N4, I DO love to love you, baby, (a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

[SkyDriver69]

Hello everyone...
I'm 4 days into a new N4, 16GB, totally out of the box condition, purchased new at MBK mall in Bangkok (well, anyone can re-shrinkwrap a box these days but I'm confident it's new), no SIM card in it yet, and I'm spending HOURS on 'google' searching things like: "What is: TalkBack, Picasa uploader, Google Pinyin, Talk," etc... What I'm trying to say is I am such a noob that I am forced to internet search the apps that came with a new phone- I don't even know what they are or what they do. (I've disabled those and a few others) and I'm having a few issues that make me feel as though I MUST be missing something since you love your phones and I really want to love mine.

I read about a "notification led" on the N4. I've had mine for 4 days and haven't seen it once.

This thing looks dead if I leave it alone for 120 seconds- the screen goes dark, and stays that way... It looses the WIFI signal (EXCELLENT strength) as I'm out for coffee. It greedily accepts my emails and keeps them to itself. And now the phone is asleep, dark screen, and I send myself two test emails again and...I hear just the tone for Gmail but the screen stays dark- WAIT- I think I saw a blip light- Is that the Notification LED? So I have to STARE at the phone to know I missed a GMAIL? And for Yahoo mail- NOTHING.

Please help- Looking for Push Yahoo Email! Want to keep WiFi connection if I go grab a coffee! Looking to DE-GOOGLE this thing in a way a kindergardener could understand! THANK YOU ! ! There's really nobody around here who speaks English who can help me with this! (I'm working in the middle of the Indian Ocean underneath Sri-Lanka and India in the Maldives. THANKS!

 

[Scott7217]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1 week owner?)

I'm having a few issues that make me feel as though I MUST be missing something since you love your phones and I really want to love mine.

Sorry to hear that you're having a lot of problems with your Nexus 4. Let me see if I can help.

First, I'll give you the bad news. It appears that the problem with the Nexus 4 disconnecting wifi is a known issue that has been reported multiple times. This means that it will always be there until Google fixes it, whenever that may be. I hope someone else can provide more details because I want to be wrong on this. Until Google fixes it, everyone (not just you) is stuck with this problem.

Second, the email app you are using is apparently set to check for new messages every 15 minutes. If you are in the email app, you can press the 3 dots in the lower right-hand corner, then press Settings. Next, press on your Yahoo email address. You should see an option for Inbox check frequency. The shortest interval is Every 5 minutes. So, it looks like there is no option for push email in the default email app.

Since you want push email, I would ask you to reconsider downloading the official Yahoo mail app from the Play Store. I have been running it for at least a month without any problems. If I send a test email, the Yahoo mail app picks it up in about 10 seconds. The official Yahoo mail app also gives you options for sound and vibration alerts to notify you when you get new mail.

To fix the notification LED, I would recommend that you download the Light Flow app. There is a free Lite version that you can try out to see if it helps you out. Once you install the Light Flow app, you will need to enable the notification for Yahoo mail and select a color for the light. After that, if you receive email to your Yahoo account, the Yahoo mail app will pick it up, and Lite Flow will cause the notification LED to blink with the color you selected.

As for things like the Chrome Browser updating automatically without your permission, you probably have Auto-Update on. Go back to the Play Store, press Apps, press the 3 dots in the upper right-hand corner, then press Settings. Press Auto-update apps, then select the option for Do not auto-update apps. From then on, if you want your apps updated, you'll have to do it manually.

To summarize, you'll need to install Yahoo mail and Light Flow Lite to get push Yahoo mail with the notification LED blinking when you receive new mail. You will also need to disable the auto-update option in the Play Store to prevent apps from updating by themselves. If all of that works, then all that is left is for Google to fix the wifi disconnect problem.

Hope this helps!

 

[SkyDriver69]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

I made some rookie mistakes: Being a minimalist, I choose "SILENT" ringtone for notifications before understanding what they were. As I added a sound, of course now the phone at least makes a noise when screen locked when I receive email, even YAHOO, because.... I did go ahead and download the YAHOO email app, (even though google searches brought back many "laggy, negative, can't do this, lost half of that, etc" comments.

I added my 4 Yahoo accounts to the Yahoo App, and deleted the same 4 accounts from the stock Email App that came with the N4. I tested it out and the push Yahoo emails are arriving. Even with the screen locked. It's awesome! I see a purple notification light as well. COOL!

Thanks again - I knew it couldn't be such a bummer of a phone the way the community loves it so much!

On another note- as I tested the Yahoo mail app, I saw that the signature line that is automatically populated on my laptop is not replicated in the android app version using the same account - So I had to re-enter the signature on the N4 into the account within the YAHOO app - Is that right and normal? Also, Any way to change the important work related YAHOO emails to POP- I am afraid of hitting "delete" and loosing important stuff forever - or is there a "confirm first when deleting" setting that you know of?

THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH! (Should the TrustGo App stay or go? - Is the anti-virus and anti-theft stuff I signed up for with email and password useful and worth the space on the device or will any savvy person who 'finds' my phone know what to do to "make it theirs?" )

I found the "auto-update" and clicked that off. THANK YOU. What else can I do to "De-Google"? What's OK to disable? APPS that I'm not sure I need and might like to take off the screen :VOICE SEARCH, Google Settings, Google, Movie studio, or should I just let a week or two go by and let the phone "reveal itself" to me?

Am I correct in thinking that where on the 4S I could "close apps" to 'free up space and keep things clean and moving', here on the N4 by swiping an app from the list that appears by pressing on lower right hand corner, when I do swipe an app out and away to the right, it is doing the same thing? I ask because I like keeping things clear and open, less cluttered rather than more. So do I 'understand' it right or what other actions can I do to 'close' apps once I'm done with them?
Does trying to clear RAM actually do more nonsense since it's there to be used? And if cleared, APPS just have to repopulate again more frequently?
Does trying to keep as much as the 13GB available to me free and clear improve the speed and overall performance- WHICH EVEN AS A NOOBIE I AM LOVING!- ? Or is it OK to just let the phone do what it's designed to do and put things on it and not worry about every 10MB or whatever?

I put a video player on it to watch .AVI movies from my digital collection - AMAZING and it works like a DREAM!

Other than being included in the DOWNLOAD app, what's good to work with, store, read, send out in emails, things like my resume and supporting documents (.doc/ .docx/ .pdf) and manuals, guides, etc? Like I send out 2 main things attached to emails- One document that is 4 pages, which is my resume on page one and three references, and a second document that is 4 pages made up of copies of about 12 different copies of things like licenses, medical certificates, FCC radio license, copies of degrees, etc. Any good recommendation for working with documents (downloading, storing, moving, retaining, and being able to attach repeatedly to many individual outgoing emails)?
Can you point me to some info about what "syncing to google servers" really MEANS? Where can I go or log-into on my laptop to "see" and practice a bit in preparation for a back-up/ or restore? Do I WANT Google constantly 'syncing' my stuff somewhere in the cloud where I don't even know where that place is?

Well thanks again for taking the time to read and reply to my rather desperate first posting three days into my N4 experience. I must say your pointers have really helped me out and.... I feel myself growing closer to this N4 that you all seem to be so fond of... THANKS AGAIN!!
And to the other new owners - I KNOW - WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THE POWER AND VOLUME ICONS BEING ETCHED ON THE SCREEN? How am I supposed to watch a movie with those marks on the screen like that? HAHA- leaving the protective film on for the moment!! Enjoy and thanks for any short answers to above questions... THANK YOU!!

 

[fernandezhjr]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby, but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

It is always best to first go into the settings menu and comb thru every setting making sure you have everything set as you want. Then go thru the settings for each individual app.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[SkyDriver69]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby, but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

Thanks - I think just first days confusion was all - I had set notifications to silent thinking that notifications were like "this program is doing this" or "be notified that the connection is that" and I was scared to download Yahoo mail app because I had read a few people bugging out about it not working right and coming form iphone i just thought that default email program would push like iphone. Anyways, thanks for your comment- The yahoo mail is coming in lightening fast, the notifications are with cool techy sounds, the light is blinking and doin its thing, and this N4 is awesome! Thanks again for your comments...

 

[Scott7217]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

I tested it out and the push Yahoo emails are arriving. Even with the screen locked. It's awesome! I see a purple notification light as well. COOL!

You're welcome! We all start out as rookies, and you're always welcome to ask for help. All I ask is that if someone asks you for help, you return the favor whenever possible.

About the Yahoo mail app... it may have been buggy in the past. However, Yahoo has a new CEO, Marissa Mayer. She used to work at Google, and now that she's at Yahoo, she trying to shake things up to make the company better. I think a better mail app is one step in the right direction for Yahoo.

Given that Yahoo is in a state of change, I would encourage you to use the Send Feedback option in Yahoo mail. Tell them what you want changed. You said that your mail signature from your laptop wasn't replicated in the mobile app. That sounds like an excellent suggestion that you should send to Yahoo. Maybe they can update the app. For now, you will need to change it manually (as you probably already have).

I can't find any POP settings in Yahoo mail, so maybe that another thing you need to put on the Send Feedback form. I also don't see a confirm to delete option. Does Yahoo offer mail forwarding? As far I remember, I think you had to pay for mail forwarding by signing up for a premium account. The reason why I ask is because you could forward a copy of your mail to Gmail as a backup. That way if you accidentally delete an important email in Yahoo, you could just log into your Gmail account to look at the backup copy. This may also help you if someone were to hack into Yahoo's servers. If someone deleted all your mail on Yahoo's servers via a hack, you could always go to your Gmail because those servers are controlled by Google (not Yahoo). It's an option, and you don't have to decide right this second.

Now, if you accidentally delete an email from Yahoo and you immediately notice your mistake, I think you can just go to the Trash section of the Yahoo mail app to move the message back to your Inbox, but I don't know how long the messages stay in the Trash section.

 

[Scott7217]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH! (Should the TrustGo App stay or go? - Is the anti-virus and anti-theft stuff I signed up for with email and password useful and worth the space on the device or will any savvy person who 'finds' my phone know what to do to "make it theirs?" )

I found the "auto-update" and clicked that off. THANK YOU. What else can I do to "De-Google"? What's OK to disable? APPS that I'm not sure I need and might like to take off the screen :VOICE SEARCH, Google Settings, Google, Movie studio, or should I just let a week or two go by and let the phone "reveal itself" to me?

The TrustGo app seems to have a decent amount of positive reviews, so it's probably fine. You can look up the reviews in the Play Store and read comments from other users. Every app has a star rating, and the more stars, the better. As for security, it's better to be safe or sorry. A determined person can break into any security system, but I doubt most people have to worry about that. Just use your common sense, like not writing down your password on a sticky note pasted on your monitor at home.

As for disabling Google apps, I would suggest you leave things alone for now until you get used to the Android operating system. Once you have more experience, you will know what to disable and what to keep. Not all Google apps are bad, and you might find that you like them if you give them a chance.

 

[Scott7217]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

Am I correct in thinking that where on the 4S I could "close apps" to 'free up space and keep things clean and moving', here on the N4 by swiping an app from the list that appears by pressing on lower right hand corner, when I do swipe an app out and away to the right, it is doing the same thing? I ask because I like keeping things clear and open, less cluttered rather than more. So do I 'understand' it right or what other actions can I do to 'close' apps once I'm done with them?
Does trying to clear RAM actually do more nonsense since it's there to be used? And if cleared, APPS just have to repopulate again more frequently?
Does trying to keep as much as the 13GB available to me free and clear improve the speed and overall performance- WHICH EVEN AS A NOOBIE I AM LOVING!- ? Or is it OK to just let the phone do what it's designed to do and put things on it and not worry about every 10MB or whatever?

Swiping away apps from the frequently used apps list is fine. I don't have an iPhone, so I'm not sure if it's the same principle. Just keep in mind that swiping the app doesn't automatically mean that you're stopping it. To definitely stop an app, you need to go to Settings, Apps, select the app, then press on Force Stop on the left-hand side. If you don't want an app at all, you can just uninstall it.

Android handles RAM automatically. If you manually clear it, you'll probably just waste battery power. Android will probably keep apps in RAM so that when you need them, they load up quickly. Storage space is similar. I think I've almost filled up my Nexus 4 a few times, and nothing slowed down.

 

[Scott7217]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

I put a video player on it to watch .AVI movies from my digital collection - AMAZING and it works like a DREAM!

Other than being included in the DOWNLOAD app, what's good to work with, store, read, send out in emails, things like my resume and supporting documents (.doc/ .docx/ .pdf) and manuals, guides, etc? Like I send out 2 main things attached to emails- One document that is 4 pages, which is my resume on page one and three references, and a second document that is 4 pages made up of copies of about 12 different copies of things like licenses, medical certificates, FCC radio license, copies of degrees, etc. Any good recommendation for working with documents (downloading, storing, moving, retaining, and being able to attach repeatedly to many individual outgoing emails)?
Can you point me to some info about what "syncing to google servers" really MEANS? Where can I go or log-into on my laptop to "see" and practice a bit in preparation for a back-up/ or restore? Do I WANT Google constantly 'syncing' my stuff somewhere in the cloud where I don't even know where that place is?

If you like watching videos on your Nexus 4, I would suggest you download the MX Player app from the Play Store. It has a nice interface for watching videos.

As for documents, I have paid for OfficePro to let me work with Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. I decided to pay for it because I believe in supporting the developer, and documents are pretty important since they're usually work-related. As for attaching them to email, I think you need to practice with Yahoo mail. I'm not sure if there's a way to automate that. (That's probably by design to prevent people from spamming others.)

Syncing Google servers just means that your Nexus 4 is getting up to date with the information stored in the cloud. Most people sync their Gmail, for example. The Nexus 4 checks the Gmail server for new mail. Calendar is another thing that people synch. You may have put new appointments in your laptop, and the appointments will update on your Nexus 4. Google+ can hold your photos, and it has a neat backup feature for all your photos. If you take a photo, the Nexus 4 can upload it automatically to your Google+ account for safekeeping.

The beauty is that if something bad were to happen to your phone (e.g. you lose it or it gets broken), you can log into another Android phone and get things back, like your email, your appointments, and your photos. The new phone will sync with Google's servers to bring you back up to speed.

 

[Scott7217]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

Well thanks again for taking the time to read and reply to my rather desperate first posting three days into my N4 experience.

Some other suggestions:

Google Translate is pretty cool. You can download it from the Play Store. Furthermore, you can download offline language packs to use in case you lose your internet connection. For example, you could download Thai to Google Translate by pressing the 3 dots in the upper-right corner of the app. (You would presumably do this at home where you have a broadband internet connection because the languages are big files.) Once you downloaded it to your phone, you can go out for dinner in the city, for example. If you happen to meet some Thai people, and you need to communicate with them, you can use the app. You press the microphone button and speak in English. The Nexus 4 translates it into Thai. You press the speaker button, and your Nexus 4 will speak in Thai. You can carry a conversation with the Nexus 4 acting like a translator. It also shows the written words, so you can just show your phone if they still don't understand.

You should probably get a case and a screen protector. The Nexus 4 can be fragile because it has a glass front and back. You don't want to accidentally drop it and break it.

Have fun!

 

[SkyDriver69]

Re: N4, I'd love to love you, baby but..(a 'lil help for a 1week owner?)

Thanks so much! for taking the time to reply to my questions. I really appreciate it! You, sir, are a good man! Thank you again!