Is there a way to have the GPS Radio only turn on if I open Waze or some other GPS Aware program? Trying to conserve power here.
TIA
CradleRob said:
Is there a way to have the GPS Radio only turn on if I open Waze or some other GPS Aware program? Trying to conserve power here.
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my knowledge, having GPS on standby barely uses any battery. Only when an app updates your location.
I'd just leave it on. Maybe Juice Defender could manage it though
That's how Android works. The GPS isn't actually on unless you see the icon in the top bar. Try it yourself - open Google Maps and you'll se the icon, then close Maps and you'll see it go away.
How is it like with bluetooth? Is it a big battery hog?
Eric-1987 said:
How is it like with bluetooth? Is it a big battery hog?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't tried out bluetooth yet.
But again, Juice Defender can now manage that too.
Thanks for the info...I'll be sure to play with the GPS a bit more.
Juice Defender is my new best friend.
Maroon Mushroom said:
To my knowledge, having GPS on standby barely uses any battery. Only when an app updates your location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I wasn't aware of that, I've always turned it off because I thought that it would drain my battery.
I know for a fact that the BT will drain your battery even if you have nothing connected to it so turn it off if you don't use it.
Saelee said:
Thanks, I wasn't aware of that, I've always turned it off because I thought that it would drain my battery.
I know for a fact that the BT will drain your battery even if you have nothing connected to it so turn it off if you don't use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it doesn't. Nor does GPS.
khaytsus said:
No, it doesn't. Nor does GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reason people think that I bet is because when Bluetooth was new tech and only in it's first revision it didn't have any power saving features and was constantly pinging the radio if devices were connected or not. That was fixed with Bluetooth 1.3 onwards if memory serves right.
Bluetooth will not use battery unless its connected to a device, and then only will if the phone and the device get out of range from each other. I think but don't quote me, that the connecting device is in charge of pinging and staying pared and not the phone.
Gps can actually cause battery drain of you do a ton of web browsing and are using googles locstion sharing feature...it shares your location each time you load a page in the browser...so not only uses gps but the maps app as well.
This is the only scenario where I have seen it measurably effect battery
Sent from my hand using XDA App
I use Bluetooth in my car for voice and music. As you can see by my screen grab it does not use much battery.
CradleRob said:
Is there a way to have the GPS Radio only turn on if I open Waze or some other GPS Aware program? Trying to conserve power here.
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pull down status bar, toggle GPS on/off.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
CradleRob said:
Is there a way to have the GPS Radio only turn on if I open Waze or some other GPS Aware program? Trying to conserve power here.
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a program called Tasker and created a rule that turns on GPS only when I open Maps and Navigation. Tasker is a paid app but well worth it. i used it to turn on bluetooth and Nav when I get in my car in the morning, it also shuts off wifi and starts streaming Pandora. When I get to my office, it shuts off the ringer and turns on vibrate mode, shuts off the data network and stops streaming Pandora. It checks my personal email twice per day at scheduled intervals so I am not distracted.
When i plug in my headphones, a menu appears asking if I would like to launch music, pandora or phone.
Though it's a paid app, it is worth the money. Tasker is awesome.
--Mike
Sent from one of many Samsung devices.
MobileData said:
I use a program called Tasker and created a rule that turns on GPS only when I open Maps and Navigation. Tasker is a paid app but well worth it. i used it to turn on bluetooth and Nav when I get in my car in the morning, it also shuts off wifi and starts streaming Pandora. When I get to my office, it shuts off the ringer and turns on vibrate mode, shuts off the data network and stops streaming Pandora. It checks my personal email twice per day at scheduled intervals so I am not distracted.
When i plug in my headphones, a menu appears asking if I would like to launch music, pandora or phone.
Though it's a paid app, it is worth the money. Tasker is awesome.
--Mike
Sent from one of many Samsung devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just bought and paid for Tasker for the GPS one click workaround.
Tasker has a learning curve, but it's like any other macro editor.
You basically make a macro that says
IF app_being_opened = Navigation
AND gps status = off
THEN Open Location Settings
DPAD Down
DPAD Down
DPAD Enter
^-- Tasker does these for you, you sit there and watch.
OPEN Navigation
And you can do the same thing for Maps or any other apps requiring GPS.
Note that I also just made one for one click 4G, too.
Works well.
Note that I'm sure the macros can be cleaned up and made more idiot-proof, but I'm nowhere near proficient with Tasker yet. There are A LOT of options.
+1 for Tasker. I am by no means an expert with it, but it definitely has a lot of functionality.
I've used it to only turn on GPS when opening certain apps (like maps, foursquare, etc.)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I don't understand the need to pay for an app to turn GPS onff. Tasked has a lot more uses but to purchase it for an answer to a nonexistent problem is so...meh.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
jamesd86 said:
I don't understand the need to pay for an app to turn GPS onff. Tasked has a lot more uses but to purchase it for an answer to a nonexistent problem is so...meh.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Troll keep on trolling.
There is obviously a problem if multiple threads have been started to address the problem and if all the GPS widgets on the Market have to have a disclaimer saying "1 click won't work on 2.3.x devices."
Have tasker, just waiting for my note to use it actually
Sent from my INFUSE powered by ZEUS
I made this tutorial for anyone having difficulty making their one-click GPS solution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg56IgNHA0Y
theleetbeagle said:
Troll keep on trolling.
There is obviously a problem if multiple threads have been started to address the problem and if all the GPS widgets on the Market have to have a disclaimer saying "1 click won't work on 2.3.x devices."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read what I wrote you'd realize that I understand there's a small problem but c'mon..almost 7 bucks when all you have to do is pull the notification down and hit the GPS toggle? If that's all someone is buying tasker for...its a waste. Now if they are going to use it for more stuff that's cool.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
Related
Does anyone know if there is a widget comparable to the sense "mobile" widget, that will turn mobile data on/off, and works with the Eris? I've tried toggle data widget and switchpro and neither of them work. Thanks!
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
I used to be looking out for one, but I found out I always had one!
I assume your on a vanilla rom and dont have sense? use the control panel. there's a button with a circle and 2 arrows on it.
now this doesn't actually turn off 3g, it turns off active syncing. active syncing is what drains your battery when you aren't touching your phone. so if you turn it of, it will be exactly like if you turned 3G off all together. but! doing it this way, you can open up the browser, and it will still automatically load.
like, if you turn it off, your phone wont be using 3g to constantly check on your new emails, but if you went to the mail application and hit refresh it will bring in the new emails for you.
Thanks, actually I'm trying to convince myself I could use a non-sense ROM. There are many things that I love about sense and the mobile widget is one of them.
I'm on pageplus and only have 50mb of data, so I like to keep the mobile connection off unless I need it for some reason. One time I was listening to pandora over wifi and all the sudden my data usage was maxed out. I believe the wifi radio was turned off after 15 minutes because of one of the phones settings (I've since changed that setting and haven't seen this problem). Needless to say, since then, I've been paranoid.
The suggestion to disable syncing will help but I would prefer to cut the connection completely. That way, any app that might happen to be running in the background (That I no longer need) won't be able to suck away at my limited data. Or, if wifi get's turned off automatically for some reason
Are there any other suggestions?
turboguy said:
Thanks, actually I'm trying to convince myself I could use a non-sense ROM. There are many things that I love about sense and the mobile widget is one of them.
I'm on pageplus and only have 50mb of data, so I like to keep the mobile connection off unless I need it for some reason. One time I was listening to pandora over wifi and all the sudden my data usage was maxed out. I believe the wifi radio was turned off after 15 minutes because of one of the phones settings (I've since changed that setting and haven't seen this problem). Needless to say, since then, I've been paranoid.
The suggestion to disable syncing will help but I would prefer to cut the connection completely. That way, any app that might happen to be running in the background (That I no longer need) won't be able to suck away at my limited data. Or, if wifi get's turned off automatically for some reason
Are there any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-camurphy-toggledata-jCE.aspx
would that work ?
Thanks rv, I've actually tried that one and it doesn't appear to work on the Eris. Other people have reported the same in the reviews.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
I would love to find something like this to out side if the sense widget. haven't found it yet.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
I am on page plus also, and i faced the exact same dilemma trying a non-sense rom. I couldn't find anything reliable. I know its not as convenient but what about just pushing the power button for 2 secs and then selecting turn on/off mobile network from that list. I have to do this in sense sometimes because the mobile widget doesn't work occasionally.
For those that are using roms that still have HTC Framework, then a shortcut is to long press the end call button and select the last option. Which is Mobile Network ON/OFF
Atleast that's a workaround but not a complete widget replacement, sorry
Check out beautiful widgets, it's 1.99 but it might have what you need.
turboguy said:
Thanks rv, I've actually tried that one and it doesn't appear to work on the Eris. Other people have reported the same in the reviews.
-------------------------------------
Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u should try droidwall. am on pageplus too and use this one to control the data usage. u can block some or all apps from using 3G and restrict them to just wifi. its free. try it out
mooneyb said:
I am on page plus also, and i faced the exact same dilemma trying a non-sense rom. I couldn't find anything reliable. I know its not as convenient but what about just pushing the power button for 2 secs and then selecting turn on/off mobile network from that list. I have to do this in sense sometimes because the mobile widget doesn't work occasionally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that will work fine, I never noticed that was there... but do the AOSP/Cyanogen builds have this option?
frankspin said:
Check out beautiful widgets, it's 1.99 but it might have what you need.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually have beautiful widgets, but there isn't one to turn off data.
Just to post an update for anyone interested:
SwitchPro widget works great at least on White Widow. I'm assuming it works on any AOSP ROM. I tried it with a stock sense rom previously and it didn't work for me, so I'm assuming that it doesn't work with sense.
For those of us that are not getting better gps on EC01 or various Rom's like me this fix is for you.
Instructions: With Root Explorer (or similar app) go to /etc/gps.conf
In Root Explorer long press on the file and select open in text editor
Change the first line from: NTP_SERVER=north-america.pool.ntp.org to NTP_SERVER=us.pool.ntp.org
Then Download GPS aids from the market and run that for even better results
Save changes and reboot
ENJOY
What exactly is an NTP server, and why would this edit make it more accurate?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I sort of want to try this...
Is there any way this can mess up GPS even more?
tripacer99 said:
What exactly is an NTP server, and why would this edit make it more accurate?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ x2
Wow, just did this while watching tv ... instant lock !!!
Sent from my SCH-I500
Network time protocol.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
I think it might be time to just face the fact that the Fascinate's GPS chip sucks.
Would like to try this, but when i try to open in text editor
in root explorer, it says read-only.
Top center, there's a gray button. click that to go to r/w.
I tried this inside, in the basement while it's storming outside. Haven't turned on GPS all day and it seemed to work. GPS lock w/o Wifi TTFF in 12 seconds. GPS lock w/ Wifi TTFF in 2 seconds (Using GPS AIDS GPS status test).
Time before was around 30 seconds and 10 seconds respectively.
Ahhh of course. Thank you!
DirgeExtinction said:
Top center, there's a gray button. click that to go to r/w.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's the chip, it's how the nav or map app tries to access the information and turns the chip on that's the issue. When I turn on Gmaps, it sometimes sits for a full minute before locking. But sometimes, it takes a second or two. Its got to be because the communication already happened between the app and the reciever.
Here's why this is my opinion. Reboot the phone and start the GPS Test app from the market(sometime within seconds even indoors), watch it find satellites and lock. Usually does it much much faster than maps. After you do this open maps, voila instant position. Theres some kind of issue with how maps initiates the GPS reception on this phone. So I keep GPS Test installed, and when I know I need to know where I am, I turn it on for 5 seconds, then open maps.
If anyone who actually knows what the hell they are doing knows how to edit the commands that Gmaps uses, you could be immortal.
Well wow, gps lock beat me before I even opened up
gps test. Amazing. Thank you!
No luck for me (everything in GPS Test just ramains at '0' or equivalent... no sats even detected!).
north-america.pool.ntp.org seems to have a fair bit higher latency than us.pool.ntp.org, but that shouldn't really make too massive of an impact. This isn't, though, gonna change your GPS from not working at all to suddenly working, just increase the lock speed a bit.
Interesting, I thought that GPS only used the satellite clocks!
GPS has almost always been livable with my Fascinate. I don't know if I am just very lucky, or if it's because I leave it on all the time.
Sent from my SCH-I500
Yeah the fascinate chip does not suck this fix is great even when I reboot my phone still locks great everytime any time you change roms re do this fix
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Yeah I know GPS is based on time delays between satellites, not entirely sure how it works so it would make sense that using a different time server might help? Just chiming in so people can hopefully understand what NTP has to do with GPS.
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Global_Positioning_System#Basic_concept_of_GPS for reference.
dangerismymiddlename.com said:
Interesting, I thought that GPS only used the satellite clocks!
GPS has almost always been livable with my Fascinate. I don't know if I am just very lucky, or if it's because I leave it on all the time.
Sent from my SCH-I500
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You and i need to knock on wood, I am in the same boat as you. Never had serious issues with it and really worry about that the most when I flash something new...
Tried this with EA28 and EC01, no luck on it for me, my GPS is fairly good, other then it my condo. Just a little frustrating when my Eris worked fine, and my wife's Droid works fine.
This cut the time to lock in half for me. Thanks.
Still not instant but noticeably faster.
Sent with my thumbs.
My Galaxy S2 is constantly trying to get gps fix. Is there any way to find out which program that is responsible for this?
long-press the home-button, start task manager and see which apps are running perhaps?
According to task manager WidgetLock is the only program running.
I need a program that monitor all programs and what they do at what time
I have your answer
That damn samsung vingo voice control App(don't know name) while driving. I guarantee that's your problem. Gad the same issue when I made a mistake and clicked it
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
intruda119 said:
I have your answer
That damn samsung vingo voice control App(don't know name) while driving. I guarantee that's your problem. Gad the same issue when I made a mistake and clicked it
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this.
You could always just turn the GPS off.
That program I mentioned auto switches GPS on.
drm111 said:
this.
You could always just turn the GPS off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
intruda119 said:
I have your answer
That damn samsung vingo voice control App(don't know name) while driving. I guarantee that's your problem. Gad the same issue when I made a mistake and clicked it
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have run it a couple of times myself, and then a couple of times to impress women, over the course of a few days - never had GPS issues with it, or excessive battery drainage.
just checked my battery useage and was kinda shocked: gps status uses most battery
i get _decent_ battery life out of my sgs2. 60% after ~24h with moderate useage. so it does not drain the battery but
i never did turn on gps since the last charge so its strange why gps status uses battery... the process is not shown as running which is also strange...
i have german sgs2 with KE2 (no updates in Kies shown for my device so far). unrooted phone.
edit: i dont want deinstall the program as i get extreme fast gps fix (< 5 seconds) so i wanted to hear if anyone else is having similar experiences with the program first...
Having issues getting smart actions to come on with location settings. I am trying with leaving gps on as well. Any tips? For example I wanted to turn wifi on at home but I can't seem to get it to recognize "home" location.
I found that you must leave wifi and gps on for location based rules to work correctly.
Sent from my XT910 using xda app-developers app
therm0 said:
I found that you must leave wifi and gps on for location based rules to work correctly.
Sent from my XT910 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I will give it a try. Seems the GPS isn't very accurate as well, however I am in a heavily wooded area and low signal.
If you intend to save some juice by disabling WiFi, don't use a location-based SmartAction to do this. It will eat as much battery as leaving WiFi on, a Motorola location services will keep your WiFi on regardless of your system settings.
Sent from my XT910
bond32 said:
Having issues getting smart actions to come on with location settings. I am trying with leaving gps on as well. Any tips? For example I wanted to turn wifi on at home but I can't seem to get it to recognize "home" location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Llama app. It uses mobile phone towers to ascertain location so no extra battery drain. And it has many more options than smart actions.
Sent from my Razr machine
Hello all,
I am more than happy with my SIII but I'm finding a wakelock rather disturbing. It happens as soon as i turn on the "Use wireless networks" under the Location services settings.
If it's turned off, the wakelock disappears. But you know, it's hard to live with it turned off, as it greatly helps the GPS set a location way faster than it would do on its own... So using location based apps while it's off is a pain in the ass.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Alphadan said:
Hello all,
I am more than happy with my SIII but I'm finding a wakelock rather disturbing. It happens as soon as i turn on the "Use wireless networks" under the Location services settings.
If it's turned off, the wakelock disappears. But you know, it's hard to live with it turned off, as it greatly helps the GPS set a location way faster than it would do on its own... So using location based apps while it's off is a pain in the ass.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing can be done about it really. Applications poll location data constantly when this option is ticked. It even tells you data is collected in the background regardless of what you are doing. To be honest many can cope with the 5-10 second wait for a GPS fix. Either deal with the drain or disable it.
5-10 seconds?? Most of the time I get message saying current location is temporarily unavailable, especially when I'm indoors.
I can't believe I have to deal with this problem. Am I the only one with this problem?? I was expecting a better answer.
just deactivate it. if you use a gps-app it will tell you to activate GPS anyways and while doing that you can then activate the network location as well.
with lbe privacy guard you can Block it if you are rooted
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
So basically there's no proper fix for this. All I can do is work around the issue? Coming from an iphone I feel this is a bit frustrating.
Thing is that the option I have to disable does not use GPS. It uses mobile signal and WiFi radios, so turning off GPS is useless.
Can anybody else help?
disable Google now,I think you will find that is what is polling your location
slaphead20 said:
disable Google now,I think you will find that is what is polling your location
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's been disabled all along, as I am Spanish and the current support for that language is nonexistent.
Any other ideas guys?
Alphadan said:
So basically there's no proper fix for this. All I can do is work around the issue? Coming from an iphone I feel this is a bit frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
coming from iPhone then you should know that the 4S had a similar problem when it came out, and the workaround was about the same...how you felt back then??
edit
how do you check if you have partial wakelock on an iphone btw??
Disable location in general and use Tasker or make a profile on AOSP rom to turn on location service when you're going out. After all you don't need location indoors right?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Tokarin said:
Disable location in general and use Tasker or make a profile on AOSP rom to turn on location service when you're going out. After all you don't need location indoors right?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, in theory, your solution sounds awesome. But as i stated earlier, there's a small problem: battery drain is not caused by the GPS itself, but by the other "tricks" the phone has in order to find a location (wifi and radio).
I don't know about that problem with the 4S, but as you said, it occurred when it came out. The SIII has been out for 6 months now, and there's been several updates, yet the issue is still there.
BTW, i check the partial wakelocks with Better Battery Stats (you can find it for free here on the forums)
Just a general question... Does anyone else have this issue? If any of you guys do, then i'll learn to live with it, but being the only one would really make me feel silly.
Well, I just don't use that option, AFAIK the new cm10 build changed the GPS so that it no longer favor the North America but search for the nearest satellite instead. I notice this change already make my gps quick enough so I don't bother..
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
I have the same problem. The only solution I found was to disable networks location. Is there any app to identify clearly what is the app that it's requesting location from Google services? It is not maps because with 3g watchdog installed it reports separated (maps and Google services) the leak is on Google services.
Ps: I have found that this problem only exists when connected to a WiFi network. On 3g the requests are less intensive.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Well I've just been doing some investigating with Better Battery Stats to find out why my battery was so bad with JB compared to ICS, then googled the NetworkLocationLocator as that seems to be the problem which brought me here (I'm a member anyway).
I must say it's pretty disappointing that this problem is occurring because surely the same option was being used in ICS and it never drained my battery back then. The only thing I can think of is Google Now has something to do with this. I have Google Now disabled anyway as (although it's a brilliant feature) it doesn't really benefit me as I don't travel around much, but I get the feeling that is the root of this problem because that's the biggest change in coming from ICS to JB (other than cosmetics and UI) right?
This is not even a problem.
People tick all kind of options or fail to go to see their apps properly starting from Facebook, Google+ , Google now, weather apps... And then complain how come they get excessive polling.
Problem lies in those same people wanting those services to record their location , but don't want any battery drain... At least case with all those around me that asked.
Trust me without WiFi and network triangulation the same services when allowed waste way more power using real GPS.
Testing JKay alpha on GT-I9300
Idan73 said:
This is not even a problem.
People tick all kind of options or fail to go to see their apps properly starting from Facebook, Google+ , Google now, weather apps... And then complain how come they get excessive polling.
Problem lies in those same people wanting those services to record their location , but don't want any battery drain... At least case with all those around me that asked.
Trust me without WiFi and network triangulation the same services when allowed waste way more power using real GPS.
Testing JKay alpha on GT-I9300
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the sweeping generalisation but I had the exact same option ticked in ICS and it was never a problem. Fact is in JB it causes a problem for some reason. It may be Google Now, who knows, but one things for sure, I should be able to have that option ticked and not have it keep my phone awake all night.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
Maybe I misunderstood. Sorry.
I use Google now and maps for network location as well as fancy widget polling every 2 hours. All other apps I individually where permitted set to off.
This setup does not keep my phone all night. I see where it wakes the phone in intervals and does its thing and goes back to sleep. Combined with my exchange email polling every hour overnight, I don't see any excessive battery usage compared to what I had with ICS.
Testing JKay alpha on GT-I9300
Turn of location history, leave the rest on. Wakelock is still there but less.