Just upgraded to the Verizon LG G3 from Samsung S3. Overall, not displeased though some things are bugging me. At the moment it's 2 specific things about the contact app. I'm attaching a few sample images for reference.
On the S3, when listing contacts, if there were joined records, it would list an icon for the source of the data (Ex. Phone, Google, Facebook). On the G3, there is no such indication until you actually open the contact up. Then it does show you. I liked knowing where the data came from before I opened it up. Was a nice highlight.
On the S3, when editing joined contacts, there was a tab for each source at the top. Pick the tab you wanted and you could edit just that info in the screen below. Was very clean. On the G3, it's one long scrolling list. Each section is separated by a drop down that shows where it comes from but it's really not friendly at all.
Can the stock app be modifed to function this way? Are there alternate apps that can be installed to provide the same kinda of look/feel? Overall, I don't mind the color differences. If I had to choose one over the other, I'd rather have tabs when editting the contacts since I can still see what sources are joined when the contact is selected.
I am rooted using the stock B3 ROM and have blocked OTA Updates so I have no risk of losing root. Not really interested in installing other ROMs, just tweaking the few app interfaces that bug me. Using APEX Launcher, not that I think it matters but putting it out there just in case.
Custom Phone label missing too
AGH!! Today I found out that on contact stored directly on your phone, the option to choose a CUSTOM label for a phone entry and type your own is also missing. It existed on the Samsung S3 AND it exists on the LG G2 but it's completely missing on the LG G3. It is available on the Google contacts but I store most of my contacts on the phone and let Verizon back them up. As a result any phone #s that Verizon restored to my phone that used a Custom label don't show up now in those contacts..
Add that to the list of things I'm find wrong with the contacts app shipped with Verizon's LG G3. Confirmed this is the case with LG Support. They basically said "Oops, yeah you're right. I'll forward it on to the developers for a future update. Would love it if someone here had any ideas to fix these 3 issues.
I'd categorize them as follows:
Custom Label: Missing Feature that should be added back
Tabbed Editting: Improvement to UI
Icons on the list screen: Improvement to UI (not as important)
Related
Is there a way to combine contact list? Im still little new to android phoness (had a Touch Pro 2) and i guess it is set up to show list from your phone and any google account seperate. When i add a new contact i have to choose one list or the other....is there a way to either have both phone list synced/merge or for me to save the new contact on both list? I would really only like to deal with one list is possible. Thanks
it sets it up to show all at once. you can choose to see which account contacts to display but defualt, its all merged
I'm coming from the OG Droid (Android 2.3). There the favorite contacts list was a simple scrollable list.
In ICS 4.0.2 its a ridiculously oversized mosaic with pictures for each contact. I have too many favorites for that to be practical.
Where is the option to change the list from Icons to a Scroll list? Will I be forced to use a 3rd party app for that?
absoluteparanoia said:
I'm coming from the OG Droid (Android 2.3). There the favorite contacts list was a simple scrollable list.
In ICS 4.0.2 its a ridiculously oversized mosaic with pictures for each contact. I have too many favorites for that to be practical.
Where is the option to change the list from Icons to a Scroll list? Will I be forced to use a 3rd party app for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, it's so, so crap isn't it?
And I have almost no contacts with pictures so it looks even worse. I've un-stared all of my contacts for this reason.
I also made some additional mods to the contacts app linked below:
* Removed contact picture from Recent Calls list - now a simple list
* Removed contact pictures from Frequently Called - now a simply list
Since I now have no favourites I don't have the problem you have with that list and my mod does *not* address that sorry... but it might help a bit.
Indeed I have no need for favourites any more because the Frequently Called and Recent Calls lists are sufficient for me.
I may look into the favourites section at some point but as I say, since I don't use them it's not a priority.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10492238/Contacts.apk
Feel free to use this one if you like... it's free!
Whenever I compose a new message in the stock Messaging app, when I enter in a name, I get not only their mobile number, but also their email, their house phone, their work, etc...but I only need to see their mobile. Is there any way to make this happen? I wouldn't like to remove the numbers permanently off my phone (some of them I cannot, they are from facebook).
As far as I can tell, there isn't a way to do this through the phone's options.
The only thing that comes close is this: when choosing names from the contacts list, you can specify a preferred number to use for messaging, but this only appears to apply to choosing names from your contacts. Typing in a name will still suggest all of that person's numbers.
Hmmm, ok. Is there a modification to the messaging app that I could use perhaps? Or, if I were to root my phone (maybe), is there some things I can mess with in the apk to disable this?
To be honest, I don't know. There might be, but I have little experience modifying the system apps.
I did a bit more searching on this issue and it appears there used to be such an option in Android 2.1 or 2.2, but it's missing in 2.3. According to the majority of forum posts I came across, the "solution" to this problem is to install a third-party messaging app like Handcent, which apparently does have an option to filter contacts so that only mobile numbers show up.
Also, I poked around in a decompiled version of Mms.apk (the messaging app) and there doesn't appear to be any easy way to change the current functionality. I think the solution lies in changing what suggestions the app returns when you start typing a name (so instead of returning all numbers/emails, it just returns numbers categorized as mobile), but I can't find what file contains that behavior. I'll keep looking, though.
Ok, thank you for looking. Keep in mind that this is a Samsung phone, and I think they install their own flavor of the MMS app. If you'd like, I can see if I can track down an APK (probably from a rooted Galaxy S II Skyrocket) and send it over to you.
And, If I need to use a different messaging app, is there a way to make it blend in as much as it can, like instead of seeing custom icons/names/ads, seeing something like the stock Messaging shortcut/app.
Hey guys, coming from iPhone world I'm used to some features that kind of shocked me when I got my Galaxy SIII from AT&T. I'm assuming that these features are covered between the version and version 4.2.2, but I am not clear if they are fixed within the droid OS itself, or if it requires a custom/specific ROM image.
The functionality I miss/want is:
Assign specific text tone to a contact (i.e. text messages from GF get ringtone A, text messages from Amazon Delivery Notification Services get ringtone E, etc.)
Calendar events / text message notification option to post on lock screen.
Full image size sending text message with .jpeg/image (they all seem to get compressed to ~200something KB? I'm not sure)
Image zoom within text message app.
Group text messaging (never really got this to work)
I know I can bandaid some of this by leveraging an app like SMS-Pro, but some of those functions require your friends to also use SMSPro (like group chat MMS? I'm not sure about that though) I would also like see features I expected when migrating to Android but did not get. Like expanded ability to assign colors to fonts and themes, recording phone calls, etc.
So in essence my question is if using a ROM package to upgrade to 4.2.2 will indeed bridge the gap on a lot of this stuff, if so, what would a very stable & feature rich one to pick? I don't want to do this many times, as my phone is my life-line and I just need to get it to a point where I can use it for a solid couple years.
Thank you! I very very much appreciate your input!
/Matthew
After many years of using Samsung phones, I just switched to a Google Pixel 3XL (which is rooted with the stock ROM). While the new phone seems to be quite good, there are some minor ‘issues’ that have cropped up – most probably due to my familiarity with the Samsung devices…
Merging contacts: Using MyPhoneExplorer, I imported my Outlook contacts into the phone. I also configured LinkedIn so that those contacts would also go into the contact list. Unlike the Samsung phone, the Pixel did a much better job of merging contacts. However, it missed a few and I cannot figure out how to manually merge them. How is this done?
Keyboard: One of the Samsung features I miss the most is being able to long-press letter keys to get symbols, e.g., long-press ‘a’ to get ‘@’. The Pixel approach of having to switch to a separate keyboard is annoying. Is there some way to enable the long-press functionality?
Image gallery: The default image gallery on the Pixel is Google photos, but I have no interest in sync’ing stuff with the cloud. The Samsung phone came with a really simple gallery app which met my needs. Is there such an app on the Pixel that I missed? If not, what gallery app do you recommend?
Aspect ratio: The ‘images’ for two of my apps, specifically the widget for Weather Underground and Enjoy Sudoku, are elongated – they should be square but are appearing as rectangles. Is there any way to adjust this via settings or is this a fault of the apps?
Autoruns: When my phone reboots, I see notifications that two apps are seeking permissions. However, when I looked to see what apps are autorunning, none are listed. Why this apparent discrepancy? How can I determine which apps are launching after a reboot?
You can change the keyboard settings to show symbol on long pressing,as for Google photo you can turn backup off.
No idea for other things.
groston said:
After many years of using Samsung phones, I just switched to a Google Pixel 3XL (which is rooted with the stock ROM). While the new phone seems to be quite good, there are some minor ‘issues’ that have cropped up – most probably due to my familiarity with the Samsung devices…
Merging contacts: Using MyPhoneExplorer, I imported my Outlook contacts into the phone. I also configured LinkedIn so that those contacts would also go into the contact list. Unlike the Samsung phone, the Pixel did a much better job of merging contacts. However, it missed a few and I cannot figure out how to manually merge them. How is this done?
Keyboard: One of the Samsung features I miss the most is being able to long-press letter keys to get symbols, e.g., long-press ‘a’ to get ‘@’. The Pixel approach of having to switch to a separate keyboard is annoying. Is there some way to enable the long-press functionality?
Image gallery: The default image gallery on the Pixel is Google photos, but I have no interest in sync’ing stuff with the cloud. The Samsung phone came with a really simple gallery app which met my needs. Is there such an app on the Pixel that I missed? If not, what gallery app do you recommend?
Aspect ratio: The ‘images’ for two of my apps, specifically the widget for Weather Underground and Enjoy Sudoku, are elongated – they should be square but are appearing as rectangles. Is there any way to adjust this via settings or is this a fault of the apps?
Autoruns: When my phone reboots, I see notifications that two apps are seeking permissions. However, when I looked to see what apps are autorunning, none are listed. Why this apparent discrepancy? How can I determine which apps are launching after a reboot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Merging contacts: I have a Note 8 too. I personally believe Google contacts does a better job of syncing and merging contacts, specially if sync is on for contacts. If you could play around with it maybe you will find what suits you.
Keyboard: `Long press for symbols` option in keyboard preferences.
Image gallery: Turn the sync off if you don't want it.
Aspect ratio: Try nova launcher and see if it solves it for you.
Autoruns: What apps need what permissions?
groston said:
After many years of using Samsung phones, I just switched to a Google Pixel 3XL (which is rooted with the stock ROM). While the new phone seems to be quite good, there are some minor ‘issues’ that have cropped up – most probably due to my familiarity with the Samsung devices…
Merging contacts: Using MyPhoneExplorer, I imported my Outlook contacts into the phone. I also configured LinkedIn so that those contacts would also go into the contact list. Unlike the Samsung phone, the Pixel did a much better job of merging contacts. However, it missed a few and I cannot figure out how to manually merge them. How is this done?
Keyboard: One of the Samsung features I miss the most is being able to long-press letter keys to get symbols, e.g., long-press ‘a’ to get ‘@’. The Pixel approach of having to switch to a separate keyboard is annoying. Is there some way to enable the long-press functionality?
Image gallery: The default image gallery on the Pixel is Google photos, but I have no interest in sync’ing stuff with the cloud. The Samsung phone came with a really simple gallery app which met my needs. Is there such an app on the Pixel that I missed? If not, what gallery app do you recommend?
Aspect ratio: The ‘images’ for two of my apps, specifically the widget for Weather Underground and Enjoy Sudoku, are elongated – they should be square but are appearing as rectangles. Is there any way to adjust this via settings or is this a fault of the apps?
Autoruns: When my phone reboots, I see notifications that two apps are seeking permissions. However, when I looked to see what apps are autorunning, none are listed. Why this apparent discrepancy? How can I determine which apps are launching after a reboot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download quickpic 3.4.9.1 <-- this version is just a gallery with no backup/syncing in the background its what i use on all my androids, reminds me of samsungs gallery... (or was it huawei) either way.
i use chrooma keyboard, completely customizable. and does exactly what you want
as for merging im pretty sure this can be done on a PC since its easier might want to go to go google contacts on a pc and attempt to do it there.
Thanks for the helpful replies!
Merging contacts: I avoid using Google products (so why did I buy this phone?). I have turned off syncing the contacts on the phone with the cloud, so addressing this issue via the PC won't work. What is odd is that the contacts stored in the phone app are separate from the Contact app. Will keep poking around on the phone, but not finding anything useful...
Keyboard settings - did not dig deeply enough to find this, thanks.
Google Photos - I did turn off sync, but had forgotten to hit the 'Confirm' button - big duh. Now it is working, will heck it out - and QuickPic as well.
Aspect ratio: I am using Nova Launcher.
Autoruns: The two apps seeking permission are Chromium (I have disabled Chrome) and an app from my local utility company.