Android 4.x Contacts/Phone on a Touchwiz Rom - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III

I spent a lot of time on AOKP of my former phone and as a result I fully redid all of my contact photos because of the high-res support built into ICS and JB. Incoming calls looked awesome with photo ID taking up the whole screen and being crystal clear.
Now I am using all these different TouchWiz roms for my new GS3 and the contacts and dialer are HIDEOUS. All my contacts are tiny images AND they look awful! I'm not even sure how that is possible.
Is there any way on earth to completely remove all the touchwiz pieces of software that pertain to contacts and phone in these TW releases? I've happily ditched the email app and replaced it with AOSP email, the AOSP calendar is on the Play Store. The AOSP lockscreen is available on most custom roms....but the dialer/phone piece is one of the last hideous things bugging me about this sweet phone.
Since no one seems to have done it I feel I should assume it's not possible, but figured I'd ask.
The other hideous thing that I'd love to fix is the size of the fonts in the notification curtain. Samsung designed their layout for 80 year olds apparently....everything is so enourmous

I'm not a big fan of the TouchWiz contact or dialer apps either, but the contact photos can be easily fixed.
What are you using to sync your contact photos? HaxSync (available on the market) works great if you are synching photos from Facebook. The quality depends on whether you are on ICS or JellyBean, as JellyBean is capable of storing higher resolution than ICS.

When I was on AOSP jelly bean I set up high res photos for almost all of my contacts in Gmail. I don't use Facebook. Recently Google upgraded the contacts applet within Gmail to allow for higher resolution photos.
So it was beautiful. On any clean install of CM or AOKP I had full screen high res caller id just by syncing my Gmail contacts.
Now crappy touchwiz takes my gmail contact photos and mutilates them to look low res and half-screened. It's shameful really.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I had a Gnex and my pics were little. tiny blurry cubes upon switching to my s3. You'll have to manually switch them all from the phone or use haxsync to overwrite some of them. It sucks though. I know where you are. Lol.
And I don't think you can get rid of the dialer/contacts. Pretty sure a dev buddy of mine said it's too deeply intertwined with the rest of the TW framework and wreaks havoc when removed. I could be wrong, but I think I'm right
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I believe you...I figured it must be a major pain or impossible to remove or someone would have done it already.
I'd be willing to pay a developer if he could create a mod that fully removes TW-based contacts/phone and replaces them with the corresponding JB pieces.
So after spending a week on a flashing binge I've come up with two apparently impossible scenarios to make the perfect rom for this phone.
1) an AOSP rom that somehow is able to implement the TW-based Galaxy S3 Camera
or
2) a TW-based rom that somehow is able to remove everything TW-related (contacts/phone) EXCEPT for the camera

Good luck, my man. Lol. Let me know what happens. Both scenarios are nice.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

spearoid said:
I believe you...I figured it must be a major pain or impossible to remove or someone would have done it already.
I'd be willing to pay a developer if he could create a mod that fully removes TW-based contacts/phone and replaces them with the corresponding JB pieces.
So after spending a week on a flashing binge I've come up with two apparently impossible scenarios to make the perfect rom for this phone.
1) an AOSP rom that somehow is able to implement the TW-based Galaxy S3 Camera
or
2) a TW-based rom that somehow is able to remove everything TW-related (contacts/phone) EXCEPT for the camera
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just want a replacement for the dialer and contacts apps! Samsung did such a great job with this phone, and TouchWiz overall is actually kind of nice. I just wish they had put more effort into the dialer and contacts apps. It would be perfect if there was a viable way to replace those, but I agree it's probably damn near impossible.

Related

[Request] - Stock 3D Gallery and DeskClock

So I will try to organize this thread so most important stuff (request) is on top, and my rant/explanation of why I want this done will follow. Warning: I know I tend to use a lot of run-on sentences...I'm just long winded
Attached are two stock (I presume) .apk's that I pulled out of Cyanogen's ROM that I have installed on my stock 2.1 ROM. I prefer these two apps vs. the HTC versions, but each have one small issue.
1) - DeskClock.apk will FC if you hit the Music shortcut. I am assuming that this is something simple, like it's trying to call up the wrong program? Can this be written to launch the HTC Music App, hopefully eliminating the FC?
2) - Gallery3D will FC if you try to launch the camera from within the app. I am once again assuming (more hoping, really) that it's trying to launch a camera app that doesn't exist in the stock ROM. Can this be written to launch the HTC Camera app, hopefully eliminating the FC?
I would try myself, but after downloading and installing Eclipse, JRE and the Android plug-in, I still feel like this is over my head at this point, as all I have is very limited Visual Basic experience. Would someone mind doing me a favor and updating those apps are reposting them in this thread so that myself and other like me can use those on our stock 2.1 ROMs? It would be much appreciated
Now for the rant:
I see a lot of people with differing opinions on HTC's Sense. Personally, this is my first Android phone, and I have found that I actually like SOME of the Sense apps. I dont really have a problem with the launcher (though I have replaeced it with ADW.Launcher), and I feel that apps such as People, Camera, and Phone are somewhat superior to what I presume are the stock Contacts, Camera and Phone apps, respectively. And then I wonder why HTC created some of the other apps they did that seem somewhat....lacking.
1) The "Photos" app is very boring and plain. I mean, I appreciate the Flickr and Facebook integration (which would be useful IF I used them), but why could they not have just added this functionality to the already awesome 3D Gallery? I would rather use the stock Gallery app, and even though the file I attached (see:Gallery3D.apk) doesn't have a functioning camera botton, I still prefer it to the Photo app. Plus, it pulls in my Picasa photo albums
2) The DeskClock app HTC included on the incredible is fine for the most part, but I don't like the small clock font and the fact that it takes FOREVER to launch, whereas the stock DeskClock.apk is instant to load, has a much larger font, and does other things I like better; like keeping my wallpaper visible, and is softer to the eye. Once again, I appreciate the added features of HTC's clock (Worldclock, Stopwatch, Timer), but I don't use them enough to make me like this program more than the stock one.
So that is why I am asking for those to be edited so they'll run on my stock ROM. At least until we start seeing some FroYo love
Also, if anybody knows, why did HTC replace the Messages app with one that exchanges the ability to set conversation limits (e.g. 200 messages, then auto delete) with one that uses Facebook for contact icons? I still use the HTC Messages app cause I like the pictures transferring over from Facebook (or the People app, which is updated by Facebook, and hence why the People app I like BETTER than stock), but why leave out any message bulk control? Anything over two or three hundred and my phone really starts taking a long time to open the conversation...
Alternately, once CyanogenMod's ROM becomes more stable, I would love to switch to it if I could bring some of the Sense apps along. Those would be:
1) People - with fully functioning updates and photo shortcuts to Facebook and Flickr
2) Camera - I like the added features...and the fact that it already supports 8MP, whereas (as of CM5.0.8 Test1, anyway), the camera app would only do 3MP
3) Phone - again, with correctly synchronizing contact pictures and speed dial, just like in our stock ROM.
I haven't actually tried pulling these out of the stock ROM and installing them in CM5, but I'm assuming I'd run into issues with the Facebook/Flickr sync...
alexdw369 said:
So I will try to organize this thread so most important stuff (request) is on top, and my rant/explanation of why I want this done will follow. Warning: I know I tend to use a lot of run-on sentences...I'm just long winded
Attached are two stock (I presume) .apk's that I pulled out of Cyanogen's ROM that I have installed on my stock 2.1 ROM. I prefer these two apps vs. the HTC versions, but each have one small issue.
1) - DeskClock.apk will FC if you hit the Music shortcut. I am assuming that this is something simple, like it's trying to call up the wrong program? Can this be written to launch the HTC Music App, hopefully eliminating the FC?
2) - Gallery3D will FC if you try to launch the camera from within the app. I am once again assuming (more hoping, really) that it's trying to launch a camera app that doesn't exist in the stock ROM. Can this be written to launch the HTC Camera app, hopefully eliminating the FC?
I would try myself, but after downloading and installing Eclipse, JRE and the Android plug-in, I still feel like this is over my head at this point, as all I have is very limited Visual Basic experience. Would someone mind doing me a favor and updating those apps are reposting them in this thread so that myself and other like me can use those on our stock 2.1 ROMs? It would be much appreciated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
attached is a gallery apk that doesn't have the camera issue. and also I attached the stock music apk that is need for deskclock.
Anything from Sense requires the htc framework which you are not going to find in any Cyanogen or vanilla ROM and there is no work around.
The vanilla DeskClock apk (with working music button) and 3D Gallery (with working camera button) already exist in other threads in this forum. Just search for them. You will also find both of those apps in any plain vanilla or cyanogen rom that is made.
As for the phone and contacts, the vanilla ones are much better imo than sense. You will not miss the lag.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Thanks jitajt! Those fixed my problems. Im getting to the point where I'm fairly satisfied with everything about the phone. Just got Hydra's OCUV+N kernel installed and it's working great.
I have the opposite request of this thread actually; I need the HTC DeskClock files from a stock 2.1 sense ROM. Would anyone be able to post it please? Thank you in advance!
I miss having the timer and stop watch functionality that comes with it. My laundry always winds up sitting in the washer and dryer far too long without me setting a timer
Hello. I did a search for AOSP DeskClock and this is the only promising thread I found. I'm using an HTC CDMA Hero. Does anyone know if this is or isn't safe for me to use?
Also, do I just push to /system/app?
I don't know about you guys.. but the sense gallery loads up MUCH FASTER than this gallery 3D. UNINSTALLED
I have both apps in my rom and are runing fine
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Camera FC
Hey Thanks jitajt!
I've been trying to get this to work on my samsung spica for a few days now.
But now the camera button (upper right) is giving me an FC error. It's because the camer app I have is SamsungCamera.apk NOT the stock camera app.
Could you provide the stock camera.apk for android 2.1?
Thanks.

[Q] Couple of hopefully easy questions.

Bare with me, I am used to rooted devices running CM. G1, MTS3G, G2, and now the MTS4G. So maybe some of these things are just sense issues or just normal...I don't know, but I don't like them.
Why doesn't the desktop picture move when sliding screens? I loved that feature because I leave my "center" screen free of icons, and I always know when I am at center because the pic is centered. With this, the pic is always centered and I never know which way to slide. Minor, but still a PIA.
In Contacts the only thing I have checked is Google Contacts, yet when I start to type a name to send a text, each conta7ct shows up 4 times. Again, minor but I don't like it.
Actually that's it. I guess I have to deal with some issues until we get Soff root, I'm just spoiled with CM7.
Also not liking the new style text messages, looks too "Iphone" if you ask me. I like the old standard thread design.
Dear lord someone needs to come out with a way to get s-off so I can run CM.
There's an app for that!
LauncherPro is a great launcher/home screen replacement that you can use without rooting the phone. It will give you more customization options for a better home screen experience without needing to root.
Handcent SMS is an excellent replacement for SMS/MMS messaging. I like it a lot better than the Sense version!

[Q] Getting rid of TouchWiz & Samsung UI

Hey everyone,
I love my Infuse but the only thing is I absolutely HATE TouchWiz. I love HTC's Sense but unfortunately AFAIK there isn't a way of getting that on here.
Anyways back to my main point, what is the easiest way to get rid of TouchWiz and Samsung's Dialer, E-Mail Client and SMS Client? I much prefer the stock Android version of everything so if someone could please point me in the right direction that would be great.
My phone IS rooted BTW incase that makes things easier
Thanks!
CM 7 is in the process of being ported to the infuse, check the development section - still doesn't have all bugs worked out yet, but that's your only alternative to TouchWiz
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App
Until CM7 is available you could change the launcher and use market apps to do SMS, Email, etc...
Just delete/move or freeze the APKs using a root-enabled file explorer or Titanium Backup. Then you can install some alternative apps, lockscreens, and launchers.
Alternatively, you might want to check out some of the ROMs in the dev section. You can easily get a close-to-AOSP feel with Infused v2 and the lockscreen addon.
Yeah I'm always watching the CM7 thread to see what's new, etc.
Am I able to get the AOSP APK's for the dialer, sms and e-mail from somewhere? I would change my launcher but without the AOSP APK's I don't see the point
I am currently on Infused V2 with the lockscreen addon, just want to get rid of the Samsung feel ;-)
Thanks for everyone's help!
the dialer and contacts would be difficult to permanantly change. way back designgears tried an aosp look rom for the captivate and he wasn't able to change the dialer. you can get go contacts/dialer which is a single app much like aosp with added features and is themeable.
you can change the sms to aosp I believe but I'm not sure why you'd want to, it is really limited. there are many market apps you can use. go sms pro and handcent are very popular.
and there are many launcher in the market for you to choose. the gingerbread one from Eugene373 is same as gtg puts in his roms I believe.
I guess I will just wait until CM7 is all ready
I like simplicity, I think the Samsung SMS, E-mail and dialer are way too bloated. I look at it this way, if the main used functions of my phone are simple and basic then I won't have too many problems with the phone with daily use.
RJ45 said:
I guess I will just wait until CM7 is all ready
I like simplicity, I think the Samsung SMS, E-mail and dialer are way too bloated. I look at it this way, if the main used functions of my phone are simple and basic then I won't have too many problems with the phone with daily use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well it sounds like you might like go dialer/contacts then, it has some additional features but isn't very complicated at all. only issue is that every time it gets upgraded the defaults get cleared and you need to set them back to go contacts for like 4-5 different scenarios. it is a good app but the defaults system on android can get annoying. and I do believe aosp sms will work on this phone, just haven't seen it tried. it was done many times on the sgs phones because earlier versions of tw sms had weird problems with the time stamps, especially on custom roms, that and the theme was pretty gross.
Well I know SMS is possible for sure because I was using Refuse 1.7 before I upgraded to Infuse and it has the AOSP SMS which was nice
Hopefully CM7 gets finished up sooner than later
As mentioned, you have many options in the market...
popular launcher apps
go launcher
zeam launcher (i use on nook)
launcher pro (i use on infuse)
adw launcher (have on my son's phone)
android 2.3 launcher
SPB Shell 3D (looks like an amazing launcher)
and more
sms
chomp
go
handcent (i use)
and more
Dialers
I rarely make calls so I have not really looked into changing the dialer.

[Q] TouchWiz Features in custom roms

Are the TouchWiz features added into custom roms like CM or slim bean? I don't see anything about the motion features that come with stock touchwiz on the SIII. Are they apps I can flash after installing a custom rom? Would love to use the 4.1.2 slim bean, but not if I have to lose some of the cool motion features (like dialing the contact on the screen by moving the phone to your head).
shazbot said:
Are the TouchWiz features added into custom roms like CM or slim bean? I don't see anything about the motion features that come with stock touchwiz on the SIII. Are they apps I can flash after installing a custom rom? Would love to use the 4.1.2 slim bean, but not if I have to lose some of the cool motion features (like dialing the contact on the screen by moving the phone to your head).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchwiz features do not work without Touchwiz. They are tied into the TW framework. Same as Sense features don't work if you strip out Sense on HTC. Those on AOPK/AOSP/CM are only looking for the speed of the hardware and basic stock Android OS and not the features. There are some 3rd party apps such as camera and wave apps that mimic some of the features you lose depending on if they are compatible with the sensor code.
athe smart alert motion control is the only thing I miss going from TW to AOSP roms.
I almost went back to TW, but I learned to live without them. (it wasnt hard)
Make a nandroid and try slimbean. If you dont like it you can always revert back quickly.
prdog1 said:
Touchwiz features do not work without Touchwiz. They are tied into the TW framework. Same as Sense features don't work if you strip out Sense on HTC. Those on AOPK/AOSP/CM are only looking for the speed of the hardware and basic stock Android OS and not the features. There are some 3rd party apps such as camera and wave apps that mimic some of the features you lose depending on if they are compatible with the sensor code.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh bummer.
ddurandSGS3 said:
athe smart alert motion control is the only thing I miss going from TW to AOSP roms.
I almost went back to TW, but I learned to live without them. (it wasnt hard)
Make a nandroid and try slimbean. If you dont like it you can always revert back quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might do this. There are enough negatives in TW that ditching it for stock will outweigh the positives of TW I think. :fingers-crossed:
Thanks for the answers.
I would really love to find someway to port some of the TW apks to an AOSP rom. The one thing I can't stand is the AOSP contacts. I actually like some of the TW apps such as the messenger, calculator, calendar, and the camera, but I would sacrifice them to run an AOSP rom.
It seems like it should be fairly simple, albeit slightly out of my field of knowledge (although I'll still give it a shot over the weekend) but shouldn't it be as simply as pulling the necessary resources from the TW Framework and baking them into the apks themselves? or is there deeper coding that would need to be changed in order for this to work?
Smart stay and smart alerts I'd like to see portable, if anyone felt so inclined.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
ddurandSGS3 said:
athe smart alert motion control is the only thing I miss going from TW to AOSP roms.
I almost went back to TW, but I learned to live without them. (it wasnt hard)
Make a nandroid and try slimbean. If you dont like it you can always revert back quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that and the camera app for me!

Help - Stock TW contact app in a AOSP ROM

Is it possible to bring the stock TW contacts app into any AOSP ROM? I like the benefit of having the latest Android software of an AOSP ROM, but I really dislike the contact app. It is really hard to see with the white background. I have looked all over xsa for a solution. You would think it would be easy as the GMAil 4.2 substitute. I am not sure what files to use.
EAGLEEYE51 said:
Is it possible to bring the stock TW contacts app into any AOSP ROM? I like the benefit of having the latest Android software of an AOSP ROM, but I really dislike the contact app. It is really hard to see with the white background. I have looked all over xsa for a solution. You would think it would be easy as the GMAil 4.2 substitute. I am not sure what files to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried Slim Bean rom? It has all apps inverted and,I believe, the contacts as well. It used to be called the Real Dark Slim addon on but "after 4.2.2 build 2. It's now integrated into the ROM with a toggle." I too hated the white background on contacts. Good luck
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2060612
redKrome said:
Have you tried Slim Bean rom? It has all apps inverted and,I believe, the contacts as well. It used to be called the Real Dark Slim addon on but "after 4.2.2 build 2. It's now integrated into the ROM with a toggle." I too hated the white background on contacts. Good luck
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2060612
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. I did try Slim in the past. "pre 4.2". I am not sure if the ROM had issues with the graphics or what. It seemed not very sharp after installation. Everything looked fuzzy. I even tried Eclipse ROM. I will figure out something. I just like the look of the stock TW contacts. The app also additional features. At the moment LiquidSmooth has the best 4.2.2 ROM out there.
In general TouchWiz apps cannot be used in AOSP ROMs. On a personal note I loath the TW phone and contacts app. Mainly because you cant swipe between the recently called, favorites, keypad etc.
mentose457 said:
In general TouchWiz apps cannot be used in AOSP ROMs. On a personal note I loath the TW phone and contacts app. Mainly because you cant swipe between the recently called, favorites, keypad etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
who knows if the actual stock contact app is actually TW. I just like how it looks. The black background looks better than the white background of AOSP. The stock actually has the same screens where you can move back and forth. I am putting this topic to rest. It is a lost cause. I was going to see if I could replace it using root explorer, but decided against it and it wasnt worth the trouble. Oh well.
EAGLEEYE51 said:
who knows if the actual stock contact app is actually TW. I just like how it looks. The black background looks better than the white background of AOSP. The stock actually has the same screens where you can move back and forth. I am putting this topic to rest. It is a lost cause. I was going to see if I could replace it using root explorer, but decided against it and it wasnt worth the trouble. Oh well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It deferentially requires the tw framework. If you want a dark AOSP contacts app search for it. There are lots of inverted stock apps floating around and incorporated into ROMs.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1798048 If you are on a 4.2.2 rom this will work.

Categories

Resources