S5 beginner, back with more questions!

[Ursidaeus]

Hey everyone. I've been fiddling around with my new phone and must say this phone has so much customization. Since I got my new phone I haven't stopped customizing for two days. Since there are so many options I have some questions for you all:

1. Does multiple launchers use up more RAM or battery? How does it affect the overall phone? I have three themes right now: TouchWhiz, Nova, and Themer. Do those three launchers combined cause more usage?

2. I'm trying to save some RAM. Which apps can I close listed below?

• Quick Connect Interact (777KB)
• Remote Controls (1.3MB)
• Knox Notification Manager (1.8MB)
• Factory Mode (356KB)
• SysScope (4.2MB)
• Fingerprints (4.2MB)
• Context Service (7.0MB)
• PageBuddyNotiSvc (430KB)
• S Finder (2.0MB)
• Samsung Push Service (8.6MB)
• Samsung Link Platform (5.1MB)
• Support & Protection (7.4MB)
• My Magazine (1.1MB)
• Unified Daemon 6.9MB).

3. What is widget padding?

4. I can't access the Play Store. It keeps saying "Check your connection and try again." What do I do?

 

[Rukbat]

1. Does multiple launchers use up more RAM or battery? How does it affect the overall phone? I have three themes right now: TouchWhiz, Nova, and Themer. Do those three launchers combined cause more usage?

Since only 1 of them is running at a time, the only thing having 3 does is take up storage space. Themes aren't launchers, they're basically sets of icons, and you can use many different themes with Nova (which is the launcher I use on all my phones, even though I keep TouchWiz on there, in case someone asks a question about something in TouchWiz - then I run it and figure out an answer) but the same thing applies. (Except that themes don't use battery - the launcher using the theme does.) At the present, running KitKat, I'm running a Lollipop theme. It doesn't cost anything in money, battery or speed.

2. I'm trying to save some RAM. Which apps can I close listed below?

None. You don't "save RAM" in Android. The Android memory manager closes the apps that have to be closed, when they have to be closed. Removing apps from RAM does only 2 things, it wastes battery and it slows the phone down. Read Multitasking the Android Way. I don't argue about how a piece of software works with the person who wrote it, I've written too much software, and heard too many explanations of what the developer (me) was thinking about, to consider doing that anything more than an attempt to get on Comedy Central. If a Google software engineer publicly says that's how Android works, I accept it as the truth.

3. What is widget padding?

Quick non-technical explanation - the space between the border of the widget and the body of the widget. (Normally zero or close to it.)

4. I can't access the Play Store. It keeps saying "Check your connection and try again." What do I do?

Make sure you have a good connection, either mobile data or wifi - but not both at the same time. (Open a web browser and come here or, to save typing, go to aol.com. If it works you have a connection.) If you have a connection and get that error, bring the phone into the carrier's store and ask them to make it work (say please, even though you're not asking for a favor, you're asking for what you paid for). You might be able to fix it yourself by clearing cache, or by uninstalling (or installing) updates to the Play Store app, but it's their responsibility, so why waste a few hours of your time? You could be doing something worth doing, like watching grass grow. Fixing someone else's problem is more useless than that. (I owned cellphone stores and, if I couldn't fix a problem on a phone still in warranty by pressing a few keys, I replaced it. It went back to my distributor. Eventually it got back to the manufacturer. That's who pays for bad phones. I don't make a profit by working as a repairman for Samsung for free.)