For those on Marshmallow – STAMINA battery mode will see a return [Update]

Sony Mobile officially commenced the Android 6.0 Marshmallow rollout earlier in the week. One of the new native features from Marshmallow was ‘doze mode’. This power-saving feature cannot be switched on or off. It is automatically enabled once your screen is off, restricting apps access to the network and CPU-intensive tasks. However, high-priority push messages will still work.

If you’re wondering whether this sounds similar, that is because Sony’s STAMINA battery mode has done something broadly similar. STAMINA mode was first introduced around three years ago on Sony Xperia devices, restricting the background activities of most apps once the feature was enabled. More recently, Sony introduced Ultra STAMINA mode, which more aggressively restricts the phone use when the screen is off, leaving you access to a few basis features such as phone and messaging.



However, Sony’s STAMINA mode is not included in the latest Xperia Marshmallow firmware, perhaps not a surprise given the similarity with Doze mode. We have had many people getting in touch asking us whether we will see it return. Well according to Sony Japan’s recent Marshmallow changelog, STAMINA mode is expected to return in a new software update due in late April 2016.

We don’t know how Sony will differentiate STAMINA mode against Google’s Doze mode that is integrated into the software, but we’re keen to find out. Would you like to see STAMINA mode return? Or is Doze mode working well for you? Let us know in the comments below.

Update: We have just seen the following notice in the Xperia Beta program, which clouds whether we will see STAMINA return in a later Marshmallow update: