Help Few questions, battery life, notification icons, etc

[cubsfan]

I just got the Samsung Acclaim on Sunday! I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer for me!

1) Is it normal for me to charge my phone all night and then after about 6 hours, for it to be completed dead? Is there anything that could be soaking my battery? I did download Yahoo into my phone, could this be causing it to die faster. I don't use my phone excessively?

2) On the top of the phone where the notifications are there is an icon that says "EV"... it just started to show up! What is that?

3) Not all the time, but sometimes my phone doesn't ring... It's not in the silent mode or vibrate, not sure why this is (same thing for notifications)

I think that's enough questions for one thread. Any information would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!!

 

[JimboMidge]

Some answer for you!!

1. Your battery should last longer than 6 hours under normal use. Some things to be aware of though: If your bluetooth, wifi, or gps are on they will drain a signifigant amount of battery life. Any data usage will also decrease the life of your battery, as will having your screen brightness turned up high. If you have any number of these things going on, your battery typically won't last through the day.

2. The EV in your notification bar means that you are in an EVDO 3G data coverage area. In English, if you get on the internet, it will be pretty fast.

3. I'm encountering the same thing myself for notifications. No real idea exactly why this is happening but I suspect that low memory has something to do with it. I'll update you if I find out a cause or fix.

Hope I helped!

 

[cubsfan]

Thanks for replying. I'm sure this is a stupid question, but how do I know if my bluetooth, wifi, or gps are on? I swear I need to read a book on Android for dummies! I appreciate your promptness in answering my other questions. I guess that EV is a good thing!

 

[Deleted User]

So EVDO (represented by EV with two arrows on the Acclaim) = 3G? I didn't think they were the same thing but I don't know.

@cubsfan if your Bluetooth is on, you will get a Bluetooth icon. If you are connected to a Bluetooth device (e.g. an earpiece) two arrows will "point at" the Bluetooth logo.

If you are connected to a wi-fi network, you will see an icon with a circle, and three "waves" going up above it. How light each wave is indicates signal strength. All three bright is good signal; just one lit up is OK.

The GPS logo is a little satellite dish. If it's searching, two or three green waves will be coming out but blinking. If it's locked on, those waves will be solid.

From what I have seen, EV is a good thing. The less fortunate alternative is 1X. That isn't terrible but it is slower.

Enjoy your Acclaim!

PS -- Six hours is average for a new user, when you're using it a lot. When you're not using it, tap your power/lock button on the top to kill the screen. You will learn ways to save power. I've only had mine a couple weeks (not even that) and I can make mine last "about 2 days". And by "about" I mean "barely".

 

[llebcire]

So EVDO (represented by EV with two arrows on the Acclaim) = 3G? I didn't think they were the same thing but I don't know.

EVDO is the technical name for the 3rd generation of wireless transfer - hence the industry jargon of "3G".

-Eric

 

[SammyAcclaim]

Cubsfan,

I'm not sure if this is your situation but when I first got my phone the first day I downloaded A LOT of apps from the marketplace and didn't really pay much attention to storage space on the device or how many apps I had downloaded. Once I figured out which apps I was going to use regularly, I deleted all of the others. Some apps are just poorly developed and could lead to slow downs on the device. Others work fine but take up space on the device and this device doesn't give you much.

You have 256MB to use of internal storage space which is where most apps install and once you get to a point where you don't have much internal space left you will start to see the phone peform sluggishly. I use an app called Mini Info to track storage space and RAM/CPU Usage.

Uninstall those apps you know you aren't going to use and see if the phone works any better in regards to your ringing problem.

Also, in my experience there have been a few apps that I have found to be the exact cause of my slowdowns and when uninstalled the phone performed much better. So you might have to hunt that app down by process of elimination.

To help you find out if wireless, GPS, bluetooth, etc. is activated there is a widget that is pretty handy that you can add to one of the home screens. If you long press on a blank space on one of your 3 home screens you can select widgets and Select Power Control. That gives you a bar across the screen that lets you easily activate and deactive each service. I have found this widget to be very helpful.

Good Luck!

 

[USCellularAndroid]

And for the battery issue, make sure you don't have the Advance Task Killer app installed. What a joke!

 

[eaddict]

And for the battery issue, make sure you don't have the Advance Task Killer app installed. What a joke!

Since that was the App the US Cell person recommended me to get first, what do you recommend me to replace it with?

 

[cwill0303]

I use Watchdog Lite to monitor the apps that take up CPU usage, not really worrying about the memory.