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BBC deliver update to battery-hungry UK 3G Survey app days after launch

The BBC is rolling out an update for its UK 3G Survey app just days after it launched on the Android Market.

Following from our previous article detailing a new BBC-backed app to record the quality of our 3G coverage, it’s now been reported that app has both proven to be successful in reaching a massive 33,000 downloads, but also not so well received by those who have downloaded it – due to the apps apparent battery-hungry demands on volunteer’s smartphones.

The UK 3G Survey app collects location and signal data from the mobiles of willing participants, and reports the findings to the Beeb who will release detailed findings as a map later in the year, in a report that will tell us where the best and worst 3G reception can be found in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Since its launch a few days ago the UK 3G Survey app has been supported on Twitter by comic-actor Stephen Fry, who no doubt has helped boost the apps cred. The regular tweeter commands 2,839,734 followers and praised the app with his 140-characters-or-less. But many of the 33,000 app-licants have claimed the survey robs the smartphone of its valuable battery life.

“We have a new version of the app which doesn’t test continually but for 4 hours at key points in the day. It stops testing if battery life drops below 30 per cent, but can test continually when a phone is being charged.” says Epitiro, the makers of Auntie’s app.

If you have chosen to join in and are experiencing the battery drain problem you can pop back to the Android Market to grab that update today.

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