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There's an app for that? (Read 219952 times)

SA Chris

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#400 Re: There's an app for that?
February 07, 2012, 11:36:39 pm
You can get rid of a few of the apps using the uninstaller function.

Google Navigation is worth downloading and better to use than going off the web browser.

There is a compass app which is quite good. The flashligh app is quite handy too.

slackline

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#401 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 12:23:06 am
I suspect slack--line will be along tomorrow to do a much better job of explaining all this...

Nah, thats pretty much what I'd have said, now't much to add.

I get the impression that some phones are set up to be a complete bag of shite that stops the users doing anything remotely useful to customise it and therefore require all sorts of apps or other dicking around to get it into a sensible state that it should have been supplied as in the first place  :spank:

The crap/customisation is down to two parties, firstly the manufacturers who tweak Android (HTC's tweak is called Sense) and then your carrier (O2/T-mobile/3/Orange) modify these further.  If you can't be arsed doing much then at least make the effort to understand the settings as these should allow you to modify things like the screenlock.




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#402 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 09:53:07 am
I am trying to understand the settings! I am also - gasp - Googling for tips and tweaks and generally what I've found is either wrong, doesn't actually apply to the HTC phone, or involves all the daunting h4x0ring that B-dawg was talking about.

Chris thanks for those tips, flashlight is a good point. The uninstaller doesn't seem to let me uninstall apps that came with the phone.

There definitely seems to be a severe case of trying to restrict what users can do!

SA Chris

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#403 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 10:18:27 am
I think they try to idiotproof it to stop you from deleting essential stuff. There's loads of widgets, apps that came on my phone I'd like to get shot of (share prices etc!) but you just have to live with it. Just get a bigger micro SD car if space is an issue.

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#404 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 10:24:38 am
Not an app, but something that looks good and is available for the chacha is http://www.htcsense.com (but not on my "old" desire). Allows remote access to your phone, so if its on silent and lost down the sofa etc you can make it ring... I'm guessing it won't work if you root your phone though...

Google Navigation and the flash light are two of the most useful as has been said. Google Sky Map is the only superfluous app that seems to get non techy people excited: point it at a starry nights sky and it'll tell you the constellations.

I've just spent 30 minutes trying to find a way to disable the screenlock without having to download an app.

That's long enough to have (skim) read the manual! :smartass:

Bubba

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#405 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 10:47:07 am
If you think Android restrict your customisation then it's a good thing you didn't buy an iPhone!

As already said, if you can find a minimal custom ROM to install then it will probably become the phone you want. Otherwise, you'll really need to root the phone to get rid of a lot of the unwanted apps. As long as there's a documented way to root it then don't be scared of doing this, Android is set up to allow users to root/install custom roms/etc with minimal risk of bricking the phone.

If you look at this topic, there have been a couple of Cyanogen ROMs released for the ChaCha recently but both have some restrictions. You could either wait or go for installing one and see what happens. If you do this though I'd make sure you've got a copy of the stock ROM somewhere in case you don't like it and want to revert.

There's also a rooting guide here

Use at your own discretion. Like I said before because it's not a mainstream phone then you'll have to do more digging and work harder than if you have the latest flavour of the month handset for which there will be hundreds of tools and tutorials.

Jaspersharpe

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#406 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 11:20:54 am
I am a grumpy luddite and utterly disinterested in mobile phone culture and social networking culture.......

I've downloaded one app to be able to remap that juvenile cuntshit Facebook button which was the main thing putting me off the phone.


You did your research before getting HTC's "Facebook phone" then Fiendy?

Quote
Billed as a Facebook phone, HTC’s messenger-style ChaCha sambas onto the scene with a blue Facebook button that’s ready to waltz you directly to the land of social networking.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/htc-chacha_Mobile-Phone_review

 ;)




slackline

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#407 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 11:31:37 am
I am trying to understand the settings! I am also - gasp - Googling for tips and tweaks and generally what I've found is either wrong, doesn't actually apply to the HTC phone, or involves all the daunting h4x0ring that B-dawg was talking about.

Great, but you seemed incredulous that it took you half an hour to find a setting.  Why shouldn't it take a while to get to know how to use something that is completely new to you (especially if your a luddite)?


Chris thanks for those tips, flashlight is a good point. The uninstaller doesn't seem to let me uninstall apps that came with the phone.

There definitely seems to be a severe case of trying to restrict what users can do!

That is part of the ballache of getting a phone on contract, you can't remove half the shit on there without rooting your phone because the contract holder likes to keep a reign on things as it makes it easier for them to control the firmware and applications that are on the phones they doll out so that when people phone up and say XYZOffice doesn't work they actually have a chance of knowing what is installed and how to fix it. 

It would be ludicrous to expect them to provide support for all applications that exist in the market (QuickOffice, GoogleDocs, PolarisOffice, AndrOffive, OfficeSuite, and on, and on....), so instead they put a core set on that they can then advise on/fix.

Bubba's right, if you really want to get rid of things then you'll have to at a bare minimum root your phone, and this will vary on the phone you've got.  HTC tried locking the bootloader (what actually loads Android) so you couldn't root them, but they got a lock of flack for it and changed that, not sure what tool you'll need I'm afraid as I've never rooted an HTC device (Paul B has though).  Samsung have a tool called Odin which is a leaked developers app for loading ROMs onto their phones (but there are alternatives for non-M$ computers, I used one called Heimdall).  I was apprehensive about rooting my phone as I bought my own (didn't want the ballache of being tied to a contract or having to remove crappy applications, I actually did have to uninstall apps on previous phone due to lack of space, but read on) and didn't want to brick my device having forked out of my own pocket, but it really wasn't that hard to do, there are simple, step by step guides out there for most phones, just read a few of them.

Once you've rooted your phone you can then uninstall all of the apps you don't want to have on there, for example having rooted my phone (Samsung Galaxy SII) I can remove apps that are listed as safe to remove.  But then I looked at how much space there is on the phone for installing apps and realised that there was circa 2Gb, and I was highly unlikely to install enough apps to fill this up and necessitate freeing up space.  So ask yourself, do you actually need to remove them?  If theres enough space for you to install the minimal set of apps you want then what do you actually gain by removing them other than a sense of having won one over on the people who provided your phone.  Otherwise I'd say just leave them there, you don't have to use them.

It could be that you're worrying over nothing.

Getting a bigger micro SD card will only be useful if you can install applications to SD, which generally requires you to have rooted your phone I'm afraid.  It will however allow you to hold more pictures/videos/music etc. on the phone that you're carrying around.


Jaspersharpe

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#408 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 11:52:48 am

Getting a bigger micro SD card will only be useful if you can install applications to SD, which generally requires you to have rooted your phone I'm afraid.  It will however allow you to hold more pictures/videos/music etc. on the phone that you're carrying around.

Not necessarily so slackers. I could install apps to SD on my (unrooted) HTC Legend and move them from phone to card and back. Only thing was that some of the pre installed apps couldn't be moved / removed from the phone.

Haven't even bothered checking on S2 as I'll never fill it up anyway.

SA Chris

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#409 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 12:02:28 pm
Was about to say the same thing - moved several space heavy apps - Mobile Observatory, etc to the SD card, and my phone definitely isn't routed.

I personally would have avoided a phone called a Cha Cha purely on the name! :)

slackline

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#410 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 12:17:26 pm
Fair-dos, upon thinking about it a little harder, I think it depends on the application itself, and for some its conditional on the phone being rooted.

I personally would have avoided a phone called a Cha Cha purely on the name! :)

Yeah, its missing a "Cha"!

Paul B

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#411 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 05:40:09 pm
I've never rooted an HTC device (Paul B has though). 

and its even easier for fiendypops as HTC support bootloader unlocking for his phone:

http://htcdev.com/bootloader/

following this you should get root access that should enable you to shift a lot more of the apps in the direction of the bin (or at least the SD card). However, I wonder why you'd bother (it doesn't sound like you're going to fill it with other stuff)? If you've got the intention of using the phone as you state then really I don't think its worth the hassle. It'd be like installing tiny7 because you don't ever use minesweeper.

The other option of course is to use it, and then install a custom rom but I'm getting the impression that's not really worth it in this instance either (and it comes with a lot of trade-offs anyway (or it did for my phone)). I spend plenty of time tinkering and I reverted back to the Sense UI pretty darn swiftly.

The unlock screen is part of Android in general, sense uses its own version but they're all controlled in the same menu system regardless of ROM and if you couldn't find that, I wouldn't advise you go installing cyanogen etc.

As for something useful put Androidlost on it...

Bubba

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#412 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 06:22:45 pm
I really rate Widget Locker for customising the unlock screen and doing useful things with it.

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#413 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 08:56:21 pm
You did your research before getting HTC's "Facebook phone" then Fiendy?
I know I know!!!! The Facebook button actually made me slightly nauseous at the prospect of it's existence and seriously put me off the phone.

It just boiled down to the keyboard. It's the only one I found with the keys decently seperated enough for my sausage fingers.

slackline

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#414 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 09:12:07 pm
I don't get why some people have problems with touch screens and large fingers, 99% of the time I use my thumb which is invariably fatter than people's fingers.  :shrug:

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#415 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 10:29:12 pm
I have a problem with touch screens and strange fingers that seem to alternate being super greasy and too polished on the very tip for the screen to recognise.

I have a problem with tiny Blackberry-style keyboards and sausage fingers. Hence the <barf>ChaCha</puke>

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#416 Re: There's an app for that?
February 08, 2012, 11:01:53 pm
Also.... Thanks everyone for your comments. It's nice to get replies from people who understand the situation from a user's perspective.

Quote
Great, but you seemed incredulous that it took you half an hour to find a setting.  Why shouldn't it take a while to get to know how to use something that is completely new to you (especially if your a luddite)?

I'm a phone luddite but not an idiot! I looked in sensible places in the settings, googled for tips and tricks, tried them and they were all wrong. Generally I'd hope there to be a simple thing like Settings > Phone > Keyboard/Touchscreen > Screenlock. Or it to be mentioned in the manual, which it isn't (only security screenlock pattern bollox).

The name is AWFUL. The nearest contender was the Nokia E5 :D how's that for inspiration, despite the cramped keyboard.

The apps are more an issue of offending me than taking up space, although they do take up space in the app menu (Blackberries can hide apps in the menu, this HTC doesn't seem to). I guess I can try to live with them  >:(

Uggg. Smartphones are a new learning curve for me.

Jim

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#417 Re: There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 12:41:04 am

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#418 Re: There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 07:15:35 am

I'm a phone luddite but not an idiot! I looked in sensible places in the settings, googled for tips and tricks, tried them and they were all wrong. Generally I'd hope there to be a simple thing like Settings > Phone > Keyboard/Touchscreen > Screenlock.


Or somewhere simple like Setting > Security > Change Screenlock  ;)

My daughter has a Cha Cha and if you can get you head round the name plus the slightly small landscape screen I think its actually pretty good.  With Android I think you really need to accept that apps are there to let you customise the phone as you want - on the lock front I us No Lock which lets you turn locking off / on with a single touch (assuming you are putting apps on your home pages) - great for use in car / home etc.

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#419 Re: There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 08:54:28 am
Or somewhere simple like Setting > Security > Change Screenlock  ;)

That's the "only security screenlock pattern bollox" I mentioned and have tried a dozen times, it's only for a proper security pattern, not for disabling screenlock at all (on my phone it's called Set Up Screenlock so maybe something is different).

Good point about simply needing apps to do stuff with Android. I was just expecting that you'd need apps like Angry Birds and Google Constellation Shite, rather than apps to give you the basic functionality the phone would have in the first place. So naive. I guess I'm used to the user-friendliness of Windows computers too much.

Jim - cheers, I'd already saved several links to that from googling, will start to refer to it more.

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#420 Re: There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 09:22:05 am
Or somewhere simple like Setting > Security > Change Screenlock  ;)

That's the "only security screenlock pattern bollox" I mentioned and have tried a dozen times, it's only for a proper security pattern, not for disabling screenlock at all (on my phone it's called Set Up Screenlock so maybe something is different).

?? Change screen lock should have options of none, pattern, pin or password - maybe you're on a later android version .

Obi-Wan is lost...

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#421 Re: There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 10:27:43 am
May have been mentioned before but Plan B is pretty clever for Android. Does similar to 'find my iFone' feature. Best bit is you don't need it pre-installed.

Mrs Obi just got a Desire S and she can register with HTC Sense webpage and do some basic things like make here phone ring at full volume to find where Mini Obi MkI or MkII has hidden it. Or wipe it remotely if it's properly lost.

Annoyingly this only works with newer HTC phones and not my original Desire. Unfortunately I've got to put up with Mrs Obi having a better phone than me until July when I can upgrade. Grrr.


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#422 Re: There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 11:41:01 am
Good point about simply needing apps to do stuff with Android. I was just expecting that you'd need apps like Angry Birds and Google Constellation Shite, rather than apps to give you the basic functionality the phone would have in the first place. So naive. I guess I'm used to the user-friendliness of Windows computers too much.

I actually prefer choosing my own apps to do 'basic' stuff, and I suspect you do too.

The alternative is that the provider chooses what they think you want and attempts to make it all ever so easy to do what they think you might want to do with that software.

But as you've demonstrated by wanting to remove pre-installed applications, what you want, and what the manufacturers/carriers think you want/need differ.  :devangel:

The solution is to find a mid-point, provide some pre-installed apps, but allow users the freedom to install, customise and use what they want, which is what you have.

Some other useful apps to consider installing...

Dropbox (if you use it, very easy way of getting stuff onto your phone from anywhere)
WifFi Analyzer
FileExpert
Rainwatch (I reckon you'll get a fair bit of usage out of this in sunny Scotland!)
Beastmaker Timer

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#423 Re: There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 12:22:46 pm
Cheers.

Ian, on my version of Android, choosing None just removes a pattern/pin lock if you chose one of those. It doesn't remove screenlock entirely. Apparently there's an app for that? ;)

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#424 There's an app for that?
February 09, 2012, 12:24:18 pm
Not used dropbox. Any advantage to it over iCloud?

 

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