Related
Ok so those of you who own the Photon have probably noticed Motorola buried the Data Toggle option deep in menus we're not used to finding them in. None of the current Toggle / Widget apps support access to this menu with a single click.
**3G always on tends to drain your battery as it constantly searches to connect to a data signal. Turning it off when not needed will increase your battery life. Please note, this is not a 4G toggle...that is separate. This toggle will switch off 2G/3G radio only.**
EarlyMon (Android Forums) pointed out a free Toggle App, that with some exploration and trial I was able to come up with a work-around that allows a single press Data Toggle.
Here's a quick tutorial:
1. Download Widgetsoid2.x and install.
2. Long-press on Home Screen, and select "Widgets"
3. Scroll down to Widgetsoid Switcher 1x1
4. 1st option on the toolbar down on the bottom is "Network" select that.
5. Select "Mobile Data"
6. Next go to Theme...and customize the look you want for the toggle.
7. Select Apply on lower menu bar
8. A menu will pop up asking if you want to "Edit Global Preferences"...Choose Yes
9. The first Tab from top is "Data Toggle Mode"
10. Select "Root Toggle"
11. Press your BACK key...and it will return you to your Home Screen.
Done... There's your Data Toggle!
Sorry for my ignorance but why would this be needed...
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Yogi3 said:
Sorry for my ignorance but why would this be needed...
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keeping your Data on consistently uses battery. The radio constantly cycles in search of data signal. Turning it off when you don't need it can boost battery life significantly.
Oh ok that makes sense... thanks for answering my question
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
I think this is especially helpful for those with poor signal quality that fades in and out all day long.
Good tip.
Data enabler on the market works for one touch
something i bought way back and I wasnt really impressed was switchpro widget
switchpro widget's data toggle doesnt work on photon. a shame
sweet, thanks. Is there any way to reduce the size of the icon? I couldn't find the option in Themes.
When adding it as a widget you can select its size. 1x1, 1x2, etc.
sub2k1 said:
When adding it as a widget you can select its size. 1x1, 1x2, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, 1x1 is just a little too big
You could try using Multicon widget app and make them really tiny.
TS out
Just as a heads up, I recommend you guys download Tasker if you really want to have control over your battery usage. Its not free, but that 6 bucks is worth every penny. There have been multiple articles on Lifehacker regarding this tool. I used it to create many different tasks that help reduce power draw, including a basic Mobile Data On/Off Toggle. Its an extremely powerful tool.
rancherochido said:
Data enabler on the market works for one touch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes...but it's EFFIN ugly...lmao!
Also in Notification
If you do not like the app icon you have the option of not showing the widget on the home screen but in the notifications area, give it try.
carnageaf said:
If you do not like the app icon you have the option of not showing the widget on the home screen but in the notifications area, give it try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh good find!
10 chars....
what about beautiful widgets? they have one for mobile or juice defender witch turns off data when ur screen is off and its free
I use Beautiful Widgets and the data toggle doesn't work. Most won't...have only found these two so far. I prefer a toggle over auto off on screen off, as I use my phone alot...and don't always need a data connection.
I followed OP's instructions to use Widgetsoid2.x and it worked like a charm. Thanks!
Cool - thanks developer - so this is the recommended way to "manually" turn off/on 3g? Why didn't the android OS have this built in like the other network things like, radio / wifi / bluetooth / 4g /etc?
Ok folks, what Im going to do here is go through some of the major things I have noticed since installing the official ICS but before I do that, let me give my two sentence review.
Its nice. If you are wondering what the Note SHOULD have performed like on launch, this is it. MUCH improved scrolling, better performance and slightly more aggressive app handling.
Ok, I lied, three sentences.
Changes:
NOTE that I will NOT be covering changes to the launcher portion of ICS.
1. Overall performance is better. Using Go Launcher, with the app drawer set to 6x6, it scrolls MUCH more smoothly. The market scrolls much smoother, settings, the same. It isnt 'butter' but it is much more acceptable now, not stuttering to the point of overshooting apps.
2. Notifications menu now has two new toggles - Flight Mode and Power Savings. There is now also a fast Settings button that will take you straight into the Android Settings app.
3. The power menu (long pressing your screen on/power button) has had accessibility moved to the top of the menu (if you had this enabled) and now has a 'Reboot phone' option (YAY!!)
4. ALL system apps that CAN be linked to the market are now correctly linked. This means your list of installed apps will be a bit longer (when looking in the play store list) and also means that these apps will be able to be updated without manually searching for each one by one.
5. There are obvious signs of the original UI ICS all over the place, notably the spinning circle but you'll see it everywhere.
6. Improved battery life, for the amount I have used the phone, its at a much higher percentage than it normally would have been.
One quick point to interject, apps can now be disabled
Originally Posted by j101399j View Post
You can now also disable most stock apps.
I know this worked on some of the ICS roms, so I just looked and verified that even though you cannot uninstall some of the bloat (without root), you can disable it . For example, I can disable Swype and install Swype Beta now. I hate AT&T Navigator, so I disabled it. If it cannot be uninstalled, disable it.
(settings --> applications --> all --> select the app and uninstall any updates --> disable) kinda like freezing the apps without root
City ID
Device help
Media Hub
Polaris Office
Swype
Yellow pages
YPMobile
Yahoo finance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here are a few more that I just disabled, thanks for this tip
AT&T Navigator
Email (I use the gmail app)
Google+
Now. the rest of this is the stuff under settings. Im going to cover what I recognize to be new.
Under Settings:
First off, you'll notice that everything is now categorized into different groups now, making finding things in Settings a bit easier.
Wireless and Network
Tapping on Wifi or Bluetooth now takes you to the screens to configure the advanced settings for these features. Tapping 'On/Off' on the right side enables or disables the radios.
Data Usage
Here is where you can set up your billing cycle dates and put hard caps on your PHONE to keep your data usage under what your carrier allows. Fairly straight forward but make sure you set your billing date up correctly or this will be of NO use.
More
Here you will find NFC (YAY), Android Beam (send data between two devices using NFC), and Wifi Direct (connect two devices with a wifi antenna without the need for a router/hub).
Device
Call
Nothing new here, just a few things moved around a bit.
Sound
Again, nothing new, just shuffled a bit to make things easier to get to. Note that the menu button now no longer brings up any advanced settings here, they are all accessible by navigating the screen options.
Display
A few things moved around a bit BUT a new feature, Show battery percentage in notifications bar. NICE Also, Gyroscope Calibration is now an option.
Power Saving
Unchanged
Storage
Prettier but unchanged, a little bit more information but not much.
Battery
Unchanged
Applications
Unchanged, tho it should be noted that you can hit your menu button while in this screen to sort the list by Size
Personal
Accounts and Sync
Unchanged
Location Services
Unchanged
Security
Big one here but this is where you will find face unlock and even a voice recognition feature that can I believe be used in conjunction with another method to unlock your phone. I havent had much time to look at it yet.
Language and Input
Largely unchanged but its a bit more intuitive to change your keyboard now. And, for an interesting 'feature' that Samsung forgot to disable, Pointer speed, which has NO effect on our phone, this option is only for phones with a trackpad (Samsung forgot to disable this - made me smile).
Back up and reset
Nice, this option used to be buried under privacy and is now brought out into the main settings list. Much easier to find, it
System
Dock
Unchanged
Pen Settings
New option, Hovering pen icon (shows a pen icon over the screen where the pen is hovering)
One Handed Operation
3 completely new settings, to configure the calculator, dialer, and unlock pattern to be configured for use with one hand (clumps everything on one side of the screen so that you can say dial numbers with just your thumb rather than the usual having to hold the phone with one hand and dial with your other).
Date and Time
Unchanged
Accessibility
Two new options, Speak passwords. Havent had time to check to see if this works for unlocking the phone as well, but if it does, that would be silly. Tap and Hold delay can now be configured as well as allowing or disallowing the installation of web scripts.
Motion
New option, Double Tap to allow voice dictation easily. Sweet
Developer Options
Several new things you can make visible for the nerdy types but Im not going to cover them here since they are really only for developers .
About Phone
Unchanged
Ok, that should give you an idea of what to look for, if someone else wants to cover the touchwiz stuff (adding or removing widgets/icons/homescreens) I can add it.
Also, if there is anything I missed or got wrong...
Ok, one more new thing, the phone now charges correctly off your USB port, ie. charges faster.
Awesome write up! Do you have any idea how -- or if -- we can add app shortcuts to the lockscreen like the SGSIII?
PS: I have Widgetlocker but would prefer to use the system for this if possible.
Under Settings Developer Options you have the ability to adjust the Window Animation scale and also Transition Animation Scale.
When I set these to 0 then launchers like Go launcher behave much quicker.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
whats the downside to GPU rendereing? decreased battery life?
murso74 said:
whats the downside to GPU rendereing? decreased battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding is, one of the major improvements made to ICS is the ability to offload some of the processing to the processor / gpu depending on current load - ie. cpu is extremely busy at the moment so offload some processing to the gpu (or vice versa). Enabling this option I believe forces the gpu to handle everything regardless of the state of the cpu.
Reports have claimed enabling this option has mixed results. If the app supports gpu acceleration, you will see better performance. If it doesnt, the app will actually have worse performance and may actually crash the app in some rare cases. All ICS updated apps support this and chances are, if the software you have on your Note has been updated to support ICS, you have no issues.
So, the advice from the streets is to either keep is disabled and pretend you didnt see it or enable it and keep in the back of your mind that you might need to disable it occasionally for certain apps. The performance improvement is supposedly pretty minimal.
andrawer said:
Under Settings Developer Options you have the ability to adjust the Window Animation scale and also Transition Animation Scale.
When I set these to 0 then launchers like Go launcher behave much quicker.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, there are a couple of negatives about this however. Any native Android apps will loose some of the fancy 'little' touches (for example fading when going from one screen to another in settings). Some have reported however a small improvement in battery life doing this so its up to you. Persoinally, performance wise, I didnt notice anything differently with these set to 0. But then again, I have only one homescreen.
One other note, I just got off a 2.5 hour phone call from a full charge. Ended the call with 70% battery left. This is a HUGE improvement over GB where I likely would have been around 50% left.
not really usefull but in about phone, if you tap the android version a bunch of times you get a 8bit android in a icecream sammich.
also after the update I have no more black crush!!!
pez13 said:
not really usefull but in about phone, if you tap the android version a bunch of times you get a 8bit android in a icecream sammich.
also after the update I have no more black crush!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if u rub it u get flying ones. Old news
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
oh hey!!!! thats a new one on me!!! cool! what did it do on GB? We lost the ability to change the brightness by pulling down notifications a little bit and swiping left or right I liked that feature
pez13 said:
oh hey!!!! thats a new one on me!!! cool! what did it do on GB? We lost the ability to change the brightness by pulling down notifications a little bit and swiping left or right I liked that feature
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In gb it an artwork painting of the Android dude surrounded by zombies
Sent from my SGH-I717M using xda app-developers app
pez13 said:
not really usefull but in about phone, if you tap the android version a bunch of times you get a 8bit android in a icecream sammich.
also after the update I have no more black crush!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol that one was nice
littlewierdo said:
My understanding is, one of the major improvements made to ICS is the ability to offload some of the processing to the processor / gpu depending on current load - ie. cpu is extremely busy at the moment so offload some processing to the gpu (or vice versa). Enabling this option I believe forces the gpu to handle everything regardless of the state of the cpu.
Reports have claimed enabling this option has mixed results. If the app supports gpu acceleration, you will see better performance. If it doesnt, the app will actually have worse performance and may actually crash the app in some rare cases. All ICS updated apps support this and chances are, if the software you have on your Note has been updated to support ICS, you have no issues.
So, the advice from the streets is to either keep is disabled and pretend you didnt see it or enable it and keep in the back of your mind that you might need to disable it occasionally for certain apps. The performance improvement is supposedly pretty minimal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sorry to tell you that you are incorrect. Here is information about that toggle and other android graphics issues straight from the woman who designed the OS.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...I-C08yEO63mvHG6BQ&sig2=bamQd77PjEBd050c6s96EQ
TLDR:
Before ICS, android used the GPU to accelerate the animations of the windows, but it left the choice of how to render graphics inside the windows to the app developer. What the toggle does, is to force GPU rendering inside the windows, even if the app did not ask for it. There are two downsides to this forced rendering. The forced rendering can break compatibility. It can also increase memory usage unnecessarily.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk
pez13 said:
oh hey!!!! thats a new one on me!!! cool! what did it do on GB? We lost the ability to change the brightness by pulling down notifications a little bit and swiping left or right I liked that feature
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see I wasn't the only one to notice that the brightness/ notification bar trick doesn't work anymore. I really hope they bring it back.
What about what is mentioned in
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/SupportOwnersFAQPopup.do?faq_id=FAQ00047453&fm_seq=51497
Who is the author of "My Story App" mentioned above? There are a couple different apps that it might be in the Play Store but I didn't see any mention of "S-Pen" in them.
Found it from:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=28583744&postcount=4
http://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sec.android.app.mystory
Justinfedor said:
And if u rub it u get flying ones. Old news
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bwwaahhhaaaa.... sorry but when I opened this thread it landed on you post.... and I read it out of context
Just received an email from Samsung saying to upgrade to ICS (did it via kies when 1st available). The email stated there is a newly introduced "Desktop View". This is for the default web browser.....
If you want to switch to "Desktop" browser mode, bring up the settings and select "Desktop view". So now its easier to switch between mobile and desktop browser modes.
Before you had to do "about:useragent"
Something to add to the OP; you can now also disable most stock apps.
I know this worked on some of the ICS roms, so I just looked and verified that even though you cannot uninstall some of the bloat (without root), you can disable it . For example, I can disable Swype and install Swype Beta now. I hate AT&T Navigator, so I disabled it. If it cannot be uninstalled, disable it.
(settings --> applications --> all --> select the app and uninstall any updates --> disable) kinda like freezing the apps without root
Apps I disabled
City ID
Device help
Media Hub
Polaris Office
Swype
Yellow pages
YPMobile
Yahoo finance
I'm sure there are more, but these are the ones I hate
radon222 said:
bwwaahhhaaaa.... sorry but when I opened this thread it landed on you post.... and I read it out of context
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow. I just reread what i said. Haha
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Howdy all,
This might be stupid of me, but i will ask anyway...
I have my Razr running ICS with Go Launcher
Everytime i go into the app drawer, and tap "Running", I find all these apps that i haven't even opened. I tap the little broom to close all apps (Which it does) then exit out. A couple of minutes later, even after not opening anything, i go back and there are all these apps running again that i don't use.
My questions are...
1) Why are these apps popping up???
2) Is there a way to stop it from happening again???
I feel that it would be draining my battery having all these apps running in the background, which as you could imagine would be fairly annoying lol
If anyone could help, it would be greatly appreciated
Thank you in advance
:good:
Android always runs apps in the background and from what I understand some may be for a feature you do not use but there are required processes for the system to function.
What you can do is go into settings, applications, all, and things you do not use you can uninstall updates and then disable them.
I got rid of a bunch of background apps that way.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium
or get rom toolbox and use the auto start manager to choose which applications will start in the background during boot. but do this with caution as it can cause you to have a boot loop if you accidentally disable a system required file from being loaded
reaperzero said:
or get rom toolbox and use the auto start manager to choose which applications will start in the background during boot. but do this with caution as it can cause you to have a boot loop if you accidentally disable a system required file from being loaded
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you need to be rooted to use Rom Toolbox???
yes
That's Android for ya lol. You can also root the phone and delete certain apps you don't want. Titanium Back Up is good. If you do this make sure you check the thread of bloat that's OK to remove. Some apps need to be on the phone. And if you do root your phone and flash roms most roms already remove unnecessary apps.
Android.Is.Winning#RAZR MAXX
I noticed this early on and it was annoying me a lot. Especially as it was slowing the whole system down, when it was sat at 91% of memory being used. So I've turned off background processes in the developers options in the settings menu. Not sure if thats available unrooted, but I've got that option now. Now it sits at 78%.
I don't have Go Launcher, did use it with GB, but I've got the power meter and the memory status bar.
Mavican said:
I noticed this early on and it was annoying me a lot. Especially as it was slowing the whole system down, when it was sat at 91% of memory being used. So I've turned off background processes in the developers options in the settings menu. Not sure if thats available unrooted, but I've got that option now. Now it sits at 78%.
I don't have Go Launcher, did use it with GB, but I've got the power meter and the memory status bar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying the "No background processes" option now (It is in developers options as default without rooting the phone) :good:
It has been brought to my attention this fix does not stick through reboot or wifi cycle. I will mess around with the editor some more however I fear without modifying the framework it may not be possible to completely be rid of it. Moderator can lock the thread please.
have discovered how to remove the constant notification that wifi is off. You must be rooted (thanks to the devs who made that happen) and have SQLite Editor installed.
It is available from the Google Play Store for 2.99. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedsoftware.sqleditor&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5zcGVlZHNvZnR3YXJlLnNxbGVkaXRvciJd
Open SQLite, allow root access and navigate down to "Settings storage". Click it then click "settings.db" then "secure". The last line (351 on my device) is entitled wifi_watchdog_on and the value is listed as 1. Click on this then click the pen in the upper center corner to edit the value. Change it to a 0 (zero) and click save. Back out of the app then pull down your notification shade. Long press on the *&#%$* wifi nag until "app info" is shown. Click it then select force close. It will give you the standard warning but don't worry about it.
After these steps are taken the nag will be gone! Hope it helps someone who is irritated like I was.
Thank you for this! Worked perfectly
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
Thanks!
Thank you very much!!
This worked, but once I turned wifi back on it came back once I disconnected. Anyway to make it permanent?
Doesn't stick for me, the nag comes back and the setting goes back to 1 after a reboot...
is there a way to do this for the blocking mode nag as well?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda premium
coming back on for me as well.
Can this be done with the FREE SQLite Manager app?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wsMSwxLDEsImNvbS54dWVjcy5zcWxpdGVtYW5hZ2VyIl0.
If you forcefully uninstall the WiFi nag app, will this prevent it from relaunching everytime you reboot or turn WiFi on?
The app info of the wifi nag said it was Android System
FMXP said:
Can this be done with the FREE SQLite Manager app?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...wsMSwxLDEsImNvbS54dWVjcy5zcWxpdGVtYW5hZ2VyIl0.
If you forcefully uninstall the WiFi nag app, will this prevent it from relaunching everytime you reboot or turn WiFi on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... When you long press on the wifi nag on your shade, then choose app info... it's a part of android system that you're stopping... don't know if uninstalling it is possible.
Hmm...I wonder if it's a part of the TouchWiz framework. Hopefully someone can make a hack for it which removes the Ongoing Notification, and also puts the WiFi toggle back in the Notifications Control Panel where it belongs.
You can put the WiFi icon and whatever else you want (I add a flashlight also) to the taskbar with the app "notification toggle" from the playstore.
I have used this temporarily on a few different phones while I was waiting on Custom ROMs to make their appearance.
It works perfectly.
This doesn't stick.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
Thanks everyone. I have updated the op and will continue to explore some way to make this stick.
i dunno about the toggle, but the wifi notification is probably an edit in services.jar
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
MoeDaddy said:
Doesn't stick for me, the nag comes back and the setting goes back to 1 after a reboot...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I didn't post this info two days ago.......
BlueHarford said:
This doesn't stick.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat this will not stay off I force close it and few later it comes back.
Any solutions
Sent from my Vzw GN2
Wifi Toggle
FMXP said:
Hmm...I wonder if it's a part of the TouchWiz framework. Hopefully someone can make a hack for it which removes the Ongoing Notification, and also puts the WiFi toggle back in the Notifications Control Panel where it belongs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was in the same boat with you man but there is away to add the toggle were vzw should have put it. its the best.
Heres the Link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2030539
All Cred goes to Hairdewx
View attachment 1540118
under "Settings storage" then click "settings.db" then "secure". The last line is (125 wifi_on) not line (351 on my device) is entitled wifi_watchdog_on!
what am i doing wrong?
Hi.
I need an app that kills all apps upon lock screen to save battery power so I don't have to do so manually.
Can any one advise a good app?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Zionator said:
Hi.
I need an app that kills all apps upon lock screen to save battery power so I don't have to do so manually.
Can any one advise a good app?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi,
take a look at "fast reboot" app market .?there is a free version ,dont know if it has settings option ?( actually, the pro version has settings , to be correct )
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.greatbytes.fastreboot&hl=en
Install, open fast reboot setting ( small gears in left bottom corner of app )Select , 2 nd option "Auto reboot options " and tick your option's ...on unlock and you can set on lock also .
If you know this app, then you will know it does not really reboot but closes (kill ) and opens up app ,excellent app .
Been using it for years (you will see market figures thats it very popular )
good luck
The free version have no settings and I have to click the fast boot icon for it to close apps.
Thanks for the reply.
Anyone else have any good apps that can automatically kill apps when I turn screen off?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
most likely you will remove that application, bcoz neither it will save your battery and may it drain more battery than saving by closing app.
If your application remain in BG, it will just take some RAM not juice, and everytime single application try to kill appliction in BG with screen off will drain more juice.
there is also in built option for this if still you want it, go to setting - development option - limit background process, you can set your desired level.
You can use ZDBox, its free and have so many utilities, the task killer can kill all non marked running tasks when lockscreen comes. Check it out, i love this app.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zdworks.android.toolbox&hl=de