Android bros, catch me up to speed

[Shaka Khan]

I got my Nexus 4 earlier today, finally. This is my first Android device, so I'm still familiarizing myself with the handset.

What I really need to know is how to get the most of it in ways impossible on the iPhone. In other words, tweaks and widgets? Any help at point would be appreciated. The internet is filled duplicated outdated crap on this.

[Himu]

Why don't you read my android thread you cunt? Plenty of advice there in a sea of shit.

[Shaka Khan]

Where the fuck is that?

I've been navigating this place through "show unread posts/replies" for the past 5 years, I'm not gonna change now.

[Himu]

What kind of apps are you looking for

[Shaka Khan]

Basically anything that would make happy I switched to Android, so a focus on tweaks and widgets would be nice. For starters, the essentials and anything related to UI would work.

I have to say though, even with the big improvements in performance/animations/rendering, it's still not up to the iPhone level which is a little disappointing to someone who's as obsessed with that as me. I installed Google Drive and tried opening a PDF file, and it was less smoother than it was on my 3GS. How disheartening is that?!

[Tasty]

- Go to play.google.com and install apps automagically over the air.
- Sign up for Google Voice and install the app. Free texts, visual voicemail, multi-phone forwarding, and a permanent number (after signing up, you only have to give your GV number out for the rest of your life, as you can add new phones for it to ring.)
- Migrate all your music to Google Play Music using the desktop uploader (which now has song matching, I think.) Pin playlists and albums you want to be offline in the Android app.
- One of the more useful widgets is the "Direct Dial" and "Direct Message" widgets, that let you make shortcuts to calling or sending texts to specific contacts.
- Try out Google Wallet at McD's, cabs, and other places you see MasterCard Paypass logos.
- Give Google Now a try every so often (swipe up from the home button.)
- Install Rise of the Blobs cause I'm pals with the devs and they're awesome (also available on iOS.)
- I don't really use widgets much as the awesome notification system keeps me appraised of the updates I want, but I do find Circle Battery useful. Have it front and center in place of the clock you usually see in spec photos.

[Himu]

Well your Nexus comes with google now.

One thing I'm big on is the flipboard widget

[Cormacaroni]

Where the fuck is that?

I've been navigating this place through "show unread posts/replies" for the past 5 years, I'm not gonna change now.

I MUST BE ON THE BLEEDING EDGE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY...

...but I will not even COUNTENANCE browsing the Bore normally

[Shaka Khan]

Thanks Andy!

Unfortunately, I won't be able to experience Google Play to the fullest since I've exclusively switched to streaming over Spotify for a long time.

[Shaka Khan]

I MUST BE ON THE BLEEDING EDGE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY...

...but I will not even COUNTENANCE browsing the Bore normally

I mean I can do it, but it's been literally a year since I did lol.

[Rusty Shackleford]

I have the Droid 4 so I'm not sure if the Nexus 4 comes with equivalents for these:

*Astro file manager. Better than the OEM-provided file managers I've seen.
*Opera Mobile/Opera Mini browsers. Opera Mini uses server-side data compression to reduce data usage; Opera Mobile can render pages PDQ (especially if you disable all its extensions and therefore flash/JS slowdown). I suppose Chrome has more-or-less overtaken it, though.
*ezPDF Reader is usually a better alternative to Adobe Reader; faster rendering and better editing/annotating support.
*Wolfram Alpha is kinda sorta like Siri (except you have to type in your queries). I think Siri gets its results from Wolfram's servers in a manner similar to Alpha. No social networking functions like Siri, though.
*If you have an Android tablet, Tablet Talk pushes text messages from phone to tablet.

EDIT: FoxFi provides free tethering/hotspot capabilities; bypasses carrier lockout/payment requirement. I know Verizon is now obligated to provide free tethering as part of a spectrum acquistion agreement with the FCC but I don't know the other carriers' rules.

Does Jelly Bean have the Power Control widget built-in (wi-fi, gps, bluetooth, sync, brightness), Andrex? It's pretty useful too.

[Tasty]

Does Jelly Bean have the Power Control widget built-in (wi-fi, gps, bluetooth, sync, brightness), Andrex? It's pretty useful too.

Yup, and I use it all the time. It's especially useful for Bluetooth as turning it on will make it seek out and automatically connect with any active previously paired device. Takes like four seconds.

Chrome is nice because of the tab syncing, use it all the time -- bookmark syncing as well but that's kind of a given these days.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I installed NovaLauncher and would not go back. Gives you almost per-pixel control over layout, screen transitions, etc.

Press is a good Google Reader app.

Falcon Pro is a FANTASTIC Twitter app.

Eye in the Sky is the best weather app.

I installed a one-button widget to turn tethering on/off - there's several, pick one you like.

[brawndolicious]

Google Now is very nifty.

SwiftKey is the best keyboard ever. I can type one handed without looking at the keyboard and expect it to fix all my typos. It learns as you type (can also give it access to Gmail, Facebook, and twitter accounts to learn from those).

There's backgrounds and weather/news widgets but you've probably already looked at all of those.

There's not a whole lot of games but you have ps1/n64 emulators and anything below. Not a lot of games translate too well to touchscreen but some do.

[Beezy]

I completely forgot that I was using Swiftkey X this whole time. But yes, it's easily the best android keyboard that I've used.

Treesong, isn't Falcon Pro missing something? I can't remember what, but I know I decided not to get it because it didn't have some feature that most other twitter apps do.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Maybe not at launch but they update about once a week. It probably has those features now!

And honestly, I've never used a better Twitter client on iOS or Android ... so I'm not sure what feature (if any) I'd be missing.

[Eel O'Brian]

comicrack is the best comic reader, lots of folks will tell you perfect viewer is better but they are lying

[Howard Alan Treesong]

You should replace Gallery with QuickPic.

Get Pixlr Express (basically Instagram without the sharing or hipster cachet - just a nice way to photoshop your pics)

MX Player handles any video file I copy over. Fuck iTunes, AAC, and converting!

And you should spend $10 / mo for Spotify.

also PUZZLE & DRAGONS IS OUT ON ANDROID so it's not like you need any other games in your life. ever.

[Tasty]

comicrack is the best comic reader, lots of folks will tell you perfect viewer is better but they are lying

I just use Comixology.

Which used to be pretty crappy, but is now less crappy. It wiped out my collection a while back though cause of some bug with the Android version. Probably for the best since my N7 is only 16 GB and they were already more than half that...

[Eel O'Brian]

you can't load your own .cbr and .cbz files on comixology

[Tasty]

you can't load your own .cbr and .cbz files on comixology

Well I'm not a filthy pirate so it works out.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I also second (third?) that Google Now is a lot more useful than I would have thought. I guess it's basically Siri, but without the weird anthropomorphism. Also "Google Now" doesn't mean "ass" in Japanese.

I tried SwiftKey, but prefer the swipe keyboard for one-handed typing. SWIPE SWIPE SWIPE.

Don't be afraid of voice-to-text input, if Android can understand your swarthy accent.

[Eel O'Brian]

you can't load your own .cbr and .cbz files on comixology

Well I'm not a filthy pirate so it works out.

public domain comics

http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/

http://comicbookplus.com/

[Beezy]

Guess I'll be downloading Falcon Pro and Puzzle & Dragons. Keep the recommendations coming.

Ruzzle seems to be the word game flavor of the month on android and iOS. I'll play any of you if you have it. Username is JabarieD.

Edit: Flipboard is always worth trying, but you already know that if you're coming from iOS.

Venmo is a really simple way to pay back friends instead of trying to split bills and shit.

[Tasty]

- Rise of the Blobs
- Wind-Up Knight
- Gunman Clive (if you don't have a 3DS)

[Shaka Khan]

Thanks guys <3

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Triple icon Patel.

[close]

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I got my Nexus 4 in December, and honestly would not want to go back to iOS.*

Being able to control default apps and behavior at the OS level is just so ... refreshing.

BTW, I'm still looking for a good notepad app. I installed ColorNote, and it's not BAD, but I have a feeling there's something better out there.

* for my phone; you'll pry my iPad out of my cold dead hands

[Howard Alan Treesong]

If you want to see some of the crazier Android UI mods, check out: http://mycolorscreen.com/

I still like the "icon = app" paradigm, but you can do whatever you want

[Brehvolution]

The level of customization is second to none. I've had my GS3 for a month now and I don't miss ios one bit. I'll check out Falcon. I've been using Plume but the ads are really annoying.

Thanks for the recommendations!

[Beezy]

The level of customization is second to none. I've had my GS3 for a month now and I don't miss ios one bit. I'll check out Falcon. I've been using Plume but the ads are really annoying.

Thanks for the recommendations!

Same here. They seem to have gotten worse in the past month. Plus it's been crashing on me lately.

[Brehvolution]

I hate the movie ads that rise up and you have to acknowledge them to go back to reading. 

[Beezy]

I keep getting some sneaker ad that rises up constantly.

[Shaka Khan]

I certainly appreciate the humor of shopping for apps using my iPad lol.

[chronovore]

I also second (third?) that Google Now is a lot more useful than I would have thought. I guess it's basically Siri, but without the weird anthropomorphism. Also "Google Now" doesn't mean "ass" in Japanese.

I tried SwiftKey, but prefer the swipe keyboard for one-handed typing. SWIPE SWIPE SWIPE.

Don't be afraid of voice-to-text input, if Android can understand your swarthy accent.

Well, グーグルなう！does at least feel like a slightly dated Japanese meme, but that's better than "ass."

[Cormacaroni]

comicrack is the best comic reader, lots of folks will tell you perfect viewer is better but they are lying

I just use Comixology.

Which used to be pretty crappy, but is now less crappy. It wiped out my collection a while back though cause of some bug with the Android version. Probably for the best since my N7 is only 16 GB and they were already more than half that...

comixology will crash permanently if you get too close to the storage limit...my collection on iPad has been wiped maybe 4-5 times cause of this. The app won't boot to allow you to delete some stuff, so you have to delete and download again. Not much you can do except delete regularly and only DL stuff you plan on reading soon.

[Tasty]

I think they might have fixed that bug, but I may be forgotten. I think what hit me was an Android specific issue, they sent an email implying as much.

[Shaka Khan]

- Holy crap at NovaLauncher. I've been tinkering with it all morning, and after testing/familiarizing myself with all the options, I can never see myself going back to the regular launcher.
- Falcon Pro is also a great twitter client, but for some reason wouldn't import my lists.
- QuickPic a good alternative to gallery, however I can't get past how clunky the transition animation going from the small thumbnail to the full view... gives the impression of the phone freezing.
- Eye in Sky is a great app/widget. I just wish it included a clock and a lockscreen widget.

Speaking of lockscreen widgets, any excellent ones I might have missed?
I also was thinking of subscribing to a cloud service to boost the meager storage, but can't decide between Dropbox and Google Drive.

[huckleberry]

How is the battery life on the Nexus 4 for you? Planning on giving my Galaxy Nexus to my son and picking up a 4 but not if the battery life is worse.

[Tasty]

How is the battery life on the Nexus 4 for you? Planning on giving my Galaxy Nexus to my son and picking up a 4 but not if the battery life is worse.

Kinda in the same boat, except the son part...

Also, how's the camera?

[huckleberry]

A few of my favorite customization apps, besides Nova Launcher

Notification Toggle

Lockscreen Policy

Zooper Widget Pro

Smart Rotator

[brawndolicious]

^holy shizzle dicks notification toggle is amazing. I can control like everything without unlocking the phone.



The top row are toggles that come with my uprooted/rommed phone. The next two are stuff I wanted to add. And the bottom row can be disappeared when you want by pressing arrow toggle on the right of the second row.

Everything basically goes faster and it saves room on my home screens where I would previously use other apps and widgets.

[Tasty]

That looks hideous.

[brawndolicious]

That's the point of a notification tray, it's a faster and less pretty way to do anything. I can still primp it up a little with icon, font, and color settings but there's no way I'm giving up any toggles.

[Tasty]

Aren't most of those in stock Android 4.2 anyways?

[brawndolicious]

You have multiple types of toggles you can select for each setting: wifi, bluetooth, sound, mobile data, and brightness each have multiple toggles depending on how much control you want.

The rest is mostly stuff that controls individual apps. Being able to put apps and shortcuts for speed dials and such in your notification screen is nice too.

[Shaka Khan]

Thanks for those links Arde0, I'm a real sucker for anything involving type, so  Zooper is perfect. As for the toggle tweak, I'll fiddle with it, but I don't know how much it'll offer over 4.2's native toggles.

Anyhow, here's a new issue I'm trying to wrap my head around: how to easily save photos! See with iOS every image you save is automatically stored in the Camera roll folder in Photos, which is admittedly restrictive, yet streamlines the process of saving and retrieving photos.

Now with Androids, I'm noticing the default Gallery app comes with a "Camera" folder, while other folders are generated as you install apps and use other services. However, I'm not seeing a universal way of handling photos, as opposed to the sharing function which is being pushed to the forefront.

For example, the browser allows me to download images to the "download" app. The twitter app saves automatically to the Camera folder. And unlike the iOS Facebook app this one doesn't even offer the option of saving photos, only sharing it with other services. An app like QuicPic will allow me to form folder, but one that is not discoverable by the default Gallery app (since they're obviously different paths). On the other hand, drop box offers an export function while google drive depends on what app you use to open your photo.

What I'm getting at is that it's kind of messy. I hate having to export one of my photo from Facebook to Dropbox/Google Drive then download from either just to store it on my phone. It's either that, or I'm doing something wrong on a system level. I think I might set QuickPic as my default photo app for now, and see if that alleviates the problem somehow.

Speaking of which, where can I manage my file/app associations? Just in case I wanna roll back on a few I've set.

[Tasty]

Speaking of which, where can I manage my file/app associations? Just in case I wanna roll back on a few I've set.

Settings > Apps > [App in question] > Launch by default: Clear defaults

[Shaka Khan]

Thanks!

Any tip on how I generally should handle my photos? I'd like a solutions with the least amount hoops.

[Tasty]

Hmm, I dunno... I'm trying to wrap my head around your problem since I've never really encountered it.

Can you just take photos with the Camera app and then share them from there? That's what I usually do, especially since the camera is a swipe to the left on the lock screen.

[brawndolicious]

Doesn't the Gallery app show you thumbnails of all  pictures and images? This is actually why you have to be careful  in public if you've downloaded porn.

[Shaka Khan]

I guess if I were to simplify the problem I'd ask: why does almost every app make sure to include the "share" button but not all allow you to save pictures in a cohesive, streamlined and unified way?

Now this has probably more to do with the Facebook app being bad, but it was comical when I wanted to take a photo I saw on someone's wall and post it in the comment section of a friend's status. The same process takes a few seconds on iOS.

[Positive Touch]

fuck all these social apps that dont let me save pics

[Shaka Khan]

Is there a way to add a universal look-up/define feature akin to iOS' built-in dictionary? I did myself missing that feature, and my searches aren't turning anything up.

[huckleberry]

As far as toggles go I just put ones there that I want persistent and super easy to get to - Flashlight, Camera, and Clock.

I actually found a much better toggle app

Power Toggle

This one is awesome and all features are completely free.


Don't know if I can help with your photo problem except to say get Quickpic. I just add all the folders in Quickpic that I the different apps save to.  Or maybe I am not understanding your problem (jitters from too much coffee).

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Is there a way to add a universal look-up/define feature akin to iOS' built-in dictionary? I did myself missing that feature, and my searches aren't turning anything up.

not sure what you mean; you can set up text aliases like iOS tho (i.e. I type "nhb" and it expands out to "No homo, bro!")

[Shaka Khan]

Power Toggle is amazing. QuickPic is great too, I've been using it ever since Patel recommended it.

not sure what you mean; you can set up text aliases like iOS tho (i.e. I type "nhb" and it expands out to "No homo, bro!")

That I found, but I was referencing this iOS feature:

[chronovore]

Is there a way to add a universal look-up/define feature akin to iOS' built-in dictionary? I did myself missing that feature, and my searches aren't turning anything up.

not sure what you mean; you can set up text aliases like iOS tho (i.e. I type "nhb" and it expands out to "No homo, bro!")

WAT? Where can you do this in iOS?

[Shaka Khan]

Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts

Pretty sweet feature, bro.

[chronovore]

Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts

Pretty sweet feature, bro.

Kewl!

[Rusty Shackleford]

As far as toggles go I just put ones there that I want persistent and super easy to get to - Flashlight, Camera, and Clock.

I actually found a much better toggle app

Power Toggle

This one is awesome and all features are completely free.


Don't know if I can help with your photo problem except to say get Quickpic. I just add all the folders in Quickpic that I the different apps save to.  Or maybe I am not understanding your problem (jitters from too much coffee).

Thanks for the Power Toggles suggestion. It's great. It also forces Moto phones like mine to display the battery percent in multiples other than 10. Always bugged me for some reason.