Hey guys,
So, as many of you have noticed by now, the stock Desk Clock / Dockmode app that was present in the S4 and other galaxy devices is nowhere to be found in the Note 4. As I use my phone every night in one of the Samsung charging docks next to my bed as my alarm clock and media player, I'd really love to find a good replacement. So, does anyone know of a good clock or desk dock app?
Here's are the features that I'd like to have most:
Needs to have a night/sleep mode- want the screen to darken, maybe switch to just the clock, and it needs to move around to prevent burn-in while it's on all night long.
Needs to have a good alarm setup- I'd be happy with either having it utilize the stock alarm app, or if not then it'll need to be a pretty bulletproof alarm. I generally have 3 alarms set (I'm a heavy sleeper ) and I need to be able to trust that they'll all go off correctly in sequence.
Would like shortcuts to other apps- I usually have music or audiobooks playing at night when I'm going to sleep, so it would be nice to have the ability to either set custom app shortcuts or to have a built in shortcut to music, but with the Note 4's app-switching capabilities this is not a dead set requirement, it would just be nice.
Would like it to look good- I really liked how the stock S4 dock app had the weather, the time, shortcuts, etc., and it all looked really clean and nice doing it. Soft tones, transparency, what can I say- I'm a sucker for eye candy!
So, anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!
Try Kaloer Clock, it works well.
Just thought I'd update, I tried Kaoler Clock but wasn't a huge fan, didn't like how it looked and the alarm options weren't really all that impressive. I'm currently trying out the trial of Gentle Alarm, so far I'm pretty impressed. No shortcut options to other apps, but it's definitely got everything else I was interested in and more- the alarm setup is fantastic, REALLY like the pre-alarm function, and the level of control for every aspect of alarm and app behavior is staggering. Has a very respectable night mode/desk clock, not quite as nice looking and info-rich as some others I've tried but certainly acceptable.
Only problem is the trial version doesn't play alarms on Wednesdays (I know, right?) so if I decide to keep using it I'll need to spend the $3 to purchase the full version (which also gets rid of ads). So far I'm thinking I'll probably end up getting it, but I figure I'll keep trying it out until Tuesday night rolls around and if I just have to have it for Wednesday morning I'll know it's the one and buy it then.
U can use daydream with dashclock widget
Sent from my SM-N910C using XDA Free mobile app
Timely is my favorite and I think it has everything you need aside from the shortcuts
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.bitspin.timely&hl=en
Yeah, I've tried Timely and it's certainly very pretty, but again I didn't like the alarm set-up at all. I think I also ran into a problem where it would play the alarm simultaneously over the phone speakers and the media stream to my external speakers, which sounded like poop. I use music for my alarms and I like it to come out sounding good, not all tinny from the phone speaker.
I gotta say, the more I use it the more I'm really liking Gentle Alarm, I'm pretty convinced at this point that this is the one I'll end up sticking with. We'll see come Tuesday, but I think I'm going to go for it.
Related
I just got my note and coming from the atrix with a notification light, I'm pretty let down this doesn't have one.
Does anyone know of an app or mod that can perhaps light up the soft keys instead? I know you can for the nexus S
erick161 said:
I just got my note and coming from the atrix with a notification light, I'm pretty let down this doesn't have one.
Does anyone know of an app or mod that can perhaps light up the soft keys instead? I know you can for the nexus S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
get one of the custom roms in the dev section, then use BLN control app.
kaishi00 said:
get one of the custom roms in the dev section, then use BLN control app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I just got the phone today, so I wanna do quite a bit of research before I go flashing this phone. I'm wondering if there's a more simple workaround
erick161 said:
Well I just got the phone today, so I wanna do quite a bit of research before I go flashing this phone. I'm wondering if there's a more simple workaround
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not without a custom rom. just mess around with the phone for a week or two to get a baseline feel for it then go custom and enjoy!
erick161 said:
Well I just got the phone today, so I wanna do quite a bit of research before I go flashing this phone. I'm wondering if there's a more simple workaround
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can use the NoLED app from the market but beware that you need to test and configure it to best liking, cause even though it might look like the screen is off is not, it puts dots in the screen as notification, so for the time being before you decide to flash a custom rom, give it a try, I used it for a bit but noticed that if I had a notification on for a long time it killed my battery significantly.
RoloRacer on Galaxy Note!
roloracer said:
you can use the NoLED app from the market but beware that you need to test and configure it to best liking, cause even though it might look like the screen is off is not, it puts dots in the screen as notification, so for the time being before you decide to flash a custom rom, give it a try, I used it for a bit but noticed that if I had a notification on for a long time it killed my battery significantly.
RoloRacer on Galaxy Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. I would get emails in the middle of the night, triggered the NoLED icon and keep my screen on all night. I would go to bed with 90+% and it would drain to about 30% in a few hours. Thank god it had the schedule function so you can disable it when you don't plan on caring about a notification.
Missed Message Flasher, which works for a dozen or two apps and general notifications. For Calendar notifications only I've switched over to Calendar Snooze because it gives more options for vibration, plus adds many options to snooze that the stock Calendar doesn't. I still use MMF for text and some other notifications.
Thanks to all the quick replies. I might try MMF, but will probably just end up rooting/flashing. I cant help myself lol. This note needs ICS...badly
NoLED has worked fine for me for well over a year now. I think the propblem people are encountering is not that their screen is on, it's that their phone is not able to enter deep sleep mode. The technology behind the screen is what allows this app to work without zapping the battery within an hour. Also most people charge at night so this is not an issue. Also noLED has a widget that makes turning the feature on and off a simple task. My phone lasted over 24 hours with no charging and had the noLED notification on at night so there may be more at work for those having issues with it, as I said I only saw it prevented deep sleep but did not trigger "screen on" time in stats as only a few pixels were actually on. I do only use the dots, not the big icons.
Unfortunatly, noLED would be your best bet at this time, IMO. BLN support is sketchy at best. Just make sure you have noLED setup so that it won't keep the screen on for hours on end and your fine. I tried to get BLN support working for the longest time, it was flakey at best on some roms, and all out didn't work with ohters that claimed to have support for it. And with ICS coming out today ( or so they say, look in the dev section for the posts ), BLN support won't exist anyway for a bit
Check out this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yryzWJ0p_cE
BLN control seems to work best for me. Bought the pro version so I could have even more control over the keys
What apps are people using for their alarms?
Right now I use Alarm Droid. I really like it, but i have a problem with it changing my volume settings on its own.
Example: My phone is on vibrate, and I have an alarm that goes off at 9:05am. When I stop the alarm, my volume changes to either silent (which isn't a huge deal), or full volume. Full volume is when I have a problem, because if I don't notice it, I get email or txt notifications during times when my phone needs to be silent.
Has anyone had this kind of problem? If not what apps work reliably for you?
And before anyone suggests it, I can't just use the sense alarm because I am running CleanRom DE which is senseless. Although I have had this problem from the very beginning running the phone bone stock. So...any thoughts?
Sent with a Rezounding HELL YEA!
I use DoubleTwist Alarm, Love it so far, give suggestions for bed time and lets you know how long before the alarm is triggered
Kaloer Clock is my go to. Will Force the alarm volume separate from the system math on snooze or dismiss, quite a few options for customizing the clock face.
umm stock... dont know why i need anything else
what he said. why don't any of you use stock? its just an alarm clock lol. it wakes me up every day without a hitch.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
I rarely use an alarm to wake up with... When I need one, I just set an appointment in Touchdown and let its appointment reminder wake me up.
Alarm clock ultra free.... Great features.... quick nap settings are great and so is the advanced math alarm for days where you absolutely must be up.
Sent from my HTC Rezound using Tapatalk 2
I just use the stock one.
I really miss the Blur Alarm clock from my Droid X. It's the ONLY Blur thing I miss. I like how the entire screen was the snooze button and you had to slide to dismiss. I wish there was a 3rd party alarm that was set up just the same. I have seen a hack to make the CM7 alarm work to look just like it, but nothing else.
Can't see a need to use anything other than the stock one - wakes me up every morning without problems
I use alarm clock xtreme. It seems to let you set the volume in the app independent of other volume levels.
I use stock. I keep all my volumes on high anyway so no need for anything else.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
I use alarms as reminders and have been struggling to find the easiest way to create alarms on the fly. I'm currently using an app called Life Reminders, which has some nice features, but I'm still on the lookout for something better.
I just use the stock one. Works fine for what I need it to do, wake me up
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2
jayochs said:
what he said. why don't any of you use stock? its just an alarm clock lol. it wakes me up every day without a hitch.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Waking up is my kryptonite. If it's to easy to shut my alarm off, or snooze, I will never wake up, or snooze for over an hour. My boss hates the first, my wife hates the second.
Gentle Alarm, it slowly ramps up in volume so it wakes me up and not the wife.
nrfitchett4 said:
I use alarm clock xtreme. It seems to let you set the volume in the app independent of other volume levels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do that in stock, just go to sound in settings and you can adjust alarm volume. Also I use stock sense or aosp, depending on rom
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
Gentle alarm
Like a lot of others said, Stock. Ive never even thought about any other alarm apps. Stock works perfectly fine for me.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium
I like having a larger snooze button, I wake up better if I hit snooze a few times and slowly wake up, it makes me feel like I'm getting a little bit of bonus sleep.
If I have to focus my eyes long enough to slide the "snooze" button into the ring, I've already woken up too much.
If stock is good for you, then great. There are some of us that prefer a huge, easy to use snooze button and then making it more complicated for the dismissal part.
The old HTC clock would turn to a nice desk clock with just a dim digital time when in landscape. The LTE's clock ha the time displayed like it is in settings in a bright white and highlighted bar. TERRIBLE for use as a nighttime bedside clock!!!
anyone have the old sense 3 version of the clock??? i couldn't find any clocks in the HTC hub thing.
---
the flashlight is in the HTC hub though, for anyone looking
---
so, are there settings somewhere to change the clock's appearance?? this clock sucks. it just looks like settings, it locks out standard, just no reason for it at all.
I do know that the clock will change when you apply a skin
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
??
I was looking for the Desk Clock too!
And by what he meant by the skin, when you change your scene, the Big Digital Clock widget's skin changes also
Count me as another person who very much misses the night mode clock. I downloaded "night clock" from the market as a temp solution, but I really would like the old HTC clock back.
I'm also looking for a way to dim the capacitive button backlights when the phone is on the charger.
You should check out Alarm Clock by double twist. It's only a buck right now. It's really nice.
Alarm by Double Twist
doubletwist alarm clock - its ok... but still not desk clock.
someone got the flashlight from sense 3, not the hub, can't anyone with a #D extract the clock apk? i didn't know it would be so hard to find
I'd be interested in this too, and also how you get it installed. I've been searching for a way to install the HTC Note app from the International One X with no luck. I found the apk files, and tried a couple of the obvious methods of installing, but no luck.
i'm screwed, the update gave me 1.5 on the 3d, so i can't back up anything without wiping everything i'm trying to back up, and i can't get into folders to play with extracting any apps either. have to beg someone out there to do this for me!!
I really miss this feature as well. I used it every night after I set my alarm. I've been using the doubletwist alarm clock application for the past few weeks and like it but I still miss the old desk clock mode in the stock app. Hopefully HTC will bring it back in a future update. Seems like an odd omission.
I too noticed that, and is the only thing ticking me off right now about this phone.
I used it every night. You put it in night mode, and it would dim even further.
Best when you wake up half asleep wondering what time it is. Easy on the eyes.
This would be huge if someone can make it work on this phone.
Same story here.... Also I would like a desktop clock that is easy on battery and doesn't shut down the display... Any thought on using any widget combined with widget locker or something like that to create something similar?
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
alexwick said:
Same story here.... Also I would like a desktop clock that is easy on battery and doesn't shut down the display... Any thought on using any widget combined with widget locker or something like that to create something similar?
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doubletwist alarm clock has a "keep screen on" option in settings. Though I've never tried it, that plus one of it's clock displays (the screen dims when you switch to the clock view) might do the trick.
I found that drains battery unreasonably compared to either shut off or the old HTC desk clock option. I've tried everything I could find to replicate the old sense 3 clock. apps just somehow use at least double the battery
So I decided to write this little review to try talk about/point out/explain certain things that I thought other major reviewers (Engadget, The Verge, etc) didn't mention or didn't explain well enough, as well as things I do and don't like about the phone. (Don't let the Great Wall of Text scare you) Here goes!
The first thing I have to point out is how well this phone feels in your hand. I never want to put it down. Ever. That cold aluminum body feels amazing when you pick up the One and really drives home the flagship status of this phone. While this is great, I am terrified of dropping this phone. It feels like it would scratch very easily on a rough surface (I have yet to see a scratch, but I have been babying it until my case arrives). The aluminum feels very similar to the Macbook Pro case. While a lot of people are complaining about the false "zero gap" manufacturing, it virtually is zero gap. I have the slightest of space between the top aluminum strip on the front and the white band circumventing the phone. I would be hard pressed to fit even an eyelash in this gap, however. So far all intents and purposes, I think we can call it zero gap Anything larger than this, and I would consider returning it or waiting a few weeks for HTC to iron out the issue. Just ask to see the phone they give you before buying it and you can avoid this problem all together.
Sense 5 is a welcome upgrade and I don't miss CM 10.1 as much as I thought I would. My most missed feature is quick reply from the notification shade, but I'm living without it. This software flies through animations, opening apps, responding to input, scrolling, everything. Slick as oil. And the aesthetics of Sense 5 aren't too bad either. Not everything is rosy perfect though. Adding apps from the drawer to the homescreen is annoying. You have to tap and hold the app as you normally would. But then instead of transitioning to the home screen automatically so you can place the app somewhere, you have to first drag it all the way to the top left where it says "shortcut" and then it transitions to your homescreens. Gets old when you're setting up your home screen. Also, let's say you open an app by searching for it in your app drawer (not from the home screen). If you exit that app by hitting the home button, it does not send you home. Rather it sends you back to the notification drawer with all your apps. That's annoying. Pressing the back button also does not send you out of the notification drawer and to your homescreen like it normally does. You must hit home once again to enter your homescreen.
At first, I thought blink feed was gimicky. Just some marketing technique to set HTC apart in the consumer's mind. But after playing around with it, it has grown on me. The selection of news sources is small, but hopefully that will grow or allow you to add your own custom websites. I do find myself occasionally scrolling through it when waiting in line, the drive thru, waiting for someone, etc. Which was the original purpose anyway. I have not noticed a hit on battery life from this feature.
An annoying feature of the gallery is that in throws in all your Facebook Friend's photo albums into your gallery. Yes you read correctly. Jimmy Bob's recent Everglades field trip WILL show up in your gallery as well as other friend's albums. So far I have not figured out a way to remove this besides unlinking my phone from my facebook account (aka logging out of the app). While your photos have their own area/folder apart from these Facebook albums, it's still annoying to see the faces of people I never talk to in my own gallery.
Now onto the camera. There is definitely some truth behind the "UltraPixel" marketing. Compared to an iPhone 5 and Note 2, the One most definitely takes better pictures in low light settings. Even in extremely dark settings (night time with some light filtering in through closed blinds), the One is able to make out rough pictures, something the iPhone and Note 2 could not do at all. While the One is able to take pictures in very low light, this does not mean the pictures come out amazing or noiseless. Don't expect to just run out into the pitch black night and be able to photograph anything. In very low light settings, the pictures are still grainy and sometimes crappy. But most definitely better than the two phones mentioned already. All these comparisons were done with the flash off. Even with the flash on, the One still managed better photos in my opinion. They looked more natural and less like the came from a camera phone. Slightly lower than ideal lighting is where the One is able to shine. The other phone's flashes sometimes washed out or harshly lit up the scene while the One didn't even use the flash and took a great photo. Can't wait to use it more.
Zoes are pretty cool, another feature I initially thought was gimicky. The short clips appear as normal photos in your gallery, but then begin to randomly play like the photos in a Harry Potter movie. Looks pretty cool in person. A feature I haven't been able to try out is the "Event" categorizing of my photos. Basically the phone looks at the time and location where you took pictures, and tries to group them into "events". Think of these as different albums in your gallery. When you open an event, at the top there will be a highlights reel: basically a slideshow of your photos, zoes and perhaps videos (not 100% sure about the videos). It adds music, transitions, Instagram-esque filters and automatically starts playing. Watching your whole photo gallery come to life is pretty cool.
Other tid bits: there's a permanent power saver notification in your notification dropdown. Always there no matter what. There's an app that lets you remove it if you're rooted however (the app is somewhere in these forums). The front facing camera is a big upgrade from the HOXL one. Did I mention how amazing this phone feels? Finally, 32GB on an HTC flagship. 24.4GB available to you. Although the camera lens is slightly slightly slightly recessed, I still feel it can get scratched.
In the end, this is definitely the best Android phone I have handled and used (yes, including the S4 yes I said it). And I used to work in Best Buy Mobile until very recently, so I have handled my fair share of smartphones. I would highly recommend this phone to anyone and everyone.
Well this turned out a lot longer than I anticipated. Hope this shines some light on the One from the perspective of an everyday owner. Let me know if you have any questions!
TL;DR. Read it! This took [email protected]#$ing forever to type.
Congrats on getting away from Best Buy!
are we going to have one of these at 15 days 30 days etc etc ?
Great review! I would like to point out though that you can get rid of the power saver notification by long pressing it, going to app info, and force stopping it. It reappears when your battery gets low since it automatically turns on, but you can avoid looking at it most of the day!
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Excellent review. I've had it 4 days and I guess I haven't opened my gallery since linking my Facebook account, cause that annoyance was new to me... Thanks for pointing it out!
One other thing that I feel isn't getting the attention it deserves is the addition of IR. I haven't had IR in a smartphone since my Treo, and I missed it. The first thing I did when I got my One was setup all my TV's/Receivers to be controlled by my phone.
Wallaby8 said:
Great review! I would like to point out though that you can get rid of the power saver notification by long pressing it, going to app info, and force stopping it. It reappears when your battery gets low since it automatically turns on, but you can avoid looking at it most of the day!
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this tidbit.. It would be nice if the "show notifications" option allowed you to select/deselect...
The chassis is zero gap. the speaker covers are add-ons to the chassis.
To add apps, widgets and shortcuts to your screens long press any blank area for your home screens and the popup will allow you to select said icons to which ever screen you want by highlighting it with a tap 1st. It will put the icon in the first available space starting from the top left but you can then move it.
I haven't setup Facebook yet but I have read there is a setting in the gallery to un-check this option. *Edit* My bad. The only way to stop pic syncing from Facebook is by not allowing Facebook to sync in the 1st place. Not an ideal solution but all there is atm.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2197998
Lastly, with pics/camera. Set sharpness to -1 and there will be much less post processing. (Credit hamdir) I think you'll like the pics even more!
Hope this helps.
Thanks!! it was helpful.
Yeah I haven't had a chance to test out the IR but I've heard its pretty cool. But it may not work on cases that cover the button and I wish they allowed you to hit "hide notifications" it almost looks like they went our of their way to block that setting lol
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
If you long press on the 'Power Saver' notification and go to App Info, you can force close that app. Then the notification will no longer be there. Each time the phone reboots, you'll see it and need to do it again, but I did it once and haven't had to reboot for any reason. Notification Gone!
The one that made me write this post is that when in some other program, like Internet browser, the notification area is changed, color wise. I can't figure out the logic behind that.
Battery life has been pretty bad after 24 hours too.
Voicemail not auto signing in, after using the Google master phone account user name and password.
With using menu, button, and back keys, the ui experience has changed dramatically. I've never had to have a settings widget to get fast access before.
I'm sure there will be a big learning curve going from 4.4.4 to 5.0 but this, IMO, is counter productive. This is coming from someone that has been with android for 6 years. Changing button mappings? Why?
I dislike the notification space being used up by the s finder and quick connect. I also dislike not having the menu key being the app switch key. Battery life isn't awful for me, but I do think it's a little worse.
Here something I do like though. For a long time I had an audio skipping problem that I assumed was a hardware issue. After the update it's GONE. I was so happy about that.
GPS Broken
The update has managed to break my GPS. Cannot get a lock
Washed out graphics
What I don't like about lollipop is the big washed out, flat no detail icons, and backgrounds. I realize that this is how they are going to get better battery life. By cutting down on displays, there detail and intensity. I noticed they have doubled up on there icons. One icon does many things, but you have wonder through the menu on the icon to get where you want to go. To me it looks like something you would see on a first generation smartphone, just saying !!!
I just miss all the mods I could do with xposed... Lol
Sent from my SM-N900P using XDA Free mobile app
i miss MOAR controls?
I would like to have transparent weather back!
I'm noticing app studdering while running without a reboot. Even when there are no apps in the app end screen, some games and music apps hiccup. Yes I'm running old versions of apps, mainly because the new ones are over bloated or crap or aren't hacked. I have old versions of candy crush and pandora and tunein radio pro. The reasons I'm still running them are that they are the last version that you could use the bump clock for lives cheat, unlimited skips and no commercials, and I hated the totally revamped versions.
I'm now running at 2% battery and things are unbelievably fast. Seems like no consistent performance so far.