Bit of advice for an HTC/Android newbie

[Merk78]

G'day folks. Had my Desire for a week now and liking it more and more everyday, especially since finding this site. Every time I read a thread on here I leave with at least 3 or 4 new ideas of things I can do with my Desire

Anyway I'm looking for advice on what is the best free program for battery management. I have downloaded Battery Status Pro, which is fine for monitoring my battery plus I'm using the standard Power Control widget for turning off and on. Am I as well sticking with Battery Status Pro? What other Power Control program/widget can I download? Preferably one that allows me to turn all connectivity to my phone off at night?

 

[nx1977]

Try extended controls.

 

[SB13X]

Preferably one that allows me to turn all connectivity to my phone off at night?

Stick with what you have and just use Aeroplane Mode to switch all connectivity off at night. There really isn't much you need to do however if you use an App Killer remove it or at the very least ensure it kills itself. You can check to see if it does this through your Applications section of the Settings Menu and choosing Running Services, if you have an app killer and having closing/killing it, it reappears here, Remove it as its badly coded and will be draining battery through cpu usage.

Also Apps such as Android System Info that give information pertaining to the whole system use the most CPU in the foreground and you should also ensure these auto close using the back button. Again looking through running services to check this and uninstalling if it doesn't.

The same rules also apply to other apps. Well written apps will always close themselves, however do not be concerned with any native (HTC) apps/google apps/apps for well known services such as Dropbox, Realplayer, Shopsavvy etc etc that do not as these will be well written and can safely be run in the background without CPU/Battery usage.

In following the guidelines above I have managed to run my desire with around 30mins streaming/45mins stored video playback. About 30-40 minutes worth of Emulator gaming, constantly on Mobile Data and screen on full brightness and average call usage and standby time for a day and a half.

 

[Merk78]

I'll try aeroplane mode tonight Stu and see how I got on. Turned off wifi before I went to sleep, and lost 20% over 8 hours.

 

[sansenoy]

just don't go crazy with task & battery managers, some services are better left running and the system will reengage them itself, and the managers themselves suck juice aplenty, also be careful with non-static widgets, set up their auto-update or sync reasonably and remember to turn programs off with the back key, at least some that support it (dolphin hd browser).