if the wifi radio in the phone is on, then it is constantly searching for a network to connect to. so, yep, it's working and using your battery.
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Help Smart Actions - Best Practices
- Thread starter geemacd
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- motorola droid razr
if the wifi radio in the phone is on, then it is constantly searching for a network to connect to. so, yep, it's working and using your battery.
U still get text and phone calls but how the phone notifies u is up to u with what actions u select in that profile. I.e ringer on or vibrate etc. For me I have my phone in my hand all the time so ill check emails and have apps update by opening them. Having ur phone always retrieving emails and updating or syncing in background is a battery hog.
dantheman4162
Newbie
This is my first post, and I don't even have my Razr yet, but here is my 2 cents anyways based on what i've read:
It seems to me that in the next version of Smart Apps it would be convenient to have the following:
1. the ability to time-out the wifi radio when searching for a wifi signal unsuccessfully for a certain period of time. if it doesn't pick up a signal for say 30 seconds, it would then turn off the wifi radio and a pop up would appear on the phone asking if you want to re-try. So for example, say you are walking, no wifi, no wifi-radio, you then get to a coffee shop with wifi, you check your phone, click the button and back to wifi. (if the phone could automatically detect wifi signals, that would be even better, but I'm not sure how possible that is)
2. the ability to use the speed the device is traveling as a trigger. so for example if you were traveling faster than 10-15 mph, it could turn off wifi since you're most likely in a car. It is possible you could be in a bus or train with wifi, but i'm sure there would be an easy work around for that. You could also use this trigger for bluetooth activation. Maybe it would also need to include a timer or something to avoid it un-triggering at a stop light or traffic.
Anyways, not sure how practical either these are, or even what I've accomplished by posting it here, but its something I thought about while browsing this thread.
It seems to me that in the next version of Smart Apps it would be convenient to have the following:
1. the ability to time-out the wifi radio when searching for a wifi signal unsuccessfully for a certain period of time. if it doesn't pick up a signal for say 30 seconds, it would then turn off the wifi radio and a pop up would appear on the phone asking if you want to re-try. So for example, say you are walking, no wifi, no wifi-radio, you then get to a coffee shop with wifi, you check your phone, click the button and back to wifi. (if the phone could automatically detect wifi signals, that would be even better, but I'm not sure how possible that is)
2. the ability to use the speed the device is traveling as a trigger. so for example if you were traveling faster than 10-15 mph, it could turn off wifi since you're most likely in a car. It is possible you could be in a bus or train with wifi, but i'm sure there would be an easy work around for that. You could also use this trigger for bluetooth activation. Maybe it would also need to include a timer or something to avoid it un-triggering at a stop light or traffic.
Anyways, not sure how practical either these are, or even what I've accomplished by posting it here, but its something I thought about while browsing this thread.
I like your suggestions but I would like to add one. I would like it if they had some NOT triggers. Like for example, if you have a certain smart action set up at home, you can set another smart action when you're NOT home to do other things. Same thing with wifi, if you're NOT on wifi, then you can set it up to do certain actions. Hope this makes sense.
Is anyone expert enough to tell us precisely "how much?"
This would be great to know.
I just got a few minutes shy of 24 hours off the charger with my Razr using smart actions. Fairly heavy usage today too, I re-downloaded about 75 appear that I had on my droid x. Searched for them all, downloaded and installed. Made about 10 phone calls during that time, and "played" with the phone a considerable amount of time - as the phone is still new to me, only had it three days. I'm connected to wifi 8am-5pm at work, on bluetooth on my 25 minute drive home, and on wifi at home. I'd say the battery life on this phone is WAY better than I expected. No complaints here.....
See, that's the thing. We all get stellar battery life when using wifi. The real question is how is your battery life when you're only using cell data?
Sorry, I meant to say 75 apps, not 75 appears.
One thing I wanted to add - I never once shut wifi off, manually that is. I have smart actions turn wifi off during my 25 minute drive from work. But then it pops right back on with my "Home" smart action trigger. So I'm not sure how much the wifi radio drains the battery.... but it must not be much. I'm getting phenomenal battery life with wifi only being "off" about 4% of the time.
I'm quickly learning that you can cause lockups on the phone setting too many of these. I had one conflicting with another and it locked my phone up. Had to reset it (vol down and power). Went to the settings and it showed 'error' on it. So I deleted the offending setting. Think I had it turning wifi on when at home with one but off on another when the screen was off and no movement, so it was like 'whatdoIdowhatdoIdo???' and locked her down tight. Be careful how you set these!
Action Name
IDLE
Purpose
Turn off everything except phone calls and texts when not using phone.
Triggers
Motion Detector: No Movement
Display: Off
Charging: Not Charging
Actions
Background Sync: Off
Bluetooth: Off
GPS: Off
Wi-Fi: Off
What I have noticed
This action saves a tremendous amount of battery life.
When the action is turned off, it turns everything back on because I have everything turned on before the action turns off.
If my phone is charging, the action does not activate.
When my phone is just sitting around the house idle, I dont want to receive emails. If im at work, I'm already at my computer which receives my emails. When I'm sleeping, I dont want to receive emails... you get the point.
Because the trigger requires no movement, if I am out off the office and the phone is in my pocket, the action will not trigger.
What I have not tested is being in the car. Here is a scenario: I am at my office with the "IDLE" action triggered. As soon as I leave the office, the action should disable because I picked up my phone. The time it takes to leave my office and get to my car, the action should not activate because my phone is moving around in my pocket. When I get to my car, I should be able to activate another action called "CAR". Because everything is turned on, the bluetooth will pair with my car bluetooth and start the "CAR" action. I put my phone on the seat. Technically because there is no movement it should activate the "IDLE" action, but because of the bluetooth "CAR" action I would think it would overide the "IDLE" action. Even better, if I always charge my phone in the car, the "IDLE" action will not trigger because of the Not Charing trigger.
I can go 2 days without charging with minimal use. I look at it this way: If im not using my phone I don't need to be bothered with it other then phone calls and texts. If i get the itch to check for any new emails, I can easily pick up the phone, everything turns on and voila... email.
Thoughts?
IDLE
Purpose
Turn off everything except phone calls and texts when not using phone.
Triggers
Motion Detector: No Movement
Display: Off
Charging: Not Charging
Actions
Background Sync: Off
Bluetooth: Off
GPS: Off
Wi-Fi: Off
What I have noticed
This action saves a tremendous amount of battery life.
When the action is turned off, it turns everything back on because I have everything turned on before the action turns off.
If my phone is charging, the action does not activate.
When my phone is just sitting around the house idle, I dont want to receive emails. If im at work, I'm already at my computer which receives my emails. When I'm sleeping, I dont want to receive emails... you get the point.
Because the trigger requires no movement, if I am out off the office and the phone is in my pocket, the action will not trigger.
What I have not tested is being in the car. Here is a scenario: I am at my office with the "IDLE" action triggered. As soon as I leave the office, the action should disable because I picked up my phone. The time it takes to leave my office and get to my car, the action should not activate because my phone is moving around in my pocket. When I get to my car, I should be able to activate another action called "CAR". Because everything is turned on, the bluetooth will pair with my car bluetooth and start the "CAR" action. I put my phone on the seat. Technically because there is no movement it should activate the "IDLE" action, but because of the bluetooth "CAR" action I would think it would overide the "IDLE" action. Even better, if I always charge my phone in the car, the "IDLE" action will not trigger because of the Not Charing trigger.
I can go 2 days without charging with minimal use. I look at it this way: If im not using my phone I don't need to be bothered with it other then phone calls and texts. If i get the itch to check for any new emails, I can easily pick up the phone, everything turns on and voila... email.
Thoughts?
I'm going to give this a shot. My problem is I need to have my e-mail up to date, so I don't mind it doing nothing when I'm not looking at it. But, if I miss a sync, will it catch right back up?
Example: Mail syncs every 30 minutes. Last sync was at 12:30. Next scheduled sync is set for 1:00. I set the phone down at 12:50. I pick it up at 2:05. Does it instantly turn itself back on and say "Whoa! I Rip Van Winkled through several mail syncs. I'd better get caught up!" and go sync? Or will it wait until 2:30?
I'm going to play with this and see what happens.
Oh by the way...
Sternyy--you turn off cell data too, right? Otherwise wifi off turns on cell data.
dantheman4162
Newbie
That's my question too, it sounds like an awesome trigger as long as you don't have to sit there for 5 minutes while your phone syncs to the email. Is there much lag time while the phone catches up with itself?
Ok, it worked sort of. All radios went dead as advertised, and once the phone went back on, wifi turned back on and within 10 seconds oust so I had a connection again. BUT, data sync did not catch up with all accounts. Gmail stayed on top. Using the blur email client, one of my accounts synced, the other didn't sync for several hours.
However, I'm not sure this is due to the rule, as that particular account seems to always be late. I'll try K-9 and see how that works.
However, I'm not sure this is due to the rule, as that particular account seems to always be late. I'll try K-9 and see how that works.
Update: I found a combo that works.
Triggers
Motion Detector: No Movement
Display: Off
Charging: Not Charging
Actions
Background Sync: Off
Bluetooth: Off
GPS: Off
Wi-Fi: Off
Cellular data: Off (you must turn off both CD and WiFi; turning only one off makes the other automatically come on).
The problem I had with the stock Blur mail app is this: My three e-mails sync every 30 minutes. If the SA is disrupted before 30 minutes, and the phone is on, everything syncs. If the SA is active during the 30th minute sync, nothing happens--the phone is essentially dead. When the phone is next moved, or screen comes on, wifi turns back on, and the Blur e-mail app would sync one account, but not the Verizon account. Since G-mail is a push account, it syncs whenever it can so that was never an issue.
So, I froze Blur e-mail and used K-9. Now if the phone is woken up after a missed sync period, as soon as wifi (or cell data) comes back up, K-9 goes and forces a sync of the other two e-mail accounts so they are up to date.
In short, using K-9 as the mail client and the above SA means the phone won't sync until it is actively on anyways, which will cut down on syncs when I'm not even looking at it at all.
BTW, I've only tried this on wifi. My next experiment will be to turn 3G on and see what happens.
Triggers
Motion Detector: No Movement
Display: Off
Charging: Not Charging
Actions
Background Sync: Off
Bluetooth: Off
GPS: Off
Wi-Fi: Off
Cellular data: Off (you must turn off both CD and WiFi; turning only one off makes the other automatically come on).
The problem I had with the stock Blur mail app is this: My three e-mails sync every 30 minutes. If the SA is disrupted before 30 minutes, and the phone is on, everything syncs. If the SA is active during the 30th minute sync, nothing happens--the phone is essentially dead. When the phone is next moved, or screen comes on, wifi turns back on, and the Blur e-mail app would sync one account, but not the Verizon account. Since G-mail is a push account, it syncs whenever it can so that was never an issue.
So, I froze Blur e-mail and used K-9. Now if the phone is woken up after a missed sync period, as soon as wifi (or cell data) comes back up, K-9 goes and forces a sync of the other two e-mail accounts so they are up to date.
In short, using K-9 as the mail client and the above SA means the phone won't sync until it is actively on anyways, which will cut down on syncs when I'm not even looking at it at all.
BTW, I've only tried this on wifi. My next experiment will be to turn 3G on and see what happens.
pm1066 said:
I realized I DID NOT have cell data turned off. But all background sync is turned off. I also may have exaggerated the time between charges... more like 36 - 48 hours with minimal use.
dantheman4162 said:
You know I havent actually clocked the time it takes to sync, but for me it has been ok. Less than 5 minutes for sure. I think at most 30 seconds after I turn on my phone the email notification will alert me.
I think the biggest problem is that an action may work great for some people's work-flows and horrible for another. For me, I am by a computer at all times throughout the day and most of night so email on my phone is used as a reminder... or when im out at dinner or wherever, a notification to check my computer when I get home.
Hopefully this may help set up some new actions that are even better
cool but i would suggest adding a dimmer to the nighttime setting. And also, I wouldn't set the timeout to 10 minutes during charging so that you aren't encouraging burn in.
Anyone else having the issue of when leaving home (wifi) it doesn't change to 3g or 4g?? I left home today and smart actions showed it was still connected rio my wifi therefore disabling cell data. Even a reboot did not fix it.....so I had to delete the rule (disable)
No, sorry. I'm happy to report that smart actions couldn't seem to be working better. When I leave my office (wifi, cell data off) and get into my car to go home - without the phone ever leaving my pocket it goes to car mode, links to my car's bluetooth and i can call people using the steering wheel controls, it turns wifi off and cell data back on in the car, then when i get out of the car and go inside at home it connects to my home wifi, turns bluetooth and cell data back off. It's quite a remarkable deal. I still can't believe it pairs with my car and i don't tell it to, then shuts itself off when i get to home or work. Bravo Motorola..... bravo.
Oh crap.... I should expect mine to stop? DAMN!!!! lol.......
I sure hope it doesn't. I've had mine a week, and I'm amazed that i can get nearly 24 hours off the charger this way.
I'm willing to beg.... PLEASE DON'T STOP WORKING!!!
Thanks for the feedback - I'll keep an eye on mine.
Do you have any explanation for why yours quit working? It's a digital thing, doesn't actually have feelings - it didn't "decide" to start screwing with you. ;o)
Do you at least have a guess for an app you installed, or something you did... then you noticed smart actions screwing up?
That would be great information for the rest of us to have.
Thanks again - your info. is appreciated.
I Havnt installed any new apps, and I noticed when in school last night it didn't connect to the wifi, then this morning it wouldn't realize that it didn't have its trigger (home wifi) after I left my house. Guess I'll delete everything and start over and see if that works.
For me it's been working just fine. I note that the "Default" rule always runs but when the others run I can open it and it'll say "Conflict" on the actions where the other rules have taken over. The other rules always seem to get control as well. Seems to me they simply employ a last-in approach for who gets control. Once that last-in rule goes away the default pieces kick right back in. Battery life has been dramatically improved.
I still think I can do a lot better with Tasker but I'll be damned if I can figure out how to make it do anything useful. That app is amazing but it's in need of finding a partner to create a better UI for it.
ne0lyfeism
Android Enthusiast
I'm seriously beginning to hate Smart Actions. It works flawlessly when I leave for work in the morning (turns on 4g and bluetooth pairs to my car) but as soon as I get home, even though it connects to the wireless, it doesn't turn off everything else as per my "Home" profile. The only way I can get it to work is to reboot the damn thing and even then it isn't a guarantee.
I'm mulling doing a reset to see if the apps I put on it caused Smart Actions to screw up because it was working flawlessly out of the box for a couple weeks.
BullyDawg
Newbie
I have a "Home" smart action rule that runs on my home wifi and turns off the cellular data. I also have a "Default" smart action rule that turns on the cellular data (among other settings).
I have noticed that, if my phone is already on when I leave home, the "Home" rule will turn off (along with my home wifi), the "Default" rule will stay on, and the cellular data will turn back on. So far, so good.
HOWEVER ... if my phone is not completely started up as I leave home, the phone will startup with the "Home" rule active, even though I am out of range of my home wifi. As a result, the cellular data will not turn on and I can't get email, etc. My only solution is to manually turn off my "Home" rule.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
I have noticed that, if my phone is already on when I leave home, the "Home" rule will turn off (along with my home wifi), the "Default" rule will stay on, and the cellular data will turn back on. So far, so good.
HOWEVER ... if my phone is not completely started up as I leave home, the phone will startup with the "Home" rule active, even though I am out of range of my home wifi. As a result, the cellular data will not turn on and I can't get email, etc. My only solution is to manually turn off my "Home" rule.
Any thoughts? Thanks.
