Related
So, without really knowing what I was getting into, I ended up with the Go Launcher. I like it, gonna see how I like using it instead of the stock GUI.
I had some questions though:
- both this and the kindle launcher are just graphical front-ends for the android OS on here right? They more or less do the same thing?
- Can I safely kill the kindle Launcher process? What else can I stop running if I want better battery life? Also a lot of apps like FB, amazon mp3, etc. seem to keep coming back after I kill them... any fix for this?
- Why's the go launcher built-in wallpaper feature trying to crop the wallpapers to a tiny size instead of allowing the full KF resolution? It was only intended for phones?
I really like the look of GoLauncher EX and some of the widgets. I had it on my phone for a while, but I started realizing it was a huge resource hog. It would routinely eat up 30+MB of ROM and I would get quite a few “not responding” messages, so I went back to ADW. For that very reason, I resisted the urge to run it on the Kindle. I do think the Kindle does a much better job handling the resources than my CM7 Triumph does, so it may be better on it. Yet I can get the look I want with the stock launcher through downloaded wallpapers, icons and ADW themes. The result is that my Kindle is running really smooth on CM7 now.
As to your questions, I think you’re correct on #1. I don’t think you can kill the launcher without causing trouble, and I think that is why it eats up so much Rom and battery. Facebook is like herpes, you won’t be able to kill it without uninstalling it. But that is an app I can live with running in the background.
No idea about the wallpaper problem.
cheers for the reply. So far resources are no issue, and I killed the launcher without any problem (or maybe it quietly comes back)... Now I just need to figure out a book reader I can use within Go... right now I just use the launcher.
Had a weird little issue with my books disappearing, fixed it by moving them from the document folder to the kindle folder.
I dled WallChanger, set it to use a specific folder, works like a charm.
Now I just need a vnc app that moves the mouse to where I touch the screen, vnc ciewer and pocketcloud are tarded about this.
Does anyone know of another APP like Swipe Pad. It's a good APP but it lags a lot when i open an APP.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.conduction.swipepad.android
type R-blood
ReLaunch - Launcher
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fiveprimes.relaunch
Thanks. I tried that re-launcher APP and it works flawlessly. The only issue i have is that you can't remove categories and APP's so it kind makes it overwhelming.
type R-blood
check out wave launcher
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
I have tried a bunch of them, and I always end up coming back to swipepad. Don't even remember the names of the apps I tried but they were a bunch of them
Sent from Flip's S3
Wave launcher didn't want to install for some reason. It keeps FC. But I found this APP that's almost like swipe pad without there lag.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.psc.fukumoto.ArcLauncher
type R-blood
Actionx1 said:
Wave launcher didn't want to install for some reason. It keeps FC. But I found this APP that's almost like swipe pad without there lag.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.psc.fukumoto.ArcLauncher
type R-blood
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats really odd. it installed and worked flawlessly on both my gs3s.
HomeFlip
If your are running 4.0+, HomeFlip could suit you, see thread here.
210 35956245
I am using Smart Task Launcher
id0x12345 said:
If your are running 4.0+, HomeFlip could suit you, see thread here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've loved swipepad but always hated the lag since I had an sgs2 and even when it became faster on my modern phones. This is fast, thanks and I can use both apps.
Although there are a bunch of these, there's nothing quite like SwipePad. I've tried to switch many times and I end up back with SwipePad like an old girlfriend. The only thing is, SwipePad doesn't seem to get updated very much. It took ages for the Lollipop update, and soon after it was done, Marshmallow came along. The context panel no longer works and blacklist also fails to work. It's a tad less responsive to the point that sometimes when you select an app to open, it misses. You have to linger maybe 200 milliseconds. Those things are annoying but even with those annoyances, it's still the best out there by quite a bit. I have two "pads", each with 12 functions. Twenty-four functions is quite enough for me when they are easy to get at and it doesn't require me to switch from Nova Launcher.
seaniedee said:
The context panel no longer works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recently updated my tablet from Kitkat to Marshmallow and realize that "Dynamic Pads: SwipePad add-on" doesn't work as Context Panel. From other reviews in Play Store I get feedback that this problem started a long time ago in Lollipop. Context is shown not for active app, but for active Launcher.
I overcome this problem yourself easily because I have rooted device, I moved "SwipePad Dynamic Pads" app from user apps to system apps. Now it works again as it should. Probably some app's permission restriction in LP/MM...
I know this post is old, however I found it with Google Search.
You can give my app a try, I believe it's the closest thing to SwipPad and even taking the idea further to a new level (keep an eye on the coming updates)
https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-zone-launcher-one-swipe-smart-t3971403
Used the google services stop trick to force my stock Yakju to OTA update to 4.2 a couple days ago.
Phones been annoyingly wonky ever since. Its mostly just UI stuttering bugs, 50% of the time i'll get a pronounced hiccup when opening the app drawer. Overall "project butter" has been thrown right out the window, most easily noticeable when swiping apps away, but its everywhere. Calendar hiccups and stutters when scrolling across "days". Scrolling through messages is no longer "buttery". Looking at screenshots in the gallery it takes a full 2 seconds for the image to draw to the screen in high res! Donno if this is a bug, but you can literally watch the render from low res to high res climb up the screen.. It never used to be like this. That OS's natural fluidity is just gone.
Where I draw the line is now the stock browser is slow, like "Chome" levels of slow, its absolutely terrible on high content sites, and I also get a weird screen tearing glitch on a few sites.
I'd like to flash back to 4.1.2 but having used gesture typing for a couple days, i simply cannot go back! Before my Gnex, I came from a blackberry, and for the first time since the switch I do not miss my dedicated keyboard! gesture typing is that good!
Is it possible to roll back to 4.1.2 but keep gesture typing? Is there a patch available that would allow me to do this? switch back, but then patch over the 4.2 keyboard?
Edit phone is Galaxy nexus 4.2, Yakju, stock, unlocked but not rooted.
davinci.. said:
Used the google services stop trick to force my stock Yakju to OTA update to 4.2 a couple days ago.
Phones been annoyingly wonky ever since. Its mostly just UI stuttering bugs, 50% of the time i'll get a pronounced hiccup when opening the app drawer. Overall "project butter" has been thrown right out the window, most easily noticeable when swiping apps away, but its everywhere. Calendar hiccups and stutters when scrolling across "days". Scrolling through messages is no longer "buttery". Looking at screenshots in the gallery it takes a full 2 seconds for the image to draw to the screen in high res! Donno if this is a bug, but you can literally watch the render from low res to high res climb up the screen.. It never used to be like this. That OS's natural fluidity is just gone.
Where I draw the line is now the stock browser is slow, like "Chome" levels of slow, its absolutely terrible on high content sites, and I also get a weird screen tearing glitch on a few sites.
I'd like to flash back to 4.1.2 but having used gesture typing for a couple days, i simply cannot go back! Before my Gnex, I came from a blackberry, and for the first time since the switch I do not miss my dedicated keyboard! gesture typing is that good!
Is it possible to roll back to 4.1.2 but keep gesture typing? Is there a patch available that would allow me to do this? switch back, but then patch over the 4.2 keyboard?
Edit phone is Galaxy nexus 4.2, Yakju, stock, unlocked but not rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the 4.2 Transformation Pack, it has the new keyboard. Just delete the unneeded stuff from the zip, or extract the apk and the lib file from it and push them to your /system.
There are several mods that give you the 4.2 camera, gallery and gesture keyboard for 4.1.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
davinci.. said:
Used the google services stop trick to force my stock Yakju to OTA update to 4.2 a couple days ago.
Phones been annoyingly wonky ever since. Its mostly just UI stuttering bugs, 50% of the time i'll get a pronounced hiccup when opening the app drawer. Overall "project butter" has been thrown right out the window, most easily noticeable when swiping apps away, but its everywhere. Calendar hiccups and stutters when scrolling across "days". Scrolling through messages is no longer "buttery". Looking at screenshots in the gallery it takes a full 2 seconds for the image to draw to the screen in high res! Donno if this is a bug, but you can literally watch the render from low res to high res climb up the screen.. It never used to be like this. That OS's natural fluidity is just gone.
Where I draw the line is now the stock browser is slow, like "Chome" levels of slow, its absolutely terrible on high content sites, and I also get a weird screen tearing glitch on a few sites.
I'd like to flash back to 4.1.2 but having used gesture typing for a couple days, i simply cannot go back! Before my Gnex, I came from a blackberry, and for the first time since the switch I do not miss my dedicated keyboard! gesture typing is that good!
Is it possible to roll back to 4.1.2 but keep gesture typing? Is there a patch available that would allow me to do this? switch back, but then patch over the 4.2 keyboard?
Edit phone is Galaxy nexus 4.2, Yakju, stock, unlocked but not rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can search the "Galaxy Nexus" forums and find the 4.2 keyboard, the gmail app and the clock app if you so desire it. I personally like to use CM10 (4.1.2) with the new Google apps. It makes for an awesome experience. BTW You may also wanna try one of the AOSP roms in the threads. They are great sans the bugginess for the most part. My suggestion is to look around, but if you already know exactly what you want, then go directly to it and get it. I didn't go through the problem of searching the threads to find and post them for you because they are very easy to find. My hope is that while searching you may find something else that would interest you. Hope this helps...
BTW, don't know if you know, but when you go to flash another ROM (be it a 4.2 rom or 4.1.2), you will have all your content pushed to a 0/ subfolder. It is an annoying thing caused by code in the 4.2 rom that enables multiple user accounts. If this is a problem for you to (as it is for most people) then you may just wanna stick with 4.1.2 indefinitely. (that is until CWM or TWRP find some way to prevent this from happening)
Pipusz said:
Try the 4.2 Transformation Pack, it has the new keyboard. Just delete the unneeded stuff from the zip, or extract the apk and the lib file from it and push them to your /system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks for the link.
Searching the gnex forum for 4.2 keyboard turns up a whole lot of nothing......... Fortunately google searching it got me what I needed.
However the 4.2 keyboard in these links is slightly different then the one that actually came with 4.2 from google, it functions just fine but has this giant cartoon bubble text hovering over everything as you swipe/type out. Any ideas on where I would get the actually(correct) keyboard?
I`d also like to install just the 4.2 *google now* updates, how do I determine which files in that zip are responsible for that part of the update?
I will point out, I highly recommend switching back to 4.1.2.. I didnt realize how bad/laggy/stuttery 4.2 really is, until I switched back, its really night and day. I`m convinced project butter is flat out broken in 4.2.
All is well again in the world
I've been disappointed with the 4.2 update, too. It does bring a lot of stability issues, along with ugly. But CM10 nightlies + 4.2 keyboard and Trinity kernel make for a potent combo. That's what I'll be rocking until the next version of CM comes along, or perhaps an updated version of Android that fixes issues in 4.2.
Hi guys I just bought my Tab S 10.5 (T800) a couple of days ago, however I'm finding some annoyances, that are giving me a headache when using it and are making me think, to return it
1) When i'm scrolling a website or flipboard in my usual way/speed the text/images appears to jump a tinny bit like if it's stuttering, instead of smooth transitions.
2) When the keyboard "launches" it doesn't matter if I turn off the animations or put them at .5 or 1x, when on the browser I'm trying to type something on a search bar there is a white tail before and after the keyboard launch, this tail makes the content on the bottom of the keyboard to appears like a flash. However this doesn't happen when trying to type an url, This is better noticed on a dark background for example go to this site mary-black.net (or whatever site which has an embedded search and uses a dark background) and launch the keyboard trying to type something on the search bar and then hide the keyboard.
The keyboard "white tail" doesn't happen on my sero 7 pro running an AOSP rom, however it has some stuttering while browsing, but I though it was because some kind of underpower, because my S4 running a touchwiz rom it doesn't stutter at all it's like butter on every single scrolling page/app/etc but it has also that "white tail" sometimes but it's so quick and is not my main browsing device, so I was trying to replace my main tablet an ipad 2 (7.1.2) which it browse like a champ exactly as my S4 and is way better than this Tab S
yeah I have tried a lot of browsers, maxthon, chrome, firefox,opera, dolphin, boat, and the less worst is the stock one
Oh and also it seems to not hold webpages on ram, because when I go to a link and then go back, instead of showing me the content right away, it shows a blank page and suddenly the content, however this a problem because if i was on a search or something it brings me to the top of the page again, and also typing something on a search is laggy, the letter don't go with the keystroke.
BTW: I don't use touchwiz launcher, I'm using nova/apex.
I have enabled also Force GPU Rendering and Turn off/on hardware overlays. nothing seems to fix it.
Also have found that the performance is not consistent at all, sometimes the apps load very fast, browse very fast and it's a pleasure, but sometimes it lags, yeah not like a minute or so, but the overall experience using it, is not something I was expecting, I was expecting at least the same behavior of my S4 and S2 and way better than my old ipad 2, and unfortunately none of those are met
Any ideas ?
Thanks.
You need to do a video to prove it, that's how it goes around here.
1) same here. I is only slight stuttering and only when scrolling intensively, but it is noticeable. I tried all the browsers, but best in this regard is stock browser, followed by chrome browser (which I currently use). Some of the other browsers have even more severe problems regarding scrolling and also impose certain lag registering scroll gesture.
2) I am using TouchPal and not seeing any keyboard "white tail".
3) Webpage caching: yes, it does not keep pages in RAM and requires a reload. Particularly annoying when on a mobile connection. I've not yet come across any browser that does a proper RAM caching of pages. Also the OS seems to grab the RAM. E.g., when you have multiple tabs open and switch between Apps it does reload all the tabs. Ridiculous. At 3GB the Tab S should have plenty of RAM.
Overall the Tab S hardware is capable enough to provide a smooth user experience even with the above issues. But still I am hoping for some fix.
Probably some tweak of the memory management could help? Also investigation of background load. Seemingly there are to many services that do indexing, report back to Google or Samsung, check updates etc. Probably also the Mali-T628 GPU has some premature driver implementation? Or maybe the Samsung color enhancement for AMOLED is the culprit?
kenkiller said:
You need to do a video to prove it, that's how it goes around here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, I have a feeling that you tough I was trolling , well here they are, this one shows the ugly white tale, and it also happens using google keyboard, and any keyboard.
http://youtu.be/kfUbyTVjF6I
As you can see that "white tale" is not present when trying to type an url.
Here is one with the stutter very visible.
http://youtu.be/f9DHYdlc4d0
Here is one showing the reloading on going back. which btw it also shows how with only one finger touching the screen it sometimes act as 2 (pinch to zoom) this little problem is very rare but it's not the first time has happen, and you can see the lag on the keyboard before launching also, there is that "white" then the keyboard.
fingers http://youtu.be/axCsmkgCXws
Here is one comparing the scrolling on the same content first the ipad 2 and then the tab S
http://youtu.be/0TYgm43eBxc
The ipad also has a bit stuttering, but not as much as the S, which IMO this should not be happening, the S has way more power/ram than the old ipad 2
I hope yours is not acting like this, could you please provide a video if yours is working at it supposed to be..
pibach said:
1) same here. I is only slight stuttering and only when scrolling intensively, but it is noticeable. I tried all the browsers, but best in this regard is stock browser, followed by chrome browser (which I currently use). Some of the other browsers have even more severe problems regarding scrolling and also impose certain lag registering scroll gesture.
2) I am using TouchPal and not seeing any keyboard "white tail".
3) Webpage caching: yes, it does not keep pages in RAM and requires a reload. Particularly annoying when on a mobile connection. I've not yet come across any browser that does a proper RAM caching of pages. Also the OS seems to grab the RAM. E.g., when you have multiple tabs open and switch between Apps it does reload all the tabs. Ridiculous. At 3GB the Tab S should have plenty of RAM.
Overall the Tab S hardware is capable enough to provide a smooth user experience even with the above issues. But still I am hoping for some fix.
Probably some tweak of the memory management could help? Also investigation of background load. Seemingly there are to many services that do indexing, report back to Google or Samsung, check updates etc. Probably also the Mali-T628 GPU has some premature driver implementation? Or maybe the Samsung color enhancement for AMOLED is the culprit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the more you start using the tablet, the more stuttering it appears, and also when trying to open the recent apps, sometimes there is also a lot of lag until everything appear. The problem with this is they are not predictable.
I tried that keyboard and is doing me exactly the same (white tale), I think this is because instead of launching the keyboard and the placeholder at the same time, they are launched a different time, and I have just confirmed this enabling Layout boundaries under developer options. :/
My 8.4 works exactly as yours. That's how it is.
white tale seems to be some re-rendering issue of the app, not the keyboard.
One might check with Cyanogenmod whether it persists there too. Pretty sure it is some SW issue, HW should be plenty capable.
pibach said:
My 8.4 works exactly as yours. That's how it is.
white tale seems to be some re-rendering issue of the app, not the keyboard.
One might check with Cyanogenmod whether it persists there too. Pretty sure it is some SW issue, HW should be plenty capable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bet it's software issues, launching the placeholder for the keyboard before and after the keyboard. But to be honest I don't want to install Cyanogen or aosp to this tablet, because that will break sidesync, multi window, s planner and s finder. if I would need to flash those roms to be able to enjoy the hardware then I would go with a boring but trusty ipad or wait to see what is announced on september at the IFA.
- Similar hardware used on phones with 1080p screen to drive 1600p screen, which is almost twice as many pixels to render. The GPU is working extra hard but should still cope.
- TouchWiz makes this much worse and through past discussions, this is mostly the cause of the lags and stutters. If you use some other popular launcher, lags and stutters would almost be non-existent.
- iOS on iPads and iPhones are smooth because Apple only need to focus on optimising on their own hardware. Android on the other hand has to work on so many combinations of hardware out there, it's much more difficult to make things buttery smooth like iOS.
I see these issues as well on my 8.4, but not enough to get bothered by it, but would welcome any improvement through OTAs.
Replacing the launcher has zero effect on anything except launching an app!
There might be some touchwiz related code behind the scenes, but to replace that you need a revised ROM.
ShadowFlare said:
- Similar hardware used on phones with 1080p screen to drive 1600p screen, which is almost twice as many pixels to render. The GPU is working extra hard but should still cope.
- TouchWiz makes this much worse and through past discussions, this is mostly the cause of the lags and stutters. If you use some other popular launcher, lags and stutters would almost be non-existent.
- iOS on iPads and iPhones are smooth because Apple only need to focus on optimising on their own hardware. Android on the other hand has to work on so many combinations of hardware out there, it's much more difficult to make things buttery smooth like iOS.
I see these issues as well on my 8.4, but not enough to get bothered by it, but would welcome any improvement through OTAs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Nova or Apex, yeah those don't have lag on the major of transitions, but sometimes they stutter just a bit, yeah not a breaking deal. But the stuttering while browsing/reading and the keyboard issue is making me have headaches, and that will not be solved using another launcher.
I understand that point regarding iOS, but trust me, my S4 is running on a touchwiz rom and it doesn't act like this tab S, geez even my old S2 never acted like this.
Regarding three Samsung bloatware, there are replacements for each of them, if you really need that. I personally think, most of it is just premature and unnecessary. Multi window for example. What do you do with that? I just have GMD gesture control with some user defined gesture to switch between the last apps.
pibach said:
Regarding three Samsung bloatware, there are replacements for each of them, if you really need that. I personally think, most of it is just premature and unnecessary. Multi window for example. What do you do with that? I just have GMD gesture control with some user defined gesture to switch between the last apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run excel spreadsheets while browsing for making quotes, compare values and stuff like that, need to compare spreadsheets with word documents, to give you an idea I use 3 monitors for my desktop.
So actually multiwindow is a very usefull "gadget" for me, and that's what got my attention, the 3gb of ram I though well this will handle my workload with out a problem, 10.5" screen good space for multi window, and well the exynos ? I would prefer a snapdragon version, but I don't need LTE on my tablet as always I can theter from my S4, and none local store have one with snapdragon in case I need to return it or something.
And yeah GMD Gestures is a must for a tablet.
I now own two of these devices, a 10.5 and an 8.4. I use Nova Launcher. Even running stock OTA I have never experienced any scrolling lag or stutter using the stock browser. My only complaints were some keyboard lag which I believe disabling DVFS improved and using a firewall hack to speed up embedded video steaming. Other than that and the typical pageload lag JavaScript causes I have had zero lag or stutter issues with either tablet.
As setup currently both of these tabs are completely smooth.
mitchellvii said:
I now own two of these devices, a 10.5 and an 8.4. I use Nova Launcher. Even running stock OTA I have never experienced any scrolling lag or stutter using the stock browser. My only complaints were some keyboard lag which I believe disabling DVFS improved and using a firewall hack to speed up embedded video steaming. Other than that and the typical pageload lag JavaScript causes I have had zero lag or stutter issues with either tablet.
As setup currently both of these tabs are completely smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait.... So yours are not showing that white tail or the keyboard placeholder like mine is doing it here http://youtu.be/kfUbyTVjF6I ?
CyberManiaK said:
Wait.... So yours are not showing that white tail or the keyboard placeholder like mine is doing it here http://youtu.be/kfUbyTVjF6I ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK I see your problem. The fade animation is working properly when you select the address bar but not when you select a text box on the actual website. I think this is just the website re rendering as the keyboard closes since you were interacting with it. You only really notice it because the background of your website is dark.
I believe this is a stock browser thing as it does not do this using Dolphin.
mitchellvii said:
No. Mine does a nice fade and drop down animation. What yours is doing should not be happening.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that kinda of fade is what I'm not getting, it only does that fade when i'm typing on the address bar, but when i'm typing on something inside a webpage that trail appears. In what build are you ? Mine is NFB, hope anybody else can confirm if they have it or not and what mods are running.
I did factory reset but didn't solve it.
EDIT: Well this happen on white pages also, "covering" what is on screen. I did that on a dark background because is more apparent. If I enable layout bounds on developer options it shows that the placeholder is triggering before the actual keyboard. Tomorrow i will make a video with the layouts enabled.
And mine is doing it with every browser i have tested.
CyberManiaK said:
Yeah that kinda of fade is what I'm not getting, it only does that fade when i'm typing on the address bar, but when i'm typing on something inside a webpage that trail appears. In what build are you ? Mine is NFB, hope anybody else can confirm if they have it or not and what mods are running.
I did factory reset but didn't solve it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I changed my original post. I think you missed it. Yes I am getting same thing in stock browser. This does not occur using Dolphin. Not a Tab S issue. A stock browser issue. The dark background of your website makes it more noticeable.
Update. Does it in Chrome browser too. If that bothers you try Dolphin browser.
I got the same white tail issue also in chrome browser.
Dolphin doesn't do that, gives a bit better re-rendering. But Dolphin mini also struggles. Weird.
Both are slightly more sluggish in scrolling, that's most important, so I sorted them out.
Also that nonsens gesture implementation (requires to press a button first) did not win me.
There is one thing the stock browser by far does the best of any browser I have tried. Play embedded video clips. Dolphin? You may as well not bother. Expect 10+ second load times. Using a little firewall hack I'm getting almost instant video loads in stock with no buffering lag.
The little white flash when closing the keyboard is a non issue for me, especially when using a website with a white background. Don't even notice it.
maybe try to debloat the ROM and then go into developer options to change the animations to .5 or disable them entire(I disable them in all android devices I own)
Well I don't know what happen, I did some factory reset like 3 in a row, then the first thing I did was, go straight to update chrome to 36.0.1985.131 and now it's working at it should. Yeah with some occasional stutter, mostly when launching an app. But not like was doing it before. The white tale is still there but not as heavy like it was before.
Hello,
So, let me start by saying that I am by no means a developer but a tinkerer by trade. I got the Fire Phone the day after Release. My initial reaction was disgust at the interface and usability of it all. I found the carrousel interface to hinder my use of the phone. The Apps I needed always rotated away and I would spend more time scrolling over to find something than it would ever take me to find and launch from the traditional Android launcher screens. So I set about finding a way to "restore" functionality.
Previously I've had a Motorola Milestone, Motorola Atrix and Samsung GS3. My SGS3 had abysmal battery life, which is why I switched to a new phone. Comparatively, the Fire Phone so far has had brilliant battery life. I've been unplugged overnight and still been at 40%+ in the morning when it was around 80% the night before.
I had used towel root recently on my SGS3 and I tried it on the Fire Phone. It worked. I just downloaded the most recent version from the towel root site, allowed apps from other sources in settings, and first try it worked. I installed Root Explorer from the Amazon Store. Using the instructions from another Thread about getting G-Apps onto a Kindle Fire I was able to load Chrome, Play Music, Google Maps, Gmail, and the play store. There are some small quirks though. The Play Store does not work. It says no connection when opened. And the Google play services is constantly crashing and slightly annoying. I also found on AppAPK a download for the galaxy launcher. I installed that and at first I could not set it as the default launcher but There appeared to be some sort of update or something that rebooted my phone at this point the launcher asks which to use when it needed the launcher at boot and the galaxy launcher is not set to default. It still crashes if I try to set a background or widget but I at least have a functional home screen.
The only thing that really stops me from having a great experience with it now is an issue with Google Maps. Road names overlap and after driving for a short about of time words just become giant gray blobs of unreadable garbage. Navigation works fine and the maps themselves look okay, the words just become completely useless.
I do have to say that it has a really nice Camera, pictures look great.
I also wish there was a back button......this has been really hard to get used to as well. Having to swipe up from the bottom or hit the Home
I hope that there will be a custom Firmware someday, until then I feel like unless you really like Amazon kindle and Amazon services, or can tolerate a hundred workarounds to try and gain more functionality, stay away from this phone.
My overall Rating would be as follows:
Performance - 4.5 - I run into some hiccups every now and then and it gets hot even if you are just web browsing for a little bit.
Battery Life - 5.0 - Sooo much better than my old SGS3
Ease of Use - 1.0 - Out of the box, coming from several other Android solutions, it was the worst thing I have ever used. After all the tweaking and hacking ~4.0
Features - 3.5 - There are a lot of nice features but overall there are a lot of Gimmicks...also why no SD slot? No Google Play yet also hurts...
Overall - 3.5/5.0 - At least I got another free year of Prime out of it...
I have an Important Question: please help me
1.Can this phone show 3D side bye side movies without glasses ( like LG optimus 3D and HTC Evo 3D) ?
2. Can this Phone Capture 3D images or videos?
danteoz said:
Hello,
So, let me start by saying that I am by no means a developer but a tinkerer by trade. I got the Fire Phone the day after Release. My initial reaction was disgust at the interface and usability of it all. I found the carrousel interface to hinder my use of the phone. The Apps I needed always rotated away and I would spend more time scrolling over to find something than it would ever take me to find and launch from the traditional Android launcher screens. So I set about finding a way to "restore" functionality.
Previously I've had a Motorola Milestone, Motorola Atrix and Samsung GS3. My SGS3 had abysmal battery life, which is why I switched to a new phone. Comparatively, the Fire Phone so far has had brilliant battery life. I've been unplugged overnight and still been at 40%+ in the morning when it was around 80% the night before.
I had used towel root recently on my SGS3 and I tried it on the Fire Phone. It worked. I just downloaded the most recent version from the towel root site, allowed apps from other sources in settings, and first try it worked. I installed Root Explorer from the Amazon Store. Using the instructions from another Thread about getting G-Apps onto a Kindle Fire I was able to load Chrome, Play Music, Google Maps, Gmail, and the play store. There are some small quirks though. The Play Store does not work. It says no connection when opened. And the Google play services is constantly crashing and slightly annoying. I also found on AppAPK a download for the galaxy launcher. I installed that and at first I could not set it as the default launcher but There appeared to be some sort of update or something that rebooted my phone at this point the launcher asks which to use when it needed the launcher at boot and the galaxy launcher is not set to default. It still crashes if I try to set a background or widget but I at least have a functional home screen.
The only thing that really stops me from having a great experience with it now is an issue with Google Maps. Road names overlap and after driving for a short about of time words just become giant gray blobs of unreadable garbage. Navigation works fine and the maps themselves look okay, the words just become completely useless.
I do have to say that it has a really nice Camera, pictures look great.
I also wish there was a back button......this has been really hard to get used to as well. Having to swipe up from the bottom or hit the Home
I hope that there will be a custom Firmware someday, until then I feel like unless you really like Amazon kindle and Amazon services, or can tolerate a hundred workarounds to try and gain more functionality, stay away from this phone.
My overall Rating would be as follows:
Performance - 4.5 - I run into some hiccups every now and then and it gets hot even if you are just web browsing for a little bit.
Battery Life - 5.0 - Sooo much better than my old SGS3
Ease of Use - 1.0 - Out of the box, coming from several other Android solutions, it was the worst thing I have ever used. After all the tweaking and hacking ~4.0
Features - 3.5 - There are a lot of nice features but overall there are a lot of Gimmicks...also why no SD slot? No Google Play yet also hurts...
Overall - 3.5/5.0 - At least I got another free year of Prime out of it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Towel root works?? We can make a thread in the development forums to guide people to root it. PM me.
bagher said:
I have an Important Question: please help me
1.Can this phone show 3D side bye side movies without glasses ( like LG optimus 3D and HTC Evo 3D) ?
2. Can this Phone Capture 3D images or videos?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No to both.
the 3d is just a simulation, but a very convincing one. It uses perspective, and the best guess knowledge it gains from 4 cameras to guess where your head is. In theory, this could be used to watch a 3d movie, or photography, but it would need to be specially formatted for the Fire phone. As far as 3d recording goes, nope.
The 3d they call Dynamic Perspective. It is a lot like looking into a photo, but then being able to look around the inside of the photo as if it were a diorama. They use it in games and throughout the interface, though both are in the early stages.
bagher said:
I have an Important Question: please help me
1.Can this phone show 3D side bye side movies without glasses ( like LG optimus 3D and HTC Evo 3D) ?
2. Can this Phone Capture 3D images or videos?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think of it as a 3D phone. Pretty much only the lock screen is 3D. Out of the five cameras on the phone, only one is a camera and the other four are used to track where your head is. That being said, it is a fantastic phone.
---------- Post added at 03:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:54 AM ----------
danteoz said:
Hello,
So, let me start by saying that I am by no means a developer but a tinkerer by trade. I got the Fire Phone the day after Release. My initial reaction was disgust at the interface and usability of it all. I found the carrousel interface to hinder my use of the phone. The Apps I needed always rotated away and I would spend more time scrolling over to find something than it would ever take me to find and launch from the traditional Android launcher screens. So I set about finding a way to "restore" functionality.
Previously I've had a Motorola Milestone, Motorola Atrix and Samsung GS3. My SGS3 had abysmal battery life, which is why I switched to a new phone. Comparatively, the Fire Phone so far has had brilliant battery life. I've been unplugged overnight and still been at 40%+ in the morning when it was around 80% the night before.
I had used towel root recently on my SGS3 and I tried it on the Fire Phone. It worked. I just downloaded the most recent version from the towel root site, allowed apps from other sources in settings, and first try it worked. I installed Root Explorer from the Amazon Store. Using the instructions from another Thread about getting G-Apps onto a Kindle Fire I was able to load Chrome, Play Music, Google Maps, Gmail, and the play store. There are some small quirks though. The Play Store does not work. It says no connection when opened. And the Google play services is constantly crashing and slightly annoying. I also found on AppAPK a download for the galaxy launcher. I installed that and at first I could not set it as the default launcher but There appeared to be some sort of update or something that rebooted my phone at this point the launcher asks which to use when it needed the launcher at boot and the galaxy launcher is not set to default. It still crashes if I try to set a background or widget but I at least have a functional home screen.
The only thing that really stops me from having a great experience with it now is an issue with Google Maps. Road names overlap and after driving for a short about of time words just become giant gray blobs of unreadable garbage. Navigation works fine and the maps themselves look okay, the words just become completely useless.
I do have to say that it has a really nice Camera, pictures look great.
I also wish there was a back button......this has been really hard to get used to as well. Having to swipe up from the bottom or hit the Home
I hope that there will be a custom Firmware someday, until then I feel like unless you really like Amazon kindle and Amazon services, or can tolerate a hundred workarounds to try and gain more functionality, stay away from this phone.
My overall Rating would be as follows:
Performance - 4.5 - I run into some hiccups every now and then and it gets hot even if you are just web browsing for a little bit.
Battery Life - 5.0 - Sooo much better than my old SGS3
Ease of Use - 1.0 - Out of the box, coming from several other Android solutions, it was the worst thing I have ever used. After all the tweaking and hacking ~4.0
Features - 3.5 - There are a lot of nice features but overall there are a lot of Gimmicks...also why no SD slot? No Google Play yet also hurts...
Overall - 3.5/5.0 - At least I got another free year of Prime out of it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you considered that the Ease of Use is hard because you're comparing it to other Android platforms? It really shouldn't be compared to Android at all.
For the Love of Tech said:
Have you considered that the Ease of Use is hard because you're comparing it to other Android platforms? It really shouldn't be compared to Android at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why shouldn't I compare it to android? It is android under the hood with a multitude of tweaks. Even iOS and Windows phone both support having apps arranged in a manner that makes finding them easy and how you want it. So far the Fire has not shown that. I had an original kindle fire, it was quickly rooted and I loaded custom ROMs within a few weeks because the interface was really bad for running multiple apps.
For me personally and anyone else I've shown it to, it is far from user friendly. But again that is my opinion of it and that was what I gave here, my opinion and observations.
danteoz said:
Hello,
So, let me start by saying that I am by no means a developer but a tinkerer by trade. I got the Fire Phone the day after Release. My initial reaction was disgust at the interface and usability of it all. I found the carrousel interface to hinder my use of the phone. The Apps I needed always rotated away and I would spend more time scrolling over to find something than it would ever take me to find and launch from the traditional Android launcher screens. So I set about finding a way to "restore" functionality.
Previously I've had a Motorola Milestone, Motorola Atrix and Samsung GS3. My SGS3 had abysmal battery life, which is why I switched to a new phone. Comparatively, the Fire Phone so far has had brilliant battery life. I've been unplugged overnight and still been at 40%+ in the morning when it was around 80% the night before.
I had used towel root recently on my SGS3 and I tried it on the Fire Phone. It worked. I just downloaded the most recent version from the towel root site, allowed apps from other sources in settings, and first try it worked. I installed Root Explorer from the Amazon Store. Using the instructions from another Thread about getting G-Apps onto a Kindle Fire I was able to load Chrome, Play Music, Google Maps, Gmail, and the play store. There are some small quirks though. The Play Store does not work. It says no connection when opened. And the Google play services is constantly crashing and slightly annoying. I also found on AppAPK a download for the galaxy launcher. I installed that and at first I could not set it as the default launcher but There appeared to be some sort of update or something that rebooted my phone at this point the launcher asks which to use when it needed the launcher at boot and the galaxy launcher is not set to default. It still crashes if I try to set a background or widget but I at least have a functional home screen.
The only thing that really stops me from having a great experience with it now is an issue with Google Maps. Road names overlap and after driving for a short about of time words just become giant gray blobs of unreadable garbage. Navigation works fine and the maps themselves look okay, the words just become completely useless.
I do have to say that it has a really nice Camera, pictures look great.
I also wish there was a back button......this has been really hard to get used to as well. Having to swipe up from the bottom or hit the Home
I hope that there will be a custom Firmware someday, until then I feel like unless you really like Amazon kindle and Amazon services, or can tolerate a hundred workarounds to try and gain more functionality, stay away from this phone.
My overall Rating would be as follows:
Performance - 4.5 - I run into some hiccups every now and then and it gets hot even if you are just web browsing for a little bit.
Battery Life - 5.0 - Sooo much better than my old SGS3
Ease of Use - 1.0 - Out of the box, coming from several other Android solutions, it was the worst thing I have ever used. After all the tweaking and hacking ~4.0
Features - 3.5 - There are a lot of nice features but overall there are a lot of Gimmicks...also why no SD slot? No Google Play yet also hurts...
Overall - 3.5/5.0 - At least I got another free year of Prime out of it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I have it a week , I sideload the 4.6.1 update and updated in 5 minutes, I followed the tutorial to install Google services and play store and works flawlessly, I installed Google maps and youtube and chrome Along with more Google apps and other apps and they work flawlessly , I can install custom launchers and different keyboards but I like the stock launcher as its fresh from just seeing a grid off apps and the stock keyboard is fine, the only work around I did was to manually install the 4.6.1 update sand install Google apps, the phone is fast and never lags and has good speakers and hardware
The home button doubles as a recent app selector. Try installing 4.6.1 like suggested it totally makes the a better experience.
I'm using it for about a month and easy of use is OK, much better than some say it is. I'm using it with stock launcher and I can't understand this obsession of many users here to s**t all over it. Main problem with FireOS is absence of persistent notifications on top bar - system tray, and inability to choose which quick actions you want to have in system tray. Lock screen is also pretty basic but not to bad. Installing other launcher will not solve this problems. UX can be better but can be worse either. Overall its a great phone for price under $200.