As some of you have been complaining about your Infinity's poor battery life, I thought we should start a thread on getting more out of its battery. I invite you all to share your experiences, hopefully we could come to sth helpful together.
Perhaps when the development's carried on further by more XDA developers, we can split this to stock ROM and custom ROMs, as probably the latter will have more of these already included.
PS JuiceDefender reported to having disabled deep sleep, so stay away if possible.
Hotmail app has been said to trigger wakelocks, while overriding system wifi sleep when screen is off, so keep that in mind if you want better battery life over constant e-mail syncing.
Hit [THANKS] if it helps.
Perhaps when the development's carried on further by more XDA developers, we can split this to stock ROM and custom ROMs, as probably the latter will have more of these already included.
1. Arguably full charge and discharge does nothing good on modern Li-Ion batteries and it's rather advisable to keep it balanced - discharge a little, don't push it with charging all the time (however in case of the Infinity, as with many other devices, the charger will just stop consuming energy after [almost] fully charging your device). There is one reason for doing a few full discharges and charges however - so that the battery monitoring apps/widgets can learn more about your battery's life and power consumption.
2. Monitor your battery life and monitor it wisely (don't use power-consuming apps and widgets). I personally like Battery Monitor Widget, as it gives you mA and % / hour (either drain or charge), which is pretty cool, as you can see how much your usage exhausts your battery in real time. This way I've found out that switching the WiFi off while reading books actually gives me battery drain closer to 10%/h than 15%/h etc. You can see some other in this apps thread. Try different apps and see what fits you best. Don't rely on system battery usage stats, see what other apps show us and what apps and processes drain the most of your battery, show most wakelocks, etc.
3. Use as low power mode as you need (administered most easily through ASUS/Android notification bar on the bottom of your screen). There are three power modes:
You have to try these for yourself. Most games run well on balanced, but may sometimes need the performance mode (keep in mind that overheating your CPU and GPU may cause the clocks to actually slow down). You may also find yourself happy with the power-saving mode, which really helps your battery to last longer, but I've noticed issues with some apps while running it (problems with pdf rendering, for example), as it probably changes more than just the CPU clock speed, but also the system behaviour. I hardly ever leave the balanced mode, mostly when curious about benchmark results
There are also different CPU governors in Android/Linux kernel, which you can change if you are rooted, but perhaps leaving the default "interactive" one on should serve you well (you can also try "conservative", but it has been argued it doesn't save your battery so well in the long run).
(if rooted) You can also use CPU management apps like SetCPU, create your custom profiles or use the default ones according to your needs (for example ).
4. In ASUS setttings switch on both power-saving options at the very bottom of the list (WiFi and dock deep sleep [the former is the same as choosing "never" in WiFi advanced settings]).
5. Keep the screen brightness as low, as you can. It's better to adjust it manually through the notifications bar or a widget than to switch auto-brightness on (some recommend LUX app, personally I had problems with it trying to outsmart me when I was doing some manual changes). I like to keep it around 30-40% indoors during the day and 0-10% at night.
6. Switch WiFi off when you don't need it, unless you need it on constantly.
For me, it sometimes also helps organise my work too, when I don't get constant notifications or when I'm not eager to browse the web all the time, when just reading something and taking notes.
7a) (if rooted) Make your device fall into really deep sleep...
Add these to your build.prop file (see the thread on tweaking):
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=0
pm.sleep_mode=1
7b) ...and make it scan for available WiFi networks less often, for example every 180 seconds (same as above):
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=180
8. (if rooted) Switch off all the apps you don't need that auto-start on boot with a program like System Tuner.
(f not rooted) Use auto-killer for the apps you don't need (if rooted you can do the above two together as well).
You can also deactivate unused apps (settings -> apps -> [select app] -> deactivate). Remove bloatware, too (see the first few posts).
9. Adjust your minfree values, so the low level system task killer will take care of the apps running in the background for you (see the thread on tweaking). You can try with different settings and see what's better for you. Some apps drain your battery life even when you don't use them, while others don't and it's better to leave them in the memory than run them all over again every time. Do some tests and see what's best for you, if you have time for it.
10. Switch auto-syncing apps to lower values when possible (sometimes PUSH is better, sometimes worse for your battery life).
11. Keep it simple. Too many funky animations, floating wallpapers, lots of nice widgets will make your battery drain really fast.
12. Try different custom launchers, you can set more UI behaviour rules in these (see this apps thread).
13. Use a dark wallpaper and dark themes / night reading modes (see why).
2. Monitor your battery life and monitor it wisely (don't use power-consuming apps and widgets). I personally like Battery Monitor Widget, as it gives you mA and % / hour (either drain or charge), which is pretty cool, as you can see how much your usage exhausts your battery in real time. This way I've found out that switching the WiFi off while reading books actually gives me battery drain closer to 10%/h than 15%/h etc. You can see some other in this apps thread. Try different apps and see what fits you best. Don't rely on system battery usage stats, see what other apps show us and what apps and processes drain the most of your battery, show most wakelocks, etc.
3. Use as low power mode as you need (administered most easily through ASUS/Android notification bar on the bottom of your screen). There are three power modes:
- power-saving (keeps your CPU at 1 GHz according to some apps, 500 MHz according to others) <- can give you up to 2 additional hours
- balanced (keeps your CPU at 1,5 GHz)
- normal / performance (keeps your CPU at the highest speed - in stock kernel 1,7 GHz for the 1st core and 1,6 for the others)
You have to try these for yourself. Most games run well on balanced, but may sometimes need the performance mode (keep in mind that overheating your CPU and GPU may cause the clocks to actually slow down). You may also find yourself happy with the power-saving mode, which really helps your battery to last longer, but I've noticed issues with some apps while running it (problems with pdf rendering, for example), as it probably changes more than just the CPU clock speed, but also the system behaviour. I hardly ever leave the balanced mode, mostly when curious about benchmark results
There are also different CPU governors in Android/Linux kernel, which you can change if you are rooted, but perhaps leaving the default "interactive" one on should serve you well (you can also try "conservative", but it has been argued it doesn't save your battery so well in the long run).
(if rooted) You can also use CPU management apps like SetCPU, create your custom profiles or use the default ones according to your needs (for example ).
4. In ASUS setttings switch on both power-saving options at the very bottom of the list (WiFi and dock deep sleep [the former is the same as choosing "never" in WiFi advanced settings]).
5. Keep the screen brightness as low, as you can. It's better to adjust it manually through the notifications bar or a widget than to switch auto-brightness on (some recommend LUX app, personally I had problems with it trying to outsmart me when I was doing some manual changes). I like to keep it around 30-40% indoors during the day and 0-10% at night.
6. Switch WiFi off when you don't need it, unless you need it on constantly.
For me, it sometimes also helps organise my work too, when I don't get constant notifications or when I'm not eager to browse the web all the time, when just reading something and taking notes.
7a) (if rooted) Make your device fall into really deep sleep...
Add these to your build.prop file (see the thread on tweaking):
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=0
pm.sleep_mode=1
7b) ...and make it scan for available WiFi networks less often, for example every 180 seconds (same as above):
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval=180
8. (if rooted) Switch off all the apps you don't need that auto-start on boot with a program like System Tuner.
(f not rooted) Use auto-killer for the apps you don't need (if rooted you can do the above two together as well).
You can also deactivate unused apps (settings -> apps -> [select app] -> deactivate). Remove bloatware, too (see the first few posts).
9. Adjust your minfree values, so the low level system task killer will take care of the apps running in the background for you (see the thread on tweaking). You can try with different settings and see what's better for you. Some apps drain your battery life even when you don't use them, while others don't and it's better to leave them in the memory than run them all over again every time. Do some tests and see what's best for you, if you have time for it.
10. Switch auto-syncing apps to lower values when possible (sometimes PUSH is better, sometimes worse for your battery life).
11. Keep it simple. Too many funky animations, floating wallpapers, lots of nice widgets will make your battery drain really fast.
12. Try different custom launchers, you can set more UI behaviour rules in these (see this apps thread).
13. Use a dark wallpaper and dark themes / night reading modes (see why).
PS JuiceDefender reported to having disabled deep sleep, so stay away if possible.
Hotmail app has been said to trigger wakelocks, while overriding system wifi sleep when screen is off, so keep that in mind if you want better battery life over constant e-mail syncing.
Hit [THANKS] if it helps.
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