Total noob starting from the ground up

[DavisDA2]

I have an HTC Incredible and have only had 2 days experience now with the android OS. I apologize for some of the questions that are about to follow, but I genuinely don't know. I have looked for youtube videos to

1) Apps vs widgets - what really is the difference? Widgets seem to sit actively on a homescreen, while apps are in the background and once you navigate away you must relaunch the app even though it is running in the background?

2) I have advanced task killer, but don't know what apps I need to routinely kill. For example I have Google talk and skype running. I think if I kill skype I will no longer be part of the conversations and won't receive events as they come in. Google talk I am not sure sure about. Since it is a native google product if I kill it, will I still get the messages as they happen?

3) How do you customize widgets? I can see from the various preloaded scenes that some of the widgets(?) can be different sizes and shapes. Favorites for instance in the work vs verizon scene is different. In the work scene is is only 1/2 of a homescreen, but in verizon default it is an entire homescreen. How do I choose the size?

4) WiFi - I simply can't get this to work. I have gone into my router and added the mac address, I have tried wep, no security, tried manual ip. Everything results in unable to obtain IP address.

Again, sorry for sure elementary questions, I just didn't see anywhere on the android site that explained it and other research was equally fruitless.

 

[Quintessence]

I have an HTC Incredible and have only had 2 days experience now with the android OS. I apologize for some of the questions that are about to follow, but I genuinely don't know. I have looked for youtube videos to

1) Apps vs widgets - what really is the difference? Widgets seem to sit actively on a homescreen, while apps are in the background and once you navigate away you must relaunch the app even though it is running in the background?

2) I have advanced task killer, but don't know what apps I need to routinely kill. For example I have Google talk and skype running. I think if I kill skype I will no longer be part of the conversations and won't receive events as they come in. Google talk I am not sure sure about. Since it is a native google product if I kill it, will I still get the messages as they happen?

3) How do you customize widgets? I can see from the various preloaded scenes that some of the widgets(?) can be different sizes and shapes. Favorites for instance in the work vs verizon scene is different. In the work scene is is only 1/2 of a homescreen, but in verizon default it is an entire homescreen. How do I choose the size?

4) WiFi - I simply can't get this to work. I have gone into my router and added the mac address, I have tried wep, no security, tried manual ip. Everything results in unable to obtain IP address.

Again, sorry for sure elementary questions, I just didn't see anywhere on the android site that explained it and other research was equally fruitless.

1) Like you said, widgets are passive and really just are there for quick reference on the home pages. Apps run in the background, and as you said will need to exit from them. However, they still run in the background to make life easier when you reopen them.

2) I don't recommend ATK, I have used it on 3 phones and found no benefit to using it. The android system is meant to run apps in the background, and it will not be as much of a detriment to your system as you think.

3) If you want to make your own scene, just select blank slate and have a blast. =)

4) Usually its something with the compatibility of the router and the phone. If its an older router, try and find some newer software that might be with the more modern technology.

 

[nstallion]

1. The first part you are correct about. To switch between 6 recently used apps, hold the Home button and a box will popup showing you recently opened applications for you to quickly switch between them. Chances are with the amount of RAM on the incredible they will still be open.

2. You will hear varying opinions on task killer apps, but I think most people agree with the way Android (Linux) manages memory, they are unnecessary. If you occasionally get an app hanging it might be good to use to kill it, but other than that there has been no real proof that task killing apps have any benefit. Apps aren't using any processing power unless they are doing something, and if they are doing something you probably don't want to kill them.

The other two I can't really help with as I have a Droid (no Sense) and the WiFi thing is hard to help with such limited knowledge of how the network is set up.

 

[NKT]

http://androidforums.com/htc-incredible/70210-droid-incredible-user-guide.html

 

[nyjetsfan28]

http://androidforums.com/htc-incred...read-smartphone-droid-incredible-newbies.html

This should help also.

 

[DavisDA2]

Thank you.

I have a linksys wrt54GX - it is a couple years old, but not sure if it is old enough to be an issue.

I thought the benefit of app killers was more for battery life than memory, am I wrong?

Nice tip about holding the home button. I didn't know about that one.

Just finished downloading the user guide pdf. 206 pages will hopefully answer all of my questions that I didn't even know I had yet.

and also thank you for the other newb link. I will start through it now.

 

[Quintessence]

Thank you.

I have a linksys wrt54GX - it is a couple years old, but not sure if it is old enough to be an issue.

I thought the benefit of app killers was more for battery life than memory, am I wrong?

Nice tip about holding the home button. I didn't know about that one.

Just finished downloading the user guide pdf. 206 pages will hopefully answer all of my questions that I didn't even know I had yet.

and also thank you for the other newb link. I will start through it now.

Its always worth it to check for newer software.

And app killers are supposedly for memory. This is under the assumption that memory use directly leads to battery use.

 

[nstallion]

Thank you.

I have a linksys wrt54GX - it is a couple years old, but not sure if it is old enough to be an issue.

I thought the benefit of app killers was more for battery life than memory, am I wrong?

Nice tip about holding the home button. I didn't know about that one.

Just finished downloading the user guide pdf. 206 pages will hopefully answer all of my questions that I didn't even know I had yet.

and also thank you for the other newb link. I will start through it now.

If there's an app in the background that is chewing up processing (and therefore battery) power then it is either improperly configured or not functioning properly.