For the past 2 weeks i enabled “display refresh rate” in the developer settings and noticed something interesting. Most of the time 120hz is used, this is great for that smooth feeling of course but is not necessary for some apps. And or when the device is idle.
A great example for adaptive refresh rate is the YouTube app. When using YouTube.the refresh rate is limited to 60hz. This make perfect sense as YouTube supports at most 60fps content.
However YouTube is not the only app that this makes sense to limit the refresh rate to 60hz, Instagram for example. This is not the case though and there have been several times when 120hz is in use instead of 60hz.
There is no perfect solution of course but there some obvious app andidates to apply a 60hz limit to:
- Instagram
- Snapchat
- Streaming service’s (Netflix, prime video, etc)
Ideally the refresh rate would adapt to the content on screen, or in this case as closely as what is possible (60hz).
It is possible that assuming that a more adaptive refresh rate ends up having a marginal boost in battery life, but hey sometimes more is still more.
Note:
- To be clear i am not complaining or terribly bothered by this at all, but am sharing my observation and opinion.
- Adaptive refresh rate was enabled, and the option to force 120hz all the time was disabled.
- Im not entirely familiar with the ins and outs of this subject for Android (must apps enforce the limits then self? For example)
