power consumption by application?

Question

Since cellphone application software requires extra power for processing. Is there any application software that indicate power consumption by particular application?

Answer 1

Settings > About Phone > Battery Use

Answer 2

I don't think this is going to be a popular answer, but you have to realize that your modern smart-phone is an incredibly complex beast, and battery life is affected by all sorts of things:

1. CPU usage (your phone might get warm, or use a system activity monitor for more details)
2. Bluetooth radio, is it on, is it in use (ie, headset or tethering)
3. Wireless radio, what protocol is it using? HSPA, EVDO, EDGE?
4. WiFi radio, are you actively using it? What version?
5. Proximity and power of nearest cell towers (weak towers = cell phone tries harder to connect, using more power).
6. Baseband version (this is the part of the phone os written and maintained by your carrier)

As you can see there are a lot of things that affect battery life, so it's tough to guarantee that any given App will have a given profile, since it's data usage might be over weak signal (which will reduce your battery life more).

Answer 3

I'm guessing it would be a no for all platforms, but Android is the only one I can speak to with certainty.

However, Android phones can tell you battery information for specific items and apps. Also if you are rooted you can use a command line command that gives even more information. If you have a Sprint phone you can try dialing (without quotes):

 "*#*#4636#*#*" 
or
 "##DATA#"

Both are ## codes that give detailed info. The first is a battery info code and the second is one that gives cell radio and all other kinds of detailed info. But I don't think it gets that granular for cell radio.

Sprint might be able to give this information from their 4g app they have in their 2.2 Android OS, but I haven't looked into at all so that is just a guess.

An Android app called "OS Monitor" will give information about CPU utilization, but not cell radio. I think such an app doesn't exist.

Answer 4

Linux-based phones (with a GNU or Busybox userland, I'm unsure about Android) might be able to run powertop. It was designed for desktop/laptops but it could be useful on a phone.

Intel wrote it so there may not be an ARM build, but it's GPL-licensed so some enterprising hacker could port it.

Answer 5

Why not PowerTutor app which is freely available in Android Market.