Getting a new phone soon, having a hard time making a decision...please help

[Zerozx]

To conserve battery life, would it be a good idea to turn on airplane mode before I go to sleep? (any other tips for conversing battery life, either when I'm using it or when I'm not using it (sleeping or working?))

If I turn on airplane mode, will this interfere with receiving texts or calls?

I've got silent mode on, vibrate set to "only when not in silent mode," (I did this because one of the apps I installed, it vibrates every time there's an update) and I think I'll be turning on airplane mode before I go to bed..unless someone has any other suggestions or advise me otherwise.

Thanks.

 

[Reikachu]

So if I bought, say, a Droid X/2, realistically I shouldn't worry about bricking? If so, is it fairly straightforward to buy either device, root it, and kill the crapware? Am I going to have to worry that future updates will patch security holes and bury me in Blockbuster box-ins? If that happens, is it still possible to effectively hide the bloat through creative re-theming, or will I be trapped in a work environment that I'll hate? Sorry for these ridiculous newbie questions, I have no experience with these devices

I feel insane wanting a Droid 1 this late in its life cycle, but maybe it is the right purchase?

 

[furbearingmammal]

To conserve battery life, would it be a good idea to turn on airplane mode before I go to sleep? (any other tips for conversing battery life, either when I'm using it or when I'm not using it (sleeping or working?))

If I turn on airplane mode, will this interfere with receiving texts or calls?

Um, yeah. Just plug it in every night. Really. Just plug it in. Best tip I can give you for conserving battery life is, when rooted, have a really good screen-off profile, to use WiFi whenever possible, and turn it off the WiFi altogether when you're not using it. Oh, and WiFi tethering is harder on the battery than you'd imagine.

I've got silent mode on, vibrate set to "only when not in silent mode," (I did this because one of the apps I installed, it vibrates every time there's an update) and I think I'll be turning on airplane mode before I go to bed..unless someone has any other suggestions or advise me otherwise.

Thanks.

So if I bought, say, a Droid X/2, realistically I shouldn't worry about bricking? If so, is it fairly straightforward to buy either device, root it, and kill the crapware? Am I going to have to worry that future updates will patch security holes and bury me in Blockbuster box-ins? If that happens, is it still possible to effectively hide the bloat through creative re-theming, or will I be trapped in a work environment that I'll hate? Sorry for these ridiculous newbie questions, I have no experience with these devices

I feel insane wanting a Droid 1 this late in its life cycle, but maybe it is the right purchase?

No, yes (but freeze it instead), yes, if you're rooted all is possible.

The D1 is still an awesome phone, especially when ROM'd. It just has some limitations in the hardware. However, the future is in 4G so you might want to hold off for a couple weeks to see what's coming out in the next couple months.

 

[ilikemoneygreen]

Haha im not going to read every post in this thread so sorry if it was already said, But zero, you should wait!
I saw a couple people going on about LTE but the truth is that its only half the good stuff coming out. I probably wont get LTE for a while... but im waiting to upgrade because the newer phones will be dual core processors. This is definitely worth the wait. I wont get a new phone until i see a far superior phone to mine... granted you have an EnV2 but i had the EnV1 before my droid. Wait until CES and see your options...

 

[Zerozx]

Um, yeah. Just plug it in every night. Really. Just plug it in. Best tip I can give you for conserving battery life is, when rooted, have a really good screen-off profile, to use WiFi whenever possible, and turn it off the WiFi altogether when you're not using it. Oh, and WiFi tethering is harder on the battery than you'd imagine.

Hmm...are you sure I should leave it plugged in every night? After my first night of having my phone, the battery was about at 50-60% I think even with Airplane mode turned on.. (fully charged it before bed) :/ I was looking at one of the widgets on the phone, about "tips and tricks," and it suggests charging once it gets around 25% battery life and to "never leave it charging after it's got a full charge" because this could mess with the lithium battery's lifespan or something. I'm not sure what to think, though, because I've heard and read both sides to this... 1) constantly charging your lithium battery will have no negative effects on it and 2) if you leave it charging after a full battery has charged, it could diminish the battery. which is it?

 

[furbearingmammal]

Leave it plugged in. Let me state this again; leave it plugged in. I don't want there to be any confusion for you or anyone else reading this:

Leave your phone plugged in overnight. There is no risk to the battery as the phone takes what it needs from the charger and discards the rest. What this means is when it's plugged in the current coming over the USB cable is primary power source and the battery is supplemental. Once the battery is fully charged it kills power going to the battery.

Leave the phone plugged in overnight. Do not charge it up and then unplug it unless you do not have a power source near enough to your bed to be able to do this and you must have the phone near your head. If that is the case, however, putting it into airplane mode is pointless unless you don't have a $10 alarm clock. What you are doing by unplugging it and allowing the battery to discharge overnight is more harmful to the battery than leaving it plugged in.

As for the tips and tricks... Two things to that.

If the light ain't on, it ain't charging. See above for comments on the charging circuit and how it's smarter than the people who wrote the tips and tricks. Yes, if it were actually charging the battery there would be risk. The battery would have exploded in at least, oh, a thousand or twenty of these phones if that were the case. I haven't heard of even ONE blowing up.

These tips and tricks are from the same people who keep putting Advanced Task Killer and antivirus apps on these phones. That should be enough said.

 

[Zerozx]

I'm most likely just going to come back to this thread if I have any random questions instead of making dozens of threads for each question, but here:

One of my friends just sent me a picture, I saved it, but it saved it to my card and I was wondering how can I move it from the card to the phone itself? also is there a way to change the default saving location? When I take pictures myself, I'm pretty sure it saved to the phone itself...but if I save a picture from a friend, it saves to the card.. ?

 

[furbearingmammal]

Look on your SD card for a folder full of pictures. DCIM.

 

[Zerozx]

Look on your SD card for a folder full of pictures. DCIM.

Sorry if I'm asking stupid questions, but do I look on my SD card on the phone itself or on the computer? :/ Err.. sorry, lol completely new to all of this and it's making me feel stupid A lot of details should help (hopefully...)

Basically, I just want to know how to access the card and how to move from the card to the phone's memory

 

[furbearingmammal]

Two options to get a look at the SD card:

Mount it to a PC/Mac/*nix/etc computer. Install Astro from the market and go exploring.

Don't forget your helmet and a torch. Don't want a grue to eat you.

 

[Zerozx]

Two options to get a look at the SD card:

Mount it to a PC/Mac/*nix/etc computer. Install Astro from the market and go exploring.

Don't forget your helmet and a torch. Don't want a grue to eat you.

I connected the phone/pc via USB cable, and one thing that pops up is the usual "view files, etc." but one of the options is to install a Motorola Driver...should I do this? What's it for, exactly?

 

[furbearingmammal]

You'll want the drivers installed.

USB and PC Charging Drivers - Motorola USA

 

[Zerozx]

You'll want the drivers installed.

USB and PC Charging Drivers - Motorola USA

I downloaded this: Motorola 4.8.0 Driver with MotoConnect*

Which one of these do I download?:
PC Charging Drivers

These drivers allow you to charge your phone using your PC and a USB cable.

PC Driver 1 (W370, W375, W376g, W377)

PC Driver 2 (W216, W230, W230x, W23x, W259, W270, W270x, W27x, W388, W396, W397, W397v)

Also, I messed around on both Astro and also I looked at the files on on the card via my computer, but I didn't see how to transfer the two pictures from the card itself to the phone's memory.

 

[furbearingmammal]

Three things.

First off, what did the Motorola page say to download? Because you download and install that.

Secondly, you can't. Why would you want to, anyway?

Third, did you, maybe, perhaps, by chance, possibly install the thing you downloaded from Motorola?

 

[Zerozx]

Three things.

First off, what did the Motorola page say to download? Because you download and install that.

There are three things on the page I could download:
1) Motorola 4.8.0 Driver with MotoConnect* (downloaded and installed this, not sure what it did exactly...the driver that I was asked to install when I connected the phone via USB cable was 4.6.0, so I guess this was just a more recent version)

2. PC Driver 1 (W370, W375, W376g, W377)
3. PC Driver 2 (W216, W230, W230x, W23x, W259, W270, W270x, W27x, W388, W396, W397, W397v)

2 and 3, it says, are the PC charging drivers. I'm not sure if I need both of them or just one, which is why I asked which one (or both) of those I download and install.

Secondly, you can't. Why would you want to, anyway?

Ah, so I cannot move stuff from my card to my phone's memory. I see. :/ oh well, I guess I'm just being OCD about it..but the reason that I started all of this was because when I tried to view the pictures on my phone, they weren't showing up since they're saved on the card...I don't know why.

Third, did you, maybe, perhaps, by chance, possibly install the thing you downloaded from Motorola?

This? --> Motorola 4.8.0 Driver with MotoConnect*

Yes.

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