Hi all,
I just got my Transformer Prime this week, and as a new user both of Android (my phone is a WP7 device) and of tablets in general, I do have a couple of questions that maybe you guys can help me with...
1) Shut it down or not?
Being a tablet something in between my phone and my laptop, I'm still not sure exactly how to manage it. I know this will come with experience, but do you guys leave it always on like your phone or do you shut down like a laptop? I actually only hibernate my laptop, but I don't know how to do that on my TP... is it possible?
2) Services: my battery and OS responsiveness
OK, so I got my TP and started downloading apps... Skype and Facebook were one of the firsts. I quickly realized that, by default, after opening them for the 1st time, they kept giving me notifications, even if I swiped them left of the task manager (i.e. closed them, AFAIK). This is OK for Skype, but I really don't want Facebook bothering me that much, so I disabled notifications on its settings. Is that all that is needed to remove these permanent services? Does the "services" tab under Settings -> Applications really show everything that is running or can some apps hide from there?
3) Closing apps: should I care about it or not?
I still didn't fully understand how "closing apps" work on Android (ICS at least). If I have an app with notifications enabled (i.e. its service is enabled, right?), even if I close it from the task manager, the notifications keep coming. However, if notifications are disabled, is swiping them left from the task manager REALLY closing them? At the end of the day, to improve battery and responsiveness, should I keep closing my unused apps?
4) Launcher: Is ICS launcher the best for tablets?
This is actually part of a more general question, coming below. But anyway, I read that the ICS launcher is much improved from previous Android versions, and at the same time I didn't find a good launcher comparison for tablets only. Many of the launchers reviews only apply them for phones, and only compare them to the Gingerbread launcher (or some device-specific launcher). Since many of the launchers are paid apps, I would like to know: is there any launcher that is really worth trying in my new TP? What do you guys use?
5) Tablet-optimized apps???
I don't have my TP for even a week and I'm already tired of reading great things about an app, only to download it and see that it is not optimized for tablets at all. So, is there any good source of info/reviews on tablet-optimized apps?
Many thanks!
Leo.
1) Shut it down or not?
Personally, I always leave mine tablet running. There is a price to pay from a battery perspective when shutting down / starting up, so unless you know you are not going to be using it for an extended period of time, I would recommend leaving it on.
2) Services: my battery and OS responsiveness
I believe the 'Services' tab will show all the user app services that are running, but I am not sure if you can permanently prevent them from starting back up with ICS. I have seen task manager apps in the market that can prevent services from starting up. In all reality though, if you are concerned about background services draining your battery, the Prime has excellent battery life to begin with, especially if you have the dock, so if I was you I wouldn't get too worked up over the background services. Now if we were talking about a smart phone here (like my Thunderbolt for example which has horrible battery life), I would be much more concerned about this type of thing as I would want to do anything possible to squeeze as much life out of my battery just to get through an entire day.
3) Closing apps: should I care about it or not?
From my understanding swiping an app on the Recent Apps tray won't actually kill the process. Swiping an app from the Recent Apps tray more or less just removes the app from the list of Recent Apps. ICS automatically takes care of shutting down processes and releasing memory when appropriate. If you want to manually kill an app you can Force Close it from the list of apps from the Settings -> Applications menu. But again, my personal preference is to let ICS do its thing and take care of process management. I will remove apps from the Recent Apps tray just keep the tray less cluttered with apps that I don't use or need to switch to that often but I normally won't kill apps manually from the task manager.
On a side note, I would think removing an app from the Recent Apps tray would signal the OS that I am not going to be using the app again any time soon and the OS is free to shut down the process and release its memory, but I am not sure if this is what happens or not. All I know is that I have read elsewhere that removing an app from the Recent Apps tray will not immediately kill the process.
4) Launcher: Is ICS launcher the best for tablets?
Personally, I really like ICS so I haven't tried any of the other launchers that are out there (on the tablet side of things anyways). I used the GO Launcher on my phone for a little while but ended up switching back to the default HTC Sense launcher. This is one of the things I love about Android though; the ability to totally change the look and feel the device by simply customizing and switching between different launchers. If I ever get tired or bored with ICS, I can download a new launcher and just like that, everything will seem new and fresh again.
5) Tablet-optimized apps???
This is one of the big problems with Android and the Android Market right now; not just the small selection of tablet optimized apps but being able to find these apps in the Market. There is an 'editors top picks for tablet apps' section or something like that in the Android Market that I have used. Unfortunately, many of the apps in there are not that great, but at least they are optimized for tablets. Typically I will just do a google search for 'top android tablet apps' to get a feel for some of the best tablet optimized apps that are out there.
Try the Tablified website or app to find tablet optimized apps. Can't download directly from there, but the install link will take you to the market page for whatever app you want.
http://www.tablified.com
jordache16 said:
1) Shut it down or not?
Personally, I always leave mine tablet running. There is a price to pay from a battery perspective when shutting down / starting up, so unless you know you are not going to be using it for an extended period of time, I would recommend leaving it on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thanks for taking the time to reply me! Anyway, my point was exactly about the times when I will not use it for an extented period, like when I go to bed or something... But I guess since I don't want any notifications when I'm sleeping, I think it is wiser to shut it down. On the other hand, is there a quick-way to completely silence the tablet, i.e. turn off the volume AND the vibrations?
jordache16 said:
2) Services: my battery and OS responsiveness
I believe the 'Services' tab will show all the user app services that are running, but I am not sure if you can permanently prevent them from starting back up with ICS. I have seen task manager apps in the market that can prevent services from starting up. In all reality though, if you are concerned about background services draining your battery, the Prime has excellent battery life to begin with, especially if you have the dock, so if I was you I wouldn't get too worked up over the background services. Now if we were talking about a smart phone here (like my Thunderbolt for example which has horrible battery life), I would be much more concerned about this type of thing as I would want to do anything possible to squeeze as much life out of my battery just to get through an entire day.
3) Closing apps: should I care about it or not?
From my understanding swiping an app on the Recent Apps tray won't actually kill the process. Swiping an app from the Recent Apps tray more or less just removes the app from the list of Recent Apps. ICS automatically takes care of shutting down processes and releasing memory when appropriate. If you want to manually kill an app you can Force Close it from the list of apps from the Settings -> Applications menu. But again, my personal preference is to let ICS do its thing and take care of process management. I will remove apps from the Recent Apps tray just keep the tray less cluttered with apps that I don't use or need to switch to that often but I normally won't kill apps manually from the task manager.
On a side note, I would think removing an app from the Recent Apps tray would signal the OS that I am not going to be using the app again any time soon and the OS is free to shut down the process and release its memory, but I am not sure if this is what happens or not. All I know is that I have read elsewhere that removing an app from the Recent Apps tray will not immediately kill the process.
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Click to collapse
Hum, ok, I will try to freak out less about open apps. What's still bugs me, for instance, is the behavior of Google Talk vs. Skype. After turning the tablet on, Skype doesn't open automatically, and after I open it, it will gracefully inform-me of its status on the notifications bar. However, today I just got surprised by a incoming IM from Google Talk, even if I did'nt open it! I realized that it is hidden under "Google Services" in the app list, but there is no setting in the app to disable it from running on start-up! I can only "sign out"... Anyway, on the other hand, there's no setting to have Skype launch automatically on start up...
jordache16 said:
4) Launcher: Is ICS launcher the best for tablets?
Personally, I really like ICS so I haven't tried any of the other launchers that are out there (on the tablet side of things anyways). I used the GO Launcher on my phone for a little while but ended up switching back to the default HTC Sense launcher. This is one of the things I love about Android though; the ability to totally change the look and feel the device by simply customizing and switching between different launchers. If I ever get tired or bored with ICS, I can download a new launcher and just like that, everything will seem new and fresh again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll second that. I've quickly used the Iphone 4 a couple of times and its dullness just bores me to death... hehe
jordache16 said:
5) Tablet-optimized apps???
This is one of the big problems with Android and the Android Market right now; not just the small selection of tablet optimized apps but being able to find these apps in the Market. There is an 'editors top picks for tablet apps' section or something like that in the Android Market that I have used. Unfortunately, many of the apps in there are not that great, but at least they are optimized for tablets. Typically I will just do a google search for 'top android tablet apps' to get a feel for some of the best tablet optimized apps that are out there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I saw that, but I hate that I cannot filter that list between apps and games... stupid Google or stupid me? hehe
wikedawsum said:
Try the Tablified website or app to find tablet optimized apps. Can't download directly from there, but the install link will take you to the market page for whatever app you want.
http://www.tablified.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip! I'm cheking it out right now...
reguarding open apps
At times i noticed my stock launcher was laggy to switch between screens. After swiping to close the recent apps it was a lot more responsive, so i think that swiping the apps from the recent list does close them, at least in mose cases.
As to optimization apps, usually they are intended for phones running older software. You need to remember that every phone (aside from the google phones) is running a slightly different version of android.
Since each version of android is different, even between the Froyo on my phone and your phone, because they have different modifications on them there is a chance that the customized software on my phone may be better at handling unused tasks than your phone (in fact HTC phones by default have a LOT of running processes in the background, whereas Samsung phones generally have fewer).
A lot of these optimization apps do several things:
Turn off wifi and bluetooth when not needed
Close tasks when they are unused
lower screen brightness
turn off 3g and use 2g if available and not in a call
Now this may be excellent for your phone, it spends most of its time in your pocket, soon as you unlock it it can connect to wifi again, turn on bluetooth, etc.
HOWEVER!
If you have, say, the weather widget, or a clock, or in my case battery monitor pro, and the task killer is killing those tasks those widgets will no longer update.
Some tasks, like Maps, tend to start up automatically, meaning your wasting MORE battery life closing this app and then it restarts and you have to close it again. It takes less battery life having it run in the background.
Sometimes an app will close (like the browser) that your not fully done using. Theres a difference between the app being frozen in memory and fully closed. Both do not require much power, however when you open that process again the frozen one takes a LOT less battery than the unfrozen one.
On a tablet, having a case that has a magnet in the apropriate spot and, say, tasker (very good app for custimizing your own triggers to turn things on and off) to detect that sensor and shut off wifi, gps, bluetooth, etc. would be very cool. Many apps use the proximity sensor to detect if its in a pocket and shut off everything, or the lockscreen. Because the way a tablet is used many of these battery saver apps will actually use more battery than what would be used in the first place.
You also have to remember that as android advances there are more tweaks for battery life put into them. For instance, you can have ICS close tasks that are not being used right away to save memory and its pretty good about freezing things in background memory.
Older versions of android lacked these features, or they were poorly implimented. I remember on my vibrant i was always going back to make sure all my tasks were closed properly when i was done with them. With newer devices its not an issue android takes care of that for me.
TLDR: Try as many battery saver apps as you like, just be warey as to what devices they are designed for and what version of android they were made for. Doesnt mean they wont work, just means they may do something thats useless for using on a tablet.
1) Shut it down or not?
Never. We got the companion core for a reason.
2) Services: my battery and OS responsiveness
No, everything is shown except core processes. You can get systempanel if you want to see.
3) Closing apps: should I care about it or not?
Don't unless you somehow got froyo or eclair onto your tablet.
4) Launcher: Is ICS launcher the best for tablets?
Depends on your tastes. I would suggest trying all of them.
5) Tablet-optimized apps???
What the other people said.
1) Mine is always on. I shut down when I expect it to be idle for a long time or when I want maximum battery conservation while idle. Pressing the power button is as close as you get to hibernate, officially with Android. I'm interested to know if any of the usual Linux power management stuff applies to these systems or if it's tied to ACPI (A PC thing), and if there would be a way to wake the system. It's certainly not supported by ASUS .
2) Google how Android services work and about the application life cycle. For the most part things like Facebook don't do all that much harm, unless it is dealing with a lot of data. If you do not want it to run and the application lacks a setting for turning the service off, uninstall the app. A startup manager may or may not be able to help but be warned: auto task killers are generally bad, you would actually want to manage the startup services not auto kill them!
3) No. Android will take care of this OK. Closing apps generally refers to the "Activity" not the service. Android has taken decent care of that since at least version 2.2 and this tablet runs 4.0.3 . Swipping stuff out of the multi-task menu is most useful for keeping it tidy, it will not generally improve your life in most cases. For a good explanation you should look for a post Dianne Hackborn reshared on G+, I believe Android Police even carried it.
4) Depends on what is best for you. It's great except for the lack of customization. Nova Launcher offers a bit more. ICS's launcher versus e.g. GB's is almost what could be called a basic custom launcher, i.e. all the important stuff is there but you can't tweak the hell out of it. For more serious work try ADW Launcher Ex (scrolling widgets currently broken) or Go (not quite fully tablet optimized yet but works). I use ADW Launcher Ex, and there is a free version with less features.
5) Tablified Market and XDA usually helps I guess. I rarely have problems except with rarely updated stuff.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Hey everyone,
I have a problem with my Xperia P. Sometimes, it randomly starts to do things when the phone is unlocked, even if I am not touching the screen. It seems to register a touch, when there actually isn't any. Because of this, it randomly starts opening apps, scrolling and sometimes even moving widgets (it somehow registers a long touch followed by random scrolling).
I figured it was some sort of software error, so I used the PC companion program to repair my phone (wiping all settings but not the SD card) and for good measure, I reset the phone from the Android menu, also wiping the SD card. Then I reinstalled my apps etc and everything seemed fine, but after about two days the problem was back.
Is this a software bug that more people have, or is it a hardware defect? Also, I read using a third party charge could cause this. I use the official Sony charger of my old Ray, but it is rated to have the same voltage and less mAh, so that can't be it, right?
Technical details:
Android version: 4.1.2 (6.2.A.1.100)
Carrier: T-mobile NL
Which apps you installed, can you remember if it was after you installed a new app?
ChikeD said:
Which apps you installed, can you remember if it was after you installed a new app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatsapp
Facebook Messenger
Firefox
NS Reisplanner XTRA - A Dutch public transport app
NOS - A Dutch newsapp
Google Authenticator
Dropbox
9292 - Another Dutch public transport app
OpenVPN Connect
Buienalarm - App that warns for rain
SMS Backup & Restore
Cisco Express
Wifi Analyzer
TrackID
ASTRO File Manager
MobileVOIP
Google Goggles
Skype
EHBO - firstaid app
Remember the milk
Mobielschademelden.nl - Dutch insurance app
VLC
I can't say whether it was after installing a new app. I had the same problem earlier once, but I fixed it by repairing the phone using PC companion. Then there was an OTA (don't remember which, but must have been the last one in NL) and the problem came back. Or at least, that's how it seems, might still be hardware combined with weird timing.
Well none seems to be like one that can cause such a problem, but it's weird that a jardware problem will disapeare or surface with software updates.
I searched around on Google a bit and found a youtube video of someone with a similair problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMlfIq8fe0I
I also found this thread for the Xperia S, which seems to describe a similair issue: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1895423
From what I read, most people either disabled some app which caused the problem or it was a hw issue.
Hi !
Recently, on my Xperia U, a game I used to play became quite unplayable after a big update.
The reason ? These damn Google Services...I uninstalled them, I deactivate them, but each time the game crashes, I go to the applications manager, just to see a 'Google Services' being rebooting...
My question is...are they needed to take fully advantage of Android ONLY because Google designed Android this way ?
Because, well...on a pc, you don't need them to use Gmail, Youtube or others...
And is there a way (a really viable one, I mean) to get rid of them definitely while keeping on taking fully advantage of Android ?
Hello,
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 (SM-G930F running TouchWiz on Android 7.0) and a Samsung Galaxy Tab A6 10.1 (SM-T580 running TouchWiz on Android 6.0.1), and I recently realized that I didn't receive any notification from Facebook Messenger on my Galaxy S7. It isn't a issue related to authorizations nor something in the settings. I tried to uninstall and reinstall the app, when I uninstalled I had to reboot the phone, and it never finished reinstalling according to the Play Store while I could in fact open the app.
Besides this, the blue filter also doesn't activate automatically like before (I checked the settings, and it should activate automatically), and Bluetooth, while detecting nearby devices, every time I send a file it just loads infinitely. On top of that, daily notifications that should pop up during the day suddenly all showed up at the same time at 2 AM.
Then I saw that I couldn't update any app on the Play Store, so I tried to follow Google feedback and uninstall Play Store updates. Now the Play Store won't update at all and the apps won't update either.
I realized it was the same thing on my Galaxy Tab, Messenger and Bluetooth not working, apps not updating. I want to point out that the tablet and the phone doesn't run on the same system. The system update notification showed up but it is impossible to confirm the update, touching the option in the settings doesn't do anything.
I ran antivirus software and Malwarebytes on both devices and both didn't detect any threats.
If it was only one device I could imagine it would be something that may have went undetected during the antivirus analysis, a problem that doesn't have an easy answer and I would maybe have restored it, but to have it on two devices makes me wonder if it will really fix it. The tablet interacts with the phone only via Bluetooth and my Google account, and is mostly used to take notes, it's not likely that what happened to the phone could have been transmitted from the phone to the tablet.
It worked fined until less than a week ago. I didn't download anything suspicious, the only thing I recall is having tried to update the Messenger app.
What could be the problem ?
Thank you.
I just noticed that an application was added to my home screen called Vchat. I didn't install this app. I checked the application manager and my account in the play store and this app doesn't appear in either. I'm not really sure what this is and what the best way to remove it is. I haven't clicked on it. I also notice random ads popping up after the unlocking the screen, though they are very sporadic.
I'm on a LG G5, the verizon version, running android 7.0.
Girlfriend also has this on her Samsung Galaxy A5, couldn't identify an app in app list which matched. Removed from home screen and hoped it was simply a sketchy weblink. Will follow post to ensure phone is secure or if an app needs removing. Seems to have appeared in last 24 hours.
I tried running avast and malwarebytes on my phone. Neither of those detected anything.
Came up 3/30
I Googled this yesterday, glad I did again today to find this forum. I bought this phone March 22nd and I am noticing my lock screen button stopped working around the same time the app appeared. This phone is brand new from amazon and I am about to return it, but something tells me this issue is software related as the button was working fine on 3/29 and now it clicks and is responsive to the touch, but it will only "sometimes" lock the screen. Right now it is fully functioning, but it will start to fail if I have too many apps open, or if I am running a game. It specifically won't work while in an app, but will work when on the home screen with no apps open.
On top of all of this, my phone has been getting weird ads, but male ware detection doesn't see it, also, the phone is a lot slower now. Whatever this is, I don't want to be connected to it.
Update: the v stands for Vietnamese. The app is some Vietnamese chatting service. Googled "vchat' you guess should try it too.
Bunyip04 said:
I Googled this yesterday, glad I did again today to find this forum. I bought this phone March 22nd and I am noticing my lock screen button stopped working around the same time the app appeared. This phone is brand new from amazon and I am about to return it, but something tells me this issue is software related as the button was working fine on 3/29 and now it clicks and is responsive to the touch, but it will only "sometimes" lock the screen. Right now it is fully functioning, but it will start to fail if I have too many apps open, or if I am running a game. It specifically won't work while in an app, but will work when on the home screen with no apps open.
On top of all of this, my phone has been getting weird ads, but male ware detection doesn't see it, also, the phone is a lot slower now. Whatever this is, I don't want to be connected to it.
Update: the v stands for Vietnamese. The app is some Vietnamese chatting service. Googled "vchat' you guess should try it too.
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Click to collapse
I did look it up and found that. I'm just trying to figure out how it got there and how to remove it.
erehwon6811 said:
I did look it up and found that. I'm just trying to figure out how it got there and how to remove it.
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Click to collapse
I got frustrated trying to figure out how to remove this app, so I decided to restore the phone to factory defaults. I've only had the phone for a month, so I didn't have much on it.
Galaxy S5
I have a Galaxy S5 Android version 6.0.1 and this URL shortcut also appeared on my homesceen. Likewise I would like to know what app / service was used to create this advertisement so I can disable / uninstall it.