Originally Posted by
Drew Eckhardt
Unless you ride reasonable distances.
I only get a few hours out of my Samsung Galaxy S5 running the ridewithgps app even if I have it in a jersey pocket with the screen turned off. Before I switched to a dynamo setup for long rides I was able to get 12 hours out of my Edge 500 with 40% battery left at the end. Unfortunately, that's still not enough to use my phone as a bike computer - outside of ultra low power mode where the phone doesn't run apps it's barely enough to keep the phone charged with the screen off, and it bounces in and out of charge mode depending on speed.
ANT+ software support is also a problem with my phone. While the hardware supports it, ridewithgps won't talk to ANT+ sensors and updating my power meter to bluetooth would be a $500 change.
I don't know what it is about Android phones but for some reason they don't seem to do well as cycling computers because of battery issues. I have heard the same thing from other Android users that are running cycling apps, as well. I have an iPhone 5c that is over two years old and has the original battery in it. I use a RFLKT+ (with the Ant+ option turned off), a Wahoo TICKR HRM, a Wahoo Blue SC and the Cyclemeter app. I did use a Garmin HRM and speed/cadence sensor but started having issues with them when the iPhone went to iOS 9, even while being bridged by the RFLKT+, so I went to BT. I ride daily, between 35 and 50 or more miles each ride, and by optimizing the iPhone for extended battery life and killing all the apps running in the background (except my cycling app) I am loosing battery life at approximately 10%/hr on any given day. I have done century rides without having to charge up the phone and still had enough battery left for an emergency phone call or two. The phone is neatly mounted on my aerobars so I get to hear any announcements that the cycling app has to pass on to me.