SOT (Screen On Time) & Kernel discussion for Note 3 with Phronesis, MagmaNX & Aspire

wild wadi

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SOT (Screen On Time) & Kernel discussion for Note 3 with Phronesis, MagmaNX & Aspire


Note 3 with Phronesis, Magma NX or AspireTeam C9 Pro ROMs SOT (Screen On Time) Battery and custom Kernel Discussion.

Let me start by saying that this tread is born out of a passionate back and forth discussion I had with one the above-mentioned custom ROMs a rather ubiquitous assistant developer here on xda. It all began with his casual use of SOT (Screen On Time) hours he got when asked by a user why his battery was draining. He would, without fail, give the usual line of your usage vary from this to that, and each horse is different from the other, etc. etc. which is fine. But, somewhere along the line, he will casually throw in that he personally gets 7-8 hrs. SOT and possibly reach 11 hrs. That’s when I took him to task, until the moderator asked us to quit and start a discussion thread if we feel the need to go further on the subject of SOT.

So here I am, but first let me say this, I know that this subject is not easy and subjective, but I would like to approach it in a simple way, better yet, can there be a common point here where we all agree what would be a default setting on a custom ROM? I’m proposing WIFI active, Data 4G active, Location active and Bluetooth active. At least the first 3 come activated on every devise you purchase. Most people use these principal services for various connections in their daily lives. Let’s call this for the sake of this argument “Normal Use”.

Xda developers like to always remind users who they call “noobs” ( I certainly was once, and most probably still am) that this is a developer site and you should first break your bones before coming here. Sorry, but that isn’t reality, most custom ROM users are NOT developers, in fact many, many are noobs. In fact, the noobs are what makes a custom ROM successful. The more pages the thread garners and the more downloads, the more the developer appreciates his success and xda benefits.

Now I know there are many factors that paly into SOT, battery age, kernel, ROM, games, wild applications etc. But really, do you think it is wise to promote any custom rom by saying “I personally get 7-8 hrs. SOT and can possibly achieve 11hrs”. Remember, we are talking about a Note 3 stock battery not a custom one. Just imagine what that means; you go to work and come back and you’re still on SOT! I can’t achieve that on an iPad. We’re talking here about a 2017 technology on a 2013 mobile phone device, and the Note 3 was designed with Kitikat 4.2, which is even older.

Granted, you’re a developer or part of the know-how team who can snail tweak the device's software and kernel to achieve a higher SOT, just because you can and you know how. But there is always a price to pay in functionality. I will go even further to say that you do a disservice to the ROM quality and viability by saying that. Even if you achieve that with all those crippling tweaks, most people aren’t ready to use their device as a developer testing machine. Actually, giving them estimates on normal use of 3-4-5 hrs. SOT would be more attuned with reality, and people will not pester your thread with posts asking why they haven’t reached 7-8 hours SOT you bragged about. If they somehow reach a higher SOT on their own, all the praise to the developer. Instead, they have to deal with awful suggestions like “your battery must be dead or something”. Samsung’s best offers never reach more than 5hrs. SOT, if they did, they’d kill the competition. Neither do trimmed down ASOP ROMs.

Finally, I have flashed many ROMS since I got my Note 3, but for this thread let’s keep this discussion limited to Phronesis ROM, Magama NX and AspireTeam since they are the most popular with Note 3 users, and all use Android MM 6.0.1 I’ve used All 3 ROMs above with various kernels and never achieved more than 4 hours with “normal use” (all connections active) 5 hrs. is rare SOT for me even when I use new stock batteries. So, please let us know what is your SOT using what kernel with these ROMS on your Note 3. Do you actually reach 7-8 hrs. SOT? (forget 11. LOL). If you do, tells us how? And please don’t forget to give us some specs about your configuration.
 
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ammar_maher

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Feb 14, 2014
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Great @wild wadi
can i suggest something if you do not mind ?

i suggest that users who will post in this thread to start with a report that contains the following :
1 - Device model and Modem & Bootloader.
2 - Kernel and ROM.
3 - A screenshot of the battery usage.
4 - A screenshot of Gsam battery monitor ( App sucker,system,screen)
5 - if you are using Xposed ( mention the modules )
6 - If you are using Lspeed and Kernel auditor ( mention the tweaks )
 
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Eleo

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Apr 16, 2012
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I didnt understand "Phronesis, Magma NX or Aspire ROMs" part on OP and thread title. What about Darklord Reborn, AryaMOD s7edge, AryaMOD n7, Emassry266, Possibe FS and etc? Can it be generalized as "Touchwiz MM port"s? Or you are interested on only those ROMs?
 

wild wadi

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I didnt understand "Phronesis, Magma NX or Aspire ROMs" part on OP and thread title. What about Darklord Reborn, AryaMOD s7edge, AryaMOD n7, Emassry266, Possibe FS and etc? Can it be generalized as "Touchwiz MM port"s? Or you are interested on only those ROMs?
My experience is with those 3, they are popular and sufficient to give us some idea. Let's not muddy the water here.
 
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hytman2002

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You 2 need a break! Or at least use ignore list! Ha ha ha !
Let be serious guys 8h SOT hard to get with normal battery and with the apks from theese days. Not many users have skills to set correct kernels. Most of the users like me let say want a normal battery 3 to 5 h top. But when you see some post from guys who get 7-8 h you start thinking how to get that, and from there desaster is comming. What i didnt hear from users is that they never say what apk are using ,when they use wi-fi or data or gps and what tweaks they do to their kernels.
Anyways have a good "fight" on this subject ....
My respect to only one guy !
 
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Eleo

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You 2 need a break! Or at least use ignore list! Ha ha ha !
Let be serious guys 8h SOT hard to get with normal battery and with the apks from theese days. Not many users have skills to set correct kernels. Most of the users like me let say want a normal battery 3 to 5 h top. But when you see some post from guys who get 7-8 h you start thinking how to get that, and from there desaster is comming. What i didnt hear from users is that they never say what apk are using ,when they use wi-fi or data or gps and what tweaks they do to their kernels.
Anyways have a good "fight" on this subject ....
My respect to you 2 guys!
So what is your usage? I shared mine on previous page here. But I dont know your usage. I have wifi/data/location/sync turned on. Bluetooth -> off (i dont have bluetoot device). My apps are present. I use new samsung battery less than a year old. I dont play games. I use quickedit app, mixplorer, mixplorer text editor, apltool x for modding. Youtube, mxplayer for watching video. Samsung music for listening audio (on screen off, not counted in sot value).

Kernel adiutor
1. undervolt (different pvs value device (google to find what it is) will tolerate different values). find your device's sweet spot. I decrease global to -20 mV and 288 to 650mV. I have seen users who got reboots when going below -10mV global and also users with using -50mV global with no issue. Different pvs number different results. Mine was 2 if my mind doesnt fool me.
2. Low memory killer (I adjust higher values so that it doesnt make device slow). It does not affect battery directly.
3. You can change cpu freq but with phantom kernel it is programmed good so I moslty dont even touch it.

Smart Manager:
I advise c5 or s7 sm because it can control apps in background better monitoring ram usage. It is also advised for s4 users since they have 2GB RAM w.r.t. 3 GB RAM of note3 (case for MagMa NX).

Bluelight filter:
Around 20% normal, in dimmer places 50%. At night up to 100%. I edit filter.cfg string for decreasing brightness.

Then check your battery stats to see what is using your battery. I have seen google services and system (adsprcd) using high battery. For google services there are xposed and magisk modules to optimize its used battery. I myself am using button mapper and kill playstore app after openning it (I also disable auto update notifications from playstore -> it updates only when I want). System (adsprcd) was caised by google assistant listening on background. I disabled "ok google" prompt. I use only via long press home button because I dont get hansfree usage at all.

These are wbat I remember from my tweaks and with my usage I get 6-8hrs sot. I hope they are useful

Dont expect getting high sot if you are playing online/heavy games, using media editing stuff (mainly video), bluetooth devices and watching full brightness 1080p youtube videos. But you will see the app usage in gsam battery monitor (stock battery usage will not give you 3rd party app usage info in spite of what is told). Also, we are now optimizing to decrease battery usage by infinity wallpaper on MagMa NX.

APP USAGE is VERY important. That is why when I dont get that info I cannot troubleshoot.

P.S. I use mobile app. "Ignore user" function has not been brought to android
;)
 
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MikeChannon

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You 2 need a break! Or at least use ignore list! Ha ha ha !
Let be serious guys 8h SOT hard to get with normal battery and with the apks from theese days. Not many users have skills to set correct kernels. Most of the users like me let say want a normal battery 3 to 5 h top. But when you see some post from guys who get 7-8 h you start thinking how to get that, and from there desaster is comming. What i didnt hear from users is that they never say what apk are using ,when they use wi-fi or data or gps and what tweaks they do to their kernels.
Anyways have a good "fight" on this subject ....
My respect to you 2 guys!
Yes, turned into a bit of a "ding-dong" :eek: so I've cleaned some posts.

Please stay on topic, avoid getting "narky" and I also removed a thanks type post... please use thanks button for that:)

Mike
 

kraken77

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May 6, 2012
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You 2 need a break! Or at least use ignore list! Ha ha ha !
Let be serious guys 8h SOT hard to get with normal battery and with the apks from theese days. Not many users have skills to set correct kernels. Most of the users like me let say want a normal battery 3 to 5 h top. But when you see some post from guys who get 7-8 h you start thinking how to get that, and from there desaster is comming. What i didnt hear from users is that they never say what apk are using ,when they use wi-fi or data or gps and what tweaks they do to their kernels.
Anyways have a good "fight" on this subject ....
My respect to you 2 guys!
Yeah thats true. Tweaks from other people using are not the same with other users. App disable, how frequent they have used their phones, on idle or etc. Even they send the screenshot and copied their setup, it depend on how we use our phone. For me SOT screenshot are rubbish. If you all need a good battery life phone, get the exynos version instead(for samsung phone). Theres many comparison talking about sd and exynos on samsung(not gonna explain here). If you got some money just buy the 10K mah zerolemon batteries. Theres too many thread talking about battery, kernels and tweaks, how much more do we need?
 
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ravenchalk

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I didnt understand "Phronesis, Magma NX or Aspire ROMs" part on OP and thread title. What about Darklord Reborn, AryaMOD s7edge, AryaMOD n7, Emassry266, Possibe FS and etc? Can it be generalized as "Touchwiz MM port"s? Or you are interested on only those ROMs?
Kind of agree, except for maybe the aryamod. They're kinda old now, discontinued. Old as in the apps in magma and resis are like a year newer. I personally only use magma and resis anymore, and for the record, I get 24hrs SOT. I just don't unplug it ever.
 
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goathacker

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Good thread. I am getting 3h 40m SoT on average with MagmaNX . N900t. Don't have any social media apps except instagram (which i froze).

I honestly believe this phone on anything more than Lollipop is incapable of getting more than 4hrs SoT with "normal" usage (wifi/mobile on). Even with mid-level power saving. The overwhelming number of people who report their SoT is definitive.

Ive been using roms for different phones for 6 years now. This is one of the few where there's such a disparity between what the developer says what "battery life" is and what the average user is reporting.

Whatever "Android System" and "Kernel" is, they are killing the battery

On Lollipop, I was getting 5.5 SoT. On average. With the same battery / apps / usage.

So I will be going back to stock Lollipop. It's unfortunate.
 

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zack483

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Aug 8, 2012
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Magma ux10.
Phantom kernel
Kernel audiutor
Xposed installed
Old battery
:eek::silly:
I choose to focused on smoothness and no lags than sot. :silly:
What point to have longer sot if u lower the perfomance to almost like the first galaxy s1 perfomance or a cheap copy smartphone. :laugh:
:silly:
 

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Rexor10

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As @Eleo said only for 3 Roms but your Sot is kinda low i will say on RR Rom .
I think it's because my battery is kinda worn - it was charged over 4700 (!) times so it may have lower capability... But I'm still satisfied with it! (That doesn't mean I wouldn't order new one soon :D)

Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Labs
 

Rexo_75

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I didnt like the kernels on magma but I started tweeking the lss kernel because it gave me about those 6hours SOT. Therefore I undervolt like 35-50mV and some more stuff in synapse https://m.imgur.com/a/SHEi7 , but I still could not get those 8h.SOT. I did not play games, but i used for instance facebook/messenger, photos etc. I have my note3 for almost 3 years with the stock battery. I also disabled some unused apps. However, the phone performance like scrolling or moving from app to app was laggy. Honestly, now Im on Ressurection Remix https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...-resurrection-remix-n-v5-8-3-vanilla-t3615227 and performance is great, no lags, everything is really smooth on android 7 but i miss the samsung apps and features. On the other hand, the samsung apps are badly optimized, bcs samsung. If i had to compare the samsung vs google original apps, i would say that google apps are better and smoother. But, the RR rom has bad battery life for me and Im thinking of returning to Magma now :)

Its all strange because when you watch original S8 battery test, the phone doesnt get more than 6-7 hours sot. I think that OEMs are holding all the progress back, bcs we can see that the same hours can be achieved on 4 year older phones. Thats why they dont update the old phones, bcs they just want us to buy their new product each year. They are better in performance, but for normal usage like browsing the internet or calling you dont see that much difference unless you play games. Im not even excited about new phones bcs its all the same with small changes.



 
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Eleo

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...Its all strange because when you watch original S8 battery test, the phone doesnt get more than 6-7 hours sot...
You are doing a colossal mistake by not comparing the testing conditions. To get any comparable result you should test all those devices on same conditions same environment same reception same usage by yourself. Otherwise you can never compare those results.

I do my all test under nearly identical conditions thus I can compare my old results to my new results and say that "this tweak increases/decreases/doesnt change sot".

I have seen reports for google pixel xl previous year stating that it lasts 4-5 hours sot. I can assure you that under same conditions you cannot even get 3 hours with note 3.
 

Vordx

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Feb 1, 2017
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Its all strange because when you watch original S8 battery test, the phone doesnt get more than 6-7 hours sot. I think that OEMs are holding all the progress back, bcs we can see that the same hours can be achieved on 4 year older phones. Thats why they dont update the old phones, bcs they just want us to buy their new product each year. They are better in performance, but for normal usage like browsing the internet or calling you dont see that much difference unless you play games. Im not even excited about new phones bcs its all the same with small changes.

You are doing a colossal mistake by not comparing the testing conditions. To get any comparable result you should test all those devices on same conditions same environment same reception same usage by yourself. Otherwise you can never compare those results.

I do my all test under nearly identical conditions thus I can compare my old results to my new results and say that "this tweak increases/decreases/doesnt change sot".

I have seen reports for google pixel xl previous year stating that it lasts 4-5 hours sot. I can assure you that under same conditions you cannot even get 3 hours with note 3.
+1.
Those new phones aren't even debloated as those custom ROMs, most of the services if not all of them are enabled.
Not mentioning their performance compared to note 3.