3 ms·

Please Google, how about some real battery improvements this time? I was disappointed to hear that the new "doze" feature is only for completely stationary phon

Please Google, how about some real battery improvements this time? I was disappointed to hear that the new "doze" feature is only for completely stationary phones. So sitting in your pocket or the bottom of your purse won't set it off because there's too much motion. I imagine this will be nice for tablets that sit on the kitchen counter all day, but might not affect phone battery life at all. Apparently, the battery gains from Volta in 5.0 didn't do much and from what I've read many of the popular apps never bothered supporting the new APIs for their own reasons. On the plus side, hearing about monthly security updates tackles my biggest concern with the platform. The problem is only a handful of the biggest players have signed on for that, and even then these updates need carrier approval for some asinine reason. The smaller OEM's will probably never deliver these updates.

andor 11y ago
"App standby" in Android M also works for non-stationary phones. It disables services and background data for apps that you don't use for some time. https://developer.android.com/preview/behavior-changes.html#behavior-power https://developer.android.com/preview/behavior-changes.html#... I'm pretty sure that Google cares a lot about battery life, but there's no magic way to save energy, so don't expect too much from optimizations. Apps, not the OS, use most of the energy for CPU, screen and radio time. The new features only limit the apps a bit by disabling or rescheduling background tasks.
- drzaiusapelord 11y ago
  Well, I don't think my demands are unrealistic. Compared to my iOS devices, Android does terribly, even with much higher capacity batteries. It would be great if google caught up.
  - bitmapbrother 11y ago
    Google did. It's called Doze.
MichaelGG 11y ago
Or OEMs could just put decent batteries in the phones? Huawei has the Mate 2 with a 4000mAh battery. I easily get over a full 24-hour day. I never worry about charging it. Other OEMs could do this if they wanted. But they choose to slice another mm off thickness, and everyone's happy if they can get through 12 hours without charging. If Apple has chose to ship a battery capable of lasting 24 hours, everyone would just take it for granted that this is obviously how devices should work.
- Grazester 11y ago
  That's a brute force way of trying to solve the issue and one I am not big on.
  - MichaelGG 11y ago
    Sure, but A: it works, today, B: it works well, with no compat issues.
    - drzaiusapelord 11y ago
      The Mate 2 is a HUGE 6.1" phone and nearly twice the weight of an iphone. This is not a solution for most of the phone market. I own a N6 and I have huge hands and its a bit much for me. Its uncomfortably huge and heavy. I can't imagine most people being on board with a heavy and huge phone because google can't get its shit together on power savings.
      - simoncion 11y ago
        Back when I was carrying my Nexus S around, I would have happily paid $50 more for a model designed to contain a double-sized battery. [0] My hands tell me that the battery is quite a bit less than 25% of the total weight of the device, so the weight cost would also be quite small; no more than ~1.5 additional ounces. It's not a rule that one has to choose between a relatively small phone with shitty battery life and a phablet with somewhat less shitty battery life. One could have double or triple-sized batteries in the smaller phones! [0] The problem with all of the aftermarket batteries that I saw was that they required a new back cover that contained no NFC antenna.

andor 11y ago

"App standby" in Android M also works for non-stationary phones. It disables services and background data for apps that you don't use for some time. https://developer.android.com/preview/behavior-changes.html#behavior-power https://developer.android.com/preview/behavior-changes.html#... I'm pretty sure that Google cares a lot about battery life, but there's no magic way to save energy, so don't expect too much from optimizations. Apps, not the OS, use most of the energy for CPU, screen and radio time. The new features only limit the apps a bit by disabling or rescheduling background tasks.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
Well, I don't think my demands are unrealistic. Compared to my iOS devices, Android does terribly, even with much higher capacity batteries. It would be great if google caught up.
- bitmapbrother 11y ago
  Google did. It's called Doze.

MichaelGG 11y ago

Or OEMs could just put decent batteries in the phones? Huawei has the Mate 2 with a 4000mAh battery. I easily get over a full 24-hour day. I never worry about charging it. Other OEMs could do this if they wanted. But they choose to slice another mm off thickness, and everyone's happy if they can get through 12 hours without charging. If Apple has chose to ship a battery capable of lasting 24 hours, everyone would just take it for granted that this is obviously how devices should work.

Grazester 11y ago
That's a brute force way of trying to solve the issue and one I am not big on.
- MichaelGG 11y ago
  Sure, but A: it works, today, B: it works well, with no compat issues.
  - drzaiusapelord 11y ago
    The Mate 2 is a HUGE 6.1" phone and nearly twice the weight of an iphone. This is not a solution for most of the phone market. I own a N6 and I have huge hands and its a bit much for me. Its uncomfortably huge and heavy. I can't imagine most people being on board with a heavy and huge phone because google can't get its shit together on power savings.
    - simoncion 11y ago
      Back when I was carrying my Nexus S around, I would have happily paid $50 more for a model designed to contain a double-sized battery. [0] My hands tell me that the battery is quite a bit less than 25% of the total weight of the device, so the weight cost would also be quite small; no more than ~1.5 additional ounces. It's not a rule that one has to choose between a relatively small phone with shitty battery life and a phablet with somewhat less shitty battery life. One could have double or triple-sized batteries in the smaller phones! [0] The problem with all of the aftermarket batteries that I saw was that they required a new back cover that contained no NFC antenna.