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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!
[Novice Guide] 50+ Tips and Tricks - Make phone faster - Better battery life & More!!
Source by Andrew Williams :-> HERE
50 Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Tips and TricksFor novice users
Hi everybody
So you decided to join the ranks of Android and the millions of happy Note2 owners. But It can be troublesome to setup your phone at the begining. So I decided to search for you some little tricks you can use to better know and use your phone. I found this excellent article by Andrew Williams. I modified some content to better fit XDA's forum format but the info are the same. I also add a touchwiz tweaks that was not in the aticle, Here are 50 useful tips and tricks for new(even less new) Note2 users to pull out the best of your phone. Enjoy!
TouchwizMake Touchwiz go faster.
To make Touchwiz look good, Samsung created some animations to transit between screens. These animations take some times and can make your phone seems slow. The solution is to go in your phone Settings-> Developer options and turn off -> "Windows animation scale", "Transition animation scale" and "Animator duration scale". Now check how much snappier your phone is.:good:
If Developer Options is not enable go to SETTINGS->About Phone and tap BUILD NUMBER for 7 times.
***You can also turn on "Force GPU rendering" but SOME applications don't like that, so you can try it, but if you find you start having problem with some of your aplications, turn it off.
Ringtones - Alarms - NotificationsPut your Sounds in the system.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 allows us to use mp3 as ringtones, alarms or notifications. But if like me you have over 16G of music on your phone it might be anoying to "Go To Files" and search for them. Another way to do it is by creating a folder where Android will automatically look in and put the files in the "Ringtones". To do this just create a folder called "Media" on your sd-card. Inside the Media folders create 3 more folders "Ringtones", "Alarms" and "Notifications". It should look like this.
Media..
--------Alarms
--------Notifications
--------Ringtones
Now move/copy your mp3 files in the according folders. Now if you go on your phone settings->sounds->device ringtones you should see your mp3 files in the list.(Phone restart might be needed)
Screen and video
Get AMOLED colours in check
OLED-based screens like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2's tend to bring oversaturated colours that make skin tones look unnatural. They pop, but they pop a little too much. There's a solution, though. In the settings menu is a Display Setting submenu that lets you choose how vivid the colours are. We recommend the "natural" or "movie" settings.
Fill video codec gaps with third-party players
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has an excellent inbuilt media player, but there are some files it can't handle. We found that high-quality 1080p MKVs were too much for it. Snag a third-party media player like MX Player from the Google Play app store, though, and you'll be flying. These can use software encoding to fill gaps in natuve video support.
Video multi-tasking is in
One of the neatest additional features of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 is that you can overlay a video playback screen on top of any part of the phone. Just press a button in the nav bar of the media player and a little window will pop-up on the homescreen, playing the vid. Watch an episode of Peep Show while browsing the web? Don't mind if I do.
Free games to show off the screen
One of the best ways to show off the Sasmung Galaxy Note 2's screen is with a fancy 3D game. Top free picks to try include Dead Trigger.
Not bright enough? Turn off auto
The standard setting of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 uses automatic brightness, which judges the intensity of screen brightness using an ambient light sensor on the front. If it's still not bright enough at the max slider point, switch off the auto mode for real searing intensity. But it will affect battery life.
The microUSB port can output video
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2's microUSB port is more special than you might guess. It has MHL capabilities when used with a special Samsung cable, letting it output HD video and surround audio. The Samsung adapter, which is essentially an MHL-to-HDMI converter costs around £25. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 does not come bundled with one, though.
Mini home cinema? Tick the surround box
If you want to output surround sound, make sure you tick the Surround box within the Settings menu. This isn't within the Audio bit, which you might expect, but is actually in the Accessory submenu.
Battery life
Keep battery life riding high with auto management
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a massive 3100mAh battery. Stamina is good at the worst of times, but there's also an auto power management mode to make the most of the phone's juice. It's called Power Saving and has its own section within the main Settings menu. It can throttle the CPU, change the background of the web browser to conserve power (it turns the white background blue), and turns off haptic feedback. These are compromises, but they do work.
Switch off features for extra battery life
The best way to conserve power in any phone is to switch off features - most importantly 3G mobile internet. You can do this manually in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, directly from the pull-down notifications menu, and apps such as MySettings let you do the same thing.
Reduce screen timeout time
Another dead simple trick is to reduce the screen timeout time. This is in the Display submenu within settings, and lets you choose between 15 sec and 10 minutes of time the screen stays lit after a screen press. It's hardly a secret, but it is something not enough people consider.
Grab a spare battery, live forever
In a time of non-removable batteries - the HTC One X and iPhone 5 to name but two - we love that the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a removable battery. You can swap it out within about 15 seconds. Spare batteries are available from eBay for well under £10. We recommend shopping around for a reliable brand though as some third-party batteries are as dodgy as Del Boy's VCRs.
Turn off S Pen
The S Pen digitser sucks away at the Note 2's battery life a little, so it's a good idea to switch off the detection feature entirely if you're unlikely to use it for an extended period. You'll find it within the S Pen sub-menu in Settings.
S Pen
Quick commands let you launch… anything
An S Pen feature that's easy to miss is Quick Commands. This lets you launch any app on the phone with a quick flick of the S Pen. Just press the stylus button and swipe up the screen, and the Quick commands box will pop-up. Draw your pre-determined character or symbol and key-presto, the right app will launch.
OCR means you can forget the virtual keyboard
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 features excellent OCR, optical character recognition, and it's built into the Samsung keyboard. Whip out the S Pen and the keyboard area will turn into a little box for you to write in, whether you're writing an email, text or searching the web. It's remarkably clever at working out your scribbles too although we haven't tested it on a doctor yet.
S Pen keeper - it's a keeper
We love the S Pen, but the thing is terribly easy to lose. Samsung has devised a way to make sure you don't leave home without it. It's called S Pen keeper. Using the accelerometer and the digitiser sensor of the Note 2, the phone can tell when you're walking away without the stylus in its little hole in the bottom of the device. Walk far enough and it bleats out an alarm tone.
Keep the kids happy with S Note
The stylus of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 makes it an obvious choice for creative types, business types and a host of other busy folk. But it'll keep the kids entertained too. S Note has a feature called Idea Sketch, which lets you write the name of an object, only for it to appear in your sketch. It's a perfect educational tool, and a fun one too.
Air View - hover pen fun
Something that makes the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 S Pen so much more than a standard stylus is that it can be sensed without even touching the screen. Samsung makes great use of this with Air View. It's used throughout Samsung's apps, and makes info pop-up when the S Pen hovers over items. For example, you can read the first lines of emails, see previews of pictures and take a closer look at calendar events. It's fantastic.
You can scribble - on anything
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 S Pen also let you scribble notes on anything. Just hold the button on the stylus down, press the nib down on the screen and hold it there until you see a flash around the screen edges. This is the phone taking a screenshot of what's on-screen, which you can then write notes on. This is further integrated into apps like S Planner, which have dedicated handwriting modes.
Other apps use S Pen pressure sensitivity
Now that the Note series is fairly established, a bunch of excellent apps already make use of the pressure sensitive S Pen stylus. Top picks include Sketchbook Pro and Infinite Painter. It's not just S Note that shows the S Pen off these days.
The S Pen takes screengrabs
Here's a really neat S Pen tool to show off to your "non stylus" friends. Press down the button on the Galaxy Note 2 stylus, draw a shape on the screen and whatever's on-screen within the shape will be saved as a screengrab.
For full S Pen compatibility, check out Samsung Apps
Samsung says that if you want full S Pen certified apps, you'll need to go to the Samsung Apps store. This comes built into the Note 2, and there's even an S Pen apps section. At present, you're still best off using the Play Store as well, though, as the Samsung Apps store isn't exactly rammed full of Note 2 apps yet.
Left handers need a tweak
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes setup for right-handers as standard, but there's also a mode for lefties in the Settings menu. This offsets the digitiser sensor, to compensate for the way those strange left-handed types hold pens. A creepy bunch, aren't they?
Interface
One for your grandma? Easy home screen mode
Here's one feature we were a little surprised to see in a device that's such a geek's dreamphone. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has a mode called Easy home screen, which simplifies the layout of the phone's home screens in a way that even your technophobe grandma might be able to get along with.
Full screenshots are easy
Like the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note II makes it pretty easy to take screenshots of whatever's on the phone's display. Just hold down the home button and the power button at the same time, wait or a white flash and a screenshot will be taken and whisked over to the Gallery app.
A cooler/easier way to take screenshot is to swipe the palm of your hand from right to left. For this to work you need to enable "Motion" in Settings and check "Palm swipe capture".
Use one-handed operation mode for on-the-go use
The big screen is one of the main selling points of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, but it doesn't half make it hard to use one-handed. Knowing this, Samsung as included a one-handed mode, which organises things like the keypad, virtual keyboard and the unlock pattern screen so that you can operate them with one mitt. You'll find it in the Settings menu.
Don't forget side-loading of apps
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is an Android device, with all the benefits that brings. You don't have to rely on the official Google Play app store for one, with APK installation files available for all sorts of other apps online. Be careful, though, as Android viruses are a real issue.
Customise your phone with non-Samsung widgets
Samsung supplied a nice handful of widgets with which you can customise your home screens, but far too few people try a new look with third-party widgets from Google Play. And there are loads out them out there. Some of our old faves include those of the Beautiful Widgets package.
Gadgets and Gimmicks
Motion control
Here's one we're not big fans of, but some of you may like it. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 lets you control things like the photo gallery and the navigation of you home screens using the accelerometer - by tilting your phone, basically. You can turn it off, though, and it's set to "off" as standard. Phew.
Face unlock
A bit Minority Report, this one. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 can scan your face to unlock your phone. It takes a picture of your mug, remembers the basic geometry of it and then scans your face whenever you try and unlock the phone. It works pretty well, but as a security measure is about as flimsy as the padlock on a filofax.
Smart Stay
The last user-facing camera gimmick is one that sounds kinda neat in principle. It scans for your eyes to check if you're reading, and if it spots them, Smart Stay stops the backlight from turning off. It's designed to make reading on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 a good deal less frustrating. It's a feature you'll find in the Settings menu.
Jelly Bean easter egg
The Jelly Bean easter egg has made it in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Go to Settings menu > About device and tap on the Android version number entry. You'll be transported to a screen with a picture of a giant jelly bean on it. Hold your finger down on said jelly bean and the screen will fill up with dozens of the blighters, which you can flick around. Pure joy.
Arrange your music by moods
The music player of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 features a fun little extra called Music square. This scans through your music library, arranging the tracks by mood - passionate, calm, exciting, joyful or a little in-between. Tap a block in the 5x5 square grid and you'll be greeted with a tune to match your mood.
Storage
Expandable storage - where to get it cheap
If you're out to spend as little as possible (and the Note 2 doesn't come cheap as it is), your best bet is to buy the cheapest 16GB model, and supplement any other storage needs with a microSD card. Top retailers for bargain basement-price memory cards include 7DayShop and Ebuyer. A 32GB microSD card these days will set you back less than £15 if you shop hard enough.
Flush the cache for extra memory
If you find yourself running low on memory, you can easily delete the cache and temporary files of any apps you have installed. To do this, go to the Applications Manager section within settings and tap on an app to see how much memory it's leeching. There will be buttons to wipe the cache and data for the app here.
Comes with 50GB of dropbox storage
Cloud storage is the future - you may not like it, but you may as well embrace it. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 owners get to benefit from 50GB of free cloud storage from one of the best providers out there - Dropbox. There are Dropbox apps for mobiles, tablets and computers, and it honestly works like a dream. If this won't convert you, nothing will. You only normally get 2GB of free from Dropbox, making it a pretty sweet deal.
Don't sync, drag 'n' drop
If you chose to go Android rather than opting for an iPhone, there's a good chance that the open-ness of the platform had something to do with it. Samsung is keen on trying to make its users adopt the Kies desktop software, but it's actually completely unnecessary. Plug the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 into a computer with a microUSB cable and it'll show up as a media player drive, which you can drag and drop all kinds of files onto. Transfer speeds are impressively fast too.
Contacts
Nab contacts from Facebook and Twitter
When we first got our Samsung Galaxy Note 2 in, it didn't have any of the usual social apps installed. Even if you're not a massive mobile Facebook-er, it's worth giving the app a download because it lets you harvest contacts from the network, making populating your contacts book a good deal easier.
Blocking Mode
Do you have a bug-a-boo stalking you? Is there a creep who keeps calling? The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 lets you keep them away with the blocking mode. It restricts notifications and calls from all but your approved contacts - and that can be at all times, or just during the hours you choose.
Camera and Video
Use HDR mode in mixed lighting - or all the time
The 8-megapixel sensor of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 is pretty good on its own, but the neat camera app ups its skills significantly. One of our favourite bonus bits is the HDR mode. This effectively combines multiple exposure in a single shot to bring out extra detail in shadows. Both the HDR and normal shots are saved, meaning there's very little downside - other than that taking shots is a little bit slower.
Check out slow and fast motion modes
Nestled within the menus of the video camera app are fast and slow motion modes, capturing either more or fewer frames per second than normal. It's not quite the 120fps mode you get in some dedicated cameras, but will come in handy if you're trying to video a sports event, for example.
Don't forget video effects
The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 doesn't have the fun face-distorting video effects you get with a vanilla Jelly Bean phone, but it does have a range of funky filters. There are colour pop modes, extracting all but certain shades from your videos, and the cartoon filter is perfect for some arty rotoscope-style vids.
Give the exposure longer time than the sound effect suggests
Each time you take a photo, a shutter sound plays in the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. However, we found that occasionally the phone needs a little bit longer to attain a solid focus. Hold still for an extra half-second for good measure.
Get vid previews with Air View
Using Air View, if you hold the pen over the transport bar of a movie clip in the media player, you'll be given a preview of what's going on in the film at that point. It makes finding the right part of a film or TV ep a doddle.
Connectivity
Don't go over you allowance, with Data Usage
A staple Android feature is the Data Usage counter. This can be found within the Settings menu, and it monitors your data usage, showing it as a colourful graph. You can use it to cut off your mobile data connection once you reach a certain limit, to ensure you won't get charged by your carrier.
Wi-Fi sync with Kies
We've already endorsed drag 'n' drop file transfers over Kies sync'ing, but if you're a Kies fan, don't forget that you can also sync wirelessly. To set this feature up, scroll to the bottom of the More Settings sub-menu, where you'll find the Kies via Wi-Fi option.
S Beam
A feature introduced with the Samsung Galaxy S3, S Beam uses a mixture of NFC and Wi-Fi Direct to let you transfer files between compatible Samsung phones. You just need to tap the phones together to get them playing. S Beam needs to be switched on, though, from within the Wireless and Networks menu.
NFC lets you buy coffee
The NFC connectivity of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 also let you buy small items such as cups of coffee, sandwiches and the like. Several big high street chains have taken the NFC plunge, including Starbucks and EAT, using apps to let you dump credit onto your phone.
Share screens with AllShare Cast
AllShare used to be just about sending a video file from, say, your phone to your Blu-ray player. But now it does a lot more. AllShare Cast lets you send your Galaxy Note 2's screen contents to another display, a bit like AirPlay Mirroring.
Forget Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct is better
Wi-Fi Direct is tied into the S Beam transfer feature, but you can also use it easily on its own. This is a version of Wi-Fi that doesn't need an internet connection, as it can hook-up directly with another compatible device. It some ways it's a successor to Bluetooth, letting you transfer files, and at a much greater speed than old Bluetooth could handle.
Watch your 4G
If you want to get a 4G-capable Note 2, be aware that the LTE edition is separate from the standard one. EE says it'll stock the LTE Galaxy Note 2 from October 15.
Enjoy!:good:
PS: Without comments this thread will fall in the abyss of the system(unless it becomes a sticky, which would be good). So please keep it alive with a little reply. thanks.
<--Don't forget to hit THANKS if I helped
Thank you for this!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
Nice dude. Great write up buddy. Thanks for this. I know all of this stuff already but this is most certainly a fantastic guide for people who just got this phone. Quite invaluable. I applaud your effort. Great stuff brother. Cheers :beer:
Can a mod please sticky this?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
Kick A$$! Thanks.
TaPpEd from my TwEaKeD N2
Good tips, thanks didn't know about the spen drawing screen capture feture, nice!
Very useful. Thank you:good:
Awsome Job Sir!! Adding link to my guides directory!!!
Thank you most of this I knew already but some of it I did not very cool. Thank you for putting it all in one place.
Thanks, I learned a few new tricks with the S Pen. Also I turned off the animations per your suggestion, will see what affect that has.
This the first I heard of the dropbox promo. I will have to look into this, do you have more details on it? Although I currently am only using 50% of my 3.5 gigs right now anyhow.
AximUser08 said:
Thanks, I learned a few new tricks with the S Pen. Also I turned off the animations per your suggestion, will see what affect that has.
This the first I heard of the dropbox promo. I will have to look into this, do you have more details on it? Although I currently am only using 50% of my 3.5 gigs right now anyhow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Dropbox Promo works only if you have Dropbox "Preinstalled" on your device. If you have to download Dropbox it won't work.
Op Updated
Good tips!
Thanks for your contribution!
esegype absolutely
Straight up awesome...really appreciate the time and effort this must have taken...Noobs everywhere rejoice!!!
Awsome post. The SPen tid bits are especially handy (scribble directly onto a screenie).
Luv it.
Just wanted to send a little bump to this thread. Just read over entire OP again and still found something I didn't see the first time. Or remember Lol. This is great and very useful. I hope this thread stays alive
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
npainter7 said:
Just wanted to send a little bump to this thread. Just read over entire OP again and still found something I didn't see the first time. Or remember Lol. This is great and very useful. I hope this thread stays alive
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
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Do tell
Thanks for the tips. Very useful.
Thanks for the tips! Some useful stuff in there I didn't know about.
Thanks for the info. Being a new note 2 owner and switching from IOS these hints and tips are a great help.. Makes the learning curve not so long.
Thanks Again
Good Stuff
It's really unacceptable how all those lovely watch designs in the store have the same ugly digital always-on face. Only the first 3 built in watch faces have a corresponding analog always-on watch face. I find this to be a huge limitation of the device and has kept me only using those 3 watch faces.
ozaghloul said:
It's really unacceptable how all those lovely watch designs in the store have the same ugly digital always-on face. Only the first 3 built in watch faces have a corresponding analog always-on watch face. I find this to be a huge limitation of the device and has kept me only using those 3 watch faces.
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Click to collapse
I'm wondering if this is a limitation to the developer from Samsung in order to make us use those three only or if it's possible to somehow code them in order to have a "quick glance" version of those third party watch faces Anyone?
Oh yes a HUGE limitation and UNACCEPTABLE!!! <sarcasm intended>
Are you serious? Do you have even the slightest understanding of the amazing technology being used in this device, or it's incredible capabilities? And you are stressing over something so incredibly trivial.
Staggering!
esseff said:
Oh yes a HUGE limitation and UNACCEPTABLE!!! <sarcasm intended>
Are you serious? Do you have even the slightest understanding of the amazing technology being used in this device, or it's incredible capabilities? And you are stressing over something so incredibly trivial.
Staggering!
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Might be trivial to you. The always-on watch face is huge to me. Being a d*ck about it doesn't change anything.
And its unacceptable, because its already implemented and therefore its not a hardware limitation. Samsung are just being retarded in dealing with their watch face developers.
ozaghloul said:
Might be trivial to you. The always-on watch face is huge to me. Being a d*ck about it doesn't change anything.
And its unacceptable, because its already implemented and therefore its not a hardware limitation. Samsung are just being retarded in dealing with their watch face developers.
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@ozaghloul has a point... Samsung has been "lacking" with the watch face devs, I dont believe they have released the watch face sdk and I dont know if they ever will. The always on feature tends to be useful, I know my watch hasnt always responded to the on "motion" at times.
cipherswitch said:
@ozaghloul has a point... Samsung has been "lacking" with the watch face devs, I dont believe they have released the watch face sdk and I dont know if they ever will. The always on feature tends to be useful, I know my watch hasnt always responded to the on "motion" at times.
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In fact I find that switching off the motion and using the always-on screen actually saves a bit of battery. Also the always-on screen just looks so good especially at night. Not to mention how much quicker it is to glance at the watch and not have to wait for the motion to wake it up (sometimes unsuccessfully).
All that talk is about the nice analog always on screens of the first 3 faces (also number 6 has a nice analog). Its not about that Fugly nasty tiny little digital clock you get with all the other faces.
It should be fixed already long time ago! I'm not going to buy any watchface until they won't have different "Clock Always On" option.
Just wanna say that i agree that there should be more faces for always on..i use always on and no motion
eclipse05x said:
It should be fixed already long time ago! I'm not going to buy any watchface until they won't have different "Clock Always On" option.
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I totally agree with this. I honestly thought owing a Gear S with my Note 4 would be a much better experience. In reality it's not all it's cracked up to be. Even more so since Watchstyler has stopped working...Lame.
I don't understand how the developers are just accepting this. This directly affects their revenues too, because I am certain many more people will buy watch faces if they become fully functional.
ozaghloul said:
I don't understand how the developers are just accepting this. This directly affects their revenues too, because I am certain many more people will buy watch faces if they become fully functional.
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Totally agree with you! I've been patient but now it's just pathetic... Device these days is nothing without proper software and proper updates to its software... I would totally buy some new watchfaces but it's missing it's point without new "Always ON watch face".
There are some really great 3rd party watchfaces but they are missing this crucial factor!
And still, the other thing is that. There should be an option to deactivate "touch to wake" when "Clock Always" is ON. Now, when taking the shower it's going CraaaaAzy! And the same while running with a long sleeve (moisture inside of the sleeve)
1. Hopefully the new sdk wich come days agoo fix this?!
2. Why dont any devps respond?
Hi,
There is only one watch face which has an option to Turn on "Always On". Its name is "Desk Clock". Its free
It is not a "real" Samsung mode Always ON. If we select Always ON on Gear setting we have the classic digital clock and not this. It is just a clock wich avoid the dim mode and force the Gear to not sleep.
Hello everyone, I did the following, there is only one thing you must get used to and you can have your favourite watch face available with the wake-up gesture on, here is what I did in the gear s "settings--> display--> wake-up screen--> select "Last screen". The only down side to this is you must remember to hit the home button to your home screen before going into sleep. When the screen is off and you glance the watch face will appear and not the digital clock from the other non samsung default watch faces.
Remember by doing so more battery will be used unless you select a similar watch face as the digital one. It will show for the same 10 seconds as the digital face.
A bonus to this is that you do not have to tap the screen to wake from the digital clock, you go directly to the home screen, that is one less tap per glance.
Do not forget to hit the home button, you will get used to that or swipe down till you get the home screen.
Enjoy!!!
Whilst I do sympathise with the OP (and if it is a big deal for him then that's for good reason) I do think this watch looks amazing with some of the clocks that are available in the store and to not show them off when you flick your wrist is a bit of a waste really. Also there are a couple of clock faces on the Samsung Store that you can enable always on, they seem to work OK.
I keep the brightness and volume down a bit and limit the notifications to essentials and the battery easily lasts 1-2 days. But I love to see a proper clock face when I look at the watch so for me this isn't a huge issue.
Great
frevilla97 said:
Hello everyone, I did the following, there is only one thing you must get used to and you can have your favourite watch face available with the wake-up gesture on, here is what I did in the gear s "settings--> display--> wake-up screen--> select "Last screen". The only down side to this is you must remember to hit the home button to your home screen before going into sleep. When the screen is off and you glance the watch face will appear and not the digital clock from the other non samsung default watch faces.
Remember by doing so more battery will be used unless you select a similar watch face as the digital one. It will show for the same 10 seconds as the digital face.
A bonus to this is that you do not have to tap the screen to wake from the digital clock, you go directly to the home screen, that is one less tap per glance.
Do not forget to hit the home button, you will get used to that or swipe down till you get the home screen.
Enjoy!!!
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U r brilliant really, great idea and it never came to my mind
Man, coming up on a year... still stuck with the same crappy digital "Always On" watch faces. Anyway around this with root? I just want one of the stock analog "always on" black and white faces with a different watch face from galaxy store.
The crazy acting during shower can be fixed if you turn on not disturb mode
Idont get why there is still No fix for the always on watch Faces!!!
I even tested the always Screen on app , it works but battery last about 6-7 Hours. thow its Cool to have any face You like always Oh
Skickat från min SM-N910F via Tapatalk
I wasn't in market for smartwatch, but Fit2 automatically came with a recent upgrade to Sammy Note 7 (both are sweet!). Is there any way to force the detailed watch face to stay? I know it could potentially be a battery hog, but I haven't found one yet where I like both the full screen and the scaled back screen. Thanks!
~Vol
...Settings, Display, and ENABLE - Watch Always On...
I have that one set. There are just 2 screens. When I shake my arm, a detailed watch face pops up with steps, calories, heart rate, etc. Then after a few seconds it switches to a scaled back screen that just shows digital time. I want the detail screen to stay.
ok...this seems like you need a Watchface which just displays the DETAILS of the 24H Log. As you said the display will default back to the WatchFace you have selected. Since the 24H Log isnt a watchface, you need one which just specifically displays the DETAILS info.
I suggest you check out the Galaxy Store, and see if there is something which fits your needs. I have over 300 to select from....i noticed some targeted specifically for fitness group, and prefer to see all their vitals on the watchface. Good luck, sorry couldn't be any more useful.
Exactly, the "watch always on" settings usually display a lighter face.
Samples
Couple of pictures attached. This is an aftermarket downloaded watch face called "Color Circles" or something like that. "Full" is the version I'd really like to see all day, but "Scaled" is what shows after about 5-10 seconds of inactivity. I can only think of one workaround. Does anyone know of a similar aftermarket selection that has a detailed face for the scaled back mode, or does the firmware in the watch only have a minimal amount of fields for designers to pick? Maybe it's a global limitation.
~Vol
- Added "crossing the interstellar" watchface
- Added real-time track in the real-time track page lock screen under outdoor sports
- Updated tennis algorithm
- Optimized altitude output in motion
- Optimized distance issue from the last lap of the swimming pool
- Optimized miscalculation in swimming mode
- Optimized inaccurate swimming distance in open waters
- Optimized inaccurate output of running strides in some cases
- Optimize calorie consumption calculations in some cases during exercise
- Optimized walking heart rate
- Optimize low heart rate in certain situations
- Optimize indoor running calibration process and put in motion pause interface
- Optimize the stability of vibration functionality
- Optimize heart rate
- Optimized data synchronization for android phones
- Fix sporadic power consumption issues
- Fixed some issues with call reminders
- Bug fixes
Has someone updated ? impessions?
Yep, i have but not been in activities to proove improovements... ???
I have installed as well. No workouts yet. I have seen an extra menu item in run extra settings that is called virtual rabbit. I guess it is a ghost runner to keep you in pace. Interstellar watchface looks nice.
I can not understand what "real-time track in the real-time track page lock screen under outdoor sports" refers to.
giol said:
I have installed as well. No workouts yet. I have seen an extra menu item in run extra settings that is called virtual rabbit. I guess it is a ghost runner to keep you in pace. Interstellar watchface looks nice.
I can not understand what "real-time track in the real-time track page lock screen under outdoor sports" refers to.
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I also noticed that and was wondering what the difference with pace alerts were. Both should notify you when you go outside a predefined pace, I guess.
Not done much since installing but the continuous heart rate appears to be more responsive when I move and thus my HR increases.
Previously I could go for a brisk walk and it wouldn't notice any change on the watch.
Fingers crossed its fixed.
On new watchface, there is a tiny heart on top. Does anybody get his/her heartrate shown on that watchface?
I do not think it shows heart rate. I have the eternal moment watchface which is showing HR data. Anyway I did not seem much changes, just the new watchface and the virtual rabbit. The update is mostly bug fixing which is a good thing. Still I am missing a cardio and yoga activity type.
giol said:
I have installed as well. No workouts yet. I have seen an extra menu item in run extra settings that is called virtual rabbit. I guess it is a ghost runner to keep you in pace. Interstellar watchface looks nice.
I can not understand what "real-time track in the real-time track page lock screen under outdoor sports" refers to.
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I've just installed the update. Watchface looks nice.
But I don't know how to use Virtual rabbit and Real-time track.
Waiting for other's feedbacks.
Regards.
wsabg said:
On new watchface, there is a tiny heart on top. Does anybody get his/her heartrate shown on that watchface?
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Hi
I also saw a heart on top but there's no HR number. Is it simply a symbol?
To me prototype source will always be the best watch face but the new face is a nice addition.
Haven't noticed much new stuff, the UI seems more fluid but that just might be a placebo.
I hope the next update they make an effort to fix the pretty terrible step counting.
Tested it with a bit of cycling back from work. One thing I noticed is it no longer vibrates when auto-pause switches on and off.
As others said, HR seemed responsive and accurate (but that couldn't mean anything, since it was pretty much accurate when cycling previously as well). Will test it tomorrow morning with some trail running and, fingers crossed, I hope to see some good changes
Edit: Also, I noticed the bug with synchronizing rides to strava showing up as runs has been fixed.
Well, i don't know if it's a bug with the new firmware - but it does not sync the sleep datas anymore. I have the datas from last night on my phone but not synced with the Amazfi app....
I have also updated yesterday, continuous heartrate seems much more reliable now. Tested several times, finger on wrist and counting, real heartrate 58 watch stated 59, real 76 watch 76, 87/88 and so on, before update the watch sometimes measured a heartrate of 40 when it really was at 80 or 90 and it was always approx. 10-15 beats to low. Now it seems to be useable.
[email protected]: Sleep was tracked correctly last nigth but I had some cases (2 or 3 in half a year) when sleep was not recognized for no reason so it could be an issue not depending on this update. Sometimes sleep data were correct on watch but simply didn't show up in app, after several syncs sleep data suddenly appeared.
Edit: Steps are also more accurate now, watch starts counting now after 10 steps not 30 like before so short walks to the fridge are recognized now.
giol said:
I have installed as well. No workouts yet. I have seen an extra menu item in run extra settings that is called virtual rabbit. I guess it is a ghost runner to keep you in pace. Interstellar watchface looks nice.
I can not understand what "real-time track in the real-time track page lock screen under outdoor sports" refers to.
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You now can see your location on the lock screen if you have chosen to follow an imported GPX track. Really cool now.
Tap to wake
Tap to wake .............still problem, not solved
You type twice and not working??
---------- Post added at 05:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------
They should implement manual altitude settings should be a real plus
Dennis78 said:
Edit: Steps are also more accurate now, watch starts counting now after 10 steps not 30 like before so short walks to the fridge are recognized now.
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Ah I will try. My stratos waiting in a drawer because not usable as daily steps counts.
dersie said:
Ah I will try. My stratos waiting in a drawer because not usable as daily steps counts.
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Seem still bad and not usable. Little test :
- Garmin F3 : 543 steps
- Stratos : 275 steps
so Stratos count almost half steps. I think it have still 1/3 real steps because Garmin count only after 10 steps.
So daily steps count with stratos still totally wrong
"Time to stand up, you've been sitting for a while" alerts seem broken now. Granted, they still only occurred while sitting, but I think I went to the fridge to get a beer 3-4 minutes ago, and now it says I've been sitting for a long time Maybe now it does not count small movements like short strolls, only longer ones.