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Inc radio reception revisted , plus a handy protection tip

rushmore

Extreme Android User
Nov 13, 2008
8,256
1,355
Kentucky
I was one of the more vocal about the Moto Droid having a much better radio than the Inc. After more tests, I have discovered some humbling realities.

1. I am more stupid than thought

2. The Inc appears to use very aggressive power saving. It shuts 3G down (3G indicator grayed out) and also will throttle down the signal until you actually use data directly, or an app open in background uses it. This has been mentioned on other tech forums, but I doubted this- hence more stupid than thought. perhaps stupidly stubborn or closed minded??

3. Just like the Moto Droid, I have not ever lost signal and very rarely do I lose 3G. Even places I though I saw a difference, I do not now- update with *228 code corrected this problem in areas I thought were fringe coverage areas for Inc.

4. Both the bars AND the dBm readings on the Inc seem to be out of whack, since neither appears to have ANY correlation to the actual signal results for downloading or streaming video. Only exception is when the signal changes to 1X, which literally has only happened two times, near a lower river road area. Impressive, actually. Tmo was ZERO signal in those areas.

Protection tip:

This will cause rolled eyes for many, but please consider investing in a good quality silicon case. I have the black VZW silicon case, so at least for it, you get (besides obvious better grip and shock protection).

1. Lens is protected, since no longer protrudes, so less chance of scratching it.

2. Speaker still has breathing room space

3. You can lay the device on front or pack and not worry as much about scratching the display or lens.

4. After testing with cover on and off, there appears to be zero radio reception issues. I guess this case was not made in China, since lead dust would impact signal ;)

added:

BTW, appreciate that there have been case posts a plenty, but not perhaps with the same perspective.
 
Hey Rushmore, I remember you from the old days (pre-release), and had an OT question:

I've been messing around with the ADW launcher recently, just for fun, heard that the battery life might be improved, but since it's only been a day I can't really say for sure, especially since I've been looking around for alternative apps from the Sense settings. I stumbled across K9 mail, which seems pretty cool, (although it's not always saving my changes, but I've noticed that on Android, sometimes you have to try a few times), but here's my question.

I thought in order to run the alternative launcher it would disable all my HTC sense apps. Hence the need for me to get K9. Now that I have K9 running, I'm getting duplicate notifications and found that indeed the HTC mail app is still running, and running fine. Now that I have K9 and kind of like it, is there a way for me to choose between email clients? Sort of like the app "Home Switcher" which is how I can switch pretty seamlessly currently between the Sense UI and this ADW launcher- but for emails?

Sorry to be so OT, but you seem like a pretty technically savvy guy and a born skeptic, which I like.

thanks,

Don
 
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Dodger,
I'm not Rushmore but I did just go through the same thing you mentioned. Just delete your account from the native mail app. Can't remember if I used the menu button or just long pressed my account and selected the delete option. Then K9 will take over and the repeat notifications will be gone. Also, if you had some POP accounts going, you'll probably see some increase in battery life due to all the polling you may have had going on.

If you were meaning you want to run both apps at the same time, I may have missed the mark on that reply. I'm not sure that can be done.
 
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Hey Rushmore, I remember you from the old days (pre-release), and had an OT question:

I've been messing around with the ADW launcher recently, just for fun, heard that the battery life might be improved, but since it's only been a day I can't really say for sure, especially since I've been looking around for alternative apps from the Sense settings. I stumbled across K9 mail, which seems pretty cool, (although it's not always saving my changes, but I've noticed that on Android, sometimes you have to try a few times), but here's my question.

I thought in order to run the alternative launcher it would disable all my HTC sense apps. Hence the need for me to get K9. Now that I have K9 running, I'm getting duplicate notifications and found that indeed the HTC mail app is still running, and running fine. Now that I have K9 and kind of like it, is there a way for me to choose between email clients? Sort of like the app "Home Switcher" which is how I can switch pretty seamlessly currently between the Sense UI and this ADW launcher- but for emails?

Sorry to be so OT, but you seem like a pretty technically savvy guy and a born skeptic, which I like.

thanks,

Don

Answered above already :) One point of caution. Short of a booting hack, Sense is layered with the OS to some degree, so hard to get rid of all traces. One of the reasons we will wait longer for 2.2.

I also have a screen protector, but thought people would roll their eyes too much if I brought that up ;) Silicon case and screen protector are good investments :)
 
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