Former iPhoner with boat loads of questions

[lmw2184]

I just wanted to introduce myself. I have grown tired of the iPhone and I recently snatched me a GS2 from AT&T, and I must say it is the cats pajamas compared to the iPhone. I don't see myself going back. Apparently, as phones become more complex, certain carries decide not to provide a user manual. So, I have tons of questions and would appreciate any you could take a stab at. Here goes...

vibrate/ring settings- is there a vibrate/ring option for incoming calls ONLY? I don't want the phone to vibrate for messages and notifications, yet it seems it's either full on vibrate or full off vibrate.

android backup- is there a simple way to backup your entire phone (settings, data, apps etc) in case of failure? Like the iTunes sync/restore feature iPhone has.

uninstall factory apps- can I uninstall factory apps? do I have to root?

wallpaper size- what is the wallpaper size for these phones? like how do I resize a wallpaper to fit on my home screen completely, not just the center cropped portion?

home screen shortcuts- (Phone, Messaging, Web, Applications) can you not move these around or put others in its place? these seem to be the only icons that are fixed permanently to the screen.

clear data/clear cache- can anyone distinguish the difference? what exactly does clear data remove? (updates, restores apps to factory settings, etc?)

SMS thread- in my text messaging threads, sometimes there is a silver x in the right corner of that contacts message thread. what does that mean?

att app center- whats the diff in att app center and android market?

USB mass storage- in Wireless/Network setting there a USB Utilities section. what is this for? ive plugged my phone into my pc and transferred files already without using this feature. is this not the same thing? if it is, what's the point of this option?

notifications menu- is there a way to add screen brightness to the top with the other toggle buttons instead of using widget?

contact photo- is there a way to add a default photo to all unrecognized incoming calls, outgoing calls, forwarded message thread group, etc instead of looking at silhouette? better yet, is there a way to disable all photo for contacts, no silhouette?

APN network- can creating new APN network get better speeds? first day of phone i was getting 4200kb+ downloads then dropped the following day and been running 200-400k. Is this normal? what speeds are you getting in town?

task manager- sometimes when I open task manager I will see active apps RAM/CPU in red. whats this mean? high CPU usage?

batt temp- my phone gets warm with certain apps open. its read 113 degrees before. is this normal? what temp do i need to be concerned about?

web browser- how do I turn off search suggestions or history in google? its turned off in settings and google instant is off, but it still pops that box down when I type. its not helpful, its only annoying and moves my page up and down where I cant see when I type.

video to mp3 converter- is there an app to record sounds from streams like youtube and convert that into a ringtone or notification sound for your phone?

swiping feature- one complaint about this phone is the swiping feature to answer/end calls, or turn off/snooze alarm. the alarm can be confusing when your asleep and you can accidentally turn off instead of snooze if you swipe the wrong direction. can a root give me a touch option? possible without the root?

call logs- is there a way to manage call logs by keeping text messages out of the list? I only want phone calls to show up in this log. its very annoying and difficult to find missed calls, dialed calls, calls received etc when your sifting through hundreds of text messages.


That's all for now. Thx for whatever you can answer.

 

[enojy]

I really wish I could help, but I can't! Except for a few questions.

It would seem vibrate is indeed on or off; I can't find event-specific settings, either.

The AT&T version is 480x800 resolution.

When the Active Applications widget turns yellow or red, it's indicating that at least one currently-running application is using a hearty amount of processing cycles; I believe it turns yellow for up to 10%, and red for >10%.

And finally, the alarm one is funny, because that happens to me too. Hell, it's a surefire way to wake you up! "How the hell do I push snooze... ah screw it, I'll just get up..."

 

[lmw2184]

I really wish I could help, but I can't! Except for a few questions.

It would seem vibrate is indeed on or off; I can't find event-specific settings, either.

The AT&T version is 480x800 resolution.

When the Active Applications widget turns yellow or red, it's indicating that at least one currently-running application is using a hearty amount of processing cycles; I believe it turns yellow for up to 10%, and red for >10%.

And finally, the alarm one is funny, because that happens to me too. Hell, it's a surefire way to wake you up! "How the hell do I push snooze... ah screw it, I'll just get up..."

Thanks dude. I didn't expect anybody to answer all of those.

 

[CrimsonPride]

i will answer a few questions

the only way to fully backup is if you root and use an app like titanium backup, probably the biggest problem with andriod phone and hopefully they will get around to fixing it

a few of the stock apps can be uninstalled without root, i dont remember which ones, but some others cannot. if you do root you can uninstall any of them

you can change the bottom icons, 3 of them not the app drawer one. im not on touchwiz right now but you go into the app drawer, press the menu button, then i believe you choose customizable grid as the view, and you may press the menu button again and choose edit, then you can drag down any app you want. i would give exact directions but cannot remember off the top of my head

clear data just removes any saved data for the app. if its a game you will lose all the levels etc. clear cache removes all data associated with the app from cache memory. cache memory is real fast memory which holds certain data about the app, it holds very small amounts of data to make apps load faster or be smoother, clearing cache can help if some apps start running slow and whatnot, it rebuilds itself as you use your phone

att app center is really just apps that att thinks are popular and what they recommend, i havent used it so dont know much else

for the brightness part, if you go into settings, display, brightness and uncheck auto brightness, then you can touch the notification bar(dont pull it down) and swipe your finger left to dim and right to brighten the screen

im not real sure about battery temp, if i play a game for awhile or something my phone may get slightly warm to the touch but not much more than that. if i remember i will get a temp app and see what it is and report back. i doubt 113 is too hot, doesnt seem to be too bad but not real sure on it

if you goto google in your phone, there is a settings option at the bottom of the screen, and on that screen there is a more options button. there you can turn off autocomplete, i think that would probably fix your problem

if you goto the market and search for youtube to mp3 you will find some apps that can do that, probably wont work with other sites but not real sure

for the alarm the only thing i can think of is downloading another alarm app. i used one for awhile that had a button but the swiping had somewhat grown on me

in the call logs section of the dialer, you can press the menu button and select view by, but you cant do it by all calls you have to specify, it does get the messages out of their though

 

[rui-no-onna]

vibrate/ring settings- is there a vibrate/ring option for incoming calls ONLY? I don't want the phone to vibrate for messages and notifications, yet it seems it's either full on vibrate or full off vibrate.

You can accomplish this by changing the Notification Settings in the app itself. For my LG Thrive, I've set the phone to vibrate for calls, but for SMS (stock messaging app), Google Voice and Gmail, I have vibrate disabled. You do need to go to the settings of each app, though. I think the same options should be available on your Galaxy S2.

 

[Lagunar]

android backup- Look for NANDroid backup
uninstall factory apps- install cyanogen, perceptron or cognotion. You DO have to root it, and also flash it
notifications menu- not 100% sure but with the unnamed rom you can choose what you put in there ([ROM] UnNamed v1.0.3 - (10/16/2011) - Now with 10 notification pulldown toggles! - xda-developers)
swiping feature-there are 400 different alarms, this is not apple, you can integrate other programs other than the stock ones, if you don't like what you have, you change the program and it integrates =)
call logs- i don't remember exactly which rom removes that... i think that the cognition beta 3 removes it, but the beta 4 puts it back haha

 

[lmw2184]

you can change the bottom icons, 3 of them not the app drawer one. im not on touchwiz right now but you go into the app drawer, press the menu button, then i believe you choose customizable grid as the view, and you may press the menu button again and choose edit, then you can drag down any app you want. i would give exact directions but cannot remember off the top of my head

I cant seem to locate this by following your instructions

if you goto google in your phone, there is a settings option at the bottom of the screen, and on that screen there is a more options button. there you can turn off autocomplete, i think that would probably fix your problem

I dont see a autocomplete option.

in the call logs section of the dialer, you can press the menu button and select view by, but you cant do it by all calls you have to specify, it does get the messages out of their though

yeah i knew that option was there but its far from convenient. i dont want to barrel through a bunch of settings every time. Calls should stay with call logs, messages with message logs. PERIOD! hopefully android gets this fixed.

thanks for answering all that. i know it took some time.

 

[CrimsonPride]

ok to change the bottom icons, open the app drawer, press the menu button and select 'view type', select 'customizable grid', press menu button again and select 'edit'. then you can pull down any app to the dock, and go back to alphabetical grid if you want

dont know how to fix the other 2

 

[Simba501]

vibrate/ring settings - Download a ring mode toggle widget. I use widgetsoid. There's also Elixir and a host of others. The device, natively, doesn't seem to allow this. Using the widget, however, will allow you to distinguish between Sound, Vibrate only, and Silent only. Once you've set your widget up, activate your sound profile and set your vibrate settings as desired (in the sound settings - e.g., mine is set to never). Then, activate vibrate mode, and set your desired vibrate settings (e.g., mine is set to "only in silent mode"). This will allow the phone to vibrate when in vibrate mode (two icons in the status bar) and not have to vibrate in other modes - if that's what you want, which is how mine is set up. Then activate silent mode, and set your vibrate settings to never. After doing these steps, you can use the widget to set different profiles and vibrate for some and not others.

uninstall factory apps - I've heard that you don't have to be rooted. To find out, go to settings, applications, manage applications, find the apps you want to uninstall and see if it'll let you.

clear data- Clearing the data of an application will basically reset it to the state that it was when you first downloaded it - no customizations or settings. You should only do this when you're experiencing issues with a particular app.

notifications menu - Yes, if you're rooted. See the screenshot attached.

APN network- In some occasions, yes. I would recommend staying with the stock settings. And yes, data fluctuation is normal (depends on a lot of factors - tower saturation, time of day, signal strength, the particular tower you're connected to, etc.). I typically get anywhere from 1.5-4 mbps down in my town. I've seen 9 mbps down before .

video to mp3 converter - Yes, I use TubeMate and MP3 Media Converter (clickable links to the market, where you can install them). The media converter has several versions, so look at all of them to get the correct one.

notifications menu-Yes, if you're rooted. I can explain further if you are, or want to. (see the screenshot attached).

 

[BigJoeC]

I agree with you on the call logs. It sucks so badly that I wanna switch back to iPhone. I honestly don't see anything that is so positive with android that makes me want to keep it. Everything is more difficult.

 

[blau808]

Download LauncherPro, its free and is the best UI skin IMHO. You can put the default apps out of view, get rid of the damn AT&T crap, and allows for better customization.

When I downloaded that app, I knew I was never going back to Apple.

Also try out Kies Air. I know some people dislike it, but I dont understand why. Turn it on, your phone gives you an IP address, plug that address into a web browser on the same network and you have your entire phone in your browser. All files, call logs, texts (separated) photos, videos, etc.

 

[78Staff]

Also as a 3GS user coming to Android for the first time I'll try to answer some also...

vibrate/ring settings- configurable with an app like MyProfiles

android backup- There is option for backing up to google (under Settings>Privacy - but I have not used it so not sure what it does/does/not do. Again here an app will do what you want, My Backup if stock, Titanium Backup if rooted.

uninstall factory apps- A few can be uninstalled, but most require root and program like Root Explorer or Titanium Backup.

home screen shortcuts- Yes, open apps icons, then what ever the left bottom button is, then edit - switch to customizable grid, then you can move stuff around, create folders, etc...

clear data/clear cache- not sure on this one...

SMS thread- not sure, most go ahead and upgrade to Handcent, ChompSMS, or GoSMS. I like GoSMS myself, but all are better than stock app.

USB mass storage- I think it is for different options, like disk, dock, keyboard, etc? Not 100% sure though.

notifications menu- Not sure what you mean by top?

batt temp- mine gets warm while charging, and sometimes if I am configuring and have a bunch of stuff running, but normally around 30* C

web browser- not sure, I am not liking the default browser so far, will probably d/l Opera or FireFox

video to mp3 converter- I'm sure there is, google is your friend here.

 

[ffblack191]

I am trying to find an app that will allow me to send a MMS message to more than 10 people at one time. I only have about 100 people i like to send pictures to and going 10 at a time is no good. I have tried Handscent, Text Easy, Chomp SMS, and one other one. These will work with simple SMS messages but not MMS messages. Any help would be awesome.

 

[ppeklak]

dolphin HD is my browser of choice