Since Verizon blocked/removed the Theme, User Profile, and Smart Settings features on the G4, does anyone know of any third party apps to use as a replacement or how one could retrieve those features somehow?
I use tasker to do most the things start settings does. Theming and user profiles will be harder to replace - maybe with root and copying the right files in.
Related
Anybody able to modify the messaging apk and people apk to not display contact pictures, having an empty generic box makes me cringe. I used to use GoSMS but I'd rather not have to use any third party apps to make this happen.
Thanks.
I did it and it's a real pain in the arse.
I had to make substantial changes to Contacts.apk and Phone.apk and was still only about to remove about 80% of the pictures. I got rid of them in the important places though.
However, maintaining those changes across versions was going to be impractical so I searched for an alternative...
...and found it in exDialer with the Alternative ICS theme. Using that you can toggle pictures off.
So I stopped working on modifying the stock apps.
I switched over to Cyanogenmod, and am looking for a resizable photo frame widget similar to the stock touchwiz one. I am preferably looking for one that does not have any unneeded permissions (Although I can find ways around that if need be)
I would like this because I like to keep a picture of my cat and my best friend on one of my homescreens.
Purple Ferret said:
I switched over to Cyanogenmod, and am looking for a resizable photo frame widget similar to the stock touchwiz one. I am preferably looking for one that does not have any unneeded permissions (Although I can find ways around that if need be)
I would like this because I like to keep a picture of my cat and my best friend on one of my homescreens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.greenturtles.photoframe&hl=en
I like it because it allows me to set a certain folder as the album source to have on slideshow.
I checked that one out. One of the permissions concerns me though, namely
READ PHONE STATUS AND IDENTITY
Allows the app to access the phone features of the device. This permission allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call.
Why would it need this? It seems unwarranted for a Picture Frame to know my phone number and device ID's. I suppose with some sort of Permissions-Denied Esque app I could change this or deny that permission though.
Yea not too sure about that permission, but Ive been using it for a while without any problems
Does it come in multiple sizes. I mean Nova Launcher can resize them and all, but I was just curious if it did. I also found a Gridlike one somewhat like the HTC which needs very few permissions, and thats only for some features on it I will never actually use.
Either way, Permissions Denied can solve this problem
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)
I need to have 3 contact groups, Family, Friends, Work. In the past I have used an old app called smart shortcuts, I could add a shortcut for each folder to my home screen, It works buts its a huge pain.
There has to be a better way
Someone must have a better way?
Thanks
Maybe try a different launcher, I have groups in Nova Launcher for contacts, media apps, social networks apps, etc.
I second trying Nova launcher. A lot of these kind of features are available and built-in. I was always an Apex user, but it just didn't seem to work as well/smoothly with Oreo and S9... they haven't updated it much in the past few years. Nova on the other hand is extremely smooth.
Have you considered using the "edge" feature? It seems to be designed for exactly what you're looking for, without having to put shortcuts on the desktop.
I do use the edge feature for favorite/family contacts but I have something like 80 work contacts I need a seperate shortcut for and another for about 20 friends
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.