• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Ideas for saving battery

S

scythefwd

Well-Known Member
OK folks.. looking for suggestions.

1. Underclocking. I'd be happy with a 2.1 or 2.2 max freq vs. 2.3. Possibly a more agressive cpu scheduler to scale back faster. Lower idle speeds.
I expect a new custom kernel (root, etc) required and an app to control? Any recommendations?

2. Modify WIFI TX power? I get stellar speeds in my house and I could drop it my a few mA and not notice it.

3. Automatic shutting off of certain radios based on either location or connections?
ex. Shut off wifi and gps if bluetooth is connected to x device. If gps coordinates = xx then shutoff BT and WIFI. etc... Used to have a program on my palm called mode switcher that would let me connect/disconnect based on any variable (including if a program was lanuched, turn on/off radios, etc). Looking for something even more automagic than nfc tags...

4. Would switching to 3G reduce or increase my battery usage vs. LTE?

5. More aggressive closing of background apps? I'm anal about not leaving things running in the background already (its a quirk, no technical rason for it).

I'm not talking about the simple things like turning down screen brightness, changing sync settings, leaving phone in airplane mode at work (cant use it there) and stuff like that...
 
scythefwd said:
OK folks.. looking for suggestions.

1. Underclocking. I'd be happy with a 2.1 or 2.2 max freq vs. 2.3. Possibly a more agressive cpu scheduler to scale back faster. Lower idle speeds.
I expect a new custom kernel (root, etc) required and an app to control? Any recommendations?

2. Modify WIFI TX power? I get stellar speeds in my house and I could drop it my a few mA and not notice it.

3. Automatic shutting off of certain radios based on either location or connections?
ex. Shut off wifi and gps if bluetooth is connected to x device. If gps coordinates = xx then shutoff BT and WIFI. etc... Used to have a program on my palm called mode switcher that would let me connect/disconnect based on any variable (including if a program was lanuched, turn on/off radios, etc). Looking for something even more automagic than nfc tags...

4. Would switching to 3G reduce or increase my battery usage vs. LTE?

5. More aggressive closing of background apps? I'm anal about not leaving things running in the background already (its a quirk, no technical rason for it).

I'm not talking about the simple things like turning down screen brightness, changing sync settings, leaving phone in airplane mode at work (cant use it there) and stuff like that...
Click to expand...


Well first things first... I would turn down the screen brightness! ;) just kidding! No I hear and understand what your saying! Even though SOT is/can be a battery drainer.
Yes you can most definitely under clock/volt the N5, but yes you will need a custom kernel and an app to adjust the kernel settings.

If you haven't unlocked your N5's bootloader, haven't rooted it or have a custom recovery installed. Then take a look at Rxpert83's excellent N5 Rooting Guide here - http://androidforums.com/nexus-5-all-things-root/790362-nexus-5-rooting-guide.html

I personally use Franco kernel and TricksterMod (compatable with Franco) to control the kernel settings. Franco also has a paid app, FKU, that gives excellent control over the kernel and has additional features for his kernel... Like color profiles and so forth.
ElementalX kernel (I've used this kernel too) is another really good kernel for the N5 and again TricksterMod can be used to control the kernel settings on ElementalX.
My largest battery life increase was after I flashed a custom ROM and started using these custom kernels.
Both of these are my top favorite kernels for the N5 and both ran awesome!!

You could try modifying the WiFi TX power settings, but not natively on the device. You might try an app like WiFi TX Power - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rubberbibpepper.WiFiTxPower I think this would be a trial an error situation to see if it actually increases battery life, over loss of WiFi signal strength.

For actually being able to disconnect the device radio's... There's not much that you can do. By default when the N5 connects to WiFi, it will drop the network/data signal down from LTE/HSP+, 3g to a standard no data signal, until it needs it.
From what I understand in what your wanting to accomplish, you would need to try and use something like your "Quick settings pull down menu" and manually disable the WiFi and Data options and/or use a custom ROM or root the phone and use Xposed Framework and use Smart Radio feature on Gravity Box Module or the Tasker app from the playstore. Some use Smart Radio and Tasker together.

Xposed Framework Installer- Xposed Installer | Xposed Module Repository

GravityBox - [APP][JB][XPOSED] GravityBox v3.2.1 - tweak
 
LOL.. appreciate the humor on the screen brightness. It's already as low as I can go comfortably in the house..

Yes, already rooted, no custom Kernel or rom though, just recovery.. I mainly root for stickmount. Custom Kernels are always a pain IMHO.. the update cycle is just a pain. Is there any apps out there that will log my cpu speed? Throttleing doesnt do me any good at all if the cpu is working at lower speeds the majority of the time anyways. Looks like I got more research to do. I used Franco on my N10 for a little bit.

Already looking at tasker.. it may actually be close to what I want. I've noticed the dropping of cellular data when I'm on wifi. I've got it disconnecting wifi when sleeping, and I manually disable the gps when I'm not using it. Left my wifi on today, but it'll be asleep for the majority of it so we'll see. I was a bit panic'd when I saw the rate of drawdown on the battery, but that was my first day. Could have been a lot of apps updating, me playing with the phone excessively because "Look, new shiney".

Modifing wifi tx power shouldn't have any searching for signal problems.. unless tx and rx are linked. RX should be the one that makes it search more for wifi..

3g vs. LTE.. I'll have to test it over a week to see what changes.

As to xposed.. only thing I've found useful on it was the flipping of the volume buttons and advanced power options.. I dont think I have anything beside that installed on the N10. Nothing is sticking in my mind about anything else.. I'm seriously considering ripping it off the n10 even. Just doesnt seem worth keeping it (except the volume buttons.. seriously, orientation based key mappings, common samsung/LG, get with it).
 
Take a look at tasker and some of these profiles:

http://tasker.wikidot.com/profile-index

As for killing background apps, not sure exactly where I stand on this but I have heard that it's not really necessary to have an app do this for you now.

If battery is that big of a concern for you, you could look into getting a battery case:

Amazon.com: Google Nexus 5 Battery Case 2860mAh (Black Limefuel L28N5) Rechargeable External Battery Protection Case: Cell Phones & Accessories

There are others as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom