Enersave API: Android-based power-saving framework for mobile devices

Power consumption is a major factor to be taken into consideration when using mobile devices in the IoT field. Good Power management requires proper understanding of the way in which it is being consumed by the end-devices. This paper is a continuation of the work in Ref. [1] and proposes an energy saving API for the Android Operating System in order to help developers turn their applications into energy-aware ones. The main features heavily used for building smart applications, greatly impact battery life of Android devices and which have been taken into consideration are: Screen brightness, Colour scheme, CPU frequency, 2G/3G network, Maps, Low power localisation, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The assessment of the power-saving API has been performed on real Android devices and also compared to the most powerful power-saving applications – DU Battery Saver and Battery Saver 2016 – currently available on the Android market. Comparisons demonstrate that the Enersave API has a significant impact on power saving when incorporated in android applications. While DU Battery Saver and Battery Saver 2016 help saving 22.2% and 40.5% of the battery power respectively, the incorporation of the Enersave API in android applications can help save 84.6% of battery power.