LOCALE app discussion

[mkdauff]

I am very interested in Locale, as the idea of this app is amazing. I can't seem to find much information in regards to this on the Sprint Hero though! I remember reading something about it having battery drain/awake time problems, but never knowing if these were substantiated or what the deal was. So my main deal here is:

Who has it? Who uses it? Do you have any problems with it?

If people have no problems with this on our phones, then I have no problem DLing it and messing around to see how it works. Although, it would be nice to have a good tutorial posted on all of the features of this app and the best ways to get the most out of it. So who's got what?!

 

[eddieroger]

I have and use this app on my Sprint Hero, and it's pretty darn great. It's marketed on it's location-based settings, but all of mine are time- or event-based (like battery). I have it set to automatically mute my phone and kill wifi and bluetooth during work hours and all noises buy phone ringer overnight. I have tried using the location based settings, but I've had accuracy issues indoors, which is really where I want to use it. They key to the app is making sure you have the default settings set the way you like it. It's very easy to use, and pretty great as an app.

 

[mkdauff]

So this hasn't given you any battery drain problems? For the time based settings, are you able to change things by day and time as well?

 

[treborcj]

I have had no battery issues with this app. I use the GPS so that it knows when I am at work to silence. I have used it for about a month and a half. In that time it has only messed up twice, both times when I have been home and noticed that it is still silenced.

 

[jimdroid]

If you aren't using the location-based features of Locale, I've found that Timeriffic works really well, with no battery issues whatsoever (I did have some battery issues with Locale).

jd

 

[takuya]

No battery issues myself, I find that my battery is mostly drained by the screen, even though its on completely the lowest setting. 80%-90% of my battery usage is the screen. Locale is a minute portion of the remaining 10-20%.

 

[g0tr00t]

Location based LOCALE does not work well on my Hero at all. I get into work, it silences like it supposed to. Some time later it goes back to default and all sounds are back to normal. I think its indoor issues with location based triggers.

Oh well, otherwise its great! I just wish it had more Hero specific settings...

 

[eddieroger]

So this hasn't given you any battery drain problems? For the time based settings, are you able to change things by day and time as well?

None that I've noticed. If anything, it's gotten better since I can disable services I don't need when I know I don't need them - specifically wifi and bluetooth since I don't use them at work at all. Are you using location services as any condition? If so, I can see how it might since it will poll for location more frequently. I guess I'm sticking with Locale because I hope it will get better at location in a future update and I won't have to reprogram my settings yet again.

 

[sleepyEDB]

In case you hadn't heard, Locale is no longer in Beta...and is also no longer free. The new 1.0 version is now $10.

If you aren't using the location-based features of Locale, I've found that Timeriffic works really well, with no battery issues whatsoever

While I wasn't using the location-based features of Locale, the ability to create profiles based on other conditions is something that Timeriffic can't (at least in my limited knowledge) match. Things like 'if the battery reaches x% do this' is what made Locale so useful to me. Is it $10 useful? We'll have to wait and see.

Of course, the Locale devs added one of the features I requested and really wanted to the new paid 1.0 version, (the ability to create a profile based on whether or not headphones are present) so I may just have to upgrade.


sleepy

 

[kennyidaho]

I am debating about upgrading. I am a little upset about the removal of the calendar option.

At one location I have terrible GPS information because of how the building is constructed so it was really difficult for Locale to get my location. When I was walking into the building Locale would change to the correct situation but once I was inside and it lost GPS/WiFi signal it would change back to my default....not good.

 

[samusMAURIE]

I've experienced issues related to using Locale but not exactly sure if it's an issue with the app. I really like Locale and would want to start using it again if someone could give some suggestions.

I'm using the Samsung Moment. After setting up Locale and several profiles, I kept having issues of my phone being put in a weird form of sleep/hibernate mode. My phone would be on (the only way I know this is I could call my phone & the line would ring and not go directly to voicemail as would happen if the phone was off) but would give no response whatsoever. I could press the end key, open the slider, hold the end key, receive a call and absolutely no response. The only way I could use my phone again would be to remove the battery and restart the phone.
I recently reset my phone to the factory defaults and tried using Locale again but ran into the same issue. Locale is still installed but is currently disabled and my phone hasn't locked up since.

The reason I say I'm not sure this is an issue with the Locale app is I believe it may be a memory issue. With Locale and the various plug-ins, there are a lot of additional background apps constantly running. I believe this issue may be a result of the Moment running out of memory due to the number of processes. I've been researching Cyanogen to see if this might help by killing many of the background apps that I never use. Any suggestions?

 

[kennyidaho]

It doesn't work with Samsung phones

 

[mkdauff]

Ha, I dl'd this last night for free and now it's $10?! Location really doesn't seem to work for me well at all, even when GPS on google maps is showing my location almost exactly (while indoors even). Not sure if it's really worth upgrading or not, haven't seen too many benefits (obviously if the LOCALE part of the app worked, that may be a different story) and my battery is lower than normal for this hour.

 

[samusMAURIE]

It doesn't work with Samsung phones

Then is there no hope for me? I really liked this app when it wasn't locking up my phone. Any ideas if they'll update to work on Samsung phones?

 

[kennyidaho]

Then is there no hope for me? I really liked this app when it wasn't locking up my phone. Any ideas if they'll update to work on Samsung phones?

It's not their issue it's Samsung's.

 

[samusMAURIE]

It's not their issue it's Samsung's.

Then I guess it's the same as how Pandora is buggy on the Samsung phone. I wish Samsung would put out their fixes, I do really like this phone.

 

[kennyidaho]

It is pretty sad and I sure feel for you. I almost bought the Moment but my deciding factor was Samsungs support or lack of.

 

[Matterof8th]

I had the same problem using location based settings on LOCALE, It would constantly be switching from a location to default while I was sitting in one spot, but then I went in the section where you drag the circle to the location you want, and I made the circles really large around the area's. Like..at least 1 or 2 times as large as the original circle. This completely fixed the problem for me, and luckily my areas are far enough apart that there is no overlap. Basically just work and home, when I'm a half mile from either it switches back to default.

 

[samusMAURIE]

It is pretty sad and I sure feel for you. I almost bought the Moment but my deciding factor was Samsungs support or lack of.

I've been thinking more now of trading for the Hero. My original deciding factor to the Moment was the slide-out QWERTY but it's other issues are starting to bug me.

 

[kennyidaho]

How often do you find yourself actually using that keyboard? They sure are nice and I've always demanded phones with them in the past but with the hero the on screen keyboard is nearly perfect, so it doesn't bother me much.

 

[samusMAURIE]

I do find myself using the keyboard often.

Have checked many forums on Hero vs Moment & really can't find a difinitive winner.