Turn Off Fuze/Touch Pro?

[Reid Kistler]

Think this subject has come up in the past, but am wondering How Often owners TURN OFF their Fuze (Touch Pro) - or other PDA/Phone combo for that matter - as opposed to simply Dimming The Screen - ??

Better-Half was complaining about connection problems with her LG Shine, & our Favorite AT&T Rep asked her how often she turned the device OFF: Turns out the answer was "hardly ever,"and it seems that that practice (leaving a mobile phone ON all of the time) is a common cause of connectivity problems.

Seems that owners of "smart phones" - and specifically iPhones & PDA/Phone Combos (like the Fuze...) - are among the most guilty when it comes to NOT turning their devices COMPLETELY off. Reps field a LOT of complaints from owners about poor connectivity: apparently there is a database of TOWER ASSIGNMENTS that is only upgraded when a device is cycled completely Off & then back on.

This may not often be important, but if there happens to be a lot of tower reassignments - new ones / repairs to old ones / whatever - your phone doesn't know where to look for a signal.

A side benefit (on the Fuze, anyway) is that you RECAPTURE a significant amount of MEMORY! :)

[CeluGeek]

I visit Wireless Manager every night to turn Bluetooth and Phone radios off (WiFi is generally off anyway). I don't want calls bothering me when I go to sleep, and the same goes for any flashing LED, like the Bluetooth light. When I don't have to work on weekends, I do a full shutdown (by holding the power button) so that not even a leftover alarm would bother me.

[Farmer Ted]

I don't turn off my Fuze that often (long press on the power button does it), but I do soft reset it several times per day. I think that's pretty standard practice for PPC-users, isn't it? With my old PPC, I'd soft reset it at least once a day. There's a lot more going on on the fuze, so I soft reset it 3-5 times per day, probably. To be honest, I don't know if that's normal or not. You have to do it, though, when you see the memory usage creeping up. When it gets over 50%, things start to slow down.

[Reid Kistler]

I visit Wireless Manager every night to turn Bluetooth and Phone radios off (WiFi is generally off anyway). I don't want calls bothering me when I go to sleep, and the same goes for any flashing LED, like the Bluetooth light. When I don't have to work on weekends, I do a full shutdown (by holding the power button) so that not even a leftover alarm would bother me.


Normally simply turn the Ring Vol to MIN (either Silent or Vibrate) when wishing not to be disturbed, but using the Wireless Mgr to turn Phone feature off seems like it SHOULD have the side-benefit of re-checking towers when it gets turned back on.
(Technically, believe the database that gets updated is the "PRL" - Preferred Roaming List.)

Almost always run Bluetooth whenever driving, and prefer to use it whenever speaking on phone.

How does your battery hold out? One in my Fuze has been highly variable, although the highest battery drain came when had one of the tweak programs set for Increased Performance. Tweak moved some operating files into Main Memory for speed, and APPARENTLY that consumes extra power.
Either that or battery simply had a Coincidental Power Glitch during the time those settings were on! ...:confused:

In any event, after draining main battery down to point that unit SHUT DOWN - and then removing the tweaks - battery life has been Great. Probably should re-apply the tweaks & see what happens....

[Reid Kistler]

I don't turn off my Fuze that often.... but I do soft reset it several times per day. I think that's pretty standard practice for PPC-users, isn't it? .... There's a lot more going on on the fuze, so I soft reset it 3-5 times per day, probably. To be honest, I don't know if that's normal or not. You have to do it, though, when you see the memory usage creeping up. When it gets over 50%, things start to slow down.


Is interesting, as don't think my Axim HAS a true "Off" setting: AFAIK, it is always either ON or "Waiting" (after 5 years, really should KNOW that! :o).
For that reason, always seems UNnatural to Completely Shut Down the Fuze, but am trying to make it at least a Several-Times-Per-Week event.

Would say that I soft-reset both devices - Axim or Fuze - several times per week.
Certainly NORMAL frequency is well under once per day, although AVERAGE might be higher as tend to run through several soft-resets whenever removing an App. (Normally soft reset Before adding a program, as well as Before AND After removing a program.)

You can KILL most programs using the Task Manager, although generally end up doing so from SPB Pocket Plus utility. Also run MemMaid on the Axim, but have not yet upgraded the app for the Fuze.

Still, Reset becomes necessary on the Axim as it Memory gets Clogged Up over time & unit decidedly Slows Down. Seems less of a problem on the Fuze, doubtless due to significantly more memory & faster processor. Have been truly surprised on several occasions at how many Open Apps showed up in the Fuze's Task Manager - without any Apparent slow down in performance!

[Sven Johannsen]

Is interesting, as don't think my Axim HAS a true "Off" setting: AFAIK, it is always either ON or "Waiting" (after 5 years, really should KNOW that! :o).
The Axim doesn't have an 'OFF'. It was very rare to have that state on any of the older devices that were Pocket PCs, i.e. not phones. Once the phones were added, first as Smartphones (no touch screen) and a bit later as Pocket PC Phone edition, the ability to turn the device totally off started to appear. I expect originally it was a concession to airline scenarios, back when you had a hard time convincing the aircrew the thing was really off, unless it was really off. This was when 'Flight Mode' wasn't all that prevelant in regular phones either.

Turning the phone on and of is essentially a soft reset, or a re-boot in PC terms. Having it off though does have the added benefit of not using any battery. I've had devices off for a week or more with almost no loss in charge.