Newbie from a blackberry... questions???

[sdavis630]

Ok so I recently made the transition from a blackberry storm to the motorla droid. So far I love the phone but I have a few questions about what to do and what not to do etc.... (I pretty well had the blackberry down, but this is totally different)

I have severaaaaaal apps as I'm sure everyone does. I have a few that are used to kill tasks etc... recently I have noticed that some things are not working so smoothly. I was wondering if killing apps is something that I really want to do? (ex, not getting facebook notifications, gps indicator comes on for no reason at weird times, sms messaging will kinda freeze up for no reason and I have to back out of the message and go back in to finish typing etc..)

Sound profile selector - I recently downloaded this because I hate having to go to all the different areas changing things to fit my situations (ex work, gym, driving etc...). While using "setting profiles" I have a profile for silent and one for normal. These don't always do as they say. I had it set to normal and everything stayed silent....most of the time. Occasionally it would blurt out a sound but typically it would just vibrate.

Open Home - I'm using open home and so far everything is fine. Just making sure this wouldn't have anything to do with other known issues.

Ok, I'm going to leave this thread alone and hope that I get some good advice. As a newbie maybe you could offer some suggestions to keep this phone flying along and maybe some direction on apps to look at. I'm loving the apps : )

Thanks in advance!!!!

****Oh are there any apps to sync my facebook events calendar to my google on board calendar? and possibly an app to do screen shots?***

 

[sheltonwheeler]

memory

Your slow down my be in the amount u have stored on ur ph. I use advanced task killer works great do wish they had a timer on it to do it every so often thou try peak memory usage works pretty good and as far as open home i had panda home OMG at the FC i got hated it open home will slow it down to try uninstalling it ans see how it runs. And id root ur ph and up ur cpu speed with setcpu app mine is running 1000 mhz stock speed is 550 mhz that is truly the best thing to do unless ur worried about voiding the warranty. bugless beast rom is the way to go.

 

[natediddy1120]

Welcome

First, I would say get rid of the task killer and don't worry about apps in the background. Personally, I hate home replacements (Open Home), they always slow my phone down and add unnecessary stress on the phone. But, if you have to use one, use a good one, like Home++, or GDE.

Yeah and the only way you're gonna get screenshots, is if you root your Droid.

 

[ShowTime]

First off, welcome. Lets see what I can help with. First, task killers get debated constantly and I would say the majority consensus is that you don't need one at all. I don't personally have one (outside of the one built in to Astro's tools) and have never needed/wanted one. That said, killing off basic apps shouldn't cause any major functioning problems.
I haven't gotten correct/current notifications on the preloaded Facebook app in months and the market app is garbage and has the same problem with notifications. Your GPS indicator is coming on because some app is using it. There are a lot of apps people don't think of as using GPS that actually do. It also might be your Google webpage using it. If you close the browser before it loads your location, GPS gets stuck on. A simple remedy is to open Google, hit settings at the bottom of the page and select NO for the last option (something about allowing location... it will have no adverse effects on searches). Basically, you don't need to kill apps but doing so shouldn't cause the issues you mentioned.

As for your profile selector, I can't be much help as I've never used it. All the home replacements can be a bit buggy and could certainly cause conflicts with other apps, but again, I can't say definitively since I've never used open home.

As for apps, there are two good threads on the boards here you should check out. Just search "top apps" and you should find them. And I know at least one of the home replacements (home++ I believe) has a screenshot feature built in. Beyond that, if you aren't rooted, there's only one way I know of. Don't remember tghe exact link, but a quick search for "screenshot unrooted" or something like that should turn it up. Enjoy your phone.

 

[takeshi]

I was wondering if killing apps is something that I really want to do?

If you have to ask, I'd say no. If you are having problems without a task killer then investigate the actual problems. Task killers really only address the symptoms and without a good understanding of exactly what you're doing with them you're likely to just create more problems (hence the controversy over them). There are likely threads that already address all your concerns, including the use of task killers, your GPS issue, etc etc.

Sound profile selector - I recently downloaded this because I hate having to go to all the different areas changing things to fit my situations (ex work, gym, driving etc...). While using "setting profiles" I have a profile for silent and one for normal. These don't always do as they say. I had it set to normal and everything stayed silent....most of the time. Occasionally it would blurt out a sound but typically it would just vibrate.

I have yet to find a profile app that I'm totally happy with (also from a BB). I've been using Profiles by egg n stone and I've been the happiest with it of the several profiles apps that I've tried. In short, Android profiles just aren't quite there compared to the BB. I do miss having consistent and centralized notification settings for everything (audio, LED, vibrate) and the ease of switching among profiles for all of them.

Open Home - I'm using open home and so far everything is fine. Just making sure this wouldn't have anything to do with other known issues.

With any troubleshooting (not just on the Droid) you need to eliminate variables. If you want to be certain, remove Open Home and see if there is any improvement.

As a newbie maybe you could offer some suggestions to keep this phone flying along and maybe some direction on apps to look at. I'm loving the apps

Best suggestion for any question like this is read the threads. There are several app suggestion threads if that's what you're looking for but don't discount the individual app discussion threads for topics that you're interested in. Without knowing what apps you're looking fro recommendations are a bit pointless IMO.