So I am at work, looking at my N1, and I'll let you all tell me if you think there is a problem...Since a full charge last night, my phone has been off the dock for 2h9m ...
In that time, my battery has dropped 14% already. The biggest culprit...the display...with 59%...despite only being on for 15m. I always use it on the middle brightness setting from the power bar. Ive lost basically 1% for every minute the screen has been on. At that rate, my phone wouldn't even last 2 hours turned on.
Am I being paranoid? Do I have some rogue program sucking battery life? Your thoughts?
Everybody says controversial stuff about phones like N1 or iPhone regarding battery life. But I can tell you from experience and some conferences I have been the following tips to improve your N1 battery:
-Leave brightness to minimum. Only at street you will need to have it at medium or maximum so you can see well.
-Use 3G or wifi when available. It will save more battery than if you use edge.
-Use push, also it's better.
-User apps like TaskManager to auto kill some application that remain open.
And last thing, if you have a new N1 the battery life will improve with the use within the next 2 weeks. Also, I'm sure you are playing around more than usual if you just got it.
I hope this help you.
*#*#4636#*#*
Battery History
See what the figure for 'running' is, if it's high, something is stopping the phone sleeping. Should that be the case, chage the top drop down box to 'partial wake usage' and see what is to blame.
blastik said:
Everybody says controversial stuff about phones like N1 or iPhone regarding battery life. But I can tell you from experience and some conferences I have been the following tips to improve your N1 battery:
-Leave brightness to minimum. Only at street you will need to have it at medium or maximum so you can see well.
-Use 3G or wifi when available. It will save more battery than if you use edge.
-Use push, also it's better.
-User apps like TaskManager to auto kill some application that remain open.
And last thing, if you have a new N1 the battery life will improve with the use within the next 2 weeks. Also, I'm sure you are playing around more than usual if you just got it.
I hope this help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the complete opposite of what everyone else will tell you.
Most people say to force 2G (Edge) because it'll save battery over 3G. There are reports that WiFi will use less battery than 3G though, but not as good as 2G. Google even says this on the screen where you force 2G.
Push Email will require a constant polling on the internet. Since Android is a web OS, its probably connected to the internet anyway, but you can disable Auto Sync and Background Sync to save battery (once again, Google says this on that screen).
I agree with #1 and #4 though. If you don't want to do the lowest brightness setting, try the Auto Dim, it seems to dim it a lot more than my old Windows Mobile phones did.
mindfrost82 said:
This is the complete opposite of what everyone else will tell you.
Most people say to force 2G (Edge) because it'll save battery over 3G. There are reports that WiFi will use less battery than 3G though, but not as good as 2G. Google even says this on the screen where you force 2G.
Push Email will require a constant polling on the internet. Since Android is a web OS, its probably connected to the internet anyway, but you can disable Auto Sync and Background Sync to save battery (once again, Google says this on that screen).
I agree with #1 and #4 though. If you don't want to do the lowest brightness setting, try the Auto Dim, it seems to dim it a lot more than my old Windows Mobile phones did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At first I had the same opinion as you have but after I watched this video it changed radically
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUemfrKe65c&feature=player_embedded
mindfrost82 said:
Push Email will require a constant polling on the internet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't, that's the beauty of push email. It opens a connection to the server and just sits idle.
Rusty! said:
No it doesn't, that's the beauty of push email. It opens a connection to the server and just sits idle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right so ... it saves battery at the end.
@mindfrost82. Check out the video, it will tech you few things because most of people is wrong as I was in the past.
Battery Drain
My phone would drain 15% battery in 1 hour just being idle witht he screen off. I dialed *#*#4636#*#* and changed the option from WCDMA preffered to WCDMA only. When I don't get a 3g signal (not often) I jsut go back to that and set it to GSM only. For one reason or another the WCDMA preffered SUCKS THE BATTERY!
4 hours of the phone being idle and only 5% battery drain! DO IT! IT WORKS!
blastik said:
At first I had the same opinion as you have but after I watched this video it changed radically
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUemfrKe65c&feature=player_embedded
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WTF? 3g uses LESS POWER than edge/wifi?!
My whole world just got turned upside down
Thanks for posting the video
ap3604 said:
WTF? 3g uses LESS POWER than edge/wifi?!
My whole world just got turned upside down
Thanks for posting the video
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to be careful of this. The point the video made is that if you download something OF SIMILAR SIZE, you will realize battery gains by virtue of the fact that what you are downloading/uploading takes exponentially less time to retrieve. The real question is, if 2 phones are both casually browsing for the same amount of time...without worrying how much information was actually transferred...one on Edge, the other on 3G...is there a difference in battery performance?
What the video said is just common sense. If I am going to send you 20 MB file and one way takes 2 minutes to download it and the other takes 10 minutes to download, then OF COURSE the 2 minute method is going to be more efficient. So you can download on Wifi where it might take x amount of time, compared to 3G where it takes 5x or edge where it takes 10x. Thus, if the file size the person is going to download is known, then of course it makes sense to tell them to wait until they are on wifi. However, many of us casually browse, on the spot, without regard to the type of connection we are on.
RayKinStL said:
You need to be careful of this. The point the video made is that if you download something OF SIMILAR SIZE, you will realize battery gains by virtue of the fact that what you are downloading/uploading takes exponentially less time to retrieve. The real question is, if 2 phones are both casually browsing for the same amount of time...without worrying how much information was actually transferred...one on Edge, the other on 3G...is there a difference in battery performance?
What the video said is just common sense. If I am going to send you 20 MB file and one way takes 2 minutes to download it and the other takes 10 minutes to download, then OF COURSE the 2 minute method is going to be more efficient. So you can download on Wifi where it might take x amount of time, compared to 3G where it takes 5x or edge where it takes 10x. Thus, if the file size the person is going to download is known, then of course it makes sense to tell them to wait until they are on wifi. However, many of us casually browse, on the spot, without regard to the type of connection we are on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, what you just said is right. But still you are saving battery up! Plus I wouldn't use edge at all in my N1. What's the point of having almost everything disabled so I can receive calls?
I remind you that while edge is sending/receiving data you cannot get any calls
blastik said:
At first I had the same opinion as you have but after I watched this video it changed radically
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUemfrKe65c&feature=player_embedded
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is an excellent video, I highly recommend watching it if you are even remotely interested in the inner workings of our phones.
blastik said:
I remind you that while edge is sending/receiving data you cannot get any calls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I didn't know this, for the info this thread is full of great stuff...
1) middle brightness is very bright. I'm sure you can live with 25%. Display brightness will always drain battery like mad.
2) 3G power use is usually decent. The N1 has terrible RF so it might be fighting 2G/3G. That will cost you a lot of power. If you're getting full 4 bars 3G everywhere you go even underground, you might be ok, but in low reception areas, it's gonna drain your battery struggling to boost power. Bigger issue during a call too.I notice this on my Milestone. The N1 completely fails at 3G while my Milestone fights for it. As a result the Milestone gets quite hot.
3) There are sometimes apps that run in the background. Some people insist task killers aren't necessary, but lemme give you an example. Stupid Speedtest program failed to acquire my location. After a test, you can't really exit, so you just hit home. Droidforums fanatics will always repost that link to that one thread where they talk about memory and its ok to not have to kill an app. Think again. The GPS turns on because of Speedtest and it keeps trying to acquire your location. Gotta kill it with a task manager or that thing will kill you. Or a webpage. I've heard of people going to some site that keeps refreshing. Oh good luck to your battery. Make sure you close these things. Use a task manager. Sometimes Facebook or Twitter might be the culprit even if your refresh rates are awfully long. I do not understand this phone sometimes. At times I feel that multitasking/memory management on Android gets you into more trouble than if you just flat out restricted it like in the iPhone. I'm not saying the iPhone's restrictions are the way to go, but Apple knew what it was doing. There's a reason Android phones gobble power and pull data like mad even when you aren't aware. Random apps sometimes start. Facebook widget refreshes even though the app itself is set not to auto notify and to update on its own. So with so many things running loose, its quite easy to see why your battery can go down so fast.
RayKinStL said:
You need to be careful of this. The point the video made is that if you download something OF SIMILAR SIZE, you will realize battery gains by virtue of the fact that what you are downloading/uploading takes exponentially less time to retrieve. The real question is, if 2 phones are both casually browsing for the same amount of time...without worrying how much information was actually transferred...one on Edge, the other on 3G...is there a difference in battery performance?
What the video said is just common sense. If I am going to send you 20 MB file and one way takes 2 minutes to download it and the other takes 10 minutes to download, then OF COURSE the 2 minute method is going to be more efficient. So you can download on Wifi where it might take x amount of time, compared to 3G where it takes 5x or edge where it takes 10x. Thus, if the file size the person is going to download is known, then of course it makes sense to tell them to wait until they are on wifi. However, many of us casually browse, on the spot, without regard to the type of connection we are on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly the idea I got from that video too, which makes sense.
dmo580 said:
1) middle brightness is very bright. I'm sure you can live with 25%. Display brightness will always drain battery like mad.
2) 3G power use is usually decent. The N1 has terrible RF so it might be fighting 2G/3G. That will cost you a lot of power. If you're getting full 4 bars 3G everywhere you go even underground, you might be ok, but in low reception areas, it's gonna drain your battery struggling to boost power. Bigger issue during a call too.I notice this on my Milestone. The N1 completely fails at 3G while my Milestone fights for it. As a result the Milestone gets quite hot.
3) There are sometimes apps that run in the background. Some people insist task killers aren't necessary, but lemme give you an example. Stupid Speedtest program failed to acquire my location. After a test, you can't really exit, so you just hit home. Droidforums fanatics will always repost that link to that one thread where they talk about memory and its ok to not have to kill an app. Think again. The GPS turns on because of Speedtest and it keeps trying to acquire your location. Gotta kill it with a task manager or that thing will kill you. Or a webpage. I've heard of people going to some site that keeps refreshing. Oh good luck to your battery. Make sure you close these things. Use a task manager. Sometimes Facebook or Twitter might be the culprit even if your refresh rates are awfully long. I do not understand this phone sometimes. At times I feel that multitasking/memory management on Android gets you into more trouble than if you just flat out restricted it like in the iPhone. I'm not saying the iPhone's restrictions are the way to go, but Apple knew what it was doing. There's a reason Android phones gobble power and pull data like mad even when you aren't aware. Random apps sometimes start. Facebook widget refreshes even though the app itself is set not to auto notify and to update on its own. So with so many things running loose, its quite easy to see why your battery can go down so fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll second this, I never used to use a task killer as I figured it was just extra drain on the battery but after running across some rogue programs that kept running after being closed and draining the heck out of my battery I decided to install taskkiller and set it up to autokill apps when the screen goes off.
It's really easy to setup just install it from the market then use it to kill everything then flip through your homescreens make sure everything is up and running and go back into task killer and add everything there to the ignore list and turn on "autokill when screen off" now you don't ever have to worry about rogue apps killing your battery again and everything else will function normally.
blastik said:
Yeah, what you just said is right. But still you are saving battery up! Plus I wouldn't use edge at all in my N1. What's the point of having almost everything disabled so I can receive calls?
I remind you that while edge is sending/receiving data you cannot get any calls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can, the phone will stop whatever data it's processing and take the call.
seanhassars said:
yes you can, the phone will stop whatever data it's processing and take the call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure 100% that while phone is receiving data over edge you wont get calls. I know because I had push enabled and afterwards I was getting SMS from my carrier that I have missed calls. It might say "ey sb is trying to call you" and then stop data transfer but for sure your will miss first call if someone is trying to reach you several times.
Check it out yourself.
blastik said:
Everybody says controversial stuff about phones like N1 or iPhone regarding battery life. But I can tell you from experience and some conferences I have been the following tips to improve your N1 battery:
-Leave brightness to minimum. Only at street you will need to have it at medium or maximum so you can see well.
-Use 3G or wifi when available. It will save more battery than if you use edge.
-Use push, also it's better.
-User apps like TaskManager to auto kill some application that remain open.
And last thing, if you have a new N1 the battery life will improve with the use within the next 2 weeks. Also, I'm sure you are playing around more than usual if you just got it.
I hope this help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there are a lot of people who say do not use a task killer, including google devs etc.
i used advanced task killer for the longest time, being used to needing one as a WM user before getting my n1. after reading various posts on the issue, i tested without and my battery life increased.
i use juice defender now as well to turn off the apn and wifi, based on speeds/location/etc
have it set to prefer 2g (dont get 3g at home)
screebl also setup to turn screen off when not in certain position in hand
last one is setcpu (need root for this though) underclocking the cpu (including advanced setting and profiles i have set)
lowest setting for brightness
also keep gps off unless needed
i hit about 24hr from unplug til 10% w/ heavy useage, wifi on all the time (although juicedefender handles when its on/off)
just now went to kmobs UV kernel and testing that to increase my times
i've done a 24hr test from 100%>10% based on each app i've mentioned
I think while we are on topic of battery life.. for those of you who are rooted. Here is another link that I would recommend. I used these on my HTC Dream and works great on the Nexus One. Increase your battery life 10 fold.
Your Tube: "Get Better Battery Life" by droiddog
sorry not allowed to link yet
Related
Guys,
pretty much as the topic says...it drains about 40 to 50% a day when it is idle....if I am using it it can be anything up to a 1% a minute.
Any hints on where to look - tried using battlog to log the usage but i cannot open the subsequent file at all.
Wiggz said:
Guys,
pretty much as the topic says...it drains about 40 to 50% a day when it is idle....if I am using it it can be anything up to a 1% a minute.
Any hints on where to look - tried using battlog to log the usage but i cannot open the subsequent file at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wiggz,
Try checking if you're in a dead-zone with no reception? (Your phone may be constantly trying to search for a signal). Do this for Wi-Fi too. Make sure it is not constantly scanning for a network.
Similarly, open up your task manager. How many programs do you see running in the background? Remember that pressing X in Windows Mobile does not mean it closes the application, it only means that the application is minimized.
Cheers.
Wifi is hardly ever on. My signal is always constant, but I have my data connection on 24/7 for emails. The only program I ever see consume CPU power when idle is "changescreen". I always check that a program has closed properly when I click the 'x'.
I know data connection on eats some battery but jesus - not that much surely?
Wiggz said:
Wifi is hardly ever on. My signal is always constant, but I have my data connection on 24/7 for emails. The only program I ever see consume CPU power when idle is "changescreen". I always check that a program has closed properly when I click the 'x'.
I know data connection on eats some battery but jesus - not that much surely?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wiggz,
The question remains, how many programs do you see when you open up the task-manager? You did not answer the question.
From what I've observed with my friend's Toshiba Portege, he lost 30% in an hour. He did not realize that he had 15-ish programs "idling" in the background with very little RAM use. Long story short: Turn everything off if you don't need it and just keep the Task Manager running. He now goes through the night with 1 ~ 2% loss.
Good day.
PoisonWolf said:
Wiggz,
The question remains, how many programs do you see when you open up the task-manager? You did not answer the question.
From what I've observed with my friend's Toshiba Portege, he lost 30% in an hour. He did not realize that he had 15-ish programs "idling" in the background with very little RAM use. Long story short: Turn everything off if you don't need it and just keep the Task Manager running. He now goes through the night with 1 ~ 2% loss.
Good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I open up task manager I see 4 applications running (taskmgr, manila, cprog x2) - when I check the processes I have many more obviously. However these are all processes I'd expect to be running (gwes.exe, cprog.exe, device.exe, services.exe etc...)
Any more advice?
Wiggz said:
When I open up task manager I see 4 applications running (taskmgr, manila, cprog x2) - when I check the processes I have many more obviously. However these are all processes I'd expect to be running (gwes.exe, cprog.exe, device.exe, services.exe etc...)
Any more advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wiggz,
Unfortunately, that's all from me (I dont even have this phone yet, I'm saving up for it in the next couple of weeks). Try turning off your data and see how it goes. But damn, 50% loss just on idling, something in the background is definitely killing the battery.
Cheers!
Thanks for the help anyway - annoying the crap out of me. My Artemis used to go for days without needing a charge...I suppose my battery could be screwed but I want to troubleshoot first before I bite the bullet on that one - suppose I could hard reset and see what the drain is?
Things idling in RAM should not have any significant hit on the battery life. However, having the data connection on 24/7 will indeed kill your battery life, especially if you're using 3g or higher (Edge drains alot aswell, but not as much as 3g and higher). Since emails seem important to you, I'm guessing you have it set to dl every 5min (which is the most frequent setting). If applicable, change it to 10 or 15; granted it's possible you do need to get your emails ASAP and you need the 5min frequency. Now regardless whether you changed the frequency of the auto dl or not, set your data connection to terminate after a 1min of not being used. This should help you get a good bit more out of your battery.
(I have emails dl every 30min and RSS feeds and push pages once an hour. Data enables itself when needed and then terminates after a minute of not being used. This allows me to get much more than a days usage out of the phone. The only way I kill the phone is if on top of all that, I listen to music/radio for about 6 hours)
Hope it helps
oh, and in case you don't know, HD Tweak is one way to terminate data after X amount of time of not being used.
do you have stock or cooked rom btw? duttys v3 xt, for example, is known to drain battery a lot.
Svegetto said:
oh, and in case you don't know, HD Tweak is one way to terminate data after X amount of time of not being used.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for this. I have HD Tweak and have tried that data connection termination setting before, however there is a little comment along with it that it can stop data and/or voice calls. Has anyone had any issues with it?
Thanks
i had similar problem, battery got drained overnight or during the day with a speed of light... but in my case the bad boy was Palringo (IM) which was auto starting with every phone reset and did not show on taskbar...it is so bad that it drained fully charged battery in aprox. 6-7 hours. so now i hardly use it, and whenever i do i make sure its closed properly....
Wiggz said:
Cheers for this. I have HD Tweak and have tried that data connection termination setting before, however there is a little comment along with it that it can stop data and/or voice calls. Has anyone had any issues with it?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
personally I have had no issues whatsoever. The voice calls that I'm guessing they're referring to is VOIP which uses your data plan to make the call as I don't see why it would interfere with normal calls. I think the easiest thing is just to give it a try, and if it doesn't work for you, then let us know and hopefully we'll be able to come up with a different solution.
Svegetto said:
personally I have had no issues whatsoever. The voice calls that I'm guessing they're referring to is VOIP which uses your data plan to make the call as I don't see why it would interfere with normal calls. I think the easiest thing is just to give it a try, and if it doesn't work for you, then let us know and hopefully we'll be able to come up with a different solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the reason I mentioned it was that I enabled that as one of a number of weaks and ended up having to hard reset as I wasn't getting Texts in a timely manner etc....it was probably another setting but I couldn't be sure.
Will try again. Only other thing is that data connection on 24/7 is great for a quick browse here and there and stock updates etc...
crashDebug said:
do you have stock or cooked rom btw? duttys v3 xt, for example, is known to drain battery a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why is that, by the way?
You haven't got Sprite Virtual Mobile installed have you? I tried it out on my HD and it sucked the life out of it for some strange reason. And it wasn't even showing up in task manager.
Is there a list of processes, services etc that we can safely remove/disable to work in the background? What say all?
glad this thread came up - my blackstone has been absolutely fine until I had the genius idea of "optimising" everything about 2 weeks ago with HD Tweak...
Now it's not HD Tweaks fault, but whatever I have changed means that it can drain a full charge overnight, and by morning its nigh on empty, i'm going to try and change it all back today, but for sure some setting I've changed is sucking juice like no-ones business.
FWIW - I havent installed anything during this time, the only thing i've changed is some of the settings - so it's not a "rogue" app draining the battery.
OT - sorry for the semi-hijack - I guess my point is that i'll have a play with the settings and see if I can determine what's eating the battery and then compare with other people.
that's fine (re: hijack) I think the two topics are closely connected.....not sure of the answer though
Wiggz said:
that's fine (re: hijack) I think the two topics are closely connected.....not sure of the answer though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ta - me either - i've changed a few settings and made a note - will post if it doesnt eat the battery overnight over the next couple of days.
I read on another site to simply turn off the always on in the wireless settings (not the background data in the sync menu) and my battery life has at least doubled. I was worried that my e-mail would not download or other apps would not work, but all my email still comes. The trick is that while your phone is in sleep mode it does not look for email, but once you use it the phone will get your email. Unless you MUST get your email right away, I would highly recommend changing this setting. All input would be greatly appreciated, I want to see if my good luck is working for other people. On a side note I am using Fresh ROM 2.0d.
Could you post the specific path to the setting you're talking about?
If I set my wifi to anything other than "never sleep", then once my phone goes into sleep mode I have to follow a long, convoluted, pain in the ass procedure to get wifi to work at all.
Hopefully that's not the setting you're talking about?
I posted this exact same thing in another thread two days ago. I was so stoked on my battery performance that I wanted to tell others. It's incredible the difference it makes! If you want even better performance go into Settings>Location...uncheck the use wireless networks box, and check the use GPS. Believe it or not the GPS uses a lot LESS battery life to detect your location than the wireless networks.
I'm getting like 2 whole days out of my phone now after doing these things...and that's with pretty moderate use. Hope other people try it out too.
subliminalurge said:
Could you post the specific path to the setting you're talking about?
If I set my wifi to anything other than "never sleep", then once my phone goes into sleep mode I have to follow a long, convoluted, pain in the ass procedure to get wifi to work at all.
Hopefully that's not the setting you're talking about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
where are these options?
I agree, I used the GPS as well, not the use wireless network. I forgot about that one. Your phone will only use the GPS when it needs it, not all the time like we used to think. The exact settings are at MENU/SETTINGS/WIRELESS & NETWORKS/MOBILE NETWORKS\AND UNCHECK ENABLE ALWAYS-ON MOBILE
alexthearmo said:
If you want even better performance go into Settings>Location...uncheck the use wireless networks box, and check the use GPS. Believe it or not the GPS uses a lot LESS battery life to detect your location than the wireless networks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This will vary from person to person. It will depend A LOT on how good your coverage is in the spot you're currently at.
GPS is GPS. It will require the same amount of juice anywhere on the planet.
Cell chips are different. They are hardcoded to give more electricity to the radio circuit when the signal is weak, for obvious reasons. So if you have a cell tower in your back yard, then yeah, you'll get great battery performance relying on cell based options. If your nearest cell tower is 4 miles away, and you're one of those people that loses signal when you go into your basement, then telling your phone to use cell info is only going to chew up battery even faster....
no thanks. This isn't a fix, it's a pref change.
Fix would mean that everything stays the same and you just get better battery life.
But, good advice none the less, just not for me.
scirio said:
no thanks. This isn't a fix, it's a pref change.
Fix would mean that everything stays the same and you just get better battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, people on the forum use the word "fix" WAY too quickly.
"Fix" means everything works like you would expect, and like it should. Around here, people use the word "fix" when what they really mean is "here's a half-assed workaround that's a complete pain in the ass, but it will get 10% of the people by until something better comes along...."....
scirio said:
no thanks. This isn't a fix, it's a pref change.
Fix would mean that everything stays the same and you just get better battery life.
But, good advice none the less, just not for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 - 6 minutes and counting to receive a test / text msg, while phone is sleeping. Nice the know though, if I need to really trade connectivity for battery duration. I should test whether sms polling is tied to the email polling interval. Cause it ain't interrupt driven with this setting.
edit: i know it's not really sms polling, but rather the lack of an interrupt(-ion of sleep).
Yes, you are right, it is not a fix, but a great way to increase battery life and like I said, everything works the same. I get messages the exact same way and email will go straight to my phone once I use it.
bigupurself7 said:
Yes, you are right, it is not a fix, but a great way to increase battery life and like I said, everything works the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure about that?
When my wife sends me a text, I want to see it 5 seconds later, not 5 minutes later.
That may not matter to you, but when you make a statement to the whole world, you have to realize that some of us care about things that you might not.
How thoroughly did you test before you decided to say "everything works the same"?
Did you really test EVERYTHING? Or did you just test "everything that matters to you"?
I used to turn off background data and stuff on my stock 1.5, and I was thrilled I could actually leave it on with 2.1 so I wouldn't have to wait for google voice texts and gmail to come in. With 2.1 I can go the whole day with moderate usage and still have 40% at least left when I go to bed. Let it charge overnight and I'm good. This is good to know though if I am out in the sticks in a pinch and need the extra battery.
maybe it's different in 2.1 but in 1.5 i tried turning off the "always on" setting under mobile network settings under wireless controls but i found that after a while the phone will fail to restart evdo upon awakening and the only way to fix it is reboot. Never tried it on 2.1 but to me between the time on without signal fix nd upgraded radio i get all the battery life i need...
I get messages right away. I just got another one, tested it with a friend and it came right away!
On a side note, messages and phone calls have nothing to do with the internet. Remember we used to get text messages and phone calls way before smart phones.
bigupurself7 said:
On a side note, messages and phone calls have nothing to do with the internet. Remember we used to get text messages and phone calls way before smart phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Key words... "Used to"....
trust me, it works for me, wish it worked for you guys. its great having amazing battery life!
bigupurself7 said:
trust me, it works for me, wish it worked for you guys. its great having amazing battery life!
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Click to collapse
But at what cost?
That's the big question here. Are you 100% sure that you're not missing any communications, or having them delayed?
I'd LOVE to have better battery life, but when it comes down to it my phone is a communication tool. If any battery tweaks delay messages, then they're WORSE then useless, they're actually harmful.
If I wanted to use my phone as a half-assed replacement for a PSP, then I'm sure I could squeeze some amazing battery life out of it, too. But above all, and with NO compromise, I must be able to send and receive communications instantly.
That's what a phone is.
bigupurself7 said:
trust me, it works for me, wish it worked for you guys. its great having amazing battery life!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you rebooted while in that mode?
Yes I have rebooted and just did another test. Got the text right away. Even more interesting is I have a program called Mobile Defense which can find your phone if it is missing and that works as well since it is all done through text messages.
- turn off 3G
phone screen > ##778 > "000000" > modem settings >
preferred mode- should be on auto as default, switch it to cdma only
menu > commit settings > (auto reboots)
poof 1x only mode!!!
(much slower data speed but much smaller data authentaction overhead - hence less power usage, good for low signal or good signal with fringe 3g coverage)
also be careful what you change in the settings, one of the modes will give you data only and no voice call(+sms) ability
- also "rev A." enable/disable has no reason to be off unless your network engineer so leave it on, turning it off will just limit you to evdo(3g) rev.0 vs allow both rev.A and rev.0
- dont clear your MRU, if you do you will need to hit a native verizon tower to get data to work
- preferred serving system - home/auto A/auto B
B is default and works best in roughly 90% areas, auto A looks at same preferred list but starts in reverse order before goign to none preferred towers, sometimes phones gets confused between two preferred towers and grabs one with lower signal or just switched to much, occasional it might help to tell the phone to start searching for ID's in reverse order, this is little over simplified and prl's contain signal frequencies as well which is more of what a/b switch will look to, but thats the way i like to explain it so tough cookie
also if your ambitious and your phone keeps jumping between good 3g signal and tower with poor coverage or data, you could grab the sID's of the tower with good connection and put phone in home only mode and alter the nam settings home sid to match that, also your allowed to enter more than one sid in the settings if you wanted to build a mini prl list of sorts
warning:-altering home sid will give roam indicator false info and roaming will still be network side regardless of what miss programed phone shows
also if you put prl files on root of sd card you can also update prl from a file
Prove the lower power usage.
Lino. said:
Prove the lower power usage.
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Click to collapse
i'll skip how signal strength effects radios power output and B band penetrates buildings better in general and alot of boring electromagnetic theory
i'm guessing your referring to the 1x mode vs 3g/1x mode(3g/2g), if its not let me know
it was my assumption that it is general knowledge and accepted that evdo has alot higher power usage just maintaining network authentication with no data transfered for user purposes, it takes longer to acquire a 3g aka EV signal signal when booting phone or when its recovering from lost signal, the network packet overhead is larger between the phone and the cell tower, just like analog or cable modem has MTU that is basically the available space - used for network = info space, now imagine you had OCD and had to call your VM once ever min to make sure it didn't get deleted or someone change your password to check your messages, now say 1x would be listening just to make sure the greeting starts for maybe 10 seconds and your 3g would listen to say 30 seconds of the greeting before being satisfied the vm hasn't been lost or hacked, obviously the person broadcasting an open cell channel for less time will be able to use phone longer without charging, now these are made up numbers for illustration purposes and the authentication process takes fraction of a second, but it is done continuously over and over as long as the 3G icon is showing on the top of the phone
now actions speak louder than words and i would be more than happy to make some real world test to give you hard evidence and if this is what you want then you will have to wait because i'm changing alot of the apps on my phone and my usages is not consistent enough for test atm but i'll happily make one if you wait for my usage to settle down, now if someone wants to send me second htc incredible i'd happily make time dilated web video and post it to youtube so everyone can see first hand evidence of power difference
now if you are impatient and want proof right this second without a propper test conducted i can refer you to google but on more serious note the EVDO effect on moto razor is well know and modes have been done to edit, also the battery life of the v3a and v3m are very different, the largest difference in these two razors is one is evdo capable and the other is not, also cases have been documented of v3m users having less than half the battery life they had before after the EV icon starts showing up on the screen related directly to cell tower upgrade in the area they use the phone
now i know this is alot of nothing about the razor but it was very common phone, i have altered the data on lg wave, glimmer, htc touch diamond and few blackberrys and noticed power differences on all of them, its just the way modern cdma phones work and its effect is magnifed by lower signal levels, people that live few feet from cell towers will notice least difference while thous with 1 bar of coverage or around the -90 dbm or lower range will notice greatly magnified effects of this inefficient with data authentication process
seriously thou, anyone want to send me a second phone! lol
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couple googled links for you
http://www.hacktherazr.com/guides/verizon.disable.evdo.php
http://www.wikihow.com/Extend-the-Battery-Life-of-Your-Verizon-Wireless-RAZR
runkittyrun said:
seriously thou, anyone want to send me a second phone! lol
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couple googled links for you
http://www.hacktherazr.com/guides/verizon.disable.evdo.php
http://www.wikihow.com/Extend-the-Battery-Life-of-Your-Verizon-Wireless-RAZR
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Click to collapse
Thats pretty good, but good luck with this one.
Coming from a G1 I was not expecting anything better on the battery for this phone, we get a phone like this because of it's features and everyone should know that features like this phone has are going to consume more power.
If battery is a persons problem and they will always complain about it, then they should not have a smartphone.
Also chargers are cheap.
I wander with the same amount of use, 2 identical phones one running 3G the other running slower, what would be the difference and how could this be done, the phone with 3G would be waiting on the other to load a webpage 90% of the time.
Sorry I left T-Mobile because of their lack of 3G service, I'll be dammed if I put my phone back to Edge speeds.
Lino. said:
If battery is a persons problem and they will always complain about it, then they should not have a smartphone.
Also chargers are cheap.
I wander with the same amount of use, 2 identical phones one running 3G the other running slower, what would be the difference and how could this be done, the phone with 3G would be waiting on the other to load a webpage 90% of the time.
Sorry I left T-Mobile because of their lack of 3G service, I'll be dammed if I put my phone back to Edge speeds.
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Click to collapse
this definitely is not targeted for normal use
this is more for the person that cant make it threw 5 hours with the phone idle the whole time, if you want to start larger amount of data then switch it back and wait 40 seconds?? for reboot
2g will load web pages and email and all other data, except view vcast videos and thats blocked on network side, also voice chat programs like skype would take quality hit do to smaller bandwidth, if you used two phones in active data sessions the 3G would quickly become more efficient as session size and length increased, like you said it would finish loading larger websites and videos while 2g is still broadcasting an active session working on transferring the info, but if you set two phones with same apps on them in same place with one in 1x and other evdo and watched them in standby mode the 1x will have longer battery, now ideally if your going somewhere with low signal it is much easier to turn off all data threw normal menu and will give you even better battery but no emails updates or other data
I live in a poor Verizon signal area. Every phone I have ever had gets easy better batt life when set to 1x only so thanks for this tip.
Any easy to automate this with a macro or widget somehow?
lexluthor said:
I live in a poor Verizon signal area. Every phone I have ever had gets easy better batt life when set to 1x only so thanks for this tip.
Any easy to automate this with a macro or widget somehow?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, makes my post all worth while
would be a sweet widget if you could change the phone mode on the fly dont know enough about the android system to know if its possible, but maybe someone can look at the phone settings and make customized epst program and make widget just for this setting without the programing forcing a reboot, have seen some phone that can change nam programing without reboot but most phone do it automatically so be interesting to see if changed without a reset if it takes effect or not, hmm or even epst mod at commmit to bring up reboot yes/no instead force reboot on commit would work then we know widget should be possible
What it the point in having a top of the line media phone if you are going to cramp it's style by limiting it's functions. If you "need" this top of the line phone you should be able to pony up for an extra batt. The Incredible is a COMPUTER you talk on. Can your laptop last all day with heavy use unplugged ? ? NO.
I plug my phone in at work and in the car. I also keep an extra batt in my briefcase for out of the office emergencies. These are not flip phones that last all day. I have been using media phones since they came out and they have yet to make one that will last all day using all the features like you want to.
Why restrict what the phone can do , when all you need is an extra batt.
jbh00jh said:
What it the point in having a top of the line media phone if you are going to cramp it's style by limiting it's functions. If you "need" this top of the line phone you should be able to pony up for an extra batt. The Incredible is a COMPUTER you talk on. Can your laptop last all day with heavy use unplugged ? ? NO.
I plug my phone in at work and in the car. I also keep an extra batt in my briefcase for out of the office emergencies. These are not flip phones that last all day. I have been using media phones since they came out and they have yet to make one that will last all day using all the features like you want to.
Why restrict what the phone can do , when all you need is an extra batt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your right, why dont we all carry around backpacks or napsacks with batterys and portable charges and spare parts for our smartphone, batterys are cheap
and people should not be allowed to buy tv screens over 32" if they can't show proof of owning blu-ray player, i mean come on, no top line device unless your gonna use it to best potienal, and in reality they are just making large screens more expensive for thou that do have blu-ray, yep, no big screens for people with dvd's and stander cable
OMFG!
why are people so quick to force their frame of reality on to everyone, is their a Hitler award i dont know about?
i get that smartphones are computers first and phones second, but that doesn't mean everyone using one has the same needs, some people need the phone part of the smartphone to, well actually work, i know what a strang concept why dont they just get an old bag phone, better signal, better battery life, and you can get them with shoulder straps!
android is about ability to customize our phones, why? because we all use them differently so you can change your home screens, pick the apps you download, the experience is aimed at being user driven
your example laptop is way off base, what you should be saying is if your laptop is full charged and its completely off or in a hibernate mode for 2-5 hours can you even at that point turn it on? that is what this post is about, not the time your using the smartphone but the time that its self-destructing between uses
look, i admit this is not for everyone, infact for 90+% i would recommend not even trying this, but the point is some people are effected by this and shouldn't they at least have the option or ability for this? there was post requesting this before i even brought it up
do you know how many people i've talked to over 80 that have smartphones these days, now i'm not saying these should have them or that it wasn't incredibly frustrating talking to them and i didn't want to bang my head on wall saying why did someone sell this person a smartphone we should have test to who can buy smartphones, if you cant figure out how to turn it on by yourself you cant' buy one! but the reality is smartphones are becoming mainstream
- why would anyone need top line media phone and then cramp it?
> because they dont use their smartphone the same way you use smartphone
i.e. my father runs poker tournament for a large company and bigger events are normal held at casinos, i dont know if you been to poker tournament lately but they are long events, also most casinos are bad on cell signal, partly cause of the building and partly cause they have areas with signal equipment that interferes, he also needs to have his email on the device because he's general contractor and works with larger companies that demand a quick response, now one could suggest blackberry in this case as of smartphones they in most cases do better with battery life, but honestly at the rate android apps are growing and how much for fun and enjoyment i get from it i cant dream of not recommending a android phone to him, now their is one degree of separation that shows an example where this is useful, and i could go on all day long with completely different examples where this is helpful
can we all agree to disagree about how people are stupid people are to modify how their phone functions? and try to keep to subject of re-enforcing this works or providing examples that contradict this, or question to how it works or expands on its helpfulness
jbh00jh said:
What it the point in having a top of the line media phone if you are going to cramp it's style by limiting it's functions. If you "need" this top of the line phone you should be able to pony up for an extra batt. The Incredible is a COMPUTER you talk on. Can your laptop last all day with heavy use unplugged ? ? NO.
Why restrict what the phone can do , when all you need is an extra batt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you on all of that and I fully understand what I have. I just came from a Touch Pro and, I'll tell you, battery was probably good for 14-16 hours if set to 1x and 10 hours on 3G. That a huge difference.
I'm on Wifi both at home and work and use Opera Mini, which works very well on 1x, plus I had a pretty quick way to go from 3G to 1x and back. It didn't limit me *that* much, but sure, there were plenty of times I needed to check something fast, wasn't near wifi and didn't want to use my macro to change to 3G and back. Yes, it's a bit of a pain.
Plus, I barely get a 3G signal in my house anyhow. It's 1x 75% of the time.
Now that I have my incredible, which does even so much more than the Touch Pro, yes, I'd like to keep it to 3G and I have chargers everywhere and an extra battery and might get an external battery charger too.
Still, I'd love to see an app or widget that can quickly set the phone to 1x mode and back.
runkittyrun said:
your right, why dont we all carry around backpacks or napsacks with batterys and portable charges and spare parts for our smartphone, batterys are cheap
and people should not be allowed to buy tv screens over 32" if they can't show proof of owning blu-ray player, i mean come on, no top line device unless your gonna use it to best potienal, and in reality they are just making large screens more expensive for thou that do have blu-ray, yep, no big screens for people with dvd's and stander cable
OMFG!
why are people so quick to force their frame of reality on to everyone, is their a Hitler award i dont know about?
i get that smartphones are computers first and phones second, but that doesn't mean everyone using one has the same needs, some people need the phone part of the smartphone to, well actually work, i know what a strang concept why dont they just get an old bag phone, better signal, better battery life, and you can get them with shoulder straps!
android is about ability to customize our phones, why? because we all use them differently so you can change your home screens, pick the apps you download, the experience is aimed at being user driven
your example laptop is way off base, what you should be saying is if your laptop is full charged and its completely off or in a hibernate mode for 2-5 hours can you even at that point turn it on? that is what this post is about, not the time your using the smartphone but the time that its self-destructing between uses
look, i admit this is not for everyone, infact for 90+% i would recommend not even trying this, but the point is some people are effected by this and shouldn't they at least have the option or ability for this? there was post requesting this before i even brought it up
do you know how many people i've talked to over 80 that have smartphones these days, now i'm not saying these should have them or that it wasn't incredibly frustrating talking to them and i didn't want to bang my head on wall saying why did someone sell this person a smartphone we should have test to who can buy smartphones, if you cant figure out how to turn it on by yourself you cant' buy one! but the reality is smartphones are becoming mainstream
- why would anyone need top line media phone and then cramp it?
> because they dont use their smartphone the same way you use smartphone
i.e. my father runs poker tournament for a large company and bigger events are normal held at casinos, i dont know if you been to poker tournament lately but they are long events, also most casinos are bad on cell signal, partly cause of the building and partly cause they have areas with signal equipment that interferes, he also needs to have his email on the device because he's general contractor and works with larger companies that demand a quick response, now one could suggest blackberry in this case as of smartphones they in most cases do better with battery life, but honestly at the rate android apps are growing and how much for fun and enjoyment i get from it i cant dream of not recommending a android phone to him, now their is one degree of separation that shows an example where this is useful, and i could go on all day long with completely different examples where this is helpful
can we all agree to disagree about how people are stupid people are to modify how their phone functions? and try to keep to subject of re-enforcing this works or providing examples that contradict this, or question to how it works or expands on its helpfulness
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would someone need a backpack to carry a 2oz, battery ?
The more I read on this tread the more I understand.
That was an option on my G1 to turn off 3G, I never did, I hardly had 3G with T-mobile.
Anyway you can turn off Mobile network on the fly, you can also put the phone in airplane mode, but both of these you will have to internet, also you could turn off Auto Sync, or turn the phone OFF for best battery life.
I keep reading on here about how either someones battery life is either awesome or great or this or that. It seems that many folks on here with great battery life are old pros at milking their phones for the best battery life possible, while others may not know the best methods for getting the optimal battery life they want.
So here are some tips for getting the battery life you want:
1) Calibrate your battery by letting if completely discharge and then charge it using the wall charger it came with. Do this at least three times so the phone has a chance to get real statistics.
Update: It is recommended that you do not do this very often as some say it could damage the battery in the long term. You should do this early on in the life of the phone as the damage if any would be minimal. This needs to be done regardless. It is the only way for the phone to get an accurate full/zero reading.
Update 2: I have found that after doing a factory reset, you need to do this step again. After a factory reset on 4.1.83 (most recent update), my battery life dropped considerably. After letting it discharge fully and then charging it with the phone off again, I was back to normal battery use.
2) Set wifi to sleep when the phone is not in use. Unless you are streaming data such as pandora or other data intensive programs with the screen off, you do not need it on (I will talk about background data in a moment for those who are going to mention that the phone still does data while it is sleeping). You can change the setting by going to Settings > Wireless networks > wifi settings > menu button > advanced > wifi sleep policy
ofek said:
You should write that after settings it you need to click on menu button->save.
If you will not do this step, every reboot it will restored to "Never" option.
Sent from my Motorola Atrix 4G
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Click to collapse
3) Disable motoblur's account settings sync over cell data. This setting causes all of your account information to sync over your data connection when wifi is not available. This should be disabled as it will constantly sync and drain your battery even when the screen is off. Really do you need you facebook contacts that are synced to your contacts to be updated every five minutes? Settings > Data manager > Data Delivery > social apps > sync over wifi.
Update: Only disable the Social Apps that sync over background, do not disable the Background data. Disabling background data will cause certain things to not work properly, like for instance the gmail app.
Update 2: If you are using the Twitter/facebook/whatever apps (real apps) you should go ahead and remove the associated accounts from Motoblur. You do not need them to sync twice as motoblur will sync them with it's account and then the apps will sync. The downside to this though is that any contact pictures you have synced from those accounts will no longer show up in contacts forcing you to manually add pictures to your contacts.
4) remove widgets. Widgets drain batteries when they are active. Most of them are useless and really serve no purpose other than to try and make you feel important about yourself. I mean really, how useful is a facebook widget that only shows one or two peoples updates? Trash the ones you can live without. If you are using a launcher other than motoblur, go and load motoblur and make certain there are none running on that launcher as those are still active even if you use another launcher.
5) live wallpapers suck battery like crazy. While they are nice eye candy to view, they are not worth the drain they cause. Even when you are in a app, just like the widgets, they are draining your battery.
Update: Some live wallpapers are better on battery drain than others, but they still drain battery either way. I will not use a live wallpaper as it serves no purpose other than eye candy, and eye candy on a phone I can live without.
6) Task killers. Yeah not going to touch this one as everyone who reads these forums should know better by now.
7) check individual programs as you install them and make certain they do not autoupdate content. Pulse news reader is a good example of a program that pulls data in the background even when you haven't used it in weeks. Really is it going to kill you to hit refresh when you load it?
Update: If you are using the AT&T program "Mark the Spot", it constantly is checking device performance and is constantly checking your location for it to "work". Be sure to watch this app as it drains a lot of battery through out the day.
8) turn off bluetooth, gps, and wifi when you are not actively using them. Wifi when on is always scanning the area for networks, bluetooth is always actively broadcasting (on some phones) and who needs gps when you aren't on the move.
Update: If you are experiencing a switch from H+ to Edge frequently such as in your home where you have wifi running and do not have a AT&T cell device, then turn off your data connection. Your phone is constantly trying to connect to the H+ network when it isn't already connected and draining power. If you are on WiFi, then your data connection is not needed.
I have heard Tasker is great for setting up an automatic script on your phone to do it for you so you don't have to think about it, but remember that all extra programs including tasker eat away at your battery and without real world testing, I can not promise you will see an improvement or a loss in battery.
You can also use APNDroid to do it manually if you would rather have full controll of your data connection.
9) Quit watching porn on your phone. Use your computer for that. Ok maybe I am the only one who does this but I doubt it. Alot if the free poem sites use flash videos and the more you use flash the faster your battery drains.
Update: Yes I know this is hard (no pun intended) for some of you to do, but the idea is sound. Using flash videos (the bulk (again no pun intended) of porn videos use flash).
These are not the only ways to have a great battery and this information may not be useful to you, but I can go nearly 20 hours of moderate to heavy phone use and still have anywhere from 40 to 60 percent battery left at the end of the day.
If anyone has any other advice that they feel should be listed here, please let me know and I will gladly add it to the mix.
Good luck folks.
Addition (5/12/11)
10) For those of you with the .83 update, please keep in mind that the update now forces you onto the EDGE (2G) Network if it can receive a better signal/stable connection. If you notice you are on EDGE more often than the H+ network, then disable your data connection. What is happening is that even though you have a solid connection to the EDGE network, your phone is constantly seeking the H+/3G networks thus using much more battery life than before. If you are at home or somewhere where your phone can connect to a wifi network, consider turning off the Data network. You should also disable your data connection whenever you are in a No Signal area. Again the same problem happens when you have no signal.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Advice from other Members:
From Deggy
I would like to add to the OP's list of things to do to improve battery life:
Turn off date when not in use for a long period of time like work or school. Settings -> Date manager -> Date delivery -> uncheck Backround data and Data enabled. Don't worry, you'll still get your texts and phone calls.
The Market is a big drainer. Market -> hit menu -> settings -> change notify me -> do not notify me.
Those two are the big ones to worry about IMO.
The other tips are either cliche stuff or other people said already. Wifi off, GPS off, brightness down to 0-20%, ect. Auto sync is killer.
I unplug my phone at 9AM and come home from work at 9PM and my phone says 75% with moderate use (Circle battery widget uses 1% increments). 3-4 phone calls. A LOT of texting (wifey likes text me). Internet during 30 minute lunch. Play Words with Friends a good amount.
I don't use live wallpaper but I do use a darker colored static one. Only got 4-5 widgets on my screen. 3 home screens. Using Launcher Pro.
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Click to collapse
pookeyster said:
In some of the other battery threads, ppl have been commenting on how they've had success in extending the battery life after a hard factory reset. What that basically does is it deletes and regenerates the batterystats.bin file in /data/system and if the battery was essentially mis-calibrated prior to the reset, the reset fixes it thus giving better measurements. ie. perhaps after 10hrs of usage the phone might say u have 5% left, but in reality you could have 40% left.. the regeneratin of batterystats.bin would recalculate that correctly
if you want the benefits of having that reset process but rather not go through having to restore all ur apps/back them up.. u could always manually go and delete the batterystats.bin file (only if you're rooted). i would recommend deleting the file after fully charging the phone overnight then unplug it so that it generates the file again. if you'd prefer an app to do this for you automatically you could always go to the marketplace and get 'battery calibration' app for free and it does the same thing
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Click to collapse
cybal said:
My want to include details about corp email sync. Using "push data" can really chew up the battery and is probably not better then retrieving email every 15 or 30 mins for most people. There may also be a problem with setting a long history time such as 1 month.
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The following was posted on the MotoAtrix forums on Motorola's website. https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/51776
I've seen a lot of posts in a lot of threads about how to save battery life on the Atrix. So, I figured I'd start a consolidated thread on the matter. These are the tips 'n tricks I've used, and I can get 2 days of battery life on the Atrix now.
1. When I first got the Atrix, before turning it on, I charged it for 4 hours. After turning it on, I let it run until it died, then re-charged for 8 hours. I did that for a full week. They say that this isn't needed with the new-fangled batteries, but I have always done this, and have always gotten great results.
2. Live wallpapers are not your friend, especially in two circumstances: 1. you use your phone a lot, and 2. you use the stock unlock screen where everytime the phone wakes the live wallpaper is playing. Granted, they don't eat up much battery, but if you're looking to get every ounce/percentage out of your phone, it's a luxury you can leave at home.
3. Did you install a new launcher? If so, did you clear out BLUR? I had my BLUR interface up and running with widgets and shortcuts, etc, etc. When I switched to ADW I noticed an increase in battery drain. I re-loaded BLUR and deleted all apps, widgets, etc so BLUR is blank. I now have great battery life with ADW running.
4. Widgets - ugh. They're pretty, they're big, they're animated, and they eat battery like bees eat pollen. Be mindful of them, and be willing to accept the consequences of the "cool factor".
5. Screen timeout. Yes, it's annoying to unlock your phone every 5 minutes, but you do save battery life with a 1-minute or less timeout option set.
6. Close your apps! Many apps, games especially, are fantastic at running in the background on Android, but they're sucking battery. They all restore to your previous position quite well, so if you're done for a few hours, exit it instead of just going back to your launcher screen.
7. "back" vs. "home" - the back button (the reverse arrow) does a much better job of closing down programs than the home button which just brings up your home screen, leaving whatever you were doing to hungrily consume battery like zombies on a corpse.
8. "manage apps" is your friend - go to your app tray, hit the menu button, and select "manage apps" - you can see all the running apps and kill them selectively. Some, like Facebook, Skype, and others, will stay there as long as the phone is on once you use it, unless you kill it. Be forwarned though, you'll stop getting notifications if you do this - another informed tradeoff. I do this once every few days, or if the Atrix seems sluggish.
9. Screen brightness - the "auto" setting doesn't work all that well, but I highly recommend leaving it there, and/or using a screen brightness toggle widget on your home screen to manage this carefully. Screen brightness on maximum will yield the best viewing experience but it does drain battery the fastest of all.
10. Choose your BLUR accounts wisely - like widgets, if you have LinkedIn and Facebook connected through BLUR, it will run ALL THE TIME. Using the native apps from the market will definitely decrease your overall drain and give you better control over when and how your battery is consumed by those services.
11. Auto-kill or be killed - A good rule of thumb for me is to only auto-end a task if you know exactly what it is, and it didn't come with the phone. Chances are if you don't recognize it, even if it looks like something you don't need running, leave it be. If it's something you installed from the Market, and you want it to auto-end, have a field day. If you put something on the auto-end list that the Atrix needs, it will just keep re-starting it. This draws processor time and battery and isn't worth it.
12. (credit: Itsallgood) Check your profile - "settings -> battery" and look at the bottom half of the screen. The Atrix supports multiple battery saving profiles that allows you to control "night time" and whether to actively sync data all the time, never, or only during certain hours. Push mail and active data sync consumes battery at a steady pace. In addition, 3rd party apps (like Settings Profiles) can be downloaded to further tweak and customize everything from vibrate mode, screen, data sync, and more. The more customized your experience to fit your needs only when you need specific services, the better your battery life will be.
Anyway - that's some to get started, feel free to add more!
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Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
wow nice ill try it i have my atrix for a couple of days and i have been like dissapointed i dont wanna do a factory reset or anything like it ill try ur guide and let u kno
Personally, I don't see the point of disabling everything that makes an Android fun and unique.... but, ill see how the battery is stock vs this once it arrives.
Thx
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Mr.Kakarot said:
Personally, I don't see the point of disabling everything that makes an Android fun and unique.... but, ill see how the battery is stock vs this once it arrives.
Thx
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
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You don't have to disable everything, but the things above such as the background data syncs serve no purpose other than to drain a battery. The sync will complete during the next wifi connection and by time you access your contacts it will be done. Besides it'd not like all your contacts change every 30 minutes.
The idea is not so much to limit the experience of android, but to remove the unused features that do nothing for.you. I mean who really needs a youtube widget when the shortcut gets you to youtube just as easily and doesn't drain your battery.
It's the same idea as startup programs on your computer. They serve no purpose other than to slow your system down. Sure quicktime or itunes might load a few seconds faster, but how often do you really load those programs.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
#9 = cant do
u know how they monitor work computer ?
Great Post
The only propblem now following your advice is that my gmail email does not upgrade (sync) on its own
keithr1475 said:
The only propblem now following your advice is that my gmail email does not upgrade (sync) on its own
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Are you using the gmail app or the default app? Mine works just fine.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I'm using the Gmail APP
the gmail app doesnt sync on its own because you turn off auto sync
i recommend you use the power control widget and adjust those accordingly
Definitely a good list of things, but felt like commenting on the live wallpapers thing. From what I've experienced, it seems like it depends a lot on the wallpaper used. I initially thought the live wallpaper was one of the main reasons for the short battery life when I first got the phone so I switched to a normal wallpaper. I had that for about a week and generally saw a lot of improvements in battery life as a result of better management and the calibration cycles. After that week, I came across a live wallpaper I liked and decided to enjoy that feature for a bit more. If anything, it seemed like my battery life got a bit better. I've tested it a little, and there's no doubt that some of my live wallpapers drain battery more than others. I've tried switching between a standard wallpaper and my live wallpaper (galaxy live) and I really don't see much of a difference, if any, between the 2.
Question: Does freezing the blur home screen (via titanium backup) disable the widgets on it? I'm assuming it does, since it essentially makes that home screen non-existent as far as the phone is concerned.
Darrell, There are some really good suggestions. They also apply to other android phones too probably. I had a myTouch4G for a week until I decided that T-Mob just wasn't as good a value to me as AT&T. So I went back. I'll get an Atrix soon, or maybe some Tegra that comes out in a month or 2.
How do you switch to Motoblur from Launcher Pro and back again? Will I lose the customization that I've done?
Edit: Home Launcher
DarrellRaines said:
1) Calibrate your battery by letting if completely discharge and then charge it using the wall charger it came with. Do this at least three times so the phone has a chance to get real statistics.
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I read somewhere in this forum that you shouldnt let the battery run all the way down in the initial calibration week. Anybody know about this?
psymont said:
I read somewhere in this forum that you shouldnt let the battery run all the way down in the initial calibration week. Anybody know about this?
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Modern lithium batteries actually die faster if you fully drain them then recharge to full. I'm not saying you can't do it every so often for calibration purposes but it isn't recommended as a every day thing.
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
We aren't running them down for the batteries health, but more so that the phone will understand what full and what dead actually is.
Do not do this often as there is no point. As for damaging the battery, one website says it is bad while others say it is good. Do so at your own risk. I do not have a degree in science, so I can not say either way, however the steps above done once the phone is calibrated will help.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
After 12 hours of moderate to heavy use today, I still have 50% battery remaining.
For the guy who's email stopped working, do not turn off all background data. That will stop the push settings I believe.
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wait....quit looking at porn on my phone?!??!!?
impossible!
no matter, im not having battery life issues.
Darrel this works i just did the wallpaper step and wow my battery stood up all day from 7am now is at%15 10pm
send from my unrooted atrix using xda app
gambit_pr said:
Darrel this works i just did the wallpaper step and wow my battery stood up all day from 7am now is at%15 10pm
send from my unrooted atrix using xda app
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Glad I could help.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
I have seen all across the web posts about the disappointment in the battery life of the Nexus 6. I have to say why not, because with a 3300 MAH battery we expect more than 2 hours of on screen time. Which seems to be the normal accomplishment across the device. I have actually been able to achieve 4-5 hours of SOT on a regular basis! I haven't seen many guides on how to do so. I have only seen people bragging about it. So, I decided to post this information for those of you looking for some guidance. Hoping maybe for a sticky
1. First, you're going to want to be rooted.
If you do not know how to root or are not sure how to go about it you can use the Wug's Nexus Root Toolkit which is located here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/development/toolkit-wugs-nexus-root-toolkit-v1-9-8-t2947452
2. You're going to want to download Greenify. If you don't have it, it can be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng.greenify&hl=en it is free. The pay version does have more to offer though.
Hibernate every service that typically runs in the background when not used (Example: Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat, Ebay, basically any notification based app). In addition, leave a widget on your home screen for hibernating the apps and going to the lockscreen. When you're done with your phone you can hit this. This will save battery when you're not using the phone.
3. Have Titanium backup installed (pro version) which consists of the free version + pro key. You can find them in the Google play store.. Free version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup&hl=en Pay key: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.keramidas.TitaniumBackupPro&hl=en.
Freeze any applications which you do not use. (Ex: Cloud Print, DMService, Docs, Google Earth, Google Fit, Google books, music, Maps, etc...)
4. Have Disable Service installed. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cn.wq.disableservice&hl=en
This one is a KEY in getting better battery life. I was not able to get GREAT on screen time until disabling services with the Disable Service app. I have attached pictures of which services you want to disable in regards to "Google play services" which tend to be a HUGE battery drain on the device. Disabling these I notice no issue with the device everything works properly.
5. Keep WI-FI on whenever possible
6. Use battery saver mode whenever possible.
7. Get rid of Google launcher (freeze it in titanium backup) and use an alternate launcher such as Nova, Apex, etc... For some reason the Google launcher seems to be a huge battery drain.
8. Don't use unnecessary services like the Google hot word detection. I have to admit this one is hard because I love just saying "Ok Google" and then telling it what I want to search. But is it really that hard to just hit the microphone on the Google search?
9. If you are a Facebook user: Set the application to NEVER check for an update unless you open the application. Same with Facebook Messenger.
10. Use adaptive brightness or leave brightness at the lowest setting.
By doing this I was in fact able to achieve 5 hours on screen time. I hope this helps someone. Also, if you're a HUGE gamer on your phone. It is very important to realize you're never going to get that kind of on screen time.
Pictures of which services to disable within Disable Service are below: :good:
So basically turn off every function on the phone. So now it's a dumb phone with a big screen.
Sent from my Z3
Ulver said:
So basically turn off every function on the phone. So now it's a dumb phone with a big screen.
Sent from my Z3
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Not really it's still a fully functional phone. Again this is if you want more battery life. Like any other device if you want full features, then you're going to jeopardize more battery. Pretty much common sense.
1) Rooting the device is complete overkill
2) Greenify has non-root functionality
3) Why not use Android's built in Disable feature. Most of those apps aren't going to just be running anyway. Freezing them is pointless
4) This is a can of worms that is going to have unforeseen consequences. Unless you know exactly what everyone of these services does and how they interact with each other and the OS, I wouldn't touch them
5) Good advice
6) The absolute best advice you've given. I'd suggest creating a Battery Saver settings shortcut on your homescreen and toggle on/off as necessary
7) Just install another launcher and set it as default
8) This is fine advice and is a matter of personal preference
9) Good advice
10) Adaptive brightness likely uses quite a bit of battery as it has to determine ambient lighting. Just set the lowest brightness level you can live with.
crachel said:
1) Rooting the device is complete overkill
2) Greenify has non-root functionality
3) Why not use Android's built in Disable feature. Most of those apps aren't going to just be running anyway. Freezing them is pointless
4) This is a can of worms that is going to have unforeseen consequences. Unless you know exactly what everyone of these services does and how they interact with each other and the OS, I wouldn't touch them
5) Good advice
6) The absolute best advice you've given. I'd suggest creating a Battery Saver settings shortcut on your homescreen and toggle on/off as necessary
7) Just install another launcher and set it as default
8) This is fine advice and is a matter of personal preference
9) Good advice
10) Adaptive brightness likely uses quite a bit of battery as it has to determine ambient lighting. Just set the lowest brightness level you can live with.
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I personally don't like the devices build in disable features because I've seen them still hog battery even though they claim they are "disabled" I suggested root because of using titanium backup which needs root as well. Again it's just personal preference. Not sure why you saying freezing apps is pointless. It accomplishes the same thing as disabling them
Ulver said:
So basically turn off every function on the phone. So now it's a dumb phone with a big screen.
Sent from my Z3
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this. these threads amuse me whenever they pop up for each new device. turn off everything and like magic you have a phone that lasts days. this is stupid. i have every feature turned on my N6 at all times with auto brightness and can make it through the day just fine. on days when i use gmaps navigation i may have to quickcharge it for 20 min or so but that's pretty much it. just live your life and use your phone man. best advice i can give...
oh one more thing. facebook app is a notorious battery hog. here's some real advice: ditch it and just use the web portal. MUCH better...
funny, i keep most everything enabled and still get from 5.5-6.5 hours sot. nor do i ever turn on or use wifi. only lte here.
simms22 said:
funny, i keep most everything enabled and still get from 5.5-6.5 hours sot.
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There's no way you are dead stock and have everything enabled and get 5.5-6.5 hours on screen time unless you barely use your phone for anything. lol
drivel2787 said:
There's no way you are dead stock and have everything enabled and get 5.5-6.5 hours on screen time unless you barely use your phone for anything. lol
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who said anything about being stock? even though i had the same battery life when i was on stock. being stock or custom rom doesnt matter anyways. its about how i have my phone and cpu set up, what apps i install, and about my phone/data signal quality. and yes, im a heavy user, not at all a light user. but i do not game very much, mostly a browser user.
simms22 said:
who said anything about being stock? even though i had the same battery life when i was on stock. being stock or custom rom doesnt matter anyways. its about how i have my phone and cpu set up, what apps i install, and about my phone/data signal quality. and yes, im a heavy user, not at all a light user. but i do not game very much, mostly a browser user.
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What specific rom/kernel and settings are you using to achieve such battery life?
drivel2787 said:
What specific rom/kernel and settings are you using to achieve such battery life?
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i run rastapop or terminus(with either elementalx or franco kernel), at 3033mhz/300mhz(ondemand/deadline or conservative/deadline for franco) with all 4 cores on all the time(no hotplugging). mpdecision always disabled. i never use the default kernels settings, and always set up my cpu my way. but i live in nyc, with great tmobile coverage. battery life has much to do with the quality of coverage that you get btw.
Im stock and get 5.8hr SOT.
PunishedSnake said:
Im stock and get 5.8hr SOT.
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Screenshots or BS
crachel said:
1) Rooting the device is complete overkill
2) Greenify has non-root functionality
3) Why not use Android's built in Disable feature. Most of those apps aren't going to just be running anyway. Freezing them is pointless
4) This is a can of worms that is going to have unforeseen consequences. Unless you know exactly what everyone of these services does and how they interact with each other and the OS, I wouldn't touch them
5) Good advice
6) The absolute best advice you've given. I'd suggest creating a Battery Saver settings shortcut on your homescreen and toggle on/off as necessary
7) Just install another launcher and set it as default
8) This is fine advice and is a matter of personal preference
9) Good advice
10) Adaptive brightness likely uses quite a bit of battery as it has to determine ambient lighting. Just set the lowest brightness level you can live with.
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You skipped 8. Lol
erapmicks said:
Screenshots or BS
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since i never drain my battery completely, here is my battery at 50%(was an especially good night, usually its around 3.5h sot at 50%). no game playing here, mostly browser and hangouts..
simms22 said:
since i never drain my battery completely, here is my battery at 50%(was an especially good night, usually its around 3.5h sot at 50%). no game playing here, mostly browser and hangouts..
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Booya!!!!!!!!!
Same here I get some good days and great days. 5.8 is one of the good. one day of 7 was great lol.
PunishedSnake said:
Booya!!!!!!!!!
Same here I get some good days and great days. 5.8 is one of the good. one day of 7 was great lol.
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absolutely. it cant be the same every day, but 5.5-7h sot is where it averages. mostly around 6h sot is what i get. but i really rarely reach near 10% battery left.
PunishedSnake said:
Booya!!!!!!!!!
Same here I get some good days and great days. 5.8 is one of the good. one day of 7 was great lol.
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yea i dunno why people try to call 'bs' on these things. i float during the day between everything disabled or stream and hog data at will. it takes like 10 seconds to cycle between the 2 'modes' and i like to test this things limits. i have turned in a 10 hour SOT before and rubbed it in my buddys iPhace, but that was a bizarre one. 5+ is the cellar. 6 is common. 7 is great. 8 is a chore.
leank is mostly why uc/uv, pure 3.98 stripped some w nano gapps and ones i choose, dark theme
edit: i meant to add: there are differences in hardware that MAY result in differences as well
i feel that the huge difference is network quality, for some, no matter what they do, they cant go over 4h sot. i think this is where network quality comes in. also, screen brightness is very important. keep it as low as you can, lol.
One thing I'm noticing is how much the Turbo charger affects battery life. I have a Nokia Qi wireless charger built into my nightstand that I typically use for charging my Qi devices at night. I only recently started using QC2.0 chargers in the car and next to that same nightstand and have seen much better results already. My 6 is trending to hit about 5.5 hours of SoT today whereas 4 was the norm previously.