build.prop tweaks for performance and battery life

[ardchoille]

Your phone needs to be rooted in order to follow this tutorial.

I researched build.prop settings recently and learned how to increase battery life and performance. I use Root Explorer to edit build.prop in place, it makes a backup before saving changes.

Please read this entire post before making any modifications.

1) Make a nandroid backup before making any changes
2) Seriously, make a nandroid backup
3) Download Root Explorer from the market
4) Launch Root explorer and go to /system
5) Make sure /system is mounted as R/W, this info and a button are at the top of the Root Explorer screen
6) Long-press the build.prop file and choose "Open in Text Editor"
7) Add the following settings or tweak them if they're already present (notice the "or"?)
8) Once edited press Menu > Save, Root Explorer will save a backup of the original file
9) Reboot
10) Any problems should be fixable via Root Explorer
11) If the phone fails to boot simply restore a nandroid backup

# Force launcher into memory
ro.HOME_APP_ADJ=1

# Start at a lower heap size and increase as needed
dalvik.vm.startheapsize=8m
# VM Heapsize; the higher the RAM, the higher the heap can be
dalvik.vm.heapsize=32m

# Render UI through GPU instead of CPU
# Comment out if this causes laggy UI
debug.sf.hw=1

# Time between wifi scans in seconds. Keep it high to minimize battery drain
# 5 minutes=300, 4 minutes=240, 3 minutes=180, etc.
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval = 300

# Allow power collapse, increases battery life
ro.ril.disable.power.collapse=0

# Puts the CPU into deep sleep but preserves registers
pm.sleep_mode=2

# Net speed tweaks, choose what you need
net.tcp.buffersize.default=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.wifi=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.wimax = 4096,221184,524288,4096,16384,110208
net.tcp.buffersize.umts=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.gprs=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960
net.tcp.buffersize.edge=4096,87380,256960,4096,16384,256960

# When moving through zones or losing signal, having a delay
# smooths out constant disconnects and reconnects, saves battery life
ro.mot.eri.losalert.delay=1000

I made these changes on my Evo 4G yesterday on the rooted stock ROM and on CM7. I haven't seen any problems and battery life seems to have increased a bit.

I'm sure there are other tweaks but I haven't researched all of them yet. Anyone who has more tweaks feel free to post a reply.