Getting Droid X Today - Info Needed

[tbird669]

Ok...I got a Droid Incredible 2 weeks ago but it is just too small for my liking so I turned it in for a Droid X...so when first setting up my new X is there any recomendations on setting it up that you guys would recommend on the intial setup that would save time, usage & help with battery life? I use Facebook & Twitter so should I use the social networking apps for facebook & twitter already on it or download something different from the android market?
Thanks...

 

[greydarrah]

If you sign into appbrain with your Inc and sync your apps, it will make restoring any paid as well as free apps you've put on it easy to get onto your X.

 

[ottscay]

I would say (and I think most agree) to skip the Moto social feeds and get the market ones (there are actually a bunch of Twitter clients on the market, and the Facebook app just got overhauled majorly).

Battery-wise, the major things you can do are:

1) Don't put the screen on auto-brightness, set it manually, and crank it down to around 20% (it's still plenty bright, trust me).

2) For now I'd avoid the "Pure" brand widgets in the market...it may be possible to use them with the correct settings, but I haven't been able to verify that yet and using their calendar app literally cut my battery life in half.

3) When you do set up social networking, weather apps, RSS feeds, or anything of that nature, put the check/refresh rate at a reasonable time.

4) Make sure wifi is turned on all the time when you have access to wifi network...it's a lot less battery-wasting than 3G.

Two more things that are slightly less standard but I've found to really help with battery life (so you can try these if after 3-4 days you aren't getting the battery life you want):

1) There appears to be a bug right now that after the GPS is used, the CPU doesn't go into sleep mode properly. You probably still want to be able to use the GPS (I sure do) so the solution is to put the GPS control widget on your home page and toggle it off and then back on after you use it.

2) You can download Juice Defender from the market (the free version is fine) and install it following the basic auto-install instructions, and it will make sure 3G is completely turned off when you are on wifi. You'll still get calls, don't worry, it just helps with battery use.

I am getting awesome battery life now for such a powerful phone; I charge it every night, but I'm going all day (sometimes 20 hours of moderate to heavy usage) so you could probably go two days...but I don't want to run out of battery at the wrong time on the second day. But until I did all of the above things it was a struggle for a while to get more than half a day or so from my battery.

And finally...don't forget to enjoy you new phone!

 

[dmcman73]

Ok...I got a Droid Incredible 2 weeks ago but it is just too small for my liking so I turned it in for a Droid X...so when first setting up my new X is there any recomendations on setting it up that you guys would recommend on the intial setup that would save time, usage & help with battery life? I use Facebook & Twitter so should I use the social networking apps for facebook & twitter already on it or download something different from the android market?
Thanks...

If you use the built in Facebook and Twitter apps on the X, it will integrate all your Facebook / Twitter contacts with your phone contacts and if it can match them, it will link them.

The Facebook app from the app market is OK but not great. If you used it on the Inc then it's the same one.

Leave the GPS, WiFi off and turn them on when needed to conserve battery. The more applications you have that need to be synched with data (emails, weather apps, news RSS's feeds, etc), the more battery power it will consume.

There are loads of posts on here and a few are stickied on battery life and how to extend it.

 

[ottscay]

Leave the GPS, WiFi off and turn them on when needed to conserve battery.

Common misconception. Leave wifi on. It has minimal impact on your battery when there isn't a network, and saves you battery life when there is. I've even got in the habit of signing in to every free wifi network at coffee shops, restaurants, etc. because it saves battery and gives me faster internet whenever I want it.

Likewise, the GPS itself isn't the problem, it's that after it gets used for any reason it stops the CPU from going to sleep. Use the toggle work-around I outlined in my earlier post and you'll get much better battery life even if you leave the GPS on.

 

[dmcman73]

Common misconception. Leave wifi on. It has minimal impact on your battery when there isn't a network, and saves you battery life when there is. I've even got in the habit of signing in to every free wifi network at coffee shops, restaurants, etc. because it saves battery and gives me faster internet whenever I want it.

Likewise, the GPS itself isn't the problem, it's that after it gets used for any reason it stops the CPU from going to sleep. Use the toggle work-around I outlined in my earlier post and you'll get much better battery life even if you leave the GPS on.

The WiFi does drain the battery when it tries seraching for a wireless network and also while it's connected. The WiFi radio is on at all times regardless which in turn uses battery power.

 

[gtmci84s]

You will think the battery life on this is amazing if your used to the dinc's battery life. I had one and I couldn't even get it to last 8 hours moderate texting/browsing/a phone call or 2. That's why I exchanged my Dinc for the X. You'll be happy as far as battery life goes even if you have the brightness on 100% and gps running constantly imo.

 

[dvader]

If you want to save your battery life, then just don't turn on the phone.
I mean it's silly to me to jump through 40 million hoops just to save a little bit of juice.
by a car charger, and charge it when you are at home, or in the car.
and if possible a usb cable to charge it at work if you have a laptop or something.

if your going to spend all day turning this on and that off just to save a bit of juice then you should look for a different phone or just don't ever turn it on.

I leave all my **** turned on and pretty much do the opposite of what is said here and my phone works just fine.
I do keep it hooked to the laptop at work and put it on the dock in the car. so it's not like i'm using it away from a power source for 15 hours a day.
but i'm also not screwing with my phone every 5 minutes just to save some juice. and i'm much happier this way

 

[dmcman73]

If you want to save your battery life, then just don't turn on the phone.
I mean it's silly to me to jump through 40 million hoops just to save a little bit of juice.
by a car charger, and charge it when you are at home, or in the car.
and if possible a usb cable to charge it at work if you have a laptop or something.

if your going to spend all day turning this on and that off just to save a bit of juice then you should look for a different phone or just don't ever turn it on.

I leave all my **** turned on and pretty much do the opposite of what is said here and my phone works just fine.
I do keep it hooked to the laptop at work and put it on the dock in the car. so it's not like i'm using it away from a power source for 15 hours a day.
but i'm also not screwing with my phone every 5 minutes just to save some juice. and i'm much happier this way

How is turning the Wifi or GPS or any other radio off a hassle?? Motorola has a great widget that allows you one tap on and off for any parts of the phone within a split second. So do you keep all the lights on in your house out of convenience as well?