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How to Use Locale on the G1 for a Better Night’s Sleep

Mostly a location based app, Locale pays attention to your GPS, calendar, time, battery level, and even who’s calling (if you want) to ringer volume, adjust network settings, change your wallpaper or ringtone, or send a tweet to Twitter on a per situation basis. The following are some suggested settings to consider adding to Locale on your G1 to make life easier. Keep reading for the setup.
The Sleep Plan
This involves setting up two situations, one for the normal time you sleep and a second for people that might call you if there is an emergency.
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Open up Locale and press the Add Situation button. Enter ‘Sleep’ for the situation name. Next press ‘Add Condition’ and select ‘Time’, enter a Start time that you are usually trying to catch some shut eye and an End time for when you are usually awake, don’t forget to select the appropriate AM/PM setting. Additionally you can choose to have this active on certain days. Press the Menu key and select ‘Save’.
Slide the screen down so you can see the ‘Settings’ portion and press ‘Add Setting’. Select ‘Ringer Volume’ and slide the volume slider all the way to the left. Uncheck the ‘Vibrate’ checkbox if you like. Press the Menu key and select ‘Save’. Press the Menu key again and select ‘Save’ again. Congratulations! You have now set up Locale to insure you get a solid night’s sleep even if you forget to turn off the ringer.
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Now if there are people in your life that might depend or need you during an emergency in the middle of the night you will want to create an exception for them in the Sleep Plan situation. To do this you will need to create an additional situation similar to the one above. From the main Locale screen press ‘Add Situation’, name it something like ‘Emergency During Sleep’, press ‘Add Condition’, select ‘Time’ and enter the same times you entered while setting up the ‘Sleep’ situation. Press the Menu key and select ‘Save’ to save the ‘Time’ setting.
Now to select the contacts for which this situation applies, again press the ‘Add Situation’ button and select ‘Contact’. You will be shown your phone’s contacts, select the contacts you want and when finished press the Menu key and select ‘Save’. If the contact you want isn’t listed in your phone yet you can add them by pressing the Menu key and selecting ‘Add Contact’.
Slide the screen down so you can see the ‘Settings’ portion and press ‘Add Setting’. Select ‘Ringer Volume’ and slide the volume slider to the desired volume you want. Press the Menu key and select ‘Save’, then press the Menu key again and select ‘Save’ one more time. Now Locale is set to allow the phone ringer volume to increase if the selected contacts call during the selected time period.
Other settings you might want to consider are:
- adding to the ‘Emergency During Sleep’ situation an annoying Ringtone setting to really wake you up.
- adding a Networks setting to the ‘Sleep’ situation to turn off your Wifi and GPS (since you aren’t using it while you sleep) to save battery life in case you forget to plug in the G1 to charge.
If you use Locale already and have some handy situations setup that you would like to share feel free to do so in the comments. Enjoy your restful sleep!
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about 1 year ago
Wow nice breakdown! I never knew it could do all that, thanks Mike
about 1 year ago
Didn’t work for me!
about 1 year ago
Amazing post. I would have emailed you directly to let you know how helpful this was. I was used to Blackberry profiles where I could have a custom “sleep” mode, this is the next best thing under the G1 platform.
I knew about this app from a friend on the IRC, but I didn’t know I could program in EXCEPTIONS (like emergency calls from family at night) — I found this to be a most-amazing artcile, highly informative.
I do hope more G1 articles come soon, becuase I found this to be very helpful and I’m looking for helpful tips.
For what it’s worth, I will add a tip here:
You can soft-reboot your phone without pressing-and-holding the red-hangup button waiting for it to power off, then powering it back on.
Instead, just do the 3-finger Google salute: Green-pick-up-call button (press and hold), then press & hold Menu and the Red-hangup-button: Like Ctrl-Alt-Del, that will instantly reboot the phone.
Cheers!
about 1 year ago
I love this application. Question though… Which settings take precedence when you have Locale AND Power Manager running? For instance, if I say turn on WiFi when I’m at HOME (in Locale), but I say I want Power Manager to turn OFF Wifi whenever I’m below 30% battery power…. I want them to both work in harmony… Any tips?!
about 1 year ago
Now, I assume you have to set the priority for the “Emergency…” higher than the Sleep one.