Figure out how which apps are hogging CPU time.

[shaffe43]

I am trying to find the best way to go through and see what apps are draining my battery. I am getting really crappy times, I am going to run it down and do a full charge / discharge today.

I have system panel installed and have gone through and looked to see which apps use the most CPU time, but i am not sure if that is directly correlated to battery life.

Any suggestions or points to a different thread would be awsome.

Thanks!

 

[jasonb1985]

spare parts also shows battery consumption. system panel is an awesome app and it does good at telling whats used the CPU, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

 

[shaffe43]

I will look into that app

 

[Mr.Slave]

If you charge your battery to 100% and then use it till its at about 30% without plugging it in you can go to Menu->About->Battery->Battery Use. That MIGHT give you some insight into what is eating your battery. Good luck because the only other way is to remove and reinstall one by one.

 

[jasonb1985]

If you charge your battery to 100% and then use it till its at about 30% without plugging it in you can go to Menu->About->Battery->Battery Use. That MIGHT give you some insight into what is eating your battery. Good luck because the only other way is to remove and reinstall one by one.

why do you say 30%? you can check battery use in the menu anytime you want.

 

[paimon.soror]

I second the recommendation for SystemPanel ... probably one of the best system monitors i have seen yet on the android system. Easy to use, perfect UI, and LOTS of information

 

[Mr.Slave]

why do you say 30%? you can check battery use in the menu anytime you want.

Because it gives you a good amount of time.

 

[superchaos]

I am using FPT System. I am not having a battery problem though. Fpt System Manager v1.1 Application for Android | Tools

 

[DroidPower]

I second the recommendation for SystemPanel ... probably one of the best system monitors i have seen yet on the android system. Easy to use, perfect UI, and LOTS of information

I agree...

After i'm done shopping in the market App, i checked it and it uses high CPU (approx. 17)

Very easy to use to single out a individual App you want to close, i'm not a big believer in App Killer, but going in and killing a high CPU App after your done using it is not a bad thing...

You'll see many Apps sitting in the background using 0 CPU's, i don't bother with those.

Check out HTC Sense... ouch

Also remember to kill the System panel App itself when your done.

 

[jasonb1985]

I agree...

After i'm done shopping in the market App, i checked it and it uses high CPU (approx. 17)

Very easy to use to single out a individual App you want to close, i'm not a big believer in App Killer, but going in and killing a high CPU App after your done using it is not a bad thing...

You'll see many Apps sitting in the background using 0 CPU's, i don't bother with those.

Check out HTC Sense... ouch

Also remember to kill the System panel App itself when your done.

there's no need. i run it all day everyday with it doing the live monitoring and it's not hurting my battery life at all.

 

[howarmat]

^^ correct, i never kill the app

all of you are way to worried with killing shit, let the phone do its thing.

 

[DroidPower]

no need to worry about Apps, but closing a high CPU clears memory/ram, if you check low CPU's <3.... no big deal, but when i'm done with maps, market, gps, Radio, internet, something that takes up memory, i shut them down. Many Apps with NO CPU usage (0) are listed on the SYSTEM PANEL list, no big deal.

I don't look at it as much as a battery drain, but more of keeping the phone running smooth. Anyone who's constantly in and out of what i call power Apps, takes up memory/Ram, the more power Apps running/open the more Memory/Ram being use.

I don't worry to much about the battery, i just charge it when it hits 50-60%, depending on what i'm doing, not an issue.

I just got done charging my phone while it was off, i started it back up and check my System-panel... NO CPU USAGE on any of the (many) listed Apps, all were marked with zeros (CPU), except for the System-panel App itself which was using 3. I like rebooting every so often also, it just makes everything smooth.

Hey... but thats just me... to each their own.

 

[rjjk91]

How do you get to the system panel?

Also, another n00b question, which I am confused about:

On the power control bar should i turn syncing off to save battery? Then will some still sync if i have it set? Or will I have to do it manually ?

 

[howarmat]

i wouldnt turn off sync for any reason

system panel is in the market

 

[waynester]

most apps discussed here will be in marketplace.
i leave sync on,
though that brings up somewhat of a shortcoming of the android system (and i think most linux systems in general), lack of documentation.
You will be hard pressed to find hard doc on features available to you in phone settings.
Bookmark this forum , you will be back .

 

[DroidPower]

How do you get to the system panel?

Also, another n00b question, which I am confused about:

On the power control bar should i turn syncing off to save battery? Then will some still sync if i have it set? Or will I have to do it manually ?

System panel is on MARKET, what i like about it its easy to read, understand, and use. when you open the App it list the Apps in two categories... inactive and inactive Apps, just check the CPU in the active list Apps. You'll also see the list of inactive Apps which shows NO CPU usage.

Don't forget to kill the System Panel App when your done, why leave it running.

You should be to set your sync time to a time period, sync doesn't take long for me since i don't use the weather widget and turned off weather sync. Right now my syncing is ACTIVE but only using 3 CPU... no big deal.

Messages uses a lot.. approx. 30-40 CPU.

What's good about killing high usage apps, when you go to use GPS, watch TV moves, Satellite radio/FM tuner, DVD, freeing up memory/CPU allowing smoother running of the App you need at a particular time to run strong by itself.

Try it for yourself, if you don't like, trash the System Panel app, but when you start opening apps going from texting, emails, camera, video, maps, GPS, internet, bluetooth, and then decide to listen to Satellite radio, just open System Panel, killer those big hungry Apps by choice, and then, turn on Satellite radio.

Your system/phone for the most part runs smoother after a reboot, why... if you look at the System Panel after you turn on your phone you'll notice the CPU's are ZEROS, then check it again after 8 hours/evening and look at your active Apps and CPU usage.

Also, if you can and don't need stored messages, delete the thread.... lets say friends/associates threads which may contain 100, 200, 300 messages... delete them. I had a few friends that i accumulated approx 200 messages in their respect thread, i deleted them and checked my CPU in a Active Message App, it went from 30-40 CPU's to 3 CPU's, i did leave a few messages/threads in the App that i need for my records for the time being, but it did drop the CPU after deleting useless threads.

Please don't take my word for it, run your own test and see the results base on your phone and usage/habits.

 

[howarmat]

there is no need to kill the system app when done, just back out of it, it isnt running and doesnt show up on the "running" list under the applications menu in the main settings

 

[DroidPower]

good to know, nice exploring/testing, but now don't forget to kill your settings app... it running...LOL (5 CPU)...

Again, i don't care about small usage, if i know i been in and out off Apps a lot and get a moment, i check for hungry double digit Apps and kill 'em. I wouldn't get to crazy about CPU, its just something to keep in mind and check at times.

 

[Reddog80p]

I use system panel and don't kill any apps at all. I just use it to monitor. I have not noticed any lag whatsoever no matter how many apps I have used throughout the day. I do reboot maybe once a day. I do not run sense UI not because I had performance issues with it but because I'm used to stock Android and I like how I can customize my pages to my preference. Sense limits you a little bit if you use the sense widgets.

 

[Montana Man]

spare parts also shows battery consumption. system panel is an awesome app and it does good at telling whats used the CPU, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

What parts of the "whole story" does System Panel not tell, exactly?

 

[Mischka7]

Gonna check out SystemPanel later.

On a sidenote, I discovered something interesting while driving up the 5 from Los Angeles. My phone was plugged into the car charger since the start of the drive, it was at 60%. 3 hours later, it was down to 50%. I had Google Maps nav and music player running, as well as a number of other apps I usually have running as well. I still can't believe that the phone was drawing more power than was being restored.

 

[DroidPower]

Gonna check out SystemPanel later.

On a sidenote, I discovered something interesting while driving up the 5 from Los Angeles. My phone was plugged into the car charger since the start of the drive, it was at 60%. 3 hours later, it was down to 50%. I had Google Maps nav and music player running, as well as a number of other apps I usually have running as well. I still can't believe that the phone was drawing more power than was being restored.

Did you have social networks running, how about message App and HTC Sense, these can be big draws. I don't know for sure because of the technology between the car charger, battery, Phone's system, and open Apps active and inactive. There might be a point where the usage is more than the supply of power... i don't know.

If i started a drive/trip and needed my GPS/Nav and my battery was at 60%... i would reboot, plug my charger in and start my navigation, i'm assuming directions and a charge battery would be a priority.

I always suggest doing your own testing, it would of been interesting taking that trip and at the end of the trip (3 Hrs Later)... open System Panel and see what apps are active and inactive and which are drawing power/ eating CPU.

 

[Mischka7]

Did you have social networks running, how about message App and HTC Sense, these can be big draws. I don't know for sure because of the technology between the car charger, battery, Phone's system, and open Apps active and inactive. There might be a point where the usage is more than the supply of power... i don't know.

If i started a drive/trip and needed my GPS/Nav and my battery was at 60%... i would reboot, plug my charger in and start my navigation, i'm assuming directions and a charge battery would be a priority.

I always suggest doing your own testing, it would of been interesting taking that trip and at the end of the trip (3 Hrs Later)... open System Panel and see what apps are active and inactive and which are drawing power/ eating CPU.

I'm not exactly sure which other apps were open at the time, I wasn't paying attention until after I unplugged the phone. Also, the phone itself was very hot to the touch.

As for System Panel, there's a lot of information here. Can anyone tell me what the critical information is? For instance, what part of the data would tell me the cumulative power consumption by a particular app?

Thanks!

 

[jasonb1985]

What parts of the "whole story" does System Panel not tell, exactly?

nothing wrong with the app. i'm not sure what i meant at the time. spare parts will list what apps have consumed the most battery. i guess system panel does this as well. it just doesn't simply say it the same way.

 

[woop]

I agree...

After i'm done shopping in the market App, i checked it and it uses high CPU (approx. 17)

Very easy to use to single out a individual App you want to close, i'm not a big believer in App Killer, but going in and killing a high CPU App after your done using it is not a bad thing...

You'll see many Apps sitting in the background using 0 CPU's, i don't bother with those.

Check out HTC Sense... ouch

Also remember to kill the System panel App itself when your done.

You are contradicting yourself in this thread. You are not a fan of an app killer, yet thats EXACTLY what youre using system panel for. There is NO NEED to kill anything regardless of the cpu, unless its staying like that the entire time (which 99% of the cases it is not). Android will close it down for you if it REALLY needs that cpu power somewhere else, and obviously it doesn't which is why that one high cpu app is doing just fine.