question about power control widget

[funkdoctor]

Lots of apps use the GPS. Even the browser. If you're indoors, don't care about GPS and want to browse, turning GPS off will save your battery some life. Otherwise, the browser will try its damnedest to get a fix.

It's good to have choices.

Websites have to request access, they cannot just start using your location randomly. Google.com might be enabled by default, but you can also edit the sites that are allowed to request in your settings menu for the browser. You can also check the box that allows NO sites to request your location. GPS uses 0% battery when not in use, so turning GPS off when it was not in use will not save you any battery.

 

[INSANENEIVIESIS]

GPS for navigation and such

 

[zero7404]

honestly, i want to keep gps on for location (weatherbug, browser)....

at home i keep wifi on and overall i haven't experienced too much battery strain over the course of a day.
i don't talk too much on my phone and use it to browse for about 1-2 hours tops per day. so given my habits i don't mind keeping these on.
when i am using the phone heavy, for navigation, bluetooth headset & all that, i'll turn off wifi just to make sure i've got enough juice while navigating....
but when push comes to shove i have a car charger, so i think i'm safe.

i guess this battery is pretty good given size and functionality. i see some headroom tho, i think if android was streamlined better, some extra power capacity can be squeezed from the current battery design.
it seems like forever that we've had LiIon technology.....waiting for the next wave to hit the market so we can benefit from better device life without having to add oversized batteries to our devices....

 

[Matth3w]

GPS staying on has never once even showed up on my battery usage chart at the end of the day. It's all about what apps use it or don't.

 

[zero7404]

overall....this widget is cool, i like it. it's that little light @ the end of the tunnel at the moment i felt to choose android over blackberry when signing a 2 yr contract with verizon....

otherwise, if my nuances get fixed in the next couple of updates i'll be a real android fan....

 

[zero7404]

so...i have spare parts installed, does this widget come from that or is it uncluded with 2.0.1 ?
didn't pay much attention to what widgets were available to me before i installed spare parts.

 

[Mr Steve]

It's part of the stock OS. Longpress on a home screen > widgets > power control.

Only downside I had was being outside in the sunlight and meaning to press the brightness button and instead turning off sync. So I downloaded "Brightness Level" from the Market for a single button widget and got rid of the power control widget.

Bluetooth & GPS stay on at all times for me. Never notice enough battery usage to bother toggling them. WiFi I leave off as the wifi at work prevents me from accessing 'social sites'. No complaints so far in two months.

 

[Matth3w]

Honestly there is absolutely no reason to turn off sync if you are doing so to try to save power.

 

[zero7404]

Honestly there is absolutely no reason to turn off sync if you are doing so to try to save power.

Mr Steve said he was 'meaning to' press brightness and accidentally turned off sync.
easy to make that mistake since the buttons are right next to eachother.....

i guess try to aim further right....

 

[Matth3w]

My mistake I read it as the other way around.

 

[zero7404]

so far what i've been able to figure out from this thread is that the ultimate power hogs on this phone are display and wifi.
even then, when they're not in use it's safe to say you're in the green for power.
most of the time for me, my phone hangs out in my pocket (not in use) so i don't have to charge it every day. but on days i want to run wifi, screen at full brightness in sunlight, navigating, bluetooth headset connected, the battery will shrivel up like a piece of dried fruit....

so overall, this one widget is a pretty powerful tool i think.....

i need to get the clip holster for the seidio innocase i have, because batteries don't like heat (batteries degrade quicker), and it's always hotter in a pant pocket than it would be if it were clipped to the outside of a belt....

 

[Guurzak]

Note that a working wifi network uses less power than 3G, so IF you are in a location with a wifi network you can connect to, connecting to it is better than not. However, probing uses a lot of power, so unless you are indeed connected to wifi you definitely want to turn it off.