What settings are good in order to save as much battery as possible? I am using it only for IMAP idle for my school email. But it seems that this app is draining slightly more battery than I have expected.
I set folder poll frequencey to never.
Push fodlers to Only 1st class folders (whatever that means)
Sync server deletions checked
Download headers checked
Poll when connecting for push - checked (<- do I need it?)
Refresh IDLE connection (<-every 24 minutes [what does it do??])
Background sync: When "background data" and "auto-sync" are checked.
Any other settings that I should turn off? I simply need this app to get instant emails. No fancy sync'ing needed.
If you only want to keep your Inbox synced, it should basically default to that. The rest will be set to 2, and by default won't sync. Just compare the default Folder settings to the settings in the Options to see what's push (idle) and what's pull/poll.
K9 is no different than any other client in this regard, just gives you options to set lots of things.
If you're going from NO data being online and active to K9, sure, you're going to see quite a bit more battery usage. This is simply due to the phone not sleeping as much, data connection up, and the data being periodically active. IMAP Idle will go to sleep for up to 24 minutes by default, you can try to make it longer but your server might disconnect you. If you already had something else up, like an IM program that isn't using the Push method in Android or such, I doubt you'd see much increase.
Related
Afternoon,
I finally got round to setting up my gmail account on my vario 3 and actually using it to send and receive emails etc but there is a small problem...
I have set it up to heck from mail every five minutes automatically....however, it doesnt seem to work...i think i have narrowed it down to power settings...
I have the backlight to go off after 10 secs and teh "turn off device" after 1 minute.
After that minute, the pulse that checks for mail doent run untill i do something with the phone to wake it out of standbye...
Is there a fix available for this other than modify my power settings (which i would prefer not to do)
TIA
Matt
nevawlkalone said:
Is there a fix available for this other than modify my power settings (which i would prefer not to do)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure I understand fully but if you want it to truely receive push email, then the data connection must be active all the time... and that uses power, lots of it. When you think about it this makes sense because how is the phone going to know when a new email comes in unless it's constantly connected to the internet. I had this setup with my Hotmail account after someone here told me how to do so but reverted back to only checking manually when I wanted it to after I found the battery life fell through the floor. You could make sure other things like bluetooth and wifi are turned off when not being used to maximise a charge but even just having data on all the time makes quite a difference.
from what i understand of push email, it uses a pulse to connect to the net, check for mail and then disconnect again...i have always had my internet connected on my vario and never noticed a increase in battery life when i have spent days without it off (on holiday)
is there not a way to make the 5 minute pulse ignore the screen being turned off?
Window Mobile Push Mail requires an Exchange Server (2003 or 2007 flavor) on the other end.
Without that your just using scheduled pull mail.
The heartbeat/pulse whatever you want to call it does continue to work when the device is in standby if you are using true push mail.
kyphur said:
Window Mobile Push Mail requires an Exchange Server (2003 or 2007 flavor) on the other end.
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Click to collapse
Do you know if that includes Hotmail? If its set up right, my Hotmail emails will be received pretty much instantaneously. Maybe they use Exchange Servers - I don't know if these can be configured for HTTP mail? Even when I had that configured though I still didn't get the Com Manager Microsoft Direct Push Icon to jump to life (it's always been grey).
Flying Kiwi said:
Do you know if that includes Hotmail? If its set up right, my Hotmail emails will be received pretty much instantaneously. Maybe they use Exchange Servers - I don't know if these can be configured for HTTP mail? Even when I had that configured though I still didn't get the Com Manager Microsoft Direct Push Icon to jump to life (it's always been grey).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@hotmail and @live use M$ Direct push, if you set it up for " as they arrive " emails. They do this however by keeping your phone constantly connected = kill battery. I had to shut my push email off to get a full 8hrs out of my battery.
Seven Push Email
Hey maybe you can try this little app called Seven from seven systems. It provides free true push email to WinMo environments. You can configure many accounts for example from hotmail, yahoo, gmail and others. There is a beta that is completely free of charge. Ive been using it for quite a while now (WinMo and Symbian) and Im very pleassed with its performance. Check it out here http://www.seven.com/ and go to the beta program section to download it.
denco7 said:
@hotmail and @live use M$ Direct push, if you set it up for " as they arrive " emails. They do this however by keeping your phone constantly connected = kill battery. I had to shut my push email off to get a full 8hrs out of my battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats what I've tried in the past and certainly the emails arrive pretty quickly. I don't know if its genuine Push Email or just polling really often though. It also doesn't explain why the Microsoft Push Email icon in Com Manager never does anything other than sit there greyed out.
Flying Kiwi said:
Thats what I've tried in the past and certainly the emails arrive pretty quickly. I don't know if its genuine Push Email or just polling really often though. It also doesn't explain why the Microsoft Push Email icon in Com Manager never does anything other than sit there greyed out.
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That highlights when you have a proper exchange account attached for push emial therefore isnt activated when google and hotmail are set up.
M
that 5 minute setting is not called "pushmail". it's calles "i'll ddos my mailserver by asking for mails every 5 minutes"
there are several free pushmail provider arround www.mail2web.com is one of them. they offer a completely free exchange 2003 account with active sync for contacts, tasks, calendar and pushmail
I find that the Windows Live 'As items arrive' option works well, though this seems to be pulling at high frequencies to provide the illusion of Push e-mail. I used to experience temperamental service but now it works flawlessly - as well as friends' blackberry devices. I don't have to keep my phone signed in to Messenger which is often advised to maintain a consistent delivery of e-mails.
I set up the Blackberry Connect service (£5/month) with T-Mobile UK but immediately reverted to using Windows Live (which is free given that you have a data connection) as the BB Connect service acts as a middleman, while Windows Live connects directly (or appears to) to your Hotmail inbox. Messages you read or mark as unread will be viewed as read/unread in your mailbox via a PC, folders can be synched and sent items are synchronised. Perfect for me. The only problem is reduced battery life.
For anyone who tried to use Windows Live 'Push' e-mail and found it to be inconsistent, see here: http://www.windowsmobiletraining.com/Connection/forums/t/2134.aspx.
I was always wondering about the battery too.
So I did a power drain test...
Hope this link helps!
http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=185860
the stock Gmail application is great but it's a real battery drainer since it utilizes push. i'm only 19 really, so i don't need to see my useless mails about facebook updates(and stuff) that immediately.
the stock Email has no threading and the UI is pretty meh so ye.
is there any nice gmail client there that has mail threading, a nice simple UI and an option for interval mail fetching? tried K-9 and Maildroid, no threading on them lol.
if not, Google please get us an option to enable push or simply use fetch.
i'm currently using JuiceDefender to "disable" data transmission when my screen is idle. ideally by that, no "push" mail when my screen is locked.
Why not deactivate the autosync of gmail?
Sent from my GT-I9000
I tot push is supposed to be more battery friendly than fetch?
Seifer1975 said:
I tot push is supposed to be more battery friendly than fetch?
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You have to maintain a data connection at all times no?
Yes, but it still is far less battery demanding than checking for mail periodically.
Case_ said:
Yes, but it still is far less battery demanding than checking for mail periodically.
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Click to collapse
In OP's case it's better to turn off data all together.
BTW, how does one turn off HSPDA and enable 3G only on a Bell phone? There's no option in settings/ wireless networks/mobile networks to set this.
hmm I shall try push gmail overnight, currently it's at 10% drain with no syncing of anything, nothing. but with a connection on. thanks guys.
I have 3 email accounts setup on my SGS (Bell, 2.1): 1 exchange activesync using the stock email client set on push, and 2 gmail using the stock gmail app. I have been getting very bad idle battery drain, it can be over 5%/hour while idle, and have also had my activesync 'stall' and stop retrieving new messages after a period of time. Using the 'other usage' page in battery history I found that the phone was not sleeping very much (at least 65% running) and on the 'partial wake' page the culprit was identified as "Email". When I switched my exchange account from push to 10min poll the running stat dropped below 20%, but email remains the highest partial wake usage. It seems that the stock email activesync push is having a hard time keeping the push connection running and this is both killing my battery and not retrieving my emails.
I have 2 questions:
1) What does the "Email" entry on the partial wake screen of battery history cover? Is it just the stock email app, or does it also include the gmail app?
2) I have also read from many people that push from an exchange server works great and is light on the battery. Could there be something about the particular exchange server I am using that is causing my activesync woes? Several iphones use push from this server with no apparent issues.
Thanks.
To follow up my original post, I have found some new information on this. I shut off my exchange/activesync syncing completely and my battery life went through the roof. My idle battery usage went from 3-10%/hour to under 0.5%/hour and I still had 2 gmail accounts syncing via push. The 'running' at idle went from 20%+ to about 1.5%, and the partial wake usage of 'email' went down to 0. From this I have drawn 2 conclusions: 1) The 'email' entry on the partial wake history does not include gmail. 2) The stock email app uses a ridiculous amount of time and power to sync email via activesync, i get between 6x and 20x the battery life when I am not using activesync. Has anyone else seen results like this? I am still wondering if this is a peculiarity of my exchange server or if activesycn is this bad in general?
Thanks.
Google & Microsoft
This is exactly what Google wants you to think.
Activesync is bad, so let me switch to Google, etc...
Google is playing with fire, in my opinion. People simply love outlook and exchange.
it's a million times easier for them to dump google phones and switch to a large available mobile OS's like iphone, Microsoft, Symbian, etc... instead of dumping outlook.
it's true Android is very attractive to users being on many devices and by many vendors but outlook is more precious and the alternatives google is offering are ridiculous compared to outlook.
after trying and searching right and left, i concluded that i have to sell both my Android phones back to iphone or Windows phone 7. Exchange Activesync is a red line.
Ok, so firstly when you search this site for this topic, most posts are strangly in their respective users' phone forum, rather than somewhere more general, so I have done this same...
From K9
What is the difference between pushing and polling?
K-9 may support either push or poll for fetching new mail (see Account settings > Fetching mail). Polling refers to the mail client periodically asking the mail server for new mail, on some configured time increment. Pushing refers to the mail client keeping an open connection to the mail server, so that the server can inform the client of new mail as soon as it is received. Pushing typically uses more battery for a few reasons. First, when you have any account configured to push, this keeps an Android service running at all times. This service keeps 1 open connection to the mail server for each folder configured to push (which also uses battery power). And lastly, pushing will typically lead to more frequent communications between the client and the server.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This REALLY suprised me for a couple of reasons:
many people (maybe not informed) often say that polling is worse than push
true push mail (eg Blackberry, SMS or Gmail) takes almost no battery usage (does anyone switch their SMS service off?
So is there are email solution that makes better use of "GCM / C2DM", or some other technology that is far power effecient?
It also means that you would not need a specific app running for the phone to get the message and if needs be wake the app
Furthermore, in the case of K9, looking at the battery screen, it reports that K9 has a not insigificant "stay awake" time. I assume this is linked to the implimentation of IMAP IDLE.
Usually I get very great battery life (also very high screen on time thanks to DirtyUnicorns ROM + Kernel) but sometimes my battery is getting eaten away within 3 hours from 100℅ to 20℅. Looking at the screens I attached it looks like K9 Mail is eating so much battery? I have 2x gmail accounts + 2x IMAP (my own mail server) accounts active.
Are there some of my K9 Mail settings wrong or whats going on? Any ideas?
Thanks
Its that "mobile radio active" problem. Its often referred to as a bug.
Well according to google this is a common problem for some time now which hasnt been fixed.
Any other mail app auggestions?
Utini said:
Well according to google this is a common problem for some time now which hasnt been fixed.
Any other mail app auggestions?
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I think you'll find this issue with most apps right now. I use Mine because it's an amazing exchange all, but this happens there too and its pricey for some.
rootSU said:
I think you'll find this issue with most apps right now. I use Mine because it's an amazing exchange all, but this happens there too and its pricey for some.
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Click to collapse
Actually I don't need exchange atm so other free appa might fit better for me. Also I never heard of Nine before but I will give it a try if you recommend it !
Too bad the same bug exists with Nine as well :/
Utini said:
Actually I don't need exchange atm so other free appa might fit better for me. Also I never heard of Nine before but I will give it a try if you recommend it !
Too bad the same bug exists with Nine as well :/
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Click to collapse
I think it'll exist with any app that syncs. Android bug more than individual app bug.
rootSU said:
I think it'll exist with any app that syncs. Android bug more than individual app bug.
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Click to collapse
I see, well then I still wonder if I shouls go with K9 or rather smh else. Nine won't support gmail
Utini said:
I see, well then I still wonder if I shouls go with K9 or rather smh else. Nine won't support gmail
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's an ex change client only
rootSU said:
No, it's an ex change client only
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Click to collapse
And if you would need tonuse gmail/imap...what would you use? ;P
Utini said:
And if you would need tonuse gmail/imap...what would you use? ;P
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Click to collapse
i use the gmail app exclusively. it never ever drains extra battery from any of my devices, and my sync is always on.
Utini said:
And if you would need tonuse gmail/imap...what would you use? ;P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just use inbox.
rootSU said:
I just use inbox.
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i used to, but went back to the gmail app. i think i like it better.
simms22 said:
i used to, but went back to the gmail app. i think i like it better.
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Click to collapse
I use inbox on mobile and desktop exclusively.. The gmail app is very good though, I just kind of like how the crap is more easily controlled for me .
this is the wrong thread for K9 discussions.. but I'm going to add to it anyway ?
K9 was my goto email app, still is in a way, but it just does not play nice with lollipop on any device. even using beta builds. if had no choice but to go to the gmail app since it can handle the exchange and ever changing bad decisions of Microsoft's email names and server labels. let alone having to run from website webmail settings.. yeah.. goto the gmail app, and give K9 a break until they get the wake lock issues worked out... other step may be to have tasker do sync toggle somehow..
go track down the beta builds and keep an eye out for changes that may be specific to its lollipop compatibilities.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk
simms22 said:
i use the gmail app exclusively. it never ever drains extra battery from any of my devices, and my sync is always on.
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Click to collapse
Now I remember why I removed gmail...its missing "Mark as read" in the statusbar notification. Annoying as I wake up every day with ~15 Status Mails fromy servers which I usually "Mark as read" with one click (if the mail titles tell me that everything is okay with those servers). And since I use folders/filters/labels for mails I never delete/archive.
Utini said:
Usually I get very great battery life (also very high screen on time thanks to DirtyUnicorns ROM + Kernel) but sometimes my battery is getting eaten away within 3 hours from 100℅ to 20℅. Looking at the screens I attached it looks like K9 Mail is eating so much battery? I have 2x gmail accounts + 2x IMAP (my own mail server) accounts active.
Are there some of my K9 Mail settings wrong or whats going on? Any ideas?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4 is a lot of accounts. I presume that your custom imap accounts are set up to push? Are your gmail accounts set up to pop3 or imap? If they are pop3, then your phone is going to continually poll the servers for new mail, and this will eat battery like nobody's business.
There is also a question of the correctness of how you have configured your imap servers. I don't know what kind of experience you have in configuring and maintaining imap servers, but there are some rookie mistakes that can be made that can have a severe impact on client battery life. Some of dovecot's default settings are actually quite bad for mobile devices. I'm not particularly familiar with other imap servers, dovecot is my server of choice.
What stands out to me is the "E" in your signal meter. Edge. The slower the network, the longer the radio has to be active in order to transfer the same amount of data. So imagine polling for a minute every 2.5 minutes (2 accounts). That is a lot of radio time and a lot of battery.
---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------
Also not to create an argument here... but k9mail does very well on battery consumption on 5.x. Over this weekend (long weekend here in Canada), didn't use my phone much (construction/reno weekend), but something interesting caught my attention on Sunday afternoon. Having been taken off the charger 6AM SATURDAY morning (so it had been on battery for around 34 hours), it was claiming 4 days power remaining. That is ONE IMAP connection to a dovecot server that I maintain personally, the full time it was connected to an HSPA network (my service provider is exclusively HSPA).
So obviously, when everything is configured correctly, k9mail does NOT eat significant battery.
doitright said:
4 is a lot of accounts. I presume that your custom imap accounts are set up to push? Are your gmail accounts set up to pop3 or imap? If they are pop3, then your phone is going to continually poll the servers for new mail, and this will eat battery like nobody's business.
There is also a question of the correctness of how you have configured your imap servers. I don't know what kind of experience you have in configuring and maintaining imap servers, but there are some rookie mistakes that can be made that can have a severe impact on client battery life. Some of dovecot's default settings are actually quite bad for mobile devices. I'm not particularly familiar with other imap servers, dovecot is my server of choice.
What stands out to me is the "E" in your signal meter. Edge. The slower the network, the longer the radio has to be active in order to transfer the same amount of data. So imagine polling for a minute every 2.5 minutes (2 accounts). That is a lot of radio time and a lot of battery.
---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ----------
Also not to create an argument here... but k9mail does very well on battery consumption on 5.x. Over this weekend (long weekend here in Canada), didn't use my phone much (construction/reno weekend), but something interesting caught my attention on Sunday afternoon. Having been taken off the charger 6AM SATURDAY morning (so it had been on battery for around 34 hours), it was claiming 4 days power remaining. That is ONE IMAP connection to a dovecot server that I maintain personally, the full time it was connected to an HSPA network (my service provider is exclusively HSPA).
So obviously, when everything is configured correctly, k9mail does NOT eat significant battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply !
All my IMAP Accounts are using push (2x gmail + 2x my own server).
Could be that my server isnt configured perfectly. Mind giving me a few tips of what I should look for in my settings?
Yes I believe the battery drain could be because of bad radio signal. Maybe a Tasker script (if signal below 10% disable auto sync, which also disables push in k9) would help?
K9 in general has many settings which I am not sure of how they affect battery drain (e.g. sync forever or only last 31 days?) Which folders should have which priority and how to push/sync them. Would it make sense to make screenshots of my settings to compare them with yours?
Thanks !
Edit: In k9 I have not set all folders to class 2 except the important ones which are class 1 (inbox, sent, folders where new mails get moved from inbox to folder based on rules/labels). Push/sync only active for class 1 folder.
I did this because gmail has A LOT of standard folders and also an "all mails" folders which gets synced out of the box.
I also made a Tasker script which disabled autosync when I am NOT on 3G HSDPA or WIFI (maybe I should add 3G to the list of exclusion together with 3G HSDPA and WIFI?).
Utini said:
Thank you for your reply !
All my IMAP Accounts are using push (2x gmail + 2x my own server).
Could be that my server isnt configured perfectly. Mind giving me a few tips of what I should look for in my settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A quick look over my notes suggests looking into the setting "imap_idle_notify_interval". Dovecot's default is 2 minutes. That means that the imap server will be sending over a battery eater every 2 minutes regardless of whether there is a push notification or not. Between 2 accounts (edit: and multiple paths per account), they could all hit at the same time, or they could hit at different times, so you're looking at server initiated wakeups all over the place. Note that k9mail has a default client initiated wakeup at 24 minute intervals. RFC2177 specifies 29 minutes -- the k9mail default is matched to give a little slack to let the server renew the connection 5 minutes after the expected client-initated wakeup. So set the server to 29 minutes.
Yes I believe the battery drain could be because of bad radio signal. Maybe a Tasker script (if signal below 10% disable auto sync, which also disables push in k9) would help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that even possible?
K9 in general has many settings which I am not sure of how they affect battery drain (e.g. sync forever or only last 31 days?) Which folders should have which priority and how to push/sync them. Would it make sense to make screenshots of my settings to compare them with yours?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That setting really shouldn't affect anything, since ancient messages won't be changing much. I.e., there is no "sync" on stuff that remains the same -- it just gets downloaded once and sits there.
Thanks !
Edit: In k9 I have not set all folders to class 2 except the important ones which are class 1 (inbox, sent, folders where new mails get moved from inbox to folder based on rules/labels). Push/sync only active for class 1 folder.
I did this because gmail has A LOT of standard folders and also an "all mails" folders which gets synced out of the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I may be only performing push on inbox. IIRC, k9 creates a new idle connection for *each* path. This isn't a flaw in k9mail, but a limitation in IMAP protocol.
More edit: about the client-vs-server initiated wakeups.... if you set the server-side to more than the client side, then the server will not actually send the wakeup at all. Why would it if it knows that the connection has already been refreshed by the client within the timeout? Once the client has control over the idle refresh, k9mail can schedule the refresh messages in batches to send out all at once within the same system alarm/wakelock.
doitright said:
A quick look over my notes suggests looking into the setting "imap_idle_notify_interval". Dovecot's default is 2 minutes. That means that the imap server will be sending over a battery eater every 2 minutes regardless of whether there is a push notification or not. Between 2 accounts, the two could hit at the same time, or they could hit at different times, so you're looking at a server initiated wakeup EVERY MINUTE. Note that k9mail has a default client initiated wakeup at 24 minute intervals. RFC2177 specifies 29 minutes -- the k9mail default is matched to give a little slack to let the server renew the connection 5 minutes after the expected client-initated wakeup. So set the server to 29 minutes.
Is that even possible?
That setting really shouldn't affect anything, since ancient messages won't be changing much.
I think I may be only performing push on inbox. IIRC, k9 creates a new idle connection for *each* path. This isn't a flaw in k9mail, but a limitation in IMAP protocol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I could do push only on inbox and sync (every 24hours) on folders like " sent" and other semi-important folders.
I also made a Tasker script which disabled autosync when I am NOT on 3G HSDPA or NOT on WIFI (maybe I should add 3G to the list of exclusion together with 3G HSDPA and WIFI to disable autosync only on 2G?).
Utini said:
Well I could do push only on inbox and sync (every 24hours) on folders like " sent" and other semi-important folders.
I also made a Tasker script which disabled autosync when I am NOT on 3G HSDPA or NOT on WIFI (maybe I should add 3G to the list of exclusion together with 3G HSDPA and WIFI to disable autosync only on 2G?).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never played with tasker in this space, so... try it and see how it works !