Dr.Evo's Battery Voodoo

[Dr.Evo]

So, I've now had my Evo since launch and I have read forum post after forum post about various magic solutions to battery life. And I have experimented with them endlessly. So far, I've been able to extend the life of my battery to nearly 40 hours (wifi mostly running), or 20 hours (3g mostly running). I will post screenshots to prove it (I just unplugged), but first, I would like to see if anyone would be able to volunteer to try this out for themselves on their stock EVOs. (I'm running rooted, custom rom with some other stuff, so I want to see if these results will work on stock)

First caveat: I'm rooted (Toast method) and running a custom ROM (RvU 1.3.2). This lowers the CPU overall and has a number of battery tweaks built in.

Second caveat: I ran the Bugless Bloat Apps Removal Tool V0.3. This removes all the extra nonsense that Sprint and HTC have installed that keeps starting up in the background on its own.


With that said, I wanted to find out if the following configuration choices will help anyone who is running stock Evo's.

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I'll start with some real-world, tried and true tested ways to make sure you're not using what you don't need when you don't need to use it. These aren't Battery Voodoo steps, these are just things you can do to improve your battery performance. The Voodoo will be later. These steps are for 3g, folks. 4g sucks battery life, so that's that. Keep 4g off unless you're plugged in or craving rapid battery discharge.

1. Update your radio!
-> Menu > Settings > System Updates > Update PRL

2. Turn off Always-on Mobile Data!
-> Menu > Settings > Mobile networks > Uncheck "Enable always-on mobile data"

3. Disable Google Talk on start! (It's enabled and always on by default)
-> Start up the Talk application. Then, Menu > More > Settings > uncheck "Automatically sign in"

4. Turn off Live Wallpaper.
-> Menu > Wallpaper > Choose anything but "Live wallpapers"

5. Put the "Power Control" widget on your home screen and USE IT. Make a habit of it.
-> Cut screen brightness to HALF. In total darkness, cut it completely.
-> When you're done with GPS, turn it off.
-> When you're done with bluetooth, turn it off.
-> If you're near a wireless network and don't need 3G, TURN WIFI ON (wifi connected to a network uses less battery than 3g)
-> Keep Auto-sync (refresh) off. Only use the Auto-sync refresh data option when you really, really, really want to A. waste battery life, or B. you are plugged in.

These steps should give you a noticeable improvement in the life of your battery. Guaranteed! But, the improvement will be based on how well you managed Step 5 and how often you use your phone. It is subjective, because you're a unique and wonderful person who has free will. Now for some Voodoo!

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THE DR. EVO BATTERY VOODOO

I'm going to start with the things that made my battery life last noticeably longer. Do all of the steps above, then do these. If you don't do the steps above, these won't matter one lick. And even if you do the steps above, these might not work for you because it is, after all, voodoo.

Overclock Widget!

1. Install Unrevoked.
-> A. Navigate to Menu > Settings > Applications > checkmark "Unknown Sources"
-> B. Browse to this website: unrevoked. Install Unrevoked.

2. Go to the Market and install OverclockWidget

3. Add the widget to your home screen.
-> Click the "+" > Widget > OverclockWidget

4. Run the Overclock Widget

5. Click "Allow" when the Unrevoked Superuser Request pops up.

6. Ignore the first Overclock! screen. It's not important. Neither is the number that displays on your widget icon. It never will be.

7. Click Advanced Settings
-> A. Leave everything under "Screen On Freq Setting" as it is.
-> B. Checkmark "Differ Freq Screen Off"
-> C. Set BOTH the Min and the Max for "Screen Off Freq Setting" to "Clock:245000"
-> D. Set the Update Interval under Advanced to 60
-> E. Checkmark "Use your frequencies"
-> F. Checkmark "Auto start on boot"
-> G. CLICK SAVE
-> H. Power off your phone. Then power it back on.

Now this next one seems to have been the biggest help to me. I have tried running this without Overclock and saw poor results. I have also tried running Overclock without this and saw poor results. The two need to be used together.

Sweet Dreams!

1. Go to the Market and install "Sweet Dreams"
2. Run it.
3. Click "Settings"

On the General tab:
-> Change Ring Mode to "No action"
-> Turn "Disable Wifi" On
-> Turn "Disable Bluetooth" On
-> Turn "Disable Data 3g/EDGE/GPRS" On
-> Turn "Screen turns off" On
---
-> Set Sleep Time to 00:00
-> Set Wake Up Time to 00:01
-> Checkmark every day of the week
---
-> Set "Checking interval" to 15
-> Turn "Show Notifications" Off
-> Turn "Display introduction" Off

---
On the Location tab
-> Turn "Activate filter" Off

---
On the Motion tab
-> Turn "Activate filter" On
-> Set "Sensitivity" to Medium
-> Set "Wake Up Once" Off

---
On the Sound tab
-> Turn "Activate filter" Off

---
-> Click Back on your phone and then click the "Enable" button. (***If you power off your phone and power it back on, you need to do this last step again. There is no Auto Start

----That's it!----

If any of you try this voodoo, please let me know your results. Start at a 100% charge. You should see that 1st percentage point take quite a while to drop down.. and a much slower discharge rate overall. Good luck!

 

[ArtGuy]

Well my EVO won't be in till next week, but I will try your suggestions immediately. I'll let you know how it works.

So did you do all of this in conjunction with the recommended battery charge "on/off" routine, or without?

Thanks for posting this - looking forward to the screen grabs.

 

[Deleted User]

OCWidget is unnecessary. Android scales down the CPU by itself. You can even watch it in action if you download System Panel.

 

[clambert1273]

question please *raises hand*

I have turned my wifi on at home (good speeds) but it seems I drained equally as fast while playing my games.. that could just be the games but was just curious as to how it is less?

I don't have a problem doing it just haven't seen a real difference with mine but I haven't experienced huge battery issues either.

 

[Cicatrize]

This all will definitely work, but you're losing a lot of great features. All I did was fully root and install Fresh 0.2 and I'm at 78% after 4 hours unplugged. Normally I'd be at 40-60% now.

 

[ArtGuy]

This all will definitely work, but you're losing a lot of great features. All I did was fully root and install Fresh 0.2 and I'm at 78% after 4 hours unplugged. Normally I'd be at 40-60% now.

Not being familiar with all of the acronyms listed here, what features are we sacrificing by implementing these recommended changes?

Thanks!

 

[Biggest Fro]

This all will definitely work, but you're losing a lot of great features. All I did was fully root and install Fresh 0.2 and I'm at 78% after 4 hours unplugged. Normally I'd be at 40-60% now.

No, you aren't losing anything.

You are simply turning some things off (GPS, Mobile Network, etc) when you are not using them.

If your not using Navigation, then why do you need GPS running? It's a waste of battery.

Not being familiar with all of the acronyms listed here, what features are we sacrificing by implementing these recommended changes?

Thanks!

Read what I said above, you aren't really losing them. You just take the time to click a widget on your home screen to turn them off when not in use. Kinda like turning out a light when leaving a room. Or turning off the TV when you leave your house. One little button push will save you energy.

 

[Bek]

Hey, I think you forgot an important step. You forgot that for all of this Voodoo to work, you must sacrifice an iPhone to the gods. It must be placed on a cinder block and smashed to pieces with a sledgehammer, while chanting "GOO-GLE" ten times.

Seriously tho, nice write-up. Thanks for taking the time to share that, and hopefully it will help some others out who have been experiencing battery issues.

 

[Dr.Evo]

Well my EVO won't be in till next week, but I will try your suggestions immediately. I'll let you know how it works.

So did you do all of this in conjunction with the recommended battery charge "on/off" routine, or without?

Thanks for posting this - looking forward to the screen grabs.

I tried the battery on/off routine with it and without it. I think the on/off thing is a placebo. I really didn't notice any difference. So then I researched the concept of "cell balancing" or "battery equalization". First of all, the entire concept is theoretical. Secondly, it requires circuitry in the battery and in the equipment used to do the balancing. I don't believe it can be achieved through a manual process, at least not effectively.

 

[Dr.Evo]

OCWidget is unnecessary. Android scales down the CPU by itself. You can even watch it in action if you download System Panel.

Yes Android scales the CPU by itself. I found that using OC in addition to Android scaling has helped my battery life. If this voodoo technique doesn't work for you, so be it! I believe!

 

[Dr.Evo]

question please *raises hand*

I have turned my wifi on at home (good speeds) but it seems I drained equally as fast while playing my games.. that could just be the games but was just curious as to how it is less?

I don't have a problem doing it just haven't seen a real difference with mine but I haven't experienced huge battery issues either.

I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the games because they're more CPU intensive, and the screen being on longer. The long story short, is that no one step will improve your battery percentage. It is a gentle sculpting process of several steps. Some will be right for the way you use your phone, others wont.

Battery life versus performance versus features you want. It's all a trade-off

 

[Dr.Evo]

This all will definitely work, but you're losing a lot of great features. All I did was fully root and install Fresh 0.2 and I'm at 78% after 4 hours unplugged. Normally I'd be at 40-60% now.

Well - I wrote this up for stock EVOs to try out.. I'm seeing benefits with a rooted & rommed phone PLUS these steps. I'm hoping that the voodoo I have here does the same for STOCK as it does for us. (PS - 3 hours - 88%)

 

[Bek]

I'm pretty sure it's a combination of the games because they're more CPU intensive, and the screen being on longer. The long story short, is that no one step will improve your battery percentage. It is a gentle sculpting process of several steps. Some will be right for the way you use your phone, others wont.

Battery life versus performance versus features you want. It's all a trade-off

If you really want to get deeper into historical analysis of what your phone is doing, go grab SystemPanel Lite and set up background monitoring. With that, you can see what processes are sucking down CPU at what point in time. While it'll take some time and detective work, it will help you identify 3rd party apps or poorly configured stock apps that may also be contributing to your poor battery experiences.

 

[Dr.Evo]

No, you aren't losing anything.

You are simply turning some things off (GPS, Mobile Network, etc) when you are not using them.

If your not using Navigation, then why do you need GPS running? It's a waste of battery.



Read what I said above, you aren't really losing them. You just take the time to click a widget on your home screen to turn them off when not in use. Kinda like turning out a light when leaving a room. Or turning off the TV when you leave your house. One little button push will save you energy.

The only thing I found as a down-side is that data networks are powered down when Sweet Dreams thinks the phone is idle. If you like listening to streaming online music, pandora, or news, this could be considered a loss for you.

 

[QuesoGrande]

I'm getting a full day's use out of mine with only one tweak... I have turned off roaming. Literally have done nothing else. Google Talk is always on because I use it. I have latitude running. Same with WIFI, GPS, etc. Only other thing that's turned off is Bluetooth because I don't use it.... so I never turned it on.
Granted, it's no 40 hours, but I charge every night, so a day is good for me.

 

[Dr.Evo]

I'm getting a full day's use out of mine with only one tweak... I have turned off roaming. Literally have done nothing else. Google Talk is always on because I use it. I have latitude running. Same with WIFI, GPS, etc. Only other thing that's turned off is Bluetooth because I don't use it.... so I never turned it on.
Granted, it's no 40 hours, but I charge every night, so a day is good for me.

I Just may have to add this to my list! I still have Roaming turned on. But I never use it, so why bother. It might take me to 50 hours I'll test after my next charge.

 

[Headcase_Fargone]

I can't seem to find a definitive answer on what turning off Always-On Mobile Data does. Lots of forums are asking the same question but no one seems to know.

 

[QuesoGrande]

I Just may have to add this to my list! I still have Roaming turned on. But I never use it, so why bother. It might take me to 50 hours I'll test after my next charge.

Definitely try it. It made a pretty big difference for me. It was actually a recommendation from Sprint. It was on their web site or tweeted.. can't remember exactly.

 

[Dr.Evo]

I can't seem to find a definitive answer on what turning off Always-On Mobile Data does. Lots of forums are asking the same question but no one seems to know.

Always on mobile data is for data push. This means when the mobile data connection is idle, it is technically still in a listening state and it can still receive a data notification from a server. It's used by Gmail, Talk, Imap and others.. Think of it as receiving a text message, but for data consuming applications.

 

[clambert1273]

ohhh well I want that on LOL

 

[kencrudup]

TURN WIFI ON (wifi connected to a network uses less battery than 3g)

This contradicts everything I've ever seen (and designed), however. You sure about this?

 

[RagingSamster]

Nice post, but the poster seems vaguely familiar.

Will rooting the phone adversely affect your ability to get HTC updates in the future?

 

[lopezpm]

This contradicts everything I've ever seen (and designed), however. You sure about this?

You would think, but first time I heard of this was in the Precentral forums. Your phone works less hard when you have a good wifi signal then if it's searching for a good cell service. I'll see if I can find a better explanation, the one I'm thinking of came from Palm.

 

[Dr.Evo]

This contradicts everything I've ever seen (and designed), however. You sure about this?

Absolutely. Connected wifi is much better on battery than connected 3g

 

[lopezpm]

Nice post, but the poster seems vaguely familiar.

LOL, and your both around 30 something posts.