The Android thread

IceBone said:
Task killers don't help battery life, they actually diminish it. Android has good process management and shuts down apps and services when they aren't needed anymore, until then they just idle in memory. If you use a task killer to kill apps, you'll most of the time break a process in progress, which the app will have to restart when you start it again, meaning it'll in the long term use up more cpu time and battery life.
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In light of that I'm going to stop using a task killer, because I've pretty much been using one from the start and I have pretty poor battery life. To the point even that I might look into getting another battery.
 
I have a Samsung Moment and I think my main problem is that I keep going from WiFi areas to 3G. That switching rapes my battery. I hope there is a 2000mAh battery available for replacement, I could easily get more than a day out of that. With 2.1 it gets better life than it did on 1.5.
 
There is an 1800 mAh battery for my Hero that's the same size as the stock 1500, so I will likely go for that at some point. If I want a really fat phone I can go for 3200...
 
Is it a must have to get a data plan with Android?

e.g. Can I still access functions like calendar without having internet access.
 
Without a data plan, you can't use internet features. Everything else should work. Still, it seems kind of a waste without one, I mean, any phone has a calendar.
 
Around here you can't even get a plan for a smart phone without the data plan.
 
Places I go to often have wifi available, so thats why I don't have a data plan. Its only when I'm on the street that I miss the internet access.

I will eventually get one, but right now they're still a bit too expensive.

As long as everything else aside from things like browser and google maps works, then I'm not fussed (ie I don't want to have to login to my gmail account just to change an event in my calendar, for example)
 
Yeah, if you have regular access to wi-fi you should be fine. The phone has an airplane mode so constant access is not required for basic functions. Syncing to gmail is purely optional, regardless.
 
This is why I love GSM carriers. I had a featurephone/dumbphone with a $25 unlimited data/texting package, then put that SIM in the Nexus and carried on with merriment.
 
You don't need to turn on airplane mode. This disables all radio features, even calls and messages. There's another option of disabling mobile networks, which just turns off the data portion, which is what you're looking for. It's in the same menu as the airplane mode option (hold down power button).
 
I'm now back on Modaco (the new based on the official 2.1) and I really have to say that I wont leave Modaco again.
It's really the highest quality you can get! If your phone is rooted then Modaco is the best way to go! :)
 
I'm curious with these custom ROMs - what exactly do you get over stock? Since updating to 2.1 I haven't felt like anything is missing or disallowed.... I guess wifi tethering, but I'd rather do USB tethering and make an ad-hoc network on the PC (keep the phone charged).
 
The biggest thing is that you get a faster phone. You can get the new ROMs before the official release. You can customize your phone with various themes and such and you can overclock your phone! :D
 
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Cyanogenmod does have some nice features. First of all, it allows 2.1 on devices that have not officially received it (HTC Dream/G1, Magic/myTouch3G), also enabling initially locked features such as multitouch. With root, you can use Wifi tethering. Apps2sd allows to install your apps onto your SD card, saving memory on the phone itself. A proper recovery image (which you'll need to install CM) allows you to make Nandroid backups, which are full backups of your phone's state - if anything breaks terribly, just restore. Tweaks the phone performance a lot, battery life, CPU over/underclocking, freeing up memory, etc. Also, adds some nice OS features such as lossless audio playback, settings, phone app and browser enhancements.
 
Hmmm.... I think I'll stick with where I am for now. I already have 2.1/multitouch/tethering, and I don't see myself running out of app space any time soon. Backups would be nice but I only use a handful of apps anyway and all my contacts are synced with Google. Overclocking would hurt the already iffy battery life, and the phone is slow enough without being underclocked.

I also subscribe to the philosophy that free memory is wasted memory :p

Almost forgot to mention Dolphin, it's the only mobile browser I use now since it just seems to work with everything, and has lots of cool features.
 
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white-evo-4g-htc-small.jpg


The white doesn't look too bad actually.
 
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