More silly questions regarding Email, syncing, and other stuff.

[JeniferF]

Ok, I have some maybe dumb questions that I have been trying to figure out and just?can?t?

When I had my blackberry, I could set the alarm for the next morning and then power the black berry off. In the morning, it would power itself on and wake me up?does my Samsung do this? I am afraid to try?
When I plug my phone into Kies, it shows me that my contacts are in my Google account, how can I put them on the phone? And not just in my Google account.
When I go to Settings> Accounts and Sync?it shows me my facebook login, and then it has both emails I have sent up to come to my phone, twice.. for instance my Google one is shows once with the Google icon beside it, and again with the Samsung email icon, of a white envelope with red wax seal?so it shows I have 5 accounts?.what does this mean?
If I go into the Applications and see what is running, there are tons of apps going that I haven?t started. ..if I tell it to stop I usually get a message saying ?if you stop this service, some features of your device may stop working until you power off and on again?..or something like that? Will this ruin my apps? Make things not work? I don?t want an app to run unless I specifically ask it to.
The idea is to save on battery power. And data usage.

When I look at my battery usage I see a drainers that I don?t get what they do?so what is the difference between the Android OS and the Android System. Also what is the difference between ?cell Stand by? and ?Device idle?.
Is there way to adjust this stuff, so it isn?t using as much power and data?
Any help would be very much appreciated

 

[smooth4lyfe]

Ok, I have some maybe dumb questions that I have been trying to figure out and just…can’t…

1. When I had my blackberry, I could set the alarm for the next morning and then power the black berry off. In the morning, it would power itself on and wake me up…does my Samsung do this? I am afraid to try…
2. When I plug my phone into Kies, it shows me that my contacts are in my Google account, how can I put them on the phone? And not just in my Google account.
3. When I go to Settings> Accounts and Sync…it shows me my facebook login, and then it has both emails I have sent up to come to my phone, twice.. for instance my Google one is shows once with the Google icon beside it, and again with the Samsung email icon, of a white envelope with red wax seal…so it shows I have 5 accounts….what does this mean?
4. If I go into the Applications and see what is running, there are tons of apps going that I haven’t started. ..if I tell it to stop I usually get a message saying “if you stop this service, some features of your device may stop working until you power off and on again”..or something like that… Will this ruin my apps? Make things not work? I don’t want an app to run unless I specifically ask it to.
The idea is to save on battery power. And data usage.
5. When I look at my battery usage I see a drainers that I don’t get what they do…so what is the difference between the Android OS and the Android System. Also what is the difference between “cell Stand by” and “Device idle”.
Is there way to adjust this stuff, so it isn’t using as much power and data?
Any help would be very much appreciated

1. Ur blackberry would turn itself on after you turn it off? I have never heard of that feature ever...interesting...Well I don't know about that, but you could just lock your phone so its "off" and your alarm will still wake you up
2. If your contacts are on your google account, they should automatically sync to your phone. Just sign into your google account on your phone and your contacts will show up
3. Those are all your email accounts you have set up on your phone. The ones with the red wax seal are email accounts you set up with the Email app from the phone. Click on them to manage the sync options for each one
4. Don't disable anything you do not know. You could manage your data usage and what apps are using your data by downloading this app called "Onavo Count", which will show you your data usage and make recommendations according to the plan you have with your carrier...you can also download the app "Juice Defender", which will save you battery and data by turning off your data automatically when you are not using it, and putting it back on when you are...this also saves battery
5. Cell Standby is when your phone is idle but still on, that usually doesnt cause a lot of battery drainage. If you get the app "Juice Defender", it will manage a lot of this for you so you wouldnt have to worry too much. You may also want to consider getting an extended battery to have your battery last much longer. It will make your phone a bit bulkier but the phone will last much longer to your liking

 

[trucky]

The Blackberry didn't really turn off but went into a standby mode, and would appear off. There would be no way for it to process an alarm if it were truly off.

 

[JeniferF]

Yes, If I turned my blackberry off, it would turn on in the morning and wake me up to the alarm.

I did upload Juice Defender and am still learning it. It seems to me I have to have to upgrade it to get the full benefit though as alot of buttons won't work.

I tried to sync my contacts and it said it did, but when I look on the Kies, it shows that they arent actually on the "mobile phone" but in my google account.

Cell standby seems to be the biggest drainer as far as I can see...but what is the diff between cell standby and device idle? they sound one and the same.

 

[JeniferF]

The Blackberry didn't really turn off but went into a standby mode, and would appear off. There would be no way for it to process an alarm if it were truly off.

I would hit the power button and it would say "powering off"..but because an alarm was set, it would turn itself back on at teh time set....only during the week though, as that was when I had it scheduled for.

 

[smooth4lyfe]

Yes, If I turned my blackberry off, it would turn on in the morning and wake me up to the alarm.

I did upload Juice Defender and am still learning it. It seems to me I have to have to upgrade it to get the full benefit though as alot of buttons won't work.

I tried to sync my contacts and it said it did, but when I look on the Kies, it shows that they arent actually on the "mobile phone" but in my google account.

Cell standby seems to be the biggest drainer as far as I can see...but what is the diff between cell standby and device idle? they sound one and the same.

As for Juice Defender, upgrading does give you full benefits, but you could see some performance if you use Balanced on the free trial...I'd say its worth the buy but you can try it for a few days first

As for your contacts...go on Gmail.com on your computer and see if your contacts are there. If they are, then go on your phone Settings->Accounts and Sync, then click your google account (The one with the blue "g"), and make sure "Sync Contacts" is checked, then click Sync Now....it should sync them

As for Cell Standby and Device Idle....its pretty much the same thing, but I am guessing Cell Standby has more something to do with the network. Say for example and you are not using your phone, it is idle, but your phone is still on technically because its receiving signal from cell towers so just incase you get a phone call, it will wake up and ring...that's Cell Standby

 

[funkylogik]

on other phones, the alarm would work with phone switched off (my dumbphones did anyway) but (because of how android/lynux works?) things cant run with the power off

contacts, can you still access them on your phone?
you save them in google account so that you can sign into any android phone and theyl be there

force closing apps always give that warning, just close it and hit "disable" if your never gona use it (only if its not a system app with like a green logo... only disable apps that you can see in the app drawer)

cant remember the rest lol but dont worry so much

oh yeah, the "android system etc, leave them alone lol, if they show a high percentage in battery use its coz u havent used the phone much, percentages have to add up to 100 so something has to be top of the list, if u use the phone much, screen will be at the top

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

 

[KreepyKen]

Yes, If I turned my blackberry off, it would turn on in the morning and wake me up to the alarm.

I did upload Juice Defender and am still learning it. It seems to me I have to have to upgrade it to get the full benefit though as alot of buttons won't work.

I tried to sync my contacts and it said it did, but when I look on the Kies, it shows that they arent actually on the "mobile phone" but in my google account.

Cell standby seems to be the biggest drainer as far as I can see...but what is the diff between cell standby and device idle? they sound one and the same.

Cell Standby and Device Idle are not the same thing.

Cell Standby = Cell Phone Radio: Cell Standby is the process by which the phone remains connected to the nearest cell tower. It needs to remain connected so if someone calls you, your phone rings. So a few times a second, your phone will ping the tower to stay connected. If you're using the phone a lot, your screen will be the #1 drain on the battery. If you're not using the phone and your screen is mostly off, you should expect Cell Standby to be the biggest drain on your battery. This is clear when you're hanging out in an area with crappy cell coverage. If you're walking around with one bar of service, you'll notice your battery draining much faster than usual. The stronger the signal, the less drain on your battery.

Device Idle = Phone hardware and processes: If the phone is turned on, it's performing all sorts of processes, even if the screen is dark/asleep. The phone needs to constantly maintain radio connections, diagnostics, etc. It needs to follow its schedule of polling (i.e., checking facebook, email, Play Store for updates) and synchronizing. All the background processes going on that keep the phone running are rolled up in Device Idle.

Android OS vs. Android System: Android OS refers to the kernel...basically the Operating System running the phone. Android System refers to all the peripheral (non-OS) apps necessary to make your phone operate normally, such as the keyboard, Keychain, settings manager, etc. If you open up your battery stats (pull down notification bar, tap the little sprocket-looking thing to open settings, scroll down to Battery and tap it), find Android System in the list and tap it, you'll get a list of all the processes that fall under the "Android System" umbrella.

Also, if your contacts are stored in Google, I wouldn't even use Kies to back them up or manage them in any way. Kies is a nightmare. Anywhere you log into your Google Account (computers, tablets, smartphones), you'll have access to your contacts. If you get another Android phone, as soon as you log into it with your gmail account, all your contacts are instantly available to you. You simply don't need Kies to back them up.

And last but not least, I suggest not spending any time killing apps and processes. If you have a task killer app, get rid of it. There might be some app or process running that is required for another app to run normally. If you kill it because you didn't launch it, it may botch the other app. It won't ruin anything, but it may render another app useless until you reboot the phone. And it may cause another app to hang...which will likely cause MORE battery drain. I sometimes find that Maps and Chrome eat too much battery, so I'll stop them. But I don't touch anything else. Android has a pretty robust memory allocation scheme. It will safely kill processes that are unnecessary by itself. You going in there stopping things randomly probably won't save any appreciable battery life...and may actually have the opposite effect if you cause an app to freak out because you stopped something it needed to run.

And no...if you turn the power off on your phone, the alarm will not go off. I'd suggest just plugging it in when you go to bed and let it charge all night. That way, when your alarm does go off, you're at 100% and ready to hit the day.

 

[funkylogik]

i remember my dumbphones' alarm would go off with no battery in them lol.... lil reserve battery i guess.
pity androids cant have a tiny "dumb core" for handling basic shjt and let the mini supercomputer have a nice sleep

global s3, UK. Ask me anything and ill reply even if its just an intelligent (or stupid) guess

 

[geekymcfly]

I would hit the power button and it would say "powering off"..but because an alarm was set, it would turn itself back on at teh time set....only during the week though, as that was when I had it scheduled for.

I remember my blackberry powering off and coming on went the alarm went off

"all animals are created equal but some animals are more equal than others" animal bylaws- animal farm

 

[JeniferF]

Ok, so now, how do I designate which email I want to be my default for sending.?

 

[MichaelBR]

First: there is no such thing as a silly question. Silly is not to ask.

Blackberry x Android

I have a Blackberry. It doesn't power off completely - it stands-by. You need to remove the battery for it to power off completely. And when the battery is inserted, you will see the "booting..." message there for even a few minutes.

And I have missed alarms due to my Android failing or running out of battery. For really important stuff, I always setup a secondary alarm.

The Blackberry battery lasts for days, literally. And that's with Wifi and all working. Android.... good luck.

Syncing

To sync my data (contacts, calendar, etc) I use a service called Memotoo (Memotoo: synchronize all you want and store your data in secure Cloud. I've been using it since my PalmTX, gone through at least different phones, and also selectively sync data with Thunderbird, Google, Blackberry, etc. It has a fair price and a great service.

My original Xperia X8 had a serious syncing bug (don't know if and Android or Xperia problem) with SyncML calendars. I don't know about the Samsungs (although I have a Galaxy Ace now), but since the Xperia I don't rely on the internal syncing app: I use Synthesis (Synthesis AG - SyncML Client & Server Solutions (same I used on the Palm), and sync my data really well. it's not cheap, but it works great. Hint: it's cheaper to get it on their site than on Google Play.


Running Processes

You will have to learn with time (and doing research) what is each service, what can be stopped, what can be avoided, etc. I strongly recommend the app Android Assistan, which can show you each service (whether service, app, widget, etc), how much battery it's using, etc. From there you can start figuring out which apps are hogging your system. For instance, a Twitter app might be running full time in the background. Do you need it? If not, check in the app's settings if the background service can be disabled (chances are it can), On the other hand, you don't want to close your alarm clock app...

If your phone is rooted, you can actually stop some apps from loading at boot with an app called Auto Starts (or AutoStarts). But caution here.

Widgets always run in the background. Do you need them? No? Close them. If a widget is not there, but it still shows up in the list of running processes, then check the app and see if you can disable the widget(s). For example, Business Calendar allows the user to choose which widgets will be available to be added by the user. Plume, on the other hand, shows a widget is running even if I didn't add one! And some apps like SleepMeter have the widgets as a totally separate app (which is a great idea, IMHO).

I think that's all for now..