Related
Well guys,
It's been a long time since I realized my Nexus ONE was draining a lot of battery.
After some testing I figured out one of the most probable causes for that, Autosync.
So I started creating a proof of concept app in order to run autosync at a specified custom time.
On the other hand, I read some users in this forum talk about the possibility to monitor Signal Strength and disable APN if under a given threshold... so I did it (and added Autosync control on low signal too).
It is very useful when you work all day in low signal areas (as me).
Remember.. this is just a proof of concept... may fail a lot or never!
Search for it in the market!
Enjoy
IMPORTANT: Dont kill the app! Exclude it from memory savers (automatic tasks killer). And dont worry about memory or CPU use, it is negligible.
Update 23/08/2010
New Version 0.2. Hope you like it
You have to unistall the previous one (if not it won't install) because I lost my previous certificate . Sorry!!!
Go to:
https://sites.google.com/site/shutupbatterysaver/
Interesting...will be testing
What a great idea!
But does this app use a lot of battery monitoring the signal strength and adjusting for this?
will this work on other phones too or just nexus at this time?
First testing i was able to change settings but it seems to fc on me. Using htc hero cdma on darchdroid.
Jon.StatiK said:
First testing i was able to change settings but it seems to fc on me. Using htc hero cdma on darchdroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works perfectly on HTC Hero GSM in Spain with the android 2.1.
So I don't know... I don't have an American Hero.
It should work on every android 2.1 and 2.2 phone...
Markdental said:
What a great idea!
But does this app use a lot of battery monitoring the signal strength and adjusting for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont worry for CPU(battery) drain.
When using Scheduled Autosync it just uses a few miliseconds of CPU for each Loop.
And for the Signal Strength monitoring, it checks it every 10 minutes and only uses (again) a few miliseconds.
If you have Spare Parts, you can check it yourself!
Wow! I instantly noticed a difference in drain even when monitoring it with adb. I'm impressed. What are you guys settings looking like? I am not sure how I should set it up. If I set the sync on for every 25 minutes, does that mean my phone will ONLY auto sync every 25 minutes? This app is long overdue! Thanks!
on my nexus if I leave the app and click on it again on the drawer, the app resets everything (settings, logs)
THATTON said:
Wow! I instantly noticed a difference in drain even when monitoring it with adb. I'm impressed. What are you guys settings looking like? I am not sure how I should set it up. If I set the sync on for every 25 minutes, does that mean my phone will ONLY auto sync every 25 minutes? This app is long overdue! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, would love to hear some other users' settings that are working for them.
Like maybe the cutoff for the signal strength level.
also, am I suppose to leave sync off?
congratulations for your job. anyway i have an issue with my nexus one. the app semms to work for about 5sec then all the settings are reseting and apn and sync are switching on even if my signal is below my previous settings. do you have any idea?
thank you.
spyinzedark.
Woo! I'm glad my thread on turning off data when signal is low actually made it into something! I'll try this out soon...
Markdental said:
Yeah, would love to hear some other users' settings that are working for them.
Like maybe the cutoff for the signal strength level.
also, am I suppose to leave sync off?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would also like to know if I should be leaving androids built in auto sync off or leave it on? So far, I have been getting great battery with this set to
Sync options:
30min off
2 min on
Signal options:
-104dBm
-104dBm
I can't wait to see where this is going!
I also can't get my settings to save.. just resets after I exit the app.
dessanct said:
I also can't get my settings to save.. just resets after I exit the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this ^
(10chars)
G1-evolve said:
this ^
(10chars)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you reseting the app?
I mean, the app is meant to be always alive.
You should never kill it and exclude it from any memory saver task killer that you have. Otherwise it cannot work!!
Dont worry about leaving it alive as it only uses a very very small time of CPU.
Sooo... Dont Kill it!!
Just let me know your results
I am currently using:
- Autosync due to Timer 1h - 3m
- APN off if Signal less than -90dBm
It works nice!
Anyone think this would conflict badly with juicedefender?
r0adki111 said:
Anyone think this would conflict badly with juicedefender?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not using JuiceDefender anymore because it just seems to mess too many things up. That's just my experience though.
wjax said:
I am currently using:
- Autosync due to Timer 1h - 3m
- APN off if Signal less than -90dBm
It works nice!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should we be leaving the regular autosync on or off?
I'm attempting to try to increase my battery life so it lasts longer than 12 hours (~13 seems to be my limit). (I'll admit I'm a bit jealous of those who can run the phone 24+ hours) Though it's somewhat painful, I'm shutting down most the programs I have running in the background. However there seems to be a number that like to restart even after I think I've disabled their startup, widgets, notifications, etc.
Is there a way to make sure programs that you install don't run? Or at least don't launch during start up? Perhaps something like msconfig in windows?
Thanks.
Raleran said:
I'm attempting to try to increase my battery life so it lasts longer than 12 hours (~13 seems to be my limit). (I'll admit I'm a bit jealous of those who can run the phone 24+ hours) Though it's somewhat painful, I'm shutting down most the programs I have running in the background. However there seems to be a number that like to restart even after I think I've disabled their startup, widgets, notifications, etc.
Is there a way to make sure programs that you install don't run? Or at least don't launch during start up? Perhaps something like msconfig in windows?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Killing background tasks will only decrease your battery life. When an application goes to the background, it sits in memory but does NOT consume any CPU power. since the memory is in solid state, it requires no power to stay in that state. By constantly killing background applications, it will need to start up, reinitialize, and consume more power then if you had just left it alone. Also, long term performance will be negatively affected, even if you do expereince a small short term performance gain. the Android OS is designed at the core level to have applications behave this way, and modifying that behavior will make for a worse experience.
asrrin29 said:
Killing background tasks will only decrease your battery life. When an application goes to the background, it sits in memory but does NOT consume any CPU power. since the memory is in solid state, it requires no power to stay in that state. By constantly killing background applications, it will need to start up, reinitialize, and consume more power then if you had just left it alone. Also, long term performance will be negatively affected, even if you do expereince a small short term performance gain. the Android OS is designed at the core level to have applications behave this way, and modifying that behavior will make for a worse experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, this is the first I've heard this. I don't remember reading this in the various battery optimization guides.
Still is there a was to stop things short of uninstalling? For example, I want to stop using the Yahoo Mail app but don't want to install yet. I went through all the options I could to disable checking/notifications, etc but it still pops back into memory constantly.
I assume youve tried the obvious, turn off WiFi (3G) and screen when not actively using it?! Those are the big batt.-eaters
Sent from my HTC Magic using XDA App
asrrin29 said:
Killing background tasks will only decrease your battery life. When an application goes to the background, it sits in memory but does NOT consume any CPU power. since the memory is in solid state, it requires no power to stay in that state. By constantly killing background applications, it will need to start up, reinitialize, and consume more power then if you had just left it alone. Also, long term performance will be negatively affected, even if you do expereince a small short term performance gain. the Android OS is designed at the core level to have applications behave this way, and modifying that behavior will make for a worse experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Documentation? As far as I have read an application does not go into any type of dehydrated state when running in the background / minimized. It can do anything it wants including using CPU cycles.
I do agree that most applications do not need to be killed with a task killer but leaving 3D games (for example) running in the background could hurt your battery. Also not all applications are progammed with ther same fore thought and skill level.
I get about 33% more runtime out of my battery using a task killer to kill specific applications that I know I do not want running in the background.
Streaker said:
I assume youve tried the obvious, turn off WiFi (3G) and screen when not actively using it?! Those are the big batt.-eaters
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I leave wifi on since I'm usually in range. It's more efficient than 3g right? I alway sleep the device when I'm done. I still have huge percentages on the screen when looking at the battery usage. I'm trying a completely black screen now.
Mainly your widgets and icons and stuff still cover large portions of it, so: a black screen will help, not but alot.
Also, to keep items in RAM, to the second poster... What do you think is keeping those items in RAM?
Ummm... It's the CPU.
Task Killers won't help you on RAM usage at all (Because Android will automatically shuffle them out if it has to, or so I've read... I've yet to hit max memory). Task Killers DO help you as far as battery use goes, though... Keeping the browser killed if you aren't using it, etc.
Bjd223 said:
Documentation? As far as I have read an application does not go into any type of dehydrated state when running in the background / minimized. It can do anything it wants including using CPU cycles.
I do agree that most applications do not need to be killed with a task killer but leaving 3D games (for example) running in the background could hurt your battery. Also not all applications are progammed with ther same fore thought and skill level.
I get about 33% more runtime out of my battery using a task killer to kill specific applications that I know I do not want running in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should clarify. I guess the term I meant to use is "suspended." If a program is actively "running" in the background, it will use CPU cycles. But if you simply stopped using a program, say for example the xda app, and returned to your homescreen, the application stays "suspended" in the background and consumes no CPU cycles until you go back to it. Now services that are updating, such as email or SMS, will use CPU cycles in the background because they are still actively running. But if you want to conserve battery life you can simply disable the notifications from most of these programs.
asrrin29 said:
I should clarify. I guess the term I meant to use is "suspended." If a program is actively "running" in the background, it will use CPU cycles. But if you simply stopped using a program, say for example the xda app, and returned to your homescreen, the application stays "suspended" in the background and consumes no CPU cycles until you go back to it. Now services that are updating, such as email or SMS, will use CPU cycles in the background because they are still actively running. But if you want to conserve battery life you can simply disable the notifications from most of these programs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app itself at that point may not be but the Android OS still does to maintain that suspended state.
I have some applications I rarely use or even some that I've never used but may want to in the future. I see absolutely no benefit in keeping these applications in the background. Further more, I've noticed a signficant drain on the battery when extra applications are running in the background. I'm sure it's not all of them, but I've yet to discover who exactly the culpit is. Right now I suspect it's the NPR app, perhaps due to data use?
The point is, there are perfectly good reasons to keep some apps in the background, and perfectly good reasons to kill others - or perferrably not have them start up at all unless I do it myself. Could be due to data usage (especially if you do not have unlimited data), could be due to concerns about excessive cpu usage. There really should be a clear method in which you can stop applications from opening on their own.
You can use the program "Autostarts" to keep applications from starting at startup. With it you can also prevent things from launching under a number of other situations. That might be what you are looking for. Just do a google search for the APK as I don't think it is in the market.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Shuggins said:
You can use the program "Autostarts" to keep applications from starting at startup. With it you can also prevent things from launching under a number of other situations. That might be what you are looking for. Just do a google search for the APK as I don't think it is in the market.
Wouldn't tasker also help?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my AOSP on XDANDROID MSM using XDA App
To me, it's not a matter of "task killer or not", but rather when and where to use one. And I think it's simple: Don't bother, unless you suspect a specific app is doing something you don't want it to do in the background. Then, just kill that specific app and leave everything else alone. A Task manager that shows CPU% for each process can be handy for this as well.
I generally try to avoid killing tasks, but one night I had 50% battery on my phone and after about 2 hours or so I took it out of my pocket to make a phone call, and it was very hot and had about 12% of batter left -- something was running wild that shouldn't have been (I think it was Pandora, even though it was not currently playing any music!) So, background apps do occasionally run out of control, and you do need to occasionally kill them, but do it on an "as needed" basis.
Raleran said:
I'm attempting to try to increase my battery life so it lasts longer than 12 hours (~13 seems to be my limit). (I'll admit I'm a bit jealous of those who can run the phone 24+ hours) Though it's somewhat painful, I'm shutting down most the programs I have running in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless the background process is syncing data, it won't eat your battery. So instead of wasting your time, you should focus on other energy hogs. Things like screen brightness, bluetooth, wifi, and gps.
Shuggins said:
You can use the program "Autostarts" to keep applications from starting at startup. With it you can also prevent things from launching under a number of other situations. That might be what you are looking for. Just do a google search for the APK as I don't think it is in the market.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed Advanced Task Killer from the Market. It lets you kill all running applications including itself.
durrence
jsmith8858 said:
To me, it's not a matter of "task killer or not", but rather when and where to use one. And I think it's simple: Don't bother, unless you suspect a specific app is doing something you don't want it to do in the background. Then, just kill that specific app and leave everything else alone. A Task manager that shows CPU% for each process can be handy for this as well.
I generally try to avoid killing tasks, but one night I had 50% battery on my phone and after about 2 hours or so I took it out of my pocket to make a phone call, and it was very hot and had about 12% of batter left -- something was running wild that shouldn't have been (I think it was Pandora, even though it was not currently playing any music!) So, background apps do occasionally run out of control, and you do need to occasionally kill them, but do it on an "as needed" basis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or an auto-killer would've killed it before it killed your battery by 38% lol
Task Killings are bad, mmmkay...
Slightly off topic:
To help conserve battery power,
Use an all black desktop background since the black areas dont use battery power.
Hmm, people in this thread have said a few things that I haven't heard or seen much before. Specifically that killing apps could decrease battery life. When I first downloaded advanced task killer I tended to kill most things. I slowly backed off and now I've been watching what launches and what tends to come back and not kill those (mail apps, widgets, performance watchers, etc). The second is that not having a black background doesn't necessarily improve battery life. Makes sense considering I have icons everywhere on my screen.
@Shuggins - Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for. I've downloaded it but now I have to, er charge my battery a bit before I can take a close look at it.
@jsmith8858 - Are you running setCPU? A couple days ago I noticed my battery running pretty hot. I stopped using setCPU and the battery cooled down a lot. I've used setCPU since them without the heat issue so I'm not sure what was going on.
Well during todays iteration I ran for about 12 hours (typical). I had a couple short phone calls, 2 email accounts syncing as well as other bg syncing processes. I did eat up 30% in an hour messing with a game. I'd probably have 13-14 hours if I didn't play anything (but if I didn't what's the point of the phone . Still, as much as I love it the screen is killing me. Guess there's nothing to do about it though (usually brightness is all the way down, turn it off when I'm not using it, using a darker background). I didn't kill any of my background processes today. I'm going to set up that Autostarts program and start auto-killing various programs tomorrow.
You can try using autokiller and art it to extreme, but I don't recommend this
Sent from my HTC Dream using XDA App
I was thinking, as a battery-saving measure, if it would be possible to have an app that would turn the mobile data on and off every, say, 30 or 60 seconds.
This way, you effectively still have "instant" notifications (minus a 30- or 60-second delay), but you are saving battery because half of the time mobile data is actually turned off.
Is anybody aware of whether or not this is possible, or whether there is any app that does this? I know there are apps that let you schedule different tasks (such as turn off Wi-Fi at 12:00), but I guess I'm looking for an app that would let me specify something to the effect of "Do X every X seconds."
Any thoughts?? I wonder if it would save a significant amount of battery.
there is Tasker for that and I'm currently using it. But of course u need to set up the profile yourself.
That's good to know. With Tasker, can you set something on a timer such as "Do this every X seconds?"
Also, do you happen to know if this idea would even help? It seems like it might, but I'm wondering if it would actually make a noticeable improvement.
I think it would use more data than it would save. Turning on and off data constantly would probably drain the battery than it would from leaving it stable.
Check out juice defender. Every 30-60 seconds won't help you much, but once per hour for three minutes or so will.
Also, see apn droid.
I'm using Tasker to turn off data when screen is off and then enable it every 15 min for 1 min
Enhanced said:
I think it would use more data than it would save. Turning on and off data constantly would probably drain the battery than it would from leaving it stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly what I was thinking, since it has to scan for access points and establish a connection each time.
That said, Tasker's time context can do "between A and B, every X minutes".
CPU Tuner... it has become one amazing piece of software...
If you're rooted and overclocked, it will let you fine tune just about everything in a non confusing way.
In profiles you tweak mobile data (with "pulse", you specify how many minutes on and how many off), gps (if installed as system app), wifi, sync, bluetooth, toggle 2g/3g... and of course cpu speeds and governors...
Actually, pulse can be applied to all the above "togglable" items except the 2g/3g for obvious reasons.
In triggers, based on battery level, you can choose what profile to use depending on whether the phone is plugged in, the screen is off, or on a phone call (beta feature)
No, it's not my app. It's free and I'm helping with testing out new features
The pulse feature was just added to yesterday's update.
imekul said:
I was thinking, as a battery-saving measure, if it would be possible to have an app that would turn the mobile data on and off every, say, 30 or 60 seconds.
This way, you effectively still have "instant" notifications (minus a 30- or 60-second delay), but you are saving battery because half of the time mobile data is actually turned off.
Is anybody aware of whether or not this is possible, or whether there is any app that does this? I know there are apps that let you schedule different tasks (such as turn off Wi-Fi at 12:00), but I guess I'm looking for an app that would let me specify something to the effect of "Do X every X seconds."
Any thoughts?? I wonder if it would save a significant amount of battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mobile data turned on and doing nothing uses nearly zero battery. Reconnecting it constantly like this would make syncing of everything probably happen every time it reconnected. Possibly your accounts would re-sync, email would have to reconnect and sync, your weather apps etc might sync now that the phone has connected again, etc.
Sorry, sounds like a really absurd idea.
Hi all,
First time poster here, so hello! I've searched the forums and google but could not find an answer to this question.
Is anyone running a Nexus S on 4.0.4 ICS seeing lots of CPU usage at the 1000MHz frequency?
My phone is a Nexus S (i9020)
Operator: 02 UK
OS: Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4
Not rooted.
My phone goes into a deep sleep fine and battery usage seems to be little in this state. However, the moment I turn on the screen and start 'using' the phone, I see a battery drop of at least 1% every 5 mins or so. I'm not doing anything taxing, either scrolling through the home screens, or opening browser to read a web page for a few mins.
Higest three battery users are reported as:
Screen 37%
Android System 15%
Browser 7%
CPU Spy reports the following:
1000 MHz - 25.11 (30%)
800 MHz - 7.35 (9%)
400 MHz -3.34 (4%)
200 MHz - 6.26 (7%)
100 MHz - 6.56 (8%)
Deep Sleep - 33.29 (40%)
Total time: 1h23m13s
From what I've read cpu usage shouldn't max out unless you're running something intensive i.e. it shouldn't be at the 1000MHz frequency, when just reading an already loaded page.
I'm able to go from 100% to 50% in about 2 hours, just using the browser (on wifi) to read webpages and nothing more.
When I first got the phone, a year ago, on Gingerbread, I'd be able to watch 1 hour of video, send calls and texts and make it from 8.30am to 5pm using around 40% battery. These days, I don't get close to that at all.
Noted to moderators: if this is posted in the wrong place or would be better suited in an existing thread, I'm sorry please let me know and I'll edit as required!
Thanks in advance for your time and assistance!
Screen drains most the battery. If there is drain while it's off there would be some kind of wake lock preventing sleep. You likely don't have this since it seems your phone sleeps nicely, assuming you had the screen on for moat the time in that screenshot.
The frequencies you show seem a little skewed to 1000mhz for web browsing. What cpu governor are you using, and what settings? I usually get around 40-40 between highest and lowest frequency with ondemand, 20% or less for the intermediate frequencies. This is while web browsing most of the time.
Harbb said:
Screen drains most the battery. If there is drain while it's off there would be some kind of wake lock preventing sleep. You likely don't have this since it seems your phone sleeps nicely, assuming you had the screen on for moat the time in that screenshot.
The frequencies you show seem a little skewed to 1000mhz for web browsing. What cpu governor are you using, and what settings? I usually get around 40-40 between highest and lowest frequency with ondemand, 20% or less for the intermediate frequencies. This is while web browsing most of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the screen drains the most battery, but I feel there is an underlying issue since light usage (like reading) can drain 50% in 2 hours, whereas before I could watch 1 hour video and lose about 10%.
I'm not sure what you mean by CPU governor and settings. I'm running the stock ICS 4.0.4 (got the OTA only a few days ago). I agree it seems skewed. It seems to use the 1000MHz frequency pretty much all the time the screen is on.
chillerz said:
I understand the screen drains the most battery, but I feel there is an underlying issue since light usage (like reading) can drain 50% in 2 hours, whereas before I could watch 1 hour video and lose about 10%.
I'm not sure what you mean by CPU governor and settings. I'm running the stock ICS 4.0.4 (got the OTA only a few days ago). I agree it seems skewed. It seems to use the 1000MHz frequency pretty much all the time the screen is on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, welcome to XDA!
The fact that you're not rooted + stock could only mean that there is probably a background app running while your actively using your phone. Have you checked into Settings > Apps > Running and noticed anything peculiar? For a fact, based on everything I'm reading here there is no way your phone should be at 1000 MHz for 30% of the time. At most for my usage, my phone is in the 1000 MHz state < 10% of the time.
If all else fails, you could always try doing a factory reset and seeing if the problem persists. If not then you can install your important apps one by one to find a culprit.
You could also try out this nify tool: BetterBatteryStats to give you more statistics as to what is eating your battery.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809
10 percent drain while watching a video is hard to believe.
That would equal 10hrs to drain the battery with screen on watching a video. Which is not happening.
Your battery drain now sounds normal. Maybe in the past it was not reporting it correctly or you're simply mistaken somehow.
The average battery should last along the lines of 4 - 5 hours worth of screen on time. Whether this is playing a game or browsing around hasn't made more than that much difference for me. 1% every 5 minutes would give you ~8 hours of screen on time, a feat very few (aLNG, looking at you) have been able to do without an extended battery. Anything more than this is not going to happen while maintaining a cell signal and watching videos. You may have been exaggerating the time on battery in the past.
Go to Settings --> Developer options --> Show CPU usage and tick it. Leave the phone sitting there with the screen on for a bit and let me know what the top CPU users are.
Which settings are the best for battery lfe? I have stock everything.
Harbb said:
The average battery should last along the lines of 4 - 5 hours worth of screen on time. Whether this is playing a game or browsing around hasn't made more than that much difference for me. 1% every 5 minutes would give you ~8 hours of screen on time, a feat very few (aLNG, looking at you) have been able to do without an extended battery. Anything more than this is not going to happen while maintaining a cell signal and watching videos. You may have been exaggerating the time on battery in the past.
Go to Settings --> Developer options --> Show CPU usage and tick it. Leave the phone sitting there with the screen on for a bit and let me know what the top CPU users are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The list of things using the CPU changes quite often, here's the list of the ones that are at the top of the list for a while (I've also attached a screenshot):
system_server
com.android.systemui
surfaceflinger
com.jim2
kworker/u:1
kworker/0:0
dhd_dpc
wpa_supplicant
UPDATE:
7h 48m 34s on battery
Voice calls: 1h 39m (screen is off for most of the call duration)
Screen on: 1h 23m
Used browser and xda app for less than 5 mins each.
Haven't done much else with the phone and I'm on 44% battery (from full charge).
CPU Spy (measuring whilst phone was charging overnight, so deep sleep is high):
Total CPU time = 13h26m
1000 MHz = 40 mins (5%)
800 MHz = 17 mins (2%)
400 MHz = 12 mins (1%)
200 MHz = 26 mins (3%)
100 MHz = 56 mins (7%)
Deep Sleep = 10h52m (80%)
hi,
I can confirm chillerz's notice. My experience's similar. Last week I upgraded my (non routed) i9023 from GB via OTA (before the update I did a hardreset). My phone became a cityphone I always have to keep a charger in my pocket and looking for power connectors.. with GB I could use my phone at least 2 days but now I'm happy if I can survive my workday.. my best was 13h - in that case Android OS battery usage was 61%.. I still haven't try to use the music player.. but I don't see any sense to it.. I'm also interested in a thread which could help me out and I've found my self here.. what do you recommend? what to do? replacing my 7 months old phone?? I've jus loved my nexus and here I'm.. It won't be a good business strategy in long term..
I know about the issues of released ICS in December.. I was hopping the 4.0.4 will solve them.. now it's April.. I don't want to wait 4 more months again..
thanks in advanced for your helping!
I had horrible battery life after the 4.0.4 update, but it's been much improved after fully discharging the battery and then charging it to 100% with the phone powered off.
great news, I will try tonight and share the result!
thx
The latest usage results seem good and processes also seem standard. Phone calls tend to use a fair bit of battery, keeping and transmitting a constant signal, powering speakers, keeping the entire phone awake and so on. I wouldn't put it above the screen being on, so you should be able to squeeze another ~30 minutes before 44% in normal use but this depends on too many factors to list anyway and bad reception can make it all the more difficult to figure out.
Also, while making calls don't be surprised if the CPU does decide it needs to ramp up to a higher frequency (ondemand likes 1000mhz) but i havn't put this to the test. This could skew the results as in the OP.
hello futangclan,
since your solution the battery usage "normalized" 26h/17%. This workaround would be a great tip on a welcome srceen at the first boot of ICS
before the fully discharging battery I noticed the battery usage of Android OS decreased from 60 to 19%.. I'm thinking about whether the ICS does something "maintenance" in the background after the OTA upgrade the first days or not..
Once upon a time, I too was one of the sullied - one those unfortunates souls, plagued with poor battery life on a Nexus S (stock FTW), brought on by an innocent (and joyful) upgrade to ICS 4.0.4 from 2.3.6.
When I first discovered the trouble, with great gusto, I ran to the interwebs and dutifully followed suggestions of restarting the phone or draining the battery, but alas - it was all to no avail. There is, however, a happy ending to this story. With effort and perseverance, I've since significantly improved performance. Here is my brief tale of success.
After the upgrade, Android (praise be its name!) decided to start, in the background, every single application on the phone. Verily Snake '97 was indeed running all the time. The horror!!! The game is entertaining certainly, but hardly worth keeping alive at the cost of other, more critical apps.
I was not deterred and took matters into my own hands. Using Manage Apps -> All (not Manage Apps -> Running, mind you), I went about Force Stopping each application (including some Android core apps). It was tedious and frightening. I was very careful and hesitant, as you should be if you are affected by a similar malady.
By the next day, I saw much improved battery life (hooray!), yet I wasn't free and clear. The hold of evil had not been loosened completely.
I found within, a strange and dangerous lock (wakelock - was that its name?) keeping the Gallery in the list of active applications, even when I had not used it for some time. It refused to move to the cached apps list. Puzzled, I scratched my empty head. The interwebs were of no use this time - I was on my own.
(cue ominous music)
Peering within, in the Sync section I found the system was trying to sync photos on an account where the checkbox for syncing was not selected.
A quick off-on-off stopped the syncing. The app slinked off the Running apps list. Soon, I was overjoyed, for I was experiencing improved battery life!
I've now returned to performance much closer to that from days of 2.3.6. My Nexus S' battery now reaches 40%-30% in ~16 hours, with always-on 3G, Wifi and GPS, oft use of phone, contacts, messaging, whatsapp, twitter, foursquare and browser, and infrequent use of music, market, maps, camera and rarer usage of games like Angry Birds (which consumes vast amounts of battery) and gallery.
All is well with the universe.
Certainly, this tale may or may not be a mirror to your own. Should you be experiencing similar problems, I hope my tale brings you solace, and provides a means to the end of your troubles.
demarcolister said:
Once upon a time, I too was one of the sullied - one those unfortunates souls, plagued with poor battery life on a Nexus S (stock FTW), brought on by an innocent (and joyful) upgrade to ICS 4.0.4 from 2.3.6.
When I first discovered the trouble, with great gusto, I ran to the interwebs and dutifully followed suggestions of restarting the phone or draining the battery, but alas - it was all to no avail. There is, however, a happy ending to this story. With effort and perseverance, I've since significantly improved performance. Here is my brief tale of success.
After the upgrade, Android (praise be its name!) decided to start, in the background, every single application on the phone. Verily Snake '97 was indeed running all the time. The horror!!! The game is entertaining certainly, but hardly worth keeping alive at the cost of other, more critical apps.
I was not deterred and took matters into my own hands. Using Manage Apps -> All (not Manage Apps -> Running, mind you), I went about Force Stopping each application (including some Android core apps). It was tedious and frightening. I was very careful and hesitant, as you should be if you are affected by a similar malady.
By the next day, I saw much improved battery life (hooray!), yet I wasn't free and clear. The hold of evil had not been loosened completely.
I found within, a strange and dangerous lock (wakelock - was that its name?) keeping the Gallery in the list of active applications, even when I had not used it for some time. It refused to move to the cached apps list. Puzzled, I scratched my empty head. The interwebs were of no use this time - I was on my own.
(cue ominous music)
Peering within, in the Sync section I found the system was trying to sync photos on an account where the checkbox for syncing was not selected.
A quick off-on-off stopped the syncing. The app slinked off the Running apps list. Soon, I was overjoyed, for I was experiencing improved battery life!
I've now returned to performance much closer to that from days of 2.3.6. My Nexus S' battery now reaches 40%-30% in ~16 hours, with always-on 3G, Wifi and GPS, oft use of phone, contacts, messaging, whatsapp, twitter, foursquare and browser, and infrequent use of music, market, maps, camera and rarer usage of games like Angry Birds (which consumes vast amounts of battery) and gallery.
All is well with the universe.
Certainly, this tale may or may not be a mirror to your own. Should you be experiencing similar problems, I hope my tale brings you solace, and provides a means to the end of your troubles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You, my friend, deserve a cookie for such good writing.
@demarcolister Awesome first post here on XDA.
Great story too. Most will blame battery drain on the custom ROM/kernel they flash and fail to realize their battery drain is usually caused by a rogue app running in the background ...
I've never had good luck with the stock gallery app. I always freeze it via adb when I flash a new ROM. It seems much worse in ICS. It would always start back up.
Stock GB gallery was an absolute joke. Slow, missing thumbnails, weird background and hard to see what you're scrolling through. The stock ICS gallery i actually prefer over alternatives. Though i don't use picasa so that is disabled. Never an issue with it (besides always showing my damned album covers).
Harbb said:
You, my friend, deserve a cookie for such good writing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nom nom nom!!
AeroEchelon said:
@demarcolister Awesome first post here on XDA.
Great story too. Most will blame battery drain on the custom ROM/kernel they flash and fail to realize their battery drain is usually caused by a rogue app running in the background ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was quick to (negative) judgement too, but I figured that Google would not (certainly!) release an update that completely cripples a modern and high-selling device.
Harbb said:
Stock GB gallery was an absolute joke. Slow, missing thumbnails, weird background and hard to see what you're scrolling through. The stock ICS gallery i actually prefer over alternatives. Though i don't use picasa so that is disabled. Never an issue with it (besides always showing my damned album covers).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed! In fact, I'd accept, grudgingly, if album covers show up in the gallery (although, truly they should not), but I do not, under any circumstance, want to see the icons (tick for yes, cross for no, i for icons, etc.) used by an application in my Gallery. Idiocy!
What is the solution? I wish to remain Stock, so rooting and editing the equivalent of plist or config files is not an option. At least 'Camera' is the first option, always! That makes it usable, but as soon as I use picplz or camera360 or instagram their folders get shuffled in position. Is Google hinting at something!? *sigh*
Hey guys...
Sent from my Nexus S
I have the droid ultra and was wondering how I could get some extra juice out of my phone? Any help would be appreciated!
Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app
Trade it for the Maxx!!
Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app
1. Turn off Battery Saver under Settings/Battery. This is false hope and more of a placebo. It usually kicks on when you are already really low on battery and it usually just down clocks your CPU and can make your phone sluggish.
2. Turn off Automatic Brightness under Settings/Display/Brightness. When the sensor on your phone reads the light around you, it likes to shift the brightness on your phone from really high to really low. This effects your battery. Turn that option off and leave your phone on half to 1/4 max brightness. 1/2 is usually just fine. You will get used to this brightness.
3. Turn off Location Access. This is probably one the biggest battery wasters out there and you don't need it running all the time. It is located under Settings/Location Access. Turn off or uncheck everything here. If a program needs or wants it on, it will request it when you are using that app. Most of the time it is usually for Google Maps. As you can tell, this also turns off GPS.
4. Let your phone sleep, but not too soon/long! Under Settings/Display click on sleep and change it to 1 or 2 minutes(preferred). Nothing shorter, nothing longer. Nothing longer because if you forget to turn off your screen, you don't want it sitting there for 5
minutes wasting away. Nothing shorter because turning it back on after 15 seconds because you were thinking will only cause the screen to demand more power to get it restarted, thus draining battery.
5. Facebook = Battery Killer. I get it, you love Facebook. That is ok, but your battery doesn't. There is hope though! Open the Facebook app and slide your finger from the left side of the screen to the right side of the screen. Now go all the way down to "App
Settings" and make these changes. #1 Refresh Interval = Never: This will prevent it from waking up your phone/battery and refreshing automatically when the phone is off. When you launch the app, it does this for you, so why have it do it when you are
working/sleeping? Plus you can always manually do this by pulling down on your News Feed. #2 Turn off Messenger location services. You don't really need this on. it likes to activate your GPS(battery hog) and let people know which city you sent that post/message from. Unless you care that people know you are in Butt****, Ohio, you should have this off.
6. Streaming Music kills battery. Do you have 80gb of songs at home on your computer? Then why do you stream Pandora all day? You having unlimited data is not a good excuse. If you can, put all those songs on your SD card/phone and listen to them using Google Play Music app. Buy a bigger SD card if you have to, they are not that expensive. Or just ask Santa.
7. Turn off vibrate on touch/haptic feedback. Usually located under Settings/Sound. That little motor that tickles your finger tips when you touch the screen actually uses a good amount of power. If you are really looking to get the most out of your battery, turn this off. I leave it on because I could always go for a finger tip tickle.
You don't have to use all of those, you can pick and choose if you like. I do. I hope it helps you out. Let me know.
Fun Fact: The takes more power to show the color blue on your screen than any other color.
SupremeOverlord said:
3. Turn off Location Access. This is probably one the biggest battery wasters out there and you don't need it running all the time. It is located under Settings/Location Access. Turn off or uncheck everything here. If a program needs or wants it on, it will request it when you are using that app. Most of the time it is usually for Google Maps. As you can tell, this also turns off GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, well, you need location services for Google Maps. It's nothing something discrete for just one application. (Meaning, if you turn off location services globally, it turns it off for everything. If you turn it on, you can go into individual apps and see if you can turn off location.) However, you can go into Google Now, menu on the bottom right, settings, Privacy & accounts, Google location settings, and turn off location reporting and location history - unless you really want that in Google Now.
6. Streaming Music kills battery. Do you have 80gb of songs at home on your computer? Then why do you stream Pandora all day? You having unlimited data is not a good excuse. If you can, put all those songs on your SD card/phone and listen to them using Google Play Music app. Buy a bigger SD card if you have to, they are not that expensive. Or just ask Santa.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no SD card slot in the Droids.
SupremeOverlord said:
1. Turn off Battery Saver under Settings/Battery. This is false hope and more of a placebo. It usually kicks on when you are already really low on battery and it usually just down clocks your CPU and can make your phone sluggish.
2. Turn off Automatic Brightness under Settings/Display/Brightness. When the sensor on your phone reads the light around you, it likes to shift the brightness on your phone from really high to really low. This effects your battery. Turn that option off and leave your phone on half to 1/4 max brightness. 1/2 is usually just fine. You will get used to this brightness.
3. Turn off Location Access. This is probably one the biggest battery wasters out there and you don't need it running all the time. It is located under Settings/Location Access. Turn off or uncheck everything here. If a program needs or wants it on, it will request it when you are using that app. Most of the time it is usually for Google Maps. As you can tell, this also turns off GPS.
4. Let your phone sleep, but not too soon/long! Under Settings/Display click on sleep and change it to 1 or 2 minutes(preferred). Nothing shorter, nothing longer. Nothing longer because if you forget to turn off your screen, you don't want it sitting there for 5
minutes wasting away. Nothing shorter because turning it back on after 15 seconds because you were thinking will only cause the screen to demand more power to get it restarted, thus draining battery.
5. Facebook = Battery Killer. I get it, you love Facebook. That is ok, but your battery doesn't. There is hope though! Open the Facebook app and slide your finger from the left side of the screen to the right side of the screen. Now go all the way down to "App
Settings" and make these changes. #1 Refresh Interval = Never: This will prevent it from waking up your phone/battery and refreshing automatically when the phone is off. When you launch the app, it does this for you, so why have it do it when you are
working/sleeping? Plus you can always manually do this by pulling down on your News Feed. #2 Turn off Messenger location services. You don't really need this on. it likes to activate your GPS(battery hog) and let people know which city you sent that post/message from. Unless you care that people know you are in Butt****, Ohio, you should have this off.
6. Streaming Music kills battery. Do you have 80gb of songs at home on your computer? Then why do you stream Pandora all day? You having unlimited data is not a good excuse. If you can, put all those songs on your SD card/phone and listen to them using Google Play Music app. Buy a bigger SD card if you have to, they are not that expensive. Or just ask Santa.
7. Turn off vibrate on touch/haptic feedback. Usually located under Settings/Sound. That little motor that tickles your finger tips when you touch the screen actually uses a good amount of power. If you are really looking to get the most out of your battery, turn this off. I leave it on because I could always go for a finger tip tickle.
You don't have to use all of those, you can pick and choose if you like. I do. I hope it helps you out. Let me know.
Fun Fact: The takes more power to show the color blue on your screen than any other color.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 - Agreed.
2 - This is mostly preference and will not that huge of effect on your battery. Having the display on the brightest setting will always drain more than the lowest setting, but the auto-brightness changing does not hurt the battery, it's when it sets the brightness high that it does. I have auto-brightness set and I'm doing pretty good.
3 - Location services are only accessed and turned on when requested. For example, when you open maps, or have geotagging enabled on the camera. Just leaving it enabled in general will not be that big a deal.
4 - Mostly preference, but setting it too long can have more detrimental effects than just battery usage. For example: forgetting to lock the phone and shoving it in your pocket while the display is still on can result in apps opening or calls being made.
5 - While you're at it, just quit facebook altogether But seriously, the more "social" apps you have running, the more you have apps waking up the phone and hitting data in the background. Instant messaging can cause battery drain as well. As for me and facebook, I do not have an account at all, so I don't use it, and can't really say if it really is a drain on its own.
6 - Agreed. Either put music on your phone or use the caching available in various services like Spotify. I'm a Spotify premium subscriber and it's totally worth it.
7 - This will have a negligible impact on your battery.
I'll add this: If you're into figuring out what's causing battery drain, install an app that monitors wakelocks. I use Wakelock Detector. Wakelocks are going to be your idle time battery killers and apps that abuse them will cause excessive drain. I'm sitting at 8% awake right now and my battery easily lasts the entire day with around half battery remaining on my Mini. You can find apps to blame for battery drain with an app like this easier than an app that just monitors battery usage.
bc760 said:
Trade it for the Maxx!!
View attachment 2389179
Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if I had the money
Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app
SupremeOverlord said:
1. Turn off Battery Saver under Settings/Battery. This is false hope and more of a placebo. It usually kicks on when you are already really low on battery and it usually just down clocks your CPU and can make your phone sluggish.
2. Turn off Automatic Brightness under Settings/Display/Brightness. When the sensor on your phone reads the light around you, it likes to shift the brightness on your phone from really high to really low. This effects your battery. Turn that option off and leave your phone on half to 1/4 max brightness. 1/2 is usually just fine. You will get used to this brightness.
3. Turn off Location Access. This is probably one the biggest battery wasters out there and you don't need it running all the time. It is located under Settings/Location Access. Turn off or uncheck everything here. If a program needs or wants it on, it will request it when you are using that app. Most of the time it is usually for Google Maps. As you can tell, this also turns off GPS.
4. Let your phone sleep, but not too soon/long! Under Settings/Display click on sleep and change it to 1 or 2 minutes(preferred). Nothing shorter, nothing longer. Nothing longer because if you forget to turn off your screen, you don't want it sitting there for 5
minutes wasting away. Nothing shorter because turning it back on after 15 seconds because you were thinking will only cause the screen to demand more power to get it restarted, thus draining battery.
5. Facebook = Battery Killer. I get it, you love Facebook. That is ok, but your battery doesn't. There is hope though! Open the Facebook app and slide your finger from the left side of the screen to the right side of the screen. Now go all the way down to "App
Settings" and make these changes. #1 Refresh Interval = Never: This will prevent it from waking up your phone/battery and refreshing automatically when the phone is off. When you launch the app, it does this for you, so why have it do it when you are
working/sleeping? Plus you can always manually do this by pulling down on your News Feed. #2 Turn off Messenger location services. You don't really need this on. it likes to activate your GPS(battery hog) and let people know which city you sent that post/message from. Unless you care that people know you are in Butt****, Ohio, you should have this off.
6. Streaming Music kills battery. Do you have 80gb of songs at home on your computer? Then why do you stream Pandora all day? You having unlimited data is not a good excuse. If you can, put all those songs on your SD card/phone and listen to them using Google Play Music app. Buy a bigger SD card if you have to, they are not that expensive. Or just ask Santa.
7. Turn off vibrate on touch/haptic feedback. Usually located under Settings/Sound. That little motor that tickles your finger tips when you touch the screen actually uses a good amount of power. If you are really looking to get the most out of your battery, turn this off. I leave it on because I could always go for a finger tip tickle.
You don't have to use all of those, you can pick and choose if you like. I do. I hope it helps you out. Let me know.
Fun Fact: The takes more power to show the color blue on your screen than any other color.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate everything. I deleted Facebook like a month ago because I saw the stats. I did not know about the screen timeout though thanks man:thumbup:
Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app