Any cool, free apps that I should put on this phone. It's the bionic. Also what about cases? I need a fairly sturdy one, my phones take a pretty good beating.
Mytracks, speed test, Dolphin browser HD and if you can spend a couple bucks get Tapatalk. As for a case I love my otterbox. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
x2 on mytracks and otterbox. Also an app I use alot is called tiny flashlight it turns your camera flash into a led flashlight.
Zedge is also a good app for ringtones. I use Go launcher for my home launcher but I recommend getting use to the phone first. Go sms is a nice addition to it as well. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
Craigslist app, ebay app, pandora/Slacker, Soundhound, Adobe Reader, Iheart Radio, Super Compass, Bubble Level, instant radar, yelp, just to name a few. I could keep going.
Thanks for the input guys, there's a few that i was looking forward to getting but couldnt think of it. Nice Simon, the screen on those is amazing. Any more!?
Get "Advanced Task Killer"...it will help you save on the battery. You would be surprised how all those apps running at once drag a battery down..I end up charging mine every day anyways.
Get an app killer app... it'll turn half the stuff off that's running in the background and not necessary. Edit, oops, should have read Sswpriz before posting... LOL Since I'm here, what's the Mytracks do for ya?
Mytracks is a neat map/gps app that you can use to mark points and create routes where you walked. I had one map set up to have all my stand or potential stand locations marked. I will also mark rubs, scrapes and such. Its a nice scouting tool. I also used the "record track" feature while grid searching for a deer. It showed me areas I already covered. It shows total distance, total time, elevation, speed etc during your track. As far as app killers, I dont bother. http://www.pcworld.com/article/244067/taskkiller_apps_will_they_help_or_hurt_your_battery_life.html Simple things like a darker background rather then a bright one will help a little with battery life. If your not able to have a charger throughout the day check out the extended batteries.
I don't know much about apps but as far as cases go..you can't beat an Otterbox! I have the defender series on mine, it is a bit bulky but has already saved my phone more then once! The built in screen protector did fall off, but a quick email to Otterbox CS and two weeks later I had a new case at my doorstep! Great Customer Service!
I prefer white killer, but that's me. After you download it, put it as a widget on your home screen. (hold finger on blank space on screen, hit add widget, select white killer or whatever killer). Then all you have to do is hit it once to kill everything. I use it everytime I look at my phone. Tapatalk. Those are the only two essential ones I use, the rest are just personal preference.
I read the article, its not false, to a point. They mention having an app killer running. Well, I don't have it running, I use it as a widget. Thus, it kills everything when I tell it to (even some things that will restart), but it does not run in the background and regularly search for and kill apps on its on (which is what they did in the test). So, if used in the most stream-lined way, they do make a difference (it's noticeable on my phone). That said, there is a HUGE amount of time to be gained from things like - having wifi off, having 4g off, having your backlight on low, having auto refresh turned off, having gps off. Those things I only turn them on, or up when I need them. Phones will leave all the apps you open running if you don't stop them. That takes up memory, and will generally make your phone run slower (thus, reducing the battery also). When I kill the apps with the whitekiller widget I've noticed two things: It shows the number of processes killed, and the amount of memory available. I've killed as many as 35 apps when I finished using my phone, and freed up as much as 80% of my memory. If I sit and repeatedly press the button it kills 12 everytime; Those obviously restart. If I take my phone out of my pocket an hour later, it kills 12 again (sometimes 14, not sure why). If I left 35 apps running on my phone, for that hour, it would have an effect on my battery. By the sounds of it, they're only using it to kill background apps that start themselves. What about all the ones you've started? Why aren't they mentioned in the test. A true test would have to have them taking their phones out and playing with them over the course of the battery life. They would have to do the same things for the same amount of time, and they should do different things each time. You may jump on and do a search, then play a game, check your email, send a text, use (insert your favorite apps here). Then what, you have a lot more going on. I wouldn't own an android without a task killer, as I have gotten my phone to last all day without charging using one (usually with a green bar left). The only time I have problems is if I start playing a game at work, then I just plug it in while doing it. Every time I get done using my phone, right before turning the screen off I hit the widget, and I'm done.
I'm not exactly the best with explaining things so I'll just pull a couple things from articles and you can base your decision from there. I will say that I did have an app killer on my Droid 1 but since I got my Bionic I have yet to install one and have no intentions to. It still runs smooth as silk. After 7 hours of medium usage my battery is usually around 20% with my screen brightness set at 30%. And having a wifi and satellite widget is very helpful. Any Android version greater than Froyo 2.2 does NOT need it. Earlier versions prior did in fact benefit. Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when more memory is needed. Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when it’s done doing what it needs to do. Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when you haven’t returned to it in a long time. Most services (while possibly running in the background) use very little memory when not actively doing something. A content provider is only doing something when there is a notification for it to give. Otherwise it uses very little memory. Killing a process when it isn’t ready only causes it to have to reload itself and start from scratch when it’s needed again. Because a task is likely running in the background for a reason, killing it will only cause it to re-spawn as soon as the activity that was using it looks for it again. And it will just have to start over again. Killing certain processes can have undesirable side effects. Not receiving text messages, alarms not going off, and force closes just to name a few. The only true way to prevent something from running at all on your phone would be to uninstall the .apk. Most applications will exit themselves if you get out of it by hitting “back” until it closes rather than hitting the “home” button. But even with hitting home, Android will eventually kill it once it’s been in the background for a while. Source: http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/ Another good article: http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/02/revisiting-android-task-killers-and-why-you-dont-need-one/ Like I said I'm not the best at explaining things or even the debating type. I just go off of Google and Developers who know the phones and OS inside and out. I had my Droid 1 rooted because it eventually slowed way down so I wanted to overclock it and be able to do a few other things that an otherwise unrooted phone couldn't do. I have not rooted my Bionic yet because I believe all I will currently gain from it is freezing bloatware and be able to flash roms.
