n00b to Android has questions...

[brain21]

After 4 years of the iPhone (don't even get me started), I switched to Android. So far I am really liking it, but there is a steep learning curve compared to the iPhone. But with that curve comes more power it seems. Once I get Tasker and AVX all figured out, I'll be prepared to blow the minds of my iPhone friends

So I have some questions, and I think some of these are related specifically to HTC Sense? A friend has a GS2 and we've been comparing....

First of all, I have noticed when I go into Task Manager that there are a ton of apps that start up for no real reason. For example, Car keeps starting up. I have no car dock, and this was going on way before I even ran the program for the first time. In fact the first time I ran it, I did it to see what the program was about, since it kept starting.

G+ did the same thing. Kept starting itself up when I had never run it, despite my killing it in Task Manager. YouTube did as well, and I had not even used a browser or the YouTube app. I have yet to even open Notes or Tasks, yet the keep starting up, even after I kill them. There are apps that I haven't opened in days that start themselves up, like Personalization. That one likes to start up by itself every couple of days.

On my friend's GS3, he has a ton of layers available on his google navigator that I do not have. His "power bar" (I think that that is what it is called) has WAY more options than mine, and he doesn't need to add the widget to his desktop, since it sits at the top of his pull-down notification menu. Mine does not. We discovered this when he attempted to show me how to turn off 4GLTE when WiFi was available since he says that even though it's faster, use Wifi when it is available because it uses less battery power than 4GLTE. In fact he says he keeps his phone in 3G mode most of the time unless he decides to use a net-intensive app. In his "power bar' he can click a button and turn 4G off. I don't seem to have that button option on mine.

I'm sure I'll have a ton more questions in a few days when I get home from my business trip...

 

[dtvizer101]

I'm still a novice

But I'll take a stab at it lol

Auto sync on ?
Could be launching app to sync em up
Honestly I tend to ignore this nd just hit the clear cache button

As for the power bar if u download android assistant gives a very similar bar that let's u trigger on nd off WiFi Bluetooth etc

Samsung does have a bit more to it options wise but at the end of the day u have more headache from it

Maybe I'm in the dark too idk but I think HTC does a wonderful job of combining the two


Sorry wasent much help

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

 

[cyanogen-man]

OK the thing with android is true multi tasking meaning background programs unfortunately this beats resources and battery life go to settings accounts sync and unchecked the box for back ground programs and see what happens

INSPIRE AOKP ICE COLD SANDWICH ROM

 

[adammcgovern]

For starters, in terms of having lte on/off it really has more to do with using data, and battery. Using wifi you are not draining data from your plan so use it when you can. I never use lte at home, but I do love blazing through my phone with it when I'm out and about in Boston. There are a million things you'll want to learn along the way to help you and you'll have a million questions.... not too many people were born with a smartphone in their hands(although I'm starting to wonder when I see 8 year olds walking around with them) I know it's tedious, but really the best way to learn is to read the stickies in the 'general help and how to section' and check out the introduction to android. Somewhere in this forum is an iphone converts guide. I'm using my phone so it's kind of a pain to get the link, but I will when I'm home and on my laptop. Certain processes and apps will auto-run in the background to push out those emails, tweets, and annoying posts from your fb friends of pictures of their little ones:thumbdown: Those are battery/data hogs will eventually piss you off. If possible don't auto-sync. And that big a** screen will also contribute so if you don't need it lower the brightness. Just a couple pointers to get you going. It's fun and really customizable so enjoy it and use it for every reason you got it for just take some time learning how to do it more efficiently. Have fun

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727

 

[adammcgovern]

After 4 years of the iPhone (don't even get me started), I switched to Android. So far I am really liking it, but there is a steep learning curve compared to the iPhone. But with that curve comes more power it seems. Once I get Tasker and AVX all figured out, I'll be prepared to blow the minds of my iPhone friends

So I have some questions, and I think some of these are related specifically to HTC Sense? A friend has a GS2 and we've been comparing....

First of all, I have noticed when I go into Task Manager that there are a ton of apps that start up for no real reason. For example, Car keeps starting up. I have no car dock, and this was going on way before I even ran the program for the first time. In fact the first time I ran it, I did it to see what the program was about, since it kept starting.

G+ did the same thing. Kept starting itself up when I had never run it, despite my killing it in Task Manager. YouTube did as well, and I had not even used a browser or the YouTube app. I have yet to even open Notes or Tasks, yet the keep starting up, even after I kill them. There are apps that I haven't opened in days that start themselves up, like Personalization. That one likes to start up by itself every couple of days.

On my friend's GS3, he has a ton of layers available on his google navigator that I do not have. His "power bar" (I think that that is what it is called) has WAY more options than mine, and he doesn't need to add the widget to his desktop, since it sits at the top of his pull-down notification menu. Mine does not. We discovered this when he attempted to show me how to turn off 4GLTE when WiFi was available since he says that even though it's faster, use Wifi when it is available because it uses less battery power than 4GLTE. In fact he says he keeps his phone in 3G mode most of the time unless he decides to use a net-intensive app. In his "power bar' he can click a button and turn 4G off. I don't seem to have that button option on mine.

I'm sure I'll have a ton more questions in a few days when I get home from my business trip...

Actually, it was just me being lazy

http://forums.androidcentral.com/showthread.php?t=137252

Apple User's Guide to Android


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727

 

[dukeblue91]

Hi,
Congrats on your new phone.
I too just made the switch about 2 weeks ago and like you I'm going through a learning curb.

The toggles not being in the notification pull down bothered me too and I also had this option on my iPhone via a jailbreak but there is good news.
Download a app called Power Toggles at the Play store and you will be able to pin them their in the notification center.

I too noticed all the startup apps and have wondered about this but I have not really worried to much about them either as my battery live is being fine.
I spend most of my day at my home office so keeping the phone charged is not an issue with me.

 

[brain21]

Since I'm travelling right now on business, I don't have a lot of time to really go through this,but thanks for the responses. I'll have to look through the app settings for auto updates and see if that is the culprit. Didn't really think about that. I'll also check out that Apple to Android guide as well.

Thanks!

 

[adamtalife]

From my understanding, when you open task manager and see all those apps running, it's best to just leave them be. Because after a little bit I guess they freeze and stop using battery power. If you delete them that'll cause your phone to just re open them, restart the process, and continually kill battery life.

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[icebike]

From my understanding, when you open task manager and see all those apps running, it's best to just leave them be. Because after a little bit I guess they freeze and stop using battery power. If you delete them that'll cause your phone to just re open them, restart the process, and continually kill battery life.

Exactly.

Never look at the task manager. Its like watching sausage being made. Just don't look.

You might glance at the Battery usage list if your phone isn't getting the battery life you expect.
You might look at the Network Usage if your phone is using too much data.

But other than those two, micromanaging the tasks is a bad idea in general.

 

[SenseMonkey]

Exactly.

Never look at the task manager. Its like watching sausage being made. Just don't look.

You might glance at the Battery usage list if your phone isn't getting the battery life you expect.
You might look at the Network Usage if your phone is using too much data.

But other than those two, micromanaging the tasks is a bad idea in general.

So killing off the running tasks that you CANT see with_recent apps button but that you can with the task manager is no good.?

 

[icebike]

Recent tasks is a list of exactly that. Recent tasks. Says nothing about whether they are running or not.

Sleeping tasks will be paged out as needed when there is a demand for memory.

Android does a way better job of memory management than any user. Never run a task killer, and never bother killing them yourself unless you have reason to believe that they are misbehaving in some ways.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[SenseMonkey]

Recent tasks is a list of exactly that. Recent tasks. Says nothing about whether they are running or not.

Sleeping tasks will be paged out as needed when there is a demand for memory.

Android does a way better job of memory management than any user. Never run a task killer, and never bother killing them yourself unless you have reason to believe that they are misbehaving in some ways.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

So is killing and force closing the same thing.? Lol..

 

[icebike]

So is killing and force closing the same thing.? Lol..

Pretty much.

And the reason this can be bad is if that task is supposed to run to service other tasks, (such as the Maps task, which pretty much handles all the location services for the other tasks), killing it just means it has to be loaded again when anything else needs to know location.
Lots of battery wasted doing that.

If an app has an explicit Exit menu option (not that many do, but some games do, like Angry birds etc) that tells the game to save state, close everything and exit. It won't get launched by any other task, so shutting it down that way (via its own menu options) is always preferable than FC, because FC just kills it with a bullet to the brain and nothing gets saved.

 

[brain21]

Guys, I was at a convention all weekend w/ little to no access to a charger. First night I let the phone take care of itself. I was out of battery by 10pm if not earlier, and I was doing minimal texting, and snaping only a few pics. The next night I went through and every so often killed tasks that kept running (AVX after I had already closed it, Ivona, Facebook, maps when I wasn't using it, and a few other random apps). I did about the same amount of texting. I took a BUNCH more pictures AND video, and my battery lasted a bit longer than the night before. So in my limited control trial, closing the apps out did wonders for my battery life. If the last time I used Facebook was 30 minutes ago, it does NOT need to be running, taking up resources and using battery. If the last time I used a map was 2 hours ago (I understand that it and GPS start up when I use FB for the location services), then it should NOT be still running in the background. If I used those apps constantly, it's one thing, but if I only use them sparingly, then it's pointless to keep the services running and wasting my battery just so the app will start 1/2 second faster when I call it up. Same reason when I close an app on my Mac I want it CLOSED, and I get frustrated when clicking on the "X" does not do that. In the very least, Android should give you the option of really, and safely stop a program when you want to close it. Possibly though the use of a battery/power profile or something.

The ONLY time I had apps act weird was when I was losing my battery power and under 4%.

I did go and uncheck the Automatically check for updates thing in most of my apps though. Hopefully that will help.

I have another question about the One X. Aparently they have 32GB of storage. When I hook up my phone to Mobiledit, it shows only 10GB of internal storage. When I look at the app manager, it shows that my apps are taking up about 2 of 10GB. Where are the other 22GB? It does not have an SD card option like many other android phones. I do believe that my photos and videos are stored in that 22GB space, but I can't seem to access or find any of the directories that they might be stored in. I would like to get them off of my phone and onto my PC w/o having to email them to myself or somehow synch them up to Google. Anyone know how I can do that, and how I can access the other 22GB on my phone?

TIA!

 

[Pdj79]

I have another question about the One X. Aparently they have 32GB of storage. When I hook up my phone to Mobiledit, it shows only 10GB of internal storage. When I look at the app manager, it shows that my apps are taking up about 2 of 10GB. Where are the other 22GB? It does not have an SD card option like many other android phones. I do believe that my photos and videos are stored in that 22GB space, but I can't seem to access or find any of the directories that they might be stored in. I would like to get them off of my phone and onto my PC w/o having to email them to myself or somehow synch them up to Google. Anyone know how I can do that, and how I can access the other 22GB on my phone?

TIA!

If you are using the AT&T version, then I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it only has 16GB of storage. Only the International version has 32GB.

Sent from my HTC One X using Android Central Forums

 

[brain21]

Really? Even on HTC's USA site it says 32GB. Crap. On AT&Ts site it says 16GB. Still, I can't seem to access it at all. Mobiledit has a file system explorer, and I can't find any of that stuff. I'd like to be able to access that part of the file system and get my pics off. I could do that easily on my iPhone w/o even having to jailbreak it or use iTunes. I do NOT want to have to email the pics myself or use Dropbox to transfer the files. That's just ridiculous... There has got to be a way...

 

[icebike]

Really? Even on HTC's USA site it says 32GB. Crap. On AT&Ts site it says 16GB. Still, I can't seem to access it at all. Mobiledit has a file system explorer, and I can't find any of that stuff. I'd like to be able to access that part of the file system and get my pics off. I could do that easily on my iPhone w/o even having to jailbreak it or use iTunes. I do NOT want to have to email the pics myself or use Dropbox to transfer the files. That's just ridiculous... There has got to be a way...

Just install ES File Explorer, and look in the DCIM folder.

You can use es file explorer to copy your pics over wifi to any windows share or ftp server. Hell, you can even copy over blue tooth.

I know for a fact that you can access the DCIM folder when you cable the HOX to any computer that can handle MTP.



Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[aclayej#AC]

You can also go into settings under developer options and check the kill activities option. It'll kill an app when you're not using it. I think there's also an option under that to set the limit of running apps.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[loraque]

Really? Even on HTC's USA site it says 32GB. Crap. On AT&Ts site it says 16GB. Still, I can't seem to access it at all. Mobiledit has a file system explorer, and I can't find any of that stuff. I'd like to be able to access that part of the file system and get my pics off. I could do that easily on my iPhone w/o even having to jailbreak it or use iTunes. I do NOT want to have to email the pics myself or use Dropbox to transfer the files. That's just ridiculous... There has got to be a way...

Plug in your phone to your computer and tap the disk drive instead of charge only. It should pop up by itself when you connect, but if not, pull down the notification drawer, tap CHARGE ONLY and change it. As noted above, pics/movies are in the DCIM folder.

 

[brain21]

OK, this is freaking ed. Using ES File Explorer I can peruse the directories and see the files and pics just fine. The file structure is

/sdcard/DCIM/100BURST
and
/sdcard/DCIM/100MEDIA

Now when I hok up to my PC (Win7, 64-bit) and select on the phone file transfer mode, I can see the phone get mounted. I can see that the mount point is /sdcard as my root directory on the PC is the /sdcard/ directory. So far as good. However, when I go 1 folder deeper, stuff stops working. From /sdcard/ I can cd into /DCIM/, but there is nothing in there (well, windows sees nothing, ES Explorer still does). I can cd into any of the other directories off of the root, and it's all the same - they look like those directories under /sdcard/ are all completely empty. Double-check on the phe w/ ES File explorer... nope, everything looks just fine...

So now I'm going to have to play with pairing my laptop and phone via bluetooth. This is just so stupid. As much as i *hate* iTunes and Apple's setup, transferring photos was dead easy, even for 3rd party apps like iPhone Explorer. Plug it in, make a couple of clicks, and done.