HTC Desire S Owners Guide

Since buying my first Android phone (the excellent HTC Desire) back in April 2010 I have been on a mission to turn as many of my friends towards these fantastic phones as possible. Although I am not a developer and couldnt write a line of code to save my life, I am still considered the Geek of the group and people have listened. In that time I have been dishing out help and advice to all my friends when they followed my advice and went Android. It got to the stage where I was just forwarding previously sent e-mails and referring people to XDA thread links after searching my Sent Items folder for the relevant advice. So I decided to save time sifting through my sent items each time someone bought a phone on my say-so, and I created this. I have compiled all the e-mails into this noob-friendly guide specifically for people new to HTC and Android. Please bear in mind this is not a guide aimed at long-time Android users, developers, or custom ROM flashers, as you will have figured all of this out by now anyway. It has evolved and grown over many months so may repeat itself in certain areas, and I have now tweaked it for the Desire S.

DO NOT INSTALL OR USE TASK KILLERS!!!!!! Android does not work like Microsofts Windows or Nokias Symbian. Apps that are not running in the foreground are not using any processing power, and should Android need the RAM, it will automatically close any background apps not being used to free up the memory it needs to work. This will all happen automatically and youll not even notice it. Android 2.3 (aka Gingerbread) comes with its own way of force-closing any rouge apps should you need to. 3rd party Task Killers stick their nose into all this, have to run in the foreground all the time, and as a result slow the phone up, drain the battery, and always cause more problems than they solve. Dont worry if your free RAM is reported as being low. Free RAM is wasted RAM. One exception to this is when you have whats called a Memory Leak. It simply means that RAM is not being freed up properly when an app is closed. It happens over time when your phone has been on for a couple of weeks without a restart. I recommend restarting the phone if it starts to get sluggish. A vast majority of the time this solves any lag issues. Make sure an app has plenty of prior downloads and read the reviews before installing it, and always do so via the Google marketplace (unless I send it you). That way you are protected by Google from dodgy apps. Google even have the ability to hit a panic button and remotely uninstall suspect apps from everyones phones should a dodgy one make it past the checks and onto the marketplace. Apps from
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unofficial sources could have been tampered with to gain control of your phone in some way or access your data. Before an app is installed via the Marketplace, it has to list what areas of the phone (permissions) this app accesses. Use common sense. For example be wary of a wallpaper app that requires access to your phonebook! Appreciate though that most apps are free to you because they are subsidised by adverts. These will need internet access and your location info, so they can see which country you are in and download the appropriate advert. Expect free apps to ask for these permissions. They are not spying on you! There are plenty out there that although they dont attack your phone directly, theyll steal the contacts in your phonebook and sell the info to marketing companies. Oh and I know it should go without saying, but apps with sexy or girls or both in a title, pretty much guarantees them to be nefarious even if they do deliver on their promise of hot ass. Same goes for all the 3rd party web browsers that claim to be good for porn surfing! There are very few known viruses for Android as its Linux based and you do not have Root access so theres not much they could do. HTC also have extra security on their system partition (S-On) to prevent it from being changed in any way. Its a pain-in-the-ass for people wanting S-Off and custom ROMS, but normal users can be assured their phone is not easily hacked or tampered with. However it cant be long until the growing popularity of Android (350,000 devices a day activated) encourages the arseholes who write viruses to leave Windows alone and focus on a new challenge. You are also at risk if you dont check permissions before installing something (easily done, you can get complacent after a while) and give a dodgy app permission to access certain areas. At present you cant deny certain permissions and allow others. If an App is to be installed, you have to either chose yes to all permissions, or no to all and hence cancel the installation. Best to play it safe. I can recommend installing something Lookout Mobile Security. Its a free and trust-worthy anti-virus and anti-malware app for Android phones. It doesnt hog memory or battery power, it automatically updates virus definitions, and automatically scans anything you install. It even has a party trick of being able to track the location of your phone via their website should it be lost or stolen. You can (also via the website) get it to make your phone ring at full volume if you have misplaced the phone in the house somewhere!

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App Guide Some of the best Apps that I use (Some paid for, most are free)
1. EStrongs File Explorer Vital for exploring your SD card, backing up apps, and even browsing networks. Also allows browsing of other networks via FTP or LAN so you can easily copy things to and from your phone to your PC without a cable. (Free) 2. Google Voice Search For some reason an old version was on my phone. Update via marketplace if necessary. It gets better all the time. American accent no longer required! Watch the included tutorial video to fully understand its potential. (Free) 3. Chrome-to-phone Send web pages, apps, maps etc straight to your phone from your PC browser. (Requires the plugin for your PC chrome browser.) (Free) 4. Gmote Turns your phone into a remote control keyboard and mouse for your PC, and lets you either play music on your PC, or streams the music from your PC to listen to on your phone. Gmote server required to be installed on your PC. (Free) 5. Movies Very good app for seeing whats on at the cinema, finding you the nearest cinema, see show times, book tickets etc...(Free) 6. Opera Mini Good as an alterative browser (the stock one is very good though) for when you have a weak signal and hence poor bandwidth. Opera compresses/filters web pages by 90% so your phone is downloading much less data and pages will load faster. Dont wait until you are in a weak area to download and install it! (Free) 7. PicSay Pro Fantastic photo editor. The camera on the Desire S is ok, but can get colours wrong and sometimes fluffs exposure levels. Fix with this app. Also, very good for making funny pics and mocking your friends. ($2) 8. Tasker A must have app. Fully automate your phone with this. Cant believe Google havent bought the rights to this yet. Makes any android device so much more powerful. Any input to any output. Save masses of battery power. Complicated to use at first, but worth persevering with. (Only 4 British pounds sterling. Worth ten times that!) 9. TuneIn Radio The best Internet Radio Streaming app. Any station from the UK, and most from the rest of the world. Even works well on 3G, and you can set your bit-rate to allow for bandwidth or data allowance issues. (Free) 10. Lookout Mobile Security Good security app for your smart-phone. Scans for malware, viruses and root kits when you install stuff. Doesnt drain the battery. Remotely lock, track the phone using their website, backup pictures and contacts and wipe your phone should it be lost or stolen. (Free)
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11. Syncness This is a clever one. When properly set up, this app will automatically copy specified folder contents from your phones SD card over your wifi network, to any specified location on your PC. Obviously needs your PC to be on. It can be done by manually hitting a Sync button, by setting up a scheduled sync, or even by automatically starting the sync when it sees your home WiFi network. A bit tricky to set up, but the developer is one of the most helpful Ive come across, and will respond to e-mails very quickly. Very handy for keeping your photos backed up, and especially handy if you use Amazon MP3. (see number 38.) 12. Your Orange For anyone with an Orange contract, use this to keep track of your bill, minutes and data usage. (Free) 13. Zedge Best app for downloading good wallpapers and ringtones. Beware of others that put malware on your phone. This one is trust-worthy. (Free) 14. Appbrain Compares what you have installed to searches the marketplace and makes recommendations for you. It helped me make most of this list! (Free) 15. IMDB You know what this is! Internet Movie Database. Must have for film buffs. (Free) 16. Battery Indicator The standard battery meter on the Desire S (in fact most androids) is vague at best. This small and basic app adds a simple battery percentage to your notification bar. Beware of the many alternatives that look very fancy, but ironically cause more battery drain as a result. (Free) 17. Last.FM You know what this is. (Free) Not free any more. Avoid. 18. Mixzing A good alternative to the basic stock music player. Has more options, looks nicer, has a decent random and supports scrobbling to Last.FM. (Free basic version, pay for full features. The free one is just fine.) See number 29 instead. Much Better. 19. Google Sky Map Good for when you are pissed and want to know what stars you are staring at from your resting place in the gutter/hedge. Clever app. Hold your phone up to the stars and it shows you what constellation you are looking at. (Free) 20. Spark 360 The best Xbox live app should you want one. Can notify you when your friends turn their xbox on, send and receive messages, check your achievements.... ($2) 21. Wi-Fi Analyzer Good for seeing what wifi is around you, and checking your wifi is on the best channel. Youd be surprised how many of your neighbours are using the same channel as you. (Free) 22. Swype Youll have to get this by applying for the beta from their website. Best way to type. Like predictive text only you wipe your finger about the keyboard without lifting it and it knows what you are trying to type. Usually. Still faster and more accurate than pressing individual keys. (Free)
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23. Silent Boot Tiny but handy app. When you re-start your Desire S, there is a really loud and annoying jingle that plays. This app silences it. (Free) 24. B&B Brightness Control Widget not an app. Adds a handy widget to bring up a slide bar to quickly adjust screen brightness. (Free) 25. 3G Watchdog If you are worried about going over your data allowance, use this. Monitors 3G usage like the Orange app, but you can also set limits and warnings should you approach your limit, and of course will work regardless of which network you are with. (Free) 26. Remote Web Desktop A nice and simple FTP or HTTP app. When on your home wi-fi network, activate this app, and enter the advised IP address into your windows explorer bar (for FTP) or into your web browser bar (for HTTP) to browse your phones SD card. Drag and drop files easily. Easier to set up than ES File Explorer. (Free) 27. Speedview A nifty GPS based speedo for your car. What sets it apart is the ability to invert the display so you can (at night) put the phone on your dashboard so the speedo reflects in your windscreen as a heads-up display! Not much use but fun for when you want to pretend you are Michael Knight. Stores your 0-60 times! Of course, drive safe kids! (Free) 28. CardioTrainer Just started using this for my morning runs (no thats not a bowel problem). Tracks your route, set alarms for your routine (mine is at 6am so handy), set yourself targets, calorie count, uploads all your stats to your google account so you dont loose them. Plots a graph at the end of your run so you can see where you are slowing down. You can track and review your progress from their website too. 29. Added 16/11/10: PowerAmp Best music player for Android. Not free, but very well worth the $5 asking price. Adds Bass and Treble controls and a 10 stage equaliser. Very good sound from it and doesnt chew through battery. Well laid out and easy to use. Decent random shuffle on it too. There is a free trial that lasts only two weeks if you want to check it out. The Dev has even made a special widget pack so you can still install the App to SD and have the widgets work. 30. Added 16/11/10: Dropbox Much better since recent updates. Gives you a cloud-based storage box up to 2GB in size for free. From here you can save anything to download or share at your leisure. Very handy for sharing apps and files that are too large or unsuitable for e-mail attachments! Also recommend you install the PC version on your PC/laptop. Sign in with your Dropbox account details, and it put a Dropbox folder in you My Documents bit. Drag and drop any files into here, and they are instantly available to download on your phones Dropbox App. Also, anyone you introduce to Dropbox by sending them an invite earns you an extra 250MB of free storage.

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31. Added 10/01/11: Bluetooth File Transfer The bluetooth on HTC can be fiddley at best. This app just seems to iron the bugs out and make it much easier and reliable to move files over between phones. Just watch out for the default security setting which is off! Turn it on or when you Bluetooth is on, anyone can quietly browse your SD card without you knowing or giving permission! (Free) 32. Added 10/01/11: Paypal Finally had the update it needed so it is properly secure now, and wont remember your passwords. Send money safely. Nice UI. One of those apps that likes to run in the background all the time though. Just remember to stop it after youve done your banking and after a re-start. (Free) 33. Added 10/01/11: SDrescan Sometimes if you move a picture around on your SD card using a file explorer, it wont show up in the gallery. Instead of rebooting your phone, run this re-scan app to refresh it. (Free) 34. Added 08/03/11: XDA Developers Forum Depending on how much of a geek you are, this app is vital for finding new things for your phone, or searching for solutions to problems. A must if you are planning on rooting your phone and installing a custom ROM. (Free) 35. Added 08/03/11: Widgetsoid Very good widgets customiser. Make all sorts of switching widgets and clock widgets. (Free) 36. Added 08/03/11: Timeriffic If you dont want to use Tasker, this is a much much simpler automation app. Sets various phone features (wifi, volume, 3G etc.) to turn on and off via a simple timer. (Free) 37. Added 08/03/11: Handcent Very good 3rd party SMS app if you dont like the basic HTC one. Gives you lots of customisation options for your text messages. (Free) 38. Added 08/03/11: Amazon MP3 The best (legal) way to download MP3. This lets you easily pay for and download music, providing you have an Amazon account. The MP3 files have no silly security on them, so can be copied/pasted to your hearts content and played on any capable device. The only draw-back: Your purchase is a one-off. If you loose the files, you have to pay to re-download so copy them somewhere after downloading to back them up. Use the App at number 11 for this. (Free) 39. Added 08/03/11: App Protector A good app for the security-conscious. The problem with any security app, is that anyone familiar with Android can usually simply uninstall it if they get their hands on your phone (and you dont have a lockscreen). This app lets you select certain apps that prompt a password or unlock pattern when accessed. Apps can be uninstalled a number of ways, so lock the settings, any files explorers, and the market place (it is possible to download an appremover from the marketplace, install it, and use that to remove security otherwise.) 1.

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40. Added 26/5/11: GpsFix The first time you try to use your GPS for navigation, it can take quite a long time to get a lock. This is normal. If it is taking too long, run this app. It (somehow) gives the phone the kick up the arse it needs by pointing out all the satellites and storing them so the next time you use GPS, it locks on much faster. Obviously use outdoors for best results! (Free) 41. Added 26/5/11: Picasa Tool You can upload pictures to your Picasa account directly from your phone, but looking at them afterwards and managing them via a phone web browser is tricky. This app has just had a massive face-lift and is now a vast improvement. (Free) 42. Added 26/5/11: Snowstorm If you want a more accurate, customisable weather widget, use this one. Seems to at least give an accurate forecast and has many widget sizes, configurations and skins. (Free) 43. Added 26/5/11: Blue Skies Not an app this one, but a Live Wallpaper (aka LWP). Most LWP make the phone lag and chew through battery power for the sake of aesthetics. This one is different. Looks fantastic, the phone stays smooth and lagfree and even after 24 hours of operation wont have even consumed 1% of battery power. There is a free version with fixed settings, and a Donate version costing roughly 60p that allows you to change certain parameters. Search for the other LWP by the developer KittehFace Software for his/her other equally impressive LWP efforts. Oh and if you have been paying attention to the permissions prior to installation youll notice this LWP requires access to your SMS. Why? Nothing dodgy here. The LWP has the ability to behave differently if you have an unread SMS. (The Blue Skies LWP sends a floating balloon up for each unread SMS if you want.) Above all though, do not forget that if you think, Wouldnt it be handy if my phone could do this search the Android marketplace. Chances are that someone has had exactly the same idea, and made an app to do just what you want. Read the feedback from other people to see if the app is any good. If it has less than 4 stars and 1000 downloads Id avoid it. Failing that, open Google up and type, HTC Desire S Android XXXX. The XXXX being what you are after. I doubt youll struggle to find a solution. Somewhere there will be someone asking the question you have (usually on XDA forums) and youll be able to benefit from the answer. If you install an app and you are having trouble with it when everyone else seems to love it, dont immediately give it a poor rating and uninstall it. Instead e-mail the developer for advice. You can do this from the relevant Apps page in the Marketplace. It may be that there is a specific issue with your type of phone, or a setting you are over-looking. Its in the best interest of the Developers to respond to questions, and they usually do so within 24 hours. Make sure to mention your device and ROM version in your e-mail. They can then either advise you of the right settings, or start work on a fix for your device. If you think they have missed something that would make their App better, tell them! The open nature of the Android marketplace is what makes it great. A good developer will appreciate feedback and suggestions. If none of that works, look me up on XDA in the Desire S forums and ask me. My username is wnp_79.
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To get the most from your battery.....

These things are like pocket-sized laptops with a Phone app installed. Gone are the days of a week or two between charges. Expect to charge it up each night. The odd setting change here or there wont make much difference on its own, but combined it all adds up to getting you through a day even with heavy use. Light/moderate users can expect two days. Here are my recommendations; 1. Have screen brightness set to about 20% when indoors. The auto screen brightness setting is pony and never gets it quite right. It also means the light sensor is then shut down, saving more power. Have a brightness widget somewhere to manually crank it up if you need. (Use Tasker to adjust screen brightness for different scenarios; on charge, in car, at home, battery running low etc...) 2. Dont have GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc on unless you need to use them. Keeping wi-fi on actually uses less battery than 3G so use that when in a hotspot/home/office, and use the handy Quick Settings tab in your notification area to easily toggle the others on and off as necessary. (Use Tasker to automatically switch Wi-Fi on when you get home, and turn it off when you leave?) 3. Use Tasker! Instead of spending 30 on a spare battery, spend 4 on Tasker. I know I bang on about this app, but I currently think its the best thing since sliced bread. I have got my battery time from 24 hours to 38 hours simply by setting Tasker to shut all radios off (i.e. Airplane Mode) between midnight and 6am! It even texts my missus when Im half way home so my dinner is ready when I get in. 4!!! 4. Dont leave the phone on full charge for excessive amounts of time. Lithium Polymer battery performance will suffer if the battery is kept too hot for too long. Unplug when at 100% for over an hour. (Tasker can set a warning alert for this!) I use one of those cheap electronic timer plugs next to my bed that turns my charger on between 1am and 4am. So if I plug it in before going to bed, its fully charged when I wake up and has not been on charge the entire night and over-heating the battery. 5. Careful what web page you are on if you drop out of the browser. Web pages with fancy flash adverts running on them may keep the Browser app running in the background, force partial wake lock, soak up data usage, and drain battery. Best to keep hitting back to back out of the browser instead of simply pressing the home key. Dont set i-Google as your home page. Normal Google is fine. 6. Check your sync settings. These phones can do an alarming amount of stuff in the background without you knowing about it. Having the frequency high for checking weather, updates etc can use up power. Make sure you turn this down to a sensible frequency that best suits your requirements. Everyone is different so it will take some time for you to find the best personal balance. Lots of widgets updating will also eat into battery life. Avoid ones you dont really use much, even if they look nice. Make sure you dont have Always On Mobile Data ticked in the settings.

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7. New to HTC Gingerbread is a handy battery usage graph that shows how quickly your battery is being used and which aspects of the phone are using it. You shouldnt have any troubles with it though as this ROM is pretty well made. There is the odd partial-wake lock over night, but nothing major. Still trying to track the cause of that one. 8. Build up a good collection of chargers. Have one at home, one at work and definitely one for your car. Make sure the car one is a genuine HTC one as cheap ones are not able to charge the phone at the required current rating. They usually fail to short the two data pins so your phone thinks its still plugged into a PC and will limit its own charging current. It wont be enough to keep the phone going whilst using Google GPS Navigation. It is possible to frig a USB cable to get around this, but better to stick with HTC stuff. 9. Mains wall chargers will charge your battery twice as fast as charging from USB. 10. Cheaper non-HTC batteries may claim better capacity, but they rarely last longer and do not live as long before you have to throw them out. If you want a spare battery, pay a little more and get a genuine HTC one. Its worth it. 11. For some reason, your phone will come out the box with a crazy option enabled called Always On Mobile Data. This will permanently keep your phones 3G data connection live when not on WiFi. It hammers the battery. Go to Settings> Wireless & Networks> Mobile Networks> un-tick the Enable always-on mobile data. Now when not on wifi, your phone will only use 3G when it needs to. Much better. 12. Another new idea from HTC is called Pocket Mode. Turn this off! All it offers is the phone will ring slightly louder when in a pocket or bag. It does this by constantly pinging away the light-sensor, proximity sensor, and accelerometer to determine if its in a pocket or bag. It hammers battery life for a very small advantage. Menu> Settings> Sound> Un-tick Pocket Mode. 13. New to Sense 2.1 is its own Power Saver mode. I used to have Tasker do this on my old Desire, but no you can quickly set this up with HTC Sense. It will turn certain things off when you reach a certain low battery level to keep your phone alive that little bit longer. Go to Menu> Settings> Power> Enable Power Saver, select whether you want it coming on at 25%, 20%, 15% or 10%. Recommend 15% as my phone shuts down at about 8% battery. You can choose to turn off Background data, WiFi, Bluetooth, Backlight set to specified level, animations...You cant turn off 3G though, so Tasker still has something to do! 14. Watch out for a new feature also in the Power menu called Fast Boot. Its enabled by default, and means that when you shut your phone off its not properly shutting down, but going into hibernation. The benefit is your phone will then boot up in about 5 seconds. I recommend turning this off unless you think you just cant wait 25 seconds for it to boot normally! Plus I like to know that when I turn my phone off, it really is off and not slowly using battery power to save me a few measly seconds later. There have also been reports of people removing their battery when they think the phone is off, and causing SIM card errors. Off should mean Off!
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So You Think Your Battery is Not Performing?

1. What is using it? There is a hidden menu we need to access. The next time it gets low after a charge (not whilst its on charge) open up your dialer. Dial the following: *#*#4636#*#* (BTW 4636 spells INFO on the phone keypad. Easy way to remember it!) This will open up a hidden menu. Select Usage Statistics. This will show you what has used CPU time, how much time its used, and how many times its called for it. If something is running away in the background and keeping the phone in Partial Wake Lock, itll be near the top of this list. Expect HTC Sense to be at the top. This is normal for my phone anyway. Usually its followed by Settings. If anything youve just installed is above these two and youve not been using it much, there is your culprit. Partial Wake Lock means that although the screen is off, something is preventing the phone from sleeping and is churning the CPU over. Android should stop apps not running in the foreground, but sometimes an app isnt well written by the developer, or you have a setting on which is keeping the phone awake when in your pocket. Any app or process can be force-stopped by you at any time. Menu> Settings> Applications> Manage Applications> Then select the Running tab. Find your culprit in this list, select it, then press the Stop button. Then either uninstall it if you dont trust it, or wait to see if it tries to re-start itself to confirm its status as a Pain-In-TheNeck. Bear in mind you can make your phone fall over from this tab. Dont force-stop things like Settings or Android System. Dont waste your time trying to stop Google Maps from running either. Itll just pop right back up a few seconds later! Accept it. 2. Sort Out all Syncing Schedules How much are you asking your phone to do in the background? Press Menu then Settings....then select Accounts & Sync. If the News and Stocks have a little green sync circle by them, select each one, and untick the sync tick box. The little circle should now be grey. (Unless of course you dabble in the stock market!) Next select the Google one. In there will be all the things it is syncing on your google account. Unselect what you think you dont use. Next select the Exchange ActiveSync one (if you are using it). Are there any things in there already being handled by the Google one? Contacts for example? Do you even use Google to store your contacts? Do you use Google calendar? Next select the weather one. Then select Account Settings. What is the update schedule set to? Set it to something like every 3 hours. Its more for window dressing anyway, as Googles idea of what the weather is like in the UK is typically 6 hours behind what is actually happening. As I write this my fancy weather widget (after a
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refresh) on my HTC clock is proclaiming Sunny times. The rain is currently hammering down so heavily its bouncing a foot off the ground and deafening everyone in this office building! Well done Google. Well done. If you want to know what the weather is doing, look out a window! 3. Are you managing your radios well? Leaving Bluetooth and GPS activated when you are not using them causes massive battery drain. It is well worth having the very handy power control widget on one of your home screens to quickly and easily turn these on and off without messing about in menus. There is also now a nice addition to your notification area called Quick Settings where this can be easily switched on and off. Find a suitable place where youd like the widget to be (it needs an entire row but only one icon in height) and do a long-press on that part of the screen. A menu will pop up. Select add widget, then scroll down the list to select the Power Control widget. This will now place the widget on your screen. When you are not using Wi-Fi, turn it off. Same goes for GPS. Only turn GPS on before using Google Sat Nav, and try to remember to turn it off afterwards. Again, let Tasker handle any automation of your radios. E.g. have it turn GPS off every time the Navigation app closes. 4. What is your Wi-Fi sleep policy? Believe it or not, when at home it saves much more battery having your phone permanently connected to your Wi-Fi. If your phone is left on 3G, it uses much more power periodically connecting to your network provider for syncing. There is also a setting called Wi-Fi sleep policy. This determines how your Wi-Fi connection behaves when your screen is off. Again, against what youd guess, it uses much less power if you set the sleep policy to Never. To check this setting (for some reason they make it very hard to find) do the following: Menu> Settings> Wireless & Networks> Wi-Fi Settings....hit the Menu again, then select Advanced. Select the top drop-down called Wi-Fi Sleep policy and make sure its set to Never. Now your phone wont waste power turning the Wi-Fi on and off and on and off and on and off when you turn your screen on and off.....Ive tested this out as I didnt believe it at first myself. Definitely saves power. Whilst in the Advanced section, turn off Best WiFi performance. Im not sure how it boosts WiFi performance when on (possibly a higher gain or uses wireless N protocol?) but I personally have not noticed any improvement with it on, so I have mine turned off. Leaving it on uses lots of power. Also whilst in the Wi-Fi settings, untick the Network notification box. This will stop your phone wasting power constantly scanning for open (free) Wi-Fi networks to tell you about them. If you want to scan for free WiFi, do it manually. 5. Do you need to be rung in the middle of the night? Sounds like a silly question, but some people dont like the idea of having their phone off when they go to sleep in case of emergency and someone tries to ring them. Which are you? Phone on or off? If (like me) you are not fussed about being contactable in the early hours by mobile, theres little point in having your phones radios on all night. If you dont want to shell out 4 for Tasker, there is a free app called Timeriffic. This can turn various settings on and off on any time schedule you set. For example, set it like this:
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Mon-Sun @ 23:59 : Airplane Mode = On Mon-Sun @ 06:00 : Airplane Mode = Off Airplane Mode shuts down all radios, so your phone is shut off from the outside world and using very little all juice. No one will be able to ring/e-mail/text you between midnight and 6am. (Adjust times as necessary). If you feel you still need to be ringable, simply do as above, but more like this; Mon-Sun @ 23:59 : Wi-Fi = Off Mon-Sun @ 23:59 : 3G/Data = Off Mon-Sun @ 06:00 : Wi-Fi = On Mon-Sun @ 06:00 : 3G/Data = On This will turn off all data between midnight and 6am, but it will leave 2G (basic cell phone function) still turned on so calls and texts will still come through. It will still add roughly 5 hours to your daily battery life. I have Tasker installed (surprise!), and I have told it where my house is. When I get close to home, it automatically turns Wi-Fi on, turns my ring volume up to max, changes my ringtone back to something childish, and backs my screen brightness off. When I leave the house, it detects that Ive left and reverses the above. When 10pm rolls around, it backs off my ring/notification volume in case Ive gone for an early night. When it gets to midnight, it activates Airplane mode (apart from at weekends when it starts at 2am). When it gets to 6am, it turns Airplane Mode off but leaves Wi-Fi off. When I get to work (Defined by Mon-Fri 8:30 to 17:05) it turns my ring volume back down again, and changes the ringtone to a more mature ring ring. When my battery gets below 15%, it turns off 3G since the HTC Power Saver cant do that. When I get to a certain part of the road on my drive home, on weekdays between 17:00 and 19:00 it automatically sends a text to my wife saying, Im on my way home! x Dinner is then ready when I get in! Worth 4 to have your phone do that?

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Tasker A Basic Starter Tutorial

Ive harped on about Tasker so much youd think I was on commission. Nope. I just really appreciate when an App is well made, useful, and adds to the functionality of the phone. So I thought as Tasker is a bit tricky to get used to at first, Id add a basic tutorial to get you started. It should at least give you an idea of how it functions. The people giving it a poor 1 star review on the marketplace are the people who got confused and frustrated. In a nut-shell, Tasker divides into two areas; Profile and Task. When all the criteria in the Profile are met, it executes the associated Task(s). A Profile can have any number of Contexts. There is also a very good web page made by the dev with all sorts of instructions and tutorials. You can also download and import pre-made Tasker Profiles (aka recipes) that people have invented from this website! Its best to try and learn the basics yourself first though. OK the basic power-saving profiles that I use (and how to set them up) are as follows; Profile 1 : Night Mode. 1. Press New to create a new Profile. 2. Name it Night Mode or whatever you want and press OK. 3. It will ask you for a Profile context next. Chose Time. 4. Choose the times that you want this profile to activate between, then press Done. (I use between 1am and 7am but its of course up to you which you use.) 5. It will then ask you to select a task (what it should do when the profile activates). As we havent set one yet, select New Task. 6. You can give this task a Name if you want to, but its not necessary. Just press OK. Not naming it means its various parameters are easy to see. I find this better for editing purposes. 7. This now brings up the Task box. Everything you put in here, the phone will do when the Night Mode Profile criteria are met. 8. Click the + button. We want to activate airplane mode, and that is in the Net group. Press Net 9. Select Airplane Mode and select the drop-down to on then select done. 10. Best to get this Profile saved. You can always edit it later. Select done again. This should now show your Night Mode profile on the main screen. A green tick next to it means its active, and will be carried out once the Profile criteria are met.
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11. Only want this happening on weekdays? If you need to add specific days to the time context, press the time part of the profile and select Add. 12. Choose the Day context. From here you can either specify exact dates, or by changing the drop-down from Month Day to Week Day choose days of the week. 13. Pick your days and hit Done. Night Mode will only now activate on those days, at those times. If you dont want the phone to go into airplane mode (i.e. entirely shut off from the outside world) just select different options from the Net menu. Turn off mobile data, wifi and auto-sync will effectively leave only 2G functions (calls and texts) active so people can still ring/text you. Add to the Task options if you also want to drop the ringer volume for example. The procedure in number 8 is well worth playing with. Go through all the various options to see what Tasker is capable of switching on and off, and you start to get a feel for other potential profiles. The next one uses the Cell Near feature to tell when I am home. To explain, Tasker has several ways of determining where you are. Obviously GPS is the most accurate, but any profile with GPS context in it will mean Tasker periodically turns GPS on to see where you are. This uses power, and should only be used if a precise location fix is required. Cell Near is much much better for general use, as it only looks at which cell tower you are connected to (which is on all the time anyway for calls and texts) and when it sees the right cell tower with the right signal strength, it knows you are home. Simple but effective. Profile 2: Home Mode. 1. Press New to create a new Profile. 2. Name it Home Mode or whatever you want and press OK. 3. Choose the State context. 4. Choose Cell Near context. (Again have a look around in here to see what else is available!) 5. It then brings up a big blank box where it will show your nearest cell tower, but you need to scan for them first. Hit the Scan button. 6. Leave this going for a few minutes. Cell tower signal strengths can fluctuate. You should see something like GSM:37.22720 / 10 <. The first bit is the cell tower number, the last bit is the signal strength. 7. After a few minutes hit the Stop button. Then the Done button. 8. Select New Task and then OK.
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9. Now this bit is up to you. What do you want your phone to do when you get home? When I get home and Tasker sees the Cell Near has been satisfied, I have it turn WiFi on, turn ringer volume up, and turn display brightness down. Try setting your own up. 10. Now for the strange bit. Tasker will only do exactly as its told, which can sometimes cause problems. Certain things dont always turn off after Tasker turns them on when the Profile context are no longer met. WiFi is one of these things. If you ask Tasker to turn WiFi on when you get home, it wont turn it off again when you leave unless you tell it to! For that we need to add an Exit Task. 11. On the Home Mode profile, touch the right-hand-side where the tasks are, and an options box will pop up. Select Add Exit Task. From there navigate to the WiFi option and select it to off. Now when ever you get home WiFi will come on, and when you leave (exit) the area, WiFi will turn off. Its a bit strange that other settings (such as screen brightness) dont require an exit task and will automatically revert to their previous setting. If you ever find something not reverting after a profile has stopped, simply add an exit task for it. Now the rest is up to you! Use your imagination. Other profiles I have include ones that; Turn screen brightness up to max and turn GPS on when I activate the Navigation App (via a widget.) and reverse it when I exit Navigation. Turn screen brightness up to 75% when on a Mains (not USB) charger. Launch the TuneIn Radio App when I connect to my Bluetooth Speaker Pod. Turn ring volume down after 10pm. Mutes the phone when I go to my local cinema. Decrease power drain with an out-and-about data profile, that turns Autosync and 3G off, but turns them on for 5 minutes every 2 hours to check for new e-mail and updates. (Not normally active, but use if away from civilisation for a weekend.) Plays an amusing sound file when one particular friend sends me a text. (Makes me smile.) Provides a pop-up menu for which app I want (PowerAmp, Youtube, Tune In Radio, FM Radio) when I plug my headphones in.

Other ideas (aka recipes) can be found here: http://tasker.wikidot.com/profile-index The main Tasker homepage and complete guide is here: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/

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HTC Desire S Owners Guide V1.02 | wnp_79

Several people (myself included) have experienced a minor build-quality issue with the battery cover. It flexes when gripped and can make a creaking/squeaking noise. It is only a minor quibble, as I keep my phone in a case which stops this most of the time anyway. If it is really bugging you, here is how Ive solved it. Get your hands on some Silicone Grease. Using your finger tip, apply a small amount to the thin edges of the battery cover. We are not talking using globs of the stuff here, just a fine coating thats enough to make the edges shiny. Re-attach your battery cover. Wipe any excess off with a clean cloth. When the cover now flexes when gripped, the friction between the case and the body of the phone has been reduced and there is no creaking noise. Silicone Grease is even water-repellent so I suppose Ive also improved the phones water ingress protection! Avoid using other lubricants, as these may attack or corrode the plastic. Vaseline may work, but I cant guarantee it wont attack the plastic so use at your own risk. I hoped this has helped some of you. I would this guide to continue to evolve, so please feel free to give me feedback or sensible suggestions. Things Ive missed, gotten wrong, or apps that deserve to be added are things I am after. Remember, this is only meant to get people new to Android started so I dont intend to make it too advanced. Sooner or later its best if we learn it for ourselves anyway!

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HTC Desire S Owners Guide V1.02 | wnp_79