Hi all, I've actually been lurking on the forums for about half a week before making my first post and I must say this place is a pleasant place to be a part of.
I'm facing some nitty gritty issues with my HTC Maple that I'm hoping you guys could help me out with.
1. battery life
For some strange reason, the battery life on my phone is so poor. after a full charge, I left it on standby the whole night and in the morning the battery as down to 85%! I had no new mail or messages or anything. the only thing that I used the phone for was as a morning alarm.
2. key lock
This really annoys me. after locking the keys, the screen doesn't black out rightaway and if you so much as roll the trackball a millimeter, the screen will stay well and fully lit. not only that, if the phone manages to make it to a screen blackout, and in your pocket, any of the buttons in the top row (call, home, trackball, back, end call, and the two soft keys) get pressed accidentally in your pocket, the screen will also go to fully lit glory. it's terribly annoying. anyone have a solution to this?
thanks very much in advance for the help.
battery life
concerning your battery life : do you have wifi or bluetooth enabled ? do you have a gps app running in the background ? if not, there is definitly a problem with your battery or your phone. my snap lasts for about 5 days without charge if i don't use bt, wifi or gps.
calebkzh said:
Hi all, I've actually been lurking on the forums for about half a week before making my first post and I must say this place is a pleasant place to be a part of.
I'm facing some nitty gritty issues with my HTC Maple that I'm hoping you guys could help me out with.
1. battery life
For some strange reason, the battery life on my phone is so poor. after a full charge, I left it on standby the whole night and in the morning the battery as down to 85%! I had no new mail or messages or anything. the only thing that I used the phone for was as a morning alarm.
2. key lock
This really annoys me. after locking the keys, the screen doesn't black out rightaway and if you so much as roll the trackball a millimeter, the screen will stay well and fully lit. not only that, if the phone manages to make it to a screen blackout, and in your pocket, any of the buttons in the top row (call, home, trackball, back, end call, and the two soft keys) get pressed accidentally in your pocket, the screen will also go to fully lit glory. it's terribly annoying. anyone have a solution to this?
thanks very much in advance for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
setting your network to 3G will also drain your battery..just use gprs as your primary network, and use 3g if you are really need it.
And weak signal strength will make your phone work hard and this mean your battery will drain so fast too.
How long you have the phone? do you use Official ROM or Cooked ROM? and what version?
Some times doing a battery callibration will help you.
find the post : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=5248266&postcount=696
And about the keylock, some times if you any active bluetooth or wifi connection it will also prevent the screen to be blackout..
try to install keylock app from http://maniac.fschreiner.de will help you to solve your keylock problem..and remember, always install it on your device..not on your storage card.
Thanks for the replies guys.
raphaelc said:
concerning your battery life : do you have wifi or bluetooth enabled ? do you have a gps app running in the background ? if not, there is definitly a problem with your battery or your phone. my snap lasts for about 5 days without charge if i don't use bt, wifi or gps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both switched off and I always regularly access my System Processes to end programs running in the background when I don't use them. Most of the time, it's just processes and activesync (I have PUSH email) running.
harunjo said:
setting your network to 3G will also drain your battery..just use gprs as your primary network, and use 3g if you are really need it.
And weak signal strength will make your phone work hard and this mean your battery will drain so fast too.
How long you have the phone? do you use Official ROM or Cooked ROM? and what version?
Some times doing a battery callibration will help you.
And about the keylock, some times if you any active bluetooth or wifi connection it will also prevent the screen to be blackout..
try to install keylock app from ... will help you to solve your keylock problem..and remember, always install it on your device..not on your storage card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do I only use GPRS rather than 3G. I noticed my phone seems to be switching automatically (I see G and H icons on the top of my home screen, not sure what it means).
My workplace is in a location with poor signal, so that may contribute to it. I've had the phone for about a week now, and it's running whatever ROM was loaded onto it from the factory (which should be Winmo 6.1).
Thanks for the pointers!
To switch your network manually to GSM/GPRS..
go to Setting >> Phone >> Band Select>>
for network type: set to "GSM"
for Band type : set to "auto"
to switch your network to 3G/HSDPA/WCDMA.
go to setting >> phone >> band select >>
and set your network to WCDMA
calebkzh said:
How do I only use GPRS rather than 3G. I noticed my phone seems to be switching automatically (I see G and H icons on the top of my home screen, not sure what it means).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed 3G WatchDog and its in constant use. I installed SpareParts to look at network usage and the first item is 0 and when I tap on it, it FCs. I am going to wipe and reflash the ROM later and take a look later but anyone have this problem or a solution? Or a way to see what app is using my connection constantly?
Not sure if this helps, but in Settings - Wireless & networks - Mobile networks - there is an option for 'Enable always-on mobile data' which I believe keeps your 3g running all the time.
http://androidforums.com/147137-post14.html
That is probably one of the better explanations for what disabling 3G Always on does. Seems like it's a huge battery saver.
OP: have you tested the suggestion in the article donatom3 linked?
Let us know...
My Wifes EVO is having the same issue. Her phone is contantly downloading data. I got a clue when I looked at her data useage and she clock 14GB for the partial month.
I shut down services until I found the culprit. It was "People". I checked sync setting and all and it seems they are all set to 1 hour or more intervals. When I force a close of "People", the data access stops and goes to normal even if I restart "People".
If I shut down the phone and then turn back on, then it seems to start all over again.
As a bandaid, I have set Advance Task Killer to kill the "People" service automatically every 30 min.
I would sure love for someone to find a more permanent resolution.
Can't you just remove it from the home screen, and it will stop using the data?
Its time we need a thread like this to ensure every G2 user is getting the best out of their battery.
Here are my tips:
- WiFi: Should ONLY be ON when you are actually using it!
- WiFi Sleep Policy=NEVER: it takes more time and power to seach for a Wi-Fi AP than actually staying connected to it. Settings > Wireless & networks > Wi-Fi Settings > MENU > Advanced > Wi-Fi sleep policy > Never.
- Bluetooth: Should ONLY be ON when you are actually using it!
- Use 2G when possible: If you know you are in a area with NO 3G support, than set your phone in 2G mode so it doesn't use power looking for 3G. Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile Networks > 2G only
- Haptic feedback=OFF: I personally leave this OFF because minor vibrations are annoying plus consume battery. Settings > Sound > Haptic feedback
- Audible Selection=OFF: For obvious reasons, we use the touchscreen the entire time, enabling this will case battery drain everything you make a selection in Android, App, Web. Settings > Sound > Audible Selection
- Display - BRIGHTNESS=30%: I use about 30% brightness when indoors - when I am outside I turn it up brighter using Power Control widget. Settings > Display > Brightness.
Note: You can also leave it on AUTO, which is will provide optimal bnrightness with respect to ambient light.
- Display - Animations=Your choice: I personally have ALL of them enabled, but that is scarificing a small amount of battery power. If you do NOT need the pretty transitions, you can opt for other options. Settings > Display > Animation.
- Display - Screen Timeout=30: I leave mine at 30 seconds, as I think that's ideal for most situations. Settings > Display > Screen timeout.
- Location - Wireless networks=OFF : The phone uses tower and signal strength to calculate your APPROXIMATE location, which is a waste when you have GPS. NOTE: This feature assists in fiding your location indoors. If you plan on using GPS outside on than you should leave it OFF. Settings > Location & Security
- Location - GPS=ON: It should be ON if you plan on using MAPS or Navigation. NOTE: GPS is ONLY used when system needs it! Having it Checked OFF does NOT help battery life. The only time GPS is active is when you see the icon in the notification bar. Settings > Location & Security
MAJOR CONSIDERATIONS
- DATA - (3G/HSPA+) - Hogs the most battery, even more than the brightness of the phone. The reason for that is when you are surfing, searching, texting basically anythin that requires 3G/HSPA+ data the radio, CPU, and RAM are always working to ENCODE and DECODE data going in and out the device. This process requires all 3 major components to work simultaneously which draws more power from the the battery!
- Widgets - Widgets like facebook, twitter, weather, news do have processes running in the back which draw DATA depending on your refresh options. ie, You will draw less power if your facebook/twitter updates every 3 hours instead of 1.
- APPS - Always keep in mind that APPS like messengers and others which constantly need data DO run in the background. Background apps will draw DATA AS needed, which bring it back to the point above. Always make sure that you SIGN OUT of APPS that require background data, IF you don't plan on using them.
- Live Wallpaper - yes, it looks pretty as we all know it. Sadly, the truth is that both CPU and GPU are working hard in the background to bring a smile to your face when you look at the screen. Live wallpaper will affect your battery about 5 - 10%, dpepending on which one are you using.
- Vibration - Considered important as well.... if you are a CONSTANT texter/EMAIL-er AND you dont need Vibration, than you should turn it off. Vibration actually takes more battery power than actualy sounds.
- Volume - Should be considered important because the higher the volume the more battery power it'll take. If you can do just fine with a Mid-level volume than you should set ringer to mid level!
YOU SHOULD NOT USE A TASK KILLER APP
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
^^^ That explains everything about it ^^^
I'd be happy if one of the MODs made it a sticky, so we dont get Qs or reposts
and ofcourse I will also include any tips you guys have.... please leave a comment and explain why&how you think it saves battery life. I will than add it in this list
thanks for this.
auto-brightness works for me. also, wireless network location is kind of necessary because gps won't locate you when indoors. when you're indoors you don't really need an exact location anyway because you probably know where you are. but using wireless networks to get your approximate location enables you to quickly search for things nearby.
one more thing I might add - my G2 seems to constantly switch between edge and hspa. I think I recall this being an issue for the N1 too. if I'm not mistaken, switching taxes the battery. so I set the phone to only use 3G (or only 2G depending if I want to use less battery). you have to have Anycut. then crete a shortcut to "phone info." here you can control the radio behavior. WCDMA is 3G, while GSM is 2G.
also, question: anybody ever have any luck conditioning their battery? I keep hearing that it improves battery life but it's never really helped me
Thanks for the tips! Though, what are you sources saying that WiFi sleep uses more battery? Auto-brightness does work for me, it is just very slow to make changes and tends to be on the brighter side.
most of these tips are pretty much universal for most of the current and past android phones.
LET IT BE KNOWN the main reason for battery drain (slow or fast) is APPS. They drain more than talking on the phone. They also are the main reason your screen (the next big battery killer) would stay on. In other words, don't complain about battery usage if you're using your phone constantly throughout the day @ work or home. ITS NOT GONNA BE GREAT!
joebobjoe said:
Thanks for the tips! Though, what are you sources saying that WiFi sleep uses more battery? Auto-brightness does work for me, it is just very slow to make changes and tends to be on the brighter side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As an Electrical engineer, I work with wi-fi chipsets... The process is that when wifi is "sleeping" it temporarily goes to OFF when you lock the phone. [exception: when not using apps like pandora]. So when you turn the phone back ON, WiFi turns back ON and searches for the AP you were connected to. >> this process of turning OFF, ON, and SEARCHING, requires a more battery power than staying connected. When you are connected the router and phone are exchanging information (packets) on AS needed basis like when we use 3G/2G.
i did try Auto Brightness, its a bit Bright for me, i'm gonna continue to use it for the next few days, see how I like it.
joebobjoe said:
Thanks for the tips! Though, what are you sources saying that WiFi sleep uses more battery? Auto-brightness does work for me, it is just very slow to make changes and tends to be on the brighter side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Auto-brightness seems to be buggy on the software side. The light sensor is very quick to detect changes, but the brightness doesn't drop back once it goes up. I feel that the brightness gets set to full at too low of a light level too. Using a screen protector and case does help a little by blocking some of the light, but it's not enough.
Actually, having GPS on consumes battery even when it is not used. And quite a lot. I have seen mayor battery boost after I started to turn it off when I do not use it. (on G1).
I've done some monitoring with PowerTutor and noticed that the Facebook app significantly drains the G2's battery (even when all features are disabled). If you sign out of it you should notice a 2+ hour increase in your battery life. People in my other thread have confirmed this and I think it might be a bug with facebook 1.3.2. I recommend making a link on your home page to m.facebook.com instead of using the facebook app.
I have also noticed that the e-mail app (NOT G-MAIL), when using Exchange ActiveSync, drains a good bit of battery when used with a Hotmail account (I'm not sure if other exchange servers have this problem or if the problem is in the e-mail app itself). The remedy that I have come up with for this is to make a new G-mail account, set hotmail to forward to it, and then on the gmail website go to Settings-> Accounts and Import and under the Send Mail As: section, add your hotmail account to it and set it as the default.
This way you get g-mail's lightweight mail pushing (which is just as fast as exchange) and it's transparent to you and everyone who has your hotmail address.
Besides those two tips, I recommend using PowerTutor to diagnose any abnormally low battery life issues you may have. My power usage is way down after fixing these two problems. Once in PowerTutor, go to View Application Power Usage, set Time Span to total, disable LCD monitoring, and set Sort By to Energy usage. Reset the power profiler and lock your phone and let it sit idle for about 30 mins to 1 hr, and then look at the application power usage. PowerTutor will probably be the top one, but you should also see what other applications are sapping your battery life.
Note: PowerTutor itself drains battery, so you should not constantly run it. I think it is set to start automatically so you will want to go in to settings and turn that off.
funkadesi said:
Its time we need a thread like this to ensure every G2 user is getting the best out of their battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 Sticky Please.
pmstc said:
I've done some monitoring with PowerTutor and noticed that the Facebook app significantly drains the G2's battery (even when all features are disabled). If you sign out of it you should notice a 2+ hour increase in your battery life. People in my other thread have confirmed this and I think it might be a bug with facebook 1.3.2. I recommend making a link on your home page to m.facebook.com instead of using the facebook app.
I have also noticed that the e-mail app (NOT G-MAIL), when using Exchange ActiveSync, drains a good bit of battery when used with a Hotmail account (I'm not sure if other exchange servers have this problem or if the problem is in the e-mail app itself). The remedy that I have come up with for this is to make a new G-mail account, set hotmail to forward to it, and then on the gmail website go to Settings-> Accounts and Import and under the Send Mail As: section, add your hotmail account to it and set it as the default.
This way you get g-mail's lightweight mail pushing (which is just as fast as exchange) and it's transparent to you and everyone who has your hotmail address.
Besides those two tips, I recommend using PowerTutor to diagnose any abnormally low battery life issues you may have. My power usage is way down after fixing these two problems. Once in PowerTutor, go to View Application Power Usage, set Time Span to total, disable LCD monitoring, and set Sort By to Energy usage. Reset the power profiler and lock your phone and let it sit idle for about 30 mins to 1 hr, and then look at the application power usage. PowerTutor will probably be the top one, but you should also see what other applications are sapping your battery life.
Note: PowerTutor itself drains battery, so you should not constantly run it. I think it is set to start automatically so you will want to go in to settings and turn that off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think with exchange rather than having the user select the refresh interval (ie 30 mins, 1 hour) the system is a ALWAYS ON connection which constantly checks your e-mail. As oppose to G-Mail..... they as get PUSHED to your phone by google's servers every time you get an e-mail as oppose to an ALWAYS ON system.
There is a lot of hush going on about the facebook app draining the battery... hence I addressed the widget/app parts..... as of now I think we should wait for an update to see how things change, it is a software bug.
Location - Wireless networks=OFF
By turning this off won't you in turn be turning off assisted GPS?
IE - the GPS will not have an approximate location and begin locating from there but will rather have to cycle much further to dial in and take much longer to calculate your position?
Just asking - if you haven't noticed a difference then that's cool.
I also noticed shop savvy was taking up alot of my battery drain. Looks like it was running in the background non stop. I uninstalled it.
Isn't WCDMA the HSPA+ network and CDMA the 3G? I currently have mine set to edge only since the speeds are slow all across the board in my town. Even on the phones down at the tmobile store. Hoping its just a minor tower issue in my area.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
funkadesi said:
i think with exchange rather than having the user select the refresh interval (ie 30 mins, 1 hour) the system is a ALWAYS ON connection which constantly checks your e-mail. As oppose to G-Mail..... they as get PUSHED to your phone by google's servers every time you get an e-mail as oppose to an ALWAYS ON system.
There is a lot of hush going on about the facebook app draining the battery... hence I addressed the widget/app parts..... as of now I think we should wait for an update to see how things change, it is a software bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exchange activesync should push email. I had set it to push and hotmail supposively supports this. Even if it doesn't, I tried setting it to polling and it still seemed to use a decent amount of battery life. Anyways something is wrong with activesync pushing.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
funkadesi said:
i think with exchange rather than having the user select the refresh interval (ie 30 mins, 1 hour) the system is a ALWAYS ON connection which constantly checks your e-mail. As oppose to G-Mail..... they as get PUSHED to your phone by google's servers every time you get an e-mail as oppose to an ALWAYS ON system.
There is a lot of hush going on about the facebook app draining the battery... hence I addressed the widget/app parts..... as of now I think we should wait for an update to see how things change, it is a software bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exchange uses Activesync, which pushes messages as well. The ongoing sync is for contacts and calendar items which if you do not make a lot of changes, change to off and sync then yourself manually.
markdurant said:
Exchange uses Activesync, which pushes messages as well. The ongoing sync is for contacts and calendar items which if you do not make a lot of changes, change to off and sync then yourself manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had turned all Syncing off besides mail and it was still eating battery on push mode... just something to keep in mind for Activesync users who are experiencing abnormally low battery life
raqua said:
Actually, having GPS on consumes battery even when it is not used. And quite a lot. I have seen mayor battery boost after I started to turn it off when I do not use it. (on G1).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS ONLY uses battery when it is in use. You will know this because the icon will appear when it is being used. It doesn't use battery just being on. WiFi and Bluetooth do because they have to constantly "keep their eyes open" for things like networks and bluetooth devices that want to pair/communicate.
ddgarcia05 said:
I also noticed shop savvy was taking up alot of my battery drain. Looks like it was running in the background non stop. I uninstalled it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed this too on other Android phones but not on my G2. It would just show up in Battery Use even though I wasn't using it. If you want to see what is keeping your phone awake you can use the hidden Battery History menu. The "partial wake usage" is usually a big contributor for bad standby times. You could also try changing from WCDMA Preferred to GSM Auto PRL. This helps some people.
khaosxiii said:
Location - Wireless networks=OFF
By turning this off won't you in turn be turning off assisted GPS?
IE - the GPS will not have an approximate location and begin locating from there but will rather have to cycle much further to dial in and take much longer to calculate your position?
Just asking - if you haven't noticed a difference then that's cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lot of people have been reporting that this feature as of NOW updates every hour, regardless of which services/apps need it. If you ask me, I haven't noticed any significant amount in the time it takes to get GPS location having that feature turned OFF. If you do a cold start (i.e. restart your phone) than the GPS will take a couple of more seconds to initialize for the first time use. However, from than on everytime you use the GPS it shouldn't take more than 10 seconds to acquire your position.
hah2110 said:
I noticed this too on other Android phones but not on my G2. It would just show up in Battery Use even though I wasn't using it. If you want to see what is keeping your phone awake you can use the hidden Battery History menu. The "partial wake usage" is usually a big contributor for bad standby times. You could also try changing from WCDMA Preferred to GSM Auto PRL. This helps some people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you explain more about this settings, and how would one get to this setting.... If it helps save the battery I'll add it to the list
funkadesi said:
Could you explain more about this settings, and how would one get to this setting.... If it helps save the battery I'll add it to the list
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure... At the phone menu (must be the native dialer), dial *#*#4636#*#*. Then chose Battery History and you can use the drop downs to control what you view. If you go to "phone information", you can change the preferred network type. Here you can force 3g only, etc. WCDMA Preferred fights to get a 3G signal and keep it. GSM Auto PRL uses a downloaded list to choose whether to use 3G or 2G, thereby saving battery in certain cases.
Hello everyone,
Sometimes when I use my phone the 3G connection icon disappears from my status bar. From that moment on I have no internet unless I connect to WiFi (only at home). A restart of my phone is the only option to get connection again. WiFi is always turned off except at places where I have WiFi connection. My radio is the latest, and I'm using CM7 7.1.0.1 I'm not using any other mods to strenghthen my connection.
Can anyone help me with this issue?
Thanks in advance
when the 3g connection gets lost have you tried to use the 3g2g button to turn it back on? you can set it to the power bar by going to cyanogenmod settings/interface/notification power widget/widget buttons/toggle 2g/3g. then it will be in your notifications bar. also make sure its all enables by selecting notification power widget in the notification power widget section.
heavy_metal_man said:
when the 3g connection gets lost have you tried to use the 3g2g button to turn it back on? you can set it to the power bar by going to cyanogenmod settings/interface/notification power widget/widget buttons/toggle 2g/3g. then it will be in your notifications bar. also make sure its all enables by selecting notification power widget in the notification power widget section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried this but doesn't work rebooting is the only working option so far. Sometimes my pages won't load even when I see the 3G icon (it's grey, if used it should turn blue).
hmmmm. have you thought about doing a fresh install.
try flash another radio maybe an old one ( I had the same prob and it worked for me ).
You can also do fresh install, this worked also for me, but the old radio worked better
Select the option for National roaming in the settings......
Hi there,
I installed CM10 (thanks a lot for it by the way) this morning and it seems my display sometimes just activates without reason. At first I only noticed the device being extremely warm, so I check battery usage and 92% of it have been "display". The device went from 95% to about 50% in a matter of a two or three hours with me not using the tablet at all in that time. When I checked again a little later, the display was active, although I am sure I had sent the device to sleep mode.
Also, here are two features I would like to request:
1. Please add a way to rotate the lockscreen
2. Please add Mobile Data as a switch for the quick settings (the one you get to by "clicking" the clock). It is rather annoying to go through the menu to activate / deactivate it...
The.Vortex said:
1. Please add a way to rotate the lockscreen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, found the fix for that problem... the other one still stands
And I have got an additional issue now:
my Mobile Data Connection doesn't work. My carrier is o2 Germany and the stock ROM had some issues with that carrier as well a while back. Maybe it is the same problem?
For now I am switching back to stock, without mobile data, the tablet is only half as usefull, even with the otherwise better ROM
Add your APN Setting manually and it works nice. They are in the 3G Settings. I even had to just add a almost empty one to make things wake up again.
The.Vortex said:
Hi there,
I installed CM10 (thanks a lot for it by the way) this morning and it seems my display sometimes just activates without reason. At first I only noticed the device being extremely warm, so I check battery usage and 92% of it have been "display". The device went from 95% to about 50% in a matter of a two or three hours with me not using the tablet at all in that time. When I checked again a little later, the display was active, although I am sure I had sent the device to sleep mode.
Also, here are two features I would like to request:
1. Please add a way to rotate the lockscreen
2. Please add Mobile Data as a switch for the quick settings (the one you get to by "clicking" the clock). It is rather annoying to go through the menu to activate / deactivate it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have actually experienced the opposite--battery has been outstanding since flashing the ROM. I usually turn on Airplane mode when I am not using the phone, and am certain to turn off WiFi as well. Try that and see if it makes a difference. Also, be sure you are charging with an appropriate charger!
emuandco said:
Add your APN Setting manually and it works nice. They are in the 3G Settings. I even had to just add a almost empty one to make things wake up again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that solved the 3G issue and, as far as I can tell after one day, the issue with the screen activating, as well.
For the other point, being able to activate / deactivate the mobile data easily, I found Power Toggle (can't post link, just look for it in the play market or remove the blanks: ht tps://play.google. com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc) which can add a widget to the notification area that works great
You can add more switches to the menu popping up when clicking on the clock. Thats what I did. Its in System -> Notification Bar (Or something like that, I use it in German ^^)