Is there any battery power consumption benefit if Network Location Provider (vs. GPS) is used?

Question

Is there any real battery power consumption benefit if Network Location Provider (vs. GPS) is used?

I believe there should be some benefit, but since I develop on emulator I can not prove my assumption. Does anyone have the evidence that Network Location Provider consumes less battery power than GPS Location Provider? If yes, could you tell how significant it is?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The difference is likely extremely significant. GPS hardware uses—relative to other components of the phone—a lot of power, which is why phones often get warm when their GPS is active. The network location service, on the other hand, just relies on the cell towers to which the phone is connected anyway (and possibly local wifi networks, though I'm not sure about that), and thus should cause little if any extra power consumption.

Answer 2

I have experienced significant battery drain while having GPS location turned on vs having it turned off on my Android phone. I always leave it off, except when I actually need it for traveling as a GPS. But then my phone won't last all day, like it will without using GPS.