[Q] Question on changing launcher - Xperia Play Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi.
I'm using the default launcher that came with my European xperia play and I think it sucks. My problem is that I always have to set my phone on mass storage mode in order to sync music through double twist. This causes my shortcuts on the home screen to disappear and the order in the application launcher keeps on rearranging.
Is there a launcher that ensures that the shortcuts in the home screen and app list are not rearranged during and after mass storage mode?

No, once connected in mass storage mode, you SD Card is unmounted from the device, thus all applications on SD Card disapear. It will happen with any launcher and is nothing to do with the stock one. Although launchers like launcher pro, you cannot rearange apps so that wouldnt happen.

Sorry double post....

Well that sucks... Might as well try looking for a different music player with lock screen controls that can import itunes playlists. Hopefully winamp works on media share mode (which I still need to fix on my windows).

Related

[Q] switching to Sense/Manila/homescreen apps via Task Manager

One rather show-stopping issue I've come across with my HTC is that the widgets/home screen tab apps/manila apps/HTC sense apps that get launched from the homescreen do not run as their own tasks. So you can't just switch to, for example, HTC's music player via a task manager. You have to go to the homescreen, and then make sure you're on the right tab. It's slow and clunky and effectively makes the homescreen apps inaccessible, if you like to use your phone for a bunch of other stuff other than what's on the homescreen (ie. you're not staying on the homescreen for everything you do).
Is there something I'm missing? Is there a quick way to switch between homescreen apps from outside of the homescreen?
Thanks,
Simmy

Placing apps according to their alphabets

Every time I unplug my phone from my pc I see that the order the apps are placed are changed, fx once an app which is located on page 3, next time it is moved to page 4 or it even changes it place with other apps on the same page.
Is there a way to organize the placement of apps by alphabet, so the installed apps/games are placed according to their alphabet?
I use Go Laucher Ex...
isn't it possible without a launcher?
most launchers can do this, but I don't think its possible to do this in stock touchwiz...
EDIT:
this one has it, but after flashing the launcher won't work, so problably because its for galaxy s, and not for more resolutions/sizes
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1049501
Code:
alphabetical: Arrange the menu alphabetically. (Re-enter edit mode after moving an app into the dock fill in any hole in app spacing)
i think they move because you have some apps on sd, they cannot be usable if you have connected your phone to pc as mass storage
I always liked touchwiz' appearance but disliked no sorting in app drawer. Workaround? Use desktops to arrange launchers as desired. It's quicker to access the apps (; .

Android First Startup - Google Services which one to select/ not select ?

So, i would like to ask with new phone startup, we have to select a host of google services.
PLease inform how to enable/disable the following two services within phone if i change my mind later.
On the side note: Backup to google drive = isnt it same service as syncing ? (tht we do of phone numbers, email, calender)
craige said:
So, i would like to ask with new phone startup, we have to select a host of google services.
PLease inform how to enable/disable the following two services within phone if i change my mind later.
On the side note: Backup to google drive = isnt it same service as syncing ? (tht we do of phone numbers, email, calender)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First location services.
Device /Settings /Location/
At top Either select" Improve accuracy" and you can switch it off.
I keep my selection off as i found /discovered in the
BetterbatteryStats app that i use to monitor battery drain, deep sleep etc etc,
wifi is kept always on in background
(It does not sleep when your phone screen is off.)
The other is still in Location section... just above it (Improve accuracy) .
"Apps premission"
tap and then select relevant app tap that app and when options appears select Either
"... allow alll the time / Allow only while using the app/ Deny.."
Secondly the G backup i always use.
It also backups , Wifi pswds. Play store apps etc.
Device /Settings /Google /Backups
Switch on or off.
I use G backup to G drive combined with Samsung's backup.
G backup for Play store etc
and select Samsung Backup only to do the Samsung apps etc.
Wanted to post screen shots but currently not on my Note 10+
Good luck.
willcor said:
First location services.
Device /Settings /Location/
At top Either select" Improve accuracy" and you can switch it off.
I keep my selection off as i found /discovered in the
BetterbatteryStats app that i use to monitor battery drain, deep sleep etc etc,
wifi is kept always on in background
(It does not sleep when your phone screen is off.)
The other is still in Location section... just above it (Improve accuracy) .
"Apps premission"
tap and then select relevant app tap that app and when options appears select Either
"... allow alll the time / Allow only while using the app/ Deny.."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for to the point solution. :good:
Now, i have two questions:
Are you sure the question related to first image is this options only inside phone, coz, it doesnt explicitly refer to the 2 options mentioned in the screenshot.
Lastly, On the apps where selected gps “Allow all the time”, the apps still requesting access to GPS signal when fired on and does not automatically turn on the GPS by default . (Ex: Uber) ?
craige said:
Thank you for to the point solution. :good:
Now, i have two questions:
Are you sure the question related to first image is this options only inside phone, coz, it doesnt explicitly refer to the 2 options mentioned in the screenshot.
Lastly, On the apps where selected gps “Allow all the time”, the apps still requesting access to GPS signal when fired on and does not automatically turn on the GPS by default . (Ex: Uber) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, im back on my Note 10+ ,
Your first screen shot Location,
has 2 x options (according to me and that's the reason why I said 2 x options.)
You again, see it as only one option.
Sorry, if i confused you.
Anyway i will refer to your first screenshot
"Use Location" and " Allow scanning"
that you can either enable or disable.
That why i referred to as 2 options.
Now look at my screenshot below, the screenshot that's marked 1 and 2 on it.
Your Screenshot ask for permission "Use Location"
see my screenshot " App permission." which I marked 1.
There you can change every apps permissions
Inside that subsection tap on app and you will get
options to Allow all the time, /only while using the app.
or see my screenshot.
Still with your first screenshot, (which i call second option in my previous post )
marked "Allow scanning"
Again check my relevant screenshot.
This basic means that even if you have switched off your wifi/Bluetooth, it's still running in background.
So your device is not completely in a Deep Sleep state..!
This fact i found out when i checked my Betterbatterystats results.
That why i said i recommend to switch it off.. think if it's always on in background... extra battery drain.
Most probably not a lot, battery drain ( you can decide.)
example.......
So if your device was in deep sleep for 4 hours, then your wifi / bluetooth, would have been running in background for 4 hours.
Hope i explained it better this time.?
Good luck.
willcor said:
Ok, im back on my Note 10+ ,
Your first screen shot Location,
has 2 x options (according to me and that's the reason why I said 2 x options.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup it seems to be all okay
Just finished complete setup of my new phone, but ran into a new problem -- All my music albums are appearing in the gallery and i have hundreds of music albums !! (Didnt happen in my old samsung phone which was very latest too - A70)
craige said:
Yup it seems to be all okay
Just finished complete setup of my new phone, but ran into a new problem -- All my music albums are appearing in the gallery and i have hundreds of music albums !! (Didnt happen in my old samsung phone which was very latest too - A70)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what i understand your music albums. (no music tracks as such) are showing up with you pictures/videos, in the Gallery pictures app )
For me this should be normal, under certain conditions.
example.
If i check my Gallery ( picture) app,
bottom there's a section..........
listed "Pictures.... Albums......Stories.. Shared"
If i select Pictures section i only get "Pictures and videos mixed"
Under Album section... (bottom of Gallery app)
Some of my music albums shows up here, but if you select that particular music album, it only shows you the Albums art / picture, no music tracks. !
Similar with video album shown.
If you tap that particular video album only the album art of that particular video is shown
See screenshot of what i mean.
This, as far as i am concerned "this " is quite correct.
Good luck
willcor said:
From what i understand your music albums.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, i always view in "My Gallery" - "Albums" .
The music artwork folders are appearing in gallery and yes they are images only , but it completely messed up my gallery view as i have hundreds of music albums.
If i just go to pictures, i cant navigate properly as i have thousands of pictures in different folders !!
PS: This never happened in any of other Samsung phones til date
craige said:
Yes, i always view in "My Gallery" - "Albums" .
The music artwork folders are appearing in gallery and yes they are images only , but it completely messed up my gallery view as i have hundreds of music albums.
If i just go to pictures, i cant navigate properly as i have thousands of pictures in different folders !!
PS: This never happened in any of other Samsung phones til date
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I checked my music files on my sd card.
I have quite a few Albums in my music folders.
However , in my case i hardly have any album art that shows
Only maybe one or two.?
I must add i think my circumstances is different.?
When i purchase an music "Album" eg Google Play music,
I download it to my laptop and then just copy duplicate folder, over to my sd music folder.
I see all those folders, there's no albums art showing/visible, in relevant music folder (if you access it with a file explorer app.).......
However,
the one or two album art thumbnails, that i custom placed thumbnail in that album, does show up in Gallery app.
Yet,
when I go to my music player eg Poweramp, my album art thumbnails does show. and the album art also shows when playing the relevant music album.
Bottom line
As a test.... i deleted the album art thumbnail, showing/visible, in music album folder with a file explorer.
Checked my Gallery app... it gone no more showing...!
Maybe do a test and see results.?
Good luck.
willcor said:
I checked my music files on my sd card.
I have quite a few Albums in my music folders. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried everything but all my music albums still shows in Gallery and i confirmed its a one UI 2.0 thing.
All phones running any prior versions doesnt exhibit same problems.
PS: i copy my own music with custom thumnail from PC to Sd card !
craige said:
Tried everything but all my music albums still shows in Gallery and i confirmed its a one UI 2.0 thing.
All phones running any prior versions doesnt exhibit same problems.
PS: i copy my own music with custom thumnail from PC to Sd card !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes ,
that's why your custom art thumbnails are showing up in Gallery app !
I found that , if the music art thumbnails , were embedded,
as it's the case with most of my music albums songs, it does not show !!
Thinking about this now (to me ) it's logical that if you place a photo/custom art thumbnail in folder,
your Gallery app should "see/find " it ?
In the past i used to place a ".nomedia " file ( in a relevant folder) for it to be excluded .
The Samsung Gallery app ( as far as i am aware ) does not have a option to exclude/hide a "certain " folder , as eg. my other gallery app Piktures i use ( mentioned below )
Further , combinded to the Gallery app ,
I also use " Piktures " gallery app
(free Version Play store ) ,which has the option to edit and hide albums .
good luck .

shortcuts on nova launcher don't work

I am using moonreader pro, a bookreading app, that allows me to have a massive 1500 book library. It also allows me to create shortcuts on my desktop.
I am using nova launcher pro.
I have been using this combination for 4 years now, changed 3 phones.
I want to be able to save the desktop layout on nova launcher(backup) and restore it incase i have to do a factory reset or phone change.
It used to work in the past, I would save the layout on nova launcher, delete everything on the phone, backup the book files(they are saved in a separate folder on the internal storage) , then restore this folder to its exact old location, reinstall the nova launcher layout or backup or however it's called, and voila, it would work. I would have 1000 shortcuts or so on my 7 or so home screens and I could click on any book shortcut and it would open without any problem.
Now, I changed to note 9 2 years ago, in the past I had a zte axon 7, now I do the exact same routine, it doesn't work. The OLD shortcuts that I have created on the axon 7( the old phone) they work on the note9, but whenever I download new books and create new shortcuts, if I backup the layout and delete and restore it, it doesn't work anymore. The new shortcuts don't work, i get a new notification to the bottom of the screen saying "app isn't installed". I beleive its called a toast or something.
I tried the same thing with the samsung tab s6, same thing.
How do I fix this?I know there is a way around this, since the old shortcuts from my first phone WORK, but I can't make new ones...
Please help me asap, I have to fix this.
Thank you in advance.
So the book reader app, have you gone in to the PlayStore to see if the most recent reviews have any reports of similar shortcut functionality issues?
You said you moved the backed up layout that included the book shortcuts from your old phone to the new one. Was that old phone running Nougat or older Android? Is the new one running Oreo or newer? There are some storage permissions issues that may be related to why Nova might have difficulty establishing links, even if it's the same internal storage there may be some ID mismatch somewhere. When you set the restore for the Nova layout, I'm assuming you've gone into the launcher settings to force kill and restart Nova before testing the shortcuts? And when you say you back up the new shortcuts and delete and restore, what exactly are you resetting? Is it Nova launcher only? Is it a reset of your apps but not the system? Is it a complete system factory reset?
Have you tested to see if placing new shortcuts without restoring the old layout backup to check if the new shortcuts actually work or not? This would at least eliminate the possibility of the launcher backup containing expired links that though may work when setting up directories as they were previously, it may be missing database entries that link new shortcuts to the book app. Could very well be an issue of setting up the apps in the correct order to force the system to recognize the new links/IDs, but this may render the old ones useless. There's a lot of testing to get to, mate!

Can I remove entire home screens? Can I make folders in drawer mode? Where are photos

I can't seem to be able to remove all the extra homescreens so I have to remove all the shortcuts on them one by one. I also can't seem to be able to make folders in the app drawer as any kind of movement on the icon immediately tries to place it as a shortcut on the home screen.
Failing that, what suggestions do you have for alternate launchers or has that feature not been properly implemented yet?
Also why aren't my Google photos restored from online backup showing up in the gallery app?
AceWhatever said:
I can't seem to be able to remove all the extra homescreens so I have to remove all the shortcuts on them one by one. I also can't seem to be able to make folders in the app drawer as any kind of movement on the icon immediately tries to place it as a shortcut on the home screen.
Failing that, what suggestions do you have for alternate launchers or has that feature not been properly implemented yet?
Also why aren't my Google photos restored from online backup showing up in the gallery app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can set alternate launchers as default without any issues (need to use navigation buttons instead of gestures by default but there's a workaround) on v3.16 / v4.13.
I use Poco Launcher and these features are supported in that.
The gallery app has a weird sorting order as well that you can modify in its settings, however, if you can see your restored photos in Google Photos, I would recommend changing the default gallery app as well. I use Gallery Go but I think Photos works as a default gallery as well.

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