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Power Android Cellphones Operating Systems

Android May Soon Tell You When It's Time To Replace Your Phone's Battery (androidauthority.com) 69

Posted by BeauHD from the what-to-expect dept.
The next version of Android could give you an estimate of your battery's remaining capacity, which naturally degrades over time. "Android 14 laid the initial groundwork for the OS to track battery health information, but Android 15 could actually bring that information in front of users," reports Android Authority. It could also tell you whether your device's battery has been replaced. From the report: The manufacture date and cycle count aren't the only battery-related statistics that Android 14 exposes to apps through new APIs, though. Other battery health details like the date of first use, charging policy, charging status, and state of health are also available. The state of health is particularly interesting because it's an estimate of the battery's current full charge capacity, expressed as a percentage relative to the battery's rated capacity. For example, if your Pixel 8 battery's state of health is measured at 90%, that means its remaining full charge capacity is estimated to be about 4118mAh (compared to the rated 4575mAh).

The Settings app currently doesn't show the battery state of health, but that's set to change in the future, as the latest version of the Settings Services app (an extension to the Settings app on Pixel and other devices) found within Android 14 QPR2 Beta 2 has a new "battery health" page that is set to show the state of health. [...] Strings within the APK suggest this page will show you the "estimated percentage of charge the battery can currently hold compared to when it was new" (i.e. the state of health) before and after "recalibration" of the battery. We don't have the exact details on what "recalibration" entails, but given that one string suggests the "process may take a few weeks," we're guessing that it's simply the system collecting data over a longer period to provide a more accurate estimate of the battery capacity. Meanwhile, the "initial battery health values" are "based on lab results" and hence "may vary from your actual battery state."

[...] We also learned that the Settings app itself will surface "tips" to the user when either the battery capacity is degraded or can't be detected, so the user doesn't have to manually check the "battery health" page. Lastly, we learned that Google is working on exposing more battery-related information to the OS, such as the part status and the serial number. [...] At the very least, we do know that Android will support reading the battery's part status and serial number, provided the battery exposes that information to the OS, and the vendor implements the new version of the Android health HAL. The health HAL is the software responsible for bridging the gap between the OS APIs that read battery/charging information (i.e. everything we talked about before) with the software that controls the battery/charging chips. Version 2.0 of the health HAL needs to be implemented to support all the new Android 14 battery health APIs like state of health, which is why so few devices support that right now.
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Android May Soon Tell You When It's Time To Replace Your Phone's Battery More

Android May Soon Tell You When It's Time To Replace Your Phone's Battery

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  • Is this so complicated that we need to wait so long? Of course, most new phones do not have a replaceable battery anymore, but that's a different discussion.

    • Re:Why did it take so long? (Score:5, Informative)

      by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) * on Thursday December 21, 2023 @11:34PM (#64097825) Homepage Journal

      nah, my Pixel 6 has it in /sys on Android 13:

      cat /sys/class/powee_supply/battery/charge_full*
      4440000
      4398000

      all kinds of health_* entries too. Batteries have BMS chips these days.

      I needed to su to see /sys though. I guess that's their problem.

      • Re:Why did it take so long? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Thursday December 21, 2023 @11:51PM (#64097849)

        Bingo. Right now, about the only way to see the charge state is to test, because relevant data isn't exposed on the user side.

        So you get software like accubattery, which sits in the background and tries to measure charge voltage, charge current and charge time as it happens while specifically asking user to do nothing with his or her phone during the charge (so that drain is minimal), and then compares these values to the amount charge counter went up during this charging session.

        And then does this across a lot of charging instances, generating a relatively accurate measure of the current health of the battery. The problem is that android has a pretty aggressive battery saving regime, so it often halts the background software. So it becomes a game of cat and mouse to get the software to stay active in the background while these measurements are taken.

    • No, it isn't a different discussion, it is a part of the same one. Most phones do have the info on battery if you root the phone, drop down to a shell and look up the corresponding entries in the /proc or /sys tree or wherever. A lot of this data was available from the number of tools for kernel patching on xda-developers from years ago. I've have this info on all my phones from as far as I remember, maybe 2010. It wasn't/isn't made available simply because Google and the manufacturers thought it useless, s

  • My android battery was self reporting. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Thursday December 21, 2023 @09:44PM (#64097679) Homepage
    When it reached end of life it swelled up and pushed the front screen off so that it was easier to install the replacement.

    • When it reached end of life it swelled up and pushed the front screen off so that it was easier to install the replacement.

      I heard that some Samsung phones even warm up a "bit" to help loosen the glue. :-)

    • The battery of my Samsung Galaxy 1 from 2010 pushes the back cover and falls off, was even easier to replace.

      It is amazing how long a phone that is not defective by design will last.

  • . . . like Samsung does? My work phone is a Samsung, and I can tell it to stop charging at 85%.

    To do the same with the Pixel, I have to set an alarm in the right range of hours, plug it in during another right range of hours, and remember to unplug it. Or use something like AccuBattery and remember again to unplug it before it hits 100%.

    • Re:But will they let us cap the charge level . . . (Score:4, Informative)

      by bjwest ( 14070 ) on Thursday December 21, 2023 @10:15PM (#64097739)
      While waiting on the Galaxy S24 line, I'm using a Chargie [chargie.org] on my Pixel 7. It's not quite as plug and play as when I first got it since Goodle did away with auto Bluetooth enabling, which was the last straw for me. I traded an S23 in on this POS, and have regretted it damn near since the first day.

      • Chargie is great (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        I stupidly bought a Google Pixel 7 Pro thinking that surely Google's Pixel phones would have battery charge percentage limit settings available, being a premium phone and all. It does NOT have proper battery charge limiting. And no, goofing around with alarms and unplugging it before it fully charges up in the morning totally doesn't cut it for my usage patterns.

        Anyway, I finally bit the bullet and bought a Chargie. So far, I'm very pleased with the Chargie. Very nice app, USB data passes through the dongle

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        I use Tasker to switch on extreme power saving and airplane mode at night. I could turn the phone off and back in I suppose, but I forget to do it.

    • >". . . like Samsung does? My work phone is a Samsung, and I can tell it to stop charging at 85%."

      I do the same thing on my Samsung phone and tablet. 85% and it stops automatically. That way I can plug it in whenever and however I want and know I am not stressing the battery by trying to push in the last 15%. That last amount I never need, and yet it will shorten the life of the battery a LOT. I also rarely let it get below 50% without charging (it probably is OK down to 20% or something, but I just

    • Even Sailfish has this, with its ~10 developers. Sony Xperias have charging protection built-in anyway which makes then good phones to buy second hand.

    • . . . like Samsung does? My work phone is a Samsung, and I can tell it to stop charging at 85%.

      To do the same with the Pixel, I have to set an alarm in the right range of hours, plug it in during another right range of hours, and remember to unplug it. Or use something like AccuBattery and remember again to unplug it before it hits 100%.

      For Adaptive Charging on my Pixel 5a, I set a silent alarm for 7am and have the charger plugged into an outlet with a digital timer [amazon.com] set to switch on at 12:30am and off at 7:30 am -- for example. I can plug it anytime I want during the day and it will only charge during that window. This doesn't address charging it to less than 100%, unless I were to set the timer to switch off before the alarm, but it automates everything else. I'm currently also using only a 5V/1A charger for even slower max charging.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by msk ( 6205 )

        Generally I use a silent alarm for 9:00am and wake around 6:00am. If I make sure to plug it in after 9:00pm the battery is at 80% when I wake.

      • But it already has adaptative charging so why are you using a timer? I have a Pixel 4a and when I plug it in at it directly tells me adaptative charging is on and that it will trickle charge to full by 6am (my alarm time).

        • But it already has adaptive charging so why are you using a timer? I have a Pixel 4a and when I plug it in at it directly tells me adaptive charging is on and that it will trickle charge to full by 6am (my alarm time).

          According to the documentation, for Adaptive Charging to operate, you have to plug it in between certain hours and have an alarm set for certain hours. The timer simply allows me to plug it in whenever and control the charging power w/o worrying things like if it will switch to rapid charging, etc... I also don't use my phone a lot and don't want to worry about having to disconnect the charging cable... the timer does it for me.

          However, for the feature to work, users must [start charging] their Pixel between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., with an alarm set between 3 a.m. and 10 a.m.

          Other documentation says the feature will charge to 80% during most of the wi

    • You don't need to tell it to stop charging at 85%, Pixels support adaptive charging already. I plug mine in at night and it tells me adaptive charging is on and it will be full by 6am. There is no problem with charging a phone to full when it's done slowly. Why people think we're stuck 10 years ago in battery technology is beyond me.

  • > For example, if your Pixel 8 battery's state of health is measured at 90%, that means its remaining full charge capacity is estimated to be about 4118mAh (compared to the rated 4575mAh).

    This capability is already available from AccuBattery. It will monitor your battery charge and drain rates and estimate rated capacity vs measured.

    https://play.google.com/store/... [google.com]

  • That's great, now we just need phones that have replaceable batteries

    • Re:Replace your battery? (Score:4, Funny)

      by ClueHammer ( 6261830 ) on Thursday December 21, 2023 @09:59PM (#64097715)
      All phone batteries are replaceable, just not by the primitives that own them. .

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Easily user replaceable batteries are likely coming on the tail end of the upcoming EU regulation at least in EU region.

      Currently pretty much all batteries are replaceable, but you need some expertise with a heat gun and sometimes a soldering iron.

    • I can visit a mall kiosk and have lunch while the battery is replaced.

    • Re:Replace your battery? (Score:4, Informative)

      by Excelcia ( 906188 ) <slashdot@excelcia.ca> on Friday December 22, 2023 @01:16AM (#64098019) Homepage Journal

      That's great, now we just need phones that have replaceable batteries

      Then yourself a Fairphone 5 [fairphone.com]. The back opens. The battery comes out. It takes a microSD card (which is more and more going the way of the Apple...er....Dodo). And every component in it is replaceable with a screwdriver.

      Moore's law is only a suggestion any more, and the real reason we can't use old phones is screens break and they get behind on Android updates. With the Fairphone, the screen comes off with four screws and it's guaranteed to have Android updates for at least 5 major revisions.

      For anyone in North America who wants one, Clove Technology in the UK will ship it. Its a little thicker than a flagship phone, but I actually rather like its heft. And for anyone with tinfoil hats, it's drop dead simple to put /e/OS on it too.

  • When the time it ran off of a full charge was down to less than 1 hr that was my signal.

  • Cha ching (Score:4, Funny)

    by GoJays ( 1793832 ) on Thursday December 21, 2023 @10:06PM (#64097723)
    Does this mean we will get replaceable batteries again? Or will this essentially be a new phone countdown timer?

    Here's an idea, once the countdown has expired, Android will relentlessly drown the user with ad's for the latest model of Pixel. They could even make the popup an old school cash register opening sound.... *cha ching*

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      Hopefully the EU will force them to use replaceable batteries soon.

      • Hopefully the EU will force them to use replaceable batteries soon.

        What if I don't want user replaceable batteries in my phone?

        I had phones with user replaceable batteries and I found no utility in that feature. What I found was that if I dropped the phone just so then the phone went one way, the battery another way, and the lid that held the battery in place yet someplace else. I suppose with a more solidly constructed battery lid I would not have had that problem, but then I never had that problem with devices that didn't have a replaceable battery either.

        I'm still not

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          If you really hate repairable phones, when the EU makes user changeable batteries a requirement, glue yours shut. That's all the manufacturer does anyway.

          Personally I'd recommend getting one with screws, and maybe putting a case on it. I use thin cases with holes where I attach a strap, because without one I'm liable to drop it.

          • If you really hate repairable phones, when the EU makes user changeable batteries a requirement, glue yours shut. That's all the manufacturer does anyway.

            No, that is not what the manufacturer does.

            In the teardown of any phone with a factory sealed battery we can see they do more than just glue the door shut. Or rather they do less, because now the system is much simpler since they don't have to account for spring loaded battery contacts and butterfingered users that could drop something in the process of replacing the battery. They don't need to have a separate case around the battery, it is in the same case as the logic board and such. The phones can be

            • I never bought a new battery for any phone I owned.

              I have. The really awesome part was picking up a big honking 11k mAh aftermarket battery so huge it came with its own custom protective case.

              Is the EU going to require that screens and switches need to be user replaceable too? How far down that rabbit hole do we need to go? Should individual diodes be user replaceable too? At some point the parts are so small and inexpensive that it is not worth the effort to replace the individual parts. What has happened is that the battery has become so small and inexpensive that there's no point to replacing that any more, we just replace the entire phone. It is wasteful to toss out the parts of the phone that still work but it would be more wasteful to dig into the phone to pull out the working parts than just make a new one.

              I don't want user replaceable batteries in my phones, and I'd rather the government stay out of this. If people want user replaceable batteries then lobby the phone manufacturers rather than lobby some government busybodies that don't know anything about what it takes to make reliable and affordable cell phones.

              I don't understand why not being able to replace something like a battery is a positive thing. The cheapest, smallest lowest end phones even today have replaceable batteries. It's always the high end shit with the ruggedness of a faberge egg where they get rid of all the useful crap. It makes no sense.

  • I haven't had to change the battery in any phone I've owned since the HTC Droid Incredible. That wasn't because the battery wore out, it was because the stock battery was piss poor in the capacity department.

    Around the iPhone 5 I made the jump back over to Apple, and I've consistently gotten at least 3 years out of every phone I've owned since. I'm presently using a launch day iPhone 13 mini and the battery health is at 87%. I pretty much anticipate being ready to upgrade before the battery has degraded

    • >"My hat's off to you if you keep a phone longer than 3 years. I consider I've gotten my money's worth out of a phone by then and it's time for a new shiny - battery and all."

      My last phone was a Moto G5 Plus, purchased 11-22-2017. I used it for 4 years and it was fine. Replaced it because I wanted newer, not because of any issues. Several of my friends bought them, too (it was a great deal at the time from Costo). Two replaced them at 4 years, like I did. One severely damaged her USB port by doing s

  • But will it be accurate? (Score:3)

    by mhkohne ( 3854 ) on Thursday December 21, 2023 @10:44PM (#64097779) Homepage

    Or will they put their thumb on the scale to sell you a new phone sooner? I like the idea of the phone giving me data on how the battery is actually doing, but now I'm going to not trust the manufactures to have not screwed with that readout.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      Replacing the battery is less than 100 EUR for most phones, including the battery and the work. At least here in Finland.

      Don't replace the phone, replace the battery.

      • Replacing the battery is less than 100 EUR for most phones, including the battery and the work. At least here in Finland.

        That's not too far off from what I see in the USA. I did a quick check on what it would cost to replace the battery in some of the phones I have and it's listed at $69. There's going to be sales tax on that if I get the work done locally, and/or some shipping fees if I send it off somewhere, so the final cost would likely be more like $75 to $80. Battery replacement on larger phones could get above $100 after taxes and such.

        Don't replace the phone, replace the battery.

        I can see that as an option I'd consider if I had a "new-ish" phone that cost me

        • Re:But will it be accurate? (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Luckyo ( 1726890 ) on Friday December 22, 2023 @07:11AM (#64098415)

          >When it comes to user replaceable batteries there is absolutely no option to have the battery sealed up as tight as a battery that can only be replaced by special tools, or rather no option that would be something most people would be willing to pay for. I would not want to go back to user replaceable batteries.

          So have you heard about rubbery seals and screws yet?

          Current seals are actually worse, because they're glued. They're glued because unlike with screws, you need a heat gun and skill in how to use it to open them. And it permanently damages the seals to do so. Unlike sealing things with rubbery things, and then using screws to hold the surface in place where seal is in fact sealing the interior form exterior.

          For example, pretty much all digital watches that have far superior liquid resistance to any modern phones and that have to do this in a much more compact form factor are all sealed like that.

        • Why do you keep writing pages for anti-consumer battery replacement policies? Your argument is no more than the government shouldn't be involved, but I should tell you what you should do.

      • At 100 bucks for the "repair job" (weird to call replacing a consumable a repair job, it's like calling putting new ink into the printer a repair job), quite a few people will not really want to deal with that and instead rather spend the 300ish on a new phone.

  • almost entirely useless (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cas2000 ( 148703 ) on Friday December 22, 2023 @12:17AM (#64097913)

    Without user-replaceable batteries, this is pretty much useless and will probably just be used to harass owners into replacing their devices long before it is necessary.

    It should be illegal, world-wide, to manufacture or sell phones, tablets, and similar devices which do not:

    1. allow the purchasers to easily replace batteries, and

    2. use readily available standardised batteries which can be sourced from the OEM or third-party battery manufacturers - with some allowance made for new battery tech / form-factors / specs as long as those specs are published without patent restrictions at least a year before any new devices use them.

    3. allow the purchaser to easily replace the "ROM"/"firmware"/operating system without risk of "bricking" the device. It's not hard to provide a recovery mode to deal with failure during "ROM" installation.

    Planned obsolescence is or should be a crime. As is deliberate sabotage by the manufacturer of purchased products for any reason, including to prevent/restrict repair or to force new purchases.

    Minimum fines for breaking such laws should be at least 100 times the initial launch retail price of the device multiplied by the number of devices sold. Such fines should be used to fund the design and manufacture of open-source, patent-free alternatives to be sold at near cost.

    Otherwise manufacturers will treat fines as a trivial and irrelevant cost of doing business. The only way they're going to stop fucking over customers is if doing so causes them severe financial pain.

    PS: for any brainwashed corporate apologists/sympathisers: the only good free market is a well-regulated market that prevents both monopolies and abuse of customers. "caveat emptor" is not a valid business model, it's a crime.

    • Found the fascist.

      • You... you mean that ... fascists now have sane arguments and their statements are sensible?

        Wow, the times sure are a-changing.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by cas2000 ( 148703 )

        Found the fascist.

        Not at all. I just believe that governments and government agencies should serve the needs of people (all people whether they're citizens or not), i.e. real human beings, not artificial entities like corporations, companies, and other businesses.

        BTW, remember that corporations are not people and never can be, can they ever be citizens. Due to not being people, they don't have human rights, either. They're artificial entities that are created by and exist only because governments say the

      • You do not understand the words you use.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Replacing the battery in a modern phone like the iPhone isn't too hard. It's is user-replaceable, if you have the skills and the tools. If not, it's just a 15 minute operation at your local hole in the wall cellphone repair shop, who will probably replace it for free for the cost of the battery.

      User-replaceable batteries are just an annoyance - you're designing something that a user might do once in the phone's entire lifetime and the design compromises that need to be made because of it. Especially since n

    • Without user-replaceable batteries, this is pretty much useless

      False. Not everything needs to be *user* replaceable. Currently there's not a phone on the market which doesn't have a replaceable battery. The only real question is why do you think you're better off spending hundreds of dollars on a new phone than the $20 it costs to pay someone with the required skills and tools to swap the battery for you while you wait?

      In other news I don't own an oil filter wrench. That doesn't mean I throw my car away every 6 months.

  • "Your battery needs to be replaced but your built-in battery is cannot be replaced. Sorry, you cannot trade in a phone that does not work."

  • Hey Google, here are 3 lines of code I provide you for free to 3x battery life on each and every Android phone out there.

    if (chargeStatePercent > 80 && !active(forceFullChargeOption)) {
        stopCharging();
    }

    You're welcome.

  • Android may soon tell you when it's time to get a new phone.

    It's not like you can replace that battery anymore.

  • it already tells you, when it dies....nothing fancy ! That always worked for me ! lolol

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