Known Android Myths - Android General

Hello I usually don't post stuff like this, but whenever I see someone answer something, they are not telling the fact, but the myth. These myths are well known "solutions", but never work, since they're myths So I'm here to tell most of the myths that people are spreading... If you have any other myths that you'll like to talk about or if one of my myth is false, feel free to post about it . So without farther ado, lets get started
Task Killers: As much as this is obvious, people still uses it. So much, that it is annoying. Android handles apps and tasks well. However, there is an exception, and that is when the app constantly freezes or crashes and you need to restart it. If that's the case, there's a "Running Apps" section, where you can force close apps under system settings. So you won't need 3rd party Task Killers, EVER
Battery Calibration (Draining then fully charging): People thinks that this is good for your battery life, but it isn't. The only thing that this does is make the system read the battery percentage more accurate. Doing this once per month might help you improve read battery % better, but it isn't necessarily at all.
Wiping battery stat when the phone doesn't charge up to 100%: This myth is quite annoying. I dunno about other forums, but in Galaxy Nexus forum, quite a few people use this myth as a answer. Wiping battery stats DOES NOTHING to how system reads battery%.
Anti-Virus app: This is another myth that is obvious, but used by many people. You don't need anti-virus apps, unless you download a lot from untrusted source (4shared, because it is uploaded by people, not the company). If you know (And you SHOULD) what you're downloading, anti-virus is nothing.
Benchmark: People get so hyped about benchmark results... And I dunno why... It's just a number, I tell them. It wouldn't matter in daily usage, I tell them. But they do it anyways... Benchmarks are just numbers people. My Gnex can be as smooth and fast as GS3, but have a significant difference in benchmark tests.
Quad-core is faster than dual-core: While this isn't a myth, it isn't 100% correct either. You see, in daily usage, the phone only uses and needs a little bit of CPU power. For example, Facebook app doesn't use full 4 cores. That's just plain silly. However, when it comes to heavy gaming, yes, that 2-extra cores will help. But overall in daily usage, you're not gonna miss almost anything, because you have dual-core...
You need to clear cache and dalvik when updating/flashing a custom kernel: This is not true. I flash Franco kernel without clearing anything with NO problem.
You need to fix permission whenever you dirty flash: I don't hear that too often, but people still believes in it. Fixing permission isn't necessarily, unless you're experiencing random force close or crash.
Turn GPS off when not using: You do not need to do that at all. Phone only turns on the GPS when it needs to. For example, when you open map app, you'll see the GPS icon on the status bar, but when you exit out, you won't see it anymore. This means that the GPS radio is off. OFF. No need to waste your time turning it off and on.
Switch to 2G (Edge) when screen off to save battery: This is probably one of the biggest mistake people do to save battery. Yes, 2G does consume less battery than 3G, but constantly switching between them just burns the battery. It is just pointless if you ask me. Either stick with 3G, or stick with 2G. Constantly switching between them will be the worst choice.
Undervolt as much as you can to save battery: This is not true. Undervolting to a certain point can help you extend your battery life, but doing it too much will drain more battery instead of extending it. Also it makes the phone less stable, so make sure you know what you're doing and don't undervolt like crazy
iOS apps are more optimized than Android, and is more stable: This is part true but mainly not. Yes, dev only needs to worry about 2-3 screen size when making apps, which means that apps can be optimized for the screen size, but that doesn't mean much anyways... Also did you know that iOS apps crash more than Android? Now you know
iOS is better than Android : Lol wut?
Hope that cleared few things up. Again, if you got a myth of your own, feel free to post it in the thread!

kyokeun1234 said:
Hello I usually don't post stuff like this, but whenever I see someone answer something, they are not telling the fact, but the myth. These myths are well known "solutions", but never work, since they're myths So I'm here to tell most of the myths that people are spreading... If you have any other myths that you'll like to talk about or if one of my myth is false, feel free to post about it . So without farther ado, lets get started
Task Killers: As much as this is obvious, people still uses it. So much, that it is annoying. Android handles apps and tasks well. However, there is an exception, and that is when the app constantly freezes or crashes and you need to restart it. If that's the case, there's a "Running Apps" section, where you can force close apps under system settings. So you won't need 3rd party Task Killers, EVER
Battery Calibration (Draining then fully charging): People thinks that this is good for your battery life, but it isn't. The only thing that this does is make the system read the battery percentage more accurate. Doing this once per month might help you improve read battery % better, but it isn't necessarily at all.
Wiping battery stat when the phone doesn't charge up to 100%: This myth is quite annoying. I dunno about other forums, but in Galaxy Nexus forum, quite a few people use this myth as a answer. Wiping battery stats DOES NOTHING to how system reads battery%.
Anti-Virus app: This is another myth that is obvious, but used by many people. You don't need anti-virus apps, unless you download a lot from untrusted source (4shared, because it is uploaded by people, not the company). If you know (And you SHOULD) what you're downloading, anti-virus is nothing.
Benchmark: People get so hyped about benchmark results... And I dunno why... It's just a number, I tell them. It wouldn't matter in daily usage, I tell them. But they do it anyways... Benchmarks are just numbers people. My Gnex can be as smooth and fast as GS3, but have a significant difference in benchmark tests.
Quad-core is faster than duel-core: While this isn't a myth, it isn't 100% correct either. You see, in daily usage, the phone only uses and needs a little bit of CPU power. For example, Facebook app doesn't use full 4 cores. That's just plane silly. However, when it comes to heavy gaming, yes, that 2-extra cores will help. But overall in daily usage, you're not gonna miss almost anything, because you have duel-core...
You need to clear cache and dalvik when updating/flashing a custom kernel: This is not true. I flash Franco kernel without clearing anything with NO problem.
You need to fix permission whenever you dirty flash: I don't hear that too often, but people still believes in it. Fixing permission isn't necessarily, unless you're experiencing random force close or crash.
Hope that cleared few things up. Again, if you got a myth of your own, feel free to post it in the thread!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some interesting stuff
Sent from my SGH-T989 with Cyanogenmod 10 Alpha Power.

Quad core uses more battery than dual-core: this confusion comes from the intuition that "you'd need more power to run 4 of them". In fact, the results are closer to the opposite: on those rare occasions where multiple cores are used, they allow for faster processing (hence more sleep) and less intensive. Mostly, however, it just doesn't make a difference.
sent from my Galaxy Nexus "the most tweakable iPhone yet"

kyokeun1234 said:
Benchmark: People get so hyped about benchmark results... And I dunno why... It's just a number, I tell them. It wouldn't matter in daily usage, I tell them. But they do it anyways... Benchmarks are just numbers people. My Gnex can be as smooth and fast as GS3, but have a significant difference in benchmark tests.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stop embarrassing yourself

A lot of ppl ask me for benchmarks in my roms lol, but I tell them this all the time
Sent from my PG86100 using xda app-developers app

jaw2floor said:
Stop embarrassing yourself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How am I embarrassing myself?
Swyped on my Galaxy Nexus running AOKP with Franco Kernel, overclocked to 1.4GHz

Interesting and fun facts!!!!!

Love this, nice tread
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app

Chono631 said:
Love this, nice tread
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Thank you

hankbizzo5 said:
Interesting and fun facts!!!!! dual core lol.....
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Click to collapse
LOL just noticed that :laugh: silly me. Editing right now. Sorry, English is my second language

Added some more stuff! Hope you guys like it!

I like it but the only one i disagree with is -
"Turn GPS off when not using"
I turn mine off when not using it for navigation because i dont want apps......yes that ive given permission to......to access my location.
Nothing to do with battery.
But good list!

Jrhoop said:
I like it but the only one i disagree with is -
"Turn GPS off when not using"
I turn mine off when not using it for navigation because i dont want apps......yes that ive given permission to......to access my location.
Nothing to do with battery.
But good list!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS is a huge battery hog, I make roms, I run the tests, and my testers test, they experience a couple hours extension worth of battery life without it on
Sent from my PG86100 using xda app-developers app

A myth by many people. Here, it is.
iOs is better than Android XD
Sent from Hell!!

.xxx. said:
A myth by many people. Here, it is.
iOs is better than Android XD
Sent from Hell!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HA! It's so good, I HAVE to add it to the post!

kyokeun1234 said:
HA! It's so good, I HAVE to add it to the post!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You shouldn't. BEWARE, they will SUE you for taking their name in PUBLIC FORUM
Sent from Hell!!

.xxx. said:
You shouldn't. BEWARE, they will SUE you for taking their name in PUBLIC FORUM
Sent from Hell!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. I posted just for giggles
Swyped on my Galaxy Nexus running AOKP with Franco Kernel, overclocked to 1.4GHz

kyokeun1234 said:
Lol. I posted just for giggles
Swyped on my Galaxy Nexus running AOKP with Franco Kernel, overclocked to 1.4GHz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Giggles but truth xD
Sent from Hell!!

We should send these in to mytbusters so they can prove/disprove the facts. I personally use appkillers because the newer ones to make a difference on my underpowered P500. While these apps to start up, they consume less memory when started in the background and allows for faster start up once killed by the task manager.Android does have impressive memory management, but nothing is infallable.
Battery stats is just silly, if you keep charging till 90% then unplug, you can make it appear that your device can run for days on one charge, so that is very misleading.
Benchmarks are worth noting when it comes to gaming performance. On my device ICS definatly scores lower than gb, yet it runs smoother day to day. Playing games is tragic simply because the drivers are an issue on this device for ICS.
You dont need to clear the dalvik cache or normal cache to flash a kernel, the kernel modules are loaded at boot. The linux core behind android was designed this way. Clearing them when you flash to a different rom eg: AOKP to CM9 its a good idea to flash the cache since this could retain incompatible files between roms.
Myths arent annoying, people clinging to them for no reason is annoying.

cornelha said:
We should send these in to mytbusters so they can prove/disprove the facts. I personally use appkillers because the newer ones to make a difference on my underpowered P500. While these apps to start up, they consume less memory when started in the background and allows for faster start up once killed by the task manager.Android does have impressive memory management, but nothing is infallable.
Battery stats is just silly, if you keep charging till 90% then unplug, you can make it appear that your device can run for days on one charge, so that is very misleading.
Benchmarks are worth noting when it comes to gaming performance. On my device ICS definatly scores lower than gb, yet it runs smoother day to day. Playing games is tragic simply because the drivers are an issue on this device for ICS.
You dont need to clear the dalvik cache or normal cache to flash a kernel, the kernel modules are loaded at boot. The linux core behind android was designed this way. Clearing them when you flash to a different rom eg: AOKP to CM9 its a good idea to flash the cache since this could retain incompatible files between roms.
Myths arent annoying, people clinging to them for no reason is annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also had P500 and app killers did almost nothing at all... Maybe it's just me?
That's not what I've meant when I said about battery stat.. Some people's phone just doesn't simply charge all the way up to 100%. And others just tell them to clear battery stat, which does nothing...
Benchmarks ARE pointless in my opinion. I personally don't think that noting Benchmark scores are needed... Also they are not very accurate either. What I mean by that? Well, in real life (including gaming), even if you overclock, the performance isn't so huge. But in Benchmark scores, little overclock increases the score a lot.
I know myth itself isn't annoying, but people spread them. Like crazy. And that's what irks me

Related

Task Killers and Android

My friend just got the Captivate last week and we were discussing everything Android could do. I have been using Android for almost a year. I had the Hero and now the Evo. This has allowed me to learn how Android works. Especially how the operating system handles processes/apps.
The day he bought the phone, the ATT rep told him he needed a task killer and installed it for him. This really upset me because I have learned that this is not true due to the way Android handles programs and resources. Simply put Android assigns a number to each process running and starts killing off apps based on those numbers once it drops below a certain amount of RAM.
Task killers often do more harm than good.
Many new Android users have a Windows mindset when it comes to the operating system of the Captivate. You know if it is running it is sucking up resources and slowing everything down. With Android, even though it is listed as running in a task manager does not mean it is sucking up resources. It lies dormant for a while using little to no CPU. Some apps the need to run to keep your phone working correctly and getting those notifications. A lot of people complain that apps restart right after killing them. That is because the system was not done with them. So they restart using up more CPU and more battery. I hear a lot of people say that a task killer saves then more battery but I am still not quite sure how. Could be a poorly programmed app they have downloaded or stuff syncing too often that was causing the battery drain. I had a task killer the first week I had my Hero and once I removed it I saw better overall results.
If anyone would like more details, a developer and friend of mine has typed up a more detailed description of how Android manages its memory on its on. Here is the link. http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
I hope this was educational and helpful because knowledge is power.
-Ken
Also, for those that are rooted, download an app called AutoKiller. It changes the factory values in which Android kills off apps so that they get killed off sooner. It has presents within the app. I keep mine at aggressive. For those who are not rooted, download Spare Parts and go down to the Process Manager and turn it on Aggressive. It does the same thing in a way as AutoKiller but seems to be much more aggressive at killing apps off. Too aggressive for my taste.
All grammar and spelling mistakes were done on purpose. Thx. ;P
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
Unless you have an application that is broken or improperly coded (like the Facebook app issue recently), you wont need a task killer ever.
MikeyMike01 said:
Unless you have an application that is broken or improperly coded (like the Facebook app issue recently), you wont need a task killer ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, and if an app is crappy enough to need killing,i uninstall it (ie savvyshopper).
MikeyMike01 said:
Unless you have an application that is broken or improperly coded (like the Facebook app issue recently), you wont need a task killer ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would have to disagree to certain extent, with my ignorant and limited knowledge
Imma a call a teenzy weenzy bs too.
I have experienced memory ill effects with my captivate. I could have killed the few apps that I hadn't previously removed. A lil while later suffer some phone abnormalities that seem to vanish when I kill the proggies that started on their own, that weren't even previously killed. The ram would be sitting fat and happy at around 50 megs, until I kill the apps that I don't use. Out of the blue, my phone starts working normally after that.
The op is campaigning against these app killers but uses a proggy of the same variety, just a different flavor.
I didn't read the link, just basing myself on the 2 posts before mine.
a_fuegon said:
I would have to disagree to certain extent, with my ignorant and limited knowledge
Imma a call a teenzy weenzy bs too.
I have experienced memory ill effects with my captivate. I could have killed the few apps that I hadn't previously removed. A lil while later suffer some phone abnormalities that seem to vanish when I kill the proggies that started on their own, that weren't even previously killed. The ram would be sitting fat and happy at around 50 megs, until I kill the apps that I don't use. Out of the blue, my phone starts working normally after that.
The op is campaigning against these app killers but uses a proggy of the same variety, just a different flavor.
I didn't read the link, just basing myself on the 2 posts before mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app I mentioned does not work the same way as the others in the market. It literally changes system settings within Android so that apps are removed from memory sooner. As for misbehavng apps, uninstall them. Find a replacement. The Facebook app was a good example. But I just used an older version until the wakelock issue was resolved. Don't get me wrong in those rare cases a task killer will be a temp fix. However, once the phone is upgraded to 2.2, there will be a built in settings menu to access the running processes. Thus completely eliminating the need for a 3rd party task killer.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
notasimpleway said:
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best sig ever.
I installed AutoKiller this morning. What's equally interesting is that the same author has an app called Autorun Killer. The following apps were starting up on their own:
AT&T Hot Spots
AT&T Navigator
Daily Briefing
Instant Messaging
Swype
ShopSavvy
The Weather Channel
WeatherBug
etc.
I've disabled each of these from auto loading during each startup. It may or may not matter from an operational standpoint, but it makes me "feel" better. A control issue? "I'll tell you when to start!"
A tiny bit OT, but I thought it might be useful.
However, once the phone is upgraded to 2.2, there will be a built in settings menu to access the running processes. Thus completely eliminating the need for a 3rd party task killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android already has that in 2.1. Do you mean they are improving it?
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Click to collapse
this is totally true
i definately had that windows mindset, but ive learned better
now i use watchdog light(monitors processes for high CPU usage rather than mem)
watchdog is designed around this idea, and i highly recomend it
on the other hand i still have atk to kill things at startup that i never use, like car home and desk home
k2snowboards88 said:
Android already has that in 2.1. Do you mean they are improving it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, yes. It is much better. I think the memfree settings are a little higher. Not sure.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jack45 said:
I installed AutoKiller this morning. What's equally interesting is that the same author has an app called Autorun Killer. The following apps were starting up on their own:
AT&T Hot Spots
AT&T Navigator
Daily Briefing
Instant Messaging
Swype
ShopSavvy
The Weather Channel
WeatherBug
etc.
I've disabled each of these from auto loading during each startup. It may or may not matter from an operational standpoint, but it makes me "feel" better. A control issue? "I'll tell you when to start!"
A tiny bit OT, but I thought it might be useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a paid app for that called AutoStarts. I like both. Let's you complete stop programs from starting not only at start up but even when a certain event happens. Such as for Sprint phones we have a navigation program that auto starts in the background when we get a text. I can see. Say we get an address and want to get directions, it will be ready to go. But it is not needed. So I disabled it. Other apps do this with other conditions. I like control over thinks so I feel you. Just be careful on what you disable. You can mess some things up. And some things will restart anyways because the system needs them.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
dewt said:
Best sig ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just thought since I use the Evo this should be my signature.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.
MikeyMike01 said:
Unless you have an application that is broken or improperly coded (like the Facebook app issue recently), you wont need a task killer ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XCacADCsadf
While I do not doubt any of the claims that android does not need a task killer, i did a little testing(not really testing, more comparing) since i have 2 captivates at my disposal...me and my wife's. My buddy stopped by with his iPhone 4 who thinks it is the fastest phone to ever be released. Now i know the android browser is just flat out faster than the ios browser since I've owned every one and returned the iPhone 4 for the cappy. He wanted to do a browser speed test so i agreed and we raced. I beat him 9 out of 10 times but just barely. It seemed like my captivate was being a little laggy and I'm running sre @ 1.2ghz with the ext4 lag fix. So i compared mine to my wife's bone stock cappy and hers beat mine by a little bit. So for ****s and giggles i redownloaded advanced task killer and killed about the 10 thing that were listed besides the things i wanted to run and bam, back to screaming speeds. Faster and snappier than my wife's cappy and even more faster than his iphone. So while I'm not sure if their absolutely necessary in my case it did make a noticeable speed difference.
di11igaf said:
While I do not doubt any of the claims that android does not need a task killer, i did a little testing(not really testing, more comparing) since i have 2 captivates at my disposal...me and my wife's. My buddy stopped by with his iPhone 4 who thinks it is the fastest phone to ever be released. Now i know the android browser is just flat out faster than the ios browser since I've owned every one and returned the iPhone 4 for the cappy. He wanted to do a browser speed test so i agreed and we raced. I beat him 9 out of 10 times but just barely. It seemed like my captivate was being a little laggy and I'm running sre @ 1.2ghz with the ext4 lag fix. So i compared mine to my wife's bone stock cappy and hers beat mine by a little bit. So for ****s and giggles i redownloaded advanced task killer and killed about the 10 thing that were listed besides the things i wanted to run and bam, back to screaming speeds. Faster and snappier than my wife's cappy and even more faster than his iphone. So while I'm not sure if their absolutely necessary in my case it did make a noticeable speed difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you will notice once you get 2.2. Task Managers just won't work. They removed the command that they use to kill apps. They just restart. Restarting apps will mean more battery consumption. I was trying to educate because knowledge is power. Here is a really good explanation. http://www.tested.com/news/android-task-killers-are-deadheres-what-you-should-be-doing/923/ But if you feel it works, by all means, continue. I stopped using one back on my Hero running Android 1.5 and never looked back.
Since you are rooted, why don't you install AutoKiller? Give it a chance and delete ATK. Trust me. Set it to aggressive. And run another test. You will never have to manually kill apps again. Well, unless you have a rogue app. Msg me if you need some help.
Sent from my iPhone with the bigger Gee Bees.

Battery Optimization

So, with all this talk of over clocked/undervolt kernals, smartass gov, setcpu, and juicedefender, I was wondering what the definitive way to optimize battery is (without doing a bump charge).
I dont need any crazy quadrant scores or anything. I just need a phone that can play the occasional game here and there, surf the web, and text message; all while being lag free.
I have done all the "normal" battery savings like turning off 4g (live in 3g only area anyways), backlight lowered, no live wallpaper, ect. My question is what is the "best" method for squeezing out the most juice?
I know there are MANY opinions as to what the best is, but I thought I would poll the masses here and get their 2 cents on the subject.
Well, I pay attention to my current widget. There's certain areas where battery drain is a problem with mobile data turned on. I turn off mobile data when I'm in those areas. Being mindful of that has been the #1 battery saver for me. In fact, I even run with automatic brightness instead of a very low brightness setting and I get better battery life now than before.
I seem to get better battery on lower, mainly because when I do auto, it goes full blast most of the time, and likes to switch about 20 times from high to low while im texting.
My main question here is out of the more detailed methods (new kernal, setcpu, ect.) works best. I know kernals seem to give better performance and battery to some, but I read some of the kernal builds have some hiccups still.
Just wondering what you guys have found is best and most stable of the "detailed" methods.
footballer62 said:
I seem to get better battery on lower
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, I do as well. I was just saying that turning off mobile data in the areas that tend to cause my phone to draw 700+mA saves a significant more amount of power than turning the screen to low.
I'm currently planning to try out setting Tasker to automatically turn off mobile data when connected to problematic towers.
My main question here is out of the more detailed methods (new kernal, setcpu, ect.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm running BAMF 1.3 with the smartass governor. It saves quite a bit of power and has very little setup (you don't have to set up profiles with setcpu).
The newest Tasker adds CPU frequency control support... it doesn't currently work on the ROM I'm running ... but I'd imagine when we get CM7, it'll work. Presumably you could use that to always scale down the CPU until you open up specific apps that benefit from additional clockspeed. It could save a bit of power.
NEW APP in the market - LTE OnOff - switches phone from 4G to 3G to save batt.
Zshazz said:
I'm currently planning to try out setting Tasker to automatically turn off mobile data when connected to problematic towers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I purchased Tasker a while back just because it sounds cool, but I've never really found useful tasks to run with it for how I use my device; still looking though!
Yours sounds ideal for some areas I go to. Please remember to share the Tasker profile you come up with for that functionality.
Thanks!
Zshazz said:
Well, I'm running BAMF 1.3 with the smartass governor. It saves quite a bit of power and has very little setup (you don't have to set up profiles with setcpu).
The newest Tasker adds CPU frequency control support... it doesn't currently work on the ROM I'm running ... but I'd imagine when we get CM7, it'll work. Presumably you could use that to always scale down the CPU until you open up specific apps that benefit from additional clockspeed. It could save a bit of power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello guys, Im coming over from the eris/custom rom to TB this past week. I was wondering what kind of life you are experiencing with the custom roms here like BAMF. I haven't rooted it yet but am planning to since the current battery life is not acceptable in my daily life. I love the phone but need to figure out if I can keep it or not by helping my battery life. I have 4g disabled since it is not even avail in my area yet but still only getting 6-7 hrs. Thanks for any help, opinions, or redirects.
hehe...
This is great. Reminds me of hypermiling with my car/hybrid to get the most gas out of it. Well...it's about that time again with fuel costs going up.
So what is the equivalent term of hypermiling for handhelds/phones? Hyper-???
squeeze said:
So what is the equivalent term of hypermiling for handhelds/phones? Hyper-???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never mind. I guess the thread title was fine "battery optimization". But those gas/hybrid nerds (like me) love using the term hypermiling.
I like using setcpu profiles or custom kernels
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
n2imagination said:
Hello guys, Im coming over from the eris/custom rom to TB this past week. I was wondering what kind of life you are experiencing with the custom roms here like BAMF. I haven't rooted it yet but am planning to since the current battery life is not acceptable in my daily life. I love the phone but need to figure out if I can keep it or not by helping my battery life. I have 4g disabled since it is not even avail in my area yet but still only getting 6-7 hrs. Thanks for any help, opinions, or redirects.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
6-7 hours? Jeez. I have a fairly stock rom (perfect storm, which is more or less just bloat free) with 4G off, backlight to around 35%, only one gps running - the google one for the HTC weather, I use wifi when at home, I have nothing that pushes except my main gmail and the htc weather, do texting all day, and about an hour of internet a day. With this setup after 16 hours I have always had over 50% battery.
How many things do you have pushing data? Facebook or twitter? And if so what is the interval? Also, how much on the net are you, and how often do you game?
squeeze said:
This is great. Reminds me of hypermiling with my car/hybrid to get the most gas out of it. Well...it's about that time again with fuel costs going up.
So what is the equivalent term of hypermiling for handhelds/phones? Hyper-???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery optimization is just a term I figured work, but hypermiling sounds pretty sexy Increases your battery mileage of course!
I'm using Superpower to disable data connection when the screen off. Seems to be working well.
footballer62 said:
6-7 hours? Jeez. I have a fairly stock rom (perfect storm, which is more or less just bloat free) with 4G off, backlight to around 35%, only one gps running - the google one for the HTC weather, I use wifi when at home, I have nothing that pushes except my main gmail and the htc weather, do texting all day, and about an hour of internet a day. With this setup after 16 hours I have always had over 50% battery.
How many things do you have pushing data? Facebook or twitter? And if so what is the interval? Also, how much on the net are you, and how often do you game?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never game, 2 gmail accounts, fb few times a day, no twitter, net 2-3 times a day. This is stock sense on the phone though. Thats why I was looking into the dif roms to see what battery life was like with dif kernel on it. I will prob root and toss a rom on there to see if it gets me better life (which im sure it will), but considering waiting until the 16th (rumor out that fairly big update coming and want to see if that may help at all).
distortedloop said:
I purchased Tasker a while back just because it sounds cool, but I've never really found useful tasks to run with it for how I use my device; still looking though!
Yours sounds ideal for some areas I go to. Please remember to share the Tasker profile you come up with for that functionality.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tutorial on Tasker CPU profiles can be found here
jbh00jh said:
NEW APP in the market - LTE OnOff - switches phone from 4G to 3G to save batt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This really is the best way to save battery at the moment.
I made my battery last the whole day after I installed Automatic Task Killer from the market. It kills selected processes as long as the screen is off. I get home after 9 hours at work and I still have ~40% battery left. Before I installed Automatic Task Killer my TB was dead after 9 hours.
There is so much random bloatware on the TB from vzw that it eats the battery fast. I just need to root I had a Eris on a custom ROM before the TB and I could go 2 days easy without a charge.
This seems to be a fix for the time being. Too bad there is no way for developers to make a one click root like on the Eris. I will have to bite the bullet and do it the old fashioned way.
Can you reference where you heard this "April 16th update" rumor? I'd like to read about this one and see the credibility behind it.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
chanmannn said:
Can you reference where you heard this "April 16th update" rumor? I'd like to read about this one and see the credibility behind it.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
X2
and what is suppose to happen with this update?
I use an app called System Panel that's got all kinds of nifty information available to the curious.
chanmannn said:
Can you reference where you heard this "April 16th update" rumor? I'd like to read about this one and see the credibility behind it.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are all just rumors (like any other update/upgrade "news") but...
http://htcsource.com/2011/03/rumour-htc-thunderbolt-to-get-gingerbread-update-in-q2-2011/
http://technology.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474979166628
http://www.wirelessgoodness.com/2011/03/27/htc-thunderbolt-getting-android-2-3-gingerbread-update-in-q2/
http://androidcommunity.com/htc-thunderbolt-getting-gingerbread-by-summer-20110326/

Lag *fix*

This supposed lag fix has blown up over at r/android. I tried it on my G2x and it for sure booted up the launcher faster on startup. Check it out!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1987032
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2
Thanks for sharing, looks pretty promising. Going to test it out for a bit .
I was wondering if this matters whether CM7 or cm10?
Thanks for sharing this. Installed the apk and it seems a little quicker with things, but that might just be in my head.
I'm not sure if it ****s on your battery life or not, seems like my battery just demolished itself, but now that I think about it I got 6 hours on 52%
Thus why I don't have it
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
I tried it for couple hours and it doesn't seem to work for me.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
Everything seems pretty good for me. I'll post back in a couple days to say if it's held up.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
I've installed it last night. My usual morning lag that I experience wasn't there so I believe there is some merit to what this mod is supposed to provide. I'll be tracking the battery life, as that's more important to me than a reboot once a day.
Yes I can also confirm that this app works. Even makes one of my slowest apps (amazon appstore) open much faster. Everything is a bit quicker.
My only concern is battery life, which I am going to be testing over the weekend. Loving the mod so far though.
I can verify this works well use to take close to a minut to load my xda ap lol. Not so any more. Also switching from app drawer to home screen, no lag. I used v6 supercharger for a while and i think that for now im just gonna use this. My phome is much more responsive than it use to be, especially when opening my settings menu. I will be paying attention to battery as well. Thanks for your work.
Edit. My cpu clock speed magically set it self to 1552. Dont ask me how that happened cuz i dont know. Now normally at this speed my phone would freeze. How do i know this? Cus its happened on more than one occasion. I dont overclock anymore because of it. I ran this app all day with no adverse effects. I cant say one way or another if this app works because i dont know when my phone was set to overclock. With the controversy surrounding this.... Im glad i didnt pay 1.50 for it or id feel like a really dumb***
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
RC calls BS
https://plus.google.com/115049428938715274412/posts/GWr72W9zmY2
From his post:
"So to be clear... IMNSHO, the recent entropy pool fad is bull****. The only users of /dev/random are libcrypto (used for cryptographic operations like SSL connections, ssh key generation, and so on), wpa_supplicant/hostapd (to generate WEP/WPA keys while in AP mode), and the libraries that generate random partition IDs when you do an ext2/3/4 format. None of those 3 users are in the path of app execution, so feeding random from urandom does nothing except make random... well... less random
The only conceivable reason some devices may feel faster is because by constantly polling the PRNG, it keeps the device's I/O in constant use (which in turn, depending on device, will make the CPU stick to higher clock frequencies to keep up and/or ramp up the IO scheduler)."
Yes it's bullish**. The whole explanation for this mod doesn't make sense and I just can't figure out how this would help at all. As RC said excellently, it would simply prevent I/O functions to go to sleep and keep your CPU higher. TL;DR : Raise your CPU clocks, change your I/O scheduler and you'll get better performances.
One more thing... I dont know when my phone was set to overclock but here are some interesting screen shots for you.
This is a 1500Mah stock battery. The original batter. I got with the phone over a year ago btw.
Something to cbew on i think. My phone has never run this well. Wtf?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
Apparently everyone in that thread still thinks it works... I don't think they read Ricardo's post. Someone should keep posting it lol.
jryan388 said:
RC calls BS
https://plus.google.com/115049428938715274412/posts/GWr72W9zmY2
From his post:
"So to be clear... IMNSHO, the recent entropy pool fad is bull****. The only users of /dev/random are libcrypto (used for cryptographic operations like SSL connections, ssh key generation, and so on), wpa_supplicant/hostapd (to generate WEP/WPA keys while in AP mode), and the libraries that generate random partition IDs when you do an ext2/3/4 format. None of those 3 users are in the path of app execution, so feeding random from urandom does nothing except make random... well... less random
The only conceivable reason some devices may feel faster is because by constantly polling the PRNG, it keeps the device's I/O in constant use (which in turn, depending on device, will make the CPU stick to higher clock frequencies to keep up and/or ramp up the IO scheduler)."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't faster performance accomplished by keeping the I/O constantly running and the CPU at higher clock speed than it would otherwise be?
Call me crazy but using this made my phone constantly stay in deep sleep! I've never, ever seen my phone stay asleep for so long and so consistently before.
buru898 said:
Call me crazy but using this made my phone constantly stay in deep sleep! I've never, ever seen my phone stay asleep for so long and so consistently before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it ever wake up ?
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app
New2my8125 said:
My only concern is battery life, which I am going to be testing over the weekend. Loving the mod so far though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using this mod for a little over a week. While RC might be right about what this mod really is doing, my phone hasn't been snappier. As for battery life, I've lost about 10% more battery a day using this. I've got the Anker 2800mWh battery, and at the end of the day I'm usually sitting around 55-60% battery remaining. On hard use days I'd be around 30% battery remaining. Overall I'm still getting a full days use out of the phone.
If someone could suggest what scheduler I should use (instead of this mod) then I'd gladly try RC's suggestion and see if he is right as well.

[APK] Seeder - Eliminate the lag in your Android device (Needs Root)

From here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1987032
I came to that thread via LifeHacker, in which they featured it. I'm going to try this now on my freshly-updated-to-Jelly-Bean Note 10.1.
If you want to share a feedback, please post it here. If you want to thank the developer, suggest something, or buy him a beer, please post it on his thread.
APK: Click here (original direct link from his thread)
lambgx02 said:
Hey everyone,
So, I was experiencing significant lag as we all do from time to time, and decided I was going to get to the bottom of it.
After tracing and debugging for hours, I discovered the source of 90% of Android's lag. In a word, entropy (or lack thereof).
Google's JVM, like Sun's, reads from /dev/random. For all random data. Yes, the /dev/random that uses a very limited entropy pool.
Random data is used for all kinds of stuff.. UUID generation, session keys, SSL.. when we run out of entropy, the process blocks. That manifests itself as lag. The process cannot continue until the kernel generates more high quality random data.
So, I cross-compiled rngd, and used it to feed /dev/urandom into /dev/random at 1 second intervals.
Result? I have never used an Android device this fast. :good:
It is literally five times faster in many cases. Chrome, maps, and other heavy applications load in about 1/2 a second, and map tiles populate as fast as I can scroll. Task switching is instantaneous. You know how sometimes when you hit the home button, it takes 5-10 seconds for the home screen to repopulate? Yeah. Blocking on read of /dev/random. Problem solved. But don't take my word for it .. give it a shot!
Update!
I've built a very simple Android app that bundles the binary, and starts/stops the service (on boot if selected). I'll be adding more instrumentation, but for now, give it a shot! This APK does not modify /system in any way, so should be perfectly safe.
This is my first userspace Android app, so bear with me!
Note that this APK is actually compatible with all Android versions, and all (armel) devices. It's not at all specific to the Captivate Glide.
Caveats
There is a (theoretical) security risk, in that seeding /dev/random with /dev/urandom decreases the quality of the random data. In practice, the odds of this being cryptographically exploited are far lower than the odds of someone attacking the OS itself (a much simpler challenge).
This may adversely affect battery life, since it wakes every second. It does not hold a wakelock, so it shouldn't have a big impact, but let me know if you think it's causing problems. I can add a blocking read to the code so that it only executes while the screen is on. On the other hand, many of us attribute lag to lacking CPU power. Since this hack eliminates almost all lag, there is less of a need to overclock, potentially reducing battery consumption.
If you try it, let me know how it goes.
ROM builders - feel free to integrate this into your ROMs (either the .apk / application, or just the rngd binary called from init.d)!
If anyone's interested, I've launched a paid app on the Play store for non-xda users. As I add features I'll post the new versions here as a thanks to you guys (and xda community at large for being such a great resource). But if anyone's interested in the market's auto-update feature, just thought I'd mention it.
Cheers! :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it's a placebo effect, but it seems that enabling this entropy seeder makes the device faster for real ^^
Does this need root?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
tuffballa said:
Does this need root?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I forgot to add.
Redemption rom 4.1.2 is pretty quick and only lag was keyboard opening.
This mod keyboard instant opening now .
jje
Sent from my GT-N8010 using xda premium
Post one on the portal has more info .
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/entropy-seed-generator-not-all-its-hacked-up-to-be/
jje
Without reading the portal piece I guess the reason you may perceive speed up as that the device will be spending longer on higher cpu cycles by this polling.
In other words it is not a good thing for battery.
You can try playing with the governor settings to increase responsiveness, but "lag" can be caused by quite a lot of things. Random seeding shouldn't be one of them.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
A lot of developers are stating that this is a fluke on anything running ICS+. Any boost in performance is 99% a placebo effect.
Placebo effect or not, I can notice improvement in the note general operation.
Sent from my GT-N8000 using Tapatalk HD
Disprove it or walk away.
Any dev saying it's a placebo effect needs to hold up data to prove the assertion, otherwise, the dev is just speculating. Being an Android dev can mean a variety of things, so the title doesn't grant authority.
Any dev claiming random data seeding shouldn't have an effect, should contact the APK writer and ask to see the trace logs, i.e. duplicate the experiment and verify the results. Otherwise, see above.
Everyone else, download it. Enjoy a faster UI experience. I confirm it works, which is at least as good as any dev who hasn't tested it.
--#
7April said:
Any dev saying it's a placebo effect needs to hold up data to prove the assertion, otherwise, the dev is just speculating. Being an Android dev can mean a variety of things, so the title doesn't grant authority.
Any dev claiming random data seeding shouldn't have an effect, should contact the APK writer and ask to see the trace logs, i.e. duplicate the experiment and verify the results. Otherwise, see above.
Everyone else, download it. Enjoy a faster UI experience. I confirm it works, which is at least as good as any dev who hasn't tested it.
--#
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have *you* checked logs to see what's happening as you claim you can see a performance hike.
I tried it on 3 devices earlier, all did exactly what I suspected. Pushed the cpu time up quite a bit, but that's what this does. It's forcing an io which causes the cpu to ramp, so of course it feels more responsive, it's starting from a higher cpu clock and less time in the lower click rates.
One of my services it caused serious slow down, die to pegging the cpu as it didn't play nicely with the particular aml quadcore governor.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
fards said:
Have *you* checked logs to see what's happening as you claim you can see a performance hike.
I tried it on 3 devices earlier, all did exactly what I suspected. Pushed the cpu time up quite a bit, but that's what this does. It's forcing an io which causes the cpu to ramp, so of course it feels more responsive, it's starting from a higher cpu clock and less time in the lower click rates.
One of my services it caused serious slow down, die to pegging the cpu as it didn't play nicely with the particular aml quadcore governor.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more with your comments, I also tested this on a variety of devices and got exactly the same results, on one of my devices I was loosing 5% battery per hour!
seeder is working on all devices?
xda just had an apology article for featuring this lol

[GUIDE] Get rid of lag for your Galaxy S4 - Rooted phones only - Seeder.apk

So I keep hearing complaints about "lag" with the Galaxy S4. Some of you have it and some don't.
Well, debloating your ROM (removing junk apps that you don't use) will typically reduce lag since these extra apps aren't fighting for system resources. But that doesn't work for everyone.
Another thing to do is to flash an AOSP (android open source project) ROM. These ROM's (including gapps) are usually less than 300MB in total size, while a stock or even debloated stock TouchWiz ROM are almost always 800MB to 1.3+GB in size.
Another thing you can try is to install "Seeder". Some folks will suggest it doesn't really do anything for you. Some others will say it uses up a lot of battery. So I guess every application is different. Because for me, even with an AOSP ROM, I seem to get slightly faster system response time when I click on something. And I've left my phone alone over eight+hours and checked battery useage and don't see Seeder anywhere taking up any battery.
Here is the Seeder main application thread. There, you can "thank" the developer (lambgx02) and also ask questions about the app. You can also download Seeder from that thread for free.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1987032
Or, you can be a nice person and "buy" the app from the Play Store. At less than $2, it's not very expensive.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lcis.seeder&hl=en
You can either read about how/why the app works or doesn't. Or you can try it for yourself.
For me, it's a must-have on the S4 since even AOSP ROM's still have a small amount of lag when compared with the smoothed-out ROM's on the S3.\
REQUIREMENTS:
-Rooted ROM
-Canadian or USA or Euro S4's, it works for all of them.
-TouchWiz or AOSP, it doesn't matter which.
So, here's how to install it:
1) Download Seeder to your internal or external SD card. It doesn't matter where.
2) Using Root Explorer (or your file browser of choice), locate and click on the seeder.apk.
3) Select "Install".
4) Select "Install" again.
5) Click "open".
6) Read the disclaimer and click "OK".
7) Grant root permissions:
8) Make your settings identical to mine (to start with). I've actually since changed mine from "Moderate" to "Aggressive" because I noticed no change in battery life. So, why not.
9) Now reboot.
10) Wait two minutes after the phone comes back up (to allow background start-up processes to finish) and start using phone normally.
Good luck, hope it works for you as well as it works for me. This is not a "cure-all" for lag, but it should help speed up an otherwise healthy system.
Don't expect miracles either. Only a really fubard'd ROM might show HUGE differences. But this app will probably help a little bit.
I had tried this program on my ATT GNOTE after the new JB update that seemed to slow everyone's phones to a crawl. It did help somewhat, but not enough for it to become bearable.. Caved and bought the S4. Seems like the app DOES work.
This app is a myth that has been busted even by the xda portal.
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/entropy-seed-generator-not-all-its-hacked-up-to-be/
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Try this instead
plwalsh88 said:
This app is a myth that has been busted even by the xda portal.
http://www.xda-developers.com/android/entropy-seed-generator-not-all-its-hacked-up-to-be/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I endorse the posting of this link. I actually intended to do so in the OP when I was typing up the original post (and lost it all to a BSOD).
The article refers more to the theory behind the "fix".
But end results are end results, and the app works for some people. It also does not work for some other folks.
Like I said in the OP, try it and see how it works for you.
CZ Eddie said:
I endorse the posting of this link. I actually intended to do so in the OP when I was typing up the original post (and lost it all to a BSOD).
The article refers more to the theory behind the "fix".
But end results are end results, and the app works for some people. It also does not work for some other folks.
Like I said in the OP, try it and see how it works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, and it shows that the theory behind the "fix" is flawed, having no effect on app execution. The only positive performance you're seeing is a result of boosting CPU speeds. It's not saying you're not seeing results. It's just that you're seeing them for the wrong reason; the same of which can be achieved by changing your CPU governor.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
plwalsh88 said:
the same of which can be achieved by changing your CPU governor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Negative. Because I've seen results on top of overlocking and governor changes.
CZ Eddie said:
Negative. Because I've seen results on top of overlocking and governor changes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I highly, highly doubt any other positive effects can be discernible on top of overclocking.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
The system lags because touchwiz has many many features beyond those that you can just simply remove with titanium backup and such, there are a lot of features;what they seem to call them. That adjust color and lighting beyond ambient at all times no matter what. Samsung needs to release an update which I know they're cooking up, that optimizes these resource hog and debugs that are constantly running in the background... Let's just hope we get it soon and not have to wait till 4.3 to get it. The only way to get rid of all of the lag is to switch to also otherwise there will always be a tad amount of it, until samsung fixes it themselves; there's only so much developers can conjure up
The only way to get rid of the lag is by installing a custom ROM, either AOSP/AOKP or a TW based ROM like Omega or Winam. Then installing a custom, polished kernel like KT's kernel. Then disabling the scroll cache.
That makes this thing run like it should have in the first place.
Yeah seeder sucks sorry to say its not actually doing much.

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