Develop Bugs

Not impressed

I've just upgraded to a Desire coming from a Touch HD (Dutty Holy Grail) and have to say that first impressions are not great. Seriously thinking about returning it but interested to hear other people's experience.
So far moaning about the following problems - well more inconveniences:
- keyboard too jumpy
- can't call contact directly from email
- no hardware button to end call - pain when leave a voice message as need to turn phone on, unlock it and then end call.
- double syncs everything (on exchange server) so that appointment entries appear twice in calendar
- the home screen apps are kind of useless as you basically need to launch the full app to be able to do anything (ie email or sms)
- sms messaging doesn't tell you how many letters you have left
- no messaging in facebook
- headphone volume quiet (and that's with in ear headphones where on my HD I had the volume set to 1!)
- battery life atrocious in comparison. charged my phone last night and had a full charge before going to bed and when I woke up it was at 30%. no wifi or bluetooth on.
Will persevere another few days to make sure that I'm not just a grumpy old fart who hates change....

Take it back then. And my sms shows how many letter i have left.

I'll answer some of your points because a few are valid.
Could you elaborate on calling from emails? You mean the phone picking up that you have a number stored for a contact and allowing you to dial them? I've tried this and it works. You need to be using the HTC mail client, not the Gmail one.
"no hardware button to end call - pain when leave a voice message as need to turn phone on, unlock it and then end call."
I couldn't reproduce this use case at all. Your screen locks while you're in a call? A SHORT call too? Or are you just positing a use case you THINK could happen? The screen goes blank when you raise it to your ear and turns back on when you take it away...what you describe can't happen.
If you've got double syncing then there's a configuration error. Elaborate. How did you set it up? Are you syncing with your work email or a webmail account?
The home screen "apps" are not apps, they're widgets, and function like every other widget I've ever seen, they just give info and limited functions. You wanted to send email FROM a widget?!
"sms messaging doesn't tell you how many letters you have left"
Mostly because text limits have all but disappeared. Does your provider still cap you? You should get a new provider.
Your device is still new...you need a few charging cycles to get the battery at full potential.
The other issues are pretty spot on...the keyboard I'm used to now though. Trust the predictive text.

Maxwell Smart said:
- can't call contact directly from email
- no hardware button to end call - pain when leave a voice message as need to turn phone on, unlock it and then end call.
- sms messaging doesn't tell you how many letters you have left
- no messaging in facebook
- headphone volume quiet (and that's with in ear headphones where on my HD I had the volume set to 1!)
- battery life atrocious in comparison. charged my phone last night and had a full charge before going to bed and when I woke up it was at 30%. no wifi or bluetooth on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I have never seen that feature before. Would definitely be handy.
2. That annoys me too, but I guess it's just a matter of getting used to it.
3. Use a replacement SMS app. Handcent is my favorite.
4. Blame Facebook for that. They won't allow it, even in their official app which is stupid.
5. Strange, I have the impression that the headphone volume is quite loud.
6. You might have an application running in the background which is draining the battery and keeping the phone awake. See related threads in this forum for more info.

keyboard - Like all keyboards, it takes time to get used to. Trust the autocomplete feature and you'll be surprised. Best soft keyboard I've ever used.
Yes, you can call directly from email. Just tap the sender and their contact card will open which includes the option to call them.
No hardware call buttons - It's an inconvenience but you knew they weren't there before you bought it.
Exchange sync issue - Maybe something with your settings? I have it synced with Google's Exchange server with no problems.
Widgets - Yes, I share your opinion on many of the widgets. You might as well just launch the main application. They are pretty to look at though...
SMS - Perhaps download a 3rd party SMS application?
Facebook - no comment. I don't use it.
Headphone volume - I read here that some carriers limit the max volume on their devices. Perhaps they did that to yours? My device's max volume is pretty deafening.
Battery life - If you read reviews, you'll know that battery life is not impressive. But do give it several charge cycles and sync your data as conservatively as possible. You might find the battery life to be acceptable.

ephumuris said:
Take it back then. And my sms shows how many letter i have left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OUCH! Headshot! Be gentle it;s a new device ...
... Ok moving on ...
Actually don't worry been beaten ...

Like I said, the keyboard issue is just that you will need time to get used to it.
If you have a contact saved with a number and email and they send you mail, you will see their picture in the corner...tap it. You will get a speech bubble type box pop up that has the option to phone them, send them a message (text or email) or go to their contact card. Make sure you've merged your contacts. It won't work if you have a separate contact card for their phone details and then another for their email.
Again...is SMS length an issue still for people? I've not thought about those arbitrary 140 character limits since my first Motorola Wings flip phone.

Compared to my HD2 the Desire's keyboard is a DREAM to use - HD2 was skitty as hell and all over the shop. Desire's never misses a key and can type a LOT quicker on it personally...
Never bothered to know number of characters left in an SMS, doesn't bother me
Battery life, with all sync options on default, is about 48hrs give or take an hour...
Double sync IS annoying but I don't sync with Google anymore so got rid of that...
Facebook app, don't care about messaging as my phone is to keep up-to-date, PC is to contact...
Not bothered about hardware key for end call, call ends when you press the BIG red button at the end of a call (don't need to unlock or anything first)
Headphones - don't use them as phone isn't a music player to me, it's a phone

1. Get used to it, you will be fine. I moved from HTC Kaiser with hardware keyboard and I found the HTC Desire virtual keyboard is very good and responsive.
2. No idea, but as several posts above, you actually can do it.
3. You should know this already before purchase.
4. No idea
5. Widget is nice, this is unique to Android. You dont have to use it if you dont like. Then put app shortcut in the home screen, typical winmo thingy.
6. Use other messaging client like Hancent
7. Blame Facebook Or use Nimbuzz / Fring!
8. Check your settings, my battery life is amazing, on moderate usage it could last more than 48 hours (this include several hours (2-3) a day browsing on WiFi and gaming).
Maxwell Smart said:
I've just upgraded to a Desire coming from a Touch HD (Dutty Holy Grail) and have to say that first impressions are not great. Seriously thinking about returning it but interested to hear other people's experience.
So far moaning about the following problems - well more inconveniences:
- keyboard too jumpy
- can't call contact directly from email
- no hardware button to end call - pain when leave a voice message as need to turn phone on, unlock it and then end call.
- double syncs everything (on exchange server) so that appointment entries appear twice in calendar
- the home screen apps are kind of useless as you basically need to launch the full app to be able to do anything (ie email or sms)
- sms messaging doesn't tell you how many letters you have left
- no messaging in facebook
- headphone volume quiet (and that's with in ear headphones where on my HD I had the volume set to 1!)
- battery life atrocious in comparison. charged my phone last night and had a full charge before going to bed and when I woke up it was at 30%. no wifi or bluetooth on.
Will persevere another few days to make sure that I'm not just a grumpy old fart who hates change....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

RE: battery life
I charged mine to 100% last night, took it off charge at 1am, woke up at 8:20 am, checked my phone....98% !!
i use Juice Defender (one of my settings is to disable Apn/Wifi from midnight till 8am, works well

Thanks for the comments. Proves I'm a grumpy old fart! lol
Some good replies which I will investigate further.
Aitese - your comment about the screen going black and then turning back on when you remove it from your ear... is there a light sensor setting? as mine stays black until i tap power button unless i am talking to an actual person (rather than machine) and they hang up first.
Syncing is being done with a Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. But I think I may have just solved issue as it appears to sync both with my laptop and the server without realising they are showing the same appointments. Just too used to MS ActiveSync which works it out.
The keyboard is still bugging me - have tried to train it using the calibrate option but still seems off. That is the top row of keys that I push match up but when i go to the second last row it always hits the last row which being space and punctuation tends to terminate the word.
Anyhow will persevere. Appreciate everyone indulging a grumpy old codger...

great tip thanks - will look for that app.

Maxwell Smart said:
Aitese - your comment about the screen going black and then turning back on when you remove it from your ear... is there a light sensor setting? as mine stays black until i tap power button unless i am talking to an actual person (rather than machine) and they hang up first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you hold the phone under a bright light you'll see the sensors in the top left corner of the black bezel. To test it, make a call and then move your thumb over the top left corner and then away again...the screen should turn off when your thumb gets near and turn back on shortly after you move away. Call your voicemail box or customer service

For sms use handcent its brill and it gives you letter count.For facebook i use babbler as it gives you notification for inbox.

Maxwell Smart said:
The keyboard is still bugging me - have tried to train it using the calibrate option but still seems off. That is the top row of keys that I push match up but when i go to the second last row it always hits the last row which being space and punctuation tends to terminate the word.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BetterKeyboard plus the accompanying DarkGray theme is by far the best Android keyboard out there. HTC_IME (i.e. the HTC keyboard you're hating on) seems to be well thought of in the community but I personally hate it and think BetterKeyboard wipes the floor with it.

A few thoughts
- I just want to add a few thing giving that I also came from an HD. Compared to the HD which only had a light sensor, the Desire also comes with a proximity sensor that monitors if you have your ear close to the phone regardless of light (on the HD the screen only turned off if it was day and it could actually sense a difference in light).
If you make a call and put your phone to your ear it turns the screen off WITHOUT locking it, and when you want to terminate a call by taking it from your ear it will turn on again but not locked.
The phone locks itself only it you don't activate the proximity sensor (like when you are using a bluetooth headset and you don't take to phone to your ear). When that happenes the screen turns off after 15 seconds and yes, if you turn it on then it will be locked.
- Why do you want a hardware button for call and end? The capacitive screen with the combination of the proximity sensor makes them useless?
-Another thing i can chip in is related to the sms thing. The default SMS app shows you the number of characters left and the number of messages already typed when you are nearing the end of a message.
It shows that above the send button. If you have less the 10 characters available in that message it'll show 10/1 above the send button, and it will decrease and then turn into 145/2 saying that you have 145 characters left untill reaching 2 messages. After that it'll stay on and counting without dissapearing, until you send the message.
I find this to be a goog feature because it only warns me if i exceed one SMS.

I have used it for 2 days, and I am out of space installing apps on the HTC desire. WTF.. it can't use the 16 gig memory card to install apps and games?
There is no way I'm going to Win MO again.. but seriously.. WTF.

Maxwell Smart said:
- can't call contact directly from email
no issue here
- no hardware button to end call - pain when leave a voice message as need to turn phone on, unlock it and then end call.
as soon as you remove handset from ear it unlocks itself and turns on monitor. whats the prob here?
- double syncs everything (on exchange server) so that appointment entries appear twice in calendar
nope, no prob here
- the home screen apps are kind of useless as you basically need to launch the full app to be able to do anything (ie email or sms)
disable them if you dont like them. i find them handy
- battery life atrocious in comparison. charged my phone last night and had a full charge before going to bed and when I woke up it was at 30%. no wifi or bluetooth on.
read forum - thats you device not the desire in general
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
see comments above.
none of these probs appear to be desire probs but rather strange layer 8 probs

Yeah the keyboard issue is due to the resistive v capacitive screens. The resistive screens need a good push, the capacitive ones need a slight touch. You get used to it.

for facebook, a new version is downloadable which give access to your INBOX.. which is what i assume was meant?

disable message, screen illumination, download full email

Hello, everyone;
I've got a TP2 on WinMo 6.5 Pro, and would like to modify it a wee bit to do the following.
First, the signal lost, call dropped window that pops up. I'm an over the road truck driver, and this happens alot in the mountains. Is there any way to disable this silly message?
Second, the backlight always comes on whenever it looses/regains a signal. This is an extreme annoyance, bordering on dangerous, situation when driving at night and I am constantly distracted by the sudden glow from the screen. Can this be disabled?
Finally, emails. Is there a setting that will force the entire email to download, doing away with the tap-here-to-download-entire-message thing?
Much appreciated, everyone, and best wishes for a great day!
Fred

Not sure on 1 or 2, sorry. For 3:
-Launch the inbox (Microsoft version, not Sense). Scroll to Email tab and tap Inbox
-Menu --> Tools --> Options
-Tap on the account
-Tap on "Download Size Settings"
-Message download limit dropdown --> Entire Message
-Download Attachments dropdown --> All attachments
Edit: Not really a solution for the second issue, but if you turn on the "Automatically adjust backlight" feature it won't be quite so bright when it does turn on. Start --> Settings --> System --> Power. Check "Automatically adjust backlight".

Perfect! Issue 3 solved. Thanks, bud.
Anyone for the other two?

entire message
From the inbox of an email account - tap the soft button to the right of the keyboard one (menu?). tap on tools then options - tap on the account you wish to modify. You should see an option for Download Size Settings - select "entire message from the bottom drop down menu then click done.
If you are going through an Exchange Server then run the Activesync app on the phone. Click menu then options. Hightlight "email" then tap on settings. Change the download size limit to "entire message" and ok your way out.
I can't help with the other issues as I am new to this phone too.
Ok. Someone beat me to it.

No worries, mate, thanks for chiming in. You did illuminate another method, and thankfully you two have solved one annoying issue. The others will require entering the registery, I'm sure.
Thanks!

IH8Q8 said:
Hello, everyone;
I've got a TP2 on WinMo 6.5 Pro, and would like to modify it a wee bit to do the following.
First, the signal lost, call dropped window that pops up. I'm an over the road truck driver, and this happens alot in the mountains. Is there any way to disable this silly message?
Second, the backlight always comes on whenever it looses/regains a signal. This is an extreme annoyance, bordering on dangerous, situation when driving at night and I am constantly distracted by the sudden glow from the screen. Can this be disabled?
Finally, emails. Is there a setting that will force the entire email to download, doing away with the tap-here-to-download-entire-message thing?
Much appreciated, everyone, and best wishes for a great day!
Fred
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the Email Issue, go to the inbox, tap and hold to bring up the context menu, select Tools / Options, and you can modify the download settings.

settings\sounds and notifications\ notifications tab... in there you can change what different 'events' do.
If there is a setting in your phone for what you want it will be in there.. if not It's likely a registry change you need to do. That I cant help you with as I wouldn't know what you need to change specifically.

Things I miss about my iPhone and BB...

...or maybe I'm too much of a noob to know how to do it in Android.
I'm on NardRom 0.2...
ALL NOTIFICATIONS: The BB had this screen which gave you a full history of every action, whether its an SMS you've received, an email you've sent, an app you've installed. It's a one page with everything (and its not threaded). In the Android notification screen, you see that you've gotten 6 emails, but it does not show them separately. Also, it does not show emails that you have sent.
MAGNIFYING GLASS: In the iOS when you have typed a word, you can hold down the screen and wait for the magnifying glass that helps you move exactly to the letter you want to change.
RECONFIGURE BUTTONS: The hard buttons (capacative I think they're called). I want to configure them for when I press them once as well as holding them down.
CLEAR FIELD: In the BB, you can just click on a field and then clear it all out.
LOCK: The screen locks itself and you have to do a bit of a drag to unlock. This can get tedious. I get the need for the pattern security feature but its probably not necessary to drag unlock every time I switch on the phone.
TAP TO TOP: On the iPhone, you can click the time status bar on the top and it scrolls all the way to the top of the page.
If you now of an alternate way to do this, it would be really great to know!

carpediem said:
MAGNIFYING GLASS: In the iOS when you have typed a word, you can hold down the screen and wait for the magnifying glass that helps you move exactly to the letter you want to change.
CLEAR FIELD: In the BB, you can just click on a field and then clear it all out.
LOCK: The screen locks itself and you have to do a bit of a drag to unlock. This can get tedious. I get the need for the pattern security feature but its probably not necessary to drag unlock every time I switch on the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of the magnifying glass, we have a little blue handle. Tap roughly where you want the cursor and it should show up below the text, and you can drag it wherever you want it. I attached a pic to clarify. To clear a text field, you can always long-press it and cut the text, though that's not the best solution it certainly beats holding backspace.
You can change the lock screen to be a simple slide to unlock, similar to the iphone, or even no unlock screen, where tapping the power button unlocks the device. It's in settings > security > screen lock. Additionally, if you're using the phone and the screen turns off while your reading something, if you tap the power button relatively quickly, it will unlock without any unlock screen.

You do realize that the little magnifying glass and tap to top would certainly cause moar patent trolling from apple, right?
Also, I'm pretty sure you can get detailed notifications on Android too, but there must be a reason no one has come up with it just yet. My guess: it's because we're OK with our notifications as they are.

On ics I see my emails separately on the notification screen.
Sent from my SGH-I927 using xda app-developers app

I miss having to ssh files onto my iPhone because I couldn't mount it as a drive
I miss having to trick my iPhone into accepting custom notification tones
I miss having to bend over backwards to hack a single neutered widget onto my homescreen
I miss having to spawn a billion blank icons to arrange my icons the way I wanted them (I.e. not upper left justified)
I miss having to go to a centralized settings app to change app settings
There's probably more. I just miss my iPhone 3G so darn much.

carpediem said:
ALL NOTIFICATIONS: The BB had this screen which gave you a full history of every action, whether its an SMS you've received, an email you've sent, an app you've installed. It's a one page with everything (and its not threaded). In the Android notification screen, you see that you've gotten 6 emails, but it does not show them separately. Also, it does not show emails that you have sent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming you're using the gmail app, open it up, click menu > settings. Go to your account, Ringtone & Vibrate, and uncheck the notify once box. Back out one menu, go to Manage labels. Click on each label you want to receive individual email notifications for, and uncheck the notify once box there as well. You'll now have individual notifications for every email, instead of just a counter when you have more than one.
You can also set Sent mails to sync here, however it won't show them as notifications as sent mails are automatically marked as read. Still, this means if you don't have a data connection you can browse through all of your recent sent mails. If you're frequently without data and need to view previous mails, change the number of days to sync to something larger than the default, which I believe is 3 day. I use 30 days, personally.
I don't use the other email app for non-gmail, but I'd assume it would have a similar setting for notifications. It's not a complete notification history, but sounds like it's one step closer to what you want for your email.

three small pleasant surprises

Three features I wasn't expecting are especially nice improvements over my previous phone:
(1) A setting that blocks all calls or messages from people not on my contact list.
(2) A setting that keeps the phone on as long as it sees me looking at it.
(3) The ability to take a photo via a voice command.

Gary02468
Its an awsome phone and its great you want to share your discovery with us. However it would be even better if you can add some value to your thread you have created by elaborating on how thiese features are great , how to turn them on and off , and or make a list to help newcomers find little usefull features like thies on there new awsome phone. Think of these members who would search for a post like this one and how it could help them.
Thanks in anycase.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 2

1) I could be totally wrong, as it's been about a month since I last held the original Note, but I could have sworn I distinctly remember this feature in the original Note. I remember remarking to myself how convenient it was, but I never used it because I had a third party app that did the same thing.
2) Smart Stay was a feature I was really looking forward to from the S III. I can't tell you how many times I've been reading a long article online or something else, and the screen dimmed or turned off because it had no clue I was still actively using the phone. Smart Stay has effectively eliminated this, and it has worked really well for me.
3) This feature I have only heard about ONCE, and that was while watching a YouTube video someone had done on the Note II. I was very impressed and it's another feature I have longed for. I've tried it out and it works flawlessly.
I'd also go on to add there are many more features I find convenient. Quick Glance is a convenient little gem that I've heard no one mention in the dozens of reviews I've seen about the Note II. I found it by just going through every part of my phones' settings. When your screen is off, quick glance will cut on your screen for a couple of seconds, and display a large clock with the date, email count, text count, and missed calls count. This is activated by hovering your hand, briefly, over the phones light sensor. It comes in extremely hand during the night when I want to quickly roll over, check the time, and roll back over to sleep. No more trying to find the phone ... finding the button to turn the screen on ... then turning the screen off again. Everything is hands-free. A beautiful little aurora borealis-type animation happens in the background while quick glance is active. The majority of the screen stays black so it's not bothersome.
Another favorite feature of mine is Direct Call. It essentially calls whatever contact whose information is currently being displayed on your screen from your contacts list. So instead of having to pull up, John Doe in your contact ... then select what number of his you want to dial (assuming he has multiple numbers) ... then pushing the "call" button to execute the call... all you have to do is have John Doe's contact info pulled up and put the phone to your face as if you were about to talk on a call, and Direct Call will automatically dial the first number assigned to that contact or whatever the default number is. I've found this feature GREATLY appreciated.
I'm so happy with my new toy. So many cool features that are actually beneficial.

Cab121 said:
it would be even better if you can add some value to your thread you have created by elaborating on how thiese features are great , how to turn them on and off , and or make a list to help newcomers find little usefull features like thies on there new awsome phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, sure. All three features can be found just by browsing through the phone's settings (or the User Manual). Blocking Mode is listed under the device's top-level Settings; the screen-stay face-detection is under the device's Settings|Display; and the camera's viewfinder screen explains the voice-command feature when that feature is enabled (which I think it was by default; it can be toggled in the camera's top-level Settings).

Dr. Evo said:
I could have sworn I distinctly remember [Blocking Mode] in the original Note.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could well be. My previous phone was an Infuse, not a Note 1. So the feature was new to me, if not to the world.

3) i did not know this... found it and tested it out. pretty cool

Scythe024 said:
3) i did not know this... found it and tested it out. pretty cool
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I did not know this feature on the camera. Nice!

(1) A setting that blocks all calls or messages from people not on my contact list.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blocking Mode is listed under the device's top-level Settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I wasn't aware Blocking mode could be used like this.
I'm guessing I would set it to "Disable Incoming Calls" "Always" "Allowed contacts > All contacts".
Does that sound right?

daveschz said:
Hmm I wasn't aware Blocking mode could be used like this.
I'm guessing I would set it to "Disable Incoming Calls" "Always" "Allowed contacts > All contacts".
Does that sound right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.
Unrecognized callers can still leave you voice mails. If you use Google Voice for voice mail, then you can spam-filter those; and even for messages that don't get filtered, you only have to glance at the transcriptions for a second, instead of taking time to listen to the messages, if you want to see if any are legit.

Dr. Evo said:
When your screen is off, quick glance will cut on your screen for a couple of seconds, and display a large clock with the date, email count, text count, and missed calls count. This is activated by hovering your hand, briefly, over the phone[']s light sensor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like that feature too, except that there's a five-second delay before the screen responds to the gesture, which makes it quicker just to press the power button.
Do you get that delay as well?

Gary02468 said:
I like that feature too, except that there's a five-second delay before the screen responds to the gesture, which makes it quicker just to press the power button.
Do you get that delay as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, this is a great idea for a feature. But, I have some reservations. First - battery life, you can tell the prox sensor is on, and lights up red when the screen is off. Second - speed, I find it faster when the device is flat to just press the home key, all the same info is on the lock screen, and it wakes and goes back to sleep faster if anything.
Sent from my Note II

Direct Dial
Actually, you can specify which number is the default dialed by this feature:
Touch and hold the phone number you want set to default. After a second or so delay, a menu appears, and "set default" is the last item in that menu.
Dr. Evo said:
1) Another favorite feature of mine is Direct Call. It essentially calls whatever contact whose information is currently being displayed on your screen from your contacts list. So instead of having to pull up, John Doe in your contact ... then select what number of his you want to dial (assuming he has multiple numbers) ... then pushing the "call" button to execute the call... all you have to do is have John Doe's contact info pulled up and put the phone to your face as if you were about to talk on a call, and Direct Call will automatically dial the first number assigned to that contact or whatever the default number is. I've found this feature GREATLY appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

[Guide] A simple list of easy Quality-of-Life changes for your XZ1C!

Hey everyone! I just got an XZ1C myself a few days ago, and I'd like to share a few of the little quality of life changes I personally use to make the everyday experience with this phone more to how I like it. I figured maybe everyone could contribute a few ideas here and there to help other users deal with things they might be frustrated with, but not know a solution for.
A couple of notes - I gave up the root life a while ago, so all of these solutions are non-root! Also, some of these apps are paid apps (though they might have lite or free versions). Sorry! But as a software developer myself, I have the obligation to pay it forward when I find a nice app.
So here goes!
Making the volume keys default to Media Volume:
Having owned a Samsung phone before, this is one of the things I miss most in almost any other Android phone. But, as they say, there's an app for that! There's a very simple app called Media Volume Only (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=catchpower.gogo.mediavolumeonly&hl=en), which binds your volume keys to Media by default. It asks for Call permissions to see if you're in a call, where it will then bind the volume keys to call volume. Otherwise, it will always be Media, which is great!
However, that means there isn't a super easy way to changing your ring volume, unless you first press the volume key to bring up the sliders and hitting the down arrow to show the rest of the sliders....which brought me to:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
I am using Central Europe .374 + US oem file to get Fingerprint+VoLTE on T-mobile; I'm not sure if it's because of the CE1 region or whatever else, but I couldn't find any button in the quick settings that would just toggle the phone to ring mode, vibrate mode or silent.
To remedy this, I use Shortcutter (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leedroid.shortcutter&hl=en). This allows you to enable a ton of different switches in the quick settings dropdown, though some of them may not work properly without root and only with other phones. After installing Shortcutter, swipe over to the "Pull-Down" tab, then hit "System Setting Tiles". In this list, scroll down and you'll find "Ring Mode". Turning this switch on will put the Ring Mode icon into the box of icons you can edit your quick settings with. Finally, pull down your quick settings, click the pencil icon to modify the quick settings and scroll down to find Ring Mode.
This way, it's easy to switch the phone to silent before going into a movie, or a meeting at work.
Fixing the crazy stock backlight control:
The stock backlight is a little crazy right now. It jumps around when the room is dark and it does not transition smoothly. A great app for controlling backlight is Lux (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.lux&hl=en). It even allows you to keep different profiles and define exactly how bright you want the screen to be in any lighting situation, and it will keep a map of your selections for you! You can control all sorts of variables, like how quickly it will transition, if it should only transition given what % of lighting change, so on and so forth. It's really very powerful and useful. I haven't had any trouble with the XZ1C display since installing Lux, which I've used on previous phones as well. Highly recommend this one! There's a free version called Lux Lite (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitocassisi.luxlite&hl=en), but I've never tried it so YMMV.
Alternative for No Double Tap to Wake (or not having Ambient Display):
This is another one I have almost always used on phones that aren't Nexii/Pixel or Motorola. Gravity Screen (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexnor.gravityscreenofffree&hl=en) gives you a ton of different ways to automatically wake up the phone to the lockscreen. I find that using ONLY the Proximity Sensor setting to turn ON the screen (and turning everything else off) has negligible effect on the battery, and maintains extreme usefulness. With just that setting, when my phone is on the desk I can poke the phone where the proximity sensor is (as if I one-tap it) and it will wake up. If I take the phone out of my pocket, the phone turns on and is already waiting for me by the time I look at it. Super convenient!
UPDATE: Another user (quack3d) mentioned the app WaveUp(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jarsilio.android.waveup) which does exactly how I have Gravity Screen set up. If you want just that, this seems to be a great and simpler alternative! Thanks!
If you want more options, it has all sorts of other things like turn on by motion, etc. etc....I personally don't use those though, so I can't vouch for how well they work.
Double Tap to Sleep
I'm pretty sure you have to pay for this one, but Nova Launcher Prime (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher.prime&hl=en) is an incredible launcher, and it allows you to specify custom gestures on the desktop. The gestures can trigger all sorts of things, one of which is Screen Lock. If you select the Time-Out method of locking the screen, it will work with fingerprint unlocking.
Custom Auto-Rotation Switching:
Normally, I don't like auto-rotation. I use my phone a lot in bed (lying sideways), but I still want to use it in portrait. So, I prefer to have my phone default to NO auto-rotation. That being said, it's annoying when you pull up a funny gif or the photo album or youtube and you want to just flip your phone over to watch a video. Sure, you can drag down the quicksettings and flip that switch, but there's a better way! That's where Automate (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate&hl=en) comes in! Automate allows you to program your phone to do just about anything (especially if you have root) based on custom triggers.
In Automate, if first select "More flows..." and search for a script called "Auto Enable Rotation" by the author Anthony Beaumont. Once you download this script and run it, it will present you with 2 options, either to "start" the script service, or to "modify" the list of apps. You'll want to "modify" the list of apps and start a new one. To this, you can add apps such as Album, Youtube, Twitch and whatever else you want to watch in landscape mode. Finally, once that's done, stop the script and start it again, but this time select "start". (You can also select in the 3 dot menu to have this script run at start-up. Highly recommended!) Now, when you open Album/Youtube/Twitch etc. the phone should automatically flip to auto-rotation.
Enter all your app and website passwords automatically with fingerprint:
For better or for worse, I keep all of my online passwords saved in Lastpass. It turns out that once you have an account and saved passwords, Lastpass has an incredible app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.lpandroid&hl=en) that can pop up over Chrome and just about any other app on your phone that can fill in the username/password fields for you using your fingerprint! It doesn't work for all the different browsers out there (I just use Chrome), and there may have been a pay wall for the in-app password filling, I forgot (sorry!). That said, it's super convenient to head to any site and just tap the fingerprint to log in.
Additionally, if you're a Lastpass user already, they also have a Lastpass Authenticator (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.authenticator&hl=en) that works in place of the Google Authenticator (you can add Google Authenticator 2factor sites to the LastPass one), which is IMHO superior because the keys are linked to your account rather than to the physical phone. Also, if you have LP Authenticator + the Chrome addon on your PC/Mac, on some sites you don't even have to enter the Authenticator number, you can just press "approve" on your phone to get into the website on your PC. Awesome!
Send links from your PC to phone or phone to PC
Ever read something on your PC and wish you could link it to your phone super quickly and not have to go through emailing it to yourself? I use Pushbullet (Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android&hl=en PC: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pushbullet/chlffgpmiacpedhhbkiomidkjlcfhogd?hl=en), which allows you to directly link webpages from PC to phone and vice versa. Additionally, if you give it the permissions, it can hook up your phone's notifications to your Windows notifications (not sure about mac), including allowing you to read and send SMS from your PC. I believe it also has file transfer capabilities, but I don't use it.
I think that's it for now...I'll add more when I think of them. These are just a few of the mods I run which makes using the phone more effortless and enjoyable; please, feel free to add more and I'll add them to the list if there's something you want to share! Hope this helps someone out there!:highfive:

maidguitar said:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternative implementation that I use: Add a toggle on the home screen to quickly switch between Ring/Vibrate/Silent modes
First install Media-Mute [free & ad-free]. What this app does is automatically mute the media volume whenever the ringer volume is also muted, which applies to both Vibrate mode and Silent mode.
For some reason, since Android 4.x Google has decided that Silent mode should only apply to the ringer, instead of silencing everything that can make sounds out of the speaker. Media-Mute fixes that.
Next, install Silent Mode Toggle [free & ad-free], then add the widget on the home screen. Switching modes is now super easy, just tap on the toggle.
What I really appreciate about this app is that it allows customization to the toggle order. For example, I never use the vibrate mode, so I can set it to toggle between Ringer > Silent only.
As a bonus, it also lets you use your own custom icons for the toggle, super cool and makes it possible to perfectly complement your home screen layout.
Hide the annoying "running in the background" notification that comes with Android 8.0
With Android 8.0 Oreo, Google thought it would be a great idea to permanently remind you of any background processing currently running in the form of an impossible to dismiss notification.
While the intention was well meaning, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Thankfully, there's an app for that! Just install this cleverly named app Hide "running in the background" Notification [free & ad-free], problem solved!
Vibrate phone when call connects, ends
Yet another app to the rescue! VibCall [free & ad-free] brings this useful feature found on some OEM phones to any compatible Android device.
Basically, your phone will vibrate once to let you know that a call has connected, and twice when a call has ended. It's something that once you've used, you wonder why it's not baked into the Android system as a default option.
Add a fingerprint (Smart Lock) compatible screen lock toggle on the home screen
So Sony has unilaterally decided to remove double tap to sleep feature with no sign of bring it back. But I still want to turn off the screen and lock the device by tapping on the screen instead of waiting for the system to hibernate or hitting the power button.
The OP listed a paid solution which brings back double tap to sleep, but for those looking for a free alternative, this is the solution I'm currently using - Smart Screen Lock Pro [free & ad-free].
It's not a double tap anywhere convenience, but a toggle that is better than nothing, and most importantly it's compatible with fingerprint unlock. I've tried numerous screen off apps in the Play store, and this is the only one that I was satisfied with.
IMPORTANT: Take the time to carefully read and follow setup instructions, it's necessary for it to work properly due to OS restrictions. Once it's setup correctly, simply add a shortcut on the home screen and tap it to lock.
It's worth mentioning that it's not a true "instant" screen off and lock, but without root this is probably the best solution we'll get.
Non-root ad blocking
Ads are a necessary evil for the current economics of the Internet, but aside from the annoyance factor, they eat up precious mobile data, plus there's also very real security risks with ad networks, potentially hogging your phone's resources and draining the battery.
Whatever the argument, if you do decide to block ads, there are quite a lot of ad blockers to choose from.
Personally, I use dns66 [free & ad-free]. In my experience, it's very lightweight, and I haven't seen any ads in my browser or apps.
It does have its quirks though, sometimes downloads fail, such as OTA update or file in browser, for one reason or another (the author says it's a bug with the Android OS itself, see linked post).
But it's easy to workaround, just temporarily disable dns66 by tapping pause on the notification, and download again. After download has completed, tap the notification again to resume.
By the way, this is also the main reason I installed the hide background notification app.