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On balance, my new Epic wins hands-down. I love the device, Android, Linux, and it seems to be a far better gaming platform (a bonus -- not what I bought it for, but I'm having a blast with the portfolio of Gameloft 3D FP games -- amazing!)
However, I am lost on a few things. So, here's a thread to get some help. To start, some video questions:
If there's a media player to handle one's video library, I can't find it. The only way I've found to open and watch local video is to find the file with My Files, and open it there. This brings up the native video player, which is rather limited in features.
Once the video player is up, I can't figure out how to get back to it if I task-switch to something else for a moment. Can easily happen with a phonecall, for example. Sometimes the window "stack" facilitates using the back button to get back to it, but under more circumstances than not, you can't.
This is a real PITA, because I lose my place in the video. I have to re-open it, and seek around to find where I was. Am I missing something here?
I was a major CorePlayer fan on the OmniaII. It had it's own problems (lack of graphics acceleration support, the biggest), but those warts were far outbalanced by the rich featureset. I plan to get CP for my Epic when (if ever) it becomes available, but for now I'd like to get something similar if it's already out there. Any recommendations?
I've read a lot about the "lag fix". Do I need to do that? I've got a very new Epic, running DI18 (a week and a half old).
I fell asleep on my Epic, and now it seems to me the slider rails are "loose". I can skew the screen portion of the phone clockwise and CCW, back and forth, when opening, to as much as +/- 5-10deg. I paid no attention to this earlier, so it may be no different. The slide seems otherwise solid and fine, but for this. Are your Epic's similar?
Sprint bloatware: Is there an easy way to disable much of this (services, etc.)? For example, Amazon MP3, Sprint Nascar, and a dozen or so other services/apps that are started at boot and respawned if killed. I won't ever be using this junk, so I'd rather they not be consuming resources, slowing things down. Do I have to root the phone and manually edit Linux startup files to get rid of this junk?
Thanks for helping out this noob!
Was omnia2 android?
Out the box Epic plays more file types than other non Galaxy S phones. On the market "Rock Player" plays all file types, followed by an xda dev's app "vplayer" I think it is. Other choices inlclude Act 1 Video Player and Meridian.
Instead of "My Files" to browse files to use with default player and other function try one of Astro File Manager(my primary), IO file manager, Androzip and more.
Most problem you may have can be solved in the "Market"
Sent from my "Wheres my 2.2 Epic 4G" using the XDA App
Omnia II! I really wanted this phone when it first came out. Omnia II runs Windows Mobile.
+1 on rockplayer
No lag fix needed on the Epic, there are lots of threads on this.
Not sure how to fix your slept on epic part, you'll have to read up on that.
As far as bloatware, you can follow this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=780333
Be Careful, if you want to use sprint updates you have to leave certain apps like sprint hotspot, Amazon mp3, etc or else you'll get a validation error when doing updates.
This has become such a pain for me I just leave those apps on the device. There are devs, who have great workarounds too you just have to read up on it.
Previously an Iphone user and now have come over to the Android scene. Really loving the Desire Z so far but still learning about the phone.
I am looking for input and recommendations on how to achieve the following things and the processes for doing this. The phone is a Bell Desire Z which I have unlocked and am using it on Rogers. I have also been able to use VISIONary to perm root the phone but haven't done S-OFF.
1. What program is used for loading music onto the phone?
2. My main goal is to have a phone which is super stable, fast, good battery life and best reception. It seems there are tweaks for all of these but some seem still in development or are complicated to perform. I have added the vision_oc.ko to my phone and ran the insmod command to overclock it but it resets on a reboot. How can I make this permanent? I have seen a few mentions of Radio tweaking but don't know what is safe and an improvement over what I have now.
3. If I was to flash a new ROM to the phone would I lose all of my email accounts, contacts, installed applications etc? Would I have to reinstall or re-add all of these things?
Thanks in advance for helping me
Stealth1985 said:
Previously an Iphone user and now have come over to the Android scene. Really loving the Desire Z so far but still learning about the phone.
I am looking for input and recommendations on how to achieve the following things and the processes for doing this. The phone is a Bell Desire Z which I have unlocked and am using it on Rogers. I have also been able to use VISIONary to perm root the phone but haven't done S-OFF.
1. What program is used for loading music onto the phone?
2. My main goal is to have a phone which is super stable, fast, good battery life and best reception. It seems there are tweaks for all of these but some seem still in development or are complicated to perform. I have added the vision_oc.ko to my phone and ran the insmod command to overclock it but it resets on a reboot. How can I make this permanent? I have seen a few mentions of Radio tweaking but don't know what is safe and an improvement over what I have now.
3. If I was to flash a new ROM to the phone would I lose all of my email accounts, contacts, installed applications etc? Would I have to reinstall or re-add all of these things?
Thanks in advance for helping me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When it comes to loading music, all you need to do is connect the phone with the usb cable to your computer and make sure after it's connected, to slide down the notification bar on top of the screen and in the left hand side, there's a usb connected icon that you press and choose the "hard drive" option so your computer has access to the memory of your phone. Goto "My Computer" and the 8gb microSD card should be there and you just open it, then you can just copy and paste whatever music you like into the microSD card of the phone. There's no itunes for Android, so you do it as if you're copying music from one folder of your computer to another
Regarding having the S-OFF and flashing roms, you must follow the tutorial thread. It is very straight forward for everything you want to do.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=835777
Thanks, would prefer to have something to organize my music if possible. I believe I saw something being developed in the android general forum but it was in BETA still.
For the ROMS, I am curious if there is something without downsides. Many of them seem to kill some features of the phone like wifi etc. I basically want to remove all the BELL crap, overclock, improve radio and that's about it.
If I insert a new SD card, what do I lose? is there a way to re-install all the apps I previously had without having to go through 1 by 1?
Stealth1985 said:
Thanks, would prefer to have something to organize my music if possible. I believe I saw something being developed in the android general forum but it was in BETA still.
For the ROMS, I am curious if there is something without downsides. Many of them seem to kill some features of the phone like wifi etc. I basically want to remove all the BELL crap, overclock, improve radio and that's about it.
If I insert a new SD card, what do I lose? is there a way to re-install all the apps I previously had without having to go through 1 by 1?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the tutorial to get S-OFF and then I used this ROM and it just took away all the Bell crap off the phone and added the HTC Locations option which downloads the maps onto the microSD card. Follow the steps and you wont have any problems
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=837390
With this ROM, you dont have to lose anything on your phone. You will not have to erase your phone before applying this ROM. Regarding the overclocking, I would wait. I personally am not in a rush to do it because I want sometime to pass and get a feel for how people's Desire Z's are doing while overclocked. Just a cautious move from my end. The Desire Z and G2 developement forums both offer GUIDES for all the tinkering you want to do with your phone.
Got it rooted, S-Off and flashed with the ROM from Paul Obrien.
Hoping someone comes out with a stable overclock for the phone. Did you have any issues removing some of the apps included after using titanium backup? I tried to remove soundhound and it took me to a screen with the android and exclamation mark.
I didnt use titanium backup. I did a nandroid backup and used an app called "mybackup pro" before flashing the new ROM. Then I used Root Explorer and deleted soundhound that way.
If you dont know how to do that, Get "Root Explorer". You open up Root Explorer and go into the "system" folder then the "app" folder and you will press the "mount R/W" button on top and then find the app you want to get rid of and hold down on the screen and you will be given an option to delete that file. Thats it
Remember when you put your music folders on yor phone to rename the album art AlbumArt.jpg that will insure ask your album art is shown
JD
Sent from my HTC Desire Z Beast
A while ago there was a music app called DoubleTwist, which also had a Windows program to go along with it. I believe you could use it like iTunes to sync music and playlists
maybe you can try winamp for the music.
Its free.
Thanks, will try root explorer to get rid of the junk I don't want.
How do I stop apps from randomly starting. Everytime I open app kill it shows that a bunch of apps ive never opened are running. Is there a tutorial on how to setup the phone for best battery life?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Stealth1985 said:
Thanks, will try root explorer to get rid of the junk I don't want.
How do I stop apps from randomly starting. Everytime I open app kill it shows that a bunch of apps ive never opened are running. Is there a tutorial on how to setup the phone for best battery life?
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AutoStarts from market may help you.
dont kill running apps. android does that without your interaction.
Hi all. Sorry if this has been asked but I have not been able to find anything.
I was wondering if it is possible to add folders or group apps in the big app list?
Sent from my LeeDrOiD Desire HD using XDA App
Not that I know of. And one of the main things I'm missing from Android. Hopefully in 2.3... In the meantime you can create labels and folders based on them using for example Folder Organizer, but only on the launcher (desktop) screens. Better then nothing I guess.
Sent from my Desire HD
yeah I got the launcher folders set up. Just the main app list is just all over the place. Would be good to organise it better.
Sent from my LeeDrOiD Desire HD using XDA App
Agreed, ive been looking for something to do this with..
I'm really happy and impressed with Android and DHD, but in this field Android is so behind, that even apple with its simple folders is better (and the more apps you've got, the more akward and confusing it gets. Still hoping it's not Androids limitation - otherwise the only option would be a hack, or a "work around".
Ps. The other great addition would be a native, and launcher independent, "recent tab" ( like i.e "Go Launcher"). And honestly for a company who's mostly known as search engine and tag-aware ads system company - then why such a poor tagging implementation in Android (same goes for Android Market - let developers add tags to their software and based on that, automatically create folders). Just limit tags to specific number (3? first one being category type and based on that folder name - limited list), otherwise some devs in order to promote their soft will start adding tens of tags, creating even more confusion.
Sent from my Desire HD
I'm pretty shure we will soon see some improvement on this part of android
Its something wich is really needed! The apps like folder Organizer takes CPU and ram! not so fun. but coustmization of the folders is nice.
Hey everyone,
first off, I've tried searching (this forum and google) for a lot of stuff, but I still have some questions ( I started out with a ton haha).
I just bought a droid x, and I switched from the original storm (blackberry's first touchscreen phone)
1. gmail- I have my school account (which is a business gmail account) as my primary google/email account, and I don't like that when I check my email on my phone, it automatically marks my actual inbox (that I would check on my computer) as read messages. On my blackberry I would get all my email, but the messages would still be new when I went on my computer. That was very helpful for keeping organized. Can I still do this?
2. computer syncing- blackberry had a nice program that automatically synced everything on the phone with the computer. I realize that google does this over the air, but I'd like to have my contacts/calendar/life in sync with outlook. The blackberry program synced: contacts, calendar, photos, (videos and music if I wanted too, but I didn't bother with that), notes, and tasks (and more?). I found a google calendar sync that I am using to keep my outlook up to date with the android/google calendar, and I found a media manager from motorola that I can use for getting pictures off the phone in an orderly manner. I'm worried about other media. What about contacts and notes and stuff? Google doesn't have a sync option like for the calendar. Is there a program I can use to do all of this? or at least the contact stuff? I'd rather not have to export a .csv every time i get a new contact.
3. Rooting/roms--When I bought this phone, all the reviews basically said that the X was possibly the best hardware available and the worst software. I've gotten confused when I looked around at roms. Is there a standard pure google Froyo build that I can put on this phone? Is there a version of HTC sense that will port over? Has gingerbread been ported yet? Is there a sense or motoblur version of gingerbread yet?
4. speaking of gingerbread- how good is moto about updating there phones with new android builds? Any chance of us getting this in my lifetime?
5. apps. I remember reading a review a long time ago about a really really cool program that would let you do basically anything in your imagination with your phone- it was basically a if-then app that had access to every part of your phone and you could get your phone to do whatever you want when something happened (even as stupid/ crazy as opening the camera app if you received an email and stuff like that).
6. how do you determine which apps are best? is there a trust worthy site that rates them?
7. speaking of apps, are there any ones that I really need? I have Ti backup (im still trying to root this thing, no luck so far), google goggles, and a flashlight app. Any other essentials?
8. Media. I've heard that android has a really bad media player compared to zune/wp7 or ios. Is there an app that mimics either of these media players? or what is a really good media player?
9. what is the difference between a rom and a theme?
10. I've heard that this phone starts out laggy and gets faster over time (according to engadget)- my phone is really laggy only a day in (im not running bunches of apps (yet), I haven't even downloaded that many. Is this par for the course?
I'll have more questions, but that's a bunch to start off. Thanks a bunch everyone, I'm really excited to tear this phone apart and see what it can do!
Edit- I got it rooted, I used z4root instead of the PC based one I was trying earlier
1.?
2.?
3.z4Root is the way to go as you did I see
4.like anyone else when Hell freezes over your local Developer's are the best IMHO.
5. Titanium back up,kouch's Droid recovery. for your specific phone style. Root Explorer, and Astro. too name a few.
6. & 7 ratings and what people have to offer. its still a chance now the Google has a 15 minute window the refund .Marketplace and Appbrain
8.I use PowerAmp But that my choice there a few good one to choose its all your taste most have a demo version.
9.Rom's is the engine...Theme is the paint... froyo is the chassis
10. get rid of the Crapware by reading up, then stepping up, to a deblured Rom KEEP READING....
best to yeah ...
1 & 2 don't effect me so I just use whats available I really don't need a calender.
Ok
5: That was tasker. I found it. Any opinions on it? I think im going to pick it up to help with my next question.
11: Coming from a blackberry, one of the biggest things I miss is bedside mode. Basically, whenever the phone was plugged into A/C (so every night) the phone would switch sound profiles and some other stuff. This let me:
turn off the notification LED, mute email notifications, change the ringtone for texts, lowered the volume of my call ringtone, turned off vibration, and displayed a clock on the screen.
I don't really care about the clock on the screen, but otherwise I'd like to replicate this. Is there an app that can do that? Or should I pay for tasker? If anyone has experience with it, is one of the "if" contexts going on A/C power?
(12, kinda) :I haven't found any way to turn off the notification LED at all; am I missing something?
Thanks again guys
Dictator Bob said:
Ok
5: That was tasker. I found it. Any opinions on it? I think im going to pick it up to help with my next question.
11: Coming from a blackberry, one of the biggest things I miss is bedside mode. Basically, whenever the phone was plugged into A/C (so every night) the phone would switch sound profiles and some other stuff. This let me:
turn off the notification LED, mute email notifications, change the ringtone for texts, lowered the volume of my call ringtone, turned off vibration, and displayed a clock on the screen.
I don't really care about the clock on the screen, but otherwise I'd like to replicate this. Is there an app that can do that? Or should I pay for tasker? If anyone has experience with it, is one of the "if" contexts going on A/C power?
(12, kinda) :I haven't found any way to turn off the notification LED at all; am I missing something?
Thanks again guys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For 12) look into batt mon x in the market. I believe you can modify the led indicator for stuff. I haven't tested this app yet, but will as soon as I finish this msg!
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Is there a way to use an android tablet to put music onto an ipod/iphone??
Basically hopeing to replace my netbook with the Vega, but if the iphone only plays nice with windows/mac, then it's a no no.
Ive just bought a vega, running vegacomb 3.2 build 7. (still to recieve)
I know itunes isn't available on android, but is there an alternative way to get tunes onto an iphone using a vega??
cheers
I don't use VegaComb and never used iPod/iPhone, but last time I checked iPod/iPhone needs iTunes to sync music, and there is no iTunes app on the market.
Try to search for: "ipod music", "itunes" on the Android Market.
I think this works with with newer generations of iPods and iPhones, but I have never used this and you still need a MAC/PC.
Oh and try to change the topic title to something more useful for others to find, like:
Is it possible to sync my music with Vega and iPod/iPhone?
And mark it as a question.
have re-named post. Cheers