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Does live wallpaper contribute to battery drain more so than regular wallpaper?
I am guessing it might as it probably requires more system resources to run.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
jordanishere said:
Does live wallpaper contribute to battery drain more so than regular wallpaper?
I am guessing it might as it probably requires more system resources to run.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
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Yes.
A normal picture will conserve most battery.
On an AMOLED screen a dark (best black) picture will conserve even more.
It really depends on the live wallpaper. I notice no extra battery drain with MultiPicture LWP, but it only shows images. While it does run in the background and updates every 4 hours or when I double tap the screen, it isn't constantly moving or interactive with sensors.
Something that is constantly moving (especially at a high frame rate) or uses the accelerometer will use more battery life.
If there is battery drain with MultiPicture LWP, it's so minimal that I don't notice a difference.
Supersonic Evo 4G | MIUI | Tapatalk
How long do you sit staring at your Homescreen? Most of the time it's as long as it takes to launch the app that you want to use, isn't it? Which shouldn't be long at all.
on cm7 nexus live wallpaper i notice no additional battery drain at all. Setting screen timeout to under 1min helps alot too
What about those stock live wallpapers from Samsung like the Galaxy live wallpaper or Northern Lights wallpaper, do they consume so much more than normal wallpapers?
Like how much more?
If normal wallpaper with normal use of the phone drains the battery in 24 hours, will one with stock Live wallpapers like the two I mentioned, make it 23 hours?
Or is it so drastic that it will make it 20 hours?
Hours are only for reference.
Thanks.
Just try it out, go airplane mode, screen always on, both types of wallpapers for say 2-3 hours compare battery drain.
DirkGently said:
How long do you sit staring at your Homescreen? Most of the time it's as long as it takes to launch the app that you want to use, isn't it? Which shouldn't be long at all.
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This is exactly the point I wanted to inquire about.
Question: how exactly does the process of live wallpaper work on Android in terms of cpu and memory, thus battery drain?- not being a developer, I really don't know the particulars.
In other words, if the home screen isn't actually being displayed (say, the phone is "asleep", or you have an app open, like the browser, the dialer, or Angry birds) does the LWP process still run full bore in the background, calculating it's fractals or whatever? Or is it suspended whenever the home screen isn't displayed?
For that matter, even if it does remain running in the background, which of these is likely to consume more battery: the algorithm/calculation processes, or the actual manipulation of the pixels on the display? (I realize that may depend somewhat on the nature of the wallpaper too).
Because like Dirk said up above, I really don't think anyone spends that much time on their phone with the home screen just sitting there, (you're either using it or you're not) so if it's the latter case -if manipulating pixels eats the most juice- then for the most part, LWP shouldn't have much impact on battery drain. If the former, then static wallpapers are certainly better, but I still don't see a need for a plain black background. Unless you have an insane screen timeout set, like 10 minutes.
Anyone? Thanks!
Its actually very subjective due to phone, apps installed and running, as well as the live wall paper you are using during that time..
For myself i do use some of the live wallpapers from the phone itself and for some better programmed ones, it may take up 2 - 3% of battery when running for about 5 hrs. Badly designed ones or those which come with ads do take up lots more, remember one i downloaded took up to 15% battery for the same time frame.
If you are particular for battery life.. i would suggest to use those darker themed wall papers as it does make some difference overall.. at least to me
Yeah, my battery life has been abysmal, I just inherited this phone (SCH-i500) from a family member; but after a little conditioning, it does seem to be improving somewhat.
Anyway, then can I assume you're saying that some live wallpapers hit on the battery even when they're not being displayed?
personally, i don't find using LWP affects my battery in any significant manner... given that i use LWP that display simple looping animations. Some LWP make use of your accelero/gyro sensors and some consume some extra resources due to touch interaction. I personally think these are the LWP to avoid though they appears to be a great eye candy.
Then again, each time i wake my phone, i would only stay approx 1-3 seconds on home screen before running an app or performing another task rendering my LWP useless.
In my understanding, just because an app(including LWP) is in your memory(ram) or in the "running" list in app manager, does not mean its using up your battery. Its the process that requires CPU that consumes power. And once you're away from homescreen, they LWP rendering stops almost(if not) immediately thus does not consume your battery that much. I also believe that bright coloured or high contrast(white focus) LWP(or even regular wallpaper) will use up more battery given that most of our battery issues comes from big displays.
Hevlaska said:
In my understanding, just because an app(including LWP) is in your memory(ram) or in the "running" list in app manager, does not mean its using up your battery. Its the process that requires CPU that consumes power. And once you're away from homescreen, they LWP rendering stops almost(if not) immediately thus does not consume your battery that much. I also believe that bright coloured or high contrast(white focus) LWP(or even regular wallpaper) will use up more battery given that most of our battery issues comes from big displays.
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Thanks hevlaska, this is the information I was looking for. Seems to me then that a relatively non-interactive LWP shouldn't be a drain on the battery.
Nymblz said:
In other words, if the home screen isn't actually being displayed (say, the phone is "asleep", or you have an app open, like the browser, the dialer, or Angry birds) does the LWP process still run full bore in the background, calculating it's fractals or whatever? Or is it suspended whenever the home screen isn't displayed?
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This really depends of the developer. The most important method of a wallpaper is
Code:
onVisibilityChanged()
That method is called whenever the wallpaper is hidden behind other application or comes back visible. When going unvisible all the processes of WP should be terminated but this is allway not the case if the WP is designed badly.
So, even if you hide your wallpaper it may still have some cpu heavy process running if the developer has decided to do so.
a static image its a better solution for more battery
mikpel said:
This really depends of the developer. The most important method of a wallpaper is
Code:
onVisibilityChanged()
That method is called whenever the wallpaper is hidden behind other application or comes back visible. When going unvisible all the processes of WP should be terminated but this is allway not the case if the WP is designed badly.
So, even if you hide your wallpaper it may still have some cpu heavy process running if the developer has decided to do so.
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Okay, so this was the information I was really looking for.. Thank you!
Now if it were just easy to look at the source code of the files inside a LPW apk to see how that's been set.. I've seen threads here on that but apparently dex files are a PITA, and besides that there's the whole reverse-engineering stigma.. not that I'd want to do that even if I could.. which I can't. (I have no head for programming, I've tried)
That said, I've found this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=14049173
I guess if I get really, really curious.. for what it's worth, I could try it. I'm a fan of Magic Smoke and Plasma, I'd use those if the onVisibilityChanged() is set in them.
hi,
i use a static pic as background and an non stock battery to.
it works perfect. So now it's your turn to take the things you want. More Battery vs. LWP.
Yes or no?? Ive had my tab for almost two weeks now and when i have a couple apps open it gets bogged down and reboots. Im pretty sure its because its run out of memory. Thoughts??
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 7+
I do not think that your problem is the system running out of memory. Android will automatically kill unused apps and free up memory when needed. I use the memory widget of GoLauncher EX and notice that as soon as the available ram goes below 100 mb or so, if I open a new app, the widget will actually show an increased memory.
I believe the problem is in the apps themselves, rather than in their memory request.
P_
Definitely a big help. I keep a one click widget on my home screen and tap it whenever I'm near it. has quite the visible effect when homescreen scrolling goes from somewhat laggy to perfectly smooth by hitting the button
Never use an automatic task killer on newer versions of Android.
There is no reason to use a task killer for memory management at this point, the only reasons to use it:
1) Killing apps that are using lots of background CPU (not memory) - this is rare
2) Killing apps that are holding long wakelocks - common with badly written apps. Ideally you avoid these, but some (like Facebook) are ones you just have to deal with sometimes.
3) Killing apps that use too much background data, which can also negatively affect battery life (Skype...)
Entropy512 said:
Never use an automatic task killer on newer versions of Android.
There is no reason to use a task killer for memory management at this point, the only reasons to use it:
1) Killing apps that are using lots of background CPU (not memory) - this is rare
2) Killing apps that are holding long wakelocks - common with badly written apps. Ideally you avoid these, but some (like Facebook) are ones you just have to deal with sometimes.
3) Killing apps that use too much background data, which can also negatively affect battery life (Skype...)
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Thats what i was looking for! Thanks!!
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 7+
I agree with entropy, and if you do end up using one, don't be obsessive about killing apps constantly. Killing apps you frequently use can negatively effect your battery life.
Sent from my GT-P6210 using Tapatalk
There is a task manager in your mini app tray.
Hey guys,
I'm not exactly sure on how I should look this up, so I'm sorry if this isn't new.
It's been a while now, actually, nearly since I got the NS, or since I loaded it with apps. I'm running stock everything, 4.1.1.
My problem is: I get frequent crashes of my (stock) launcher, when using an app and tap on the home button. It's more noticeable on a screen that has widgets, because they take a while to appear and to load the content again. But no error windows, just like if the process shuts down when I'm using an app.
I'm almost sure it's a memory management problem, in fact, I don't even know how NS runs JB so well. In this case, I guess there isn't much to do.
Is this a frequent issue? Do you recommend anything? Any alternative launcher that performs as well as the stock and consumes less ram? Any settings that would improve the memory management?
Thanks in advance,
Felipe Ambrosio said:
Hey guys,
I'm not exactly sure on how I should look this up, so I'm sorry if this isn't new.
It's been a while now, actually, nearly since I got the NS, or since I loaded it with apps. I'm running stock everything, 4.1.1.
My problem is: I get frequent crashes of my (stock) launcher, when using an app and tap on the home button. It's more noticeable on a screen that has widgets, because they take a while to appear and to load the content again. But no error windows, just like if the process shuts down when I'm using an app.
I'm almost sure it's a memory management problem, in fact, I don't even know how NS runs JB so well. In this case, I guess there isn't much to do.
Is this a frequent issue? Do you recommend anything? Any alternative launcher that performs as well as the stock and consumes less ram? Any settings that would improve the memory management?
Thanks in advance,
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Click to collapse
That's not a crash. It's commonly referred as launcher redraw, and it happens when the launcher is released from the RAM because the RAM is needed for something else. Happens somewhat often with Jellybean on the Nexus S because its meager 512MB of RAM has a hard time coping with user apps + system apps running in the background. Other than making sure as little apps as possible run in the background, there's not much to do.
Most alternative launchers will consume more RAM, so that's not really a solution in itself.
how to increase battery life ?
fayechuagonzales said:
how to increase battery life ?
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Click to collapse
Here is some suggestions
Delete unwanted system apps
Use battery saver apps from playstore
Reduce phone usage
Decrease brightness
Flash new rom
Underclock device or try new kernel .
Hitting thanks button is much easier than typing thanks .
fayechuagonzales said:
how to increase battery life ?
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Click to collapse
Best suggestion ever: "REDUCE PHONE USAGE" lol
AlfasPeralassery said:
Here is some suggestions
Delete unwanted system apps
Use battery saver apps from playstore
Reduce phone usage
Decrease brightness
Flash new rom
Underclock device or try new kernel .
Hitting thanks button is much easier than typing thanks .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He's right, removing unwanted apps will help, especially if they are running in the background. I'd also check how often apps like Facebook, Twitter, emails etc check for updates or sync. Using automatic brightness levels (decreasing brightness) or power saver modes will also help. Reducing phone useage sounds funny, but he's correct. If you are constantly playing games or streaming media online your battery is going to run out fast. Try to use wifi rather than your data connection. If you root your device and flash a custom rom, it'll probably increase your battery life as well. All the top dev's tweak their roms to increase battery life. Hope this helps
Avoid CPU intensive applications, dim your screen, put your tablet / phone in stand by when you are not using it or background downloading an application, if you are using an application that does not require wifi, such as a game like Angry Birds or mupen 64 plus disable it if you're listening to music , turn down the volume just a little bit. All these things should increase your battery life hope that helped update 11 -3- 15 though I've never actually tried custom roms I read and seen on YouTube that some custom ROMs like the highly popular CyanogenMod have loads of battery saving features. I wish you the best.
Sent from my SM-T310 using XDA Premium HD app
Is anyone noticing any strange memory behavior since the pie update?
Today I saw my free memory under the recents screen drop to 400mb
Not sure if the update lets the P20 pro better utilize it's 6gb but I was not doing anything out of the ordinary
I'm running lawn chair launcher (latest play store version) and everything else is stock
Also I've noticed that Android now uses 1.9-2.5 gb ram
Looking forward to see what you all experience
Actually using memory is not a memory leak.
novastar1 said:
Is anyone noticing any strange memory behavior since the pie update?
Today I saw my free memory under the recents screen drop to 400mb
Not sure if the update lets the P20 pro better utilize it's 6gb but I was not doing anything out of the ordinary
I'm running lawn chair launcher (latest play store version) and everything else is stock
Also I've noticed that Android now uses 1.9-2.5 gb ram
Looking forward to see what you all experience
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Click to collapse
havent see any weird behaviour in 9.0.168,
my free memory still ranging between 1-3GB like before
otonieru said:
havent see any weird behaviour in 9.0.168,
my free memory still ranging between 1-3GB like before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks back to normal today
Didn't do anything different
Will keep an eye on it
no problems here and i got like 3+ gb ram left after use
Before update, i used to have 4 gb free memory.
But now, 3 gb
draligus said:
Before update, i used to have 4 gb free memory.
But now, 3 gb
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Click to collapse
https://www.androidpit.com/ram-management-on-android
---------- Post added at 10:48 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 AM ----------
draligus said:
Before update, i used to have 4 gb free memory.
But now, 3 gb
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Click to collapse
i suggest you to install magisk and install swap torpedo module as well,
on our 6GB system, memory swap will only causing lag. especially if there is any app that havent fully optimised for android pie leaking memory, triggering the system to do paging
So, we should not take free memory into consideration
draligus said:
So, we should not take free memory into consideration
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at least thats what google said/campaigning,
but sometimes my OCD'ness just can't resist the urge to press the clean button just to see the recent page empy (clean), LOL
This is what I was referring to
Is this normal
Android 2.9 gb
See attachment
novastar1 said:
This is what I was referring to
Is this normal
Android 2.9 gb
See attachment
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Click to collapse
Now up to 3.0gb
Edit
Seems other phones are affected as well
https://www.reddit.com/r/essential/comments/a7y7by/_/
Is this only me?
dreszczyk said:
Actually using memory is not a memory leak.
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This is true but I'm emui 9 on honor play and it now kills rocket player (music player) when it's playing music in the background and there's no way to protect apps from this. 400megs free? Show me where the ram is being used where the recent tasks list is empty.
_a! said:
This is true but I'm emui 9 on honor play and it now kills rocket player (music player) when it's playing music in the background and there's no way to protect apps from this. 400megs free? Show me where the ram is being used where the recent tasks list is empty.
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Click to collapse
allow app to run in background in "app launch" setting
dreszczyk said:
Actually using memory is not a memory leak.
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Click to collapse
otonieru said:
allow app to run in background in "app launch" setting
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Click to collapse
That's the default for all apps.
Seems that this was due to the swipe left for Google now in lawn chair
Turned it off... Looks like lots of ram for cache now
_a! said:
That's the default for all apps.
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Click to collapse
using auto meaning system can decide to override the setting when it feel needed, thus it still killable if you left it as auto
otonieru said:
using auto meaning system can decide to override the setting when it feel needed, thus it still killable if you left it as auto
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Click to collapse
No, I previously tried manual, plus I just tried it again now. It makes sense that there's no difference as by opting for manual control but leaving the 3 options the same as before why would one expect different behaviour. I think the fact that this option is located in the battery option's page demonstrates that this is about limiting how apps are launched, so as to save battery. What I want is the opposite - keep an app in memory no matter what. The music player is playing music as a background task, so it's being treated like a browser you've not used for 4 hours. I want an app which is playing music in the background to be treated like an app where the UI is visible and never, ever, ever killed for any reason. There are no settings which allow you to do this. Furthermore, it's annoying that the phone is showing 777megs of ram free. Something is using the other 3.3 gigs of ram but on no screen can I find any figures which I can sum to get close to this value, so it's like the OS itself is using it as a cache. Fine, no point in not using ram, but it seems that with the launcher showing (ie no apps have the display) it has the full ram available for background tasks.
The only other thing I could try is to not use nova launcher. I'm not confident this would make any difference, and even if it did I don't like the idea that I have to choose between a decent UI or the ability to play music.
_a! said:
No, I previously tried manual, plus I just tried it again now. It makes sense that there's no difference as by opting for manual control but leaving the 3 options the same as before why would one expect different behaviour. I think the fact that this option is located in the battery option's page demonstrates that this is about limiting how apps are launched, so as to save battery. What I want is the opposite - keep an app in memory no matter what. The music player is playing music as a background task, so it's being treated like a browser you've not used for 4 hours. I want an app which is playing music in the background to be treated like an app where the UI is visible and never, ever, ever killed for any reason. There are no settings which allow you to do this. Furthermore, it's annoying that the phone is showing 777megs of ram free. Something is using the other 3.3 gigs of ram but on no screen can I find any figures which I can sum to get close to this value, so it's like the OS itself is using it as a cache. Fine, no point in not using ram, but it seems that with the launcher showing (ie no apps have the display) it has the full ram available for background tasks.
The only other thing I could try is to not use nova launcher. I'm not confident this would make any difference, and even if it did I don't like the idea that I have to choose between a decent UI or the ability to play music.
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you can do that by modifying some .xml in sysconfig folder,
normally we remove whitelist from the xml, but what you would want to do is to adding it instead
otonieru said:
you can do that by modifying some .xml in sysconfig folder,
normally we remove whitelist from the xml, but what you would want to do is to adding it instead
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the help (though it's sort of vague - change which .xml file how?). I guess I need root for that, which I've no interest in at the mo.
I've found what might be the setting I'm after, so I'll try for a while both with that setting and with the stock launcher. If I have no problems for a week or so I'll try with that setting and nova launcher. The setting is Settings/Apps/Apps/Special Access/Battery Optimisation/(select an app here - in my case Rocket Player)/Don't Allow.