[INFO]Improve battery life when idle - Sprint Samsung Galaxy Note II

Hey guys, I was getting terrible battery life when the phone is idle. I looked into it to see what was going on. First off, I am on the stock rooted deodex'd ROM that scrosler posted. The biggest problem was an app I installed called Light Flow Lite, it controls your LED. It had over 6 hours of wakelock today. Removed it, not worth it at all.
The second thing I found that was interesting was after that, the phone STILL wasn't hitting deep sleep. I poked around in BetterBatteryStats and didn't find anything in there that would explain that. I then ran a "top" (in terminal or adb shell, type top -m 5 -t). Everything looked normal, nothing crazy. But I turned the screen off and let it run for a few seconds. I got a massive spike in CPU (anywhere from 15-35%) for system_server with the thread "WindowManagerPo" (which is likely short for WindowManagerPolicy).
I did some searching and it turns out that there is a bug with auto rotation that causes this. Essentially, the sensors don't stop looking for orientation change when the screen is off. I found reports of this in the Nexus S forums, GS3 forums, etc. This leads me to believe it is a Samsung kernel issue, since that's the least common denominator when it comes to the phones that had this issue. If you don't use auto rotation, you probably aren't encountering this issue (but keep reading for some good info below!) But I use auto rotation, how can I fix this?
Download an app called Auto Rotate Auto Lock. This app will turn off auto rotation when your screen turns off and enable it back when you turn the screen back on. This looks like this should really help to combat this bug and it handy for people like me who like auto rotation but don't want to have battery life suffer from something as stupid as this. I have verified that my phone now does enter Deep Sleep easily, and it hadn't hit that all day!
I also recommend an app called CPU Spy Plus (XDA thread). This app shows some very valuable information about your processor. You never want to see "Deep Sleep" under Unused CPU States as this means your phone isn't sleeping and is wasting battery!
It would also be good to download BetterBatteryStats (XDA Thread). This will help you nail down battery drain that you won't see in the stock Battery graph found in Settings. Things or importance are Partial Wakelocks and Alarms.
Monitoring these apps can really help you to increase your battery life on your phone. If anyone else is having bad battery life when idle, please try this out. I'm sure this will help you Feel free to ask questions, I will try to answer them as best as I can!

I have autorotation turned on but not the face orientation sensing. I haven't noticed a significant battery loss, at 19 hours with 10 left according to battery spy, but I'll give this a try and see if it increases it any.

i'll give it a shot. i was wondering how at work it would drain 2-4% an hour but at home with a crappy signal i'd only lose 6% all night.
at work it's in my pocket and at home it's stationary.

madsquabbles said:
i'll give it a shot. i was wondering how at work it would drain 2-4% an hour but at home with a crappy signal i'd only lose 6% all night.
at work it's in my pocket and at home it's stationary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed Google Talk drains batteries when your signed in. By default your phone will sign in. If you don't use TALK, sign-out of the app and you will see increased battery life. Your wont ping the internet as much which saves batteries.

Thanks viperboy I took your suggestion and so far it seems to be helping.

I haven't tried that app yet, however I have definitely noticed an improvement in battery life by disabling auto rotation. Thanks for the info.
THIS NOTE 2 IS SENT FROM A GALAXY WHERE SAMSUNG SPRINTS TO THE TOP, AND JELLY BEANS EAT APPLES!!!!

after a bit of troubleshooting i found that battery monitor widget pro was the cause of my drain. after removing it i went from 2 to 3% an hour to 3% overnight. this really sucks as i love the info bmw colleects. this is the only device i have that suffers drain from the app.

Thanks for the info. I have been losing % 15 battery every night while I'm asleep and was wondering why
...from a Galaxy Note II

-viperboy- said:
Hey guys, I was getting terrible battery life when the phone is idle. I looked into it to see what was going on. First off, I am on the stock rooted deodex'd ROM that scrosler posted. The biggest problem was an app I installed called Light Flow Lite, it controls your LED. It had over 6 hours of wakelock today. Removed it, not worth it at all.
The second thing I found that was interesting was after that, the phone STILL wasn't hitting deep sleep. I poked around in BetterBatteryStats and didn't find anything in there that would explain that. I then ran a "top" (in terminal or adb shell, type top -m 5 -t). Everything looked normal, nothing crazy. But I turned the screen off and let it run for a few seconds. I got a massive spike in CPU (anywhere from 15-35%) for system_server with the thread "WindowManagerPo" (which is likely short for WindowManagerPolicy).
I did some searching and it turns out that there is a bug with auto rotation that causes this. Essentially, the sensors don't stop looking for orientation change when the screen is off. I found reports of this in the Nexus S forums, GS3 forums, etc. This leads me to believe it is a Samsung kernel issue, since that's the least common denominator when it comes to the phones that had this issue. If you don't use auto rotation, you probably aren't encountering this issue (but keep reading for some good info below!) But I use auto rotation, how can I fix this?
Download an app called Auto Rotate Auto Lock. This app will turn off auto rotation when your screen turns off and enable it back when you turn the screen back on. This looks like this should really help to combat this bug and it handy for people like me who like auto rotation but don't want to have battery life suffer from something as stupid as this. I have verified that my phone now does enter Deep Sleep easily, and it hadn't hit that all day!
I also recommend an app called CPU Spy Plus (XDA thread). This app shows some very valuable information about your processor. You never want to see "Deep Sleep" under Unused CPU States as this means your phone isn't sleeping and is wasting battery!
It would also be good to download BetterBatteryStats (XDA Thread). This will help you nail down battery drain that you won't see in the stock Battery graph found in Settings. Things or importance are Partial Wakelocks and Alarms.
Monitoring these apps can really help you to increase your battery life on your phone. If anyone else is having bad battery life when idle, please try this out. I'm sure this will help you Feel free to ask questions, I will try to answer them as best as I can!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestions. I have heard so much about the great battery life, but that has not been my experience. I had a Note 1 and I had no problems. With Note 2, the battery drains to about 1/4 after about 7 hours with limited use. I have turned off auto rotation, lowered the screen brightness, changed auto check settings for email, and don't see much difference. In addition, it seems a shame that I should have to figure out ways to use fewer functions to make battery last for phone calls, since I never had to do that before. Any ideas?

Thank you for this info. I consistently get a full days charge of of my phone but was pretty clueless when it came to what was draining my battery. I've used the rotation lock app and will report my results to see if I get even more remaining battery each day.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app

Thanks for the helpful advice Viperboy! I've definitely been having wake lock issues with my phone. Hopefully these apps will help me eliminate the problems.

kat3k said:
Thanks for the suggestions. I have heard so much about the great battery life, but that has not been my experience. I had a Note 1 and I had no problems. With Note 2, the battery drains to about 1/4 after about 7 hours with limited use. I have turned off auto rotation, lowered the screen brightness, changed auto check settings for email, and don't see much difference. In addition, it seems a shame that I should have to figure out ways to use fewer functions to make battery last for phone calls, since I never had to do that before. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As viperboy mentioned, BetterBatteryStats is your friend. It really will help you figure out why your phone isn't sleeping like it should. It definitely takes some time to monitor and figure out what the readings mean to help point you to the apps or settings that're affecting your battery, but well worth it. I also like having a better understanding of how things work on my phone.

i did a double check on battery monitor widget pro and it started draining my phone again. as soon as i uninstalled it everything was fine again. this is with both cleanrom and blazer. i'll just wait til official support comes and try it again.

-viperboy- said:
Hey guys, I was getting terrible battery life when the phone is idle. I looked into it to see what was going on. First off, I am on the stock rooted deodex'd ROM that scrosler posted. The biggest problem was an app I installed called Light Flow Lite, it controls your LED. It had over 6 hours of wakelock today. Removed it, not worth it at all.
The second thing I found that was interesting was after that, the phone STILL wasn't hitting deep sleep. I poked around in BetterBatteryStats and didn't find anything in there that would explain that. I then ran a "top" (in terminal or adb shell, type top -m 5 -t). Everything looked normal, nothing crazy. But I turned the screen off and let it run for a few seconds. I got a massive spike in CPU (anywhere from 15-35%) for system_server with the thread "WindowManagerPo" (which is likely short for WindowManagerPolicy).
I did some searching and it turns out that there is a bug with auto rotation that causes this. Essentially, the sensors don't stop looking for orientation change when the screen is off. I found reports of this in the Nexus S forums, GS3 forums, etc. This leads me to believe it is a Samsung kernel issue, since that's the least common denominator when it comes to the phones that had this issue. If you don't use auto rotation, you probably aren't encountering this issue (but keep reading for some good info below!) But I use auto rotation, how can I fix this?
Download an app called Auto Rotate Auto Lock. This app will turn off auto rotation when your screen turns off and enable it back when you turn the screen back on. This looks like this should really help to combat this bug and it handy for people like me who like auto rotation but don't want to have battery life suffer from something as stupid as this. I have verified that my phone now does enter Deep Sleep easily, and it hadn't hit that all day!
I also recommend an app called CPU Spy Plus (XDA thread). This app shows some very valuable information about your processor. You never want to see "Deep Sleep" under Unused CPU States as this means your phone isn't sleeping and is wasting battery!
It would also be good to download BetterBatteryStats (XDA Thread). This will help you nail down battery drain that you won't see in the stock Battery graph found in Settings. Things or importance are Partial Wakelocks and Alarms.
Monitoring these apps can really help you to increase your battery life on your phone. If anyone else is having bad battery life when idle, please try this out. I'm sure this will help you Feel free to ask questions, I will try to answer them as best as I can!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried the Perseus kernel? I hear the battery life is improved with it. So may be it doesn't have the rotate issue.

I've been using cpu sleeper and I easily get about 30 hours. Looks like the new apk fixed quad core. So when the phone is off it only uses one core and shuts down the other three and lights them back up when you need them.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium

ZenInsight said:
Have you tried the Perseus kernel? I hear the battery life is improved with it. So may be it doesn't have the rotate issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on it now, but I haven't looked to see if it fixed the auto rotation bug yet,
rudyrude432 said:
I've been using cpu sleeper and I easily get about 30 hours. Looks like the new apk fixed quad core. So when the phone is off it only uses one core and shuts down the other three and lights them back up when you need them.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That app is unnecessary. Pegasusq governor already does that by default. Goes to 1 core and 200mhz when screen off, at least that's how my Note 10.1 was. I assume it is the same here since the International GS3, GN 10.1, and GNII basically share the same kernel with a few minor differences.

I think I may try the perseus kernel today to see if it improves battery.. I haven't heard it does.. I just been seeing people do that benchmark stuff with it
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss

Interesting... I have a script that reports on CPU freq and, when plugged into USB (maybe the wall charger too, didn't check), it appears that the kernel runs cpu0 and cpu3 all the time, even when screen off. With the phone unplugged, it went to using only cpu0 but didn't cap the freq. It was spending a good amount of time at the higher frequencies even though I had nothing running.

MiguelHogue said:
I think I may try the perseus kernel today to see if it improves battery.. I haven't heard it does.. I just been seeing people do that benchmark stuff with it
-TeaM VeNuM Like A Boss
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1959898&page=5
Post #42

I installed the app to turn the rotation off when the screen is off so far everything good but when I get a call this goes crazy because the screen goes while in call. I know this because I have an smartwatch which it has a notification app and every message that the phone has my watch vibrates with that message and I had a call few minutes ago my watch started vibrating non stop until I hang up.
Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

Related

[Q] Questions about CyanogenMod, and general battery life

Hey everyone, last weekend I unrooted and wiped my phone, went back to factory settings, rerooted and installed CM6.1 RC2. I've been enjoying it so far (because I hate Sense UI) but I've got a couple of questions that need answered. Hopefully you all can help me.
CM6
1. Is there a setting to turn off always-on mobile data? I cannot find it.
2. For some odd reason, I cannot turn on bluetooth. I've not had a problem with turning on bluetooth with any other rom. In fact, I remember testing bluetooth the night I installed CM6. Is this an issue with the phone or the rom?
3. No matter how much I turn off Auto-Sync, it turns back on. What is doing this?
Battery Life
1. On average, I get around 10-14 hours battery life a day, maybe a little more if I barely use my phone all day. I've heard a lot of people say that an ideal battery drain with the screen off should be 1-2%/hour, but mine will drain from 6% to even 10% in 40-50 minutes (EDIT: Currently 75% battery left, unplugged for 2hrs 30min, done nothing but use the browser for 5 minutes, download something, and install it)! I use systempanel and spareparts to monitor which apps could possibly be doing this, but none look like they're eating up too much of the battery. I check Facebook 4-5 times a day, use the browser, and check Gmail. I don't use Google Talk. My screen brightness is around 30-40% and I have underclocked when the screen is off with setcpu. What is draining my battery so fast? It's a shame that there are so many cool things to do with this phone but I can't do them in fear of my battery dying before the end of the day
Sorry, that last question was long, but I did not want 2 separate posts. Thanks guys, I hope you can help!
CarterF said:
Hey everyone, last weekend I unrooted and wiped my phone, went back to factory settings, rerooted and installed CM6.1 RC2. I've been enjoying it so far (because I hate Sense UI) but I've got a couple of questions that need answered. Hopefully you all can help me.
CM6
1. Is there a setting to turn off always-on mobile data? I cannot find it.
2. For some odd reason, I cannot turn on bluetooth. I've not had a problem with turning on bluetooth with any other rom. In fact, I remember testing bluetooth the night I installed CM6. Is this an issue with the phone or the rom?
3. No matter how much I turn off Auto-Sync, it turns back on. What is doing this?
Battery Life
1. On average, I get around 10-14 hours battery life a day, maybe a little more if I barely use my phone all day. I've heard a lot of people say that an ideal battery drain with the screen off should be 1-2%/hour, but mine will drain from 6% to even 10% in 40-50 minutes! I use systempanel and spareparts to monitor which apps could possibly be doing this, but none look like they're eating up too much of the battery. I check Facebook 4-5 times a day, use the browser, and check Gmail. I don't use Google Talk. My screen brightness is around 30-40% and I have underclocked when the screen is off with setcpu. What is draining my battery so fast? It's a shame that there are so many cool things to do with this phone but I can't do them in fear of my battery dying before the end of the day
Sorry, that last question was long, but I did not want 2 separate posts. Thanks guys, I hope you can help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. no. you could however turn data roaming off or use a program to accomplish this such as "tasker"
2. what do you mean you cant turn it on? what does it do when you enable it? use the widget in your notification drop down.
3. turn off background data as well and that should fix your problem.
and as for you other question. 10-14hrs is perfectly normal for battery life on cm6.1. and fyi: its RC1. there is no RC2 for 6.1 as of yet
t3project said:
1. no. you could however turn data roaming off or use a program to accomplish this such as "tasker"
2. what do you mean you cant turn it on? what does it do when you enable it? use the widget in your notification drop down.
3. turn off background data as well and that should fix your problem.
and as for you other question. 10-14hrs is perfectly normal for battery life on cm6.1. and fyi: its RC1. there is no RC2 for 6.1 as of yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah thanks for correcting my mistake, and answering my questions. My battery life isn't terrible per se, but I guess I was asking more on how I could make it better (and if I had a rogue app/other battery eater), especially because I see people claiming anywhere from 20-40 hours with a few tweaks.
And regarding the bluetooth issue, it just won't turn on. The option grays out for a few seconds like it usually does when it's initializing, and then it doesn't turn on. The notification widget method does not work either.
Also, there's no other way to turn off auto-sync? I just think it would be a hassle having to turn background data back on everytime I want to use the market. I use JuiceDefender, too, could there possibly be a conflict between the app and my phone's settings?
Man i'm with you here, I use CM6.1 too and love it but the first 30 minutes i unplug the phone from charging i'm already at like 90% battery =/
CarterF said:
Ah thanks for correcting my mistake, and answering my questions. My battery life isn't terrible per se, but I guess I was asking more on how I could make it better (and if I had a rogue app/other battery eater), especially because I see people claiming anywhere from 20-40 hours with a few tweaks.
And regarding the bluetooth issue, it just won't turn on. The option grays out for a few seconds like it usually does when it's initializing, and then it doesn't turn on. The notification widget method does not work either.
Also, there's no other way to turn off auto-sync? I just think it would be a hassle having to turn background data back on everytime I want to use the market. I use JuiceDefender, too, could there possibly be a conflict between the app and my phone's settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem with my Bluetooth recently. When I try to search for devices the phone locks up and I have to pull the battery. Wonder if this is a kernel issue. I am on snap
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
michaelvibe said:
I had the same problem with my Bluetooth recently. When I try to search for devices the phone locks up and I have to pull the battery. Wonder if this is a kernel issue. I am on snap
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I'm on Snap too; must be it.
Another thing; I've got a friend on Stock 2.2 Sense (battery sucking widgets filling the home screen, etc) with 100% brightness and mobile data constantly on and he gets better battery life than me (20+ hours!) What is going on!?!?!
CarterF said:
Another thing; I've got a friend on Stock 2.2 Sense (battery sucking widgets filling the home screen, etc) with 100% brightness and mobile data constantly on and he gets better battery life than me (20+ hours!) What is going on!?!?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
never heard of such a thing on stock......
Klk450 said:
never heard of such a thing on stock......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't believe it either, he had 3G on all day and everything and we barely get any signal at all in class. On for almost 8hrs with more than 70% left. I was at about 53%

Battery drain is ridiculous...please help

My battery is draining like CRAZY and i cant seem to find out what the issue is. Ive tried calibration several times and using a task manager that turns off running apps every few seconds(which seemed to make it worse) and that didn't help. Auto updates are turned off and fbook is only set to update every hour and brightness is set to minimum yet my battery only seem to last 8hrs. please help. i would really like to pinpoint what the issue is.
Oh...im running ERA Legendary 2.1, CPU speed and voltages are stock
That screenshot is worthless. It doesn't show anything useful. Percentages are meaningless. Get Betterbatterystats to see what is running as far as processes and partial wakes. Get CPUspy. To make sure your phone is going into deep sleep. Get Memory Booster Lite to see what is using your battery and get rid of the auto task killer. That will kill your battery fast.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
kennyglass123 said:
That screenshot is worthless. It doesn't show anything useful. Percentages are meaningless. Get Betterbatterystats to see what is running as far as processes and partial wakes. Get CPUspy. To make sure your phone is going into deep sleep. Get Memory Booster Lite to see what is using your battery and get rid of the auto task killer. That will kill your battery fast.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i only posted the screen shot to show the time vs percentage. i already got rid of the task killer and here is a screenshot from better battery stats. idk how to stop the processes though...
Again the percentages mean nothing. In Gingerbread everything goes through Android system so it will always be highest. If you use your phone only an hour or two a day then it will drop to around 60% with cell standby getting higher. They will always add up to 100% whether on a minute or 10 hours.
You didn't post the partial wake locks screen. Also did you check CPUspy for deep sleep? Did you uninstall the autokiller? You can go into settings>applications>running services and stop applications that shouldn't be running like Facebook or music and video players, etc. Sometimes it's best to get an app like Bloat freezer and freeze apps that keep reloading if you don't use them often.
CardnalSyn said:
My battery is draining like CRAZY and i cant seem to find out what the issue is. Ive tried calibration several times and using a task manager that turns off running apps every few seconds(which seemed to make it worse) and that didn't help. Auto updates are turned off and fbook is only set to update every hour and brightness is set to minimum yet my battery only seem to last 8hrs. please help. i would really like to pinpoint what the issue is.
Oh...im running ERA Legendary 2.1, CPU speed and voltages are stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another question and maybe the most important...what is your screen on time? I didn't see it in the screen shots. I think Max screen on Time I have gotten is right around 4hours. All the battery tweaks in the world wont help, if your screen is on a lot. Also...make sure to freeze drm, sns and system updates. Use randomlking's zip file.
If none of that works...wash, rinse, repeat. Wipe clean and reflash, rom and kernel.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
As I'm sure you know, everyone's battery drainage is widely independent. However; I'm on "stock" Legendary 2.1 and recently with the updated Samurai kernel as well and run Juice Defender Ultimate. I've got some advance settings set but over the past 3-4 days, I average about 20 to 22 hours on a single charge.
My usage in an average day is: about 20-30 texts, about 10 minutes of phone calls, 10-12 emails in and out, 10 minutes of web, whatever app updates there may be and maybe about 15-30 minutes of light to medium use games.
If JDU is something you might want to look into, I would be more than willing to post my setup to get you started. <--For some reason, people are real stingy with their JDU settings.
This kinda thing just happens sometimes, and usually clears up on it's own. Especially common after flashing new software.
sent from my secret underground bunker

Battery life stats and questions

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. Let me know what your getting
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
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 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 UF 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 (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 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!
To wrap up (this long winded post/reply) 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.
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 Scree 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 MUXH lower then stock control. Fyi I use my phone a LOT more at night or in dark environment 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 of mobile data altogether. I do turn off wifi when out and only using mobile data.
4. I use Screebl app to have screen turn off when not in use. Its 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.
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.
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 battery 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!
9. Be careful with sound and vibration levels. Haptic feedback too. I don't do much here but its anotherctip 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
OK I've rambled on waaay too long here. Maybe I'll take this and post a battery savings tips thread with it lol. "10 points"!
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 xda premium
On Stock battery - Kyan Rom/Ktoonez kernel (at this moment)
Seems about right. My phone is completely stock and if I really wanted to I could even use it for 2 work days. I usually charge it over night though. I used it for 2 days though while at work, and with 3 hours of screen on time I was down to 7% battery. Around 40 hours on.
I was stocked rooted using Sammy kernel. On demand BFQ. I'll try on demand noop and see if that helps. My screen was about 35% brightness.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Can I hijack a little here? My battery seems to be atrocious. It was okay stock after my first 3 full charges I was getting about 12 hours and 2.5 screen time.
Here is what I've done with my phone since:
Flashed to debloated stock Rom
disabled remaining unneeded apps (example ATT wifi app)
disabled Wifi
disabled bluetooth
disabled GPS
disabled GPS autorun states
disabled 4g
disabled autobrightness, set to 15%
disabled location reporting
disabled Push email with Exchange
disabled Motion
disabled auto google backup
disabled keytones and vibrate on all button presses
disabled touch key lights
disabled Svoice
disabled streaming on googleplay, only plays from memory card
disabled Google Now
fixed the cell standby bug (even though it may not impact battery figured wth)
Uninstalled FB
Set all Autosync accounts and email to sync only once per day
No widgets (only Google play music, Smemo note, flashlight, and folders)
Running save power mode for low power screen, no haptic, and auto adjust screen to blacks
Running mostly black wallpaper, No live wallpaper.
Running medium intensity vibration
I ran battery stats and got a lot of wakelocks from googlemaps and exchange so I disabled the push email and set it to once a day. Google maps I disabled latitude, and shut down the autostarts with gemini.
It's getting to the point where the phone is basically a dumbphone just so the battery can make it while it sits next to me at work. Today I have 48% after 8 hours and 50 minute screen time and 20 minutes of google play (only playing from on SD card not streaming).
Any ideas? It seems like I'm getting less than average.
All I did was also flash debloated rooted stock. Set to top out at 1.5ghz power save on. On demand BFQ schedule. Screen brightness as low as I can to still read. And got 32ish hours. I'm going to try OnDemand and noop like the other guy said and UV a lot more and see how close to 40 hours I can get
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
chrisj22 said:
All I did was also flash debloated rooted stock. Set to top out at 1.5ghz power save on. On demand BFQ schedule. Screen brightness as low as I can to still read. And got 32ish hours. I'm going to try OnDemand and noop like the other guy said and UV a lot more and see how close to 40 hours I can get
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can u link me on the bfq? Having troublefinding what that is.
Also, is that the built in power save that limits the processor or some other software?
I believe if you flash Sammy kernel it has bfq. I am on task's CM10 and kernel and battery life seems poor compared to CM9 or stock rooted
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Short battery life but nothing specific seems to be a big drainer

Hi guys,
Though I have been reading these threads for quite some time now, I just joined so that I can post the issue that I am facing.
I am rooted and using Liquidsmooth v2.4
I am facing a battery issue. Battery life is short. I never survived more than 2 hours of screen time on my device which I know from these forums that is not normal.
The stuff I have tried but didn't help:
Wiped and factory reset on several occasions, both using the settings function and CWM
Flashed various roms (Cyanogen Mod, Carbon, Liquidsmooth, Stock rom)
Unroot to stock and root again
Changed to various more battery friendly CPU governors
Changed battery with a friend who is using the international version (which is using the same battery according to the Samsung website)
I am not in the states now and the local Samsung service centre refused to service it because they don't have the appropriate parts and also due to the difference in software. (I unrooted it and restored to stock before sending in.) They just looked at the model number and refused service; didn't do anything more.
I have attached some screenshots. There are no obvious wakelock issues and no app in particular is draining the battery. 50% power used on screen appears to be normal. The rest of the apps also look like they are behaving themselves, at least power consumption wise. I am not a very heavy user and don't run any games/apps that are huge in resource requirements. Email/facebook/browsing are my main activities.
The current settings on my phone:
Auto brightness
Wifi/bluetooth/GPS all off
Autosync is off by default but will use it sparingly if I need to.
Almost all of my apps have their notifications off and all apps are set to sync manually.
I only have one calender widget on my home screen, no others elsewhere.
CPU Governor is "ondemand", iO scheduler is "row". Min/max freqency: 384/1512 MHz
Juicedefender is enabled with "aggressive" (I know its effectiveness is controversial but on my device, disabling it eats more battery)
Any help is appreciated. "Thanks" will be awarded to all who post!
Thank you!
Hairy07 said:
Hi guys,
Though I have been reading these threads for quite some time now, I just joined so that I can post the issue that I am facing.
I am rooted and using Liquidsmooth v2.4
I am facing a battery issue. Battery life is short. I never survived more than 2 hours of screen time on my device which I know from these forums that is not normal.
The stuff I have tried but didn't help:
Wiped and factory reset on several occasions, both using the settings function and CWM
Flashed various roms (Cyanogen Mod, Carbon, Liquidsmooth, Stock rom)
Unroot to stock and root again
Changed to various more battery friendly CPU governors
Changed battery with a friend who is using the international version (which is using the same battery according to the Samsung website)
I am not in the states now and the local Samsung service centre refused to service it because they don't have the appropriate parts and also due to the difference in software. (I unrooted it and restored to stock before sending in.) They just looked at the model number and refused service; didn't do anything more.
I have attached some screenshots. There are no obvious wakelock issues and no app in particular is draining the battery. 50% power used on screen appears to be normal. The rest of the apps also look like they are behaving themselves, at least power consumption wise. I am not a very heavy user and don't run any games/apps that are huge in resource requirements. Email/facebook/browsing are my main activities.
The current settings on my phone:
Auto brightness
Wifi/bluetooth/GPS all off
Autosync is off by default but will use it sparingly if I need to.
Almost all of my apps have their notifications off and all apps are set to sync manually.
I only have one calender widget on my home screen, no others elsewhere.
CPU Governor is "ondemand", iO scheduler is "row". Min/max freqency: 384/1512 MHz
Juicedefender is enabled with "aggressive" (I know its effectiveness is controversial but on my device, disabling it eats more battery)
Any help is appreciated. "Thanks" will be awarded to all who post!
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see horrendous wakelocking. Install BetterBatteryStats. Charge it up for a bit, reboot the phone, then let it idle for a couple hours. Then post screenshots of everything.
It might be the worst I've ever seen. Good news is it's probably not a hardware issue.
It also looks like half the time you had a poor signal. Data transfer on a poor signal can wat at your battery too.
Always use wifi when available.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
thanks folks. I've installed better battery stats and will update shots accordingly at the end of the day or end of the battery cycle(probably won't last a day)
Really appreciate the help.
Here are the shots for today.
I rethinked about the poor reception comment and wondered if any of my radios are malfunctioning or if my radios can work in the frequency bands here in Singapore. I called my local service provider to ask about the frequency bands and.it appears that my device's radios can recieve the GSM bands here although they suspect 3G may be an issue. Nothing concrete but I do hope to find out if that could be a possible reason for my battery drain.
I managed to squeeze past 2 hrs of screen time today by using as much wifi as I possibly can. This improvement in battery life probably means that data reception can really be an issue. It's not unlikely that both my home and workplace suffers from.bad reception but i do have a Q. If poor reception is an.issue, will the battery consumption by cell radio sky rocket?
For some reason the previous battery stats screenshots was only for about 5 hrs. i have refreshed and have uploaded the refreshed screenshots
Hairy07 said:
Here are the shots for today.
I rethinked about the poor reception comment and wondered if any of my radios are malfunctioning or if my radios can work in the frequency bands here in Singapore. I called my local service provider to ask about the frequency bands and.it appears that my device's radios can recieve the GSM bands here although they suspect 3G may be an issue. Nothing concrete but I do hope to find out if that could be a possible reason for my battery drain.
I managed to squeeze past 2 hrs of screen time today by using as much wifi as I possibly can. This improvement in battery life probably means that data reception can really be an issue. It's not unlikely that both my home and workplace suffers from.bad reception but i do have a Q. If poor reception is an.issue, will the battery consumption by cell radio sky rocket?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not BetterBatteryStats. We already know your battery life blows. I want to know why, and BBS will tell me. I can't do a thing for you until you show me that. I think there is a free version on the forums, but it's cheap in the Play Store, and worth it. Get Greenify, too. You're going to need it. Greenify will prevent notifications from showing up for greenified apps. If you don't need notifications from Facebook (honestly, who does?), Greenify it. Maps, too. And disable Juice Defender for now, so I can see what is really happening.
Poor cell reception, if not on wifi, causes drain, yes. It seems to only get really bad when the phone can't hold a data connection.
Try turning off GPS. Also under Settings > Backup and Reset, turn off the Back Up My Data option.
Additionally, check the stickies in this forum. Woody has a fantastic Battery Thread that you should read if you haven't already.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Type betterbatterystats xda on Google. It'll link you to the official thread where you can install the free apk file.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Thanks everyone! I sheepishly searched better battery stats on Google play and.simply installed the first that popped up without looking closely. My bad. I've purchased the app and will post up screenshots soon. I didn't manage to grab the shots today as my batt went flat before I could. Should have kept a better eye.
Will certainly post up screen shots tomorrow.
PS: My GPS has been offed by default. Will disabling Google backup services help?
Hairy07 said:
Thanks everyone! I sheepishly searched better battery stats on Google play and.simply installed the first that popped up without looking closely. My bad. I've purchased the app and will post up screenshots soon. I didn't manage to grab the shots today as my batt went flat before I could. Should have kept a better eye.
Will certainly post up screen shots tomorrow.
PS: My GPS has been offed by default. Will disabling Google backup services help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It cant hurt your battery life! Theres a number of things you can do for settings. Read woodys thread stickied here as its pretty much all there. One of the big batt drainers can be auto brightness btw.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
Once you get a good cycle run with BBS, the screen shots we want to see are Since Unplugged/Process and Since Unplugged/Partial Wakelocks. Those two will help tell what is eating your battery and also what is causing all those wakelocks in your original screen shots.
If you are using Juice Defender, that will contribute to the wakelocks (but doesn't keep your device from entering Deep Sleep, so no worries there). I use it, but I have mine set up custom plus have done some basic build.prop edits regarding the RILs and wifi_supplicant_intervals.
My suspicion is that there is a rogue app that is transmitting data somewhere and that is not letting you sleep. If it is transmitting in a poor reception area then that puts ever more strain of things. You are not the first and wont be the last but Doc, Aero and I can help you figure it out.
Images for today. I've included a few more shots for the items that appear lower in the lists.
I've installed greenify but did not add any apps while collecting these data. Juicedefender is also disabled. My screen time was less than 2 hrs.
I did some of the stuff listed in Woody's informative thread. Deleting the tombstone files, lost&found files etc.
Thanks for everyone's help. Hope to solve this issue soon.
Get Greenify from the play store.
Greenify:
Maps
Facebook
Google Now
Take more pictures with BetterBatteryStats tomorrow.
Looks like Maps is misbehaving. Terrible coding is terrible.
Yup. Looks like you are broadcasting your location all over the place. Do you use Maps? If not close it and Greenify it.
Are you getting notifications from Facebook or have a "Check-in" thing going on?
Google Now>Settings> turn off what you don't use.
Settings>Location> Off.
Edit: Tombstones and Lost.dir files are just memory management and have nothing to do with battery.
Shots for today. Things are a little better but looking at my screen usage, maybe there's still a lot of room for improvement.
I've greenified just about all apps that may run in the background. Facebook, Maps, Google+, Gmail, Chrome, Google Search (I converted it into user app), dropbox, etc. Whatsapp, Viber and Wechat are spared as I needed them to be able to notify incoming messages. Juicedefender is on, with advanced settings - set to sync only once an hour. Maps have been set not to update my location although I didn't go to the extent of denying location access ( I use maps fairly often).
All these are rather aggressive steps and I do see improvement. What else can be done? Other than my messengers, all my notifications are essentially off.
Once again, thank you everyone for your time and effort.
Please stop using Juice Defender. I want to see what your battery life looks like without it now. And it's also responsible for the majority of your wakelocks. And if you could get us some ~4 hour idle BBS stats (during sleepy time), that would be fantastic.
Aerowinder said:
Please stop using Juice Defender. I want to see what your battery life looks like without it now. And it's also responsible for the majority of your wakelocks. And if you could get us some ~4 hour idle BBS stats (during sleepy time), that would be fantastic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Noted. I'll charge my phone up and take some shots in the morning. Juicedefender will be disabled and hopefully more information will be revealed. Do today's shots show any improvement?
Hairy07 said:
Noted. I'll charge my phone up and take some shots in the morning. Juicedefender will be disabled and hopefully more information will be revealed. Do today's shots show any improvement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you are heading in the right direction (8% deep sleep improvement). For this next test, please disable Juice Defender (don't turn it off through the app, but disable it in the app manager to make sure it can't run). Also, I'm hoping to get a test where the screen isn't on for more than a couple seconds, so I can get an accurate reading on the usage per hour.
I suspect the rest of your issues (bam_dmux_wakelock), are due to a bad cell connection for a good chunk of the time. Connecting to a wifi network will solve that. If you don't have a wifi network, you can turn on airplane mode, or set up some Tasker profiles to help with that.
Out of curiosity, how bright do you have your screen set? Obviously its a big drainer, but it seems like every time your screen is on the batt level plummets.
Sent from my SGH-T999L using xda premium

Stock OS

Been poking around here and reading all the posts that people had mentioning battery life on stock/cm11. Is battery life really that good? I find myself trying everything possible (including hardly using the device, turning brightness all the way down, turning off bluetooth & Dynamic perspective) and I find that my phone is dropping like a brick. I can have the phone lose %s in front of me just having the screen open for a few minutes doing nothing else.
I even have two apps to optimize/kill all other apps and I'm finding that this phone is dying faster than a t-mobile pre paid LG L90 I was using prior. I just don't see how people with stock and all the features on are getting more than 5 hours battery life tops. This phone dies while you use it on the charger, which is a first from any phone I've ever used.
How do your experiences stack up? Do I just have a bad unit? Really considering going to cm11 now (really wanted to like Fire OS).
You must have something wrong with the phone. I have had Samsung S3's and S4's and the Fire is far and away the best I have experienced for battery life. I am getting close on two days on a full charge although I do not use it a great deal for voice calls.
dmarchant said:
You must have something wrong with the phone. I have had Samsung S3's and S4's and the Fire is far and away the best I have experienced for battery life. I am getting close on two days on a full charge although I do not use it a great deal for voice calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you keeping Dynamic perspective off with a low brightness instead of auto? Don't see how two days is possible unless you absolutely never used the device. I can lose like 10% an hour just on the browser reading text sites.
Fire has the best battery life of any android phone I've owned. I'm on fire os with a different launcher and I have dynamic perspective on (not for home screen obviously). I'm also using auto brightness. I'm rooted with gapps installed. I get great standby time and even in use its good. You should get gsam battery monitor and see what's going on, although I think you might have a broke unit.
Here is a picture from Gsam (I don't have my phone rooted). I think this is pretty bad for only 3:28hrs of screen on time and that was with the screen at the lowest brightness, not on auto. For app usage I have 7% coming from a game I was playing, but the rest of the drain is coming from system and kernel. Would really like to see another users stats with similar screen on time, as I'm pretty sure I could completely kill this phone's battery in 4-5 hours just using silk browser on Reddit.
h ttp://i.imgur.com/JSXxRGN.png
Sent from my SD4930UR using XDA Free mobile app
Ztcc said:
Here is a picture from Gsam (I don't have my phone rooted). I think this is pretty bad for only 3:28hrs of screen on time and that was with the screen at the lowest brightness, not on auto. For app usage I have 7% coming from a game I was playing, but the rest of the drain is coming from system and kernel. Would really like to see another users stats with similar screen on time, as I'm pretty sure I could completely kill this phone's battery in 4-5 hours just using silk browser on Reddit.
h ttp://i.imgur.com/JSXxRGN.png
Sent from my SD4930UR using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you check the kernel wake lock section of the same app?
ratbags said:
Can you check the kernel wake lock section of the same app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the off chance that you or anyone else can help me understand what's going on I ran a ~10% drain test and made a picture including information from WakeLock Detector and GSam. This drain seems very bad considering the screen was only on for a total of 16 minutes and I lost 8% power.
imgur.com/YbgFfmA
Ztcc said:
On the off chance that you or anyone else can help me understand what's going on I ran a ~10% drain test and made a picture including information from WakeLock Detector and GSam. This drain seems very bad considering the screen was only on for a total of 16 minutes and I lost 8% power.
imgur.com/YbgFfmA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone isn't going into deep sleep. It's hard to determine exactly what's going on there but if you download kernel adiutor (yes, that's the spelling) you'll see its locked at 300mhz most of the time. I know it sounds crazy but have you rebooted? That can often sort out a misbehaving app. Are you rooted? If so deploy greenify.
ratbags said:
Your phone isn't going into deep sleep. It's hard to determine exactly what's going on there but if you download kernel adiutor (yes, that's the spelling) you'll see its locked at 300mhz most of the time. I know it sounds crazy but have you rebooted? That can often sort out a misbehaving app. Are you rooted? If so deploy greenify.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am rooted. That screenshot was with using greenify :[
I will get that kernel app.
ratbags said:
Your phone isn't going into deep sleep. It's hard to determine exactly what's going on there but if you download kernel adiutor (yes, that's the spelling) you'll see its locked at 300mhz most of the time. I know it sounds crazy but have you rebooted? That can often sort out a misbehaving app. Are you rooted? If so deploy greenify.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have any recommended settings for that app? I disabled something that I think is allowing me to enter deep sleep more, but I have to finish testing. Thanks for the help ratbags!
Oh I see what's the wrong.
Battery usage give me a wrong information.
My fire phone lasting about 5hrs turning on screen.
Very very good !!
Thank you.:good::good:
Five hours is good??
Ztcc said:
Five hours is good??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
5 hours of "screen on time" is solid, the combined time incl. standby, etc. is of course much longer. He didn't know how to interpret the statistics from the device, it was a misunderstanding.
Ztcc said:
Do you have any recommended settings for that app? I disabled something that I think is allowing me to enter deep sleep more, but I have to finish testing. Thanks for the help ratbags!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That kernel app won't help battery life but it will show you how long you spend in deep sleep.
As for greenify, you should greenify all the Google apps. I actually greenify everything except sms app, browser, phone and alarm apps.
Also, this could possibly be some kind of location based frippery. Turn location services off or onto battery saving mode if only temporarily. And turn off auto sync if it's on.

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