Improving Battery Life on Your Android Device

**ERDude** · 10-21-2009, 11:56 AM

Edit (11/01/2009): See this post http://forum.androidcentral.com/show...=3599#post3599 installation of a Task Manager/Killer is NOT recommended.

Everyone is complaining about their battery life and the fact that some applications don't automatically close when you exit to the home screen. I recommend that you download TaskPanel X.

On your first install everything that is running on your phone, including those applications that are needed to keep your phone running will show up. Once you see the list long press on the following and add them to the ignore list.

Ignore List:

HtcIQAgent
Sprint Updater
Google Partner Setup
com.smithmicro.DM
Touch Input
IQRD
com.coremobility.app.vnotes (visual voicemail)
OMADM
HTC Sense

This list is specific to the HTC Hero on Sprint, I'm sure other manufacturers and carriers have their specific apps that need to run in order to keep the phone up and running. Just replace the HTC and Sprint items with your carrier or manufacturer items.

For other applications simply long press on them and add them to the "Manage Wanted List."

After you've done this go into menu > preference > Setup Auto Killer, from here enable auto killer, change your frequency (I have mine set for 30 minutes) and I have my Threshold set at 50mb. In order for the thresholds to work you have to Register as Ongoing Task and Register as Startup Item from preferences.

The programs I have left off both lists are the programs I use a lot and want the option to keep them running or not, they include:

Mail
Handcent SMS
Gmail
Loopt

With my phone in this setup I consistently run with 83mb of available memory. I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts this is why I haven't experienced the battery issues people are complaining about or the lag that has been reported by others using or playing with the Hero in stores.

**Jerry Hildenbrand** · 10-21-2009, 12:43 PM

great post! Quick question - does this affect the sleep bug in any way?

**KSmithInNY** · 10-21-2009, 06:58 PM

if you want to improve battery life i have one simple suggestion .... AVOID ROBO DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!

That game is so damn addictive i can wipe out my battery from full charge to dead in 3 hours no problem.

**themyst** · 10-21-2009, 07:28 PM

Here's the biggest battery drain... ANY third-party IM app. If I leave Meebo logged in my battery is done in 6 hours tops.

**meangreengdub** · 10-21-2009, 08:04 PM

A few things...

Which apps are OK to kill when I'm using TaskKiller? There seems to be a lot of apps running.

If I have the calender widget or weather widget running on one of my 7 screens and I kill them in TaskKiller, will they still work?

**vblok0910#WP** · 10-21-2009, 10:03 PM

Thanks for the info it helped ALOT!!!

**ERDude** · 10-21-2009, 10:26 PM

I'll try to answer all the questions and before I forget I added app.vnotes which runs visual voicemail.

And another heads up in order for the thresholds to work you have to Register as Ongoing Task and Register as Startup Item from preferences.

GB - Does not affect the sleep function.

TheMyst - I use Google Talk and Haven't had an issue.

Meangreengdub - You can kill everything with the exception of the items in the ignore list. I kill my calendar and weather without effecting the widgets.

Vblok0910 - You're welcome

KSmithinNY - That's why I don't do games.

**IIJBII** · 10-23-2009, 07:48 AM

Originally Posted by ERDude

Everyone is complaining about their battery life and the fact that some applications don't automatically close when you exit to the home screen. I recommend that you download TaskPanel X.

On your first install everything that is running on your phone, including those applications that are needed to keep your phone running will show up. Once you see the list long press on the following and add them to the ignore list.

Ignore List:

Clock
Google Partner Setup
HTC Sense
HtcIQ Agent
OMADM
Sprint Updater
Touch Input
com.coremobility.app.vnotes
com.htc
com.smithmicro.dm
app.vnotes (runs visual voicemail)

This list is specific to the HTC Hero on Sprint, I'm sure other manufacturers and carriers have their specific apps that need to run in order to keep the phone up and running. Just replace the HTC and Sprint items with your carrier or manufacturer items.

For other applications simply long press on them and add them to the "Manage Wanted List."

After you've done this go into menu > preference > Setup Auto Killer, from here enable auto killer, change your frequency (I have mine set for 30 minutes) and I have my Threshold set at 50mb. In order for the thresholds to work you have to Register as Ongoing Task and Register as Startup Item from preferences.

The programs I have left off both lists are the programs I use a lot and want the option to keep them running or not, they include:

Mail
Handcent SMS
Gmail
Loopt

With my phone in this setup I consistently run with 83mb of available memory. I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts this is why I haven't experienced the battery issues people are complaining about or the lag that has been reported by others using or playing with the Hero in stores.

ERDude - This is a great post. Thank you!

One question not sure if you or the community can help. When I run TaskPanel after startup (and anytime after that) "Return to Home Screen" and "Kill ALL Background Task" show up in the task panel. I'm not able to add these to the ignore list and they both say "Tap to initiate" under them.

I'm not sure if this is because I had Open Home installed (Since removed) and the device doesn't know what home screen to use. But I'm trying to remove these items if I can because with just these two items showing my device runs at 43MB which isn't close to the performance you are getting.

Any thoughts/help is appreciated.

Thanks again!

**ERDude** · 10-23-2009, 11:58 AM

Those are two quick access features that always run on task panel, think of them as menu options at the top of a program, like file, edit, etc.

43mb sounds low, have you installed a lot of 3rd party apps?

**Monkey Brawler** · 10-23-2009, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by KSmithInNY

if you want to improve battery life i have one simple suggestion .... AVOID ROBO DEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!

That game is so damn addictive i can wipe out my battery from full charge to dead in 3 hours no problem.

This is so true, some people have no idea what there missing out on!!!

**ERDude** · 10-23-2009, 04:37 PM

Alright I was just playing with my Hero and noticed that if I leave GPS running my available memory falls to about 68mb if I turn off GPS it stays up in the 83mb to 90mb area.

**IIJBII** · 10-24-2009, 08:02 AM

Originally Posted by ERDude

Those are two quick access features that always run on task panel, think of them as menu options at the top of a program, like file, edit, etc.

43mb sounds low, have you installed a lot of 3rd party apps?

I have about 15 3rd party apps. I'm not sure if that's too many and causing the slow down? If you don't mind, how many do you have installed? I'd like to get the speed close to what you are experiencing if possible.

**badchad#WP** · 10-24-2009, 11:13 AM

Nice list.

Any idea whether a POP email account will continue to be checked on the intervals selected?

I'd encourage people to exercise caution with task killers/managers. Its very easy to inadvertently shut down something that may later cause problems. When I first began using one, I was wondering why my email wouldn't auto-update on the programmed 15 min interval. I was accidentally shutting it down with my task killer.

**themyst** · 10-27-2009, 11:04 PM

Originally Posted by ERDude

I'll try to answer all the questions and before I forget I added app.vnotes which runs visual voicemail.

And another heads up in order for the thresholds to work you have to Register as Ongoing Task and Register as Startup Item from preferences.

GB - Does not affect the sleep function.

TheMyst - I use Google Talk and Haven't had an issue.

Meangreengdub - You can kill everything with the exception of the items in the ignore list. I kill my calendar and weather without effecting the widgets.

Vblok0910 - You're welcome

KSmithinNY - That's why I don't do games.

Maybe not ANY third party IM app, but both Meebo and eBuddy are battery hogs. I try not to stay logged in if I don't have to.

**ant1pathy** · 10-28-2009, 01:43 AM

The process "IQRD" keeps showing up too, and it's a serious memory hog. Does anyone know what this goes to, and how I can keep it from popping up every time?

**ERDude** · 10-28-2009, 11:31 AM

Ok Guys here's an updated list from my chat with HTC yesterday. Seems my original list is a little off. I'll post it here and then fix the original post for future readers.

Ignore List:

HtcIQAgent
Sprint Updater
Google Partner Setup
com.smithmicro.DM
Touch Input
IQRD
com.coremobility.app.vnotes (visual voicemail)
OMADM
HTC Sense

The list is a little smaller than the original list.

**Ukyo** · 10-28-2009, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by ERDude

Ok Guys here's an updated list from my chat with HTC yesterday. Seems my original list is a little off. I'll post it here and then fix the original post for future readers.

Ignore List:

HtcIQAgent
Sprint Updater
Google Partner Setup
com.smithmicro.DM
Touch Input
IQRD
com.coremobility.app.vnotes (visual voicemail)
OMADM
HTC Sense

The list is a little smaller than the original list.

Here's my list as it appears on the ignore list:

HTC Sense
HtcIQAgent
OMADM
Touch Input
Voicemail (I assume this is visual voicemail)

I don't have any of the other things running...

**ERDude** · 10-28-2009, 07:41 PM

What Task Manager/Killer are you using?

I noticed not different ones show different things.

**Darth Pooh#CB** · 10-29-2009, 06:48 AM

Peep, Footprints and Stocks show up in Advanced Task Manager BUT not in Task Panel.

I hope when HTC releases the 2.0 (apparently skipping 1.6 altogether), opening up randomly in the background. Memory leaks abound.

I find that this device gets REALLY sluggish, might have to go back. When it has memory available, it's BEAST... but it sometimes gets to the point that Keyboard typing becomes a bear. EGAD.

**Ukyo** · 10-29-2009, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by ERDude

What Task Manager/Killer are you using?

I noticed not different ones show different things.

Task Panel X. I have a few others installed because I, too, noticed different ones list out different things...

**ERDude** · 10-29-2009, 02:30 PM

Ok guys I'm preforming a little test for HTC, when it's all finished I'll post the results. They have asked that I not discuss what we're testing, rest assured though that so far many of the problems reported have disappeared.

More to follow

**Darth Pooh#CB** · 10-29-2009, 09:42 PM

Originally Posted by ERDude

Ok guys I'm preforming a little test for HTC, when it's all finished I'll post the results. They have asked that I not discuss what we're testing, rest assured though that so far many of the problems reported have disappeared.

More to follow

I can only hope you are beta testing 2.0 :P