Discussion on:

Five tips for saving battery life on an Android phone

On my Blackberry, the GPS turns off automatically when I'm not using it.

When I start the camera, the "geotag" icon is red for a while, and then turns green when the GPS has a fix.

When I start Google Maps, the "location" is cellular aided for a while, and then switches to GPS. If I leave Google Maps running, but it isn't in the foreground, the GPS shuts off. This is most obvious if you use Google Latitude history. If Maps is in the foreground, you get GPS tracks. If it is not in the foreground, you get cellular positioned tracks, with an obvious change in resolution.

I would be surprised if Android is any different, so turning off GPS would accomplish nearly nothing in battery life.

You left one out turn your brightness all the way down to its lowest setting. You will see that the screen is actually still bright at that setting. Just use a power widget to adjust the brightness on the go when you need it, settings like 0, 50, 100.

on my Evo (android 2.1 still), when Navigator turns on GPS, GPS stays enabled no matter what.

I guess the app developer needs to ask to turn off GPS when the app exits or is closed.

hey,

do you use google navigation? or custom navigator?
custom navigators might have coded themself so they don't go in sleep, thus they require GPS-update all the time.

also not sure if GPS has sleep on 2.1.x

Although I too have used task killers if you don't understand how android rates applications 100 running in foreground 200 running in the backgroundand it goes down the line with the apps rated 400 and 500 being able to be killed off memory usage plus is an app that uses this strategy

Thanks some of this tips are really going to save me some headache, especially now in the summer when you want to be in the park with your familly but still able to check your important email without having to worried so much about your battery life...

So there is no need for those teak killer apps!

Besides not all tasks are in fact tasks.

http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2010/04/multitasking-android-way.html

I am a cell phone technician and I have found that the Android Advanced Task Killer generates a lot of problems. First, it is counterproductive, in that it is always running, therefore pulling on the battery. That also takes back the CPU speed quite a bit. Most customers with the app experience a lot of lag, freezing, and force closes. Also most Android phones are on the 2.3 OS (Gingerbread) or 2.2 (Froyo) and have built in task killers. Some phones can even have a program monitor as a widget.

Some other battery saving tips that I advise customers follow include;
-Still Wallpaper. Motion wall papers use Battery life and CPU speed.
-Leave Bluetooth off unless it are in use. This means that the user will have to mannually turn this function on and off before and after use.
-Turn on the phone's auto brightness feature.
-Do not leave phones in hot vehicles.