[General Topics] TheMystic:
This post is an attempt to clear common misconceptions about smartphone battery life, and to provide some clarity on what drains battery.

For most (almost all actually) users, your device battery usage is mostly as follows:

• Hardware – 70% to 90%

• Software – 10% to 30%

HARDWARE (70% to 90%)

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1. Screen - more screen on means more battery. Brighter screen means more battery usage. This is the biggest consumer of battery.

2. Signal strength - a weak WiFi or Network (mobile network, mobile data) signal means more battery usage. This is often the 2nd biggest battery consumer. Also, dual sim means more battery usage (about 20% extra battery).

3. Radios – although the actual hardware is ‘supposed’ to be identical, there are variations in every unit. Think of it as two cars of the same make and from the same brand. Are they truly identical? Answer is NO. So the battery usage by device radios, although expected to be similar, can still be different.

4. Network service provider – battery usage is a function of the sim service provider too, depending on how strong their signals are where you are located.

5. Location services - more apps and services using location means more battery usage.

6. Number of accounts - more accounts means more battery usage. Turn off automatic syncing for less important accounts, and disable sync for services that you don’t use for each account. For example, go to Settings/ Accounts and choose a Google account (if you use multiple Google accounts in your devices). For each account, your device is syncing between 8 to 10 services, namely, Contacts, People, Keep, Drive, Calendar, Gmail, etc.). I use only one account for my calendar, so I turn off calendar syncing for all my other accounts. Same applies for other services.

7. Vibration motor – disable/ lower intensity (if your OS/ Kernel permits) of vibration for longer battery life.

8. RAM: If your device has a higher RAM, it will consume more battery, i.e. a 12 GB Ram variant will use more battery than a 8 GB ram variant. This is because the RAM is a powered memory, and will hold information only as long as there is a continuous power supply (from the battery). Please note that this simply refers to the size of the RAM, and has nothing to do with how much of it is free. In other words, clearing apps to free RAM won't help. In fact, clearing RAM will increase battery consumption.

9. Extended RAM (or RAM Plus): OEMs these days advertise this as a very big feature. The fact is gains from this is very limited. On the contrary, this increases device battery consumption, and can also potentially reduce the life of the device's internal storage due to frequent read/ writes. This is because RAM is a powered memory, and using part of the internal storage as RAM means keeping it powered 24x7.

SOFTWARE (10% to 30%)

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Your device performance and battery life is a direct function of how you use it. Each user is different, so what you get out of your device is also different from others. Here is a summary of some common battery drainers:

1. Number of apps – more apps means more battery use.

2. Quality of apps – more junk apps means more battery use. Your choice of apps plays an extremely important role in determining your user experience with the device. Badly coded apps will lead to excessive battery consumption, unwanted and avoidable hardware cycles, and eventual lags, stutters, freezing and shutdowns.

3. Apps that use background service – if you have apps running one or more background services, be assured that these services consume your battery. Either live with it or look for ‘lite’ alternatives.

4. Unused apps – If you must, then keep the apps as APKs, instead of having them installed.

5. Junk apps – stay away from memory boosters, battery savers, battery monitors, CPU coolers, junk cleaners, etc. They do more harm, and almost always do no good to your device.

Many apps use system events, Google Play Services, or other means to hide their activities from showing up under battery usage. The end result is you'll see Android System, Android OS, System UI, and other generic entries under Battery Usage and you won't be able to find the cause of battery drain.​

I have curated a list of best Android apps for many of the commonly used categories. You can find them here:

https://xdaforums.com/t/best-android-apps.4215043/

KERNELS & TWEAKS​

1. Underclocking – don’t do it.

2. Overclocking – don’t risk it.

Changing kernels, and implementing tweaks will never yield ‘significant’ benefits.

Remember, anything that you do will only affect that 10% to 30% of battery drain caused by software. So you really can't expect 'magic' by simply tweaking software.​

OEMs optimize the ROM for the built-in kernel, keeping in mind average use. Unless you have a very specific requirement, and you are absolutely sure of what you are doing, it is best for you not to play around with these things.

If you are the type of user that needs to charge your phone twice a day, you will still have to charge it twice a day, NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO!

GOOD PRACTICES

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As a general rule, following would be some good practices for a good user experience:

1. Don’t swipe away apps from memory (from the Recents screen).

2. Don’t keep clearing cache. Cache serves two functions:

• Speed up your device – your device will not have to re-do the same task again. And if cache has to be built from an online resource (think Google Photos and others), it will use internet data too, and depending on your network speed, this can lengthen the process, making your device slow.

• Extend your battery life – Yes. Cache building doesn’t come free. If your device has to rebuild cache, it will use hardware resources, network resources, meaning battery drain.

3. Don’t run apps or services that are resource intensive, for extended periods. Resource intensive apps will wear your hardware faster, which will manifest as poor battery, lags, etc. This will, however, take a long time but it is good to keep that in mind. Should you stop playing games then? No. Avoid what you can. Example anti-virus apps, or battery monitor apps. You don’t need them.

4. Never let your device battery go below 10%.

Just use your device to do what you want. Don’t tinker with the system. The OS knows it better than you and you are best advised to let it do its things. Your job is just to set up the device, configure your apps and simply use them. Your OS is not an app for you to use it. It is just a platform for you to run your apps.

Here is an interesting article on the mechanics of charging:

https://sites.lafayette.edu/che324-sp17/2017/03/11/smartcharger/

Check this out for simple tips on how to setup your phone for best user experience:

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WARNING

There are plenty of outdated articles on the internet that are either no longer applicable today, or can even be counter-productive. So follow advises with caution.