Just got an Galaxy Note 3, help please

[GoosePants]

First off love this phone. I have a few questions. I use Chrome, steam, youtube, FB, Gmail mainly. Is that too many apps with switching back and forth? Also, which widgets do you recommend? Does the weather app that comes with the phone use too much battery? Same with the Samsung note pen widget? Also for charging, I've charged it once so far and it was off, is it ok to charge it while it's on now, or should I let the battery die and charge it while it's off again. Do I have to let it die or can I start charging now at 15%? Also, I have it set to auto brightness which looks like it's halfway, is that a good balance? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks!

 

[BRAINZ2013]

Hello and welcome to the forums may I first start off with are you rooted if not or if you are . any app you download will work with the androids firmware and will do as the app calls for such as the weather app . you can use the default or download one that works . one famous one to use would be Weather channel . now to ease up on battery life you need to set the app to sync info on a hour or more . if the app updates the sync info every 15minutes it will eat up battery life.

 

[GoosePants]

Thanks. I am not rooted. I have the weather app to refresh every 6 hours. Is it ok if i charge my phone while it is ON? Also what is a safe =)% to start charging?

 

[BRAINZ2013]

Yes you can charge while its on just make sure screen is turned off . just tap power button to kill screen . now the way the battery thing works is charge full with the device turned off to full . power on let it die aka cut off . let it charge full again . sometimes you may need extra charge and doesn't matter if its 15% still charge but just do a full charge with the android device powered off.

 

[GoosePants]

Sorry I don't understand your response. Are you saying the phone be on but the screen off and charging? Or power down the phone off completely?

 

[Haggi]

Charge whenever needed.. its recommended to charge your device before its empty because of battery-technology.
I put it on charge when on 10-50 %.. and I often use my note when charging.
Hope this helps.

 

[Digital Controller]

Sorry I don't understand your response. Are you saying the phone be on but the screen off and charging? Or power down the phone off completely?

Feel free to leave the device "ON" when charging. The device will need a few times of doing this cycle before the battery becomes completely calibrated and is at 100% efficiency (or as close as it is going to get).

I would definitely suggest Weatherbug though for a Weather application, it is really nice and has some good widgets and doesn't eat through battery life like crazy.

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

Accuweather will eat your data and battery life compared to its brethren

 

[Napalm]

+1 on bat calibration.

+2 on other apps

but have you checked your update frequency.

 

[GoosePants]

Thanks. How do I check my update frequency and how do you mean "this cycle", like charge whenever I want? Apologies, I know you answered I just want to make sure I'm getting the most out of my phone. When its on and charging is it ok to do intense stuff like watch youtube or surf chrome? Would my battery be damaged a little now since i let it die completely? Also, if I get rid of the weather app that came with the phone I just take the widget off the screen and that should be good right? Or should I uninstall completely? Also, which settings for weatherbug should I use?

 

[clitrenta]

I find the apps that tend to use battery the most are those that use location services. Your location services settings actually tell you which apps are using high or low amounts of battery. I have one (Life 360) which uses a high amount of battery (lot of background location fixing) but the rest are low. I still use it but at least you will be aware of what's happening when you do. As for the other apps, pretty much depends on how often you have them set to sync (such as the weather). Oh and the screen will take a bunch if you turn it up to the highest brightness setting. I do but it's just easier for me to read the screen that way.

 

[TomWho]

Accuweather will eat your data and battery life compared to its brethren

And Weather Underground will use data sources closer to your location, neighboorhood like "Black Mountain Road" instead of "LaJolla".

 

[evohicks]

I charge mine whenever I feel the need, if I finish the day with less than 70% battery then I will charge it at bedtime and usually unplug during the early hours as the green notification lamp lights up the bedroom lol.
I have used a few different weather apps, here in the UK I found the BBC weather app to be ok, followed by the Met office app.

 

[GoosePants]

Thanks so far everyone. I'll charge it at about 15% from now on and leave it ON and use it. As for location services, I know you mentioned they take up battery. Should I just turn off location services for everything? Guess I'm just lookin for a balance for everything.

 

[dan330]

hi .. welcome to AF and NOTE.

don't over think it.
just use it as you want. how you want.

charge it as you need it.
when it is next to a charger.
top it off when you think it needs it.
don't need to wait till it gets low.

 

[Digital Controller]

Thanks so far everyone. I'll charge it at about 15% from now on and leave it ON and use it. As for location services, I know you mentioned they take up battery. Should I just turn off location services for everything? Guess I'm just lookin for a balance for everything.

Depends if you are a power user or not. I know I control a lot of the toggles myself so it doesn't bother me when I have to toggle things on and off.

Some people think this is a hassle. I know that Juice Defender will do a lot of these things for you when your device's screen isn't on, try it out if you want.

Otherwise you can always turn off background data for specific applications within the Settings > Application Manager.

 

[GoosePants]

Ok thanks. So if I switch off location services for the weather app, for example, I have to manually set the city, but just once right? And it has nothing to do with refreshing the app for the weather since I've already set it to that city. Also, do you recommend charging with the power adapter or is it ok to hook up the phone via micro USB to usb, then to an I MAC computer for charging. Also I charged it while it was on. The battery indicator went to 100% and the light on the top left went green, but it never told me to unplug charger. Doesn't if usually say that?

 

[Haggi]

When your blinking led turns green, your battery is fully charged and a notification tell you to unplug.
Charge with available method.. usb is really slow, especially when using your device at the same time.
Original wall charger puts out 2 amps/hour.. thats 3-4 times more than some usb ports.

The only thing thats really gonna hurt your battery.. is heat!

Enjoy your new toy ;-)

 

[Prepaidguy9081]

When your blinking led turns green, your battery is fully charged and a notification tell you to unplug.
Charge with available method.. usb is really slow, especially when using your device at the same time.
Original wall charger puts out 2 amps/hour.. thats 3-4 times more than some usb ports.

The only thing thats really gonna hurt your battery.. is heat!

Enjoy your new toy ;-)

Note, xposed fraimwork has a mod that gets rid of that anoying sound and message. Just leaves you with a red or green led.

 

[Digital Controller]

Ok thanks. So if I switch off location services for the weather app, for example, I have to manually set the city, but just once right? And it has nothing to do with refreshing the app for the weather since I've already set it to that city. Also, do you recommend charging with the power adapter or is it ok to hook up the phone via micro USB to usb, then to an I MAC computer for charging. Also I charged it while it was on. The battery indicator went to 100% and the light on the top left went green, but it never told me to unplug charger. Doesn't if usually say that?

Yes you only have to put that location in once, once you put it in.

And like a member above suggested if you plug it into a computer it will just charge a little slower than a wall charger.

Have fun with your new device.

 

[Napalm]

Thanks. How do I check my update frequency and how do you mean "this cycle", like charge whenever I want? Apologies, I know you answered I just want to make sure I'm getting the most out of my phone. When its on and charging is it ok to do intense stuff like watch youtube or surf chrome? Would my battery be damaged a little now since i let it die completely? Also, if I get rid of the weather app that came with the phone I just take the widget off the screen and that should be good right? Or should I uninstall completely? Also, which settings for weatherbug should I use?

I use weather Bug elite - but many apps like that have a update frequency in the setting. IE hourly - 3 hours - daily - every 10 minutes . . . . etc

I set mine to hourly - but I see some of them are very agressive (more like 5 minute). so the faster the update frequency - the more times per day the phone runs GPS, data, processing - rinse and repeat again. if you move around a lot (and I mean in terms of miles) then it's gotta calc GPS position each update.

now you can usually fix your weather location (weatherbug allows this too), and you car usually lower your update frequency.

I fix my weather location for most days - because home, work and back again I'm within a 10 sq mile box most days. I toggle it back to follow me mode when I am out of that box.

 

[BRAINZ2013]

Accuweather will eat your data and battery life compared to its brethren

I agree with you wish they stop using this as a default in some stock roms

 

[Digital Controller]

I agree with you wish they stop using this as a default in some stock roms

They really do need to offer some other options. I asked one of the developers about this and they just said that Accuweather was the standard so everyone uses it.

He put in a different one per my request on Eclipse ROM

 

[GoosePants]

I have another question. Is using any of the date and time settings going to drain battery life faster?

 

[Pixeline]

I have another question. Is using any of the date and time settings going to drain battery life faster?

No ... you'l be alright using any date and time setting you want to. I use Beautiful widget with clock, weather, date and time. It updates every hour with location on 24/7.

I also update gmail, Twitter, Facebook, Evernote and Whatsapp and my battery lasts from morning to night with medium high use.

My screen is set to 80% - thats my favorite and thats what I want to work with

My very best advice to you is to relax - and do what you want. Charge it when it is convenient and use as many apps you want. If it starts to lag eventuelly you'l know it's too many - so remove the ones you don't use so much.

I charge mine every night - no matter if it has 10 og 75% juice left. Then I know it's always fit for fight in the morning.

I start the day looking for updates in Play Store (prefere that to the automatic update) ... then I restart my device to clear the memory and get rid of the cob webs. Many people think a daily restart is a waste of time ... but it has served me well over the years and I have never had any trouble with my devices ... so I'l continue to do just that

So - to sum up ... just relax and enjoy your wonderful Note

pix