810500 - Battery Icon Not Representative of Actual Battery Percentage

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox OS Graveyard :: Gaia::System, defect)

Description

[John Karahalis [:openjck]]

Attachment: Battery icon with 100% charge

Steps to repeat:

1. Fully charge device.
2. Open the Settings app.
3. Scroll down to battery information.

Actual results:

The app reports that the battery is 100% charged, but the battery icon is not completely filled, making it look as though the battery is only about 80% charged.

Poor man's screenshot is attached. (By the way, how do I take a real screenshot on B2G?)

Expected results:

The app reports that the battery is 100% charged, and the battery icon is completely filled.

Comment 1

[Mason Chang [Inactive] [:mchang]]

I'm dogfooding Firefox OS with my girlfriend and reporting things that strike her as off. The battery, even though fully charged, should display a full battery icon, but it makes it look like the battery is only partially charged. Coming from an iPhone, she thought that her battery was broken and not charging at all and didn't know to dig into the settings app. Anyway we could replicate the behavior of an iPhone, e.g. if the phone is mostly charged, show a fully battery icon?

Comment 2

[Mason Chang [Inactive] [:mchang]]

Attachment: photo.JPG

Screenshot of battery icon and battery percentage in settings app.

Comment 3

[Mason Chang [Inactive] [:mchang]]

Attachment: fiftyPercent.JPG

Here we have the settings app reporting 48% but the battery icon image looks like it's 30%.

Comment 5

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

IMO this could be solved by using more assets/more detailed battery sprite (at least 10 icons?).
Or implementing a feature I suggested (and already started working on) in Bug 1008755, which is giving the user the ability to choose if they want to see a battery icon or a battery percentage, or both through a setting in Settings App.
Thoughts ?

Comment 6

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

Attachment: WIP Patch

Work in progress for the approach I'm taking to resolve this issue.

Comment 7

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

Attachment: Battery Icon And Percentge.png

Screenshot to clarify my suggestion..

Comment 8

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Alive and Kazé,
Since my patch involves System and Settings I'd like to know what you both think about it please? :)
Thanks

Comment 9

[:gerard-majax]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Let's ask about a UX review on this.

Comment 10

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

So just to clarify things to UX, I'm a contributor, such feature had no UX spec before, so it's the first time I'm suggesting it.

Comment 11

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Sorry for the noise
Flagging Arthur too for feedback
Thanks so much

Comment 12

[Stephany Wilkes]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Flagging Omega on ui-review? and removing the ui-review? flag to Arthur. Only interaction designers on Firefox OS should be set on ui-review? flags. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Comment 13

[Stephany Wilkes]

Patryk, also flagging you to see if there is any visual design review necessary on hardware related UI.

Comment 14

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

(In reply to Stephany Wilkes from comment #12)
> Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
> WIP Patch
> 
> Flagging Omega on ui-review? and removing the ui-review? flag to Arthur.
> Only interaction designers on Firefox OS should be set on ui-review? flags.
> Please let me know if you have any questions.

My mistake.. I meant flagging Arthur for feedback.

Comment 15

[(inactive after 6/18) Alive Kuo [:alive]]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Please fix the dup function and add a new test for formal patch.

Comment 16

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

(In reply to Alive Kuo [:alive][NEEDINFO!][5/11-5/15@MV] from comment #15)
> Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
> WIP Patch
> 
> Please fix the dup function and add a new test for formal patch.

Thanks Alive, I just updated the PR. However I'm no expert in tests I will need a great deal of help for me to write it on my own...

Comment 17

[(inactive after 6/18) Alive Kuo [:alive]]

(In reply to Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui] from comment #16)
> (In reply to Alive Kuo [:alive][NEEDINFO!][5/11-5/15@MV] from comment #15)
> > Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
> > WIP Patch
> > 
> > Please fix the dup function and add a new test for formal patch.
> 
> Thanks Alive, I just updated the PR. However I'm no expert in tests I will
> need a great deal of help for me to write it on my own...

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Platform/Automated_testing/Gaia_unit_tests
Lemme know if this document helps.

Comment 18

[Omega Feng [:Omega] [:馮於懋]]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

The feature is good. However, it still needs some visual design review.
The Settings > Battery needs some modification. I suggest:

---------------------------
Status Bar
---------------------------
Status Bar Indicator
[Battery icon   v]
(Battery icon | Battery percentage | Both icon and percentage)
* Default is Battery icon.

Comment 19

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

Omega,
Just updated the strings, however I'm not fully agreeing with making Battery icon the default option,
IMO If we don't hint to the user that _there are_ actually options to play around with Battery indicator, no one will expect that by themselves, like the case of comment 1
> she thought that her battery was broken and not charging at all *and didn't know to _dig_ into the settings app*
what do you think?

Comment 20

[Arthur Chen [:arthurcc][inactive after 6/30]]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Thanks for the patch. For a select element with a name property, settings app binds the select with the mozSettings of the name automatically, hence we don't need BatteryStatusManager. And please remember to add the new string to the localization file.

Comment 21

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

> For a select element with a name property, settings
> app binds the select with the mozSettings of the name automatically, hence
> we don't need BatteryStatusManager.

Strange.. I really noticed that when new Developer settings elements were being added, thought it was limited to Developer section to make their life easier.. Thank you!

Alive, are we still in need for tests since BatteryStatusManager is gone ?

Thanks :)

Comment 22

[(inactive after 6/18) Alive Kuo [:alive]]

Are you flagging arthur?

Comment 23

[Arthur Chen [:arthurcc][inactive after 6/30]]

We don't need tests for BatteryStatusManager. However, please add marionette tests ensuring that the selector works as expected, thanks!

Comment 24

[Omega Feng [:Omega] [:馮於懋]]

ni? new UX owner Jenny.

Comment 25

[Ahmed Nefzaoui [:Nefzaoui]]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Added a test case however please bear with me since it's my first time looking into tests..
Would this one be OK ?

Thanks

Comment 26

[Jenny Lee]

> IMO If we don't hint to the user that _there are_ actually options to play
> around with Battery indicator, no one will expect that by themselves

Hello Ahmed, 
We prefer not to show battery percentage on status bar by default. Our screen size is generally small, leaving out the percentage helps saving screen space as it is (in a way) redundant info. If we show percentage by default, for those who find the info unnecessary could face the same problem: not knowing where to turn it off.   

The battery icon shown on status bar should reflect the battery level in a more reasonable way. Currently we have 11 battery icons showing different battery levels, see below for current implementation:

icon0:   0 <= BL < 10
icon1:  10 <= BL < 20
         ...
icon9:  90 <= BL < 100
icon10: 100 = BL

As you can see, only when battery level reaches 100% will the battery icon be full, as soon as battery level drops to 99%, it shows the next battery icon which might give user this impression that "my phone is always not fully charged".  We'd like to propose a new scale to avoid the problem, see below:

icon0:   0 <= BL < 5
icon1:   5 <= BL < 15
         ...
icon9:  85 <= BL < 95
icon10: 95 <= BL <= 100

@Francis, since it is status bar related, can you comment on this?

Comment 27

[Arthur Chen [:arthurcc][inactive after 6/30]]

Comment on attachment 8423762 [details] [review]
WIP Patch

Thanks for the patch! The aim of the test is simply ensuring there is nothing blocks the selector and the default value of the selector is correct. You can refer to the test "open Turn On Period option selector", which also tests a selector. Feel free to let me know if you encounter any problem.

Comment 28

[Francis Djabri [:djabber]]

Hi Jenny, 

I totally agree that we shouldn't show the percentage in the status bar, as space is at a premium with the introduction of the rocket bar into the status bar. 

As for your proposal, it sounds reasonable to me, but I believe that certain battery warning banners are shown when the battery level reaches certain thresholds, like 10% and 20%. I think the indicators should match up with the banners, so that the banner does not show one icon and the indicator shows something different. 

cc'ing Rob as he owns the Status bar spec.

Comment 29

[Jenny Lee]

(In reply to Francis Djabri [:djabber] from comment #28)
> Hi Jenny, 
> 
> As for your proposal, it sounds reasonable to me, but I believe that certain
> battery warning banners are shown when the battery level reaches certain
> thresholds, like 10% and 20%. I think the indicators should match up with
> the banners, so that the banner does not show one icon and the indicator
> shows something different. 

Hey Francis,

I agree we should show banner when battery level is low, but I think once is enough. And surely the banner should match the status bar battery indicator, so we can do "(icon1) Battery is lower than 15%" or "(icon0) Battery is lower than 5%" under the circumstances: 
1) when device is not charging 
2) once battery level passes 15%/5% threshold
3) when screen is on
4) if the 15% banner is shown already, don't show the 5% banner

Sounds good?

Comment 30

[Mozilla_BEC]

I'd like to sign on and suggest that the battery indicator have at least 10 states. My current Flame v2.2 KK only has 5 sprites and the scaling is really not terribly good at representing what is going on with the charge state.

Comment 31

[Gabriela [:gaby2300]]

I can reproduce using base image v188, FFOS 2.2 and the latest OTA updates.

Comment 34

[BMO Automation]

Firefox OS is not being worked on