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[Q] G2X: First Day Issues

Just got my new G2X this morning. I came from a N1.
I generally like the phone and got it to address a couple of problems I had with the N1 (handset speaker went out and I only could talk via speaker or BT, sticky buttons, and continuous switching between EDGE/3G).
I can overlook the display bleed, the fact that I HATE where the power button is located, trackball, LED notifications (boy, will I miss those) and can (I think) tolerate the lack of early android updates.
There are couple of other things that REALLY bug me, though, and was wondering if anyone else was experiencing it and if there were any solutions. (Yeah, I searched the 'net today but haven't come up with any thing elegant). I don't have these problems on the N1 so could probably tolerate it and return the G2X until more appropriate hardware was out. (Maybe sensation? Although I don't like large screens on my phone)
1. Bluetooth lag. There is a significant (sometimes 1-2 seconds) lag between the time my phone generates sounds and when my BT headset picks them up (Jawbone Icon).
2. BT/Handset simultaneous sounds. I liked the fact that when my BT headset was connected, the handset speaker would mute and all sounds would only come through the headset. This does not happen that way with the G2X - is there a way to change it?
3. So I have two places for storage and by default, most of the apps point to the internal one and can't be changed to point to the external (I was able to point the camera storage to external at least, whew!). Any known workaround?
4. Task killer can't kill certain apps. I get a message saying that 2.2 didn't allow 3rd party apps to cancel processes. Never noticed this on the N1.
5. Car Home - I'm sure a lot of people find this useful, but I don't. Is there any way to supress this from coming up? Sometimes I get it when I connect my BT headset. At other times it doesn't show up until I get a call.
I really want to like this phone, but aside from 4G, it seems like it isn't much more than a minor improvement over my N1...

I can't help you on 1-3, but...
4) Task killers on android do more harm than good.*
5) Root the phone. It's REALLY simple. Download some drivers for your PC, download the program, connect your phone, run it, boom, rooted. Download Titanium Backup, find Car Home, freeze it.
more info on rooting

I myself coming from a N1 I keep looking at the N1 wanting to reach for it and throw my SIM back in and cry holding it. Wish I could put new guts in it and make it more update.
1. the track ball my thumb keeps reaching for and its not there
2. Two storage places I dont like either
3. The bleed isn't bad on mine but Im going to wait a week and take it back and try another g2x out before my buyer's remorse period is up.
4. I'm very surprised at you coming from a N1 that you use task killers very surprised and I'm gonna keep my eye on your.

cliffy15 said:
1. Bluetooth lag. There is a significant (sometimes 1-2 seconds) lag between the time my phone generates sounds and when my BT headset picks them up (Jawbone Icon).
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I have a BlueAnt Q2 and have no issues with Bluetooth. Phone to headset and headset to phone are almost instantaneous.
2. BT/Handset simultaneous sounds. I liked the fact that when my BT headset was connected, the handset speaker would mute and all sounds would only come through the headset. This does not happen that way with the G2X - is there a way to change it?
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Click to collapse
My G2 used to work that way too. The G2X and my headset work like yours. It drives me crazy but I don't think there's a fix. Oddly, in my car, it play signals through the car's speakers when I wish it wouldn't. So that seems to indicate the connected device has something to do with it.
5. Car Home - I'm sure a lot of people find this useful, but I don't. Is there any way to supress this from coming up? Sometimes I get it when I connect my BT headset. At other times it doesn't show up until I get a call.
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Click to collapse
You could disable it under settings with HTC phones. Settings on the G2X take you to Android settings. I kill the process when I reboot the phone.

Thanks for the info!
lance713: yeah, assuming this phone makes it past the return date, I'm going to have to root it. I was never really was into custom roms, but I think I may start soon.
lance713/wondercoolguy: btw, I don't use task killers for much ... but coverage is spotty here (Hawaii) and I kill things when they get interrupted mid-task because they wait and "search" for awhile, killing my battery. I also kill gallery and messages when they have the occasional hang.
Guess I'll have to get used to no trackball/pad. My only other consideration was the Sensation (I really don't want most of the Sense UI) and that doesn't have one, either.

Rooting and flashing with different rom, will not fixed the screen bleeding problem or charging problem, that causes the phone to reboot. Those are hardware flaws

I can help with one of your issues the LED Notifications. Check out NoLED Settings in the Android Market by a fellow XDA developer member. It works great and highly customizable.

Came from an N1 myself.
Solution: Flash CM7
You'll feel right at home!

led notification
try lg2/black notifications from the market place.

[Q] Change tracks with volume buttons - kernel specific?

So I'm getting back into the smartphone game again after being away awhile and I got a Nexus S today basically free of cost, practically brand new without a mark on it. Previous owner had it as a temporary phone during a warranty repair job of his primary phone and when he picked up the repaired one they said he could keep the Nexus S (wish I could get that lucky).
Anyway, while I know there are a ton of different ROMs available for this fantastic (albeit older) device, here's what I really want and I'm not sure it's possible. I've used CM in the past on several devices and one of the things that I always loved first and foremost was the ability to change tracks during music playback by holding the volume up/down button(s) (long press as a short press adjusts the volume). Now, I'm not a coder, not a developer, not a ROM builder, etc - I basically enjoy the work of others provided by their ROMs and so on.
This time out I've decided to try and stick with a pure stock ROM (which I'm not sure of at the moment, the NS has 4.1.2 on it but I plan to do testing with the factory 4.0.4 and 4.1.1 images as well just to see what's going on). Since those are factory images they're obviously not rooted so I can use WugFresh's Nexus Toolkit to handle the rooting for me.
So here's my question: is the ability to use the volume controls for changing tracks during music playback (with the screen off) a ROM-specific thing or is it kernel-specific - I've never been able to find an accurate answer to this question and I've asked it several times on different forums over the past 4+ years and still nothing of substance has ever been given as a response.
I know that some music players advertise they can do it (I've seen PowerAMP mentioned a few times but it just doesn't appear to work for me, ever, on any device). Again, I'd prefer to stay stock as much as possible, save for rooting the device, and then hopefully find out either a) I have to use a custom ROM with this feature enabled in it, or b) it's kernel related and I can just install a custom kernel which I can tolerate since it'll help on several aspects.
Sorry to make this so wordy but that's just how I am.
tl;dr version: I want to remain as stock as possible, with root only, and be able to change tracks during audio/music playback with the screen off by using the volume control buttons. Is it possible with just installing a custom kernel (given this Nexus S is bootloader unlocked) or not?
Hopefully someone can offer an answer that'll put a smile on my face but, if not that's fine too I suppose, I can just drop back to CM10 (4.1.1) stable and stick with it, not sure 4.1.2 really does all that much to improve things and 4.2.2 apparently is just too big for the limited 512MB of RAM in this NS to be smooth sailing.
Thanks...

This feature is build in with the app "Uber Music" its a setting called "Use volume buttons to control media"
It works great and its awesome if you don't mind putting in a few dollars to get the app
Cheers,
Luke

UberMusic looks nice, sure, but it doesn't do what I was hoping it would (and was suggested in the post above). The setting preference says "Enable headset controls" and I already have that ability: I have a cord from Apple earbuds where I removed/desoldered the original factory earbuds (because they're crap) and then replaced them with a pair of Koss IEMs that I like. So even though the cord looks like I'm using Apple earbuds I'm not.
Having said that, I can already control the Play (single click), Pause (single click), and Next track (double click) functionality, but obviously the dedicated volume buttons on the remote don't work for whatever reason. The Nexus S has a proper TRRS jack but it seems like no Android phone makers care enough to actually allow for such volume control through that jack. And the typical triple click Previous track functionality doesn't work either, sadly (and that's with any remote I've ever tried, even earbuds/IEMs that claim to work or are "designed for Android."
So again, I'm trying to control changing tracks (Next and Previous) with the volume rocker on the phone itself and when the screen is off, that's it. Since the phone is in my hand 99% of the time and my thumb is on the volume rocker, it's infinitely more efficient to change tracks with a slight movement of the thumb than trying to grasp the inline remote and double click or whatever.
Sure is odd why this question is so difficult to get an answer to over the years...

Most custom roms support this. It's not a kernel thing afaik. You may be able to find a mod to get it working on stock. It seems like I've seen it before in the ns4g themes & mods but I could be wrong.
As for triple press on the headphones, it's always worked for me with poweramp on multiple headphones.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

Remote shutter button

Anyone know of a good way to operate the camera remotely (for taking self portraits)?
I have been able to use the volume keys on an old wired headset to take a photo using camera fv-5, but wanted to do this wirelessly. I have tried with two different Bluetooth headsets, but this doesn't work. I've looked into Maku Shuttr, but this seems a) expensive, b) large for what it is, and c) requires a separate app to work with the Xperia Z, which does not look very good. I know you can do this with the Sony watch 2, but don't want to buy that just for this functionality. Anyone have any ideas?

I think you can do this with tasker app... Not 100% sure though.
Sent from my C6603 using xda app-developers app

Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't heard of tasker. I have not seen a way to do what I want (trigger the camera shutter with a Bluetooth headset) on a quick search, but will spend some time on it later. In the mean time, does any one know how this could be configured?

dannykap said:
Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't heard of tasker. I have not seen a way to do what I want (trigger the camera shutter with a Bluetooth headset) on a quick search, but will spend some time on it later. In the mean time, does any one know how this could be configured?
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Sony Smartwatch

Thanks. I did say I didn't want to buy the watch just for this functionality though. Ideally I'd get it working with hardware I already have, i.e. a Bluetooth headset. I still haven't figured out if it is possible to configure tasker to do this though. Has anyone managed it?

Muku Shuttr
http://www.mukulabs.com/
"Muku Shuttr - first ever mobile shutter for iPhone & Android"

Thanks - I did say I'd looked into this (although I had spelled it wrong!), but it wasn't for me. It's too large, it's expensive for what it is, and it seems to require a separate app for the xperia Z. I'd much prefer to be able to use an old bluetooth headset. However, I have not, as yet, found a way of making this work, so am limited to using an old wired headset or the self timer. Thanks anyway for looking.

Yeah tasker.
You can create a task to, say, shoot one picture per second for 10 seconds, set it to start after you push a certain button (or whatever tasker lets you automate any actions your phone is capable of)
it has a learning curve to set up so you may want to read up some tutorials on it, but its a must have app, and I rarely reccommend paid programs.

[Feature request] Minor stuff gone missing since Kitkat

Feature 1:
Lockscreen widget for music player lost the "Previous" button. I can skip a song, but I have to unlock the phone and navigate to the now playing screen to restart a track or go back to a previous one.
This was available in 4.4.4. It's a bit annoying, specially when you're driving.
Feature 2:
This might actually be a bug...
While playing music, incoming messages/call notifications do not play. The music merely lowers in volume. Again, while driving, I might not notice the 1 one second drop in music volume for a message, and sometimes I even miss a call.
On another note, I believe feature wise, Kitkat was the best(pratical and feature wise) rom we had. Had a few non Omni-related issues with Lollipop, most of them minor but still annoying.
Lockscreen is one for example. The default, unprotected Lollipop lockscreen is too easy to unlock. I found myself running out of money a few times because firefox was accidentally launched while the phone was in my pocket. Or sometimes the phone app calling random people.

[AltaiR] said:
Feature 1:
Lockscreen widget for music player lost the "Previous" button. I can skip a song, but I have to unlock the phone and navigate to the now playing screen to restart a track or go back to a previous one.
This was available in 4.4.4. It's a bit annoying, specially when you're driving.
Feature 2:
This might actually be a bug...
While playing music, incoming messages/call notifications do not play. The music merely lowers in volume. Again, while driving, I might not notice the 1 one second drop in music volume for a message, and sometimes I even miss a call.
On another note, I believe feature wise, Kitkat was the best(pratical and feature wise) rom we had. Had a few non Omni-related issues with Lollipop, most of them minor but still annoying.
Lockscreen is one for example. The default, unprotected Lollipop lockscreen is too easy to unlock. I found myself running out of money a few times because firefox was accidentally launched while the phone was in my pocket. Or sometimes the phone app calling random people.
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Click to collapse
2 sounds like it might be a bug, and it might be device-specific - you don't state which device you have.
It's not something I'd notice in my daily routine since I have an XM receiver in my car.

Entropy512 said:
2 sounds like it might be a bug, and it might be device-specific - you don't state which device you have.
It's not something I'd notice in my daily routine since I have an XM receiver in my car.
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Thought so too...guess I'd best report it in the device specific thread.
Own a Nexus 5, as mentioned in my sig. I guess these days sigs are so full of meaningless stuff that we don't really bother checking em out anymore. Iirc, there was a guide somewhere teaching how to make a useful one.

[AltaiR] said:
Thought so too...guess I'd best report it in the device specific thread.
Own a Nexus 5, as mentioned in my sig. I guess these days sigs are so full of meaningless stuff that we don't really bother checking em out anymore. Iirc, there was a guide somewhere teaching how to make a useful one.
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Click to collapse
I stopped including my devices in my sig ages ago because it was frequently inaccurate/out-of-date and I always assume someone else's sig is wrong/don't even look at it for that reason.
Does it happen on stock? I'm not sure if this is a 5.x thing in general, a device-specific bug, or an Omni bug due to some of @maxwen 's volume control tweaks . I won't be able to experiment with it until I get back from vacation in mid-late September.

Issue with lock screen functionality

am having an issue with the apps lock screen. I either can not find, or the functionality to manipulate the playback controls does not exist without taking it completely out of lock mode.
I think the app is wonderful but I think this is a major oversight. I saw posts about this same issue in 2014 and I guess you decided not to do it. The controls you have are so unique and helpful that if you could make it easier to manipulate for the those who are on the go most of the time listening to music etc. I do not want to get hit by a bus trying to mess around with the volume\shuffle options\dealing with other app windows on my phone. I hope there is something planned as far as a change may go.
One quick issue. The player pauses for a second every time I turn off the screen. I saw this prob in another thread that was not answered.
I think it would really put your player cleatly ahesf of the competition! Plus I would be eternally grateful
I have a Pixel XL by the way...
Hope to hear back soon,
Andrew

andykc12 said:
am having an issue with the apps lock screen. I either can not find, or the functionality to manipulate the playback controls does not exist without taking it completely out of lock mode.
I think the app is wonderful but I think this is a major oversight. I saw posts about this same issue in 2014 and I guess you decided not to do it. The controls you have are so unique and helpful that if you could make it easier to manipulate for the those who are on the go most of the time listening to music etc. I do not want to get hit by a bus trying to mess around with the volume\shuffle options\dealing with other app windows on my phone. I hope there is something planned as far as a change may go.
One quick issue. The player pauses for a second every time I turn off the screen. I saw this prob in another thread that was not answered.
I think it would really put your player cleatly ahesf of the competition! Plus I would be eternally grateful
I have a Pixel XL by the way...
Hope to hear back soon,
Andrew
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably you might have disabled lock screen notification in device's settings.
Regarding pause while switching between background and foreground, it was intentionally introduced to avoid issues. Development team is already working on it. It's already planned to make it optional. Kindly be patient till they implement it.