[Android Apps and Games] Chainfire:
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Index

- General

--- Will this prolong battery life ?

--- I want feature X, but it isn't included

--- I expected X to happen, but Y happened

--- I found a bug

- Data connections

--- The connection state changed, but didn't change back when I expected it to

- System popups

--- The PIN screen pops up sometimes

--- The locks screen pops up sometimes

- 2G/3G

--- A band switch is being performed even though I'm already in the mode it is switching to

--- What is the difference between the RIL injection and the Sidekick method ?

--- Even though I have root, the 2G/3G switching options are disabled (CDMA)

--- Band switching takes too long, is this a bug ? Can it be improved ?

--- I'm in 2G mode but my device switched back to 3G

- CPU

--- The device never wakes from sleep

--- Using tool X shows me that CPU speed is never changed

General: Will this prolong battery life ?

Quite probably, yes, significantly! BUT, there is never a guarantee. It all depends on how you use your device, the current conditions, and how you configure SuperPower. Some options in general save a lot of battery, but may be too inconvenient for you to use (specifically 2G/3G switching), and if you still want to use them, some playing with the various options may be needed to get it to work with the least amount of inconvenience to your usage pattern.

If you are a very heavy user, no amount of software is going to help you (much). You need a bigger battery (or a spare). If all you use your device for is streaming YouTube, chances are battery life improvements you will see are little to none.

CPU scaling may have less effect than expected. The amount of battery it saves has differed wildly between tests on different devices.

Using Wi-Fi may use significantly less power than using 2G/3G. Or, 2G/3G may use significantly less power than using Wi-Fi. It depends on the situation, the signal strength of both cellular and Wi-Fi, the transfer speed, etc.

Using 2G instead of 3G will generally speaking use less battery for most users, but this is not a given. It depends on the situation.

All in all however, the default SuperPower configuration will provide you with a setup that will save a lot of battery for the average user, with little to no inconvenience to the user.

General: I want feature X, but it isn't included

Feel free to request the feature in this thread, even if this feature is already listed in these posts that it will be implemented sooner or later. If feature X is posted about 10 times, and feature Y only 3 times, that may have an effect on the priority of implementation.

General: I expected X to happen, but Y happened

Please go through the entire configuration to make sure you haven't configured anything that causes this behaviour Y before posting here. Also read through this FAQ and the known issues. It is of course possible you have found an undocumented bug, if so please report it here (see "I found a bug")

General: I found a bug

If you post it here, perhaps we can do something about it. But first, please check your configuration first to make sure it is unexpected behaviour. When posting about a bug, always include the relevant SuperPower configuration options, exactly which device you are using, which ROM, etc. More information is usually better !

Data connections: The connection state changed, but didn't change back when I expected it to

In the default configuration, SuperPower will "upgrade" connection states as soon as possible, but general only "downgrade" them when you aren't looking.

For example, turning on data will be done as soon as you need it; while turning off data will generally be done only a while after the screen goes off. The same goes for for example 2G/3G. Switching to 3G will happen as soon as possible, switching to 2G will not be done immediately.

This does all depend on your SuperPower configuration, though!

System popups: The PIN screen pops up sometimes

On some devices certain actions can cause the PIN screen to popup when for example bandswitching or coming out of airplane mode.

If you enter your PIN code in the SuperPower configuration and you have such a device, SuperPower will attempt to automatically enter the PIN code for you - IF it understands it was one of SuperPower's actions that caused the PIN popup. An overlay screen will be presented to you while the PIN is entered and the SIM unlocked.

This is however an experimental feature, may not work 100% of the time, and can cause some inconvenience. If you find this highly annoying, but you do want to use the features SuperPower provides that may cause this behaviour, you can disable the PIN screen altogether in the device's settings application.

System popups: The lock screen pops up sometimes

Like the PIN screen, on some devices certain actions can cause the lock screen to popup. SuperPower actively counters this behaviour while it is performing actions. Should it still happen, please report it (and the exact situation that caused it), specific code that prevents this behaviour may need to be added to code in additional places.

2G/3G: A band switch is being performed even though I'm already in the mode it is switching to

It is not always possible to detect the current 2G/3G state. In that case, SuperPower will treat the current mode as undefined, and any trigger that will cause either 2G or 3G mode will result in a band switch being performed, regardless of what the current actual state may be. This is also a reason to not use the device's settings app (or any other app) to switch between 2G/3G when SuperPower is also using 2G/3G functionality. Always use SuperPower (and only SuperPower) to perform the band switch!

2G/3G: What is the difference between the RIL injection and the Sidekick method ?

RIL injection is as hackery as hacks come, and is currently only available for GSM devices. It completely circumvents most of Android and tries to force commands to be sent to the radio.

Sidekick on the other hand will use the same method as the device's settings screen to trigger a band switch, and is therefor both safer and faster to use. It does unfortunately require a compatible ROM. Carrier / manufaturer ROMs are usually not compatible, and not all custom ROMs are compatible either. Sidekick is available both on GSM as well as CDMA devices.

If your ROM is Sidekick compatible, Sidekick will always be used instead of RIL injection.

Both methods have not been extensively tested on a wide range of devices yet. So neither method may be compatible with your device. Please post here if neither method works on your device.

2G/3G: Even though I have root, the 2G/3G switching options are disabled (CDMA)

RIL injection is currently only supported on GSM devices. Only the Sidekick method supports CDMA at the moment.

2G/3G: Band switching takes too long, is this a bug ? Can it be improved ?

Band switching will take time, and inconvenience you. There is no way around this. The phone has to drop the network connection and completely reconnect to the tower.

However, in some cases it does take longer than in other cases. The Sidekick method provides the fastest band switching available, but is not compatible with many ROMs. If your ROM is compatible, though, Sidekick will be installed and used automatically instead of RIL injection.

When the RIL injection method is used (which will probably be for most users), band switching speed depends heavily on the device. Some devices are fairly quick with RIL injections, others are slow. If you have a device that requires your PIN code for operations such as band switching and coming out of airplane mode, band switching will also take significantly longer.

Depending on all these factors, band switching can take anywhere between 10 seconds and a minute. Band switching will usually save a lot of power, but you have to consider wether the extra battery life is worth the inconvenience.

2G/3G: I'm in 2G mode but my device switched back to 3G

Some devices are known to do this. If it happens to you, please post about it. An attempt a viable workaround is on the to-do list.

CPU: The device never wakes from sleep

Not all devices work perfectly with CPU scaling. If this happens, reboot your phone, go into SuperPower configuration, and switch the "ondemand" setting under "Root features". If that doesn't work, you'll just have to disable CPU scaling.

CPU: Using tool X shows me that CPU speed is never changed

The CPU speed cannot be easily changed on all devices. Some devices/firmwares are "perflocked". Disabling perflock is beyond the scope of SuperPower, and thus SuperPower will make no attempt to disable it. There are tools out there that can disable perflock on many devices that have it, for example, check out SetCPU.