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Yup, i loved google voice until i realized you always had to be connected to the internet while using it, and since the Eris has a shitty battery, keeping 3G on all day runs the battery down so i can't use google voice.

With lots of things set up to sync, and Always-On Mobile turned on, it will zap your battery pretty well.

I leave Always-On mobile on, and only turn it on when I want it.

So while my phone's asleep, I KNOW it's not using battery to talk to the rest of the internet (network activity, particularly 3g, and display brightness are shared as the #1 battery drainers).

Your battery won't last more than a day, with Always-On Mobile on and background data turned on (which I believe is supposed to be on for Google Voice to work properly) unless you have most of your Accounts and Sync accounts unchecked for syncing, and no Mail account trying to sync, and no extra weather apps or Location apps or anything trying to sync.

My battery lasts around 3 days typically, Seidio 1750 (the stock one lasted 2-2.5 days typically), by keeping Mobile Network off unless I'm using it, only using Wi-Fi when at work (uses 1/10 the battery that mobile3g network does), and keeping my screen brightness low (0% at night, 25-40% during the day).

And, yes, Google Voice does have texting built in. Should work just fine.
 
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It appears TextFree has access to the Android messages database, since TextFree displays texts that were received or sent by the Messages app.

Also, even though Messages is set as the default handler, whenever I receive a text (or maybe this is when I send a text, not sure), TextFree pops up in the notification bar at the top (meaning it is now running).

Does anyone know if this was intentional? It's quite confusing.

I rarely use TextFree since my unlimited family texting plan is pretty cheap, the main reason I have TextFree is for those times when I am out of T-Mobile coverage but have WiFi. Or when I am out of the country and have WiFi. So for that reason I rarely want it running (or more importantly cluttering up the notification bar).
 
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It appears TextFree has access to the Android messages database, since TextFree displays texts that were received or sent by the Messages app.

Also, even though Messages is set as the default handler, whenever I receive a text (or maybe this is when I send a text, not sure), TextFree pops up in the notification bar at the top (meaning it is now running).

Similarly, I want to have messages addressed to my regular phone number received only by Hancent and the ones addressed to my Textfree number only by Textfree.

Is that feasible?
 
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Your battery won't last more than a day, with Always-On Mobile on and background data turned on (which I believe is supposed to be on for Google Voice to work properly) unless you have most of your Accounts and Sync accounts unchecked for syncing, and no Mail account trying to sync, and no extra weather apps or Location apps or anything trying to sync.

My battery lasts around 3 days typically, Seidio 1750 (the stock one lasted 2-2.5 days typically), by keeping Mobile Network off unless I'm using it, only using Wi-Fi when at work (uses 1/10 the battery that mobile3g network does), and keeping my screen brightness low (0% at night, 25-40% during the day).

And, yes, Google Voice does have texting built in. Should work just fine.

I know I am pulling up an old response, but why would anyone need their battery to last more than a day? How hard is it to plug the phone in at night?
 
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