Develop Bugs

ICS 4.0 & All the Little Things! [undocumented features]

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.
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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
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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!
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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?
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what's supposed to happen?

You can use the front facing camera to record in 720p hd

NexusDro said:
what's supposed to happen?
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Click to collapse
I thought it scrolled page by page. try by flicking with 2 fingers.

Removing the blue lip that appears for quickly selecting apps?

Hi
I have a weird "lip" that appears on my Note 2's screen sometimes that slides out and shows you more apps you can open.
I'm not sure how this appears - it appears to happen at random. And I have absolutely no idea how to get rid of it unless I restart the phone.
I'm not sure if it is an app that I installed on the phone or it's something that Samsung preloaded on it.
I have attached a screenshot where this "lip" is appearing over the keyboard. It's very irritating as it protrudes over everything you are doing, as shown!
Any help on how to permanently disable this?
Thanks!

That's the multitasking bar and you don't want to permanently disable it in my opinion because it is so damn useful.
You invoke it and dispel it in the same way - long press the back button.
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

foxmeister said:
That's the multitasking bar and you don't want to permanently disable it in my opinion because it is so damn useful.
You invoke it and dispel it in the same way - long press the back button.
Regards,
Dave
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
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lmao 'invoke' and 'dispel', give them a chance, not everyone on here is from England!
it means turn on and off.

Ah! Holding the back button down!
Such a simple fix haha. Thanks!

Lennyuk said:
it means turn on and off.
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Somehow that just doesn't have the same ring to it......
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

Lennyuk said:
lmao 'invoke' and 'dispel', give them a chance, not everyone on here is from England!
it means turn on and off.
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Yeah but he's obviously one classy mofo

Invoke and dispell sounds way better. Kinda like harry potter.

Paganister said:
Hi
I have a weird "lip" that appears on my Note 2's screen sometimes that slides out and shows you more apps you can open.
I'm not sure how this appears - it appears to happen at random. And I have absolutely no idea how to get rid of it unless I restart the phone.
I'm not sure if it is an app that I installed on the phone or it's something that Samsung preloaded on it.
I have attached a screenshot where this "lip" is appearing over the keyboard. It's very irritating as it protrudes over everything you are doing, as shown!
Any help on how to permanently disable this?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the question has been answered but you may not know that if you bring that "lip" up and you hold a app icon you can drag it out and multitask by running two windows. Just a quick fyi.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

pussyliquor said:
I know the question has been answered but you may not know that if you bring that "lip" up and you hold a app icon you can drag it out and multitask by running two windows. Just a quick fyi.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
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Ah, I see! Only seems to work with certain apps at the moment though. I can see its usefulness a little now.
What is the point of clicking Edit on the multitasking list and sticking icons inside the "Drag and drop here" section?

[Q] How do I turn off the blue pull tab app drawer??

I searched but didn't see anything on this.
There is a blue pull tab thing on the left hand side of my screen. I want it gone, but can't find out how to get rid of it.
Thanks!

There's a ton of threads already on this. ..
To show/hide hold the back key for a couple of seconds
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app

Thanks. Guess I didn't know what to call the damn thing to search for it correctly.

bleclair said:
Thanks. Guess I didn't know what to call the damn thing to search for it correctly.
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It allows you to access the multi-window feature of the NII, for accessing 2 apps at the same time.

To be fair its not a particularly well advertised feature and with little to no instruction a lot of people won't know what it is for.
But it is for split screen mode.
You can drag apps to the top of bottom part of the screen from that bar to run two apps side by side.

ultra noob question

Hey guys just got an internation note 2. loving it so far!!
My favorite thing was this little grey half circle on the right edge of the phone. When you click it it gives you several quick shortcuts to common apps. Now it is missing though? Where did it go and how do I reactivate it, also what is it? Is it a samsung thing or just an android 4.1 feature. Any help in understanding this new feature would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

bredbu said:
Hey guys just got an internation note 2. loving it so far!!
My favorite thing was this little grey half circle on the right edge of the phone. When you click it it gives you several quick shortcuts to common apps. Now it is missing though? Where did it go and how do I reactivate it, also what is it? Is it a samsung thing or just an android 4.1 feature. Any help in understanding this new feature would be greatly appreciated.
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is multiview option ( to open 2 apps at the same time). It is activated by pressing the back button for 2-3 seconds. You can drag 2 apps from the sidebar to the screen and have 2 running apps then.

It's the multiscreen dooda. Hold back arrow to make it come and go.
You can drag any of the shown apps to the top or bottom screen along with the another from the list. Maps and email at the same time for example.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium

A bunch of questions?

Howdy, gentlemen (and gentleladies) I have quite a few questions regarding the note 2. I know my way around android, these are about the device itself. As questions are answered, I will update the OP with the solutions / answers for reference, so others might learn from my ignorance
I bought a flip cover case, not the genuine samsung case, but one off ebay. It doesnt have an indentation for the home button so it is constantly being turned on. Is there a fix, preferably without rooting, for this? Maybe using the proximity sensor?
With the same flip case, I would like to know if it is at all possible to have the devices screen automatically turn on when it is opened, and turn off when it is shut? (Think "iPad with its magnetic cover") Possibly through the use of NFC tags or proximity sensor? The proximity sensor would have obvious issues with other things interfering. SOLUTION FOUND: DOWNLOAD "SIMPLE COVER LOCK" FROM PLAY STORE.
Are there mods that allow selecting something using the S-Pen's button, while it is in the air? Maybe using it to highlight text while in the air or click the button to register an input? I do a lot of copy and pasting and a feature like this can greatly improve productivity.
Is it possible to get the S-Pen to be able to push the soft keys? I absolutely hate having to continually change my hand posture whenever I need to access the back key or open a menu. Maybe, building on my previous question, have some sort of air gesture with the S-Pen button depressed that performs the actions of the soft buttons? WORK-AROUND, NO TRUE SOLUTION YET: GESTURE < AND ^ WITH S-PEN BUTTON DEPRESSED FOR BACK AND MENU ACTIONS, RESPECTIVELY
My last question is simple. Is the LED indicator an RGB LED? Like the one on the galaxy nexus that can be changed to any color? It would be cool to have different notification colors per app, blue for facebook, green for messaging and so on. ANSWER: YES
I appreciate the help, normally I would use my Google-fu but I much prefer answers from other users.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

Whoah didnt realize I was in the themes and apps section, can a mod please mive this to Q&A? My apologies!
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gerbetta33 said:
Whoah didnt realize I was in the themes and apps section, can a mod please mive this to Q&A? My apologies!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
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Reported for ya - next time take care to post in right section !

nikufellow said:
Reported for ya - next time take care to post in right section !
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thanks!
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

I can somewhat answer the first question. There are apps that allow you to use the proximity sensor to turn off and on the screen. A couple that I've personally tried are Intellicover and Auto Screen on. There's also Screen Lock and Off that allows you to turn off your screen by tapping a button. These work well, but if your flip cover is constantly bumping the home button, using these apps won't do anything different as your home button will still get bumped and then the screen will constantly turn on.

the best app to use for turning on the screen automatically is "simple cover lock" its a small free app that does just what it says it was created for the note 2 and does what it needs to really good

For the menu & back button question, hold the button on your s pen & draw a < on the screen to go back & a ^ for the menu
Edit: Also, Light Flow from the play store let's you control the LED lights

haldi15 said:
the best app to use for turning on the screen automatically is "simple cover lock" its a small free app that does just what it says it was created for the note 2 and does what it needs to really good
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Thanks, seems to work fine for a beta, although it does show my homescreen for a second after the flip cover opens before going to the lock screen, even if it was already on the lockscreen when I shut it. I've never seen that happen with any lockscreen alternative, must be a bug. also, it gets kind of annoying if I accidentally move my hand over the proximity sensor and it shuts the display off, but the note is so big that this occurs rarely. Nonetheless, thanks
Beast84 said:
For the menu & back button question, hold the button on your s pen & draw a < on the screen to go back & a ^ for the menu
Edit: Also, Light Flow from the play store let's you control the LED lights
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Click to collapse
Thanks a lot, I feel like I should have known this one, but I can't recall there ever being any tips on this when the TouchWiz motion and gesture guides ran when I first booted my device. Thanks!

gerbetta33 said:
Thanks, seems to work fine for a beta, although it does show my homescreen for a second after the flip cover opens before going to the lock screen, even if it was already on the lockscreen when I shut it. I've never seen that happen with any lockscreen alternative, must be a bug. also, it gets kind of annoying if I accidentally move my hand over the proximity sensor and it shuts the display off, but the note is so big that this occurs rarely. Nonetheless, thanks
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to fix the screen turning off when you move your hand over you would need to change the "turn off screen after" time to 5 so it would take longer to turn off when you closed the cover, i dont have the lockscreen bug on my rooted note 2 running a 4.1.2 samsung rom

I see, ill do that! I dont plan on rooting anytime soon, so I guess I have to live with it.
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