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Android Software Thread - Tasty Desserts, Tastier Apps

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It looks like the cause of the poor battery performance was an unfortunate combination of apps that were doing more stuff in the background than I expected. After switching back to the stock apps for the music player and the alarms, battery consumption went back to normal. I left it at 70% battery with WIFI on when I went to bed, and now at 11:24AM after some IM, browsing with 3G and music playing it's still at that level.

Edit: I just noticed that GTalk (a service that I don't even use) decided to connect with my google account in the background without asking for any kind of permission and without even leaving any kind of notification about being active at all. I had to manually disable the auto-connect and terminate it. I knew Android was a chaos, and a little disrespectful to the user opinions but this is too much.
 
beje said:
It looks like the cause of the poor battery performance was an unfortunate combination of apps that were doing more stuff in the background than I expected. After switching back to the stock apps for the music player and the alarms, battery consumption went back to normal. I left it at 70% battery with WIFI on when I went to bed, and now at 11:24AM after some IM, browsing with 3G and music playing it's still at that level.

Edit: I just noticed that GTalk (a service that I don't even use) decided to connect with my google account in the background without asking for any kind of permission and without even leaving any kind of notification about being active at all. I had to manually disable the auto-connect and terminate it. I knew Android was a chaos, and a little disrespectful to the user opinions but this is too much.
Click to expand...

???
 
I want to believe LauncherPro keeps all background running apps in check. It seems at all times when idle the only things running are the basic things the phone needs to run. When i was on stock theme all kinds of stuff ran in the background.
 
I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but.. I currently have a Sony Ericsson w810i, but I've placed an order for a Xperia X10 Mini Pro. Now, I need to transfer the numbers I've stored in the phone memory of the w810i to the Xperia. What's the easiest way to do this? I know I can use MyPhoneExplorer to export all the numbers from the w810i to a .vst file, but would I be able to somehow transfer this .vst file to the Xperia and make it recognize all the numbers? MyPhoneExplorer currently does not support the Xperia X10 series (or any SE phone running Android AFAIK), so I can't use that. plz halp AndroidGAF!
 
beje said:
Edit: I just noticed that GTalk (a service that I don't even use) decided to connect with my google account in the background without asking for any kind of permission and without even leaving any kind of notification about being active at all. I had to manually disable the auto-connect and terminate it. I knew Android was a chaos, and a little disrespectful to the user opinions but this is too much.
Click to expand...
GTalk is the name of the system service that generally manages most of the basic push/sync services on Android: Email, calendar, text messaging, facebook and twitter updates, etc. You do use it and you granted it permission when you told it what email account you wanted to sync, what calendar you wanted to sync with, and so on.
 
tzare said:
anyone knows an alternative to fring to use skype's videochat on android?
I own a HTC tattoo btw
Click to expand...

I don't know of one yet. Not a huge fan of Fring given that you can't seem to add friends on Fring unless they have Fring accounts. You can't just enter their Skype username.
 
kaching said:
GTalk is the name of the system service that generally manages most of the basic push/sync services on Android: Email, calendar, text messaging, facebook and twitter updates, etc. You do use it and you granted it permission when you told it what email account you wanted to sync, what calendar you wanted to sync with, and so on.
Click to expand...

Nope, GTalk is just the IM program. There's no need for it to still get my mail and contacts synced. And I remember giving permissions for gmail, calendar and contacts in an individual way, I never got asked about Google Talk. Heck, I just knew it was installed, but didn't even open the app as it's a service I don't use.


gcubed said:
???
Click to expand...

Maybe I didn't use the most appropiate wording (not a native english speaker) but I mean that there are a lot of apps and services that just start connecting to internet or running in the background without even asking you for permissions for it. It may look normal to you, but coming to Android from a Symbian phone where every app have their own network permissions (meaning that you can completely deny connection to ANY app at an OS level or make it connect ONLY through the APN/WIFI Hotspot of your choice) and all of them have an "Exit" option which completely kills the process, things like these are somehow shocking.

By the way, may I know why the fuck does a battery meter that is not even ad-supported (because it relies on having less options than the paid version) need "unlimited connection to internet"? :rolleyes:

Don't take me wrong. I love my new phone, and I believe Android is a step in the right direction regarding handheld OS's, but I believe some things are just inexcusable.
 
beje said:
Nope, GTalk is just the IM program. There's no need for it to still get my mail and contacts synced. And I remember giving permissions for gmail, calendar and contacts in an individual way, I never got asked about Google Talk. Heck, I just knew it was installed, but didn't even open the app as it's a service I don't use.
Click to expand...
I know I've seen this before, but I can't find a good link for at this time. GTalk is part of the fundamental Android application framework services which manage system operation. The service is used for more than IM, it's the underlying P2P/XMPP service for Android which is used to sync other applications as well.

Edit: There's two background tasks, they're named very similarly. One manages the IM/presence, the other manages general P2P/XMPP traffic for other apps.
 
If you going to the Accounts panel under Settings, you can control how often or turn off which particular accounts (Gmail,FB,Corporate email) automatically sync and at what intervals. You should also check the apps settings menu as well.

All third party apps when before you download them will tell you what services they use and require (network comms, sd card storage, etc).
 
Combichristoffersen said:
I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but.. I currently have a Sony Ericsson w810i, but I've placed an order for a Xperia X10 Mini Pro. Now, I need to transfer the numbers I've stored in the phone memory of the w810i to the Xperia. What's the easiest way to do this? I know I can use MyPhoneExplorer to export all the numbers from the w810i to a .vst file, but would I be able to somehow transfer this .vst file to the Xperia and make it recognize all the numbers? MyPhoneExplorer currently does not support the Xperia X10 series (or any SE phone running Android AFAIK), so I can't use that. plz halp AndroidGAF!
Click to expand...
Simple, export every contact as a vsd file, go into Google.com/contacts and import then into your account, use that account in your phone. Remember many contacts will be duplicated as some of them will already be in your contact list, Google will show you the duplicates.
 
kaching said:
Edit: There's two background tasks, they're named very similarly. One manages the IM/presence, the other manages general P2P/XMPP traffic for other apps.
Click to expand...

I checked and the one that was active was the IM/Presence program. I opened it and found out it was automatically connected to my gmail account showing like 4 or 5 contacts I have there that I added for Buzz months ago.
 
Not exactly software related, but I was browsing some wallpapers for my Moto Droid (854x960) and I came across this one.

Good_vs_Evil.jpg


It works very well with the way page scrolling works on android. Only works right with 3 screens.
 
beje said:
Nope, GTalk is just the IM program. There's no need for it to still get my mail and contacts synced. And I remember giving permissions for gmail, calendar and contacts in an individual way, I never got asked about Google Talk. Heck, I just knew it was installed, but didn't even open the app as it's a service I don't use.




Maybe I didn't use the most appropiate wording (not a native english speaker) but I mean that there are a lot of apps and services that just start connecting to internet or running in the background without even asking you for permissions for it. It may look normal to you, but coming to Android from a Symbian phone where every app have their own network permissions (meaning that you can completely deny connection to ANY app at an OS level or make it connect ONLY through the APN/WIFI Hotspot of your choice) and all of them have an "Exit" option which completely kills the process, things like these are somehow shocking.

By the way, may I know why the fuck does a battery meter that is not even ad-supported (because it relies on having less options than the paid version) need "unlimited connection to internet"? :rolleyes:

Don't take me wrong. I love my new phone, and I believe Android is a step in the right direction regarding handheld OS's, but I believe some things are just inexcusable.
Click to expand...

figured you weren't just didn't know what you were trying to say. :)

anyway, i think its a shame that there aren't more apps that are move to SD card capable by now. I've had a bunch of apps get multiple updates since 2.2 was final and pushed out and only a small handful have been able to be moved... and its always the damn small apps.
 
I've been trying to find an app that will let me send files via bluetooth to other phones, but being on 1.5 means this is next to impossible. Is there any app that will let me do this?
 
So I have that handcent app on my phone and was wondering how to set it up such that when I get a new text message, only handcent displays a notification and the default messaging app does not. (It would be pretty nice if I could just get rid of the default one >.> )
 
zoku88 said:
So I have that handcent app on my phone and was wondering how to set it up such that when I get a new text message, only handcent displays a notification and the default messaging app does not. (It would be pretty nice if I could just get rid of the default one >.> )
Click to expand...
Go in the default sms app and disable notifications in the settings
 
I am considering getting Android phones for both my wife and I in August. Right now she has an old iPod that she uses for all her music and video needs. I am wondering what to expect for syncing music or putting music onto an Android phone. I understand you can plug it into a PC and just drag and drop music but I'd like somthing a little more user friendly for her. Is there any programs that allows syncing from iTunes or is there an iTunes like PC program where we can move our music to and use to sync to the phone? She would still love to use iTunes to buy music so what is the best way to work between the two?

Thanks for any help!
 
Blergmeister said:
I am considering getting Android phones for both my wife and I in August. Right now she has an old iPod that she uses for all her music and video needs. I am wondering what to expect for syncing music or putting music onto an Android phone. I understand you can plug it into a PC and just drag and drop music but I'd like somthing a little more user friendly for her. Is there any programs that allows syncing from iTunes or is there an iTunes like PC program where we can move our music to and use to sync to the phone? She would still love to use iTunes to buy music so what is the best way to work between the two?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
I use WMP10. You click on the Sync tab in the upper right corner, and drag anything you want into the area below, and then hit the sync button. It does involve drag-and-dropping but really, it’s so easy a 4 year old asian girl could do it.
 
Blergmeister said:
I am considering getting Android phones for both my wife and I in August. Right now she has an old iPod that she uses for all her music and video needs. I am wondering what to expect for syncing music or putting music onto an Android phone. I understand you can plug it into a PC and just drag and drop music but I'd like somthing a little more user friendly for her. Is there any programs that allows syncing from iTunes or is there an iTunes like PC program where we can move our music to and use to sync to the phone? She would still love to use iTunes to buy music so what is the best way to work between the two?

Thanks for any help!
Click to expand...
here r couple of itunes to android apps
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.jrtstudio.iSyncr
http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.highwindsoftware.tunesync.lite
http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt (not sure about the others, but this also lets u sync ur itune podcast)
 
demon said:
I use WMP10. You click on the Sync tab in the upper right corner, and drag anything you want into the area below, and then hit the sync button. It does involve drag-and-dropping but really, it’s so easy a 4 year old asian girl could do it.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick response.

Could you explain this a little more? In WMP10 on the sync section... it knows I have my phone plugged in and will show up in a section on the sync tab? And then from there I can just drag and drop?

Actually, can I just open whatever the music folder is on my phone and drag and drop from iTunes if I have all my songs as MP3s?
 
Blergmeister said:
Thanks for the quick response.

Could you explain this a little more? In WMP10 on the sync section... it knows I have my phone plugged in and will show up in a section on the sync tab? And then from there I can just drag and drop?

Actually, can I just open whatever the music folder is on my phone and drag and drop from iTunes if I have all my songs as MP3s?
Click to expand...
When you connect your phone to the computer you have to select the "dock" option or whatever it's called (I think it's called something else) on the phone itself. Then your computer will see it and when you select the Sync tab in WMP the phone will show up and you'll be able to name it whatever you want. All of your music will show up in the middle of WMP and from there you can drag and drop.

It's really pretty easy, I was able to figure it out in a minute without consulting anything.
 
I appologize for the doublepost, I keep missing posts while I am posting.

Thanks for both of your help! I'll do some research into both of these tonight but I feel a little relieved that the jump might not be as akward for my wife as I first thought.
 
demon said:
When you connect your phone to the computer you have to select the "dock" option or whatever it's called (I think it's called something else) on the phone itself. Then your computer will see it and when you select the Sync tab in WMP the phone will show up and you'll be able to name it whatever you want. All of your music will show up in the middle of WMP and from there you can drag and drop.

It's really pretty easy, I was able to figure it out in a minute without consulting anything.
Click to expand...

Man, I didn't even know this. I just dragged and dropped from my music folders to the music folders on my phone. The more you know.
 
Blergmeister said:
Doubletwist looks to copy a lot of look and feel of iTunes. This might work for her pretty well. Thanks for the links. I'll explore more when I'm home.
Click to expand...
it is itunes. the software makes android phone recognizable on itunes, and it converts any itune music/podcast for ur android phone
 
When the HTC Desire Froyo update drops, either in August or September it will include 720p video recording, some cool new widgets and iTunes syncing, according to some info I received at work. Pretty awesome for Desire owners.
 
bathala said:
it is itunes. the software makes android phone recognizable on itunes, and it converts any itune music/podcast for ur android phone
Click to expand...

Oh, so basically the software tricks iTunes into thinking that a particular device is an iPod thus allowing syncing. This would be the best as it would be the most transparent to my wife!

OriginalThinking said:
When the HTC Desire Froyo update drops, either in August or September it will include 720p video recording, some cool new widgets and iTunes syncing, according to some info I received at work. Pretty awesome for Desire owners.
Click to expand...

We would be getting Desires... so if this is the case... I might not have to bother with setting up anything for her at all. Even better!
 
Hieberrr said:
I've been trying to find an app that will let me send files via bluetooth to other phones, but being on 1.5 means this is next to impossible. Is there any app that will let me do this?
Click to expand...
Root the phone. Settings -> Wirless Settings -> Bluetooth Settings -> Advanced Settings -> check FTP Server button.

If you don't want to root, then try Bluetooth File Transfer. That's the app I tried before, but I didn't have success. PEACE.
 
I'm a little confused. Is there a google talk android app or not as there's none showing up on the market for me?
 
Wes said:
I'm a little confused. Is there a google talk android app or not as there's none showing up on the market for me?
Click to expand...

It's just called 'talk' and should be pre-installed. Only works if you have a US phone number mind. At the moment that is. Eric Schmidt told the Guardian that it will be coming to the UK soon, probably as a VOIP offering though to get round the expensive mobile to mobile calls we have here.

6.37pm: Schmidt, now answering crowdsourced questions: Apple is a particular model of a closed ecosystem and that works for them, I'm saying that with respect. The alternative model, the one that Google opts for, works the other way. We'll end up with very beautiful products. We were built in the open way. This relentless drive in the mobile industry is good for everybody.

Google Wave? "Still in development, still in use."

Google Me, true or false? "That would be a product announcement and I won't say." [Rusbridger interjects to much laughter - "that sounds like a yes"]

Google Voice is on its way to the UK market, Schmidt confirms
Click to expand...

Source
 
Pimpwerx said:
Root the phone. Settings -> Wirless Settings -> Bluetooth Settings -> Advanced Settings -> check FTP Server button.

If you don't want to root, then try Bluetooth File Transfer. That's the app I tried before, but I didn't have success. PEACE.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give it a try :)
 
OriginalThinking said:
It's just called 'talk' and should be pre-installed. Only works if you have a US phone number mind. At the moment that is. Eric Schmidt told the Guardian that it will be coming to the UK soon, probably as a VOIP offering though to get round the expensive mobile to mobile calls we have here.



Source
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.
 
Has anyone here rooted their android phones (specifically the Moto Droid?)

I was looking into it and rooting seems very useful, but it also seems like a daunting task, if anyone has done it recently and would like to show me the guide they used/guide me I would be very thankful :D
 
ZZMitch said:
Has anyone here rooted their android phones (specifically the Moto Droid?)

I was looking into it and rooting seems very useful, but it also seems like a daunting task, if anyone has done it recently and would like to show me the guide they used/guide me I would be very thankful :D
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how easy the Droid is but the Nexus One is very easy to root. I think the Droid has the most to gain from rooting though. It is incredibly easy to overclock it to over 1 GHz.
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
I'm not sure how easy the Droid is but the Nexus One is very easy to root. I think the Droid has the most to gain from rooting though. It is incredibly easy to overclock it to over 1 GHz.
Click to expand...

What did you have to do to root on the nexus one? On the droid you have to put a bunch of commands in stuff on your computer and then go into recovery mode on the phone by holding up on the d-pad or something... looks pretty confusing.

And yeah, that is what I want to do, overclock to 1ghz and install the Bugless Beast froyo theme.
 
ZZMitch said:
What did you have to do to root on the nexus one? On the droid you have to put a bunch of commands in stuff on your computer and then go into recovery mode on the phone by holding up on the d-pad or something... looks pretty confusing.

And yeah, that is what I want to do, overclock to 1ghz and install the Bugless Beast froyo theme.
Click to expand...

Similar stuff. The people over at xda have pretty good guides on rooting the Nexus One. I don't think they really do anything with the Droid though. They usually stick with HTC devices.
 
Jamesfrom818 said:
Similar stuff. The people over at xda have pretty good guides on rooting the Nexus One. I don't think they really do anything with the Droid though. They usually stick with HTC devices.
Click to expand...

Ok, well I will look around, after I root will I have to redownload all my apps/resync all my music or will it still be there?
 
Does anyone use Chomp SMS? I love the app but the new update added pop up notifications and I don't really like how they look. I was searching for a way to disable them but no dice so far.
 
ZZMitch said:
Ok, well I will look around, after I root will I have to redownload all my apps/resync all my music or will it still be there?
Click to expand...

The Market will remember what you had and redownload it. Thats what happens with me. You can also use one of many back up apps to back up the .apk's of all of your apps.
 
Shazam is starting a premium service. :( No more free tags unless you used Shazam on your phone before 6/13/2010 (yesterday). Lucky for me I use it frequently, but it only lists the three tags I did on Monday. Those were the first tags since I wiped my phone installing a ROM two weeks ago. I'm not sure how far back their history goes, or if it's tied to our phone numbers, but I have unlimited tags still. It lists me as a paid customer. If you're new to the app, you only get 5 free tags per month. Weird, but kinda expected. One of my all-time favorite apps. I wonder if they're doing that with the iPhone app too. PEACE.
 
Pimpwerx said:
Shazam is starting a premium service. :( No more free tags unless you used Shazam on your phone before 6/13/2010 (yesterday). Lucky for me I use it frequently, but it only lists the three tags I did on Monday. Those were the first tags since I wiped my phone installing a ROM two weeks ago. I'm not sure how far back their history goes, or if it's tied to our phone numbers, but I have unlimited tags still. It lists me as a paid customer. If you're new to the app, you only get 5 free tags per month. Weird, but kinda expected. One of my all-time favorite apps. I wonder if they're doing that with the iPhone app too. PEACE.
Click to expand...
phew, glad I downloaded it a few days ago. :D Only used it once so far (aside from fucking around with it), but it's a damn nice app.
 
I installed SwiftKey. I haven't tried it out yet though. I wish there was an option in settings to load different keyboards for landscape and portrait by default. I love swype for portrait, but hate it in landscape. PEACE.
 
Pimpwerx said:
Shazam is starting a premium service. :( No more free tags unless you used Shazam on your phone before 6/13/2010 (yesterday). Lucky for me I use it frequently, but it only lists the three tags I did on Monday. Those were the first tags since I wiped my phone installing a ROM two weeks ago. I'm not sure how far back their history goes, or if it's tied to our phone numbers, but I have unlimited tags still. It lists me as a paid customer. If you're new to the app, you only get 5 free tags per month. Weird, but kinda expected. One of my all-time favorite apps. I wonder if they're doing that with the iPhone app too. PEACE.
Click to expand...

was wondering how long they'd be able to keep it free. I've paid for and used soundhound after trying shazam, maybe their recognition will get a bit better to match soundhounds now that you have to pay
 
Just got my android phone today and browsing around the market. I see several high profile games are not available in Europe, like Bejeweled and Gameloft games. Anyone know when, say Gameloft, plan to expand the region availability? And is there a LOT in the market that's region locked?
 
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