Database Info

SMS on Android

Hello chaps
I've just got an HTC Legend and love pretty well everything about it ...except...
The SMS side of things is awful - you access it via the "Messages" widget, not sure if this is a native Android app or an HTC add-on but it's rubbish. All you get is a list of messages you've sent and received with no indication as to which is which and messages from the same person are bunched together into one on the list - it's just awful and there seems to be no way to change it so just an "inbox" view or whatever.
In addition, when you compose an SMSthe text entry box statys tiny and docks at the bottom so yuo get the recipient at the top and the message at the bottom with a big space in between unless the message is really long.
I'm amazed how bad it all is. Is there a good market replacement for it?
Cheers
K

Check out Handcent. Not only does it make the list more similar to an iPhone-esque style, but adds a bunch of extra features like colored trackball alert if you're rooted, or a Quick Reply function, where you can quickly send a message to anyone using your hardware buttons.

Is this some kind of joke!? April 1st has passed!
kurtalden said:
Hello chaps
I've just got an HTC Legend and love pretty well everything about it ...except...
The SMS side of things is awful - you access it via the "Messages" widget, not sure if this is a native Android app or an HTC add-on but it's rubbish. All you get is a list of messages you've sent and received with no indication as to which is which and messages from the same person are bunched together into one on the list - it's just awful and there seems to be no way to change it so just an "inbox" view or whatever.
In addition, when you compose an SMSthe text entry box statys tiny and docks at the bottom so yuo get the recipient at the top and the message at the bottom with a big space in between unless the message is really long.
I'm amazed how bad it all is. Is there a good market replacement for it?
Cheers
K
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Handcent is the best IMHO....
There should be a messaging application you are using... not just the widget.

I would have to agree that Handcent is a pretty decetn app!

is it possible to disable the default sms proggy and let handcent be the only one?
Sent from my HTC Legend using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk

sackynuts said:
is it possible to disable the default sms proggy and let handcent be the only one?
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Yeah, It should just be a matter of going into the stock Messaging app. On the main screen that shows all your threads, press menu, go to Options/Settings (whichever one is there, cba to look at my phone at the moment) then just disable notifications. That means it should never bother you again (unless you want it to - in which case just re-enable that)

Handcent or Go SMS, remove popup if not unlocked?

I want the popup window for quick-reply to come up at first and be able to use it. But if the phone is locked, the popup comes up, but there is not user interaction; is there a way that the popup could just close by itself and only appear in notifications window? What happens now is that when the phone is unlocked, the messages are in the open windows, it would be better if it was in notifications only. Like the way BiteSMS does it for the iphone notification, that the window has the option to be closed by itself and the message comes in notifications only.

Go into handcent settings and change your notification settings.

Which setting will make it act where the popup will initially come, but will disappear if no action is taken?

Try requesting this feature in the gosms xda thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=860847

rappa619 said:
Which setting will make it act where the popup will initially come, but will disappear if no action is taken?
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Under 'Notifications,' "Quick Popup" is OFF, "Screen on for popup" is ON, and lastly "Screen Timeout" is set to ~30 Seconds. This was default, and on my G2 it does what you are asking.

I would much prefer Go SMS. Very neat and theme-able. You can disable pop ups for SMSs and disable the option to light up the screen if so desired in the settings of the app. That is just my 2 cents

Closed Source Project said:
I would much prefer Go SMS. Very neat and theme-able. You can disable pop ups for SMSs and disable the option to light up the screen if so desired in the settings of the app. That is just my 2 cents
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Which pretty much describes Handcent except Handcent only makes a messaging app and the devs are not spread across multiple apps.

Was a Handcent user forever , however lately I have been using GOSMS PRO and I think i like it better.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium

carbonize said:
Which pretty much describes Handcent except Handcent only makes a messaging app and the devs are not spread across multiple apps.
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yes and I've had both Handcent and Go SMS Pro, the look and feel of Go SMS Pro is much more pleasing to me. They both do the same things, i'd stick with Go SMS Pro, which is my current SMS app I rely on.

mikevaldivieso said:
yes and I've had both Handcent and Go SMS Pro, the look and feel of Go SMS Pro is much more pleasing to me. They both do the same things, i'd stick with Go SMS Pro, which is my current SMS app I rely on.
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agreed, gosms is the way to go. In my experience it was more stable than handcent, and had better/more themes available. Both have really similar features though.

icenight89 said:
agreed, gosms is the way to go. In my experience it was more stable than handcent, and had better/more themes available. Both have really similar features though.
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I use handcent, and i like it.

[Q] Hangouts Notification icons for SMS

Is anyone else annoyed/confused by the notifications presented by Hangouts?
Notification icons shown in the status bar from a text message or an actual Hangout message look the same, and you can only tell its a text message by sliding the down the status bar. Maybe a silly a reason to complain, but it would have been a lot more convenient if a different icon was implemented for a text message vs. a hangouts message.
Any known workaround to this? Or will we have to wait until Google decides to look into it.

nexuus said:
Is anyone else annoyed/confused by the notifications presented by Hangouts?
Notification icons shown in the status bar from a text message or an actual Hangout message look the same, and you can only tell its a text message by sliding the down the status bar. Maybe a silly a reason to complain, but it would have been a lot more convenient if a different icon was implemented for a text message vs. a hangouts message.
Any known workaround to this? Or will we have to wait until Google decides to look into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you - you can set diff notification sounds for each though. Or use Lightflow to distinguish colors between a hangouts chat and SMS/MMS

AceKingNYC said:
I hear you - you can set diff notification sounds for each though. Or use Lightflow to distinguish colors between a hangouts chat and SMS/MMS
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This is exactly what i do.

The idea was that you use the same app to message people. You just open hangouts and message, and the phone will send the message whatever way works best (Hangouts if it can, sms otherwise.)
I'm a fan of it personally but I could see why a lot of people wouldn't like it.

nexuus said:
Is anyone else annoyed/confused by the notifications presented by Hangouts?
Notification icons shown in the status bar from a text message or an actual Hangout message look the same, and you can only tell its a text message by sliding the down the status bar. Maybe a silly a reason to complain, but it would have been a lot more convenient if a different icon was implemented for a text message vs. a hangouts message.
Any known workaround to this? Or will we have to wait until Google decides to look into it.
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You can try looking into alternatives for an SMS app. I use Textra and it is so much better than using the hangouts for SMS. I like to keep my hangouts separate from my texting and the Textra UI is very nice and clean.

bobokun said:
You can try looking into alternatives for an SMS app. I use Textra and it is so much better than using the hangouts for SMS. I like to keep my hangouts separate from my texting and the Textra UI is very nice and clean.
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Click to collapse
Although I like that Hangouts is a unified messaging app (I still think there can be tweaks to make it much better) - I might have to try Textra out of sheer curiosity. I have seen numerous people cite this app and say nothing but good things about it so naturally i'm curious.

AceKingNYC said:
I hear you - you can set diff notification sounds for each though. Or use Lightflow to distinguish colors between a hangouts chat and SMS/MMS
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Yeah that's basically what I've been doing so far, but like I said its more of "convenient" feature that would make hangouts noticeably better, at least in my opinion it would

nexuus said:
Yeah that's basically what I've been doing so far, but like I said its more of "convenient" feature that would make hangouts noticeably better, at least in my opinion it would
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I understand your POV on it but on the flip side, I think creating another icon might just undo the direction they are moving towards with hangouts. Maybe a variation of the hangouts notification with an envelope in the middle to distinguish between the two. Only issue is, when you get a chat AND sms then you run into the issue of having 2 different icons pop up for the same app technically. Unless there's a way it can switch between the two and look like a loop movement if you know what I mean

AceKingNYC said:
I understand your POV on it but on the flip side, I think creating another icon might just undo the direction they are moving towards with hangouts. Maybe a variation of the hangouts notification with an envelope in the middle to distinguish between the two. Only issue is, when you get a chat AND sms then you run into the issue of having 2 different icons pop up for the same app technically. Unless there's a way it can switch between the two and look like a loop movement if you know what I mean
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I never really thought of it as issue to have two notifications for the app, but like you said it might not go along with what they're trying to do (unifying everything). But if they were actually able to loop it like that, it would plain awesome. Maybe a unlikely feature for now (especially if it were to come from Google), but maybe some future devs are willing to work on it... would be amazing if they did :good:

nexuus said:
but maybe some future devs are willing to work on it... would be amazing if they did :good:
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my THOUGHTS EXACTLY...I just wanted to get someone's wheels churning, since I don't know how to do this myself :fingers-crossedDevs, read this - I command you) lol

[Q] Text app like Facebook Messenger? (Consistent popup)

Hi there,
Since the new update of Facebook Messenger, the functionality of sending texts (SMS) has been removed. As I don't like holding on to an older version that will get outdated one time, I'm wondering if there is any text app like it.
I have searched dozens of pages on Google, including threads on xda, but none seem to have what I'm looking for. The closest I have come to is GO Sms (which I'm using now) and SMS Ninja (I even tried Paranoid Android with it's Halo functionality) Both SMS apps have the same chathead-like popup of FB Messenger which you can press to open, but once you close the message, the popup is gone.
In Facebook Messenger, the chathead-popup stays on the screen until you drag it to the bottom to delete the overlay from the screen.
Do you happen to know an app that provides me with what I'm looking for?
Thanks in advance for your time!

I'm afraid I don't have an answer but I'm curious why you want it to stay open? I never used the Facebook messenger and am wondering if I missed some functionality.

krabman said:
I'm afraid I don't have an answer but I'm curious why you want it to stay open? I never used the Facebook messenger and am wondering if I missed some functionality.
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What I like about Facebook Messenger is that I can open the chathead, read the message, and don't have to reply instant because the popup would close. I can just close the bubble, go on with what I was doing and reopen the bubble whenever I want to reply

Ok, thanks. Not sure if that would suit me or not as I've never tried it. I avoid Facebook on principle although I grudgingly created an account some time ago.

Maybe you could give Portal a try. Personally I'm more interested in the multi-window function it provides.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gflam.portal

Ninja SMS popups work almost identically to Facebook's chat heads. You just have to click the collapse arrow instead of the close button.

jacob_woolf said:
Ninja SMS popups work almost identically to Facebook's chat heads. You just have to click the collapse arrow instead of the close button.
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Oh I didn't know that! Although I find the popup layout of Ninja SMS pretty ugly, I guess I'll have to live with that for now.
I'm gonna give Portal a shot as well once I get home, although I'm not sure if it has the permanent popup functionality that I'm looking for.
Thanks to both of you for your helpful replies! More suggestions always welcome

Hey guys, letting you know what solution I'm using now:
Textra is a great, simple, text app that uses popups with quick reply. It doesn't have sticky, permanent chat heads, HOWEVER. It does have the option at the popup 'Leave it', which leaves a notification in the drawer. Whenever you press the notification, the popup opens again (you can keep doing this).
It's like a chathead that doesn't take up space! Awesome!

Ad Fundum said:
Oh I didn't know that! Although I find the popup layout of Ninja SMS pretty ugly, I guess I'll have to live with that for now.
I'm gonna give Portal a shot as well once I get home, although I'm not sure if it has the permanent popup functionality that I'm looking for.
Thanks to both of you for your helpful replies! More suggestions always welcome
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Click to collapse
Don't forget you can (kind of) change the appearance of the popups! Go to settings, choose theme. I use Holo Light just because it's simple. I agree that it could use some extra customization features. It seems like the devs do a really good job of responding to user feedback though, so maybe that'll be fixed in an upcoming version (fingers crossed )
Ad Fundum said:
Hey guys, letting you know what solution I'm using now:
Textra is a great, simple, text app that uses popups with quick reply. It doesn't have sticky, permanent chat heads, HOWEVER. It does have the option at the popup 'Leave it', which leaves a notification in the drawer. Whenever you press the notification, the popup opens again (you can keep doing this).
It's like a chathead that doesn't take up space! Awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard awesome things about Textra as well, I might have to give that a go.

[Ask] notification category?

is there any way or app that can categorized notification in status bar? for example mail only got 1 notification but have number depend on how many new mail come, and so the rest app.
i usually miss important notification because so many notification and it stack by another notification

Private.Indo said:
is there any way or app that can categorized notification in status bar? for example mail only got 1 notification but have number depend on how many new mail come, and so the rest app.
i usually miss important notification because so many notification and it stack by another notification
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Click to collapse
You can use an app called "sms unread counter". It only applies to icons on your homescreen. It works for calls, sms, and emails. As far as I know there is no way to do it in the pull down bar just with icons on the screen.

Private.Indo said:
is there any way or app that can categorized notification in status bar? for example mail only got 1 notification but have number depend on how many new mail come, and so the rest app.
i usually miss important notification because so many notification and it stack by another notification
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm not mistaken Android kind of does this on it's own. I know if I get an email in my status it shows the notification. Then in that notification it can say +5 more emails. Then I can drag down on that notification to see the other emails without fully opening them.
You could try the app floatify to see of that will help you.

Yeah, through the same app the notification should not create a new notification but instead increase the number on an already existing notification.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app

Lokke9191 said:
You can use an app called "sms unread counter". It only applies to icons on your homescreen. It works for calls, sms, and emails. As far as I know there is no way to do it in the pull down bar just with icons on the screen.
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hi Lokke. thx for reply
unfortunately calls, and sms is what i barely use. in other hand, such email, bbm, twitter, chat group is what i mostly use, and sometimes in group chat or community chat (bbm, line, whatsapp, and else) new chat just for new information about whats going on if that case i just slide to close notification. but sometimes also new important information come, and i barely see it because it stack with another notification
Sandman-007 said:
If I'm not mistaken Android kind of does this on it's own. I know if I get an email in my status it shows the notification. Then in that notification it can say +5 more emails. Then I can drag down on that notification to see the other emails without fully opening them.
You could try the app floatify to see of that will help you.
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Click to collapse
hi Sandman, thx for reply
unfortunately, my notification is stack one to another regardless is the same app
lolcakes203 said:
Yeah, through the same app the notification should not create a new notification but instead increase the number on an already existing notification.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Free mobile app
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hi lolcakes, thx for reply.
thats what i thought, and i'm pretty sure if notification only per app not per new notification, it will come in handy.
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on the other case if there is really no app or way to do it, i think this will be bring new idea for developer to make such thing like this, is not like iam demanding, commanding, or asking for the developer to made it, but consider it as an opportunity to make small step for android, because for me it will be usefull, and i hope for the rest who own an android devices. i mean come on guy, is android, free to do whatever it suite you, the problem is i even dont know where to start. lol
cheers :good: