Related
I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
***EDIT***
Opera just downloaded 1600 messages by POP. Now, because of something K9 or the Nexus email client did, Opera lost track of which emails were new and I got 1600 duplicates. Am I doing things that wrong or does it just not work?
pelesl said:
I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are tons of keyboards, toggle apps and widgets and dialers in Google Play and XDA. Stop wining and start looking mate
Samsung packaged their apps such as dialers, keyboards, email clients and all the other stuff you like into the bloat called touchwiz. The vanilla android is lean without those bells and whistles. Like what the previous post said, explore the playstore. There are better apps there than what samsung packaged in the s2. You just need to explore..
Sent from my Nexus 4
2 and 3 are both 'fixed' in CM 10.1 - might be worth giving it a go...
im assuming your still on stock???
1. Not sure about the BCC...but there's a general email that you can use for non-gmail accounts....
2. can be easily solved with dialer mod....most roms comes with this feature
3. i havent been on stock for a while...but im sure Bluetooth toggle would be under quick pull down in the new 4.2.2. If not you can always flash another rom, which is better in my opinion since there are more toggle options.
Bottom line is...
Welcome to the forum (i see that your a new user)
and minor issues like these that can easily be solved on if you took the time to look on nexus 4 development section
Yes I agree with the post above. Try cm10.1 it's a way better alternative than stock. If you want more customization go with paranoid android or aokp rom. Nexus 4 is meant to be rooted! There's a sticky on how to root and unlock your bootloader. Very easy. Check out the screen shots in the post your screen shot section and see what other nexus 4 users have done with their phones. It's really an open playground
On stock 4.2.2 you can long press on Bluetooth and WiFi to toggle them on and off in the quick settings menu.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
gee2012 said:
There are tons of keyboards, toggle apps and widgets and dialers in Google Play and XDA. Stop wining and start looking mate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
EddyOS said:
2 and 3 are both 'fixed' in CM 10.1 - might be worth giving it a go...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what CM is, but it strikes me as some third party firmware (or is it just a collection of changes to Android)? Is there a "tutorial" page that explains the layers and what they are called?
ugotproblemz said:
... if you took the time to look on nexus 4 development section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean on this forum?
3. Just download "widgetsoid" app, which implements quick toggles in your notification bar much like Samsung's touch wiz feature.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
pelesl said:
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pelesl said:
I don't know what CM is, but it strikes me as some third party firmware (or is it just a collection of changes to Android)? Is there a "tutorial" page that explains the layers and what they are called?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pelesl said:
You mean on this forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Look at what I'm magically doing here. It's called multi-quote. Learn how to use it.
2. You came here essentially asking for advice. When someone gives you some advice (even if it's not what you wanted to hear) you don't start being rude to them with no valid reason.
3. Hey, here's an idea. If you don't know what CM is (seriously? ) then Google it. There is a 'tutorial' page, it's the first Google result for cyanogenmod.
4. Where else would he be talking about other than on this forum? It doesn't take a genius to navigate to the dev section and check out some of the available ROMs.
5. As for the bluetooth toggle, it takes a swipe down then a click. No more than was needed on TouchWiz.
6. There are tonnes of third party dialers available with T9, pick one and install it. You can almost certainly get a Holo theme for whichever one you choose as well. If you're really that desperate and need it to be within the stock app, flash a custom ROM.
The key is that stock Android is about as lean as you can get. Rather than give you every conceivable bell and whistle, you get a blank slate and the ability to customize everything to YOUR desire, and not Samsung's or HTC's.
Everything you're asking about is available through various apps that are easily installed and just as easily reversed if you don't like them.
Ignore the people telling you to flash roms and stuff like that, those are options for the hobbyists. If you decide to start playing around with the Android system you can make a lot of fun changes, but it's not necessary on the Nexus.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
pelesl said:
Congratulations on post number 3,245. Why don't you say something else useless and see if you can hit 3,230 by the end of the day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was useful, you have to try and find answers for your question on your own initialy. This is not kindergarten where people hold your hand and tell you everything you want to know. If after searching well enough you can`t get an answer or solution to your problem, then you post your question in the Q&A thread.
Thank you for wasting my time. And btw it is post 3425 and not 3245.
gee2012, I thought your initial reply was pretty rude too. You seem to have a zillion posts which would indicate you have been here for a while but you must have been a noob once yourself and asked questions. Yes I know the search function is our friend but sometimes just asking a question is the best way to go because it also generates other things. I, for example, didn't know about wigitsoid until I hooked into this thread.
To the original poster, I have the following advice. Read up averything you can on what can be done with this phone. I, like you, came to one from a Galaxy S2. Had it 2 days and sold it. I was disappointed that the so called 4.7 inch screen was in fact smaller than that of my S2 because of the soft buttons. The colour saturation was gash and the camera really was a disappointment. I then went for an S3, Note, Note 2, Lumia 920 and chopped my company Blackberry SIM into an iPhone 4S. I was changing phones faster than most people change underwear....... But all the while I hung out here and read what was going on. Couple of weeks ago I sold the Note 2 and bought another 16GB Nexus 4.
I have flashed the Paranoid Android contrasty kernel and the screen is now 'alive". I installed the Full Screen Toggle app and Button Savior app and now I have the full glory of the 4.7 inch screen. I'm running Launcher8 which gives me and even better live tile system that WP 8.
Got a nice leather flip case which I had to hack and slash to invert as everything seems to open down instead of up like in the old days (think of how the "Beam me up Scotty" communicator flipped open).
Tried most of the enhanced camera apps but sadly the camera still doesn't meet my expectations, but other than that, the Nexus 4 went from a cheap..Meh!!!! phone to being the "Dogs Bolloxs"
Hang in there fella and get flashing
pelesl said:
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you long press the full stop (period) key, a comma will appear. Now you can use commas again
That said, all you need is an empty day and a few hours to play around with the phone to get yourself familiar with it. Then you'll love it more than your S2.
pelesl said:
I just got the Nexus 4. Needless to say, it arrived the day the S4 was announced, but whatever. It's cheap, relative to what I paid for the S2 I had from T-mobile.
I bought it to get away from bloatware. After updating my S2 to ICS I could type faster than the characters showed up on the screen. Reminded me of my days pushing the limits of a 386.
I've had the Nexus 4 for exactly one day. Immediately I notice some nice things:
1. Definitely feel snappier. This is a big plus.
2. The auto-correct is less intrusive. If I hit backspace after auto-correct does something, it will revert the entire correction. That is nice; in the S2 I had to turn it off because it was driving me nuts (texting in different languages; not to mention it insisted on capitalizing Work but not wednesday).
And then the bad:
1. Can't bcc myself on every email. How lame. No, I don't use gmail and I don't want you. And I am used to doing things this way and don't want to change my email handling on umpteen computers to deal with sent folders. So I had to download K9, and the fact that you have to go into a menu to find the compose function is just plain stupid.
2. Wow, I miss the dialer on the S2. I would just start typing in digits. It would search my contacts by digits *or* by the equivalent letters. Just beginning to type someone's name and I could find them. Now I have to hit the magnifying glass and type in the name to find someone.
3. I also miss the toggles on the slider (whatever you call that thing you pull down from the top of the screen). Takes several clicks to turn Bluetooth on and off now.
These things may not seem like a big deal, but for those of us who don't want to spend our days watching laughing pandas, the little things in software can make or break the experience. That is how Apple got ahead (and still is, in many cases).
Generally I think Google (and possibly all smartphones) missed a few things. Or else I'm old and stubborn. One of them is the utter lack of control over what's going on. Not being able to "quit" an app is annoying. And then you get an app to kill apps---but someone works around that. Happened with AirDroid. Had to uninstall it! Couldn't kill it, and couldn't figure out how to not keep this connection "open" all the time. So I feel like I can't use it.
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
***EDIT***
Opera just downloaded 1600 messages by POP. Now, because of something K9 or the Nexus email client did, Opera lost track of which emails were new and I got 1600 duplicates. Am I doing things that wrong or does it just not work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For number 3, swipe down the notification tray with 2 fingers at the same time, which takes you to "quick settings". Then long press on the bluetooth icon to turn on or off. For punctuation, long press on the period key and a little pop up will appear with several frequently used punctuation marks. slide to the one you one and let go. easy peasy
pelesl said:
And my biggest pet peeve is keyboard layout. If you know the history, you know where QUERTY came from. Then came Dvorak, which took off only with a handful of nerds, but is a smart concept. Now we take something that looks nothing like a typewriter and shove QUERTY into it. Look, I understand the need to keep things familiar, but from what I understand, it's extremely difficult to customize the keyboard layout. I hope someone can point me to an app that allows me to do that, but I haven't found one. The world's idea of "customizable keyboard" is to have a Japanese schoolgirl dancing behind semi-transparent keys. Sorry, but no. In the English language you should have the apostrophe on the main keyboard and for most languages the comma should be there, too. I don't use the "speak" key or the smiley face one. Hell, take the space bar, which is 5 keys wide and make it 2.
The keyboard layout without punctuation is a big problem. Already kids can't spell worth a damn. Now I find myself not using commas in emails, etc. either. It's really disturbing.
There's no angry old man post icon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Swiftkey from the Play store. Great keyboard, I can even have arrow keys. It has a comma left of the space bar, a full stop to the right.
Its autocorrect even gets apostrophes right pretty much all of the time (without the need to type them!). It has a British English dictionary available. Mind you, it is QWERTY not QUERTY in British layout.
I've got emoji (extended smileys) in Handcent, my texting app, but even that only has a smiling old man. Sorry can't help there.
Don't these people ever watch that YouTube video when they signed up at xda-devs?
/sage
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Quote needabottle:
gee2012, I thought your initial reply was pretty rude too. You seem to have a zillion posts which would indicate you have been here for a while but you must have been a noob once yourself and asked questions. Yes I know the search function is our friend but sometimes just asking a question is the best way to go because it also generates other things. I, for example, didn't know about wigitsoid until I hooked into this thread.
If i would be ranting in all my posts i would be banned 20 times allready. What irritates me is that some users don`t even make an effort to look in Google Play,XDA or on Google search and just post a question for an easy service. You can check all my posts and see i try to help users, And yes i was a noob too when i started with android, but searching and trying gets you a long way. If you are realy stuck or don`t know whta to do then you post a question.
Hi everyone,
I don't know how to develop software in Android, but I eventually hope to. I mainly registered to put forward an idea, and to know if it's already available or if it's even possible.
I want to read mathematics books while I run and bike. So far this has not been possible. But with the launch of Google Glass this looks possible. I enjoy the exercise and the scenery while running and biking. But the problem is that it's also huge waste of time for me. So I don't go running as much as I could. There's nothing to think about other than what's around you and just putting one foot in front of the other, so it even gets boring sometimes. It would be better if I can get some of my work done while I'm running, and enjoy the exercise, fresh air and the scenery at the same time.
Typically people can listen to audiobooks when they run. Or there are android apps that will read from a text ebook so they can listen to it. But you can't listen to a mathematics book because there are symbols, and those symbols are most often there as graphics, not text.
It would be great if Google Glass has an ebook reader on it, or can tether with a smartphone and display the screen, so a runner could read a book while running. You'd need some controls to turn the pages, maybe zoom, go left, right, up and down, while the book is open. And a navigation system to open a new book.
What are your thoughts? Can it be done?
Thanks.
omoplata1 said:
Hi everyone,
I don't know how to develop software in Android, but I eventually hope to. I mainly registered to put forward an idea, and to know if it's already available or if it's even possible.
I want to read mathematics books while I run and bike. So far this has not been possible. But with the launch of Google Glass this looks possible. I enjoy the exercise and the scenery while running and biking. But the problem is that it's also huge waste of time for me. So I don't go running as much as I could. There's nothing to think about other than what's around you and just putting one foot in front of the other, so it even gets boring sometimes. It would be better if I can get some of my work done while I'm running, and enjoy the exercise, fresh air and the scenery at the same time.
Typically people can listen to audiobooks when they run. Or there are android apps that will read from a text ebook so they can listen to it. But you can't listen to a mathematics book because there are symbols, and those symbols are most often there as graphics, not text.
It would be great if Google Glass has an ebook reader on it, or can tether with a smartphone and display the screen, so a runner could read a book while running. You'd need some controls to turn the pages, maybe zoom, go left, right, up and down, while the book is open. And a navigation system to open a new book.
What are your thoughts? Can it be done?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) It could be done, but that is not what glass is meant for. Glass is designed for less than 30 second, limit one minute, interactions.
2) Watching a youtube video on glass for 3 minutes in the latest update hurts my eyes because i'm staring at it for so long. Its like when you're developing for it, you get eyestrain if you constantly look at it. Looking at Glass for long periods of time hurts.
3) It would be hard to see since it has some viewing problems in light.
4) It would be plain awkward to be running around, constantly looking up and to the right. Plus, you might run into something xD
Hey guys! I’m doing a personal review of Ubuntu Touch on the Nexus4 device, and I thought I could share it with you.
It’s kind of a “Pros and cons” thing, but since I tend to get off-topic easily and babble a lot I’ve divided things in sections,
so you don’t have to read everything should you not want to.
Here it goes - Ubuntu Touch on the Google Nexus 4 (mako).
Installing Ubuntu has always been a pleasant experience for me. It feels open. Feels different. Feels fresh. Feels UBUNTU.
Installing any linux distribution on any PC makes mu blood run like crazy and Ubuntu Touch makes no difference.
It’s exciting to see something new and beautiful done for phones. And it’s even more exciting when you see it’s done with taste.
Now just to be clear – when it comes to Pros and Cons I guess the “Cons” section would be obviously much larger,
but hey: it’s a developers preview of what we should be expecting so I’m willing to suck some things up.
Pros:
1. Design.
Ubuntu Touch feels like Ubuntu in your hand. I just have to say this. I’m not sure if it’s the fonts or the wallpapers or the
transitions or the launch pad on the left or something else that I couldn’t quite grasp and understand,
but the fact is UT feels right. Feels Ubuntu.
2. Screen usage
Almost every other mobile OS has some buttons be it hardware or software (eg. Android’s software buttons on the screen + the 3-dot thingy).
Ubuntu gives you the whole screen to have for yourself and your app. It’s amazing how even the “Contacts” app feels bigger and more open.
3. Docking
I haven’t had the chance to go through the UT docking experience yet. I don’t even know if it’s quite baked yet, but what
I’ve seen on videos and ads is pretty awesome. The very idea of it makes it way cool. Chuck Norris cool.
The vision that one can have his PC in his pocket at all times is nothing but genius.
4. Compatibility
Ubuntu aims to be compatible with lots of devices. Which is good, I guess. I just hope compatibility doesn’t come
at the expense of stability or power management or something else that might come along and present itself as an issue.
5. Stability
I am yet to witness an app to crash or force-close or just close or anything like that.
I do get some strange freezes for a few seconds every now and then though.
Cons:
1. Installation
Installation can present itself to be harsh on someone who know nothing about using the terminal. There was a small step
missing in the installation tutorial which can cause some people to get confused. Mainly people with no
prior unlocking/rooting/flashing ROMs experience.
2. Boot
No boot animation. First time the phone booted it needed quite some time and there wasn’t even a splash screen indicating
something was working. The screen had the backlight on and that was it. No shutdown animation as well. And while we’re
still on the subject: there is no shutdown menu, which was kind of strange – I mean when you hold the power button the
phone just shuts down – no questions asked. I guess that might be good in some situations, but I’d rather have the shutdown menu.
3. Overall performance
Overall performance is laggy. The “use-of-edge” design is pretty neatly thought of, but in real life it need polishing. A LOT of polishing.
Swipes act strange, I move from app to app by accident.. My personal guess is that one can get used to it in a couple days
but the swipes should take a step towards being more intuitive as well.
I didn’t like the fact that the music page doesn’t stream anything, but takes you to the browser and when you hit play on some
hit you’re supposed to hear you get a message that flash is not supported or crashed or something like that. It’s kind of frustrating.
I think a native app should be replacing that page on the home screen real soon.
4. Social media
Neither Facebook nor Twitter have native apps. All you get is a mobile version in the browser. I don’t think it needs further explanation.
I hope both Facebook and Twitter do something about this. I don’t think it’s up to Canonical to make apps for those… or up to the
community for that matter. Anyway. I didn’t see a LinkedIn, Pinterest or any other social platform on the suggested apps, so
I guess I’ll just stop here.
5. Graphical glitches
Sometimes things will shift aside or up and down and text would overlap. It’s not something you can’t live with – a simple swipe one
way or another – fixes it, but I think all would agree it’s not an eye-candy feature. There are a few of these throughout the system.
It’s nothing serious in my opinion, but I couldn’t bring myself to put it in the “Pros” section.
The clock disappeared form everywhere except the clock app. I mean it – everywhere. It’s not on the homescreen,
it’s not in the “notification bar”, it’s nowhere. It happened after I rebooted the device for the first time. Also alarms don’t
seem to be working at all.
//* after a second reboot clock reappeared. Alarms still don’t work though.
Another thing is after picking up a call and finishing it – when you put the phone away from your ear the screen won’t turn on by itself.
That’s kind of odd if you ask me. It’s like it knows I’m saying “goodbye” and saves my battery or something. It’s a minor setback,
but still. I noticed that during the dialing process screen lights up if you take the phone away from your ear. I haven’t read a lot of
UT documentation, so it might be on purpose – I’m just stating what I’ve experienced.
6. Navitagion
Navigation is bad right now, I think. It looks like the OS isn’t sure how to respond to your swipe. Transitions are slow in my opinion.
They should be a tad faster. A major setback is the back button. I mean seriously – how many times do you misclick on something
and want to go right back. Think about it. It’s at least a few times a day. I think the back button should be visible the first few seconds
along with the rest of the app menu – should there be one. Or maybe just put it in the top left corner next to the search. If you think there
is no space – the search can always morph into “just a button” ... Other than that I can’t complain about navigation – it’s pretty neat,
actually. Menus are simple and understandable.
7. Hardware glitches
Everytime I wake my device up my Bluetooth is ON and I need to turn it off manually.
I can’t say I like that at all but considering that is all I have to say about hardware glitches I think it's not that bad.
8. 3G
3G is really important. AND it works! There’s just now way to shut it off.
I mean sure – you can turn off the mobile data, but when it comes to choosing whether to use 3G or 2G Networks Only – you don’t really have a choice.
You’re stuck with 3G and all the disadvantages that come with it as well as the advantages.
//* We all know what happens to your battery when using 3G and I’m the kind of guy that doesn’t like to turn his mobile data ON and OFF all the time – it just stays enabled all the time and saves me whole lotta thinking. Not having the choice of switching back to “2G networks only” sends you straight in hell in terms of battery life.
9. Syncing
Since I’m obviously new to Ubuntu Touch I just recently started using Ubuntu One, but my gosh! Syncing contacts with Google is a
real pain in the ass. Since the Gmail app is not a native app, but a HTML5 client instead, syncing appears to be impossible at this point.
Users are forced to hook their devices up to a PC running Ubuntu and write a bunch of commands in the terminal over and over again,
since syncing only works for no more than 50 contacts at a time. That being said I have over 600 so I had to run the damn thing 12 times
in a row. Aside from that should you choose to add a new contact it won’t sync with Google automatically and upload your new contact
into the cloud where you can have access to it at anytime.
//*Note: AFAIK: iOS, WM and Android have pretty easy ways to sync contacts with Google. I think this is one of the things the guys at Canonical should focus on. Slick mail application and neat contacts syncing is vital to a lot of people and is a major reason why they never switch phones.
Final thoughts:
Ubuntu Touch aims to deliver something different and really special to consumers: a PC inside a phone. I think what they are truly
missing here is an app store of some kind. The OS suggests apps but I couldn't see an app for that and I'm guessing that is somewhat of a
setback as well. They’ve been doing really well and while for now the “Cons” section is significantly larger than the “Pros”
I have hope and faith that Canonical will pull this off eventually.
Aside from the hard installation and the lack of an eye-candy boot animation… and maybe some other minor tickles - the OS looks
and feels nice and really pretty in the palm of one’s hand. They still have a lot of work to do if they ever want to catch up with Android or iOS
in terms of usability, syncing, MTP and other stuff that average consumers don’t know and don’t need to worry about but would miss a lot.
If you don’t don't mind the fact it’s a developers preview and the camera doesn’t always start off properly and you have to shut it down and run it again it’s pretty impressive!
Conclusion:
There are a lot of words one can use to describe Ubuntu Touch, but in my opinion the high order bid is “Inspiring”.
Yes, there are some glitches here and there. There is a lot to do. But after seeing it and touching it with my own eyes and fingers well…
I have to say this – I am thrilled and I can’t hardly wait to see what will they make of it.
littlegreen said:
Yes, there are some glitches here and there. There is a lot to do. But after seeing it and touching it with my own eyes and fingers well…
I have to say this – I am thrilled and I can’t hardly wait to see what will they make of it.
[/I]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, i think this is nothing new and nothing special ;/.
UPD: The problem is your article is too generalised, viewing stuff too objectively. Your article must show your personal opinion and vision on stuff, more than boring facts.
And don't use Pros/Cons style, when it's all about cons, not pros. Just don't.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
reqmon said:
Honestly, i think this is nothing new and nothing special ;/.
UPD: The problem is your article is too generalised, viewing stuff too objectively. Your article must show your personal opinion and vision on stuff, more than boring facts.
And don't use Pros/Cons style, when it's all about cons, not pros. Just don't.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well since I only have a few hours of experiencing the OS I don't think generalising is an option per say.
Besides - I am an optimist. I try to see the good in everything and that is why I have the "Pros" list. Thanks for the advice though.
well i find your review interesting to learn about the basics of ubuntu
Can you report about the battery performance?
Hi,
I have been an IOS user for quite a while, with brief excursions into Android land usually without much success. I am trying hard this time because I actually prefer a lot of things about Android (specifically the S5) ... less restrictive, removable battery, storage etc..
However some of the things I really struggle with and wonder if anybody has any answers before are listed below !
Lock screen preview of mail and txt's , I have downloaded an app called NILS but it seems to be such a hack and is not very seamless, anybody else have a better suggestions?
Bluetooth, when I get in my car , the phone starts playing the last thing i was listening to , that's fine & is similar to the iPhone, however the iPhone knows the difference between a call and music and if I turn the car off and get out , it switches off the music (but does not hang up calls). The S5 just carries on playing whatever i was listening to. I cannot find any way of changing this behaviour (any ideas ?).
Quick access to search, with the iPhone you swipe from the top and type the first couple of letters of an app to run it , sometimes this is really useful. The closest i have found is to go into the pull down notification bar and click sfinder... yeuch , any better ideas?
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Do not disturb mode, (blocking) , well its crap on the S5 compared to the Iphone. None of the functionality that i am used to such as letting repeated calls through and setting specific schedules is available. I have downloaded an app called do not disturb which does most of this stuff but i am sure this is also contributing to lag and memory usage. Also annoyingly it does not return the phone to the state it was in before it activated do not disturb. What do i mean by this ? I am the kind of person that has my phone on silent 99% of the time with vibrate, when do not disturb is active i want all vibrations and screen alters disabled (it does this) , but when coming out of do not disturb it switches the phone to full sounds on.
I am trying not to be down, there is a lot to like with this phone and if I could resolve some of the above I would be much happier with it.
Hope to hear some of your suggestions.
Acdisplay for lockscreen. Used it on on RAZR Maxx but not yet on my s5
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
zero66 said:
Acdisplay for lockscreen. Used it on on RAZR Maxx but not yet on my s5
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I will try that.
Download Apex launcher or any other launchers for lag problem, put in mind that Android uses more ram and cpu processing than IOS, that's why they keep on increasing ram, also turn off as much bloatware (apps came with phone) as possible, another very useful tip is to turn of your phone every day for few mins like your computer this will clear ram.
Welcome to the future
Don't use task killers. They don't help. Android will automatically kill off apps when it needs to. Task killers will kill off apps that will be autostarted again and this becomes a loop leading to lag and battery drain.
Hellscythe said:
Don't use task killers. They don't help. Android will automatically kill off apps when it needs to. Task killers will kill off apps that will be autostarted again and this becomes a loop leading to lag and battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh thanks for this , I will try that.
Lockscreen preview of text and mails is already in touchwiz you just have to switch it on so it will show you the preview via settings.
For quick access to applications long press on the home button will bring you google now and from there you can open your apps easily.
noideaforusername said:
Lockscreen preview of text and mails is already in touchwiz you just have to switch it on so it will show you the preview via settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes for the messaging app, however I use a third party app for email, (nine), this does not seem to support this. Anyway my use case is that when my phone is lying on the desk and mails / sms etc come in , I would like it to wake up briefly and display a preview so that I can decide to ignore it or continue on with whatever it is that i was doing. NILs does this quite well, but seems like a bit of a hack.
noideaforusername said:
For quick access to applications long press on the home button will bring you google now and from there you can open your apps easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works fairly well.
mah123 said:
Hi,
I have been an IOS user for quite a while, with brief excursions into Android land usually without much success. I am trying hard this time because I actually prefer a lot of things about Android (specifically the S5) ... less restrictive, removable battery, storage etc..
However some of the things I really struggle with and wonder if anybody has any answers before are listed below !
Lock screen preview of mail and txt's , I have downloaded an app called NILS but it seems to be such a hack and is not very seamless, anybody else have a better suggestions?
Bluetooth, when I get in my car , the phone starts playing the last thing i was listening to , that's fine & is similar to the iPhone, however the iPhone knows the difference between a call and music and if I turn the car off and get out , it switches off the music (but does not hang up calls). The S5 just carries on playing whatever i was listening to. I cannot find any way of changing this behaviour (any ideas ?).
Quick access to search, with the iPhone you swipe from the top and type the first couple of letters of an app to run it , sometimes this is really useful. The closest i have found is to go into the pull down notification bar and click sfinder... yeuch , any better ideas?
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Do not disturb mode, (blocking) , well its crap on the S5 compared to the Iphone. None of the functionality that i am used to such as letting repeated calls through and setting specific schedules is available. I have downloaded an app called do not disturb which does most of this stuff but i am sure this is also contributing to lag and memory usage. Also annoyingly it does not return the phone to the state it was in before it activated do not disturb. What do i mean by this ? I am the kind of person that has my phone on silent 99% of the time with vibrate, when do not disturb is active i want all vibrations and screen alters disabled (it does this) , but when coming out of do not disturb it switches the phone to full sounds on.
I am trying not to be down, there is a lot to like with this phone and if I could resolve some of the above I would be much happier with it.
Hope to hear some of your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
thegrants82 said:
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely disagree. I love my S5 and the HW integration.
But each to their own.
mah123 said:
Yes for the messaging app, however I use a third party app for email, (nine), this does not seem to support this. Anyway my use case is that when my phone is lying on the desk and mails / sms etc come in , I would like it to wake up briefly and display a preview so that I can decide to ignore it or continue on with whatever it is that i was doing. NILs does this quite well, but seems like a bit of a hack.
This works fairly well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install Push Bullet and be amazed. It mirrors any notifications on your phone onto your PC via chrome. That way you don't been to look at the phone. I work at a desk all day and can leave the phone where ever and always know if I have an SMS, call, email or anything else. Don't forget Google now also works with Chrome.
thegrants82 said:
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree a bit with your response. And that's why I am also checking out the Xperia Z1 Compact. Once you go from the Galaxy S5 to the Z1C you will notice a huge difference in speed for opening and closing apps. I am even using Nova launcher, google calendar and avoiding any TouchWiz apps, but still the lag is disappointing.
mah123 said:
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For lags, you should try to put off the opening of S voice with the home button, because when you press it, it wait for second press for opening s voice app... or not. My S5 is really smooth now, hope this gonna help you.
HitMile said:
For lags, you should try to put off the opening of S voice with the home button, because when you press it, it wait for second press for opening s voice app... or not. My S5 is really smooth now, hope this gonna help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this , yes I did this , made a difference.
@mah123 First step, do whatever you can to separate yourself from Apple products, for good this time. Just messin, but I'll continue on:
I see that you have a lot of little details you don't like about the S5/Android. Luckily, you're on the Android platform, where you can tweak just about anything you want. For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store. It's $3.49 but if you don't want to pay that just download the apk from Google search. Just make sure to get it from XDA or one of the apk blogs. With Tasker you can fix your bluetooth issue by detecting when bluetooth is detected and then use command pause music. Tasker should help you fix all your other issues as well. For email the easiest fix is to use a special color on your notification LED or specific vibrate pattern to know when you have email. You can also show an overlay using a "scene" (Tasker's definition of a popup or app window) on top of the lockscreen. Handy :thumbup: But if you need help using Tasker you can do a lot of things: there are plenty of guides all over the Internet, you can google search your problem with the word "tasker" at the end, you can PM me (yes, I'm friendly), you can ask a question over at the Tasker Noob thread here on XDA (I also monitor this thread and I will answer your questions there). Welcome to Android and have fun!
--
Say thanks if I was of help!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app
aarongillion63 said:
@mah123 First step, do whatever you can to separate yourself from Apple products, for good this time. Just messin, but I'll continue on:
I see that you have a lot of little details you don't like about the S5/Android. Luckily, you're on the Android platform, where you can tweak just about anything you want. For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Fantastic thanks !
I own both phones. In the last few years I have owned the latest Samsung and Apple flagships (iPhone 4 and Galaxy S2, iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4, and iPhone 5S and Galaxy S5).
Both platforms are great and they have their cons and pros.
I am an iOS Developer. I have my name in both Cydia tweaks and App Store. To be honest I felt in love with iOS when I used it for the first time. I like Android, but not as much as iOS yet.
I find the quality of iOS blows Android out of the water. Third app quality is much better on iOS than on Android, based on what I have seen. In terms of software in general, I think iOS is much better. It may be restrictive, but nothing that can't be beaten with jailbreak. Android's big plus is freedom and yes, I like customizing my phone.
In terms of hardware Samsung blows Apple out of the water. I love the camera and that it is Water Resistant. Design wise the iPhone looks prettier, but personally I don't care about those aesthetics.
The one thing I absolutely hate about most Android phones are the hardware buttons. When I type in landscape I keep hitting the sensitive buttons accidentally, many times this result in losing a wall of text I just typed (my palm hits the back button accidentally all the time). I wish these could be disabled when typing or that they could be replaced with software buttons.
Sent from my SM-G900H using XDA Free mobile app
There are many things that iOS does 'better' than android, or at least, its a mix of what people of become accustomed too and some are just better. So, when people do make the switch to android, or indeed WP etc, it can be an uphill struggle as those things that are 'better' are maybe less intuitive over on the android side.
However, you have to look at the bigger picture. Android is far far more customisable, even as stock. With the addition of TouchWiz and Sense etc, they bring a lot of features that in themselves are 'better' than iOS.
There are many people that go the other way (Android to iOS) and struggle with some of its inability to control and customise.
What I'm saying is.... give it time, and do not judge android on its lacking in one or two areas, try and look at it from a bigger perspective.
**When I say 'better'... I mean its what each individual sees as better, I'm not saying that it is**
aarongillion63 said:
For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store. It's $3.49 but if you don't want to pay that just download the apk from Google search. [ / QUOTE ]
Tasker is an excellent program. It should be paid for and not stolen.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a very good discussion. I find that generally programmers favor Android because of it's similar OS structure to a PC (I'm talking about the coding behind it all and C/Java), and common consumers and Apple computer owners favor iOS. This is a generalization and personal opinion. I know there is the outlier of Apple programmers, I've tried to get into it myself, but my problem I've ran into is that Objective C is overly complicated, just to accomplish simple things. Anyway, even if you don't develop apps, you may favor Android as a coder thanks to Tasker. I've found myself addicted to Tasker as far as tweaking/programming goes, without the need to use Android SDK. Then, you can still export Tasker projects to apks if you want. Tasker can make a good visual-sdk app creation tool.
iresq said:
Tasker is an excellent program. It should be paid for and not stolen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. :thumbup:
Sent from my HTCONE using XDA Free mobile app
In order from most annoying:
Cannot whitelist k9 mail (and other things) from power saving (this is a deal breaker, I'm taking it back)
Long press to select text instead of double click (vanilla android allows both) (almost a deal breaker)
Media volume cannot be increased without acknowledging warning when BT connected
Can’t disable bixby button without samsung account
No root (needed to run webserver on 80 and change iptables)
Fingerprint sensor hard to find, hard to touch (compared to nexus 6p)
Default phone app sucks and can’t be changed
-Notifications for blocked numbers calling
-Hard to block numbers
-Hard to add recent calls to contacts (uses wrong account or something)
Volume buttons hard to find, on wrong side of phone
Samsung sms app is ugly and horrible (replaceable)
Samsung calendar app does not allow multiple default reminders (replaceable)
Lock screen time is on multiple lines with no way to change it
Thats nice. Enjoy.
swooperstar said:
bleh bleh bleh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is the question? Wrong forum, maybe you should tell someone who cares?
Um, what phone is this, half the things you complain about can be done by the note 8, so must be another phone. Maybe he got the wrong forum...
Sent from my Galaxy Note8 using XDA Labs
Incorrect, but whatever. Pixel2 XL coming next week to replace this samsuck. This site used to be more help less fanboy.
...more help less fan boy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not about fanboys, you didn't ask for any help, just listed complaints. No one cares about personal complaints.
lol once again the user is the problem not the device... you can do all of those things either with an app from the play store or with root. maybe stick to something more simple? try iOS.
Not sure how moving to another Android device will help you. :laugh:
Being that the OP has a total of 9, count them 9 posts and is a junior member, I'm guessing he's referring to the old days on the site when we were more help and less fanbois
Mr.Ash.Man said:
lol once again the user is the problem not the device... you can do all of those things either with an app from the play store or with root. maybe stick to something more simple? try iOS.
Not sure how moving to another Android device will help you. :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He is already using IOS!
Ryland
Now we know from authoritative source that volume button is on the wrong side all those years, imagine that.
There are ways to adjust pretty much all of these points. Some are android specific - assume you are new to Android??
Did you even review the phone/play with it before spending on something you have chosen to dislike? To be fair you've come to a forum where 99.9999% of people are note enthusiasts so you will be whacked with a great big stick with a post like this :silly:
Ok how do you whitelist from power saving in a way that actually works? The settings interface for that is much different than stock android and doesn't actually let stuff run all the time like it does on my 6p. k9 always says syncing disabled (and works fine on 6p with stock nougat or oreo).
How do you get double-tap to select a word in text? Works by default in stock android.
After asking twice before to confirm increase volume while BT connected, it didn't ask this last time I increased it. I guess it is magically ok now.
How do you disable bixby button without creating a samsung account? There is an app that used to work using accessibility but no longer works in latest update.
How do you get root? The rooting page itself says "2.Enable OEM Unlock from developer option (Currently no workaround for those who doesn't have this option)" and I don't have this option.
How do you change the phone app? I tried downloading and installing one from apkmirror and got an error when installing.
How do you prevent notifications when blocked callers call?
How do you get normal time on the lock screen? Not the always on screen.
swooperstar said:
Ok how do you whitelist from power saving in a way that actually works? The settings interface for that is much different than stock android and doesn't actually let stuff run all the time like it does on my 6p. k9 always says syncing disabled (and works fine on 6p with stock nougat or oreo).
How do you get double-tap to select a word in text? Works by default in stock android.
After asking twice before to confirm increase volume while BT connected, it didn't ask this last time I increased it. I guess it is magically ok now.
How do you disable bixby button without creating a samsung account? There is an app that used to work using accessibility but no longer works in latest update.
How do you get root? The rooting page itself says "2.Enable OEM Unlock from developer option (Currently no workaround for those who doesn't have this option)" and I don't have this option.
How do you change the phone app? I tried downloading and installing one from apkmirror and got an error when installing.
How do you prevent notifications when blocked callers call?
How do you get normal time on the lock screen? Not the always on screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A respectful suggestion if I may.
Your first post was..... confrontational? Not the way to have your teething problems answered or supported.
Many of us, in all forum's, experience teething problems. I suggest you ask questions preferably one at a time so a peer can offer you some advice.
I have yet to ask for help here and not receive it. You will find there are some amazingly smart guys and gals here who will help IF you ask a palatable question. I am afraid what you have done is cause bad feeling and that's not the way to get help with your problems. Just food for thought. :good:
Ryland
I agree with the fingerprint sensor placement, for me being left handed, I have ot align it perfectly for it to work. Luckily the iris scanner is fast.
One issue I am coming across is my phone would random reboot and some settings would be changed to stock. For example, the font size would be change to default instead of everything tiny. My quick shortcuts layouts are stock and I have to re-login into some apps.
It happened about 3 times since i got the phone the first week of September. Hopefully I'm not alone. Sucks if I am though...lol
There is no help for those issues. That is why there is no response, and why the phone is going back. I am surprised anyone can stand the samsung interface and that is why it might sound confrontational. The apps that samsung replaces default apps with are really awful.
swooperstar said:
There is no help for those issues. That is why there is no response, and why the phone is going back. I am surprised anyone can stand the samsung interface and that is why it might sound confrontational. The apps that samsung replaces default apps with are really awful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only issue or possibly even an advantage is Samsung is edging it's own ecosystem in more and more. , basically it encourages one to buy another Sammy device and stay on board with them.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
UberPishy said:
Where is the question? Wrong forum, maybe you should tell someone who cares?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I care. Thanks to the original poster for critical analysis.
Anybody can fan-boy and circlejerk, that takes no skill.
It takes skill to spot issues and courage to speak out on them.
Every phones has its issues, these do not make Note 8 useless, but buyers can more easily decide if it is for them, when they know its particular failings.
vasra said:
I care. Thanks to the original poster for critical analysis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So which of the OP's claims do you really care about, because most are false, many are non issues for the majority and a few are valid. But the point remains that they were posted in the wrong forum.
vasra said:
I care. Thanks to the original poster for critical analysis.
Anybody can fan-boy and circlejerk, that takes no skill.
It takes skill to spot issues and courage to speak out on them.
Every phones has its issues, these do not make Note 8 useless, but buyers can more easily decide if it is for them, when they know its particular failings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a critical assessment...it's a misleading one.
A few observations.
The volume button on the left side is the more ergonomic position and also makes it less likely you will drop the phone while changing volume making it an objectively better placement. The fingerprint scanner? Yeah, it's poor ergonomics at best and your complaint there is well justified.
Root is something you knew going in you wouldn't have, if it mattered you should have bought something else. I do agree in general that the trend toward taking root access from us is one I hate. That's why I bought an international version and rooted it.
The Samsung calendar app is less well featured than the stock app but it uses no resources when not used and you can always use the google app or one of the several better than stock google calendar apps on the play store. You don't get to complain about not having an app you can put on you phone in seconds which isn't even close to the best app of its kind anyways. I BTW didn't use the stock app on my 6P, didn't meet my needs.Samsung's stock SMS app is awful, IMO someone should be fired there because it falls below even a minimum level of functionality. But then while Googles does manage to get to at least a minimally functional feature set it isn't much better and both are a long way from what can be had in seconds for free that work better than either on the market. You don't get to complain about this one either though, the stock google app is a few clicks away and a few seconds will give that stock google experience if that is your preference.
Same number of clicks with Samsung to add a recent callers to contacts. Hard to do so is dismissed.
Hard to copy because you have to long press instead of double tap? Seriously? lol That's a fairly lame complaint without even taking into consideration the S-pen which opens up a whole world of options that you don't have on the 6P, one of which is using the S-Pen in the first place.
I like the default dialer and it has features which Google's does not. Regardless it can be changed as well as which dialer is the default, where did you get the idea you couldn't change dialers?
I don't have the media volume warning with my phone unless I'm on headphones, not sure why you do?
The Bixby button can be disabled, it can be disabled without signing into Samsung. Just an FYI, it can also be slaved to another function. All without root.
You can white list any app from power saver, just takes a few clicks, assuming of course you know which clicks. You have in an oblique way a real gripe here, Samsung's menus are getting better but they are still too bloated. The search menu function is your friend in pursing hard to find settings.
Who uses lock screens in this day an age? You've get bio-metrics and AOD, leaving the lock screen as an artifact of what was once the best we could do but isn't anymore. Think of it this way, I'm a pathetic old man and I've been able to understand that lockscreens are now just an extra step. Your complaint in this regard reminds me of my friends who cant handle new tech and are still trying to hang on to their flip phone.
At this point you probably think I'm busting your balls a little bit and you're right. On the other hand your complaints are largely groundless. The only real objective gripe you have is the fingerprint sensor location. Your assessment of the volume button location is subjective, not objective, and objectively is incorrect. Your complaints about the stock apps can be applied to google apps in the same way and most of which I changed on my 6P just as I have here. The impression I get is that the main problem you have is you need to learn how to shop better. There is no reason to buy a phone that does not have root if you know you want root. There is no reason to buy a phone well known for it's rather overbearing GUI and menu bloat if you know you are going to hate it. Why do that to yourself?