Android phones, apps and tablets

Finally got ICS on my desire after nearly bricking it (my own fault for missing a simple mistake) kind of underwhelmed by it tbh, a few nice new features but mainly stuff that was already implemented in pre-ics Sense and a there's a few Sense features I miss such as smart dialing. Gonna stick with it for a while to see if I warm to it

What I've found about ICS that is really negative, is how resource hungry the Google Play store is when it's being run. Much much much more resource hungry. And if it's not exited fully, and happens to run in the background, then battery life drops of a cliff.

Been getting exactly the same with Google maps, might just be this beta rom though

for me, play seems to lie dormant for a few weeks, then wake up and decide to update 5-10 apps at the same time. And this will make my sensation unusable for about half an hour. Very irritating.

I seem to have no end of shit samdung apps running all the time with no idea wtf they are. If I root do i lose all those too??

Not by just rooting, but if you flash a better build...

Finally got ICS on my desire after nearly bricking it (my own fault for missing a simple mistake) kind of underwhelmed by it tbh, a few nice new features but mainly stuff that was already implemented in pre-ics Sense and a there's a few Sense features I miss such as smart dialing. Gonna stick with it for a while to see if I warm to it

Install dialer one, for smart dialling.

They all seem to be running the battery down.

I can't believe that the ICS is using loads more of the RAM than the old 2.3 (2.4 I can't remember) was using. It all seems to be having a bad effect on the battery.

If I'm bored tonight I may even try rooting - underclock the processor and be laughing.

I can't believe that the ICS is using loads more of the RAM than the old 2.3 (2.4 I can't remember) was using. It all seems to be having a bad effect on the battery.

This hurts my head.

Can I just say something once and hope that everyone reads it?

Android is based on Linux, Linux will always attempt to use every bit of RAM as efficiently as possible.

Using RAM is a good thing.

Not using RAM, but putting things in storage is a very bad thing.

It takes no more power to have RAM full, then it does for it to be powered and mostly empty.

Numbers every developer should know: http://stackoverflow.com/a/4087315

Onboard memory (flash on the mainboard) is somewhere just shy of the HDD timing due to the various controllers that need to be traversed on the way there.

A simple and plain read:
http://www.linuxatemyram.com/

Linux using RAM is good, other systems showing lots of free RAM is bad.

The only thing you should care about on your Android phone is whether you have enough onboard or extensible storage to hold all of the applications and data that you want. RAM is not a problem.

Regarding power: RAM uses virtually no power, the amount is infinitely small. Far far more power is used to read something off of onboard storage... so from a power perspective you want your RAM to be gorging itself on all the applications that you use the most... it will save your battery rather than use it.

I should make one clarification point: Running lots of apps for no gain to you will be using the battery... but it will be using the battery due to CPU processing, accessing sensors, data via 3G and wifi, etc. It won't be using power because of RAM.

So yes, uninstall apps that run background processes that you no longer want. But not because of RAM, but because of everything else the app could be doing.

Do you want the dirty secret on what uses the most power?

Adverts.

Programs with adverts have to run frameworks that monitor usage and then perform many HTTP requests to fetch adverts and their images.

If you ever get the option to purchase a "Pro" version of an app for a quid or two... take it. They disable the advert framework, and it spares your battery more than anything else you could do.

I guess I should have mentioned about all the samsung apps running in the background constantly too. Samsunng social hub - wtf is that?

You on ICS? Go into Settings > Applications > Running, and then stop the ones you don't care about.

If they start at startup, then they won't start again until the next time you boot.

You can stop the couple of Social Hub ones, and also syncmlDS.

Although really... just consider Cyanogen mod 9 when it is available as stable for your phone.

I can't help with crapware that manufacturers install.

For me, facebook and google maps are almost always running - needs force close, and often so is twitter (don't have an account nor have i ever clicked it). I really don't understand why every app that is non-essential to run the phone is pre-installed with no means of un-installing or turning off permanently. I would flash and install a custom rom on my streak if there was a simple way for an idiot like me to do it. I know I'll never get more than a day from the battery, 5inch screen, but some days it seems that every app is on regardless of my usage.

I find some of the social hubs you close them and they open again straight after - example at the moment I've got running;

Juice defender
Facebook - no idea why
battery widget - so I can see % and not just a green bar at the top that means bugger all
Software update
settings
SyncML - DS
Social Hub
Google services
MAPServiceSamsung
Digital Clock
Exchange services
Task manager
SecPhone
Samsung keypad

Half of these I have no idea what they do. I don't even think my HTC had all that crap running in the background.

You could just root and then install titanium backup pro to freeze the apps you don't want running. This way you still run stock ics. Might be worth a shot.

Oh, ditch juice defender as it is an utter myth that it saves battery. It won't stop any background processes which prevent your phone from entering deep sleep.

I don't understand what you mean with Ti back up? I never used it before when I rooted with cynaogen.

I've thought that Juice defender actually works though - or am I completely wrong?

Its an app that can backup all of your installed apps and associated data for when you wipe and flash a new rom, or an old one for that matter. One of the features of the paid version, is that you can freeze the manufacturers apps which drain your battery. You don't need to be running a custom rom, but you do need root for it to install.

One of the reasons I rooted my phone within hours of getting it was to install this and block all the T Mob shite. That wasn't enough so I flashed AndyX rom to get rid of the Samsung shite too.

Well not bothered about about GS3. Perfectly happy with my GS2 still. Stock ICS is just a pleasure to use.

Numbers every developer should know: http://stackoverflow.com/a/4087315

Interesting read but I wasn't sure about these two:

Read 1 MB sequentially from network 10,000,000 ns
Read 1 MB sequentially from disk 30,000,000 ns

A gigabit ethernet has a theoretical maximum throughput of 125Mb/s, whereas a modern SSD can happily reach 500Mb/s in real-world tests.

It does say "disk" rather than SSD. Implies the spinny things.

Maybe they mean floppy disk.

I'm also rather underwhelmed by the S III. The wait continues......

I want one.

Would rather a One X over an SIII but this leap isn't enough to warrant getting one.