Converting from a storm, have a few questions

[trippinbillies40]

So my DX showed up yesterday after owning a Storm for 20 months. I hated the Storm from the day I bought it, and already love the DX. There ARE a few things I liked about the Storm that I'm sure the DX can do, I'm just not able to figure it out yet (such as sound profiles, but I already found a widget for that)

-Can I get my universal inbox on my home screen by itself without having to click the "messaging" icon first? I'd love to have one icon that goes straight to my email, and one icon that goes straight to my text messages. I have two email accounts on the phone, and it seems the "email" icon only shows the default account.

-Are the home screen icons static, or can i get my email/text/facebook icons to let me know when they have new mail (other than the notifications at the top)? I kind of miss the little red numbers telling me how many new messages I had.

-Does the facebook app really suck that bad? I can't get it to even notify me of anything. People have been posting on my wall and FB has yet to make any beep at all.

That's all I have for now. I'm sure I'll come up with other stuff. The only small gripe I have so far is that the phone seems to take forever to charge. But, I had it plugged into my laptop yesterday to charge, not sure if the wall charger it comes with goes any faster.

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[racinwarrior]

try out launcher pro....

it allows you to move icons around and display a notification for unread gmail, texts and gtalk

facebook does suck notifications dont work for most people

 

[anon(19758)]

The facebook app does suck. Use "Bloo" available on Appbrain here

charging on the wall charger will be much faster.

 

[Arelunde]

Even without Launcher Pro (Plus = the paid version), you can move and delete/add icons on every one of your seven home screens. Just touch, hold and drag to the trash can at the bottom to delete.

To add, touch/hold a blank part of the screen. You will have options to add widgets (mini-programs that DO tend to drain your battery) or shortcut icons to programs. You can move any of these once on the home screen with a press/hold/drag.

To move it from screen to screen, press/hold/drag to edge until the line on the edge turns from white to green. The screens will flip by and you need to move the icon quickly to a blank spot to place it on that screen. Then you can move it wherever you wish.

There are separate icons for some of the mail functions if you press/hold (blank space on home screen)>applications. Not sure how the notifications will work. You DO get notification numbers in the pull-down screen at the top of your home screen. Also, you can access your messages from that screen, eliminating the need for additional icons.

FYI - shortcut to getting app shortcut icons on the home screen - press the app drawer icon on the bottom of the home screen (the triangle in a circle). Scroll the apps, press/hold the one you want and a copy of it is instantly on the home screen, where you can move it into place.

Also, as with the BB - and maybe even more so - every single app has its own options/settings as well as the main "Settings" for the X itself. It will pay you to take time to prowl these settings and customize them as you open and use apps.

You will never, never look back to BBs. There are threads in this forum for former BB owners where a lot of these issues you ask about are addressed. Welcome to the DX world!

 

[TallyHo]

Welcome to the DROID X...I'm a former S2 owner and have had the DX since launch day.

1. I haven't messed with multiple email accounts.....sorry. i will say to download Handcent SMS as it is a way better SMS program than the stock one.

2. Download Launcher Pro as a substitute launcher. It has the option to put a new message indicator number on you sms and email.

3. Facebook has gotten way better even since the release of the DX. It is still pretty iffy on notifications. Definitely not as good as the Storm for notifications. Everything else about the app is better though. i have just gotten into the habit of opening the app every day and that seem to trigger a notification for all posts. Lame, but works for now. It does seem to randomly notify me but its just that....random.

Remember that all your notifications will also appear in your task bar at the top of the screen. I have mine hidden as i prefer to have the beutiful widgets weather and time widget up top.

It will take some time to get used to, but you will end up loving this phone more every day. My fiancee has my old S2 and everytime I go to fix an issue with it , I am reminded how much better my DX is.

Hit me up on PM with any specific questions you have. I can hit you up with some must load apps as well, if you'd like.

Laters.

 

[trippinbillies40]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone. I have no doubt that this phone will blow away the S1 becaus eit already has, haha. I can't even imagine how much I'm going to love it once I get it set up the way I like.

Thanks again!

 

[trippinbillies40]

OK, new question: I'm sure the answer is "root that b*tch", but when I fire up advanced task killer, there are always lots of preloaded apps running that i didn't launch. City ID, Skype Mobile, Amazon MP3.... they're always on there even a couple minutes after I kill them. Am I missing something? Any way to get these shut down permanently?

That having been said, I do plan to start figuring out how to root it and get 2.2 on here. Want Flash for my Control4 system.

 

[Adiliyo]

don't worry about what's running. it's not a blackberry, the OS can manage your memory just fine.

uninstall the task killer and enjoy your worry free usage

 

[racinwarrior]

don't worry about what's running. it's not a blackberry, the OS can manage your memory just fine.

uninstall the task killer and enjoy your worry free usage

exactly.

android is a different animal than BB. memory that is not being used is wasted in android so it fills up ram with apps that you use often so that they open instantly. Coming from a S2 i was obsessed with checking my free ram, but now its no worries and just enjoying the phone like it should be enjoyed

 

[trippinbillies40]

I thought I read somewhere that killing the apps can improve battery life. Am I mistaken? probably am, haha. And you guys called it, I'm just so used to killing everything on the storm.

 

[Adiliyo]

the only time killings apps can be useful is if you have a rogue app that is actually active in the background using the cpu or other hardware (like gps)

in that case, personally i would let the dev know and uninstall the app until it's fixed in an update, but if you really needed the app, then i could see a task killer coming in handy.

for regular use, they are unnecessary and don't help much (if at all)

 

[grayzweb]

1 more thing I've found,

Battery pulls are no longer necessary, but just powering off the X and rebooting helps sometimes. -

 

[Adiliyo]

rebooting every once in a while can never hurt.

but yes, the constant need to pull the battery is no more! (plus, there's rarely a need to actually pull out the battery, as powering off the phone actually powers it off, unlike blackberrys)