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

[Verizon] Best ROM for battery life?

E

egernant

Well-Known Member
I've been using Paranoid Android lately and love it. Unfortunately, with this ROM and a few previous ROMs, I needed a charger by mid-afternoon. I figured my battery was shot, so I manned up bought an extended battery (2100). I've been using it for a few days, and my battery life has not improved at all.

First question: are there any ROM / kernal combinations that people generally have fantastic results with battery savings?

Second question: any apps to watch out for? I use every google app under the sun, including the recent additions (Keep, Hangouts, All Access Music). I turn off syncing on most of this stuff. I have Facebook (turn off auto update and notifications), Flipboard, Pandora (until yesterday) and that's about it for third party apps right now. Widgets include Keep, Calendar and sometimes a music player. Any red flags so far on battery life? I bought better battery stats, but simply don't know how to use it.

Let me know if you can help or if you need more info... my Gnex seems to be struggling through its end of life.
 
Hey there,

I look at battery life from a different direction.

a) Keeping screen brightness at a just above uncomfortable to look at setting.

That's pretty much it. The screen should always be the one thing that drains your battery the most. If it is, then tinker with a comfortable brightness. If you have something else taking up 20 percent or more of your battery life without you having interacted with it the whole time, this could point to a poorly coded app.

I don't know if this is helpful to you but I am of the school of thought that if I use my device heavily, I expect the battery to drain quickly. My standby times are great. My heavy use times are not.

jmar
 
I've found that the kernel can make a bigger difference in battery life than the ROM. I use LeanKernel and get really good results with Sourcery. That's just me, though. Your device could behave completely different.

I will say this, though. Get used to charging your smartphone every day. It's an unfortunate side effect of having so much computing power in the palm of your hand!
 
completely hear you. I've used LeanKernal in the past, I'll give it a go on PA. It's just depressing since I used to get better battery life on my Gnex, and my wife's GS3 gets phenomenal battery life by comparison. Any other general battery-saving advice?
 
I have done pretty good with battery life with my 3800mAh extended battery running XenonHD and JB Sourcery. But since 4G has come to my area forget all that. Battery life now sucks big time. I'm down to 50% easy by afternoon.
 
Here's one for you. Quit using the durn thing at work/school so much! Get back to work or studying! Just kidding.

I have to agree with jmar. A smartphone is going to use alot of battery the more heavily you use it. I know that if I am using Nav while driving, I have a hard time gettting the battery to go up in charge no matter what charger combination I have plugged in!

good luck
 
What frustrates me is that I'm not a heavy user during the week at all, yet my phone dies at 4:00pm every day. I use it heavily on my 20 minutes commute to work (screen on entire time, 40%+ brightness, Flipboard, Google Music streaming, etc.), but once I'm at work, it sits on my desk. I check it occasionally, but I use DeskSMS, Google Hangouts and email on my computer, so there's no use for my phone. It just sits there, dying quickly. Very frustrating, especially with a brand new battery.

Any thoughts on a reliable, near-stock ROM I can try? I want to flash something without a ton of bells and whistles that I can try with Lean Kernel.

Thanks!
 
I know there's one by a user named mwalt over at xda. Pretty much stock.

Otherwise, I'll make a suggestion that I make all the time. Invest in an extra battery and battery only charger. Don't charge the battery in the phone, instead just switch them out as it dies. I have been doing this for years on all my phones and not only do my batteries last longer per charge, but longer overall. On the rare occasion that I end up charging the battery in the phone, I notice that the charge drops off a whole lot faster. I get at least 24hrs out of each charge with similar usage as you just described and I'm on Sourcery with trinity kernel.

Besides, that little port is really for hacking! Why wear it out charging all the time, lOL.

good luck
 
egernant said:
What frustrates me is that I'm not a heavy user during the week at all, yet my phone dies at 4:00pm every day. I use it heavily on my 20 minutes commute to work (screen on entire time, 40%+ brightness, Flipboard, Google Music streaming, etc.), but once I'm at work, it sits on my desk. I check it occasionally, but I use DeskSMS, Google Hangouts and email on my computer, so there's no use for my phone. It just sits there, dying quickly. Very frustrating, especially with a brand new battery.

Any thoughts on a reliable, near-stock ROM I can try? I want to flash something without a ton of bells and whistles that I can try with Lean Kernel.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

How's the signal at work? 3 or 4g? I know I can kill mine in an hr if its bad signal and screen on. Even though I keep it at like 20%
 
Have you turned off Bluetooth? I've found with my Gnex simply turning off Bluetooth when not in use DRAMATICALLY increases battery life. By dramatically I mean insteat of 38%-45% battery at 4:00 p.m. I have 60%-70% at 4:00 p.m. I'm not sure what causes this but it has been true regardless of ROM.
 
Pretty convinced Google Now is the biggest hog. Turned that off and got much happier with my phone again. Problem is I like Google Now, and they keep making it better.

I've also setup a quick toggle for Mobile data & Sync. If I know I'm going to be away from a charger for awhile and I just need a phone and text machine I turn those two off... then the thing goes all day.
 
Google Now is a HUGE battery hog! It keeps Location Services on constantly, which sucks power. Bluetooth is a big culprit as well. So is GPS. I'd disable them all unless absolutely needed.

4G will KILL a battery if used frequently, I'd revert to 3G if you don't need the speed (or if you're on an iffy Wi-Fi signal that cuts in and out). Also, the switching from 3G to 4G keeps your phone awake a lot, which in turn kills the battery.

I've also noticed that the new radios were draining my battery more than the old ones, but I think that's just my experience.

Comb the forums for more info on this topic. You'll find a lot of other people's experiences that should help you. Good Luck, and give that Lean Kernel a try (no plug - I just like it)!
 
I agree with Joesixpack, turn off google now until you Need it, same with BT. and LeanKernal... Try it out, it's the only one I use now. As for a ROM, I been on AK47 for a month now, the dark theme(it is switchable from normal to dark with a toggle) has shown to be fairly easy on the battery compared to some roms, (about the same with Elemental ROM). and not a single FC issue or bug found as of yet. your. Your mileage may/will vary...
Good Luck!
 
Bluetooth is a huge battery drain? That's odd, as I've only ever seen it responsible for as much as 3% usage, and that's leaving it on at all times.

By far, my biggest drains are lack of good reception (this is killer), the display, active GPS (Google Now), and anything that keeps the CPU cycling when I'm not using it. Managing my way around those is what my phone lives or dies by, quite literally.
 
Running custom roms that are inverted themed tend to give more battery life because it takes more juice to display white than black on the AMOLED screens. The best two inverted roms are BlackBean, and Elemental X. Using either of those with leankernel will create some awesome battery life. Also disabling Google Now will help immensely and using wifi instead of data is always helpful.
 
Definitely turn off Google Now. It has been a battery drain since day one. Turn off any sync that you don't need. I sync my browser, my contacts, calendar, music and a couple others. Definitely don't sync facebook or twitter. just use the apps and let them update when you open them.

In terms of usage, 20 minutes screen on at 40% brightness will, on its own, use over 5% of your battery. Mix in streaming music and that number jumps up. Are you on 4G while streaming? Another huge jump. You could easily be burning over 15% of your battery on each leg of your commute. That's not really a Nexus issue so much as it "is what it is". Big screen on + streaming + 4G on an early LTE chip = big drain.
 
I am using for a while CyanogenMod 10.1 on my Galaxy phone and at this time I am really satisfied with my battery life while the original version was spending my battery terribly, also my brother uses ParanoidRom but is almost the same thing regarding to a battery life. In some phones CustomRoms spends very fast battery than official versions. But using a battery saver applications you will be able to access more your phone.

Idk i just did a research for best android roms, hope you will find this helpful :
The best Android Roms ever made

James/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom