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Official Android App and battery usage


Galena_uk

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Hi there,

 

Sorry if this has already been discussed, or if it is in the wrong place, but I was wondering whether anyone else has had this problem:

 

I recently bought an HTC Wildfire and was getting 5-6 days between charges with my battery. I then installed the official Groundspeak Android app and suddenly I'm getting just over 2 days between charges. When I check out the battery use, it was saying that system standby and so on were using most of the battery, now it says Geocaching is using 96% of the battery! I have only opened it once so far to see what the app was like, but it seems that it uses the battery even if I'm not using the application.

 

Is there a setting I haven't found which will stop this happening (I have tried to look and found nothing), is everyone else having the same problem, or am I just lucky(!)?

 

Many thanks,

 

Galena_uk

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I use Advanced Task Killer set for 30 minutes. I just ran a test. Opened the app, looked for a cache, had it start navigation and then backed out. It still showed active in the background. Waited until the task killer has cycled and it was gone from the applications folder under settings.

 

I haven't had any battery problems since I go the Task Killer.

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Task killers actually do more harm than good. Sorry to say but its a fact. Android is set up differently than windows and as such task killers aren't needed. Its a total myth.

 

Also "killing" the gc app does not work for me...only a reboot will.

 

This is all true right here. I don't know what's taking them so long to address this problem, I had the same issue with c:geo about six months ago and contacted the developer about it. He had it fixed in a couple days.

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Task killers actually do more harm than good. Sorry to say but its a fact. Android is set up differently than windows and as such task killers aren't needed. Its a total myth.

 

Also "killing" the gc app does not work for me...only a reboot will.

 

Just curious - in what way do they do more harm than good? I got used to using one when I had an iPaq, so it was one of the first apps I loaded when I got an Android phone, but didn't realise they did any harm - can you elaborate....

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Just curious - in what way do they do more harm than good? I got used to using one when I had an iPaq, so it was one of the first apps I loaded when I got an Android phone, but didn't realise they did any harm - can you elaborate....

 

They don't do any harm, in fact, it is a sound practice when talking about battery conservation. There seems to be a small faction of users who have bought into this myth that they are somehow harmful. Practical use will shown you otherwise.

 

However be mindful, one of the complaints that have been mentioned in the forums is that simply killing the app does not work for all. GS is working it out.

Edited by baloo&bd
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Task killers actually do more harm than good. Sorry to say but its a fact. Android is set up differently than windows and as such task killers aren't needed. Its a total myth.

 

Also "killing" the gc app does not work for me...only a reboot will.

 

Just curious - in what way do they do more harm than good? I got used to using one when I had an iPaq, so it was one of the first apps I loaded when I got an Android phone, but didn't realise they did any harm - can you elaborate....

Without getting to technical, android manages memory without the need for them. If your not using an app android will automatically stop it from running. so freeing up memory isn't usually needed since as long as the app is in the background it's not using any.

 

As far as how this effects battery life, think about it in terms of a light bulb. You use more energy turning them on than you do letting them run. When you kill the app you waste that energy reopen...

 

And if by small faction of people don't use them you mean the ones that understand android your right. reboot your phone once a day and don't worry about app killers.

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Without getting to technical, android manages memory without the need for them. If your not using an app android will automatically stop it from running. so freeing up memory isn't usually needed since as long as the app is in the background it's not using any.

Android/Linux does multi-tasking. Tasks running in the background use CPU cycles and CPU cycles burn dynamic power. Memory usage has nothing to do with it, in my opinion. Hold the "home" key to switch to running background apps.
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Task killers actually do more harm than good. Sorry to say but its a fact. Android is set up differently than windows and as such task killers aren't needed. Its a total myth.

 

Also "killing" the gc app does not work for me...only a reboot will.

 

Just curious - in what way do they do more harm than good? I got used to using one when I had an iPaq, so it was one of the first apps I loaded when I got an Android phone, but didn't realise they did any harm - can you elaborate....

Without getting to technical, android manages memory without the need for them. If your not using an app android will automatically stop it from running. so freeing up memory isn't usually needed since as long as the app is in the background it's not using any.

 

As far as how this effects battery life, think about it in terms of a light bulb. You use more energy turning them on than you do letting them run. When you kill the app you waste that energy reopen...

 

And if by small faction of people don't use them you mean the ones that understand android your right. reboot your phone once a day and don't worry about app killers.

 

As to the amount of energy to turn on a light vs leaving it running Mythbusters blew that sky high with a set of extensive testing some time ago. Put that down as old wives tale that has been proven false.

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Without getting to technical, android manages memory without the need for them. If your not using an app android will automatically stop it from running. so freeing up memory isn't usually needed since as long as the app is in the background it's not using any.

 

As far as how this effects battery life, think about it in terms of a light bulb. You use more energy turning them on than you do letting them run. When you kill the app you waste that energy reopen...

 

And if by small faction of people don't use them you mean the ones that understand android your right. reboot your phone once a day and don't worry about app killers.

 

Your mileage may vary, however back to the original point, those of us that work with this daily (i.e. "understand Android") will tell you the app killers properly written and used will have no adverse affect.

Link to comment

Task killers actually do more harm than good. Sorry to say but its a fact. Android is set up differently than windows and as such task killers aren't needed. Its a total myth.

 

Also "killing" the gc app does not work for me...only a reboot will.

 

Just curious - in what way do they do more harm than good? I got used to using one when I had an iPaq, so it was one of the first apps I loaded when I got an Android phone, but didn't realise they did any harm - can you elaborate....

Without getting to technical, android manages memory without the need for them. If your not using an app android will automatically stop it from running. so freeing up memory isn't usually needed since as long as the app is in the background it's not using any.

 

As far as how this effects battery life, think about it in terms of a light bulb. You use more energy turning them on than you do letting them run. When you kill the app you waste that energy reopen...

 

And if by small faction of people don't use them you mean the ones that understand android your right. reboot your phone once a day and don't worry about app killers.

 

As to the amount of energy to turn on a light vs leaving it running Mythbusters blew that sky high with a set of extensive testing some time ago. Put that down as old wives tale that has been proven false.

Sorry I'm not up on my mythbusters...

 

Anywho back on point, app killers dont kill the gc app.

 

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