Just got a Motorolla Droid, and could use some help

This 8 minute 15 second Video will help you to understand how the Android operating system works.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL6gSd4ugSI

As for what apps are essential.. that is more of a matter of taste. I personally added all the apps that I don't want Advanced Task Killer to kill to the apps ignore list.

First I set Advance Task Killer to "low security" in settings to show me everything that runs (you will have to exit out of Advance Task Killer then go back in so settings will take effect).. once back in "disable auto kill" (you will enable it after you have finished with the ignore list).

Now enable "show notification" by checking the box (This will put an icon in your phones task bar to access advance task killer quickly).

Now turn your phone all the way off and then back on.

Once phone is back on open Advance Task Killer and you will see many items that look like system apps.. kind of like this example.. "com.android.appsnamehere"

Add all of these Android system apps to your ignore list (their the ones with the letter "i" in the grey circle for their thumbnail icon)

Note: To add to ignore list longpress on the item until menu pops up and the choose "Ignore".

Once that's done.. exit out of Advance Task Killer.. play around with your phone by moving thru screens, mail, weather, etc. then go back in to see if any other system apps have shown up.. if so add them to the ignore list as well.

Ok now it's time to add apps like clock, calendar, any apps that use timers (like timeriffic, no lock, keep screen, get pills, etc), Mail, Google Voice or Visual Voicemail and any other apps you think should always be available.

Once you have your ignore list setup.."turn on autokill" and set to "aggressive".. then set autokill frequency to "when screen off".. now you are done.

Note: I don't put music apps like Slacker or Pandora or Social network apps like Facebook or MySpace in the "ignore list" because sometime you need to kill these apps if they stop working etc. I just "uncheck them in the main list" so they don't get autokilled.. but are available to be manually killed. Same goes for apps where you use their widget.. like sports apps or weather apps.

I have the HTC Eris and it runs beautifully with these settings.. never hangs or freezes up.. I never have to wait on an app.. it just works always. Same goes for my girl friends Motorola Droid I set up the same way.

— modified on Jul 8, 2010, 2:39:25 AM

How do you use your phone, or more importantly how do you want to? Do you have a data plan and if so, how much data are you allotted? Additionally, how much money are you willing to spend on apps? These all factor into apps that can be recommended.

However, here are some that I consider mandatory:

AndroidPIT - obviously
MapDroyd - is a good map program when you aren't connected to the cell network, as the maps are stored onboard.
Backgrounds - for backgrounds
APNdroid - to cut my data connections
Missed Call - to give me custom reminders for missed calls/texts
Unit Convertor - self explanatory
Wapedia - access to wikipedia
Facebook - ...
Compass - ...

If you live in a big city, look for an app that has a map of public transportation (unless you always use a car). A weather app is always good too.

We have lots of developers who make games and other apps, so check out the forums for their offerings.

I was wondering that same question because i have also installed the task killer in my phone and i did not know there are so many applications even if im only using one app. No wonder my battery gets drained easily but thanks to that video i kind of understand it a bit of how android works. What i did was before i lock my phone i kill all the apps and it saved my battery alot. Im gonna subcribe to that channel its very educating

Another thing you can do to save your battery is to lower the screens brightness, use dark wallpapers, turn off WiFi and Bluetooth if not using.

Yeah, his post could definitely be split into another paragraph or two ;D

— modified on Jul 8, 2010, 12:00:15 AM

Was trying to give you step by step instruction on how to setup Advance Task Killer to get the most out of it.

Let me Know if there is something you don't understand. Posted it from my Android phone so sorry for the lack of formating.

But as you can see.. I cleaned up my earlier post.. hope it's easier to follow now. Thanks for the feedback.. it was abit rough. lol

— modified on Jul 8, 2010, 2:17:33 AM

At this time "Installing" apps onto the SD card is not an option.

Someone speak up if it is available in 2.2 because my phone is still on 2.1

You can however use an app like "Linda Manager" to "back up" apps to the SD card. Therefore you can have many apps ready to install as you want to use them.

For example: on my HTC Eris I have about 88 apps installed to the phone's internal memory which still leaves room for phone to run smoothly. But I have close to 200 apps backed up to the SD card (88 of which happen to also be the ones installed).That way I can install them quickly if I want to use one of the "backed up" apps.

Many apps like games make the most sense to "back up" seeing how they can be rather big or are not need everyday.