Amir's Rant #6: App "Power!"

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
So a while ago was looking for a public restroom and couldn't find any or fast food places. I got the bright idea to download Burger King and McDonald apps to locate their restaurants/restroom.

I download Burger King first. To my shock, it had no way to find any burger kings around me! It was buggy software and did some random junk instead of getting them business: i.e. sending customers their way. I then tried McDonald. It would find the restaurants from what I recall but would not show them on a map! What did the RFP for the consultants to write the app for them say? That it should just be an app so that they check that box and say they have one? Or is it that they still use fax machine and have not heard of computers and email?

Fast forward a year or so later and I get tired of Google Android pestering me over and over again to upgrade this app and that app. Most of them I never wanted but came jammed on my phone by Verizon. As if to add insult to injury, they keep wanting to upgrade themselves. I like to tell them to get lost except in not so polite language.

Browsing through the list I notice the Burger King app in there. So for grins, I say go ahead and upgrade. What do you know, they added map search! But before you get to that it asks you to login with facebook or register. Are you kidding me? I mean I just want to know where the darn restrooms are. For that, I am supposed to tell them my email address, create a password, and all that nonsense? I think not. Fortunately if you squint you can see a tiny "x" on top that dismisses the start-up login screen and you can find your restroom, I mean restaurant.

Now here is the real story :). I charge my phone overnight and it easily lasts until the next evening. To my surprise, around 11:00am this morning it says I only have 14% power left. What the heck?

I was too busy working on the Generator so put the phone in my pocket thinking 14% is good enough to make a 911 call, should I shock myself with that 240 volt feed in there. :eek:

Well, it was not meant to be. The darn phone kept beeping in my pocket. Take the stupid thing out and it is now warning me that it is down to 9% battery life and is about to shut down! No activity and thins thing is dying faster than a fish out of water.

I come in and plug it in to charge. Go and do a few things and check back 15 minutes later. This should have been enough to get it going in for at least a couple of hours. Yet again I am surprised to see it struggling to charge the battery. Without the charger, it would shut right down. I am thinking the battery must be at the end of its life and that I should have upgraded the phone when the 2-year upgrade cycle was up.

Before spending that $200, I go in Android battery usage history and look at what is using power. This is what it says:



Son of #?!!?#. The Burger King app is not only continuing to run, doing heaven knows what, but it is running non-stop as to suck so much juice out of the battery. I mean what the heck could it be doing? The GPS is off so it can't be that. The only conclusion is an app stuck in some loop using up CPU even though it is not active.

When did programming get so hard? When???
 

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
So a while ago was looking for a public restroom and couldn't find any or fast food places. I got the bright idea to download Burger King and McDonald apps to locate their restaurants/restroom.

I download Burger King first. To my shock, it had no way to find any burger kings around me! It was buggy software and did some random junk instead of getting them business: i.e. sending customers their way. I then tried McDonald. It would find the restaurants from what I recall but would not show them on a map! What did the RFP for the consultants to write the app for them say? That it should just be an app so that they check that box and say they have one? Or is it that they still use fax machine and have not heard of computers and email?

Fast forward a year or so later and I get tired of Google Android pestering me over and over again to upgrade this app and that app. Most of them I never wanted but came jammed on my phone by Verizon. As if to add insult to injury, they keep wanting to upgrade themselves. I like to tell them to get lost except in not so polite language.

Browsing through the list I notice the Burger King app in there. So for grins, I say go ahead and upgrade. What do you know, they added map search! But before you get to that it asks you to login with facebook or register. Are you kidding me? I mean I just want to know where the darn restrooms are. For that, I am supposed to tell them my email address, create a password, and all that nonsense? I think not. Fortunately if you squint you can see a tiny "x" on top that dismisses the start-up login screen and you can find your restroom, I mean restaurant.

Now here is the real story :). I charge my phone overnight and it easily lasts until the next evening. To my surprise, around 11:00am this morning it says I only have 14% power left. What the heck?

I was too busy working on the Generator so put the phone in my pocket thinking 14% is good enough to make a 911 call, should I shock myself with that 240 volt feed in there. :eek:

Well, it was not meant to be. The darn phone kept beeping in my pocket. Take the stupid thing out and it is now warning me that it is down to 9% battery life and is about to shut down! No activity and thins thing is dying faster than a fish out of water.

I come in and plug it in to charge. Go and do a few things and check back 15 minutes later. This should have been enough to get it going in for at least a couple of hours. Yet again I am surprised to see it struggling to charge the battery. Without the charger, it would shut right down. I am thinking the battery must be at the end of its life and that I should have upgraded the phone when the 2-year upgrade cycle was up.

Before spending that $200, I go in Android battery usage history and look at what is using power. This is what it says:



Son of #?!!?#. The Burger King app is not only continuing to run, doing heaven knows what, but it is running non-stop as to suck so much juice out of the battery. I mean what the heck could it be doing? The GPS is off so it can't be that. The only conclusion is an app stuck in some loop using up CPU even though it is not active.

When did programming get so hard? When???

I agree. IMO that's the first symptom of a failing battery. In fact my wife's iPhone 5 finally comes out of contract tomorrow as she has the same battery problem. Upgrade tomorrow to a new 6+
 

Ronm1

Member Sponsor
Feb 21, 2011
1,745
4
0
wtOMitMutb NH
I agree. IMO that's the first symptom of a failing battery. In fact my wife's iPhone 5 finally comes out of contract tomorrow as she has the same battery problem. Upgrade tomorrow to a new 6+
Careful Steve, she might have that BK app running in the background. ;)
 

Peter Breuninger

[Industry Expert] Member Sponsor
Jul 20, 2010
1,231
4
0
We are very careful with charging the Note3. I read somewhere that there are a finite number of full charges any rechargeable can do. So we charge when the device gets low, not everyday. And, we are of the mindset that we have to replace the device every two years for product upgrades and a new battery.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
We are very careful with charging the Note3. I read somewhere that there are a finite number of full charges any rechargeable can do. So we charge when the device gets low, not everyday. And, we are of the mindset that we have to replace the device every two years for product upgrades and a new battery.
The useful life of lithium batteries are a few hundred cycles. So that is true. After that cycle count, the amount of charge they hold is substantially reduced.

Best advice is to a) keep it charged up when you are next to power, i.e. use it plugged in and b) don't charge it when hot. For example if you just played a game or watched video and battery got low, don't immediately charge it. Let it cool for a few minutes.
 

asiufy

Industry Expert/VIP Donor
Jul 8, 2011
3,711
723
1,200
San Diego, CA
almaaudio.com
And people complained when Apple put limitations to what an iOS app could do in the background... Obviously, something like that wouldn't happen in iOS...

Go Android!


alexandre
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
And people complained when Apple put limitations to what an iOS app could do in the background... Obviously, something like that wouldn't happen in iOS...

Go Android!


alexandre
Yeh but imagine how many more bathrooms BK app finds in Android with all the CPU and battery it is chewing up. On iOS you may go to the next town and it may still not be finished searching!

:D
 

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