Database Users

New Android User Questions

Hi everyone. I just purchased my Droid X last week, and I'm having some migrating pains coming from Windows Mobile 6.5 (HTC Touch Pro 2, Mighty ROM) over to Android. I'm wondering if the fine folks here at XDA can help me ease into the Android OS a little easier.
Here are the things I miss most about WinMo, maybe you can tell me some viable alternatives.
1) The Dialer. - Skip the next 3 paragraphs if you're familiar with HTC Sense on WinMo.
The dialer absolutely sucks compared to the TP2. Having to click different tabs juts annoys me. In the TP2, the dialer and recent calls were displayed in a single window, so if I wanted to dial Steve, I had 2 ways of doing it.
The first way was to dial 7(S), 8(T). The phone would recognize I am spelling out Steve, and list everyone who fits the ST criteria sorted by most recently called. The more I spelled out his name, the narrower the results got.
The second method was to dial his number. Pretend Steve's number is (123) 456-7890. If I dialed 123, it would sort all contacts with numbers who matched the area code, and it would narrow the results as I typed more of his phone number.
I really hate having to tap between Contacts (there is a contacts soft button next to the dialer anyway), I would just click that if I wanted to from the beginning.
Are there any dialers out there closer to the HTC Dialer?
2) Contacts.
There has to be a better contact manager. Not being able to quickly tap a letter to get to contacts is really dumb.
3) Ninja Applications.
Why do I keep seeing applications running that I never started when I load Advance Task Killer. It's really annoying when I load up an App, and go to close it, and see Skype and CityID running when I never launched either of them. I'm almost afraid to set up AIM on my phone at this point.
4) GPS.
If I keep my GPS on, my battery gets killed. With my TP2, it would only use the GPS when it needed it, so for weather updates, and Google Maps, otherwise it stayed off (or was in a suspend state). I turned the GPS on my first day and had 0 battery by around 2 (left the house at 8). Is there any way to set the GPS to only be used, as needed?
5) APPLICATIONS EVERYWHERE.
Is there anyway to sort these into folders? Also, is there anyway to add an X to the application so I can close it when I'm done with it rather than having to launch an App just to close the App I just used?
I really liked the Sense way of doing it, where I had an X in the Application, and a drop down on the home screen that would list the open Apps so I could close them 1 at a time.
6) MotoBlur.
Ugh, I really hate this UI. Has anyone had any experience with SenseX?
7) Custom Roms.
I've seen a handful of Custom ROMs, and I'm planning on putting one on when I have some time next week. I need a good way to backup contacts, after I just spent an hour linking everyone, but I'd like to know if there is a decent Apples to Apples comparison of the ROMs. They don't seem to be outlines as detailed as I'm used to.
On this topic, are there any problems setting up things like MMS once you install a Custom ROM? It was a nightmare on the TP2, but those ROMs were also made for multiple carriers, which isn't a problem with this phone, so I imagine it shouldn't be an issue.
----------------------------------
Thank you for taking the time to read this wall of text.
Other than the 7 things listed, I love the phone. Finding MortPlayer for Droid made my day. I'm looking forward to unlocking it's true potential, and I hope my list isn't a bunch of things I'm just going to have to adjust to.
Thank you again, have a great day.
EDIT:
Also, it's really annoying that every time I connect my phone to my PC, it launches a Verizon web site. Is there anyway to disable this?

Ok... I will take a stab at this.
FIRST, You DO NOT have to settle for the apps that come preinstalled on your phone! Just had to clear that up... Ok, here we go:
Check an app called "Dialer One" and see if that fits your needs... I haven't used it in a while... but heard it still a great replacement for the stock dialer.
Searching for a better Contact Manager is on my To-Do list.. hope someone comes in and help out a little more with that one
Don't worry about the "ninja" apps TOO much. Android Froyo has an amazing task manager and even though you SEE the apps as "running applications", they are not really RUNNING. They are more like... in a queue.. so they are ready for whenever you come back to them....but you still have to watch what the apps are doing. Some do not play nicely and hog memory. I'll link a good post here in a minute explaining that a little better.
There is a widget that can help you out here.. it's called "Power Control" put that bad boy on your homescreen and the option to turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc is at your fingertips (for even more controls... check out "Extended Controls" in the market. It cost like $1 and some change)
I'm... not really following this one. For one.. you CAN use folders on your homescreen and put whatever your heart desires in them.. and label it accordingly. I'm not sure what you mean by the "X" in the app
SenseX?? What is that?? Anyway.. as you will find out soon, 99% of the Droid X community despise MotoBlur!! You can use a different Home Launcher and not use Blur. Two of the major Home Launcher replacements are Adw.launcher & LauncherPro... which one is better is a whole different story. They are both great and only YOU can choose which one is best. There many threads comparing them and they run neck to neck mostly. I'm on LauncherPro personally
Custom Roms?? Eh.. I personally do my own developments and theming on my phone and do not use them... there not really all what they cracked up to be because whatever they have on them... I can do myself. So I'm not much of an help on that one... Somebody else maybe will chime in.
P.S-To fix the Verizon thing, go to the "M" in the taskbar at the bottom of your screen by the clock on your PC and right click it.. there should be an option saying to tell it to NOT send you to the Verizon site when you connect your phone. I don't know the EXACT wording of the option menu.. I'm on a mac

Thank you for your reply.
I will check out the Dialer. Thank you very much.
Darn!
A friend of mine told me that, but it's hard for me to not be a bit OCD about background Applications. I've been a Windows user most of my life, and coming from WinMo, background apps really kill performance.
More than anything, my issue is with things like Skype loading when I do not want to be signed in. I want auto-login when I launch the Application, but I don't want the application loading when it feels like it, and me getting a random IM or call from someone when I didn't even tell it to log in.
It also bothers me that Amazon MP3, something I've never even loaded, has turned itself on. It makes me feel like I don't have control over my phone.
I do have a widget that lets me turn these things on and off, I was just hoping for a way to set it up so that the GPS is "pinged" and only used as needed, and turned back off. My TP2 did this, and was a great battery saver. Having to turn the GPS on and off just to get a weather update based on location is a bit annoying.
I didn't mean on the home-screen, I meant in the application list. So when I hit the application list, I can sort them by "Games", "Google", etc.
For the "X", what I mean is in reference to closing an App. In WinMo, the top right of the screen had an X, and if I touched that X, the app would close. Now, once I exit the App, I need to use an application killer to close said App.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764840
Looks like Sense for the Droid X. In Beta now, so I'm waiting for a stable release.
Really, it's just to get rid of bloatware and take advantage of some performance optimizations that have been made.
A couple of other things that have come up.
I need a better keyboard. One with arrows so I can navigate text. Touching isn't precise enough, and I don't have a stylus with this phone. Today I voiced a text message, and I went to correct an error, but I couldn't get the curse to go in the exact spot I needed it to go into. My old OSK had arrow soft-keys I could tap to navigate with.
Also, I notice when I pull my phone out of the leather pouch I have, when I hit the power button it comes up in landscape, and the accelerometer doesn't pick up on the turn. I need to turn the screen off and turn it back on.
Finally, I'm having extender issues, but I think I need to call VZW for that. When leaving my house, I can't reconnect to Data without a power-cycle.
Thank you for the reply.

my .02
3. Break yourself from the taskiller need. If you have programs allways running that you dont need, ie skype or city id. Root and delete those SOB's. you can look around and there are plenty of articles of why not to use them. Android is a linux based os. Linux is far supirior to Win in memeory management. You dont need task killers.
4. if your gps is turned on its not always running. It only runs when needed. Is by chance your wifi on? that will run all the time by searching for access points. if not you might have maps running, make sure to always back out of maps and not just hit home. That way it closes and doesnt just run in background. (actually goes for most apps)
5 organization- you cant sort the app drawer, you can hide apps (just the icons) using launcher pro, not sure if ADW has that option. Useing folders or the app "app manager" is your best bet
extra. swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.

I came from winmo- so I know all about your "X" pains. But I say forget about a task killer or even killing tasks (except maybe maps and navigation). I did a little reading about pros and cons and decided to try the "no task killer" approach. I haven't had any problems. the task killer is a pain anyways. you can kill apps all day long and there are a bunch of them that are just going to repopulate themselves in like 5 minutes. I just said, "fegetaboutit". My phone runs great.
if you open the dialer and are on the contacts tab just long press the menu button (the physical button) and your keyboard will pop up. start typing and contacts will appear.
I like "Zeam Launcher". There is a thread here on XDA. I have Launcher Pro+ -but actually liked Zeam so much I use it. Just different preferences though.
that's all i got for now.

Thank you for your replies.
I will try to be a bit less OCD regarding my tasks. I did kill a couple of services of applications that kept starting, like Skype.
I'll check out those launchers and see if I like them better.
Any good stock widgets?
EDIT:
So I just tried to check my location on Google Maps with GPS turned off, and it says I need to turn it on.
How do I set it up to use the GPS as needed?

I leave location services on (GPS)
My theory is that applications will only enable GPS when they need them, so if you have a application running that wants GPS, it will use it.
The GPS icon appears in the notification bar when I'm using something that is using GPS, so I assume its only actually on when this icon is present. Leave it on in settings just makes is available.
Any widget or application that has a setting for manual location (Weather, IMDB) I use it, and disable GPS location, to keep GPS from running all of the time.
To exit an app you are using, either hit the back button or the home button.
If you are worried about "ninja" apps using cpu and memory, you can try a minfree adjustment application such as AutoKiller Memory Optimizer. It fine tunes android's inner memory manager to be a bit more aggressive in closing applications.
I use another Rom (rubiX, link in sig) that already has minfree adjusted (according to the author) and it does help in keeping the X smooth. It also removes all (well most) of Blur and default installed apps as well, so you start with a very clean X.
The default home screen (blur) is crap. I would also suggest replacing it with LauncherPro or ADW
For removing the pre-installed applications. Follow this guide
http://www.droidxforums.com/forum/d...ta-3-ways-super-easy-safe-safe-easy-free.html
Some apps in /system/app/ are not named what they are
(IE. mynet.apk = 3g Hotspot)
For a keyboard anywhere, you can hold the menu button, and it will pop up.
Swype is really a few keyboards. Swype from the icon to the SYM button, it will give you the edit panel (arrows, home, end, copy, paste, etc...) press the ABC button to go back.
Swype from the icon to the f key, it will turn into a number pad. Press the ABC button to go back to the normal keyboard.
Run the tutorial on Swype too, it will give you some very nice pointers on it's use. I used Swype on windows mobile and I found out a few things about Swype I never knew.
Also, as for touching where your cursor is in a text field, if you press and hold, and magnifying bubble will pop up. This makes moving the cursor easier

Did you find a dialer yet? I saw these posted and thought about this thread...
http://www.appbrain.com/app/kz.mek.DialerOne
http://www.appbrain.com/app/acontacts/kz.mek.aContacts
Haven't had a chance to try them yet.

bad4u6669 said:
.... swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG. thanks. been loving swype but that has been driving me nuts. Thanks for the info.

Thank you for the replies.
One of the things I liked about my TP2, is I could leave location services on, and it used very little battery.
I guess Weather Bug just SUCKS battery out like crazy. I turned on the GPS last night for something, and decided to see how well it did with battery today. It turns out that some grocery shopping app I wanted to try was sucking my GPS dry (no idea why)... yet another "ninja app" that just started up because it felt like it (this kind of **** really makes me , programs should only start up when I tell them to, not when a component of my phone turns on).
I live in an apartment that has really bad signal (I actually have a Network Extender), so that might be my GPS constantly trying to update when I'm at home killing my battery.
WeatherBug is set to update every hour, so I'm going to see what happens tomorrow with the GPS turned on. It would be nice if I could just set it and forget it, not need to turn it off every time I come home.
Thank you for the contact program, I might check it out. I've been pretty content since I got DialerOne and found out I can get the keyboard up by holding the options.
I tried LauncherPro, and I LOVED it at first, and my phones performance was fantastic!
Then I found out it charges me to resize widgets... WTF is that crap?
I'm going to try some other launchers and see what happens. I'm getting the hang of it, but I still do not like things starting up on their own. Regardless of memory management, my phone should not just decide to boot up programs on it's own.

the phone only does what the app or the user tells it to do. If theirs an app that you don't like, delete it.
And complaining that launcher pro charges for every thing it offers is ridiculous. Every thing it offers for free already ( 7 home screens, 10 rows and columns, unreal speed improvement, etc. ) then to get the extras its less than most people throw away on a daily basis. Where as this three dollars its money that pays off on a daily basis
Adw and lp should be paid apps from the start for all they offer.
You have 3 options, write your own program, use the stock launcher, find a free one.
-end rant
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

I usually leave my location setting on "Use Wireless Networks" and don't bother with GPS other than for maps and navigation. Works fine for all of my other apps that need a location (e.g., weather).
There are apps out there that can turn GPS on and off automatically when you run a particular app, such as Tasker (which can do a whole host of things, but that is one one of them). Tasker is a paid app, but there might be something free out there that does something similar.
Also, I agree with the previous poster re: Launcher Pro. It's really a fantastic home launcher and well worth a few bucks to support the developer. The LP Plus widgets are also a lot better than any of the Blur widgets.

In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.

EtherBoo said:
In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to look into RockPlayer. That's the only one I found so far that decodes ALMOST anything on the spot.

The "Ninja Applications" are running because Android is a true multi tasking OS.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

I hope necromancy isn't frowned upon on this board, so my apologies if it is.
I found a new problem because I had the nerve to attempt to update a contact photo after Facebook had saved it's picture to it.
This is especially frustrating because I'm going to want to override a lot of these photos very soon.
Apparently, updating the photo updates the Google Contact photo, but the phone only displays the Facebook photo. This is a bug confirmed by Moto that will be fixed in a future update.
This leaves me with 2 options.
De-Sync FB, which I'm not thrilled about only because I like getting the most recent status update prior to receiving a call, and There is a lot of info that FB fills in for me.
Copy down all the FB info, and fill it in manually. With Google Contacts not being the best contact manager (I'm very OCD about uniformity in the way things are formatted), I really don't want to do this.
So I figure I need a new contact manager. I tried AContacts, and it crashed every time I tried to edit a contact.
I would love something like the HTC one that comes with WinMo, or maybe even the iPhone one.
I would be willing to pay for this.
P.S.
I'm now rooted and running a custom ROM (zapX I think it's called). I'm loving my phone much more now. My battery life has skyrocketed, and my performance is amazing now. Very iPhone smooth (one thing I was always jealous of, and I hate the iPhone).

TimeScape removal*Speedboost* + removal of other apps

By removing:
- TimescapeLargeUI.apk
- TimescapeLargeUIThemeBlue.apk
- TimescapeLargeUIThemeGreen.apk
- TimescapeLargeUIThemeIndigo.apk
- TimescapeLargeUIThemeOrange.apk
- TimescapeLargeUIThemeSakura.apk
- TimescapePluginManager.apk
- TimeScapeProvider.apk
...in the system/app directory with root explorer(mount r/w) or other root file managing software. Just deleting these apps alone allow you to GREATLY increase the snappieness(get it...snapdragon) of the X10. Personally I find that it is a useless App that bogs down the phone more then it's worth. Once you have uninstalled it then restart the phone. Ensure that before you remove Timescape that you don't remove any other files at the same time before restarting as this will eliminate the possibility of the timescape removal creating an error.
Do not remove gtalk.apk, or any other google apk's as you are risking messing up some features (Market for example)
Other apps I have found are safe to remove: *UPDATED LIST*
- backupandrestore.apk (Second-party app from the market or Titanium backup works better than this default app)
- Calculator.apk (For the most part a very basic calculator, A free Scientific calculator app from the market is worth the download if needed.)
- Any of the Language* apk's (chinese, danish, korean, japanese) *LatineIME.apk is for the default android keyboard(not the initial one you have when you first get your phone, you will only know about it if you changed it)
- Emanual.apk (Not required unless you really need it, you can still access it from the SE X10 support area on their website if needed)
- EManualLauncher.apk (part file for Emanual.apk, remove aswell)
- Facebook.apk (Facebook is for the sad and lonely, I don't care what kind of burrito Sh!t's your having at 4AM)
- LearningClient.apk (Word memory, it works as a word learner when word suggestions are enabled on the keyboard, when typing in a word it sometimes switches to the "correct" word that it thinks after pressing the space button. When you backspace to get the word you wanted to appear again This service looks at that word and if it use more than once on intentionally then it will remember that and give you the option of that word in the suggestions. Thought I might answer that one since people have asked) *If you don't use word suggestions since it slows down texting then you can remove this.
- moxiermail.apk (Gmail.apk or another email app from the market are definitely better than moxier)
- Officesuite.apk (Not the full version, download the full version)
- OMAClientProvisioning.apk
- playnowappinstaller.apk (If you don't use it then toss it, not that interesting) 1
- playnowback.apk (If you don't use it then toss it, not that interesting) 2
- playnowclient.apk (If you don't use it then toss it, not that interesting) 3
- qcsemcservice.apk
- quadrapop.apk (boring game, good for a day or two but then you find better)
- SemcCheckin.apk
- SemcEmailLargeui.apk (along with the email.apk)
- SemcSetupWizard.apk (I set it up already and the only way I would need it again is if I reflashed and I would have all default apps again anyways)
- SetupWizard.apk (part of the previous Semc...apk)
- SnsContactImageCacheProvider.apk
- StatusSwitch.apk
- usersupport.apk (just not needed in general)
- uWlopProvider.apk
- wisepilot.apk (No need if you have Google Maps, Google Earth, Garmin, TomTom, etc)
- youtube.apk (If you have full episodes or movies on your phone and just don't use youtube then theres no need for this bogware)
By deleting these apps I have sped up the X10 so much I'm amazed at how much of a difference I've seen...maybe even a speed increase X10. I can now say I am fully happy with this phone.
List of features working...but faster.
Phone calls
Contacts
All games that normally worked anyways
Camera
HD recording
Settings menu
Wifi
Phonebook
Messaging
Alarm clock
Browser
Calendar
Gmail
Latitude
GMaps
Market
Media Scape
Navigation
Places
Voice Dialer
...everything...I've done my research. Any apps unlisted just means I have deleted them myself, doesn't necessarily mean their not working.
I currently have 183.21MB used with 169.41MB free. Not bad I'd say.

I await your post in about one day asking for the Timescape APKs because you can no longer make phone calls.
You've probably created a placebo effect. You only think the phone is faster. Run benchmarks, then see how the phone operates. You may think deleting browser.apk or dialer.apk is a good idea now, but when you're in an emergency and the phone won't work, you can't blame anyone but yourself.
Also: You don't know what people need/want from their phone, so it's best to not act so superior. (especially because you're far from the first to delete apps from their phone.)

I have looked into what files I can delete and I have also had to re flash because of my curiosity. Since your obviously the degrading type I can see you have an obvious lack of respect for someone who has done the research and the hit and miss troubleshooting of finding out what a general audience would want to possibly remove if not needed. Not everyone has facebook, or uses youtube. I personally prefer using youtube on my monitor compared to a smaller more costly device such as a data restricted cell. I don't use twitter, facebook, or any timescape dependent service as sms/mms are handled through the default sms/mms app that then forwards it's data to timescape. I wouldn't be in the aerospace industry(military to boot) if I have no idea what I am doing. Since I was smart enough to back up all the default app .apk's after a fresh flash then I know I will not be asking you for any of the apk's, your useless comment doesn't carry any weight.
*I was on the phone when I removed the timescape app since it is not tied to the dialer service.

No point in starting an arguement.
But, not everyone is you. If I'm on a long train ride, the ability to watch YouTube videos is a lifesaver. Obviously one could watch on a monitor, but I don't have that option when I'm not at home. The point of a smartphone is to be able to do things you can do with a PC, when you're not at home.
Timescape is tied to many more things than you think, at least in 1.6. Maybe SE removed those dependencies in 2.1, but if you're deleting the major marketing point of the phone, why did you buy the phone to begin with? Just food for thought. Not looking to start fights.

iead1 said:
No point in starting an arguement.
But, not everyone is you. If I'm on a long train ride, the ability to watch YouTube videos is a lifesaver. Obviously one could watch on a monitor, but I don't have that option when I'm not at home. The point of a smartphone is to be able to do things you can do with a PC, when you're not at home.
Timescape is tied to many more things than you think, at least in 1.6. Maybe SE removed those dependencies in 2.1, but if you're deleting the major marketing point of the phone, why did you buy the phone to begin with? Just food for thought. Not looking to start fights.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but i know many people who have unistalled Timescape (even Mediascape) since they have 2.1 with no issues at all.

The main purpose of buying the phone for me was not for the software SE has built on top of android(Timescape/Mediascape), but more for the hardware achievement that Sony has produced by packing so much functionality into one mobile device.
Just having android without any manufacturer modification still gives a ton of room for growth and possibilities to be seen. My goal was to supply a list of apps that are safe to delete without disturbing the stability or functionality of the phone as a whole, while providing another easy work around. These apps I know, as I have tested with 3 phones now, do not effect the user experience greatly. Since I have removed the apps I have had no problems with data, texting, phone calls, boot loops, the market, or browsing. Pick and choose which apps you need and don't need but from what I have removed I'm getting a greater user experience based on performance and alternative functionality.
Games and third-party apps still work fine, but are now faster.

Swifty76 said:
The main purpose of buying the phone for me was not for the software SE has built on top of android(Timescape/Mediascape), but more for the hardware achievement that Sony has produced by packing so much functionality into one mobile device.
Just having android without any manufacturer modification still gives a ton of room for growth and possibilities to be seen. My goal was to supply a list of apps that are safe to delete without disturbing the stability or functionality of the phone as a whole, while providing another easy work around. These apps I know, as I have tested with 3 phones now, do not effect the user experience greatly. Since I have removed the apps I have had no problems with data, texting, phone calls, boot loops, the market, or browsing. Pick and choose which apps you need and don't need but from what I have removed I'm getting a greater user experience based on performance and alternative functionality.
Games and third-party apps still work fine, but are now faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. There are many more apps you can delete with no issues, it depends only if you're gonna use them or not.

Swifty76 said:
The main purpose of buying the phone for me was not for the software SE has built on top of android(Timescape/Mediascape), but more for the hardware achievement that Sony has produced by packing so much functionality into one mobile device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you were looking for functionality, you bought the wrong device. Single touch, 65k color screen and 384MB of RAM? Not what I'd call the pinnacle of technical achievements.

The number of dependencies in 1.6 where removed in 2.1 as most of the initial software on the phone are layers. Sony stated that they learned from 1.6 by not going too deep into the core of android but more by means of creating "layers"(boot apps) on top of the core system.
Since they switched to layers they created the possibility to give rooted users the option of choosing alternatives to the initial software. The obvious apps you can remove if unused are facebook and youtube as they are obvious non dependents.(Facebook does have a slight dependency to timescape, but with timescape removed then that issue is not relevant)

iead1 said:
If you were looking for functionality, you bought the wrong device. Single touch, 65k color screen and 384MB of RAM? Not what I'd call the pinnacle of technical achievements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the price to features ratio and the features they have included (8.1 MP Camera, 720P recording, 1Ghz processor, 4.0" tft screen + others) It is as functional as I need. Multitouch will eventually find it's way to the phone one way or another. Also on a 4" screen the difference in colors is unnoticeable side-by-side to other devices that I have checked out. RAMS not an issue with a decent task manager.

I bought the phone to be a android phone.. not some piece of infected bloatware.
I want my phone phone to be mine not SE's..
So if you don't want to remove time scape... then ignore this thread.

OmegaRED^ said:
I bought the phone to be a android phone.. not some piece of infected bloatware.
I want my phone phone to be mine not SE's..
So if you don't want to remove time scape... then ignore this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my thoughts. The biggest performance jump I saw from deleting any of the apps was by taking out timescape. I bought the phone because it was android and because a majority of hardware is quality. I didn't buy it because it was SE, that just happened to come with it.

Swifty76 said:
Exactly my thoughts. The biggest performance jump I saw from deleting any of the apps was by taking out timescape. I bought the phone because it was android and because a majority of hardware is quality. I didn't buy it because it was SE, that just happened to come with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey Swifty76, do you mind feeding us an update for say maybe the next week or two on the performance of your phone? Just a quick so far it been perfect OR crap I had to reflash because my phone messed up. Reason im asking is because I would remove alot of those apps you listed, but I don't need my phone messing up on me...so just keep us posted on how its going and if all is well Ill go for it to. Thanks for the post.....try to keep an eye on the camera for pictures and video as thats important to me.

uhhh... so i have to root my phone to remove those apps, right?

iead1 said:
Timescape is tied to many more things than you think, at least in 1.6. Maybe SE removed those dependencies in 2.1, but if you're deleting the major marketing point of the phone, why did you buy the phone to begin with? Just food for thought. Not looking to start fights.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol if anyone bought an x10 for timescape nor mediascape
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

Yeah you have to root your phone to be able to properly uninstall a majority of these apps. The camera is working great so far on all 3 phones. The camera is saving and viewing properly as well. I would recommend the 3D gallery as a picture viewer. Winamp or poweramp are good for the beats.
Haven't found a decent video player yet, anyone know of some good ones?

Swifty76 said:
Haven't found a decent video player yet, anyone know of some good ones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only video player worth installing is RockPlayer

ProBoner said:
The only video player worth installing is RockPlayer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree.
For video--- RockPlayer
For Pictures--- Gallery or JustPictures (it has One Touch zoom that works great)
For Music--- PowerAmp (simply amazing!)

OBS dont remove gtalk, it will couse a lot of problems, trust me, if you did, read here forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6822850

fuusuke said:
Lol if anyone bought an x10 for timescape nor mediascape
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've said it probably three hundred times on these forums: We are NOT the target audience for this phone. The phone sells to millions, each who bought it for different reasons. I regret my purchase, as now Docomo is releasing Japanese-market focused Android phones, instead of the world-focused X10.
But yeah, to the OP, my point was, you can't just delete everything in one go, say performance is awesome 20 minutes later. There's just no way to tell how the phone will do after a week or two in this state. Maybe it really is that much faster, which would be nice. But, to prematurely say it's amazing then find out later that something doesn't work properly would suck. And, from reading XDA, people always delete things they need and come back and whine about them because they didn't back up properly.

2.2 Review

*** True Story ***
I am a member on Dell's community forum and have watched Dell's mouthpiece, Amy-B, post the lies and put up the smoke and mirrors regarding this for a while now. When she first announced that the update would begin on 11/15, I paid closer attention. By the end of the week when there was no update, I commented that users may have a potential class action suit. With that, I got a scathing email from Dell saying I violated their terms of use, some left handed subtle threats, and my post was deleted. I still laugh about that.
End True Story, my ongoing review below
I put 2.2 on last night and played with it for a little while before bed, then really started putting it to the test today. here's what's happened until now.
First, when I applied the update, it kept a lot of previous settings and applications rather than clean wiping. It also bypassed forcing me to login to google account, so when I tried to use the market, it couldn't. With that, I used my credentials to login to my google account and immediately started having some google calendar syncing error. It became a loop, each time asking me to report it, then asking me to force close the app, and then over and over the same thing. So I rebooted the streak, and it came up with the same exact issue not allowing me to do anything with it. I had to pull the battery to shut it down this time and when I get it all together to power up, I simply held the up/down volume keys and told it to do a factory reset.
The rom cooks itself into the streak as the factory install and 2.2 came up on the next boot, this time asking for google credentials. It worked that time, and I was ready to put the phone through it's motions.
Issues I've found
1. Voice Dialer via Bluetooth crashes each time I try to use it. It crashes to the point that it tells me to restart my phone. This is without fail.
2. swiping to unlock the phone, or pattern unlock are flaky. it will start then stop as if I've taken my finger off. I have to do it multiple times and crazy ways to make it work. Pattern lock same thing. Especially after coming out of my pocket... as if the heat from my body makes my finger not be recognized on the whole screen. This build makes the touchscreen no longer responsive as it was in 1.6... update, I've tested this over and over and over. yes, it seems to be the temperature, because if I blow on the screen to cool it, or something similar, the screen becomes instantly responsive to my touch. I never had this problem with 1.6 regardless of when I pulled it out of my pocket.
3. sometimes, changing screens gets choppy or laggy.
4. No widget bar or tray/drawer that allows you to turn BT or Wifi on or off. You have to get something from the market to do this (updated, this is available as a widget, I should open my eyes a bit)
5. Can't change the number of screens; can't add or subtract screens, stages, rooms, or whatever you choose to call it. You're stuck with 7, the center one being the default.
6. Multiple FC's for variety of reasons, many are while simply browsing the market. With that Microsoft-esque error reporting thing always popping up, I think they anticipated feeding garbage to the masses.
7. Have tried a few alternate launchers. Some are better than others, more functional etc.. .but no matter how weak an alternate launcher appears to be, they pretty much ALL beat StageUI
Likes
1. Have always liked the live wallpapers that we were introduced to in 2.1
2. landscape mode rights itself regardless of which side is facing up. could be a caveat since it puts the home/back/menu buttons upside down on the left instead of right with the hard buttons on the bottom, but still kind of cool nonetheless.
4. Support for Exchange is native and doesn't require additional software/applications.
the long and the short of it.. Dell is useless as an OS developer/tweaker and StageUI blows.
Samsung hit the homerun with it on its Galaxy S series. I was just at best buy, and the Galaxy Tab is pretty sweet but the price tag is ridiculous. Comparing 2.1 of my Vibrant with 2.2 on my streak, the Vibrant wins. no contest.
Day one of having the new 2.2 update on there and it's clear that this OS needs some patching already. I can only imagine what the people on O2 in the UK had to go through with their 2.1 fiasco
more to follow...

Here's a couple of things that I like in this build but before I list the items I wanted to address the comment you made about being able to turn of BT, wi-fi, GPS, brightness, etc. Under apps you can select Power Control and that will give you those options in a form of a widget. You do, however, will have to delete one of the Stage widgets to free up the room. Or you can just open the widget via apps. For my use, I currently prefer a different launcher than Stage. I am using the LauncherPro but there are a lot of other free choices like ADW, Zeam and so on.
Here are the things I like about this build:
1. Ability to hang up the call by pressing the power button ( you have to go to Settings-Accessibility-then check the mark for that option)
2. Radio feature - is absolutely great. The thing I don't like is the web ad that seems to pop every time I start listening to a station. If anyone knows how to turn/block that pop-up you would make me very happy )
3. Keyboard is awesome. Love the size, the options to switch to symbols, just love it. Haven't messed with SWYPE but I love the Andriod KB right now.
4. Flash - yes it works and it works well.
5. Speed - significantly faster. Whether navigating or downloading. Wi-fi speeds are faster than 1.6 or 2.1 I use to have.
6. Bluetooth volume is louder. This one was high on my priority list.
7. Music widget - looks nice and clean.
8. Camera works fine. I don't see an option for 720p though.
9. Security is beefed up by adding the option for PIN or password on top of the normal sliding lock. My slider works without any issues. But I prefer the pattern lock which also works great.
10. Haptic feedback can't be completely turned off, or you can turn off certain features alone like keyboard. I have mine off so the three main buttons don't vibrate any more. I don't think that option was available in the previous builds but I could be wrong.
These are the ones that I can think of right off the bat. I may add more as I remember them.

streak4m3 said:
Under apps you can select Power Control and that will give you those options in a form of a widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Long press home, then under widgets, then power control... thanks tons. that's what I was looking for.

So my quick review:
The good:
Loving the out-of-the-box Exchange support. Yay. Mobile e-mail/calendar/contacts without having to use Touchdown and the hassle of 'pushing' Touchdown contacts to the phone's contacts.
w00t. Ability to grab requiring apps from the market which require 2.x.
2.x features like portrait home screen, better multi-touch, etc.
The bad:
The Stage UI is just lame. Giving it a few days before I toss it in the bin.
I miss the old video playing app. I dunno what it was called, but there isn't even a shortcut for the new one. I installed ASTRO File Manager, browsed to my video directory and the file launched with some less-than-basic video player. What I liked about the old one was the order-by-date view which I have become used to but isn't the end of the world, the resume where you left off feature, and the delete from within the app feature. I guess Rock Player is the video player most people seem to be recommending, so I hope it has this.
For all its faults, I liked the old keyboard. I suspect it's still there, but I have yet to look. Using 2 (To/two/too) and 4 (For/four), etc in txt/IM/tweets now takes extra keypresses.
I never really knew how handy the Dell notification area was for 1.6. I'd turn off the cellular data and run Wi-Fi only, with just a couple of presses and it wouldn't interrupt the app I was in. Now I have to go to the home screen, press the menu button, and that's only to turn off wireless. I have yet to find the equivalent enable/disable for 3G.
Yet to check:
I've found the Streak's camera has taken pretty lame photos. I'm not photophile, but our 5 year old, 4MP camera takes better photos than the Streak. I've had the Streak set to the best quality (Lowest compression or whatever it was) and if you zoom in on a picture while viewing on a PC, it gets pixelated very quickly, while our 4MP pics are much nicer looking and they are twice the file size (4MP pic twice the file size of a 5MP pic?), so I'm interpreted this as 'The Streak takes crappy pics'. Been waiting to see what, if anything, the upgrade to 2.2 does for this.
So I guess it seems to lack polish, BUT, I think the reason for this is because it's actually near-to-bare Android, so I'm not going to criticise the roughness when the other option is more polish (Which one may or may not like) from Dell that means OS updates take 6+ months. I'm sure I'll be able to overcome anything I'm not liking with apps or through tweaking some options somewhere. Isn't this why we have Android?
But yeah. Stage is coming off pretty quick I suspect.
PS - You all might laugh: http://i.imgur.com/ULMLx.png

This build was far too laggy for my tastes. 1.6 was faster on some of the processes for me. I'm happily back on DJ Steve's build which is soooo much faster and has virtually the same features.
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk

Something I'm surprised is:
2.2 doesn't have separate sounds for incoming:
E-mail
Texts
Reminders
...I dunno if iOS does, but my old Windows Mobile device did. I'd like a different sounds for these events, as I'll respond to them differently. Now I don't know if it's a calendar reminder which I can't ignore, a text which I might ignore or an e-mail that I can ignore...

streak4m3 said:
8. Camera works fine. I don't see an option for 720p though.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got fooled by this. check 'Custom' for 720p. I can verify it is 720p too. pretty good quality.
Edit: Check it out. cant post link so you'll have to type the youtube code in manually
watch?v=Xm-jbOqIUiU
Enjoy! pretty sweet.
Format : MOV
Dimensions: 1280x720px
Video codec: MPEG4
Audio codec: AAC

htnprm said:
I never really knew how handy the Dell notification area was for 1.6. I'd turn off the cellular data and run Wi-Fi only, with just a couple of presses and it wouldn't interrupt the app I was in. Now I have to go to the home screen, press the menu button, and that's only to turn off wireless. I have yet to find the equivalent enable/disable for 3G.
PS - You all might laugh: http://i.imgur.com/ULMLx.png
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try "Quick Settings" which puts an icon in your status bar so when in an app, just drag down the status bar click on it and all your settings are there. Or, try "QuickDesk". Not sure if this is out of beta yet but its also an awesome app for doing exactly what you are talking about.....and much more.
Cant wait to get my Streak and to start rockin this 2.2. Would love to have vanilla 2.2 though.

as you are on 2.2 now , can you check something for me ?
- can flashled from camera be used as torchlight ?
- it should have usb tethering now, but does it also do wifi-tethering ?
- can the flashplayer play activescript ?
- is activesync (not exchange) working ?

da_jojo said:
as you are on 2.2 now , can you check something for me ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I was wondering about many of these. Hopefully I get the first real sit-down with the phone sans-children jumping all over me, so I'll get back to you.

htnprm said:
Yeah. I was wondering about many of these. Hopefully I get the first real sit-down with the phone sans-children jumping all over me, so I'll get back to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cheers, appreciate it

da_jojo said:
as you are on 2.2 now , can you check something for me ?
- can flashled from camera be used as torchlight ?
- it should have usb tethering now, but does it also do wifi-tethering ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the led can work as a flashlight. I used the N1 Torch app and it worked fine.
Yes it does have wifi tethering.
I really miss the 1.6 menu bar/notification bar. Stage blows compared to the old ui. The swype keyboard is great. I have mixed feelings about the update mainly because of the ui changes.
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk

Spectre51 said:
Yes the led can work as a flashlight. I used the N1 Torch app and it worked fine.
Yes it does have wifi tethering.
I really miss the 1.6 menu bar/notification bar. Stage blows compared to the old ui. The swype keyboard is great. I have mixed feelings about the update mainly because of the ui changes.
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thnx for the info
yeah me too, but you can allways install one of these :
http://myandroidworld.in/posts/android-launchershome-replacement-apps

da_jojo said:
as you are on 2.2 now , can you check something for me ?
- can flashled from camera be used as torchlight ?
- it should have usb tethering now, but does it also do wifi-tethering ?
- can the flashplayer play activescript ?
- is activesync (not exchange) working ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes, I use StreakLight from Market (free)
2. Yes, there´s an option for this and I checked it, and it seems to work. But I haven´t connected a device yet.
3. How can I check this?
4. Dunno, cause I use Exchange and some Imap

gavelis said:
1. Yes, I use StreakLight from Market (free)
2. Yes, there´s an option for this and I checked it, and it seems to work. But I haven´t connected a device yet.
3. How can I check this?
4. Dunno, cause I use Exchange and some Imap
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thnx
ad 3 : http://www.playerversion.com/ and http://jrgraphix.net/research/flash-dock-mx-2004.php and http://flowplayer.org/plugins/streaming/rtmp.html

da_jojo said:
as you are on 2.2 now , can you check something for me ?
- can flashled from camera be used as torchlight ?
- it should have usb tethering now, but does it also do wifi-tethering ?
- can the flashplayer play activescript ?
- is activesync (not exchange) working ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright. Others have answered, but I'll pass on what I know. If you're talking Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) not talking to an Exchange server, a la Hotmail, I'm getting a "cannot connect to server" error... My EAS to work's Exchange is working flawlessly though.
And USB/Wi-fi tethering are working grand. I'm tethered by Wi-fi as I write this, so I can pass my 3G USB modem on to a colleague. w00t.
I am a little concerned about battery life. I haven't done that much with the phone today, unlike a normal day where I might squeeze in a few calls, texts, tweets, bit of web browsing, and three+ hours of video and have the battery at 20% at the end of the day. I'm at 20% left now, and I haven't done any of those things.

thnx
have you tried hotmail through POP3 ? it worked with k9 client.
what i meant is activesync on windows 7 64bit with office 2010 32bit.
yeah batterylife concerns me also. i have a habit of draining these in godspeed (A)

You can create a shortcut to the wifi & networks popup from launcherpro activities.
1. Long press on the desktop bsckground
2. Select shortcut
3. Select Activities
4. Select wireless & networks
You now have access to the old dell popup to disable data, 3g etc.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App

this is exactly what people where missing , thnx

rodjordan said:
You now have access to the old dell popup to disable data, 3g etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kinda. You still have to go from the app you're in out to the home screen, turn it on/off, and then go back to your app. But thanks for the info.

Buyers guide (Galaxy S2 review vs iPhone4)

Hi guys,
I thought i share my thoughts and experience with people who have not decided which phone to buy. Maybe my input will make the decision easier (or maybe it will confuse you even more hehe).
Also I am hoping people with Android experience maybe can assist me with some of my negative bullets. I'm very new to Android so i apologies for my mistakes in my so called review/comparison.
And lastly i dont want to start any fanboy android vs iOS. This is just my personal view of the two phones/OS'es. Its maybe a bit unfair since i been using iPhone for the last 3 years and Android for only a week but still some of the bullets are independent of that. Any how lets dig into it, First i take the negative side of SGII and next the positive sides.
(maybe my topic is a bit misleading but below some of the items are compared against iPhone but i wont write all the plus/negative for iPhone since the SGII list is already pretty big and i want to focus on SGII which i hope can replace my iPhone)
- When i exit USB mode (where i can access the SD card) i cant find a way to reconnect it without cable unplug->plug. Is there a way i missed?
- Browser doesnt word wrap the text/column so good on table tab. I had a side by side comparison with my iPhone4. On iphone the whole article including images are resized and the text is fully readable. On Galaxy S2 images are not resized and text is readable but just barely. So the whole screen real-state is not fully utilized with the lower resolution and bad browser formatting.I have tested Opera also but the whole word wrapping experience left a very bad taste in my mouth. It was the worst experience ever, the article jump up and down every 5 sec or so, i think the browser got confused for some reason and couldnt decide how to format the page (this was when double tapping).
- Default browser crashes (go to qj.net where i usually visit to read about games).
- Text selection is a pain sometimes. First problem is that in every app it behaves differently. Second problem is that the process to select a text isnt so smooth.
- Confused about task and background proceses that start magically! When using taskmanager i can see mostly 2-3 tasks there and this makes sense. Now using other task killers suddenly they show 10-15 tasks. I understand these are background task but its beyond me why some of them suddenly are there. Like Kies, this should never be started unless i am using Kies. I can see now why my battery goes dows so fast (well compared to iPhone again). Why is there so many tasks started and why cant i control them from vanila Android. This should be a must. I dont want to root my phone to do the basic settings.
- Pretty much all application is downloaded can only be installed on phone memory. Why doesnt Google enforce developers to adapt to new versions of Android is beyond me.
- I havent found a way to backup everything on the phone (including applications and their save data) to my pc/mac. Without this i dont like to experiment rooting and other shizzles.
- Apps are not as smooth and functional on GS2 compared to iPhone4. Ex: Tunein Radio, i cant skip to next song. Ex2: ign app (iphone) allow for daily videos while the Android version is very poorly done and dont have any videos. Feels like Everything works just a little better on iPhone compared to Android phones.This is something most people cant understand if they havent had iPhone for a long time i think.
- Slow battery charging. I usually start charing at around 20% battery left. In one hour GS2 reaches around 40-50% while iPhone goes to 80%
- Headset lacks volume + next/back track when playing music.
- Creating folder through Kies Air not possible. for ex in media make a folder called movies.
- Drag&Drop in Kies air missing.
- When uploading a file through Kies Air there should be a progress bar, now it just looks busy and you dont know if its uploading or it hangs.
Ok now to some good sides on the Galaxy S2:
+ Brilliant screen (even if i think resolution could be better)
+ Flexibility and open market for every sort of application. Much like windows here you can add more functionality and make the phone very personal.
+ Excellent codec support. It plays pretty much everything i through at it. Well done Samsung.
+ Very good camera (even better then iPhone i admit)
+ Very good video recording (also better then iPhone)
+ Very light
+ Feels pretty good in your hand (even though i’m afraid one day the backvocer will break, i had a Nokia N95 and one day the smal plastic edges broke when i was opening the cover. Same thing will happen ti GS2 i’m sure)
+ Expandibale uSD.
+ Very cool fearure called Kies Air where i can access most studd through browser. (this can also be added to minus since it doenst work perfectly everytime i tested but the potential is there)
+ Nice features like pinch effect for desktop + many nice widgets.
+ I think you can make proper call recording on SGII (CallRecorder) but havent confirmed myself yet.
Lastly i like to say SGII is a wonderful phone and i really really want to use it as my primary phone. The one thing i hope Samsung fixes that will make me more loyal to Android is the default browser. The text wrapping must be improved and the browser more stable. I like the smoothness of the default browser and this is the most used part of the phone and so far my iPhone is better but i hope 2.3.4 update maybe can improve this.
Any input, tips, tricks are welcome. I really appreciate your help.

Hopefully this will help you, at least in some areas (i numbered them in the order that you have used):
1) using developer mode at least (i prefer it as its faster and more compatible than samsung's stuff) you can mount/umount at will the card on the pc via the phone without unplugging
2) You may want to try Opera Mobile, it seems to do a very good job at this. I'd like to see this in the stock browser too, but hey, this is Android, you have the choice to change the browser if you like ;-)
3) Well, same thing I guess. 2.3.4 may improve stability but the rest, I don't know, I wouldn't bet on it. I like Firefox quite a bit as well, but text wrapping is odd on it.
4) Android issue =/
5) I wouldn't use any task killer. Check the active apps and uninstall any app that doesn't behave (keep only the ones you REALLY need that still do stuff in the background, like email etc, but not too many). Seems to work a zillion time better for battery life. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a decent way to enforce such a policy.
Regular background tasks are not necessarily ever active. It just means they're frozen in the background and do nothing. As long as they do nothing it's fine, it's just faster to start them again (instant, in fact). The issue is really when they're activating every XX minutes while in the background.
6)Doesn't matter, the recent samsung phones such as the SGS2 have a HUGE internal memory compared to other phones, you'll never have space issues for that imo.
7)Install a kernel with CWM and then, boot in recovery and run a nandroid backup. It will create the backups on your sdcard. Copy them to your PC. Also, copy /efs using tools or manually..
You can restore using a CWM kernel later on and nandroid restore.
You can also use stuff like TitaniumBackup, but it's not nearly as thorough as nandroid backup (which is doing basically disk images, while Titanium and other such apps just copy app/settings)
8)Trollish subject. Some apps are superior on Android, some are superior on iOS. Heh SGS2's browser speed eats my IP4 for breakfast for example. If the same Android app doesnt have the feature of the iOS app, complain to the dev or find another app.
9) it's true it's like that, nothing you can do about it (technically, something could be done but that's probably not wise at all)
10) Use another music player, such as PowerAmp if you like. There's (many, many) other possibilities as well. It also let you boost the volume higher than the stock max volume (although I find stock to be loud enough)
11) Don't use KIES air to do that then ;-)
12) Likewise. There are apps like KIES air, you might want to try them btw. Make a little search, I dont have the name in mind, but they do exist, others will probably point them out
13) I do get a progress bar that moves, maybe a browser issue. Anyway, see point 12)

Cheers for the answers and help. I write the comments inline below.
bilboa1 said:
Hopefully this will help you, at least in some areas (i numbered them in the order that you have used):
1) using developer mode at least (i prefer it as its faster and more compatible than samsung's stuff) you can mount/umount at will the card on the pc via the phone without unplugging
A: i did test this mode but it asked me to unplug the cable also, same thing for MTP. Dont you get that?
2) You may want to try Opera Mobile, it seems to do a very good job at this. I'd like to see this in the stock browser too, but hey, this is Android, you have the choice to change the browser if you like ;-)
A: As mentioned i already tested this. Opera does some things better and some things worse. For instance visiting one of my favorite sites like Engadget.com the whole page jump up and down when i zoom in a little. To be honest the stock + Opera feel very bad compared to iPhones browser. I hope Opera or Samsung improve on this area. This is the most used feature for me.
3) Well, same thing I guess. 2.3.4 may improve stability but the rest, I don't know, I wouldn't bet on it. I like Firefox quite a bit as well, but text wrapping is odd on it.
A: Lets hope so
4) Android issue =/
A:
5) I wouldn't use any task killer. Check the active apps and uninstall any app that doesn't behave (keep only the ones you REALLY need that still do stuff in the background, like email etc, but not too many). Seems to work a zillion time better for battery life. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a decent way to enforce such a policy.
Regular background tasks are not necessarily ever active. It just means they're frozen in the background and do nothing. As long as they do nothing it's fine, it's just faster to start them again (instant, in fact). The issue is really when they're activating every XX minutes while in the background.
A: Yes true, i think Android just shows to much info for regular user. I have to see past the background tasks perhaps. Also some appz you can not remove like the hubs and such. Sure i can root and hack but i'm not so interested to do so just yet. Maybe when i'm a bit more user and understand Android better
6)Doesn't matter, the recent samsung phones such as the SGS2 have a HUGE internal memory compared to other phones, you'll never have space issues for that imo.
A: Actually i got over 12Gig of Appz on my iPhone so 16Gig (or actually 12Gig which is free) isnt all to much when you have navigator (3,5Gig) and games and blogs and such. But sure its enought for a time to come. The bottom line is Google must be tougher with the market otherwise the fragmentation will just grow.
7)Install a kernel with CWM and then, boot in recovery and run a nandroid backup. It will create the backups on your sdcard. Copy them to your PC. Also, copy /efs using tools or manually..
You can restore using a CWM kernel later on and nandroid restore.
You can also use stuff like TitaniumBackup, but it's not nearly as thorough as nandroid backup (which is doing basically disk images, while Titanium and other such apps just copy app/settings)
A: Thanks for the tips, i will write it down. As said i dont dare yet to mess with hacking but soon i was actually considering using the TitaniumB , hear its easy to use.
8)Trollish subject. Some apps are superior on Android, some are superior on iOS. Heh SGS2's browser speed eats my IP4 for breakfast for example. If the same Android app doesnt have the feature of the iOS app, complain to the dev or find another app.
A: I'm noob on what is there on the market so i'm sure there are many awesome apps on Android but when comparing the same app on Android vs iOS the Android was inferior. That was what i was comparing.
Another thing i dont really experience is the speed. To be honest i dont see such a huge speed difference when using my Wlan at home. But maybe you are right
9) it's true it's like that, nothing you can do about it (technically, something could be done but that's probably not wise at all)
A: I guess your right. On the other hand it could be possible a fw update could adjust some values for the current input, this could be a software limitation also i think. Lets hope
10) Use another music player, such as PowerAmp if you like. There's (many, many) other possibilities as well. It also let you boost the volume higher than the stock max volume (although I find stock to be loud enough)
A:Thanks for the tips will test this. Actually this is same thing as the copy/paste issue. I expect the behaviour to be the same no matter application (coming from iOS) but here it seems its application to application. This offer more freedom to developers for sure but it will also generate crapy software and result in a bad user experience. It would be so much better if there were a set of rules that all developers should follow on certain areas (this one is one such area).
11) Don't use KIES air to do that then ;-)
A: hehe true but this is the official way so i thought it should have been well tested and all
12) Likewise. There are apps like KIES air, you might want to try them btw.
Make a little search, I dont have the name in mind, but they do exist, others will probably point them out
A: Will do.
13) I do get a progress bar that moves, maybe a browser issue. Anyway, see point 12)
A: Strange, have to test again on IE which i hate, i use Firefox only. Also tested Safari on my mac.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks again for your input mate. Back to play more with my GSII

Applications can also be installed on the external sd card.
Applications and I also believe their user data are backed up on google server. So if you factory reset the phone and sync with google, it will download all previous apps.
About the slow charging - are you on old firmware version or do you charge over USB?
Creating a folder through kies air is not possible, that is correct. To be honest I am happy that there is even an app which allows to copy media etc. over wifi, you know there are phones which don't have that, for example the iPhone.
All apps I am using are working fine. If an app is not stable it's developer's fault, not the phone.

Ios is from 2007.. android 09.. 1-2 years between them. just think how far android have gone the last year.. give it 2 years and then compare it to iphone 4 in it current state.. well yes i know android is older.. but the initial realse was around 08-09 and IOS june - 07.
and yes.. so far iphone fits those who just want it to work better.. that means ppl not that used to computers etc.
and currently i dont own an iphone but i got a first generation ipod touch.. and yes even that stoneage IOS thing does alot of things better then my S2..
bah but this iphone vs android is getting old its a subject that can go on forever and ever..
well ill stick with my laggy android.. well i've been told by my iphony friends that its laggy.. i just dont see it

vampyren said:
Hi guys,
Any input, tips, tricks are welcome. I really appreciate your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice overview.
IMO S2 is the best phone on the market now. But due to appl's hype, n matter what hardware specs they release, the iphone will always be superior to ANY phone. They could release an iphone with 1st gen hardware, and it will still make more sales than sgs2.
But, slowly more and more ppl are moving towards androi, and apple are losing sales. they even copied bb and android in ios 5..

Also coming from an iPhone 4 to the GS2 I can safely say that I don't miss the iPhone at all which I thought I would.
Having owned a Nexus S in the past and feeling a bit bewildered as there was a lot of stuff within the OS which felt unpolished and unfinished and now 2.3.3 is like night and day for that and it feels much more like a complete OS to me.
@OP give it time there will be a lot of things you can do with your new phone which would require rooting on your iPhone 4
The world of apps and widgets and customization is at your finger tips so jump right in and enjoy
My phone is running ADW Launcher EX with 90% icon dock size, 5x5 grid for homescreen, transparent drawer and miui weather

The only thing you might miss is the app store and iTunes integration (if you use it), other than that the Galaxy S II has it beaten quite comfortably.

@zxz0O0:
OOH that is cool , i think some option about it but didnt think it was what i thought it was nice to have it confirmed. Then this is pretty much what Apple is adding into iOS now with the cloud thing. Pretty cool Android has it already. By the way why do people use program like TitaniumBackup when there is google sync ? is there any limitation to the cloud backup? will all games data, programs data, settings be backed up or just Android OS stuff?
About FW i use the latest i think KE7 i think its called but i read there is a new one coming out next week so hoping for better battery life.
And your last point is something we can debate about for a long time but my view is that if you dont have strict rules developers do what ever they want and can let their app go without update. On the other hand if Google enforce some guideline like having option to install to SD card developers must go by that or their application is removed from market. In the end users will benefit and the platform will grow. But this is my view alone.
@olyloh6696:
I dont think its just hype really. I mean we are comparing a year old phone to SGII here and they are pretty much head to head in most scenarios i tested. But i see your point and i do agree that Android has a charm about it. I love the moving background, i love the whole flexibility to do what you want with the interface. Specially SGII's support for codecs so i dont have to spend 2 day re-encoding all my movies etc. So there are definatley benefits with Android but iOS has the benefit to be easy and working perfectly with the functions it offers from the get go. I think its a matter of preference and more advanced users will move to Android (a bit like me).
@daleski75:
Yupp i think i just need to play with it more and get used to the eco system
I think i will harass Opera developers to fix the formatting thing on the webpages now
Thanks for your input guys, gonna go out and take a walk now, later.

There are also many other good browsers, xscope, miren and dolphin hd to name a few, they all have their own way to format the page and all are pretty good many have different options too for formatting and text wrapping (I believe the default samsung browser also has some options)
also I believe google sync doesnt save all app data (eg angry birds progress is not saved)

That is correct...Google Sync doesn't backup app data (like your Angry Birds scores). This is where Titanium Backup (commonly abbreviated to as TiBu) comes in. It "sort of" does cloud backup (via Dropbox), but its strength really shows when you start installing/changing/updating custom ROMs. Typically, it's used to backup your apps and their data to a folder on your SD card. I can also do some pretty advanced stuff that you probably wouldn't use much (if at all). In my view, the strength is it's ability to deal with batch jobs. For example, before installing a new ROM, I backup all user installed applications (non-protected ones, anyway) with only a couple clicks. Restoring is just as easy, provided you have the paid version (it allows for hands-off batch restore of your apps). Another cool feature it has is "freezing" apps. Say you root your phone and may want to clean some carrier crapware off of it, but aren't *totally* sure. You can freeze those apps...they stay installed and can be defrosted at any time, but they won't be available for use until you do.
Also, I agree with you that a lot of iOS apps are much better than their Android counterparts. I believe this is the case for one main reason: there are tons of people using Android and tons of people on iPhones...you can essentially count on one hand the number of iOS phones Apple has to support, and they are all sold by Apple. Now, look at the number of Android phones and devices and their individual specifications...that makes developing apps for Android pretty complicated. Devs have to take into account different CPUs, memory limitations, and the biggie--SCREEN DIFFERENCES! However, I like being able to run an app developed for a phone on my Honeycomb tablet. Yeah, it may be ugly (not necessarily), but it almost always works! I have a network tool I use that only shows up on about 1/6th the screen of my tab, but I don't care...it still does the job.
Don't forget another important aspect of the Android vs. Apple thing...Apple has control of their devices and their operating systems, and the cell phone carriers don't have control over when Apple releases an update. On the Android side, you have some manufacturers that are prompt with getting an update ready, and those who abandon their devices after they leave the store shelf. Not only that, but those who do release updates, and most do, have to deal with the likes of AT&T and Verizon and everyone else here in the US. Each company wants a ROM customized only for them, and sometimes the manufacturers actually have to pay the cell companies to push out updates. This is what causes the splintering of Android, but openness is what gives it its strengths.
As a general rule, I find that the more "techy" people like the Android OS, since you can customize it and tweak it like crazy. Those who aren't quite as savvy will probably like iOS more (there's less to screw up and they all look the same). Please don't flame me for saying that...it's just a general observation that has many exceptions.
Well that's my two cents. Maybe it will be helpful in some way? <*schrugs*>
Brad
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA Premium App

There is no practical comparison possible between the mentioned phones.

Appreciate the explanation brad, TB is a nice tool indeed
Just one point, In regard to customization i can pretty do anything also when i jailbreak the iphone which is even simpler then rooting Android and what all techies do anyway with their Android phones
But i agree Android has its charm with the more open eco system.
The 2 area i wish to have before it gets perfect is the browsing and more resolution for the big ass screen (4.3)

[MOD] Ingress broot mod v1.26.1-broot-0.2.0 (2013.05.26) [CLOSED]

Unfortunately Niantic contacted me to abort this mod. More info: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=42027875#post42027875
TL;DR version: I have created an Ingress app mod, it is awesome and will make you coffee. You can download it below.
OVERVIEW
Hi,
after more than a 2 years of inactivity in the modding field I'm back with a new mod. This time it's Ingress app. I think and hope it'll be much greater and more advanced than Google Maps mod. There are a lot of things to improve and I think some of them won't be ever added by Niantic, so it's a good idea to mod this app.
First I want to clarify I will never add any kind of cheating to this mod. My goal is to make Ingress game more enjoyable, not less. Questions about location faking, items cloning, etc. are not welcome here. I'm serious. Still if you think this mod is a bad thing and/or if you're from Niantic then please read a section about my motivations below and feel free to ask, suggest or criticize. I make it for Ingress players and I'm very interested in their opinions.
DOWNLOAD
First: you do this at your own risk! I'm sure it won't brick your phone, but remember you may be banned by Niantic. My mod doesn't do any kind of cheating behavior, it doesn't do anything that original app doesn't do, but there is always the risk.
Also if you downloaded apk from different site then check sha1 of this file to make sure it's ok. Unfortunately such mods create good opportunity to inject some malware, because users search for an application in the internet and anyone can redistribute it. I sign this app with my own keys, so if you have installed my mod earlier, now you have downloaded newer version from the internet and Android says it has different certificates then don't install it!
"Mute" variant has all sounds removed, so apk is ~2.5 times smaller and most likely it uses less memory.
ingress-1.26.1-broot-0.2.0-mute.apk
SHA1: 976342081c963998f8a6e56b735fe97581ab335f
ingress-1.26.1-broot-0.2.0.apk
SHA1: dce5399802c8f11287a7cf399c1bb5265f8251e2
Older versions:
ingress-1.26.0-broot-0.1.0.apk
SHA1: ea95d8e36324c6c4a175e0cf254cd65a4797049f
If you have original Ingress app installed then you have to uninstall it first. Same if you want to install original app over a modded one.
FEATURES / TODO LIST
I know simplifying and automation of too many things may be considered cheating, so I have divided all features into several categories: from the most "innocent" ones to some smart assistants. As I stated above, if you think some of them are just too much then feel free to write about it. For me features up to 3. category are ok. Category 4. may be controversial and I'm not sure if I want to implement it. I'm glad for your opinions. Some features (e.g. 2.11., 3.7.) aren't actually related to category descriptions, but I "feel" them as category 2., 3., etc.
I don't want to force people to use every modification, I'll try to make them all opt-in, so modded app will work exactly as the original one until you change this in the mod menu. If you see e.g. "Fullscreen" feature below then read it as "An option to enable fullscreen mode".
Below is just a list of features to make it clear. Descriptions, notes, statuses, implementation proposals, etc. are here.
Legend:
green - completed
orange - not sure about it
red - rejected
black - waiting / todo
1. Changes strictly technical and/or 4fun - they don't affect gameplay at all:
UI for small screens, but this is never ending task
Disable some graphics effects to make it less GPU consuming:
portal particles
xm particles
Fullscreen.
Remove globe intro.
Change colors of factions.
Exit confirmation dialog - it's good for low memory devices.
Keep sceen on.
Disable vibrator.
2. UI changes: new screens, shortcuts, etc. - it makes things easier, but it won't do anything for you:
New screen with mod settings, credits, etc.
New inventory screen with items presented as a clear table.
Number of all items in the inventory - it's very important because of items limit.
New portal keys screen.
Remove original items screen.
Shortcuts to various actions from the main screen.
Modify chat to make it easier to read and harder to accidentally send private message to public channel.
Link to portals from system messages in the chat.
Real-time distance to portal on details and upgrade screen - its necessity is obvious to anyone who played Ingress
Additional info about the portals directly on the map screen.
Logging and statistics.
Circles around the player similar to one at 40m - just for better feeling of the distance.
Number of keys on portal info, upgrade and linking screens.
Config: update interval.
Config: maximum scanner zoom out.
Deploy button uses highest available resonator, not lowest.
3. Automation of some more complicated or repetitive tasks - it delegates multi-clicking to the squad of highly trained monkeys, but it won't think for you:
Dropping/recycling multiple items of the same type at once.
Firing multiple XMP
Picking up all items in the range - with above it's very easy to give items to other agents.
Hacking all portals in range - not very useful because of timers
Auto deploy resonators using a template.
Templates specific to a portal.
Other agents presence detector.
4. Smart assistants:
Hacking timers for each portal: both 5m and 4h ones.
Auto hacking portals in range while moving (using timers).
Smart auto-deploy.
XMP damage assistant.
Linking assistant for optimum CFs in a specific area.
Continuous linking assistant.
Bugs:
The maps are gray when submitting new portals or reporting bad ones.
NEWS
v1.26.1-broot-0.2.0 has been released!
2013.05.26
Updated Ingress to 1.26.1.
Added layouts for small screens: Eugene's 1.26.0.20130526
Added mute version - for smaller size and likely smaller memory usage.
Added fullscreen mode.
Added option to disable portal particles and xm particles.
Added restart button - it's useful for reloading UI changes (fullscreen mode, layouts, etc.).
Fixed gray maps problem.
v1.26.0-broot-0.1.0 has been released!
2013.05.22
Initial version.
New screen with mod settings, credits, etc.
New inventory screen with items presented as a clear table.
Number of all items in the inventory.
CREDITS
Eugene Kartashov - layouts for small screens.
Of course Niantic Project for this awesome game!
Thanks!

FEATURES DESCRIPTION AND NOTES
1.5. Change colors of factions.
I did this before and it's kind of cool: https://plus.google.com/u/0/106080343103638200670/posts/a9krpWApjz5
2.4. New portal keys screen.
I have some ideas, e.g.:
keys grouping/tagging
group/tag keys manually or automatically by their location, name, etc.
filters and sorting by: name, distance, level, owner, etc.
, but I think Niantic want to improve keys management, so I wait for their move.
2.5. Remove original items screen.
For now even if you prefer new items screen the original one is still needed to access portal keys. We can wait for 2.4. or at least add an option to limit original items screen to portal keys and rename it accordingly.
2.6. Shortcuts to various actions from the main screen.
I think it's one of the most important additions, so it has to be well designed. I see it as a HUD-like buttons similar to "FIRE XMP" when you long-press on a map, but much smaller, probably square with icons. Things to consider:
toolbar at the top or the bottom of the screen - I think it's better than left/right
fixed with 5-6 icons (4" screen) or scrolling horizontally
fixed icons or customize them and their positions
an option to open a full semi-transparent menu with all available actions
Actions could be:
fire last XMP
fire highest/lowest XMP
fire XMP of specific level
same for power cubes
hack portal - click button then click portal. This way you don't have to enter portal details screen which is faster and you don't lose the map.
link portal - same as above
set target? It's in a long-press menu already, but we can add it here for consistency and maybe to remove long-press menu.
actions from other mod additions
2.7. Modify chat to make it easier to read and harder to accidentally send private message to the public channel.
Current problems are:
is there anyone who has never sent a private message to the public channel? Is there anyone who did this only once or twice?
it's hard to read conversations between agents, especially public ones, because they're mixed up with system messages
I was considering adding some kind of filters to select which types of messages you want to see, but it doesn't fix first problem. Now I think of something else - 4 tabs/channels:
faction - as normal
public - public conversation only, so system messages won't disturb you and you don't accidentally respond [secure] messages
system - you can't send a message here
all - all above, so it's similar to current "All", but you can't send a message here - you have to choose proper channel intentionally. It can have additional filters to select messages to show.
This feature may be hard to do or even impossible, because most probably Ingress server doesn't have API to filter messages as above. Of course I can read "All" channel and filter it on the app side, but it may not be that good.
Also I won't be surprised if Niantic itself will redesign chat in the near future, because it's definitely wrong.
2.10. Additional info about the portals directly on the map screen.
E.g.: level, if you have a key (how many?), etc. It could be customizable and there could be a shortcut to toggle showing this info.
2.11. Logging and statistics.
I love this one I can log all kind of actions like: hacking, attacking, dropping and picking up items and XM, deploying resonators and portal mods, adding custom "snapshot points" to organize above, etc. and then create a lot of various statistics:
how many hacks did you do (faction, enemy, neutral) today, in last week or month?
how many items did you get from these hacks?
what were the levels of hacked portals and items?
how many XM did you get?
how did you spend this XM?
how many resonators did you deploy and what were their levels?
how many resonators did you destroy, how many portals did you capture?
how many links and CFs did you create/destroy, what were their MU values?
which portals do you hack/attack/build most often?
how much time you was playing?
what items did you spend to build up a farm and what items did you get from it?
Statistics could be tabular, graph, pie and very flexible. I'm also considering two things:
sending some of above statistics to my server to create global statistics for all users. It would let us do some research, e.g.: what is the probability to get L7 item from L6 portal, etc. Of course sending these statistics would be fully optional, you would have to enable it by yourself.
optional paid application to read these statistics - in addition to the free one. It could let you remove ads or just say "thank you" (i.e. it would be the same as free one), but I don't want to piss off someone in Niantic. I think it would be fair, because statistics app would be quite complicated and time consuming and there will be free version, but you never know what's the opinion of other people.
What do you guys think about above two things?
3.5. Auto deploy resonators using a template.
Agent can configure multiple templates and choose one of them when doing an auto-deploy. Template could be defined by:
its name
minimum and maximum level for each resonator
prefer lower/higher level for each resonator
Examples:
"Lowest portal" - each resonator set to L1-L8 and prefer lower for all - it's the same as clicking "deploy" 8 times.
"Highest portal" - L1-L8 and prefer higher for all
"Highest <L7" - L1-L6, prefer higher for all
"Standard L4" - L1-L6, L1-L4, L1-L5, L1-L4, L1-L6, L1-L4, L1-L5, L1-L4, prefer higher for all - it's standard 4xL4 2xL5 2xL6 and it'll use lower resonators if you don't have all of them
another "Standard L4" - same as above, but L6-L6, L5-L5 and L4-L4 - it won't automatically downgrade resonators, but warn you about the lack of resonators
Also some templates could be predefined by default.
It won't work well with existing resonators, it won't choose optimal way to upgrade them, but this is how it should be - it's just: "do it using a template", not: "Calculate optimal situation".
3.6. Templates specific to a portal.
Extension to above: sometimes you know that e.g. NE resonator of some portal is harder to destroy, so you want to place highest resonator there. You can create a template specific to a portal, so it won't mess up main list of templates and it will be auto selected when doing auto deploy for this portal.
3.7. Other agents presence detector.
It read system messages log to find the last actions and positions of other agents (actually positions of portals they've built/attacked). This information could be used to e.g.:
show last position and action of specific agent
show a list of nearby agents: allied or enemy
alert if some other agent will show up below specific distance from you
4.3. Smart auto-deploy.
E.g.:
calculate max level of a portal that you can build alone - depending on your inventory and already deployed resonators
deploy minimum number and optimum resonators to get to specific portal level
prioritize excess resonators and save scarce ones
deploy high and low resonators evenly to make attacking a little harder
if upgrading existent resonators, prefer to upgrade ones with low XM
4.4. XMP damage assistant.
E.g.:
approximate damage dealt using specific XMP in current position
calculate the best spot to fire XMP of some level
4.5. Linking assistant for optimum CFs in a specific area.
You select a group of nearby portals, assistant build links and guide you through place to get as many CFs and AP as possible.
4.6. Continuous linking assistant.
You see an icon near the portal if it's possible to create a link(s) from it to create a CF. It let you create this CF with few clicks.
It may be not possible to do, because it would have to scan big area to know if there are a link between remote portals.

MOTIVATIONS AND FEW WORDS TO NIANTIC
As I stated above my goal is to make Ingress game better and more enjoyable for people. If you think it's evil then please read my motivations and explanation below:
There aren't and never will be features for cheating: location faking, sending same action several times, automatic passcode submitter, etc.
As I said above I have divided mod features into categories of different "dirtness level". I focus on "clean" features and I'm open to suggestions or criticism from players or even from Niantic itself.
I don't share my code and I obfuscate it to not make Ingress easier to hack by other people.
A whole game and world of Ingress is about hacking and reading between lines. I think my mod fits this world perfectly. There are some people who leak Ingress app from NIA and there is some guy somewhere in the internet who tries to get even more from it. It makes perfect sense
I think there are many good features that will be never added by Niantic. I see several reasons: statistics won't be added because it doesn't make much sense for storyline. Why NIA would add such feature? Intro skipping or new items screen won't be added because these features prioritize quick access over a nice look. Niantic can't do the same because Ingress would look like a game for nerds. But there are many people who don't care about the look because... they're nerds ;-P
And finally: I won't fight Niantic, so if they don't like my mod and decide to react then there will be no mod anymore.
If you're from Niantic then please think what is the best for Ingress users. If you don't like one or two of my features then I'll remove them and keep the valuable ones. If you still think this mod isn't good and it's a matter of time before you react then please do it sooner, not later. Mod won't be very popular yet, Ingress players won't be disappointed so much and I won't lose a lot of my time
FINAL NOTES FOR USERS
Once more: feel free to suggest new features or changes to existent ones. You can also criticize a whole mod idea. I want to know what do you guys think about it.
If you get a force close then post a logcat and mod version here.
If something doesn't look ok then post a screenshot. I have a 320x480 and 480x800 devices, but I can't test it on 240x320 and >480x800 resolutions.
You can also report language faults in the app or even here. English isn't my native and I often write something that doesn't seem natural even to me. I would be happy if someone would suggest better names or descriptions for configuration options, etc.
Of course you can redistribute this mod, but please don't do that if you don't have a good reason. I just want to know how popular it is. Also if you redistribute it then please add a link to this thread to give users a full context.
If you want to make a donation then link is in my signature, but remember that this mod may be killed by Niantic at any time.

[RESERVED]

[RESERVED2]

Very amazing
I'm gonna try it out on a new account just to be safe, but I love the work and holy cow you did a lot and I can't believe it.
Niantic better sit down and learn some must needed features and options. The globe one for sure
Sent from my MI 2 using Tapatalk 2

Keep up outstanding work. I just installed this mod and I confirm that it works flawless.
I'm looking forward to future updates.

iBotPeaches: I did a lot? But you have noticed that above features list is mostly a TODO and for now there are just new items screen and intro skipping? I'm not sure if this is clear from above posts.
I wanted to release it early to get some ideas from people.... or be banned

What about a nosound version? It reduces the app size and removes the annoying sounds for people that are tired of hearing those squeaks
Please find attached a nosound version prototype.

it will be possible to have screen: "exit. are you sure?" when accidentally using back button?

Brut.all said:
iBotPeaches: I did a lot? But you have noticed that above features list is mostly a TODO and for now there are just new items screen and intro skipping? I'm not sure if this is clear from above posts.
I wanted to release it early to get some ideas from people.... or be banned
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, I thought you did all that stuff that was bolded in the features list Guess I didn't read it well enough.

Hi, on mine HTC Desire it crash suddnly..
EDIT: Reinstalled, work like a charm..

One thing possibly worth pointing out: I think this version will not handle the new push messages, as I believe those are restricted by the certificate used to sign the app. Are you able to confirm this?
Otherwise, very cool work

phyreskull said:
One thing possibly worth pointing out: I think this version will not handle the new push messages, as I believe those are restricted by the certificate used to sign the app. Are you able to confirm this?
Otherwise, very cool work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They do work for me, at least the "@" notifications
Needs further testing.

Jackos said:
What about a nosound version? It reduces the app size and removes the annoying sounds for people that are tired of hearing those squeaks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually more variants = more problems, but I think mute version may be worth it. It's almost 3 times smaller and space is crucial on many devices. It might also use less RAM and start up faster, because sfx are usually preloaded into memory. I'll do some benchmarks.
ataru said:
it will be possible to have screen: "exit. are you sure?" when accidentally using back button?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, but what for? If you accidentally exit application, you can return to it in no time.
phyreskull said:
One thing possibly worth pointing out: I think this version will not handle the new push messages, as I believe those are restricted by the certificate used to sign the app. Are you able to confirm this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about it. I got comm notification today, but I was using Ingress just moments earlier, so it might be background service, not push. We'll see.

Brut.all said:
Usually more variants = more problems, but I think mute version may be worth it. It's almost 3 times smaller and space is crucial on many devices. It might also use less RAM and start up faster, because sfx are usually preloaded into memory. I'll do some benchmarks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my point of view
However it's a pity that the app uses this same amount of RAM. It might get better if you remove corresponding baksmali lines, I just removed the sound files.
Brut.all said:
Sure, but what for? If you accidentally exit application, you can return to it in no time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it's because on low ram devices the app gets closed instantly. So a back fail-safe button would save him the app loading time.

Impressions and suggestions
Nice mod!
I am an addicted Ingress player and I really appreciate your work!
The new item tab is awesome!!
I only want you to know that there is a G+ user that is modding Ingress too:
Have a look here.
He did a version even for 240x320 screen.
Maybe you can have a look at his work
I hope you can keep this up to date

Works perfectly!
I'll keep an eye on that, your features list sounds extremely promising!

ingress-1.26.1-broot-dev1.apk
It's muted and should work on all screen sizes. Layouts for 240x320 and 320x480 were created by Eugene Kartashov (thanks!), but I have integrated them into single universal apk. It's just ~0.5MB larger than Eugene's separate apks. I can't test it on 240x320 because I don't have such device. Please confirm if it's ok or not. I'll add fullscreen feature before 0.2.0 release, so upgrade button won't overflow on some devices.
Also I can confirm sounds are loaded on demand, they aren't preloaded, so muted version shouldn't boot up faster. It should take less memory though.
Is there anyone who miss these sounds? As I said I would like to avoid fragmentation and I think muted version is just better.

And if you have 240x320 device then please tell me if new items screen looks ok, especially if you have 100+ items of one type. 320x480 seems to be ok.