Upgrading to iOS 4? Apparently iBooks will make you re-download every book you bought at full price. Make sure you re-sync from iTunes before you spend money.

You probably heard that Apple was also going to track every iPhone. Well, now they've taken the Big Brother another step. Want to opt-out? You can, but not if you want any new apps. Any new download from the iTunes store will require you to agree to location tracking.

Apple, you're better than that.

UPDATE: It gets worse, apparently.  I don't care much that Apple's relocking jailbroken phones; you're violating the terms of service, after all.  But tracking FaceTime calls fits in with the above.  Note that the source is not as solid as the other articles.

Here's my short take on UI design:

If you have to ask the user, you've already lost.

People working with me hear this a lot. We work on systems software, and there are a lot of things that need configuration. Every time we add another task the user must complete, I cringe.

Matt Gemmell does a much better job of describing the issue at his blog.  Go read it.

ZOMG, I Has a Modern Phone!

I just got an HTC Evo 4G.  Two second review? It's great. But this isn't about the phone's features. Instead, I'd like to combat the silly FUD surrounding its battery life, or alleged lack thereof.

While my partner and I were on the waiting list, I read all the forum posts I could about the device. The pre-launch reviews were all glowing, but now real users had real hardware in their fat grubby Comic Book Guy hands. And I started seeing a lot of complaints about the battery life.

I'm here to tell you: the battery life is fine.

What to Expect

If you expect a sliver of a phone to play HD video for 12 hours straight, well, I have a bridge to sell you. This phone will last the normal user a day easy, just like its competitors. The normal user, here, is the Evo/Droid/iPhone user. Someone who browses a lot, watches a little video, and uses their favorite apps and still expects to make a call outside the bar that night. My partner, who comes from an ancient flip phone, regularly gets two days out of the Evo. She does talk, text, and Facebook. I expect that will change as she gets used to 3G browsing, but the point still stands. This phone idles very well.

This isn't news to iPhone users. Every iPhone user I know charges every night. I have a friend with a Droid as well; same deal.

So why are people complaining? Here are a few tips to keep your Evo (and any Android phone, really) at tip-top battery life.

First, set your expectations appropriately. Browsing, apps, and video kill your battery. The first morning after I got the Evo, I used it for six hours straight. Not kidding. I didn't let it sleep at all.  I was learning the UI, fixing contact information, downloading apps, and trying out YouTube videos. Six hours later, the battery was at 15%.  The iPhone has similar usage for these sorts of tasks.

GPS navigation is just like Internet browsing. If you're going on a long drive, have a car charger.

What about music? The phone's battery can do around nine hours of music time, and a similar amount of talk time. So if you use it as a player all day, it won't quite last. This is a serious deficit compared to the iPhone, where I understand 20 hours of music play is the norm.

The secret to longevity on Android is the idle time. Make sure your phone is really idling, and you'll get all the battery life you need.  Remember, all iPhones before iPhone 4 can't have background apps. They idle because they're not doing anything else. Android apps can suck your battery life if you aren't careful.

Make the Idle Happy

My third day with the Evo, my phone was desperate for a charge after 17 hours. Now, 17 hours is not bad, but it felt precarious; if I'd used the phone more, I could have run out. Was the battery life as bad as people said?

No. I just had AIM running. A little research put AIM in stark relief.  No matter which AIM client you use -- the AOL official client, Hello AIM, whatever -- it will suck your battery dry. It doesn't idle, it just runs in the background. Every since I disabled AIM, my phone is routinely at 35% after 20 hour days.

Here's a simple test. Go into Settings->About Phone->Battery. If the "Awake time" is more than 50% of the "Up Time," you have a battery hog.  Unless, of course, you've never let the phone idle. But you have, haven't you? It's been in your pocket all day, but it thinks it has been awake the whole time. Find that battery hog and kill it.

Kill Off Useless Things

Get an app killer. Specifically, get Advanced Task Killer. Why do you need an app killer? Because Android apps are designed to never exit.  If they are coded correctly, they will consume no resources unless you've asked them to handle a background task. They just stay in memory until you click them again.

In fact, most apps are good about this. The built-in ones for sure.  But just in case there is a rogue app, an app killer can shoot it down when you're not using it. As a plus, it keeps your memory free. Full memory creates sluggishness on all the smartphone platforms.

Here's how you set up Advanced Task Killer's settings. Enable Auto Start. Set the Auto Kill Level to Aggressive. This kills background tasks that you aren't using. Set the Security Level to Medium, so that all but essential services can be considered candidates. Don't set it to Low; things will break. Finally, set the Auto Kill Frequency to When Screen Off. This will keep everything running while you're switching between apps, but will kill background tasks once you put the phone to
sleep.

Finally, uncheck Calendar and Google Talk in Advanced Task Killer's task list. These are background tasks you want to allow to run. The calendar background task is what makes alarms work, after all.

I also leave Twidroid and Internet unkilled, but this isn't strictly necessary. I get fine battery life with them running, though.

Enjoy

Ok, your Evo now lasts all day. You remember to charge it every night, right? Good. Now you can complain your battery life is just like an iPhone.