I upgraded a new HTC phone with Android 2.3. I found that this device is bloated with running processes made by HTC. Even this device has 128 M more internal memory it is all consumed by this bloatware. For example:
- HTC Hub
- HTC Likes
- HTC Message Uploader
- Skinscanner
- HTC Report Agent
- com.htc.demoflopackageinstaller
From the 3 below I'm not sure if they're from HTC:
- CSPeopleSyncService
- My Downloads Provider
- Updater
I begin to feel HTC is acting as big brother on me. I'm not using any HTC service or widget so at least the presence of this bloatware is doubtful.
This feeling has even got stronger after I registered a HTC Sense account, since this was required to download some HTC apps that were previously present by default on my 2.2 device. When I logged in to HTC Sense on the web it said it was synchronizing ALL my contacts and messages among other things. WTH??? I assume there's a single line in the 20-pages EULA stating that HTC was allowed to do this but no-one reads this of course. Why on earth would I want HTC keeping a copy of my contacts and messages when I use Gmail???
HTC is running bloatware
I have a HTC Desire S running Android 2.3.3 and HTC Sense 2.1.
I have 2 services running in the background that were a bit suspect:
HTC Report Agent and
My Downloads Provider,
so I contacted HTC about them.
Here is their response and the subsequent discussion that ensued:
"HTC report agent is a HTC background application so you do not need to worry about it from a security point of view. My Downloads Provider however is not an HTC application."
"I know "HTC Report Agent" is a background process.
My question is, what does it do exactly?
Does it connect to the Internet?
I'm on a daily Internet Plan from Vodafone and I don't want any process opening up a data connection to the Internet and costing me money without my express consent.
Can I safely stop the precess and prevent it from starting again?
You don't know what "My Downloads Provider" is then?
I bought this phone from Expansys.ie and it was unlocked and SIM free.
So it was in a factory state when I received it.
The process was either installed by HTC or is part of the Android OS?
I will contact Google and ask them."
"HTC report agent is an application used to bring notifications on the screen. It does connect to internet for some of the application. My downloads provider will also connect to internet for applicaitons downloads. If you want to monitor mobile internet data then you can download 3g watchdog which is an application to monitor mobile data."
"Why does HTC Report Agent have to connect to the Internet?
Is it some sort of "Big Brother" application?
I get charged €1 per day for using a data connection on Vodafone, no matter how little data is transferred.
I will now be charged every single day, because these apps are connecting for NO good reason.
I stopped "HTC Report Agent" in the Applications manager and it restarted itself again soon after.
Can the process be stopped permanently?"
"HTC report agent is used to send application crash reports to HTC so that HTC can improve and fix porblems that occur with the phone. It does not send any personal data to us. What you can do is try switching off mobile internet on your phone so your phone will not connect to internet and you will not incur any charges."
"I am not happy about this at all.
This is why people Root their phones, so they can have some measure of control and remove unnecessary programs.
Surely HTC should give the option to stop this process.
At least warn users, and give the option to decline uploading of reports.
By the way, to my knowledge none of my apps have crashed and "HTC Report Agent" seems to be transmitting data regularly."
"I am sorry that you are not happy with the HTC report agent working in the background. Unfortunatley HTC phone applications are designed this way. This is to improve the quality of software that we release. If you are seeking to root your phone then we are unable to provide any support for a rooted phone."
I am very disappointed with this situation, if you have a very slow data connection in the country somewhere and are trying to access the Internet these bloody "services" are running in the background transferring data making my incredibly slow connection even slower.
Newer versions of HTC Sense seem to have even more bloatware running.
This once "Quietly Brilliant" company has headed to the dark side I think.
Dude relax.turn off data.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA Premium App
These applications will clog up your bandwidth
Yes I have turned off Data, but I use the phone to surf the Net every now and again.
As soon as Data is turned on, these processes are triggered and begin transferring data.
That would be fine with a very fast connection like using wifi at home, but when the signal is weak using mobile data these things cripple your bandwidth.
Up until now I was using a Nokia E75 running Symbian, the speed difference is noticeable.
I'm not freaking out, I'm just letting you know what I've experienced.
patcheenrocks said:
Yes I have turned off Data, but I use the phone to surf the Net every now and again.
As soon as Data is turned on, these processes are triggered and begin transferring data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there's always Droidwall (separate enable/disable for Wifi and 3G) and LBE Privacy Guard (enable disable data/permissions per app)
PS. the 'Thanks' button is surprisingly close to 'Quote'...
Both Droidwall and LBE Privacy Guard require the phone to be rooted though.
I think it's the only option really though.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Related
Hi.
I have just got a Desire S on a 24 month contract with Orange (UK), unbranded phone from Carphone Warehouse.
My old handset was an LG GT540, and when using the web browser on that phone as i typed in the address bar it would show search suggestions as i typed..
My Desire S doesnt seem to do this. Is this something that HTC removed, or can it be enabled in anyway? Does anyone else have this issue? Having never had a HTC phone before im not sure if this could be be something that HTC removed with their costomisation of android/sense etc...
Also. The price plan I am on includes 250MB or data per month..
My old LG phone was on pay as you go on o2, with 500MB of data and i never really used over 100MB in a month (was connected to wifi whenever i was at home).
So i just wanted to know if 250MB should be enough for this phone also. I will do most app downloads etc via wifi, and really will only use 3g/mobile data whenever I am out of the house.
I wont have many apps/widgets set to auto update adn sync, at most it would be the HTC weather widget, my google account obviously (contacts, calendar and mail) and possibly just facebook/twitter set to maybe update once an hour (Ive disabled syncing on the news and stock accounts). I do most web browsing eithe ron my home computer, or via wifi on my phone. So at most will do only an occasional bit of web briwsing via the data connection at most. Should 250MB a month be plenty for this kind of scenario, or does HTC/Sense phones tend to use a lot more data than a stock plain android build?
ONe last thing. I want to set up a HTCsense account (the one that lets you locate th ephone, and remotely lock/wipe the device etc..) This apparenyl syncs some things on the phone, does anyone know what exactly this DOES sync? and how heavy data usage this service is?
Apart from that I must say i absolutely LOVE this handset, especialyl when coming frmo the LG GT540 which is a low end android device and only runs android 2.1
Thanx for the help in advance.
well if you use wifi at home all the time, i doubt you'd run out of 250 mb.
i'm on giffgaff, where i get unlimted internet, but i can only use 100mb a day.
i sometimes do heavy web browsing on 3g and i cannot manage to use my 100mb...
only of course if you watch youtube over 3g/download apps all the time!
(sorry cant help with the other questions!)
m_2010 said:
Hi.
I have just got a Desire S on a 24 month contract with Orange (UK), unbranded phone from Carphone Warehouse.
My old handset was an LG GT540, and when using the web browser on that phone as i typed in the address bar it would show search suggestions as i typed..
My Desire S doesnt seem to do this. Is this something that HTC removed, or can it be enabled in anyway? Does anyone else have this issue? Having never had a HTC phone before im not sure if this could be be something that HTC removed with their costomisation of android/sense etc...
Also. The price plan I am on includes 250MB or data per month..
My old LG phone was on pay as you go on o2, with 500MB of data and i never really used over 100MB in a month (was connected to wifi whenever i was at home).
So i just wanted to know if 250MB should be enough for this phone also. I will do most app downloads etc via wifi, and really will only use 3g/mobile data whenever I am out of the house.
I wont have many apps/widgets set to auto update adn sync, at most it would be the HTC weather widget, my google account obviously (contacts, calendar and mail) and possibly just facebook/twitter set to maybe update once an hour (Ive disabled syncing on the news and stock accounts). I do most web browsing eithe ron my home computer, or via wifi on my phone. So at most will do only an occasional bit of web briwsing via the data connection at most. Should 250MB a month be plenty for this kind of scenario, or does HTC/Sense phones tend to use a lot more data than a stock plain android build?
ONe last thing. I want to set up a HTCsense account (the one that lets you locate th ephone, and remotely lock/wipe the device etc..) This apparenyl syncs some things on the phone, does anyone know what exactly this DOES sync? and how heavy data usage this service is?
Apart from that I must say i absolutely LOVE this handset, especialyl when coming frmo the LG GT540 which is a low end android device and only runs android 2.1
Thanx for the help in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
250Mb seems a little tight, I have 500Mb and tend to use 300-400 per month...although I suspect that my first months usage figures will be much higher than following months, as I've been downloading applications, reseting, syncing more than would be considered normal. Although I also stream radio which is quite greedy.
If you're strict with wifi usage over 3g you can probably control it and come in under 250Mb.
The best way to control your usage would be to install this http://www.appbrain.com/app/3g-watchdog/net.rgruet.android.g3watchdog which will monitor your usage and give projected usage figures.
I believe that Sense backs up your text messages along with other things as after I did a factory reset they re-appeared when I put my sense account details back into the phone.
20 gb amonth atleast or leave it be id say.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App
I bought a Telstra Smart touch phone, powered by Android. I bought the phone because I wanted to use wi/fi and connect via my modem/router and use the phone when I have turned off my computers and leave the modem on so as to access the wireless. I didn't want to use the phone for the internet outside of the house via the 3G network because I can't afford that. I was told by my ISP that I could use the gigs I pay for by connecting to my router but that was not the case, I was misinformed. I only wanted to do this in case I thought of something after turning off my computers and leave the router on to access wireless. This did happen & I was able to pick up the wireless signal but I only did it once, one web site and 2 emails were sent in 3 weeks because I was worried that I was getting charged. Then I got my bill, $90 for internet charges for the mobile phone. After many questions to Telstra finally spoke to someone who seemed to know that the charges were because Android updates the applications on the phone. I tried turning off the Internet part but then I couldn't even use the calender on the phone unless I put in my gmail account, is there any way I can use the phone without Android updating all the time and causing me to be charged. I put the phone back to factory settings hoping I could just use it for general things, text messages, phone, calendar, reminders etc.
thank you,
Joan.
Turn off background data and uncheck "Automatic update" in the market under your installed apps. Apps such as Gmail, Maps etc. Is set to update automaticly.
And go through the phone settings and uncheck things that includes "data" and "auto".
Oh, you also want to disable auto sync. (it's in settings)
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA Premium App
thank you very much for helping me.
Joan
Sorry, I meant to ask ...if I do as you suggest will I be able to use the applications, such as the calendar, take photos etc., just like I can with my Samsung smart phone, but I don't have that enabled to the internet although it can be done but it's not wi/fi, thats why I bought this smart touch one and use it if I wanted to but only through my router wirelessly and it doesn't cost anything. I just want to be be able to send text messages including picture messages sometimes (I know the latter does cost). I could even use it as I first intended as a wi/fi phone at home, not through the 3G network though, through my router. I just don't want to have to pay for Android updates but would like to use the other features if they are available. I put the phone back to factory settings because I didn't think I could afford to use it but it's been bugging me so thought I would try again. I can't do anything with it though unless I enter my gmail account, so should I do that?.
Thank you very much for your time,
Joan.
Having decided against moving to Win Mobile 7 I got a Sensation a couple of weeks ago (from a HD2) and hence my first Android device.
All is going well apart from the data connection. On Win Mob 6.5 I had 5 business emails which the phone checked every 15-30 minutes. The phone would connect, check the emails and then disconnect. If I wanted to browse then when I opened the browser, it connected and disconnected when I closed it.
On the Sensation I seem only to have the option of data connection on or off. I have set the email to sync every 30 minutes but I have to have the data connection on all the time to let it do this. The battery drain is crippling.
I download Juice Defender Ultimate after reading another thread but after setting it up it only allows data for so many minutes in the hour and when I say that the browser should overide Juice it just says I have no connection.
I love Android but losing 75% of your battery in 6 hours because of business emails is not quite good enough.
So is there a way of getting the data connection to go on and off as required (both on demand and for scheduled automatic email syncs)?
And if not what Juice defender settings do I need to get it to do what I want?
Any help much appreciated.
I'm looking for an answer to this to, for the exact same reason. A "Data Connection Timeout" setting or something similar.
Switch to pushmail, saves you quite some data transfers and is more effective in the end. I have two hotmail addresses plus oen gmail on pushmail and I don't notice any more battery drain with data connection permanently on.
Settings>Mobile Networks>untick "Enable always-on mobile data.
This usually helps the battery drain a lot, especially if you don't have things that are always using data, like pandora and the like. If you have things set to specific intervals, then it should work like your WinMo devices and connect then disconnect as needed.
Admittedly the droid likes to be more automated than WinMo, and you have much less control than 6.5. (Never used Phone7, so I can't comment on that.) But, once you learn the tricks to using it (just like the tricks to 6.5) its just as powerful as WinMo was for the business geared user, as far as I can tell. The battery is something that takes some finessing as well, so keep working with it and keep learning. There are some pretty good guides available that can tell you steps to take, even a few here on XDA for the searching.
Good luck with your new droid device, it will become second nature in time. It took me a month to quit tapping the icons in the task bar. LOL.
Thanks for the replies
I think the fact that the HD2 and the Sensation both use Sense helps and therefore it has been fairly easy to get to grips with Android.
I have already unchecked the 'always on' option but I never seem to get any emails unless I open the email program up...even when its running in the background. Win Mobile 6.5 used to check without the email being open.
I have had another play with JD and seem to have sort of got what I want but sometimes the data connection won't wake up after the unlock screen without a data toggle on and off.
Is there any better email apps from the market?
I have already unchecked the 'always on' option but I never seem to get any emails unless I open the email program up...even when its running in the background. Win Mobile 6.5 used to check without the email being open.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange because when I do that I get a lot better battery life and my push Gmail arrives in 2-3 minutes instead of isntantly. also Google Talk won't stay connected with this setting. Other than that it seems to work really well for me doing exactly what you want.
Installed Skype, because I use it ocasionally. Added it to some task killer to prevent it to start at boot time. I reboot, it's on. I take an other task killer, kill it. Still on.
I go in Skype, logout; I try relogin, it asks me for password.
How to make it behave like on my computer ? have it run only when I need it, have it off when I don't need it, and make it NOT ask me password when I login ?
Where is the "quit" button ? quit without forgetting the password !
Short WA: rename the package in /data/app, and reboot. But ... really, isn't there a nicer solution ?
I don't have any problems. Go to Skype settings and change the go offline time.
Have you tried the market for stop skype type apps? I used to use stop skype but apparently this doesn't work with the latest version. There are other out there though...
Unless it's actually using battery, there's no reason to kill it. You're just wasting more battery and resources by using a task killer. Android does a decent job of managing memory on its own, so let it.
If it bothers you THAT much, or if it's eating through battery, freeze it with Titanium Backup. I believe you'll need the Pro key to freeze apps. With the free version you can make a backup of it (this will save your password) and uninstall it when you're not using it. Just restore your backup when you need to use it. Freezing is a lot easier, though.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Skype has a lot of hooks for when it starts, so if you took it out of startup then it might be in connection changed or something like that.
Sent from my MIUI SCH-i500
plainjane it's not draining my battery, it's draining my data plan !!! and when on data plan, since Skype is banned by my phone provider, my friends see me go online-offline every 20s ... I keep blinking and ennoying them. I want Skype to run only when I am on Wifi, and disable it when on GSM. All other apps have options in Prefs ... Skype doesn't. Skype just sux. So, the easy fix would have been to do like other naighty apps: use Tasker to ask it to kill Skype when no wifi is available, and Skype restarts itself ...
You all guided me to something I had not found yesterday; changed the conf, will see tomorow.
TB is a good idea; did not pay yet, but I may pay for pro, for other reasons. But I have other things to test before that.
Thanks for chat.
A recent update seems to have ruined Skype TBH. I switched to Viber but you could also try Fring.
Skype now behaves more like a virus than an app for me.
I didn't think about the data thing, I'm used to having unlimited data & I'm usually on wifi anyway.
If it's a data thing, try using Droidwall. In Droidwall you can deny connectivity over mobile data or wifi. Just deny it over mobile data & allow it over wifi. The app may still run, but it won't be able to connect. Be sure to select menu > apply rules, just checking the box won't do anything. Also ensure that the firewall is enabled, and enable the log as well so you can check to see that it's being blocked. The app is free and works well, I use it for other things.
It's not a permanent solution, but it will keep it from eating your data until you find a way to stop it.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
plainjane i have found how to tell Skype to never connect anymore; I will still install droidwall for other reasons.
I don't mind that much about data plan cost; but my friends complained I was blinking, and boring them
Fring is not an alternative; Fring no longer supports Skype (Skype complained to Fring, and frorced Fring to remove their internal skype-compatibility-plugin); I am not asking for free voice calls; I need Skype specifically, for their uniq services (Skype Out to call foreign number at low cost, and Skype-only contacts ... friends who are too lame to use anything else than Skype ... ).
I could WA my provider limitations and disconnecting issue by activating my tunnel (tunnels will ensure quality service, prevent discos, and re-establish connexions transparently when my providers shut's down the link; transparent for app, and fast enough to "not see any disconnexion at application level", just some lag ).
But my root issue was to get Skype not start at boot, and shut-up when i am bored. And if the next Skype update removes the options you helped me to discover, I will activate DroidWall which looks very nice
Thanks, issue fixed.
Hello my friend,
I have recently migrate to WP7.5(Tango) and i have some little questions.
My data is always connected, but, i don't have activate the pushmail.
So, why my data are always on ?
Does Windows Phone has an autodisconnect feature ?
If no, is there a way in order to install an application in order to autodisconnect data after X seconds of innactivity.
Thanks a lot for your help,
Nixeus
What phone you are using?
Does your cellular provider charge by the minute, or something like that? All the rates for data that I've seen are either by the month or by the megabyte. I don't think I've heard of auto-disconnect as a desired feature since the days of literal modems (the kind that sent sudio tones over the telephone connection instead of using a communication protocol actually intended for data).
The only way I know of to turn off the data connection is manually, in the Settings hub. Be aware that a lot of the features of WP7 use data connectivity in the background, not just email sync. For example, syncing your Facebook (and Twitter and LinkedIn) account, syncing your contacts and calendar from the server, checking the Marketplace for updates to installed apps, and so on. These use very little data, but they connect fairly often.
In theory, I'm sure there's a way to programmatically turn the data connection on or off. It might even be possible to tell when it's not in use, and hasn't been for some time. This is not going to be easy, though, and as far as I know nobody else has figured it out.
Thanks for the answers,
So, i will coding an apps in order to turn OFF the DATA connection during a period.
( the night for me)