Database Develop

Lightweight apps!

The ROM developers for Hero are all very talented and create beautiful ROMs that are really fast. However, it doesn't really matter when the apps we install are really slow, does it?
My idea is that we create a list of lightweight apps! Apps that runs fast and doesn't use a lot of resources.
I've found Opera Mini and Zeam to be good alternatives for the Browser and launcher. Also FriendCaster seems to be quite a bit faster than the official FaceBook client.
Continue the list with various really fast apps and give me more alternatives for launcher and browser.
Looks isn't really the important part here, functionality is!

Fast for Facebook claims to be a lighter alternative to the official Facebook client. I don't use Facebook so can't confirm.
FTL Launcher is pretty light launcher. Transition speed can be set to: Instant. But I find it hard to move away from LauncherPro it also has an 'Instant' transition option.
Boat Browser Mini is another lightweight browser that is making waves.
Dialer2 is the fastest dialer I can find. Looks good with ics also.
FastContacts is a super-light contacts manager.
Maybe not the lightest RSS reader out there, but gReader always ran well on Hero. Pro version has text to speech support if you like having news read to you.
Explorer, is there a faster, lighter, file manager?

Great!
I'm also wondering wether there's a way to keep market from updating itself to play store? The old Market was much faster than this crap!

Suggestion #1: Delete /system/app/marketupdater.apk or better still, never include it.

lost101 said:
Suggestion #1: Delete /system/app/marketupdater.apk or better still, never include it.
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Awesome! I didn't knew that! I guess my apps won't be updated now either but who cares.

your apps still gets updated, it only updates the market I use friendcaster myself, it's lots faster than the official Facebook app, but it sucks that it can't show all posts and such because of permissions :/
I also use QuickPick instead of Galler3D/2d And zeam is nice, but I usually use a heavier launcher of various reasons. Other than that I pretty much use the stock apps because I find them pretty much the most responsive, in ICS they even look good as well
One thing I miss is the old XDA app. They updated it not long too long ago, and it became way slower :/

Weather
Dolphin Browser.
Hikiplayer
Quickpic

tanisdlj said:
Weather
Dolphin Browser.
Hikiplayer
Quickpic
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+1 for quickpic.
For widgets: UCCW - ~16mb for 3-4 widgets on screen

Maps (-) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=coderminus.maps
Pansi SMS https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pansi.msg
And I think
Fast for Facebook https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.fastfacebook.com is picking up some speed
Sent from my Hero using xda app-developers app

I also used Fast for Facebook, but I don't like it, it has a lot og bugs and doesn't look that good. However I now use Friendcaster, it's a lot faster than facebook, but has more features than Fast for Facebook

+1 QuickPic
FriendCaster (pro =)) )
Dialer One (good with me)
MIUI music player
Mx player- good video player
Stock CM7 sms + stock Contact
Opera Mini is a good browser
All of them work really fast )

I also love the Holo launcher.. fluid, quick, not many resources.. Trying right now Holo locker for having the lockscreen looks like JBand he's very fluid also :cyclops:

My new favorite audio player: Rockbox for Android
Extremely fast, the best eq, but still has some bugs

Lightweight
Launcher: FTL Pro (best I've used so far)
Dialer: Dialer One
Messaging: Go SMS Pro
E-mail: K-9 Mail (k9-4.308-release.apk)
Browser: Opera Mini
* Delete/uninstall: Market Updater.apk / AdService.apk
Above all tried & tested on Samsung Galaxy S5300 (aka Pocket) - really improved speed on this low level entry phone

for facebook i prefer FBM.. lightweight and pretty fast...

[Q] Stock Browser JB

Hello, i search for many days, after installing Pi-Llama v0.3 rom which is excellent, fast and excellent battery life, but only default the disparition of the stock browser which is the best for me.
Tried with Titanium backup from a previous save of the original rom, but it fail
Maybe because it's odexed.
How can i do? Hate Chrome, or other browser like Maxthon, Dolphin,...
Thanks for your response

The stock browser is dead because Google decided to develop Chrome instead of the stock browser. Therefore, on most ROMs (even OTAs) 4.1 and 4.2 for various devices, the old browser is no longer there. And even if there's still a copy around then it might be open for infections since it's no longer being developed.
So there is not really much of a choice you have. You'd better learn to love some other browser (I personally love Opera Mobile and Opera Beta the best, even from before the stock browser died).

Vistaus said:
The stock browser is dead because Google decided to develop Chrome instead of the stock browser. Therefore, on most ROMs (even OTAs) 4.1 and 4.2 for various devices, the old browser is no longer there. And even if there's still a copy around then it might be open for infections since it's no longer being developed.
So there is not really much of a choice you have. You'd better learn to love some other browser (I personally love Opera Mobile and Opera Beta the best, even from before the stock browser died).
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Thanks for your clear response. Finally i stop this search and learn to use Chrome. Have try Opera too but too hard to synchronise my computer favorites on the phone. Or that's very easy on stock browser and Chrome.
And because of i use a lot favorites shortcut, want absolutely this on my phone.

Discussion : which browser are you using?

It's mostly a battle between Chrome, Firefox and Opera but, maybe you tried a more obscure browser and it work great for you? I loved the old AOSP browser because it was light on memory and ressources but it's not being maintained anymore and using it pose a security risk. Google Chrome has all the bells and whistle and it support pretty much everything but it's also memory hungry, it eat so much memory that other app in the background are dropped out of your memory to make place for Chrome. It leads us to Firefox, it support less thing but, memory usage is not too bad. Opera is also good.

I've tried quite a few and keep coming back to Firefox.
I don't really have a reason why as I suspect it's a tad slower than most and I see it pretty high on the battery usage on my tablet but it's always just been my "go-to" browser.
I had used Dolphin too for a long time and I can't remember why I stopped. I think it might've been that I didn't like the differences between the tablet and phone interfaces. I am apparently quite fussy.

koimr said:
I've tried quite a few and keep coming back to Firefox.
I had used Dolphin too for a long time and I can't remember why I stopped. I think it might've been that I didn't like the differences between the tablet and phone interfaces. I am apparently quite fussy.
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I may give a try to CAF Chromium browser, it's a Chrome fork compiled with optimization for Qualcomm devices. I'll try it and see if it's better on memory usage. My main complaint with Chrome is that, it eat as much memory as it can, then other apps in the background are forced out of RAM. So, when you want to open other apps, they have to be completely reloaded instead of just restarting them from RAM. Also, I'm fussy too...

Firefox. My beloved (and needed) extensions work on Android. And it's synchronized with my desktop too.

Chromium
Sent from my XT1562 using Tapatalk

Firefox i use linux on laptop so both phone and laptop are coordinated

Been using Dolphin for a couple of years. The main initial reason was the cookies/browsing data clearing is only one swipe and click away when browsing, super handy as I read a newspaper every day which only allows 10 free articles a month lol. Clear data, instantly ready for another 10 articles.

Been a fan of Opera since my first Android phone

Used NoChromo for a while (built in adblocking) but now back to using opera mini or lightning. Use lightning with java script turned off, which makes for a super fast browser. Generally breaks discussion/commenting and some page navigation. But works equally well with java script turned on and is very lightweight.
Find chrome is far too resource hungry and I really don't like the firefox tab interface.

Most of popular like chrome, Firefox, Dolphin are good performer.... Depends upon your needs and usage..... But I am big fan of uc browser and using it for a long time... Better in memory management... Has in built ad blocker.... Its to had limited addons support.... Also has Flash compatability.... Most under rated browser of the store but works like butter for me switching tabs also easiest.... Give it a shot....

Nico3d3 said:
It's mostly a battle between Chrome, Firefox and Opera but, maybe you tried a more obscure browser and it work great for you? I loved the old AOSP browser because it was light on memory and ressources but it's not being maintained anymore and using it pose a security risk. Google Chrome has all the bells and whistle and it support pretty much everything but it's also memory hungry, it eat so much memory that other app in the background are dropped out of your memory to make place for Chrome. It leads us to Firefox, it support less thing but, memory usage is not too bad. Opera is also good.
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Using uc browser for browsing fb and downloading while chrome for browsing every other site.
Sent from my XT1562 using Tapatalk

I have had good luck with Maxthon. I prefer a older version of it though.
Sent from my XT1563 using Tapatalk

Previously using dolphin but now using ghostery as my main browser

I'm using Boat Browser as it looks great, is stable and fast and has support (PRO) for Firefox account, so I can easily check my PC bookmarks from Waterfox.
Sent using XT1562 - stock 5.1.1

Try Browser (Chromium) from XDA LABS, it is optimized to qualcomm devices, works perrrrrrrfect and fast

M46 build from 19.12.2015 is the newest one?

knives69 said:
Try Browser (Chromium) from XDA LABS, it is optimized to qualcomm devices, works perrrrrrrfect and fast
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Already tried CAF-Chromium, yes it's faster than official Google Chrome but there was still bugs and lags preventing me from using it as a daily driver. Sometimes, web pages get stuck and the app become totally unresponsive and I had to do a force close. For now, I'm back with Opera, not too bloated it's light on memory and it has all the features I need.

Using Firefox because I like the way it works. Interface is, to me, the best of the bunch and all in all it has the best performance. Used Opera a lot but had a lot of excellent | horrible experiences with it. That is, sometimes it was great but often things would not render properly or it would die. Chrome has generally been slower than FF for a couple years now and FF has been much more stable. Chrome blocks much more.
I just want a browser that doesn't make me care about which one I am using. FF is that. It just works.
Also, it gives me more control over crap like webrtc.

I mostly use Opera mini as it loads page faster, it saves data, it consume less memory, and second choice is puffin Web browser it's lighting fast I bet. It supports flash, and had many more advantages.

I always go back to Firefox. I need adblock. I've already accepted annoying ads in apps. So blocking adds in the browser is at least some satisfaction.
Sent from my XT1562 using Tapatalk

Firefox heating N6, compared to Chrome

Hi,
I'm privacy and security aware person (as far as possible,of course).
In this respect I've dropped using Opera once in the hands of chinese company. I missed Opera much.
Tried few others (on second phone ) and narrowed the list to Chrome and Firefox.
I prefer FF but have to admit the scroll slowdown is skipping, I need to do custom DPI because otherwise it switches to tablet mode (awful on N6).
And more over I believe the battery is fast discharging, back of the phone heats much more than using Chrome.
Have to admit Chrome is much more fluent, responsive looms like lighter on battery. But I can't trust it fully...
What is your experince? Can something be done at all? Is it me that face those?

Why don't you use chromium instead? it's basically the open source part of chrome.

Hi, I use it on my Linux machine but which one is the build for Android?

TodNex said:
Hi, I use it on my Linux machine but which one is the build for Android?
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https://chromium.woolyss.com/#android

Kiristiba said:
Why don't you use chromium instead? it's basically the open source part of chrome.
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Click to collapse
Was going to recommend this but you beat me to the punch! I haven't used FireFox on either my desktop or phone in a long time. Last I remember it does feel noticeably slower than Chrome/Chromium. Another browser to check out is Brave Browser. It's based on Chromium and was founded by the co-founder of the Mozilla Project.

Going to evaluate it today ... Appreciated

You could pull a logcat. See what could be causing it as I use FF as well as do most of the mods. Chrom and Chromium are just not that great for many people.

hi, I will pull one.
do you use any optimizations of FF, I've tried to force GPU rendering from dev option of Android, also disabled animations of OS. Trying to play with AdBlocker plus to see it ads suck in the CPU'. GPU rendering seems to cool the CPU somehow, still for 4-5h of usage FF has consumed 28% where my hungry display consumed 25% of all. Usually when using Chrome display was on top.
Just an idea, can the sync be causing mhch more CPU.
I will play with wiping it again and reinstall. Previous time did not help.

TodNex said:
hi, I will pull one.
do you use any optimizations of FF, I've tried to force GPU rendering from dev option of Android, also disabled animations of OS. Trying to play with AdBlocker plus to see it ads suck in the CPU'. GPU rendering seems to cool the CPU somehow, still for 4-5h of usage FF has consumed 28% where my hungry display consumed 25% of all. Usually when using Chrome display was on top.
Just an idea, can the sync be causing mhch more CPU.
I will play with wiping it again and reinstall. Previous time did not help.
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Click to collapse
Yes the sync is badly coded. I dont use it myself as I have no use for syncing that type of info even though I use FF on all my personal stuff and it is used on all the company PC.

Question Why Facebook application drain battery?

I have a bad experience with this application from all devices that i used in all my life. Facebook is like a devil for the battery juice. It makes things easy when navigate but it drains my battery more than any other application and more than hardwares themself (wifi, 4G, bluetooth, screen...) Now i fond my self using the Facebook by google chrome it's not the same experience of the application but my battery is happy now

No social media, shopping, banking or charge card apps should ever be installed. Browser login only.
fb, lol I have another name for it. Heavily censored, data miner and epic purveyors of biased disinformation. An untrusted site to put it mildly.

you can check the news, some exemployer reveled that, the fb and instagram apps eat the battery on porpuse

tutibreaker said:
you can check the news, some exemployer reveled that, the fb and instagram apps eat the battery on porpuse
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Interesting. Don't know about being illegal but no one needs to be beta testing unknowingly
Trashware and malware. Even with browser login fb wastes your time and battery.

Moving to FB lite can help you to save few %, disable all notification and enable battery optimisation for the app ... nothing more can be done unfortunately.

twixxx31 said:
Moving to FB lite can help you to save few %, disable all notification and enable battery optimisation for the app ... nothing more can be done unfortunately.
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If facebook app a devil the Facebook lite is the son of this fuuuucker devil

I use Frost from F-Droid -- still evil and not being updated in a long time, but better than alternatives...