Maximizing the max

[v1ru5]

I have had the maxx since launch and it's battery life has seemed to take a hit. What would be some optimization settings to consider? I am also considering leaving my UDP for a cheaper plan. What are the best ways to consider doing to conserve data? my goal would be using 6th max less would be better as it makes for a cheaper plan.

 

[FoxKat]

The largest users of power for the phone are almost always screen, followed by any number of other system or user apps.

According to a recent study and report from AVG (Games, Music and Shopping Apps Hit Smartphones Hardest), the following are the 5 biggest offenders of overall performance for an android phone (and so will impact battery life);

1. Facebook
2. Spotify
3. Instagram
4. Path
5. Amazon Android

Likewise, here's the 5 worst offenders for data consumption (which will also make them high-ranking candidates for battery consumption);

1. Daily Mail Online
2. Tumblr
3. Facebook
4. Instagram
5. Spotify

So first and foremost, reduce the screen brightness, shorten the timeout for screen, limit the number of apps that can activate the Active Display through notifications, and reduce background apps such as Facebook and the like to less frequent updates, or even to no updates unless opened manually. Anything that causes the screen to turn on will impede battery life. Then anything that does background data transmission will also impede the battery life.

Next, try to use WIFI whenever and wherever possible. You may also wish to turn off other "radios" such as Bluetooth and GPS, for example, except when needed.

There are certainly lots of other ways to reduce battery consumption, not the least of which is to turn the phone's Background Data "OFF" and just leaving it open to receive phone calls and texts.

I am sure others will chime in here as well.

As far as the UDP versus the "cheaper" plans, cheaper isn't always better. It's inevitable that over time, we will consume more and more data, as we become more and more dependent on our smartphones for every facet of communication and activities in our lives. On the other hand, you only have so many minutes in a 24 hour period, and so many in a month's billing cycle to make voice phone calls in. So data consumption is potentially infinite, however phone call minutes being used in a month will always be finite.

There are 43829.1 minutes in the average month, so unless you're on the phone constantly for the entire 30 days (average), you'll never come close to using that many minutes, but even if you did, once you hit that number, your "unlimited phone minutes" becomes "limited" by the simple fact of time. On the other hand, data consumption isn't related to time, but instead to data speed and volume of data, so as video streaming, video calling, cloud backups and other data-intensive applications and functions continue to become more and more mainstream, and continue to use more and more data in every minute, it's only a matter of time before you will run out of data at the selected plan limits and will have to increase the cost to increase the GB allotment. Unless you are on WIFI most (or all) of the time, or you are simply not a heavy user of data, you will likely eventually regret losing UDP.

 

[v1ru5]

The largest users of power for the phone are almost always screen, followed by any number of other system or user apps. So first and foremost, reduce the screen brightness, shorten the timeout for screen, limit the number of apps that can activate the Active Display through notifications, and reduce background apps such as Facebook and the like to less frequent updates, or even to no updates unless opened manually. Anything that causes the screen to turn on will impede battery life. Then anything that does background data transmission will also impede the battery life.

Next, try to use WIFI whenever and wherever possible. You may also wish to turn off other "radios" such as Bluetooth and GPS, for example, except when needed.

There are certainly lots of other ways to reduce battery consumption, not the least of which is to turn the phone's Background Data "OFF" and just leaving it open to receive phone calls and texts.

I am sure others will chime in here as well.

As far as the UDP versus the "cheaper" plans, cheaper isn't always better. It's inevitable that over time, we will consume more and more data, as we become more and more dependent on our smartphones for every facet of communication and activities in our lives. On the other hand, you only have so many minutes in a 24 hour period, and so many in a month's billing cycle to make voice phone calls in. So data consumption is potentially infinite, however phone call minutes being used in a month will always be finite.

There are 43829.1 minutes in the average month, so unless you're on the phone constantly for the entire 30 days (average), you'll never come close to using that many minutes, but even if you did, once you hit that number, your "unlimited phone minutes" becomes "limited" by the simple fact of time. On the other hand, data consumption isn't related to time, but instead to data speed and volume of data, so as video streaming, video calling, cloud backups and other data-intensive applications and functions continue to become more and more mainstream, and continue to use more and more data in every minute, it's only a matter of time before you will run out of data at the selected plan limits and will have to increase the cost to increase the GB allotment. Unless you are on WIFI most (or all) of the time, or you are simply not a heavy user of data, you will likely eventually regret losing UDP.

I'm a little unsure as to what restrict background data does when viewing data usage. Will it kill the app as soon as it's closed? I set my screen to auto and dropped the time out for a start. Going to go into apps to see what tweaks can be made. ,y monthly bill will be $50 cheaper and I have WiFi at home. Going over my last 4 months of data usage I am maxing 6th of usage. Main culprits are Facebook and instagram I have also made the change in YouTube to only stream in HD when on wifi. That $50 per month savings will allow for outright purchase of phones much more do able

 

[FoxKat]

I'm a little unsure as to what restrict background data does when viewing data usage. Will it kill the app as soon as it's closed? I set my screen to auto and dropped the time out for a start. Going to go into apps to see what tweaks can be made. ,y monthly bill will be $50 cheaper and I have WiFi at home. Going over my last 4 months of data usage I am maxing 6th of usage. Main culprits are Facebook and instagram I have also made the change in YouTube to only stream in HD when on wifi. That $50 per month savings will allow for outright purchase of phones much more do able

I am not totally sure how "restrict" actually impacts the data usage, but it may limit it to only accessing the network when you actually open the screen. That would be preferred over complete freedom to access the network with no interaction by the user.

As for the apps, extend the time between background syncs.

If moving to a fixed and limited 6GB (not "6th"), plan will not cause you to exceed your monthly allotment, and will also save you $50/month, then it's a no-brainer. It's not usually so obvious a savings and in my case for instance, I'd actually wind up spending about $50/month MORE if I moved from UDP to a fixed plan of the minimum amount of data (GB), needed to prevent exceeding it with my monthly average usage.

YRMV

 

[v1ru5]

I am not totally sure how "restrict" actually impacts the data usage, but it may limit it to only accessing the network when you actually open the screen. That would be preferred over complete freedom to access the network with no interaction by the user.

As for the apps, extend the time between background syncs.

If moving to a fixed and limited 6GB (not "6th"), plan will not cause you to exceed your monthly allotment, and will also save you $50/month, then it's a no-brainer. It's not usually so obvious a savings and in my case for instance, I'd actually wind up spending about $50/month MORE if I moved from UDP to a fixed plan of the minimum amount of data (GB), needed to prevent exceeding it with my monthly average usage.

YRMV

Yes 6GB my tab pro likes to auto correct unfamiliar lingo. I will experiment with the background restrictions and the high data using apps. My plan would in fact be much cheaper however my dad has a flip phone on my plan then with my employer discount my plan would be discounted an additional 18%. I'm really trying to justify the UDP to myself and just can not make sense of the need for unlimited

 

[FoxKat]

Yes 6GB my tab pro likes to auto correct unfamiliar lingo. I will experiment with the background restrictions and the high data using apps. My plan would in fact be much cheaper however my dad has a flip phone on my plan then with my employer discount my plan would be discounted an additional 18%. I'm really trying to justify the UDP to myself and just can not make sense of the need for unlimited

Well as I said, for your particular purposes this may be the right move , dumping UDP and moving over to a tiered plan. For me unfortunately, my data consumption just pushes me right up the top in tiered plans and makes it unaffordable to make the move. I have a family plan with three phone lines on it, and two of them are UDP lines. The third is just a simple tiered plan with the lowest prices 3 GB plan for my young son. Since the third phone spends most of its time inside the home, Wi-Fi provides the excess functionality for data so 3 GB is more than enough while that phone is out in the outside world. Also, since my Droid Turbo is rooted and has the Wi-Fi Tether Hack, While my son is using that 3 GB phone in the car or he's with me anywhere, it's riding on my unlimited data package for my Turbo.

 

[v1ru5]

Great info here!!! I think I may ditch my Facebook app and only access it from a browser

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[v1ru5]

Bump

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[94lt1]

Pretty much FoxKat has answered your questions.. I can tell you that restrict background data cuts the amount of background data utilized by apps like Facebook , g+, YouTube..or radio apps. It also reduces any foreground app data use when the screen is off...or atleast this is how it worked a couple of updates ago.

There are settings to look into if you do run the Facebook app..like the video player settings. If you don't tell it to run restricted, it will load every video file posted, that comes across your news feed or while you browse.

One thing to make the device snappier is to turn on developer options by taping on the build date in settings ..about phone..then go into your animations..set them all to .5. I would say normally to turn them off..but on the maxx and turbo, if you shut off the animations...you screw up your dialer.. So don't do that ..

 

[v1ru5]

I finally realized my location was set to high accuracy. I will see tomorrow how my battery life is. I'm hopeful this itself will be a big difference

 

[94lt1]

I always turn my location off..and turn my screen brightness down..fr battery purposes

 

[Mustang02]

I run high accuracy and auto brightness.

 

[v1ru5]

I run high accuracy and auto brightness.

View attachment 75454

And this is on the Droid maxx? Show me your ways!

 

[Mustang02]

Yes. I have an unlocked bootloader. Deleted all the nonsense apps like Facebook.

Here is my system info.

 

[Sajo]

I was getting about the same battery life as Mustang the year I had my Droid Maxx. I ran with GPS in High Accuracy Mode all the time, screen brightness on Auto and could normally get 3+ hours of screen on time every day using my phone and still only be at 50% at night when I went to bed...about 14 or so hours off the charger. No special settings, or anything for me. But.....I am not a social media user. I never use Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media app. My wife and daughters on the other hand....they use them all. Especially Facebook and Instagram. They are always looking for an outlet every 6 to 8 hours. Just my opinion, but those apps kill your battery.

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