Other Low Power Mode

[joeblow7777]

Just out of curiosity for those who use low power mode at any time for any reason, do you actually notice a difference in your phone's performance?

To be honest, I don't. There's the cosmetic stuff like, I know that the screen is kept dimmer by default, it turns itself off more quickly, and some animations are turned off, but my phone never seems like it's actually performing any worse. I'm using an 8 Plus, but I felt the same with my 6. Maybe it's just that nothing I do on my phone is that taxing to begin with.

Just wondering what others think.

 

[casperes1996]

Yes it lowers performance, no, I don't notice it under normal usage. – In essence, your chip has high performance cores and high effeciency cores, and low poer mode forces only the high efficiency cores to be used, so it's also only tasks that would normally use all the performance cores or in fact all the cores that'll be affected. – On older devices that don't have separate performance and effeciency cores, it decreased the clock speed but I don't know if that's also the case here.
Only occasion I've ever noticed the drop, was whilst crypto-mining. Hash rate dropped to almost half.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Now that's cool - crypto mining on a phone? Nice!

Doing heavy CPU related things you notice it a lot more - Ingress, Clash of Clans, taking photos, etc... But yeah, normal operations - chatting, browsing the web, checking email - I really can't tell too much of a difference. The screen turning off super quick annoys me so I usually can't keep it on.

What got me was how tests seem to show you only gain a little bit of battery. So I figure I'll only ever use it if I'm below 20% and know I can't charge for awhile. But honestly, turning on airplane mode would do more I think.

 

[casperes1996]

Now that's cool - crypto mining on a phone? Nice!

Yeah – I just did it to try it out for fun though. Quite efficient though. The app is called MobileMiner and can be downloaded through AppValley if you're interested (no jailbreak required - just search for App Valley). I don't recommend any other apps from App Valley though. Most I've seen are terrible, ad-riddled nightmares.

 

[joeblow7777]

What got me was how tests seem to show you only gain a little bit of battery. So I figure I'll only ever use it if I'm below 20% and know I can't charge for awhile. But honestly, turning on airplane mode would do more I think.

That’s true. While I don’t really notice a performance hit, I don’t think I notice much additional battery life either. I think the bottom line is that I don’t do much on my phone that pushes use of the high performance cores anyway.

 

[jav6454]

Just out of curiosity for those who use low power mode at any time for any reason, do you actually notice a difference in your phone's performance?

To be honest, I don't. There's the cosmetic stuff like, I know that the screen is kept dimmer by default, it turns itself off more quickly, and some animations are turned off, but my phone never seems like it's actually performing any worse. I'm using an 8 Plus, but I felt the same with my 6. Maybe it's just that nothing I do on my phone is that taxing to begin with.

Just wondering what others think.

You get lower performance as all tasks switch over to the efficiency cores. However, this yields a bit more screen time from curret charge.

 

[joeblow7777]

You get lower performance as all tasks switch over to the efficiency cores. However, this yields a bit more screen time from curret charge.

I know how it works in principle. I'm wondering how many people notice the lower performance.

 

[jav6454]

I know how it works in principle. I'm wondering how many people notice the lower performance.

Well, it does lower performance. That's why several features and effects are turned off, due to CPU being limited.

 

[joeblow7777]

Well, it does lower performance. That's why several features and effects are turned off, due to CPU being limited.

Yes, but I was asking how many people actually notice a difference, aside from the cosmetic ones that I mentioned in my original post.

 

[Jimmy James]

After a year or so Apple gives you permanent low power mode. It seems half the users in this forum prefer that to flipping their own switch.

 

[casperes1996]

After a year or so Apple gives you permanent low power mode. It seems half the users in this forum prefer that to flipping their own switch.

You're purposefully ignoring how that actually works to fuel your outrage that Apple slows down your device to maintain acceptable battery performance.
Fact is "My phone keeps dying at 40% charge!"
is substantially worse than "Oh... My phone is 10% slower in a way i don't notice at all".

 

[Jimmy James]

You're purposefully ignoring how that actually works to fuel your outrage that Apple slows down your device to maintain acceptable battery performance.
Fact is "My phone keeps dying at 40% charge!"
is substantially worse than "Oh... My phone is 10% slower in a way i don't notice at all".

Perhaps I don't understand how it works. My understanding; low power mode limits clock speed and wireless connectivity (which can be overridden). Apple then implements a negative option throttling (which cannot be overridden). The whole process seems like an aversion to what works best for me. Maybe for some users the forced implementation works better.

Your own outrage results in exaggeration. I've run a phone a long time past acceptable battery degradation before it started shutting down prematurely. All I saw for a long time was increasingly reduced but predictable battery life. I'd rather have full performance. Even at the very end. I have AC access and various sized power banks that helped me manage just fine. Next time I'll just replace the battery sooner. No need for Apple to slow my device by what seems like 1 to 2 years in advance of that point. Substandard batteries should be assessed by other means. And the reduction is more than 10%.

 

[casperes1996]

Your own outrage results in exaggeration. I've run a phone a long time past acceptable battery degradation before it started shutting down prematurely. All I saw for a long time was increasingly reduced but predictable battery life. I'd rather have full performance. Even at the very end. I have AC access and various sized power banks that helped me manage just fine. Next time I'll just replace the battery sooner. No need for Apple to slow my device by what seems like 1 to 2 years in advance of that point. Substandard batteries should be assessed by other means. And the reduction is more than 10%.

To be honest I'm not outraged at all.
I don't want to get too far into this as it's off topic, but I'd call your past experiences with batteries lucky. Or you were using devices that have a much lower peak power draw, which is what the undervolting Apple uses is to prevent.
It may be a lot more than 10% when you're benchmarking, but benchmarks aren't usually reflective of real world usage, where the peak power draw may not be achieved as typically.

I for one have seen a hell of a lot of batteries dying at as high a charge as 70% and that problem has been mitigated, mostly eliminated after updates to iOS

 

[Jetcat3]

I’ve noticed a huge difference with the A10 processor on my 7 Plus. But that quad core processor could only use two cores at a time and in low power mode I could become frustrated with how slow it would operate. Immediately after turning it off I noticed it using the high performance cores as animations and applications sped up noticeably.

With the iPhone X, I’ve only had a few instances when it’s been slow in low power mode. It’s much less noticeable as there 6 cores that can all be active at one time. With a 70% increase in the low power cores, it’s no wonder I can’t tell a difference in basic tasks.

 

[44267547]

Yes, but I was asking how many people actually notice a difference, aside from the cosmetic ones that I mentioned in my original post.

I certainly noticed the speed and performance affected with low power mode activated. Albeit, it does help conserve battery, but using applications, Safari and even fetching for checking my email seems relatively slow if low power mode was activated.

 

[JPack]

Yes, it’s very noticeable.

Let’s think logically. If the performance were NOT noticeable and it saved power, this would be called CPU magic. Apple would implement Low Power Mode as a permanently on feature. Clearly, that’s not the case.

 

[yegon]

I only use it when desperate because background data is limited/off in low power mode, defeating most of the purposes I use a phone for.

 

[joeblow7777]

Yes, it’s very noticeable.

Let’s think logically. If the performance were NOT noticeable and it saved power, this would be called CPU magic. Apple would implement Low Power Mode as a permanently on feature. Clearly, that’s not the case.

Clearly it depends on the user and their usage. As I’ve explained, in my case it actually isn’t noticeable, but it doesn’t seem to save much power either.
The logical answer is actually that it depends on how much one’s usage calls on the higher performance cores, or higher clock speeds. The less it does the less you’ll notice the effects, good or bad, of low power mode.
Apple wouldn’t make it a permanent feature (throttling issue notwithstanding) because it lowers the maximum performance of the phone, which benchmarks would show and power users will notice, even though many average users probably wouldn’t.

 

[JPack]

Clearly it depends on the user and their usage. As I’ve explained, in my case it actually isn’t noticeable, but it doesn’t seem to save much power either.
The logical answer is actually that it depends on how much one’s usage calls on the higher performance cores, or higher clock speeds. The less it does the less you’ll notice the effects, good or bad, of low power mode.
Apple wouldn’t make it a permanent feature (throttling issue notwithstanding) because it lowers the maximum performance of the phone, which benchmarks would show and power users will notice, even though many average users probably wouldn’t.

As I understand it, Apple SoCs like A8 already dynamically clock down to 900 MHz during idle. Low Power Mode locks it down to around that frequency. If the user stays on a messaging app and doesn't switch around, they might not notice. But someone who uses their phone for something else should feel it.

 

[casperes1996]

As I understand it, Apple SoCs like A8 already dynamically clock down to 900 MHz during idle. Low Power Mode locks it down to around that frequency. If the user stays on a messaging app and doesn't switch around, they might not notice. But someone who uses their phone for something else should feel it.

The specific implementation varies from SoC to SoC, but yeah. Under some workloads the impact is nothing or at least close to nothing.

 

[Coco Nuts]

If the screen wouldn't dim after only 20 seconds, I would use low power mode 100% of the time.

 

[casperes1996]

If the screen wouldn't dim after only 20 seconds, I would use low power mode 100% of the time.

That's actually a good point - Apple ought to introduce configurable low-power-mode. Inside the settings pane for it, give a bunch of optional toggles for which parts of low power mode are activated when the feature is enabled

 

[thizisweird]

While I don't have a regular daily set of usage that I can point to as average, I have noticed that my iPhone 6s Plus can last me anywhere between 6 hours and 12+ hours. As for the low power mode, I have noticed that it does almost nothing, regardless of the apps I use. I guess it's just one of those things that I won't benefit from lol.

I did find it to be somewhat helpful for keeping the battery up for a bit longer when it was at idle... but as far as everything else goes: I saw no real impact in any way; nothing seriously notable on battery life (I use plenty of browsing and internet based apps), and minimal performance impact when switched on (if I do switch it on).

On the other hand, I would probably use it more if I thought it was a bigger help lol

 

[casperes1996]

While I don't have a regular daily set of usage that I can point to as average, I have noticed that my iPhone 6s Plus can last me anywhere between 6 hours and 12+ hours. As for the low power mode, I have noticed that it does almost nothing, regardless of the apps I use. I guess it's just one of those things that I won't benefit from lol.

I did find it to be somewhat helpful for keeping the battery up for a bit longer when it was at idle... but as far as everything else goes: I saw no real impact in any way; nothing seriously notable on battery life (I use plenty of browsing and internet based apps), and minimal performance impact when switched on (if I do switch it on).

On the other hand, I would probably use it more if I thought it was a bigger help lol

If i remember correctly, Apple said that, if you turn low power mode on when your phone is fully charged, you'd get an hour more battery life (non-plus models). So yeah... Not the biggest difference in the world

 

[C DM]

Clearly it depends on the user and their usage. As I’ve explained, in my case it actually isn’t noticeable, but it doesn’t seem to save much power either.
The logical answer is actually that it depends on how much one’s usage calls on the higher performance cores, or higher clock speeds. The less it does the less you’ll notice the effects, good or bad, of low power mode.
Apple wouldn’t make it a permanent feature (throttling issue notwithstanding) because it lowers the maximum performance of the phone, which benchmarks would show and power users will notice, even though many average users probably wouldn’t.

I use it here and there and for my typical phone usage--browsing, some messaging, some email, making some calls, using a few social apps and a few other (non-gaming) apps, etc.--I don't really notice a difference in performance.