Smart Actions...I have quite a few. I don't use them for battery conservation overall, rather conservative battery management based on situation, if that makes sense. Never have had a suggestion made because I think I covered every possible scenario. Outsmarted the RAZR
Remember, Smart Actions stack. So you can have one action that does X-Y-Z and another action that does W-B, and if both triggers are met, they will stack. Also, because they're triggered events, you have to set certain actions to undo certain other actions - for example, if you disable WiFi entirely on one plan, you can't then use it on another plan that would trigger right after it to set location, without re-enabling WiFi.
My table below outlines how this works.
[TABLE="class: grid, align: center"]
[TR]
[TD]
Smart Action
[/TD]
[TD]
Triggers
[/TD]
[TD]
Actions
[/TD]
[TD]
Description
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Home[/TD]
[TD]Connected to my home WiFi
(Better than GPS since I don't
have to care about addresses)[/TD]
[TD]Disable 4G;
Brightness Auto[/TD]
[TD]The logic is, if I'm connected to my home hotspot, I don't need to use 4G at all. That saves battery. I don't need max brightness because of the light. Stacks with "Power", and possibly "Commute".[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Commute[/TD]
[TD]Timeframe:
7:40am - 8:15am (To Work) OR
4:30pm - 5:30pm (To Home)[/TD]
[TD]Ringer to 100%;
Wi-Fi off;
GPS off;
Display Timeout 1 minute;
Brightness Auto[/TD]
[TD]In the car the ringer needs to be maximum so I hear calls come in. WiFi is pointless because I'm not near a hotspot. GPS is pointless because I know where I'm going and my weather is hourly updated anyway. Brightness can be auto to conserve power. Stacks with"Work".[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]In Car Other[/TD]
[TD]Headphones plugged in[/TD]
[TD]Ringer to 100%;
Wi-Fi off;
Display Timeout 1 minute;
Brightness Auto;
4G enable;
GPS enable[/TD]
[TD]If it's not during the commute times above, then it's possible I'm in the field going to an assignment or traveling to an unknown place where I may need directions. So I will need data, and I will need GPS. Everything else can be off. I will plug in my line jack so that the phone knows when I'm in the car. Stacks with "Work" with this taking precedence.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Work[/TD]
[TD]Timeframe:
8:00am - 5:00pm[/TD]
[TD]Ringer to vibrate/20%;
Display Timeout 30 seconds;
Brightness Auto;
Bluetooth enable;
GPS enable;
Wi-Fi off;
Background Sync enable;
4G enable[/TD]
[TD]I'm a field tech, so I don't use the screen that much. But I do need to make sure that emails are able to get through without interaction. I can't just disable my signal throughout the day. It has to stay on but everything else (i.e. Bluetooth) can be turned off. I turn GPS on so that I can get to a site if I don't know where it is. Ringer goes down in case I have to go into a meeting. May stack with "In Car Other". If using Mobile Hotspot I put it on the charger and it will stack with "Power".[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Power[/TD]
[TD]Charging - any source[/TD]
[TD]Display never timeout;
Brightness 100%[/TD]
[TD]If the phone is being charged, all bets are off as far as the screen goes since Display is usually the #1 battery killer. Stacks with any of the other plans depending on when I charge the phone.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Sleep[/TD]
[TD]Timeframe:
10:00pm - 5:30am
Charging - any source
Motion Detector[/TD]
[TD]Ringer silent;
4G disable;
Wi-Fi on;
Display never times out;
Brightness to 0%;
GPS off;
Bluetooth off[/TD]
[TD]Chances are, during these hours the phone is serving as my alarm clock. Given that, the only thing I really need is Wi-Fi to make sure to catch any emails so that I see them in the morning when I wake up. Plus I may not actually go to sleep until midnight or so. This plan is overriden by the last plan below and stacks with the plan above.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]<blank> Calls...[/TD]
[TD]A certain person calls me from
a certain phone number[/TD]
[TD]Ringer to 40%[/TD]
[TD]If this person calls, I want to know about it. Everyone else can go to hell. There is one person in there right now and she may call me to talk about things. Those calls often happen during the sleep hours which is why I only set the ringer at 40%. Temporary.[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
With these configurations, I have pretty much settled in at 15 hours of battery. Not great...but not horrible either. The Bionic without these plans could go 23 hours on the standard battery. I have calibrated the RAZR but realistically I don't expect it to go much higher than 15 without sacrificing my daily workflow, which is unacceptable. I ran it through as my only phone today and it did pretty good.
One thing I notice about the RAZR is that standard phone calls don't destroy the battery as with the Bionic. Not sure why that is exactly.
