What do you want to see in Android 4.5/5.0? - Nexus 5 General

I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc

fredryk said:
I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't you just say "show me the nearest mcdonalds" in google now?
Works on my nexus 5 anyway to do the stuff you said.

Think your request is a bit too much for a display of that area. When searching for a number you generally just want the quick info, clicking on it to get more info is fine but all that wouldn't fit in a small space especially if you gotta scroll over 10x just to get 1 phone number.
The current stuff though does allow you to type McDonalds and have it pull in local info from the closest one. It will show street address/town as well but that's all.

Ok I want the following
Blocking Mode baked into the update just like the one on the Samsung Galaxy Line.
Slide to call or text just like on the Samsung Galaxy Line.
One Button touch to clear all active apps not having to swipe them away one at a time.

I want a polish and fully tested OS.

Always listening "OK Google," like the Moto X has. (Optional setting if necessary for those who don't want to take the battery hit.)
Face Detection setting that prevents going to standby when you're looking at the screen (like Samsung has, not motion-based like "Gravity Screen" app does, although that's better than nothing.)
Customizable Quick Panel.
Theme control (not everyone likes bright-as-hell white backgrounds on everything!)
Combined music/video player, more like iTunes.
Location-based screen locking. (Don't ask for PIN/Password if I'm at home or work, but otherwise do.)
Not necessarily in that order, and I'm sure I could think of others if I tried hard enough. Also, that one-touch "clear all" active apps suggestion is good.

Hmmmmm, having a slide to text option in the contacts would be nice but also more sharing features. I am a very social networked person and I love to share anything and everything having more sharing options is certainly a plus.

vseslija said:
One Button touch to clear all active apps not having to swipe them away one at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you mean in the notification bar, this is already a feature.

kgry said:
If you mean in the notification bar, this is already a feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, he means in the recent apps switcher.

Backup functions (obviously without root or custom recovery)

Finer control over killing and keeping apps in background.

Wake the screen when I get an SMS and and visual voice mail built in the phone app like on the iPhone.

Always listening, and Wi-Di native file transfer.

fredryk said:
I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can already do most of that in the 4.4 dialer ... aside from linking with maps.

fredryk said:
I want to have a dialer where I can search for businesses directly through the dialer. So you know how in 4.4 I can type "John" and call the guy in my contact list name John, I want to be able to type "McDonalds" or "Best Buy" in that same search field, and based on my location it will pop up with "McDonalds, 123 Fake Street" along with a thumbnail picture of it(or its map location) and its hours for that particular day. And if I click on the thumbnail I can see more info, open its location in GMaps, etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dialer already does exactly that. I do it all the time and it works well.
I want them to get that fricken search bar off of the home page and to never ever again presume that it's ok to use up an entire row of every screen with the exact same widget. Whoever thought it up should be fired. Whoever approved it should be fired. Whoever attended a meeting where it was suggested as a possible feature that did not get up and *****slap the person who mentioned it should be fired.
The screen indicators should be clickable so as to allow you to one touch to any screen as seen on touchwiz.

I'm loving KitKat. I just want Hangouts to have expandable notifications and the option to reply through the notification itself, but this is a Hangouts request more than an android one.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------
krabman said:
The dialer already does exactly that. I do it all the time and it works well.
I want them to get that fricken search bar off of the home page and to never ever again presume that it's ok to use up an entire row of every screen with the exact same widget. Whoever thought it up should be fired. Whoever approved it should be fired. Whoever attended a meeting where it was suggested as a possible feature that did not get up and *****slap the person who mentioned it should be fired.
The screen indicators should be clickable so as to allow you to one touch to any screen as seen on touchwiz.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try out a custom launcher like Nova. To be honest I like the Search Widget at the top on all pages.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

bmg1001 said:
I'm loving KitKat. I just want Hangouts to have expandable notifications and the option to reply through the notification itself, but this is a Hangouts request more than an android one.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 04:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------
Try out a custom launcher like Nova. To be honest I like the Search Widget at the top on all pages.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I've been on android from day one, I had a launcher installed mucho quick. Doesn't change the fact that the stock launcher while having some promise is heavily flawed to no good end. I understand that some may like the search bar there. Some may like it on every page. Who knows, maybe someone wants to make 5 pages and fill them all with the same search bar. Great. More power to them. Let them create search bars till the cows come home. Some of us don't want a search bar there. All of us could be happy before which is the beauty of android. I could put my search bar where I want it, everyone else could put it where they want it. Now no one gets a choice, we have entered the era of the idroid. What did we gain by giving up choice? Nothing. Not one thing.
A bad precedent in my mind. Good thing I'm not running Google, heads would have rolled long before this ever saw the light of day.

googles needs to get it's **** together in regards to streamlining and unifying some of their services. while not really android specific, there are many related things that effect android users daily.
hangouts is supposed to be your unified messaging locale, however no google voice integration
google keep seems like a good product, however the apparent lack of integration with google now and android voice commands doesn't make much sense. if i say "okay google..." then set a reminder, why doesn't this show up in keep? if i set a reminder in keep, it should show up in google now and vice versa. i don't wanna hunt around all over the damn phone trying to figure out where all my assorted reminders are located.
there are two photo apps currently -- gallery and photos
i feel like android is really coming into it's own quite well as a mobile os, and it's very clean cut at this point. however google really needs to clean up their services because some things still feel half baked.

A flash light quick toggle
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

shotta35 said:
Think your request is a bit too much for a display of that area. When searching for a number you generally just want the quick info, clicking on it to get more info is fine but all that wouldn't fit in a small space especially if you gotta scroll over 10x just to get 1 phone number.
The current stuff though does allow you to type McDonalds and have it pull in local info from the closest one. It will show street address/town as well but that's all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I missed this at first myself. If you type in the previously mentioned McDonald's you will get a list of them showing their address so you can parse out the appropriate contact. If you then click on the contact at the left on the placeholder for the contact picture it will bring up the direct dial, maps shortcut, and website.

Related

request - TTS ringtone.

Hopefully this is ok to post here since it is a request for dream development. Sorry in advance if this belongs in Q/A or something.
The #1 thing I miss from my old Sanyo dumb-phone was the TTS ringer. When ever I received a call, my phone would:
"beeeep, incoming call from ([name] or "unknown-caller")"
I found this very handy as if my phone was out-of-pocket in my home, I could decide to get off the couch and get it or not without moving a muscle.
I have searched all over for the same basic TTS functionality in both WinMo and now Android but have not found anything.
Is it even possible within the Android system to use the TTS service to speak the contact name on incoming call instead of a ringer?
EDIT: And while I'm posting development requests, I would also like to see an app that lets you re-assign buttons (like vol+/- could page up and down unless there is sound playing, and the camera button which does nothing in Hero could be assigned to launch an app [HTC Camera] or even bring up a menu of apps to select from). They have lots of button programs for WinMo, but I've seen none for android.
I know winmo has this feature as my friend's old tilt had it.
There were a couple apps in the market that announced the name that called but they were not very good. IMO the current TTS in the market sucks, can't even understand it half the time.
I imagine someone could cobble together an application that could sense the ringtone call and hijack the audio, and then just use the TTS library to speak out the name / phone number, with "Incoming call from" prepended. I don't know if that's what the apps are doing. I don't see any apps like that on the market, either.
Search market for:
NameRinger
TalkingCallerID
voicecallerid
who is it
All have their problems. I think only voicecallerid is actually free.
What I did
This is what I did, its a hassle but works. went to
http://www.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php
typed the name of my contact downloaded and insert to sd and set as contact ring tone. yeah it suck but u can tweak it with different spelling to make it sound like the actual name. hope it helps
Here you go!
I tought I could do something back for the community so I started a new project =)
The only problem is that I have no visa to pay the registration fee to get this on the market.
I uploaded the apk to http://wilma.vub.ac.be/~lhoste/TTSNotifier.php (!UPDATED)
Based on the open source design of SMSPopup (thx!)
Speaks:
"Incoming call from <NAME>"
name = "unknown" if the number is not found in the contacts
can you start a google code page for this? im sure you can get some support and bug fixes from the community. maybe even one of the devs might upload to their account for you
upload the apk to somewhere else cause we cant access it
rpmccormick said:
Hopefully this is ok to post here since it is a request for dream development. Sorry in advance if this belongs in Q/A or something.
The #1 thing I miss from my old Sanyo dumb-phone was the TTS ringer. When ever I received a call, my phone would:
"beeeep, incoming call from ([name] or "unknown-caller")"
I found this very handy as if my phone was out-of-pocket in my home, I could decide to get off the couch and get it or not without moving a muscle.
I have searched all over for the same basic TTS functionality in both WinMo and now Android but have not found anything.
Is it even possible within the Android system to use the TTS service to speak the contact name on incoming call instead of a ringer?
EDIT: And while I'm posting development requests, I would also like to see an app that lets you re-assign buttons (like vol+/- could page up and down unless there is sound playing, and the camera button which does nothing in Hero could be assigned to launch an app [HTC Camera] or even bring up a menu of apps to select from). They have lots of button programs for WinMo, but I've seen none for android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My question to you is.. Why stop there?
My teacher once told me... "Why hope to make bridges made of sticks when you can dream of making bridges in the sky?"
Meaning... lets raise the bar.. lets dream bigger... So "Why stop there?"
You want TTS ringer... well I want TTS Notifications linked to any notification I enable.
ex. "Open home download completed", "you have 30 tweets", "USB connected", "You have a text message from XXX, Dictate?"
It may not have artificial intelligence.. but after how many years we have had technology and computers... couldn't we train it to be intelligent for us? You can train a dog to sit... so how come we can't program our phones to verbally say "Plug me in! Battery LOW!", "Open Wifi Signal in range", "So-n-So's birthday is today, bought them a gift?"
That does not require artificial intelligence right?
Why not bring Android toward "Fruition"
Damn... If I had the programming knowledge... I think I'd try this myself...
Sorry, link is fixed now
gho0o5t said:
My question to you is.. Why stop there?
My teacher once told me... "Why hope to make bridges made of sticks when you can dream of making bridges in the sky?"
Meaning... lets raise the bar.. lets dream bigger... So "Why stop there?"
You want TTS ringer... well I want TTS Notifications linked to any notification I enable.
ex. "Open home download completed", "you have 30 tweets", "USB connected", "You have a text message from XXX, Dictate?"
It may not have artificial intelligence.. but after how many years we have had technology and computers... couldn't we train it to be intelligent for us? You can train a dog to sit... so how come we can't program our phones to verbally say "Plug me in! Battery LOW!", "Open Wifi Signal in range", "So-n-So's birthday is today, bought them a gift?"
That does not require artificial intelligence right?
Why not bring Android toward "Fruition"
Damn... If I had the programming knowledge... I think I'd try this myself...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep posting your great ideas. Everyone has a different view on how to make this easier so if we all combine that we can make something great.
I think the usb connected, sms, battery, wifi, birthday is possible. Ill try to extend the app today and open a github.
You can also start making up sentences the phone has to speak because hearing the same stuff all the time makes it boring.
Zillode said:
I tought I could do something back for the community so I started a new project =)
The only problem is that I have no visa to pay the registration fee to get this on the market.
I uploaded the apk to http://wilma.vub.ac.be/~lhoste/TTSRingtone.php
Based on the open source design of SMSPopup (thx!)
Speaks:
"Incoming call from <NAME>"
name = "unknown" if the number is not found in the contacts
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's probably down to stupidity on my part, but how does the app work?
it installs fine but then it doesn't seem to do anything when someone rings, it just plays my ringtone.
also, does this work on Hero? that could be my problem.
cheers for making this app btw, been looking for something like this for a long time
Meltus said:
It's probably down to stupidity on my part, but how does the app work?
it installs fine but then it doesn't seem to do anything when someone rings, it just plays my ringtone.
also, does this work on Hero? that could be my problem.
cheers for making this app btw, been looking for something like this for a long time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should have the TTS Service installed (search for it in the market). When receiving a change in ACTION_PHONE_STATE, it starts a services that takes care of the speech.
Do mind that your 'Media' volume is about equally high as your ringtone volume.
Zillode said:
You should have the TTS Service installed (search for it in the market). When receiving a change in ACTION_PHONE_STATE, it starts a services that takes care of the speech.
Do mind that your 'Media' volume is about equally high as your ringtone volume.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i've got that. Do i need to mess with the settings in it or anything? still just getting my normal ringtone playing.
I had a similar problem. I had to uninstall the TTSRingtone.apk (system/sd/vub.lhoste.ttsringtone.apk), re-install the TTS library (Text To Speech Service on the market) and then re-install the TTSRingtone.apk. After all of this was done, it started working on its own.
Nifty.
new build (and projectname)
Ok, I started to make the TTS notification more global. This means we will try to support more and more.
You can find the new build at:
http://wilma.vub.ac.be/~lhoste/TTSNotifier.php
NOTE: UNINSTALL THE OLD (TTSRingtone!) BEFORE INSTALLING THIS ONE.
I started a new thread so the intrested ppl can follow the changes
-> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4376431
rpmccormick said:
EDIT: And while I'm posting development requests, I would also like to see an app that lets you re-assign buttons (like vol+/- could page up and down unless there is sound playing, and the camera button which does nothing in Hero could be assigned to launch an app [HTC Camera] or even bring up a menu of apps to select from). They have lots of button programs for WinMo, but I've seen none for android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if it's possible to 'unbind' the vol +/- key.. any1 has an idea?
It is possible to use the same structure as TTSNotifier or SMSPopup to capture the cam button press, but since I'm running the cyanogenmod it is occupied and useless to start a 2nd app

What I miss the most about my Galaxy S2, and some rants

I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
***EDIT***
Opera just downloaded 1600 messages by POP. Now, because of something K9 or the Nexus email client did, Opera lost track of which emails were new and I got 1600 duplicates. Am I doing things that wrong or does it just not work?
pelesl said:
I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are tons of keyboards, toggle apps and widgets and dialers in Google Play and XDA. Stop wining and start looking mate
Samsung packaged their apps such as dialers, keyboards, email clients and all the other stuff you like into the bloat called touchwiz. The vanilla android is lean without those bells and whistles. Like what the previous post said, explore the playstore. There are better apps there than what samsung packaged in the s2. You just need to explore..
Sent from my Nexus 4
2 and 3 are both 'fixed' in CM 10.1 - might be worth giving it a go...
im assuming your still on stock???
1. Not sure about the BCC...but there's a general email that you can use for non-gmail accounts....
2. can be easily solved with dialer mod....most roms comes with this feature
3. i havent been on stock for a while...but im sure Bluetooth toggle would be under quick pull down in the new 4.2.2. If not you can always flash another rom, which is better in my opinion since there are more toggle options.
Bottom line is...
Welcome to the forum (i see that your a new user)
and minor issues like these that can easily be solved on if you took the time to look on nexus 4 development section
Yes I agree with the post above. Try cm10.1 it's a way better alternative than stock. If you want more customization go with paranoid android or aokp rom. Nexus 4 is meant to be rooted! There's a sticky on how to root and unlock your bootloader. Very easy. Check out the screen shots in the post your screen shot section and see what other nexus 4 users have done with their phones. It's really an open playground
On stock 4.2.2 you can long press on Bluetooth and WiFi to toggle them on and off in the quick settings menu.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
gee2012 said:
There are tons of keyboards, toggle apps and widgets and dialers in Google Play and XDA. Stop wining and start looking mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
EddyOS said:
2 and 3 are both 'fixed' in CM 10.1 - might be worth giving it a go...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what CM is, but it strikes me as some third party firmware (or is it just a collection of changes to Android)? Is there a "tutorial" page that explains the layers and what they are called?
ugotproblemz said:
... if you took the time to look on nexus 4 development section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean on this forum?
3. Just download "widgetsoid" app, which implements quick toggles in your notification bar much like Samsung's touch wiz feature.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
pelesl said:
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pelesl said:
I don't know what CM is, but it strikes me as some third party firmware (or is it just a collection of changes to Android)? Is there a "tutorial" page that explains the layers and what they are called?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pelesl said:
You mean on this forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Look at what I'm magically doing here. It's called multi-quote. Learn how to use it.
2. You came here essentially asking for advice. When someone gives you some advice (even if it's not what you wanted to hear) you don't start being rude to them with no valid reason.
3. Hey, here's an idea. If you don't know what CM is (seriously? ) then Google it. There is a 'tutorial' page, it's the first Google result for cyanogenmod.
4. Where else would he be talking about other than on this forum? It doesn't take a genius to navigate to the dev section and check out some of the available ROMs.
5. As for the bluetooth toggle, it takes a swipe down then a click. No more than was needed on TouchWiz.
6. There are tonnes of third party dialers available with T9, pick one and install it. You can almost certainly get a Holo theme for whichever one you choose as well. If you're really that desperate and need it to be within the stock app, flash a custom ROM.
The key is that stock Android is about as lean as you can get. Rather than give you every conceivable bell and whistle, you get a blank slate and the ability to customize everything to YOUR desire, and not Samsung's or HTC's.
Everything you're asking about is available through various apps that are easily installed and just as easily reversed if you don't like them.
Ignore the people telling you to flash roms and stuff like that, those are options for the hobbyists. If you decide to start playing around with the Android system you can make a lot of fun changes, but it's not necessary on the Nexus.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
pelesl said:
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was useful, you have to try and find answers for your question on your own initialy. This is not kindergarten where people hold your hand and tell you everything you want to know. If after searching well enough you can`t get an answer or solution to your problem, then you post your question in the Q&A thread.
Thank you for wasting my time. And btw it is post 3425 and not 3245.
gee2012, I thought your initial reply was pretty rude too. You seem to have a zillion posts which would indicate you have been here for a while but you must have been a noob once yourself and asked questions. Yes I know the search function is our friend but sometimes just asking a question is the best way to go because it also generates other things. I, for example, didn't know about wigitsoid until I hooked into this thread.
To the original poster, I have the following advice. Read up averything you can on what can be done with this phone. I, like you, came to one from a Galaxy S2. Had it 2 days and sold it. I was disappointed that the so called 4.7 inch screen was in fact smaller than that of my S2 because of the soft buttons. The colour saturation was gash and the camera really was a disappointment. I then went for an S3, Note, Note 2, Lumia 920 and chopped my company Blackberry SIM into an iPhone 4S. I was changing phones faster than most people change underwear....... But all the while I hung out here and read what was going on. Couple of weeks ago I sold the Note 2 and bought another 16GB Nexus 4.
I have flashed the Paranoid Android contrasty kernel and the screen is now 'alive". I installed the Full Screen Toggle app and Button Savior app and now I have the full glory of the 4.7 inch screen. I'm running Launcher8 which gives me and even better live tile system that WP 8.
Got a nice leather flip case which I had to hack and slash to invert as everything seems to open down instead of up like in the old days (think of how the "Beam me up Scotty" communicator flipped open).
Tried most of the enhanced camera apps but sadly the camera still doesn't meet my expectations, but other than that, the Nexus 4 went from a cheap..Meh!!!! phone to being the "Dogs Bolloxs"
Hang in there fella and get flashing
pelesl said:
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you long press the full stop (period) key, a comma will appear. Now you can use commas again
That said, all you need is an empty day and a few hours to play around with the phone to get yourself familiar with it. Then you'll love it more than your S2.
pelesl said:
I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
***EDIT***
Opera just downloaded 1600 messages by POP. Now, because of something K9 or the Nexus email client did, Opera lost track of which emails were new and I got 1600 duplicates. Am I doing things that wrong or does it just not work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For number 3, swipe down the notification tray with 2 fingers at the same time, which takes you to "quick settings". Then long press on the bluetooth icon to turn on or off. For punctuation, long press on the period key and a little pop up will appear with several frequently used punctuation marks. slide to the one you one and let go. easy peasy
pelesl said:
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Swiftkey from the Play store. Great keyboard, I can even have arrow keys. It has a comma left of the space bar, a full stop to the right.
Its autocorrect even gets apostrophes right pretty much all of the time (without the need to type them!). It has a British English dictionary available. Mind you, it is QWERTY not QUERTY in British layout.
I've got emoji (extended smileys) in Handcent, my texting app, but even that only has a smiling old man. Sorry can't help there.
Don't these people ever watch that YouTube video when they signed up at xda-devs?
/sage
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Quote needabottle:
gee2012, I thought your initial reply was pretty rude too. You seem to have a zillion posts which would indicate you have been here for a while but you must have been a noob once yourself and asked questions. Yes I know the search function is our friend but sometimes just asking a question is the best way to go because it also generates other things. I, for example, didn't know about wigitsoid until I hooked into this thread.
If i would be ranting in all my posts i would be banned 20 times allready. What irritates me is that some users don`t even make an effort to look in Google Play,XDA or on Google search and just post a question for an easy service. You can check all my posts and see i try to help users, And yes i was a noob too when i started with android, but searching and trying gets you a long way. If you are realy stuck or don`t know whta to do then you post a question.

New to WMP 8. Some basic questions.

Finally after four long years with ios i have thought of trying windows phone 8 and have taken a Lumia 820. Now some basic things i am not able to find and am really having problem.
1) How do i do a rotation lock? Every time i pickup the phone, the screen will rotate. I cannot read while laying down in bed as the screen constantly will rotate.
2) How do i take screenshot?
3) How to find out how much data is used?
4) Is it only me, i feel the app store is very kiddish and unprofessional
5) I am sure more question will follow as i explore.
Thanks in advance.
I don't know if has an rotation Look,
For an screen shoot press Windows Button an on/off. To find out the Data was used going to the settings/info.
Sent from my Lumia 930 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
xtrose said:
I don't know if has an rotation Look,
For an screen shoot press Windows Button an on/off. To find out the Data was used going to the settings/info.
Sent from my Lumia 930 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it was the Windows button + the camera button?
I ve got a UC Browser it has a "Lock" option. When you set it on the screen doesn't rotate. I also use phone in example in bed and this option is very useful
Sent from my Lumia 820 using Board Express
Sent from my RM-826_im_india_201 using Board Express
the_rahul_009 said:
1) How do i do a rotation lock? Every time i pickup the phone, the screen will rotate. I cannot read while laying down in bed as the screen constantly will rotate.
2) How do i take screenshot?
3) How to find out how much data is used?
4) Is it only me, i feel the app store is very kiddish and unprofessional
5) I am sure more question will follow as i explore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Not implemented at OS-level. Applications can do rotation lock on their own via application-specific settings.
2) Press start (button with windows logo) + power buttons at same time. Screnshot will be available from "Photos" app.
3) "Settings" -> "Phone storage"
4) Yes it is. Short development time, lack of QA etc. They will improve over time, probably.
eyeofhell said:
3) "Settings" -> "Phone storage"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was looking for internet data usage.. I have not found any app yet :|
the_rahul_009 said:
I was looking for internet data usage.. I have not found any app yet :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, Windows 8 do not provide any functionality or public API for this. You can use your carrier's commands (like "*100#" etc) to get details on traffic usage, costs etc.
Data Sense
the_rahul_009 said:
I was looking for internet data usage.. I have not found any app yet :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows Phone on the Nokia has an app called the Data Sense to keep track of your data Usage check it out!!
eyeofhell said:
1) Not implemented at OS-level. Applications can do rotation lock on their own via application-specific settings.
2) Press start (button with windows logo) + power buttons at same time. Screnshot will be available from "Photos" app.
3) "Settings" -> "Phone storage"
4) Yes it is. Short development time, lack of QA etc. They will improve over time, probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure you are trolling or not with #4. There is more QA than Android.
In my Lumia 920, take a screenshot is Windows button and power button!
Not Windows button and camera button!
I can´t find the Nokia app names data sense!
Is this app not available in Germany, T-Mobil???
xtrose said:
In my Lumia 920, take a screenshot is Windows button and power button!
Not Windows button and camera button!
I can´t find the Nokia app names data sense!
Is this app not available in Germany, T-Mobil???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even i can't find.. looks like its verizon only app.
xtrose said:
In my Lumia 920, take a screenshot is Windows button and power button!
Not Windows button and camera button!
I can´t find the Nokia app names data sense!
Is this app not available in Germany, T-Mobil???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use counters from nokia.
Same Boat.....additional questions
I'm a long time Android user and looking to move over to WP8 after my experiences w/ my Surface Pro. Thinking using W8 on my comp and laptop, it would only make sense to use the same interface on my phone. That being said, I've searched the WP8 store and find the bulk of what I'd need in apps, but I know I'll miss the customizing aspects of Android.
I have a few questions that maybe some experienced WP users can answer for me to ease my concerns......
1. How different is WP8 from W8? I know they look the same, but do you control them the same? Do you swipe down for menus, from the left for last app, etc? I'm hoping they do work the same, I'm beginning to really like W8.
2. My phone is my central hub for daily life, the alarm clock is no exception. I've gotten used to my phone going silent every weeknight at 10 except for the phone and alarm (emails, texts, etc make no noise and the LED doesn't blink). Can this be done on WP8? Somehow the thought of my phone beeping all night as emails come in is a turnoff.
3. Speaking of notifications, do most of the WP8 phones have LED's? The one I'm looking at now (Nokia Lumia 920) never mentions the lack of one or it's presence.
4. Another notifications question. Can you have dedicated ringtones for contacts or companies? Seperate tones for different emails (exchange, gmail, yahoo, etc.)?
5. How integrated are things like Box or Dropbox and sharing? I see SkyDrive mentioned each time, which makes sense because it's the MS equivelant, but others in my company will be sticking with their iPhones or Android devices, so Dropbox is a must and Box is really needed. Can I upload from within each program as convienlently as Android? As example, I take a picture of a reciept for expenses with MDScan, when I'm done labeling it, I can upload it from within MDScan to any of these: Bluetooth, Box, Drive, Dropbox, email, Gmail, etc.
Is there anything else a business phone user will miss coming from Android to WP8?
Thanks in advance, looking forward to doing some more reading and hopefully taking the plunge!
MonkeyTime said:
I'm a long time Android user and looking to move over to WP8 after my experiences w/ my Surface Pro. Thinking using W8 on my comp and laptop, it would only make sense to use the same interface on my phone. That being said, I've searched the WP8 store and find the bulk of what I'd need in apps, but I know I'll miss the customizing aspects of Android.
I have a few questions that maybe some experienced WP users can answer for me to ease my concerns......
1. How different is WP8 from W8? I know they look the same, but do you control them the same? Do you swipe down for menus, from the left for last app, etc? I'm hoping they do work the same, I'm beginning to really like W8.
2. My phone is my central hub for daily life, the alarm clock is no exception. I've gotten used to my phone going silent every weeknight at 10 except for the phone and alarm (emails, texts, etc make no noise and the LED doesn't blink). Can this be done on WP8? Somehow the thought of my phone beeping all night as emails come in is a turnoff.
3. Speaking of notifications, do most of the WP8 phones have LED's? The one I'm looking at now (Nokia Lumia 920) never mentions the lack of one or it's presence.
4. Another notifications question. Can you have dedicated ringtones for contacts or companies? Seperate tones for different emails (exchange, gmail, yahoo, etc.)?
5. How integrated are things like Box or Dropbox and sharing? I see SkyDrive mentioned each time, which makes sense because it's the MS equivelant, but others in my company will be sticking with their iPhones or Android devices, so Dropbox is a must and Box is really needed. Can I upload from within each program as convienlently as Android? As example, I take a picture of a reciept for expenses with MDScan, when I'm done labeling it, I can upload it from within MDScan to any of these: Bluetooth, Box, Drive, Dropbox, email, Gmail, etc.
Is there anything else a business phone user will miss coming from Android to WP8?
Thanks in advance, looking forward to doing some more reading and hopefully taking the plunge!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cant answer #1, don't know W8 yet, but wanting to!
Regarding #2, there is no setting or app that I know that schedules a sound setting time (do not disturb) I have to go in and tell my phone to silence whenever I go to bed. The alarm will still work even if silenced, just notifications won't make any noise.
#3, yes, they have LED's, but not to notify you of anything more than your phone is charging. At least thats so on the 8X.
#4, yes and no. You can have individual ringtones for people in your contact list, but not individual text or emails.
And don't know about #5, I use skydrive exclusively.
jerrya said:
Cant answer #1, don't know W8 yet, but wanting to!
Regarding #2, there is no setting or app that I know that schedules a sound setting time (do not disturb) I have to go in and tell my phone to silence whenever I go to bed. The alarm will still work even if silenced, just notifications won't make any noise.
#3, yes, they have LED's, but not to notify you of anything more than your phone is charging. At least thats so on the 8X.
#4, yes and no. You can have individual ringtones for people in your contact list, but not individual text or emails.
And don't know about #5, I use skydrive exclusively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, those are all good starts. I know I'll be fine without a lot of the little customized tweeks I've gotten used to, but have this ingrained fear of the unkwown. I am looking forward to a phone that works, consistantly!

Very 1st Things to do After Activation?

Hi everyone, just got my N3 last night and I am pretty excited about it.
I am a long time Mac Rumors member and my past phones have been ...... JB 3g, JB 3gs, JB 4, JB 4s
I am very upset with the tiny screens on my iphones and I refuse to wait another year for the 6 to come out.
So now I am a 1st time Android user and what to really check out the Android scene.
What are the first things I should do with the phone, what should I install right away? (different keyboards, apps, etc)
Is there a thread around here with tutes instructing how to transfer my contacts etc?
I surely will appreciate all replies, so thanks in advance. I really wanna get the very MOST out of this device.
edit: does Google Play offer any rebates/coupons/freebies for newly purchased devices?
Hey I would use smart switch to get your things from iPhone to your new phone but that is after you have it activated
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using xda app-developers app
XiphoneUzer said:
Hi everyone, just got my N3 last night and I am pretty excited about it.
I am a long time Mac Rumors member and my past phones have been ...... JB 3g, JB 3gs, JB 4, JB 4s
I am very upset with the tiny screens on my iphones and I refuse to wait another year for the 6 to come out.
So now I am a 1st time Android user and what to really check out the Android scene.
My N3 arrived Wednesday evening, and it's STILL not activated, (and its killing me).
The reason being, I wanna know if there is anything I should do BEFORE I call ATT and activate it.
(I do NOT want to close any windows, so is there is anything you folks recommend I do before I activate it)?
Once activated, what are the first things I should do with the phone, what should I install right away?
Is there a thread around here with tutes instructing how to transfer my contacts etc?
I surely will appreciate all replies, so thanks in advance. I really wanna get the very MOST out of this device.
edit: does Google Play offer any rebates/coupons/freebies for newly purchased devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by call ATT and activate it? All you have to do is put your SIM card in and it is ready to go with a few account setups. After that it is up to you except for rooting and modding. Cant be done right now without voiding your warranty.
First thing you do is scratch off the att emblem since they locked the bootloader
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
XiphoneUzer said:
Once activated, what are the first things I should do with the phone, what should I install right away?
Is there a thread around here with tutes instructing how to transfer my contacts etc?
I surely will appreciate all replies, so thanks in advance. I really wanna get the very MOST out of this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello?
Looking for some help here. This keyboard is way different than iphone, is it something you get used to, or should I install something else?
Please tell me what are some of the things I should change/install right away, (there's got to be some "must haves" no?)
XiphoneUzer said:
Hello?
Looking for some help here. This keyboard is way different than iphone, is it something you get used to, or should I install something else?
Please tell me what are some of the things I should change/install right away, (there's got to be some "must haves" no?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the keyboard, i prefer the google keyboard over the samsung one. It provides functionality similar to the iphone and is easy to switch between the iphone and android if you use them both in daily life.
As for apps, here is a small list of apps i like to have on all of my devices.
GOOGLE CHROME. Its much better than the built in browser and is able to synchronize with my desktop browsers favorites, etc.
Skype: Perfect for if you are travelling over seas at all with your device.
Google Hangouts: A good replacement for the built in SMS app.
Facebook & Twitter: If you need an explanation, you shouldn't be useing these apps.
Battery Doctor by KS Mobile: Simple app, but is helpful to save battery life and know exactly how much you have left.
Google Music: I have most of my library stored on google so it makes my life easy to have this.
Google Books: The book equivalent of my music library. Syncronizes what i have read across devices and browsers.
Kindle for Android: For the ebooks you buy on amazon.
Google Keep: Great for taking quick notes and having them on all your devices.
Dropbox: Great cloud file storage. Comes with free storage and you can pay to get more.
Google Drive: Google version of dropbox.
MX Player: This video player will play any video format you throw at it.
Google Maps: A must have for all smartphone users.
Zedge: While its quality has gone down a fair bit from what it once was, its still a great place to find ringtones and notification sounds for your android device.
GPS Status: Great for calibrating your devices sensors and ensuring that it works properly.
Now for the ROOT ONLY apps.
Titanium backup
SuperSU
Triangle Away
Hopefully this is a useful list to get you started. I have all these plus many more installed on my devices, and I find I use them all fairly regularly.
djdelusional said:
Skype: Perfect for if you are travelling over seas at all with your device.
Google Hangouts: A good replacement for the built in SMS app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer Hangouts to Skype because Hangouts features free video multi-chat.
But I use Google Voice for SMS because it provides free unlimited texting. Hangouts insists on using the phone's native number rather than your Google Voice number, so you have to pay extra for a text plan or for individual messages.
Doesn't anyone else have any advice for a first time Android user?
XiphoneUzer said:
Doesn't anyone else have any advice for a first time Android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If your new to android I'd stay away from root for a while.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I467 using Tapatalk 4
XiphoneUzer said:
Hello?
Looking for some help here. This keyboard is way different than iphone, is it something you get used to, or should I install something else?
Please tell me what are some of the things I should change/install right away, (there's got to be some "must haves" no?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel like for every-day typical phone use cases, there aren't that many gaps that stand out as needing to be filled by a third party app. You'll probably need a new music player, the defaults are crapola - but I can't be much help here; I keep my music as folders full of MP3 files (like God intended!) and play with Music Folder Player, and shun the dirty S&M ("sync and manage") apps.
There's a big list of stuff that I did when I first got the phone to get it to where I'm happy with it, but all of this was root required stuff. There are apps that come pre-loaded on android devices and can't be removed or disabled without root. Also, customizing stuff that can't be customized without root. I couldn't abide by some of the not-changable-without-root defaults. Getting rid of the "screen turns on so you can unlock it when you hit the home key" behavior is probably the most glaring example for me; my ass* was unlocking it constantly - but coming from iPhone, you probably view that as the Right Thing for home button to do.
I think most people use a custom keyboard. Swiftkey and Swype are the most popular. The phone comes with Swype, but it's an ancient version with limited support for changing the dictionary, you want the newest one.
I use Hangouts for gchat, but not for SMS. I actually prefer default app for SMS..
Settings:
Pull down status bar, long press on wifi, WiFi -> menu -> advanced settings, uncheck auto connect to AT&T hotspots (unless they don't suck where you are. Around here, they often don't have internet behind them, and just break your connectivity for the 30 seconds or so it takes for the phone to connect to them, determine that the wifi is no good, and fall back to 4G. At least this phone does that; Original note would just sit there like a fool trying to use non-functional wifi... I've also yet to find a hotspot that performs better than the 4G does. But I live in a city, so the situation may be different elsewhere).
Pull down status bar, long press on GPS. Uncheck "Use wireless networks" - on newer versions of android, this drains battery while idle; the damned thing wakes the phone periodically to check the networks around it - if the phone is nearly idle, this can halve battery life (!!!)
Pull down status bar, swipe to the left along the options at the top (woah, did you know you could do that?), tap multiwindow to enable multiwindow (this was a headline feature for the note 3, but comes disabled by default). If I long-press back button, that makes the multiwindow tab hide or unhide (once it's enabled), but I don't remember if I had to do something to get this behavior.
General must-have things:
AppOps Starter (to kill permissions from apps that request permissions you don't want to give them)
Battery Monitor Widget (gives you a realtime readout of battery usage)
ES File Explorer
If you want to pretty-ize clock + weather widgets:
DigiClock
Eye in Sky
If you work in IT or have need of these (if you aren't sure what these mean, you don't need them ):
ConnectBot (telnet/ssh client)
AndFTP (ftp/sftp client, supports scp if you pay)
RDP Client (remote desktop and VNC client)
FEAT VPN (OpenVPN client)
Hacker's Keyboard (you'll tear your hair out trying to use swype/swiftkey for terminal sessions or RDP)
If you want to root the phone:
Root it, then immediately install titanium backup and "freeze" AT&T software update, so it won't update your phone (breaking root) while you're not looking
Titanium Backup - freeze all the useless bloatware that AT&T and Samsung included (there's a list of what apps you can freeze here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmzC8GFarItSdGpOZzBfWlR4MC03aDMyZ1BDUFNqU0E - not my work)
Root Explorer
Pen Window Manager for adding apps to the pen window feature
Xposed Framework
Wanam - general huge amount of customization, including selecting apps for multiwindow.
Keyboard Manager (almost a necessity if you use ConnectBot/RDP frequently - keyboards designed for messaging and such are garbage for doing administration of non-phone systems, while hacker's keyboard is garbage for messaging and everyday phone stuff)
Terminal Emulator (gives you a command prompt on phone. Doesn't require root, but there are very few use cases for terminal on android that don't also need root)
*Well, I keep it in my front pocket, so technically it wasn't my /ass/ unlocking the phone....

Your thoughts on Android 5.0?

So the finial version has come out. Im sure a lot of you guys have updated to it. Plus a lot of you have been using the Dev version along the way.
What are your guys thoughts?
I like the the new version but also there are still tons of things are are bugging the *poop* out of me.
I thought this was going to be "THE" version that appeased almost all android fans. Fixed a lot the issues since 2.3 while bringing a lot of new features.
1st the things i dont like.
1. Battery % WHY THE *heck* do we still not have an option to turn on a battery % next to the battery icon?????!!!!!!!
2. Hangouts picture (when syncing with FB) not always showing up bug is still present.
3. I like the new light colors with white and grey but why did they choose that color of teal. Im not super excited about that but i do like the white backgrounds.
4. Multitask menu. I dont like how EVERYTHING is in there. And why do we STILL NOT HAVE A CLEAR ALL
5. Google Now launcher. I like it and dont like it. Dont like how everything is so big and dont like how i cant have the middle space be my default. But Nova fixed that. Plus im rooted so i changed my DPI
6. Battery life. Ive only used it for 1 day (going on 1 day) but it seems my battery life is worse then on 4.4.4
7. Battery menu. Dont like anything about it.
Things i do like.
1. Material design (in most places) animations and universal layout for apps is nice.
2. Lockscreen notifications although i dont like how EVERYTHING is on there but im still messing with the menu for this feature.
Im still playing with it and im sure it will get better as apps update (what took them so long) but over all im kinda disappointed with the amount of hype 5.0 got.
Same here, like it but meh it's not there yet, hoping for apps updates etc. And my battery life is slightly worse too
I like it so far, but smart lock seems buggy as hell. I've got my Moto 360 set up as a trusted device, and even went so far as to set up face unlock, and still, I'm prompted for a passcode more often than not. There really needs to be a rescan option -- or, better yet, just make it work like it's supposed to.
Battery life seems worse for me too but I will give it another few days before really making that decision
Make sure you turn WiFi always scanning off. I am getting better than the Dev preview because of the fixed WiFi drain bug. I like it though.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
You cant know anything about battery one day after update, after update system still need some time to "sit on place" and its drains battery.
Where is material design music. Sadly it doesn't animate when I press the play button. I really like what was was shown in the demo .
jt3 said:
I like it so far, but smart lock seems buggy as hell. I've got my Moto 360 set up as a trusted device, and even went so far as to set up face unlock, and still, I'm prompted for a passcode more often than not. There really needs to be a rescan option -- or, better yet, just make it work like it's supposed to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my moto 360 set up as a trusted device and I never need to unlock my phone. Only on reboot. rest of the time works perfectly.
Im not using face unlock though.
hmmm...
i don't like how you'not able to delete multiple contacts + separation of the phone numbers from the emails.
photos app gather all the jpg files that are in the sdcard which kinda sucks (dude, i don't need my album art in my photo gallery.) + you need Google+ enabled to be able to just look at the photos.
multitask is OMG.... really really nice effect but damn, is there any real need to "mark" every menu page i open? (oh, where's the "clear all" button?)
camera is ok but there is no 0.03 seconds of the new API. pictures are taken as slow as before.
material design is not bad but it shines on multiple layers only.
keyboard is really cool looking and although it'll take some time to get used to "button-less buttons" i do like it.
and battery, well, i can't say since it's only 1 day of use.
still, i think it's going to be ok (i still hate those wakelocks though... ) and last but not least, Chrome... i still miss "text wrapping" that's why i use Opera
all in all, i don't hate it, i'm not thrilled about it but i'm sure it'll "grow on me".
UI looks definitely great,performance and battery haven't improved, nor got worse. But it's too early to comment on that.
No toggle in quick settings to cycle through sound modes(sound/silent,vibrate), dafuq Google? I'm certainly missing Xposed.
very annoyed about the removal of the stock email app, i dont want to comingle gmail and my work stuff.
gjw00 said:
very annoyed about the removal of the stock email app, i dont want to comingle gmail and my work stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can DL the stock email app from the play store now
Really? I cant find it. Ended buying 'nine'
I really like having all my emails in gmail app. First day of use, I'm going to get 4hrs sot without messing with settings. It runs really smooth with hells kernel. I would like the pull downs yo have more options, but all in all, I'm happy.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
#sharath said:
UI looks definitely great,performance and battery haven't improved, nor got worse. But it's too early to comment on that.
No toggle in quick settings to cycle through sound modes(sound/silent,vibrate), dafuq Google? I'm certainly missing Xposed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's one of my main nits as well.
I've used Power Toggles for quite a while now. Short simple and to the point and it lets me toggle between sound vibrate or silent settings easily.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc
Not my app but one I swear by.
not available in australia. jesus christ
jt3 said:
I like it so far, but smart lock seems buggy as hell. I've got my Moto 360 set up as a trusted device, and even went so far as to set up face unlock, and still, I'm prompted for a passcode more often than not. There really needs to be a rescan option -- or, better yet, just make it work like it's supposed to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't had to enter my PIN once since I set up smart lock with my 360 and face yesterday. Works great!
You can't use the Photos app if you disable the Google+ app. So.... now I have to open the camera app and scroll through my pictures one by one to view them. Super!
I kinda don't like it.
1: The color scheme is not consistent throughout, which really irritates me. While you spend most of your time in a launcher (I use Nova pesonally) or in apps, some of those apps are system apps, and it seems like almost all of them have had color changes, they don't look good and don't even make sense.
2: Some of the features are cool, and even sound great...but they are commonly riddled with "omg, no way!" points of frustration. Smart-lock...would be AWESOME if it would just freaking work when connected to a specific wifi network! For example...in prior versions I had used tasker and secure settings to disable the lock screen and have a significantly longer screen timeout whenever I was connected to my home wifi. Tasker works just fine for the other things I use it for, such as reading my text messages outloud...but only when I'm connected to my home wifi or headphones. But the pin lock errors out, every single time. Root works, tasker and secure settings are configured exactly as they were before, and they both even have administrative rights. It still fails every time, and I get the toast message pop up. I wonder if it is because Google is worried that your neighbor might name their wifi network to the same as yours is, and have it be an open network so when they steal your phone they would automatically be able to get into it. If that is the case...well, that should be easy to fix, one make the service only work with password protected networks, and I'm also sure they could just only have it work when the network name is also reporting the same mac address. But I digress.
3: Lightflow. Ugh, enough said. You might say this is not a lollipop specific thing, but the guy posted an inquiry on this on the support thread since it was an complication with the new notification system, and they responded back saying they fixed it, and it has still not been pushed out by Google yet!
4: I find myself unable to quickly remove notifications from the lock screen and even when the phone is unlocked in some instances. For example, if I am copying lots of individual files over wifi from my computer, and there are multiple "copied" notifications as a result, the first few can be swiped away, but the rest can't! I have to click on them, and then close it. Kinda annoying.
5: One of the only reasons why I really wanted Lollipop were for the improvements to the lockscreen notifications. I envisioned being able to stop using dashclock entirely, and also having an all around easier time with notifications while the phone was locked. Nope! Sure, the basic functionality is good, I can read text messages without an app for it, and that's great...but I have to say I really miss having the unlock ability from just turning the phone on and swiping. Now I have to turn the phone on, press the padlock to get the phone to switch to the pattern lock, then do the pattern lock. That extra step is really quite annoying for me. I'd prefer to have the "extra step" be to SEE THE NOTIFICATIONS. You know, just like how it used to be with dashclock. (You would know you had a notification by the little icon right next to the time and you would swipe down from there to read them) Maybe I'm crazy, but I unlock my phone a lot more often than I have notifications to read. Especially since I can't get the pinlock automatic toggle to work when I am connected to my home wifi!
6: Most lock screen icons are blocked...and for good reason. But some of them are not. For example, in power toggles I have always used an icon that automatically makes a 14 minute timer, and another one for 29 minutes. I use this for my breaks at work of course. (The icon triggers a task in the "Trigger" app that does this) This works from the lockscreen...which sounds great because I can set that timer without having to unlock my phone...but it has also been deactivated by mistake when the phone was in my pocket. Ugh!
7: I don't like the "swipe down" from either the lock screen or from notifications bar option. A lot of this is because I am really used to using powertoggles for this, and this duplicates a lot of that functionality, but
I knew this was going to happen, I have been complaining about software "improvements" at work for the last year and a half. If something is working, don't break it!
---------- Post added at 09:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 PM ----------
svanheulen said:
You can't use the Photos app if you disable the Google+ app. So.... now I have to open the camera app and scroll through my pictures one by one to view them. Super!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out Quickpic. I've been using it for ages, and it has always been amazing. It's super fast, very customizable...and just plain works!
gtg465x said:
I haven't had to enter my PIN once since I set up smart lock with my 360 and face yesterday. Works great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've figured out the issue. I use "Gravity Screen" to shut my device down when I put it in my pocket. It seems that if Gravity Screen puts the device into standby, it also locks the screen in such a way that Smart Lock is disabled. Since that's normally how I shut off my device, I was seeing this almost every time. I'm hoping that the dev can fix this, because I'm really not used to touching my power button.
On another note. I wouldn't mind the email integration with Gmail, except that there's no way to label my various Exchange accounts. I have two separate Exchange accounts that I must monitor, and both simply show as a random-colored circle with a letter "J" (which is the first letter of each email address). I can't even change the color to something that would help distinguish the accounts. I just have to remember that random-color-J #1 equals one account, and random-color-J #2 equals another. It's very annoying. A combined inbox certainly wouldn't hurt, either.

Categories

Resources