn't a work-around; as a$$h4t pointed out, it is a solution. for your phone to grab mail as per your schedule, auto sync must be enabled.
as far as your battery woes go, i'm at a loss as to how it could be draining so much if you already manage your battery life pretty well. i would install the app watchdog task manager to keep an eye on any processes trying to eat more battery than they need to.
also, a readthrough of this tutorial never hurts.
mr72 said:
Under "Accounts & sync" settings, I have "Background data" checked and "Auto-sync" (which I understand is aka "push email") is unchecked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Background/Auto-sync settings are purely advisory, and many apps ignore them completely. To change the HTC mail sync behavior you need to change the settings in the HTC mail prefs.
When you do set Background and/or Auto-sync, most of the Google apps (and some of the HTC ones) start polling the network regularly, which is what kills your battery. Weather, stocks, gmail, etc etc. In my experience it takes quite a lot of tweaking to run them all down. Once done though, I've been able to re-enable those global settings without killing the battery.
thanks for the tips. Auto-sync is working fine now with Exchange and it's not draining the battery unduly, well not any more than it drains it with auto-sync turned off.
I can't seem to remove apps like News & Weather, GMail, Stocks, etc. that would use background data services and which I do not ever use. Guess I can just delete the apk files.
mr72 said:
thanks for the tips. Auto-sync is working fine now with Exchange and it's not draining the battery unduly, well not any more than it drains it with auto-sync turned off.
I can't seem to remove apps like News & Weather, GMail, Stocks, etc. that would use background data services and which I do not ever use. Guess I can just delete the apk files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can go into settings under "Accounts & sync" and go into each account that you don't want to sync and uncheck sync. I usually do that with news, stocks and weather right off the bat when I set up a phone. That will cut down on the background data and help with your battery life.
mr72 said:
thanks for the tips. Auto-sync is working fine now with Exchange and it's not draining the battery unduly, well not any more than it drains it with auto-sync turned off.
I can't seem to remove apps like News & Weather, GMail, Stocks, etc. that would use background data services and which I do not ever use. Guess I can just delete the apk files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can remove certain system apps via this method. i always do this for facebook, news/weather, stocks and things like that.
and for more battery help, check this out.
thanks. i'll check it out. location-based wifi would be the bomb for battery saving, but Y5 does not work on Froyo/Aria and everything else that has this feature is a paid app... guess I just am not yet willing to spring for it. Cheap == me.
I've observed unusually high battery drain when using the Samsung email app, specifically, with multiple push accounts. I thought i'd share the results of some battery usage testing as i haven't seen this issue addressed anywhere else.
Based on the results, GMail consistently uses the same battery no matter how many accounts are enabled. While the Samsung email app has a huge increase in battery drain when using multiple push accounts, and it seems to just get worse when more accounts are enabled.
While it's typical for most people to have 1 or 2 email accounts, i've seen a lot of people complaining about unusually poor battery life and thought perhaps this would be another issue to consider for those with multiple accounts. Right now i'm getting anywhere from 24-54 hours depending on usage.
I haven't tested this with any other stock or custom rom as it would take a lot of time, so the tests aren't conclusive. If anyone else could weigh-in and comment on any battery life differences they've noticed, that would be helpful.
Results:
Baseline reference over 12 hour period
6% usage - background data disabled
8% usage - background data enabled. only email syncing disabled
GMail app over 12 hour period
9% - 1 push account enabled
9% - 2 push accounts enabled
10% - 7 push accounts enabled
Samsung email app over 12 hour period
10% - 1 push account enabled
17% - 2 push accounts enabled (2x more than GMail)
54% - 7 push accounts enabled (5x more than GMail)
Testing conditions:
-All tests were performed overnight over a 12 hour period with the LCD off and untouched.
-All tests were performed twice and the battery usage averaged out between the 2 results.
-All tests used gmail accounts.
-Push was enabled in samsung email app using exchange account with 'm.google.com'
-Background data and auto-sync enabled. Data/3g/hsdpa enabled.
-Wifi disabled.
-GPS disabled.
-Battery freshly calibrated.
-Serendipity 5.x with speedmod k13c and jk4.
I would agree although I don't have the stats. I had corporate email (exchange account) on my Captivate, and when I deleted that account, the battery lasted much longer.
Similarly anecdotal evidence here. I removed my Gmail account from the Email app (actually I just told it not to sync my Gmail account), using Gmail for that. I still have a corporate account but I set it to NOT push during off-peak hours. Since making those 2 changes my battery life, especially overnight, has pretty much doubled.
It would make sense that you see this. The gmail app only has to go to the google servers and request any new emails while the email app has to go to each place/server individually
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
Still, it's good to know that those with multiple gmail accounts could save a lot of battery life by simply switching to the GMail app. Those with corporate accounts are out of luck though.
I had a horrible battery drain related to the email app in Perception. I found the AOSP email app and installed it and my drain went away.
Might be worth a look for people experiencing email related battery drain.
You could always have Gmail manage your other email accounts like I've seen others do.
Could not understand why my new device was burning through it's battery like it was a desktop computer. I can't remember where but I stumbled across the application OS monitor and took a look to see anything untoward.
Well I have an exchange email server that I use to sync all my contacts/calendar and emails.
It would appear that the inbuilt google mail app tends to CONSTANTLY drain power whilst it is set up, I did have push mail activated and it was set to do background data et al.
Removing this has fixed my battery drain issue and I'm now using Touchdown to manage my email exchange, with push mail activated and having no such problems at all!
I'm not suggesting that everyone switches to Touchdown but it is definitely worth trying a different client if you are having problems with poor battery performance!
Hope this helps someone as it was REALLY beginning to annoy me, not even lasting a night out!
Did Google show up under your battery use?
hah2110 said:
Did Google show up under your battery use?
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Click to collapse
Not quite sure what you mean? OS monitor showed the system using a few resources every now and again but mail was using 30-40% almost constantly draining the battery!
Also found that leaving WIFI enabled uses VERY little battery and so I've kept that alive so that the current mail app I'm using doesn't poll and get no connection all the time (personally what I think was happening is due to me living in the middle of nowhere there was no signal and so it kept polling until it could find a signal which was using up resources).
I've noticed that my Mail app - which I only use for corporate exchange email - occasionally causes extremely heavy battery drain, enough to kill 40-50% battery life halfway through a day. I've found no pattern for the problem, but here's what I've noticed so far when having the issue:
-Mail using upwards of 50-60% of battery consumption
-Outgoing Mail hangs up and requires multiple resend attempts and/or killing the mail service and retrying a few times.
-Settings>Apps> Running list shows 2 mail apps: EASAppSvc and EASDirectPush, running for different durations of time. (typically only shows EASAppSvc when functioning 'normally.')
-Task Manager always shows just the one main Mail app.
-Killing DirectPush seems to help the problem, but not sure if this is directly related or just triggers something else.
I can't tell if this is related to my corporate server or my phone, but while I'm at work, I've noticed my desktop email application (Outlook) working as expected but the phone Mail app having the apparent sync connectivity issues.
Currently fully stock on the OTA version of 1.85. Had the same problem on fully stock 1.73, as well. Any thoughts on how to fix this connection issue or at least what may be the root of the problem? Has anyone else had this happen? There are a number of posts about activesync delays, but all of my mail is coming in on time and as expected, it's just the sending and constant battery drain that seem to pop up for me.
Other settings of note:
-Push email during peak (not smartsync).
-Peak time set to 7am-10pm. Off peak sync set to every hour.