My frustrations so far...

[ecopac]

Hi all

I am a newbie to Android (in the sense that I have never had an Android device more than a few days), as an Apple fanboy I always seem to have this issue of comparing Android devices to the iPhone and then always end up reverting back to the iPhone. Anyway, I have decided once again to venture into the Android world as the HTC One looked too good to miss.

So I've had the phone 3 days, it's unlocked/sim free but running it on Orange (EE) in the UK.

First impressions are good, but there are a few things that are niggling at me, and I'm starting to wonder if I should have gone for the Galaxy S4.

Here's my problems, any solutions would be most welcome:

1. The lack of a physical button on the front means I have to hit the power button at the top of the phone to get the screen on to unlock it.
2. The stock internet browser is driving me crazy. It fills the screen and there's no URL bar at the top to type in new addresses, I have to swipe in from the left/right to get my bookmarks up, or catch the url bar really quickly when a page is loading. I've checked the settings, I haven't got the option ticked to fill the screen so I don't know why it's doing this, but it's so frustrating! Even a Home button on the browser would help, but there's literally nothing! On the iPhone you have the URL bar at the top and a small Google search option next to it which works perfectly for me.
3. On the S4, I really like the way you can swipe left/right on a contact in the call list to message/call, and I also like when you pull down the top menu it has all the Wifi etc controls on there - is this just a Samsung thing or is there a way to get this on the HTC without adding a widget to the main screen?
4. The colour theme in Messaging is insanely boring, the S4 has the green/black which adds a bit of character, the HTC is just grey and white.
5. Is there a way to swipe to delete messages a la iPhone? Having to hold it down, hit delete and then another button to confirm seems very long winded and unnecessary

Other than the above points, I am enjoying the phone, I love the sound and build quality and I am getting used to it slowly. Probably as with all iPhone users I have to consider this as a totally different phone and stop comparing it to what the iPhone does/doesn't do.

I am just worried that I should have gone for the S4 as I do like the features it has, problem is I bought the handset sim free from Phones4U and it's non returnable so I need to make the most of my ?500 investment!

Any advice on the above topics would be much appreciated!

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Some of those things you'll just honestly have to get used to, like the Home button.

As for the rest of the things, have you tried replacing those apps? You can replace the browser with something like Chrome. I haven't went in the settings of messaging to see if you can change the color scheme, but even if you can't you can change the messaging app to something like Handcent or ChompSMS, which are both highly customizable.

Before you say "I shouldn't have to do that" please realize that one advantage of Android is that you CAN do that, and while I would love for everything I want to be built into the phone, sometimes it's not, and that's when you hit the Play Store and find apps that will do what you want.

Hope that helps.

 

[mrbootcrm]

Your best chance of you liking android is by doing precisely what you suggested in not comparing what they do side by side. It's a different OS so take it like it's your first smartphone. If you only try to do what you did on iOS you'll maybe never see what can be done in Android. Best of luck, most of your issues are likely solved with apps and such but remember, when you have a problem don't ask why doesn't it do X, when the iPhone does. The better question is how does Android get the results that doing X on iPhone does and how many options do I have now to get the same results as X.

 

[Jon_Doh]

Open the texting app, go to settings and under general you'll have a number of choices for colorizing the text screen. On the Notification screen you can swipe left or right to delete messages. In the text app you can set the app to keep only the last X number of messages and beyond that they self delete. Deleting texts by hand is so old school iPhone. Chrome browser comes with the phone. Give it a try and see if you like it better. There are other ways to unlock the phone. You can download and install a lockscreen app that will let you assign the unlock function to one of the phone's buttons.

I've owned two iPhones and to me the One is light years ahead. There's not way I would go backwards to an iPhone.

 

[KoukiFC3S]

2. Try chrome.
3. To add pulldown toggles, you can download an app such as battery widget reborn. It will show you the battery % and also add toggles.
4. You can change the theme in the settings, or try chompsms or gosms.

 

[Technosticrati]

The stock browser is fairly good but you need to customize it for your taste. Have you activated the Quick Controls under the Labs tab? This allows quick access to the browser url by giving you access to the control menu when sliding your finger from the edge of the screen. It's a slick feature but you need to learn the icons for it to be useful.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[ecopac]

Thanks guys. I guess what I'm looking for is ways to get around my issues using apps, the play store is new to me and it's difficult to know exactly which ones are best so I'll use the recommendations from here.

Thanks Jon for the messaging tips, that definitely sorted that one. Could you recommend any good lock/unlock screen apps? It's definitely more the unlocking as I have found a Lock widget which is ok, it's just a bit of a pain having to always use the top power button to unlock.

My biggest gripe is the stock browser though, like I just wanted to refresh a page and there is no (obvious) way of doing it - such basic stuff I don't know why more people haven't complained about it - which leads me to think it's actually something I have done in the settings to screw it all up...

I'll give Chrome a go and see how that works for me!

 

[ecopac]

The stock browser is fairly good but you need to customize it for your taste. Have you activated the Quick Controls under the Labs tab? This allows quick access to the browser url by giving you access to the control menu when sliding your finger from the edge of the screen. It's a slick feature but you need to learn the icons for it to be useful.

Posted via Android Central App

Yep I have got those on as it's the only way I can get to my bookmarks to get back to my homepage! They're good, but it can be tricky seeing the icons if you have fat fingers!

I've put Chrome on now, seems to do what I want so that's good although I read somewhere that there are issues with flash and chrome aren't there?

 

[mihesq]

My biggest gripe is the stock browser though, like I just wanted to refresh a page and there is no (obvious) way of doing it - such basic stuff I don't know why more people haven't complained about it - which leads me to think it's actually something I have done in the settings to screw it all up...

I'll give Chrome a go and see how that works for me!

I actually like the stock browser more than Chrome. I modified it to hide the address bar and the notification bar. This gives me the webpage on my entire screen. Simply scrolling up or down a certain way will make the address bar reappear so I can refresh (though it is a bit finicky). Plus it has flash enabled unlike other browsers out there.

 

[Technosticrati]

Yep I have got those on as it's the only way I can get to my bookmarks to get back to my homepage! They're good, but it can be tricky seeing the icons if you have fat fingers!

I've put Chrome on now, seems to do what I want so that's good although I read somewhere that there are issues with flash and chrome aren't there?

Chrome and flash do not mix.

Chrome has the potential to be the best browser but it still lacks one of the killer features on Android which is text reflow. Once you try it, you can't go back.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[SCjRqrQCnBQ19QoYCtdl]

Thanks guys. I guess what I'm looking for is ways to get around my issues using apps, the play store is new to me and it's difficult to know exactly which ones are best so I'll use the recommendations from here.

Thanks Jon for the messaging tips, that definitely sorted that one. Could you recommend any good lock/unlock screen apps? It's definitely more the unlocking as I have found a Lock widget which is ok, it's just a bit of a pain having to always use the top power button to unlock.

My biggest gripe is the stock browser though, like I just wanted to refresh a page and there is no (obvious) way of doing it - such basic stuff I don't know why more people haven't complained about it - which leads me to think it's actually something I have done in the settings to screw it all up...

I'll give Chrome a go and see how that works for me!

If you go to the default browser and go to settings, advanced, then select "reset to defaults". There is a browser bar at the top if you pull the screen down, as if using "pull to refresh". You search from within that bar.

If you don't see that bar along with an overlow menu at the top of the screen, then you did in fact change a setting somehwere removing the bar. Restore to default will put it back.

 

[Good OL MC]

Hey there .

Something like the home button/power button setup is just something to get used to. I went from Nexus S to an iPhone and it took me a while to get used to not having a power button on the side. Just an adjustment.

The other posters have given you solid advice as far as how to fix some of your gripes - Chrome, SMS apps, settings, etc - but to their points I will add that the fun of Android is being able to customize. Try thinking about your new One as a set of building blocks that you get to change out and build something that was different than what was on the box.

If you don't like something there is almost always a way to change it. If the hardware of the One makes you happier than the S4 just change your software.

Hope that helps.

 

[ecopac]

You know sometimes the answer to a question is right in front of you!

Resetting to default has sorted the problem.

I'm already about 50% more in love with the phone than I was half an hour ago!

Thanks

Sent from my HTC One using Android Central Forums