Database Users

How make make my phone better.

Anyone have any tips that I could use to make my Android/Atrix experience better.
Any tips?
*Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Oh sorry, didn't see it. Don't need to swear at me.

Here is my tip from my shallow experience with the phone and android.
1. do factory reset after your phone has been fully charged to 100% for 4hours-ish while its turned off
2. get before update root
3. update to 1.57
4. do the post update root
5. get titanium backup pro and go to the freeze the applications under the safelist.
6. get an launcher (I bought launcherpro plus, but i think just launcherpro is just as good... because the only major perks i've noticed was the launcherpro widgets and widget resizing)
7. freeze the motoblur home(after installing another launcher like lpp)
8. download screengrabber app (it works on rooted phone and I like using it, you may not need a screen capture program)
9. do the webtop mod if you want to try it. you need android sdk first to do adb commands. (I tried it to see how lapdock would feel like and I found it pretty good)
I love launcher pro, as it looks so nice!!! 3d app drawer and home screen flipping animations, and overall so many settings you can customize. (# of app row, column etc)

hungryeel said:
here is my tip from my shallow experience with the phone and android.
1. Do factory reset after your phone has been fully charged to 100% for 4hours-ish while its turned off
2. Get before update root
3. Update to 1.57
4. Do the post update root
5. Get titanium backup pro and go to the freeze the applications under the safelist.
6. Get an launcher (i bought launcherpro plus, but i think just launcherpro is just as good... Because the only major perks i've noticed was the launcherpro widgets and widget resizing)
7. Freeze the motoblur home(after installing another launcher like lpp)
8. Download screengrabber app (it works on rooted phone and i like using it, you may not need a screen capture program)
9. Do the webtop mod if you want to try it. You need android sdk first to do adb commands. (i tried it to see how lapdock would feel like and i found it pretty good)
i love launcher pro, as it looks so nice!!! 3d app drawer and home screen flipping animations, and overall so many settings you can customize. (# of app row, column etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you so much!

Haven't used the phone, but just look around under the forums and find some guides. Atleast you will be able to find a guide to root it and such which will make life much better and more open for improvement best of luck.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App

That was pretty pointless...
no need to cuss...
I was in the same boat as the OP and it was hard for me to search through the massive massive amount of info on this forum.
No need to be so hostile... There has been alot of hate on the forum lately. I know it gets annoying when the new users start asking questions that can be found by searching. But, you have two sensible choices: 1. give them some tips so they know what to search for, or 2. don't reply to thread and let the thread die off...

Dude, You better calm down! I just got banned a couple days for fighting with somebody and cursing and you have a ****load of posts just like this! I had 2 posts then banned! You've been lucky so far but all someones gotta do is report you and then here comes the ban hammer!
No ones even starting with you! This guy just asked a question! Calm down!

if you dont need stuff like email, calendar and contacts updated to the minute its a good idea to disable this feature in settings and with titanium backup. theres a big thread in the dev section about what apps from att that are safe to freeze with titanium. this alone will significantly increase your battery life.

neotekz said:
if you dont need stuff like email, calendar and contacts updated to the minute its a good idea to disable this feature in settings and with titanium backup. Theres a big thread in the dev section about what apps from att that are safe to freeze with titanium. This alone will significantly increase your battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks
__________

and if you're feeling real brave??.... You could root the **** out of it and flash gingerblur or gladiatrix or the newest rom greyblur!! Im about to flash greyblur right now!

If you want a gingerbead look to your phone, as well as getting rid of the hideous white notification bar, you should try out GingerBlur, a pseudo-rom for the Atrix.
GrayBlur has also been released, which I'll be trying out shortly.
Get a launcher. If you have the money (15$) I would buy SPB Shell. That is one amazing launcher. Or just get one of the many others like ADW, Launcher Pro, Go Launcher, etc.
If you want to tether (data plan required), go to the dev section to get the tethering APN for mobile hotspot.
Install Tenfar's custom bootstrap recovery. Allows you to flash ROMs.
Install the Amazon App market. A free paid app a day (games too).
And last but not least: check out the themes section. Lots of cool themes and boot images.

PixoNova said:
If you want a gingerbead look to your phone, as well as getting rid of the hideous white notification bar, you should try out GingerBlur, a pseudo-rom for the Atrix.
GrayBlur has also been released, which I'll be trying out shortly.
Get a launcher. If you have the money (15$) I would buy SPB Shell. That is one amazing launcher. Or just get one of the many others like ADW, Launcher Pro, Go Launcher, etc.
If you want to tether (data plan required), go to the dev section to get the tethering APN for mobile hotspot.
Install Tenfar's custom bootstrap recovery. Allows you to flash ROMs.
Install the Amazon App market. A free paid app a day (games too).
And last but not least: check out the themes section. Lots of cool themes and boot images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't see the Amazon App Store on the Android Market. Where can I get it?

Chubby_Skunk said:
I didn't see the Amazon App Store on the Android Market. Where can I get it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll have to side load it. you can enable that by running glad root.
Then, download the apk from amazon, put it on your phone, and install
Definitely worth it
http://www.amazon.com/mobile-apps/b?ie=UTF8&node=2350149011
Theres a link there to input your email to download it
Swyped from my Motorola Atrix 4g using XDA Premium App

PixoNova said:
You'll have to side load it. you can enable that by running glad root.
Then, download the apk from amazon, put it on your phone, and install
Definitely worth it
Swyped from my Motorola Atrix 4g using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright thanks for the info. So I get one free app every day?

Chubby_Skunk said:
Alright thanks for the info. So I get one free app every day?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not of your choosing
But it'll tell which app will be for free. I got sham encore, zenonia 2, and trillian for free.
Swyped from my Motorola Atrix 4g using XDA Premium App

Chubby_Skunk said:
Alright thanks for the info. So I get one free app every day?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but one thing you gotta know is you can never uninstall amazon appstore or your free apps will stop working which kinda sucks!

Gutterball said:
Yeah but one thing you gotta know is you can never uninstall amazon appstore or your free apps will stop working which kinda sucks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm wasn't aware of that. I do know that every single download oas considered a purchase, so if you ever want to switch devices, you can just redownload them like ever normal market.
Swyped from my Motorola Atrix 4g using XDA Premium App

PixoNova said:
Hm wasn't aware of that. I do know that every single download oas considered a purchase, so if you ever want to switch devices, you can just redownload them like ever normal market.
Swyped from my Motorola Atrix 4g using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah as long as you reinstall amazon appstore all the time with it and I was reading that the appstore is kind of a form of spyware and require too much info from the user.
Uninstall appstore and you'll see. I had angry birds rio and a few others for free. I uninstalled the appstore and then my apps just stopped working! I heard this would happen but didnt believe it! But it is 100% true! Which like I said sucks!

How do I disable MotoBlur using TiBu?
Never live in the past but always learn from it.

Get GO Launcher EX. It's so much smoother than stock, you'll love it. I just returned to it after using LauncherPro Plus for a few weeks. Features on LauncherPro are great, but it had some stability issues for me, and GO Launcher is MUCH smoother and consistent for me. There are a lot of themes for it as well.

[Q] old home apk

i know this probably sounds really weird, but im sure im not the only person. one of the funnest things about owning an evo is the insane number of roms and themes out there. i actually have several different home apps setup so when i get bored with one i can just use froyo home switcher and voila, new home and theme. however recently i kinda started missing the old look. i've never been too fond of the htc sense ui. i just remember on my g1 and my mt3g the donut and cupcake home launchers. i've found a couple links to home apk's like this one http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=867060 but the apk apparently isn't compatible with froyo cuz it wouldn't install (failed parsing). can i use adb and force an older incompatible app to install perhaps to the /system/app/ folder (already know how to do it so i don't need instructions just wondering if it can be done) any help is appreciated. ive even thought about just searching for the png's in the apk files and switching the drawer tab and drawer background out for the old style png's. please and thanks
ps i was contemplating posting this under android/general but seeing as it has to be compatible with evo and froyo i figured this might hail better results

Why don't you just install adw from the market(its froyo compatible)? Plus adw has tons of free themes; It's about as close as your going to get to the stock home launcher from aosp. There's also a stock home launcher in the market you can download (both free) if you search "launcher".
No you cant install those old launchers from previous android builds it will just force close if its not froyo compatible.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Thanks yea I kinda figured, thought maybe I could extract the apk and maybe update some parts to make it work. Yea I have adw ex already, its alright. Still kinda miss the aosp cupcake look but time changes everything. I think I should just start learning to develop apps myself instead of always leaning on everyone else.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App

Look at HElauncher, it has a couple and is a light launcher that actually has the closest thing to a vanilla launcher.

What alternative Home/Launcher apps have ou guys been using?

I tried ADW launcher it seemed to work OK. Tell us what others you've tried on the a500 and post some screen shots also.

tried launcher 7, it is pretty unusable.

At least ADW uses up all the screen real estate ;P

^^^^ did you downloaded half of the market???

32Gb, why hold back...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

evoss05 said:
^^^^ did you downloaded half of the market???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol. Was wondering the same thing. Nice!

kebsood said:
32Gb, why hold back...
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait...? is there a 32gb version of the Iconia A500?
Where?

babyboy8100 said:
Wait...? is there a 32gb version of the Iconia A500?
Where?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my country there's only 32gb version...with no 3g

babyboy8100 said:
Wait...? is there a 32gb version of the Iconia A500?
Where?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They gave us the short end of the stick with 16GB here in the states. At least at first, there may come a 32GB version later. But with a 32GB sd I have 48GB on this, and 32 on my Nexus One, and a few other cards I carry around with various media files on them. Besides you can plug a usb hard drive in and have 750GB for under a $100 (with an enclosure).

daveid said:
They gave us the short end of the stick with 16GB here in the states. At least at first, there may come a 32GB version later. But with a 32GB sd I have 48GB on this, and 32 on my Nexus One, and a few other cards I carry around with various media files on them. Besides you can plug a usb hard drive in and have 750GB for under a $100 (with an enclosure).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In France we only got the 32 gb version

nyoto said:
In France we only got the 32 gb version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am slightly envious, but with all the options to add storage to this thing, 16GB just means one more microsd card in my wallet..

evoss05 said:
^^^^ did you downloaded half of the market???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha
Sent from my A500 using XDA Premium App

I have searched for various different launchers on the market with the Iconia 16gb Wifi only version. I cannot find ADW or Launcher Pro through the standard search, and when I can find them through AppBrain or the web browser of Market, it says that it is not compatible for my device (at least that is what ADW has told me. When I finally got ADW to show in the standard market app on the Iconia and I would hit "Install", I got the "Requested Item Could Not Be Found" garbage. Gave up after a while and haven't tried Launcher Pro.) To those who have installed a launcher successfully, how did you do it, generally? Find the .apk and install manually? Install through market? Or some other hidden process that I don't know about thaat involves giving up your first born to the "Iconian" gods?

kebsood said:
I tried ADW launcher it seemed to work OK. Tell us what others you've tried on the a500 and post some screen shots also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried installing ADW Launcher but said it wasn't compatible.

Dravenlee said:
I have searched for various different launchers on the market with the Iconia 16gb Wifi only version. I cannot find ADW or Launcher Pro through the standard search, and when I can find them through AppBrain or the web browser of Market, it says that it is not compatible for my device (at least that is what ADW has told me. When I finally got ADW to show in the standard market app on the Iconia and I would hit "Install", I got the "Requested Item Could Not Be Found" garbage. Gave up after a while and haven't tried Launcher Pro.) To those who have installed a launcher successfully, how did you do it, generally? Find the .apk and install manually? Install through market? Or some other hidden process that I don't know about thaat involves giving up your first born to the "Iconian" gods?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea i had to sideload it. ie: downloaded it on my phone, extracted the .apk and installed it on my tab. Works great though ill post new pics of what it looks like today
Sent from my A500

nice transitions hopefully you can make it out. also the entire screen can be used for widgets etc instead of standard home cutting off real estate off top and bottom. also i dont have that many apps this is actually a pic of app drawer showing all apps including preinstalled lol. but i do use em all
Sent from my A500

Launcher Pro
I opted to go with Launcher Pro. I needed to be able to resize the widgets and Launcher Pro let's you do that. You won't find it on the market, but just go to www.launcherpro.com to download it from the developers site.

Good to hear ADW works cause they have some great themes. My A500 32gb is being shipped as i type this so looking forward to getting to grips with the "stock" style, till i get bored with it.

tarheel23 said:
I opted to go with Launcher Pro. I needed to be able to resize the widgets and Launcher Pro let's you do that. You won't find it on the market, but just go to www.launcherpro.com to download it from the developers site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ADW launcher also lets you resize widgets but i also used launcher pro on my phone i found them pretty similar.

kebsood said:
ADW launcher also lets you resize widgets but i also used launcher pro on my phone i found them pretty similar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i must say i do like the look of the dock bar more. in launcher pro, ill definitely give it a try on the tablet

Is anyone using go weather?

I use Go weather on my atrix it works pretty good but on my A500 you cant put a city in and the themes dont work.

Do you have Go Launcher EX on you Atrix as well? AFAIK, most of the Go add-ons are to be used with Go launcher, even Go SMS Pro. Also, I'm not sure Go stuff is even compatible with Honeycomb, yet.
BTW, I'm using Go Launcher (with Go weather and all the other widgets- Facebook, SMS Pro, etc.) on my Sammy Infuse4G and love it. The devs update often with fixes and new features.
Hope this helps and if I find out otherwise, I'll let you know

I'm glad my Infuse 4G is coming in a few days.

Actually GO weather doesn't require GO Launcher, but I also have the same issues with it. Looks like have to wait for developer to make it compatible.

tazm0n said:
Do you have Go Launcher EX on you Atrix as well? AFAIK, most of the Go add-ons are to be used with Go launcher, even Go SMS Pro. Also, I'm not sure Go stuff is even compatible with Honeycomb, yet.
BTW, I'm using Go Launcher (with Go weather and all the other widgets- Facebook, SMS Pro, etc.) on my Sammy Infuse4G and love it. The devs update often with fixes and new features.
Hope this helps and if I find out otherwise, I'll let you know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have go launcher too

I use the Weather Bug for tablets. works great and free.

Might want to look at Accuweather for Honeycomb, Go didn't work for me either.
Sent from my A500 using xda premium

OK i thought it was just me. i added all the widgets and themes in the market place but they all didn't load when i went the actual app. I guess I will wait for the update then.

TouchWiz

I must admit that I have always been a "use whatever skin came with the phone" type of guy going all the way back to 1.6, however I curiously installed the Google Now Launcher tonight and boy the Note Pro seems as if it were on steroids!!! Now I understand what people mean when they say Touchwiz is resource hog. Don't get me wrong, I'm probably considered to be one of Touchwiz's biggest fans, but..............
Good night

thorissr said:
I must admit that I have always been a "use whatever skin came with the phone" type of guy going all the way back to 1.6, however I curiously installed the Google Now Launcher tonight and boy the Note Pro seems as if it were on steroids!!! Now I understand what people mean when they say Touchwiz is resource hog. Don't get me wrong, I'm probably considered to be one of Touchwiz's biggest fans, but..............
Good night
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you post the Google Play Store link for the Google Now Launcher? The only one I can find says my device is not supported.

lawalty said:
Can you post the Google Play Store link for the Google Now Launcher? The only one I can find says my device is not supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to side load it here is a link to a download link http://www.droid-life.com/2014/02/26/download-google-now-launcher-version-1-0-9/

kodochax said:
You have to side load it here is a link to a download link http://www.droid-life.com/2014/02/26/download-google-now-launcher-version-1-0-9/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks bud.

The launcher at this moment is native only to the Nexus line and Google Play Edition devices, although the APK can be side loaded without any issues on our devices. I'm even running it on my GN3 and quite frankly I'm loving it and plan on sticking with it until it's finally supported for my devices natively.
Do a quick search for "Google Now Launcher" and you shouldn't have a problem picking up the file. Once you download it on your Pro just click install and you'll have it in less than 5 seconds.
A quick report for those who may want to install it. I have not ran into one issue since the install. No crashes, no force closes(Beat cha Watch On!!). There are reports of users with different devices reporting issues, which caused me concerns prior to my install. I'm happy to say it's as though this launcher was built for the Note Pro.
If you need additional info don't hesitate to PL me.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

Frankly, in just the few minutes i've been playing with it, i'm LOVING IT! Like the OP, i've also been a "use whatever skin came with the phone" kinda guy. When I was using my Nexus 5, i've gotten use to the launcher. I love the simplicity of the experience. My only gripe, if any, there is none of the native TW widgets (example: Action Memo) that uses the S Pen naively.
Update:
thorissr said:
I'm even running it on my GN3 and quite frankly I'm loving it and plan on sticking with it until it's finally supported for my devices natively.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming when you said GN3 you mean your Galaxy Note 3? I been trying to also side load it on my Note 3, however i'm getting a parsing error. Thinking it was a corrupt download, i re-downloaded it, but still getting the parsing error.

True...touchwiz widgets takes a back seat to the "Google Experience", but all of Samsung's SPen and Multi Window features are fully intact. That was my only fear after installing was that it would break some of the features that enticed me to purchase the Note Pro. Happily everything works as it did out the box.
Our fellow brothers on the Note 10.1-2014 side are reporting excellent results as well.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

Correct I was referring to the Galaxy Note 3, and yes you are correct if you attempt to use the same APK on your Note 3 as I did initially, you will receive the parsing error message.
I ended up finding a older APK released on the net back in December and installed it and it automatically updated to the latest GNL after the install. I'm on my phone now and I have the files uploaded to dropbox, and will happily share if you like....just PM me.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

I didn't intentionally leave the GN3 info on purpose, I just didn't want to violate rules by centering the topic on the GN3 in the Note Pro forum...I've always been a rule follower since my military days...he he he?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

I tried the Google Launcher but found it to be somewhat too limited. I personally didn't like the lack of options and inability to change the grid size to make better use of the Note Pro screen.
But in many ways anything is better than TouchWiz.
I still recommend Nova Launcher the most. You can adjust everything exactly to the look/feel you prefer. It's also leaner and faster than anything else I've tried when set to "faster than light" settings.

thorissr said:
True...touchwiz widgets takes a back seat to the "Google Experience", but all of Samsung's SPen and Multi Window features are fully intact. That was my only fear after installing was that it would break some of the features that enticed me to purchase the Note Pro. Happily everything works as it did out the box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thankfully, no alternate launcher should affect the S-Pen and Multi-window features.