Database Develop

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.

[Q] Galaxy S5 vs Iphone 5s thoughts.

Hi,
I have been an IOS user for quite a while, with brief excursions into Android land usually without much success. I am trying hard this time because I actually prefer a lot of things about Android (specifically the S5) ... less restrictive, removable battery, storage etc..
However some of the things I really struggle with and wonder if anybody has any answers before are listed below !
Lock screen preview of mail and txt's , I have downloaded an app called NILS but it seems to be such a hack and is not very seamless, anybody else have a better suggestions?
Bluetooth, when I get in my car , the phone starts playing the last thing i was listening to , that's fine & is similar to the iPhone, however the iPhone knows the difference between a call and music and if I turn the car off and get out , it switches off the music (but does not hang up calls). The S5 just carries on playing whatever i was listening to. I cannot find any way of changing this behaviour (any ideas ?).
Quick access to search, with the iPhone you swipe from the top and type the first couple of letters of an app to run it , sometimes this is really useful. The closest i have found is to go into the pull down notification bar and click sfinder... yeuch , any better ideas?
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Do not disturb mode, (blocking) , well its crap on the S5 compared to the Iphone. None of the functionality that i am used to such as letting repeated calls through and setting specific schedules is available. I have downloaded an app called do not disturb which does most of this stuff but i am sure this is also contributing to lag and memory usage. Also annoyingly it does not return the phone to the state it was in before it activated do not disturb. What do i mean by this ? I am the kind of person that has my phone on silent 99% of the time with vibrate, when do not disturb is active i want all vibrations and screen alters disabled (it does this) , but when coming out of do not disturb it switches the phone to full sounds on.
I am trying not to be down, there is a lot to like with this phone and if I could resolve some of the above I would be much happier with it.
Hope to hear some of your suggestions.

Acdisplay for lockscreen. Used it on on RAZR Maxx but not yet on my s5
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app

zero66 said:
Acdisplay for lockscreen. Used it on on RAZR Maxx but not yet on my s5
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I will try that.

Download Apex launcher or any other launchers for lag problem, put in mind that Android uses more ram and cpu processing than IOS, that's why they keep on increasing ram, also turn off as much bloatware (apps came with phone) as possible, another very useful tip is to turn of your phone every day for few mins like your computer this will clear ram.
Welcome to the future

Don't use task killers. They don't help. Android will automatically kill off apps when it needs to. Task killers will kill off apps that will be autostarted again and this becomes a loop leading to lag and battery drain.

Hellscythe said:
Don't use task killers. They don't help. Android will automatically kill off apps when it needs to. Task killers will kill off apps that will be autostarted again and this becomes a loop leading to lag and battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh thanks for this , I will try that.

Lockscreen preview of text and mails is already in touchwiz you just have to switch it on so it will show you the preview via settings.
For quick access to applications long press on the home button will bring you google now and from there you can open your apps easily.

noideaforusername said:
Lockscreen preview of text and mails is already in touchwiz you just have to switch it on so it will show you the preview via settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes for the messaging app, however I use a third party app for email, (nine), this does not seem to support this. Anyway my use case is that when my phone is lying on the desk and mails / sms etc come in , I would like it to wake up briefly and display a preview so that I can decide to ignore it or continue on with whatever it is that i was doing. NILs does this quite well, but seems like a bit of a hack.
noideaforusername said:
For quick access to applications long press on the home button will bring you google now and from there you can open your apps easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works fairly well.

mah123 said:
Hi,
I have been an IOS user for quite a while, with brief excursions into Android land usually without much success. I am trying hard this time because I actually prefer a lot of things about Android (specifically the S5) ... less restrictive, removable battery, storage etc..
However some of the things I really struggle with and wonder if anybody has any answers before are listed below !
Lock screen preview of mail and txt's , I have downloaded an app called NILS but it seems to be such a hack and is not very seamless, anybody else have a better suggestions?
Bluetooth, when I get in my car , the phone starts playing the last thing i was listening to , that's fine & is similar to the iPhone, however the iPhone knows the difference between a call and music and if I turn the car off and get out , it switches off the music (but does not hang up calls). The S5 just carries on playing whatever i was listening to. I cannot find any way of changing this behaviour (any ideas ?).
Quick access to search, with the iPhone you swipe from the top and type the first couple of letters of an app to run it , sometimes this is really useful. The closest i have found is to go into the pull down notification bar and click sfinder... yeuch , any better ideas?
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Do not disturb mode, (blocking) , well its crap on the S5 compared to the Iphone. None of the functionality that i am used to such as letting repeated calls through and setting specific schedules is available. I have downloaded an app called do not disturb which does most of this stuff but i am sure this is also contributing to lag and memory usage. Also annoyingly it does not return the phone to the state it was in before it activated do not disturb. What do i mean by this ? I am the kind of person that has my phone on silent 99% of the time with vibrate, when do not disturb is active i want all vibrations and screen alters disabled (it does this) , but when coming out of do not disturb it switches the phone to full sounds on.
I am trying not to be down, there is a lot to like with this phone and if I could resolve some of the above I would be much happier with it.
Hope to hear some of your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

thegrants82 said:
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely disagree. I love my S5 and the HW integration.
But each to their own.

mah123 said:
Yes for the messaging app, however I use a third party app for email, (nine), this does not seem to support this. Anyway my use case is that when my phone is lying on the desk and mails / sms etc come in , I would like it to wake up briefly and display a preview so that I can decide to ignore it or continue on with whatever it is that i was doing. NILs does this quite well, but seems like a bit of a hack.
This works fairly well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install Push Bullet and be amazed. It mirrors any notifications on your phone onto your PC via chrome. That way you don't been to look at the phone. I work at a desk all day and can leave the phone where ever and always know if I have an SMS, call, email or anything else. Don't forget Google now also works with Chrome.

thegrants82 said:
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree a bit with your response. And that's why I am also checking out the Xperia Z1 Compact. Once you go from the Galaxy S5 to the Z1C you will notice a huge difference in speed for opening and closing apps. I am even using Nova launcher, google calendar and avoiding any TouchWiz apps, but still the lag is disappointing.

mah123 said:
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For lags, you should try to put off the opening of S voice with the home button, because when you press it, it wait for second press for opening s voice app... or not. My S5 is really smooth now, hope this gonna help you.

HitMile said:
For lags, you should try to put off the opening of S voice with the home button, because when you press it, it wait for second press for opening s voice app... or not. My S5 is really smooth now, hope this gonna help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this , yes I did this , made a difference.

@mah123 First step, do whatever you can to separate yourself from Apple products, for good this time. Just messin, but I'll continue on:
I see that you have a lot of little details you don't like about the S5/Android. Luckily, you're on the Android platform, where you can tweak just about anything you want. For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store. It's $3.49 but if you don't want to pay that just download the apk from Google search. Just make sure to get it from XDA or one of the apk blogs. With Tasker you can fix your bluetooth issue by detecting when bluetooth is detected and then use command pause music. Tasker should help you fix all your other issues as well. For email the easiest fix is to use a special color on your notification LED or specific vibrate pattern to know when you have email. You can also show an overlay using a "scene" (Tasker's definition of a popup or app window) on top of the lockscreen. Handy :thumbup: But if you need help using Tasker you can do a lot of things: there are plenty of guides all over the Internet, you can google search your problem with the word "tasker" at the end, you can PM me (yes, I'm friendly), you can ask a question over at the Tasker Noob thread here on XDA (I also monitor this thread and I will answer your questions there). Welcome to Android and have fun!
--
Say thanks if I was of help!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app

aarongillion63 said:
@mah123 First step, do whatever you can to separate yourself from Apple products, for good this time. Just messin, but I'll continue on:
I see that you have a lot of little details you don't like about the S5/Android. Luckily, you're on the Android platform, where you can tweak just about anything you want. For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Fantastic thanks !

I own both phones. In the last few years I have owned the latest Samsung and Apple flagships (iPhone 4 and Galaxy S2, iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4, and iPhone 5S and Galaxy S5).
Both platforms are great and they have their cons and pros.
I am an iOS Developer. I have my name in both Cydia tweaks and App Store. To be honest I felt in love with iOS when I used it for the first time. I like Android, but not as much as iOS yet.
I find the quality of iOS blows Android out of the water. Third app quality is much better on iOS than on Android, based on what I have seen. In terms of software in general, I think iOS is much better. It may be restrictive, but nothing that can't be beaten with jailbreak. Android's big plus is freedom and yes, I like customizing my phone.
In terms of hardware Samsung blows Apple out of the water. I love the camera and that it is Water Resistant. Design wise the iPhone looks prettier, but personally I don't care about those aesthetics.
The one thing I absolutely hate about most Android phones are the hardware buttons. When I type in landscape I keep hitting the sensitive buttons accidentally, many times this result in losing a wall of text I just typed (my palm hits the back button accidentally all the time). I wish these could be disabled when typing or that they could be replaced with software buttons.
Sent from my SM-G900H using XDA Free mobile app

There are many things that iOS does 'better' than android, or at least, its a mix of what people of become accustomed too and some are just better. So, when people do make the switch to android, or indeed WP etc, it can be an uphill struggle as those things that are 'better' are maybe less intuitive over on the android side.
However, you have to look at the bigger picture. Android is far far more customisable, even as stock. With the addition of TouchWiz and Sense etc, they bring a lot of features that in themselves are 'better' than iOS.
There are many people that go the other way (Android to iOS) and struggle with some of its inability to control and customise.
What I'm saying is.... give it time, and do not judge android on its lacking in one or two areas, try and look at it from a bigger perspective.
**When I say 'better'... I mean its what each individual sees as better, I'm not saying that it is**

aarongillion63 said:
For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store. It's $3.49 but if you don't want to pay that just download the apk from Google search. [ / QUOTE ]
Tasker is an excellent program. It should be paid for and not stolen.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

This is a very good discussion. I find that generally programmers favor Android because of it's similar OS structure to a PC (I'm talking about the coding behind it all and C/Java), and common consumers and Apple computer owners favor iOS. This is a generalization and personal opinion. I know there is the outlier of Apple programmers, I've tried to get into it myself, but my problem I've ran into is that Objective C is overly complicated, just to accomplish simple things. Anyway, even if you don't develop apps, you may favor Android as a coder thanks to Tasker. I've found myself addicted to Tasker as far as tweaking/programming goes, without the need to use Android SDK. Then, you can still export Tasker projects to apks if you want. Tasker can make a good visual-sdk app creation tool.
iresq said:
Tasker is an excellent program. It should be paid for and not stolen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. :thumbup:
Sent from my HTCONE using XDA Free mobile app

Glass control

So being very new to Glass (only got it on Wednesday 25/06) it is my understanding that the firmware after 16 disabled the 'normal' control via the touched? So versions after this are only capable of back and scroll?
Is there anyway of configuring a program like Remodriod or Tablet Remote so you can use the controls from your phone on Glass? Might sound silly as you could just say use your phone for what your doing but I was more thinking of using it to control the likes of YouTube so I log in and obtain my play lists, also it would stop the need to plug in for control via ADB, for which as a newbie to ADB I'm struggling with commands.
I was playing around with Remodriod and it asked me to set the input in Language and input, for which it didn't pop up like it did on my phone, I assume it is because there is no native option for this on Glass and therefore couldn't obtain the screen for it? Would I need to install the language and input options? Of so where can I get it from?
Has anyone else tried this idea?
Regards
Giles

GiGoVX said:
So being very new to Glass (only got it on Wednesday 25/06) it is my understanding that the firmware after 16 disabled the 'normal' control via the touched? So versions after this are only capable of back and scroll?
Is there anyway of configuring a program like Remodriod or Tablet Remote so you can use the controls from your phone on Glass? Might sound silly as you could just say use your phone for what your doing but I was more thinking of using it to control the likes of YouTube so I log in and obtain my play lists, also it would stop the need to plug in for control via ADB, for which as a newbie to ADB I'm struggling with commands.
I was playing around with Remodriod and it asked me to set the input in Language and input, for which it didn't pop up like it did on my phone, I assume it is because there is no native option for this on Glass and therefore couldn't obtain the screen for it? Would I need to install the language and input options? Of so where can I get it from?
Has anyone else tried this idea?
Regards
Giles
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad you've done your research, it gets old telling people the same things over and over again.
As you mentioned, there was a time where you could easily control most apps with the touchpad, but that functionality has since been removed. Besides, there was no way to enter text without some sort of remote; many people managed to use bluetooth keyboards to achieve this, and the combination worked quite well.
In XE16, Google apparently decided that they wanted to make a clear distinction between Glass and Android controls. Apps that don't implement the Glass-specific gesture listeners can't be controlled at all. Even native Android popup windows don't allow you to choose which button you want to select (even if the Languages and Input popup did show up on Glass, you couldn't select the button).
So here we are today, either using the stripped-down, masked version of Android that Google gives us, or fumbling with ADB commands attempting to get that one video on YouTube to play. But there is hope yet. Google gives us rooted boot images, presumably hoping that we will show them something that they haven't done themselves. This tiny 5.5MB file opens up a ton of possibilities, but someone needs to be the middle man that brings these possibilities to the masses.
Thanks to the beauty of open source, we have a clear model of what needs to be done for Glass to work like so many people wish it would.
Port a working recovery image to flash zips to the Glass system folder (Done)
Modify Superuser to function properly given Glass's limited control set
Modify XposedInstaller in the same manner
I have a proof-of-concept Xposed module for Glass that lets me control the Netflix app with the touchpad. It's dirty, and it takes a lot of work to get working, but the concept is solid. Xposed is an incredibly powerful utility. The end goal is to create a Glass-oriented keyboard (think oldschool arcade video game high score screens - "Enter Your Initials").
While my goal is solid and my intentions are pure, I worry that there is a reason Google didn't do this to begin with.
TLDR; I'm working on it.

Many thanks for the response, so the short answer is no. That's a big shame and I hope I haven't just wasted 1k on a peice of eyewear that needs charging halfway thru the day!
I assume there is no way of going back to version 16?
I think it's strange how little development there is with Glass on XDA (I could be wrong but if you look at the likes of the smart watches there seems to be considerably more development) and how inactive this part of the forum seems? considering the idea and in my eyes (no pun intended) cool Glass is hence why I ordered mine as soon as I could here in the uk, so far I haven't met anyone with one, and I'm still getting some strange looks lol
The things that are possible with Glass are amazing. Really wish they had added a rear facing camera, eyes in the back of my head, no, but I can see behind me lol
I am eager to see your work and I will experiment on trying to build your xposed modules (never tried building an apk before) no harm in learning on what is probably the most expensive peice of tech I own lol

GiGoVX said:
Many thanks for the response, so the short answer is no. That's a big shame and I hope I haven't just wasted 1k on a peice of eyewear that needs charging halfway thru the day!
I assume there is no way of going back to version 16?
I think it's strange how little development there is with Glass on XDA (I could be wrong but if you look at the likes of the smart watches there seems to be considerably more development) and how inactive this part of the forum seems? considering the idea and in my eyes (no pun intended) cool Glass is hence why I ordered mine as soon as I could here in the uk, so far I haven't met anyone with one, and I'm still getting some strange looks lol
The things that are possible with Glass are amazing. Really wish they had added a rear facing camera, eyes in the back of my head, no, but I can see behind me lol
I am eager to see your work and I will experiment on trying to build your xposed modules (never tried building an apk before) no harm in learning on what is probably the most expensive peice of tech I own lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say I'm surprised by the lack of activity. Rooting Glass voids the warranty, and with the high price in addition to so many reported issues, not many people are willing to take that risk at the moment.
If you want to get touch controls back, then you'll need to flash down to XE12. See https://developers.google.com/glass/tools-downloads/system. Please be sure to read any warnings and notices. XE12 still doesn't have many options for keyboard input, but you'll have better luck than using XE16+.
Also, the strange looks won't be going away any time soon

jtxdriggers said:
I can't say I'm surprised by the lack of activity. Rooting Glass voids the warranty, and with the high price in addition to so many reported issues, not many people are willing to take that risk at the moment.
If you want to get touch controls back, then you'll need to flash down to XE12. See https://developers.google.com/glass/tools-downloads/system. Please be sure to read any warnings and notices. XE12 still doesn't have many options for keyboard input, but you'll have better luck than using XE16+.
Also, the strange looks won't be going away any time soon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The really frustrating thing with my Glass is that I'm still waiting for Google to get back to me about the 'split framed' version they should of sent me instead of the current standard version I have!
I requested a call from Google shortly after I received them asking the above question but they couldn't find my order, sure enough they have taken my money but can't find my order number, nor my Gmail address or the serial number for my Glass device! A little concerning that Google of all people couldn't find my info! I'm still waiting for an email back 3 days later! Longest Google search in history lol

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.

Question questions about customization

I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?

sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your better get a Oneplus Phones for modding / rooting purpose.
For samsung phones, somebody have to find a solution for knox trip.

sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
...
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, as you already noticed the modding/rooting community for the S21 series is not that active (yet?), maybe indeed different to phones like the Oneplus 8 Pro etc...
But still there is a reliably working method for rooting the device, although depending from your location warranty may be void afterwards. And then there is Knox, so rooting will definitely disable some specific Samsung functions (Samsung pay & Safe Folder among them).
If you are interested, there are threads on rooting and TWRP - the forum is presently only one for all S21U topics so things move down the line pretty quickly :
I for myself as a long-time "rooter" decided to go with locked stock ROM and while missing some detailed tweakings things are running pretty nicely so far. One of the things I noticed is that 90% of the things you do with rooting are workarounds to cover the negative effects of rooting - like making Gpay work etc.

Yes, unless there's a solution for the Samsung Knox issues, rooting will void your warranty. FWIW, the stock software has so much customization options that even after 2 months of using it I still haven't got hold of all the customizations. Yes, you might do in OnePlus where the software is quite bland/ featureless but that's not the case with One UI

fairyshacker said:
Your better get a Oneplus Phones for modding / rooting purpose.
For samsung phones, somebody have to find a solution for knox trip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want anything from a Chinese company.
s3axel said:
Well, as you already noticed the modding/rooting community for the S21 series is not that active (yet?), maybe indeed different to phones like the Oneplus 8 Pro etc...
But still there is a reliably working method for rooting the device, although depending from your location warranty may be void afterwards. And then there is Knox, so rooting will definitely disable some specific Samsung functions (Samsung pay & Safe Folder among them).
If you are interested, there are threads on rooting and TWRP - the forum is presently only one for all S21U topics so things move down the line pretty quickly :
I for myself as a long-time "rooter" decided to go with locked stock ROM and while missing some detailed tweakings things are running pretty nicely so far. One of the things I noticed is that 90% of the things you do with rooting are workarounds to cover the negative effects of rooting - like making Gpay work etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worried about warranties. I don't know if I'd ever need the samsung specific things like Samsung Pay. Not sure what Safe Folder is but I guess it's some kind of encryption based file storing? I generally don't use all these mainstream things people like.
I don't really spend time making Google Pay work because I have no use for it. I'll have an occasional issue with an app refusing to operate because of rooting and Magisk Hide doesn't work, but it isn't a big deal.
I like tweaking things like the battery logo (I like having a circle with percentage number inside and not having the extra/stock battery logo up there at the same time). I like to disable certain system icons from the top bar that aren't necessary to be there and just clog it up. I like adding the "clear all" type buttons in the running apps page. I like customizing the behavior of holding the power button so I can reboot, reboot to recovery, or shut the phone off easily.
For example, on my LG V30+ right now I am running the stock rom but rooted it and did things like I described above. Nothing major and don't need Google Pay. The LG app for air conditioners won't run because of my root. My bank app notifies me of root very occasionally but isn't a big deal. Yeah, I don't think my SafetyNet passes, but I don't care.
I am using Xposed, hostless AdAway, No Shutter Sound, Highway Radar and YouTube Vanced as well.
amirage said:
Yes, unless there's a solution for the Samsung Knox issues, rooting will void your warranty. FWIW, the stock software has so much customization options that even after 2 months of using it I still haven't got hold of all the customizations. Yes, you might do in OnePlus where the software is quite bland/ featureless but that's not the case with One UI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to go through every single setting in a phone before I even start really dailying it . I don't mind it. I like customization. That's great to hear. I do like unrestricted or not very restricted phones as opposed to iPhone style lockdown stuff, though.
I used to consider the OnePlus phones but lately I have been more insistent on not buying things made in China or from Chinese companies as much as possible... for various reasons.
---
So assuming I don't care about things like warranty and Samsung Pay.. what other drawbacks are there? What would stop me from going this route? I intend on picking it up from Google because they have really good deals and I can even make 0% interest payments. I just have to stick with Fi for 3 months, then I can go back to ATT.
Another concern I have is the size of the phone. It makes me lean towards the S21 5G. I just like the Ultra for the other enhancements.
Thanks to all of you as well for the replies.

I wouldn't get that phone if my intent was to root it. One of the more easily rootable Samsung models probably be a better choice*. If you want a blackhole gravity well to get frozen in time with while you're troubleshooting the root then this is a good choice.
That said stock Samsung's are the most customizable phones there are. Hundreds of free icon packs/themes, the Good Lock family of apps and more. The SSC codec for the Buds+ that seamlessly connect to this model with the propiatory Samsung new 360° audio support.
You can lock it down with PD MDM package disabler and Karma Firewall.
*Also no SD card slot so no dual drive ie data drive; you lose a valuble key feature.
Personally I loathe it's rounded corners/display and it's larger frame to display ratio. It's ugly compared to the Note 10+ or N 20 U; I take either of these over the 21 series any day.
Yeah, I really don't like the 21 series... even at half price I would spurn them.

I just read up on Samsung Pay and it's actually pretty interesting. I may actually try and use that. I would love to not have to pull out my wallet all the time and swipe/insert my bank card. That alone is very enticing.
I don't watch TV and haven't had TV service in ages, but I found out with this phone I'll have access to TV stations without a subscription or any kind of fee. That's pretty cool as an added bonus and I may find some shows I like.
blackhawk said:
I wouldn't get that phone if my intent was to root it. One of the more easily rootable Samsung models probably be a better choice*. If you want a blackhole gravity well to get frozen in time with while you're troubleshooting the root then this is a good choice.
That said stock Samsung's are the most customizable phones there are. Hundreds of free icon packs/themes, the Good Lock family of apps and more. The SSC codec for the Buds+ that seamlessly connect to this model with the propiatory Samsung new 360° audio support.
You can lock it down with PD MDM package disabler and Karma Firewall.
*Also no SD card slot so no dual drive ie data drive; you lose a valuble key feature.
Personally I loathe it's rounded corners/display and it's larger frame to display ratio. It's ugly compared to the Note 10+ or N 20 U; I take either of these over the 21 series any day.
Yeah, I really don't like the 21 series... even at half price I would spurn them.
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That package disabled is really nice to know about, thanks. That is also something I did on my current phone but I did it through ADB (well, I uninstalled things I didn't want and saved the APK of the app).
I'm pretty sure I can use AdAway and YouTube Vanced without root. I'm currently using an older version of Vanced because newer ones do not work. Mine is from Magisk. I figure it has to do with Vanced on this specific phone and I can probably use some other version on the S21/Ultra.
Not sure what you meant about gravity and about a "valuble key feature". I am aware it has no sd card support, but I've found that I have never had the need for this on my current phone which supports up to 2 TB sd cards.
There is one thing that I doubt I'll be able to do which I've done on my V30+... I have the stock phone app modified to have a built-in recording feature. One press and I record calls with no notification beeps or anything stupid like that. After the call ends it prompts me to listen now or later. It saves the recording automatically as a file, based on the settings I've already configured. I can turn this on and off whenever I want during the call and if I turn it on before the call is answered, the app automatically waits until the call is connected to enable call recording. It records both sides in clear quality whether or not it's using the speaker or regular mode.
Is there a shutter sound on the S21? If so, is there a way to disable it without root?

sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
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I just come over to the S21 Ultra from Xiaomi. I loved how you could theme the Xiaomi. I tried a few themes from the Samsung store but nothing would change all the icons. A real miss match and it looked terrible. Maybe I never searched hard enough well anyway I downloaded Good Lock and some modules from the Samsung store. It has some good customisations and it changes all icons to the same style and hides icons from status bar. Not sure if this is what your after but I knew when I got this phone there would not be much development on it at the start. Actually not to fussed about rooting at the moment. Also aodNotify as I missed the notification light. Moved away from Chinese phones myself. Here's a couple of pics if this is the sort of thing that your after.
Hope this helps

Clarkie_955i said:
I just come over to the S21 Ultra from Xiaomi. I loved how you could theme the Xiaomi. I tried a few themes from the Samsung store but nothing would change all the icons. A real miss match and it looked terrible. Maybe I never searched hard enough well anyway I downloaded Good Lock and some modules from the Samsung store. It has some good customisations and it changes all icons to the same style and hides icons from status bar. Not sure if this is what your after but I knew when I got this phone there would not be much development on it at the start. Actually not to fussed about rooting at the moment. Also aodNotify as I missed the notification light. Moved away from Chinese phones myself. Here's a couple of pics if this is the sort of thing that your after.
Hope this helps
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Congrats on leaving Chinese brands. I'm also making effort to buy things not made in China as much as possible as well. So Taiwan, Japan, USA, etc...
I don't usually do the whole custom icon set thing on phones, but I am aware that's a big thing so I understand why that would be frustrating when you can't find one you like. The most theming I've done is choose one I like (color wise) from some LG app I had on the phone which worked well.
Other small changes may count as theme changes in some ways, but it wasn't the intention.. it was mostly for functionality.
Thanks for the info.
Also I have researched a few things...
1. AdAway. It can now be used without root, which I didn't know. It can be run on S21 variants. BUT, you have to run an AdAway VPN to do it.. so might as well find another method for ad blocking. My friend showed me a screen on the S20 where there is a "private DNS" option. I could block ads that way.
2. Vanced doesn't need root. It actually is arguably better without root because you only have to set the app to open YT links and it doesn't replace the YT app. Right now I can't use auto app updates because it won't let me pick and choose which to not auto-update and one of the ones I would need to stop from auto updating is the stock YT app.
3. From research online and after asking Google about the variant they sell, you can disable shutter sound in the settings (which is actually better than what the LG V30+ supports.. a huge surprise).
4. Don't think I can use Xposed. There MAY be some bootleg way with partial functionality or something but I don't know for sure.
Can I (without root) remove the stock battery icon and replace it with a circle and percentage? Like this:
I also want to enable the seconds counter and add the date.. I want to do all that stuff, if possible.. that I did there.. including hcanging the size of fonts and capitalization of fonts in the top middle area.
Main thing I want is the seconds counter.
A friend showed me this from his s20:
So that's cool that he can change the icons displayed. I used Gravity Box or Xposed.

Not so much I cant find what I like it's just they don't change system wide like Xiaomi did. So I end up having half custom and half stock and looks crap with all the different colors in the folders. At least Good Lock manages to change them system wide which I don't quite understand why Samsung theme store will change maybe fifty percent. Anyway got it to how I like it.
With Good Lock you can remove status bar icons but no customisation with battery indicators. That pic is a pic of Good Lock the one you posted. I went with the Hong Kong version with Snapdragon which you can unlock bootloader in development options. Don't think you can on US Snapdragon versions. Here in OZ we only had the Exynos. Got the 16/512 Snapdragon for $1550 AUD. Same phone with Exynos just over $2200 here.
AdAway have not really missed it. Had it on my previous phone and maybe I'm not taking any notice of adds and just enjoying the phone. Never use Vanced. Cant see any setting in camera to turn off shutter sound but you can silence it in volume controls. Haven't looked into Xposed yet.
Don't know what model your going to get but there is root and TWRP available for ultra models. But soon as you flash a boot image you will trip Knox and lose some features of Samsung apps. Mainly Samsung pay I believe and warranty if you buy local. Still sussing this out myself. Have a old Tab S that I rooted and my first Android was a Samsung Galaxy Gio (GT-S5660)
Overall extremely happy with this phone.
Hoe this helps Sneak

A stock Note 10+, heavily customized.
Running fast and stable on Pie/OneUI.

sneak said:
I don't want anything from a Chinese company.
I'm not worried about warranties. I don't know if I'd ever need the samsung specific things like Samsung Pay. Not sure what Safe Folder is but I guess it's some kind of encryption based file storing? I generally don't use all these mainstream things people like.
I don't really spend time making Google Pay work because I have no use for it. I'll have an occasional issue with an app refusing to operate because of rooting and Magisk Hide doesn't work, but it isn't a big deal.
I like tweaking things like the battery logo (I like having a circle with percentage number inside and not having the extra/stock battery logo up there at the same time). I like to disable certain system icons from the top bar that aren't necessary to be there and just clog it up. I like adding the "clear all" type buttons in the running apps page. I like customizing the behavior of holding the power button so I can reboot, reboot to recovery, or shut the phone off easily.
For example, on my LG V30+ right now I am running the stock rom but rooted it and did things like I described above. Nothing major and don't need Google Pay. The LG app for air conditioners won't run because of my root. My bank app notifies me of root very occasionally but isn't a big deal. Yeah, I don't think my SafetyNet passes, but I don't care.
I am using Xposed, hostless AdAway, No Shutter Sound, Highway Radar and YouTube Vanced as well.
I tend to go through every single setting in a phone before I even start really dailying it . I don't mind it. I like customization. That's great to hear. I do like unrestricted or not very restricted phones as opposed to iPhone style lockdown stuff, though.
I used to consider the OnePlus phones but lately I have been more insistent on not buying things made in China or from Chinese companies as much as possible... for various reasons.
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So assuming I don't care about things like warranty and Samsung Pay.. what other drawbacks are there? What would stop me from going this route? I intend on picking it up from Google because they have really good deals and I can even make 0% interest payments. I just have to stick with Fi for 3 months, then I can go back to ATT.
Another concern I have is the size of the phone. It makes me lean towards the S21 5G. I just like the Ultra for the other enhancements.
Thanks to all of you as well for the replies.
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In 100% me..
You just write that's way am here on xda,
Am a fan to customise my phone as I want,
And if I pay so much money we should have the right, and possibility to choice and use ..
Sorry for my English.

Well, I bought one from Google. If there are serious issues I don't want to put up with I will return it.
As long as I can disable the stock battery icon I would think I could get an app which has a custom battery icon.
I hope it's possible as well to do vertical listing of apps in app screen instead of having the left/right pages.

sneak said:
Well, I bought one from Google. If there are serious issues I don't want to put up with I will return it.
As long as I can disable the stock battery icon I would think I could get an app which has a custom battery icon.
I hope it's possible as well to do vertical listing of apps in app screen instead of having the left/right pages.
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Click to collapse
Congrats
The scrolling from the right was a pain at first. But all good now. Hopefully Good Lock will bring something out in the future and change it.

sneak said:
I'm considering getting an S21 5G or S21 Ultra. Is it normal that there isn't much in terms of modding/rooting/etc for Samsung phones? I don't normally go for things like this.
I like the Nexus 5 and have a V30+ right now. I want to be able to control the phone and modify a few things I don't like about the stock experience.
What kind of situation am I looking at here? Is there a safe and reliable root? Or are things extremely locked down like an iPhone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea rooting is possible and safe if right software is used but might affect warranty i guess

If anyone remembers the whole Carrier IQ thing, do you know if there's something like this on the S21 Ultra?
System UI Tuner doesn't seem to work as far as showing seconds in the status bar clock.
I would love to be able to customize the recently used apps section in the apps drawer. Either remove it completely or set static apps or somehow customize a blacklist or whitelist or some other variables to determine what goes there.
When I use jetaudio+ it puts a notification with details in the menu from the top. I can't swipe it away and it stays there even after I close the app and remove it from app list. I found out I have to drag down on it to expand it to be slightly larger and then an "x" appears. These "x" buttons would appear by default on apps like this on my old phone and they were a little larger relative to the rest of the UI as well. Would love to be able to tweak this functionality.
I want a feature I had on my LG V30+ where based on my GPS location I can enable or disable WiFi. Meaning, the same as hitting the wifi icon in the quick toggles based on entering a certain location or leaving that location. That way when I get home my phone will automatically globally turn on wifi and when I leave it twill automatically turn it off so it isn't hunting for networks.
Another feature in the same section was something which allowed me to have the phone remain unlocked when paired with a specific device. I want the phone to stay unlocked when paired with my car instead of having to unlock it all the time with fingerprint.
I would like to be able to scroll the apps list vertically, like normal.. instead of this left and right pages stuff.
I want a battery indicator setup where there is a percentage inside of a circle and the circle is representative of the percentage. Not finding an app option that has what I want. Does anyone know of a way to do this or an app?
I also want to make pressing the home button in the bottom center of the screen do a full open of the bar from the top.
On my current phone I've also found some way to keep the alarm clock icon from Alarm Clock Xtreme without having a persistent notification of the next alarm. Not sure how on this.

MacroDroid!
the answer to toggles based on location. A lot of features there to look into. Very nice.

MacroDroid seems fine for the WiFi toggle but it doesn't keep the phone from locking. At first it was keeping the screen on but then it just did nothing. I want the screen to still shut off if necessary but not require thumbprint or code or anything to unlock, while paired with phone.

sneak said:
MacroDroid seems fine for the WiFi toggle but it doesn't keep the phone from locking. At first it was keeping the screen on but then it just did nothing. I want the screen to still shut off if necessary but not require thumbprint or code or anything to unlock, while paired with phone.
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I don't advise using it but stupid Bixby probably can ie Bixby Routines.

blackhawk said:
I don't advise using it but stupid Bixby probably can ie Bixby Routines.
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That's the first thing I checked but I couldn't figure out how to do it. It's not very intuitive....