Related
Just wondering for those of you who have the device already, have you guys found some neat features/tricks using 4.0 that haven't been documented or heavily advertised?
I would love to make a list of these features for other users to explore...
Lets get this started
List:
Reserved........
I know it's documented,but it was still a surprise to me - you can now finally delete apps straight from the app drawer, by dragging them just as if you were going to place them on the desktop,but then putting them in the recycle bin on the top.
No affiliation with apple. Or siri.
Sent from my samsung gt i9250 which is in the wrong country.
Nobody's talking about the search app. It's way better than the one in Gingerbread. Much easier to find stuff in your phone : music, app, sms, docs, etc. The old one was returning web search suggestion in 90% of the result... useless.
Search in browser let's you edit suggestion if you want to add something to it. But we lost popular web site suggestion
Just read it on Pocketnow but you can make folders in the favourites bar. Apologies if obvious.
When in the stock browser and you change orientation, tap the screen to make it rotate.
gambiting said:
I know it's documented,but it was still a surprise to me - you can now finally delete apps straight from the app drawer, by dragging them just as if you were going to place them on the desktop,but then putting them in the recycle bin on the top.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do that on stock fascinate.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium
mkropf said:
You can do that on stock fascinate.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which runs TouchWiz, so it's not stock Android
Rotate the phone to the right whilst in any stock app (so the speaker grill and front camera are on the right). Notice that the back, home and task switch buttons have moved to the top of the screen so that they stay on the right.
When using an ics app hold down on an icon in the action bar to get a description of what it does
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Not heavily advertised, but it should be:
The quick control in the browser. Almost the same as on honeycomb. Activate it in the labs settings of the browser. Love it!
appelflap said:
Not heavily advertised, but it should be:
The quick control in the browser. Almost the same as on honeycomb. Activate it in the labs settings of the browser. Love it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NICE find! Thanks!
This is known about, however you said undocumented and I haven't a single document for the Nexus/ICS apart from on one which came with the phone,telling me how to fix the battery.
Hold the volume down and power key, and you take a screen capture. Which is very handy on occasions
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
If you tap the volume button which makes the volume bar appear, you can then press the icon to the left of the volume bar and it toggles between ring and vibrate.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
In settings/about phone. Tap repeatedly on the android version number (4.0...) then a little android appears. Keep ur finger on it and it grows into a screen animation.
If u didn't know about this,I guess u r now thinking this is a joke. Or is it?
Need someone to test; try swiping the web pages up/down using 2 fingers
, is it a feature or a glitch?
Stea1thmode said:
Need someone to test; try swiping the web pages up/down using 2 fingers
, is it a feature or a glitch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what's supposed to happen?
You can use the front facing camera to record in 720p hd
NexusDro said:
what's supposed to happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it scrolled page by page. try by flicking with 2 fingers.
Why did Samsung do this... Its like any other 4.3" screen with those buttons on the bottom.. Can you hide these buttons all together fir certain apps to take some advantage of that gorgeous screen? Namely the browser?
just videos it auto hides on stock rom.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
It would be awesome if you could toggle the virtual keys, that's what I thought they were intended for, not just to watch some damn videos. Pretty disappointed in that aspect as well.
To standardize the button layout on Android devices (home, search, back, menu)
@wonshikee: You can always make a rooted app / mod to do that. Androids open source.
Do games hide the buttons or are they still there? Sounds like Samsung didn't think this through..
Diversion said:
Do games hide the buttons or are they still there? Sounds like Samsung didn't think this through..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was Google's idea. Samsung just made the device with the hardware asked by Google. This is how they do all Nexus devices.
You're acting like this is a new concept. It isn't. It was on honeycomb tablets and no one seemed to mind it.
Diversion said:
Why did Samsung do this... Its like any other 4.3" screen with those buttons on the bottom.. Can you hide these buttons all together fir certain apps to take some advantage of that gorgeous screen? Namely the browser?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes I wonder if anybody researches at all before buying this phone...
Apps have to be specifically designed to go to full screen mode to hide the buttons, with the restriction that ANY user interaction brings the buttons back to the visible state. Hence, games or the browser would not be able to effectively hide the buttons.
Think of it this way: say you're playing a game, and it locks up. If there's no home button, you're forced to reboot.
You can enable full screen browser. Games do not. get rid of the buttons.
Instead of saying why ruin the screen with nav buttons.. You should be saying why ruin the screen by using a pentile submatrix .
zetsumeikuro said:
Instead of saying why ruin the screen with nav buttons.. You should be saying why ruin the screen by using a pentile submatrix .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I read, Samsung isn't currently capable of creating a 4.65" 720P Super AMOLED plus display. Technology simply isn't there so they had to resort to a 720P super AMOLED pentile submatrix display.
Bobb_o said:
You can enable full screen browser. Games do not. get rid of the buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The full screen brower mode simply hides the status bar (and possibly minimizes the soft buttons) but it does not hide them entirely.
On screen buttons offer the benefit of when you rotate the screen, the buttons rotate with you. They are always on the bottom and in the same order.
Return it. Done. No more drama.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
zephiK said:
It was Google's idea. Samsung just made the device with the hardware asked by Google. This is how they do all Nexus devices.
You're acting like this is a new concept. It isn't. It was on honeycomb tablets and no one seemed to mind it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except tablet screens are massive so nothing is really lost, the difference between a 4.3" and 4.65" is much bigger.
The display on this phone rocks and I love the on screen buttons. Its nice to have consistency in the feel of the interactions with the UI including the "buttons".
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
the buttons dont bother me , but it is annoying when they turn into the three little dots. Sometimes I forget which buttons where esp. in landscape and 1 click and you hit home instead of back. They should have made it a 2 step process. Push any1 of the dots and the buttons appear then you push a button to go where you want- Or at least make it a setting to be like this
I personally thought it would suck but fortunately i haven't had problems with it. I do wonder who and/or what will come up with some kind of toggle for it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
@rbiter said:
I personally thought it would suck but fortunately i haven't had problems with it. I do wonder who and/or what will come up with some kind of toggle for it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also thought it would suck and was gutted when Google announced it, but it has helped me realize why Google dominate they certainly "know their ****" ... the buttons look cool and I love the developer options that it leaves open, eg the great work that paul has already started
DPI changer....the first thing I'm going to do on this badboy
Hmmm...I like the GN button design!
I guess go buy a GS2 and wait for ICS...just saying.
Sorry in advance if this is in the wrong section.
I'm looking to buy the Galaxy Nexus but I truly hate the idea of a softkey bar as I feel there is little point to having such a beautiful screen only to remove some of it with a black bar.
Is there a way to remove them while staying on the stock rom? I already bought HoneyBar for Honeycomb on the 10.1/7+ but the dev appears to have given up on removing the softkey bar for ICS. I know that custom roms on the Galaxy Nexus have the option but I would appreciate any word on this. My only option aside from the Galaxy Nexus is...nothing as no other Verizon 4G LTE phone clicked with me.
I don't hate softkeys however. Button Savior is hands down my favorite app.
Without them there'd be no way of closing/opening/changing apps so they're kinda here to stay
EddyOS said:
Without them there'd be no way of closing/opening/changing apps so they're kinda here to stay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course
Half the time I forget they are part of the screen, they are so much better than the crappy Nexus One buttons
EddyOS said:
Without them there'd be no way of closing/opening/changing apps so they're kinda here to stay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true! Button savior can replace the soft keys.
z06mike said:
Not true! Button savior can replace the soft keys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fyi: Also LMT is capable of replacing the soft keys and is working on GSN. Gestures -> action:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Custom roms don't have an option to remove the softkeys.
Thank you for the link being posted so quickly. I really appreciate it.
I'm going to go read the GummyNex thread more thoroughly to understand if its softkey option is what I wanted.
Thank you guys again.
In my opinion the soft keys are not a waste of screen real estate because they are only there when having the entire screen is pointless anyway. They go away when watching YouTube, Netflix, videos, looking at images, etc. So the entire screen gets utilized when it really counts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Accord281 said:
In my opinion the soft keys are not a waste of screen real estate because they are only there when having the entire screen is pointless anyway. They go away when watching YouTube, Netflix, videos, looking at images, etc. So the entire screen gets utilized when it really counts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use ADW and hide my notification bar(swipe down to open) and my dock (swipe up to open). The only thing left on my homescreen to hide are the softkeys. I just want them hidden on my homescreen.
Accord281 said:
In my opinion the soft keys are not a waste of screen real estate because they are only there when having the entire screen is pointless anyway. They go away when watching YouTube, Netflix, videos, looking at images, etc. So the entire screen gets utilized when it really counts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but what about web browsing, remote desktop to name a couple? shame the soft keys stop you from using the whole screen
It'll happen. I don't think the issue here is removing them completely but hiding them on command like in Honeycomb.
It comes in handy for playing games like emulators and such. Certain apps can hide the bar so it is possible to issue that same command on demand.
I wouldn't hold up a purchase over something so trivial. It WILL happen but Google patched the trick in Honeycomb.
I think an auto hide would be cool then use a gesture to restore them or just use gestures as navigation. Could get ugly in certain apps though.
Maybe have a CM9 toggle...
LTE EX Galaxy Nexus - AOSP KANG
Asus Transformer - 3.2.1 OC/UV
Having a button in the notification bar to hide the buttons would be cool. But seriously must devs will update they're apps to utilize this feature as it goes.
Mx video did recently
Sent from my Google phone
This will enable Navigation bar on Cm10 build 08/08/2012 - I created a new thread because monstaX has spotty internet / has been really sick. I'll maintain this until he feels better. Once he does, I'll give it back to him... no KANG! Just helping out.
.
All the framework belongs to the CM team. noobnl is the one that put cm10 together for our phone. So big thanks to him. This wouldn't be here right now. Again this is only for 08/08 build. Disregard the words in CWM lol. I am no longer supporting the 08/01 Build. Upgrade your crap man. Seriously... you're living in the past. Move on. Really... keep reading...
zanderman112 said:
Hint* Home button now launcher camera when holding it, and pressing it while in camera takes a picture
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Big ups to monstaX... the guy is 16 and pointed me to the right aapt for JB recompiling... good kid.
Style One
48 DPI - Nexus Galaxy Style - Back - Home - Recent Apps (Menu Three Dot Style, will appear on NON- holo themed apps ONLY)
Style Two
Back - Recent Apps - Home - Menu @ 48 DPI and uses Atticus182 pngs! Thanks, all credits to him!(Fat Finger Friendly)
Style Three
Menu (always on) - Home - Back - Recent Apps @ 48 DPI and uses Touchwiz pngs. Special request by zanderman112 (your my boy blue)
All three of these are available in 36 dpi the second post!
An additional style has been added to the second post not available in 48 dpi unless it is requested. This one is 36 dpi and is BLUE ICS Soft keys. Soft Key Layout is (Back - Menu - Home - Recent Apps)
NANDROID!!!!!
NO search, it's in the picture for reference. I have no need for it, neither should you really
Menu button on the Nav Bar 48 DPI_8_8 Build.zip will stay on regardless of a Holo themed app or not...
36 dpi MODS Only!
Screenshot for Nav Bar 48 DPI_8_1
Screenshot for Touchwiz 48 DPI 8_1
Subscribing. I love this mod
Q: Did CM9 ever enable Navigation Bar enabling/disabling?
I never saw it while running it on my Epic 4G.
Sent from Mr. Z's Galaxy S3.
I believe it was an AOKP thing that was ported to a few CM9 devices... But there were mods that enabled total theming of the bar that essentially rewrote the layout xml file, rewrote png files and reordered them after a reboot. This is what I'm doing manually...
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Loving this! I turned off the hardware key lights in Settings->Advanced and they also stop responding so everything is now done with the nav bar just like in the gnex and the menu button shows up in apps accordingly. The back button also turns into a hide keyboard button when it is open witch also feels better. Having the recent apps button available with a single tap really helps when multi tasking and not having to press the physical home button to go home (it also stops working) feels better than having to press the button.
Good job! I hope you keep maintaining this mod as progress continues!
nttdemented said:
Loving this! I turned off the hardware key lights in Settings->Advanced and they also stop responding so everything is now done with the nav bar just like in the gnex and the menu button shows up in apps accordingly. The back button also turns into a hide keyboard button when it is open witch also feels better. Having the recent apps button available with a single tap really helps when multi tasking and not having to press the physical home button to go home (it also stops working) feels better than having to press the button.
Good job! I hope you keep maintaining this mod as progress continues!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hint* Home button now launcher camera when holding it, and pressing it while in camera takes a picture
Sent from Mr. Z's Galaxy S3.
zanderman112 said:
Hint* Home button now launcher camera when holding it, and pressing it while in camera takes a picture
Sent from Mr. Z's Galaxy S3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, sorry, should have added this to OP, had to explain this to my wife three hours ago too. LOL
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
This only for cm10 or will work on other roms?
Yeah, you'll get a Bootloop if you try ROMs other than the one CM10 in the original development forum
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Darth Pooh said:
Yeah, you'll get a Bootloop if you try ROMs other than the one CM10 in the original development forum
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok just thought id ask before i broke something lol.
I appreciate this Darth! Thanks for keeping this alive! Lol. I am getting a bit better everyday and i start football on monday, but no worries i always have time for XDA!! Who! As fornmy internet, i need to call the company to schedule an appointment. Anyways, the next cm10 build , i will put out an update! Thanks Darth and everyone for the support!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using XDA App
Thanks guys I really enjoy this mod
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
monstaX said:
I appreciate this Darth! Thanks for keeping this alive! Lol. I am getting a bit better everyday and i start football on monday, but no worries i always have time for XDA!! Who! As fornmy internet, i need to call the company to schedule an appointment. Anyways, the next cm10 build , i will put out an update! Thanks Darth and everyone for the support!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah man... just get better. I don't want to do this forever Seriously... get better.
raw2000j said:
Thanks guys I really enjoy this mod
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the idea... The phone is great, the physical button isn't to me. This is the best alternative (IMO better than the original intentions of Samsung). Hit the thanks is all I ask... hell, I don't even care about that either.
gr33nd3vil said:
Ok just thought id ask before i broke something lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, nandroid every thing before you flash. This won't brick, it's not that deep, but, you'll def boot loop if you don't flash it to the proper ROM or Build specified.
I just put up another flashable in the OP as well as a screen shot for it in the 2nd post. TW buttons with a slightly different arrangement per special order by zanderman112 who is a terrific dev to this community, so giving back to him was an honor (even though I know this guy could do this crap in his sleep ). :highfive:
In case anyone wants to take any of these flashables and make their own layout or whatever, these pngs from atticus182 are all ready to go.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1413582
sometimes you have to rename things, but you'll see in the navigation_bar.xml file in systemUI.apk that conversely, code can be edited with the names of these files. (personally, it's easier to rename these pngs than it is to stare at notepad ++ and code... just saying).
zanderman112 said:
Hint* Home button now launcher camera when holding it, and pressing it while in camera takes a picture
Sent from Mr. Z's Galaxy S3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice! Thanks for pointing that out! It does have a purpose afterall!
Hey Darth Pooh, any way we can get a bar height with 36dp? Awesome mod either way! Thanks!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
kr0matik said:
Hey Darth Pooh, any way we can get a bar height with 36dp? Awesome mod either way! Thanks!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which of them do you use that you'd want at 36 DPI?
EDIT: Doesn't matter... here are all three in 36 DPI. Sent the wife and kid out today. I am in total chill mode. I thought about going bouldering... said eff it.
2nd EDIT: See 2nd post for update 8/8 build 36 DPI mods
hope this isn't asking too much...could you make the "nav bar 36" in ics blue and flip flop the recent apps and menu buttons?
pacifik.fuzion said:
hope this isn't asking too much...could you make the "nav bar 36" in ics blue and flip flop the recent apps and menu buttons?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just had to find blue menu button for you. That was a pain in the ass...
... of apps ignoring the menu key.
I've always preferred the menu - home - back layout Samsung has stuck with. It just feels more natural to me... Now though I'm starting to think the new Android design guidelines are going to pose a big usability problem.
Especially on big phones like the GS3, having to reach to the top of the phone to get at common options is an annoyance at best. Mint is one of the latest apps to implement the new design guidelines that renders the menu button useless.
I hope the development community can come up with a workaround - if they haven't already. Anyone know of efforts to remap or otherwise keep the menu button useful?
Its not really the dev community that controls the design guidelines.. as you know google updates them with each iteration of Android. The problem here is, starting from the Galaxy Nexus, none of Google's phones have come with a menu button. Google believes this is better (for some reason) and so all the design guidelines are trending towards making the menu button obsolete.
Samsung on the other hand is slowly becoming the only manufacturer to persist with the menu button.
From a development perspective, its easy enough to support devices with/without a menu button, with the same piece of code. I feel the main reason big Android apps are moving to the Holo bar menu button is for uniformity like in iOS (which is what Google wants in the first place)
There are roms that let you easily re-assign the menu button. For example, I have menu bound to recent apps (android standard is back, home, recent apps) with long press recent apps as menu for those few cases where apps still use the menu button.
As much as you may like the menu button it is more than on its way out at this point. Despite what samsung has been building their phones with.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
50% of the reason I like a physical home button is because for me, it's easier to power up the phone...and more natural, less effort etc. I also go into standby by an upward gesture on my homescreen so on/off is very quick and handy.
The other half is that I have more screen real estate.
pngface said:
Its not really the dev community that controls the design guidelines.. as you know google updates them with each iteration of Android. The problem here is, starting from the Galaxy Nexus, none of Google's phones have come with a menu button. Google believes this is better (for some reason) and so all the design guidelines are trending towards making the menu button obsolete.
Samsung on the other hand is slowly becoming the only manufacturer to persist with the menu button.
From a development perspective, its easy enough to support devices with/without a menu button, with the same piece of code. I feel the main reason big Android apps are moving to the Holo bar menu button is for uniformity like in iOS (which is what Google wants in the first place)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uniformity is huge, have you seen that picture with the buttons of around 10 android popular phones in which none of them have the same buttons/order.
Also, as an ex-galaxy nexus user, I must say that on-screen buttons are FAR better than what we have. The only down side is lost screen space in most apps (some stuff does go full screen). But the customizability of the software buttons is SO NICE. you can change the size of the bar, the colour, what buttons are there, what the icons are. The slide for google now is much more intuitive that long pressing menu. XDA devs have even added the ability to add what ever you want to the google now slide up gesture. (including widgets).
The software bar is simply a modder's wet dream
Sure uniformity is cool, but what's more uniform than a menu key that's just there all the time? I don't even have to think about it; I want settings/options, I press the menu key. This has honestly been one of my favorite design elements of Android. I hate that this is being phased out.
Ah well, nothing I can do about it.
themadproducer said:
50% of the reason I like a physical home button is because for me, it's easier to power up the phone...and more natural, less effort etc. I also go into standby by an upward gesture on my homescreen so on/off is very quick and handy.
The other half is that I have more screen real estate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you have it set up to sleep with a screen gesture?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
yamahakid said:
How do you have it set up to sleep with a screen gesture?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's 2 parts...but super simple and turbo quick!
I use Go Launcher EX. Many of the custom launchers have Gesture ability. (unlike stock TouchWiz) There are 2 types of gestures in GLex. The one I use is an upward gesture anywhere on any home screen. (you could choose an icon in the dock as well) and it's not the Gesture Pad feature. For me, this works well as I never find myself swiping upwards on the home screen except to initiate SCREEN OFF....although I have requested them to add a 2 finger swipe for extra control.
The 2nd part is an app called "screen off and lock" which I have been using for years. I tell GLex to execute SOAL with an upward gesture on the home screen. Works flawlessly. (GLex has it's own plugin for screen off...but it is laggy)
SOAL also has CRT similar fx and other options. But I just use the clean screen off effect and it's INSTANT. I literally can turn on my S3 with my physical home button, swipe to unlock. then swipe up to lock/screen off in under a second...and keep repeating...no lag. (that's not what I use it for per-say...but just to show that it is fast...all with my thumb in a close proximity area.)
Just got it all set up and I'm loving it so far. Thanks a lot
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
yamahakid said:
Just got it all set up and I'm loving it so far. Thanks a lot
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right on, glad you tried it out.
To me, little things like this make the experience so much better.
Are you using GLex?
themadproducer said:
Right on, glad you tried it out.
To me, little things like this make the experience so much better.
Are you using GLex?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No I have an s3, but I flashed a fix that changed my build.prop to gnex so I can run Google wallet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
yamahakid said:
No I have an s3, but I flashed a fix that changed my build.prop to gnex so I can run Google wallet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha Ha...no...actually I meant Go Launcher EX? (GLex)
What launcher do you use to perform the swipe?
themadproducer said:
Ha Ha...no...actually I meant Go Launcher EX? (GLex)
What launcher do you use to perform the swipe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha oh I thought you made a typo. I'm using apex launcher.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
radeon_x said:
... of apps ignoring the menu key.
I've always preferred the menu - home - back layout Samsung has stuck with. It just feels more natural to me... Now though I'm starting to think the new Android design guidelines are going to pose a big usability problem.
Especially on big phones like the GS3, having to reach to the top of the phone to get at common options is an annoyance at best. Mint is one of the latest apps to implement the new design guidelines that renders the menu button useless.
I hope the development community can come up with a workaround - if they haven't already. Anyone know of efforts to remap or otherwise keep the menu button useful?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Video about some of my likes and dislikes about the GS3 overall its the best smartphone I have ever owned .
That's one thing that annoys me about the Android OS not being unified... some apps will ignore the menu, some wont.