Database Users

Gps battery use

Does the gps really use much more battery if kept on? I've always been under the impression that it would drain the battery quicker than anything else. Recently though, I've just been leaving it on constantly and have noticed very little extra battery usage. It seems to come on briefly when I do a search or other location using services, but it didn't seem to be an extra drain otherwise.
Anyone have any input or some input about gps battery usage?
Sent from my <tw> powered vibrant.

As far as I know, the GPS only kicks on when an app requires it. So unless you have something in the background that's constantly asking for your location it shouldn't really drain the battery in a way that would be notisible.... As far as I know
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Sounds about right just make sure you don't have a lot of apps running that use the gps
Sent from my EVO 4G using XDA App

In earlier versions of Android, having the GPS setting "on" actually activated the GPS system directly. In current versions, the setting only controls whether GPS-aware apps are allowed to use GPS at all, or not.
So as you have surmised, leaving the setting "on" doesn't use any additional battery power unless you're actually running a GPS-related app (Maps, navigation, camera, etc).

To save battery, just turn on GPS whenever you need it.
No idea why should leave it on all the time, coz it is really draining battery if it is running (to be clear when it is really running but not just on)

I haven't turned my gps off in 2 months and I average between 12 and 18 hours of moderate use.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Emama said:
To save battery, just turn on GPS whenever you need it.
No idea why should leave it on all the time, coz it is really draining battery if it is running (to be clear when it is really running but not just on)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point the OP is trying to make is that GPS doesn't drain the battery unless you're in an app that uses it.
I leave it on because only a handful of apps use it, and I'm usually not in those alps for hours at a time.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Emama said:
To save battery, just turn on GPS whenever you need it.
No idea why should leave it on all the time, coz it is really draining battery if it is running (to be clear when it is really running but not just on)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For people who are prone to losing their phones, such as my GF, its a good idea to leave it on and installing an app like Lost Phone where you can send the lost phone a txt and receive a map view of its exact location. As far as i know the android OS does not support remote activation so it must be left on. Like others have mentioned it does not cause a noticeable battery drain while its not in use. Its come in handy numerous times...too many times...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Thanks everyone, that's good to know! I understand I will see some additional battery usage when I'm in an app that uses gps, but I was really just curious if I could leave gps "on" while idle and not experience any additional battery use.
Sent from my <tw> powered vibrant.

Yep, yes you can
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

[MOD][Request] Improve your battery life tenfold

This was on the portal today. It's a Droid Incredible mod that apparently improves battery life dramatically. OP has a full guide in place with info on what each tweak does. Galaxy note devs, amazing as they are, may or may not be using these (or similar) tweaks for the Note. In any case, FYI
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1621808

More snake oil... Improving your battery life tenfold with sysctl.conf changes when the radio dominates idle battery usage and screen dominates screen-on battery usage = bull****.
Maybe you can improve it a little - but tenfold? Bull****, and a ridiculously exaggerated claim like that makes me distrust any of the changes made.
I know what the prime power eaters on this device are, and sysctl tweaks aren't going to change those... Changing them requires major architectural rework of the kernel.

Entropy512 said:
More snake oil... Improving your battery life tenfold with sysctl.conf changes when the radio dominates idle battery usage and screen dominates screen-on battery usage = bull****.
Maybe you can improve it a little - but tenfold? Bull****, and a ridiculously exaggerated claim like that makes me distrust any of the changes made.
I know what the prime power eaters on this device are, and sysctl tweaks aren't going to change those... Changing them requires major architectural rework of the kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well then... Get to work! Aren't you one if the open source kernel developers? Just kidding btw
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

Considering the vat majority of my battery usage is screen drain I doubt very much this would do much for me.
I dare say the same could be said for all note users.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Entropy512 said:
I know what the prime power eaters on this device are, and sysctl tweaks aren't going to change those... Changing them requires major architectural rework of the kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought. You guys know the device inside out, so it makes sense to bring things like this to your attention.
Incidentally, the guy says he gets 50+ hours on a single charge. My Note gives me 48+ hours (with little wi-fi though, and at 1200 MHz), so it's not that we have bad battery life.

Overclocking, init.d changes, etc are all extremely irrelevant in terms of battery use.
The main battery hog for any modern phone in the past 2 years has and always will be the screen (of course unless if you're using something like the Xperia Mini).

I'm more than happy with the Note's battery life to be honest. It's certainly better than the Sensation and One X I had previously.
The only way we will see much of an improvement will be if they make a phone the size of the Note with a 3.5" visible screen. lol

Or a 10000 mA battery.
Sent from my superior GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

bloodyhippo said:
That's what I thought. You guys know the device inside out, so it makes sense to bring things like this to your attention.
Incidentally, the guy says he gets 50+ hours on a single charge. My Note gives me 48+ hours (with little wi-fi though, and at 1200 MHz), so it's not that we have bad battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must barely use yours at all.
I'm lucky to get 10 hours out of mine.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Dont care much about battery life if you are using smartphone with its big screen, alot of connection.
There are two solution, one is spare battery alway on pocket, other complete solution is change to cheap feature phone with 30 days battery life.

senectus said:
You must barely use yours at all.
I'm lucky to get 10 hours out of mine.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's mostly phone calls, the occasional game, some music. Very little wi-fi though, and data only when I need it. Brightness set to auto except when outside (where it's set to max). The fact that I sleep atleast once in those 48 hours helps the battery life a lot

bloodyhippo said:
That's what I thought. You guys know the device inside out, so it makes sense to bring things like this to your attention.
Incidentally, the guy says he gets 50+ hours on a single charge. My Note gives me 48+ hours (with little wi-fi though, and at 1200 MHz), so it's not that we have bad battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you use the phone as a paper weight ??

Entropy512 said:
I know what the prime power eaters on this device are, and sysctl tweaks aren't going to change those... Changing them requires major architectural rework of the kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I finished completely charging my Galaxy Note at 02:00 BST. After I got up at 07:00 BST, the battery level was at 86%. I switched off the Wi-Fi, force stopped Skype and WhatsApp (these are the only 2 apps I have installed so far!) before plugging the device to charge.
Background data and Auto-sync in Accounts and sync was turned off ages ago.
Before posting this message, I switched on the Wi-Fi to chat with my cousin via WhatsApp for 20 minutes. Now the Wi-Fi and WhatsApp are inactive. At the moment of typing this message, my battery level is 42%.
I have tried force stopping some of the pre-installed apps such as AccuWeather, ApMobile etc but the effort has been futile. I am aware that I need to root my device in order to get rid of the bloatwares. I am having another issue with the Auto brightness feature which I have described in another thread. I have not ventured into the realm of rooting until now because I may decide to send my device to Samsung's service centre.
I cannot figure out for myself whether my battery or my device itself has a flaw or whether it is normal and there is nothing wrong.
I will eventually pose my queries pertaining to rooting and relevant subjects. I am a novice in the field of mobile computing and I am here to learn from you all.
Thank you all for your continued patience.

Your device has a flaw, that flaw is called Skype.
Skype is a notorious battery drainer.

Coolkriss said:
Do you use the phone as a paper weight ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+111111111
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Entropy512 said:
Your device has a flaw, that flaw is called Skype.
Skype is a notorious battery drainer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your prompt response Entropy512.
After I finish using Skype and subsequently signing out, I force stop it from Settings > Applications > Manage applications, either from Downloaded or All.
I use Skype on my phone to communicate with my sister when I am away from my computer at home, especially when I am at university. Thus, I am compelled to use it.
Do you reckon force stop is turning out futile? Should I get a third party "task manager" because the default/pre-installed Task manager seems incompetent.
Please do keep your expert opinions, suggestions and advise coming.

YLNdroid said:
Thank you for your prompt response Entropy512.
After I finish using Skype and subsequently signing out, I force stop it from Settings > Applications > Manage applications, either from Downloaded or All.
I use Skype on my phone to communicate with my sister when I am away from my computer at home, especially when I am at university. Thus, I am compelled to use it.
Do you reckon force stop is turning out futile? Should I get a third party "task manager" because the default/pre-installed Task manager seems incompetent.
Please do keep your expert opinions, suggestions and advise coming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install BetterBatteryStats (free if download from xda). Check for wakelock to see what app is keeping your device awake.
Just as a note, there is a bug in the OS for our Note if you use the USB OTG cable. Once plugged in with any USB storage device, the unmounter process would cause the device to unable to sleep, thus causing battery drain. The only way out is to reboot.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

usb storage unmounter
soory is this usb storage unmounter wakelock bug in all the galaxy note device?
is there a solution
or is there any app that can terminate and close the wakelocks?
i know battery stat but i want an app to kill the wakelocks and system process

JuiceDefender - real or not?

So I've been testing out this app for a while. I have Ultimate and I've been trying many different things. So far the conclusion I've came to is that this app does NOT save battery, at least for my usage.
I've done my testing using the 'balanced' state. I think it's because the app spends more battery turning on/off data and doing all of its things than it saves by having data off for a while.
What results do you guys have? Have you actually noticed any improvement on battery life?
If you want to help, please use GSam Battery Monitor and take screenshots of full battery cycles - one with JD and one without it. This will help us understand if, and how much, JuiceDefender actually helps.

JuiceDefender is real and the concept of it is real as well but it hasn't been updated in a very long time and is very unlikely to work nicely with Android 4.0 and above.
It's better in the end to just turn off the things you don't use manually.

it works best if you are rooted.
John.

Tinderbox (UK) said:
it works best if you are rooted.
John.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am rooted - may I ask what's the difference for JD?
In any case, I would still like to get help if people are willing to actually test this, since I've been getting reduced battery life with Balanced JD (I've started testing myself).

Basically when your rooted juice defender can change system settings, when i cannot when you are not rooted.
I use an free app called "wakelock detector" and remove or disable any apps with high wakelocks, basically they keep waking the phone up when it is asleep and using the lowest power level, like over night.
John.

Could Battery Managers conflict with each other?

Hello there guys. I was thinking the other day about how the phone has a power saver mode. I also have the Battery Guru installed. I'm also giving Lux LIte Dash to see if I like it. Couldn't all of these be conflicting with each other thus limiting my ability to save power? I love the battery life on my device. I'm just wondering if I get rid of one of these, I could be saving even more.

Xpiatio said:
Hello there guys. I was thinking the other day about how the phone has a power saver mode. I also have the Battery Guru installed. I'm also giving Lux LIte Dash to see if I like it. Couldn't all of these be conflicting with each other thus limiting my ability to save power? I love the battery life on my device. I'm just wondering if I get rid of one of these, I could be saving even more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just my opinion. I have never found a battery saver app that actually worked as intended. Most use more battery. Greenify is the closest thing that keeps apps from running and doesnt use much juice. As far as having multiple i think its a little over the top. Just use one you think works or none at all you will be beyter off. Coming from someone that came from a gnex with horrible battery. Nothing worked except a bigger battery. Lol. Good luck
Sent from my LG-VS980 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Snapdragon BatteryGuru

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xiam.snapdragon.app&hl=en
What do you guys think? I ordinarily wouldn't install a battery program, but given this is made my Qualcomm themselves for the Snapdragon...could be worth it.

I don't think it will do any different than other "battery savers".

Wrong section. @wedgess
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

VacTacks11 said:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.xiam.snapdragon.app&hl=en
What do you guys think? I ordinarily wouldn't install a battery program, but given this is made my Qualcomm themselves for the Snapdragon...could be worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Takes several days for it to "learn" your habits, but the savings is quite marginal. You can achieve the same results by modifying settings yourself. The tool is more geared towards the general public who isn't interested in learning enough about their own specific devices to save battery life themselves.

It made it worse for me, using extra location says
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I used it for a few weeks, thought I'd give it a chance.
Only thing I really noticed it doing was toggling wifi based on location, which was more of an annoyance than a convenience.
Besides, if I wanted that I'd use Tasker or AutomateIt.

I used Greenify and Battery Guru for a while and uninstalled it about 3 weeks ago and battery life has been better. These programs consume more cpu cycles than they actually save if you ask me.
Sent from my Nexus 5

Yeah the only thing that did for me was turn off WiFi. It seemed completely random, too. Wasn't based on location because I'd be at my house all day and it would just turn off WiFi on its own several times a day. I went through the options and selected for the app to not toggle WiFi within 6 hours of my manually changing it, but it would still happen. It was telling me it was saving like 20% battery, but my cycles were actually longer as soon as I uninstalled it. Garbage. Just another app by them to advertise their processors if you ask me. Just like their benchmark app. I get craaaaazy high scores on that one. But I'm sure all Qualcomm chips will, too.

There is no miracle in saving battery. Greenify is the best one.
Enviado de meu Nexus 5 usando Tapatalk

They should rename it to SnapDragon™ Battery Drain Guru
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