Does it have a notification LED? - OnePlus 7 Questions & Answers

I rarely use my phone and don't obsessively check it. If something needs my attention it flashes the coloured led on an every 1-second cycle. I have colours set up for email, sms and whatsapp.
I can see it at a glance on my desk/couch without needing to pick up the phone, I also know a notification is waiting for me if I was far away from the phone to hear the notification sound or vibration. I'm also deaf so I don't take voice calls, so anything that is an emergency will be in text form and has to grab my attention.
This is why I had to skip buying the OnePlus 6T - it has no LED. Other alternatives such as the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 has only 1 colour on its LED. I don't know what other alternatives there are. I've always stuck with phones that are easily unlockable and has good ROM support (Nexus 4 to OPO to OP3 currently), so I can finetune the LED colours and timing frequency on a per app basis.
p.s. I'm aware there are third-party tools such as Always on Amoled on Google Play. But I have no idea if it's any good, development may stop at any time, and they're usually battery drainers.

I'm totally same boat with you and we are sinking.
WHY in Earth notification led is removed now days?
It was probably best thing Android had starting day 1. when I started use it (2008)
I'm also using OnePlus 5T still because led removed after this model....

It doesn't have the LED, but it does light up the left side of the screen instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B9cJeF0x8Q
If this can be properly customized (make this the only trace of ambient display, set colors for individual apps and ideally shift the light strip to the top side instead of the left side to use a litte bit less battery) I'd be fine with that

Wow! This sounds awesome if can customize!
Normal 7 don't have nothing I think?

Villelj said:
Wow! This sounds awesome if can customize!
Normal 7 don't have nothing I think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The guy presenting this review says that both the pro and non-pro have the feature https://youtu.be/_e5Imvxw8kk?t=204
However, I'd like to see a video of it working on the non-pro variant just to be sure it really does have the feature. Would also like to know whether it can be set to keep lighting intermittently until the notification is manually dismissed, just like a LED notification light works.

Related

Notification light goes out after certain amount of time, normal?

So I've noticed that the notification light only stays lit for a certain amount of time. It was like that when I was stock and is the same now for running das bamf. Is there anyway to change this. It seems it will blink for ~10 min for a text or what not and then it goes out. This is annoying because it makes me have to turn the screen on more often then I would like just to check to see if I have a text message. Is there anyway to change this amount of time?
Yeah, thats how it is. Most people always have their phone on them. So if you haven't been around you phone for more than 10 mins, the first thing most people do when they "get back" to their phone is turn the screen on.
Is it really that much of an annoyance? 1 button press?
No, its not but I've come accustomed to my OG droid notifciation light and if you know about that phones notification light, its superb and with a quick look at that phone from a distance you can see if you have a notification or not. I've been fine with it so far but it would be nice if it was longer.
The notification light can save battery throughout a day if you don't have to turn the screen on all the time just to check for a notification.
The notification light on the TB is so insignificant, I forget it even has one most of the time. It isnt normal for a phone to have such a small notification light or only have 2 colors (look at other phones like blackberries or even other android phones). However, you get used to it and check your phone without it.
tu3218 said:
No, its not but I've come accustomed to my OG droid notifciation light and if you know about that phones notification light, its superb and with a quick look at that phone from a distance you can see if you have a notification or not. I've been fine with it so far but it would be nice if it was longer.
The notification light can save battery throughout a day if you don't have to turn the screen on all the time just to check for a notification.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was the same way with my Nexus One. It's the one thing I miss and hate about the Tbolt. You cannot count on being able to check the notification light to see if you have messages. You HAVE to turn it on to be sure. I really wish HTC would start using a standardized, well engineered notification light on all devices. Then let users turn it off if they don't like it.
I actually came up with a small fix for myself when I'm at home. I mounted one of my Nexus Ones under my plasma(just so that the trackball is showing) then I muted all sounds. At least now if I am at home I generally am alerted visually if I have messages waiting.
Arrow Notification light goes out after certain amount of time, normal?Arrow
I too need a notification light as I do not like turning the phone on and off to see if I missed something. So I found NoLed which has been a lifesaver. It turns on your screen if you missed a call, sms, email, etc. I thought it would kill the battery, but no it really doesn't. You can even schedule when the app will go on and off. Big, Big fan.
marcusblade said:
I too need a notification light as I do not like turning the phone on and off to see if I missed something. So I found NoLed which has been a lifesaver. It turns on your screen if you missed a call, sms, email, etc. I thought it would kill the battery, but no it really doesn't. You can even schedule when the app will go on and off. Big, Big fan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just installed this. This looks awesome!! As long it doesn't drain the battery like you said, this will be an incredible app. thanks for the heads up.

Change LED notification color?

I know its possible with apps but was wondering if its possible with the stock software?? If not, what ap are you guys using for this function? TIA
I use Lightflow.
I use lightFlow as well and its not possible in the stock software AFAIK.
CMNDR
Do we have all these color options in lightflow or only a few? If so which ones do yall use?
matt2k12 said:
Do we have all these color options in lightflow or only a few? If so which ones do yall use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The LED in the phone supports RGB so you should be able to get a moderately wide color spread. Each different notification in my phone has a different color and blink rate specified by lightflow so I cant really go into detail there. The only thing I have yet to figure out with it is how to dim the LED as its really bright, and while I want a charging indicator, at night its hard to sleep with the bright orange on my phone.
CMNDR
Now it seems my notification LED is going off for no reason; there are no notifications currently showing besides juice defender and smart actions neither of which have an LED function tied to them; does this ever happen to you guys?
matt2k12 said:
Now it seems my notification LED is going off for no reason; there are no notifications currently showing besides juice defender and smart actions neither of which have an LED function tied to them; does this ever happen to you guys?
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Click to collapse
Ya, I've had phantom notification issues before. Before I got the settings right for my 3rd party SMS app (Handcent) I had a few issues where the notifications weren't clearing. The other thing you might check is that gmail will try and notify even if your using something else to mark the message as read, (ie: using gmail on a different computer and reading the message will make it disappear from the status bar on your phone cause to the mailing client the message has been read, but the lightflow notification requires you to open the app that's triggering the notification to clear the lightflow notification.) Other than that I'd try changing the color of different apps and seeing if the LED changes with it and try to pin down the app that is causing the random light.
Let me know if that helps,
CMNDR
Hi:
The best feature of lightflow is the ability to turn all the notification lights off at night, from any hour yo choose to any hour in the morning.
Tom
Those of you using light flow, what settings are you using? And are you rooted? What build are you on. I had never even noticed the pho had a notification light until I had had it for a while and I saw the low battery light one day, until then I had never noticed it lit.. I'm currently rooted only, have not unlocked the boot loader. On build 125-asa-10.
I first thought light flow was not working but have come to notice it is, its just extremely dim to the point you almost can't see it even in a dark room. Anyone else have this issue or know what I'm doing wrong?
iamchocho said:
Those of you using light flow, what settings are you using? And are you rooted? What build are you on. I had never even noticed the pho had a notification light until I had had it for a while and I saw the low battery light one day, until then I had never noticed it lit.. I'm currently rooted only, have not unlocked the boot loader. On build 125-asa-10.
I first thought light flow was not working but have come to notice it is, its just extremely dim to the point you almost can't see it even in a dark room. Anyone else have this issue or know what I'm doing wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never noticed it being excessively dim per se, but when I first installed the ap at the office under flourescent lighting the lights seemed weak and not to match the colors I had selected. Once I decided to choose only a few notifications and with stick main standard colors (red, yellow, green, blue, orange, cyan) I noticed it was doing a good job of notifying me and the colors were unique and visible in all light conditions. For emails I have a long delay, for texts I have a medium delay, for missed calls I have a short delay, for missed calls messages or mms or voicemail from wife I have an extra short delay.
The only gripe I would say I have with lightflow is that it seems to stop notifying if not used for a while. Sort of like it's being dumped out of memory and needs to be restarted.
CMNDR
Sent from my XT897 using Tapatalk 2
I'm trying to figure out if I have a hardware issue but im starting to doubt that too. I really don't want to do a factory reset but it may come to that. when the battery is low ~5% the led will blink bright red when unplugging, and bright blue when plugging in so it seems like its capable of going bright. driving me nuts that its not bright enough to see during normal operation.
Sent from my XT897 using xda app-developers app

Notification LED ... working properly?

Hi everybody,
got a brand new Nexus 5 from thuesday and so far I'm happy with it... There's just a thing that makes me angry; it seems to me that the notification LED is not working properly, or maybe I did not understand which are the roles which determine WHEN it should light or not.
Example: I set in Whatsapp configuration that notifications should use the LED (in particular, I also set the green color for these notifications).
Sometimes Whatsapp messages leads to a blinking led (when the screen is dark, so, in standby). This is what I expected to see everytime there's an unread Whatsapp message.
But... it happens sometimes that a received, unread whatsapp message doesn't trigger any LED activity.
Just 20 mins ago, I heard from my Nexus 5 a notification sound (an incoming Whatsapp message)... but no led activity at all.
Few mins ago I received another Whatsapp message, and this time I heard the sound and can see the green led blinking.
So... It's possible I didn't understand the correct behaviour of these LED notifications... or maybe it's a known bug and others have noticed the same issue.
Does anyone found a similar behaviour ? It seems to me it's a matter of software, because *when* the LED blinks, it blinks without any defect.
Thanks
I'm having the opposite issue from you. Sometimes the Notification LED gets stuck blinking, even after all notifications on my phone have been cleared.
This is happening on my phone, as well as the two others I purchased.
Mine seems fine so far
No issues here either. I have Handscent controlling the LED for SMS/MMS. And I let Android decide what to do for Gmail and Exchange LEDs. If you want full control you can probably download one of the LED apps and let that control all your LED settings for each app.
I'm having the same issue. Sometimes the notification light decides not to blink... I have no idea why this happens though. Just wanted to chime in that you're not alone.
Get light flow, the LED is a lot more useful with that app.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I'm rooted and using light flow and after I've turned it on, read the notification and then switched it off I also sometimes get the light blink continuously until I open up light flow and it's again obtained root access. On the N4 it just requested root at startup and then never had to again but doesn't seem to till I've opened the app on the N5. Maybe it's a 4.4 bug.
No LED earlier when i received a Tapatalk notification. I don't know if that's the phone or the app at fault? Otherwise i seem to get LED notification in most cases.
Okie, so it seems that notification issues are quite common... I'm tempted to buy light flow just to verify it's not an hardware fault which requires RMA.... (I'm actually for the software fault ...which isn't tracked yet)
KaylordTheuZ said:
Okie, so it seems that notification issues are quite common... I'm tempted to buy light flow just to verify it's not an hardware fault which requires RMA.... (I'm actually for the software fault ...which isn't tracked yet)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lightflow works perfectly for me.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app
I can confirm ^. Just got the paid version of Light Flow, works like a charm so far. Lets you change LED colours. Really awesome app. SO far i tested it for missed call(red blink)/hangout MMS(purple)/gmail e-mail and hotmail e-mail (green). Its been working flawlessly so far. The stock LED function did work for my hangout text messages, however it would not work my my e-mail. With light flow everything is working perfectly now + the extra functionality that it comes with.
LightFlow is definitely a worthwhile investment. The developer is quite active on XDA as well, and is quick to reply to any feedback. The app works as advertised (had it for my N4 and now N5) and provides great functionality. For me, the LED notification was a key selling feature. I hated having to turn the screen on my previous phones to see if I even had any notifications, but now I can glance at my phone and know if I have a text, e-mail, missed call, etc. So having absolute control over the LED is awesome.
For my N5 I have had some occasions when the LED would act a bit on its own, whether it would pulse white for a second or two randomly, or not turn on when it was supposed to. It's rare when it happens and is really a non-issue. Where I haven't had much success, though, is testing the LED when I'm setting up notifications in LightFlow. Doing LED tests in LightFlow doesn't seem to work for some reason. Not sure if I'm the only one experiencing this or not.
Is there any specific configuration setting for lightflow on Nexus5 or it should work out of the box?
KaylordTheuZ said:
Is there any specific configuration setting for lightflow on Nexus5 or it should work out of the box?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should work straight out of the box Although it may involve some playing around, and also make sure notifications in the apps themselves are turned off or you'll essentially have two going off at once (one for the app, one for LightFlow).
The dev just posted a helpful link that I used to get testing the LED to work, and also would help configure LightFlow for your N5 too:
http://www.folioflow.com/ff/page/website/lightflow/pageId/2349
I'm not rooted but I remembered using an app called missed call with the og droid and it works perfectly on the nexus 5. Free too!
KaylordTheuZ said:
Hi everybody,
got a brand new Nexus 5 from thuesday and so far I'm happy with it... There's just a thing that makes me angry; it seems to me that the notification LED is not working properly, or maybe I did not understand which are the roles which determine WHEN it should light or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a noobi. I just received my Nexus 5 yesterday evening. When the phone goes into SLEEP mode, whether flip cover closed or just after a while in idle, the notification light keeps blinking, Is this normal? Does LightFlow have a setting to not blink when in SLEEP mode?
same
Notification Light in Sleep Mode
KaylordTheuZ said:
Hi everybody,
got a brand new Nexus 5 from thuesday and so far I'm happy with it... There's just a thing that makes me angry; it seems to me that the notification LED is not working properly, or maybe I did not understand which are the roles which determine WHEN it should light or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a noobi. I just received my Nexus 5 yesterday evening. When the phone goes into SLEEP mode, whether flip cover closed or just after a while in idle, the notification light keeps blinking, Is this normal? Does LightFlow have a setting to not blink when in SLEEP mode?
Actually I use the Light Manager https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.koo.lightmanager this app have sleep (night) mode, use only 15-20MB.
Sent from my Nexus 7 with Tapatalk
Notification Light in Sleep Mode
BillyL said:
I'm a noobi. I just received my Nexus 5 yesterday evening. When the phone goes into SLEEP mode, whether flip cover closed or just after a while in idle, the notification light keeps blinking, Is this normal? Does LightFlow have a setting to not blink when in SLEEP mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed LightFlow and tried to stop the blinking light in sleep mode. I enabled LightFlow and enabled sleep settings and checked the box for Stop the notification light when sleeping. The notification light still blinks when the NFC tag is triggered or when the phone times out for sleep. Please advise.

What is everyone doing for notifications?

Hey all,
I just picked up a 7 Pro and it's my first phone without a notification light. What are you all doing to make sure you don't miss important notifications?
On my OnePlus 5 I used to use Light Manager to show me a static (not blinking) light of a different color depending on the notification, so I could glance at my phone and know what notifications were waiting for me. (Especially helpful was a unique color for when my wife texted me. Little quality-of-life stuff like this goes a long way, ya know?)
Now that I don't have a notification light I've tried:
- Ambient Display: This seems too easy to miss a notification after it has passed. Always picking up or tapping on the phone to see notifications is a hassle.
- Always On AMOLED: I've tried two apps by the same name and they both drain my battery horribly, even if I have it set to show only a black screen unless a notification comes in.
- NotifyBuddy: This is close, but the blinking light drives me nuts and I've heard the battery drain is bad here too.
Has anyone found something that works for them and doesn't destroy battery life?
I just pickup my phone and it shows notifications. At first i missed the LED light but not anymore.
I am using this currently and it works really well. What it does is make the built in Horizon light continue to repeat itself according to your chosen settings...much like it should by default but OnePlus dropped the ball!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vaf.vishal.plusbeat&hl=en_US
What is the sense of having that "horizon light" if it doesn't actually DO anything? I don't get it... why include it....
jaseman said:
I am using this currently and it works really well. What it does is make the built in Horizon light continue to repeat itself according to your chosen settings...much like it should by default but OnePlus dropped the ball!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=vaf.vishal.plusbeat&hl=en_US
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GoodbyeSky said:
Hey all,
I just picked up a 7 Pro and it's my first phone without a notification light. What are you all doing to make sure you don't miss important notifications?
On my OnePlus 5 I used to use Light Manager to show me a static (not blinking) light of a different color depending on the notification, so I could glance at my phone and know what notifications were waiting for me. (Especially helpful was a unique color for when my wife texted me. Little quality-of-life stuff like this goes a long way, ya know?)
Now that I don't have a notification light I've tried:
- Ambient Display: This seems too easy to miss a notification after it has passed. Always picking up or tapping on the phone to see notifications is a hassle.
- Always On AMOLED: I've tried two apps by the same name and they both drain my battery horribly, even if I have it set to show only a black screen unless a notification comes in.
- NotifyBuddy: This is close, but the blinking light drives me nuts and I've heard the battery drain is bad here too.
Has anyone found something that works for them and doesn't destroy battery life?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using pulse beat and it works great especially with horizon light

Question Understanding Notifications and Outer Display Orange Dot

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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.

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