Android Auto - power consumption - hot phone

[Rob Smith]

Just flagging - I am using a Pixel8 talking to an Android Auto Device.

If for example Test1 - I do a 2.5hour ride on a motorcycle with my phone connected to Android auto. Streaming music via Youtube music and using Google maps to navigate. Power consumption = about 15% of battery used.

Test 2 - If I duplicate this test with 2.5hours of riding, Streaming music from you tube music and using MRA to navigate a route, my phone uses 50% of the battery charge.

Just for info, the phone which for both tests was inside my jacket pocket fells normal temperature for test1 when I stop and remove the phone. For Test2 the phone feels very warm - like a pocket hand warmer.

I have not tried - but maybe will test using MRA offline Maps local on the phone - perhaps this will significantly reduce power consumption?

For info in case important - Google Pixel 8 running latest Android and MRA version 4.1.2. Android Auto running on Carpuride 702 - connected wirelessly between phone and AA unit.

[Corjan Meijerink]

Majority of battery usage in the app is caused by the map rendering. I am in touch with HERE about this issue.

When using Android Auto + Phone turned on with the app, you are rendering the map twice causing significant battery usage

[Rob Smith]

@Corjan-Meijerink said in Android Auto - power consumption - hot phone:

Majority of battery usage in the app is caused by the map rendering. I am in touch with HERE about this issue.

When using Android Auto + Phone turned on with the app, you are rendering the map twice causing significant battery usage

Thanks for the feedback @Corjan-Meijerink much appreciated - for now for longer runs will run with phone on usb power but will be great not to hammer the phone/battery so much when using it. Keep up the great work. I really want to move your MRA Navigation via AA from using a Zumo XT, just hoping we can get there soon as had lots of great reports from others using MRA Nav with Carplay.

[Corjan Meijerink]

@Rob-Smith Thanks! Totally understand

[Andrew]

@Corjan-Meijerink
I have been running my phone on dark screen mode and after an 8 hr ride using Myroute app it is still showing 95% + charge

[Corjan Meijerink]

@Andrew That is definitely while charging and very likely too.
If the phone itself doesn't have much overhead load and the charger is decent, this is what we expect

[Andrew]

@Corjan-Meijerink Yes while charging I have had it in the past when the phone would only last for about 3 hrs while charging think dark mode helps a lot, still having problem with android auto showing roundabouts as left or right turns but phone shows roundabout correctly, very pleased with the way the app is progressing and seems to be improving for me with no drop outs on the last few rides. Keep up the good work.

[richtea999]

@Andrew said in Android Auto - power consumption - hot phone:

[I] think dark mode helps a lot

Spot on. See here:

"The Purdue study found that switching from light mode to dark mode at 100% brightness [i.e. full sunlight] saves an average of 39%-47% battery power."

[Rob Smith]

@richtea999 @Andrew Just to confirm dark mode on the phone won't make any difference at all to consumption while using Android Auto? I believe the screen on the phone is normally Off when using Android Auto

[Tony 13]

Android auto in a Ford using their SYNC3, leaves the phone screen on, you have to turn it off manually.
And does then make a difference

[richtea999]

That sounds about right.

There is, of course, some processing power needed for the phone to interact with the Android Auto device, but that power consumption is typically much less than lighting up the screen.

[M. Schrijver]

The power consumption depends heavily on the mapdetails.
In a urban area the power consumption will be higher compared to the low detail in backroad area's
Many direction changes causes also a higher consumption because more rendering is necessary

The difference in power consumption with screen on or off is little compared to the consumption when rendering

[richtea999]

@M-Schrijver Quite true - my mistake.
The phone still needs to do the route calculations, not the Android Auto unit, and that takes reasonable processing power (too much in HERE libraries' case).

[Andrew]

@Rob-Smith My phone screen is on maps as well as TFT screen

[Andrew]

@Andrew As I have already stated my phone finishes 250 ml route with a full charge, however lsst night I went into phone settings and found a tab for fast charging ticked this went out today and phone went down to 49% very quickly turned of fast charge and it soon went back up to 100% even using Spotify while using MRA.
Keep up the good work

[Rob Smith]

Just an observation - most people when talking about power consumption seem to be basically saying - make sure your phone is plugged into a reasonably meaty charger - that way all is well.

However - something like google maps navigating for you uses significantly less power than MRA. I am hoping that this extra power burn in MRA is due to the MRA dual map render(?) of the Here maps and I have read this is being worked on to reduce this.

To me - running an app that consumes more power than other nav apps (and as such creates device heat from processing and heat from charging) a phone (on power or off power) is not ideal, as having a phone that gets physically hot while navigating is not going to be ideal for the device. Hopefully this will fall as updates come through. Keep up the great work.

p.s. I am talking from my experience while using the MRA navigation via Android Auto.

[GT JWR]

@Rob-Smith , 100%...well said.

[Con Hennekens]

@Rob-Smith said in Android Auto - power consumption - hot phone:

a phone that gets physically hot while navigating is not going to be ideal for the device.

No, it is certainly not ideal!
But keep in mind by far not all phones suffer from that problem.

most people when talking about power consumption seem to be basically saying - make sure your phone is plugged into a reasonably meaty charger - that way all is well.

That is not how I intended any of the many comments I made
But truth is that many people use far from ideal charging equipment, but do not realize that. I think at least a significant part of the users that see their phone's charge not keeping up with the battery use can be helped by better charger and better cable, that sustain the charging capabilities of modern phones.

That is however by no means an excuse for the high power consumption of the app (or better said: the HERE rendering engine).