new to TB/smart phones, few questions

[shawnn218]

- should the "Maps" app be taking up any % of battery if im not using it? how do i close it, by going into the applications in settings and "force stop"?

- how do i take off the weather animation (ie when its raining outside, the phone rains and it has a windshield wiper wipe it off). id imagine it uses more battery

- the facebook app from the market. when i click "logout", it says "logging out will remove your facebook data from this phone. do you want to log out". what exactly does this mean? i just want to log off so it doesnt use battery, lol. is it going to erase all the synced stuff?

- when im using the internet, i can hit the home key, do something else, and then hit the internet key again and ill be back where i left off. does this use battery? or is it just the wifi/4g in general that uses battery? ie, do i need to force stop the internet every time i use it?

- whats the point of using the youtube app over the internet youtube?

thanks! more questions to come probably..

 

[zachnelson]

- should the "Maps" app be taking up any % of battery if im not using it? how do i close it, by going into the applications in settings and "force stop"?

- how do i take off the weather animation (ie when its raining outside, the phone rains and it has a windshield wiper wipe it off). id imagine it uses more battery

- the facebook app from the market. when i click "logout", it says "logging out will remove your facebook data from this phone. do you want to log out". what exactly does this mean? i just want to log off so it doesnt use battery, lol. is it going to erase all the synced stuff?

- when im using the internet, i can hit the home key, do something else, and then hit the internet key again and ill be back where i left off. does this use battery? or is it just the wifi/4g in general that uses battery? ie, do i need to force stop the internet every time i use it?

thanks! more questions to come probably..

Maps shouldn't take any battery, try restarting, make sure GPS is off.

If you click logout it will remove any contacts you synced and remove custom settings you may have set as well as logging it out. if you don't want it to use battery, turn of syncing in Settings>accts & sync>facebook. also turn off notifications in Facebook>settings

It just stores the previous webpage in the cache i think, so no additional battery usage.

you should rarely have to ever force stop anything

 

[Chrisy]

Try the YouTube app, then use the web to access YouTube. You'll see the difference. The app is optimized for a mobile touch screen device. It's quicker to search, loads faster and is just easier to use.

I only have Maps on my battery use after I've been in the app. If needed, the process will be killed on its own.

You done need to close or exit out of the web. In fact I know of no way to do this. Let the OS handle things like this.

As far as the weather widget, you can set it to sync manually or for 6 or 12 hours if you want to save battery. You can completely remove that widget also and just have a clock on the screen

 

[anon(2632)]

- should the "Maps" app be taking up any % of battery if im not using it? how do i close it, by going into the applications in settings and "force stop"?

- how do i take off the weather animation (ie when its raining outside, the phone rains and it has a windshield wiper wipe it off). id imagine it uses more battery

- the facebook app from the market. when i click "logout", it says "logging out will remove your facebook data from this phone. do you want to log out". what exactly does this mean? i just want to log off so it doesnt use battery, lol. is it going to erase all the synced stuff?

- when im using the internet, i can hit the home key, do something else, and then hit the internet key again and ill be back where i left off. does this use battery? or is it just the wifi/4g in general that uses battery? ie, do i need to force stop the internet every time i use it?

- whats the point of using the youtube app over the internet youtube?

thanks! more questions to come probably..

Sounds like you are coming from a Blackberry (I had these same questions when i did, and i just had the same discussion with my daughter who came from a blackberry)

Android is different than other OS's. You don't have to "close" or "exit" or "log out" of apps. They are not always running in the background. Android will shut them down as needed to gain system resources back. That being said, some apps/widgets update at times. You should check out your apps to see what the sync times are set at, then change that to a time you can live with (that's up to how important the app is to you). Yes, setting the sync times to longer will help with battery life.

Signing out and back in to facebook will likely use more battery than staying signed in. If you sync your contacts/cal/etc, then everytime you sign in to facebook, it will have to pull all your friends again. The remove them all when you sign out. If you have a lot of friends, this takes a while. If you set your sync time to something like 2 hours or 1 time a day, then it will only sync at that time, and when you open, it will update.

The internet stays exactly where you left it when you went "home". It doesn't "refresh" the page unless you tell it to. some replacement browsers are set up to let you close them and delete cookies/cache on exit, but it isn't necessary. It is kinda like leaving the newspaper open on your kitchen table. It may be annoying, but it is just sitting there until you come back to turn the page.

Weather animation...(long press on the widget>drag to edit>click location>uncheck full screen animation. But it is kinda cool looking isn't it???

 

[Chrisy]

The windshield wiper always makes me smile!

 

[anon(2632)]

The windshield wiper always makes me smile!

I love the snow... but i have to go into the preview to actually ever see it (texas) :'(

 

[Chrisy]

I've never seen the snow one, never will! I hadn't thought of that...

 

[anon(2632)]

I've never seen the snow one, never will! I hadn't thought of that...

sorry for the thread hijack... :-[

tap weather, menu, demo...

 

[shawnn218]

wow so much help! thanks guys!

-how do i take off gps?

-on the weather widget on my main screen, it lists new york. i live 5 mins away from nyc in a different town in jersey though. if i click on the widget it lists 2 pages, my town and new york. how do i get it to show my town on the main screen? or show whatever town im in?

- can you guys explain "background data" and "auto sync"?

thanks again guys!

 

[shawnn218]

also for the weather, i have on - "update when opened" and "update automatically" and "update every 3 hours". do i need automatically on? lol

 

[zachnelson]

also for the weather, i have on - "update when opened" and "update automatically" and "update every 3 hours". do i need automatically on? lol

If you disable update automatically i think it disables update every 3 hours.

 

[shawnn218]

i accidentally deleted the "favorites" section (to the right of the main screen). how do i get it back?

 

[anon(2632)]

If you disable update automatically i think it disables update every 3 hours.

you are correct, if you uncheck update automatically, then you have to open it to update it. You will be stuck on the same weather icon/temp all the time. If you don't need your weather on your homescreen, then you can always just drag it to remove (long press, drag to the bottom right where the trash can appears)

As far as the "take off gps", i'm sure you mean turn it off. This will disable ANY/ALL location services (facebook check ins, navigation, weather, google (local) searches, movies, poynt, etc). pull up your app drawer, open settings>location>uncheck all.

Keep in mind that the only time the gps is working is when you see the little sattelite at the top of the screen. It only runs at the selected interval to update weather and other apps that automatically sync.

 

[anon(2632)]

i accidentally deleted the "favorites" section (to the right of the main screen). how do i get it back?

Longpress on the screen>choose widget>People>choose the one you like>choose favorites (or whatever group you want it to use)

 

[shawnn218]

thanks guys!

"Keep in mind that the only time the gps is working is when you see the little sattelite at the top of the screen. It only runs at the selected interval to update weather and other apps that automatically sync."

so its not eating battery unless i see the sattelite? and what is "stand alone gps services"? my friend told me to uncheck it, but wouldnt tell me why, lol

 

[anon(2632)]

thanks guys!

"Keep in mind that the only time the gps is working is when you see the little sattelite at the top of the screen. It only runs at the selected interval to update weather and other apps that automatically sync."

so its not eating battery unless i see the sattelite? and what is "stand alone gps services"? my friend told me to uncheck it, but wouldnt tell me why, lol

this is for non google/vzw apps that use gps. I believe some paid gps services like garmin. I have it turned on because of a gps status app i have. you can uncheck it and if an app needs you to turn it on to use it, it will let you know (at least the ones i have used do)

 

[shawnn218]

so like, a movie app where it tells you the local listings would need that?

 

[anon(2632)]

not sure, most of them use the google maps. I have gps status and toolbox because i was having trouble getting a lock. It requires it.

 

[shawnn218]

thanks bud

anyone wanna take a shot at my weather question?
-on the weather widget on my main screen, it lists new york. i live 5 mins away from nyc in a different town in jersey though. if i click on the widget it lists 2 pages, my town and new york. how do i get it to show my town on the main screen? or show whatever town im in?

 

[anon(2632)]

thanks bud

anyone wanna take a shot at my weather question?
-on the weather widget on my main screen, it lists new york. i live 5 mins away from nyc in a different town in jersey though. if i click on the widget it lists 2 pages, my town and new york. how do i get it to show my town on the main screen? or show whatever town im in?

It only updates to the location that your gps picks up... check your maps. If you have just a small blue circle then you have a great lock. If you have a small arrow with a blue shaded circle around it, that means you have a not so great lock (your phone has basicly triangulated your location based on cell towers and or wifi connections).

If you have your setting in the weather to "my location", then it will use whatever the gps has. I you want it set it to your location, you can open the app drawer, click weather>click the plus in the right bottom corner>find your nearest location

by flicking up and down on the screen to get to the location you want to use. You may have to remove the widget and then readd it to get to choose which one it uses.

Yep, you choose location when the widget is added. Just remove the one that is there (long press, drag to recyle). Long press>widget>clock>choose the 3/12 clock>select>choose location (my location will "follow you")