Optimizing G4 battery thread

[bbhybridchris]

Today's stats without Android wear installed.... Really no better

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[anon(782252)]

Today's stats without Android wear installed.... Really no better

Posted via the Android Central App

Not sure what is going on with GP services but it's not letting your phone sleep. At least you know Android wear isn't an issue so you can go back to it.

 

[StoneRyno]

Do you use the Home Depot app a lot during the day or is it just running rogue? I have the app also but I use Access Lock to remove all of its permissions and I have never had an issue with the app.

I have screenshot records of today's battery info I can post if there is interest. I think Home Depot and mobile performance meter went rouge yesturday. They don't have hardly any wake activity today but their battery consumption is practically the same as yesturday. I rarely use the home depot app. Maybe once or twice a month. Which is why it is a candidate for disabling or what not. I don't know why an app like that even needs to run anything when the app is not open (the app actively on the screen). Also auto sync was disabled for 23 hours and 50 minutes today. I setup tasker to turn it on for 5 minutes at midnight and 5 minutes at noon. Yet no significant change in length of time for full charge (100%-15%). I used an extra 10% for 20 minutes less time. But had a half hour more screen on time. Which probably balances out if I had the same exact screen on time yesturday it'd probably be very close to same time. Today my G4 was awake for two and a half hours longer than the screen on time. And google services accounts for 30 minutes of that according to androids battery stats. The other two hours I can't account for with the tools I have (wakelock detector, Gsam, and androids battery stats). Anyone know of anything else I can use to identify what accounts for the wake time I'm not seeing? Perhaps even in these tools and I just don't know where to look?

 

[bbhybridchris]

Not sure what is going on with GP services but it's not letting your phone sleep. At least you know Android wear isn't an issue so you can go back to it.

I guess that's a positive? I'd really love to be able to get just 10 hours of up time lol... I'm not asking for a godsend I really don't know what else to do. I really love the phone itself and the camera but I don't know how long I can deal with this. Some days at work can be quite long (manage a dairy farm) and this thing can't make it past mid day

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[TNCattleDog]

Just a thought on the wide range of battery use and Google Play Services... Could the high battery use be due to the advertising applets that are associated with a lot of free apps?

Reason I ask is a lot of the screen shots you all are posting show small advertising links at the bottom. The more free/ad supported apps, the more advertising processes running in the background and presumably linking to google play services.

Just a thought...

David

 

[RedOctobyr]

That's a very interesting question, it seems to me. I'd never considered that. Do apps keep fetching new ads when they're running in the background?

People talk about one benefit of root being that you can help eliminate ads. I've never explored that, and admittedly very few people have root on G4s at the moment. But can anyone shed some light on how that works?

And since Android seems to like firing up programs to keep them running in the background (even if I haven't started them since booting up, or if I closed them), if you have a lot of apps installed, even if you're only using 10 of them, perhaps there is still a lot of this activity going on?

 

[TNCattleDog]

And here is a list of what runs in thee background with Google Play Services. Courtesy of google developers website. Looks like there is an awful lot of advertising hooks.

I may start a separate thread for this to keep this one on track.

Anyway, here's the link to the info on google and what each service does: https://developers.google.com/android/reference/packages

David

EDIT: Heres a link to an already established thread on the subject: http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-g4/548035-google-app-battery-drain.html#post4528443

 

[Inders99]

And here is a list of what runs in thee background with Google Play Services. Courtesy of google developers website. Looks like there is an awful lot of advertising hooks.

Makes sense that once I disabled most of my Google apps my battery life shot up to ridiculous levels. I rarely go to bed after 16 hrs off the charger less than 30%, and that's averaging 4 hrs SOT and 2 on phone, some in questionable reception areas.

 

[GTS21]

Makes sense that once I disabled most of my Google apps my battery life shot up to ridiculous levels. I rarely go to bed after 16 hrs off the charger less than 30%, and that's averaging 4 hrs SOT and 2 on phone, some in questionable reception areas.

Mind sharing which specific apps you disabled? Thanks

 

[Jaramie10]

Here are my stats from yesterday. I'm happy with it.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Zedd]

What are you guys running and or doing that kills your battery.
The thing I love most about the G4 is my battery life, coming from a Galaxy S4 that also had good battery life.
When I first got this phone it's first charge went 32 hours. After the update it dropped to 20 hours. Giving the update a few days to mellow out and giving the phone a couple of battery pulls to smack it back into shape I now sit at 28 hours on a charge with moderate use.
I don't sit around and play games on it all day nor do I use it as a TV but I do pick it up and look things up and do what ever I feel like doing.
No complaints here about battery.

Posted via the Android Central App using my LG G4

 

[StoneRyno]

Just a thought on the wide range of battery use and Google Play Services... Could the high battery use be due to the advertising applets that are associated with a lot of free apps?

Reason I ask is a lot of the screen shots you all are posting show small advertising links at the bottom. The more free/ad supported apps, the more advertising processes running in the background and presumably linking to google play services.

Just a thought...

David

Is there a way of scanning to see what apps are ad supported and if any of them are running a background process or using a background process not specific to the app?

What are you guys running and or doing that kills your battery.

I think for most of us that is what we are trying to figure out. A few here appear to have nailed it down on their G4s and are getting amazing time on battery. There are so many variables between each persons usage, apps etc that it is hard to have a one size fits all fix. Some tips work for some and others not so much I think.

 

[Inders99]

Mind sharing which specific apps you disabled? Thanks

Most of them, the only thing I think I have running is Google Play, Services, Gmail, Calendar, Maps. I can't remember specifically but when the phone was only lasting until 6:00 pm I din't really care what I was turning off. Killed some VZ apps too.

Light day admittedly but still...70% battery, 2hrs8mins on screen, 41mins voice. Been off the charger for 12 hours so far and nowhere near my home station, driving most of the day.

 

[greydarrah]

Somebody really needs to summarize what's working best from this thread.

It's funny, you have some people who run their G4 out of the box and get amazing battery life, then others that have to manage every apps permissions to get good life. I love the phone, but my battery life is not where I want it to be. I'm lasting until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon before getting the 15% left message, not being any kind of power user, gamer or video watcher. I probably have about 1 hour of screen time and usually 30% or higher Android System (right now I'm at 37%). I just turned off gmail sync, but I can't believe that's the answer as one of the primary functions of a smart phone is to keep you in sync with email.

Anyone have a list of a few things they think made a big difference?

 

[StoneRyno]

For those interested tasker can be used to control brightness instead of auto brightness or manually adjusting it. I did a google search and found a couple different people designed profiles/tasks for tasker. I'm going to try one and see how it goes as my next attempt at reducing battery consumption. With tasker I can have it obtain the ambient light level when the screen is turned on and adjust the brightness accordingly (instead of constantly looking to auto adjust). One problem I seem to have is I use my left hand to touch the screen and many times the proximity of my hand to the G4 results in auto brightness reducing brightness way to low for the actual ambient light level. I don't think having auto sync off all but 10 minutes of the day is having any effect for me. After 3 days with it set like that there has been no change in time on battery than before keeping auto sync off. I still only get 15-16 hours with 2-3 hours screen on time.

 

[804hokie]

I disabled the Dual Window function, since I don't use Chrome (also disabled) and wouldn't use the feature unless I could browse simultaneously with another app. That added some more battery endurance.

 

[TNCattleDog]

Some of the things I have done that seem to work for me have a lot to do with Google Play Services.

First, I cleaned the cache and data from Play services then hit the uninstall update button and rebooted. Play services then reinstalled.

I also uninstalled any "free app" that I don't use.

I do not use the FB app but access facebook through my phones browser. Made a big difference for me.

Next, I unchecked the sync box under my google account. I have to manually sync to check my email but thats not a problem for me.

I have location set to battery saving mode.

Screen brightness is at 40% and auto brightness is off.

I have also noticed if I charge the phone overnight with it powered down, I get much better battery life the next day than if I had charged it powered up.

I also did a hard reset after the last verizon update.

David

 

[anon(782252)]

Somebody really needs to summarize what's working best from this thread.

It's funny, you have some people who run their G4 out of the box and get amazing battery life, then others that have to manage every apps permissions to get good life. I love the phone, but my battery life is not where I want it to be. I'm lasting until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon before getting the 15% left message, not being any kind of power user, gamer or video watcher. I probably have about 1 hour of screen time and usually 30% or higher Android System (right now I'm at 37%). I just turned off gmail sync, but I can't believe that's the answer as one of the primary functions of a smart phone is to keep you in sync with email.

Anyone have a list of a few things they think made a big difference?

Turning off Gmail sync does not have to be the answer. I sync Gmail along with 2 exchange accounts and have excellent battery life.

I have disabled the Google services I don't use. That's not a compromise since I don't use them.

I run GPS only but use Access Lock to remove GPS permission grin just about every app so that the app can't use it on the background. It can only use it if I initiate the action. I also remove Keep Awake permission from just about every app with no apparent effects on how the app runs. Haven't had a single app crash.

I consistently get 4-5 hours SOT using Lux for auto brightness with an up time between 11 and 24 hours.

I also have push notifications from several apps like Twitter, slickdeals, XDA, G+, etc.

I make no compromises in my use of the phone. I use it how it suits me.

 

[StoneRyno]

I have a preliminary setup to set brightness level when the screen turns on using tasker. It uses the light sensor only for a fraction of a second when the screen turns on to check the light level and then sets the brightness based on that. I have light levels of 25, 100, 150, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 so far. I set anything less than 25 to 0% (overriding LGs defined minimum of 4%). And tested outside in the sun to be at over 6000. And I set that to 100%. I'm not sure if less than that will be acceptable or even how much that would matter for battery savings. I need to test everything in between as I encounter other light levels as I go about to common places: work, stores, etc. And set them accordingly. It is my hope this will reduce the rate the screen consumes battery. Using the built in auto brightness the screen has been consuming 40% or more with only 2 hours of screen on time and I have to charge it hours before I go to bed. I think I had one day where I got 15 hours from a full charge. Since I installed Gsam (10 days ago) the average is 12 hours. I have a lot of room to improve. I just need to work my way down in order from the things consuming the most to the least battery. And there are still the mystery things keeping my G4 awake so much when the screen is off. It looks to me the only way to figure them out is to go one by one with settings and apps; turning off, disabling, and uninstalling until I find the culprit(s). Wakelock detector isn't identifying anything I can see as a problem except for the one day two apps went rogue.

 

[anon(782252)]

I have a preliminary setup to set brightness level when the screen turns on using tasker. It uses the light sensor only for a fraction of a second when the screen turns on to check the light level and then sets the brightness based on that. I have light levels of 25, 100, 150, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000, and 6000 so far. I set anything less than 25 to 0% (overriding LGs defined minimum of 4%). And tested outside in the sun to be at over 6000. And I set that to 100%. I'm not sure if less than that will be acceptable or even how much that would matter for battery savings. I need to test everything in between as I encounter other light levels as I go about to common places: work, stores, etc. And set them accordingly. It is my hope this will reduce the rate the screen consumes battery. Using the built in auto brightness the screen has been consuming 40% or more with only 2 hours of screen on time and I have to charge it hours before I go to bed. I think I had one day where I got 15 hours from a full charge. Since I installed Gsam (10 days ago) the average is 12 hours. I have a lot of room to improve. I just need to work my way down in order from the things consuming the most to the least battery. And there are still the mystery things keeping my G4 awake so much when the screen is off. It looks to me the only way to figure them out is to go one by one with settings and apps; turning off, disabling, and uninstalling until I find the culprit(s). Wakelock detector isn't identifying anything I can see as a problem except for the one day two apps went rogue.

I can appreciate the thoroughness of setting up tasker to handle this for you but have you looked at Lux? It does a tremendous job and would undoubtedly save you a lot of time.