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Battery Use

oaklane

oaklane

Android Enthusiast
In a "normal" useage, if you swiped on the battery widget and checked out the battery useage, what should be the normal things that are the highest in the useage of the battery? In normal useage I mean, you're at work, the phone is just sitting there for the 8 hours while your working, an occasional text, an occasional notification from FB, but you haven't used it for calling or surfing the web. Mine is coming up with com.android.systemmui 30% and android system 22% and screen 9 %, the rest are google services, wifi, google search, phone idle, cell standby, voice calls (2%)

Can you tell the battery useage is driving me nuts!
 
First off get rid of the FB app. It is horrible for resources. While you only get an occasional update it wreaks havoc on the phone. I had it, even at JB, and it was a severe battery killer and slowed the phone slightly.
 
It just depends. If you have a lot of syncing turned on, that will drain your battery.

Normally, Screen will be the highest. After that, it can depend. Usually, my highest are Phone idle, Android OS, Android System, Cell Standby. If I see an app as #1, #2, #3, then that's a warning that you have an runaway app. Definitely, if you see "Google Play Services" up there, then that is an issue.

I have Facebook on my phone and it's never in there. But, I also have notifications turned off for it and I don't have it syncing automatically. I just sync myself when I launch the app.

But, I also use CM11 and I run the Xposed framework with the following Xposed modules:

  • Greenify
  • Unbounce

Greenify can be like freezing an app. It prevents an app from executing (wakelock) on it's own. But, unlike freezing which makes the app unavailable UNLESS you unfreeze it, Greenify keeps the app from wakelocking (which drains battery), but if it's an app I do use, I don't have to do anything to use it. I just run the app and when I'm done, once it's back in the background, Greenify will hibernate the app so it won't wake up and attempt to do something. Now, this won't work for system apps unless you get the "donate" version of the app, but the free app works just great for most apps.

Unbounce helps with how often your phone wakes up. Just the default settings alone helps.

I also use my phone as an alarm clock and Greenify and Unbounce have not affected it at all. I get my texts as they arrive, etc.

I get, with my non-MAXX Droid HD (XT926) about 1.5 days with normal usage. Today, I'm at 52% after 19 hours and 33 minutes of use. This includes about 1 hour of listening to music via PowerAmp, texting, getting on the web, updating apps via Google Play, etc. See the attached screen shot.

Screenshot_2014-09-24-08-26-54.png
 
I even have smart actions for saving the battery. I also use my phone's alarm. Im not sure why I'm seeing Google play services since I have it set to manual update of apps. I started the day, at 4 am, with 100%, so I'll watch it today to see what's going on. It's just weird and coincidental that I had a system update and now the battery life is draining fast.
 
oaklane said:
FB isn't even showing as using the battery, 1% it does.
Click to expand...

The problem is not the 1% it shows but all the hooks it uses into the OS and system. Those use up the resources. This has been covered many times before, not just this phone either.

here are a few links

Facebook App Sucking Battery Life? :: UberTechGuy

How To Improve iPhone Battery Life: Facebook app eating iPhone battery | BGR

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/702676-facebook-app-draining-battery.html
 
oaklane said:
I even have smart actions for saving the battery. I also use my phone's alarm. Im not sure why I'm seeing Google play services since I have it set to manual update of apps. I started the day, at 4 am, with 100%, so I'll watch it today to see what's going on. It's just weird and coincidental that I had a system update and now the battery life is draining fast.
Click to expand...

There's more to it than just updating apps. It hooks into games, etc. Sometimes, a reboot and a wipe of the dalvik cache can help with that.

Check into the sync properties as well. I turn off music, news, etc. People details has to do with syncing the Play Services data for gaming. If you don't do gaming, or don't care about using Google Play Services for your games, then you can turn that off.

I have it on and I don't see Play Services going nuts, but then, I'm also running CM11 and that might have something to do with it.
 
Im thinking of that as well - I just turned off all the notifications to see if that changes it too. Thank you for your help. This phone has been awesome especially for the battery piece - to get 38 hours out of a charge even while you use it to stream music to your vehicle, make calls, text etc.
 
Thom said:
As an experiment ... can you just turn Face Book off for a day and not use it? Re-boot. Compare that day to the others.

... Thom
Click to expand...

Not too sure if just turning it off eliminates all the hooks and services etc.. easy enough to reinstall if need be. I took it from my phone and never looked back. It runs so much better without it. The other issue is the app just seems to becoming more of a hog as time goes by.
 
I don't know anything about the tendrils coming out from it. I have read horror stories over the last few years.

I have it installed and have NEVER launched it.

... Thom
 
Thom said:
I don't know anything about the tendrils coming out from it. I have read horror stories over the last few years.

I have it installed and have NEVER launched it.

... Thom
Click to expand...

Yeah, I think if NEVER launched it doesn't set up the tendrils. I was clueless about it as well as that was one of the first things I installed and activated. I did not know bette4r till I started on the different forums and read the horror stories. My daughter with JB early on was in the same boat, that is complaining not even a day without recharging. Got rid of FB on her phone and now she can get to where she only needs to charge every other night. She of course uses it a lot more than I.
 
I have Facebook greenified with the Greenify module, so that might be partly why I don't see Facebook drain my battery at all. It barely ever registers in the Battery Use chart.

Again, Greenify allows me to keep the app, but keeps it from sending out its "tendrils", but I can still use it and not worry about it lingering around and sucking the juice out of my battery.

Today, I was at 43% with over 24 hours of use and I've started charging it again since I know I have to go somewhere tonight, so I want to make sure I have a full charge just to be safe. If I was going to stay home tonight, I wouldn't have started charging it at work. But, again after 24 hours, I was still at 43%.
 
Ok this morning on a full charge I uninstalled FaceBook to see what my battery life does. It's already at 55% in 8 hours, with Androis OS, Android System, Wi-FI, Google Services the top 4.
 
oaklane said:
Ok this morning on a full charge I uninstalled FaceBook to see what my battery life does. It's already at 55% in 8 hours, with Androis OS, Android System, Wi-FI, Google Services the top 4.
Click to expand...

Which seems to point to something else other than Facebook. Like I said, Facebook doesn't register other than as a blip on my battery usage.

Look for the following app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uzumapps.wakelockdetector

Charge your battery to full and then let it run for at least 2 hours and then launch this app to see what is waking up. That should give you some guidance.

This does require root access. If you don't have root access, then here is an alternative solution to Wakelock Detector:

https://www.google.com/url?q=https:...A&sa=D&usg=AFQjCNFCL0Z8eiWrc0xTYvz2hQAgPd3xoA
 
oaklane said:
I'll try that but my phone isn't rooted so I need to look at the second link?
Click to expand...

Yup. I don't know anything about the second link. The second link is provided by the author of "Wakelock Detector", but I don't think he has anything to do with it. He's just providing it for those that are not rooted as an alternative to Wakelock Detector. Again, I have no idea how it works.
 
I didn't install it i'm still removing apps to see what might be doing it and thinking what did i do differently in the past 1 beside the update that might have changed my battery life.
 
oaklane said:
I didn't install it i'm still removing apps to see what might be doing it and thinking what did i do differently in the past 1 beside the update that might have changed my battery life.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of other factors that can go into this and one of them, that most people don't understand, is apps that are not properly written.

There are cases, many of them, where apps that ran under JB and earlier versions that didn't hog the battery. But, due to how KK optimized many system calls, it could cause some of the older apps to not work as efficiently under KK, possibly even making calls incorrectly that you could get away with pre-KK, but now are woefully inefficient. I don't want to get into the details of it, but suffice it to say, whenever a new version of Android comes out, the good developers who support their apps will always go and compile their app against the newest Android libraries to ensure their app still functions properly, as well as efficiently. If they don't, those apps, even though they pass the "litmus" test of working, might be doing things inefficiently under the new kernel which causes the battery drain. That's why, you should check the battery stats and see what is sucking the life out of your battery.

Another app I just found out about, and I'm testing, can be used whether you are rooted or not. It appears to do the same thing that the Greenify module does, which is hibernate apps from constantly performing a wake lock, which is a major drain on the battery, depending on how many times it performs a wake lock.

The app is called "DU Battery Saver" and it's gotten excellent reviews. if this can do the same as the Xposed framework with the Greenify and Unbounce modules, I might just go with that instead. We'll see.

You can get it here -> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dianxinos.dxbs

I'll report back on what I see after a few days. So far, it seems to be doing fine. It reports that I have 18 hours left after only an hour, which is nowhere near what I'm getting, but then again, it's probably just a best guess. If I can't get at least a day and half with this, I'll be going back to the Xposed framework and the Greenify and Unbounce modules.

I know this. Last night, I unplugged my phone and after 2.5 hours, it was still at 100% battery with Xposed, Greenify and Unbounce. With DU Battery, after 1.5 hours, I'm down to 93%. Doesn't seem to be getting me the same amount of life but we'll see.
 
Well, 24 hours using the DU Battery Saver and I was at 50%. Not bad. It was saying I had another 24 hours to go, although I had to use it, so it eventually came down to about 37% and I decided after about 27 hours, it was time to recharge.

Seems I'm getting about the same as I was with Xposed modules, but I might go with DU Battery Saver and actually pay for it to get the extra tools. I'm going to run with this a few more days to see how it goes, but so far, I'm happy with it.

What I like about it is that it tells me how much more I can go based on my usage and what is left, I believe. That is nice.
 
As a side note, and Bolski did warn you to do this before the new patch, there is a battery calibration app. It does require root access though. TBH I am not sure if it helps so I am trying it out now, being as I heeded to Bolski's advice. :)
 
Well, I've switched back to the Xposed modules. The DU Battery app is really a glorified task killer. Task killers are NOT efficient. The reason being is, it can cause instability if it kills the wrong app. Also, when you kill an app that has launched, starting it back up can actually be worse on battery life when it attempts to restart again. It's not really preventing the apps from launching, but rather it kills them if it sees they have launched.

Greenify prevents the app from even starting (consider it hibernation) and what I've noticed with DU Battery Saver is I see apps that I had greenified (such as Facebook) popping up with wakelocks. I wasn't getting this with Greenify.

Battery life was better than it was without any battery saving apps, but it was NOT better than Greenify. However, if you are not rooted, then DU Battery Saver might be an excellent solution for you.

What was nice about DU Battery Saver is that when I upgrade CM11 to the latest nightly, I don't have to re-enable it. With the Xposed framework, since it installs itself in system, I have to always re-enable it when I update CM11 to a new nightly since it overwrites what Xposed put into /system. But, I'll live with that knowing that I get much better battery life.
 
I am calibrating the battery and using "Battery Calibrator" to drain the power, I used "Battery Calibration" app first to delete the battery stats file first. It has been up and running for 14 Hours with the screen, wifi etc. on 100% of the time and I have 20% of the battery left. In fact 65% is screen 16%, 4% for the app, cable app at 4% and WIFI for 4% (off when sleeping normally) for a total of 93%, I am impressed with CM11 so far.

Edit; it took 16 hours to drain the battery completely. Now the long task to charge it back up.
 
I factory reset on Friday. Yikes, no matter how prepared you are to do a factory reset, you forget something. Was almost late for work on Monday, forgot to reset my phone alarms. My battery has improved over the past couple of days.
 
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