Jump to content

[23/07/2013][ICS] Eco CM9 - aiming for stability and battery efficiency


Guest jventura

Recommended Posts

Guest jventura

One of my main concerns with a phone (being it smart or not), besides that it should do what it is supposed to do, most importantly, it should have battery when you need to make a call, or send a text message. With my first cell phones, I could do about a week on battery with some calls and sms. With a modern smartphone, even with minimal usage, sometimes you won't get more than 2 days. But nowadays we tend to use the phone for more than phone calls and sms.

So my main goal with this topic is to share some ideas regarding improving battery efficiency and ROM stability. Also, I pretend to share some of my CM9 self-builds which are supposed to be pretty stable and thoroughly tested. So, here you won't find state-of-the-art builds (like Coldfusion or KonstaT's builds), but builds which are more stock CM9 and patched with (or without) everything possible to make it more battery-wise.

My main motivation is that I am maintaining 3 ZTE Blades in the family: mine, my sister's and my girlfriend's phones. As "my" girls do not understand much about Androids and the like, I need them to have something stable, but also (almost) state-of-the-art.

post-820116-0-14245000-1356308156_thumb. post-820116-0-10833500-1356308418_thumb.post-820116-0-21054500-1356308174_thumb. post-820116-0-97180100-1356308181_thumb.

Details:

Edited by jventura
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

23/07/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/YESN0H1QSO)

  • Fixes Masterkey bug
  • Synced with CM9 repository

    11/05/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/CRDE9TT342)
    • Fix connection to Wifi Ad-Hoc networks
    • Barcode scanner
    • Panorama
    • Weather in lock screen (fixed upstream in CM9)

      27/03/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/XXE7YYXX7M)
      • Updated Effem (FM Radio application) (by Daemond)
      • Fix FM off when other streams are active (by Daemond)
      • Add sd-ext directory (thanks to C3CO)

        24/03/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/3Y8U16B6EU)
        • Updated Effem (FM Radio application)

          20/03/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/5E6CQOC6DV)
          • Effem (FM Radio application) - Thanks to Daemond

            14/03/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/0JI0HBU5IY)
            • Synced with CM9 repositories
            • Fm Radio - Thanks to Daemond
            • Fix Youtube Force Closes on big videos - Thanks to C3C0
            • Animation and Transitions default to 0.5x

              30/01/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/GM8DDIMP24)
              • Synced with CM9 repositories
              • Use 16bpp formats and surface-format (1) - Credits to Daemond

                27/01/2013 (http://www.multiupload.nl/0Z4YSZPO4D)

                • Synced with CM9 repositories
                • Fixed Audio Routing [1]
                • Fixed Alignment and copy size for QCOM_LEGACY_OMX [2]
                • (Both fixes by Daemond)

                17/12/2012 (http://www.multiupload.nl/GNP9IVXJWQ)

                [*]Synced with CM9 repositories

                [*]Fixed Youtube HD and Video Player on Gallery (Ganster's patches at [1])

                [*]Fixed Video Thumbnails on Gallery (gntcs patch at [2] - And a little help from KonstaT)

                [*]Removed Trebuchet Wallpapers

                [*]Added CMFileManager from CM10 (latest sync)

                [*]Update proprietary files (from KonstaT's github)

                13/11/2012 (http://www.multiupload.nl/C5H581KDES)

                [*]Synced with CM9 repositories

                [*]Mms auto-retrieval

                [*]Eco Wallpapers

                10/10/2012 (http://www.multiupload.nl/VGLLXVRCAD)

                [*]Synced with CM9 repositories

                28/08/2012

                [*]Synced with CM9 repositories

                22/07/2012

                [*]Synced with CM9 repositories

                [*]Added Email option to allow untrusted attachments

                03/07/2012

                [*]First release

                [*]Synced with CM9 repositories

                [*]Fixed battery drainage when user receives an MMS with data-connection switched off

Edited by jventura
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

Hints and Tips for more battery efficiency:

With the following tips, I'm getting about 4 days of battery with a minimal to medium usage: 30 min/day calls, 5-10 sms, check the mails in the morning, 30-40 minutes/day playing Sudoku, and not much more.

  1. Disable auto-rotation in the User Interface. With auto-rotation on, the Gsensor is always powered and draws too much battery. It seems that the open-source drivers for the sensors are using the compass instead of the real GSensor. I'm not completely sure about the drivers, so, instead of auto-rotation always on, add the switch to auto-rotate to the power widget in the notification area and switch it on only when you need it.
  2. Use smartassv2 governor, at least theoretically seems more battery-wise.
  3. Use the automatic brightness feature. I've tested it alot, and without it, you cannot notice the differences in ambient light, and you can save a lot of power.
  4. 2G with data-connection off saves also a lot of power. There is a problem with battery drainage while receiving Mms in CM9 when data-connection is off, but it is fixed in this ROM.

My phone is still draining too much battery, what can I do:

  • Is your phone deep-sleeping? When you press the power button and set the phone aside, it enters a low power state (called deep sleep) where only the radio part is being powered. When the radio part receives a confirmation for a call or an sms, it awakes the CPU and bumps Android to respond to that request. In the ZTE Blade you can confirm that your phone deep sleeps if, while the phone is screen off, you press any button in the keypad, and the phone does not switch on. If it switches on consistently, it is not deep sleeping when it should.
  • Another way of checking for deep sleep problems is to go to Settings > Battery > "Touch the graphic", and see if the "Awake" blue bar is consistently or intermittently on. It should be equal to the screen blue bar and once in a while while the screen is off.
  • Also, check in Settings > Battery if you can detect an application consuming too much battery. Uninstall it and contact the developer if it is consistently on the top of that list, when it rarely used, for instance..

    Build Instructions (Adapted from KonstaT's CM10.1 instructions)


  1. Follow instructions on initializing a build environment up to a point of downloading the source code.

  2. Initialize CyanogenMod 9 repo.
    repo init -u git://github.com/CyanogenMod/android.git -b ics
  3. Create a file local_manifest.xml in .repo/local_manifests/ folder with the following content
    
    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    
    <manifest>
    
        <project name="joaoventura/android_device_zte_blade" path="device/zte/blade" revision="ics" />
    
        <project name="joaoventura/proprietary_vendor_zte_blade" path="vendor/zte/blade" revision="ics" />
    
        <project name="joaoventura/zte-kernel-msm7x27" path="kernel/zte/zte-kernel-msm7x27" revision="ics" />
    
        <project name="joaoventura/EcoWallpapers" path="packages/apps/EcoWallpapers" revision="master" />
    
        <project name="grigorig/android_packages_apps_Effem" path="packages/apps/Effem" revision="master" />
    
    </manifest>
    
    [/code]
  4. Get CM9 source code
    [code]repo sync -d -j16[/code]
  5. Update Terminal Emulator (just once in a while)
    [CODE] cd path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/vendor/cm/ ./get-prebuilts [/code]
  6. Change your CM9 base folder in the apply_patches script. Open [b]path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/device/zte/blade/patches/apply_patches.sh[/b] with a text editor and change the following line to your [b]path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/[/b]
    [code] # Set here the base location of your cyanogenmod files BASE_PATH=~/android/cm9 [/code]
  7. Apply the patches which fixes some of the CM9 problems for our ZTE Blade. Every time you resync (step 4), you will have to reapply the patches.
    [code] cd path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/ device/zte/blade/patches/apply_patches.sh [/code]
  8. Compile the ROM
    [code] cd path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/ . build/envsetup.sh && lunch cm_blade-userdebug make bacon -j8 [/code]


Edited by jventura
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest rena14

I have a problem man with all CM9 I've tested

The thing it's that qhen I'm using an app and I close it the launcher (ProLauncher, Go Launcher EX, ADW Launcher, etc) the launcher has to load again and it's annoying to have to wait until it loads

any solution?

TiP: I have a ZTE Libra

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

I have a problem man with all CM9 I've tested

The thing it's that qhen I'm using an app and I close it the launcher (ProLauncher, Go Launcher EX, ADW Launcher, etc) the launcher has to load again and it's annoying to have to wait until it loads

any solution?

TiP: I have a ZTE Libra

Sorry, am not aware of anything about it. I use Trebuchet, the stock Launcher..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Mtman1

So what doesn't work in your rom? Does it have the same problems as cfx ?

Anyway, I use rootdim to turn the brightness down to a minimum so that I get better battery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

So what doesn't work in your rom? Does it have the same problems as cfx ?

Anyway, I use rootdim to turn the brightness down to a minimum so that I get better battery.

Yes, it does have the same problems as CFX, regarding the Youtube and camera thing. I'll update the info, thanks! Didn't knew about rootdim, will check that one out..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sej7278

Use the automatic brightness feature. I've tested it alot, and without it, you cannot notice the differences in ambient light, and you can save a lot of power.

tom_g has said a few times not to use auto brightness as the sensor is constantly on and draining battery (same as rotation) not sure what the alternative is though - set brightness to dim by default and use power widget to brighten it when you need to i guess....

i'd also say if you can do without the "smart" features, turn off as much syncing as possible - facebook is especially bad at not going to sleep.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest ufizo

tom_g has said a few times not to use auto brightness as the sensor is constantly on and draining battery (same as rotation) not sure what the alternative is though - set brightness to dim by default and use power widget to brighten it when you need to i guess....

i'd also say if you can do without the "smart" features, turn off as much syncing as possible - facebook is especially bad at not going to sleep.

Agreed.

In my experience using manual brightness (and not necessarily the most dim level) gives more battery than with automatic brightness.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest mickey megabyte

how do you manually rotate an app without auto-rotation?

you manually turn on auto-rotation when you need it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

how do you manually rotate an app without auto-rotation?

I've added the auto-rotation button to the notification-bar's power widget. It is the one in the middle, and I only use it when I need it (see pic bellow)..

I will compare using light sensor with the no-light-sensor during some days to see if I can get to a conclusion. :)

post-820116-0-90597600-1341408208_thumb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

Screenshots please....

This is stock CM9 with some patches (oriented towards battery efficiency), and some ideas for sparing the rest of the battery, so, it does not look different of another ICS for the blade, like KonstaTs builds and Coldfusion.. Maybe I can add prettier "greener" wallpapers in the future, and then I'll add some screenshots to the first post. But for now, it looks visually the same as the other ROMs.. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest De@n

I have a problem man with all CM9 I've tested

The thing it's that qhen I'm using an app and I close it the launcher (ProLauncher, Go Launcher EX, ADW Launcher, etc) the launcher has to load again and it's annoying to have to wait until it loads

any solution?

TiP: I have a ZTE Libra

You tried locking launcher in memory?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

Found a small problem. YouTube force close for me...

Abraço

Pedro

I believe it is common to all ICS's to the Blade. Something about google's new youtube features!

Can anyone confirm?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

Yet another ICS ROM

too many choices spoil me

This one is pretty boring, no center clocks, nothing like that.. It is more for people who want their phones to behave more like phones, at least for what battery is concerned..

Better use Coldfusion or KonstaT's builds instead! :)

Edited by jventura
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Pafinho

I believe it is common to all ICS's to the Blade. Something about google's new youtube features!

Can anyone confirm?

Ok, done some testing.

YouTube only works in 3G.

In wifi, it force closes.

Abraço

Pedro

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest jventura

Ok, done some testing.

YouTube only works in 3G.

In wifi, it force closes.

Abraço

Pedro

Very strange! Unfortunatelly I can't do anything about it, since there is no source code for youtube available..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Pafinho

Very strange! Unfortunatelly I can't do anything about it, since there is no source code for youtube available..

Jventura,

No problem! I can live without youtube.

Abraço

Pedro

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.