Google Android catch-all

If you're using Apple Music, there is an Android version. Your iTunes playlists and content would appear there.

Is there any way to, for lack of a better term, prioritize applications for Bluetooth? I tend to rotate between my Google Music, Slacker Radio, and podcast (Podcast Addict) apps when driving via my on-board Bluetooth connection, and it has a tendency to default to podcasts. I'm listening to Slacker, shut off the car and run into a store, and, when I come back, it winds up being the podcast instead of music. It's annoying as heck. Anyone know a trick to stop my phone from doing this?

If anyone's curious, I updated my Pixel 2015 to the Dev Channel to give the Play Store a spin.

It's pretty awesome. There are definitely issues/bugs, and some apps won't run at all, but I was surprised at how many would and how well it worked.

I use my Pixel for work, so I eventually had to revert back to Beta (Dev isn't the most stable, shockingly), but it's really made me excited about the official release.

ccoates wrote:

If anyone's curious, I updated my Pixel 2015 to the Dev Channel to give the Play Store a spin.

It's pretty awesome. There are definitely issues/bugs, and some apps won't run at all, but I was surprised at how many would and how well it worked.

I use my Pixel for work, so I eventually had to revert back to Beta (Dev isn't the most stable, shockingly), but it's really made me excited about the official release.

What kind of work do you do? I've never seen a Pixel in the wild, interested to know how the Pixel/Chrome OS might actually be used for work purposes.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Is there any way to, for lack of a better term, prioritize applications for Bluetooth? I tend to rotate between my Google Music, Slacker Radio, and podcast (Podcast Addict) apps when driving via my on-board Bluetooth connection, and it has a tendency to default to podcasts. I'm listening to Slacker, shut off the car and run into a store, and, when I come back, it winds up being the podcast instead of music. It's annoying as heck. Anyone know a trick to stop my phone from doing this?

With the Trigger app you can force your phone to start a specific app when it detects a Bluetooth connection, would that help?

When I'm listening to something (Nexus 5) sometimes the volume drops apropos of nothing, and when I hit the volume up button to fix it, it brings up a "Are you sure you want to raise volume beyond recommended levels?" dialogue.

Not looking for a solution, just letting anyone else or there having the same issue know they're not alone.

Mermaidpirate wrote:

When I'm listening to something (Nexus 5) sometimes the volume drops apropos of nothing, and when I hit the volume up button to fix it, it brings up a "Are you sure you want to raise volume beyond recommended levels?" dialogue.

Not looking for a solution, just letting anyone else or there having the same issue know they're not alone.

Possible short on headphones where you have volume control, or the short makes the phone think you do?

I've seen something kind of like that way stops and starts of playback.

My Xperia does that whenever I've got it turned up for a period of time. It's just a stupid alert thing for safety, which is fine, but the stupid part is that I can't figure out why it happens when it does. It pops up once a quarter or so. *shrug*

I've had my one plus one for over a year and perhaps almost a year and a half. I totally love it!

dejanzie wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Is there any way to, for lack of a better term, prioritize applications for Bluetooth? I tend to rotate between my Google Music, Slacker Radio, and podcast (Podcast Addict) apps when driving via my on-board Bluetooth connection, and it has a tendency to default to podcasts. I'm listening to Slacker, shut off the car and run into a store, and, when I come back, it winds up being the podcast instead of music. It's annoying as heck. Anyone know a trick to stop my phone from doing this?

With the Trigger app you can force your phone to start a specific app when it detects a Bluetooth connection, would that help?

That actually looks like a pretty darn interesting app. Might have to give that one a shot and get a few NFC stickers.

I just found out that Samsung removed MHL functionality from the Note 5. It really is starting to look like the Note 4 was the pinnacle of the line.

MHL allows you to send your phone video, via a special cable, to a HDMI video input. Since I have a Note 5, I can only use things that utilize wireless tech, which is more difficult if you don't have wifi access.

Speaking of the Note 4, any S-Pen aficionados have recommendations for learning resources about it? I got a Note 4 just to try OneNote on it, but surely there's more to it than inking.

You can sometimes use it to activate web features that use mouseover by hovering over the thing. That's not much, and it's the only thing I know.

MannishBoy wrote:

Possible short on headphones where you have volume control, or the short makes the phone think you do?

I've seen something kind of like that way stops and starts of playback.

Hmm, dunno. Headphones don't have volume control, can't remember if it was doing it when they were new.

P.S. Omg you changed your avatar

Mermaidpirate wrote:

P.S. Omg you changed your avatar ;)

That was awhile back. From old Mass Effect 2 character, to XCom 2 character that looks sorta like me if you squint :).

Kurrelgyre wrote:

Speaking of the Note 4, any S-Pen aficionados have recommendations for learning resources about it? I got a Note 4 just to try OneNote on it, but surely there's more to it than inking.

OneNote is great, especially since it syncs. It has problems, like no palm rejection. You can also try LectureNotes for a far more robust note taking app. There is a free trial. I wouldn't bother with the Moleskine app, it's not that good.

For drawing, I think Autodesk Sketchbook is the best. Again, there is a free trial.

The built in S Note app is great for jotting quick notes, and you can set the phone to open it, or a shortcut menu which will include it when you detach the pen.

Honestly, though, I use the pen the most for browsing the internet. Icons and links are sometimes hard to click with my larger hands, so the pen is great. Also, if there's a menu that's set to expand on "mouse over" (if you had a mouse), then hover the pen over the menu or link and the website interprets that as "mouse over".

If I think of anything else, I'll post more.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

That actually looks like a pretty darn interesting app. Might have to give that one a shot and get a few NFC stickers.

If you find that Trigger doesn't work for you, maybe try Automagic. It does the same kinds of things that Tasker and Trigger do, but I like the interface better because it works like flow charts. I have flows that change my phone's background, others that change various settings (home/work/car/sleep), and an alarm one so I can wake up to a Google Music playlist. It can do things with NFC, Wear, etc.

I like Locale for my configuration automation. It has a dirt simple UI and has a number of useful plug-ins. I bought Tasker but when I realized I needed to watch a video to learn how to use it, I tuned out and uninstalled it. Tasker is probably more powerful but if I have to go through that level of tutorial, it's not for me.

Citizen86 wrote:

What kind of work do you do? I've never seen a Pixel in the wild, interested to know how the Pixel/Chrome OS might actually be used for work purposes.

Online support. Most of my co-workers got Macbooks, but since 90% of what we do is browser based... I wanted to try out the Pixel.

It's a fantastically built computer. For almost everything I do, I love it.

However, I wouldn't do it again because Google's support sucks. The warranty goes like this: either it's something they can replace the entire laptop for, or you're SOL. They don't service them, have any third party that services them, or have any resources at all to repair them. Your options will be calling random computer repair people, none of which have actually ever even seen a Pixel, and asking if they'll just give it a try.

Fortunately, my Google support person took pity and replaced the entire thing, but man. What the hell for a $1400 Chromebook.

The new HP Chromebook 13 seems Pixel like, and if you get the fully loaded one it basically costs the same, but I imagine HP will actually fix their own machines. If I was doing it for work again, I'd probably go with that just for the peace of mind. Although I'd wait for the touchscreen version, because I use that way more than I would have imagined.

The Play Store on the R11 and Pixel 2015 is now in Beta. Wayyyyyyy more stable than the Dev channel. Even more stuff runs, even apps like Nova Launcher, which is kind of odd (it launches an Android instance with a blank homescreen.)

How Chrome OS sorts apps is pretty crappy. You can drag and drop, and make folders, but when you reboot it kind of just puts them wherever the hell it wants (not great if you're neurotic like me). Now I'm using an Android app drawer app and it's a lot nicer.

The Tivo streaming and a few games still don't run, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I also don't know if it's because I'm on the Beta vs. Stable channel, or that it's not optimized for Android apps vis a vis battery life, but my battery only lasts about 5 hours now instead of 8-10 or more.

Functionality wise though, having Android apps on your Chromebook is fantastic. There are certain apps that are inferior to their web counterparts, like Slack, but for everything else I uninstalled the Chrome app version and installed an Android equivalent.

Just plopped down $50 to hold me a samsung Galaxy Note 7 to replace my 4. The GPS and odd-reboots were giving me a headache so it's time to get new device. Looking forward to the 64GB and sexy screen. the eyeball scanner looks cool and I'll give it a try. I just need to figure how to pay for it (outright).

Anyone want to buy an Olympus OM-D EM 10 body?

Thanks for the detailed reply ccoates . Although for a lot of work people will still have requirements for an app tied to one of the desktop OS's, its cool to see that more and more are able to start switching to something cloud and browser based.

groan wrote:

Just plopped down $50 to hold me a samsung Galaxy Note 7 to replace my 4. The GPS and odd-reboots were giving me a headache so it's time to get new device. Looking forward to the 64GB and sexy screen. the eyeball scanner looks cool and I'll give it a try. I just need to figure how to pay for it (outright).

I think you'll like it. My wife's company got me an S7. At first I just used my Nexus. The last few weeks, though, I've been using the S7. The battery life is incredible and it runs so smoothly. I'm keeping the Nexus for when Samsung inevitably delays updates forever.

Citizen86 wrote:

Thanks for the detailed reply ccoates . Although for a lot of work people will still have requirements for an app tied to one of the desktop OS's, its cool to see that more and more are able to start switching to something cloud and browser based.

As tablet apps mature, I need my desktop less and less, except for PC gaming, really. And Crossover almost has a build ready for Android:

https://www.codeweavers.com/porting/...

I'm super psyched about it.

There's no real reason to get the Pixel, but for the midrange Chromebooks coming out in the ~$500-600 range I think you'd be hard pressed to find equivalent traditional laptops that run as well.

Anybody have any suggestions as to how to expand an SD card's extFAT partition? I tried just copying files from a 64GB card to a 128GB, but some programs (Pocket Casts) didn't pick up the move. The SD in a file manager shows up with a different name "0000-0000" vs some random characters on the new card when I tried to just copy. But when I imaged it, it worked, but the image is only 64GB, so still only using half the disk.

Seems expanding a extFAT partition isn't something easily done with any utility I can find.

Alternative would be to change that identifier, but it's not the actual name of the drive under Windows, so I don't know where it is.

I'd just deal with it, but that would mean figuring out my unlistened to podcasts (many of them), and redownloading them all.

ccoates wrote:

As tablet apps mature, I need my desktop less and less, except for PC gaming, really. And Crossover almost has a build ready for Android:

https://www.codeweavers.com/porting/...

I'm super psyched about it.

Interesting! And here I am trying to go the other way - I want to run Android tablet apps on my Surface. They have some VM options like Andy, but has ads and isn't so great.

DSGamer wrote:

I think you'll like it. My wife's company got me an S7. At first I just used my Nexus. The last few weeks, though, I've been using the S7. The battery life is incredible and it runs so smoothly. I'm keeping the Nexus for when Samsung inevitably delays updates forever.

My brother and a friend have the S7 and love them. I'm looking forward to it, as I do with all new shinies!

I have to decide on what I want as my pre-order gift, a Gear Fit 2 wearable fitness tracker or the Level speaker.

I'm aiming towards the Gear Fit 2 as I think it will be easier to sell if I decide I don't want it. I have a bluetooth speaker but it's crappy. I don't listen to a lot of music so im not sure how much use i'll get out of it.

I saw that deal today, and I'm tempted too. I'd definitely go for the Gear Fit 2, since I never use speakers anyway.
I've also have the 4 and have the exact same issue you have (odd-reboots), and the Note 7 looks really good.

Bah. I'm eligible for an upgrade on 10/1, and the promotion ends 8/30 or so.
Oh well, will still probably get the phone when I'm eligible.

Sort of android related question.
I'm on Sprint and planning to go from S5 to S7 Note. I swear I saw that there was a loyalty discount for sticking with galaxy phones, but cannot find it now.
Has anyone else seen this?

lunchbox12682 wrote:

Sort of android related question.
I'm on Sprint and planning to go from S5 to S7 Note. I swear I saw that there was a loyalty discount for sticking with galaxy phones, but cannot find it now.
Has anyone else seen this?

They had the Galaxy Forever plan that allowed you to upgrade to the new one every year.