So it doesnt seem as though there is a thread like this for the Epic.
I figured this would be a good place to list a bunch of random things you've found while "tinkering" with you Epic 4G.
Example:
While in Camera mode, if you hit the power button it locks the camera. No buttons can be pushed until you "Unlock" the camera by pressing the power button once more. I figured this allows you to keep the camera app open without snapping random shots, so that when you are ready the camera app is readily available.
This same method works in the video player function...I found this out cus I have a 2 year old that loves to watch his cartoons on my phone. Well he always tends to touch the screen and it usually interrupts the vid (streaming)...so now I just lock the video player (push the power button while video is playing) and now he can touch it all he wants and it wont interrupt the vid!
What else do you guys/gals know about this AWESOME phone!!???
-MaD
I just found out if you workout with your epic resting against your skin, you're risking it might get water damaged.
Here's something:
If you press down on the notifications tab at the top of your phone, and slide it to either the left or right, you can toggle the brightness (if it is set to MANUAL, and you can do this under the phone's settings).
shook187 said:
I just found out if you workout with your epic resting against your skin, you're risking it might get water damaged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SALTwater damage.
Learn to sweat distilled water. It's much safer for electronics
When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.
dwallersv said:
SALTwater damage.
Learn to sweat distilled water. It's much safer for electronics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was being sarcastic when I wrote that. I read that happend to someone here.
Darkshneider said:
When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dear god that's nifty!
Darkshneider said:
When on your contact list, swipe left to text or right to call that contact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for the message list
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I never knew the phone had a front facing camera until 2 weeks ago. I've had the phone since soon after it came out
tuttjs said:
I never knew the phone had a front facing camera until 2 weeks ago. I've had the phone since soon after it came out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? Holy ****e dude, that was one of the key things the Epic had over the other guys.
Well, I knew this but some may not. On the physical keyboard, if you double press the "Shift" or "FN" keys, it does "Caps lock" and "Function Lock"
Sent from my always stock, EB13 Epic, awaiting EC05.
i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!
BopChie said:
i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confirmed. Wow I Just tried this and it's pretty amazing! +11111111
Here's another one that's semi-useful.
This will only work with the stock SWYPE keyboard. Now there are some complications usually when trying to copy/paste text with androids. If you have a keyboard, you can easily hold "shift" and swype across the text you are trying to copy.
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easy.
OperationMove said:
Confirmed. Wow I Just tried this and it's pretty amazing! +11111111
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol... learn something new every day ha?
zanderman112 said:
Well, I knew this but some may not. On the physical keyboard, if you double press the "Shift" or "FN" keys, it does "Caps lock" and "Function Lock"
Sent from my always stock, EB13 Epic, awaiting EC05.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Every phone has the same double press.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
BopChie said:
i recently learned that if you dial a number and hit the call icon this thing will actually make phone calls!!! f00king amazing, here i just thought it ran apps,played games,video and movies.
Ziing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny sh|t... a shrink actually told me that she has teen clients who get in trouble, and lose their text priveledges, and are really going crazy, shrink suggests just making a voice call... the kid looks terrified, to call their 'best friend'...I really hope FFCs can help this... thats just sad. Its not even basement dwellers either, these are 'popular kids'.... I think Skynet has already won. Anyways, what phone are you getting next????
johnp1991 said:
Every phone has the same double press.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just gonna let that one slide... figured they were new to having a phone...
Pettro said:
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No need to swype back to the "i" button. Swyping from the "i" button over to the SYM button brings up the same options. Gives you arrow keys which are pretty awesome to use. Also, if you swype from the "i" button over to the "F" key, it brings up a nice keypad for you to input numbers/symbols.
Also, while on the topic of swyping, here are some other cool things:
If you want to capitalize a letter, you swype from that letter off of the swype keyboard entirely and then continue swyping. So if you wanted for some reason to type CaT, you would swype from the "c" key off of the keyboard entirely and then over to the "a" key and then over to the "t" key and then off the keyboard entirely again.
If you want to hit a double letter, like the two o's in Google, you swype from the "g" over to the "o" and swirl around on it for a second and then continue swyping the rest of the word. The swirling around doubles whatever key you are swirling over.
Pettro said:
Here's another one that's semi-useful.
Well with the SWYPE keyboard, if you do not want to open up the physical keyboard, you have the option of pressing the "i" button at the bottom (next to SYM) and if you hold that and swype on over to SYM and back to the "i" button, a menu with several different commands will show up. I'm not too familiar with how to use it, but I know it gives you the option to copy/paste, move up and down and select text fairly easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just swiping from the swype(or i/info depending on your version/rom/theme) key to sym alone will open that layout.
heres another swipe shortcut
start at the swype/info key then swipe diagonaly to the upper right and let go when your past the keyboard layout.... This will open the numerical keypad.
last one it got (that i can think of at the moment)
you can usually simulate a battery pull/force reset if your softlocked by holding cam+vol_up+power... saved me some hassle when i had a hard case on my epic many times when experimenting with roms/kernel/tweaks.
UPDATE:
muyoso has apparently tapped into my brain and beat me to it LOL... and sombish... yeah u can just swipe from the info to the f and get numerical keypad also
Related
Yes, there are always gonna be a run around but take this situation for instance. When I go to my video player [stock vibrant] the only way I can delete the video from there is if I somehow have my selection over the video I want to delete. Which is not possible without clicking it to open it without a trackball, or pad.
Also, when I want to read the whole name of certain apps in the market, with a trackball, i could move my seletion over it to auto scroll the name but without a trackball, i can't do that.
Is this something we are going to have to live with or will there ever be a program where we can have some sort of a mouse control program, on the desktop that acts as a trackpad.
I feel your pain, but you can delete files in movie player without a d-pad. Hit the menu button and select delete file. Select boxes will appear. You can then select one or multiple files to delete. I do miss the trackball though.
how about on the terminal when you want to repeat a command??
I hate it when I am in Remote desktop and I want to move around.. the trackball was a perfect mouse..
Also, when you want to change one letter when you are typing, I used the N1 trackball all the time to go back a few letters, now it is easier to just delete until the errro and retype the word...
duglas said:
I hate it when I am in Remote desktop and I want to move around.. the trackball was a perfect mouse..
Also, when you want to change one letter when you are typing, I used the N1 trackball all the time to go back a few letters, now it is easier to just delete until the errro and retype the word...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha i know the feeling "_"
Don't forget that you can swype from the swype tip button to the "sym"button to get directional arrows. I also miss the trackball, but doing this makes it more tolerable.
Hope this helps some of you.
What kills me is this ridiculous inconsistency between various implementations of THE SAME PHONE! All these Galaxy S phones are essentially the same hardware, and while the original "reference" implementation had it all, we're getting all these ridiculous omissions on the various carriers. WTF was wrong with the trackpad on the original S?
SuperMiguel said:
how about on the terminal when you want to repeat a command??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That never worked even with a trackball. It enters characters something like [<[<[<
Or maybe all 5 of my G1's were screwed? lol
uwradu said:
What kills me is this ridiculous inconsistency between various implementations of THE SAME PHONE! All these Galaxy S phones are essentially the same hardware, and while the original "reference" implementation had it all, we're getting all these ridiculous omissions on the various carriers. WTF was wrong with the trackpad on the original S?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe the fact that it WASN'T a trackpad.
cashless said:
That never worked even with a trackball. It enters characters something like [<[<[<
Or maybe all 5 of my G1's were screwed? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure it did, you just needed a decent shell. You were using the stock "sh". If you had used "ash" or "bash", you would have gotten command history.
Does anyone know of a way to enter a control character in Swype? I downloaded "Full Keyboard" from the Market so that I can be able to hit control-c in Terminal, but switching IME's back and forth is becoming a true PITA, and I wonder if I am missing some obvious workaround to do this.
Is this just me or anyone else? Back on my N1 it would bring up the keyboard on top of any screen/app I was on.. On my Vibrant it brings up a search screen with the keyboard..
This disables me being able to use Swype's cursor menu for selecting text, copying/pasting. I don't know if anyone else uses it like that?
On the Swype keyboard, swype from the tips key to the sym key, left to right.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
amd_203 said:
On the Swype keyboard, swype from the tips key to the sym key, left to right.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reading comprehension fail.
He's problem is that a search field opens with a long press of the menu key, making the swype arrow keys useless when you want to use them outside of a text field.
thegreatcity said:
Reading comprehension fail.
He's problem is that a search field opens with a long press of the menu key, making the swype arrow keys useless when you want to use them outside of a text field.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More like a misunderstanding, douche.
He's out of luck though, since like he said long press of menu only brings up search, not the keyboard like the N1. I believe they did this because you international Galaxy S didn't have a search button, so to take its place they made it available by a long press of the menu. Though, I don't know why they didn't remove that on our T-Mobile Vibrant since we already have a separate button for it.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
thegreatcity said:
Reading comprehension fail.
He's problem is that a search field opens with a long press of the menu key, making the swype arrow keys useless when you want to use them outside of a text field.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, and it's his not he's (he is)
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I have this same problem and it's extremely annoying. This phone is full of bugs. Thankfully we have XDA and it's only a matter of time before we get bug fixes.
amd_203 said:
More like a misunderstanding, douche.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vocabulary fail.
Last time I checked, misunderstanding what someone wrote = not comprehending what was read.
I was just joking anyways.
Have fun calling me names like a kid, pointing out typos (a typo on xda?! whaaaat?!), just next time actually RTFA.
Thanks for the insightful responses my fellow Vibranteers. Lol.
I agree it's pretty annoying. A friend was trying an older Android app that assumes you have a physical keyboard, and as a result, there is no way to force the soft keyboard to open.
You have to wonder how Samsung concluded the search button wasn't adequate for accessing search...
Menu lp for me is the keyboard, as it should be for everyone. Lp search is a choice of with vlingo or google voice search.
lp menu for me is search also......very very annoying!
For me as well... (I'm on stock TW)
Menu LP brings up the keyboard -- and the quick-search box in the top half of the screen.
Anybody figure out how to chnge this behaviour?
I have Button-Shorcut set to go to dialer with LP. As there is no hardware phone button,.SP search. + KB. I wish this app was able to map menu button that would be great.
Is your phone Loki? Use Odin. You'll be Thor!
I asked Steve Jobs and he told me that you guys are long pressing the button wrong
Does anybody else hate it when you press the fn key and try to correct something by pressing backspace and the whole message gets deleted? Any way to turn that feature off? It has happened to me way too many times now.
You might be able to edit the keyboard mappings to do this, but I don't have any experience in that area.
I just have gotten into the habit of holding modifier keys instead of tapping before the next key.
Sorry your a step ahead of me...... I have been wondering why my message gets wiped every so often..... must be the fn thing...... I thought i was going crazy
rj7766 said:
Sorry your a step ahead of me...... I have been wondering why my message gets wiped every so often..... must be the fn thing...... I thought i was going crazy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, you hit function and then backspace.
Just don't press FN...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Oh nevermind I think I just realized the situation you was describing lol
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
A_Flying_Fox said:
Just don't press FN...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sometimes you are typing fast and then you try to add a question mark or something. you make a mistake and it still has that FN command blinking and you don't notice...you press backspace and bye bye to your whole message.
While were talking about keyboard issues here (since I couldn't really find another place to ask) does anyone know how to "select all" which would normally be ctrl + A, for the epic. I was using gmail and wanted to delete "all" my spam mail at once instead of one by one. I know it something I did on my N900 easily due to the physical keyboard but after reading through the keyboard shortcuts from Cnet I didn't see this particular shortcut listed.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
jalladi said:
While were talking about keyboard issues here (since I couldn't really find another place to ask) does anyone know how to "select all" which would normally be ctrl + A, for the epic. I was using gmail and wanted to delete "all" my spam mail at once instead of one by one. I know it something I did on my N900 easily due to the physical keyboard but after reading through the keyboard shortcuts from Cnet I didn't see this particular shortcut listed.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe I just push down on the screen for 3 seconds and select "select all"
1999TL said:
sometimes you are typing fast and then you try to add a question mark or something. you make a mistake and it still has that FN command blinking and you don't notice...you press backspace and bye bye to your whole message.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happens to me at least once a day. Would love to see it go. : )
Sent from my SPH-D700
Thanks for replying, I tried to long press on the screen in gmail but it only selects the the email I tap and when I long press the actual label for spam it doesn't do anything. I guess regular pc keyboard shortcuts aren't available with the keyboard on the epic, which is unfortunate... I love the keyboard though.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
fn backspace
Any one have any news on this issue, regarding turning off the FN+backspace = erasing an entire line?
It happens to me AT LEAST once a week, but it's gotten old really fast. I agree with several users...it's just a function I don't need and end up accidentally deleting lines as a result. If I could just turn it off, I'd be MUCH happier than wishing it was there since I never use it.
Whether it's a setting or even an app or add-on that can help I'd appreciate it.
As much as I love the Epic overall, and I may well be in the minority on this one, but even months into owning it the biggest thing that screws me up continually coming from my previous keyboard phone is the placement of the Fn key to begin with. If I had designed this phone, the Fn and Shift keys would be interchanged position wise with the Fn key the one in the very bottom left corner.
It happened to me with droidx multitouch kb installed
Sent from Snarf high on SRF 1.02 till freezes are fixed
Is it possible to somehow disable the back key on the keyboard near the directional arrows? I can't stress how many times i've hit it on accident while typing an SMS , it's very frustrating.
daredevile said:
Is it possible to somehow disable the back key on the keyboard near the directional arrows? I can't stress how many times i've hit it on accident while typing an SMS , it's very frustrating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must've been reading my mind because I was gonna ask the same thing earlier but didn't. I've typed up long posts on my D2 only to accidentally hit the back button instead of the '?'. I don't need to totally disable it but double clicking instead would be nice.
newk8600 said:
You must've been reading my mind because I was gonna ask the same thing earlier but didn't. I've typed up long posts on my D2 only to accidentally hit the back button instead of the '?'. I don't need to totally disable it but double clicking instead would be nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES!!! Always while hitting a "?" , forces me to type the whole thing over again . I would totally disable it ,I never use it , same with the "ok" button" but that's not in the way of anything at least.
I know some of you might think this is a stupid question. I would like to use any on screen keyboard while the hardware keyboard is open and disable hw kb until I want to use it. Let me see if I can explain this to you why.
I am starting to like typing in landscape mode with on screen keyboard. I am getting pretty good at it and definitely think my speed is faster that way than a hardware keyboard. Have any of you tried typing in landscape for any extended length of time? I don't know about you but my fingers really start cramping and hurting because I have to hold the phone with the rest of my hands and fingers while typing with my thumbs. When the hw kb is open, this could give me more area to hold the phone a little more comfortably while using a fast software keyboard. My thumbs wouldn't be at funky downward angles to hit the keys, they would be extended straighter and upwards and might be less prone to getting crampt up and carpel tunnel.
Am I crazy to think this might be useful? Has anyone heard of it being done or an app or hack that could achieve what I'm trying to do?
I do understand where you are coming from, having big hands and fingers can suck sometimes, but I don't think its possible. I've tried to see if I could pull up the virtual landscape keyboard with the hw one open but no luck.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
Why'd you get the Shift and not the Evo if you would prefer an on-screen keyboard?
cosine83 said:
Why'd you get the Shift and not the Evo if you would prefer an on-screen keyboard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not complaining or whining, I'm just asking for help with something that I might like to do.
to answer your question, yes, it is possible.
i just tested this on skyfire, ebuddy, and gmail. if you simply leave the keyboard in, aka don't slide the screen, and rotate the device, the screen will turn and whatever app you are using will also turn (if it supports it). then just click in the text box you want to type in again, and the onscreen keyboard will come up. I'm using better keyboard atm, so didn't test it with the HTC or any others. but i'm fairly positive that if it works with that one, it'll throw up whichever keyboard you are currently using in the same situation.
viperv303 said:
to answer your question, yes, it is possible.
i just tested this on skyfire, ebuddy, and gmail. if you simply leave the keyboard in, aka don't slide the screen, and rotate the device, the screen will turn and whatever app you are using will also turn (if it supports it). then just click in the text box you want to type in again, and the onscreen keyboard will come up. I'm using better keyboard atm, so didn't test it with the HTC or any others. but i'm fairly positive that if it works with that one, it'll throw up whichever keyboard you are currently using in the same situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you missed what he was trying to say. he was asking if it's possible to use the on-screen keyboard with the physical keyboard open.
OP, here's an android tip (it works with any android phone): if you hold down the menu button with your cursor in a text field, it forces the on-screen keyboard to come up. You could try selecting a text field, then holding down the menu button.
viperv303 said:
to answer your question, yes, it is possible.
i just tested this on skyfire, ebuddy, and gmail. if you simply leave the keyboard in, aka don't slide the screen, and rotate the device, the screen will turn and whatever app you are using will also turn (if it supports it). then just click in the text box you want to type in again, and the onscreen keyboard will come up. I'm using better keyboard atm, so didn't test it with the HTC or any others. but i'm fairly positive that if it works with that one, it'll throw up whichever keyboard you are currently using in the same situation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know about what you are explaining, that's normal usage. What I'm interested in is using the open physical keyboard as additional area to hold the phone with while in landscape and using the on screen keyboard. I'm thinking there needs to be something to trick the phone into thinking the keyboard drawer is closed when it's actually open.
It seems, as usual, that I am coming up with lame brain ideas and haven't a clue as how to making them happen. I emailed one keyboard dev a few days ago and haven't heard anything back yet. I guess I could shoot out emails to all the devs of the keyboards I have bought and see if I get a response.
SirRipo said:
I think you missed what he was trying to say. he was asking if it's possible to use the on-screen keyboard with the physical keyboard open.
OP, here's an android tip (it works with any android phone): if you hold down the menu button with your cursor in a text field, it forces the on-screen keyboard to come up. You could try selecting a text field, then holding down the menu button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried that with the drawer open and it is not working. I tried switching to the stock keyboard too and still nothing. Thanks for the suggestion.
herbthehammer said:
I just tried that with the drawer open and it is not working. I tried switching to the stock keyboard too and still nothing. Thanks for the suggestion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue here, The flex or ribbon cable from heyboard to PCB is broken, so my device is perm on landscape and I can't use any onscreen keyboards.
wickedpenguin said:
Same issue here, The flex or ribbon cable from heyboard to PCB is broken, so my device is perm on landscape and I can't use any onscreen keyboards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn dude! That really sucks. You have insurance? Can you take it to a repair center?
wickedpenguin said:
Same issue here, The flex or ribbon cable from heyboard to PCB is broken, so my device is perm on landscape and I can't use any onscreen keyboards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a 1-year warranty on manufacturing defects, regardless of insurance standing or the 30-day return policy? Certainly sounds like a manufacturing defect to me, unless it's broken from misuse
this isnt the place for talking about warantee issues. start a different thread. this is about answering the question in this thread.
have you tried any other keyboards from the market or like the swype beta or anything? idk if it would make a difference. i doubt you can disable it while its open. if you want to use the soft keyboard close the phone? Its probably best practice to keep the phone closed when you arent using the hardware keyboard anyways?
t0esh0es said:
this isnt the place for talking about warantee issues. start a different thread. this is about answering the question in this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and I was pointing out a potential fix for someone with an issue in this thread, try to keep up.
Looks like smart keyboard pro has that feature. Its buried in the advanced menu.
Yes sir it is I just downloaded the trial to give it a shot one thing I notice is when you open the keyboard on the home screen they keyboard pops up over all your icons I'm gonna play with the settings somemore and see what I can do about it
*EDIT* if you are on a text box and hit home the keyboard don't open over home screen but if you just open the phone to put it into landscape on the homescreen they beyboard will pop up just hit the search button then back and you have your whole home screen
herbthehammer said:
Looks like smart keyboard pro has that feature. Its buried in the advanced menu.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA Premium App