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?
There are several posts that cover this on the forum already. Waze is doing a lot more than simply showing your position on the map. Actively using screen, cpu, gps and data will drain any battery relatively quickly.
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Certainly, but so does Neongeo. I’m kind of curious - what’s the difference between the two? (To answer this you might need to know both Waze and Neongeo in detail and maybe there’s not many people around, if any, that do?)
By the sound of it neongeo won’t have the save level of internet traffic that Waze does. Wouldn’t surprise me if it was less intensive on gps and cpu too.
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Maybe so…
Maybe in time someone who has knowledge in both of these apps will reply to this thread.
Oh, and Thank You for your replies (this far). 
@sfe0
I had your problem or even worse with mi HTC Sensation ICS 4.0.3
I solved the problem keeping the kernel at 1.2 Ghz
In that way I can use waze about 7 hours with a battery drain no more than 2% in total
In these condition I can even recharge my fone when waze is on
My previous kernek was 1,5 Ghz and was draining battery in an incredible way
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.
Try the Qmadix car charger usb/micro 2100 mAh…There is list of phones…cellphoneaccents.com…Wish I knew how to make link :oops:
I have bought a SonyEricsson AN-300 car charger and it really can run Waze and charge the phone at the same time. I even get the impression the the phone does not get quite as hot as when it runs on battery alone. The battery is probably not surged at all with this charger.
I’m afraid that I’m not familiar with the expression “kernel”? :?:
Oh, it’s something you can fiddle with if you hack your phone, right? (Looked it up.)
I bought a 2 USB port 2A car charger (1A per port), but the USB 2.0 theoretically only supports up to 700 mA, so I am not sure if that will be enough. As soon as it arrives i’ll report back, its coming from China so it might take a while.
Just picked up that Sony/Ericcson charger…Pretty well made…Waze does drain that battery…But its still great 
Just curious how you change the kernel to 1.2 Ghz. I guess you need quite detailed info about android that not everyone has?
Switching off 3G and using only 2G can help preserve battery life.
If you don’t need to see the screen, you can turn off the screen too.
Also, turn off WiFi when you don’t need it.
You can put screen at about 20%…
Even with the screen off most of the time I can hardly drive 8h with waze running.
From experience with my old HTC Desire, I disabled WiFi/Bluetooth and my phone charged 1% every 40+ mins. Otherwise it discharged from 100% to 20% in 2-3 hours with WiFi/Bluetooth enabled and a standard in car charger connected :shock:
Now with my new Samsung Galaxy S3 and the standard larger 2100 mAh battery It will happily hold its charge while connected to even the cheapest in car charger, although I still turn WiFi off to decrease the battery heat while GPS/Bluetooth are also enabled.
If your without an in-car charger at hand or want to reduce the load from a standard in-car charger I suggest the following:
Disable WiFi and Bluetooth
Change the display brightness settings to low or auto and use a black background
Turn off synchronize for emails, social networks and updates etc. Or increase the update intervals to >30 mins
Enable “Power Saving Mode” in Settings (ICS 4.x.x only)
If you have an HTC or a device that has these settings hidden, install Hidden Settings to unlock the hidden Power saving settings
Try a third party Battery/performance App:
Android Assistant
Easy Battery Saver
Battery heat can also lose charge quicker or even damage your battery. Try to keep your phone off the dashboard away from direct sunlight and at room temperature. Position your phone in the shade or over a heating vent with cool air flowing.
Not for the feint hearted
Finally Root and install a custom Rom/Kernel which supports better power saving (disable/limit CPU cores etc)