Kia ora!
I’ve been an ios user for 100 years at this point, but used to be deep in the android scene before then. I’ve just got an android for a work phone and am wondering what’s changed in the last 10 years - what are your essential apps, settings, customisations? I’ve had a hunt around xda but can’t seem to find much in the way of roms for my model (Samsung A04) - back in the day it seemed there was a thread for every device!
What do I need to know?
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Some of my favorites:
- Launcher: Niagara
- Rom: LineageOS
- Browser: Firefox (with DarkReader and uBlock Origin)
- Reddit: Relay (is this ending?)
- HackerNews: Harmonic
Lemmy: Jerboa (haven’t tried alternatives)- Podcasts: AntennaPod (haven’t tried much else)
- Identify stuff: LeafSnap (plants), SoundHound, Merlin (birds!)
- Books: Moon+ Reader Pro
- Barcodes: Catima
- Computer stuff: KDE Connect
- File stuff: Material Files and ZArchiver
- TTS: @Voice Aloud Reader
- Passwords: Bitwarden
- Icons: Crayon or Viral
- Keyboards: MS SwiftKey, maybe someday FlorisBoard, sometimes Hacker’s Keyboard
- Scrobbles: Simple Scrobbler
- Video: VLC and NewPipe
- Weather: Weawow
EDITS:
- Lemmy: Liftoff
- Chat: Telegram
- Email: Delta Chat?
I do not recommend getting attached to Reddit Is Fun, although it is a great app.
Infinity is still pretty good, and my understanding is that it could easily be updated to support the free individual API keys Reddit is supposedly going to still support.
I believe it would be against the ToS of Reddit to do so, so I wouldn’t hold my breath for it…
I’m not really sure, to be honest. I guess I’ll see what some of the Infinity people say. Even if it’s not an option, I’m here on Lemmy.
Yeah the API limits are meant to be per client. So developing one client and then telling end users to go get their own API keys is going to cause problems. Potentially pulled from app stores and hit with lawsuits type problems.
Infinity is on F-droid, and if emulators (think BIOS files) demonstrate anything, it’s entirely possible to pass liability to end-users through mechanisms like that.
sideloading is a whole thing on android. don’t like the options that the play store gives you ? fdroid has your back
Google’s a much bigger part of the ecosystem by default. Used to be the Google app store was a selling feature, now Google is integrated into pretty much every device (and has contracts with manufacturers to force that).
It’s also, like Shortwavefilter mentioned, much harder to root or flash a devices.
Though the AOSP has gotten better in ways too. It’s gotten a lot better hardening, and still is fairly open (e.g custom app stores added one click).
Last, there’s still plenty of bloat pre-installed on some brands, but I think that was the case a decade ago as well if my memory is correct.
Honestly I can’t think of too many essential settings or apps that’d be a necessity for everyone. Usually I’d say change privacy settings and disabled as much bloat if you’re not using a ROM; but that might not be applicable if you’re on a work phone. Apps wise, I’d say stick to open source if you can for the basic offline utilities -F-Droid is great for that if you’re allowed to install it.
Niagara Launcher is the coolest thing I’ve seen happen for mobile interfaces since the first touch interface. It is so clean and well-designed, it makes everything else in iOS and Android look like a cluttery mess - all while adapting to what you need and offering quick access to everything on the phone.
I’m trying it now - I like it but there are a few confusing choices, like how you can only have one widget visible at once.
How do you access the shortcuts that would normally be placed on the home screen? I have some webapps and e.g. OpenVPN shortcuts that I currently can’t see.
Is it better than Nova? I’ve been using Nova for as long as I can remember.
It’s completely different to Nova, and any other drawer based launcher. It has a free version so you can check it out. Personally, I don’t like it but I totally get the appeal.
Nova was recently bought out by an ad company, so if that’s not something you like then you might check out some FOSS alternatives such as Lawnchair or Neo Launcher (both are currently in development and less feature-rich than Nova though).
Oh, this is so neat, thank you! I’ve just had a play - especially for a work phone that has real specific uses, Niagara makes a lot of sense! Do you subscribe to pro? Have you found it useful?
Is it subscription based? Or a one time payment to unlock pro?
Both - $12.90nzd/yr or $41.90 outright
Thank you!
On the topic of Android, am I the only one who dislikes the google pixel version of android UI?
I love how stock android looks but agree that it’s become too iPhone like. One UI has become a great balance!
I don’t like it because it has become very iPhone-like in the bad ways, meaning it takes several clicks to do simple, common tasks. I much prefer Samsung’s OneUI for how easily accessible everything is.
Yes! This trend towards reducing the UI because they assume their user can’t comprehend more “complex” words like “Customization”, “System settings”, “Advanced system settings”, instead just opting to remove the settings entirely, or hide them behind categories and stupid drag menus 🤷♀️
I’m interested to hear what others say but I’ll throw in my two cents
- Nova launcher is still king
- Fdroid store for open source apks
- Newpipe app -> disable YouTube
