Goodbye Blackberry, hello Droid

[rudigan]

Recently switched from Verizon non-smart to Verizon HTC Incredible. Holy crap! Pretty much anything you want. Work and other Email no problems, trying to get work VPN on it, not working yet though. Virtual keyboard takes some getting used to, otherwise very happy with it.

[damndave]

Here's the clencher trick most smart phone's can't do:

> Act as a WiFi Hotspot (for say your laptop)
> While simultaneously on a Voice Call (via Bluetooth or just on the device)

To do this, you need to be on AT&T or T-Mobile. If you are on Sprint (except the EVO in 4G land) or Verizon (Any) you can't do this and your email will not come in until your call ends. My setup can do this now (and i've clocked 3.9M downloads!).

When Verizon LTE is readily available later this year i'll be on the quest to try an android based phone that can do the same.

Just root the phone and you are good to go. FREE!

[Exile Machine]

I just successfully rooted my Droid X. Was easy as pie. Now I have the keys to the kingdom.
-Mark

[ls1]

[QUOTE=gimme;5911770]Use juice defender. I use my evo all day and won't need a charge until 7ish.

Also, use dolphin browser. Light years ahead of the cheesy pre installed browser.


So i got juice defender and between that and my seido battery i haven't charged
my phone in a day in a half and still got plenty of juice

[resident-shooter]

I got a seven years old brick looking Nokia and couldnt be happier....

[wildhawker]

Thunderbolt is mine, Blackberry gets to go away for good...

[whobob]

it's all about the gingerbread

[THT]

So I've had nearly a month to play with my Droid and the only issue I have with it is it sucks down batteries like EOTechs. My BB could go 2-3 days without a charge whereas the Atrix NEEDS to be charged at night as I'm in the low 20s and sometimes, under 10% depending on the use during the day.

[BOFH]

The android doesn't do push emails (as far as I could figure) it works like outlook works where at a pre-set period of time it looks up what is in your mailbox to grab mail. I could never get it to work right, and I would always finding myself hitting the send/receive button. Aside from that, I really liked the way both the phones worked and they had a lot of features, but email timing for me is critical to business.

Gmail does 'push' and it works with Google Apps so you can use it with your own domain if you want. Otherwise you can use something like K-9 Mail with IMAP..it works very well.

edit: Ahh..I see K9 has already been discussed...

[UltraLNW]

So I've had nearly a month to play with my Droid and the only issue I have with it is it sucks down batteries like EOTechs. My BB could go 2-3 days without a charge whereas the Atrix NEEDS to be charged at night as I'm in the low 20s and sometimes, under 10% depending on the use during the day.

You've probably already done most of this, but just in case:

1. Make sure bluetooth, wifi and gps are off if you are not using them. They will each regularly search for signa,s and this can eat through batteries like a kid eats cake.

2. Ensure that your screen is set on auto dim/brightness. The screen is often responsible for 80 to 90 % of batter consumption. Keeping it dim helps a lot.

3. While this may not be ideal, only have your gmail set to sync. I had my 10 year old hotmail account synced and it forced the device to regularly update and consume power. I made a bookmark in the browser for my hotmail account's web page and jusr check it through the day if i am expecting mail.

4. Uninstall apps that you instaled and never use. These have a tendency to check for updates or phone home to the developer, and they can consume a lot of juice.

[ProperModulation]

New guy here...

Been lurking for a while but haven't posted, but I thought I'd chime in here. I have much more experience with Androids than I do with guns

2. Ensure that your screen is set on auto dim/brightness. The screen is often responsible for 80 to 90 % of batter consumption. Keeping it dim helps a lot.

Actually, you want to turn off the auto brightness. Auto brightness will keep your screen pretty bright for a good chunk of the day. You should set the brightness really low if you want to save battery. This made a huge difference for me. There are many widgets in the market that will let you quickly change brightness if you need it brighter.

Also make sure that you avoid active wallpapers and widgets that update frequently (weather, stocks, etc...). I had horrible battery life on my Droid X before I made these changes. I also fully cycled the battery which helped out as well. It doesn't do anything to the actual battery cells but a full cycle (drain fully then charge fully) will calibrate the sensor that detects the charge level.

I use my phone a lot from about 630am until 10ish at night and will generally end the day at around 30-40% charge. I let the phone stay on the charger every night. Modern smartphones are really only good for a full days use. The days of 2-3 days between charges are gone until battery tech catches up.