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Root Battery life: possible improvement, Commando

Rafael

Android Enthusiast
Nov 13, 2009
522
72
Virginia Beach, VA
I have been going hog-wild removing apps since I rooted my Casio Commando.

The last three things I removed have made a HUGE difference in power usage.
My battery is normally down to 30 percent or less when I arrive home after a full work day(7:30AM to about 5:30PM).....without charging it since I grabbed the phone off the cradle in the morning. It is often less than 20 percent.

I pulled it off the cradle at 7:30AM and it is now a bit after 10PM.
The battery is at 52 percent. This is a huge improvement.
No other changes have made a noticeable difference until now.
I used the phone normally all day, and ran quite a few benchmarks throughout the day. Played a few rounds of Solitaire....as usual.

I also noticed that "Android System" now accounts for a smaller percentage of power consumed since unplugged in the "Battery Use" tool in the "About phone" menu.

Removal of the following seems to have improved my battery life:
DRM Protected Storage
PVMtpServiceStart 1.0
PVWmdrmService 1.0

I don't know if anyone else is interested in testing this but I would be interested in hearing the results!
 
As I understand it:
DRM Protected Storage is a service that runs to ensure that movies and such are legal to display....that you have license to do so.
PVMtpServiceStart 1.0 some have attruted this to Blockbuster, some don't agree.
PVWmdrmService 1.0

Most agree that these have to do with Digital Rights Management.
I am very much against using any material without proper licensing, but I am fully capable of monitoring myself and do not feel the need to have my battery drained to keep me from doing that which I refuse to do anyway. There is not one single unlicensed piece of digital media or intellectual property on any of my machines or in my posession..... my friends think I am manic about it. :)

I cannot prove, for sure, that these are battery hogs. This is partly why I was hoping others would give it a whirl and report back.
 
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Ken,

I have done everything in the post you linked to and I am using the Powerful Control widget purchased from the Amazon Appstore to manually control my data connection. The Powerful Control widget is the only widget I have found that actually turns the data on & off with one tap. All the others I have found are a shortcut to the data settings with an excuse that Android won't allow direct data control with a widget.

Between removing those apps, keeping data and the GPS off the phone averages 75%-80% of battery left after a 24 hour shift. I make and take several calls a day and I send & receive a few text messages. I usually take the phone off the charger when I go to work, work my shift, and then work my side job the next day before I can get to the charger. The battery has yet to go dead with routinely 36-40 hours of use between charges, unless I do alot on the internet.

I don't need instant notification of incoming email and I don't need my phone to know it's exact location every moment of the day. What I do need is long battery life and these three things have provided me with that flawlessly.
 
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rjglen.
It seems we have similar needs for our phones, a few months ago I was out 12 to 16 hours a day delivering equipment for a local dealer and burning through 2100 minutes of talk a month (used 5 days a week), sometimes 60 phone calls in a day. I came from a Motorola Barrage and had done research on the Commando. I knew it was a little thirsty, but I was still surprised at how fast the battery went away. I'm not delivering equipment now and only using about half as much talk time. Who knows I may need that much talk time at some point in the future and of course I need to live with this phone for next 2 years. I have about 10 days left that I can return this phone for something else. I like the phone, available apps related to my work and the convince of internet access. I think with the help of the good folks on this forum I can tweak it to my needs. Thanks for taking time to reply to my post.

Ken
 
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If you are considering returning the phone don't root it and remove apps just yet. There's always the risk of deleting something while neglecting to back it up and then they might notice if something is missing. They won't send it back if they reject it, they'll just not refund your money. Run it with the data turned off and see how it goes. You don't need a fancy widget for this, just go to settings>Wireless & Networks>Mobile Networks and uncheck the Data enabled box.

That was the big difference to me. Yes, deleting the bloat helped, but turning off the data made a significant difference - like going from 16-20 hours to 30-40 hours. My phone has been off charge since 5:30 AM today. The phone has been on battery for about 14 1/2 hours. I've had to check email more than usual today, I've used about 70 minutes of talk time and I played solitaire for about an hour. I'm at 85%. Before I started manipulating the data connection I would be at about 20% with identical usage except I would not have played solitaire for an hour because I would have been worried about the battery.
 
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rjglen,
I'm about 99% sure I'll keep my Commando. I guess I feel a little guilty, I started with a Motorola Startac years ago and I have only owned Motorola products since. I considered the new Droid Razr, but if I'm going have a smart phone I think the Commando is a better choice for my needs. For some reason I get a thrill out of keygens, cracked and hacked software so I'm very anxious to root my phone and remove the bloat ware. I'm going to hold off a while just to be sure I'm satisfied with this phone. I have experimented with turning off the 3G and you are correct is does makes a big difference in battery life.

Ken
 
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