hi, i have had this annoying thing with the touch flow weather
1. i do not use a data plan
2. if you update weather on activesync (as with spbweather), everything seems ok. You can click the 5 day button and see the weather
HOWEVER, if you wait a few hours until the 5 day view becomes a little (out of date)
as soon as you click on it, it no longer goes to the 5 day but tries to connect to the internet with the data plan. This is very annoying because i can not look at 5 day weather again until i get home and update it.
this could probably be fixed pretty easily to show just a day missing in 5 day view if it is not up to date.
If you go to the setting page on TF3D and go to data, you can disable the downloading of weather.
here is something else i notice with that app, if its very early in the morning about 3am or 2am the hi's will be the same as the current temp, WTH??? thats very unrelible, i also notice the degree's is off a bit by about 2
So, I have been running Beautiful Widgets on my MyTouch 3G 1.2 with Cyanogen Mod 5.0.8-t1 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=673394). So far I love the way that the widget looks, but I have been having an issue with it. I have noticed it a few times where when Beautiful Widgets updates the weather based on my current location, the GPS never turns off. I can get it to stop by killing the app in Advanced Task Killer, but then the time/weather does not update until i refresh it by clicking on the weather icon in the widget, and then it doesn't turn off again. Issue is, It likes to turn on while in my locker at work (I turn on Airplane mode to conserve power. I have been able to go a 9 hour shift and have roughly 85%-90% battery left, on the days that Beautiful Widgets decides to cooperate. Other days, like today, I'm at ~50% 4 hours into my shift, due to the GPS being stuck on.) I have tried disabling the GPS location, and it still does it. Also tried rebooting my phone, which has fixed it before, but didn't work today. I finally resorted to removing the widget from my home screen and that has worked so far. I would love to buy the app on the market (Currently using version 2.992 which I found in a ROM pack), but I don't want to spend the money on it if it will not fix this issue. I have tried multiple versions of the app, and it has been doing the same thing.
Any ideas?
I had Lockbot Pro on my EVO until last night. Got frustrated with it, and when I tried to go and download theme's from the gallery, I kept getting errors and it wouldn't connect, even after rebooting the phone and trying again.
So I read through the comments in the market for Widget Locker and it had a lot of positivity and I decided to give it a go.
I noticed today that my battery is half drained where as at the equivilant time in the past, I would be about 3/4 full.
I am still new with Widget Locker and trying things out. I have the Widget Locker with 6 sliders on it as well as the clock and the Tiny Palmary Weather Widget.
Nothing else is installed recently besides Widget Locker, so this is my reasoning with my question targeted at Widget Locker as the suspect.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you,
Whiteice
WhiteiceDMSTech said:
I had Lockbot Pro on my EVO until last night. Got frustrated with it, and when I tried to go and download theme's from the gallery, I kept getting errors and it wouldn't connect, even after rebooting the phone and trying again.
So I read through the comments in the market for Widget Locker and it had a lot of positivity and I decided to give it a go.
I noticed today that my battery is half drained where as at the equivilant time in the past, I would be about 3/4 full.
I am still new with Widget Locker and trying things out. I have the Widget Locker with 6 sliders on it as well as the clock and the Tiny Palmary Weather Widget.
Nothing else is installed recently besides Widget Locker, so this is my reasoning with my question targeted at Widget Locker as the suspect.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you,
Whiteice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's not. Feel free to look at System Panel, Spare Parts, etc..
I was wondering something about this.
When I had Lockbot Pro, it had a still image for the background. When I entered my PIN to unlock the phone, then it takes me to my normal screens which run a live wallpaper.
With Widget Locker, my background is the Live background. Does this mean that even when the phone is in standby until I hit the button to bring up Widget Locker to get into my phone that the background is constantly running whether the phone is on and being used or in standby mode?
Thank you,
Whiteice
WidgetLocker definitely drains your battery. You can just do your own test to find out.
Before you go to bed, leave your phone off the charger and remember what % you left it off at. Then:
1. Observe how much battery is drained overnight without WidgetLocker.
- For me, my phone drains around 1-4%.
2. With all else equal from the night before, apply WidgetLocker and, again, observe how much battery is drained overnight.
- For me, once WidgetLocker was installed and applied, it drained at least 20% every night.
For safe measure, you could reboot your phone before doing these tests to make sure no other apps are running in the background.
This is the test I use for testing the impact on battery every time I install a new app. I'm more cautious of apps that change system settings more than just stand alone apps (such as games). WidgetLocker definitely falls under the former so I wasn't surprised to see that it does cause a fairly significant change in battery life. It's a shame though cause it's definitely a good app. It's just the trade off isn't worth it when the Captivate doesn't have the best battery life to begin with.
khaytsus said:
No, it's not. Feel free to look at System Panel, Spare Parts, etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing is that it wouldn't list "WidgetLocker" when you use those apps. For example, with Spare Parts, WidgetLocker's effects would cause other measures to increase. If I remember correctly, "Android System" under the Partial Wakelock category was a lot higher with WidgetLocker installed which means that it does prevent the phone from sleeping at times. Also, Running % was higher as well with WidgetLocker installed which means again that the phone ran for a longer time without sleeping. Anyways, my suggestion is to use my tests above if you want to find out how it really effects real world usage. Observational tests will give you the best results (if all else are equal).
Enhanced said:
It's just the trade off isn't worth it when the Captivate doesn't have the best battery life to begin with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it's a Captivate issue or an Android issue, but one of the settings the Captivate has turned on by default triggers a bug which might be related to this thread.
Settings -> Wireless and Network -> Wi-Fi settings -> Menu key, Advanced -> Wi-Fi sleep policy.
The default sleep policy that the phone comes with is "When screen turns off". The problem is that when that one is selected, sometimes the phone doesn't sleep correctly, and battery drains quickly because the CPU is still running. (Set to "Never" and I've not had problems since) I've tested with Tasker as well, making it respond to the screen turning off - it also prevented the phone from sleeping, even though it should have done no such thing.
So Widget Locker, if it responds to the screen turning off, could easily triggering the same bug as those two. At least on the Captivate. Other lock-screen replacements would probably do the same thing. If that is the problem, responding to the screen turning on, instead, might fix it.
Thanks all for the info and advice.
For the time being, if not forever, I went and uninstalled and refunded my purchase since I was still able too.
After I posted this thread, I plugged in my phone and charged it. Once fully charged, after 45 minutes off the charger, I lost 1/4 already. This hasn't happened until I installed this program.
I also noticed that my phone is a bit "zipper" once I removed this program.
Thanks anyhow. It seemed like a good program but wasn't worth the battery drain and slight sluggishness I noticed with it installed.
Whiteice
I've measured zero difference between using Widget Locker and not using Widget Locker, but I also have my phone doing stuff, so perhaps it wakes it no more than it already would have been. With K9 email, updating weather, syncing a few accounts, Tasker running, misc stuff, my phone always has 2-4%/hr.
However, the author has said a few times it's doing nothing if it's not visible. Could depend on the widgets you have loaded of course too.
I have Beautiful Widgets time/weather (4x1), PowerAmp (4x1), Android Agenda Widget (4x2).
And do you think that lock bot could drains battery?
khaytsus said:
I've measured zero difference between using Widget Locker and not using Widget Locker, but I also have my phone doing stuff, so perhaps it wakes it no more than it already would have been. With K9 email, updating weather, syncing a few accounts, Tasker running, misc stuff, my phone always has 2-4%/hr.
However, the author has said a few times it's doing nothing if it's not visible. Could depend on the widgets you have loaded of course too.
I have Beautiful Widgets time/weather (4x1), PowerAmp (4x1), Android Agenda Widget (4x2).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I had loaded on the Widget Locker lock screen was the default unlock and silent mode, camera and brightness sliders. I added a Dolphin HD and Pandora slider. I had the default clock and the tiny Palmary weather widget set to update every 1 1/2 hours. This update setting has been the one I've used on Palmary since Ive had it the last month.
And just FYI, I would have loved to have kept it, it seemed really awesome. But again, I did not have this battery draining issue until I installed this program. And it seems to have gone away once I removed it. All this within a 24 hour period from when I purchased Widget Locker.
Whiteice.
the phone will go into a sleep state using widget locker unless you attach a widget that prevents sleep.
I have typoclock and poweramp widget on mine along with a custom slider.
I dont get any difference in power consumption than normal
however im not using homehelper, i have a fully rooted device using the root method of the 5 second rool and turned off weather animations.
I would consider what widgets you attach to widget locker and what method you are using to avoid the 5 second rule. Home helper maybe a resource hog.
I notice no significant drain on my battery. I had my phone on for 3 hours today while in class, and my phone only dropped 6%.
I experience phone lag with it, really awesome app but it needs some more work, interference with stock lock screen too.
Had to remove it but would like to bring it back if those glitches are sorted out.
Had it on Desire ...
Widgetlocker definitely drains my battery. Pity because it's a great application. However with it on android system takes over 40% of my battery, Widgetlocker itself is shown to take another 17%
and OS monitor shows constantly at least 25% CPU load from Widgetlocker.
Don't know what is wrong but something is wrong. Will try to root my device and not to use home helper and check if there is any difference.
I will have to look at my settings because I am not having any serious battery drain at all. On my WL, I have Beautiful widget with clock and weather going (update every 3 hours) and quick dial/text to my wife.
I am getting normail battery life with or w/o WL. I will report back my settings so those that love WL can continue to use.
OK, I've got to admint, rooting the phone and bypassing homehelper definitely improved the situation. Although I still have to check if there is still some battery drain when using the program. I guess there is some but not that significant anymore. Now the program is usable.
Enhanced said:
WidgetLocker definitely drains your battery. You can just do your own test to find out.
Before you go to bed, leave your phone off the charger and remember what % you left it off at. Then:
1. Observe how much battery is drained overnight without WidgetLocker.
- For me, my phone drains around 1-4%.
2. With all else equal from the night before, apply WidgetLocker and, again, observe how much battery is drained overnight.
- For me, once WidgetLocker was installed and applied, it drained at least 20% every night.
For safe measure, you could reboot your phone before doing these tests to make sure no other apps are running in the background.
This is the test I use for testing the impact on battery every time I install a new app. I'm more cautious of apps that change system settings more than just stand alone apps (such as games). WidgetLocker definitely falls under the former so I wasn't surprised to see that it does cause a fairly significant change in battery life. It's a shame though cause it's definitely a good app. It's just the trade off isn't worth it when the Captivate doesn't have the best battery life to begin with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same goes with me... widget locker does drain my battery.. my battery used to drain about 2-4% per night... but after installed the widget locker it drains like 12% to 18% per night..
XmUrF said:
OK, I've got to admint, rooting the phone and bypassing homehelper definitely improved the situation. Although I still have to check if there is still some battery drain when using the program. I guess there is some but not that significant anymore. Now the program is usable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i did the rooting too.. but still it drains the battery.. like 15% per night.. that is on standby no usage at all.. jus wonder how will it drain on normal usage.. lol
I wonder if the updated WidgetLocker has any battery life improvements? Anyone with any new experiences?
i installed widget locker last week, and I've noticed it does seem to drain my battery significantly. I also dumped a sh1t ton of widgets on it too.
i think its the price you have to pay for functional lockscreens like this. I had an iPhone 3GS with LockInfo on it and it drained the battery a bit too.
Seems like a dead thread, but I am also having battery issues with WidgetLocker. I am certain that it is the culprit because when I restarted my phone after installing, the battery indicator was yellow, and when WidgetLocker initiated, the battery instantly went to red. Any ideas on how to fix this? I love this app.
Yep - I agree with everybody above. WidgetLocker is a battery muncher.
It's one of my favorite programs, but I've had to part ways with it. With it running I was only getting about 7 hours out of my battery - without it, I go 12 hours easy.
Sucks. Back to default lock screen.
This is the stock home screen widget, and i actually like it. However, the location feature, accuweather, sucks big time. No accuracy whatsoever. Always at least one town away from my location, and i have the phone's accuracy mode set to high accuracy (gps and networks). Is there any way to change the weather provider, or recalibrate the accuracy, without rooting the phone? That would be my last resort. Thanks for any help.:crying:
grunt0300 said:
This is the stock home screen widget, and i actually like it. However, the location feature, accuweather, sucks big time. No accuracy whatsoever. Always at least one town away from my location, and i have the phone's accuracy mode set to high accuracy (gps and networks). Is there any way to change the weather provider, or recalibrate the accuracy, without rooting the phone? That would be my last resort. Thanks for any help.:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Accuweather is the weather provider. As far as I know there is no way to change the weather provider for the Smart Notice widget.
aybarrap1 said:
Accuweather is the weather provider. As far as I know there is no way to change the weather provider for the Smart Notice widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went directly to LG, but they just told me to reboot the phone. Thanks.