Help How to for Galaxy Nexus?

[paroots]

We have stock Android 4.3 running on my wife's gsm Galaxy Nexus on Straight Talk and my (recently acquiured) Sprint Galaxy Nexus on RingPlus. I have a couple of questions:

1. There is a widget that turns WiFi on and off, adjust screen intensity, etc. What does the circular icon in the center do?
2. I know many custom ROMs allow you to set the number of home screens and maybe select which screen is selected when the Home button is pushed. Is there a feature like this in Android 4.3?
3. Now I have a tough one. My RingPlus plan is free, but once you go over the very small data allowance it is charged by the MB. Therefore, I want to keep mobile data disabled except when needed. I also have the paid app Juice Defender Ultimate which is supposed to save battery power. Has anyone figured out how to conserve battery power with this app and at the same time only allow mobile data to be enabled when actually needed?

Update: I figured out the center icon. It's the gps satellite. The trick was searching on the proper name of this widget ie, power control.

 

[Digital Controller]

1. Can you show us the widget? Or give us a link to the app?

2. Custom ROMs are not needed for this feature. A 3rd party launcher like Nova or Apex can be used to do this without Rooting your device.

3. Just enable data when you need it, otherwise it will do it's thing while not even bothering you using the device. Typically when you turn the screen off it will turn off Wifi, Data, GPS, everything while the device isn't in use.

 

[codesplice]

1) If the circular icon has some arrows in it, that's probably the Autosync toggle. That will determine if system functions can sync automatically. I'm not sure if it affects third-party apps.

2) That's much more a function of your launcher than of any ROM. The beauty of Android is that you can replace your launcher with one of your choice, without having to overwrite the included OS. Some popular options include Nova, Apex, and (my personal favorite) Action Launcher.

3) The main way that Juice Defender attempts to save battery is by toggling mobile data. It sounds like you'd much rather keep mobile data disabled except for when you explicitly want to use it. This can easily be done from Settings > Data usage > Mobile Data. Just slide that toggled from On to Off, and you'll become a wifi-only device (except for calls, of course). Alternatively, if you tap the Menu (three-dots) button from that Data Usage page, you can also disable Auto-sync (or do that from the Power Control widget you were talking about), and also Restrict background data. That should cut out any automatic data usage, and only allow data when you explicitly launch your web browser, for instance.

 

[paroots]

1. Can you show us the widget? Or give us a link to the app?

2. Custom ROMs are not needed for this feature. A 3rd party launcher like Nova or Apex can be used to do this without Rooting your device.

3. Just enable data when you need it, otherwise it will do it's thing while not even bothering you using the device. Typically when you turn the screen off it will turn off Wifi, Data, GPS, everything while the device isn't in use.

The widget is stock in Android 4.3 and called 'power control' in the widget section of the app drawer. As mentioned, I have found that the center icon controls gps satellite. I'll keep this disabled until needed.

Good idea about 3rd party launchers. I'm already rooted, but that sounds like a simple solution compared to flashing a custom ROM.

Right now I am controlling mobile data via the Settings. I'm just wondering if Juice Defender Ultimate has a better way of handling it. I've read they have a special widget just for turning mobile data on or off. That may be helpful.

 

[paroots]

1) If the circular icon has some arrows in it, that's probably the Autosync toggle. That will determine if system functions can sync automatically. I'm not sure if it affects third-party apps.

2) That's much more a function of your launcher than of any ROM. The beauty of Android is that you can replace your launcher with one of your choice, without having to overwrite the included OS. Some popular options include Nova, Apex, and (my personal favorite) Action Launcher.

3) The main way that Juice Defender attempts to save battery is by toggling mobile data. It sounds like you'd much rather keep mobile data disabled except for when you explicitly want to use it. This can easily be done from Settings > Data usage > Mobile Data. Just slide that toggled from On to Off, and you'll become a wifi-only device (except for calls, of course). Alternatively, if you tap the Menu (three-dots) button from that Data Usage page, you can also disable Auto-sync (or do that from the Power Control widget you were talking about), and also Restrict background data. That should cut out any automatic data usage, and only allow data when you explicitly launch your web browser, for instance.

Thanks

As mentioned, in my update, I discovered that the circular icon controls the gps.

Yes, the launcher apps sound like the way to go.

Thanks for the info about controlling mobile data. If one disables mobile data in Settings, does this automatic data usage you speak of still occur? Guess I'm not fully understanding that part.

 

[Digital Controller]

The widget is stock in Android 4.3 and called 'power control' in the widget section of the app drawer. As mentioned, I have found that the center icon controls gps satellite. I'll keep this disabled until needed.

Good idea about 3rd party launchers. I'm already rooted, but that sounds like a simple solution compared to flashing a custom ROM.

Right now I am controlling mobile data via the Settings. I'm just wondering if Juice Defender Ultimate has a better way of handling it. I've read they have a special widget just for turning mobile data on or off. That may be helpful.

Honestly I have used Juice Defender before and if you are worried about background data then get it, it will stop all of that because it will turn off your data a lot when the device isn't in use which is nice.

I found Juice Defender to be helpful if you aren't anal about your device like I am. I turn everything I use on/off manually, it's just how I like to do things.