amobilegeek

That is the question I am currently facing. The only upper hand I have on wireless carriers is that I only commit to them for 1-year at a time. You wouldn't know it by walking into a Verizon Wireless store - every ad or product details material points you to purchase a 2-year contract (they also promote the sale price, which includes several accessories, in the largest print), but I always read the fine print.

This mobile geek wants to know: What are YOUR most frequently used apps?

I define frequent as anywhere from at least once day to once a week. Sound off in the comments, please.

I've written before about the issues all smart phone owners face when it comes to short battery life. A close friend and fellow Android user, OB, sent me this article which I thought was incredibly insightful, well-written and chock full of empirical data.

I'll bold the interesting stuff for the lazy / time constrained...The author argues against the full drain and charge technique, opting instead for a charge when partially full for best results.

http://phandroid.com/2010/12/25/your-smartphones-battery-gauge-is-lying-to-you-and-its-not-such-a-bad-thing/

Author's conclusion: Beyond that, the best advice I can offer is to stop paying such close attention to your battery gauge and to just use your phone. Charge it whenever you can, and then stop obsessing over the exact numbers. If you really need more usage time, buy an extended-capacity battery and use it normally.


Interestingly enough, improvements in battery management technology have compounded the average user’s perception of this problem. Older phones were rather inelegant in their charging behavior; usually filling the battery to capacity and then switching to a trickle current to maintain the highest charge possible. This offered the highest usage time in the short-term, but was damaging the battery over the course of ownership. As explained at Battery University, “The time at which the battery stays at [maximum charge] should be as short as possible. Prolonged high voltage promotes corrosion, especially at elevated temperatures.”

The phone manufacturers essentially have three choices:
1. Use older charging styles which actually maintain a full battery, thereby decreasing its eventual life
2. Use new charging methods and have an accurate battery gauge
3. Use new charging methods and have the inaccurate battery gauge

Option one has clearly fallen out of favor as it prematurely wears devices. Option two, while being honest, would most likely be met with many complaints. After all, how many people want to see their phone draining down to 90% while it is still plugged in? Option three therefore offers an odd compromise. Maybe phone companies think that users will be less likely to worry about a quick drop off the charger than they will worry about a “defective” charger that doesn’t keep their phone at 100% while plugged in.

Google's Android, in contrast to Apple's iOS and RIM's Blackberry OS 6, is made to be customizable. This is why on some level Android phones appeal to geeks more than mainstream users. For the most part, I can appreciate the difference between the philosophies - on one side, Google believes that the sum of the parts is worth more than the whole and by giving away its software for free more input will drive better products. Apple believes that an OS should be closed, "tight" and not open to interpretation - Apple argues that decision by democracy is not always the best way (and so far, they have proven this to right). As I have mentioned before I sport an Android phone because I have less options on Verizon than on AT&T and the network takes priority over the handset. While the name of this site implies that I fall into the geek camp, there are times, however, where I wish I was using a phone blessed by Apple's approach.

A good friend sent this via email and I thought I'd re-post. Enjoy. Comment. Blink twice.






.