Gone from Epic to Evo - First android phone - Couple of questions

[colestein]

Hi Team -

I tried to find answers but I either can't find them or don't quite understand. Perhaps this would be helpful for others too.

If anyone could help me answer these questions, I'd be very grateful.

• I plug my headphones into the evo, turn on the radio, but no sound comes out. Is there a radio app that anyone can recommend?
• On the Epic, I was able to check my Gmail AND my imap email accounts from one app. On this phone they are seperate. Any way to combine?
• Is there a way to plug USB into the phone and computer and use the phone as a modem without paying Sprint an extra fee?
• APP KILLER - I don't get this one. I see people who say that android 2.2 doesn't need an app killer but there's so much stuff running in the background. In newbie language, what's the best way to deal with apps that don't close?
• Can I play divx movies on my evo. Can I mod it to stream netflix?
• Is there a GOOD battery monitor that shows percentage left and also time left on the battery?
• Is there something that allows me to listen to podcasts?
• The Epic had Swype. Is there a good replacement for that keyboard? I love it!
• Just for fun...what's the #1 app I should download?

Y'all are awesome. Thanks a ton!
Jason

 

[splmonster]

Hi Team -

I tried to find answers but I either can't find them or don't quite understand. Perhaps this would be helpful for others too.

If anyone could help me answer these questions, I'd be very grateful.

• I plug my headphones into the evo, turn on the radio, but no sound comes out. Is there a radio app that anyone can recommend?
• On the Epic, I was able to check my Gmail AND my imap email accounts from one app. On this phone they are seperate. Any way to combine?
• Is there a way to plug USB into the phone and computer and use the phone as a modem without paying Sprint an extra fee?
• APP KILLER - I don't get this one. I see people who say that android 2.2 doesn't need an app killer but there's so much stuff running in the background. In newbie language, what's the best way to deal with apps that don't close?
• Can I play divx movies on my evo. Can I mod it to stream netflix?
• Is there a GOOD battery monitor that shows percentage left and also time left on the battery?
• Is there something that allows me to listen to podcasts?
• The Epic had Swype. Is there a good replacement for that keyboard? I love it!
• Just for fun...what's the #1 app I should download?

Y'all are awesome. Thanks a ton!
Jason

I will just give my two cents on the Task Killer thing. Since your coming from an Epic with 2.1 and the Evo having 2.2. Huge difference in the way the system operates and handles memory. Froyo is designed and optimized to handle it's own memory. All the Task Killer is doing is killing the app then Froyo will restart that app right away. Which in turn does not help you. Just because the program is in the running apps does not mean it's taking or doing much with that app. I think people misunderstand the way Android runs, they assume a program is running full in the background. That is not the case.. 2.2 does not need a Task Killer, and all your doing is adding more problems to the device. It's built to handle its own, so let it do that. Remember 2.1 and 2.2 are way different.

The best thing I can tell you with Swype is sign up for the beta, and once it opens back up you should have Swype again.

 

[curthibbs]

I use (and like alot) the app "Battery Left" to tell me how much time I've got left on the battery.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Hi Team -

I tried to find answers but I either can't find them or don't quite understand. Perhaps this would be helpful for others too.

If anyone could help me answer these questions, I'd be very grateful.

• I plug my headphones into the evo, turn on the radio, but no sound comes out. Is there a radio app that anyone can recommend?
  There are other threads about this. See if anyone has found an answer there (I'm not sure myself).
• On the Epic, I was able to check my Gmail AND my imap email accounts from one app. On this phone they are seperate. Any way to combine?
  There are third party apps that will do this, like Maildroid.
• Is there a way to plug USB into the phone and computer and use the phone as a modem without paying Sprint an extra fee?
  If you root you can do this. There may be ways to do this without root, but I'm not too sure which ones do/don't need root.
• APP KILLER - I don't get this one. I see people who say that android 2.2 doesn't need an app killer but there's so much stuff running in the background. In newbie language, what's the best way to deal with apps that don't close?
  I personally don't use one. I'm rooted so I use minfreemanager. It alters the amount of Ram that is allocated to each level of app. My girlfriend has a stock EVO with the @2.2 OTA and she has no problems. She doesn't run any kind of task killer.
• Can I play divx movies on my evo. Can I mod it to stream netflix?
  Not that I've seen. But word is that Netflix is hard at work on releasing an official app.
• Is there a GOOD battery monitor that shows percentage left and also time left on the battery?
  I use battery snap.
• Is there something that allows me to listen to podcasts?
  Search the market for podcast apps.
• The Epic had Swype. Is there a good replacement for that keyboard? I love it!
  I've heard people talk about Slideit or shapewriter. Better keyboard is pretty good as well as Swiftkey.
• Just for fun...what's the #1 app I should download?
  Non-rooted, Appbrain. Rooted, Rom Manager/Titanium Backup.

Y'all are awesome. Thanks a ton!
Jason

See BOLD above.

 

[ectoren]

Hi Team -

[*]I plug my headphones into the evo, turn on the radio, but no sound comes out. Is there a radio app that anyone can recommend?

For just music, Pandora or Slacker Radio. EVO's FM radio app is pretty good


[*]Is there a way to plug USB into the phone and computer and use the phone as a modem without paying Sprint an extra fee?

PdaNet


[*]APP KILLER - I don't get this one. I see people who say that android 2.2 doesn't need an app killer but there's so much stuff running in the background. In newbie language, what's the best way to deal with apps that don't close?

You can always just close it yourself by going tru "running services" and closing what you don't like.

As far as Froyo and Task Killers, read:

Android Developers Blog: Multitasking the Android Way


[*]Is there something that allows me to listen to podcasts?

I use Google's Listen and Doggatcher.

[*]The Epic had Swype. Is there a good replacement for that keyboard? I love it!

Swype-like, only Swype. But you can get Swype on the Evo. As far as other keyboards, Swiftkey is pretty good.

Read my bold to some of your questions.

 

[Bodar]

The stock mail app can be configured with your gmail account. It is on mine. It does not have unified inbox though, just a dropdown to switch inboxes.

 

[spike9012]

Divx

There are two good programs i found for playing video files (including xvid/divx) RockPlayer and VPlayer - both available in the market

 

[31794ty]

Do NOT use task killers with 2.2. Just lest Froyo do its thing. Using a task killer also hurts your battery life.

 

[Trust]

I will just give my two cents on the Task Killer thing. Since your coming from an Epic with 2.1 and the Evo having 2.2. Huge difference in the way the system operates and handles memory. Froyo is designed and optimized to handle it's own memory. All the Task Killer is doing is killing the app then Froyo will restart that app right away. Which in turn does not help you. Just because the program is in the running apps does not mean it's taking or doing much with that app. I think people misunderstand the way Android runs, they assume a program is running full in the background. That is not the case.. 2.2 does not need a Task Killer, and all your doing is adding more problems to the device. It's built to handle its own, so let it do that. Remember 2.1 and 2.2 are way different.

The best thing I can tell you with Swype is sign up for the beta, and once it opens back up you should have Swype again.

Pretty much what he said ^^^^^^^ Let the Operating system handle memory. It doesnt matter how many apps are open the OS will kill idle ones if it needs memory. 2.2 handles memory WAY better than 2.1

 

[igotsanevo4g]

Before anyone posts a link or something to Swype, know that it is considered warez and is against the forum rules.

I've already got slammed for it before.

If you want Swype you will not get it from this site.

 

[caliskimmer]

Before anyone posts a link or something to Swype, know that it is considered warez and is against the forum rules.

I've already got slammed for it before.

If you want Swype you will not get it from this site.

Yeah, I'm watching you

 

[MrNoDay5Off]

Not true when it comes to swype I have it on my evo. I downloaded it late last week and works perfectly fine just like it did when I had the epic. No need to wait and issues with it or the phone. Pm me if you woukd like me to upload it.

I will just give my two cents on the Task Killer thing. Since your coming from an Epic with 2.1 and the Evo having 2.2. Huge difference in the way the system operates and handles memory. Froyo is designed and optimized to handle it's own memory. All the Task Killer is doing is killing the app then Froyo will restart that app right away. Which in turn does not help you. Just because the program is in the running apps does not mean it's taking or doing much with that app. I think people misunderstand the way Android runs, they assume a program is running full in the background. That is not the case.. 2.2 does not need a Task Killer, and all your doing is adding more problems to the device. It's built to handle its own, so let it do that. Remember 2.1 and 2.2 are way different.

The best thing I can tell you with Swype is sign up for the beta, and once it opens back up you should have Swype again.

 

[Bigfame]

Use SlideIT instead of Swype. It's just as good or better

 

[pwnst_r]

It's not.

As far as task killers, I use one, but you need to absolutely know WHAT you're killing and WHAT other services they're tied to before you start complaining about issues with your phone.