Map renderer - any implications?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down leechleech
    We can readily see the difference between the 3 map rendering options. Hardware renderer is the most beautiful, with smooth lines and high resolution vector graphics.

    Why are there options for software and software Low Res?
    How many percent does software rendering extend the battery runtime compared to hardware rendering? Or is there no notable difference regarding battery runtime between the 3 options?
  • 9 Comments sorted by
  • Vote Up0Vote Down hvdwolfhvdwolf
    It never hurts to search the forum. Your question has already been answered more than 4-5 times.
    And if you can't find it directly in the forum, as the search is indeed pretty lousy, you can use Google.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down leechleech
    good call thx, i shouldn't be shy using Search, you're absolutely right, my bad :|

    Yesterday i did a round-trip to FRA, 6.5h total, and my 4100mAh phone got depleted down to 1% including me switching off the display for 0.5h(total) in between to check if audio instructions would continue in the background (they did/they didn't). relevant (to this discussion) settings were:
    • Brightness: Auto
    • Mobile data: ON / Wi-Fi: OFF / Airplane mode: OFF / Bluetooth: OFF
    • Battery saver: ON
    • GPS: ON
    • Hardware renderer: Software low resolution
    • Night mode: Auto
    • Display always on: YES
    • Navigation map mode: 3D
    Basically i used all possible/realistic settings to keep the phone drainage to a minimum. Once arrived at FRA, i did play with the phone a bit, consuming 5%. Anyways the take home message is, after 6.5h navigation with these conservative settings the phone will be drained. I won't say if this number is good, bad, or ugly, i am just saying. <:-P

    Needless to say, the paper mode runs jerkily and is not suitable for a busy traffic situation with several lanes and multiple maneuvers ahead, i.e. where one needs to react decisively and switch to and follow different lanes within a short time frame, especially when the place is rather unknown. In most other scenarios it is still a very usable mode, I don't complain.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down hvdwolfhvdwolf
    I do no longer use my phone anymore in the car for navigation, but I always had it on a usb connector.
    A usb cable to some usb connector almost never is enough to keep the power up when using hardware render.
    Having the phone on the cigaret lighther with a usb connector being able to deliver 1A, it works great.

    (I now have a Joying head unit simply running on 12V. Always on hardware render).

    I did measurements myself and both the phone and the nead unit run about 10 C warmer on hardware render.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down leechleech
    no problem, in future i'll hook up the phone to a USB power adapter car cable, e.g. the one from my old Tomtom device. i just wanted to learn for how many hours i could do MF navigation with no extra power supply. now i have this number in mind as a personal reference point.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down leechleech
    it's been a year and again that time where i am back posting about my smartphone gps navi apps yay! 8->
    these days i've been testing the battery consumption of three different apps of mine and posting the result on the geman folum. imho it's fair enough to repost the findings for the MF community to see and learn :P

    for the simulation i used the following minimal basic phone settings (MIUI10 based on Android6):
    • BATTERY SAVER: On
    • BLUETOOTH: Off
    • AUTO BRIGHTNESS: Off
    • BRIGHTNESS: Lowest
    • WIFI: Off
    • AIRPLANE MODE: On / MOBILE DATA: Off 
    • GPS: Off
    And in the Mapfactor settings (and in Sygic accordingly for consistency):
    • MAP RENDERER: Software low resolution
    • NIGHT MODE: Off
    • DISPLAY ALWAYS ON: Yes
    • NAVIGATION MAP MODE: 3d
    • MAP MANAGER: DATA SOURCE: Tomtom commercial data
    We can all agree that these are the settings which should make the phone+app consume the least amount of battery power.
    The test route was from Kiel Opernhaus to Munich Opernhaus, some 880±10km distance, 7.5h+ driving time.

    I published the full test data on the geman folum, here i am reposting the end results only, to keep this post nice'n neat concise:
    Mapfactor 4.0 : 7% remaining battery capacity
    Sygic GPS Navigation 17.4 : 43% remaining battery capacity 
    Sygic Car Navigation 18.1 :  60% remaining battery capacity

    The result in words:
    Even at its most power-saving setting (i.e. MAP RENDERER: Software low resolution) the MF4.0 app consumes so much more battery power than either Sygic smartphone app! Sygic Car Navigation app having the older technology engine under the hood consumes notably less power than the much more modern more popular Sygic GPS Navigation app, which makes logical sense.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down leechleech
    Comment:
    The energy consumption difference between these three apps is drastic and tbh shocking, and i am really disappointed by Mapfactor's result. Why? Because I had thought i'd gain a major advantage (advance) in the energy savings department, in compensation for me having to put up with the low resolution software. I won't retest MF4.0 with the other three available MAP RENDERER settings; we all know (also from experience) that they consume even more battery power, so no thanks! In all fairness, the three numbers diverge the more, the longer the driving time is. And they were obtained under 'lab conditions', i.e. with the same equivalent phone&app settings and through the app's simulation mode. Testing/comparing the three apps in practice, say for a 100km route in RL, you'd notice a smaller discrepancy between the three obtained numbers, quantitatively, logically. But qualitatively —and i vouch for this—, you'd get the same result, namely:

    MF4.0 >> Sygic GPS Navigation 17.x > Sygic Car Navigation 18.x
    meaning that MF4.0 drains the smartphone battery so much faster (under equivalent settings) than Sygic, with Sygic Car Navigation being the most efficient app among these three. that's a fact, no fake news! :-B

    Who would have thought??

    I wouldn't have. One reason more for me to preferrably launch the Sygic Car Navigation ©2014 app on my phone, whenever i need a gps navi app for my car driving! Thanks for your attention, best, leech, gemani.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down OldieOldie
    How do you navigate with gps off?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down hvdwolfhvdwolf
    Hardware renderer always takes more energy. Why did you not put it on software renderer?
    Navigator might still be the most energy consuming app, but the energy consumption would be considerably lower.
  • Vote Up0Vote Down leechleech
    was typo, I've corrected it. i did put it on software renderer, the low resolution software one.
    originally i had written "HARDWARE RENDERER" instead of "MAP RENDERER". the testing cost me my whole night and i didn't want to disturb the test by going into the app settings to check the option's name. sorry for the typo.

    with GPS off, all testing was done through the simulation mode (also called Route Preview or Route Demonstration).
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