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Apps for Android |OT|

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
Is there a reason I can't 'star' locations in Google Maps anymore? On a Galaxy S3, android 4.3, latest version of Maps.
 

Groof

Junior Member
Is there a reason I can't 'star' locations in Google Maps anymore? On a Galaxy S3, android 4.3, latest version of Maps.

Is it a random street or a business with location info? If it's a random street just long press that point and you should get an address up. Press the address and you get options to Save, Share or Travel.
 

demon

I don't mean to alarm you but you have dogs on your face
Is it a random street or a business with location info? If it's a random street just long press that point and you should get an address up. Press the address and you get options to Save, Share or Travel.

Well goddammit it didn't work the last two times I tried it. The hell...
 

Melchiah

Member

Well there's Tasker of course, but I don't know how quickly any app will respond to calls. Tasker has a Call Divert function, and you can make it Divert all calls, but I don't know the point at which Tasker handles things, and more importantly, if your current app is interrupted. There are some phone options under the Secure Settings plugins Root menu, but my phone isn't rooted to see exactly what it does.

edit:
Or just use the two word answer that beat this post.


Thanks. =) I'll look into them.
 

Soodanim

Member
Android's browsers are all flawed. Is there a browser that:
Has a automatically hiding address bar
Has quick scroll to top/bottom buttons when scrolling
Opens links in the app they should be loaded kn (e.g. Youtube)
Doesn't have messed up text boxes
?

I've tried Chrome, Dolphin, Firefox (normal, beta, nightly), Boat, Habit, Next, Opera, and at least 3 more. I'm currently on Boat, but to get rid of the address bar I need to go full screen, which means I lose the status bar and need to come out of it to have the addreas bar back. Some don't have the scroll to top/bottom buttons, which are invaluable. Firefox has messed up text boxes, which makes posting on gaf a nightmare. Not many of them want to open links in the proper apps, which is just ridiculous.

Android keyboards are crap too. Swype has performance issues, and SwiftKey cares so much about predictions that it won't ever fix the case of a lone i, let alone correct my spelling mistakes. It makes typing slower than it should be instead of faster, and I don't see how 3 predictions can cover what you want to say. During this paragraph it's been utterly useless. And why can't I disable punctuation automatically being followed by a space? Google Keyboard is stock and therefore does fuck all, and I don't even want to think about the other keyboards I've tried. Give me back physical keyboards, this on screen life is not working out.
Actually, I take what I said about google keyboard back. It makes more of an effort than Swiftkey. Its aversion to swear words is a bit shit, though.
 
Android's browsers are all flawed. Is there a browser that:
Has a automatically hiding address bar
Has quick scroll to top/bottom buttons when scrolling
Opens links in the app they should be loaded kn (e.g. Youtube)
Doesn't have messed up text boxes
?

I've tried Chrome, Dolphin, Firefox (normal, beta, nightly), Boat, Habit, Next, Opera, and at least 3 more. I'm currently on Boat, but to get rid of the address bar I need to go full screen, which means I lose the status bar and need to come out of it to have the addreas bar back. Some don't have the scroll to top/bottom buttons, which are invaluable. Firefox has messed up text boxes, which makes posting on gaf a nightmare. Not many of them want to open links in the proper apps, which is just ridiculous.

Android keyboards are crap too. Swype has performance issues, and SwiftKey cares so much about predictions that it won't ever fix the case of a lone i, let alone correct my spelling mistakes. It makes typing slower than it should be instead of faster, and I don't see how 3 predictions can cover what you want to say. During this paragraph it's been utterly useless. And why can't I disable punctuation automatically being followed by a space? Google Keyboard is stock and therefore does fuck all, and I don't even want to think about the other keyboards I've tried. Give me back physical keyboards, this on screen life is not working out.
Actually, I take what I said about google keyboard back. It makes more of an effort than Swiftkey. Its aversion to swear words is a bit shit, though.

I love Dolphin

It has the ability to go auto full screen, and quickly move from top to bottom with dolphin gestures. But I dont use either of those features so I can't comment on how good they work.

I've tried Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and i still keep coming back to Dolphin
 

Akito

Member
Has a automatically hiding address bar
Has quick scroll to top/bottom buttons when scrolling
Opens links in the app they should be loaded kn (e.g. Youtube)
Doesn't have messed up text boxes
Aside from opening links in the appropriate app Habit browser does all that. Not sure what exactly you mean by messed up text boxes though.
 
Q

qizah

Unconfirmed Member
What SMS app is good? I'm kind of getting annoyed that Hangouts doesn't combine messages so I'm looking for alternatives. I've tried Textra and it's okay but is there anything else?
 

snacknuts

we all knew her
What SMS app is good? I'm kind of getting annoyed that Hangouts doesn't combine messages so I'm looking for alternatives. I've tried Textra and it's okay but is there anything else?

I haven't used it, but the guys at Droid Life have been singing the praises of Sliding Messaging for a long time. I don't do SMS outside of Google Voice, so I can't recommend anything from personal experience.
 

Soodanim

Member
I love Dolphin

It has the ability to go auto full screen, and quickly move from top to bottom with dolphin gestures. But I dont use either of those features so I can't comment on how good they work.

I've tried Chrome, Opera, Firefox, and i still keep coming back to Dolphin
I do like dolphin, but it has problems with not registering any actions until I refresh. I don't know what the cause is - perhaps it gets stuck loading an element and won't do anything while it's loading, or perhaps it's something else. I don't think I've seen the auto full screen, but I think I'll get it another shot.
Edit: you're a genius. I had disabled gestures on day one and forgot about them, but they're great. And the little shortcut icon allows the quick back forward refresh menu to show, which is great. My hatred of the world has subsided.

Aside from opening links in the appropriate app Habit browser does all that. Not sure what exactly you mean by messed up text boxes though.
I tried Habit, but despite its plethora of options it's a little too... different for me. I can't explain it that well. For messed up text boxes, it's specifically a Firefox problem. They change the text position marker from a blue one to their own orange one, and while I at first thought that was just a colour change I soon noticed that when placing it it's about a line and a half off. It's so great.
 

Rewrite

Not as deep as he thinks
For SMS I use Sliding Messaging Pro. Slick interface and it's highly customizable. The developer has pushed a lot of updates too, despite launching another similar SMS app. I forgot its name at the moment. But I'd recommend Sliding. Haven't had a single problem with it.
 
What SMS app is good? I'm kind of getting annoyed that Hangouts doesn't combine messages so I'm looking for alternatives. I've tried Textra and it's okay but is there anything else?

I've used hello, which has a very minimalist design. I liked it, but I stopped using it when it couldn't send pics (I think they fixed that by now). Also, I had a hard time replying to the correct recipients. Don't know why, but I would always reply to the 2nd person in line, instead of the first. Could be a mental thing for me, tho.

Currently using Evolve SMS. Like it a bit better.

Both are frequently updated, which is nice.
 
Q

qizah

Unconfirmed Member
I've used hello, which has a very minimalist design. I liked it, but I stopped using it when it couldn't send pics (I think they fixed that by now). Also, I had a hard time replying to the correct recipients. Don't know why, but I would always reply to the 2nd person in line, instead of the first. Could be a mental thing for me, tho.

Currently using Evolve SMS. Like it a bit better.

Both are frequently updated, which is nice.

I'm liking Hello SMS a lot actually. I'm a big fan of the minimalistic design. Thanks!
 
Just started using Dash Clock Widget on my Nexus 5 and its great, but when I press the sleep button the widget displays 'minimised', you can pull it down to get a full view. My question is this; Is it possible to default it to the full view? I can't see that option anywhere.

I've had it so there are more than 3 different categories trying to display, and you just get the ... On screen to show it can show more. I thought it might automatically expand but that doesn't seem to be the case.
 

Groof

Junior Member
Just started using Dash Clock Widget on my Nexus 5 and its great, but when I press the sleep button the widget displays 'minimised', you can pull it down to get a full view. My question is this; Is it possible to default it to the full view? I can't see that option anywhere.

I've had it so there are more than 3 different categories trying to display, and you just get the ... On screen to show it can show more. I thought it might automatically expand but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Only way to do that is through custom ROMs or Xposed modules, which you need to be rooted for. On pure stock there's unfortunately no way to have them expanded by default.
 
Only way to do that is through custom ROMs or Xposed modules, which you need to be rooted for. On pure stock there's unfortunately no way to have them expanded by default.

Thanks. Don't really want to mess with that so I'll stick with the minimised version. Cheers for the quick reply!
 

XDDX

Member
So it looks like there are a few usage tracking apps out for android now (similar to the 3DS and Wii U activity logs). I was always surprised how there was nothing like it on android but I just came across a few which seem to all be pretty new.

Aptrax seems pretty good. Holo interface and seems to track properly so far.

App Habits which seems like a more in-depth version (similar to the 3DS activity log).

Just thought some people might be interested.
 
Quick question. With this year being the year of 2k displays, where will that leave 1080p and lower apps? Will they look blurry blown up on a 2k screen or are we at a point where it will make little to no difference?
 

Groof

Junior Member
Quick question. With this year being the year of 2k displays, where will that leave 1080p and lower apps? Will they look blurry blown up on a 2k screen or are we at a point where it will make little to no difference?
Android apps are made to be scalable, at least native ones. You could run an app on an 8k 60" monitor and it would still be sharp. Icons and images are a different story however, those would need higher resolutions in order to look sharp.
 

Salsa

Member
what music app do you guys use? im talking listening to tracks on your SD, not a service.

I was using Ubermusic since even tho it was abandoned a long time ago it was still snappy and pretty, but it's been "broken" for a while now and it wont display artist art anymore :/
 

Blablurn

Member
what music app do you guys use? im talking listening to tracks on your SD, not a service.

I was using Ubermusic since even tho it was abandoned a long time ago it was still snappy and pretty, but it's been "broken" for a while now and it wont display artist art anymore :/

Google Music. I was thinking about using that APK from the Sony player. Found it very slick when I had the Xperia.
 

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
what music app do you guys use? im talking listening to tracks on your SD, not a service.

I was using Ubermusic since even tho it was abandoned a long time ago it was still snappy and pretty, but it's been "broken" for a while now and it wont display artist art anymore :/


Winamp.
 
what music app do you guys use? im talking listening to tracks on your SD, not a service.

I flip between Google Music, and Power Amp. I like PA because of the setting to start playing when I plug in, but GM does that too. I also find that PA has a kinda shitty UI, as I always lose the shuffle setting, lol.
 

Soodanim

Member
what music app do you guys use? im talking listening to tracks on your SD, not a service.

I was using Ubermusic since even tho it was abandoned a long time ago it was still snappy and pretty, but it's been "broken" for a while now and it wont display artist art anymore :/
It takes a bit of getting used to, but there's a player called Xeno on the store. I found it via XDA forums. It's in beta, but it's quite nice. But like I said, takes a bit of getting used to, because it's a non-standard layout. It has a lot of long presses and swiping to do things.
 

Kansoku

Member
what music app do you guys use? im talking listening to tracks on your SD, not a service.

I was using Ubermusic since even tho it was abandoned a long time ago it was still snappy and pretty, but it's been "broken" for a while now and it wont display artist art anymore :/

PowerAmp >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 
Question about Google Play Books: I want to buy some manga/graphic novels for my GSIII, but when I tried out the preview, most of the time the display is set to have two pages on screen and the only way to read it is by constantly zooming in and out. I've been buying comic books over the past few months and they display fine. Is there an option for it to display only one page at a time?
 

supergiz

Member
Are there any good apps for recording quotes you come across? I don't want one that already has quotes, I want to enter them in myself.
 

Groof

Junior Member
Are there any good apps for recording quotes you come across? I don't want one that already has quotes, I want to enter them in myself.
Couldn't you just do this with any note taking app? Not quite sure I understand what you're after.
 

popeutlal

Member
New app, Navigation Layer...this thing is awesome for big screen phones. It can emulate navigation bar's button presses with gesture.
 
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