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Hey guys, new to Android and G2, my G2 just arrived today and I'm in the swing of things. Been doing some app picking up on the Market and it's really just awesome.
A few questions though.
What's with Browser? It lets me select a homepage but when it opens, the Homepage doesn't load. Instead it's the last page I visited. Not a fan of that.
What's the best Video Player out there? I'm using RockPlayer, it's great, but I'd like to lose the ads. If there's no alternative, I wouldn't mind paying the ten bucks, but... if I can avoid this, I'd rather do that.
Also, the Music Player is okay, but I can't seem to get the music to stop. I can pause it, but it doesn't just close out completely.
Thanks for your help, sorry about the noobish questions, but please go easy on me, I'm new -.-
The browser goes to the last page visited because you haven't closed out of the browser completely. You might have just pressed home to get out of the browser, unless you pressed back several times to go to the original page from all the pages that you have viewed, then it will finally go back to the home screens. It will go to the new home page if you press menu, windows, and new window.
I don't have a problem with the stock video player, so I have been using that.
Also, I'm not sure since I don't have a stock rom, but on CM6, if you hold the back button, it forces the apps to close out. You could give that a shot.
The question 1 & 3 are the same actually. The browser and the player still runs in the background, like u just minimize them. They are not closed yet.
To close them the simplest way is to install a thread killer software like ES series or some others.
Q2, I found no better video player [email protected]@
I'm sorry, stock video player? Where's that at? :/
And thanks for the answers on 1 and 3, I'll give both a shot now.
MnemonicSyntax said:
I'm sorry, stock video player? Where's that at? :/
And thanks for the answers on 1 and 3, I'll give both a shot now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, if you have a video file in your memory card and you click on it using a file browser or if its in a directory where the gallery app picks it up (folder named 'videos' etc), it plays automatically.
MnemonicSyntax said:
Hey guys, new to Android and G2, my G2 just arrived today and I'm in the swing of things. Been doing some app picking up on the Market and it's really just awesome.
A few questions though.
What's with Browser? It lets me select a homepage but when it opens, the Homepage doesn't load. Instead it's the last page I visited. Not a fan of that.
What's the best Video Player out there? I'm using RockPlayer, it's great, but I'd like to lose the ads. If there's no alternative, I wouldn't mind paying the ten bucks, but... if I can avoid this, I'd rather do that.
Also, the Music Player is okay, but I can't seem to get the music to stop. I can pause it, but it doesn't just close out completely.
Thanks for your help, sorry about the noobish questions, but please go easy on me, I'm new -.-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use Dolphin HD as web browser, powerAMP as music player..
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
G2 cm6.1.1
I'd recommend u root the phone and install "Ad Free", it solves the annoying ads on your phone
There are a ton of video players in the market. I've tried the ones that seem to be most commonly used by XDA folks: ArcMedia, Rockplayer and vplayer. Rockplayer is my favorite so far. It is able to play every video I've tried (might have to toggle hardware decoding to play a few) and has the most usable interface of those I've tried.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
tazz9690 said:
The browser goes to the last page visited because you haven't closed out of the browser completely. You might have just pressed home to get out of the browser, unless you pressed back several times to go to the original page from all the pages that you have viewed, then it will finally go back to the home screens. It will go to the new home page if you press menu, windows, and new window.
I don't have a problem with the stock video player, so I have been using that.
Also, I'm not sure since I don't have a stock rom, but on CM6, if you hold the back button, it forces the apps to close out. You could give that a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that a function somewhere? Or is that just on the Home Screen and applies to all Apps?
I'm not really trying to stop anything from running, as opposed to having a certain webpage open everytime I open the Browser and no music playing when I open up Music. For those two Apps, I don't want to be where I "left off."
Also, I did root it and put on CM 6.1.1. For the first time doing something like this, I think it went rather well.
Thanks guys, for any help provided.
Dolphin browser is the one I use and I have no complaints.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2
Android decides for itself whether to leave an app running when you move away from it, or whether to close it. It usually does a pretty good job.
Most people want the browser to stay at the page they were using so they can go straight back to it. There are task killer apps for Android but it's normally recommended that you stay away from these, since they can cause their own problems.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z
Right, I'm not looking to close any apps really. I guess it'd be nice to be able to close an app out, say a game, Browser or Music, but only if you wanted to. If you instead just pressed Home, those apps would stay open so you can go back to them later. But if you were finished with say, surfing the web, you could exit out, it would take you Home like normal.
I don't know, I understand totally about Android and it's ability to multi-task. I'm not really even looking to close things out completely, but if that's the distinction between opening an App from where you last had it to opening an App to it's "home screen" then so be it.
Yeah, it's kind of a different mentality. Pressing the phone's home button is really more of a "show desktop" than an exit. This means a better user experience for the average user though (since as was said before, everything is back to the way they last had it and the programs will load faster since they weren't removed from memory to begin with). Whenever I want to leave the browser on its home screen, I simply close all of its windows before leaving the app (just like opening a new window, closing the last open one will make it go to the home page).
With a custom rom, you can do more of what you are saying. I know with CM, you can assign a long press of the back button to exit out of the foreground program (so now pressing home will leave the app running and long-pressing back will completely exit out of it). I believe the MIUI rom allows that as well. Alternatively, you can use a task manager to do the same thing (though maybe not as conveniently---not sure if any of the task managers have a similar shortcut key feature).
Thanks. This is what I was looking for. I have Cyrogen 6.1.1 on my phone now. Could I ask for some assistance in setting up the long press of the back key? Thanks much!
Sure. It's under Settings->Applications->Development. The last option in the list.
Thanks again so much Quinn. I am very happy now! Just a few more questions and I think I'll be good.
1) I'd like to be able to set my Quickkeys to Back, Foward, and Home. Is there a way to do this, preferably without an App? If not, at least a way to clear out the Quickkeys area.
2) What does the Google App package come with exactly?
3) How do I uninstall some of the Apps like Twitter and Facebook? I don't see a way to uninstall those the normal way.
Thanks for all the help!
MnemonicSyntax said:
1) I'd like to be able to set my Quickkeys to Back, Foward, and Home. Is there a way to do this, preferably without an App? If not, at least a way to clear out the Quickkeys area.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can do this by editing your keymap files. An example of an edited one can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=837002. The QuickKeys are mapped to user1, user2, and user3. I know you said you didn't want to use an app, but there is a simple one to use called ButtonRemapper (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=850464). You may be able to install it, use it to quickly edit your keymap file, and then uninstall, but I'm not positive on that. That app page also has a link to a great guide about how keymap files are structured.
MnemonicSyntax said:
2) What does the Google App package come with exactly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming you are talking about Google Addons for CM6? You can unzip the file and look in the apps directory, but here's a listing for convenience: CarHomeGoogle, CarHomeLauncher, Facebook, GenieWidget, Gmail, GoogleBackupTransport, GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter, GoogleContactsSyncAdapter, GoogleFeedback, GooglePartnerSetup, GoogleQuickSearchBox, GoogleServicesFramework, googlevoice, HtcCopyright, HtcEmailPolicy, HtcSettings, kickback, LatinImeTutorial, list.txt, Maps, MarketUpdater, MediaUploader, NetworkLocation, OneTimeInitializer, PassionQuickOffice, SetupWizard, soundback, Street, Talk, talkback, Twitter, Vending, VoiceSearch, YouTube.
MnemonicSyntax said:
3) How do I uninstall some of the Apps like Twitter and Facebook? I don't see a way to uninstall those the normal way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can delete the appropriate APK from your /system/app directory. Alternatively, you can simply disable the app with a "pm disable" command in the terminal (see here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=809231). This is usually the safer route---disable the app, make sure your phone is still running properly, then uninstall it if you still want to. If you want a nicer interface for doing all this, you can download TitaniumBackup from the Market (I believe the free version allows both uninstalling and freezing/disabling apps).
Enjoy your new phone!
Dude... open market, click the search button, enter "firefox". Install that. Yes, genuine firefox. Its in beta and still has a few glitches, but ITS FIREFOX!! DO IT!
I am asking this here because if there isnt an app like the one i am wanting i feel a good developer could easily make it.
I want a car dock app that shows my speed and allows me to give voice commands like "next song" or "pause" with just saying an attention phrase or tapping an on screen button. Also have it accept commands like "call john" and "navigate to new york ave" and "text samantha hey whats up". But have it able to do this on the same screen that plays music too. Anybody follow me?
I replaced the vlingo app "Hi Galaxy" with Google car home. It is customizable and uses google voice search. Way better than the stock imo. Google car home was difficult to find but I got the files and ins at this link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1257329
Krisregas1 said:
I replaced the vlingo app "Hi Galaxy" with Google car home. It is customizable and uses google voice search. Way better than the stock imo. Google car home was difficult to find but I got the files and ins at this link.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1257329
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the link. I'll give it a shot.
JimSmith94 said:
Thanks for the link. I'll give it a shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use iOnRoad it shows your speed you can choose what music player you want it to access it tells you when you are to close to the vehicle in front of you I think it is the best one out of all of them
For more advanced car control through the OBD interface (requires OBD bluetooth adapter hardware), check out the excellent Torque app. There is also a free version, too.
I have been downloading music so that is available to play offline. However, when I wipe my phone I need to re download all of my music(obviously). I was wondering if there was any way to back up the downloaded offline music. I have found the folder where the music is stored and backed that up, but Google Music did not pick it up when I moved the folder back over to my phone. If anyone could shed any light on the situation I'd be very thankful!
did you try titanium backup?
I use Google Music a lot recently. What I figured out to do is to move the music files (that I uploaded to Google Music) to the music folder on my phone. Since the file names, tag data, etc are all the same Google Music treats them as if you downloaded them from Google Music (no duplicates or any weird stuff). So you always have a back up on your PC. I have a folder on my PC with music I specifically upload to Google Music. It makes it easier to keep track.
I hope that made sense...
That solution is easy and makes a lot of sense. But how are you guys downloading your music from the Google cloud? I understand you can download the entire library with the Google Music Manager program on your PC and then copy the files to your device (a bit combersome), but I've never been able to figure out how to download individual songs.
I've tried to get "comfortable" with the whole Google Music cloud thing, but I've got to say, I'm about ready to throw in the towel and go back to the Amazon MP3 app. Amazon has cloud storage too, but it's SO much easier to manage on your device.
Robin M said:
That solution is easy and makes a lot of sense. But how are you guys downloading your music from the Google cloud? I understand you can download the entire library with the Google Music Manager program on your PC and then copy the files to your device (a bit combersome), but I've never been able to figure out how to download individual songs.
I've tried to get "comfortable" with the whole Google Music cloud thing, but I've got to say, I'm about ready to throw in the towel and go back to the Amazon MP3 app. Amazon has cloud storage too, but it's SO much easier to manage on your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can "pin" tracks, albums, artists, or genres to the device so its local and not streamed. They're kept cached in a specific folder for Google Music's use only.
martonikaj said:
You can "pin" tracks, albums, artists, or genres to the device so its local and not streamed. They're kept cached in a specific folder for Google Music's use only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the "pin" I've been looking for. Still can't find it in ver 4.1.511. I guess, someday I'll take a few days off from work and do some extensive web research on Google Music. Then I just may find out how to use the dang app. They sure don't make it easy.
Robin M said:
That's the "pin" I've been looking for. Still can't find it in ver 4.1.511. I guess, someday I'll take a few days off from work and do some extensive web research on Google Music. Then I just may find out how to use the dang app. They sure don't make it easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just long press or hit the triangle in the bottom right of any category (an artist's name, for ex) and hit "available offline" checkbox. It'll then start downloading to the device for offline playback.
The way Google Music app stores the music files for "available offline", it doesn't save them in a normal folder as normal file.
It saves it in it's own random filename in the /android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music folder. So when you wipe data/cache, this gets wipe.
If you look in settings/apps/ you can see Google Music app itself taking huge space.
Sent from Galaxy Nexus (GSM)
Oops. Delete this.
martonikaj said:
Just long press or hit the triangle in the bottom right of any category (an artist's name, for ex) and hit "available offline" checkbox. It'll then start downloading to the device for offline playback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I see that option now. Thanks. You usually have to hit the back button once to get to that page.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Robin M said:
Yes, I see that option now. Thanks. You usually have to hit the back button once to get to that page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Theres also another way. Couldn't tell you where the option is on the Galaxy Nexus, but using ICS (or GB, for that matter) on my G2, you can hit menu > "make available offline" and then check multiple artists, albums, or songs.
martonikaj said:
Theres also another way. Couldn't tell you where the option is on the Galaxy Nexus, but using ICS (or GB, for that matter) on my G2, you can hit menu > "make available offline" and then check multiple artists, albums, or songs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, that works too. Now you're making me feel stupid. But you just earned another hit on the "Thanks meter" to bring you up to an even 360.
Robin M said:
Yep, that works too. Now you're making me feel stupid. But you just earned another hit on the "Thanks meter" to bring you up to an even 360.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah you're not stupid. Some things like that are quite unintuitive to say the least. I'd like to see Google keep moving towards putting functions in the foreground rather than hiding them. They're doing this with Android 4 they just gotta keep going with it.
Hello. I just discovered a strange thing and I don't know how to get rid of it. So i was adding some music and I deployed "Sound enhancer" and after that my phone grouped all my apps in menu like it is done in people tab. So i have a huge letter above all my apps which makes my menu longer and it takes more time to find an app. It also doesn't look eyecandy. So i want you to ask how to get rid of those letters and bring my menu back to normal state.
Regards
okey~
It's not a bug, it's a feature. After a cetain amount of apps this is added to your menu. When you touch on one of the letters in the menu it will bring up a screen of letters. Touch on one of these and it will take you to those apps starting with the corresponding letter. This was added to reduce scrolling when you have a large amount of apps. If you do not like it I believe that uninstalling enough apps to bring you below the limit will disable the feature.
I know how it works. But is there no way to bring it back without uninstalling apps?
Not sure it goes away even if you uninstall apps.
okeyus said:
I know how it works. But is there no way to bring it back without uninstalling apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope.
Surely it makes scrolling faster, not longer? For example, rather than scrolling all the way down to, say, 'Skype'...two taps and you are there in the 'S' section..
Either way, it cannot be disabled (except perhaps if you are fully unlocked, and edit the registry?)
jasonkruys said:
Nope.
Surely it makes scrolling faster, not longer? For example, rather than scrolling all the way down to, say, 'Skype'...two taps and you are there in the 'S' section..
Either way, it cannot be disabled (except perhaps if you are fully unlocked, and edit the registry?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, and think only a fool might want to disable it! I purposefully installed 4 apps more that I won't ever use just to get those indexed letters on!
Use voice instead, it is the fastest. Hold windows key and say start "app name"
Sent from my PI39100 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
ROCOAFZ said:
Use voice instead, it is the fastest. Hold windows key and say start "app name"
Sent from my PI39100 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMFGYKM!
I had no idea you could use speech recognition to open apps. Sweet. I'm still enjoying sending SMS while driving or doing the dishes via my bluetooth headset.
anseio said:
OMFGYKM!
I had no idea you could use speech recognition to open apps. Sweet. I'm still enjoying sending SMS while driving or doing the dishes via my bluetooth headset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It gets better - say find "whatever address"
It will give you directions also (right above the web search)
or find "Store name" it will show that store closes to you.
and try find "movie name"
It will show theaters near you playing the movie
and find "weather in san fransisco" for example will show 5 day forcast via bing in websearch
Then find an iphone user that has siri and show him opening apps. Siri doesn't do that yet i use find flashlight all the time to use htc flashlight. it auto comes on when the app opens and it great for opening car or house door in the dark
enjoy!
Can I use Google Now to launch the music app and play songs or albums on my phone? If I try "play [name of song]" or "launch [name of artist album]" or the like, it does a web search rather than looking at what I have on my phone.
foosion said:
Can I use Google Now to launch the music app and play songs or albums on my phone? If I try "play [name of song]" or "launch [name of artist album]" or the like, it does a web search rather than looking at what I have on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
google music is great!
if you only want it to look for whats on your phone go into settings and check "on device only", if not, then it will check what's on your phone AND whats on your google account.
Wolfbeef123 said:
google music is great!
if you only want it to look for whats on your phone go into settings and check "on device only", if not, then it will check what's on your phone AND whats on your google account.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about Google Music or Google Now? Google Now does not appear to search my phone for music.
foosion said:
Can I use Google Now to launch the music app and play songs or albums on my phone? If I try "play [name of song]" or "launch [name of artist album]" or the like, it does a web search rather than looking at what I have on my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You actually want to say "Listen to [artist, album or song title]." You'll then get a prompt asking you which app you want to use.
foosion said:
Are you talking about Google Music or Google Now? Google Now does not appear to search my phone for music.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm so sorry, i really need to go get my glasses, i misread it.
I'm talking about google play music.
I don't think google now can do that.
and if it did, apple would be all over googles ass.
and to tell you the truth back when i had a 4s, the "play [song]" or "shuffle all" was the only useful functionality lol
aberrati0n said:
You actually want to say "Listen to [artist, album or song title]." You'll then get a prompt asking you which app you want to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That worked. Thanks
Is there a list of the actions that Google Now will perform on the phone? The list in the Nexus 7 Guidebook is incomplete.
aberrati0n said:
You actually want to say "Listen to [artist, album or song title]." You'll then get a prompt asking you which app you want to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you learn something new everyday,
thanks!
foosion said:
That worked. Thanks
Is there a list of the actions that Google Now will perform on the phone? The list in the Nexus 7 Guidebook is incomplete.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.google.com/mobile/voice-actions/ has a list of all the voice actions that debuted in Froyo. I'm not sure if any more have been added since, but that should help get you started.
aberrati0n said:
You actually want to say "Listen to [artist, album or song title]." You'll then get a prompt asking you which app you want to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel stupid. Instead of "listen to _____" I was telling it "play _____", that worked a few times but it failed more than it succeeded. The Listen to command works much better, thanks.:good: