Ahhhhh yeah, DROID Bionic owners. We know you about threw your phone through the window when Verizon announced that the LG Lucid would be receiving Ice Cream Sandwich tomorrow, before you, but they came through moments ago. The support docs for the ICS (Android 4.0.4) update for the Bionic have been uploaded, which means that it has been approved and should start to rollout any day.

The update includes all of the goodies that you would expect in ICS, like new swipe-able notifications, a more stock Android look, quick folders, new lockscreen, better multi-tasking (press and hold “Home”), and data management. Motorola also tossed in Smart Actions, improved Google Calendar sync, improved Google Play, and updated all sorts of bloatware.

The update is 368MB in size. 

After flashing the new Ice Cream Sandwich leak to his DROID Bionic, a reader noticed that Motorola’s Smart Actions was installed on his device. If you’re unfamiliar with the software, S.A. allows for users to program certain functions to take place given the time or place of the user. There are applications such as Tasker that do this as well if you don’t happen to own a Motorola device.

If you don’t feel like waiting for a silly update to take place, you can hack the RAZR’s Smart Actions onto the Bionic with the instructions here.

Cheers Ranlil!

Motorola made a big splash during the launch of the DROID RAZR about Smart Actions, meant to save you battery by doing certain things with your phone based on where you are. Apps like Tasker have been doing it forever but it seems that Google is getting in on the fun itself with this patent that has come to light. Google wants to use GPS and network information to see where you and your phone are and do things according to that info. The patent was filed in September last year so Google has been quiet on this if they are still working on it. Would you forgo Tasker if Android has this kind of capability natively?

Via: Phandroid

Weirdest title in history, right there. Why on Earth Microsoft has developed an Android-only app is beyond me, but we’ll take it. The app is called On{X} and it aims to automate your life, similarly to what Motorola has done with Smart Actions.

Through On{X}, you get to pick out “rules” using a web portal that then translates everything to an app on your phone. It’s as minimal as it gets, but think of how nice it would be to have your calendar launched every time you arrived at your job. Or what about having your phone start a weather app in the morning only when it’s raining, so that you know how to dress for the day? It’s location, time, and action based.  

One of the top selling points for Motorola’s current lineup of phones has been their Smart Actions app. For those not familiar, think of Smart Actions as an app that tries to help streamline your life, make tasks happen automatically, and potentially extend your battery life. In a lot of ways, it’s like Taskr or Setting Profiles in that it allows you to set up profiles or activities that trigger actions on your phone. Leave home for work every day at 8AM? Smart Actions may recommend that you have it automatically turn off WiFi and launch Google Maps. When you arrive at work, Smart Actions could recognize the location and toggle WiFi back on help save battery while you are away from a charger. Make sense?

We want to know if the Motorola users in the building are taking advantage of these though. Have you found any of the Smart Action recommendations to be helpful? Is your battery lasting longer? Is the app annoying? Answer the poll briefly, and then tell us which actions you have found to be most beneficial in the comments.

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DROID Bionic owners no longer need to be jealous of the DROID RAZR’s Smart Actions application. Thanks to iNsAnEmOd for sharing the apk, users can now download the actual Smart Actions app and load it as a third party app right onto your device. Smart Actions is Motorola’s way of trying to extend your battery and basically automate your life. By launching certain applications and settings when actions happen or you are at a certain place during the day, your device will react as you program it to. You can program the app to launch your favorite music playlist if you’re at the gym, or have it toggle on WiFi as soon as you arrive at home from your day at the office. It has received a lot of love from RAZR owners, so if you own a Bionic, be sure to give it a go and let us know what you think.

No root required. Install as you would any other non-market .apk.

Download: SmartActions.apk  

Your new DROID RAZR may need some help in the battery department just as much as any 4G LTE phone on Verizon does. With phones only able to run the current 2011 LTE technology, there isn’t much that can be done except by tweaking your OS as much as possible or swapping out a dead battery for a fresh one. Since Moto decided to make this phone the thinnest on the planet, you won’t find extra life coming through an extended or backup battery. That leaves phone hackery.

Through Motorola’s new Smart Actions app, they are attempting to give you the tools to help your phone last longer on a single charge. Smart Actions allows you to customize your life by adjusting settings or launching apps depending on your location, time of day, etc. While I haven’t found a single way in them to truly extend battery throughout the day, I will say that the idea itself is fun. Having your phone automatically launch your workout playlist when headphones are plugged in is convenient. If you really want battery extension though, I’m afraid that turning off 4G and GPS is about the only way you are going to do it.  

Since Motorola decided to make the new DROID RAZR one of the thinnest smartphones on the planet, that meant they were going to have to cut a corner somewhere. That corner, was a battery that can’t be removed. It actually seems crazy knowing that most of us purchase extended or backup batteries as a safety precaution to combat the current power destroying LTE technology. Moto has a plan though. In order to help ease your mind on life with a non-removable battery, they built in an app called Smart Actions, that allows you to customize and “optimize your smartphone for your life.”

It’s very similar to apps like Locale and Tasker – it uses location, time of day, and the task at hand to launch apps, turn off settings, and make your phone and life perform more efficiently. There are built-in preset actions that you can adopt immediately or you can get technical and build your own.

I haven’t had a chance to play with these all that much just yet, but you can bet that I will. As someone that carries two phones for the most part because I understand how difficult it can be to get through a day on LTE, I’ll be tweaking away to find which settings will push a single charge further. According to the v ideo below, you can apparently adjust a couple of settings and extend your battery up to 30%. Let’s see if we can figure out which those are.