Android M is chalk full of new features that we keep mentioning, such as performance enhancements, new designs, RRO theming support, and many more. While all of those are getting most of the limelight, one feature is far more important and definitely adds battery performance. That feature is dubbed ‘Doze’ and it is designed to improve device standby time.
With Android Lollipop, Google introduced their largest attempt to improve battery life, which they did. For example, on Android Lollipop, the device will not update applications until it is plugged into a charger. On Android M, Google has taken it a step further.
Google is once again focusing on battery life with Android M, and that comes with the new Doze feature. It essentially puts applications into a deep sleep when the device isn’t in use. As long as the device is not on a charger and has been stationary for a certain period of time, Doze will activate. This is achieved by monitoring device sensors and whether or not the device’s screen is on.
While the Doze mode is enabled, the device will limit the amount of times applications will access data and wake the device. That means network access will be disabled, unless high priority notifications come through. It is a feature similar to that of Greenify, it prevents apps from performing wake locks.
Now that you have an idea of what Doze does, a user over on Reddit was kind enough to post his results from testing Doze. He used a Nexus 5 running the Android M Developer Preview with only stock apps installed on the device. His test lasted four days and the device had notifications active and had cellular access. What his test results showed were quite impressive.
The device was awake for a total of 98.5 hours and only went through 31% of the battery. Remember, that is with a SIM card in the device with all notifications enabled. If you do the math, that comes to .3147% per hour. That is quite impressive because Lollipop would usually lose 3-5% over night for my Nexus 6. The device in the test was only awoken to record the battery percentage, so it could have the potential to last even longer without the slight disturbances.
If he were to run the test until the phone ran out of battery, it would last an estimated 13.24 days. This is something that normally would only be achieved on a device in airplane mode, so it definitely seems Google is on to something.
If you would like to view the full test results, you can see the post here.
