Related
I am new to the whole PDA form so please forgive me if this is obvious but I have not found the answers on this site.
I have an O2 XDA mini s and am slowly getting the hang of it.
Problem: On closing all running programs in task manager I loose the use of the phone keypad, pressing the green call button brings up the phone application but minus the number keys, calls can still be made through contacts. A soft reset is required to recify.
?Related problem: In task manager, there are programs running that are not visible on the list (if I press below the last visible item something is selected and I can "goto" it.
Plus on occation the listed item takes me to a different program ie. selecting media player takes me to Word (no set pattern though).
All help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance
StefanF: what task manager are you using?
V
Sorry, just to clarify, PDA is "as out of the box", so just the WM5 task manager.
Thanks for your interest, I have followed several of your posts and seen your site. You have some great programs I would like to use, particually like the big phone buttons and close application tool but am quite scared of this thing.
It may be a while before I mess to deeply.
Stefan: that sounds like an odd problem.
The built in task manager is useful but not very comprehensive.
If you want to view all running tasks etc, there are much better programs out there, many are freeware. If you can't find any better, check out one I've posted here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=190257#190257
It's not written by me, I've just re-added some features.
Note - closing the phone (cprog.exe) is not a particularly good idea unless you really need it, because some other apps expect it to be loaded (eg contacts)
My programs
Some are ok. You might want to try my program VJOkButt if you just want to close apps to keep your memory healthy. But that's subject to taste and it's not clear how useful - although on the Wizard, it might be helpful.
The big phone buttons are actually just for the universal, it's not designed for Wizard. Basically it's for VGA phones that are using the ful VGA hack.
I've got some other stuff coming out soon. Stay tuned :wink:
V
Phone application
Thanks for the info.
I think, from what you have said, I need to know what I am doing to shut down the phone application as it is never my intention.
Pitty about the big button program. Why is there not full customisation of the screen (as in desktop PC's, can change the size of buttons, scroll bars... both of which are to small for finger use on this)
As a side note, when I am in an application the menus and any selections within make a click upon pressing ie. in word, Menu>Cut each selection makes a click. I have all tap sounds off but the only way I can stop it is to turn the master volume all the way down. Any ideas?
Once again, thanks.
You have to overwrite some of the default sounds with empy sounds to disable all click sounds. At least that's what I did, but that was a long time ago..basically you use your pc, make an empty .wav file, and overwrite the necessary files in your \windows\ folder. If you're interested in doing this and need more help, shout out!
Closing the phone - yes, you would probably not close it without knowing what you're doing. I presume when you're not using the task manager you're not having the phone problems?
Try a program called CETuner to help play around with your scrollbars etc. It's good for modifying colour themes and various settings on the go. Another program worth looking at is Tweak 2k .net.
V
Many thanks.
Personally i'm currently using Magic Button to close apps and act as a task manager. http://www.freewareppc.com/utilities/magicbutton.shtml
It allows you to close or minimise apps, and by clicking the "house" icon on the windows bar you can also close all, soft reset etc. Final point on it is that you can see X number of running apps and touch to swap to them, or "hide when inactive" and "keep alive" so you dont close (or even see) some apps - i keep messages & phone in this state to improve response times but close use close all to kill everything else.
Danger using Task Manager
Stefan,
I had the same problem. Ideally you should use Start/Settings/System/Memory/Running Programs to close down active tasks. Yes, the Task Manager does it and you can launch it from the menu, but it is a bit dangerous (as I found out). The Phone app appears in Task Manager as an unnamed icon and its icon looks like the Windows Media Player one (at least it does on my XDA Mini S). Shutting this down will do exactly what you describe (I started a thread called 'Help I'm stuck in Contact History on this).
By all means use Task Manager if you want to, just don't shut all apps, leave the unnamed 'media player lookalike' icon.
Cheers. :wink:
To the original poster:
I had this problem when i got my XDA at first. To be honest, i think its the o2 active stuff that messes up the phone app.
My suggestion is this: back up any important data, then do a hard rerset of your phone. When the screen comes up about Standard, Corporate or Basic install choose the Corporate option and use the passcode 0506. this will allow you to use the phone without any of the o2 crap and since i done it i've had no problems with the phone.
just to let you know, this will stop the phone setting up its own GRPS and MMS settings, but if you phone o2 ar go into a shop then they will happily send them to you.
Hope this helps.
Task Manager or Active ?
I suspect that it is shutting down the phone app that's causing the issue not Active. I agree, get rid of Active if you don't like it (I use Basic so I still get the MMS settings), but I don't think Active is the cause.
Just my humble opinion of course.
I'd completely overlooked that StefanF was using o2. I'm an O2 and Orange user, but O2 active has never touched my system. Sounds like that's quite an oversight by them if the O2 Task Manager allows you to close the phone app... not recommended!
V
Oooer indeed
My friend has an XDA Exec (Universal) and he had lots of problems with the phone app which I strongly suspect were much the same thing. (although his apps in task manager were not unnamed, he had multiple phone apps running). I didn't know the Task Manager was an O2 add-on, I assumed it was a WM5 feature.
I have advanced task killer installed and even after I kill all apps and my phone is just sitting some programs still start up and run.
Such as sprint navigation. It always seems to be running even though i dont use it. I do have an icon for it on my home screen.
Also my visual voice mail is always running even when i have had no voicemails.
Does anyone know why these programs keep running and slowing down my phone?
I don't have the answer to your problem, but I can confirm that you are no the only person experiencing this. I have yet to use Sprint Nav since purchasing my Hero on the 11th, and it always finds a way to creep back onto my running programs list.
I've seen that Sprint Navigation opens with some apps that use GPS, it's weird and I don't understand that, but it doesn't open "on it's own" for me, just with some GPS based applications.
Hi there,
I've seen this also, through using Advanced Task Killer and Task Panel X also. Here are some of the ones I see that pop up a lot in my situation. Please note my comments after them, as sometimes they're fairly vital to keep running.
-HtcIQAgent - HTC something, leave running as negligible RAM gain if killed.
-OMADM - not sure, but think this is a system app also
-Peep - can't kill this at all without it coming back, in ATK anyway.
-Stocks - will keep coming back too, OK to kill tho
-Footprints - also OK to kill
**app.vnotes - this is Visual Voicemail, DONT kill it unless you're OK with not getting notifications!!
**Mail - default Exchange mail app, DONT kill unless you're OK with not getting notifications
**Touch Input - System app, can kill but phone feels a little sluggish if done, so I normally have this one excluded
**providers.htccdma - System app, negligible gain when killed. Leave it be.
This isn't an exhaustive list of course, but some of the apps I've commonly dealt with using both aforementioned apps.
Hi
I have done the 1-click lagfix that relies on ext2.
I have also installet autokill (the one that changes the internals of the system)
I have 2200 point in qualcom.
STILL I have massive lagg now. It started out well after the rooting, but now its worse than ever. In fact I have even failed to answer a call due to the lagging.
(I have installed Tasker and have 4 tasks set up, i really hope this is not the reason because I would really miss tasker)
I can notice a big differense if I start the dialer and press Home istead of Back. Assuming Back actually kills the process? If I use Home, I can bring it up again in a split second. Using Back and it an take everything from 300 ms to 4000 ms.
I have now started to experiment with Launcher Pro (who some claims to be faster) but this is actuall just a shell and I cannot dedect any differense.
I have tried different presets in autokill, but since this lag is probably not due to lack of memory, i have now set it to "system default".
Is there a way to keep important processes in memory all the time? Like the dialer, contactbook, sms etc? I dont really care if it takes 500 ms longer to start up google maps or facebook, but the PHONE FEATURES must work properly on the phone.
I run a stockrom JM2
hello, as well as the lag fix, I also disabled ui animations and installed autokiller set to strict or optimum and the lag is now minimal for me, it's still there at times but not as bad as you describe.
ironicly i didnt have this problem before lagfix/autokill. It was there so i decided to run the fix (and the qualcom-score is always cool i thought). But now its worse.
Does anyone have experience with tasker as a performance-killer?
Hi everyone. I just purchased my Droid X last week, and I'm having some migrating pains coming from Windows Mobile 6.5 (HTC Touch Pro 2, Mighty ROM) over to Android. I'm wondering if the fine folks here at XDA can help me ease into the Android OS a little easier.
Here are the things I miss most about WinMo, maybe you can tell me some viable alternatives.
1) The Dialer. - Skip the next 3 paragraphs if you're familiar with HTC Sense on WinMo.
The dialer absolutely sucks compared to the TP2. Having to click different tabs juts annoys me. In the TP2, the dialer and recent calls were displayed in a single window, so if I wanted to dial Steve, I had 2 ways of doing it.
The first way was to dial 7(S), 8(T). The phone would recognize I am spelling out Steve, and list everyone who fits the ST criteria sorted by most recently called. The more I spelled out his name, the narrower the results got.
The second method was to dial his number. Pretend Steve's number is (123) 456-7890. If I dialed 123, it would sort all contacts with numbers who matched the area code, and it would narrow the results as I typed more of his phone number.
I really hate having to tap between Contacts (there is a contacts soft button next to the dialer anyway), I would just click that if I wanted to from the beginning.
Are there any dialers out there closer to the HTC Dialer?
2) Contacts.
There has to be a better contact manager. Not being able to quickly tap a letter to get to contacts is really dumb.
3) Ninja Applications.
Why do I keep seeing applications running that I never started when I load Advance Task Killer. It's really annoying when I load up an App, and go to close it, and see Skype and CityID running when I never launched either of them. I'm almost afraid to set up AIM on my phone at this point.
4) GPS.
If I keep my GPS on, my battery gets killed. With my TP2, it would only use the GPS when it needed it, so for weather updates, and Google Maps, otherwise it stayed off (or was in a suspend state). I turned the GPS on my first day and had 0 battery by around 2 (left the house at 8). Is there any way to set the GPS to only be used, as needed?
5) APPLICATIONS EVERYWHERE.
Is there anyway to sort these into folders? Also, is there anyway to add an X to the application so I can close it when I'm done with it rather than having to launch an App just to close the App I just used?
I really liked the Sense way of doing it, where I had an X in the Application, and a drop down on the home screen that would list the open Apps so I could close them 1 at a time.
6) MotoBlur.
Ugh, I really hate this UI. Has anyone had any experience with SenseX?
7) Custom Roms.
I've seen a handful of Custom ROMs, and I'm planning on putting one on when I have some time next week. I need a good way to backup contacts, after I just spent an hour linking everyone, but I'd like to know if there is a decent Apples to Apples comparison of the ROMs. They don't seem to be outlines as detailed as I'm used to.
On this topic, are there any problems setting up things like MMS once you install a Custom ROM? It was a nightmare on the TP2, but those ROMs were also made for multiple carriers, which isn't a problem with this phone, so I imagine it shouldn't be an issue.
----------------------------------
Thank you for taking the time to read this wall of text.
Other than the 7 things listed, I love the phone. Finding MortPlayer for Droid made my day. I'm looking forward to unlocking it's true potential, and I hope my list isn't a bunch of things I'm just going to have to adjust to.
Thank you again, have a great day.
EDIT:
Also, it's really annoying that every time I connect my phone to my PC, it launches a Verizon web site. Is there anyway to disable this?
Ok... I will take a stab at this.
FIRST, You DO NOT have to settle for the apps that come preinstalled on your phone! Just had to clear that up... Ok, here we go:
Check an app called "Dialer One" and see if that fits your needs... I haven't used it in a while... but heard it still a great replacement for the stock dialer.
Searching for a better Contact Manager is on my To-Do list.. hope someone comes in and help out a little more with that one
Don't worry about the "ninja" apps TOO much. Android Froyo has an amazing task manager and even though you SEE the apps as "running applications", they are not really RUNNING. They are more like... in a queue.. so they are ready for whenever you come back to them....but you still have to watch what the apps are doing. Some do not play nicely and hog memory. I'll link a good post here in a minute explaining that a little better.
There is a widget that can help you out here.. it's called "Power Control" put that bad boy on your homescreen and the option to turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc is at your fingertips (for even more controls... check out "Extended Controls" in the market. It cost like $1 and some change)
I'm... not really following this one. For one.. you CAN use folders on your homescreen and put whatever your heart desires in them.. and label it accordingly. I'm not sure what you mean by the "X" in the app
SenseX?? What is that?? Anyway.. as you will find out soon, 99% of the Droid X community despise MotoBlur!! You can use a different Home Launcher and not use Blur. Two of the major Home Launcher replacements are Adw.launcher & LauncherPro... which one is better is a whole different story. They are both great and only YOU can choose which one is best. There many threads comparing them and they run neck to neck mostly. I'm on LauncherPro personally
Custom Roms?? Eh.. I personally do my own developments and theming on my phone and do not use them... there not really all what they cracked up to be because whatever they have on them... I can do myself. So I'm not much of an help on that one... Somebody else maybe will chime in.
P.S-To fix the Verizon thing, go to the "M" in the taskbar at the bottom of your screen by the clock on your PC and right click it.. there should be an option saying to tell it to NOT send you to the Verizon site when you connect your phone. I don't know the EXACT wording of the option menu.. I'm on a mac
Thank you for your reply.
I will check out the Dialer. Thank you very much.
Darn!
A friend of mine told me that, but it's hard for me to not be a bit OCD about background Applications. I've been a Windows user most of my life, and coming from WinMo, background apps really kill performance.
More than anything, my issue is with things like Skype loading when I do not want to be signed in. I want auto-login when I launch the Application, but I don't want the application loading when it feels like it, and me getting a random IM or call from someone when I didn't even tell it to log in.
It also bothers me that Amazon MP3, something I've never even loaded, has turned itself on. It makes me feel like I don't have control over my phone.
I do have a widget that lets me turn these things on and off, I was just hoping for a way to set it up so that the GPS is "pinged" and only used as needed, and turned back off. My TP2 did this, and was a great battery saver. Having to turn the GPS on and off just to get a weather update based on location is a bit annoying.
I didn't mean on the home-screen, I meant in the application list. So when I hit the application list, I can sort them by "Games", "Google", etc.
For the "X", what I mean is in reference to closing an App. In WinMo, the top right of the screen had an X, and if I touched that X, the app would close. Now, once I exit the App, I need to use an application killer to close said App.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764840
Looks like Sense for the Droid X. In Beta now, so I'm waiting for a stable release.
Really, it's just to get rid of bloatware and take advantage of some performance optimizations that have been made.
A couple of other things that have come up.
I need a better keyboard. One with arrows so I can navigate text. Touching isn't precise enough, and I don't have a stylus with this phone. Today I voiced a text message, and I went to correct an error, but I couldn't get the curse to go in the exact spot I needed it to go into. My old OSK had arrow soft-keys I could tap to navigate with.
Also, I notice when I pull my phone out of the leather pouch I have, when I hit the power button it comes up in landscape, and the accelerometer doesn't pick up on the turn. I need to turn the screen off and turn it back on.
Finally, I'm having extender issues, but I think I need to call VZW for that. When leaving my house, I can't reconnect to Data without a power-cycle.
Thank you for the reply.
my .02
3. Break yourself from the taskiller need. If you have programs allways running that you dont need, ie skype or city id. Root and delete those SOB's. you can look around and there are plenty of articles of why not to use them. Android is a linux based os. Linux is far supirior to Win in memeory management. You dont need task killers.
4. if your gps is turned on its not always running. It only runs when needed. Is by chance your wifi on? that will run all the time by searching for access points. if not you might have maps running, make sure to always back out of maps and not just hit home. That way it closes and doesnt just run in background. (actually goes for most apps)
5 organization- you cant sort the app drawer, you can hide apps (just the icons) using launcher pro, not sure if ADW has that option. Useing folders or the app "app manager" is your best bet
extra. swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.
I came from winmo- so I know all about your "X" pains. But I say forget about a task killer or even killing tasks (except maybe maps and navigation). I did a little reading about pros and cons and decided to try the "no task killer" approach. I haven't had any problems. the task killer is a pain anyways. you can kill apps all day long and there are a bunch of them that are just going to repopulate themselves in like 5 minutes. I just said, "fegetaboutit". My phone runs great.
if you open the dialer and are on the contacts tab just long press the menu button (the physical button) and your keyboard will pop up. start typing and contacts will appear.
I like "Zeam Launcher". There is a thread here on XDA. I have Launcher Pro+ -but actually liked Zeam so much I use it. Just different preferences though.
that's all i got for now.
Thank you for your replies.
I will try to be a bit less OCD regarding my tasks. I did kill a couple of services of applications that kept starting, like Skype.
I'll check out those launchers and see if I like them better.
Any good stock widgets?
EDIT:
So I just tried to check my location on Google Maps with GPS turned off, and it says I need to turn it on.
How do I set it up to use the GPS as needed?
I leave location services on (GPS)
My theory is that applications will only enable GPS when they need them, so if you have a application running that wants GPS, it will use it.
The GPS icon appears in the notification bar when I'm using something that is using GPS, so I assume its only actually on when this icon is present. Leave it on in settings just makes is available.
Any widget or application that has a setting for manual location (Weather, IMDB) I use it, and disable GPS location, to keep GPS from running all of the time.
To exit an app you are using, either hit the back button or the home button.
If you are worried about "ninja" apps using cpu and memory, you can try a minfree adjustment application such as AutoKiller Memory Optimizer. It fine tunes android's inner memory manager to be a bit more aggressive in closing applications.
I use another Rom (rubiX, link in sig) that already has minfree adjusted (according to the author) and it does help in keeping the X smooth. It also removes all (well most) of Blur and default installed apps as well, so you start with a very clean X.
The default home screen (blur) is crap. I would also suggest replacing it with LauncherPro or ADW
For removing the pre-installed applications. Follow this guide
http://www.droidxforums.com/forum/d...ta-3-ways-super-easy-safe-safe-easy-free.html
Some apps in /system/app/ are not named what they are
(IE. mynet.apk = 3g Hotspot)
For a keyboard anywhere, you can hold the menu button, and it will pop up.
Swype is really a few keyboards. Swype from the icon to the SYM button, it will give you the edit panel (arrows, home, end, copy, paste, etc...) press the ABC button to go back.
Swype from the icon to the f key, it will turn into a number pad. Press the ABC button to go back to the normal keyboard.
Run the tutorial on Swype too, it will give you some very nice pointers on it's use. I used Swype on windows mobile and I found out a few things about Swype I never knew.
Also, as for touching where your cursor is in a text field, if you press and hold, and magnifying bubble will pop up. This makes moving the cursor easier
Did you find a dialer yet? I saw these posted and thought about this thread...
http://www.appbrain.com/app/kz.mek.DialerOne
http://www.appbrain.com/app/acontacts/kz.mek.aContacts
Haven't had a chance to try them yet.
bad4u6669 said:
.... swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG. thanks. been loving swype but that has been driving me nuts. Thanks for the info.
Thank you for the replies.
One of the things I liked about my TP2, is I could leave location services on, and it used very little battery.
I guess Weather Bug just SUCKS battery out like crazy. I turned on the GPS last night for something, and decided to see how well it did with battery today. It turns out that some grocery shopping app I wanted to try was sucking my GPS dry (no idea why)... yet another "ninja app" that just started up because it felt like it (this kind of **** really makes me , programs should only start up when I tell them to, not when a component of my phone turns on).
I live in an apartment that has really bad signal (I actually have a Network Extender), so that might be my GPS constantly trying to update when I'm at home killing my battery.
WeatherBug is set to update every hour, so I'm going to see what happens tomorrow with the GPS turned on. It would be nice if I could just set it and forget it, not need to turn it off every time I come home.
Thank you for the contact program, I might check it out. I've been pretty content since I got DialerOne and found out I can get the keyboard up by holding the options.
I tried LauncherPro, and I LOVED it at first, and my phones performance was fantastic!
Then I found out it charges me to resize widgets... WTF is that crap?
I'm going to try some other launchers and see what happens. I'm getting the hang of it, but I still do not like things starting up on their own. Regardless of memory management, my phone should not just decide to boot up programs on it's own.
the phone only does what the app or the user tells it to do. If theirs an app that you don't like, delete it.
And complaining that launcher pro charges for every thing it offers is ridiculous. Every thing it offers for free already ( 7 home screens, 10 rows and columns, unreal speed improvement, etc. ) then to get the extras its less than most people throw away on a daily basis. Where as this three dollars its money that pays off on a daily basis
Adw and lp should be paid apps from the start for all they offer.
You have 3 options, write your own program, use the stock launcher, find a free one.
-end rant
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
I usually leave my location setting on "Use Wireless Networks" and don't bother with GPS other than for maps and navigation. Works fine for all of my other apps that need a location (e.g., weather).
There are apps out there that can turn GPS on and off automatically when you run a particular app, such as Tasker (which can do a whole host of things, but that is one one of them). Tasker is a paid app, but there might be something free out there that does something similar.
Also, I agree with the previous poster re: Launcher Pro. It's really a fantastic home launcher and well worth a few bucks to support the developer. The LP Plus widgets are also a lot better than any of the Blur widgets.
In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.
EtherBoo said:
In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to look into RockPlayer. That's the only one I found so far that decodes ALMOST anything on the spot.
The "Ninja Applications" are running because Android is a true multi tasking OS.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I hope necromancy isn't frowned upon on this board, so my apologies if it is.
I found a new problem because I had the nerve to attempt to update a contact photo after Facebook had saved it's picture to it.
This is especially frustrating because I'm going to want to override a lot of these photos very soon.
Apparently, updating the photo updates the Google Contact photo, but the phone only displays the Facebook photo. This is a bug confirmed by Moto that will be fixed in a future update.
This leaves me with 2 options.
De-Sync FB, which I'm not thrilled about only because I like getting the most recent status update prior to receiving a call, and There is a lot of info that FB fills in for me.
Copy down all the FB info, and fill it in manually. With Google Contacts not being the best contact manager (I'm very OCD about uniformity in the way things are formatted), I really don't want to do this.
So I figure I need a new contact manager. I tried AContacts, and it crashed every time I tried to edit a contact.
I would love something like the HTC one that comes with WinMo, or maybe even the iPhone one.
I would be willing to pay for this.
P.S.
I'm now rooted and running a custom ROM (zapX I think it's called). I'm loving my phone much more now. My battery life has skyrocketed, and my performance is amazing now. Very iPhone smooth (one thing I was always jealous of, and I hate the iPhone).
HTC Wildfire New User Tips & Tricks
Hi,
Just thought I’d put this together for users of this great little phone. Hopefully it will be of use to someone.
First up, the Wildfire (also known as the Buzz) can run different firmware to that supplied by HTC.
There are several alternative firmware versions available, such as WildPuzzleROM. You can read more about these in the Wildfire Android Development sub-forum.
So why would you want to run different firmware?
One reason could be because you don’t like / have a use for the apps provided by your phone supplier (carrier) or HTC. As examples, many users may not have a need for social networking apps like FriendStream, Twitter, Facebook and so on. Other users may have no need for the Stock or News widgets. Other users are annoyed by all of the marketing-oriented crap from their phone company that fills up their app drawer with useless “apps” (these are often simply links to websites where you can buy ringtones, games, a.s.o.)
If you remove these apps from your installation (generally-speaking, you can’t remove them using the standard - or “stock” - firmware), it frees up a lot of internal memory for applications that you actually want to have on your phone. The other plus is that your phone will have more RAM to work with (because it‘s not running a bunch of default apps / services that start when you turn it on).
As with all computers, more free RAM means a faster, smoother experience and the ability to run more apps.
Another reason for using alternative firmware is to run a completely different interface. While you can install / run several “home” alternatives (basically, a different “desktop”) with the stock Wildfire firmware, the memory used by the default installed (HTC Sense) apps /services can affect the performance of your chosen alternate home.
Speaking of performance, many of the firmware alternatives allow you to overclock your Wildfire (make the processor run faster than the default speed). Some also enable a feature called JIT (just in time). Without getting into a bunch of technical jargon here, JIT can make applications run faster.
As an observation with MY Wildfire and overclocking - it becomes unstable if I use clock speeds over 691mHz - with a low limit of 128mHz. If I clock at 710, 728 etc. up to 768mHz I get lots of “fc” (force close) messages, weird hangs, or the phone simply reboots. Some folks are reporting stable usage at 768mHz, so it seems to be a luck of the draw thing, where some Wildfires will happily run at this speed. Having said that, a speed bump from the default 528mHz to 691mHz is a 31% increase in speed for free - so I’m not complaining.
Warning: As always with overclocking, you are using the CPU outside of spec which increases heat, battery use and so on. This is likely to reduce your phone’s lifespan and - in some cases - can destroy some phones. You’ve been warned of the risks, so it’s up to you to make the call on overclocking.
You can also UNDERclock your phone - using a utility such as SetCPU, which can be downloaded from the Market. This is the reverse of overclocking, where you run your CPU slower than default - which means a cooler phone and potentially much better battery life. This is unlikely to change the longevity of your phone, as the CPU is still running within spec.
Back to the benefits of running alternative firmware - and probably the biggest reason why you should consider it - is because it’s typically based on a more recent Android OS version than the one supplied by your phone company (or HTC themselves). New versions of Android often increase performance or add new features - and provide bug fixes.
In the Wildfire’s case, all of the current firmware alternatives are based on Android 2.2 (Froyo). The default firmware on Wildfire is Android 2.1 (Éclair).
Android 2.2 is faster than 2.1 and adds a feature which allows you to install your applications on the microSD card - rather than in the phone’s internal memory. This lets you install a lot more apps.
So, how do I install alternative firmware?
This involves a couple of steps.
First up is a process known as “rooting” your Wildfire. In plain language, you gain access to the base (or “root”) level of your phone’s operating software. If compared to a standard PC, this is the rough equivalent of the BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The easiest way to “root” your phone is with a utility called Unrevoked. See this thread for details on where to get it and how to use it:
forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764495
Warning: You should note that rooting a phone is not without risk. You can “brick’ your phone (functionally - turn it into something as useful for making phone calls as a brick). Having said that, many thousands of people have managed to do it by following the instructions / doing their homework BEFORE rooting. Do this, and you should be fine too.
Once you’ve rooted your phone, you need to find / download a firmware alternative. These are known / identified as a ROM. See / read / download from the threads in the Wildfire Android Development sub-forum.
Installation instructions are generally found in each ROM thread.
You can only install an alternative ROM on a rooted phone.
You can only install a ROM which is built for the Wildfire (or “Buzz”). Do not attempt to install a ROM designed for a “similar” phone, or you will end up with an expensive paperweight.
General Tips
Using a non-Sense UI “home” alternative allows you to change the look / general feel (and actual use) of your Wildfire. Among these alternative home apps are:
ADW.Launcher (my current home)
Launcher Pro (my fave, but just a little unstable at the moment….and will become my home when the handful of tiny problems are sorted)
Open Home
Panda Home
…and a lot of others.
These each offer their own unique set of features / way of user interaction and general layout. They are generally faster than Sense. Another plus is that they allow you to do things that you can’t do with HTC’s Sense. These include:
- the use of Live Wallpapers
- the ability to show more icons onscreen - both on the desktop or in the App Drawer.
- themes or skins that not only change the wallpaper, but also (some) app icons, taskbar appearance, and other stuff
There are a few caveats, however, which are due to the Wildfire’s screen resolution, processor, and lack of 3D acceleration. This means:
- many live wallpapers will not run
- changing the number of displayed app icons can look weird / overlap
- fonts can become hard to read
While we’re talking about hardware limitations, you should note that many apps (particularly games) will not run on the Wildfire. In fact, many may not even show up in the Market because they are designed for CPUs / 3D accelerators, or the higher screen resolutions found in “high-end” Android phones.
Many games designed for HVGA resolution (320 x 480) will run on Wildfire, but you might find that the right side of the image is off the edge of the screen.
The screen res also causes other weird quirks. An example is the Google Voice Search feature. When you first run this - a tutorial pops up, but you can’t exit this tutorial because you can’t see the onscreen buttons when in portrait mode. The solution is to rotate your Wildfire into landscape mode…and then you can access the buttons.
Extending Wildfire Battery Life
This collection of tips has been mercilessly plagiarised from various sources on the internet….so I don’t claim them as my own. I just compiled the ones that have worked for me.
Obviously, if there are certain features that you like / need to leave enabled, then leave ‘em turned on.
Settings > Accounts & sync
- Untick Auto Sync and Background data.
Some apps, like the Calendar, constantly sync….which chews through your battery. Some apps - like the Market & GMail - require sync to be active. My suggestion is to use these settings, and enable sync when you need to access the Market / use an app that requires sync to be enabled. Once you’re done, turn it off.
- In the settings of EACH app….NOT the phone Settings menu….you should be able to disable or change the timing of data retrieval or background syncing for apps like email or Twitter clients and RSS or Stock ticker apps.
Settings > Sound & display
- Screen Timeout Interval. Change to 15 or 30 seconds, rather than the default 1 minute.
- Screen brightness. You can manually set this, or use the automatic feature. I leave it on automatic because disabling it affects the way that the backlighting works for the buttons below the screen.
- Untick Phone Vibrate Notification. I can hear the ringtone, so don’t need the phone to vibrate to tell me I’ve got an incoming call.
- Untick Haptic Feedback. A personal choice. I leave it enabled, but it does save some juice if disabled.
Wireless & networks
- Untick Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & GPS. These suck down the power, so disable them unless you need them. As a tip, Android has a default widget called the Control Bar. Click-hold on a blank (4 columns wide by one row high) space on one of your home screens…and choose this widget. It provides a quick way to enable/disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Sync, & to switch between a few Brightness levels (if Auto-brightness isn’t active in Settings > Sound & display).
Settings > Applications > Running Services > Select and Stop any apps that you’re not using. This frees up memory and saves CPU cycles - and therefore reduces battery drain.
looking for more tips on apps n game compatible with wildfire
Thanks for the tips!
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App
if you want your phone to look sexy and not boring like htc sense then yes.
phoros said:
What about interfaces: is it REALLY worthy to change sense for launcher or sth else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A personal choice, obviously....but compared with Sense...
- I like the additional customisation options that ADW or Launcher Pro offer.
- I use a Live Wallpaper - Plasma Live Wallpaper (Casey Langen)
- I turn off screen "bouncing" and scrolling delays, opening animations and fades etc. These make switching or scrolling between homescreens WAY faster than Sense - which makes the phone more fun to use. Swipe scrolling between homescreens "feels" like switching with a hardware button on another phone....if you get my drift?
- I have direct access to all of my essential apps in the menu bar at the bottom of the screen - not just the phone & app drawer. This is not only convenient, but it makes the phone faster to use.
- I can group / hide / choose by groups in the App Drawer. This reduces clutter, by hiding apps that I don't need to "launch" or add to the desktop (such as SuperUser)...or makes finding apps that are used rarely faster.
Why not download Launcher Pro and ADW etc. from the Market....and try them? Once installed, press the Home button, and choose the Launcher or Sense. Spend the time to set them up fully to YOUR liking....then actually use your phone like this for a day or two.
It took me a few weeks to try various launchers...but now - with an overclocked / completely Sense-less phone - I'd never go back. Sense is OK, but it's slow and a bit restrictive.
For me - it was about a setup that makes "sense" to me - and speed. The eye candy of the Live Wallpaper has a tiny performance penalty...which is my little indulgence after making everything else "lean".
Thanks for this guide, it is very helpful.
very informative, tried almost all of your tips. Thanks a lot!
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App