This intends to be a one stop shop for everything E4GL, including but not limited to the latest tips and tricks from the forums, battery tips, the best Android apps, ROM Reviews, and more. Big thanks to my bud Biofall who much of the batter tips are sourced from.
If you've got anything that you think should be added, PM me with the subject "E4GL Thread Add" and I'll look at it as soon as I can.
◄●Best Android Apps●►
These are some of my favorite Android apps. More to come. Make a suggestion and I'll review it!
◄●Tips and Tricks●►
[HOW TO]Sanding Top Cover to Matte Black - DIY Instructions - Not to fond of the glossy cover on the back of your EVO? Make it matte!
Screenshots - To take a screenshot, Press Power Button [HOLD] + Press Home Button, then let go of both. Upon pressing the home button, the screen will flash white.
◄●FAQs●►
What is S-OFF?
Read this: S-OFF explained - by a Developer
◄●Troubleshooting●►
My device won't turn on - Check out these tips from Sprint.
◄●EVO 4G LTE Extras●►
EVO 4G LTE Reviews - by Legendary20
◄●EVO 4G LTE Battery Tips●►
◄●All Users●►
Turn off all radios when not in use (gps, Bluetooth, wifi, data, 4g). Use a widget (default or app like Switchpro) to quickly turn them on and off. The radios draw power even if not in use. Be sure to use WiFi over 3G when you can.
Stop using live wallpapers - I love them, but they are really only good for showing off due to their battery drain.
Set your screen timeout to something that fits you - This will prevent your phone from staying on when you don’t manually turn off the screen (which you should).
Everyone has that issue where the first ten percent go the fastest.
This is due to two things. One is that these types of batteries stop charging once they get to 100% to prevent damage, and begin charging again at 90%. This means that you could potentially unplug your seemingly fully charged phone at 90% actual charge. The second is below
Use the trick described in this thread, it works.
My idea behind how often you should do it is once a month, if you flash a new ROM, or if you stop noticing the benefits.
This is the calibration technique recommended by HTC themselves. Check it out!
Make sure your phone sleeps - I'm sure you have all heard around that your phone isn't "sleeping".
This is referring to the phone's "awake" time, hence the name. When you go to menu>settings>about phone>battery, you can compare the two numbers, "up time" vs. "awake time." Generally, up time refers to the amount of time since the last reboot. The "awake time" is how long the screen has been active. The problem is, a lot of the time, due to the endless possibilities of inconsistencies between apps/ROMs/kernels/phones, the phone will not go to "sleep", drawing power proportionate to the screen being in use when it reality the phone is sitting idle.
If you compare these numbers, and they are the same, or if you note the difference, turn off the screen for a minute, then re-check and they are the same, then your phone is not sleeping.
One solution is to reboot.
Usually, SystemPanel will show an app that has gone "rouge" and is keeping your phone awake.
Uninstall applications/reinstalling them slowly, checking after every install to see what is causing it is one tedious but surefire solution.
Lastly, follow these steps that I have discovered almost always work.
Reboot phone.
Instantly upon reboot, as soon as you gain control, open up some type of monitor/taskkiller
"kill all" tasks on startup; about 5 times in quick succession should do the trick.
Turn off the screen and leave it for about five minutes.
Check the up time v. awake time and see if they are the same.
If they are, repeat steps 1-5. If they are different, you are good.
Use Juice Defender - Basically it controls your data for you to maximize life. Learn more from my review of Juice Defender.
Task killers used to be the shiz, but no longer.
Here is the ultimate, in depth, graphically assisted, explanation by the famous Fresh ROM's chef, Flipz. In short, they aren't needed (and can do more harm than good).
A good alternative is the application SystemPanel Pro. It has a free version, but I highly reccomend purchasing the paid app. It basically monitors everything going on with your phone's usage both in real time an in terms of usage history. If your battery is draining fast, it tells you what app was doing it, how much it was doing it, and allows you to stop it.
◄●Rooted Users●►
Try out custom kernels - In the Android Development section of the forums, you can see all of the different kernels being developed. These allow for all kinds of modifications like underclocking the CPU and undervolting, both of which save battery. Here is a great guide to custom kernel's by mroneeyedboh.
Use SetCPU in compliance with whatever your custom kernel allows.
This site will explain the basics of SetCPU: http://www.pokedev.com/setcpu/
-Profiles from SetCPU should usually involve these for battery life optimization:
-Screen off at the minimum clock speed for both, with the max raised on level if sluggishness is apparent
-A temperature greater than “X”
-General power related profiles that lower cpu speed at lower battery levels
◄●Notes●►
Some apps or processes begin to run at startup and keep the phone awake. These apps are not detected by things like spare parts or system panel, unless sometimes represented in the "system" process, in which case its usage will be unusually high.
This shouldn't take more than three repeats, and if it does, you need to factory reset, and slowly add apps back to see what's causing the problem.
When it comes to actually "calibrating" one's battery, there are a couple of methods floating around. The method I first learned is to charge the phone all the way, boot into recovery immediately, and "wipe battery stats". Then reboot quickly, and run your phone all the way to death without charging it, then charge it all the way without interrupting it, and you should be good to go. Do this when changing ROMs/kernels for best results.
Big thanks to Biofall for the battery tips that you see her. Thanks dude.
I'll keep this updated as often as possible. Open to all suggestions, just send me a PM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the enable/disable data always isn't really an option on ICS roms, if it is, it's def not in the same place
ticklemepinks said:
the enable/disable data always isn't really an option on ICS roms, if it is, it's def not in the same place
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right you are. I'll update that, thanks.
I'd suggest adding v6 supercharger but that isn't as easy as somethings...
Mostly due to it changing ram settings for apps n making.it kill them in x time or at x amount
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
1. Battery calibration for first runtime should just be using it until the phone shuts off, then go to bootloader until it shuts off. Then do a full charge to 4.2v.
I would HIGHLY suggest putting a button combination map.
With out the removable battery you know a ton of people are gonna flip out
without knowing them
Speaking of button combinations, there's an interesting tidbit here http://insidesprintnow.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/htc-evo-4g-lte-power-on-troubleshooting-steps/
Gordon Ramsay said:
Speaking of button combinations, there's an interesting tidbit here http://insidesprintnow.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/htc-evo-4g-lte-power-on-troubleshooting-steps/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess they allow 20 seconds for user error. Thts great though we dont have to worry about all tht. Smart move on their side
Hunt3r.j2 said:
1. Battery calibration for first runtime should just be using it until the phone shuts off, then go to bootloader until it shuts off. Then do a full charge to 4.2v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Occasional recalibration is good just so you have accurate percentages.
coffeehandle said:
I would HIGHLY suggest putting a button combination map.
With out the removable battery you know a ton of people are gonna flip out
without knowing them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good idea. Anybody got a list of them?
Gordon Ramsay said:
Speaking of button combinations, there's an interesting tidbit here http://insidesprintnow.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/htc-evo-4g-lte-power-on-troubleshooting-steps/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh nice. I'll include that. Thanks man.
Added in Legendary20's reviews thread.
Now that most of us have gotten our phones, be sure to post up your tips and tricks to add to the OP.
Screen shots can be taken with power+vol down
Check Me Out On The Google Play Store!!!
Sent From My Half Dead HTC Evo 3D, On The Now Network From Virgin Mobile?
It says Bluetooth 4 which if that's the case wouldn't make a difference if its on or off. Also there isn't a practical way to turn off 4g and doesn't make much of a difference. Incase you wanted to add notes to the battery part.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
Screen photos can also be taken while holding down the power button and taping the home key. The screen will blink then you get a popup screen telling you image has been saved to your image file.
Sent from my mighty EVO 4G LTE
WUESTSIDER X!
I hear 3g and voice works simultaneously cuz of the chipset... awesome
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Yes, you can talk and internet browse (3G) at the sametime. I confirmed it with my EVOLTE.
Sent from my mighty EVO 4G LTE
WUESTSIDER X!
Added link to regaw_leinad's post about S-OFF
1) on the Gmail app when trying to copy text you used to be able to just click on the highlighted text to copy it to clipboard, now you have to go down to the bottom left and click on the icon to do it. This is only on the Gmail app.
2) The menu button will be sorely missed. Now the menu for each app appears, depending on the app, on a different part of the screen, as opposed to having it always on the same spot.
The "Recent Apps" button is UTTERLY USELESS! With the original Evo, you used to be able to press and hold the home button and see the most recent 8 apps without having to scroll at all!! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?? (WERE THEY THINKING?!?!)
3) The text app, and for that matter Handcent and GoSMS DO NOT show the count for the unread messages, neither on the icon, nor on the notification bar, UNLESS you actually scroll down the notifications, then you can see how many unread messages you have.
4) Gmail app used to be awesome with the original Evo. Not only did it show the total unread messages you had but also, if you marked a message as unread (even a very old message), whether you did it from the phone or even from the computer, you would get a notification as if you just got a new message! Where's that?!?!
5) Sync seems to be having its own issues as well. On the regular email app, if I set it up to sync email every 5 minutes, it takes rather about 10-15 mins for the emails to come in. Original Evo was prompt at that...
6) on the regular email app in order to be able to go to the next or previous email, one has to first click on menu and only then do you have the "next" or "previous" option, unlike on the original Evo.
7) When already on max volume and want to make sure you still are with the volume rocker, you would hear a sound with the old Evo, now you got nothing are have to actually LOOK at the screen to make sure you got it to the max.
8 ) No option to play YouTube videos out of the YouTube app when clicking on a YouTube video on the browser.
That was a given with the original Evo. Annoying as hell on the LTE.
9) You MUST use both hands when holding the phone vertically if you want to have access to the whole screen (if you're laying down or sitting back on a sofa, for example), otherwise you will be unwillingly hitting the volume rocker or needing a chiropractor for your thumb. An issue which could be avoided with a gel cover, but could have been foreseen by HTC when producing such a smooth non-grippy back to the phone.
10) Gmail and Tasks are incompatible?! I mean, what's the point??
11) The regular email app can only be accessed a limited amount of times per 15 minutes? I already got quite a few of those error messages...
12) You used to be able to choose the input method and switch keyboards by long-pressing on any field. Now you have to exit whatever application you're on and go to settings, keyboard etc. to do it.
This isn't a cellphone war between the 4G and the LTE, obviously the LTE has lots of stuff over the original Evo. I'm not here to bash the LTE, on the contrary I would love to find solutions to all (or most) of those issues.
For the time being if I have to sum it up:
I love the speed and I LOVE the battery life but, in terms of practicality, I would stick with the original Evo.
P.S. I would rather not root my phone, and would like those problems to go away, help!
Gimme your thoughts!
txtmax4 said:
1) on the Gmail app when trying to copy text you used to be able to just click on the highlighted text to copy it to clipboard, now you have to go down to the bottom left and click on the icon to do it. This is only on the Gmail app.
2) The menu button will be sorely missed. Now the menu for each app appears, depending on the app, on a different part of the screen, as opposed to having it always on the same spot.
The "Recent Apps" button is UTTERLY USELESS! With the original Evo, you used to be able to press and hold the home button and see the most recent 8 apps without having to scroll at all!! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?? (WERE THEY THINKING?!?!)
3) The text app, and for that matter Handcent and GoSMS DO NOT show the count for the unread messages, neither on the icon, nor on the notification bar, UNLESS you actually scroll down the notifications, then you can see how many unread messages you have.
4) Gmail app used to be awesome with the original Evo. Not only did it show the total unread messages you had but also, if you marked a message as unread (even a very old message), whether you did it from the phone or even from the computer, you would get a notification as if you just got a new message! Where's that?!?!
5) Sync seems to be having its own issues as well. On the regular email app, if I set it up to sync email every 5 minutes, it takes rather about 10-15 mins for the emails to come in. Original Evo was prompt at that...
6) on the regular email app in order to be able to go to the next or previous email, one has to first click on menu and only then do you have the "next" or "previous" option, unlike on the original Evo.
7) When already on max volume and want to make sure you still are with the volume rocker, you would hear a sound with the old Evo, now you got nothing are have to actually LOOK at the screen to make sure you got it to the max.
8 ) No option to play YouTube videos out of the YouTube app when clicking on a YouTube video on the browser.
That was a given with the original Evo. Annoying as hell on the LTE.
9) You MUST use both hands when holding the phone vertically if you want to have access to the whole screen (if you're laying down or sitting back on a sofa, for example), otherwise you will be unwillingly hitting the volume rocker or needing a chiropractor for your thumb. An issue which could be avoided with a gel cover, but could have been foreseen by HTC when producing such a smooth non-grippy back to the phone.
10) Gmail and Tasks are incompatible?! I mean, what's the point??
11) The regular email app can only be accessed a limited amount of times per 15 minutes? I already got quite a few of those error messages...
12) You used to be able to choose the input method and switch keyboards by long-pressing on any field. Now you have to exit whatever application you're on and go to settings, keyboard etc. to do it.
This isn't a cellphone war between the 4G and the LTE, obviously the LTE has lots of stuff over the original Evo. I'm not here to bash the LTE, on the contrary I would love to find solutions to all (or most) of those issues.
For the time being if I have to sum it up:
I love the speed and I LOVE the battery life but, in terms of practicality, I would stick with the original Evo.
P.S. I would rather not root my phone, and would like those problems to go away, help!
Gimme your thoughts!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some on the stuff like not being able to open links in the YouTube app is an apple problem, choosing diferent keyboards was something the google did on ICS(annoyed as hell too), some issues is cause of ICS and some other is sense but I could live with them
Sent from my htc_jewel using Tapatalk 2
1 note about that long rant, with the keyboard a small icon appears in your taskbar that you can pull down to change input method without having to exit the app and go to settings
Sent from my EVO using XDA
Related
Sometimes you are away from a charger and want to conserve what you have left, or are trying to run a resource heavy app without glitches (satnav) or trying to get a big update/download faster.
I thought we could post tips that either help with speed of the device or with saving battery - particularly if you know of apps or settings that slow the running down or eat battery.
I know these are quite obvious but I'll list some anyway to get us started
Turn these off for extra speed and batt :
Wireless General
GPS (you can leave location by network on for most stuff like weather apps)
Wifi - turning it off while you're out and about saves lots o batt. I also keep network notification off completely unless I'm in a new location looking for a wifi fix.
Bluetooth - set for off and undiscoverable
Mobile network - Set it to 2G for a big boost in battery life (and I've found, if the 3G is rubbish - I know, obvious, but I recently spent 20 mins moaning of no signal at all to send a tx at a gig, then realised I could flick to 2G and was away!!)
Data Sync
Google - You can turn of Auto sync and just sync manually when you choose
Background Data - Turning this off gives a huge battery boost, but gmail won't arrive in real time, so if you're expecting important mail don't turn it off.
On the sync option, if you know contacts and calendar are not changing that often you can uncheck these and sync manually every now and then
Apps that use Data Sync
Weather - check how often the app refreshes and set it to a longer time - some weather apps are by default set to refresh every 30 mins and this might not be needed most of the time.
Twitter and Facebook widgets and apps - again check the refresh periods, also notifications will Use batt more than no notifications.
Same probably applies for Exchange Sync but I don't use it.
Sound/Display - these things will save batt when you need it.
I think having Ring AND vibe will be more batt intensive, so maybe knock off the vibrate when you want to save battery
Keep Brightness low and lower screen timeout.
Turn off Auto rotation and animations and Notification Flash
Turning keypad tones off etc will save a bit too. It all adds up.
Turning Off TouchFLO
When running CoPilot, it helps to turn off wifi and some have reported that if you can toggle the Sense UI to the ordinary Android 3 screen home this helps too (Tho I've personally not had problems) To turn off Sense UI or Touchflo 7Screen home, you need to first go to settings-applications-manage applications and look for TouchFLO then clear defaults. After this, when you go to home, you'll be offered a choice of home or TouchFlo. To toggle back to Touchflo, press the home button again. To return it to default, just check the Use by default for this action, and then make your choice.
Post anything you've found to help or hinder speed, or to drain or boost battery life
Ta Dayzee xx
Is there a widget to switch from 3G to 2G?
no, that is not a setting that can be done on a widget. all the ones that are around and claim to do it just jump you straight into mobile settings so you can toggle it yourself in two clicks instead of four....
But there is the Mobile Network one - HTC built in - when that is turned off, you can still get calls, and send txts. I use this toggle to do that - also can you not set a shortcut to do 3g to 2g only using bettercut? I'm sure you can, because you have that option in settings and bettercut can make a shortcut to any settings toggle.
Dayzee
Edit - Bettercut doesn't work with Hero Well, certainly not for creating and adding a shortcut to a system setting - will let the devs know...
Is it my imagination or does having the people widget on a home screen makes the device a little sluggish?
Is anyone else using touchdown? Not sure if that is slowing my device down and using battery a lot too?
Toggle Settings is a good app for controlling Daisys suggestions above, taskiller or Advanced Task Manager are essential for closing unwanted apps.
Couple of notes about apps that close stuff down like Taskiller and Task Manager - they can slow your fone down immediately after an end all, as the apps that need to run like TouchFlo have to restart - which they do, all by themselves - but it makes the fone prone to laggyness and force closing if you try to open stuff straight after.
If you get one that allows exclusions (I know advanced Task Manager does but dunno on others) then exclude TouchFLO and you'll get less proba after close all.
Also there were reports that one of the Taskiller apps messed with the long press home functions. Not sure on this tho...
Dayzee said:
If you get one that allows exclusions (I know advanced Task Manager does but dunno on others) then exclude TouchFLO and you'll get less proba after close all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Taskkiller you also have the option to exclude programs. It also has a widget you can tap to close all (except the ignored programs) The free version only allows two apps to be ignored. Exclude TouchFlo is a good suggestion.
Ce said:
With Taskkiller you also have the option to exclude programs. It also has a widget you can tap to close all (except the ignored programs) The free version only allows two apps to be ignored. Exclude TouchFlo is a good suggestion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try TaskPanel, it's free and doesn't seem to have any restrictions in its exclude list. You can also add a memory threshold when TaskPanel should automatically kill applications (configured through a separate list). And finally, it registers itself as an ongoing task and starts up automatically.
TaskPanel ist great... Thanks for that Tip. Have it running in the Background and now it Kills processes that are not in my Exclude List everytime the RAM goes below 50Meg.
My Hero is now (almost) Lag-Free.
Full charge at 7am and at 5pm, battery still at 94%.
How?
Turn off background data.
jhericurls said:
Full charge at 7am and at 5pm, battery still at 94%.
How?
Turn off background data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Background data? As in what? Mobile network?
jhericurls said:
Full charge at 7am and at 5pm, battery still at 94%.
How?
Turn off background data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Surely that disables all the sync services etc which is really what the phone is all about!
Also the Market won't work unless background data is enabled... It will save battery but a said, many services won't work unless you update manually.
I switched this off when in France so I didn't eat up my roaming data bundle.
The Jones said:
Is it my imagination or does having the people widget on a home screen makes the device a little sluggish?
Is anyone else using touchdown? Not sure if that is slowing my device down and using battery a lot too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive also noticed this also with the people widget after i removed it as well as the Clock # 8 it severely reduced the lagginess of my Hero
Hi Dayzee & co.,
If you're looking for a good way to save battery power without having to turn wifi on and off manually, check out "Y5 battery saver"
Y5 - Battery Saver is an AndroidTM application which saves your battery by turning the Wifi off in locations where you have never been connected before. The application turns Wifi back on when you are back to known location. It will remember the locations automatically. All you have to do is turn the Wifi on and connect to the known Wifi network for the first time
Really cool, and works like a charm. Ok, you need to have your GPS turned on, but at least that one is useful everywhere you are (except inside buildings, fair enough)... whereas wifi isn't. Furthermore, wifi uses up more battery than GPS.
Concerning Advanced Task Killer (awesome!), you might want to check out this thread if you're sick of having to restart your phone each time you have to sync. In a few words: always put HTC sync in the Ignore list of the program. Unchecking it won't do.
Cheers!
Stop using Peep (set it all to manual update), remove the widget and start using Twidroid.
As well as a huge reduction in battery draw, you'll find your Hero is far more responsive than is ever was before.
The last few days my Hero has not been sluggish and the battery life has increased dramatically. Set to 30 mins update just like Peep was.
Here's my tip, that works really well, for me. I've tried a myriad of task managers, but finally settled for TaskPanel. It doesn't really matter what you use, I suppose, but I found it to be one of the clearest. Furthermore, advanced task killer's and taskillers "kill all" commands seemed to randomly kill the TouchFlo process as well, even though it was "ignored"...
I've come to the conclusion that cpu load rarely is a problem on this phone (in terms of finding a reason to possible lag), unless you are watching videos (which you probably won't, since it appears to be impossible to encode videos so they don't at least slow down a bit every five seconds) or listening to music.
Instead it's the amount of memory you have free for apps to use. I have no idea why, since I also live by the credo "memory free is memory wasted", so ideally my phone would have 5 megs of ram free and everything would work great. Now for some reason, my Hero desktop starts to lag substantially (as well as other gui-elements, such as long scrolling lists) whenever my memory goes below 40 megs.
I always hated the "favourite people" widget by Htc, so I closed it day one. Maybe that's why my htc experience has been pretty positive. I also closed the desktop widgets for SMS-messages and Mail, since they can't show MMS:es or HTML-mail and since they are both ridiculously slow at flicking from one message to the next. I also threw away the novelty clocks by Htc, since they animate too often and that slows down the interface while they are moving. Instead I opted for the iPhone-like clock "digital clock widget". Just don't force kill it, since it will stop updating and you will be stuck with a beautiful clock that shows the right time once every day.
So basically, my formula for a fluid hero experience is:
* Check your free memory with TaskPanel every now and then. If it goes below 50, prepare for slowdown. If it goes below 40, go on a killingspree.
* Register TaskPanel as an "ongoing service", so it shows up in your notification drawer. Now, if you can see your notification drawer (which you can't in the browser), then instead of clicking home to close stuff, open TaskPanel (or whatever) and kill the app you are about to stop using.
* With multitasking comes responsibility. Odds are, if you ever owned an iPhone, this is something you were *****in and moanin about. "Gimme multitasking, gimme!". Well now you've got it and so, learn to use it. Everything that is slow, badly programmed or a resource hog has gotta go, unless you really really need it. Beautiful clock animating slowly? Too bad! Ditch it.
Somebody said Android wold be very good at managing resources by itself and that sounds reasonable. However, I read numerous comments about people finding this to not be the case. Maybe in version 2.0. But for now I'm stuck killing of processes myself. It works for me and makes my UI snappy. And I can keep 3-5 apps running at the same time (that are my own choices, not mandatory apps that come with the UI) without problem. I regularly have babbler, androidirc, taskpanel, market, ebuddy, redditisfun running at the same time without problem. Just kill off apps you are not going to use for a long time.
Ok, sorry to be rambling, but this is my take on the situation. It might get resolved with the Hero update or with the 2.0 version of Android. Don't know, but until then, we need some tools and wild speculation won't solve anything. If you made it through the whole message, I would appreciate your comments - especially any positive experiences you have from "letting Android do its own cleaning". It sounds a little fishy that it would be bad a first, but after about a week, things will get really snappy? What if I boot my phone? Will I have to wait a week again for things to become fast?
-JJ
Speed and battery boosting Tips
Dayzee said:
Sometimes you are away from a charger and want to conserve what you have left, or are trying to run a resource heavy app without glitches (satnav) or trying to get a big update/download faster.
I thought we could post tips that either help with speed of the device or with saving battery - particularly if you know of apps or settings that slow the running down or eat battery.
I know these are quite obvious but I'll list some anyway to get us started
Turn these off for extra speed and batt :
Wireless General
GPS (you can leave location by network on for most stuff like weather apps)
Wifi - turning it off while you're out and about saves lots o batt. I also keep network notification off completely unless I'm in a new location looking for a wifi fix.
Bluetooth - set for off and undiscoverable
Mobile network - Set it to 2G for a big boost in battery life (and I've found, if the 3G is rubbish - I know, obvious, but I recently spent 20 mins moaning of no signal at all to send a tx at a gig, then realised I could flick to 2G and was away!!)
Data Sync
Google - You can turn of Auto sync and just sync manually when you choose
Background Data - Turning this off gives a huge battery boost, but gmail won't arrive in real time, so if you're expecting important mail don't turn it off.
On the sync option, if you know contacts and calendar are not changing that often you can uncheck these and sync manually every now and then
Apps that use Data Sync
Weather - check how often the app refreshes and set it to a longer time - some weather apps are by default set to refresh every 30 mins and this might not be needed most of the time.
Twitter and Facebook widgets and apps - again check the refresh periods, also notifications will Use batt more than no notifications.
Same probably applies for Exchange Sync but I don't use it.
Sound/Display - these things will save batt when you need it.
I think having Ring AND vibe will be more batt intensive, so maybe knock off the vibrate when you want to save battery
Keep Brightness low and lower screen timeout.
Turn off Auto rotation and animations and Notification Flash
Turning keypad tones off etc will save a bit too. It all adds up.
Turning Off TouchFLO
When running CoPilot, it helps to turn off wifi and some have reported that if you can toggle the Sense UI to the ordinary Android 3 screen home this helps too (Tho I've personally not had problems) To turn off Sense UI or Touchflo 7Screen home, you need to first go to settings-applications-manage applications and look for TouchFLO then clear defaults. After this, when you go to home, you'll be offered a choice of home or TouchFlo. To toggle back to Touchflo, press the home button again. To return it to default, just check the Use by default for this action, and then make your choice.
Post anything you've found to help or hinder speed, or to drain or boost battery life
Ta Dayzee xx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
turning off allmost every things,then what reson to have a smart phone and spend 600$ for the device better, turn off your hero and keep in the pocket and turn it back on to use...keep in pocket with power off till next use.this is not the sulution .turning off everythings ........rether go with motorola razer v3.
I still don't see the point of using task managers and killing tasks. I just let the OS manage everything for me.
My Hero run very well indeed since I worked out that Peep was a real battery and resource hog.
I've just been for a 4 mile walk and used My Tracks to track the walk, Twidroid, Browser hot linked from tweets in Twidroid, answered a phone call and responded to a number of texts.
Looked at My Tracks a number of times to see what it was doing and to look at the satellite map. I like to point out things on the phone screen to the kids that they can see in real life - geeky but they think its cool.
Kept checking on how fast we were walking etc...
So screen was active quite a bit.
All over the space of 1hr 15mins with the GPS running all the time.
Hero never lagged once, battery used was around 10% (at a guess, maybe 12%).
Overall very impressed.
i am about to install BATTERY BOOSTER on my razr maxx.....i dont think my battery is as strong as they say, yes it last longer than most but i dont think its as strong as people make it out to be....any suggestions on this app ??
Haven't heard anything about this app. Juice Defender is usually the one that I hear the most about.
All they can do is turn off different things at different times... like the 3G/3G data. Juice Defender does what it claims, but at a cost. Turning on the screen to use the browser, there's a long pause before the data "wakes up". I deleted the app. I get 2 days of varied use from my Maxx and that's with the screen at full brightness, 4G on, Bluetooth on, and pretty much indiscriminate use of everything wasteful I can find.
I ran it for a while back on my Samsung Galaxy PLAYER 4.0, it was nice to have easy settting to trigger turning wifi, bluetooth and Airplane Mode on and off with locking and unlocking, but on that device I realized it was a complete waste for me because I could leave airplane mode on all the time on it and I only toggle wifi on if I need to use it right then, so really for the razr's its pretty pointless as most of what it does can be done with SMART ACTIONS, but it would give you a battery percentage and battery temp in your notifications if you like that sort of stuff.
If you want to max your battery and push notifications aren't that important to you use these settings in smart actions:
by default I have GPS off completely, on the rare occasion I need it I will turn it on manually.
I use one primary Smart Action and that is a reprogrammed "Battery Extender" with
TRIGGERS:
Screen Off
Charging (not charging)
ACTIONS:
Background Sync (Disable)
Cellular Data (Disable)
basically with these settings when the screen is off its equivalent to a "dumb phone", you can recieve calls and texts but no "push" notifications, this increased the time between charges by atleast 20% for me.
Also as I say in all these threads not forget to regularly (atleast every 2 weeks) power cycle (shutdown then reboot) your phone, I went like the first month of owning without ever shutting it off and when I got in the habit of doing this I noticed atleast a 10% increase in time between charge compared to never shutting off.
Screenshots of my last battery cycle below.
daniel644 said:
I ran it for a while back on my Samsung Galaxy PLAYER 4.0, it was nice to have easy settting to trigger turning wifi, bluetooth and Airplane Mode on and off with locking and unlocking, but on that device I realized it was a complete waste for me because I could leave airplane mode on all the time on it and I only toggle wifi on if I need to use it right then, so really for the razr's its pretty pointless as most of what it does can be done with SMART ACTIONS, but it would give you a battery percentage and battery temp in your notifications if you like that sort of stuff.
If you want to max your battery and push notifications aren't that important to you use these settings in smart actions:
by default I have GPS off completely, on the rare occasion I need it I will turn it on manually.
I use one primary Smart Action and that is a reprogrammed "Battery Extender" with
TRIGGERS:
Screen Off
Charging (not charging)
ACTIONS:
Background Sync (Disable)
Cellular Data (Disable)
basically with these settings when the screen is off its equivalent to a "dumb phone", you can recieve calls and texts but no "push" notifications, this increased the time between charges by atleast 20% for me.
Also as I say in all these threads not forget to regularly (atleast every 2 weeks) power cycle (shutdown then reboot) your phone, I went like the first month of owning without ever shutting it off and when I got in the habit of doing this I noticed atleast a 10% increase in time between charge compared to never shutting off.
Screenshots of my last battery cycle below.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What your screen shot shows is that you basically don't use your phone. I wouldn't be able to even get close to 10% screen time if I tried. Unless I just let the phone sleep all day.
can any of you guide me through these smart actions....because even after the help videos and all, i still dont really understand how the triggers and actions work....i dont think im getting nearly the battery time i should out of this phone.....i have to put it on the charger at least 2 or three times out the day for a little while and by 10-11 oclock its still down to about 30-40 percent....and im hearing people getting almost 2 days on a full battery...not me!! so please help
WizeGuyDezignz said:
What your screen shot shows is that you basically don't use your phone. I wouldn't be able to even get close to 10% screen time if I tried. Unless I just let the phone sleep all day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never made any claim to be a heavy user, when at work, home and where I go for my lunch break I use my Laptop, as I don't care to stare at a small screen if I don't need to, my phone is for like when i'm at walmart or somewhere and I need to look something up real quick.
But, for the record the smart action settings I listed will drop your overnight battery drain to like 1% every 3 hours or so which is really a huge boost to those that don't live starring at there phone day in / day out, nothing can help those people but rehab and counseling for there addiction issues, LOL (that was a joke don't get pissed off)
---------- Post added at 03:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:09 AM ----------
blueizee said:
can any of you guide me through these smart actions....because even after the help videos and all, i still dont really understand how the triggers and actions work....i dont think im getting nearly the battery time i should out of this phone.....i have to put it on the charger at least 2 or three times out the day for a little while and by 10-11 oclock its still down to about 30-40 percent....and im hearing people getting almost 2 days on a full battery...not me!! so please help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, as simple as I can make this
1. open Smart Actions app
2. click View samples in lower right hand corner
3. click Battery Extender
4. press and hold on trigger labeled Motion Detector, when menu pops up choose Delete
5. Look for + sign just to right of the word Actions (in the middle of the screen), tap the + sign
6. Scroll to very bottom of list and tap Cellular Data, menu will pop up with 2 choices (enable, disable) tap disable
7. (Optional) press and hold GPS under actions, and when menu comes up hit delete
8. Tap Add Rule on bottom left hand side of screen.
your done and set with my settings, AGAIN with these settings your phone WILL NOT RECIEVE new email or other data related notifications while the screen is off, but it will reduce power drain to aproxx 1% every 3 hours while the screen is off (barring other apps running in the background I can't account for), your could also ADD a time trigger if you only wanted it to do it at night so the junk emails notifications don't wake you up.
I am noticing some problems with my s3 after the official jellybean update. It feels like it has been rushed to the phone. For example it doesn't have the quick reply feature in the notification window. It does for missed calls but not for messages. This is one the most anticipated features for me. Also when watching you tube and you don't want the screen to rotate it now does. I want to lock the rotation so I only get the small video at the top when my phone is on its side. It worked before jellybean update. Also auto brightness has changed. When auto brightness is selected you can manually turn it up with the slider in the notification window and it disables auto brightness and changes to what you set on the slider. Now on jellybean you have to uncheck the auto brightness box and then slide. Little features like this are starting to make me feel like it has been a massive rush to get jellybean on to the s3 which is ironic seen as though it took long enough. I have the international i9300 model s3. Is anybody else noticing the problems I have stated? Does anybody know a way of changing/getting the features? Thanks.
They were definitely to busy with the Note II, I mean come on at least give their flag ship the same/some of the features that a bigger version of the S3 has... That sexy multitasking should have been on the initial jelly bean update.
94% to 77 % in 7 hours.
WIFI : On , PSM off
Most power and wakelocks were by Kernal.
Normal?
I'm on LJ4, stock kernel?
I've not got a clue what you're on about?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
I know what you mean. The note got great features like the multi window. Apparently that's coming before the new year but I highly doubt that. Are you noticing the same problems I am? Another problem I found is when screen goes off after inactivity you used to be able to press the home button a moment after it goes off and it would turn the screen back on leaving you at the page you was. Now the home button takes you back to the home when you press it. It's annoying you have to go back to the app.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
eggman89 said:
94% to 77 % in 7 hours.
WIFI : On , PSM off
Most power and wakelocks were by Kernal.
Normal?
I'm on LJ4, stock kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too, my problem is the battery with jb lj4
I think there is a few little niggles but overal its pretty much the same.
The autobrightness don't disable automatically now when you adjust the slider as you can now actually adjust the autobrightness brightness, Not sure why though.
Google Now - leaving it active at the mo, but not really found any usefullness from it as yet. The Time home feature is ok, would be good if it actually showed the route I take home - Via motorway, rather than the route through city center which i don't take!!
The new notifcation bar - its ok, nothing major. Expect a bit of all these features will improve over time as well once apps get proper updates. Some work but don't have full functionally - Songpop has no notifications now for example.
Battery Life - I did find that my normal phone use on ISC which included about 50/60 mins worth of calls etc wi-fi left on all the time but only actually connected to wi-fi at home (just 2G & 3G at work) i would have about 55/60% battery life left by the time i got home from work, on Jelly Bean - with the same useage i had about 40/45% left. I am now back to the same as before on ISC, but i didn't disable google now or anything just turned Wi-Fi off when left home and turn it back on when home - results was 55/60% battery remaining a as on ISC. Seems that the Wi-Fi drains when not connected - either it keeps on searching which it might not of done on ISC or its the Google Now doing something (Does say improve location by keeping wifi on - does this even if not connected!!) - Least this way i can still use google now and see how it improves its tags overtime.
I am now using a App called WiFi Timer to automatically switch Wifi on and off when i leave/get home.
Love that it now has voice downloaded so you can text etc with no data connection - find its more accurate now as well!
Never had the small vids on Youtube when rotated phone so not sure about that. Take it disabling autorotate doesn't do this?
Good and Bad
My experience is as follows:
Good:
Sheer speed, no perceivable lag.
A problem I had with only half the SMS notification tone being played (before it cut off) has gone away.
Bad:
Battery drain terrible even when idle. Turning off Google Now, Location Services and Samsung Push Notification fixed this.
When I activate Smart Stay, the screen does not want to turn off 80% of the time - even when I'm not looking at it.
When I wake the phone using the home key, it exits the app I was in. Previously, this would wake the device and return you to the current app (after unlocking). I have a partial work around using the PreHome app; this way the app is still visible underneath the PreHome dialogue box and I just need to press Back to get to my app again.
Widgets, seem to refresh less regularly, particularly Messaging and Gmail widgets which seem to hardly even refresh when I want them too.
Of No Consequence:
The red charging led is a little dimmer when charging.
Overall:
The speed benefits outweigh the niggles - just!
Dan
ohyesman said:
I am now using a App called WiFi Timer to automatically switch Wifi on and off when i leave/get home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need for an App. You can do it inbuilt.
Go to Wifi, Menu button and Advanced
eggman89 said:
No need for an App. You can do it inbuilt.
Go to Wifi, Menu button and Advanced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep i know, but this app is far better as it lets you setup different profiles for mornings, evenings & weekends etc which the inbuilt one don't. :good:
root?
i may just root my phone as i really am not happy with this jellybean update, nothing has really improved for me, if i root it and install a rom like codename all the features like quick reply would be there right?
Hey all, just wanted to post some quick general questions. So first off, I wanted to know if you all use auto-brightness or if you use the brightness widget to adjust the brightness based on ambient light. Second, when it comes to closing out apps from memory, do you only use the recent apps capacitive button, or do you also go into settings>battery and click on all of the available X's to the right of each app to close out the apps that way as well? Just asking these questions as I'm trying to maximize my daily battery life on top of LK kernel. Thanks!
-Matt
Roflwafflez said:
Hey all, just wanted to post some quick general questions. So first off, I wanted to know if you all use auto-brightness or if you use the brightness widget to adjust the brightness based on ambient light. Second, when it comes to closing out apps from memory, do you only use the recent apps capacitive button, or do you also go into settings>battery and click on all of the available X's to the right of each app to close out the apps that way as well? Just asking these questions as I'm trying to maximize my daily battery life on top of LK kernel. Thanks!
-Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I usually allow Sense to handle the killing of task. I know some thinks it does so very aggressively, but it seems fine to me.
As for brightness, I leave mine set at 50% and call it a day. My phone goes off the charger at 6:30 a.m and goes back on at 4:00pm. I'm usually around 50/55% when I get home to my charger. That's using Twitter religiously as well as Google Now for scheduling appointment. Also checking forums.
One battery saving tip I have for you though is this: Put your phone in Airplane mode if you know you won't be using for a while or if where you are currently doesnt have a very good signal.
Roflwafflez said:
Hey all, just wanted to post some quick general questions. So first off, I wanted to know if you all use auto-brightness or if you use the brightness widget to adjust the brightness based on ambient light. Second, when it comes to closing out apps from memory, do you only use the recent apps capacitive button, or do you also go into settings>battery and click on all of the available X's to the right of each app to close out the apps that way as well? Just asking these questions as I'm trying to maximize my daily battery life on top of LK kernel. Thanks!
-Matt
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some things I do when Im away from home:
- Don't use autosync (put the sync widget on a home screen and when you want to sync your stuff just press it and it will sync everything once when you need it)
- Use wifi as much as possible
- Keep brightness at a comfortable level but try to keep it around 50% or less. I keep mine at about 25~30%
I use the recent apps button and clear out apps when im done with them (I can't really say if this actually kills the apps or not or how effective it is for saving battery)
Turn off unnecessary syncs. Do you really need facebook to update every 30min? Weather to update every hour? Evernote to update every hour?
Disable those syncs (especially facebook), and I usually see a saving of 20% by the end of day.
Well what I do is, since I have root access, I use juice defender to control my auto sync, CPU speed, usage and brightness. And since I did that my battery is around 20 percent at 10 pm. And I take it off charge at around 6 30 am.
Sent from my HTC evo 3D GSM
Thanks for the input! Much appreciated, going to put some of this into use.
-Matt :good:
Roflwafflez said:
Thanks for the input! Much appreciated, going to put some of this into use.
-Matt :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me: 1) As mentioned, first check those syncs 2) I don't have Facebook installed, if I want to check it, I do thru the browser 3) I use the Power Contol widget, it has the screen brightness toggle. I use it at 0-15% in the evening indoors and morning, 1/3 generally and Auto during the day in my truck. If I'm going to use the internet for a couple hours session, I'll tether to my HP Mini, saves screen time on the phone. At times during the workday and I have no use for the internet nor have any impending emails I absolutely need to receive, I will turn off Mobile data, that alone will save you tons of battery and you will still receive text messages and phone calls. If I'm in a fringe area I will do the same, turn off Mobile data or watch your battery drain right before your eyes. If you use Airplane mode, I'm sure you know you won't be able to text of receive/make calls. GSam Battery Monitor is a good app to monitor your battery usage and what apps are being used. Oh, and yes, I just use the Recent Apps to wipe out apps I'm done with and let Sense handle the rest.
I just used Juice defender to manage my phone. Works well.
Sent from my HTC Butterfly using xda premium
So I decided to write this little review to try talk about/point out/explain certain things that I thought other major reviewers (Engadget, The Verge, etc) didn't mention or didn't explain well enough, as well as things I do and don't like about the phone. (Don't let the Great Wall of Text scare you) Here goes!
The first thing I have to point out is how well this phone feels in your hand. I never want to put it down. Ever. That cold aluminum body feels amazing when you pick up the One and really drives home the flagship status of this phone. While this is great, I am terrified of dropping this phone. It feels like it would scratch very easily on a rough surface (I have yet to see a scratch, but I have been babying it until my case arrives). The aluminum feels very similar to the Macbook Pro case. While a lot of people are complaining about the false "zero gap" manufacturing, it virtually is zero gap. I have the slightest of space between the top aluminum strip on the front and the white band circumventing the phone. I would be hard pressed to fit even an eyelash in this gap, however. So far all intents and purposes, I think we can call it zero gap Anything larger than this, and I would consider returning it or waiting a few weeks for HTC to iron out the issue. Just ask to see the phone they give you before buying it and you can avoid this problem all together.
Sense 5 is a welcome upgrade and I don't miss CM 10.1 as much as I thought I would. My most missed feature is quick reply from the notification shade, but I'm living without it. This software flies through animations, opening apps, responding to input, scrolling, everything. Slick as oil. And the aesthetics of Sense 5 aren't too bad either. Not everything is rosy perfect though. Adding apps from the drawer to the homescreen is annoying. You have to tap and hold the app as you normally would. But then instead of transitioning to the home screen automatically so you can place the app somewhere, you have to first drag it all the way to the top left where it says "shortcut" and then it transitions to your homescreens. Gets old when you're setting up your home screen. Also, let's say you open an app by searching for it in your app drawer (not from the home screen). If you exit that app by hitting the home button, it does not send you home. Rather it sends you back to the notification drawer with all your apps. That's annoying. Pressing the back button also does not send you out of the notification drawer and to your homescreen like it normally does. You must hit home once again to enter your homescreen.
At first, I thought blink feed was gimicky. Just some marketing technique to set HTC apart in the consumer's mind. But after playing around with it, it has grown on me. The selection of news sources is small, but hopefully that will grow or allow you to add your own custom websites. I do find myself occasionally scrolling through it when waiting in line, the drive thru, waiting for someone, etc. Which was the original purpose anyway. I have not noticed a hit on battery life from this feature.
An annoying feature of the gallery is that in throws in all your Facebook Friend's photo albums into your gallery. Yes you read correctly. Jimmy Bob's recent Everglades field trip WILL show up in your gallery as well as other friend's albums. So far I have not figured out a way to remove this besides unlinking my phone from my facebook account (aka logging out of the app). While your photos have their own area/folder apart from these Facebook albums, it's still annoying to see the faces of people I never talk to in my own gallery.
Now onto the camera. There is definitely some truth behind the "UltraPixel" marketing. Compared to an iPhone 5 and Note 2, the One most definitely takes better pictures in low light settings. Even in extremely dark settings (night time with some light filtering in through closed blinds), the One is able to make out rough pictures, something the iPhone and Note 2 could not do at all. While the One is able to take pictures in very low light, this does not mean the pictures come out amazing or noiseless. Don't expect to just run out into the pitch black night and be able to photograph anything. In very low light settings, the pictures are still grainy and sometimes crappy. But most definitely better than the two phones mentioned already. All these comparisons were done with the flash off. Even with the flash on, the One still managed better photos in my opinion. They looked more natural and less like the came from a camera phone. Slightly lower than ideal lighting is where the One is able to shine. The other phone's flashes sometimes washed out or harshly lit up the scene while the One didn't even use the flash and took a great photo. Can't wait to use it more.
Zoes are pretty cool, another feature I initially thought was gimicky. The short clips appear as normal photos in your gallery, but then begin to randomly play like the photos in a Harry Potter movie. Looks pretty cool in person. A feature I haven't been able to try out is the "Event" categorizing of my photos. Basically the phone looks at the time and location where you took pictures, and tries to group them into "events". Think of these as different albums in your gallery. When you open an event, at the top there will be a highlights reel: basically a slideshow of your photos, zoes and perhaps videos (not 100% sure about the videos). It adds music, transitions, Instagram-esque filters and automatically starts playing. Watching your whole photo gallery come to life is pretty cool.
Other tid bits: there's a permanent power saver notification in your notification dropdown. Always there no matter what. There's an app that lets you remove it if you're rooted however (the app is somewhere in these forums). The front facing camera is a big upgrade from the HOXL one. Did I mention how amazing this phone feels? Finally, 32GB on an HTC flagship. 24.4GB available to you. Although the camera lens is slightly slightly slightly recessed, I still feel it can get scratched.
In the end, this is definitely the best Android phone I have handled and used (yes, including the S4 yes I said it). And I used to work in Best Buy Mobile until very recently, so I have handled my fair share of smartphones. I would highly recommend this phone to anyone and everyone.
Well this turned out a lot longer than I anticipated. Hope this shines some light on the One from the perspective of an everyday owner. Let me know if you have any questions!
TL;DR. Read it! This took [email protected]#$ing forever to type.
Congrats on getting away from Best Buy!
are we going to have one of these at 15 days 30 days etc etc ?
Great review! I would like to point out though that you can get rid of the power saver notification by long pressing it, going to app info, and force stopping it. It reappears when your battery gets low since it automatically turns on, but you can avoid looking at it most of the day!
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Excellent review. I've had it 4 days and I guess I haven't opened my gallery since linking my Facebook account, cause that annoyance was new to me... Thanks for pointing it out!
One other thing that I feel isn't getting the attention it deserves is the addition of IR. I haven't had IR in a smartphone since my Treo, and I missed it. The first thing I did when I got my One was setup all my TV's/Receivers to be controlled by my phone.
Wallaby8 said:
Great review! I would like to point out though that you can get rid of the power saver notification by long pressing it, going to app info, and force stopping it. It reappears when your battery gets low since it automatically turns on, but you can avoid looking at it most of the day!
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this tidbit.. It would be nice if the "show notifications" option allowed you to select/deselect...
The chassis is zero gap. the speaker covers are add-ons to the chassis.
To add apps, widgets and shortcuts to your screens long press any blank area for your home screens and the popup will allow you to select said icons to which ever screen you want by highlighting it with a tap 1st. It will put the icon in the first available space starting from the top left but you can then move it.
I haven't setup Facebook yet but I have read there is a setting in the gallery to un-check this option. *Edit* My bad. The only way to stop pic syncing from Facebook is by not allowing Facebook to sync in the 1st place. Not an ideal solution but all there is atm.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2197998
Lastly, with pics/camera. Set sharpness to -1 and there will be much less post processing. (Credit hamdir) I think you'll like the pics even more!
Hope this helps.
Thanks!! it was helpful.
Yeah I haven't had a chance to test out the IR but I've heard its pretty cool. But it may not work on cases that cover the button and I wish they allowed you to hit "hide notifications" it almost looks like they went our of their way to block that setting lol
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
If you long press on the 'Power Saver' notification and go to App Info, you can force close that app. Then the notification will no longer be there. Each time the phone reboots, you'll see it and need to do it again, but I did it once and haven't had to reboot for any reason. Notification Gone!