Related
As the title says, this is something I’ve done for newcomers to Android. It covers only the basics. Experienced Android users will already know this stuff.
I did it as I was always forwarding the same help/advice e-mails to my friends when they bought their HTC Android phones, so I made this to save me fishing out the same e-mails. It was originally for the Desire but I have brought it up to date for the Desire S.
I’ve seen a lot of the same questions being asked here on this Desire S forum. This should help some of you. As this phone currently has a locked up bootloader, the experienced ROM-flashing hardcore Android crowd will probably not pick up this phone. It’s more likely that it will be Android newcomers that buy the Desire S.
If this helps you out, great.
Updated 1st June 2011. Changelog;
Miscellaneous spelling errors and syntax adjusted and tweaked.
Incorporated your comments (e.g. adjusting Timeriffic capabilities)
Added a tutorial for getting started with Tasker!
Added a quick fix for the creaking battery cover issue.
Added clarification on some permissions on free ad-supported apps.
Added advice on dealing with App problems and using the marketplace feedback feature.
Added warning about Fastboot mode issues.
Updated 28th June 2011. Changelog;
Added Index
Added Ultimate Charging Tip - Get 24 hours instead of 12!
Updated 21st February 2014. Changelog;
Made some tweaks to allow for maturation of Android since 2011
Adjusted recommended Apps list to allow for changes since 2011
Disclaimer: I no longer have the Desire S or have any knowledge of the current ROMS available for it. For those reasons some of the info in this guide migt be outdated. Follow with caution, and perhaps feed back where it is wrong?
Download from my Dropbox (in .pdf format) here;
Edit: This dropbox link below will occasionally expire and stop working. Please let me know when it does and I'll refresh it ASAP. I'm subscribed to this thread with e-mail notification so (unless I'm mid ROM-flashing) I'll get your posts replied to quickly.
Link updated 23rd Jul 2014: https://www.dropbox.com/s/601j4ayswkzk9o0/HTC Desire S Owners Guide V1.04.pdf
Many Thanks, found that really useful...Tasker now on my must buy list.
Moderator....possibly make this a sticky, as it will be useful for new comers.
Thank you very much for the manual. Just three comments:
1) Many apps require web access to download adds. Thus, it's unavoidable for them to have the redundant permissions.
2) "Timeriffic" has not the option to tougle the sync, unfortunately.
3) Free "AutomateIt" (https://market.android.com/details?id=AutomateIt.mainPackage&feature=search_result ) has all the options you described for the paid "Tasker".
Great guide! I'm sure alot of new android users will benefit from this. I agree with those methods to maximise battery life.
Thanks for your time and effort +1 for sticky
This is indeed very very very useful... I agreed, need to make this one sticky and updated! Thanks for your hard work man!
igoivo said:
3) Free "AutomateIt" (https://market.android.com/details?id=AutomateIt.mainPackage&feature=search_result ) has all the options you described for the paid "Tasker".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AutomateIT starts GPS ervery time you set an location based trigger. Contraprodactive for battery saving - and not necessary (weather and other location based apps do it by a-gps)
Don't know if Tasker do start gps, but for me Automateit isn't a good choice..
Glad it is of some help to people and thank you for the positive feedback everyone. I will get the guide updated when I get a few minutes. I'm away this weekend. I think I may add a Tasker guide!
Tasker can use GPS as a way of determining location, but you can use other ways. You can even control how often Tasker turns GPS on to get a location fix if you use it in a profile. For the most part, GPS is unnecessary as it is too accurate for most profile requirements. The best way Tasker does approximate location is using a state called, "Cell Near".
What this does is look at your nearest cell tower ID number and signal strength. When it see the right cell tower with the right signal strength, Tasker knows I'm at home. This is economical because it is only using 2G radio info which is on all the time anyway. Obviously it would also think I was home if I was on the same radius around the cell tower, but it's as accurate as I need for my "Home Mode" profile. Typically I see it activate as I am driving onto my estate where I live.
Tasker also knows which parameters in a profile use the least power, and will monitor those first and wait until they are satisfied before moving onto monitor the next parameter in a profile. For example, if you needed to use GPS for a very accurate location-based profile, you can keep power usage down by adding a "Time" context. Say you need your phone to send your wife a text message when you reach a certain point on your journey home after work each day. ("Get my dinner ready!" ) If you add a time context of "Between 5pm and 7pm" and "Monday to Friday" Tasker will wait until those are met before turning GPS on every X seconds to check where you are.
This way it doesn't hog battery power and my wife has time to get dressed and kick the postman out before I get back.
Nice guide!
Thanks for the guide ! I find it very useful: I've discovered some interesting applications ( I love TuneIt radio) and the tips to save battery are already really working for me
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA App
dont know said:
AutomateIT starts GPS ervery time you set an location based trigger. Contraprodactive for battery saving - and not necessary (weather and other location based apps do it by a-gps)
Don't know if Tasker do start gps, but for me Automateit isn't a good choice..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sorry, but it's not right. In particular, "AutomateIt" has "Enable/Disable GPS" action, which you can use with either the location (home/office) or any location based application events.
An example: "Entering proximity region ... - disable GPS"
When GPS is disabled, "AutomateIt" can use the available networks only to detect the location. To this end, use the flag "Allow Coarse Accurasy", see the manual at http://muzikant-android.blogspot.com/2011/02/automateit-automate-your-android.html
Thanks a lot
wnp_79 said:
Obviously it would also think I was home if I was on the same radius around the cell tower, but it's as accurate as I need for my "Home Mode" profile. Typically I see it activate as I am driving onto my estate where I live.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use another app called Llama. It's also a profile manager, doing basically the same thing as AutomateIT and Tasker, except that it can use not just gps and cell towers, but also wifi networks to recognise my location, so i don't have to keep gps turned on (which is a drain). But it tends to be quite a bit more accurate since wifi networks have a smaller radius. I set the app to recognise my "home" location not just by the cell towers in my area, but also my home wifi. So if i step outside to buy something, my phone would probably still connect to the same cell tower but as long as my phone loses the wifi connection (which happens about 10m away) it knows i'm not "home" anymore. It's pretty useful 'cause sometimes even when i'm a kilometer away, i'm already connected to the cell tower near my home.
But it works for me because i live in an apartment and my wifi network covers the whole house. For those of you who have lawns or backyards, i'm guessing your wifi might not cover those areas so it might not work for you.
But the best part of the app, which is mainly why i use it, is that its FREE. Oh, and the dev has a certain sense of humour.. it's less an app and more of a pet or assistant. You've gotta "train" your Llama to recognise the location. Cute, in a way.
slightowl said:
I use another app called Llama. It's also a profile manager, doing basically the same thing as AutomateIT and Tasker, except that it can use not just gps and cell towers, but also wifi networks to recognise my location, so i don't have to keep gps turned on (which is a drain). But it tends to be quite a bit more accurate since wifi networks have a smaller radius.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
AutomateIt does exactly the same thing with wifi networks. Checking the "Allow coarse location" checkbox uses both cell location and wifi networks.
Also, if GPS is disabled, AutomateIt will not use it (but than you'll get less accurate location...). AutomateIt tries to minimize usage of GPS by allowing the user to define a sampling rate and timeout for getting a location fix so it will not continuously use the GPS. It also stops using the GPS as soon as it gets a location fix.
for more details see the post on location trigger tips & tricks on the developer's website.
Thank you for the guide, it's a very good guide
Also, about battery drain, I checked the usage info, it seems Zenonia is at the top of my list, I was playing it earlier, but I can't even see the settings anywhere near HTC Sense, what should I do?
I seem not to be able to open the file. Could you possibly upload it on an other client?
Seriously, don't know which of the tips did it, but somehow my battery lasts 50% longer. Thinking it might be the fact that I turned of the "call louder when in pocket"-thingy as you suggested.
Awesome noob guide.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App
stevennekens said:
I seem not to be able to open the file. Could you possibly upload it on an other client?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had also problem opening it directly (in Firefox), so I right-clicked on link and saved the file directly to my computer.
Will go through guide today, when I receive my Desire S.
Should have clarified in my first post (sorry); The link is to download the file from my dropbox in .pdf format. If your browser doesn't have the appropriate plugin to directly view pdf files, use adobe 8+ reader.
It opens and reads well with the pdf reader included with the Desire S (sim free, unlocked).
Sent from my HTC Desire S using XDA Premium App
Updated to V1.02! See original post for new download link and change-log.
thanks for the awesome noob guide, worked wonders for me, with this being my first android smart phone. thanks again
[APP][2.2+] BATTERY INFORMER & TASK MANAGER - Find out what is crippling your device
Greetings, fellow Android enthusiasts.
If you're like me, that is, *very* curious (not to say, almost paranoid) about what is happening inside your shiny Android device, you've surely ended up with a lot (well, say 5+) apps to manage different aspects of the Android OS.
Optimization you got in one hand are lost by the mere fact that all those apps starts overlapping in terms of features at best and take opposite actions, or affect each others at worst, while trying to optimize your system.
Not to speak of different user interfaces spread in different packages with inconsistent visual feedback (some reporting free resources, other usage/percent, see what I mean ?)
This is the reason why I decided to write this app called "Battery Informer Task Manager" (not the sexiest name around, I know) to integrate in one single and most lightweight package everything I thought I would like to have to manage my system the best, extend my battery life the most (I will show you how later,) know what is using my data plan and ultimately dissect my system to keep control of what is running in there and what is the impact of each hardware and software component. Nothing less, nothing more :>
First of all this app is free (well, Ad-supported, and there is a donationware version if you're supporting developpers,) as my day-job is not Android developer (I'm a telecom engineer.)
So, what do we have in the package ?
A power usage reporting tool
This module tells you everything about hardware components and software packages' power consumption. Including the underlying UNIX platform.
You get power distribution between display, CPU, WiFi & BT, cellular, with the amount of energy shared between each component's states (power spent at different brightness levels by the display, at different frequencies by the CPU, at different receiving power by the radio subsystem, and so on.)
Software-wise, you get the power usage distribution between the different software packages. This is (in my opinion) the most relevant part when you're looking for what is draining your battery so fast (even when your device should be idling.) This is the part where you can see the (infamous) wakelocks that prevents your device to go to deep sleep. This is also here that you'll see network data usage by software packages.
You can go down to single process power usage from here. Select a package (or the OS itself) and get by-process power usage and time spent by the CPU executing that one (I'm pretty sure you'll have the Android window compositor up in the charts :> )
Battery usage reduction tools (what commercial apps call 'energy saver')
Very simple energy saving tactics :
- Turn off Wi-Fi and/or mobile data when you turn off the screen.
- Activate mobile data only when certain apps you choose are running (example: data is off, and the app turn it on as soon as I launch the browser. I switch to the email app, close the browser in the meantime, but data connectivity is kept up since the email client is still running. As soon as the email client ends, mobile data is turned off.)
- Automatically kill a process that goes over a CPU usage limit. You can set this limit for peak usage (the app suddenly uses a lot of CPU but was dormant before) or on average usage. This is set in term of % of CPU power. This feature can use root privileges if your device is rooted and you've enabled it in the app's settings. However be warned that root privileges might kill a foreground application. This is always very surprising (even to me, the developer) and can become very irritating if you're gaming or watching a video. So, I do not recommend it, but it can be fun from time to time :>
- Automatic background tasks cleaner. Set it to run every 5 to 120 minutes, to terminate background tasks and free memory.
All of those are optional, and are not enabled by default. So if you're willing to give the app a try and take advantage of these features, do not forget to go to the settings!
System & task manager
There are two parts in the manager.
Firstly, the system analyzer will present you with aggregated system-wide real-time indicators about your device.
Battery details (including estimated remaining time at present or on average usage rates) and instant current (in mA) solicitation on the power cells. This last value is calculated in case the kernel does not report it correctly, but you don't need to perform "battery calibration" or cycle to get it. It might be a little wrong if you swap the stock device's battery. The battery events are stored, so don't worry if you plug or unplug your device, this won't wipe those data like the standard Android battery gauge does. But you've to clean it yourself from time to time :>
The system analyzer also gives you system CPU and memory usage, along with network usage & cellular reception, all graphed in real-time.
The second part is the task manager itself. Well, this has become a bit more than a simple task manager. Of course you get the list of running processes and associated data with each of those, but I decided yo keep track of dead processes (don't worry you can hide them.)
I did that because I thought it was quite convenient to find out if a now-terminated process has used a lot of CPU or downloaded a lot of information from the network.
In the process list tab, you can terminate one or multiple processes at once, like every task manager around. But if your device is rooted, you can choose to kill the process at the OS layer rather than with the standard Android API. In other terms, root allows you to terminate foreground processes. You can chose if you want to use root privileges or not, this is not related to the fact your device is effectively rooted or not.
When you select a process, you get a screen with real-time CPU and network usage graphs along with numerical data. You also can terminate this single process from here.
What about real-time charts ? You've got them too. Process are sorted real-time by peak or average CPU usage and network data volumes exchanged. Refresh rate is synchronized with the app's service heartbeat and can be adjusted, of course.
At last, you've got a big panic button in the home screen to recycle everything if something in your device is making the CPU heating to the point you can't hold it anymore without taking the risk to burn your hand.
Goodies
- A persistent notification indicating CPU, memory and network usage levels. You can disable it if you want to.
- Two widgets, one for system stats another for power-related values.
Screenshots
We all love screenshots, don't we ?
A few on my site : www(dot)starnode(dot)net/screenshots/
And, most importantly, you get all of these in a 2.6MB only software package :>
I've successfully tested (real hands-on) the app on the following devices :
- Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100 (stock 2.3.x, stock 4.0.x and CM9 ROMS)
- Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 (stock 4.0.x ROM)
- Google Galaxy Nexus
- Sony Xperia S
- HTC Desire S (2.2 stock ROM)
- HTC Desire HD (2.3 stock ROM)
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 (AOKP 4.0.x ROM)
- Archos 101G9 Tab (4.0.x stock ROM)
I hope you'll find this useful, and I'm very very very open to feedback. If you need a new feature, do not hesitate to drop me a few words and I'll look into it (donationware users have higher priority ;p)
Please don't get angry if the app crashes or whatever, remember it's free (I know, the ads may be a little annoying, but you get full functionality in the free version!) Instead, send me the crash report when you are proposed to in the Force Close dialog, and I'll make sure to correct the issue for you !
You can find the app in Google Play, just search for "Battery Informer Task Manager"
Cheers & Have fun with Android!
CHANGELOG
Version 1.3.3 :
* When the device ROM does report inconsistent power profiles, they're replaced with standard values instead of nulls. This will allow the application to still produce usable outputs, rather than empty fields (although less precise.)
* In case of erroneous power profiles are detected, the application will suggest to send a report summary by mail to help correct the issue.
Version 1.3.2 :
* Corrected two issues relative to the monitoring service (didn't properly start in some situations.)
Version 1.3.0 :
* Initial public release.
"Could not retrieve Ad from network. The application will close in 15 minutes."
Not fun :-/
Go ahead, flame me.
Znuff said:
"Could not retrieve Ad from network. The application will close in 15 minutes."
Not fun :-/
Go ahead, flame me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Are you using an ad blocker or were your devices totally offline at this time (no mobile data nor WiFi) ?
I guess I'll have to add a connectivity check before throwing this message, the app could disconnect itself too...
starnode said:
Are you using an ad blocker or were your devices totally offline at this time (no mobile data nor WiFi) ?
I guess I'll have to add a connectivity check before throwing this message, the app could disconnect itself too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I am using a ad blocker...
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Understood. I will consider removing this in the future if the majority ask for it.
But rest assured that the monitoring service does not close itself, this only concerns the UI (which you can restart immediately.)
I had to push an update to solve a critical bug on some devices, so I made something less intrusive if you're blocking the ads.
(sorry for double posting)
A few users (thanks to them) reported that their devices' ROMs were not correctly reporting some power profiles.
So I pushed a new version that will replace inconsistent values with standard ones so the application could complete all the calculations and produce a readable/usable output.
When such an inconsistency in power levels is detected, the application will suggest to send a report by mail so I could try to correct the issue.
Trying this app out to try to resolve some huge "android os" data consumption.
I've been poking around on the market for a few days for an app that will keep track of how much time I'm using the device / what apps are in the foreground / which are getting the most use. Sort of like a data counter, but for eyeball time - so I can see, for example, that I'm spending way too much time in any given week / month in Tasker and Tapatalk, and that it's time to put down the damn phone and get some work done.
I found App Time Mini, but it's a little basic for this purpose. It puts a timer on each app you specify, but that's it. I'd like to be able to categorize apps and get a visual representation (graph) for their totals.
Anyone know of anything?
Hey actually your phone itself will have that information..atleast all HTC phones have it..however it is put behind some secret code or something..
Try elixir ..it's a widget app but will give this info..though you'll have to go deep inside that app...
However I don't know a app with graphs or other stuff..traffic widget or onavo gives you graphs about network usage...
Trying Elixir now, thanks.
I'd actually forgotten about the dial codes, but you are right, Usage under 4636 gives me a workable list. These dial codes work with more than just HTC too (using them on a Motorola Atrix). No go on a tablet tho.
For anyone unfamiliar, it's a pretty cool feature. There's a full list available here.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
First off, I have used My Data Manager and Onavo (previously, among others) for a long time to view detailed stats about data usage via mobile, wi-fi and they are great...can set limits and see detailed graphs and data on usage and also "per app" but all of these programs are your basic "trackers and loggers" and you can see, even specific app data usage but in a more general "over a period of time" kind of way...
I'm using KK 4.4.4 now and AOSP/CM11, etc.. lots of awesome customizations...and rooted of course... recently turned on a neat status bar feature (not readily available in stock roms and not all mods) to see *live* bandwidth usage numbers in real-time right next to my network status.. so it shows the upload and download rates in b/kb/mb that the phone is currently transferring...nice to see..glad to have that feature now..
Now, with that being said...(and i know why this is - all the background apps and services that are syncing and updating all the time) there is rather constant data every few seconds...it's small (usually) but very regular...
****************So this is my actual question and what i'm looking for****************
All I am looking for, is a way (app,service,setting,etc) to view some sort of monitor of LIVE app/service data that will show *exactly* what apps and background services are currently syncing and sending/receiving data...in "real-time"
All the various data apps don't really do this in any way such as this... I have searched a lot for something like this but to no avail..and in a rather tedious and round-a-bout way, there are ways to sort of get what i'm looking for..but nothing rather simple and in one spot for everything on the phone in real-time...
****************************
Plenty of pc programs that can achieve this..whether data loggers or even firewall/security software...maybe something like that is ported to Android...
So anyone using something to do this or know of a way that I can accomplish this?
Thanks
pchemerys said:
First off, I have used My Data Manager and Onavo (previously, among others) for a long time to view detailed stats about data usage via mobile, wi-fi and they are great...can set limits and see detailed graphs and data on usage and also "per app" but all of these programs are your basic "trackers and loggers" and you can see, even specific app data usage but in a more general "over a period of time" kind of way...
I'm using KK 4.4.4 now and AOSP/CM11, etc.. lots of awesome customizations...and rooted of course... recently turned on a neat status bar feature (not readily available in stock roms and not all mods) to see *live* bandwidth usage numbers in real-time right next to my network status.. so it shows the upload and download rates in b/kb/mb that the phone is currently transferring...nice to see..glad to have that feature now..
Now, with that being said...(and i know why this is - all the background apps and services that are syncing and updating all the time) there is rather constant data every few seconds...it's small (usually) but very regular...
****************So this is my actual question and what i'm looking for****************
All I am looking for, is a way (app,service,setting,etc) to view some sort of monitor of LIVE app/service data that will show *exactly* what apps and background services are currently syncing and sending/receiving data...in "real-time"
All the various data apps don't really do this in any way such as this... I have searched a lot for something like this but to no avail..and in a rather tedious and round-a-bout way, there are ways to sort of get what i'm looking for..but nothing rather simple and in one spot for everything on the phone in real-time...
****************************
Plenty of pc programs that can achieve this..whether data loggers or even firewall/security software...maybe something like that is ported to Android...
So anyone using something to do this or know of a way that I can accomplish this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im not saying there is none out there, but i have seen this exact question asked before, and no useful apps were suggested.
sorry i couldn't be of more help.
Hi!
I'm looking for a really simple app or hack to track an android. There are way too many apps out there to find the right one and the ones I tried were horrible (big, advertising, data collection...).
The built in "locate my android" through google devicemanager works as of now, but we would like an app that does the following:
- displays a track on a map with dots with timestamps
- keeps a history of the track - a few days is enough. More than 5min update intervall isn't necessary and only when moving.
- updates ideally only when actively using GPS or after it detected movement for an hour or so, stays quiet and doesn't consume battery and activate GPS unnecessarily.
- doesn't do anything when not asked for (except sending updates of position if position changed), like notifications, activating GPS, ads
Purpose is to see quickly where people are or last were. Precise times and locations are only needed for moving targets (and then navigation is likely being used and GPS active anyway) so you can tell when someone will arrive roughly.
I have Xprivacy and could control rogue apps to some extent, but my girlfriend doesn't and I'd like an app that doesn't need accounts and wants access to other data.
Molvol said:
Hi!
I'm looking for a really simple app or hack to track an android. There are way too many apps out there to find the right one and the ones I tried were horrible (big, advertising, data collection...).
The built in "locate my android" through google devicemanager works as of now, but we would like an app that does the following:
- displays a track on a map with dots with timestamps
- keeps a history of the track - a few days is enough. More than 5min update intervall isn't necessary and only when moving.
- updates ideally only when actively using GPS or after it detected movement for an hour or so, stays quiet and doesn't consume battery and activate GPS unnecessarily.
- doesn't do anything when not asked for (except sending updates of position if position changed), like notifications, activating GPS, ads
Purpose is to see quickly where people are or last were. Precise times and locations are only needed for moving targets (and then navigation is likely being used and GPS active anyway) so you can tell when someone will arrive roughly.
I have Xprivacy and could control rogue apps to some extent, but my girlfriend doesn't and I'd like an app that doesn't need accounts and wants access to other data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This kind of thing not authorized here on XDA.
Ashwinrg said:
This kind of thing not authorized here on XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean? I thought this is Q&A for questions like this! Nothing unethical here, as I said there are tons of apps for family/friends tracking. I just want a very simple one with mapview and a little history. And I got frustrated with trying out contenders which didn't do anything close to what I wanted in a simple way. So I hope someone had better luck than me and will share their experience.
Something like Life360 might be what you're looking for.
Try browsing around other related apps on the play store.