better battery life - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I've been using CyanogenMOD 7 and love it (mostly). The one thing I don’t like about it is the short battery life. I'm kind of new to rooting phones so it took me a bit to get it rooted and get CM7 rolling. I was wondering if there are any mods out there like CM7 that have better battery life? Or if there's any thing I can add to CM7 to give it more batter life?
I've been using android since the first phone came out so I’m already knowledgeable in what to turn off to try and extend the battery life, but I have noticed a big decrees in batter since installing CM7.
Thanks for the help guys
Trench

You can under clock the processor when your phone is asleep. This creates better battery life.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

Have you tried wiping battery stats?

evilcuber said:
You can under clock the processor when your phone is asleep. This creates better battery life.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
your phone automatically underclocks your processor when it sleeps (for most CPU governors), you do not need to tell it to do so.
I'm not picking on you fyi, I'm just making sure we are giving people accurate information... there's only one thing worse than no information: incorrect/incomplete information.
op: which version of CM7 are you running? remember, the more minimal your setup (ie less homescreens, less widgets, manual syncing of gmail and whatever else, etc) the better your battery life will be. this is especially true of newer phones that are getting heftier cpu & gpus that, while intelligent with power consumption, are going to drain even larger capacity batteries relatively quick with moderate/heavy usage.
how long are we talking with battery life? how heavy a user are you? for reference, I get around 16 hours of battery life if I don't charge the phone at all from unplugging to battery dying with moderate to heavy usage (texting ~50 times a day, sometimes up to 100 emails depending on what's happening at work, couple hours of calls, couple hours of streaming music [pandora or audiogalaxy], couple of hours of games [peggle and plants v zombies mostly - both of which are resource hogs], etc).
I have just learned to get used to the fact that the phone is going to die if I use it a lot, so I've purchased three micro-usb cables and a car charger.. that way, unless I'm in an area where there is no charge-capable usb port nearby, I'm always able to get a little more juice if need be.

pmcqueen said:
your phone automatically underclocks your processor when it sleeps (for most CPU governors), you do not need to tell it to do so.
I'm not picking on you fyi, I'm just making sure we are giving people accurate information... there's only one thing worse than no information: incorrect/incomplete information.
op: which version of CM7 are you running? remember, the more minimal your setup (ie less homescreens, less widgets, manual syncing of gmail and whatever else, etc) the better your battery life will be. this is especially true of newer phones that are getting heftier cpu & gpus that, while intelligent with power consumption, are going to drain even larger capacity batteries relatively quick with moderate/heavy usage.
how long are we talking with battery life? how heavy a user are you? for reference, I get around 16 hours of battery life if I don't charge the phone at all from unplugging to battery dying with moderate to heavy usage (texting ~50 times a day, sometimes up to 100 emails depending on what's happening at work, couple hours of calls, couple hours of streaming music [pandora or audiogalaxy], couple of hours of games [peggle and plants v zombies mostly - both of which are resource hogs], etc).
I have just learned to get used to the fact that the phone is going to die if I use it a lot, so I've purchased three micro-usb cables and a car charger.. that way, unless I'm in an area where there is no charge-capable usb port nearby, I'm always able to get a little more juice if need be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but i also mean setting the max sleep to 368mhz. by default its set at 800mhz. sometimes with apps running in the background, the processor may go to 800mhz without you knowing

check out 'powersave' and set your cpu max to 806mhz. should last you a nice long time like that. responsiveness suffers, of course.
'ondemand' and 806mhz is the best comprimise for me. still fine with HDvideo recording, streaming audio, Nav, etc
if you really want to make it last... clock down to 400mhz, turn off all the sync, set brightness and timeout to minimum, all the radios off (airplane mode), and the volume down, on vibrate.
;-)

pmcqueen said:
your phone automatically underclocks your processor when it sleeps (for most CPU governors), you do not need to tell it to do so.
I'm not picking on you fyi, I'm just making sure we are giving people accurate information... there's only one thing worse than no information: incorrect/incomplete information.
op: which version of CM7 are you running? remember, the more minimal your setup (ie less homescreens, less widgets, manual syncing of gmail and whatever else, etc) the better your battery life will be. this is especially true of newer phones that are getting heftier cpu & gpus that, while intelligent with power consumption, are going to drain even larger capacity batteries relatively quick with moderate/heavy usage.
how long are we talking with battery life? how heavy a user are you? for reference, I get around 16 hours of battery life if I don't charge the phone at all from unplugging to battery dying with moderate to heavy usage (texting ~50 times a day, sometimes up to 100 emails depending on what's happening at work, couple hours of calls, couple hours of streaming music [pandora or audiogalaxy], couple of hours of games [peggle and plants v zombies mostly - both of which are resource hogs], etc).
I have just learned to get used to the fact that the phone is going to die if I use it a lot, so I've purchased three micro-usb cables and a car charger.. that way, unless I'm in an area where there is no charge-capable usb port nearby, I'm always able to get a little more juice if need be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But some govenors don't drop the sleep to the lowest profile. In fact almost all keep it above the lowest clock. Other kernels allow it and you can also use third party to set it lower. When the tweaKr script becomes universal it will be even better =)
Sent from hells ghost chili mexdroid

ohgood said:
check out 'powersave' and set your cpu max to 806mhz. should last you a nice long time like that. responsiveness suffers, of course.
'ondemand' and 806mhz is the best comprimise for me. still fine with HDvideo recording, streaming audio, Nav, etc
if you really want to make it last... clock down to 400mhz, turn off all the sync, set brightness and timeout to minimum, all the radios off (airplane mode), and the volume down, on vibrate.
;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It suffers in powersave because it stays at the lowest setting only. No reason to set to 806. Lol and that bottom comment is hella funny =), but if he does that his phone will just be...a waste of pocket space.
Your best bet is to do some research on kernels. If you are using cm7 to cm 7.0.3 id recommened pyros kernel. If you are on 7.1 or a nightly over 121 I believe id go with eugene's streamline5. It did wonders for mine Also there is a battery saving tips. Google G2 battery saving tips. Should be first link that comes up.
Cyanogenmod roms are known to be battery hungry. Nom nom nom.
Sent from hells ghost chili mexdroid

cjward23 said:
Have you tried wiping battery stats?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the battery califration app if that's what you mean.
Thanks for all the help guys, i'll check out some Kernals.

popimp315 said:
Your best bet is to do some research on kernels. If you are using cm7 to cm 7.0.3 id recommened pyros kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have link for this? I'm running 7.0.3.. but I dont think im finding the correct Kernal.

Mugen 3600mah = better battery life...

Can you elaborate on what kind of battery life you are getting now? How many hours, and for what level of usage?
How long have you been on CM? It takes a couple charge cycles of the battery after flash any ROM, for the battery meter to be accurate. Clear battery stats (as mentioned) then charge to 100%, let drain to about 20%, repeat a couple times. Don't drain until the phone dies. Some people say to do this, and its not good advice. Over discharge of Li ion batteries can cause them to no longer take a charge. There are people on here, on the Vision and other phones, that let their battery drain to empty, then the phone would no longer boot, forcing them to replace the battery.

Mog said:
Mugen 3600mah = better battery life...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has good battery life but the battery sticks out a lot and its very uncomfortable
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

evilcuber said:
It has good battery life but the battery sticks out a lot and its very uncomfortable
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Yup its all opinionated. I would never go back to stock.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App

trench619 said:
Do you have link for this? I'm running 7.0.3.. but I dont think im finding the correct Kernal.
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Click to collapse
Dev section
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

Related

Another battery life question...

I have a buddy with a droid x that gets RIDICULOUS battery life. What is it that causes such a difference in endurance? I mean most of the other specs basically match up... Is it htc related? Can I get "droid-like" battery life somehow? I'm on fresh 3.3 with netarchy 4.1.9.1 bfs
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
jpmaniac87 said:
I have a buddy with a droid x that gets RIDICULOUS battery life. What is it that causes such a difference in endurance? I mean most of the other specs basically match up... Is it htc related? Can I get "droid-like" battery life somehow? I'm on fresh 3.3 with netarchy 4.1.9.1 bfs
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I havent played much with the DroidX but from what I have read it has a power profile managment on it much like a laptop . I believe that is the part Motorola put in the phone . Profiles like LONGER BATTERY LIFE , or MORE PERFORMANCE . Something Im kinda surprised the EVO wasnt given but I make it thorugh the day on one charge
Are you rooted?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Please keep in mind the apps you downloaded and the widgets you have set-up on your screens. Some apps require to be run in the background eventhough they are NOT used by you at the time, such as Google Talk, Qik, Fring, pedometer, and anything that needs to be "ON"...thats one of the culprit on battery drain you might want to look into.
Having one widget per homescreen is ideal, in my opinion..and learned that by having multiple widgets in one screen, is another culprit in battery drain due to it requiring to work upfront, for example, Facebook widget needs to be on constantly and updated for as long as that widget is there, regardless if you touched/used it or not.
Now, for the MOST OBVIOUS part...turning off GPS, WiFi, 4G, and bs when you DON'T need them, by following hot sexy COMMON SENSE, you should get AT LEAST 3 hours more on your battery. Pure sexy common sense LOL ;-)
YenahsYenzow said:
Now, for the MOST OBVIOUS part...turning off GPS, WiFi, 4G, and bs when you DON'T need them, by following hot sexy COMMON SENSE, you should get AT LEAST 3 hours more on your battery. Pure sexy common sense LOL ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greetings,
I couldn't agree more with all the things you noted in your reply.
I rooted mine, and deleted many apps I don't use, but insisted on starting up
even if I had already killed them in the manage applications section.
But I was amazed at how short the life was in spite of having done that. I quickly
discovered (as you noted) that keeping 4G on, drains the batt.
In fact, for me anyway, it really drains the batt!
Just thought I'd mention it, because it was really surprising to me just how bad
an affect on the battery 4G was - bummer.
--Chris
Mine usually gets between 36-55 hours on a charge (record is 58 so far) with about 3-5 hours of "use" on the stock battery. I don't use it to play games or watch movies, just phone, internet, email, etc - widgets all over the place. Gmail push is always on as well. In fact, I unplugged it last at 10:50pm on the 28th (34 hours ago) and I'm at 48% still.
The biggest thing I've found is download setCPU and adjust the CPU frequency to 245 MHz when the screen is off. That saves a lot. Other then that I keep it at 998 MHz (max speed) all other times. I am playing around with tasker and turning airplane mode on while I sleep, but that seems to have a minimal effect, saving around 2% over 8 hours. I use tasker to turn GPS off unless I'm using one of my GPS-enabled programs, although that doesn't seem to do much either.
I'm running just a basic sense rom with a stock kernel, nothing special. rooted with clockworkmod and that's all I've done rom/kernel-wise.
If you actually use your phone a lot I'm not sure there's much you can do besides get a bigger battery. If you just use it mostly as a phone and less as a PMP or gaming device you should be able to get some nice results.
EDIT: Oh yea, and don't use a task killer (I don't). From what I've read those can actually cause the phone to consume MORE power as services are being killed and opened constantly. Android is very good about leaving tasks open in the background without them consuming power. Opening and closing them constantly is another story.
I wish I could figure this out too. I've been switching between a ton of kernels and roms and can't seem to find anything with good battery life. My phones been unplugged for about 2 1/2 hours and I'm at 53% battery life. No widgets running and just average usage.
Running virusrom and kings #9 and a lot of other roms and battery life is a joke.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
So far, the best battery combo I've found is fresh 3.2 with it's stock rom and I returned to it last night. Some say 3.3 is as good or better but I can't seem to get those same results...
But my real question is, why is the droid able to get such great life?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
My phone stays basically plugged in while I'm at work I'm running fresh 3.3 and kings#9 I thought they are suppose to get decent life but not mine I even have it underclocked oh well I guess thank god for car chargers and extension cords lol
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
What I have found to help most of all is to NOT use the Mail app - it drains the battery like crazy, especially if you are popping several accounts. Instead, use the gmail client and set it up to pop your other accounts, and push them to you. This literally trippled my battery life. And it is way faster than the 15 minute intervals that the mail app gives you. Give it a shot, you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Q] EXTREMELY horrible battery life

I've read on many reviews (Gizmodo, Engadget, CNet, etc) that the battery on the DInc is not that great, but mine is incredibly... bad. Examples:
I browse the web (mostly mobile websites with not many images, flash etc) for ~20 mins and battery life decreases by 20%
I leave the phone ON overnight without charging and it's at 2% in the morning. When I went to sleep it was at 60%
I turn the phone OFF overnight without charging and it dies (I couldn't turn it on, had to charge for 15 mins even to turn on). When I went to sleep it was at 30%
I've also heard both that ATK is useless and that it's a gift from God for battery life. I'm running the Pro version killing every 30min and it's not helping that much (maybe 30 mins)
Is my battery defective, or are other users also experiencing this bad of battery life? My DInc is SLCD, running UberZ RC1.2 with stock battery.
Im guessing you havent had your incredible for more than five months right? Considering htc didnt start making them until the late summer. Anyways I do know that desire z ports often use up quite a bit of battery in their displays. However considering you left it on overnight and it was nearly dead I dont think it was that. Something you can try is going in the advanced menu on clockwork mod and erasing battery stats. This seems more like a defective battery though. New batteries can be bought for fairly cheap and if you do decide to get a new one you can get them for pretty cheap. Touchpro 2 batteries supposedly work with the incredible as well
Make sure you turn off GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. when not in use.
kaiserII101 said:
Im guessing you havent had your incredible for more than five months right? Considering htc didnt start making them until the late summer. Anyways I do know that desire z ports often use up quite a bit of battery in their displays. However considering you left it on overnight and it was nearly dead I dont think it was that. Something you can try is going in the advanced menu on clockwork mod and erasing battery stats. This seems more like a defective battery though. New batteries can be bought for fairly cheap and if you do decide to get a new one you can get them for pretty cheap. Touchpro 2 batteries supposedly work with the incredible as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've had it for about a month. I will reply after erasing battery stats and trying it out. I'm not sure that I would use a Touch Pro 2 battery - seems like too much of a risk. However, I have seen Evo Batteries on Amazon that supposedly work with the Dinc. Do they?
If it helps, I use widget locker, with: extended controls, fancy widget, nexus revamped (with a lot of spawns on slow) and 3 sliders.
Keyboards said:
Make sure you turn off GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. when not in use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have, I barely use BT or GPS so they're almost always off. I only turn GPS on when I'm charging and I'm using location based apps. 3G is off at home and Wifi is off on the road / at school and when I'm not using the phone.
What you might want to try doing is uninstalling widget locker and charging your phone all the way up. If after uninstalling widget locker the drain is still significant it may be the battery. And from what I read, the evo battery works with the incredible, it just makes the back cover fit a bit more tight.
kaiserII101 said:
What you might want to try doing is uninstalling widget locker and charging your phone all the way up. If after uninstalling widget locker the drain is still significant it may be the battery. And from what I read, the evo battery works with the incredible, it just makes the back cover fit a bit more tight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I've wiped battery stats, though it's only been a few mins so I can't tell yet. I'll reply in a couple of days. Also, can I just disable WidgetLocker instead of uninstalling it?
I also have a silicone case that hooks on the front edges, will an Evo Innocell (with back cover) mess with that?
I dont think an evo back cover would work for the incredible as they are not the same dimensions.
And btw touchpro 2 battery will work with the incredible
http://androidforums.com/incredible-accessories/72006-fyi-touch-pro-2-battery-works-incredible.html
Heres one for $5 if youre thinking about it.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.35632
I just moved to an Incredible from my Droid 1 and the battery life is horrible compared... I got it as a replacement for having so many issues with my Droid but the battery life is almost unusable I'm running CM 6.1 and I wiped my battery stats, drained the battery then let it charge overnight powered off and I still get really bad life... I think a lot of it may have to do with the stock 1300mAh battery compared to the Droid having 1500mAh but I'm not sure... I'm considering the 3500mAh sedio battery but $70 bucks is a bit steep atm
kaiserII101 said:
I dont think an evo back cover would work for the incredible as they are not the same dimensions.
And btw touchpro 2 battery will work with the incredible
Heres one for $5 if youre thinking about it.
Thanks for the great find, though I was thinking about maybe one of those seidio 3500's. Though since it's so cheap, I'll probably buy it
nagmier said:
I just moved to an Incredible from my Droid 1 and the battery life is horrible compared... I got it as a replacement for having so many issues with my Droid but the battery life is almost unusable I'm running CM 6.1 and I wiped my battery stats, drained the battery then let it charge overnight powered off and I still get really bad life... I think a lot of it may have to do with the stock 1300mAh battery compared to the Droid having 1500mAh but I'm not sure... I'm considering the 3500mAh sedio battery but $70 bucks is a bit steep atm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen one on amazon for ~$25. Not seidio though. Reviews were meh.
I don't think its the 1300 mah vs 1500 mah. That's less than 20% (so like 10 hrs vs 12 hrs).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didnt see the part about disabling widget locker, sorry.
Yes you probably can disable it just make sure it is definitely not running.
pianoplayer said:
I've read on many reviews (Gizmodo, Engadget, CNet, etc) that the battery on the DInc is not that great, but mine is incredibly... bad. Examples:
I browse the web (mostly mobile websites with not many images, flash etc) for ~20 mins and battery life decreases by 20%
I leave the phone ON overnight without charging and it's at 2% in the morning. When I went to sleep it was at 60%
I turn the phone OFF overnight without charging and it dies (I couldn't turn it on, had to charge for 15 mins even to turn on). When I went to sleep it was at 30%
I've also heard both that ATK is useless and that it's a gift from God for battery life. I'm running the Pro version killing every 30min and it's not helping that much (maybe 30 mins)
Is my battery defective, or are other users also experiencing this bad of battery life? My DInc is SLCD, running UberZ RC1.2 with stock battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't run ATK. Android manages apps by itself. There's a whole lifehacker article on it.
Sounds like a run-away app.
Hmm, turn your screen off and let your phone sit for 5 mintues. Go into Settings > About Phone > Battery > Compare uptime vs awake. They should be AT LEAST 5 minutes apart.
If they're not, go to the market and install "Watchdog Task Manager" (<--this is NOT the same as ATK, again, lifehacker article on it) to monitor rouge apps.
Hope this helps!
gmichaelow said:
Don't run ATK. Android manages apps by itself. There's a whole lifehacker article on it.
Sounds like a run-away app.
Hmm, turn your screen off and let your phone sit for 5 mintues. Go into Settings > About Phone > Battery > Compare uptime vs awake. They should be AT LEAST 5 minutes apart.
If they're not, go to the market and install "Watchdog Task Manager" (<--this is NOT the same as ATK, again, lifehacker article on it) to monitor rouge apps.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone has been sitting and charging for ~2 hours, but up - awake = 5:12. Is it normal?
Great work, by the way.
There is no normal.
Up time is the elapsed time since you turned your phone on. (i.e. after the phone was completely off, not just screen off/sleep mode).
Awake time is suppose to only be the time your phone was actively being used (i.e. screen on).
So, Up time minus Awake time should equal the time your screen has been off, (i.e. asleep).
If Up time and Awake time are equal, and you've had the screen turned off (i.e. asleep) for part of that time, then you have some app that's staying active durning sleep mode.
________________________________
Unrevoked forever
SkyRaider Sense 3.5
Radio 2.15.00.11.15
rigman said:
There is no normal.
Up time is the elapsed time since you turned your phone on. (i.e. after the phone was completely off, not just screen off/sleep mode).
Awake time is suppose to only be the time your phone was actively being used (i.e. screen on).
So, Up time minus Awake time should equal the time your screen has been off, (i.e. asleep).
If Up time and Awake time are equal, and you've had the screen turned off (i.e. asleep) for part of that time, then you have some app that's staying active durning sleep mode.
________________________________
Unrevoked forever
SkyRaider Sense 3.5
Radio 2.15.00.11.15
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might reboot when I go to sleep tonight and do nothing on the phone, then check uptime vs awake when I wake up.
1300 Mah battery is not acceptable for a phone of this caliber. There are alternative options for battery's. I use setcpu to underclock the proc and I've seen a dramatic increase in battery life.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
MagnaCore said:
1300 Mah battery is not acceptable for a phone of this caliber. There are alternative options for battery's. I use setcpu to underclock the proc and I've seen a dramatic increase in battery life.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using Setcpu as well, with 998 mhz while charging, 245 when screen off, 245-520 when hot or <20%, and 245-850 otherwise.
Agreed about the battery, HTC and VW probably want to force you to spend more on extended batteries.
Too bad, otherwise it'd be a perfect phone.
HTC usually seems to skimp on the battery. It really hurts their reviews but I suppose they can save costs and assume people can always buy an aftermarket battery. I don't agree with it but it's their business.
Anyway, that does sound like abnormally bad battery life, but I have a question - are you in a poor service area? If so, the radio might be working extra hard to acquire a signal. Even when I had my dumb phone Samsung alias (which had decent dumbphone battery life) I would experience complete battery drain if I left it in my poor coverage basement overnight.
Also, when you're browsing the web and such do you use wifi or 3g? I notice that when I continuously surf with 3g the phone starts to get warm, especially in mid-poor coverage areas. When the phone gets hot the battery gets hot, and when the battery gets hot it drains much much quicker. Of course, high power usage generates more heat so I'm inclined to believe our 3g radio consumes way more battery than our wifi radio.
Over the months I've combatted poor battery life by doing the following:
1. Purchase aftermarket batteries. I've fallen into HTC's trap. I bought an evo battery which can last me of 6-7 hours of wifi awake time and 4-5 hours of 3g awake time. I also purchased the extended 2150 battery from Verizon which I can get up to 10 hours of wifi surfing and 5-6 hours of 3g surfing. Back when I was on stock 1300 I would get 3-4 hours wifi surfing and 2-3 hours 3g surfing.
2. Install an undervolted kernel, if you're into that sorta thing. One of the main reasons I'm able to obtain the numbers above is due to my kernel which undervolts the processor. I use adrynalyne's experimental undervolted kernel and it works without a hitch. I use it in conjunction with setcpu so I can have a screen off profile which underclocks the processor to 128-384MHz while I'm not using it. The only caveat to using this kernel is you can only use the conservative CPU governor. This means lower clocked speeds will be preferred as the CPU actively scales itself, and will take longer to ramp up to the higher speeds. But we're talking about maximizing battery life so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
3. Try to keep screen brightness down, minimize usage of other radios (Bluetooth, GPS). Sounds like you already do this though. Rogue apps have also been discussed but if awake time != uptime then that's usually not the case.
As also prevoiously mentioned, it is possible you have a defective battery and should go about getting a new one from them though I'm not sure how that process goes... someone here is bound to know though.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
Div033 said:
HTC usually seems to skimp on the battery. It really hurts their reviews but I suppose they can save costs and assume people can always buy an aftermarket battery. I don't agree with it but it's their business.
Anyway, that does sound like abnormally bad battery life, but I have a question - are you in a poor service area? If so, the radio might be working extra hard to acquire a signal. Even when I had my dumb phone Samsung alias (which had decent dumbphone battery life) I would experience complete battery drain if I left it in my poor coverage basement overnight.
Also, when you're browsing the web and such do you use wifi or 3g? I notice that when I continuously surf with 3g the phone starts to get warm, especially in mid-poor coverage areas. When the phone gets hot the battery gets hot, and when the battery gets hot it drains much much quicker. Of course, high power usage generates more heat so I'm inclined to believe our 3g radio consumes way more battery than our wifi radio.
Over the months I've combatted poor battery life by doing the following:
1. Purchase aftermarket batteries. I've fallen into HTC's trap. I bought an evo battery which can last me of 6-7 hours of wifi awake time and 4-5 hours of 3g awake time. I also purchased the extended 2150 battery from Verizon which I can get up to 10 hours of wifi surfing and 5-6 hours of 3g surfing. Back when I was on stock 1300 I would get 3-4 hours wifi surfing and 2-3 hours 3g surfing.
2. Install an undervolted kernel, if you're into that sorta thing. One of the main reasons I'm able to obtain the numbers above is due to my kernel which undervolts the processor. I use adrynalyne's experimental undervolted kernel and it works without a hitch. I use it in conjunction with setcpu so I can have a screen off profile which underclocks the processor to 128-384MHz while I'm not using it. The only caveat to using this kernel is you can only use the conservative CPU governor. This means lower clocked speeds will be preferred as the CPU actively scales itself, and will take longer to ramp up to the higher speeds. But we're talking about maximizing battery life so that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
3. Try to keep screen brightness down, minimize usage of other radios (Bluetooth, GPS). Sounds like you already do this though. Rogue apps have also been discussed but if awake time != uptime then that's usually not the case.
As also prevoiously mentioned, it is possible you have a defective battery and should go about getting a new one from them though I'm not sure how that process goes... someone here is bound to know though.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My signal is 3 to 4 bars on a 4 bar meter. Can you recommend a good undervolting Sense kernel?
Temp >50c 499/245
Screen off 245/245
Charge/full 998/245
Batt { 25 460/245
Batt [ 50 998/245
Batt{ 100 998/245
All are set to ondemand except charge is perfomance. Looking at this its nothing special but I do get a good charge from this setup
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
pianoplayer said:
My signal is 3 to 4 bars on a 4 bar meter. Can you recommend a good undervolting Sense kernel?
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Click to collapse
I definitely stand behind adrynalyne's experimental undervolted. You can find a link in the kernel thread on the android development section of this board. He makes a sense and AOSP version. I've tried some of the newer ones like Chad's but I love the longevity and stability of adrynalyne's too much to live with the switch. As aforementioned, if you decide to use setcpu, make sure to only use the conservative governer. Ondemand will cause it to freeze! Otherwise it's rock solid.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.

How are people getting such great battery life?

Ive got the htc 2150 extended battery, im running cyanogenmod 7.1 with the latest incredikernel. People say 2 days with sense roms? I need to charge my phone every night?
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium
It really depends on how you use your phone. I can go for up to three days on my phone with light use. I can also go for less than a day when I have the screen on all the time.
This is entirely subjective as Ralph0015 says. Factors like signal strength, wifi vs. 3g use, display brightness, and seemingly an endless list of factors may affect battery life. With the exception of significantly altering/limiting your use or purchasing the larger extended battery, I wouldn't focus on it too much.
Using the phone moderately and saving battery is tough unless you start messing with the CPU. Setcpu can help by setting profiles for certain states charge/screen off etc.
This is a decent write-up for underclocking the processor with setcpu. It is aittle dated but still helps
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=721156
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
yeah it totally depends how you use it. Most of the time I'll end the day with ~50% left, but if I'm trying to save I've gone 4-5 days before (camping trip with no outlet).
This is with the 2150 battery.

[Q] How to super Optimized Tmo Sammy S2 for best battery performace?

So I switched from the iphone with edge to the Tmo S2 with Jugg 5.0 ROM + Go Launcher. I really appreciate the 4g speed. However, the overall experience is not as smooth as the iphone and the battery life sucks big time. I normally have to constantly plug the phone in whenever I can. It works ok when I'm at work but when I'm out all day my battery won't last more than half a day. It's so bad to the extent that I have to turn off my phone and turn on when I need to call or text so I can keep the phone alive the whole day. I tried Juice Defender but it didn't help my battery at all.
Yesterday I spent a few hours on XDA and I came up with these solution to my battery problem:
+DarkSide Digital Warfare v2.7 ROM (couldn't find 2.5.1 version)
+Flash Synergy Kernel over (supposed to give better battery)
+SetCPU app (auto detection)
+Zeam launcher
So far, it seems to be better on the battery. Is there anything else I could add to make my battery last longer? I need the phone to last at least the whole day without charge. I'm constantly on 4g looking up stocks, reading news, email, google voice, grooveip, facebook, turn by turn navigation, music, netflix, youtube ...
Thanks,
Welcome to Android.
From what it appears, you seem to be a heavy user. The most you can get out of a Android device with heavy usage is 3/4 of a day (14-18hrs) tops.
You have 2 choices, either you travel with the power cord not to far away and plug it when you need it or you invest a whooping 10$ and buy another battery.
There are tricks to keeping your battery healthy but lasting all day as a heavy user will be very difficult.
If this is a new phone it takes a week or so for the battery to settle in a hold a charge well. After a week or so you'll notice your battery is lasting longer. Also make sure that nothing is keeping your phone awake 100%. Some apps don't play nice and cause issues. Welcome to Android.
Note: navigation kills battery fast, when your using it try to plug into a car charger or something.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
There are a lot of things you can do to improve battery.
1. Juice Defender (which you say you have already tried)
2. Limit the number of widgets you run or run no widgets like I do
3. Turn the screen brightness down all the way
4. Don't use Live Wallpaper, also, try to pick a dark coloured wallpaper since white/light colours seem to use up more battery.
5. Uninstall apps you don't use.
6. Turn off GPS unless you need to use it.
7. Turn off sync completely or only have your gmail sync. I don't need to be notified when I get a facebook message so I don't need it syncing every few minutes or every hour, I can check that manually myself.
8. Turn off animations.
9. Close background apps that are running that you aren't using.
10. Use Task Manager to close open apps when you are done using it. Task Manger is your friend.
11. Enable Power Saver Mode.
etc etc.
Those are the main things that I tend to do. I plug my phone in every night before I go to bed as well so I am not sure how long my battery actually lasts. But typically after 16hrs of use I still have 60% battery when I go to bed.
Currently my phone has been on for 7hrs 15mins and I have 87% battery. So you can do the math. I am not as heavy a user as you seem to be, but hope this helps. Peace.
Check out this video it helps show you how to save battery. Enjoy!
Thanks for the inputs guys. I should have said I was looking for Rom/Mod/Scripts/Apps... that can be flashed onto the rooted phone. I have done all the basic battery saving housekeepings as listed by Chochiwpg.
Chochiwpg said:
1. Juice Defender (which you say you have already tried)
2. Limit the number of widgets you run or run no widgets like I do
3. Turn the screen brightness down all the way
4. Don't use Live Wallpaper, also, try to pick a dark coloured wallpaper since white/light colours seem to use up more battery.
5. Uninstall apps you don't use.
6. Turn off GPS unless you need to use it.
7. Turn off sync completely or only have your gmail sync. I don't need to be notified when I get a facebook message so I don't need it syncing every few minutes or every hour, I can check that manually myself.
8. Turn off animations.
9. Close background apps that are running that you aren't using.
10. Use Task Manager to close open apps when you are done using it. Task Manger is your friend.
11. Enable Power Saver Mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm up 5hr 45mins on battery and my battery is at 41%. Let's see if it will last for today. I will put Juice Defender in tonight to test out the battery tomorrow.
DroidNo0b said:
Thanks for the inputs guys. I should have said I was looking for Rom/Mod/Scripts/Apps... that can be flashed onto the rooted phone. I have done all the basic battery saving housekeepings as listed by Chochiwpg.
I'm up 5hr 45mins on battery and my battery is at 41%. Let's see if it will last for today. I will put Juice Defender in tonight to test out the battery tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could run Juggernaut with Faux Kernel and Gideon's battery scripts. Or Telus T989D stock ROM lightly tweaked with same kernel and script. Got good results on those as well. Good luck.
Btw, has anyone had tremendous increase in battery life using the after market extended battery?
Thanks,
Use fox star rom
Sent from my Galaxy SII T-mobile using xda premium
DroidNo0b said:
Btw, has anyone had tremendous increase in battery life using the after market extended battery?
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are talking about extended batteries that don't require a custom enlarged back cover, you will not get the battery increase that you are looking for, not even close. I cannot speak for the heavy duty ones that require an enlarged back as I do not own one
Gideon's scripts are great with Juggs. Underclock it as well like 384-1080 is a great setting. Also let die all the way down and charge all the way up and repeat for a few cycles. And don't stare at your phone every few seconds either lol! Another thing are the notification lighting buttons at the bottom. Drop to 1.5 seconds.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
yoft1 said:
If you are talking about extended batteries that don't require a custom enlarged back cover, you will not get the battery increase that you are looking for, not even close. I cannot speak for the heavy duty ones that require an enlarged back as I do not own one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the extended 3800mah battery. It's insanely fat and makes the phone look hideous. On top of that I really don't feel like the battery lasts all that long at all. It's in my pocket all day at school and by 3:30 I'm at 35%. This thing cost me 65$. Total ripoff. I'd suggest spending 20$ and buying two more regular batteries. See what that does for you all
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
A few things you can do on ANY ROM to improve battery life.
*) Decrease screen timeout to the lowest possible setting.
*) Adjust screen brightness to the lowest level you can tolerate.
*) Decrease the backlight key timeout to the lowest setting ( or off if you have the option )
*) Be sure to only have wifi and gps on if you are using them.
Those will help quite a bit in general however, a ROM like Juggs is meant to really take advantage of the power of your device so its probably wise to move to a different one if max battery is your goal. I love Juggs but had to move on to the AOSP stuff. Also, heed the advice above, allow the ROM a few days to "settle" before making a switch or even a judgement of its performance.
Thanks for the replies guys. So my phone lasted for 9hrs today which is a little bit of improvement. I was streaming netflix for half an hr on the train on the way back home so that may have drained the battery. I have just installed JD, will post back how it goes tomorrow.
So the extended battery is a no go eh. I really don't want to lug around a few extra batteries. I want to carry as little as possible. I normally carry my phone and my ipad but now I tend to not use the ipad much now because the S2 screen is pretty gigantic for a phone.
DroidNo0b said:
Thanks for the inputs guys. I should have said I was looking for Rom/Mod/Scripts/Apps... that can be flashed onto the rooted phone. I have done all the basic battery saving housekeepings as listed by Chochiwpg.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the point was already made but just to reiterate, you can get 2 Anker extended batteries (same size as regular battery) and a universal charger for like $20. This will leave you with three batteries. One for the charger, one for the pocket, and one for the phone. With this system its pretty easy to always have one full battery ready to go and one charging. The battery is small and can just go in your pocket, or maybe even in your wallet depending on your preferences. It solves the problem completely. I don't think you are going to do much better because if you are a heavy user then your battery is going to be used because your phone isn't going to be sleeping.
Good luck.
tablador said:
I know the point was already made but just to reiterate, you can get 2 Anker extended batteries (same size as regular battery) and a universal charger for like $20. This will leave you with three batteries. One for the charger, one for the pocket, and one for the phone. With this system its pretty easy to always have one full battery ready to go and one charging. The battery is small and can just go in your pocket, or maybe even in your wallet depending on your preferences. It solves the problem completely. I don't think you are going to do much better because if you are a heavy user then your battery is going to be used because your phone isn't going to be sleeping.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read my post above. I'm against the idea lugging around too many things. It's also a hassle to swap the battery and keep them all charged. I may be a heavy user but it's not like I use the phone all the time. I use the phone heavily early in the morning on the way to work and after 5pm on the way home after work. The commute each way is roughly 45 mins. In between the commutes i make a few calls and texts through GV. I don't think i'm that of a really heavy user.
Anyway, it's noon and I'm at 75% with JD on and setCPU to 384-1084mhz which is pretty promising.
Questions go in the Q&A section
Since you changed kernals, you aren't going to benefit from TDJ's battsaver script you can use with the stock 2.7 kernal.
Go lower on the max frequency. Something below 800 mhz. Setting a negative gloval mV doesn't hurt, and if you can get to -62.5, that's great.
Oh, and when using data, try GSM only...
To be honest, the larger problem with battery life is typically the user. There's no real magic on making the phone last longer other than using it less. If you're going to be power using the hell out of it by using 4g for hours streaming media, your battery is going to be ****.
8Fishes said:
Since you changed kernals, you aren't going to benefit from TDJ's battsaver script you can use with the stock 2.7 kernal.
Go lower on the max frequency. Something below 800 mhz. Setting a negative gloval mV doesn't hurt, and if you can get to -62.5, that's great.
Oh, and when using data, try GSM only...
To be honest, the larger problem with battery life is typically the user. There's no real magic on making the phone last longer other than using it less. If you're going to be power using the hell out of it by using 4g for hours streaming media, your battery is going to be ****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't you think it is ironic for me to switch from the iphone to the S2 because I couldn't stand the slow 2g Edge connection then have to lower data speed to GSM (2g) just so I can use the S2 long enough?
I think the S2 is one heck of a device but the OS and Apps are not running very efficiently.
I tried the ICS ROM ARKSIDE.UCLE2:: x[BETA07.1] in the last 2 days with setCPU at 384-1026Mhz. I have had great battery life. I got home at 12 am yesterday with a 2% battery. Today it's been 7 hrs on battery and my battery is at 70%. I don't know if it is the ROM, setCPU or a combination of the two but I'm pretty happy with the phone right now. ICS is awesome too.
I highly recommend that solution to anyone having a short battery life problem with their S2.
It is a little ironic since you did bring up the comparison. What I was attempting to do was to bring the phone more into spec of an iphone to get similar battery life. You're probably going to even get better runtimes due to the battery having a much larger capacity and better screen technology. All that superior hardware packed in the t989 is going to need more juice to run.
It's great you're getting good runtimes now. From my personal experience, once I drop down to the single digit percentages, it starts lasting a lot longer per percent. If you wanted to squeeze all you can from the device, those 2000mah aftermarket cells might add another 15~30 minutes.

Never understood some people's philosophy on extending battery life.

I've read a lot of posts complaining about battery life, and other posts about users suggesting ways to improve battery life. I've read stuff like, disable LED, haptic feedback, lower volume, lower brightness, LTE turned off, underclocking, turning off sync, live wallpapers, etc, etc. To me a lot of people are crippling their phones. If your battery can last you 10 hours, that's enough because you'll probably be somewhere you can plug in. What's the point of being able to go for 20 hours when you'll probably have the opportunity to charge it before then? It's better to have and enjoy all the features.
Maybe somebody can chime in and give me their point of view.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I agree. I would never want to sacrifice a feature just to extend the phone's battery life. Instead I use a custom rom that has all the features (and more) and 12 to 18 hours of battery life.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Part of the issue is a sociological thinking pattern between wanting "more" and needing it. Depending upon the type of lifestyle you live, sometimes, battery life is of dire importance to have if you're constantly migrating around. But I agree, some people who aren't in that sort of disposition go overboard with it.
I just bought a bigger battery :good:
I agree wholeheartedly. If your battery is lasting you through your day (which mine does, and more) then why try to conserve it?
Yea its funny stuff people complain their battery only lasts 20 hrs but yet they want it to be able to do everything a computer can do and more....
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium
The only conscious effort i made to extend my battery life was to undervolt the CPU a bit, but this was more for the lower temperature advantages with extra battery life being an added bonus. Beyond that i turned off things i dont use like BT, no need having something running that i have no use for. Overall i was happy with the stock battery except for any kind of heavy video or game usage which drains it pretty quick - solution : bigger F'n battery :highfive:
i agree that some people seem a bit obsessive about it. but we shouldn give bad battery life a pass either. hopefully we will see some sort of advancement in batteries to have better battery life while keeping them at a decent size.
i was kinda worried id have horrible battery life with the S3 being that its LTE. my last LTE phone was so bad it would die after 8 hours idle.
Aftcomet said:
I've read a lot of posts complaining about battery life, and other posts about users suggesting ways to improve battery life. I've read stuff like, disable LED, haptic feedback, lower volume, lower brightness, LTE turned off, underclocking, turning off sync, live wallpapers, etc, etc. To me a lot of people are crippling their phones. If your battery can last you 10 hours, that's enough because you'll probably be somewhere you can plug in. What's the point of being able to go for 20 hours when you'll probably have the opportunity to charge it before then? It's better to have and enjoy all the features.
Maybe somebody can chime in and give me their point of view.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I keep the brightness to the lowest setting anyway, but I do all of this because I go to school fairly far from my home, and I'd like to be able to play games on my phone without wasting 5% battery every 15 minutes. I haven't switched power saving off since I bought the phone.
Stock ICS on my S3
I bought the extended battery because I like playing games from time to time and I don't want tl have to worry about my phone dropping 15% after playing something for 5 minutes. Like someone else said earlier. It really depends on the kind of lifestyle you live. I for one don't mind having the extended battery on my phone but I do miss how light it used to be.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Naldonnis said:
I bought the extended battery because I like playing games from time to time and I don't want tl have to worry about my phone dropping 15% after playing something for 5 minutes. Like someone else said earlier. It really depends on the kind of lifestyle you live. I for one don't mind having the extended battery on my phone but I do miss how light it used to be.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How heavy is it? Does it fit in a case?
For me, and I want as much battery life as possible to avoid those situations where there is no way to charge you phone even if that only happens 1 a month or less.. As a parent I can't just let my phone die on me... I always need enough to be able to take or make that important calls/text. My goal is to have at least 20-30 hours of battery life per charge.
I think the only major feature I've given up is live wall paper. Other then that, it is just disabling other unused apps like gtalk, talkback, Google bookmarked sync. As well I've uv my phone as much as I can and run a 1350 max clock speed. I really don't see any major dip in performance as long as you do it right . I do use Tasker to disable syncing globally when the screen is off and make sure it automatically disable bluetooth after 10 mins once it disconnect. Also I have the Y5 app to automatically toggle wifi based off my network location. The most useful battery saver I've found is to set my wifi to only connect when the screen is on. Seems kind of backwards but it works well when very little data is process during idle rather the the phone requiring to keep a constant connection to wifi.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
I'm also one of those people that closes an app as soon as I'm done with it. Use an app, press the home button, release and hold home, swipe the app away, sigh in relief. An old habit carried from my S2 Skyrocket, where getting 8 hours on stock was above average.
Stock ICS on my S3
sly-tendencies said:
I'm also one of those people that closes an app as soon as I'm done with it. Use an app, press the home button, release and hold home, swipe the app away, sigh in relief. An old habit carried from my S2 Skyrocket, where getting 8 hours on stock was above average.
Stock ICS on my S3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that feel, I was on an LG nitro HD.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
I have my screen brightness at 40-50 auto off.. i cant imagine turning it all the way down like alot of people say.. even when auto brightness is on it look very dull and dark at night to me.. Same thing for my tv with auto brightness.. but i still get good battery life. I am fully charged at about 6pm i use it till bedtime and use it for my alarm.. get up 4 am and when i get home at 2pm its still over 40%.. only thing i do is close all my running apps by holding home button a few times a day and same with ram
I work in an office so it's plugged in for the 2 hours before I leave so I have everything on full most of the day (brightness, lte...). Also, by undervolting I'm getting 30% more battery.
I think tips on increasing battery life like turning off lte and brightness are for people who can't plug in throughout the day or for emergency situations when you want to get the most out of your phone because there's some reason you can't charge.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I get anywhere from 12 - 23 hours depending on whether I'm at work or off. I can live with that...but there are situations where being unreachable poses a problem.
So, to deal with my phone addiction, I got an original replacement battery. Always have it charged and on me. When the phone shuts down, pop in the replacement and your done. About a minute without a phone. This way I don't have to UV, worry about brightness, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc...
I can't deal with the bulk of an extended battery.
sent from my SIII i747
derberts said:
I work in an office so it's plugged in for the 2 hours before I leave so I have everything on full most of the day (brightness, lte...). Also, by undervolting I'm getting 30% more battery.
I think tips on increasing battery life like turning off lte and brightness are for people who can't plug in throughout the day or for emergency situations when you want to get the most out of your phone because there's some reason you can't charge.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
30% more battery by simply undervolting? I think that's quite an overstretched statement. How is that even possible?
Aftcomet said:
30% more battery by simply undervolting? I think that's quite an overstretched statement. How is that even possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not possible. Not by solely UVing. The sole purpose of undervolting is so that your phone dosent overheat when running high clock speeds. Saving battery is just a perk. You might save a few percent with the undervolt but nowhere around 30%. But don't take my word for it.....
>>>> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=33282284

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