Observations on battery life - please share your experiences
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I am using a BQ E5 and a Nexus 5, both with UT 16.04 RC
The BQ E5 has really a phantastic energy management which was even improved after updating from 15.04 to 16.04. After 24h in standy it is loosing 2-3% of charge state.
The Nexus 5 has a very poor energy management and even in standby the shown percentage is sinking all the time. Maybe 50% in 10 hours.
I had since yesterday on the Nexus 5 16.04 DC installed and after updating to DC-version 175 I had the feeling that energy management improved massively. Now I turned back to actual RC-version and the energy management is very poor again.
Sorry for beeing not very detailed here - I just want to mark out that in the development channel some energy management improvements for N5 are in progress.
@Stefano : Is there a way to "reinstall latest Android Nexus firmware" if I have Ubuntu Touch installed?
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@mic_ yes, just install latest Nexus image from Google , then reinstall UT.
But you loose everything, all data. There was a guide by flohack about flashing latest firmware over UT, but not sure if that would solve anything.
Easier and better to wipe it clean, flash Nexus Android, then wipe it again and flash it with UT. -
There was a guide by flohack about flashing latest firmware over UT
@stefano just in case
https://forums.ubports.com/topic/815/howto-n5-update-baseband-firmware
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For me the mobile data eats the battery. I use the N5 with RC images for 2 years, there were worse versions an better versions, but generally mobile data connection is the problem. With just mobile internet i don't survive the day, even if i don't use the phone at all.
Wifi consumes far less, bluetooth i turned off.
Gps, screen on and mobile data consume so much (navigation), that a 500mA recharger is not enough to prevent emptying the battery... -
The Nexus 5 had poor battery life since when it was released with the manufacturer Android image, there are a lot of complaints and reports over the Internet about this.
In my case I think there must be some process or something involved, since sometimes it drains very fast and I notice the phone is hotter, sometimes it lasts a lot more, and I don't turn off mobile data or wifi (bluetooth yes).
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@wgarcia The question is, why the battery drains much faster in UT than in Android in the same N5 phone in idle state. And, if we are talking about a "faulty" phone, even for Android, why not go for a newer phone? (Of course, the 2nd question is not liked. )
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@wgarcia said in Observations on battery life - please share your experiences:
In my case I think there must be some process or something involved, since sometimes it drains very fast and I notice the phone is hotter, sometimes it lasts a lot more
Yes, that sounds like issue 1 in the initial post. If I don't notice the battery dropping I eventually notice the warm pocket. Of course, for me, it never happens when it's convenient to try to figure out what's happening on the phone. Have you tried the workaround I mentioned above?
Next time I see this I should open a terminal, run "top" and capture the screen. It might give an additional clue. (Other suggestions welcome.)
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This post is deleted! -
"I've replicated what follows from the Telegram Supergroup, as that's no place to collect observations from people using a variety of phones. Hopefully some patterns will emerge that inspire improvements."
The above is a quote from @alan_g who started this thread. Please keep this in mind when makeing posts or observations. I've reposted it as this thread is getting quite long and may be missed by people new to the thread.
This thread is I believe to help find solutions to battery issues across all UBports Ubuntu Touch devices by finding common issues.
Repeating comments or issues already clearly known or stated is not going to help anybody. Comparing to Android will not help move this issue on . Old devices of whatever make and OS do not compare with what is available now or maybe coming shortly.
So let's be positive and move forward and find those common issues that can be rectified. Thank you for your understanding. -
@lakotaubp said in Observations on battery life - please share your experiences:
Repeating comments or issues already clearly known or stated is not going to help anybody.
There's a fine line here: Adding more information (even a few "me too"s - to indicates it is common) doesn't count as repeating. Seeing an issue on different devices, or software versions doesn't count as repeating.
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@alan_g Agree totally. ''Me to'' is fine and so is ''same as so and so but on another device'' is also good and helpful.
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@chdslv said in Observations on battery life - please share your experiences:
@wgarcia The question is, why the battery drains much faster in UT than in Android in the same N5 phone in idle state.
In my case, as in @alan_g case, it does not drain always, just when something happens that starts to heat up the phone. Let's see if we catch what that is.
And, if we are talking about a "faulty" phone, even for Android, why not go for a newer phone? (Of course, the 2nd question is not liked. )
What do you mean? Do you think that no other phones are ported because we don't want to do so or we are married with the Nexus 5 and the few other phones ported right now? No more phones are ported because we don't know how to port them, if we knew of course they would be ported. And don't be mistaken, a lot of people is trying, but no success so far.
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@lakotaubp Comparing to Android will not help move this issue on .
There are no dedicated phones for UT, only those that had come with Android, meaning were manufactured to work on Android, other than the few that once had UT. At the moment, the flagship devices are more or less N4 and N5, so the only way to test them on UT is by comparing how they worked, or the battery worked while on the OS they was designed for. For example, if the battery drains much faster in idle state in UT than in Android, then there is a problem with UT, but not with N5.
(I don't have any other devices that would boot UT, other than N5, and I bought it just for that. Searched for quite a while to find a decent N5 with a good battery.)
UT is an after market rom for older phones that don't get any Android updates. But, it is eating the battery.
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@chdslv BQ E4.5, E5, and Meizu Pro 5 have (had) a Ubuntu Edition from factory.
We the community are trying to port UT to some devices running Android currently, but we're trying to port it to Pine64 devkit, Raspberry Pi, and some other devices as well, including Librem5 devkit (soon).
On the other hand, UT is not a ROM.
Fairphone 2 and Oneplus Ones are more "flagship devices" than the Nexus models nowadays.
Finally, I'm pretty happy with how long lasts the battery in my N5. The combo new battery + xenial are doing wonders for a device that even when running Android doesn't have the best battery life in the world
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@advocatux said in Observations on battery life - please share your experiences:
Fairphone 2 and Oneplus Ones are more "flagship devices" than the Nexus models nowadays.
Are you saying in these old phones the batteries don't drain in idle state in UT as in N5?
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@chdslv No my OPO lasts at lot longer than N5. Nearly 30 hrs the other day 4g location and wifi.
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@lakotaubp Do you have a N5 to compare with OPO? There are few OPO's out there to buy, but not really sure.
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@chdslv I have two in fact. Which I mess about with now occasionally. Last time I tried one with 3g sim wifi and location got just over 24hrs in stand by 16.04 dev.
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@chdslv Please stop aggressively hijacking threads and being confrontational about battery performance issues on the N5 with UT. There are open issues in GitHub about the problem already, and ranting about how you think Android is better, while you are doing nothing to help debug where the problems are, does absolutely nothing to move the issue along toward a fixed state. That is what @Lakotaubp meant with the comment.
If you have the skills and time to help debug and solve the issues, then please do. If not, please stop berating the community over your one pet issue. It's rude and does not help. If you feel UT is not usable for you yet, due to this issue on the Nexus 5, and you must use Android instead, then please do, and leave the issue to people who do have the skills and time to work on and solve it.
But please stop being aggressively confrontational in our community.
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@dobey Explaining this matter, the last time.
I bought this N5 after reading this https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io and whole lot of forum posts here. N4 and N5 were supposed to be ones that would work fully with UT. Bought the phone only for testing UT. (I have no interest in buying an older phone to use with Android, mind you.) When I noticed the battery drain, I had to choose; either change the battery or check how it works in its original state. So, I chose check the N5 in its original state. I posted the results, thinking it would help the community, rather than antagonizing it. I am new here, by the way.I agree as it is my phone, it is my problem.
@Lakotaubp says OPO's battery is doing well. There are few OPOs out here to buy, for more less the same price as the N5. The idea is to test UT with a phone. If I buy it, it is my problem then, so won't post on the battery status, or on any other matter.
