topic Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal in Norton Anti-Theft

NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

richard_av — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:53:14 GMT

I have noticed that the latest NAT version, 1.3.0.124 is draining my battery by constantly searching for GPS signal when I am in a location that cannot receive any satellite signals.

To validate the problem, I have a compass application that will tell me how many satellites the GPS is able to use. With the number of satellites showing zero, I rebooted my phone and using the phone’s built-in battery monitor after five minutes from boot-up, I saw that NAT was the second most power draining application listed after the display.

The NAT should timeout within 30 to 60 seconds of attempting to reach a GPS signal and resort to using network and WiFi for location. Checks for GPS signal should be set at certain intervals with short timeouts to prevent battery drain.

The only way I can stop NAT from draining my battery when NAT decides to use GPS signal is to disable GPS while inside at work.

I appreciate that NAT is trying to get the most accurate location by using GPS signal. However the application needs to throttle itself to avoid draining a phone’s battery when no GPS signal exists.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 22:32:06 GMT

The team is aware of this issue. They have created a fix for this that should be out in the near future. There are a few items that the team is working on addressing in the next update.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

richard_av — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:47:40 GMT

Hello Erik,

I look forward to the NAT fix and I would be happy to test it at work to make sure that the NAT does not constantly search for a non-existent GPS signal.

-Richard

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:55:15 GMT

I don't think there's a need to have you test the new build. Keep an eye out for the next update for the NAT plugin as that will have the fix in it.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

richard_av — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:48:04 GMT

FYI: I received an update to the NAT plug-in to 1.3.0.140 version however this version did not fix the problem of constantly searching for GPS signal when you cannot receive satellite signal.

-Richard

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:29:36 GMT

Unfortunately that version doesn't contain the fix. The fix is in a build that will be sent out very soon.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

paulscott — Wed, 30 May 2012 09:24:04 GMT

Hi,

Any dates as to when the update will be released for this ? I've just purchased/installed the sofwtare on my phone (version 1.3.0.140) and ever since my battery lasts for less than a day with the batter meter showing that Antitheft is the 2nd highest power userage on my phone at 30% !.

Regards

Paul

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

Andmike — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:27:29 GMT

Hi paulscott.

Welcome to the Community.

I don't know when this issue will be resolved but if it is a problem for you and you are using an android phone rather than a tablet then you might like to just rely on Norton Mobile Security as it normally gives a better location fix and apart from allowing you access over the internet and sneak peeks, it does most other things. Then when the NAT plugin becomes less power hungry you can go back to using that if you wish.

Just a thought.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Wed, 30 May 2012 17:01:45 GMT

Unfortunately I can't give an exact date yet. The team is actively working on this and we hope to have the update out soon.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

user_xx — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 00:42:38 GMT

Hi Erik,

I am also sufering this issue.

Have a Samsung-Ace android phone and have just downloaded and installed Norton Security and Anti-Theft.

Left all settings at default and finding my battery drains within 6 to 7 hours. Whereas just prior to the install it would last several days.

I have not changed my usage pattern

Android ver: 2.2.1

Do you have any update on the release date for a fix?

Cheers..

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:08:43 GMT

We're down to a couple weeks before the fix is released. Unfortunately this was tied to a couple major items being fixed at the same time.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

richard_av — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:18:39 GMT

Thanks for the update Erik!

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

iain_rd — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:26:55 GMT

So i'm guessing the most recent update, 1.3.0.144 was not the fix? I downloaded this tonight and turned my GPS back on and within an hour NAT was back up to about 10% of battery usage.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 14:48:39 GMT

The fix should be in 1.4. The team is actively working on getting this version out. Unfortunately I cannot give an exact date.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

user_xx — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 00:51:47 GMT

Hi Erik,

Thanks for the update.

FYI, I found the high battery drain remained after I un-installed just the 'Anti Theft' component and still had the Anti-Virus active on my phone. I have since un-installed this and the battery use has returned to normal (1-2 days before needing re-charge).

Cheers, Frank..

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 21:18:04 GMT

1.4 was just released to Google Play. This version should help resolve the battery drain.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

user_xx — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 01:10:54 GMT

Thanks for your work on this Erik. I'll try it out this weekend. Cheers..

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

iain_rd — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:17:47 GMT

Hi Erik,
I now am running 1.4.0.206 and while it was still using more battery than before this issue came up it had definitely improved significantly... Until today... 20% of battery in 1 hr, constantly locked on GOD.. I'm trying to use NAT on a HTC EVO3D.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

erik_carlstrom — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 03:44:10 GMT

iain_rd,

Are you saying that you're seeing 20% in hour after updating to 1.4 or are you saying that was the usage before? I apologize as it wasn't clear in your response if you were describing the current situation or not.

Re: NAT Drains Battery Searching for GPS Signal

user_xx — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 11:32:59 GMT

Hi Erik, Perhaps you can give me some guidance as I may have overlooked something. I checked Google Play as suggested and find the date on this download (Norton Antivirus & Security) shows as 13 March, 2012. So it seems it is not the latest version you mentioned in an earlier reply to this forum. Should I install that version after which an update is automatically downloaded? I purchased Norton 360 Everywhere earlier this month. How would I get the full version on my Samsung phone again? Thanks in advance. Cheers.. Frank.