Tasker or Locale?

[UncleMike]

1- Can you set a different event to trigger by simply leaving a current situation (without needing to create a separate event/trigger to occur)? This is one of the biggest drawbacks with Locale. It cannot do this and the devs have been dragging their feet for months (nearly a year) on resolving this problem. I find the Locale devs are responsive, but less than helpful when it comes to actually resolving many issues.

2- Can Tasker kill specified apps without a plugin? Can it kill apps on phones with Froyo? The app killer plugin for Locale stopped working when I upgraded to Froyo, and this dev has apparently abandoned it (it has been well over a month since Froyo hit the Nexus One and the dev learned that it didn't work). I need this ability so that I can kill the text-to-speech app when I arrive at locations (I do not want to be sitting in class when my pants suddenly start speaking a dirty text from my wife).

I cannot vouch for it's ability to kill apps under Froyo. My Droid is apparently a late bloomer and hasn't gotten the OTA update yet.

With regard to leaving a situation, I think I know what you mean. Tasker's profiles (or situations) can have both an Enter task and an Exit task. The Enter task will be executed when the profile becomes active (i.e. you're near a certain Wifi signal or GPS/network location, you place your phone in the car dock, you plug your phone into an AC power source, etc.). The Exit task is executed when you leave the situation (no longer near Wifi or GPS/network location, remove your phone from the car dock, or unplug your phone). Additionally, anything considered a setting (i.e. changing your volume, display brightness) will automatically be restored to the pre-profile condition without the need for an Exit task.

As an example, when you arrive home, Takser might change your ringer volume. When you leave, it will automatically put it back the way it was prior to you arriving at home, unless you tell it to do something different with the volume as part of an Exit task.

 

[UncleMike]

how about the battery? does it suffer?

On light use days (1 or two short phone calls, a few minutes of web browsing) I see Tasker at about 3% of battery use. On heavier use days, Tasker is at 2% or below, or just doesn't show up on the list.

I have a LOT of profiles setup using many contexts, but only use GPS when the phone is powered. I have several GPS-based contexts, but they are combined with power contexts, so that Tasker will not check the GPS unless the phone is powered, even if GPS is enabled on my phone.

 

[UncleMike]

Oooohhhhh, I see. Unfortunately, one of the things I had hoped to automate was only turning on bluetooth while in my car, but that's still cool.

If you can find a way to determine that you're in your car without using bluetooth, then this is something Tasker could do. I know at one tme (I think in the Tasker forums) I suggested triggering on when the phone is powered and upright, for someone who had a generic car dock that their phone did not recognize as such.

 

[CriticalCritic]

Oooohhhhh, I see. Unfortunately, one of the things I had hoped to automate was only turning on bluetooth while in my car, but that's still cool.

I have locale setup so that my bluetooth comes on when I plug my phone in to the car charger (does not trigger with regular wall charger). It's a free plugin that recognizes this, so it should work with tasker if tasker can't do that already.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I have locale setup so that my bluetooth comes on when I plug my phone in to the car charger (does not trigger with regular wall charger). It's a free plugin that recognizes this, so it should work with tasker if tasker can't do that already.

That would depend on whether your car charger looks different to the phone than the home charger. Tasker can determine natively if you're plugged into a car dock or home dock. It doesn't need a plugin for that.

 

[seeker613]

I'm new to Droid world, as of last wk, when VZW first shipped Droid2....

I have to get up to speed on the OS/platform & I just want to ask a quick question about the capabilities of Tasker... hopefully the reply will serve as a paradigm for me to understand how this well received, & slightly complex to learn app will work for me.

Here goes: Can you set it up to turn your phone radio on/off based on Date/Time, not just turning off the ringer, but the phone service itself? - that's what I mean by turning off the radio..

If so, please walk me thru it &
Thanks in advance

 

[A.Nonymous]

Yes. You just have to have it turn on airplane mode based on time.

 

[seeker613]

A.nonymous,

thanks so much....I am a bit sheepish.... didn't see the whole thread & just 'ran' to ask my question - cause I was rushed & anxious to get into this. Much appreciated- can't wait to use it; I have tasker, but never used it- I'm still figuring it out & will have to spend time on the wiki.. That's how I adjust to something new.... but at least I know what to do & when I see it in the wiki...

I hope there are examples...

 

[A.Nonymous]

I've found there's something of a learning curve with it. You start out going "WTF is this?" Then you discover you can do simple things like turning GPS on when you launch an app that needs it. Then you find that you can do even cooler things like launching your media player when you put your headphones in.

I've set mine so that it launches my podcast program when I plug my headphones in in the morning and launches my satellite radio app in the afternoon since I'm usually sick of podcasts by then. I also just set it up so it turns on auto-brightness and bluetooth when I plug into my car, but turns them off when I unplug. It also launches the mileage tracking app that I use for work 'cuz I'm too lazy to do that manually if I don't have to. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface on what I can really do with this app.

 

[AlphaGamma]

Okay, so I do not have either of these apps, but I am considering getting one of them...

However, I do have a question for anyone who will listen.

My only real need for an app like this at the moment is the ability to silence my phone (or maybe put on vibrate) any time when I am connected to a certain WiFi network. This way I could avoid having my phone going off at... bad times.

Now, should I get Tasker or Locale for this? Or is there a better alternative app just for this task?

 

[Frank_Toronto]

I've found there's something of a learning curve with it. You start out going "WTF is this?" Then you discover you can do simple things like turning GPS on when you launch an app that needs it. Then you find that you can do even cooler things like launching your media player when you put your headphones in.

I've set mine so that it launches my podcast program when I plug my headphones in in the morning and launches my satellite radio app in the afternoon since I'm usually sick of podcasts by then. I also just set it up so it turns on auto-brightness and bluetooth when I plug into my car, but turns them off when I unplug. It also launches the mileage tracking app that I use for work 'cuz I'm too lazy to do that manually if I don't have to. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface on what I can really do with this app.

Impressive! Let us know when you program it to make breakfast for you

BTW.. which app do you use to track mileage? I have one on my Blackberry called Mileage Tracker which is GPS based and am looking for a Android equivalent.

 

[UncleMike]

I have locale setup so that my bluetooth comes on when I plug my phone in to the car charger (does not trigger with regular wall charger). It's a free plugin that recognizes this, so it should work with tasker if tasker can't do that already.

Tasker doesn't use Locale plug-ins for contexts (detecting things), it only uses them to broaden what it can do based on what it detects natively.

 

[UncleMike]

My only real need for an app like this at the moment is the ability to silence my phone (or maybe put on vibrate) any time when I am connected to a certain WiFi network. This way I could avoid having my phone going off at... bad times.

Now, should I get Tasker or Locale for this? Or is there a better alternative app just for this task?

There may be other apps that can do this, but Locale and Tasker can both do this easily. I prefer Tasker, and recommend that you try that first because: 1) I like it better, 2) it's less expensive, 3) you can get a free 7 day trial by downloading it directly from the devloper's site.

You may find Tasker intimidating at first, but there are a lot of people who can help, and if you take baby steps at first, its not that hard.

 

[LaCeS OuT]

I don't know if you can make your phone turn completely off as I think that would require root access. You might be able to write a script that would shut down your phone (using root) and then call that script at a specified time.

I am rooted. What script could I run? If I open the Android Terminal, typing shutdown turns off the phone but it hangs. Wont charge or turn on. Have to pull the battery. This would save so much if I can turn off the phone at 5am.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Impressive! Let us know when you program it to make breakfast for you

BTW.. which app do you use to track mileage? I have one on my Blackberry called Mileage Tracker which is GPS based and am looking for a Android equivalent.

I'm still working on the breakfast thing. Also working on tweaking the headphone thing. I need to set it up to turn the media volume down when I plug the headphones in.

I use Driver Log. It's extremely basic and has no frills. You click start when you're leaving and stop when you get to where you're going. You have the option to put in a note (like to work, or to home, or Acme Brick, or whatever). Then you click save and it uploads the data to a Google docs spreadsheet you have to set up ahead of time. It's really, basic, but it works.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I am rooted. What script could I run? If I open the Android Terminal, typing shutdown turns off the phone but it hangs. Wont charge or turn on. Have to pull the battery. This would save so much if I can turn off the phone at 5am.

I'm not rooted so I honestly don't know. I'd look for a shutdown script for rooted phones. I'm sure there's one out there. You'd just have to set up Tasker to call your shutdown script at XYZ time. That's the simple part to set up.

 

[flu13]

Does it have to be a script? Or could it be an app? Could you just make it fire off QuickBoot at a certain time?

 

[Lyrrad]

Just in case this question got missed when the thread got split/moved/merged. I'd love to know the answer to this.

• On charge
• Not connected to my wifi

They are the 2 criteria (and they both have to be the present state) I use with Tasker to initiate bluetooth on /max screen brightness, phone lock off (a bit tempremental) and ringer volume off (I use parrot system so ringer volume off is needed).

All turns off when I take phone out of car.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Does it have to be a script? Or could it be an app? Could you just make it fire off QuickBoot at a certain time?

I wasn't aware there was an app that could turn off your phone. If Quickboot does that, you could easily fire up quickboot at XYZ time. That would be very easy to set up.

I'm having issues right now where people at my office don't know when I've left to go to a client site. I tell one of the three people who need to know, but they don't pass the information to the other two a lot of times. This means I get a lot of "Where in the world are you?" phone calls and e-mails while I'm trying to work on stuff. I'm currently working on setting up Tasker to send an e-mail to all three of them whenever I get in my car, but only during the hours of 8-5, M-F. This is one of the very cool things I can do with this app.

 

[LaCeS OuT]

QuickBoot doesnt shutdown, just reboot. I need the phone off. Tried CT Scheduler but it doesnt work.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Well, you'd need a script or app to turn the phone off. That's the hard part. Once that happens you simply configure Tasker to call said script or app at a certain time. That's the easy part.

 

[LaCeS OuT]

Well, you'd need a script or app to turn the phone off. That's the hard part. Once that happens you simply configure Tasker to call said script or app at a certain time. That's the easy part.

I know, I've been search for a week for a script. Can't find anything. All the apps I tried suck.

 

[MartinHd]

+1 for Tasker. Isn't Locale about $10??

 

[CriticalCritic]

Well, I have removed Locale and I'm giving Tasker the 7 day trial. So far I LOVE that it has everything that Locale requires a plugin for...

However, it's not working. I have two profile set against each other to test the 'priority levels'. Both use the same GPS location condition, but they have the wifi settings opposed. Strangely, the help menu does not specify which takes precendence between the lower priority number or the higher priority number (Higher number = Higher priority? Or Closer to priority #1 = higher priority???). Not that it matters, so far it won't change wifi state at all when I swap which profile has the higher number. I can put option 1 as the higher number and apply all the settings, and then switch them up... no matter which way I go with it, the wifi stays on.

It's just not working for me. Any tips? (Yes, Tasker does recognize that both situations are in effect).

 

[A.Nonymous]

Have you checked the wiki? I just started poking around in it today trying to get the auto-email thing going. There's a lot of documentation in there.

Looked through the Market for Locale Plug-ins. These are the plugins I found that cost money, but that Tasker does natively.

Auto-kill apps
Text to Speech
Speakerphone
Dock plugin (trigger events when in dock)
Device startup (trigger events at device startup)
Inbound SMS (trigger events based on incoming SMS)

These are just the one's I saw that are pay plugins. There are others that are free that Tasker also does natively.