Related
I've been using the Opera Personality Switcher so that I can view iPhone sites on my TP2 (they usually have more features). the personality switcher works great but the pages scale weird since the iPhone has a different resolution than the TP2. and i've found that when i allow pages to load in portrait mode, it also cuts some stuff off.
so i was wondering if anyone knows a way to have the browser just zoom out/shrink to fit instead of trying to rearrange stuff to fit to keep the content the way it's supposed to be? i still want it to be able to adjust text and stuff but i don't want it to do it until i tell it to zoom basically.
it should be version 9.7 although i'm not sure exactly the revision number since the latest MightyRom i installed didn't have a change log.
ok nvm. i know i didn't really give people a chance to respond but i seem to have found an answer. i didn't realize that Opera Mobile 10 had gone final (i had the beta before but it was too buggy to be my default) so i upgraded to that as my default browser and it handles the scaling exactly how i want it to.
The Gripes of a WinMo switchover!
Just got my Dell Streak this Wednesday, unlocked from dell direct (at the temporarily reduced price!). From order to receipt was just 48hrs! Which was quite nice!
As you may infer from the title, this is my first Android device, previous to this (and still somewhat current) I used the HTC HD2 running WM6.5, (and probably would not have switched had the 5” streak been available on WinMo!).
These are my first impressions (in a 48hr period) on switching over (and I should add that my views on the device may be somewhat inter-twined with that of the O.S, and vice-versa!)
Somewhat underwhelmed, as someone else pointed out (don’t know why), but hopefully will get more excited as time passes.
Bigger Screen! If what you’re after is a screen bigger than the HD2 4.3” then this is for you, as it increase the visual real-estate of the HD2 whilst keeping the slip form-factor and with negligible weight increase! The HD2 looks positively tiny in comparison, the galaxy S? looks like 3”. Quality? Quite good, LCD wise, as I cannot speak for AMOLED. Problems? Control of brightness! adjustable on the home screen, but seemingly with an inaccessible life of its own within opened apps. (I know if you check the ones that have settings options they supposedly give the option to copy the system default, but i don’t believe they really do!).
Landscape Default, immediately corrected with ADW home Launcher! Haven’t been able to load any others, probably due to it being v1.6 Donut! I am missing the fully-fledged abilities of my SPB shell though!
Utilities; be prepared to look for your own for the majors (app killer/Task manager, File explorer). Widgets seem rather limited (or non-existant), possibly due to it being Donut 1.6. Touchdown?!
Apps: Whilst this may be an Android selling point, I personally (and currently) only see this as complacent ease-of-accessibility. There may be a lot, but the ones that really count aren’t there in numbers like on WM. I’ve only found limited singles for my major requirements, so be prepared for some slight frustrations
Ebooks: If you are a major ebook reader like me, be prepared to have to convert your whole library to just one format. On my HD2 my primary app was uBook; which read html, txt, rtf, pdb, prc, formatted everything on the fly into numbered pages and automatically remembered the last page/position you were on (even after complete exit and unit power-off!). My first two options on Android, aldiko and laputa, wouldn’t give me access to my library on the card. The third, iReader, could read txt & html files from my card, but had no numbered pages (only a top-to-bottom kinetic scroll option), so after laboriously scrolling down to where I was in the book, imagine my horror when I accidentally used the back tab, which took me back to the SD card library, on going back in, right at the Top again! Okay, my bad lets see what happens when I jump to device home; go back in, yes it’s still at the same place. But should it completely close or be app killed, or device shut off, guess what? Right Back At The Top Again!
Fourth time was the charm with FBreader, which could access my card to read my ePub converted library (Nobody please mention calibre! This system hog slowed down my PC, when batch converting only 100 text/doc file, for over an hour!), although it still has no numbered pages and is still a top-down kinetic scroller (I have to book-mark paragraphs). Fingers crossed for when its completely shut off.
Comics: only one real option so far; ACV! Comics look brilliant (re: sharp/vibrant/colourful)on the 5”screen, with well adapted settings options for landscape and portrait viewing controls.
Videos: Rockplayer for all your multi-format needs! Unfortunately it’s got that subtle playback issue (slight scratchy audio and video sync) that other people have reported for which you have no recourse to tweak the settings, as there are none! Unlike Winmo
Photos: No file/folder differentiating photo manager like Resco’s yet! (No separate icon option for camcorder recording either)
Youtube: accesses and plays fine, but seems to default to the lowest quality (will see if I can update or change the default)
Internet Browsing: the default browser is surprisingly quite pleasant (speedy and easy to use), although some sites default to mobile, and it has this annoying issue (probably Dell related) of not showing the additional product page options in the Android marketplace if you have the device in Portrait mode! (Weird, I know!). Readeable (in portrait!) on NO ZOOM!
Navigation: I am not missing my use of stand-alone nav systems, as, from the little I have used it, Google Nav seems quite brilliant!
Audio managers/Players: seems to be only one major rated one so far (audio manager pro) which I have yet to use, but I do miss my S2P/Coreplayer apps
Games: Now this seems to be where the 5” screen and Android /marketplace seem to have a kissing spot. I have only d/l’d Robo Defender so far, but it is brilliant (nope, not over-using the word!), and with similar games to utilise the screen ,and system, the future is golden.
Social Networking: don’t use, but i do think Android’s widgets, with spaciousness of the screen would go together.
So, overall (and thank you for bearing with me in my diatribe), in switching over to the Dell Streak on Android; for the 5” Screen, yes its worth it. (For the O.S. on its own without the screen, and on 1.6, not really for me). (Not a hardcore Winmo fan perse, but it is much more mature and fully fleshed than Android! Even now with all major players, including its creators, seemingly having bailed!)
If you want to read comics on a larger screen DEFINITELY!
Ebooks, yes (but with the above caveats).
Video? Need more players w/ settings to tweak!
Surfing, yes!
Games, Definitely!
So, the future is bright, the future is: the Dell Streak on Android!
Thanks for the perspective. I'll be switching from WinMo 6.1 and appreciate the viewpoint as this will be my first Android as well.
GPS looks to be the killer app for me. Everything else will just be a bonus for those times where a laptop won't do. Mostly email, games and music when I'm stuck at the airport. No separate PSP, MP3, PND.
Still, I wonder if I'll be able to have my GPS (AT&T) and Trapster running at the same time AND be able to make calls as I can on the WinMo? I didn't do this often (and once forgot to plug the charger in and drained a full battery in 30 minutes!) - but THAT is multi-tasking.
(I'm still waiting to get a rental car with a USB port to see if I can with stream my Media player to the car radio.)
There are many reasons to move off WinMo, but it does OK by me.
Winmo certainly does!
Thanks for your write up bbmalver and welcome to the Streak Family
Nice to be here; thanks for the welcome!
Aldiko will see ebooks in epub format on your card if you add them to the import folder. Personally I find it an excellent eBook reader, surpassing both ubook and Haalireader which I've used on WinMo previously...
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App
I did try to use the import option, but after 2secs it would say no books found. Are you suggesting all the books need to be copied to its own import folder before it sees them?
Tried it; didn't work! But on going thru the many created folders on my sd card I found that although i had created my own ebook folder on the card, Aldiko had created an import folder within my own ebook library folder, to which i then had to copy the book before it could import it. Convoluted eh?!
Thanks for the general pointage! Some neat touch features, can jump to page, and, best of all, it also remembers my page! ta!
Welcome to the android family
also, you can build your own YouTube app from source (i think) so you can change the default quality from there.
No one seems to have done it yet for the streak but it's apparently very easy to do
Now thats rather cryptic MeltusTell us how, or point us there!
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).
Is it possible to create, save and switch between different sets of home screens and setting.
HTC Sense has "Scenes" that allows this, even my old Nokia E71 had two profiles that allowed for a completely different home screen and settings.
Is there anyway of doing this with the Nexus 4?
I would like to have a set of home screens and settings with the stuff I use at work, then be able to switch to another profile that has different home screens and settings for the road trips, and another for home.
I have seen apps that allow for all the settings to be switched, but have not had any luck with changing the home screen.
-BEGIN RANT-:crying:
Am I the only one that desires to customize my phone for completely different segments of my life and be able to switch between them with ease?
OK really, I need to learn to develop this stuff, because there are many basic tasks I thought would be standard issue by now on these little computers we carry with us, but not.
:angel:-END OD RANT-
So my Nexus 4 should be arriving today, so i guess I will start to play with it. I read about installing separate launchers and switching between them with Tasker.
Can more then one instance of a single app, like a launcher, be installed by changing something in some setting once I am rooted?
Any thought, ideas to give me another direction to search?
any good "learn everything there is to know about android development in one day" classes or books?
cjunk said:
-BEGIN RANT-:crying:
Am I the only one that desires to customize my phone for completely different segments of my life and be able to switch between them with ease?
OK really, I need to learn to develop this stuff, because there are many basic tasks I thought would be standard issue by now on these little computers we carry with us, but not.
:angel:-END OD RANT-
So my Nexus 4 should be arriving today, so i guess I will start to play with it. I read about installing separate launchers and switching between them with Tasker.
Can more then one instance of a single app, like a launcher, be installed by changing something in some setting once I am rooted?
Any thought, ideas to give me another direction to search?
any good "learn everything there is to know about android development in one day" classes or books?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most custom ROMs have profiles for just this. You can easily switch between them by pulling down the notification bar and clicking on a quick tile. I know for sure that carbon does this and assume most of the major releases will as well.
Carbonized and francofied N4
Chameleon Launcher allows this.
Thanks for the suggestions.
ingenious247 said:
Chameleon Launcher allows this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to, but it seems to be not very reliable at the moment from what I read. It is also a big change from the standard android feel I like.
I still might give it a try though, I like that they are trying something different. Looks almost like a windows/android warp
Cuzz1369 said:
Most custom ROMs have profiles for just this. You can easily switch between them by pulling down the notification bar and clicking on a quick tile. I know for sure that carbon does this and assume most of the major releases will as well.
Carbonized and francofied N4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen roms and launchers that promote their "profiles" feature, but all them do not seem to go as far as allowing me to save a whole set of home screen configurations, then change from one set to the other with ease. They seem to be just a collection of settings like volumes, sounds, radios on/off and such.
I will look into carbon to see if it can indeed do this.
I find it hard to actually find a detailed listing of what different roms can do. most of the info is just how to install, bugs and more technical development stuff.
My new baby was sitting all bundled up on the table when I got home today. I haven't even had a chance to turn her on yet. still admiring the curves
cjunk said:
Thanks for the suggestions.
It seems to, but it seems to be not very reliable at the moment from what I read. It is also a big change from the standard android feel I like.
I still might give it a try though, I like that they are trying something different. Looks almost like a windows/android warp
I have seen roms and launchers that promote their "profiles" feature, but all them do not seem to go as far as allowing me to save a whole set of home screen configurations, then change from one set to the other with ease. They seem to be just a collection of settings like volumes, sounds, radios on/off and such.
I will look into carbon to see if it can indeed do this.
I find it hard to actually find a detailed listing of what different roms can do. most of the info is just how to install, bugs and more technical development stuff.
My new baby was sitting all bundled up on the table when I got home today. I haven't even had a chance to turn her on yet. still admiring the curves
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I'm sure you'll be happ. Best phone I've ever had. And you are right about the profiles being mostly setting. Carbon is like that too. The only work around I can think of is a launcher. I use nova it is rock solid. You can back up the configuration and restore in less than a minute.
Carbonized and francofied N4
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
1) NEXT Launcher 3D
2) NEXT Launcher 3D
3) NEXT Launcher 3D's "Swing with Scroll" feature
Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome aboard! Here's the first thing you'll have to deal with: Size. The Note 3 (I have a Note 2) will seem huge and you may get buyer's remorse. Most of us do. It wears off in a couple of days, though and then you'll wonder how you dealt with such a small phone.
1. I use Apex launcher. Why do I use a launcher? Because I like to change the number of rows/columns from the standard setting. I also like to eliminate the Google search bar. And, I like using gestures to go to apps. I use swipe-up for Google Now and swipe-down for notification shade. Why do I use Apex instead of others? No particular reason but it seemed to have the most available features for a free version at the time. I have since paid for it.
2, There are a bazillion apps. But, coming from the iPhone I would first experiment with keyboard replacements. Why? Because you can and the iphone users can't. Try Swype or Swiftkey. Swiftkey is amazing at guessing what your next word will be. Most of all, get used to swiping instead of typing. Once you get good at it it's MUCH faster than typing. Then show that off to your iPhone buddies and say, "Take that!"
3. If you really want to dazzle people with your new phone find a high def YouTube video (the Vevo ones are good). Playing a beautiful video on a large screen has some really powerful WOW! factor.
4. Some apps I use a lot:
Color Note - A great note and checklist app that syncs via the cloud.
Chrome Beta
Flixter for getting movie times and watching trailers
Gas Buddy to find cheap gasoline
Amazon App store. A free app every day. You have to side load it, it's not in the Play Store.
Droid of the Day - A new app suggestion every day
Timely - One of the most beautiful alarm clock apps. It also syncs with all your devices
The usual apps: Netflix, Pandora, Watch ESPN, HBO Go, Dropbox, et al.
5. I turn off Auto display brightness. I leave my Note 2 at full brightness all the time. The battery can handle this just fine.
I leave GPS, Wifi, and NFC on all the time.
Make sure you setup Google+ to automatically upload your photos
6. Don't go too crazy downloading apps. You may find your battery suddenly draining too fast. If you don't like or use an app delete it immediately so it won't eat battery.
Good luck and have fun.
Impuls3101 said:
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
?
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Click to collapse
Nova Prime because it is better than TW in every way.
Ok I will answer some of my own questions from using the device the last 10 or so hours I hope this helps someone else. Please add suggestions because I am still getting used to everything.
1. Nova launcher seems to be easier to use because it takes all ur tw settings and imports them. It makes it easy to switch between the two. I like the tw weather widget better though
2. -I still need to find a good email client that syncs the few accounts that I have together. I haven't looked into this yet.
-Equalizer is a really good app to put more bass or customize the sound of your music.
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
-The adapt sound settings helped make my headphones sound a little better. I use an aux in on my car so it kind of sucks that they don't have profiles for different sources.
3. -Next Launcher is really nice to show people but I don't know if I could use it everyday and its 3x the price of other launchers.
-Real Racing 3 is a nice demo game but good old angry birds star wars 2 probably looks the best and it has a note 3 achievement
-slow mo camera is really nice but anything less than 1/2 speed and the image starts to look very grainy .. 4k really has a wow factor even on the 1080p screen.
4. Sketchbook for Galaxy is a lot of fun to draw in with the s-pen.
5. -I followed this guide for disabling some of the bloatware: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2478448
-I also disabled most of the air hover features because they are nice for demoing the device to someone but I probably won't use them. Plus I wear glasses and it doesn't seem to detect my eyes very well.
-People are reporting poor wifi and one of the settings suggested is to turn off network auto connect.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2472779 .. I experienced the problem but reset my router and it seems fine now.. not sure if its a software glitch or what.
6. -Here is a useful guide on how to transfer your contacts : http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/transfer-iphone-contact-to-android/
-The only thing I am missing from iOS are the nice lock screen notifications. If anyone has a suggestion please let me know
Impuls3101 said:
Everyone should be getting their phone in the next few days. I am coming from iOS so I am not 100% sure about all of androids apps and features. I have spent a lot of time in the last month learning as much as I could about switching over but I would like to get some opinions from everyone. I hope this will also help any other novice users get the most out of the note 3.
1. Are you going to use a launcher .. if so which one? why?
2. What apps will make using the note more enjoyable/easier?
3. What apps can I wow people with a demo of?
4. Any other general app recommendations?
5. What general settings should I initially use? or disable?
6. Anything I missed for a first time android user?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I have been using Nova for a while on my Galaxy Nexus, and use it on my N3 now too. It's not too bloated, allows custom number of icons per row/column, gestures, and resize all widgets. I used to use Apex, and that was really good too, but I switched a while ago to Nova because there was some feature Apex didn't have, though honestly I don't remember what now, and they may very well have added it.
2. SketchBook Mobile by Autodesk (makers of AutoCAD and Inventor, among many other engineering-oriented programs) is kind of cool, it's a sketch program that you can do a lot with, and works well with the stylus. Not the most useful app, per se, but a fun "proof of concept" if you will, and it's free. I believe there's more options than the built in equivalent, though I haven't used either a ton yet.
3. Any high def media will look awesome. Show them Netflix streaming, or as someone else said, HD Youtube, or any other HD video. Even pictures taken with the camera look great, simply because of the huge high res screen. Pictures taken with the phone probably would look even better on the screen than ones taken with another phone with a better camera but worse screen, because it's still small enough to cover up minor imperfections, but big and crisp enough to really look amazing.
4. For a music player, I like PowerAmp. It's got a really good equalizer, and a ton of settings to play with. Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the interface, but it's not awful. You can also customize the widget as much as you want, in terms of colors, fonts, transparency, buttons, size, what's displayed, etc.
I also use UberSync for Facebook, which lets you use sync HD pictures from facebook as contact photos. You can also import birthdays into your calendar, if you want, and some other info from people's profiles. You can choose what resolution to use, how often to sync, and only use wi-fi if you want.
5. I turned off all of the Smart features and that kind of thing. I don't want to control my phone with my eyes or hand gestures, I want to use it with my hands or S Pen. Of course that's fully a matter of preference. Also I noticed that the setting to alert you if you walk away without putting the S Pen back in is disabled by default, so I enabled that. I still worry I'm going to lose it sometime, but that's just because I'm forgetful.
Impuls3101 said:
-Adblock plus is really nice to have while browsing the internet .. I always hated that I couldn't use it on the iphone.
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How are you using Adblock without root??
jmorton10 said:
How are you using Adblock without root??
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I'm using Firefox with the adblock plugin and its working great. Firefox now flies on this phone.:good: