GPS-CPU Sleep bug?

[ottscay]

So, this was being discussed in the battery life thread, but I think it's getting lost with all the other discussions on Juice Defender, etc. The issue is there seems to be a bug that is often preventing the CPU on the X from going to sleep:

Original Thread

Thread on Moto Owner's Forums

Basically, what is happening is when the GPS is used, it causes the CPU to not go to sleep after that, even after the GPS has been shut down by the OS. The current workaround is to manually toggle the GPS off and then back on with a widget (and apparently some people have to do it twice). You can reproduce the bug yourself with Spare Parts (both links describe how to reproduce the bug).

A couple dozen people have reproduced it (I just downloaded Spare Parts, but I won't have a chance to try it until tonight) but I thought some of the tech-savvy users here might want to try it themselves. I also think that if we can confirm it the issue needs to be discussed a bit more, to make sure it gets addressed ASAP (perhaps this is one of the items that is being addressed before the 2.2 OTA update, I don't know, but Moto hasn't confirmed the existence of the bug yet). The DX is such a fantastic phone, I hate to think of people being frustrated with it, or not recommending it as enthusiastically, over this bug and its effect on battery life (and we've seen a strong dichotomy on these forums of those who seem to have fantastic battery life, and those who can't go more than 6 hours).

By the way, I'd guess this is probably why people using SetCPU on rooted Droid X's are getting such an improvement in battery life; SetCPU is forcing the CPU to do what it should be doing anyways...not working as hard when it goes to sleep. So if you have root SetCPU is also a workaround (and may have some additional benefits).

 

[schizrade]

Yep, I have the same issue. GPS stays off for now.

 

[Cory Streater]

Interesting. I'll have to play with this myself.

 

[ottscay]

Please do. I will do it tonight when I get a chance (probably late). I really don't want this to be a complaint thread at all; any piece of equipment this complex has bugs. But it looks like it's been reproducible (at will) and as I said, it would explain a LOT about differing users experience on battery life (not to mention the reviews) and why certain changes (like SetCPU) work so well at extending battery life.

Thanks!

 

[mikells43]

yep its in issue guys. it ihas been reproduced by many. moto thinks im an *** for calling and asking to speek with someone who knows their stuff and is not gona treat me like im a grandma with a smartphone.

 

[ottscay]

I still haven't had the time to test this, but I can say that I used the GPS widget toggle work-around that was found and even with heavy usage my battery was still at 20% when I putt it back on the charger after 19 hours. So that seems like a little bit of confirmation right there.

 

[c4v3man]

I turned off my GPS yesterday using the GPS widget and my battery life was at 40 or 50% last night after 16 hours off the charger. It was a somewhat light day, but I'd say it was easily 20% better battery life. Will continue through the week...

 

[ottscay]

Ah, but I actually had my GPS on almost all of the day...I just toggled it off and then back on after it had been used. The GPS being available wouldn't itself be a problem if the CPU didn't get stuck being unable to go to sleep after it was used. So yeah, if people just put the widget on their home page for a couple weeks, and switch it off and then back on after it's been used they can enjoy better battery life even with the GPS ready to go.