Various questions - myTouch 3G Slide Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey guys, new to Android. First time ever last night when I got the mytouch slide. So I have a few questions that may make veterans laugh...
1. Why does it seem like there are a bunch of things running on my phone that I don't want running or ever use? Is there a way to kill them like with Task Manager on WinMo?
2. Is there's a setting that stops things from always being connected and draining battery? Amazon mp3 store I didn't even ever open and I see it in Running Services. How is that possible? Maybe I'm not understanding something?
3. When you back out of an app, is it closed? Or still running?
4. Any way to COMPLETELY delete certain apps from the phone?
THANK YOU GUYS!

Yes there's a task killer check market,in addition you can go to settings,applications,manage applications and end services yourself.that answers your 1st 3 questions,on to question 4.you cannot currently uninstall preloaded apps but if and when the phone gets rooted you will be able to remove them through adb or terminal.in addition eventually after this phone gets rooted people will create custom roms that won't come preloaded with all that bloatware.

Jerzeeloon is right, but I'm going to add some detail since you said you were new to Android.
1. Why does it seem like there are a bunch of things running on my phone that I don't want running or ever use?
THERE ARE.
Is there a way to kill them like with Task Manager on WinMo?
SORT OF. ASSUMING YOU HAVEN'T ADDED ANY OTHER TYPE OF MANAGEMENT APP, YOU CAN USE ASTRO WHICH IS PRE-INSTALLED. OPEN UP YOUR APP DRAWER AND SELECT ASTRO. ONCE OPEN, HIT THE PHYSICAL MENU BUTTON AND SELECT TOOLS, THEN PROCESS MANAGER. FOR NOW, I WOULD ONLY USE THE APPS TAB AND YOU CAN CLOSE OUT RUNNING SERVICES THIS WAY. YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD ADVANCED TASK MANAGER OR ADVANCED TASK KILLER WHICH WILL ASSIST IN THIS PROCESS. BOTH ARE GOOD, TRY THEM AND CHOOSE WHICH YOU LIKE BEST. MANY SERVICES MAY BE RUNNING THAT SEEMS TO BE NON-USED, BUT ARE ACTUALLY WORKING WITH SOMETHING ELSE OR ARE RUNNING IDLE OR IN BACKGROUND.
2. Is there's a setting that stops things from always being connected and draining battery?
WHILE A FANTASTIC PHONE, THE SENSE USER INTERFACE AND TMOBILE BOTH RUN MANY APPS THAT WE INDIVIDUALLY MAY NOT WANT OR USE. FOR INSTANCE, I USE HANDCENT FOR TEXT AND K9 IN PLACE OF THE STOCK MAIL (NOT GMAIL). SO I GO TO SETTINGS-APPLICATIONS-MANAGE APPLICATIONS AND ENTER INTO THESE APPS WHICH I DON'T USE AND IF THEY ARE RUNNING, HAVE A 'FORCE STOP' OPTION. AS LONG AS ANOTHER APP ISN'T SOMEHOW USING IT OR YOU'VE SET DEFAULTS TO A DIFFERENT APP, THEN IT SHOULD STAY CLOSED/NON-RUNNING. I ALSO DID THIS WITH FRIENDSTREAM, PEEP, FACEBOOK, ETC WHICH I DON'T USE ON THIS PHONE. YOU SHOULDN'T REALLY NEED TO USE A TASK MANAGER VERY OFTEN. YOU'LL GET DIFFERING REPORTS FROM USERS; SOME SAY THEY 'END ALL' SEVERAL TIMES DAILY, SOME SAY THEY NEVER USE IT. I PREFER SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE THOUGH I NEVER 'END ALL'. THIS JUST FORCES ALL THE APPS THAT NEED TO BE RUNNING TO RESTART WHICH IS NOT USUALLY NECESSARY. MORE LATER...
Amazon mp3 store I didn't even ever open and I see it in Running Services. How is that possible? Maybe I'm not understanding something?
I'M PERPLEXED BY THIS, TOO. BUT I'M NOT A DEVELOPER OR CODER, SO WHAT DO I KNOW?
3. When you back out of an app, is it closed? Or still running?
FROM WHAT I'VE READ, SOME APPS WILL CLOSE WHEN YOU BACK ALL THE WAY OUT. SOME WILL CLOSE WHEN YOU LEAVE THE APP (BY HITTING HOME). SOME WON'T CLOSE AT ALL; WHICH IS THE "MORE LATER". THIS IS THE SCENARIO THAT I USE TASK MANAGERS (TM). IF I'M IN AND OUT OF MULTIPLE APPS IN A PORTION OF DAY, I MAY OPEN UP A TM AND CLOSE SOME OF THOSE APPS, I.E. MAPS, ASTRO, TASK MGR, HANDCENT, ALOQA, ETC. BE CAREFUL TO NOT CLOSE OUT APPS THAT ARE SET UP TO SYNC, LIKE YOUR MAIL APPS.
4. Any way to COMPLETELY delete certain apps from the phone?
NOT THE PRE-INSTALLED ONES. STOCK-ANDROID IS THE SAME AS LINUX ON YOUR PC. HAVING A CUSTOM UI IS AKIN TO WHAT COMPANIES LIKE REDHAT TRIED TO DO WITH AN OPEN-SOURCE OS. SO WHILE THERE ARE MANY NICE FEATURES, APPS, WIDGETS, ETC PRE-INSTALLED, UNFORTUNATELY YOU DO NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO UNINSTALL THEM...YET. THIS PHONE WILL BECOME ROOTED. THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE OPTION OF ADDING CUSTOM ROM'S WHICH WILL ALLOW YOU DIRECT CONTROL OVER WHAT IS ON THE PHONE. THE NEXT THING WE ARE WAITING FOR IS THE NEXT OTA UPDATE, FROYO (2.2). THIS WILL BRING THE ABILITY TO RUN APPS FROM THE SD CARD (APPS2SD) WHICH WILL KEEP THE INTERNAL ROM MEMORY SPACE MOSTLY FREE. FOR ME AT LEAST, THIS WILL HELP ALLEVIATE THE CONSTERNATION I HAVE TO NOT BEING ABLE TO REMOVE THE BLOATWARE. FOR NOW, CHECK OUT WHAT IS ALREADY ON THERE AND IF THERE IS SOMETHING YOU LIKE, SEARCH THE MARKET TO SEE WHAT OTHER SIMILAR APPS ARE AVAILABLE. I WILL TELL YOU THAT THE ONLY ADD-ON APP I HAVEN'T "REPLACED" WITH SOMETHING ELSE IS THE SENSE WEATHER. AS I MENTIONED EARLIER, I USE HANDCENT FOR SMS, K9 FOR OTHER MAIL, SEISMIC FOR TWITTER, ADVANCED TASK MANAGER, SHOP SAVVY FOR BAR CODE, DOLPHIN FOR BROWSER, AND NEWSROB FOR RSS.

Man, you guys are awesome. Informative and friendly.
I HAD two questions but figured on e of them out so here's the one I'm still stuck on...
- Is there an app that will allow me to assign a specific ringtone to specific notifications? SMS, email, voicemail, etc?
Thanks guys!

You can do that by going into the setting in the app.. Example, go into the sms app, hit menu button (3 lines button), settings, notifications

Well that would certainly add a song to notifications for you but it wouldn't allow yo to pick a different song for SMS, MMS, emails, etc.

Are you looking to add different notifications for different people within SMS, email, etc or just to the different apps?
Within each separate app, you will have a 'settings' app, usually navigated by the Menu button. Within this you can set the notification settings. You can easily create your own sounds using Ringdroid and use them also. For example, I used the embedded voice recorder for one of my email accounts linked to my Amazon Seller account. So now when I receive email (via K9) to that account, I hear, "Cha-Ching!...Money!" (this makes me happy 10-15 times a day when that account syncs.)
tinpanalley said:
Man, you guys are awesome. Informative and friendly.
I HAD two questions but figured on e of them out so here's the one I'm still stuck on...
- Is there an app that will allow me to assign a specific ringtone to specific notifications? SMS, email, voicemail, etc?
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

fl_jeep said:
Is there a way to kill them like with Task Manager on WinMo?
SORT OF. ASSUMING YOU HAVEN'T ADDED ANY OTHER TYPE OF MANAGEMENT APP, YOU CAN USE ASTRO WHICH IS PRE-INSTALLED.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since when is Astro pre-installed? It certainly isn't on my phone...

fermunky said:
Since when is Astro pre-installed? It certainly isn't on my phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it is possible I installed it from my SD. I was in a tizzy with my new phone.

fl_jeep said:
Are you looking to add different notifications for different people within SMS, email, etc or just to the different apps?
Within each separate app, you will have a 'settings' app, usually navigated by the Menu button. Within this you can set the notification settings. You can easily create your own sounds using Ringdroid and use them also. For example, I used the embedded voice recorder for one of my email accounts linked to my Amazon Seller account. So now when I receive email (via K9) to that account, I hear, "Cha-Ching!...Money!" (this makes me happy 10-15 times a day when that account syncs.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, what I'm trying to do is have one ringtone for emails, another for notifications (appointments), another for text messages, and so on. If I can actually assign a ringtone to different email accounts, that would be even better!
The problem is, when I go into settings for my email account, in the notifications settings all I get is, email notifications on or off, notification sound on or off, and notification vibrate on or off. No choice to select an actual ringtone.

tinpanalley said:
Yes, what I'm trying to do is have one ringtone for emails, another for notifications (appointments), another for text messages, and so on. If I can actually assign a ringtone to different email accounts, that would be even better!
The problem is, when I go into settings for my email account, in the notifications settings all I get is, email notifications on or off, notification sound on or off, and notification vibrate on or off. No choice to select an actual ringtone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock Mail app might not have the option, but Gmail and SMS do. If you want a different notification sound in general for email and voicemail just hit menu, settings, sounds and display. There you will see the option to change notification sound.

So can you guys tell me which are the best email clients that exist for Android then? The most feature rich maybe? Well, best functioning is more important.
And secondly, if I use another email program, then does the email page all the way on the left become completely useless? Does it get populated with the emails from your new client? Can you delete the page?
Thanks!

I'm assuming you mean a widget?? If so you just touch and hold it down.. it'll turn red then drag it down to the trash. Gone! Then I would go into the mail app and sign off so its not constantly checking in the background and stuff. As for another feature rich mail app, the only experience I have with one is K9 and it worked quite well and has great reviews. Look it up in the market.
If you want to get the widget back for what ever reason you long click once again in the empty area, select widgets then mail.

Ok, cool, I thought it was a whole page, I didn't think it was just a big massive widget. This is more customizable than I thought!! Loving this phone more and more each day.

turboyo said:
Then I would go into the mail app and sign off so its not constantly checking in the background and stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do I have to do to make sure the HTC Mail app doesn't keep working in the background? Just kill my email account?
Is there a better SMS app?

first off, take off all widgets that are not necessary.. only widget i keep on is power control and clock. secondly, disable all sync that is unneccessary for you, under your accounts and sync menu in settings. that should save you a good deal of cpu usage and battery

I love K9 for my non-primary Gmail account. They also just updated it giving it some great new features such as viewing your mail from all accounts in one stream. They also have some nice batch options that I like and it's easy to dump trash along with compacting and expunging the messages from cache.
That indeed gives you the ability to assign different notifications for each account.

Hey,
I tried K-9 but right away, I got a picture in an email as an attachment that opened up all corrupted. Doesn't happen on the stock email program and I tested the same email there and it worked fine. I cant rely unfortunately on an email program that shows my picture attachments like this so I had to uninstall K-9. Anyone know why this happened? I got a few bars of the image across the top and the rest of the frame was black, almost dark grey.

Related

SMS-like or SMS replacement software options

My wife and I both now have WM phones (mine is a Tilt 2, hers a Pure) and we don't want to spend money on text messages to each other, since each text message would count twice... once for her receiving and once for me sending. (on a pay per use plan it would be $0.40 each!).
I was looking for other options. Push email is o.k. but often times there can be a minute or more delay, and my early tests of push gmail are not producing any confidence that it would push reliably.
So then I was thinking IM. It looks like IM programs would be battery hogs, and have to stay running in the background, and could easily be accidentally closed. Also, when the phone goes to sleep it seems like they then switch you to "offline".
So am I missing something? What are my sms like, non sms options?
Also does anyone have any small programs that would set up a auto-soft reset on a repeating schedule, it would be great if I could start the morning with a fresh phone. Thanks.
boufa said:
My wife and I both now have WM phones (mine is a Tilt 2, hers a Pure) and we don't want to spend money on text messages to each other, since each text message would count twice... once for her receiving and once for me sending. (on a pay per use plan it would be $0.40 each!).
I was looking for other options. Push email is o.k. but often times there can be a minute or more delay, and my early tests of push gmail are not producing any confidence that it would push reliably.
So then I was thinking IM. It looks like IM programs would be battery hogs, and have to stay running in the background, and could easily be accidentally closed. Also, when the phone goes to sleep it seems like they then switch you to "offline".
So am I missing something? What are my sms like, non sms options?
Also does anyone have any small programs that would set up a auto-soft reset on a repeating schedule, it would be great if I could start the morning with a fresh phone. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, any non-sms messaging app for your phone would obviously use data (3G or EDGE connection) to communicate, and would need to be left on all the time to be able to receive incoming messages and notify you in real-time...so battery drain would be in direct proportion to that.
The best solution I've ever seen for that is Palringo, a free IM-integrator app that can connect you through most of the common IM networks (yahoo, AIM, Google talk, etc), or just direct through it's own (if I remember correctly)...meaning that as long as you and she both have the palringo client installed, you don't necessarily have to use any of those services to be able to IM each other. It's also free, and I seem to recall that it can be set (but isn't by default) to stay connected even when the phone goes to sleep, but don't quote me on that part.
It would be great if one of these programs had a "listening" service that would run in the background and then notify you of the "call" similar to an email.
I have seen a few online, (my research has just begun) that indicates "push notifications". Sound interesting, the data connection would remain active all the time that does not bother me.
I seem to have lost the setting to switch the "x" button from close to minimize. That would solve the issue with accidental closing the program. It would have to be managed via the task manager.. no biggy.. and then if I can find a soft reset scheduler it would keep the open programs from overwhelming the phone.
boufa said:
It would be great if one of these programs had a "listening" service that would run in the background and then notify you of the "call" similar to an email.
I have seen a few online, (my research has just begun) that indicates "push notifications". Sound interesting, the data connection would remain active all the time that does not bother me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you'll find one, please let me know
lost the setting to switch the "x" button from close to minimize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it's the other way around. default for winmo is minimize, there is
an htc bundled app called taskman. it's in settings - task manager which is making apps close when you click X
plenty of other apps can change that too
and then if I can find a soft reset scheduler it would keep the open programs from overwhelming the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i made myself app doing change on backlight settings every morning and evening, I changed it for you to do reset
give it a try tell me if it's working for you and if error will pop up let me know what's it saying, at least line number

[Q] Handcent

So ive seen handcent all over the fourm and people talking about how great it is. So i downloaded it and i admit its amazing. The only problem ive run into is that when i get a message is shows up in handcent and the stock text program. How do i disable that so my phone only uses handcent?
In the stock messaging app, you need to go into settings (when it's open hit "menu" and then "settings") and turn off the notifications for receiving a message. Back out of it, and you should be good-to-go. I personally turned off all notifications in the stock app.
JermsMalibu said:
In the stock messaging app, you need to go into settings (when it's open hit "menu" and then "settings") and turn off the notifications for receiving a message. Back out of it, and you should be good-to-go. I personally turned off all notifications in the stock app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Much appreciated I though that there might be a way to totally disable the stock program because they will still pile up in there wont they?
Yea, the messages will still be in the stock one. The way I understand it though, all the messages come into/out of a single spot. The messaging programs (Handcent, the stock one, etc.) just look in that area to let you text. So you can just remove the stock one from being linked on one of your home pages, and then you never have to see it again. There might be a way to remove that program itself, but I don't know it. It doesn't bother me though since I just don't ever open it and instead use Handcent.
You could always uninstall it via adb if you are rooted. Search "how to remove bloatware (or unwanted apps)" or some variant.
JermsMalibu said:
Yea, the messages will still be in the stock one. The way I understand it though, all the messages come into/out of a single spot. The messaging programs (Handcent, the stock one, etc.) just look in that area to let you text. So you can just remove the stock one from being linked on one of your home pages, and then you never have to see it again. There might be a way to remove that program itself, but I don't know it. It doesn't bother me though since I just don't ever open it and instead use Handcent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just don't delete it! LOL! Trust me! That and don't delete Facebook out off the phone either. Those were BIIIIIGGGG mistakes. LOL! I won't ever do that again. Good thing I do nandroid back ups before I try experimenting with removing stuff.
Anyone having touble with Hancent opening since 2.2? I have at least a 30 second lag when I launch, almost like a memory full issue.
I have the stock notifications off and am not rooted.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
jfk
freeze it thru titanium backup like i did! u can defrost it any time!
I've tried Handcent a few times and it seems OK but has a fatal flaw. My wife and I use txt-to-email and back. She send my a txt on vtxt.com and I reply through my SMS service straight to her email address which pops up on her Blackberry. Handcent won't sent messages to email addresses.

[Q] Stupid questions from a stupid android n00b

Right, this is my first time EVER using an Android phone so PLEASE forgive me for these epically stupid sounding questions.
1. How do I change a ringtone/notification sound to one I choose rather than what's already pre-loaded on the phone?
2. Is there a more "In-Depth" battery?..I would prefer to have it in % rather than the symbol it is.
3. With the mail application I have both of my GoogleMail accounts sync'd to it, but whenever I recieve an email It will play the notification sound but wont show up in the "Mail" app.
Any help would be amazing!
Answer to 1: You can change the sounds in the personalize menu by scrolling to the bottom, don't know where that is?
Answer to 2: You can flash various battery mods located in the Themes & Apps section, I presume/hope your phone is S-OFF and rooted?
Answer to 3: Have you waited for the app to refresh? If so, try adding the emails again.
My phone was actually new out of the box today from Vodafone, so it isn't S-off?
I can find the personalise menu, but when I press on "Notification" sound it only gives me the option to choose one of the ones which are allready on the phone, even at the bottom it doesn't have the option to chose my own.
Oh and also for the emails, they show up in the "Gmail" application but not in the "Mail" widget
The_69_Eyes said:
My phone was actually new out of the box today from Vodafone, so it isn't S-off?
I can find the personalise menu, but when I press on "Notification" sound it only gives me the option to choose one of the ones which are allready on the phone, even at the bottom it doesn't have the option to chose my own.
Oh and also for the emails, they show up in the "Gmail" application but not in the "Mail" widget
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it won't be S-OFF, I suggest you look at the sticky roll up thread in the Android Development section.
And it's the button on the right of the phone, you can also access it by long pressing on an empty space.
Edit: In fact, look at this excellent thread!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=942531
regarding ringtones and notification sound try connecting your phone to your PC and open your SD card place in the SD card two new folders one called notifications one called yes you got it ringtones put the sounds you want to use in these two new files ,then dissconnect your phone from the PC when you now go to change your sms notifications you should find in the list your choices , to set a ringtone to a particular person go to your standard music player scroll to the music track you wish to use then then hit menu i think if i remember correctly it will give you the option of selecting that track as a contact ringtone, the above will also give you the option to use selected track as a general ringtone , the only notification sound i havent managed to change for my own is email the above route dont seem to work for email ,hope this helps mate
Thank you so much for the Ringtone/Notifcation advice!
I feel so stupid for not getting that!
I just need to sort out my email problem now
dont feel stupid mate its only because of the wealth of info from this site that i could even answer your problem , regarding the email ,have you linked your emails to your google mail account and enabled pop3 in the options for linking the accounts,you might also try linking your accounts via the PC rather than doing it on your phone ,iam sure someone with far more knowhow in this will probably be able to give you a much clearer answer than i can as im still learning myself
ps google and the search function on this site are your freinds use them and you will probably find the answers your looking for ,has worked for me on several occasions ,good luck mate
Well, when I Initially set up the phone it asked me for my google account, which I gave it which I assume it synced up with the Gmail app, Accessing it later on I added my second Gmail account to that app.
Whenever I have the "Mail" widget open however it wont access any of the emails IN the inbox or any new ones, regardless of the amount of times I press "Refresh"
try this not sure if it will help but it cant hurt to watch n learn
http://www.androidcentral.com/android-second-gmail-account
Thats what I have, I have two accounts in the Gmail app but it doesn't show any of THOSE emails in the "Mail" widget
can i ask what mail widget your using
The one that comes built into the phone.
Aside from a game or two and advanced task killer, I have downloaded nothing!
So my two Google accounts show up in the "GMAIL" application, but the Android/HTC mail widget which can be put on one of the homescreens wont show ANY of the emails I get into the two google accounts.
The_69_Eyes said:
Thats what I have, I have two accounts in the Gmail app but it doesn't show any of THOSE emails in the "Mail" widget
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to go into the HTC Mail app and then set up your Gmail accounts in there for the HTC Mail widget to work. The native Gmail app is totally separate from HTC Mail app and widget.
See here for details: http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/82450-gmail-via-htc-mail-app-widget.html
EDIT: Task Killers are big no-no... Google "why you shouldn't use task killers for Android"

The Judgement day never came, but Mango event will indeed come!

Really, superreally, i mean megabyte x 10^60 really, the mango event will be held on May 24th! Anyone excited to see?
The one thing i would love to see is to have facebook intergrated to be useful, like getting notifications if someone replied it back to my fb posts by using people's hub. Cause when i use fb for commenting & stuff, i have to manually search them to see if i ever got replies and even if someone replied it back, and i go to actual facbook.com, it won't give me notifications that the person replied me back. (that is when i used fb through people hub.)
What do you want to see in the next big update?
I want option to save camera setting.. way to freeze my phone from changing into landscape mode when i dont want it..
I just want multi tasking, and more APIs. I am sick and tired of havting to re-load apps just because my phone whent to sleep, or I checked an e-mail.
Turn by Turn Navigation, it's the only reason I haven't left Android yet. (And i mean Bing Maps TbTN, not some random third party app that gets removes from the marketplace)
Exchange sync'ed Tasks. I love the phone, but not having Tasks and the inability to dial directly from within a Task is a daily major pain for me.
HamerPlyr said:
Exchange sync'ed Tasks. I love the phone, but not having Tasks and the inability to dial directly from within a Task is a daily major pain for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Tasks Anywhere or My Tasks. They both let you dial and launch url's from within the app. No exchange sync yet though. And I believe there is a few or at least one that has the feature of exchange sync. But, they may not have the linking feature.

Mango Tips & Tricks

Well, Mango Beta is here, meaning there are lots of new cool features. Some of them are either buried or not obvious. Here are some that I've found so far:
UPDATE: Thank you for everyone's participation. I have added several tips based on comments in the discussion
Custom Ringtones
1. Copy MP3 or WMA to Zune Collection. Choose Edit, and type in manually under Genre "Ringtone". The song must be less than 40 seconds and smaller than 1MB.
2. Go to Settings -> Ringtones + Sounds, tap Ringtone. Your custom ringtone will appear under a new tree called "Custom", above "Windows Phone"
Note that it is identified by the filename, rather than the track title.
Also, you can tap and HOLD a ringtone, and Delete will be offered (but only on the Custom ones; preloaded ones grey out delete).
Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger is so damned easy that I didn't see it staring at me. Pick Messaging, slide right to Online. Set Chat Status (icon at bottom), hit +, and send a message to any Messenger contact. And/or if anyone sends you an MSN, you get a ding just like a SMS, and it appears under Messaging.
Mango automatically made my Windows Live account that my phone is registered under, which is also my Messenger account, work. Others have noted that it's not possible to have a second Messenger account -- only your PRIMARY Windows Live account is linked to Messenger.
Facebook chat is set up also from Messaging -> Online. Some people have had trouble with this... read down to see some possible solutions.
Dev Unlock Mango B2
You must have a dev unlocked phone to install Mango, but installing Mango relocks your phone. To unlock it again, run Windows Phone Developer Registration from the Beta 2 SDK tools.
Voice Activated SMS/Messaging
To allow Voice recognition from Messaging (like SMS, Messenger) while on Carrier Data, go to Settings -> Speech and check Enable Speech Recognition over Network.
This is REALLY cool. Put on a headset; leave your phone on the home screen. When someone sends you a Messenger, it announces that the person has sent you a message, Read It or Ignore. If you say, "Read it", the phone reads the message. You then have an opportunity to reply via speech!
Visual Voicemail
Evidently, this is in Settings -> Phone (or Phone app, slide up, call settings). But it doesn't show up for everyone -- it's carrier dependent (doesn't show up for Telus phone on Fido for me).
Exchange/Gmail Server Search
To search the server for older (for example, Exchange) go to Outlook, click the on-screen search button, make a search. At the bottom of the results, tap "search more in Outlook". When the server search is done, at the bottom of the results, you'll see "get more results" and "search all folders". Woohoo!
Bing Visual Search -- and OCR!
Tap Bing key. Click eyeball. You can snap QR codes, Microsoft codes, or TEXT. If you snap text, it will then detect it, and you can translate it (for example, from French to English). But as someone mentioned, you can translate from English to English... and the results come as text that you can then Copy and Paste! Quick and easy cloud OCR that you have to see to believe.
Skydrive, Office
Just, Wow!
Go to Office. Slide over to Locations and SkyDrive. You can see any of the documents on your SkyDrive, and edit things like Word. It's perfect.
Notes (OneNote, synchronized with SkyDrive and your Desktop OneNote as long as you're saving to Web) is really slick. Office 365 and SharePoint are under Locations.
Easy Ones
Music Controls - This one's easy. Play a song, pause it. Hit lock key. Controls are on the wallpaper. Unlock, hit volume keys -- Controls appear.
Multitasking - Hold down Back button. It's a beautiful implementation. To remove a task from the list, pick it, then hit back button once.
Outlook Threads - Just tap a conversation thread to expand it.
Outlook Account Linking - Outlook -> ... -> Link Inboxes
App Grouping - tap the letters above the groups of apps, just like the phone book (tapping "a" gets you all the letters, tapping "s" jumps to Settings)
App Find - tap magnifying glass on apps list
IE9 -- OMG. Best Mobile Browser Ever. 'nuff said. But is it possible to turn off Address Bar in Landscape? Takes up lots of space.
People/Groups - Tap People hub, tap Family or +. You can make your own Groups, and then SMS or email everyone in the group that has SMS or email. Or quickly call them, since they get big tiles.
People/History - Tap a contact in the People hub, slide to the right, and see History. It shows call/messaging history, and "search Outlook" at the bottom.
Really Nice Subtle features
- Improved buttons during a voice call (larger, blockier, and harder to mispress)
- People Tile is really pretty now
- XBox Live Hub, Avatar, Messages -- way, way nicer. Best game hub ever.
- Marketplace is much better organized; Games are split up into categories.
- Power Down (hold lock button) now "confirms" with a prompt to slide down
- Hardware Search button now always brings up Bing; on-screen search button for context-sensitive.
- Dithering on browser eliminates banding in most cases
Doesn't Work Anymore
The following appear to be broken in Mango:
- Homebrew - Chevron Ringtone Installer (but it's bult in now)
- Homebrew - Home Screen Bluetooth/Wifi/Data button (I already miss this one!)
- LG App Store doesn't seem to open anymore (error appears -- but this seems to work for at least some other people)
- Maps Directions gives an Error
- Maps - Some people don't get Traffic, others do. For the time being I am using gMaps. Free version works!
- Not really sure how to go back and forward on the browser, other than "recent" (which doesn't give you cached version).
UPDATE:
======
To make Traffic work, just set region/location to English (United States). I had it set to English (Canada). Directions from "My Location" then works as well! (note that I am physically in Canada).
LG App store still does not work for me. It comes up with Error code:805a0194 (Optimus 7 / Telus)
Is your Facebook chat working?
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Facebook chat isn't working for me. In the messaging option for facebook chat, I hit ON, it then says Facebook is set up on my phone, but more steps are needed for chat to work, it then going to a web page that is a dead link.
Nope
princetrey07 said:
Is your Facebook chat working?
Sent from my SGH-i917 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I didn't try very hard, but it looks like other people on various threads can't get it working either.
Talys said:
Missing
- What happened to traffic, in Maps?
- Is it possible to search server folders in Outlook?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Traffic will be back in with the final release/build (if not sooner?)
Full exchange folder search should be possible, as full search of folders for online email. Your outlook wont be searchable unless you sync it to hotmail via connector or use exchange.
I haven't gotten my email yet for download, but this is whats supposed to be in the [final] build. Hope not too many things haven't been implemented, but looking forward to messing around with it.
dtboos said:
Traffic will be back in with the final release/build (if not sooner?)
Full exchange folder search should be possible, as full search of folders for online email. Your outlook wont be searchable unless you sync it to hotmail via connector or use exchange.
I haven't gotten my email yet for download, but this is whats supposed to be in the [final] build. Hope not too many things haven't been implemented, but looking forward to messing around with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks great to me. Most features appear fully implmented or "implemented but not quite working" (like FB chat).
I use Exchange. Can't seem to find unsynced emails using the server (eg server search for a year old email or unsync'ed folder). This is a super useful feature on the BlackBerry.
Traffic back would be nice, as I cancelled my XM Nav on my car, since Maps Traffic worked so well
I will have to see how well Network Voice Recognition works when on 3G. Previously, using the LG Voice to Text App, performance on LAN was awesome but performance on anything short of a great 3G connection was awful (the wait was so long that I could park the car and type the message 5 times over).
You guys aren't seeing traffic in maps? I see it and it works just fine.
Don't forget you can also turn on Visual Voicemail in phone settings. Then you can get to your voice through the Phone tile, and by swiping over to voicemail.
Also, Messenger only signs in using your primary live account. You cannot add a second Live ID and have it sign it to messenger.
Facebook Chat works without problems for me
And the Facebook App gets updated with live tile and push notifications, is like christmas for WP7!!!!!!
http://www.wpcentral.com/facebook-windows-phone-hits-v2-0-gets-push-notifications
i'll be the first to ask...is there now a separate ringer volume? in other words is media and ringer volume separate?
I think asking questions is a great idea, but everyone should probably keep one important thing in mind. This is not even CLOSE to the final build, so just because a feature isn't "in there" today doesn't mean it isn't already in the plan for the release version.
With that said, here's my question. Does the task switcher offer any way to close a running task? I can't believe that such an obvious, basic, and NECESSARY feature isn't in there. And only the five most recent tasks? To quote Microsoft's own ad campaign, "Really?"
weatherx said:
i'll be the first to ask...is there now a separate ringer volume? in other words is media and ringer volume separate?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I can tell, nope. Just a single volume control.
RoboDad said:
With that said, here's my question. Does the task switcher offer any way to close a running task? I can't believe that such an obvious, basic, and NECESSARY feature isn't in there. And only the five most recent tasks? To quote Microsoft's own ad campaign, "Really?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way to manage running tasks is from the background tasks option under settings. As far as I can tell, the task switcher is just a list of recent apps. They don't run in the background, they become frozen in the background (kinda like they do now in 7.0), and because they aren't actually doing anything in the background, there is no need to close anything within the task switcher. So the option doesn't make much sense to begin with since it doesn't really close anything.
prjkthack said:
The only way to manage running tasks is from the background tasks option under settings. As far as I can tell, the task switcher is just a list of recent apps. They don't run in the background, they become frozen in the background (kinda like they do now in 7.0), and because they aren't actually doing anything in the background, there is no need to close anything within the task switcher. So the option doesn't make much sense to begin with since it doesn't really close anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open the app & press back button will remove it from task switcher. The only app this doesn't work on is IE from what I've seen as the back button is the back navigator button for web pages.
Talys said:
Nope, I didn't try very hard, but it looks like other people on various threads can't get it working either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try manually syncing your facebook account under email&accounts.
Unless the back button has radically changed under Mango, pressing the back button once doesn't exit an app, unless the app is specifically written to treat a single back button press as "exit". Many apps are very poorly written WRT the back button, and some would require a dozen or more presses to "exit".
And, there are some apps where the back button is part of the necessary app navigation (not just IE, but some other apps I use). I wouldn't want the OS to interpret a single press as an exit if I switch back to the app.
drkfngthdragnlrd said:
Open the app & press back button will remove it from task switcher. The only app this doesn't work on is IE from what I've seen as the back button is the back navigator button for web pages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, well, that simply removes the "card" from the task switcher. That doesn't necessarily close the application or kill the task. All the task switcher does is step back in time. So going back to an app, and pressing back removes it because by pressing back, you are bring the phone back to a point where the task you switched to has not been started yet (time travel, such a paradox).
If you want to remove a card from the task switcher history, instead of going to the app and pressing back on it to "close" it, you could simply go to the app right before that and it effectively does the same thing. Saves you a step right there.
The problem is that multi-tasking exists for specific reasons/apps on Windows Phone 7.5 and the only way to manage that is by using the background tasks options menu.
So there are two questions and solutions here:
1) Can you terminate an app from the task switcher? No.
2) Can you remove a recent application from the task switcher list? Yes
Thanks for that clarification. I suppose I'll have to play with it once Mango "ships", but right now I'm not sure the task switcher is going to be very useful to me.
prjkthack said:
Yes, well, that simply removes the "card" from the task switcher. That doesn't necessarily close the application or kill the task. All the task switcher does is step back in time. So going back to an app, and pressing back removes it because by pressing back, you are bring the phone back to a point where the task you switched to has not been started yet (time travel, such a paradox).
If you want to remove a card from the task switcher history, instead of going to the app and pressing back on it to "close" it, you could simply go to the app right before that and it effectively does the same thing. Saves you a step right there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Part of what you said is true, but part isn't. Say I have IE, Messaging, Mail, Settings open in that order. I go back to Messaging & press "back". Now IE, Mail, Settings are in the task switcher. So, it's not "Time Travel" as you put it. You don't loose the other apps you opened after the app you went back to, just the one you pressed "back" on.
This all boils down to the dehydration hack. Apps on the switcher act as if your have the hack enable on pre-mango while those you remove from the switcher get "dehydrated". The setting you mentioned has to do with bg services that allow apps to do stuff in the background. This is similiar to those little icons on your PC's task bar next to the clock such as anti-virus, adobe updater, winamp agent, etc. Stuff running in the background that might do something for the app but isn't necessarily needed. In anti-virus apps, that'd be live protection, which is good but severely impacts performance. The adobe updater checks for updates, close it, no automatic updates.
prjkthack said:
Don't forget you can also turn on Visual Voicemail in phone settings. Then you can get to your voice through the Phone tile, and by swiping over to voicemail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not seeing that option in the phone portion of settings . . .
tiny17 said:
Not seeing that option in the phone portion of settings . . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if its carrier dependant or what. I have T-Mobile, and I also have the Visual Voicemail option on my account. Under "phone" settings, right under "Voicemail number", there is an option for me to turn on/off Visual voicemail.
drkfngthdragnlrd said:
Part of what you said is true, but part isn't. Say I have IE, Messaging, Mail, Settings open in that order. I go back to Messaging & press "back". Now IE, Mail, Settings are in the task switcher. So, it's not "Time Travel" as you put it. You don't loose the other apps you opened after the app you went back to, just the one you pressed "back" on.
This all boils down to the dehydration hack. Apps on the switcher act as if your have the hack enable on pre-mango while those you remove from the switcher get "dehydrated". The setting you mentioned has to do with bg services that allow apps to do stuff in the background. This is similiar to those little icons on your PC's task bar next to the clock such as anti-virus, adobe updater, winamp agent, etc. Stuff running in the background that might do something for the app but isn't necessarily needed. In anti-virus apps, that'd be live protection, which is good but severely impacts performance. The adobe updater checks for updates, close it, no automatic updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My example was a bit off, my mistake. The rest is still rather unfortunately true, as it stands now, the task switcher is just that, a task switcher. Apps do not run in the background actively, so there is no need to terminate these apps since they aren't really running to begin with, hence you can't really terminate them. The only way for apps to run in the background (or rather, for apps to do things in the background), would be to take advantage of the background tasks feature so that it can do something while not actively open. The only way to manage anything running in the background right now, is with the background tasks setting.
prjkthack said:
Not sure if its carrier dependant or what. I have T-Mobile, and I also have the Visual Voicemail option on my account. Under "phone" settings, right under "Voicemail number", there is an option for me to turn on/off Visual voicemail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it too, T-Mobile USA as well.

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