[Archived] Android Apps

[Iceman]

is that all it does? seems like it has improved my battery life. ive switched off virtually everything, but still battery will start decreasing.

[brian_gallagher85]

All smart phones are power hungry. The only thing you can do is reduce your screen brightness and turn off background data when not using it. Wifi will also kill battery life.

[Biddy]

One of the biggest battery killers is if you haven't got 3g/H data in your area. If you only are showing GPRS or EDGE, the phone willl constantly look for a 3G signal and attempt to use it no matter how weak. I found it best to fix data to 2g only if you live in an area live that.

oh and if you have wi-fi at home, it actually will use less battery power than being connected to mobile data. Of course, out and about it will kill battery power.

I personally have wi-fi and bluetooth on all the time and get about a days use out of the phone.

[Paul]

is that all it does? seems like it has improved my battery life. ive switched off virtually everything, but still battery will start decreasing.

BTW this little rant isn't aimed at you Iceman.

I have to say I always smile to myself when anyone starts discussing "poor" battery life on a mobile phone, and to describe it as a phone is most of the problem. Right now I'm using a laptop as I'm working remotely to access my office, the laptop will do everything plus some extras that I can do from my iPhone (I realise you have an android). My iPhone can do stuff my laptop can't or is impractical for. On the phone I'm using e-mail, calendars, youtube, ipod, watch TV, access the web, post / read this, SatNav, bluetooth, camera, reminders and alarms and probably things I've forgotten about. Now I can do all this on a laptop with a battery life of 2-4 hours but it won't fit in my pocket or I can use this handy little device, with more computing power than put a man on the moon, which fits in my pocket, can be charged almost anywhere and oh yes has a battery life several times greater than a laptop.

My question is always why the concern about battery life? Just what do people expect from thes fantastic little devices?

With iPhone, so I presume android, there are several apps which claim to extend battery life. 95% of their "tips" are the blindingly obvious, switch off everything you aren't using - but that's standard stuff for any computing device. Some then recommend a strange and complicated charging routine, involving fully charging, discharging, switching on and off blowing it's nose and taking it for a pizza - honestly it's so complex I started once and got bored / forgot where I was up to.

The one thing which is really heavy on battery life is GPS and without a constant power source SatNav is pretty pointless. I always have my phone on SatNav and handsfree in the car and my two 45 minute commutes are more than enough to keep the battery sufficiently charged for the rest of the day. Having said all that the best app I have is from Motion X GPS which is an absolutely brilliant piece of software which I would like to use for monitoring my cycling. Sadly this is so heavy on power it only last about 2 hours and as most of my rides are a minimum of 4-5 hours it will never be of any use.

There are iPhone battery booster packs available for about £10 which work very well in my experience.

The problem is people understand laptops are computers which use a lot of power - they don't seem to understand what we refer to as a phone is really a small computing device.

[brian_gallagher85]

The whole battery thing comes from a time when a "mobile phone" would last for about a week once charged.

One thing I will say is that the battery tip which le chuck and myself have posted really does work on the San Fran as it helps the phones Android OS to measure the remaining battery power much more accurately.

[Iceman]

can those with an HTC Desire or any Android device, explain why after a full charge, my battery is not showing 100%, but like only between 95 and 99%? could it be a battery problem?

[Paul]

You probably need to fully discharge the battery and then re-charge according to the original set up instructions

[Iceman]

Did that Paul, so was amazed to not see a full charge battery, despite it showing charge complete.

Anyway, I'm using an app called score mobile, which is great for getting PL results as well as live min by min updates of any game.

Anybody using any recipe apps? I'm using one and its great, where I just put in the ingredients I have, and it gives me a recipe I can make with what I have.

[dazmaz]

can those with an HTC Desire or any Android device, explain why after a full charge, my battery is not showing 100%, but like only between 95 and 99%? could it be a battery problem?

Thats could be over charging. Usually happens when you leave it on charge over night. My x10i charges to 100% if I do it during the day, takes about 2 hours. If I do it over night im lucky to get 96%

[brian_gallagher85]

Did that Paul, so was amazed to not see a full charge battery, despite it showing charge complete.

Here's a link to the modaco forum about the battery calibration thing I've been talking about Icers, not sure if you want to try it or not but I've found it easy to do and really good.

[Iceman]

got Htc Desire Brian, what is clockwork, or where do find this?

[brian_gallagher85]

I got it from the links on this guide.

[Iceman]

im already on Froyo mate, so how do you do battery calibration on the Htc Desire. sorry, im clueless

[brian_gallagher85]

I know you are, that page tells you how to install clockwork (which is needed for the guide) it's all there, just read it, it should be very similar on a HTC.

[adopted scouser]

Impossible Quiz, infuriating

[Guest roverspogges]

There's a game on Android market called pool break. The free version is only for 15 days but you can just delete the game after the trial ends and re-install it to get another 15 days and so on........its actually pretty good too. And you can play over wifi.

[Iceman]

cricket fever 3D is great, although the annoying bit is. that everytime you run, the wicket keeper removes the bails

[Iceman]

anybody using micoach.. great little app this. i have set my trainer to be Andy Murray

[Speedie Dived]

Sky Sports News app is about as good as it gets for all your footballing info. You can access the download via QR code or type BSKYB in market. It will NOT show up if you type Sky Sports News

[American Rover12]

MightyText for Chrome and Android users. Nifty and pretty helpful if you always leave your phone on vibrate somewhere you're not, like me.