GPS Battery Life

[Xowap]

Hi guys,

I'm planning a trip abroad, and since my current phone (a Jolla) is a bit behind in terms of maps, I'd like to buy a phone with a good offline maps app.

As an ex-N9/N97 user, I know how good HERE Maps can be, and that's the major sellpoint of WP8 to me.

Now, since I'll be using this phone as GPS, I want a battery life that'll be as long as possible, especially when using the GPS.

Initially I wanted to buy a 925, because smaller, but it seems to have battery drain issues when used with GPS, whereas the 1020 has not. Can anyone confirm/infirm this statement ?

Many thanks

 

[6029KingStephen]

My experience is that the 1020 is pretty heavy on battery with mapping and GPS apps. I could get maybe 8 hours GPS tracking on mine, running behind the lock screen. Use of the screen would reduce this pretty quickly. The 1520 gives much longer battery life, and they're reasonably cheap to buy online these days.

 

[Mick1965]

You could always add a camera grip to 1020. That would give you another 1000mAh of power to the 2000mAh in the phone

Just an option

 

[JW7]

If the main reason is maps, get an 820 + 2 extra batteries.
maps will work just aswell as on a phone that is 3x the cost - and for longer.

 

[Xowap]

You could always add a camera grip to 1020. That would give you another 1000mAh of power to the 2000mAh in the phone

That's good to know

My experience is that the 1020 is pretty heavy on battery with mapping and GPS apps. I could get maybe 8 hours GPS tracking on mine, running behind the lock screen. Use of the screen would reduce this pretty quickly. The 1520 gives much longer battery life, and they're reasonably cheap to buy online these days.

8h sounds pretty reasonable That's more than what I can drive straight anyway.

If the main reason is maps, get an 820 + 2 extra batteries.
maps will work just aswell as on a phone that is 3x the cost - and for longer.

Looks like an interesting choice too, thanks. Any idea of how far you can get with its GPS on? The 1020's camera has its appeal though

 

[gpobernardo]

Looks like an interesting choice too, thanks. Any idea of how far you can get with its GPS on? The 1020's camera has its appeal though

If you're going to use the L1020 extensively for navigating and searching for places, you might get around 2-3 hours but that's mainly because the 3G/4G data downloads are pretty battery intensive and not because of the GPS. Just what like 6029KingStephen said, one could get around 8 hours or more of GPS tracking in the background, provided that your maps are already preloaded into the phone (downloading the maps through 3G/4G as you go along would definitely decrease battery life) and that your screen brightness isn't "too bright".

From my experience, I've tracked over an hour of travelling with NaviComputer for WP8 with my L1020 with only around 10-15% decrease in battery reserves, and that's with intermittent chats, weather checks, browsing and compass re-calibration. I also managed to navigate our way to a rural area 2 hours from the city from 100% to ~60% in battery reserves.

My advice is for you to get a decent power bank or battery pack - very handy for long trips, and I've never left my house without my powerbank ever since having the L1020. Besides, since you're travelling, might as well have a pretty good camera with you. :wink: