Just wondering for those of you who have the device already, have you guys found some neat features/tricks using 4.0 that haven't been documented or heavily advertised?
I would love to make a list of these features for other users to explore...
Lets get this started
List:
Reserved........
I know it's documented,but it was still a surprise to me - you can now finally delete apps straight from the app drawer, by dragging them just as if you were going to place them on the desktop,but then putting them in the recycle bin on the top.
No affiliation with apple. Or siri.
Sent from my samsung gt i9250 which is in the wrong country.
Nobody's talking about the search app. It's way better than the one in Gingerbread. Much easier to find stuff in your phone : music, app, sms, docs, etc. The old one was returning web search suggestion in 90% of the result... useless.
Search in browser let's you edit suggestion if you want to add something to it. But we lost popular web site suggestion
Just read it on Pocketnow but you can make folders in the favourites bar. Apologies if obvious.
When in the stock browser and you change orientation, tap the screen to make it rotate.
gambiting said:
I know it's documented,but it was still a surprise to me - you can now finally delete apps straight from the app drawer, by dragging them just as if you were going to place them on the desktop,but then putting them in the recycle bin on the top.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do that on stock fascinate.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium
mkropf said:
You can do that on stock fascinate.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which runs TouchWiz, so it's not stock Android
Rotate the phone to the right whilst in any stock app (so the speaker grill and front camera are on the right). Notice that the back, home and task switch buttons have moved to the top of the screen so that they stay on the right.
When using an ics app hold down on an icon in the action bar to get a description of what it does
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Not heavily advertised, but it should be:
The quick control in the browser. Almost the same as on honeycomb. Activate it in the labs settings of the browser. Love it!
appelflap said:
Not heavily advertised, but it should be:
The quick control in the browser. Almost the same as on honeycomb. Activate it in the labs settings of the browser. Love it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NICE find! Thanks!
This is known about, however you said undocumented and I haven't a single document for the Nexus/ICS apart from on one which came with the phone,telling me how to fix the battery.
Hold the volume down and power key, and you take a screen capture. Which is very handy on occasions
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
If you tap the volume button which makes the volume bar appear, you can then press the icon to the left of the volume bar and it toggles between ring and vibrate.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
In settings/about phone. Tap repeatedly on the android version number (4.0...) then a little android appears. Keep ur finger on it and it grows into a screen animation.
If u didn't know about this,I guess u r now thinking this is a joke. Or is it?
Need someone to test; try swiping the web pages up/down using 2 fingers
, is it a feature or a glitch?
Stea1thmode said:
Need someone to test; try swiping the web pages up/down using 2 fingers
, is it a feature or a glitch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what's supposed to happen?
You can use the front facing camera to record in 720p hd
NexusDro said:
what's supposed to happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it scrolled page by page. try by flicking with 2 fingers.
Related
Sorry in advance if this is in the wrong section.
I'm looking to buy the Galaxy Nexus but I truly hate the idea of a softkey bar as I feel there is little point to having such a beautiful screen only to remove some of it with a black bar.
Is there a way to remove them while staying on the stock rom? I already bought HoneyBar for Honeycomb on the 10.1/7+ but the dev appears to have given up on removing the softkey bar for ICS. I know that custom roms on the Galaxy Nexus have the option but I would appreciate any word on this. My only option aside from the Galaxy Nexus is...nothing as no other Verizon 4G LTE phone clicked with me.
I don't hate softkeys however. Button Savior is hands down my favorite app.
Without them there'd be no way of closing/opening/changing apps so they're kinda here to stay
EddyOS said:
Without them there'd be no way of closing/opening/changing apps so they're kinda here to stay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course
Half the time I forget they are part of the screen, they are so much better than the crappy Nexus One buttons
EddyOS said:
Without them there'd be no way of closing/opening/changing apps so they're kinda here to stay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true! Button savior can replace the soft keys.
z06mike said:
Not true! Button savior can replace the soft keys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fyi: Also LMT is capable of replacing the soft keys and is working on GSN. Gestures -> action:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Custom roms don't have an option to remove the softkeys.
Thank you for the link being posted so quickly. I really appreciate it.
I'm going to go read the GummyNex thread more thoroughly to understand if its softkey option is what I wanted.
Thank you guys again.
In my opinion the soft keys are not a waste of screen real estate because they are only there when having the entire screen is pointless anyway. They go away when watching YouTube, Netflix, videos, looking at images, etc. So the entire screen gets utilized when it really counts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Accord281 said:
In my opinion the soft keys are not a waste of screen real estate because they are only there when having the entire screen is pointless anyway. They go away when watching YouTube, Netflix, videos, looking at images, etc. So the entire screen gets utilized when it really counts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use ADW and hide my notification bar(swipe down to open) and my dock (swipe up to open). The only thing left on my homescreen to hide are the softkeys. I just want them hidden on my homescreen.
Accord281 said:
In my opinion the soft keys are not a waste of screen real estate because they are only there when having the entire screen is pointless anyway. They go away when watching YouTube, Netflix, videos, looking at images, etc. So the entire screen gets utilized when it really counts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but what about web browsing, remote desktop to name a couple? shame the soft keys stop you from using the whole screen
It'll happen. I don't think the issue here is removing them completely but hiding them on command like in Honeycomb.
It comes in handy for playing games like emulators and such. Certain apps can hide the bar so it is possible to issue that same command on demand.
I wouldn't hold up a purchase over something so trivial. It WILL happen but Google patched the trick in Honeycomb.
I think an auto hide would be cool then use a gesture to restore them or just use gestures as navigation. Could get ugly in certain apps though.
Maybe have a CM9 toggle...
LTE EX Galaxy Nexus - AOSP KANG
Asus Transformer - 3.2.1 OC/UV
Having a button in the notification bar to hide the buttons would be cool. But seriously must devs will update they're apps to utilize this feature as it goes.
Mx video did recently
Sent from my Google phone
For anyone who flashed my modified launcher and is bothered by the fact that voice search can still be activated, here's the stock launcher in flashable zip form.
http://www.mediafire.com/?l89erxebp8n50bt
I apologize for any inconvenience or time wasted.
I've tried setting all focus and clickable attributes to "false" in every xml file that references "search bar", "qsb" and "voice search". Voice search can still be activated when you tap the top right corner of the screen.
Rather than let people install something that doesn't work as I intended it to (and there's another launcher mod on here anyway) I decided to take it down. If I figure it out some time, I'll repost, but I might not have to since FufNuf has the same thing going.
Check out FufNuf's thread for essentially the same launcher mods.
Mods, feel free to delete this post whenever you'd like.
Works great, ty!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Cool I'm glad you like it. When my kid goes to be tonight I'm going to edit the margins. I like having everything fill the screen more. I'll post a few with smaller margins.
Very nice,
*nod of approval*
Removed glowing indicator from single-screen launcher, added three wide launchers.
What is a wide launcher?
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk 2
impulse101 said:
What is a wide launcher?
Sent from my Galaxy Tab 10.1 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See the screenshot. Widgets, the dock, dock icons, dock divider, and app grid fills more of the screen. I didn't know what else to call it. Since it's a launcher, and everything is spread out over a wider area, the most logical short name I could think of at 2AM was "wide launcher".
jmattp said:
Cool I'm glad you like it. When my kid goes to be tonight I'm going to edit the margins. I like having everything fill the screen more. I'll post a few with smaller margins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, margins would be a bit better if smaller.
Also I noticed that the top right corner of the screen glows as you move between home screens and when you press that corner Google voice search comes up. It's as if the search bar is still there, just not visible.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
badenglishihave said:
Awesome, margins would be a bit better if smaller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are stock sized and widened in the OP
Also I noticed that the top right corner of the screen glows as you move between home screens and when you press that corner Google voice search comes up. It's as if the search bar is still there, just not visible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just followed the directions on that tutorial and thought I'd share what I did for myself. That's really weird, and not good. Thanks for telling me. If I can't figure out how to completely disable the search bar, I'll just take this whole thread down.
Update: Actually I think I've got it. Testing now, then I'll take down all the links, fix them all, then reupload them
Hi
I have a weird "lip" that appears on my Note 2's screen sometimes that slides out and shows you more apps you can open.
I'm not sure how this appears - it appears to happen at random. And I have absolutely no idea how to get rid of it unless I restart the phone.
I'm not sure if it is an app that I installed on the phone or it's something that Samsung preloaded on it.
I have attached a screenshot where this "lip" is appearing over the keyboard. It's very irritating as it protrudes over everything you are doing, as shown!
Any help on how to permanently disable this?
Thanks!
That's the multitasking bar and you don't want to permanently disable it in my opinion because it is so damn useful.
You invoke it and dispel it in the same way - long press the back button.
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
foxmeister said:
That's the multitasking bar and you don't want to permanently disable it in my opinion because it is so damn useful.
You invoke it and dispel it in the same way - long press the back button.
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lmao 'invoke' and 'dispel', give them a chance, not everyone on here is from England!
it means turn on and off.
Ah! Holding the back button down!
Such a simple fix haha. Thanks!
Lennyuk said:
it means turn on and off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somehow that just doesn't have the same ring to it......
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Lennyuk said:
lmao 'invoke' and 'dispel', give them a chance, not everyone on here is from England!
it means turn on and off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but he's obviously one classy mofo
Invoke and dispell sounds way better. Kinda like harry potter.
Paganister said:
Hi
I have a weird "lip" that appears on my Note 2's screen sometimes that slides out and shows you more apps you can open.
I'm not sure how this appears - it appears to happen at random. And I have absolutely no idea how to get rid of it unless I restart the phone.
I'm not sure if it is an app that I installed on the phone or it's something that Samsung preloaded on it.
I have attached a screenshot where this "lip" is appearing over the keyboard. It's very irritating as it protrudes over everything you are doing, as shown!
Any help on how to permanently disable this?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the question has been answered but you may not know that if you bring that "lip" up and you hold a app icon you can drag it out and multitask by running two windows. Just a quick fyi.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
pussyliquor said:
I know the question has been answered but you may not know that if you bring that "lip" up and you hold a app icon you can drag it out and multitask by running two windows. Just a quick fyi.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I see! Only seems to work with certain apps at the moment though. I can see its usefulness a little now.
What is the point of clicking Edit on the multitasking list and sticking icons inside the "Drag and drop here" section?
I searched but didn't see anything on this.
There is a blue pull tab thing on the left hand side of my screen. I want it gone, but can't find out how to get rid of it.
Thanks!
There's a ton of threads already on this. ..
To show/hide hold the back key for a couple of seconds
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
Thanks. Guess I didn't know what to call the damn thing to search for it correctly.
bleclair said:
Thanks. Guess I didn't know what to call the damn thing to search for it correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It allows you to access the multi-window feature of the NII, for accessing 2 apps at the same time.
To be fair its not a particularly well advertised feature and with little to no instruction a lot of people won't know what it is for.
But it is for split screen mode.
You can drag apps to the top of bottom part of the screen from that bar to run two apps side by side.
... of apps ignoring the menu key.
I've always preferred the menu - home - back layout Samsung has stuck with. It just feels more natural to me... Now though I'm starting to think the new Android design guidelines are going to pose a big usability problem.
Especially on big phones like the GS3, having to reach to the top of the phone to get at common options is an annoyance at best. Mint is one of the latest apps to implement the new design guidelines that renders the menu button useless.
I hope the development community can come up with a workaround - if they haven't already. Anyone know of efforts to remap or otherwise keep the menu button useful?
Its not really the dev community that controls the design guidelines.. as you know google updates them with each iteration of Android. The problem here is, starting from the Galaxy Nexus, none of Google's phones have come with a menu button. Google believes this is better (for some reason) and so all the design guidelines are trending towards making the menu button obsolete.
Samsung on the other hand is slowly becoming the only manufacturer to persist with the menu button.
From a development perspective, its easy enough to support devices with/without a menu button, with the same piece of code. I feel the main reason big Android apps are moving to the Holo bar menu button is for uniformity like in iOS (which is what Google wants in the first place)
There are roms that let you easily re-assign the menu button. For example, I have menu bound to recent apps (android standard is back, home, recent apps) with long press recent apps as menu for those few cases where apps still use the menu button.
As much as you may like the menu button it is more than on its way out at this point. Despite what samsung has been building their phones with.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
50% of the reason I like a physical home button is because for me, it's easier to power up the phone...and more natural, less effort etc. I also go into standby by an upward gesture on my homescreen so on/off is very quick and handy.
The other half is that I have more screen real estate.
pngface said:
Its not really the dev community that controls the design guidelines.. as you know google updates them with each iteration of Android. The problem here is, starting from the Galaxy Nexus, none of Google's phones have come with a menu button. Google believes this is better (for some reason) and so all the design guidelines are trending towards making the menu button obsolete.
Samsung on the other hand is slowly becoming the only manufacturer to persist with the menu button.
From a development perspective, its easy enough to support devices with/without a menu button, with the same piece of code. I feel the main reason big Android apps are moving to the Holo bar menu button is for uniformity like in iOS (which is what Google wants in the first place)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uniformity is huge, have you seen that picture with the buttons of around 10 android popular phones in which none of them have the same buttons/order.
Also, as an ex-galaxy nexus user, I must say that on-screen buttons are FAR better than what we have. The only down side is lost screen space in most apps (some stuff does go full screen). But the customizability of the software buttons is SO NICE. you can change the size of the bar, the colour, what buttons are there, what the icons are. The slide for google now is much more intuitive that long pressing menu. XDA devs have even added the ability to add what ever you want to the google now slide up gesture. (including widgets).
The software bar is simply a modder's wet dream
Sure uniformity is cool, but what's more uniform than a menu key that's just there all the time? I don't even have to think about it; I want settings/options, I press the menu key. This has honestly been one of my favorite design elements of Android. I hate that this is being phased out.
Ah well, nothing I can do about it.
themadproducer said:
50% of the reason I like a physical home button is because for me, it's easier to power up the phone...and more natural, less effort etc. I also go into standby by an upward gesture on my homescreen so on/off is very quick and handy.
The other half is that I have more screen real estate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you have it set up to sleep with a screen gesture?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
yamahakid said:
How do you have it set up to sleep with a screen gesture?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's 2 parts...but super simple and turbo quick!
I use Go Launcher EX. Many of the custom launchers have Gesture ability. (unlike stock TouchWiz) There are 2 types of gestures in GLex. The one I use is an upward gesture anywhere on any home screen. (you could choose an icon in the dock as well) and it's not the Gesture Pad feature. For me, this works well as I never find myself swiping upwards on the home screen except to initiate SCREEN OFF....although I have requested them to add a 2 finger swipe for extra control.
The 2nd part is an app called "screen off and lock" which I have been using for years. I tell GLex to execute SOAL with an upward gesture on the home screen. Works flawlessly. (GLex has it's own plugin for screen off...but it is laggy)
SOAL also has CRT similar fx and other options. But I just use the clean screen off effect and it's INSTANT. I literally can turn on my S3 with my physical home button, swipe to unlock. then swipe up to lock/screen off in under a second...and keep repeating...no lag. (that's not what I use it for per-say...but just to show that it is fast...all with my thumb in a close proximity area.)
Just got it all set up and I'm loving it so far. Thanks a lot
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
yamahakid said:
Just got it all set up and I'm loving it so far. Thanks a lot
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right on, glad you tried it out.
To me, little things like this make the experience so much better.
Are you using GLex?
themadproducer said:
Right on, glad you tried it out.
To me, little things like this make the experience so much better.
Are you using GLex?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I have an s3, but I flashed a fix that changed my build.prop to gnex so I can run Google wallet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
yamahakid said:
No I have an s3, but I flashed a fix that changed my build.prop to gnex so I can run Google wallet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha Ha...no...actually I meant Go Launcher EX? (GLex)
What launcher do you use to perform the swipe?
themadproducer said:
Ha Ha...no...actually I meant Go Launcher EX? (GLex)
What launcher do you use to perform the swipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha oh I thought you made a typo. I'm using apex launcher.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
radeon_x said:
... of apps ignoring the menu key.
I've always preferred the menu - home - back layout Samsung has stuck with. It just feels more natural to me... Now though I'm starting to think the new Android design guidelines are going to pose a big usability problem.
Especially on big phones like the GS3, having to reach to the top of the phone to get at common options is an annoyance at best. Mint is one of the latest apps to implement the new design guidelines that renders the menu button useless.
I hope the development community can come up with a workaround - if they haven't already. Anyone know of efforts to remap or otherwise keep the menu button useful?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Video about some of my likes and dislikes about the GS3 overall its the best smartphone I have ever owned .
That's one thing that annoys me about the Android OS not being unified... some apps will ignore the menu, some wont.