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Root How I'm getting insane battery life

Yawa

Yawa

Well-Known Member
First things first. Everyone's usage habits are different. Everyone keeps certain settings differently. I'm not guaranteeing this will work, I'm only sharing what I've done to get the best battery life out of this phone.

And make no mistake this is hands down the BEST battery life I've ever had with any device...

For reference I am currently running Cyanogenmod 10.1 with an older version of Faux kernel. For my 4G LTE connection I have flashed the .33 radio.

- First off my screen is on a high contrast calibration to help a bit with glare. Just a personal preference of mine but I find it helps me keep the brightness down (at around 35%) while still working just fine in direct sunlight. Obviously disregard if not rooted.-

- I've also got myself undervolted by -100 mv, I know the thought process behind this is that is more for heat issues, but since my phone can take it I figure, "why not." Again, disregard if not rooted.-

- Unsync everything. Just have your apps and accounts update when you open them, not at their own whim. I cannot stress this enough.-

- Download an app called greenify. Add all your questionable syncing apps to it. Let it do the rest.-

- Location services off unless using them. Again, helps a bunch.-

- If not rooted, take the update to 4.2.2. This was a big fix for battery problems across the board, especially for apps that broke wake lock. If it doesn't help check your apps using a background monitor as a rogue app is most likely the cause of your issues.-

If all else fails, all I can say otherwise is explore rooting and find a decent custom kernel. These things can make a huge difference in regards to all aspects of your phone, not just battery life. Look into doing it.

I mean, you bought Nexus for chrissake, its pretty much made for this kind of tinkering.

For reference, my best overall battery time (with 4G on all day no less) was 23 hours and 11 minutes. My screen on time during that ( which for the uneducated is the most important non wake lock affected stat, was 5 hours and 10 minutes. Considering this kernel isn't even really set yet, that blows my mind.
 
Yawa said:
First things first. Everyone's usage habits are different. Everyone keeps certain settings differently. I'm not guaranteeing this will work, I'm only sharing what I've done to get the best battery life out of this phone.

And make no mistake this is hands down the BEST battery life I've ever had with any device...

For reference I am currently running Cyanogenmod 10.1 with an older version of Faux kernel. For my 4G LTE connection I have flashed the .33 radio.

- First off my screen is on a high contrast calibration to help a bit with glare. Just a personal preference of mine but I find it helps me keep the brightness down (at around 35%) while still working just fine in direct sunlight. Obviously disregard if not rooted.-

- I've also got myself undervolted by -100 mv, I know the thought process behind this is that is more for heat issues, but since my phone can take it I figure, "why not." Again, disregard if not rooted.-

- Unsync everything. Just have your apps and accounts update when you open them, not at their own whim. I cannot stress this enough.-

- Download an app called greenify. Add all your questionable syncing apps to it. Let it do the rest.-

- Location services off unless using them. Again, helps a bunch.-

- If not rooted, take the update to 4.2.2. This was a big fix for battery problems across the board, especially for apps that broke wake lock. If it doesn't help check your apps using a background monitor as a rogue app is most likely the cause of your issues.-

If all else fails, all I can say otherwise is explore rooting and find a decent custom kernel. These things can make a huge difference in regards to all aspects of your phone, not just battery life. Look into doing it.

I mean, you bought Nexus for chrissake, its pretty much made for this kind of tinkering.

For reference, my best overall battery time (with 4G on all day no less) was 23 hours and 11 minutes. My screen on time during that ( which for the uneducated is the most important non wake lock affected stat, was 5 hours and 10 minutes. Considering this kernel isn't even really set yet, that blows my mind.
Click to expand...


You could also save a small amount maybe like 1-2% if you disable NFC. NFC is never on when on during standby, but will be when you have your screen on. Also, have you tried changing WiFi scan intervals? Or disabling some sleepers? Or some common battery saving tweaks? I was searching around and found this app called "Pimp My ROM". It's maybe 23-24mb. But it does live up to it's name. :P
 
Yawa said:
- Unsync everything. Just have your apps and accounts update when you open them, not at their own whim. I cannot stress this enough.-
Click to expand...

Sorry if it's a silly question, but how do I do this? When I turn on the wireless the Android Email app and Gmail immediately start syncing even if the phone has just been restarted and I haven't manually opened either app. Is there a setting somewhere, or does this have to be done by something like the Greenify app you mention?
 
jhsrennie said:
Sorry if it's a silly question, but how do I do this? When I turn on the wireless the Android Email app and Gmail immediately start syncing even if the phone has just been restarted and I haven't manually opened either app. Is there a setting somewhere, or does this have to be done by something like the Greenify app you mention?
Click to expand...

Go to your phones settings, then scroll down to accounts. Select Google, then adjust your sync settings
 
kurtyyyyyy said:
With the undervolting, do you see any decrease in performance and speed?
Click to expand...
.

Not at all. Our chips apparently were binned very well. -100 MV is pretty modest to be honest. Some people can go much farther.

Hell I'm actually still over clocked with that under volt.
 
jhsrennie said:
Sorry if it's a silly question, but how do I do this? When I turn on the wireless the Android Email app and Gmail immediately start syncing even if the phone has just been restarted and I haven't manually opened either app. Is there a setting somewhere, or does this have to be done by something like the Greenify app you mention?
Click to expand...

If you go in the options of each app just set the "check for.. " statuses to "never"

Also to be thorough, set sync to off in accounts under settings.

I personally use greenify just to have the extra layer in place to prevent wake locks. Works like a charm.

Super heavy use last night netted me 4 hours and 40 minutes of screen on time. Astounding compared to what some people get.
 
I have an issue, facebook messenger seems to be draining. However i need facebook messages on push. Will i just have to live with this, or am i better off using the facebook app and not messenger chat heads?

Any advice would be great. Sometimes i regret flashing new roms, i was all setup and getting 5hrs screen on time last week, but i enjoy tinkering too much!
 
It's a good guide you put together there. It definitely lays out smart ways to save battery. Disabling things like GPS help tremendously.

I use Tasker to automatically lower my max clock pretty far down the scale and change my governor to powersave when my screen is off then switch me back up to speed when it comes back on with a couple of simple profiles.

And Faux is a great kernel for battery life as you mentioned you're running. Using his settings guide for the 'for battery' options, it'll really improve time between charges. I personally use Trinity because I love the speed it gives while still saving on battery due to Tasker.
 
I have to disagree with disabling GPS.

GPS is only used when an app requests it, otherwise it uses zero battery.
 
It seems to want to be used in certain weather apps for me whether I want it to or not, so having it on drains whereas if I keep it disabled it can't be used and saves me battery life. I always recommend disabling it to avoid it being used all together IF it's not something that you're looking to allow any way.
 
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