I've been using my LG Nexus 4 for about a week now and have put some serious hours into customization while trying to use as few third party applications as possible. This is my first android telephone. However, I do know a thing or two about computers and how they work.
I use my nexus 4 primarily for business to facilitate communication with others and to make my life a little easier.
I thought I would share my experience and get some feedback in case I'm doing something wrong or if there is a third party application to accomplish a task that others could recommend (there seem to be a ton of crappy apps out there).
I think I will start with the stuff that sucks and end on a high note with the stuff I like.
Here we go.......
The stuff that sucks:
I use gmail and have since they started handing out addresses under their domain. It has worked great for years but I can't ever remember using a gmail interface. I'm currently using imap. I have always used other mail handlers. That said, I decided to use the gmail application and found a couple of inconveniences but one stood out from the crowd:
When I check my sent mail to find something I sent to Fred, the sent mail folder lists all my sent items with either "me" or the name of the original sender and not by the person the mail was sent "to". If I forward an email "to" Fred that I originally received "from" Jerry, the sent mail will list Jerry. Let's be clear. Google, I don't care that Jerry was the original sender and don't need my sent mail folder to tell me that I sent every email there. I need the sent items to be listed by who they were sent "to" in order to benefit from a list of sent emails. Whomever decided to do it another way should be terminated or have a great excuse.
Since I used the standard mail handler in iPhone and knew it handled sent mail correctly, I decided to load the android default mail handler to get the desired result. That has not worked either. Same result. Google, why would you do this? I know that sent mail is listed correctly on your web interface because I checked. Why then screw it up on a phone and leave it that way for years? I hope I'm missing something and one of the awesome people in this forum calls me an ***** and points me in the right direction. Email rant complete.
Now let's talk about the local phone search functionality. I know that apple has its foot on androids neck about the search capability and thought that google/android found a way around it. Apparently not. Google Search or "Google Now" will not search your email, text, or calendar. It only searches your contacts and a bunch of other crap that is almost completely useless for my needs. I constantly used this functionality on iPhone when I could not remember the name of an associate or subcontractor related to a project. I could search any tidbit I could remember and a text, email, or calendar event would be returned in search results that would lead me to the contacts name and before I knew it I had all the info pulled up in my address book. My address book has over 900 contacts and finding who I need is important. If I can't remember a name or company name then I'm stuck searching all of these applications separately which takes valuable time. Local phone search rant complete.
Now let's talk about calendar invitations. Android can't open an invite file using default programming? What the heck? It didn't turn out to be that big of a deal because I found a third party application that provided some limited functionality in this regard (invitation plugin). I'm not running my own exchange server if you are wondering. Invitation rant complete.
OK, that's about it for stuff that sucks. I'm sure I will find other things that suck as time goes on and gain more experience with android operating system. Most of what is listed above is related to productivity in a business environment because that is what is important to me and parts are missing from this android/Google device.
Now to the stuff I like. There is some innovative functionality provided by this device that truly outshines iPhone. In fact, there is too much to list so I will try to limit the list to items that relate to personal productivity:
The highly customizable android OS is what sold me on Nexus 4. You can really make you phone fit your needs and work flow. I loaded Nova Launcher because it provided some extra functionality that makes my life easier. I was able to limit my home screens to only 3. I know that sounds silly to some, but I don't like scrolling through several screens to get to stuff I use the most. Besides, a single button press or gesture will show you all of your apps on a carousel that you can spin until your heart is content. I set the center screen for productivity and communications applications, the left screen for a full screen calendar widget that shows all my meetings for the day, the right screen for GPS navigation and settings shortcuts.
The Google Now functionality coupled with great voice recognition, and superior GPS guidance is truly amazing. It is difficult to list items separately because some things work so well together that it will make your head spin.
The lock screen also has functionality that saves me time. I loaded a third party application named "dashclock" which looks almost identical to the stock android clock but also provides helpful information at a glance. You can expand the clock with a downward gesture and click on the listed items to get more information or launch the application that provided the information. Very handy.
I was having some iPhone withdrawals so I loaded a plugin (Tesla unread plugin) for nova launcher that shows me a little number on my icons indicating how many phone calls, emails, and texts I missed while I had my phone on silent mode during the last meeting. Works for me.
The default calendar is far superior to iPhone. I can't stress this enough. I'm not going to discuss every little difference but iPhone is like a fart in the wind compared to the Google calendar and how it integrates and organizes your daily grind.
Ok, this has gotten really long and I'm sure there will be people that think I should get my own blog, but it would have saved me a ton of time if someone had laid it out for me like this. Instead I spent hours trying to find solutions that could only be solved by sharpening my pencil and writing code or cutting and pasting someone else's code. My coding days are over. I never was that great at it anyway and life is too short. I want to pay hard earned money for a device that makes my life easier and more enjoyable.
That goes for all you app developers also. I want to pay fair market value for great applications and I guarantee there are several million other professionals that think just like me. Don't bother trying to produce a free application with advertisement all in it. Just make quality products and we will compensate you for your time.
I hope this helps someone make a decision and saves them some time. Oh, project butter worked by the way.
Posted via Android Central App
I use my nexus 4 primarily for business to facilitate communication with others and to make my life a little easier.
I thought I would share my experience and get some feedback in case I'm doing something wrong or if there is a third party application to accomplish a task that others could recommend (there seem to be a ton of crappy apps out there).
I think I will start with the stuff that sucks and end on a high note with the stuff I like.
Here we go.......
The stuff that sucks:
I use gmail and have since they started handing out addresses under their domain. It has worked great for years but I can't ever remember using a gmail interface. I'm currently using imap. I have always used other mail handlers. That said, I decided to use the gmail application and found a couple of inconveniences but one stood out from the crowd:
When I check my sent mail to find something I sent to Fred, the sent mail folder lists all my sent items with either "me" or the name of the original sender and not by the person the mail was sent "to". If I forward an email "to" Fred that I originally received "from" Jerry, the sent mail will list Jerry. Let's be clear. Google, I don't care that Jerry was the original sender and don't need my sent mail folder to tell me that I sent every email there. I need the sent items to be listed by who they were sent "to" in order to benefit from a list of sent emails. Whomever decided to do it another way should be terminated or have a great excuse.
Since I used the standard mail handler in iPhone and knew it handled sent mail correctly, I decided to load the android default mail handler to get the desired result. That has not worked either. Same result. Google, why would you do this? I know that sent mail is listed correctly on your web interface because I checked. Why then screw it up on a phone and leave it that way for years? I hope I'm missing something and one of the awesome people in this forum calls me an ***** and points me in the right direction. Email rant complete.
Now let's talk about the local phone search functionality. I know that apple has its foot on androids neck about the search capability and thought that google/android found a way around it. Apparently not. Google Search or "Google Now" will not search your email, text, or calendar. It only searches your contacts and a bunch of other crap that is almost completely useless for my needs. I constantly used this functionality on iPhone when I could not remember the name of an associate or subcontractor related to a project. I could search any tidbit I could remember and a text, email, or calendar event would be returned in search results that would lead me to the contacts name and before I knew it I had all the info pulled up in my address book. My address book has over 900 contacts and finding who I need is important. If I can't remember a name or company name then I'm stuck searching all of these applications separately which takes valuable time. Local phone search rant complete.
Now let's talk about calendar invitations. Android can't open an invite file using default programming? What the heck? It didn't turn out to be that big of a deal because I found a third party application that provided some limited functionality in this regard (invitation plugin). I'm not running my own exchange server if you are wondering. Invitation rant complete.
OK, that's about it for stuff that sucks. I'm sure I will find other things that suck as time goes on and gain more experience with android operating system. Most of what is listed above is related to productivity in a business environment because that is what is important to me and parts are missing from this android/Google device.
Now to the stuff I like. There is some innovative functionality provided by this device that truly outshines iPhone. In fact, there is too much to list so I will try to limit the list to items that relate to personal productivity:
The highly customizable android OS is what sold me on Nexus 4. You can really make you phone fit your needs and work flow. I loaded Nova Launcher because it provided some extra functionality that makes my life easier. I was able to limit my home screens to only 3. I know that sounds silly to some, but I don't like scrolling through several screens to get to stuff I use the most. Besides, a single button press or gesture will show you all of your apps on a carousel that you can spin until your heart is content. I set the center screen for productivity and communications applications, the left screen for a full screen calendar widget that shows all my meetings for the day, the right screen for GPS navigation and settings shortcuts.
The Google Now functionality coupled with great voice recognition, and superior GPS guidance is truly amazing. It is difficult to list items separately because some things work so well together that it will make your head spin.
The lock screen also has functionality that saves me time. I loaded a third party application named "dashclock" which looks almost identical to the stock android clock but also provides helpful information at a glance. You can expand the clock with a downward gesture and click on the listed items to get more information or launch the application that provided the information. Very handy.
I was having some iPhone withdrawals so I loaded a plugin (Tesla unread plugin) for nova launcher that shows me a little number on my icons indicating how many phone calls, emails, and texts I missed while I had my phone on silent mode during the last meeting. Works for me.
The default calendar is far superior to iPhone. I can't stress this enough. I'm not going to discuss every little difference but iPhone is like a fart in the wind compared to the Google calendar and how it integrates and organizes your daily grind.
Ok, this has gotten really long and I'm sure there will be people that think I should get my own blog, but it would have saved me a ton of time if someone had laid it out for me like this. Instead I spent hours trying to find solutions that could only be solved by sharpening my pencil and writing code or cutting and pasting someone else's code. My coding days are over. I never was that great at it anyway and life is too short. I want to pay hard earned money for a device that makes my life easier and more enjoyable.
That goes for all you app developers also. I want to pay fair market value for great applications and I guarantee there are several million other professionals that think just like me. Don't bother trying to produce a free application with advertisement all in it. Just make quality products and we will compensate you for your time.
I hope this helps someone make a decision and saves them some time. Oh, project butter worked by the way.
Posted via Android Central App
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram