Power users have long used the “screen-on time” or SoT of an Android device as a benchmark to decide how good (or bad) its battery life is. That was untilAndroid 12arrived, when Google revamped the battery usage screen and started displaying the usage stats over the last 24 hours. Following user feedback, the company again tweaked the battery menu inAndroid 13’s first feature drop to show the usage stats from the last charge instead of 24 hours. InAndroid 14DP1, Google has further simplified the battery usage menu to put the focus back on screen time.
The battery usage screen in the first Android 14 developer preview has been revamped to include a “Screen time since last full charge” section. It prominently displays the screen-on time since the phone’s battery was last topped to 100 percent. Screen-on time is a subjective metric influenced by several other factors, but that’s not the point here. This change will make your life easier if you rely heavily on screen time to judge your phone’s battery life.
Left: Battery usage menu in Android 13 QPR2; Right: Android 14 DP1 battery usage menu
This could also be Google’s way of showing off the claimed battery life improvements in Android 14. Given that the OS is still being actively worked upon, there’s a possibility the screen time section is removed in a future build.
Another relatively minor change is the “Battery usage since last full charge” now has dropdowns forBreakdown by appsandBreakdown by system. In Android 13, both usage details are displayed simultaneously in a long scrollable list.
Left: Android 13; Right: Android 14 DP1
Interestingly, Google has not added the ability to view the battery health with this revamp, another addition that power users have long been requesting. It is already possible to get this data by capturing a bug report, which includes detailed metrics like the cycle count, temperature, etc.
If you own a compatible Pixel, you can try Android 14 DP1 on your phone to experience all the new features and the little changes. Since the beta program is not live, you’ll need toflash the Android 14 developer preview on your Pixel.
Thanks: Moshe!
