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Android Newbie here: a few basic questions

A

Argelius1

Newbie
Hello All,

I am along-time iPhone user who, because of his general gadget obsession, decided to get an Android phone (Google Galaxy Nexus, GSM) to play with for a while. Gotta say, I love the big screen. The iPhone 5 better have a larger screen, or I may forever be wedded to Android.

I've done my best to answer my questions (i.e. I've looked through the interwebs and these forums), but I've got a few random ones I need help with.

[1] I understand the Nexus/ICS did away with a dedicated search button. Can someone tell me how to quickly do a search. (On the iPhone you swipe to the left of the home screen and can search the phone and the Internet from there). I've added the Google Search widget, but rather than typing from in the search box, as soon as I touch it the search app opens up (and takes over the whole screen). Is there a quicker way to search for things (primarily on the phone)?

[2]Can you change what appears on the notification screen and status bar? For instance, I don't want to see notifications when apps have been installed, etc. Really just want SMS, email, voicemail, etc notifications? Is there a central place where this can be controlled, or is it application specific (with some notices, like app installation, that can't be turned off)?

[3] Can anyone recommend alternative email apps to GMail that play well with multiple (GMail) accounts? The stock app doesn't appear to have a unified inbox and I frequently find myself hunting for reply, forward, etc, which are frequently hidden in popup menus.

[4] I'm a little confused about the App Drawer (? is that the correct term) versus the home screens. Are the home screens meant to be customized with widgets and your favorite apps, with the rest of the apps hiding in the App drawer? I find the distinction a little confusing, but perhaps this is just my iOS brain thinking. (FYI I'm using GO Launcher EX).

[5]Can you point me to a good place with detailed instructions on how to root the phone (and a Mac)? Those I've stumbled upon have been seemingly directed toward people who have done it before. (I'm an experienced jailbreaker on the iphone).

Thanks for your thoughts!
 
Regarding question number 4, I've heard it described as "iOS is just Android's app drawer." Not trying to bash or flame, I think iOS is a great operating system for certain situations/preferences. But one of the big pros of android is its customizability, which is apparent on the home screens. You can make them whatever you want, or whatever your personal OCD dictates :).
 
The home screens can be configured in whatever way you like.
You can load it with app shortcuts, Widgets, or folders.

I personally don't like my screens cluttered, which is why I use an alternate launcher. That way I can have apps launched from the dock and depending on the launcher each icon on the dock has gestures to launch secondary apps.

Gmail reply and forward are at the very top of the email. There is no need to go into the menu.

Only select app installations leave the icon behind after installation or updates, most do not, at least on mine.
 
Argelius1 said:
I'm a little confused about the App Drawer (? is that the correct term) versus the home screens.
Click to expand...

I use the drawer once every eleven and a half months. I have seven home screens (Launcher Pro) with a gajillion shortcuts; some are folders full of even more, but less-used shortcuts. Anyway, some here live in the drawer, but not me.
 
thebenjamite said:
Regarding question number 4, I've heard it described as "iOS is just Android's app drawer." Not trying to bash or flame, I think iOS is a great operating system for certain situations/preferences. But one of the big pros of android is its customizability, which is apparent on the home screens. You can make them whatever you want, or whatever your personal OCD dictates :).
Click to expand...

Thanks -- that helps a lot (App drawer = iOs)!

And I definitely have OCD with wanting to tweak everything just right, so I'm having fun with the customization. Compared to iOS, Android seems a little "messy" with inconsistencies in the UI...but definitely love that everything isn't so tightly controlled by Big Brother.
 
Question 1: That is the quickest way. It's basically the same way as iOS does it except instead of swiping to the left, you just tap in the search bar at the top and it brings up the search screen. The screen you swipe to on the left in iOS takes up the whole screen as well. They both search the whole phone too.

Question 2: I believe you go in the specific app you want or don't want notifications for and enable disable from there. I've used Android for a long time now and am not aware of a central setting for which notifications you do and don't get in the status bar.

Question 3: Never tried an alternate app for Gmail. I like the stock one and have multiple accounts synced to it. Reply, Reply All, and Forward are all at the top of the email that is currently opened. Reply is in plain sight (the arrow pointing left), forward and reply all are in the drop-down menu to the right of it (three vertical dots).

Question 4: You are correct in your analysis of your home screen vs app drawer. All apps and widgets are accessible from the app drawer but you put your favorites and most used on the home screen. Think of it like your desktop and your start menu. I personally never like Apple's way of putting every app on your home screens. If you used a lot of apps, you constantly had to scroll between screens to find them. You can also drag and drop one app on top of the other on your home screen and create folders for like apps and label them (all games in a game folder, email apps in one folder, maps and navigation in another, etc..)

Question 5: Here is the link to the forum for Root instructions for the GSM Nexus. http://androidforums.com/internatio...6-how-root-gsm-hspa-samsung-galaxy-nexus.html


Hope this helps!
 
Thanks, svt_gEEk, that was most helpful.

The more I use the GMail App, the more I like it (although I do miss Sparrow on the iPhone).

One more quick question, if I may. On the iPhone I could create text expansion shortcuts (i.e. type jqs for John Q Smith or e@ for email@gmail.com) which I found particularly useful, especially for typing email addresses. I am using SwiftKeys which doesn't seem to ever offer up a previously-typed email address as a suggestion.

Is there a native (or other way) to create these sorts of shortcuts?

Thanks!
 
Argelius1 said:
Thanks, svt_gEEk, that was most helpful.

The more I use the GMail App, the more I like it (although I do miss Sparrow on the iPhone).

One more quick question, if I may. On the iPhone I could create text expansion shortcuts (i.e. type jqs for John Q Smith or e@ for email@gmail.com) which I found particularly useful, especially for typing email addresses. I am using SwiftKeys which doesn't seem to ever offer up a previously-typed email address as a suggestion.

Is there a native (or other way) to create these sorts of shortcuts?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I have not heard of anything like that, but maybe in the language/keyboard settings.... from there you might be able to make an auto-correct for jqs to correct to John Q Smith.

I don't know if those will auto-correct correctly (or at all) in the To: section of the text/email program though....
 
Argelius1 said:
One more quick question, if I may. On the iPhone I could create text expansion shortcuts (i.e. type jqs for John Q Smith or e@ for email@gmail.com) which I found particularly useful, especially for typing email addresses. I am using SwiftKeys which doesn't seem to ever offer up a previously-typed email address as a suggestion.

Is there a native (or other way) to create these sorts of shortcuts?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Don't think that's supported natively and I'm not sure how to accomplish it on other keyboards. I may have to get back with you on that one after I see if Swype will do it.

Edit: no way of doing it that I see.
 
Argelius1 said:
Thanks. I was hoping it could be added as custom dictionary word or something, but haven't been able to figure that out. If it would come up as an auto-correct suggestion, that would work, too.

FYI this is how it works: iOS 5 Tip: Use Keyboard Shortcut to Speed Up Typing - International Business Times
Click to expand...

I tried setting up something similar in the dictionary but saw no way to tell it correct if it saw a certain letter combination. You can add dictionary words but can't specify the conditions to autocorrect to that word.
 
While I have someone's ear, one more question.

So far I'm enjoying Android, but miss the consistency and elegance of the iPhone's UI. I'm using GO Launcher EX and have been searching to find a complete theme that will provide a consistent look to most everything and be "elegant" and not overly wacky.

I realize this is complete subjective, but anyone care to recommend some nice themes?

Also, a quick GO Launcher question: obviously no theme can account for every possible app, so some theme more than others. If you can find an icon set that matches the look of the themed icons, I assume you can use those to manually theme the icons that didn't get themed? (And if so, any suggestions for a place to find icon libraries?

(Jailbroken iPhones can have all the icons automatically themed (by overlaying various frames and other effects onto the stock icons; I assume this isn't possible with GO Launcher EX (or any of the other Launcher apps).
 
Argelius1 said:
While I have someone's ear, one more question.

So far I'm enjoying Android, but miss the consistency and elegance of the iPhone's UI. I'm using GO Launcher EX and have been searching to find a complete theme that will provide a consistent look to most everything and be "elegant" and not overly wacky.

I realize this is complete subjective, but anyone care to recommend some nice themes?

Also, a quick GO Launcher question: obviously no theme can account for every possible app, so some theme more than others. If you can find an icon set that matches the look of the themed icons, I assume you can use those to manually theme the icons that didn't get themed? (And if so, any suggestions for a place to find icon libraries?

(Jailbroken iPhones can have all the icons automatically themed (by overlaying various frames and other effects onto the stock icons; I assume this isn't possible with GO Launcher EX (or any of the other Launcher apps).
Click to expand...

Well, most ROMs have themes that can be flashed on them that will change most commonly used apps' icon and color scheme and such. If you are running a custom ROM, then I would check in that section of the forum and see what themes you can apply. Otherwise I'm not real sure, it's been a while since I've been much of a theme person. Just gets too complicated after a while.
 
svt_gEEk said:
Well, most ROMs have themes that can be flashed on them that will change most commonly used apps' icon and color scheme and such. If you are running a custom ROM, then I would check in that section of the forum and see what themes you can apply. Otherwise I'm not real sure, it's been a while since I've been much of a theme person. Just gets too complicated after a while.
Click to expand...

Totally agree (with the needlessly complex world of theming...)
 
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