Questions from a Droid newbie

[Stacy A]

Okay. I've never had a phone with the capabilities of my new droid and I have a couple of questions. First, when it is connected to a wifi hotspot or network, does it automatically use the wifi connection when you access the internet? I just want to make sure that I'm not burning through my monthly 5 gig limit on bandwidth. Also, when you use the GPS function, is it using the internet, or just the GPS satellites?
Last question, does anyone have suggestions on organization of the three pages? I really don't see a need (for me) to put shortcuts on any of the pages because one swipe up takes me to the apps. Why do I need to make a sideways swipe to get to the same things?

I have fallen in love with this phone. All my past cellular phones have been just that- a phone, but with this "tool", I find there are so many things it is capable of, it will integrate into my life so well. The multimedia dock is great, the windshield mount and Car Home (with GPS navigation) is completely awesome - I have had zero trouble with the voice recognition. I'm just blown away by this phone and I need ideas about how to use it properly to get the most out of it.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

You need to turn the wifi on for it to connect to it. There is a power widget that makes that easy to do, otherwise you need to go into settings to turn wifi on.

I leave wifi off most of the time as I want to preserve battery.

Enjoy your droid. It rocks.

 

[Ramy]

I would recommend turning off Bluetooth too if you don't use it.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I would recommend turning off Bluetooth too if you don't use it.

Yeah, and I often turn off the gps, particularly when I am inside for a long time - it will drain the battery, as maps keeps trying to figure out where you are.

 

[Ramy]

Yeah, and I often turn off the gps, particularly when I am inside for a long time - it will drain the battery, as maps keeps trying to figure out where you are.

Yes, me too.

 

[Stacy A]

Is the icon at the top of the screen the indicator that the GPS is on? Mine only seems to come on at times, usually when it knows I'm on the road. It's really kind of creepy how this phone seems to intuitively know what I'm doing and what I might need.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

Is the icon at the top of the screen the indicator that the GPS is on? Mine only seems to come on at times, usually when it knows I'm on the road. It's really kind of creepy how this phone seems to intuitively know what I'm doing and what I might need.

Yes, that tells you it is seeking info. It rarely stays on.

The google location services are awesome; do a voice search for Best Buy, and it brings up a google page with a map of the closest store. Gotta love that!

 

[Stacy A]

I've been using Advanced Task Killer Free to kill any apps running in the background that might drain the battery. Since I really don't know much of the tech stuff behind these things, is this a decent app?

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I've been using Advanced Task Killer Free to kill any apps running in the background that might drain the battery. Since I really don't know much of the tech stuff behind these things, is this a decent app?

I use that too, but since memory management on a linux device is SO DIFFERENT than a windows machine, it is unclear to me what impact it has. As programs will be showing up in memory that I am not using. But I hit kill and it shows more memory available.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

The other thing is to go to settings, and then about phone, and battery use, and you can see what is accounting for most battery usage. Display is usually the biggest hog, but I have been unplugged for 2 hours so far today, with display set to a pretty low percent, and it is actually just #3 in usage.

that page can also give you a sense of which widgets are sucking down battery. WHile I love the widgets, the reality is the more you have running, the more battery use there is - particularly if they are interactive ones like weather and facebook.

 

[Stacy A]

I hate the amount of real estate a widget takes up. I've been trying to determine the most effective way to organize my three pages, and of course only a limited number of apps can fit on a page. I have one page with communication tools (Gesture Search is the coolest), one page with games, and one page with "tools" (e.g. - compass, level, tricorder, etc... They have absolutely no use right now, but I'll figure out what works for me and what doesn't.

 

[Hall]

Yeah, and I often turn off the gps, particularly when I am inside for a long time - it will drain the battery, as maps keeps trying to figure out where you are.

I ONLY turn on GPS when I'm using the map app. For anything requiring "location" info, triangulation via the cell towers works well enough most of the time (for me).

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I hate the amount of real estate a widget takes up. I've been trying to determine the most effective way to organize my three pages, and of course only a limited number of apps can fit on a page. I have one page with communication tools (Gesture Search is the coolest), one page with games, and one page with "tools" (e.g. - compass, level, tricorder, etc... They have absolutely no use right now, but I'll figure out what works for me and what doesn't.

One of the reasons many of us use alternative launchers is so there are more screens. I use a full-screen version of Executive Assistant + and that puppy takes up a whole screen.

With three screens, it is really a balancing act to choose which widgets you need or want to use.

 

[Kheldar]

I just want to make sure that I'm not burning through my monthly 5 gig limit on bandwidth.

What 5Gb limit?
The Droid (which I also have) requires the "Unlimited Email & Web for Smartphones (personal email)" package, which states:

Get unlimited access to the Internet and your personal email accounts.

• Check and send personal emails when you’re out and about.
• Access up to 10 POP3 and IMAP email accounts.
• Enjoy unlimited Internet access.

Even the Terms & Conditions link doesn't mention anything about this 5GB cap.

It looks like, in this case, unlimited means unlimited.

 

[Hall]

No, VZW does have a 5gb cap. It's no secret. I have a hard time imagining how someone could hit it personally though unless they stream Pandora 24 hours a day...

How they handle it when customers reach this though is up for discussion. I was told by tech-support that they simply throttle your speed (drastically) and that they don't charge you for overages. Others have said they leave the speed alone and charge you by the byte/kb/mb and let it add up.

 

[Kheldar]

I was under the impression (per their website) that the 5Gb cap only applies to their aircards, not their smartphones. Can you provide a link to anything on the Verizon site that shows a 5Gb limit on the "unlimited" smartphone data plan?

 

[digiblur]

Without tethering you'd have to be doing a LOT of downloading and video streaming to hit 5GB on the phone.

Even with tethering quite a bit and lots of phone data/app usage the highest I've hit is 2gb in a month.

 

[Ramy]

I was under the impression (per their website) that the 5Gb cap only applies to their aircards, not their smartphones. Can you provide a link to anything on the Verizon site that shows a 5Gb limit on the "unlimited" smartphone data plan?

You are right. There is no limit on smartphones on the unlimited plan.

 

[rockymtnhigh]

I think both ramy and digi are right.

 

[Stacy A]

They are. I spoke with a sales guy on Saturday (ordered 2 more Droids) and he confirmed that the data plan is unlimited on smartphones, but it is 5 gigs on aircards. However, since we are still on an old Alltel plan, we have unlimited data on our aircard, which we use on our EVDO router.