# Is an untouched ROM the best for battery life? (Verizon)



## durham (Dec 23, 2011)

With as active as this forum is, I'm sure a similar question has been asked, but I've done searches here and on XDA with mixed results, so please forgive the naive question. I'm coming from a Droid X with CM9, and the SGS3 should be here Friday.

If I want the best battery life, would I be best off just leaving the software on the phone as-is? I love Cyanogenmod but battery life is pretty important to me and I don't want to sacrifice much for it. Perhaps just rooting the Touchwiz out-of-the-box and freezing the bloatware would be best?

I've heard good things about CleanRom and the Leankernel (perhaps together?), but I'm curious on whether to even get started modding or not. I know this is a modding forum, naturally, but I also appreciate the honest and helpful advice I've gotten on my time at Rootz.

So, what's your take? Thanks in advance.


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## Chocu1a (Jan 24, 2012)

Using CleanRom here, with stock kernel. Battery life is pretty good. I get about 12-14 hours with 2 hours screen time.


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## SlimSnoopOS (Jan 19, 2012)

Wait a few days and get an idea of your stock battery life, reception, and what you like or dislike about the phone. Just flashing a rom doesn't drastically change battery life. You might only notice a thirty minute difference in usage or you won't notice a thing depending on what you flash. I don't notice much of a difference in battery life since I've flashed roms but that's ok cuz I'm already satisfied with my battery life.


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## bobAbooey (Jun 15, 2011)

I had pretty decent on stock, just rooted.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## sixohtew (Jun 14, 2011)

Like everyone said it depends. Personally I use cm10 and I've been getting pretty great battery life on the stable build and m2 builds. Nightlies are a different story

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


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## iamjackspost (Oct 13, 2011)

The best battery I've had is with CleanRom and Leankernel. I don't have any usage pics, but I was getting less than 1% drain per hour while the screen was off. No juice defender, no turning off data or anything. But like everyone has said, it depends mostly on how you use your phone.

PS - Also, I recommend playing around with touchwiz for a while first before throwing CM10 on there. It's really a decent skin and there's a lot of nice features worth checking out. Enjoy the new phone!


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## MistaWolfe (Oct 10, 2011)

Clean ROM lite. Pretty much stock TW JB. Rock solid.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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## Goose306 (Sep 12, 2011)

Just so you know (as I came from a DX) regarding battery life its not the same as the DX.

The DX, due to its hobbled bootloader situation, never really had AOSP with great battery life for various reasons (mostly due to the lack of a true AOSP kernel and missing some Moto-specific features like the power management service - some of that was ported to AOSP via the great Wizard0f0s and I had tremendous battery life on MIUI) nonetheless, the situation for the most part regarding AOSP vs. TW is only going to really reflect incremental battery life differences that will likely be dependent on your own usage. As everyone else has said, your usage will be different from everyone else' so while we may be able to provide general opinions, they are just that, and shouldn't be taken as fact.

I'd do as everyone else said. If you want the best battery life out of stock try something like CleanROM ULE as Wolfe suggested, as its basically unmodified just heavily debloated so less services running to consume your battery. As far as I've ever been able to tell battery life between ICS and JB is negligible, so might as well ROM it and get the advantages of JB. I'd also try out a few different radios, reception plays a big part in battery life, and your reception experience will be different than everyone else'. Generally speaking, most people prefer either the HE (last ICS) radio, or the LK1/LK3 JB radios, so that would be a good starting point. Radio doesn't matter what your ROM is.

I've ran AOKP with LeanKernel and gotten ~12-14 hours battery life with 3 hours of screen time and 30% left over, with similar situations on TW as well. I have personally found LK to be the best for battery life, and after I got over some of the whiz-bang features of the other kernels, it has offered me the best cross-section of stability, features, and battery life I've needed, so I've stuck with it.

*Disclaimer* all of the above is IMHO, YMMV; of course.


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## TenderloinShadow (Nov 4, 2011)

I support everything Goose just said, but I gotta put in my vote for my beloved KT747 kernel. Hey, to each their own


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## durham (Dec 23, 2011)

Thanks so much for the helpful replies.

I realize this is outside the scope of the topic, but as an S3 neophyte, there's a lot of information to absorb, and I don't want to make too many mistakes. If I install the Cleanrom lite (or other TouchWiz roms) will I retain the fabulous camera performance of the default S3?

UPS bumped up my delivery by a day to tomorrow, so I am really excited to join the 21st century, so to speak =)


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## sooner7 (Mar 31, 2012)

Any touchwiz ROMs will have the good camera.


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## headcheese (Aug 1, 2011)

aosp battery life is IMO 90 percent of what touchwiz is. I have been using AOKP rom and battery life in standby is probably better or at least just good as completely stock. but when you are using it i think it drains faster than stock. aosp also always seems faster and smoother.

i do have some issues with signal quality on aosp though. the one that bugs me the most is call quality. but i just deal with it cause aokp is the bomb diggity.

on aokp i can always get 12 to 22 hours unless i play alot of games and am in a low signal area, like at work!!


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## ImaComputa (Sep 8, 2011)

I regularly can get over a day of off the charger time with 3-4 hours of screen time on cm10. I agree with the post above in that it drains a little faster when the screen is on compared to stock.


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## iamjackspost (Oct 13, 2011)

durham said:


> Thanks so much for the helpful replies.
> 
> I realize this is outside the scope of the topic, but as an S3 neophyte, there's a lot of information to absorb, and I don't want to make too many mistakes. If I install the Cleanrom lite (or other TouchWiz roms) will I retain the fabulous camera performance of the default S3?
> 
> UPS bumped up my delivery by a day to tomorrow, so I am really excited to join the 21st century, so to speak =)


You seem like a smart guy, so I probably don't need to say this, but make sure you read all the stickies before you start flashing stuff. There's very little you can do to REALLY screw your device, but there's a few things worth knowing (like the topic about IMEI loss). I only say this because I came from a D2G, and tinkering on the S3 is a different ballgame.

And yes, any stock ROM will have the touchwiz camera.


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## rberry88 (Dec 16, 2011)

I'm on stock unrooted and getting great battery, but I'm coming from a thunderbolt.










Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


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