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You may have heard about how flashing a new ROM can improve your Android experience, but flashing a new kernel is one of the best ways to improve your phone's performance, battery life, and even add some saucy new features. Whether you know anything about either, here's what you need to know to make it happen.
What Is a Kernel?
A kernel in an operating system—in this case Android—is the component responsible for helping your applications communicate with your hardware. It manages the system resources, communicates with external devices when needed, and so on. Android uses a variation of the Linux kernel. A kernel is not the same as a ROM, even though you install them in mostly the same way. A ROM is a bit more all-encompassing. It's the operating system you use on your phone, the software your phone uses to get things done—the kernel is the bridge between that ROM and your hardware. All ROMs come with a kernel installed, but you can install a third-party one if you like—and that's what this post is about.
What a New Kernel Can Do For Your Phone
Flashing kernels isn't quite as talked about as flashing ROMs, but it can do a ton for your phone, namely in the way of battery life and performance—though it can also add extra features to your device, too. Here are some things to look for when choosing a new kernel.
Better Performance and Battery Life
This is the big change a new kernel can bring to your device. I'd separate these into two categories, but they're so intertwined that you really need to consider both when picking a kernel. There are a bunch of different kernel features that contribute to this:
Clock Speeds: In a very basic sense, higher clock speeds will improve performance on your phone. Flashing a new kernel allows you to overclock your phone, using higher clock speeds than the manufacturer intended. They can also let you reach lower clock speeds, so you can underclock your phone when you aren't using it, thus saving battery life. Your kernel will only give you the option to do so, however; if you want to overclock, you'll have to flash the kernel in question and then use something like SetCPU or CPU Tuner to tweak the clock speed.
Voltage: Higher clock speeds use up more battery on your phone because they require more voltage. However, some ROMs come with lower voltage limits, which means your phone will run just as fast, but use up less battery. Some will even overclock and undervolt your phone, though all of this comes at the expense of stability—if you notice that your phone goes into a boot loop, or reboots at random times, you'll want to either lower your clock speed or upgrade to a kernel with a higher voltage. Some ROMS have further sub-categories in this section, like Hybrid Adaptive Voltage Scaling (HAVS), which can be better for battery life (at the risk of stability) and Static Voltage Scaling (SVS), which keeps your phone at a steady voltage.
CPU Governors: Different kernels can support different CPU Governers, which manage the way your phone ramps up or down its clock speeds as you use it. There are a few different kinds you'll see, including Conservative, which focuses on battery life by ramping up your CPU very gradually when needed; Interactive, which focuses more on performance and smoothness by scaling up the CPU faster; InteractiveX, which is like Interactive but scales the CPU down when your screen is off (for better battery life); and Smartass, which is similar to Conservative but takes more factors into account when ramping up the CPU.
Task Scheduler: Kernels come with two different types of task schedulers: the Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) and the Brain F**k Scheduler (BFS). CFS kernels are designed for regular phone use, like texting, web browsing, and otherwise multitasking apps on your phone. Most stock kernels are CFS kernels. BFS kernels focus more on whatever app is in the foreground, which is great for things like games but can be a bit laggier and a bit less stable.
These are the biggest features, but kernel developers add in all kinds of other tweaks to their kernels when possible, whether its introducing a more efficient file system, making the RAM more efficient, and so on. Again, they should list the tweaks in their description, so read up on the kernels for your specific device to learn more. I'd also recommend checking out XDA user mroneeyedboh's HTC Evo 4G kernel starter guide, from which much of this information comes.
Extra Features
Kernels can also add full features to your phone, or fix other issues that the manufacturer hasn't attended to yet. For example, while a lot of phones support Wi-Fi tethering out of the box, some—like the Motorola Droid—don't. If you find your phone isn't letting you tether using apps like Wi-Fi Tether, you might need to flash a new kernel that supports Wi-Fi tethering on your device. Kernels for Samsung phones can add support for a feature called Backlight Notification (BLN), which, coupled with an app, can turn your phone's buttons into notification lights.
Keep an eye out for features you don't want, too. For example, some HTC kernels come with a feature called Superior Battery Charging, or SBC, that can overcharge your battery for better life—but is likely to shorten your battery's life at best, or make it unstable at worst. I'd avoid kernels with this feature. You should also watch out for kernels that disable certain features of your phone—since some features are manufacturer-specific, you won't be able to get them in other ROMs or kernels. A good example of this is HDMI support on the EVO 4G.
Again, just make sure you research all the kernels available for your device, and know what you're getting yourself into before you flash. Most phones should have a large forum thread somewhere on XDA or RootzWiki that lists all the kernels available for their device. Make sure you choose a compatible one, too—the version of Android you're running determines what kernels you can use, so make sure you don't flash a Sense kernel on an AOSP ROM (like CyanogenMod), and make sure you don't flash a Froyo kernel on a Gingerbread phone—they won't play nicely together.
How to Flash a New Kernel
Once you've found a kernel you want to flash, download it to your device. It should be in ZIP format. Flashing a kernel is almost exactly like flashing a new ROM. You'll need to flash a new recovery to your phone, like ClockworkMod, which you can flash with ROM Manager. Put the ZIP file on your phone's SD card, then start up ROM Manager and go to "Install ROM from SD Card". Choose the kernel's ZIP file and continue. Note, however, that some kernels require that you flash them through your recovery mode instead of with ROM Manager—so once again, do your due diligence on its home page before you go a-flashin'.
The main difference between flashing a ROM and flashing a kernel is that you do not want to wipe your data. Wipe the Dalvik Cache only, and back up your ROM if desired (I highly recommend doing so, in case something goes wrong). Other than that, you should be golden. If you haven't flashed a ROM before, I recommend reading up on that first—but if you're familiar with that process, flashing a kernel shouldn't be a big shock to the system.
SOURCE - - - Lifehacker.com
Started from the bottom
Tha TechnoCrat said:
You may have heard about how flashing a new ROM can improve your Android experience, but flashing a new kernel is one of the best ways to improve your phone's performance, battery life, and even add some saucy new features. Whether you know anything about either, here's what you need to know to make it happen.
What Is a Kernel?
A kernel in an operating system—in this case Android—is the component responsible for helping your applications communicate with your hardware. It manages the system resources, communicates with external devices when needed, and so on. Android uses a variation of the Linux kernel. A kernel is not the same as a ROM, even though you install them in mostly the same way. A ROM is a bit more all-encompassing. It's the operating system you use on your phone, the software your phone uses to get things done—the kernel is the bridge between that ROM and your hardware. All ROMs come with a kernel installed, but you can install a third-party one if you like—and that's what this post is about.
What a New Kernel Can Do For Your Phone
Flashing kernels isn't quite as talked about as flashing ROMs, but it can do a ton for your phone, namely in the way of battery life and performance—though it can also add extra features to your device, too. Here are some things to look for when choosing a new kernel.
Better Performance and Battery Life
This is the big change a new kernel can bring to your device. I'd separate these into two categories, but they're so intertwined that you really need to consider both when picking a kernel. There are a bunch of different kernel features that contribute to this:
Clock Speeds: In a very basic sense, higher clock speeds will improve performance on your phone. Flashing a new kernel allows you to overclock your phone, using higher clock speeds than the manufacturer intended. They can also let you reach lower clock speeds, so you can underclock your phone when you aren't using it, thus saving battery life. Your kernel will only give you the option to do so, however; if you want to overclock, you'll have to flash the kernel in question and then use something like SetCPU or CPU Tuner to tweak the clock speed.
Voltage: Higher clock speeds use up more battery on your phone because they require more voltage. However, some ROMs come with lower voltage limits, which means your phone will run just as fast, but use up less battery. Some will even overclock and undervolt your phone, though all of this comes at the expense of stability—if you notice that your phone goes into a boot loop, or reboots at random times, you'll want to either lower your clock speed or upgrade to a kernel with a higher voltage. Some ROMS have further sub-categories in this section, like Hybrid Adaptive Voltage Scaling (HAVS), which can be better for battery life (at the risk of stability) and Static Voltage Scaling (SVS), which keeps your phone at a steady voltage.
CPU Governors: Different kernels can support different CPU Governers, which manage the way your phone ramps up or down its clock speeds as you use it. There are a few different kinds you'll see, including Conservative, which focuses on battery life by ramping up your CPU very gradually when needed; Interactive, which focuses more on performance and smoothness by scaling up the CPU faster; InteractiveX, which is like Interactive but scales the CPU down when your screen is off (for better battery life); and Smartass, which is similar to Conservative but takes more factors into account when ramping up the CPU.
Task Scheduler: Kernels come with two different types of task schedulers: the Completely Fair Scheduler (CFS) and the Brain F**k Scheduler (BFS). CFS kernels are designed for regular phone use, like texting, web browsing, and otherwise multitasking apps on your phone. Most stock kernels are CFS kernels. BFS kernels focus more on whatever app is in the foreground, which is great for things like games but can be a bit laggier and a bit less stable.
These are the biggest features, but kernel developers add in all kinds of other tweaks to their kernels when possible, whether its introducing a more efficient file system, making the RAM more efficient, and so on. Again, they should list the tweaks in their description, so read up on the kernels for your specific device to learn more. I'd also recommend checking out XDA user mroneeyedboh's HTC Evo 4G kernel starter guide, from which much of this information comes.
Extra Features
Kernels can also add full features to your phone, or fix other issues that the manufacturer hasn't attended to yet. For example, while a lot of phones support Wi-Fi tethering out of the box, some—like the Motorola Droid—don't. If you find your phone isn't letting you tether using apps like Wi-Fi Tether, you might need to flash a new kernel that supports Wi-Fi tethering on your device. Kernels for Samsung phones can add support for a feature called Backlight Notification (BLN), which, coupled with an app, can turn your phone's buttons into notification lights.
Keep an eye out for features you don't want, too. For example, some HTC kernels come with a feature called Superior Battery Charging, or SBC, that can overcharge your battery for better life—but is likely to shorten your battery's life at best, or make it unstable at worst. I'd avoid kernels with this feature. You should also watch out for kernels that disable certain features of your phone—since some features are manufacturer-specific, you won't be able to get them in other ROMs or kernels. A good example of this is HDMI support on the EVO 4G.
Again, just make sure you research all the kernels available for your device, and know what you're getting yourself into before you flash. Most phones should have a large forum thread somewhere on XDA or RootzWiki that lists all the kernels available for their device. Make sure you choose a compatible one, too—the version of Android you're running determines what kernels you can use, so make sure you don't flash a Sense kernel on an AOSP ROM (like CyanogenMod), and make sure you don't flash a Froyo kernel on a Gingerbread phone—they won't play nicely together.
How to Flash a New Kernel
Once you've found a kernel you want to flash, download it to your device. It should be in ZIP format. Flashing a kernel is almost exactly like flashing a new ROM. You'll need to flash a new recovery to your phone, like ClockworkMod, which you can flash with ROM Manager. Put the ZIP file on your phone's SD card, then start up ROM Manager and go to "Install ROM from SD Card". Choose the kernel's ZIP file and continue. Note, however, that some kernels require that you flash them through your recovery mode instead of with ROM Manager—so once again, do your due diligence on its home page before you go a-flashin'.
The main difference between flashing a ROM and flashing a kernel is that you do not want to wipe your data. Wipe the Dalvik Cache only, and back up your ROM if desired (I highly recommend doing so, in case something goes wrong). Other than that, you should be golden. If you haven't flashed a ROM before, I recommend reading up on that first—but if you're familiar with that process, flashing a kernel shouldn't be a big shock to the system.
SOURCE - - - Lifehacker.com
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thanks for sharing :good:
hi..
thx a lot for useful info for me as newbie. i'd like to req. permission to copy your info to my personal note..
i'm appreciated of your kindness.
TQ
Thanks, great information
Send From Samsung Galaxy S4
muchas gracias
zaki aziz said:
hi..
thx a lot for useful info for me as newbie. i'd like to req. permission to copy your info to my personal note..
i'm appreciated of your kindness.
TQ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can copy.
Started from the bottom
tks it's usefful
do u recommand a kernel for best battery life?
i am using jammal rom and allucard kernel, but i only get 3460 scores and battery life is terrible. any tips?
Great info
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk
Informative. Much appreciated.
245235568
There are plenty of apps in play store to disable wifi and 3G in order to optimize battery
i use zero lemon battery its great 7500 mAh lasts for days
kernel for best battery life?
Ive heard good things about talexop kernel
I also have zero lemon battery 7500 mAh I can get almost three days life on it without a charge
Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
Hello .. after i instal an official lollipop using odin i notice that my battery mah drop from oroginal 2600mah to 2100mah i using many programs like aida64 and battery monitor widget and every program told me my battery is only 2100mah and i think the mah is reading from android kernel , i downgrade the phone back to kitkat 4.4.2 and the battery mah reading was correct and back again to 2600 so i think it was a mistake during the install of lollipop so i download the newer firmware available -I9515XXU1BOE3- and upgrade my firmware again but the problem come back again with wrong battery reading only 2100mah, i try to wipe the battery state and make calibration but nothing solved i downgrade the phone and upgrade it again and the problem appear every time ... could any one please help me how to solve this problem ... thanks in advance
hunter777 said:
Hello .. after i instal an official lollipop using odin i notice that my battery mah drop from oroginal 2600mah to 2100mah i using many programs like aida64 and battery monitor widget and every program told me my battery is only 2100mah and i think the mah is reading from android kernel , i downgrade the phone back to kitkat 4.4.2 and the battery mah reading was correct and back again to 2600 so i think it was a mistake during the install of lollipop so i download the newer firmware available -I9515XXU1BOE3- and upgrade my firmware again but the problem come back again with wrong battery reading only 2100mah, i try to wipe the battery state and make calibration but nothing solved i downgrade the phone and upgrade it again and the problem appear every time ... could any one please help me how to solve this problem ... thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's normal. It's just wrong reading the battery capacity in lollipop. But, actually it is 2600mAh. It doesn't matter.
Sent from my Galaxy S4
I found undervolting could save up to 25% battery on my Nexus 4. I dropped it by 100mv which sounds a lot, but the device ran just as stable for I'd say 99% of the time. The only time I ever had a problem was if I started to take burst photos on the camera. I actually looked at recompiling the Camera apk to ramp up the the voltage ever so slightly.
:::fajri13::: said:
It's normal. It's just wrong reading the battery capacity in lollipop. But, actually it is 2600mAh. It doesn't matter.
Sent from my Galaxy S4
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thank you for your answer ... i want to know is this a common problem when upgrading to lollipop and if any one else face this problem with wrong mah battery capacity
hunter777 said:
thank you for your answer ... i want to know is this a common problem when upgrading to lollipop and if any one else face this problem with wrong mah battery capacity
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not worry, it is not a common problem but I had this some months ago on a leaked TW ROM. The problem fixed itself when I flashed CM12.1.
There is no impact on battery life.
I realize this device has only been out for a very short time, but are there currently any stable/semi stable kernels that improve battery life? I've looked through a few kernel threads, but many seem to be unstable (which is to be expected) and optimized for overclocking. Are there any kernel developers focusing primarily on battery life?
jetrii said:
I realize this device has only been out for a very short time, but are there currently any stable/semi stable kernels that improve battery life? I've looked through a few kernel threads, but many seem to be unstable (which is to be expected) and optimized for overclocking. Are there any kernel developers focusing primarily on battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock kernel is fantastic. If you're having issues, we need a BetterBatteryStats log from you.
Aerowinder said:
Stock kernel is fantastic. If you're having issues, we need a BetterBatteryStats log from you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BBS is not compatible with 4.4 yet. Sven is working on it.
On topic: stock kernel is good. I'm getting excellent battery life, 4+ hours screen on time is no exception. It's a common misconception a custom kernel is a magical battery life extender.
jetrii said:
I realize this device has only been out for a very short time, but are there currently any stable/semi stable kernels that improve battery life? I've looked through a few kernel threads, but many seem to be unstable (which is to be expected) and optimized for overclocking. Are there any kernel developers focusing primarily on battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both faux and franco kernels seems to be maturing fairly well. I can't personally vouch for franco, but I've been stable on every iteration (betas and stable releases) of faux's kernel, with the exception of some aggressive undervolting, which is not a really reflection on the kernel. Battery life has improved, particularly for sleep mode. Can't say the screen on time has improved dramatically, if at all, under these kernels.
FWIW, I have been fortunate enough to have a phone with adequate sound output, so I have not played at all the the sound mods available through faux, only the CPU/GPU/memory settings.
Petrovski80 said:
BBS is not compatible with 4.4 yet. Sven is working on it.
On topic: stock kernel is good. I'm getting excellent battery life, 4+ hours screen on time is no exception. It's a common misconception a custom kernel is a magical battery life extender.
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Click to collapse
Franco kernel on the N4 gave me 1.5 to 2.5 hrs. extra screenontime compared to stock Thats a fact and no placebo.
gee2012 said:
Franco kernel on the N4 gave me 1.5 to 2.5 hrs. extra screenontime compared to stock Thats a fact and no placebo.
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I tried all popular kernels on my GNEX. And by trying I don't mean flashing a new one every other day, used them for a couple of weeks at least. None of them produced any noticeable increase in battery life. That's a fact as well. I only used them for their options.
I'm curious what makes people think what the mechanism is behind hours of extra screen on time with a custom kernel (where custom is 95% or more original AOSP code).
Petrovski80 said:
I tried all popular kernels on my GNEX. And by trying I don't mean flashing a new one every other day, used them for a couple of weeks at least. None of them produced any noticeable increase in battery life. That's a fact as well. I only used them for their options.
I'm curious what makes people think what the mechanism is behind hours of extra screen on time with a custom kernel (where custom is 95% or more original AOSP code).
Click to expand...
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Read some Franco N4 pages and you`ll see my statement confirmed. The Gnex (which i only owned for a very brief period) is not the N4.
gee2012 said:
Read some Franco N4 pages and you`ll see my statement confirmed. The Gnex (which i only owned for a very brief period) is not the N4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read dozens of people claiming Franco, GlaDOS, Faux, Trinity, etc did wonders for their GNEX battery life. They never did for me, despite I used their recommendations and setup. I've yet to stumble upon actual proof (and I don't mean screen on time screenshots accompanied by opinions of users) a custom kernel actually uses less current than the stock one. If you have some, I'm very curious to read it.
Petrovski80 said:
BBS is not compatible with 4.4 yet. Sven is working on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a beta version posted on XDA that works with 4.4 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809
BBS beta has been available in the forum for weeks. It's almost always on the first page, somehow people keep overlooking it.
As far as kernel battery life goes, I think it can matter in certain cases. For instance, I came from the S3, and I don't know about other phones, but the battery life on the CM 3.4 kernel was absolutely terrible (3.0 was fine). Custom kernel was needed not only to tame the battery drain, but to improve stability (fix hotbooting, etc.). Support for that device has been sub par for a long time on the AOSP front. If it weren't for KT747 and leanKernel, CM wouldn't have been usable at all (3.4+). Though, there is still a very valid argument that it wasn't usable anyhow. So custom kernels can make a difference in some cases.
Sleep is an issue with the stock kernel? I get 0.2%-0.4% drain per hour while idling. Zero issues here. If you want proof, I'd be happy to attach a BBS log for you guys to inspect. I don't disable sync or GPS. Never have and never will. You need to be in control of the apps on your phone.
Perhaps I should have clarified: my battery life is actually very good. I don't have any major complaints, and my idle drain is insanely low (the 0.2% - 0.4% figure claimed by Aerowinder isn't too far off). I'm coming from a Note 2 though, so although the battery life is good, I'm always looking for something to make it a bit better . I've been watching Franco and Faux kernels, but they seem hit or miss based on what I'm reading and the personal experience of my friends. I may wait a while longer for a stable release.
Hi
A friend of mine is endlessly complaining about the bad battery life on his stock nexus 5, the phone is off the charger at 7am and is all but dead at 4pm
Being a nice guy and all, I want to help him out by offering to install a ROM that optimises battery life.
Can anyone suggest a good rom for the task ?
If such a rom exists and battery life can be extended to 15 to 17hrs I might jump ship from my LG G3
None
roms have absolutely nothing to do with battery.
battery is determined by your personal use, your personal setup, apps installed, and very much the quality of your phone/data connection. there are other things that'll influence battery life slightly as well, but these are the main things that determine your battery life.
Turn off auto and set the screen brightness display to 15%!
galaxys said:
Turn off auto and set the screen brightness display to 15%!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Autobrightness isn't too bad if your ROM allows you to change the values/levels
Also, "Lux Autobrightness" is useless for saving battery on an LCD screen since the backlight is still the same brightness. on AMOLED (aka not the Nexus 5) it would help, however.
simms22 said:
roms have absolutely nothing to do with battery.
battery is determined by your personal use, your personal setup, apps installed, and very much the quality of your phone/data connection. there are other things that'll influence battery life slightly as well, but these are the main things that determine your battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so we shouldn't expect any battery improvements when Android L is released ?
ipguy said:
so we shouldn't expect any battery improvements when Android L is released ?
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Click to collapse
its possible, a small amount. but that would be from new code that makes something more efficient. but, i personally, dont expect much difference in battery life.
simms22 said:
its possible, a small amount. but that would be from new code that makes something more efficient. but, i personally, dont expect much difference in battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not sure I agree with you, project volta looks like a concerted effort from Google to do exactly that.
Funny. I always use Auto-brightness and get 4 hours SoT at least twice a week. Other times, I get a little over 3 hours or below.
The best battery life for me is with elementalx 1.05 kernel with a stock rom. 2 days stand by and at least 5 hours sot is the usual verdict.
But i think the problem here is how your friend uses his phone
Different ROMs do have different battery usage. Even with the same kernel. He could stick on stock with elementalx aosp kernel. Then mess around with trickster mod to suck out the most use. Only use the high power goveners when needed. Then switch back to low power for general use. Honestly, had my n5 for a month. Also had a n4 before. The n5 battery isnt much better. Biggest downside. Just doing nothing its fine, but if I play some games on the train it dies in no time.
Some ideas
Vanir
Slim
Purity
Cm11
Vanir with elementalx was good for me battery wise. But after a certain nightly I was getting alot of heat and battery drain. Im now using sabermod carbon with elementalx.
Turn Location off. It has the biggest Impact in Battery life time.
"Best" ROM.
There is no such thing as a best ROM. The question itself is ambiguous. "Best" is obviously a subjective term.
What I want from a ROM may well differ from what you want from a ROM, ergo - what is best for me could be worst for you.
If you are asking what the most popular ROMs are, or which ROMs people are using, you can see which threads stay around on the first few pages (and have the most posts) in the Android Development or Original Android Development forums. You can also see what other people are running by reading the What are you running on your Nexus 5 thread.
If you are asking which is the most stable, being a Nexus device - they're all pretty stable.
If you are asking which is best on Battery, ROMs only affect battery if they have a feature that is badly coded. You will likely be able to read about this in the ROM threads. ROMs do not impact battery life. The only impact to battery life are your apps, your settings, how you use the phone and mostly, environmental issues such as Phone Signal.
For tips about improving battery life, please read [Battery Life Help] Troubleshoot battery issues here!
"Best" Kernel
Also, please note that as above, "best" is still subjective. What we all want from a kernel is different. Again, many people have the misconception that Kernels affect battery life. Let's get this cleared up. Although Kernel devs will build in optimisations and efficiencies that will improve battery life, these are very, VERY tiny...and if 1 kernel has these optimisations, they likely all have.
People will often say "Kernel x is better than kernel y for battery life". This is actually wrong. Kernels respond to user settings. Setting up the governor to favour either battery life or performance is simple enough to do, you just have to do some learning. The reason people think Kernel x is better than y is because developers set their kernels up with their preferred governor settings. This is what we refer to as out-of-the-box settings. The out-of-the-box settings for kernel x may well produce better battery results than the out-of-the-box settings for kernel y, which favour performance. The fact is, you as the user have the ability to tune kernel x or y to perform the same, be that battery or performance - so start learning how to do this yourselves - that way, you can choose the kernel based on the FEATURES you want, and not the fictional performance benefits of one kernel over another.
Hope this helps
rootSU said:
"Best" ROM.
There is no such thing as a best ROM. The question itself is ambiguous. "Best" is obviously a subjective term.
What I want from a ROM may well differ from what you want from a ROM, ergo - what is best for me could be worst for you.
If you are asking what the most popular ROMs are, or which ROMs people are using, you can see which threads stay around on the first few pages (and have the most posts) in the Android Development or Original Android Development forums. You can also see what other people are running by reading the What are you running on your Nexus 5 thread.
If you are asking which is the most stable, being a Nexus device - they're all pretty stable.
If you are asking which is best on Battery, ROMs only affect battery if they have a feature that is badly coded. You will likely be able to read about this in the ROM threads. ROMs do not impact battery life. The only impact to battery life are your apps, your settings, how you use the phone and mostly, environmental issues such as Phone Signal.
For tips about improving battery life, please read [Battery Life Help] Troubleshoot battery issues here!
"Best" Kernel
Also, please note that as above, "best" is still subjective. What we all want from a kernel is different. Again, many people have the misconception that Kernels affect battery life. Let's get this cleared up. Although Kernel devs will build in optimisations and efficiencies that will improve battery life, these are very, VERY tiny...and if 1 kernel has these optimisations, they likely all have.
People will often say "Kernel x is better than kernel y for battery life". This is actually wrong. Kernels respond to user settings. Setting up the governor to favour either battery life or performance is simple enough to do, you just have to do some learning. The reason people think Kernel x is better than y is because developers set their kernels up with their preferred governor settings. This is what we refer to as out-of-the-box settings. The out-of-the-box settings for kernel x may well produce better battery results than the out-of-the-box settings for kernel y, which favour performance. The fact is, you as the user have the ability to tune kernel x or y to perform the same, be that battery or performance - so start learning how to do this yourselves - that way, you can choose the kernel based on the FEATURES you want, and not the fictional performance benefits of one kernel over another.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with this guy
I used about every rom and kernel.... And my battery life for me, with my lean setup and usage was always 24 hoursish total and usually over 6 hours screen time on all of them.
So no one will ever convince me that different kernels and especially different roms affect battery life any more than in the smallest ways. Definitely not enough difference to base a choice on solely.
?
rootSU said:
"Best" ROM.
There is no such thing as a best ROM. The question itself is ambiguous. "Best" is obviously a subjective term.
What I want from a ROM may well differ from what you want from a ROM, ergo - what is best for me could be worst for you.
If you are asking what the most popular ROMs are, or which ROMs people are using, you can see which threads stay around on the first few pages (and have the most posts) in the Android Development or Original Android Development forums. You can also see what other people are running by reading the What are you running on your Nexus 5 thread.
If you are asking which is the most stable, being a Nexus device - they're all pretty stable.
If you are asking which is best on Battery, ROMs only affect battery if they have a feature that is badly coded. You will likely be able to read about this in the ROM threads. ROMs do not impact battery life. The only impact to battery life are your apps, your settings, how you use the phone and mostly, environmental issues such as Phone Signal.
For tips about improving battery life, please read [Battery Life Help] Troubleshoot battery issues here!
"Best" Kernel
Also, please note that as above, "best" is still subjective. What we all want from a kernel is different. Again, many people have the misconception that Kernels affect battery life. Let's get this cleared up. Although Kernel devs will build in optimisations and efficiencies that will improve battery life, these are very, VERY tiny...and if 1 kernel has these optimisations, they likely all have.
People will often say "Kernel x is better than kernel y for battery life". This is actually wrong. Kernels respond to user settings. Setting up the governor to favour either battery life or performance is simple enough to do, you just have to do some learning. The reason people think Kernel x is better than y is because developers set their kernels up with their preferred governor settings. This is what we refer to as out-of-the-box settings. The out-of-the-box settings for kernel x may well produce better battery results than the out-of-the-box settings for kernel y, which favour performance. The fact is, you as the user have the ability to tune kernel x or y to perform the same, be that battery or performance - so start learning how to do this yourselves - that way, you can choose the kernel based on the FEATURES you want, and not the fictional performance benefits of one kernel over another.
Hope this helps
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Well said. I hope you don't mind but I've linked your well written response in a Reddit post. Users there argue daily over which ROM or kernel is best for battery life despite my best efforts.
bblzd said:
Well said. I hope you don't mind but I've linked your well written response in a Reddit post. Users there argue daily over which ROM or kernel is best for battery life despite my best efforts.
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You can lead a horse to water.... Etc... Etc. ?
bblzd said:
Well said. I hope you don't mind but I've linked your well written response in a Reddit post. Users there argue daily over which ROM or kernel is best for battery life despite my best efforts.
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Not at all. I'm just copying and pasting it wherever needed now.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
ipguy said:
not sure I agree with you, project volta looks like a concerted effort from Google to do exactly that.
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we will see.
Hello,
I wanted some suggestions on which ROM I should select based on these criteria.
1. My priority is battery. I am usually out on meetings or deals and don't get to charge much. Which is the best ROM which can help me out here? I am not a very heavy user but definitely need my phone for quick chats, some apps and sometimes light games.
2. Stability. I hate having my phone frozen or crashed (restarted). Sometimes this costs me heavily.
3. A decent performance. I dont want my apps to take an eternity to start.
4. Customization: This is not a huge thing for me but its an added bonus to have it.
Thank you very much for help. I did try to search around for this but could not find anything.
Have a nice day
Cataclysm FTW
Hi there,
I've been using Cataclysm for the last 90 days and its been a pleasure so far
1. Battery Life is decent, depending on which custom kernel you prefer (--> ElementalX or Franco ) you're able to noticeably extend it (battery saving modes or even underclocking)
2. It's rock stable! Since the latest stable Update I've never experienced any crashes or bad lags
3. Performance is just great, absolut no lags. Of course it gets a little worse depending on how strong your CPU is throttled by your kernels engergy saving settings
4. Support for PRO Layers 2, I don't need to tell you more about that
My recommendation: Give Cataclysm a shot!
Greets from Germany
Hey!
During last month, I was able to try out some roms and I can give you some advices.
1. I had good battery life with Chroma, Purity and BoostPop ROM, mixed with Code_Blue kernel and HellScore kernel (both of them are very battery friendly).
2. Any Aosp ROM will give you the stability you need, no doubt. Again, Chroma rom was rock stable.
3. Code Blue kernel, blu_active governor and row scheduler: very fast and not so energy hungry.
4. All of the 3 roms I suggested before have some own features and supports RRO layers. You don't need anything more.
Hope I helped!
From my experience, the less features it has, less bugs will have. There are exceptions of course, but more features=more code and more code=more possibility to have bugs.
Cataclysm was one of the best ones for me. It had quite a bit of features and was really stable
my advice to you: Stock rom(cleancore from general section) with elementalx kernel gives the best experience. Smoothness at its finest, even with xposed installed. I find this combo much better than any custom rom
What kernels are you guys using and why? I'm on stock but willing to try out some
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/help/kernel-t3847767
This thread might help you.....
Currently using blu spark kernel, shifted from EX.
Im on EX. Using the stune boost recommended on the second post of his thread along with top app boost set to 1 so it gets pushed to the big cluster. Ultimate smoothness and no stutters whatsoever. I think the battery drain might be higher with the topapp setting but it lasts me the day anyways so I don't care.
I used bluspark before as well. Provided me with the best battery results but I did get some hiccups with it.
Radioactive was also speedy like EX. Didn't test it long enough to compare to the finer detail but I figured if it behaves similarly I may as well stick with EX since I'm already familiar with the work since the M7 days.
spartan268 said:
Im on EX. Using the stune boost recommended on the second post of his thread along with top app boost set to 1 so it gets pushed to the big cluster. Ultimate smoothness and no stutters whatsoever. I think the battery drain might be higher with the topapp setting but it lasts me the day anyways so I don't care.
I used bluspark before as well. Provided me with the best battery results but I did get some hiccups with it.
Radioactive was also speedy like EX. Didn't test it long enough to compare to the finer detail but I figured if it behaves similarly I may as well stick with EX since I'm already familiar with the work since the M7 days.
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One of the perks of owning this phone it's the insane speed. I've tried Ex in the past, on the OPO mainly, to try to get some extra hours out of a worn out battery. I used to use blu on my N5 for the same reason, I remember enjoying it.
I'm wondering why would someone tradeoff stock
quimbexa said:
One of the perks of owning this phone it's the insane speed. I've tried Ex in the past, on the OPO mainly, to try to get some extra hours out of a worn out battery. I used to use blu on my N5 for the same reason, I remember enjoying it.
I'm wondering why would someone tradeoff stock
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I am using EX kernel specifically because it supports WireGuard VPN kernel module, meaning the VPN connection to my home I have running 24/7 uses less battery and has higher throughput!
That, and the fact I have used EX kernel for many past devices, and the dev flar2 is really active with updates etc