Battery life and 10 tips to extending it - AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III

This is actually a copy of a (long) post reply I did in another thread a little while ago but heck, there are lots of posts and questions about battery life and I have 10 tips or things I do that maybe help to some so here it is...
( This was the original question:
What's a good figure for battery life on the GS3? The best I've got is about 31 hours using on demand and bfq. Any one got better life using other settings? I heard someone getting about 43 hours life but that seemed to be a little unbelievable.)
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What you reported is definitely "the average". Most actually only get a day, if they're lucky of moderate use and have to plug in before sleep every evening and get going on charge in morning. So its more like 15 hours actually. And your 31 max is a very common high end for people who've stretched it out.
I'm not sure if you're stock rom or not and if rooted either but that makes a big difference.
I'm rooted ( and would ALWAYS RECOMMEND ROOT FOR EVERYONE EVEN IF NOT FLASHING ANY ROMS AND STAYING ON STOCK. The ability to have full control is important.
Changing kernels and more importantly, undervolting, will give you that longer life you're looking for.
I'm currently on KyanROM with either Ktoonez or Faux kernel (heavily tweaking and testing both) and have this phone beautifully undervolted to exceptionally low and very stable mv numbers! Thus getting me that lovely 36-45hour average - on stock battery - (you mentioned you saw posted elsewhere - yes it is possible and many are doing it). I basically only need to plug in every OTHER EVENING or night between 6pm and midnight depending on usage and I'm a moderate to heavy user (with a lovely 3-5 hours of screen time as well) AND I also have my phone overclocked to 1.8Ghz! Surprisingly, the oc doesn't make much battery life impact at all because the phone isn't constantly having to run at high levels, only in short spurts. Actually, due to rooting and kernel change I'm able to have my phone run as low as 192Mhz (actually lower now - 96 - since latest Ktoonez kernel update) during much of its general activity and deep sleep ( which I get a ton of as my phone basically always goes into it when the screen goes off). This saves me A LOT of battery life.
I also use LTE, which is actually one of the biggest if not the largest battery hog, next to screen time of course. But with that being said I only use it when needed and have it turned off when not in use.
As for my peak I was able to squeeeeeze out 87 hours once, on my stock battery BUT that was with some abnormal(for me) measures that really help conservation. Ie, no LTE, under clocked to 1.2Ghz for good part of the three days, much less then normal screen time over the period of which I used it at lowest level with even further reduction via screen filter, I actually used airplane mode during my three overnight sleeps (which I seldom use but if you can hack it, do it! It can really save battery overnight. My current setup basically SIPS MY BATTERY AT 1% EVERY 3.5-4 HOURS OVERNIGHT WHEN IN AIRPLANE MODE), mobile data was off for most of time but did use my wifi at normal level (wifi uses less especially if good signal with few reconnects/scans), used my typical low UV numbers, kept my notification updates/syncs/wakelocks to a minimum and lastly kept my memory virtually clear if unnecessary background apps.
Doing ALL of this allowed me to get OVER THREE DAYS BATTERY LIFE. But keep in mind I seldom do many of these battery saving tips on a regular basis but some do and if you can, they WILL work to extend your life substantially!
I'll give you my general UV mv range numbers and the typical everyday simple battery saving methods I use.
1.My voltage at lowest clock of 192mhz=800mv with gradual (smooth and almost linear curve) increase up to a mere 1200mv at a whopping 1.890Ghz clock.
I use NOOP scheduler with ONDEMAND governor most of the time, sometimes SmartassV2.
My screen off and deep sleep use this lowest 192 clock speed and with no wakeup lag.
(Update - as mentioned, now on latest Ktoonez kernel which has lower min clock and higher max with mote voltage control too so my min is now 96Mhz at 770mv and max of 1998Mhz at 1235mv)
2. I use my screen at 0% brightness most of the time (except when outside or in high lighting environment). I use the brighrness widget app to control this as it is easier and works better then stock settings. I actually even further reduce my brightness with Screen Filter App. That app is awesome and often use it solely for brightness control because it has full control and can dim it to basically full black if wanted. Which is MUCH lower then stock control. Fyi I use my phone a LOT more at night or in dark environments thus allowing me to dim screen HEAVILY yet it still is actually plenty bright with ample contrast in dark environments to do everything. This saves on my battery HUGE!
3. I use LTE when needed and GSM/HSPA+ when not. Seldom turn off mobile data altogether. I do turn off wifi when out and only using mobile data but do remember wifi does use less battery then mobile and both work better and drain less with better signals. If your wifi or mobile signal is low or has to reconnect often that puts heavy strain on the battery.
4. I use Screebl app to have my screen turn off when not in use. Its a great liitle app. Basically let's you turn down screen timeout to 15 seconds or less so screen is never unnecessarily on but it always stays on when in use due to the accelerometer and it knows when the screen is not flat on table! Its very annoying when browsing or doing stuff where screen isn't touched for long periods and the screen goes to sleep! But this stops that! So its always on when upright or in use and when phone down it turns off immediately. But this does save battery by not leaving the screen on unnecessarily when not in use.
5. Very important step and can take some time and research but making sure to keep partial wakelocks and apps keeping device awake to a bare minimum! DEEP SLEEP IS VERY IMPORTANT TO SAVE BATTERY! You basically want it to go into that every time your screen goes off and to stay in it uninterrupted for as long as possible. And many users phones are NOT making it into deep sleep due to partial wakelocks and they don't even know it or how to fix it. Not getting deep sleep can unnecessarily kill your battery!
I use a few tools here: Better Battery Stats/GSAM Battery Monitor/Battery Monitor Widget from within System Tuner Pro (which is my also my main and highly recommended tuner app for CPU oc/uc and UV,etc.).
These apps really help to determine what, if any, apps are causing partial wakelocks ( displaying in wake number amounts and overall wake time) allowing you to determine what to do to fix the problem and let the phone gets as much battery saving deep sleep as possible. One other app that many use and is very popular and effective is Juice Defender. I recently started using it too and its quite powerful and customizable. Definitely another tool in the arsenal.
6.I'm not big on auto app killers and actually recommend against them as Android ICS does this already very effectively but do keep in mind that the more active background memory that is used, the more the battery is drained. So I personally kill unnecessary apps myself from the background whenever possible to save a little battery here and there. Using the apps listed above in #5 can really help to detect a nasty background app or service that is quite possibly unknowingly using a ton of CPU and/or memory, thus draining more battery and also often just slowing down your phone!
7. For those who can use it Airplane Mode is a big saver! Try overnights if wanted as long as missing notifications, emails, calls, updates, etc is alright for you. I seldom use it but it does help.
8. I almost never use my Bluetooth and GPS but when I do that is the ONLY time they are on. They get turned off immediately and really be careful with the GPS in particular because you might be surprised how many things on your phone will use it in the background, sucking your battery! Google Maps and "Network Location Service" can use your GPS or run often in the background waking up your device.
9. Be careful with sound and vibration levels. Haptic feedback too. I don't do much here but its another tip nonetheless.
10. Lastly is treating and charging your battery right! I found an amazing site linked down below in a couple of articles that really explains these batteries and how they work in a very in depth technical level this is still not too hard to follow. Aside from the two links I posted check out the others on the left menu as there is a ton of useful and educational info!
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_increase_the_runtime_of_your_wireless_device
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries
Btw I've just received both my 3300mAh and 4400mAh capacity batteries. So I have much testing to do on those too and I plan on reporting back on them as well. Also with screenshots for data and proof...I can and will also post screenshots for all of the numbers and stats I've posted here today with my personal phone/battery accomplishments.
Hope this helps some of you out there because yes this phone can be known for terrible battery life but it CAN be tweaked to SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE that life to high standards and keep up with the best of them!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

Here's a little update:
the latest Ktoonez kernel is absolutely amazing on many roms on this phone for both performance and battery life!
Here's some info on my setup and stats:
I can run the 2.1Ghz step but not yet 100% stable so I'm more then fine with 1.998 and every other clock works perfectly! And my battery life is just amazing with the UV I can do.
My levels are as follows:
96 min - 1998 max
780mv min to 1185mv max w/ variances of -55mv to -135mv below stock on all the steps in between. This = incredible! Sweet performance AND battery life =
I've got this thing as low as using only 14mA during deep sleep! I use a 4300 mAh battery now so that's only 1% every 3 hours. So I basically only use 2% when I crash at night and get up the next morning. And I now easily get 2-3 days with fairly heavy use and that includes 7-8+ hours of screen time. Heck, at these low levels I could technically be in standby for almost TWO WEEKS! (Actually 12.5 days or 307 hours). That's amazing!
I'm now getting the performance and life I should be and have always wanted on these things!
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

Are you using the ktweeker app? Care to post a screenie of your voltage settings?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

I just did over in the KyanROM thread... here's the link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30897840
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

Wow I really need to try these tips, I'm nowhere near these numbers. I need to charge in the middle of the day usually. Thanks for the info!
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium

EskimoRuler said:
Wow I really need to try these tips, I'm nowhere near these numbers. I need to charge in the middle of the day usually. Thanks for the info!
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well doing some or all of these things should help a fair bit and on your STOCK battery (I assume) you should at least be able to get into the second day on regular basis.
When I used my stock (before getting 4300/4500 mAh batteries) I was finally able to get 35-45 hours out of it and usually only having to plug in to charge on the second late afternoon to evening before bed...
And now with (a good quality) extended battery I can push this thing heavily and get 2-3 days regularly but like stated, gotta have a good rom/kernel/UV/and a few of those battery saving habits.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

Wow!! im going to try this thank you very much for sharing this my battery last 2 days with moderate use i have a extended batterry but i will love to extended more jajaja thanks again
question? what app do you use for undervolt?
Enviado desde mi SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 usando Tapatalk 2

any setcpu profiles? thanks
Enviado desde mi SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 usando Tapatalk 2

Mind sharing your voltages?

meaintsmart said:
Mind sharing your voltages?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already did..in the link up above in the 4th post
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

CPU sleeper + juice defender ftw.

thanks will keep this in mind

I followed your UV settings and yes it works great.
One issue I found was that my mp3 ringtones, youtube, and flash video playing in a browser caused some serious audio distortion. Mp3's playing from my music player were fine and videos with my video app were fine too.
I was able to change my mp3 ringtones to ogg files and no more distortion, but youtube is a needed app.
Anyone else notice this issue?
The second I put my UV settings back to stock numbers the audio was fixed.

So after toning the voltage down some I've noticed much better battery life. But I have also noticed a bunch of screen flickering. I'm on task and kt's AOKP JB Rom. I OC to 1.890 and used the voltages that you posted from the kyan thread. I'm going to set voltage to stock and then work down from there to see where I have better performance.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium

Well if ur getting audio distortion or video issues then certain levels of UV are too low and not stable and must be adjusted.
All the levels I have even at the low levels are completely stable with no issues whatsoever and amazing battery life..this phones hardware is very robust...lucky I guess
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

Good post, thanks!

I don't want to be that guy that posts battery charts. Ktoons seems to believe that I have a bad phone since the battery drains quickly like in 3 hours with his kernel uvd. I have tried to battery stats but have not found any irregularity as far as rogue programs. Most of my cpu on regular AOKP is usually at 384 and 1.5
Ktoons says it is not normal. Can you guys affirm this. If so im refurbing on the quick .
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Followed a lot of these tweaks and everything seems to be helping! With some light to moderate use on a qcell 4500mah battery I'm only down to 75%.
Sent from my Nexus 7

I thought fauxs kernel u can't adjust the voltages? My phone hates ktoonz kernel. If I lower it anymore then 384 I get bad audio distortion. Now with faux my phone is fine but I want to be able to undervolt it. Is there a way to do that?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Any idea why my phone doesn't want to keep the overclocked/undervolted CPU settings ? It's not rebooting or anything, but after awhile I'll go into a CPU tweaking app (KTweaker or System Tuner) and everything will be back to stock settings.
I'm on AOKP with Ktoonsez kernel.

Related

[Q] Battery life/kernel question

I am currently using CM7 RC4 and have been reading through the CM forum for tips on how to improve my battery life. I must admit that I have tried various kernels (CFS and BFS as well as SBC and non) but nothing seems to really make a difference.
I average about 6 to 8 hours of battery life with light to moderate use. The most time I spend really using the phone is for the 2+ hours when I go to the gym and use Pandora. Besides that, I send some texts, browse the web and use Facebook. I know that there are a lot of variables when it comes to interpretation over how much use of a phone is "a lot" but still.........I hate how quickly my battery drains.
In one instance, I went to bed at 1 a.m. with 99% charge (having been off the charger only 30 minutes) and when I woke up at 8:30, I was already down to 57% with high Cell Standby as well as Android System.
I have now gone through and done the change on my phone to set the radio to "CDMA Only" as well as disabling Auto Sync.
I am currently using SavageZen Kernel CFS 0.2.1 and will report back on how it does overnight but.....definitely not holding my breath.
Any helpful tips are appreciated.
BatmanCia said:
I am currently using CM7 RC4 and have been reading through the CM forum for tips on how to improve my battery life. I must admit that I have tried various kernels (CFS and BFS as well as SBC and non) but nothing seems to really make a difference.
I average about 6 to 8 hours of battery life with light to moderate use. The most time I spend really using the phone is for the 2+ hours when I go to the gym and use Pandora. Besides that, I send some texts, browse the web and use Facebook. I know that there are a lot of variables when it comes to interpretation over how much use of a phone is "a lot" but still.........I hate how quickly my battery drains.
In one instance, I went to bed at 1 a.m. with 99% charge (having been off the charger only 30 minutes) and when I woke up at 8:30, I was already down to 57% with high Cell Standby as well as Android System.
I have now gone through and done the change on my phone to set the radio to "CDMA Only" as well as disabling Auto Sync.
I am currently using SavageZen Kernel CFS 0.2.1 and will report back on how it does overnight but.....definitely not holding my breath.
Any helpful tips are appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, make sure you've done this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712990
Also, turn off your back up data to Google servers in settings > privacy.
I've had it off for a good 5 hours or so and my battery life has already drastically improved.
To be honest dude, without an extended battery man that's about the best you're going to get. I consider myself a moderate-heavy user and I work from 8am-5pm. My battery is unplugged at 7am and when I get off at 5pm its on about 20% on my way home. I've tried just about EVERY rom(aosp/sense) along with EVERY kernel combination out there. I browse web, constant text, twitter, Facebook, email, maybe a game and I've never witnessed anything greater than what I posted above. No matter what people say to you about how great their battery life is or how its been running for 18hrs its all BS(w/ reg battery). Yeah if your phone is sleeping 90% of the time then yeah its believable, but for users like us 6-8 is about the best with a normal battery. Now a buddy of mine has the sprint extended battery; dude uses the hell out of his phone and can honestly say his phone last about 17 hours of power usage.
My tip would be to invest in an extended battery if you want more than 6-8 hrs.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Lol this is far from the truth. I avg 18-20 hrs with moderate use.
dirkyd3rk said:
To be honest dude, without an extended battery man that's about the best you're going to get. I consider myself a moderate-heavy user and I work from 8am-5pm. My battery is unplugged at 7am and when I get off at 5pm its on about 20% on my way home. I've tried just about EVERY rom(aosp/sense) along with EVERY kernel combination out there. I browse web, constant text, twitter, Facebook, email, maybe a game and I've never witnessed anything greater than what I posted above. No matter what people say to you about how great their battery life is or how its been running for 18hrs its all BS(w/ reg battery). Yeah if your phone is sleeping 90% of the time then yeah its believable, but for users like us 6-8 is about the best with a normal battery. Now a buddy of mine has the sprint extended battery; dude uses the hell out of his phone and can honestly say his phone last about 17 hours of power usage.
My tip would be to invest in an extended battery if you want more than 6-8 hrs.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my HTC Evo running CM7
@swaze
Define moderate use! My screen on my evo gets turned on like every 5 or 10 mins while wifi usage sits at 40% and the screen is constantly at 50%. My phone lasts me through work with pretty moderate/heavy usage(7-9 hrs) and I'm happy with my battery simply because it's not going to get better(regular batt). Now if your display never gets passed 20% then you're not using your phone buddy.But, if you're using a REGULAR battery and you're actually getting 18 hours feel free to post pics or no one cares to hear about this make believe 18 hours. Please do share how you actually use your phone; how are you achieving such great results cause as of right now you're just one of those randoms who come in and say **** like" durrrr I get 18hrs on my phone, but I post no pics to back it up". PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
The best option I could suggest would be search E-bay for a 3500 MaH extended battery. They run about $.01 with about $9.99 shipping from China. If you need help I can send you a link to one of the auctions. Also make sure things like auto-brightness isn't enabled and that things are syncing a ridiculous amount of times per day. Good Luck.
Ive been running CM7 for a couple weeks battery life started going down hill fast.
My fix was to get new HTC battery for $7 on Ebay problem solved.
Just try turning the Google backup off.
I get from 10hrs to 15 but I turn off the day when I'm not using it and have my CPU set to run a at different speeds
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Bro I bought a 3500+ battery from eBay and it lasts me about the whole day, this is with the exception with 3G on and heavy texting, moderate browsing and heavy and I mean "heavy" application use during the end of the day. On other days when I'm not texting I'm watching videos on youtube with the 4G on, this last for about 30 - 60 minutes top!. So whats my point? Say thing like you said, "My tip would be to invest in an extended battery if you want more than 6-8 hrs."
pictures Below :
Im not sure what kernels are being used that are tossing out such ruff battery life but SavagedZen-1.0.0-CFS-HAVS-WiMAX-GB-noSBC is treating me right.
Simple performance setting in CM changing governor can get the job done adding many hours of extra battery life.
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Smartass setting is great performer to say the least power packed battery saver.
Not sure if apps available but it would be nice if governor had timer settings were user could set what governor they want to run at what time automatically.
Example would be after 11pm power-save governor kicks in then returns to Smartass from 7am - 12pm etc.
If such apps available...maybe I'm missing setting in CM someone please let me know
sling said:
Not sure if apps available but it would be nice if governor had timer settings were user could set what governor they want to run at what time automatically.
Example would be after 11pm power-save governor kicks in then returns to Smartass from 7am - 12pm etc.
If apps available...maybe I'm missing such setting in CM someone please let me know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Closest you're going to get to that is setcpu man. It does just about everything you just mentioned. There's a donate version in the market and a free version that the dev puts up for xda users try google search you'd find it in a heartbeat.
Actually I'm feeling nice. The latest version is 2.1.1.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=505419
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
dirkyd3rk said:
Closest you're going to get to that is setcpu man. It doesn't just about everything you just said. There's a paid version in the market an a free version that the dev puts up for xda users try Google search you'd find it in a heartbeat.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right on used app in the past but didn't get to deep into it.
Maybe CM will add feature stock simplifying it.
sling said:
Right on used app in the past but didn't get to deep into it.
Maybe CM will add feature stock simplifying it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I'd say its pretty simple enough in cm7 and I think it should probably stay that way to be user friendly to the not so savvy rooter lol. But above you stated you wanted more control of your kernel pretty much; setcpu gives you total control. You can set a diff governor profile for diff actions(plug, unplug, screen off), battery percentages, etc. I'd say give it a shot.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

better battery life

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
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dev section
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App

[GUIDE] To Maximize Galaxy Nexus Battery

This guide is not meant to be as a whole and is not meant to be followed from beginning to end. There are several recommendations based on my own experience, some of them will give you big battery savings, some of them minor ones; I tried to recopile every config that helps to save battery, but every config is not suitable for everyone. (I´ll point it at the beginning of every section in bold blue).
You'll need a Rooted Galaxy Nexus, with a custom ROM and a custom Kernel.
The custom ROM will give you the ability to make a deep configuration of the device in terms of options. I'm actually using Liquidsmooth v1.25, but AOKP, CM9 and SlimICS have the same options (if not more) than my actual.
Some custom Kernels will give you the ability to change the CPU frequency and voltage, kernels are the main reason of some drainings or fantastic battery life, choose wise.
The normal Galaxy Nexus battery life is about 4 hours screen time. If you are not achieving this, the main reasons could be:
1. Some apps are draining your battery due to a continuous use (no deep sleep or continuous wake ups).
2. Screen too bright.
3. Bad kernels with draining problems.
4. Weak signal connections.
This guide is wrote by me, a simple user that is sharing his own experience of the last 4 and a half months with the device. Some statements may be wrong. I'll appreciate any positive recommendations in order to improve the guide and help the rest of the community to achieve the best battery life the device can give us.
I'm using actually Liquidsmooth v1.25 and PopcornKernel, in a GSM GNex with standrad battery (1700mAh), and I'm getting this results:
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SCREEN
Due to the big screen, this is one of the elements of the device that affects in a major way to the battery live. (Great Savings)
It has been checked that black themes have a great impact on the battery due to the fact that one black pixel does not consume any battery.
Some apps have a black theme option on them, if you choose it you will save some battery.
On the other hand the brightness is the other part in the screen that has a big impact on the battery. In a logic way, less the brightness more the battery life. (Greatest Savings)
Now the latest ROM's have a new amazing feature, we can change the interval the sensor works to achieve the ambient light, reduce the brightness minimum value (that's by defect way too high in low light conditions), and customize your prefered light levels (that are too way too high in default configuration).
By reducing the sample interval sensor a bit and reducing the minimum value a lot we can achieved abetter battery life in a great manner.
Also adjusting the light sensor levels to a more reliable one's that are by far lower than the default one's we'll achieved a more optimize system that consumes less battery.
Note: This are my actual, after 2 weeks of adjust, values but I'm still working on them, they are no 100% reliable.
CPU
The CPU is a great beast. In terms of battery is well adjusted, by as always, we can achieve a personal optimized system (this is Android, yeah!) that will balance performance and battery life. (Great Savings Underclock and Undervolt combo).
A very good speed and fluidness can be achieved with a very good optimized and well balanced performance-battery friendly system.. and yes, with the last advances in kernels and ROMs, we can have a perfectly smooth system with a top speed of 1000Mhz.
In the other hand Undervolt will help us to achieve a cooler system with some battery gain. With Undervolt we´ll limit the max. value of the Voltage for the specified frequency, if we have a kernel with Smartflex, this one we´ll allow lower voltages depending on the power need of the CPU.
Two important things:
1. It has been tested that the 700Mhz frequency is prefereable over the 300Mhz one, due to the drops on frequency signal of the phone.
2. Undervolt values are not the same for everyone, it can oscillate depending on the individual CPU. When I UV I always test my system with an Stability Test app.
Connections
GNex is a phone...also.. well, it's a super computer with phone capabilities. Due to the "always connected" philosophy the optimal baseband will save a lot of battery. An optimal Baseband and Radio (region optimized) will require less power and time to connect to the antennas and will have better connection always (less power irradiated). (Medium savings).
The Radio should be updated and region optimized, there's a magnificent post made by josteink that explains all the details concerning the Radios with links to every one available.(GSM)
[Radio] (GSM) Galaxy Nexus I9250 Baseband dumps collection & discussion
European Radio Recommended: XXKK6 (XXLA2 is giving too high "Phone Idle", resulting in drain problems)
For the CDMA version there is another magnificent post by ready5 with a compilation of every RADIO for the CDMA version of the GNex.
(CDMA) [RADIOS/HYBRIDS]*UPDATED* 4.0.4 FULL 2/6/2012 PLUS FRIED RADIO Halp!
In the GSM version on the other part the 3G, HSPDA consumes great great great battery juice. If you are not in WIFI and are not using the data connection, a great way to save battery life is changing from HSPDA or 3G to 2G networks (this is really noticeable if you travel a lot by car or train, cause you are continuing connecting a reconnecting from different radio antennas).
There's some ROMs as Liquidsmooth that allows when you are not on WIFI and after an specified delay, to change to 2G automatically (or low consuming) networks when you have the screen off. This is a great way to save battery when you are not at home, reducing the standby drain of the phone outdoors.
.
The automatic 2G when sleep is a main function of Juice defender. Thanks to a1exus for recommendation.
In the CDMA version the LTE consumes also great great great battery juice. If you are not in WIFI and are not using the data connection, a great way to save battery life is changing from LTE to 4G networks (this is really noticeable if you travel a lot by car or train, cause you are continuing connecting a reconnecting from different radio antennas).
Thanks to thenickisme for this!
WIFI
Wifi has a crazy history on the GNex. After talking and talking, posting and posting, it has been tested that WIFI always on while sleep is the best way to achieve a longer battery life. (Medium savings).
Also the new ROM's have amazing feature that change the WIFI interval (we normally stay at the same WIFI always), increasing the value will save batterty life reducing the continues scans that produce the WIFI Always ON requirement.
Services and Apps
The best thing of Android is that we can configure anything, one of the best and underestimated feature is the Freeze or Service Uninstall. We did it before in Windows and we can do it now. Through the Apps section in Preferences or the mythic Titanium Backup we can disable or uninstall an internal function of the systems that is normally used, giving more resources to the system and in some cases, saving some battery. (Low to Minimum Savings).
There are some ICS functions that no everyone uses. For example, I don't use any Bluetooth, NFC, Google Voice, Google Search or Speech function of the system, freezing or uninstalling them will optimize our system giving some battery juice.
Note: This is a dangerous thing if you don't understand what you're doing. Make always a Nandroid before Freezing or Uninstalling an essential function, just to be cautious.
According to the Apps we have to take in account the Background Syncing or Sync Interval, most of the time the apps don't need to be synced every 5 minutes, like weather, if we make longer updates we'll achieve a good saving battery related. (Great Savings if many apps with many connections).
Widgets, 5 homescreens full of widgets updating in real time could be detrimental to the battery live, take care when adding widgets and as said in the previous paragraph, change every widget preferences to update in longer times than usually they have by default. (Great Savings if many apps with many connections).
Bad Apps are the one's that not allow our device to deep sleep or wake up continuously our GNex. There are several on the market, Readability for example is a new one that wake up continuously our device attempting to download new articles, on the other part, some time ago Widgetlocker had some problems not letting deep sleep the GNexus (don't know now). (Great Savings if there is an apps giving deep sleep or wake ups problems).
Pointing on this, the best way to know if any app is not behaving well in the system is through 2 apps:
- BetterBatteryStats, that will look for any wake up of the device while sleep.
- CPU Spy, that will tell us if the device is deep sleeping ok or not.
Other things
There are other things that will help us in a great or minor manner to save battery life.
Sync Data usage (Google services like contacts, bookmarks, etc..) consumes battery, if you limit this usage, you´ll gain some juice. The new ROM's in the Powersaver tag will allow you to limit this sync usage. (Low Savings).
The Dial Pad Touch Tones and Vibration affects battery also (yepp it's true, and in a great way!), disabling this features will give you some extra battery juice. (Low to Medium Savings with combo sound plus vibration).
The Google Location services and Backup&Reset Data consumes great battery also, limiting this services will gave you some extra juice. (Medium Savings).
The last little thing that will help you save batt life will be the Automatic Date&Time option, disabling it will give you some extra juice also. (Lowest Savings, practical minimum).
Live Wallpapers, they are very nice but will drain your battery quickly. Static Wallpapers are preferred, and if posible, dark ones. (Medium to Great Savings).
Experimental
This are new tweaks that normally appear in new/advanced kernels, his use according to battery save is still not really tested or can have a detrimental on the physical conditions of the device/battery. Use them with caution or if you really know what you are doing.
[MOD][KERNEL]Battery Life eXtender (BLX), this is a tweak created by the popular Ezekeel and in his owns words: "Older types of rechargable batteries exhibited a 'memory effect' which made it neccessary to completely charge/discharge the battery when using to prevent degradation of the capacity. Modern Lithium-Ion batteries like in the Nexus S do not show this problem and thus it is not necessary to use the battery in complete (dis)charge cycles. In fact on the contrary, it is commonly accepted that both very low and very high charge states accelerate the degradation of the battery capacity (that is why you should store Li-Ion batteries at around 40% charge).
While a low charge state can be simply avoided by charging the device more often, the battery in the Nexus S by default is charged to around 95% capacity and I could not find any app or tweak to stop the charging at a lower capacity. Thus the only way was to use the manual override and pull the cable which is annoying since one had to monitor the charge state." (Unknown Savings).
Galaxy Nexus is charged by default to the 96% of this capacity, with this new tweak you can gain this 4% (don't know for sure if you can get the 101%) of battery life, in 4 hours screen time, more or less 10 minutes, but it can be detrimental on the long way to the battery physical life.
You can found this tweak in the last nightly of Franco's Kernel, and can be activated via his own app.
You can find more information in Ezekeel post here at XDA.
[MOD][KERNEL]Undervolt of IVA and CORE Voltage, new patches let undervolt the IVA (hardware media decoder) and CORE (GPU Voltage), I'vce been playing with this all the day and I've managed to undervolt a 15-20% de original frequencies. (Unknown Savings).
I understand that with this we are limiting the maximum voltage they can use, letting them to use lower ones according to GPU load. I'm not sure at this (GPU uses smartflex also ¿?) but with a descent of 20% on the voltage could result in longer battery life while playing games or seeing movies.
I'll try further undervolts, but this are my actuals on a stable system.
You can play with this voltages via the last nightly of Franco's Kernel, and via his own app.
Take care playing with this, could result in system instabilities, reboots, freezes, etc.
Links of interest
- BetterBatteryStats, A high battery drain is often a limiting factor for a great user experience.
With BetterBatteryStats you can analyse the behavior of your phone, find applications causing the phone to drain battery while it is supposed to be asleep and measure the effect of corrective action.
- CPU Spy, This is a simple app to display the time the CPU spends in each frequency state. This can be a useful tool in diagnosing battery problems or tweaking your over-clock settings.
It also displays the current kernel information.
- StabilityTest, StabilityTest is a stress-testing tool for android devices with error reporting.
StabilityTest is a CPU, GPU, RAM/memory stress-testing tool for your device, whether stock and unrooted (limited functionality) or rooted and overclocked with SetCPU, SetVsel or similar tools.
Extended Battery
At the end, the best way to extend the battery life is with an Extended Battery, they are not very expensive and only increase a little bit the thickness of the device. They can be bought at several places through the typical places as Ebay, Expansys or Amazon.
Important: Take in account that the CDMA and GSM versions have different batteries and they are not compatible, normally the GSM one is longer and black and the CDMA is wider and blue.
Borrowed from Buddy Revell
Calibration
Once a month we´ll have to calibrate our battery so that the information to be shown on screen is accurate and true. The steps are as follows.
1. Charge the Nexus until the indicator shows us is 100%.
2. Disconnect it and let it discharge until it turns off by herself.
3. Then load up fully charged. Note that this state is reached after one hour approx. since it shows that is already loaded.
Note: There are several apps in the Market that help calibrate the battery, although I have heard that in ICS Google has changed the file location does. Log of our battery so many of them may not work well if they are not updated.
great post especially for a new gnex user. will look through these options thoroughly.
Very nice. Thank you! Took a few suggestions.
Looks like I've got some work to do =D
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
edited out
Cool story bro! Lots of good tweaks to maximize battery.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
What rom is that? You should state that ...
Awesome. Those custom backlight levels are going to save a good amount of battery. I tried using a filter, but it made using the phone in sunlight impossible.
It's working inside well and based on what I see from the custom levels, it should have no issues once I take it outside.
As for the underclocking, comparing iOS and Android isn't fair. iOS has an advantage with its closed ecosystem. I personally overclock the GNex to achieve the same snappiness I had on my iPhone 4S. Sure the underclocking will save battery, but I might as well be using an older phone if I'm going to underclock.
When it comes down to it, everyone's battery is >50% screen consumption. Your custom levels are going to tremendously increase battery life.
gogol said:
What rom is that? You should state that ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in my signature, Liquidsmooth v1.25.
myrdog said:
Awesome. Those custom backlight levels are going to save a good amount of battery. I tried using a filter, but it made using the phone in sunlight impossible.
It's working inside well and based on what I see from the custom levels, it should have no issues once I take it outside.
As for the underclocking, comparing iOS and Android isn't fair. iOS has an advantage with its closed ecosystem. I personally overclock the GNex to achieve the same snappiness I had on my iPhone 4S. Sure the underclocking will save battery, but I might as well be using an older phone if I'm going to underclock.
When it comes down to it, everyone's battery is >50% screen consumption. Your custom levels are going to tremendously increase battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
With the iPhone comparison I just tried to emphasize that sometimes underclocking results in the same snappiest system, but yes, is a little unfair though (but I can assure that with the latest Kernels and ROMs that have been released, I have a totally fast and smooth system with only 1000Mhz).
Well done good job
Good guide. Rather than seeing multiple thread's about awful battery life its nice to see people talk about how to maximize their battery life
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Good guide—thanks for taking the time to make it—but along with it’s very good parts, it has quite a few inaccuracies, is misleading in some places, doesn’t fully explain the ramification of making many of the changes that are proposed and makes questionable changes for very little gain. Amongst other things, my major issues with it are:
You wrongly assume a device that does not get four hours of screen time is not optimized—this would be incorrect as one can get four hours of screen time with the stock ROM and default configuration.
The stock ROM does not allow you to customize the backlight and CPU—so you should point this out.
It’s condescending to the iPhone (while the GN might be better in many ways, patronizing another device has no place in a “guide”).
BinkXDA said:
Good guide—thanks for taking the time to make it—but along with it’s very good parts, it has quite a few inaccuracies, is misleading in some places, doesn’t fully explain the ramification of making many of the changes that are proposed and makes questionable changes for very little gain. Amongst other things, my major issues with it are:
You wrongly assume a device that does not get four hours of screen time is not optimized—this would be incorrect as one can get four hours of screen time with the stock ROM and default configuration.
The stock ROM does not allow you to customize the backlight and CPU—so you should point this out.
It’s condescending to the iPhone (while the GN might be better in many ways, patronizing another device has no place in a “guide”).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but the guide tried to be a compilation of many procedures that would give you a longer batt life. Some of the recommendations give you maybe 4-5% more autonomy, some of them 0,5%, don't know because I'm not an engineer and don't have the tools and time to measure the actual rate of discharge of the device, I'm only a user that took some time in share his personal experience in the last 4 and a half months with the device.
1. It was a way of talking, did not tried to assume anything because was not thinking in anithing out of the people that are not having more that 3 hours batt time, was a simple way of selling something (a well/bad introduction depending on the eyes or mentality of the reader)
2. We are at XDA and this is a developer device, I asume a minimal technological base, I was assuming this. But I point this out because I also think that will help some people.
3. Tried to emphasize that while the over sold as an ultra-quick device is only 1Ghz Dual-Core, the GNex can be as fast and reliable as the iPhone 4S with the same speed, and also saving batt (and in addition you have 450 more Megaherzs if you want to use them.. if you root). It’s not condescending cause if I would have liked to buy an iPhone I would bought one as the 99% of the people here.
I am a simple user, as everyone here, trying to help people as people has helped me developing great ROMs and Kernels I like positive and concrete recommendations over vague and negative ones.
hey op,
SrTapir said:
If we take in account that the Mega-Ultra-Cool-Fashion-Posh and "Ultra Quick" iPhone 4S has a only Dual Core 1Ghz processor, we can assume that with the same speed we can achieved a very good optimized and well balanced performance-battery friendly system.. and yes, with the last advances in kernels and ROMs, we can have a perfectly smooth system with a top speed of 1000Mhz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think the iphone is clocked at 800mhz even it has 1ghz
king23adrianc said:
hey op,
i think the iphone is clocked at 800mhz even it has 1ghz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ups!
SrTapir said:
Ups!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all thanks to all the people for your comments!
I've updated the first post with your recommendations, and added a couple little things.
SrTapir said:
First of all thanks to all the people for your comments!
I've updated the first post with your recommendations, and added a couple little things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Calibration section is a little confusing. It only takes 1 hour to go from 0% to 100%?
Also, do you know anything about calibration with ROMs that only allow you to charge to 99%?
myrdog said:
The Calibration section is a little confusing. It only takes 1 hour to go from 0% to 100%?
Also, do you know anything about calibration with ROMs that only allow you to charge to 99%?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it takes 1 hour after the GNex indicates is fully charged. I'll try to change it in order to clarify.
No, sorry, maybe you can "delete battery logs" via recovery. (I never did it, and don't know if can be detrimental).

Tips to extend battery life with ICS

All,
In case you haven't noticed, the battery life of the Nitro HD is kinda bad... Then, when you add ICS into the mix, it gets worse.
When i first flashed the Leaked ICS ROM, I noticed that I was only getting about 8 to 9 hours of battery life with very light use. So, I endeavored to find a way to extend that time without buying an expensive extended battery.
Here are my findings:
GPS
Settings > Location Services
Now we all like the convenience of being able to pull out our phone and find the nearest gas station or fine dining experience. But when you think about it, in our day to day lives, we don't need directions that much.
GPS and Location Services are huge data and energy hogs. If you have ever seen how much can go on in the background when it comes to Location Services, you would cringe. So, set up your GPS like the screenshot below and you will see a little battery life improvement and data usage go down.
Display Brightness
Settings > Display > Brightness
On my Nitro, the display uses up the most energy by far. So, it only makes sense to lower the brightness a bit to save power.
Developer Options
Settings > Developer Options
The Nitro has a powerful 1.5GHz CPU which uses a ton of energy when in heavy use. Some of you might say, "But Matt, I don't use that many apps that need the CPU." Well, it's not that you use them. It's that the ones you have used are likely still running. For example, even though I always use the 'Exit' menu item in Slacker Radio, it will always show up as a running process in Task Manager.
In the Developer Options, there are a few useful ways to fix this problem.
First, check the box next to 'Don't keep activities'. This will cause whatever app you are using to stop completely as soon as it is not on the screen anymore. This is useful if you have the habit of using the 'Home' button when you are done with apps.
Next, set the 'Background process limit' to something other than the standard limit. I have mine set to 4 processes. This will keep processes that are not tied to any specific app in check.
If you use a lot of apps and games that have to render video, it might be a good idea to check the 'Force GPU rendering' box. This will force apps such as games to use the slightly less powerful GPU in the Nitro for video. Thus letting your CPU relax a bit. I have also noticed that heat doesn't build up as much with this box checked.
Lastly, if you want to know about more of the processes that hang in the background that may cause performance issues, you can check the 'Show all ANRs' box. Personally, I found it annoying.
Power Saver
Settings > Power Saver
I was really excited for this feature but also very skeptical. But, I gave it a try anyway. What this feature does is when your battery level gets to a certain percent that you choose, it will turn off power consuming features and change some settings to use less power. I have mine set to engage at 20% battery life.
The tips I have seen say to check every box. But, because of my profession, I have to have 'Auto-sync' left on for emails and such.
With the settings below, I usually see the last 20% of battery last about 4 to 5 hours of medium use.
CPU Clock
*Requires Root*
Unlike all the tips above, this one will require you to root your Nitro.
As I said before, the 1.5GHz CPU uses a ton of power. When you think about it, unless you are playing games all the time or doing some kind of complex calculation as part of your Quantum Physics experiment on you phone, you really don't need all that power. So, what I did was underclocked the CPU to 1GHZ. This gives me the power I need to do what I do but with more efficient energy consumption.
I used SetCPU for this but there are a few other choices out there that do the job just as good.
As you can see from the screenshot below, I have set the max frequency to 1026MHz and the min frequency to 384MHz (I have since set min to 192MHz). I set the governor to 'conservative' based on this post: LINK. But, I think that any of them will help in different ways.
If you are curious, I'm also inserting a screenshot of my benchmarks after the underclock.
CPU Sleep (Suggested by rani9990)
*Requires Root*
XDA user rani9990 suggested an app called CPU Sleeper that, essentially, puts additional cores into an offline mode while the screen is off.
I can see how this would be advantageous because when your phone is in sleep mode, it really doesn't need all that extra power.
I have had it on my phone since i got up this morning and have noticed a significant jump in battery life already.
Results
Before these tips, I was getting about 8 to 9 hours of medium use on a charge.
After, I get roughly 15 to 20 hours of medium use. (It varies from day to day but hovers between 15 and 20.)
If anybody has any other tips, please let me know so I can add them to the list.
You should also tell people to get CPU sleeper (root) saves tons of battery life for me.
Also, disabling haptic feedback saves battery.
Sent from my GT-I9300
! kick ass post!! well-done. fun read too.
thanks!!1
Sadly, battery life on this phone really sucks even with the optimizations. having compared both, I can say that the Nitro HD with optimizations and 3800 mAh Hyperion battery gets about the same battery life as a Galaxy Nexus on the stock ROM and stock battery.
996gt2 said:
Sadly, battery life on this phone really sucks even with the optimizations. having compared both, I can say that the Nitro HD with optimizations and 3800 mAh Hyperion battery gets about the same battery life as a Galaxy Nexus on the stock ROM and stock battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps check your running processes. With these tweaks in place, I unplugged my Nitro at 7:45is this morning and right now, at 2:15pm, I have 79% battery left and I've made two 15 to 20 minute phone calls and rebooted about 6 times because of some testing I've been doing for another thread.
Also, the Nitro does have a faster CPU that would take more power than the Nexus.
I have done all of this, in addition to in Settings/Wireless & networks there's "more..." click that and theres "Mobile networks".. and the option for "Use only 2g networks" I'm using that for only texting while at work and doing pretty decent with battery life. since 5:45 to now 10AM texting all throughout that time I'm at 85% battery.
Kct385 said:
I have done all of this, in addition to in Settings/Wireless & networks there's "more..." click that and theres "Mobile networks".. and the option for "Use only 2g networks" I'm using that for only texting while at work and doing pretty decent with battery life. since 5:45 to now 10AM texting all throughout that time I'm at 85% battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually don't have that option.
mattman86 said:
I actually don't have that option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhmm.. maybe its a CM9 only feature.. sorry hijacking then.
i found many of these settings are available in cm9 and after making the changes, it appears to me they work very well. thanks again eh.
UPDATE: I refrained from plugging in my phone all day yesterday and got 14 hours and 32 minutes of medium to heavy use.
Sent/Recieved 191 text messages.
Spent 2 hours and 47 minutes on the phone.
Updated 7 apps from the Play Store.
Played Dead Space for roughly 35 minutes.
Checked Facebook 3 or 4 times.
Read a news article online.
I think the battery did pretty good this time around.
Thanks for helpful tips!
The only problem I got is that the screen turned to back (with music still on) when I started NinjaJump with "Force GPU rendering'" checked.
You don't want force GPU rendering checked...
mattman86 said:
Display Brightness
Settings > Display > Brightness
On my Nitro, the display uses up the most energy by far. So, it only makes sense to lower the brightness a bit to save power
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What I`ve noticed is that when I set Brightness to 100% I have 3...3,5 hours of wake working screen active time before battery exhausted. It's on ICS leak V18F. But if I set brightness to 30% or "auto" mode I got about 2....2,5max hours of screen active, it exhausts quicker
And secondly, on CM9 it helps me to check off "surface dithering" in 'performance' options. But on official ROMs we haven't this option available to tweak
I found that JuiceDefender has seriously saved me a whole lotta battery. Like seriously. I was getting 12 hours of medium to heavy usage before, and now i can hit 30 hours of medium usage. Then again, Data isn't turned on for me, I use the phone for Wifi and Calling.
rani9990 said:
I found that JuiceDefender has seriously saved me a whole lotta battery. Like seriously. I was getting 12 hours of medium to heavy usage before, and now i can hit 30 hours of medium usage. Then again, Data isn't turned on for me, I use the phone for Wifi and Calling.
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JuiceDefender saved me tons of battery also. But I noticed that it was always waking my phone up for a second at random times. Have you had that issue at all?
mattman86 said:
JuiceDefender saved me tons of battery also. But I noticed that it was always waking my phone up for a second at random times. Have you had that issue at all?
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Nope, but I don't look at my phone every waking second. Maybe it did do it. But I'm getting a serious boost in battery life so I don't really care.
Sent from my LG-P930 using xda premium
For me keeping the wifi on (and thus connecting via wifi both at home and in the office) allows me to save battery..
To me it seems strange, because my old phone literally sucked battery while keeping wifi on, but on the nitro wifi consumes less than hsdpa data transfer.
I've added a link to my SetCPU Profiles file in the guide.
low antutu battery benchmark scores
Both stock and CM9 RC2 are disappointing: 250 and 328 respectively. I've applied the suggestions here and don't know if I'm doing something wrong.
I was rather happy with my phone with GB managed by Battery Defender from Infolife. I used to have 1,5 day with "Mostly Idle" usage. Now after upgrade to ICS I just got 10% down per hour on idle. So disappointed. I'll play with your settings a while. May be Battery Defender uninstall/reinstall can help too...

Battery Life Discussion

Ok so here are the tools I use
An automatic radio activation tool that will turn radios/wifi /gps OFF when screen is off - Juice Defender Ultimate is my choice
A CPU management tool - I use AnTuTu CPU Master but i hear that SetCPU is also very nice
Better Battery Stats
I Have setup Juice Defender (JD) to turn off my radios/wifi/bluetooth when the screen is off, to manage auto-synch, manage screen brightness but i DO NOT use it to manage CPU. I have also not setup any special App settings in JD, it just manages power consuming hardware (other than cpu)
My CPU tool (whichever you use) is used to setup profiles based on situations. Screen off, screen on, in call, etc.
There is never any reason for your CPU to be over 700mhz unless you are interacting with your phone. When you are on the phone 920 is all you will ever need. You can set the max above 1200 if you want or need the extra power but just remember that the cpu is always going to be a battery drain.
The #1 thing to remember is that if your not using your phone actively, it should be doing as close to nothing as possible.
Now I would love to hear from others on experiences and strategies or even critiques of my method. I know many will say that JD is not needed, bit i like not having to think about it.
I stick with Trickster Mod app for CPU/kernel settings. It's amazing. Also I never use Juice defender I use Tasker :thumbup:
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
aperseghin said:
Ok so here are the tools I use
An automatic radio activation tool that will turn radios/wifi /gps OFF when screen is off - Juice Defender Ultimate is my choice
A CPU management tool - I use AnTuTu CPU Master but i hear that SetCPU is also very nice
Better Battery Stats
I Have setup Juice Defender (JD) to turn off my radios/wifi/bluetooth when the screen is off, to manage auto-synch, manage screen brightness but i DO NOT use it to manage CPU. I have also not setup any special App settings in JD, it just manages power consuming hardware (other than cpu)
My CPU tool (whichever you use) is used to setup profiles based on situations. Screen off, screen on, in call, etc.
There is never any reason for your CPU to be over 700mhz unless you are interacting with your phone. When you are on the phone 920 is all you will ever need. You can set the max above 1200 if you want or need the extra power but just remember that the cpu is always going to be a battery drain.
The #1 thing to remember is that if your not using your phone actively, it should be doing as close to nothing as possible.
Now I would love to hear from others on experiences and strategies or even critiques of my method. I know many will say that JD is not needed, bit i like not having to think about it.
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Good idea starting this thread but I feel that you've opened up a can of worms
I've used JD before on my Dinc2 and I liked the fact that it can manage the radios but for me, I get a lot of emails and I like something on so I stopped using it. I did try some other apps like that but JD was my favorite by far!
Check out TricksterMOD from the app store it blows setcpu out of the water! It let's you do so much more and since I've found that I can't go back to anything else.
I usually don't undervolt, I feel like the kernel developers so a good job with their frequencies so I leave that alone lol but I have been recently checking out the governor settings to try and optimize a few things, that's a tricky topic lol
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Um.. wow.. i wasted money on a few other apps apparently, trickstermod looks amazing..
Not sure if this is the forum for this but a good discussion none the less.
What ROM you guys running for best battery life? I seem to get the most from aosp based roms and not cm10 or aokp ones.
Im using XenonHD with Tinys kernel. I saw HORRIBLE battery life until i took action to tame it. now its much better
aperseghin said:
Im using XenonHD with Tinys kernel. I saw HORRIBLE battery life until i took action to tame it. now its much better
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Mines close to stock on purpose but I don't mind people tuning it. What did you change that helped battery? There's bit much from a kernel perspective that will really help battery.
And this topic doesn't belong in development.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
i guess it belongs in general but the idea was to get all the tidbits that we need together in one app specifically for our phones. like "The CDMA Galaxy nexus Super Battery saver app that does it all without all the stuff you dont need"
Just flash lean kernel and turn off mobile data when you're not using it. No need for these crazy battery saving apps. I get ~7 - 9 hours a day, easily.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
I consistently get 14 to 18 hrs. I've been using the battery for about 2 weeks now and its awesome.
Rom of Choice: Jelly Belly
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/28677-ro...jelly-bean-421-aosp-its-all-about-the-butter/
Battery of choice: Anker 2200mAh
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0078WL4YO/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i02
Since radios are such a huge drain ...
I think my best move has been using an app called Profile. You can use it to turn off and on WIFI, Bluetooth and change the screen brightness at certain times on certain days. So at my usual time to go to work, WIFI gets shut off. At my usual time to get home, WIFI back on.
Also will change ringers, volumes and vibration on/off (always off uses battery).
24 hours no problem.
Costs a couple of bucks to get the time based control, but works for me.
Two tricks are using auto brightness and using WiFi whenever possible.
However, since I can't stand either of those options, using trickstermod to set max CPU speed while screen off, and setting color profile to morific typically helps my battery life.
Sent from my Transformer Pad TF300T using xda premium
gchild320 said:
Two tricks are using auto brightness and using WiFi whenever possible.
However, since I can't stand either of those options, using trickstermod to set max CPU speed while screen off, and setting color profile to morific typically helps my battery life.
Sent from my Transformer Pad TF300T using xda premium
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CPU max is capped at 350 or 700 already there's no need to change it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Yah why would you need to lower CPU on sleep when we have deep idle?
I use CM10 nightlies, and the latest dev snapshots of Imo's leankernel. Min frequency 230mhz, max 1350mhz, interactivex governor with his tweaks and sio i/o scheduler.
I get ~24 hours battery with decent screen-on time, from just texting, about 20 minutes on the phone, and websurfing on full wifi service wherever I go (stays connected even when sleeping, and we have cross-campus wifi here). 3g service only, no LTE here yet. Bluetooth off. NO apps--many of the market "powersaving" apps will just wake the phone from sleep and cycle a few times to write to the log file (any app that keeps track of power consumption, and half of them don't even use the system tools). GPS is on, but it's never initialized more than 1-2x a day for random needs.
Getting a lightweight kernel is a good choice for battery life saving, and getting one that actually keeps up with android mainline is pretty key.
I think it's most helpful to post your total 'screen on' time and time since charge. If someone tells me they get 14 hours, that means nothing. I can get a full day 16 hours with roughly 2 hours of screen on time, without limiting my phone via turning off mobile data, syncing, or using a juice defender app that disables a lot of things.
That, to me, is not very good at all. I saw that the Nexus 4 is getting about 4.5 hours of screen on time with a full day of being on with everything syncing, etc being on. 4.5 is actually pretty bad also compared to other devices these days.
No matter what I try I usually only get about 2.5 hours of screen on time. I under clock to a max of 750 screen off at 280 undervolted to in each setting.
I've tried many many kernels with many roms
Screen on time doesnt mean much me to me because i use my phone for personal and business use, which means I get quite a few calls.
I use the stock 4.1.1 image, rooted with SuperSu and debloated a bit. Also use Faux kernel 23m-sr and his control app.
I roughly get about 2.5 hours screen on time with light calls and about 1.5 with heavy calls - my off charger time is pretty good though as it easily gets me thru the day. I bought another OEM standard battery and just keep one fully charged at all times so I can swap. Works well for me.
I also keep 4g on - why not when you can swap batteries.
does leaving gps on all the time if you're not running any location apps bother the battery at all?
t1.8matt said:
does leaving gps on all the time if you're not running any location apps bother the battery at all?
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No only when you use something requiring device GPS does it turn on. Most background stuff like Google Now uses tower fix so it's OK to leave it on.
---------- Post added at 07:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:43 PM ----------
Battery life is a pretty unique experience for everyone. Apps, ROM, kernel, signal, Wi-Fi time, brightness, etc. Won't say these type of threads are totally pointless but they are pretty close to it. Always good to share pointers on how to save a few minutes of juice though. Ultimately its a big screen and turning it off now and then is the best way to save but personally I leave all my services on because that's why I bought this thing and I keep a charger everywhere I go.

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