Related
Available at www.swampthing.net
Reserved for future use
reserved for future use
Looks great, will give it a try (and your carbon theme) when i finish with all the family Christmas fun.
Hopefully i will get some free time soon to get stuck into themes myself. Need to send the wife and kid on holiday for any chance of that though!
lol metal thats funny. Well when you get the chance please report back what you liked and what you didn't like about the install instructions, theme functionality and anything else you think I could have done better.
best of luck with the family and happy holidays!!
Just had a quick (i mean quick as well) look at the ipod theme.
GREAT THEME
Just a couple of things for the install instructions that might help people new to WAD.
You may not hace a themes folder in Wisbar folder, just create one.
To get to seetings in point 1, touch and hold anywhere on the screen.
Can i confirm that to unlock you just slide left to right. It got me sweating a bit when i thought my phone was locked with no way to get in. Tapping the screen like a nutter
Just going to have a look at your other theme now.
Would these be easy enough to make as a landscape version as well?
great feedback!!!!! updated the install instructions in post 1 and in the download.
Iphone theme
Hi Mallman
greatlooking theme - I am very new to WAD2 it looks like its got an amazing amount to give to HD owners.
How can I change the links to my own programs ie tomtom etc want to keep the icons but keep getting an error, did I say I was NEW to this !!
cheers
Jon
JPW,
If you access the menu (tap and hold on screen) and select 'author mode'
After that, tap and hold over the icon you want to change and change the link it has to the program
Metalboz said:
JPW,
If you access the menu (tap and hold on screen) and select 'author mode'
After that, tap and hold over the icon you want to change and change the link it has to the program
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly right, and actions assigned to icons, text or anything else are known as "scripts". added to FAQ by the way
Great work on this and other themes Mallman! A question though, it seemed that the 'lock' button just refers to a page with a lock on it, and this page in turn refers back to the starting page of the theme.
Is it possible to have this button actually lock your device? Because locking my device also locks my volume buttons because I got so anoyed with constantly changing volume while i carry the device around.
Thx again for the work you are putting into this!
abats said:
Great work on this and other themes Mallman! A question though, it seemed that the 'lock' button just refers to a page with a lock on it, and this page in turn refers back to the starting page of the theme.
Is it possible to have this button actually lock your device? Because locking my device also locks my volume buttons because I got so anoyed with constantly changing volume while i carry the device around.
Thx again for the work you are putting into this!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it probably is. In fact if you are running S2U2 (which I am not and dont really like) you could link the red lock icon to S2u2 and eliminate that start page altogether. Let me go see what can be done using only windows locking function. I just dont like using third party locking programs. Seem to cause me more headache than anything for answering the phone lol.
ps. thanks for your kind words as well.
Yeah I don't like the third party locking either. And although you can lock the phone with the powerbutton for some reason i also want the option to use the default software lock.
When i have some time on my hands I will venture into WAD2 themes myself, I'm decent with designing and so far understand the things possible with WAD2 (quite alot!).
Also something you might want to include in your starting posts is that these themes are made for WWE roms. I'm running a Dutch rom myself so basicly not a single button works on installation, not that i mind because its quite easy to replace them with the 'dutch links'.
abats said:
Yeah I don't like the third party locking either. And although you can lock the phone with the powerbutton for some reason i also want the option to use the default software lock.
When i have some time on my hands I will venture into WAD2 themes myself, I'm decent with designing and so far understand the things possible with WAD2 (quite alot!).
Also something you might want to include in your starting posts is that these themes are made for WWE roms. I'm running a Dutch rom myself so basicly not a single button works on installation, not that i mind because its quite easy to replace them with the 'dutch links'.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey great feedback on the WWE. I need to update that ASAP so it doent cause confusion!! thank you so much
abats said:
Great work on this and other themes Mallman! A question though, it seemed that the 'lock' button just refers to a page with a lock on it, and this page in turn refers back to the starting page of the theme.
Is it possible to have this button actually lock your device? Because locking my device also locks my volume buttons because I got so anoyed with constantly changing volume while i carry the device around.
Thx again for the work you are putting into this!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok after much research, the only thing I can get to work without using a third party locking app is to lock the device my shutting the screen off. This serves the exact purpose you are referencing. What it doesn't do is require an unlock, just have to press the top power button to turn on. I really love this feature now and it keeps the door open for those who want to install the third party apps. I have delete the lock page now so version 1.3 will have this feature with the useless lock page deleted. thanks for the input
and for everyone's knowledge, You cant call the lock function of the phone with an executable file. Seems it is in a dll somewhere and i just dont feel like messing with all of that
In addition to this and the Carbon Fibre themes, because I moved all of the exe's from the Programs folder into sub folders such as Entertainment, System Tools, Productivity, then none of the start links work. However, if you go into Author mode, press and hold, then select Properties, you can change the script application/link and Bob is your Aunt's husband
Good work.
Regards
GLOC said:
In addition to this and the Carbon Fibre themes, because I moved all of the exe's from the Programs folder into sub folders such as Entertainment, System Tools, Productivity, then none of the start links work. However, if you go into Author mode, press and hold, then select Properties, you can change the script application/link and Bob is your Aunt's husband
Good work.
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lmoa, bob...
yes that is correct. I will be releasing a new version of Carbon Fiber tonight with a new system sliding doc attached to the start button instead of the start menu. this eliminates the dependency on WA3. I have also removed the "locked" page because 2 new buttons appear on the slider which can lock/turn off your screen and soft reset. A new analog vs digital clock function has been installed which makes the clock act as the TF3D clock does when you slide your finger up or down (switching from analog to digital). But look for that tonight
Excellent. I have now managed to change the order of the pages Home > Contacts > Calendar > Weather > Apps > Home which means the most used pages are a single slide left or right from the front page.
You are right about putting things down on paper otherwise it turns into a nightmare trying to work out where you are. Several times I got caught in a loop and had to use the 'home' button to get back to the desktop.
Regards
Hi,
Very nice theme !!
Gloc, how do you can for that that tips Home > Contacts > Calendar > Weather > Apps > Home ?
Best regards
alex2k5 said:
Hi,
Very nice theme !!
Gloc, how do you can for that that tips Home > Contacts > Calendar > Weather > Apps > Home ?
Best regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i believe gloc is talking about the carbon fiber theme not iphone
I realise this isn't a Desire specific question, but since my Desire will be arriving tomorrow and Leap seems to be a perfect partner for this idea, I thought I'd put it out there.
Basically I want to know if a full-screen widget could be designed and placed on one home-screen, where it would remain at all times for easy access?
At the moment, on my Dream I've not found anything like that. I know you can bring up the 6 last-used apps by holding down the Home key but that takes around 2 sec before the window comes up giving you access.
What I want is some elegant way to instantly access my browser/internet.
I have used Bar Control to add a browser short cut to my notification bar - this is slightly quicker than holding down Home. But I'd really like to use Leap.
Any ideas, guys & gals?
There's a bookmarks widget that gives you access to all of the differnet bookmarks you have saved with little thumbnails for each one.
ive never used an android phone so still playing with it to get the hang of it. will update if i find anything like it!
Mmm, what I'm really after is a browser page that will stay open on one homepage exactly as you left it. So you can go away, do something else and then return to the same place you left off. Rather than a list of bookmarks.
Ultimately, I suppose what I'm really trying to solve is the slow multitasking interaction (Home button held down). If there was an instant click into your running apps/recently used apps list, then there would be no reason (other than aesthetic) for this widget I'm asking for.
What I'd really love is for a quick double-click on Home to instantly bring up all you open apps. Perhaps this is something that can be achieved by remapping keys/buttons? It couldn't be that hard to code, could it? (Disclaimer: I've not written a line of code for 23yrs since I was 10yrs old, and trying to learn Basic!).
try using opera that might help solve this problem. I can see where your coming from with this though!
Hello
One thing make me crazy using surface. In landscape mode, I have taskbar on the left side. It give me easy access to program with thumb and it don’t use much space... but when I switch surface to portrait mode for reading or note taking, it take too much space on the left....
So here comes my solution small program that can change taskbar auto hide property based on screen rotation.
You can change if taskbar auto hide or don’t in landscape or portrait mode , and you can mark this program to start automatic on startup
Feel free to use it and share it please leave comment of what you thing about this utility and what more you want
Cool! Doesn't work on the RT though, even thoughit looks like it should (.NET, AnyCPU target). I may hook it up to a debugger for some investigation. Thank you for including the source!
I love this utility! I've actually been unsuccessfully looking for something to do exactly this for a few weeks, and I stumbled on this when I wasn't looking for it.
There's one minor issue I seem to be having with it. If I restart my computer, wait for all the programs to load up (including yours, which is set to run at startup), the program is running, but doesn't have any effect on the status of the taskbar -- the taskbar simply maintains the last state it was in before I restarted the computer: autohide or not -- it doesn't change with orientation. If I exit the program and restart it, it performs as it's supposed to.
In short whenever I restart my Surface Pro (and sometimes when waking from sleep) I have to restart the program to get it to continue working properly.
Great utility by the way!
EDIT: It doesn't fail to respond every time I start and shut down, but it seems to happen whenever I restart with the Surface Pro still in portrait mode. I just tried it with it in landscape mode and it worked fine.
Hello
Many thansk for using this utility, I
nearly forgot that i post it public. I know about this issiu and after finals i have plans to fix this but unfortunetly some problem with position senzor shows up on my surface pro ( like in this blog surfacetablethelp.com/2013/06/surface-pro-simple-device-orientation-sensor-not-working-or-disconnected.html#comment-16957 but whit no android thing )
So soon as i fix this and have woring chang. oriantation i will wok on this utility
Are you still working on it?
A nice feature would be to have the bar always on the same (physical) side of the screen.
For example to save space: Having it on the left side in portrait and as soon as the orientation changes it will now be on the bottom.
slater_g said:
Are you still working on it?
A nice feature would be to have the bar always on the same (physical) side of the screen.
For example to save space: Having it on the left side in portrait and as soon as the orientation changes it will now be on the bottom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EXACTLY what im after. please please do this.
FROM ]caffiene IN Q&A
Would someone provide this link:http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/soft...tablet-pc.html
as a reply to this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2234549
?
There are at least two people looking for solutions (as was I) and I stumbled upon the answer looking for something else. The program they are looking for sounds like Taskbar shuffler in the tabletpcreview forum. I cant post it to make these people super happy, as I don't have 10 posts. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated, and I would be super happy.
slater_g said:
Are you still working on it?
A nice feature would be to have the bar always on the same (physical) side of the screen.
For example to save space: Having it on the left side in portrait and as soon as the orientation changes it will now be on the bottom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THIS. Totally want some way to have taskbar automatically switched depending on screen orientation.
keifus.rahn said:
FROM ]caffiene IN Q&A
Would someone provide this link:http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/soft...tablet-pc.html
as a reply to this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=2234549
?
There are at least two people looking for solutions (as was I) and I stumbled upon the answer looking for something else. The program they are looking for sounds like Taskbar shuffler in the tabletpcreview forum. I cant post it to make these people super happy, as I don't have 10 posts. Your assistance would be greatly appreciated, and I would be super happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The links don't work. Does the one to tabletpcreview have a way to move the taskbar when the screen rotates?
Brent212 said:
THIS. Totally want some way to have taskbar automatically switched depending on screen orientation.
The links don't work. Does the one to tabletpcreview have a way to move the taskbar when the screen rotates?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/software/56322-apps-tablet-pc.html
Again thanks for using this utility. Orientation sensor on surface suddenly start working after ages of malfunctions so i was able to fix some bugs and add one new feature
So let me introduce v2:
-fixed bug when auto hide wasn't initialize after reboot.
-added feature to move task bar based of screen orientation.
Since changing task bar orientation isn't possible via API since windows vista, i am using some way of "bay pas". Program start task bar property windows. Switch focus on it and emulate keystrokes ( tabs for moving between options, arrows for switching orientation, enter for submit changes ) ... and i cant bele it .. it work :fingers-crossed:
So fell free to test it and post any comment and feedback
Dude, that's awesome. I haven't tested it extensively, but from brief usage, it puts the taskbar at the bottom on portrait and on the left in landscape. Exactly what I want. Thanks!
It still working in win10.. Thanks,
As a long time Android user, I (like most others) had a bit of a hard time getting used to using the Fire Phone's FireOS. Having used the OS for a couple of weeks now, it's not quite so bad once you get used to a few things and learn a few new tricks. Just wanted to start a thread for collecting these types of things that will help others making the transition to FireOS. I'm purposely omitting the fact that google play store can be side loaded whenever possible (sideloading the play store is something I highly recommend everyone with this phone do) so that I can focus on tips and tricks that actually relate to transitioning to FireOS.
Side panels Most everyone at this point is probably aware of the extra info panels that can be accessed by swiping in from the left or right edge of the screen. I have mixed feelings on this myself, as it's used well in some apps (like swiping from the right edge while typing a text message to add pictures), and not very well in other apps (and yet not at all in some apps). Additionally, it's not always obvious if an app does support this feature, or if a certain app will put these options in either the left panel, right panel, or both.
Back Button There is no back button on the Fire Phone. This was a cause of confusion at first. The back button has been replaced with a "swipe up" from the bottom of the screen to go back. This can be a bit finicky at times, but I've found that if I start a short swipe up from the top edge of the home button, it works nearly every time. Additionally, some apps seem to treat this a little differently, as from time to time I will see "back" and "menu" soft-buttons appear at the bottom of the screen when this gesture is used.
Screen Shots You can take a picture of whatever is on the screen by pressing the power and volume down buttons at the same time
App Switcher This is usually accessed on a NORMAL Android phone by long holding the home button. In FireOS, the same is accomplished by double-tapping the home button (the long hold in FireOS brings up voice search). This is the fastest way to switch between apps and gets you around having to navigate the carousel. Also, while in the app switcher, you can swipe individual apps up to kill the process AND remove them from the carousel. I like the Fire Phones implementation here much better than stock Androids. You can double-press the button very fast and this is much less disruptive to workflow while multitasking than pausing for a long press. I think Amazon implemented the switcher and action of the home button beautifully.
Home Button I initially found the behavior of the home button weird. On first press (from a running app), it will take you to the carousel. Additional presses from this point will cycle between the Carousel and the app tray.
App Tray Aside from subsequent presses of the home button, the app tray can be slid up by touching and dragging the bottom row of quick launch icons upward while in the carousel. Likewise, you can continually drag the app tray downward to eventually reach the carousel at the top. It will seem more logical if you picture in your mind that the Carousel sits at the top of the app tray.
Another App Tray annoyance is the lack of alphabetical sorting of apps. While I've found no way to do this automatically, apps can be dragged and dropped in the app tray in any order you like. Apps can either be dragged on top of eachother to create collections (folders), or dragged in between other apps for changing the sorting order. A bit of a pain initially, but pretty easy to keep up with once you get your current collection sorted initially.
Lastly, to get the most from your 4 quick launch icon slots - you can use collections (folders) there as well! This is a feature I'm really using a lot lately to make navigating and the lack of a normal launcher much easier! For example, currently I have the following 4 quick launch collections: "Communication","News","Organize" and "Media". Within the "Communication" collection, I have Phone, Contacts, Messaging, Email, Facebook, Messenger, and Snap Chat. Within the "News" collection, I have Yahoo, Silk Browser and Weather. Within "Oganize" I have Notes, Calendar, and Our Groceries. Within Media I havePhotos, Music, Prime Music, Instant Video, Plex and Netflix. Since using collections in the quick launch area, I find that I rarely ever use the app tray, as my most frequently used apps are right there, easily accessible from the Carousel.
Facebook Mesenger If you're used to using the floating chat heads, and missing them in FireOS, here is a tip. Go to messenger, and enter the settings. Navigate to "Chat heads", ensure the switch is set to "On" and that the "Hide when using apps that take up the full screen" checkbox is NOT checked. For some reason the FireOS launcher/carousel is treated like a full-screen app.
Music Fire phone comes with a "Music" app. But don't confuse this with Amazon's own "Prime Music" app - they are actually two different apps! For those that use the prime music service, do yourself a favor by installing "Prime Music" right from the Amazon App Store. Why this isn't on the phone by default is beyond me!
Cellular usage data As most of us have to keep tabs on our data usage, I find this to be a nice built-in feature (though not the easiest to find). You can set your monthly limit and view current usage under "Settings->Wi-Fi & Networks->See your cellular data usage"
Carousel I'm not a huge fan of the carousel, though I'm finally starting to adapt to it.
EDIT: I'm starting to become a huge fan of the carousel. It has forced me to become organized, and the ability to do simple actions (delete emails for example) without opening an app is just awesome once you get used to it.
There is one cool feature, and that's "pin to front". You can make any number of apps appear at the beginning of the carousel by long-pressing and selecting "pin to front". This has limited utility, as this is only efficient for pinning a few frequently used apps to the front of the list, but still useful once you start using it.
Also, the dragging and dropping apps from the app tray works to replace the default quick launch apps that appear at the bottom of the carousel.
For non-app items (books, music, etc) that appear in the carousel, long-pressing will reveal an addition option of "Pin to app grid", which will pin the book/music/whatever into the app grid for easy access just as if it were an app.
For Pinned items, you can reorder them kind of crudely with a long press and using the "Move to front" option
Status Bar By default, the status bar auto-hides. You set it to always be visible in Settings->Display
Lock Screen This actually has a very little-knows and very cool feature called a "Locket". This allows you to add a number of photos that can easily be accessed from the lock screen. The utility of this isn't immediately obvious, so consider this scenario:
You bump into an old friend in the mall and they ask how your family is doing. Instead of pulling out your phone, getting to the app tray, pulling up the "Photos" app and searching for pictures to show - you can use the locket feature to do this much more efficiently.
To setup and/or access the photo locket feature, from the lock screen, simply swipe from right to left (instead of swiping up to unlock). This enters the photo locket, where you can add more photos, or swipe left and right to view the collection of photos in your locket. It's actually a really neat feature and has some real utility (I can't count how many times I've had to fumble through navigating through my entire photo collection to show pictures of my kids to someone I haven't seen in a while. This really makes it easy)
Silk Browser Another thing I'm not very keen on - though if you plan on using stock FireOS, learning to properly use the app will help.
EDIT: Ok, the browser is growing on me now.
It can be a bit confusing since there is a menu button in the upper-right hand corner, a different menu in the left panel (accessed by swiping in from the left edge of the screen), and other options such as tab switching that are only visible at the bottom of the screen only at certain times. I'll try to detail some of the common functions here:
Bookmarking pages Bring up the page you want to bookmark, then use the menu button in the upper-right hand corner to add the bookmark
Desktop View Use the menu button in the upper right-hand corner and navigate to "Request another view", which will allow you to select the desktop view
Clearing browsing history Access the menu in the left panel, and go to settings, then "Your Data" -> "Clear Browser Data". From here you can clear just history, or anything else such as cookies, etc. You can also clear sites from the history list one at a time by using the left panel menu->History and long pressing the entries you wish to delete.
Tab Management This took me quite some time to figure out. Sometimes I would notice the tab switcher at the bottom of the browser, other times I wouldn't. To make these tab controls visible again, simply start scrolling the current web page back towards the top of the page and the tab controls will appear.
Private Browsing Mode This keeps websites from saving to your history, saving cookies, etc. Like other options, it's not easy to find in the Silk browser. To go into private browsing mode, use the Tab Management above to enter the list of tabs. On this screen you will find the option for private browsing.
Offline Reading One interesting feature that is useful (but poorly implemented) is "Reading Lists", which stories/web pages for offline reading. It's confusing, because you use one menu system to save to the reading list, and yet another menu to access the saved items. To save a page for later viewing, use the menu button in the upper right-hand corner and choose "Save to Reading List". To access the actual reading list to either read, or remove items, use the left panel menu->"Reading List"
Default Search Engine The search engine can be changed from the default (Bing) to either Google or Yahoo by going to the left panel->Settings->Search Engine
Cloud Photos Prime members get unlimited storage for backing up photos. Unfortunately, it's poorly implemented in FireOS and ONLY allows for automatic uploading of ALL new photos at this time. But what if you want to be able to specifically select only the photos you want stored on the cloud? Unfortunately in stock FireOS this isn't yet possible. However, if you have installed the Google Play Store or are familiar with side loading, look for the "Amazon Cloud Drive Photos" app - which oddly enough is published by Amazon for general Android devices, but not available to their own Fire Phone via their own App Store. At any rate, this is how to get around the limitation of the default implementation.
I'd love to hear tips from others and continue learning to use FireOS more efficiently. The tips I outlined above have made this a very usable OS for me, even though I flat out hated it at first. I'll try to keep up adding tips and tricks from others to this master list.
Edited the first post a bit. FireOS is really starting to grow on me and I'm actually more productive now on my Fire Phone than I was on my Galaxy Note II. Amazon still has some work to do on FireOS - but once you get the hang of it its a nice efficient OS
Found another tip. I'll add it here and to the original post:
For non-app items (books, music, etc) that appear in the carousel, long-pressing will reveal an addition option of "Pin to app grid", which will pin the book/music/whatever into the app grid for easy access just as if it were an app.
Thanks. Your tips made a real night and day difference between using Fire phone.
jondecker76 said:
Found another tip. I'll add it here and to the original post:
For non-app items (books, music, etc) that appear in the carousel, long-pressing will reveal an addition option of "Pin to app grid", which will pin the book/music/whatever into the app grid for easy access just as if it were an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks JonDecker. Your tips made a difference of actually liking and using Fire phone. Couldn't find such information anywhere else.
Not a problem
After being with the phone for quite some time now, I actually cringe when I have to use my wife's LG G2 for anything. Once you learn a how to use FireOS , it's really pretty good!
Good stuff!!! I personally think that the interface is not that bad... and it is very smooth and quick... i like the phone. No tricks from me at the moment but i will share if i found any ?
Sent from my SD4930UR using XDA Free mobile app
If you have NFC turned on and tap it against your PC (with NFC as well) you can share the whats currently on your phones screen. I found this by accident. The screen shot pop's up in your pc's browser.
Increasing Battery Life
I have found that disabling Dynamic Perspective increases the duration of my phone charge significantly. This can be done by going to Settings (swipe from top) > Display > Configure low motion settings > Dynamic Perspecitve.
I'm glad to see a thread dedicated to this. I'd like to share a review I wrote on this phone a while ago as I feel it adds to the already terrific thread topic.
Below, in no particular order, is a list of things I hated out of the box. Following will be my feelings, along with tips & tricks, on the same items.
1. The Home Screen - I didn't like how the apps were randomly scattered on the home screen. It was difficult for me find what I was looking for.
2. No Google Play Store - I understand the logic behind this from a business prospective. However, from a consumer prospective, there are apps I use on a daily basis that were not available in the Amazon App Store. As bad as this sounds, it means I'd have to change my life style to accommodate this device. One thing that kind of floored me on this is that Google doesn't block the Amazon App store on their OS.
3. The grid - It scrolls up and down, where I've been used to scrolling left to right. Also, there is no way to easily sort the applications by alphabetical order. It simply displays them as they are installed.
4. The lack of soft keys - I've been accustomed to soft keys to open the menu, go home, view recently used apps, and to go back.
5. Notifications - The notification bar doesn't keep a log of icons of notifications. For example, if I get a KIK message it drops down, previews it, and vanished. Unless I open up the notification panel there is nothing to remind you of this. This bothers me as I often don't review them straight away and forget it even happened.
6. Keyboard - There is absolutely no way to install another keyboard. I've been a long time user of Swift Key and I keep find myself hitting the period instead of the space bar.
Due to the above I decided to try to make the phone a bit more what I'm used to. This was easy as I simply had to side load a few apps. This mainly included the apps that were not in the Amazon App Store along with a launcher to replace the Amazon Home screen. After installing several launchers I found one that I was happy with as it permitted me to use custom Widgets. I used it this way for a week or so and was happy to have my old Style back.
Now that I didn't feel held back, or limited by the device, I wanted to give it a go on how it was intended to be used. I changed my default home launcher to the Fire OS launcher. After using it a bit, and exploring it, it's my default launcher with no plans of going back to the standard Android Launcher! Below are the same 6 items listed above, but including how I feel about them now. It will also include what I consider to be tips & tricks, things I wish I knew out of the box.
1. The Home Screen - The use of Dynamic Perspective to access menus is amazing! The apps that are created for this OS have beautiful home screen widgets that I'm not sure I could go with out now. I love the fact I can read SMS messages on the home screen, emails on the home screen, a flip of the wrist shows me the current weather, my upcoming appointment and reminders, and much more. Although there is no easy way to change the apps listed, you can pin apps to the front. So simply pin the app that you want listed last first, and the first app last. This will put them in the order that you'd like.
2. No Google Play Store - As others have mentioned, installing the Google Play Store is very simply on this device. There is no downgrading required. Simply side load a few APK files. I won't go into detail on this as it can be found in a lot of other places.
3. The grid - I don't mind scrolling up and down now. It's second nature now. However, you still can not sort the apps. You must go through the tedious process of moving them one at a time by clicking and dragging it. I did this so they are sorted alphabetically. If I install a new app I now simply drag it where I feel it should be.
4. The lack of soft keys - I'm so used to swiping up now it's odd to use a traditional Android phone's back button! The physical home button works fine, especiall8y now that I discovered the "Quick Switch" menu by double pressing the home key.
5. Notifications - I've toggled all the options regarding notifications in the settings. My original complaint still exists. This was a HUGE set back for me with this device. Luckily, with a lot of trial and error, I found an app that works well for me. It's call NotifierPro Free. I configured it so a bar drops down and stays under the status bar. I also configured it so these notifications remain until I swipe them away. This has been a HUGE help in allowing me to adapt to this device.
6. Keyboard - There is still no way to change the default keyboard, even after side loading one. Amazon told me they made an update to their Kindles which allows the use of changing keyboard applications, so there will be an update that allows the Fire Phone to do the same.
Tips & Tricks / Q & A
1. Switching between running apps quickly.
- To do this simply press the home button twice quickly. You will be presented with a menu called "Quick Switch" where your most recently used apps can be found.
2. How do I quit apps that I'm not using at the moment to extend battery life and free resources?
- If you double click the home button to access the "Quick Switch" menu you can swipe up which will close the app, remove it from the quick switch menu, along with removing it from the cluttered home carousel.
3. Can I group applications together?
- Yes you can! Inside the home menu click and drag an application over another. It will ask you to give the new collection a name and they are then in a group. This is a great way to keep things together and sorted. You can also drag these "collections" into the home screen dock.
4. Any tips for the Camera?
- Yes! I've read about this "best shot" feature, but it didn't seem to do anything for me once I enable it. However, which viewing the photos you already have taken you will have a "best shot" option you can click on. This will show you the 3 photos the camera took, allowing you to select the one that you like the best.
- Burst Feature - The Amazon pages states you can click and hold the camera button to take a burst of photos. This doesn't work for me as it opens up Fire Fly. However, if you press and hold the soft key this feature works.
5. Amazon App Store or Google Play Store?
- I suggest you use the App from the Amazon App Store if available. Some of these apps are created specifically for the Fire Phone and give home screen widgets that the standard app does not support. For example, if you install KIK from the Amazon App Store it allows you to read messages on your home screen, where if you install it from the Play Store it does not.
6. Is the battery really as bad as people say?
- Maybe originally prior to the newest update. The newest update bring out amazing battery life, compared to my old phone at least. I can easily get through an entire day on a single charge. This is under moderate use such as messaging, emailing, browsing eBay, the web, and normal app use. I do not use the device to watch movies or television shows.
As I continue finding things about this phone that I feel are worth mentioning, I'll be sure to update this review. Outside of that, if you have bought this device but initially installed the Google Home Launcher, I strongly suggest you open your mind and give the Amazon Home Launcher a shot. It's truly amazing.
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
ractar28 said:
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if it's against any site rules, so I'll PM you.
---------- Post added at 05:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:40 AM ----------
ractar28 said:
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apologies, and thanks for pointing this out. I had the app name wrong. It's actually NotifierPro Free!
Look at alternative markets or use a website to remotely download apks from the google appstore.
I have 1mobile market installed on my phone and it has it and it works.
Btw. Go Launcher Ex + Go Notifier works for notification badges (unread count at the app icon) and all widgets (you have to pull them onto the screen after every restart though) but has not wallpapers.
I use it, since I disliked the huge bar that Notifier used.
Now it almost feels like normal Android, I just wish I could deactivate the standard lockscreen... I already tried a lot of stuff via ADB, but I guess it needs root for it.
Since I do not want to root my phone as long as there is not notification bar like in stock android, I am fine now.
ractar28 said:
Can you post a link to "notification pro free"? I can't find it in the amazon store and my google-fu is failing me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like having found this thread, I had my fire phone for about a month now and I still can't get used to not having the back and menu soft buttons. Otherwise I do like the phone quite a bit and that is having to use it along with my Galaxy Note 3 work phone.
Hello xda
is there any way to have the navigation bar like the old galaxy tabs, that can orient with screen rotation in all 4side of the screen???????
You know its difficult to use the home,back and recent apps button in only one aide of the screen, and the back button allways disappear in the dark
But if its gonna have the software navigation bar, it will be so much easier to work with. ...,
also i used some app that provides the same nav bar , but it come over the screen and some button hide behind it....,
Thanx alot guys
Try using: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2270198
I have used it for a long time now, and I cannot live without it at this point. I love it because it not only follows orientation, but it can auto-hide too. Also, once you have that all squared away there's a tutorial on here somewhere that will show you how to (just by editing your build prop file) disable the hardware buttons all together.
Then, (also on here) there's an app that allows you to totally disable touch iput, except the Spen. Not that you are interested, but oust thought I would share how I have mine setup. Good luck!
samandhi said:
Try using: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2270198
I have used it for a long time now, and I cannot live without it at this point. I love it because it not only follows orientation, but it can auto-hide too. Also, once you have that all squared away there's a tutorial on here somewhere that will show you how to (just by editing your build prop file) disable the hardware buttons all together.
Then, (also on here) there's an app that allows you to totally disable touch iput, except the Spen. Not that you are interested, but oust thought I would share how I have mine setup. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
thanx alot
its awesome,
ive already tried so many apps, but this one is great
Thanx for ur help bro