Free Apps Eat Your Smartphone Battery

judgecorp writes "Here's a reason to pay for smartphone apps: the free versions can spend three times as much energy finding and serving ads as they do serving their actual purpose. Research from a Purdue University scientist found that as much as 75 percent of the energy used by free apps (PDF) goes on accessing location services, finding suitable advertisements and displaying them."

Comments

Not always true

[Anonymous Coward]

The custom firmware I use on my Android smartphone redirects all ad domains to 127.0.0.1, so no ads for me.

Re:Not always true

[tommy8]

What custom firmware is that?

Re:Not always true

[Noughmad]

All you need is root access, then there is more that one app to setup a redirect.

Re:Not always true

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Which goes to the point: the equivalent of AdBlock Plus needs to be an app for these phones - as a local proxy/filter.

Use the AdBlock lists to populate. Half the work is already done...

Re:Not always true

[bemymonkey]

Any custom firmware that comes with a modified hosts file, I'd assume...

You can also just root the handset and modify the hosts file yourself. Or download "Adfree" from the market and have it done automatically.

Re:Not always true

[hobarrera]

Actually, can't you just edit /etc/hosts, as you would on a desktop computer?

Re:Not always true

[jellomizer]

Still the software is doing additional calls to try to get the data.
Plus your phone is taking time to process/reject those calls.

Re:Not always true

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course not. But people that can program autoexec.bat? Gods, I say... Gods.

Re:Not always true

[X0563511]

Nope, that's outside of the SD card mountpoint, so you can't get to it from an external device - and applications can't modify system files (think if a normal user trying to edit in /etc without su/sudo - it's not going to work)

Re:Not always true

[courteaudotbiz]

But if you use AdBlock Free, does it suck up your battery to display ads?

Re:Not always true

[Anonymous Coward]

In other words "yes, but you need root access".

AdFree Android does this and keeps the list up to date automatically; you can download it from Android Market.

Re:Not always true

[jeffmeden]

Considering windows batch scripting is really just a string of commands tied together with a few syntax options that in no way amount to what anyone with a sane mind would call "programming"... Yes, if you manage to construct a useful program out of nothing but a bat file, you sir are a God.

Re:Not always true

[unixisc]

Or ::1, if IPv6 is being used

Re:Not always true

[erroneus]

Not necessarily custom firmware. Just root the phone, install AdFree and there you go.

It helps quite a bit. As I heard it, going to address 0.0.0.0 is faster that 127.0.0.1 though.

That said, I have done it and yeah, it saves time, screen space and all that.

Re:Not always true

[erroneus]

One thing that is done is that once root is attained, create a symlink at /etc/hosts pointing to a file on the SD or external_SD and then you can edit it without root. But root has to have happened at some point and in some way.

Re:Not always true

[TheRaven64]

hosts file

Noooo! Now you've summoned APK!

Re:Not always true

[jimicus]

DOS BATCH is turing complete, so is windows batch programming.

So is Intercal, that doesn't mean I want to do anything particularly complicated in it.

Re:Not always true

[X0563511]

Wasn't his whole point that you could just edit that file instead of rooting the phone? Well, no... because you need root to edit the file.

Re:Not always true

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but then you're supporting the developers, and GP obviously doesn't want to do that.

Re:Not always true

[X0563511]

You miss my point.

Case in point, you have to have a rooted phone for that app to work.

Re:Not always true

[Wintervenom]

https://github.com/Wintervenom/Scripts/blob/master/updaters/update-hosts

Re:Not always true

[dgatwood]

Not necessarily. I rooted a Nook Simple Touch a while back, but before I rooted it, I booted from an easily downloadable older version of the rooting tool that, rather than doing the rooting itself, instead presents the entire built-in flash via USB as a mountable, multi-partition volume so that you could manually root it. By combining that tool with 'dd', I was able to make a virginal copy of the device.

Re:Not always true

[dgatwood]

Sorry, submitted that before I was quite finished. The point of that explanation was that as long as you are booted from that flash card, you should be able to mount the uRamdisk to modify the files in /etc without rooting the device itself.

I'm not sure which Android devices can boot off a flash card, but any that do should be modifiable without the need to root the device.

Re:Not always true

[Pope]

0.0.0.0 is the proper solution, even on an actual computer.

Re:Not always true

[JackieBrown]

Adaway works for me.

It's even open source. You need root, first, though.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.adaway&hl=en

Re:Not always true

[DrGamez]

Well what's your option on a non tech-head OS? Live with the ads?

Just because you can build a house with wood nails and a hammer doesn't mean hammer and nails are some kind of "mechanics only" tools.

Re:Not always true

[yotto]

Back in the day, I had apache running on my main computer, so I wrote a little script to serve up images whenever it was viewed. It was a little more complicated, but think of a web "page" that is just a single tag.

I then directed all ad traffic to 127.0.0.1 and suddenly all the ad-infested websites had pictures from my art folder instead.

It wasn't worth the effort, but it made me smile.

Re:Not always true

[theshowmecanuck]

Wasn't his whole point that you could just edit that file instead of rooting the phone? Well, no... because you need root to edit the file.

I'd say you are wrong because he didn't ask the question you said he asked. What he asked was:

"Actually, can't you just edit /etc/hosts, as you would on a desktop computer?"

He didn't say anything about "instead of". So I think maybe you were begging the question. And if not, you were answering a question that wasn't asked to incorrectly answer the question that was asked. So the answer is "yes, if you have root access."

Re:Not always true

[KahabutDieDrake]

It's amusing that you seem to be too young to have any idea what "true hacker fashion" means.

Re:Not always true

[Anonymous Coward]

I love that on slashdot, suggesting paying for software is modded down while suggesting blocking ads on free software -- so the developer gets absolutely no money from your use of their work -- is modded up. Bravo, worthless techies!

Re:Not always true

[GameboyRMH]

Pretty sad that an app being free implies serving ads. Apple has brought the '90s Windows adware experience to the masses (that *is* where this new curated computing & adware trend started). GNU 4 life!

Re:Not always true

[SteamDot]

press on the button that says "upgrade now?"

Re:Not always true

[DrGamez]

The question is, how to remove apps that serve ads, and the answer was given; then the answer was mocked for being something for a "tech-head" had to figure out. I can give a case example of how pushing the "upgrade now" button is bad:
There is an app on the Android marketplace, called ExtDate. It puts a little graphical calendar on your screen, it's easy to read and it has a ton of visual options and styles you can mess around with, free app - it's just all around neat.

Then the update came (which I thankfully didn't apply, for some reason I read the "what's new" and noticed the slew of terrible reviews for this cool app), and with it brought a new feature: push ads. The program was working for months without ads, and then suddenly on the next update it goes from a harmless widget that tells you the day to an app that now just serves ads (with no indication they are coming from the CALENDAR APP) every hour or so.

In trying to find the app on the market place I found they have PULLED the non-paid version after getting nothing but dozens of 1 star reviews. This has gotten long winded but the moral of the story is: how does "upgrade now" solve any questions raised in this thread?

Re:Not always true

[gr8dude]

Can you elaborate on this one?

If I ping 0.0.0.0 it still says that replies are coming from 127.0.0.1.

Intuitively, 0.0.0.0 should be slower, because typically this means "any available interface" - not just the loopback interface (so more interfaces are potentially involved). Your feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Re:Not always true

[X0563511]

"Can't you just" means "instead of."

Correction

[Tyrannosaur]

Ads Eat Your Smartphone Battery

Re:Correction

[QuasiSteve]

Ads Eat Your Smartphone Battery

More specifically, bad ad serving code eats your smartphone battery.

If your app connects to an ad server/framework every minute, or on particular events, etc. etc. each time... then yes, that's going to suck down energy real fast.

Instead, download multiple ads (in the background), serve from that pool.

Better yet, as somebody at a Dutch tech site suggested, let shared ad frameworks do this so that N ads downloaded can be shared across multiple apps.

There are down sides, of course:
- the ads in the pool may become outdated. I.e. if somebody searched for PNDs today, the ads downloaded yesterday won't be notifying you of the latest TomTom/Garmin/whatever offerings. This can be corrected by always refreshing after a set time.
- you may end up downloading more ads than you'll actually use before such a refresh, which means you actually used more energy (and bandwidth) than you would have under traditional methods.

But in general, all this opening/closing of connections which in turn may or may not lead to 3G / 4G modules kicking into action, etc. is just inefficient.

Re:Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

The only problem with this approach is you are asking the ad networks to do more work with no real benefit to themselves. Even after this 'revelation' that ads eat battery, most smartphone users will forget this by tomorrow, or just not care.

Re:Correction

[cpu6502]

In other news:

Ads on television waste anywhere from 1/3rd to one-half the power used while watching TV. ;-) Back in the 1960/70s when ads were only 9 minutes per hour, TV ads only wasted 15% power.

Re:Correction

[erroneus]

They do more than that. I have read where some ad based apps actually read and transmit your contacts database and other bits of information out of your phone to do unknown things with "our partners." (Not all of their partners are people who sell things... sometimes they are private intelligence and government.)

People are simply not careful when it comes to apps on Android... not like they are careful elsewhere, but you know?

I have been in discussions like these where "well meaning people" say things like "I cannot condone blocking ads. Those poor developers need to eat!" I'm sorry, but there's more at stake than their collecting ad revenue... tiny amounts of ad revenue. It just doesn't mean I need to open my doors to all that. I just hope the Ad-Free angry birds I bought from Amazon can be trusted.

With many useful things costing only a couple dollars or less, I'm fine with spending it. Also, since my wife also has android and I buy from Amazon's market, I just set Amazon market on her phone with my information and I get it twice... or even three times with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 7".

Anyway, smart users will control what goes in and out of their devices. I just wish there was something like "Little Snitch" for Android or even for Linux.

Re:Correction

[QuasiSteve]

The only problem with this approach is you are asking the ad networks to do more work with no real benefit to themselves.

Not quite. The ad networks (Google's, etc.) do just one thing.. serve up ads based on certain metrics that you send in a request.
If you send 5 requests, you get 5 ads.
There's no change required on that end.

Ad frameworks are a different matter. Most of the large ad networks also offer ad frameworks that make it easy to implement advertising based on their services - be that on your website or in an app. Those frameworks may not be well-suited to pre-loading multiple ads. The benefit to them is that they could also more efficiently grab ads. Whether that outweighs the loss of having up-to-the-second metrics (as opposed to, say, once per day), I'll leave up to them to worry about.

Developers, however, don't necessarily have to use these frameworks and, as long as their agreements allow it (usually when the payout isn't based on impressions, but on clickthroughs), grab 5 ads,10 ads, 100 ads and display those as needed.

I do agree though that most users are just going to shrug it off, as are most developers.

As it is, while these ad connections do sip battery power some, it's still the displays that easily take the most energy even with them forced to their lowest setting.

Re:Correction

[allo]

> no real benefit to themselves
better ads = less adblocking.

Re:Correction

[flufffy]

Many free apps are also basically ad platforms, though. They are hoovering up your deets, and serving you custom ads. The app is the candy that gets the rat to press the lever.

Re:Correction

[d3ac0n]

Please forgive my ignorance, as I am not currently an Android user. (Still on my Palm Pre- while I wait for the G-Nex to be released on Sprint) But coming from a mostly ad-free platform, is there any way to completely BLOCK ads on Android? (like Adblock Plus and No Script do for Firefox?)

Re:Correction

[erroneus]

You have to root (read: take control) your phone and then install an ad blocking program. I have used AdFree since the beginning, but today someone told me about an iptables for android program so I will be investigating its use as well.

AdAway

[macemoneta]

Android + AdAway (free, in the market) on a rooted device == no ads. It also mitigates the security risks associated with third party ads.

Re:AdAway

[idontgno]

Mostly. I got bit briefly by Airpush ads, which seem to be immune to hosts redirections, which both AdAway and (my choice) AdFree use.

To locate the apps that sneak in Airpush capabilities, I use AirPush Detector, which (quoting the author) "detects other installed applications which appear to use known notification ad frameworks and offers the user the ability to easily uninstall them.... This app is open source...."

Re:AdAway

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe DroidWall will work. It only allows network access to apps that you grant permission.

Re:AdAway

[green1]

Airpush got around droidwall on my phone, but then again, the app that was infested required internet access to perform it's primary function. Once I figured out which app used airpush (that was the hard part) I uninstalled it, and left detailed negative feedback for the app in the market.

It's one thing to put ads in your app, but what right does any developer think they have to put ads in my notification bar when the app isn't even running!?!?!?!

Ads? What are they?

[Noughmad]

Between not watching TV, having AdBlock on computers and AdFree on my phone, I can't remember the last time I saw one.

Re:Ads? What are they?

[artor3]

Since you obviously read Slashdot, I'd say you see at least a couple every day. They're just disguised as stories.

Re:Ads? What are they?

[Noughmad]

There are stories on Slashdot?

Re:Ads? What are they?

[Oswald McWeany]

Yes, stories about products that you need to go buy... right now... go on... it will make you life better.

Re:Ads? What are they?

[Cinder6]

Leela: Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?

Fry: Well, sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio. And in magazines and movies and at ball games and on buses and milk cartons and T-shirts and written in the sky. But not in dreams. No, sir-ee!

Re:Ads? What are they?

[QuasiSteve]

You know, come to think of it.. I don't think I've ever dreamed (of) an ad.

Off-topic as this might be, I'm going to pose this as a serious question: have any of you ever dreamed an ad?

I've had a great many number of dreams that range wildly in topics and vividness. I once woke up remember several lines of text from a book I was reading in my dream - I googled the lines of text but as far as it was concerned, those lines were not written anywhere for it to find.

But I don't recall having ever seen an ad. Or even related. I.e. walking down a city, I remember stores, I remember cars, traffic, people, the rain, a gust of wind... I don't, however, remember any H&M ads in the bus stalls, or Heineken sign outside a bar.

( Of course now that I've written this, I'll bet I'll be dreaming of ads come tonight. Damn. )

Re:Ads? What are they?

[ColdWetDog]

I've had a couple of nightmares that were pretty close to Santorum ads.

Oh. Wait.

Re:Ads? What are they?

[Kittenman]

Walking down the street?

What?!?

[JustAnotherIdiot]

You mean a extra program running to fetch ads over the internet takes more battery?!?
Oh my, it's such a big surprise!!!
Next you're going to tell me that turning up the brightness to max takes up more battery too!

Re:What?!?

[kenh]

Apps that download ads use 100% more energy downlaoding ads than apps that don't download ads... Who knew?

Next up, parked cars consume 100% less gas than cars being driven down the road.

And there is a study underway in Europe that hopes to confirm my suspicion that empty boxes weigh less than full boxes.

Re:What?!?

[baudilus]

Mathematically speaking, apps that download ads use infinitely more energy for that process than apps that don't. Either that or you divide by 0 and destroy the universe.

Then how about people start paying for the apps

[Necroman]

App developers for iPhones and Android devices want to be paid for the work they do. Some of those developers release 2 versions of their apps: ones with ads for free, and another that costs money with no ads. Most people tend to vote for the "ads" version because it seems free to them.

If this article is right, it may be work paying for those $0.99 apps as it will save you money in electricity and time/announces.

Re:Then how about people start paying for the apps

[baudilus]

Not if you only charge your phone at work. Let your employer pay that extra energy cost!

Re:Then how about people start paying for the apps

[Jens Egon]

And why they encourage ad-supported apps over free apps.

Notice how unhelpful the market* is at finding free apps.

* by whatever name.

Re:Then how about people start paying for the apps

[coinreturn]

Not if you only charge your phone at work. Let your employer pay that extra energy cost!

Or your Mom (in her basement).

Root

[p51d007]

Root it, use a ad blocker & block em.

The word "Free" is superfluous

[Colin Smith]

Apps eat your smartphone battery.

And.. Who knew? We all thought it was the multicore faries.

Re:The word "Free" is superfluous

[Amouth]

multicore faries

do you know how much of a pain they are to catch when they make it in to your data center?? especially now that most are getting rid of their Sun boxes, they just wander and hide in the closest glowing box, which are everywhere..

Most apps suck

[billcopc]

As an app developer and heartless cynic, I'd say if the ads make up 3/4 of the power budget, that sounds like a really stupid and useless app. If it's not busy presenting content, calculating something, or entertaining the user, then it's a total waste of CPU not even worth the ad pennies.

There are so many moronic apps out there, designed with the sole purpose of duping the user and profiting the developer. Humanity is wasting countless man-millenia defrauding each other via these gadgets, thanks to undiscerning advertisers and the plague that is in-app purchasing. If you want to save energy, start by raising the standards for mobile apps a little higher than "paid the developer signup fee".

Re:Most apps suck

[mark-t]

The problem is that the app store business model has generated a type of user that won't generally pay anything over even $.99 for any app, regardless of how useful it might seem to be. The only way to generate revenue from this extremely HUGE section of the market is to have advertisements in the application that can produce a continuous revenue stream from these people, with, of course, an option to make an in-app purchase that disables the ads, and perhaps unlocks additional features.

Re:Most apps suck

[billcopc]

Well, part of that reason is that phone/tablet apps are very limited subsets of their desktop analogs. It's a toy platform, you can't expect people to spend professional-level money on its software. I'm not going to drop $45 on a photoshop clone when all I can realistically do with it is finger-painting and morphing people's faces into goofy caricatures. The few apps that are truly valuable tend to come with the base OS: web browser, email, notepad. I could maybe use a simple spreadsheet, but Google web apps already cover that.

The day I can use a tablet as my main work computer, is the day I'll start investing real money in its software.

Re:Most apps suck

[mark-t]

The idea is that you DON'T maintain two packages....

Instead, you give the single app away for free, and use in-app purchasing to unlock additional features, as well as disable the advertisements.

I'm personally not a big fan of this sort of paradigm... I much prefer to buy software outright than spend money incrementally to get more functionality, but as a professional software developer who's been witness to these trends, it's hard to argue with the fact that this sort of software business model seems to really work.

Oh noes!

[Anonymous Coward]

All of the GPL'ed software I downloaded are finding and serving ads to me!

Oh, wait. No they're not.

Instead of buying ad-free versions . . .

[baudilus]

You could just purchase ONE application that manages all of this for you. Besides, I don't generally make it a habit of using applications that request location services yet don't seem to have a reason to do so. Oh right, you use an iPhone and you can't see those permissions before you download. Sorry.

Re:Instead of buying ad-free versions . . .

[coinreturn]

You could just purchase ONE application that manages all of this for you. Besides, I don't generally make it a habit of using applications that request location services yet don't seem to have a reason to do so. Oh right, you use an iPhone and you can't see those permissions before you download. Sorry.

Oh quit trolling. On an iPhone the app will ask after you download and if you don't like that, just delete it. BFD!

free != ads

[Kenja]

There are free apps without ads and there are paid for apps with ads. Title should be that ads eat up battery life, which is kind of a no brainer.

Re:Blackmail?

[kenh]

How many kilowatts can I buy for the 99 cents you think I should pay for a non-free app without ads?

How long will it take me to use that many kilowatts in my cellphone?

Buffer the ads

[billcarson]

Why not run a daemon that buffers the ads in the background for all apps while there is a wifi connection?

Re:Buffer the ads

[billcarson]

The average android user has no intention in doing so (and if Google embeds it into the kernel, it would be difficult to disable without flashing the device). In the Apple world, things would be even simpler, as only jailbroken devices would be able to stop the ad server.

Re:Free?

[CubicleZombie]

I see the dumbest simplest apps coming with ads. An ad supported stopwatch? Give me a freakin break. And ads or no ads, it's probably scraping my emails and contacts.

What ads?

[gox]

Use free software, don't support them by "seeing ads", support them with direct donations.

Poor title

[sl4shd0rk]

That should really read "Adware drains your battery" which is not only more accurate, but makes the article both banal as well as un-surprising.

Re:Poor title

[tepples]

You imply a claim that "free apps" doesn't have to mean "adware". So how do you recommend funding the development of free (as in beer) applications without advertisements, especially in categories historically underserved by free (as in speech) software or on platforms hostile to copyleft licensing?

Re:Free?

[jellomizer]

Well it took some time to learn how to code for that platform and make a usable application (even if it is a simple stop watch).
The problem is there are too many people who want to get rich quick. Make a junk app, make money off the adds, then just be happy that they made the money then go to the next scheme.

why so much effort?

[poetmatt]

adblocker does this for you - as long as you have root, no need for custom firmware

JuiceDefender

[TheSpoom]

I rarely shill for a product but if you have an Android phone with a less-than-optimal battery (like me), JuiceDefender does wonders. It turns off your phone's wi-fi and data connections (except for situations you configure like a streaming radio app is open) when your screen is off, turning them back on every X minutes so apps like email an sync on a reasonable schedule while not killing your battery. This by itself can save a huge amount of battery life (though it can do a lot more).

By its own calculations (which I of course take with a grain of salt) it has more than doubled my effective battery life, and I would guess from practical use that it's nearly correct.

Re:JuiceDefender

[swillden]

I'd like to use JuiceDefender, but I also use Tasker to reconfigure various settings, often based on proximity to specific Wifi access points (which provides cheap and fairly accurate geo-location), and JD turning the Wifi off and on all the time confuses Tasker.

Re:JuiceDefender

[postglock]

I haven't used Tasker, but the free "Llama - Location Profiles" can detect location by cell towers (hence it doesn't need GPS or Wifi to be on), then can turn off wifi, etc. It can also turn volume down at night, etc. (similar to Tasker, I gather).

Re:JuiceDefender

[caseih]

Agreed. When I first got my Galaxy, battery life was dismal. Reminded me of the 1st generation iPhone battery life. With JuiceDefender, my battery life is closer (but still not quite as good as) the iPhone. In general I think Android (OS, framework, and apps) aren't as energy-efficient as iOS is.

Re:JuiceDefender

[swillden]

Tasker can also use cell location, but it's not accurate enough for my purposes.

Re:Free?

[Noughmad]

Of course, just like writing Slashdot posts on a "free" operating system with a "free" desktop environment and a "free" browser is just drowning me in ads.

Free Apps

[K. S. Kyosuke]

If those apps are free, just write a patch and recompile. *ducks*

Re:Free Apps

[tepples]

Why would you duck?

One "ducks" to avoid a proverbial projectile tomato hurled at a stand-up comedian who just told a really bad joke.

In this case, the joke is on the confusion between the Slashdot meaning of "free" (as in speech) and the App Store/Google Play meaning of "free" (as in beer). Occasionally, these are called "small f free" and "big F Free" or "gratis" and "libre" respectively. But there are reasons for the lack of free software and ad-free freeware. For one thing, iOS application developers feel that they have to somehow recoup the platform's $1,000 plus $100 per year buy-in. For another, it's harder to apply the model of giving away the application and charging for related services to, say, video games that aren't massively multiplayer.

Re:FTFY

[dreemernj]

Android and Windows Phone, since the article is only about those two. The paper is basically a sales pitch for an energy profiler. It sounds like they've only implemented it on those two platforms so far. So, we'll have to wait for the numbers on power wastes on iOS.

Here is the problem.

[jellomizer]

For small smart phone apps that are easy to use you have a few business models to help pay for your time.

1. Charge for the app. Because it cost money a lot of people will not want to pay for it even though they wast more money a day on coffee, as there is a risk involved making the choice for the app... And for those early iPod owners they realize a dollar per song/app adds up overtime if you are not careful.

2. Free App with adds. Basically give the app for free as a something useful enough for them to tolerate getting adds.

3. Free App to Sell your Charge for App. You get the free version you like it. Then you can either get the Full paid version or pay for upgrades.

4. Free App to augment your existing app. You have an other product line (Say for PC/Cloud) and you get a free app to help sell/keep customers on your wider product.

Right now the idea of making an App and charge for support isn't viable. Because the apps need to be easy enough to use that you really don't need to charge for support, or they just wont get it. If they are that tough then they will probably be part of #4.

Rooted phone with AdAway

[Picass0]

Use "AdAway" by Dominik Schurmann. Free in Google Market.

Also you could run "DroidWall" which allows you to white list what apps may connect to the web.

Since everyone else is mentioning their custom ROMs I'm running Blu Kuban on a Sumsung Galaxy S2 (Sprint Epic Touch version)

Re:Blackmail?

[glaqua]

How many times has your smartphone died by 3pm, and how much would you have paid to have it continue to run until you return to the place you normally charge it?

Its not the cost of the power that is the issue, its the convenience of having a working phone at the end of my work day.

Does this apply to my Kindle too?

[cpu6502]

It talks over 3G and retrieves ads for display on the Homepage and screen saver. I never thought about how much battery power that would drain. (Of course it lasts over month so not really an issue I guess?)

Re:Does this apply to my Kindle too?

[WiiVault]

I believe the ads are downloaded as a batch every month or so. I've kept my wifi Kindle off the net for a month and now it displays a generic screensaver which at the bottom requests that I connect to wifi to get updated "offers". I assume 3G's work similarly. Using a recent model kindle with keyboard.

Re:FTFY

[kwark]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-17431109
"Due to restrictions built into Apple's mobile operating system, the team was unable to run tests on the iPhone."

Re:Now we know

[Anonymous Coward]

And therein lies the reason why Techweek only studied WP7 and Android. Anyone with an i* would think "omg these ads have been blessed, so they take no power".

Re:Free?

[TheRaven64]

make money off the adds

I can't tell if that's a typo for ads or you mean attention deficit disorder sufferers - it seems to work either way...

All things considered

[baudilus]

If you calculate the actual energy requirements of the ad serving functions on the average users phone over the lifespan of said phone, I'm reasonably, almost 53% sure that the cost of that energy probably doesn't add up to a single purchase of the I Am Rich app.

Re:Not a problem

[Oswald McWeany]

You can get angry birds easily on any platform.

1) Place phone on birdfeeder.
2) Fill birdfeeder with catfood.

Google App store should allow filter by funding

[Richard_J_N]

The solution here is to ensure that the app store shows the funding model of the app to the user before installation.

Personally, I *really* object to adverts on my phone: it's my personal space, my privacy, and screen/bandwidth/battery are far too limited to waste.
We should be able to filter the app funding model. For example, when given 50 different apps that do basically the same thing, I'd consider:

[Best] ; F0SS (GPL/BSD etc) ; Free beer, closed source without ads. ; Paid ; Advert funded ; Demo ; Broken ; [Worst]

I filed a bug on this with google, but it was wontfixed.

What's really annoying is that some decent apps only exist in a free version with ads, and don't even have an option to get a paid, ad-free version.

Re:Google App store should allow filter by funding

[Lumpy]

And apple not allowing scumbag app authors adding in apps on an update. I have bought a couple of apps that suddenly had ad's. the ONLY apps that should be allowed ad's are free ones.

Re:Google App store should allow filter by funding

[slapout]

I've made very little money with my paid, no ads app. My next app is going to have ads just so I can see if there's any difference.

Re:Google App store should allow filter by funding

[Richard_J_N]

Please allow your users to upgrade to a paid, ad-free version, or include it as a "pro" version in the app store.

Re:Blackmail?

[Oswald McWeany]

I go weeks without charging my smart phone sometimes...

true... my smart phone isn't really a smart phone... it's actually a dumb phone- about as dumb as they come.

OK... my phone is an ancient flip phone... but still... point in tact... I go at least a week without charging usually (unless I'm talking alot).

Re:Free?

[Zapotek]

Erm...there's plenty of F/OSS software that can prove you completely wrong.

In typical, pathetic IT manager fashion....

[doston]

I chose to throw money at the problem. A new 3500 mAh battery solved all tedious "smartphone" battery problems. If you've got an iPhone.... ;( Yes, my phone is fat now, but it's also Phat

Re:Not a problem

[davidag]

No mod points, but that made me laugh.

Obvious Guy says

[thoughtlover]

turn off Location Services. Plus, I don't like the my phone keeping tabs on my every movement giving that data to who-knows-who.

Not for me.

[Lumpy]

Jailbroken and custom hosts file makes them not serve any ads. I did not agree to pay for airtime for the ad's, so Until they pay for my data plan, I'm doing what I can to block ad's on my phone.

They are serving their "actual purpose".

[John Hasler]

And they are not Free: merely gratis.

Re:Not a problem

[The Grim Reefer]

You can get angry birds easily on any platform.

1) Place phone on birdfeeder. 2) Fill birdfeeder with catfood.

I doubt dry cat food would upset Blue Jays as they'll eat it, and probably bitch slap any cat that gets too close. But they are a pretty angry bird naturally. If it's wet cat food, then I'll probably have some angry neighbors after a couple of sunny days.

you thing that is bad try roaming with them and yo

[Joe_Dragon]

you thing that is bad try roaming with them and your data bill can be X50-X100+ time the cost of buying the app.

Misleading article is misleading

[flibuste]

As a developer of entirely free Android applications (free as in "beer" and in "free of ads"), I take offense at the overgeneralization of the article to "Free Applications". If you are not a careful reader, this may lead you to think that ALL free apps are full of ads AND power eaters.
A lot of "free" apps don't have ads and don't use more power than any other app. Many behave actually way better than paid ones.
Stupid article is stupid.

Re:Misleading article is misleading

[AdamJS]

For most users, the vast majority of free apps are ad-laden and (for many therein) functionally crippled versions of better, paid applications.

sounds like flawed research

[CosaNostra Pizza Inc]

First of all, not all free apps are adware. That's because some app developers (myself included) write apps for the fun of it. Also another factor: commercial apps tend to display lots of glitzy colors, graphics and animation. Turned-off (black) pixels don't drain the battery. Don't get me wrong, I've seen free apps that light up the entire display too. Free or not, what matters is whether the developer is conscious of saving the battery when designing the app. As an example, I use an app called Easy Battery Saver on my Galaxy Nexus to monitor batter usage...It reports that my display accounts for about 30% of my total battery consumption.

Re:sounds like flawed research

[tepples]

First of all, not all free apps are adware. That's because some app developers (myself included) write apps for the fun of it.

So how do you pay the bills while devoting sufficient time to "the fun of it" including promotion and user support? What's an ideal split between a day job and a hobby of developing Free or freeware applications?

Turned-off (black) pixels don't drain the battery.

This might be true of AMOLED panels, but the fluorescent or LED backlight of an LCD panel uses the same power no matter how many pixels are darkened.

Re:sounds like flawed research

[phorm]

"Turned-off (black) pixels don't drain the battery"

True on an OLED phone. But actually, on non-OLED screens, black pixels are turned on, while white are turned off.

Confusing? For anything to show, the backlight must be lit (which of course takes power). The "screen" then blocks the light from the backlight in a negative fashion, so that you only see the light/colours that get through.

On computers, that means that those lovely CRT-day screensavers that just set the screen to black (or maybe black with stars), actually may use slightly *MORE* power an LCD. A power-setting that turns off the backlight is the best way to save your screen.

For OLED screens, pixels are lit individually and no backlight is required, so if you've got an app like "noled" - which creates a notification icon the screen of phones that don't have a blinky LED - you're only paying for the power to a few pixels (though you may also be paying for CPU cycles).
IIRC, for a plasma screen TV, black is also lower consumption (nothing lit, no power).

Re:sounds like flawed research

[CosaNostra Pizza Inc]

So how do you pay the bills while devoting sufficient time to "the fun of it" including promotion and user support? What's an ideal split between a day job and a hobby of developing Free or freeware applications?

What's the ideal split?...It varies. I work a full-time job but right now I'm also taking an evening class so, I have little time for new features. All I have time for is basic fixes, atm. At other times, I can devote up to 8-16 hours a week.

iOS allows users to disable location-based iAds

[origamy]

In iOS you can disable Location-Based iAds in the Settings > Location Services > System Services page. In fact, I disabled everything in that page in my system because these hidden Location Services were eating my battery away.

Re:Free?

[helixcode123]

Well, as a counter example, I was sick of ads on my Droid "Free" metronome app, so I wrote an ad-free one, and yes, it was produced via "Good Will". And unlike the ad-festooned apps, mine comes with both Cowbell and Fart sounds!

Re:Free?

[Xenx]

No no.. adds = add-ons... You know.. The stopwatch can start, but you have to pay $0.99 to press stop.

Don't free apps make more money?

[PenguinJeff]

I'd think advertisers indirectly pay the company for the free versions of their apps. Advertisers pay continually where as if you buy it its a one time fee. So I'd bet the advertisers make more money for the company than the sum of all the people that pay for it. Just a guess. Personally I don't mind a few ads. My battery needs a work out anyways I'm hardly pulling 70% off of it and even at that it seems a waist to plug it in at night. If I leave it unplugged for the night its down to 10% which is too low so its always a guess on what I should do. Hopefully it uses some smart management to evenly where out the cells on the battery. Eat at Joe's

Re:Not a problem

[cbhacking]

Just FYI, you can easily install both Android and WP7 (and also Maemo/Meego and Ubuntu) on an HD2. Most versatile smartphone I know of.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php

What Turing completeness doesn't imply

[tepples]

The claim that a language is "Turing complete" (by which they really mean LBA complete) doesn't necessarily imply any of these:

1. The language has acceptable time and memory performance compared to the leading languages for implementing applications on a platform.
2. The language has input and output facilities required by a particular application, even enough to display the sort of user interface that the user expects. Notice the distinct lack of GUI in the examples on the page you linked.
3. Programs in this language are maintainable.

Re:What Turing completeness doesn't imply

[LordLimecat]

In response to point 3, Combofix (basically the best virus / rootkit removal tool out there) is a collection of compiled programs strung together by several thousand lines of batch.

It can be maintainable the same as any other language, if you go to the trouble to make it maintainable. Theres nothing magical about C++ that makes it maintain or document itself.

Re:What Turing completeness doesn't imply

[tepples]

It can be maintainable the same as any other language, if you go to the trouble to make it maintainable.

Conventional wisdom holds that all other things being equal, FOR loops and WHILE loops are more maintainable than GOTO hell.

Re:What Turing completeness doesn't imply

[LordLimecat]

Batch has for loops, and goto can be used well. What, praytell, is the difference between using a defined function() call, vs a goto :function in a language that otherwise lacks function declaration?

Re:What Turing completeness doesn't imply

[jeffmeden]

Batch has for loops, and goto can be used well. What, praytell, is the difference between using a defined function() call, vs a goto :function in a language that otherwise lacks function declaration?

Oh, I dunno, maybe the fact that by default batch scripts resolve all variables at launch time and you have to work extra hard just to get things like meaningful for loops and goto logic to work?

Paid apps not available everywhere

[tepples]

The $0.99 doesn't include the cost of moving to a country where Google Checkout is available, I assume.

Re:Paid apps not available everywhere

[yotto]

The GP didn't say what app it was, but one of the joys of Android is that you don't need to use their store to buy apps. The app in question could be available as a download from their website.

You have to sign up with some service to pay them, but you're not forced to use Google unless the author doesn't offer it.

Re:Paid apps not available everywhere

[tepples]

The app in question could be available as a download from their website.

But what would deter people from sharing the APK with someone else who hasn't paid?

"Apps" have been around longer

[tepples]

What's the difference between "applications" and "apps"? The term "apps" as a slang abbreviation for "applications" predates iOS 2.

Paid apps not available in all countries

[tepples]

[Best] ; F0SS (GPL/BSD etc) ; Free beer, closed source without ads. ; Paid ; Advert funded

So how would one fund the development of, say, a video game that is either FOSS or "Free beer, closed source without ads"? There are a bunch of countries where Google Checkout doesn't work. The only applications that show up in Google Play (formerly Android Market) in these countries are the free ones. So to make applications available to the widest audience, developers have had to make them ad-supported instead of paid. This glut of ad-supported "free" apps has established a customary price point, which has reduced the demand for on Google Play even in countries where Google Checkout works. Thus a lot of developers skip "paid" and head straight to "advert funded".

What's really annoying is that some decent apps only exist in a free version with ads, and don't even have an option to get a paid, ad-free version.

Depending on the developer's country of residence, a paid version may not be possible.

Re:Paid apps not available in all countries

[Richard_J_N]

Well, you can always do an out-of-band payment method, or simply use the honour system:
    "If you like my app, donate what you think it's worth by paypal, then check this box to hide the ad".

I can't be the only one who thinks that adverts on a smartphone are intolerable (perhaps with the exception of on the settings or about page).
I'm a bit reluctant to use adblock on a free app, but that is the alternative: if an app shows annoying intrusive ads in the user's private, personal space, it's so viscerally annoying that the user will either adblock or uninstall.

Re:Paid apps not available in all countries

[tepples]

Well, you can always do an out-of-band payment method, or simply use the honour system

I was under the impression that app stores banned applications from doing this.

Re:Paid apps not available in all countries

[Richard_J_N]

Only Apple do. The Android Market isn't locked down in this way - and even if it were, you can install apps from "non-market sources" on any android phone, just by clicking the checkbox (no need to root it).

A custom hosts file can do it FOR FREE

[Anonymous Coward]

HOW TO INSTALL A CUSTOM HOSTS FILE ON AN ANDROID SMARTPHONE:

DO THE FOLLOWING (after obtaining a good reputable solid HOSTS file, like mvps' -> http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm )

---

1.) Get ahold of the "Android Debugging Bridge" (ADB) & install it

2.) Mount your system mountpoint as READ + WRITE (as powerful of priveleges as you need is this)

3.) Using the PULL command, copy the file over from your PC (or even on your ANDROID if its there already) using PULL & overwrite the etc. folder's copy of HOSTS

---

* DONE! Yes, it's THAT simple... &, it works!

Then again, you KNOW that too, don't you, erroneOus (or, should I say Jorge Bastida)? Sure you do... & no 3rd party apps required @ all/whatsoever + completely free also since folks already have one on ANDROID smartphones (& others, I simply note android because last I knew of, it even surpassed iphones out there in terms of marketshare).

APK

P.S.=> You MIGHT have to run a Dos-2-Unix program over your custom HOSTS file, IF you didn't import one built for *NIX, but that's about it (since ANDROID is a Linux & thus, yes, a *NIX variant essentially)... apk

Re:Now we know

[DrGamez]

Crapdroids? Fanroids?

Well you're uhhh... ummm... an iPhonebot?

I'm sorry I'm terrible with these teenager-level wordplays.

Name the subject

[MrJones]

The test were done with Android and WP7. iPhone sure has the same problem, but please name the subjects to be non-biased.

Re:Free?

[Noughmad]

So you're saying people are willing to produce something as complex as an OS for free, but not a simple phone app?

The problem's with proprietary apps, not free ones

[psychonaut]

If the apps truly were free then battery depletion due to activity unrelated to the user's intended functionality of the program wouldn't be a problem; you (or someone else) would quickly get into the source code and remove the offending routines. The problem described in the summary occurs only with proprietary apps, whether or not you have to pay for them.

GOSUB is to RETURN as GOTO is to...

[tepples]

What, praytell, is the difference between using a defined function() call, vs a goto :function in a language that otherwise lacks function declaration?

For one thing, the syntactic sugar of a while loop allows the compiler to help the programmer verify some basic assertions about a program's behavior. For another, a function might be called in more than one place. If a language supports subroutines, the function can return to each caller. Is there an idiom in Windows batch files of passing some sort of return address to each "subroutine"?

Re:GOSUB is to RETURN as GOTO is to...

[LordLimecat]

Generally you use goto :eof, which returns to where you were.

Its been a very long while since I made a script complex enough to need gotos, but you certainly can use them like functions.

Not disagreeing about while loops.

Re:GOSUB is to RETURN as GOTO is to...

[tepples]

Generally you use goto :eof, which returns to where you were.

Only if you put each subroutine in a separate batch file, or you make the batch file call itself with an argument of what subroutine to call and then put a big switch statement at the beginning to dispatch calls. Or what am I missing?

Its been a very long while since I made a script complex enough to need gotos

Which is why I tend to switch from batch files to Python fairly early.

Re:/.ers opinions on my points on HOSTS files... a

[Anonymous Coward]

Hosts files are more 'secure'? In the same way that my grocery list is 'secure'. It is up until the point that I use it. I do not delude myself into thinking my ISP can not figure out what I am doing.

For example my grocery list is secure if I do not use it. No one can see it no one knows I use it.

But when I go buy groceries there are at *LEAST* 5 entities that know my list now. One less if I buy with cash.
1) me
2) my wife
3) the teller ringing up my food
4) my credit card company/bank (can get around this one if I buy with cash)
5) the grocery store

It is not secure. If some third party knows what you went to your secret is no longer one. Do you think the websites that are out there do not log you? Many many many do. They log your IP, what you looked at, who you logged in as... If you think your ISP is not watching...? You better be using a VPN provider (then do you really trust them too?)

Now to your points...
Hosts files are good for 'quickness' *IF* and only *IF* your file is small. Host file look up is a linear scan meaning to find anything in the list, and it reads the file every time you do a read too.

I used to have a 200k entry 'blackout list'. I switched instead to a DNS based solution. Hosts file was noticeably degrading my internet (It was .25-2 seconds per lookup I measured it). The speed up was immediate (due to the way most systems reload the file on every lookup). BIND does a much better job at managing this data than a hosts file ever will. This also has a nice effect in that I can locally cache results for my whole network (more speed). I do not have to maintain a hosts file on 15 computers (they all get it thru MY DNS server). I also mentioned 'linear scan' in my prev paragraph. BIND can do a binary search for the right one.

I then gave up on that solution. Why? It was a pain in the ass to maintain. The guys making the 'bad' sites only use them for a small transient time. Then you are stuck with that site basically forever. I was spending all my time fixing the lists...

You know what I installed instead? adblock plus and no script, and uninstalled java, when html 5 gets bigger i will unload flash. Not 1 viri in 5 years and that was only because someone else was using it and had turned off my ad/script defenses. Oh and they need to be turned off once and awhile. I bet you have a script to rename the hosts file, dont you? I did. As you come across something you want to get it and it is on a 'shady' part of the web... Or editing adding more in.

Look at where 99% of your attack vector is coming from. It is coming from your browser. Spend your energy there you will make your life a lot easier.

If you are dead set on a blacklist I suggest some sort of BIND solution. You will notice the speedup. It will be like a whole new internet to you.

Also another thing you can do is setup a less privileged user to use for day to day. Sure you can fiddle something right when you want to (if your doing that log in as admin). But your normal 'going to play a game' or 'surf the web' just use your less privileged user. That cuts most viri off at the knees when they try to do things to the system only an admin can do... That person I mentioned that got a viri? They now run as a less privileged user. They rarely notice it.

You want defense in depth. But make sure it makes sense.

Re:/.ers opinions on my points on HOSTS files... a

[APK's Mom]

I am very disappointed in you. Perhaps I should have let your father drown you.