Since getting my EVO 4G on June 4th, I (like many others) have been doing everything possible to squeeze every additional minute from my battery as possible. Some tips&tricks have worked, while others have not.
But I think I may be onto something that may wring out more precious time from the phone. Without taping the damn thing to a PRC-77 battery (old Army guys will know what I mean).
I am using "Setting Profiles Full" to define a set of profiles in which the phone operates. Having setup different profiles, I create a set of rules that will trigger each profile based on the conditions I define.
For example:
When I am at the location "work", I know that I am going to be in a building and have no need for 4G, WiFi or GPS. So, I setup a profile called "work" that disables the unneeded functions (except the 4G on this version), when I enter the area defined for that "location".
When I leave the office, passing to another cell tower, another rule executes another profile, changing the settings I want. i.e. GPS on, Sync schedule to something other than "As Items Arrive", volume and brightness levels, etc.
Right now, I have profiles for Home, Work, Night Time (when I am sleeping and not needing GPS, WiFi, etc) and rules for At Home, Not at home, At work, Work Meetings (executed based on the meetings in my Exchange Calendar) and Sleeping.
So far today, in the past 5 hours, I have used about 20 percent of my battery with moderate usage (few phone calls, some Texas Hold'em, speed tests, Exchange and Gmail at high sync schedules). I believe that I may actually get a full day out of my battery. Fingers crossed.
I will agree that this isn't a perfect system, but it does work for me. Now if I could get the dev to implement test conditions based on speed the phone is traveling and test-disable-retest-enable/disable conditions for 4G/WiFi/GPS/BT, I could get even more out of the battery.
-GuyNoir
Whats the path to make these settings? Thanks
You can just get Locale and have the app automatically toggle your settings based on location, time, etc. Though I don't believe there is a plug in for the 4G toggle yet.
URABUS0924 said:
You can just get Locale and have the app automatically toggle your settings based on location, time, etc. Though I don't believe there is a plug in for the 4G toggle yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I originally looked at Locale and Tasker, but settled on Setting Profiles for its relative simplicity and ability to set rule conditions based on my individual calendars. But the intent of the tip is the same. To use settings profiles to make the phone a little smarter and work the way you do, when and where you do.
-GuyNoir
Related
Any way to setup a time (sleep window/quiet time) where all notification sounds will be muted? Let's say between midnight and 6am.
Ideally I would like to mute email alerts / notification alerts during this time, but keep the ringer available in case there was a call.
I'm looking for a solution to getting email alerts at 3am.
Thanks!
I had this same annoyance.
I'd recommend you check out PhoneAlarm. Lets you set exactly this sort of thing. Now my phone goes into mute mode at 121pm and back to normal at 6:45am. It also lets you have a very handy visual guide to SMS/MMS/Missed Calls/Voice Mails/Emails and more.
Not free but well worth it IMHO.
Edit: Oh yeah, and you can choose to individually mute certain alarms and not other, exactly as you want.
tyvm - I was hoping for maybe something a little less complex.. simple profile with a timer would be perfect. The phone doesn't have any built in 'profile' functionality.. pretty lame.
If you have memmaid or some other way to put in a schedule timer everyday, you could try using the Phone Profile here. I find it to be not working well with my Charmer (WM5), so I've stopped using it. Can't remmeber what's the problem.
There is also a pocketPhoneZen, which I've tried the older version, but doesn't work well with WM5 too. Perhaps the latest version will be alright. Let me know.
http://www.pocketzenphone.net/PZPForum/index.php
PhoneAlarm rocks.
It will do just what you are asking for and more.
I personally can't live without it.
Only problem with phonealarm is that it absolutely kills your battery! I installed it (primarily for the location-based profiles*) but found my battery died overnight and ended up having to do the 'scissors + USB cable' manual battery charge malarky.
* Was a great idea, but failed miserably when it turned out that my home and office are both on the same cell. :shock:
If you had a program that could perform actions based on your gps location, what would it do?
Some ideas to get the discussion started:
- Automatically stop the music when you pull into your driveway
- Set an alarm to wake you up when you get near your stop on the bus
- Set ringer to vibrate when you get to work
What else can you think of?
I'm considering writing a program to do this sort of stuff and want ideas.
very very nice and new idea
you must focus the power managment because of always running GPS
thank you
option for turn on/off phone service regarding to location and time
Nice idea. My 2 cents view... GPS signal is not achievable (for most gps units or phone with gps) if it is under a roof or shelter area.
something similar works with phonealaralm but it gets location from BTS(must be supported by your operator)
That's something I've been searching for ages... I'd use it mainly as a location-based reminder system. For example, It could notify me of things to do when I come close to certain places, eg. when I drive nearby my grocery shop it'd show "Buy chili", or "Get aspirin" when I am nearby my local pharmacy... Just a couple of examples. How many times do I go to a store and then when I leave I realize I forgot something !
it doesnt work like that. it changes for examle sound profiles - when U arrive to work changes ringing 2 vibra, when u leaving work switches on BTooth (ie for headset) and tomtom, at 22:00 switches of ringing at all & at 6:00 switches it back on. Check their web: www.pocketmax.net
clandestino_usr said:
That's something I've been searching for ages... I'd use it mainly as a location-based reminder system. For example, It could notify me of things to do when I come close to certain places, eg. when I drive nearby my grocery shop it'd show "Buy chili", or "Get aspirin" when I am nearby my local pharmacy... Just a couple of examples. How many times do I go to a store and then when I leave I realize I forgot something !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its a perfect idea for more practecaly on our devices . i think can do by linking to tasks or calender appointments .
This is really starting to piss me off. I live in Arizona. My phone is set to Arizona time but randomly, and I can't find a pattern, It'll change me to Central time, therefore changing my clock two hours ahead. If I change it manually to the correct time (the time zone part is grayed out so I can't change that), then later it'll randomly change my clock to two hours behind. I can't figure out how the hell to make it stop. I did a search on here and found out that a few people have had the same problem but those threads usually ended without any real resolution. I've already un-checked the option for automatic updates to time/time zone and it STILL does it. I got the phone when it had already been modded. It was doing it then. Since then, I've run a Task 29 and installed the stock ROM (RUU_Leo_1_5_TMOUS_2.10.531.0_Radio_Signed_15.34.50.07U_2.08.50.08_2_Ship) and none of that helped. I can't honestly figure out what else in the phone could have an effect on the time and have the ability to change it like that?
Can anyone help me figure it out? At first I thought it was due to the syncing with Windows My Phone but I took that off and it still does it. I've checked my Outlook to make sure it's on the right time zone and it is but that wouldn't have been it anyway as it changes time in between syncs rather than at the sync time.
So ... what could possibly affect the time zone setting? Any ideas?
do you live fairly close to the time zone border? could be that the phone is sometimes connected to a cell that is in one zone and sometimes a cell on the other
Nope, I'm right smack dab in the middle of Arizona. We do have our own time zone because we're special like that but it's changing me to two time zones away. Oh and I forgot to mention, even when I uncheck the time sync option, at times I'll go back in to check it and it's checked again ... as if the phone is determined to leave it checked. Other times, it'll still be unchecked. Weirdness.
Make sure you don't use the my location "feature", as it's basically proved to be a pain for most people. Click your clock and make sure you're set to your actual region in there (you may need to add the city, if you've not already done so.)
Other than that, go to the settings tab, data services and internet time sync. Make sure that "get time from the internet" is not ticked. There's no way the phone can now change your time itself, unless there's software on there that's doing it.
phone settings
also check under settings/all settings/phone/GSM services. Time Sync there means only time zone adjusting. You can turn that off too.
Do you use iGO (GPS software)?
Because iGO has a bug that reset time zone.
One more thought, check your settings to determine what is the home time zone. If it is set to something else, you might 'revert' to that time zone when you don't have a signal.
Every time I root and install a custom rom gps lock slows down and is less accurate. Why is this true even when custom rom is based on stock rom? I would like to root again but I hate slow gps. IMO anything more than 10 sec is slow. All the fixes do nothing
I do not see how people put up with it
There are probably several things worth checking.
1) Is this something that happens only immediately after the ROM install, or persists indefinitely?
The best unassisted (meaning no aGPS) GPS module will take 60-180 seconds to acquire a first fix from a "cold start" condition, depending on satellite constellation configuration at that moment. It's not really possible to improve on that without differential GPS.
So, that "10 second fix" can really only happen in one way: by having a precise time estimate and also a good previous fix.
Before the advent of aGPS (Assisted GPS) in phones, handheld or marine GPS units would engage in a kind of trickery: they would always save the last fix acquired when shutting down, and then use that as an AP (Assumed Position) the next time they were powered up. A good AP guess can dramatically lower the time to a first fix if it happens to be close to the actual location.
And it just so happens that a lot of people experience that exact usage case: they shut off their GPS in the evening, sleep overnight, wake up and power up the GPS... just a few feet feet away from their last fix. Or consider a boat owner - they turn their GPS unit off when they return to port, and the next time they depart days or weeks later, they turn it back on right at the location of the previous fix (the harbor). Voila! A rapid 10-second fix!
Now enter aGPS; the cell network can give the phone very precise time and also a position to within a mile or so. Now it doesn't matter if you shut the device off, carry it cross country, and power it back on - if it is able to talk to the local carrier, it will have the precise time and a crude but decent estimate of position in a few milliseconds. That AP (Assumed Position) collapses the time required by the GPS to produce a first fix, and Voila! A ten-second fix!
(Remember that in the US, ALL cell phones - even dumb flip phones - have a GPS chip in them to comply with national 911 regulations; the Man always knows precisely where you are if you are in cell range... even when you "turn off your GPS")
So, the "10 second first fix" is a little bit illusory - it is not something the GPS unit is capable of by itself without assistance. Turn off your phone, fly to a different part of the globe, travel to a spot with no cell service, and turn it back on again... and it will take even longer than a cold start to get a first fix... because it starts up with a horrendously wrong "first guess" AP.
The first (Verizon) Android phone I had, I remember other owners claiming that GPS would not work at all when they were in Puerto Rico (roaming on another carrier)... and made the claim that the GPS chip was so heavily dependent on aGPS, that it simply could not ever get a fix without it. (The presumption was that the local carrier did not have any aGPS servers.) Later, I had the experience of using the same phone in wilderness conditions where I would keep the phone either off or in airplane mode to (save juice), and occasionally fire up the GPS to record a special location or two. Many times - whilst outdoors with a horizon-to-horizon view of the sky (with 6 or 7 birds up), that phone would take over a minute to lock. But it would eventually do so.
It is still possible that those folks were correct about the Puerto Rico thing - in my case my prior aGPS fix might have been 60 miles away, "in town"... but those other folks may have traveled closer to 1000 miles with their phones off. So my "last fix AP" guess was crude, but far less crude than theirs. (Either that or they were just impatient, and never waited the minute or two required for a "real" unassisted GPS fix in a brand-new location)
So I mention the above because a lot of stuff has to hang together to produce that "10 second fix"; an effort to decipher where the variability is coming from has to look at a large number of possibilities.
I don't know if this device (VSGN3) uses proprietary firmware device drivers ("blobs") for the GPS end of things - but if that were the case and a ROM was ported from a different carrier and the firmware blobs were not replaced correctly, that could account for something?
As for fix accuracy, remember that the GPS "Accuracy" is not the actual positional error - if you "knew what the error was", you could simply eliminate it by subtraction. At best it is a stochastic estimator based on signal strength estimates, positional diversity of satellite constellation, individual path delay estimates, etc.
Meaning: it is an estimator of system noise. You have to take a ton of measurements of noise to say anything meaningful about it, and a whole lot more than that to compare two noise distributions with any resolution.
So I would be careful about coming to the conclusion that the accuracy is worse - it is possible that you just happened to look when the constellation was poor.
This has happened to me in several phones. Fix 10 seconds before rooting. Several minutes 3 to 10 minutes after rooting and installing a custom rom, even if rom is based on original stock rom. Adding aGPS doesn't seem to help much. It has happened to me repeatedly. AOSP roms are the worst but even custom roms that are based on samsung rom have the issue. Its like vzw has some way to screw up gps once you root
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 2
Well, if you want to try to dig in and "get to the root of it", I think the area(s) you'll end up looking in revolve around how aGPS data is obtained & cached, how ROMs (read: Google location services) cache location data**, etc.
I just stepped outside with my stock-rooted VSGN3, which always seems to lock in about 8-12s under "normal" conditions. 15 birds in view. Then I:
- put the phone in Airplane mode (no cell, no WiFi**)
- using the GPS Status app (eclipsesim), clear the aGPS state.
- using app manager, force stop GPS Status, clear cache and data (of that app)
- turn off GPS
- start up GPS Status, accept EULA, go into settings and enable "display time to first fix"
- using app manager, force stop GPS Status, clear cache only (of that app)
- turn GPS on
- launch GPS Status
Result? Time to first fix = 215 seconds... With 15 birds in view!!!
If I repeat this process, but instead of waiting more than 60 seconds, I turn Airplane mode off... and within a few seconds the aGPS date goes to 0 hrs, and 8 seconds after that I get a first fix.
**I forgot to mention something in my first post. GPS Apps are clients of the Google Location services. Which means that a location "seed" can be obtained from Google's global location database even if you are using a carrier that provides no aGPS service.
How does this work? By co-opting billions of Android users to become participants in their vast geolocation data collection operation. Your neighbor or a stranger drives by your house with their always-connected Android phone on (& WiFi, GPS on), and it reports back to Google "hey, here I am at this precise lat/lon, and I see the following WiFi SSID/AP Mac Address"... namely - *your* WiFi router. Google then plops this unique device identifier into their geolocation database. Note that this sounds rather sinister, but the reality is that you were probably the first person to "drop a dime" on your WiFi router's lat/lon, with your own Android device. You only needed to authorize Location services once for that to happen.
Now a second Android user drives by. He has his GPS "turned off", and thinks "they don't know where I am, I have my GPS off". But he has unfortunately left WiFi on***. So his phone tells Google - via the (IP) mobile data network - "hey, I don't know where I am, but my WiFi sees the following WiFi SSID&AP Mac Address". And then Google replies, "oh, I know where you are, here is your position to within a few hundred feet". (And then the Google server says to itself, "heh, I also know what Google account owner hangs out there a lot - and that he's there right now. Heh.")
So I am not trying to dispute your observations; it's just that the location seeding data that actually creates an opportunity to get a "10-second fix" can originate from a variety of places, so your task of "getting to the bottom of it" (unless you are just here to complain) is a little bit complicated - you are going to have to spend some time digging if you want a "fix" (sorry, pun intended)
Good luck
*** Note one of the recent "features" of newer versions of Android is "give us permission to scan for WiFi networks even when you think WiFi is supposed to be off" - hmmm, why do you suppose that is?
Wow, great explanation. How did you gain this familiarity?
Hi all,
I'm working on an app that sets reminders on an Android Wear Smartwatch.
I'm using the Google DataAPI to sync data between phone and watch.
Everything worked fine, till now...
The onDataChanged() method on the watch isn't called any more when I send data from my phone.
I know the data actually has to change between different calls, so I include the current time in Mills as a long variable in every post.
The problem started when I changed the clock of the phone to some time in the future. (In order to simulate the reminder alarms).
With the time set in the future, I synced the data a couple times.
But when I set the clock back to the current time, no calls are made to the onDataChanged() method.
Only when I set the clock back to the future, it correctly calls the method.
Even rebooting my emulators, doesn't solve the issue.
Any ideas where my error comes from?
I can expect my phone to keep living in the future...