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Help a beginner?

Hi, Seems like a very friendly forum and I thank Rob for the Hi. As many do I found this place after being frustrated with my HTC ERIS, but it seems like I will be here just to read all the hints that the good people post here to make the "droid" a pleasant experience.

As a new Smart-phone user I am frustrated. Have the HTC Eris about 2 weeks. Did not know about battery life at all when keeping on the mobile network.

Ok-My Question and I realize this is probably very basic is:

What is the difference between mobile network on and wi-fi on. When would you need to keep both on? When do you need one and not the other? I thought this was the same. Are there extra charges for wi-fi? I have a Verizon plan and pay the extra $30 month for what I thought was unlimited usage according to the "new" salesperson.

Also if I may ask another question. I want to put a custom ringer on here. I went to the Verizon website, I see and hear the ringer I want to buy for $1.99. Ok-if I download it to my computer then how do I get it on my HTC ERIS?

I wish to thank you in advance anyone who can help and hope the regular users on here don't get angry with me for asking basic questions. The on line manual is frustrating in itself and I did print out some basic pages so I can operate it. :eek:
 
Hi, Seems like a very friendly forum and I thank Rob for the Hi. As many do I found this place after being frustrated with my HTC ERIS, but it seems like I will be here just to read all the hints that the good people post here to make the "droid" a pleasant experience.

As a new Smart-phone user I am frustrated. Have the HTC Eris about 2 weeks. Did not know about battery life at all when keeping on the mobile network.

Ok-My Question and I realize this is probably very basic is:

What is the difference between mobile network on and wi-fi on. When would you need to keep both on? When do you need one and not the other? I thought this was the same. Are there extra charges for wi-fi? I have a Verizon plan and pay the extra $30 month for what I thought was unlimited usage according to the "new" salesperson.

Also if I may ask another question. I want to put a custom ringer on here. I went to the Verizon website, I see and hear the ringer I want to buy for $1.99. Ok-if I download it to my computer then how do I get it on my HTC ERIS?

I wish to thank you in advance anyone who can help and hope the regular users on here don't get angry with me for asking basic questions. The on line manual is frustrating in itself and I did print out some basic pages so I can operate it. :eek:
Welcome to the AF forums and enjoy your visits !! :cool:
 
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What is the difference between mobile network on and wi-fi on. When would you need to keep both on? When do you need one and not the other? I thought this was the same. Are there extra charges for wi-fi? I have a Verizon plan and pay the extra $30 month for what I thought was unlimited usage according to the "new" salesperson.

It is unlimited. They use different technologies. 3g is the data network provided by Verizon, and as a cellular technology your coverage may vary (buildings, hills, etc getting the way ... whatever). WiFi is simply 820.11 ... it gives your phone the ability to connect to a WiFi hotspot if you're in, say, your house, your office, or an internet cafe. It is independant of the 3g network, and totally out of VZW's control. They are both appropriate for different situations. You likely don't need them both on at once, though.

Also if I may ask another question. I want to put a custom ringer on here. I went to the Verizon website, I see and hear the ringer I want to buy for $1.99. Ok-if I download it to my computer then how do I get it on my HTC ERIS?

I use an app called "Rings Extended" which allows me to play any mp3 file from anywhere on my sd card as a ringtone. I know if you convert it to xxx format and put it in yyy folder, it should show up, but I can never remember xxx and yyy, so Rings Extended to the rescue ;-)

Which also means, if you have an mp3 editor on your PC there's no need to get it from the VZW website ... also, phonezoo is your friend for free ringtones.

Good Luck!
 
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I wish to thank you in advance anyone who can help and hope the regular users on here don't get angry with me for asking basic questions. The on line manual is frustrating in itself and I did print out some basic pages so I can operate it. :eek:

Thats exactly what the forum is for. The senior guys, I have found, have no problems with novices posting as long as you do a basic precursory search first to see if the questions have already been answered in another area so as not to clog up the forum with duplicate threads.

As to the battery life/wifi/mobile network.
-My opinion is that you will rarely need to have wifi on. The only time I use wifi is when I happen to be in a wifi spot that I have no 3g signal or if I am at home.
-The battery life will improve with proper battery calibration. The phone at first is not fully calibrated to your battery so when it thinks it is low it may still have %25 left. This is why you do the full charge run down several times. The phone will get better calibrated to your actual battery status. The other thing (which I was just posting about in another thread) is where do you go now days that you cant plug in for a few min while driving, sitting at a desk, etc.? Spare batts. for this phone run $14 on amazon, get one or two for emergencies or travel if you absolutely need one. The fact is that this is not a phone. Like most smart devices now days this is a full computer that does everything my computer does at home in a hand-held form. It is not drawing 115v from the wall but uses lots of energy so it will use battery and other similar devices have the same battery issues also so we just have to work with it.;) I also am in the habit of turning btooth off in the house and wifi on in the car. There are a few apps out there that do this automatically when they sense wifi signals that they are familiar with but I haven't tried them yet but plan to once someone irons out the bugs. This also saves some battery. Lastly I have never found a need to turn the mobile network off (excluding plane mode). I start with a full charge at 0700 and am a heavy user of the phone. I end my day at the plug with %30-%40 left if I don't plug it in at all during the day, but I always plug in the car now so its pretty much irrelevant anyway to me.

It takes some time to get used to when/if you are, like me, coming from a simple dumb flip or chocolate phone where it a a tiny screen and does pretty much text and basic email only, but has 2-3 days worth of battery. You will get used to it and in a pattern. It is an amazing device in my opinion and a true Iphone equal (personally better at this point, and certainly in the future if Iphone doesn't get off their asses). I have an Iphone that now sits on my desk at home collecting dust except for the few times I want to listen to one of my audible format books. I will give it to my 10 year old as an Ipod as soon as audible makes an android app which seems to be in the works.

Long winded but happy eris-ing.:)
 
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I didn't see this explained, but to get mp3 files on to your SD card, simply connect your Eris to any computer using mini USB cord. When it's connected, there will be a notification on your phone at the top of the screen. Pull down the notification area and touch the "USB Connected" notification. Touch the "Mount" option, and then your SD card will appear on your PC as if you plugged in a regular USB jump drive. You can then copy files to your SD card.

When completed, pull down the notification area on your phone again, touch the "Turn off USB storage" notification, touch the "Turn Off" option. Your SD card is now unmounted and you can safely removed the USB cord from your computer/phone.
 
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I would also recommend an app called Ringdroid for ringtones...it is free! You take any song you have on your phone, pull it up in that app, and you can choose which part of the song you want as a ringtone, save it, and then boom! Custom ringtone for free!

Yup, love that app. You can make a ring tone from any of your mp3s. Just note, Ringdroid will only recognize mp3 format, not wma.
 
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I wish to thank you in advance anyone who can help and hope the regular users on here don't get angry with me for asking basic questions. The on line manual is frustrating in itself and I did print out some basic pages so I can operate it. :eek:

Welcome to the forum wiscmike and don't worry about asking questions. We were all pretty much brand new to this phone back in November.:D
 
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Oh man! I didn't know that ringdroid would only recognize Mp3's. All my music in downloaded from Windows media player in wma's I guess :( Is it hard to convert the music to mp3's?

Most wma formats are protected by default, but there are applications that will convert these to mp3s. There are quite a few to be listed here, but doing a Google search for "convert wma to mp3" should get you started on the right track (no pun intended).
 
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I would also recommend an app called Ringdroid for ringtones...it is free! You take any song you have on your phone, pull it up in that app, and you can choose which part of the song you want as a ringtone, save it, and then boom! Custom ringtone for free!

When I used ringdroid, it garbled my cut mp3 up. It would sound like a record skipping. Strange really.

I just use mp3trim on my PC to take care of that now. Easier and faster, at least, I think so.
 
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When I used ringdroid, it garbled my cut mp3 up. It would sound like a record skipping. Strange really.

I just use mp3trim on my PC to take care of that now. Easier and faster, at least, I think so.

Yeah I had a really short sound(the star trek communicator sound) and I didn't really need to edit it, I just wanted to add it to the notifications it still added some random garbage to the end of it. It was strange. I didnt clip it at all. Did the same for another sound I added too.
 
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Hi, Seems like a very friendly forum and I thank Rob for the Hi. As many do I found this place after being frustrated with my HTC ERIS, but it seems like I will be here just to read all the hints that the good people post here to make the "droid" a pleasant experience.

As a new Smart-phone user I am frustrated. Have the HTC Eris about 2 weeks. Did not know about battery life at all when keeping on the mobile network.

Ok-My Question and I realize this is probably very basic is:

What is the difference between mobile network on and wi-fi on. When would you need to keep both on? When do you need one and not the other? I thought this was the same. Are there extra charges for wi-fi? I have a Verizon plan and pay the extra $30 month for what I thought was unlimited usage according to the "new" salesperson.

I keep 3g (mobile network) on all the time, WiFi off all the time except when I know I want to connect to a router. I have no problems with battery with this plan.

I keep WiFi off because when it is not connected, it will try to connect, wasting battery. 3G is going to be there, and is only accessed when needed

No extra charges for WiFi, and with "The best 3g coverage (see map)" no real need to use WiFi

Also if I may ask another question. I want to put a custom ringer on here. I went to the Verizon website, I see and hear the ringer I want to buy for $1.99. Ok-if I download it to my computer then how do I get it on my HTC ERIS?

I personally NEVER pay for ringtones. I make my own by downloading the MP3 I want, editing it in Audacity, and copying it to the phone. Since thwe copying part is covered in one of the first pages of "Tips & Tricks, I won't repeat it here. (just saving time, server space, and because I'm lazy)

I wish to thank you in advance anyone who can help and hope the regular users on here don't get angry with me for asking basic questions. The on line manual is frustrating in itself and I did print out some basic pages so I can operate it. :eek:

And, as others have stated, ask away. Some searching is helpful, to prevent redundancies, but if you can't find it real easy, no one can, so ask.
 
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Welcome. Sorry to tell yo the most basic answer, but many of the songs I had on my sd card from my previous phone(storm 1) I just put the card in my eris, it read them all then used the native ringtone maker in the eris itself. Drag one line where you want it to start, the next where you want it to stop. Easier than that slapchop thing that freak with the headset michrophone thingy advertises with less exercise.
 
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First I want to thank everyone for their replies.
n2imagination-how can you tell that you have 9625 left on your battery as I do not see a number indicating this.


You can goto the Market and do a search for battery info. It will bring up a number of free apps for viewing battery info. I like the battery widget myself made by HTC. One click will bring up the info. ;) Welcome to the forums!!!!!
 
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First I want to thank everyone for their replies.
n2imagination-how can you tell that you have 9625 left on your battery as I do not see a number indicating this.

There are several battery widgets that will show you your % of batt left. HTC makes a pretty nice one that is available to download for free for Eris owners. I use battery indicator which is free for the basic version and $.99 for the pro version in the market. The nice thing about battery indicator is that it shows in the status bar, and if you pull it down it has alot more info. I am showing two images here so you can see what it looks like.
n2imagination-albums-screenshots-picture714-battery02.png
n2imagination-albums-screenshots-picture713-battery01.png
 
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I leave my wifi on and connected at all times, and never let it sleep. Wifi is faster than 3G and does not use much battery power. Then when I leave a wifi area it automatically swaps over to 3G. I have internet service anywhere I go still this way too. I actually would think the 3G probably would use a little bit more battery but I dont know.

Also wifi does not try to connect unless you tell it to. My advice leave wifi on all the time and get connected to the networks you are around most often, then when your not near them you will be on 3G.

I usually take my phone off the charger at 530 am and am a pretty heavy user with texting, and internet, and my widgets for facebook and some MP3 players and stuff...and My battery right now at 3pm is 30%. That is with no charging all day..so 6 hours and as I said I am a heavy user. With moderate usage I have gone 18 hours on a charge before also...
 
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