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Any advice for an Android noob?
Hoopz:
I bought my wife the original Droid about 15 months ago and she loves it. I switched from the Blackberry Tour to the HTC Incredible last May. I'll never own another BB again. This is my second HTC phone with the first being a Windows mobile a few years ago.
Rooting your phone should be simple. To get mine ready, I had to follow about 5 steps (download the Android SDK, turn on debugging, plug in cord, etc) and then I hit a button on the PC. Boom -> rooted. Compared to a softmod on an original Xbox or Wii, it's the easiest thing to do. If you can re-assign a button in Mame, you can more easily root your phone. :o
Once rooted, you can easily get rid of all the junk on your phone. I wouldn't use Bing ever so you can change that. I got rid of Facebook, some stupid Twitter client, and a bunch of other bloat. I have tried out a few other custom ROMS but, to be honest, I absolutely love HTC's interface that I haven't found anything better.
I agree about turning on/off the GPS when in use or not. The same with Bluetooth and Wi-fi.
Rooting does give access to Wireless Tether which is simply incredible and free. Adfree is another great app for a rooted phone. Hell, I didnt know Angry Birds had ads until I saw my wife playing and asked WTF is that. I had never seen the ads on my phone.
Google Voice is great as was said. I ported my number from Sprint to Google which has some incredible benefits.
Docs pics is a good Google docs app as is Gdocs. I use both (one for personal and one for work which is a Google Apps account). Barcode scanner is good as is Google Shopper to compare prices, read reviews, etc. I've played with Google books but have found it's too small to easily read anything on there for a long period such as a book would be.
For games, I play Cribbage Pro, Droid Mini Golf, Unblock me Free, and a few more popular games.
If you aren't a regular user of Gmail, I'd suggest getting familiar with it and integrating your calendar, contacts and everything into Google's apps and your phone. It's really a multi-function device or portable PC than just a phone.
Google being open source with their OS makes it a much more pleasant experience than what I have found with iOS.
I am, unashamedly, a Google fanboy. :applaud:
AtomSmasher:
--- Quote from: Dartful Dodger on March 25, 2011, 05:56:55 pm ---
--- Quote from: AtomSmasher on March 25, 2011, 04:27:52 pm ---Or just go to the applications sections within the settings and turn stuff off there. There's no need to download a separate app to do that unless you have an old version of the OS.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, but that's a few clicks deep followed by closing each app one at a time. And I don't see the point in going through that effort to close out of the Browser or Email since I'll be re-launching them again within an hour.
Now I close all the unnecessary apps with two clicks before putting away my Droid.
--- End quote ---
Theres no reason to close apps that you use, such as browser or email. When an app is minimized, it doesn't use up any battery because it doesn't use any cpu. It only takes up a part of the memory, which requires the same amount of power whether it's full or empty. All you're effectively doing is making it take longer to open up the apps you regularly use. The latest version of the Android OS is quite good at managing when to close apps, the only thing you need to manually close are things that startup with the OS, such as Amazon downloader.
If you search for websites on which apps to use on the Android, pretty much all of the advice given in the past year say that programs like Advanced Task Killer are no longer necessary. It's the sites that were written for previous versions of the OS that say it's required. Of course it doesn't hurt anything to use it, it's just no longer all that beneficial.
Hoopz:
--- Quote from: AtomSmasher on March 25, 2011, 06:39:10 pm ---
--- Quote from: Dartful Dodger on March 25, 2011, 05:56:55 pm ---
--- Quote from: AtomSmasher on March 25, 2011, 04:27:52 pm ---Or just go to the applications sections within the settings and turn stuff off there. There's no need to download a separate app to do that unless you have an old version of the OS.
--- End quote ---
Yeah, but that's a few clicks deep followed by closing each app one at a time. And I don't see the point in going through that effort to close out of the Browser or Email since I'll be re-launching them again within an hour.
Now I close all the unnecessary apps with two clicks before putting away my Droid.
--- End quote ---
Theres no reason to close apps that you use, such as browser or email. When an app is minimized, it doesn't use up any battery because it doesn't use any cpu. It only takes up a part of the memory, which requires the same amount of power whether it's full or empty. All you're effectively doing is making it take longer to open up the apps you regularly use. The latest version of the Android OS is quite good at managing when to close apps, the only thing you need to manually close are things that startup with the OS, such as Amazon downloader.
If you search for websites on which apps to use on the Android, pretty much all of the advice given in the past year say that programs like Advanced Task Killer are no longer necessary. It's the sites that were written for previous versions of the OS that say it's required. Of course it doesn't hurt anything to use it, it's just no longer all that beneficial.
--- End quote ---
Does that work for all apps or not? If the app isn't coded properly, can it still run in the background and use the battery? It seems like the video program I use runs even when I'm not watching it after I "close" the program.
AtomSmasher:
--- Quote from: Hoopz on March 25, 2011, 07:13:14 pm ---Does that work for all apps or not? If the app isn't coded properly, can it still run in the background and use the battery? It seems like the video program I use runs even when I'm not watching it after I "close" the program.
--- End quote ---
Ya, I suppose it's possible for some apps to do things in the background, such as an email program searching for new email, although all of the ones I've seen have options to disable features that run in the background. I suppose if it is poorly programed, then it may do something regardless, although I personally have not seen an app like that. Of course, I generally only use the same dozen or so apps, so it could be there are many poorly programmed apps.
My information mainly comes from the research I've done over the past few months on which apps I should be using. I initially did use Advanced Task Killer, but then came across several recent articles explaining how it was no longer necessary, so I stopped using it and didn't see any noticeable change to the battery life.
SavannahLion:
IMHO. I see little benefit in owning an iPhone unless there's a must have app on the iOS that isn't on the Android. My fiance has an iOS device and her only beef is the EVO is a wee bit smaller and I have to create a custom profile in handbrake. She doesn't even use the Apple unless the EVO is low on battery.
I've always wanted to root my phone but I'be been puzzled about whether Sprint would know. I can't see why they care but there dire warnings about fines or whatever. ::)
Had no idea rooting got you tethering. That's awesome. Lifehacker huh?
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