Android got my new mobile phone

[peire]

i got my new mobile the other day its a HTC desire HD android phone im not going to root it no need as i can connect my ipod touch that is jailbroken to the internet on my phone and plus i dont want to mess my contract up if anything goes wrong.


anyway does anybody know any free apps/games/themes that i could get from the android market... i tried to find gangstar but its no were to be found on the market??? thanks

 

[CannonFoddr]

I've got the same phone..

Anyway - it depends on what you call 'Free' - Many of the Free Apps are 'Ad-Supported', meaning every time you run it - it'll download some ads (not very useful if you're a PAYG user & don't have a 'Data Plan'... like me) - although the download is pretty small in size

The only way(s) to 'prevent' the Ads from downloading is to either to Switch off all data/Cell/Wifi connections OR Root the phone & install an Ad-Blocker app ....
FYI - I've opted for a 'temporary root' using an app called 'Visionary+' (Switching the phone Off/on will reset the phone back to 'normal') then using a combination of 'Droidwall' and 'Adfree' to prevent those free apps from accessing the internet - Unless it via WiFi, which is usually when I'm @ home

There's a post here of 'Essential Android Apps' that should give you some ideas of what other people have on their phones

 

[peire]

thanks

im not on pay and go and i have free internet as well, im just trying to figure out what i can get thats good or useful without rooting my phone i have an ipod touch and ipad thats jailbroken so i have most thing i use on them.

and whats the best way to save battery life aswell?

 

[Originality]

The best way to save battery life is to either disable or slow down the rate of apps that connect to the internet to update every couple minutes. Things like facebook and twitter, which I'd rather use on my iPad than my DHD. With only google apps, email and weather updating, my phone lasts days in standby, and probably around 12 hours of multi-tasked use (e.g. music + internet).

Also, my phone has just informed me of the 2.3 update. Long overdue, but that's probably T-Mobile's fault.

 

[CannonFoddr]

Also, my phone has just informed me of the 2.3 update. Long overdue, but that's probably T-Mobile's fault.

Arn't you lucky - I'm still waiting for that & my phone is an Unlocked phone & not (wasn't) tied to any network (& I thought THOSE type of phones were supposingly the first to get the update) - guess I have to wait for my Operator to decide when they're gonna release it (I'm on ASDA which uses the Vodaphone network BTW)

 

[peire]

i have just updated mine today im with T-MOBILE, go into settings/about phone/software updates and try it there.

i have an app called advanced task killer thats ment to help save the battery life

 

[CannonFoddr]

I have just updated mine today im with T-MOBILE, go into settings/about phone/software updates and try it there.

I've already tried this - I have Scheduled check 'ticked' & if I try "Check Now" all I'm getting is the 'Checking' popup with the circle icon constantly going round-&-round...

I'm guessing that ASDA isn't doing updates

@ peire: Not to tell you anything different - but I've been told (& I've also read) that it's best NOT to have a task killer & use it to 'Force Close' any apps running it the background. It's something to do with f**king up the battery monitoring of the phone

 

[peire]

i thought it was to do with HTC doing the updates so you should get 1 but might be longer? who knows ?


so i started messing with my phone installing apps and this is what im trying out now

angry birds
angry birds rio
angry birds seasons
angry frogs
revenge of the pigs
mafia wars
mobile android
extreme droid jump
talking tom the cat
zynga poker
word search
androidify
tetriss
droid tac toe
replica island
droid shooting
frogger
parking car
pool master
pocket empires
rageing thunder
pinball classics
Tiger GBA
roms for droid
minesweep
big time gangster
go launcher EX
my live messenger
advanced task killer


and all of these are free off the android market

 

[tijntje_7]

-Abduction
-(i?)jewels.. bejeweld clone, kinda fun.

Don't own an android phone myself, can't help you much further

 

[Originality]

To add, I've heard that task killers are almost completely unneeded as of 2.2. The only use for them is to kill rogue apps (ones that are badly coded, or malicious ones). Android itself will manage its own memory usage better than a task killer can.

 

[peire]

im just trying everything just to save battery life so it doesnt die quick when im away from my charger


thanks for the advice though

 

[CannonFoddr]

Well best 'tips' I've seen are

• Turn off WiFi
• Turn Off 2G/3G
• Change the times of any Programs that 'sync' automatically to the longest possible like 'once a day' (or even turn them to 'Manual Update' if possible)
  - things like Flicker, Google sync, HTC Sense, Weather, News, Stocks etc
• Turn 'Autobrightness' Off
• Turn Brightness down to a lower level (I have it ~20% normally)
  - perhaps even install an app that has 'profiles' features so you can quickly swap between a low brightness (for indoors) and a high brightness (when outside)
• Reduce your screensaver timeout to something less (say 15-20 secs)
• Install an 'app' that turns off 'Cell usage' (as in turn on 'flight mode' ) when you least need it (i.e. when You're asleep)
• DON'T keep turning on/off your phone

I also remember one thread I read that also claim having a 'clear' home screen (as in don't have a lot of Widgets showing) can also help

Don't know if any of these help you much

 

[peire]

thanks will test a few of them out

 

[Terminator02]

To add, I've heard that task killers are almost completely unneeded as of 2.2. The only use for them is to kill rogue apps (ones that are badly coded, or malicious ones). Android itself will manage its own memory usage better than a task killer can.
that's as of 2.0

the only task killer i'd ever recommend is watchdog, it only alerts you when an app is using excessive resources, and lets you manually kill any app if it's acting up

Edit: the problem with regular task killers is that they continually kill apps as they pop up, trying to give your phone the best performance possible

this was indeed a problem prior to 2.0, and these apps were useful, however now the android operating system uses smarter management of the tasks (processes) and it kills processes on it's own only when it needs more resources for something else

and because it's no longer needed, they just use resources killing extra apps when it's not needed, and many processes will just restart after being killed, only to be killed again, which is even more battery consuming

im just trying everything just to save battery life so it doesnt die quick when im away from my charger


thanks for the advice though

juicedefender is a good app

QUOTE(CannonFoddr @ Jun 13 2011, 04:31 PM)

I also remember one thread I read that also claim having a 'clear' home screen (as in don't have a lot of Widgets showing) can also help

Don't know if any of these help you much

generally a good list of things to do but i hate quick screen timeouts, i always have mine on 1 minute, just be aware that the screen is the single most battery consuming part of your phone

and that's only true for widgets which automatically update themselves a lot, they usually have settings where you can change how frequently they refresh

 

[CannonFoddr]

Well as I said - I did read about the 'clear homescreen' tip... doesn't mean I actually use it

Not tried those other apps ('Watchdog' sounds a little like 'Autokiller Memory' - may look into that one though) but I can vouch for the 'Flight mode' tip I gave
e.g. Overnight (while in flight mode) over ~8hour period - I'll lose ~2% battery
During work shift (also ~8 hours long) of 'light use' (maybe ~10min WiFi web browsing + a couple of txts) - I could lose ~20% battery,even with the Wifi/Data turned off during this time

Also toward the 'screen' tip mentioned by Terminator is also true
I've noticed that reading a book (so that the screen on all the time) drained the battery more than listening to MP3's (as long as you're not constantly skipping through tunes) since the screen is usually 'off'

 

[peire]

ok i have been trying to customise my phone with themes etc for days now but canot find 1 i want


im useing go launcher ex and looking for a droid theme thats free and looks great any ideas ?

 

[Terminator02]

('Watchdog' sounds a little like 'Autokiller Memory' - may look into that one though)
no, it's not, autokiller memory is a task manager, not needed

watchdog only gives you a notification if an app is using excessive CPU/memory usage, and then you can click on the notification and manually kill the apps, it also has whitelisting and blacklisting apps (although you should directly take care of apps you don't want, don't just blacklist them) and lets you view all running processes in case something is acting up and you just need to restart it

QUOTE(peire @ Jun 14 2011, 02:04 PM) ok i have been trying to customise my phone with themes etc for days now but canot find 1 i want


im useing go launcher ex and looking for a droid theme thats free and looks great any ideas ?

no idea, sorry, i use LauncherPro

 

[CannonFoddr]

('Watchdog' sounds a little like 'Autokiller Memory' - may look into that one though)

no, it's not, autokiller memory is a task manager, not needed

watchdog only gives you a notification if an app is using excessive CPU/memory usage, and then you can click on the notification and manually kill the apps, it also has whitelisting and blacklisting apps (although you should directly take care of apps you don't want, don't just blacklist them) and lets you view all running processes in case something is acting up and you just need to restart it

You're right (as usual) - after I posted I actually bothered to have a look at 'Watchdog' & saw it was nothing like Autokiller'....

'Watchdog' does seem like a useful app - to find out which other apps are misbehaving among other things (don't think I've actually HAD any Apps like that yet) - but I do like 'Autokiller' than the other types of 'Task killers' - as this one only 'Closes' Apps that haven't been used for quite a while (something about apps with the highest 'oom index' get closed first) AND it will only do it IF you happen to drop below certain Memory limits, & it also closes apps the 'proper way' unlike other 'Task killers' (whatever the 'proper way' actually is)