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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 couldn't
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 Microsoft's Windows or Nokia's 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
you'll 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. Don't
worry if your free RAM is reported as being low. Free RAM is wasted RAM. One
exception to this is when you have what's 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 everyone's phones
should a dodgy one make it past the checks and onto the marketplace. Apps from
1
HTC Desire S Owner's Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79
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Summary of Contents for HTC Desire S
- Page 1 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 Microsoft’s Windows or Nokia’s Symbian.
- Page 2 There are very few known viruses for Android as its Linux based and you do not have Root access so there’s 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. It’s 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.
- Page 3 Don’t 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.
- Page 4 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.
- Page 5 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.
- Page 6 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...
- Page 7 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. HTC Desire S Owner’s Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79...
- Page 8 Lots of widgets updating will also eat into battery life. Avoid ones you don’t really use much, even if they look nice. Make sure you don’t have “Always On Mobile Data’ ticked in the settings. HTC Desire S Owner’s Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79...
- Page 9 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.
- Page 10 If something is running away in the background and keeping the phone in Partial Wake Lock, it’ll be near the top of this list. Expect ‘HTC Sense’ to be at the top. This is normal for my phone anyway. Usually it’s followed by ‘Settings’.
- Page 11 HTC clock is proclaiming Sunny times. The rain is currently hammering down so heavily it’s 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.
- Page 12 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 can’t do that.
- Page 13 This should now show your ‘Night Mode’ profile on the main screen. A green tick next to it means it’s active, and will be carried out once the Profile criteria are met. HTC Desire S Owner’s Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79...
- Page 14 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’. HTC Desire S Owner’s Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79...
- Page 15 • Provides a pop-up menu for which app I want (PowerAmp, Youtube, Tune In Radio, FM Radio) when I plug my headphones in. http://tasker.wikidot.com/profile-index Other ideas (aka recipes) can be found here: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/ The main Tasker homepage and complete guide is here: HTC Desire S Owner’s Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79...
- Page 16 Android started so I don’t intend to make it too advanced. Sooner or later it’s best if we learn it for ourselves anyway! wnp_79 HTC Desire S Owner’s Guide – V1.02 | wnp_79...