Help "Display" using too much battery

[sjh1982]

Just one quick way to check general battery health and app use etc:

Dial: *#*#4636#*#*

And check out the info under battery etc...

If it seems like your battery is healthy, the only things I can suggest to lower the "display" fraction of battery use are the obvious: black wallpaper, in apps that support "true black" turn it on (like pocket and some book readers etc, and basically just be mindful that the more you ask your screen to display, the more battery it will use (Eg, in maps, satellite view uses more color etc than map view, and thus is more of a burden on the battery). And of course brightness and screen timeout.

All up though, even phones with healthy batteries will generally show that screen display is the biggest burden on battery use.

Oh ! And apps that require a lot of touchscreen input - don't forget them...

 

[doogald]

If it seems like your battery is healthy, the only things I can suggest to lower the "display" fraction of battery use are the obvious: black wallpaper, in apps that support "true black" turn it on (like pocket and some book readers etc, and basically just be mindful that the more you ask your screen to display, the more battery it will use (Eg, in maps, satellite view uses more color etc than map view, and thus is more of a burden on the battery).

Great post, but just a quick note that using more black on a Bionic, which has an LCD display, will not have the same battery savings you'd find on a device with an AMOLED display. The backlight will still light the entire display with an LCD, even if it is black.

 

[Lars]

That's right about the screen. The Razr series uses LED so a black background theoretically saves some battery. Unless his wife has the same "time on" for the screen (that figure can be looked at) as him but his screen still uses a higher percentage the comparison between phones is worthless. IE her screen was on for 4 hours and used 10% battery and his screen was on for 4 hours and used 30% battery. Even then, one person could be using a computationally intensive app that uses more battery and hence the screen is a lower percentage of the total use.

Also turning off LTE and using CDMA does nothing to benefit battery life. I did that test over long periods with no benefit. LTE is based on GSM which is a more battery efficient standard than CDMA anyway. LTE is also faster which means the radio spends less time transmitting data and more time in idle mode. You can set up a smart action to disable background data when the screen is off. If you don't use the phone for longer periods this will increase standby time. However, if you often turn your phone screen on and off your battery will actually be a bit worse because all the services have to reconnect each time you turn on the screen and that wastes power.

You should use wifi where ever you have it available. That save lots of power because transmitting a few hundred feet takes less power than a couple of miles. Turn off wifi if you don't have access to it often or use Y5 Battery Saver to do the job for you.

Increase the refresh interval on stupid apps like FB and Weather. Chances are your wife uses the phone as a phone and doesn't check all the time if the screen is using up battery. Hence her's lasts longer. Maybe you are in an area of poor reception at your job and she isn't etc.