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GPS with waypoint capability

Mr. Boom

Android Enthusiast
Jul 23, 2010
689
84
Nevada
I have tried a few Nav apps, but not finding what i am after. I am looking for an app that will allow me to add/edit waypoints without auto-navigating to that point. I tried "GPS essentials" from the market, and it worked ok, but was a real battery hog.

ANything else out there that won't drain 50% of my battery in a few hours?
 
A 50% battery drain from a GPS app over a couple hours is probably pretty normal, and I doubt you'll find anything that doesn't eat battery like that. My iPhone 3Gs would use 40% of the battery in a 50 minute drive with the Navigon app, so what you are seeing is way better. I know my Droid X is around what you are seeing too. It's just how GPS is, sinc it's going to be searching for the GPS signal, decoding it, mapping your location (possibly even using 3G to download maps if you don't have the preloaded on the phone memory), and all while the screen is on, and all that stuff will use battery.
 
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Maybe i should have clarified. I did not have the program running all that time. It continued to run after i exited. A few hours later i looked at my phone, and battery had dropped big time. I looked at battery usage, and it said that particular program had used 86% of what had been used so far. I only had the program open maybe 20 minutes total, and i turned GPS off after exiting.
Google maps or Nav don't use battery like that, but they don't seem to have normal waypoint capability, which is what i want.
 
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Ah, go it, I thought you were using the app that whole time. Any chance that if you hit the menu button while GPS Essentials is running that there is an Exit option? Sounds like the Back and/or Home button on that app just take you out of it but leaves it running in the background. Actually, I'll install it right now and see myself... nope, no exit button. But it seem to close when I use the Home or Back button to leave it. Guess I'll see what happens while I'm sleeping.
 
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Well, I installed and opened GPS Essentials last night, and when I backed out, it seemed to close completely, didn't eat up my battery during the night. Not sure why it's not closing completely and eating your battery, maybe it doesn't play as well with Sense as it does with Blur. Maybe e-mail the developer and see if they know about it not closing completely on the DInc.
 
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That is what i am going to do. I tried it again today with the same results. This app is so useful to me, that i might even just do a FC when i am done using it, and keep it.

Thanks for taking the time to try it out also! Appreciate it!

No problem! I love anything to do with GPS, so trying out another GPS app is always fun! Hope the dev can help out and maybe get a fix for the app.
 
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I have tried a few Nav apps, but not finding what i am after.
Could you list what you've tried? Have you tried CoPilot or Navigon? I'm not sure that they support waypoints.

Can't you used 'starred places' w/ Google Maps / Places?
You can as a workaround but the OP is asking for a nav app that will route using several waypoints. Google Maps Nav will not do this. You can only specify the destination. You'd have to navigate to each waypoint as separate destinations. That's not the same thing as giving the app the waypoints and letting it select the best route using the waypoints.

Maybe i should have clarified. I did not have the program running all that time. It continued to run after i exited. A few hours later i looked at my phone, and battery had dropped big time. I looked at battery usage, and it said that particular program had used 86% of what had been used so far. I only had the program open maybe 20 minutes total, and i turned GPS off after exiting.
Google maps or Nav don't use battery like that, but they don't seem to have normal waypoint capability, which is what i want.
If you hit Home in Google Maps Nav it will definitely keep running in the background and kill your battery. I've done that a couple of times accidentally.
 
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I have researched Copilot. It does not do what i want. I am not paying that much money for an app like Navigon. I have tried Mapdroyd, Rmaps, Gaia Maps, Route3D, Maverick, Stock app, and several more i can't remember. GPS Essentials does what i want. I just don;t want a battery hog. If i have to, i will FC it each time. ;)
 
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