Google Navigator battery usage tip

[DDustiNN]

I did some testing with the Navigator yesterday and I have to say it's absolutely awesome. I'm not sure if anyone has posted this, couldn't find any mention of it, but I want to share my battery usage experience with it as well as some other cool things I noticed.

Very cool battery saver:
I used it for a 15-minute drive, keeping it only in the Notification Bar. When you are in the Navigation app, you can press the Home softkey to go back to your home screen. This keeps Navigator working in the background, but it is not drawing the maps and using the screen. You can press the Power button to put your phone to sleep, and the voice actually still talks to you and tells you when to turn. Awesome. And even better... I started this trip with 76% battery... and ended with 76% battery. AWESOME.

Now... the not-so-cool...

I used it for a 30-minute drive, keeping the screen on and letting it show me the map the entire way. I started the drive with 54% battery... ended with 34% battery. OUCH. So definitely keep it on the charger if you are using it for a long drive.

But another awesome thing I noticed... I made a phone call toward the end of my destination, just to see what would happen... I used the Home key to back out of the Navigator (but keeping it in the background, as I said above), then made my call as normal. The Navigator STILL GAVE ME THE DIRECTIONS while I was on the phone. It came through the earpiece now, so the other person doesn't hear it. How freaking cool is that?!?

Anyway, that's all I wanted to share, just for all the new people who haven't used it yet (since I know leakers have been using it for a while).

Hope this helps someone

 

[jaboda79]

That's awesome. Haven't had an excuse to bust it out yet, but thanks for the heads up. Will definitely give this a run through when I do.

 

[nomarsgirl]

I always use a charger in the car. Then I can navigate, listen to the ball game or pandora radio and talk on the phone at the same time. Great for long boring rides. The charger from my Garmin works perfectly with it. Don't need the garmin though.

 

[falexs]

Didn't think it was possible to be on the phone and still receive the messages, but that's cool. Is there a work around to use the 3g network and be on the phone at the same time?

 

[E.two.one]

i used navigator for a two hour drive the other day, kept the phone on the charger.
it got VERY hot. in fact, the LED was blinking between orange and green, something i have never seen before.

took it off the charger, but it still blinked, so i shut down navigator. the blinking stopped after a few minutes.

i realize my theory about navigator causing the overheat is a little slim...but thats what happened for me.

 

[nomarsgirl]

i used navigator for a two hour drive the other day, kept the phone on the charger.
it got VERY hot. in fact, the LED was blinking between orange and green, something i have never seen before.

took it off the charger, but it still blinked, so i shut down navigator. the blinking stopped after a few minutes.

i realize my theory about navigator causing the overheat is a little slim...but thats what happened for me.

Mine has also gotten very hot using navigation. I thought it might be because the unit was mounted on top of the dash and it was a bright sunny day. It probably was the battery use though.

 

[DDustiNN]

Didn't think it was possible to be on the phone and still receive the messages, but that's cool. Is there a work around to use the 3g network and be on the phone at the same time?

I don't believe so.

i used navigator for a two hour drive the other day, kept the phone on the charger.
it got VERY hot. in fact, the LED was blinking between orange and green, something i have never seen before.

took it off the charger, but it still blinked, so i shut down navigator. the blinking stopped after a few minutes.

i realize my theory about navigator causing the overheat is a little slim...but thats what happened for me.

I haven't noticed that, though my longest use was 30 mins like I said... hmm I wonder how long it takes to get as hot as you mentioned. I'm also curious what your orange/green alternating light meant... maybe it's a warning for overheating?

 

[thephased]

Mine has also gotten very hot using navigation. I thought it might be because the unit was mounted on top of the dash and it was a bright sunny day. It probably was the battery use though.

How did you mount it on top of the dash? diy project? Or is there actually a car dock for the eris?

 

[JKib]

Tested it for 30 min drive. It did indeed get very hot. It was night, so sun was not a factor.

 

[E.two.one]

I don't believe so.

I'm also curious what your orange/green alternating light meant... maybe it's a warning for overheating?

i had never seen the LED alternate like that before, and it stopped shortly after i stopped using navigator.

another thing that i forgot to mention....it appeared that the phone stopped charging as well when this happened. at first i thought it was the charger, but i tried with a spare and no change. i also switched to a different power outlet with no change.

 

[mc48]

i tried the Nav on my 20 minute drive to work today. Worked great but it did drain the battery a bit but I don't think anymore so than listening to a podcast or pandora does. Although there are probably a dozen different routes I could take, it rerouted very well and fast. I planned on giving my tomtom to my daughter but the problem of an overheated battery on extended trips would be troubling.

 

[nomarsgirl]

How did you mount it on top of the dash? diy project? Or is there actually a car dock for the eris?

I bought an all-purpose, generic holder that can mount either to the AC vent or the windshield using a long holder with a suction cup. This was a rental car, so I use the suction thingy.

 

[hallstevenson]

i realize my theory about navigator causing the overheat is a little slim...but thats what happened for me.

I didn't experience an "overheat" (to me, that would mean the phone shuts itself down), but posted about the phone getting HOT when using Navigation a couple of months ago here, http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/55408-using-navigation-phone-gets-hot.html .

 

[LiverpoolsNo9]

This is the most useful thread I think I have seen in the last week.

Thank you.

 

[zebug]

my phone gets hot no matter what application i have running. I ride a bus about an hour to and from work everyday so I'm either watching a movie the entire way on my phone or using iheartradio, and my phone is smoking hot (well not literally smoking).

But I think the blinking red to green light is just indicating that tr phone is at 100% charge which turns it to green, but since you are using it, you are using the battery which knocks it down from 100% and the indicator turns red to show that it is charging and that just cycles back and forth since its plugged in but in use. That it just a guess of mine and i have zero real technology knowledge.

 

[pea]

alternating orange and green lights are in fact overheating indicators. i woke up one time with those lights flashing and i clicked my htc battery widget. and the temperature showed something hotter than normal.

 

[Ra21V12eN]

I received the 2.1 OTA and tried out the Navigation on the drive to work today. Took me perfectly to where I was headed and had the time pegged from the point I turned it on.

Is there a way to have the Navigation Main Page to go in a horizontal mode like it is on the Motorola Droid?

What dash mount are people using?

 

[jps]

lol i just opened navigation and i got a warning saying that traffic data is not in real-time, the directions may be wrong, dangerous, prohibited, or involve ferries

 

[zebug]

alternating orange and green lights are in fact overheating indicators. i woke up one time with those lights flashing and i clicked my htc battery widget. and the temperature showed something hotter than normal.

So how does that story prove "in fact" that the green/orange alternating lights indicate overheating? Was your phone plugged in at the time (as most of us do at night so I am assuming it was). If it wasn't plugged in then you might be onto something.

If it was plugged in, then something was running on your phone which caused the elevated temps, but it could have also caused the phone to not stay at 100% charge. Hence it charges, reaches 100% turns green but whatever was running on your phone used up some battery and hence it turns orange.

As for my car mount, I simply grabbed a $15 universal mount from the Verizon store, it has options so you can either apply it to your window (I think it uses a sticky tape) or you can latch it to a vent which I have done....also keeps it nice and cool since I have the AC on being that I live in Houston.

 

[Podivin]

Mine gets hot while using Navigation while plugged in also. I've found that removing the case helps to keep it cooler.

 

[byteware]

Didn't think it was possible to be on the phone and still receive the messages, but that's cool. Is there a work around to use the 3g network and be on the phone at the same time?

No.

This is what I suspect happens. Google downloads your directions at the get go, and stores them locally. Then as you drive, it keeps track of your current location and gives you directions that it has pre downloaded. I believe it can adjust moderately without reconnecting to the server, but if you make a big adjustment (say drive on a 15 mile detour) it would need to reconnect and get new instructions.

That's my understanding.

 

[byteware]

alternating orange and green lights are in fact overheating indicators. i woke up one time with those lights flashing and i clicked my htc battery widget. and the temperature showed something hotter than normal.

Actually, I don't know if this is true or not.

I do know that one thing that happens when using navigation is, the applications uses a significant amount of battery, and gets charged back to full, which causes the LED to switch between green and orange.

Normally, the battery usage is minimal, and doesn't take the battery off of green before it is charged back to full, but with the navigation, the battery usage is quite a bit more.

I believe that this is also the reason for the battery heating (the constant charge/discharge of the battery).

 

[DDustiNN]

I received the 2.1 OTA and tried out the Navigation on the drive to work today. Took me perfectly to where I was headed and had the time pegged from the point I turned it on.

Is there a way to have the Navigation Main Page to go in a horizontal mode like it is on the Motorola Droid?

What dash mount are people using?

Yep... Just turn the phone sideways and it will rotate to a horizontal view

Personally I like the vertical view better because you can see further down the road.

EDIT: Actually, now that I read your post again... do you mean the page where you select what option to use? Navigation, Footprints, Search, etc...? If so, then no I don't think so. But for the map screen, yes.

 

[sjankis630]

I finally used my google nav Saturday night when coming back from a friend's who lives out in the country. It actually showed me a faster route (this was at night so there was no traffic) that I had not noticed in the past couple of years. I cannot remember if my Garmin (3years old) caught it or not.
It also gave me more of a backroad route when we drove out to some farms this past weekend. I think the route was probably quicker mileage wise, but since the roads were narrow and gravel, it ended up taking longer.
I will have to try keeping it in the notification mode in order to save on the screen however it renders the roads so well, especially at night. During the day in bright sunlight, not so much. (I keep mine down below my dash in the ashtray)
I am used to having my phone plugged in when in use in the car so we will see about the battery use. ( i have the 1750 battery , but my charger at home charges the original battery at the same time) Owever the car charger is more of a trickle charger for me. It doesn't charge as quickly as the home charger.

 

[hallstevenson]

Personally I like the vertical view better because you can see further down the road.

Yeah, someone else mentioned using it in portrait mode vs landscape since they want to see where they're going vs what's to the side of them.

EDIT: Actually, now that I read your post again... do you mean the page where you select what option to use? Navigation, Footprints, Search, etc...? If so, then no I don't think so. But for the map screen, yes.

I think that screen is fluff... I never use it anymore.