Power usage by app

[Raptor]

You know what would be nice ... a list of popular apps and the effect they have on power consumption. I don't know that there's any accurate way to do this without rigging up a test stand and feeding power to it so you can monitor power consumption msec by msec. This rating should include the idle use when the app is loaded but in the background.

Of course, Google needs to work on making Android better at power management and perhaps Froyo gets us a bit towards that with the built in task manager/killer.


Brian

 

[icebike]

There are some pretty good tools for evaluating power built into Android already, and they make a fair approximation of measuring battery usage. Dial *#*#4636#8#*

You technically can't measure instantaneous power usage because the act of measuring it interferes with measuring it.

Why do you claim Android needs better power management? It has some of the most fine grained control of any phone OS an runtimes are comparable to other phones.

What is the basis for your claim?

 

[Raptor]

There are some pretty good tools for evaluating power built into Android already, and they make a fair approximation of measuring battery usage. Dial *#*#4636#8#*

You technically can't measure instantaneous power usage because the act of measuring it interferes with measuring it.

Why do you claim Android needs better power management? It has some of the most fine grained control of any phone OS an runtimes are comparable to other phones.

What is the basis for your claim?

Well I can't say that Android is better than the iPhone OS but that's the story I've been hearing. I don't know how you can easily test that but I report what I've heard.

Actually you can measure actual power usage with little impact. If you pull out the battery and feed it power from a controlled supply you can measure both voltage and current at the same time to nearly any precision you want. This is not something the average Joe has the tools to do but any outfit with a few thousand dollars worth of test equipment can do so.

The reason I asked this in the first place is because there are stories that seem to imply that battery lifespan can be greatly effected by the number and type of apps that are loaded. It would be nice to know which ones are bad so we can choose an alternative or work up a better management strategy.


Brian

 

[arw01]

There was an oscilloscope PCI card that was not terribly expensive that would work for this application.

Someone have a friend that might have one?

 

[stolirocks]

Well I can't say that Android is better than the iPhone OS but that's the story I've been hearing. I don't know how you can easily test that but I report what I've heard.

Actually you can measure actual power usage with little impact. If you pull out the battery and feed it power from a controlled supply you can measure both voltage and current at the same time to nearly any precision you want. This is not something the average Joe has the tools to do but any outfit with a few thousand dollars worth of test equipment can do so.

The reason I asked this in the first place is because there are stories that seem to imply that battery lifespan can be greatly effected by the number and type of apps that are loaded. It would be nice to know which ones are bad so we can choose an alternative or work up a better management strategy.


Brian

Iphone does not multitask like android so this is a moot point.

 

[takeshi]

Usage also matters. An app sitting idle versus "light" use versus "heavy" use can also have an impact. I'm not sure how you'd really account for that.