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Help Auto Airplane Mode?

Dr. Octagon

Lurker
Apr 28, 2010
7
0
Hey all, first post here. Just got my HTC Hero and I really do like it a lot. This site has been invaluable to me to get it working the way I want it.

I searched and couldn't find anything to answer my question, so here goes...

Is there any way (app or setting) that will automatically put my phone into airplane mode, or force it to slow down the intervals at which it seeks a signal when there is no signal available for a long period of time?

I do a lot of flying in small planes and an hour flight while forgetting to set the phone to airplane will all but empty the battery. Having some kind of function to help prevent that would be useful for me and anyone who travels through places with no signal for extended periods.

Thanks in advance!
 
As Kelmar said, you can place a widget on one of your screens. A simple click on it will 'flip the switch' to enable/disable airplane mode. There are also stock widgets for wifi, bluetooth, etc.

Glad to hear you like your hero. Just wait until you get to 2.1 ;) That update includes a widget with all of those settings into 1 bar so they are easy to control right from the home screen.
 
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yeah i've never thought about this one. i'm not aware of any app at all, though i can tell you there's an airplane mode widget by HTC on the phone, or you can set it by holding the power button down and selecting it. I'm sure that there's a way that the polling can be changed, but that's a bit more technical than my knowledge extends, and would probably be up to a developer to determine. perhaps you could do what my grandma always did, and put a sticky note on the dash of the plane that reminds you to set airplane mode? ;)
 
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Hahahaha, well, I've got that widget, the problem is that sometimes I'm in and out of planes randomly throughout the day and it will invariably get forgotten sooner or later. Hopefully someone will write something like this eventually, I think it'd be really helpful not just for me, but people travelling in dead zones regularly too. If the phone didn't constantly seek a signal, but reduced searches to say, every few minutes... seems like it'd help the battery a lot.

Thanks for the help though!
 
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It doesn't seem to work that way for me on the Hero and it definitely shortened battery life on my older phones if they had to spend a lot of time searching for a signal. It'd be nice to have some control or a smart setting that would invrease seek intervals after a certain amount of time without signal.

There is the possibility that it was acquiring and losing the signal over the course of the flight so maybe there is some kind of setting built in, but it never triggered due to the intermittent reception. I dunno, it was in my pocket.
 
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There is the possibility that it was acquiring and losing the signal over the course of the flight so maybe there is some kind of setting built in, but it never triggered due to the intermittent reception. I dunno, it was in my pocket.

So having your electronic devices powered on is ok for flying, totally going to quote you on this Dr. Octagon next time a Southwest flight attendant tells me to turn off my electronic devices. Having to listen to children cry on airplanes drives me insane, even if it's just take off and landing


Low altitude flights can get cell phone reception...although you can literally watch the bar go from nothing to full to nothing in a matter of moments as it goes through the range of the tower. At higher altitudes (commercial aircraft), you won't be getting any real service. Either way, commercial flights insist that you turn off all electronics. It's extremely rare for electronics to be able to interfere with the plane's systems even if they were fully operating (no airplane mode) the entire time but they still don't like to take chances. They have redundant systems that you probably couldn't cause problems to if you tried but they are picky/stubborn nonetheless. :p
 
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So having your electronic devices powered on is ok for flying, totally going to quote you on this Dr. Octagon next time a Southwest flight attendant tells me to turn off my electronic devices. Having to listen to children cry on airplanes drives me insane, even if it's just take off and landing


The worst thing any electronics will do in the planes I fly is to throw off the magnetic compass if you get them too close to it. We're mainly low-altitude and VFR so no big deal for us.

It's mainly a CYA rule by the airlines. However, cellphone signals CAN interfere with radio equipment. (You've heard that noise come through speakers before when you're getting a text or something)
 
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Actually, an auto airplane mode would be very useful. My wife works in a hospital where they can't use cell phones and can't get reception anyway. Invariably she forgets to set airplane mode and the phone is dead by the time she comes home.

I would say that if the phone is looking for a signal for 5 minutes and can't find anything, you force airplane mode.

Coincidentally, I'm also a pilot and have similar problems as above.
 
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There was an Android app I read about some time ago, don't remember the name - forgive me... That allowed settings control based on location, time, day, etc,. I.E., like turning off sound while entering work location, airplane mode, etc. Do some searching maybe you can find it. I just wanted to say that cause I think it would fit what you want. I will look too and if I find it will post back.

I'm really sorry I can't remember it, lol, wish they'd figure out how to port a microUSB to my brain sometimes... ;)

:cool:


Ok - update...

It's called "LOCALE" and has GPS and Airplane Mode plug-ins...
Check it out, I don't use it, but looks like it fits your need.


http://www.twofortyfouram.com/product.html
 
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even without signal, the battery life should still be decent. I mean, I live in an area where the signal can be very sparse at times, and am at like 30% time without signal, yet I can still get a full day out of a charge on my normal amount of usage
I don't know your secret. The other day I spent the afternoon in a rural area with a marginal signal and my fully-charged battery was completely dead after four hours even though I made no calls.

I'm with others on this issue - I wish the phone could "Sense" when it is in this situation and either stop looking for a signal or at least stretch out the time between attempts.
 
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There was an Android app I read about some time ago, don't remember the name - forgive me... That allowed settings control based on location, time, day, etc,. I.E., like turning off sound while entering work location, airplane mode, etc. Do some searching maybe you can find it. I just wanted to say that cause I think it would fit what you want. I will look too and if I find it will post back.

I'm really sorry I can't remember it, lol, wish they'd figure out how to port a microUSB to my brain sometimes... ;)

:cool:


Ok - update...

It's called "LOCALE" and has GPS and Airplane Mode plug-ins...
Check it out, I don't use it, but looks like it fits your need.


Locale - Product

Thanks, coolone, I'll check it out. I remember reading about locale, but didn't remember the airplane mode plugin.

-Slip
 
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I see these posts are Great, but has anyone tried out "NOBARS" yet?

I used this on my Samsung Moment M900 and now I finally see that it is working on my HTC Evo. I tried it after I got my Evo and I don't think it was working right, but I tried it again and it seems to be doing exactly what I have it set up for. 30 seconds looking for signal, turns AP mode on and I have it set for 1 hour before it turns it off with the option that when I unlock the screen, it looks to see if there is service yet, it will turn AP off but if there isn't signal, it will turn it back on again.

I hope this App helps, I found it useful.
 
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