Android Phones

[mountmccabe]

ETA: Rooting won't necessarily help you with battery life by itself, but if you remove a lot of the built in aps that run in the background it could save you a little bit of battery.

This is another thing that Android 4 will help with; you (should) be able to disable and hide (most of) the bloatware.


Also: Android 4 should be coming your way in the next month or two.

[lehorne]

Sister told me to download Whatsapp (free texting) and Viber(free calls and text/pictures) to help communicate with her internationally, but not sure if they will work on my HTC windows phone and don't really like communicating that much anyway

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

The HTC Thunderbolt has a removeable battery; I recommend picking up one or two spares (readily available at Amazon, etc) and maybe a charger.

Beyond that, yeah, shutting off things you are not using/don't want, which may include Bluetooth, GPS, wireless, data syncing (but, really, at least some of those are why you have an advanced smartphone so it seems silly to shut it all off). Your display is a big battery hog, turning down the brightness will help, too. The often stock widget Power Manager can give you easy access to control all five of these (I've loved it on both my phones though a friend of mine reported that the widget made his phone run wonky so ymmv).

Things like active wallpaper and constantly updating widgets can be fun and convenient but they also work the battery so consider that when adding them.


If/when you get upgraded to Android 4 there should be a battery monitor built-in so that you can occasionally glance at it and see what is using your battery.



I got up and unplugged my phone two hours ago. Mediaserver and Grooveshark were from me listening to music on my ride in to work. I had the screen on because I was reading things in the browser, etc. So in this case it doesn't tell me anything actionable but it could give you ideas, especially over longer periods of time.

A non-Android 4 option is SystemPanel App/Task Manager ($2.99). I recommend this app anyway for the Installer (create backups of apps you like; revert to them if updates are terrible!), etc but the following feature is great



(The free/lite version does not have this feature though it will tell you how much RAM and CPU time open apps are using/have used).

And if you don't feel like paying for the app (cause really, WHO DOES??) google search "SystemPanel App/Task Manager apk" and download/install it on your phone.

[mountmccabe]

The sale of Galaxy Nexus phones have been banned due to Apple's lawsuit.

We should be getting Jelly Bean next week and along with the improvements it will take away the ability to search the phone via the Google Search bar (it will still search the web)

[scenicworld]

which is really lame since google had integrated search long before anyone (google desktop search) but I guess since they didn't patent it specifically for mobile, the patent trolls at Apple saw their opening.

They tried to extend the ban onto the Galaxy S3 but the judge tossed it out and told them they couldn't add devices to an already existing ruling/injunction.

Apple, I love you dearly, but you really need to get over yourself on this patent trolling thing. you didn't invent touchscreens, you didn't invent integrated search and the iphone is not really all that original to begin with.

[Boourns]

I flashed one of the leaked ICS roms onto my Rezound and it's so much better. Like the task managing and being able to disable the bloatware, but I do wish it had the blue text found in pure ICS. Maybe I'll flash such a ROM in the future. Also got an extended battery, which helps a lot because I was having to charge the thing twice a day:


Seems the blue bits on the graph are when the phone was actually being used, so I've gotten a lot of use out of this charge. I can't imagine using a phone with a fixed battery. Fuck that.

[mountmccabe]

I don't understand that usage pattern; why was the screen on that much if you weren't doing anything?

[scenicworld]

yay! My preordered GS3 finally shipped today and should be here on monday! I can't wait!!

[scenicworld]

This is a really nice phone. I thought I would miss Sense a lot, but the Galaxy S3 is making me forget all about it.

[Down Rodeo]

Mine just shipped today. I can't wait to check it out.

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

This is a really nice phone. I thought I would miss Sense a lot, but the Galaxy S3 is making me forget all about it.

I have the S2 Skyrocket and love it to death. Samsung > HTC.

[phonographer]

Android 4.1 aka Jellybean

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

I am running a JB ROM on my Asus Transformer. Even though my tablet is a year and a half old, it's running JB flawlessly. Excellent battery life, smooth, fast, everything. I just hope Jelly Bean is available for my Skyrocket soon.

[ManImCool]

I just hope Jelly Bean is available for my Skyrocket soon.

Samesies. Currently running this ICS rom from XDA developer seanzscreams. I've been flashing his roms ever since I switched to the Skyrocket. He's currently working on getting JB to the Skyrocket.

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

Samesies. Currently running this ICS rom from XDA developer seanzscreams. I've been flashing his roms ever since I switched to the Skyrocket. He's currently working on getting JB to the Skyrocket.

How do you like it? I am hesitant to flash an ICS rom because the one I did before was buggy and the battery life was terrible.

[ManImCool]

My battery life is definitely much better than stock rooted. When ICS was first leaked for the Skyrocket yeah there were a bunch of buggy roms out with the devs still working out the kinks but especially now that ATT released their official ICS update and then the devs tweaked the shit out of that, it's been running super smooth. I remember several roms flashes ago my Skyrocket, if fully charged 100% in the morning, it still wouldn't make it until my head hit the pillow in the evening, needing some sort of maintenance charge in the middle of the day to stay alive. Now with seanzscreams later ICS roms, they easily make it the entire day, if not to the next morning. This is with moderate usage, playing music, Pandora, emails, facebooking (probably too much), ESPN, youtube, occasional Google Maps using GPS, and of course being in an LTE area it drains the battery even more getting that LTE signal. So yeah, at least in what I've had the Skyrocket lasting before, it performs much better now.

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

Can you tell me what improvements/benefits there are for flashing the ICS ROM over Gingerbread? When I flashed the leaked ICS rom, I didn't really care for the look and feel of it terribly much. I can tell a big improvement between ICS and Jelly Bean (with my tablet), but I need *just* a little convincing to flash a new upgrade.

Most importantly, if there is a battery life improvement (I'm at 14h 5m, with 36% battery life left), that may just be enough to convince me.

EDIT: What radios/mods would you recommend flashing for that ROM?

[ManImCool]

That leaked ICS rom was such a long time ago. After official releases it's smooth as butter. If you really need convincing to make the switch ask the nerds over on XDA.

For me personally I just like having the latest and greatest on my phone. Right now my GS2 Skyrocket is almost identical to the GS3 in all software categories. Only difference is some of the hardware inside.

As with all radios/modems/kernels, there is no correct answer for that. The best one to flash depends on your phone, where you live, other factors, etc.

[RotationSlimWang]

The sale of Galaxy Nexus phones have been banned due to Apple's lawsuit.

We should be getting Jelly Bean next week and along with the improvements it will take away the ability to search the phone via the Google Search bar (it will still search the web)

This is fucking ridiculous. Apple has a copyright on a "universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system?" Are you fucking kidding me? Anybody on the programming side know more about this, 'cause it sounds to me like they're referencing Spotlight as being their brilliant invention that is somehow copyrighted. How the fuck can you copyright the idea of searching both locally and web simultaneously?

[ManImCool]

Just updated/flashed another new ROM on my skyrocket complete with the new Google Now preinstalled (Google's version of Siri that comes in Jelly Bean) and it is awesome. Google Now blows away Siri away. Sorry apple, but everything google touches turns to gold.

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

Just updated/flashed another new ROM on my skyrocket complete with the new Google Now preinstalled (Google's version of Siri that comes in Jelly Bean) and it is awesome. Google Now blows away Siri away. Sorry apple, but everything google touches turns to gold.

Which ROM? How is the battery life?

[ManImCool]

The latest version from that same developer seanscreamz. Should be that same link a few posts of mine ago, post #674. Battery life is always hard to judge because it's always at it's worst when you first flash a new ROM, and I just flashed it this afternoon. Need to do a few complete charge cycles before I can judge that, but seanscreamz's roms have always had relatively great battery life for ICS. Just getting google now was worth the flashing of the new rom. Youtube any video of "google now vs siri". So much better, faster, accurate, and a much less robotic sounding natural voice.

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

Apparently, there is a way that you can put Google Now on your ICS phone by replacing a file or two using AbsoluteSystemRoot. I haven't done it, obviously since I'm still on GB.

I have Google Now on my tablet. Couldn't be happier with it.

[ENluv12]

I just did the new update for the HTC inspire. My phone seems to be working better. We will see.

[scenicworld]

I stil haven't rooted my S3 yet because the bloatware hasn't really been an issue for me and FoxFi meets my hotspot needs, but I'm still anxiously awaiting jellybean. at first I heard it would be released OTA in august or september, but now I'm hearing October/November.

I'm in the market for a tablet, but I'm waiting for the ICS/JB designed tablets to get released. no sense dropping a few hundred on a table that can't take advantage of NFC or beam. has anyone played with the new galaxy note yet?

[RedHotSgtPeppers]

I've messed with a Galaxy Note before. They are gorgeous but too damn big.

[TallGuyCM]

Hi guys,

I just got the new Galaxy SIII. It's my first full-on smart phone (my last was a shitty Motorola phone that had a fraction of the capabilities/apps as this does)...what apps would y'all recommend?

[mountmccabe]

Do you use Yelp? Flickr? Last.fm? Spotify? Grooveshark? Netflix? Skype? PayPal? Ticketmaster? Kayak? DropBox? They all have official apps which can be quite useful/fun. Your bank(s) and/or credit card companies may have apps, too.

I recommend getting the Google Voice app and a GV number; you can set it up so it does your voicemail which means you can check VM in the app, on the web and/or have it email you transcripts (often hilarious but generally useful).

PlayerPro Music Player will play mp3s, wma, ogg, flac, m4a files. Similarly MX Player has played every video format I've thrown at it.

I like Handcent SMS for texting but your stock app may be fine.

With AirDroid you can transfer files between a computer and your phone as long as they are on the same wireless network.

GPS Status is a multifunction app (spot marker! compass! level!)

ASTRO File Manager is the one I use, I am not sure how others are. Palmary Weather is the best weather app I've used (The Weather Channel's one was nice but is now a mess). I quite like Aldiko as a bookreader though if you're already reading Kindle files or whatever they have their own apps. I like Virtual Recorder but I am sure there are others.

[mountmccabe]

Oh and I would also get a security app. I am not talking Kaspersky or Norton, I mean one so that you can find and control your phone remotely if you lose it or have it stolen from you.

[TallGuyCM]

Yeah, I have a few of those apps already. Love the last.fm one.

Oh and I would also get a security app. I am not talking Kaspersky or Norton, I mean one so that you can find and control your phone remotely if you lose it or have it stolen from you.

Which one do you use?