Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
rickwhoo
Newbie

Read this

 

In response to the vast amount of questions regarding Task Killers, I find this to be a valuable article/video in making a determination in whether or not to use a task killer on 'auto-kill' or manually killing apps just because they're open. A task killer is meant to shut down unresponsive apps, not EVERYTHING open.

Good explanation of how the Android OS is designed to handle applications.

Make your decision from there

PLEASE READ THIS!!!


*quick cut 
In response to the vast amount of questions regarding Task Killers, I find this to be a valuable article/video in making a determination in whether or not to use a task killer on 'auto-kill' or manually killing apps just because they're open. A task killer is meant to shut down unresponsive apps, not EVERYTHING open.

Good explanation of how the Android OS is designed to handle applications.

Make your decision from there
PLEASE READ THIS!!!

SystemPanel Documentation | android.nextapp.com (smalltowngirl13 posted @ DxF, but I wanted to put it here as well)

*quick cut & paste from the link*
from the developer who designed System Panel.


" Please read this section FIRST. There are a great many misconceptions about how Android works with regard to
starting and stopping applications.

How to Use a Task Manager
Android was designed from the ground up as an operating system (OS) for mobile devices. Its built-in application and memory-management systems were engineered with battery life as one of the most critical concerns.
The Android OS does not work like a desktop operating system. On a desktop OS, like Windows, Mac OS X, or Ubuntu Linux, the user is responsible for closing programs in order to keep a reasonable amount of memory available. On Android, this is not the case. The OS itself automatically removes programs from memory as memory is needed. The OS may also preload applications into memory which it thinks might soon be needed.
Having lots of available empty memory is not a good thing. It takes the same amount of power to hold "nothing" in memory as it does to hold actual data. So, like every other operating system in use today, Android does its best to keep as much important/likely-to-be-used information in memory as possible.
As such, using the task manager feature of SystemPanel to constantly clear memory by killing all apps is strongly NOT RECOMMENDED. This also applies to any other task killer / management program. Generally speaking, you should only "End" applications if you see one which is not working correctly. The "End All" feature can be used if your phone/device is performing poorly and you are uncertain of the cause.

Process Types
The SystemPanel process listing groups applications into three categories: "Active", "Inactive", and "Internal":
  • Active applications are actually running at the present time on the device. An active application may be running in the background and not have any information currently displayed on the screen.
  • Inactive applications have been preloaded into memory, but are not actually using up any system resources. Such applications will not consume any battery power whatsoever. The memory used by these applications can be immediately reclaimed should other applications require it. As such, there is no need to manually remove these applications, as you will see no tangible benefit from doing so.
  • Internal applications are those which are part of the Android operating system itself. Some of these applications may be terminated manually, but they will be immediately restarted afterward by the OS."
from the developer who designed System Panel.

" Please read this section FIRST. There are a great many misconceptions about how Android works with regard to
starting and stopping applications.

How to Use a Task Manager
Android was designed from the ground up as an operating system (OS) for mobile devices. Its built-in application and memory-management systems were engineered with battery life as one of the most critical concerns.
The Android OS does not work like a desktop operating system. On a desktop OS, like Windows, Mac OS X, or Ubuntu Linux, the user is responsible for closing programs in order to keep a reasonable amount of memory available. On Android, this is not the case. The OS itself automatically removes programs from memory as memory is needed. The OS may also preload applications into memory which it thinks might soon be needed.
Having lots of available empty memory is not a good thing. It takes the same amount of power to hold "nothing" in memory as it does to hold actual data. So, like every other operating system in use today, Android does its best to keep as much important/likely-to-be-used information in memory as possible.
As such, using the task manager feature of SystemPanel to constantly clear memory by killing all apps is strongly NOT RECOMMENDED. This also applies to any other task killer / management program. Generally speaking, you should only "End" applications if you see one which is not working correctly. The "End All" feature can be used if your phone/device is performing poorly and you are uncertain of the cause.

Process Types
The SystemPanel process listing groups applications into three categories: "Active", "Inactive", and "Internal":
  • Active applications are actually running at the present time on the device. An active application may be running in the background and not have any information currently displayed on the screen.
  • Inactive applications have been preloaded into memory, but are not actually using up any system resources. Such applications will not consume any battery power whatsoever. The memory used by these applications can be immediately reclaimed should other applications require it. As such, there is no need to manually remove these applications, as you will see no tangible benefit from doing so.
  • Internal applications are those which are part of the Android operating system itself. Some of these applications may be terminated manually, but they will be immediately restarted afterward by the OS."
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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
crb79
Specialist - Level 2

 

Something just doesn't seem right.  Your email won't check for new emails automatically if you have it set for manual push.

 

Just for the heck of it, try out a free app called battery E.T.A.  It will show you your discharge rate and an expected time of 0% battery.  With this you can play with some settings and watch the discharge rate and see if you can get it to cut itself down.

 

Have you tried to old charging trick where you charge to 100% (4.23v) with the phone on, then turn it off and connect it to the charger again until you get the fully charged notice, then back on and charge it again?  I haven't done this on the X, but I remember it helping extend the life on my old WinMo phones.

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
LoydroidX
Contributor - Level 3

crb79 wrote:

 

Something just doesn't seem right.  Your email won't check for new emails automatically if you have it set for manual push.

 I don't have it set for manual push...it just pushes.  I get all my emails immediately or at most within 15 minutes or so of them hitting the email server.  This is particularly important for my work email.  It's my understanding that when an email hits the server it is "pushed" to my phone.  Or does the phone really go out to the server on a regular basis to check for any mail?  (That sounds more like "pulling" or "polling").

Just for the heck of it, try out a free app called battery E.T.A.  It will show you your discharge rate and an expected time of 0% battery.  With this you can play with some settings and watch the discharge rate and see if you can get it to cut itself down.

I checked out the reviews, and saw several comments about it being a "battery hog".  I'll see how the battery does tomorrow, and maybe try out ETA after that.  I did have a battery monitor app on my phone (until the tech removed it tonight) and it had a graphical presentation of how the battery was discharging.  It was dropping almost 10% per hour. 

 

Have you tried to old charging trick where you charge to 100% (4.23v) with the phone on, then turn it off and connect it to the charger again until you get the fully charged notice, then back on and charge it again?  I haven't done this on the X, but I remember it helping extend the life on my old WinMo phones.

Never heard of this, but I'll give it a try.  Thanks C!


 

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
crb79
Specialist - Level 2

I wouldn't leave the ETA app running full-time, I'd just use it for gauging battery draw in real-time.   I believe it has a one or two minute offset to update the battery draw.  I just figured if you want to play around with settings and find one that shows the best results, this will give you nearly immediate analysis of the impact on saving your battery rather than having to run the settings all day to get the results.

 

As for the Push/Poll, yes a Push is sent directly from the email server to your phone in real-time.  A Poll is your device checking the email server periodically.

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
LoydroidX
Contributor - Level 3

crb79 wrote:

 

As for the Push/Poll, yes a Push is sent directly from the email server to your phone in real-time.  A Poll is your device checking the email server periodically.


Since all my emails are set for Push, I wouldn't think it would be a big battery draw, would it?  I picture it like me sitting at home and the mail carrier brings my mail to me - it would take no energy for me to get my mail.  I don't have to run out to the post office every hour or so to see if I have mail - which would require a lot of energy. 

So, I'm not sure I believe the tech when he said my email accounts are "constantly" running in the background, searching for mail. 

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
wheel
Newbie

This battery issue is very similiar to what I was experiencing several months ago.  I was using black wallpaper, display set to 0, no email push, all manual, no gps, no wifi, screen timeout after 30 seconds, custom battery saver mode.  You woule think I would get excellent battery usage, never made it an entire day.  I woke up one night and noticed my screen was glowing, very dim, but it was definitely glowing.  I would press the power button to bring the screen on, then turn off again.  I then noticed it several  nights later.

I posted this in the forum and a Verizon employee emailed me that it was definitely abnormal and to contact verizon for a replacement.  Two days later I had a new DX and now using the same strategy, I usually get two days or more on a charge.

 

Not sure what the glowing was all about, but that was really draining my battery.

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
crb79
Specialist - Level 2

 


wheel wrote:

This battery issue is very similiar to what I was experiencing several months ago.  I was using black wallpaper, display set to 0, no email push, all manual, no gps, no wifi, screen timeout after 30 seconds, custom battery saver mode.  You woule think I would get excellent battery usage, never made it an entire day.  I woke up one night and noticed my screen was glowing, very dim, but it was definitely glowing.  I would press the power button to bring the screen on, then turn off again.  I then noticed it several  nights later.

I posted this in the forum and a Verizon employee emailed me that it was definitely abnormal and to contact verizon for a replacement.  Two days later I had a new DX and now using the same strategy, I usually get two days or more on a charge.

 

Not sure what the glowing was all about, but that was really draining my battery.


I think you may be onto something here.  I was thinking this may have been an issue but it was never described.

 

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
wheel
Newbie

I was unable to see the glowing during daylight, so it was definitely killing my battery.  It was a strange glow, the screen was black and it appeared the glow was coming from around the back of the screen.  I am glad I woke up in a dark room and noticed it.

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
crb79
Specialist - Level 2

It's the back light, my phone has done this a couple of times, but sorted itself after a battery pull reset.  It happened to me a couple of months ago I noticed it because I sleep in total darkness and it came on in the middle of the night after I got an email and didn't turn off when the screen did.

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Re: Continued Battery Issues - Help!
LoydroidX
Contributor - Level 3
I haven't noticed a glow at night, but I have noticed sometimes when I unplug the phone in the morning after charging overnight, the screen does sometimes glow dimly.

I'm actually at the Verizon store right now, waiting to see a tech. Battery today was a bit worse today.
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