Dissecting mobile video services: An energy consumption perspective

Multimedia streaming applications are among the most energy hungry applications in smartphones. The energy consumption mostly depends on the delivery techniques and on the power management techniques of wireless interfaces (Wi-Fi and 3G). In order to provide insights on what kind of streaming techniques exist, how they work on different mobile platforms, and what is their impact on the energy consumption of mobile phones, we have done a large set of active measurements with several smartphones having both Wi-Fi and cellular network access. Our analysis reveals five different techniques to deliver the content to the video players. The selection of a technique depends on the device, player, quality, and service. The results from our power measurements allow us to conclude that none of the identified techniques is optimal because they take none of the following facts into account: access technology used, user behaviour, and user preferences concerning data waste. However, we point out the techniques that provide the most attractive trade-offs in particular situations. Furthermore, we make several observations on the energy consumption of different players, containers, and video qualities that should be taken into consideration when optimizing the energy consumption.