Avoid task killers
It is best to avoid task killers such as Advanced Task Killer. Android is designed to automatically pre-load certain applications, even if you don't load them yourself. If it starts to run low on memory, it will smartly unload the oldest running apps automatically.
Manually killing tasks will only mean they get loaded in memory again. Task killers can make the phone slow, laggy, or drain battery life more quickly.
Bookmark a contact on your homescreen
To bookmark a contact on your homescreen, long press on the home screen background and select Shortcuts. Then select Direct dial.
If you call someone regularly this can be useful as you will have a shortcut to them handily placed on your homescreen
Bookmark a web page on your homescreen
To bookmark a website on your homescreen, go into your browser and find the bookmark of the page you want to create a shortcut for.
Then long press on the bookmark and select Add Shortcut to Home.
If you regularly visit certain websites, this can be handy as you will have a shortcut to the site on your homescreen.
Create folders to tidy your Apps
If you find yourself with too many Apps on the homescreen, then you can create folders to organise them.
To start, simply press and hold on an App and drag it over the top of another App. The App should change colour/shape. Then release your finger and the two Apps will be combined into a folder.
You can then drag more Apps into this folder using the same process.
To give your folder a label, simply long press on the folder and you will be able to enter a name.
Double tap for a full stop (period)
While typing emails or notes, you can simply tap the space key twice and the phone will insert a full stop / period
Install new keyboard to improve accuracy
The standard Android keyboard is good, but not great. There are many third party keyboards available which will improve your typing speed and accuracy.
Go to the Android Market and search for 'Keyboard' to see some great alternatives, many of which are more accurate and make typing much easier.
A good one is GoKeyboard.
If you see a warning saying the keyboard will collect all information (including credit cards) just ignore this. This is just a security feature that Android shows for every third-party keyboard that you install.
Accents and special characters
If you want to type non-English letters (eg those with an accent), long-press on the relevant letter. A list of options will appear for you to select.
Access the scientific calculator
To access the scientific calculator, rotate the phone to landscape mode.
The calculator will change to a scientific one
Add email or phone number from text
To add an email or phone number to your contacts from a text message, you can long-press on the email / phone number. Then select Add to contacts
Add widget to the homescreen
To add a widget, go to the homescreen and press the Apps icon (the circle with 6 dots). Then you will see a list of your Apps with the word Apps and Widgets at the top. Press Widgets, then you will be presented with a list of available widgets.
To add a widget, press and hold on it and then position it where you want
Android Easter egg
There is an Easter egg hidden in the Android operating system. To see it, go to your Homescreen, then press Menu - Settings - About phone.
Then tap on the Android version option 5 times and you will get a surprise.
Sometimes it doesn't work, so try a couple of times. By the way don't expect to see an actual Easter Egg. That is just the name given to things hidden inside software or operating systems.
Auto focus the camera
When taking photos or videos, tap the screen where you want to focus on. The phone will automatically adjust the settings to improve the image or video
Bring up more predicted words
If you have word prediction enabled while you are typing, you can long press the middle word that is suggested. This will bring up a menu allowing you to select various other suggested words.
Browse websites in full-screen mode
If you want to browse in full screen mode, without the URL bar at the top of the browser, then you can enable this..
Open the standard browser and press Menu - Settings - Labs. Then put a check mark under Full Screen .
To get access to the browser options (that are now invisible), there is now a neat hidden menu. Slide your finger in from the left or right of the screen. A circular menu will appear with various options.
Capture a still shot while recording video
To capture a still shot while recording a video, simply tap the screen while you are recording.
This will save a still image.
Change keyboards
To change keyboards (if you have additional keyboards installed), you can switch between them by pressing the small keyboard symbol in the top left of your screen. You will need to be in keyboard input mode (i.e. typing something) for this to work.
Note: you need to have more than one keyboard installed for this to work
Change quick response texts
The phone has the ability to send quick response text messages if your phone is ringing but you can't answer it.
To change these, go to your Dialer App - Settings - Quick responses. You can only have 4 of them and you may need to edit existing ones.
Change the backlight screen timeout
To change the backlight screen timeout, go to Settings - Display - Screen. Then choose the screen time out duration.
You can also tell the phone screen to always stay lit when it is plugged in via USB. Go to Settings - Developer Options. Then check Stay Awake.
Change the screen brightness
To change the screen brightness, start from the Homescreen and press Menu - Settings - Display - Brightness.
Then choose the desired brightness setting. You can also select Automatic brightness to let the phone decide for you.
If you have auto-brightness enabled, you can also press, hold and slide the top notification bar left and right. The brightness will increase and decrease accordingly.
Check phone status and battery usage
To find out information about Signal Strength, Network Information, Remaining Battery Time and Battery Usage (by Application), go to your Homescreen - Menu - Settings - About Phone.
Check the firmware version
To check your firmware version, start from the Homescreen and press Menu - Settings - About Phone- software version
This should list your Android version, Build number and Model Number.
Copy files between your phone and PC using WiFi
To copy files between your phone and PC, go to the Android Play Market and download an app called AirDroid.
This is an extremely useful App that connects your phone to your PC wirelessly, allowing you to move files and many, many other things.
Copying iTunes songs to Android
If you have decided to ditch your iPhone in favour of Android, then there is a simple way to take your iTunes music, playlists and album art with you.
Simply go the Android Marketplace and download a Free App called Easy Phone Tunes. You will also need the computer version of the software, so go to http://easyphonetunes.com and download it from there.
Then, when that is done, turn your phone into a USB storage device (this will vary from device to device, but instructions are on the website).
Once your phone is connected to your computer, open the computer version of the software and select your device from the Easy Phone Tunes list. Then follow the instructions to Sync your media
Create folders in your Quick Launch bar
If you have used up all of your Quick Launch spaces, then there is a trick.
Once it is full, press and drag an App from the homescreen and move it over the top of an App in the Quick Launch area. Then release your finger. This will create a folder containing the original App plus the new one. This is a great way to have access to regularly used App
Create shortcut to websites on your home screen
To create a shortcut to a website on your homescreen, go to your browser bookmarks.
Then long press on a site and select Add shortcut to Home
Customise your favourites tray
At the bottom of each homescreen is your favourites tray, which consists of 5 icons. You can customise it by adding icons to the tray. If it's full however, you will first need to remove some.
To remove an icon, simply press and hold an icon. Then drag it to your desktop.
Then to add a new one, simply drag an icon from your homescreen to the favourites tray.
Enable / disable vibrate / haptic feedback when you type
To disable / enable vibrate (also called haptic feedback) when you type or press the screen, go to Settings - Language & input - Settings.
Then uncheck Vibrate on keypress.
Enable sideload of Apps
If you want to install Apps outside of the Android Market (called sideloading), then go to Settings - Security - Unknown sources.
Note: use at your own risk.
Help, I have forgotten my unlock pattern
If you have forgotten your custom unlock pattern, then don't panic.
After 5 unsuccessful tries a button should appear saying 'Forgot pattern'. Press this and you will be asked to enter your Gmail username/password.
The phone will then ask for a new unlock pattern. If you don't have a Gmail account, then you might have to either call your carrier or factory reset your phone.
Hide folders or files
If you want to hide folders or files from being index or displayed, simple put a . (full stop / period) before the file or folder name.
Make volume / music louder
WARNING: Making your volume or music louder can damage your hearing.
Most phones have their volumes limited by local laws to protect our hearing. There is a way to boost your volume however. Go to the Android Market and download an App called Volume+ (Sound Boost). There is also a free version called Volume+ Free.
You will need to root your phone for this App to work.
Make your phone run faster
Here are the top 5 tips to make your phone run faster:
1) Use only essential widgets on your homescreen - each widget consumes memory and processing power which can slow your down your phone.
2) Uninstall apps that you don't use - after awhile your phone can get cluttered as some Apps are designed to always run in the background. If you rarely use an App, then uninstall it to free up memory and CPU resource.
3) Install Apps to your phone memory - if you have an SDCard, always install Apps to the phone memory, which can be accessed faster. If you have Apps on the SDCard, then move them back to the phone memory with an App called Move2SD available from the Play Market.
4) Use Static rather than Live wallpapers - Live wallpapers consume processing power and memory. Unless you really must have them, uninstall them.
5) Kill tasks occasionally - Some Apps will run in the background indefinitely unless you kill them. Most of them won't cause a problem, but it pays to check your running tasks from time to time. Hold down your Home key and check the Task Manager.
One last thing: Don't use Task Killers. Android manages tasks very well and Task Killers just make your phone unstable and can slow it down further
note this guide is mainy to help the people who didnt recieved a manual instructions booklet along with their phone like my country(INDIA)
CREDITS-paarthdesai
help
please help....my wildfire s restarts itself when i get calls,but its ok to when i charge it...it fell in the water. Is there a way to sort this out.
thnx bhai.. can u suggest me some essential apps for android??
I should add something about using task managers. Using task manager is a good thing to free up some ram quickly if required. Some good task managers like ''advanced task manager'' has a feature of ''ignore list'' in which such apps which automatically start or always run in background can be put to exception from getting killed. Indeed, restarting apps consume battery and CPU resources but I am mentioning some tricks for those who want to use task manager and also want better performing phone.
1-Use good task manager which has ''ignore apps'' type feature in it.
2- Utilizing this feature, add ''People'', ''Contacts'', ''Messaging'', ''Settings'', ''Music'' and all other apps which are set to ''auto start'' or always running in background (antivirus, facebook, Whatsapp, Google+, Google maps etc) to exception. In this way, these will not get killed and won't slow down phone while getting restarted.
is this really tips and tricks for wildfire s ?
'coz i cant rename a folder, either deleting an app from recent history
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Presents the Official
MIUI Latest
This is a community support ROM only!
The developers do not provide much support for this ROM on these forums
Support is mostly provided on forums.MIUI.us
New release comes every Friday.
If you haven't heard about this ROM yet then check out the videos in the 2nd post to see it in action!
This is an excellent ROM if for no other reason than it introduces the first non-CyanogenMod/carrier/manufacturer framework overhaul of Android 2.3.5 and boy what an overhaul.
Changes from base ROM
Removed: MIUI App Sharing | MIUI OTA Updater | MIUI Bootscreen | SIM Toolkit
Added: Custom Bootscreen | English Translations | Google Maps | Google Voice Search | MIUI.us Forum app
If you want ADW.Launcher or LauncherPro install them from Market.Proceed To Download
Download 1.8.26
Change Log:
Weekly Changelog:
Click here for changelog done via StiffSpliff
MIUI for Beginners
Source: http://en.miui.com/a-10.html
Already flashed MIUI ROM? OK, pick up your phone now, let’s start our happy journey of MIUI ROM.
The first step: selecting apps
Various apps will greatly enrich your cell phone, so firstly let’s select the apps to your taste. Use the Android Market and download what you would like. If you are using a backup app and restoring apps from a previous ROM, only restore the apps and not the data. Otherwise that will create a lot of force close issues.
Tip: How to copy files from the computer to the phone? First connect your phone to your computer via data cable, pull down the notification panel from the top of the phone, click “USB connected”, and then click "Turn on USB storage”.
After copying, do not forget to select the option of “Turn off USB storage”, otherwise "File Manager” in the phone will not be able to find the sd card, as it is being occupied by the computer.
Now I have a lot of apps, how to put them in order?
All apps successfully installed are listed on the desktop, however, they may not be in the order you want, how to put them in order?
Long press an app icon and then you may move it freely. When it is moved to the screen border, the screen will automatically switch to the next screen.
How to add a screen? Use two fingers to pinch on the desktop to enter screen thumbnail mode. Then you may add or delete screens.
How to delete an app? Long press the app icon you want to delete, drag it on top of the trash box and click OK to delete it.
The second step: let's make your phone different.
A phone without style is nothing remarkable, so let’s make your phone different!
Changing wallpaper: Click Menu button on the desktop, select “Change Wallpaper” to replace the wallpaper. In addition to the existing wallpaper in the phone, thousands of pieces of wallpaper are also available online.
Changing theme: Themes make great changes to your interface style. Click “Theme Manager” on the desktop to select the theme you like. Also, more online themes are available online.
Selecting ringtones and more: click “Settings” on the desktop to set call and notification ringtones. In “Personalization” under “Personal” tab, you may find more options.
The third step: it’s time for some advanced techniques!
Well, you are no longer a beginner now, so let’s learn some advanced techniques.
Adding widgets on the desktop: press the Menu button on the desktop, select "Edit Mode", and then click the icon on the upper right corner to access the interface of “Add Widgets”. Choose your favorite widget on the top, and then drag it to the screen below.
Using folders to manage desktop apps: in the interface of “Add Widgets”, drag [Folder] to the desktop. You may drag multiple apps into folders to classify them. After opening the folder, you may click the edit icon in the upper left corner to rename the folder.
Using toggles panel to improve efficiency: drag the notification panel down from the top, click "Toggles" to go to the toggles panel (It goes to the toggles panel in default of notice.) On the panel are listed the most commonly used toggles, you may click to quickly enable or disable a toggle. Long press on the icon will launch the settings for that icon.
Guest mode: enable the “Guest Mode” toggle in the panel, and your calls and text messages logs will be hidden, and all installed applications cannot be removed. You may have a try when you need to show your phone to guests or children.
Importing contacts or binding accounts: you may use some apps to import a batch of contacts, or bind Google account directly in "Settings"> "Personal"> "Accounts & Sync Settings" to sync contacts at any time.
How to print screens? Press "Menu" key and "Volume Down" key at the same time to print a screen. The printed image is saved in the directory of MIUI in the SD card.
How to copy files from the computer without using the data cable? In case of a Wi-Fi connection, enter “File Manager” on the desktop, select the tab of "Remote Administration" to start the service, and then you will get an address. Enter the given address on the computer, then you may copy files without using a data cable!
Core Features
MIUI HOME
Two-layer shortcuts and program icons are integrated into one-layer desktop.
Long press on an icon to enter edit mode, open Widgets and drag it to the target screen.
Drag the app you want to uninstall to the top of the trash box to delete it.
Eight kinds of flipping screens effects are available with gorgeous animations.
T9 dialer
T9 dialer is applied for smart dialing. It supports searching by contact name and phone number, and the results are listed according to contact frequency.
The default setting is to forbid any third-party app to monitor users’ calls.
Currently, there are 230301 attribution logs. The attribution data will be updated continuously, codes of foreign countries are supported as well.
SMS
Compared with native Android system, 7 major optimizations on SMS are made:
Adding contacts in short messages;
Adding names in group sending messages and automatically adding the names to Contacts;
Easier taking of numbers, urls and email addresses from short messages;
Optimization on mobile newspaper reading;
Collection of important messages;
Recommended messages for holidays;
Quick reply and view window.
Contacts
Quick location of contacts;
Faster to add new contacts;
Contacts group management supported;
Contacts' large images supported.
Themes
The third edition UI loading engine makes it faster and easier to change themes;
Partial theme customs are more flexible and comprehensive. Rich online wallpapers, ringtones, fonts and so on are available.
Camera
Faster loading speed enables you to take photos immediately.
More professional modes such as continuous shooting, timing and special effects supported.
Gallery
Faster picture browsing speed than that of native Android system;
Brand new view mode supports to view the pictures by folder path.
Music
Simultaneous enjoying and downloading massive online music. Music chart live playing and bulk downloads supported;
Automatic connection of lyrics and album covers. ID3 information editing supported;
Changing songs by swinging the phone and sleep mode supported.
Notifications
After pulling Notifications and Toggles panel down, changing panels by sliding the screen supported.
MIUI apps
File Manager, Traffic Monitor, Backup, Notes, and Torch.
Tips & Tricks
Long Press:Long press on the icon in Toggles will launch the settings for that icon.
Screen Shot:Press "Menu" key and "Volume Down" key at the same time to print a screen. The printed image is saved in the directory of MIUI in the sd card.
Hold HomePress Home key at the first screen, you may preview screen thumbnails and add or move screens.
Delete Message or Call Log : Slide from left to right to quickly delete a message or a call log.
Edit Mode : You may hold down an icon by one hand to enter Edit Mode, and then use the other hand to slide the screen to move the icon to the target screen.
Call Activated : Your phone will vibrate when a call gets through.
Activate Music from Lockscreen : Double tap the time zone to launch the Music Player when the screen is locked.
Quick SMS/Phone Launch : In the lockscreen, hold down the icon of Call or SMS, and you can enter the responding program.
Quick Launch Torch : Hold down Home key to quickly enable the torch when the screen is locked.
Quick Launch Contact Options : Click the contact image in Calls, SMS and Contacts, shortcut menus will pop up.
Long Press Search : Long press on Search button will launch search via voice recognition.
Recovery Reboot : Click menu in “System Update” to reboot and enter recovery.
% for Battery : The battery will display the percentage of left battery capacity by Settings>System>Battery>Notification Indicator Style>Percentage.
Running Apps List : Long press on the Home button can go to “Program Manager”. Click the “Clear up” button at the bottom left to clear the extra processes in memory. And the system will inform you of the released memory and current available memory.
Note: System processes will not be cleared so as to ensure the normal running of the system.
IP Calling : . How to set IP dialing?
MIUI ROM can add an IP prefix for the called number in a strange land. You may set it in Settings>Common>Calls.
You may also long press the contact item before dialing, and choose “Make IP calls” in the pop-up menu.
Reject Call : When you are not available to answer the phone, you may slide up the panel to reject the call and to send a message to the caller at the same time.
Custom Ringtones : . How to set custom ringtones?
Put media files into the Media/Audio/ringtones directory in the SD card, (If there is none of this directory, please create one manually) and then select in Sounds in Settings.
Note: there are three directories under Audio, corresponding to the following tones:
notifications--notification ringtones
ringtones--incoming call ringtones
alarms--alarming ringtones
Supported formats: MP3, WMA, WAV, Midi, etc.
Important SMS : As for those important messages you want to add to your favorites, you may long press the message in the pop-up menu and select "Favorites". You may switch to "Favorites" tab in the main SMS interface to view collected messages.
Quick Delete SMS : How to quickly delete items?
You may slide from left to right on the item and click on the red "Delete" button when it appears.
Tether : How can I share my network to the PC or other terminals?
Firmware of Android 2.2 and above support the sharing of mobile phones to other Internet terminal in the following method:
Go to "Settings" -> "System" -> "Share mobile network", you may choose to share the Internet connection by USB tethering or setting up portable Wi-Fi hotspot. [/QUOTE]
looks rather interesting. i'm currently using the 'Incredibly Debloated' ROM but will to give this one a try. my internet sucks though so it may take a bit to download yours.
Hello all,
Some of you may remember me from the early days of MIUI on the HTC Incredible. I'm back with a brand new port for the HTC Incredible 2.
In addition to downloading the rom from your browser, it's also available in ROM Manager. If you are a ROM Manager premium user you will get OTA updates as well.
The following people are responsible for helping to get this port working:
attn1 - For bringing us CM7 for the vivow
cyanogenmod - For making CM and giving us libs/kernels/configs/etc to kang
koush - For clockworkmod and ROM Manager
alpharevx - For busting the seams of this device wide open
stiffspliff, cayniarb, jamezelle, warttack and all the other MIUI.us developers for their support
And of course, all our users! Without you.. there is nothing to see here
is this compatible with the 1.8ghtz OC kernal?
knipp21 said:
is this compatible with the 1.8ghtz OC kernal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried it. I don't see why it wouldn't be.
I personally don't overclock any of my devices and because of this I can't test any OC kernels.
voxigenboy said:
looks rather interesting. i'm currently using the 'Incredibly Debloated' ROM but will to give this one a try. my internet sucks though so it may take a bit to download yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's in ROM Manager if that makes it any easier?
ok i just installed it. and it installed just fine.
now i am constantly getting alerts "The process android.process.acore has stopped unexpectedly." it also keeps doing it for android.process.media
i can't do anything without having to constantly click 'force close'
voxigenboy said:
ok i just installed it. and it installed just fine.
now i am constantly getting alerts "The process android.process.acore has stopped unexpectedly." it also keeps doing it for android.process.media
i can't do anything without having to constantly click 'force close'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you wipe first
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App
voxigenboy said:
ok i just installed it. and it installed just fine.
now i am constantly getting alerts "The process android.process.acore has stopped unexpectedly." it also keeps doing it for android.process.media
i can't do anything without having to constantly click 'force close'
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you didn't wipe cache or data. This ROM requires a full wipe (especially since its the first release on this device).
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
n_i_x said:
Sounds like you didn't wipe cache or data. This ROM requires a full wipe (especially since its the first release on this device).
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the miui beta that was ported. Can I use its backup app to back everything up and restore it in this one?
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App
knipp21 said:
I have the miui beta that was ported. Can I use its backup app to back everything up and restore it in this one?
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know how they ported that particular rom. It should work.. but if things start fc'ing I'd wipe and selectively restore. I'd particularly stay away from restoring launcher. If you use the MIUI backup app you should be OK.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Using the miui backup app everything works perfectly
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App
knipp21 said:
Using the miui backup app everything works perfectly
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to hear! I figured as much, but with ports you never know what might happen.
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA App
Only issue is that music freezes up the phone at random times when I switch songs
Only happens in miui music
Sent from my Incredible 2 using XDA Premium App
By far one of my favorite ROMs when I had my Dinc. Glad to see you back Nix!
the only problem im having is getting my contacts back
x Eacott said:
the only problem im having is getting my contacts back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My contacts came back fine. At least all the ones that I had synced with Google. Only issue I am having is that some apps will not work with SwipePad. But I have seen that before with MIUI on my Cappy. Not a big deal. Loving MIUI again. Really makes any android phone that I have used that much better.
Great work everyone involved!
I just flashed this rom & it came up to the bootloader but it keeps looping at the "MIUI United Worldwide" animation. Any suggestions? Anyone else experience this? It has been doing this for about 10 minutes now.
I cleared cache & did a data/factory reset before I flashed this rom.
The apk was taken straight from the Nexus 5, and has the search feature actually working! (confirmed)
Here's the article:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/1...ll-it-manually-on-other-kitkat-roms-download/
Here's the flashable ZIP:
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23269279319196848
Here's the apk which if you want to be able to make calls, you need to put in System/Priv-app and set permissions to 644:
http://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=23269279319196805
All the credit goes to the guys at Android Police!
FAQ from the website
I installed the app but the icon doesn't show up in my app tray. What can I do?
If this happens on your phone, the only solution we found was to use Nova Launcher because it has a feature that allows you to run a specific activity within an app. To set this up:
Within Nova Launcher, long-press on the home screen.Choose "Shortcuts"Select "Activities"Find "Google Dialer" in the list, then tap to open it up, and select "Phone" (use the first one in the list)
This will put a shortcut to the dialer on your home screen. At this stage, you can use this to access Google Dialer. It's not the cleanest solution, but it does work.
Can I disable my default dialer?
The short answer is no. As a general rule, you will need to keep your present dialer enabled in order to receive calls. The long answer is that on some phones you might be able to disable your stock dialer, but on others you definitely cannot. Feel free to try it on your own device and let us know what your results are.
(I disabled the first phone apk of the 2 that show up (flashing adds another one and I had it A-Z order))
EDIT: After disabling the APK, when I select "Call" the phone doesn't show any call screen whatsoever, and still has a call going, (mic works, and you can call, but the only way you can hang up is to leave the app and click the extended notification)
Again, this is all them!
Second Screen Custom App Icons & Widget Triggering through Tasker/Zooper/Popup Widget
Hi Guys
So I know this isn't earth shattering, but given we are all feeling a bit underwhelmed with the second screen theming options I thought I'd share. I was able to get Second Screen to recognize a custom APK installed through Tasker using Tasker App Factory. I used a combination of Tasker, Popup Widget, Zooper Widget, and Tasker App Factory for this. I'm one of those guys that bought Tasker pro a long time ago, made some basic stuff, and then gave up because easier options came along... kind of the same with Zooper Widget, but I think I might actually starting using it more (even though I believe ZW support is finished) because I barely use the second screens static app options right now, it's just easier to pop onto the homescreen and open whatever I need. I think taking this route will give you access to stuff you might not want on your main screen easily (for me, that's something like the weather channel app), and doing it in any app you're already in. Essentially you just hit the app icon and your widget pops up with the information you want it to show, my widget is interactive so from there I can click certain things on the widget and open them.
I just tried recording my screen to share but it didn't record the second screen, so I'll need to charge my other phone before I can show you what I'm talking about. I'll hopefully get some pictures or a video up shortly.
By the way, this works with Nova Launcher also... I've seen some other threads where you have to use LG Launcher to change your icon.
https://youtu.be/4_PtV7tvYrc
*credit to Jack Burnett in Zooper Widget G+ forum for creating the initial ZW.
EDIT
You will need the Zooper Widget Template that was created by Jack Burnett, I got this off of Zooper Widget Google + Community because it was easier than creating my own. I did however, edit a lot of the components to make it more in line with what I was looking for. You can do that in Zooper Widget.
This is a static widget that stays on the home screen, but allows you to interact with various shown components.
Jack Burnett original post with widget - https://plus.google.com/+JackMcDonaldBurnett/posts/hJjejJEc1mE
Jack Burnett Template Download Location –
http://www.combathaiku.com/zooper/
In short, you can use this widget standalone and it will not have the Popup Functionality and will always be on the home screen. Clearly this does not help if I am trying to get it on the Second Screen.
Create your Zooper Widget or Import the Template from above.
Create a new Pop Up Widget, import the previously created Zooper Widget into your Pop Up Widget and Save it.
Open Tasker, New Task, + to Add Action, Plugin, Hit Pop Widget Action Plug In… When it opens hit the pencil and select your Pop Up Widget that contains your Zooper Widget. In the bottom right of the Task Edit Screen there will be an icon select button, you can choose your custom icon at that time.
When you are done and on the Tasks list page of Tasker you can long press your Tasker Task that contains your Pop Up Widget and Custom App Icon, you’ll hit the 3 button menu at the top right and select Export. Export it As App. ( You will need Tasker App Factory for this).
When you do that hit the Android icon in the bottom right and it will ask if you want to install the Application just like it does when you download from anywhere else.
You’ll hit install, it should install, hit Done.
Go to Settings, Second Screen, Show When Main Screen is On, App Short Cuts, Scroll down to your APK (make sure you named it in Tasker) and select.
It will add to your second screen and allow you to Use your Custom Icon to interact with your pop up widget options.
What is that widget?
TheRealKingSen said:
What is that widget?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here you go. @TheRealKingSen. It's actually pretty convenient
https://plus.google.com/+JackMcDonaldBurnett/posts/hJjejJEc1mE
I dont understand the problem, we can change the icons on the main screen and move the app to the second screen
melorib said:
I dont understand the problem, we can change the icons on the main screen and move the app to the second screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi - I'm not understanding your statement. There isn't really a problem. I'm not just changing the icons I am triggering a widget from the second screen that is actionable... We're adding our own Tasker APK to the second screen, which is clickable, and you can interact with the widget. Instead of keeping the widget on your homescreen taking up space, you can just use it whenever you want from the second screen without going to the home screen.. Like I said not earth shattering, but at the time the only changes I had seen regarding customizing second screen were changing icons, but people were saying you couldn't do that unless you used LG stock launcher..
I didnt realize it was about widgets, on the other hand, if you cannot see what is saying it doesnt make much sense, you might as well just have the app shortcut...
His option seems more about having a "peak" option so you can stay in-app.
Maybe a step-by-step guide would be great for us to actually try it out, or even placing other widgets onto it as well? Like Whatsapp, Facebook and stuff like that.
Hi Guys - that's exactly why I was putting it out there. I think the functionality is endless if you are good at creating zooper and popup widgets. I clearly am novice at zooper, popup, and tasker so this was my first go at it. However, I do believe it would allow you to create really whatever you want... I was trying to get a Social Widget created, so I'd hit the one icon and my facebook, instagram, tumblr, etc... would all pull up in one actionable widget window.... but I couldn't get the Popup Widget and Zooper Widget to play nicely in Tasker.
I can put together a guide on how it was done, but to answer the question above, my recording quality was **** but I can clearly see everything on the widget and it's large enough to select individual portions of the widget to open them... ie the wireless dbm monitor if I hit that it takes me to wireless settings, in the middle there's a small calendar square (not clear in the video), if I hit that I go to calendar. And I can do it in app due to second screen or if I am on snapchat and my videos are taking forever to load, instead of pulling down notification panel and long press wifi, I can just go to this popup widget and it shows my dbm and the network I'm connected to immediately without leaving snapchat.
I'll edit the original post so that it's more concise as to what exactly is going on. You can use a shortcut but what this method allows you to do is to create "short cut icons" for whatever you want, even if it's not provided as a typical shortcut, through your zooper widget and tasker.
I'll update what I can to make it more clear though. thanks for your feedback. Again I think It's more of a hey you can do this, someone who has awesome zooper/tasker functionality, roll with it type of thing.
melorib said:
I didnt realize it was about widgets, on the other hand, if you cannot see what is saying it doesnt make much sense, you might as well just have the app shortcut...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I did that you'd be limited to only the number of iapp spaces/shortcuts allowed on the second screen. In this instance, you can directly access Calendar, Clock, Wireless Settings, Settings, Weather, Battery, really whatever you want to add to the zooper widget interface by only taking up one App Icon Space in the second screen. I'm writing a more concise post now and will modify it. I added a screenshot of the widget below, it's legible.
:good:
Hi all, So i as usual installed Nova to use some of their gestures (such as bringing down status bar from swiping down anywhere on screen etc)
In the process i lost access to the google weather widget (as it isn't available through Nova launcher)
Any lightweight suggestions to replace it? or is there any way to get the google weather widget functioning on 3rd party launchers?
What about alternatives to google photos? To be honest i never really used photos , I'm going to try to start doing so but i notice that it doesn't even pick up all my folders such as facebook folder (pics downloaded from facebook).
How do i get it to recognize folders like this ? What other lightweight yet useful gallery app is out there? (not quickpic please that purple font is killing me)
Thanks in advanced!
quickpic version 3.4.9.1 doesnt have pink icons for me and its neutured down so no google drive, dropbox etc linking - just pure gallery.
virtyx said:
quickpic version 3.4.9.1 doesnt have pink icons for me and its neutured down so no google drive, dropbox etc linking - just pure gallery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got a trusted source for that APK?
I am seeing some of the benefits of Google photos though... wondering why i didn't use it sooner
Edit: found a trusted apk for quickpic.
How do I get google weather widget in nova
masri1987 said:
Got a trusted source for that APK?
I am seeing some of the benefits of Google photos though... wondering why i didn't use it sooner
Edit: found a trusted apk for quickpic.
How do I get google weather widget in nova
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was about to upload
how do you find it? its slim, lightweight, fast - and gets the job done without any extra add-ins which is what i like, almost like the huawei launcher plus you can change the display and it recognizes ALL your images on your phone (im looking at you google photo)
masri1987 said:
Hi all, So i as usual installed Nova to use some of their gestures (such as bringing down status bar from swiping down anywhere on screen etc)
In the process i lost access to the google weather widget (as it isn't available through Nova launcher)
Any lightweight suggestions to replace it? or is there any way to get the google weather widget functioning on 3rd party launchers?
What about alternatives to google photos? To be honest i never really used photos , I'm going to try to start doing so but i notice that it doesn't even pick up all my folders such as facebook folder (pics downloaded from facebook).
How do i get it to recognize folders like this ? What other lightweight yet useful gallery app is out there? (not quickpic please that purple font is killing me)
Thanks in advanced!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too use Nova, for weather, I've been using Weather XL by exovoid for years, link
Action launcher has the Google widget and weather baked in. I switched from Nova to it years ago and while I'll go back to Nova briefly for change of pace purposes I never leave Action for very long. Once I got used to and understood the blinds and shutters features in Action everything else became dad's old launcher; including Nova. You can also set the Now page, assign gestures, all the usual staples of fully featured launchers.
I've used Piktures as my main gallery app for a few years. Great app.
NepoRood said:
I too use Nova, for weather, I've been using Weather XL by exovoid for years, link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, tried it out, looking for something a bit more lightweight, just for the purpose of widget use.
krabman said:
Action launcher has the Google widget and weather baked in. I switched from Nova to it years ago and while I'll go back to Nova briefly for change of pace purposes I never leave Action for very long. Once I got used to and understood the blinds and shutters features in Action everything else became dad's old launcher; including Nova. You can also set the Now page, assign gestures, all the usual staples of fully featured launchers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So i installed action launcher and I cannot find the option to build out tabs or folders within the drawer itself? Also can't remove the multidot drawer icon and just use the swipe up feature by itself
Cool thing is it did import everything almost from nova
Fuzzy13 said:
I've used Piktures as my main gallery app for a few years. Great app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i just discovered that app ,
I also discovered that any motion photo or any other like top shot (to show you the whole selection of photos taken) etc doesn't show up in 3rd party gallery apps
You just long press and drag the icon up and out, you'll see the remove label at the top of the screen, drop it there and it's gone. The rest will take a bit of reading as Action doesn't work the way normal launchers do so it takes some explaining. Before I do you can create folders in the drawer section of the home settings, it's under folders. I'm saying this because Action doesn't really work the way Dad's old launcher used to do and there are some new paradigms in play. Don't want to deal with that then just imagine the post ends here.
In action you don't really need to make folders in the drawer as it's laid out to use it's killer features, the covers and shutters. For covers you can drop a shortcut you tap as normal to open that app and then you can also swipe or tap the shortcut and it will open a folder with whatever apps you want inside of it. Those are created by dropping one app onto another to create a folder as with most launchers, open the folder you just created and tap the menu (3 dot), choose create cover and now you have it. Tap the first icon you placed and it will simply open that app, swipe it (or double tap if you select that as the opener) and it will open up the folder underneath. I'm not sure if there is an app limit for the folders, I've had 14 in one now. Using my setup for example I use Hangouts as my personal primary text and instant message app but I also use several others; I have a hangouts cover set in the dock, as its a cover I tap it and open hangouts in most cases. Because it's a cover I have the apps for texting that I use infrequently underneath that which I access by swiping the icon instead. This goes on for all the shortcuts I set in the dock. I use a 2 page dock which is all covers save for one which is a shutter and through those have quick access to 47 applications. Much quicker than finding them in a drawer, even when folder the drawer because you will need more touches to get to the app than with a cover.
The shutter is an app shortcut which you use to either open the app or by swiping it open one of that apps widget. An example would be Whatsapp is my work messaging app. I have the icon set and use it as a shutter. I touch it and go into the app as normal. I get a lot of junk messages though that really aren't for me so sometimes I'll swipe it and open up the unread messages widget. This allows me to skip straight to the more important messages first rather than sort through them all in the app itself. The menu(3 dot) when you first open up the shutter will allow you to select the widget you want to use.
Despite all that you can still access the built in long presses if the app/icon has them. What happens in all this is the app drawer itself becomes more of an initial setup bin where the apps are laying until you set your covers and on the odd occasion you go in there to open a seldom used app. In the rare cases you do need to get into the drawer the sea of icons pulled out of the bottom ala Pixel may look cool but it's slower than using the side drawer which I would highly recommend folks try. While not looking cool it's more efficient; particularly for those with many apps. Still want the bottom drawer pullout it's the default action, just get rid of the shortcut and it's there.
You're going to want to menu dive with Action because there is a lot more going on than meets the eye. You can have it match your wallpaper for the launcher theme in the quick theme section. In quickbar you have what amounts to the Goog searchbar with extra functionality that you can adjust. I don't use it as I find little need for it with all the different ways you can get to the search function and it takes up space which can be better spent showing off my carefully selected wallpaper. The icon pack section is self explanatory. Icon appearance will let you change functions and visual cues like notifications counts. App drawers is where you will decide on trying that side drawer and other related settings. Recommend if you do go to a side drawer to tell it to remember where you left it. Otherwise it will always default to the top of the alphabet. Desktop is where you will do the meat and potatos of setting your desktop, the grid, icon scale, scroll effects, infinite scrolling, etc. One thing of interest in the desktop section is it will allow you to create a quickpage. This is a page you can "pullout" from the side that is separate from simply the page to the right of home. I use it for my travel apps of which I have a fair few but only use during that time. Desktop shortcuts will take you to the settings for which functions will show up when long pressing the home screen out in the open. You'll be able to add typical actions like wallpaper, widgets and so on but also custom actions. Docks is where you'll set up the number of dock pages if any, style of dock, dock seperators (or not), etc. Folders and shutters will allow you to change functions there for those tasks. Shortcuts is where you'll define whatever gestures you want.
While all that seems like a lot when you start fiddling with it it'll start making sense. Sorry for the length of that and I hope it wasn't too boring for those that made it this far.
---------- Post added at 04:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:39 PM ----------
Oh, yeah... If you use a launcher that allows you to set custom action widgets (Nova, Action Launcher, etc.) you could simply install Action launcher, never use it but get use of the weather widget via custom action in Nova or any other launcher which supports that function.
Huge fan of Today Weather! Can choose which service to receive forecasts from and has a number of widgets.
I mean apps that have overlay function when called outside that said app, that function doesn't work.
For example:
Pie Control's shortcuts only work while I'm inside Pie Control itself. I can go to WhatsApp or Dialer for example from Pie Control, but once I'm in another app, I can't go to the others via Pie Control shortcuts.
Reachability Cursor is another one, I can't tap icons, though it can be fixed by disable and re-enable its accessibility settings.
Videoder (a video downloading app) shows pop up with download button whenever I copy a video link, but when I tap that button, nothing happens and the pop up just go away. BUT when I open the link inside the app, I can download the video just fine.
it seems like apps don't work outside of their "environment", I don't know if there's any setting switch that I'm missing or something...