Help System Panel(full version)......How to read?

[kkwus74]

Just curious as how you guys are reading system panel.What is an acceptable level for an application draining the battery?...

 

[EarlyMon]

Just curious as how you guys are reading system panel.What is an acceptable level for an application draining the battery?...

Not being a smart alek, but to me that's a little like how many notes should go into a song.

The more intensively an app uses resources, the more it's going to drain the battery.

One app I noticed on the Market last night, for example, is strictly to turn your phone into strobe light at parties - with the firm warning that it will drain your battery in no time flat.

I *think* the intention of System Panel (or similar tools) is to let you ferret out suspicious processes so that you can either change how you're using them or to sample a equivalent/replacement and see if that suits you better.

I bow in advance to someone with a better answer - I am far from an expert in Android.

 

[kkwus74]

obvioulsy i know what the intention of system panel is....thats why i bought it.what i would like to know is like you said 'suspicious' activity......what do you consider that???.......is a 3% cpu usage considered draining the battery while 2% is not???...get what imtrying to get at?......im not sure how to read it......thats why im asking......

 

[EarlyMon]

obvioulsy i know what the intention of system panel is....thats why i bought it.what i would like to know is like you said 'suspicious' activity......what do you consider that???.......is a 3% cpu usage considered draining the battery while 2% is not???...get what imtrying to get at?......im not sure how to read it......thats why im asking......

Like I said, I wasn't trying to be a smartalek, meaning that and that neither am I taking you for a noob or a dweeb - just didn't know your familiarity level right off. That said...

Things with low cpu use numbers such as you describe seem quite normal - but I find it's helpful to use Spare Parts in conjuction with System Panel (maybe because I'm still using free versions).

System Panel tells me that my active wallpaper is using an average of 0.9% CPU - and using the stock battery stuff tells me that's at about 2% overall - but Spare Parts often tells me that it's one of my top aggregate-use CPU hogs.

What we really want here is an app that runs like bsd top (top -o cpu), in my opinion, giving an output that dynamically shows the apps sorted in cpu use order as they run.

I note the Evo CPU speeds up as it does more - I'd like to be able to see ALL resources being used, by app, as that happens.

Now - the short answer as to how I look for suspicious activity - I don't look at CPU% - I look at overall CPU time with respect to how long I've been running the app - because that's the CPU% seems to be reporting in System Panel - total app uptime divided by CPU time.

So, if I look at just percentages, it doesn't show me what I need to know.

My wallpapers have used 1.1% since I started writing - 2 minutes of CPU time - but running for 3.5 hours.

Compass used 1.2% - by running for 46 seconds in 1 hour.

YouTube just used 1% (and it wasn't in the background) just running for a few minutes, just now.

From experience, I know YouTube is a battery hog.

Things scale closely sometimes - but not perfectly.

I can't tell if I'm helping or babbling at this point!!!

I look suspiciously at anything over 1 or 2%, if that's any answer.

 

[kkwus74]

Thanks for taking the time to write this reply.....i really appreciate it as its given me some understanding as to what to look out for.....again......Much appreciated

 

[EarlyMon]

Hey - we're all in this together!

 

[JSS12]

Hey all,

So I finally got the full version of System Panel.

After about 2 days of monitering I have found that my top apps that hog battery are:

1) System Processes 1.8%
2) HomerunBattle3D 1.8% (just got full version and slightly addicted)
3) System 1.4%
4) android.process.acore 1.2%
5) com.htc.bg 0.4%

then come all my widgets that take up 0.2% or less

Anyone know if this is ok or if I should be doing something or if I am doing something wrong??


Also, I have noticed that on just about a constant basis my MEMORY (not storage) has about 80-85% USED with all the SH*T running in the background, is this a problem??

THANKS!!

 

[Ebbe]

I have tried, without success, to get the full version. How did you manage to get it?

 

[kamikazekyle]

Those CPU usage percentages seem about right. I listen to a lot of music and videos, so my Media Server uses soemthing like 5-10% of my total CPU time on average. My system processes are usually in the top five.

In SystemPanel with monitoring active, it can show you when a process was using CPU and how much. That's usually a solid indication of a rogue app/process, especially when used with total CPU time. Were you using the app pretty heavy at 2pm and the monitoring indicates that the CPU was pegged for that app only during that time, then you're good. If the CPU stays high even if you're not using the app and it shouldn't be doing anything intensive in the background, then that can indicate something amiss.

As a semi-related note, if you're looking specifically for battery drain, CPU use is only one aspect to look at. Like EarlyMon said, SpareParts (or even the Battery Use applet in the About settings area) are usually better for determining battery drain than raw CPU use.

To put it simply, it's all about looking at the pieces to make the whole puzzle rather than taking each piece as a final picture.

Memory wise, don't worry about it. Android will cache and then boot out old processes to free up memory as you need it. Lots of things are running in the background to provide quicker response to said apps, even if you haven't actually loaded them. But again, Android will end them when needed.

For purchasing the program...um...I can't be sure on that one. I found it in the market and bought it like any other program. Without any errors I can't say why the purchase wouldn't go through. You can verify your payment options on the web with google accounts if you're having problems with entering payment info directly in the market.

 

[novox77]

As a semi-related note, if you're looking specifically for battery drain, CPU use is only one aspect to look at. Like EarlyMon said, SpareParts (or even the Battery Use applet in the About settings area) are usually better for determining battery drain than raw CPU use.

Absolutely. Radio use is not shown on the System Panel history charts. So you can see no CPU usage but still have horrible battery life if the phone's radio is being used frequently. And by radio, I mean any sort of wireless transmission: phone, data, GPS, 4g, etc. Some of these types of radio use correspond to an increase in CPU, but not always, especially cell standby and phone idle.