540 replies to this topic

[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.

 Screenshot_2012-12-24-00-10-25.png   437.6K   608 downloads  Screenshot_2012-12-24-00-18-53.png   326.84K   587 downloads  Screenshot_2012-12-24-00-12-12.png   115.18K   558 downloads  Screenshot_2012-12-24-00-12-48.png   137.33K   500 downloads

Details:

• ICS 4.0.4 (CM9)
  
• Kernel 2.6.35
  
• Gen 2
  
• Fits in a 160MB System partition (with Minimal Google Apps Bundle)
  
• Stable Build: http://www.multiupload.nl/CRDE9TT342 (11/05/2013)
  
• Mini Gapps: http://www.multiupload.nl/W8GCEBAKZM

Not working:

• Wi-Fi tethering (use external app)
  
• Usb tethering

Add-ons:

• Apollo: http://www.multiupload.nl/WFYGGGL3L1
  
• DSPManager: http://www.multiupload.nl/4A9RRDDKJA
  
• LiveWallpapers: http://www.multiupload.nl/2QU6DOL8VY
  
• ThemeManager: http://www.multiupload.nl/7PX0PMPJCP (Not needed anymore)

More info:

• Changelog (2nd post)
  
• Tips for more battery efficiency (3rd post)
  
• Build instructions (3rd post)

Sources:

• Device
  
• Kernel
  
• Proprietary
  
• EcoWallpapers

Edited by jventura, 11 May 2013 - 10:45 PM.

[jventura]

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, 11 May 2013 - 10:46 PM.

[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.

• 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.
  
• Use smartassv2 governor, at least theoretically seems more battery-wise.
  
• 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.
  
• 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)

• Follow instructions on initializing a build environment up to a point of downloading the source code.
  
  
• Initialize CyanogenMod 9 repo.
  

  repo init -u git://github.com/CyanogenMod/android.git -b ics

  
  
• 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>
  

  
  
• Get CM9 source code
  

  repo sync -d -j16

  
  
• Update Terminal Emulator (just once in a while)
  

  cd path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/vendor/cm/
  ./get-prebuilts
  

  
  
• Change your CM9 base folder in the apply_patches script. Open path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/device/zte/blade/patches/apply_patches.sh with a text editor and change the following line to your path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/
  

  # Set here the base location of your cyanogenmod files
  BASE_PATH=~/android/cm9
  

  
  
• 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.
  

  cd path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/
  device/zte/blade/patches/apply_patches.sh
  

  
  
• Compile the ROM
  

  cd path-to/CM9_WORK_DIR/
  . build/envsetup.sh && lunch cm_blade-userdebug
  make bacon -j8
  

Edited by jventura, 21 May 2013 - 09:12 AM.

[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

[jventura]

rena14, on 03 July 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

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..

[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.

[jventura]

Mtman1, on 03 July 2012 - 09:30 PM, said:

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..

[sej7278]

jventura, on 03 July 2012 - 09:01 PM, said:

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.

[ufizo]

+1 for the TIPs and suggestions.
I will check if turning off auto rotation saves me some juice.

[ufizo]

sej7278, on 04 July 2012 - 10:41 AM, said:

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.

[gunapriyan]

Screenshots please....

[sej7278]

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

[mickey megabyte]

sej7278, on 04 July 2012 - 11:58 AM, said:

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

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

[jventura]

sej7278, on 04 July 2012 - 11:58 AM, said:

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.

Attached Files

•  Screenshot_2012-07-04-14-21-42.png   221.21K   146 downloads

[Pafinho]

Really nice ROM. Testing to see how does the battery does.

Abraço
Pedro

Edited by Pafinho, 04 July 2012 - 01:28 PM.

[jventura]

gunapriyan, on 04 July 2012 - 11:55 AM, said:

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..

[sej7278]

mickey megabyte, on 04 July 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

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

its a bit naff though isn't it?

[De@n]

rena14, on 03 July 2012 - 09:18 PM, said:

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?

[vNa5h]

Yet another ICS ROM

too many choices spoil me

[Pafinho]

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

Abraço
Pedro