Ask NerdGirl: Lower Drain with Instant Messaging, Empty All That Trash, Apps To SD, Switching SIMs, and Groups of Contacts!
by n3rdg1rl
Jul 17, 2010 2:00 AM –
Happy early morning everyone! I’m quite the night owl so I’ve decided to use the time wisely for a little bit.
First of all, let me say that your Q/A are a very nice addition to the Android world.
I have been looking for a decent instant messaging program for a while. I know the default one has problems, and as far as I can tell, using a program called “spare parts”, nimbuzz, meebo, and ebuddy all take a crazy amount of battery. I’m talking more than the Android system does itself! Is there any solution you are aware of that isn’t such a battery murderer. I believe that is the main reason a lot of users on different devices batteries don’t last all day. Thanks in advance!
Courtez
The problem with things like instant messaging apps is that they are constantly running in some way in the background to keep updated. In pretty much every case, you’re going to see a significant drain on the battery with apps like these.
I was using fring until this whole Skype debacle. The short story of what happened is that Fring allowed Skype users on Android to video chat with Skype users on iPhones and Skype got mad because it overloaded their servers.
Now I just have things forwarded from the actual computer programs to my phone, AIM and Yahoo, via SMS which allows you to reply via text as well.
Hi NerdGirl:
Is there a way to empty the entire trash folder at one time on a Droid such as with a PC, or do you have to delete each file in the folder individually? I have a Motorola Droid and the trash is my email trash can. I get my emails on Time Warner (austin.rr.com). It’s a pain to have to hit the check mark next to every message. I just want to delete anything in the trash all at once like I do with “deleted items” in MS Outlook.
Thanks for your help!
Keep writing those great columns and reviews
Tom Gunn
The stock Mail app doesn’t have this option but if you switch to K-9 Mail, you will gain the option to empty the trash. I hear great things about this program, I haven’t used it, but everyone I know uses it and loves it.
How do I move apps to my SD card on my Nexus One running Froyo? 
This has to do with the app itself, not the actual Android operating system. The developer of each individual app has to include the ability to install to an SD card. If the app allows this, you will be able to do it from the settings and when you install the app.
Hi oh special helping one:
I have a Nexus One and live in the US. I will be spending some time in Europe (multiple countries) and plan to find the lowest cost 3G pay as you go SIM cards in each country.
Will using these different SIM cards require setting up my accounts (Gmail etc.) each time? Anything to look out for or be concerned with?
Thanks for your great column.
Jeff
As far as I understand your Google account is phone dependant, not SIM card dependant. Technically, all of your Google stuff should work as long as you’re connected to Wi-Fi even without a SIM card. I’ve heard of people doing that, using the phone without it being activated. So you should be okay regardless of what SIM card is in your phone at the time.
If I’m wrong, I hope someone out there will clear this up for me.
I’m curious about groups, and when I bring up my contacts list (on a Motorola Droid) there is no picture of three people at the bottom. There are no pictures of any people anywhere, just a list of names.
Is there some other way to access groups on the Droid? Or do I need to install a new contact-manager app to have that group’s link?
I didn’t realize that the contacts grouping was part of HTC Sense. That seems kind of stupid, for lack of a better word.
Try an app like aContacts. It will allow you to group contacts and search by that. It actually allows you to search by any field. Give that a try.
~n3rdg1rl