[GUIDE] ~9h SOT setup using Nohon BM46 battery

[wxtester]

Hello all.

This is yet another tutorial how to increase Screen on time value on your Redmi Note 3. I'll try to share some of my thoughts about maximizing SOT and standby time. My RN3 (kenzo) got a new life after inserting new Nohon BM46 battery, bought from AliExpress. As indeed new battery will give you some additional battery juice, you can still try underclocking your phone - just to lower down the performance but to increase SOTs. In my, ugh, career I've tried many ROMs and kernels, and my favorite is AGNI, but this current setup is using default ROM kernel.

9h Screen on Time is the result of using WiFi only on my phone. As some of us used to work at home office, such scenario can be quite common for some of us. For sure, using yhe LTE connection will be more power consuming than WiFi only setup, but screen times should be increased also.

Prerequisites:
* Redmi Note 3 Pro (I use kenzo, but for Kate steps should be similar)
* New Nohon BM46 battery

Steps:

• Install a ROM of your choice. I've installed ViperOS Nougat 7.1.2 build (viper-kenzo-20180815-Coral-v3.1.1-amog787). Maybe it doesn't have all of the customizations you need, but it has built in dark (black) system mode. You have to flash few ROMs until you find the one which suits you best, but you are probably aware of it.
• If you are not a great fan of power consuming Google Services (I'm not) - don't flash GAPPS. Later on I'll try to provide some of the alternative apps.
• Flash Magisk. It would be needed for Kernel Adiutor app.
• Now you can think of installing some custom kernel. However, kernel installed in ViperOS seems sufficient for me - so I've chosen to use default ROM's kernel.
• As that ViperOS build doesn't include Spectrum support, please flash this ZIP: https://forum.xda-developers.com/redmi-note-3/themes/spectrum-injector-flashable-zip-kernel-t4149113
• Boot the ROM.
• Install Spectrum, Kernel Adiutor and (any of) battery calibration app.
• Turn off the phone and install Nohon BM46 battery.
• Configure the ROM:
  * Set theme to pure black.
  * For 'Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep' set 'Never'
  * For SIM card set Network type to GSM (2G). 2G should be less power consuming than LTE, if you want to use mobile data, set network type to 3G / LTE.
  * Disable the roaming.
  * Disable Sync.
  * Set long press of Back button to 'Kill app'. I don't use Greenify, so I'm killing the apps using Back button.
• In Kernel Adiutor, navigate to:
  * Kernel => CPU:
  * Disable big cores (Core 5 & 6 offline)
  * Set both of big frequencies to 400 mhz (probably not needed, but just in case big cores was enabled somehow)
  * For little cores, let 4 of them still be enabled
  * For little CPU maximum frequency, set 806 Mhz
  * For little CPU minimum frequency, set 400 Mhz
  * For little CPU governor, set "relaxed". You can try going on with "conservative" / "powersave" governors, but phone gets too slow for me with such settings. Relaxed is fine for me.
  * Disable CPU boost.
  * Enable "Schedule workqueues on awake CPUs to save power."
  * For CPU Boost set 5000ms.
  * Disable Wakeup Boost, Hotplug Boost and Touch Boost.
  * Tick on 'Apply on boot'.
  * You can try undervolting your CPU using 'CPU Voltage' tab. I haven't undervolted my CPU at all.
  * Kernel => GPU:
  * GPU Maximum Frequency - set to 300 MHz.
  * GPU Minimum Frequency - set to 133 MHz.
  * GPU Governor - set to 'powersave'
  * Adreno Idler - enabled.
  * Tick 'Apply on boot'
  * Kernel => Wake
  * Disable all of the options.
  * Kernel => Misc
  * You can lower a little Vibration Strength, if you don't like strong vibrations. It should increase battery life a little.
• Navigate to 'Spectrum' app. Set profile to 'battery'.
• In your keyboard app, lower down vibration strength.

GAPPS alternatives:
* Instead of Google Chrome I use Bromite. Using Adblock, Dark theme and Darken websites switch should increase SOT if you like to browse a lot of the internet at night.
* Instead of Gmail I use FairEmail. If you are not a great fan of it, you can create a desktop shortcut to mobile Gmail website.
* Instead of Google Keep, you can use D Notes. I'm not really sure if Keep is power consuming, I just prefer D Notes as the app.
* As I believe newest versions of the Google Maps, don't work well without the GAPPS I use old 9.46.1 version.
* For Messenger, I use completely darkened / blacked out custom APK. I don't remember from where it was downloaded. I think you can also use "debullshifiied' version with dark mode enabled.
* For Google Play alternative, I use website 'apkcombo.com' as desktop shortcut. As some of the apps I needed was not available in apkcombo, I sometimes use my tablet with gapps installed - and send APK to my RN3.
* Instead of YouTube I use NewPipe. I kinda like it. For listening to YouTube music, I use YMusic app.

GENERAL tips:
* Disable Automatic brightness. Probably would not increase SOT a lot, but even little amount of saved battery is fine for me.
* This is quite obvious, but lowering down the brightness will increase Screen on Time value for you.
* If you are OK with apps running from scratch, kill it with Back key button.
* Try to use web services loaded in the browser instead of the native apps, which are often triggering a lot of the wakelocks and sending a lot of the notifications. Just my private opinion, you can not agree with that.
* Use completely black theme instead of dark theme. Probably this doesn't make big difference, I like to believe this helps a little.
* Try to find darkened version of the app. Some of the applications can be darkened by installing Xposed and using module Holo Themer. Set theme to Material Dark.
* Maybe few more which I don't recall now.

I'm also attaching my SOT screenshots. I mostly use Bromite to watch the internet. I'm a huge fan of the internet.

 

[Androbots]

I can't believe people are still holding onto this thing lol.

 

[Kris Chen]

Today I replaced the same battery as yours for my Redmi note3 pro this out dated device. It still works pretty good, except for some delay in the system operation even I flashed Havoc A10.
You will be shocked after shooting photo by gcam8. The photo quality is just beyond its hardware !

 

[amn1987]

Disabling the big cores altogether seems a little too extreme as it has a measurable impact on UI perf. Instead underclocking to say 1.2GHz will still yield good battery life and perf. hit wouldn't be too noticeable. In the first 2-2.5 years I used to let the cores run at stock speeds and still get 9-10 hour SoT easily. Battery life in my experience was much better in Nougat ROMs. To counter idle drain due to Google Play Services one can use BitGApps which enable Battery Optimization for it or microG for a more radical solution.