Related
My G4 just died, should I get the VZW version of the Pixel 2?
I just want to swap in the nano sim and keep going.
I want to use a custom rom so I need to unlock the bootloader, is this possible?
Swapppa has some reasonable offerings........
LG was a bad experience, want simplicity at its android best.
spyknee said:
I want to use a custom rom so I need to unlock the bootloader, is this possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not if you buy the Verizon version
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
ok and then
can I use my current nano sim for puppywireless, a verizon mvno, with the unlocked google edition pixel 2? Verizon wants cdma phones......................
You can buy the unlocked version from Google and use it on Verizon.
>Do I want a Pixel?
Depends on if you do or not.
Jokes aside, you can unlock a Verizon P2 if it hasn't taken the Jan update yet. Visit in store and ask to see a P2 in box, no SIM or wifi please. The box will indicate the factory software. Once you find a winner (hurry, they're fading from inventory) just carefully apply the unlock steps and enjoy.
Go Ahead
Yes, you should, Pixel mobiles are the best mobiles according to my friend's opinion, I'm also going to buy it next week but first I have to write my assignment.
So, I now own a new Pixel 2 Google Edition.
1st Pros:
Luv that its already stripped down and lean in the stock OS. @8.1.0 ver.
1st Cons:
Device does not report battery lvl correctly in notifications tab, always states 100%, icon always shows full.
WiFi icon appears to show only on, no signal strength at all.
Totally dislike notifications tab period! Too much redundancy! To much access points to the same stuff.
Decided that it should be a central home screen. A group of 5, home at center. Now that leaves 4 sides or edges.
1 edge for calling and texting, swipe left edge
1 edge for social media outlet of choice, swipe edge right
1 edge for camera and video, swipe edge down
1 edge for video and music playback, swipe edge up
Or could be other choices instead. Point being all the different access methods, repeat the same things so lets get simple.......................
Its about personalized customization of actual use. right now we just customize the presentation of gui's, color, form. There is nothing intuitive about OS use tho!. Things like smart bullitain are really useless and forced on us, seriously, wonder around with a live feed always going.......no.
spyknee said:
So, I now own a new Pixel 2 Google Edition.
1st Pros:
Luv that its already stripped down and lean in the stock OS. @8.1.0 ver.
1st Cons:
Device does not report battery lvl correctly in notifications tab, always states 100%, icon always shows full.
WiFi icon appears to show only on, no signal strength at all.
Totally dislike notifications tab period! Too much redundancy! To much access points to the same stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting: on 8.0 the Pixel 2 battery meter stuck at 100% charge for a long time (not permanently), but that was fixed by updates. Should not be a problem with 8.1.
And the WiFi icon works just as expected, i.e. shows signal strength (though no "activity arrows" if you were used to those). So this sounds like something is wrong.
I'm not sure what you are saying about the notifications. Can you give some examples?
Things like smart bullitain are really useless and forced on us, seriously, wonder around with a live feed always going.......no.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have anything forced on me - I just turned off (or didn't turn on) anything that didn't interest me (with Google's launcher being one of the first things to go). There are always alternatives.
So I have discovered that enabling the ui demo mode was the problem with the status bar and battery level reporting, enabling this bad.
I have learned of and enabled the system ui tuner. This ended all the phone functions, status reporting, very sweet. Now the status bar just reflects certain running services.
I also installed the Android P theme launcher, I like it. Has a sidebar option, the ability to hide the status bar, the ability to alter dock settings. So I essentially dumped some cpu reporting cycles, so to speak, let see how bat life responds.
Without root, I have gotten closer to what I want. Need to get TWRP installed and a nandroid made.
Next thing,
Ambient- Always On Display, many internet posts for disabling. Do Not Disable!
Affects the screen saver display and wake up, touch screen. The touch screen seems to need this enabled for better response. I decided to enable the edges as well. Turned it to full squeeze. Do not wish the assistant but it seems that disabling it, and the rest really upsets touch screen.
spyknee said:
Next thing,
Ambient- Always On Display, many internet posts for disabling. Do Not Disable!
Affects the screen saver display and wake up, touch screen. The touch screen seems to need this enabled for better response. I decided to enable the edges as well. Turned it to full squeeze. Do not wish the assistant but it seems that disabling it, and the rest really upsets touch screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ehm, AOD is just a additional option that is included so you can check the clock and whatnot without the need of turning on your screen.
The touch response in the screen is controlled at the kernel driver level and is only affected (in a negative way) by yourself and your fingers and how dirty the screen is.
spyknee said:
Next thing,
Ambient- Always On Display, many internet posts for disabling. Do Not Disable!
Affects the screen saver display and wake up, touch screen. The touch screen seems to need this enabled for better response. I decided to enable the edges as well. Turned it to full squeeze. Do not wish the assistant but it seems that disabling it, and the rest really upsets touch screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might be the only one but I disabled aod with no ill effect that I am aware of. I don't care for it.
Also, enabling the up-down arrows on wifi-data is a simple mod.
aod affects pick up wake, double tap wake. touch responsesivness is very finicky as is, worse with aod off.
spyknee said:
aod affects pick up wake, double tap wake. touch responsesivness is very finicky as is, worse with aod off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are just experiencing some placebo side effects, mate. AOD have NOTHING to do with the screen sensitivity.
The screen- and touch response is controlled at the kernel driver level. Not at software/application(s) level.
AOD
My issue was this, if I left the phone idle and untouched for awhile and then came to it and double tapped the screen, it would not wake up. I would have to use the side button to open. Sometimes the action of lifting would allow the double tap to work, but inconsistant. Doing the squeeze for the assistant was inconsistant as well.
The touch screen acts inconsistantly. If you do a horizontal movement, it interferes with a vertical swipe, I mean things seem to get canceled out. I have to initiate action multiple times to win.
heres the deal, i do not give a flying bleep whether its a hardware or software issue, I would like smart answers that give a solution, not assign a blame or fault. Or tell me I am somehow misinterpreting what I percieved.
So here is my take. The dam phone is overloaded with redundant crap, that steps on each other, interfering with it self. IMO everything in this phone should be disabled at purchase. The consumer should then enable those things it wants! Possibly eliminating over extended, overlapping services and hardware.
Now I say this because it appears that in fact to much was being asked of the phone and it was flipping out basically.
I dumped some google software, pretty much what it would let me.
I disabled the screen saver function, my belief is this was why i would not wake up. Screen saver or no, it times out going to the aod clock display, which I like. Now the phone responds to a lift and double tap everytime......................................................................................
I was using a single home screen, with the android p launcher sidebar. My issue was using swipes to navigate web sites, read stuff, sift thru pages. The swipes were not responding properly, PITA. It seems that by using a single home screen, it stilts the screen edge, makes a dead zone, interferes. Not to mention the right side slider swipe icon is useless as presented. It seems that enabling a 2nd home screen helps with that dead zone. Its not 100% when swiping thru pages but response has gotten more tolerable.
IMO
Thanks to fakebook, everyone should understand what these devices are truly about, DATA MINING.
Google
Verizon
LG,HTC,Samsung,Hauweii
Each and every phone has at minimum, 3 different forms of active data harvesting going on. manufacturers, carriers, media apps. The greatest performance killer of all, not to mention...........................................I have come to despise predictive search algos, targeted marketing adds, basically digital junk mail inundation.
So,
Been using the pix 2 awhile now. Really hated Oreo so I went into beta play to get pistachio. Used ver 3, now 4.
I really liked the initial ver 3 update cuz it removed so much bloat from carrier crap. Less google crap too it seems.
Now I like the responsiveness much better with ver 4. I still have everything I can disabled, disabled or removed. No AOD, active edges, tap to life, no music, movies, tv. No auto pay, auto track, auto search, google talk, nada.
Its a com device, an internet search device, thats it! Bat life is good, real good.
These devices are overburdened with non-sensical, redundancies, that create huge performance impacts. Seriously, how many ways are there to access a smartphone, on all at once.
Now I lift the phone, touch the physical button and walla, works every dam time.
Yep, flexible to meet millions of users needs...
Just dropping this here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2/help/worth-buying-pixel-2-june-2018-t3803197
It might also give anyone also in a similar situation additional information to help deciding.
I recently upgraded from an Honor 8. The Honor 8 was excellent. It is going to be handed down in my family as we all shift up one step in phones.
I am happy overall with my purchase of the Honor V10, but it does have some issues, so this post is sort of a review/gripe/questions all in one.
Details: Official US version (BKL-L04) Emui 8.0.0 Android 8.1.0 I have not received an OTA since purchase. It was purchased the day of, or the day after it became available on the HHonor USA site.
When I purchased it, It said that the free wired, metal earbud headset was "out of stock", but it was in the box when it arrived. I also got 2 cases, the promised one with the ugly cartoon dude on the back (Like I am going to go to work with that on my phone), and a clear one. I usually do not use cases, but I have the clear one on for now.
-- See discussion here about the included screen protector showing finger prints:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-view-10/help/screen-protector-phone-box-remove-t3746590
-- Over all the screen is excellent, but I noticed 2 issues:
While the screen is larger, and 18:9, it really just means I got ~200 rows more of pixels for an extra $300 (over the cost of the Honor 8). The DPI is actually lower than my Honor 8.
It looks like they "subdued" the blue color of the little Icons in the short-cut pull-down as compared with the Honor 8 . I think this is an Emui change, not just the screen, but it made me think the entire screen has less color, but this is probably not really the case.
-- Camera: The camera app on mine seems to be different than described for other versions of this phone. Camera mode is across the bottom, and this changes by swiping left/right. There is no settings panel that swipes in from the left. There is a settings icon at the top.
There are only 4 resolution settings (in Photo Mode) -- All very high, and IMHO, "Non-standard". There is no 16:9 resolution option. It would be nice if there were some standard lower resolution settings for general shots.
My daughter attempted to take some pictures of my R/C airplane yesterday in bright sunlight. The pictures were dark, overly contrasty, and the pavement (our "runway") looked like some sort of pattern from an extremely highly compressed JPEG. Despite this, the file sizes were huge (see note above about resolution options.) I am assuming she inadvertently got it in the wrong mode.
-- Worst problem -- notifications. My Huawei Watch (original) is not receiving any call notification at all. This was working on the Honor 8 with the same watch, and the same F/W on the watch. Previously, I had it so that both the phone and watch vibrated on calls. The Honor V10 vibrates on calls, but the case largely absorbs this. The watch does nothing. I have checked all settings. "Vibrate in Silent mode" is on, and "SIM 1 vibrates while ringing is on" (I have only 1 SIM). (Note that these settings seem largely redundant to me.) On the watch "Also vibrate for calls" is on. I have factory reset the watch at least 3 times, Cleared the Data for Wear OS, unistalled and reinstalled Wear OS, etc. The watch still does absolutely nothing when I receive a call. Watch notifications (including vibrate) work for other things (email, etc.) It also has a notification for missed call after the fact :-/
On the phone, in Settings --> Apps and notifications --> Notifications, it says 1 app blocked from sending, but in this menu, none are. I selected "Batch management" --> "All" on, but it still says "1 app blocked from sending" on the Apps and notifications screen.
I have also tried to search in Permissions to see what app is blocked, but I have not found it yet.
My only remaining option is to factory reset the phone.
EDIT: SOLVED -- I went to Settings --> Apps and & notifications --> Apps --> Wear OS by Google --> Permissions --> Phone --> [enable switch] and now I am getting on screen notification, rings, and vibration on the watch.
-- Related: It is constantly telling me "Power intensive app found. Wear OS is consuming power in the background."
At this point, Android Wear (or Wear OS, or whatever they are calling it this hour) is pretty much less useless.
Hey Guys!
MIUI, a skin over android that we all know and love/hate/neutral of... With the upcoming MIUI 10 update coming over, I'm sure all of us are very excited for the new features, like the single camera bokeh effect, full screen gestures, and so on. But of course, MIUI has it's ups and down, like maybe an app drawer. We also know that there are other "skins" for android from other companies like say Huawei, One Plus, Oppo, etc. They have their own unique things about it which may attract people over to their platform for that very reason.
With all the unique features that other UIs have, maybe we could take some inspiration from them and maybe with MIUI 11, it could be integrated in. Who knows? So here are some of my suggestions:
- Off-screen Navigations
I know MIUI has things like double-tap to wake screen and such. But maybe add more of it. Say a music's playing, maybe with like a triple finger swipe to the left will skip it, a triple finger tap will pause it and play it, and a triple finger swipe from top to bottom or bottom to top may control the volume. There could be so much more to the navigations. It be very handy for when your screen's locked and we wanna so a quick action.
- Gaming Experience Mode (GEM)
Maybe something for the gamers too? Like say we press an icon like the "switch" button to go to second space, but this time it's something new like an "Enter GEM" setting, when enabled pops up a button like second space does. When pressed, it basically turns of syncing and such, focusing all the ram, cpu, gpu to the games available, where calls/notification are all turned off or maybe minimised to a small pop-up on the corner of the screen, swipe it away to ignore it or tap it to open up a small tab for suggestions, like maybe a WhatsApp message comes on, you tap the small icon and then 3 suggestions pop up. Eg. "Cant talk right now", "Talk to you later", or maybe "Duude! I'm playing PUBG right now!". It's up to you, you can edit it in the settings or some sort.
- Side-Assistant
You know how Samsung has experienceui or touchwiz? With their "edge" devices, you pull the edge of the screen from that curve that will pull a tab with contacts, etc. Well, MIUI could maybe do something similar? Rather than the "quick ball" option which limits us to 5 actions, maybe make it so that you pull the edge of the screen, then a small tab opens, which will contain contacts, quick actions like screenshot, flashlight etc. Suggested apps? It's almost limitless. Maybe even make a small google search bar in the side assistant tab.
- Navigation Button Pattern (NBP)
Ever placed something in a safe or some sort, and then we placed in a code so it could open it, of course you did. Well this is something similar, say we made a combination of, home button, then recent apps button, then home button again. We make a command for that exact pattern, say we make it so that if we do the pattern/combination, it will open settings or open an app, or call someone. It's pretty much limitless, with something like this, it could pretty much make shortcuts with a small move. It'll be pretty dandy you know!
- Lasting Power Mode
With MIUI's integrated battery saver mode, it will pretty much disable syncing and processes to make sure the battery last longer, but with that mode on, we could still probably spend loads of juice from just say using the GPS. So like Samsung's ultra power saving mode, this will limit us to certain apps that are essential, while making sure that non-essential processes and background actions are restricted to keep the battery alive as long as possible, but it comes with the cost of experience. But sometimes we really do need it, so it may just be worth it.
- Gyroscope Gestures
Come on Xiaomi! With the gyroscope in your devices, using that sensor of yours could really come in handy! Like maybe shake the phone to turn the flashlight on. Wave it to accept calls and put it on speakers, etc. Oh and a favourite of mine would be to flip the phone twice to turn camera on or something.
- Phone H Check (H means Health)
Now something with the built-in security app. We know how useful it is, how much we love it. How we can save space with it, etc. But sometimes having to wait to make sure our phone is in the best condition is a bit of a drag, for me at least. So... why don't you add a night check session, say every 1 A.M, it will do the optimization. Cleared the ram, junk, battery stuff, etc. So when we wake up, our phone is all healthy and ready to use!
So that's all I've got for now... Comment if you think if they're a good idea or a bad idea, etc. Maybe even suggest your own!
Just two days ago, I switched from my old phone running AOSP extended (Nougat) to a new Pixel 5. I'm a programmer (no android), so I was willing to pay extra to get "the first class modern Android experience" (software-wise). Of course, I wasn't expecting to get the customization freedom of my previous rom, but the new notification system left me particularly disappointed (to say the least).
Vibration settings are shared by all profiles. I can't disable vibration when in "ring" mode. vibration can be a bit jarring on certain surfaces, audio only is much more pleasant
In vibrate mode, the system respects the global "vibration & haptics" settings (shared with the ring mode), but ignores channel-specific vibration settings.
Thanks to that, you can disable vibration manually for every single notification channel, so that the phone will vibrate only when in vibrate mode (this works only for notifications, calls will still follow the global settings)
The notification settings UI is extremely unhelpful and annoying to navigate.
Channels using the Default profile show a bell icon, but no info whatsoever about vibration, a few squiggly lines would do the trick. Furthermore, the vibration toggle is buried inside a totally unnecessary "advanced" subsection, which the user needs to expand every damn time.
There's no way to tell how an app is configured until you actually go to the settings and check every corner to the last toggle. This is not the way to offer granular control, this is just a way to create a mess.
Every time a new app is installed, the user has to check every single channel and disable the potentially unwanted vibration toggle.
Apparently, system-level notification settings for channels are just suggestions. Apps can behave differently if they want to. What's even the point?
Switching from silent to ring mode resets all the "vibration & haptics" sliders. Might be a bug.
I've never seen such cumbersome and unreliable notification system. One of the fundamental parts of a smartphone.
The same discussion happened on the Google support community, from where I got most of the answers (very helpful!).I have an open support ticket with Google support. The poor man had to forward every single question to the "engineering team" as he had no idea. That should mean something.
Are you experiencing the same issues, or never gave it attention? Every user should be able to set his phone correctly and reliably!
originally posted in r/GooglePixel, I'm interested to discuss here too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung Galaxy Fit2 - $50.
Solved half my problems.
On my Flip 3 the outer display orange dot does not show when I have a new phone call or text message notifications (when I open the phone badges show missed calls or messages). I do get the orange dot for missed Gmail mail and some other things.
Do I need to set some setting in order to enable the orange dot for missed calls or messages?
Thanks,
Barry.
Hi,
I did a test and everything working fine for me. Try checking the notification settings for you message and phone app. I guess the orange dot is only showing if notifications are turned on
david.siebauer said:
Hi,
I did a test and everything working fine for me. Try checking the notification settings for you message and phone app. I guess the orange dot is only showing if notifications are turned on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. That's good to know.
On my phone notifications are turned on for both the default phone app and default messaging app.
For the default phone app, notifications appear to be turned on, but the slide switches are grayed out. I am not able to control those notifications by turning them off or on – the switch is to the right so they appear to be on, but the switch is gray not green.
For the default messaging app, the switch is to the right, it's green, and I can switch notifications off and on – they are currently on.
I have a feeling I might know why I'm not receiving that notification dot. I have that phone number forwarded to Google Voice. If I don't answer, Google Voice picks up and takes a message. Google Voice says something about also handling messages, although I don't know how that works. I receive messages on my phone. Once Google Voice told me I had a new message, but other times no. I don't remember seeing that orange dot when I receive a new message. I will have to test it some more.
Barry.
Phone app showing the same for me. I think these are the default settings.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I tried to reproduce the behavior for the messages. Only way it does not show the orange dot is by turning off notifications at all or activating DND (without setting exception to show notification while DND mode).
Unfortunately Google voice is not available here, so I can't test it.
David
david.siebauer said:
Phone app showing the same for me. I think these are the default settings.
View attachment 5450869
I tried to reproduce the behavior for the messages. Only way it does not show the orange dot is by turning off notifications at all or activating DND (without setting exception to show notification while DND mode).
Unfortunately Google voice is not available here, so I can't test it.
David
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. That's how my phone app notifications look – buttons grayed out.
I will have to play with this some more.
Barry.
Notifications on this phone are garbage. At least from the standpoint of knowing when you have one without manually turning the exterior screen on.
When you get a notification the exterior screen turns on for like a second and that's it.
They need options..like edge lighting or a simple blinking dot because unless you saw it turn on for that spit second then tough luck. If Someone sent you an important text or email and you didn't see the screen flash on then off you're out of luck.
It's ridiculous. It's lazy and I expect better from a company like Samsung...
I deeply regret buying this phone for just that reason alone..
d0x360 said:
Notifications on this phone are garbage. At least from the standpoint of knowing when you have one without manually turning the exterior screen on.
When you get a notification the exterior screen turns on for like a second and that's it.
They need options..like edge lighting or a simple blinking dot because unless you saw it turn on for that spit second then tough luck. If Someone sent you an important text or email and you didn't see the screen flash on then off you're out of luck.
It's ridiculous. It's lazy and I expect better from a company like Samsung...
I deeply regret buying this phone for just that reason alone..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I partially solved with vibration when i take the phone, if there is a notification not read the phone does a little vibration
mirkol78 said:
I partially solved with vibration when i take the phone, if there is a notification not read the phone does a little vibration
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True but that's fundamentally the same as tapping the exterior screen twice to see if there's a notification dot.
Im hoping the developer of aodnotify @Jawomo can use the code in another thread (located here https://bit.ly/3n0VG5d) that allows you to do things with the exterior display like edge lighting or a blinking dot and plenty more but the first 2 would be helpful for notifications received when you weren't looking at the phone.
I just don't understand why Samsung limited the exterior screen options so much. It seems like such an obvious idea to be able to tweak notification settings for the exterior screen...but Samsung seems to always go half way on their software... Except for their extreme and broken battery saving methods. Like say you don't open your clock app for 3 days... Even if you have an alarm set for day 4 their over aggressive battery software will put the app to sleep and not allot it to run in the background..and your alarm won't go off on day 4. Even if you allow an app to run in the background and disable battery optimization for that app this still happens.
You can sort of disable it so it's less aggressive but looking at the settings you might not know 100% what it's actually doing and your average user probably won't change any of those settings.
I miss the good old time swhen you just had a simple LED Notification light Maybe to simple
david.siebauer said:
I miss the good old time swhen you just had a simple LED Notification light Maybe to simple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too...me too.
It can't be that hard to implement lol. Even if you use the screen as a fake LED I'd be happy.
Agree notification light is something extremely useful. Last time i 've had it on Mi 9 or Note 9 phone. Rest in piece! Only Xperia offers it nowadays.
Also think Z Flip notifications are great and bad at the same time. You have widgets, you can swipe notifications away, you can read long messages and people can see themselves on that screen. Now with AOD off, you have permanent charging notification which is wonderful. That exactly emulates a white (pulsing) notification light. But with AOD on, situation changes. Charging status is suddenly impossible to read. Oh, the microscopic battery icon, not again. Notifications pop up for a quick period of time. Orange dot sometimes disappears. There should be app icons instead like on normal AOD!
doggydog2 said:
Agree notification light is something extremely useful. Last time i 've had it on Mi 9 or Note 9 phone. Rest in piece! Only Xperia offers it nowadays.
Also think Z Flip notifications are great and bad at the same time. You have widgets, you can swipe notifications away, you can read long messages and people can see themselves on that screen. Now with AOD off, you have permanent charging notification which is wonderful. That exactly emulates a white (pulsing) notification light. But with AOD on, situation changes. Charging status is suddenly impossible to read. Oh, the microscopic battery icon, not again. Notifications pop up for a quick period of time. Orange dot sometimes disappears. There should be app icons instead like on normal AOD!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only widget I find useful is the timer. Swiping notifications away is fine but doesn't really help let me know I have some unless I actively go looking.
Having the charge screen on all the time doesn't appeal to me either, if I want to see it I'll just tap the screen. Ive never liked things staying on all the time, not even the clock but I know plenty of people do so I understand why it's an option.
The orange dot is pretty useless. It disappears if you turn the exterior screen on even if it's just to see the time and you don't touch anything else.
That's why I wish someone would make edge lighting for the exterior screen. The code needed to make it work has been posted but who knows if someone will do it.
Like I said I use aodnotify to basically keep the exterior screen turned on for 2 min when I get any kind of notification. That way I can look over and know. I always have my phone on vibrate and vibration on Samsung phones is so weak. On ever phone I've owned that wasn't Samsung I could hear the vibration from across the room but with the note 9, 10+ and this I can't hear it vibrate when it's a couple feet away.
Samsung... Always going half way when it comes to their software. No idea how they became number 1.
d0x360 said:
Samsung... Always going half way when it comes to their software. No idea how they became number 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be fair, no other brand is close to Samsung software like I moaned here. Several times i returned the phone like Sony, Alcatel because of dead blank OS. Quit OnePlus because of that too. Xiaomi has just a overmodified bloatware and spyware. There's no brand that can compete with Samsung regarding software.
Also it's Samsung that can notify you in a brutal way -- do the edge effect, blink with flash, repeat notifications until you notice.. This creates an explosive cocktail of effects you can't miss. I'd just prolong the notification time, it's really short. But it's the same with other brands!
Avoided 3rd party notif light apps, as they burn battery quick. But i tried aodnotify as it promises something different. It's highly configurable but can't modify the small screen. I have the phone closed 99% of time so it's useless for me But thanks for the tip, i will use in next time, if i ever will have a classic phone.
doggydog2 said:
to be fair, no other brand is close to Samsung software like I moaned here. Several times i returned the phone like Sony, Alcatel because of dead blank OS. Quit OnePlus because of that too. Xiaomi has just a overmodified bloatware and spyware. There's no brand that can compete with Samsung regarding software.
Also it's Samsung that can notify you in a brutal way -- do the edge effect, blink with flash, repeat notifications until you notice.. This creates an explosive cocktail of effects you can't miss. I'd just prolong the notification time, it's really short. But it's the same with other brands!
Avoided 3rd party notif light apps, as they burn battery quick. But i tried aodnotify as it promises something different. It's highly configurable but can't modify the small screen. I have the phone closed 99% of time so it's useless for me But thanks for the tip, i will use in next time, if i ever will have a classic phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait... First off there is no edge lighting on this phone. It's irrelevant if there is on other Samsung phones especially since you can get better edge lighting via aodnotify and it doesn't use much battery at all. Ive used it for years and it's very efficient. In fact I've used plenty of notification apps like one on the original Pixel to give me a blinking LED style notification light that changed color based on app and it barely used any battery either. Plus you can get edge lighting on any phone by using an app. Samsung's own edge lighting is horrible. It lacks granularity in it's settings and features. aodnotify fixes all of that as do tons of other notification apps but aod is the best for edge lighting and the z Flip3.
aodnotify does work with the z Flip3. First if the phone is open (screen on or off) it will provide edge lighting or other effects like fake LED, camera hole light etc. If the phone is closed aodnotify will let you make it so the exterior screen can be set to stay on as long as you want when you get a notification. So it is useful for the z Flip3. I don't know how you missed the settings for always on display but mines set to always off unless a notification is received. Then it's enabled, screen set to stay on for 2 min unless the notification is cleared. Very helpful, especially since Samsung basically has no notification options.
As for Samsung software being good... I completely disagree. Also other companies default software is irrelevant, Samsung makes massive profits every year on phones. They should be able to make decent apps. The majority of them are rated 3 stars or less on the Galaxy store.
It's buggy, it lacks options and features and not only is there a massive amount of bloat, some of it is basically spyware sending everything you do to Samsung. Thankfully I can block that with Adguard.
Googles apps are superior in every way despite the fact that GAPPS is just supposed to be the basic frame work for what these kinda of apps should be. Samsung SHOULD have far superior apps with way more options and better UI's than GAPPS but they don't. Their dialer is super basic, so is contacts. Their messaging app doesn't support RCS and it's ugly. The calendar, calculator...all of it worse then GAPPS.
Then there's their ridiculous changes to battery management. Instead of using what's built into Android they made a custom solution that's beyond overly aggressive.
Let's say you work mon-fri every week but you take Friday off so on Wednesday or Thursday you open the clock app and shut off the alarm for Friday. When Monday comes your alarm won't go off because their battery software has put it to deep sleep even though you set it up so it can run in the background AND you disabled battery optimization for the app. It's ridiculous and actually breaks some apps. It can also cause delays in getting text messages and emails. It can even cause wifi calling to break mid call.
I could go on with tons of in depth issues but I think that's enough for now. I expect better from the #1 mobile phone company. Much better. I've given them 5 chances if you count the galaxy nexus which felt cheaply made but thankfully didn't run Samsung software...
So once a year goes by and the next pixel comes out there's a 99% chance I'll buy it and sell this z Flip3. The only way I wouldn't get a pixel is if Microsoft makes a duo 3 and actually tries or another company makes a really good phone that can also be rooted. Regardless of what I buy there's one thing I know for sure...it won't be made by Samsung
d0x360 said:
Regardless of what I buy there's one thing I know for sure...it won't be made by Samsung
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm back in the Samsung camp because of the software. Been there since SPlus phone (as the era of HTC was ending) with some interruption. I've listed dozens of reasons in the linked post. You want more from this company while you're getting nothing from the others. Samsung is not in the business of Gapps, so it's not fair to mention it, and you shouldn't use such spyware anyway (then why you care about adguard?). I've used Google "phone apps" (caller, calendar, photos) and it was too simple. Who still gives you rich LOCAL music player, who still gives you LOCAL video player (other brands cancelled both). Gallery with post edit, map, s-pen zoom and gestures (Note) is good, no need google Photos. Who gives you best calendar app with nice UI, weather, home timezone, spen preview? I've seen anything comparable to that other than ver geeky apps on the market. Caller which plays recorded calls directly from UI? Lovely. Love the call popup settings that others don't gives you. Who gives you OneUI, 10x richer than other layouts while fast. Onehand mode, or even scroll the screen down basic function of OneUI. The one and only legendary Edge panel that can't be replicated (tried ALL clones). The best AOD, best edge lightning + flash + screen effects (for large screen). Best accessibility options in market period. Best functional camera. You can still say cheeeese to shoot and no other brands can do. You can recognize objects, scan documents or get assistance in shooting situations. And so much more. I'd rate Samsung software ******** while OnePlus ** Sony ** Xiaomi ** LG ** etc. Don't know about Google but i assume it's the same mediocrity (again i don't count their non-phone apps). And i'm heavily debloated, work without Samsung account and still profit from this ecosystem heavily.
Yes they kill apps https://dontkillmyapp.com/ but is perfectly manageable. All you do is choose few core apps and prioritize them, while the most garbage gets killed. This approach is very helpful for battery and OnePlus invented it (that's why they always had nice scores on gsmarena). I moaned first, but now i agree.
Pixel 6 is a horrid phone based on people, and now heavy (that's why i chose ZFlip), let's see next year.
Samsung just pushed AOD app update for ZFlips. I tested the orange dot and it works for all messages and calls. It even blinks. Again, no other firmwares i know incl AOSP offers longer notifications than this. It's always displayed shortly or not at all. Samsung of course has the most configurable AOD and notifications with color highlighting, color match app, bubbles, smart popups. Split app from task manager or Edge panel. It's insane. You can even prolong the AOD notification timeout in the settings or even the toast messages! Here we found the glitch. This setting simply needs to apply on cover screen too and problem solved. Let's wait for another update, i'm sure it will come. It's not like in other brands where phone software stays the same for years.
There's no edge effect on the cover screen (yet!), but that flash makes me jump out of bed. Expecting a major company to produce geeky nice apps like aodnotify is very unrealistic. It won't happen. BTW I still can't make aodnotify work with cover screen. I went through all the settings and it has zero impact there.
I just played with Bixby settings.. you can set action when folded, half folded, unfolded. Stay unlocked when driving. Hundreds of settings. Talking about Samsung not having enough functionality or settings.. oh no, that's so wrong. ZFlip 4 is in my preorder basket.
doggydog2 said:
I'm back in the Samsung camp because of the software. Been there since SPlus phone (as the era of HTC was ending) with some interruption. I've listed dozens of reasons in the linked post. You want more from this company while you're getting nothing from the others. Samsung is not in the business of Gapps, so it's not fair to mention it, and you shouldn't use such spyware anyway (then why you care about adguard?). I've used Google "phone apps" (caller, calendar, photos) and it was too simple. Who still gives you rich LOCAL music player, who still gives you LOCAL video player (other brands cancelled both). Gallery with post edit, map, s-pen zoom and gestures (Note) is good, no need google Photos. Who gives you best calendar app with nice UI, weather, home timezone, spen preview? I've seen anything comparable to that other than ver geeky apps on the market. Caller which plays recorded calls directly from UI? Lovely. Love the call popup settings that others don't gives you. Who gives you OneUI, 10x richer than other layouts while fast. Onehand mode, or even scroll the screen down basic function of OneUI. The one and only legendary Edge panel that can't be replicated (tried ALL clones). The best AOD, best edge lightning + flash + screen effects (for large screen). Best accessibility options in market period. Best functional camera. You can still say cheeeese to shoot and no other brands can do. You can recognize objects, scan documents or get assistance in shooting situations. And so much more. I'd rate Samsung software ******** while OnePlus ** Sony ** Xiaomi ** LG ** etc. Don't know about Google but i assume it's the same mediocrity (again i don't count their non-phone apps). And i'm heavily debloated, work without Samsung account and still profit from this ecosystem heavily.
Yes they kill apps https://dontkillmyapp.com/ but is perfectly manageable. All you do is choose few core apps and prioritize them, while the most garbage gets killed. This approach is very helpful for battery and OnePlus invented it (that's why they always had nice scores on gsmarena). I moaned first, but now i agree.
Pixel 6 is a horrid phone based on people, and now heavy (that's why i chose ZFlip), let's see next year.
Samsung just pushed AOD app update for ZFlips. I tested the orange dot and it works for all messages and calls. It even blinks. Again, no other firmwares i know incl AOSP offers longer notifications than this. It's always displayed shortly or not at all. Samsung of course has the most configurable AOD and notifications with color highlighting, color match app, bubbles, smart popups. Split app from task manager or Edge panel. It's insane. You can even prolong the AOD notification timeout in the settings or even the toast messages! Here we found the glitch. This setting simply needs to apply on cover screen too and problem solved. Let's wait for another update, i'm sure it will come. It's not like in other brands where phone software stays the same for years.
There's no edge effect on the cover screen (yet!), but that flash makes me jump out of bed. Expecting a major company to produce geeky nice apps like aodnotify is very unrealistic. It won't happen. BTW I still can't make aodnotify work with cover screen. I went through all the settings and it has zero impact there.
I just played with Bixby settings.. you can set action when folded, half folded, unfolded. Stay unlocked when driving. Hundreds of settings. Talking about Samsung not having enough functionality or settings.. oh no, that's so wrong. ZFlip 4 is in my preorder basket.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's perfectly fair to compare Samsung's version of GAPPS to Google's.. messaging app vs messaging app. Calendar vs Calendar.
The spyware is a HIDDEN service always running in the background and I care about Adguard because it blocks ads, trackers and analytics in ALL apps and it works as a firewall. Go to adguard.com and look. The play store version is NOT Adguard, it's an extension for 2 browsers.
I got the latest update and no...the exterior screen does not have a blinking dot. When you get a notification the exterior screen turns on for a couple seconds and then shuts off. You can see the dot if you double tap the screen but that's not helpful. I want something to blink when I get a notification without me needing to touch the phone.
I'm glad you like Samsung's apps but I can get better versions of everything they offer. I can use Google apps for my dialer, contacts, messages, calendar, calculator and clock. I use Nova as my launcher because OneUI is too basic. I use Google now via Nova and Google assistant instead of Bixby. Bixby is god awful and once again google does it better.
Yeah you can change some settings for battery management but then you have NO battery management. Also the average person isn't going to know any of this so they will fall victim to apps not working and alarms not going off. That's poor design.
So I can say I think Samsung's software is terrible and you can like it.
I'm too tired to read the rest so I'll do it tomorrow.
d0x360 said:
It's perfectly fair to compare Samsung's version of GAPPS to Google's.. messaging app vs messaging app. Calendar vs Calendar.
The spyware is a HIDDEN service always running in the background and I care about Adguard because it blocks ads, trackers and analytics in ALL apps and it works as a firewall. Go to adguard.com and look. The play store version is NOT Adguard, it's an extension for 2 browsers.
I got the latest update and no...the exterior screen does not have a blinking dot. When you get a notification the exterior screen turns on for a couple seconds and then shuts off. You can see the dot if you double tap the screen but that's not helpful. I want something to blink when I get a notification without me needing to touch the phone.
I'm glad you like Samsung's apps but I can get better versions of everything they offer. I can use Google apps for my dialer, contacts, messages, calendar, calculator and clock. I use Nova as my launcher because OneUI is too basic. I use Google now via Nova and Google assistant instead of Bixby. Bixby is god awful and once again google does it better.
Yeah you can change some settings for battery management but then you have NO battery management. Also the average person isn't going to know any of this so they will fall victim to apps not working and alarms not going off. That's poor design.
So I can say I think Samsung's software is terrible and you can like it.
I'm too tired to read the rest so I'll do it tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
perhaps i imagine Gapps as Maps etc or the office apps. But let's say it's all Google apps. I've had Pixel ROMs which were based on Google apps you mentioned and didn't notice anything special. Just pure basic. Or forcing to online services. Samsung wins for privacy, i don't like to be tracked so i run those local media players w/o access to internet. I like DLNA, screen mirror stuff. There are no players on other mobiles nowadays and often with DLNA turned off (to force you social networks). Clock - better too, with repetitions until you wake the f*** up. With weather time zones. Calculator - better because it's in Edge panel, super productive. Who else has it? Debloated Bixby - BixbyVision suits me better and I removed Google spyware app completely. Most of it can work offline. Bixby Voice - i don't use such technology until it will be OFFLINE. Bixby routines - fantastic. SmartThings + Audio + Devices on notifpanel - didn't see anything like that before. I can control home devices or cameras from lockscreen! File manager - better, and it connects to web folders and samba (oh my god, thanks). I'm sure Google will give you a chance to connect... to GDrive $$ LOL. Camera better than Gcam as noted. GCam ports = placebo. Camera "AR" very rich and more private than a typical ad-infested apps on market. Samsung Kids - what? Absolutely incredible. And with home screen lock for parents. There's even a general "Pin lock" i again didn't see on the other brands. Samsung Keyboard - very strong even vs GBoard and other brands which provide... nothing. Screen recorder, audio recorder, animation, capture scrolling screen, capture rectangle then extract text - wow. Where are these functions on other brands? I have 5 flagships yearly and I don't recall none of it, maybe i have a short memory And Note series add even more. Smart Stay - great (other brands? hello? Sony has one - kudos!). Edge compass, ruler, torch - so useful. Quick measure - thanks, another adware from appstore spared. Dual messenger - multiple accounts of one chat app? OK! Finder app? don't get my started. There's no competition, forget Sezame. I've spend years searching for an alternative. Is it available from task manager? Yes. Can you drag a window from task manager to a popup or split screen? Yes, and you don't need a stupid tap like on Sony. From Edge panel too. Emergency app on 4 power clicks - thanks (3 clicks = always a mistake). Samsung flow - display Android screen on PC + notifications? Great, no need to pay. Samsung Notes - lengedary. Samsung Pass. Secure folder. Samsung Swich. Samsung Health. Smart View. Tons of notification panel's actionable icons. It just keeps giving. It's insane how much MORE you get with Samsung.
And launcher? Of course I use Nova or similar. But does it mean anyone else got a better one than OneUI? Who? I know: absolutely noone, so why mention it? I don't get the hate. That's the industry standard for vendor launchers - be basic, not to scare the public with overwhelming functionality.
-> Overall, I rate Samsung firmware as 5-10x better than closest competitor. It's a knock out win. This is why I left Xiaomi, OnePlus, Sony, LG and Google, and returned back to the best brand. I was tired of vanilla OS and hated the low investments they make to it. It actually make Samsung cheap.
Re dot - it's there nonstop until you review notifications and it's blinking after an event like missed call. Perhaps you don't have AOD on. Phones w/o notif.light won't provide permanent notification with AOD off it seems. So far the only perma message text displayed on screen i saw was on Garmin watches. 10 letters of most recent notification. Yeah i keep them because of this. I wish it came to mobile phones too. For aesthetic reasons, i don't think it will. Imagine stuffing clock, date, battery, app icon, sender name, text into one small screen. At this point, i just want to prolong the timeout. It's too short.
Re alarms - they're triggered every day. Maybe you're using Naptime to kill it. Kudos to OnePlus to be a rare brand which can turn on the phone to raise alarm. I thought this died with HTC or simple phone era.
Samsung is worse than Google for privacy. They send more data to themselves than Google does.
Thankfully Adguard blocks all that crap.
As for GAPPS v Samsung... They are just as simple ok the Samsung side by with worse UI's. Plus I prefer simple.
If I want something good I'll just get it from the store.
This is definitely my last Samsung phone. I'll probably go with a pixel next but as long as it's hardware is good and it can be rooted then brand isnt as important.
Then I can use whatever rom I want. Back to battery...if you disable Samsung battery functions then you basically cut battery life in half. They seem to have disabled the built in battery saving functions from AOSP so when you shut that insanely aggressive management off...you get nothing.
I would prefer if it worked like my older note used to work. I had ability to just have orange dot notification. Also I was able to set a different color for notifications that came from the "secure folder" apps.