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I know that T-Mobile clocked it down to 384 to extend battery life on the G1, and I believe that the processor was designed for 528. With all that said, does anyone have experience with what a good, safe speed is? I'm new to Android (less than 1 week), so all this is new to me. Thanks!

Update: the processor is the MSM7201A.

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this question will depend on the particular processor, the same processor on the same clock on the same phone model on the same configuration, may be stable for one phone while highly unstable for another. Moreoever, "good experience" is highly subjective. – Lie Ryan Feb 9 '11 at 14:31

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It depends on your needs:

  • Do you want to conserve battery? Then underclock the CPU
  • Do you want better performance? Then overclock the CPU

Typically there are different kernels that you can flash for your device. Different kernels offer different clockspeeds. Some of them will also under volt your phone to consume less power. The disadvantage of undervolting is that the phone may not be able to run faster clockspeeds.

Additionally, your phone may not overclock to the same speed as another phone due to one processor being physically different than another processor (no two processors are made 100% exactly alike. When overclocking you are stepping beyond the bounds and specifications that your phone was designed to run at). What will happen is your phone will enter a boot loop if it is unable to run the kernel at a specific speed (you'll have to flash a new kernel or revert to a previous Nandroid backup).

I don't know of specific kernels for the G1, but for example there is a set of kernels by ChevyNo1 for the Droid1. The general steps are:

  • RUN A NANDROID BACKUP
  • Choose a voltage: ultra low, low, or normal
  • Start with the kernel with the lowest overclocked speed
  • Flash that kernel.
  • Use SetCPU to set the clock speed to the max.
  • If the phone remains stable, then choose the next kernel with the same voltage with a slightly faster clockspeed and try to run it at its max speed.
  • If the phone does not remain stable, then revert to your last Nandroid backup or the last kernel that ran stable on your phone
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Thanks - the more I get into Android the more I realize there is no straightforward easy answer to this kind of question. I'm running Cyanogenmod 6.1.0 kernel 2.6.35.9. I think I'm going to just leave it at 528 max, since I'd really rather not accidentally brick it. – Mingo Feb 9 '11 at 22:52
@Mingo you shouldn't be able to brick your phone by overclocking the phone. Worse case scenario you end up in a boot loop. When that happens, you go into Clockwork Recovery and flash your last backup or another kernel that you know works. – Bryan Denny♦ Feb 10 '11 at 4:56
thanks for the follow-up. Good to know I can't do any permanent damage. I'm also leaving the phone in "ondemand" mode in setCPU, and I set a temperature profile to avoid letting it get too hot. – Mingo Feb 10 '11 at 13:12
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@mingo I also recommend setting a profile where you underclock the processor when the phone's screen is off. But don't set it too low or it might have difficulty reacting quickly when answering a call, waking up, etc. You can also set some profiles at Battery < x% to underclock the phone to save battery when your phone is getting closer to dying. – Bryan Denny♦ Feb 10 '11 at 14:00

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