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Hi everyone. I just purchased my Droid X last week, and I'm having some migrating pains coming from Windows Mobile 6.5 (HTC Touch Pro 2, Mighty ROM) over to Android. I'm wondering if the fine folks here at XDA can help me ease into the Android OS a little easier.
Here are the things I miss most about WinMo, maybe you can tell me some viable alternatives.
1) The Dialer. - Skip the next 3 paragraphs if you're familiar with HTC Sense on WinMo.
The dialer absolutely sucks compared to the TP2. Having to click different tabs juts annoys me. In the TP2, the dialer and recent calls were displayed in a single window, so if I wanted to dial Steve, I had 2 ways of doing it.
The first way was to dial 7(S), 8(T). The phone would recognize I am spelling out Steve, and list everyone who fits the ST criteria sorted by most recently called. The more I spelled out his name, the narrower the results got.
The second method was to dial his number. Pretend Steve's number is (123) 456-7890. If I dialed 123, it would sort all contacts with numbers who matched the area code, and it would narrow the results as I typed more of his phone number.
I really hate having to tap between Contacts (there is a contacts soft button next to the dialer anyway), I would just click that if I wanted to from the beginning.
Are there any dialers out there closer to the HTC Dialer?
2) Contacts.
There has to be a better contact manager. Not being able to quickly tap a letter to get to contacts is really dumb.
3) Ninja Applications.
Why do I keep seeing applications running that I never started when I load Advance Task Killer. It's really annoying when I load up an App, and go to close it, and see Skype and CityID running when I never launched either of them. I'm almost afraid to set up AIM on my phone at this point.
4) GPS.
If I keep my GPS on, my battery gets killed. With my TP2, it would only use the GPS when it needed it, so for weather updates, and Google Maps, otherwise it stayed off (or was in a suspend state). I turned the GPS on my first day and had 0 battery by around 2 (left the house at 8). Is there any way to set the GPS to only be used, as needed?
5) APPLICATIONS EVERYWHERE.
Is there anyway to sort these into folders? Also, is there anyway to add an X to the application so I can close it when I'm done with it rather than having to launch an App just to close the App I just used?
I really liked the Sense way of doing it, where I had an X in the Application, and a drop down on the home screen that would list the open Apps so I could close them 1 at a time.
6) MotoBlur.
Ugh, I really hate this UI. Has anyone had any experience with SenseX?
7) Custom Roms.
I've seen a handful of Custom ROMs, and I'm planning on putting one on when I have some time next week. I need a good way to backup contacts, after I just spent an hour linking everyone, but I'd like to know if there is a decent Apples to Apples comparison of the ROMs. They don't seem to be outlines as detailed as I'm used to.
On this topic, are there any problems setting up things like MMS once you install a Custom ROM? It was a nightmare on the TP2, but those ROMs were also made for multiple carriers, which isn't a problem with this phone, so I imagine it shouldn't be an issue.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this wall of text.
Other than the 7 things listed, I love the phone. Finding MortPlayer for Droid made my day. I'm looking forward to unlocking it's true potential, and I hope my list isn't a bunch of things I'm just going to have to adjust to.
Thank you again, have a great day.
EDIT:
Also, it's really annoying that every time I connect my phone to my PC, it launches a Verizon web site. Is there anyway to disable this?
Ok... I will take a stab at this.
FIRST, You DO NOT have to settle for the apps that come preinstalled on your phone! Just had to clear that up... Ok, here we go:
Check an app called "Dialer One" and see if that fits your needs... I haven't used it in a while... but heard it still a great replacement for the stock dialer.
Searching for a better Contact Manager is on my To-Do list.. hope someone comes in and help out a little more with that one
Don't worry about the "ninja" apps TOO much. Android Froyo has an amazing task manager and even though you SEE the apps as "running applications", they are not really RUNNING. They are more like... in a queue.. so they are ready for whenever you come back to them....but you still have to watch what the apps are doing. Some do not play nicely and hog memory. I'll link a good post here in a minute explaining that a little better.
There is a widget that can help you out here.. it's called "Power Control" put that bad boy on your homescreen and the option to turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc is at your fingertips (for even more controls... check out "Extended Controls" in the market. It cost like $1 and some change)
I'm... not really following this one. For one.. you CAN use folders on your homescreen and put whatever your heart desires in them.. and label it accordingly. I'm not sure what you mean by the "X" in the app
SenseX?? What is that?? Anyway.. as you will find out soon, 99% of the Droid X community despise MotoBlur!! You can use a different Home Launcher and not use Blur. Two of the major Home Launcher replacements are Adw.launcher & LauncherPro... which one is better is a whole different story. They are both great and only YOU can choose which one is best. There many threads comparing them and they run neck to neck mostly. I'm on LauncherPro personally
Custom Roms?? Eh.. I personally do my own developments and theming on my phone and do not use them... there not really all what they cracked up to be because whatever they have on them... I can do myself. So I'm not much of an help on that one... Somebody else maybe will chime in.
P.S-To fix the Verizon thing, go to the "M" in the taskbar at the bottom of your screen by the clock on your PC and right click it.. there should be an option saying to tell it to NOT send you to the Verizon site when you connect your phone. I don't know the EXACT wording of the option menu.. I'm on a mac
Thank you for your reply.
I will check out the Dialer. Thank you very much.
Darn!
A friend of mine told me that, but it's hard for me to not be a bit OCD about background Applications. I've been a Windows user most of my life, and coming from WinMo, background apps really kill performance.
More than anything, my issue is with things like Skype loading when I do not want to be signed in. I want auto-login when I launch the Application, but I don't want the application loading when it feels like it, and me getting a random IM or call from someone when I didn't even tell it to log in.
It also bothers me that Amazon MP3, something I've never even loaded, has turned itself on. It makes me feel like I don't have control over my phone.
I do have a widget that lets me turn these things on and off, I was just hoping for a way to set it up so that the GPS is "pinged" and only used as needed, and turned back off. My TP2 did this, and was a great battery saver. Having to turn the GPS on and off just to get a weather update based on location is a bit annoying.
I didn't mean on the home-screen, I meant in the application list. So when I hit the application list, I can sort them by "Games", "Google", etc.
For the "X", what I mean is in reference to closing an App. In WinMo, the top right of the screen had an X, and if I touched that X, the app would close. Now, once I exit the App, I need to use an application killer to close said App.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764840
Looks like Sense for the Droid X. In Beta now, so I'm waiting for a stable release.
Really, it's just to get rid of bloatware and take advantage of some performance optimizations that have been made.
A couple of other things that have come up.
I need a better keyboard. One with arrows so I can navigate text. Touching isn't precise enough, and I don't have a stylus with this phone. Today I voiced a text message, and I went to correct an error, but I couldn't get the curse to go in the exact spot I needed it to go into. My old OSK had arrow soft-keys I could tap to navigate with.
Also, I notice when I pull my phone out of the leather pouch I have, when I hit the power button it comes up in landscape, and the accelerometer doesn't pick up on the turn. I need to turn the screen off and turn it back on.
Finally, I'm having extender issues, but I think I need to call VZW for that. When leaving my house, I can't reconnect to Data without a power-cycle.
Thank you for the reply.
my .02
3. Break yourself from the taskiller need. If you have programs allways running that you dont need, ie skype or city id. Root and delete those SOB's. you can look around and there are plenty of articles of why not to use them. Android is a linux based os. Linux is far supirior to Win in memeory management. You dont need task killers.
4. if your gps is turned on its not always running. It only runs when needed. Is by chance your wifi on? that will run all the time by searching for access points. if not you might have maps running, make sure to always back out of maps and not just hit home. That way it closes and doesnt just run in background. (actually goes for most apps)
5 organization- you cant sort the app drawer, you can hide apps (just the icons) using launcher pro, not sure if ADW has that option. Useing folders or the app "app manager" is your best bet
extra. swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.
I came from winmo- so I know all about your "X" pains. But I say forget about a task killer or even killing tasks (except maybe maps and navigation). I did a little reading about pros and cons and decided to try the "no task killer" approach. I haven't had any problems. the task killer is a pain anyways. you can kill apps all day long and there are a bunch of them that are just going to repopulate themselves in like 5 minutes. I just said, "fegetaboutit". My phone runs great.
if you open the dialer and are on the contacts tab just long press the menu button (the physical button) and your keyboard will pop up. start typing and contacts will appear.
I like "Zeam Launcher". There is a thread here on XDA. I have Launcher Pro+ -but actually liked Zeam so much I use it. Just different preferences though.
that's all i got for now.
Thank you for your replies.
I will try to be a bit less OCD regarding my tasks. I did kill a couple of services of applications that kept starting, like Skype.
I'll check out those launchers and see if I like them better.
Any good stock widgets?
EDIT:
So I just tried to check my location on Google Maps with GPS turned off, and it says I need to turn it on.
How do I set it up to use the GPS as needed?
I leave location services on (GPS)
My theory is that applications will only enable GPS when they need them, so if you have a application running that wants GPS, it will use it.
The GPS icon appears in the notification bar when I'm using something that is using GPS, so I assume its only actually on when this icon is present. Leave it on in settings just makes is available.
Any widget or application that has a setting for manual location (Weather, IMDB) I use it, and disable GPS location, to keep GPS from running all of the time.
To exit an app you are using, either hit the back button or the home button.
If you are worried about "ninja" apps using cpu and memory, you can try a minfree adjustment application such as AutoKiller Memory Optimizer. It fine tunes android's inner memory manager to be a bit more aggressive in closing applications.
I use another Rom (rubiX, link in sig) that already has minfree adjusted (according to the author) and it does help in keeping the X smooth. It also removes all (well most) of Blur and default installed apps as well, so you start with a very clean X.
The default home screen (blur) is crap. I would also suggest replacing it with LauncherPro or ADW
For removing the pre-installed applications. Follow this guide
http://www.droidxforums.com/forum/d...ta-3-ways-super-easy-safe-safe-easy-free.html
Some apps in /system/app/ are not named what they are
(IE. mynet.apk = 3g Hotspot)
For a keyboard anywhere, you can hold the menu button, and it will pop up.
Swype is really a few keyboards. Swype from the icon to the SYM button, it will give you the edit panel (arrows, home, end, copy, paste, etc...) press the ABC button to go back.
Swype from the icon to the f key, it will turn into a number pad. Press the ABC button to go back to the normal keyboard.
Run the tutorial on Swype too, it will give you some very nice pointers on it's use. I used Swype on windows mobile and I found out a few things about Swype I never knew.
Also, as for touching where your cursor is in a text field, if you press and hold, and magnifying bubble will pop up. This makes moving the cursor easier
Did you find a dialer yet? I saw these posted and thought about this thread...
http://www.appbrain.com/app/kz.mek.DialerOne
http://www.appbrain.com/app/acontacts/kz.mek.aContacts
Haven't had a chance to try them yet.
bad4u6669 said:
.... swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG. thanks. been loving swype but that has been driving me nuts. Thanks for the info.
Thank you for the replies.
One of the things I liked about my TP2, is I could leave location services on, and it used very little battery.
I guess Weather Bug just SUCKS battery out like crazy. I turned on the GPS last night for something, and decided to see how well it did with battery today. It turns out that some grocery shopping app I wanted to try was sucking my GPS dry (no idea why)... yet another "ninja app" that just started up because it felt like it (this kind of **** really makes me , programs should only start up when I tell them to, not when a component of my phone turns on).
I live in an apartment that has really bad signal (I actually have a Network Extender), so that might be my GPS constantly trying to update when I'm at home killing my battery.
WeatherBug is set to update every hour, so I'm going to see what happens tomorrow with the GPS turned on. It would be nice if I could just set it and forget it, not need to turn it off every time I come home.
Thank you for the contact program, I might check it out. I've been pretty content since I got DialerOne and found out I can get the keyboard up by holding the options.
I tried LauncherPro, and I LOVED it at first, and my phones performance was fantastic!
Then I found out it charges me to resize widgets... WTF is that crap?
I'm going to try some other launchers and see what happens. I'm getting the hang of it, but I still do not like things starting up on their own. Regardless of memory management, my phone should not just decide to boot up programs on it's own.
the phone only does what the app or the user tells it to do. If theirs an app that you don't like, delete it.
And complaining that launcher pro charges for every thing it offers is ridiculous. Every thing it offers for free already ( 7 home screens, 10 rows and columns, unreal speed improvement, etc. ) then to get the extras its less than most people throw away on a daily basis. Where as this three dollars its money that pays off on a daily basis
Adw and lp should be paid apps from the start for all they offer.
You have 3 options, write your own program, use the stock launcher, find a free one.
-end rant
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
I usually leave my location setting on "Use Wireless Networks" and don't bother with GPS other than for maps and navigation. Works fine for all of my other apps that need a location (e.g., weather).
There are apps out there that can turn GPS on and off automatically when you run a particular app, such as Tasker (which can do a whole host of things, but that is one one of them). Tasker is a paid app, but there might be something free out there that does something similar.
Also, I agree with the previous poster re: Launcher Pro. It's really a fantastic home launcher and well worth a few bucks to support the developer. The LP Plus widgets are also a lot better than any of the Blur widgets.
In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.
EtherBoo said:
In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to look into RockPlayer. That's the only one I found so far that decodes ALMOST anything on the spot.
The "Ninja Applications" are running because Android is a true multi tasking OS.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I hope necromancy isn't frowned upon on this board, so my apologies if it is.
I found a new problem because I had the nerve to attempt to update a contact photo after Facebook had saved it's picture to it.
This is especially frustrating because I'm going to want to override a lot of these photos very soon.
Apparently, updating the photo updates the Google Contact photo, but the phone only displays the Facebook photo. This is a bug confirmed by Moto that will be fixed in a future update.
This leaves me with 2 options.
De-Sync FB, which I'm not thrilled about only because I like getting the most recent status update prior to receiving a call, and There is a lot of info that FB fills in for me.
Copy down all the FB info, and fill it in manually. With Google Contacts not being the best contact manager (I'm very OCD about uniformity in the way things are formatted), I really don't want to do this.
So I figure I need a new contact manager. I tried AContacts, and it crashed every time I tried to edit a contact.
I would love something like the HTC one that comes with WinMo, or maybe even the iPhone one.
I would be willing to pay for this.
P.S.
I'm now rooted and running a custom ROM (zapX I think it's called). I'm loving my phone much more now. My battery life has skyrocketed, and my performance is amazing now. Very iPhone smooth (one thing I was always jealous of, and I hate the iPhone).
There seems to be quite a lot of profile/audio managers on the market so I'm looking for recommendations from people who've tried and tested some.
The main use I want one of these apps to perform is auto changing/scheduling profiles at certain times of day. For example, at work my mobile has to be on silent but when I leave work I want to be able to hear calls. Then when I get my much needed beauty sleep I want it to set automatically to another profile at a set time. I want it to also recognise weekends when my phone doesn't have to be on silent.
All suggestions welcome.
Well, no feedback yet so I thought I'd dl a few of the free ones from the market and try them out. The one with the best UI, custo, functionality and profile management appears to be Profile Scheduler.
I've deleted all the others (about 6 of them) from my phone now because after testing Profile Scheduler I find that it works excellently, so far. I am going to find this invaluable.
I'm a user of AutoHotKey on my PC, and I love the little quirky scripts I can write to get rid of daily annoyances or do repetitive tasks.
I'm assuming Tasker is somewhat similar for Android. I've heard a bit about it, but because of the price-tag, never really indulged.
Who around here uses the app, can't live without it, etc?
What types of things do you rely on it for?
Thanks!
I really don't condone stealing, but find Tasker apk *hint* google*hint* test it out see does it meet your needs/wants and if you like purchase the legal app.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
I use it for a profile switcher and to toggle between 3g/WiFi when I enter/leave the home or office (each has an Airave).
When we had the Time Without Signal problem and toggling Airplane Mode was the quick fix, I set Tasker to toggle whenever I booted the phone or took it off the charger.
My kids have some geo-fencing text reminders set up for them as well for when they leave school.
Here's a quick link to some of the different tasks you can set up. Some quick Googling and you can pretty much find the script for whatever you need. I love it because one app can handle the job of 5-10 different apps, although sometimes the scripting can be frustrating.
http://tasker.wikidot.com/profile-index
Tasker
I use tasker for quite a few things. First and foremost is my pattern lock. I hate putting it in all the time at home, so I have tasker disable the pattern lock when I'm on my own wifi. I still keep the slide unlock active because I like the shortcuts on the lock screen.
I also use it for music. So when I plug in a 3.5mm plug without a mic it starts my music player and sets the volume. It also disables the lock screen which is insecure but when I'm driving or running I don't want to mess with a lock screen. When I'm casually listening to music, I have a headset which has a mic attached. Tasker can differentiate and therefore starts up my music app and sets the volume to a non-earsplitting level. For this I leave the lock screen active.
Lets see, when I start any app that uses GPS it automatically activates the GPS and polls my position. I have it automatically manage the screen brightness depending on the time of day. I also have it go to airplane mode if the battery is <5%. If I'm feeling lazy I have it manage when my wifi is on based on location. I have several locations (home, work, coffee shop) that I typically connect while I'm there and turn off wifi when I leave. I don't always use this because it's not 100% reliable.
That's about all I use it for. I can post instructions if anyone is interested.
I went ahead and purchased the app. Pretty cool so far. I'm interested in the profiles you are using, it sounds like you know what you are doing.
Thanks!
Sent from my Touchpad using XDA
Microsoft just introduced a similar app that's free. On{x} I think it's called.
I used to have it set wifi based on network location, but that wasn't always reliable. I use it to set volume levels depending on time, so that way it turns the phone down for work, and then cranks it up after work. I generally always have it making noise on email and phone calls, because I don't always feel it vibrate.
One other neat one I use is to put it in vibrate mode whenever I place the device face down. That way when I'm in a meeting, I take out my phone and just put it face down on the conference table...instant mute. When I pick it up, the sound comes back on. Also handy for charging at night, I just put it face down for the night and everything gets silenced.
I also have a profile that activates based on time and location...so now I don't have to worry about the "loudest cellphone in the world" -- one that goes off in church! :angel:
Only limited by your imagination, I found a lot of good ideas on the tasker site.
MeetFace said:
I went ahead and purchased the app. Pretty cool so far. I'm interested in the profiles you are using, it sounds like you know what you are doing.
Thanks!
Sent from my Touchpad using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's how I have some of my tasks setup. I made a profile that activates when wifi connected (state->net->wifi connected->fill in whatever you need) and then have two tasks associated with it that I called "keyguard off" and "keyguard on". Keyguard on is my exit task. For Keyguard off go to (display->keyguard->set off) repeat for keyguard on. If you want to have the slide unlock to stay on you have to use a plugin called secure settings. Otherwise it's a similar process you just navigate to "plugins" instead of "display". From there it takes you into secure settings app which is easy enough to figure out.
For the music stuff: I made a profile one for a 3.5mm with a mic and one without (new profile->state->hardware->headset plugged in). Then I made a task which is assigned to the one without a mic, set the keyguard off like above then go to app->load app->your music app of choice. Then set the volume audio->media volume->whatever volume you want. Add an exit task that reactivates the keyguard I just use my wifi task for this. Same process for the one with the mic except I have it go to a lower volume.
To use GPS you probably have to use that secure settings plugin again depending on the rom you are on (im on AOKP and have to use it). Make an new profile (application->choose all apps with gps that you want to trigger this). Make a task (plugin->secure settings->edit->gps->pick state) then add another (misc->get location). Make an exit task that disables gps.
Finally, for low battery make a profile (state->power->battery level->whatever level) and associated task (net->airplane mode->on) and an exit task which turns it off.
There's plenty more that tasker can do, hope this helps you figure it out a little. I mostly just bumbled around the app until I found some useful things plus their website is full of good ideas.
I hope everyone doesn't mind if I add another question to the thread.
I'm interested in using Tasker as well, but I'm concerned that the benefits of automation will cost me in battery life. How much has you battery life changed using tasker, if at all?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
amateurhack said:
I hope everyone doesn't mind if I add another question to the thread.
I'm interested in using Tasker as well, but I'm concerned that the benefits of automation will cost me in battery life. How much has you battery life changed using tasker, if at all?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you could use the Battery Monitor Widget from the play store (the one with all the graphs and stuff), and use it to see how much the app is using. I doubt it's a lot but I know that it is SOME. The more apps running (and updating/logging) in the background the more battery you are using. Also, someone correct me if I'm wrong but, your phone has to "wake" every time an app needs to do something (update/log)
It does use power but nothing extreme in my experience. If you're using it for setting basic sound profiles and the like it won't be noticable really. You should look at it the other way though, taskers power of automating stuff like knocking off wifi and data connections when you dont need them will probably save battery life.
masaidjet said:
I really don't condone stealing, but find Tasker apk *hint* google*hint* test it out see does it meet your needs/wants and if you like purchase the legal app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the record, you can download a fully functional week-long trial from the dev's website for free.
I do a fair amount with Tasker, but one thing that I haven't seen many other people do is enable/disable battery-draining apps in certain contexts.
For example, I have a power-saving profile that disables a set of apps and services that would otherwise run 24/7. I also use have a profile which lets me run and disable AirDroid in response to a Google Voice text, so I can manage my phone from my laptop without ever touching it.
On my Nook, even small wakelocks add up over time when the battery life would otherwise be measured in days, so I use Tasker to disable just about any app that likely to throw a wakelock while I'm not using the device. Because I'm forgetful I also have profiles to disable wifi when the device goes to sleep, and to email me when the battery is getting low so I remember to charge it.
Finally, I also have generic profiles to lock and reply with GPS coordinates in response to text, turn volume to max and make noise in response to text, unlock when connected to home wifi, and unlock when my alarm goes off so that I don't have to enter my passcode and scan the alarm-silencing QR code I put up in the bathroom.
Let me know if you want more info on any of the above!
Would you mind posting the low battery profile?
I'd like to set that up on my TP.
Thanks!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app
Sure, it's not too complicated although it does take a bit of setting up. To start with, in order to enable/disable apps you must use either the SecureSettings plugin with an updated su binary, or use adb commands. I choose to use SecureSettings, since that way I don't have to look up package names.
To disable groups of packages, I first make several individual tasks disabling each one. Then, I make another task which turns off wifi, 4g, and GPS. Next, I make another task which runs appropriate package-disabling tasks for that grouping, as well as the wifi/4g/GPS off task. Finally, I put an icon to run that group task on my homescreen.
Obviously, you'll have to figure out what apps/services you may want to disable for yourself.
Note that you could just as easily put all the package disabling actions in one task, thereby obviating the need to nest tasks. I just did it this way since that's what seemed natural to me, given that I have a few different groupings.
Links to XML files for the wifi/GPS off task, an example package disabling task, and a low power consumption master task.
amateurhack said:
I'm interested in using Tasker as well, but I'm concerned that the benefits of automation will cost me in battery life. How much has you battery life changed using tasker, if at all?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same concerns when I purchased Tasker, and I've found the battery life impact to be undetectable by me. Mainly, that's because tasker runs based on states, and it doesn't constantly poll the OS for what state it's in.
For instance, I have a task that puts my device on silent when it's face down. From how I understand it works, tasker tells the OS "let me know when you are face down" and then pretty much goes to sleep. The OS handles that, and when it goes face down, it tells tasker "ok, i'm face down now" and then tasker executes its script.
So, tasker really doesn't impact battery life, but if you have it switch on high-drain stuff, then yep, you'll see a difference, but that's what you've set it to do, not the app itself.
HTH,
Michael
I've been very thankful for Tasker. I've used it for over a year now, and its one that I continually use and keep.
A few different ways I use is to set the sound profile depending day and time. It auto sets to vibrate at church and auto sets to sound off overnight. But if certain contacts call (mom, dad, wife, etc) the ringer turns on.
I also use it to turn on wifi when I'm home. Thankfully, I'm on Sprint with unlimited data. But I'm sure on other carriers, data usage may be a concern and using wifi at home could save that data usage.
Another cool way I use it is if I'm driving and recieve a text message, it will auto-reply with a text saying "Texting while driving is bad. I'm traveling at 47.3 mph currently. I'll reply later when it's safe". I know that's alittle overboard, but I think it's nifty.
My previously phone was just a low budget Xperia X8 but I was used to only have to charge it each 2/3 days with normal usage.
So, after buying the Moto G 2nd Gen and having to charge it twice a day in the first days of usage (heavy usage I must say), I started to try to find ways how I could optimize the battery of my new phone.
I started reading about how what changed with newer versions of Android, the issues lollipop has and the impact services and apps have on the battery life in current versions of Android with the technologies our phone has.
I started looking into tasker and many other apps, and thinking in rooting my phone to have even more control over the battery usage, but even without rooting, I manage to make it last 3 days with normal usage (more than 7 hours on screen time heavy usage).
At that time I was like "Great! Now I only have to charge it once every 3 days just like my old Xperia X8". But then it came to me, my smartphone wasn't actually that smart after all the tweaks I had to make to save its battery.
At that point I started to do lots of tests to check what's really draining the battery and after all those tests now I have a battery that lasts 2/3 days with normal usage while having a true smartphone!
This is what you should do:
Note: I have the model XT1068 and I'm using two sim cards with it, and you'll need the app tasker for a crucial step but you will NOT need root.
_______________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU SHOULD DISABLE:
- Disable "Ok Google" detection -> big battery drainer
- Disable the following apps:
Assist
Motorola Alert
Motorola Contextual Services
Motorola Migration
Motorola One Time Init
Motorola Notification
HP print service (you already have google cloud print service)
Motorola Init Services
Help
Motorola One Time Init
You should also disable all the google apps you don't want to use.
- Disable Wifi always on network search
- Disable Wifi every time you are not using it
- Disable Auto-Sync (you'll have auto-sync back in a more smart and efficient way using tasker)
- Disable Ambient Notifications (you already have the notification led to warn you about incoming notifications)
- Disable Audio Effects
- Temporarily enable auto-sync so you could manually disable all the apps you don't need to be synced (ex.: Google Plus, Drive, etc). Disable auto-sync after you are done with the changes.
- Disable all those reports being automatically sent (sorry developers, but that really adds up to the battery usage with multiple apps doing it)
_______________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU SHOULD ENABLE TO KEEP YOUR PHONE SMART
(Unless you don't ever use it)
- Enable Bluetooth (Bluetooth 4.0 consumes nearly 0 battery while not paired to a device, even paired it consumes little power with newer devices)
- Enable Mobile Data
- Enable location in high precision mode (it will activate GPS when an app needs it)
- Enable Auto- Brightness (adjust the brightness slider to 60% or less after that, the lower the better)
- Enable notification light
_______________________________________________________________________
SETTINGS AND TIPS
- If you don't have a really strong 3g sinal switch to 2g mode
- Set the screen to go off after 30 second or 1 minute
- Use a magnetic flip cover so it automatically awakes your device and also automatically makes the screen go off when you close it
- Do not use apps known for their heavy impact on battery !VERY IMPORTANT! ( Use Chrome to access facebook, don't let your online messaging apps be always on, etc.)
- Don't use wifi with a bad signal, well, better said don't use any network with a low signal or else your battery will drain fast. Enable Air plain mode if your network signal is really low.
- Keep your internal storage with >600MB of free storage
- Use only simple methods of unlocking your phone (Don't use anything that uses location services, camera, microphone, etc.)
- Do not let apps being always on using network services like GPS (adjust the app setting so it only uses when you use the app)
- Get rid of any app you installed but don't need
_______________________________________________________________________
Tasker: Making your phone more efficient
- Create a profile that goes on while you have AC power connected and when it goes on it enables Wi-fi and Auto-Sync, when it goes off it disables those features.
- Create another profile that repeats from the time you wake up until the average time you go to bed, and make it repeat every 2 or more hours (depends on your sync needs). What it should do is enable auto.sync, wait 3 minutes, then disable auto-sync
_______________________________________________________________________
Congratulations now you have a true smartphone with a good battery life!
I think I didn't forget about anything, but if I did I will edit this post.
Actually, disable any unused or unwanted app and install Greenify to force quit the rest of these apps you can't disable.
ksuuk said:
Actually, disable any unused or unwanted app and install Greenify to force quit the rest of these apps you can't disable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For Greenify to work as intended you need to have root access on your device. For those with root access Greenify can be a great way to freeze apps you really need but are programmed to be always running in the background. Without root access Greenify to work automatically consumes a lot of battery because it needs to turn on your screen while the device is asleep.
I decided to not talk about root methods to keep this guide accessible to everyone
rbmaster said:
For Greenify to work as intended you need to have root access on your device. For those with root access Greenify can be a great way to freeze apps you really need but are programmed to be always running in the background. Without root access Greenify to work automatically consumes a lot of battery because it needs to turn on your screen while the device is asleep.
I decided to not talk about root methods to keep this guide accessible to everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ksuuk said:
Actually, disable any unused or unwanted app and install Greenify to force quit the rest of these apps you can't disable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*Duplicate Thread*
The guide how to get the best possible battery life on your moto g deals with all this and goes into advanced and root methods to reduce battery consumption on your device
Sent from my Moto G XT1068 using Tapatalk
Duck86 said:
*Duplicate Thread*
The guide how to get the best possible battery life on your moto g deals with all this and goes into advanced and root methods to reduce battery consumption on your device
Sent from my Moto G XT1068 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a duplicate thread. In your guide the goal is to have the best battery life possible but for that it compromises a lot of the features that makes the phone smart, it compromises convenience of use for every 0.01% of battery life possible.
I read it and it's a well written guide but with a very different goal. The goal of this guide is to have a good battery life while having most of the smart features available.
Sorry, you have too much conflicting info in this guide. Having auto brightness enabled certainly doesn't make it a smart phone and definitely not set at 60%. Suggesting having data always on isn't always a good move, especially for those with limited data.
Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk
Tel864 said:
Sorry, you have too much conflicting info in this guide. Having auto brightness enabled certainly doesn't make it a smart phone and definitely not set at 60%. Suggesting having data always on isn't always a good move, especially for those with limited data.
Sent from my GT-P5210 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Auto = automatically, that's a smart feature, it adjusts the brightness of the screen automatically. Nowadays, the way it is programmed makes it way more battery efficient than before. Adjusting it at a maximum of 60% is just a guideline, but 60% auto brightness is not 60% brightness., the value is just a guideline for the auto brightness algorithm.
About the data always on, having data on doesn't require that much extra power, it only drains more power IF some application requests data. While not the most efficient solution, in Android Lollipop there's no better way to keep feature like auto.sync on without having the data always on, unless you have root access. If you have root access you can set up tasker to automatically enable and disable mobile data when the phone tries to auto.sync and/or when the screen is on.
As I said previously, this is a guide for everyone, no root access required, and the goal is to have the phone with as many smart features on as possible while retaining a good enough battery life. You can have all those features on and still have a good battery life, is it worth to disable most of the features of our phones just to gain a little extra battery life? I mean, if you really want to make your phone's battery last weeks just turn it off ^^'. Now seriously, I have auto-sync for all the features I need, I have location services apps all running fine, I can pair my Bluetooth devices just by turning them on, I can simply open the gps app in my car and it will get signal without me doing anything else, I can take a picture and immediately send to someone over the internet without having to do anything else, and many many other features I have that I wouldn't if I just turned everything off to get a little extra battery. Not worth for me, I want a smartphone, I want to take it out of my pocket and having it ready to use.
Follow this guide and check the difference in battery life it makes, than tell me if it is not worth. Well, for certain profiles I can see it not being worth, I mean if you use your phone primarily for gaming or if you don't use almost any of the feature a smartphone has, I can totally see the point in having them turned off.
Edit: Forgot to talk about the limited data plans. I have a very limited data plan, 500MB per month but communication apps don't have a limit on my data plan (facebook, skype, what's app, snapshot, etc). I never used the 500MB of the mobile data, when wi fi is available I use it and only transfer large files over wifi, so as you can see even 500MB is enough to browse the web and sync my services. If you don't have a data plan or yours not enough for you then you have to choices: 1- Get a data plan suitable for your needs; 2- Disable Mobile Data. Back to the guide, there's people too with limited data plans in their home connections, using wifi, should I tell everyone to have wi fi always turned off because of those people?
If your data plan has limitations, that's something you have to take in mind but has nothing to do with the phone itself. If I have no money for a vehicle, I have to travel by foot, should I tell everyone to travel by foot? I hope you get my point and sorry for the wall of text.
rbmaster said:
It's not a duplicate thread. In your guide the goal is to have the best battery life possible but for that it compromises a lot of the features that makes the phone smart, it compromises convenience of use for every 0.01% of battery life possible.
I read it and it's a well written guide but with a very different goal. The goal of this guide is to have a good battery life while having most of the smart features available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, not trying to argue with you here, I'm just saying that everything you've mentioned here is also in my guide. People can pick and choose what they want from it.
rbmaster said:
I have auto-sync for all the features I need, I have location services apps all running fine, I can pair my Bluetooth devices just by turning them on, I can simply open the gps app in my car and it will get signal without me doing anything else, I can take a picture and immediately send to someone over the internet without having to do anything else, and many many other features I have that I wouldn't if I just turned everything off to get a little extra battery. Not worth for me, I want a smartphone, I want to take it out of my pocket and having it ready to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can do everything you just said on my phone. I haven't sacrificed any smart capabilities, but I also get 3 days usage from my phone In fact, with tasker, I don't have to do any switching on or off. It does it all for me. That's the point of it, and why it is such a good battery saver.
Sent from my Moto G XT1068 using Tapatalk
Duck86 said:
Dude, not trying to argue with you here, I'm just saying that everything you've mentioned here is also in my guide. People can pick and choose what they want from it.
I can do everything you just said on my phone. I haven't sacrificed any smart capabilities, but I also get 3 days usage from my phone In fact, with tasker, I don't have to do any switching on or off. It does it all for me. That's the point of it, and why it is such a good battery saver.
Sent from my Moto G XT1068 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Following your guide you get: No no bluetooth, no network connection during the night, no location services, no auto-brightness, no possibility to download files over wifi while the screen is off, etc. Of course people could read it and chose only what they want, but then they wouldn't be following your guide.
What I suggest in this guide is a very different approach from yours. In this guide, the goal is to have the most features on as possible, while having a good battery life. The goal of your guide is to have the maximum battery life while the phone is on while maintaining basic functionality.
Different approach, different goal, I don't see how this can be seen as a duplicate.
Edit: Oh, and to follow your guide there's the need to have root access.
rbmaster said:
Following your guide you get: No no bluetooth, no network connection during the night, no location services, no auto-brightness, no possibility to download files over wifi while the screen is off, etc. Of course people could read it and chose only what they want, but then they wouldn't be following your guide.
What I suggest in this guide is a very different approach from yours. In this guide, the goal is to have the most features on as possible, while having a good battery life. The goal of your guide is to have the maximum battery life while the phone is on while maintaining basic functionality.
Different approach, different goal, I don't see how this can be seen as a duplicate.
Edit: Oh, and to follow your guide there's the need to have root access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you need network services when you are asleep? Bluetooth is available whenever you want, just use tasker to automate it. Similarly, use tasker to automate location services. I clearly say in the guide that if you *need* auto brightness you can adjust it to your own specification using gravitybox. Its perfectly easy to download files when the screen is off, just change the the threshold in tasker. Admittedly, I didn't mention that, but If that's the only problem, I can add that into the tutorial
You don't need root access for all of the tutorial. I have a whole section devoted to basic ROM settings, which has everything you have in your op. Plus tasker and greenify sections that don't necessarily need root for everything.
But whatever, you know best.
Sent from my Moto G XT1068 using Tapatalk
Duck86 said:
Why do you need network services when you are asleep? Bluetooth is available whenever you want, just use tasker to automate it. Similarly, use tasker to automate location services. I clearly say in the guide that if you *need* auto brightness you can adjust it to your own specification using gravitybox. Its perfectly easy to download files when the screen is off, just change the the threshold in tasker. Admittedly, I didn't mention that, but If that's the only problem, I can add that into the tutorial
You don't need root access for all of the tutorial. I have a whole section devoted to basic ROM settings, which has everything you have in your op. Plus tasker and greenify sections that don't necessarily need root for everything.
But whatever, you know best.
Sent from my Moto G XT1068 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand what's your point. You go into another thread (this thread) and start to make comparisons between your guide and this guide. They are two different guides and in no point I refer to your guide. This is just another guide, and the goal of the guide is clearly explained in the OP. This is not a contest to see who's guide is better as far as I know.
And I'll repeat one more time, to make more advanced automation tasks using tasker (like enabling and disabling network access) you need root access, specially in Android Lollipop. You also need root access for greenify and similar apps. This guide is for everyone, no root required for anything. People see it, and follow if they like. After following they check how their phone is performing. If it's performing to their expectations great, if not they will probably check other guides until they find something they like..
About Bluetooth, I suggest you to read first on how Bluetooth 4.0 works first before arguing about it. You can start here, in the good old Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy
rbmaster said:
For Greenify to work as intended you need to have root access on your device. For those with root access Greenify can be a great way to freeze apps you really need but are programmed to be always running in the background. Without root access Greenify to work automatically consumes a lot of battery because it needs to turn on your screen while the device is asleep.
I decided to not talk about root methods to keep this guide accessible to everyone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have rooted phone and I'm using manually Greenify & Greenify shortcut hibernate & lock to shut down apps, which sometimes automatically starts. As I don't play games, listen music and chat, phone is quite usable with this setup. With KitKat (I think most is the same with LolliPop) I made a list of the disabled apps:
android live wallpapers
aonlt
assist
audio effects
basic daydreams
bowsermessage
bubbles
chrome (using boat browser)
com.android.provider.partber
com.android.wallpaper.holospirit
com.motorola.mesh
com.motorola.multisimsettings
com.motorola.interfaceperm
com.qualcomm.qcom_qmi
configupdates
cqatest
devicemanagement
email (using profimail)
echange services
face unlock
fm radio
gallery (using quickpick)
gmail
google korean keyboard
google launcher config (using apex launcher)
google one time init
google partner setup
google play movies
google play kiosk
google play music
google play games
google play books
google hindy input
google keyboard (using multiling)
google voice
google pinyin input
goole ++
hangouts
help
hp print service plugin
html viewer
iwnn ime
iwnn keyboard
magic smoke wallpapers
market feedback agent
motorola alert
motorola boot services
motorola checkin
motorola contextual services
motorola migrate
motorola notification
motorola one time init
music visulaization wallpapers
oma client provisioning
phasebeam
photo screensavers
picasa uploader
cloudprinting
preset
print spooler
setupwizard
setup
talkback
trusted devices
youtube
I tried this guide and I can confirm that there's is a noticeable increase in battery life. My phone isn't rooted, and all my attempts to keep battery consumption as low as possible in the past resulted in having a phone by far less "smart" than it is now. Many thanks rbmaster .
I really couldn't follow that other guide there were too many applications it was too lengthy, this one really seems to the best, disabled everything I was told + going to download the app tasker.
My background with android is long and rocky.
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, I had a Samsung Galaxy S, then a S2.
I can remember a Google Nexus phone in there somewhere.
Then at some point I switched over to Windows Mobile for many years.
A couple of hears ago I came back to android with a Samsung Galaxy S8+ and I hated it.
Recently I upgraded to a OnePlus 6T McLaren and here I am.
I had been expecting to see android happily use up 7, 8 or even 9GB of ram before the background task manager would begin to kill tasks.
Except that I seldom saw android use much more than 5GB of ram.
And worse, background tasks were being killed on a regular basis.
Widgets would stop working overnight, or even in just a few hours.
Spotify would close while a playing a playlist.
A quick search on XDA reveals that many users believe that Android will just use up as much ram as your phone has.
However, that is simply not true.
And so, I began my quest to have Android use as much ram as the phone could provide.
In my case, 10GB.
- I understand that there is an inherent trade-off between keeping background apps running and battery usage. I can live with extra battery usage in exchange for keeping my widgets running or Spotify running for an entire playlist.
- I realized very quickly that in order to achieve the results that I was looking for that the phone would have to be rooted. So rooting was one of the first things that I did.
Step 1.
I started with the basic stuff that a quick google search would provide;
- Settings -> Battery -> Battery Saver (off)
- Settings -> Battery -> Adaptive Battery (off)
- Settings -> Battery -> Battery Optimization -> widget app (don’t optimize)
- Settings -> Battery -> Battery Optimization -> Spotify (don’t optimize)
- Settings -> Battery -> Battery Optimization -> Advanced Optimization -> Deep Optimization (off)
- Settings -> Battery -> Battery Optimization -> Advanced Optimization -> Sleep standby optimization (off)
- Settings -> Apps -> Widget app -> Battery -> Background Restriction (app can use battery in background)
- Settings -> Apps -> Spotify -> Battery -> Background Restriction (app can use battery in background)
This helped but not enough to make the widgets or Spotify usable.
Step 2.
I supposed that my specific background tasks that I wanted to keep running were being killed because of the many other apps that were running in the background.
I searched for and found Tomatot DeBloater scripts for the Oneplus 6.
Excellent! Just what I was looking for.
I chose the Tomatot-Debloater-OOS-Light-2.3.zip and installed it.
This helped some more but not enough to make the widgets or Spotify usable.
Step 3.
I realised that there were still some apps running in the background that I didn’t use or want.
So I used Titanium Backup to freeze the following apps;
- Calendar
- Calendar Storage 9
- Contacts (O+)(I replaced with google contacts)
- Dashboard
- Drive
- Face Unlock
- Gboard
- Gmail
- Google
- Google partner setup 9
- Google play music 8
- McLaren AR
- Messaging (O+)(replaced with google messaging)
- OK google enrollment 9
- Oneplus system 1
- Youtube
Perfect! These apps were no longer competing for phone resources with the apps that I wanted to run.
This helped some more but not enough to make the widgets or Spotify usable.
This did make the phone feel faster and smoother.
The phone is much more responsive and fluid to my input.
This made me realize that the apps were being closed not due to a lack of phone resources, but a background task manager being aggressive.
Presumably for battery saving purposes.
I changed my focus to adjusting that background task manager.
Step 4.
Enable the recent screen ‘LOCK’ on the widget app and Spotify.
This didn’t do anything for me.
Everything that I’ve read on it says that it just stops the task from being killed when you click on kill all tasks.
The lock doesn’t lock the task from being killed by the background task manager.
Step 5.
Further google searching led me to believe that the OEM kernel was limiting background tasks.
I choose ElementalX-OP-3.09 and the EX Kernel Manager.
I had to read a lot of google university material to make any sense of the settings in here.
I’m not sure that I fully understand even now.
Eventually, I ended up with the following settings;
Memory
- Adaptive Low Memory Killer (disabled)
- dirty ratio (20)
- dirty background ratio (5)
- min free kbytes (12398)
- vfs cache pressure (100)
Memory -> Low Memory Killer
- apply on boot
- Foreground app (72mb)
- Visible apps (90mb)
- Secondary server (108mb)
- Hidden apps (200mb)
- Content Providers (587mb)
- Empty apps (783mb)
This helped a lot.
This almost made the phone usable to the state that I wanted.
But the widget and Spotify would still stop running overnight and by morning the apps would have to be reopened to get them to run again.
At least the apps would run most of the day without being killed.
Still not the behaviour that I expected from a phone with 10GB of ram.
Ram usage was still not going much over 5.5Gb even if I opened up many apps at once.
Can I ever get ram usage up to the 10Gb that I have?
Step 6.
The last thing that I tried yesterday afternoon was to increase the background task limit in the build.prop.
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=5 (changed it to 60)
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_age=5000 (changed it to 10000)
Yes, I know that I am on PIE and there isn’t supposed to be any effect.
No, I don’t know yet if this had any effect.
I am hopeful.
The widget app didn’t close last night, but Spotify did.
I am getting closer!
This is the best that I could do on my own without asking for help.
So here I am posting my question and asking for help.
How do I get the apps that I want to run to not be killed by the background task manager?
OR
How do I get the phone to use the 10GB of ram?
I feel that I am missing something.
With any luck, one of you smarter persons will be able to point it out to me.
As an aside from all of these changes the phone feels very smooth and fluid.
Except for apps closing that I don’t want to, this phone is a great experience and a pleasure to use.
Apps that I want to run are staying open much longer then before I started.
It’s now just an overnight issue.
And getting the phone to use over 6Gb of ram.
I would suggest that I am 90% happy with it now.
KERNAL: ElementalX-OP6-3.10
ROM: STOCK OOS 9.0.11
PHONE MODEL: 6013 O+6T McLaren
Tomorrow I may try making this change to the build.prop file;
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true to false
Don't know if it will help or not.
Wow dude, interesting read, i will sign up for notifications from this thread hoping you get your answer because i have the exact same problem but with my work app, throwing it all out of whack and making me a target to big fines (in the $1,000's) and potentially reducing my marketability!
The attached screenies are from before i realized that the app getting killed in the background is what causes the problem (I've left it in the foreground HOURS a few times and it works perfectly!)
UPDATE:
Good news!
I seem to have solved my issue.
Time will tell for sure though.
But this morning and all day today, Spotify and the widget app have been running without closing.
AND I have seen memory usage up to 6.8GB used.
Here are the further steps that I took;
- ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true (changed it to false)
I didn't really notice much of a change.
But then I noticed that perhaps the limit of 60 tasks was not high enough.
I seem to have that many apps open and limiting to just 60 may be an issue.
- ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=60 (changed it to 120)
THIS!
This seemed to have worked for me.
All apps seem to be open and be staying open.
Today I got a message/warning from android telling me that the widget app is consuming the battery in excess but I ignored the warning and android did not close the app or stop the widget from running.
I will keep an eye on the phone for the next few days to confirm that this actually solved my issues.
My next step will be to see what effect if any this has had on my battery usage.
I am curious to see if it's all that bad...
geeksquad2 said:
UPDATE:
Good news!
I seem to have solved my issue.
Time will tell for sure though.
But this morning and all day today, Spotify and the widget app have been running without closing.
AND I have seen memory usage up to 6.8GB used.
Here are the further steps that I took;
- ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true (changed it to false)
I didn't really notice much of a change.
But then I noticed that perhaps the limit of 60 tasks was not high enough.
I seem to have that many apps open and limiting to just 60 may be an issue.
- ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=60 (changed it to 120)
THIS!
This seemed to have worked for me.
All apps seem to be open and be staying open.
Today I got a message/warning from android telling me that the widget app is consuming the battery in excess but I ignored the warning and android did not close the app or stop the widget from running.
I will keep an eye on the phone for the next few days to confirm that this actually solved my issues.
My next step will be to see what effect if any this has had on my battery usage.
I am curious to see if it's all that bad...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice find, I checked my build.prop and found this. No wonder my apps are killed
Code:
#ifdef VENDOR_EDIT
#[email protected] modify for app memory
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=5
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_age=5000
#endif/*VENDOR_EDIT*/
EDIT: I see a lot of custom ROM's have "ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit=60" to the build prop, I wonder if that going to make a difference
UPDATE:
I am a silly goose.
I broke a cardinal rule while troubleshooting.
I may have had a few too many wobbly pops and made two changes at a time, thus when change was affected, I was unable to determine properly which change caused the affect.
The rule is, "only make one change at a time when testing".
Yes, all of my apps stay open all the time.
I am getting the behaviour that I was looking for.
However it wasn't necessarily changing the build.prop bgservice_limit from 60 to 120 that did it.
Let me back up a bit.
Earlier I had suggested that locking an app to the recent screen didn't do anything for me, and that in my reading it only locks the app from being killed by you when you try to close it manually.
However in reading up on the oneplus framework-res.apk I found a reference to an oneplus whitelist of apps that will never be killed, and a reference to the recent screen app lock that suggests that oneplus will add a locked app to the whitelist and not kill it.
In the course of a single day, I had inadvertently edited the build.prop and locked the widget app to the recent screen thus breaking the one change at a time rule.
So the next morning and the following days when all apps were staying open I attributed it to changing the build.prop not realizing that it could also have been the app lock.
Last night I realized my mistake.
I unlocked the widget app from the recent screen and went to bed.
When I woke up this morning the widget app was not running for the first time in days.
Also the notifications that I was receiving about the widget app consuming excessive battery have stopped.
It would appear that I was wrong in my earlier observations regarding the app lock mechanism.
It appears to be very useful for keeping apps running all the time.
Did changing the build.prop have any affect on keeping apps open?
Maybe?
I have noticed that my battery life has gone for a complete ****.
I can barely get 24 hours out of the phone.
Worse is that it doesn't matter if the screen is on or not, battery usage remains the same.
i.e. with the screen off and the phone put down, battery life appears to be used at the same rate as when the phone is in use.
I had expected the battery life to be not as good, but I didn't expect it to go to for a **** that badly.
There must be a balance between aggressive app management and acceptable battery life.
The phone didn't display this behaviour until I changed ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true to false.
I think that today I will change ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable= back to true and observe the battery tomorrow.
kantjer said:
Nice find, I checked my build.prop and found this. No wonder my apps are killed
Code:
#ifdef VENDOR_EDIT
#[email protected] modify for app memory
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=5
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_age=5000
#endif/*VENDOR_EDIT*/
EDIT: I see a lot of custom ROM's have "ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit=60" to the build prop, I wonder if that going to make a difference
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I think that ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit= and ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit= are essentially the same thing, except for android versions.
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit= is for Android 7: Nougat and below.
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit= is for Android 8: Oreo and above.
Someone more knowledgeable than me should chime in here though.
Do you think any of this could have to do with the way the phone keeps disabling push in Gmail? (Every other day I need to set my O365 exchange in Gmail back to push because it automatically changes to the default of checking every 30 mins.)
Any conclusion?
Did you guys manage to solve this issue please by editing the build prop?
Latest smurf kernel rc14b seems to have solved the RAM management issue. I haven't had any apps closing in background since using it.
thank you for the thread!
What did you find in the end?
How did you set this ?
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=5
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_age=5000
So what's the verdict on the buildprop edits? Do they make a difference?
I notice that sometimes my on-going weather notification doesn't update, or gets killed off. I also have an app that controls rotation per app, and that also seems to stop doing it's thing after a while.
Just want to share. If you are rooted with Magisk, try appsystemizer module. System apps don't get killed by oneplus as aggressively. Tried it with accubattery and it works.
I am so glad I stumble across this, I just want to say, changing
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=5 to 120
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_age=5000 to 10000
Keep apps in ram for much longer then original! For me the battery life is unaffected, might even be better.
scloss84 said:
I am so glad I stumble across this, I just want to say, changing
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=5 to 120
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_age=5000 to 10000
Keep apps in ram for much longer then original! For me the battery life is unaffected, might even be better.
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Also want to solve this issue.
On which OOS Version you are? (i am on 10.3.1)
Does this really work in newer OOS Versions?
I have read elsewhere that those settings dont work on newer versions, sadly, cant find the thread/source.
thx
pOpY
popy2006 said:
Also want to solve this issue.
On which OOS Version you are? (i am on 10.3.1)
Does this really work in newer OOS Versions?
I have read elsewhere that those settings dont work on newer versions, sadly, cant find the thread/source.
thx
pOpY
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I'm actually Oneplus 6, OOS 9.0.9.
I also read that it doesn't work on Android 10 because magisk doesn't mount /system in Android 10, but there is a magisk module workaround that you can use. And hopefully magisk will update in the near future to fix that. Just google "Android 10 can't edit build.prop" and you'll find heaps of info.
This is what I have in my build.prop file and it seems to help. I have Oreo it works great on my phone I don't know about later versions of Oreo.
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_enable=true
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_age=5000
ro.vendor.qti.sys.fw.bservice_limit=5
ro.sys.fw.bg_apps_limit=64