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GPS and Battery

For the entire time I owned a smartphone (two years), everyone says to disable GPS to save battery and enable it only when you need it. I been doing this the entire time and just now I read a post somewhere in these forums that only when a program needs GPS, it'll affect battery life. If this is the case, then I'll just leave GPS enabled.
So the question is, if GPS is left enabled but no program uses it, is battery life affect?
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shilent said:
For the entire time I owned a smartphone (two years), everyone says to disable GPS to save battery and enable it only when you need it. I been doing this the entire time and just now I read a post somewhere in these forums that only when a program needs GPS, it'll affect battery life. If this is the case, then I'll just leave GPS enabled.
So the question is, if GPS is left enabled but no program uses it, is battery life affect?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
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I keep mine on and i get about 14-16 hours mild to wild use... I think it only drains if a program useless running it... dunno tho
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unless you see the gps icon in the status bar it isn't using any battery.

regP said:
unless you see the gps icon in the status bar it isn't using any battery.
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Awesome, I'll be leaving mine enabled.
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I leave mine enabled and dont notice any major difference in battery life over leaving it off.
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shilent said:
For the entire time I owned a smartphone (two years), everyone says to disable GPS to save battery and enable it only when you need it. I been doing this the entire time and just now I read a post somewhere in these forums that only when a program needs GPS, it'll affect battery life. If this is the case, then I'll just leave GPS enabled.
So the question is, if GPS is left enabled but no program uses it, is battery life affect?
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App
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Right, if nothing calls the GPS then it uses no battery so really there is no reason to disable the GPS at all.

GPS Failed

Any one else have their GPS fail on them? Mine just stopped working yesterday.
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Shagman68 said:
Any one else have their GPS fail on them? Mine just stopped working yesterday.
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you have it enabled?

Shagman68 said:
Any one else have their GPS fail on them? Mine just stopped working yesterday.
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Happened to me to had to reboot. Also find it hard for it to lock 100 % ..
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I used this app GPS status on my mytouch 4g to fix it. Give it a shot.
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Yep, rebooting, non fast boot did the trick. That was really strange. Thanks.
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Never had problems with my GPS, so far so good. It's been finding my locations pretty quick.

Out of the box mine wouldn't see any sats in any of the GPS apps. The GPS antenna icon wouldn't even show up in the notification bar. Yes, GPS was on, but it was dead. Reboot did nothing.
Ended up doing a shutdown, removing battery, and when it booted up everything worked normally. GPS has worked very well since, quick locks and very accurate map location.

Yes, have had as well.
I've had flaky GPS as well. Sometimes fast lock, sometimes 15-second lock, sometimes full shutdown and pull the battery.
I used that GPS check applet (their is a free and paid version). It seemed to help confirm issues, since Maps and such just show that little sat dish at the top.
Seems like it may need a little FW fine-tuning or something.

As I said use GPS status clear your GPS chase then select your region of the world again and you will get fast connection to satellites. The app has a built in compass and you will be able to test
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I've had to do most of the above including battery removal, full power-downs, etc.
I use GPS test and it takes a while but I get up to 10 or so satellites with accuracy to as little as 2-3 meters.
Switching amongst multiple apps like Latitude, Maps, GPS test, etc. seem to take the heaviest toll on the ability of the unit to quickly lock on when I launch the next app.
I can "death grip" it as well and kill the Wi-Fi, cellular radio, and GPS antenna, FWIW.

Savage1701 said:
I've had to do most of the above including battery removal, full power-downs, etc.
I use GPS test and it takes a while but I get up to 10 or so satellites with accuracy to as little as 2-3 meters.
Switching amongst multiple apps like Latitude, Maps, GPS test, etc. seem to take the heaviest toll on the ability of the unit to quickly lock on when I launch the next app.
I can "death grip" it as well and kill the Wi-Fi, cellular radio, and GPS antenna, FWIW.
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I had an instance of GPS Test (the Mike Lockwood version) not locking yesterday. In the Settings on that app you can Clear Aiding Data. I turned off GPS, did the clear, turned GPS back on, and it locked within 10 seconds. But for the most part the GPS on the Sensation has worked very well.

Gps always on?

Will leaving my standalone GPS on all the time actually drain my battery, or does it only get powered on when something requests it?
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I have noticed mine searching for a GPS signal when it needs too. Doesn't seem to be on all the time. I am getting 15+ hours out of my battery.

JihadSquad said:
Will leaving my standalone GPS on all the time actually drain my battery, or does it only get powered on when something requests it?
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Turning off GPS to save battery is one of the biggest myths of the Android world It only uses GPS when an application requests it. Otherwise, it doesn't use it at all. All you are doing with that toggle is making it unavailable to apps.

I have noticed that Facebook likes to fire up the GPS every time I open the app. Annoying, but it is also the only app I use that doesn't "need" GPS that tries to use it. Any way to disable that?
Jason

[Q] Maps battery use

I was looking at my battery use stats for the past couple days, and I noticed that Maps is the #1 user of battery on my phone. Funny part is that I never launched maps, and haven't used anything with a map since I last rebooted my phone. Is it possible that Maps is in reference to the GPS being used, or is there a way for another application to be using the Maps frameworks, thus causing it to show up under battery usage?
It's not necessarily causing terrible battery life, but I find it hard to believe that an app I haven't used is using more battery than the screen.
Thanks!

I'll keep an eye on that. Speed test had been number one on mine lol

rbrugman said:
I was looking at my battery use stats for the past couple days, and I noticed that Maps is the #1 user of battery on my phone. Funny part is that I never launched maps, and haven't used anything with a map since I last rebooted my phone. Is it possible that Maps is in reference to the GPS being used, or is there a way for another application to be using the Maps frameworks, thus causing it to show up under battery usage?
It's not necessarily causing terrible battery life, but I find it hard to believe that an app I haven't used is using more battery than the screen.
Thanks!
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I think it's in reference to the GPS. I have mine on so my weather is as accurate as possible and maps is a big user on my phone.
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I've had the same exact problem. I can't figure out what is turning it on.
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I think I am also having this issue.

Android OS eating battery?

Is android OS destroying anyone else's battery? Its using like 40% for me. Anyone else? Any fix?
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JPOKeefe said:
Is android OS destroying anyone else's battery? Its using like 40% for me. Anyone else? Any fix?
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No, i'm at 6%.
something you are running is causing the activity to spike.

Percentages like this are meaningless without something to compare it to. 40% isn't unheard of if you never use the phone, for instance.

I was having this issue yesterday. I installed FAUX kernel and it went away; screen: 28%, mediaserver 16%, rocket player 13%, android os 10%. Yesterday at this time my battery meter was 40% ; today 67%.
That could be coincidence and not correlation though. If you are up for the challenge, a custom kernel could help.
However, like vincent law said, it's all relative. If android os is 40% and your battery is at 95%, that's not really so bad is it...

When android os is high... It's an app keeping your phone awake 90% of the time
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JPOKeefe said:
Is android OS destroying anyone else's battery? Its using like 40% for me. Anyone else? Any fix?
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im at 4%...... not sure whats wrong with your. im not running any custom roms either. just rooted and unlocked bootloader
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Reboot when you see this happening.
I've seen it once before... I didn't think to check OS monitor before rebooting to see exactly which process it was though.

I have this problem. Anyone got solutions to it?

Try disabling some location features in Google now. I found the traffic cards to give big battery drains in Android OS. Or you can check which in settings - double slide down from top > location, to see which app is using the highest request. Google play service was usually high when I had huge android os drain.
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inspiron41 said:
Try disabling some location features in Google now. I found the traffic cards to give big battery drains in Android OS. Or you can check which in settings - double slide down from top > location, to see which app is using the highest request. Google play service was usually high when I had huge android os drain.
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+1
I have also noticed that at times google play services has a huge drain on the battery. I was wondering if play store setting had anything to do with it. I have mine set to " do not automatically update".

I have both facebook and google search on low battery use. For Google location reporting, I only have location history turned on. I don't know if this helps.

I start getting the same issue since yesterday.
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I've also been experiencing the same issue. Started a few days ago. Checked tonight right before I put my phone on the charger after a full day of use, and Android OS had 9+ hours of awake time. It's driving me crazy and I can't figure out what is causing it.

I am so disappointed!!! I have the same bug. I had it on my old Phone (Samsung Galaxy S). I flashed 3 different firmwares on my i9000. Nothing helped. Now I bought the Nexus 5 and after one day it starts again
I went to bed with 97% Battery. Woke up and it looked like this:
It is stock Firmware with no changes. Maybe it is because of my google account? I am using the same google account for my nexus5 and i9000.

Check your WiFi connection. I don't really know why (yet) but sometimes, being connected to certain WiFi networks increases Android OS usage. This happens a lot in my college's network so I believe it's a problem with that, because it does not happen at my home's WiFi. You could try disabling WiFi in the different networks you use and check which is draining.
Hope this helps.
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JPOKeefe said:
Is android OS destroying anyone else's battery? Its using like 40% for me. Anyone else? Any fix?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Yes I had this problem. I flashed factory image and enable high accuracy location AND reporting. My problem I pinpointed was Google Now NOT refreshing.
It would hang there trying to update and without location it didn't have anything to report and it would eat battery. I would force close the launcher and notice the wakelock stopped shortly, to return to Now not updating.
sent from my Nexus 5

I found a way to prevent the Play Services and the Android System from eating my battery.
First I noticed that it was only happening, when the location services were enabled, and then I found the App Ops App for KitKat.
All I did was disable the rights for those two Apps to use location and to keep the device awake.
I'm having the location services on - and working in 4sq, Maps, etc,.. - and no more drain.
Maybe you can verify this?

Try this
My Android OS is at 3% after 19 hours.
Google services not enough to even show.
Battery 75%.
Light use 55 minutes screen time.
Google auto sync off, i sync when i need to.
I don't let play store check for app updates .
I turn location on when i need it.
I use mostly wifi some LTE
Unchecked wifi scanning always available.
Keep wifi on during sleep
Minimize battery use when wifi is on is checked.
I refresh my email accounts when i open them so it's not being checked automatically.
No battery or services complaints (Google services is so low it doesn't even register), give it a try?

raul90 said:
Check your WiFi connection. I don't really know why (yet) but sometimes, being connected to certain WiFi networks increases Android OS usage. This happens a lot in my college's network so I believe it's a problem with that, because it does not happen at my home's WiFi. You could try disabling WiFi in the different networks you use and check which is draining.
Hope this helps.
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The problem is definitely caused by the Wifi! I am using my College-Dorm-Wifi over night. When turning it off, the battery life is normal.
But turning off the Wifi is no solution! I don't have data so I am only using my phone in college networks
There musts be another way.

legendnexus said:
I start getting the same issue since yesterday.
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Me too. I have disabled wifi when i'm out... i will check if this changes something!