Suggestions on Saving Battery

Andy847

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2010
813
6
0
Visit site
I'm new to a Nexus and I remember reading it takes a few charge cycles to get the most out of your battery. It's only the 2nd day with my N6 and I'm using it a lot, as with any new phone. I see a lot of settings that are pertaining to battery saving and not sure what exactly the best things to set them at.

1. I keep the screen brightness about 25% if that, haven't tested the phone in Daylight yet though. Ambient display turned off. Sleep after two minutes.
2. Battery Saver is turned off, but I set it at turned on automatically at 15%. It reads that it reduces devices performance if it's on and only syncs when apps are opened. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad. I'm sure Battery Saver would help though.
3. Battery Optimization not enabled either, can someone explain exactly what the difference is between that and Battery Saver?

Attached are my screenshots of the second day of use. Obviously using Numbers 2 & 3 on the list would help, but is there negatives to using them also. I do think I'm getting alright battery so far, I know I would usually end up with around 48 - 60 some % on my Note 4. Not with heavy use though.

4.jpg1.jpg
2.jpg3.jpg
 

MikeCorsten

Well-known member
Aug 24, 2013
247
0
0
Visit site
Am I missing something, or are these stats OK to anyone else? Using the phone a lot and 4 hours battery remaining after 7pm from 9am disconnection from the charger?
 

cache11

Well-known member
Sep 4, 2012
187
0
0
Visit site
It looks normal to me and will likely improve a little and 4-1/2 hours screen time certainly isn't bad. Dropping back to 1 minute for screen timeout will help a lot as well as having location set to battery saver which turns off GPS. I unplug at 6:15am and plug in around 10:30pm and usually have 20 to 25% left with on screen time 4.5 to 5 hrs. I also use the Velis Auto Brightness app since the stock one keeps the screen way too dim for me. Do you use 25% to save battery or is that the way you like it?

Posted via the Android Central App
 

Andy847

Well-known member
Nov 1, 2010
813
6
0
Visit site
Where do you see Battery Optimization?

Posted via the Android Central App

On Mine, it's under first screenshot top right where the 3 vertical dots for the menu are. It's listed right under Battery saver. If you click it it has two options, Mine has Not Optimized and the only other option is All Apps. I'm running Marshmallow 6.0, build #MRA58N.

I know it's good battery life, but I was wondering if using the Battery saver and/or Battery optimization, really was worth using. In the message under Battery Saver it says is Reduces the Devices performance. Just was wondering if that's a good thing or bad. I'm hoping to get a little better once the battery has been charged a few more cycles, as I read that will/can happen.

I've always kept my screen at around 20-25% to save on Battery, like on my Previous Note phones, but that's only indoors. It's usually all the way up when I'm out in Sunlight. Of course I like it brighter, but never usually have it more than 40-50% when not trying to save battery. I guess I'm posting to find the best optimal settings to keep it at. There are a lot of options on this phone that I'm not use to or are new to me. I still don't totally understand the Doze feature, but I read it just Works.
 

Crashdamage

Well-known member
Jan 18, 2015
1,960
0
0
Visit site
The thing about needing a few cycles for the battery to reach full potential is a myth. It's as good as it will ever be out of the box. People just use their phones less after a few days - and charge cycles - after they've set it up and the new has worn off a little. Perceived improvement in the battery is just a combination of falling back into more normal usage habits and placebo effect.

Battery Saver is a Good Thing. When you reach the set power level (I use 15% also) it just cuts everything back to save power. CPU speed, brightness, sync etc. The idea is to try and stretch out what power you have left until you can recharge. I see nothing wrong with that and you can turn it off if you do.

Battery optimization in 6.0 sets the apps to work with the new Doze feature. However, you have more choices than simply do/don't optimize. You can individually select apps to be excluded from going into Doze mode. This is a good guide with screenshots:

http://www.greenbot.com/article/299...for-specific-apps-in-android-marshmallow.html
 
Last edited:

LeoRex

Retired Moderator
Nov 21, 2012
6,223
0
0
Visit site
Turning off Doze for too many apps will defeat the purpose of the feature. The default list is very short as it only takes one app that wakes your phone often to completely render Doze inactive.

It's all turned on by default, I suggest you leave it be.. Fussing with those settings will only reduce its effect.

Optimization is also App Standby, which puts unused apps into a temporary disabled mode until you launch it. So you don't have some random app you haven't touched in a month from eating up your battery.
 

TacoKingYo

Well-known member
Apr 29, 2015
149
0
0
Visit site
You're certainly not getting bad battery time.
1. Make sure anything that you don't use is turned off (WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS)
2. Battery saver does severely cut performance. Turn it on for a bit and you'll see. However, if I'm not mistaken, then email, etc won't get updated, so you'd have to manually open up the app to get it to sync. It is fine, though, at 15%. I'd leave it there.
3. Leave battery optimization alone. When it's on, it'll definitely help battery. Yup, it does just work.
4. Close out any apps that you aren't using.
5. If you're willing to do it, many custom ROMs and kernels help boost battery by giving you better customizability. On kernels, I've heard nothing bad from ElementalX. Will update in about a week and a half with my own little review. I know cyanogenmod allows you to restrict cpu clock speeds in the quick menu. I'm also going to try Cataclysm, will let you know as well.
6. Turn off ambient display. It will help.
 

LeoRex

Retired Moderator
Nov 21, 2012
6,223
0
0
Visit site
4. Close out any apps that you aren't using.
....
6. Turn off ambient display. It will help.

Closing apps has a negative impact on battery consumption. Leaving apps open allows for you to switch to them quickly.. Less cpu cycles, i/o, etc. Unless you have a rogue app, just leave those apps in Recents be and let Android handle when they should be closed.

Ambient Display ... Doesn't use much power. The apps that pop notifications? Those use the juice. I've left AD on, I've turned it off, it matters little.
 

TacoKingYo

Well-known member
Apr 29, 2015
149
0
0
Visit site
Closing apps has a negative impact on battery consumption. Leaving apps open allows for you to switch to them quickly.. Less cpu cycles, i/o, etc. Unless you have a rogue app, just leave those apps in Recents be and let Android handle when they should be closed.

ah yes that would make more sense. I'm sorry for my misinformation.

Ambient Display ... Doesn't use much power. The apps that pop notifications? Those use the juice. I've left AD on, I've turned it off, it matters little.

Yes that makes sense too but to turn them off from AD would be to turn them off as notifications in general, so just turning off AD would allow you to continue to get notifications with your phone on sleep.
 

LeoRex

Retired Moderator
Nov 21, 2012
6,223
0
0
Visit site
Yes that makes sense too but to turn them off from AD would be to turn them off as notifications in general, so just turning off AD would allow you to continue to get notifications with your phone on sleep.

I tend to be a 'treat the disease, not the symptom' kind of person with my stuff. Ambient Display is actually an extremely low power feature. It only lights up a small percentage of pixels and then only for a short amount of time. I find AD very useful and wouldn't want to turn it off. If your phone is waking up all the time to display notifications.... like the old expression; "Don't shoot the messenger ". I typically go in and take a look at what apps are firing wakelocks and then pare them down so the useless noise is reduced and I am really only notified when there is something worth being notified for. The rest can wait.