[Q] First LG Phone / A Few Questions - T-Mobile LG G3

Forgive me Moderator, this is a few questions, but I am not familiar with what would be 'a question' if it is not, please feel free to change. Thx
This is my first LG phone. I am not sure if I have some questions because of that, or because of the specific phone, or due to the screen size.
1. What is the fitness app all the way to the left screen?
It is not in the widget list or app list. Is it just LG Fitness?
2. I want to use the native launcher for a change, it appears so much better than TWiz. But I do like my 4x1 widgets to span the whole screen. Can you widen the widgets to do that? Or would that require a 5x5 screen which LG's launcher can't do
3. If I were to use Nova, I suppose the answer to #1 above would answer this, but if that LG Fitness is the same app, I could place a widget for that on one screen, provided it has one. What is the best fitness app with a widget?
4. I have a big selection of wallpapers. In the past I would normally use PicSpeed or Backgrounds HD to set the wallpaper normally selecting wide. I am a little confused as one of the apps I am using, with one size wallpaper I have (either 1980x1020 or 2550x1420) when set on the homescreen flickers a little, then the screen itself, not the home buttons or notification bar, turns black. I set it again, with what app I can't figure out and whether I select full screen (wide) or just normal, something fixes it? Any idea?
5. Lastly, I had read that the screen on the LG is wonderful, may take a little of the battery, but also that it is a little dim. Well I agree.
But it was a LOT dim when my battery is at 14. As much as I thought I knew, maybe I don't let my phone get that weak, but even with the battery saver off, it appears that Android has a built in mechanism to lower the brightness at some point. Would that be correct? And I use Brightness Toggle Widget app. Weird but on all other phones, it was in sync with the phone - when I would change it on the widget, the phone would change. When I would change on the phone, the widget would change. Can someone shed light on that. Do some apps just not update or work on certain phones. Is there a better app to use a widget where you can set the brightness at selected interval %'s
Thanks to anyone who has any ideas or answers to any questions
Eric

eric0668 said:
Forgive me Moderator, this is a few questions, but I am not familiar with what would be 'a question' if it is not, please feel free to change. Thx
This is my first LG phone. I am not sure if I have some questions because of that, or because of the specific phone, or due to the screen size.
1. What is the fitness app all the way to the left screen?
It is not in the widget list or app list. Is it just LG Fitness?
2. I want to use the native launcher for a change, it appears so much better than TWiz. But I do like my 4x1 widgets to span the whole screen. Can you widen the widgets to do that? Or would that require a 5x5 screen which LG's launcher can't do
3. If I were to use Nova, I suppose the answer to #1 above would answer this, but if that LG Fitness is the same app, I could place a widget for that on one screen, provided it has one. What is the best fitness app with a widget?
4. I have a big selection of wallpapers. In the past I would normally use PicSpeed or Backgrounds HD to set the wallpaper normally selecting wide. I am a little confused as one of the apps I am using, with one size wallpaper I have (either 1980x1020 or 2550x1420) when set on the homescreen flickers a little, then the screen itself, not the home buttons or notification bar, turns black. I set it again, with what app I can't figure out and whether I select full screen (wide) or just normal, something fixes it? Any idea?
5. Lastly, I had read that the screen on the LG is wonderful, may take a little of the battery, but also that it is a little dim. Well I agree.
But it was a LOT dim when my battery is at 14. As much as I thought I knew, maybe I don't let my phone get that weak, but even with the battery saver off, it appears that Android has a built in mechanism to lower the brightness at some point. Would that be correct? And I use Brightness Toggle Widget app. Weird but on all other phones, it was in sync with the phone - when I would change it on the widget, the phone would change. When I would change on the phone, the widget would change. Can someone shed light on that. Do some apps just not update or work on certain phones. Is there a better app to use a widget where you can set the brightness at selected interval %'s
Thanks to anyone who has any ideas or answers to any questions
Eric
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 its like a page and can be got rid off
2 yes you can
3 dont know
4 i think zedge would work for you
5 the screen does not dim unless you have battery saver on
hope that helps

jaythenut said:
1 its like a page and can be got rid off
2 yes you can
3 dont know
4 i think zedge would work for you
5 the screen does not dim unless you have battery saver on
hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank You first of all. Yes, sort of. Not that new, I don't give myself credit. LOL But thank you very much
1. I knew it can be gotten rid of etc, but I am unlike most, I like it. It can't be had in other launchers can it? The best I could find was using a shortcut to a Nova Activity which can find a lot of hidden things there. Works well, as an app though, not a widget
2. How can you widen them to full screen in the LG Launcher, if you would be willing to share. Thank You
3. Refers back to #1. Thank You
4. Thank You
4. It does help as far as getting the proper size wallpapers. I guess my problem is finding out which apps work, not to find them, but to set them on the phone, that you are not downloading from Zedge and are a different size, probably smaller. But I'm not able to pinpoint the problem any more than 'probably smaller' Some work fine, some don't

eric0668 said:
Thank You first of all. Yes, sort of. Not that new, I don't give myself credit. LOL But thank you very much
1. I knew it can be gotten rid of etc, but I am unlike most, I like it. It can't be had in other launchers can it? The best I could find was using a shortcut to a Nova Activity which can find a lot of hidden things there. Works well, as an app though, not a widget
2. How can you widen them to full screen in the LG Launcher, if you would be willing to share. Thank You
3. Refers back to #1. Thank You
4. Thank You
4. It does help as far as getting the proper size wallpapers. I guess my problem is finding out which apps work, not to find them, but to set them on the phone, that you are not downloading from Zedge and are a different size, probably smaller. But I'm not able to pinpoint the problem any more than 'probably smaller' Some work fine, some don't
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2. You can't resize widgets on the LG Launcher, you need Nova for that, I'm pretty sure.

you can expand widgets
It depends on the widget themselves. If the developer allow resizing it can be resized, but if not then it can't.
Example PayPal doesn't allow resizing while Eye in the Sky does.

Related

HTC Widget for Brightness?

Is there an HTC widget available for brightness? I am usually on auto, but at times I need to change it. It is a lot of swipes to do so in the interface.
I know there are some in market, but all the ones I see dont work with the auto setting.
the Power widget will let you adjust brightness from auto>full>minimum.
Weather & Toggle Widgets has an awesome brightness widget.
SwitchPro has a nice configurable widget bar, I like it better than Powerstrip.
It does, cost .99 where Powerstrip is free, but you can always refund if you end up not liking it.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/alei.switchpro
edit: Powerstrip doesn't work with auto brightness anyway, SwitchPro does.
i use brigtness level widget. it's got a slider and predefined quick settings.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Will try them out.
GumboChief said:
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Will try them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not quite finished it but I've been editing a widget I got in the Market to match the style of the HTC ones. I'm a complete noob at the process so I've been going in circles but am nearly done. I'll be happy to send it to you when I'm done.
okolowicz said:
I'm not quite finished it but I've been editing a widget I got in the Market to match the style of the HTC ones. I'm a complete noob at the process so I've been going in circles but am nearly done. I'll be happy to send it to you when I'm done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd love it if it could look like this:
GumboChief said:
I'd love it if it could look like this:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the basic design:
The images were the easy part. Getting them to show up on the home screen correctly has been a pain in the *ss. I've been tweaking the XML of a widget I got in the market but haven't yet perfected it. Schedule is prettyl light today so I am hoping to finish it tonight.
okolowicz said:
Here is the basic design:
The images were the easy part. Getting them to show up on the home screen correctly has been a pain in the *ss. I've been tweaking the XML of a widget I got in the market but haven't yet perfected it. Schedule is prettyl light today so I am hoping to finish it tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect look. What would the functionality be? Would the switch control auto-brightness?
How would one access the sliding scale?
I'm playing around with a widget that has five settings. Tapping the widget cycles through the different settings.
Ideally I'd like to have one with the same functionality of the Dazzle widget which has 4 settings including Auto as well as a sliding scale. If you know of a free brightness widget other than Dazzle with that functionality I'll give it a try. The Dazzle one looks to be a bit more difficult to edit.
Just to update you. I am making progress but not finished. I'm editing a widget with a sliding scale and that displays the current setting.
I've got the Widget to display at the right size but I am having trouble figuring out how to get a background to the label. It shouldn't be too hard to reposition the value setting so that it is centered in the widget at which point I'll redesign it to be cleaner. But, need to figure out the shadow first...
[/IMG]
Looks great. Can't wait to see the final product!
The value level number is killer
P.S. I kinda like the number right where it is
GumboChief said:
P.S. I kinda like the number right where it is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you put it that way
I got the spacing figured out for the text label (it was skewing to the left before). And, I changed the brightness icon from blue to gray because I thought there was too much blue if the value indicator is going to stay.
That said, there are still two issues I've yet to figure out:
1. I've yet to add the background behind the text label. This is not a big deal with dark wallpaper, as you can see in the pic. But, with lighter wallpaper it looks like sh*t (see earlier screenshot).
2. Because this is merely an edited Market App there is a good chance the Marketplace will still prompt for an update if there is one. I need to figure out how to remove whatever signature is there to prevent that.
Needless to say, I'm still working on it... But, since it is currently usable with a dark wallpaper, I've added a link so you can download and use it while I figure the rest out.
link removed (updated versions in later posts)
Will install now, and let you know what I think in the morning.
Thanks so much for the effort!
Also, with appbrain, it is easy to tell it "ignore market updates"
When an update is found, click on the X and it is an option.
Very quick feedback-
If auto is set in the HTC settings, it overrides the slider in about half a second.
If I turn off auto in HTC settings, then slider works as expected.
Is there a way to make this compatible with "auto"?
I use auto most of the time, except in the dark, when auto is still too bright.
Genius. Thanks for sharing. Works great!
PS A little blue in the center wouldn't be bad. Would go along with the other HTC Settings widgets better.
Either way though, this is a great little tool.
yeah I think this is awesome, cant wait to see how it goes with the little fixes you wanted.
Great job!

Hubs layout and Nova prime

I'm bored and looking to do a Hubs layout on my N7. I use Nova prime and would prefer not to switch. I'm also trying to get Simple Text to work properly. So, I have a couple questions as I've started looking at this.
1) I followed this tutorial http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1232359 but it uses a different launcher, where you can use "catalogs". Nova doesn't have this feature. Wondering if I create a folder with all my apps in it, "hide" it with a blank icon (per the vid), would it show up like the catalog does in the tut? Has anyone used Nova prime for Hubs?
2) I like the idea of using word instead of icons, like this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1786323. When I use Simple Text, my word icons are pretty small, no matter the size of the text I select. If I use a large font, it squeezes it to fit into the smaller space (if that makes sense). I'm guessing it's squeezing it to 64x64. I have changed my DPI, wondering if that is my issue (why it looks so small).
Any tips for a Nova prime user?
Hmm, am I the *only* person attempting to do a Hubs layout using Nova prime???
I'd like to know this as well. I also use Nova Prime and I don't really want to switch to anything else, as I love Nova.
Still, I just may play around with this and see what I can do. If I run into anything interesting I'll let you know.
Edit : Maybe these will help?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAsEQTpgAtA
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=40208837&postcount=4543
This guy has done a really nice job with his N7, and he's running Nova, too.
ynrozturk said:
I'd like to know this as well. I also use Nova Prime and I don't really want to switch to anything else, as I love Nova.
Still, I just may play around with this and see what I can do. If I run into anything interesting I'll let you know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, since I had little response, I just kept playing around. I *think* I have what I need. I've only been playing with features, etc, I have not completed this as of yet. But here's what I've found:
I've locked Nova to landscape
Removed margins from Nova settings
Create the black/gray bar as the tutorial states, using Minimalistic Text.
Create a new Simple Text widget, 2x1 horizontal. The action (or whatever it's called) would be to goto page #x, where x is the page you want the word link to go to.
Make sure you allow widgets to overlap in Nova settings.
That would get the bar with word links to whatever page you need. Now, for catalogs. I have not found a way to really replicate it. But, what I've tried is to create a folder of apps, replace this icon with a transparent icon, then place this icon "behind" whichever word you want to show the catalog (or in this case the folder). If you're following the video, then when you're on the games page, you have a transparent folder for "games" that you place behind the "games" Minimalistic Text. Since you're on the "games" page, it won't be a link to a page, but since you've put the transparent folder behind it, when you click the text, it will pop-up the folder. Now, this folder is not as pretty as the catalog, but it is essentially the same.
Now, to answer my question #2 - I was attempting to replace a folder icon with Simple Text icon. Well, this would squeeze it down quite a bit. Instead, create a Simple Text widget (2x1 or 2x2) as described above. Then, it can be resized as needed.
Again, I've only begun to play with this, but I think this should work as expected and hopefully get us (us as in Nova users) on our way. :fingers-crossed:
I noticed you added some links while I was replying - I'll check those out to see what those have to show. Thanks!
cyberpac9 said:
I noticed you added some links while I was replying - I'll check those out to see what those have to show. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, thanks for your reply too. I'm at work now so when I get home at night I'll have a go at this and post the results - if they don't suck
Okay, so I pretty much did this. Did all the wallpapers, which took forever, then made all the text icons, which took another forever. End result, I didn't like it. While it looks cool I suppose, it pretty much gets ruined and goes all awkward whenever you change your screen orientation. I had already thought of that, but I thought, how bad can it be? Well, it certainly annoyed me, and I uninstalled all the crap I put on there and went back to the way it was. It's just more functional this way.
Also having the wallpaper change on every screen irritated me for some reason. Like nothing was consistent anymore. Anyway, I didn't like it.
ynrozturk said:
Okay, so I pretty much did this. Did all the wallpapers, which took forever, then made all the text icons, which took another forever. End result, I didn't like it. While it looks cool I suppose, it pretty much gets ruined and goes all awkward whenever you change your screen orientation. I had already thought of that, but I thought, how bad can it be? Well, it certainly annoyed me, and I uninstalled all the crap I put on there and went back to the way it was. It's just more functional this way.
Also having the wallpaper change on every screen irritated me for some reason. Like nothing was consistent anymore. Anyway, I didn't like it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you save the settings and icons when using Simple Text? That should greatly reduce the time, I imagine. Also, in my earlier reply, I suggested locking it to landscape - simply because rotation would ruin the layout. Or, lock it to portrait, whichever you prefer. Locking the homescreen(s) doesn't affect apps. So, I can lock the homesreen to landscape, open my e-reader app and rotate to portrait, no issues.
But, if it wasn't a good layout for you, then these suggestions mean nothing. I'm still gonna give it a try - as soon as I find the time this weekend.
Give it a shot, you might like it, but it just wasn't for me personally. I felt like I'd be serving the tablet more by tweaking it for hours and hours rather than it serving me. I don't know, just didn't click with me.
Hope yours turns out better
As you can tell from the earlier post, I had to play around with the things to figure it out (Simple Text specifically). But after I had it all figured out, it probably took 45 mins top to get it setup. I like it locked in landscape, so I'm good to go that way. And with a nandroid backup, I don't have to worry about redoing this, I can just restore it.
Now, I have to do my wife's N7 as she loves what I've done. Note to self: never show the wife my cool ideas, as she'll want them too.

[Q] Which is better for performance: one big widget or many smaller widgets?

Hi all,
From a processing overhead and memory standpoint, I was wondering if it's better to have one big widget or many smaller widgets. I have a big widget that has a lot of functionality, but I've noticed that it tends to make my phone (Galaxy Note 3) jumpy, especially in things like games. If I remove the widget from my home screen, everything smooths back out. I know that Zooper takes all of the widget elements and renders them as a single unit, so I didn't know if maybe it would help smooth things out if I broke the widget up into smaller ones. Or would that just make it worse?
Thanks,
Jeremy
Sorry to hi-jack but have a similar question
Is it would be better to have one app, say zooper or UCCW taking care of all my widget or many app, Zooper, UCCW, simple calendar, beautifull widget. And in addition, one big widget or many small... would be on a lg g3.
Any hint?
Well I found that one big widget does a few things.
Multiple widget configuration:
First. A bunch of small widgets have redraw issues (widget disappears then redraws on the screen and reappears) Especially if widgets overlap.
Second. It becomes a nightmare for hotspots to not overlap.
Third. There's quit a few issues with which widget to keep up front and which widget to move to back. (Becomes a juggling act getting everything just right)
One big widget with lots of modules:
First. Way easier to make a apk for playstore.
Second: Very little redraw issues.
Third. Way easier to make multiple different colored versions of the same screen.
Fourth: Can get very confusing to yourself and others if you didn't name the modules as you went along.
Fifth: if you share your creation, the end user will need to change there background to add close as possible to your widget color, because there will be some type of margin somewhere on that screen, even if set to none.
So in conclusion, I find better performance with full screen pages. It makes my life easier. Plus list glitches from redraw.
Of course your milage will very though.
thinker5555 said:
Hi all,
From a processing overhead and memory standpoint, I was wondering if it's better to have one big widget or many smaller widgets. I have a big widget that has a lot of functionality, but I've noticed that it tends to make my phone (Galaxy Note 3) jumpy, especially in things like games. If I remove the widget from my home screen, everything smooths back out. I know that Zooper takes all of the widget elements and renders them as a single unit, so I didn't know if maybe it would help smooth things out if I broke the widget up into smaller ones. Or would that just make it worse?
Thanks,
Jeremy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As someone who cut down from over 30 individual Zooper widgets to 9 large-ish ones, I'll have to say that I strongly prefer fewer larger ones. Previously, Nova often crashed and notified me it was due to any one of the 30 or so Zoopers which had crossed the limit of my device.
Furthermore, as @sandman7793 says quite rightly, redraws are a pretty major issue whenever booting up or switching between apps/homescreen pages.
In addition, it is much easier to manage large number of modules in fewer widget than jumping to and fro between several smaller ones to copy a slight adjustment you may have made to one of them. Simply put: fewer widgets, fewer hassle.
Thanks for the info. Guide me in one direction. As for battery life, one better than the other, since you tried both ways?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app
ere1nion said:
Thanks for the info. Guide me in one direction. As for battery life, one better than the other, since you tried both ways?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, it's a bit hard to tell. I never tested Zooper in isolation for its effect on battery life. However, based on the performance improvements with fewer widgets, including decreased redraw issues and just fewer homescreen widgets to power at any one time, I'd say fewer widgets of little variety probably has better battery life (although, the effect may be minimal to none at all).
Is it possible to have one widget cover the entire screen? I thought 4x4 was the biggest available.
Also, is there a way of combining two widgets into one? For example, I have a 4x1 weather widget and a 4x3 weather bitmap icon which, by the sounds of it, would work better as a single widget.
TheStretchedElf said:
Is it possible to have one widget cover the entire screen? I thought 4x4 was the biggest available.
Also, is there a way of combining two widgets into one? For example, I have a 4x1 weather widget and a 4x3 weather bitmap icon which, by the sounds of it, would work better as a single widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is possible to have one widget over the entire screen, but it may depend on your launcher. Some launchers, like Lightning, Nova and Themer, allow for easy resizing of widgets to be as big or as small as you want. The best way to do it is to place a new Zooper widget on your home screen, and before you tap it to start editing it, resize it to the size you want. Then when you go into edit mode, Zooper will pick up on that size and behave accordingly. For example, I have a 6x5 and a 6x3, neither of which are available options when dropping a new widget initially.
As for combining widgets, I haven't found a good way of doing that yet. I think you'd have to create a new widget, import the one with the most elements into it, and then manually create the rest of the elements from the other widget and configure them. An alternative may be to export the .xml for both of them to a computer and add the two together there. This way you should at least be able to get all of the elements into one widget, but then when you load it into Zooper, you'll need to move the elements around because they'll probably overlap at that point.
Other than that, if someone knows of a better way, I'd be happy to hear it.
Referring back to my original question that kicked this thread off, thanks to everyone for your input. @sandman7793 especially had some great points, which I really appreciate. I've done some more digging, and it looks like some of my performance issue was actually related to Greenify rather than Zooper. I was seeing jumpiness in things like games because I had them under my list of apps to forcibly keep hibernated. Oops. Once I figured that out, everything is working smooth again.

Zero Launcher on Note PRO 12.2

Hello, I like TouchWiz but I want to have some changes. I tried Zero Launcher and kind of like it. The only issue I have is that it does not switch between portrait and landscape modes. Anybody knows how to do it? I have turning on and switching works under apps such as those for pdf viewing. However, on home screen, I cannot get the orientation turning works.
Anybody knows how to set the theme to IOS-like?
Some launchers make it an option to hold portrait or rotate when in the launcher, did you check for that option in your launcher settings?
krabman said:
Some launchers make it an option to hold portrait or rotate when in the launcher, did you check for that option in your launcher settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes.
petercohen said:
Yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
'Yes'...and then what? Now I'm curious too! What did you find on Zero?
I haven't downloaded a single launcher for my Note Pro yet and one of the reasons for that is that as a beginner with those apps, I need better explanations than I see at the app store and the developers' websites offer no additional help. Most of them don't even bother to answer an e-mail. That said, I am grateful to you all here for having taught me so many of the right questions to ask; that's another thing that beginners seldom know.
I hope you'll come back soon and tell us what you found. I almost never use 'portrait' view on my tablet, won't download apps for it that insist on using it and can see no use for a launcher that would give me trouble getting out of it. I'm still shopping for the right launcher and I come to every thread here that mentions one.
Thanks again for a very good question.
The only way you're going to find a Launcher you like is to install them and try them. If you don't like it, uninstall it and you're right back where you started. Installing a launcher isn't going to mess anything up, so just try some. Try all of them. You might like more than one, decide to keep changing them, and you'll never get tired of your tablet.
Rolldog said:
The only way you're going to find a Launcher you like is to install them and try them. If you don't like it, uninstall it and you're right back where you started. Installing a launcher isn't going to mess anything up, so just try some. Try all of them. You might like more than one, decide to keep changing them, and you'll never get tired of your tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's reassuring! In fact I was wondering if I would 'mess anything up' if I did that. The Note Pro is not only my first big tablet: it is my first tablet ever. Unless we also call my Galaxy Note 4 phone a tablet as it does function as one and still I got that not long before the Note Pro. I've lived out in the boonies for over 30 years and got used to the bare minimum in 'under-served' parts of the country. I didn't get greedy till last year and Verizon helped me to upgrade my old flip phone and join the 21st century. I've about worn out my laptop and needed to diversify and of course I'm still having to learn a completely different kind of OS and hardware to do that so I can treat my new friends well. That's taking me a while, as you can tell, but it's not for lack of effort.
Is there some app in the playstore that makes switching back and forth between launchers a little more......streamlined? Should I keep my TouchWiz default whilst I'm doing all the experimenting until I find one I want to keep for a while? I got the cautious mindset from older PC's and hangups or blue screens when I tried to run something too big, and too new, for my hardware, especially, in my experience, when it came to graphics so I really have been afraid of getting into trouble. If I tried switching my whole GUI a half dozen times in one night on a Vista laptop, I'd be reinstalling the whole system by morning, lol.
And then there is OP's question: I admit I rather thought that any developers regularly updating their launchers would be adding the 'rotating' flexibility by default, particularly as large-screen tablets have come out. A lot of apps I've tried (and later dumped) haven't caught up with that, of course, but I didn't think a popular launcher, the principle function of which is the display, would be among them. Now I know what to call it, thanks to OP, I'll look for it on the list of 'features' in the playstore.
There's probably launcher managers out there, I recall using one once a few years back but since it's easy enough to dive into Settings-General-Default Applications-Home and change it I prefer not to load yet another application that has the potential to stay cached/memory resident just for that purpose.
Trying out different launchers won't impact the device much, when you switch back to stock Touchwiz based launcher all of your widgets and icon layouts will be there waiting for you. My advice is to just do one launcher at a time, if you don't like it uninstall it rather than collecting several and switching between them . . the more you load the system down the more risk you have should a launcher you decide to not use has services associated with it that still run or cache themselves in the background taking up resources.
As for screen rotation, the rotation of home screens between portrait and landscape is not my cup of tea. Widgets scale when you rotate to try to adjust for the new aspect ratio that rotation forces upon them and this results in stretch/compression that is unappealing to me. What I use is a rotation manager like Ultimate Rotation Control to force "auto landscape" mode such that my tablet can be used in either landscape orientation (home button up or down) while preserving the ability of all other apps to have the freedom to go portrait or landscape.
muzzy996 said:
There's probably launcher managers out there, I recall using one once a few years back but since it's easy enough to dive into Settings-General-Default Applications-Home and change it I prefer not to load yet another application that has the potential to stay cached/memory resident just for that purpose.
Trying out different launchers won't impact the device much, when you switch back to stock Touchwiz based launcher all of your widgets and icon layouts will be there waiting for you. My advice is to just do one launcher at a time, if you don't like it uninstall it rather than collecting several and switching between them . . the more you load the system down the more risk you have should a launcher you decide to not use has services associated with it that still run or cache themselves in the background taking up resources.
As for screen rotation, the rotation of home screens between portrait and landscape is not my cup of tea. Widgets scale when you rotate to try to adjust for the new aspect ratio that rotation forces upon them and this results in stretch/compression that is unappealing to me. What I use is a rotation manager like Ultimate Rotation Control to force "auto landscape" mode such that my tablet can be used in either landscape orientation (home button up or down) while preserving the ability of all other apps to have the freedom to go portrait or landscape.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. I got Nova today and I'll work with it a while before I think of trying another. I might put another one on my phone so I can learn how to use two of them at once. Now I have a couple of 'dumb questions:'
Do you mean locking just the Home screen so when you hit that button it takes you right back to landscape without you having to physically turn the tablet into position and slant it forward in a quick dip (at least I have to do) to make it go back to landscape? Some apps I've downloaded not only insist on going to portrait mode, they hang up my orientation for a few seconds after I've hit that Home button so then I always have to pick the tablet up and do that dip towards me to make it cooperate.
The few that were especially bad about this, I dumped. Clean Master pulled that on me with its battery checker whenever the screen was idle for a while and I got tired of hitting the back button to get my home page back. - especially since I can't see where it is at night and don't always hit it right.
I don't use a lot of lights at night and I know that's the main problem. It's too many years of working by lantern light at night and saving my solar power for the computer and even though I've moved and have grid electricity the last few years now, I'm still way out in the sticks, no 'light pollution,' and can't change the habit of letting it go ahead and be dark at night. Brightly lit rooms when it's 2 in the morning just feel weird and always remind me of my wild youth when night spots would hit the lights at closing time to shoo everybody out. (it worked too, didn't it?)
Now there's a 'widget' I'd like to find, or an app that follows me around: an alternative to that back button. It illuminates only when I hit it right so I'm constantly tapping around the general area trying to find it. I suppose it would drain my battery a little faster if it were lit up all the time but I really do need a way to solve this, since I'm not going to cure myself of all-nighters with my beloved machines. I've been looking at some likely little apps for that today, made for those whose buttons are worn out or not working, but I haven't found one yet that's been updated in the last year. Have you any recommendations? This is just for my tablet. My Note 4 is small enough so it's harder to get it wrong - and I got the white model and a lurid fuschia otter box case so I'm bound to see it easily.
Next dumb question: is there a way to access the Settings faster than apps button and scrolling through the apps in order to get to it? That's as good as saying I've downloaded too many apps if it takes me that long and I fear that's the case. Maybe a launcher will allow me to put a link to it on the Home screen? As you've said, it's a more economical use of resources to go to Settings and do my own errands instead of installing yet another app; I just wish getting there didn't take me so long. TouchWiz isn't going to let me put that icon among the A's.
Samsung (at least according to them when I asked them) won't let me put more than one language on my GUI - well if it's the same alphabet and I give up accents and tone marks, I can be creative in naming my app folders but that's all. They said I had to change the whole interface if I tried to enable another language. (They also offer Thai but discriminate against Lao so I had to go download a whole different application for that keyboard! I had to do the same just to enable one Welsh circumflex. Ridiculous. ) I can't even think in just one language! My dogs and cats are fluent by now in at least 5 of them. Are launchers a bit more open-minded? I understand I can run individual applications in as many languages as they offer, for they are 'self-contained' but sometimes, I like to change names, menus, options or widgets to different things just to keep my mental edge. I can't even display documents I've imported to the tablet that are in languages not available on my Samsung list. I have the Hancom Office and that has the fonts for them but they won't display and I sure can't edit them in those languages. Is there some simple way to manage this dilemma that I'm missing?
Best to not take this thread off topic . . suggest you ask the other questions in a separate thread that you create in the troubleshooting or general forum.
I will say this - the ultimate rotation control application does allow you to force ANY application into an orientation of your chosing which includes the launcher. So yes, if I'm in an app that's portrait and I'm holding the tablet in that portrait orientation when I hit the HOME button my tablet goes into landscape due to the rotation control app overriding the orientation sensors in the tablet.
muzzy996 said:
Best to not take this thread off topic . . suggest you ask the other questions in a separate thread that you create in the troubleshooting or general forum.
I will say this - the ultimate rotation control application does allow you to force ANY application into an orientation of your chosing which includes the launcher. So yes, if I'm in an app that's portrait and I'm holding the tablet in that portrait orientation when I hit the HOME button my tablet goes into landscape due to the rotation control app overriding the orientation sensors in the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good. Thanks. I found that app just now. I will post a thread about the language mix-ups. I just joined here yesterday and don't know my way around yet, but the first thing I noticed is that your membership here covers the globe and I can't possibly be the only one here who's run into this problem.
I have another rotation-related question and it's probably a dumb one too but it occurred to me because my Note 4 and my Note Pro had different rotation issues and I chose different ways of fixing them. For the tablet, I installed Ultimate Rotate Controller because I only wanted to lock my Home sceen in landscape. On the other hand, I didn't want my phone to spontaneously switch to landscape when I was holding it, as it often did, especially if I got a call because the landscape view made those 'accept' and 'reject' buttons harder to see and harder to hit right. So, I went into Settings, Display and unchecked the box for screen rotation to stop that. It worked. So my question is:
Is this kind of thing actually set by the device 'Settings' and not by the Touchwiz launcher? If you've set your device to disallow screen rotation, wouldn't that hold no matter what launcher you used? Or not?
pawpowered said:
I have another rotation-related question and it's probably a dumb one too but it occurred to me because my Note 4 and my Note Pro had different rotation issues and I chose different ways of fixing them. For the tablet, I installed Ultimate Rotate Controller because I only wanted to lock my Home sceen in landscape. On the other hand, I didn't want my phone to spontaneously switch to landscape when I was holding it, as it often did, especially if I got a call because the landscape view made those 'accept' and 'reject' buttons harder to see and harder to hit right. So, I went into Settings, Display and unchecked the box for screen rotation to stop that. It worked. So my question is:
Is this kind of thing actually set by the device 'Settings' and not by the Touchwiz launcher? If you've set your device to disallow screen rotation, wouldn't that hold no matter what launcher you used? Or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using system settings or the quick settings toggle for rotation in the notification tray is a system wide lock of rotation. If your goal is to lock a launcher to a specific rotation then look within the settings of the launcher itself. Some launchers will have a setting to lock orientation, nova does for example. Doing it within the launchers own settings only affects home screen and application tray, not other screens like the call or dialer screen.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
muzzy996 said:
Using system settings or the quick settings toggle for rotation in the notification tray is a system wide lock of rotation. If your goal is to lock a launcher to a specific rotation then look within the settings of the launcher itself. Some launchers will have a setting to lock orientation, nova does for example. Doing it within the launchers own settings only affects home screen and application tray, not other screens like the call or dialer screen.
Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for clarifying that! Going to system settings looked like the only option to try, long before I started thinking of launchers - or even thinking of Touchwiz as a separate entity. (the Note 4 was my first Android phone too ) It seemed worth the trouble to go back and allow that rotation again at my leisure, when I wasn't doing something risky like driving down the road. Mother always happens to call me when I'm driving back from town on dark mountain roads, so that was about the first thing I learned to do on my phone. Verizon has recently informed me that I can now make and receive calls on my tablet, which brings me to a question only peripherally related, pun intended:
Would you direct me to a thread here, if you happen to know of one, discussing appropriate headsets, something more up to date, for my phone and tablet? I don't know what to call them or the names of the best brands. I only have a 6-year-old little ear piece that I got for my old flip phone and almost never used and it may not be up to the job for these newer devices.
I saw some games to play with your cats on the playstore last night that you use your phone to control - and then your cats get to jump all over your tablet. If you can do that much, could you also affect the screen orientation of your tablet with your phone?
OP, have you tried this launcher: Live Launcher? I saw it on SlideME tonight and it has the 3D effects. It's free.
http://slideme.org/application/live-launcher

Three little "problems" I found using the OnePlus 5T

Hey guys,
while I'm extremely happy with the phone (awesome screen, perfect fingerprint location IMO, general form factor), I've come across three little problems:
1.) The biggest "flaw": Using another launcher / wallpaper than the stock one causes the face-unlock to be slower. And if you set another launcher / wallpaper, there will be a noticeable delay when you turn on the screen: The wallpaper will take longer to appear on the screen than everything else.
2.) The time between hitting the power button on the right / using the double-tap-to-wake feature and the screen actually turning on is almost a second. Coming from the 3T btw, where it almost felt instant.
3.) I'm not sure whether it's a flaw but it's just something that looks strange: The greyish navbar when using a dark-themed app. (I wouldn't really call this a problem, it's just a consistency flaw you notice, while operating the phone.
So first of all: Do you have the same impressions? It might very well just be my phone and you don't encounter these problems. But in another thread I already read about the face-unlock time taking longer, when using another launcher / wallpaper.
Thanks in advance for any replies and experiences!
Sangraphim said:
Hey guys,
while I'm extremely happy with the phone (awesome screen, perfect fingerprint location IMO, general form factor), I've come across three little problems:
1.) The biggest "flaw": Using another launcher / wallpaper than the stock one causes the face-unlock to be slower. And if you set another launcher / wallpaper, there will be a noticeable delay when you turn on the screen: The wallpaper will take longer to appear on the screen than everything else.
2.) The time between hitting the power button on the right / using the double-tap-to-wake feature and the screen actually turning on is almost a second. Coming from the 3T btw, where it almost felt instant.
3.) I'm not sure whether it's a flaw but it's just something that looks strange: The greyish navbar when using a dark-themed app. (I wouldn't really call this a problem, it's just a consistency flaw you notice, while operating the phone.
So first of all: Do you have the same impressions? It might very well just be my phone and you don't encounter these problems. But in another thread I already read about the face-unlock time taking longer, when using another launcher / wallpaper.
Thanks in advance for any replies and experiences!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I do not have the problem using Nova Launcher
2} I press the power button the screen appears in less than half a second
3) I do not have that problem but I only have two dark themed apps
Sent from my OnePlus 5 using XDA Labs
Like this
Sent from my OnePlus 5 using XDA Labs
There's an app in the play store called Navbar Apps which can fix the navbar colour issue. Doesn't even need root!
Lum_UK said:
There's an app in the play store called Navbar Apps which can fix the navbar colour issue. Doesn't even need root!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Lum_UK, but I already tried that one. I find it to be a bit slow in overlaying the "correct" color, i.e. the overlay isn't always there from the beginning when opening an app.
And I'm not interested in rooting anymore.
You can force it to just black in that app, which may be preferable to the grey, and avoids the delay issue.
Otherwise, probably not much you can do unless a future OOS adds new options.
Use gallery to set ur wallpapers, do lockscreen 1st then homescreen, don't do both. Using Action Launcher
Bradl79 said:
Use gallery to set ur wallpapers, do lockscreen 1st then homescreen, don't do both. Using Action Launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't change anything for me
Sangraphim said:
Doesn't change anything for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What launcher r u using
So far I tried Nova, Lawnchair and the stock launcher. I'm encountering this problem with Nova and Lawnchair, not with the stock one. But if I set a custom wallpaper in the stock launcher, the wallpaper-appearing-delay is also there.
Sangraphim said:
So far I tried Nova, Lawnchair and the stock launcher. I'm encountering this problem with Nova and Lawnchair, not with the stock one. But if I set a custom wallpaper in the stock launcher, the wallpaper-appearing-delay is also there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tbh I think the only thing that will be useful is a factory reset
Sent from my OnePlus 5 using XDA Labs
Sangraphim said:
1.) The biggest "flaw": Using another launcher / wallpaper than the stock one causes the face-unlock to be slower. And if you set another launcher / wallpaper, there will be a noticeable delay when you turn on the screen: The wallpaper will take longer to appear on the screen than everything else.
2.) The time between hitting the power button on the right / using the double-tap-to-wake feature and the screen actually turning on is almost a second. Coming from the 3T btw, where it almost felt instant.
3.) I'm not sure whether it's a flaw but it's just something that looks strange: The greyish navbar when using a dark-themed app. (I wouldn't really call this a problem, it's just a consistency flaw you notice, while operating the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
#2 is because of face unlock. Disable it and it will be instant.
Personally i use ambient display + lift up display so when i pick the phone i can see the clock and if needed, the double tap to wake in that screen is instant too
Sangraphim said:
Thanks Lum_UK, but I already tried that one. I find it to be a bit slow in overlaying the "correct" color, i.e. the overlay isn't always there from the beginning when opening an app.
And I'm not interested in rooting anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can turn off the animation in Navbar Apps as well. That way the correct color will load much faster.
I don't use Face Unlock, but everything turns on instantly for me.
However, the nav bar color oscuro the worst and I can't wait to get back to a good AOSP firmware. OxygenOS is great and all but missing very important features I just can't live (comfortably) without.
fuarkgl3 said:
#2 is because of face unlock. Disable it and it will be instant.
Personally i use ambient display + lift up display so when i pick the phone i can see the clock and if needed, the double tap to wake in that screen is instant too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right! This means bye-bye then to face unlock, unless this is fixed. I'm using smart lock anyway. :good:
Thank you for all your replies so far! They really were helpful!
Now could you still say something about "problem" #1? Do you observe the same or is it different? So if you use another launcher / wallpaper, will the wallpaper take longer to load then everything else?
1. agreed, same exact issue here.
2. i dont have that issue. both FP and FU are pretty much instant. sounds strange. maybe factory reset is really the way to go.
3. yea i agree, not optimal.
Hey guys,
I just wanted to give a heads up to you: I just discovered how to avoid the 'wallpaper-lag' while turning the screen on when using a non-stock wallpaper or non-stock launcher:
1. Force stop the OnePlus launcher.
2. Uninstall any updates to it.
3. Use the launcher you like. (Tested with lawnchairs and Nova)
At least for me, the wallpaper lag is gone!
Sangraphim said:
Hey guys,
while I'm extremely happy with the phone (awesome screen, perfect fingerprint location IMO, general form factor), I've come across three little problems:
1.) The biggest "flaw": Using another launcher / wallpaper than the stock one causes the face-unlock to be slower. And if you set another launcher / wallpaper, there will be a noticeable delay when you turn on the screen: The wallpaper will take longer to appear on the screen than everything else.
2.) The time between hitting the power button on the right / using the double-tap-to-wake feature and the screen actually turning on is almost a second. Coming from the 3T btw, where it almost felt instant.
3.) I'm not sure whether it's a flaw but it's just something that looks strange: The greyish navbar when using a dark-themed app. (I wouldn't really call this a problem, it's just a consistency flaw you notice, while operating the phone.
So first of all: Do you have the same impressions? It might very well just be my phone and you don't encounter these problems. But in another thread I already read about the face-unlock time taking longer, when using another launcher / wallpaper.
Thanks in advance for any replies and experiences!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For 1) and 2) : Did you force stop the oneplus launcher? No lag here..
edit, I see @Sangraphim already posted this right above this post
Sangraphim said:
Hey guys,
I just wanted to give a heads up to you: I just discovered how to avoid the 'wallpaper-lag' while turning the screen on when using a non-stock wallpaper or non-stock launcher:
1. Force stop the OnePlus launcher.
2. Uninstall any updates to it.
3. Use the launcher you like. (Tested with lawnchairs and Nova)
At least for me, the wallpaper lag is gone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me this doesn't solve the problem. If the wallpaper is set through another launcher (Nova in my case) and if I use Nova, when using face unlock, i first see the lock screen for some split seconds and then it unlocks. If the lockscreen wallpaper is set through the OnePlus launcher itself, it skips the split seconds on the lockscreen completely and goes directly onto the homescreen which feels much more instantaneous. Also if I'm using a live wallpaper, like the nice new Pixel wallpapers which I wanted to use, the problem occurs even when setting the wallpaper through the OnePlus launcher and when using OnePlus launcher itself.
I've uninstalled the OnePlus launcher updates and tried to force stop it (although this wasn't possible as it seemingly wasn't even started to begin with), but nothing changed.
And yes, the wallpaper will often times take longer to appear on the screen than everything else, exactly like Dimitry from Hardware Canucks demoed in his review:
https://youtu.be/Kf93Nz_bgFs?t=7m48s
This looks very glitchy in my opinion but is of course rather nitpicky.
And as Sangraphim said, the time between hitting the power button on the right / using the double-tap-to-wake feature and the screen actually turning on is definetly prolonged when using face unlock - but that's probably by design I guess, because it starts the front camera first and waits a bit to detect a face before actually turning on the screen.

Categories

Resources