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Calm an iPhone Defectors Heart

T

Tnesper

Lurker
I was an iPhone 3GS user for over 2 years and recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy S 2 on AT&T to learn for myself which operating system I liked the most. As a result, I have a few questions about my Android phone that have come up so far that I was hoping you could all help me with. As I ask these questions, please understand that I realize that I do not have an iPhone and that there are things that will be different, and pros and cons of each platform.

1) Is there an Android e-mail client that will sync upon opening? For the sake of my battery I don't like my phone constantly connecting with servers and downloading updates throughout the day (facebook, twitter, e-mail, RSS feeds, etc...) The iPhone e-mail client automatically fetches e-mail, when you have push notifications turned off, upon opening it. I can't find an Android client that does the same thing. I am currently using K-9, but I tried the Gmail client and the built in e-mail client and those didn't do it either. On all three apps I don't see a setting for it to sync upon opening the app. Am I blind?

2) One thing I am concerned with is battery life. Android seems to be less transparent on what is running in the background with apps, but more transparent with services. Below is a list of applications that I don't have an explanation for as to why they are running, but I can see them running in my "Memory Booster Lite" app. These are the apps that open immediately after I kill all apps using said Memory Booster app.

  • Gallery
  • Ap Mobile
  • Yahoo! Finance
  • SamsungAppsUNA
  • Samsung TTS
  • Pico TTS
  • Voice Command
  • BadgeProvider
  • LogsProvider
  • MTP application
  • Buddies now
  • Digital Clock
  • Tethering Manager
  • Bloomberg (I installed this, but why is it always running)
  • Maps (listed 3 times)
  • TTS Service
  • Device Management
  • Social Hub
  • DRM content
  • Synchronize
  • PCWDevice
  • BrcmBluetoothServices
  • BluetoothAvrcp
  • Nfc Service
  • Status Bar
I assume that my iPhone had similar services running in the background, but I just couldn't see them. Are any of these apps that are running that I can set to not keep opening and hogging memory/draining battery?

3) I really miss Itunes! Don't hate me :-) I have been using DoubleTwist to see how that works. Is that really the best application for synching with a PC? The features of Itunes that I like are Podcast synching, music synching, and application synching. Music and application synching doubletwist seems to do well, but they currently say that their podcast service is down for maintenance. Is this the best alternative to synch my device?

4) In line with Itunes. What happens to all of my apps and the way I have them laid out if I my phone gets "bricked" and requires a factory reset, or if I upgrade to a new phone? On a iPhone, you can restore the phone exactly how it was from a previous backup. It looks to me like there are paid (bummer) apps that will backup all of your contacts and apps, but do they go further than that and backup all the settings within those apps? Do they backup how I have my home screen laid out and all of the phone settings? This feature is also convenient if you buy a new phone. You can go ahead and set it up exactly like your old one without having to re-install everything and re-organize everything.

I know I will have more questions as I decide whether or not keep this thing because it is superior, or revert back to iOS with a new iPhone 4S. I would really appreciate some help on these questions and any future ones that arise. You are helping me and a few other people make a decision between Android or iOS.
 
Hello...welcome.

I'm sure someone more knowledgable about androids than mewill come along shortly and give you more details than I can.

I've had an android for just over a month now and I am still learning things about it. My wife has a iphone 3G and this is what I have discovered in a way giving a general ansdwer to your questions...

1) I have all syncing turned off and I then sync after opening the application by pressing the sync button. It's only two extra presses and I have only set up my gmail account to the phone. Everything else can wait till I get home.

2) my understanding is that the running apps list is more like a near-line (kinda like sleep mode) list for quicker launch. Most android phones will over time learn what you need to have in near-line and keep them there and removing less often used apps & services...always maintaining optimum resources available. I've learn over time that this is one aspect of the android I have no need to concern myself about.

3) I really don;t blame you for missing itunes...however for me I tend to look at my android as a stand-alone little PC. When I connect the android to my PC for back-up & maintenence (shifting pics and files) I tend to prefer to do music "syncing" manually. Not everything I have on the PC I necessarily want on my phone & vice versa. I do listen to podcasts & RSS feeds and doggcatcher has been awesome for me in this regard...it very good with syncing, display & retaining settings, have not needed the PC for this. my wife wants an Android now and I have no idea how I will ween her away from itunes.

4) I have back-ups but I have no experience of restoring them as yet but I'm pretty sure it will be the same scenario as if i bricked my PC.... re-format & re-install OS (ROM) & apps.
 
1. You should just be able to set syncing to Manual, then when you open the app, just hit menu-refresh.

2. Those apps are not running, they are just cached in the memory. That's how android works, dont mess with it by using a task killer, you are only making things worse.

3. I don't use a syncing app at all. I just connect the phone to the pc, open the music folder on the card, and drag and drop my music into that folder.

4) In line with Itunes. What happens to all of my apps and the way I have them laid out if I my phone gets "bricked" and requires a factory reset, or if I upgrade to a new phone?
Click to expand...

A factory reset will wipe everything, including your homescreen layout.

It looks to me like there are paid (bummer) apps that will backup all of your contacts and apps, but do they go further than that and backup all the settings within those apps?
Click to expand...

Only if you are rooted. When you are rooted, those apps, like Titanium Backup, will backup all your apps AND the app's settings, including homescreen layouts.

On a iPhone, you can restore the phone exactly how it was from a previous backup.
Click to expand...

That's a Nandroid backup. You can backup and restore the entire phone's status, apps settings layouts etc. However, again you need to be rooted to do this.
 
A task manager is not necessarily a bad thing. A task killer is definitely a bad thing with Android. Automatically killing all running services and or apps causes MANY more problems than having them running does. In fact, most of those applications are not actually running, they are stored in the ram so that they open more quickly, using less battery than opening them fresh every time would. Killing services is an even bigger problem. If you kill services, then things you expect from your phone will not happen. IE, your alarm won't go off, phone may not ring, email will not be fetched, etc. In the end you'll think your phone is a POS when in fact using the task killer caused your mountain of problems. It is sometimes appropriate to kill an app, if it is poorly coded or becomes unresponsive and is bogging your phone down, for instance. This is an exception though and not the rule. I've simplified things a lot here with my explanation, but if you want to learn more about it just google "why you shouldn't use a task killer with android".
 
sitlet said:
1.

Only if you are rooted. When you are rooted, those apps, like Titanium Backup, will backup all your apps AND the app's settings, including homescreen layouts.



That's a Nandroid backup. You can backup and restore the entire phone's status, apps settings layouts etc. However, again you need to be rooted to do this.
Click to expand...

Are there other advantages to rooting my phone to make that worthwhile? If down the road I need to use a warranty claim can I restore my phone to the factory settings in order to still have the warranty.
 
Tnesper said:
Are there other advantages to rooting my phone to make that worthwhile? If down the road I need to use a warranty claim can I restore my phone to the factory settings in order to still have the warranty.
Click to expand...

You can unroot any time you want.
 
Tnesper said:
4) In line with Itunes. What happens to all of my apps and the way I have them laid out if I my phone gets "bricked" and requires a factory reset, or if I upgrade to a new phone? On a iPhone, you can restore the phone exactly how it was from a previous backup. It looks to me like there are paid (bummer) apps that will backup all of your contacts and apps, but do they go further than that and backup all the settings within those apps? Do they backup how I have my home screen laid out and all of the phone settings? This feature is also convenient if you buy a new phone. You can go ahead and set it up exactly like your old one without having to re-install everything and re-organize everything.
Click to expand...

I just use premium Spotify. My computer has a master copy of all my music. The stuff I listen to most is in various Spotify playlists, which get synchronized wirelessly to my Android phone. So I carry about 2 gigs of music (my collection is much larger than this). Anything I don't have synchronized is seamlessly filled in via Spotify.
 
@Tnesper
Just give yourself adequate time to go through the learning curves of a new os. A lot of folks are very help full here for the most part.
 
Welcome to Android Forums, Tnesper.

I won't touch on all of your points as some have been answered, however I would like to add a few things. First, stop killing tasks. It take a bit to understand the advanced memory management model Android uses, but it's best to let the system manage it for you. You can read up on it here ... http://androidforums.com/android-applications/335110-why-you-dont-need-task-killer.html?highlight=task+killer.

As for battery life, especially if it's a new phone you may need to "teach" your phone what a full charge represents. It will take a few power cycles before the phone will accurately report a charge. If you want to optimize that process I'd recommend doing a deep power cycle ...

  1. Discharge the battery until the phone shuts itself off.
  2. Recharge the battery to full using the a/c adapter, not a usb cable.
  3. When the phone shows full, unplug it and reboot.
  4. Plug the phone back into the charge and shut the phone off while plugged in. Even if it shows full, let it charge for at least one more hour.
  5. Unplug the phone and reboot one more time. You should see a significant increase in battery life.

What you are doing is not conditioning the battery, but teaching the phone the batteries' capacity. Be advised that you should only need to do this once and that regularly deep discharges can damage Li-Ion batteries.

Some people find iSyncr to be a suitable attachment to iTunes, but the sooner you cut that USB umbilical cord, the better your android experience will be.
 
lunatic59 said:
Welcome to Android Forums, Tnesper.

I won't touch on all of your points as some have been answered, however I would like to add a few things. First, stop killing tasks. It take a bit to understand the advanced memory management model Android uses, but it's best to let the system manage it for you. You can read up on it here ... http://androidforums.com/android-ap...t-need-task-killer.html?highlight=task+killer.

As for battery life, especially if it's a new phone you may need to "teach" your phone what a full charge represents. It will take a few power cycles before the phone will accurately report a charge. If you want to optimize that process I'd recommend doing a deep power cycle ...

  1. Discharge the battery until the phone shuts itself off.
  2. Recharge the battery to full using the a/c adapter, not a usb cable.
  3. When the phone shows full, unplug it and reboot.
  4. Plug the phone back into the charge and shut the phone off while plugged in. Even if it shows full, let it charge for at least one more hour.
  5. Unplug the phone and reboot one more time. You should see a significant increase in battery life.

What you are doing is not conditioning the battery, but teaching the phone the batteries' capacity. Be advised that you should only need to do this once and that regularly deep discharges can damage Li-Ion batteries.

Some people find iSyncr to be a suitable attachment to iTunes, but the sooner you cut that USB umbilical cord, the better your android experience will be.
Click to expand...

I will give that shot and see what happens. Thanks for the advice. I'm looking forward to giving this a 30 day trial to decide which one I like more.
 
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