Battery Usage

Test # 1 (Background scan frequency)

This is a rough test that uses the battery drain over time to estimate the usage of the phone in various states.

Android iBeacon Library 0.7.1

Google Nexus 4, Android 4.3.  wifi off, screen off, 3g off, usb disconnected from computer
Battery 99% @ 6:52 p.m. Sat 
iBeacon Library background operation with 10 seconds scan time and 5 minutes between time.  (Running as iBeacon Reference app).
Battery 97% @ 1:09a.m. Sun (put it back to sleep)
Battery 94% @ 9:29a.m. Sun (stopped test)

Conclusion: Battery use in background mode is not very much. Battery went down by 5% in 14 hours. Battery is nominally 2100mAh, meaning the test used 0.05*2100mAh of capacity = 775 mAh over the course of 14 hours. The system was therefore drawing an average of 55.4 mA (775/14) over this period.

Test #2 (Foreground scan frequency)

Google Nexus 4, Android 4.3.  wifi off, screen off, 3g off, usb disconnected from computer
Battery 100% @ 1:36 p.m. Sun
iBeacon Library foreground operation with constant scan stopping every 1.1 seconds and immediately restarting.  Only monitoring going on.  New intent-only communication mechanism.(Running as iBeacon Reference app).
Battery 14% @ 8:31 a.m. Mon 

Conclusion: Battery use in foreground mode is more than in background. Battery went down by 86% in 19 hours. Battery is nominally 2100mAh, meaning the test used 0.86*2100mAh of capacity = 1806 mAh over the course of 19 hours. The system was therefore drawing an average of 95.1 mA (1806/19) over this period.

Test #3 (Baseline without scanning)

Google Nexus 4, Android 4.3.  wifi off, screen off, 3g off, usb disconnected from computer.  No bluetooth services running at all, but bluetooth is still enabled.
95% @ 11:59 p.m. Mon  
93% @ 8:51 a.m. Mon

Conclusion: Battery went down by 2% in 9 hours. Battery is nominally 2100mAh, meaning the test used 0.02*2100mAh of capacity = 42 mAh over the course of 19 hours. The system was therefore drawing an average of 4.6 mA (42/9) over this period.

Meta Conclusion from tests 1-3:

Using the service in background mode uses 37.4mA Using the service in the foreground uses 90.5 mA