Android 15 update promises extended standby battery life
The forthcoming Android 15 update, announced at the recent Google I/O 2024 developer conference, is expected to enhance standby battery life by up to three hours on certain devices. This significant improvement was one of many features and enhancements announced by Google during the event. Other notable features include Private Space, App Pairs, and improved theft detection services. The better life improvement will apply to all devices updated to Android 15, including those running Wear OS.
Google executives detail the improvements
Dave Burke, VP of Engineering for the Android Platform, and Sameer Samat, President of the Android Ecosystem, shed light on how Google achieved these battery life enhancements. They attribute it to a series of optimizations including reducing the time it takes for a device's main applications processor (AP) to return to sleep, after being awakened to write health data. This specific improvement was particularly emphasized in relation to Wear OS 5 smartwatches.
Enhancing power management with Doze mode
Further improvements include deferring more background tasks to when a device is charging, rather than when it's in use. This approach is part of Android's intelligent power management system, that aims to run as many background tasks as possible during select 'maintenance windows' when the device is idle and its display is off. Burke revealed that in Android 15, the time taken for devices to enter doze mode will be reduced by 50%.
