Google Maps Takes SOOOOO much battery!

[mackinley]

Hey, I have the tmobile g2. I usually leave gps off, and use atk to keep my phone's battery from being drained. I've noticed that google maps tears through my battery, like its quite surprising. I had my phone unplugged for probably 8 hours or so today, and used google maps for maybe 4 minutes. than shut the app down. And right after I checked my battery usage and it said it had used over 10 percent of my battery. how can this possibly be? is something wrong? it seems absolutely outrageous.

 

[fade2green514]

well, the android operating system does the best it can when it comes to estimating battery life, but it'll only tell you within 10% of what it might be. for instance, if you have 93% of you battery life left, it will say 90% left because it only estimates it.

anyways, make sure your screen brightness is lowered because you'll only get a few hours worth of battery life if you have it up all the way and you're using gps and also probably data (google maps is an app that uses data and gps)... if i keep my screen brightness up all the way it'll use like 60-70% of the total power consumed but i lower it considerably and it only ends up using like 35-45% depending on how long i have it on.

 

[sitlet]

and use atk to keep my phone's battery from being drained.

There's your first problem. Task killers are NOT needed with android. The OS will keep its memory full of apps that are CACHED, but NOT running. Using a task killer will just force the OS to re-open all those apps, thus wasting more battery than before. And it just disrupts the way android works, making your phone slower.

Second, about google maps, no there is nothing wrong with your phone. Google Maps is just a battery draining program. Not only are you using your gps, but also your 3g radio, and the screen is kept on as well. All of that adds up to a lot of battery drain.

 

[takeshi]

It's not Google Maps. Its your GPS receiver. If you know you'll be using the GPS receiver for any length of time (with whatever app) then plug your phone in.

Hey, I have the tmobile g2. I usually leave gps off, and use atk to keep my phone's battery from being drained.

No need to keep GPS disabled. Simply enabling GPS won't drain your battery. Actively using your GPS receiver (you'll see the GPS icon in your notification bar when this happens) will.

Turning GPS off can be helpful if you use apps that frequently use your GPS receiver automatically. I have no such apps so I always leave GPS on since my receiver is only used when I decide to use it.

And right after I checked my battery usage and it said it had used over 10 percent of my battery. how can this possibly be? is something wrong? it seems absolutely outrageous.

You're misreading the battery usage screen. 10% is of the portion of your battery that was used. In other words, if 20% of your battery was used and the battery usage screen says Google Maps used 10% then Google Maps actually used 2% (10% of 20%).

10% of used battery doesn't mean anything out of context and may be entirely reasonable, depending on the specifics of your situation. For example, if you pull your phone off the charger, use Google Maps for a few minutes and then look at your battery usage screen, Google Maps will definitely appear to be a large part of what was used. Later on in the day, as you continue to use the device Google Maps will make up a much smaller portion of battery used (assuming you don't use it again).

There's your first problem. Task killers are NOT needed with android. The OS will keep its memory full of apps that are CACHED, but NOT running. Using a task killer will just force the OS to re-open all those apps, thus wasting more battery than before. And it just disrupts the way android works, making your phone slower.

+1. Everything covered in this thread is are Android newbie mistakes.

 

[mackinley]

I've heard that alot, and I've tried both. On this phone my battery life works dramatically longer with a task killer, and also runs faster. With the more apps you download, the more are possibly running at one time, and the ATK works well to stop that. I know android has an automatic task killer, but it can easily get bogged down

 

[takeshi]

You have some seriously bad apps if that's the case.

 

[mackinley]

I'm not saying your wrong, you obviously know what your talking about. I'm just saying I've noticed my phone's faster and battery longer with atk.

 

[Penguissimo]

well, the android operating system does the best it can when it comes to estimating battery life, but it'll only tell you within 10% of what it might be. for instance, if you have 93% of you battery life left, it will say 90% left because it only estimates it.

To clarify, this is only true of Motorola phones, and it's a hardware limitation, not Android. HTC phones (and those by other manufacturers, as far as I know) do display battery in 1% increments.

 

[mackinley]

To clarify, this is only true of Motorola phones, and it's a hardware limitation, not Android. HTC phones (and those by other manufacturers, as far as I know) do display battery in 1% increments.

Woo! go HTC. G2>droid

 

[lifeonmtv]

I'm not saying your wrong, you obviously know what your talking about. I'm just saying I've noticed my phone's faster and battery longer with atk.

if that's the case, i'd say you have installed some badly coded apps.

whatever works for you though!