I'm coming from HTC sense and like most I'm new to ICS. Can anyone offer some tips for how to get the most out of it. It seems almost exactly like Sense but I know I must be missing out on a few things.
Edit by OfTheDamned:
All tips should be in Blue to separate them from regular posts.
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:11 AM.
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Just a few things I have noticed while playing around today.
1- You can delete apps without going into settings or the market. Go to the app list and select an app and long press it (the same way you would to add it to a home screen). If you drag it all the way to the top of the screen there is an option to uninstall it.
2- While using the browser, press and hold on the back arrow to get your history/bookmarks/saved pages.
3- Under Settings > Developer options you can adjust the animation for windows and transitions
4- Under Settings > Developer options you can also turn on/off graphic acceleration.
5- If you hate the fact that every app you download gets added to your home screen you can go to Market > Menu > Settings and turn off "Auto-add Shortcuts" to make that stop.
Just a few things I have noticed while playing around today.
1- You can delete apps without going into settings or the market. Go to the app list and select an app and long press it (the same way you would to add it to a home screen). If you drag it all the way to the top of the screen there is an option to uninstall it.
Nice. No need to easyuninstall anymore.
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5- If you hate the fact that every app you download gets added to your home screen you can go to Market > Menu > Settings and turn off "Auto-add Shortcuts" to make that stop.
I could have used that tip several hours ago but fortunately I figured it out. It was driving me crazy!
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2- While using the browser, press and hold on the back arrow to get your history/bookmarks/saved pages.
3- Under Settings > Developer options you can adjust the animation for windows and transitions
Nice, thx for these couple tips. It's little stuff like this which makes me enjoy ICS more & more. (toggling animations is obviously nothing new ..so more referring to #2)
Last edited by foo; December 16th, 2011 at 06:44 AM.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jersey Tom
Pro tip! Had been wondering how to get to my bookmarks.
Now.. I need to find out how to have the bookmarks widget display MY bookmarks listed under my Google account, not just the "local" ones.
i believe the book mark widget asks you when you add it. you might want to remove the widget and re-add it. i remember at some point when i was setting up my screen adding that widget and getting a screen asking which bookmarks (local or gmail) it wanted to use, i chose gmail.
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i believe the book mark widget asks you when you add it. you might want to remove the widget and re-add it. i remember at some point when i was setting up my screen adding that widget and getting a screen asking which bookmarks (local or gmail) it wanted to use, i chose gmail.
Good call. I believe when I first added it I didn't have any Gmail bookmarks set, and it defaulted to the Local ones. Now that I have a few, when I add the bookmarks widget it asked, and works!
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Quick access to settings: Another quick way to get into Settings, is to drag down the notifcation, and hit the settings icon, next to the date.
If you're like me, you're constantly going in and out of settings while tailoring your phone to your liking, and this is a very quick method, aside from the task switcher.
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:12 AM.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OfTheDamned
Just a few things I have noticed while playing around today.
1- You can delete apps without going into settings or the market. Go to the app list and select an app and long press it (the same way you would to add it to a home screen). If you drag it all the way to the top of the screen there is an option to uninstall it.
2- While using the browser, press and hold on the back arrow to get your history/bookmarks/saved pages.
3- Under Settings > Developer options you can adjust the animation for windows and transitions
4- Under Settings > Developer options you can also turn on/off graphic acceleration.
5- If you hate the fact that every app you download gets added to your home screen you can go to Market > Menu > Settings and turn off "Auto-add Shortcuts" to make that stop.
Sorry to be a noob...Can you explain graphic acceleration to me? Thank you.
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1. Use Lightflow to control your LED notification light - I see a lot of complaints in the reviews from users about the LED light
2. Separating the ringtone from notifications- this took forever for me to figure out (perhaps I was missing something).
- Settings --> sounds--> notification set to silent
- d/l My Profiles and change the notification sounds to what I want for each profile
- This was rather important for me as I'm on call at night frequently and need my phone volume on but don't want to hear emails/texts
Like I said, maybe I was missing something, but I could not separate it any other way
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:12 AM.
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for anyone with a tablet who got used to this like i did, i couldn't be more happy. in the browser settings go to "labs" and you can turn on full screen broswer and get the naviation wheel on the side the screen like in honeycomb.
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:13 AM.
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Quick access to settings: Another quick way to get into Settings, is to drag down the notifcation, and hit the settings icon, next to the date.
If you're like me, you're constantly going in and out of settings while tailoring your phone to your liking, and this is a very quick method, aside from the task switcher.
Thank you!! Hadn't noticed that at all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Proph
for anyone with a tablet who got used to this like i did, i couldn't be more happy. in the browser settings go to "labs" and you can turn on full screen broswer and get the naviation wheel on the side the screen like in honeycomb.
It's not nearly as good as the tablet one though. I have it turned on anyway because I'm so used to it I do it automatically anyway.
Another +1 for lightflow, love it.
I'm guessing I'm not the only one coming from Blur- if you want something like the dock mode in blur, the Alarm Clock Plus app is perfect. The alarms settings are almost identical, and it lets you fade the screen off, and add widgets and all that.
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Any word on Corporate Sync? I cant' sign using the active sync!! Any tips??
Thanks
What sort of problem are you encountering? I used the "Mail" app to sign into my corporate exchange account no problem. It now syncs my exchange mail, contacts, and calendar appointments.
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Have you noticed much in the way of differences between graphic acceleration being on or off as far as resources go? Battery life, lag, etc.
I don't have it turned on right now so I'm not sure. I may play with it later on just to see if anything changes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by atrain311
Sorry to be a noob...Can you explain graphic acceleration to me? Thank you.
Basically a graphic accelerator is a type of video adapter that has its own processor to boost performance. They assist in drawing graphics and allow the CPU to do its own thing while it more or less takes on the graphics.
The setting I was referring to will force graphic acceleration in some apps. Which could make things move a little faster and smoother than it normally would. You would probably see the results with some games that are pretty graphically intense like some of the Glu or Gameloft games.
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for anyone with a tablet who got used to this like i did, i couldn't be more happy. in the browser settings go to "labs" and you can turn on full screen broswer and get the naviation wheel on the side the screen like in honeycomb.
I agree. Had this on my Xoom and couldn't live without it.
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Minor tip, apologies if this was in past android versions.
Go to the clock app, press and hold on the screen, it goes into night mode. Perfect for having by your bedside table. As most of the screen is black, pretty light on the battery as well.
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:13 AM.
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Just download the lightflow app. Will solve all your concerns.
Regarding Lightflow, it's a great app but I did run into a deal-breaking problem with it:
If you have Lightflow installed, then ONLY the apps you have enabled in the app will blink the LED. Apps that aren't in the Lightflow app (of if you choose not to use Lightflow for certain apps) will not blink the LED even if they are enabled.
Here are the two specific problems I ran into:
1) Google Voice. I use Google Voice just for Voicemail, but I don't see an option in Lightflow for it. And the regular "Voicemail" control in Lightflow does not work for Google Voice. Now of course Google Voice has it's own setting for LED notification, but if does not work while Lightflow is installed. If I uninstall Lightflow, then the LED will light again for Google Voice.
2) K-9 Mail. Now there IS a setting in Lightflow for K-9 but I don't want to use it because it doesn't appear that you can change the color of the LED for different accounts in Lightflow like you can within the K-9 app itself. But if I turn off the K-9 control in Lightflow, then the LED will not light up when K-9 gets an e-mail (even though it is set to light up in K-9 itself).
In summary, it appears that Lightflow takes complete control of all of your LED notifications even if a certain app is not supported of if you choose not to use Lightflow for certain apps.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OfTheDamned
I don't have it turned on right now so I'm not sure. I may play with it later on just to see if anything changes.
Basically a graphic accelerator is a type of video adapter that has its own processor to boost performance. They assist in drawing graphics and allow the CPU to do its own thing while it more or less takes on the graphics.
The setting I was referring to will force graphic acceleration in some apps. Which could make things move a little faster and smoother than it normally would. You would probably see the results with some games that are pretty graphically intense like some of the Glu or Gameloft games.
OTD, so if I'm not gaming on my phone I probably don't need to worry about this option much? Thanks again!
This was one the herp derps at vzw were totally stumped on (surprised?):
When syncing your contacts, to remove the garbage contacts that gmail pulls through, simply tap at the very top to choose which contacts to display. If this option isn't at the top of your contacts screen, you probably are set to "all contacts". Open up how you normally would in your display contacts options, and select whatever you have synced up (gmail) then try again.
For some reason, I believe the phone after time, sorts out your contacts for you, only displaying those with numbers. I cannot seem to get mine to display all the loose data as well as solid contacts.
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:14 AM.
Never tried to long press the back button to get to the bookmarks. That was one of my complaints was that it seemed like the bookmarks were buried. That solves that problem!! Thanks!!
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Granted your drivers installed correctly (mine tried to find 3 different drivers and failed one), your Nexus should read on Windows 7 like a media device. You can open it up and drag and drop files, just like you would if your SD card was mounted. Don't know why people are having so many issues with this, but I've put it here to let you know it IS possible. I've already sideloaded a few apps this way, as well as transferred my picture albums.
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:14 AM.
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You may or may not know this, but I just did this by accident, and was amazed.
Drag an app to the quick launch bar at the bottom of the screen. Now drag another app to the same location. It creates a folder there with both apps. Click the folder and both apps pop up just like on the home screen.
No idea if this will actually be useful or not. Just thought it was cool. You can have access to more than 5 common apps from any home screen page.
Joe
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:14 AM.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OfTheDamned
4- Under Settings > Developer options you can also turn on/off graphic acceleration.
I've noticed something weird with this when I was testing this with quadrant. With the 2d graphic acceleration off the fps is much lower on the 2d graphic test, however the overall quadrant score was about 200 higher than it was with the graphics acceleration on.
I've noticed something weird with this when I was testing this with quadrant. With the 2d graphic acceleration off the fps is much lower on the 2d graphic test, however the overall quadrant score was about 200 higher than it was with the graphics acceleration on.
It's because tests are completely rubbish. Stop testing your phone and use it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drhill
It's because tests are completely rubbish. Stop testing your phone and use it.
I have been using it and enjoying it. This was the first time I ran quadrant on it, just so I could see what difference the graphics acceleration does.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by x25064
Drag and Drop
Granted your drivers installed correctly (mine tried to find 3 different drivers and failed one), your Nexus should read on Windows 7 like a media device. You can open it up and drag and drop files, just like you would if your SD card was mounted. Don't know why people are having so many issues with this, but I've put it here to let you know it IS possible. I've already sideloaded a few apps this way, as well as transferred my picture albums.
People are encountering the problem because they are not using the USB cable that came with the Nexus. I had this problem when I first attempted it as well. I used my old Motorola Droid X USB cable and it would not recognize the Nexus. I switched USB cables, and it worked flawlessly.
Good luck!
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While taking advantage of OTD's tip to keep apps from automatically installing on the desktop, I notice there is a setting in the Market that will force apps to only update over wifi. Might be a very useful thing for folks with limited data.
Last edited by OfTheDamned; January 10th, 2012 at 10:14 AM.
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People are encountering the problem because they are not using the USB cable that came with the Nexus. I had this problem when I first attempted it as well. I used my old Motorola Droid X USB cable and it would not recognize the Nexus. I switched USB cables, and it worked flawlessly.
Good luck!
That is so strange. I took your advice and switched from my Incredible usb cable to the Samsung cable, and boom. It works - whereas, before, I got nada.
OTD, so if I'm not gaming on my phone I probably don't need to worry about this option much? Thanks again!
It's my understanding that it actually helps in a lot of apps - for one I've noticed that scrolling is much smoother in the official Twitter app with this setting turned on. For now I'm leaving "force GPU rendering" enabled. Anyone else?
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one thing i've been enjoying (although fairly useless) is the developers option at the bottom of settings, I've enabled show touches, which is actually fairly useful to help adjust to the keyboard(if you watch it, you can actually see where you are pressing easier.)
People are encountering the problem because they are not using the USB cable that came with the Nexus. I had this problem when I first attempted it as well. I used my old Motorola Droid X USB cable and it would not recognize the Nexus. I switched USB cables, and it worked flawlessly.
Good luck!
I used the cable from my X and it worked just fine.
Anyone figure out how to change the way People are displayed in the People Tab of the Phone App?
Mine displays 6 people per screen... really big. I prefer a List type display of my "Favorites" or a smaller version of the way it is doing it...
I haven't been able to find a way to change it.
Anyone else?
Thanks!
I'm not a big fan of that either. Wish they could just have a heading "Favorites" with the list of your favorites below it kind of like they have a heading "frequently called" with a list of people there.
Also, does anyone know how to show contacts with phone numbers only?
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The Galaxy Nexus is the third official phone contracted by Google and the first phone to come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Specs include a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 16/32GB of internal storage, a 4.65 inch 720p HD Super AMOLED... Read More
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Do you have a tip/trick for ICS? Post it here.
instead of a retort.
I have it turned on anyway because I'm so used to it I do it automatically anyway. 
