Google Maps Eating Battery

[mikem3223]

Google Maps is taking up all of my battery life after using navigation. I've tried backing out instead of using home when on Maps. I always use 'Exit Navigation' when closing Navigation. I've tried killing the task. The only thing that has worked is restarting the phone. Please help!!!

 

[Bswartz95]

I've had this happen a few times with Google Maps as well as the camera. The only thing to do when this happens is to restart the phone.

 

[Frisco]

Google Maps is taking up all of my battery life after using navigation. I've tried backing out instead of using home when on Maps. I always use 'Exit Navigation' when closing Navigation. I've tried killing the task. The only thing that has worked is restarting the phone. Please help!!!

I save a lot of battery life following map and navigation use by clearing cache and data in manage applications (no task killer) and turning GPS off until I really need it again (the "my location" feature really is useless unless you need navigation or if you are super safety-minded about becoming disabled in some way or other in which case your phone, along with you if you are in possession of it, can be found via GPS more easily than without it enabled).

 

[Bswartz95]

I leave my GPS enabled all the time and it only launches when an app needs it to launch. However, like the OP, my Google Maps has had a few hiccups where it will stay running (not the GPS - the icon will go away in the notification bar). Just the data side of Google Maps stays running. Same with my camera on a couple of occasions, which depletes the battery. I noticed this when I checked "battery use".

What's funny about battery use is that when this happens, the Maps or Camera always shows 91% usage. Never a different number. Odd.

 

[Frisco]

What's funny about battery use is that when this happens, the Maps or Camera always shows 91% usage. Never a different number. Odd.

I don't trust cell phone usage meters very much, not signal strength or battery. I'm not even so sure about the disc space figures.

Error messages, well, that's a different story.

 

[Bswartz95]

I don't trust cell phone usage meters very much, not signal strength or battery. I'm not even so sure about the disc space figures.

Error messages, well, that's a different story.

I trusted it this time because my battery went from 90% to 50% in about two hours. This is what prompted me to look.

 

[Frisco]

I trusted it this time because my battery went from 90% to 50% in about two hours. This is what prompted me to look.

I am of the opinion that the battery meters in Android phones show us a trend: up when charging/down when not charging, and not true percentages of remaining charge no matter the numbers reported.

I have no data, quotes from techs or websites to back up my opinion on that, but over time it's occurred to me that the battery bars and data can be off by as much as about 20%, thus attempts by some users to "calibrate" their meter with various, sometimes opposing, methods.

 

[Bswartz95]

Well, I wasn't willing to take the crap shoot and run it down to 0% at the time to find out if it was accurate. I needed battery.

 

[Frisco]

We see advice from experts saying to run it down so that the battery and device both know exactly where the zero point is, thus "calibrating" the battery. I've never intentionally done this and never will.

Then we see advice from experts saying that to run a Lithium-Ion battery to zero is very bad for the life of the battery, along with explanations as to why.

So, I suppose we can make the assumption that to shorten the life of the Li-on battery a bit is ok if we want to have an accurate meter.

As for me, a regular routine of normal usage and over night charging has always given me optimum battery life no matter Ni-Cad or Li-on, and I don't pay any attention to the meters.

 

[Mer2112]

Running a lithium ion battery down to 0 "volts" will damage it. The Eris will never be able to run it down to 0 volts. There will always be voltage left since the Eris will not operate below a certain voltage. There is no chance of damaging the battery by letting your Eris run it down until it shuts off.

 

[Frisco]

Running a lithium ion battery down to 0 "volts" will damage it. The Eris will never be able to run it down to 0 volts. There will always be voltage left since the Eris will not operate below a certain voltage. There is no chance of damaging the battery by letting your Eris run it down until it shuts off.

That's good to know. It's also the first time I've seen it addressed that way (about the device not being capable of running it to true zero).

 

[Mer2112]

A lot of lithium-ion batteries these days will even have built in protection to prevent the voltage from going below the safe zone. No idea if the Eris batteries have that but some of the higher tech lithium ion flashlight batteries have it since most flashlights are a direct connection between the battery and the bulb so if you aren't careful your battery will get damaged.

 

[ral2108]

I leave my GPS enabled all the time and it only launches when an app needs it to launch.

You don't notice extra drain leaving GPS on all the time? The only reason I would like to be able to leave it on is in case my phone gets stolen so I can use lookout or something to track it

 

[mikem3223]

I save a lot of battery life following map and navigation use by clearing cache and data in manage applications (no task killer) and turning GPS off until I really need it again (the "my location" feature really is useless unless you need navigation or if you are super safety-minded about becoming disabled in some way or other in which case your phone, along with you if you are in possession of it, can be found via GPS more easily than without it enabled).

Doesn't that require going into 'Manage Applications' and waiting for that screen with the applications to load every time?

Side note: Mine does the 91%thing too.

 

[thrawn86]

My mom's eris managed to drain itself down in about 4 hours. The battery usage chart showed google maps as 98% usage. I restarted it, uninstalled a few things including the weather widget, and haven't had a problem since.

 

[MOS95B]

If you honestly believe it to be Maps and/or camera, I would try installing the HTC Power widget, and use it to kill the GPS when not needed. Those programs (the camera can location stamp your pics) may npot be releasing the GPS properly

 

[zerocool79346]

It has nothing to do with GPS being on, and yes it is a bug in Maps that randomly shows up at times (never did before I got on to CELB 2.8, but I like this ROM to much to switch again). OP, install SystemPanel and any time you use Maps or Nav, kill the Maps app as soon as you back out of it. Sometimes that will work, and other times you'll just have to restart. Not much you can do about it unfortunately.

 

[Bswartz95]

You don't notice extra drain leaving GPS on all the time? The only reason I would like to be able to leave it on is in case my phone gets stolen so I can use lookout or something to track it

Nope. No extra drain. As long as you back out of your apps, the GPS will disable itself. The only time the GPS is in use is when you see the icon of the satellite in the notification bar.

I use to toggle GPS off all the time too because I thought I was saving battery. I believe it was OTD who educated me on how the GPS works. Leaving the toggle on doesn't mean it's being used.

 

[bassic]

Nope. No extra drain. As long as you back out of your apps, the GPS will disable itself. The only time the GPS is in use is when you see the icon of the satellite in the notification bar.

I use to toggle GPS off all the time too because I thought I was saving battery. I believe it was OTD who educated me on how the GPS works. Leaving the toggle on doesn't mean it's being used.

I'm not on a Droid Eris (despite this being the forum), but I'm think I'm seeing Google Maps drain my battery as well. I normally leave my GPS on all the time and see 12-14 hours of battery life (HTC EVO) with heavy usage throughout the day.

Today I've only had my phone on for three hours, and it's showing only 60% battery left (usually it's over 80% by this time). I checked the battery usage, and it shows:

Android System: 24%
Cell Standby: 24%
Maps: 17%
... (Idle, Display, Voice Calls, Wifi)
Internet: 4%

What struck me as odd is that I was using the browser (Internet) for a solid hour this morning, and it only hit 4%. With Google Maps, I opened it for less than a minute just to look up a local store nearby, and yet it's taken up 17% of my usage. I had this happen once before and didn't think much of it, but now I'm convinced that there's something going on with Google Maps causing it to eat up battery. You'd think that this wouldn't exist, especially since they're the developers of the platform/OS? Are there any known cures, other than killing the running process?

 

[ch2x]

I have a HTC Aria on AT&T and was concerned that Maps might be streaming data as I was driving even though I was not using Navigation. So I set Tasker to kill Maps when keyguard is on. Guess what? My battery life has improved tremendously! By the end of the day, I'd still be 70% full. I love my Aria, and battery life was the only negative. It is now just about perfect...except of course it's still AT&T.

I have tried Advanced Task Killer, and I was getting system reboots, and force closes, and multiple unexpected annoyances. Tasker allowed me to kill just that one app (Map) under a selected condition (keyguard on) and it has helped my battery life just as much, if not more.
Turning the GPS off does not help much. It's really only on intermittently. Have it off means some apps eg weather don't work properly. Unless of course, you are using Navigation. Then you should be using a car charger!

Battery life did get better and better over time after a couple of weeks.

Turning WiFi off helps, and Y5 is great to automate this depending on location.

As for draining the battery...didn't seem to work for me, but I am letting it go for two days before recharging.

Hope this helps!

8/24: Alright, killing Maps did not work out so well. It causes Navigation to not work sometimes. Looks like it perhaps stopped the process locationfriendservice at times. Instead, I looked at what's been running in the background in Running Services and selectively killed them and the GPS on "display off". On "display on" restart GPS. Seems to working even better so far.

 

[bassic]

I stopped using Maps and Talk completely, and my battery life is now great! I got 17 hours yesterday until the phone shut off, and that was with moderate web browsing, texting, youtube videos, and phone calls.