HTC EVO 4G safely overclocked past 1.2GHz, battery begs for mercy
By Chris Ziegler 
posted June 15th 2010 9:11PM
posted June 15th 2010 9:11PM
[Thanks, Mike]
posted June 15th 2010 9:11PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
hopefully this also means it can be undervolted a bit at stock speed. that would be awesome considering the evo is plenty fast enough for me
@billobob This happens on all mobile processors automatically. The on-package regulator is controlled by a power management unit in the CPU and lowers the voltage when the chip scales down in frequency.
Battery: Oh no... no! Wait... please... no more megahurt. PLEA! Pleaazze! It hurt so mu----
CPU: ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL.
Battery- :X r.i.p.ped a new one.
CPU: This form is fragile.
@billobob wow i might have to root my EVO now i cant imagine it any faster but o well
@buoy ME2 reference ftw
@billobob : overclock the battery and impress your friends.
@metafor
Every chip is built differently, and undervolts depending on usage are pre-set by the manufacturer. It's very possible to lower them even further in some situations, and especially at max load where manufacturers are very generous with their voltage.
@billobob I was thinking the same thing. Either way, nice to see some overhead there. =)
@billobob
I have this app and use it to underclock when the battery get's under 30%. Haven't done extensive testing, but I'll be damned if I can actually kill the battery to zero. It takes quite a bit of abuse for it to run out completely.
@Bandigolo yes it can be underclocked when you are not using it. I did that in my battery last much longer.
The Evo with this overlook gets 8Flops or whatever. Stock gives Evo 6. Froyo gives Nexus One 40.
That should put things in perspective.
@billobob I wonder how fast the Droid X will be when it gets overclocked!
@metafor The voltages are actually fixed on the current kernels. The PMIC handles it for you if you get rid of the relevant snippets of code, though.
The kernel I posted is undervolted for most of the frequencies too.
This kernel has some limitations - no camera or sensors yet - but that's because we don't have the full source from HTC yet.
@SomePerson Probably really fast - I hear it uses a 45nm chip. The OMAPs have been proven to be insanely overclockable.
@billobob
the answer is yes, but at this point sensors/camera are broked :(
thank bob for nandroid ^_^
@Kedar This has more to do with current limitations on how Android code is compiled v. anything spectacular going on in Froyo. As it stands now Android is much more resource intensive compared to other OS. As far as I know.
One proof more that Qualcomm's plan to bring out a 2GHz Snapdragon to the end of the year is not the right way. Desktop processors have already proven that the GHz race doesn't bring that much increase in performance but more power consumption and more heat. Go multicore!
@jaffreywali Actually, I think it has more to do with Froyo's new Dalvik JIT compiler. That part is what boosts app performance so much and to not label that as an integral Froyo improvement is misleading.
@NikAmi Well yes. The current Linpack application runs on the JVM. I don't even think the FPU is turned on in the current rendition of Dalvik and looking at the precision and performance numbers, this is most likely emulated FP operations.
It really has nothing to do with the FP capabilities of the chip at all.
Actually, My battery lasted over 2 days with average use (internet, few calls). People just didn't bother to follow the direction for a first time using the battery. You charge it at least 5-8 times for it to be effective, and each time drain it to at least 10% before charging. People reporting less than a day of battery with little to no use fail.
@coolbho3000
srsly. the Droid's OMAP3430 goes from undervolted stock 550mhz to 1.3 safely. I run it at 1ghz myself, and can go over a full day with normal usage. I usually end up charging before I go to sleep with 40-50% left.
OMAP \o
Can't wait to see what the Android community can do with Droid2 and DroidX.
@billobob
I must be getting old. I just plug my phone in when the battery gets low.
@cdf74dc9 Thank you. My battery lasts longer than people report as well. RTFM, as they say.
Sweet!
Too bad im getting the iPhone.
@uckApple
Good choice my friend, good choice.
BTW, as if the battery wasn't bad enough on the Evo as it was.....
@uckApple
Why do you losers downrank him? He didn't talk bad about your precious android? Now crawl back in your basements and quietly wack off to a picture of wonder woman from the '80s. It's really pathetic you fandroids.
@Btbessey because he brought up iphone for no reason, I dont go and troll your stupid iphone post so stay out of android post. You losers need to learn how to use the exclude function
@Btbessey The whole "in your mom's basement" insult is cliche, weak, overused, pathetic and not funny. He got downranked because he came into an Evo post and had flame-baited with that "too bad I'm getting an iPhone" remark. He's getting an iPhone. Awesome. Leave it to the Apple articles and stop trying to start uneccesary shit. Vice versa for Android kids and Apple articles.
On subject, my Evo is plenty fast, so I can't imagine how much tweeker status it would be if I overclocked it. I'll probably do it for fun to mess with the speeds. But overall, I wouldn't say it's necessary for me personally.
@Btbessey *random but relevant* No idea about the comic book followings but the "Wonder Woman" TV show is from the 70s... at least bash with accuracy.
A friend of mine got this when it first came out and says that the battery doesn't last him a half a day. Really a shame because it is a pretty sick phone.
@RyanTV
Mine lasts all day/night and then some. Your friend is either a freak user or got a dud battery. Or he is always in sketchy signal strength areas and the radios are always going nutso.
@Bandigolo
Agreed. Mine easily lasts me all day. Honestly I think there was probably a batch of EVOs that may have received faulty batteries when they were manufactured because as many people as there are that have battery problems, there's just as many (like us) who don't. Mind you, the battery life isn't phenomenal but it's on par with my Hero so I don't mind.
@sfox8 first few days my batter was draining rapidly. i installed a task killer, and got rid of live wallpaper now its fine. i think by default sprint is showing off everything, and checking the data feeds every 15 mins or so.
tun all the background and showy stuff down just a tad and the batter is the same or better then my palm pre was
People complain about Apple's "grip on things" when Android requires hacks?
@trey992 you think they should make it EASY to overclock,which can sometimes be risky? dont be such an obvious troll
@trey992
Does the Iphone have clocking abilities? No
The reason this is root only is because it voids the warranty and could overheat the phone or something.
Another example is wireless tethering. Nearly every carrier takes 30$ a month for that, and they wouldn't like people just skipping over that and using a tethering app...
@trey992 The difference is that root/OC doesn't change in anything the average Joe experience. You can enjoy at max potential your Android device without them, difference is that with root you can OC the device, you can install custom roms, you can change OS parameters that usually means nothing to the average consumer. Let's say that this is for geeks like us. On iOS you jailbreak it to be able to install other sources apps, to use multitasking, etc.
@masta vaan
LOL... yes you can over clock an iPhone
Youtube it bud, I over clocked my iPad
@Sled your right you can overclock apple products after you hack them what a shock
@Jean Marc
Lol because hacking an apple product is so hard, with spirit its one button. you open the program, plugin your iOS product, hit Jailbreak, and wait for your device to reboot.
So easy even an idiot like yourself can do it.
@Sled So easy even macusers can do it
@trey992 ...if apple puts an overclock app on that phone (like they ever) every single stupid ass would have the freaking thing caught flames. So *uck off troll.
wow, i suppose those predictions that one day our phones would be more/ as powerful as our PCs will come true sooner than expected.
@BrianH
Considering the size of the chips...the current fastest mobile processor will never be faster than the current fastest desktop processor.
But current fastest mobile processor matching/exceeding previous generations of processors, then yes.
@BrianH: This isn't good though. Do we really need all these GHz in a mobile processor? They're starting to overtake computers from the late '90s. With Motorola stating that they want to have a 2GHz processor, I'm kind of worried if these companies are beefing up their devices for nothing, leaving consumers to pay for hardware they don't need. Maybe they should do what Nokia does and add a dedicated GPU, along with a weaker CPU? (correct me if I'm wrong on this one)
@ALBGunner04
You're wrong.
While it would likely be better to see improvements in multi-core processors, increases in speed are not a bad thing.
The only "drawback" is that in a handheld device better interfaces will have to be developed to take advantage of capabilities.
It's articles like this that will keep Android phones solidly in the "geek" zone.
Beast got some fangs and is now breathing fire. Sweet.
JUst carry 1 or 2 extra batteries.
Problem solved.
GIVE US AN EVO WITH A QWERTY KEYBOARD !!!!!!!!!!
MM.. sexy. Makes me very excited to root the Incredible, and get the same performance.
Damn, gotta love Android and Snapdragon. :)
I won't do this to my baby!