Replicant

Getting the most out of your Samsung on Replicant
... and other supported devices, if you will contribute.

Hey guys

I'm going to share- and I'd say tell me if you don't care but it's a forum- some suggestions on how you can improve your device's performance using Replicant. I'm using a Samsung S2 International (GT-I9100).

As you may very quickly notice as you begin using Replicant for the first time, the latency of certain actions, notably menus and animations, is much higher than instant. This is because the proprietary closed-source graphics firmware required for hardware acceleration has been disabled (actually it hasn't been disabled, it's been removed from the device. It never existed!). This is great! I know in my case I didn't even consider changing a thing or doing anything drastic in terms of putting such a crappy proprietary closed-source firmware file on my phone. I did however, and still do, as a person who comes from Linux and old hardware specifically and likes to get as much performance out of my hardware as I can, I began screwing around first with the CPU governor and I/O scheduler.

I found and attained some evidence to support this (by evidence I mean hard numbers instead of just subjective experience): PEGASUSQ and NOOP together produce a much smoother, much more responsive, faster user experience, AKA faster menus, faster apps, etc. I found the numbers supporting this statement here:

http://redmine.replicant.us/boards/9/topics/6189 - and while I haven't benchmarked this on my own system, I can tell you that it's noticeable. So take that for what you will- You can try it yourself and if you're so inclined benchmark it. Please post your results also: I'd be happy to look at them.

Secondly,

For battery performance

I already knew what I wanted to do on my phone and I didn't know how to go about it. I found what I was looking for just a few moments ago (thankfully :)) in an awesome application by the name of BatteryFU (Here's an update since I wrote this: I've had BatteryFu on my phone, and I can tell you it gives my phone 4x to up to 10x the battery. I really couldn't believe it, but really mobile data just takes up that much battery). This application, to borrow from the application's own description, turns your phone from an 'always-on' device into a 'sync-to-update' device. Essentially this means instead of your mobile data and/or wifi being always on, this program automatically switches on your data and/or wifi at a user-set interval, leaves it on for a user-set interval, and then turns it off. And it repeats every interval that a user sets.

For me, my data turns on once an hour, stays on for 3 minutes so I can sync, and then turns back off.

I wanted this from a privacy standpoint. As a bonus, it's going to be good for my battery. I'm thrilled.

On top of that, I don't know what else much more I can say..

• Dark screens are supposed to use less power than light screens. Of course this was on CRT monitors; I have no idea on this current generation of display as of this writing.
• Generally for your battery, I've heard it recommended, and again I don't know as of this writing, but performing a complete power cycle of your battery once a month is a good idea (that is going from a full charge to say 5% or less and then fully recharging).
• Keeping your phone constantly at 100% battery is also bad for battery health.
• For long term battery health a level of about 3/4 full is recommended, or so I read.
• Of course keeping your brightness low helps.
• You should remember to either keep your phone in airplane mode if it's going to be in you pocket or else put it in a bag if it's not. Radiation is bad for you.

I don't know what else; lets pool ideas and suggestions. If you found this useful, lets participate. ☺\.