Database Users

True Multi-tasking!

So I have had the HD2 for a few months now and I can't seem to find its true potential. Ive had no problems with it. I can get everything working smoothly. Done. But can anyone else give me some tips as to what I can do with the HD2? What do you do with your HD2?
I also really want to utilize true multitasking but I dont know what is "true multitasking".
Can someone give me a few examples besides streaming music via web while I do a word document?
What do "YOU" do that is true multitasking?

Listening to music in the bus with Skype and IMPlus running in the background, Opera to check timetables online, Google maps open to know where I am, launch camera to take a photo of something I just saw in the street, receiving a mail and reading it, opening the tasks app to add a reminder related to said mail, switch back to google maps to check where I'm now, switch to opera again to check something online that I just thought about, switch to the music player to skip a track, switch to IMPlus to answer a message I just received, opening adobe reader to check something in a document... going back and forth between all those.

kilrah said:
Listening to music in the bus with Skype and IMPlus running in the background, Opera to check timetables online, Google maps open to know where I am, launch camera to take a photo of something I just saw in the street, receiving a mail and reading it, opening the tasks app to add a reminder related to said mail, switch back to google maps to check where I'm now, switch to opera again to check something online that I just thought about, switch to the music player to skip a track, switch to IMPlus to answer a message I just received, opening adobe reader to check something in a document... going back and forth between all those.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so by doing all those without having to close a single thing out? And you do this using the task manager in the upper right corner?
What I don't get is how is this different from Apple's iphone. Though it doesnt have multitasking, isnt it the same as opening things up and hiting the center home button and going onto the next app, etc? I dont see the difference.

the difference is on the iphone when you hit the home button it closes whatever you were in.
so any IM app such as skype, aim, facebook all get closed so you cant get messages in the background. you cant have pandora or slacker radio playing in the background. you can do one thing at a time.
pretty simple really

lemonspeakers said:
so by doing all those without having to close a single thing out? And you do this using the task manager in the upper right corner?
What I don't get is how is this different from Apple's iphone. Though it doesnt have multitasking, isnt it the same as opening things up and hiting the center home button and going onto the next app, etc? I dont see the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The difference is multitasking can switch between apps without terminal them. In iphone once you click the home buttom, the running app closes then you are able to start other app. It can't regard as multitasking cause iphone can only run a app at a moment. But wm os can run a number of apps in background at the same time and switch between them instead of close one app and start the other one app. That is mean you can play a game in wm then you skype somebody, when you switch back to the game, it resumes. But in iphone, you start skype before you terminal the game.

lemonspeakers said:
so by doing all those without having to close a single thing out? And you do this using the task manager in the upper right corner?
What I don't get is how is this different from Apple's iphone. Though it doesnt have multitasking, isnt it the same as opening things up and hiting the center home button and going onto the next app, etc? I dont see the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use taskfacade or aebplus' task manager function mapped to the windows button.
The iphone can do most of it, with a few exceptions, for example if you open google maps and do a search, have the results displayed, then close the program to do something else, once you run it again you'll arrive at the main screen and you'll have to do your search again. With skype, you open it and it connects, but then if you close it to do something else you won't be notified of new messages, you'll have to manually reopen skype once in a while to see if you've received something. On the HD2 skype stays open and will sound when you receive something.
Then, I haven't used an iphone enough regarding the web browser, if exiting and coming back keeps all your open tabs etc.

On mine I cycle/run with run.gps running actively in the foreground, Pocketscrobbler running actively in the background, along with Audiobooster, music player doing its thing, RSS reader doing its thing, Push sync doing its thing...

Good thing on multi task is surfing. U can open more than one tab and while the sides are loading u check your mails or something.
I like it and its a feature I would miss on the Iphone...

What's not to get on multitasking?
being an iphone user for a time, one of the largest complaints (even after jailbreaking) was the limited multitasking. Even with backgrounder running, the phone was slow as crap. The touch hd2 on the other hand...
I have 13 applications open and I still see no lag anywhere. nuff said

1) i noticed opera doesnt keep loading if you switch to another task. It stops.
2) music in the bg is normal and most phones can do that. unless they are streaming like pandora. but even so jailbreaking makes it possible to do this for iphones.
3) skype is required, or eventually inevitable. Using hd2 is almost like you're sucked into skype, since everyone is using it, right? LOL
4) jailbreaking an iphone allows it to multitask. why not do it besides the illegal thing and the risk? its like bricking an hd2.

the new iphone OS4 should have multitasking too.. but i heard it only allows the apps to save some services or something, but the app still closes... thats why pandora doesnt work with it i think xD
apple will always be performance > flexibility, thats why they will never have TRUE multitasking, and for me, TRUE multitasking is when the application i open are still running IN REALTIME ( and doesnt stop ) in the background.

I find it really important that I can run my navigation system while having my calendar reminding me for my appointments or being able to receive phone calls.

Can you be on a call and quickly check a document, calendar, email, or web browse on the HD2? Thanks

Tomb77 said:
Can you be on a call and quickly check a document, calendar, email, or web browse on the HD2? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. You can be on a call and continue watching a movie also.

lemonspeakers said:
1) i noticed opera doesnt keep loading if you switch to another task. It stops.
2) music in the bg is normal and most phones can do that. unless they are streaming like pandora. but even so jailbreaking makes it possible to do this for iphones.
3) skype is required, or eventually inevitable. Using hd2 is almost like you're sucked into skype, since everyone is using it, right? LOL
4) jailbreaking an iphone allows it to multitask. why not do it besides the illegal thing and the risk? its like bricking an hd2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which version of opera are you using?
mind loads perfectly well in the background.. as do all the non java browsers I use.
why is skype required, I've used it twice in all the years I've been using winmo, which is quite a while now!
woopee do you can do some basic crap on the iphmoan
***SOME*** not all, but some, try really using the hd2 as it can be used, as a true powerhouse, with full multitasking, not something that you can do a couple of basic things with.
maybe HTC and MS should sue apple for copying multitasking on a smartphone
who gives a damn about jailbreaking the iphmoan? this isn't an apple forum..

Kalavere said:
Yes. You can be on a call and continue watching a movie also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately I do not have the phone in hand but I have an HD2 user that has a hard time with entering their exchange password to get in to multi task while on a call. disabling the password probably wont work and is not a good idea. I assume there is an auto lock while on a call that he may be able to disable. any help or ideas? your help is much appreciated.

Tomb77 said:
Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately I do not have the phone in hand but I have an HD2 user that has a hard time with entering their exchange password to get in to multi task while on a call. disabling the password probably wont work and is not a good idea. I assume there is an auto lock while on a call that he may be able to disable. any help or ideas? your help is much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything should work exactly the same while on a call... just hit the home button or start button to get whereever you need to go. Now, depending on your network, you may not be able to access the internet while on a call. If you're on 3g, you usually can... but if your on edge/2g, then you may not be able to.

An example of multitasking (seeing as that is what the op asked for):
Today. after almost bricking it setting it up how i like it (it's only a week old) i did a hard reset. Since that point i have had, the wifi on and wifi remote access doing various things, activesync doing it's thing on direct push to my exchange server, msn messenger bugging the hell out of me, pocketmusic keeping me entertained, facebook for windows mobile pissing me off, various explorer windows, word 2010 (you gotta do some work sometime), the text messaging app keeping up with the boys (and girls) that i call friends and phm registry editor (so i can install the tweaks i like) all running at the same time, since about 9am. The phone has lagged a lil here and there but nothing that has worried me and yeah the wifi needed a rest a couple of times coz the chip was getting hot and the packet loss was getting a bit high but overall i think it's done well considering it was getting hammered. Battery hasn't needed charging yet either (and it's not an extended one).
I've got a couple of friends that have (and i like this so i'm gonna use it) iPhmoan 3GS' and they want the 4G. I'm constantly being pestered by them to switch (i'm on my 5th winmo device) and all i do is laugh at them. Just yesterday one of them was wetting himself over the 4G having 256MB of ram. The direct quote he got was "my phone has 1ghz processor and 576MB of ram and can multitask better than your girlfriend. Go suck it!! It's in the corner over there" and that is my general attitude to the iphone and apple's idea of innovation right now. It's Overpriced, useless, unintuitive, lazy, anti competitive and designed to generate nothing but profit for apple. Anyone that want's or has one is more stupid than they look and far richer too.

Registered WP7 Developer looking for ideas!

As the title states, suggest away.

direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.

mightyeric said:
direct sync to outlook .pst
What the [email protected]#$% was MS thinking by leaving this out? Even the iphone syncs to outlook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.

Not sure what the SDK will let you do, but is it possible to develop an app that can be pinned to the start page, that toggles 3g/wifi/bluetooth? I know we can just drop in to the Settings menu, but I would pay for an app that put those three in one easy place.
I would also like an app that rotates, like a slideshow I guess, all sorts of images from the various Xbox games I've been playing across the tile. That would look cool on the start page. Maybe it does a Bing image search to find the images to rotate, etc. I'm not a developer, but it was something I thought of earlier today.

dougp.me said:
Jesus, how many times is this going to be brought up? The function is NOT there, and it was known BEFORE any device came out. Quit the *****ing and get a phone that supports it, or move on.
Anyways, I'd like a good sports app like Sportacular that has notifications when games start, during and after with the scores. Fantasy updates with custom rosters would be great too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is comming in dec development almost done..

The direct sync with outlook is not possible with the WP7 SDK. That would have to be incorporated into the Zune sync software. The WP7 is meant to be a cloud device so I don't see this coming anytime soon.
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.

rruffman said:
this is comming in dec development almost done..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
love to see more on this...

JMackey said:
The idea about toggling the radios is also not possible im afraid. The SDK does not give developers any direct access to the hardware like that. Hell, we can't even adjust the volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That really blows. Just thinking about what various iPhone and Android apps can do easily, it seems this platform is much more closed than even iPhone's. The key to both Android and iPhones success has been as much the developer community as it has been the solid hardware the apps run on, maybe even more so the developers. The new WP7 hardware seems solid enough so far. If MS doesn't open up the SDK to a greater array of components, this will just continue to lag behind, even fall farther behind.
...Hoping someone can cook up some nice WP7 ROM's

ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!

an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.

TOA Duck said:
an independent youtube app that doesnt simply goto a web page. Also bein able to watch high def on 3g, and not only on a wifi connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.

prubin said:
ability to take any music file and assign it as a ringtone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is supposedly coming in January according to reports this morning. See: http://www.wpcentral.com/rumor-january-firmware-update-wp7-include-custom-ringer-support-more
(Sorry, forgot to multi-quote.)

not sure if you can make do this or not, but I would like to be able to connect to hidden networks. Also be able to use the device as a wifi router.

Could it be made downward compatible? It would be nice to be able to run some of my already-purchased software.
As an alternative, the single-largest bummer of making this switch for me will be loss of the two coolest apps I have EVER had – “Pocket Earth”, and “Pocket World” by Bluepoint Studios. These apps, especially Pocket Earth, were stunning! I don’t know their status, but if you could buy the rights and the code and somehow rewrite them for WP7, I suspect you would do very well.
I need programs which are NOT web-dependent. Dictionaries, translation programs, an atlas, etc. which are device-based. Traveling internationally is where one needs the language converters and I work a lot on the plane. I’d prefer to give up space in the device than to continually pay for international data.
Best of luck,
Dave

Battery indicator showing remaining strength in percentage or bars.

A recorder...
There are a few out there, but I need it to either have voice activated start/stop, or stop/start control from my bluetooth. I am a sports photographer, and if I can describe what is on a picture that I take right after I take it, it is much easier to do my captioning when I get home. But I don't have time to take the phone out of my pocket and start/stop after each play.

It seems a lot of the suggestions are things to do with hardware. The only hardware access the SDK gives developers is the GPS, Accelerometer, and the radio. We don't even have direct access to the camera. (When an app takes a picture, it opens the camera app then sends the taken picture back to the app).

riceboyler said:
There's already one in the Marketplace for free. You have to have the YouTube app installed to use it, but it allows for searching, etc. from within the App.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will we ever be able to watch high quality youtube vids over 3g. Now you have to be on wifi. I know on iphone the vids are HQ over 3g.

1) Something that bypasses Exchange-enforced password entry. Android has it; and frankly, PIN enforcement is a meaningless layer of security that does nothing more than inconvenience the end-user.
2) Something that let's you copy synced Calendar entries and Contacts to the Phone instead of forcing them to exist in the stupid cloud. <--I would pay good money for this. Again, something that Android let's you do that I like.
Edited to Add:
3) An app that keeps the phone on and unlocked. I don't like this forced lock/timeout thing, I'd prefer to have complete control of when it is locked and when it isn't.

1) A Remote Desktop Application compatable with MS's current RDP services
2) Something that periodically rotates the Logon Screen Picture
3) Something that would quickly display Battery Life, Used/Remaining Storage, etc...
- MEK

[Q] Please don't kill me for saying this

First of all, forgive me for a less than cogent post. This is an issue that has been on my mind and I'd like to have some other power users weigh in on this.
I am a user of both [jailbroken] iOS and Android. As you can see from my signature, I am fortunate enough to have a lot of different devices and as such have a firm understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each platform. I have to say, Android is wonderful for it's openness and customizability (custom ROMs, themes, open apps, torrents, Swype, Power Strip, etc.). It's great that it's open source and freely modifiable by anyone (Except honeycomb, don't get me started). That said, it has some built in drawbacks. Architecturally, iOS seems to be a more solid platform, but some of the things in iOS that hold your hand are the same things that are considered a major hindrance to power users like us ("walled garden" app store, weird multitasking APIs like the 10 minute timeout, etc). I love how everything in the OS, including the apps, are composited (read: hardware accelerated). The SDK is amazing, and helps developers make incredible looking, cohesive applications. At the end of the day however, I am willing to sacrifice some of the usability for my freedom. Just as I live in the United States (not discriminating against any overseas users) and as such have to put up with some bull**** in order to have my civil liberties, I am eager to drop Apple completely on my laptop, desktop, tablet, and phone. I truly believe that they are an evil corporation and don't give a **** about anything except money and are unwilling in the slightest to cater to power users because of their [reasonable] fear of piracy and people breaking their devices. But I will no longer support them in their quest for erosion of my freedom in the name of profit. They will not get any more of my money.
So now that you have a little background on what I see, I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help me with as I try to transition to a fully Apple-free lifestyle.
1. I use an app called MyWi Ondemand to automatically tether my iPad to my iPhone over bluetooth whenever it needs an Internet connection (it's wifi only). Is there an app that is similar where I can tether my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to my Atrix 4G automatically, over bluetooth, as needed?
2. Is there an app that can automatically kill apps after a given amount of time (say 2 minutes - 20 minutes) for apps that persist in the background that I don't need hogging my battery (for instance, I have IM+ and it supports push notifications, but I don't want to have to hit menu->exit every time). I want to have it be killed when I hit the home button.
3. Where do you see the Android platform going? With Ice Cream Sandwich on the horizon, do you think that we'll get real hardware acceleration for scrolling and apps, etc.? Do you think we'll get an SDK that will help developers create great-looking apps across the board?
4. For former/current iOS users, what are some of the things you miss about iOS and how do you work around them or what solutions have you come up with?
5. Why did you choose Android over iOS? (I guess most Atrix 4G users in the states are on AT&T)
5. Anything you wanna say on topic!
I really don't wanna bring any fanboyism into this. Please understand, I don't want a flame war or "APPLE IS TEH SUX LOL!!!11" or "Android pwnz bc i hax0r!" I want people's honest opinion about why they made the decisions they did and hopefully the answers to my questions. Thanks so much!

1. its built into the os. WIRELESS AP. it doesnt use bluetooth, but it makes your phone into a wireless access point
2. instead of hitting the home button when leaving an app, hit the back button. it should kill the app. the home button doesnt exit, just allows you to swap to a different app. if android senses the app is resource hogging and you arent using it, it will kill it on its own.
3. dont know
4. as an iphone user for 3 years, i can honestly say, nothing. there is nothing i miss about IOS
5. i love to tinker

brashmadcap said:
First of all, forgive me for a less than cogent post. This is an issue that has been on my mind and I'd like to have some other power users weigh in on this.
I am a user of both [jailbroken] iOS and Android. As you can see from my signature, I am fortunate enough to have a lot of different devices and as such have a firm understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each platform. I have to say, Android is wonderful for it's openness and customizability (custom ROMs, themes, open apps, torrents, Swype, Power Strip, etc.). It's great that it's open source and freely modifiable by anyone (Except honeycomb, don't get me started). That said, it has some built in drawbacks. Architecturally, iOS seems to be a more solid platform, but some of the things in iOS that hold your hand are the same things that are considered a major hindrance to power users like us ("walled garden" app store, weird multitasking APIs like the 10 minute timeout, etc). I love how everything in the OS, including the apps, are composited (read: hardware accelerated). The SDK is amazing, and helps developers make incredible looking, cohesive applications. At the end of the day however, I am willing to sacrifice some of the usability for my freedom. Just as I live in the United States (not discriminating against any overseas users) and as such have to put up with some bull**** in order to have my civil liberties, I am eager to drop Apple completely on my laptop, desktop, tablet, and phone. I truly believe that they are an evil corporation and don't give a **** about anything except money and are unwilling in the slightest to cater to power users because of their [reasonable] fear of piracy and people breaking their devices. But I will no longer support them in their quest for erosion of my freedom in the name of profit. They will not get any more of my money.
So now that you have a little background on what I see, I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help me with as I try to transition to a fully Apple-free lifestyle.
1. I use an app called MyWi Ondemand to automatically tether my iPad to my iPhone over bluetooth whenever it needs an Internet connection (it's wifi only). Is there an app that is similar where I can tether my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to my Atrix 4G automatically, over bluetooth, as needed?
2. Is there an app that can automatically kill apps after a given amount of time (say 2 minutes - 20 minutes) for apps that persist in the background that I don't need hogging my battery (for instance, I have IM+ and it supports push notifications, but I don't want to have to hit menu->exit every time). I want to have it be killed when I hit the home button.
3. Where do you see the Android platform going? With Ice Cream Sandwich on the horizon, do you think that we'll get real hardware acceleration for scrolling and apps, etc.? Do you think we'll get an SDK that will help developers create great-looking apps across the board?
4. For former/current iOS users, what are some of the things you miss about iOS and how do you work around them or what solutions have you come up with?
5. Why did you choose Android over iOS? (I guess most Atrix 4G users in the states are on AT&T)
5. Anything you wanna say on topic!
I really don't wanna bring any fanboyism into this. Please understand, I don't want a flame war or "APPLE IS TEH SUX LOL!!!11" or "Android pwnz bc i hax0r!" I want people's honest opinion about why they made the decisions they did and hopefully the answers to my questions. Thanks so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: There's an app for everything in the market now
2: Advanced task killer and others can be put into different modes depending on how much control you give it. Beware of battery life though:https://market.android.com/details?id=biz.stachibana.TaskKiller&feature=search_result
3: Since we'll hopefully be getting ice cream sandwich roms the hardware we have is just the beginning: http://androidandme.com/2011/08/new...ming-consoles-will-be-replaced-by-snapdragon/
4: There's nothing to miss about ios except that the iphone's hardware is built to help speed up the ui. If you miss it too much then just use MIUI which is the leading competitor to Cyanogenmod (which i prefer).
5: I personally chose android since it's SUPER open and there's people like Kenneth Penn who's a badass. Also I hate apple since they sue everyone like HTC and motorola since HTC and motorola are coming out with better technology and hardware before they are.

As a former ios user, and on my second android device, the only thing I miss is the full backup capability of ios/itunes. It was nice to plug in a new phone and have it be exactly the way the old one was. Being on my second atrix this sucked caused the market was still only recognizing my previous atrix. But small price to pay for my freedom.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

Pirateghost said:
1. its built into the os. WIRELESS AP. it doesnt use bluetooth, but it makes your phone into a wireless access point
2. instead of hitting the home button when leaving an app, hit the back button. it should kill the app. the home button doesnt exit, just allows you to swap to a different app. if android senses the app is resource hogging and you arent using it, it will kill it on its own.
3. dont know
4. as an iphone user for 3 years, i can honestly say, nothing. there is nothing i miss about IOS
5. i love to tinker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Tethering over Wifi is specifically what I'm trying to avoid. I don't want to have to turn it on and off, I just want the tablet to query the device ONLY WHEN IT NEEDS A CONNECTION, then time out once it no longer needs it. Tethering over bluetooth, on demand. I assure you, this is a slick solution. It doesn't rape your battery.
2. I hate to sound callous, but that's absolutely untrue. Android will kill a background app only if it needs new resources for another app that's being loaded into memory at that time. And some apps can tell the OS that they HAVE to stay in memory; like a do not kill flag. Some ROMS like cyanogenmod, MIUI, do have an option to LONG HOLD the back button to force close an app however.
Thanks for your input.

shadowskorch said:
soles-will-be-replaced-by-snapdragon/[/url]
4: There's nothing to miss about ios except that the iphone's hardware is built to help speed up the ui. If you miss it too much then just use MIUI which is the leading competitor to Cyanogenmod (which i prefer).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MIUI is great, I agree. I'll be excited when it comes out for the Atrix. The iPhone's SOFTWARE is built to speed up the UI, not the other way around. That's why an iPhone 3GS/4 screen scrolls more smoothly than an Atrix 4G or HTC Sensation, despite having an inferior 3D accelerator.
Once again, I'm not trying to insult anyone here and I'm grateful for the input. I'm trying to have an open dialogue so that we can all have some mutual understanding on this topic. Thanks for weighing in!

brashmadcap said:
First of all, forgive me for a less than cogent post. This is an issue that has been on my mind and I'd like to have some other power users weigh in on this.
I am a user of both [jailbroken] iOS and Android. As you can see from my signature, I am fortunate enough to have a lot of different devices and as such have a firm understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each platform. I have to say, Android is wonderful for it's openness and customizability (custom ROMs, themes, open apps, torrents, Swype, Power Strip, etc.). It's great that it's open source and freely modifiable by anyone (Except honeycomb, don't get me started). That said, it has some built in drawbacks. Architecturally, iOS seems to be a more solid platform, but some of the things in iOS that hold your hand are the same things that are considered a major hindrance to power users like us ("walled garden" app store, weird multitasking APIs like the 10 minute timeout, etc). I love how everything in the OS, including the apps, are composited (read: hardware accelerated). The SDK is amazing, and helps developers make incredible looking, cohesive applications. At the end of the day however, I am willing to sacrifice some of the usability for my freedom. Just as I live in the United States (not discriminating against any overseas users) and as such have to put up with some bull**** in order to have my civil liberties, I am eager to drop Apple completely on my laptop, desktop, tablet, and phone. I truly believe that they are an evil corporation and don't give a **** about anything except money and are unwilling in the slightest to cater to power users because of their [reasonable] fear of piracy and people breaking their devices. But I will no longer support them in their quest for erosion of my freedom in the name of profit. They will not get any more of my money.
So now that you have a little background on what I see, I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help me with as I try to transition to a fully Apple-free lifestyle.
1. I use an app called MyWi Ondemand to automatically tether my iPad to my iPhone over bluetooth whenever it needs an Internet connection (it's wifi only). Is there an app that is similar where I can tether my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to my Atrix 4G automatically, over bluetooth, as needed?
2. Is there an app that can automatically kill apps after a given amount of time (say 2 minutes - 20 minutes) for apps that persist in the background that I don't need hogging my battery (for instance, I have IM+ and it supports push notifications, but I don't want to have to hit menu->exit every time). I want to have it be killed when I hit the home button.
3. Where do you see the Android platform going? With Ice Cream Sandwich on the horizon, do you think that we'll get real hardware acceleration for scrolling and apps, etc.? Do you think we'll get an SDK that will help developers create great-looking apps across the board?
4. For former/current iOS users, what are some of the things you miss about iOS and how do you work around them or what solutions have you come up with?
5. Why did you choose Android over iOS? (I guess most Atrix 4G users in the states are on AT&T)
5. Anything you wanna say on topic!
I really don't wanna bring any fanboyism into this. Please understand, I don't want a flame war or "APPLE IS TEH SUX LOL!!!11" or "Android pwnz bc i hax0r!" I want people's honest opinion about why they made the decisions they did and hopefully the answers to my questions. Thanks so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) There are tons of tethering apps out there. I dont use tethering so I dont know of any specifics, but I'm sure what your looking for does exist.
2) Yep, they're called task killers. I would advise you be VERY careful with them, since improper usage can hurt your phone's performance and battery life due to conflicts with Android's own internal memory management. Read up on them (there are plenty of articles on the subject) and make sure its really something you need to run on your phone before installing. If you do install one, I've heard good things about Advanced Task Killer
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rechild.advancedtaskkiller&hl=en
3) Hardware acceleration will probably come in the future, although nobody knows exactly when it will. I dont think it'll be ICS though, because that would be a big feature that Google would want to advertise. However, I think on hardware like the Atrix, hardware acceleration isnt really needed.
The SDK is constantly improving. Already its ahead of iOS in terms of being able to create scaling apps. As proof, look at how non-tablet optimized android apps run on tablets compared to iOS. On iOS, it has to blow the display up and make everything pixelated, and there's still a border because iOS runs on fixed resolutions. On Android, thats not an issue since everything is relative instead of fixed; while the layout might not be optimal, applications will run full-screen and look great on a tablet.
Google's also made some changes to the market that allow an application to contain multiple APKs, so developers can target tablets and phones from the same app in the same way Apple can.
4) I used to use a dumbphone with an ipod touch. The only thing I've really missed was smooth scrolling in the web browser. Using Opera Mobile (not Mini) solves that problem, just as smooth.
The other thing I missed was a jailbreak tweak called Multiflow, which gave iOS's multitasking a WebOS like card interface. While similar apps exist for Android, none currently work with the Atrix. I've gotten used to working without it, but if an Atrix compatible solution ever came up I'd jump to it without hesitation.
5) You've certainly made the right choice, choosing to abandon Apple because of how they treat power users. Even their desktop computers are starting to get locked down. Sure, you can still download stuff outside the app store in Lion, but I'll bet that wont last. Before too long their desktop OS will be just as limited as iOS is.

Jotokun said:
5) You've certainly made the right choice, choosing to abandon Apple because of how they treat power users. Even their desktop computers are starting to get locked down. Sure, you can still download stuff outside the app store in Lion, but I'll bet that wont last. Before too long their desktop OS will be just as limited as iOS is.
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Exactly why I jumped ship my man. I saw the writing on the wall. OS X will be iOS in one or two releases. Plus I hear there is an ARM-based MacBook Air in the works. Makes me cringe. Way to destroy the best operating system evar, Apple.
Thanks!

brashmadcap said:
1. Tethering over Wifi is specifically what I'm trying to avoid. I don't want to have to turn it on and off, I just want the tablet to query the device ONLY WHEN IT NEEDS A CONNECTION, then time out once it no longer needs it. Tethering over bluetooth, on demand. I assure you, this is a slick solution. It doesn't rape your battery.
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Wifi tethering can be setup to "timeout" and turn itself off when not in use (it just doesn't currently turn itself back on which is why I have a widget on my home screen so I can turn it back on quicker ).
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

brashmadcap said:
1. Tethering over Wifi is specifically what I'm trying to avoid. I don't want to have to turn it on and off, I just want the tablet to query the device ONLY WHEN IT NEEDS A CONNECTION, then time out once it no longer needs it. Tethering over bluetooth, on demand. I assure you, this is a slick solution. It doesn't rape your battery.
2. I hate to sound callous, but that's absolutely untrue. Android will kill a background app only if it needs new resources for another app that's being loaded into memory at that time. And some apps can tell the OS that they HAVE to stay in memory; like a do not kill flag. Some ROMS like cyanogenmod, MIUI, do have an option to LONG HOLD the back button to force close an app however.
Thanks for your input.
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dont know about using bluetooth to tether, but theres an app for just about anything you want to do, and if you are technically inclined, you could just build your own solution.
as far as your comment on the background apps, what you are saying goes against pretty much everything i have read about how the processes work.
If the user leaves a task for a long time, the system clears the task of all activities except the root activity. When the user returns to the task again, it’s as the user left it, except that only the initial activity is present. The idea is that, after a time, users will likely have abandoned what they were doing before and are returning to the task to begin something new.
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Activities, on the other hand, provide the user interface. They’re in a long-running conversation with the user and may remain active, even when idle, as long as the conversation continues. Similarly, services may also remain running for a long time. So Android has methods to shut down activities and services in an orderly way:
An activity can be shut down by calling its finish() method. One activity can shut down another activity (one it started with startActivityForResult()) by calling finishActivity().
A service can be stopped by calling its stopSelf() method, or by calling Context.stopService().
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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.
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Click to collapse
disclaimer: i am not necessarily arguing with you, but presenting items i have read and the way i understand them to be. this is just adding to the discussion and not meant to be confrontational.

Pirateghost said:
dont know about using bluetooth to tether, but theres an app for just about anything you want to do, and if you are technically inclined, you could just build your own solution.
as far as your comment on the background apps, what you are saying goes against pretty much everything i have read about how the processes work.
disclaimer: i am not necessarily arguing with you, but presenting items i have read and the way i understand them to be. this is just adding to the discussion and not meant to be confrontational.
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Wow! Thanks for the comprehensive clarification!

in regards to tablet tethering through bluetooth "pdanet tablet beta" does exactly that.

1. Google "Wifi Tether for Root Users" and download the latest apk. Bluetooth tethering.
2. Advanced Task Killer. I'd advise against setting a kill time for all apps for the same reasons others have mentioned. It can jack up phone performance if used too much, but you can leave a link to the app within your notification bar for quick access during those times when you know a few rogue apps are running out of your control and they need to be killed.

The one thing I miss most about iOS is apps like BiteSMS that allows you to compose a text message from *any* application by just pressing volume up, then tapping the center of the screen. Even from the lockscreen.
It saves so much time from entering my PIN to unlock my device every time I want to send a message.
And note: I know apps exist that allow you to *reply* to a message even from the lockscreen. I'm talking about composing an entirely new one.

m0biusace said:
The one thing I miss most about iOS is apps like BiteSMS that allows you to compose a text message from *any* application by just pressing volume up, then tapping the center of the screen. Even from the lockscreen.
It saves so much time from entering my PIN to unlock my device every time I want to send a message.
And note: I know apps exist that allow you to *reply* to a message even from the lockscreen. I'm talking about composing an entirely new one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Handcent and ChompSMS (literally, the same developers of biteSMS, duplicate program just on android) offer this. Just configure it, hold the search key, and viola! Just no MMS from that screen.

WP8: 2 steps foward, half a step backward

My Titan (WP7) was stolen, so I updated to WP8 earlier than I was planning to.
Aside from about a third of my apps not being available for WP8 yet, I'm enjoying what the new system has to offer.
However, WP8 lost some functionality which is really annoying the hell out of me.
Gifs. In WP7, you couldn't save them, but you could "share" them and email them to yourself. When I try to do this in WP8, it takes one frame from the gif and shares a single frame jpg file. What the ****. Now there is no way to save gif files at all, which is problematic when sites like 4chan don't host them for long.
Unable to uninstall the Help and Tips app. ........ Just... why?
"Remove location data on uploaded images" is no longer an option. As a privacy nut, I loved this. Well, great, now I have to turn off location in pictures all together.
There are a few other things that are missing I'm not remembering, and granted these are all small problems, but now that they've been arbitrarily removed, they're never going to be re-implemented. I'll submit a "feature request" and it'll sit at the bottom, never to be seen...
I got the 820 over the 920 because a non-removable battery is a deal breaker for me. Funny thing is, when the titan first came out everyone was complaining about how hard it is to press the buttons... Well now I can't pick up the damn lumia without accidentally hitting one of the buttons.

I am not sure what your talking about. I recommend that you go to wpcentral forums because they can answer your question. Everyone has left xda in terms of windows phone, all the action here is android.

lovenokia said:
I am not sure what your talking about. I recommend that you go to wpcentral forums because they can answer your question. Everyone has left xda in terms of windows phone, all the action here is android.
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Yeah, I've noticed that the portal features nothing about anything related to Microsoft, even when every other site was having a field day with all the WP8 related announcements...
Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express Pro

Side note: you could alternatively turn off the photo uploading, and leave the geotagging enabled. Then, sync your images to your PC and upload the images to wherever after running them through a de-geotagging program.
Not suggesting this is a *good* option; I hate feature regressions at least as much as anybody. Just a possible way for you to get around the problem.

What I am hoping to see on the NEXT major update for WP8

.... It doesn't matter what models you have... but when you tilt your phone to landscape (either way), i'm hoping to see the tiles rotate and be able to scroll either left or right. Now, that would be a great addition as far as feature-wise. Also would like to see a freedom to change or customized accent colors of each tiles to your liking - this would be suhhhweet! Additionally, it would also be nice if we could add or customize wallpapers in the background besides having them Black or White but i think that could compromise a bit of battery life but shouldn't be a major deal. Also wouldn't mind seeing different apps for Lock Screen aside of having to swipe up...
Anything else or ideas that you guys would love/like/hope to see!?.... Take a crack at it!

Yeah, that's not gonna happen; well at least anytime soon. MS just doesn't care what we want, all the care about is about what they want.

I would simply like to see Windows RT instead of Windops phone. Same hardware, why not same OS and apps?

It's not the same hardware.

Custom Notifications

Custom sounds for messages, for different senders, for notifications, and would like to see live apps popping out if there is a change.

sinister1 said:
Yeah, that's not gonna happen; well at least anytime soon. MS just doesn't care what we want, all the care about is about what they want.
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I feel like I already heard that from Iphone owners. :3
Maybe they don't add -yet- more features to make what is already there as stable and efficient as possible ?
Sent from my LG-P970 using Tapatalk 2

I still prefer MS over Apple, but I'm not going to give them a pass on this kind of lockdown crap. WP8 is a good utility / tool OS, but there's no reason it couldn't be a general-purpose OS, and yet MS actively fights against that possibility.

Xbox Music Pass in Poland, led light notification, App instalation from SD card, root XD

Install To SD Card
Update App from SD Card
Seperate volume levels for notifications and music
Import bookmarks to IE
More stable FB chat
Skype integration to Message & Phone Hub
Mobile data monitoring (for every device, not just some carriers)
Toast notification logger
Remove "Help & Tips" possible
Select where to "save contact" (Microsoft Account only atm)
Less store restrictions (same app available everywhere on iOS or Droid, but not WP8)
Auto-upload photos to 3rd party (Box.net)
Edit ascii emoticons
End "Nokia Only" non-nokia apps - eg Mass Effect Infiltrator
SD Card & USB Storage Explorer App
Enable and "encourage" global purchase - buy app on WP8, use it on WP8, RT or Win8
Force re-check for apk files on SD Card (so no eject or reboot req)

As for auto-uploading to other Services than SkyDrive. Microsoft won't implement Providers for other Services but WP8 is already able to be Extended in that regard using Apps. So if you have a Box.net App it could Register as an Auto-Upload Provider and you could then configure it to be used instead of SkyDrive.
So basically: the OS supports this right now, it's up to developers to implement it.

CruciasNZ said:
Less store restrictions (same app available everywhere on iOS or Droid, but not WP8)
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Click to collapse
Can't say about iOS, but Android does have regional restrictions - Google Currents was limited to certain countries for quite some time. And there are device restrictions which prevent installation of some phone-based apps on a tablet (buy the HD version for an extra $$$), the target Android version is also restricted (hello Samsung and HTC who almost never upgrade devices to the latest Android version).
CruciasNZ said:
Enable and "encourage" global purchase - buy app on WP8, use it on WP8, RT or Win8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows RT/W8 apps are different from WP8 because of a huge difference in screen sizes. It's pretty easy to port apps between WP8 and WinRT, but requires some effort from developers who probably won't give you a free product for the other OS. That's how it's currently with Android apps. When the first iPad was first announced people were making fun of its 2x scaling of iPhone apps or running apps in 1:1 resolution in a tiny box in the center of the screen. So even is MS allow this the results won't be pretty. Syncing between phone and desktop/table would make sense though - IE on Win8 syncs favorites, but IE in WP8 doesn't.

zlogic42 said:
Can't say about iOS, but Android does have regional restrictions - Google Currents was limited to certain countries for quite some time. And there are device restrictions which prevent installation of some phone-based apps on a tablet (buy the HD version for an extra $$$), the target Android version is also restricted (hello Samsung and HTC who almost never upgrade devices to the latest Android version).
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Click to collapse
O yeah, there are tons of apps my Nexus 7 cannot get in New Zealand; but it can get textPlus and heyWire, but my WP8 cannot because they are region locked. I want MS to encourage people to make equivalent apps with equivalent region restrictions, right now the markets a bit of a joke from New Zealand
zlogic42 said:
Windows RT/W8 apps are different from WP8 because of a huge difference in screen sizes. It's pretty easy to port apps between WP8 and WinRT, but requires some effort from developers who probably won't give you a free product for the other OS. That's how it's currently with Android apps. When the first iPad was first announced people were making fun of its 2x scaling of iPhone apps or running apps in 1:1 resolution in a tiny box in the center of the screen. So even is MS allow this the results won't be pretty. Syncing between phone and desktop/table would make sense though - IE on Win8 syncs favorites, but IE in WP8 doesn't.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I am aware of such limitations having had a go at making WP7 apps. I said enable and encourage, not force - if a developer wants to offer it then they can.

sinister1 said:
Yeah, that's not gonna happen; well at least anytime soon. MS just doesn't care what we want, all the care about is about what they want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost, its the carriers and OEMS at have ms bent over backwards, ms will do as they told, just not from us
Sent from my Arc using xda app-developers app

I would love them to allow more control over background tasks, the ability to attach any code you want to that task, the ability for processes to properly run in the background (over resume) or lock screen, and the ability to access the music library on demand with more control!

Separate volume controls for media and ringer.
Custom live tile update intervals.
Custom notification sounds.
Landscape mode(won't happen).
Use of entire screen for tiles. Wp8 leaves narrow bars on lumia 920 now.
Jail breaking support for Cydia like apps.
Widgets. Better than live tiles for music apps.

My single biggest gripe is AUDIO PROFILES!!! When I plug in a set of headphones, I expect the OS to remeber what settings I had them on when I last plugged them in...Conversely, When I unplug them, I expect the system-wide audio to auto-magically rever to what I had it set to BEFORE I PLUGGED THEM IN!!!

sinister1 said:
Yeah, that's not gonna happen; well at least anytime soon. MS just doesn't care what we want, all the care about is about what they want.
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Click to collapse
If they added every feature that any old idiot came along and requested, you'd end up with a big old mess.
You'd end up with Android.

"Ending up" with the most popular mobile OS in the world, which is well on its way to being the most popular consumer OS for any form factor, isn't a terrible thing... they should be trying to make a better Android, not trying to make a better iOS. The ways in which WP8 is better than Android right now are almost completely compatible with adding in more features (or, often enough, not locking out so many features that would otherwise already be present)!

MikeyMike01 said:
If they added every feature that any old idiot came along and requested, you'd end up with a big old mess.
You'd end up with Android.
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Well said.
My only one hang up was no custom text tones. I know it's pretty inane to get upset over, but considering I could make a text tone for phones made 6 years ago, I don't see why this wasn't a feature for all smartphone OS's from the start.