Thursday, August 5, 2010

... the continuing X10 Mini Pro battery saga...

As per my previous post, there have been reports of users getting well over 4 days of standby time from the X10 Mini Pro. I have yet to experience over one day of use with it.

Ok... aside from not using the phone... I've tried to find a combination of apps that will help maximize battery use, without sacrificing too much of the capabilities of the phone.

For people that do not have unlimited data plans, then you're over half way there... having unlimited surfing capabilities really takes its toll on your battery... mainly because you're always surfing... hahahaha... and background sync does drain a lot as well. Leaving it on 3G doesn't, but data polling and push services (if you get a lot of email and facebook updates like I do) does drain a lot.

So far, I've tried a ton of power management apps... and so far... there are 3 that look very promising together.

Juice Defender shuts off cellular data services when your screen goes on standby, and turns it back on when you use your phone. This prevents apps and widgets from connecting to the net and draining your battery when you're not using your phone. Free version logs in every 15 min so email and MMS can come in during those intervals... it might be worth getting the paid version if you want more control over time and scheduled log-ins.


SMODA Widget, a small 1x1 button to shut off data services manually. Can over-ride Juice Defender when you're screen is on and you don't want to surf.





Timeriffic allows you to control and trigger wifi, ringer, screen brightness, vibration, volume, and airplane mode using user set times and days. Like you can have the phone automatically go on silent at 10pm and turn all sounds back on at 6am. Or completely cut-off using airplane mode during Sundays. I personally only use this to control my screen brightness during the day.

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There's also an app called Power Manager that enables wifi when you plug in your phone, and disables it when you unplug your phone. This runs in the background, and you can always over-ride it manually.

There are a ton of other apps that can help you manage and save battery life... so far, for my use, Data on Demand seems to be the one with the biggest difference since all I give up are push messages. So it has the least impact on my use, without me giving up too much functionality or convenience (I don't like having to turn things off and on all the time)

What battery savings apps do you guys have running on your Android phones?

***August 7, 2010 - Juice Defender has a widget that performs the same function as the SMODA widget, so if you like Juice Defender (I'm hoping to get the full app when it's available here in the Philippines) you don't need SMODA anymore... but if you just want a simple widget that shuts off your data transfers, SMODA is the way to go***

***December 20, 2010 - Momax Portable Battery Review***

6 comments:

  1. Mugen has an extended battery for the x10. That might be a good option as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the tip!

    Unfortunately, it's only for the X10, not the Mini or Mini Pro.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dude, nice to see you got an Android and not an Iphone. Check out Advanced Task Killer. It's an app that lets you shut down whatever's running and even put a limit on how much memory is used to run apps. Android has a way of letting apps run with or without your knowing, which means more power use. Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Robert, thanks for reading.

    I use ES Task Manager.

    The widget has an Auto-Kill function as well when you're phone is on standby.

    But the biggest power saver for me has been Juice Defender.

    I'm not one who's fond of disabling the functions of a smartphone just to save battery...and Juice Defender allows my phone to still receive email & facebook updates in the background throughout the day without having to disable data services completely.

    I understand the amount of batterylife I give up to keep all (GPS included) the functions of my phone up and running. It's the main reason I have an Android. I just got a car charger...solved everything.

    Thanks for the tip though, I will try out ATK and compare with ESTM. Thanks again! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Surely there must a compatible battery replacement for the x10 mini pro higher than a piddly 950mha. Lots of other phones seem to have larger battery options.

    I've heard of people managing to put an an x1 battery in an x10 mini pro phone and report only a 2% loss overnight on standby and still have the device actually running.

    Can anyone actually confirm that other batteries work or will mixing the wrong batteries eventually fry your phone?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy New Year Anonymous! The battery life of the mini pro is actually quite decent. If I didn't activate my push services and leave my internet on 24/7, I can easily get 4-5 days with regular use. The iPhone 4 only gets an hour more than my mini pro under the same use.

    I'm sure you can use a different battery with compatible specs. But why bother? It won't give you more than a few more minutes of internet use.

    Get an external battery instead. If you're a heavy user, it will be more useful than a non-approved battery that will give you just 100+mAh more..

    ReplyDelete

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