Best Kernel/Rom for battery

[Tech_Hunter]

Android Noob here. Epic is my first Android after 6 years of Treo (650, 700p, 755p). Rooted it last week (don't ask how, since I don't feel confident I could do it again), put on clockwork mod, then loaded Baked Snack rom. I picked Baked Snack because of a lot of good comments.

My battery life has definitely improved, but from reading, I think I can get better. I like using Launcher Pro, I'm not much into the extra themes or live wallpapers, and I don't need to overclock. I really just want something basic with Launcher Pro, no sprint apps running in the background, and good battery life. I use it for work and need my e-mail pushed, so things like juice defender are not an option.

Any suggestions for ROM/Kernel combinations? Also, how do I flash a stand-alone Kernel? Is it the same way I flashed the Baked Snack Rom (using clockwork recovery)?

 

[shaundizzle]

if you want a certain stand alone kernel in a rom, you install the rom first and the kernel second.
if a rom has a kernel itll replace the kernel that was on before it.
if a rom does not have a kernel, itll keep whatever kernel you have on it.

i personally like the bakedsnack kernel with epic experience.

i see some pretty good battery life. i think i use my phone a lot and get over 12 hrs basically every day. but i heard good things about phoenix kernel and from what i saw when i had it it benchmarked pretty good consistantly.

download setcpu and put it on conservative. mine has a max of 1200 and a min of 200 mhz
conservative mode will save your battery when your not using it.

 

[Tech_Hunter]

When I flash the kernel, do I need to first wipe data then restore like with ROMs?

I looked at Epic Experience. It looked interesting, but lots of touchwiz and widgets loaded. Not sure if I need all that, or if they will impact battery if not loaded. If I don't use Touchwiz and stick with Launcherpro, will I even notice any difference from Baked Snack?

Are there any other good ROMs out there that are more basic? I looked at AOSP original, but haven't been able to find much about it, and it hasn't been updated in a while.

 

[ragnarokx]

You don't need to wipe before installing a kernel only.

Unused launchers like TouchWiz or LauncherPro don't have any impact on battery while not in use.

The best battery life I've ever had was on Baked Snack ROM + kernel. A lot of the extra apps in the Baked Snack ROM are only included as apk files in a folder and not pre-installed, so that might be a little more on the simpler side if that's what you are looking for.

 

[Tech_Hunter]

Baked snack ROM + kernel is what I have now. I am not overclocking.

From your suggestion, you think this will be better than switching kernels to Mixup or Phoenix? Or better than switching ROM to Epic Experience?

 

[dmlee]

IMO, it's difficult to say which kernel will be best for your battery at the moment. There aren't too many kernels out for the Epic, and most of them are being altered pretty regularly with voltage and scaling being amongst the changes.

Changes in voltage and scaling are what primarily separate each kernel's battery consumption, so I really think you could stick with Baked Snack, Mixup or Phoenix right now and you won't see a difference.

I used Back Snack ROM and kernel for a while and it was great. I got about 5 hours of battery per 10% drain with light usage.

If you ask this question again in six months or a year you might have a clear cut choice. (Or maybe the devs will keep on cranking greatness out!)

EDIT: Typo

 

[ragnarokx]

Baked snack ROM + kernel is what I have now. I am not overclocking.

From your suggestion, you think this will be better than switching kernels to Mixup or Phoenix? Or better than switching ROM to Epic Experience?

The fun of it is trying them and seeing which is best for you

 

[shaundizzle]

thats the least fun part.
well it is fun.

i just hate having to reboot and install and then put everything back all the time haha
but you gotta do what you gotta do.

plus it is cool changing up your phone

 

[lancelot916]

download setcpu and put it on conservative. mine has a max of 1200 and a min of 200 mhz
conservative mode will save your battery when your not using it.

is it okay also to use overclock widget since it's free and set min to 200 and max to 1300 (granted you have that Max)? is it the same thing?

 

[ragnarokx]

Overclock Widget is fine, and yes - those settings using SetCPU or Overclock Widget are the same thing.

 

[a_c_s]

I use Baked Snack as well, but switched from the included VooDoo kernel to the Phoenix 10/27 kernel and am finding battery life better... pretty happy with this combination... only things I have running are taskmanager set to auto-kill every hour, and setcpu set to 200-1200 as others have suggested...

 

[HeisRisen]

How much battery saving ability is in the Kernel vs the Rom? I mean say I wanted to keep the stock ROM and run Baked Snack kernel only, is the battery savings only going to be 50% vs 100% with ROM/Kernel package? Seems like most of it would be in the kernel.

 

[shaundizzle]

your right a major percentage is going to be in the kernel.

roms i think are basically just theming and some extra apks and some other things.
but im not too sure might want to double check that.

from what ive heard, anyone can make a rom - but to make a kernel you need to know what your doing.

 

[ragnarokx]

@shaund
Very true. Many ROM "developers" use other people's kernels because to create a kernel takes a true understanding of programming and the linux language, but not many have.

@Heis
You should get comparable battery life if you use just the kernel.

 

[Tech_Hunter]

I use Baked Snack as well, but switched from the included VooDoo kernel to the Phoenix 10/27 kernel and am finding battery life better... pretty happy with this combination... only things I have running are taskmanager set to auto-kill every hour, and setcpu set to 200-1200 as others have suggested...

Thanks, this helps. What kind of battery life improvement are you seeing with Phoenix. I saw a definite battery improvement when I switched from unrooted stock to Baked Snack (Rom and Kernel), but I would like to improve battery life more, even if it reduces performance back to stock speed.

 

[capitaltpt]

I've tried the Mixup Kernel with the Andromeda ROM and it does pretty well on battery. I just installed the Baked Snack 1.3 Kernel to see how it compares. The only thing I don't like about trying out these different Kernels is the ones that require battery calibration after installing (mixup, phoenix). I'm afraid I'm gonna destroy my battery letting it drain all the way down.

 

[ragnarokx]

I've actually avoided those kernels that require battery calibration. Seems like a hassle, and I don't need any better battery life than what I'm getting with Baked Snack.

 

[shaundizzle]

i thought that battery calibation thing was just recommended for all kernels?

 

[ragnarokx]

There is a new patch that was recently released on XDA. It makes system modifications that are supposed to improve battery life and some kernels are now coming with this patch. You have to 1) go to full charge 2) install kernel 3) let battery completely die 4) go back to full charge, IIRC.

 

[HeisRisen]

It is actually very healthy to do this for your battery. It's called conditioning your battery by the rest of the industry. It will improve the length of you battery life overall if you do this once every three months. Instead of only lasting a year you will get more like two.