first time Droid user...PLEASE HELP!

[FadeToB7ack]

Hello, just got my Droid x2 a couple days ago. I have two questions:

1) What is the best way/best apps for saving battery life? I cant get a full 24hrs without having to recharge. Obviously Ive been using the browser a lot and games since I just got the phone but would just like some tips as to how to cut down.

2) Youtube and Netflix; when wifi is turned on these two programs work flawlessly. Not to mention that the browser is a lot quicker. When I have the wifi turned off, I cant even really use either of them. It takes forever to load and then the video plays a few seconds and stops to buffer. I also noticed that the android market is a lot slower and takes a lot longer to download the apps.

Like I mentioned, this is my first android phone. Ive tried looking things up but cant really get any good answers for the x2. Any help at all would be MUCH APPRECIATED! Thanks!

 

[MusicIsTheKey]

1) In general, smart phones use up a lot of battery compared to the feature/dumb phones of the past. So, a shorter battery life is to be expected. Watching videos or playing games will eat up battery life faster than almost anything else. Don't use any task killers, set your brightness to either automatic brightness (or as low as you can handle, depending on the conditions), turn off bluetooth, GPS, and WI-FI if you are not using it. I use the Juice Defender app to help out with my battery life although I'm not always positive how much it really works.

2) In most cases, WI-FI will be much faster than a 3G data signal. Download a free app such as Speed Test (by Ookla) to compare the speed of your data signal between 3G and Wi-FI. Also, depending on where you are located and what time of the day, the speed of your data signal can vary. So, it's not uncommon for Youtube, Netflix, or even the Marketplace to be slow when you're on 3G.

Another thing you can look at is the strength of your 3g data signal. Go to Settings>About Phone>Status>Signal Strength. That number tells you how strong your signal is. The lower the number the better. If you live in the middle of an apartment building and your signal is -95 dBm, try going to a window and see if the number drops down to around a -80 dBm. Another option is to go outside to see if the signal improves. Or it could be that the 3G signal in your area just isn't that strong to begin with.