Welcome to the Motorola Smart Actions Developer Team Forums

[Smart_Actions]

I'm glad you like Smart Actions, I appreciate the comments. I've collected these ideas and shared with the team.
The volume controls sounds good to me!

 

[sikbrik]

I'm glad you like Smart Actions, I appreciate the comments. I've collected these ideas and shared with the team.
The volume controls sounds good to me!

+1 for media volume and 'in call' volume.

I'm trying out a paid app (Tasker) for this and it seems to have so many more actions available that I can't give it up but I'm starting to toy around with smart actions to see if its any better for battery and responsiveness. Thanks for keeping it on the radar.

 

[WaltA]

I have a Droid 4, with the Smart Actions app pre-installed.

I don't want to use it. No offense, but I just don't. However, I am getting "suggestions" from Smart Actions which means it is running and doing something, at some level.

How do I shut it down completely, 100%?

 

[Smart_Actions]

Just select "no" on any further suggestion cards. Smart Actions is built into the framework of the phone so there is no current way to turn it off completely. This yields the best experience for our customers that do like it. Many competitors build their applications in the same way and is a common design practice. We have read in other threads of the desire to uninstall pre-loaded apps and we are looking into this option but this is a non-trivial update. Some features would be lost by doing so. But be rest assured Smart Actions is very frugal about preserving battery life and works at a very sophisticated level to do so. You should actually try it and get more life out of your phone.

If you want to temporarily stop actions from running you can always go to settings> applications > running. Hit "stop" on Smart Actions.

 

[sikbrik]

I have a Droid 4, with the Smart Actions app pre-installed.

I don't want to use it. No offense, but I just don't. However, I am getting "suggestions" from Smart Actions which means it is running and doing something, at some level.

How do I shut it down completely, 100%?

At least it's telling you that it's doing something. I wonder how many things are running that aren't telling us. I don't know...from what I can tell, this is actually less intrusive than previous "built in functionality" and you don't really need to activate any of the suggested smart actions.

Some of it is actually good stuff - for instance, my Droid 2 had a "nighttime saver" battery mode that I used pretty frequently since I tend not to charge at night and don't need background data running, etc. On Droid 4, this isn't there but there is an option "smart action" to enable it. I haven't noticed it using any amount of battery in comparison to all of the other processes that are running and when it does launch a smart action there is no lag so I don't think it's lagging any of my other apps.

Just my $.02 - to each his/her own. Remove ALL the things!!! :biggrin:

 

[WaltA]

We have read in other threads of the desire to uninstall pre-loaded apps and we are looking into this option but this is a non-trivial update. Some features would be lost by doing so.

I hope you complete this new option soon. I greatly encourage you all to do so. Every app should have an "off switch", if you will. A way to disable it. Stop it. Clear it out from memory. IMHO, that's a pretty reasonable expectation.

Right now, I have your app using up 8.1MB of memory, and running one process and two services, for nothing.

 

[WaltA]

At least it's telling you that it's doing something. I wonder how many things are running that aren't telling us. I don't know...from what I can tell, this is actually less intrusive than previous "built in functionality" and you don't really need to activate any of the suggested smart actions.

Well, I see it more as its reminding me that its running, but doing nothing useful for me.

Some of it is actually good stuff - for instance, my Droid 2 had a "nighttime saver" battery mode that I used pretty frequently since I tend not to charge at night and don't need background data running, etc. On Droid 4, this isn't there but there is an option "smart action" to enable it. I haven't noticed it using any amount of battery in comparison to all of the other processes that are running and when it does launch a smart action there is no lag so I don't think it's lagging any of my other apps.

I do agree on the concept of using various triggers to shutdown (battery sucking) hardware you don't need at that time. But there are other, and IMHO better, programs that do the same thing. I use one of those, previously on my Droid 3, and now on my Droid 4, and I am quite pleased with it. I have no need to change to using Smart Actions, which I would consider a step backwards.

 

[Eriram]

This might seem like a silly question, but does the constant turning off and on of the data waste more battery? For example:

I've set up my phone in time frames to turn off the data, wifi, gps, and sync, when the screen is OFF and NOT charging. So at certain times of the day it turns on the data, so I can get emails and such. And whenever I turn the screen on the screen it searches for the network so I get full functionality back. But does this constant turning on and off of the data waste more battery since it "searches" for either 3g or the 4g network every time I turn the screen off and on?

I can't say that I've noticed much battery improvement from doing this, as opposed to not having any smart actions on. But the only way to make sure is to be sure I use the phone the same way when testing this out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Shadez]

Welcome!

 

[GR8fulHman]

I have a question and a suggestion. I seem to be having an issue with smart actions "having a mind of it's own" for lack of a better description. I have done a full FDR after ICS and still have issues. Primarily, I have a night setting that is supposed to enable at 12am (this is the only trigger) and shut off all sounds unless a VIP caller should send me something. However, at least half a dozen times I have checked my phone after midnight to see if the no sounds icon is running (which it should be since it was triggered at 12am) but for some reason it hasn't disabled sounds. I can edit the action in some way and get it to trigger or I can reboot the phone but I don't feel I should have to do this. Is this a known issue or could something else be the cause?

My suggestion is to create a new trigger based on the loss of your home Wifi signal (when you move out of range). I have a "car" smart action that I have to activate manually because I don't use a dock or bluetooth in my car. I would like the actions I have set (max ring volume, etc) to basically "know" when I have left my house and trigger automatically.

 

[GR8fulHman]

I'm thinking that there is some sort of conflict between smart actions that are running concurrently. Last night I had the same problem of my "sleep" action not activating at 12am and had to reboot the phone to get it to trigger. Is it possible that another action like "battery extender" or "nighttime battery saver" is causing my sleep action to not engage?

I'm also thinking that another good action item would be to disable/shut-off all other running smart actions....just a thought.

 

[thorsdroid]

SLAYER6669,
Yes media and notifications are on my list, a very popular request.

Hello.
Has a target date been set for this feature?
Is there a notification service I can subscribe to for receiving alerts when features like this will be released??

 

[AngryBlackMan]

still missing features...

i love the versatility of this program. however, i've noticed a couple flaws.

first, why is there a smart action for ringer volume, but not media volume? i don't know if this has been addressed already, but i hate sitting in class with a smart action running that turns the ringer volume set to silent, and i decide to play a game for a moment and the game's media is happily playing at maximum volume. what sense does this make?

secondly, when class ends early, i would like an easy way to one-click cancel the CURRENTLY running smart action. i want to disable that iteration and not think about it ever again (read: never having to go and re-enable it for the next time)

thirdly, why aren't the charging state values customizable? that makes NO sense. it would have required LESS programming to let the user set it. the current options could stay, but there needs to be a custom option. this wasn't even lazyness on the part of the developers; it was an intentional screw up for some clandestine, asinine reason.

 

[AngryBlackMan]

I'm also thinking that another good action item would be to disable/shut-off all other running smart actions....just a thought.

and with this, having a priority setup.

also, automatically expiring smart actions. ones that will auto-disable (and an extra option to auto delete) after some date passes. by auto disabling, i dont have to recreate the rule and i can just reset the auto disable date when i recycle the action. auto delete would mean that i can create throwaway actions that might be useful for non-recurring events in the future.

currently, these smart actions are averaging a B-. make this an A.

 

[Gritchu]

Trouble with locations

I set up two actions, one for while I'm at work, one for while I'm at home and I have it tell the difference using the location trigger. However, I seem to be having problem getting this to work as I'd like.

I've found that regardless of which location I'm at, the last activated trigger is the only trigger that is on. For example. If I'm at home and it says the home action is enabled, then drive to work, all day at work it has the Home action enabled. If I switch it manually to be the Work action then go home, it stays work while I'm at home. I work and live a good 20 minutes away, though they're both in the same county.

It seems that it evaluates the trigger as being true even if I'm not at a selected location for that action.

Any ideas as to what I can do to correct this issue? Currently location is the only trigger I have for each of the two actions. Also, I've tried it with wifi on and with it off to see if added location data makes a difference. It does not.

Also, is there a way I can have a trigger set to any location other than a selected location? I like to have my phone volumes set to vibrate while at work as to not annoy my coworkers, but as soon as I leave I prefer to have everything turned up.

Thanks,
G