I found that the some GPS tool will not actually close GPS when it was terminated (Google maps seems OK), even when the phone was switched to fly mode. Battery was drained very quickly in this situation. Is there any too can check current status of GPS and also manage it?
How did you found out ?
Normally, I'll put phone to fly mode during night and it will consume about 5% power. But if I used GPS in that day, the power consumption would be ~20%.
flypp said:
Normally, I'll put phone to fly mode during night and it will consume about 5% power. But if I used GPS in that day, the power consumption would be ~20%.
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Click to collapse
I can't provide much more details, but I'd rather tell you to look elsewhere for the solution to that huge battery drain, as from what I know it's very unlikely to be gps's fault.
The gps is turned off by the device whenever you put the hd2 to sleep with the power button, in fact every app that uses it also loses the location (see navicomputer, nonigpsplot, and tomtom) when you turn off the display.
So, even if the app "forgot" to turn off the gps, it would be turned off when you press power button.
Just to make sure, have you checked with a task manager if the gps is really closed? Some apps (GPS or otherwise) dont really close when you close them, they merely move to the background.
The suggestion GPS is always closed when you sleep the device is not correct, some apps prevent real sleep, exactly to prevent loss of fix.
I'm sure that all GPS related software was closed. The answer from HTC customer support was to remove the buggy GPS software.
Related
Is there an application that could turn GPS ON or OFF manually in our HTC Advantage?
cktlcmd said:
Is there an application that could turn GPS ON or OFF manually in our HTC Advantage?
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Usually, this is a function within the GPS application itself. In many of them, there is an option that allows you to decide whether GPS should still continue to run when you switch off the device. In many situation, I find it sensible to leave the GPS running while the device is switched off, so that you still know where you are while switching off the device to conserve power. If this is not what you want, you can always choose to switch the GPS off.
eaglesteve said:
Usually, this is a function within the GPS application itself. In many of them, there is an option that allows you to decide whether GPS should still continue to run when you switch off the device. In many situation, I find it sensible to leave the GPS running while the device is switched off, so that you still know where you are while switching off the device to conserve power. If this is not what you want, you can always choose to switch the GPS off.
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Click to collapse
I see your point. I was a little concerned how it will affect battery life if left ON all the time.
cktlcmd said:
I see your point. I was a little concerned how it will affect battery life if left ON all the time.
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Click to collapse
Glad that you do.
It is exactly because we try to conserve power that we allow switching off the device while keeping the GPS running. GPS applications, if not closed, are usually useless if the GPS is not running.
Since the GPS is a passive system I mean only "listen" don't emit signal the power used by that chip is a few even if it's connected.
The people argue that the GPS drains the battery but that is only half true. What really drains the battery is not the GPS itself is the program (Tomtom as an example) running in the CPU and the screen being on for long time. As I told you since the GPS chip only "listen" for signal shouldn't consume too much.
This is not the case of GSM, Wifi and Bluetooth and their associated chips. Those three systems emit signal draining the battery.
Best regards,
mahjong
P.S.: Sorry about my english... I hope you understand what I'm saying.
mahjong said:
Since the GPS is a passive system I mean only "listen" don't emit signal the power used by that chip is a few even if it's connected.
The people argue that the GPS drains the battery but that is only half true. What really drains the battery is not the GPS itself is the program (Tomtom as an example) running in the CPU and the screen being on for long time. As I told you since the GPS chip only "listen" for signal shouldn't consume too much.
This is not the case of GSM, Wifi and Bluetooth and their associated chips. Those three systems emit signal draining the battery.
Best regards,
mahjong
P.S.: Sorry about my english... I hope you understand what I'm saying.
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Click to collapse
Thanks. It's very clear to me. I find this to be very true. When I use my mobile golf scorer, after four hours of use, it uses less than 10% of the battery although GPS is on throughout. The difference is that I switch on and off the device between use.
But is there a way to switch on GPS and/or to monitor its status? Telenav seems to have troubles finding the GPS at times...
Thanks everyone. This thread actually answered all my questions. This is my first GPS phone, so I'm a newbie with regards to GPS.
I understand the effects of leaving 4G, BT, and even 3G for that matter, ON can consume more battery life. However, what's the consensus on GPS. I have it OFF and turn it ON every time I'm using Google Navigation, etc. However, this is getting quite annoying. Will GPS really turn "off" itself if an application is not using it? I heard that the HTC Sense Weather widget will use the GPS for its refreshing and just that alone will affect battery life.
So what is the final verdict? I feel we've had plenty of time to test our theories by now.
akarol said:
I understand the effects of leaving 4G, BT, and even 3G for that matter, ON can consume more battery life. However, what's the consensus on GPS. I have it OFF and turn it ON every time I'm using Google Navigation, etc. However, this is getting quite annoying. Will GPS really turn "off" itself if an application is not using it? I heard that the HTC Sense Weather widget will use the GPS for its refreshing and just that alone will affect battery life.
So what is the final verdict? I feel we've had plenty of time to test our theories by now.
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Click to collapse
It says in Settings > Location > Use GPS Satellites "Uncheck to conserve battery", so I have to believe it will consume more battery when left on.
I leave it on, and get better than a full day of use from phone.
Only time when it flipped out was when I installed Yelp.
I was in my basement, and my battery went from 100% to 15% in 3 hours.
Uninstalled Yelp. Problem gone.
I was definitely under the impression that gps only used battery when it was being utilized. Hmmm I keep mine on all the time, so maybe its time to turn it off and see if there is a difference.
Sent from my EVO from the Apple Store.
GPS ON should only use more battery when an application that needs GPS asks for it. Android is really good about showing you an icon in the taskbar when the GPS chip is actually used.
I definitely leave GPS on since its only really "ON" and being used when the icon appears at the top of the screen. Otherwise its just available for us when its on.
The term used for the button should really be "Available" or "Unavailable" rather than on and off.
If your wondering about battery safe go into settings and undetermined battery it will show ways absorbing the most power. Believe it or not the how doesn't consume that much
sent from the EVO while punching an iPhone user!
really ? ofcourse it does
I doubt it consumes more than a fraction of your battery if left on. For that reason, I can't imagine having to manually turn GPS on and off throughout the day - complete waste of time. Even if it chews 5% of your battery in the course of a day(and I doubt it's that much) it's worth leaving on, unless you truly never use it.
My test & results regarding the 60mA standby high battery drain in Android -PLS READ
Hi all. This is a continuation to the thread here but as that thread is full of theories and speculation I figure I'd start a new thread with 'real world' results when it comes to this battery drain issue in Android.
I've been trying hard this weekend to replicate that's been causing the seemingly spontaneous leaps to high battery drain in standby.
I can confirm, at least on my end (UK HD2, WM6.5 CleanEx, Android Darkstone SuperRAM 1.5) that enabling airplane mode in WM before booting android DOES NOT stop the high battery drain.
It seems, at least right now, that the battery drain in indeed caused by the GPS module either being or having been active in Android.
This morning I was having regular 5-9mA drain in standby. I enabled GPS on the way to work, took the phone off the charger and BAM... 60mA in standby thereafter (long after closing all GPS-enabled apps).
Rather than rebooting or anything like that, I plain disabled the GPS module via the Power Control widget (you can add it to part of your homescreen). Switched backlight off and on again a few seconds later... 5-9mA drain (and this is with WiFi enabled)
Here's a test I've just done.
Conditions:
- Loaded DarkStone's Froyo SuperRAM 1.5.
- WiFi, Data, Sync, Auto-brightness, 3G+2G enabled. Bluetooth isn't enabled.
- I won't be rebooting, using task managers or anything like that in between tests as I want to find a 'practical' solution to this issue until a fix is found. Rebooting, waiting for a GPS lock, etc every time you wish to put your phone in your pocket isn't practical.
- If I report ~5mA this is just what's being said by CurrentWidget. It may spike a few seconds later but we can, I think, safely assume that there is a major difference between ~5-30mA readings and ~59-90mA readings.
Results:
1. ~5mA to ~10mA in standby since disabling GPS in Power Controls.
2. Enabled GPS control again and we're up to ~59mA to ~90mA in standby.
3. Kept GPS control enabled but disabled "Use wireless networks" in Data and Security - ~59mA in standby (NOTHING LOWER!).
4. Disabled GPS from Power Control widget again and we're back down to ~9mA
5. Kept GPS disabled but enabled "Use wireless networks" in Data and Security, then opened Google Maps to get my location based on cell tower. Switched screen off. ~10mA in standby.
6. Enabled GPS again - ~60mA in standby
7. Disabled GPS again - ~9mA
Conclusion:
There seems to be a serious problem with the GPS module/driver/whatever under Android when it comes to power management!
SO - it seems, at least for me, that the only solution to this issue right now is to disable GPS altogether and renable it when I want to use a GPS-based application. This isn't great as these wonderful devices are heavily built around being able to keep track of your and friends locations, movements and all other GPS-orientated tasks.
So +1 for an urgent call out to the devs to took further into this issue! Please everyone keep posting your results as this is the biggest, if not only, thing keeping me and I'm sure others from saying Android is perfect for the HD2!
On another note - I also find that the battery discharges when GPS is enabled (e.g. running Google Navigation or Sygic Aura) even whilst plugged in to my car's 12v port via USB adapter. This isn't *always* the case, but it ALWAYS can only 'trickle charge' at best... i.e. An hour on the road using GMaps/Aura will, at best, have around 7% put back into the battery. Under WM with TomTom active the phone would have charged/held its charge quickly. This makes using Android on the HD2 for long trips pointless.
Hope these results help weed out this issue that's been driving me and many others insane for a long time!!
I'd like to elaborate on my last point a little more. The stuff about the battery drain / lack of fast charge in the car with GPS enabled.
I disabled GPS and plugged the HD2 into my 12v, it charged pretty quick. As soon as I enabled GPS and ran for example Google Navigation it would either lose %s despite being plugged in or just *barely* charge after being plugged in for a while.
Remember I have no problem charging and holding charge in WM with GPS active. I had a similar problem with my HTC Hermes in-car years ago.
So this again points to the GPS chip or driver putting excessive strain on the battery, under Android.
Who else has been using Android for Navigation in their car and noticed this?
I will switch radios but I've been though probably half a dozen radios since Android came to the HD2 and experienced this problem with all of them!
SMS92 said:
I'd like to elaborate on my last point a little more. The stuff about the battery drain / lack of fast charge in the car with GPS enabled.
I disabled GPS and plugged the HD2 into my 12v, it charged pretty quick. As soon as I enabled GPS and ran for example Google Navigation it would either lose %s despite being plugged in or just *barely* charge after being plugged in for a while.
Remember I have no problem charging and holding charge in WM with GPS active. I had a similar problem with my HTC Hermes in-car years ago.
So this again points to the GPS chip or driver putting excessive strain on the battery, under Android.
Who else has been using Android for Navigation in their car and noticed this?
I will switch radios but I've been though probably half a dozen radios since Android came to the HD2 and experienced this problem with all of them!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check your hd2 if it is charging as USB (charge only) or as a regular charger. That happened to me when I used the wrong cable for the charger.
You should definitely try recalibrating your battery, and as jose mentioned, if you're using a charger\cable that isn't meant for your device it will slowly damage your battery.. so I would recalibrate and wipe batt stats. Also, using EBL set to 3 sec helps a lot and using SetCPU with correct profile settings.. the list goes on man, the quicker you boot from winmo to android the better. (switching to nand might be a good decision as well if your ready to lose WM.. huge difference)
There's quite a few battery threads now.. might want to take a peak
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=9019755&postcount=29339
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734886
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8990839#post8990839
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10433749#post10433749
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881958
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=827355
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=819534
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=825989
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=796134
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=749753
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=737001
That should do it I think..
Scabes24 said:
... if you're using a charger\cable that isn't meant for your device it will slowly damage your battery..
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Click to collapse
Curious about this statement. What would define the wrong cable? Thickness? Aren't all micro usb connections the same?
My HD2, running Dutty FAM V24 ROM, SD card version android built 2.2.1 with Sense. I installed the current widgets which shows i have over 100 mA draining even when my phone is not used. Thank for your information disabling the GPS in Power Control Widget, I now have 6-8 mA during phone standby.
Looks like this make sense having the GPS disabling, compromising some features but having 2 OS in one phone is fairly acceptable. I can just switch back to WM6.5 when I need navigation.
Here is my findings about battery drain caused by gps.
If I turn on gps and then open any app that use gps (iGO and GPS TEST in my case) it works as it should. But problem is when I turn off gps (and close apps) phone can't go to standby mode and it has high battery consumption about 3-6 % per hour.
I noticed that in this situation if I want to unlock my phone, i can activate screen by pressing back button (it should be activated with middle button and power button, only).
If I turn on gps, again, battery drain stops, and it seems there is no battery drain untill I turn it off, again.
I tested this with two roms: GC 8.5 and aticmv2, both with naa08b kernel.
Please let me know Do You guys have this problem, too.
If not, let me know which rom/kernel do You use.
I have the same issue with GingerDx v020 , when i turn gps on and after a while i turn it off it still drains battery so i need to restart the phone to fix that.I dont know if there is any permanent fix .
I guess this is the same on all roms.
By the way, I tested battery life when gps is turned on (but not used by any application) and it seems that it doesn't consume battery at all. after 3h it was 1% consumption in standby.
So, I will left gps turned on all the time, rather than restart phone everytime I use navigation.
I've always had it off, whenever I turn it on Google Play Services MULLERS my battery. It shoots straight up and when i'm on LTE my battery drains 2-5% per hours idle instead of sub 1%.
Anyone else?
ben-fisher-bro said:
I've always had it off, whenever I turn it on Google Play Services MULLERS my battery. It shoots straight up and when i'm on LTE my battery drains 2-5% per hours idle instead of sub 1%.
Anyone else?
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Click to collapse
I keep it ON, at all times with High Accuracy, since I have Android Device Manager enabled for my security concerns. Of course, It takes a hold on battery life, so if you are not much concerned with that kind of stuff, you can keep it OFF.
Well google device manager works with location just set to on, it's the reporting that kills battery.
ben-fisher-bro said:
Well google device manager works with location just set to on, it's the reporting that kills battery.
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Click to collapse
Yes, I do know, but I also rely on other services like Maps to navigate, at most times. So is the reason of setting it to high accuracy.
On all the time. No battery problems for me.
On. Every so often it goes a bit haywire with the battery and play services, but it's rarer than it was a few iterations back. Have the OP other apps that might mess with it?
Mine is ON with battery saving. When I need car navigation, I set high accuracy with Power Toggles (only one tap to switch between battery saving and high accuracy if you're rooted)
Nexus 6P with Chroma rocks!
I keep mine off all the time. I only turn it on when I need to utilize GPS which is very rare.
Use to keep off, but now it's on Battery save since I'm paired with Huawei SmartWatch..