I had Lockbot Pro on my EVO until last night. Got frustrated with it, and when I tried to go and download theme's from the gallery, I kept getting errors and it wouldn't connect, even after rebooting the phone and trying again.
So I read through the comments in the market for Widget Locker and it had a lot of positivity and I decided to give it a go.
I noticed today that my battery is half drained where as at the equivilant time in the past, I would be about 3/4 full.
I am still new with Widget Locker and trying things out. I have the Widget Locker with 6 sliders on it as well as the clock and the Tiny Palmary Weather Widget.
Nothing else is installed recently besides Widget Locker, so this is my reasoning with my question targeted at Widget Locker as the suspect.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you,
Whiteice
WhiteiceDMSTech said:
I had Lockbot Pro on my EVO until last night. Got frustrated with it, and when I tried to go and download theme's from the gallery, I kept getting errors and it wouldn't connect, even after rebooting the phone and trying again.
So I read through the comments in the market for Widget Locker and it had a lot of positivity and I decided to give it a go.
I noticed today that my battery is half drained where as at the equivilant time in the past, I would be about 3/4 full.
I am still new with Widget Locker and trying things out. I have the Widget Locker with 6 sliders on it as well as the clock and the Tiny Palmary Weather Widget.
Nothing else is installed recently besides Widget Locker, so this is my reasoning with my question targeted at Widget Locker as the suspect.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you,
Whiteice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's not. Feel free to look at System Panel, Spare Parts, etc..
I was wondering something about this.
When I had Lockbot Pro, it had a still image for the background. When I entered my PIN to unlock the phone, then it takes me to my normal screens which run a live wallpaper.
With Widget Locker, my background is the Live background. Does this mean that even when the phone is in standby until I hit the button to bring up Widget Locker to get into my phone that the background is constantly running whether the phone is on and being used or in standby mode?
Thank you,
Whiteice
WidgetLocker definitely drains your battery. You can just do your own test to find out.
Before you go to bed, leave your phone off the charger and remember what % you left it off at. Then:
1. Observe how much battery is drained overnight without WidgetLocker.
- For me, my phone drains around 1-4%.
2. With all else equal from the night before, apply WidgetLocker and, again, observe how much battery is drained overnight.
- For me, once WidgetLocker was installed and applied, it drained at least 20% every night.
For safe measure, you could reboot your phone before doing these tests to make sure no other apps are running in the background.
This is the test I use for testing the impact on battery every time I install a new app. I'm more cautious of apps that change system settings more than just stand alone apps (such as games). WidgetLocker definitely falls under the former so I wasn't surprised to see that it does cause a fairly significant change in battery life. It's a shame though cause it's definitely a good app. It's just the trade off isn't worth it when the Captivate doesn't have the best battery life to begin with.
khaytsus said:
No, it's not. Feel free to look at System Panel, Spare Parts, etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing is that it wouldn't list "WidgetLocker" when you use those apps. For example, with Spare Parts, WidgetLocker's effects would cause other measures to increase. If I remember correctly, "Android System" under the Partial Wakelock category was a lot higher with WidgetLocker installed which means that it does prevent the phone from sleeping at times. Also, Running % was higher as well with WidgetLocker installed which means again that the phone ran for a longer time without sleeping. Anyways, my suggestion is to use my tests above if you want to find out how it really effects real world usage. Observational tests will give you the best results (if all else are equal).
Enhanced said:
It's just the trade off isn't worth it when the Captivate doesn't have the best battery life to begin with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it's a Captivate issue or an Android issue, but one of the settings the Captivate has turned on by default triggers a bug which might be related to this thread.
Settings -> Wireless and Network -> Wi-Fi settings -> Menu key, Advanced -> Wi-Fi sleep policy.
The default sleep policy that the phone comes with is "When screen turns off". The problem is that when that one is selected, sometimes the phone doesn't sleep correctly, and battery drains quickly because the CPU is still running. (Set to "Never" and I've not had problems since) I've tested with Tasker as well, making it respond to the screen turning off - it also prevented the phone from sleeping, even though it should have done no such thing.
So Widget Locker, if it responds to the screen turning off, could easily triggering the same bug as those two. At least on the Captivate. Other lock-screen replacements would probably do the same thing. If that is the problem, responding to the screen turning on, instead, might fix it.
Thanks all for the info and advice.
For the time being, if not forever, I went and uninstalled and refunded my purchase since I was still able too.
After I posted this thread, I plugged in my phone and charged it. Once fully charged, after 45 minutes off the charger, I lost 1/4 already. This hasn't happened until I installed this program.
I also noticed that my phone is a bit "zipper" once I removed this program.
Thanks anyhow. It seemed like a good program but wasn't worth the battery drain and slight sluggishness I noticed with it installed.
Whiteice
I've measured zero difference between using Widget Locker and not using Widget Locker, but I also have my phone doing stuff, so perhaps it wakes it no more than it already would have been. With K9 email, updating weather, syncing a few accounts, Tasker running, misc stuff, my phone always has 2-4%/hr.
However, the author has said a few times it's doing nothing if it's not visible. Could depend on the widgets you have loaded of course too.
I have Beautiful Widgets time/weather (4x1), PowerAmp (4x1), Android Agenda Widget (4x2).
And do you think that lock bot could drains battery?
khaytsus said:
I've measured zero difference between using Widget Locker and not using Widget Locker, but I also have my phone doing stuff, so perhaps it wakes it no more than it already would have been. With K9 email, updating weather, syncing a few accounts, Tasker running, misc stuff, my phone always has 2-4%/hr.
However, the author has said a few times it's doing nothing if it's not visible. Could depend on the widgets you have loaded of course too.
I have Beautiful Widgets time/weather (4x1), PowerAmp (4x1), Android Agenda Widget (4x2).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I had loaded on the Widget Locker lock screen was the default unlock and silent mode, camera and brightness sliders. I added a Dolphin HD and Pandora slider. I had the default clock and the tiny Palmary weather widget set to update every 1 1/2 hours. This update setting has been the one I've used on Palmary since Ive had it the last month.
And just FYI, I would have loved to have kept it, it seemed really awesome. But again, I did not have this battery draining issue until I installed this program. And it seems to have gone away once I removed it. All this within a 24 hour period from when I purchased Widget Locker.
Whiteice.
the phone will go into a sleep state using widget locker unless you attach a widget that prevents sleep.
I have typoclock and poweramp widget on mine along with a custom slider.
I dont get any difference in power consumption than normal
however im not using homehelper, i have a fully rooted device using the root method of the 5 second rool and turned off weather animations.
I would consider what widgets you attach to widget locker and what method you are using to avoid the 5 second rule. Home helper maybe a resource hog.
I notice no significant drain on my battery. I had my phone on for 3 hours today while in class, and my phone only dropped 6%.
I experience phone lag with it, really awesome app but it needs some more work, interference with stock lock screen too.
Had to remove it but would like to bring it back if those glitches are sorted out.
Had it on Desire ...
Widgetlocker definitely drains my battery. Pity because it's a great application. However with it on android system takes over 40% of my battery, Widgetlocker itself is shown to take another 17%
and OS monitor shows constantly at least 25% CPU load from Widgetlocker.
Don't know what is wrong but something is wrong. Will try to root my device and not to use home helper and check if there is any difference.
I will have to look at my settings because I am not having any serious battery drain at all. On my WL, I have Beautiful widget with clock and weather going (update every 3 hours) and quick dial/text to my wife.
I am getting normail battery life with or w/o WL. I will report back my settings so those that love WL can continue to use.
OK, I've got to admint, rooting the phone and bypassing homehelper definitely improved the situation. Although I still have to check if there is still some battery drain when using the program. I guess there is some but not that significant anymore. Now the program is usable.
Enhanced said:
WidgetLocker definitely drains your battery. You can just do your own test to find out.
Before you go to bed, leave your phone off the charger and remember what % you left it off at. Then:
1. Observe how much battery is drained overnight without WidgetLocker.
- For me, my phone drains around 1-4%.
2. With all else equal from the night before, apply WidgetLocker and, again, observe how much battery is drained overnight.
- For me, once WidgetLocker was installed and applied, it drained at least 20% every night.
For safe measure, you could reboot your phone before doing these tests to make sure no other apps are running in the background.
This is the test I use for testing the impact on battery every time I install a new app. I'm more cautious of apps that change system settings more than just stand alone apps (such as games). WidgetLocker definitely falls under the former so I wasn't surprised to see that it does cause a fairly significant change in battery life. It's a shame though cause it's definitely a good app. It's just the trade off isn't worth it when the Captivate doesn't have the best battery life to begin with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same goes with me... widget locker does drain my battery.. my battery used to drain about 2-4% per night... but after installed the widget locker it drains like 12% to 18% per night..
XmUrF said:
OK, I've got to admint, rooting the phone and bypassing homehelper definitely improved the situation. Although I still have to check if there is still some battery drain when using the program. I guess there is some but not that significant anymore. Now the program is usable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i did the rooting too.. but still it drains the battery.. like 15% per night.. that is on standby no usage at all.. jus wonder how will it drain on normal usage.. lol
I wonder if the updated WidgetLocker has any battery life improvements? Anyone with any new experiences?
i installed widget locker last week, and I've noticed it does seem to drain my battery significantly. I also dumped a sh1t ton of widgets on it too.
i think its the price you have to pay for functional lockscreens like this. I had an iPhone 3GS with LockInfo on it and it drained the battery a bit too.
Seems like a dead thread, but I am also having battery issues with WidgetLocker. I am certain that it is the culprit because when I restarted my phone after installing, the battery indicator was yellow, and when WidgetLocker initiated, the battery instantly went to red. Any ideas on how to fix this? I love this app.
Yep - I agree with everybody above. WidgetLocker is a battery muncher.
It's one of my favorite programs, but I've had to part ways with it. With it running I was only getting about 7 hours out of my battery - without it, I go 12 hours easy.
Sucks. Back to default lock screen.
Been experiencing a high battery drain past few days on both VirusROM and BAMF 1.6.3. According to CurrentWidget it keeps at 260-270mA most of the time with screen off. On it jumps up to 400-500mA pretty much right away.
The strage thing is that I haven't really changed anything and have seen 40-60mA draw while idle before.
Partial wake usage mainly lists Android System, everything else has really short duration times.
Any idea how I could track down what's using so much power during idle? Have very few apps installed and all that are installed are pretty standard I think.
Here's a list of what I have:
Where's my droid
Appstore (amazon)
ShootMe
Solo Lite
Facebook
Fandango
Go Launcher EX (maybe this? was updated recently)
Calendar (widget for EX) as well as two themes for EX
Google Maps
Gmail
GO SMS Pro and a theme
Foursquare
Screen Off and Lock widget
ROM Manager
CurrentWidget
SoundHound
Ginger keyboard
Shush!
ColorNote
gTabSiMiClock
Ringer Volume
Retro Cam+
SMS Backup
As far as general settings, Wifi and GPS are always on as well as syncfor gmail and FB, but then again they were since day one and I've seen idle draw at 40-60mA always before.
Thanks for the help.
Have you changed your wallpaper recently?
Mine used to be orange with flames, and it used to do the same thing. Since then, I changed it to a space themed wallpaper that's mostly black and dark blue . My current power usage has gone down significantly to idling at 30 unless I use it!! Try that!!
You could also recalibrate your battery if you haven't done that since ROMing, I did that at the same time too, but I don't think that did it.
Darker wallpaper hmm. Well I changed it to something darker though it doesn't make sense that it would drain battery differently while screen is off, but I guess it doesn't have to make sense heh.
I did use all kinds of wallpapers before even live ones and never really seen such high idle use before. Will try to drain battery and recharge as I haven't done that in a while.
Going to try and wipe everything and just install bamf 1.6.3 along with currentWidget and see what happens I guess. And if issue is fixed will slowly add apps one at a time to try and find which one causes the problem. It also possible that TitaniumBackUp is causing the issue as lately I was using it to reinstall all apps instead of going to the market and doing it that way.
make sure you re calibrate your battery after ROMing, if you haven't done that already. That fixed all my idling power consumption (and charging) problems
Try applying airplane mode. That will help you see if your radios are eating battery.
Reinstalled the rom and while I didn't want to install any apps market restored everything I had, but I did not use TitaniumBackup this time and so far everything is fine. Idle is back down to 40s mA.
I guess was some glitch in the backups. Because everything else is the same.
Hello ,
please help me in following questions
does widgets drain battery?
does live wallpapers drain batter?(more or less?)
does having all installed apps in screen (for example having all installed apps in screens of go launcher instead) drain battery / permormace? (if it does will making folders help or should i remove it?
does having modified screen lock like and theme {http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1134657 one of those ) drain battery n performace?
Thanks in advance
anything that is running on your phone requires a battery to power it. widgets are constantly running and therefore drain battery while the screen is on. same reason why live wallpapers drain more battery than regular wallpapers (constantly running). i'm not sure about the number of apps on the homescreen but I would assume that more apps require more power to display them, and having a modified lock requires that the phone starts that program every time the screen is unlocked so it would drain additional battery. i'm not sure whether that would be more or less battery power than a regular lock screen, but you get the idea
First, everything running costs battery life
Widget cost battery life, more if they are synced. BUT energy cost of unsynced widgets is so little you will not notice it at all (less then 1%).
Live wallpapers take alot of battery compared to static ones (approx 1-5% depending on the wallpaper, ~2% for the Nexus S live wallpaper).
Just having the shortcut to an app on your homescreen won't increase battery life in any visible form. I did fill 7 homescreens with 20 apps each, batt drain was the same as w/o any apps at all.
Yes and no, data/information pulling lock screens can pull a bit (like widgets). Usually a themed lockscreen won't take more energy then the stock one though.
If you're really into saving battery life, look into custom ROMs (stock 2.3.4 is hard to beat though!), undervolted kernels and don't use the phone for games. The last tip is ofc not meant too serious, but those games/videos ARE what drains your battery in less then a day.
i m on miui 2.3.5 justed wanted to get clarification