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GPS Drive Motion X Battery Drain?

M

Mr. Incredible

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 16, 2010
541
0
Southern California
GPS Drive Motion X is probably the best navigation app out there. For just $0.99, you get landscape view navigation, and voice turn by turn directions!

Completely PWNS the built in Maps app that the iPhone 4 comes with.

But does having landscape view nav w/ voice turn by turn directions come with a price?

Yeah, besides the $0.99, it also completely drains your battery!!!

I was navigating a 40 mile trip, just about a 40-50 minute drive, and more than half the time, probably about 60-80% of the time, my phone was asleep/locked. But even when it's locked, it's still sending a signal back and forth!

So within the 45 minute drive, My battery life went from 86% to 64%!!!!

I mean, when I play music it doesn't even drain my power that bad, but this was ridiculous!

Does anyone else have the same problem with this app, or does anyone else out there even use this app?

It's a great app, don't get me wrong, but you really need to have it plugged into your car to maintain some battery life.
 
Mr. Incredible said:
GPS Drive Motion X is probably the best navigation app out there. For just $0.99, you get landscape view navigation, and voice turn by turn directions!

Completely PWNS the built in Maps app that the iPhone 4 comes with.

But does having landscape view nav w/ voice turn by turn directions come with a price?

Yeah, besides the $0.99, it also completely drains your battery!!!

I was navigating a 40 mile trip, just about a 40-50 minute drive, and more than half the time, probably about 60-80% of the time, my phone was asleep/locked. But even when it's locked, it's still sending a signal back and forth!

So within the 45 minute drive, My battery life went from 86% to 64%!!!!

I mean, when I play music it doesn't even drain my power that bad, but this was ridiculous!

Does anyone else have the same problem with this app, or does anyone else out there even use this app?

It's a great app, don't get me wrong, but you really need to have it plugged into your car to maintain some battery life.
Click to expand...

I've heard that even if you have it plugged in to a car charger or something that it still drains.
 
Whorehay said:
I've heard that even if you have it plugged in to a car charger or something that it still drains.
Click to expand...

Are you serious? That's just ridiculous. I don't know if that's even true though. I mean, my experience was a bittersweet, and I don't know if you even have the app, you're just telling me from what you've heard.

I'd like to hear from other members who have tried the app, just to see if we're all on the same boat.
 
Mr. Incredible said:
But over 20% in less than an hour? Plus, the phone was locked more than half the time, but data was still being sent, and man, it really kills battery.

Do you even use the app?
Click to expand...

Do you even understand what you're talking about? Of course it's sending data in the background, that's what it's supposed to do. Persistent data/GPS use will drain the battery faster than listening to music, just like listening to music will drain more battery than leaving it in standby.
Actually owning the app doesn't make a difference in how it operates.
 
My experience is that these programs are big battery users. I had the same problem with my Blackberry and GPS programs. Huge energy users.

Some cyclists use these programs, including Motionx, and often will carry portable chargers.
 
Yeah it'll be a huge drain. It's not an equal comparison to put it against the built-in map app. When your phone sleeps when you're using the map app, it doesn't track your position in the background, nor does it load maps. You can tell this because when you wake your phone, it'll take a couple seconds to get a hotfix again on the GPS signal.
 
blevins321 said:
Yeah it'll be a huge drain. It's not an equal comparison to put it against the built-in map app. When your phone sleeps when you're using the map app, it doesn't track your position in the background, nor does it load maps. You can tell this because when you wake your phone, it'll take a couple seconds to get a hotfix again on the GPS signal.
Click to expand...

Exactly this. Meanwhile, TomTom, Navigon, MotionX, and so on will all keep GPS in high power mode while the screen is locked in order to give you turn by turn directions.

As for the drain while still being charged mentioned by Whorehay, that depends on a couple factors:

Does the charger provide 500mA (2.5W) or 1-2A (5-10W)? The latter provides 5W to the iPhone which is more than enough to charge it.

Which iPhone do you have plugged into the charger? An iPhone 3GS with TomTom + Music + Screen on draws ~3W. An iPhone 4 with the same situation draws ~2W. I was surprised by the difference myself. 200mA is nothing to sneeze at. I suspect it was one of the reasons for moving to the Broadcom GPS chip in the iPhone 4, along with the better performance (the iPhone 4 outclasses the 3GS in terms of accuracy and handling of multipath issues with GPS signals).
 
I haven't used it for long enough of a time yet to gauge how much of a battery drain it is, but it is expected, since it's constantly keeping up a data & GPS connection. One thing I noticed about Motion X is that it continues to fully run even in the background, so when you are done using it, you must either go to the menu and "Stop Navigation," or close it down from the multitasking dock.
Otherwise, it will still be running "everything," draining your battery even more when you might think it's not.

First time I used it, I thought simply by closing it from the home screen stopped it, until a few moments later when I walked far enough away to hear "Re Routing" coming from my pocket!
 
Charging while using Motion X

My iphone4 charges up just fine while using Motion X. Both with my Monster wireless audio cable that I bought for my 1st generation iPod (says this device is not optimized but works with no problems) and my Kensington micro bolt. If it isn't plugged into something it is a huge battery drain. Same thing with stand alone GPS units, their batteries don't last long either unless plugged into a charger.
 
Its not really .99 for the app and voice though correct? After your 30 day trial dont you pay $20 for voice navigation? OP makes it seem like you get it all for .99
 
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