Samsung silently changes its homescreen name? - General Questions and Answers

Good evening everyone,
I was browsing the Apk Mirror with my Galaxy A3 2017 when I decided to download the following .apk file: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/samsu...touchwiz-home-9-0-01-47-android-apk-download/. I downloaded it and then tried to install it as a normal apk. When installed, I noticed that the launcher's name has changed from "Touchwiz Home" to "Samsung Experience Home". I think that Samsung is finally killing off the Touchwiz "brand" name. It seems that it will soon be a historical part of Samsung phones. What are your thoughts on this?
Note that the version of Samsung's home screen mentioned above will be possibly included on the company's Oreo Update and on the 2018's flagship Galaxy S9.

Related

[Q] No inertia in Maps

Hi, I'm using Google Maps app and I've found out that this phone does not have inertia. Why is this happening? How is it possible, since Maps app is generic for all devices (I'm pretty sure that all the Samsung Galaxy Core 2's have this problem).
No Samsung Music player, weird Touchwiz version, no inertia in Maps... what the hell is going on with this phone?
It seems to be a chinese replica of a Samsung phone that comes without official firmware and weird apps!
rambomhtri said:
Hi, I'm using Google Maps app and I've found out that this phone does not have inertia. Why is this happening? How is it possible, since Maps app is generic for all devices (I'm pretty sure that all the Samsung Galaxy Core 2's have this problem).
No Samsung Music player, weird Touchwiz version, no inertia in Maps... what the hell is going on with this phone?
It seems to be a chinese replica of a Samsung phone that comes without official firmware and weird apps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inertia - slide is currently disabled because of the different android OS/API/JS workaraund
https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api...ed+Summary+Stars+ApiType+Internal&cells=tiles
Why weird apps ? The only thing not fixed enaught from start is boot / recovery.
Other apps are written specialy for this type of phone. A lot of things not needed by release nas been changed by Samsung the references weren't deleted, so don't wory about some chinese leftowers
And about the player : The player is Samsung's and made specialy for this phone, just like the libs for it and all other libs for mix,effects ...
And maps and other apps are not "generic" for all "devices" !
It depends on the phone's API and other compatibility issues and references/components.
I don't know why people always messing about that things, you can always install other launcher/app and make it default or disable app/system package.
StratOS_HTC said:
Inertia - slide is currently disabled because of the different android OS/API/JS workaraund
https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api...ed+Summary+Stars+ApiType+Internal&cells=tiles
Why weird apps ? The only thing not fixed enaught from start is boot / recovery.
Other apps are written specialy for this type of phone. A lot of things not needed by release nas been changed by Samsung the references weren't deleted, so don't wory about some chinese leftowers
And about the player : The player is Samsung's and made specialy for this phone, just like the libs for it and all other libs for mix,effects ...
And maps and other apps are not "generic" for all "devices" !
It depends on the phone's API and other compatibility issues and references/components.
I don't know why people always messing about that things, you can always install other launcher/app and make it default or disable app/system package.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, here's the story, I had like 1 month ago 3 devices: Samsung Galaxy Young 2, Galaxy Core 2 and Express 2. All of them with Android 4.4.2, with all the apps up to date, and everything mostly the same.
So, Young 2 and Core 2 were almost the same weird experience in terms of software, and the Express 2 was a Samsung like any other Samsung out there, let me explain:
1. Maps in the first 2 devices had no inertia, whereas Express 2 had it. Same app version. Someone explain that to me.
2. Touchwiz in the first 2 devices had this weird version with only 4 icons in the lower bar, different interface, different menu options (worse), and you know, it simply wasn't the same Touchwiz I saw in every other Samsung.
3. No Samsung Music player, what the hell, in the first 2 devices.
4. YouTube app was not the same, yeah, it was different. The search button was in the menu option, while in any other Samsung it was right in the middle of the upper bar/section. Same YouTube app. I had no idea what was going on. Like a week or so, YT got updated and this is fixed now, but anyways, that was really weird.
5. I don't know, those 2 devices had many other different things in settings that made me feel like If I was using a chinese copy of a Samsung phone. I couldn't even put a shortcut to Manage Applications with that weird Mass Launcher version of Touchwiz.
6. The Dialer menu, contacts interface and all of that is simply ugly, poorly implemented (my old Neo V showed contact's pictures in a much higher resolution), it's not the same as all the other Samsung's interfaces.
And also, I have 1 big hardware problem, and I think it's not my phone, but all the Galaxy Core 2's. The touchscreen limit is wrong, it does not recognize the very end of the 4 screen sides (the 4 edges), it only starts to recognize your fingers like 4mm or more from the edge, and that hinders many gestures, specially when scrolling a right side bar, or sweeping from the left to show up a menu, or moving a song's time bar to the beginning (I can only move it to 0:04 sec, cause I can't move it more to the left).
The mix of these bad experiences is what makes me feel like I'm not using a Samsung phone. Besides, the screen of this phone is one of the worst screens I have ever seen. It's way superior the screen of my old Neo V. The viewing angles are a joke, I know it's a budget phone, low-cost and all that, but seriously, the screen is SO awful, you rotate just 1 º your phone and the colors are starting to change and they get distorted. My Neo V was also a budget phone and had an amazing screen. I'm not protesting about the resolution, or colors, they are good enough, I wasn't looking for a Super Amoled screen, but man, this screen is so bad.
Yeah, I know I can install another launcher. Actually the true is that I didn't know 'till I got this phone in my hands. That mass launcher version was so awful that I started reading about Home screen (launcher) and discovered what a launcher was, and "thanks" to the awful Touchwiz version, I'm using Nova launcher, that totally rocks and I really really love it. I don't care about Samsung's player neither, I use jetAudio plus, which is far better, but you know, you don't like when a Samsung phone comes without a Samsung player (just like all the Samsung phones out there). And Maps and YouTube weird behaviors, and a ultra low resolution photos in the Conctacts interface (and when receiving a call too), and all those things make you really question if you're actually using a original Samsung. You gotta think too about the people can't spend time reading and learning what is a launcher and all that stuff.
After a month of use, I can really complain about the horrendous screen and the dialer weird app, though that doesn't remove the very first bad experience. That's all. No, stop, I was forgetting something, If it was't for you, I'd still getting mad at Samsung because when you volume up to 80%, this freaking weird phone shows up a warning saying that listen to loud music can damage your ears. I'm root, I have Gravity Box, and I can completely remove that warning from hell. You can't deactivate it without Gravity Box and being root. That's another BIG joke, man. Samsung, what the hell. Thanks God I found your post and I could root the phone and install Xposed framework.
rambomhtri said:
OK, here's the story, I had like 1 month ago 3 devices: Samsung Galaxy Young 2, Galaxy Core 2 and Express 2. All of them with Android 4.4.2, with all the apps up to date, and everything mostly the same.
So, Young 2 and Core 2 were almost the same weird experience in terms of software, and the Express 2 was a Samsung like any other Samsung out there, let me explain:
1. Maps in the first 2 devices had no inertia, whereas Express 2 had it. Same app version. Someone explain that to me.
2. Touchwiz in the first 2 devices had this weird version with only 4 icons in the lower bar, different interface, different menu options (worse), and you know, it simply wasn't the same Touchwiz I saw in every other Samsung.
3. No Samsung Music player, what the hell, in the first 2 devices.
4. YouTube app was not the same, yeah, it was different. The search button was in the menu option, while in any other Samsung it was right in the middle of the upper bar/section. Same YouTube app. I had no idea what was going on. Like a week or so, YT got updated and this is fixed now, but anyways, that was really weird.
5. I don't know, those 2 devices had many other different things in settings that made me feel like If I was using a chinese copy of a Samsung phone. I couldn't even put a shortcut to Manage Applications with that weird Mass Launcher version of Touchwiz.
6. The Dialer menu, contacts interface and all of that is simply ugly, poorly implemented (my old Neo V showed contact's pictures in a much higher resolution), it's not the same as all the other Samsung's interfaces.
And also, I have 1 big hardware problem, and I think it's not my phone, but all the Galaxy Core 2's. The touchscreen limit is wrong, it does not recognize the very end of the 4 screen sides (the 4 edges), it only starts to recognize your fingers like 4mm or more from the edge, and that hinders many gestures, specially when scrolling a right side bar, or sweeping from the left to show up a menu, or moving a song's time bar to the beginning (I can only move it to 0:04 sec, cause I can't move it more to the left).
The mix of these bad experiences is what makes me feel like I'm not using a Samsung phone. Besides, the screen of this phone is one of the worst screens I have ever seen. It's way superior the screen of my old Neo V. The viewing angles are a joke, I know it's a budget phone, low-cost and all that, but seriously, the screen is SO awful, you rotate just 1 º your phone and the colors are starting to change and they get distorted. My Neo V was also a budget phone and had an amazing screen. I'm not protesting about the resolution, or colors, they are good enough, I wasn't looking for a Super Amoled screen, but man, this screen is so bad.
Yeah, I know I can install another launcher. Actually the true is that I didn't know 'till I got this phone in my hands. That mass launcher version was so awful that I started reading about Home screen (launcher) and discovered what a launcher was, and "thanks" to the awful Touchwiz version, I'm using Nova launcher, that totally rocks and I really really love it. I don't care about Samsung's player neither, I use jetAudio plus, which is far better, but you know, you don't like when a Samsung phone comes without a Samsung player (just like all the Samsung phones out there). And Maps and YouTube weird behaviors, and a ultra low resolution photos in the Conctacts interface (and when receiving a call too), and all those things make you really question if you're actually using a original Samsung. You gotta think too about the people can't spend time reading and learning what is a launcher and all that stuff.
After a month of use, I can really complain about the horrendous screen and the dialer weird app, though that doesn't remove the very first bad experience. That's all. No, stop, I was forgetting something, If it was't for you, I'd still getting mad at Samsung because when you volume up to 80%, this freaking weird phone shows up a warning saying that listen to loud music can damage your ears. I'm root, I have Gravity Box, and I can completely remove that warning from hell. You can't deactivate it without Gravity Box and being root. That's another BIG joke, man. Samsung, what the hell. Thanks God I found your post and I could root the phone and install Xposed framework.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.Default stock google maps in GC2 is specialy made for different GC2, try deinstaling or disable and install from Market.
2.Same with touchwiz stock, specialy made for GC2 devices
3.GC2 uses specialy made modules, libs and mixer
About other stuff, like "resolution", margin borders,screen grids, effects and transitions, speed between them
Different launcher uses different configs, it's not just touch error or prog error, all can be reset or changed.
I'm not here to judge about that things and what crapy phone I'm using too, just trying to make the best of it, but sometime it is the best to use other progs and see what's the difference and how are things with other apps.
Stock apps/system apps are made specialy for those models.
Have noticed it myself while trying to make updated version of google apps as system apps ( Custom rom - specialy google play services ).
Have noticed that the update version via Market works good, but if you try to update updated version as default system ( as custom rom ) apps you will end with corner, too much dependencies and rechanged or modified libs, modules are "ported" or recreated to GC2 phones, FC problems are literary problem for custom stock roms.
That is the primary deal this types of phones won't stand stable support and updates.
The major problem is that some apps are not generic ( from stock rom ) so they are different and made specialy for this type of model.
API's should work fine and they are carefully indexed, just like apps, but frameworks are not fully compatible or they are partialy ported/recreated/changed to this type of model. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't know how to say it right.
Regards

User Guide: 5 Tips and Tricks You Must Know for Samsung Galaxy S8

Samsung Galaxy S8 once again surpasses its competitors and users are unprecedentedly impressed by its beautiful looking and unparalleled performance. To get most of this attractive device, you can takes a close look at the following tips and tricks for Samsung Galaxy S8.:victory::highfive:
User Guide: Best Tips and Tricks for Samsung Galaxy S8
1.How to use Samsung Galaxy S8 Always On Display
Samsung Galaxy S8 has many additional features that even the most advanced iPhone doesn’t have, one of which is its Always On Display. Open the "Settings" on your Galaxy S8 and find the always-on display, choose the toggle to enable the always-on display. Scroll down to set "Show Always" is enabled. You can choose different style for the S8's always on display. To acquire this tip for Samsung Galaxy S8, you manage to check some information like messages or music even without unlocking your devices.
2. How to Remove Bloatware from Galaxy s8
Another useful tip and trick for Samsung Galaxy S8 you may need: just as many other phones, there are dozens of default apps on this new launcher Galaxy S8. There are two ways to deal with these nuisances - uninstall and disable. To uninstall a preloaded apps on your Samsung Galaxy S8, you need to press the app icon for a while till the poup is shown. Finally click the "Uninstall". You can also disable an app by using the same way just as mentioned above, but keep in mind that disabling an app also means you have not remove it completely as the app also takes up your phone memory. For those who want to delete downloaded apps in bulk from phone, you may try some popular apps like AirMore and Airdroid.
3. How to Use Samsung Galaxy S8 Camera
A third top tip and trick for Samsung Galaxy S8 I recommend is to make use of the "Camera" app. Except for those paramount camera abilities, you can shoot a photo and then zoom in and out just by sliding the shutter button. You can also take selfie with a wide angle in the front-facing camera mode.
4. How to Control Samsung Galaxy S8 on PC
There are many situations where you are absorbed in your PC without taking a look at your new coming messages. There are also many times when you need to mirror your Galaxy S8 screen to PC, but find no way available. Then ApowerMirror can help you a lot. Install this tool on your PC or Mac. Open the USB debugging on your S8. Connect Samsung S8 to PC by using the USB cable. Then this app will be installed on your phone automatically. Open the app on your S8 and click “START NOW”. Once connected, your Galaxy S8 will be mirrored to PC. To acquire this tip and trick for Samsung Galaxy S8, you manage to control your Samsung S8 from PC with your keyword and mouse. Whether show your S8 high definition pictures on PC screen or send or receive SMS from PC, this app will also do you a big favor.
5. How to Custom-made Samsung Galaxy S8 Edge Panel
Another attractive feature that this Samsung flagship outweighs other competitors is it Edge Panel. These curved edges on Samsung Galaxy S8 stuns its Super AMOLED display. Tap on the right-hand screen edge to bring up shortcuts of those widely used applications. Samsung Galaxy S8 provides several pre-installed Edge Panels for you to choose from, such as live sports scores panels, calendar, torch and more downloaded panels.
As the most powerful device Samsung has ever mad, Samsung Galaxy S8 will never disappoint you for its excellent performance.There are much more tips and tricks for Samsung Galaxy S8 available on the internet. Hope the tips I provide can help you a bit.:laugh::laugh::laugh:
https://www.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8-tips-and-tricks/ If you also want to know more tips, you can also know more ways here.

Google seems to be testing a redesigned app download page for Play Store on Android

It seems that Google is carrying out A/B testing* on a redesigned app download page in the Play Store. However, this redesign currently only affects Android software, not any other media type Google Play carries.
*I don't like how some of the major tech companies don't even want to allow users to opt-in for new features, and instead test random people thinking they're the same, while clearly I feel like I'm not the same.
Summary:
I don't like the redesign. There's a boring white UI, and coloured circles around category and milestone markers are now gone, but it does retain its green header within Android Overview.
The version number of the Play Store package carrying this redesign, is "11.8.09-all [0] [PR] 213536367". One thing I noticed right from the go is that there's boring white design. Ugh! I hate certain implementations of minimalist design, notably Apple's UX design, but also whatever the stock UX is in Android 8.0 and later, which is why I stay on 7.1. Whatever it is, the coloured circles around category and milestone markers are now GONE, I have also noticed that the pages feature different layouts depending on whether the app is installed or not, so I'm providing 2 examples. The phone screenshots are stitched together using Samsung's "scroll capture" feature, while the tablet screenshots are not stitched together.
I'll provide screenshots here that are from the Singaporean Play Store.. If anyone wants, I can provide a few more examples featuring apps if anyone here wants, as long as the developer has made it available there. I have 4 different Androids, 3 of them have Play Services, and out of those 3, I'll pick my Galaxy Note8 to represent the phone** and my Yoga Tab 3 Pro to represent the tablet, however, of course, I also received this update on my Galaxy Tab A 8.0, and the tablet layout is identical between both my tablets. However, Play Store does retain its green header within Android Overview, and I know this because I refuse to upgrade my Note8 to Android 8.x because of Samsung's modification they decided to do to it, which is to make the headers white with coloured text in order to get it to match their own apps instead of the custom apps I have in order to give it a near-stock Android experience. The status bar shadow in the tablet screenshot was added by Lenovo's buggy Android 6.0 custom UX, which is so buggy that it deserves its own separate rant in a thread, if anyone wants to hear about how bad it really is, and how much Lenovo sucks at Android device support.
**(but it does have a modded custom font package to replace Roboto with Comic Neue, no, it's not Comic Sans)
Additional note for those who want to mention my post in a news video:
My Twitter profile description provides a clue as to how to pronounce my username, otherwise, you could mention me by my Reddit username, MustardOrMayo404, as I might repost this to r/android there if I feel inclined.
Reserved
That's a big NO from me. I usually don't mind change, but I have no idea what Google was thinking with this latest Play Store update. The layout feels heavily padded and full of wasted, blank space. It feels really stretched out and just junky. Here are the only positives:
- Share and flag actions are easily accessible via the 3-dot menu
- Ability to view app review edit history
-

Native Screen Record (One UI 2, Android 10).

I don't know how many people got their One UI 2 (Android 10) upgrade but I received mine on Wednesday and one thing that I can't find anywhere is the native Screen record feature that is built into Android/One UI 2.
Missing: Screenshot and Recording in menu.
I already forgive Samsung for not including AOD on this (I had a A50 before this phone) but not that feature? Did Samsung forget to add it in or this phone incapable of doing such feature?
it's not missing. it just wasn't merged to a30s. some say you can just install the .apk. but that's no use for me so I haven't tried.

S-Note and or action memo

Old Note user, I miss the original s-note and action memo, I feel like the last few Note series are terrific hardware wise but Samsung dropped the ball on software. Anyone have a way to get the original apps working again?
Hi, @Ducter,
[APP] S Note 5.2.04.25 W/ Extension Pack & S Note Widget (working action memo)
**Welcome to the Fox Den!** After seeing a lot of information about the S Note and the extras on the forums, I figured it would be best to put it all in one location. I did this for the Note 7 for a while as well, so here we go. The S Note...
forum.xda-developers.com
I tried to install on a N9 & N20U the S Note app, the extension pack, & widget that are listed underneath "Drop Box" in @BlueFox721's thread above.
The S Note version 5.2.04.25 crashes on the N9 & N20U, but I installed the extension pack & S Note widget which work w/ later versions.
N20U - version 5.2.08.8 from APKMirror's website.
Action Memo is unfortunately not available, but it has a folder in SNoteData on the internal storage.
I don't use Samsung Notes any longer after finding out via ClassyShark3xodus that it has Google AdMob.
S Note does not have any trackers.
jsusang said:
Hi, @Ducter,
[APP] S Note 5.2.04.25 W/ Extension Pack & S Note Widget (working action memo)
**Welcome to the Fox Den!** After seeing a lot of information about the S Note and the extras on the forums, I figured it would be best to put it all in one location. I did this for the Note 7 for a while as well, so here we go. The S Note...
forum.xda-developers.com
I tried to install on a N9 & N20U the S Note app, the extension pack, & widget that are listed underneath "Drop Box" in @BlueFox721's thread above.
The S Note version 5.2.04.25 crashes on the N9 & N20U, but I installed the extension pack & S Note widget which work w/ later versions.
N20U - version 5.2.08.8 from APKMirror's website.
Action Memo is unfortunately not available, but it has a folder in SNoteData on the internal storage.
I don't use Samsung Notes any longer after finding out via ClassyShark3xodus that it has Google AdMob.
S Note dThanks. oes not have any trackers.
Hi, @Ducter,
[APP] S Note 5.2.04.25 W/ Extension Pack & S Note Widget (working action memo)
**Welcome to the Fox Den!** After seeing a lot of information about the S Note and the extras on the forums, I figured it would be best to put it all in one location. I did this for the Note 7 for a while as well, so here we go. The S Note...
forum.xda-developers.com
I tried to install on a N9 & N20U the S Note app, the extension pack, & widget that are listed underneath "Drop Box" in @BlueFox721's thread above.
The S Note version 5.2.04.25 crashes on the N9 & N20U, but I installed the extension pack & S Note widget which work w/ later versions.
N20U - version 5.2.08.8 from APKMirror's website.
Action Memo is unfortunately not available, but it has a folder in SNoteData on the internal storage.
I don't use Samsung Notes any longer after finding out via ClassyShark3xodus that it has Google AdMob.
S Note does not have any trackers.
Hi, @Ducter,
[APP] S Note 5.2.04.25 W/ Extension Pack & S Note Widget (working action memo)
**Welcome to the Fox Den!** After seeing a lot of information about the S Note and the extras on the forums, I figured it would be best to put it all in one location. I did this for the Note 7 for a while as well, so here we go. The S Note...
forum.xda-developers.com
I tried to install on a N9 & N20U the S Note app, the extension pack, & widget that are listed underneath "Drop Box" in @BlueFox721's thread above.
The S Note version 5.2.04.25 crashes on the N9 & N20U, but I installed the extension pack & S Note widget which work w/ later versions.
N20U - version 5.2.08.8 from APKMirror's website.
Action Memo is unfortunately not available, but it has a folder in SNoteData on the internal storage.
I don't use Samsung Notes any longer after finding out via ClassyShark3xodus that it has Google AdMob.
S Note does not have any trackers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jsusang said:
Hi, @Ducter,
[APP] S Note 5.2.04.25 W/ Extension Pack & S Note Widget (working action memo)
**Welcome to the Fox Den!** After seeing a lot of information about the S Note and the extras on the forums, I figured it would be best to put it all in one location. I did this for the Note 7 for a while as well, so here we go. The S Note...
forum.xda-developers.com
I tried to install on a N9 & N20U the S Note app, the extension pack, & widget that are listed underneath "Drop Box" in @BlueFox721's thread above.
The S Note version 5.2.04.25 crashes on the N9 & N20U, but I installed the extension pack & S Note widget which work w/ later versions.
N20U - version 5.2.08.8 from APKMirror's website.
Action Memo is unfortunately not available, but it has a folder in SNoteData on the internal storage.
I don't use Samsung Notes any longer after finding out via ClassyShark3xodus that it has Google AdMob.
S Note does not have any trackers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. I tried that but not with the widget and later versions. I will check that out.
I really don't understand why Samsung dropped S Notes as I'm sure many used it but they must have had their reasons. Thanks again.
Ducter said:
Old Note user, I miss the original s-note and action memo, I feel like the last few Note series are terrific hardware wise but Samsung dropped the ball on software. Anyone have a way to get the original apps working again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i download this one ( s note ) and its work fine with me
com.samsung.android.snote_5.2.08.8-520808000_minAPI24(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi)
You are welcome, @Ducter.
I forgot to mention to you that my N20U has Android 11/One UI 3.1.
I couldn't download the S Note extension & widget for version 5.2.08.8 from the Galaxy Store, so I used the apps listed in @firefox50's post.

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