Related
I'm gonna stop using Aim, along with every other messaging client. My only problem is that none of my friends actually use Google Talk, but the majority of them actually have an Android and obviously have a Google account. I need to build up a list of reasons why they should use it so I can actually convince them to
start using it.
Thanks in advance
Sent from my LG-VM670 running Harmonia2 IHO using Tapatalk
because you can. I cant use it in ontario canada. drives me nuts!
Because of the integration the google apps have on android for obvious reasons lol.
I know it's light on the battery, notifications work flawlessly, GTalk never crashed for me, and I'm sure it doesn't need to be updated so often.
Every Android user got it on his phone, so no need to install another application for chating
I'll give a con:
it disconnects (other people see you offline) WAY TOO often.
Around the web you may find scripts useful to reduce heartbeats interval (means keepalive), but you need root at least in order to use them.
I'd love to use gTalk. Unfortunately, it fails as a always on chat app. Ironic, isn't it ?
Other than a rooted Nook tablet I don't have much experience with Android. I'm coming from an iPhone4 and looking forward to something new.
What are the must have utilities and apps?
Any tips or must have, must do things?
I've seen doubletwist mentioned and Samsung uses Kies.
Looking forward to Note...
See the Guide for NOOBS sticky at the top of this forum ^^^^
thinguy said:
Other than a rooted Nook tablet I don't have much experience with Android. I'm coming from an iPhone4 and looking forward to something new.
What are the must have utilities and apps?
Any tips or must have, must do things?
I've seen doubletwist mentioned and Samsung uses Kies.
Looking forward to Note...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never used kies with either my captivate or infuse. Don't see the need with other apps, as well as the fact that you can just drag and drop files onto your phone's storage. Syncing reminds me of an iphone, and is stupid in my opinion. Drag and drop allows you to only add the files you need/want, and is much faster in the long run.
I suggest using Google Music for your music, it automatically uploads up to 20,000 songs automatically from your itunes or windows media player to the cloud so that you can access them wherever.
If you use grooveshark at all, check out Dood's music streamer. Allows you to use grooveshark on the go without paying for premium service. If you have not used grooveshark before, check it out on your computer.
Google voice provides a simple, visual voicemail system, though I think I have read somewhere that the note has visual voicemail built in? Could be wrong.
XDA app is a must, though I assume you use that on your Nook already.
Dropbox is useful for documents, as well as google docs.
The note comes with S Note and other various apps that make use of the S pen.
Dolphin Browser HD is a great replacement browser that I have used with all of my androids.
Evernote is useful for taking notes that can be accessed on your phone or any computer. I hope the S pen can have some functionality with this app.
Root explorer is definitely worth the few bucks it costs to have access to all of the files on your phone.
Titanium backup is a must if you are into ROMing your devices, as it will allow you to restore your apps after every flash with ease. The free version works, but you have to approve every app install. I suggest buying the full version, as the restore process is fully automated and can run in the background or with your screen off, making the process much less cumbersome.
Other than that, we will have to wait and see if apps such as rom manager and such will be of any use to the flashing process once the devs get their hands on the device and start pumping out custom roms.
OP, i'm also as green as you on the Android platform. I have an iphone 4s and got the Note just to explore Android.
jpeg42 said:
See the Guide for NOOBS sticky at the top of this forum ^^^^
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you read it? Its just Android definitions and reserved spots for future use. No specific info on tips, advice or apps.
welchertc said:
I have never used kies with either my captivate or infuse. Don't see the need with other apps, as well as the fact that you can just drag and drop files onto your phone's storage. Syncing reminds me of an iphone, and is stupid in my opinion. Drag and drop allows you to only add the files you need/want, and is much faster in the long run.
I suggest using Google Music for your music, it automatically uploads up to 20,000 songs automatically from your itunes or windows media player to the cloud so that you can access them wherever.
If you use grooveshark at all, check out Dood's music streamer. Allows you to use grooveshark on the go without paying for premium service. If you have not used grooveshark before, check it out on your computer.
Google voice provides a simple, visual voicemail system, though I think I have read somewhere that the note has visual voicemail built in? Could be wrong.
XDA app is a must, though I assume you use that on your Nook already.
Dropbox is useful for documents, as well as google docs.
The note comes with S Note and other various apps that make use of the S pen.
Dolphin Browser HD is a great replacement browser that I have used with all of my androids.
Evernote is useful for taking notes that can be accessed on your phone or any computer. I hope the S pen can have some functionality with this app.
Root explorer is definitely worth the few bucks it costs to have access to all of the files on your phone.
Titanium backup is a must if you are into ROMing your devices, as it will allow you to restore your apps after every flash with ease. The free version works, but you have to approve every app install. I suggest buying the full version, as the restore process is fully automated and can run in the background or with your screen off, making the process much less cumbersome.
Other than that, we will have to wait and see if apps such as rom manager and such will be of any use to the flashing process once the devs get their hands on the device and start pumping out custom roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I forget that it can be handled like a normal usb device/storage.
I need to try Dolphin, using Opera on Nook now and it's better than the default but still lacking. The firefox app seems terrible/incomplete.
thinguy said:
Other than a rooted Nook tablet I don't have much experience with Android. I'm coming from an iPhone4 and looking forward to something new.
What are the must have utilities and apps?
Any tips or must have, must do things?
I've seen doubletwist mentioned and Samsung uses Kies.
Looking forward to Note...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a captivate and have used froyo and gingerbread. I suspect you will find the gingerbread used on the g-note okay but not as polished and as smooth as your iOS. That said, the new android ICS (using cm9 alpha, build 16) is is incredible. Smooth, clean, powerful and intuitive. A pleasure to use, I believe It offers the best of both worlds. The ease of apple and the configurable power of android.
Since you have a nook you can try it out, the nook ics rom is very usable and will give you a hint of the g-note goodness to come with the ics operating system the xda guys will cook up. I have a nook to, and if you have rooted it, the ics install will be relatively simple.
The following list are some Apps you might find worth looking at, and depending on your interest, might even be worth paying for.
Music; I use Power Amp, paid app. clean seductive interface, lots of audio magic for the music lover, and great developer support.
Files; Webdav; paid ver. Nice little app let's you wireless mount your android as a drive so you can cut/paste files and folders as you would to and from any other drive on your PC. Great for lots of audio book files, movies, or just cleaning up your phone. You can use 3g instead of wifi but I've never tried it.
Podcasts; Dogcatcher, paid app. simply the best. Its biggest competition is Mypod. I used it for over a year, but never was able to get comfortable with its interface. Dogcatcher....you can just start using it, and it has lots of options.
Sling player, TV goodness, paid app and home box. Watch anything straight from your home cable, sat., or ota tuner, perfect if your a sports nut.
Launcher; Nova , free app. I am still testing but it is just so sexy and free so I figured I give it a mention.
Radio; Tune in , free app. music sports news radio stations with easy search presets. It is to good to be true but I haven't found a downside yet.
Browser; Dolphin HD, free app. I can't get excited about this one. It works, the speed is good, and it is not going to choke on flash. I would like to recommend Opera but it has been very buggy lately, I don't think it is playing nice with ics.
Google chrome is getting great reviews but it doesn't support flash. Then there is Boat browser and Quick Ics browser both show great promise but not sure about them yet.
I've got a G-note on order, for the lte and its monster screen. The thing is, since I got ics, my captivate is such a pleasure to use and play with I don't know how I'll survive waiting for a ics port.
Oh, and samsungs kies program might have some use but I've never found it.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium
vizographic said:
Browser; Dolphin HD, free app. I can't get excited about this one. It works, the speed is good, and it is not going to choke on flash. I would like to recommend Opera but it has been very buggy lately, I don't think it is playing nice with ics.
Google chrome is getting great reviews but it doesn't support flash. Then there is Boat browser and Quick Ics browser both show great promise but not sure about them yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm very disappointed to hear that Opera is buggy with ICS--it's my favorite browser by far. <sarcasm>Fortunately</sarcasm>, we probably won't have a working ICS ROM for I717 any time soon. For the OP, this is Opera Mobile, not Opera Mini--the latter handles all traffic through opera's servers and compresses images to speed up browsing for slow phones or phones with poor connections, but the result is that many webpages with active (javascript or flash) content just don't work right.
Also a word of warning for the OP: if you choose Dolphin, make sure you are rooted and block en.mywebzines.com (and maybe some other related URLs) through your hosts file. The spyware seems to be removed in the latest update, but I still won't trust a browser that, at any time in its history, forwarded essentially all of your web activity to a third party server. There's a long thread around here that discusses these issues in more depth.
Browsers are very much a matter of personal preference though; also, if you use a browser that matches your desktop browser, it makes syncing the two much easier--firefox, opera, and chrome all have great sync capabilities between their desktop and mobile counterparts.
Thanks for the link, a very disturbing read regarding the Dolphin Browser HD. I took aggressive data mining for granted, but damn the DB-hd boys are into strip mining personal data...... thanks again for taking the time to post...
OP, please forget i even mentioned Dolphin
(i going to.. ; ) and give Opera a shot. He is right were not gonna be on ics for good stretch, and by the time we are any quirks will be ironed out. It is a great overall program with lots of features. It has usually been my daily driver since the long gone days of windows mobile.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium
root question?
Since ICS is a ways off, If we root for TiBU, or Root explorer to remove certain system apps, will we get ICS FOTA, or will we not get it without unrooting and replacing all bloat we removed?
So my question is -any advice for those of us who root but want the OTA ICS when it comes out?
Should have put this out first- will the method for the international version for root work for the ATT one?
I saw another thread about hiding apps in some guy's wife's phone to track her. I'm looking for something similar with my wife, but it does not need to be hidden. Mainly to be used because I commute quite a distance and this would let her know how close I am to home (rather than having me text while driving). Similarly for her when she's travelling.
Just an app that would:-
1. Allow me to see where she is (and vice-versa)
2. Use GPS if on, otherwise fall back on net information
3. Not use SMSes (some sort of internet-based communication between phones)
I could probably hack something up using Tasker but her phone isn't rooted like mine is so the capabilities for GPS etc are a bit more limited (and time is limited, of course).
Thanks!
Already built in
ngoonee said:
I saw another thread about hiding apps in some guy's wife's phone to track her. I'm looking for something similar with my wife, but it does not need to be hidden. Mainly to be used because I commute quite a distance and this would let her know how close I am to home (rather than having me text while driving). Similarly for her when she's travelling.
Just an app that would:-
1. Allow me to see where she is (and vice-versa)
2. Use GPS if on, otherwise fall back on net information
3. Not use SMSes (some sort of internet-based communication between phones)
I could probably hack something up using Tasker but her phone isn't rooted like mine is so the capabilities for GPS etc are a bit more limited (and time is limited, of course).
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can actually do this with the built in google maps application. It's called local/latitude. You can share where you are and control who sees it an when. Go ahead and look into it. Much better then downloading another app IMHO.
See here: Google search latitude android
Thanks, yeah I know about latitude features but it seems to lack a way to "ping" the other party with the equivalent of "hey, I've reached road X"
Sent from my GT-P7500 using Tapatalk HD
Use an app called Backitude from the Play Store. Latitude updates pretty arbitrarily on its own. This app allows you to control how and when it updates, and also let's another person force an update on your phone by sending an SMS. It's all Internet based except the update triggering part. You can also use the tracking features of Cerberus, another app in the Play Store.
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium
As a long time android user (since the T-Mobile G1 so about 5 years) i decided to try the Lumia 920 a few days ago and so far i`am loving it, so here are my first thoughts :
- The speed and lagless performance of the OS powered by a dual core cpu instead by a quad- or octocore cpu that is required for android. Clearly the OS and hardware are far better optimized than android. Also i had no reboots or fc`s so far.
- Many specific Nokia apps like Drive that enables navigation without a data connection required as you can download and install maps from the country`s you need.
- Seemless integration and synchronisation with Google and great data/contacts/calender transference when setting up the phone.
- Though there are obviously less apps available than with iOs and android there are many more than i initialy thought and most good and important apps are available. Only Dropbox is limited imo as it doesn`t sync and add automaticaly.
- Great camera and speakers.
- Good call quality.
I didn`t think it was going to be as good as it turned out so far but atm i don`t miss android at all and so i might stick with WP8 for a long(er) while than i anticipated.
Hope the coming update planned for July will bring some more goodies
if any problem with Google sync, simple set Google account via advanced setup
settings - email+accounts - add an account - advanced setup
- add your account info
- select Exchange ActiveSync
- add other data (dont forget to enter full email address for username), for server use m.google.com
- Sign in.... that's all
for calendar's problems look Microsoft advises
http://microsoft-news.com/sync-google-calendar-events-to-windows-calendar-app-via-outlook-com/
P.S.
Also must have app for WP is Store Deals to check latest discounts and occasional free periods for pay apps
Don't know what you mean about seemless integration with Google Calendar. Can't edit it at all. I had to follow Microsoft's tip and subscribe to it via Outlook.com but you can't edit the Google calendar that way as it is read only. Email and contacts are great. Hopefully the update that includes CalDAV support will fix the calendar issues.
Spectre51 said:
Don't know what you mean about seemless integration with Google Calendar. Can't edit it at all. I had to follow Microsoft's tip and subscribe to it via Outlook.com but you can't edit the Google calendar that way as it is read only. Email and contacts are great. Hopefully the update that includes CalDAV support will fix the calendar issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use Google calendar which i don't changes you make on the regular calender on the phone will sync to the google calendar and vice versa if you change google calendar on the PC. Just use the normal calendar on the phone and it should sync with your other calenders linked through google or hotmail.
Solarenemy68 said:
If you use Google calendar which i don't changes you make on the regular calender on the phone will sync to the google calendar and vice versa if you change google calendar on the PC. Just use the normal calendar on the phone and it should sync with your other calenders linked through google or hotmail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I was getting my windows devices mixed up.....It is working for me on WP8 just not Windows 8
Agreed in everything.
worst problem I found in WP8? Whatsapp...not always updating, got the notification but not the message....and we really need a good video player with mp4, avi and srt support.....and a notification center.
Any MS guy ever read this forum?
ramping said:
Agreed in everything.
worst problem I found in WP8? Whatsapp...not always updating, got the notification but not the message....and we really need a good video player with mp4, avi and srt support.....and a notification center.
Any MS guy ever read this forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whats app working fine for me... no missed or late notification....
also avi and mp4 files work fine... and dont except or hope for srt (or any other subtitle) player... f you hope for this, you not learn anything about WP....
dxdy said:
whats app working fine for me... no missed or late notification....
also avi and mp4 files work fine... and dont except or hope for srt (or any other subtitle) player... f you hope for this, you not learn anything about WP....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YXPlayer can play videos with srt subtitles....but it´s a crappy app.
Still waiting for the VLC official app.
Anyone expiriace any problems with whatsapp?
Mobtel063 said:
Anyone expiriace any problems with whatsapp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use it; I use Skype and MetroTalk. Skype's not free but I'm not going to worry about paying on average $60 a year; $5 a month. It doesn't require my universe to have the identical app on the other end.
Quick question...
I really, really, really detest my Xperia S now, like really detest it.
The lagging, god-awful camera, the freezing, everything.
I would try to install a custom Rom, but my Bootlocker unlocked allowed is: no.
I'm really not a high-end user. No interest in games, or intensive apps.
Camera, browsing, travel apps are the main interest for me.
I can get rid of it and pay approx £60-£100 to get the Lumia 920
Would you guys advise it?
steevio_uk said:
Quick question...
I really, really, really detest my Xperia S now, like really detest it.
The lagging, god-awful camera, the freezing, everything.
I would try to install a custom Rom, but my Bootlocker unlocked allowed is: no.
I'm really not a high-end user. No interest in games, or intensive apps.
Camera, browsing, travel apps are the main interest for me.
I can get rid of it and pay approx £60-£100 to get the Lumia 920
Would you guys advise it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought the 920 to replace the xperia t I had, best thing I ever did
It's fast, fluid, no freezes or hangups, battery life is great for me, the camera is awesome and I love the wireless charging.
If you can live without the modding and just use your phone for what it is then I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Sent from the event horizon of a quantum singularity
steevio_uk said:
Quick question...
I really, really, really detest my Xperia S now, like really detest it.
The lagging, god-awful camera, the freezing, everything.
I would try to install a custom Rom, but my Bootlocker unlocked allowed is: no.
I'm really not a high-end user. No interest in games, or intensive apps.
Camera, browsing, travel apps are the main interest for me.
I can get rid of it and pay approx £60-£100 to get the Lumia 920
Would you guys advise it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been an iPhone user and then a multitude of android phones user (Samsung) before embracing WP8.
My opinion: iPhone is fine if you just want a phone that works - although Apple lost me after the release of the iPhone 4: I was obviously holding it wrong when I wanted to make a call so it mostly wouldn't iOS is simple to use and has lots of apps, but is a walled garden.
Android, while open and extremely customizable, really annoyed me: at first the phones were fine, then became laggy over time. I also found I was frequently rebooting the phones daily. You shouldn't have to install a custom ROM for it to work smoothly. While there are a lot of apps, they are mostly poor quality compared to their iOS counterparts.
So I decided on trying out WP8 around 4 months ago and bought a Lumia 920. First off the build quality is excellent, it's a solid lump of a phone, not tacky plastic feeling like the Samsungs I had. The operating system has NEVER lagged on me...EVER. I only found out a few weeks after I'd had it how to reboot it, and I only did that to find out how to, not that it needed it. Although not nearly as customizable as the androids, I personally got bored doing so with the Samsungs anyway. I love the Live Tiles on the Lumia 920. Again there are nowhere near the amount of apps as iOS or Android, but those there are I find to be as good as iOS apps.
The camera is excellent. So good in fact that when my other half wants pictures taken she asks me to do so - she has an iPhone 5.
At first I was worried by the fact you cannot use a memory card, but honestly I find the 32gb onboard to be plenty - never had to go through and delete stuff to make more room. An added bonus is the wireless charging - I still think it's witchcraft :laugh: no idea how or why it works but it does lol
So in summary, yes - I thoroughly recommend the Lumia 920 for your needs: the camera is great, the stock browser is quick and I never had a problem with it and navigation is top notch.
Thanks so much for your replies.
I have had the phone for 4-5 days now and I am absolutely delighted by the decision. Possibly the best hardware change/update I've ever made.
I am finding excuses for taking pictures, such is the quality of the camera, enjoying getting to grips with the new layout and O/S, trying to find decent apps for certain things I used on Android, the main one being the notes app, which was sat on my Android home screen and I used regularly as a 1 click solution to add a note and remind me of things.
Something like that, as a simple live tile would be great, but haven't found such an app yet. (Any you guys suggest?)
I was initially very concerned by the battery life. I took it out with me after an initial charge and found the battery draining away at an alarming rate, even with it in my pocket!
But as I'm sure you're well aware, there's the changes to remedy this;; turning NFC off, location, background apps, getting used to exiting an app with the back button etc.
Great battery life now.
Just ordered a case and I'm one happy bunny!
My god, the Xperia S seems like a distant nightmare now! :victory:
Alright, So we've seen Firefox running on Android Wear, however we can't enter any menus due to no softkeys on the device. I have been trying to install apps such as "Virtual Button Bar" and SoftKeys for Root Users onto the watch and they install and run. But only the home button works. Neither the back or menu button seems to work in any application.
Has anyone else attempted to get some softkeys for controls in unsupported apps that may be able to enlighten me more on why these keypresses seem to be ignored by the OS..
ShadowEO said:
Alright, So we've seen Firefox running on Android Wear, however we can't enter any menus due to no softkeys on the device. I have been trying to install apps such as "Virtual Button Bar" and SoftKeys for Root Users onto the watch and they install and run. But only the home button works. Neither the back or menu button seems to work in any application.
Has anyone else attempted to get some softkeys for controls in unsupported apps that may be able to enlighten me more on why these keypresses seem to be ignored by the OS..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With LMT all the keys that can get on-screen are working just fine in apps that support them but the problem is the app can't be launched (FC-most probably because it has an action bar) so you can't edit the buttons or the size of them, they just work but are over sized.
Ranomez said:
With LMT all the keys that can get on-screen are working just fine in apps that support them but the problem is the app can't be launched (FC-most probably because it has an action bar) so you can't edit the buttons or the size of them, they just work but are over sized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you can install LMT on your phone, customize it first, then go to /data/data/... or an appropriate location to grab the config and push it into the watch.
I'm also considering buying a GW, so if this somehow works, please let me know.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
AndyYan said:
I wonder if you can install LMT on your phone, customize it first, then go to /data/data/... or an appropriate location to grab the config and push it into the watch.
I'm also considering buying a GW, so if this somehow works, please let me know.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes ofc it will work but the problem with that is that it will take a lot of time to customize the settings right for the watch and each time you copy the files to data/data remember that you will need to set the right permissions, owner and SELinux context for each and every file and considering that currently SELinux contexts can differ from one device to an other and from one ROM to an other that will be really time consuming and hard as you will have to find an app on your watch that has the same types of files to see the SELinux contexts for each of them.
To say it short yes you can do that but it will probably take you at least 1 day and I don't have the time or patience to do that and I doubt many people on this forum will but ofc if you do buy a G Watch have a go at it and tell us just how much time you've wasted.
Ranomez said:
Yes ofc it will work but the problem with that is that it will take a lot of time to customize the settings right for the watch and each time you copy the files to data/data remember that you will need to set the right permissions, owner and SELinux context for each and every file and considering that currently SELinux contexts can differ from one device to an other and from one ROM to an other that will be really time consuming and hard as you will have to find an app on your watch that has the same types of files to see the SELinux contexts for each of them.
To say it short yes you can do that but it will probably take you at least 1 day and I don't have the time or patience to do that and I doubt many people on this forum will but ofc if you do buy a G Watch have a go at it and tell us just how much time you've wasted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I doubt it would take that much effort, because I've tried manually moving config for some other apps without even touching the permissions, and they seem to fix that automatically. System apps don't like that way, though.
But seeing how Android Wear hates ActionBar, thus making many of my apps unavailable, I don't know if I'd still buy one. Yes I do want something Android on my wrist, but if it's just time-telling and Google Now (which is not even available here in China), then I'm not paying that chunk for it.
What apps do you have, then?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
AndyYan said:
Hmm, I doubt it would take that much effort, because I've tried manually moving config for some other apps without even touching the permissions, and they seem to fix that automatically. System apps don't like that way, though.
But seeing how Android Wear hates ActionBar, thus making many of my apps unavailable, I don't know if I'd still buy one. Yes I do want something Android on my wrist, but if it's just time-telling and Google Now (which is not even available here in China), then I'm not paying that chunk for it.
What apps do you have, then?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you are talking about moving configs to the same phone I guess? Also if not were you on android 5.x+ cause if yes SELinux has became really strict, to the point that if you mess up some contexts on any file in the data partition you could even get a bootloop (happened to me) or have all your apps disappear and be unable to install any app until you fix up the SELinux context (again happened to me), which you will have to do using adb in that state if you don't happen to have and file manager with root capabilities installed in /system/app or /system/priv-app.
Also to answer your question: yes most normal android apps don't work but there are some that do, even some games and some are even really playable, moreover there are enough useful android wear apps out there, I don't know what you plan to use your watch for but for me it does way more than enough, after all it's a watch, it's not like I'll ever want to spend a lot of time looking at it doing anything but I can do some fast reading on it when I need (not like I'll ever read a whole book on it, that's why I have an android e-book reader or even my phone in the worst case scenario), browsing the internet fast (ofc it needs to be connected to a phone with a data connection), receive and send messages, reject calls, even some light or not so light gaming, even things as Temple Run 2, can play music when I don't have my phone using a bluetooth headset/speaker), the only thing I miss is a full office suite, really, I am writing a novel at the moment and never know when I get some inspiration and have to write down what I have in my mind pretty fast so I don't forget, would love to just be able to write on the watch and not have to take out my phone for that.
Also I would suggest that if you have the money you should go with a watch that has wi-fi like the G Watch R or Urbane cause then you will be able to use the internet without a phone, also the screen of the G Watch is really bad in the sun, I had a Sony Smartwatch 2 before and that was way more limited software wise (and for that reason had a battery life of over 1 week) but the screen was miles ahead, I could see everything in powerful sun light without even setting the brightness to the maximum, on the G Watch I can barely see anything with the brightness at maximum in not so powerful sun light.
Does LMT contain the menu button by default? I could care less if it's a little oversized (as long as it's not to big for 150-175 DPI), but I'm about to reset my watch using the restore tools because I screwed up root while trying to get SoftKeyz (EDIT: I believe was the name of the softkey app I was trying to make work, can't remember and just finished resetting) to work correctly.
Ranomez said:
Well you are talking about moving configs to the same phone I guess? Also if not were you on android 5.x+ cause if yes SELinux has became really strict, to the point that if you mess up some contexts on any file in the data partition you could even get a bootloop (happened to me) or have all your apps disappear and be unable to install any app until you fix up the SELinux context (again happened to me), which you will have to do using adb in that state if you don't happen to have and file manager with root capabilities installed in /system/app or /system/priv-app.
Also to answer your question: yes most normal android apps don't work but there are some that do, even some games and some are even really playable, moreover there are enough useful android wear apps out there, I don't know what you plan to use your watch for but for me it does way more than enough, after all it's a watch, it's not like I'll ever want to spend a lot of time looking at it doing anything but I can do some fast reading on it when I need (not like I'll ever read a whole book on it, that's why I have an android e-book reader or even my phone in the worst case scenario), browsing the internet fast (ofc it needs to be connected to a phone with a data connection), receive and send messages, reject calls, even some light or not so light gaming, even things as Temple Run 2, can play music when I don't have my phone using a bluetooth headset/speaker), the only thing I miss is a full office suite, really, I am writing a novel at the moment and never know when I get some inspiration and have to write down what I have in my mind pretty fast so I don't forget, would love to just be able to write on the watch and not have to take out my phone for that.
Also I would suggest that if you have the money you should go with a watch that has wi-fi like the G Watch R or Urbane cause then you will be able to use the internet without a phone, also the screen of the G Watch is really bad in the sun, I had a Sony Smartwatch 2 before and that was way more limited software wise (and for that reason had a battery life of over 1 week) but the screen was miles ahead, I could see everything in powerful sun light without even setting the brightness to the maximum, on the G Watch I can barely see anything with the brightness at maximum in not so powerful sun light.
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Thanks for compiling such a long response for me :thumbup:
As my signature says most of my devices are on 5.1. Moving some game saves across devices works nicely, though moving contacts database involves modifying owner and permission, but not SEL context - to be honest, I don't even know that ever matters.
Sure I don't have many things in mind when it comes to "what to do with GW"... Back when I was using the Gear, I had quite some apps on it, but most of the time I use it as a timekeeper. But not being compatible with ActionBar is so shocking - I can't imagine how many apps I've used on the Gear so nicely won't work with GW, the most important of which are Greenify, LMT and Root Explorer. Looks like I still have to do much research before I decide on a purchase.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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AndyYan said:
Thanks for compiling such a long response for me :thumbup:
As my signature says most of my devices are on 5.1. Moving some game saves across devices works nicely, though moving contacts database involves modifying owner and permission, but not SEL context - to be honest, I don't even know that ever matters.
Sure I don't have many things in mind when it comes to "what to do with GW"... Back when I was using the Gear, I had quite some apps on it, but most of the time I use it as a timekeeper. But not being compatible with ActionBar is so shocking - I can't imagine how many apps I've used on the Gear so nicely won't work with GW, the most important of which are Greenify, LMT and Root Explorer. Looks like I still have to do much research before I decide on a purchase.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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I just looked at your signature and now I know why you had no problem with moving data from one device to an other: all your devices are running CM so they will all use the same security contexts but CM's security contexts are different from normal stock AOSP's contexts and both are different from the contexts used in Samsung TW ROM's, I can bet that if you try to move the data to a stock nexus or some other device running a manufacturer ROM or an other custom ROM than CM (most do use the same contexts but some don't) you will get into problems. SELinux contexts seem to be now just as important as permissions, sometimes you can get around with the wrong owner but if you have wrong Permissions or SELinux contexts you might mess up more than what you were changing.
Also about the app compatibility thing....I don't really miss many apps that I run on my normal devices, the only one I can actually think of is Titanium Backup (and an office app as I said), I found a good replacement for root explorer in MiXplorer, greenify is totally un-needed and wouldn't be too useful even if it worked (I'm actually not sure if it does or not, to me that layout looked like the action bar is either a non-default implementation so it might work without it) because the xposed installer doesn't work (FC-same reason, action bar) but I think xposed could work if someone adapted the installer (doesn't seem to me that the OS-level differences are so big, it's more of the framework), didn't yet try but just for a lol will flash the xposed lollipop zip and see if I can still boot.
An other option for you might be to buy a Gear S, as far as I can see there is some development going on towards running (initially) android wear on it and further afterwards full android.
Ranomez said:
I just looked at your signature and now I know why you had no problem with moving data from one device to an other: all your devices are running CM so they will all use the same security contexts but CM's security contexts are different from normal stock AOSP's contexts and both are different from the contexts used in Samsung TW ROM's, I can bet that if you try to move the data to a stock nexus or some other device running a manufacturer ROM or an other custom ROM than CM (most do use the same contexts but some don't) you will get into problems. SELinux contexts seem to be now just as important as permissions, sometimes you can get around with the wrong owner but if you have wrong Permissions or SELinux contexts you might mess up more than what you were changing.
Also about the app compatibility thing....I don't really miss many apps that I run on my normal devices, the only one I can actually think of is Titanium Backup (and an office app as I said), I found a good replacement for root explorer in MiXplorer, greenify is totally un-needed and wouldn't be too useful even if it worked (I'm actually not sure if it does or not, to me that layout looked like the action bar is either a non-default implementation so it might work without it) because the xposed installer doesn't work (FC-same reason, action bar) but I think xposed could work if someone adapted the installer (doesn't seem to me that the OS-level differences are so big, it's more of the framework), didn't yet try but just for a lol will flash the xposed lollipop zip and see if I can still boot.
An other option for you might be to buy a Gear S, as far as I can see there is some development going on towards running (initially) android wear on it and further afterwards full android.
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Hmm, you got a good point there. I also move data between one of the CM phones and the TF300TL tablet, but SEL is nonexistent in Android 4.2, so I guess you're right.
Gear S is way out of my reach - if I had that cash I'd buy a ZenWatch, a 360 or even an Omate TrueSmart without hesitation. But thanks for letting me know all this anyway - I choose not to look at GW and Android Wear at this moment.
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AndyYan said:
Hmm, you got a good point there. I also move data between one of the CM phones and the TF300TL tablet, but SEL is nonexistent in Android 4.2, so I guess you're right.
Gear S is way out of my reach - if I had that cash I'd buy a ZenWatch, a 360 or even an Omate TrueSmart without hesitation. But thanks for letting me know all this anyway - I choose not to look at GW and Android Wear at this moment.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
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You could instead look at a Gear Live then, it at least has a heart rate sensor and a way better screen for outdoors and at least in my country it is in the same price range as the G Watch (actually cheaper) but yes, I can't totally recommend android wear as it is right now, it's good enough (at least for me) but I can also see why a normal pure android watch could be way better yet I have faith that this will change.
Also I really can't recommend the Omate or any other MediaTek smart watch as 1st most of them have no resistance to water whatsoever, 2nd they have no support from and 3rd the firmware on them has so many security holes and other flaws it looks like a schweizer.
EDIT: I forgot to say that if you want full android you could search for a SmartQ Z-watch, as far as I know that is a pretty good one and also pretty cheap (on pandawill when it was on "last time sale" it was sold for 30$ and I am talking about the normal not the lite one, the lite one isn't worth it) but I don't think it will be updated anymore, yet android 4.4 is pretty good compared to other android smart watches.
Ranomez said:
You could instead look at a Gear Live then, it at least has a heart rate sensor and a way better screen for outdoors and at least in my country it is in the same price range as the G Watch (actually cheaper) but yes, I can't totally recommend android wear as it is right now, it's good enough (at least for me) but I can also see why a normal pure android watch could be way better yet I have faith that this will change.
Also I really can't recommend the Omate or any other MediaTek smart watch as 1st most of them have no resistance to water whatsoever, 2nd they have no support from and 3rd the firmware on them has so many security holes and other flaws it looks like a schweizer.
EDIT: I forgot to say that if you want full android you could search for a SmartQ Z-watch, as far as I know that is a pretty good one and also pretty cheap (on pandawill when it was on "last time sale" it was sold for 30$ and I am talking about the normal not the lite one, the lite one isn't worth it) but I don't think it will be updated anymore, yet android 4.4 is pretty good compared to other android smart watches.
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Z Watch? No thanks, I've tried that *before* the Gear, and I sold it within a week and lost $15 in the process - crappy 1GHz MIPS which is not only slow but also lacks compatibility for almost everything I throw at it - not even a custom launcher or a weather app would work. Omate's MTK is indeed unfavorable, and that's why I haven't already got one. And there aren't many people who sell Gear Live here. Which leaves me zero feasible choice.
I guess I could call it an end to my hunt of smartwatches, until something like Neptune Pine (but thinner and lighter) shows up. Thanks for helping me analyze the situation all this time!
AndyYan said:
Z Watch? No thanks, I've tried that *before* the Gear, and I sold it within a week and lost $15 in the process - crappy 1GHz MIPS which is not only slow but also lacks compatibility for almost everything I throw at it - not even a custom launcher or a weather app would work. Omate's MTK is indeed unfavorable, and that's why I haven't already got one. And there aren't many people who sell Gear Live here. Which leaves me zero feasible choice.
I guess I could call it an end to my hunt of smartwatches, until something like Neptune Pine (but thinner and lighter) shows up. Thanks for helping me analyze the situation all this time!
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Well the compatibility thing has changed as ingenic released a compatibility layer (something like libhoudini for intel CPU's) so as far as I can see from a friend's Z Watch it can run almost anything one would throw at it (ok, anything a bit rational, only apps that can actually be useful on a watch) but yes that CPU is not the fastest and the firmware is not really optimized enough so you would need a custom ROM and perhaps some RAM management script like L Speed to get it lag-free yet I can say my friend's z watch behaves pretty well on Dj Droid, it wasn't really lag-free the 2 weeks time we exchanged watches so I could test it but that's just cause I was using xposed and quite a few modules and also had about 100 apps installed, the lag wasn't really the problem for me, the annoying thing for me was the app load times, it would take me up to 1 minute to launch a 3d game.
This being said I would still recommend you to wait for something better, smartwatches right now are good but I see a lot more potential and I am sure in a few years we will see amazing ones, perhaps as good as our older phones in regards to app compatibility and flexibility, who knows, perhaps they'll even be as powerful as our current phones (as far as it goes phones in 1 year will probably be much powerful than our current phones so anything's possible).
EDIT: I also forgot to say that many apps have been adapted for MIPS since then so even without the compatibility layer there are enough apps working on the Z Watch.