Help Battery Drain due to Software Bug w/GPS?

[bbuck002]

everyone needs to start calling teir 2 tech support...we need to push this thru...also, it might not be a bad idea to get engadget or android central people involved in this...it's a pretty big issue.

 

[bbuck002]

@underoath...i really doubt its your battery, what is the voltage running at?

 

[bbuck002]

i just sent an email linking to this thread to the guys at android central...the more people we get working on this, the better!

 

[underoathxx]

@underoath...i really doubt its your battery, what is the voltage running at?

3710 mV.

 

[edhgreatone]

this may sound crazy or like a paranoid thing... but did anybody read the article where google was giving the governement confidential information or something like that... or google was getting confidential information??? I forget what it was put I remember somewhere when I first booted up my replaced X device there was something like a check box saying google allow location for google applications or sometihng? ......... i just think there's a lot more to it then what were told and we are just starting to get our feet wet

 

[underoathxx]

Well, the turning the GPS off then back on again didn't help me with my 100% running time, but after rebooting the phone my running % is down to 34.6 with the screen on 30.1% of the time. So, something is draining the battery, but it doesn't seem to be the GPS. Any thoughts?

 

[PSUlion01]

- The camera uses it for geotagging (turned on at factory, so unless you turned it off, you use it everytime you turn on the camera)
- Alot of weather apps can/are be set up to use it
- The internet browser will use it to locate you on certain webpages (google)

There are plenty of other apps that use the gps that I'm sure I'm forgetting. Also, once you activate the gps, this unknown process (bug) will stay active and keep your phone at 100% running until you reboot the phone or toggle the gps....that is until something accesses the gps again....

I've been playing with this a bit, and it seems that if I enable Wireless Networks and aGPS and DISable satellite GPS, I still have all of my GPS capabilities (photo tagging, maps, etc) but the phone will sleep. While this setup may be a fix in the sense that it requires no manual intervention to enable/disable gps on a regular basis, it seems that i sacrifice accuracy when determining my location. Sat GPS had me pegged right in my apartment, while the Wireless/aGPS had me about a block and a half away.

I'm guessing this isn't ideal, especially if we want to share locations with others trying to find us or if we needed to use Wheres My Droid to find a lost phone, right?

 

[bbuck002]

@underoath...from other things i've read, your battery is in the voltage range of a good battery...i saw that btw 3000-5000mV is average usage for our batteries...things that run higher or lower mV would signal a bad battery

 

[underoathxx]

Okay, I think I might have found a culprit. The updated (as of yesterday) Facebook app. Others with this app, check out this thread:

New Facebook app killing the battery? - xda-developers

 

[Napalm]

Curious, I just got mine Droidx and in playing with it last night I was asked 3 different times if I would allow Google to use my location for services. (using the camera, maps [obviously] and browser)

There is a security setting that allows apps to poll your location and if you allow google to use your location this will tag the GPS whenever it is on.

IT WILL NOT, turn on the GPS if it is off. (instructions say so, so does the phone) This might be why your phone can't sleep with GPS on. It is constantly active if you try to pull out of sleep so the GPS doesn't loose its track and sat beam.

Meanwhile, if you play with the smart battery settings (note I am not using any special apps yes), there was an option that says disable GPS on sleep.

Maybe that will help.

 

[ekyle]

Okay, I think I might have found a culprit. The updated (as of yesterday) Facebook app. Others with this app, check out this thread:

New Facebook app killing the battery? - xda-developers

I already uninstalled that beast... If I pull up yelp or foursquare (which both use location) i don't have any sleep issues. I only use maps when I'm getting directions in which case I turn on the GPS and turn if off when I'm done.

 

[WirelessAndy]

Okay, I think I might have found a culprit. The updated (as of yesterday) Facebook app. Others with this app, check out this thread:

New Facebook app killing the battery? - xda-developers

Yes!

I was able to "fix" the battery drain issue by using the GPS toggle solution as described by the OP.

Then before going to bed, I updated the FB app. Didn't check battery.

This morning, I noticed Spare Parts reporting 100% / not sleeping! Disabled FB notifications and still didn't help. Uninstalled FB, and we're fine again.

 

[lexluthor]

Okay, I think I might have found a culprit. The updated (as of yesterday) Facebook app. Others with this app, check out this thread:

New Facebook app killing the battery? - xda-developers

Glad you found the answer. I was going to note that after reading your post up above.

Let's not confuse things. To run this test here, you now also have to ensure the new facebook app is not in memory because that will also cause the phone not to sleep.

You can still use the new facebook app, you just have to logout or force close it using a task manager after you are done. PITA, yes.

 

[bbuck002]

yeah i'm not updating facebook yet because that seemed to be a glaring bug right away...hopefully they will update that really soon...i just don't understand why the android fb app is so crappy

 

[Travisimo]

Meanwhile, if you play with the smart battery settings (note I am not using any special apps yes), there was an option that says disable GPS on sleep.

Maybe that will help.

I don't see an option for disabling GPS on sleep in the battery settings???

 

[androidb]

Okay, I think I might have found a culprit. The updated (as of yesterday) Facebook app. Others with this app, check out this thread:

New Facebook app killing the battery? - xda-developers

Aha, this was the only thing I did differently last night (update the new FB app)...so maybe it's not the GPS issue for me. I tried the GPS toggle thing, gave it a while to test and no luck bringing the awake time down. Going to uninstall FB and see if that works.

 

[malek9696]

I had the GPS sleep issue even before I installed Facebook. So I know it's not that, at least not for me.

Seriously, you guys should go talk to the people in the Samsung Galaxy(i7500) forums, since they have the same gps - no sleep issue that we have

 

[deemedic]

I am at running 100% with the GPS toggle on or off at any point during your test. I have tried using the spare parts app as well as the battery history app to see if it was the difference in the apps. I am looking at Other Usage in both cases and it always shows 100% running after waking up.

Can you write a step by step through your test for us idiots who can't seem to follow directions.

 

[WirelessAndy]

Dee, check the very first post. I followed the step by step there.

But I'll just cut n paste:

Easiest way to test is to start with a fresh reboot with GPS toggle on, install Spare Parts, plug in the phone for a second (to reset the counters), let it sit sleeping for a few minutes, then read the Running % in Spare Parts. Should be pretty low. Plug in the phone to reset the counters again. Then start Google Maps or any other program that will activate your GPS. Close that program and then let the phone sit idle for a few minutes. Check Spare Parts running time again and, for me, it's pegged at 100%.

 

[underoathxx]

I am at running 100% with the GPS toggle on or off at any point during your test. I have tried using the spare parts app as well as the battery history app to see if it was the difference in the apps. I am looking at Other Usage in both cases and it always shows 100% running after waking up.

Can you write a step by step through your test for us idiots who can't seem to follow directions.

Check out partial wake usage to see if any of your apps are draining your power. That's how I realized the Facebook app was killing my battery.

 

[mahers]

So I am pretty sure I saw the same thing. Used Nav, and obviously was Running at 100%. Turned off Nav, still at 100%. Toggled it on again, then off. Running dropped to like 30%.

One question on Spare Parts, why do I see a blue AND red bar? And does anyone know what UID 10115 is for Network Usage?

 

[dyno]

This problem was plaguing me as well, with GPS always turned off, auto sync turned off, location off for the browser, etc, etc.

I just uninstalled the new Facebook app entirely. My running time in SpareParts went from 100% to less than 70% in a matter of minutes.

 

[deemedic]

Dee, check the very first post. I followed the step by step there.

But I'll just cut n paste:

Yeah this is what I was doing and I wasn't getting anywhere. I see further through the thread that someone posted a lot of screen shots so I will take a look at those and try again.

 

[deemedic]

I think I am not experiencing this problem because, coming from a BB, when I first began to poke around in my settings I just naturally turn off all the Wireless, GPS, aGPS functions until I use a program that needs them. On a BB it eats up battery life like crazy to have those options turned on in the settings all the time and since most location based apps will tell you you need to enable if you are already disabled I just never thought of having GPS up and running all the time.

Since I am not using a lot of location based programs (e.g.: Lattitude, FourSquare) and only would need to use some on demand (e.g.: navigation, compass) I am not seeing an impact to me.

When I did try following the test procedure with the GPS toggled to ON (turns on the "Use Satellites" in Settings) I was also pegging the needle at 100% running, turning it off I now see my running and screen on % declining. So I will count my self as someone who reproduced the test condition but; also someone who, because of how I use and configure my phone, is not severely impacted by the issue. So to Lex, Bravo!!! for identifying the issue for those that depend on location based programs heavily and I hope they do fix it, but right now I will just keep keeping on with all my stuff turned off until I need it.

I will also check the FB app and its usage out, and I got rid of my live wallpaper to keep the sensor activity down as well. Thanks to all who posted on this thread because as a newbie I really learned a lot by just reading it and trying the test.

 

[BigBruDa3rd]

Ok I use battery left and im at 97% for other usage and almost all full for partial Andriod system bar. I have great battery life. Im going on 1d oh 38m 52s with 30% battery life left. This is on smart mode with data timing out at 15 min. My battery life was bad when I first got my phone 7/26 but after drain and charge three times my battery went to 5 hrs to over a day. Now I cant say that I moderate of heavy use my phone but it varies I use it alot sometimes and I might go 8 hrs barely touching it (mainly when im at work). I have no problem using any GPS programs and I got the power widget with GPS and sync on at all times.