Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some ?'s

[Tuggboat112188]

1 - What are some of the must have apps to help with battery life / performance? I know it comes with a task killer, but I downloaded ATK. I used the stock task killer and it only close like 3 apps, when I used ATK it said it closed 20 Apps. Is ATK actually better or is it just saying it closed that many apps? Also, do Apps like Juice Defender actually work? If so, which one is the best.

2 - I have no expierence rooting at all. I'd like to be able to root the Rezound to be able to get rid of the bloat ware and all that nonsense.. Is there an easier way (like a one click method perhaps) than following the steps if you really have never done it before?

Thanks in advanced!

 

[xxfallacyxx]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

1) You'll receive varying opinions on task killers, but in my experience they're generally useless (especially on a high end device like the Rezound). Task killers are ONLY providing a useful service if they're killing a task in the background that is constantly using CPU power. An app sitting in memory and not using CPU cycles is barely using any power, and if the OS needs more memory it dumps apps that aren't currently in use. Otherwise most stuff is just a cache, that way if you want to go back to an app you just "closed" the phone can pull it up quicker.

I've also used various battery apps, and I've essentially settled on just using a widget and minding my own usage. I am currently testing out "Llama Profiles" phone management app, though I can't give a solid review on it. If by using it I can surpass my 13-14 hour lifespan on the stock battery then I'll be impressed.

2) While there is a 1-click root method available for our phone, it is only temporary unless you unlock the bootloader. Unlocking the bootloader is a slightly more involved process, but in comparison to some of the root methods of old it is a walk in the park. If you're serious about rooting and removing the bloat, read through the rooting and roms subsection located at the top of this forum.

 

[JeffDenver]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

1 - What are some of the must have apps to help with battery life / performance? I know it comes with a task killer, but I downloaded ATK. I used the stock task killer and it only close like 3 apps, when I used ATK it said it closed 20 Apps. Is ATK actually better or is it just saying it closed that many apps? Also, do Apps like Juice Defender actually work?

Task killers are almost worthless now. They will not speed up your system and may in fact slow it down. Android is designed NOT to kill tasks...it is part of how it's multi-tasking works. Task Killers should only be used if you have an App that the OS wont exit for some reason (and I have not seen one of those in a long time).

Task killers once served a function, but since Android 2.1, they are more or less obsolete.

Instead, I use apps like this:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.greatbytes.fastreboot
It causes all apps in memory to stop and then restarts all of them. It is equivalent to a reboot, and it is very fast (like 2 seconds total, even on my Droid 1). It is amazing how well this thing works for me. You just tap the icon and it does it's thing. When I first saw it I thought it was a trick or a gimmick, but it does exactly what it says it does.

For battery life, I just rely on myself...the screen is off if I am not using it. Thats it. My battery will last a day like that.

2 - I have no expierence rooting at all. I'd like to be able to root the Rezound to be able to get rid of the bloat ware and all that nonsense.. Is there an easier way (like a one click method perhaps) than following the steps if you really have never done it before?

Disclaimer: Contrary to popular belief, the Rezound runs perfectly fine with all bloatware intact. Rooting can make a good thing better, but even stock, the Rezound is extremely fast.

Full instructions can be found on this XDA link:
[GUIDE] Super-noob guide to unlocking, rooting, and flashing Ziggys kernel - xda-developers
It is a two step process...first you unlock your bootloader on HTC's site. Then you run the "oneclick" .BAT file, which is the process that actually roots your phone. Make sure you follow the instructions carefully.

The process will require you to download 3 items: HTC Sync Drivers, the Android SDK, and the OneClick BAT file. The instruction links contain links to these files. The HTC Sync drivers are big (150MB).

Do not go into this process casually. Read ALL of the instructions, beginning to end, before you even attempt anything. Make sure you are completely familiar with what you are doing ahead of time in every step of the process, and if you are not, ask questions first. Remember that this is a one way process...once you unlock your phone, HTC and Verizon will know forever, even if you re-lock it later. It may not necessarily void your warranty, but you should assume it will.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

Task killers are almost worthless now. They will not speed up your system and may in fact slow it down. Android is designed NOT to kill tasks...it is part of how it's multi-tasking works. Task Killers should only be used if you have an App that the OS wont exit for some reason (and I have not seen one of those in a long time)Task killers once served a function, but since Android 2.1, they are more or less obsolete.

It amazes me that people still believe TK are useful. They just jack up the syst9em. Youre better off monitoring the permissions of apps. and limiting those that auto start at boot. Those are the troublesome ones.

Instead, I use apps like this:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.greatbytes.fastreboot
It causes all apps in memory to stop and then restarts all of them. It is equivalent to a reboot, and it is very fast (like 2 seconds total, even on my Droid 1). It is amazing how well this thing works for me. You just tap the icon and it does it's thing. When I first saw it I thought it was a trick or a gimmick, but it does exactly what it says it does.

That sounds like a one and done, TK, that is equally inneffective at combating the design of the OS. Superficial kills, w/ short term results, at best.

 

[JeffDenver]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

That sounds like a one and done, TK, that is equally inneffective at combating the design of the OS. Superficial kills, w/ short term results, at best.

Which is what I use it for. If my system is lagging, for whatever reason, this makes the lag go away. Instantly.

It is completely under my control (it only activates when I specifically tell it to), it requires no setup at all, and does not stay memory resident. I do not use it often, but I have found it to be very useful when I do need it.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

Which is what I use it for. If my system is lagging, for whatever reason, this makes the lag go away. Instantly.

It is completely under my control (it only activates when I specifically tell it to), it requires no setup at all, and does not stay memory resident. I do not use it often, but I have found it to be very useful when I do need it.

I used a similiar widget that did the same thing on my DX and I loved it but, personally, I just find them to be unneeded, overkill w/ the intro. of dual core chipsets.

 

[twolastnames]

I used a similiar widget that did the same thing on my DX and I loved it but, personally, I just find them to be unneeded, overkill w/ the intro. of dual core chipsets.

It's not the dual core that makes them useless, it's the OS. Since 2.1, the OS takes a few days to figure out which apps use less battery by leaving them up, or closing them. If an app is in memory, but not doing anything it may be using zero battery. To start it back up from scratch takes a certain amount of battery and if takes more to restart than to just let it sit idle, it should stay up.

I also ran some battery saving apps, and was not impressed by them. The best thing is to just toggle things off and keep your screen down as much as you can. I use an app called screeble, it uses your phones sensors to keep the screen on while you using it. It works pretty good, and I can set my screen timeout to 15 seconds, so as soon as I stopped using it, my screen shuts off.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

It's not the dual core that makes them useless, it's the OS. Since 2.1, the OS takes a few days to figure out which apps use less battery by leaving them up, or closing them. If an app is in memory, but not doing anything it may be using zero battery. To start it back up from scratch takes a certain amount of battery and if takes more to restart than to just let it sit idle, it should stay up.

What do you think supports and allows the memory manager built.into the OS to function cohesively. Can you honestly say a single.core, Android phone did it efficiently. I had over a hundred random reboots because of spikes in ram on both my DX1&2.

 

[twolastnames]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

I ran my CDMA Desire on OxygenROM for a year, with pretty much zero problems. I ran stock for a few month before that, again with no reboots to speak of. I can't say zero, because I can't remember if there was zero, but not enough for me to remember any of them.

I also say this, because always a few days after flashing a rom, battery life seems to jump quite a bit. I just rooted 4 days ago, worked the last 2 days. Yesterday when i got home, extended battery was at 30%, today it jumped to 45%, and I used the phone more today. I also noticed pretty much the same trend when I went through my flashing faze on my Desire.

Also, if I can ask, how do you know RAM spikes caused the reboots? I'm not asking mockingly, but am curious if there is a way to know why your phone crashes, after the fact.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

I ran my CDMA Desire on OxygenROM for a year, with pretty much zero problems. I ran stock for a few month before that, again with no reboots to speak of. I can't say zero, because I can't remember if there was zero, but not enough for me to remember any of them.

I also say this, because always a few days after flashing a rom, battery life seems to jump quite a bit. I just rooted 4 days ago, worked the last 2 days. Yesterday when i got home, extended battery was at 30%, today it jumped to 45%, and I used the phone more today. I also noticed pretty much the same trend when I went through my flashing faze on my Desire.

Also, if I can ask, how do you know RAM spikes caused the reboots? I'm not asking mockingly, but am curious if there is a way to know why your phone crashes, after the fact.

Actually, I shouldn't have lumped in, non stock/rooted, phones in the last post, so mock away. Unfortunately, I can't state ram spikes as fact but after alot of monitoring of running apps and processes cuz Moto locked em down so tight, but it paints a picture that supports it being Moto hardware related in the DX. Anytime I left numerous apps open, even idling, if I used a graphics intensive app. Phone would lag, close, minimize or swap out to something else and it would then crash-reboot. If I got the opportunity to view the amount using before the fc, ram was always down in the 30s & 40s prior to crashing. Ran into that alot on both phones. It also seem to happen occasionally, when I auto killed apps & processes to free up Ram for gaming. As the OS restarted those apps in the background, it would crash. I'm sure it was app related on most occasions but the 1ghz in the DX couldn't handle a heavy load worth a crap.

 

[JeffDenver]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

I use an app called screeble, it uses your phones sensors to keep the screen on while you using it. It works pretty good, and I can set my screen timeout to 15 seconds, so as soon as I stopped using it, my screen shuts off.

I tried Screebl and didnt like it.

I am just in the habit of manually turning off my screen by reflex if I am not actually using the phone. Since doing this my battery life has been great. Last night I left work, went to the gym, used MP3 for an hour, plugged it into my car and used it on the stereo all the way home. From the time it left the charger at work to the time I got home it went from 100 to 77. Thats not bad.

 

[MrSmith317]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

What do you think supports and allows the memory manager built.into the OS to function cohesively. Can you honestly say a single.core, Android phone did it efficiently. I had over a hundred random reboots because of spikes in ram on both my DX1&2.

Actually, Dual-Core isn't even truly supported until we hit ICS. Both cores work in overflow mode but not actually working together to provide faster processing of a given task. That being said, this phone still chews through everything I've thrown at it, so who am I to complain.

 

[humpagardengnome]

Re: Just traded someone my iPhone for a brand new Rezound.. Some

Actually, Dual-Core isn't even truly supported until we hit ICS. Both cores work in overflow mode but not actually working together to provide faster processing of a given task. That being said, this phone still chews through everything I've thrown at it, so who am I to complain.

Just proferred it, in the the sense that the dc gives it another leg to stand on. To keep bogging down to the point of crashing b/c of overload, to a negligible degree. Which was anything but possible on my Motos.