Database Develop

[Q] A Few Questions

I have just bought a new Galaxy Note and I think it is really really good, but there's just a few things that I'm not sure how to do and what certain things mean etc:
1. I have only ever had a H symbol with 2 arrows in the notification bar. I thought that I would have a 3G symbol but this has never appeared. Question is, what is the H symbol and is my 3G working? I have just turned off fast dormancy, as I have read that it may drain batter, and now I have an E where the H usually is. What is the E for?
2. I'd like to improve the battery life and I have read on here of a few ways to do that. One of the ways is to make sure that apps don't update too regularly. Where do I actually go to check how often the apps update?
3. I have downloaded a few apps and some have saved to the SD card and some have saved to the phone. Why is this? How do I choose where apps save to?
4. I used to have an iPhone 4 and I was forever double tapping the menu button and closing down apps. As far as I am aware with an adroid phone you don't need to do this? Is that right?
I'm sorry for length of this post and the amount of questions that I have asked. I am normally really good with phones but the galaxy note is more like a computer and I would rather just ask the questions than figure it all out myself over time.
Thanks in advance.

H is like 3.5G its a little faster than 3G bit still not 4G. E or edge is 2G.
You can check in the settings of most apps itself how frequently they auto update
As far as moving apps go you can go to setting then apps and choose where the app is, except for system apps.
To close apps and not have them run in the background you have to long press the home button and then swipe the app you want to close
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

ottawayd said:
I have just bought a new Galaxy Note and I think it is really really good, but there's just a few things that I'm not sure how to do and what certain things mean etc:
1. I have only ever had a H symbol with 2 arrows in the notification bar. I thought that I would have a 3G symbol but this has never appeared. Question is, what is the H symbol and is my 3G working? I have just turned off fast dormancy, as I have read that it may drain batter, and now I have an E where the H usually is. What is the E for?
2. I'd like to improve the battery life and I have read on here of a few ways to do that. One of the ways is to make sure that apps don't update too regularly. Where do I actually go to check how often the apps update?
3. I have downloaded a few apps and some have saved to the SD card and some have saved to the phone. Why is this? How do I choose where apps save to?
4. I used to have an iPhone 4 and I was forever double tapping the menu button and closing down apps. As far as I am aware with an adroid phone you don't need to do this? Is that right?
I'm sorry for length of this post and the amount of questions that I have asked. I am normally really good with phones but the galaxy note is more like a computer and I would rather just ask the questions than figure it all out myself over time.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
H is the fastest internet you'll get on your note, the downside of it is that it drains the battery pretty fast. As for me, I switch to it when I want to load YouTube videos, download lots of data and similar. You can download a "3G switch" widget from Google Play to quickly jump between H(3G) and EDGE(the E symbol, slower internet, but much better battery life)
By turning off the automatic sync, you save a lot of data and battery life, you can do that via Settings > Accounts and Sync. Personally, I find it better to manually refresh my email and similar when I need it, but it's your decision.
Since Note has a massive internal memory, you should keep all apps installed to the internal memory rather than the SD card, for the fastest experience, since none of the apps need to load from the slower SD card.
Android handles processes very well by itself so there is no need to manually "kill" apps. If you wish to end some unresponsive ones, you can get SystemPanel Task manager from the Google Play store, it's pretty good.
Feel free to PM me for any further questions
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

ottawayd said:
2. I'd like to improve the battery life and I have read on here of a few ways to do that. One of the ways is to make sure that apps don't update too regularly. Where do I actually go to check how often the apps update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
besides turning the global sync off, you can:
- check the betterbatterystats thread, it may seem confusing at first, but it's worth the effort
- disable gps location
- in all internet apps (e.g. facebook, rss readers, weather etc. ) turn the automatic updates off (or set to every 8/16/24hr)
- if you feel brave, check either autostarts or autorun manager in the market (both apps paid) - based on trial and error you can disable triggers which make apps to autostart, without damaging their functionality
- avoid taskkillers
- check lama (also on market, free), you can set it to do a lot of things, like turn wifi on when you're at home and switch to mobile when not, turn sync and internet off when screen is of etc. etc.

About data connectivity.

So I started using some apps like foursquare/instagram and I wanted to know If even i close them they keep using internet on the background. Since I close them (with data connectivity off) and when i enable data connectivity(long press on power button) it shows immediately some notifications of foursquare.
The main point of this question is that i want to keep data connectivity always on, cause it seems turning on and off wastes some battery, but i don't want apps leaching internet on the background.
Thanks!
Sent from my SGA using Tapatalk 2

Someone please answer me on this problem, its a bit urgent really apreciate the time and patient!
Sent from my SGA using Tapatalk 2

Someone please

NunoPitbull said:
So I started using some apps like foursquare/instagram and I wanted to know If even i close them they keep using internet on the background. Since I close them (with data connectivity off) and when i enable data connectivity(long press on power button) it shows immediately some notifications of foursquare.
The main point of this question is that i want to keep data connectivity always on, cause it seems turning on and off wastes some battery, but i don't want apps leaching internet on the background.
Thanks!
Sent from my SGA using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) data use - you could try a data manager app like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobidia.android.mdm which will show you how much data they are using. You might find these apps are using not much of your allowance anyway.
2) task manager (e.g. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.taskmanager ) can stop apps running in background but most people in the know seem to advise against using things like this.
3) you could try freezing the apps with something like titanium backup and unfreeze them when you want to use them.
4) apps like foursquare or instagram don't really fall into the urgent category. Uninstall them if you don't like what they do. Everything will be fine as you will manage without them
Sent from my GT-S5830 using unleaded

121C4 said:
1) data use - you could try a data manager app like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobidia.android.mdm which will show you how much data they are using. You might find these apps are using not much of your allowance anyway.
2) task manager (e.g. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.estrongs.android.taskmanager ) can stop apps running in background but most people in the know seem to advise against using things like this.
3) you could try freezing the apps with something like titanium backup and unfreeze them when you want to use them.
4) apps like foursquare or instagram don't really fall into the urgent category. Uninstall them if you don't like what they do. Everything will be fine as you will manage without them
Sent from my GT-S5830 using unleaded
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have Wifi on and saying Messages app is using data. Wth? but oh well, untill now seems no major internet waste..

NunoPitbull said:
I have Wifi on and saying Messages app is using data. Wth? but oh well, untill now seems no major internet waste..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is OS Services?

Alternatives on rooted phones are firewalls which edit ip tables, such as droidwall.
Even if each app uses a marginal amount of data, when you have lots of apps it can become a huge expense. Most play store apps request internet access, even games and multimedia apps that don't really need it (it can add up to 5-10 mb a day just by having them installed).

dxppxd said:
Alternatives on rooted phones are firewalls which edit ip tables, such as droidwall.
Even if each app uses a marginal amount of data, when you have lots of apps it can become a huge expense. Most play store apps request internet access, even games and multimedia apps that don't really need it (it can add up to 5-10 mb a day just by having them installed).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Won't a firewall(like droidwall as u said) drain battery since it has to continusly keep running?
Cause my goal here is to try to fight the battery usage of turning data connectivy on/off ;P

NunoPitbull said:
Won't a firewall(like droidwall as u said) drain battery since it has to continusly keep running?
Cause my goal here is to try to fight the battery usage of turning data connectivy on/off ;P
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. It edits a file, ip tables, which is the native linux firewall, included in the ace.
It edits it when you enable, disable or change the firewall settings, like creating a text file, and runs on boot. The phone checks this file whenever an app asks for internet, and grants/denies the permission accordingly. Even if you don't have droidwall, the phone checks ip tables rules, droidwall is just a user friendly way to edit and control it.

dxppxd said:
No. It edits a file, ip tables, which is the native linux firewall, included in the ace.
It edits it when you enable, disable or change the firewall settings, like creating a text file, and runs on boot. The phone checks this file whenever an app asks for internet, and grants/denies the permission accordingly. Even if you don't have droidwall, the phone checks ip tables rules, droidwall is just a user friendly way to edit and control it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really thanks for this awsome program suggestion ;D I'm using as we speak, sadly I didn't found the "OS Services" taht is described on My Data Manager, and sadly they didn't replied with a email yet saying that is that...

[HELP] Mobile Data Consumption for Android?

greetings friends,
i have a problem with mobile data consumption for this latest upgrade. before this, when it was 4.1.2, i didn't remember android OS really need that much data. but when i upgraded the OS to 4.2.2, the data consumption is considerably high...
the problem is, i use daily internet package where i have to renew the pass everyday. when it exceeded the quota, i'll have to pay using my credit balance. and it is very costly!
how do i stop or disable the android OS internet consumption? any idea?
p/s: unable to post a picture. newbie here.

Just go into:
settings/more/mobile networks/and uncheck mobile data. That turns off data transmission - turn it on when you need it.
Easier way is to have mobile data on the quick pull down menu and turn it off there when you don't need it...
You can also enable Stamina Mode in power settings which disables data traffic when the screen is off
http://twitter.com/durtgeek

dear sir,
thanks for the response. very much appreciate it. :good:
i did limit the usage. but my concern is that, how can i turn off the 'Android OS' or at least limit the OS usage of internet. sometimes i didnt really use the internet, but it seemed the traffic kept getting higher. i did switch off the auto-update for all my apps.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39254964
Sent from my C6603 using xda premium

Hi mate, I was facing the same problem after upgrading to 4.2.2.
The cause behind this is backup and rest.
Go to Settings->Backup & Reset and uncheck Back up my data.
The phones starts taking a backup of almost everything on your phone on some cloud server, which eats a lot of data.
Once you uncheck it, your data consumption will return to normal.

singhal_apoorv said:
Hi mate, I was facing the same problem after upgrading to 4.2.2.
The cause behind this is backup and rest.
Go to Settings->Backup & Reset and uncheck Back up my data.
The phones starts taking a backup of almost everything on your phone on some cloud server, which eats a lot of data.
Once you uncheck it, your data consumption will return to normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that does it....thanks, brother!
:laugh: :good:

cloudz7 said:
dear sir,
thanks for the response. very much appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome
But I'm not a sir I'm a ma'am lol
http://twitter.com/durtgeek

5 Best Ways To Reduce Mobile Data Consumption
5. Update your Apps Over WiFi Only
Many apps in Google play store get unnecessary updates by unnecessary i mean they are meant to fix bugs only, and have you noticed how many times all your apps were auto-updated without your consent, spending all them precious GBs, so wasting your finite date over useless updates is not a great idea. To disable Auto-Update you just need to open the Google Play Store and tap on the side tray button, click on Settings option and then select the “Auto-update apps” and select Auto-update apps over WiFi only.
4. Turn On Data Compression on Google Chrome
Most of us are Android users, coz this process is only for Android Users. And if you are an Android user you are also likely Chrome users. Most of us Don’t know that Chrome supports a feature that can reduce data consumption, Google states this feature should save you about 50% in data, without even feeling any difference. All you need to do is open Chrome and hit the menu button and select Settings, click Data Saver and then toggle the option and it done.
3. Cache Everything You Can
Like Google Maps and Google Play Music allow for storing data locally and many other apps. Make sure to save as many as caches and data you can while you are on a WiFi network. Afterwards you can enjoy your saved data without wasted Precious Mobile Data.
2. Avoid Online Streaming
The most awesome Things over the internet consume more data, this includes streaming videos and music, as well as looking through high quality images or GIF files. Try to avoid this kind of consumption as much as possible if you really want to save your mobile data. And if you need to watch it, make sure you change the settings and set quality at lower rates.
1. Restrict Background Data
Do you know that when your phone is not in use some apps spend your too much data. the feature we about to tell is actually one of the greatest features on Android. Background data allows apps to keep everything updated which leads to a great amount of Data wastage. so here is what you can do, Go into Settings > Data Usage and select Restrict Data for the apps that consume large amount of data and dont worry you can undo this by the same method.

[Q] Error message: "turn on background data" followed by wrong instructions?

[Q] Error message: "turn on background data" followed by wrong instructions?
I keep getting this curious error message "Turn on background data" accompanied by generic instructions as to possible ways this should be done. Which dont seem to apply to the Galaxy S3.
My unit indeed doesnt seem to scan constantly for emails or gmails unless I go to the program and tell it to do so. And it has just started telling me that I can't access the play store unless I enable background data.
I was just moved by t-mobile from a 200 meg plan to a 3 gig plan and I can't remember whether I ever disabled background data to reduce usage or to prevent anonymous tracking in some way. So I am not sure if turning it off is a disadvantage or a security feature? Or possibly some way of preventing Angry Birds from sending me incessant adverts when my young offspring demand my phone to play this game?
I certainly cant remember how I did this, assuming I was aware of doing it!
Does anyone know how to turn on background data and whether having it on is a good thing or a bad thing please?

Go to settings>data usage tap menu button,you should find a restrict background data button..untick it...
And about background data restriction,it's pros and cons completely depends on your usage..if you restrict the background data,no data's ( no means 0 bites ) can be used by Any app until you open it in foreground..its a life saver for those who have planned there data usage for every app they use...but if you are a free minded android user,and want to get everything from your device,you might not restrict your background data..
But it will cost a little (sometimes even more) datas without asking for your permission!
Sent from my GT-I9305

Herny123 said:
Go to settings>data usage tap menu button,you should find a restrict background data button..untick it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that was why I posted: When I Go to settings>data usage and tap menu button, I find a restrict background data button which is unticked. There IS no restriction of which i am aware, so I wondered where it is on the T-Mobile Galaxy 'skin'?

licensedtoquill said:
Actually that was why I posted: When I Go to settings>data usage and tap menu button, I find a restrict background data button which is unticked. There IS no restriction of which i am aware, so I wondered where it is on the T-Mobile Galaxy 'skin'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh I think you have restricted the background data for google play store or play services individually.
Go to data usage and tap on google apps like play store,play services etc.there is a restrict background data option for each app..make sure they are unticked..
If this doesn't help,I think I can't help you further..
Sent from my GT-I9305

This is indeed an odd one:I had checked that as well and restrict data isnt checked there either!
However, as to the immediate problem at hand, thanks for the advice: Is IS checked for the play store.
And maybe this is useful, to know that you can restrict background data for programs like angry birds?

licensedtoquill said:
This is indeed an odd one:I had checked that as well and restrict data isnt checked there either!
However, as to the immediate problem at hand, thanks for the advice: Is IS checked for the play store.
And maybe this is useful, to know that you can restrict background data for programs like angry birds?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep it's possible to restrict background data for all app particularly..
and if you find that restricting and unrestricting it from settings is a bit annoying,you might try apps like android firewall..they are too good to control your data usage.. but root permission required!
Sent from my GT-I9305

Multitasking & app lag/freezing...

Having a problem in which app or task reappears in the foreground after pressing the Home button. Also, if I tap the recent apps button, the list of apps appears and then just as quickly brings the most recent app into the foreground automatically again. It happens so quickly that the "x" for closing the apps in the list doesn't even have a chance to appear or let me swipe them away.
Something else that seems to happen along with this problem is that parts of any given app start freezing (i.e. unresponsive links, menu options, etc) while other parts of the app can be tapped/pressed. For example, if I'm in the android settings menu, I may not be able to select one option in a list but I can select the option right above it. This appears to be totally random. If I back out of that menu and/or clear the app from the app list, I can go back and select that same menu option just fine.
This seems to only have started after I added a second user on the phone. I guess it could be that the phone doesn't have enough memory to handle both users, but why would ANDROID then build that feature into it's phone OS?
Fixes I've tried so far (based on extensive research on forums and web search):
Restarting the phone - works temporarily but the issue(s) returns within minutes.
Clearing the phone's cache - no difference
Clearing app cache for each app - no difference
Uninstalling unneeded apps - no difference
Disabling bloatware - no difference
Clearing Google now and search - temporary fix, problem returned soon
Turning off Google now and search - temporary fix, problem returned soon
Factory reset, reinstalled from backup - temporary fix, problem eventually returned
Factory reset, setup both users from scratch - temporary fix, problem eventually returned.
I have a Moto X xt1097, Android 5.1 stock, non-rooted
Any help or responses appreciated!

dgiberga said:
Having a problem in which app or task reappears in the foreground after pressing the Home button. Also, if I tap the recent apps button, the list of apps appears and then just as quickly brings the most recent app into the foreground automatically again. It happens so quickly that the "x" for closing the apps in the list doesn't even have a chance to appear or let me swipe them away.
Something else that seems to happen along with this problem is that parts of any given app start freezing (i.e. unresponsive links, menu options, etc) while other parts of the app can be tapped/pressed. For example, if I'm in the android settings menu, I may not be able to select one option in a list but I can select the option right above it. This appears to be totally random. If I back out of that menu and/or clear the app from the app list, I can go back and select that same menu option just fine.
This seems to only have started after I added a second user on the phone. I guess it could be that the phone doesn't have enough memory to handle both users, but why would ANDROID then build that feature into it's phone OS?
Fixes I've tried so far (based on extensive research on forums and web search):
Restarting the phone - works temporarily but the issue(s) returns within minutes.
Clearing the phone's cache - no difference
Clearing app cache for each app - no difference
Uninstalling unneeded apps - no difference
Disabling bloatware - no difference
Clearing Google now and search - temporary fix, problem returned soon
Turning off Google now and search - temporary fix, problem returned soon
Factory reset, reinstalled from backup - temporary fix, problem eventually returned
Factory reset, setup both users from scratch - temporary fix, problem eventually returned.
I have a Moto X xt1097, Android 5.1 stock, non-rooted
Any help or responses appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer is simple, it is caused by your second user.
Sent from my XT1095 using Tapatalk

AGISCI said:
The answer is simple, it is caused by your second user.
Sent from my XT1095 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I considered that as PART of the issue, sure. But isn't Android 5.1 supposed to support multiple users? If so, what about having a second user is causing the issue?
More info. I set up the second user for my business, using a separate Gmail account; minimal apps under that user (mostly Google's business products). I kept getting the two accounts mixed up when both were logged in under the same user.

dgiberga said:
Well, I considered that as PART of the issue, sure. But isn't Android 5.1 supposed to support multiple users? If so, what about having a second user is causing the issue?
More info. I set up the second user for my business, using a separate Gmail account; minimal apps under that user (mostly Google's business products). I kept getting the two accounts mixed up when both were logged in under the same user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does "support" it. But you must remember that everything is shared, memory, storage, processor, and network, so the phone is a limit. The better the phone, the better it works.
Even when you are not using the other account it is using all of those things in the background, it checks for emails, google play updates, and if you installed apps those apps run in the background even while you are on the other user.
It is an Android feature yes, but for example our phone only has 2GB of memory which most likely ran out from so much usage.
Personally I have 2 phones, one for business and my personal phone.
I don't know if this is true, but maybe android 6.0 would get better performance thanks to Doze. Maybe the other user account gets put into Doze mode to save resources. Just a thought, but I am only guessing.
Sent from my XT1095 using Tapatalk

AGISCI said:
It does "support" it. But you must remember that everything is shared, memory, storage, processor, and network, so the phone is a limit. The better the phone, the better it works.
Even when you are not using the other account it is using all of those things in the background, it checks for emails, google play updates, and if you installed apps those apps run in the background even while you are on the other user.
It is an Android feature yes, but for example our phone only has 2GB of memory which most likely ran out from so much usage.
Personally I have 2 phones, one for business and my personal phone.
I don't know if this is true, but maybe android 6.0 would get better performance thanks to Doze. Maybe the other user account gets put into Doze mode to save resources. Just a thought, but I am only guessing.
Sent from my XT1095 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I was afraid of that. It makes sense though.
I also noticed that the problem only occurs in the second user profile but not my original user profile; I'm guessing that this is because the Android OS gives the original user priority access to resources at any given moment. Or maybe the first user profile is more resource intensive. Just a guess really.
Well, I don't have money for a second phone right now. I'll have to figure out another way to keep those accounts more easily separated.
Thank you again for your help AGISCI!

Rather than running two user accounts you can run 2 Google accounts as a single user. Hence, all your Google business apps work is saved under your business Gmail account. I've been using it this way for years with little effect on phone resources.

kboya said:
Rather than running two user accounts you can run 2 Google accounts as a single user. Hence, all your Google business apps work is saved under your business Gmail account. I've been using it this way for years with little effect on phone resources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks kboya. That's actually how I started out, but it started getting tricky keeping accounts straight (i.e. chrome would keep defaulting to my personal account instead of my business account when I was signing up for different services, etc.). So, I thought the 2nd user idea would solve it nicely; still would if I could get hardware to support it.

Fair play. IMO multiple users was meant for tablets (less sensor and signal stress) and those with kids who only run games. It'll do what you want, but only at a pinch, a 6P might manage it better.