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Useful Stock Features You May Not Know

Tejer

Tejer

Android Enthusiast
So I've discovered a few key features of the Evo V that have allowed me to get rid of a few apps to save on what's running and such. The following are a few things that the stock system already perform without you needing apps for these functions. Coming from the Optimus V and Optimus Elite, I couldn't do these without additional apps before so hopefully you find them useful!

  • SMS Backup: You can back up your SMS within the stock SMS app!Simply go to the SMS app, then hit the menu button. From there go to the 'Back up SMS' tab. From there you can of course back up and restore batches of your text messages. This replaced SMS Backup app for me because it's simple and does exactly what I need.
  • Call Blacklist: Finally this is the first phone I've ever seen that has a stock ability to blacklist callers! I had no clue of this until like 3 months after even having this phone and came on it by accident. To find this open the Phone app. Now hit the menu button and select 'Blocked callers'. From here you can add and remove numbers as well as see a blocked caller history list to see when they tried calling any time after they've been blacklisted. This feature is pretty darn bare but does the job for me. There are quite a few apps that do this that have more bells and whistles, but this did it for me and I don't get harassed on text or anything to need something more thank goodness. This replaced Calls Blacklist for me.
  • Screenshots: A core feature to Android 4 was integrated ability to take screenshots. I also didn't know this until months after getting this phone. To use this simply hold down the power and volume down button at the same time and a screenshot will be saved. I believe you can also hold power and home, but I use power and volume down. This replaced Screenshotit for me.
There may be more features so I'll add them as I think of them, but these are a few less known but extremely useful features to me. Feel free to post any more if you have something that I may not know about too!
 
Palmetto Fellow said:
I can't get the screenshot to work with the pwr + vol down. Only with pwr + home. Go figure.
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Interesting, are you on the stock rom? I've heard that people have had problems one way or another and couldn't get it to work both ways. Who knows why... :rolleyes:
 
This might be off topic but are there any stock apps and stuff I can disable to free up some RAM without causing problems with the phone? I disabled airg and Twitter since I couldn't uninstall them but I know those weren't running anyway. Any others?

Also I take it there isn't a stock file explorer?
 
EazySteve said:
This might be off topic but are there any stock apps and stuff I can disable to free up some RAM without causing problems with the phone? I disabled airg and Twitter since I couldn't uninstall them but I know those weren't running anyway. Any others?

Also I take it there isn't a stock file explorer?
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Correct, you will need to download yourself a file manager. There are a lit of apps I have disabled to prevent them from running such as all the widget files I don't use, Google Search, Virgin Live, Watch, Friend Stream, Picasa, and several others are safe to disable.
 
Good information, Tejer, thank you for posting this.

Building upon EazySteve's question about regaining some RAM by disabling programs, is rooting the phone the only way that you can actually regain some storage space back by deleting some of the "bloatware" that VM put on the phone? Or does this require installing a custom ROM as well?

(Very new to Android here, so please forgive me if the answer to this is obvious. :o )

Holly
 
OakIris said:
Good information, Tejer, thank you for posting this.

Building upon EazySteve's question about regaining some RAM by disabling programs, is rooting the phone the only way that you can actually regain some storage space back by deleting some of the "bloatware" that VM put on the phone? Or does this require installing a custom ROM as well?

(Very new to Android here, so please forgive me if the answer to this is obvious. :o )

Holly
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You're welcome! Yes, rooting is the only way you'll be able to remove all the junk completely that is included. You don't need a custom from to do it, that would just be to completely change tweaks to the system itself and possibly include new thinks or formats. I personally like the stock experience best, it works great is stable and has very few issues. I will say the stock keyboard in my opinion is absolute crap, the worst I've ever seen. But you can easily download a much better one. Feel free to ask away, we all were new at one point!
 
Tejer said:
You're welcome! Yes, rooting is the only way you'll be able to remove all the junk completely that is included. You don't need a custom from to do it, that would just be to completely change tweaks to the system itself and possibly include new thinks or formats. I personally like the stock experience best, it works great is stable and has very few issues. I will say the stock keyboard in my opinion is absolute crap, the worst I've ever seen. But you can easily download a much better one. Feel free to ask away, we all were new at one point!
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Thanks Tejer, what keyboard do you recommend and what's different about it than stock?
 
EazySteve said:
Thanks Tejer, what keyboard do you recommend and what's different about it than stock?
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Personally I find the stock one cumbersome and use TouchPal. But I would suggest trying a couple different ones to find one that you find comfortable. Choices are awesome!!! :D
 
EazySteve said:
Thanks Tejer, what keyboard do you recommend and what's different about it than stock?
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Personally I stripped the stock ICS keyboard from one of the custom ROMs that has it. I know you can download it from the Play Store, you can even just get the stock Jellybean one too. I have been looking at Swift Keyboard and may try it out, it seems to be the highest rated in the Store, but I can't say anything about it yet.
 
I've been using the T9 style function on the stock one when the phone is up right and like that for one handed texts lol
 
Tejer said:
You're welcome! Yes, rooting is the only way you'll be able to remove all the junk completely that is included. You don't need a custom from to do it, that would just be to completely change tweaks to the system itself and possibly include new thinks or formats. I personally like the stock experience best, it works great is stable and has very few issues. I will say the stock keyboard in my opinion is absolute crap, the worst I've ever seen. But you can easily download a much better one. Feel free to ask away, we all were new at one point!
Click to expand...

I appreciate your help and patience, Tejer. :)

I would like to root my phone so that I can get rid of some of the apps/widgets I don't need/want and because some of the apps that require root look as if they would be worth having. First I need to learn more of the basics, though.

I don't particularly like the stock keyboard, either. This is the first time I have had a phone with a virtual keyboard so I am not sure what I would prefer, but I plan to check out some of the others available at the Play Store.

Holly
 
OakIris said:
I appreciate your help and patience, Tejer. :)

I would like to root my phone so that I can get rid of some of the apps/widgets I don't need/want and because some of the apps that require root look as if they would be worth having. First I need to learn more of the basics, though.

I don't particularly like the stock keyboard, either. This is the first time I have had a phone with a virtual keyboard so I am not sure what I would prefer, but I plan to check out some of the others available at the Play Store.

Holly
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I would just recommend reading the stickies in the rooting section and you can learn pretty easily what to do. It's not so hard, but explaining it when it's already there in very easy format would just be clutter.

I can assure you that this keyboard is just lame, every other keyboard I've ever used for touch auto spaces a word when you select it at the top when it's auto-predictive text. The stock one doesn't and it drives me crazy because i'll keep typing and have to go back to put spaces between all the words because i'm not used to hitting the space bar every darn time I select the correct word I want. I would recommend starting with like the ICS stock keyboard in the Play Store, so you can get a feel of what the standard 4.0 keyboard for our devices was SUPPOSED to be like.
 
Tejer said:
Personally I stripped the stock ICS keyboard from one of the custom ROMs that has it. I know you can download it from the Play Store, you can even just get the stock Jellybean one too. I have been looking at Swift Keyboard and may try it out, it seems to be the highest rated in the Store, but I can't say anything about it yet.
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I love the jb keyboard on my nexus 7. Which of the jb apps simulates it best? Does it offer the same gesture engine?
 
@EazySteve, Holly: Programs such as Super Tools Box 10+ will automaicly creat a folder on the SD card for programs that have been designed to be moved, such as kindle, and it looks something like /mnt/sdcard/kindle

It is nice to be able to disable bloatware, yet it is still taking up space. My 1st Android is the Samsung Galaxy Prevail, running android 2.3, and only 256MB RAM, with 176MB useable. Because of these limits people have figured out how to partition the SD card, move system apps to it, and creat links so the system doesn't complain. Have a look in the phone's forums. While i no longer use the phone for calls or text it still makes a nice MP3 player that has GPS and a camera built in, and has some lessons to offer up.

Keyboards are a personal preference. I like the stock one, without it inserting a space, as i don't always agree with the suffix it suggests. The last word in the last sentence is a perfect example, as it offered suggest, yet not suggests, so I had to add the trailing s.
 
Tejer,
Thank you for posting those little known features. I like the idea of being able to blacklist phonenumbers. i have a growing list of telemarketers that I have asked to remove me from their list, and I add to my blacklist just in case they forget.
 
Palmetto Fellow said:
I love the jb keyboard on my nexus 7. Which of the jb apps simulates it best? Does it offer the same gesture engine?
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I honestly have not tried them, I've merely been curious enough to search for them in the Play Store. I do remember one of the first two to show in the results does have gesture support.
 
awev said:
Tejer,
Thank you for posting those little known features. I like the idea of being able to blacklist phonenumbers. i have a growing list of telemarketers that I have asked to remove me from their list, and I add to my blacklist just in case they forget.
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You're welcome, I am glad people are finding this as useful as I did. I couldn't believe some of these features were just seemingly hidden and integrated into the system. I've always thought it was stupid that phones do not support an option to block by number. With this though, you can add them in all day and they wont get through, I've been using it for a while now and it works wonders. I now have a nice little call log under my blocked list that shows who hasn't been able to bother me lately :D
 
Is there a stock way to get your screen to light up when you get a text message? I've been using sms wakeup from the play store
 
Ranhead said:
Personally I find the stock one cumbersome and use TouchPal. But I would suggest trying a couple different ones to find one that you find comfortable. Choices are awesome!!! :D
Click to expand...

I like TouchPal enough that I haven't tried any other yet.
 
OakIris said:
I appreciate your help and patience, Tejer. :)

I would like to root my phone so that I can get rid of some of the apps/widgets I don't need/want and because some of the apps that require root look as if they would be worth having. First I need to learn more of the basics, though.

I don't particularly like the stock keyboard, either. This is the first time I have had a phone with a virtual keyboard so I am not sure what I would prefer, but I plan to check out some of the others available at the Play Store.

Holly
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Holly, root your phone and install a custom rom. See ALL THINGS ROOT section for instructions. I recommend Leslieann's HARMONIA for starters,great rom. She will walk you thru step by step. There are other great roms out there for you to try, it's up to you what you want. If you get stuck? Allot of good people here to help. HAVE FUN.:)
 
miked6875 said:
Holly, root your phone and install a custom rom. See ALL THINGS ROOT section for instructions. I recommend Leslieann's HARMONIA for starters,great rom. She will walk you thru step by step. There are other great roms out there for you to try, it's up to you what you want. If you get stuck? Allot of good people here to help. HAVE FUN.:)
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Does the 4g and 3d work on harmonia?
 
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