sfe0 wrote:Hello all!
Been using Waze for about two weeks now and I really like it. Haven’t been stuck in any traffic jam during this time, like I normally do this time of year, but I have received a few warnings from Waze and driven alternative roads with great success. Thank You for that!
But, how come Waze uses so much battery?
I have a SonyEricssonArcS and the SonyEricsson car charger is the only one I’ve tried this far that can cope with the energy hungry Waze app. All other chargers, 4 of them, can’t deliver enough current to keep the phones battery from draining when running Waze. The phone itself gets very hot and from what I’ve read on the net this isn’t a problem just for me.
I also use another similar app in my Xperia and that is the Geocaching app “Neongeo”. Neongeo, like Waze, uses GPS, a-GPS, maps, shows me moving around on the map, live internet update and keeps the phones screen always on. Still, it consumes what seems like much less power than Waze and the phone does not get hot at all.
Why?
Is there some vital difference between these two apps even if they seem so alike?
You are correct, Waze uses a LOT more battery than other GPS programs.
I have Sygic, Igo and Ndrive. All of them use less power than Waze, none of the other programs overheat the phone, Waze does. Another thing, the other programs I can use my standard 400 mA car charger, with Waze the charger cant do much.
In long trips (over 2 hours) I never use Waze, in short trips (1 to 2 hours) I only use it if I know i'll have some time to recharge the phone a bit.
Battery consuption in Waze seems to be around 0.5%/minunte on the Galaxy S2 ICS.

Waze on Galaxy S2 - I9100 (ICS 4.0.3) - Lite'Ning 3.6
Android Waze Beta Tester - v3.6.0
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