Smartphone App help.....? | FerrariChat

Smartphone App help.....?

Discussion in 'Technology' started by thecarreaper, Aug 12, 2010.

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  1. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
    18,057
    Savannah
    My Samsung Vibrant arrived yesterday. I let it fully charge, and have been playing with it.

    I tried various search engines, but how do you learn how to open and CLOSE apps?

    I had to turn the phone off to turn off the "slacker radio" after i joined it.

    never had a smart phone of any kind, my old Nokia is 8+ years old.

    I want to delete the stuff i am not going to use, turn off the crap i dont need on, and the users manual, and websites act like you were born knowing how to operate one of these damn things.

    thanks ! :) { sheepish grin}
     
  2. 4re Nut

    4re Nut F1 World Champ

    Mar 27, 2004
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    Steve
  3. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
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  4. ZonderF

    ZonderF Formula Junior

    Jun 1, 2008
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    Andrew
    Download a task killer app, the one I use is called Advanced Task Killer and it's free. It's kind of like a ctrl + alt + del function for your phone that stops apps from running in the background. I've also found that hitting the back button on the phone is better when trying to close it, hitting the home button will always minimize it.
     
  5. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
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    thank you Andrew, i need all the help i can get, the phone is amazing, but my lack of "training" on it is comical, and i am not " that" old !
     
  6. BubblesQuah

    BubblesQuah F1 World Champ
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    Nov 1, 2003
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    Charlotte
    I knew nothing of the "Vibrant", but as soon as you asked how to close apps, I knew it had to be Android.

    The answer is always "download a task killer app". That makes no sense to me - no easy way to close an application. Is there some technical reason for this?

    Definitely near the top of my list of reasons I went back to WebOS after trying Android for a few weeks. Close an app on Webos? Flick it up and off the screen.
     
  7. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
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    yes, thats been a real pain in the butt. going to root the phone soon, still doing LOTS of reading. i joined a android messageboard to learn on.
     
  8. Far Out

    Far Out F1 Veteran

    Feb 18, 2007
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    Stuttgart, Germany
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    Florian
    The reason is that they get closed automatically, although you don't notice it. Android has a pretty clever and pretty complicated system on calculating when an open app isn't used anymore, and silently saves its state and closes it. It doesn't need any resources then. As soon as you select the (to you seemingly open) app again, it gets restored to its previous state. This allows for really good usage of the system's resources without having to tell the user "no more free memory, close app X". That being said, why the Android developers didn't and don't think that a user might want to close an app manually is beyond my understanding.
     
  9. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
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    Ian Anderson
    Maybe they're trying to "do an Apple"?..... "Why would you, a mere user, want control over your apps? We do a much better job of it than you do!...." Which is of course often true, although somewhere it'll say "we generally do a better job....." ;)

    Good luck with the "phone" - It's interesting reading what the "opposition" is up to :)

    Cheers,
    Ian
    PS - I've noticed a similar (somewhat) "counter-intuitive" nature to most of the Google apps I've used - Until you get used to 'em! - But, it seems they do take some learning - I also lurk in a lot of forums.]
     
  10. BubblesQuah

    BubblesQuah F1 World Champ
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    Nov 1, 2003
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    Charlotte
    I they are automatically closed, then why do these "task closing" apps exist? I'm confused.
     
  11. ZonderF

    ZonderF Formula Junior

    Jun 1, 2008
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    Andrew
    What added benefits will you get by rooting the phone? I considered it with my current phone but found that I would't gain anything and would end up voiding my warranty.

    It only closes the apps when it runs out of memory, otherwise they are all still running in the background. The task killers make sure that everything in the background gets wiped out so that new apps will run quicker. It's something that should have been built into Android from the beginning as just about every other OS has some sort of way to view running apps and stop them.
     
  12. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
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    Savannah
    rooting the phone gives ME control. I have built many computers, and i work in Aerospace. i am still in my learning curve with these things, but i detest having things "forced" on me.

    Have you read your manual for your phone thoroughly?

    I did, and T Mobile does not warrant smartphones at all, says so in big letters. " SOLD AS IS, WITH ALL FAULTS" on page 43. they will give you another phone if it fails , and i have the super duper insurance on mine, but its only $200.00 to end the contract anyway, no big deal.

    i took apart and put back together some of my old phones..... wont do that with this one! :)
     
  13. ZonderF

    ZonderF Formula Junior

    Jun 1, 2008
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    Andrew
    My phone didn't even come with a manual, just a little quick start guide showing the main features of the phone. As for the warranty, even though they say it voids your warranty, I've heard of plenty of people screwing up their phones and getting them replaced by T-Mob under warranty.
     
  14. thecarreaper

    thecarreaper F1 World Champ
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    Sep 30, 2003
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    Savannah
    thats good to know, been with them 12 years, they gave me a great deal to stay with them, as i was going to Verizon because they have a good package for my company. a manager at TMobile (Raymond) made it worth it for me to stay with them.

    going to do the root and mods in baby steps to keep from screwing it up.
     
  15. BMWairhead

    BMWairhead Formula 3

    Sep 11, 2009
    1,062
    Portland, OR
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    Ted
    They exist because many people assume that Android works and uses processes like Windows uses them...it doesn't.

    I recently read a good article giving reasons to NOT use an app killer...so, I removed my app killer. This is not the article I read, but it does explain the reasoning pretty well:

    http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/

    (On my Droid I) I notice NO negative performance changes...if anything, my phone is working better. Battery life is perhaps better...certainly not worse.
     

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