Galaxy S4 looks a LOT better now (retail price is...)

[onthecouchagain]

Excellent about gestures in Nova!

I really believe in gestures now. Down with physical buttons!

Along with the price point of the S4 unlocked (if it's true), and if the reviews are good enough, it'll be all the more incentive to switch.

 

[jrswizzle]

Excellent about gestures in Nova!

I really believe in gestures now. Down with physical buttons!

Along with the price point of the S4 unlocked (if it's true), and if the reviews are good enough, it'll be all the more incentive to switch.

Nova Prime (the paid version, which is what you'll need for the gestures) is quite nice. I definitely like it. I haven't set all my gestures yet, just wanted to get rid of the app drawer icon (I needed one more space to fit all my apps/folders on one home screen) so I just do a swipe up for the app drawer. Probably will set gesture for the camera as well. Can't think of any others at this point though....

 

[Oohara]

Excellent about gestures in Nova!

I really believe in gestures now. Down with physical buttons!

Along with the price point of the S4 unlocked (if it's true), and if the reviews are good enough, it'll be all the more incentive to switch.

Did Zephyr allow you to mimic the home button function by swiping up when in an app though? Because I think Nova's gestures only work from the home screen.

Anyway here are a few good suggestions for what to use Nova Prime for. Two things I really like besides the pure gestures are the fling up from an icon to activate a secondary function, and side scroll for the dock.

 

[jrswizzle]

Did Zephyr allow you to mimic the home button function by swiping up when in an app though? Because I think Nova's gestures only work from the home screen.

Anyway here are a few good suggestions for what to use Nova Prime for. Two things I really like besides the pure gestures are the fling up from an icon to activate a secondary function, and side scroll for the dock.

Great feature - this is one of my favorite things about Nova.

 

[Frankied22]

Or an unlocked Nexus 4 at $349...

 

[b166er]

Until the carriers say in plain terms what the exact price will be, I won't know. I don't put a lot of faith in articles. That is a great price, and I think it's believable, so I hope it's true. At that price I'd buy one off contract even with an upgrade coming.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Or an unlocked Nexus 4 at $349...

Yes

So for costing 65% more, is the S4 a 65% better phone over the N4 ? I would not say so, yes the Galaxy S4 is a better phone than the Nexus 4, no doubt, but spec wise is not that much better, maybe a 1/3rd better phone in my opinion. Based on these noob simple calculations the S4 should cost like $465

But then we are not factoring in the Nexus-Five, which will be the Nexus equivalent to the S4, the N5 should have equal, or most likely better specs than the S4, and still only cost like $349/$399.

Look at this way, last year in 2012, would you rather pay $649 for the Galaxy S3, or $349 for the Nexus 4 ? I will take the N4 all day long over the S3. Not just due to pricing, but the N4 is just a better phone, not by much, but still little better in my opinion.

So in 2013, would you rather have the S4 @ $579, or the Nexus-Five which most likely won't be over $400.

The Nexus phones are cheaper, plus guaranteed to be first with the newest Android OS right away. Sure I know the Nexus phones seems to skimp out on some things to keep costs down, lately being cheap cameras, and not the best batteries. But I would surprised if the Nexus-Five doesn't have a better camera over the N4, and larger battery this time. Also would guess the Nexus-Five will have a 32gb option, and shocked if it doesn't include an LTE version.

 

[Faux Carnival]

Wow, that's unreal!

 

[Tig Bitties]

Wow, that's unreal!

I would bet big money the Nexus-Five will have major improvements over the Nexus 4, mainly much better camera, I would guess a 32gb version, and shocked if LTE isn't included on the new Nexus. And sell for around $399 or so.

But if you are in the market for an upgrade or just want a new phone soon, the Galaxy S4 is the best, and better than the HTC One, due to bigger and better battery life, plus removable, and will get Android OS updates faster with Samsung, than HTC, plus development on the Samsung Galaxy phones on XDA is a million times better than HTC phones.

The Nexus-Five is a long ways off still. Most likely an Oct / Nov release, with a very slight possibility it comes out after Google I/O with a June release, but that's doubtful.

 

[cynics]

I would bet big money the Nexus-Five will have major improvements over the Nexus 4, mainly much better camera, I would guess a 32gb version, and shocked if LTE isn't included on the new Nexus. And sell for around $399 or so.

But if you are in the market for an upgrade or just want a new phone soon, the Galaxy S4 is the best, and better than the HTC One, due to bigger and better battery life, plus removable, and will get Android OS updates faster with Samsung, than HTC, plus development on the Samsung Galaxy phones on XDA is a million times better than HTC phones.

The Nexus-Five is a long ways off still. Most likely an Oct / Nov release, with a very slight possibility it comes out after Google I/O with a June release, but that's doubtful.

Nexus devices typically have had good cameras. A manufacture can't/won't sell their high phone with all the same specs at half the price. LG being the example here.

As far as LTE goes. The nexus will have it only if there is a single radio that can support ALL bands world wide or at least support one of a counties carriers LTE bands. Google only wants one nexus phone. So it depends on whoever manufactures radios can conjure up.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Did Zephyr allow you to mimic the home button function by swiping up when in an app though? Because I think Nova's gestures only work from the home screen.

Anyway here are a few good suggestions for what to use Nova Prime for. Two things I really like besides the pure gestures are the fling up from an icon to activate a secondary function, and side scroll for the dock.

Zephyr allows you to go back from the home screen from anywhere.

I don't understand -- if Nova only allows you to gesture up to go back to the home screen while in the home screen, doesn't that defeat the purpose?

Am I missing something?

Here's a video of Zephyr. I basically want to be able to do the same thing on the S4. In other words, I want to never have to use the home button except only for waking the device. Is it possible?

 

[mattopotamus]

Zephyr allows you to go back from the home screen from anywhere.

I don't understand -- if Nova only allows you to gesture up to go back to the home screen while in the home screen, doesn't that defeat the purpose?

Am I missing something?

Here's a video of Zephyr. I basically want to be able to do the same thing on the S4. In other words, I want to never have to use the home button except only for waking the device. Is it possible?

YouTube: video

nova lets you pick a gesture. For example, two finger swipe down.....then you assign what you want it to do. It can launch an app, go to the home screen, etc.

 

[onthecouchagain]

nova lets you pick a gesture. For example, two finger swipe down.....then you assign what you want it to do. It can launch an app, go to the home screen, etc.

Excellent. Excellent.

 

[Oohara]

nova lets you pick a gesture. For example, two finger swipe down.....then you assign what you want it to do. It can launch an app, go to the home screen, etc.

But are you sure you can use gestures to return to the home screen from within an app?

I've not used Nova extensively yet, but all I've seen so far is gestures being used when already on the home screen. All useful of course - for instance two fingers down to go screen off, one finger down for notifications menu without having to reach for the top, one finger up to launch Google Now, any gesture of choice to open any app, etc. - but from what I understand you cannot use these gestures from within an app.

Their own description for gestures reads: "Quickly start Nova Actions or Apps from gestures on the desktop." If that's where it ends, then this doesn't meet onthecouch's request.

 

[LorPGDL]

Nova gestures only work from the home screen.

with my gesture, however, you can assign a specific gesture to take you back to the home screen. as i have written before, you can either have the gesture icon always on top or in the notification bar.

 

[vikingjunior]

$579 for plastic!

 

[onthecouchagain]

But are you sure you can use gestures to return to the home screen from within an app?

I've not used Nova extensively yet, but all I've seen so far is gestures being used when already on the home screen. All useful of course - for instance two fingers down to go screen off, one finger down for notifications menu without having to reach for the top, one finger up to launch Google Now, any gesture of choice to open any app, etc. - but from what I understand you cannot use these gestures from within an app.

Their own description for gestures reads: "Quickly start Nova Actions or Apps from gestures on the desktop." If that's where it ends, then this doesn't meet onthecouch's request.

Oh no. Yes, that is specifically what I'm asking about. Returning to the home screen from an app.

So say I'm in Gmail, I want to go home. I can either press the physical button, or swipe up from the bottom.

Think of it as a reverse notification pull down menu. Always there. Always reliable. Always responsive. No matter where you are, it's always available to pull up (instead of down) to reveal the home screen.

 

[KentuckyHouse]

$579 for plastic!

Yes? Your point?

 

[LorPGDL]

Oh no. Yes, that is specifically what I'm asking about. Returning to the home screen from an app.

So say I'm in Gmail, I want to go home. I can either press the physical button, or swipe up from the bottom.

Think of it as a reverse notification pull down menu. Always there. Always reliable. Always responsive. No matter where you are, it's always available to pull up (instead of down) to reveal the home screen.

dude, read my last post!

 

[jrswizzle]

Yes? Your point?

Hey - off-topic, but I wanted to say good luck to your Wildcats....I hope my Baylor Bears get another chance to beat ya'll in the NIT....

Sad, but it's all I have sports-wise right now until baseball gets going...

 

[onthecouchagain]

dude, read my last post!

Oh, sorry. I missed it.

And in response...


NooooooOOOOOO!

/Vader


Dang. It seems like it's a feature for the opposite of what I want. It launches apps, instead of closing apps, like I want.

The thing that bothers me about My Gesture is that G is forever present there. And if I have to go into the notification pull down to start gesturing, it sort of defeats the purpose (my personal purpose) of quickly and easily going back home.

----------

So, is there something like Zephyr for Android? And preferably without needing to root?

 

[jrswizzle]

Oh, sorry. I missed it.

And in response...


NooooooOOOOOO!

/Vader


Dang. It seems like it's a feature for the opposite of what I want. It launches apps, instead of closing apps, like I want.

The thing that bothers me about My Gesture is that G is forever present there. And if I have to go into the notification pull down to start gesturing, it sort of defeats the purpose (my personal purpose) of quickly and easily going back home.

----------

So, is there something like Zephyr for Android? And preferably without needing to root?

The soft home button is always there....I personally find a tap easier than a swipe (although we really are splitting hairs here)...

 

[LorPGDL]

thing is, you can make the g as small and transparent as you want. you could even choose another picture of whatever to replace the g.

what ive done, ive made the g very small (as big as an icon in the notification bar) and almost transparent and put it in the left corner below the notification bar. its almost invisible and did not disturb me in any of the apps.

 

[matttye]

Did Zephyr allow you to mimic the home button function by swiping up when in an app though? Because I think Nova's gestures only work from the home screen.

Anyway here are a few good suggestions for what to use Nova Prime for. Two things I really like besides the pure gestures are the fling up from an icon to activate a secondary function, and side scroll for the dock.

Just to throw another option into the mix, apex has a very similar feature set. I always used Apex and was really happy with it.

 

[Oohara]

Oh, sorry. I missed it.

And in response...


NooooooOOOOOO!

/Vader


Dang. It seems like it's a feature for the opposite of what I want. It launches apps, instead of closing apps, like I want.

The thing that bothers me about My Gesture is that G is forever present there. And if I have to go into the notification pull down to start gesturing, it sort of defeats the purpose (my personal purpose) of quickly and easily going back home.

----------

So, is there something like Zephyr for Android? And preferably without needing to root?

So i checked out Nova some more and found a whole site dedicated to its development where people can vote and suggest new additions. Unfortunately the function you're looking for has already been suggested and denied. Judging by the developer's reply "This is beyond the scope of a launcher replacement", I'm guessing swipe-to-home from within an app can only be achieved with rooting.

So that's it for that thing I guess, unless you wanna root and use LMT Launcher or something (I don't quite understand how that one works). I wouldn't use My Gesture either, that G is pretty horrific to have on the screen.

Now, I was about to post a sadface for my own sake as well....but then I remembered that I actually don't mind pressing a home button at all Sorry. And good luck on your continued quest!

EDIT: if you're OK with rooting there's GMD GestureControl of course, I'd forgot about that one when i dismissed rooting due to wanting to keep Touchwiz functions for the Note 2, but I've read many good reviews of it. It lets you do pretty much anything with gestures from within any app.