[Xperia Z General] sea2605:
Many battery-life-tips mentioned here DON'T need any modifications to your Z.

Please don't post discouraging things like...

-"Why all the fuzz? Buy a external battery"

-"Why BLunlock/undervolting/-clocking/rooting and voiding warranty?"

...we all know that.

There are many factors influencing screen-on-time. Please read the must-read-section before you judge my thread.

THIS THREAD IS ABOUT OPTIMIZING BATTERY LIFE OF THE SONY XPERIA Z WITHOUT SACRIFICING TOO MANY FEATURES OR MUCH OF USER EXPERIENCE/PERFORMANCE. THIS IS A UNFINISHED ONGOING PROCESS.

Don't forget: If you like what you read, please press the thanks-button.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION

I.1 Prologue / Must read

I.2 My average usage pattern

I.3 Change-Log

I.4 To-do

II. BATTERY SAVING TIPS

II.1 General-section (tips everyone can apply)

II.1.1 Tips I use

II.1.2 Tips I don't use (but you can)

II.2 Root-section (additional: tips for rooted devices)

II.2.1 Tips I use

II.2.2 Tips I don't use (but you can)

II.3 Bootloader-section (add.: tips for bootloader-unlocked devices)

II.3.1 Tips I use

II.3.2 Tips I don't use (but you can)

III. MISC

III.1 Thanks to

III.2 Translations

III.3 Results

I. INTRODUCTION

I.1 Prologue / Must read !

Hi everyone,

First I should introduce myself a little: I'm from germany, 24 years old and currently studying technology of information systems. Since xda helped me alot, I also want to share with you all I know about optimizing battery life.

A XZ with all-standard-settings (without my tips) currently only gets approx. 4,5-5 h with my average usage pattern. And max. 3,5 hours with heavier usage (while travelling e.g.). With heavy games even less.

After implementing my tips I often get 7h+ of REAL USAGE battery life (=screen-on-time = SOT =s-o-t) with my Xperia Z. Sometimes I even get more SOT: see e.g. my screenshots of 7:09 h SOT with remaining 6% and 20 hours since last charging. But I also sometimes only get 5 hours (with heavier usage, while travelling e.g.).

I'm not bragging, please do not misunderstand me. If we crippled all smartphone-features, turned everything off and only read books with the XZ, we could even get 9-10 hours SOT...but thats not what I want to achieve!

There are many factors influencing screen-on-time: Your individual usage, your individual apps, your apps' (obligatory) wakelocks, your cell/data/wifi receiption during the day, provider-support of fastdormancy, your XZ's undervolt capability, ...

Also everyone has his own taste:

Some like 1.5 GHz+4cores+100% brightness all day+5 homescreens+... And some don't.

I only write down ALL tips I know/find. I do not use every single one of them, because some would lower my comfort. But I write them down for you, because I respect everyones individual usage. So please don't blame me for everything or talk bad about my thread in other threads.

You can decide which tips you like to use, which you don't.

Greetings

Seb

I.2 My average usage pattern

- browsing a lot with dolphin browser (sonar etc. disabled with elixir; 'Google Chrome' consumes too much battery, causes many wakelocks and has no flash-support)

- reading hundrets of tech-news with gReader (almost all news include pictures and some videos; hardware acceleration on)

- listening to music with walkman (20 min/day)

- watching some youtube (at least 3-4 videos; each 2 to 15 min long)

- reading for about half an hour (with kindle app or adobe reader)

- usung tapatalk for xda a lot

- whatsapp a lot

- reading many mails with KAITEN MAIL (many include pdf) and let synchronize 2 of 4 email accounts every 3 h and the remaining 2 every 6 h

- sms: 1/day

- calls: 20min/day

- photos: 2/day

- using wunderlist

- checking ebay: 1x/day

- VNC to enter business-pc remotly 2x/day (5-10 min)

- a lot 9gag

- Widgets on 2 homescreens:

4x Kaiten Mail-Widgets (counters for unread emails)

1x Walkman-Widg.

I.3 Changes to this post

31.12.13

- corrected formatting

27.12.13

- Updated and added many new tips to bootloader section (e.g gpu-undervolting!)

- Updated and added many tips to root section

- Updated general section slightly

- Updated prologue slightly

- Updated usage pattern slightly

- NEWS1: Switched to XzKernel by alnikki25k because it currently offers more features, runs smoother and gets updated more frequently

- NEWS2: Lifted my max. cpu-freq from 1.24 to 1.35ghz, which won't effect battery life too much anylonger ( -15 min SOT)

Earlier changes: deleted because of limited space

I.4 To-do

- add measurement-section

- give some milliampere-values

- Shorten all sections/texts/tips

- Find the holy grail of battery life saving

II. BATTERY SAVING TIPS

II.1 General-section

II.1.1 TIPS I USE:

- Update to Android 4.2.2 (currently use stock-sony-firmware .67), but will switch to 4.3 as soon as we get a working custom kernel for it

- if contract has no LTE/4G, so set the network mode to wcdma/gsm (the LTE/4G-chip sucks a lot of battery (better disable it, if you don't need more than the 21 Mbit/s 3G/hsdpa+ provides)

- If you can choose: use Wifi over 3G over LTE (in general). But if 3G connection is fast and wifi very slow, use 3G! Avoid LTE/4G if you do not need more than 21 Mbit/s.

Use "ONLY 2G" only if 3G receiption is extremly poor and as slow as 2G, but 2G receiption is great.

- stamina on (only whatsapp whitelisted). Reset stamina mode if it doesn't work properly (clear cache). Stamina is (mostly) better than turning phone off several times per day, because boot consumes too much battery (especially if many apps load at boot).

- battery settings > battery save mode: on (from 100%; excluding wifi+auto sync)

- wifi set to not search for networks/no notification,

- wifi set to stay always on (turning off during standby will help battery, but every custom kernel has an issue with the wifi drivers, so set wifi to "always on" which circumvents this issue),

- Brightness set automatically to 25% during the day and 0% in the evening with my TASKER-profile (below). more info in root-section.

- NFC off (only on when needed)

- Bluetooth off (only on when needed)

- GPS off (only on when needed)

- charging at 6-10% remaining battery (below could harm your battery and decrease battery life over time...but this is a highly controvertial topic, so I charge at 10% to be on the safe(r) side)

- Reduce wakelocks:

- Install 'Wakelock Detector' to find partial wakelocks and alarms which wake the XZ during standby. Many unnecessary wakelocks can easily be reduced (like fastdormancy). But some may need root access. Here is a very helpful link for wakelocks: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=38629490#post38629490

- In settings > apps > all apps > select an app: Deactivate the notifications of all apps you don't want to be notified by. Can reduce wakelocks!

- Turn OFF 'developer settings' when not using it (stops their services, wakelocks)

This section will grow in time!

- Google Now off: long-press on home-button > google search > settings > turn google now off

- Let your Wifi-Router always work with 100% signal-power, wifi g+n. This way you will get better wifi-receiption with your Z (might squeeze some minutes/your phone won't connect to data unnecessarily)

- Don't overprotect your phone with metal cases over metal cases ;) Receiption of Cell, 2G/3G/LTE, Wifi, Bluetooth etc. will decrease and your battery life too (a lot)

- Turn Restore & Backup off: settings > restore & backup

- Google Settings App > Location > Turn OFF: Location history + location protocol /summary(? don't know the english name of that button)

- Google Settings App > Search > Turn OFF: Webprotocol + search-results shall not include apps/... (deactivate anything you don't need)

- Deinstall or deactivate FACEBOOK, if you don't use it. If you really need it, change the notification settings + update settings + push-settings according to your REAL needs. This app is a hugh battery consumer and it causes far too many wakelocks which will prevent the phone from entering sleep modes (even when the phone is not being used).

- Settings > Sound(?) > Turn OFF: vibration when touching screen + sound for every screen press + sound for unlocking + xloud + sound for call-buttons

- Settings > Accounts > Google > Turn OFF: google-personalized-advertising + every synchronization you don't need (I don't sync apps and google books because I use Titanium Backup)

- Often forgotten but basic tip: Search for unnecessary settings or battery saving features in the settings of your favourite apps. E.g. many apps allow to deactivate unnecessary settings or ugly special effects/animations which drain battery. OR many apps let you deactivate (maybe in your case: ) unnecessary push notifications...

- Settings > Display > Sleep > After 1 Minute (mostly sufficient)

- Update your apps regularly, because new versions often improve performance, battery drain, wakelock-issues etc. Still: make backups!

[/HIDE]

II.1.2 TIPS I DON'T USE (but you can):

- Display brightness always at 0%

- Wifi set to "save battery when connected" (may cause problems with some custom kernels, so I currently don't use it!)

- Data/cell/wifi/bluetooth always off (e.g. if you only play games/read books)

- Calibrate your battery (this can bring back 5-10% of your battery life, depending on its condition). This tip was discussed a lot. I didn't calibrate my Zs battery yet. Everyone says something different and the manufacturers like sony give instructions for (first) battery cycles... So I leave it up to you to decide if its a myth or not

- Set all animations in dev-settings to 0 x (settings > about phone > press 10 times on the built-number > go back and now you got the dev-settings below)

- Sleep screen after 15 sec

- Turn background sync and auto-sync and google account sync OFF

-Reduce every wakelock possible by spending hours for finding their causes, deinstalling/deactivating all thats necessary to reduce it...etc...

II.2 Root-section

II.2.1 TIPS I USE

- Installed TITANIUM BACKUP PRO and deleted all bloatware/google apps/..

All I didn't need or like or which drained too much battery.

Here is a list of all deleted apps:

com.android.providers.partnerbookmarks.res.overlay

com.sonyericsson.android.socialphonebook.res.overlay

com.sonyericsson.trackid.res.overlay

com.sonymobile.connectivitycenter

Sapphire 10.0.A.0.16 (com.sonyericsson.bluetheme)

Silk 10.0.A.0.16 (com.sonyericsson.blacktheme)

VerifyCertificatesDummyApp

Xperia Twitter Setup

com.sonymobile.datadisclaimer

Anonymous Usage Stats

com.sonymobile.cameraautoupload

Backup-Restore

com.sonyericsson.lockscreen.uxpnxt

Black Hole

Bubbles 1.0

com.android.backupconfirm

com.android.providers.partnerbookmarks

com.android.sharedstoragebackup

com.google.android.voicesearch

com.sonyericsson.unplugchargerreminder

Converter 6.1.1 (com.sonyericsson.androidapp.converter)

Device Usage 1.0.A.0.11 (com.sonymobile.phoneusage)

E-Mail 4.0.1 (com.android.email)

com.sonyericsson.retaildemo

Emerald

com.sonyericsson.music.wikipediaplugin

com.sonyericsson.music.youtubeplugin

com.sonyericsson.music.youtubekaraokeplugin

com.sonyericsson.music.googlelyricsplugin

Exchange Services

Face Unlock 4.1.2-509230 (com.android.facelock)

foursquare 2012.03.09 (com.joelapenna.foursquared)

Infinite view 10.1.A.0.0 (com.sonyericsson.infiniteview)

com.sonyericsson.androidapp.memorycardinstaller

Market Feedback Agent

Mono 6.1.A.0.1 (com.sonyericsson.android.pobox.skn.mono)

com.sonyericsson.metadatacleanup

OMA Client Provisioning

Oma Download Client

OmaV1AgentDownloadServices

Picasa Uploader

Pico TTS

POBox Touch

Quartz

Remote Control Service

com.sonyericsson.vendor.backuprestore

SkinSelector

Smart Connect

com.android.voicedialer

Tags

TalkBack

TrackID

Update Center

com.sonyericsson.verifycertificatesdummyapp.application

com.sonyericsson.verifycertificatesdummyapp.platform

com.sonyericsson.verifycertificatesdummyapp.shared

com.sonyericsson.advancedwidget.weather

Wfd Service

Woody

Xperia AppShare

Xperia Calendar Sync

Xperia FB Setup

Xperia Friends’ Music

Xperia Link

Xperia Music Likes

com.sonyericsson.facebook.proxylogin

com.sonymobile.twitter.account

Xperia Share

Xperia Social Engine

com.sonyericsson.socialengine.plugins.facebook

com.sonyericsson.socialengine.plugins.picasa

com.sonymobile.socialengine.plugins.playmemories

com.sonymobile.socialengine.plugins.facebook_sharefrwk

com.sonymobile.socialengine.plugins.twitter_sharefrwk

com.sonyericsson.androidapp.everchwallpaper

Google Chrome

+ all branding-/carrier-specific apps

- Installed ELIXIR2 and deactivated all kinds of entries I don't need. Examples of activities/receivers/services you can disable:

BE CAREFUL:

If you deactivate vital activities/services/receivers of an app the apps won't work properly anylonger or the app will crash. But thats no problem! Just check the apps and and activate activities/services/receivers e.g. one-by-one to find the cause of the crash and leave it activated.

Deactivate e.g. every ACTIVITY that says (differs from app to app):

-facebook.login

-.analytics.

-.tracking.

- google.ads.AdActivity

- .googleplus.

- .gtalk.

-.ads.

-.voicesearch.

And all kinds of RECEIVERS that will boot apps at boot (if not necessary):

-.onboothandler.

-.bootreceiver.

-.devicestartup.

And SERVICES:

-again: .analytics.

-.gtalk.

-googleplus.

- Install GREENIFY+donation-version (needs Xposed Framework!). Then activate all experimental options like boost mode, gcm push, greenify system apps...

and after that greenify some system apps like google maps etc. (according to your needs)

- Installed Xposed Framework and following modules:

1. "Greenify" (donation-version necessary) and activate all options

2. "BootManager". Deactivate all apps you don't want to load when starting up

3. "ReceiverStop" (if you didn't like Elixir2): Deactivate all unnecessary receivers

4. "App Settings": reduce permissions if necessary

5. "Per App Hacking": prevent services and wakelocks, but becareful...

It can cause apps to not work anymore!

6. "YouTube AdAway": especially helpful fot those watching alot. Why drain battery for ads?!

- Installed TASKER and SECURE SETTINGS (and its helper; see settings).

I currently automated following things (you can also download my tasker-backup below):

Tasker is consuming little power in the background, but is a powerfull tool.

My Tasker-Profile isn't very sophisticated. Working on it, but don't want to use other peoples profiles. You can deactivate/change any feature easily in tasker, if you don't want to use it:

- 18:00 until 08:00 o'clock (6PM till 8AM): Brightness set to 1% (in the evenings 1% is enough mostly and reduces consumption by a high margin) + Turn Rotation off

- Rotation only ON with certain apps and automatically turn off

- Hibernate with Greenify every 3 hours (sometimes the built in autohibernation of greenify won't work, so tasker triggers

- GPS ON when GOOGLE MAPS, NAVIGATION start and turn OFF automatically when closed

- Turn OFF Data when connected to Wifi since 5 Minutes

- Install BuiltProp Editor and add these lines to the end of the built.prop:

(Thanks to …… for this tip):

#signal tweak

ro.ril.enable.3g.prefix=0

ro.ril.enable.dtm=0

ro.ril.hep=0

ro.ril.hsxpa=5

ro.ril.enable.a53=1

ro.ril.gprsclass=12

ro.ril.hsupa.category=9

ro.ril.hsdpa.category=36

____

This will increase receiption by lifting 2G/3G-settings. It increases battery consumption, but over the day the better receiption makes up for that (at least for me).

II.2.2 TIPS I DON'T USE

- ELIXIR2 is hardcore...you could even deactivate EVERY button/activity/service (those which you asume you won't ever need) of all your apps...could save some processing time and therefore battery life

-Installing ES EXPLORER and deleting in the apps-folder:

fast dormancy.apk and .odex ( both ONLY if your provider doesn't support fastdormancy)

-Reducing Wifi-consumption by editing the ini-files in etc/firmware/wlan/prima/

-Reducing 2G/3G/LTE-consumption by editing their ini-files

-With Overlays (App) we can make buttons/switches hovering over apps. In some cases it could save battery (especially in combination with tasker and zoom).

-I tested wether the LTE-Switch for the upper menu will switch back the network mode to "GSM" (=2G) if I activate and then deactivate LTE... Worked! The LTE-switch turns on 2G+3G+LTE but my contract doesnt have LTE so maybe the LTE-chip won't consume anything after a first connection attempt... Then the LTE-switch would effectivly be a 2G/3G-switch for me :) Update: Switching back and forth is uncomfortable and automation isn't possible without deep rom-modifications... a dead end currently

II.3 Bootloader-section

II.3.1 TIPS I USE:

- Flash [MENTION=4645070]alnikki25k[/MENTION] 's custom stock kernel XzKernel

- In TRICKSTER MOD + FAUXCLOCK (!!) do following:

0. Set CPUs to 384 mhz - 1,35 ghz

1. Governor to intellidemand (settings: see below)

2. Set scheduler to 'sio'

3. Underclock the GPU to 325mhz and set gpu-scheduler to "ondemand"

4. Multicore power saving = 0

5. Dynamic FSYNC = on

6. Ecomode = on

7. Mp-decision = off

8. Intelli-plug = on

9. ZRam = off

9.1 Delete VFS cache after boot: on

9.2 Auto FS Writeback: on

9.3 swappiness: 0%

9.4 vfs cachepressure: 150%

9.5 dirty ratio: 20%

9.6 dirty background ratio: 5%

9.7 TCP congestion control: westwood

10. Read_ahead (emmc + sdcard): 2048 mb

10.1 Entropy (emmc + sdcard): off

11. Frequency Lock = on

12. In faux clock: activate c0, c1, c2 and c3 states

13. IMPORTANT TIP FOR SMOOTHNESS: Deactivate gpu's vsync (activate it if you are a egoshooter-gamer)

14. In faux clock: Set a profile for every app which does (or does not) need much performance. Here is an examples:

'Whatsapp' doesn't need high cpu-freq and 400 mhz gpu-freq to run smoothly. We can set a profile for it with these settings:

Min freq: 384 mhz

Max freq: 1188 mhz

gpu freq: 200 mhz

ecomode: on

FOR GAMES you could e.g. slightly overclock frequencies, turn ecomode off and use 450 mhz gpu-freq

14. CPU: Undervolt to these VOLTAGES (ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING !!) :

Please ONLY undervolt when you already know all about it...and undervolt slowly (in -25 or -50 mV steps e.g.)

until you reach a stable new voltage for each frequency. Always test several times with benchmarks and all your apps and for 1h at least

MY (VERY LOW) VOLTAGES MIGHT NOT WORK FOR YOUR XZ !

MAKE BACKUPS BEFORE YOU TRY ! IF YOU DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO A PC: KEEP A ROM AND A KERNEL ON YOUR SD-CARD. ALSO MAKE BACKUPS WITH CWM

I assume everyone trying this will know about

the dangers of playing with voltages.

*

[Mhz : sony's standard mV : mV working properly for my Z ]

192 : ---- : 712

384 : 850 : 712

432 : 875 : 712

486 : 875 : 725

540 : 900 : 725

594 : 900 : 725

648 : 925 : 750

702 : 925 : 750

756 : 975 : 750

810 : 975 : 800

864 : 1000 : 800

918 : 1000 : 825

972 : 1025 : 850

1026 : 1025 : 875

1080 : 1075 : 900

1134 : 1075 : 912,5

1188 : 1100 : 912,5

1242 : 1100 : 935

1296 : 1125 : 962,5

1350 : 1125 : 975

1404 : 1137 : 977,5

1458 : 1137 : 987,5

1512 : 1150 : 1025

-Governor-Settings (BE CAREFUL):

As the intellidemand governor got a big update (but almost no descriptions for the new features/settings), here you get my latest settings:

Governor = intellidemand

____

freq_step = 15

enable_boost_cpu = 1

input_event_min_freq = 384000,384000,384000,384000 // #

down_differential = 8 // #

ignore_nice_load = 0

io_is_busy = 1

optimal_freq= 1350000 // #

powersave_bias = 0

sampling_down_factor = 9 // #

sampling_early_factor = 9 // #

sampling_interim_factor = 9 // #

sampling_rate = 50000 // #

smart_each_off = 0

smart_high_slow_up_dur = 5

smart_high_slow_up_freq = 1350000

smart_slow_up_dur = 5

smart_slow_up_freq = 1350000

smart_slow_up_load = 90 // *

smart_up = 0

step_up_early_hispeed = 1242000 // #

step_up_interim_hispeed = 1242000 // #

sync_freq = 810000 // #

two_phase_freq= 384000,0,0,0

ui_sampling_rate = 50000

ui_timeout = 100

up_threshold = 86 // *

up_threshold_any_cpu_load = 90 // *

up_threshold_multi_core = 93 // *

_____

If its laggy for your taste:

1. make sure its no thermal issue or related to the rom itself;

2. Turn these ( // *) down. And these ( // # ) up. But search for their meanings first!

-GPU: undervolting (ONLY IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!):

Easiest way I know (until fauxclock/trickster support this feature):

Install "universal init.d", choose any available init.d-script (custom kernels often flash some along the way), add following in it and save:

echo "930000 1000000 1100000" > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/gpu_mv_table

The numbers (e.g. 930000) are in uVolt for See alnikki25k 's XzKernel-Thread for more info! I highly recommend reading that first!

Becareful: after flashing a new kernel(-version) this added code will likely vanish.

If you know how: just make your own init.d-script, wait for fauxclock/trickster

or just readd it manually again

II.3.2 TIPS I DON'T USE (but you can):

- Thanks [MENTION=4598683]Destroyedbeauty[/MENTION]: Instead of using apps like fauxclock/trickster mod you could also just write your own init.d-scripts which would cost nothing and lead to slightly less battery drain (+5 min). I don't use this tip YET, because these apps really don't consume that much. Still a very clever tip!

III. MISC

III.1 Thanks to

People I need to thank for various reasons (in no special order):

[MENTION=2784807]DooMLoRD[/MENTION]

[MENTION=4645070]alnikki25k[/MENTION]

[MENTION=4115953]gm007[/MENTION]

[MENTION=4904057][NUT][/MENTION]

[MENTION=4631323]Dsteppa[/MENTION]

III.2 Translations

I'm very thankful for everyone helping me translate this thread!

(Don't forget: translations can't be always up to date and won't be monitored by me)

-French-Forum (thanks to [MENTION=5239544]monsieur_debile[/MENTION]):

http://forum.frandroid.com/topic/16...-plus-de-7-heures-dautonomie-en-écran-allumé/

III.3 Results

-Antutu Benchmark 4: Instead of approximativly 20500 points (standard Z) I currently get approx. 15000. I currently give a damn about benchmarks ;) Will try to improve in the future as promissed

RESULTS WITH REAL USAGE (For those who think I only leave the screen on):

- with my average usage pattern (see beginning of post) in "one sit" I got 7h S-O-T with 10% left battery charge and 9 hours since last charge: See screenshots.

- With my average usage pattern (see beginning of post) on a NORMAL day going to office etc. I got 7:09 h screen-on-time with 6% charge left and 20h since last charge: see screenshots.

- (almost) ONLY reading books, xda, news with gReader, surfing and with a bad phone receiption all day(!) I got 8h screen-on-time with 3% charge left and 12,5 h since last charge.

- Playing Deadtrigger for 0,5h I lost 14% battery life (graphics set to high), so with a full charge I approximativly could get 3,5 h (consider: Deadtrigger isn't optimized very well for non-nvidia-tegra3-hardware so it uses the Z inefficiently and I played with 'high' graphic settings)

If you like what you read: press the thanks-button and rate my thread with 5 stars :D