widget battery consumption.. is it reported? - G1 General

I am at "1d 3h 26m 36s since unplugged" and sitting at 73% battery, which is probably better than I have ever seen.. the 2 changes I made were
a) removing Home++ so I could try ADWLauncher (this was just for kicks)
b) as a consequence of removing Home++, my home screen widgets were removed, and I chose not to re-add most.
This made me wonder about widgets... ie I realized that I never see any widgets listed when I look at the battery consumption stats??
I was wondering if maybe widgets were "absorbed" into the Phone Idle or Cell Standby stats? (ie. they were run too close to the OS to be separated out by the battery use routine?)
EDIT: all of my searches kept returning widgets that reported battery status, instead of the info described above

It makes sense that when something is constantly updating itself it is constantly using battery, no?

JAguirre1231 said:
It makes sense that when something is constantly updating itself it is constantly using battery, no?
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Click to collapse
Did you even bother to read what he was asking? Did you even read the TITLE?
He's asking if it gets reported, recorded, if he can somehow look up how much battery they are using. He never once suggests anything close to asking if they use battery. Actually, he clearly points out that they DO and he wants to be able to see how much.
As for OP, don't know. What are you using to see battery history? In Spare Parts I see nothing like this, and I would assume that they use quite a lot, also depending on how often you have them set to update, etc.

r3s-rt said:
Did you even bother to read what he was asking? Did you even read the TITLE?
He's asking if it gets reported, recorded, if he can somehow look up how much battery they are using. He never once suggests anything close to asking if they use battery. Actually, he clearly points out that they DO and he wants to be able to see how much.
As for OP, don't know. What are you using to see battery history? In Spare Parts I see nothing like this, and I would assume that they use quite a lot, also depending on how often you have them set to update, etc.
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Click to collapse
I read it and to me it sounded like he was wondering if they used more battery. So, I DID read it, just misunderstood.
In my tiny brain, it sounded like he was wondering if it had been reported that widgets use more battery.
I made a mistake, it is perfectly acceptable to do so. Part of life is making said mistakes and learning from them.
And before anyone says something, I do indeed have a tiny brain, around the size of a raisin.
Anyways, back on topic. If they are kept anywhere I would be willing to bet they are grouped with "Cell Standby".

JAguirre1231 said:
If they are kept anywhere I would be willing to bet they are grouped with "Cell Standby".
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Click to collapse
That's as far as my small brain got as well. Alas,(if that is the case) that would make it tough to ferret out the "expensive" (in terms of battery usage) widgets

Well, you can kinda at least group by simple logic. Which ones use most memory? Which ones update most often? You won't get numbers, but you'll at least be able to weed out that one widget that takes 6 battery every 30 minutes.
Sent from my HTC Magic using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

zim2dive said:
That's as far as my small brain got as well. Alas,(if that is the case) that would make it tough to ferret out the "expensive" (in terms of battery usage) widgets
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Click to collapse
As the poster above me said, group it by logic. Things like Twicca's widget will use the least amount of power (However, Twicca won't) because all it does is launch different parts of the app. Then there are things like Beautiful Widgets which check the weather at a set amount of time. Using this example (and if these are the only widgets on your home screen), we would want to remove Beautiful Widgets to save battery before we remove the Twicca Widget.
Likewise, if we want to save battery we can have these widgets update less often.

Related

no battery life with the 2.2 update

My battery made it to 1:00 o'clock today with the new 2.2 update that i did last night. It normally lasts till 11 - 12 at night. Whats up with that?
FYI - All the same apps,widgets, and settings
**UPDATE**
Doing a factory reset fixed the problem for me!!
opie2l said:
My battery made it to 1:00 o'clock today with the new 2.2 update that i did last night. It normally lasts till 11 - 12 at night. Whats up with that?
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Click to collapse
Strange, I'm sitting at 75% after 5 hours off the charger and using it for moderate text usage (probably less than 80 messages today). Usually around this time it's sitting closer to 60%.
i have the .3 update and went from about 24 hours to about 8-10 hours. Battery life cut in half. My friend who has .3 is having same issue too. So much for increasing battery life.
formulabird said:
i have the .3 update and went from about 24 hours to about 8-10 hours. Battery life cut in half. My friend who has .3 is having same issue too. So much for increasing battery life.
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Click to collapse
Wow. Have you searched the forum to see if anyone else has the same issue? If not I hope it's not an isolated incident. Then again if it's isolated maybe you can get support on it better...? Good luck finding a solution.
You gave us zero information to help you. So thus, you will not get any help.
There are about a billion threads on here about battery life and how to tweak it. When you flashed 2.2 you will need to do those steps again.
yeah some people are reporting bad battery life after update. most people i know are on .3. don't know if .6 fixes this hopefully we get update soon
I did a test last night. Dropped 13% between 1130 and 3:30am With wifi on (got up cause of baby), then only 10% between 330 and 8am with wifi off. So a drop of only 23% overnight.
That's with one exchange account, one gmail account (both syncing as items arrive), htc news set to not sync, but newsdesk and feedr both syncing. Facebook for htc set to sync contacts only.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
I had the same issue on all 2.2 ROMs I tried.. i am now going through the apps one at a time to see which one is the issue.
right now I am 7 hours in and sitting at 75% very light use ( read about 7 emails, 5 new articles and little to no Web surfing). installed 10s so far other than the standard with Fresh latest ROM that is.
I've actually had very good battery life, I'm running the .3 release. Battery life for me has been very comparable to running Baked Snack 9.6, with its underclocking/undervolting power save features. Moderate use of the phone for 8 hours (wifi, browsing websites here and there, one navigation route, texting, bunch of short phone calls, playing some games), my battery was around 65 or so, same as I had before for similar usage.
I did do a full wipe though, and haven't calibrated my battery since updating.
Aridon said:
You gave us zero information to help you. So thus, you will not get any help.
There are about a billion threads on here about battery life and how to tweak it. When you flashed 2.2 you will need to do those steps again.
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Click to collapse
I am just stating a observation on my part. And i know all the little tricks of how to get better battery life. But like i said, before the update i was getting a full day of battery and now after the update i am getting half. With the same settings and the usage on my part.
opie2l said:
I am just stating a observation on my part. And i know all the little tricks of how to get better battery life. But like i said, before the update i was getting a full day of battery and now after the update i am getting half. With the same settings and the usage on my part.
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Click to collapse
maybe because some of the htc sync stuff that you might have disabled before re-enabled.
Check that.
-mark
diomark said:
maybe because some of the htc sync stuff that you might have disabled before re-enabled.
Check that.
-mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, i already went through all the settings last night.
Aridon said:
You gave us zero information to help you. So thus, you will not get any help.
There are about a billion threads on here about battery life and how to tweak it. When you flashed 2.2 you will need to do those steps again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not directed at you personally, but at the words you chose to use:
I am sick and tired of "tweaks and settings and cutting things off." I used them and got over 30 hours on both DamageControl and Fresh.
I paid Sprint/HTC good money for this awesome phone (and am committed to pay them a whole lot more over the course of the next 22 months).
While I can understand the 4G thing, why should I have to cut off Data-WiFi-Bluetooth, power down the CPU, not use it a lot in order to get... in short, drive it like a Toyota Prius when then phone is billed as a Maserati? Why should I have to try out this app and that app(Overclock widget, SetCPU, System Manager, Task Killer, Autostarts etc which all use battery too) in order to get the phone to do what it should have done on June 4, 2010?
Most of the battery draining apps and widgets come pre-loaded with sense (i.e. the Favorite widget, Friendstream etc). Why should I have to resort to rooting my phone or not using it in order to get the thing to last all day?
I'm keeping my EVO cause I love the device, but maybe Sprint/HTC need a little of the medicine that Jobs/Apple is getting in the form of lawsuits due to over-promising/under-delivering.
/off_my_soap_box
You should send that rant to HTC and Sprint... I think we all stand behind you on that one.
there are lots of reasons a battery might not last. there are way to many tweaks out there which is why you have to do it yourself.
First set the phone up like you normally have it and test the battery life. if you can live with it your good. if not start looking at the settings. Read the tweaks but don't just take them as golden as everyone is different and uses their phone different. Ask yourself if you real need that setting. (I like my screen time out at 2 min. do I need it NO 1 min is fine). When done with the settings move to the apps. load the flat ROM no apps and run for a hour and track your battery life. then add the apps 1 at a time or in small groups and let run an hour and track. there are was if find what apps are using the CPU or Battery but many do this normally and yet don't effect the battery much. Only way i have found is old school add them one at a time. When you find a bad one decide if you need it or can find a replacement.
I am done with Sense as Launcher Pro Plus is awesome and now with the only Widget I was missing (Calendar). Once I done going through my app list I will create a new thread in General to list the bad application I found unless someone else has or does before I done that is.
From what I have gathered from using .3 that apps auto sync/update on their own now with "always on mobile data" turned off. if you use advanced task killer, do a kill of all apps then turn the screen off. If you wait for a few minutes and turn the screen back on you will notice that apps like news, messages, Twitter, Facebook clock, weather and others will be active. From what I gather the decrease in battery life is from apps like those will send/receive data on 2.2 while on 2.1 apps would not update/sync until you manually refreshed or opened the app, as long as you didn't have "always on mobile data" enabled.
Edit: this reason is why I uninstalled fring. Just too bad I cannot uninstalled qik.
trojandnc said:
This is not directed at you personally, but at the words you chose to use:
I am sick and tired of "tweaks and settings and cutting things off." I used them and got over 30 hours on both DamageControl and Fresh.
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Click to collapse
It is a mini-computer. You don't use it like a "phone" anymore. You shouldn't expect more than 15-20 hours on it. Do you get angry when your laptop runs out of life after 5-6 hours? If you don't want to do tweaks, then don't. Keep a micro-USB at your desk at work and charge it there. I, myself, enjoy rooting so I don't mind tweaking it. I also get 30 hours of life on it due to this. If you don't like to do that, you get what you put into it.
trojandnc said:
I paid Sprint/HTC good money for this awesome phone (and am committed to pay them a whole lot more over the course of the next 22 months).
While I can understand the 4G thing, why should I have to cut off Data-WiFi-Bluetooth, power down the CPU, not use it a lot in order to get... in short, drive it like a Toyota Prius when then phone is billed as a Maserati? Why should I have to try out this app and that app(Overclock widget, SetCPU, System Manager, Task Killer, Autostarts etc which all use battery too) in order to get the phone to do what it should have done on June 4, 2010?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, you have unrealistic expectations for a smart phone it seems. All I have is Set CPU running on my phone with Fresh 3.0.1 and works just fine. I still use my phone like a "Maserati", it just lowers the CPU when the screen is powered off. That is like saying you want your car to idle when you get home at night until the next morning. It doesn't change how you drive it, just how you store it in the garage.
trojandnc said:
Most of the battery draining apps and widgets come pre-loaded with sense (i.e. the Favorite widget, Friendstream etc). Why should I have to resort to rooting my phone or not using it in order to get the thing to last all day?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to use them though. You can remove friendstream and go with either the twitter or FB update app or go without either and just check facebook like anyone else. As far as favorites go, you don't have to use that either. You can just make shortcuts to each person's phone number on that same screen if you think that is sucking all your battery life. There are always other options or fixes, but again you expect the phone to come out of the box perfect without any customization. You are getting away from what Android really is. Something tells me the Iphone would have been more your liking since it is built around lack of true customization. This isn't a rip, but just saying if you want cookie cutter phone reliability, it is hard to beat Apple. If you want the ability to tinker with the phone, the power to change things, and the power to make your phone yours, then that is more Android.
trojandnc said:
I'm keeping my EVO cause I love the device, but maybe Sprint/HTC need a little of the medicine that Jobs/Apple is getting in the form of lawsuits due to over-promising/under-delivering.
/off_my_soap_box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand your frustration, but nothing was ever promised to us on purchase. I don't remember anywhere seeing something saying the battery would last 30+ hours out of the box. Apple had an actual structural issue with their phone, that is why they had the lawsuits and PR nightmare. This is just the phone doing what most would probably expect(at least anyone who had a G1 or Hero or any of the earlier Android phones). You love the device enough to keep it even with your frustration, something tells me it works quite well for you. But I have yet to see any over-promising/under-delivering on the Evo myself.
And no, I don't work for Sprint or HTC. And no offense meant to you as a person, just I didn't understand your motives on your frustration. Guess we will have different opinions on the Evo so far.
diomark said:
maybe because some of the htc sync stuff that you might have disabled before re-enabled.
Check that.
-mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same battery problem after updating to 2.2. After 3 hours my battery was at 50%. Normally it'd be at 50% after 9 to 10 hours of usage.
I did find that some settings had been reset. Once I turned off all the crap syncing, gtalk logging in, Sprint Zone, etc my battery usage has seemed to flatten out.
I made it an hour and only dropped 2% which is much more like it. This is all with very little usage going on.
Buy a new battery! Best solution!
No joda!
Sent from my EVO!
very funny just pluged my phone in using flipz newest after 19 hours
make sure you are signed out of googletalk !!

[Q] HTC Sense

I just downloaded spare parts to see what was eating my battery and it said HTC Sense. Is there anything I can do about that???
if you root, yes.
Otherwise, chances are if you're getting bad battery life, it's not actually Sense that's causing it. And I think spare parts only checks what's been taking your battery since it was installed, so if you just installed the app, of course sense will take the most power, since it's always running. But in general, sense doesn't take much power itself. The widgets do, depending on how often you turn the screen on and how often you have them update.
I'm rooted. So are you suggesting not using any widgets?
jahovah said:
I'm rooted. So are you suggesting not using any widgets?
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Click to collapse
no, not at all what I'm saying.
What kind of battery life are you getting? Perhaps you're expecting too much? With moderate use in good service areas (some gaming, 50+ texts, a few phone calls, some web browsing, etc.), you should easily be able to get a full work day out of your battery. I know mine has lasted upwards of 36 hours in good service areas (much less with poor service)
Well I use the tunein app while at work and in 2hrs in goes from about %100 to %20
Ok, on my epic, if i use anything that has to do with touchwiz(touchwiz launcher, touchwiz widgets, etc) in "battery use" it uses major battery. I use launcher pro as it doesnt drain battery and it lasts much longer. So yes, HTC Sense is using your battery.
tatonka_hero said:
And I think spare parts only checks what's been taking your battery since it was installed, so if you just installed the app, of course sense will take the most power, since it's always running.
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Click to collapse
That's incorrect, Spare parts is just a shortcut to menus you can access from the dialer with codes. So the info has nothing to do the app, and is based on phone usage, not since time installed. Hope this helps.
Sent from my non-rooted, stock Epic.

Best radio signal to use? (battery life)

I can use *#*#4636#*#* and I read somewhere that it can help with battery life if I set a certain antenna from there? I forgot where I read it though, if someone can please let me know that would be great. There are NO rogue apps running, I only have about 10 installed.
The phone is 4 days old, so it could be why but I've battery cycled it twice already (letting it run dead and recharging it for 10 hours). All my widgets are off except weather and that is set to update every 3 hours and it is NOT using GPS. Wifi is off, so is bluetooth. Gps is off as well.
Is anyone using maximum power saver or just the regular nighttime setting for those reporting better battery life? I also uninstalled launcher pro, it seemed to glitch my phone a lot with the google toolbar and also seemed to have a slightly bigger toll on my battery. Also battery health is stating "Good". Is that the best or does it still need more conditioning?
You probably shouldn't change things in there. Look elsewhere to conserve battery.
You didn't note what your battery life is like either. But you should still let the battery charge and drain a few more times before trying to squeak out more battery life by modifying something like this....
bongd said:
You probably shouldn't change things in there. Look elsewhere to conserve battery.
You didn't note what your battery life is like either. But you should still let the battery charge and drain a few more times before trying to squeak out more battery life by modifying something like this....
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Click to collapse
Well I'll give you an example. The phone was unplugged almost 6 hours yesterday, and I used it around 3 hours and 46 minutes max. It got down to 5 percent and shut off. I had my music i was listening to for 25 minutes. I had my IM program on for about an hour, had a 12 minute phone call. Was texting back and forth mainly, and I checked a few things on the browser and exited out. MY IM program uses GPS to get my location but only when I request to do so, then shut the gps off. I force closed it when I was done to be sure it wasn't gonna drain any more of my battery. My notifications are off mainly except for my texts and such. And this was with JuiceDefender on the last half of the battery.
I don't like programs like Juice Defender to be honest. They usually go buggy and drain the battery more than it saves. People just get excited and leave positive reviews.
I'd honestly reset to factory settings in case there was a one-off glitch. Set things up again and use it like you would normally to gauges things. My battery lasted over 40 hours from the first charge.
With results that bad, I wouldn't troubleshoot beyond resetting it. Take it back if that's the case. That's not right. And it's not worth your time.
bongd said:
I don't like programs like Juice Defender to be honest. They usually go buggy and drain the battery more than it saves. People just get excited and leave positive reviews.
I'd honestly reset to factory settings in case there was a one-off glitch. Set things up again and use it like you would normally to gauges things. My battery lasted over 40 hours from the first charge.
With results that bad, I wouldn't troubleshoot beyond resetting it. Take it back if that's the case. That's not right. And it's not worth your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I just got the phone not sure why I would need to factory reset it. Is there a way I can back my data up and such like texts and pics/apps?
Also 40 hours!? Jeeze do you like never use your phone at all? haha. That is insane my iPhone 4 never even got that good of battery life.
tripleh3lix said:
I can use *#*#4636#*#* and I read somewhere that it can help with battery life if I set a certain antenna from there? I forgot where I read it though, if someone can please let me know that would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That code just pushes your phone to use EDGE only and not 3G. It can increase battery life if your phone is constantly trying to hold on to a spotty 3G signal, which can be common .
gnahc79 said:
That code just pushes your phone to use EDGE only and not 3G. It can increase battery life if your phone is constantly trying to hold on to a spotty 3G signal, which can be common .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, no I have about 4 bars of HSPA+ in my house, I think i'm good on that, thank you!
Did you do the OTA update? seems to have helped a few people with battery life including myself.
Kaoe said:
Did you do the OTA update? seems to have helped a few people with battery life including myself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep it's updated I'm wondering if it was the chat program yesterday I was using.. It has notifications on so it was probably connecting 24/7. I'm gonna keep it off today and use regular apps like facebook. Do you guys keep your notifications for those with good battery life?
Kaoe said:
Did you do the OTA update? seems to have helped a few people with battery life including myself.
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(off topic) is that your atrix? and how did you get your lockscreen to look like that?
Banditlol said:
(off topic) is that your atrix? and how did you get your lockscreen to look like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's an application called WidgetLocker. It's quite an amazing application if I do say so myself.
tripleh3lix said:
Yep it's updated I'm wondering if it was the chat program yesterday I was using.. It has notifications on so it was probably connecting 24/7. I'm gonna keep it off today and use regular apps like facebook. Do you guys keep your notifications for those with good battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chat programs are generally notorious battery hogs. Stick with Google Talk.
stewartsoda said:
Chat programs are generally notorious battery hogs. Stick with Google Talk.
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Click to collapse
I've been using PingChat for about a month now and there is no significant battery drain. Very nice and reliable, more than google talk where messages sent would occasionally never be received.
gnahc79 said:
I've been using PingChat for about a month now and there is no significant battery drain. Very nice and reliable, more than google talk where messages sent would occasionally never be received.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally. I allow that there are some that are not battery hogs. I do know the chat program on my Touch Pro (I forget what it was) would suck my battery dry in an hour or two if left running in the background.

Please delete.

Deleted......
"8. Frequently use the native task manager to free memory.. Long press on the big button to access task manager."
This is wrong advice. This actually increases battery use. The frequently used applications stay in memory so that they will not be loaded again when needed. If you purge the memory like you recommend, these apps will have to be reloaded every time, which significantly increases battery usage.
Deleted......
jangomango said:
No doing this once in a while will kill off any apps you thought were closed.. Quite often I exit a game to find its still there hogging memory.
But thanks for the criticism.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not wasting memory, it's just sitting there doing nothing in case you launch it soon again. If that memory is needed by another program, Android releases it immediately.
Try this yourself. Launch a game, then exit. You'll see the game still in memory. Then launch other apps and games. You'll see that the first game is no longer in memory, because Android saw that that part of the memory is needed elsewhere. It's all automatic and it works well. There's no need to fiddle with it. As I said, fiddling with it actually increases battery usage, because frequently used apps have to be reloaded every single time, instead of being called back from memory.
Deleted......
aydc said:
It's not wasting memory, it's just sitting there doing nothing in case you launch it soon again. If that memory is needed by another program, Android releases it immediately.
Try this yourself. Launch a game, then exit. You'll see the game still in memory. Then launch other apps and games. You'll see that the first game is no longer in memory, because Android saw that that part of the memory is needed elsewhere. It's all automatic and it works well. There's no need to fiddle with it. As I said, fiddling with it actually increases battery usage, because frequently used apps have to be reloaded every single time, instead of being called back from memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to disagree with this. Quite often I have noticed that after playing some game my battery still keeps draining like hell.
I know that Android is SUPPOSED to work as you said it would, but there are quite a lot of rogue apps which don't behave like that.
So unless you are 100% sure that your apps are not rogue apps in any possible situation I also have to suggest to use the "kill all" once in a while.
I don't do it often, maybe twice a day but it helps.
Deleted.....
I have done most of the things you mentioned, but my battery is still appalling. I am using VillainROM 1.4, KF2. I really want to fix this, I heard some people are struggling to get 12 hours from their phone, I am one of those.
twitceh said:
I have done most of the things you mentioned, but my battery is still appalling. I am using VillainROM 1.4, KF2. I really want to fix this, I heard some people are struggling to get 12 hours from their phone, I am one of those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, yesterday I barely used my phone. 1 hour and 40 minutes of screen on time, 3G, Sync, Whatsapping most of the time that I used it, wifi, too. Downloaded a few apps maybe 10 minutes of games. It was at 40% when I went to bed 15 hours later. I barely touched it! LOL.
I don't mind though, this is a FANTASTIC phone. I wouldn't change it for any other phone at the moment. I will probably get an extended battery case from Samsung in the near future. It's a case AND a battery ALL IN ONE! Woopie! lol.
twitceh said:
I have done most of the things you mentioned, but my battery is still appalling. I am using VillainROM 1.4, KF2. I really want to fix this, I heard some people are struggling to get 12 hours from their phone, I am one of those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am starting to believe that it is a hardware fault..If lucky it could be because of the battery. You could try to order another battery and see how it goes.
If not so lucky then its something else in the phone which is almost impossible to fix at home.
jangomango said:
I appreciate you clogging my new thread up with your opinion.. Nice one..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no personal problem with you, but if you open up a thread for newcomers, you shouldn't give misleading information. Thinking task killers improve battery is a telltale sign of noobness.
For newcomers who really want to learn about memory management in Android and the truth about task killers, I recommend these two articles:
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
http://www.droid-den.com/android-guides/android-guide-should-i-use-a-task-killer
jangomango said:
FFS.. my point is.. Some apps you only use once in a blue moon like Games. You dont need these still sitting there..
I appreciate you clogging my new thread up with your opinion.. Nice one..
Plus I find it makes my phone snappier after a good purge.. And FYI I still get over 1 and a half days from the battery..
Is there any chance you can get off my **** now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure with an attitude like that you'd be lucky to have someone on your ****.
My simple solution. Buy juice defender ultimate. Its cheap only less than 9 dollars. Set it to extreme and configure each app. Then go to market and search 'gothic'. Select the darkest and most plain black wallpaper. You are done! I am getting 2 days on stock rom with this setup. With about 20% of the time surfing the net via HSDPA or 3g.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
aydc said:
I have no personal problem with you, but if you open up a thread for newcomers, you shouldn't give misleading information. Thinking task killers improve battery is a telltale sign of noobness.
For newcomers who really want to learn about memory management in Android and the truth about task killers, I recommend these two articles:
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
http://www.droid-den.com/android-guides/android-guide-should-i-use-a-task-killer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd have to agree. Task killers are generally a bad idea.
Sure, there are poorly coded apps that stay in memory and use up CPU cycles. Those are apps that needs to be closed via task killers. But is that really the solution?
What you should do is NOT use such apps. If you do continue to use those apps, you're just supporting the developer for his poor coding. In that case, you're on your own.
OP: Try not to get too antagonistic. This is after all, a discussion forum.
Here's an analogy just for fun....
General consensus: You don't need a case for your phone.
Argument: You do need a case for your phone because SOME phones have antennae issues and a case will alleviate those issues.
Weird solution: Buy those phones wtih antennae issues and then also buy a case.
Real solution: Don't buy those phones with antennae issues! (wink wink)
ohyeahar said:
I'd have to agree. Task killers are generally a bad idea.
Sure, there are poorly coded apps that stay in memory and use up CPU cycles. Those are apps that needs to be closed via task killers. But is that really the solution?
What you should do is NOT use such apps. If you do continue to use those apps, you're just supporting the developer for his poor coding. In that case, you're on your own.
OP: Try not to get too antagonistic. This is after all, a discussion forum.
Here's an analogy just for fun....
General consensus: You don't need a case for your phone.
Argument: You do need a case for your phone because SOME phones have antennae issues and a case will alleviate those issues.
Weird solution: Buy those phones wtih antennae issues and then also buy a case.
Real solution: Don't buy those phones with antennae issues! (wink wink)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to this, task manager was a good idea in the old days (eclair & froyo), but gingerbread does a great job in memory management, there is no need for "task management kill" everytime you exit. Although I am a bit conservative on "frequently killing apps in gingerbread will actually decrease your battery life", but certainly, doing so will not improve it.
Using the 'Clear Memory' feature in Task Manager will stop and kill everything. Some widgets, apps will stop work. So that feature is extremely kiddish imo.
But using ATK won't do it as it has an Ignore list, if its set up properly then its the best.
Regards.
Sent from GT-I9100
jangomango said:
With all gripes over battery life, I thought it would be a good idea to create a list of steps for newcomers that will help make battery life better.
With these steps I am getting well over 24 hours.
Feel free to add some and I will update the OP.
1. Flash a rom.. I'm using Lightening Rom 2.0 with KG1
2. Flash a kernel.. I use Chainfires KG1
3. Use Titanium backup to freeze any crap you dont need. There is a guide on here already about this.
4. Disable fast dormancy.. *#*#9900#*#*
5. Wifi Sleep Policy set this to Screen Off.. Settings>Wireless & Networks>WiFi Networks>Menu>Advanced>WiFi Sleep Policy
6. Manage your radios.. Use the power widget to turn off BlueTooth,WiFi, GPS, even 3G when not needed.
7. Screen brightness.. Set this as low as you can whilst still being readable.
8. Frequently use the native task manager to free memory.. Long press on the big button to access task manager.
9. Monitor what apps are using battery.. Menu>Settings>About Phone>Battery Usage
10. Use a static wallpaper.. Live wallpapers are nice but draw more power than a still image. Dark backgrounds are best.
11. Full overnight charge with phone off.. I found this makes a difference.
12. Change the frequency at which your mail and widgets update. Instead of 30 minutes or whatever try 1 hour.
13. Turn off AutoSync when not needed. Menu>Settings>Accounts &Sync. Note.. This will do what it says and stop any app or widget syncing though..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll only comment on the points I can share my opinion with:
4. didn't change a damn thing for me regarding the battery, it just made switching betweens 3g and H slower.
5. will try that, but won't it turn wifi off when the screen is off thus disabling any sync via wifi when screen is off?
6. common sense not to leave everything on all the time
7. auto brightness does a good job for me, a mate uses lowest brightness and has no advantages besides having problems reading from the screen sometimes
8. just use it to end apps/games that won't stop after using them like KiesAir
10. true
11. doesn't make a difference
12. sure but whoever needs (e.g. for work) push (like me) will have to skip that
13. see 12.
fenguinpower said:
My simple solution. Buy juice defender ultimate. Its cheap only less than 9 dollars. Set it to extreme and configure each app. Then go to market and search 'gothic'. Select the darkest and most plain black wallpaper. You are done! I am getting 2 days on stock rom with this setup. With about 20% of the time surfing the net via HSDPA or 3g.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
juice defender is my last option to squeeze more time out of my phone. still with my general usage I get around 36h our of one charge, mostly between 24h and 48h depending on how much I use it AND how good the reception is (better reception -> more battery life)
OP deleted.. This was supposed to be a usefull guide for newcomers but soon descended into a viscious disection of all my points. **** you all. Twats.
jangomango said:
OP deleted.. This was supposed to be a usefull guide for newcomers but soon descended into a viscious disection of all my points. **** you all. Twats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't like healthy debate? These guys were quite polite, you were the one who spat his dummy out.
**** you aswell you **** jockey.

The saga of the GS2 and the iPhone 4

I bought a SG2 some time ago and loved it except for the idle battery drain. For the life of me, I couldn't seem to get it to stop chewing battery when it wasn't being used. I even tested it by charging it to full and leaving it overnight. It lost about 20%.
Remembering that the iPhone 4 had excellent idle battery life, I decided to give it another go just for the hell of it. I hate iOS as a daily driver, but I figured at least I wouldn't have to worry about battery life.
These are my observations:
1) Idle time on iPhone 4 is indeed better. When it's not being used, it uses no battery. However, when being used heavily, the SG2 actually seems to get BETTER battery life than iPhone 4 when it is being used heavily. Not sure why.
2) I severely miss being able to send/upload high quality videos and pictures. I hate the restrictions that Apple places on file size. I don't always have wifi readily available and at least with Android, you can upload large videos to Youtube over the cell connection.
3) I miss the integration in the photo album with social services. It's annoying having to launch an app every time I want to upload a picture/video.
4) The camera on the SG2 is definitely better. You get more fine detail on objects that are further away, no doubt due to the higher megapixel count.
5) I think most apps on iOS look better and are more functional, but the problem is, you have to launch an app to do anything in iOS.
I really wish Samsung (and maybe Google in general) could solve the idle battery drain. Losing 20% over 8 hours without even using the phone seems rather high when you factor in that you'll be losing that battery life whether you use the phone or not. Theoretically, this should mean that the iPhone would get better battery life with the same use, but I'm not finding that to be the case so far. I will probably be going back to my SG2 very soon.
Sorry for the long-winded post. Just wanted to collect my thoughts and present my personal findings.
U r right about battery consumption .
But i m sure Android is going to be so much improved and vast in features that we cant compare to any os in the world in future.
Biggest plus of Android is community like this and the freedom to change things inside it.
agree on most of the things u said there
but
when it comes to battery life i have no idea why its soo random with some people
i lose about 1% an hour on KE2
(stock was on the phone when i bought it no root )
but since i installed KF3
i lose about 2% an hour
rooted flashed from odin
I must have responded to 10+ questions on this forum in the last 24 hours as regards battery drain, i get 25+ hours on my GS2, if you search on here you will find many tips that will substantially increase your battery life.
check the new kernel ninephetamine. Have used the modified 1.4v (with deep sleep enabled).....promising results with undervolting.
Currently OC 1400, and undervolted.
Simple Answer
Iphone does not loose batter on idle cause it puts all apps to sleep state if not used for a while
Android phones in general are always using data for like your emails, facebook, etc if you have set the apps to connect say every hour or so
IF you leave WIFI on it takes up battery as well
I am quiet happy with my SGS2 ( 12 -15 hours ) heavy usage and I am used to daily charging. and its just the day time hours unlike people who may be posting their night time hours as well which add anything form 8-16 more
jonny68 said:
I must have responded to 10+ questions on this forum in the last 24 hours as regards battery drain, i get 25+ hours on my GS2, if you search on here you will find many tips that will substantially increase your battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not interested in disabling everything that makes Android what it is. If I have to modify it to the point that it's an iPhone, I might as well use an iPhone. I'm well aware of battery saving tips for Android. They almost always involve shutting down all automated services and anything that retrieves data. This is not a solution. I have some e-mail accounts on periodic pull and the most important ones on push. On the iPhone, I have all e-mail accounts on Push.
I also don't particularly want to use a custom ROM. I prefer to stay stock.
I'm not getting horrible battery life on my SG2. In fact, I get around 15 hours with the same kind of use as that on the iPhone 4. I would just like to be able to set the phone down for several hours and not lose a quarter of the battery.
i have tried every single battery optimisation and calibration tricks on my Android phones. My first Android phone was a htc hero, second SE X10 and Now Galaxy S2.
All the optimisation and stuff works if you sacrifice something on your phone. i like my display to be sharp and easy to see. I want my email notification to be prompt and so many other things.
I used to be Windows mobile user my last handset was Toshiba TG01. i never ever had any battery issue.
It is to do with Android system, it needs to improve. it has all the pace now and so many chances.
if this roumor is true then IOS will shrink sooner than 2015:
http://www.mobilechoiceuk.com/News/iPhone+5+delayed+until+2012?/5990
Why my Lamborghini needs more fuel than my Fiat Panda? I can't understand. Crappy Lamborghini, back on Panda.
Well if riding the Panda can get me through the jungle instead of half of it, why not?
Also, the Panda can get me more food via the App Store.
Granted though the Lamborghini has alot more fancy features and doesnt have mindless sheep following it
Anyway, coming from an SGS1, then an iPhone4, I heartily agree with the OP. Android is awesome but it's still rough around the edges. Sometimes the ease and boring simplicity of IOS is something that I miss, along with the Apps and definitely the games which Android is sorely lacking.
But then again I'd be reminded of steve and his itunes bloatware. ugh
Yes, but when Lamborghini is parked it should use the same as the Panda! (I.e. zero.)
Google really should minimise the stuff going on when the phone is idle. Google also needs to do something about all these rouge apps that always start up services that always run in the background. They should provide some way of limiting/stopping the CPU usage of apps running in the background.
Even the official XDA forum app still servers up adverts in the background eating up your battery (and bandwidth) if you press home instead of backup to exit.
wifi sharing is a bit of a bug that drains battery like crazy. If your not rooted thats definitely the screen off battery drain for sure. If there was a reason to root, just root to freeze that one rogue app.
codeworkx said:
Why my Lamborghini needs more fuel than my Fiat Panda? I can't understand. Crappy Lamborghini, back on Panda.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL I like ur metaphor.. but at least give something better than Panda hahaha
Nope, the wifi sharing bug has now been fixed by Samsung in the stock KF3 release available via Kies.
greyhulk said:
I'm not interested in disabling everything that makes Android what it is. If I have to modify it to the point that it's an iPhone, I might as well use an iPhone. I'm well aware of battery saving tips for Android. They almost always involve shutting down all automated services and anything that retrieves data. This is not a solution. I have some e-mail accounts on periodic pull and the most important ones on push. On the iPhone, I have all e-mail accounts on Push.
I also don't particularly want to use a custom ROM. I prefer to stay stock.
I'm not getting horrible battery life on my SG2. In fact, I get around 15 hours with the same kind of use as that on the iPhone 4. I would just like to be able to set the phone down for several hours and not lose a quarter of the battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But most of the stuff is pretty useless anyway all this Samsung bloatware is guaranteed to drain your battery, i don't see it as sacrifcying anything, ive got email on push and i still get over 25+ hours battery,i used an iPhone 4 for a few weeks and id be lucky to get 16 hours with medium to heavy usage.
My data is always enabled too, you can save a lot of battery if you use apps like Juice defender plus and system panel will also tell you which apps,etc are using up more than others.
At the end of the day smartphones are always going to use up much more battery than normal phones and this isn't going to change anytime soon until such time a revoultionary new battery is designed that lasts for days on end.
Until then people have to deal with it,follow the tips and you'll get good battery life, if you want absolutely everything "on at the same time" your simply not going to get it, not on the iPhone 4 or any phone.
blunted09 said:
wifi sharing is a bit of a bug that drains battery like crazy. If your not rooted thats definitely the screen off battery drain for sure. If there was a reason to root, just root to freeze that one rogue app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
indeed this is very true.
LouisJB said:
Yes, but when Lamborghini is parked it should use the same as the Panda! (I.e. zero.)
Google really should minimise the stuff going on when the phone is idle. Google also needs to do something about all these rouge apps that always start up services that always run in the background. They should provide some way of limiting/stopping the CPU usage of apps running in the background.
Even the official XDA forum app still servers up adverts in the background eating up your battery (and bandwidth) if you press home instead of backup to exit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not parked.
Your Engine is still running on idling mixture.
That's a difference. ;-)
LouisJB said:
Nope, the wifi sharing bug has now been fixed by Samsung in the stock KF3 release available via Kies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has not been properly addressed. Thats why its not even included in 90% of the custom roms.

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