Related
I realise this isn't a Desire specific question, but since my Desire will be arriving tomorrow and Leap seems to be a perfect partner for this idea, I thought I'd put it out there.
Basically I want to know if a full-screen widget could be designed and placed on one home-screen, where it would remain at all times for easy access?
At the moment, on my Dream I've not found anything like that. I know you can bring up the 6 last-used apps by holding down the Home key but that takes around 2 sec before the window comes up giving you access.
What I want is some elegant way to instantly access my browser/internet.
I have used Bar Control to add a browser short cut to my notification bar - this is slightly quicker than holding down Home. But I'd really like to use Leap.
Any ideas, guys & gals?
There's a bookmarks widget that gives you access to all of the differnet bookmarks you have saved with little thumbnails for each one.
ive never used an android phone so still playing with it to get the hang of it. will update if i find anything like it!
Mmm, what I'm really after is a browser page that will stay open on one homepage exactly as you left it. So you can go away, do something else and then return to the same place you left off. Rather than a list of bookmarks.
Ultimately, I suppose what I'm really trying to solve is the slow multitasking interaction (Home button held down). If there was an instant click into your running apps/recently used apps list, then there would be no reason (other than aesthetic) for this widget I'm asking for.
What I'd really love is for a quick double-click on Home to instantly bring up all you open apps. Perhaps this is something that can be achieved by remapping keys/buttons? It couldn't be that hard to code, could it? (Disclaimer: I've not written a line of code for 23yrs since I was 10yrs old, and trying to learn Basic!).
try using opera that might help solve this problem. I can see where your coming from with this though!
I've been using my SGN now about a week.
Excellent phone with only a few issues that I can find.
I had the ghost volume yesterday but I turned on and off and not had it since.
I seem to be missing my return button(next line) in my text message service, could be me missing something but when I send a text I don't get the large arrow at the bottom right. Its there on all other input methods.
Keep picking the phone up upside down.
I can't use the phone without a case really really slippy.
Other than that the phone is lightening fast responsive and the screen is too die for.
Get one , I love mine......
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Great to see a well written post of your thoughts.
Thank you
My findings are the same as yours apart from the Vol issue, I havnt had it (im on Orange)
Phone is slippy
I too kept picking it up upside down but after now 3 days im instinctivly feeling for the hump on the back to orientate that to the bottom to get it the right way up.
I too dont have an enter key for texting, wtf?
In general use like browsing, the back round the camera gets really hot.
Phone is lightning fast but ive had far too many lock ups already, half a dozen ish. I hope the issues get resolved, I'll keep forwarding error reports. Im sure its just teething probs with the new OS. I hope its not the phone, im not exactly sold on Samsung quality.
Got my Samsung Galaxy Nexus last 18th of November and these are my comments
The Bad
- had that volume bug - awaiting for the update
- can not make video call, even with skype front cam not working (pls update)
- mp3 songs can not be set as ringtone
- some of my apps not working, like viber, currency converter
- no flash support - awaiting for it
- silent button needed in the power widget
- low volume, can't really hear it if phone is in my pocket
The good: http://media.xda-developers.com/images/icons/icon14.gif
- super fast
- nice panoramic mode in the camera
- camera is fast, not a problem with 5 mpx
- lovely screen res
- unique face unlock (but face not detected in low light/dark areas/at night time)
- battery lasted for 13 hours (depends on the user)
http://media.xda-developers.com/images/icons/icon11.gif i love this phone
amstradeu said:
The Bad
- had that volume bug - awaiting for the update
- can not make video call, even with skype front cam not working (pls update)
- mp3 songs can not be set as ringtone
- some of my apps not working, like viber, currency converter
- no flash support - awaiting for it
- silent button needed in the power widget
- low volume, can't really hear it if phone is in my pocket
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MP3 can be set as ringtones, BUT they need to be in the ringtones directory. Workable idea is to use Ringdroid (or similar) to crop the portion of the MP3 you want from your Music directory and save it separately in Ringtones.
Plenty of widgets to control volume/profiles. Audiomanager Pro lets you create profile widgets. I use Extended Controls which lets you build your own widget with exactly the controls you want on it. It's not perfect (as it hasn't been updated for ICS yet) - GPS toggle and APN toggle take you into the settings menus - but it has been (and will be once updated) a top notch widget.
Volume - Try Volume+.
My findings:
Pro:
- Great screen, however, I really dont think it's a big leap in quality over my old Galaxy S, let alone the S2.
- Great speed, hasnt slowed down once, nice and fast and no crashing.
- Good interface. Love ICS
- Good reception and call quality
Cons:
- Low ringer volume and notification sounds
- LED notifications only flash once, would be nice for it to keep flashing intermittenly so you know you've got a notification, rather than having to turn it on.
- The pull down notification bar does not have quick access to the power bar (as per Galaxy S). That was really useful, so if you're in an app you can turn on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS etc, rather than having to go to the home page and doing it from there. Very annoying!
- No native video player to recognise .avi, .mkv files. Had to buy Dice Player.
- No Swype!!!
- No return key when texting
- No external storage
- Annoying browser experience. If you want to go to a bookmark, you have to press a button to go to the tabs, then another button to go to favourites, then another to select the favourite! Very poor process.
- Poor widgets for the homescreen (I want a nice looking clock). Wont pick up my location automatically, either, for weather updates.
- Poor camera application.
I realise the phone is in it's infancy, with many updates to come, but coming from a very accomplished phone, it's taking some getting used to, and some things which are a step backwards!
arun1uk said:
My findings:
- The pull down notification bar does not have quick access to the power bar (as per Galaxy S). That was really useful, so if you're in an app you can turn on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS etc, rather than having to go to the home page and doing it from there. Very annoying!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a touchwiz thing. however lots of apps do this in market place. I use notifications shortcuts.
arun1uk said:
- Poor widgets for the homescreen (I want a nice looking clock).
Again lots of apps in market place to have a clock. I use one more clock - had hundreds of themes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My led flashes mire than once ....... ?
scooby8272 said:
I seem to be missing my return button(next line) in my text message service, could be me missing something but when I send a text I don't get the large arrow at the bottom right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android has never had a carriage return button on the stock keyboard for text messages. Manufacturer modifications to Android may have this feature, but that would be down to the specific variant (HTC Sense, Samsung TouchWiz, etc).
amstradeu said:
The Bad
- mp3 songs can not be set as ringtone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was true with Nexus S too. The solution is to create a folder "/media/audio/ringtones/" and copy your mp3s there. The other option is to use an app.
Hope this helps...
ruthlesset said:
This was true with Nexus S too. The solution is to create a folder "/media/audio/ringtones/" and copy your mp3s there. The other option is to use an app.
Hope this helps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Posts #5 and #6: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=19655514#post19655514
first android phone coming from ios for the last many years
1. sms- how do i get notifications? i don't want that little icon on the top taskbar, i want a popup like the iphone so i will immediately know. i don't even get a notification in the lockscreen which i want. also quick reply somehow? same as missed calls, i want a big notification popup
2. contact/sms page- how do i get rid of the picture profile squares? it makes each line so "thick" and takes up too much room
3. quick way to put it to silent/vibrate only mode like iphone?
4. how do you actually exit an app? it seems like when i press any of the softkeys on the bottom (home or back) it just minimizes it and still has it running in the background
5. if i reflash rom, will i lose all my apps and settings? which rom do you suggest?
6. what are the advantages of giving me root access? examples or what i can do?
7. one big feature of iphone ios 5 is group sms, can android group sms with iphone users?
8. must have apps?
1. For SMS popup thing, you can go and download another messaging application like GoSMS from the market and set it's settings.
2. That can't happen, download GoContacts from the market?
3. Hold the volume down button or set a volume toggle on the homescreen
4. Click on multitasking, swipe left or right to close an application.
5. Yes, you will. You can backup all your apps and system data through Titanium Backup from the market, google how to do that. I recommend AOKP.
6. Better speed, stability, customizations etc.
7. No, just download whatsapp
8. Don't know what you'll like
Are you sure you wanted to leave iPhone? There are apps out there to do what you are asking for with pop ups, etc.... there are also SMS apps you can install to replace the standard one. Hands cent comes to mind for that.
To quickly go to vibrate press and hold power button. A window will open with the option for vibrate, airplane mode and power off options....
Hope this helps some what. I've had an iPhone 3G and 4. I came to Android for the freedom of not being locked into Steve Jobs view of how I should use my phone. I don't miss it. Give it time and you should see the same thing.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
if ur that new to android... i dont think u should start flashing roms right now!!
read more, do more research cuz i dont want u to start another thread by telling us u brick ur phone.. wont start up.. those kinda things
Oh... forgot. Android is a true multitasking system. Apps will run in background. I have heard if you press the back button instead of home to exit an app it will stop it. Don't know if that is true. Usually the os takes care of the processes for you.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Learn to use your phone and become adjusted to the Android eco-system before you start talking about rooting.
Also, use GoSMS.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
arzbhatia said:
1. For SMS popup thing, you can go and download another messaging application like GoSMS from the market and set it's settings.
2. That can't happen, download GoContacts from the market?
3. Hold the volume down button or set a volume toggle on the homescreen
4. Click on multitasking, swipe left or right to close an application.
5. Yes, you will. You can backup all your apps and system data through Titanium Backup from the market, google how to do that. I recommend AOKP.
6. Better speed, stability, customizations etc.
7. No, just download whatsapp
8. Don't know what you'll like
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your reply
as for #3, is there another way to exit without going to that screen and swipe 1 by 1? because just now as i'm learning about my phone and opening up a bunch of stuff, i go to my multitask screen and have like 10 things i want to swipe and it's kinda annoying to do it 1 by 1
unknown00 said:
thank you for your reply
as for #3, is there another way to exit without going to that screen and swipe 1 by 1? because just now as i'm learning about my phone and opening up a bunch of stuff, i go to my multitask screen and have like 10 things i want to swipe and it's kinda annoying to do it 1 by 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u call swiping 1 by 1 annoying?? u press multitask button once.. and u ready to swipe already..
from what i see, i think u used iphone before... and when u want to close apps, u have to double click home button... then hold down 1 icon.. then press X
i see how u define annoying now...
unknown00 said:
thank you for your reply
as for #3, is there another way to exit without going to that screen and swipe 1 by 1? because just now as i'm learning about my phone and opening up a bunch of stuff, i go to my multitask screen and have like 10 things i want to swipe and it's kinda annoying to do it 1 by 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I believe someone above said, there is no real reason to "kill" apps, or close them down completely.
My understanding is that apps are kept in a suspended state in the background after you back out of them, or hit the home button. They don't really chew any battery or resources, but by keeping them in the RAM the app opens faster the next time you need it, or remembers what you were doing/where you were within the app.
If the phone needs to free up that space for an active app, or services that you are using, then it will close it fully/remove it from RAM to make space and keep the phone running smoothly.
Again, this is my understanding... and if I'm wrong I'm happy to stand corrected by more knowledgeable users.
As for a previous question about what "must have apps", I am a fan of Light Flow (which you can get in a free version) for customising the notification LED.
unknown00 said:
thank you for your reply
as for #3, is there another way to exit without going to that screen and swipe 1 by 1? because just now as i'm learning about my phone and opening up a bunch of stuff, i go to my multitask screen and have like 10 things i want to swipe and it's kinda annoying to do it 1 by 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're looking at Android from an iOS users perspective. Don't even worry about closing apps. Android is set up to know when to end processes/close apps. Even if you do completely close an app it'll just take longer to start that app when you need it again. Let the OS handle that stuff.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
king23adrianc said:
if ur that new to android... i dont think u should start flashing roms right now!!
read more, do more research cuz i dont want u to start another thread by telling us u brick ur phone.. wont start up.. those kinda things
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely listen to this advice. You can wind up with a 500$ paper weight
Sent from my i9250 (GSM) Galaxy Nexus.
[email protected]
i don't think i'll flash to custom rom until 4.0.5 so i'll have enough time to play with it. more questions
1. speaking of roms, i see 4.0.4 is coming out. i go to settings and try to update but it says non available? is there a quick seamless way to upgrade? also, if i upgrade to stock 4.0.4 will i lose all apps?
2. how do i get notifications to appear on the lock screen? i hate how the lockscreen just has the time and doesn't show anything else (except that tiny thin taskbar line on top)
3. i want to be able to delete/mark as read/etc emails without actually going into a native app? for example, from that taskbar notification dropdown or preferably from the lockscreen, is there a way to delete an email?
4. when i get a notification or any kind, all i get is a ring and vibrate. i want the screen to turn on and have the notification show (kinda like #2, a popup on lockscreen of what the notification is)
unknown00 said:
i don't think i'll flash to custom rom until 4.0.5 so i'll have enough time to play with it. more questions
1. speaking of roms, i see 4.0.4 is coming out. i go to settings and try to update but it says non available? is there a quick seamless way to upgrade? also, if i upgrade to stock 4.0.4 will i lose all apps?
2. how do i get notifications to appear on the lock screen? i hate how the lockscreen just has the time and doesn't show anything else (except that tiny thin taskbar line on top)
3. i want to be able to delete/mark as read/etc emails without actually going into a native app? for example, from that taskbar notification dropdown or preferably from the lockscreen, is there a way to delete an email?
4. when i get a notification or any kind, all i get is a ring and vibrate. i want the screen to turn on and have the notification show (kinda like #2, a popup on lockscreen of what the notification is)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It appears that you want your android phone to be an iPhone. That is something that it will never be. They are two completely different eco systems and are capable of completely different things.
1. Updates are not available for every phone at the same time. Google/Android/Carriers do have an annoying habit of releasing updates to certain phones in certain area's/countries at different times. You will eventually get the notification that an update is ready. Just be patient. With Android, you need to be patient.
2. Personally, i am not sure there is a fluid way to make this happen, however i am sure someone can correct me. There lock screen replacement apps like WidgetLocker but i dont know if they enable large notifications.
3. again, as far as i am aware, there is no way to mark as read or delete an email without actually going into the native application. When the notification comes through you can dismiss it by swiping left or right (like you do in the multi-tasking section) but you will still have to enter the native app to delete or reply.
4. Try SMS pop up, but again, this is not and iPhone...
I saw earlier you asked about Rooting etc... TREAD CAREFULLY. This can be dangerous if you dont understand the terminology and as you have been in such a closed system that is iOS, learn more about Android before going down this road. When you are ready I would keep an eye on the following sites...
i) Androidpolice.com
ii) galaxynexusroot.com (great tutorials and videos)
iii) galaxynexusforum.com (only about the gnex)
Hope this helps
---------- Post added at 05:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:55 PM ----------
I also just found this thread which will give you all the information you need if you are new to the joys of modding.
Thanks to Dakota0206 for putting this great post together
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1442184
another quick question - everyone talks about oh if you root if you flash and mess up you will get in trouble etc etc, can't you just "reflash" to stock if you screw something up?
unknown00 said:
another quick question - everyone talks about oh if you root if you flash and mess up you will get in trouble etc etc, can't you just "reflash" to stock if you screw something up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, if you brick your phone it won't even boot. How would you "re flash" if you can't get into recovery. You're really trying to run before crawling. Slow it down, read & research you'll be happier at the end of the day.
Sent from my i9250 (GSM) Galaxy Nexus.
[email protected]
unknown00 said:
first android phone coming from ios for the last many years
1. sms- how do i get notifications? i don't want that little icon on the top taskbar, i want a popup like the iphone so i will immediately know. i don't even get a notification in the lockscreen which i want. also quick reply somehow? same as missed calls, i want a big notification popup
2. contact/sms page- how do i get rid of the picture profile squares? it makes each line so "thick" and takes up too much room
3. quick way to put it to silent/vibrate only mode like iphone?
4. how do you actually exit an app? it seems like when i press any of the softkeys on the bottom (home or back) it just minimizes it and still has it running in the background
5. if i reflash rom, will i lose all my apps and settings? which rom do you suggest?
6. what are the advantages of giving me root access? examples or what i can do?
7. one big feature of iphone ios 5 is group sms, can android group sms with iphone users?
8. must have apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install handcent and use it, it has a pop up notification anywhere when you get a text. And it has better options too, and has identical iPhone theme and look. Disable the stock SMS app in its settings.
Use volume down to quickly turn on silent. Better option is to use a dedicated widget from the market. A custom rom has better options though enabled just by holding the power button.
To exit apps you leave it with back button. This let's the os claim that process for free ram. Home button backgrounds an app to multitask. So always leave an app with back button when you're done.
unknown00 said:
i don't think i'll flash to custom rom until 4.0.5 so i'll have enough time to play with it. more questions
1. speaking of roms, i see 4.0.4 is coming out. i go to settings and try to update but it says non available? is there a quick seamless way to upgrade? also, if i upgrade to stock 4.0.4 will i lose all apps?
2. how do i get notifications to appear on the lock screen? i hate how the lockscreen just has the time and doesn't show anything else (except that tiny thin taskbar line on top)
3. i want to be able to delete/mark as read/etc emails without actually going into a native app? for example, from that taskbar notification dropdown or preferably from the lockscreen, is there a way to delete an email?
4. when i get a notification or any kind, all i get is a ring and vibrate. i want the screen to turn on and have the notification show (kinda like #2, a popup on lockscreen of what the notification is)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. In the lock screen, you can swipe down the notification bar to see the notifications you have.
3. I don't think there is any way to do that. I think it's a security measure on Google's part so other apps can't "hijack" your email management.
4. Not a direct solution but I would recommend getting the app Light Flow. This lets you customise the LED to light up different colours depending on which type of notification you have. You don't even need to turn the screen on in that case.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
unknown00 said:
another quick question - everyone talks about oh if you root if you flash and mess up you will get in trouble etc etc, can't you just "reflash" to stock if you screw something up?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always go back to stock. Its very difficult to permanently brick a nexus. Its pretty safe as long as you follow directions.
Edit: and for notifications this phone has a colored led light. You can set each notification to different color. Green I have new Google voice, blue I have new text, white is new Gmail, etc.
Ruxin said:
As I believe someone above said, there is no real reason to "kill" apps, or close them down completely.
My understanding is that apps are kept in a suspended state in the background after you back out of them, or hit the home button. They don't really chew any battery or resources, but by keeping them in the RAM the app opens faster the next time you need it, or remembers what you were doing/where you were within the app.
If the phone needs to free up that space for an active app, or services that you are using, then it will close it fully/remove it from RAM to make space and keep the phone running smoothly.
Again, this is my understanding... and if I'm wrong I'm happy to stand corrected by more knowledgeable users.
As for a previous question about what "must have apps", I am a fan of Light Flow (which you can get in a free version) for customising the notification LED.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're pretty much spot on with that. Unused RAM is wasted RAM. The Galaxy Nexus has a whopping gig a RAM, so the next time you'll need to physically close apps will probably be 2 or 3 years from now. Plus, Android's memory management is much better than iOS'.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
Also, for multitasking, just install system panel. Any app you see labeled "cached" is frozen and ready to be opened should you go back to that app. Cached apps are doing nothing, so you don't have to kill them. Just leave them be. You really don't have to kill anything ever. I never do and things work great.
As a long time Android user, I (like most others) had a bit of a hard time getting used to using the Fire Phone's FireOS. Having used the OS for a couple of weeks now, it's not quite so bad once you get used to a few things and learn a few new tricks. Just wanted to start a thread for collecting these types of things that will help others making the transition to FireOS. I'm purposely omitting the fact that google play store can be side loaded whenever possible (sideloading the play store is something I highly recommend everyone with this phone do) so that I can focus on tips and tricks that actually relate to transitioning to FireOS.
Side panels Most everyone at this point is probably aware of the extra info panels that can be accessed by swiping in from the left or right edge of the screen. I have mixed feelings on this myself, as it's used well in some apps (like swiping from the right edge while typing a text message to add pictures), and not very well in other apps (and yet not at all in some apps). Additionally, it's not always obvious if an app does support this feature, or if a certain app will put these options in either the left panel, right panel, or both.
Back Button There is no back button on the Fire Phone. This was a cause of confusion at first. The back button has been replaced with a "swipe up" from the bottom of the screen to go back. This can be a bit finicky at times, but I've found that if I start a short swipe up from the top edge of the home button, it works nearly every time. Additionally, some apps seem to treat this a little differently, as from time to time I will see "back" and "menu" soft-buttons appear at the bottom of the screen when this gesture is used.
Screen Shots You can take a picture of whatever is on the screen by pressing the power and volume down buttons at the same time
App Switcher This is usually accessed on a NORMAL Android phone by long holding the home button. In FireOS, the same is accomplished by double-tapping the home button (the long hold in FireOS brings up voice search). This is the fastest way to switch between apps and gets you around having to navigate the carousel. Also, while in the app switcher, you can swipe individual apps up to kill the process AND remove them from the carousel. I like the Fire Phones implementation here much better than stock Androids. You can double-press the button very fast and this is much less disruptive to workflow while multitasking than pausing for a long press. I think Amazon implemented the switcher and action of the home button beautifully.
Home Button I initially found the behavior of the home button weird. On first press (from a running app), it will take you to the carousel. Additional presses from this point will cycle between the Carousel and the app tray.
App Tray Aside from subsequent presses of the home button, the app tray can be slid up by touching and dragging the bottom row of quick launch icons upward while in the carousel. Likewise, you can continually drag the app tray downward to eventually reach the carousel at the top. It will seem more logical if you picture in your mind that the Carousel sits at the top of the app tray.
Another App Tray annoyance is the lack of alphabetical sorting of apps. While I've found no way to do this automatically, apps can be dragged and dropped in the app tray in any order you like. Apps can either be dragged on top of eachother to create collections (folders), or dragged in between other apps for changing the sorting order. A bit of a pain initially, but pretty easy to keep up with once you get your current collection sorted initially.
Lastly, to get the most from your 4 quick launch icon slots - you can use collections (folders) there as well! This is a feature I'm really using a lot lately to make navigating and the lack of a normal launcher much easier! For example, currently I have the following 4 quick launch collections: "Communication","News","Organize" and "Media". Within the "Communication" collection, I have Phone, Contacts, Messaging, Email, Facebook, Messenger, and Snap Chat. Within the "News" collection, I have Yahoo, Silk Browser and Weather. Within "Oganize" I have Notes, Calendar, and Our Groceries. Within Media I havePhotos, Music, Prime Music, Instant Video, Plex and Netflix. Since using collections in the quick launch area, I find that I rarely ever use the app tray, as my most frequently used apps are right there, easily accessible from the Carousel.
Facebook Mesenger If you're used to using the floating chat heads, and missing them in FireOS, here is a tip. Go to messenger, and enter the settings. Navigate to "Chat heads", ensure the switch is set to "On" and that the "Hide when using apps that take up the full screen" checkbox is NOT checked. For some reason the FireOS launcher/carousel is treated like a full-screen app.
Music Fire phone comes with a "Music" app. But don't confuse this with Amazon's own "Prime Music" app - they are actually two different apps! For those that use the prime music service, do yourself a favor by installing "Prime Music" right from the Amazon App Store. Why this isn't on the phone by default is beyond me!
Cellular usage data As most of us have to keep tabs on our data usage, I find this to be a nice built-in feature (though not the easiest to find). You can set your monthly limit and view current usage under "Settings->Wi-Fi & Networks->See your cellular data usage"
Carousel I'm not a huge fan of the carousel, though I'm finally starting to adapt to it.
EDIT: I'm starting to become a huge fan of the carousel. It has forced me to become organized, and the ability to do simple actions (delete emails for example) without opening an app is just awesome once you get used to it.
There is one cool feature, and that's "pin to front". You can make any number of apps appear at the beginning of the carousel by long-pressing and selecting "pin to front". This has limited utility, as this is only efficient for pinning a few frequently used apps to the front of the list, but still useful once you start using it.
Also, the dragging and dropping apps from the app tray works to replace the default quick launch apps that appear at the bottom of the carousel.
For non-app items (books, music, etc) that appear in the carousel, long-pressing will reveal an addition option of "Pin to app grid", which will pin the book/music/whatever into the app grid for easy access just as if it were an app.
For Pinned items, you can reorder them kind of crudely with a long press and using the "Move to front" option
Status Bar By default, the status bar auto-hides. You set it to always be visible in Settings->Display
Lock Screen This actually has a very little-knows and very cool feature called a "Locket". This allows you to add a number of photos that can easily be accessed from the lock screen. The utility of this isn't immediately obvious, so consider this scenario:
You bump into an old friend in the mall and they ask how your family is doing. Instead of pulling out your phone, getting to the app tray, pulling up the "Photos" app and searching for pictures to show - you can use the locket feature to do this much more efficiently.
To setup and/or access the photo locket feature, from the lock screen, simply swipe from right to left (instead of swiping up to unlock). This enters the photo locket, where you can add more photos, or swipe left and right to view the collection of photos in your locket. It's actually a really neat feature and has some real utility (I can't count how many times I've had to fumble through navigating through my entire photo collection to show pictures of my kids to someone I haven't seen in a while. This really makes it easy)
Silk Browser Another thing I'm not very keen on - though if you plan on using stock FireOS, learning to properly use the app will help.
EDIT: Ok, the browser is growing on me now.
It can be a bit confusing since there is a menu button in the upper-right hand corner, a different menu in the left panel (accessed by swiping in from the left edge of the screen), and other options such as tab switching that are only visible at the bottom of the screen only at certain times. I'll try to detail some of the common functions here:
Bookmarking pages Bring up the page you want to bookmark, then use the menu button in the upper-right hand corner to add the bookmark
Desktop View Use the menu button in the upper right-hand corner and navigate to "Request another view", which will allow you to select the desktop view
Clearing browsing history Access the menu in the left panel, and go to settings, then "Your Data" -> "Clear Browser Data". From here you can clear just history, or anything else such as cookies, etc. You can also clear sites from the history list one at a time by using the left panel menu->History and long pressing the entries you wish to delete.
Tab Management This took me quite some time to figure out. Sometimes I would notice the tab switcher at the bottom of the browser, other times I wouldn't. To make these tab controls visible again, simply start scrolling the current web page back towards the top of the page and the tab controls will appear.
Private Browsing Mode This keeps websites from saving to your history, saving cookies, etc. Like other options, it's not easy to find in the Silk browser. To go into private browsing mode, use the Tab Management above to enter the list of tabs. On this screen you will find the option for private browsing.
Offline Reading One interesting feature that is useful (but poorly implemented) is "Reading Lists", which stories/web pages for offline reading. It's confusing, because you use one menu system to save to the reading list, and yet another menu to access the saved items. To save a page for later viewing, use the menu button in the upper right-hand corner and choose "Save to Reading List". To access the actual reading list to either read, or remove items, use the left panel menu->"Reading List"
Default Search Engine The search engine can be changed from the default (Bing) to either Google or Yahoo by going to the left panel->Settings->Search Engine
Cloud Photos Prime members get unlimited storage for backing up photos. Unfortunately, it's poorly implemented in FireOS and ONLY allows for automatic uploading of ALL new photos at this time. But what if you want to be able to specifically select only the photos you want stored on the cloud? Unfortunately in stock FireOS this isn't yet possible. However, if you have installed the Google Play Store or are familiar with side loading, look for the "Amazon Cloud Drive Photos" app - which oddly enough is published by Amazon for general Android devices, but not available to their own Fire Phone via their own App Store. At any rate, this is how to get around the limitation of the default implementation.
I'd love to hear tips from others and continue learning to use FireOS more efficiently. The tips I outlined above have made this a very usable OS for me, even though I flat out hated it at first. I'll try to keep up adding tips and tricks from others to this master list.
Edited the first post a bit. FireOS is really starting to grow on me and I'm actually more productive now on my Fire Phone than I was on my Galaxy Note II. Amazon still has some work to do on FireOS - but once you get the hang of it its a nice efficient OS
Found another tip. I'll add it here and to the original post:
For non-app items (books, music, etc) that appear in the carousel, long-pressing will reveal an addition option of "Pin to app grid", which will pin the book/music/whatever into the app grid for easy access just as if it were an app.
Thanks. Your tips made a real night and day difference between using Fire phone.
jondecker76 said:
Found another tip. I'll add it here and to the original post:
For non-app items (books, music, etc) that appear in the carousel, long-pressing will reveal an addition option of "Pin to app grid", which will pin the book/music/whatever into the app grid for easy access just as if it were an app.
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Click to collapse
Thanks JonDecker. Your tips made a difference of actually liking and using Fire phone. Couldn't find such information anywhere else.
Not a problem
After being with the phone for quite some time now, I actually cringe when I have to use my wife's LG G2 for anything. Once you learn a how to use FireOS , it's really pretty good!
Good stuff!!! I personally think that the interface is not that bad... and it is very smooth and quick... i like the phone. No tricks from me at the moment but i will share if i found any ?
Sent from my SD4930UR using XDA Free mobile app
If you have NFC turned on and tap it against your PC (with NFC as well) you can share the whats currently on your phones screen. I found this by accident. The screen shot pop's up in your pc's browser.
Increasing Battery Life
I have found that disabling Dynamic Perspective increases the duration of my phone charge significantly. This can be done by going to Settings (swipe from top) > Display > Configure low motion settings > Dynamic Perspecitve.
I'm glad to see a thread dedicated to this. I'd like to share a review I wrote on this phone a while ago as I feel it adds to the already terrific thread topic.
Below, in no particular order, is a list of things I hated out of the box. Following will be my feelings, along with tips & tricks, on the same items.
1. The Home Screen - I didn't like how the apps were randomly scattered on the home screen. It was difficult for me find what I was looking for.
2. No Google Play Store - I understand the logic behind this from a business prospective. However, from a consumer prospective, there are apps I use on a daily basis that were not available in the Amazon App Store. As bad as this sounds, it means I'd have to change my life style to accommodate this device. One thing that kind of floored me on this is that Google doesn't block the Amazon App store on their OS.
3. The grid - It scrolls up and down, where I've been used to scrolling left to right. Also, there is no way to easily sort the applications by alphabetical order. It simply displays them as they are installed.
4. The lack of soft keys - I've been accustomed to soft keys to open the menu, go home, view recently used apps, and to go back.
5. Notifications - The notification bar doesn't keep a log of icons of notifications. For example, if I get a KIK message it drops down, previews it, and vanished. Unless I open up the notification panel there is nothing to remind you of this. This bothers me as I often don't review them straight away and forget it even happened.
6. Keyboard - There is absolutely no way to install another keyboard. I've been a long time user of Swift Key and I keep find myself hitting the period instead of the space bar.
Due to the above I decided to try to make the phone a bit more what I'm used to. This was easy as I simply had to side load a few apps. This mainly included the apps that were not in the Amazon App Store along with a launcher to replace the Amazon Home screen. After installing several launchers I found one that I was happy with as it permitted me to use custom Widgets. I used it this way for a week or so and was happy to have my old Style back.
Now that I didn't feel held back, or limited by the device, I wanted to give it a go on how it was intended to be used. I changed my default home launcher to the Fire OS launcher. After using it a bit, and exploring it, it's my default launcher with no plans of going back to the standard Android Launcher! Below are the same 6 items listed above, but including how I feel about them now. It will also include what I consider to be tips & tricks, things I wish I knew out of the box.
1. The Home Screen - The use of Dynamic Perspective to access menus is amazing! The apps that are created for this OS have beautiful home screen widgets that I'm not sure I could go with out now. I love the fact I can read SMS messages on the home screen, emails on the home screen, a flip of the wrist shows me the current weather, my upcoming appointment and reminders, and much more. Although there is no easy way to change the apps listed, you can pin apps to the front. So simply pin the app that you want listed last first, and the first app last. This will put them in the order that you'd like.
2. No Google Play Store - As others have mentioned, installing the Google Play Store is very simply on this device. There is no downgrading required. Simply side load a few APK files. I won't go into detail on this as it can be found in a lot of other places.
3. The grid - I don't mind scrolling up and down now. It's second nature now. However, you still can not sort the apps. You must go through the tedious process of moving them one at a time by clicking and dragging it. I did this so they are sorted alphabetically. If I install a new app I now simply drag it where I feel it should be.
4. The lack of soft keys - I'm so used to swiping up now it's odd to use a traditional Android phone's back button! The physical home button works fine, especiall8y now that I discovered the "Quick Switch" menu by double pressing the home key.
5. Notifications - I've toggled all the options regarding notifications in the settings. My original complaint still exists. This was a HUGE set back for me with this device. Luckily, with a lot of trial and error, I found an app that works well for me. It's call NotifierPro Free. I configured it so a bar drops down and stays under the status bar. I also configured it so these notifications remain until I swipe them away. This has been a HUGE help in allowing me to adapt to this device.
6. Keyboard - There is still no way to change the default keyboard, even after side loading one. Amazon told me they made an update to their Kindles which allows the use of changing keyboard applications, so there will be an update that allows the Fire Phone to do the same.
Tips & Tricks / Q & A
1. Switching between running apps quickly.
- To do this simply press the home button twice quickly. You will be presented with a menu called "Quick Switch" where your most recently used apps can be found.
2. How do I quit apps that I'm not using at the moment to extend battery life and free resources?
- If you double click the home button to access the "Quick Switch" menu you can swipe up which will close the app, remove it from the quick switch menu, along with removing it from the cluttered home carousel.
3. Can I group applications together?
- Yes you can! Inside the home menu click and drag an application over another. It will ask you to give the new collection a name and they are then in a group. This is a great way to keep things together and sorted. You can also drag these "collections" into the home screen dock.
4. Any tips for the Camera?
- Yes! I've read about this "best shot" feature, but it didn't seem to do anything for me once I enable it. However, which viewing the photos you already have taken you will have a "best shot" option you can click on. This will show you the 3 photos the camera took, allowing you to select the one that you like the best.
- Burst Feature - The Amazon pages states you can click and hold the camera button to take a burst of photos. This doesn't work for me as it opens up Fire Fly. However, if you press and hold the soft key this feature works.
5. Amazon App Store or Google Play Store?
- I suggest you use the App from the Amazon App Store if available. Some of these apps are created specifically for the Fire Phone and give home screen widgets that the standard app does not support. For example, if you install KIK from the Amazon App Store it allows you to read messages on your home screen, where if you install it from the Play Store it does not.
6. Is the battery really as bad as people say?
- Maybe originally prior to the newest update. The newest update bring out amazing battery life, compared to my old phone at least. I can easily get through an entire day on a single charge. This is under moderate use such as messaging, emailing, browsing eBay, the web, and normal app use. I do not use the device to watch movies or television shows.
As I continue finding things about this phone that I feel are worth mentioning, I'll be sure to update this review. Outside of that, if you have bought this device but initially installed the Google Home Launcher, I strongly suggest you open your mind and give the Amazon Home Launcher a shot. It's truly amazing.
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
ractar28 said:
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
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I'm not sure if it's against any site rules, so I'll PM you.
---------- Post added at 05:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:40 AM ----------
ractar28 said:
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
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My apologies, and thanks for pointing this out. I had the app name wrong. It's actually NotifierPro Free!
Look at alternative markets or use a website to remotely download apks from the google appstore.
I have 1mobile market installed on my phone and it has it and it works.
Btw. Go Launcher Ex + Go Notifier works for notification badges (unread count at the app icon) and all widgets (you have to pull them onto the screen after every restart though) but has not wallpapers.
I use it, since I disliked the huge bar that Notifier used.
Now it almost feels like normal Android, I just wish I could deactivate the standard lockscreen... I already tried a lot of stuff via ADB, but I guess it needs root for it.
Since I do not want to root my phone as long as there is not notification bar like in stock android, I am fine now.
ractar28 said:
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
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Click to collapse
I like having found this thread, I had my fire phone for about a month now and I still can't get used to not having the back and menu soft buttons. Otherwise I do like the phone quite a bit and that is having to use it along with my Galaxy Note 3 work phone.
Hello, I like TouchWiz but I want to have some changes. I tried Zero Launcher and kind of like it. The only issue I have is that it does not switch between portrait and landscape modes. Anybody knows how to do it? I have turning on and switching works under apps such as those for pdf viewing. However, on home screen, I cannot get the orientation turning works.
Anybody knows how to set the theme to IOS-like?
Some launchers make it an option to hold portrait or rotate when in the launcher, did you check for that option in your launcher settings?
krabman said:
Some launchers make it an option to hold portrait or rotate when in the launcher, did you check for that option in your launcher settings?
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Yes.
petercohen said:
Yes.
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'Yes'...and then what? Now I'm curious too! What did you find on Zero?
I haven't downloaded a single launcher for my Note Pro yet and one of the reasons for that is that as a beginner with those apps, I need better explanations than I see at the app store and the developers' websites offer no additional help. Most of them don't even bother to answer an e-mail. That said, I am grateful to you all here for having taught me so many of the right questions to ask; that's another thing that beginners seldom know.
I hope you'll come back soon and tell us what you found. I almost never use 'portrait' view on my tablet, won't download apps for it that insist on using it and can see no use for a launcher that would give me trouble getting out of it. I'm still shopping for the right launcher and I come to every thread here that mentions one.
Thanks again for a very good question.
The only way you're going to find a Launcher you like is to install them and try them. If you don't like it, uninstall it and you're right back where you started. Installing a launcher isn't going to mess anything up, so just try some. Try all of them. You might like more than one, decide to keep changing them, and you'll never get tired of your tablet.
Rolldog said:
The only way you're going to find a Launcher you like is to install them and try them. If you don't like it, uninstall it and you're right back where you started. Installing a launcher isn't going to mess anything up, so just try some. Try all of them. You might like more than one, decide to keep changing them, and you'll never get tired of your tablet.
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Well that's reassuring! In fact I was wondering if I would 'mess anything up' if I did that. The Note Pro is not only my first big tablet: it is my first tablet ever. Unless we also call my Galaxy Note 4 phone a tablet as it does function as one and still I got that not long before the Note Pro. I've lived out in the boonies for over 30 years and got used to the bare minimum in 'under-served' parts of the country. I didn't get greedy till last year and Verizon helped me to upgrade my old flip phone and join the 21st century. I've about worn out my laptop and needed to diversify and of course I'm still having to learn a completely different kind of OS and hardware to do that so I can treat my new friends well. That's taking me a while, as you can tell, but it's not for lack of effort.
Is there some app in the playstore that makes switching back and forth between launchers a little more......streamlined? Should I keep my TouchWiz default whilst I'm doing all the experimenting until I find one I want to keep for a while? I got the cautious mindset from older PC's and hangups or blue screens when I tried to run something too big, and too new, for my hardware, especially, in my experience, when it came to graphics so I really have been afraid of getting into trouble. If I tried switching my whole GUI a half dozen times in one night on a Vista laptop, I'd be reinstalling the whole system by morning, lol.
And then there is OP's question: I admit I rather thought that any developers regularly updating their launchers would be adding the 'rotating' flexibility by default, particularly as large-screen tablets have come out. A lot of apps I've tried (and later dumped) haven't caught up with that, of course, but I didn't think a popular launcher, the principle function of which is the display, would be among them. Now I know what to call it, thanks to OP, I'll look for it on the list of 'features' in the playstore.
There's probably launcher managers out there, I recall using one once a few years back but since it's easy enough to dive into Settings-General-Default Applications-Home and change it I prefer not to load yet another application that has the potential to stay cached/memory resident just for that purpose.
Trying out different launchers won't impact the device much, when you switch back to stock Touchwiz based launcher all of your widgets and icon layouts will be there waiting for you. My advice is to just do one launcher at a time, if you don't like it uninstall it rather than collecting several and switching between them . . the more you load the system down the more risk you have should a launcher you decide to not use has services associated with it that still run or cache themselves in the background taking up resources.
As for screen rotation, the rotation of home screens between portrait and landscape is not my cup of tea. Widgets scale when you rotate to try to adjust for the new aspect ratio that rotation forces upon them and this results in stretch/compression that is unappealing to me. What I use is a rotation manager like Ultimate Rotation Control to force "auto landscape" mode such that my tablet can be used in either landscape orientation (home button up or down) while preserving the ability of all other apps to have the freedom to go portrait or landscape.
muzzy996 said:
There's probably launcher managers out there, I recall using one once a few years back but since it's easy enough to dive into Settings-General-Default Applications-Home and change it I prefer not to load yet another application that has the potential to stay cached/memory resident just for that purpose.
Trying out different launchers won't impact the device much, when you switch back to stock Touchwiz based launcher all of your widgets and icon layouts will be there waiting for you. My advice is to just do one launcher at a time, if you don't like it uninstall it rather than collecting several and switching between them . . the more you load the system down the more risk you have should a launcher you decide to not use has services associated with it that still run or cache themselves in the background taking up resources.
As for screen rotation, the rotation of home screens between portrait and landscape is not my cup of tea. Widgets scale when you rotate to try to adjust for the new aspect ratio that rotation forces upon them and this results in stretch/compression that is unappealing to me. What I use is a rotation manager like Ultimate Rotation Control to force "auto landscape" mode such that my tablet can be used in either landscape orientation (home button up or down) while preserving the ability of all other apps to have the freedom to go portrait or landscape.
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OK. I got Nova today and I'll work with it a while before I think of trying another. I might put another one on my phone so I can learn how to use two of them at once. Now I have a couple of 'dumb questions:'
Do you mean locking just the Home screen so when you hit that button it takes you right back to landscape without you having to physically turn the tablet into position and slant it forward in a quick dip (at least I have to do) to make it go back to landscape? Some apps I've downloaded not only insist on going to portrait mode, they hang up my orientation for a few seconds after I've hit that Home button so then I always have to pick the tablet up and do that dip towards me to make it cooperate.
The few that were especially bad about this, I dumped. Clean Master pulled that on me with its battery checker whenever the screen was idle for a while and I got tired of hitting the back button to get my home page back. - especially since I can't see where it is at night and don't always hit it right.
I don't use a lot of lights at night and I know that's the main problem. It's too many years of working by lantern light at night and saving my solar power for the computer and even though I've moved and have grid electricity the last few years now, I'm still way out in the sticks, no 'light pollution,' and can't change the habit of letting it go ahead and be dark at night. Brightly lit rooms when it's 2 in the morning just feel weird and always remind me of my wild youth when night spots would hit the lights at closing time to shoo everybody out. (it worked too, didn't it?)
Now there's a 'widget' I'd like to find, or an app that follows me around: an alternative to that back button. It illuminates only when I hit it right so I'm constantly tapping around the general area trying to find it. I suppose it would drain my battery a little faster if it were lit up all the time but I really do need a way to solve this, since I'm not going to cure myself of all-nighters with my beloved machines. I've been looking at some likely little apps for that today, made for those whose buttons are worn out or not working, but I haven't found one yet that's been updated in the last year. Have you any recommendations? This is just for my tablet. My Note 4 is small enough so it's harder to get it wrong - and I got the white model and a lurid fuschia otter box case so I'm bound to see it easily.
Next dumb question: is there a way to access the Settings faster than apps button and scrolling through the apps in order to get to it? That's as good as saying I've downloaded too many apps if it takes me that long and I fear that's the case. Maybe a launcher will allow me to put a link to it on the Home screen? As you've said, it's a more economical use of resources to go to Settings and do my own errands instead of installing yet another app; I just wish getting there didn't take me so long. TouchWiz isn't going to let me put that icon among the A's.
Samsung (at least according to them when I asked them) won't let me put more than one language on my GUI - well if it's the same alphabet and I give up accents and tone marks, I can be creative in naming my app folders but that's all. They said I had to change the whole interface if I tried to enable another language. (They also offer Thai but discriminate against Lao so I had to go download a whole different application for that keyboard! I had to do the same just to enable one Welsh circumflex. Ridiculous. ) I can't even think in just one language! My dogs and cats are fluent by now in at least 5 of them. Are launchers a bit more open-minded? I understand I can run individual applications in as many languages as they offer, for they are 'self-contained' but sometimes, I like to change names, menus, options or widgets to different things just to keep my mental edge. I can't even display documents I've imported to the tablet that are in languages not available on my Samsung list. I have the Hancom Office and that has the fonts for them but they won't display and I sure can't edit them in those languages. Is there some simple way to manage this dilemma that I'm missing?
Best to not take this thread off topic . . suggest you ask the other questions in a separate thread that you create in the troubleshooting or general forum.
I will say this - the ultimate rotation control application does allow you to force ANY application into an orientation of your chosing which includes the launcher. So yes, if I'm in an app that's portrait and I'm holding the tablet in that portrait orientation when I hit the HOME button my tablet goes into landscape due to the rotation control app overriding the orientation sensors in the tablet.
muzzy996 said:
Best to not take this thread off topic . . suggest you ask the other questions in a separate thread that you create in the troubleshooting or general forum.
I will say this - the ultimate rotation control application does allow you to force ANY application into an orientation of your chosing which includes the launcher. So yes, if I'm in an app that's portrait and I'm holding the tablet in that portrait orientation when I hit the HOME button my tablet goes into landscape due to the rotation control app overriding the orientation sensors in the tablet.
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Good. Thanks. I found that app just now. I will post a thread about the language mix-ups. I just joined here yesterday and don't know my way around yet, but the first thing I noticed is that your membership here covers the globe and I can't possibly be the only one here who's run into this problem.
I have another rotation-related question and it's probably a dumb one too but it occurred to me because my Note 4 and my Note Pro had different rotation issues and I chose different ways of fixing them. For the tablet, I installed Ultimate Rotate Controller because I only wanted to lock my Home sceen in landscape. On the other hand, I didn't want my phone to spontaneously switch to landscape when I was holding it, as it often did, especially if I got a call because the landscape view made those 'accept' and 'reject' buttons harder to see and harder to hit right. So, I went into Settings, Display and unchecked the box for screen rotation to stop that. It worked. So my question is:
Is this kind of thing actually set by the device 'Settings' and not by the Touchwiz launcher? If you've set your device to disallow screen rotation, wouldn't that hold no matter what launcher you used? Or not?
pawpowered said:
I have another rotation-related question and it's probably a dumb one too but it occurred to me because my Note 4 and my Note Pro had different rotation issues and I chose different ways of fixing them. For the tablet, I installed Ultimate Rotate Controller because I only wanted to lock my Home sceen in landscape. On the other hand, I didn't want my phone to spontaneously switch to landscape when I was holding it, as it often did, especially if I got a call because the landscape view made those 'accept' and 'reject' buttons harder to see and harder to hit right. So, I went into Settings, Display and unchecked the box for screen rotation to stop that. It worked. So my question is:
Is this kind of thing actually set by the device 'Settings' and not by the Touchwiz launcher? If you've set your device to disallow screen rotation, wouldn't that hold no matter what launcher you used? Or not?
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Using system settings or the quick settings toggle for rotation in the notification tray is a system wide lock of rotation. If your goal is to lock a launcher to a specific rotation then look within the settings of the launcher itself. Some launchers will have a setting to lock orientation, nova does for example. Doing it within the launchers own settings only affects home screen and application tray, not other screens like the call or dialer screen.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
muzzy996 said:
Using system settings or the quick settings toggle for rotation in the notification tray is a system wide lock of rotation. If your goal is to lock a launcher to a specific rotation then look within the settings of the launcher itself. Some launchers will have a setting to lock orientation, nova does for example. Doing it within the launchers own settings only affects home screen and application tray, not other screens like the call or dialer screen.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
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Thanks for clarifying that! Going to system settings looked like the only option to try, long before I started thinking of launchers - or even thinking of Touchwiz as a separate entity. (the Note 4 was my first Android phone too ) It seemed worth the trouble to go back and allow that rotation again at my leisure, when I wasn't doing something risky like driving down the road. Mother always happens to call me when I'm driving back from town on dark mountain roads, so that was about the first thing I learned to do on my phone. Verizon has recently informed me that I can now make and receive calls on my tablet, which brings me to a question only peripherally related, pun intended:
Would you direct me to a thread here, if you happen to know of one, discussing appropriate headsets, something more up to date, for my phone and tablet? I don't know what to call them or the names of the best brands. I only have a 6-year-old little ear piece that I got for my old flip phone and almost never used and it may not be up to the job for these newer devices.
I saw some games to play with your cats on the playstore last night that you use your phone to control - and then your cats get to jump all over your tablet. If you can do that much, could you also affect the screen orientation of your tablet with your phone?
OP, have you tried this launcher: Live Launcher? I saw it on SlideME tonight and it has the 3D effects. It's free.
http://slideme.org/application/live-launcher