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If this isn't in the right place, please move it mods.
Basically I think that the market is a bit incomplete.
There are changes I'd like to be made and i've voiced my concerns with google.
Now I need the community backing to actually see these things implemented.
To read about the suggestions and comment, visit this link
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=3c9422da6b79a597&hl=en
I try and address problems with the market and even underlying Android issues that have yet to be resolved.
Add your input and they'll have to listen.
Good idea... You might also add to the list a way to delete apps from download that won't be used anymore. I have three in my download that I will never install again and can't get them off the list. Imagine a few of those in there and it starts to take up alot of space with apps you aren't interested in anymore.
I posted a reply there as it seems to have gotten some attention there. Some of the issues are already in feature request on android issues, I linked to them. Starring the issues increases chances someone will take care of it.
Suggestion added Jeffro.
Thanks for posting Areinu!
If I could make suggestions for Android Market:
(1) Fix all this missing protected apps for new device / firmware quickly
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=665742
This is silly issue and will only hurt Android platform. This will greatly discourage Android developers for making good apps.
I want to support Android, I want to make it success! I can do this by spending money on Android apps, but I simply cant because of this issue.
And I am afraid this will repeat once new firmware released.
Take a look how long this issue is ... ridiculous
(2) Remove restrictions on countries for purchasing apps
Right now, certain countries like Sweden for example cannot even see the apps!
(3) Add ability to FILTER apps TITLE
I want to "hide" all those WALLPAPERS, SEXY whatnot.
Android is nice, really nice platform. But this Android Market issues are blocking its success.
here in Denmark we can't even see non-free apps in the ma market. because of this, users of ex. iPhone won't even try the platform. its sad really.
Sent from my HTC Legend using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Filtering is very much needed. I tend to view the 'just in' apps, but lately its just a list of MMCANDROIDs latest releases of boarderline under age Asian girls. Its really annoying that you cant block out the stuff you have no interest in.
I'm adding them as they come.
Post a comment on the page to make sure Google eventually sees it.
Hi everybody,
I just moved from an iphone 3g (which i had jailbroken) to an incredible thanks to at&t contract finally finishing. Hv rooted the inc on my mac using the unrevoked method. Everything works fine (still have stock eclair 2.1 and sense running). Hv installed a bunch of apps from the market but hv not sideloaded anything yet or uninstalled anything (htc sense etc etc) yet. I would really appreciate some guidance from the community on the following since i am very new to the platform as a whole.
1. I dont want to lose the ability to update to the official froyo release (whenever it happens) so will I have to unroot (if thats even possible) to get the froyo update? If yes, whats the correct way so that I can bookmark that.
2. I want to be able to use the tethering without paying 20$ extra per month to VZ (in fact would probably use USB tethering to my macbook more often than wifi tethering/hotspot, but obviously I would like both! ). How should i do that? Obviously the stock app will just alert verizon, right? Is there another app that will work now that i hv rooted? Any special instructions to follow?
3. Would like to optimize the capability of the device by removing crapware and useless stuff which comes with the phone. Hv not yet even figured out what each app does yet. I will use my inc primarily for entertainment - games, social networking, browsing, streaming music, videos, google voice, true VoIP (not official VZ skype), GPS navigation, tethering (when no wifi) but will be OTA syncing my office exchange email account, contacts, calendar as well to make this a backup phone to my official bberry. Any suggestions on which apps to remove? Also how should I remove them without bricking the phone. Is there a cleaner method?
4. I actually like Sense even though it seems it uses up some memory - any way i can remove the useless parts of Sense (since I wont be using USB sync and I am sure some other stuff in sense is just bloatware) without losing the other features that look great - to be honest the phone looks too plain without sense (nexus 1 looked really naked). I would like to retain the look and feel of the sense ui.
5. How do I get swype on this? I played with it when i was shopping for android phones on the captivate (which unfortunately was on at&t) and I am amazed at how great that was! I badly badly badly badly need that!!
6. Any standard add-ons, apps which you would recommend for my intended usage?
7. Now that I am rooted which post-root apps should i install to make the inc more useful? Any obvious ones which you would recommend?
8. The people sense widget is just too much, anything a bit saner which is like a launchpad but without the screen wastage?
9. In jailbroken iphones, you could install lockinfo which was a spectacular agglomeration of all things (missed calls, voice mails waiting, email msg list, twitter feed, facebook feed, weather, calendar, tasks, sms msgs) in 1 simple scrollable screen. Anything similar in Sense/HTC widgets/App store? Just one glance would tell me everything.
Sorry, since I am new I decided to ask all questions in 1 shot. Obviously dont expect to have all questions answered by 1 person but if the devs/users can point me in the right direction, with links and some comments, I will greatly appreciate it.
Thanks and hoping to be a contributor to the android community sometime soon as I was in the iphone community until i just could not take at&t anymore.
1.yes you need to unroot to recieve otas
2.there is an app incthe market called wifi tether that is free.
3.look in the theme/app sectiom. there is a skinned version there.
4. adb in recovery os the only way to remove crapware
7-8 . there are not many apps for root users lile there was with cydia.
also, there are many widets avaliable in the android market. there is lots of good apps in the market. explore.
if you have any other questions feel free to pm me amy time.
jdkoreclipse said:
1.yes you need to unroot to recieve otas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, if you are running the stock rom ou will recieve OTAs. The OTA doesn't magically detect "this phone is rooted."
rpearl said:
No, if you are running the stock rom ou will recieve OTAs. The OTA doesn't magically detect "this phone is rooted."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
doesnt somethong change the ctacerts and otacerts?
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
No. it's also not suggested and is reported to have negative side effects.
One important thing, Install Rom Manager from the market.
With this app you can do a backup of the Rom (stock sense and rooted) you're running now and install others to try, if you don't like them just restore the one you had before and done, you can as many back up as you want.
Also check in the theme section and you'll find lots of themes to make your phone look and work beautiful, this also allows you to get to recovery without having to turnoff your phone and install anything you want from the sd card.
Also, if you don't like some of the crap ware that Sense has, there's a post for removing the apps you don't want on Sense and it tell you which ones are safe to remove.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=710009
Hope this helps a little.
Some apps for us the rooted...shootme or drocap to take pictures of your screens, titanium backup, wifi tether, etc.
Appreciate the help everybody! Only thing I am still seeking an answer for is swype on my inc if anybody can guide me.
Thanks
khanam said:
Appreciate the help everybody! Only thing I am still seeking an answer for is swype on my inc if anybody can guide me.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go. I use the red skinned Swype, looks great and works great.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=701198
Thanks! Just realized one more thing. I cant seem to be able to use skype over wifi only. Is this verizon's way of using up my minutes one way or another?
Hi. Here's the deal...my elderly parents are travelling this winter in another country. International roaming is expensive, as is international travel, and we're looking for as many ways as we can to save money. One of the ways we've considered to deal with both of these problems is to buy a sim card where they are at, rather than bringing their phone from home and paying outrageous international roaming charges. This is where Hero comes in...I have an unlocked HTC Hero that I could let them use. The problem is, they are intimidated by technology, and having a capable phone with lots of features is overwhelming to them. I was wondering if there's a way I can lock the phone down so it goes to the dialer and nowhere else. No lock screen, no email, no Android market, no text messages sent or received, none of that, just the dialer to make and receive calls. Ideally, I'd like to be able to return it to normal functionality when I get it back, but if this is a one-way thing, that's OK, too. It is currently running Elelinux-7.1-Hero-v3.6-Light.
I apologize profusely if this is a silly question...I'm new at all of this.
Tired_ said:
Hi. Here's the deal...my elderly parents are travelling this winter in another country. International roaming is expensive, as is international travel, and we're looking for as many ways as we can to save money. One of the ways we've considered to deal with both of these problems is to buy a sim card where they are at, rather than bringing their phone from home and paying outrageous international roaming charges. This is where Hero comes in...I have an unlocked HTC Hero that I could let them use. The problem is, they are intimidated by technology, and having a capable phone with lots of features is overwhelming to them. I was wondering if there's a way I can lock the phone down so it goes to the dialer and nowhere else. No lock screen, no email, no Android market, no text messages sent or received, none of that, just the dialer to make and receive calls. Ideally, I'd like to be able to return it to normal functionality when I get it back, but if this is a one-way thing, that's OK, too. It is currently running Elelinux-7.1-Hero-v3.6-Light.
I apologize profusely if this is a silly question...I'm new at all of this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's kind of easy what you want...but not every thing can be erased
1ownload eles ROM
2. Open the archive with WinRar or other app that you use
3. Go to /system/apps and you will find all the app there with the extension .apk
4. Delete what you think that they won't use (but be very careful): for example market.apk (you said that they don't need it)
4. Close the program and you will see that the rom is more lighter
5. Flash the rom
6. Enjoy
For the part with the lock screen i don't think i can help you...
Hope you get work done
Stefan
The lock screen part is really the important part. The other apps can still be installed, just abstracted away from my parent's eyes, if they're locked into the dialer. I guess I wasn't clear enough when I described what I was looking for. I want to make it so that the dialer program is the only program accessible to the user...when they press the home button, I want it to go to the dialer rather than to a launcher. When the screen goes off due to inactivity, I want it to go to the dialer right away when any button is pressed rather than showing a lock screen. On iPhone (sorry, it's a platform I'm more familiar with), there's a jailbreak app called IncarcerApp that can do this...is there anything similar for Hero?
Lockscreen
Hi there! If you want to get rid of the lock screen what you can do is go into settings on the phone then Cyanogen mod settings then tablet tweaks and in there, there is a tick box or similar that you can press to disable the lock screen!
Hope that Helped
Thanks for the tip, PP337, but that's still not what I am looking for. I did some Googling last night, and I found a lot of developers refer to what I am looking for as 'Kiosk Mode'. Unfortunately, everything I found on that is in the context of creating a new app, rather than using an existing one.
I'm obviously not making myself clear enough, but I'm not sure how I can phrase it more clearly. I really hope we won't have to go buy a junky SIMlocked Nokia phone that we'll have to throw out in three months when they come home.
i can't understand one think....why is it so hard to unlock a phone??? especially when it's so simple...
Stefan
Unlocking a phone is indeed simple, for you and I. But for an elderly person, particularly one who is unfamiliar with technology, being confronted with a screen full of app icons can be intimidating. I tried to get my mom to use the Android phone as it is, and she is terrified of breaking something or doing something wrong, to the point where she won't use it for those fears.
I have to say, I hadn't expected it would be this difficult to make this 'open platform' do what I want it to. If it were iPhone, I'd be done by now. Disappointing.
Could you not just remove all the homescreen icons? Can't remember which launcher comes with that ROM, but if you install launcher pro for example, you can remove all the icons even the dock. You can then choose to have just one homescreen and just the dialer icon. Or you could leave it blank to just select the dialer button to make calls. Then disable the lock screen as described above. Would that be ok for them ?
Tired_ said:
I have to say, I hadn't expected it would be this difficult to make this 'open platform' do what I want it to. If it were iPhone, I'd be done by now. Disappointing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how old are your parents that you say that they "can't unlock" a phone... Both my parents use android on their phones and don't have any problems....
Don't want to be rude or things like that but it's easy on android...
Stefan
stefpaul said:
how old are your parents that you say that they "can't unlock" a phone... Both my parents use android on their phones and don't have any problems....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
She's 72, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He's 70 and has a severe learning disability.
I tried the suggestion someone posted about LauncherPro with only one icon. She accidentally long-pressed an empty space and the menu came up and she didn't know what to do. I was able to tell her what to do because I am here now, but if that had happened when I wasn't around she wouldn't have been able to cope at all, for fear it was dialing some 1-900 number or doing something else she didn't want. I'm shocked that it isn't possible to lock Hero into a single app, but it seems it simply isn't. Thanks anyways for all your help.
Tired_ said:
She's 72, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He's 70 and has a severe learning disability.
I tried the suggestion someone posted about LauncherPro with only one icon. She accidentally long-pressed an empty space and the menu came up and she didn't know what to do. I was able to tell her what to do because I am here now, but if that had happened when I wasn't around she wouldn't have been able to cope at all, for fear it was dialing some 1-900 number or doing something else she didn't want. I'm shocked that it isn't possible to lock Hero into a single app, but it seems it simply isn't. Thanks anyways for all your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are they traveling alone? That sounds like something you should worry about more then just having a phone for them
You could use adw and lock the desktop by pressing menu and choosing 'lock desktop'. That would prevent any accidental menus popping up. You could also hide the status bar from adw settings and disable the lockscreen from cm tweaks menu. You could also download a dialer widget (https://market.android.com/details?id=dialer.impact) and set that as a widget on a single homescreen and lock the desktop on adw launcher.
Hope that helped
Car Home may help
Hi all,
I am part of an IT Client team and we are trying to prep for the deployment of the GS4. The S3 is our current standard and was received pretty well, but some of the features are overwhelming to our sales force. Is there any way that we can disable some of these features perhaps even automatically via ADB and a USB cable?
Also, we are wanting to have our company app preinstalled. Currently it resides in the marketplace but apparently some of our sales force don't understand the Play Store and that they actually have to go find the app and install it. Is there a way to automatically sideload our app? We were also discussing a launcher like launcherpro with an xml file included that contains default locations for icons, data, etc.
Has anyone tried this before? Please advise with ideas/suggestions. We don't want to flash a ROM generated by our company because that would require too much overhead on our part to manage because thousands of phones need to me maintained. We also don't want to root the NatureUI/Touchwiz stock rom that comes with the S4.
metroidnemesis13 said:
Hi all,
I am part of an IT Client team and we are trying to prep for the deployment of the GS4. The S3 is our current standard and was received pretty well, but some of the features are overwhelming to our sales force. Is there any way that we can disable some of these features perhaps even automatically via ADB and a USB cable?
Also, we are wanting to have our company app preinstalled. Currently it resides in the marketplace but apparently some of our sales force don't understand the Play Store and that they actually have to go find the app and install it. Is there a way to automatically sideload our app? We were also discussing a launcher like launcherpro with an xml file included that contains default locations for icons, data, etc.
Has anyone tried this before? Please advise with ideas/suggestions. We don't want to flash a ROM generated by our company because that would require too much overhead on our part to manage because thousands of phones need to me maintained. We also don't want to root the NatureUI/Touchwiz stock rom that comes with the S4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not quite sure about disabling features on the stock ROM. I know there's an Easy mode that can be used for first time smartphone owners. As far as preloading your company app, you can write a script to do so. However, that requires you to manually enable developer mode and USB debugging on every single phone. I'm not sure how practical this is, considering you have so many phones. A better way might be to send a mass text message or email to each of the phones with the play store link to the app. Once again, considering the employees might be unfamiliar with the phone, a text would probably be the simple way to go. I would use side-loading as a way of installing your app in the event that someone had an issue with the text. I believe you'd run into the same issues with preinstalling LauncherPro and associated xml files. It doesn't seem there's a way you can properly deploy what you need to w/o going hands on on all units.
Please read forum rules before posting
Questions and help issues go in Q&A and Help section
Thread moved
Thank you for your cooperation
Friendly Neighborhood Moderator
Depending on what functionality you would like to disable, you can go to the App Manager heading in the Settings menu, and disable system apps you don't use. In terms of disabling parts of functionality in certain system apps, that probably wouldn't be possible on stock unrooted devices.
metroidnemesis13 said:
apparently some of our sales force don't understand the Play Store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...
I'm not sure how to solve your problem. I was going to say once you are willing to ADB and USB debug you might as well cook up the ROM the way you want it and blast it on with Odin.
However, one thing to be concerned about is the OTA software updates that you probably want your users to be able to receive. If you mod the stock software (either with ADB or a modded ROM) in such a way to make the phone status 'Custom' your users won't be able to get updates and bug fixes from Samsung.
I would just try to hold their hand through getting the app installed (ie. email them a link to it when they get a phone so all they have to do is tap the link and hit install) and leave the rest of the phone alone.
Platform: Fire HD 8 (6th edition)
OS: 5.4.0.1
Willing to rollback?: Yes (it has broken some email functionality)
Launcher: Nova paid
I have activity launcher installed, as well as launcherhijack v3.
I have set the home screen button in accessibility, and have Nova enabled as the home. I have Nova enabled as the launcher, but have not deleted the fire launcher, as I would prefer not to.
The issue I'm having is that I can't seem to use widgets. I have read up on adb use for the fire, but Windows doesn't want to play nicely, and I don't currently have a linux machine available (yes, I could VM one, or setup a bootable USB, but I'm looking for a solution that would work with what I have currently in place).
Issue: Any time I go to place a widget on a Nova launcher screen, it brings up the list per normal, but when I go to place the widget, I get bounced back to the Kindle settings UI, and am unable to sort out a workaround.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, particularly if they don't require ADB, as so far Windows does not want to allow me to update the ADB drivers (it shows them as current stock drivers and functioning, as well as stating that the ones from google are a no-go).
Sadly, pushed the update when I did not expect it, so all of this was done after update rolled out. Play store was isntalled prior, and settings are for allowing debugging and developer settings, so at least I got the play store on prior to the update (which apparently some people are having issues with). For me, the store is working well, as is sideloading, which is why I'm thinking there must be a reliable solution to get widgets functioning in Nova without needing to ADB command it on.
Thank you,
--bb
No, you definitely need a working adb, it's your gate to all Fire HD hacks and improvements. If you can't - stay with Amazon bits and don't ask questions like this here.
Thanks to @DragonFire1024, we have a pretty nice hack to enable widgets on any launcher; it's very easy to apply and use. But PLEASE don't complain about prerequisites, if you can't get adb working on Windows, it's better to stay off all hacks and actually this site. Just enjoy your Amazon Fire HD (it's pretty cool even with OEM software installed).
Agreed! There is no need to be rude to those who are just learning. I appreciate those like Dragon who gives help to others without making them feel like idiots. With the help of this forum, I have gotten everything but gmail working! And that weird go to black screen and back to lock screen when I swipe application off the screen. An sure it will get fixed.
The widget script might work in a terminal emulator. Jack Pals on the play store is by far the best. Just search for terminal emulator for Android, place the script in the internal storage and try running it in the emulator. I honestly don't know if that will work though as all the hacks I do are usually with ADB.
DragonFire1024 said:
The widget script might work in a terminal emulator. Jack Pals on the play store is by far the best. Just search for terminal emulator for Android, place the script in the internal storage and try running it in the emulator. I honestly don't know if that will work though as all the hacks I do are usually with ADB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I will give that a try.
Let's try to keep the comments directly related to Q&A for this device.
Getting snarky with other users and starting a back and forth argument is off-topic, and usually rude (both violations of the rules).
So, please; keep the Off-topic back and forth off the thread. If you are offended by, or feel another user's comment violates the rules, simply REPORT the comment and do not engage the other user further. No need to add MORE clutter.
Thanks for your cooperation.
sensboston said:
No, you definitely need a working adb, it's your gate to all Fire HD hacks and improvements. If you can't - stay with Amazon bits and don't ask questions like this here.
Thanks to @DragonFire1024, we have a pretty nice hack to enable widgets on any launcher; it's very easy to apply and use. But PLEASE don't complain about prerequisites, if you can't get adb working on Windows, it's better to stay off all hacks and actually this site. Just enjoy your Amazon Fire HD (it's pretty cool even with OEM software installed).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please explain to me how I can update the ADB? I'm not familiar with how to do this at all.
https://www.xda-developers.com/install-adb-windows-macos-linux/
Yeah, but...
bladebarrier said:
https://www.xda-developers.com/install-adb-windows-macos-linux/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is where I started, but I have been unable to find a way to find anything mentioning ADB (much less enable it) on our Fire HD 8 (7th Generation).
I have been looking through multiple guides for the past 20 minutes, but the newest firmware seems to have hidden or disabled the ability on the actual device. I am logged into the tablet on the main account, but even under "Device Administrators" it says "No available device administrators".
Did Amazon manage to lock these down to be nothing but a pimp for Amazon (as was their intended goal)?
Edit: Fire OS 5.6.1.0
Did Amazon manage to lock these down to be nothing but a pimp for Amazon (as was their intended goal)?
Yes, they did. It's the razor and blades business model. Such as one item is sold at a low price (or given away for free) in order to increase sales of a complementary goods.
When you go into the Setting then into Device Options, is Developer Options at the bottom of the list? If it isn't I think you need to tap the Serial Number 7 times, then it should appear and that is where you can enable ADB.
The dedication of the members of the xda forums are the only reason why a lot of devices such as these manage to reach their potential. I'm pretty new here (joined in February) but I never seen any member give up on a device. What most see as frustration, including myself, a lot of the members here not only see a challenge but an opportunity.
caldersm44 said:
Agreed! There is no need to be rude to those who are just learning. I appreciate those like Dragon who gives help to others without making them feel like idiots. With the help of this forum, I have gotten everything but gmail working! And that weird go to black screen and back to lock screen when I swipe application off the screen. An sure it will get fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For now without a rooted device the kick to the lock screen cannot be fixed. That is an unfortunate event which is a result of disabling fire launcher without root. Gmail is give or take. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. If I really had to take a guess I would say Google and Amazon are fighting between each other to get Gmail to work or stop working. It seems when enough users complain Gmail stops working within a few minutes it works again in a couple days later Amazon stops it. I would go back to an old version of Gmail, take your pick and keep trying different versions from there. If he older versions don't work that I'm at a loss at the moment. I do not currently use Gmail on my Amazon tablets. Only because I get too much mail lol. however with that having been said I have never had a problem with Gmail on any of my Amazon tablets with or without root.
dondraper23 said:
Did Amazon manage to lock these down to be nothing but a pimp for Amazon (as was their intended goal)?
Yes, they did. It's the razor and blades business model. Such as one item is sold at a low price (or given away for free) in order to increase sales of a complementary goods.
When you go into the Setting then into Device Options, is Developer Options at the bottom of the list? If it isn't I think you need to tap the Serial Number 7 times, then it should appear and that is where you can enable ADB.
The dedication of the members of the xda forums are the only reason why a lot of devices such as these manage to reach their potential. I'm pretty new here (joined in February) but I never seen any member give up on a device. What most see as frustration, including myself, a lot of the members here not only see a challenge but an opportunity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reminder of how to enable Developer Options - it has been a while since I had to do that. ADB is now enabled!
Thanks to everyone in the xda-developers community!
AnotherNameFFS said:
Thanks for the reminder of how to enable Developer Options - it has been a while since I had to do that. ADB is now enabled!
Thanks to everyone in the xda-developers community!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got it enabled! It's one of those steps that is easy to forget
Why are you saying that he should get off the site. Thats rude