Google Android catch-all

Sometimes apps just drain the battery more than usual. The other day I had to uninstall Dolphin because it was draining the battery for unknown reasons.

sheared wrote:

Anyone with the Samsung Nexus have weird battery days? Most days I pull it off my charger, and it lasts until I get home that night (usually with at least 30% charge left in it). Every once in a while, though, it has a bad day, and goes completely dead by 1:00 in the afternoon. I'm never doing anything different. The programs are usually the same ones that were loaded from the day before, and I'm almost always at work. Same network coverage, same attempted usage (not much). When I look at the battery information, it shows the screen as being the biggest drain, but it does not seem to stay awake any longer than normal.

It's very frustrating when it happens.

I get that periodically on my Droid X. I haven't found a reason yet, but my initial hypothesis is Verizon's Backup application. It runs in the background and does its stuff via 3G. I have no definitive proof, but it's really the only idea I have so far.

I was gifted a Nexus 7 by my wonderful wife as a Valentine's Day present before I flew out of town for the week. Enjoying it so far, especially coming from my aging/dying EVO 4G. Nice to not be stuck with 2.3.

Got to figure out what to play with with the bigger screen and much more graphics horsepower.

MannishBoy wrote:

I was gifted a Nexus 7 by my wonderful wife as a Valentine's Day present before I flew out of town for the week. Enjoying it so far, especially coming from my aging/dying EVO 4G. Nice to not be stuck with 2.3.

Got to figure out what to play with with the bigger screen and much more graphics horsepower.

Here is a site I check for sales. Anomaly Korea is supposed to be pretty good and is on sale right now.

Thanks Evil.

Another topic: The Nexus 7 doesn't support wired headset controls?

I'm finding myself a bit angry that Google decided to cheap out on this on a Nexus device. Sounds like from reading I'm doing, it's the wrong type of jack to support play/pause functionality from a headset.

So stupid.

The Nexus 7 was the tablet that started the un expensive tablet avalanche. They had to cut corners somewhere.
There's a N7 refresh coming soon, maybe trade up once specs are released?

Maybe it's me, but could they have assumed that the number of people that would have the tablet tucked away while listening to music would be minuscule? I know my phone does all my "on the go musicing" and my tablet does the at home stuff.

Zen Pinball also comes with a free table so its worth downloading. For some reason the framerate doesn't hold up to the iPhone version though. Its still very playable but can be a little jarring if you are used to the other versions.

Hobbes2099 wrote:

The Nexus 7 was the tablet that started the un expensive tablet avalanche. They had to cut corners somewhere.
There's a N7 refresh coming soon, maybe trade up once specs are released?

I can't imagine the jack and circuitry would add more than a few cents to the cost. Plus, they included a camera, so you'd think they'd have thought of the use case of somebody doing a video chat with a headset.

Just seems silly.

But then I wasn't an early adopter solely because I thought they should have included a microSD slot. I only got interested once they went to 32GB.

So I've been using my Galaxy S3 for a week and I've definitely decided to make the switch from iOS to Android. I like the form factor of the bigger form and Jelly Bean is a pretty sweet OS for my phone. However, I'm still on the fence as to whether I should keep the Galaxy S3 or return it, get off my contract, and pick a Nexus 4.

As far as I can tell, the biggest difference between the two (aside from the contract which is a big deal) is the lack of LTE on the Nexus 4. Here in Seattle, that's certainly a downside but AT&T is pretty limited elsewhere. Also, the N4's screen is rumored to be more "natural" and less saturated than the S3. And I've been disappointed with the S3 battery life but apparently, the N4 has similar performance (basically needs a charge every day). And while this is subjective and may just be in my head, the Nexus 4 is just sexier - less plastic, minimal bezel, eyes you can just melt into...

In any case, thoughts from the GwJ hivemind? If I don't hear anything, inertia will probably just keep me with the S3 as I already have it.

Trashie wrote:

And I've been disappointed with the S3 battery life but apparently, the N4 has similar performance (basically needs a charge every day). And while this is subjective and may just be in my head, the Nexus 4 is just sexier - less plastic, minimal bezel, eyes you can just melt into...

One thing about the S3 is that it has cheap swappable batteries available. (See ebay, probably 2x for $10 including an external charger). The Nexus 4 doesn't.

I'm still running an old EVO 4G, and I just have some cheap batteries that are easy to keep around when I think I won't be able to charge for awhile.

Until these high powered phones have 2-3 day heavy use batteries, I'm sticking with phones where I can have the option to swap batteries.

I'm not considering a Nexus 4 because I would not remotely consider a phone without LTE right now.

I'll take software updates and freedom from carrier lock-in over LTE, any day.

In the past few weeks I started using Bluetooth to connect to my new car's audio and listen to podcasts on my daily commute.

I'm running a Galaxy Nexus with CyanogenMod 10.1 nightlies. I'd become very used to a constant hiss and crackle when I was connected but with nothing playing. This wasn't audible once I started playing something or driving so I wasn't too annoyed.

This morning I updated to the 0217 nightly (which I'm pretty sure includes 4.2.2) and surprise, no more hissing or crackling! Now it's like the audio isn't on at all. So much nicer.

MannishBoy wrote:

Got to figure out what to play with with the bigger screen and much more graphics horsepower.

RetroArch!

Heroes of Chaos and Order is neat too, if you're into the MOBA thing.

General Crespin wrote:

In the past few weeks I started using Bluetooth to connect to my new car's audio and listen to podcasts on my daily commute.

I'm running a Galaxy Nexus with CyanogenMod 10.1 nightlies. I'd become very used to a constant hiss and crackle when I was connected but with nothing playing. This wasn't audible once I started playing something or driving so I wasn't too annoyed.

This morning I updated to the 0217 nightly (which I'm pretty sure includes 4.2.2) and surprise, no more hissing or crackling! Now it's like the audio isn't on at all. So much nicer. :)

Do you know of a guide to getting CM 10 going on the GNex that you prefer? I'm tired of waiting for Verizon to catch up, and I'm not sure I'll be sticking with this phone for much longer anyway.

HTC One is the newest HTC top end phone. Looks nice, but for me personally, the battery seems small for a non-replaceable battery, and I still want a swappable microSD card. And the new Sense home screen just looks unneeded and I would attempt to turn it off as soon as possible.

Next up, Samsung should announce the G IV soon. I'm thinking unless they screw that up or the release is too far out, I'm going to have to go that route soon. My EVO 4G is getting ancient and has gotten to the point where it overheats and reboots anytime I do something processor or radio intensive.

Well, I think I've decided to stick with my Galaxy S3 after a two week trial period. My only beef right now? How the hell do I change the clock on the lock screen? Man, that font is terrible; especially compared to the slick fonts else where (including the lock screen of my N7).

I know - a nit pick but it's driving me crazy.

I'm not sure I can support HTC again after the abysmal battery life I get out of my Thunderbolt.

I'm not a fan of the ICS update for the Thunderbolt.

For every thing that's actually improved there's another that was great before that's either sub-par or just broken now.

I'm having fun with it as a change of pace, but functionally it is of little import to me. I think releasing it was a petty ploy to Thunderbolt users whose contract is coming to an end soon.

weswilson wrote:

I'm having fun with it as a change of pace, but functionally it is of little import to me. I think releasing it was a petty ploy to Thunderbolt users whose contract is coming to an end soon.

Yeah. My contract is actually up already. Reality though is I don't use my phone for enough to justify an upgrade even if it is slightly annoying now. It spends a huge amount of time in airplane mode anyway so the battery life is a non-issue.

My contract comes up in July, I think. I will likely want a new phone. I might stick around for a while with my Thunderbolt, but that's because I rarely use it right now. When I do, it's in short bursts. I'm probably going to have to buy some kind of USB charging battery for PAX East, as it likely won't last 3 hours without being plugged in if I'm actually using it.

I'm pondering a move to T-mobile since I'll likely lost my unlimited data.

I was lazy and used the toolkit to unlock it and flash ClockworkMod, then I just flashed CM from their site.

The Razr Maxx I bought last year is still pretty awesome. You have to work pretty hard to drain the battery in a day! (3300)

Does anyone have experience with the HTC Droid DNA? The thing looks like a bit of a beast. I'm not in the market for a smartphone right now, but.. my girlfriend had a crazy attack and bought one of these things. She wants to use it as much as possible, and, since we both love retro gaming, I'm looking into the feasibility of turning it into a swanky mobile 8-bit/16-bit emulation powerhouse. I'd hoped to use the Bluetooth+Wiimote Controller app to use the Wii Classic Controller as a... err, controller, and hook the phone up to our 40" LCD TV with this adapter .

However, I've heard that the HTC's senseUI wreaks havoc with Bluetooth Controller adapter apps (or, at least "WiiMote Controller"). I don't want to buy a bunch of stuff and find out that it's not going to work, so I thought I'd see if anyone attempting similar usage ran into ideal implementations/problems.

So sometimes I'm filling out Web forms, forums, online shopping, etc., and then whichever field I'm typing in will refuse ANY further input. With online shopping this means starting over, which blows. With forums I usually have to reload the page in a new tab or restart the browser. It drives me crazy.

Is this just an Android thing? A Dolphin browser thing? I'm using Swiftkey but it's happened to me with other keyboards too, including the default.

Has this happened to anyone else?

MannishBoy wrote:

Next up, Samsung should announce the G IV soon. I'm thinking unless they screw that up or the release is too far out, I'm going to have to go that route soon.

What have you read? I've been off contract for months, and I'm keenly interested in the Galaxy s4.

Fedaykin98 wrote:
MannishBoy wrote:

Next up, Samsung should announce the G IV soon. I'm thinking unless they screw that up or the release is too far out, I'm going to have to go that route soon.

What have you read? I've been off contract for months, and I'm keenly interested in the Galaxy s4.

Announcement supposedly around March 15.

Yup, yup. Ides of March.

RE: Browsers, I tuna'ed Dolphin once Chrome came out.