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Overall, I think the move from Blackberry to Android/Note was the right one but the transition has been painful in a few areas. I'll list them in this one post instead of inundating the forums with single posts with only one question.
Phone Application -
Admittedly, this is the most frustrating part about going with the Note (outside of the loss of a physical keyboard). The phone application is ridiculously inefficient compared to Blackberry.
Is there a way to prevent the phone from locking (PIN required) when I navigate away from the phone application while on a call? There is nothing more frustrating than having to enter my PIN to simply hang up a phone call. Also, while on a phone call only (meaning I don't navigate away from phone), the screen times out and turns off... forcing me to press the side key to get back into phone. Is there a program that can map the capacitive search key while on a phone call so I can hang up a call?
Regarding "Contacts", is there a way to default to keyboard entry upon opening Contacts? Does Android think the average person has only 6 contacts??... Because that's how many contacts show up when you enter Contacts. This forces me to press "search contacts" every single time I enter Contacts... and the magnifying glass is all the way at the tip top of the screen. Using one hand, it's impossible to comfortably extend my thumb all the way to the top of the screen after pressing my Contacts application icon on the very bottom of the screen. Then I am forced to pull all the way back down to the keyboard just to enter the first letter of the person I'm searching for! I call out of my Contacts list 50-100 times a day so this gets very, very cumbersome and time consuming.
Is there a way to change the text size in my contacts list? I'd like to see more than 6 contacts per page... the phone screen is HUGE!
Now this complaint I'm sure a lot of ex Blackberry people can relate with... Blackberry (via an available OPTION) would consolidate call logs into each individual contact. Android, for some strange reason, does not consolidate history to each individual contact. So when I pull up recent history, the top 100 entries can be from only 10 or 15 people Wouldn't it make more sense to have ONE entry PER CONTACT? I wouldn't have to go into Contacts as often if Android actually consolidated phone call logs into one log per contact because I could go into the phone log and call out people from there... instead of seeing a sea of missed, outgoing, incoming calls... from the same person. I really hope there is a way to consolidate these logs.
S Memo -
There is an option to pull up the S Memo pad in phone but for some strange reason, it always defaults to "drawing" mode instead of entering text. I'm often in a flustered state when on a phone call and/or listening to voicemail and trying to jot down notes... so having to punch that tiny little "T" at the very upper left hand corner of the screen is a pain.
Is there a way to decrease the font size? I never did understand why some native programs have no adjustments for font size... not everyone is 80 years old w/bad vision. I mean... what's the point of having such a high res screen if the font size is a quarter inch tall? Blackberry allowed text size to be adjusted in ALL native applications.
I'm assuming there is no way to increase the amount of text I can enter onto one S Memo page? It seems extremely limited (about ~100 words max).
Am I the only one that seems to have notes that don't save? I recall entering text into several notes and backing out supposedly automatically saves what was inputed... but often times the text is not there when I return to the note. Are others having this issue?
Finally, is there an alternative memo program that anyone could recommend that is as simple and easy to search as Blackberry's memopad?
Alarm Clock -
I realize that there are a ton of alarm apps out there but I've heard horror stories about apps that crash and/or don't work properly. I need a reliable alarm clock so would prefer to stick with the native application. It actually works perfectly... except that the alarm lasts for only 60 seconds. I've slept right through the alarm several times already. Is there any way to make it loop for a longer period? Say 5 or 10 minutes?
I have a ton of other questions but if anyone can help with these for now it would be much appreciated!
U have a button dedicated to search at the bottom. I use dw contacts. Not the cheapest solution but very customizable
There's an app to increase/decrease font size, I haven't used it but I saw someone mentioning it here the other day, the alarm is fine, I have never had any issues with any android alarm, and you can add as many alarms as you want, I get up at 3am to go to work and I can't ever be late so I have set like 4 alarms to go off in set times in order so if I don't hear one the others will follow.
As the issue with being able to reach the full length of the screen one handed , it is what it is, a big a$$ screen that for the most part demands two handed control.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Do you have to use a PIN?
Go to settings, display, screen timeout. You can change how quickly or slowly your screen times out on you.
On your contacts app, just hit the magnifying glass at the bottom right and it'll pull up your keyboard and search function. Or there's teh alphabet running down the right hand side, just click on the letter the name starts with. Or for more customization and ease, install exdialer. It looks good, easy to use, font is small, etc. Exdialer also consolidates your call logs.
There are a ton of memo apps in the market. Personally I love Gnotes. It syncs with google, saves everything, is easy to use, and you can inbed pics, etc.
I don't know about the spen. So far I've only used it to make cute pics to send to my wife and to draw up soccer drills and practice plans.
esincho said:
U have a button dedicated to search at the bottom. I use dw contacts. Not the cheapest solution but very customizable
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Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll give it a try. Does the phone still maintain its ability to keep a log and back up the calls to my computer?
roloracer said:
There's an app to increase/decrease font size, I haven't used it but I saw someone mentioning it here the other day, the alarm is fine, I have never had any issues with any android alarm, and you can add as many alarms as you want, I get up at 3am to go to work and I can't ever be late so I have set like 4 alarms to go off in set times in order so if I don't hear one the others will follow.
As the issue with being able to reach the full length of the screen one handed , it is what it is, a big a$$ screen that for the most part demands two handed control.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the program Big Font but unfortunately while the font size decreases, it does nothing to decrease the size of the useless silhouette image next to the contact name. So I still only get 6 contacts per massive page. I'm hoping there is another solution.
kiltedthrower said:
Do you have to use a PIN?
Go to settings, display, screen timeout. You can change how quickly or slowly your screen times out on you.
On your contacts app, just hit the magnifying glass at the bottom right and it'll pull up your keyboard and search function. Or there's teh alphabet running down the right hand side, just click on the letter the name starts with. Or for more customization and ease, install exdialer. It looks good, easy to use, font is small, etc. Exdialer also consolidates your call logs.
There are a ton of memo apps in the market. Personally I love Gnotes. It syncs with google, saves everything, is easy to use, and you can inbed pics, etc.
I don't know about the spen. So far I've only used it to make cute pics to send to my wife and to draw up soccer drills and practice plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, unfortunately I do need to use a PIN or some other form of security. I just don't think it makes any sense to require a PIN if I already entered one and then make a phone call. It's just silly that Android would require a PIN if you're clearly using the phone (on a call). Apparently Google thinks that using the phone does not include being on a phone call. Absurd.
As for your advice about using the magnifying glass, it doesn't work. Because if you pull up the contact via the magnifying glass, you cannot dial from it (swipe right for dial, left for text like you would if you clicked the text box at the top of the phone). You have to click on it and then click once again on what you would like to do. Not sure why it's like that but there are a lot of Android "features" that leave me scratching my head.
I'll give Gnote a try. Thanks!
pj737 said:
I tried the program Big Font but unfortunately while the font size decreases, it does nothing to decrease the size of the useless silhouette image next to the contact name. So I still only get 6 contacts per massive page. I'm hoping there is another solution.
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Click to collapse
Please don't mix up Google and Samsung. You see Samsung customizes the Android OS, and the stock contacts app is different than the stock Google one. Everything you see is what Samsung did not Google.
If you don't like it I suggest you switch phones or you try third-party apps like exdialer(excontacts comes with it), and it is a very popular choice people use as an alternative. Also, I if you have rooted your phone you can change the DPI, so everything will be smaller and more things can fit on the screen, but like I said you will need ROOT. Download a DPI changer app and go for 240dpi.
Sent from my GT-i9220 using Tapatalk
Or if you're brave enough you can always change the lcd density in the build.prop but beware if you make a mistake editing It will brake the rom and unless you have it backed up like in cwm you'll be forced to flash it to bring it back to life.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
roloracer said:
Or if you're brave enough you can always change the lcd density in the build.prop but beware if you make a mistake editing It will brake the rom and unless you have it backed up like in cwm you'll be forced to flash it to bring it back to life.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use LCD resolution from the market. Much simpler for a novice
Hi
I've been considering the LG V10 and wanted to hear from the XDA community on how useful the 2nd screen actually was. Is the second screen more than a novelty? What do you use yours for? What apps can utilize the 2nd screen? How often do you use the 2nd. screen and how does it effect battery life?Screen caps would be welcome.
It's a useful novelty, I wish they would have bumped up the front facing cameras and gave us the option to have a 5.9 inch screen. Useful for checking time w/out unlocking phone as we as being able to change songs w/out unlocking especially useful while driving
I really enjoy the lack of notification cards on the main screen. The past few phones I've had (Note 5, Nexus 6, S6 Edge) have all had the Lollipop style cards that block way too much of the screen. With this phone, the notifications just go to the secondary screen so you can keep focus on what you're doing but still be able to see it. Also, the music controls have been amazing so far and it makes it so much easier as you don't have to pull the shade or switch apps to change tracks or pause (Noticing a trend here lol?). And finally, I use it for having favorite contacts set up (similar to the only good concept of the edge IMO). Hope this helps, so far I love this phone!
I am loving the second screen and find it very useful.
For shortcuts I have tapatalk, chrome, maps, camera and settings.
I love that it also has the 5 most recent apps. I came from a note 2 and waiting for long press for the recent apps was a pain! Of course this phone has a button for that anyway but I still like having them just sitting up there.
I am also using the contact shortcuts to try to replace my direct dial and text shortcuts I had on my home screens. I'm still trying to get used to that.
I definitely like that the date and time is always showing so I can check without waking the phone.
I also recently discovered that if I swipe over to the left when the main screen is sleeping there are shortcuts for the camera, flashlight, Wi-Fi toggle and sound /vibrate toggle.
I love it.
So far I think I'm using the app shortcuts the most.
Sent from my LG-H901 using Tapatalk
BTW guys, not exactly related to the secondary-screen alone but how is the "alt-tab" performance; toggling between recent apps?
Say you cycle between the 5 recent apps; do they pop-up just immediately without any delay and at the exact point where you have left the app? (i.e. a web page doesn't reload, Twitter doesn't refresh like you are opening the app for the first time).
So far I really like the second screen. I keep having an issue where my Hangouts keep showing up as the big banner across the screen (sms seems to show on the secondary though). I also with when the screen was off it would show the whole notification, not just the icon. It would also be nice to choose how long the notification stayed on the second screen. I feel like it pops up and goes away so fast.
I wish the quick contacts could be set as direct dial. I will never use on of those icons to text. I need quick to just dial the primary contacts I have.
Two words: Spotify controls.
Spotify's lock widget was awful, and it always frustrated me that I had to unlock the phone to restart a song. Now I don't even have to turn the lock screen on to do it. This alone made love the second screen.
I thought it might be gimmicky, but I like using it to switch between apps and the music control is nice.
tersagun said:
BTW guys, not exactly related to the secondary-screen alone but how is the "alt-tab" performance; toggling between recent apps?
Say you cycle between the 5 recent apps; do they pop-up just immediately without any delay and at the exact point where you have left the app? (i.e. a web page doesn't reload, Twitter doesn't refresh like you are opening the app for the first time).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally yes, the ram management is very good
I find it useful. Even if u don't plan in using it shouldn't be a bother.
App switching is better, faster since you don't have to flip through cards. I always preferred the old school Android where it just showed the app icons of previous apps
Google Now cards flash with basketball game scores without interrupting whatever I'm doing.
Same with calls. They show up on the second screen.
Hello,
I bet that I'm not the only one who has that problem and I could bet that there is somewhere already a thread about it but all I can find (here and in generall over google) is the opposite case (keyboard disappearing when it shouldn't) or tips for developers to let a keyboard disappear when the user taps on an empty space, so I already appologize but I just can't find any solution.
I have this problem for a few years now, with Googles keyboard, Swiftkey and sometimes Swype. I have it now on my Galaxy Note 4 running stock TW, I had it on my G2 (at least in ParanoidAndroid and SlimROM but I think already in stock LG ROM) and I could even bet that I had it also on my Nexus 4, so that's why I'm asking in the general android forum for help.
Sometimes, I just can't close the keyboard when I don't need it anymore. Pressing back, home or recent apps or opening the notification shade (which should be in the foreground of all for all I know) the keyboard just stays where it is. It isn't frozen, I can still use it. But it really likes to hide buttons I would need e.g. to send the text I just wrote or the buttons in the power menu so I could only press "trun off" but not "reboot" to get rid of it. I even have my back key as "kill foreground app" when double tapping on it, but it kills everything but the keyboard. It takes time and constantly pressing the different navigation keys to finally close the keyboard.
I think you can imagine how annoying that is and I'm really sick of it. It happens randomly so it's not really possible to record any log, it might be possible that XPosed could be the reason for that but I think I already had that problem already befor I installed it the first time but I'm not sure.
Does annyone has that problem too and knows how to handle it?
If you have any suggestions, add in comments and I'll update the OP. Going to try to keep this list as comprehensive as possible.
Ambient Display: Stock ambient display sucks, so I don't miss it here. But would be nice to get something similar to Moto's active notifications to make use of the amoled panel.
Smart power-save: What does it really do? Is it limiting CPU speed? Is it using a more conservative governor? I can't tell any difference (performance or battery) when it's on vs off.
Voiceprint: Completely useless. I bet not a single person uses this.
MyVoice: This would be MUCH more useful if you could trigger it without touching phone while screen was off. In its current form, the time it takes to unlock my phone, hold back, say my command, and wait for it to respond, I'd be better off just doing whatever I wanted it to do. Screen off voice commands are natively supported by Qualcomm, even when the phone is in Doze.
Gesture & Motion:
-Double tap to wake is very slow and doesn't work when phone has gone into Doze.
It also works in your pocket because there is no proximity sensor check. There needs to be.
-Shake flashlight: You really need to shake your phone violently now. So violently in fact that you will throw your phone more often than not trying to turn your flashlight on.
-Give us some kind of camera gesture when phone is off. Double tap power, hold volume button, shake phone, whatever.
Navigation Keys: Capacitive buttons should be optional. I like being able to swap which side the back button is on, but we should be able to customize long-presses.
Battery Percentage: Should be displayed inside the battery icon or replace it. Uses up a ton of space on the status bar.
Workaround: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.kroegerama.android4batpercent
Holster Mode: Completely useless. This is a phone, not a fitbit. Keeping the phone screen on all the time to use as a pedometer will destroy your battery life.
Cast Screen: Why is this not a toggle in the notification shade? Why do I need to dig into the display settings to do this? You have a dual sim quick-toggle, but not a cast screen quick-toggle?
Sound: I really like that when I mute ringer, media volume also mutes. But when you unmute, it goes back to whatever it was at before, which can be a lot louder than you think. Android should tie all volumes except alarm volume together, but if nothing else, let us tie ringer and notification volume together.
Mute Schedule: Why did they remove stock 6.0's timed do not disturb functionality?
Charging Sounds: Should be able to turn off.
Apps: To disable stock calendar, clock, gallery, mifavor launcher, my voice, stock music app, and stock video app, you have to open "stock android launcher" and drag icons from the app drawer to top of screen. Why can't we just disable these same apps from settings --> apps?
Storage: Let us use adaptable storage!
Connect to PC: Does the "Install driver" option do anything? Have not found a computer that does not install driver automatically when MTP selected.
Lockscreen: Get rid of the bell!
Notification Shade: Editing toggles is nice, but let us add and remove toggles. Many of us don't use a 2nd sim card, so having 3 related toggles is a waste of space.
System UI Tuner: Holding the gear icon in the notification shade causes it to spin and settings to open, but System UI Tuner never appears in settings. If you're not going to let us use System UI Tuner, get rid of the toggle.
Stock Weather widget: I really like the widget, but does not scale when resizing. Also, does not open Google clock if stock clock is disabled when clicked. Oh well, back to Chronus.
Toolkit: Not all of these are very useful, but definitely interesting. If you want to create a home screen shortcut to any of these, open the toolkit app and long press whatever icon you like.
Recent Apps: clear button shouldn't cover up 50% of the currently open app. This will be solved in nougat, so probably not worth fixing, but if you're going to put a clear all button on this screen, but it near the top left or top right so it's harder to accidentally press.
Status Bar Color: When status bar turns dark, icons stay dark so you can't read anything. These should turn white.
Speaker Phone: If on speaker phone and screen times out, other person can no longer hear you until you toggle speakerphone off then back on, which means constantly touching your phone's screen so it doesn't time out.
Phone call Proximity Sensor: Doesn't work. If you turn the screen off and hold the phone up to your head, if the proximity sensor sees light, which it will because it's not centered, it will turn the screen BACK ON. With this and the bug above together, phone calls are a huge pain in the ass.
Dolby Atmos: This resets EQ settings very often. I can't figure out what causes it to reset to default, but the settings just never seem to stick.
Anyone have any more info on this?
Write Protection on Rooted phones: Rooted and still can't get adaway or titanium backup to work? Turns out there's an extra layer of write protection here that's not found in other phones. Why do we need this? Luckily, there's a simple fix: Plug phone into computer, load up adb, type "adb reboot disemmcwp" (source:http://androidforums.com/threads/zte-write-protection-for-zmax-and-other-zte-phones.1040331/)
Disable stock apps: in B20, you could disable several stock apps that did not allow you to disable them in settings --> apps by opening"stock Android" launcher and dragging app drawer icons to disable. Seems that has been removed in B27, so now we have no way to disable redundant clocks and calendars to name a few.
Any more suggestions? Anyone know any fixes for the above?
xxBrun0xx said:
Battery Percentage: Should be displayed inside the battery icon or replace it. I use this feature, but no reason to have both this and the battery icon together. Uses up a ton of space on the status bar.
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Click to collapse
You can enable this with an app - search for "Battery Percent Enabler" in the Play Store. This was mentioned elsewhere in the forum - credit goes there.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using XDA Free mobile app
Good summary. I can't believe someone actually thought the notification bell (and subsequently, the inability to turn it off) was a good idea.
I'm going to try to list workarounds here as well, so if someone can come up with good fixes for any of this stuff without waiting for ZTE, please share!
Updated with some new findings and ideas.
I actually like the bell, let's me check the time without having to worry about somebody seeing embarrassing notifications. ?
CandyFoxJ said:
I actually like the bell, let's me check the time without having to worry about somebody seeing embarrassing notifications. ��
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Click to collapse
But Android already has a perfectly working system to hide notification content before unlocking the device. You can even pick which apps to show and which ones to hide. And, most importantly, it's OPTIONAL. And it's actually much better at protecting your privacy. With the bell, all the content is visible without actually unlocking your phone.. it just makes it more inconvenient to access.
Ability to turn off charging sounds.
Added charging sounds. Thanks for the feedback!
xxBrun0xx said:
Added charging sounds. Thanks for the feedback!
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Click to collapse
What about the charging sound? I got my phone on vibrate all the time (a phone ringing is considered super rude in most part of europe) and it just vibrates a bit when plugging in.
RedWave31 said:
What about the charging sound? I got my phone on vibrate all the time (a phone ringing is considered super rude in most part of europe) and it just vibrates a bit when plugging in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does the same (also on mute all the time). Apparently if you have volume on, it makes noise. Either way, should be able to toggle the "charging notification".
Added speaker phone and proximity bugs.
xxBrun0xx said:
Added speaker phone and proximity bugs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope speakerphone gets fixed soon. Use it a lot. We need to get all this great info to ZTE. Thanks for great thread.
Sent from my SM-N910T using Tapatalk
"Wake on Plug" toggle (waking up screen on plug or unplug). I have this option on a Nexus tablet and OnePlus One phone, but it does not exist in MiFavor.
xxBrun0xx said:
Apps: To disable stock calendar, clock, gallery, mifavor launcher, my voice, stock music app, and stock video app, you have to open "stock android launcher" and drag icons from the app drawer to top of screen. Why can't we just disable these same apps from settings --> apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean with stock android launcher? Where do i find it? I cant deactive this bloat without root
The phone, at least in US version, comes with a launcher called "Stock Android Launcher", but it is just a differently themed MiFlavor launcher, not a real stock android launcher. Confusing, but that is what is there.
deluxxx said:
What do you mean with stock android launcher? Where do i find it? I cant deactive this bloat without root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings > Themes and Wallpapers.
On the US model, there's a theme titled "Stock Android". When using that theme, you can open up the app drawer, press and hold on an app, and on the top of the screen there's a "Disable" option. This is different from the standard Settings > Apps > selecting an app > Disable (which is greyed out for most of the stock apps).
xtermmin said:
Settings > Themes and Wallpapers.
On the US model, there's a theme titled "Stock Android". When using that theme, you can open up the app drawer, press and hold on an app, and on the top of the screen there's a "Disable" option. This is different from the standard Settings > Apps > selecting an app > Disable (which is greyed out for most of the stock apps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, no such option on G Version -.- only 5 slightly different ZTE themes.
Also no Myvoice in g version. WTF?!
@xxBrun0xx: I saw you linked to this list in a ZTE forum, but I think it would be better if it had its own thread as well.
In addition to "wake on plug" toggle I mentioned a few posts above, I would like to see an option to remap capacitative buttons to whatever user wants, right now they can only be "flipped", but ability to have custom functions (on both short and long press) would be helpful. I personally, would like to use one of the button for menu rather than for recent apps.
When i receive a text message (of any kind of app) and choose to answer it with the direct reply from heads up, in any keyboard i am not able to get the return key to show up in order to make a new line, in it's place there's a "send" button.´
- Android version: 7.1.1
Things i've tried:
- Shift to see if it changes
- Change the keyboard
-Hold to see the options, the only option avaiable is to do the "one handed" mode.
I have searched far and wide without sucess, and i need it!!
It only happens in the direct replies (heads up notification)