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Power Android Cellphones

Purdue 'HUSH' Tool Promises 16% Battery Life Gain For Wasteful Android Phones 80

Posted by Soulskill from the turns-off-NSA-eavesdropper dept.
MojoKid writes: Researchers from Purdue University have developed a software tool for Android smartphones that purportedly slows down battery drain when handsets enter a sleep state. With the software tool installed, the researchers claim that smartphone battery life can be extended by nearly 16 percent. Called "HUSH," the software solution was developed in response to what the researchers say is the first large-scale study of smartphone energy drain occurring from everyday use by consumers. According to their research, apps drain 28.9 percent of battery power while the screen is turned off. HUSH dynamically identifies app background activities that it deems aren't useful to the user experience on a per-app basis and suppresses those apps when the screen is turned off.
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Purdue 'HUSH' Tool Promises 16% Battery Life Gain For Wasteful Android Phones More

Purdue 'HUSH' Tool Promises 16% Battery Life Gain For Wasteful Android Phones

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  • What is really deemed "Useful" though? For instance, my phone is a business phone and the only apps running in background are all either communication tools for other business personnel I work with, or notification services for server infrastructure issues. GREAT! Now I can install an app to disable all that important functionality! Server goes offline? No biggie, my phone battery is at least marginally more awesome, I guess?

    • Re:What is "Useful"? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 12, 2015 @06:37PM (#50511343)

      You wouldn't install this on a business phone. The app seems geared towards the general consumer who is not happy with the batteries available in most devices. There is so much preinstalled and unused bloatware on many smartphones that run in the background. Most users never even use the preinstalled apps but they still sit in memory and call home with barely any options to keep them quiet.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        You wouldn't install this on a business phone.

        You fully missed the point of the OPs question: when it makes its decision, what's the chance it will "put to sleep" something that actually is usefull ?

        In short: If you have any apps on your phone you think must run you cannot install that "Hush" app on it, or you must accept the possibility that those get put to sleep because of a "false positive".

        Having said that, I assume that that dynamically-identifying-and-put-to-sleep is only one modeus operandi, with i

    • settings menu (Score:4, Informative)

      by raymorris ( 2726007 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @06:43PM (#50511367) Journal

      If a specific app has some function that is important to you, make sure it's unchecked on tbe settings page. That UI has implemented here:

      https://github.com/hushnymous/... [github.com]

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by txoof ( 553270 )
        This is all great, but it's not exactly news. The most recent commit to that project is over six months old and the majority of the commits are from two years ago. I doubt it will work properly with KitKat or Lollipop. An alternative is Amplify [google.com]. It isn't smart, but it does give you the power to suppress wakelocks at will. You can seriously børk up your phone with it, but that's all easily fixed.

    • All kinds of people love to steal your phone data.. but who watches the watchers?

      Maybe it's this app.

    • So don't install it. How hard is that to figure out?

    • This is exactly why Apple waited so long for multi tasking in IOS. It is because all app makers deem their app is critical to the usefulness of the phone and thus every fart app, needs root access, a copy of all communications, full phone access, and a copy of your medical and credit score.

      The simple fact is security permissions in android have been very broad. yes newer versions are starting to clamp down, but you still can't deny access to an app during install. it is either accept or deny the entire th

  • Sounds familiar... (Score:3)

    by lga ( 172042 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @06:21PM (#50511315) Journal

    This seems very similar to the Doze feature that is coming in Android M. [bgr.com]

    • That's only for Google-Brand Nexus devices (Score:5, Insightful)

      by billstewart ( 78916 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @06:45PM (#50511377) Journal

      Look, it's nice to know that there are cool features coming Real Soon for your phone if you've got a Google-Brand Nexus Device, just like Apple users can know there'll be something cool coming out for their Apple Brand iDevice, but if you're one of the billion or so Android users out there with some other phone or tablet (such as, just to pick entirely random examples, a Samsung or HTC or nearly-noname Coby), what you know is that your hardware vendor will probably never bother to put out more than a couple of point-release upgrades for your device, and even if they do, your phone company probably won't get around to shipping it, if your device is connected to a phone company and not WiFi-only.

      (Ok, my Samsung 4mini got upgraded from 4.2ish to 4.4.2, but it's unlikely to get 5.x, my HTC never did get the upgrade from 2.1 to 2.2 distributed to it, and I don't remember if the Coby tablet started with 4.0.1 or the 4.0.4 it has now, but Coby seems to have forgotten they ever even made that tablet. In theory I appreciate the openness in Android, but basically what that means is that you have to decide for yourself when your vendor's abandoned you and it's time to root the device and install Cyanogen.)

      • When to install Cyanogen, for me, is right after I open up the box. I've never run the OEM skins for more than a few days on any of my Android devices (HTC Aria, Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC One M8, Barnes and Noble Nook HD+).

      • Mine, for example. My Sony Xperia Z2 shipped with KitKat, got updated to Lollipop, and will be getting Marshmallow as well. That's not "a couple of point-release upgrades", that's at least two major upgrades (and this on a phone which is now 18 months old.)

        And the original Xperia Z started on Jelly Bean and got KitKat *and* Lollipop, so two major releases seems to be par for the course. (In total, the Z got the 4.1.2 it shipped with, then 4.2.2, 4.3, 4.4.2, 4.4.4 and 5.0.2, and I believe it will also be g

        • Like the above poster said, the iPad 2 is getting five major updates, from the manufacturer. There are 3rd party firmwares for older phones too, like Whited00r, which goes all the way back to the original iPhone, released in 2007.

          • So one device. (And that one only because it's a special case, having continued to sell after both of its successors had been discontinued.) Gotcha.

        • Mine, for example. My Sony Xperia Z2 shipped with KitKat, got updated to Lollipop, and will be getting Marshmallow as well.

          My Sony Xperia play shipped with gingerbread and got updated to... gingerbread. Sony promised ICS for all Xperia devices, and delivered it for all but the Xperia play. The community has produced various ICS roms, so Sony is just fail. Fuck Sony sideways. They owe me a phone.

      • Right yes yes it sucks, change the record already.

        It sucks to not get free upgrades, but you know what also sucks? Having your previously working phone 'upgraded' into performing so poorly it is effectively useless. I have a Nexus 7 that is an exercise in futility to use now, and I've seen countless iPhones also basically bricks due to OS upgrades that they can't handle.

        Atleast with Android you have a choice, you can get a Nexus if you want to take the risk on the latest, or you can stick with Manufacturers

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sad_ ( 7868 )

        Install a custom rom on your S4 mini now, really, it turns it into a better phone. I have one and hated the default out-of-the-box install. I'm now on Android 5 and the phone is faster, battery lasts longer, it has all the crapware removed, is more secure (you do know your android version has security issues?), i couldn't be happier. (i'm using aicp -> http://aicp-rom.com/ [aicp-rom.com] )

    • That'll be great... next year when I buy a phone new enough to have been blessed by both the manufacturer and the carrier to run Marshmallow.

  • Or maybe ... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ... you know, not have a million apps and processes running in the background at all times. There are already plenty of apps out there that let the user control this. Nothing to see here, folks.

  • Greenify does this (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gavron ( 1300111 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @06:34PM (#50511337)

    Greenify has been around for a couple of years and does this wonderfully:

    http://www.howtogeek.com/19813... [howtogeek.com]

    E

    • Yep. Use BetterBatteryStats to identify the rogue programs (greenify is not amazing at analysis) and then use Greenify to neutralize them. If you use Greenify with Xposed and enable its module, it can even control system apps. Xposed requires root, but so does Greenify. If you're installing Xposed, allow me to also suggest "App Settings" and "Gravitybox". There are different installers for Gravitybox for Jelllybean, KitKat, and Lollipop. Anyone running AOSP should have it, but it's useful (with care) on oth

  • Typical (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    "Look what we did!" Headline when tons of others have done it before without feeling the need to issue a press release about it.

  • Marketing ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by PPH ( 736903 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @06:51PM (#50511397)

    ... named it HUSH after STFU didn't test well for user acceptance.

  • Battery doctor already does this (Score:3)

    by MrL0G1C ( 867445 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @06:56PM (#50511407) Journal

    Battery doctor already does this, I've had it on my phone for a year or two, it simply terminates one or two dozen apps that somehow run themselves for no good reason - has a whitelist too.

    Androids flaw is allows apps more control than it allows users.

    • "Battery doctor already does this, I've had it on my phone for a year or two, it simply terminates one or two dozen apps that somehow run themselves for no good reason - has a whitelist too."

      BD seems like snake oil to me. From the app description:

      - Disable unnecessary apps that drain your battery! Task Killer kills tasks with one click! -- The ones that drain the battery are background services and you can't really kill them without root; the OS will restart them after a while. You can disable the service m

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by MrL0G1C ( 867445 )

        I installed it because my phone battery was draining a lot faster than it should, and it worked, the battery went back to draining very slowly in standby.

        And the point is battery doctor does the exact same thing that this article claims is new and amazing - it isn't. And battery doctor is free.

        Stupidest battery drain cause - if you try to send a text with a (multi-media) smiley to a phone that doesn't support it then it fails to get sent and then drains your phone battery fast!!! There is no notification th

      • No, but you can kill what kills the battery.
        Examples:
        -App asks for something(GPS, lookup on the nearby cell tower, stuff), Battery Doctor forces the answer to be cached, to avoid activating the needed sensor every 10 seconds
        -Kills apps who makes background calls and are inactive

  • Turn off your phone when you're not expecting a call.* Reduces at least two problems: power drain and cellphone tracking.

    *SMS and FB posts are stored so it's not as if you're going to miss your friend's cat photos or wedding invite.

    • Re:Simpler solution (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MyAlternateID ( 4240189 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @08:34PM (#50511625) Homepage

      Turn off your phone when you're not expecting a call.

      One of the reasons I have a phone in the first place is so I can be reached in case of emergencies or other unexpected events.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sad_ ( 7868 )

        Maybe that is true for you, but i'm more egoistic about my phone.
        The advantage of having a mobile phone for me is that i can make a call anytime & everywhere i want, it's not an advantage i can be reached everywhere i am.
        Ofcourse, this is for my private phone, if you have a bussiness phone, it other rules apply.

    • Are you sure it stops phone tracking? There are all sorts of passive things going on when your phone isn't 'on'. Wasn't this one of those things that you have to remove the battery to properly stop?

      (Honest question—I seem to recall from a while ago that a surprising number of passive things go on while the phone is off. The OS may not be running, but it's not the only thing tracking you.)

      • "I seem to recall from a while ago that a surprising number of passive things go on while the phone is off. The OS may not be running, but it's not the only thing tracking you."

        Back when the Snowden thing started, he mentioned things like that, which was then vehemently denied by the manufacturers. They saw no way how the radio could be powered with the phone switched off. Of course, he was in a good position to be paranoid about phones with the firmware modified by TLAs.

        There are phones that can wake up fr

  • "Researchers from Purdue University have developed a software tool for Android smartphones that .. dynamically identifies app background activities .. and suppresses those apps when the screen is turned off."

    And you need university researchers to figure out that?

  • 4G Connection Drains Battery (Score:3)

    by Jason Levine ( 196982 ) on Saturday September 12, 2015 @11:41PM (#50512059) Homepage

    Recently, we were on a cruise. Since we were going to be in international areas and didn't want to come home to a huge phone bill, we switched our phones to airplane mode (data off). We kept our phones on because they could be used to take photos or play games during the trip. I noticed that our battery life was greatly extended when the phone didn't need to maintain a 4G connection at all times. It led me to wonder if someone could make an app that would turn off the 4G connection when the phone isn't being actively used.

    Of course, this might result in data-checking apps (e.g. your e-mail app) not getting notifications that an e-mail has arrived. So perhaps it could turn on the data for 5 minutes every hour to allow background apps to pull data. I wonder just how much battery life an app like this would save.

    • "this [4G off state] might result in data-checking apps (e.g. your e-mail app) not getting notifications that an e-mail has arrived."

      You got it. Or rather, apps stop polling for data if there is no internet connection. With the 4g radio in standby (only listening for incoming calls) it doesn't consume much power.

      "So perhaps it could turn on the data for 5 minutes every hour to allow background apps to pull data. I wonder just how much battery life an app like this would save."

      There are apps (e.g. juice def

  • You'd be surprised how long your battery can go (Score:3)

    by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Sunday September 13, 2015 @12:33AM (#50512219)
    The battery on my Nexus 5 began malfunctioning just shy of a year old. When new it would last me the entire workday with about 20% remaining by 10pm. But now it would drain normally to about 40% (about 2-3 pm in my workday), then drop to 0% in the next 45 minutes. I tried all sorts of battery reset and calibration apps, and various discharge/charge to full tricks to try to fix it. Finally I called Google. To make sure the problem wasn't being caused by an app, they asked me to boot the phone into safe mode and do another battery rundown test. In safe mode, only the apps which were originally installed on the phone are allowed to run.

    Holy crap! Even with the bad battery it lasted 2 days 20 hours before dying.

    • Samsung phones have had an ultra power saving feature for a couple of generations now. Same deal, app whitelist, low CPU state, and 4g disabled. End result is a phone easily lasts about a week and can still receive and place calls. If you white list the likes of Facebook and let that run the battery life is literally decimated.

  • If the apps needlessly drain battery then fix the apps. This is what Free software is about. That the apps are not Free? So you have opened the can of worms, try to catch them all.

  • ..you could just turn auto sync off, unless you really need it. Auto sync should realistically only be on when charging. If I want to see new tweets or mail, I will just swipe down on the app manually for sync.

  • This single step has increased my wife's, my daugher's, and my workplace secretary's phone lives by a day for all of them. Facebook transmits a *ridiculous* amount of image data and other wifi or cellphone data plan traffic, and turning it off also cut their phone bills quite a lot because they stopped going *over* the very generous data plan limits they had bought. I flipped out when we looked at their phone bills and I saw roughly 300 MByte every hour on the hour of accumulated Facebook data. Leave it on

    • I doubt that it's facebook, or they've got some pretty weird settings (maybe they're on it all the time and have auto video on). I leave facebook running 24/7 and my usage is in the 1.5-2GB range in a month - and I'm on youtube/dropbox quite a bit for streaming music and videos, and have three emails which automatically sync. Even if FB was half of my usage, which I sincerely doubt, it would be 1 MB an hour.

      • +1

        Im on ting so I get an idea of data usage each month. Most of the time Im around 300mb/month and have facebook installed. Then again I also have photo syncing, automatic video playing, and continuous contacts uploading turned off so maybe that helps. The one and only thing Ive found that was a huge battery drain was shotty cell signal. In my usual day to day of home->work->home my signal is fairly stable and I can come home with 50-60% battery left. However on other days (and in other cities) it dro

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by yabos ( 719499 )
      I can't back up the data usage part, but on my iPhone, the Facebook app was accounting for 20-30% of my battery usage per day and most of the time I wasn't even using it. Once I disabled the background activity, it dropped to 10% or so(still pretty high).

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