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Awake time mystery

jkmasi

Android Enthusiast
Jan 24, 2010
372
27
I was happy with my Awake Time usually running at around 10-11%. For some reason, now my awake time is always at ~ 40-50%. I had installed some new weather apps & widgets, so I uninstalled them. I uninstalled Spare Parts, because my change in awake time happened after upgrading that program. I uninstalled Astro File Manager - even though I don't think it's the problem, but it is a big app (I know that's not related to awake time, I was just getting desperate).

I have the following apps installed currently:
ATM - hardly ever use this. It's NOT set to do anything automatically - I just like to look at what's running if I have a prob
Handcent
Digital Clock Widget
Bettercut
My Backup Pro

I have Mail set to pull mail every 30 minutes (same as before). Nothing is set to auto sync. GPS & Bluetooth off, Wifi on (when in range) and Mobile Network on, Location setting off.

While I'm at it -- I generally hate the trade-offs with this phone: There are tons of cool apps and widgets in the Market, but each time I've tried something, I usually end up uninstalling it because in some way, overall phone performance is downgraded or compromised in some way - battery drain, lag or similar. Now, I am down to the most basic list of apps, and my phone thinks it's working half of the time it's supposed to be sleeping!

I have read all of the tips for battery life and optimizing - btw. Just checking for any fresh insight to this awake time problem.
 
I know my awake time will go up to around 40% if I'm playing a game or using an app that hogs the battery for a long time but once I stop and let my phone sleep it goes down to around 10%. Reinstall Astro and open up the process manager that it has and look at the percentage of the CPU that each app is using and see if any of them is higher then 0%. The only ones that should be 0% are Astro and Android System.
 
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I have nothing set to auto-sync, as I said.

The main thing that's confusing me is that I had a low awake time before. I now have a high awake time and I can't figure out what's different. I uninstalled everything I could think of that could be contributing, or was a recent install.

I will reinstall Astro and see if I can tell what's happening.
 
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I know my awake time will go up to around 40% if I'm playing a game or using an app that hogs the battery for a long time but once I stop and let my phone sleep it goes down to around 10%. Reinstall Astro and open up the process manager that it has and look at the percentage of the CPU that each app is using and see if any of them is higher then 0%. The only ones that should be 0% are Astro and Android System.

The only things that don't stay at 0% other than Astro and Android System are the Digital Clock widget - that bounced from 0-2% while I was watching it in Astro... Market would go to 1% then back to 0... Mail... same thing.

Not sure whether to reinstall spare parts.
 
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There's a few different digital clock widgets, I had one of them that sent me to 100%, try uninstalling. Real easy to put back if you so decide.

On a side note, I've been using Beautiful Widgets, and am VERY happy with their clock skin choices. May not be for everyone, but I'm using either decay or destroy (can't recall which) and have no intention of chaging it in the near future.
 
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On a side note, I've been using Beautiful Widgets, and am VERY happy with their clock skin choices. May not be for everyone, but I'm using either decay or destroy (can't recall which) and have no intention of chaging it in the near future.[/quote]

No trouble with Beautiful Widgets? I uninstalled - caused lag for me - at least I think that was the culprit. Maybe I'll try again.
 
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I have nothing set to auto-sync, as I said.

The main thing that's confusing me is that I had a low awake time before. I now have a high awake time and I can't figure out what's different. I uninstalled everything I could think of that could be contributing, or was a recent install.

I will reinstall Astro and see if I can tell what's happening.

Don't know if you have Weather Bug installed or not
I had this problem a couple days ago, and come to find out it was weather bug, because we had a ton of bad weather up here in the north east and I had 8-9 flood warnings on weather bug, so I think it kept wakeing the phone.
The problem hes fixed it self because the weather warnings went away, don't know if this might be your problem or not , just thought I would throw it out there
 
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Don't know if you have Weather Bug installed or not
I had this problem a couple days ago, and come to find out it was weather bug, because we had a ton of bad weather up here in the north east and I had 8-9 flood warnings on weather bug, so I think it kept wakeing the phone.
The problem hes fixed it self because the weather warnings went away, don't know if this might be your problem or not , just thought I would throw it out there

I purchased Weather Bug Elite, but uninstalled it after a few days. I didn't like it that much and I think it was draining my battery a bit. I usually just check Weather Underground. Thanks for the idea, though.
 
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I know you uninstalled it, but Spare Parts will tell you what apps are responsible for your "Partial Wake Usage".

I use Spare Parts whenever I need, I've never had trouble with it, and I think that the rumors about it are outrageous. I'd at least install it for a week to look at what's up with the partial wake usage. It will rat on itself if it's the problem.
 
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Could you possibly checked the box for the phone to stay awake while plugged in? Check under settings/applications/development there's a check box marked Stay Awake. If this is checked, the phone stays awake while plugged in and charging. So the entire time that the phone is plugged in will be counted toward the awake time even though it's not actually contributing to battery drain.
 
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Could you possibly checked the box for the phone to stay awake while plugged in? Check under settings/applications/development there's a check box marked Stay Awake. If this is checked, the phone stays awake while plugged in and charging. So the entire time that the phone is plugged in will be counted toward the awake time even though it's not actually contributing to battery drain.


Great suggestion. I checked and that was checked. I guess that also explains why the awake time is 100% when you first unplug the phone. Right before I checked that setting I looked at my phone status. My awake time is back to 10%. Go figure - all is well again AND now my phone will sleep while charging overnight.

Does anyone know the purpose of the Stay Awake feature? I'd like to know when I might need it to be checked....
 
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Great suggestion. I checked and that was checked. I guess that also explains why the awake time is 100% when you first unplug the phone. Right before I checked that setting I looked at my phone status. My awake time is back to 10%. Go figure - all is well again AND now my phone will sleep while charging overnight.

Does anyone know the purpose of the Stay Awake feature? I'd like to know when I might need it to be checked....

The people at Verizon turned it on while they were transferring data from my old phone to the Droid Eris.
 
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Great suggestion. I checked and that was checked. I guess that also explains why the awake time is 100% when you first unplug the phone. Right before I checked that setting I looked at my phone status. My awake time is back to 10%. Go figure - all is well again AND now my phone will sleep while charging overnight.

Does anyone know the purpose of the Stay Awake feature? I'd like to know when I might need it to be checked....

The stay awake feature is for using the home screen clock & keeping it on while charging or if some programs that need to be on constantly like say when using gps in the car. When you use gps in the car, keep the phone plugged in and have the stay awake feature on so it doesnt dim out (that is if the gps program doesnt have its own option to keep the phone awake, then the stay awake feature is not needed).
 
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