I just got a Samsung S4 (Verizon) because I was tired of Apple's stagnant OS and tiny screens. And I'm a tinkerer, so I'm loving (sort of) the endless ability to change and modify just about everything. And LOVE the big screen (and I have no problem whatsoever putting it in my pocket or using it one-handed...).
I'm encountering a couple of Android frustrations and wondering if anyone can either confirm, "yep, that's how it works", or point me to an app/widget/utility that "fixes" what I'm encountering.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Notifications and status bar: I have to say I'm missing Apple's red badges that easily call attention to new emails, facebook posts, text messages, etc). I understand that on Android, all notifications show up as those little teeny, tiny white icons in the status bar, amongst the sea of other little white icons (wifi, gps, gestures, bluetooth, etc), making it not always obvious at a quick glance what's new.
I understand swiping down gives me the list of all notifications. But strangely, for such a customizable interface, evidently you have little control over the appearance and order of what's there. For instance, the "ongoing" notifications of WiFi connected shows up at the top, which I dont want to know about at all (along with those from other apps that merely announce the app is working, such as Juice Defender). And others follow in a long list with no particular organization or visual distinction.
I have played with the app SuperStatus Bar to reduce the status bar clutter, but it grinds things to a halt and takes over the notification panel without improving it. I've looked for widgets that show email, sms, etc badges but most are ugly (like most of the email widgets that come with the popular email apps like K-9, Aquamail, etc) or don't function consistently (like Notifier Widget for Facebook).
So, any suggestions or apps that help with this? And thanks to all who have read this all the way to the bottom...
Sorry to know your move to Android wasn't too smooth
I'd recommend you try Floating Notifications once it comes out of beta, holds a bit of promise
You'd get notifications from apps you choose as little floating bubbles.
It isn't too smooth now though.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2263987
Apart from that, getting the little wifi icons and bluetooth icons are pretty standard, and if there is a way to remove them, I'm not aware of it.
Also, you could use an app like light flow to make the notification light display a color of your choice based on the notification, it'd let you know exactly what notification you have before you turn the screen on.
I hope I helped
csmiler said:
I hope I helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your suggestions!
I've been using Notify+ which I like for notifications. The status bar still looks like a mess to me, but I'm sure I'll survive it.
I'm actually starting to get used to the Android way of things and am feeling much better. Loving the bigger screen (Apple is loosing the game in this regard) and the customizability (although this is a double sword when you have some OCD tendencies...).
Sort of wish I'd held out for the Verizon HTC One, rather than the S4. the S4 is great, but I'm finding most of its much-touted whiz-bang features (air gestures and motions) to be gimmicky, buggy, and available in too-few apps).
But all in all, having fun with my new phone!
Thanks again for your suggestions.
Related
Hey guys,
I love the slide2unlock app. It's much less fiddly than the standard lock app, and it lets me play music with the device asleep. Winner.
The only thing that annoys me is the rest of the interface that it comes bundled with. I like turning my phone on and seeing my today screen at a glimpse.
I'd prefer if either:
1. The rest of the app disappeared, so only the bar remained, thus covering only the bottom bit of my screen; or
2. the whole app was transparent so I could see my today screen; or
3. It'd be AWESOME if someone could make the bar into a today screen plugin! If I had the technical knowhowI'd certainly give it a stab!
Any ideas anyone?
mike freegan said:
Hey guys,
I love the slide2unlock app. It's much less fiddly than the standard lock app, and it lets me play music with the device asleep. Winner.
The only thing that annoys me is the rest of the interface that it comes bundled with. I like turning my phone on and seeing my today screen at a glimpse.
I'd prefer if either:
1. The rest of the app disappeared, so only the bar remained, thus covering only the bottom bit of my screen; or
2. the whole app was transparent so I could see my today screen; or
3. It'd be AWESOME if someone could make the bar into a today screen plugin! If I had the technical knowhowI'd certainly give it a stab!
Any ideas anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would love to see this as well
As would I, prefer just to see the home screen/widgets I've spend ages tweaking rather than the duplicated S2U2 version of battery and appointments etc.
If you like this app please consider buying the donation edition.
All your notes just one swipe away!
Create a note and put in your notification bar for easy access.
Make it sticky so it won't go away when you clear your notifications.
Add a reminder so you never forget anything again!
Now with custom times, Choose Icons and Preferences.
Just search for Notification Notes.
Sorry for not posting links but im not permitted to do that..
Feel free to comment my app, its my first one on the market.
Changelog:
2.5 - Added a popup for reminders.
Higher res icons.
Other small fixes.
2.0.3 - Fixed notes not showing up after reboot (NOTE: Wipes all old notes!)
2.0.2 - Fixed FC's when adding notes.
2.0.1 - Fixed FC's after reboot.
2.0 - Choose icons, Custom times, Preferences
1.1.1 - Bugfixes
1.1 - Fix some weird ui-choices by me..
1.0 - Saves notes on reboot.
Added reminders.
Hi Blee00,
Nice application, exactly what I was looking for. Only suggestion at this point that I would make is a brighter color for the icon. Being mostly black in color, it blends into the black notification bar on the HTC Evo and becomes difficult to see (might I suggest yellow with black strips in place of black with white strips?)
Looking forward to future updates and thanks for the great work.
Very good app! Works just the way it should, Just wrote an article about it for the XDA Front Page, should see it online over the weekend
Cheers,
CK
Works great! I'll fiddle with it over the next few days and see how stable it is on my phone.
halocaridina said:
Hi Blee00,
Nice application, exactly what I was looking for. Only suggestion at this point that I would make is a brighter color for the icon. Being mostly black in color, it blends into the black notification bar on the HTC Evo and becomes difficult to see (might I suggest yellow with black strips in place of black with white strips?)
Looking forward to future updates and thanks for the great work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is planned for the next version
I was just so happy I managed to get the icon kinda good looking so now Im a bit afraid to fiddle around with it ^^
But I am gonna make something like an icon-picker so u can have different icons for different notes, also change the default icon.
Thanks for the response everyone =)
Great! I have tried several "Post-it" apps and they were all just too much. I'll see how this one works out for me, i love how simple it is.
Thanks!
Hi, I have been using your app for month now and it is my favorite for creating quick reminders or have things that I have a hard time remembering accessible.
If I may have a suggestion:
So far there is the option of having no notification icon or having one for each note.
Aside that having one for each does imo not really add any functionality, on low res devices this quickly fills up the notification area (Though I prefer it to no notification). I personally am all for choice, so I do not suggest taking away any existing features, but it would be a nice option for me to have a single icon with a small number indicating how many notes are stickied to the notification area at the moment. This would help people who do want to sticky lots of notes or who have a low resolution device.
(A different option would be to make it possible by an option to let notifications with the same icon stack.)
In any ways the app is really useful for me, 5*.
nice app! gave it 5 stars and an enthusiastic comment (look for hvoltage)
i do agree with the above poster regarding the color of the sticker. keep it simple or (if you'll fulfill all the requests) you'll end up with a new calendar app at least
thank you!
Awesome! This is just what I have been wanting!
AWESOME!!
i ve been looking for this type of apps for quite a long time for my daily to do list. Great job!!!5/5.....keep it up!!
I love simple apps that just do what they're supposed to. Thanks!
Also, I agree with Rendarion's suggestion about having an option to toggle multiple note icons in the notification area.
I suggest the next update include the ability to have web links in the title and comment fields. That would make this 6 out of 5 stars. Currently 4.5 in my book. Keep going with this, it will be a good one to have.
Thanks.
Rendarion said:
Hi, I have been using your app for month now and it is my favorite for creating quick reminders or have things that I have a hard time remembering accessible.
If I may have a suggestion:
So far there is the option of having no notification icon or having one for each note.
Aside that having one for each does imo not really add any functionality, on low res devices this quickly fills up the notification area (Though I prefer it to no notification). I personally am all for choice, so I do not suggest taking away any existing features, but it would be a nice option for me to have a single icon with a small number indicating how many notes are stickied to the notification area at the moment. This would help people who do want to sticky lots of notes or who have a low resolution device.
(A different option would be to make it possible by an option to let notifications with the same icon stack.)
In any ways the app is really useful for me, 5*.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second these suggestions about the icons!
Just saw this from the XDA front page. Great app! I've been wanting something like this for a while
Would love to see ability to add a new note from the taskbar
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App
Thanks for all the replies =)
So fun to see that people might enjoy and use the things I've created.
Other icons are coming, hopefully in the coming week. Im away this weekend so I cant work anything now, but Im soon home again and then I can start working! =)
Thanks for the post on the front-page of XDA-developers, doubled the downloads on one day, thats always nice
Awesome Application dude.
Hat's off to ya
Great application, to the point and simple. Keep up the good work!
New version out. Added more icons and custom times.
Sorry for this, but where can i get this app?? I thought it would be attached to this thread??
EDIT: Sorry again, found the answer to that... How stupid of me..
In WP7 Mango, is it possible to change the text size and icon size of notifications on the lock screen? Email, voicemail, texts, etc. show up as very small icons and small numbers below the date and time, too small for an old man like me.
I have a LG Quantum but I have seen other WP7 phones with small notifications so I am asking in general if anyone knows how to change it.
Even a response saying it can't be done [yet] would at least let me stop spending so much time searching for an answer for now...thx
Im pretty sure it cant be done
brokenman said:
In WP7 Mango, is it possible to change the text size and icon size of notifications on the lock screen? Email, voicemail, texts, etc. show up as very small icons and small numbers below the date and time, too small for an old man like me.
I have a LG Quantum but I have seen other WP7 phones with small notifications so I am asking in general if anyone knows how to change it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi old man,
I do not thonk it is impossible.
You need to search for "notification", "text" etc.. in the registry.
magdan83 said:
You need to search for "notification", "text" etc.. in the registry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was also my first thought. I can't find anything in the registry related to the font or text for notifications. Lots of keys about notification sounds, but that's it. I will continue searching because surely someone has done it. I took a sideroad and checked google images for mango lockscreens and - sadly - they all looked the same. I had hoped that someone had posted how they had modified their lockscreen, but no.
It is weird to me how MS uses these huge fonts that roll across the screen (e.g. people) but then makes notification text and icons in like a 2 pt font.
Hello my fellow tf700 users,
I find it really annoying to have to open the recent apps list to see what i have open. I have gestures set up that allow me to swipe from the bezels to switch bw apps, however, I am curious if anyone knows of a tweak/app that would simply list open apps as icons in the bottom bar to the left of the clock. kind of like the taskbar in windows (never thought id say that), yet I dont want them to be interactive or anything (simply grey icons like the storage/KB dock icons). I find opening the recent apps list to check what is open incedibly redundant as I already have gestures that allow me to quickly swipe to switch apps. This may seem trivial, however, this is my primary device, and workflow is very important to me for school. I am simply trying to limit the number of gestures I have to initiate to get **** done.
Best,
Lucius
To me, it sounds like you want the VivoTab -- indeed, Windows-based.
Sent from a comfortable chair from the outer ring of Purgatory. The red guy asked me to say 'hi'.
Hmm I took don't really see the need. Google put the recent apps there for a reason. It's a single click away and includes swipe to close. How does moving it to the notification bar make it any simpler?
BTW prepare yourself as the 4.2.x update will really annoy you as notifications are now in a split bar up the top wasting screen space.
sbdags said:
Hmm I took don't really see the need. Google put the recent apps there for a reason. It's a single click away and includes swipe to close. How does moving it to the notification bar make it any simpler?
BTW prepare yourself as the 4.2.x update will really annoy you as notifications are now in a split bar up the top wasting screen space.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont use the recent apps list to switch apps, i use 1 gesture to do so. the recent apps list forces me to tap it, find the app, then tap the app. doing more than 1 gesture breaks my train of thought when im switching between a pdf im reading and evernote where im taking notes. with my gesture i swipe from the bezel and it switches instantaneously fwd/bckwd between apps. I would like to be able to see what i have open so i dont need to open the recent apps list, as sometimes i forget. It doesnt seem like a big deal but workflow is huge for me.
Ive seen 4.2 and it looks terrible, we are deffinitely on the same page. please avoid includig it in later versions of CROMI unless necessary lol.
That's exactly why I use a floating notepad - take notes without having to switch apps, and paste then into another app when I'm done...
Im considering upgrading my Z5C, but I see f.ex small apps are missing, and Im so depended on them in my everyday life. I´ll really miss all of them, but I think the hardest one to let go of would be the Notes. The possibility to wuick open a note and write, and then safe it so it stays in the notification bar. I need to make To dos and reminder notes all the time at work and private life so need to have have easy access plus have them "in my face" for reminding me (no, dont want a widget on the main home screen since I want and need that cleaned from stress, haha, and swipe for home screen arnt in my face enough as when its in the Notification bar with the Small app Notes.).
So, Im woundering if anyone think Small apps will come back? Or know of any good apps to replace my Small app need?
Groofy85 said:
Im considering upgrading my Z5C, but I see f.ex small apps are missing, and Im so depended on them in my everyday life. I´ll really miss all of them, but I think the hardest one to let go of would be the Notes. The possibility to wuick open a note and write, and then safe it so it stays in the notification bar. I need to make To dos and reminder notes all the time at work and private life so need to have have easy access plus have them "in my face" for reminding me (no, dont want a widget on the main home screen since I want and need that cleaned from stress, haha, and swipe for home screen arnt in my face enough as when its in the Notification bar with the Small app Notes.).
So, Im woundering if anyone think Small apps will come back? Or know of any good apps to replace my Small app need?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish they could come back.
Actually the only replacement that I know is to open two apps on the screen which is possible on the new xperias.
Good luck
yes , I believe that the multiwondows option is way better than the small apps .