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Hello all,
I'm currently a Samsung galaxy s2 user, just switched from using the iphone 4 because of all the rumors about the galaxy s2. And till now im impressed by everything it has to offer except its battery life.
I love my galaxy s2, but the only problem is battery life, and thats the main reason im being pulled over to buy the iphone 4s!!..
getting that isnt the problem..
I tried way too many custom ROMS, different kernels etc, but ended up with an average 6-7 hr battery life with heavy usage and that doesnt even involve listening to music while commuting. If i did that as well, im sure my battery wud barely last 5 hrs... which isnt ideal at all, im sure everyone feels the same way... Right now im on stock KI3 firmware, rooted. KI3 is slightly better than what bell gave me as stock - KG2.
now i want some strong points of why i shouldn't move back. I've been an iphone user since the 2g iphone and it was amazing!
Only if i could improve my battery life on galaxy s2 i wouldnt have these temptations to move to iphone again.
Should I move back to the iPhone?
no, galaxy s2 is the best !xD
my battery is very good so i don't care just try some kernels or roms
iPhone 4s is much better than SGS2 IMO.
Better size, better display (imo SAMOLED+'s colours are too cartoony), better resolution, better camera, better audio, much better battery and a much faster processor.
Also, iOS has proper dual core optimizations and actually makes good use of the A5 chip, wheras with SGS2, you'll have to wait for a stable ICS rom comes out.
Despite the negativity of the i4s, I personally think it'll be one of the most underrated phones this year.
But that's just my opinion.
My s2 often gives me 16+ hrs of heavy usage (my phone is from the first batch) my other half got a white s2 a few weeks ago and he has dreadful battery life. Both same firmware ect. Although mine is made in korea both battery and handset. His is made in china. Different colour mainboards too. Mines blue his is green.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Well just to make the point clear, you will never get your sgs 2 to have as much of a battery life as the IP4S. iOS is simply much better at handling battery life than android.
Now it depends on what you want really. Do you value battery life over functionality/choice?
Personally what do you expect of a phone with a dual core 1.2ghz processor? If you expect 12 hrs now that is simply idiocy. You have a laptop that can do that? I don't cuz mine lasts 2 hrs with heavy usage. I haven't read of any laptop being able to last 12 hrs of heavy usage either. No I don't expect a laptop to have a battery life like that either. Now this is a phone with a processor better than most if not all netbooks, it is not going to have a 8hr+ battery life with heavy usage just like a laptop.
I feel your pain with battery life. Also, screen burn in isshowing its face on mine too. But threw iphone is waaaaaay too locked down to make it an easy choice.
Sounds like you dont have things set up correctly to me or your using some resource hogging apps.
Im on wifi all day, send between 40-70 sms a day, couple of phone calls, tweetdeck auto updating, around 20mins of music (well, podcast, but it is an audio file), auto updating of all my apps enabled in the market and the obvious hour or so web browsing and 10mins or so of minecraft when I sneak off for a break in the toilets and I get home with around 30%
Dont forget, your also comparing a closed up OS which has been around for a fair old while to an open one which is still reasonably new which each phone manufacturer has his way with before chucking the phones out
Im not going to fight the android corner as you admitted yourself you are 'looking for reasons to not move back'. Which sounds as though you have already made up your mind.
If you want to go get a shiny fragile phone with a half eaten apple on it by all means do Glad you've at least tried Android though, your light years ahead of 90% of Iphone owners who live around here lol.
must be something thats killing your battery in the background. I quite easily get over a day and between 5-6 hours screen on time. Longest ive had was 6hr 38 mins screen on.
Download better battery stats and see whats running in the background.
Lawl you all are missing a very important statement in his post. "HEAVY USAGE"
What is heavy usage? Web browsing, playing a 3d game, watching a video, recording a video, taking pictures, etc. So of course he is going to get 6-7hrs of battery life.
I agree with the above post. find out whats draining your battery. Shouldn't be that low...unless you are just sitting on your sofa browsing constantly because your so excited about a new phone like i was.
Also you can buy a dock charger and extra batteries set for cheap together (ankhers set) so you never have to plug your phone into a charger again
But it sounds like you have alot of money to burn...then why not...being in a locked system isnt so bad when your willing to just buy every app and media at premium prices and your happy with the interface
Thanks for the quick reply guys, and yes, i m loving my galaxy s2 as i mentioned earlier. And yes, im a heavy user, around 100 texts, playing 3d games (sandstorm, brothers in arms etc). I barely keep wifi on as i haf 6gb of data which is almost unlimited. and im getting 7 hrs, which apparently seems to be good. If thats the case then I have nothing to complain about...
And in terms of money, lol i dont have any... its just i could get an iphone if i sold this one... no way i could afford to keep both!
Stick to the SGS2 and wait for the SGS3 till then.
Hmm, If were I, I would like the iPhone 4S. The iOS 5's new feature iCloud and iMessenge really attracted me.
And can get many apps for it:
http://www.enolsoft.com/blog/best-free-iphone-4s-apps/
SGS2! iPhone4S is inferior in many many ways. It's a ****ty phone.
/ownership bias
u should wait untill the ICS rom is out. that should improve the battery life, because it will be customized to a dual core processor.
Iphone 4S is quite a good phone, but I'm personally against Apple's politics regarding software and price. I don't want Itunes, no format support like FLAC or MKV, no Flash. Also Android has more customization abilities in themes and menues.
I like the big screen and weight on the GS2. Well, the battery life could be better on SGS 2. But there's a Samsung 2000mah battery available at the moment and you can easily replace the battery.
I have been in the same boat in fact I have swapped my Iphone 4 for a SGS2 three times, until finally I realise that the SGS2 really is a SuperPhone.
The reason you will find battery life not quite as good as the Iphone4, is basically down to the fact the Iphone is not actually doing a lot.
I waited until iOs5 before swapping back to this truly, greatest phone since the HD2, iOs5 really is a disappointment to say the least, you get a pull down bar that kinda copies Android to a point, but fails in the fact with its Iphone basic-ness yet again, the weather links to the most basic of weather apps, the notification animations appear at the top all very nicely, but the top bar doesn't state that notifications are listed within, they tried to match the Androids version but in true Iphone style, didn't leave in the design to allow users to feel its their notifications.
One thing you will never get away from even jailbroken is the fact you are not free to choose...you will never own your Iphone, it owns you, Android on the other hand is the opposite and with the SGS2, its power and freedom is far more adaptable than the iphone4.
So, after being an iPhone user for a while, I've finally talked myself in to making the plunge and going for android and the SGSII seems to be the best handset available at the moment. I just have a few general questions that I would like answers from you guys who know.
Firstly, when rooting and flashing ROM's does it matter if you have a white or a black version? I still havnt decided which one to get but if this is the case id prob go with whichever one is supported more.
Secondly, battery life. Can you guys give me some real life battery stats? My iPhone 4s usually goes 12 hours then it needs charged. This would normally have around 5/6 hours of actual usage and thats with brightness set to virtually nonexistant in the settings. Would the SGSII be equal to or not far off that? I've seen theres an extended battery pack available too, does that make a huge difference?
Thanks
Jon
JonM1988 said:
So, after being an iPhone user for a while, I've finally talked myself in to making the plunge and going for android and the SGSII seems to be the best handset available at the moment. I just have a few general questions that I would like answers from you guys who know.
Firstly, when rooting and flashing ROM's does it matter if you have a white or a black version? I still havnt decided which one to get but if this is the case id prob go with whichever one is supported more.
Secondly, battery life. Can you guys give me some real life battery stats? My iPhone 4s usually goes 12 hours then it needs charged. This would normally have around 5/6 hours of actual usage and thats with brightness set to virtually nonexistant in the settings. Would the SGSII be equal to or not far off that? I've seen theres an extended battery pack available too, does that make a huge difference?
Thanks
Jon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For rooting / custom rooms black or white doesn't matter. Important is model no. like i9100 international version or AT&T version etc. most roms and customization support i9100 international version.
I have both. SGS2 and iPhone 4s. Battery life is almost similar. On standby sgs2 gives me more time. but no big difference in practical use as per my requirements. SGS2 will last a day at least if you are a heavy user like me.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
omeryounos said:
For rooting / custom rooms black or white doesn't matter. Important is model no. like i9100 international version or AT&T version etc. most roms and customization support i9100 international version.
I have both. SGS2 and iPhone 4s. Battery life is almost similar. On standby sgs2 gives me more time. but no big difference in practical use as per my requirements. SGS2 will last a day at least if you are a heavy user like me.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I'll be buying my SGSII from o2-UK. Not quite sure what version it will be. The Apps i used the most are messages apps. like Whatsapp and on the iPhone it drains battery for fun!
I was originally going to go for the Galaxy Nexus. But after seeing it in the plastic/glass it wasn't as nice as I'd expected.
I'd get the Galaxy Nexus over the Galaxy SII. Just my 2 cents.
Welcome to the land of freedom and variety!
No, colour doesnt matter, both have the same hardware, the ONLY diff is the physical housing.
Battery life should be around the same as a 4S, i can get a full day and ahalf with moderate use and around 10hours with heavy usage.
MistaBishi said:
I'd get the Galaxy Nexus over the Galaxy SII. Just my 2 cents.
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Click to collapse
I dont think it warrants the extra money, here in the UK the SGSII with o2 is £449.99 but the Galaxy Nexus is £529.99
JonM1988 said:
Well I'll be buying my SGSII from o2-UK. Not quite sure what version it will be. The Apps i used the most are messages apps. like Whatsapp and on the iPhone it drains battery for fun!
I was originally going to go for the Galaxy Nexus. But after seeing it in the plastic/glass it wasn't as nice as I'd expected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will be a i9100 if you get it from O2 UK.
I get between 4 and 7 hours of screen on time, upto a few days of standby time, might only lose 3-10% ish over a 9h sleeping night (when i forget to plug my phone in) (idle usage will also depend if the phone is being woken up all the time, theres a great app called better battery stats - see sig - to help find out whats causing the problems)
The big factors are:
* Type of usage, 3D gaming will use more power than texting
* Data usage, wifi uses less power than 3G
I would get the 2000mAh battery, better life, not much thicker (though it does mess with some cases), and as its an official battery you know its not fake.
I would get the nexus myself, ICS + updates from google = win.
Though the SGS2 has one of the best non nexus dev communities (imo of cause).
In general, read lots of guides if you are going to mess around with your £300 slab of electronics
veyka said:
It will be a i9100 if you get it from O2 UK.
I get between 4 and 7 hours of screen on time, upto a few days of standby time, might only lose 3-10% ish over a 9h sleeping night (when i forget to plug my phone in) (idle usage will also depend if the phone is being woken up all the time, theres a great app called better battery stats - see sig - to help find out whats causing the problems)
The big factors are:
* Type of usage, 3D gaming will use more power than texting
* Data usage, wifi uses less power than 3G
I would get the 2000mAh battery, better life, not much thicker (though it does mess with some cases), and as its an official battery you know its not fake.
I would get the nexus myself, ICS + updates from google = win.
Though the SGS2 has one of the best non nexus dev communities (imo of cause).
In general, read lots of guides if you are going to mess around with your £300 slab of electronics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I honestly can't justify the extra cost of the Nexus. If it was sub £500 then possibly
POLO_i780 said:
Welcome to the land of freedom and variety!
No, colour doesnt matter, both have the same hardware, the ONLY diff is the physical housing.
Battery life should be around the same as a 4S, i can get a full day and ahalf with moderate use and around 10hours with heavy usage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I've been researching a lot over the past few days and I just found out you can plug a usb stick into the SGSII via an adapter an play music an stuff off it. To me (an iPhone user) it blew my mind! lol
JonM1988 said:
I honestly can't justify the extra cost of the Nexus. If it was sub £500 then possibly
Thanks. I've been researching a lot over the past few days and I just found out you can plug a usb stick into the SGSII via an adapter an play music an stuff off it. To me (an iPhone user) it blew my mind! lol
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Click to collapse
As long as the USB stick is fat32 (limits file size to 2GB).
Yeh, it sounds awesome, but I have never found the need, 32GB SD card ftw! (Also MHL adaptor, when my computer was in for repairs, I plugged my phone into my monitor, headphones plugged into phone, and used it as a media player, FTW! Shame we cant do USBOTG and MHL at the same time)
The nexus is more expensive, and not really "faster" than the SGS2, the only thing is a stock ICS look.
I was going to flog my SGS2 to move to the nexus, but then by bank balance told me to stop being a twit and use a ICS theme while I wait
veyka said:
As long as the USB stick is fat32 (limits file size to 2GB).
Yeh, it sounds awesome, but I have never found the need, 32GB SD card ftw! (Also MHL adaptor, when my computer was in for repairs, I plugged my phone into my monitor, headphones plugged into phone, and used it as a media player, FTW! Shame we cant do USBOTG and MHL at the same time)
The nexus is more expensive, and not really "faster" than the SGS2, the only thing is a stock ICS look.
I was going to flog my SGS2 to move to the nexus, but then by bank balance told me to stop being a twit and use a ICS theme while I wait
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an 8gig USB stick that I put films on, so would be nice to be able to plug them into my phone and watch if im out an about or bored, Always have it with me.
Whats USBOTG and MHL? Im a complete an utter noob so sorry if I sound stupid
I wouldn't leave my GS2 for a Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus has awful batt life, crap camera, weaker GPU and no memory card slot.
USG-OTG (On The Go) is the feature you are talking about, where you plug in a usb stick.
MHL is the tech used by the GS2 to do HDMI via the USB Port. Hopefuly someone can better explain MHL than i just did though, lol.
POLO_i780 said:
I wouldn't leave my GS2 for a Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus has awful batt life, crap camera, weaker GPU and no memory card slot.
USG-OTG (On The Go) is the feature you are talking about, where you plug in a usb stick.
MHL is the tech used by the GS2 to do HDMI via the USB Port. Hopefuly someone can better explain MHL than i just did though, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah I get it now!
Is 'screen on time' with Android how much you actually used your phone?
As for the battery-life I have more good news for you.
If you choose to install a custom-ROM later, you have the possibility of literally boosting your battery-life. MIUI+UC+UV=....well, my personal best was not charging the phone for three days and still have more than 60% on moderate usage.
And the second thing is the SAMOLED+ screen. While it has its downsides, the upsides make it clearly a winner when compared to a LCD. The contrast and brightness are high enough to make me use a low brightness-settings most of the time and still see everything, even if it's bright outside. This results in a better battery-life too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
If you want a galaxy nexus for under £500 you could buy one from handtec or clove.
JonM1988 said:
Ah I get it now!
Is 'screen on time' with Android how much you actually used your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, the amount of time spent using the phone, doing activities that require the screen to be on.
JonM1988 said:
I have an 8gig USB stick that I put films on, so would be nice to be able to plug them into my phone and watch if im out an about or bored, Always have it with me.
stupid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy a 16gb micro sd or a 32gb sd remembering the phone has 16gb internal memory too (give or take customizations) and put all your films on your phone no need for anything else apart from a player app such as rockplayer or vital player to play back pretty much any format of video including xvid/divx and mkv with or without subtitles
kmaximax said:
Buy a 16gb micro sd or a 32gb sd remembering the phone has 16gb internal memory too (give or take customizations) and put all your films on your phone no need for anything else apart from a player app such as rockplayer or vital player to play back pretty much any format of video including xvid/divx and mkv with or without subtitles
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know, I have a 32gb card in there and I like to be able to add extra storage occasionally... Also adds to the convenience... I don't always have my usb cable for the phone but I generally carry a usb stick. Its plugged into the sgs2 adaptor so I always have that too. Good to "steal" stuff off of mates pc's without needing drivers to be installed...
TheSniperFan said:
As for the battery-life I have more good news for you.
If you choose to install a custom-ROM later, you have the possibility of literally boosting your battery-life. MIUI+UC+UV=....well, my personal best was not charging the phone for three days and still have more than 60% on moderate usage.
And the second thing is the SAMOLED+ screen. While it has its downsides, the upsides make it clearly a winner when compared to a LCD. The contrast and brightness are high enough to make me use a low brightness-settings most of the time and still see everything, even if it's bright outside. This results in a better battery-life too.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How much actual usage is that with though? I looked through a thread and seen a guy getting an incredible 5 day battery life with a combination of things but he only used his phone around 6 hours in them 5 days. My general usage on the iPhone would be around 6/5 hours a day
ste1164 said:
If you want a galaxy nexus for under £500 you could buy one from handtec or clove.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would much prefare to buy one from the high street cause then I can take it back in-case its goes dodgy and not have an extra day or 2 each way for repair
JonM1988 said:
How much actual usage is that with though? I looked through a thread and seen a guy getting an incredible 5 day battery life with a combination of things but he only used his phone around 6 hours in them 5 days. My general usage on the iPhone would be around 6/5 hours a day
Would much prefare to buy one from the high street cause then I can take it back in-case its goes dodgy and not have an extra day or 2 each way for repair
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You get about 4-7h screen on time, aka using it, how you spread that out over days is up to you!
Idle drain is very low as long as the phone manages to deep sleep, aka you dont have any rouge apps.
veyka said:
You get about 4-7h screen on time, aka using it, how you spread that out over days is up to you!
Idle drain is very low as long as the phone manages to deep sleep, aka you dont have any rouge apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The apps I use the most on my iPhone are Facebook, text messaging, Whatsapp and Twitter.
By inherently bad, I mean are there some extra power sucking hardware components that were just poor design choices (processor/screen) and therefore can't be remedied through software fixes?
I understand that the sensation has decent battery life, whereas the amaze does not. Yet the Amaze should have a more recent processor and a larger battery. So I just want to make sure before I buy that if I'm willing to add a custom rom and use juice defender this will make the Amaze no more power hungry than its direct competitors.
Thanks
I'm thinking most of the drain is coming from the extra work caused by Sense. Custom ROMs do help with battery since they are debloated and all but when we have something AOSP, battery life should be much better. I had experience with my old Moto Cliq where Motoblur would just chug battery. It wasn't until we got AOSP or CyanogenMod that the battery life was acceptable. You could also buy an extended battery like Anker. With the ICS leak, I heard some people report better battery due to better management with the dual-core CPU.
To summarize, we can extend battery life greatly. I'm not sure if there are any hardware stuff that causes shorter battery life though.
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G
It's only bad if your going to play one of the new console quality games out there or anything else that really going to push that dual core 1.5mhz chipset. Imagine powering your laptop with a battery the size of the one in your phone that's what you get. Get a car charger grab a Pocket seized power pack from Amazon for $10th or an extra batt and you'll be fine. Either that or just text make some calls & listen to some music and let all that power chill & you'll make it all day no problem. Push it hard & it's dead in 2hrs. But the things it can do are crazy. This thing has more balls than my laptop. Just my 2 cents.
I don't believe that the Amaze's battery is inherently bad. I was able to get 10 hours off of Beast Rom with moderate usage.
I talk a lot on Skype with my relatives sometimes. It's much cheaper for me because I'm using the T-mobile 5 gigs of 4G at $30. Lots of data but only 100 minutes.
So I'm pretty familiar with the battery life. With the new ICS leak my battery life has improved a lot. Still had a green bar on the battery even after using Skype on 4G for over an hour. I do however keep a charger at home, car and at work.
lamenramen said:
By inherently bad, I mean are there some extra power sucking hardware components that were just poor design choices (processor/screen) and therefore can't be remedied through software fixes?
I understand that the sensation has decent battery life, whereas the amaze does not. Yet the Amaze should have a more recent processor and a larger battery. So I just want to make sure before I buy that if I'm willing to add a custom rom and use juice defender this will make the Amaze no more power hungry than its direct competitors.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On stock yeah the battery life is HORRIBLE, I am a average user and it use to last me 6-8 hours and sometimes less. After switching to Energy rom my battery improved GREATLY, I had anywhere between 12 to 16 hours.
With the new ICS leak that came, I notice stock had improved significantly over previous GB stock ! I just switched over to Revolution, checking it out to see how it is although I much prefer the Energy rom simply because of the 5x5 layout.
F9zSlavik said:
On stock yeah the battery life is HORRIBLE, I am a average user and it use to last me 6-8 hours and sometimes less. After switching to Energy rom my battery improved GREATLY, I had anywhere between 12 to 16 hours.
With the new ICS leak that came, I notice stock had improved significantly over previous GB stock ! I just switched over to Revolution, checking it out to see how it is although I much prefer the Energy rom simply because of the 5x5 layout.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thank you for the reassurance. I was getting 6-8 hours as well. I am highly skeptical that a ROM could make that much of a difference, (going from 12-16) but I am happy to try.
I have noticed on some days prior to the pics leak that I would get 10+ hours and some cays I would get maybe 5 Max. Bone stock btw. Since the update I am killing that thing. I was able to go 6 and that was with the radio off, no sync, nothing. Only thing running was a podcast. Then again for the first time I was able to get 12hrs via radio off. I don't know I am personally not too happy with the radio update. Regardless I am glad I have the leak and I'm glad there is a place like this where I am giving so many options and get to learn more about this phone.
Thank you xda members glad you are here
i get great battery everyday. since day one by far the best phone i've owned in every aspect but the battery life for me is incredible.
Please keep all question based threads in the Q&A section. Failure to comply with XDA rules could result in warnings, infractions, and/or a ban. Please take a few minutes to read and underatand the rules. Thank you.
Thread Moved to Q&A.
Sent from my Galaxy Note i717, using XDA Premium.
You don't have to be a farmer to know what sh*t smells like.
Well... here's my results
Stock GB Amaze: After 10 hours (with moderate use) I was at 20%
Unlocked bootloader.. installed NRG's GB ROM (still waiting a bit to upgrade to ICS.. mainly waiting for radio issues to be resolved)
Before I had to plug in for the night, I was at 13hrs54minutes with 30% battery left and MUCH MUCH MORE awake/screen time (total screen ON time was at about 3hrs45minutes) than the test with stock..
So yeah, the ROM you're running makes a GIGANTIC DIFFERENCE.
Does the energy gingerbread and the energy ice cream sandwich rom get the same battery life? Have the ICS Roms been maximized for battery life like the gingerbread Roms have?
OK here is the official SGS2 I777 Battery saving thread. I don't mean to be a culprit and post "another battery saving thread", but I am. So get over it. This thread is meant to maintain the battery savings threads, all in one place. INCLUDING: Battery savings tips, philosophies, and other methods of efficiently managing the charge that your battery witholds. Since I searched through basically all of the 17 pages in both the I777 and regular SG2 to collect all this. NOTE: THIS THREAD IS NOT MEANT TO ADDRESS BATTERY DRAIN PROBLEMS OR ANYTHING OF THE LIKE. DO NOT POST YOUR PROBLEMS HERE. This is simply a collection of what I found to be the most essential threads and information regarding efficient use of battery charge and battery savings. I'll update this every few months, or as I see fit. I don't see things changing much since the way a battery works, and our android os will be relatively similar over the years.
I realize that people looking for this information could just go through all the threads like any other xda troll would be the first to point out, but I also recognize the noob community for this phone (I was once there myself) and would like to be helpful in providing it all in one place to prevent others from wasting their time, whether deserving or not
BATTERY SAVING THREADS:
*Basically what I did here is I just weeded out all the crap and gave you the threads that are actually of use*
Here is your basic, comprehensive Battery Saving thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1234264
(It contains many simple changes that are obvious to some, including lower brightness, turning off animations, and then more complex changes such as under volting and fast dormancy)
More general tips plus freezing apps and undervolting:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1335864&highlight=battery
More general tips: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1443603&highlight=battery+life
THE TWO THINGS THAT KILL YOUR BATTERY THE MOST:
Super AMOLED Screen: Now it's all apparent to us at this point that android screens (S-amoled's) kill very large amounts of battery. You will save copious amounts of battery if you do not use your screen as much, hence why half of the people posting their battery stats have screen on like once an hour for half a second. They basically don't use their phones.
Data/Radio: Ever notice that when you put your phone on airplane mode before you go to bed, when you wake up it's only gone down by about 1%? That's because you're not getting any service, and have no data coming in. Believe it or not, the phones hardware is pretty efficient. CPU's don't use very much idle power at all, and I expect that to stay the same, even with quad-core processors coming out. It's mostly the over air things (and screen ) that kill our battery. Data itself uses a **** ton of battery. On a daily basis (And I've tried just about all the roms; CM7,CM9, MIUI (GB and ICS), SammyTW ones, etc.) I use a considerable amount of data. I try to have my data on most of the day since I get facebook notifiations and send/receive MMS's, but on the days where I have it off for a couple hours I start to notice, damn, my battery is still pretty high
EDIT: Using Edge/2G saves a lot of battery if you're someone who needs data on most of the day. I recently switched to instead of intermitedly turning data on and off, just having Edge on all day (for notifications) and then switching to 3G when I needed to browse or use maps, etc. Idle usage of Edge vs. 3G is probably around 40% less battery consumption (my opinion), it works really well for me.
PHILOSOPHIES:
If you want to compare your own battery life with others to get a better idea about things, check out this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1498303&highlight=undervolt
Juice Defender + others: I am a fan of this application. I used to use it for the first couple months I had the phone and it made a significant difference (mostly because of data deactivation). It makes 20-35% difference in savings from having not micro-managed anything yourself to then using the app. There are other variations of JD, GreenPower, Battery Booster, etc.
If you want more information about Undervolting, or the process, please check out:
http://checkrom.com/threads/more-ba...ry-before-posting-about-bad-battery-life.542/
Fast Dormancy effects the trafficway in which your data makes it to your phone, both effecting the speed at which is arrives, and the battery it consumes while doing so. Check out this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1111581&highlight=fast+dormancy
Underclocking and Overclocking: These are ways of tweaking your CPU usage. Underclocking is known for when you limit the maximum frequency, your CPU can clock to. So in laymans terms, what that transaltes to is your 1.2 GHz (1200 MHz) processor, can be changed to a 0.8 GHz (800 MHz) processor, if you were to underclock it to 800 Mhz. This is helpful to some almost completely dependant on your usage.
More elaborate, drawn out explanation: While your phone is idling, or sitting with the screen off, it is sitting at 200 MHz (lowest default - if you go lower than that your phone can become unstable [screen not turn on, etc.]), so underclocking won't help you improve battery usage much if you just keep your phone off most of the day. Undervolting would help more with that. if you however, find that you play lots of games, or mindless swipe across homescreens all day confused, or perhaps photo editing apps, or other things that use the maximum cpu frequency; then you will find that having your phone underclocked to 800 MHz, forces your cpu to work less during those heavy maintence situations, but in turn, prevents heavy battery drain. What this translates to in daily use: If you play angry birds, your phone's cpu might be jumping up to 1200 MHz (depends on your kernel settings - usually it's set to ondemand, in which case it will do so) during those swipes when the bird flys across the screen. However, that is not a very cpu intensive action, so if you were underclocked to 800 MHz, you probably wouldn't see any difference (lag, stutters) in your game play. However, if you were playing a 3D defense game, or esentially any other 3D game which requires you to scroll around the map, or has many many things on the screen at once (beyond fruit ninja and angry birds), then you would notice a difference in performance due to underclocking. I mention all of this because underclocking will be most effective during those situations, but it can also be the most hindering, in those same situations. All depends on how you're using your phone and what you're trying to achieve, while maintaining a certain level of quality.
Overclocking works the opposite, if you are trying to reach a certain level of performance (you just downloaded a new 3D MMO dungeon defense game and your phone is jittering and laggy during gameplay), beyond your default 200-1200 MHz clocked cpu, you may overclock up to 1600 MHz (some devs don't like you doing it - because it is essentially quite harmful for your cpu if used for a longer period of time), also depending on the kernel (again, devs created them) you may not be able to overclock, but on the majority you can.
To Underclock you will need an app called SetCpu (or equivalent) in order to change your over-underclock rate, as well as the scaling of your kernel (ondemand, performance [max frequency, all the time], conservative, etc.), also some roms have clocking options built in (such as AOKP).
For information regarding Underclocking check out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1238580&highlight=underclock
If you're just straight up looking for a better battery saving rom, look here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1439179&highlight=battery
If you want to know more about Android OS, and how it goes about consuming battery, check out this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1290020
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Last but not least, if you do most or all of these methods but you're still not happy? You can always turn your phone off, I heard that saves a lot of battery
If you care, leave thanks at the bottom. If not that's cool. I'm not into the whole publicity thing, I just like helping.
First, juice defender does not help at all and btw s amoleds save battery vs lcds
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Very useful compilation of battery related threads. Good job VanillaCracker <claps>
Super AMOLED Screen: Now it's all apparent to us at this point that android screens (S-amoled's) kill very large amounts of battery. You will save copious amounts of battery if you do not use your screen as much, hence why half of the people posting their battery stats have screen on like once an hour for half a second. They basically don't use their phones.
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AMOLEDs are supposed to be more energy efficient than LCDs I thought. That being said, I think one problem might be that many users of the former tend to keep their screens very bright because they are such a beauty to look at. I get what I think is good battery life by adjusting the brightness of my screen down when on battery only and by fine-tuning auto brightness settings.
One of the nice things about the S-AMOLED screen is that when it shows blacks, it's not using pixels. Pixels are actually turned off for the blacks. You can get further battery saving by using darker themes and inverted apps. Of course, that's not to everyone's liking. Me, I tend to like darker, tending towards minimalist screens as opposed to bright, busy ones, so it's a win for me.
Nick281051 said:
First, juice defender does not help at all and btw s amoleds save battery vs lcds
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
First, in reading my paragraph I was speaking of JD's helpfulness in relation to not micro-managing (turning off data, etc.) anything yourself. In this case JD helps a lot....
Second, I didn't bash any part of our AMOLED screens, but they use a lot of battery...idk anything about how they compare to other screens, and idc...that has nothing to do with my post. We all have I777's, and that's the way it is, so I'm not too concerned of other screens.
I will say, that in light of reading most of your comments (which are found everywhere) , evidently, that you do at least make a good point, most of the time.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
Yes data drains battery. If you are rooted (I hope you are since you are reading this on xda), you should get Droidwall. It's a firewall for your phone which limits certain apps to use network data, wifi data, or neither. Useful if you are also a little bit paranoid :silly:.
Another amazing app I also use is called llama. It is similar to tasker but it's free. This app allows me to set profiles and actions based on location (antenna mast instead of GPS to save battery) and other triggers. Not sure how ICS manages BT and Wifi scanning but those things use to drain my battery under GB so I got into a habit of toggling them on/off. Llama can do it automatically for me because I am lazy or sometimes I forget to.
I think any phone screen can be a big battery drainer if left on long and are set really bright. I have a habit of hitting the power button after I am done using it as opposed to just letting it shut off by itself.
xhepera said:
AMOLEDs are supposed to be more energy efficient than LCDs I thought. That being said, I think one problem might be that many users of the former tend to keep their screens very bright because they are such a beauty to look at. I get what I think is good battery life by adjusting the brightness of my screen down when on battery only and by fine-tuning auto brightness settings.
One of the nice things about the S-AMOLED screen is that when it shows blacks, it's not using pixels. Pixels are actually turned off for the blacks. You can get further battery saving by using darker themes and inverted apps. Of course, that's not to everyone's liking. Me, I tend to like darker, tending towards minimalist screens as opposed to bright, busy ones, so it's a win for me.
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Click to collapse
They are more efficient than LCD's, and I made no notion to say they weren't. I simply said that they were one of the two main culprits of battery drain. I'm not saying our phones suck cus they have AMOLED screens, it's actually awesome. I'm just saying, like any other phone, having the screen on lot is going to kill your battery.
Yeah on stock (rooted after a month) I used to use auto-brightness most of the time, and sammy's auto seems a little brighter than necessary by default (so I'd keep it on 40% some days). But after switching around to different rooms (before I started tweaking auto-brightness) having brightness at what I'd actually consider an adequate level, versus a little bit brighter makes a huge difference. When the screen looks just a little too dull in all situations it really takes away from the experience hah
Also, I know black pixels are technically off on AMOLEDS, but I've noticed on many occasion when using in a room with no light on at night (pitch black, essentially) that when rebooting and hitting the yellow triangle screen (mostly black) you can see the black area of the screen. It's not completely black. It's definitely a very real looking black, but it still looks like there's a backlight behind the screen. Is that the case? Can anyone confirm?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
. . .idk anything about how they compare to other screens, and idc...that has nothing to do with my post.
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While it may not have anything to do with your post, per se, I think it's a good idea for people to be educated about our screens since many *are* coming from the LCD world and some of the rules they're used to don't apply. And some of those rules very definitely have an effect on battery life, like the rendering of blacks that I mentioned above.
VanillaCracker said:
They are more efficient than LCD's, and I made no notion to say they weren't. I simply said that they were one of the two main culprits of battery drain. I'm not saying our phones suck cus they have AMOLED screens, it's actually awesome. I'm just saying, like any other phone, having the screen on lot is going to kill your battery.
Yeah on stock (rooted after a month) I used to use auto-brightness most of the time, and sammy's auto seems a little brighter than necessary by default (so I'd keep it on 40% some days). But after switching around to different rooms (before I started tweaking auto-brightness) having brightness at what I'd actually consider an adequate level, versus a little bit brighter makes a huge difference. When the screen looks just a little too dull in all situations it really takes away from the experience hah
Also, I know black pixels are technically off on AMOLEDS, but I've noticed on many occasion when using in a room with no light on at night (pitch black, essentially) that when rebooting and hitting the yellow triangle screen (mostly black) you can see the black area of the screen. It's not completely black. It's definitely a very real looking black, but it still looks like there's a backlight behind the screen. Is that the case? Can anyone confirm?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
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Click to collapse
That is the case with LED screens. In a mostly black scene, the individual pixels for the black area are not lit, however there is still a backlight lighting the screen itself which you may see bleed through. This is of course assuming the phone LED works at least somewhat similarly to a TV.
xhepera said:
While it may not have anything to do with your post, per se, I think it's a good idea for people to be educated about our screens since many *are* coming from the LCD world and some of the rules they're used to don't apply. And some of those rules very definitely have an effect on battery life, like the rendering of blacks that I mentioned above.
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Yes I agree with you on that. It is more the manner of criticism which he spoke it that I am not favorable of, not necessarily the information which he shared. Which is why I wrote what I did at the end of my comment.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using XDA
Ahem....let me try to get his thread back on track.
I agree wih your comments vanillacracker. On a gb rom if I disable auto sync it helps me a lot wih battery life because he signal is really awful at my work. So I guess if the signal is bad it tries to sync amd keeps doing it for a long time whih really drains the battery. Disabling background data helps even more but I like to get my emails so I do not.
Sammy based roms are the best wih auto brightness quickness. Aosp roms are always slow to react. I hate when I step outside and the screen takes for ever to adjust. But the sammy based roms also have high default brightness as you mentioned.
Ps: do not feed the trolls. Just report them.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda app-developers app
Tophaholic said:
Ahem....let me try to get his thread back on track.
I agree wih your comments vanillacracker. On a gb rom if I disable auto sync it helps me a lot wih battery life because he signal is really awful at my work. So I guess if the signal is bad it tries to sync amd keeps doing it for a long time whih really drains the battery. Disabling background data helps even more but I like to get my emails so I do not.
Sammy based roms are the best wih auto brightness quickness. Aosp roms are always slow to react. I hate when I step outside and the screen takes for ever to adjust. But the sammy based roms also have high default brightness as you mentioned.
Ps: do not feed the trolls. Just report them.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I will agree with you on most of your points and yes you are correct about the signal, the worse your signal is the more it affects the battery. Also, tasks aokp has the option now to change the reaction speed so if you like aosp but hate the reaction speed that is an option.
How exactly was I trolling? I know you're referring to me, I made a criticism of two points out of the entire thing and he tells me I'm a troll and that I need to take an anti depressant. What exactly did I do wrong?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Amobius said:
That is the case with LED screens. In a mostly black scene, the individual pixels for the black area are not lit, however there is still a backlight lighting the screen itself which you may see bleed through. This is of course assuming the phone LED works at least somewhat similarly to a TV.
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Click to collapse
Ohh alright that makes a lot of sense then. Thanks a lot, that was really helpful for me! Yeah cus in the completely black screen sometimes I can see the little splotches that look like it's where the backlight is squished against the screen or something. I noticed the marks are in a different spot on my current I777 than they were on my old one (replaced cus power button stopped working). Yeah it would make sense that AMOLED's came around the same time LED's started getting more popular in TVs too (few years ago), pretty baller technology for a phone! I'm loving it haha
Nick281051 said:
Way to come back with a personal attack, it's been proven in many cases that JD does not help and if anything hurts battery life. I used to use it and now I don't with no hit on battery. I'm not depressed thank you very much. I reported you for that one. I wasn't saying anything bad or personal but you had to go ahead and do it.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
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I disagree with you that Juice defender does not improve battery life. I am aware that obviously running an app in the background (Juice defender in this case) uses battery. But if the app is disabling your data (data uses battery..more than the juice defender app uses) then it's not possible for it to not increase battery.....just logic there. Anyway I'm sure there's been reports that say it does and does not increase battery, it's been obvious to me that it does, and it's logical to assume it does (if you know what I'm addressing) too. So I'll say to each their own. I do not wish to argue about things anymore, I will not edit my thread to your liking, you may simply dismiss that tip if you'd like.
I do not care about a report, I'm sure most people see the way I act and understand my reasoning. I probably overreacted a bit to your initial response , I've edited my accords. :cyclops:
BTW, VC, thanks for the compilation. Hopefully it will prove useful to folks!
VanillaCracker said:
I disagree with you that Juice defender does not improve battery life. I am aware that obviously running an app in the background (Juice defender in this case) uses battery. But if the app is disabling your data (data uses battery..more than the juice defender app uses) then it's not possible for it to not increase battery.....just logic there. Anyway I'm sure there's been reports that say it does and does not increase battery, it's been obvious to me that it does, and it's logical to assume it does (if you know what I'm addressing) too. So I'll say to each their own. I do not wish to argue about things anymore, I will not edit my thread to your liking, you may simply dismiss that tip if you'd like.
I do not care about a report, I'm sure most people see the way I act and understand my reasoning. I probably overreacted a bit to your initial response , I've edited my accords. :cyclops:
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Thank you for being mature about it, that makes me infinitely less mad And i respect you for thay, ill edit mine as well
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Nick281051 said:
I will agree with you on most of your points and yes you are correct about the signal, the worse your signal is the more it affects the battery. Also, tasks aokp has the option now to change the reaction speed so if you like aosp but hate the reaction speed that is an option.
How exactly was I trolling? I know you're referring to me, I made a criticism of two points out of the entire thing and he tells me I'm a troll and that I need to take an anti depressant. What exactly did I do wrong?
Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
Dude.....no offense but your first post was pretty disrespectful....hence my comment. However your quoted post was very useful. I believe in one thing...you give respect you get respect.
Now...getting back to the topic....good point about tasks rom....I did try it out but frankly speaking it is still not at par with sammy base roms wih regards to auto brightness. It does rock otherwise.
I am currently on ktoonsezs MIUI port (love that guy. No homo)....and m pretty happy with the auto brightness
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Tophaholic said:
Dude.....no offense but your first post was pretty disrespectful....hence my comment. However your quoted post was very useful. I believe in one thing...you give respect you get respect.
Now...getting back to the topic....good point about tasks rom....I did try it out but frankly speaking it is still not at par with sammy base roms wih regards to auto brightness. It does rock otherwise.
I am currently on ktoonsezs MIUI port (love that guy. No homo)....and m pretty happy with the auto brightness
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
Yes now that I think about it I did come off douchey, and I apologize to the op for that
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Tophaholic said:
Dude.....no offense but your first post was pretty disrespectful....hence my comment. However your quoted post was very useful. I believe in one thing...you give respect you get respect.
Now...getting back to the topic....good point about tasks rom....I did try it out but frankly speaking it is still not at par with sammy base roms wih regards to auto brightness. It does rock otherwise.
I am currently on ktoonsezs MIUI port (love that guy. No homo)....and m pretty happy with the auto brightness
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
If the only thing which is holding you from using aokp is the auto brightness, there is a flashable zip in the fluxxi thread which gives great settings.
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Amobius said:
That is the case with LED screens. In a mostly black scene, the individual pixels for the black area are not lit, however there is still a backlight lighting the screen itself which you may see bleed through. This is of course assuming the phone LED works at least somewhat similarly to a TV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OLED screens do not have a backlight. That is one of the things that make them much more power efficient than LCD. The pixels themselves in an OLED display generate light.
Like the title says I'm thinking of switching my the galaxy s4. My main concern is for the battery. I know this is extremely different for each person, but more than not I see people complaint about the battery life.
I average 4.5 hours of screen time and just wondering what most people are getting. I browse the web, do some email and texting and may use Pandora for a few minutes. Not a heavy user, but I do get on it at times.
If anyone else has made the switch what re ur likes/dislikes so far??
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
mpetruzz said:
Like the title says I'm thinking of switching my the galaxy s4. My main concern is for the battery. I know this is extremely different for each person, but more than not I see people complaint about the battery life.
I average 4.5 hours of screen time and just wondering what most people are getting. I browse the web, do some email and texting and may use Pandora for a few minutes. Not a heavy user, but I do get on it at times.
If anyone else has made the switch what re ur likes/dislikes so far??
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
this may help...probably the reason you've not seen much response. Also, there are a lot of folks hangin gint he Int'l One forums since the phone is so similar in many ways and the Dev is much better over there.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2243248
For what it's worth, I've got the One (did not come from Galaxy phones, though) and I find the battery life to be good. I regularly get a full day out of mine with moderate use (FBing, occasional streaming video, and hour of google music, 20-30 texts, no haptic feedback, 30% screen brightness -which is more than enough because this screen is so damn bright and awesome). this to me is perfectly acceptable and expected. with light use, i can easily get to 10-11pm with 30% life left. typically I get about 4-4.5hrs screen time with a full charge. but you'll probably just want to browse that thread for more varied details.
mpetruzz said:
Like the title says I'm thinking of switching my the galaxy s4. My main concern is for the battery. I know this is extremely different for each person, but more than not I see people complaint about the battery life.
I average 4.5 hours of screen time and just wondering what most people are getting. I browse the web, do some email and texting and may use Pandora for a few minutes. Not a heavy user, but I do get on it at times.
If anyone else has made the switch what re ur likes/dislikes so far??
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Had an S4 and switched back and forth between the two. Decided to stick with the ONE. Overall the S4 is a beast of a phone, but for me it just does not come close to the overall appeal of the One. The s4 is more raw and the htc one is more elegant. From the looks, the apple like build, and smooth interface, its just more sexier and feels more advanced. If you NEED the larger screen, power, removable battery, etc get the s4, but if you want a truly refined experience, get the One.
The S4 outdoes the One only in some Specs. But when you hold both phones in hand...the One feels much elegant. The boom sound won me over. I hate to be that guy...but the One feels like the Android version of the iPhone "feel" wise. In definition...feels nice and looks nice. Battery life is a coin toss but I'd give the S4 the advantage since the battery is a little bigger. But if battery life is what you're looking for, the Droid Maxx, Note 3, One Max, LG G2 have some huge batteries even though they're not out yet.
Sent from the "ONE" phone for me