My LG-OV currently has a charge of 99%. No big deal, except that I disconnected it from the charger about 8 hours ago. As you can guess, I haven’t had to use it for anything all day -- since I work in an office I have a landline available for a phone and my desk computer for email and the internet.
Still, a 1% loss in 8 hours seems astounding, especially since I use to lose about 5% every hour (even without using it), and I thought I’d share the steps I’ve taken to optimize power usage. I am not rooted, by the way.
(1) Removing apps.
I decided a few weeks ago to get rid of applications that didn’t seem to play nice. If they had overly intrusive permission settings, I said goodbye even if I found them useful. If they started up even after I had explicitly done a “force stop,” I decided that they really weren’t looking out for my best interest and uninstalled them. I’m convinced that apps that start themselves unasked or make data queries in the background are sucking the charge from the battery. Perhaps each does so only a little bit, but it all starts to add up.
I don’t use any task killers. If a 3rd party app needs to be constantly killed, I think we should complain to the developers that they need to learn what "exit" really means and then uninstall it. Whenever I reboot the phone I do force stop the programs I’ll never use -- yeah, I’m looking at you, Twidroyd and Poynt -- but then I try to not obsess about it.
(2) Looking for web app substitutions.
In several cases I found web-based alternatives to the software I had been using. I had found the Dex app useful for looking up business addresses and phone numbers, but their website does the same job almost as well. I can’t add all of the information as easily to entries in my address book, but I’m willing to pay that price to not share all of my contact information with Dex.
I had a similar problem with all of the weather apps. I liked my WeatherBug until their last update blasted me with video ads, but the truth is that I don’t need an app to constantly check with the mother ship to update the wind speed for me throughout the day. Instead, this
The Weather Channel
works just fine because I really only check the weather once a day. With the Dolphin browser’s full screen mode, it looks just fine, and loads quick enough for my needs. (And with Dolphin I know that when I exit the app it really does close without leaving any processes running in the background.)
So a bookmark on the home screen has replaced some of the apps I used to use, and I always know they are inert until I activate them.
(3) 2X Battery
I know there are several battery-extender apps out there, but I like the simplicity of “2X Battery.” It just turns off the data connection when I put my phone to sleep, and then restores the connection when I wake it up. You can adjust the settings to periodically open a connection so apps like email or “LocateMyDroid” can make data queries; I have it set to do that once an hour, and never at night. (I really don’t need to download new posts at 4 in the morning, they can wait until I’m awake.)
I’m convinced that the 3g data link makes the biggest hit to the battery, either by constantly searching for a connection or by needlessly sending data back and forth. With the 2x Battery settings my email is at most one hour behind, and it will refresh when I open it.
(4) Long-term power down.
Using (1) through (3) above, I was getting about 36 hours on a charge, and felt pretty good about that. But one night I powered off the phone, plugged it into my charger, and then forgot about it until 8 hours later the next morning. I realized later that this was probably the first time in a year that I had turned it off for more than an hour with a full battery. The next day was also the first that I had the “99%” phenomenon at the end of the workday, and it has been that good ever since. Just a coincidence? Maybe, but I would be curious to see others try the experiment to see how that helps battery life.
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I obviously don’t use my phone much. I spend about an hour a day with calls, and maybe another hour looking at email or the internets. I don’t tweet, I never look at facebook, and haven’t even considered installing any games. In the summer I use mlb’s “At Bat” to listen to some games, but other than using GasBuddy to check out local gas prices once a week I have few extraneous activities.
I’m sure that my behaviors don’t look like those of many users out there. Still, I was really surprised to found out that I actually could get something close to the “168 hours of standby time” described in the manual, and 48+ hours with my normal usage. This is true even though I leave the GPS and “background data” settings enabled constantly.
I’m curious to hear about other experiences with non-rooted battery optimization techniques.
Still, a 1% loss in 8 hours seems astounding, especially since I use to lose about 5% every hour (even without using it), and I thought I’d share the steps I’ve taken to optimize power usage. I am not rooted, by the way.
(1) Removing apps.
I decided a few weeks ago to get rid of applications that didn’t seem to play nice. If they had overly intrusive permission settings, I said goodbye even if I found them useful. If they started up even after I had explicitly done a “force stop,” I decided that they really weren’t looking out for my best interest and uninstalled them. I’m convinced that apps that start themselves unasked or make data queries in the background are sucking the charge from the battery. Perhaps each does so only a little bit, but it all starts to add up.
I don’t use any task killers. If a 3rd party app needs to be constantly killed, I think we should complain to the developers that they need to learn what "exit" really means and then uninstall it. Whenever I reboot the phone I do force stop the programs I’ll never use -- yeah, I’m looking at you, Twidroyd and Poynt -- but then I try to not obsess about it.
(2) Looking for web app substitutions.
In several cases I found web-based alternatives to the software I had been using. I had found the Dex app useful for looking up business addresses and phone numbers, but their website does the same job almost as well. I can’t add all of the information as easily to entries in my address book, but I’m willing to pay that price to not share all of my contact information with Dex.
I had a similar problem with all of the weather apps. I liked my WeatherBug until their last update blasted me with video ads, but the truth is that I don’t need an app to constantly check with the mother ship to update the wind speed for me throughout the day. Instead, this
The Weather Channel
works just fine because I really only check the weather once a day. With the Dolphin browser’s full screen mode, it looks just fine, and loads quick enough for my needs. (And with Dolphin I know that when I exit the app it really does close without leaving any processes running in the background.)
So a bookmark on the home screen has replaced some of the apps I used to use, and I always know they are inert until I activate them.
(3) 2X Battery
I know there are several battery-extender apps out there, but I like the simplicity of “2X Battery.” It just turns off the data connection when I put my phone to sleep, and then restores the connection when I wake it up. You can adjust the settings to periodically open a connection so apps like email or “LocateMyDroid” can make data queries; I have it set to do that once an hour, and never at night. (I really don’t need to download new posts at 4 in the morning, they can wait until I’m awake.)
I’m convinced that the 3g data link makes the biggest hit to the battery, either by constantly searching for a connection or by needlessly sending data back and forth. With the 2x Battery settings my email is at most one hour behind, and it will refresh when I open it.
(4) Long-term power down.
Using (1) through (3) above, I was getting about 36 hours on a charge, and felt pretty good about that. But one night I powered off the phone, plugged it into my charger, and then forgot about it until 8 hours later the next morning. I realized later that this was probably the first time in a year that I had turned it off for more than an hour with a full battery. The next day was also the first that I had the “99%” phenomenon at the end of the workday, and it has been that good ever since. Just a coincidence? Maybe, but I would be curious to see others try the experiment to see how that helps battery life.
----------------
I obviously don’t use my phone much. I spend about an hour a day with calls, and maybe another hour looking at email or the internets. I don’t tweet, I never look at facebook, and haven’t even considered installing any games. In the summer I use mlb’s “At Bat” to listen to some games, but other than using GasBuddy to check out local gas prices once a week I have few extraneous activities.
I’m sure that my behaviors don’t look like those of many users out there. Still, I was really surprised to found out that I actually could get something close to the “168 hours of standby time” described in the manual, and 48+ hours with my normal usage. This is true even though I leave the GPS and “background data” settings enabled constantly.
I’m curious to hear about other experiences with non-rooted battery optimization techniques.
