Help Reference Manual

[Thom]

I have been in the computer industry for a lot of years and have worked on a lot of machines. The Bionic is simply impressive. It is astonishing what can be done with it and how it brings some real new creativity into use.

<rant>
$600 for a computer ... where's the Reference Manual? The Bionic User Guide is what is typically called "Getting Started".

- Where's the list of conditions that are set when you power on?

- Where's the list of applications that are always running weather you touch them or not?

- What applications that come on the device that you cannot remove unless rooted can devour your available battery? (The only warning is Mobile Hotspot.)

- What is the method to reboot built into the OS ... you know like Ctrl-Alt-Del on a PC. (Is it really Power Off/Power On? Is it something else that is not documented?)

- There is one leaked "hidden menu" on the Bionic. Are there others?
</rant>

I think we need some REAL documentation.

... Thom

 

[fatpomp]

Motorola DROID Bionic User Manual Now Available for Download

 

[Thom]

Yes ... that is the ... Getting Started manual ... I was talking about a Technical Reference Manual with information that didn;t have to be discovered by trial-and-error.

Is your point that you have all the manuals you need?

... Thom

 

[johnlgalt]

The reason there is not much of a user manual is that Android is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo customizable that it'd be hard to document all of the differnt variables - for example, different people use Social Media networks differently, some people connect to Exchange while others do not, some use only regular Google accounts, some use Google Apps accounts, some use both (like myself), some use the phones primarily for games, while others use it for productivity, while others use it for music and multimedia, ....

Since there are so many different things going on, and that is just with the core set of apps in the system, not counting the apps you download and install yourself, it' pretty hard to do that. Especially in light of the fact that some of those might change with an update here or there....

I'm a computer repair specialist and have done Tier I and II HD support, and I've worked on a lot of different machines in my time as well. While I agree wholeheartedly with you that there is a need, I also see why it's simply easier for them to not do all that.

I was approached several weeks back to start assembling tips and tricks together, and someone had already started a thread regarding that, and I'm slowly working my way through the forums to find appropriate tricks and such that I an link to in that thread - it also will have necessary background information supporting each trick where applicable and available, but it's gonna take some time....

 

[Thom]

I agree with you that the entirety cannot be documented in one place. What is missing is the "heart" that is not documented. It appears to be rather easy for an App to keep launching itself in the background perhaps causing odd problems.

An example is an investigation of Slacker that apparently does something every time you load the system even if you never use it. One theory is that this is the cause of the USB connection that only recognizes one drive on the PC.

For the core system there ought to be documentation. For the bloatware that we are required to have there ought to be documentation. If I add applications then I would turn to those developers for documentation if needed.

There is a perception that we are dealing with a phone here. We aren't. We're dealing with a pretty sophisticated computer that handles communications (among other things).

Oh ... I remember ... Google ... never mind ...

... Thom

 

[johnlgalt]

The biggest problem here I see is that they don't want us knowing, for whatever reason.

I've uninstalled more apps that I'd really like to keep simply because they, for whatver reason, run a service in the background all the time - from boot that I really do not need, b/c I do not use the app on a frequent basis, but I have no way of altering that behavior.

It applies to the stock apps as well, and in that I'll concur with you - it should be there - but it is not.

Sounds like a good project to work on....compiling a list of stock apps that auto run as well as another list of default settings that come on the phone when you get it OOB....

 

[Thom]

That is an interesting idea ... but ... before jumping in with both feet ...

Google should document the core system as the starting point. The user community could then build on that foundation with infromation about non-Google software and hardware.

The fact that there is bloatware that has no documantion or non-Root method of removal is simply obscene. What makes it obscene is that is some cases it has bugs that are injecting noise into the solution of other problems.

I suggested to ChainsDD that they add a capability to SuperUser Elite ... scan every installed App and if SU was enabled, add it to the SuperUSer log and track it with the others. (This was because the log on my Droid X "lost" the fact that I had Titanum Backup Pro installed when I purchesed SuperUser ELite and installed it. The correction to me would seem to be to provde a capabilty to create the log from existing Apps if a user had actually gone out and bought a copy of their paid version to say THANK YOU.

They don't seem to see it as a priority.

I think their focus was off. I think that in many cases the focus is off.

Documenting the core would IMNHO add focus and provide the starting point.

Blast ... there I go again ... I remember ... Google ... never mind ...

... Thom

 

[johnlgalt]

That in and of itself becomes a tautology, because you say

Google should document the core system as the starting point. The user community could then build on that foundation with infromation about non-Google software and hardware.

which implies they have not and then say

Blast ... there I go again ... I remember ... Google ... never mind ...

which means you're going to look for something that you've already implied does not exist....

OK, now that our little word play is done....

I'm serious about these projects - it's much needed info that a lot of users, and particularly new Androidians / converts who get the BIONIC as their first Android phone, will need to know.

 

[Thom]

I know you're serious. I think it is a great idea. I am willing.

My backgroud is systems programming on mainframes, software consulting, and software development on PCs, and now Android.

I don't believe anything that is being said about OTA. I will believe it when it is installed in rpoduiciton on my Bionic. (That BTW is what makes a great systems programmer.)

I am waiting until after that point to Root my Bionic. (I havve a root-ed Droid X running 2.3.3.)

A lot of the informaiton to be collected will require some tools that must have SU.

Conclusion ... I can do something after I get root-ed after OTA is released.

(For the record ... I hate football ... the fact that there is NFL bloatware on my phones hacks me off.)

(And on a positive note ... there is My Tracks ... wow ... it is obvious how they calculate the incremental speed on the route ... how do they calculate the inremental elevation? ... are they just reading it off a stored contour map?)

... Thom

 

[johnlgalt]

This should make you extremely happy then - Cheesecake, the app that people are now using for updating scouring, basically allows the phone to check different Motorola Servers for applicable updates to phones - while they are still being tested.

While the final production release may not be the same version as what we are testing now, and may not include what we are testing now, it's a good bet that some conglomeration of these updates will make it into the final catch all update that is released to production.

Read more on cheesecake here: xda-developers - View Single Post - *Bootloader Unlock Research* Cheesecake Clarification in case you already haven't

While I agree with you, having been a 3rd party and 1st party beta tester for more companies and developers than I can ever remember (and still being one for more than 10 applications actively, both in PC world and here on Android - what can I say, I like to break things! ) I also see the keen interest in these updates - one for being able to help keep devs in the loop as to what some of the proposed changes might be to the system so that root exploits can be developed faster, and two for being able to test the veracity of claims like my own that the 5.6.893 update has done wonders for my connectivity issues....

I understand your lack of rooting and playing with updates, however, I also realize that even though I can call my own device mission critical, I do already have a backup device to run to, and hopefully will be acquiring a second backup device to go to in the event something really breaks, and three because I simply like living on the edge

I can say this - 5.5.893 was not all that great - 5.6.893 is a major rush....

As for football, well, I like it. As for MyTracks, yeah, I was stoked about that app a long time ago, and then it disappeared in the market, and I was like WTF? Then I got my BIONIC and it's back... I never once, however, even thought about how they were calculating elevation, but then I remembered that our phones have a barometer too, right? Or am I misremembering? And WTH would a barometer have to do with ALT anyway? Must be contour map versus Long / lat coords, I would think....