sdrawkcab25

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My trials and tribulations with the Droid Bionic battery life

Official known Bionic problems reported from Verizon as of 9-28-2011

Last edited by sdrawkcab25; September 28th, 2011 at 09:19 PM.

Thom Little

I learned about this in another Android forum and tried it out.

Verizon apparently sets the default service option to EVRC and you can set it to EVRC-B to get better coverage. Some people think it increases battery drain. I have seen nothing definitive about that opinion.

Use the "hidden menu" to set it ... in Gingerbread (on the Bionic) ...
Select Phone
Select Dialer
Type in ##program and hit the connect key
When the display comes up type in 000000 and hit the Verify key
When the menu comes up select 06 Test Mode
When the Test section comes up hit the Next button at the bottom of the screen twice
Select the Service option at the top of the screen (it currently says EVRC)
Choose the EVRC-B option
Select Home button
You now have EVRC-B set until the next time you power off/power on. (Apparently earlier versions of Android allowed you to set it once and it was retained. Gingerbread resets it to the EVRC.)

I have not changed any other options on any of these "hidden menu" screens and do not know what impact changing any of them would have.

This single option seems to be "a keeper". I don't know what this option does to anyone's phone.
All I can tell you is that it is how I am currently running.

... Thom

__________________

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:22 AM.

Thom Little

If you are connected to a Windows 7 machine and only the SD-Ext card is visible as a drive ...

With the Droid still connected by USB cable to Windows 7 ...
Power Off and then Power On the Droid.

After the Droid is fully loaded the SD-Ext card will be listed on Windows 7 (not shared)
in about 12 seconds the SD card will be listed (shared).

If there aren't
With the Bionic still connected ...
Hold down the Volume Up/Volume Down/Power buttons until the menu appears and then disappears.
This will do a soft reset ... when you are powered back up you should have access to both drives.
... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:21 AM.

thetingster

Be sure to check the menu options when in the stock gallery app. I didn't know this but it has a built in video and photo editor.

johnlgalt

I'll be adding posts and such to this thread in a while. It's been a very busy week for me, and I have an equally busy week coming up - midterms, laying out an irrigation system for a 20 acre plot and continued research towards my thesis.

There are quite a few good threads and posts that should be included in here, so I'll get to them soon. Thanks, !forward for doing this....

Thanks,

__________________

Files for the Motorola® DROID® BIONIC®:
Motorola USB drivers v5.9.0 | Motorola RSD Lite v5.7
My DropBox Referral link

Thom Little

Connect the Bionic to USB to Windows 7.
There is a network logo at the top of the screen.
Pull down the notifications menu.
Select USB Connection.
Select USB Mass Storage.
Select OK.

Look at the Hard Disk devices on Windows 7.
There should be two Bionic related Icons.
If there is only one (for the SD-EXT card) ...
With the Bionic still connected ... power the Bionic Off.
Power the Bionic On.
There should now be two Bionic hard disk devices ... if there aren't
With the Bionic still connected ...
Hold down the Volume Up/Volume Down/Power buttons until the menu appears and then disappears.
This will do a soft reset ... when you are powered back up you should have access to both drives.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:21 AM.

Thom Little

I found this one today and think it really belongs in this thread ...

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:20 AM.

Thom Little

The unique MEID (Mobile Equipment Identifier) or IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) for your Bionic is in three places ...

Settings | About phone | Status
Read IMEI

Dial Pad
*#06#
(no I don't know why it is missing the last digit)

Remove back
Remove battery
Read IMEI at bottom of label

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; January 15th, 2012 at 08:13 PM.

Thom Little

Connect the Bionic to your PC using the USB cable that came with it.

There will be two devices displayed by File Manager when looking at Computer on the PC.

Create a folder on the SD or SD-Ext ... ringtones ... I chose /media/ringtones

Create a folder on the SD or SD-Ext ... notifications ... I chose /media/notifications

Copy the MP3 files to the ringtones and/or notifications folder

Disconnect the Bionic from the PC (so the Bionic Apps can access the folders)

The ringtones are now available in the various dropdown lists of ringtones.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:19 AM. Reason: include notifications

Rezanow

I haven't rooted, so I have to find alternative solutions. Battery Monitor Widget monitors your battery and gives accurate battery readings (1% as opposed to the Bionic's 10% increments). No root needed. Has a nice variety of notification icons and widget options to choose from.

almahix

This also works with /notifications!

__________________
Sourcery 4.2.1 preview 3

Thom Little

The phrase BSOD has been used for a number of different problems by various people. The screen is Black and the device is unresponsive.

There have been a number of different remedies reported and that is because there are a number of different problems. These remedies were ...

If you are using a charger or USB cable with the Bionic that did not come with it ... stop. Use the charger and USB cable that came with the Bionic. There is no way to know what damage may have been introduced by using third-party hardware to charge your Bionic. That damage may not have been limited to just the battery.

Power On the device (it was powered OFF).

Fully charge the battery that is at 0%.

The validity of "conditioning" the battery is open to debate. Some claim that it is worthless. Others swear that it is beneficial. You could try it. Charge to 100%, run it down to 0%, repeat three times. (I always "condition" new batteries.)

Reset retaining your customizations (hold down Volume UP/Volume Down/Power buttons until the device reloads. This is the same as opening the back, pulling the battery, replacing the battery, and powering ON.

Pull the back, pull the battery, make sure both cards are properly seated and not off at an angle.

Go back to where you bought the device and test the battery in another device ...

-- If bad ... replace the battery (standard or extended) with a new battery.
-- If good ... replace the SIM card.

If it still fails do a factory reset. This will wipe all your customizations and installed Apps.

If it still fails replace the device.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:18 AM.

dschwa

I tried everything to access all my photos from the PC and could not then tried this and it works.

Phone/Settings/Storage
Change Windows Media Sync location to internal
Connect USB
Pull-down notifications and select Windows Media Sync, continue

Drivers will be installed then you open the media sync on the PC and you'll see all internal folders of the phone. You'll be able to copy/paste or sync using the tools and windows explorer.

Why this is mentioned in any Moto or VZW manual is beyond me.

Last edited by dschwa; November 22nd, 2011 at 08:48 AM.

Thom Little

If you use USB Mass Storage you can see the folders on both cards (SD and SD-Ext) in Windows Explorer. Windows Explorer will show them as two separate devices.

Camera photos for me are ...

SD Card - /Camera ZOOM FX - for photos taken with the Camera ZOOM FX App
SD-Ext Card - /DCIM/Camera - photos taken with the factory App

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:17 AM.

Thom Little

For a non-root-ed phone running stock File Manager or ASTRO ...

Working from the PC-side ...

Accessing both cards when connected ... if you can only see the SD-Ext card when with the Bionic still connected ... power off then power on the Bionic. If this does not bring up both drives ... with the Bionic still connected hold down the Volume Up/Volume Down/Power keys until a soft reset starts.

Copying a file from the SD Card to the SD-Ext card when connected ... with both drives visible copy the file from one drive to another in the normal manner.

Working from the Bionic-side ...

Accessing both cards when connected ... both cards are not available if you are running in USB Mass Storage mode ... both cards are available if running in PC mode mode or Windows Media Sync mode.

Accessing both cards when not connected ... both cards are available.

Copying a file from the SD Card to the SD-Ext card when connected ... use Copy/Paste for a file or folder if not in USB Mass Storage mode.

Copying a file from the SD Card to the SD-Ext card when not connected ... use Copy/Paste for a file or folder

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:17 AM.

Thom Little

Tip from John Galt ...

The Browser has an option where you can make it display pages in Desktop mode.

In standard browser ...
Enter about:debug and hit Go
Go to Settings | More | Settings | UAString
Select from the list ...
Android
Desktop
iPhone
iPad
Froyo-N1
Hit Back to continue processing.

This UAString value is retained across an App reload, power off/on, and soft reset.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:16 AM.

Thom Little

A reference from ... UncleMike ... answerers many questions about battery charging and the reporting your Bionic is doing ...

Your Smartphone’s Battery Gage is Lying to You (and it’s not such a bad thing)

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:14 AM.

Thom Little

There is a hidden menu on the Bionic with a lot of detailed information. It can be accessed with ...

*#*#info#*#* (A.K.A.*#*#4636#*#*)

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:12 AM.

Thom Little

You can set CDMA auto (PRL) by ...

*#*#info#*#*
Phone information
Set preferred network type
select CDMA auto (PRL)
select return

It is not clear how this differs from CDMA Auto.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:12 AM.

djembeman

Can you explain this a bit better? I eventually figured it out, but it was pretty confusing.

1. open your standard browser
2. enter about:debug in your browser URL field and hit Go---more browser setting options will appear in the next step.
3. Go to Settings (menu capacitive button) | More | Settings | UAString (all the way at the bottom)

Select from the list ...
Android
Desktop
iPhone
iPad
Froyo-N1
Hit Back to continue processing.

Very glad for this! Maybe I don't need Opera Browser anymore. Dolphin Browser started pissing me off so bad a few versions ago, so I haven't been installing that app for a while.

Is there a way to set private browsing like in FireFox desktop browser under tools?

Thom Little

Yes there are built-in privacy settings in the standard browser.

In the standard browser go to ...
Settings
select More
select Settings
scroll down to Privacy settings

There are nine (9) settings there that you can set to customize it your way.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:11 AM.

Thom Little

The Bionic has a built-in FM radio receiver but the App to access it is not in the factory distribution. You can get the App from ...

FM Radio Tuner

... that is not in the Android Market.

It is free.

It does not require you to be root-ed.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; September 24th, 2012 at 09:29 AM. Reason: Update Link

SirEagle

Can this be installed if your not rooted?

__________________
kmartin.smugmug.com

Thom Little

Yes. And this is the second version I found ... and the newest. It appears to be the App that is distributed on other phones.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:10 AM.

Thom Little

Using just the phone you can move a folder between the SD and SD-Ext cards. An example would be to move a folder of poctures.

Go to Internal phone storage
Find the folder (/dcim/camera perhaps)
Long press on the folder
Choose Move
Go to SD card
Positin to the folder location where you want to add the folder (/dcim perhaps)
Choose the Move button at the bottom of the screen

Remember that
Internal phone storage is the SD card
SD card is the SD-Ext card

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 18th, 2011 at 07:33 AM.

Thom Little

You can copy them on an un-root-ed Bionic using Astro File Manager copying from ...

\system\media\audio\ringtones

I copied it to the SD-Ext card to test it. When a copy of the folder is on the SD-Ext card you can access it from your computer.

They are .ogg files. I play them with Roxio Creator 2011 Pro.)

The folder is not accessible using the Files app. I use Astro File Manager Pro but from the documentation it should also work in Astro File Manager.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:08 AM.

SteveC

I've been looking for this. I wanted to move the download folder from internal to external so downloaded zips would not have to be seperately moved to external so recovery could see to install them. Copy and paste seems to work to do this too. I suppose it is safe to remove the download folder from internal once it is showing in external? Actually mine does not show a move option (Astro), but paste seemed to work.

Last edited by SteveC; December 18th, 2011 at 01:36 PM. Reason: spelling

Thom Little

I do not know the implications of deleting any of the folders. It will vary on a case-by-case basis. In some cases when you delete a folder it will be re-created the next time the app is run.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 10:56 AM.

John_Roger

Download failed, hmmm!

Thom Little

IF this is refereeing to ... MotoFMRadio.apk ... I just downloaded it again without problem.

Do you have ...

Settings | Applications | Unknown sources

... turned on?

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:05 AM.

Thom Little

Helpful tip for video users ...

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 08:51 AM.

John_Roger

Yeah, I have that turned out. I got it from another source and it worked? Strange....

Thom Little

Suggestion from ... Slomo26 ...

To get the OTA pushed to you automatically go to ...

Settings | Battery & data management | Data delivery | Social applications

Make sure Sync over Wi-Fi only is Off
Then Power Off
Then Power On

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 12:04 AM.

Thom Little

There is confusion about Bionic Resets. One is not a big deal - Reset. The other is a very big deal - Factory Data Reset.

Reset (sometimes called a soft reset) (sometimes called a battery pull) ...

With power On hold down volume Up/Volume Down/Power at the same time. After a few seconds a menu appears. Keep holding them all down. When the menu disappears release all the buttons. You can see that it then starts to boot up.

An alternative that achieves the same end is to take off the back, remove the battery, replace the battery, replace the cover, turn the Bionic back on. (When the battery is out, check that the SD-Ext card and SIM card are squarely and firmly seated.

Factory Data Reset (sometimes called a hard reset) ... a Factory Data Reset is a BIG DEAL and I would only do a Factory Reset if I was inches away from getting the phone replaced. A Factory Data Reset is going to erase all the data on your phone and you are going to have to reenter it. If you turn the phone in or sell it a Factory Data Reset is a good thing to do just before you turn it over.

With power Off hold down volume Up/Volume Down/Power at the same time
A Factory data reset screen appears
Select Reset
Select Erase everything

An alternative that achieves the same end is to
Select Settings | Privacy | Factory data reset
Select Reset
Select Erase everything

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; January 17th, 2012 at 10:57 PM.

OutOfPhase

Thom Little,

I just want to thank you for taking the time kept this post up to date with great tips. I have found alot of your post her very useful, not only for my bionic but also for my Xoom.

Thanks again,

Dan

__________________
Please support BabyBlues - or someone you know - to fight breast cancer - here's her pledge button -

Thom Little

And thanks for your contributions. Everyone contributing is what it is all about and what makes it work.

Nifty.

Happy holidays.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 22nd, 2011 at 10:07 PM.

Thom Little

There are two options:

Opion 1:
Enter 6035551234
Then hit Settings | Add pause
Then enter 1111
It will look like 603-555-1234,1111 and take to to extension 1111

If you make the call it will dial the number, wait two seconds, and send the extension
(Add more commas if longer pause is needed ... two seconds will be added for each.)

It also works for sending passwords ... like ...
603-555-1234,8888 where 8888 is the password or
*86,8888#1 where 8888 is the password and it checks if there are any messages

Option 2:
Enter 6035551234
Then hit Settings | Add wait
Then enter 1111
It will look like 603-555-1234;1111

If you make the call it will dial the number and wait until you respond.
After you respond it will then send the extension

It also works for sending passwords ... like ...
603-555-1234;8888 where 8888 is the password or
*86;8888#1 where 8888 is the password and it checks if there are any messages

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; January 17th, 2012 at 11:10 PM.

Thom Little

There are two different subjects here and two different menus.

If power is on and you hold down Volume Up/Volume Down/Power the Phone options menu will appear. If you continue holding the three switches until the menu disappears it will start to boot. (This reset and then boot is identical to a battery pull followed by a powe on.)

If power is off and you hold down Volume Up/Volume Down/Power the Boot Mode Selection Menu will appear (displayed in character mode).

Boot Mode Selection Menu
Vol Up Selects, Vol Down Scrolls

Normal Powerup -- boot the Bionic
Recovery -- display (!) screen (then hold down vol Up/vol Down for Android System Recovery menu)
AP Fastboot -- developers only
BP SBF Flash -- developers only
BP Only -- developers only
BP HW Diag & Boot AP -- developers only
BP Tools -- developers only

If you do anything with this menu you open the door to causing permanent damage. This is sometimes referred to as BRICKing.

If you do nothing after a few seconds it will choose the current option (Normal Powerup) and boot your Bionic.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 29th, 2011 at 05:37 PM.

Thom Little

If you have new ringtones installed and selected and are connected to a computer by USB the tone you hear will be the default and not the one you selected.

When connected in USB Mass Storage mode neither the SD card nor the SD-Ext card will be available on the Bionic side.

No mater which card contains the ringtones they will not be available. As a result you will get the default ringtone.

(The Files app shows SD card as Internal phone storage and SD-Ext card as SD Card [don't kill the messenger].)

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; December 28th, 2011 at 07:43 PM.

Thom Little

Some help perhaps ...

... Thom

Thom Little

Returning from a selected Google Search page goes back too far ...


... Thom

Andrstein

A quick tip along the same lines of holding down all 3 buttons. Once holding down all 3 buttons- as soon as the screen goes black (after the menu prompt disappears) let go of buttons and immediately and quickly hold them down again. You will catch it as it is booting down and it will then boot up directly into the "Boot Mode Selection Menu".

Thom Little

Whenever you boot your Bionic ...
At the very end ... a notification sound is heard twice.

To turn them off ... go to Settings | Sound when on the Home screen
Un-check SD card notifications


... Thom

PhoebeAnn

When I connect my Bionic to a Windows 7 PC, I see 2 drives:

1) CD Drive (F) Motorola - 8.25MB, contains MotoHelper, whatever that is.
2) MOT (L) - 8GB, 53.9 MB used.

No mention of SD-Ext or SD. What am I doing wrong or not understanding?

Last edited by PhoebeAnn; January 12th, 2012 at 12:31 PM. Reason: Removed colons after drive letters to get rid of smileys

Thom Little

Use the steps documented in ... Connect Bionic to Windows 7 with USB Cable.

My guess is that you need to set USB Mass Storage and have it currently set to something else.

What you will see in Windows is two Drives ... one is the SD Card and the other is the SD-Ext card. Using Windows you can set the names to whatever makes sense to you. I chose BIONIC SD and BIONIC SD-E on my stock Bionic.

They were always assigned in the same order on my machine

8.00GB total = SD Card (not removable) (my rename BIONIC SD)
14.8GB total = SD-Ext Card (removable) (my rename BIONIC SD-E)

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; January 12th, 2012 at 01:20 PM.

PhoebeAnn

That's how I connected. Now that I know those names aren't defaults, I looked a little closer, and found the G: drive looks to be the SD-EXT, since it's 16GB or so, but with no volume name, it didn't look like anything was connected. It has one (empty) folder on it (LOST.DIR). I'll try renaming the 8GB and 16GB volumes and see if anything breaks. Still no idea where the "CD DRIVE F:" came from.

Aslo, it looks like I have to Eject all 3 drives when I'm through.

Attached Images

BIONIC drives.jpg (17.6 KB, 16 views)

Last edited by PhoebeAnn; January 12th, 2012 at 02:36 PM. Reason: Comment about ejecting drives.

Thom Little

Moved to a new thread.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; January 12th, 2012 at 07:52 PM.

SirEagle

I believe until you save something else on your removable SD card the only thing that will be there is the LOST.DIR.

Thom Little

Since there is an apparent desire to discuss this, I created a new thread for that purpose. Perhaps we can continue talking about it there.

it is at ... Using Your SD and SD-Ext Cards.

... Thom

Last edited by Thom Little; January 12th, 2012 at 07:53 PM.

shanny871

I tried this a couple times with a failed install, are there any other ideas how to get this fm radio?