Is the contacts app and the phone app seperate? - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshootin

This is driving me insane, iphone user for the last 4 years, got a new S4 yesterday. When I go to the green phone icon, I can see contacts on the top right corner as an option to select.
However, when I select it, it seems that the whole app relaunches, there is a second pause as it redraws itself, and now I am in the Contacts area. However now if i want to go back to the dialer, the left most button on the left corner is now called Phone, and if I press on it, the app again appears to relaunch, and now Phone is called Keypad.
It appears that these are two different apps? Why is that? Why are the names different? Is this normal?

Yes unfortunately it is. Its a result of Android doing this I believe starting in Ice Cream Sandwich, never fully understood it myself. Gingerbread had it integrated where it would act like its closing and opening another app, it would just flip over to the Contacts tab when you selected it.

the whole point of it is to optimize the phone better. it won't open up the other part of the app unless it is needed/wanted

Mine does not do what you are experiencing ...
My device, a Rogers SGH-I337M, goes almost instantly from phone to contacts, and vice versa, when you select the tabs.
Peter

Related

useful in contact manager - yet HTC support doesn't know enything about this.

Hello everyone,
I've discovered quite useful thing about contacts manager, but unfortunately don't know how to turn it on or off, it starts, let's say randomly.
Sometimes when (on today screen) i press right softkey which is by default assigned to 'contacts' and i get a list of names, i see something like a pop-up window with letter 'A' and by using the jogdial on the left side of the TyTN i can switch between the first letters of the names in contacts. Then i can select exact name without scrolling through all of the contacts in between A and f.e. G.
Unfortunately i don't know what is the cause of starting this feature, people at HTC support don't know nothing about it, and told me that it must be some kind of software glitch however I find it very useful, maybe someone else got the same thing? And someone does know how can it be turned on that it happens every time i want to find a contact? that would really be operating with one hand then
thanks in advance for opinions and advices
If it's what I think you mean, go to contacts.
For example, hold down down (on the dpad). It'll start scrolling the list for approx 5 seconds. After that, the large letter A will show up. Use the dpad to select appropriate contact start.
Otherwise use the sip to start typing your contact.
V
szturchen_pl said:
Hello everyone,
I've discovered quite useful thing about contacts manager, but unfortunately don't know how to turn it on or off, it starts, let's say randomly.
Sometimes when (on today screen) i press right softkey which is by default assigned to 'contacts' and i get a list of names, i see something like a pop-up window with letter 'A' and by using the jogdial on the left side of the TyTN i can switch between the first letters of the names in contacts. Then i can select exact name without scrolling through all of the contacts in between A and f.e. G.
Unfortunately i don't know what is the cause of starting this feature, people at HTC support don't know nothing about it, and told me that it must be some kind of software glitch however I find it very useful, maybe someone else got the same thing? And someone does know how can it be turned on that it happens every time i want to find a contact? that would really be operating with one hand then
thanks in advance for opinions and advices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works on all variants of the Tytn, you just go to contacts, press and hold down on the d pad and in a couple of seconds the 'pop up window' appears with a large letter, it just makes it easier to scroll through the contacts without having to get the stylus out.
Thanks guys !!
That's the 'pop-up' that I meant. Pressing and holding d-pad works. However I occasionaly get it when using jog-dial. In my opinion that would be even better for operating TyTN with one hand. Any clues on this one?

Anyone tried Pontui ?

http://pointui.com/Home.aspx
Its free and looks pretty cool... gonna install it when i get home (no cables here) if anyone has a play before the end of the day i'd appreciate opinions before i do the deed myself!
mark
Well, i gave it a try yesterday on my WM5 wizard.
Its overall look and feel is really quite impressive. All the animations are unbelivably smooth, even without any overclocking. The app is finger-friendly, but i dislike list scrolling method they used - it's not like the one in fTouchflo, or iContact, where you scroll the list as if it was a physical object and moves in sync with the finger sweeping the screen, but instead the list moves in the direction of the sweep: if you put your finger on the screen and move it down a bit, the list will start scrolling down at constant speed. if you move finger farther down, it will accelerate and again keep constant speed if finger is still. if you move finger up, it will slow down, move it u even farther, ant the list will reverse direction and scroll up. It's not very intuitive, not to mention that it's really hard to use to precisely scroll long lists. If they changed this one thing, the overall fell of the program would improve significantly.
Beside that UI is clean and well designed, gives you quick access to start menu, settings (control panel, wifi, BT, GSM module, sound volume), tasks, calendar, appointments and clock, it also has some customizable menus for accessing frequently used software.
The downside is that it replaces your Today screen, so you won't be able to use your favorite Today plugins.
Overall, it's worth a try, especially for a user who just wants a phone with a simple, yet really good-looking interface. More advanced users who like to be able to customize everything might find this a bit limiting.
Overall, the program really has huge potential, and let's not forget that it's just the first public version. It will certainly improve over time. I'd recommend giving it a try, just be aware that there are some uninstallation issues read the tread on pointUI forums for more info, or if you have something like SPB backup or other software that does FULL device backup, use it and if something goes wrong, simply HR the device.
By the way:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=355961&page=5
Given it a try, and was impressed by the smooth flowing interactive menu's. But I find its quicker and easier to use SPB Shell (yes it looks basic in comparison but its straight forward and easily customised) and have therefore unistalled the software. However do not be put off by my comments, give it a go.
tange.
prior to my phone breaking (http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=284 solutions on a postcard please) i used this UI for a few days and throught it was pretty cool. theres deffo a learning curve as some of the apps are located in strange places but overall i was very happy with it.
Impressive, but very bad support for non-English OS.
Give it time. Its a brand new and revolutionary program and those guys are doin it all in their free time so you got to give them time.
I'm running this on my wizard, Tried it and I liked it enough that I won't leave it alone.
Runs fast on my wizard, thumb approved, things are organized a little funny but after a day of using it everything is cool, I haven't looked yet but I would like to custom the 4 icons that lauch programs and some things are linked incorrectly but overall i'm impressed with the program out of box and I hope development keeps up.
i just wanted to ask
does the weather application on PointUI cost... if so.. .does any1 no how much
thanks in advance
weather is free
i think they get their weather info from yahoo/weather channel, free
PontUI
Been using this for 3 days now and I love it. This and pocketCM with a the pontUI skin is amazing. Also the Iphone a like skin works well.
The main screen is great with the middle ribbon allowing really smooth action to access Analogue clock, digital clock, Calender, Tasks, Local weather and appointments.
Main screen top contains from left to right; Lock, signal meter Carrier info, Volume, Battery and Cog (settings).
You can lock the device on lock icon, hit the signal icon and the screen flip animates to show all connections settings (Flight mode, phone status wifi things like that) Hit the Speaker Icaon and you can adjust phone and speaker volumes as well as mute. hit the battery icon (which show bat level) and you can see battery life and go to power settings and backlight settings (well I can't but hey it's a beta) Hit the Cog and too many settings to list but among them is update feature so you can get the latest version straight to your device, you can also exit PontUI Home from here.
You have four icon down the bottom of the main screen which are, left to right; phone icon for call history list, tap it then swipe right on a name to call or sms them. Envelope icon press this to go to your email account (can choose which one through new registry string) next is SMS icon tap it to go to standard SMS app. Then last is the WM Icon, tap to go to windows media player (can choose which one through new registry string).
There is also a bar with an arrow down the bottom which you tap this then gives you four options; New, from which you can create new Email, SMS, MMS, Appointment, task, document or spreadsheet.
Favourites which shows all apps in the start menu folder. Applications which allows to to smoothly scroll through all installed apps and Currently running which does what it says on the tin.
As this App evolves i'm sure these menus will become nicely configurable.
I 'm really loving this App and it's only BETA. I'm running HTC Trinity (orange M700) and it's just sooo smooth. I tried Freestyl, which is good and I've been following, but when I tried this, I was blown away.
It's kind of nice to have an App that seems to integerate well with the phone rather than being a kind of clucky overlay that you can tell isn't meant to be there.
I urge you all to try it and see what you think.
Cheers all.
Logicalstep
loving it
What i think they can improve are:
1 make the hardware buttons to work, now i can't take a picture, record any sound, or change the volume with the h-buttons.
2 a contacts app will be nice and as well a favorite contacts like the htc home
3 a way to close app on the currently running menu
4 a little bigger back button or more to the left cause when i try to pres the back button with the tumb i usually had to try 2 or 3 times couse is really near to the border.
finaly a way to select favorite app that don’t depend of the start menu
don’t get me wrong i think that app is amazing but this 5 thing will make it perfect to me
I am loving Pointui!

[Q] Thoughts after two months

My wife recently bought a Galaxy Tab 7.7 and now after some hours of experience she has some questions:
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
I m sorry to say. All of the above can be done/customize... u just haven't look in the right place or download the right Apps..... I guess it's your first smartphone.
Sent from my GT-P6800 using XDA Premium HD app
No, I've owned an Iphone, which had none of these issues.
But please give me some tips and hints, because I've looked around and have found nothing.
1) You need to turn down the media volume whilst in the browser.
2. Obviously clean the screen more often, what do you expect?
3. Its a bug with no fix. ICS should fix this.
4. With apps in general? Because ICS has started a trend for better resolution support. With notifications I suggest getting glasses. Also in the themes and apps forum there is an app to increase font size called Big Font.
5. That defeats the point of a reminder.
6. No but some custom launchers like go launcher provide this option.
7. I have a wifI only version so no idea. But the clock should always stay in the bottom bar.
8. Its meant to be this way. Its a feature from smartphones. It stops your face pressing buttons on the screen when you put the speaker grill to your ear.
9. No comment.
10. For the clock/alarm app?
11. Hold the letter e (é) and u (ü) down on the Samsung keyboard.
12. The play store offers alternative browsers like opera and dolphin hd, try some.
13. ICS upgrade should fix this. But again use the play store to find alternatives.
Honeycomb is buggy, numerous reviews have stated this. The ICS upgrade is set to fix most of these issues and provide a better overall experience. The ICS upgrade is meant to be set for May.
Its not meant to be a computer. Its meant to be be a media consumption device. You've come from an iphone which is simple. Android just takes times to get used too. You probably would have been better off with am ipad. Android tablets just aren't there yet.
Sent from my GT-P6810 using xda premium
ZacAttack said:
1) You need to turn down the media volume whilst in the browser.
Ok, but you have to agree with me that when you put the phone in silent, it should be completely silent.
2. Obviously clean the screen more often, what do you expect?
It becomes a mark after every time you log in. If they'd just had the grid in different places it wouldn't be a problem.
3. Its a bug with no fix. ICS should fix this.
I have big hopes for ICS
4. With apps in general? Because ICS has started a trend for better resolution support. With notifications I suggest getting glasses. Also in the themes and apps forum there is an app to increase font size called Big Font.
Mostly the webbrowser, even though you zoom max, it's very small text, and it's hard to highlight words. I will try Dolphin more extensively.
5. That defeats the point of a reminder.
It's just that you should have better options for the sound level (now it's a bearaly audiable "ding" or something), and it should also be a pop-up window or with a OK-button or so.
6. No but some custom launchers like go launcher provide this option.
Ok, will try that.
7. I have a wifI only version so no idea. But the clock should always stay in the bottom bar.
It doesn't, you have to go back to home screen to see the clock.
8. Its meant to be this way. Its a feature from smartphones. It stops your face pressing buttons on the screen when you put the speaker grill to your ear.
Well, it should be an option to turn it off since this is a 7.7 inch tablet and mostly you will use a headset.
9. No comment.
10. For the clock/alarm app?
11. Hold the letter e (é) and u (ü) down on the Samsung keyboard.
Thanks!
12. The play store offers alternative browsers like opera and dolphin hd, try some.
Will do!
13. ICS upgrade should fix this. But again use the play store to find alternatives.
Again, I have big hopes for ICS
Honeycomb is buggy, numerous reviews have stated this. The ICS upgrade is set to fix most of these issues and provide a better overall experience. The ICS upgrade is meant to be set for May.
Can't wait!
Its not meant to be a computer. Its meant to be be a media consumption device. You've come from an iphone which is simple. Android just takes times to get used too. You probably would have been better off with am ipad. Android tablets just aren't there yet.
I know, but they certainly have the hardware for it, they just don't use it properly.
If Apple had an ~7 inch tablet from which you could make calls, I would've probably bought that.
Sent from my GT-P6810 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply!
Open the phone app (not the mini dialer)
Logs - Long press a caller number- Add to contacts.
Marquzz said:
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 09:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------
"Stopwatch & Timer" from Google Play.
Marquzz said:
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Marquzz said:
It becomes a mark after every time you log in. If they'd just had the grid in different places it wouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will leave finger marks anywhere your grid was anyway, other still can figure your grid shape
So... just clean your screen or consider using password ^^
pa64 said:
Open the phone app (not the mini dialer)
Logs - Long press a caller number- Add to contacts.
---------- Post added at 09:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:04 AM ----------
"Stopwatch & Timer" from Google Play.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, can't find a option to add the number to a contact you already have, it only creates a new contact. Maybe I'm just stupid, only got 5 years of higher IT education...
What I need to do is choose to edit the phone number, and then add the phone number to a contact that way.
GOF007 said:
It will leave finger marks anywhere your grid was anyway, other still can figure your grid shape
So... just clean your screen or consider using password ^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, this is just one of those annoying things. If the grid randomly switched place, it could've been much harder to see the pattern. But it's not very important.
It's just that when alot of things annoy you, you just start to get annoyed on other things aswell
Overall she is very happy with the tablet, it's just that it has the potential to be much much better, it's just a matter of software.
This image shows how small text is when you write in a box on a web page (max zoom), it's just hard to put the marker where you want it, if you for instance notice that you have missspelled something:
Marquzz said:
No, can't find a option to add the number to a contact you already have, it only creates a new contact. Maybe I'm just stupid, only got 5 years of higher IT education...
What I need to do is choose to edit the phone number, and then add the phone number to a contact that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dial the number and press the icon next to the number where you can save it to any existing or new contact.
pa64 said:
Dial the number and press the icon next to the number where you can save it to any existing or new contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I know it can be done. Just can't understand why a very expensive top of the line smartphone/tablet 2012 just isn't better than this.
I might have answers to some of your questions which I hope could be useful to you:
Marquzz said:
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As much as I hate to mention, ICS has face recognition unlock feature which doesn't leave any grease mark for James Bond; or if you are the impatient kind like me, you could considering getting the FaceLock for apps Pro (paid app) which as similar phone lock feature for non-ICS Android devices.
Marquzz said:
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have multiple questions in one go. XD
First of all you could really re-size the screen size on running application, you could find the corresponding option in the notification bar when the tablet detects it.
Reminders and other notifications is easily missed, yes...but you could try NoLED app, or FaceLock apps Pro I mentioned earlier. (Do not use both, I tried, and miserably failed)
Text can be resized with app like BigFont. I don't use it, as it messed up with the default calendar app (though you can circumvent that with third-party calendar app)
Marquzz said:
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could use the Linda File Manager (free app) to create desktop shortcut. In the rare event you would like to create script shortcut (e.g. instant reboot script), you could try SMWidgets.
Marquzz said:
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Overskreen (paid app) as my default browser. It can't move tabs, but the tabs doesn't reload when you switch between them (redraw, though). It has additional feature like floating browser, and background processing (such that you could listen to browser's streaming audio while phone is locked)
Yeah adding and sorting bookmarks is still a major harrass, especially when you utilize Google sync bookmark features.
If you like fancy features to impress your friends you could try Dolphin Browser (beta version only, and this version is not found in Play yet): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgC9qaOLmO8
Marquzz said:
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trust me, this tablet is the best you can get for business applications. Of course, it is very much depending on your needs.
Marquzz said:
No, can't find a option to add the number to a contact you already have, it only creates a new contact. Maybe I'm just stupid, only got 5 years of higher IT education...
What I need to do is choose to edit the phone number, and then add the phone number to a contact that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it that you are trying to add a number from inside the phone app to an existing contact?
#1 If you are in Dialer, press the icon to the right of the number and you can either save it as a new contact, or add it to an existing contact.
#2 If you are in Logs, the trick is to long click on the entry in the left pane, select "Edit number before call", which will bring you to the dialer, and you to #1 above, where you can proceed accordingly. (If you select "Add to Contacts", it will be a new contact.*)
#3 Still in Logs, long clicking on the entry itself (on the right) will copy the number to clipboard. Which will allow other possibilities...
*This is peculiar to the Samsung phone app and I agree that they should not have done it this way. It's not how it works in Vanilla ICS on my Galaxy Nexus.
Hope that helps.
Marquzz said:
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Samsung stock calendar is rather basic. Try Business Calendar, which has advanced controls for notifications (include snooze).
Marquzz said:
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The clock shows on my bottom bar even in a phone call. See attached pic below.
Marquzz said:
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think Alarm Clock Xtreme can do that.
Marquzz said:
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Dolphin HD. It solves the first and the last two problems. I'm not sure why but the browser sometimes reloads when you switch on the 7.7--it didn't do so (or do so as much) on either my Galaxy Nexus (ICS) or even on my old HTC HD2 running Android Gingerbread. Might be a Honeycomb thing.
Marquzz said:
13. The music player can't do shuffle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ICS music player can do shuffle. If you are resourceful, you can install the apk. But again, there are better alternatives out there. For instance, Poweramp and PlayerPro. (I have the ICS player, but eventually settled on Poweramp.)
All the best!
Marquzz said:
Yes, I know it can be done. Just can't understand why a very expensive top of the line smartphone/tablet 2012 just isn't better than this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, ok...
1) Open the dialer
2) Enter a number
3) Click the 'add to contact' icon immediately to the right of the number you just entered
4) You are immediately taken to your list of contacts
5) At this point you have 2 options, click 'New" to add a new contact or click on any contact from the list
6) Upon clicking any one of the contacts in your list, that contact is immediately opened and the new number automatically added to the list of phone numbers for that contact...from there you can specify the number type (work, home, mobile, etc.)
I honestly can't imagine a scenario any more intuitive & straight forward than this. Please describe (if you can) what would be 'better than this'?
---------- Post added at 12:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 PM ----------
7. I have a wifI only version so no idea. But the clock should always stay in the bottom bar.
It doesn't, you have to go back to home screen to see the clock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. The taskbar on the bottom is still there during calls, and the clock is still visible. I'm looking at it right now as I type this.
For someone with 5 years of "IT higher learning", you're not exhibiting much in the way of higher intelligence here in my opinion. You are aware that there's a thing called a search engine, right? Google is kind of a popular one. Millions of people from all over the world have been using Android for several years, and nearly every question/complaint you raised in your original list has been asked, discussed & addressed by someone at some point. Instead of jumping onto a forum and ranting off your list of 'problems', you might want to poke around a bit & see if there's already an answer out there.
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smartandroidapps.audiowidget&hl=en
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
Seriously? Clean the screen frequently; Try a non-glossy screen protector; Use a PIN or a password to unlock the screen rather than a pattern.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
This is the one item on your list that I would call a real 'problem'. A bluetooth mouse helps if this is something you need to do very often.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
Honeycomb is a smartphone OS first, and a tablet OS second. ICS bridges that gap much better, but there will always be some compromises. The Android phone market is bigger (much bigger) than the tablet market, so there will always be somewhat of a slant toward smartphone functionality-wise.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitfire.development.calendarsnooze&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5iaXRmaXJlLmRldmVsb3BtZW50LmNhbGVuZGFyc25vb3plIl0.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gau.go.launcherex&feature=search_result
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
Yes, it does.
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
This is by design, and another byproduct of honeycomb being a smartphone OS first and a tablet OS second. You may notice that the tablet does have a proximity sensor with related settings. If you make a call and pass your hand over the sensor it will blank the screen...remove your hand and the screen reappears. This mirrors the functionality you'd expect when you put the 'phone' up to your ear..again geared toward how you'd expect a smartphone to work. Honestly, I'm not sure that the target demographic for this tablet will use it as their primary mobile phone all that much. But for those that do, it's a pretty minor inconvenience...so you have to push the power button to get the screen back...just not that big of a deal.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
Wrong. It's very logical and very intuitive. 2 clicks & done.
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
Who does this? Why? If you want to wake up 1 hour & 45 minutes later can you not just do some simple math in your brain and set the timer to what the time will be 1 hours & 45 minutes later?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
Someone already answered this.
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
Numerous browser options in the play store.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
Numerous music player options in the play store.
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Wrong. In my opinion, you're just lazy. Android is not a kindergarten children's toy like iOS. If that's what you want or need, you should get an Apple. There's a learning curve with Android, but if you invest a bit of time, you will be rewarded with an experience that's ultimately more satisfying than iOS (at least in my opinion).
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
Return it & buy an Apple.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Marquzz said:
My wife recently bought a Galaxy Tab 7.7 and now after some hours of experience she has some questions:
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, this and so many more "little" things is what makes me hate android. This tablet was my first device and I can safely say I will never buy another android device again. I'll probably get an I pad 4 when it comes out. I'm just sick of finding out more things my tab can't do. Its really dissapointing as the reason I chose this over an I pad was the smaller screen size but its just not worth it
Marquzz said:
My wife recently bought a Galaxy Tab 7.7 and now after some hours of experience she has some questions:
1. When you turn off the sound it doesn't turn off everything, sounds on webpages still plays.
2. The screen unlock pattern is in the same place so it's easy to see it because of the grease the finger is leaving behind.
3. When you want to edit text in the web browser, for instance in a forum like this, and you put the marker where you want to start edit, the marker jumps 1 or more letters efter about one second. It's not a miss click, because you can see that the marker is in the correct place when you remove your finger, and then after about one seconde it jumps to another place. Extremely annoying.
4. Honeycomb does not utilise the screen size, it seems like it's made for a smaller phone with lesser resolution. Reminders and other notifications is easily missed. Text is also extremly small sometimes and even though you can read it, it's very hard to put the marker in the right spot, if you want to mark and copy a text for instance.
5. Reminders from the calendar is to discreet, it should be something that you have to turn off manually so you dont miss it.
6. Can you create a shortcut to a file on the startscreen/desktop?
7. The clock doesn't show when you make a call so you can't check the time
8. The screen locks itself quickly when you make a call, in like 10 s, even though you have set it on 5 mins. Very annoying when you want to check things on the pad during a call.
9. Adding a new phone number to a contact is very unlogical, and it takes alot of steps. Why not just have, "add phone number to contact" when you have marked the number??
10. You can't set the timer on an certain amount of hours and/or min, just a time?
11. I can't write é and ü which is used sometimes in my language, the signs ¨ and ´ just doesn't exist. But a ton of smiliys do...strange choice by Google/Samsung.... (yes, I have the local version of the OS)
12. Then it's the browser:
* You can't move tabs
* Tabs has to reload when you switch between them
* Very long procedure to add a bookmark
* You can't sort the bookmarks the way you want.
13. The music player can't do shuffle
This was just the most important things, then it's alot of other annoying things that doesn't work correctly and that are just illogical.
Overall it doesn't seem like a product that is ready for selling, If this was a computer OS it would've been called version 0.1 alfa.
If you have any tips or apps that solve the above listed things, please post here. My wife would be super happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can make a similar list of annoyances or personal preferences for any tablet, so such lists are pretty useless for it is always a trade-off between annoyances and delights and for me the delights on the 7.7 far outweigh the annoyances compared to any other tablet. So rather than buy a tablet then whinge about it you should check it out first.

WP 8 and Multitasking

Hello there!
I would like to try it by myself, but unfortunately I cant. So, someone who tried the SDK, have you noticed changes in multitasking system?
Right now the only way to resume an app is using fast app switch. But I really dont like it. I rather just use the homescreen icon instead. Right now it relaunch the app.
Any changes on that? (oh please)
Thank you so much!
mikeeam said:
Hello there!
I would like to try it by myself, but unfortunately I cant. So, someone who tried the SDK, have you noticed changes in multitasking system?
Right now the only way to resume an app is using fast app switch. But I really dont like it. I rather just use the homescreen icon instead. Right now it relaunch the app.
Any changes on that? (oh please)
Thank you so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows Phone apps can never resume via the homescreen like iOS, due to the addition of the hardware OS back button.
To illustrate why; imagine you have an app that has start page and a settings menu. When a user goes to the settings menu, they can only go back to the start page by pressing the hardware back button (this is standard Metro design).
Now imagine a user opens the app, goes to the settings menu, then exists the app by pressing the Home button. They then do a few other tasks and then resume the app. They are now stuck in the settings menu and can't get back to the app start page; the back key will take them back to the WP8 Home screen (this is how the WP OS backstack works).
To get around this issue, Microsoft specify that starting the app from the front page always has to start a fresh instance, so the user can never get "stuck".
iOS has software back buttons on every page, so all apps can resume however you launch them. Android had the same problem with their back button (actually worse, as their backstack can be altered by the OS choosing to kill memory-intensive apps); to get around this, from ICS onwards Android apps are meant to have a software back button in the top-left, to go back within the application (hardware back key is still OS backstack).
Aphasaic2002 said:
Windows Phone apps can never resume via the homescreen like iOS, due to the addition of the hardware OS back button.
To illustrate why; imagine you have an app that has start page and a settings menu. When a user goes to the settings menu, they can only go back to the start page by pressing the hardware back button (this is standard Metro design).
Now imagine a user opens the app, goes to the settings menu, then exists the app by pressing the Home button. They then do a few other tasks and then resume the app. They are now stuck in the settings menu and can't get back to the app start page; the back key will take them back to the WP8 Home screen (this is how the WP OS backstack works).
To get around this issue, Microsoft specify that starting the app from the front page always has to start a fresh instance, so the user can never get "stuck".
iOS has software back buttons on every page, so all apps can resume however you launch them. Android had the same problem with their back button (actually worse, as their backstack can be altered by the OS choosing to kill memory-intensive apps); to get around this, from ICS onwards Android apps are meant to have a software back button in the top-left, to go back within the application (hardware back key is still OS backstack).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it sucks so bad! They should review this. I hate to use the back button, and I hate to not resume the app. Using a common app, for example, WhatsApp. I was in a chat with someone. Then I hit Windows button and Im at start screen. Then I receive a message from the same person I just left the chat. What I do? I can open from the toast, can open from fast app switch (back button), or open from start screen icon.
If I open from toast, that will depend on what the app was meant to be. In WhatsApp it would take me to the chat, because of deep toast notification. But, right now, it needs to reload the whole app to open just the chat.
If I open from fast switch, it will resume the app right away. Nice. But in any other platform the message would be there waiting for you. Right now, in WP, it takes a lot to refresh the chat. You keep like 10 seconds staring at the screen waiting it. Its even faster to just reopen the whole app.
And if I open from start screen, its almost the same effect of toast, but it dont take me to the chat, but to the start screen of the app.
The point is, the fast switch is not helping that much. In fact, it would makes sense to change the fast switch to open when holding the Windows button instead of back button, and whenever an app is open, opening it from start screen icon just resume it. Actually, a lot of people doesnt even know, or even knowing, doesnt even use fast switch. Im not a common smartphone user, and even so I dont use fast switch.
For me, its the worse problem of platform. And I dont care about CE or NT if it works, but I care about it working at all. Doesnt make sense to put a whole computer in my pocket if it cant resume a single app.
i don't like the idea either to relaunch the app when you just have put it in background. then again, i also hope we will be able to close apps from the fast-appswitch-screen. and add an option to the gesture lovers out there: pinch out on homescreen to launch multitasking. or swipe from edge like w8. or anything like that. it would add to UI experience and would eliminate that 2-seconds-pause when pressing and holding down the backbutton.
Was the question not about Windows Phone 8?
Windows Phone 8 is supposed to behave differently, since true background processing is supposed to be enabled. I haven't played with the SDK yet, but I suspect that for non recompiled apps, things will behave as they do on Mango. But, I think that things changed to target WinRT and set to be able to run in the background will be able to resume right where you left off.
It wouldn't make sense for an app that is running and processing things in the background to restart when the tile is pressed.
It's been a while since I used Mango or wrote any apps for it. But, when an app is suspended, the dev has a specified amount of time to save the state.
That way when it is relaunched, the app can resume where it left off, by processing the saved state on launch. I thought with fast resume the app stayed in memory, but that was done through a registry hack and not directly made available by any carrier.
After doing some reading, the multi tasking enhancements might only add gps and voip to the currently supported background processing.
JVH3 said:
But it sucks so bad! They should review this. I hate to use the back button, and I hate to not resume the app. Using a common app, for example, WhatsApp. I was in a chat with someone. Then I hit Windows button and Im at start screen. Then I receive a message from the same person I just left the chat. What I do? I can open from the toast, can open from fast app switch (back button), or open from start screen icon.
If I open from toast, that will depend on what the app was meant to be. In WhatsApp it would take me to the chat, because of deep toast notification. But, right now, it needs to reload the whole app to open just the chat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tapping the toast to re-open the chat is the correct behavior here. I guess it's just bad coding that makes it take so long to resume; it should just be able to go straight to the conversation and skip all the "loading contacts...connecting" stuff.
JVH3 said:
Was the question not about Windows Phone 8?
Windows Phone 8 is supposed to behave differently, since true background processing is supposed to be enabled. I haven't played with the SDK yet, but I suspect that for non recompiled apps, things will behave as they do on Mango.
But, I think that things changed to target WinRT and set to be able to run in the background will be able to resume right where you left off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you're not thinking of Windows 8? For Windows Phone 8, no changes have been announced regarding multitasking or background tasks, *except* that a few select APIs (VOIP, location) will be able to run in the background, similar to iOS (not true backgrounding like Android)
Also we are talking about resuming, not background processing. In the WP8 SDK emulator, apps built into the OS don't resume; Therefore it's safe to assume 3rd party apps are not going to either.
JVH3 said:
It wouldn't make sense for an app that is running and processing things in the background to restart when the tile is pressed.
It's been a while since I used Mango or wrote any apps for it. But, when an app is suspended, the dev has a specified amount of time to save the state.
That way when it is relaunched, the app can resume where it left off, by processing the saved state on launch. I thought with fast resume the app stayed in memory, but that was done through a registry hack and not directly made available by any carrier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When an app is closed the developer is meant to save the state, so that it can be reloaded if it is quick-resumed. However, once the app leaves the backstack (the 5 apps that appear in when you hold the back-button), this state is supposed to be discarded.
This is not a technical issue; it would be trivial for app developers to save the state and make their apps resume. The issue is that Microsoft's publishing guidelines (to get your app published on the WP app store) specifically says that an app launched from the home screen must launch showing it's introduction page, i.e. it can't resume. It could save some state, so a web-browser could still have all the recent tabs open, but it couldn't show the last one seen (ironically IE9 does resume it's state - guess Microsoft are allowed to break their own guidelines).
I agree it doesn't make sense to restart an app that is performing some background task; but then how to you avoid users getting stuck within a certain page, as in my example above? If WP8 includes a hardware back button, they can't change this policy.
Well, thats a shame. I hate reloading the app everytime I need it. Its so meaningless. I dont need VOIP, I dont need Skype running all the time. But I do need apps to be fast.
It really depends on how exactly the developers save their app state when the app is sent to background/tombstoned.
I, for one, use a text file to save data ( a lot of data) and proceed to loading the app as usual, and the moment the user presses a button, a pop up asks him weather he wants to restore or start anew.
I'm guessing that not every app will do this, as it is up to the developer to implement this.

My experience with CM10 so far XD (and maybe a feature wishlist)

First of all, how awesome is this forum !!!
I consider myself a pretty "upright" forum user as in I usually read the pinned, "read this first", Q&A, and search before I make new posts. Whenever I come upon people who don't do that, I kinda frown to my computer screen but beyond that seems like nothing much can be done? The "Here are the similar threads we found:" section is just pure brilliance.
Sorry about the rambling but I will start with a tiny background story first.
So once upon a time, I got warned thru my gmail that my account apparently was "compromised". After I did some preliminary verification to make sure they are not spams, I decided to try the google "2-step verification" process. And I bet most of you knew what comes next: I keep getting bad password popups. After some hours of frustrating struggle, I fixed my gmail on my phone. But Gtalk would not let me do that 1-time psasword verification thing, and thus my play store won't work. (God really who designed them to be linked!? I did not launch Gtalk once in my life.) Before this happened, I was happy with my stock launcher from Samsung and always have the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" motto. In the end, I decided it is "certified broken" and I thought this might be a good time to look into upgrading to Jelly Bean.
hm.. i think i'm making this post unnecessary long so I will just cut through the chase. I never thought "stock" stuff would come in any quality. But amazingly in my first day experience of CM10, I am already missing a bunch of features that I used to take for granted. I have no desire to go back to the last launcher (as this in theory should be a step up overall, i believe). So if anyone have tips for me to how to get these features back, I would very much like some pointers! Thanks in advance.
Just some clarification in case this matter: I bought my phone unlocked in Hong Kong. So there is no service-provider-associated stuff that came with the stock launcher I got.
EDIT: I used the 11-02 nightly build of CM10 and its corresponding Gapp package.
1) Contact list
+ Improved: To my amaze, my chinese contacts got sorted by their pronunciation in english! The original stock launcher lumped all of them in the end of the list.
- What I missed: Slide left on names will message the contact and slide right will call them.
# What I tried: Of course my first solution is to search on App store to find a replacement. For some reasons, only two (with good rating) showed up. Did the search got dumber? Or it got smarter but just not doing what I want?
Go Contacts: I think i remember trying it and personally not a big fan of the GO packages. I didn't give it a second try.
Contants+ with a penguin icon: There's a function that lets you "Hold" on a contact to call them. This is very much inferior to the slidings : ( I need recommendations for contact list app.
2) App drawer
+ I like how the widgets got attached to the horizontal pages. Much nicer option than Homescreen-> menu and keep scrolling through the 1x4 area LOL. I love widgets and I have a lot of them. Yes it was painful.
- You can't custom organize the drawer. You can sort by Name or Install Date and that's it. I used to organize them by functionality. I have over 160 apps on my phone. I don't use all of them all the time but I would say I use close to 70% of them at least once in a while. So while my homescreen is really reserved for Widgets, App drawer is where I launch my less-used apps. I really like the "menu -> edit" function in my old launcher. I can create new page, move the apps around and even uninstall the app right there (with a minus sign on the top right corner of the app icon. Yes I didn't use to understand why one would even need uninstaller app from the store). Please don't hate me if you really just rather sort by Name.
# Funny the problem this time is not about how I can't find a suitable app from the play store to do a better job with the drawer. It's that I CAN'T move the original app drawer icon of the launcher from the bottom middle area. I imagine there's probably a way to replace it but it's obviously not a readily available option or I am missing something.
3) Task manager?
+ I think it's just recent launched apps (or apps in the background) now. It's in a way good that it goes beyond the last 6. Not that I find that old limit bothering really.
- Where's my task manager? I'm a bit OCD when it comes to ram usage and processes/services. Oh how i missed the Hold home button -> recent app screen with a task manager button -> Kill all task. LOL It's not much but it shows just enough: total ram usage, running apps, processes, and even storage space. Scratch that, it's actually very much.
# Right now I am resort to Auto Memory Manager with a blue fish icon. It's sufficient. But I can't access it anywhere.
4) Misc. stuff that I missed and would like help to find them. Note: these have nothing to do with the launcher.
- I used to have this "Windy Weather" live wall paper (or what i believed it was called). There were some wind turbines running on a grass field. It reflects the current weather. I scour the store and I couldn't find anything remotely like that besides having to go back to the GO family or you have to pay. I know it's not recommended but I tried titanium back up to restore it from my old system - no luck.
- Ap news widget. The widget was 2x4. It does not refreshes on its own and only do so with a tiny refresh button on the bottom right corner. It cycles through headlines with pictures that fully stretches the whole 2x4 window (beautifully). Can't find it in the store.
- Pinch on the home screen zooms out and gives you a quick view of all 7(now 5, but I can live with that) pages of home screen.
- That's all for now. I think I am still missing a few things I wanted to mention but I forgot what they are at the moment
anyway, sorry about some of the ranting. Here are some features i like:
+ File Manager is awesome.
+ Camera is great as well. And I love the quick browse gallery. It's weird that the actual gallery don't even have to pinch function while they put it here.
+ The pull down menu is clean. I kinda missed the "auto-rotation" quick set. But it's minor. I usually don't allow auto rotation anyway. I also like the setting button in there. But I used it so much I have to put a short cut on the home screen anyway.
+ The animation when you turn off the screen is COOL
+ The lock screen which gives you direct access to the camera is very convenient as well.
There is no sammy like app with swipe unfortunately.(edit :didnt know ex dialer has it sry_
Try apex launcher,nova launcher,adw ex launcher(i prefer this at the moment,pletora of settings)
autorotation ,play with toggle settings in system settings menu.
Don't bother with ram,free ram is wasted ram.
That windmill wallpaper i think go has something similar to it but i dont use it as it is a huge battery hogger .I just use a plain wallpaper.
I suggest u stay playing a bit with the lockscreen/system settings
Hi, i use ex dialer and it have slide right to call and slide left to sms.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
For dialer I recommend Dialer Ex from Play. I also missed the swipe to call & message function from Sammy roms. This app does it(it also has other great features like theme support etc.!)
Sent from my premium potato
1) ExDialer. You will never look back. You can customize it to your taste and it has the features you ask.
2) You need to use another launcher for that, but in my case I got accustomed to search for apps instead of looking for icons. It's easier and can be done from everywhere in your launcher if you click and hold the Menu key. You can also have folders in the Home screen, that's also a nice way to organize. Why I ended doing this? Because other launchers have too many options.
3) You shouldn't care about running apps. You can kill them by pressing Menu key on the Home and selecting manage apps. There, in "Running" you have the apps that are currently working on the background, the memory they use and you can eventually kill them. I'm against that unless you have an issue with an app (like Media Scanner going rogue).
4) GO Weather. You can download it from the web if it's not on the store and side-load it. But I have it available. I can't help you with the news widget as I never found one useful enough to my usage patterns. I don't think the default launcher can show you all Home screens at once.
Thanks for all the help guys. You are quick to reply : )
android manages ram efficiently u dont need to free ram if u still want to have a kill apps button on recent apps its part of aokp and if u want to have it on cm10 try pacman rom

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