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  1. #1
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    Default A Techtard needs help with new Droid

    Hi, I just got my first smartphone, a Droid (on the Verizon network).

    I'm planning on a thru-hike starting late March. I would like to be able to keep my Droid in Airplane Mode to save batteries. But I would like to be able to write notes every evening, then when I get to a town (or anywhere there is electricity) I could switch back to Regular Mode & get online & post the notes to TrailJournals.

    I found one application called AK Notes. Is that the best way to do this? Is there another application that is better for writing & storing notes while OFFLINE?
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  2. #2

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    Just use email. The messages will wait in the outbox until you get a signal, and then go out automatically.

    If you use postholer.com, you can actually post via email. If you are using trailjournals, then you could still copy and past out of the sent items box, plus the email would preserve a copy in case anything happened.
    "I always told you I was more of a Westerner than an Easterner"
    -Theodore Roosevelt

    Appalachian Trail 2008

    Colorado Trail 2010

  3. #3

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    You can just turn on the radio in the evening for a minute and send it. That will not use much power at all for just a few minutes.

  4. #4

    Thumbs up

    Welcome to the DROID world. From my March1 upcoming thruhike, I've decided on the following apps.

    AK Notepad; great app for note taking $Free

    ICE:In case of Emergency; works from the lock screen and contains any medical info that someone would need to know, highly recommended $2.99

    Blogaway; works only with Blogger, no trail journal. But has GPS tag of blog, picture upload, and can save the blogs offline until signal is obtained. $Free

    Advanced Task Killer Full; unlike the free model, it allows us to set a timer where every X it kills all background apps. Trust me, on the DROID, the apps always start up whether you want them to or not. $4.99

    Temp Monitor; available if you PM me. Our phones have a built in temperature sensor that is useful for determining whether the phone is overheating or its too cold.

    Google Sky Maps; $Free, GREAT for stargazing and identification, so cool at night.

    Astro File Manager; $Free, allows for a Windows Explorer of the phone. Great for moving pictures, notes, items around.

    GPS Status; $Free, works without phone signal, this app gives us GPS based elevation, LAT&LON, Compass, and Location to GPS Sats.

    Google Maps, Feature; open the settings, go to labs, check box everything. Now go to layers, enable terrain, tada!

    Thru Hiker Companion, available free as PDF from ALDHA. You can have the complete companion on your phone.

    Let me know if there's anything I can do for you. I'm designing an app for android, and I'm an active member over at alldroid.org with modding our phones.
    Hammock Hanger
    Section Hiker
    Nature Lover

  5. #5
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    What is your strategy going to be for conserving/restoring battery life?

    Are you going to bring one of those battery-powered chargers? Or a solar charger?
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by DrRichardCranium View Post
    What is your strategy going to be for conserving/restoring battery life?

    Are you going to bring one of those battery-powered chargers? Or a solar charger?
    Battery Life.. well....
    1. Leave it OFF unless using it.
    2. Take off auto backlight, drop to lowest setting (if you get in touch me and root your phone, we can drop the backlight to almost nothing)
    3. Purchase app killer full, enable crazy kill every 1/2hr.
    4. Turn off sync, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth via Power Control Widget (when not used)
    5. Keep battery warmer than 70*F to perform at optimum length.

    Battery Charging, 2 ways.
    1. Bringing OEM Moto Charge Brick and a shortened 6inch MicroUSB cable. You can find them on Amazon for cheap.
    2. Hand Crank Charger with MicroUSB tip. Weighs 4.2oz, got mine from Amazon. From my testing, works great as long as battery isn't deader than a doorknob. It will juice a call at a ratio of 3crank minutes:1call minutes.

    Solar..great if you on the PCT, or CDT in the desert, but on the "Tree Tunnel Trail" (AT) its complete crap. I know two thru hikers who sent them home. I tried a wind powered one for a week, works great on bike handlebars, crap on hiking. Stick to something you know works, your hands.
    Hammock Hanger
    Section Hiker
    Nature Lover

  7. #7
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    Default

    I don't know the droid at all, but in terms of battery stuff, I used a solar charger on the PCT but agree and will leave it home this trip. What I did instead was looked at after-market assessories for my device and found extended capacity batteries. These actually bulge out of the phone and so include a replacement backplate. My idea is that when I am able to recharge from wall current, I'll get more charge, to include carrying one or two spare (extended capacity) batteries.

    I briefly tried one of those hand-crank units and realized there was no way I would use one except for some sort of real emergency; IMO they (at least the one I saw) are not for normal recharge situations.

    I also tried one of the energizer units that you put two lithium AA batteries into and it delivers charge to your phone. Not too heavy, but I suggest that if this approach interests you that you absolutely test it out at home first. I found that it gave *some* charge to my phone, but not very much and not very fast, and seemingly not even very consistently, so I bagged that idea. Perhaps for your particular phone it might work fine, however.

  8. #8
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    According to this thread, the "app-killer" really doesn't help much because the apps are apparently not using up any juice unless they are actively being used:

    http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dro...ackground.html
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  9. #9
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    Obviously though wi-fi, gps, maps, bluetooth will eat up juice of course. But can't you just turn all those off with the Widget thingy?
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  10. #10

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    Post Deleted
    Last edited by SurferNerd; 02-02-2010 at 17:00. Reason: READ ABOVE
    Hammock Hanger
    Section Hiker
    Nature Lover

  11. #11
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SurferNerd View Post
    Using RAM in any amount is wasting resources, therefore battery. .
    OK but in that thread there is a Droid developer (claims to be one, anyway) who says that the Droid OS automatically shuts down all those unused apps, so that they don't use any memory. He basically claims that the app killer is unnecessary.
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  12. #12
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    Default

    The Bump applicaiton is fun and would be neat for exchanging contact information w/other smart phone equipped hikers on the trail. I think it will cross with the iPhone (that a Droid and iPhone user can exchange contacts with it - but I'm not sure).

    SurferNerd - I was a smartphone dullard before the Droid and some web research but I'm still learning from some of the new things you've posted (hadn't even thought of finding a shorter charging cable). Thanks.

  13. #13

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    Post Deleted
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    Hammock Hanger
    Section Hiker
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  14. #14
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    I don't know about IPhone. Doesn't it use a different OS than Droid?

    Anyway, here's what the Droid developer wrote:
    Android is different to most other phone operating [COLOR=#812528! important][COLOR=#812528! important]systems[/COLOR][/COLOR]. It's closer to Linux than any other type of [COLOR=#812528! important][COLOR=#812528! important]operating [/COLOR][COLOR=#812528! important]system[/COLOR][/COLOR]

    . Lots of services and applications constantly run in the background just like they do on [COLOR=#812528! important][COLOR=#812528! important]Windows[/COLOR][/COLOR]

    . However, and this is important, they do not have to use up a ton of resources. A service or app can be loaded, yet use almost no additional memory, and 0% [COLOR=#812528! important][COLOR=#812528! important]CPU[/COLOR][/COLOR] until it actually has to do something.

    In general, killing off stuff is a waste of time. Android automatically asks apps to close that aren't needed when it needs more memory. Killing off some of the processes you are killing off also means it'll slow your phone down, as these processes only need to reload, and when you do need to use them it means the phone will be slower for the few seconds it takes to reload them.
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  15. #15
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    Default

    sorry about the tags in the previous post.
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  16. #16

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    Post Deleted
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    Hammock Hanger
    Section Hiker
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  17. #17
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    Hey, I wasn't arguing with you. I was merely pointing out that there are two experts (you & the Droid guy) saying two different things about task killer.

    But as you point out, I don't know enough to decide which one is correct.
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

  18. #18

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by DrRichardCranium View Post
    Hey, I wasn't arguing with you. I was merely pointing out that there are two experts (you & the Droid guy) saying two different things about task killer.

    But as you point out, I don't know enough to decide which one is correct.
    My last and final statement to you regarding the app killer:

    I use mine, it does work, it does improve battery consumption rates. Whether you choose to get it or not, HYOH. I'm not going any further on that topic. I'll happily assist with any other topics not related to the app killer.
    Hammock Hanger
    Section Hiker
    Nature Lover

  19. #19
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    Default Droid

    I just got a Droid and like it so far. I probably wouldn’t take it on a thru, but HYOH.

    Since my job requires me to fly a lot, I like using RSS feeds offline to read new stories from my favorite websites when I am in the plane and have no data coverage. I used Viigo for Blackberry, but it is not on the Android Market, so I have switched to NewsRob, a free app. http://newsrob.blogspot.com/ It syncs with Google Reader (an online RSS reader), and is pretty easy to use. It downloads the content to your device, so you can read stuff offline when there is no data coverage; just manually sync when you are in town (don’t let it sync automatically). You can then read at your leisure at camp.

    I also use the free Task Killer. It’s amazing how many apps start running without you opening even them…I don’t think I’ve ever used the alarm clock or the corporate calendar, but they are always on the list. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe that all of those apps slow your performance and drain the battery.

  20. #20
    Registered User DrRichardCranium's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by HikingIllini View Post
    .

    I also use the free Task Killer. It’s amazing how many apps start running without you opening even them…I don’t think I’ve ever used the alarm clock or the corporate calendar, but they are always on the list. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to believe that all of those apps slow your performance and drain the battery.
    How do you see the list of apps that are actually running?

    I opened the menu and I see the shortcut for the Alarm Clock, but I don't think it's running (as far as I know). (I've never used it yet, anyway.)
    "Katahdin barada nikto."

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