My htc EVO came with Quickoffice preinstalled.

So true. When I first turn on my Droid, it seems to have many apps open. Advanced Task Killer (ATK) shuts down most that I don't need. Also, I use SetCPU in PowerSave mode. Basically I keep ATK, SetCPU, Battery Left, and Beautiful Widgets open. I also keep GPS, Bluetooth, and WiFi off (unless I'm in my office, where I enable it), and screen brightness at lowest level (unless I need it outdoors, when I temporarily brighten it). I turn BT and GPS on only if I need those capabilities.

With this config, I can receive calls, text messages, emails, etc. If I need to access the internet or use an app that does (quite a few apps do), I try to remember to use ATK right after to shut them down. I can easily run a day and a half or two in this mode, unless I do lots of browsing, reading with Kindle, or listening to music.

What does the "battery usage" report show? Like I said, the bulk of power used on mine is the screen, with the GPS a second if in use. Everything else is pretty negligible.

It doesn't matter. If this behavior is indeed the case, the requests for data access use far less power than the cellular radio. Think about it - what uses more power: a few computing cycles or an active cellular radio?

By far the biggest power hog on a smartphone is that big, beautiful screen (and its backlight). GPS also uses a lot of power but the OS is pretty good about managing it. The GPS chip is only on when an app is actively requesting GPS service. Turn GPS on and then go into Maps. You'll see the GPS icon turn on. Go back to the home screen and the GPS icon will disappear after a few seconds.

The wifi/802.11 radio uses much less power than the cellular radio. If you leave wifi on when you have an available wifi network, you'll be amazed at how much battery life you save. In contrast, leaving wifi on when there isn't a network that the phone can connect to will suck down the battery quite noticeably since the radio keeps scanning for an available network that it knows.

As far as task killers...I've always been told that they are at best superfluous and at worst can negatively impact system stability. Android is very good at memory management. It holds tasks in RAM so they can leap back to life when you activate them. It will also proactively remove tasks from RAM to free up more RAM as needed. Most tasks that are running, are running in the background for a reason. Killing them will cause them to automatically respawn.

Some good articles here.

http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-b...-with-android/

http://lifehacker.com/5650894/androi...uldnt-use-them

http://www.androidcentral.com/how-pr...s-i-went-there

If you find your phone is slow, I'd recommend rooting it and getting rid of the crapware your carrier has pre-installed.

Hi,

I'm looking for the 'best' (subjective I know) app for flight departures, etc, in the UK and US. Looks like Flight Track and Flight Board might be what I want - any pros/cons of either? Coverage in the UK is important, and that's where it seems a lot of apps aren't suitable for what I need.

Thanks.

Thank you for this. Just removed my "Kill Apps" app because I saw no difference in battery life!

I had an App Killer when my phone was 2.1. It was helpful but since the phone was upgraded to 2.2+, I got rid of it since 2.2 does a good job of minimizing open apps.

Cheers

The older the phone and the earlier the Android version, the more useful the task killer. I have an original Moto Droid from 11/09 running a rooted 2.1. The 550 MHz processor runs at 1200 with SetCPU, I get well over a day of useful battery life, and it's as stable as any phone I've ever had - almost none of the things warned about in the articles cited occur with my phone. Firmware: 2.1, Kernel: 2.6.29 chevy, Build: Bugless Beast 0.9.

It's fast, it holds a ton (probably 50 + kindle and epub books, well over 100 complete music albums, several movies, and lots of space left), and it's quite stable. I'm close to the end of my 2 year VZW contract, but have no plans to get a new phone until LTE 4g hits my town (2013,probably), then I'll select the best 4g phone available at that time.

I may upgrade the android version with the next major release, but I've seen no reason to with 2.2. In the meantime, I'll continue using ATK, thank you very much.

The 2.1 version on my Moto XT720 I had would not allow apps to be moved to the SD card. With a puny phone memory, I had to rotate apps to minimize a lot of "bad behavior" like not getting / sending texts.:td:

Since the 2.2+ version was loaded, it works fine and I can load anything I have found to be useful (or not). Some resist being moved to the SD card but things like Google Earth that overwhelmed the phone native memory now can reside on the SD card.^

Cheers

I have a moto Photon so memory issues don't exist :D

But I find I use Firefox and Kaiten Mail the most. My phones are for business.

OpenTable App
 

OpenTable app is great. You can make dinner reservations for yourself or a group of people on this app which will sync with participating restaurants in the areas you search.

PrinterShare is free on Amazon Appstore today. It allows wireless printing from an android to a network printer (wifi/bluetooth).

I haven't used it but it seems like a handy app to have in case you need to run off a paper copy of confirmations.

I'm a big fan of the phone recovery gps locator app Plan B from Lookout Labs

I read a story about it here where a traveler used it to successfully locate and recover the phone lost in an airport Taxi. It's quite a story.

The great thing about the app, is that it can be pushed to the phone remotely from Google's app store, even after the phone is lost.

About a week after learning of the app, I had a chance to see it in action: it help me recover a friend's phone that had been accidentally left on the roof of a car and fell off by the side of the road. We'd never have found it without the app.

I'm looking for a remote desktop/ssh/vnc client app for my android phone. (LG Optimus T). Anyone have a recommendation?

Amazon has Xtralogic Remote Desktop Client on sale for $12.99US, regularly $24.95. I have no idea how well it works, I can't imagine trying to navigate my desktop screen on my phone!

http://www.amazon.com/Xtralogic-Inc-...6355588&sr=1-2

Xtralogic Remote Desktop Client for Android enables you to connect to your Windows computers across the Internet from a mobile device powered by Android platform. Once connected, the app gives you mouse and keyboard control over your computer while showing you everything that's happening on the screen.

Now you can leave your computer without losing access to your files, applications, and e-mail. Xtralogic Remote Desktop Client uses Microsoft's Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). All the necessary server components are already included in most versions of the Windows operating system, except for the Windows Home varieties.

The following operating system have Remote Desktop Services and can be connected using Xtralogic Remote Desktop Client without any additional server side software: Windows Server 2000; Windows XP Professional; Windows XP Media Center Edition; Windows Server 2003; Windows Vista Business; Ultimate and Enterprise; Windows Server 2008; Windows 7 Professional; Ultimate and Enterprise; and Windows Server 2008R2.

Please note that the following operating system do not have Remote Desktop Services out of the box: Windows XP Home, Windows Vista Home, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Premium, Mac OS, and Linux.