Hi everybody!
I hope you could help me with something. I want to track a vehicle using an android phone which will be permanently connected and hidden inside the car (in case it gets stolen).
I already bought a second hand Lenovo A1000 for $20 with Android 5.0. I've installed Google Trusted Contacts (minimum Android version 4.1) and added myself with constant share on (all the time). I've got a mobile data plan for $2/month which offers 100 MB internet that should be sufficient for the needs of Trusted Contacts.
I'll disable all apps on the phone, turn off wifi & bluetooth, dim the display to the max, and disable internet usage of anything but the Trusted Contacts app. The phone can stay in standby mode for over a week and it'll be charged every time the vehicle is used (which will be every day). So basically it'll always be on.
However, in case I want to access the phone and check something or make some changes, which app can I use? The phone will be physically inaccessible so I need an app which will always be running in the background and should be able to start automatically if the phone restarts for some reason.
Do you have any ideas about such an app? And any suggestions regarding my idea in general - with Google Trusted Contacts and the hidden phone?
Thanks!
Lirex
bump
Sad bumb, probably the last one.
Related
Has anyone heard or know of software that'll switch my WiFi on or off depeding upon where i am currently located using GPS? e.g. home or work? or wherever i've previously manually turned WiFi on and got a connection?
CMP
You should go for CMP - Commmanagerpro by Daniel Herrero
Its the most important program for a device running WM !!!
And I mean it.
Depending on cell towers and/or scheduled tasks it will change profiles, task and whatever you can think your device should do for you...
Exampel: My phones runs a close apps at 0100. At 0600 it reboots, turn on sound and let the alarm go. At 0730 the phone turns on and the screen becomes brighter. At 0800 a schedule starts, so IF CMP recons certain cell towers it turns on my Car profile. That one changes when I arrive at work to a work profile. Different sounds and lots more. IF my calender say I am in a meeting the screen will turn off and and sms will be sent to any that call me...
I have schedules for everyting. Nights - evening, weekend and wifi, tugging kids to bed and more....
So in short. CMP let you control whatever your device should do according to your position, the time of the day or your calender.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=299070
It has MANY details so it might take you some time to get deep with it, but from then it WILL become THE app of your device..trust me.
Thanks Martin, That looks like it does what i want, using cell phone masts is a much better idea than using GPS i guess.
However i'm put off slightly by the ugly skins and many details that will take me some time to get configured, i just want a simple background service that remembers what cell phone masts were responding when i get a successful authenticated wifi connection, and to use that information to turn wifi on the next time i'm in that area. The rest of my phone's profile such as back-light and ringtones etc i'm totally happy with managing myself as i'm not yet ready for my phone to be in control of my life! - i guess what i'm saying is the service shouldn't have any need for a configuration screen, and if it does, then it should be formatted and laid out in a standard way that doesn't look so scary or require me to identify my screen size before i download it!..
perhaps someone out there with more time on there hands than me could write this service and sell it on marketplace?!
CMP runs as a service
I couldn't resist the challenge.. i have written this as a tiny background service...
Wherever you turn your wifi on and get a connection, your phone will remember this and turn it on next time your there, also if you wander outside that 'connected' location and loose your wifi connection your wifi will be turned off until either you wander into a previously 'connected' location or turn it on manually... - turning it on manually and connecting to a wifi network will add that location etc etc... so no profiles, no config, no skins, no setup, no frills.. just plain handy.
if like me anyone is sick of wifi draining the battery when accidentally left on, or up sizing your phone bill when its accidentally left off, then get in touch and i'll slip you a copy to beta-test for me!
Cheers
I have a need for tracking my vehicles remotely in case of theft. I have tried Lojack which failed miserably because after the thief deactivates the unit there is no way to recover the vehicle. There is a buffer time between finding the vehicle stolen and being able to activate Lojack of about 3 hours, which is plenty enough time to search the vehicle and deactivate the unit. The best solution is something that records the location of the vehicle to a remote server. The location log can be viewed even after the unit on the vehicle is deactivated which should show the location of the chop shop, garage, etc.
The most reliable and user-friendly product available is a cell phone using Google Latitude wired into the vehicle’s constant 12V+ using a car charger. Google Latitude Location History must be enabled so all past logged locations are viewable with a timestamp on a map.
Some downsides to Google Latitude are:
Location update intervals not configurable
Android OS has many unneeded features that waste battery
Android phones last 8 hours max when GPS tracking set to update every 10 minutes and with sync disabled and never turning on the screen (based on my tests with various Android phones after fully charging the batteries)
Proposed Solution:
Strip the Android OS down to bare minimum (linux kernel, no GUI, only cellular and GPS support) with configurable location update frequency that updates to Google Latitude. This would be a dedicated tracking device not usable as a normal phone, but should extend battery life.
Questions I have:
How many people would be interested in testing/using this customized OS?
Do people with experience customizing Android think this is worthwhile?
Is anything like this already being worked on?
Would anyone be willing to help me when I need an experienced guide?
I’m not interested in charging money and will release the source code.
Update:
Latify for Android updates the phone's current location using the Google Latitude API and lets you set the update interval and can auto-start when the phone is turned on. Latify makes a dedicated tracking OS less important but I'm still curious what the community thinks of the idea.
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.
Just converted to winpho, and I love all the integration and fluidity as everyone says. But I feel like it takes up way too much data.
tl;dr. data usage hitting 10+mb daily, <3mb on android. wtf?
I find myself hitting 10mb+ daily, when i was below 3mb on android. WiFi continuously on (it wasn't on android either). I browsed wiki (one page) and used bing once, and found myself at 10mb halfway through the day. The only running app with data usage (that i know off) is 2 gmail account (probably 20 emails total, all text), with 30min interval and metrotalk (google voice client).
Looking at tmobile data spreadsheet, my phone seems to randomly access about 5+mb (up to like 13mb) daily in one section of time, and everything else below 1mb. I stream no music or video.
Not a new toy syndrome either, I used the phone for half a month already and found this trend.
Data Usage spreadsheet from t-mobile. http://bit.ly/JVQk0C
This is frankly, ridiculous. That would be like downloading a giant app a day. what could possibly my phone be doing?
phone: nokia 710
edit: i did the math, wp7 avg. at 15mb/day while android at 4mb/day wtf? (same usage for the most part)
Moved to Q&A for you mate, should get you a few more opinions
I actually found WP7 much easier on my data allowance than Android. Don't forget that your live tiles etc. will use data to refresh, and having your Google voice client open all the time may not be doing you any favours, either. It's entirely possible that the Voice client on Android hibernates one way, and the client you're using on WP7 does it another way
You could always turn off the xbox live synchronisation with your games and the zune account for the music. I believe they will take up some of your data. You should also check any of your applications that might use the internet a lot! By the way, why don't you use push notifications for your google accounts? Those might use your data too!
There are number of services that can use data in the background. A few suggestions of things to check:
Make sure the feedback info is either turned off or set to only send over WiFi.
Un-pin the Me tile, or accept that WP7 will need to ping Facebook to see what your contacts are saying about you (may also apply to the People tile).
Marketplace tile probably uses a little data, checking for updates, but it should be minimal.
Games hub definitely uses som data, if it's synching with the Xbox Live servers (not sure how much).
A small bit of Marketplace configuration data is downloaded nightly, but it should be only a few KB.
Tip: Leave the phone plugged in all night, even if it doesn't need it. WiFi turns off when the screen is locked, unless the phone is plugged in. No, that behavior is not (yet) configurable.
I note this too after NoDo update. At the begining, my phone uses a little of data every day (some Kb, never goes far than a Mb). I use data to sync my hotmail account, gmail account, rss channels, some webpages. After NoDo update, my phones starts to consume a lot of data (more than 10Mb every day with the same uses). Then mango goes out and i think maybe they fix this situation. Today my phone have 8107 and the data usage is over the clouds. I switch on data connection manually and my data usage is more "normal". I know my phone has a lot of new services over the cloud but i can't maintain its appetite of data.
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)