Essential Android Apps

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I've installed the Nexus One's photo gallery and it looks WAY better. A little buggy (the photo icon/button doesn't work) but it's still miles better!
 
So I got my desire it's running the purdy sense ui, but the HTC mail widget is a little pants. Is there any way of having an entire home screen dedicated to the gmail app instead of using the "i only update when you tell me to" HTC mail widget?
 
I prefer HTC mail to be honest. Gmail doesn't have pull and only works if you sync ALL the time, which would obviously drain the battery out. The HTC widget also works fine for me too (not straight away, but it still updates).

But to answer your question, No there isn't, unless there's some widget i don't know about in the market.
 
Gmail push doesn't drain your battery at all - I leave my phone on 3G all the time and can get a few days standby if I only use my phone for the email check, text messaging and application updates etc which on most days is the case, I only drain battery when I start watching videos or surfing the web pulling in large amounts of data.

Push = The way forward.
 
Khaaan! said:
Gmail push doesn't drain your battery at all - I leave my phone on 3G all the time and can get a few days standby if I only use my phone for the email check, text messaging and application updates etc which on most days is the case, I only drain battery when I start watching videos or surfing the web pulling in large amounts of data.

Push = The way forward.
Click to expand...

I can't get 1 day out of my battery and i only leave mobile internet connected lol
 
Syncing with gmail doesn't affect my battery life either. I get around a day and a half having gmail syncing continually, twicca syncing every 5 mins and the news widget every hour if I only use the phone for the odd call and 20-30 sms per day. It's only surfing, watching vids and playing robo defence that drains the battery :)
 
Same here - I've have 2 gmail accounts constantly synching. I listen to an hour of music every morning and surf while I'm on my way to work. If I don't surf then the battery will last a couple days but on morning when I'm surfing I drain the battry very quickly.
 
CSlater, Khaaan,

Thanks for pointing that out :) I always assumed syncing constantly would definitely have a negative effect on the battery. I'm guessing you've excluded most things from automatically syncing then?

(I still prefer the default mail app, i think it's just a lot cleaner :))
 
Just used mytracks for the first time! Amazing! So easy to intergrate with google maps and gives you all of the time data etc.. You can even export it to google docs!!

Using the HTC Desire with a Belkin Ipod Touch armband.. Fits very snug!
 
Android is pretty good at managing tasks but it is still useful having a task killer app.

The biggest drain on battery when you are not 'using' it comes from services that wake the phone at intervals and download data from 3g or gprs. If you have a number of apps that all wake at different times every hour you could end up waking it every 5-10 min. It is largely down to the programmer to make sure that they code it wisely or allow the user to decide how often the app updates.

Memory wise, android manages that and will 'kill' apps when it runs out and needs more. It still doesnt help battery having loads of apps that are not being used just sitting there.

Task killers just allow you to take poor programming into account.

If anyone wants to hear a bit of a long talk on the subject go and have a look at

http://developer.android.com/videos/index.html#v=OUemfrKe65c
 
i tried using my magic without a taskmanager for a month or so after using heavily advanced task manager since i bought it . There is a difference , noticed it especially while using the default browser , there was a lag while typing....also i noticed lag when launching apps . I have reinstalled adv. task manager and will use it from now on because i have found it does help
 
I've been running my Desire without a task manager / killer all day after some good advice.

I've noticed no decrease in performance or with my battery, and i've been using it quite regularly.

... I don't think i'm going to bother with one at all!

.... I posted this in the the other thread.

For one day there's been no issue, but I was always a little sceptical. After your good points and also that link I think i might download one again...

I just can't decide just yet what's best for my phone in particular, so i'm weighing up all the options and trying anything that i think will improve it.
 
Keep one there just in case, thats all I do. It takes up a tiny amount of space and you kill the task killer along with other apps when you use it so I dont see a downside of having it there as a utility.

I wonder if it would be possible to create a program that would run a sequence of actions for a set period of time to allow you to replicate a test environment. You could then run one with the androids inbuilt resource management as its only memory management; the other would run the same set of programs and tasks but would use the task killer periodically.
 
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Anyone have any recommendations for radio stations on droidlive?

UK one perhaps? Germany ones are pretty special though, their gingles are amazing.


Also does anyone know of a decent podcast app? Really want to be able to download the Hospital Record podcasts and listen to them on my phone.



Thank you.
 
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