[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 Android Development] iunlock:
9 Hours & 34 Minutes - On Screen Time - V18X

About a year ago I've written up an extensive review on my set up with V5 and V6 in hopes to give some insight to others on how they can too achieve amazing On Screen Times. Here's a new review on V21X!!!

Disclaimer: This is just my personal set up. Some will agree with the things that I do, some won't. That's okay :) It's what makes our set ups unique. Also, I'm not perfect and my set up isn't perfect, but with all that aside what I do know for sure is that I've been able to peak at ~9 Hours & 34 Minutes of On Screen Time with REAL WORLD USE, just on my 1st charge cycle on V18X!

I give all credit to Mega and this amazing master piece along with him helping me through this life changing experience. (LOL... well it actually almost is, because now I don't have to keep looking for a darn charger or even swap out the battery, so in that sense, yes it is a life changing benefit. ROFL) So thanks a million Mega :good: I'm also a data junkie and I love pushing things to the limit so I'm a little off the wall when it comes to this stuff. I also have major OCD (like for real, no joke), which means that if the best is available, then I want that and not second best. (Just ask Mega, I'm extremely meticulous LOL) This is why until now I have tested every ROM available for the Note 4 over (5) different Note 4's that I have around me everyday.

All in all, I just want to re-emphasize that this is just what I do and it's obviously working even though it's not perfect. :highfive: Yeea, I have my own little theories in my own head in my own world, but that's just me. Whether it's true or not, oh well... I'll come to fixing it overtime to make it closer to perfect as possible. The bottom line = ~9 Hours & 34 Minutes of ON SCREEN TIME so far on FireKat! To those who have PM'ed me asking about this and the ones who've posted asking as well.....here it is fellow FireKat ROM users. Cheers...

In addition to following everything in OP2....

1.) Battery Health: I'm a firm believer that although we're past the days of having major memory issues with certain types of batteries, that the health and condition of your battery is still something that deserves attention and not left ignored. For this reason, I refresh my battery about every year. Right now I am running a fresh Anker battery that was bought for just $12 online. It's well worth it. Update: So far so good with the Anker battery. I'm not surprised that it's been doing so well as I've carefully opened up one of my old Anker battery from another phone and sure enough it's using Samsung Cells. Go figure.... So final verdict? Just do it. Buy one and know that you're buying a Samsung Grade A Cell and not some chinese rubbish.

Do I use Fast Charger? - Yes. This is what I've learned. If you charge with Fast Charge ON, for some reason I get way better On Screen Time. However, do make sure to complete a full cycle before connecting your charger. I usually plug my phone in at 10%. There may be a trade off here of getting better On Screen Time to shortened (physical) battery life due to Fast Charging, but the trade off is so minor to even consider not to use Fast Charge. It's like running your cars engine at wide open throttle all the time; though the engine will be cleaner from running it WOT, due to the simple laws of nature, your engines overall life will be shortened. I think the same thing is going on here. That Fast Charge is doing something....so whatever it's doing, I get more On Screen Time with Fast Charger ON.

Do I use any chargers other than OEM? -YES & NO. Call me crazy, whatever, but I ONLY use Samsung OEM. Period. I stay away from those cheap made in china piece of rubbish chargers. That goes for car chargers, wall chargers, USB cables etc... The only cables that my N4 ever sees is the one that it came with in the box, along with high quality cables like Anker. (I'd highly recommend Anker as an alternative. Only Anker though.) I've bought many different cables and have narrowed it down to Anker being among the best for charging and data transfer. For road trips, I also use a high quality charger that pumps out 2.1A. I have an OEM Samsung Car Charger (Made in S.Korea & NOT china) AND actually am very impressed with some of the car chargers on Amazon that is of decent quality that pumps out 2.1Amps on both USB inputs! There are other brands such as Belkin etc...which do work well so just make sure you pick something of quality and not opt for a $1 made in china you know what.

Do I ever charge during the day? - NO. I haven't had the need to with this ROM.

Do I use an aftermarket battery? - Stick with Authentic Samsung OEM batteries since it's perfect for our phones and don't introduce any possibility of voltage fluctuation by getting a cheap no-name brand after market battery. I used to be very against aftermarket batteries, however, I have recently gave the Anker battery a shot as it looked promising. After seeing thousands of reviews and people claiming it is working okay for them, I am still on a review trial period before I conclude whether it's worthy or not over an OEM. We'll have to wait and see. It's looking good so far, but you never know. Samsung OEM cells are Grade A quality whereas a lot of the aftermarket batteries use Grade B or less. Grade B batteries seem to work well for a short while, then all of a sudden you'll get a sudden drop in performance. This is why I always opt for Samsung OEM batteries, because I know their cells are top quality Grade A cells. There are some (I mean very few) after market battery brands along with the ones you see used in other cell phones that are Samsung and/or LG, Grade A cells, although they might say made in china/taiwan etc....they are actually assembled there, but the core cells are Samsung or LG. Update: (As mentioned above) So far so good with the Anker battery. I'm not surprised that it's been doing so well as I've carefully opened up one of my old Anker battery from another phone and sure enough it's using Samsung Cells. Go figure.... So final verdict? Just do it. Buy one and know that you're buying a Samsung Grade A Cell and not some chinese rubbish.

[*]Battery Banks? Yes. I actually am a big fan of the battery banks and they are extremely practical in many situations. Although when I fly across the Pacific I can plug in my USB cord (first class) to charge my phone, I actually just use my 20000mAh battery bank that outputs a solid 2.1A. Just make sure to buy a good reputable brand if you do...One of my favorite brand is, "Jackery." They make a lot of different capacities and have confirmed through several sources that they are equipped with Grade A, Samsung cells.

Longest OST on FireKat to date.

[9 Hours & 34 Minutes On Screen Time!]

This was my 1st full cycle after flashing FireKat with Greenifying everything that I could without breaking the phone LOL j/k + Google Play Services Mod + My usual tweaks, which I'll include here in this write up.

* I was luckly to get this screenshot LOL...as the phone was just about to kick the bucket at 1%....It literally dimmed out and shut off right after this screen capture. (AND NO, I don't recommend running it down to 1% as it's not good for the battery.)

Daily usage log:

~40mins. of YouTube this morning at 75%

Setting up the phone all day. Literally ALL DAY. Not because it takes me that long, but because I was toying with a lot of things to customize it more to my liking.

Active on Tapatalk throughout the day.

Active on Chat Clients all day.

Several phone calls with the duration of 5-10minutes. One call was 15+ minutes.

Streaming Music for ~30mins. from my PLEX.

Working on some files on Google Drive.

Moderate surfing on the web.

Uploading some pictures from my phone to Dropbox....

Screen brightness has been 50% most of the day (being indoors) and 75% occasionally when I was outside.

I also monitor my personal clould (NAS) at the office and manage a lot of users from my phone. I'm on that app all the time.

My personal set up: Literally A to Z.

I always make sure the files that I download (FK ROM) have matching md5's. Just to make certain of a complete download, I use my Mac to download one file then my Windows Laptop to download another file. I then pull up the md5's of the ROM file and if they match it gives me the confidence that I have a complete download. The chances of both files being corrupted from an incomplete download is slim. This is a little thing that I do when the md5 isn't available.

Clean Flash the ROM. ALWAYS.

Here is a link to my post on the exact procedures I take when CLEAN FLASHING my ROM. It's pretty much on par with the OP2.

After completing a Clean Flash, once it gets to the Welcome Screen I let it sit for at least 15 minutes without touching anything.

Then I breeze through the initial set up without logging into WiFi and making sure to not check all that google crap (location etc....) and once I get to the main screen I reboot the phone.

After it's rebooted, I then start my initial set up. (My method is slightly different since I use xprivacy, so I'll fast forward to a normal set up of how I would do it without xprivacy.)

First I pull down the Menu and turn off GPS. (Just personal preference.)

Next (Settings -> General -> Accounts -> Add Account -> Google -> Existing -> Enter your credentials -> "uncheck" when it asks you to allow google to communicate blah blah blah -> "uncheck" back up with this accoun and the other check box below that. -> "check" only GMAIL along with "Calendar," "Contacts," and anything that you might use. But don't check the "apps data," one.) I then sync my main Gmail account, making sure not to check anything, except Gmail so that it doesn't sync over all the app data etc...

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My Settings: (Note: OFF = Unchecked.)

* The Tabs not listed are the ones I don't do anything with.

Quick Settings -> Wi-Fi -> My "Smart network switch," is turned OFF.

Download Booster -> is always OFF.

Bluetooth -> I keep it OFF, unless I'm using it in my car.

Display -> "Smart Stay" is OFF.

Power Saving -> OFF OFF OFF! NEVER turn this on. KEEP OFF ALWAYS!

Connections Tab:

Location -> OFF

NFC -> OFF

Nearby devices -> OFF

Printing -> OFF

Screen Mirroring -> OFF

Mirror Link -> OFF

Controls:

Motions and Gestures -> Turn it all OFF.

-

T-Mobile APN Settings:

+ T-Mobile users: (More Networks -> Mobile Networks -> Access Point Names -> You need to change your APN setting! -> Change only these, exactly as they appear below.....)

APN: fast.t-mobile.com

MMSC: http://mms.msg.eng.t-mobile.com/mms/wapenc

APN type: default,mms,dun (<-- notice no spaces!)

APN protocol: IPv4/IPv6

APN roaming protocol: IPv4

-

Controls Tab:

Motions and Gestures -> All OFF

S Pen -> Adjust to your liking. I keep most of it ON.

General Tab:

Backup and rest -> Back up my data -> OFF!

Language and Input -> I only use the stock Samsung Keyboard.

Misc/Other Things I Do:

Dark Theme / Background -> YES

Fast Charger -> YES

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Turn off Animations:

(Settings -> General -> About device -> Build Number -> Tap this repeatedly to enable Developer Option.)

Next (I turn all the Animations OFF. There's three "Window Animation Scale, " + "Transition Animation Scale," + "Animator Duration Scale."

Next ("Uncheck," Force GPU Rendering.)

-

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2.) Apps/Widgets: I keep my set up super neat / clean as possible, as in I only download Apps that I really use. Sometimes I've downloaded apps in the past where it would never see the light of day again after its first launch. To me that's just dead weight. I like my house neat, tight and clean.

Do I use CPU apps? - No. I don't use SetCPU or CPU Performance Control. Why? I don't know...I just don't because I don't feel that I need to LOL. This phone with this ROM is fast enough for me and

I have yet to play any games that required more power.

Those apps have their purpose, but even with my heavy use....I'm totally content with the power that it provides stock. (I play first person shooters and a lot of flight simulator games that's very resource intensive. It plays them all without a hiccup.)

Do I use an aftermarket launcher? - No. I was using Nova, which I love, but man I tell ya....I really really really love TouchWiz. If I were to use one, it'd be Nova.

Do I use Wanam/Xpose? - YES! I absolutely love it. I don't have a ton of modules that I use, but the main ones that I do use include, Wanam of course, XPrivacy, and YouTube AdAway. As you know in V17X the host files are built in so you don't need "Adaway" unless you are wanting to use facebook. I stay away from all those little mods where it tweaks this and that....too minor and needless IMO and invites a lot of room for error.

Do I use Chat Clients? - YES. They are on all the time 24/7. These are not Greenified. My primary chat client taxes the wake triggers the most LOL....and even then I was able to achieve 6.5 Hours of OST!

Do I use Google Apps? - Unfortunately, ONLY Gmail (which I've converted to an user app via TB and will Greenify it since I don't mind not receiving notifications while it's hibernated.), Google Voice and the Playstore. Everything else Google I've deleted completely as they are not worthy to take up any valuable real estate on my phone than it needs to. I DISLIKE GOOGLE. VERY MUCH.

Widgets? - Yes, I use the stock AccuWeather widget, Calendar, Network Signal Info. where it shows the strength of the signal on both my LTE and WiFi, along with my Bible app. Not a ton, but a few....I personally try to stay away from having a cluster mess of a screen full of widgets. = Battery Drain. That's just my preference.

3. Other Stuff:

Screen Brightness on Auto? - No. I manually adjust my screen brightness. It's set at 100% for about an hour in the morning while getting ready for the day and 50-75% for the rest of the day. When indoors I just keep it at 50% for normal use, but when watching YouTube I always turn that bad boy up to 100%.

Do I keep GPS on? - No. I only turn it on when I need to use it.

Do I keep Bluetooth on? - No. I only turn it on when I need to use it.

Sync and Notifications? - I have most of it off, except a few things like email etc...

GMAIL? - I have 10+ accounts synced to my phone. When setting it up, I uncheck everything except "Mail." Picasa, Data, Calendar etc...all that is left unchecked. Except my primary email which I have calendar "checked," so the obvious things you can check, but otherwise just leave them "unchecked."

Gestures? - I don't use any gestures as I've found them to be a battery hog.

What kind of background do I use? - I must say, my favorite is the LIVE Aurora background, but recently I've switched it up with something static on the darker side. You can find a lot of great darker backgrounds in OP2. I've always used dark backgrounds as it helps with battery life due to the nature of our AMOLED screens. Unlike traditional LED screens, the solid black colors on AMOLED screens = The LED being completely off = Saves battery. After all, the screen is the main consumer of juice is it not? (HInt: It sure is haha...)

Do I use Titanium Backup? - Yes and No. Unfortunately, I have purchased the PRO Key back in the day so I've just kept it. However, I DO NOT do any back ups with it and definitely DO NOT restore anything after a clean flash LOL. On occasion, I'd freeze some stuff for trial and error purposes when configuring my set up. Somethings I do keep frozen, but freeze with caution! If you're not sure, ask before you freeze as you'll do more harm than good. Do not freeze any system apps. Titanium Backup is only good for very specific tasks, in my opinion.

Do I use Aftermarket Keyboards? - NO! I love the stock one and feel most secure with it. Plus, it's the FASTEST! Just my personal take....As a security/privacy junkie, I don't like all the permissions of aftermarket keyboards as they can record all your key strokes, including your CC#, Passwords and other sensitive info....I've never been cool with that and if you take the time to research all these permissions and understand how they work from within the core, you might have a hard time sleeping. Just saying....I'm not one of those crazy paranoid kookoos, but I am a practical realistic realist. The fact is, they are collecting your stuff....no doubt about it. I just choose to not ignore it that's all.

Stock Kernel? - YES! WHY WOULD YOU NEED A CUSTOM KERNEL FOR THIS ROM?! REALLY THERE IS NO POINT! THIS ROM IS FAST & EFFICIENT ENOUGH! (The ONLY EXCEPTION are for the fellow Canadian variants and US variants who need a custom kernel for VR.....other than that....the stock Kernel is the most efficient choice.)

Tips and Tricks:

Try using a darker background: For a day or two, try to use a complete black background to see if you get any more On Screen Time.....just for fun....try it. [After all my data collecting, trial and trial and trial, if I had to put a figure on how much a darker theme would benefit your battery life, it'd be....ready?....25-30% conservatively. You can see evidence of this by simply going to Settings -> General -> Battery -> and looking at the percentage of how much juice your Screen consumes. I took the percentages of the total screen usage percentages and factored that into the total run time of one cycle. Then I took that average along with the sum of the total on screen time from the data of other apps and averaged them out. That's how I got the rough ball park of 25-30%.]

Delete any apps that you don't use: But be careful that these are not system apps. However, things like Google+, Chrome etc....get rid of those rodents if you don't use it.

My browser of choice? The stock browser is the fastest of them all and has the numbers to back it. Coming in at a close second is the "Fennec Browser", which is what I use as I have plug-ins that I like a lot for safe browsing. I don't want sites all up in my business!

How to get Fennec Browser:

Option 1:

(I'd go with this route so that you can use F.Droid to browse through all the Open Source apps...it's pretty neat.)

1. Download "F.Droid" from their website. F.Droid is similar to the Playstore with a lot of goodies, but all Open Source.

2. Once you have F.Droid installed, search for "Fennec" browser.

3. I download these two plug ins which work very well together: Ublock Origin and Ghostery. Make sure to configure them accordingly (pretty self explanatory) in the settings for each to block EVERYTHING.

4. You're good to go!

Option 2:

1. Download "Fennec," browser here.

* F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. I like Open Source stuff due to its transparency. It may not be perfect, but it's sure better than something you can't see.

[Although the Stock Samsung Browser is the TOP DOG, my browser of choice is, "Fennec," which is based on Firefox's open-source architecture, but de-bloated with removal of any proprietary binaries used in official builds. ....ie...the trackers etc that you don't want. Try it.....you'll love it....]

Peacekeeper (higher is better)

stock: 1310

fennec: 1298

firefox: 1182

chrome Samsung support: 957

chrome: 945

Octane JS ( higher is better )

stock: 5712

fennec: 5704

firefox: 5689

chrome Samsung support: 5223

chrome: 5184

Sunspider JS ( lower is better )

chrome: 1002ms

chrome Samsung support: 834ms

firefox: 416ms

fennec: 398ms

stock: 395

Kraken JS

stock: 4927 ms

fennec: 5106 ms

firefox: 5269 ms

chrome Samsung support: 5796 ms

chrome: 7841 ms

SO DELETE CHROME ONCE AND FOR ALL! LOL....BURN IT!

I keep my internal storage clean and freed up as possible. All my Music Syncs, Downloads, Pictures all go to my External SD card. Lately with my new dedicated Cloud server that I own, I've been streaming everything via PLEX and am loving it.

Well what about the pictures that save to my phone by default like for burst mode? - I just use File Browser or whatever and MOVE it to my external SD card under its respected folder. [Update 12/28/14: I've found a file manager that IMO is the best among them all. The layout, functionality, and productivity is unmatched. You can bounce from one screen to another as it features a split screen for better productivity without having to exit the file manager to complete a simple copy and paste. It's called: Ghost Commander. Let me know what you think....Mega? :fingers-crossed:

Here is a link to my post on the exact procedures I take when CLEAN FLASHING my ROM. It's pretty much on par with the OP2.

To be continued....

My personal set up for Security & Privacy:

As a hyper security/privacy junkie, one of the most thrilling things about this ROM is that Mega took the time to remove a lot of the data mining leeches to prevent random data mining from communist Google and alike. On top of that I'm connected full time on VPN with AES-256 Data Encryption, SHA-256 Data Authentication, RSA-4096 Handshake through UDP connection along with Internet Kill Switch Enabled.

I also only use "Fennec," with particular add-on's proxied and only certain apps all proxied through Tor. (Sometimes I use the stock browser for general stuff.)

My main weapon is, "xprivacy," which is amazing for you privacy junkies. I have this tweaked to my specs and basically have it to where instead of blocking anything where it could cause the app not to function, it just shoots blanks or random data to the evil data miners. So if you see in one of my screen shots below, it says, "DEFACE." I've included another screen shot where it randomizes the IMEI, Phone Number etc... It's random, but I blocked it out anyway. The phone philosophy here is to not fight data mining, but to treat it like Judo. If they want it, sure they can have it, but they'll only get 0's or random fake data. This method is brilliant and prevents the introduction of breaking your phones functionality. Even though you don't use xprivacy, just from using the ROM alone you're better off than using a stock ROM as Mega removed a lot of this stuff.

AFWALL+ is a great firewall and highly recommended. It takes a little getting used to, so be patient as you run through your trial and error. Simply put, apps that don't need internet access, DON'T NEED INTERNET ACCESS.

Keyboard: Use F.Droid to download, "Hacker's Keyboard." It's based off of the Gingerbread keyboard, but I switch to this when entering in passwords. The stock Samsung keyboard is integrated in with the entire Android system so it's impossible to isolate the keyboard by itself so that you can restrict its permissions. As for all the other aftermarket keyboards, be careful. Just think about it. Pretty common sense. You type in all your personal credentials with that keyboard app having internet access and access to all the permissions it desires....do you really think there isn't a possibility that what you're typing in isn't being sent to whomever it is on a silver platter? At least with "Hackers Keyboard," it doesn't have all the intrusive permissions and you can block everything with xprivacy and Afwall+.

I hope this helps some of you get an idea of some things you can do to hopefully increase your battery life. Like I've said, I keep my set up very clean and although I love the live wallpapers, widgets and stuff....I personally have found alternatives that satisfy me just as much without sacrificing anything.

Here are some screenshots of my OLD set up (on V4) with only 4 rows...haha, good ol' days...

(((THE RESIZED IMAGES WHEN UPLOADED DOESN'T DO THE SHOTS MUCH JUSTICE....THE BACKGROUNDS ARE STUNNING ON THE PHONE IN REAL LIFE...)))

Notice how I keep things Dark....

This is the OLD set up on V5 .... I LOVE THE EXTRA ROW! SO MUCH BETTER....

* Notice the random Phone Number "xprivacy app" created! Haha! It does the same with the IMEI, Serial etc...

I'm very happy with this amazing ROM and I hope you've enjoyed the post. Mega, thanks again for all your time and effort that you've put into creating this masterpiece. Our Note 4's would not be the same without it. In fact, I can't even imagine what it would be like had this ROM not existed. Oh my....hurts just thinking about it....