The little things...(2.2 Update addons/changes)

[elwray]

I have seen that suggested several times but what happens to expensive applications that I paid for? They will get wiped but not sure I'll be able to get them again without paying for them again

Aren't the apps linked to your Google account? That's why when you uninstall an app it says "this application can be installed again to your phone at no charge"? Someone correct me if I'm wrong ...

 

[zemerick]

I have seen that suggested several times but what happens to expensive applications that I paid for? They will get wiped but not sure I'll be able to get them again without paying for them again

They will be waiting for you in market. They are tied to your google account that you will re-add during the first boot ( just like when you first got the phone. ) Then, when you open market and go to the downloads section, you will see all of your paid apps listed as "Purchased".

 

[elwray]

They will be waiting for you in market. They are tied to your google account that you will re-add during the first boot ( just like when you first got the phone. ) Then, when you open market and go to the downloads section, you will see all of your paid apps listed as "Purchased".

Thanks for the info. That's what I was assuming; but I've only used free apps so I've had no experience with this. Good to know!

 

[infinitempg]

They will be waiting for you in market. They are tied to your google account that you will re-add during the first boot ( just like when you first got the phone. ) Then, when you open market and go to the downloads section, you will see all of your paid apps listed as "Purchased".

Popped a note in to the forums for the main app I am concerned about and if they give the nod then a factory reset is in order. Just hate loosing all my stuff but I know that sometimes this is the only true fix. When I first got the phone I was installing and uninstalling apps like it was Christmas and had some flaky issues then so maybe that is the best approach. Battery issue is making me think about the 9-iron solution across the lake out back...

 

[jfunk]

I do not want my car radio to turn on when it's sitting in my driveway at night, I do not want my camera to snap a couple pictures while it's sitting in the case, I do not want shoe laces to tie when they're stored in my closet, I do not want the things in my fridge to re-arrange themselves how they see fit, I do not want my home phone to fly off the wall and land by my hand because it thinks I might want to make a call, regardless of using any battery life or not, I do not want Big Brother to decide what I want to run on my phone and when I want to run it.

Hey Verizon marketing weenies... having some app fire up on it's own on my phone will *NOT* get me to use it, it *WILL* tick me off and make sure I never do.

Call me old fashioned but I want things to run when *I* need them to run and not one second before. Is there some ****ing problem with that???

Pre-cached in memory and "running" are not the same thing.

Apps that are loaded in memory are not killing your battery. Your memory is not "off" when there is nothing loaded into it. It's got power any time your phone is on, whether data is stored in it or not. You guys who constantly kill apps that are IDLE are causing more battery drain than if you just left it alone.

New versions of Android OS are not going to stop pre-loading apps into memory, because that's precisely how it's designed to work. Free RAM is wasted RAM. This is not Windows.

 

[cortecds]

Got my OS update last night on my Incredible and one thing I HATE is that they have cluttered the text messaging box with two new icons - one for sending and one that expands into several for attachments and other includsions. The problem is, it is already difficult to accurately place the cursor to fix typos (the ONE thing I like better about the iPhone, which ROCKS in this respect), but now I end up accidentally hitting "Send" when trying to edit a typo!!!

Anyone else notice this?

Remember you do not need to click right where the cursor needs to be to make a correction. Just get close and swipe your finger over the round button on the bottom/front of the phone this will move your cursor where it needs to be.

 

[elwray]

Here's a problem I have with 2.2 ...

The optical trackball/joystick thing is WAYYYYY too sensitive now!

 

[dhancock]

-

-Added ability to have an unlock pattern or password (like Moto Droids). Unlock screen shows exact battery percentage

-If you click on the HTC clock, it will take you to the "Desk Clock" app, which now lists exact battery %

.

My phone doesn't show the battery %...am I missing a setting somewhere?

 

[elwray]

My phone doesn't show the battery %...am I missing a setting somewhere?

If you're using one of the HTC clocks widgets, click on that. It's not right on the main homescreen clock.

 

[infinitempg]

Pre-cached in memory and "running" are not the same thing.

....and how do you tell the difference?

Apps that are loaded in memory are not killing your battery. Your memory is not "off" when there is nothing loaded into it. It's got power any time your phone is on, whether data is stored in it or not. You guys who constantly kill apps that are IDLE are causing more battery drain than if you just left it alone.

Guess I'd have to ask why apps like SportsTap I use to get game scores, ScannerRadio police band scanner player, and things like that just show up as "running" when I never activated them? I can understand the bloatware but why are these things running? Never ran until I started them in 2.1.

New versions of Android OS are not going to stop pre-loading apps into memory, because that's precisely how it's designed to work. Free RAM is wasted RAM. This is not Windows.

So it's necessary to load Skype and things like that into memory when I will never use it? And the advantage is..... oh yeah, someone thinks if they shove it in my face enough I'll click on it and start using it. NOT! The exact opposite. I'll avoid it like the plague and do whatever it takes to remove it.

Maybe Verizon will take a lesson from Vodafone - Vodaphone Removes Android Bloatware After Storm of Complaints

 

[zemerick]

My phone doesn't show the battery %...am I missing a setting somewhere?

What he means is, if you have the stock clock widget ( in the widget section, it is called "clock" and underneath it will say HTC ) you can click on that and it will open up the "Desk Clock" application ( which you can open straight from your app drawer ). In the bottom right is a tiny battery indicator with the percent left.

NOTE: If you open it from the app drawer you usually need to click on it once to see the rest of the stuff besides just the clock.

 

[itbedave]

So, Swype does work? Would you be able to forward the .apk file?

Thanks

I'm running the Swype beta - had to uninstall and reinstall it after the 2.2 update to get to work - but seems to work fine now.

 

[zemerick]

....and how do you tell the difference?

CPU usage. The cached apps will not be using the CPU. If you open say system panel, you can see that some things like HTC Sense will have a tiny bit of CPU usage, then System Panel ( since it is front and center ) will be using a fair bit, then others like CityID will be using none. Those are currently inactive, and after awhile will be moved to the cached only section preparing to be closed. ( The bloatware stuff as we know though, will be back after being removed. I'm still trying to figure out a non-root way to get rid of them. They aren't doing anything, but somewhat like you I still don't want them there. )

Guess I'd have to ask why apps like SportsTap I use to get game scores, ScannerRadio police band scanner player, and things like that just show up as "running" when I never activated them? I can understand the bloatware but why are these things running? Never ran until I started them in 2.1.

Check to see if any of them have a new setting to autostart. You may also want to check that none of their settings got screwed up ( say, how often to scan, sync, etc. )

Also, make sure you have everything you don't want syncing disabled in accounts and sync. The news sync is I believe used by multiple programs. The more the news syncs, the more those programs will be active.

Finally, they may just be glitched out. Try uninstalling and reinstalling any apps you aren't able to get behaving properly.

So it's necessary to load Skype and things like that into memory when I will never use it? And the advantage is..... oh yeah, someone thinks if they shove it in my face enough I'll click on it and start using it. NOT! The exact opposite. I'll avoid it like the plague and do whatever it takes to remove it.

Unfortunately far more people WILL click it than those of us avoiding it like the plague. Until --->

Maybe Verizon will take a lesson from Vodafone - Vodaphone Removes Android Bloatware After Storm of Complaints

We need to complain to VZW about this. Whining here on the forums won't do much..though you could try and raise awareness on it. Don't cry about it eating battery or anything, just try and rally people who don't like them being there in the first place to let VZW know they don't want it. Remember to stay civil about it too.

 

[Spectrumpigg]

So I decided to factory reset. Fixed a lot of problems. But still has typing lag here and there. Still looking around.

 

[dhancock]

What he means is, if you have the stock clock widget ( in the widget section, it is called "clock" and underneath it will say HTC ) you can click on that and it will open up the "Desk Clock" application ( which you can open straight from your app drawer ). In the bottom right is a tiny battery indicator with the percent left.

NOTE: If you open it from the app drawer you usually need to click on it once to see the rest of the stuff besides just the clock.

Yep...do that and the % only shows up if it's plugged in...same as 2.1. I was hoping it would be there when it wasn't charging...hmmmm.....

 

[SFBayArea]

Using PDAnet to reply to this thread...

Everything seems to be working fine...

I manually installed the leak...

Do you need to root your phone for it (that is what the PDAnet says)? Also can you WiFi connect to your phone or do you have to have a USB or BlueTooth connection?

 

[StaggerLee]

I asked earlier but got merged, so here goes...

Any else's menu button no longer work to unlock phone, after froyo?...I'm not a fan of the slider.

 

[jfunk]

....and how do you tell the difference?

The best thing I can tell you is to get an app like SystemPanel or Spare Parts

SystemPanel App / Task Manager - Android app on AppBrain

Spare Parts - Android app on AppBrain

These will allow you to see the actual CPU usage of each app. An app that isn't using CPU cycles isn't "running" or using your battery.

Android OS deliberately pre-loads apps into memory primarily for performance (it's faster if they're already there than if you have to load them from storage when you open them) and also leaves them in memory after you "close" them because the process of unloading them actually uses more CPU cycles (and thus battery). It only unloads the app from memory if it needs that memory space for a new app to load into.

Most people use the same apps repeatedly as well, which means in the long run these apps get to just stay in memory all the time, never getting unloaded/loaded/unloaded/etc... not only causing you to have a faster experience, but SAVING battery life.

Now why is an app you have NEVER used like VZ Navigator for example pre-loaded? Well this is almost certainly VZW's fault. They've probably prioritized "their" apps so they will be more likely to be loaded into memory should you choose to try them (and thus give the illusion of being "faster" than some other third party app for example), but this is just a guess.

So, theoretically is a tiny bit of your battery getting used when Navigator or some other crap gets cached into memory because of VZW's efforts? I suppose, but it is a tiny, negligible amount (and Android would have taken a guess and loaded something else in that space anyway).

Bottom line, as long as an app isn't actually chewing up CPU cycles, it's not chewing up your battery. You're spending WAY more of your battery constantly checking to see what's loaded in your memory (and especially if you bother to manually close those things) than your phone spent putting stuff in there.

Don't get me wrong, you SHOULD look into these things every now and again to make sure things aren't misbehaving on your phone. But the point is doing so is a troubleshooting step, not something you should be doing as a normal course of operation. And when you do want to look into what might be chewing up your battery, you have to look at what is using CPU cycles, NOT what's simply sitting idle in memory. If all you're doing is checking what's in memory and then killing that stuff, then you're actually contributing to your battery problem instead of helping it. Sure, you may get lucky and kill an app that is actually misbehaving, but it'll just come right back and start misbehaving again if you don't actually identify which one it is and get rid of it or find out what you can do to correct it (by changing settings within it or updating it to a new fixed version, etc.).

Hope this helps.

 

[zemerick]

Do you need to root your phone for it (that is what the PDAnet says)? Also can you WiFi connect to your phone or do you have to have a USB or BlueTooth connection?

PDAnet does not require root, but it does use USB not Wifi. Wifi typically requires root, though there is a method out that does not ( but it is still unknown if this method will trip something on your account and just activate the wifi hotspot feature that is quite expensive...$20 a month. )

I asked earlier but got merged, so here goes...

Any else's menu button no longer work to unlock phone, after froyo?...I'm not a fan of the slider.

yes, it's been posted many times in this very thread.

 

[incredible x4]

Forgive me if something i'm about to post has been said. I don't want to read through 11 pages of posts.

I just got the update this morning. Not to rub it in to anyone who is having problems, but wow. We needed this a long time ago. Browsing the internet is even faster now. I am using Dolphin HD on 3G and I can tell a difference over 2.1. Webpages fly open now. And flash 10 is awesome. The video I am watching right now studders a little, but I think that is mainly because I am on 3G not wifi.

The added bloatware is awful. And according to system panel, none of it is cached. Its all active. Amazon MP3, News and Weather, Stocks, VZ navigator. I use none of these on a daily basis but there they are. Taking up memory and battery life. Speaking of battery life, I'm getting pretty good to about the same life. I updated my Dinc while it was on the charger this morning. Bump charged it when that was done. And it came off the charger probably around 9:10 this morning. I've been off the charger for 8 hours and 21 minutes. I have been doing a good bit of txting and doing some internet surfing and I am down to 72%.

Now, on to the apps. Flashlight is awesome. I didn't know the camera LEDs could get that bright. Amazon MP3 is annoying. I will never use the 3G hotspot. App shating could come in handy. I think its interesting they renamed pictures, Gallery. My verizon mobile is kind of cool. The widget that come with it is interesting. Its kind of cool to be able to see how much data you have used. I don't know about the News and the News and Weather app. I might use them, but I probably won't. I have an empty home screen the widget might go on. I like how there is now a icon to get to videos in the app drawer. And I'm not going to pay for VZ navigator when I can do the same thing with google maps and google earth for free.

I forgot who said it but I do agree the optical trackball is too sensitive now. But it is a lot better than it used to be. And I do have 1 question. Did the time in the notification bar always have am or pm next to it? I never noticed on 2.1

 

[Los88]

I asked earlier but got merged, so here goes...

Any else's menu button no longer work to unlock phone, after froyo?...I'm not a fan of the slider.

The menu button no longer unlocks my screen either, that is my only problem with 2.2 everything else seems to work just fine.

 

[uscharalph]

do we have voice dial through bluetooth?

I use the BlueAnt S4 in my car and with the 2.2 update I can now access voice dialing thru it.

 

[StaggerLee]

Is the new boot up animation supposed to say..."Drooooiiiiid", or is it supposed to be silent?

My incredible has the new animation, but does not say "Droid" when I turn it on.

Not a big deal, just wonderin'

 

[incredible x4]

Is the new boot up animation supposed to say..."Drooooiiiiid", or is it supposed to be silent?

My incredible has the new animation, but does not say "Droid" when I turn it on.

Not a big deal, just wonderin'

Turn your phone up before you turn it off. If you have it in silent or vibrate when you turn it off it won't say droid. I just turned my phone up and rebooted it. Its said droid.

 

[NightAngel79]

Don't know if this has been said already, (sorry haven't read the whole thread) but when typing on 2.1 you could use the optical button to move the cursor left and right. I found it to be tedious at best, one space at a time. Now it seems you can swipe it once and it will keep moving as long as you hold your finger on the edge of optical trackpad. Am loving that feature!!