A couple of quick questions...

[Joe113]

First question is about "Network Signal Booster" apps. Can an app reaalllyyy boost your signal and make it better? I live in upstate NY and there really is crappy service where I live (no matter what phone/carrier you have, there is crappy service lol). So I was wondering if an app could really help my signal? Such as THIS or THIS.

Second question is about the Juice Defender app (free version). Will this app really help my battery life? Because like I said, I live in upstate NY and get crappy service when I'm not home (have the AirRave at my house), so my battery life suffers. I just installed Juice Defender and noticed it is using 11MB of RAM; wouldn't that deplete the battery quicker lol? How do I make it optimize my battery life?!

Thanks to everyone who puts in their 2 cents!!!!

 

[Gator352]

Heck, if the signal booster apps are free I'd try em' out. Why not....can't hurt. If they don't help...just delete them like a bad girlfriend.

Juice defender is a mixed bag. Some say it helps, some say it doesn't. Some say it wreaks havok on other apps they use. Honestly, I own the platinum version and to be honest....it saves batt on my tablet but does nothing for my S3. The only caveat on my tab is that it kills my wifi when in standby and it takes a few for it to reconnect to my router....a pain to say the least...but it works. Your going to have to go through the menus and optimize to the way you use your phone...everyone has different needs so I can't give you insight on how to optimize it to your taste.

 

[Joe113]

Heck, if the signal booster apps are free I'd try em' out. Why not....can't hurt. If they don't help...just delete them like a bad girlfriend.

Juice defender is a mixed bag. Some say it helps, some say it doesn't. Some say it wreaks havok on other apps they use. Honestly, I own the platinum version and to be honest....it saves batt on my tablet but does nothing for my S3. The only caveat on my tab is that it kills my wifi when in standby and it takes a few for it to reconnect to my router....a pain to say the least...but it works. Your going to have to go through the menus and optimize to the way you use your phone...everyone has different needs so I can't give you insight on how to optimize it to your taste.

Yeah I guess you're right with the signal booster. But I definitely feel as if the Juice Defender app drained my battery even quicker then normal. It was dropping like flies, uninstalled it and it was back to normal.

 

[IAmSixNine]

Technically speaking no they can not boost your signal.
But what they can do is adjust the thresholds of what is considred to low or to high. Its a software setting that they can adjust to make it look like your getting better signal.
Get an app called RealSignal and it will tell you your true signal recieve strength.
To actually get better signal the antenna, firmware (aka radios) or both have to be adjusted.

 

[trekkie1701c]

Technically speaking no they can not boost your signal.
But what they can do is adjust the thresholds of what is considred to low or to high. Its a software setting that they can adjust to make it look like your getting better signal.
Get an app called RealSignal and it will tell you your true signal recieve strength.
To actually get better signal the antenna, firmware (aka radios) or both have to be adjusted.

They can also just toggle your antennas and data connectivity - so if you've lost your 4G connection and the phone isn't picking it back up because the 4G antenna has gone to sleep, you can use one to attempt to re-acquire the 4G network. So they can be "useful", however it just seems easier to toggle everything manually. Perhaps if there were a widget or something to tap on a lockscreen, an app that did this would be useful, though I'd agree that the ones I've seen are about as helpful as those stickers.

For Juice Defender, I'm one of the people who has had a bad experience - back when I had an Optimus S, trying to use Juice Defender would prevent me from getting text messages (even deactivating it would not allow the previous messages to show up, so I'd basically lose messages). I'm much more of a fan of carrying around an external power pack, as it has the added bonus of being able to do whatever I want with the phone irregardless of power draw. It's honestly a much different Android experience when power is never a concern.

 

[Joe113]

They can also just toggle your antennas and data connectivity - so if you've lost your 4G connection and the phone isn't picking it back up because the 4G antenna has gone to sleep, you can use one to attempt to re-acquire the 4G network. So they can be "useful", however it just seems easier to toggle everything manually. Perhaps if there were a widget or something to tap on a lockscreen, an app that did this would be useful, though I'd agree that the ones I've seen are about as helpful as those stickers.

For Juice Defender, I'm one of the people who has had a bad experience - back when I had an Optimus S, trying to use Juice Defender would prevent me from getting text messages (even deactivating it would not allow the previous messages to show up, so I'd basically lose messages). I'm much more of a fan of carrying around an external power pack, as it has the added bonus of being able to do whatever I want with the phone irregardless of power draw. It's honestly a much different Android experience when power is never a concern.

External power pack?