Android App Battery Use

[+mikemtn]

I don't know if this has ever been done or not but I'd like for everyone that has issues with their Android phone using the Official Geocaching App using battery with the App closed to go to the Android Forums and let your concerns be known. It seems kind of funny to me that with as many comments there are in the forum and on the App page in the market that the admins are having a hard time reproducing this issue. Maybe if everybody goes and posts and votes on this one it will wake them up a little.

Edited January 28, 2011 by mikemtn

[+GeoGeeBee]

I don't know if this has ever been done or not but I'd like for everyone that has issues with their Android phone using the Official Geocaching App using battery with the App closed to go to the Android Forums and let your concerns be known. It seems kind of funny to me that with as many comments there are in the forum and on the App page in the market that the admins are having a hard time reproducing this issue. Maybe if everybody goes and posts and votes on this one it will wake them up a little.

 

I posted mine yesterday.

 

For those of you who don't know what we are talking about: the official geocaching app for Android phones has an issue on certain handsets, including the HTC EVO. It's a battery hog - which isn't too surprising, and by itself would be no big deal. The problem is that it continues to drain the battery even after closing the app. Even if you go into the settings menu and "kill" the app, or use an app killer program, it still somehow manages to consume power. Lots and lots of power.

 

The only way to stop it is to turn the phone completely off, then turn it back on.

[+Walts Hunting]

One of the first things I installed on my Droidx was Advanced Task Killer and set it to kill unused apps every 15 minutes. This has eliminated all battery problems. Occasionally it takes a few seconds to open an app that hasn't been used recently but not a significant problem.

[+GeoGeeBee]

One of the first things I installed on my Droidx was Advanced Task Killer and set it to kill unused apps every 15 minutes. This has eliminated all battery problems. Occasionally it takes a few seconds to open an app that hasn't been used recently but not a significant problem.

I have Advanced Task Killer. I used it to kill the Geocaching app, but according to the battery monitor in the settings app, the Geocaching app continued to use power after I killed it.

[+mikemtn]

OK, so I guess this not as big of an issue as it looked like and that I thought it was. I guess the few of us that have this problem will have to live with it. If Elias wants to buy me a plane ticket from Tennessee I'll reproduce this issue for him. Thanks for the replies we did get.

Edited January 31, 2011 by mikemtn

[+LukeTrocity]

OK, so I guess this not as big of an issue as it looked like and that I thought it was. I guess the few of us that have this problem will have to live with it. If Elias wants to buy me a plane ticket from Tennessee I'll reproduce this issue for him. Thanks for the replies we did get.

I think the issue is many people don't realize its happening.

[+mikemtn]

OK, so I guess this not as big of an issue as it looked like and that I thought it was. I guess the few of us that have this problem will have to live with it. If Elias wants to buy me a plane ticket from Tennessee I'll reproduce this issue for him. Thanks for the replies we did get.

I think the issue is many people don't realize its happening.

You probably hit the nail on the head. If people don't read the forums or the comments on the Market page they probably never look at the battery usage. Thanks.

 

Mike

[+GeoGeeBee]

OK, so I guess this not as big of an issue as it looked like and that I thought it was. I guess the few of us that have this problem will have to live with it. If Elias wants to buy me a plane ticket from Tennessee I'll reproduce this issue for him. Thanks for the replies we did get.

I think the issue is many people don't realize its happening.

You probably hit the nail on the head. If people don't read the forums or the comments on the Market page they probably never look at the battery usage. Thanks.

 

 

I don't know about that... After using my EVO for a couple of days I went geocaching. Found one cache, had the app running for all of 10 minutes. A couple hours later my battery was nearly dead. "Whoa," I thought, "I usually can run for a full day. What happened?" And I clicked on settings, etc. and saw that 80% of my battery usage for the day was from the Geocaching app. That bit of information sent me to the forums in search of a solution, not the other way around.

 

It's really pretty hard to miss. Run for days without running down your battery, then go geocaching, get dead battery.

 

I don't think it's that people don't know they have the problem; it seems more like it's only a few phones, all of them made by HTC, that have the problem. So it only affects a few of us. But for those of us that it affects, it's a real deal-breaker. It's enough to make one switch to The App That Cannot Be Named In These Forums.

[+mikemtn]

OK, so I guess this not as big of an issue as it looked like and that I thought it was. I guess the few of us that have this problem will have to live with it. If Elias wants to buy me a plane ticket from Tennessee I'll reproduce this issue for him. Thanks for the replies we did get.

I think the issue is many people don't realize its happening.

You probably hit the nail on the head. If people don't read the forums or the comments on the Market page they probably never look at the battery usage. Thanks.

 

 

I don't know about that... After using my EVO for a couple of days I went geocaching. Found one cache, had the app running for all of 10 minutes. A couple hours later my battery was nearly dead. "Whoa," I thought, "I usually can run for a full day. What happened?" And I clicked on settings, etc. and saw that 80% of my battery usage for the day was from the Geocaching app. That bit of information sent me to the forums in search of a solution, not the other way around.

 

It's really pretty hard to miss. Run for days without running down your battery, then go geocaching, get dead battery.

 

I don't think it's that people don't know they have the problem; it seems more like it's only a few phones, all of them made by HTC, that have the problem. So it only affects a few of us. But for those of us that it affects, it's a real deal-breaker. It's enough to make one switch to The App That Cannot Be Named In These Forums.

 

I don't know, I was thinking, (I know, that's dangerous for me) maybe it's a phantom type of thing. I know that in addition to the app I always have the GPS running and it is a battery hog. I really don't know for sure how much difference there is in battery drain or how to gauge it when not using the app. Either way it ain't right. I have a Motorola Droid so it's not just HTC. Just cause the admins can't reproduce this issue it's not going to go away.

Edited January 31, 2011 by mikemtn

[+ocklawahaboy]

OK, so I guess this not as big of an issue as it looked like and that I thought it was. I guess the few of us that have this problem will have to live with it. If Elias wants to buy me a plane ticket from Tennessee I'll reproduce this issue for him. Thanks for the replies we did get.

I think the issue is many people don't realize its happening.

You probably hit the nail on the head. If people don't read the forums or the comments on the Market page they probably never look at the battery usage. Thanks.

 

I've got the Moto Droid 2 and just looked. 25% of my batter use today was the app and the only time I opened it was to see the location of one newly published cache is. So I guess it's been running ever since. I charge mine every night so it hasn't made my phone go dead yet but it isn't going to do anything for the lifespan of a very expensive battery.

 

I don't know about that... After using my EVO for a couple of days I went geocaching. Found one cache, had the app running for all of 10 minutes. A couple hours later my battery was nearly dead. "Whoa," I thought, "I usually can run for a full day. What happened?" And I clicked on settings, etc. and saw that 80% of my battery usage for the day was from the Geocaching app. That bit of information sent me to the forums in search of a solution, not the other way around.

 

It's really pretty hard to miss. Run for days without running down your battery, then go geocaching, get dead battery.

 

I don't think it's that people don't know they have the problem; it seems more like it's only a few phones, all of them made by HTC, that have the problem. So it only affects a few of us. But for those of us that it affects, it's a real deal-breaker. It's enough to make one switch to The App That Cannot Be Named In These Forums.

 

I don't know, I was thinking, (I know, that's dangerous for me) maybe it's a phantom type of thing. I know that in addition to the app I always have the GPS running and it is a battery hog. Either way it ain't right. I have a Motorola Droid so it's not just HTC. Just cause the admins can't reproduce this issue it's not going to go away.

[+Happy Bubbles]

I don't have this problem with my Sony Ericsson xperia.

[+mikemtn]

I'm just scared they'll do an update before they figure out that this is really big problem. If everybody would go to the Android Forums and vote on this issue sooner or later the admins are going to have to tell us something.

[+JJnTJ]

I often cache with an HTC Aria (Android, AT&T). I have not run into this, either on the stock version of Android 2.1, nor my "rooted" 2.2. However, I do tend to frequently kill background tasks with an app called "SystemPanel Lite."

 

It may be my ignorance with Android, but it's a headscratcher why some apps completely close themselves when you exit them, while others stay in the background. The GC app used to close itself when I was running 2.1 if I clicked "back" enough times. On 2.2 it stays in the background.

[July4Patriot]

I stopped using the official app and use another app (not allowed to mention it on here) and I don't have a battery issue anymore.

[+LukeTrocity]

I often cache with an HTC Aria (Android, AT&T). I have not run into this, either on the stock version of Android 2.1, nor my "rooted" 2.2. However, I do tend to frequently kill background tasks with an app called "SystemPanel Lite."

 

It may be my ignorance with Android, but it's a headscratcher why some apps completely close themselves when you exit them, while others stay in the background. The GC app used to close itself when I was running 2.1 if I clicked "back" enough times. On 2.2 it stays in the background.

Using an app killer doesn't work in this situation

[+pamgod]

I don't know if this has ever been done or not but I'd like for everyone that has issues with their Android phone using the Official Geocaching App using battery with the App closed to go to the Android Forums and let your concerns be known. It seems kind of funny to me that with as many comments there are in the forum and on the App page in the market that the admins are having a hard time reproducing this issue. Maybe if everybody goes and posts and votes on this one it will wake them up a little.

 

I posted mine yesterday.

 

For those of you who don't know what we are talking about: the official geocaching app for Android phones has an issue on certain handsets, including the HTC EVO. It's a battery hog - which isn't too surprising, and by itself would be no big deal. The problem is that it continues to drain the battery even after closing the app. Even if you go into the settings menu and "kill" the app, or use an app killer program, it still somehow manages to consume power. Lots and lots of power.

 

The only way to stop it is to turn the phone completely off, then turn it back on.

 

I bought a spare battery. $8 on ebay. make sure to buy only oem batteries.

[LordShamrock]

If anyone actually finds something that works besides turning the phone off give me the heads up. That's the only downside to the official app.

[+GeoGeeBee]

If anyone actually finds something that works besides turning the phone off give me the heads up. That's the only downside to the official app.

I can tell you what DOESN'T work: the Advanced Task Killer app. It "kills" the Geocaching app, but an hour later you'll still see that the geocaching app is your largest consumer of battery power.

[LordShamrock]

I've noticed that with the Advanced Task Killer. I still have no idea weather it makes a difference for other apps or not. My phone also isn't an HTC Model. I have the LG OPTIMUS S and am having the same problem. So I wonder which phones aren't having the battery issue with the official app.

Edited February 23, 2011 by shawnshamrock

[+keehotee]

If anyone actually finds something that works besides turning the phone off give me the heads up. That's the only downside to the official app.

I can tell you what DOESN'T work: the Advanced Task Killer app. It "kills" the Geocaching app, but an hour later you'll still see that the geocaching app is your largest consumer of battery power.

 

Can't speak for Advanced Task Killer, but TasKiller stops it.

[+LukeTrocity]

If anyone actually finds something that works besides turning the phone off give me the heads up. That's the only downside to the official app.

I can tell you what DOESN'T work: the Advanced Task Killer app. It "kills" the Geocaching app, but an hour later you'll still see that the geocaching app is your largest consumer of battery power.

Just tried it and it failed....rebooting.

 

Can't speak for Advanced Task Killer, but TasKiller stops it.

[+mikemtn]

If anyone actually finds something that works besides turning the phone off give me the heads up. That's the only downside to the official app.

I can tell you what DOESN'T work: the Advanced Task Killer app. It "kills" the Geocaching app, but an hour later you'll still see that the geocaching app is your largest consumer of battery power.

Just tried it and it failed....rebooting.

 

Can't speak for Advanced Task Killer, but TasKiller stops it.

I've got probably 25 apps and I'm not going to install a task killer just for one defective app. Can't see buying a spare battery just for one defective app. Please, everybody that hasn't voted in the Android forum go here and vote for this issue. Vote even if you don't have the problem. Heck, vote if you don't have an Android. I don't know what good it will do, all the admins must have got fired or died or something.

[+venushiker]

I have not added the app to my droid x but will post. Anyone w/ the droid x have issues w/ it freezing or navigating slow?

[+TXHooligans]

i have lots and lots of apps on my phone.. and mine acts kinda wonky at times.. not sure it is the official app since it sometimes happens when i haven't opened the app. i do have to cycle (off and on) my phone every other day.

 

now when caching i use the radar app which is part of the gps status app.. i think.. maybe it's coming form there since i think the other app has it's on radar app.. (i think)

 

problem is, i just can't remember enough specifics about my last day or so of phone use to really nail it down. we need some folks to really document what they do and then what happens to figure out what it is. may or may not be the official app.

 

i really feel it is something else.. sometimes, i can't get a GPS fix with any app.. like navagator or this other app i have that shows speed while the phone is in my cardock.

 

IT COULD BE ALMOST ANYTHING.

 

droid x..

 

who ever figures it out can share the next nobel peace prize with al gore!!!!

[+GeoGeeBee]

i just can't remember enough specifics about my last day or so of phone use to really nail it down.

 

<All Apps> Settings -> About Phone -> Battery -> Battery Use will tell you what is consuming power on your phone. You don't need a great memory to "nail it down."

[+Sky King 36]

Here's what I have noticed on my EVO...

 

Like others, when I go in to my battery status, the grounsdspeak app appears to be the largest consumer of my battery by far. But it's not actually consuming any battery. I get great battery life on my EVO once I exit the app. So my theory has always been this: There isn't any residue being left behind by the app that actually uses any battery. There IS, however, some residue left behind that makes the battery statup app think there's still battery being used.

 

[+keehotee]

If anyone actually finds something that works besides turning the phone off give me the heads up. That's the only downside to the official app.

I can tell you what DOESN'T work: the Advanced Task Killer app. It "kills" the Geocaching app, but an hour later you'll still see that the geocaching app is your largest consumer of battery power.

Just tried it and it failed....rebooting.

 

Can't speak for Advanced Task Killer, but TasKiller stops it.

 

Not sure I understand the significance of this post.

 

But to reiterate, I use TasKiller, and it stops the app. Going back into phone status hours or days later shows the GC app has not used any battery after killing it. My partner uses Advanced Task Killer, and has the same result I do. No app running after killing, no re-occurence, and no battery usage after.

 

We both use identical HTC Tattoos, running Android 1.6 on Vodafone in the UK - so perhaps the Android build has a bearing on the problem???

[+Team BowMint]

I don't know if this has ever been done or not but I'd like for everyone that has issues with their Android phone using the Official Geocaching App using battery with the App closed to go to the Android Forums and let your concerns be known. It seems kind of funny to me that with as many comments there are in the forum and on the App page in the market that the admins are having a hard time reproducing this issue. Maybe if everybody goes and posts and votes on this one it will wake them up a little.

 

I posted mine yesterday.

 

For those of you who don't know what we are talking about: the official geocaching app for Android phones has an issue on certain handsets, including the HTC EVO. It's a battery hog - which isn't too surprising, and by itself would be no big deal. The problem is that it continues to drain the battery even after closing the app. Even if you go into the settings menu and "kill" the app, or use an app killer program, it still somehow manages to consume power. Lots and lots of power.

 

The only way to stop it is to turn the phone completely off, then turn it back on.

 

I have found on the HTC Incredible, you can go into the battery widget and Force Close the app from there... A hassle, but you don't have to re-boot the phone at least...

Edited February 28, 2011 by Team BowMint

[+LukeTrocity]

I don't know if this has ever been done or not but I'd like for everyone that has issues with their Android phone using the Official Geocaching App using battery with the App closed to go to the Android Forums and let your concerns be known. It seems kind of funny to me that with as many comments there are in the forum and on the App page in the market that the admins are having a hard time reproducing this issue. Maybe if everybody goes and posts and votes on this one it will wake them up a little.

 

I posted mine yesterday.

 

For those of you who don't know what we are talking about: the official geocaching app for Android phones has an issue on certain handsets, including the HTC EVO. It's a battery hog - which isn't too surprising, and by itself would be no big deal. The problem is that it continues to drain the battery even after closing the app. Even if you go into the settings menu and "kill" the app, or use an app killer program, it still somehow manages to consume power. Lots and lots of power.

 

The only way to stop it is to turn the phone completely off, then turn it back on.

 

I have found on the HTC Incredible, you can go into the battery widget and Force Close the app from there... A hassle, but you don't have to re-boot the phone at least...

I've tried this and it still runs on mine after.

[+Team BowMint]

If anyone actually finds something that works besides turning the phone off give me the heads up. That's the only downside to the official app.

Force close in the Battery widget that you have surely already installed...

[+Team BowMint]

I don't know if this has ever been done or not but I'd like for everyone that has issues with their Android phone using the Official Geocaching App using battery with the App closed to go to the Android Forums and let your concerns be known. It seems kind of funny to me that with as many comments there are in the forum and on the App page in the market that the admins are having a hard time reproducing this issue. Maybe if everybody goes and posts and votes on this one it will wake them up a little.

 

I posted mine yesterday.

 

For those of you who don't know what we are talking about: the official geocaching app for Android phones has an issue on certain handsets, including the HTC EVO. It's a battery hog - which isn't too surprising, and by itself would be no big deal. The problem is that it continues to drain the battery even after closing the app. Even if you go into the settings menu and "kill" the app, or use an app killer program, it still somehow manages to consume power. Lots and lots of power.

 

The only way to stop it is to turn the phone completely off, then turn it back on.

 

I have found on the HTC Incredible, you can go into the battery widget and Force Close the app from there... A hassle, but you don't have to re-boot the phone at least...

I've tried this and it still runs on mine after.

On what phone?

[LordShamrock]

Here's what I have noticed on my EVO...

 

Like others, when I go in to my battery status, the grounsdspeak app appears to be the largest consumer of my battery by far. But it's not actually consuming any battery. I get great battery life on my EVO once I exit the app. So my theory has always been this: There isn't any residue being left behind by the app that actually uses any battery. There IS, however, some residue left behind that makes the battery statup app think there's still battery being used.

 

I was starting to think that as well but haven't yet tested that theory out.

[+TXHooligans]

I think the app list in the battery screen does not update when an app is killed but when the chord is plugged in/un-plugged.

 

Kinda makes it look like the battery app is lieing to you.

 

Just a thought.....

[+JJnTJ]

I think the app list in the battery screen does not update when an app is killed but when the chord is plugged in/un-plugged.

 

Kinda makes it look like the battery app is lieing to you.

 

Just a thought.....

 

I wonder if the GC.com app has somehow accidentally been confused for the "idle" app by the phone. I haven't run the app in a couple of days, and certainly not since unplugging the phone from its charger this morning. It's not running now, but the battery status says it's responsible for 96% of my battery use. (HTC Aria, rooted) The option to "Force Stop" it is greyed out since it's not running.

 

I think I'll uninstall it for a few days and see if the battery magically lasts longer. I doubt it.

 

Edit: after uninstalling it, things like "Cell standby", "Phone idle" and "Wi-Fi" have appeared in the Battery Use menu. Curious.

Edited February 28, 2011 by JJnTJ

[+wyld_bill2003]

This is happening on the Samsung Epic as well. The percent of battery usage continues to rise even though the app has been shut down. The only way to get it to completely shut down, is to power off the phone. I have added my vote to the Android forums.

[+Sky King 36]

I wonder if the GC.com app has somehow accidentally been confused for the "idle" app by the phone. I haven't run the app in a couple of days, and certainly not since unplugging the phone from its charger this morning. It's not running now, but the battery status says it's responsible for 96% of my battery use. (HTC Aria, rooted) The option to "Force Stop" it is greyed out since it's not running.

 

I think I'll uninstall it for a few days and see if the battery magically lasts longer. I doubt it.

 

Edit: after uninstalling it, things like "Cell standby", "Phone idle" and "Wi-Fi" have appeared in the Battery Use menu. Curious.

You know, I have always thought the same thing. Lets just do a fer'instance... What if there's a process that runs in the background that does something related to location services, etc... And when you run the geocaching app, somehow the kernel erroneously associates the geocaching app's PID with those services, and when you exit geocaching, it looks to the kernel like the GC app is using all that battery. GPS Status, which the app uses for the radar view, remains running after the gc app closes, for instance.

 

Here's the counter argument though. On my EVO, even after several hours, my battery stats will be something like "geocaching 96%, Cell Standby 2%", etc... hard to imagine that the processes that were accidentally associated with the GC app PID are really using up 96% of my CPU's used cycles. In other words, I am stumped.

 

Which begs the question... what if somehow, the kernel's linux equivalent of the "system idle process" somehow became associated with the GC app's PID. Then, indeed, you would expect to always see every unused CPU clock cycle associated with the GC app, and that is exactly the behavior I am seeing on my EVO.

Edited March 1, 2011 by Sky King 36

[+LukeTrocity]

I think the app list in the battery screen does not update when an app is killed but when the chord is plugged in/un-plugged.

 

Kinda makes it look like the battery app is lieing to you.

 

Just a thought.....

It's a thought for sure, but tough to test for imo.

[+GeoGeeBee]

I think the app list in the battery screen does not update when an app is killed but when the chord is plugged in/un-plugged.

 

Kinda makes it look like the battery app is lieing to you.

 

Just a thought.....

It's a thought for sure, but tough to test for imo.

 

I think y'all are on to something here.

 

Yesterday I went out and found a couple of caches during my lunch hour. When I was done, I used the Advanced Task Killer app to kill the geocaching app. On the way back to the office I plugged the phone into the car charger. The battery was at 100% when I got back to work at 1:30 PM.

 

I used my phone normally for the rest of the day. In fact, it was a longer than normal day because I went to a concert last night. When I got home near midnight, I still had over 70% of my battery capacity left.

 

The interesting thing, to me, is that it shows the Geocaching app as being the largest use of power - 92%. But the app doesn't show up on any list of open apps (ie, task killer) and the battery usage doesn't seem abnormally high.

 

(HTC EVO, Android version 2.2)

[+mikemtn]

I had this idea a few posts back calling it a ghost thing. I think the most frustrating thing about the whole thing now is the lack of any communication from the admins. It would probably take a fair typist 15 seconds to make a "we're still working on it" post. It looks more like they've given up on it and are skeered to tell us.

[+TXHooligans]

I haven't looked for this on the feedback sight, but that is the place to get their attention. Start a thread on it and we'll vote on it. That is the official way to get their attention and it works.

[+GeoGeeBee]

I haven't looked for this on the feedback sight, but that is the place to get their attention. Start a thread on it and we'll vote on it. That is the official way to get their attention and it works.

 

Oh, you mean like this one, that's already been mentioned several times in this thread: http://feedback.geocaching.com/forums/75279-geocaching-for-android/suggestions/1092545-app-continues-to-use-battery-after-exit

[+JJnTJ]

My unscientific findings after a couple of days with the Groundspeak app uninstalled: battery life is quite a bit better! I went two days without charging, and with about typical use. That has never happened before. Normally I have to charge it every night regardless of whether I've done any caching.

 

It looks like I'll just have to uninstall the Groundspeak app whenever I'm not using it.

 

Phone specs again: HTC Aria (AT&T). OS: Froyo, rooted.

Edited March 3, 2011 by JJnTJ

[+Sky King 36]

It looks like I'll just have to uninstall the Groundspeak app whenever I'm not using it.

 

I just go into app settings and verify that it's not running, and if it is, I force close it. Are you sure you really need to uninstall?

[+GeoGeeBee]

It looks like I'll just have to uninstall the Groundspeak app whenever I'm not using it.

 

I just go into app settings and verify that it's not running, and if it is, I force close it. Are you sure you really need to uninstall?

 

To reiterate: on some specific phones, the app appears to keep running even when it has been force-closed. That's sort of the whole point of this thread.

[+JJnTJ]

I just go into app settings and verify that it's not running, and if it is, I force close it. Are you sure you really need to uninstall?

 

And further to what GeoGeeBee said (and I previously posted): the app is not running; there's nothing to force close. Somehow, my phone uses more power when the app is installed, even when it's not running.

 

It doesn't make any sense, but it's true. I didn't think this affected me before, because the app was easily killed. But my battery life has been dramatically increased by uninstalling the app.

Edited March 3, 2011 by JJnTJ

[Brad_W]

I wonder if the GC.com app has somehow accidentally been confused for the "idle" app by the phone. I haven't run the app in a couple of days, and certainly not since unplugging the phone from its charger this morning. It's not running now, but the battery status says it's responsible for 96% of my battery use. (HTC Aria, rooted) The option to "Force Stop" it is greyed out since it's not running.

 

I think I'll uninstall it for a few days and see if the battery magically lasts longer. I doubt it.

 

Edit: after uninstalling it, things like "Cell standby", "Phone idle" and "Wi-Fi" have appeared in the Battery Use menu. Curious.

You know, I have always thought the same thing. Lets just do a fer'instance... What if there's a process that runs in the background that does something related to location services, etc... And when you run the geocaching app, somehow the kernel erroneously associates the geocaching app's PID with those services, and when you exit geocaching, it looks to the kernel like the GC app is using all that battery. GPS Status, which the app uses for the radar view, remains running after the gc app closes, for instance.

 

Here's the counter argument though. On my EVO, even after several hours, my battery stats will be something like "geocaching 96%, Cell Standby 2%", etc... hard to imagine that the processes that were accidentally associated with the GC app PID are really using up 96% of my CPU's used cycles. In other words, I am stumped.

 

Which begs the question... what if somehow, the kernel's linux equivalent of the "system idle process" somehow became associated with the GC app's PID. Then, indeed, you would expect to always see every unused CPU clock cycle associated with the GC app, and that is exactly the behavior I am seeing on my EVO.

This issue may well be of interest to the development team, so please note the questions and comments in the Android Support forum on the Feedback site.

 

Thank you.

[+JJnTJ]

After a few weeks with the Groundspeak app uninstalled, I am routinely going two days between recharges. This was impossible with the Groundspeak app installed; I could last maybe a day and a half if I was miserly.

 

I've gone back to c:geo for my impulse caching. I'd rather use the Groundspeak app. Please apply the resources to fix this.

[+GeoGeeBee]

After a few weeks with the Groundspeak app uninstalled, I am routinely going two days between recharges. This was impossible with the Groundspeak app installed; I could last maybe a day and a half if I was miserly.

 

I've gone back to c:geo for my impulse caching. I'd rather use the Groundspeak app. Please apply the resources to fix this.

 

Was the Groundspeak app installed when your phone was brand new?

 

I ask, because after a couple of weeks of charge/discharge cycles, my phone's battery life increased significantly. The removal of the Groundspeak app may not have caused the increased battery life.

 

I have the GS app installed, and it has the problems described in this thread. But turning my phone off after using the app is enough to avoid the issue. I don't mind doing that, since my EVO starts up so much faster than my old Blackberry did.

[Keystone]

Moving from Geocaching Topics forum.

[+JJnTJ]

Was the Groundspeak app installed when your phone was brand new?

 

I ask, because after a couple of weeks of charge/discharge cycles, my phone's battery life increased significantly. The removal of the Groundspeak app may not have caused the increased battery life.

 

I have the GS app installed, and it has the problems described in this thread. But turning my phone off after using the app is enough to avoid the issue. I don't mind doing that, since my EVO starts up so much faster than my old Blackberry did.

 

That's a good thing to consider, and I've seen that on other devices powered by Lithium batteries. But I don't think my sudden increase in life is from the battery "breaking-in". I've had my phone since August 1, and only installed the Groundspeak app in November. I did not notice the immediate decline, since I was using my phone for quite a lot of things in those days.

 

Since January I have been using power-hungry functions (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, etc.) less. The need for daily charging was only mildly annoying. Then I uninstalled the app as an experiment and was instantly able to go two days between charges without changing how I used the phone.

 

So while I initially thought the battery usage from the Groundspeak app was some weird mistake, I now believe the app somehow uses quite a bit of power even when it's not "running" according to the Android OS.

Edited March 24, 2011 by JJnTJ