Android, the real mobile platform

Jaghira

Member
Jul 8, 2009
352
bani, joy do you know a good task killer type app for the HTC? i get about a day and a half tops for my battery time.was wondering if i could kill some of the stuff running in the back ground ( like i used the maps yesterday to find my way to kensington palace:) but battery power showed its still running in background even after i was done with it)
 

Joy

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
10,227
Look on the market for "ATK", it's free.

However, what was likely sucking your battery is you having GPS on while doing so. Android is designed to multitask, and using programs to actually kill tasks is quite debatable. It's actually possible that actively killing tasks with a seperate app uses more battery than letting Android handle it.

By far the most battery is used by the screen, GPS and Wifi, so keep an eye on those before anything.

And on a new phone, charge the battery full, then use it until it's empty (without charging in between). It's generally best to only charge it from near empty to full. Actually this bit used to be true, not so sure about modern batteries, but it can't hurt and feels cleaner tbh.

Other app recommendations:

- Launcherpro Plus
- Beautiful Widgets
- Trillian Beta
- Act1 video player
- Locale
- Navigon
- Pure calendar widget
- Setcpu
- Touiteur
 

Croga

Says funny things =)
Sep 9, 2008
892
The Hellmouth
And on a new phone, charge the battery full, then use it until it's empty (without charging in between). It's generally best to only charge it from near empty to full. Actually this bit used to be true, not so sure about modern batteries, but it can't hurt and feels cleaner tbh.

With modern batteries it isn't necessary anymore to discharge completely before recharging. They usually even come charged when new nowadays.
The tip still holds some merrit though..... Modern batteries' lifetime is given in number of charge cycles. Which means that if you only charge when completely empty, you'll charge less often and thus have less charge cycles. In the end that will give you more years on the battery.

Having said all that; I personally don't watch all this at all and my old samsung handy (the simple kind that can make phonecalls and SMS and not much more) still has a battery that'll last about a week on standby. That's a lot more then any (any) new phone you can buy at the moment.
 

Bani

Member
Apr 13, 2007
1,238
Berlin
1.5 days is standard for a smartphone, you shouldn't expect more. I certainly never get more especially since I read ebooks on it as well. It sucks but that's how it is. You could get a few days of use if you don't use it for anything but calling, but what's the point?

Joy covered everything else ;)
 

Vessy

Puttin the slow in Onslow
Apr 13, 2009
585
This is for a HTC-phone and is said to double it's battery life:
1) Turn your device ON and Charge the device for 8 hours or more
2) Unplug the device and Turn the phone OFF and charge for 1 hour
3) Unplug the device Turn ON wait 2 minutes and Turn OFF and charge for another hour Your battery life should almost double, we have tested this on our devices and other agents have seen a major difference as well

Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=712990
 

Joy

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
10,227
I read that before, sounded completely ridiculous :p

But even if it works:
You do have to do it every time though to get the maximum battery life every time. I can get at least 15 hours of usage if I'm not using it for movies or music.

If you frequently text to foreign countries, I can strongly recommend chompSMS (http://www.chompsms.com/). If you use LauncherPro, you can totally replace your SMS system on your phone with chomp, and henceforth can text to almost any country for 10 cents per text. It integrates completely on Android, love it so far!
 
OP
Jaghira

Jaghira

Member
Jul 8, 2009
352
and where did the first page to this thread go? the one with all ze android games?
 

Gombur

Guild Mascot
Sep 21, 2005
2,238
I'm debating whether or not to get a HTC Desire or wait to a Froyo phone to come out
 

Joy

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
10,227
Eh, you can just update the Desire to Froyo when the firmware is released <_<

I subjectively recommend the SGS tho :D
 

Gombur

Guild Mascot
Sep 21, 2005
2,238
Yeah I know, but I meant a phone build specificly for Froyo as I suspect they might release a 4G phone now that the iPhone is out
 

Joy

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
10,227
Yeah I know, but I meant a phone build specificly for Froyo as I suspect they might release a 4G phone now that the iPhone is out

The iPhone is not 4G Oo

And do you even have a 4G network in Denmark?

There aren't any phones specifically built for Froyo, same as there aren't PC's built for Windows 7, that's just marketing speak. Wait longer, you get better hardware, that will always be the case with computers/tech, you can wait forever and get a flying invisible phone no doubt.
 

Bani

Member
Apr 13, 2007
1,238
Berlin
Froyo is awesome though, feels MUCH smoother than 2.1 and gives you 2 more icons on the home screen :p
 

Mystara

Master of Elements
Staff member
Dec 4, 2009
1,463
....gives you 2 more icons on the home screen :p

Holy shit this is mind blowing. I might have to wait for a phone to be made that supports this ground breaking, mind fuck of a feature!
 

Joy

Administrator
Staff member
Aug 26, 2005
10,227
Also that's not really something you need firmware for, Launcherplus can already give you an extra row of icons, and/or remove the text underneath, etc.