I asked this here because the GNex is so hot right now, but it can apply to any phone.
I finally got a friend to root my phone for me (he volunteered!). I have an OG Droid, running CM7 (2.3.7) and even at 600 mhz, I notice a much faster battery drain than Froyo had. I did just go to 550, which I believe is stock, so I'll see what that does.
Overall, it runs well. Seems smooth, and without the bloat, and especially evil facebook app which ruined my phone before, there aren't any issues beyond just tweaking and adjustment.
My real question is when I retire my Droid after I use my April upgrade, would I save a significant amount of battery if I got something like the Gnex, Rezound, etc and underclocked them by about a third or so? Right now, if things are good at 600 mhz with only 256 megs of ram, wouldn't 800mhz - 1ghz instead of 1.2-1.5 with the 1gig of ram be just fine like that?
I plan on rooting and using a similar ROM based on ICS at that point, because I love this one, not to say there aren't more that are great too.
I was just wondering if there are any holes in my theory as far as underclocking to save battery and depending more on the ram, which to me seems even more important when multitasking. I agree lots of things make a difference, this is only part of the equation. I'm not expecting to tweak the processor speed down and then not charge my phone for days, that's ridiculous.
Eventually, I'll be able to run everything I WANT not just everything I NEED like I do currently. Love my OG Droid, and rooting makes me far less likely to die from waiting to retire it, but I am looking towards the future.
Love to hear some thoughts on this, and for the record, I did my best to absorb information, but I'm far from ready to do all the work myself again next time!
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If your best choices brought you to where you are and you don't like that place , then remember it won't be the same type of choices that will get you out.
Well, I'm underclocking my GNex using SetCPU right now at 920MHz max. / 350MHz min. when on battery only...(its 1200MHz max. / 350MHz min. when connected to power or USB); I've also got a screen-off profile set to 700MHz max. / 350Mhz min.
Battery life is a little better with no real responsiveness issues or perceptible lagginess.
Its not a huge improvement, but its noticable and I'm very happy to keep running this way.
I'm also not yet under-volting yet...which should help even more.
There's other things I haven't touched yet which also contribute to the battery drain, principally keeping 4G (with is a biggie) turned on all the time (I do use wifi, but I haven't been toggling that cell radio down to 3G, etc.). There's other things like reducing screen brightness, reducing various app's sync times, etc.
Your mileage and usage will all vary, of course, and effect this, so there's no telling exactly what kind of battery savings you'll get.
I'll definitely use it at least for a matter of days before rooting and Roming the heck out of it, to see what difference it will actually make. I haven't toggled mobile data off on my Droid yet, mainly because I like to be able to preview emails and such.
I think there will be much more great ICS builds out by then, so if I were to get a phone that's out now rather than the latest and greatest, I should be able to find a deal.
I'm also using Set CPU to underclock my Nexus. Its still set to max 1200 but I have it on interactive, and it goes lower as the battery level goes down. I also have it set to 350 during 12am-5am since I'm usually asleep.
With the interactive, it usually just runs at 350 anyway, meaning that's enough most of the time, so you should be fine with 950 or even 700. The battery seems ok, but I also have a charger at work, in my car and at home.
The Galaxy Nexus is the third official phone contracted by Google and the first phone to come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Specs include a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16/32GB of internal storage, a 4.65 inch 720p HD Super AMOLED... Read More
Underclocking battery effects
, then remember it won't be the same type of choices that will get you out. 
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