Droid Bionic: Need help removing apps / battery life & underclocking

[Monshroud]

Hi All,
My wife recently got the Droid Bionic and this is her first smartphone. She is a bit frustrated with the phone and I was hoping the members here could help. Please note, I would like to keep her phone as close to stock as possible as she isn't the most tech savvy person when it comes to these things.

1> She doesn't like all the bloatware installed on the phone and would like a way to remove various icons from the application menu. What is the easist way to do this?

2> She would like a bit more battery life out of the phone. I have read on the forums from folks who talk about underclocking the CPU to increase battery life. She isn't running any major apps, so I don't think she needs the full performance of the phone.

What I was wondering is if this can all be fixed by rooting the phone, or are we looking at needing a custom ROM? Also, since I am not 100% clear on rooting, after I root the phone, when she uses it, will she still be using the phone under root where she could accidentally break it? If I remember correct, after rooting the phone I can manually delete apps from the phone; I am unsure though how to underclock the CPU.

If anyone could point me to some good resources or give me some instructions I would really appreciate it. I just want her to love her phone as much as I love mine. Although my love for my little R2 Unit is fading as I am longing for a D4. :biggrin:

 

[timmy10shoes]

Before rooting, i would browse the market (play store) at different launchers. There are some that let you hide icons in the app drawer. As for battery life, i would just get the extended battery.

 

[Tonik]

If I remember correct, after rooting the phone I can manually delete apps from the phone;

Do not manually delete apps ever. You will need them in place to get updates, or you will delete the wrong thing and brick your phone. Freeze them with titanium backup. As for battery life how about just getting an extended battery.

Insert witty sig here.

 

[SpeJ3435]

Congrats on getting the bionic. You don't need to root the phone if you just don't want to look at the bloat. You can create a folder named whatever and just put the apps you want in it and set it as your primary app menu. That's what I did before I rooted and Romed the phone to get a red theme. Honestly the phone is not any faster with out the bloat. I have rooted and installed a custom rom and it isn't noticeably faster. You can even check with quadrant and AnTuTu scores. If you want the phone to feel faster make the animations faster. If you want to remove slash freeze the apps use Titanium backup pro. Its $5.99.

As for battery, with my stock battery I was getting a full 24 hours out of it and with my extended battery I get an average of 56 hours out of it. That is with moderate use using all the features of the phone. Just have the gps off when not using it, wifi off when not using and if you don't live in a 4G area switch the phone to demand only. If you live in a 4G area it will drop the battery. It is the switching between 4G and 3G that kills a battery. If you really want the most battery just leave it in 3G unless you are needing 4G speed.

I haven't experimented with underclocking and overclocking my bionic since I haven't needed to for battery. Overclocking to 1.25GHz is the same as turning animations off performance wise.

Just the act of rooting wont fix any issues without the help of apps like Titanium Backup. There are some really nice and easy one click root methods. If you want to get into Roms and themes check out Eclipse. By far the best rom on the bionic.

I hope this helps. If you have any other questions just ask.

Sent from my Red Eclipsed DROID BIONIC

 

[Monshroud]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I forgot that the Bionic has a replaceable battery, I was confusing it with the Razr and the 4, which I think don't have replaceables. I actually have never created any folders, but I am sure it's quite simple will try to throw the bloat she doesn't want into it. She just doesn't like opening the application menu and seeing all that stuff that she doesn't really use.

Thanks again, here's hoping I have a happier wife soon!

 

[aaf709]

I forgot that the Bionic has a replaceable battery, I was confusing it with the Razr and the 4, which I think don't have replaceables.

There are actually FOUR extended batteries for the Bionic. The most popular is the Motorola Extended Battery. Mugen makes 2, one small enough to fit in the OEM battery area (the Motorola extends about 1/8") and the other is very thick. Seidio makes one that's between the Motorola and the larger Mugen. The cheapest seems to be the Motorola, plus the Bionic software plays better with it. With the others it'll say the battery is dead long before it really is.