Database Users

N1 Major complaint

Power button to wake up then slide to unlock, this is horrible, not intuitive and actually very difficult for me to do in my good hand (left, m righty) and near impossible to do in right hand. Man i miss MT3G duoble click menu, anyone know if I can set A double trackball click? (putting it to sleep sucks too, hope the "proximity sensor" works)
Second complaint (existed with MT3g before cyan) home screen no landscape
Third (lol) I miss the app drawer
Fourth (man I know) can we get a full screen (home screen) widget that is phone dialer a la iphone so I can quick swipe to it since there is no phone button.
I look the phone and performance but honestly at this point I will probably get drawed until so of these can get fixed, I am going to stick it out and see if I can get used to it, but its been 9 hours now and not fond the "ergo"
Let me know if you have ideas, solutions or are willing to make an app hehehhe

Hahaha, I think I like every function you mentioned. To each his own I suppose...

My only problem (if it can really be called a problem) is with the push the top power button to wake the phone. It feels awkward to me. I wonder if the unlock function can be remapped to the trackball?

Yeah to each his own, the Iphone button to wake (which would be similar to trackball) can easily be done with the index/thumb hold the power button requires a cradling and sadly its difficult to contort my hand that way.
The app drawer, i dont know, i was much faster to scroll in before and the new 3d thing has a bounce back (ie it locks to 4x4 icons never halfway at top) throws off the quick flick and click for me at least.
I would love the left most home screen to just be the dialer screen flicking with thumb across screen is easier then finding icon and clicking for me at least
MMMV lol but i think others may like these things too

david, me too, actually that's my only "major" issue the rest were nits i had to pick.

lol also, the new app thing is jolting to the user experience, the rest of the home is swipe, swipe down for notifications, swipe sideways for home screens then click for apps. its weird, maybe i was only one that dragged the old draw up and down instead of clicking the tab....

The real problem with the top button is its lack of feedback. It doesn't "click". Still works though

1. I gotta admit... I don't like where the power button is. I usually hold the phone with my left hand while I use my right to swipe or press. The power button is right where I would normally hold on to the top of the phone. Its taking a conscience effort to change the way I hold it, so eventually it won't be a big deal.
2. I also agree about the homescreen. I use handcent, and if I am on the home screen when I recieve a popup, I can't turn the phone to landscape to use the bigger keyboard to post a quick reply. That is frustrating to me.
3. The button works fine for me. I kinda like it.
4. I don't care either way for a widget that lets you dial. I mean, hitting the phone button seems to work pretty well for me ( I haven't used an Iphone to know what you mean by this).
Overall, the speed is more then enough to make up for any shortcomings. The power button issue is one that has actually really bothered me. The oversaturation of colors, especially on apps like The Weather Channel has slightly bothered me. Other then that, I really like the dialer on the phone. As much as I liked wysie's contacts, the new dialer is freakin great. But I can't really complain. Its been a nice phone to have so far. Really nice. I just wish the Polar live wallpaper actually worked.

You will always be able to nitpick, but right now I'm sort of reveling in the fact that I now own the best phone the world. I didn't like the iPhone this much when I got it around launch.

maybe a 1x2 icon for dialer like the same icon from the dial pad the big green phone as a widget? lol

zendick said:
Power button to wake up then slide to unlock, this is horrible, not intuitive and actually very difficult for me to do in my good hand (left, m righty) and near impossible to do in right hand. Man i miss MT3G duoble click menu, anyone know if I can set A double trackball click? (putting it to sleep sucks too, hope the "proximity sensor" works)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lock screen is a requirement for me, so the only difference here is that I find the position of the "wake up" button on top a little awkward for 1-handed use.
zendick said:
Second complaint (existed with MT3g before cyan) home screen no landscape
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more - never did get why the home app disobeys this setting when most others do it. I'm sure Cyan will rescue us!
zendick said:
Third (lol) I miss the app drawer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, this is a BIG beef for me. I find the new app menu klunky as all get out. The label text on several rows of my menu are overlapping/corrupt, and I find it realyl tricky to scroll to the end of the menu quickly due to the way it "snaps" onto rows. Again, I hope Cyan'd firmware will revert this to sanity.
zendick said:
Fourth (man I know) can we get a full screen (home screen) widget that is phone dialer a la iphone so I can quick swipe to it since there is no phone button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use widgets, but I for one don't miss the phone buttons. Why should the phone app get preferential treatment with it's own hardkeys. *
][
* Yes, yes, I know the smarta$$ answer is "because it's a phone".

well i did a little messing around with remapping keys and wasn't able to cut my phone off, but i did make my power button into a trackball pressed button lmao.
right now, from the way it is looking, there is not an incredibly easy to make the trackball pressed (DPAD_CENTER) wake the phone up without sacrificing a fair amount of usability I will try and play with it some more later.
The files I was changing were both in /system/usr/keylayout/
mahimahi-keypad.kl and
qwerty.kl
I had to make changes to each of the 2 for it to stick. Maybe someone can take this info and run with it. I also had to reboot after pushing the files for it to take place.

The only thing that really bothers me is that one has to remove the battery to remove the SD card.
That is unlike all the other Android phones I know of. (T-mobile anyway.)

dont flame me but the top button to wake up and the slide to unlock puts me back to feeling like an iphone, and i had one for so long this feels comfortable to me

alextripp said:
dont flame me but the top button to wake up and the slide to unlock puts me back to feeling like an iphone, and i had one for so long this feels comfortable to me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never had an iphone, but I rather like the setup. Assures me that I'm not wasting battery life with it on in my pocket. If the touchscreen woke up on press, sure it might not unlock but it'll still be lighting up all the time.

On earlier hardware, other than the END button (which I suppose became the sleep/wake button), you could press menu (which would take you to the lock-combination screen, or the home screen if you didn't have a lock-combo) and the back button would also serve to wake the phone, you still had to use the END button to sleep.
Has any of you tested if menu or back will wake the phone?

they are touch sensitive on the nexus, so they are definitely a no-go

zendick said:
Power button to wake up then slide to unlock, this is horrible, not intuitive and actually very difficult for me to do in my good hand (left, m righty) and near impossible to do in right hand. Man i miss MT3G duoble click menu, anyone know if I can set A double trackball click? (putting it to sleep sucks too, hope the "proximity sensor" works)
Second complaint (existed with MT3g before cyan) home screen no landscape
Third (lol) I miss the app drawer
Fourth (man I know) can we get a full screen (home screen) widget that is phone dialer a la iphone so I can quick swipe to it since there is no phone button.
I look the phone and performance but honestly at this point I will probably get drawed until so of these can get fixed, I am going to stick it out and see if I can get used to it, but its been 9 hours now and not fond the "ergo"
Let me know if you have ideas, solutions or are willing to make an app hehehhe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you don't like the phone then why did you buy it?

jubeh said:
On earlier hardware, other than the END button (which I suppose became the sleep/wake button), you could press menu (which would take you to the lock-combination screen, or the home screen if you didn't have a lock-combo) and the back button would also serve to wake the phone, you still had to use the END button to sleep.
Has any of you tested if menu or back will wake the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eabinsan said:
they are touch sensitive on the nexus, so they are definitely a no-go
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm this does not work as well.

zendick said:
Power button to wake up then slide to unlock, this is horrible, not intuitive and actually very difficult for me to do in my good hand (left, m righty) and near impossible to do in right hand. Man i miss MT3G duoble click menu, anyone know if I can set A double trackball click? (putting it to sleep sucks too, hope the "proximity sensor" works)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sort of agree that the power button placement is awkward but I like the slide to unlock screen to help avoid pocket dials. It would be nice if there was an option to turn it off for those who are bothered by it.
zendick said:
Second complaint (existed with MT3g before cyan) home screen no landscape
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
shrug
zendick said:
Third (lol) I miss the app drawer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really prefer the new app drawer. Different tastes I guess.
zendick said:
Fourth (man I know) can we get a full screen (home screen) widget that is phone dialer a la iphone so I can quick swipe to it since there is no phone button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is actually a good idea.

What is Samsung thinking regarding Vibrant

Love the Vibrant BUT.... The On-Off button is on the right so that when you grab the phone to turn it on or off with your thumb (right handed), your fingers alter the volume buttons on the other side!!! Just because other manufacturers (HTC) have buttons on the top doesn't mean you HAVE to be different (Yes you SAMSUNG)
Also the system buttons on the bottom are FAR too sensitive. Other manufacturers stop using touch buttons because of this years ago.
Also Samsungs android overlay offers no user benefits whatsoever. They could have just offered a new set of widgets and apps with Vanilla android.
BUT NO.... They have to be different .. guess what? All business plans have changed these last couple of years. You do NOT have to be different just for the sake of standing out. I think the Dell Streak is gonna suffer because they are using a propietry charger (Throw all you other ones away and buy Dell's for 30 bucks each!!!!!) I was gonna buy one but now i'm not gonna touch it and support propiatism (made up word).
Calling all cellphone designers.... Please may I be a beta tester for you. I will tell you the truth and give you more feedback (as a heavy user) than any research company.... (Android phones only)
The truth may hurt but you need to hear it.

I can control my fingers individually so that when I grip the phone to hit the power button, I can avoid squeezing the other side of the phone.
Having the button on the side is far better than having it at the top. HTC Evo's tiny button and placement has to be a complete oversight by HTC.
Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 is pretty nice.

Just because you don't like the Touchwiz interface doesn't mean other people don't like it aswell. I actually enjoy having the default Touchwiz, but I wouldn't mind if it were stock android at all.

just a complainer...IGNORE!

I actually prefer the button on the side. If I use my right hand I can use my thumb and if I use my left hand I can use my index finger
I'm an advanced user
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

simham7537 said:
Calling all cellphone designers.... Please may I be a beta tester for you. I will tell you the truth and give you more feedback (as a heavy user) than any research company.... (Android phones only)
The truth may hurt but you need to hear it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are in no way representative of the user base.

The only complaint I have about the physical design of the phone is, why did they put the antenna at the bottom of the phone? It's easily covered by the hand, which is proven to cause signal degradation.

The antenna is at the bottom of the phone because it is mandated that it be placed at the bottom to move radiation away from your brain.
Still, that's not the issue. Many phones have their radios placed there, and do not suffer from the same reception issues the Vibrant appears to be experiencing.
Not all phones are created equal.

Even though the antenna is on the bottom of the phone, and bars are going down.. it doesn't really affect the speeds or drop your calls. Not sure whats up with that but I don't really care if the bars go down as long as nothing else is affected.
And TouchWiz can be replaced with alternative launchers available on the market. Everything will be great when ROMs will be created for this phone, which shouldn't be too far away considering how easy it was to root.

Jon C said:
The antenna is at the bottom of the phone because it is mandated that it be placed at the bottom to move radiation away from your brain.
Still, that's not the issue. Many phones have their radios placed there, and do not suffer from the same reception issues the Vibrant appears to be experiencing.
Not all phones are created equal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Mandated" Where did you get this nonsense? LOL @ The. Can we try yours and a few others?

simham7537 said:
Love the Vibrant BUT.... The On-Off button is on the right so that when you grab the phone to turn it on or off with your thumb (right handed), your fingers alter the volume buttons on the other side!!! Just because other manufacturers (HTC) have buttons on the top doesn't mean you HAVE to be different (Yes you SAMSUNG)
Also the system buttons on the bottom are FAR too sensitive. Other manufacturers stop using touch buttons because of this years ago.
Also Samsungs android overlay offers no user benefits whatsoever. They could have just offered a new set of widgets and apps with Vanilla android.
BUT NO.... They have to be different .. guess what? All business plans have changed these last couple of years. You do NOT have to be different just for the sake of standing out. I think the Dell Streak is gonna suffer because they are using a propietry charger (Throw all you other ones away and buy Dell's for 30 bucks each!!!!!) I was gonna buy one but now i'm not gonna touch it and support propiatism (made up word).
Calling all cellphone designers.... Please may I be a beta tester for you. I will tell you the truth and give you more feedback (as a heavy user) than any research company.... (Android phones only)
The truth may hurt but you need to hear it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. The power button
Personally I use a case on mine and I don't have any issues with accidentally pushing the power button. I also happen to like it on the right side now that I've used the phone for a litte while. It makes unlocking/turning on the screen much easier than if the button was on top.
2. Touchwiz
Some people like it, some people don't. For the most part, the only thing people are whining about is the application launcher which looks too much like the iPhone. The solution? Use Launcherpro, ADW.Launcher or whatever home replacement you like. You have options!
As for the other nicities of Touchwiz. I happen to like having easy access to the radios from the notification bar. I also like being able to adjust screen brightness by simply sliding my finger on the notification bar. Genius! I also like how you can slide to text or call on the contacts page. The unlock screen and the integration of the default music player is very nice into the lock screen is very nice. I also like the puzzle pieces that appear for missed calls, texts, emails.
In short, I like everything about touchwiz except the launcher which I replaced with Launcher Pro. I'd rather have this setup than if it came with SenseUI. This is my opinion of course, but I think Samsung did a pretty good job.
You can always get 3rd party apps for widgets and the launcher. You can't really replicate the other features I mentioned from what I've seen.
3. The buttons
Other manufacturers stopped using touch buttons? Really?
The Evo 4G, Nexus One, Droid Incredible all use capacitative buttons as well. I wouldn't mind a physical home button.
To each his own. Enjoy the phone or get something else. You have options!
PS: Just remember even though you have options, no other phone will have the Super AMOLED screen.

Now that I've been using the phone a while, here are the things I've found to be the biggest annoyances (in order of how much it bothers me):
1. The e-mail app can't display HTML mail. Also, it has problems making complicated URLs, ones with & or = in them, clickable links. Finally, it doesn't appear to have any copy & paste funcionality.
2. Can't change the default calendar for new appointments.
3. The Facebook calendar sync adds my Facebook calendar items to my Exchange calendar. This isn't great, but what's worse is that it adds the items multiple times, once for each sync, and also puts them at the wrong times, always Pacific Time instead of Eastern Time.
4. The Voicemail number is locked to T-Mobile's designated number. I would like to change it to my Google Voice number so that I can use the speed dial "1" or voicemail tab in the dialer. This is more fore my wife than me, but since she annoys me about it, it in essence annoys me.
5. Battery life... I use my phone heavily, so this is too be expected, but I wish there was an extended battery available.
6. Volume... The max call volume is too low. It's okay most of the time, but if I'm in a noisy area, I have a hard time hearing it. Also, the max volume throught the headphones is too low.

ElahC said:
Just because you don't like the Touchwiz interface doesn't mean other people don't like it aswell. I actually enjoy having the default Touchwiz, but I wouldn't mind if it were stock android at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the touchwiz as well. Take the calendar for example, miles ahead of Androids calendar.

simham7537 said:
Love the Vibrant BUT.... The On-Off button is on the right so that when you grab the phone to turn it on or off with your thumb (right handed), your fingers alter the volume buttons on the other side!!! Just because other manufacturers (HTC) have buttons on the top doesn't mean you HAVE to be different (Yes you SAMSUNG)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this is happening to you, you are gripping the phone far too hard to push the power button.
Also the system buttons on the bottom are FAR too sensitive. Other manufacturers stop using touch buttons because of this years ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep your fingers away from the system buttons.
Also Samsungs android overlay offers no user benefits whatsoever. They could have just offered a new set of widgets and apps with Vanilla android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every android phone has a ****ty overlay (except the Nexus One), so this isn't just an issue with Samsung.
BUT NO.... They have to be different .. guess what? All business plans have changed these last couple of years. You do NOT have to be different just for the sake of standing out. I think the Dell Streak is gonna suffer because they are using a propietry charger (Throw all you other ones away and buy Dell's for 30 bucks each!!!!!) I was gonna buy one but now i'm not gonna touch it and support propiatism (made up word).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Being different is what gets attention, and when you are trying to make money, you want to get attention to your products and company.

Yogi76 said:
4. The Voicemail number is locked to T-Mobile's designated number. I would like to change it to my Google Voice number so that I can use the speed dial "1" or voicemail tab in the dialer. This is more fore my wife than me, but since she annoys me about it, it in essence annoys me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're wife could always just change speed dial "2" to her google voice number, and when she calls that it will take her to her google voicemail.

Random Things you may not know about your EPIC 4G...?

So it doesnt seem as though there is a thread like this for the Epic.
I figured this would be a good place to list a bunch of random things you've found while "tinkering" with you Epic 4G.
Example:
While in Camera mode, if you hit the power button it locks the camera. No buttons can be pushed until you "Unlock" the camera by pressing the power button once more. I figured this allows you to keep the camera app open without snapping random shots, so that when you are ready the camera app is readily available.
This same method works in the video player function...I found this out cus I have a 2 year old that loves to watch his cartoons on my phone. Well he always tends to touch the screen and it usually interrupts the vid (streaming)...so now I just lock the video player (push the power button while video is playing) and now he can touch it all he wants and it wont interrupt the vid!
What else do you guys/gals know about this AWESOME phone!!???
-MaD

I just found out if you workout with your epic resting against your skin, you're risking it might get water damaged.

Here's something:
If you press down on the notifications tab at the top of your phone, and slide it to either the left or right, you can toggle the brightness (if it is set to MANUAL, and you can do this under the phone's settings).

shook187 said:
I just found out if you workout with your epic resting against your skin, you're risking it might get water damaged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SALTwater damage.
Learn to sweat distilled water. It's much safer for electronics

When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.

dwallersv said:
SALTwater damage.
Learn to sweat distilled water. It's much safer for electronics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was being sarcastic when I wrote that. I read that happend to someone here.

Darkshneider said:
When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dear god that's nifty!

Darkshneider said:
When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for the message list
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

I never knew the phone had a front facing camera until 2 weeks ago. I've had the phone since soon after it came out

tuttjs said:
I never knew the phone had a front facing camera until 2 weeks ago. I've had the phone since soon after it came out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? Holy ****e dude, that was one of the key things the Epic had over the other guys.

Well, I knew this but some may not. On the physical keyboard, if you double press the "Shift" or "FN" keys, it does "Caps lock" and "Function Lock"
Sent from my always stock, EB13 Epic, awaiting EC05.

i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!

BopChie said:
i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed. Wow I Just tried this and it's pretty amazing! +11111111

Here's another one that's semi-useful.
This will only work with the stock SWYPE keyboard. Now there are some complications usually when trying to copy/paste text with androids. If you have a keyboard, you can easily hold "shift" and swype across the text you are trying to copy.
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easy.

OperationMove said:
Confirmed. Wow I Just tried this and it's pretty amazing! +11111111
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol... learn something new every day ha?

zanderman112 said:
Well, I knew this but some may not. On the physical keyboard, if you double press the "Shift" or "FN" keys, it does "Caps lock" and "Function Lock"
Sent from my always stock, EB13 Epic, awaiting EC05.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every phone has the same double press.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

BopChie said:
i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny sh|t... a shrink actually told me that she has teen clients who get in trouble, and lose their text priveledges, and are really going crazy, shrink suggests just making a voice call... the kid looks terrified, to call their 'best friend'...I really hope FFCs can help this... thats just sad. Its not even basement dwellers either, these are 'popular kids'.... I think Skynet has already won. Anyways, what phone are you getting next????

johnp1991 said:
Every phone has the same double press.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just gonna let that one slide... figured they were new to having a phone...

Pettro said:
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to swype back to the "i" button. Swyping from the "i" button over to the SYM button brings up the same options. Gives you arrow keys which are pretty awesome to use. Also, if you swype from the "i" button over to the "F" key, it brings up a nice keypad for you to input numbers/symbols.
Also, while on the topic of swyping, here are some other cool things:
If you want to capitalize a letter, you swype from that letter off of the swype keyboard entirely and then continue swyping. So if you wanted for some reason to type CaT, you would swype from the "c" key off of the keyboard entirely and then over to the "a" key and then over to the "t" key and then off the keyboard entirely again.
If you want to hit a double letter, like the two o's in Google, you swype from the "g" over to the "o" and swirl around on it for a second and then continue swyping the rest of the word. The swirling around doubles whatever key you are swirling over.

Pettro said:
Here's another one that's semi-useful.
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just swiping from the swype(or i/info depending on your version/rom/theme) key to sym alone will open that layout.
heres another swipe shortcut
start at the swype/info key then swipe diagonaly to the upper right and let go when your past the keyboard layout.... This will open the numerical keypad.
last one it got (that i can think of at the moment)
you can usually simulate a battery pull/force reset if your softlocked by holding cam+vol_up+power... saved me some hassle when i had a hard case on my epic many times when experimenting with roms/kernel/tweaks.
UPDATE:
muyoso has apparently tapped into my brain and beat me to it LOL... and sombish... yeah u can just swipe from the info to the f and get numerical keypad also

[WHINE] – Why a hardkey instead of softkey for “home” button

I don't like the hardkey. It feels different to press than a softkey. It takes longer to press and takes me out of my rythm. Therefore I tend not to use it as much (have built some alternate shortcut gestures into my launcher and my Notification Toggle setup).
Also from what I have seen softkeys last longer than hardkeys... the softkeys have no mechanical parts to wear out.
The whole thing bugs me, but I think I'd feel better if I understood WHY this design decision was made...
So can anyone explain the ADVANTAGES of having a hardkey home button?

electricpete1 said:
I don't like the hardkey. It feels different to press than a softkey. It takes longer to press and takes me out of my rythm. Therefore I tend not to use it as much (have built some alternate shortcut gestures into my launcher and my Notification Toggle setup).
Also from what I have seen softkeys last longer than hardkeys... the softkeys have no mechanical parts to wear out.
The whole thing bugs me, but I think I'd feel better if I understood WHY this design decision was made...
So can anyone explain the ADVANTAGES of having a hardkey home button?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I prefer a hard key for the exact opposite of what you said.
BTW, why do you own a S4 ???
The day I cant buy an Android phone with a real home button will be the day Ill switch to something else.

Switching from the straight talk galaxy S2 to the S4 took me a bit to get use to as the S2 didn't have a hard key.... but I like the hard key better.... I think its more of a personal preference than anything
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

I miss the HTC Amaze.. Power, camera, and volume were the only buttons on the phone.
I miss the smooth glass home button at the bottom of the screen between the menu and back buttons
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Softkey takes screen real estate, but, will relocate landscape to portrait. When a major crash occurs softkey will not work. Softkey is more suscptable to accidental presses.
Hardkey has a completely different tactile feel.
This is one of many reasons why I prefer Samsung to Nexus. Each to their own.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium HD app

I love being able to wake the screen with the menu button. This is much easier when using a case.
Sent from my SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

First of all, welcome to the late party.
Second, I hated the hard key also.
Now though, I love the fact that I can "feel" the key without looking for it.
Guess I'd rather have a capacitive key still, but it would need to be a raised button that I can "feel".
Didn't we do this thread like nine months ago?
About fourteen times, back to back threads?

I like the hard key as well. I can turn on the phone using it
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bennyboy78 said:
I like the hard key as well. I can turn on the phone using it
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It's amazing how there is no one feature that can please everyone.
I actually have that option disabled on my phone.
Drives me nuts because everytime I pick up my phone, I'd accidentally press that button and the phone would turn on. Or when I wipe down my screen, I'd hit that button and with the next wipe, I'd unlock my phone and inadvertently open an app or something. hahah

CZ Eddie said:
Didn't we do this thread like nine months ago?
About fourteen times, back to back threads?
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Unfortunately, that's about 90% of the threads in this particular forum now.

My bad. I'm new to S4. I didn't search but got the whim to express some frustration in what I thought would be a light-hearted conversational thread. Not the best decision in retrospect. Next time I'll do that on the Off-topic Cafe thread when I get that urge.

I think a big plus of using both a hard key and the touch sensitive keys (I really dislike the soft keys taking screen real estate, if they disappeared for full screen applications, I'd be more supportive – but I digress) is just being able to feel where the touch sensitive keys are without having to look at the phone. Long live the hard key

One hand use

Hi!
I'd like to know if anybody actually uses Samsung's features in order to help using the phone with one hand?
I myself make only use of the (not convincingly thought through) gesture which allows me to shrink the screen.
The assistant menu:
quite customisable, but much too big and slow for my taste.
Side key panel:
the other way round, quite comfortable to use, but nearly no customisation at all.
All in all I'd say lots of options, but not really thought through. What do you think?

Like you, I find the side key panel quite useful- eliminates the thumb stretching for the "back" button.
One handed input is also turned on & is mildly helpful for the dialer. Seemed to help a bit with continuous input on the keyboard as well, but ended up switching back to the stock Google keyboard I've grown so accustomed to.
Long pressing the recents key to bring up menus is also nice, though not specific to the Note 4.

Sometimes I use the shrink screen function that's when I'm to lazy to move my other hand haha
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It's not just laziness. Sometimes you really need to do other things with your other hand (old school multi-tasking).

Holmegaard said:
Like you, I find the side key panel quite useful- eliminates the thumb stretching for the "back" button.
One handed input is also turned on & is mildly helpful for the dialer. Seemed to help a bit with continuous input on the keyboard as well, but ended up switching back to the stock Google keyboard I've grown so accustomed to.
Long pressing the recents key to bring up menus is also nice, though not specific to the Note 4.
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I agree with everything you said. Still: I'm not too convinced from what the side key panel offers. If you could customise the side key panel the same way as the assistant menu, I'd totally go for it.

macmobile said:
I agree with everything you said. Still: I'm not too convinced from what the side key panel offers. If you could customise the side key panel the same way as the assistant menu, I'd totally go for it.
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I seem to remember that there should be an app that mimics the one you can find in Ios. Anyway, there are several very good apps I use for 'one handed mode':
- button savior non root (you can find in in the google play store) which gives you back, home, recent, screen lock and lets you start both the dialer and the camera;
- lmt launcher (see at xda) which works very well if you are rooted and lacks some little features if you are not. You just have to remove tue superuser permission from the manifest file (which you can do with apk permission remover) and turn on accessibility and it'll work almost as a charm. I mean, it does not only allow you to mimic the hardware keys, it can start any app and any activity which does not require root. If you are rooted, it can do virtually anything;
- as a good replacement of lmt launcher, you can test pie control by Coolace (always in the google play store).
I mostly keep the note 4 in my left hand (though I am right handed) just because my 2 years experience with the note 2 has got me accustomed to writing with my right hand, while keeping the smartphone with the left one... so that I currently feel uncomfortable while holding the note with my dominant hand So, I feel the need to have virtual keys on the right side, since reaching the back button on the right side is not so easy (though my hands are normally sized) and the above mentioned apps are the most useful I have found.

Funny, you actually named some very important apps I already use on my phone except for the lmt launcher. Could be that I thought there isn't anything to gain from if you're not rooted. Going to give it a try though. Thank you! Still I don't get it, why Samsung's Touchwiz doesn't offer better solutions? They could do it so easily.

No doubt macmobile, some customization options would be nice. The big phone trend isn't going away, so I'm hoping that more options for easing one-handed use are in the pipeline. Samsung would do well to lead the way, given their investment in the "phablet" space.

macmobile said:
Funny, you actually named some very important apps I already use on my phone except for the lmt launcher. Could be that I thought there isn't anything to gain from if you're not rooted. Going to give it a try though. Thank you! Still I don't get it, why Samsung's Touchwiz doesn't offer better solutions? They could do it so easily.
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I rooted every single phone or tablet before buying a Note 4 and now, though I miss the fun of flashing rom and mods, I think this phone has too many sensors which wouldn't be supported by an AOSP rom, while custom touchwiz roms aren't worth for me to give up to knox. Not much for the warranty loss, but more for the loss of the knox enviroment itself. So, since I don't want to root, I have got to look for work-arounds and I think there are many good apps.
Back on topic, imho Samsung has so far designed the best implementation for one hand usage, though it could be better. If you look at the nexus 6, it's just a big phone and the Iphone itself is just a (good) 5.5" phone which doesn't pay particular attention to single hand usage.
I agree with you both that phablets are very likely here to stay and that the current UI for single hand usage is at very early stage.

I just received the Note 4 with lollipop pre installed.
The one-handed operation (that I was using woth my note 3) has disappeared from settings!!!!!
WHY????
how to get it back?

Settings/Display and Wallpaper/One-handed operation

Samsung screwed one thing about One handed operation: there is no separate setting for dialing keyboard and QWERTY keyboard, just like it was on my previous Note II.
I wish I could set smaller dialpad, but retain full QWERTY, which is not the option any more.
When set one handed operation ON, samsung keyboard is just too small to me.