I'm hoping this helps out I know with all the hype of the Thunderbolt there's quite a few users new to android that see how people are customizing and wanting to know, and repeat after repeat of questions and bringing a lot of unneeded hostility around here. Feel free to add what ever you guys think is something that is repetitively brought up. I'm running kind of short on sleep, so if I left anything out let me know!
Remember to always follow instructions and SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH before making a new thread
Remember to always Wipe Data/Factory reset/Wipe cache/wipe dalvik cache to insure a clean, fresh bug free install.
Also ALWAYS make a backup of what ever current rom before flashing a new one
Lastly, DO NOT treat the devs with disrespect they are losing sleep/girlfriends/what ever to give us these roms and kernels and everything else for free. If something gets messed up do not come at them with hostility or it will only be returned. The people of XDA will HELP you, but only if you've searched and tried to help yourself first. Also don't forget to donate to the dev's from time to time for their monster/beer/hookers and all their time and effort.
Thunderbolt Root Users Dictionary:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1143188
Back up Date before rooting
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1193901
How To Root your Thunderbolt
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=996616
How to Root via Mac OS
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1011623
REVOLUTIONARY ROOTwww.revoultionary.io
Easy Auto Root:(Although this is not the recommended way, I've used it before and had no issues.)
Video guide:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQYoeFrJ1Jk
Download links
TB Auto-Root : http://www.multiupload.com/NOK55G17MZ
HTC SYNC : http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-and-Shell/Windows/HTC-Sync-81096.shtml
Lost data after rooting? Try these steps
oneders65 said:
This is what I did.
1.) Flashed my phone back to Stock S-ON usine this link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1009423
when you reboot the phone make sure you wait until you get a 3G/4G signal. If you start the process of setting up your phone to quick it will cause your phone not to activate the data connection.
2.) ROOTED my phone and at each boot made sure I had 3G/4G connection before setting up phone. (Downgrade and Upgrade).
3.) This let me keep my data connection all the way through.
Credits
Scotty2, jamezelle, jcase, and all of Team AndIRC
Testers, especially ProTekk and Trident
Thanks to scotty2 for WPThis
Busybox was pulled from a CyanogenMod ROM, source should be available here
psneuter was pulled from somewhere, credit to scotty2, source here
All firmware credit goes to 911sniper
Jaroslav from Android Police for editorial help
dbzfanatic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How To UNROOT your thunderbolt
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1009423&highlight=Un+root
To help decide whether you want Gingerbread or Froyo
Differences between Gingerbread and Froyo
http://androidheadlines.com/2011/01/differences-between-android-2-2-froyo-and-2-3-gingerbread.html
ROMS and Kernels:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1081930
Team Mikmik aka Gingeritis ROMs since people don't know where they went
http://www.themikmik.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=271
I see CyanogenMod around what is that?
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
I installed a GB rom and all my texts time stamps are off
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mattprecious.smsfix&feature=search_result
Activate>use phone time has fixed every issue with this for me!
Radios:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1048128&highlight=radio
Thunderbolt Themes and Apps:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=944
How to help Improve battery life (Courtesy of Guitarchris123):
If you easily get a full day's use with stock settings, then ignore this. But the ThunderBolt is a powerful 1GHz smartphone made by HTC with a fairly small stock battery, large 4.3" screen, LTE capability, and Sense UI, so battery life may be a concern to you. There is no magic app or single technique that will make your battery last all day with heavy use, but if you utilize some of the following tips you WILL notice a significant increase in your battery life. Everyone's use is different, so 6-9 hours on one charge may be enough for some while others need 12-15 hours. Some of these may not be necessary, appropriate, or desirable for all users, so just pick which ones work for your purposes and preferences. You might prefer to keep using some of the particular features mentioned, as the benefit for you might outweigh the minimal savings in battery life. The point of this is to show people how to disable or limit features they don't need, not force them to shut down everything the phone was built to do. Feel free to add your own suggestions as well or ask any questions about the techniques.
1. Settings: (use an app or widget that helps you quickly toggle them, eg. built-in widgets, or from market such as Elixir, Quick Settings, or MySettings)
a. Screen –go to settings/display, turn down Brightness (20-30%), set Timeout to 30 secs, manually turn off by quickly pushing top button when not using anymore (instead of waiting). I have personally found that I like setting timeout at 1 min better, and manually turning off the screen with the top button every time I am done using it before I put it down or away in my pocket, that way it doesn't waste itself timing out or shut off on me when I don't want it to yet.
b. GPS – always turn off when not using, and plug into car charger (or car dock if you have one) during extended use
c. Bluetooth – always turn off when not using
d. 4G – always turn off when not using, only use when you need the speed, (the TB will get a toggle either in an update or in app form at some point, in the meantime there are several methods to accomplish this)
e. Mobile hotspot – always turn off when not using, plug into charger when in use if you can
f. WiFi – turn off when not near a WiFi signal for an extended period of time, but always use when available (faster than 3G, uses less battery), go to settings/wireless & networks/WiFi settings, press menu button and tap Advanced then WiFi Sleep policy and select“Never”, this sounds counter-intuitive, but it actually uses less power because when WiFi sleeps 3G or 4G wakes up to sync, get email, and retrieve other data (WiFi connection disables 3G/4G). Also uncheck Best WiFi Performance if its checked.
2. Background/wallpaper - use a static image instead of a live wallpaper (but these are cool, so use one if you really want to, they only drain for the short amount of time you are looking at the launcher screens). Many say the live wallpaper drain is minimal, but I noticed a significant amount while using a live one so I went to static. Have any of you tried both and noticed much of a difference yet?
3. Window animations – go to settings/sound & display/animation and select“no animations”
4. Keyboard vibration – turn off vibration function (haptic feedback) for when you hit a key (helps with speed too), go to settings/language & keyboard/touch input/text input and uncheck vibrate when typing, you can disable haptic feedback in other areas of the system by going to settings/sound, and uncheck vibrate feedback
5. Notification lights – unless you really want/need to know when something happens on your phone when you are not looking, go to settings/display/notification flash and uncheck all the boxes
6. Vibration – unless you really want this function, go to settings/sound, and uncheck vibrate
7. Monitor battery use - go to menu/settings/about phone/battery use, this will show you what is eating the most battery, uninstall troublesome unneeded app, use Running services widget by going to shortcut/settings (helps identify processes running in the background and foreground), if you want more detail check out SystemPanel in the app market, if you want to be alerted to "rogue" apps check out Watchdog Task Manager in the app market
8. Disable“always-on mobile data”– go to settings/wireless & networks/mobile networks, uncheck “Enable always-on mobile data,”you will still receive emails, texts, and phone calls, as well as internet usage, but it may cause connectivity problems in some third party apps (use manual refresh feature when opening apps to update online data)
9. WiFi and 4G network notifications – go to settings/wireless & networks and uncheck Network notification box (so phone will not constantly scan to look for open networks to tell you about)
10. Background data – if you are not using Google life-management services, go to settings/accounts & sync and uncheck Background data box (so that apps cannot sync, send, and receive data whenever it wants to, even if not currently using them). Add a homescreen shortcut to quickly toggle this (allows you to update/sync only when you want/need to).
11. Auto-sync – uncheck Auto-sync in settings/accounts & sync, or at least limit what apps are set to sync, it is better to manually sync/update/refresh in the app when you open it (set to update at launch), set update/notification frequency (polling schedule), if you do not want to turn off auto sync, just change widget or app update/notification frequency (refresh interval) in settings/accounts & sync to 30 mins or 1-2 hours, or better yet set it to update at launch, useful for Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, news, weather, Google apps, and stocks, be sure to manually sync/back up your contacts every once in a while in case you lose your phone or break it
12. Email – change sync option in settings, set email check frequency to 30 mins or 1 hour, or as items arrive, or better yet set it to never and manually refresh when you want to check/read your email
13. Camera app(s) – make sure they are not running in the background when not in use, exit/close when done
14. Video chat app(s) – make sure they are not running in the background when not in use, exit/close when done
15. Streaming app(s) – make sure they are not running in the background when not in use, exit/close when done, try to limit use or plug into a charger during use if you can
16. Google Talk – press Menu then tap All apps/talk/menu/settings and uncheck automatically sign in, make sure you exit the application by going to menu/more and selecting sign out when you are done (exiting the app by pressing home or back keys will not sign you out), if you want to receive IMs just open the application again
17. Adobe Flash Player – open browser, hit menu key, go to settings/enable plug-ins and set it to“On demand”(this way the browser only loads flash content when instructed to do so)
18. Update apps – hit menu key and to go My Apps to check for updates, even if you have selected“update automatically”because some apps require you to manually install updates (apps often get updated to use less power)
19. Location settings (updated) – go to settings/location settings. It is ok to have all of these checked, because it is the apps that use the GPS and consume power, not having these settings selected. GPS is only active when apps using it are in use.
20. Task killer – do not use them, uninstall if you currently have one, can harm phone and consume battery, just use back arrow key to exit apps instead of home key, simply monitor rogue apps instead and uninstall/replace. These are especially bad on pre-installed apps and services (many things rely on each other), so never "auto-kill" or "kill all." If you must use one, only use it on apps that you have installed that are misbehaving, otherwise let Android do it on its own.
21. Anti-virus – do not use them, uninstall if you currently have one, only download and use periodically or when you suspect a problem, do not download suspicious apps (check reviews and rating in market first)
22. Ad blocker – do not use them, uninstall if you currently have one
23. Battery meter accuracy – go to data/system and delete“batterystats.bin”after you have charged your phone to 100%
24. Tasker – can be used to automate settings (eg. based on time of day or app launched)
25. Juice Defender + Ultimate Juice – can be used to automate settings (eg. based on time of day or location)
26. Screebl - keeps backlight on while holding phone in "use" (vertical) position and turns it off when laying flat
27. Rebooting - reboot phone every few days
28. Delete unnecessary apps – determine which apps you do not need or use anymore and uninstall them, determine which apps you keep are causing the most battery drain and see if a comparable replacement from the market will do better
29. Widgets – turn off animations, do not use too many of them (choose them wisely), and delete unnecessary ones, they pull data in the background. At least make the interval/frequency of sync/updates longer for the ones you have. It may be better just to open some apps themselves instead of using the widget. Disable auto-updates on HTC Weather widget or at least set it to every few hours, manually update by tapping update icon on bottom of widget. Note that widgets that display battery, CPU, and memory utilization consume some power because they are polling the system for information.
30. No service – turn off phone or go into Airplane mode when you are in an area that does not have cell service
31. Chargers – have them handy at home, at work, and in car, and plug in when available. Try to get a 1A charger (same as included wall charger), many cheap aftermarket car chargers are only 500mAh and will not be enough to handle the GPS. VZW's car charger is 750mAh.
32. Rooting – (there are a lot more techniques that can be used with a rooted phone, such as removing bloatware and underclocking when then screen is off, but I will save that for a later thread)
33. If all else fails, buy an extended battery or have a spare handy just in case
Update1 - I came across another technique, it sounds a little strange but it apparently came from HTC regarding the EVO...some users appeared to have experienced gains from it:
34. "Calibrate" battery - (1) Turn device ON, charge it for 8 hours (or until LED turns green), (2) unplug and turn it OFF, plug it back in and charge for 1 hour (or until LED turns green), (3) unplug and turn it ON, wait 2 minutes, turn it OFF, plug it back in, and charge for 1 hour (or until LED turns green), (4) unplug it, turn it ON, and use normally. Repeat once a month or so.
Update2 - I found a few more things to suggest
35. Blockbuster app - open app, download update from market, then go to menu/settings and tap "disable movie updates." The app is set to automatically periodically scan for updates by default, and requires the new update to turn this off.
36. Friendstream - delete the widget from your home screen, open app and go to menu/settings and select update when opened. This way it isn't constantly refreshing, but rather only does so when you want to look at it by opening the app.
37. Signal strength - whether 3G, 4G, or WiFi, if whatever you are trying to connect to has a low signal strength the TB's battery will be draining trying to connect. Keep an eye on your connections, and try to be aware of when you are in poor signal areas and toggle off or switch connections if you can. Also keep in mind where your "fringe" areas are (ie. bounces between 3G/LTE/1X)
38. Apps - not all 3rd party apps are optimized for the TB, be sure to read reviews/ratings in the market to see what problems other users have had with them. Monitor your apps to see if any of them are hogging system resources (eg. CPU, RAM) and draining your battery, and delete or replace them accordingly. And remember to set the sync/update/notification frequency at longer intervals in settings within the apps that connect to the internet frequently.
39. Power saver - go to settings/power, and check enable power saver, the go to power saver settings and tweak (basically does a lot of the things we've talked about here for you automatically when you get low on battery, in case some things are left on or on higher settings than needed)
Another Battery Saver 3g/4g toggle switch:
https://market.android.com/details?id=net.andirc.lteonfoff&feature=search_result
What is SetCPU and where do I get it?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=505419
Just because it's free doesn't mean you shouldn't donate a little something to the dev!
Commonly used widgets
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=761517
How do I customize my home page and change the docks and such?
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.adw.launcher&feature=search_result
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.fede.launcher&feature=search_result
This is a nice and concise introduction. I needed this last week!
Upvoted for the phrase "beer and hookers."
One stop shop very nice!!!!....
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Thanks for that. I am going to have my wife read this so she can understand more on what to do with her phone, since it is not rooted and still has all that bloatware.
My phone is rooted and I have been testing with 4gLTE off/on, and seriously gained 5 hours when 4gLTE was turned off.
17-18 Hours Almost made it to 19 hours - 4gLTE off - This is with moderate use call/text/IM and some gameplay.
13-14 Hours - 4gLTE on - This is the same as above.
Trying now to talk my wife into letting me root her phone, but alas it is her phone and her choice.
Also if you want to update there is a 4G/LTE app in the Marketplace for the toggle - just search in the Market - LTE - it will show up as a Red Lightning bolt in a grey Circle.
Excellent post!
scubaskm said:
Thanks for that. I am going to have my wife read this so she can understand more on what to do with her phone, since it is not rooted and still has all that bloatware.
My phone is rooted and I have been testing with 4gLTE off/on, and seriously gained 5 hours when 4gLTE was turned off.
17-18 Hours Almost made it to 19 hours - 4gLTE off - This is with moderate use call/text/IM and some gameplay.
13-14 Hours - 4gLTE on - This is the same as above.
Trying now to talk my wife into letting me root her phone, but alas it is her phone and her choice.
Also if you want to update there is a 4G/LTE app in the Marketplace for the toggle - just search in the Market - LTE - it will show up as a Red Lightning bolt in a grey Circle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, very good! I forgot about the toggle switch. Added and thanked!
Lots of good info, thanks
Awesome, thanks for the tips, should make my experience better.
This is a great post!! I def used some of the battery saving techniques.
Awesome information - wish I would have found this when I first bought my Thunderbolt... better to learn from others than trial and error method sometimes. lol
Thank you for the info... Somw i knew some i didn't... Great one stop for quick reminder..
Sent from my A05PTH3ORYB0LT using Tapatalk
Good stuff. Thank you.
Great post. Just one question. Why do ad-blockers use more battery? Wouldn't it decrease data use and thus battery since it prevents ads from being downloaded?
Thanks for the info!!
def a one stop shop. thank you. info much needed.
Sorry kind of falling behind on updates. Anyone think anything needs to be added???
ScoobarSTI said:
Sorry kind of falling behind on updates. Anyone think anything needs to be added???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
may want to add in the "how to unroot for people who used revolutionary" thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1310014&highlight=revolutionary
Rooted with revolutionary...lost my gps CM7 ROM
Rooted my TB...with revolutionary, installed CM7 ROM. Now my gps doesn't work. Any ideas. Any advice?
I think CM7 has issues with GPS.
Thanks !!
Using Juice Defender lets me go a day and a half without charging. It's awesome !
UPDATE [11th September 2011]
Modified the SetCPU profiles:
Removed AC-charging Overclock (subject to temperature warnings mentioned in replies)Reduced some MAX values (has added 5 hours of real-world battery use and makes no noticable difference in performance)Added an optional < 101% profile to default the maximum clock speed to 729MHz (does not reduce performance, adds 2 hours effective runtime)Specified the Priority values (which I had forgotten to mention originally)
Introduction - The Desire S Battery Problem
As a fellow Desire S owner, you no doubt agree that it is a lovely phone: sleek, thin, relatively light, feature-filled... almost everything anyone could ever want from a phone!
However...
As a fellow Desire S owner, you no doubt agree that the battery life (on the Stock Sense ROM, regardless of how strict your PWM settings) is rather pathetic.
I have two HTC Desire S phones (one for myself, one for my wife), and both of them have almost exactly the same runtime (give or take a few minutes) when run in identical test conditions... no more than 18 hours (almost all of which with the display turned off) between charges, and less than 8 hours average with light-to-moderate screen-time when in use.
Bottom line: it's rather pathetic, and unacceptable.
Thankfully, we have options now... and this guide provides you with the option I have chosen for my Desire S phones.
Introduction - The Sacrifice
HTC Sense is (to many) considered a very "pretty" GUI, with nice animated transitions, a rounded feel etc, however it comes at a price: it's a battery hog!
I have played with many Sense 2 and Sense 3 ROMs on the Desire S, all of which share the common result of dimished battery runtime...
Bottom line: The simplest way to get more battery life is to sacrifice Sense entirely!
Just to point out: HTC Sense is the only sacrifice this guide makes in the persuit of optimal battery life! Unlike other guides, this one doesn't compromise any other features, or ANY performance (in fact, I've found performance with the setup described here to be even better than the stock ROM... noticably so!)
DISCLAIMER
I cannot (and will not) be held responsible for any losses or damages resulting from your use of this guide or the materials it contains. If you brick your phone, you've done something wrong and the fault is your own.
You should follow this guide with a fully charged battery, and if possible perform all steps involving a PC from a Laptop, with your phone connected via USB to minimize the risks associated with sudden power loss on your mains supply.
Stage 1: S-OFF
Aside from a lucky few whose Desire S came with S-OFF as a factory default, most of us have S-ON handsets.
With S-ON, you cannot flash a custom ROM onto your Desire S... but fear not, as there is now a FREE (and insanely simple) way to unlock our handsets, giving us the precious S-OFF we require.
You will require the Android SDK to be installed on your system, as well as the USB drivers for the HTC Desire S (these are installed as part of HTC Sync, though you should close HTC Sync from the system tray before proceeding as the S-OFF process will refuse to run with HTC Sync running at the same time)
Head on over to http://revolutionary.io/ to download their tool. This guide presumes you are using Windows, though it should be easy enough - if you're a Linux user - to adapt this information for your Linux platform.
Once you press the link to download Revolutionary, you will notice that a form appears asking for certain information. You'll see a screenshot of this below, but before we get to that there's something you must do...
Open a Command Prompt window from the Platform-Tools directory of the Android SDK.
From that Command Prompt window, type adb devices. Presuming you have the HTC Desire S drivers installed correctly, and your handset connected to your PC via USB, you should something like this:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
LEAVE THIS COMMAND PROMPT WINDOW OPEN, WE'LL NEED IT AGAIN SHORTLY
The third line of text begins with your handset's serial number.... you will need to enter this into the form on the Revolutionary website in order to generate your Beta key:
Once the Revolutionary zip file has downloaded, extract its contents into a folder on your PC (doesn't matter where, so long as you have access to that location).
Run revolutionary.exe following the instructions provided (it's a very quick and simple process... the automated portion of which shouldn't take more than 2 or 3 minutes to complete)
When it prompts you to install the Recovery mod, do it! You will need it for the next stage of this guide!
Your HTC Desire S now has S-OFF, is equipped with a version of ClockWork Recovery, and is ready to recieve the custom ROM! (All is good with the world).
Stage 2: The Custom ROM
IMPORTANT - THIS WILL FACTORY RESET YOUR PHONE (UNAVOIDABLE) SO DON'T FORGET TO BACK UP WHATEVER YOU NEED BEFORE YOU PROCEED WITH THIS GUIDE! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
NOTE You will either need a spare MicroSD card, or to back up your existing MicroSD card and make it accessible to have files written to it from your PC (I use a card reader, but you can always use the USB Mass Storage feature of the phone itself to access the SD card in your phone from your PC)
The custom ROM of choice is NeoLojik's CyanogenMod 7, lovingly and paintakingly prepared especially for our HTC Desire S handsets, with quite probably the most prompt and spectactular support from NeoLojik himself.
I have chosen NeoLojik's CM7 ROM because it has proven (after exhastively testing other ROMs for the Desire S) to provide me with the very best battery performance, as well as all of the settings you will tweak as part of this guide.
Download (from the ROM's thread linked above):
The latest version of his ROM
The recommended Tiamat Kernel
The recommended version of the Google Apps package
To save time later, download The Android Market 3.1.3 APK
(You can download the APK from your phone directly after you've completed this portion of the guide, if you prefer)
Place the three ZIP files, as well as the Android Market APK, on the root folder of your MicroSD card (by "root" I mean the initial path of the SD card, which is whatever drive letter it mounts as on your Windows PC - e.g. "H:\")
Now, with your phone still connected to your PC via USB (and the SD card put back into your phone, if required), return to the Command Prompt window we used earlier and type adb reboot recovery
Now direct your attention to your phone
Once the Recovery Menu has loaded (should take about 30 seconds) we will follow some simple instructions below... but first, a few points on how to use Recovery:
Use the Volume Up and Down buttons on your handset to highlight one of the displayed options
Use the Power button to trigger the highlighted option.
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
apply update from sdcard
choose zip from sdcard
update-cm7.1.0-RC1-DesireS-Nexx-signed.zip (or whatever the ROM's filename is at your time of downloading... it will change as the ROM evolves)
apply update from sdcard
choose zip from sdcard
Tiamat_Saga-v1.1.2.zip (or whatever the filename is for the recommended Tiamat kernel at your time of downloading)
apply update from sdcard
choose zip from sdcard
gapps-gb-20110613.zip (again, filename might be slightly different for you)
Remembering with each selection to navigate to the "YES" option in the confirmation menu (this exists to prevent you from accidentally flashing the wrong file onto your phone)
Now, from your PC (or from the Recovery menu... doesn't matter which), you want to reboot your phone! To do this from the PC, you will just type adb reboot into the Command Line window we used previously.
Your phone will now boot with the new ROM (CyanogenMod), and has been factory reset (so you'll have to run through the first-run configuration wizard).
NOTE: Don't be scared if (after the boot animation disappears) the screen remains black for a minute or so! The first boot of the new ROM (especially with the Tiamat Kernel) does take a bit longer than every subsequent boot there-after. Just give the phone a few minutes, and press the Power button. You SHOULD see the Lock screen once the device is ready!
Run through the first-run wizard following instructions provided (fairly strait forward), though keep in mind that (at the time of writing) the wizard does not prompt for a WiFi connection until AFTER it attempts to log in to your Google account! Fear not, though, as when it fails to connect to your Google account (presuming you don't have Mobile Data available to you), it'll then prompt for a WiFi network and repeat the Google account login afterwards.
Once you have completed the first run config, open the "File Manager" app included as part of the ROM.
Navigate to /sdcard and run the com.android.vending-3.1.3.apk file. You'll be prompted to allow unknown sources, you want to tick that box and click on the APK again.
Once you've installed this, you will be running the latest (and greatest) version of Android Market, which (amongst other things) enables you to use a different Google account for your Apps (very useful if you want to install your paid applications on your wife's phone, as I have)
Welcome to CyanogenMod!....
Stage 3: Battery-saving Mega Settings [Menu-by-Menu]
The Settings I'm providing you here are the results of countless hours of experimentation (as well as logic and common sense). They have proven to provide the best degree of battery runtime with absolutely no performance or feature sacrifice!
If a menu or entry within a menu isn't mentioned, it's because it has no bearing on power saving!
Wireless & networks
Wi-Fi settings
Network notification = OFF
Press the Menu button, then Advanced
Wi-Fi sleep policy = NEVER
Call settings
Vibrate on answer = OFF
Vibrate every 45 seconds = OFF
Vibrate on hangup = OFF (NOTE: I leave this ON as my one concession as it's the only way you will know if a call drops out on you unexpectedly!)
Vibrate call waiting = OFF
Always use proximity = OFF
Enable sensor rotation = OFF
Voicemail notifications = ON (it doesn't save power, but seriously... you want it on!)
CyanogenMod settings
Display
Automatic backlight
Light sensor filter > Enabled = OFF (If enabled, unnecessarily drains more battery life! The feature itself is pointless as there is no difference to the UX with it Enabled or Disabled!)Light levels
Use custom = ON
Screen dim level = 14
Allow light decrease = ON
Edit other levels...
This is what I consider to be the most optimal set of levels:
Lower | Screen | Buttons
0 | 21 | 2
160 | 31 | 2
255 | 35 | 2
320 | 40 | 0
640 | 50 | 0
1280 | 75 | 0
2600 | 90 | 0
5800 | 130 | 0
8000 | 200 | 0
10000 | 255 | 0
Press Save & apply (scroll to the top to find the button)
NOTE: You may want to play around with some of the values in this table, as screen brightness is not a "one size fits all" affair, and what I can see clearly might not be so clear for you (or vice-versa). Basically, use those levels as a starting point, and tweak them from there until you find the best settings for you in various lighting conditions.
I will say this, you don't want to set the Buttons value above 0 if you can see the buttons even faintly at a given light level. The backlighting for the buttons is a surprising battery drain (it's calculated as part of the Screen's power consumption in the Battery Usage menu). Bottom line: if you don't need any lighting on the hardware buttons in order to use them even in pitch blackness, then set the value of Buttons for each set in the table to 0 and squeeze more life out of your battery!
Performance (press OK when the warning is displayed)
CPU settings
Available governors = SMARTASS ("SMARTASS" has been designed specifically [and brilliantly] to scale the CPU frequency with such a perfect balance of performance-on-demand versus power saving... it's the perfect choice!)
Min CPU frequency = 192
Max CPU frequency = 1036 (We'll be using SetCPU [full version, bought from the Market] to set up some magical CPU profiles later in this guide, saving us LOTS more battery life!)
Set on boot = ON
Sound
Haptic feedback = OFF (Remember: The phone's vibrator consumes more power than playing a beep or other short tone through the speaker at even the highest volume!)
Accounts and sync
Auto-sync = OFF (Auto-sync being disabled saves both battery power, as well as bandwidth on your Mobile Data tarif [2G and/or 3G dependant on carrier]. Really, you should just "sync on demand" as and when you want/need to!)
This concludes the Settings portion of the guide!
Stage 4: SetCPU (for ROOT users) configuration
SetCPU for ROOT Users is available for on the Android Market for just £1.25 (or $1.99 USD). Not only does this program enable you to overclock/underclock your phone's CPU, but more importantly it enables you to provide Profiles, to scale the CPU based on the operational status of your phone.
This is well worth the infintismal pricetag, as the potential power savings (at no performance cost) is more than significant!
Open SetCPU, go to the Profiles tab:
Enable = ON
Notifications = ON (Really this is up to you! I like to have notifications for when the profile is changing to ensure that the CPU is scaling properly, and to ensure that my profiles are the best they can be for performance/battery balance)
Add Profile
Profile = Charging AC
Max = 1036800 (Potentially, you could set it up to 2GHz, but I have stability (and heat) concerns, and I can't possibly see any circumstance where 2GHz would be remotely useful! If you do elect to overclock (particularly whilst charging), you will need to add a profile (with 100% priority) to drop the Max value if the temperature exceeds 45 C)
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Press Save
Add Profile
Profile = Charging USB
Max = 1036800 (Basically 1GHz [original] CPU clock. We don't want to bleed into the minimal input of power provided by USB, so this is the best setting to use)
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Press Save
Add Profile
Profile = Battery <
Battery < = 75%
Max = 652800
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Press Save
Add Profile
Profile = Battery <
Battery < = 50%
Max = 576000
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Press Save
B]Add Profile[/B]
Profile = Battery <
Battery < = 30%
Max = 422400
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Priority = 80
Press Save
Add Profile
Profile = Screen Off
Max = 345600
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Priority = 60
Press Save
Add Profile
Profile = Time
Time = 01:00 - 08:00 (NOTE: Substitute the given range with whatever your daily sleeping hours are!)
Max = 345600
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Priority = 70
Press Save
The following profile is optional... and (if used) would specify your default clock speed
Add Profile
Profile = Battery <
Battery < = 101%
Max = 729600
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Press Save
Feel free to experiment with other profiles as well! Perhaps you may want to procedurally reduce your CPU speed based on Battery % in a more gentle way... this is certainly possible, and would squeeze even more life out of your battery.
You should also feel free to use lower MAX values for each setting (I would strongly advise against higher values) if you feel that the lower clock speed makes little-to-no noticable difference in performance as you use your phone.
Personally, I notice no difference between 729600 and 1038600!
Stage 4: Recalibrating your Battery
Install the Battery Calibration app (FREE on the Android Market).
If your phone isn't charged, charge it up so that it is showing 100% (with the Green LED lit).
Run Battery Calibration and press the Battery Calibration button. Immediately unplug the power/USB cable from your phone, and allow it to run (as normal) until fully discharged.
Once the phone has switched itself off, plug it into the AC cable (using the mains charger).... and LEAVE YOUR PHONE SWITCHED OFF until the LED indicator is lit green!
You may want to repeat the discharge/recharge cycle one or two more times (as many people claim that this provides a better calibration)... though really that just entails running your phone on the battery until it is fully discharged, then allowing it (whilst switched off) to fully recharge on the mains adapter (AC)... which is not what most people would normally do as a routine.
Potential Stage 5: Tasker
Tasker (£3.99 on the Android Market) enables you to create profiles which automatically change various settings based on one or more given criteria. This even includes the ability to switch on and off features of your phone such as WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, GSM, Mobile Data and Airplane Mode.
By creating suitable Tasker profiles, you can squeeze even more battery life out of your phone!
If it's of benefit to people (let me know in the comments) I can expand this guide to include step-by-step instructions on creating the various profiles I would recommend in order to squeeze more battery runtime out of your phone without sacrifising features/functionality.
General Battery Storage/Maintenance Advice (Applies to all Lithium-Ion Batteries, including those used in Laptops)
To prolong the operational lifespan of your battery, you should not really allow your battery to run for very long below 50% charge, as "topping up" a half-charged battery generates less wear and tear on the battery, prolonging its overall lifespan.
NEVER leave your phone fully discharged for more than an hour, or the LiIon cells will begin to degrade, meaning your battery will never be able to physically hold as much charge. Indeed, the longer you leave a discharged battery, the less overall capacity your battery will retain.
NEVER store your battery (even if the phone is running at the time) in cold conditions! As a general rule of thumb, if it's "a little chilly" for you, it's unhealthy for the battery!
Both of the above tips form respectively the Number 1 and 2 causes of battery death! Don't let your battery become another statistic!
If - like me - you have one or more "spare batteries", you will likely be tempted to store them when they are fully charged (100%). This sounds like a good thing to do, but actually it can have (to a slightly lesser degree) the same damaging effect on the battery as leaving it fully discharged for any prolonged period of time!
The absolute best level of charge at which you should store a battery is at 50%, or as close there-to as possible!
Dependant on how often you find yourself recharging your battery, you should recalibrate it between every 3 to 6 months (the more often you discharge/recharge, the less often you should recalibrate).
Also, you should ALWAYS recalibrate after having flashed a new (or updated) ROM and/or Kernel!
My results using the exact configuration [excluding Tasker] detailed in this guide...
As I stated above, with the way I use my Desire S, I was lucky to get 8 hours of what I would call "light-to-moderate" use whilst running on the battery!
With the configuration detailed in this guide, I have now had a successful "100% to discharged" usage of 46 hours (under the exact same usage conditions as when I was using the stock ROM factory-installed on the phone (and updated OTA ~ a week ago).
This is a VERY significant improvement, though I must stress that results will vary heavily based on how much (or what) software you're running on the phone, how often you're interacting with it, how long you spend in calls etc.
Basically, every phone is different, and every operator (me, you, everyone) is different.
Please also keep in mind that your phone won't "settle in" to the new settings in terms of battery runtime until you've done 2 or 3 discharge/recharge cycles (as explained in the Battery Calibration portion of this guide)
Conclusion
There are plenty of third-party ROMs out there, and (obviously) I can't physically test them all! I have tested what I believe anyone would consider to be a perfectly suitable number (more than a dozen now), and have found the exact combination detailed in this guide to provide the very best battery runtime for me.
I understand that some of you will likely have your own ROM preference (for various reasons), but I hope that at least some sections of this guide will be useful to you.
If you just want to get the very best battery performance out of your Desire S, and either don't particularly care what ROM you use, or (like me) happen to love Cyanogen anyway... this guide will fit you like a glove!
Need any more advice?
No problem... post your comments and questions as a reply to this guide, and I'll answer anything I can, as promptly as possible (please consider that I have a company to run, and a life beyond the Internet... so replies might not always be "instant")
I hope you like this guide, and more importantly... I hope you enjoy your new-found battery runtime!
Unfortunately, I'm a Sense fan. ...so will take persuding to move away from the interface, as been using it for many years, but, I still appreciate a piece full of insight and advice written for the communities benefit. Well done and thanks for sharing.
I'll reference this in the development INDEX next to CM7 ROMS
ben_pyett said:
Unfortunately, I'm a Sense fan. ...so will take persuding to move away from the interface, as been using it for many years, but, I still appreciate a piece full of insight and advice written for the communities benefit. Well done and thanks for sharing.
I'll reference this in the development INDEX next to CM7 ROMS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I can understand why so many people strictly adhere to Sense ROMs... for me the "slight prettiness" of Sense doesn't justify the hammering of the battery... especially as I actually preffer the L&F of Cyanogen anyway
If I have gotten 18 hours with almost always screen off I returned the phone. With nomal usage my phone last more than one day. Keeping the screen almost always off last almost 2 days with wifi and sync turned on (to be honest, never reached that again). ROM is whether LBC or rooted stock whith stock HTC kernel. So I can find any problem there. Nevertheless, this is a smartphone, and I always have a charger with me
I will try CM and what the battery life is like.
Profile = Charging AC
Max = 157440 (Potentially, you could set it up to 2GHz, but I have stability concerns, and I can't possibly see any circumstance where 2GHz would be remotely useful!)
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Press Save
Fried CPU kgo. Overclock + Charging = Excessive heat being generated.
zeekiz said:
Profile = Charging AC
Max = 157440 (Potentially, you could set it up to 2GHz, but I have stability concerns, and I can't possibly see any circumstance where 2GHz would be remotely useful!)
Min = 192000
Scaling = smartass
Press Save
Fried CPU kgo. Overclock + Charging = Excessive heat being generated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tested this setting with my own phone, and the heat increase was LESS than 1 Celcius (infintismal)... sure, if you wanted, you could use a lower value.
Its your call, your thread, I just feel that it isn't a good idea. At least even consider placing a warning adjacent to it.
LaKraven said:
I have tested this setting with my own phone, and the heat increase was LESS than 1 Celcius (infintismal)... sure, if you wanted, you could use a lower value.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could add a setcpu profile for limitting the temperature. I dont overclock, but when im using my phone while charging, it gets hot, so I limit the temperature at 41.1 C , so 768mhz - 245mhz , on demand.
lbc ROM, stock kernel
zeekiz said:
Its your call, your thread, I just feel that it isn't a good idea. At least even consider placing a warning adjacent to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've updated the guide (see the update notes at the very top of the post). The on-AC overclock setting has been removed, and I have placed a warning about overclocking next to it.
Updated the post to address a typo in one of the SetCPU profiles (I missed a 0 from the end of 345600).
I will have done this process by tomorrow, I'm sure - even bought Tasker. - Hoping I wont damage something in the process since I've never dealt with an HTC phone before. :/ Since my mom bought it to me as a present, she just peeks in from time to time to check wth am I doing with it - gotta keep a satisfied grin on my face all the time while I'm figuring how to fix this problem lolz
Really you just need to follow instructions (read everything through at least twice before you begin), be patient... and double-check everything you're abuot to do before you do it.
You can't do any more than that!
I've flashed both of these phones so many times now, and the only mistake I ever made was forgetting to clear the cache (Which results in an infinite boot loop or "soft brick", easily recovered by constantly typing "adb reboot recovery" in your Command Prompt, which will eventually make the phone re-enter recovery mode (exiting the infinite boot loop), at which point you can wipe, clear cache, reflash, and relax!
LaKraven said:
Really you just need to follow instructions (read everything through at least twice before you begin), be patient... and double-check everything you're abuot to do before you do it.
You can't do any more than that!
I've flashed both of these phones so many times now, and the only mistake I ever made was forgetting to clear the cache (Which results in an infinite boot loop or "soft brick", easily recovered by constantly typing "adb reboot recovery" in your Command Prompt, which will eventually make the phone re-enter recovery mode (exiting the infinite boot loop), at which point you can wipe, clear cache, reflash, and relax!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny, so true, in fact, did just that myself about two minutes ago while testing another ROM, meant trip to PC, plug in, power on, and then sorted adb reboot recovery
Swyped from HTC Desire S using XDA Premium
ben_pyett said:
Funny, so true, in fact, did just that myself about two minutes ago while testing another ROM, meant trip to PC, plug in, power on, and then sorted adb reboot recovery
Swyped from HTC Desire S using XDA Premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know I'm not the only one! It's such an easy step to overlock... just a good job it's also the least fatal mistake to make!
and then this
.. Ther is no Path in User, but there is in System...Geez, so tired..What do....:/ I'm all set to flash, just this thing I think...
You need to reinstall Java JDK.
This has happened to me before!
LaKraven said:
You need to reinstall Java JDK.
This has happened to me before!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx man I did that, I also don't have any command prompts in here :
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
Bombastc said:
Thx man I did that, I also don't have any command prompts in here :
C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools
Hold down SHIFT and RIGHT-CLICK in on that folder
Click "Open command line window here"
You're then ready to start using ADB commands
LaKraven said:
UPDATE [11th September 2011]
Potential Stage 5: Tasker
By creating suitable Tasker profiles, you can squeeze even more battery life out of your phone!
If it's of benefit to people (let me know in the comments) I can expand this guide to include step-by-step instructions on creating the various profiles I would recommend in order to squeeze more battery runtime out of your phone without sacrifising features/functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would really like that. Yesterday followed your guide and learning new things as i went about the CyanogenMod. I'm curious now how far my battery will bring me :-D.
At the moment i'm using the trial version of phoneweaver and automateit, which are nice programs, but if tasker is more efficient although having a steeper learning curve, i will switch in an instant.
shizuku said:
I would really like that. Yesterday followed your guide and learning new things as i went about the CyanogenMod. I'm curious now how far my battery will bring me :-D.
At the moment i'm using the trial version of phoneweaver and automateit, which are nice programs, but if tasker is more efficient although having a steeper learning curve, i will switch in an instant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a tasker convert myself, I can also say that you'll read a great review of some of its functionality and a slightly biased review of the product by wnp_79 as part of his [GUIDE] Update 28/06/11: HTC Desire S Guide (V1.03) For Newcomers to Android which is in a sticky at the top of the forum.