Battery Life Question for Those Using DJ_Steeve's ROM - Dell Streak 7

How's the battery life with RIL enabled? Significant improvement, or still pretty crappy?
I heard someone awhile ago say they couldn't get through Avatar on a full charge. Is this still the case, even with tweaks?
I'm considering picking up the S7 as my main unit (ditching my OG Droid at last), and I need to know if it's even feasible. I would love to do this, but if I can't get through a day I can't do it. Here are things I'm thinking of doing:
-DJ_Steve's ROM with RIL enabled
-Juice Defender to set my 2G/3G/4G settings; 4G for internet/calls, 3G/2G for notifications/idle/gaming/etc. (depending on which is lower battery consumption).
What kind of battery life can I expect? I still have to get out of my VZW contract (ought to be this month), so I'm still researching what the best solution will be for me. I really want a 4G, dual core, 7" tablet. I've used the Streak 7 at the T-Mo store and I love it (screen is great, unit was very snappy; 4G seemed a bit slow, but it was during peak hours).
So, anyone test their battery life and see any improvements over stock?

Haven't tried any wifi calling on my ds7. Using stock 2.2.2 and I can get about 3-4 hours of playback using rockplayer before battery dies. Doubt you'd make it through the day. It seems to drain some battery even on standby.
Sent from my Dell Streak 7 using XDA Premium App

Well, I couldn't get out of my Verizon contract and I didn't really get an answer to my question, so I really had only one choice.
I got a Streak 7 this last weekend. Logic be damned!
Loving this thing, so far. I got it rooted/Rom'd (thanks to all that worked on that!). Battery conservation while maintaining data connectivity is a big issue for me, so I'll be tweaking a few things and seeing how it goes. I'll report whatever I find out.

So, ril-off will disable all mobile data (thanks, Hellzya!). That's not an option, as this is now my main device. For anyone else in my boat, here are a couple of things that might work:
This app is basically a shortcut to your network system settings. Seems to work fine; I'm using it to toggle to 2G when I'm not using the device (but still want to get notifications), and then 3G/4G when I am. The S7 switches between HSPA and GSM a lot when I'm at my house due to me being on the fringe of a 4G tower; I'll see if this fixes that issue and report back.
This thread has another app that will automatically switch to 2G when the screen is off. I have yet to try it, but I'll update once I do.
Long live the battery!

Update: From what I'm reading, the HSPA antenna uses less juice than the EDGE one, so I've been setting it to HSPA only. Underclocked as much as possible when the screen is off (216, I believe), and overclocked to 1200 (lower Quadrant, of course, but I don't notice a performance degradation).
I had it off the charger all day, yesterday, and then tethered my Cr48 to it for quite some time. I was off the charger at ~7AM, started tethering at ~9PM. I had maybe 20-30% battery at that time. I hadn't used it much that day; just some light internet usage, ~15 minutes of streaming Pandora (high quality setting), one VOIP call, and a few, benchmark tests. After about 30-60 minutes of tethering, the battery was in the red so I hooked it up to the charger and continued to tether.
So far, so good. The battery is livable, but by no means great. This wasn't a really big usage day, though, but at least the idle isn't eating up too much juice. I'll have to see what kind of heavy usage I can get out of it (tethering, video streaming, etc.).
Hoping, of course, that HC gives us back some precious battery life.

Related

[Q] Maximizing battery life as much as possible?

Before anyone accuse me of it, I did, in fact, look through the other battery threads on this forum (and other forums, for that matter), and I've already applied numerous tricks. I managed to get my phone to last roughly 9 hours from my typical usage, which now makes it comparable to other phones I've used in the past.
However, in about a day or two, I'm going to be getting a bluetooth headset...which basically means that I'm going to need to keep the Captivate's bluetooth on 24/7 (or, at least, most of the day). I really don't know how much battery this is going to cost me on the Captivate, so I'm trying my best to make things better now to make things smooth in the future. However, I appear to be at the end of my rope.
I have pretty much gimped the Captivate as much as one could reasonably take (more, I'd dare argue). I cut all of my volume down to half of what it was and I removed most of the quick icons. I also set a completely black wallpaper, I turned off all animation, and I turned the brightness down to its lowest setting.
I honestly don't know how to make it any worse. The SAMOLED screen is basically a meaningless PR term to me now and I'm actually missing phone calls from sheer lacking of hearing my phone ring...despite it being right in my pocket.
Going even further, I also attempted to switch to ADW.Launcher based upon recommendations by others that it increases battery life (I found that it had little to no effect). I also attempted to severely underclock my CPU (down to 200Mhz) based, again, upon other claims that it increases their battery life all the way to as high as 30+ hours on a single full charge.
Somehow, underclocking my CPU actually made the battery die out faster.
Furthermore, I attempted to use programs (SMODA, 2G/3G) which claim they allow me to switch to EDGE because, for some God-forsaken reason, Android doesn’t seem to have any toggle for doing it. Unfortunately, none of them seem to work; rather than switching to 2G, they all just completely disabled data, which, unfortunately, is completely unacceptable to me. So at this point, I only seem to have a few more extreme (from my perspective) options. Once I actually get the bluetooth, I plan to turn off most of the auto-updating apps (email, weather, twitter, etc), and just update them myself periodically. Furthermore, I plan to turn off the GPS location feature once I get my GPS unit.
Beyond the above, though, as I said, I'm at the end of my rope. Once I employ the other tricks, I figure I might be able to stretch battery life to 9.5-10 hours, but I would like to go even further. If anyone could offer me some help, I would highly appreciate it.
if your gonna have a bluetooth headset on disable your ringtone completly that would be meaning less. if your near wi-fi a lot have it connect only though that.
also you can clock the cpu down to 100Mhz along with the GPU.
AND to force 2G/edge read my howto in general
oh the ext2 lagfix can also save you some battery life
xatrekak said:
if your gonna have a bluetooth headset on disable your ringtone completly that would be meaning less. if your near wi-fi a lot have it connect only though that.
also you can clock the cpu down to 100Mhz along with the GPU.
AND to force 2G/edge read my howto in general
oh the ext2 lagfix can also save you some battery life
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm already doing the first sans disabling ringtone. I'm not so sure doing such a thing would be acceptable to me.
As for the underlocking suggestion, as I said, I underclocked the CPU all the way down to 200Mhz and the battery actually drained even faster. I doubt underclocking even further is going to help. Furthermore, I actually did try 100Mhz originally, but the performance was so horrendous that it was unbearable.
As for the lag fix, I already have it. Lastly, I knew about that 4636 technique to switch to 2G already, but, unfortunately, it doesn't appear to work for me. The setting doesn't save and 3G still remains.
EDIT: I actually found a way to make the above work. Simply dial *#*#197328640#*#*, then go Debug Screen > Phone Control > UE State Control > Change RAT to GSM. This will actually force your phone to use GSM only. This seems like the answer to all of my battery problems....except it doesn't work. Once you make the change, the INFO menu reports that it has been changed to 'GSM Only', but data appears to have been disabled. Restarting your phone makes data works again, but the INFO menu reported that data has been reset back to 'GSM/CDMA auto'. Yay.
If you haven't already, turn off GPS when you aren't using it. Use the Power Control widget to help. Make sure all of the things in the power control widget are off unless you are using it. And use advanced task killer if you haven't already.
i say screw underclocking let run at whatever i dont think it makes a difference.
forget advanced task killer, i like auto killer.
leave gps off unless needed, and backround data
switch to 2g when you can.
no live walls of course use dark or black, no updating widgets
i dumped stuff like juice defender, cause with backround data off i dont think it does anything.
flight mode it at night (when sleeping) if not charging
ive been running jh3 (now jh7) with sre. get to work (i run 2g at work)at 9am listen to pandora all day through bluetooth (which is on for 6-8hrs) and wifi (6-8hrs) good amount off browsing bout 30 min of voice calls, some texts email checking, more browsing, some games. on average lately after being unplugged for 13-17 hrs at the end of the day with 20-30% life left,using bout 3hrs of display, 30 min voice calls, bluetooth doesnt use crap bout 3%, media server usually 15%, cell satndby i wanna say 10%, im pretty happy i guess, even though im always lookin for better results, tryin the new sre with undervolting, heard some good things.
still when that seidio 3200 mah battery comes out im gettin it, dont care how fat it makes the phone, things to dang thin as it is, and without some sort of cover its like a wet bar of soap!!
What is your typical daily usage? I have fairly light usage (few games here and there a little music and a good amount of web surfing, app browsing and texting with a few phone calls using speaker phone) and I'm at 28 hours of use with 55% battery.
I have just the typical power saving tricks(gps off, bluetooth off, screen at minimum or 30% and my data doesn't sync automatically), no under clocking or anything. I should point out I'm running a euro galaxy rom and am not ever on a wifi connection.
NotAppropriate said:
What is your typical daily usage? I have fairly light usage (few games here and there a little music and a good amount of web surfing, app browsing and texting with a few phone calls using speaker phone) and I'm at 28 hours of use with 55% battery.
I have just the typical power saving tricks(gps off, bluetooth off, screen at minimum or 30% and my data doesn't sync automatically), no under clocking or anything. I should point out I'm running a euro galaxy rom and am not ever on a wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow you are lucky. Yesterday I got 2 phone calls for a total of 3 minutes. I sent 7 text messages. I surfed the web maybe for 15 minutes. No games. Nothing else major. GPS off. Bluetooth off. Wifi on. Screen at 22%. Only background data I have is email which checks once every hour and a weather widget that refreshes every 6 hours. I got barely 12 hours in before my battery died.
fishgator said:
If you haven't already, turn off GPS when you aren't using it. Use the Power Control widget to help. Make sure all of the things in the power control widget are off unless you are using it. And use advanced task killer if you haven't already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm keeping GPS off, and I'm using ATK already.
NotAppropriate said:
What is your typical daily usage? I have fairly light usage (few games here and there a little music and a good amount of web surfing, app browsing and texting with a few phone calls using speaker phone) and I'm at 28 hours of use with 55% battery.
I have just the typical power saving tricks(gps off, bluetooth off, screen at minimum or 30% and my data doesn't sync automatically), no under clocking or anything. I should point out I'm running a euro galaxy rom and am not ever on a wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typical usage for me runs along this line: A lot of web browsing, perhaps 30-45 minutes of music, and plenty of IM. I also use Aldiko to read now and then. Calls do factor into this, but typically only two or three 10-15 minute phone calls.
Truthfully, I simply don't see how it is possible for you to use the phone for 28 hours straight and still have 55% battery. I could lose 30% battery just by leaving my Captivate on stand-by for 30 hours.
I certainly understand the interest in having the best battery life possible.
Are you in a work environment where you cannot plug it to a computer for part of the day?
Fortunately, I am. And I always have it plugged in in the car.
I don't want to have a powerful phone with all the features turned off in order to keep it going.
I dont see how you can get 28hrs @ 55% either, with the kind of usage he was claiming, i wouldnt exactly call that light usage
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
28hrs @ 55% What firmware you runnin
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
ewingr said:
I certainly understand the interest in having the best battery life possible.
Are you in a work environment where you cannot plug it to a computer for part of the day?
Fortunately, I am. And I always have it plugged in in the car.
I don't what to have a powerful phone with all the features turned off in order to keep it going.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I do have a work environment where I can keep my Captivate plugged in, but only half of the time. Other times, I need to move. Aside from that, it kind of annoys me to use a phone attached to a wall socket. I prefer to keep my smartphones plugged in only long enough for them to fully charge (or at least charge to 80+%), then unplug them for usage. This is kind of tough for the Captivate considering it takes 3-4 hours to fully charge.
I also fully agree with you on the last point, which is what makes all of this so frustrating.
*Sigh* It's really too bad the Captivate is my first Android phone; it's been kind of a negative experience for me so far. Ironically enough, the one issue that hasn't been a problem for me is the one issue most seem to be having -- GPS performance.
roadrash7 said:
I dont see how you can get 28hrs @ 55% either, with the kind of usage he was claiming, i wouldnt exactly call that light usage
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am in class for most of the day so the phone is idle most of the time but i only play about 10 minutes of music with about an hour or 2 combined web surfing and games but my phone is still chugging at 39 percent battery life at 38 hours of usage. I guess that qualifies as light usage then.
edit: jm6 with unhelpful kernel and sre
also, you have let the battery die out completely and recharge completely with the phone powered off correct?
NotAppropriate said:
I am in class for most of the day so the phone is idle most of the time but i only play about 10 minutes of music with about an hour or 2 combined web surfing and games but my phone is still chugging at 39 percent battery life at 38 hours of usage. I guess that qualifies as light usage then.
edit: jm6 with unhelpful kernel and sre
also, you have let the battery die out completely and recharge completely with the phone powered off correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm honestly shocked at your usage. Am I reading right that in the 38 hours since you last charged it, you only used it for 10 minutes of music and a combined 1-2 hours of web surfing/games? I wouldn't call that light usage. I would call that hardly any usage.
Under such conditions, I can see why your battery life lasts so long.
I don't see why you can't get a days worth of usage out of your phone. Cell phone calls use the most battery - that is why the phone is rated at about 5 hours of talk time. This would be in the best signal area. If you are in a lower signal environment (especially in a heavy building all day) you will see faster battery drain.
I am not sure why you are bothering with BT if you are only talking on 2 or 3 calls - but if you take 3 15 minute calls that is at least 15% of your battery - the only way to change this is force the phone to Edge.
I would not lower ringtone volume - that is not a big battery saver in the grand scheme of things and you are missing calls - not a good trade off. If you are doing a lot of web surfing, go WiFi instead and you will see big battery imrovements. 3G voice and data suck battery - it doesn't matter if you have android or iPhone.
If you put your phone in Airplane mode you can go for 5 days between charges with minimum use.
The radio does kill the battery, I don't think the battery usage screen really depicts this. Since I've gotten my captivate my old BB Bold (at the time would only last 3 hours due to its degraded battery) lasts days on end with its radio disabled while sitting in my desk. I'd love to see native 3G toggle or at least a captivate catered app, I'd even pay for the latter
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
alphadog00 said:
I don't see why you can't get a days worth of usage out of your phone. Cell phone calls use the most battery - that is why the phone is rated at about 5 hours of talk time. This would be in the best signal area. If you are in a lower signal environment (especially in a heavy building all day) you will see faster battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that rating is probably the battery life if your decide to talk on your phone for five hours straight. I really, really doubt it takes into consideration the in-between times (games, apps, and, of course, web surfing). Phone calls undoubtedly takes the most amount of battery, but Internet usage is probably second place and, as said, I use that fairly often.
Lastly, I'm not planning to use my bluetooth exclusively for phone calls. I'm going to use it for calls, listen to music on the Captivate, chat on my PC, and so on. It's multi-usage.
Next, you're missing a lot of the things I said. As I said, I already tried numerous methods to force the phone into 2G; not one of them works (they either don't work at all or actually completely disable my data). I'm already using wifi as opposed to 3G as much as possible.
Lastly, I'm sorry, but using airplane mode to save battery is not acceptable. If I'm even willing to consider this, then I might as well just turn off the Captivate to save battery.
I just read something about an external sd card being another battery drain.
Took mine out and we will see. I was already getting through the day with about 20%left.
8525Smart said:
Well, that rating is probably the battery life if your decide to talk on your phone for five hours straight. I really, really doubt it takes into consideration the in-between times (games, apps, and, of course, web surfing). Phone calls undoubtedly takes the most amount of battery, but Internet usage is probably second place and, as said, I use that fairly often.
Lastly, I'm not planning to use my bluetooth exclusively for phone calls. I'm going to use it for calls, listen to music on the Captivate, chat on my PC, and so on. It's multi-usage.
Next, you're missing a lot of the things I said. As I said, I already tried numerous methods to force the phone into 2G; not one of them works (they either don't work at all or actually completely disable my data). I'm already using wifi as opposed to 3G as much as possible.
Lastly, I'm sorry, but using airplane mode to save battery is not acceptable. If I'm even willing to consider this, then I might as well just turn off the Captivate to save battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't meant to suggest that airplane mode was an alternative, just to point out that the cell radio for Voice and Data is your biggest drain.
If you are going to use the phone for almost an hour of talk time, heavy web surfing and BT connections for tethering then your battery life will be limited. If you are using BT to chat on your pc - then maybe tethering with USB would be better - you could charge at the same time.
Your other option is to get a spare battery.
And I did read what you had to say, I just didn't realize how much you were expecting your phone to do. The only numbers your provider were around talk time.
I use my phone a lot and I charge it every 24 hours - I am more then satisfied - but I know that if a spend an hour or more talking on it and bunch of web surfing that I will have to think about charging it as my usage increases.
There is a way to force the phone into 2G. It isn't very user friendly. I have tested this and it works great.
Enter the Phone app.
Dial *#*#197328640#*#*
Select [1] DEBUG SCREEN
Select [8] PHONE CONTROL
Select [4] UE STATE CONTROL
If you want 2G, select:
[3] CHANGE RAT TO GSM
If you want 3G, select:
[2] CHANGE RAT TO WCDMA

battery life question

There is a lot of conflicting info about Wifi vs 3g.
Which is better to use in term of saving battery?
Does Signal strength of either affect battery life?
IF using wifi, should you have it to always on ( when in wifi zone of course) or should you have it set to sleep when screens off?
I've done testing on that and I've noticed that when using the phone in long intervals, its better to disable connections but when using the phone in frequent bursts it's better to just leave it on. But this is when you are in wifi range the entire time.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I typically have my wifi (and 3g) disable itself when the screen goes off. It seems to restore very quickly. I use Juice Defender (in market) to manage this, which I believe does a pretty good job improving battery life.
wbcollins said:
I typically have my wifi (and 3g) disable itself when the screen goes off. It seems to restore very quickly. I use Juice Defender (in market) to manage this, which I believe does a pretty good job improving battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely agree, some people say juice defender drains your battery, but don't believe them haha
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
with the whole jD controversy. I'm assuming it has to do with how often the phone is coming out of sleep. If your using your phone every 5 or ten minuets a day then JD probably is going to use more battery then not having it vs lets say you let your phone sleep for half an hour or hours at a time...
Turning a car on and off ( im assuming) takes more gas then letting it run for a few minuets ( correct me if im wrong, but its just an analogy ;] ) but leaving your car run for a hour because your going to use it ina bit isnt effective at all.
Agreed that turning off networking when not needed (Wifi or 3g) will help battery life.
Signal strength of 3G and Wifi will impact battery life, as both protocols will adjust the power when the signal strength is high - low. Your phone will also crank up the power when the signal for basic voice service is weak to keep you connected.
I think over the course of a day at work, juice defender pays off. You can use it in lots of different ways, though the interface is a little clumsy. It also helps me, with help from juice plotter, to determine if my data connections are indeed staying off when I want them to or consuming more energy than they should. When my phone is in my pocket, I don't want it doing much.
can anyone get into more detail about the question at hand?
as in what is better then what .
2 wifi bars better then 2 3g bars?
which uses LESS power ?
IMO, i would say wifi uses less power since the signal doesn't need to travel far to get to your access point vs a 3G signal that needs to go a mile to get to the cell tower. But I'm not an electrical engineer so take it for what it's worth. I leave wifi enabled and use JuiceDefender to turn it on and off as needed. I'm more concerned about data usage since for me wifi is unlimited and 3G is not.
most ISPs limit Bandwidth to 250GB a month. so its not unlimited... so try to stay under that ;]
My experience, turn off wifi is better for bettery life. The battery level almost constant when the wifi is off. The level drop about 2-4% Per hours if wifi is on.
Sent from my cappy.
If you leave wifi on when you're not connected, it drains a lot of battery.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

[Q] Time Without Signal - Very High

I've done several searches regarding a high "Time Without Signal" percentage in battery use, but no one has mentioned it for the Revolution, and none of the tricks I've found work (airplane mode... dialing #*#* blah blah blah).
Letting the phone sit on a table overnight, I was down to 28% battery after about 7 hours. No use at all. Time Without Signal was at 99% I've seen it be at 100% before. This is all despite having a perfectly fine signal (varies between 3 and 5 bars out of 5).
The guy at the verizon store (why are they always so useless?) says he'd never seen it before, but refused to ever address it again, despite my repeated inquiries.
Has no one seen this issue? Anyone have any pointers? Help...?
Mines usually around that high too... do you have 3G/4G automatic? Mine is currently around 60% and I was in a 4G area for 3 hours earlier... could be saying the 4g has been without a signal... thinking out loud.
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk
I'm always in a 4G area, though. I very, very rarely have less than 3 bars of 4G. I guess I could try turning off LTE for a day and seeing if I get the same Time Without Signal. Though, I only got the phone for LTE, so if that's the issue, that's a real bummer.
Well, TWOS shouldn't make a big deal, just don't look at that menu a lot of phones don't report it properly just weird that it shows so high. :-\
Sent from my VS910 4G using Tapatalk
It's a big deal because my battery life is atrocious, and I think that's part of the reason.
I can't go more than 10 hours on a charge with absolutely no use.
If it helps with battery life, Im rooted, and I have setcpu with profiles setup so that while the screens off, its no higher than 368mhz but set to the conservative governor, and all other times its 122-1024mhz on interactive. this really helped battery life for me. The other 2 things Ive found is this phone uses the gps fairly arbitrarily a lot, so turning off gps when your not doing something with it helps, just as turning off background data/syncing. At least this way, without using my phone, i could squeeze 16 hours tops. Now I just have the extended battery and it works absolute wonders.

Getting the most out of your battery

Ok going to try and start a conversation here to get feedback from everyone on what you guys do to get the most out of your battery. I see alot of people always asking what kernal is best for battery life and some people seem to have horrible battery life and some have exceptional battery life. I personally get decent battery life. Nothing super amazing but that comes down to the way I use my phone.
My current battery I'm using - Andida 2000mah battery
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/280843217453...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_4497wt_1396
I also have - GTMax 3500mah battery
http://www.amazon.ca/GTMax-Extended-Battery-3500mAh-Microfiber/dp/B006VAP102/ref=pd_rhf_se_p_t_4
The Andida gives me generally a extra 2-3 hours more over the stock. I had to cycle the battery 4 times before I started seeing any real improvements. If I take these off the charger at 6:30am I can ussually make it to around 10pm without needing to charge.
The GTMax get me through a day (630am - midnight) with around 50% left.
Now keep in mind this is based on my usage habits, and when I'm at work my signal is horrible so it drains a bit harder for the 8 hours I'm at work.
I don't have LTE where I live or work, I do get LTE in areas close by but on a regular day I don't see it. With the bad signal at work I've started to switch to gsm only mode (phone was constantly switching from Edge to 3g/4g and wouldn't provide a stable connection most of the time). This seems to have helped my battery at work.
When I flash a new rom I always give it at least 2 good full battery cycles before judging the battery life on it.
Ok onto some apps. My first foray into getting better battery life started with wanting to control my data. I used Juice Defender to that but I found that having to wait for the data to turn back on was at some times taking way to long and even sometimes I would have to reboot to get it back. Tried a few others and had similar experiences. When it works its nice and I did see some gain from it but at the same time it seemed bloated and slow and I decided I like having my data on and readily available quickly. After some searching I found an awesome app...
Better Battery Stats
Play Store link - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.asksven.betterbatterystats&hl=en
XDA Forum link - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809
I highly recommend reading up on this app and trying it out. If your seeing a big drain on you battery while the screen is off, it's probably because there is something that is keeping it from going into a deep sleep mode. This won't save you any battery just by installing it but with a little work it can make a pretty good difference.
Ok now this is where I'm looking for suggestions, are there apps that you find specifically run smoother or are lighter than their stock counterparts or rival apps that put less of a strain on the battery?
Instead of the stock messaging app I run Pansi SMS. It gives me a few extra options but I never really used the stock mms on ICS so I can only compare it to Handcent SMS and I think it is definitely lighter and a lil bit more battery friendly. It's not a huge difference but I try and squeeze everything I can w/o giving up functionality.
For a launcher I'm running apex right now, but for a lightweight launcher I'd recommend FTL. Runs really nice and smooth, nothing fancy about it, just fast and light.
Some apps sometimes can just be poorly coded and thus have a bad effect on battery life. Alot of people seem to feel the Facebook app is one such app that suffers from that. The app that gets the most recommendations as a replacement and being a bit easier on the battery is Friendcaster. I tend to agree with that, and would recommend trying it out.
I'd really like to hear about what everyone else does to try and squeeze out the most of their battery. Theres more stuff that I do, such as reducing the amount of things that are synced to only the stuff I actually want, default settings just sync everything and I don't feel I need to sync my contacts on a daily basis as I rarely change them around. So share your tips, experiences good and bad with apps in regards to your battery, and if theres enough feedback I'll try and re-organize this into a bit better structure.
I personally always leave data off. WiFi is on a lot. I wrote this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1631831
I am very please to get a day and a half with the extended battery. Generally I am always texting,also.
iStatiK said:
I personally always leave data off. WiFi is on a lot. I wrote this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1631831
I am very please to get a day and a half with the extended battery. Generally I am always texting,also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right here, this is the key. I have data off all the time. I only turn it on when I need to look something up or browse. IMO auto updates really kill the battery and aren't worth leaving your data on all the time. I'm on wifi a lot as well. Currently I'm on DarkRaider and I'm ending the day with around 30-40%, great improvement over stock.
It seems that with every new handset that comes out this is one of the hottest topics but the parameters all always the same with regard to battery life.
The 3 biggest things that drain our batteries are Display Usage, Data Connection & Radio Cell Connection. These are listed in order of current used. Of the 3 we can have some control over the 1st 2. Lower screen brightness and disconnect data when not needed and use wifi when possible. While wifi does use a good amount of current it's not as much as mobile data. The last one, Radio Cell Connection, we have very little control over. It's also the reason we see people having great differences in battery life. The further the phone is from the tower it's connected to the more juice it needs to make a good connection. So other than leaving the phone in airplane mode or planning your life around where towers are, neither of which are very practical, there is not much we can do there.
To get the best all around life from Li-ion batteries do not fully discharge them very often and also don't keep them plugged in after they're fully charged. It's best to recharge them when they get down to 20-30% and unplug them after they're charged. They also don't need to be fully charged every time, they have no memory. If your on the go and can only leave it plugged in for a short period of time that's fine. Also if you have more than one battery and your not going to use the 2nd one for a while don't store it at full charge. drop it down to 50-60% before pulling it out.
I'll update this post when I get home tonight with more info and links. Hope it helps.
slapshot30 said:
Right here, this is the key. I have data off all the time. I only turn it on when I need to look something up or browse. IMO auto updates really kill the battery and aren't worth leaving your data on all the time. I'm on wifi a lot as well. Currently I'm on DarkRaider and I'm ending the day with around 30-40%, great improvement over stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
iStatiK said:
I personally always leave data off. WiFi is on a lot. I wrote this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1631831
I am very please to get a day and a half with the extended battery. Generally I am always texting,also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With my 3500mah battery I don't really worry about turning anything off. That thing is great. Made a bumper case for it but I miss having a real case on it so I picked up the 2000mah andida battery so I could get a few more hours on some days. If someone ever made a real case for those big batteries i'd use it all the time.
citsong said:
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try 2x Battery from the store. It will shut off data as soon as the the phone sleeps, it reconnects at screen on after unlock almost instantly. It also allows you to white list apps, like Pandora. The free version only allows 1 app though.
citsong said:
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The DarkRaider ROM I am using has a nice extended settings menu in the notification bar with a data toggle. I also have a nice widget from switchpro widgets where I can customize what kinds of things I want to be able to toggle from my homescreen. Currently I have data/wifi/vibrate-silent/gps. Doesn't take long at all when I toggle the data on/off, it's pretty much instant.
citsong said:
I always make sure my auto updates are off. WiFi isn't an option for me when I'm working. How do you manage your data connection? Do you manually turn it on and off or use an app? I never really tried manually turning the mobile data on/off, just found with apps like JD that it sometimes took way too long to establish a connection. I always shut off my wifi when I leave for work. I know with ICS the widget toggles for gps don't work, they take you to the settings to turn it off, is there one for mobile data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the 2X Battery app. When the phone goes to sleep, the app turns off the data radio. I can still get calls and text messages. I don't have a need for push notification of e-mail, etc., so this saves me some battery usage. Of course, if e-mail and other app notifications are important, this app will help only if you are willing to wait until you wake up the phone.
Here's what I do. I'm on the stock HTC battery.
I SetCPU screen off to 192/192 ondemand, in call to 810/192 ondemand, and regular use to 810/192 ondemand.
I listen to about 2 hours of music a day, have 3 GMail accounts on autosync, a Facebook account on hourly autosync and HTC Weather on hourly sync. Automatic brightness. Roughly 1.5 hours of cumulative web-browsing, no apps/games used.
I never use WiFi and I don't live in an LTE area.
I typically end the day (19-21 hours unplugged) with ~40% remaining.
Now I am not sure if living in area with LTE is a bless or curse....
I would unplug around 7am everyday, and by the time I get home (around 6pm) I would always in red mode (meaning, it is either 14% or under). Using the Holics-0.6 with the kernel that came with it, battery seems to die fast. Even when I am on the stock ICS before this, seems LTE would just bleed this baby to death....
Reading other comments, might as well start looking for a bigger battery....
It actually seems like I'm getting better battery since LTE came to my town. I'm on dark raider using kozmick's rc1 kernel and it's even better now. Try turning off vibration feedback...I think it's located in the sounds menu in settings. You can also try using automatic brightness or even just setting it to stay at 50% or lower. The screen is a battery hog. There's a stickied thread somewhere on here that has other things you can try too.
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
Really is a shame that we have to disable or ease everything back so much to get through the day on a battery. Anyhow, I have a Velocity (which comes out of the box with the processor running at 1500) on Dark Raider. Therefore I use SetCPU to throttle the beast back, depending upon the circumstances. It only is allowed to run at 1500 when on charge and down to 400 when battery below 25 percent. I also use 2X Battery to take care of the netowrk and Wi-Fi and have purchased the andida battery for extended life. I also have JD installed, however it is rarely used - reason is that I am in agreeance with "citsong" that it takes too long to establish connections, even causing me general connection issues from time to time. So for around $25 AUD you can get through the day on a battery with moderate use and reasonable performance. I have not tried the extended battery pack, though I will probably get one of those as well...not sure which are the best???
I personally don't like the vibrate response thing, so I turn that off right out of the box, also, auto brightness is another that I set. When I go in the battery tab to see what is bleeding it to death, and most of it would be the display....
Though, vivid seem to have a smaller battery compared to other phones of similar functions and/or size, so that might be the reason I am not really seeing a very good battery life?
deathnai said:
I personally don't like the vibrate response thing, so I turn that off right out of the box, also, auto brightness is another that I set. When I go in the battery tab to see what is bleeding it to death, and most of it would be the display....
Though, vivid seem to have a smaller battery compared to other phones of similar functions and/or size, so that might be the reason I am not really seeing a very good battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually there are only a couple phones that have a larger battery...
The galaxy note and the atrix are the ones that come to mind...
And the note has a larger screen and Samsung's rediculious samoled screen which eats battery like potato chips...
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
rignfool said:
Actually there are only a couple phones that have a larger battery...
The galaxy note and the atrix are the ones that come to mind...
And the note has a larger screen and Samsung's rediculious samoled screen which eats battery like potato chips...
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My solution was to get a larger battery (2100mAh, the largest one with stock format) and using juice defender to control my Data Connection. I am getting about 60% more using time on a normal usage whan before!
I actually have both Motorola Atrix 2 and HTC Vivid. However, my Atrix 2 would last about two days between charges, which is kind of weird. I have my personal account and company account on that phone (personal is to activate the google stuff), so it eats up data twice as fast, yet it is almost twice as long battery life.
And to update a little bit from my post before, it seems I am getting better battery life now, after 4-5 days of flashing the new ROM, let's hope it is true....or I am just going to go hunt for a bigger battery
---------- Post added at 08:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 PM ----------
rignfool said:
Actually there are only a couple phones that have a larger battery...
The galaxy note and the atrix are the ones that come to mind...
And the note has a larger screen and Samsung's rediculious samoled screen which eats battery like potato chips...
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the Samsung Galaxy Note is way bigger than either Atrix or Vivid, so with a bigger body, I would assume that a bigger battery is possible. But if you look at current phones, I rarely see batteries that are above, say, 1800mAh, let alone 2000mAh and above, stock of course.
ideaLduK said:
My solution was to get a larger battery (2100mAh, the largest one with stock format) and using juice defender to control my Data Connection. I am getting about 60% more using time on a normal usage whan before!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you share the details on the battery?
Andida batteies are easily found on Ebay, but beware of Chinese fakes!! I got mine from a seller in Canada, all good.
I get good battery life by turning off data while I'm working . 70% with 8hrs unplugged
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using XDA

How's everyone's battery life?

So how's everyone's battery life on the HD? I've gotten about 11 hours average with decent usage, but I instilled Juice Defender and I'm getting about 20 hours now or so. Noticed better battery life on the One X but that's probably just because the One line from HTC has incredible standby time.
Sent from my MB886 using Tapatalk 2
sportsinger75 said:
So how's everyone's battery life on the HD? I've gotten about 11 hours average with decent usage, but I instilled Juice Defender and I'm getting about 20 hours now or so. Noticed better battery life on the One X but that's probably just because the One line from HTC has incredible standby time.
Sent from my MB886 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Charging takes FOREVER.
10-15 hours for me without Juice Defender. I played Gun Bros Multiplayer for 1.5hours and the battery was almost dead. My Atrix 2 could play for 2.5 hours. So the Atrix HD dosent have the greatest battery life. I see it lasting with mid-heavy use just for the work day at a 9-5 job then having to recharge it. My Atrix 2 with juice defender lasted well into the next day.
I cant say I'm too happy about that, but at least overall the phone is an improvement over the Atrix 2 except for battery life.
I can usually go thru a whole day on a full charge. It won't do 2 days.
Poor battery and camera are the only things keeping from trading my GS 3 for this phone.
I'm getting between 10-12 hours with screen brightness on medium, normal usage, and good signal. It's definitely better than what I'm seeing on my VZW Gnex on JB.
I am getting decent battery life I'm at about 50 with 6 hours of pretty heavy use. Getting LTE too in some spots. So I know that is heavier on battery buy otherwise I am happy. I am sure it will calibrate too after time
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium
Everyone who has the Atrix HD should have an app called "SmartActions"
It contains a battery extender. I've been using it next to juice defender and it's working really well.
I've been playing games, running lookout mobile on my phone, and watching movies on my SD card.
I used it heavy all night and drained it to 40%
Let it sit off the charger and woke up to 35%
Used it Heavy (Games&and 45min Video) from 9am till 11:54am Drained it to 28%
The battery extender app under Smart Actions and Juice Defender vastly improved my battery performance. I feel it's on par with the Iphone battery life, if not better.
i think battery life is super. i went from arix 4g to this. sucks i cant pull battery though, i had 3 extra batteries for my atrix 4g
Eventually one of those case companies like PowerSkin will make a case that doubles as an extended battery.
From my understanding the case plugs into the USB port so you dont have to swap the battery.
I'm keeping my eye out for one, but its too soon to expect them being sold right now.
Some of you are too critical. Battery life is amazing. How long you want it to last? As near to forever as possible?? Its an Android with a long life!!!
Sent from my MB886 using xda app-developers app
Fully charged as of 8am,and I'm at70% right now at 9pm... Haven't had a chance to use the hell out of it yet, but that's still pretty good...
I took the red pill... It's the mAtrix for me...
http://android-gz.com
Quick question for Atrix HD users can you turn off LTE mode via *#*#4636#*#* like could with Atrix 4G?
I waited a couple days before judging so it could recharge a few times and I wouldn't playing with it all the time!
It seems to run down very quickly when the screen is on - even though I have brightness turned down most of the time. It needs a charge about the time I get home from work, whereas my Captivate still had a good charge and could make it through the night and to work the next morning with room to spare. I'm doing the same basic things I did on my Cappy - just checking email occasionally, gReader a couple times, FB a few times.
I'm hoping it improves a bit over time. I have already activated the battery saver SmartAction and just installed JuiceDefender today.
I tried the LTE mode code above and it didn't work. I tried an app that should change the setting and it didn't work either. I tried creating a new APN and it won't stay on it, just switches back to the default AT&T APN. Guess we'll have to wait for root.
I just got this a couple hours ago. Will have some battery info on it tomorrow if it stays in my possession.
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium
RobAndroid said:
I waited a couple days before judging so it could recharge a few times and I wouldn't playing with it all the time!
It seems to run down very quickly when the screen is on - even though I have brightness turned down most of the time. It needs a charge about the time I get home from work, whereas my Captivate still had a good charge and could make it through the night and to work the next morning with room to spare. I'm doing the same basic things I did on my Cappy - just checking email occasionally, gReader a couple times, FB a few times.
I'm hoping it improves a bit over time. I have already activated the battery saver SmartAction and just installed JuiceDefender today.
I tried the LTE mode code above and it didn't work. I tried an app that should change the setting and it didn't work either. I tried creating a new APN and it won't stay on it, just switches back to the default AT&T APN. Guess we'll have to wait for root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must have got lucky with your Captivate, because mine would burn through 30% batter in idle after 4 hours,
Smart Actions and Juice Defender seem to do the trick.
I found that Widgets and some games (especially gameloft games) will keep the phone from going into deep sleep. I know that the game "Gun Bros" sends notifications to your phone and randomly will do background syncing.
Also making sure that you completely exit apps helps tremendously with battery.
Here is a good artical about saving battery life. It's worth the read even if it might be a little old:
Top 10 Battery Saving Tips For Android
I dont know how you guys are getting battery life that good. I made the mistake of charging myphone only halfway on the first day after it died. But I've been trying to cycle it properly since.
But I cycled my phone twice today. Battery life is complete crap.
My day today:
I woke up at 5:45, played Cordy Sky for 30 minutes and checked all my stuff. On wifi the whole time. Battery was down to 82%.
Commuted to work, 1.5hrs. Listening to music from SD card for most of it. Had LTE on for most of the ride, 30min of the ride is underground, data off. 73% by the end of the ride.
My office has virtually NO service, LTE or otherwise, I couldnt even make a call. I also didnt get on wifi for about 2 hours. My phone was at 25% by 11am.
At which point i just ran it on full brightness, screen on, wifi off, syncing, etc until it died so I could cycle it.
I'm lucky to get 6 hours out of it.
I am using tons of the Smart Actions. Turning on wifi when I get home & get to work. All the "extender" settings are activated and ready.
--
Doesnt Juice Defender counteract the Smart Actions? Are you using the free versions, or ultimate?
--
Lastly, we, as smartphone users, shouldnt have to sacrifice functionality to save battery time. That's just a fact, and manufacturers are doing something wrong by not fixing that. The article you linked to asks too much of the user, basically turning the phone into a "dumb phone" until you activate everything again.
I even have smart actions doing some of those things, but still... wtf?
vectorized said:
I dont know how you guys are getting battery life that good. I made the mistake of charging myphone only halfway on the first day after it died. But I've been trying to cycle it properly since.
But I cycled my phone twice today. Battery life is complete crap.
My day today:
I woke up at 5:45, played Cordy Sky for 30 minutes and checked all my stuff. On wifi the whole time. Battery was down to 82%.
Commuted to work, 1.5hrs. Listening to music from SD card for most of it. Had LTE on for most of the ride, 30min of the ride is underground, data off. 73% by the end of the ride.
My office has virtually NO service, LTE or otherwise, I couldnt even make a call. I also didnt get on wifi for about 2 hours. My phone was at 25% by 11am.
At which point i just ran it on full brightness, screen on, wifi off, syncing, etc until it died so I could cycle it.
I'm lucky to get 6 hours out of it.
I am using tons of the Smart Actions. Turning on wifi when I get home & get to work. All the "extender" settings are activated and ready.
--
Doesnt Juice Defender counteract the Smart Actions? Are you using the free versions, or ultimate?
--
Lastly, we, as smartphone users, shouldnt have to sacrifice functionality to save battery time. That's just a fact, and manufacturers are doing something wrong by not fixing that. The article you linked to asks too much of the user, basically turning the phone into a "dumb phone" until you activate everything again.
I even have smart actions doing some of those things, but still... wtf?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the part where you have no signal you should turn phone on airplane mode.. The phone will waste a ton of power looking for signal
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium
vectorized said:
I dont know how you guys are getting battery life that good. I made the mistake of charging myphone only halfway on the first day after it died. But I've been trying to cycle it properly since.
But I cycled my phone twice today. Battery life is complete crap.
My day today:
I woke up at 5:45, played Cordy Sky for 30 minutes and checked all my stuff. On wifi the whole time. Battery was down to 82%.
Commuted to work, 1.5hrs. Listening to music from SD card for most of it. Had LTE on for most of the ride, 30min of the ride is underground, data off. 73% by the end of the ride.
My office has virtually NO service, LTE or otherwise, I couldnt even make a call. I also didnt get on wifi for about 2 hours. My phone was at 25% by 11am.
At which point i just ran it on full brightness, screen on, wifi off, syncing, etc until it died so I could cycle it.
I'm lucky to get 6 hours out of it.
I am using tons of the Smart Actions. Turning on wifi when I get home & get to work. All the "extender" settings are activated and ready.
--
Doesnt Juice Defender counteract the Smart Actions? Are you using the free versions, or ultimate?
--
Lastly, we, as smartphone users, shouldnt have to sacrifice functionality to save battery time. That's just a fact, and manufacturers are doing something wrong by not fixing that. The article you linked to asks too much of the user, basically turning the phone into a "dumb phone" until you activate everything again.
I even have smart actions doing some of those things, but still... wtf?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smart Actions and Juice Defender work great together. Mind you that juice defender takes a day or two to learn your phones habbits.
Honestly I'd check your apps and see what services they are running and disable them. Not a lot of apps were made or updated for ICS yet, so you'll find a few here or there that will stop your phone from going into sleep.
If your battery life gets worse, I'd go get it checked out. My first Samsung Captivate battery held a weak charge, then all of a sudden the charge died. AT&T replaced it for me.
I felt the same way you did the first day I owned the phone. Once I got things setup right, it's been a dream. Honestly no, I havent lost any function out of my phone. I just learned some new habbits... like closing out of apps completely. Turning my screen of instead of letting it time out. ect..
---------- Post added at 06:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:02 AM ----------
tacotino said:
In the part where you have no signal you should turn phone on airplane mode.. The phone will waste a ton of power looking for signal
Sent from my MB886 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep.. scanning for signal is probably the biggest battery killer you could have.
Honestly I'd just put my phone into sleep mode until I was in an area with service.
thanks guys, i'm getting slightly better battery life.
I'll post a screenshot of my battery levels graph when it gets lower later today. I installed Juice defender after getting to a full charge (chargin while off) at 1am. Went to sleep, and it didnt lose too much in the next several hours. which was nice.
right now, at work, w/ no service, but I'm on wifi and I'm not in airplane or sleep mode, it's lasting pretty evenly.
To me, it seems like the screen is the BIGGEST battery suck. I've noticed that every time my graph dips rapidly, it's when the screen is on. I dont think the brightness can be turned down enough. And I tend to check my phone a lot.
I imagine a bugfix in the future, which will adjust the way the screen uses power, but right now, combining screen & lte use basically murders the phone.
Someone else mentioned they played a game for 1.5 hours and the phone was almost dead. There's definitely something bad happening with screentime being proportionate to battery.
Note the correlation in the image
It starts at 1am, the drop in the middle is 5:30am, when my alarm went off for almost 45min and I didnt wake up.
The next major drop is my 1.5hr commute. But I was streaming video this time for 3/4th of it.
Then I got to work.
(((((I'm not really complaining anymore at this point, i know I've gotta tweak my usage, and let the tools figure out the battery, as well as let the battery itself figure out my usage better.... in due time it'lll get better. Now I'm pretty much just trying to share information w/ interested parties))))
vectorized said:
right now, at work, w/ no service, but I'm on wifi and I'm not in airplane or sleep mode, it's lasting pretty evenly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try putting the phone in airplane mode, then going into settings and turning wifi back on when you are in a place with no cell service. It'll turn off the cell radio but let the wifi one work.

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