Power consumption - Has it crept up?

[P Wat]

Has OsmAnd power consumption been creeping up?

I first noticed the problem several months ago, but have only recently had the opportunity to analyse it. 

Just normal daily use receiving mail, texts, making the odd phone call, running Osmand as a map, the consumption is OK.  Battery lasts all day, and more.

Running OsmAnd for navigation (route instructions, etc) it eats my battery in an unacceptable time, eg 45 minutes.

A coupe of years ago I was able to navigate for 8 or 10 hours without problems

See pic attached.

Technical info:-

Phone Motorola Moto X Force

Android 7.0

Osmand+ 3.9.10

Osmand Nautical 1.0

Osmand contour lines 1.0

[Xavier]

First question: Is the phone today the same phone from "a couple of
years ago"?

Second question: If it is the same phone, is it *also* the same battery
from "a couple of years ago"?

These are important facts to know, because if it is a different phone
today than "a couple of years ago" you can't reliably compare "runtime
a couple years ago" to "runtime today".

Also, if it is the same battery (which would also mean same phone) then
the batterie's capacity will have dropped in the interveaning years, so
the battery will be less able to stand up to heavy current usage now as
compared to a couple years ago.

Also, I have seen it mentioned before in various places on the internet
that the GPS receivers in most phones are fairly power hungry, and if
the battery is not as strong today as it was a couple years ago (I am
assuming same battery here) then it might very well be able to support
the low current drain of "normal daily use" but no longer have the
capacity to handle the high current drain of also running the GPS
receiver. Android normally keeps the GPS receivers powered down (even
if you don't explicity 'turn off GPS') until some app. requests a
location fix. But in the case of Osmand, when navigating, it will need
to be requesting constant location fixes, which will directly equate to
higher current needs out of the battery (because Android can't keep the
GPS receiver turned off for as long).

So, if your battery is several years old, then what you see on the
graph you attached could simply indicate an old, and thereby a
significantly smaller capacity than when new, battery.

[P Wat]

Hi Xavier.

Thanks for your lucid response.  Questions understood, and the reason for them.

1) Phone - IS the same as a couple of years ago.

2) Battery - IS the same as a couple of years ago.

"Aha! There's the problem"; I hear you cry.  And I understand your logic, (where you're coming from).  I am an engineer and am cognisant of the problems of aging batteries, diminished capacity, reduced current delivery, and such.  However, in defence of the battery in this instance, I am reasonably confident that it is still giving respectable delivery.  Daily drain under normal circumstances is so far not unduly reduced since new.

Clearly you are technically aware so I'll refer back to parts of my original post:-

a) "Just normal daily use receiving mail, texts, making the odd phone call, running Osmand as a map, the consumption is OK".  To which I could add listening to radio for several hours per evening, and other usage.

b) " Battery lasts all day, and more."   This phone model does have an unusually high capacity battery.  It can still easily do 24 hrs between charges, but is generally charged overnight.

I could send a screenprint of the battery status at the end of a typical day (with no Osmand usage) for comparison.

I could send another including Osmand usage (ie tracking location whilst moving, but WITHOUT NAVIGATION INSTRUCTIONS)

Purpose of the above - To confirm long running time (slow battery drain) in the two foregoing conditions.  I believe I have already satisfied myself of this but do not have any recorded evidence to hand.  Hence my question "Power consumption - Has it crept up?"  Am I really the first user to comment?

Thanks in advance.

PW

[Xavier]

On Fri, Jun 04, 2021 at 04:27:38PM -0700, 'P Wat' via OsmAnd wrote:
>
>On Friday, June 4, 2021 at 6:19:44 PM UTC+1 Xavier wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Jun 04, 2021 at 04:07:20AM -0700, 'P Wat' via OsmAnd wrote:
>> >[image: OsmAndPowerDrainScreenshot_20210530-184241.png]Has OsmAnd power
>> >consumption been creeping up?
>> >I first noticed the problem several months ago, but have only recently had
>> >the opportunity to analyse it.
>> >Just normal daily use receiving mail, texts, making the odd phone call,
>> >running Osmand as a map, the consumption is OK. Battery lasts all day, and
>> >more.
>> >Running OsmAnd for navigation (route instructions, etc) it eats my battery
>> >in an unacceptable time, eg 45 minutes.
>>

>> First question: Is the phone today the same phone from "a couple of
>> years ago"?
>>
>> Second question: If it is the same phone, is it *also* the same battery
>> from "a couple of years ago"?
>>

>> Also, if it is the same battery (which would also mean same phone) then
>> the batterie's capacity will have dropped in the interveaning years, so
>> the battery will be less able to stand up to heavy current usage now as
>> compared to a couple years ago.
>>

>Hi Xavier.
>Thanks for your lucid response. Questions understood, and the reason for
>them.
>1) Phone - IS the same as a couple of years ago.

A reasonable comparison then.

>2) Battery - IS the same as a couple of years ago.
>"Aha! There's the problem"; I hear you cry. And I understand your logic,
>(where you're coming from). I am an engineer and am cognisant of the
>problems of aging batteries, diminished capacity, reduced current delivery,
>and such. However, in defence of the battery in this instance, I am
>reasonably confident that it is still giving respectable delivery. Daily
>drain under normal circumstances is so far not unduly reduced since new.

Yes, but, daily drain without the GPS receiver running will be lower
than daily drain plus the current pulled by the GPS receiver. One
possibility is that the additional current draw trips your battery over
a knee where it can't handle the load.

>Clearly you are technically aware so I'll refer back to parts of my
>original post:-

>a) "Just normal daily use receiving mail, texts, making the odd phone call, *running
>Osmand as a map*, the consumption is OK". To which I could add listening

>to radio for several hours per evening, and other usage.

Yes, that does imply a reasonable capacity does remain. Although using
Osmand as just a map, without navigation also running, will likely not
toggle on the GPS chipset as much, so the current drain will naturally
be lower.

>b) " Battery lasts all day, and more." This phone model does have an
>unusually high capacity battery. It can still easily do 24 hrs between
>charges, but is generally charged overnight.

Also implies a reasonable capacity does remain. Does not rule out a
critical current draw level above which the battery is unable to cope.

One possible test to determine if the drain is caused by the GPS
chipset, or by Osmand, might be to install this app briefly:

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.android.gpstest.osmdroid/

And run it (with Osmand off, to remove Osmand usage from the picture)
under a similar senario and time as the navigation where you saw the
drastic drop in your posted screen shot.

If you get a similar drastic drop in the capacity curve, then that
points to the battery possibly having a critical current level above
which it cannot cope.

If you don't get a drastic drop with the alternate app, then that would
implicate Osmand as a potential cause.

[P Wat]

Wow, pretty comprehensive stuff.  I'll get back after running some tests. Thanks  PW

[Greg Troxel]

"'P Wat' via OsmAnd" <osm...@googlegroups.com> writes:

> a) "Just normal daily use receiving mail, texts, making the odd phone call, *running

> Osmand as a map*, the consumption is OK". To which I could add listening

> to radio for several hours per evening, and other usage.

It sounds like you are saying that having OsmAnd open, using the GPS,
and displaying the position does not seem to cause excessive drain.
If I followed you, it is having OsmAnd compute routes and follow the
route. Is that what you mean?

I have not really noticed increased drain, but I always use external
power when navigating in the car, and rarely use it on foot. I have
noticed my phone seeming a bit hot when taking it out of the car on
arriving.

It would be good to have some kind of CPU time usage metrics for the
app (as a system tool to watch; I don't mean to suggest this be part of
OsmAnd).

[Barry Evans]

I have noticed OSMAnd using more and more power over the past few years. A couple of years a go I updated my phone (Samsung S8) JUST to try and get better battery life when using OSMAnd. Alas, even when knew, OSMAnd in navigation mode just ate through the battery of my S10. I can run other gps-based software which TRACK my ride all day, but OSMAnd in NAVIGATION mode lasts just a couple of hours max. It's also slow to render the (off line standard OSM) maps when moving so you are on to junctions before turn instructions appear. Which makes me think the navigation engine is burning CPU/battery?

I'm a long time paid supported of OSMAnd and recommend it to everyone, but I now find myself adding a caveat about battery life. I've tried turning everything off that runs in the background, but it makes little difference. 

Looking at my message, it seems what I should do is just set OSMAnd to JUST record my track (without Nav) and see what battery life is like then? Certianly when I have the OSMAnd app open and displaying on my phone, without nav or record, battery consumption is much better, but still much more than other apps (that just record a track while displaying an off- or on- line map.

[Barry Evans]

Nothing knew about this observaton. Here is a unanswered message I posted from 4 years a go.

???

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Barry Evans <Unknown>
Date: Wednesday, 31 May 2017 at 07:20:39 UTC+10
Subject: OSMAnd 2.6.3 battery use
To: Osmand <Unknown>

OSMAnd 2.6.3 is hammering the battery on my Samsung S7 running Android 6.2- see attached screenshots

I have not run OSMAnd in earnest for a few years. Earlier versions running earlier Samsung phones lasted much longer.

What is happening? I have a lot of experience with smartphones and how to save battery life, but I have never seen anything quite like this. Today my battery just fell off a cliff and shut down at zero in the blink of an eye while navigating using OSMAnd

Any ideas?

[lodrog...@gmail.com]

i have made a lot of tests with osmand last years. Into city navigation i used sygic and for outdoor activities i had locus maps and osmand. At both situations osmand had 200-300% more power consumption. So, it will be OK, if we use osnand for car navigation only with car charge. For outdoor use, we must have a solar panel or 50000mAh power bank. Don't wait from the company to change the programming code of app to have less power consumption into the furure.

[anyso...@gmail.com]

Do anyone know if using offline maps instead of constantly locally calculated vector map reduce the consume of the battery?

AnyFile

[P Wat]

It is reassuring to hear that I am not alone in noting:-

a) OsmAnd power consumption has crept up.

b) Osmand uses significantly more power when NAVIGATING (ie calculating a route and delivering turn instructions), than when merely acting as a map and logging track.

c) You can still recommend OsmAnd to people but only with a caveat about power consumption.

>Xavier - Due to family reasons and other factors I have had to postpone following-up your suggestions, bit I WILL when time permits - Thank you.

>Others - Running OsmAnd for navigation on a car's battery is no problem of course, but most/many of us want it for walking/cycling/sailing where external power, even solar, is not practicable.

>Developers - You really do need to take this matter seriously in order to sustain the credibility of the app.  I am probably not alone in already considering other options.

PW

[‪‪‪‪‪Pertti Lehtinen‬‬‬‬‬]

I haven't measured it but by my experience I use only offline maps and this practise is based mainly of power consumption and battery life.

BRGDS

Pepe

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[GOUPIL 30101]

Bonjour

Osmand ou autre application de navigation Gps sont naturellement assez gourmandes en énergie
j'étais auparavant sous Twonav avec cartes hors ligne et fonctionnement hors réseau, il consommait lui aussi beaucoup, beaucoup.
En cas de besoin en randonnée piétonne prévoir un accumulateur externe.

Osmand or other Gps navigation application are naturally quite energy intensive
I used to be on Twonav with offline maps and off-grid operation, it also consumed a lot, a lot.
In case of need for a pedestrian excursion, provide an external accumulator.

[lodrog...@gmail.com]

probably we are all belong at those customers that like osmand but has issues with the power needs of this app. I will suggest a few solutions for those people use osmand without a vehicle that have power charger.

solution 1
I am using from 2012, navigation with android devices. This solution has transformed the android smartphone into a PND and no as a mobile device. This is very easy, there is no sim card inside, always into airplane mode, with a lot of disabled features into android settings. After the hard reset or after the first use "out the box", i visit playstore to install only a few navigation apps. With this solution i have the maximum energy autonomy.
Devices from xiaomi is out of the discussion. As a mobile phone, i have a mobile device.

solution 2
for outdoor navigation activities buy a device like this
Oukitel WP15
https://oukitel.com/pages/oukitel-wp15-big-battery-5g-rugged-phone

p.s.
don't forget, that power banks inform the customers about "inside" battery capacity. The actual capacity we gain for charging our device is only 50 - 55%  of what we were informed by the manufacturer of the power bank.
If we buy one 10000mAh power bank, we will charge with 5000 - 5500mAh the battery of a smartphone device.

[Wolfgang Uhlig]

Why are xiaomi devices out of discussion? I have been using Osmand on a Redmi for more than 2 years and it works like a charme.

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