IHO Idle Battery Use

[Bigtuna00]

Instead of polluting the IHO thread with more random posts (and also because this is a specific topic) I thought I'd start a new one.

My issue: idle battery drain in IHO is ~5%/hour versus 1-2%/hour in Harmonia running the exact same apps with the exact same usage profile and configuration settings.

PLEASE NOTE: I'm not trying to create another "how to save battery" thread. I already know from my EVO that I can get 15 days idle battery use with everything turned off. I need to use my phone, not have it be a useless battery sipping brick The thing I loved about Harmonia was being able to leave everything enabled and still get ~48 hours use no problem. Yes I realize Foyo and GB (and CM7) are different but I still think we can improve this without resorting to manually turning things on and off, task killers, etc.

My pertinent settings were thus (in both ROMs):

• One Exchange email account set to Push, syncing email and calendar (no contacts).
• One Google accounts, syncing everything (including g+ and Picasa).
• One Facebook account, syncing exist contacts.
• Tweetdeck syncing every 15 minutes.
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, Sync, etc. all enabled.
• Wifi sleep policy set to "Never".

Here's a typical task list for me:

The only other common items missing above (I'd rather not post another screenshot) is Tweetdeck, Swiftkey-X, and the DSP Manager.

I'll post my test results in replies...

 

[Bigtuna00]

My first test run was to leave everything as is overnight:

Notice the battery takes a pretty big dip in relation to a signal drop (the color of the Signal graph changes).

 

[Bigtuna00]

My second test run was to leave everything as is overnight but set Wifi sleep to "never when charging". This test has 5 hours of "Never" and ~5 hours of "never when charging":

As you can see it's still better to leave it set to "never" as in Froyo.

Next I plan to try an airplane mode test to get a baseline...

 

[notown]

I think its been proven time and time again that froyo based roms consume less power... its just the way it is.

why? Im not a dev, so i can only speak from experience like almost everyone here. .

Is it freak of nature? is it god powers? ....who knows (jerry might)

it comes down to features vs simplicity. .,.

like mercedez and a chevy ...both get the job done except one is bankrupt ....oh wait nvm :-X

 

[Bigtuna00]

With all due respect, "it's just the way it is" is not an adequate reason. Usually it just means "no one has figured out why". Froyo proves it can be done. If the idle battery drain is caused by GB or CM7 features, what are those features?

 

[Whyzor]

You'll probably have better luck asking CM7 developers than people who only have OV devices. There are too many variables. See if other devices experience the same difference going from Froyo to CM7. Also should test how much drain is with everything off except cell signal overnight to get a baseline for comparison.

 

[riggerman]

I really think it has more to do with user settings. I'm running the 10102011 build of MiRagE and get great battery life. I have Yahoo mail and Gmail set to sync and manage my wifi and 3g manually, turning them on when I need them and off when I don't. I don't need to be reminded every 15 minutes when someone stops at the store, or is going to work, so I don't sync Facebook or use the app. I never tweet, so don't use that one either. However, with moderate to heavy use I usually get 20-26 hours before charging my phone. As you can see from the screenshots I don't have the best signal strength, normally 1 bar at the house.

 

[watskyhotsky]

froyo gets me 5 to 8 LESS hours of battery life than any GB rom.

the gb roms, on my particular phone, get way better battery life.

OV oc to 480-787. average 15-24 hours of heavy use. streaming over 3G, constant browsing, music playing, screen bright blah blah blah.

 

[Bigtuna00]

I really think it has more to do with user settings. I'm running the 10102011 build of MiRagE and get great battery life. I have Yahoo mail and Gmail set to sync and manage my wifi and 3g manually, turning them on when I need them and off when I don't. I don't need to be reminded every 15 minutes when someone stops at the store, or is going to work, so I don't sync Facebook or use the app. I never tweet, so don't use that one either. However, with moderate to heavy use I usually get 20-26 hours before charging my phone. As you can see from the screenshots I don't have the best signal strength, normally 1 bar at the house.

Thanks, but this is missing the point: you shouldn't need to manage Wifi and 3G manually. Harmonia already proves that. Thanks for posting your graphs. Note that I'm talking about idle battery use in this thread, not battery used when the phone is in use.

 

[Bigtuna00]

You'll probably have better luck asking CM7 developers than people who only have OV devices. There are too many variables. See if other devices experience the same difference going from Froyo to CM7. Also should test how much drain is with everything off except cell signal overnight to get a baseline for comparison.

I agree 100% that this issue would mostly likely need to be addressed in CM7, but the ROM builders here might already have some experience/insight into the issue, which is why I'm posting here. Plus they have a vested interest in this unofficial ROM

 

[Bigtuna00]

Maybe a scenario helps clarify what I'm talking about:

I recently traveled to host a week long conference. I wasn't on my phone very much (meaning I wasn't actually using it very much), but it was imperative that it have full connectivity in case someone on my team needed to contact me. Turning Wifi or 3G off wasn't an option. Burning through 5% battery an hour while Idle is not good in this situation. I'm on my feet 10-15 hours out of the day with no access to charging. I had Harmonia at the time, so with only 1-2% an hour idle there was no worries.

This is why I'm doing idle/overnight tests as it's the easiest way to have a "controlled" situation. I don't expect great battery life if I'm streaming movies, that would be silly.

 

[JerryScript]

Just one question, it will help me to understand your usage better. Why did you make this statement:

"Turning Wifi or 3G off wasn't an option."

 

[Bigtuna00]

Just one question, it will help me to understand your usage better. Why did you make this statement:

"Turning Wifi or 3G off wasn't an option."

I said, "it was imperative that it have full connectivity in case someone on my team needed to contact me."

I didn't just mean calls or text, I mean emails, IMs, whatever. I needed full connectivity. I was in and out of two different wifi networks depending on where I was in the hotel, and wifi wasn't always an option so 3G was needed as well.

Note: All I'm trying to do here is justify leaving everything turned on. This is not my typical usage, but it's a real-world scenario where I could not turn stuff off, whereas my overnight tests it's less critical.

EDIT: the other reason is I didn't have to in Harmonia

 

[JerryScript]

It's as simple as this:

- Froyo has less services and features (Harmonia even less)
- Gingerbread has more
- CyanogenMod has even more

You may not see these services active in the various apps you are using to monitor your phone, but they are active due to the way Android works. It's all about listeners, intents, and extended classes overiding various features and functions.

This is a made up example, but it will serve for this discussion:

On Froyo, you activate the dialer app, and it automatically notifies 16 other apps.

On Gingerbread, you activate the dialer app, and it automatically notifies 20 other apps.

On CyanogenMod7.1, you activate the dialer app, and it automatically notifies 26 other apps.

Each of these apps do various things in the background, or nothing at all depending on the circumstances. So depending on your settings and the circumstances, you will get better battery life on one of the three different flavors of Android. In some case, you will get better battery life on CyanogenMod, it all depends on your settings and the circumstances.

The only way to get Harmonia type battery life on an Optimus V is to run a Harmonia type ROM.

 

[Bigtuna00]

It's as simple as this:

- Froyo has less services and features (Harmonia even less)
- Gingerbread has more
- CyanogenMod has even more

You may not see these services active in the various apps you are using to monitor your phone, but they are active due to the way Android works. It's all about listeners, intents, and extended classes overiding various features and functions.

This is a made up example, but it will serve for this discussion:

On Froyo, you activate the dialer app, and it automatically notifies 16 other apps.

On Gingerbread, you activate the dialer app, and it automatically notifies 20 other apps.

On CyanogenMod7.1, you activate the dialer app, and it automatically notifies 26 other apps.

Each of these apps do various things in the background, or nothing at all depending on the circumstances. So depending on your settings and the circumstances, you will get better battery life on one of the three different flavors of Android. In some case, you will get better battery life on CyanogenMod, it all depends on your settings and the circumstances.

The only way to get Harmonia type battery life on an Optimus V is to run a Harmonia type ROM.

If this answer is this simple, then identify the services and features and tell me which ones use more battery.

(it's ok if you don't know; just say that, but don't tell me to stop looking into it)

The conclusion that the quantity of services increases battery usage is invalid; you said as much in your reply. It depends on what they're doing. So if there are services in CM7 that use excessive battery when idle they should be changed.

 

[Whyzor]

You can test which ones drain the most, but it requires some work. Turn off each app that uses background data at a time and record the drain overnight. Do it again the next night under the same conditions but with a different app.

Another way to minimize background data use is to consolidate all your messaging into one EMAIL account. Forward them or whatnot, then use only that 1 email app background sync. Or even better SMS notification (it's what I use to get important Email or Facebook messages even when I normally have 3G data off.

 

[JerryScript]

If this answer is this simple, then identify the services and features and tell me which ones use more battery.

(it's ok if you don't know; just say that, but don't tell me to stop looking into it)

The conclusion that the quantity of services increases battery usage is invalid; you said as much in your reply. It depends on what they're doing. So if there are services in CM7 that use excessive battery when idle they should be changed.

Hmmm, let me see here, I don't have an issue with battery life, so what exactly is my motivation to go digging through 5 million lines of code to determine which services are different from a Froyo based ROM that I had nothing to do with creating? Hmmmm, nope, I can't seem to think of any motivating factor for me.

Good news is, IHO is an open source repository, so anyone who is motivated is free to do some research themselves.

 

[riggerman]

Easy answer, if your not happy with battery life on IHO, then switch back to Harmonia.

 

[CloudBusterr]

I get great battery life with IHO! Though, I DO turn off my 3G when I'm not using it... I could use it for about 2 days without charging.

 

[ElefantPhace]

Try wiping your battery stats. This is from today after wiping them this morning from a fresh charge. The first two hours unplugged I kept the phone in my pocket the whole time, except a couple to look at battery real quick. It was at 99 percent after 2 hours idle.

There are still some big jumps but I plan on swapping another prl tomorrow to see if that helps my signal.

From yesterday: