Beware : Words with friends eating up battery

[naveeds786]

This game destroys my battery life. On the other hand Wordfeud works very well, although i prefer words with friends because it works across platforms.

 

[disastar]

This game destroys my battery life. On the other hand Wordfeud works very well, although i prefer words with friends because it works across platforms.

Wordfeud is coming to iOS soon.

Wordfeud Dev Blog

 

[lexluthor]

This game destroys my battery life. On the other hand Wordfeud works very well, although i prefer words with friends because it works across platforms.

How much did turning off notifications help, it made a difference for me.

 

[ranova]

I turned off poll notifications for WWF on both my Atrix and Nook Color and Im still receiving notifications on my Atrix. Maybe it does really do C2DM push on 2.2 phones?

 

[lexluthor]

I turned off poll notifications for WWF on both my Atrix and Nook Color and Im still receiving notifications on my Atrix. Maybe it does really do C2DM push on 2.2 phones?

I did still get 1 notification shortly after I turned off notifications in WWF. After a reboot, I haven't received any notifications since.

 

[bvo26]

For me, it doesn't do anything. As long as the game is running (while I'm looking at the board to figure out a move), my phone heats up like nobody's business within a minute or 2 and drains my battery. Something like 20-30% for maybe 5 minutes of actively looking at the board. It's pretty awful. I have notifications set to never, but i don't think that's the issue. The battery is fine if I back out of the application so it's definitely doing something funky while the app is active.

How much did turning off notifications help, it made a difference for me.

 

[binder]

Exactly, ppl aren't realizing that the screen will eat the .battery like crazy when the screen is on and also the game is polling data from the server the entire time a person has it open.

 

[bigbadwulff]

I receive notifications a move was made............... after I make a move. Sheesh!

 

[halfchuck]

As someone else stated, while the game is just sitting in the background waiting for someone's move, it doesn't eat up much battery life.

But while I'm actually playing it eats up battery life faster than any other app I've seen. Literally seems to be about 1% a minute.

I'm using an EVO

 

[lexluthor]

As someone else stated, while the game is just sitting in the background waiting for someone's move, it doesn't eat up much battery life.

But while I'm actually playing it eats up battery life faster than any other app I've seen. Literally seems to be about 1% a minute.

I'm using an EVO

I would agree with that. For me, with notifications turned off, I don't think the app is using much, if any, battery while it's not running in the foreground. While actually playing the game, yes, it does seem to drain quite a bit.

 

[harlenm]

This game runs awful on my Inspire. It takes forever to update, and I never get notifications of moves. Even with the people playing sitting next to me, it takes 5 minutes before their moves show up on my phone.

 

[binder]

This game runs awful on my Inspire. It takes forever to update, and I never get notifications of moves. Even with the people playing sitting next to me, it takes 5 minutes before their moves show up on my phone.

You are aware that this isn't a direct link from phone to phone right? They make a move, their network has to upload it to the wwf server that then refreshes and uploads and sends the data to your phone and then displays it.

It's the network speed that is affecting how fast you get the data, not the phone speed. The application actually uses very little speed on the phone since it's a basic point and click game.

 

[harlenm]

You are aware that this isn't a direct link from phone to phone right? They make a move, their network has to upload it to the wwf server that then refreshes and uploads and sends the data to your phone and then displays it.

It's the network speed that is affecting how fast you get the data, not the phone speed. The application actually uses very little speed on the phone since it's a basic point and click game.

Yeah, I know that. Just pointing out that I know when they submit it.

 

[binder]

Yeah, I know that. Just pointing out that I know when they submit it.

have them sit next to you and text you. That has to travel through 1 less server and it still doesn't happen instantly.

 

[harlenm]

have them sit next to you and text you. That has to travel through 1 less server and it still doesn't happen instantly.

Except a text will show up in 3 seconds, the updated word doesn't show up for 5-10 minutes sometimes.

 

[binder]

Because texts run through the sender's tower and then receivers tower. Completely different then having to access internet and poll the words for friends server, update their server, send out a data request to another phone.

So basically, send an email from one phone to someone next to you. That's more accurately since it's a larger data packet size than a text message and it also travels through multiple servers instead of just provider to provider like a text.

i will say 10 mins is excessive but i also think that it's being exaggerated.

I have had some of mine take up to 5 mins to show up. I also have had them NEVER show up until i close down the game and reopen and it's there.

 

[harlenm]

I have had some of mine take up to 5 mins to show up. I also have had them NEVER show up until i close down the game and reopen and it's there.

Yeah, that's what I end up doing. Forcing it closed and then opening it again and they show up.

 

[binder]

oh, then it's a bug in the application. have you updated it to the 3.17? If you have then report the bug so they can get fixes out. It's not your phone.

 

[dudeman135]

Same problem, Droid X, even with the extended life OEM battery. It charged completely over night and unplugged it at 8:30am and by 10:30am it was down to 60%, charged it for a bit up to 80% at noon and it's back down to 50% now at 2:30. Usage says Display 43% Words Free 35%. Prior to installing Words with Friends I could go at least 36-40 hours without charging. Now the battery is drained fully in 8 hours.

I tried changing the notifications from 5 minutes to 1 hour, but didn't notice a difference. I sent an email to their support team, will see how it goes.

 

[SusieQ228]

I also only notice battery drain when I'm actually playing, and have the screen up for a while looking for good moves. Just leaving it running in the background all day doesn't seem to affect my Droid 2.2 at all. I love the game, though, so happy to just plug it in when I'm sitting at my desk for a while or driving or something to recharge.

If you're getting notifications, but then finding out that it isn't really your turn at all, the other person may have said something in the chat area. That triggers the notification, too. A bug.

 

[GMizz]

I wish I could take a screen shot of this.

Battery Remaining 30%

16m17s since unplugged
Words Free 60%
Display 19%
Android System 8%
etc....

(WWF notifications set to never)

 

[lucas.childers]

Sensation 4g has no issues with Words

 

[atmosphere82]

i have a samsung galaxy S2 and have the same problem, from what i can tell when words is running it gets to about 70+% cpu usage which is what is chewing up the battery when the app is actively open.

 

[mirzamtoledo]

i have an htc evo that i got yesterday and immediately installed WWF. i noticed that my fon started getting really hot. i wud like to kno if anybody else is having this problem. my sister got a samsung epic about 4 months ago and noticed it was heating up alot to but she thought it was another app she had downloaded. i love wwf but i dont think its worth over heating. but the problem now is that it keeps overheating. can anyone please help

 

[alostpacket]

Welcome to AF mirzamtoledo!

Smartphones, get hot -- it happens, not to worry

I wouldnt worry unless you see it shutdown/reboot the phone itself.

hth