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I'm not sure if this is something we can solve via software but I've noticed some oddities with the power draw of the display on the Nexus One.
In my(very unscientific) testing, I've found that the display of the Nexus One seems to draw about as much power when almost completely black(all black pixels except the notification bar) as it does when displaying the normal range of colors throughout. The way I found this is that after about 1/2 hour with the screen all black except the notification bar(listening to online radio via flash in the browser, zoomed in completely to the bottom which had all black pixels), in the battery usage info it showed 71% of the battery usage was from the display and my battery was a little less than 90%.
When doing the same without zooming into the bottom, so it fully shows the animations and normal color range on the display, I see about the same battery drain and about the same percentage used by the display.
Obviously, there could be some fluctuation here, but given how much drain is from the display(consistently about 70% of the total 10% battery drain), and how consistently I get these or similar results, I'm forced to infer that the display uses about the same amount of power, regardless of whether it's displaying only black or a full normal range of color.
Even accounting for the inconsistencies resulting from my admittedly poor testing methods, I should be seeing a massive difference in battery usage by the display between these two scenarios. So, what I'm wondering is if this could be a problem in the driver for the display, not using adequate power management, a problem with the screen hardware itself, or just a problem with the battery usage reporting in Android? Or the other possibility, that I'm misunderstanding how the tech works and there shouldn't be a significant difference in battery drain depending on how much of the display is being used.
Also, I'd like to see if other people are having similar findings.
Finally, a note: I'm reaching a bit outside of my expertise with this topic, so forgive me if my expectations are completely off base.
Dump the actual current draw of the phone, say, once a second (in ADB), round it a little bit - and you'll see the exact difference between all black display and colored display.
To show the value:
cat sys/class/power_supply/battery/current_now
You need to loop it and save the results (write a small script?).
The display draw indication is not something to base on, since it's too "virtual" and includes lots of things.
Jack_R1 said:
Dump the actual current draw of the phone, say, once a second (in ADB), round it a little bit - and you'll see the exact difference between all black display and colored display.
To show the value:
cat sys/class/power_supply/battery/current_now
You need to loop it and save the results (write a small script?).
The display draw indication is not something to base on, since it's too "virtual" and includes lots of things.
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Hmm, that doesn't seem to update very often, I'm getting the exact same value for like a full minute regardless of what changes occur. At any rate, it's also giving really strange results, with a value fluctuating around 291000(no idea what units are being used) with the screen off entirely and around 157000 when displaying the homescreen(with a live wallpaper running). So, I have no idea what these values mean but I'll post my results anyway:
Full brightness:
displaying full screen black image: about 253000
displaying full screen white image: about -100000
So, obviously there's a huge difference here. Looking at them straight forwardly, it looks like a pitch black screen uses far more current, but then a white image has negative current and I have no idea what that would even mean. Do these values use some kind of inverted units?
You're getting positive current because it is charging (through USB). The negative value means it is drawing more power than the USB cable is supplying. With your values, the white image is drawing far more power than the black one.
persiansown said:
You're getting positive current because it is charging (through USB). The negative value means it is drawing more power than the USB cable is supplying. With your values, the white image is drawing far more power than the black one.
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Ah, that makes sense(though it's surprising, that'd mean that if I leave it on a white screen and have it charging it'll discharge? I suppose that's probably happening because it's connected to a computer and not an outlet.
At any rate, the implication is that the battery usage stats are horribly inaccurate, since the percentage used by the screen should be MUCH higher when actually drawing things than when not. Time for another test, though, I think. I'll test to see how it performs when displaying just the notification bar, to see how the power draw scales with that.
...And it looks like I'm getting slightly higher usage than the all-black screen, exactly what you'd expect. So... what's going on with the battery usage percentage? It appears to not just be off by a small amount, but rather wildly inaccurate.
Is this turned into an app, id definiately buy it.
[email protected] said:
I'm not sure if this is something we can solve via software but I've noticed some oddities with the power draw of the display on the Nexus One.
In my(very unscientific) testing, I've found that the display of the Nexus One seems to draw about as much power when almost completely black(all black pixels except the notification bar) as it does when displaying the normal range of colors throughout.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite the case. Android developer Jeff Sharkey just recently did some testing on the screen on the battery. For all the information, check out his blog post: Android SurfaceFlinger Tricks for Fun and Profit.
There was a definite difference between all black and full color.
There are indeed ways to address this with software (or at least some personal customizations), most all of which are either indicated or alluded to in the post.
[email protected] said:
(no idea what units are being used)
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Click to collapse
The units are in microAmpers (uA).
Positive current means charging, negative means discharging.
And yes, as noted correctly a couple of posts above, you're testing while connected to USB (slow) charger, and that's the reason for your readings.
Problem: For most of us, the big, bright screen eats up most of our battery power. One advantage of LED screens is the darker you make them (including using dark backgrounds), the fewer milliamps they use. So you could turn off auto-brightness and manually adjust the brightness to darker settings. Far from perfect since you must adjust it every time you go from a dark building to a bright sunny day - and vice-versa. A pain.
I recently installed Screen Filter by haxor industries. They only tout its ability to make the screen really dark for night-time viewing, with the side benefit that it will also save some battery. It works great for that. It will make the screen much, much darker than the lowest stock brightness level (even using apps which take it to its absolute lowest setting, which the stock brightness slider won't allow you to do). I've found going to 25% is perfect. It makes the screen a little gray when you go really dark but its a minor downside.
Solution: I realized it can also be set to only dim the screen a little, like 75%, or 80%. Not helpful at all in a dark room since it is still very bright. But I also noticed that it works along with the stock auto-brightness setting. So you can apply a fairly bright setting to Screen Filter and leave it on all the time, effectively lowering the stock auto-brightness level a few notches no matter what brightness it picks. You still get the benefit of auto, and you get to reduce the battery draw all the time, on the single-biggest battery user on the Note.
You can save multiple widgets on the home screen, each set to different levels, so you can turn off the 75% setting and apply a 25% setting at night with two button presses. Or turn it off with one button press in bright sun. And/or you can add it as an app shortcut which allows you to adjust the brightness from an "ongoing notification" in the notification bar.
I'm starting a test today, leaving mine on 75% all the time with auto-brightness on, and using 25% in dark situations which doesn't happen often. I expect this will produce a noticeable improvement in battery life.
are you representing the app ?...or for the company?......
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
Look at my post count and how long I've been on this board. No.
The app has no ads and is free, BTW.
Looks promising. Ran mine down to 5%. 15 hours on battery, 4 hours of screen time. Most people here only report 3 to 3 1/2 hours of screen time.
I just maintain my brightness, im anal like that. Especially with that notification shortcut for increasing or reducing brightness someone recently posted. i am good to go.
Kony 2012 is Propaganda.
www.Facebook.com/freeyourmindcampaign
I use screen filter and did not think to use it all the time with auto brightness, I will give it a go thanks for the idea.
Simply setting my brightness down to about 25% and leaving it I get 4.5~5 hours screen on time.
This is still working well for me, with a noticeable increase in battery time.
I've adjusted my lowest setting from 25% to 30%, too much of a gray cast to the screen at 25%. 30% is still pretty dark in a dark room. The 75% setting is good most of the time but I've found in full sun I usually have to turn it off.
Lol at wish777, ya he is promoting a free app. Do some research before you assume and accuse someone of something.
Thanks to op for app suggestion, it works great. I downloaded it, you must of brainwashed me with your deceiving free app propaganda
<--- that's me I don't know what happened I read your review then I blacked out, when I came to I had this strange FREE app on my phone
Sent from the only smartphone designed by Chuck Norris
Yes, the screen is almost always the biggest battery hog in these devices. Thanks for sharing that app.
Here is another, https://play.google.com/store/apps/...XJ2ZWZpc2gud2lkZ2V0cy5icmlnaHRuZXNzbGV2ZWwiXQ.. It is FREE, so no acusations. I am not the dev and I didn't even play one on TV. This one is nice because you have a single widget that pops up a window with several options of screen brightness.
ANd if you are using Juice Defender Ultimate, There is Brightness feature built in that do the same thing.
kimtyson said:
Yes, the screen is almost always the biggest battery hog in these devices. Thanks for sharing that app.
Here is another, https://play.google.com/store/apps/...XJ2ZWZpc2gud2lkZ2V0cy5icmlnaHRuZXNzbGV2ZWwiXQ.. It is FREE, so no acusations. I am not the dev and I didn't even play one on TV. This one is nice because you have a single widget that pops up a window with several options of screen brightness.
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Click to collapse
Looking at the reviews for that app, someone said that Dimmer takes the screen down farther. I tried Dimmer before Screen Filter (only for night time viewing) and can confirm it will take the Note down to the lowest allowed 10/255 where the stock brightness only allows you to go to 30/255. However, Screen Filter will make the screen even darker than Dimmer. Something to consider - not bashing any of the above. Just sounds like Screen Filter is better both for daytime and nightime use.
I use screen filter to read at night. I'm not sure about the battery savings but with screen filter set at 12.5% the screen is unreadable unless you are in a dark room. In a dark room at that level white text is more gray than white as well.
wish777 said:
are you representing the app ?...or for the company?......
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
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Click to collapse
asking a question is now the same as accusation?
good thread. i installed S.F. in Feb, def works great for me. but i prefer manually adjusting screen brightness via the shortcut "Slider" at top of the Gnote's screen
I use this app for night time reading. It works great and I didn't know about having multiple widgets with different darkness settings. Thanks for the pro tip!!!
Which app did he promote? I don't see any mention :-\
techntrek said:
Looks promising. Ran mine down to 5%. 15 hours on battery, 4 hours of screen time. Most people here only report 3 to 3 1/2 hours of screen time.
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Click to collapse
I'm getting just shy of and over 4 hours screen time, depending how long I'm actually talking on the phone for that day. Not using this app btw, wifi at home, LTE everywhere else
Actually, for me, the screen is the number 3 item for killing battery, trumped by phone calls at number one. And I dont even spend that much time on phone calls, usually less than an hour per night (I wish I could find a solution for this besides not making / taking calls).
Under Settings->Display->Auto Adjust Screen Power, I have this DISABLED.
This helps significantly with the 'greys' on a dark screen (to the best of my limited comprehension, this is being called black crush?) AND virtually eliminates the 'banding' I was seeing initially. Strangely however, I had to disable this option and it took a day or two before the banding almost completely disappeared (I was seeing it ALOT on the Google Market initial grey screen before it loads in the ads).
I use Auto Brightness.
I also have Settings->Power Saving->All Options are DISABLED.
Anyway, you might try disabling the power saving and auto adjust screen power and see if that helps with black appearing grey using the app you are mentioning.
Use the 15 toggle mod to turn of all cellular data when you don't use your phone. You can still receive messages/calls but there is no reason to leave mobile data on while at work or you're not using the phone.
I usually leave school with around 90% battery left and I'm on school from 8-1. All because I leave data off while not in use.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Ignoring live wallpapers, is there a good "blank" wallpaper that would minimize battery usage? all white? all black? My phone is a tool, I don't really care about fancy backgrounds, and I saw something on cnet about certain wallpapers causing greater battery drain based on the screen technology. (Obviously live wallpapers would).
Black or dark ones
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
Yeah just get a totally black wallpaper, that would be best. CM9 and 10 even have a "no wallpaper" thing built in for totally black. that would use the least. Though as the poster above said, preferably ones that are darker tend to use less battery life.
I've been using android since I've had my HTC dream/g1. And back then things would help with battery life. I've played with sync on, sync off, brightness on low, wallpapers, dark themes, etc etc you get the point.
At this point in my android "career" I have come to the conclusion that if i keep sync on, Bluetooth on, have whatever i want for a background and the battery life will always be the same.
If you want good battery life buy an extended battery, or don't use your phone. With eveyything on except wifi(I don't have it) I only drop a bit over half a percent every hour. That's on my sgs3. The next step is rooting and running different kernels which can make a difference.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2
I normally keep my Note 3 at 50% brightness. Any idea how much more power it would draw at 100%?
Although AMOLED isn't as power efficient as LCD, the fact that each pixel is self-lit, thus no need for back lighting, I assume brightness and impact of power draw on AMOLED is very trivial?
Sent from my SM-N900P
Mansevolver said:
I normally keep my Note 3 at 50% brightness. Any idea how much more power it would draw at 100%?
Although AMOLED isn't as power efficient as LCD, the fact that each pixel is self-lit, thus no need for back lighting, I assume brightness and impact of power draw on AMOLED is very trivial?
Sent from my SM-N900P
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Even though there is no backlight, screen brightness is still the number one power draw for most, irrespective of screen technology. Further, the blue subpixels draw a lot more power than the reds and greens draw (might explain Sammy's godawful color palette).
Based on my own experience, I believe that the relationship between screen brightness to battery drain seems pretty linear. As the device and battery age, this may change, or just get worse but remain linear.
Once you factor in the possibility of screen burn-in, which is what you could get if having it sit on the same fixed image with brightness dialed way up over protracted periods, it's recommended that you dial it down whenever possible. Your device, battery and wallet will be pleased.
If another more knowledgeable on this than I cares to weigh in, please do.
I hope this helps.
Sent from my SM-N900P using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
bump.
Mansevolver said:
bump.
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Click to collapse
I just reread your question, and I believe that increasing screen brightness to max from a setpoint of fifty percent and leaving all other settings as-is would likely cut your battery life in half.
You could answer your own question pretty quickly. Put a 2 hour high definition video on your SD card, put the sound where you want it, and put the phone in airplane mode. Starting from a fully charged state, watch the video, first at 50% screen brightness (deselect auto brightness), then again at 100%. At the end of the first viewing, take a screenshot of your battery draw, and fully charge your phone.
Post the results here. I'll do the same. Perhaps others could do the same, and take this thread in a slightly different direction.
I would caution that leaving the screen at full brightness on a regular basis could lead to screen burn-in.
I hope this helps.
Sent from my SM-N900P using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
No idea what exactly the amount of battery will be eaten up, but more screen brightness always lead to more battery usage. I keep my mobile screen brightness at 25%. Its more than enough to operate the device.
lesliescott06 said:
No idea what exactly the amount of battery will be eaten up, but more screen brightness always lead to more battery usage. I keep my mobile screen brightness at 25%. Its more than enough to operate the device.
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I think it varies greatly by individual as to the desired screen brightness. Indoors with indirect light, I still like mine set mid way between full and zero. Any lower, and I can't stand it.
Sent from my SM-N900P using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
Why does LG think it's ok to ship a watch with a 12 hour battery life, with minimal use. Just setting up the watch took %40 battery
Without sacrificing screen brightness is there anything to be done?? Is there any sort of root + cpu app we can lower CPU speed with??
Did you uncheck always on screen? Only option I have off and notice decent battery life for the entire day.
Mine goes for 16 hours once completely setup. If you start downloading and setting up this will surely tax the battery on any watch. The 240MAH doesn't help, but once setup it should be fine afterwards.
I had the LG G Watch R (w/ 420MAH) prior and setting up took a good deal of the battery but at EOD was at 65%, while the Style is at 40%.....understandable given the size of the battery.
I found mine was going dead by mid afternoon with little use.
I found turning auto screen brightness off and just leaving it on 4 helps. Also think after a couple of weeks use it's got better anyway. Usually on about 40-50% by the time I leave work.
Main problem I have is the little dial on the side is in a crop place, so my hand keeps pressing it an making assistant listen, eating up battery.
Really wish there was a screen rotation option so I could wear the watch with the dial on the opposite side.
Oh well!
I would like to see more options for ambient mode. I think the brightness is too high. I've only found one watchface that lets you control the color in ambient mode. It's called "line". I changed the ambient color to just red and decreased the opacity of the lines and complications. I've been off the charger for about an hour, received a few notifications and I'm still @ 99%. Might be a fluke, but I'm sure using a single color uses less battery than using white, which is all 3 colors combined.
This is my third smartwatch in 2 weeks. I've downgraded twice because others are just too bulky. I'm sure there's a solution out there. I hope battery life gets better in time with updates. I hate this range anxiety.
I just bought one and it is still too early to tell but battery life is fine for me. If I disable Bluetooth (which I know defeats the purpose of it) and WiFi with no ambient, it lasted me about 2 1/2 days (but I do turn it off at night since I have no need to keep it on while I sleep). If I keep Bluetooth on, no WiFi, and no ambient, it lasts the entire day (13 or 14 hours) with about 40% left. I have to do more testing (especially with ambient). You don't want the watch face on all the time anyway because it will cause screen burn-in. Some of the watch face apps allow you to use an ambient where it is usually black and white with less information showing.
Hello. Can anyone help with a battery model? Need to search for a replacement one but there is no info at the internet about its battery nor where to buy it....
777Nalsur777 said:
Hello. Can anyone help with a battery model? Need to search for a replacement one but there is no info at the internet about its battery nor where to buy it....
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Same here.
I looked everywhere. My battery is dead, it drops from 100% to around 30% as I disconnect it from the charger.
Even if we find the battery, the replacement looks hard. I was hoping to just get the Pixel Watch but I guess that's not going to happen.
Hi guys. Today I made a short video with opening of this device.
Enjoy.
https://youtu.be/LJ0vkpAjmjY