A few questions about the Galaxy S4

[anon(8106053)]

I just switched from a Samsung Droid Charge to the Galaxy S4. A few things have been eluding me, I hope someone can help.

1- How do I stop the home button from waking the phone up? The last phone would turn itself on in my pocket via the power button, but this one has an Otterbox, so that button is harder to accidentally press.

2- On the Droid Charge, there was a Task Manager app/button I could use for clearing RAM (aka: closing running programs). It didn't keep a lot of the stuff closed, but it was handy. Is there somewhere to do this on the S4, or at least a really good app?

3- The browser on the Charge would close/exit out by hitting the back button enough times. The S4 seems to not really close the browser and keeps multiple tabs open after it seems to be closed. It won't start on the homepage I selected.

4- Any apps (even run from the PC) that I can use to uninstall apps and control other apps (similar to Services in Windows) in ways I can't do from the phone?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[UJ95x]

I just switched from a Samsung Droid Charge to the Galaxy S4. A few things have been eluding me, I hope someone can help.

1- How do I stop the home button from waking the phone up? The last phone would turn itself on in my pocket via the power button, but this one has an Otterbox, so that button is harder to accidentally press.

2- On the Droid Charge, there was a Task Manager app/button I could use for clearing RAM (aka: closing running programs). It didn't keep a lot of the stuff closed, but it was handy. Is there somewhere to do this on the S4, or at least a really good app?

3- The browser on the Charge would close/exit out by hitting the back button enough times. The S4 seems to not really close the browser and keeps multiple tabs open after it seems to be closed. It won't start on the homepage I selected.

4- Any apps (even run from the PC) that I can use to uninstall apps and control other apps (similar to Services in Windows) in ways I can't do from the phone?

Thanks in advance for any help.

1- The home button can't be disabled to unlock the phone. The lock button should be fine
2- Hold the home button and either swipe to get rid of the apps or clear all of it with the furthest right button.
3- Hitting back will only back out of it, clear it from the RAM to close all the tabs.
4- Not sure what you're asking

Posted via Android Central App

 

[anon(8106053)]

1- The home button can't be disabled to unlock the phone. The lock button should be fine
2- Hold the home button and either swipe to get rid of the apps or clear all of it with the furthest right button.
3- Hitting back will only back out of it, clear it from the RAM to close all the tabs.
4- Not sure what you're asking

Posted via Android Central App

1- I could make it harder to unlock for certain. I always had the swipe option and the old one would manage to unlock itself in my pocket and do all manner of crazy things.
2- Actually, holding the Home button down showed me where Task Manager is. Either on the long screen or at the bottom left.
3- I don't like this change. At least on the old phone, backing out would exit the browser.
4- Not sure if I'm looking to root or just have more control over what apps are on the phone and controlling them better. On a PC, the Services menu allows to to disable things without uninstalling them.

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[UJ95x]

1- I could make it harder to unlock for certain. I always had the swipe option and the old one would manage to unlock itself in my pocket and do all manner of crazy things.
2- Actually, holding the Home button down showed me where Task Manager is. Either on the long screen or at the bottom left.
3- I don't like this change. At least on the old phone, backing out would exit the browser.
4- Not sure if I'm looking to root or just have more control over what apps are on the phone and controlling them better. On a PC, the Services menu allows to to disable things without uninstalling them.

Thanks for the quick reply.

1- My phone never unlocks itself in my pocket. It takes some force to press the home button, I don't think being in your pocket will be enough.
2- Hold the home button and it should show your RAM, the button on the left and then go to running to see what apps are being used.
3- Backing out will exit the browser but it won't be deleted from your RAM
4- If you're talking about bloatware or apps that were installed on your phone by the carrier then yes, rooting is the way to go

Posted via Android Central App

 

[anon(8106053)]

^ Rooting for sure!

On the Droid Charge, it would "close" 10-13 apps at most by clearing RAM. The S4 "closes" as many as 39. Way too much going on.

I think the waking up of the last phone might have been due to sweat (?), from it being in my pocket for long periods. Then it would somehow get swiped, then the fun would begin.

Another thing. I had Aces Solitaire Pack 2 on the Charge. It worked fine, except some occasional lag for whatever reason. It installs on the S4, but takes up about 1/4 of the screen and the app buttons are on another part of the screen.

Is this an S4 issue, or could it have anything to do with my carrier (which is also new).

 

[UJ95x]

It might be your phone or it might just be the app not being made to fit the S4 well. I'll try installing it later to see how much of the screen it uses

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

I'm just curious why you want to manually close apps. From what I've heard about the Android OS, it expects to manage apps and fill available RAM with them so as to have desired apps readily available. Many say that manually closing apps simply wastes battery, because something (often what you just closed) is going to be loaded again anyway. It's a couple of years old, but check this.

 

[UJ95x]

I'm just curious why you want to manually close apps. From what I've heard about the Android OS, it expects to manage apps and fill available RAM with them so as to have desired apps readily available. Many say that manually closing apps simply wastes battery, because something (often what you just closed) is going to be loaded again anyway. It's a couple of years old, but check this.

When your RAM gets full or close to full the phone lags a bit more and the idle time isn't as good from my experiences.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[anon(8106053)]

^ That was certainly how I felt about the Charge.

Now, there's more RAM in the S4, but a lot more running services & whatnot. I'm still getting a handle on what I really need or want running.

It's the same with my PC. After I installed Win7, I disabled services I never use and changed some to manual.

I want the same control over the S4. I'd like to decide what are desired apps rather than let the phone do it. I guess I'm just really anal that way.

 

[UJ95x]

Haha, I'm like that too. After a few hours the RAM automatically starts getting more full and I restart the phone to clear it out. I really want to root but since I didn't pay for the phone I don't want to risk bricking it.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

It's the same with my PC. After I installed Win7, I disabled services I never use and changed some to manual.
I want the same control over the S4. I'd like to decide what are desired apps rather than let the phone do it. I guess I'm just really anal that way.

Yeah, I totally get that. I'm the same way with Windows, and likewise when I got my first Android. But then someone pointed me to the article I linked to, which makes exactly this point: "For most of us, the system running on our Android phones, and the way it handles RAM usage, is very different than what we are used to on our computers." It's worth a look.

 

[anon(8106053)]

I ended up finally rooting this thing, and so far so good.

I installed Xposed framework, then the Wanam Xposed module. This allowed me to disable the Home button as a wake-up, and also hide the emergency call button on the pattern unlock screen.

Now there's no way it will be able to get itself unlocked in my pocket again.

Lots of other tweaks in this module I'm getting to know.