[Closed] Getting the most out of my *New* Nexus 4 phone??

[b]It all depends what you want it for[/b] (sensible answer alert)..
If all you want to do is play games, then get lots of games.
I use mine to organise my life, so email, decent calendar widget, user definable databases (memento is good for this - create easy to enter databases such as "work mileage", "private work" etc on the go).
Google maps, and the new google search/cards thing is good, and comes installed already..

DrP

First things first:

[img] [/img]

Yes, sorry.
Not interested in games.
I was thinking more basic stuff ie worthwhile Google services, monitor for giffgaff service credit, diary, make it slicker, look nice. I might mean widgets, rather than apps (I don't even know what widgets are!).

Strava, [b]NO[/b] 😡

Not sure of apps but worth looking at the Three deal on the one plan which gives you loads of minutes and texts as well as all you can eat data but also tethering included especially if you have a tablet etc

get a decent launcher or widget system on there. try Nova launcher or HD Widgets. This is one of the major advantages of android over iPhone IME, you can turn anything on or off from the front screen.

I haven't needed to add much to mine form standard. Setting up email is pretty simple. A dropbox account is good for backing up pictures and transferring files. A power widget is handy to turn data/wifi/bluetooth/gps etc on and off from the home screen to maximise battery.

If you are thinking of joining GiffGaff, and you should it's cheap and good, you can use my referral for a free fiver for each of us: [url= http://giffgaff.com/orders/affiliate/nickjbanks ]GiffGaff referral[/url]. You don't really need a widget to monitor it. You get a pop up at the end of each call/text and it is prominently displayed on your dashboard on the website so just add a web short cut.

It comes with quite a lot of the google stuff on it already - and then it does auto updates. There is a certain amount of trusting your data to google required.

It is pretty slick and nice to start with. Love mine.

Do you go abroad a lot? I found GiffGaff was really rubbish at doing the auto top-up when I was on hols, leaving me unable to get in touch with family when I got injured.

Gonna ditch them before next year's trip.

+1 Dropbox

Oh, and you *say* you're not interested but Stickman Downhiller is a great MTB game.

careful, that glass back can shatter very easily.

Seems a shame to get a stock Android phone, in all it's speedy, clean glory. Then pack it out with third party apps and shonky launchers.

Music (prefer Spotify to Google Music still), Dropbox (or Google Drive), Maps, Twitter/Facebook, Splashtop for checking things on my home PC while I'm out.

That's about it for me.

I just got a nice case for £2 delievered off ebay to protect my new Nexus 4 btw.

Or if you're feeling rich, the official bumper is lovely 😉 I was never a fan of the rounded glass, this adds edges to it and a metal strip around. The way they've done the buttons is better than I've seen on a third party case as well.

QuickOffice (snooze) is now free to anyone with a Google account and offers 15GB of storage on Google Drive.

Google Play Music is amazing.

Best browser I've found is NB Pro (nee Naked Browser, so called because it's tiny and very fast)

Nova Launcher is the best launcher that I've used although still go back to using ADW every now and again.

There are loads of Twitter clients, none is perfect imo but I use Seesmic, Reddit is Fun for reddit.

Just started using currents, not sure if I like it or not but well worth exploring

Podkicker for podcasts.

Swiftkey is an amazing keyboard

Tune In Radio for all radio requirements.

Endomondo for sports tracking

Viewranger for OS maps

Candy Crush to suck your life and self respect from you

Strava (if that interests you). I've got it on my phone, but only if I forget my Garmin when packing my bag.

TuneIn Radio - depends on your data limit though whether you'll use it much. Works on wi-fi too though.

ES File Explorer

Google Maps

RAC traffic if you do a lot of driving

Rainwatch
BBC Weather
Met Office - I have all three in a folder (and believe the best forecast....)

Notes (for making notes). Has a good widget

There's a London Underground map app called 'London' that is excellent.

Flickr
Photobucket

MMnavigator is the best mapping software if you have access to full OS maps...
I've got the [u]whole of the UK[/u] in 50k [b]IN MY POCKET....[/b]

I feel like God....

DrP

Flashlight

GPS Test Plus

WifFi Analyser

GTasks

iBoobs Full and Rack Stare...

strava
swiftkey
facebook
instagram
guardian news
bbc news
met office
sky +
peppa pig
os atlas (os maps)
iplayer radio
banking

I use Navfree for car sat nav (iPhone version).
Pretty good for free. You can even get europe versions for free too. I used it a lot en france

google sky

showbox (if you use it for watching tv n stuff)

yr.no for weather

star trek tricorder app, some useful features, signal detection etc but mostly just cool sounds

eww @ instagram (especially those with stupid degraded colour casts)

just have these on mine, in no particular order:

yr.no weather app
endomondo
google maps, google drive, google skymap (that's ace), and google goggles (can be fun and/or useful)
dropbox

and the app for the local public transport system (for checking how to get to nearest tram stop when the chain snaps again, look up bus/tram times, and buy an e-ticket)

oh and cribbage pro (the only game I have on the phone)

any recommendations for a quick note taking app?

I bought TomTom for navigating, I don't fully trust the data network enough to use online maps...

Other stuff:
Springpad (or Evernote)
BBC News
Firefox (some sites don't work with Chrome, for whatever reason...)
Skype
Whatsapp
My bank's app
Dropbox
Google+ (useful for automatic photo backups)
HDR Camera
Kindle
Tour Tracker
Dogg Catcher (podcasts)

any recommendations for a quick note taking app?

I like Springpad, it also syncs nicely with Chrome on the desktop.

[url= http://www.phonetipsandtricks.com/tips/google-nexus-4/?page=1 ]http://www.phonetipsandtricks.com/tips/google-nexus-4/?page=1[/url]

thanks - will check that one. have jota at the moment for making a few notes.

also use a pan-european garmin for nav usually, otherwise gmaps etc. navigation is probably going to cost me a data roaming charge. but it's handy to have the feature in the phone.

Google translate is pretty good.
Tasker if you're a geek (I use it 🙂 )
St Johns Ambulance app (loads of emergence medical stuff)
Screebl to keep the phone display active while you're using it

Backcountrynavigator (you can try for free, but the paid version is worthwhile). OS maps (or any other supported source) on the go. You can store them 'offline' so you dont need mobile coverage to use when outside.

Evernote, stores notes, voice memos etc. Syncs to the your pc/mac.

Dropbox, syncs to desktop/web for storing files.

Glympse, a way of sharing your location with *anyone* for a predefined time. Handy when you're heading to an appointment, you can share your location for say 30 mins. After this they cant track you.

Google translate is pretty good

The main things I use are

Dolphin Browser (don't really like the standard one)
Life Reminders (not sure why there's nothing like this on the standard S3, even my old nokias had this!)
Facebook
Instagram
Gmail
MyFitnessPal
Met Office
BBC News
Dropbox

Think that's about it actually!

I'd look at virgin sim only deals. 30 day rolling contract and uses orange/T-Mobile masts when virgin ones aren't available. Mines a tenner for loads of texts, more than enough minutes for me and 1gb data.

Also might be worth looking at some [url= http://rapidnfc.com/ ]NFC tags[/url]

Also might be worth looking at some NFC tags

Some interesting stuff, thanks. Like I say, I'm particularly interested in back office stuff. Nova launcher, HD Widgets, Swiftkey, screebl and a few others look like the sort of thing.

Has anyone found an app which is like a traditional diary?? day to view, where you can flip thru the pages, backwards and forwards and use a stylus to write notes?????

I'd look at virgin sim only deals. 30 day rolling contract and uses orange/T-Mobile masts when virgin ones aren't available. Mines a tenner for loads of texts, more than enough minutes for me and 1gb data.

Virgin is a MVNO, it always uses other mast (they do not have their own network).

[b]And obviously Swype for the keyboard...[/b]

why? Google stock keyboard is swipe enabled and is free.

stock keyboard is very good

squeezebox remote
tvcatchup
skysportsfootball
guardian
wifi analyser

if i can get something to make my coffee, chop the wood and ride my bike....

has anyone bothered rooting it?
I had a desire for 18 months prior to the nexus4 which I put cyanogen mod on, tbh I can't see any benefit doing to the nexus4 as the stock os is so great. Thoughts?

I had a desire for 18 months prior to the nexus4 which I put cyanogen mod on, tbh I can't see any benefit doing to the nexus4 as the stock os is so great. Thoughts?

Yes I've rooted it but still run stock Android, only really did it for a few aps which require root now most of them run root free, and to do something we're not allowed to discuss on here. Personally I wouldn't bother unless you've got a hankering to run CM or any of the other ROMs

has anyone bothered rooting it?

Why would you bother? I'm planning on rooting my Sony Xperia, but that's because Orange has helpfully preloaded it with a load of crappy apps that I neither want nor need. I never bothered with my old Nexus One.

untappd - handy if you like beer, and like getting cheeves for drinking it.
(also ratemybeer and the other beer app whose name I forget)

This far in and no mention of TOR, Orweb, and the other privacy apps from the Guardian Project, all available on Google Play. As well as the Firefox browser. And if you can 'update' to JB 4.3 you can download App Ops Starter, that gives you greater control over what personal information the apps you've downloaded are able to access.

Flipboard is really good, you can effectively create your own magazine with pretty much any content you want. Also get Pocket for off line reading, Flipboard integrates with it so a good pair of apps if you spend significant time on trains etc.

BBC Weather - It's functional, accurate and well designed.

Dashclock and the battery extension - A great widget that puts a lot of information in front of your face as quickly as possible.

Dots - Good game that actually takes a little brain power to get good at.

Snapseed - If you want some more photo editing options over the stock camera.

Google Keep is basically perfect for notes/reminders unless you're planning on making hundreds.

[b]Nerdy Stuff[/b]
Light Flow Lite - Allows you to set custom patterns and colours for the notification LED so you can tell whether it's worth turning the screen on or not (e.g. I have it flash green rapidly for SMS and missed calls, but slowly and in yellow if it's just an email.)

TASKER - My favourite app. A little bit of work makes your phone a lot smarter. For example, automatically turning sound and wifi on when I get home, silent mode at college. Also, it can be used to change the UI; I've got it leaving a permanent link to voice actions in the notification bar. 7-day trial if you go to their website.

Lol @ shonky launchers

Nova is pretty good. Action launcher pro is also decent. Halo on paranoid android is interesting.

Getesome weather apps. Skype. SoundCloud and or mix cloud. Mapmyride. Terratime. Oh man just get busy using it. Then when you are bored with stock rom play with some custom roms. Then go back to stock. It's that faff able. Then get hyped up when 4.4 kit kat comes out in Oct.

Oh and SwiftKey is better than swype.

I had a nexus 4 and coincidentally use £12 goodybag too. I smashed the back pretty easy, so a case of some sort can't hurt and I find it makes it easier to hold as it's kind of thin.

[b]thegiantbiker[/b]

Nerdy Stuff
Light Flow Lite - Allows you to set custom patterns and colours for the notification LED so you can tell whether it's worth turning the screen on or not (e.g. I have it flash green rapidly for SMS and missed calls, but slowly and in yellow if it's just an email.)

TASKER - My favourite app. A little bit of work makes your phone a lot smarter. For example, automatically turning sound and wifi on when I get home, silent mode at college. Also, it can be used to change the UI; I've got it leaving a permanent link to voice actions in the notification bar. 7-day trial if you go to their website.

Good suggestions - thanks.

As mentioned already, a switch/toggle widget is very useful - I have been using SwitchPro for a couple of years and it's been great (very customisable). However on Android 4.3 the GPS toggle has stopped working for me.

Can anyone recommend a decent alternative?

Business Calendar is good - I like the monthly view widget that fills one of my home screens. Syncs with all my different Google Calendars.

Oh, and Apex launcher is pretty good as well. Not noticed any real lag, and it gives you the option to make some decent tweaks to the ui like extended an dock and reassigning the home button.

TASKER - My favourite app. A little bit of work makes your phone a lot smarter. For example, automatically turning sound and wifi on when I get home, silent mode at college.

NFC would work at home, but unless I deposited them around college and any other place I might go they don't seem that useful. Tasker doesn't seem to do any damage to the battery life checking GPS, so I don't worry about it. However, if I get some NFC tags in the future and find them super-magical, I will totally redact that.

I guess they'd be quite useful if you work random shifts, as you can get your phone to set to silent when it's set down on your dresser, whereas with Tasker you'd have to set it to change at a particular time. I guess if you want to change stuff at a whim, NFC is the one to go for, but if you want your phone to do everything itself, then use Tasker.

I thought the whole reason for buying it was no need to root, unlock etc. Not sure I fully understand, but I assumed it was reasonably clean of bloatware?.

It is banana people just like messing around with it because they can

Don't NFC tags only work if you are essentially in contact with them, with your phone. So not good for just "I'm home" stuff if you have to get your phone out of your pocket anyway...

Oh, and if you want some sort of advanced pedometer Moves looks interesting, only out for android a couple of days though.

[quote=Tracker1972 said]Don't NFC tags only work if you are essentially in contact with them, with your phone. So not good for just "I'm home" stuff if you have to get your phone out of your pocket anyway...

Yup, they reply on very close contact between the phone and tag so good for some things but not so good for detecting when you're at college etc. Tasker can do this as you can set actions to trigger when the phone picks up a certain list of cell tower id's or by using GPS. I use the cell ids as it doesn't use additional power (like turning on GPS would do).

I use Powertoggles as a toggle widget, and my main page has a 4x2 widget Yahoo Weather. It drags images off a Flickr group to match your location and the weather, I don't know if its just the screen but most photos look amazing when you go full screen and scroll through the weather.

To the TomTom owners - you know you can store google maps offline incase you drop out of range? I think it's something like typing "go maps" in the search bar.

edit: type "ok maps"

I use the stock android toggle widget thing, seems OK.

Anyone have any experience with AirDroid ?

Opt in to Google Now and get local real-time info, weather travel etc.
My staple Aps are:
Dropbox, Evernote, Flipboard, Pocket, Firefox, Tune In Radio,BeyondPod, Viber,WhatsApp, Swype, Banking app.

Loving Tasker! I'm not one for toggling stuff on and off so I've always just left WiFi and Bluetooth switched on, obviously bad for battery life. Bluetooth is now only on during times of weekday commute (and all daytime at weekend). I've set WiFi and silent mode similarly to suit times when I use the phone. Should be good for battery life. And that stuff is just the tip of Tasker's capabilities!

The Acase Superleggera Pro hybrid case is awesome. Inner silicon cover with a second hardshell that clips over it.

They've doubled in price since I got mine but it fits superbly, makes the buttons easier to operate and provides great protection. I've dropped my phone a few times and it's landed face down, on a corner etc and the case has done it's job.

Opt in to Google Now and get local real-time info, weather travel etc.

Scarily good service, but it hammers your battery.