New S4 User - Case and Accessory?

[garublador]

If you get the Sandisk Extreme micro SD you're not really even sacrificing speed with the external storage.

That's not true. The Sandisk Extreme is a class 10 (10MB/S) card and the eMMC's the use are likely 260MB/s read and 50MB/s write. You're sacrificing a lot of speed by going to uSD.

If you think you can fit everything you want on 32GB and don't mind paying the extra $40 ($50 - the cost of a 16GB uSD card) I'd say the 32GB might be better. You'll also have the option of using Google Music to store your songs (you can only "pin" to internal storage).

 

[Haalcyon]

That's not true. The Sandisk Extreme is a class 10 (10MB/S) card and the eMMC's the use are likely 260MB/s read and 50MB/s write. You're sacrificing a lot of speed by going to uSD.

If you think you can fit everything you want on 32GB and don't mind paying the extra $40 ($50 - the cost of a 16GB uSD card) I'd say the 32GB might be better. You'll also have the option of using Google Music to store your songs (you can only "pin" to internal storage).

I should have said that it doesn't FEEL like your sacrificing much speed subjectively.

Sent from my humble Note 8.0 LTE

 

[STSVA]

Sandisk Extreme cards have a manufacturer-claimed read speed of up to 80 MB/s; which is not slow. The Sandisk Ultra cards have a read transfer speed of 30MB/s.

 

[Haalcyon]

This

Sent from my humble Note 8.0 LTE

 

[Luke Bordonaro]

Alright guys, I just got back from Best Buy a few hours ago. Everything worked out. I'm now a proud owner of the S4. My first reaction: this phone is huge! my second reaction: LOLOLOL IPHONE 4 IS SO TINY!!!!

I ended up getting a Speck case and Invisible SHIELD, there was a combo deal where I got 10 bucks off the shield. Worth it IMHO. The case is nice, it offers a decent amount of protection and has a nice grip and design.

Plus, with Best Buy's warranty being amazing, I'm not too worried if it breaks.

I also picked up a 50 dollar Play card. Anyone have any apps I should buy? I got Tasker because it's amazing, using it to automatically go on Vibrate during sc

 

[garublador]

I also picked up a 50 dollar Play card. Anyone have any apps I should buy? I got Tasker because it's amazing, using it to automatically go on Vibrate during sc

Get as many of the Auto* plug-ins by joaomgcd as you think might be useful. AutoVoice, AutoRemote, AutoShare, AutoLocation and AutoNotification are my favorites. AutoVera sounds like it will be awesome if you plan on getting a Vera Home Automation system, too.

 

[Luke Bordonaro]

Get as many of the Auto* plug-ins by joaomgcd as you think might be useful. AutoVoice, AutoRemote, AutoShare, AutoLocation and AutoNotification are my favorites. AutoVera sounds like it will be awesome if you plan on getting a Vera Home Automation system, too.

I looked at most of them, I don't think I have any use of those.

 

[garublador]

I looked at most of them, I don't think I have any use of those.

Keep them in mind as you explore more of what you can do with Tasker. When I first got Tasker I didn't think most of them would be useful, either, but as I learned more about it and started adding functionality to my phone the usefulness of these plug-ins became much more apparent.

If you start using voice commands at all then AutoVoice will be your best friend. You can pretty much add any voice command you want. I have one that uses the IMDB app instead of Google for a search. Using AutoLocation and AutoVoice I have my own, voice activated custom location navigation system. I can just name a place I have saved and it will either navigate there or show me it on the map. No more messing with those goofy stars in Maps.

AutoLocation is great if you do any location based Tasks. It kicks the crap out of the built in functions and is pretty much battery neutral if you have any Google Now location cards active. I also use it to both tell me my current address and copy that address to my phone's clipboard so I can text or email it if needed. I can also use it to track the number of times the Google Location API is used to check my location. So I now know that the recent update to Google Play Services uses less battery because it cut the number of location checks per day in half.

AutoRemote is super nice if you have any other Android devices. You can do stuff like have notifications sent from your phone to your tablet if you're using your tablet (and those notifications can be pretty powerful if you also have AutoNotification) or send battery levels from your tablet to your phone so you can know if it needs charged. You can also send stuff from Chrome on your PC to your phone. I have mine so it can send stuff from Chrome to my phone's clipboard, perform a search on my phone from stuff I highlight in Chrome or save a picture I select in Chrome on my phone.

 

[Luke Bordonaro]

Keep them in mind as you explore more of what you can do with Tasker. When I first got Tasker I didn't think most of them would be useful, either, but as I learned more about it and started adding functionality to my phone the usefulness of these plug-ins became much more apparent.

If you start using voice commands at all then AutoVoice will be your best friend. You can pretty much add any voice command you want. I have one that uses the IMDB app instead of Google for a search. Using AutoLocation and AutoVoice I have my own, voice activated custom location navigation system. I can just name a place I have saved and it will either navigate there or show me it on the map. No more messing with those goofy stars in Maps.

AutoLocation is great if you do any location based Tasks. It kicks the crap out of the built in functions and is pretty much battery neutral if you have any Google Now location cards active. I also use it to both tell me my current address and copy that address to my phone's clipboard so I can text or email it if needed. I can also use it to track the number of times the Google Location API is used to check my location. So I now know that the recent update to Google Play Services uses less battery because it cut the number of location checks per day in half.

AutoRemote is super nice if you have any other Android devices. You can do stuff like have notifications sent from your phone to your tablet if you're using your tablet (and those notifications can be pretty powerful if you also have AutoNotification) or send battery levels from your tablet to your phone so you can know if it needs charged. You can also send stuff from Chrome on your PC to your phone. I have mine so it can send stuff from Chrome to my phone's clipboard, perform a search on my phone from stuff I highlight in Chrome or save a picture I select in Chrome on my phone.

Hmm, okay. Noted. I can see voice commands being useful in the future.

I think I could use you on my other thread, though. http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...able-pattern-lock-while-home.html#post3030834

It's really bothering me

I also noticed on Tasker, I have it set up so if I'm at my home wifi, data is off. If i'm not at my home wifi, it turns on. This is actually giving my random problems beteween switching the profiles. Is there a reason it doesn't change the profile to data off when I return home?

 

[garublador]

Hmm, okay. Noted. I can see voice commands being useful in the future.

I think I could use you on my other thread, though. http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...able-pattern-lock-while-home.html#post3030834

It's really bothering me

I also noticed on Tasker, I have it set up so if I'm at my home wifi, data is off. If i'm not at my home wifi, it turns on. This is actually giving my random problems beteween switching the profiles. Is there a reason it doesn't change the profile to data off when I return home?

It sounds like you have your first one figured out. You need to either root or switch to a pas code rather than a pattern.

I'm not sure about the second one. Can you try posing what you have for your profiles and tasks (which is easier said than done, it can get difficult to portray that information in a way that's easy to read)? I've never found a reason to switch my data off so I've never tried it. Has it ever worked or is this your first time trying and you can't get it to work right at all? I find that Tasker does a bad job of saving changes you make. Many times I have to exit and save, start Tasker again, disable it, reenable it and then exit and save to get some of my changes to "take." Making sure that you're actually connected to your home WiFi is obvious, but I feel safer mentioning it. If you go into Tasker you can see which profiles are active. If the profile that's supposed to be on when you're connected to your WiFi is not active then you should figure out why, after going through the tedious steps I gave above. If it is active you need to find out why your task isn't doing what it's supposed to.

Also, if you look in the help for the Mobile Data action you'll see that some people report that some apps can turn mobile data back on after you've turned it off. If everything else is working right then it might just be something like that.

One action that's super useful for debugging is the Alerts>Flash. It will show a little box on the bottom of the screen with whatever text you want in it. It's a great way to see if your tasks are being performed, your flow (e.g. if statements and for loops) is correct or if variables are being set correctly.

 

[Luke Bordonaro]

It sounds like you have your first one figured out. You need to either root or switch to a pas code rather than a pattern.

I'm not sure about the second one. Can you try posing what you have for your profiles and tasks (which is easier said than done, it can get difficult to portray that information in a way that's easy to read)? I've never found a reason to switch my data off so I've never tried it. Has it ever worked or is this your first time trying and you can't get it to work right at all? I find that Tasker does a bad job of saving changes you make. Many times I have to exit and save, start Tasker again, disable it, reenable it and then exit and save to get some of my changes to "take." Making sure that you're actually connected to your home WiFi is obvious, but I feel safer mentioning it. If you go into Tasker you can see which profiles are active. If the profile that's supposed to be on when you're connected to your WiFi is not active then you should figure out why, after going through the tedious steps I gave above. If it is active you need to find out why your task isn't doing what it's supposed to.

Also, if you look in the help for the Mobile Data action you'll see that some people report that some apps can turn mobile data back on after you've turned it off. If everything else is working right then it might just be something like that.

One action that's super useful for debugging is the Alerts>Flash. It will show a little box on the bottom of the screen with whatever text you want in it. It's a great way to see if your tasks are being performed, your flow (e.g. if statements and for loops) is correct or if variables are being set correctly.

I have a couple.

If display state off -> data off
If wifi connected to home -> data off
If wifi not connected to home, and display state is on -> data on
if wifi is connected to optimumwifi -> data off
If not connected to optimum wifi, and not connected to home wifi, and display state on -> data on

I think it's working now, I went to walk my dog and my data turned on and off correctly. Time will tell if it still works after.

Also, I found out I cannot download MMS Picture Messages without having my data on. Is there a way around this?

 

[garublador]

I have a couple.

If display state off -> data off
If wifi connected to home -> data off
If wifi not connected to home, and display state is on -> data on
if wifi is connected to optimumwifi -> data off
If not connected to optimum wifi, and not connected to home wifi, and display state on -> data on

I think it's working now, I went to walk my dog and my data turned on and off correctly. Time will tell if it still works after.

Also, I found out I cannot download MMS Picture Messages without having my data on. Is there a way around this?

If you have a profile that runs a task that changes settings, those settings will be restored by Tasker once the profile is exited unless you stop it from doing that. If you haven't already done that then that complex set of conditions could lead to what looks like your mobile data being turned on and off randomly.

Tasker for Android

You may have to think about all of the cases you could run into and then figure out where you need to stop that setting from being restored. Or it might be easier to stop it in all of those places and just handle it yourself.

I'm not sure of a way to bypass mobile data with MMS. It's my understanding that they do not actually use your data plan (they count against your texting allotment instead), but they do require your mobile data to be on to work.

 

[Luke Bordonaro]

If you have a profile that runs a task that changes settings, those settings will be restored by Tasker once the profile is exited unless you stop it from doing that. If you haven't already done that then that complex set of conditions could lead to what looks like your mobile data being turned on and off randomly.

Tasker for Android

You may have to think about all of the cases you could run into and then figure out where you need to stop that setting from being restored. Or it might be easier to stop it in all of those places and just handle it yourself.

I'm not sure of a way to bypass mobile data with MMS. It's my understanding that they do not actually use your data plan (they count against your texting allotment instead), but they do require your mobile data to be on to work.

Hmm, okay. I setttlled for this: android - Temporarily enable data only for incoming/outgoing MMS - Stack Overflow

It automatically turns your data on and then off again when you receieve an MMS. My problem now is figuring out how to auotmatically do that for sending them.

 

[rfortson]

Go to Samsung's site and register the phone and you'll get a 50% off coupon for $50 or less. I used that to buy the external battery charger/extra battery for $30 shipped. I also like the S-View case but it sounds like you have the case you like already. I use the plain desk dock at work. Charges the phone and holds it in portrait mode. It has a headphone jack. There's also a multi-media dock that also has HDMI (I think) out. Either one of these will allow your phone to work like an alarm on your nightstand. Finally, pick up a pack of NFC tags and have fun. NFC tags, a tagger program and Tasker will allow you to do pretty much anything you can think up.

 

[Luke Bordonaro]

Go to Samsung's site and register the phone and you'll get a 50% off coupon for $50 or less. I used that to buy the external battery charger/extra battery for $30 shipped. I also like the S-View case but it sounds like you have the case you like already. I use the plain desk dock at work. Charges the phone and holds it in portrait mode. It has a headphone jack. There's also a multi-media dock that also has HDMI (I think) out. Either one of these will allow your phone to work like an alarm on your nightstand. Finally, pick up a pack of NFC tags and have fun. NFC tags, a tagger program and Tasker will allow you to do pretty much anything you can think up.

Hmm I registered my device but didn't get any promotion coupon like that.

Would you mind linking me to the charging dock you use?

 

[rfortson]

Hmm I registered my device but didn't get any promotion coupon like that.

Would you mind linking me to the charging dock you use?

You should have gotten an email welcoming you to Samsung, and offering a coupon code. Maybe it was a limited offer?
Anyhoo....here's the link to the dock that I have and use: Samsung Galaxy Universal Multimedia Desktop Dock

Despite the "multimedia" in the name, it only has a headphone jack. There's another dock from Samsung that has an HDMI port but it's $100.