Database Users

Does power saving mode really save juice?

The way that I understand power saving mode is that it saves juice by changing backlight based on what is on the screen. However in order to do this it.means cpu would be constantly used. So does power saving mode really save juice? Is the amount of battery saved by changing backlight more than the battery used by constant cpu usage?

That's a good question but I highly doubt that they would add the feature if they didn't test that it actually saved power. But, stranger things have happened.

kangxi said:
That's a good question but I highly doubt that they would add the feature if they didn't test that it actually saved power. But, stranger things have happened.
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Click to collapse
I assume you aren't basing that statement on recent events of failed quality control on high-end phones

No, it does not.

lemarg said:
No, it does not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this is based on???

From what I have read, having power saving mode on is another process the cpu has to worry about therefore possibly causing more battery drain. Personally I have disabled power saving mode and auto brightness and have experienced a slight improvement in battery life. I use the slide on taskbar feature to adjust brightness manually.

I have both Power Saving Mode and Automatic Brightness on, 3G off, and I get over 40 hours in normal use! I hope that tells you these settings don't drain the battery and you shouldn't worry about having them turned on.
It is NOT putting an undue burden on the cpu, and small amounts of CPU usage have MUCH less effect than powering the screen.

steel_3d said:
I have both Power Saving Mode and Automatic Brightness on, 3G off, and I get over 40 hours in normal use! I hope that tells you these settings don't drain the battery and you shouldn't worry about having them turned on.
It is NOT putting an undue burden on the cpu, and small amounts of CPU usage have MUCH less effect than powering the screen.
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Click to collapse
I have to ask what is normal use for you? Cant imagine getting 40 hrs on any device besides a BBerry.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I find that the 'auto settings' takes away from a session - screen dimming and back again. Swipe to adjust brightness seems to work fine. As far as I'm concerned, the Vibrant is running normal when usage puts Screen at 83% or so.. After all, we bought it for the display to begin with

kangxi said:
That's a good question but I highly doubt that they would add the feature if they didn't test that it actually saved power. But, stranger things have happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They released the phone without doing adaquate testing on the GPS.
HTC released the G2 without turning it upside down & seeing the hinge go a flyin.
Just because they threw a feature in doesn't mean that it's been tested.
We're the testers

intruda119 said:
I have to ask what is normal use for you? Cant imagine getting 40 hrs on any device besides a BBerry.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
He keeps is 3G off, thats what's saving the battery. That and he probably was sleeping for 16+ of those 40 hours.

Just an FYI, I have been running my phone on automatic brightness + power saving mode for the past few days as opposed to my usual lowest brightness + no power saving mode; and usually I would get inbetween 3.5-4 hours of screen time (depending on what I did) but now I am getting 4-4.5 hours (same usage). Obviously the automatic brightness does not improve battery life over lowest brightness all the time, so power saving mode must be doing something right -- something aside from just lowering screen brightness as needed.

That is a feature of 2.1 that is intended to help people with LED backlit screens by turning off LEDs in areas that are black. We have SAMOLEDS, which are lit by pixel, and we get battery battery life by using black themes. That is why Fusion 1.1 is nearly all black, and gets insane battery life.

steel_3d said:
I have both Power Saving Mode and Automatic Brightness on, 3G off, and I get over 40 hours in normal use! I hope that tells you these settings don't drain the battery and you shouldn't worry about having them turned on.
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Click to collapse
Actually, that doesn't tell us anything. What is your battery life like with Power Saving and Auto Brightness off?

[Q] what functions use most battery?

Gaming ofcource. I know.
But im wondering what "gimmicky" features are the most power sucking.
What about hand gesture during standby? Does that leave camera on?
What about finger hover?
What about the rest?
Wich are not heavy on battery and wich are?
Thanks.

borgqueenx said:
Gaming ofcource. I know.
But im wondering what "gimmicky" features are the most power sucking.
What about hand gesture during standby? Does that leave camera on?
What about finger hover?
What about the rest?
Wich are not heavy on battery and wich are?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen of course.
To maximise battery life, it is recommended, you do not use the phone at all.
I guarantee you will have outstanding battery life if you hardly touch your phone at all.

I haven't done extensive testing, but I have noticed that even though I get incredible deep sleep over night (95%), my phone still uses a lot of battery over an 8 hour period (15-25% - as opposed to my SGS3 which would use <10%).
I thought at first maybe it was the Air gesture -> Quick glance feature, as it will have to monitor the gyroscope constantly and if the phone is flat (which it is over night for me), then it'll have the gesture sensor on as well. Last night I tried turning that feature off (actually i turned all motion and gesture, smart screen, and air view features off), and there was no noticable improvement in battery life overnight, so it seems that my problem is still there, but also that the gimmicky feature doesn't actually appear to use too much battery.
Note; the gesture stuff doesn't use the camera, it has it's own sensor.
the Air view (i assume this is what you're referring to when you say finger hover) feature won't use more battery as it's only active in certain apps, so will only use more battery while those apps are active.

Ok that sounds actually quite good made by samsung then...although weird you lose so much battery. Maybe the rom and kernel you have?

Maybe some applications you use ? Try WakeLock Detector or Greenify from Google Play Store

i think the most power battrey goes to screen. and second goes to signal mobile network.if the signal low,that will consume more battrey because always search for better signal

The screen and signal. As above, the phone will consume extra battery searching/adjust the signal to make sure you have a good reception. There are different schools of thought but I have most battery life when on WiFi.

borgqueenx said:
Gaming ofcource. I know.
But im wondering what "gimmicky" features are the most power sucking.
What about hand gesture during standby? Does that leave camera on?
What about finger hover?
What about the rest?
Wich are not heavy on battery and wich are?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well let me place it to you from the most to least :
1-Screen
2- CPU Runs (any apps using too much CPU )
3- signal and 3g/4g
4-Smart Features and camera
5- music , and mostly all the rest

lambstone said:
The screen of course.
To maximise battery life, it is recommended, you do not use the phone at all.
I guarantee you will have outstanding battery life if you hardly touch your phone at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And keep it permanently connected to a good wall charger! :laugh:

[Q] How to optimize battery life od Note 3 ?

Hi !
I'am interested in optimizing battery usage/life on my Note 3.
I want to know what functions is free to switch off or reconfigure to decrese battery usage
But I dont want to cut phone functonality too much...
I'am not interested to tips like:
- switch Wi-Fi OFF
- switch Bluetooth OFF
- switch GPS OFF
- disable synchronization
- disable background data
- disable S Beam, NFC, Air Gesture, Air View, Smart Stay
- disable vibrations
- switch phone OFF when not using
- turn Power Save mode ON
- turn Airplane Mode ON
- lower down CPU/GPU frequency
Because they make phone much less usable and fun because it's many nice and amazing functions wont work...
I've already applied following tips:
- disable Google Now
- disable raporting GPS position
- disable location history
- turn screen brightness to AUTO
- remove unused/unneccecary widgets (especially this with auto update/sync)
- turn off autostart of unnececary apps (with All-In-One Toolbox)
- turn off "notifications from server" in "Samsung Apps" settings
Because i know that following tips are working and have positive impact on battery life (about 20% more power in my case)
I can't root phone (MJ7 firmware...) so I cant use Greenify to make more battery life...
If somone know some more configs/tips/apps that can be applied to increase battery life I will be very interested

- turn screen brightness to AUTO
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Click to collapse
This I believe is a myth, if anything AUTO uses more battery IMO. I set my brightness at around 40% or so and I get 30 hours (with 3-4Hours screen time) or so average out of my battery, Only other thing I disable is GPS.
It's more about how/what you actually use on your phone rather than what you can disable and not use.

I think you're looking for a reduction in "idle" battery drain as in use battery drain is kinda unavoidable.
There are tools like "Tasker" you can use to automate all the radios
you can use "app ops" to stop all the apps that push your location (this will do the most)
"autostart manager" allows you to stop apps from running all the time.

Do you have an n9005? If so the Snapdragon Battery Guru app definitely helps by switching your networks on and off based on usage, etc.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

dr.m0x said:
Do you have an n9005? If so the Snapdragon Battery Guru app definitely helps by switching your networks on and off based on usage, etc.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
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I never thought about that, I had that on my HTC One. But I didn't find that it helped much in all honesty. I'd be interested to know how well it's responding with the N9005 though, are you using it?

radicalisto said:
I never thought about that, I had that on my HTC One. But I didn't find that it helped much in all honesty. I'd be interested to know how well it's responding with the N9005 though, are you using it?
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Click to collapse
Yes I am. It doesn't make a night and day difference but it definitely makes a difference. I even uninstalled it to double check that I wasn't imagining it, now I'm annoyed with myself because it's still learning again.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Without all you wrote.. rules are those:
1) NEVER close apps (if you close the app ram pages will be deleted, so, it's needed to re-upload those, it has an huge energy consuption
2) use the phone "slowly".. i'm meaning, the fingers moves
3) if you are reading a text, read all the page than slide to see the new text, it's to prevent an high ramp up of frequency for long time

radicalisto -> thx for tip
nakedtime -> App Ops is quite good app ! Thx But "AutoStart Manager" is not working on my phone (crashing)...
dr.m0x -> I need to test this app thx

It's npt a good way to install an app to controll emergy consuption..
App needs cpu usage.. cpu ramp up..
so, you disable the radios for little time, and energy spent to do it could me more by cpu ramp up frequency
i suppouse you have the snap version.. and.. as i can see, snap has a good ondemand sysfs setting, it means it doesen't grow up frequency too fast, so, more than this is quite impossible
Only with an huge undervolt

I've installed this "Snapdragon Battery Guru"... now it's in "learning mode" I will see if it will help or not...
I have better replacement for "AutoStart Manager" and it's called "All-In-One Toolbox" which have the option to chose apps for autostart (and has many more other features) - i'am using it for quite a while and it's working fine

iba21 said:
It's npt a good way to install an app to controll emergy consuption..
App needs cpu usage.. cpu ramp up..
so, you disable the radios for little time, and energy spent to do it could me more by cpu ramp up frequency
i suppouse you have the snap version.. and.. as i can see, snap has a good ondemand sysfs setting, it means it doesen't grow up frequency too fast, so, more than this is quite impossible
Only with an huge undervolt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Snapdragon battery guru raplace the sysfs of the governor

First impressions from this Battery Guru are not so good... Battery is running down faster than without it... Maybe because its still in "learning mode"...

Yup just cause it's in learning mode, it'll settle once it's learnt everything
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I will wait until "learning mode" ends and see if it's working

I am not a heavy user so a battery last more than a day sometimes 3 days.If I was I would just get an extra battery and not obsess over trying to maximise battery life.One of the advantages the Note has over most other phones is a removable battery.Take advantage of this feature.It takes less than minute to change a battery.

Replacing battery requires switch off the phone and taking off back cover of the phone (i'am affraid that it will damage it after many opens... i'ts a plastic after all...) and then put back cover and switch on the phone... It's troublesome and not comfortable...

FPPfan said:
Replacing battery requires switch off the phone and taking off back cover of the phone (i'am affraid that it will damage it after many opens... i'ts a plastic after all...) and then put back cover and switch on the phone... It's troublesome and not comfortable...
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Click to collapse
It doesn't take long to switch the phone off.Mine takes 10 seconds.Taking the back off and replacing the battery takes another 15 seconds.Turning it back on takes another 15 seconds.All up less than a minute.
I can imagine how some people might be reluctant to take the back cover off almost daily.The back cover feels a bit flimsy and it's reasonable to assume it won't be durable with that sort of usage.I have the Note 1 and after two years of almost daily taking the back cover off it is still fine.The Note 1's battery life is horrible and even with light use I don't get a full day from it.Most people replace their phone after 2 or 3 years anyway so I don't think durability is a problem unless maybe you plan to keep it for 5 years.
But I can understand why some people might be reluctant to repeatedly tear the back cover off their brand new pride and joy.

I guessed everyone had their own way of energy conservation. For me, I use dark wallpaper. For our screen (Super Amoled), Black = LED off. LED off = not using energy. So in theory, black wallpaper or black background should uses much less energy than bright sunny light wallpaper.

vandals01 said:
I guessed everyone had their own way of energy conservation. For me, I use dark wallpaper. For our screen (Super Amoled), Black = LED off. LED off = not using energy. So in theory, black wallpaper or black background should uses much less energy than bright sunny light wallpaper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is very true for Amoled displays.The only time I notice my N3 drains the battery more than usual is when the display shows a lot of white such as internet surfing and using WhatsApp.Watching a movie does not display a lot of white and the N3 battery life becomes remarkable.

Battery
Go into the application settings and deactivate all samsung apps u dont need! Saves alot of Battery. Don't charge ur note if its Not empty. Just charge it if u are under 25%. You can also work with Tasker - it helps you to save your Power if u change yours settings automaticly. Also dont change ur brightness all the time
Hope it helps

**touchless sleep/wake control!! (app - gravity screen)**

Waking up a device involves the hassle of picking up our device, reaching for the power button, and then pressing it to turn the screen on.
However, using the gyrometer and proximity sensors, gravity screen wakes your device up right as you pick it up, or hover your finger over the proximity sensor!! Neat!
Pros :
Small and light-weight
Doesn't hog up on RAM
No appreciable effect on battery life!
Various options to tune the settings to your liking!
Helpful for devices with broken power buttons
Cons :
None. You say?
This app has been around for a while, and it works seamlessly with our device.
All credits to the developer Plexnor. It is his work. Be generous, and buy him a beer if you may.
Play store link :
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexnor.gravityscreenofffree&hl=en
Here's a video on the same : :laugh::laugh:
https://youtu.be/NJ6kgaDIwCU

[APP][2.2+] Gravity Screen > Turn Screen On/Off Automatically - Keep Screen On

It doesn't seem to show up on the stock battery consumption screen but on BBS and Gsam, GravityScreen was consuming almost 7 to 12% battery per day.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I even turned off the wake by motion and all other accelerometer related services and kept only Proximity Screen On and Proximity Screen Off options ON.
Any suggestions?
Sent from my Nexus 5

Achilles. said:
It doesn't seem to show up on the stock battery consumption screen but on BBS and Gsam, GravityScreen was consuming almost 7 to 12% battery per day.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong but I even turned off the wake by motion and all other accelerometer related services and kept only Proximity Screen On and Proximity Screen Off options ON.
Any suggestions?
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here...i have done all suggested tips...
[4] Q: I'm experiencing high battery usage, why?
A: The app should use about 6 percent extra energy per day if you are not using too much the Turn Screen On by Motion feature. If you frequently lay your phone face up on a table and the Turn Screen On by Motion Timeout is too long, the battery consumption can be much higher. Because the CPU has to be constantly analyzing the data of to acceleration sensor to catch the movement when you lift up the device. Thus if you want to reduce the battery usage it's recommended to keep your phone often lying face down when it's on a table. Because in this situation the proximity sensor is responsible for turning the screen back on which uses much less energy. Moreover, please, keep in mind that the android en-built battery consumption measurement can show much higher results, because it shows the battery usage relatively to another apps. If the phone was not in use or the measurement period was short, it looks like my app uses too much energy however there was not too much energy used all together.
Yes I frequently lay the phone face up for see the notification led....

ironia. said:
same here...i have done all suggested tips...
[4] Q: I'm experiencing high battery usage, why?
A: The app should use about 6 percent extra energy per day if you are not using too much the Turn Screen On by Motion feature. If you frequently lay your phone face up on a table and the Turn Screen On by Motion Timeout is too long, the battery consumption can be much higher. Because the CPU has to be constantly analyzing the data of to acceleration sensor to catch the movement when you lift up the device. Thus if you want to reduce the battery usage it's recommended to keep your phone often lying face down when it's on a table. Because in this situation the proximity sensor is responsible for turning the screen back on which uses much less energy. Moreover, please, keep in mind that the android en-built battery consumption measurement can show much higher results, because it shows the battery usage relatively to another apps. If the phone was not in use or the measurement period was short, it looks like my app uses too much energy however there was not too much energy used all together.
Yes I frequently lay the phone face up for see the notification led....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update it and try using only the Proximity wake and sleep..
Battery drain is minimal. [emoji16]
Sent from my Nexus 5

Achilles. said:
Update it and try using only the Proximity wake and sleep..
Battery drain is minimal. [emoji16]
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i will try, but i have already updated app, i can't live without table mode

Usage of proxomity sensor

How come the usage of proximity sensor under Android System is much higher whilst on mobile network than on wifi?
I think that plays a role in sub optimal battery life..

Here is a quick screenshot.

Proximity sensor doesn't have anything to do with your network connection. Other than when you're at home/work and connected to wifi, your phone is probably laying face up somewhere (proximity sensor off) and when you're not connected to wifi (you're out and about in the world) your phone is in your pocket/bag and the sensor is covered (on).
Just guessing.

According to Elixir, somehow it lists 2 proximity sensors?? using 0.1mA each, so 0.2 mA together. It doesn't say at what voltage, but at nominal battery 4 volts, you would use about 0.8 mW of power per hour. After 1000 hours of usage you would end up using 0.8 W of power and battery capacity is about 12-13W. I don't think you should worry about that sensor too much. Also according to Elixir, the biggest power users are rotation and orientation sensors (there are few) at about 1.5mA each. If you compare that to power used by screen and radios, the sensors use meaningless from power usage point of view. IMO the biggest culprit are programs running in the background and communicating with servers and there is no easy way to stop it.

akira888 said:
How come the usage of proximity sensor under Android System is much higher whilst on mobile network than on wifi?
I think that plays a role in sub optimal battery life..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
because your phone is in your pocket/ purse/backpack more when you're out and about, when at home posted up it's sitting on the counter/couch/table. Why does this matter? Settings>Display>Keep screen turned off
"Prevent the screen from turning on accidentally while the device is in a dark place such as a pocket or bag"
This means the proximity sensor is more active in your pocket. And typically when you're on WiFi, it's not in your pocket.
Just a guess but I believe I'm right.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk