X-Phone Software, Inc.
Market leading mobile phone applications
Power Manager
Table of contents
Description
This application adds NEW power settings to the phone (e.g. how long the screen is on during a call, if device stays on while the keyboard is open, etc.) and allows you to quickly view and change other phone settings depending on different conditions (e.g. turn off synchronization when the battery level drops below 30%, lower the brightness of the screen when on battery power, change the screen timeout if on A/C power, etc.)
It comes with a set of predefined profiles and automatically starts working after installation.
Unless you want to change any of these definitions or use advanced features nothing else has to be done after the program is installed.
How to use
You can change individual settings (e.g. WiFi) by clicking the buttons on the panel at the top of the screen or you can change several settings at once by using a profile.
Profiles define what settings should be modified and can also contain triggers that indicate if they should be applied automatically (e.g. when on A/C power, when on battery power, when the battery drops below a certain level).
NOTE: THE MONITOR MUST BE ENABLED IN THE STATUS PANEL FOR PROFILES TO BE APPLIED AUTOMATICALLY.
This application comes with predefined profiles for the most common conditions. These profiles can be changed or deleted by either long pressing on the profile name or by selecting the profile with the track ball and clicking on the menu key. You can also create additional profiles and shortcuts on the desktop to a specific profile.
Power Manager also gathers statistics as the device changes power states. These statistics and can be written to a CSV file on the SDCARD (in the power_manger sub-directory) and can then be loaded into a spreadsheet application (e.g. Excel) to perform analysis (e.g. determine if your battery does not last as long it used to, or if an application is affecting your battery life).
NOTE: THE APPLICATION WORKS DIFFERENTLY DEPENDING ON THE VERSION OF ANDROID YOU ARE RUNNING.
Screenshots
Reviews
Frequently Asked Questions
Change History
10/07/2009 – Version 1.6.2 released (41)
- Description
- How to use
- Screenshots
- Reviews
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Change History
- Download - Select this link to download the application (.apk file)
Description
This application adds NEW power settings to the phone (e.g. how long the screen is on during a call, if device stays on while the keyboard is open, etc.) and allows you to quickly view and change other phone settings depending on different conditions (e.g. turn off synchronization when the battery level drops below 30%, lower the brightness of the screen when on battery power, change the screen timeout if on A/C power, etc.)
It comes with a set of predefined profiles and automatically starts working after installation.
Unless you want to change any of these definitions or use advanced features nothing else has to be done after the program is installed.
How to use
You can change individual settings (e.g. WiFi) by clicking the buttons on the panel at the top of the screen or you can change several settings at once by using a profile.
Profiles define what settings should be modified and can also contain triggers that indicate if they should be applied automatically (e.g. when on A/C power, when on battery power, when the battery drops below a certain level).
NOTE: THE MONITOR MUST BE ENABLED IN THE STATUS PANEL FOR PROFILES TO BE APPLIED AUTOMATICALLY.
This application comes with predefined profiles for the most common conditions. These profiles can be changed or deleted by either long pressing on the profile name or by selecting the profile with the track ball and clicking on the menu key. You can also create additional profiles and shortcuts on the desktop to a specific profile.
Power Manager also gathers statistics as the device changes power states. These statistics and can be written to a CSV file on the SDCARD (in the power_manger sub-directory) and can then be loaded into a spreadsheet application (e.g. Excel) to perform analysis (e.g. determine if your battery does not last as long it used to, or if an application is affecting your battery life).
NOTE: THE APPLICATION WORKS DIFFERENTLY DEPENDING ON THE VERSION OF ANDROID YOU ARE RUNNING.
Screenshots
Reviews
- Power Manager is the most bought app
- 50 Best Android Apps
- Android Tapp (4.3 out of 5 stars)
- T-Mobile G1 Applications
- Android and Me
- Android Apps (5 out of 5 stars)
- phonedog.com
Frequently Asked Questions
- I can no longer directly change location settings (e.g. GPS) as of Android 1.5 (cupcake), is there a way to get this functionality back? Yes, but it requires a rooted phone and Power Manager 1.5.6 or above. Instructions follow.
- NOTE: We accept no liability for customers who root their phone.
- What is rooting? Rooting is getting access to the "administrator" account on the device. More information and instructions can be found at http://android-dls.com/wiki
- After root is obtained you need to install the application into the /system/app directory so that it has enough permission to change the location settings. Open a Terminal Emulator app and execute the following command to copy the application to the sdcard (for the full version the name of the application is /data/app/com.acme.android.powermanagerpro.apk):
- su
- cp /data/app/com.acme.android.powermanager.apk /sdcard/PowerManager.apk
If you can't find the application in /data/app try /data/apps-private/ - su
- mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
- cp /sdcard/PowerManager.apk /system/app
- adb remount
- adb shell cp /sdcard/PowerManager.apk /system/app
- What are the terms of the trial version? The terms are different depending on the country you are located in
- In countries were paid apps are supported the trial version has the profiles locked and the number of initial profiles has been reduced
- In countries were paid apps are not supported, it is a fully functioning application that is supported by advertising. NOTE: the application will expire once a month and needs to be updated.
- How can I tell how much time I have remaining on my trial? Press MENU->welcome
- How is power manager different than the other applications in the marketplace that allow you to change settings? The other applications allow you to manually turn things on and off. Power manager monitors the state of the device (e.g. plugged, unplugged, low battery) and automatically changes several settings as a group (e.g. when the battery is low, reduce the brightness of the screen, disable wi-fi, etc. in an attempt to keep the phone alive until you get it to a charger). It also provides new power related settings that don't come with the phone (e.g. amount of time that the screen stays on during a call, keep the device awake (with the keyboard lights on) if the keyboard is open). Bottom line, applications that allow you to change settings focus on a convenient way to change your settings. Power manager allows you to manage your power and battery life.
- Does running power manager drain additional battery life while using it? No, power manager is asleep almost all the time. Android only notifies the application if the phone is awake and the power state changes somehow (e.g. battery level dropped, someone plugged the phone in, etc.)
- How can I determine how long my screen stays on for? The screen timeout is controlled by 3 settings in each profile:
- The main setting is display->screen timeout, which determines how long the screen stays on in most circumstances
- During a call, the normal screen timeout is not honored so there is a new timeout (stay awake->during call) which will keep the screen on, but dim, during a call for the specified period of time. (NOTE: the timeout only applies at the beginning of a call not after every key press during a call)
- Finally, there is a stay (awake->while keyboard open) setting which will keep both the screen and keyboard on if set to enabled in a profile.
- How does this application affect my data network connection? Changing between 2g/3g can sometimes knock you off the network for a little while. 3G is a little sensitive sometimes. We have had it kick us off until we get to a different cell tower or reboot the phone. This has nothing to do with the application since all it does is take you to the operating systems telephone settings page. You can also get to that page by going to the phones settings->wireless controls->mobile networks.
- Profiles are not getting automatically applied / my stay awake settings are not working? The monitor has to be set to ON in the main status panel for automatic profile application and the stay awake settings to work.
- What does the Wireless Location button do? This button enables and disables the “Use wireless networks” setting which can be accessed from the phone via Settings->Wireless controls->Security & location->Use wireless networks. Basically it allows applications to determine your estimated location using cellular towers and other wireless access points.
- What do the different panel light colors represent? Grey means off, yellow means turning on (e.g. bluetooth and wifi takes time to enable), green means on. The red light indicates the monitor is on
- Do changes I make to the profiles remain in effect? Any changes you make to the profile are persisted in a database
- In the profile list, what does the green text (either monitor or *, depending on version) mean? This indicates that the “CONDITION or TRIGGER” specified in the profile is in effect (e.g. battery <= 30%) and that the profile was applied once. It does not mean that the settings defined in that profile are currently in effect since a user can change the current setting by using the status panel or by some mechanism outside of the application.
- What does a battery health of GOOD mean? It indicates how well the battery can hold a charge. Over time the battery won’t stay charged as long and will eventually go to a health of DEAD when it can’t maintain a charge at all. Other battery health values indicate a problem with the battery (see below)
- What are the values for battery health?
- GOOD = BATTERY_HEALTH_GOOD
- OVHT = BATTERY_HEALTH_OVERHEAT
- DEAD = BATTERY_HEALTH_DEAD
- OVLT = BATTERY_HEALTH_OVER_VOLTAGE
- FAIL = BATTERY_HEALTH_UNSPECIFIED_FAILURE
- UNKN = Unknown
Then, un-install Power Manager from the device
Execute the following commands in the terminal emulator to remount the /system directory as read/write and to install the application into the /system/app directory:
If you prefer to use adb from your computer, execute these commands:
NOTE: After this process, you will manually have to check for and apply PowerManager updates
Change History
10/07/2009 – Version 1.6.2 released (41)
New features
- Support for MyBackup (full version only)
- Add change log support (in welcome and help screens)
- Add more apps button
Bug fixes / enhancements
- Fix regression (force close on startup) using Android 1.0
- Update help message
- Add support for Android 1.6 (i.e. Donut)
- Update expiration date to 11/01/09 for Ad Supported trial version
- Update expiration date to 10/01/09 for Ad Supported trial version
- Update expiration date for Ad Supported trial version
- Fixed issue with AppManager incorrectly flagging the full version of Power Manager as containing Ads
- Update expiration date on free version
- Internal build changes
- Fixed a few brightness bugs
New features
- Added support to change locations on Android if using a rooted phone
Bug fixes / enhancements
- Fixed brightness problems when keyguard is up (i.e. screen locked)
- Removed admob.jar from the pro version
- Removed statistics gathering functionality
- Changed title bar to indicate if using the trial or ad supported version
- Reworked admob integration, there is no longer any impact on non ad supported versions
- Fixed issue with the application being brought to the foreground by the service
- Shortcuts can now be created on the pro version
- Selecting a shortcut when the application is in the background no longer brings the application to the foreground
- Creating subsequent shortcuts defaults to the correct profile name now
- Additional brightness changes
- Icons changed
- Fixed brightness changes when initiated by service on cupcake
- Fixed "stay awake while keyboard visible" setting on cupcake
- Improved brightness handling on cupcake
New features
- Added support for Android 1.5 (cupcake)
Bug fixes / enhancements
- Changed location handling on cupcake to abide by the new restrictions introduced by Google. Clicking on the location buttons in the status panel now take you to the settings page and location settings can no longer be changed in profiles
- Changed brightness handling on cupcake
- Changed Bluetooth handling on cupcake
- Changed screen orientation to be selected by settings
- Changed update check to take the user to the market application
- Changed terms of the trial version
- Fixed issue with extra notifications appearing occasionally
- Fixed force close after the phone is rebooted
- Fixed notification preference not being honored in the pro edition
- Fixed shortcuts in the pro edition
- Re-worded welcome message in trial edition
New features
- There are now two versions of the application, a 3 day fully functional trial, and a paid version (NOTE: the amount of time remaining in the trial is displayed in the help screen)
Bug fixes / enhancements
- Resolved issue with extra notifications
- Screen brightness can now be set to 0 and is the default for the low battery profile
- Removed automatic update checking since the market now does it
- The application no longer writes a welcome.txt or update.txt file to the /sdcard/powermanager directory
- Fixed random sync exception
- Fixed bug in, keep awake while keyboard open, which kept the device awake even if the keyboard was closed
- Changed text in profile editor dialog from ok to next (to indicate there is an additional screen)
- Fixed bug in the version checking code that would cause checks to occur too frequently
- Fixed bug that shortcuts from the desktop did not work
New features
- Added a profile option to allow the user to determine how long the screen is on for during a call (allows you to get around the issue of the screen always turning off on you while you are picking up your voicemail)
- Added a profile option to have the phone stay awake (with keyboard lights on) while the keyboard is open (this gets around the issue of the keyboard lights turning off every 5 seconds)
- Added a version check (once every 24 hours)
- Added preferences screen (accessed via the MENU button)
- Added a preference that allows you to disable notification of triggered profiles
- Added a preference that allows you to disable version checks at application startup
- Added a preference to enable/disable gathering debug information
- Added a welcome panel on initial install
Bug fixes / enhancements
- Restart the service if it is killed by android(hopefully there are no more service stopping issues)
- Added version number to title bar
- Changed all logging in the app to a common log mechanism (log files places in /sdcard/powermanager)
- Added missing settings to the initial settings profile (e.g. ringer mode, etc.)
- Separated the sound and display settings in the profile editor
- Changed current condition indicator from green "MONITOR" and to an "*"
- Re-worded a few messages to make them easier to understand
- Tweaked default profile definitions (e.g. powered profiles now set brightness to 3/4 of maximum, etc.)
- Monitor was not always enabled by default after initial install
- Help dialog was not always coming up after initial install
- Updated the help text
- Made URL link in help text clickable
- Fixed race condition where the remote service could be stopped by mistake even if the monitor is enabled
- Fixed problem with incorrect profile being applied during application launch because the service was not completely initialized
- Added additional debug info in log file
- Cleaned up log file formatting
New features
- Added screen timeout as a changeable system setting
- Added ringer mode as a changeable system setting
- Added data synchronization as a changeable system setting
Bug fixes / enhancements
- Changed initial profile definitions to include new screen timeout setting
- Added exception stack trace to service log
- Removed system log messages for service
- Fixed bug that shortcuts from the desktop did not work
- Changed the brightness dialog so that the progress indicator is easier to read
New features
- Added support for creating shortcuts on the desktop for profiles (via long press or menu button)
- Added 2g/3g knob
- Displays the current network mode (2g/3g)
- Selecting it takes you to the mobile network preferences (this is the best that can be done with the current version of Android)
- NOTE-1: There is a delay between changing the network preference and the knob updating
- NOTE-2: Toggling this on/off rapidly causes the phone to drop off the data network for approximately a min while IP is re-acquired
- Added link to battery info in menu
- Added a log (/sdcard/power_manager/log.txt) for debugging the power manager service
Bug fixes / enhancements
- Fixed bug that monitor sometimes turns off by itself (i.e. service dies)
- The monitor no longer turns itself off when you manually change settings
- Added notification (in the status bar) when a profile is automatically applied
- If the monitor is enabled and the phone is restarted, automatically restart the service and apply the correct profile
- Changes to UI
- Made it easier to determine which light is on/off (unlit lights are darker, green light is greener, red light is redder)
- Moved the radio buttons (wifi/bluetooth) next to the 2g/3g switch
- Renamed network to cell location
- Changed battery voltage to battery health
- Removed profile description length limit
- Display short message to the screen when a profile is manually selected
- Changed initial database profiles (e.g. Balance performance is now Battery Powered, etc.)
- Changed the service messages (e.g. service has started) to entries in the new log file
- If the monitor is not enabled, stop the service when application is closed (NOTE: applications are normally closed in Android by pressing the back button)
- Set monitor enabled as the default after initial install (determined by the presence of the /sdcard/power_manager dir)