In developers options, turning the animation speeds to .5x
Don't know if that's really an underrated feature, but would like to mention it anyway. Everything feels much faster after that. Pretty much the first thing i do when i have a new phone.
this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2024
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Thanks for reminding, i remember that one if the older android days. Just adjusted it again, its still a really nice mod and speedbump!
I was just about to say this, it's a game changer. Some OEMs (Android variants) even have options in the settings to set animation speed or disable them.
Speaking of, if your older phone is ever laggy or feels unresponsive, disable animations entirely. It made my phone feel brand new with how quickly it goes in and out of apps.
i disabled the animations on my old tablet just now. Very nice!
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I appreciate this setting still existing, especially because some custom skins/UI can be too slow, but IMHO I prefer a balanced/stock value as the animations nowadays are so polished and smooth that I'd rather use it that way than butchering them with faster speeds...
I am using MIUI right now and it has its own version of this, so I just use "balanced mode".
When I use AOSP I always use stock because even my SD 865 feels weird when the animation is too fast but the app is still loading, I think it kills the momentum lol.
Fun fact if you set it to 1.5x on a samsung, it behaves like an iPhone lol.
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Same, at 1x it just takes too long for animations to complete.
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Android has support for keyboards. Both USB and Bluetooth keyboards work well and can be used for longer typing.
And a mouse too!
You're right. This came handy when my phone's screen broke and the touch sensor didn't work. With USB mouse and keyboard, I could make a backup.
(Bluetooth would have worked too, if the devices are already paired).
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With some apps (unsure if any open source ones exist), Android can become a Bluetooth Keyboard for a connected computer too! The keyboard isn't very useful, but having a portable trackpad for a laptop during presentations may be helpful
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Not sure if this counts as "underrated" but Quick Share / Nearby Share. Its just Airdrop but for Android, not much to explain. It's built in to all modern Android versions, and some older devices might also have it if they are new enough to have the "Google Play System Update" option on their phone as a separate update option from the main OS update.
Edit: Actually, its reportedly available for every android phone with Android Version 6.0 or newer.
Yeah it's a shame Google dragged it's feet so long and unlike all the crap they advertise but then release only. For the US for the next 6 years, they never went loud about this. So much the easiest way to share.
I wonder if it is too hard for Google to convince Apple to implement this with iOS, even in the form of an app...
I just used pairdrop.net a couple hours ago because I was too lazy to install LocalSend in my gf's iPhone and it was a breeze to use to share a short video from there to my Android device...
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Pin a app to the screen, so if you need to let someone use their phone they can't get super nosy.
owner account can have a work profile, separate apps, have two versions of the same app, or just put some apps behind another fingerprint/password (can be different then the main phone unlocks)
Multiple user accounts (totally different accounts, totally different apps) : great if you want to let a kid play games, or let someone search the internet, or if you want to be really clean and keep work apps totally different. Mostly useful on tablets to let multiple people share the tablet.
The ability to run open source apps from fdroid, newpipe is an amazing game changer for anyone who watches youtube. (no ads)
You can have a work profile as well as a private space account. I think the latter is a relatively new feature. Really useful if you want your dating apps or NSFW apps not tied to your personal account.
The only drawback is that the private space cannot use background services so you can't get notifications of hot MILFs in your area.
I use this pin feature when I give my phone to my kids. They can only use the pinned app and nothing else.
On the calendar, I can set people's birthdays with a yearly reminder so they think I'm super thoughtful for remembering their birthdays. But the phone notified me.
As a forgetful person this feature is absolutely essential. I put the person's name and year of birth in the calendar event too.
I had a coworker that had the birthdays of his contacts at the end of each of them, so he would see that date anytime he chatted with them (us?) through WhatsApp.
I don't question his methods, but that worked for him.
Birday is a nice simple app that I like, it shows all upcoming birthdays and how many days until they happen. Just pulls the data from your calendar so no setup needed.
These might be Pixel only features, but the few that always get iPhone users envious of my phone are:
Battery sharing - Turning the phone into a wireless charger for other phones, including iPhones.
Now Playing - Display whatever music is playing on the lock screen, and keep a history. Great when you're at a bar and don't want to open up Shazam or want to go back and see all the music your friend was playing in the car.
Ad Guard - Block ads, even in apps.
If you have a USB C to C cable handy, that's also going to work to charge other devices, loses less power to the transfer, is quicker, and also more convenient since you can keep using both phones. Of course you'll often not have a cable, but if you do it's probably gonna be the better option
The real advantage to the battery share feature (ime) is charging shit like my pixel buds while I also charge my phone, using 1 cable
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NewPipe, ReVanced patches, screen rotate with the popup, KineStop, and if you’re adventurous: dual boot different ROMs using A/B.
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An application like tasker makes you realise the weird and amazing stuff you can do.
What do you use it for?
I've had it for a while,
but ended up uninstalling it,
since I could not think of a good use case.
I use it to play the Wii Shop Channel theme when I open the Play Store
I'm sorry I made you have to re-download Tasker again now
I have a few routines that I use.
For example,
I have one that auto rotates some apps.
One that sends a notification to my watch when the phone is fully charged.
Another that enables NFC when I open the wallet app and disables it automatically.
Another that enables auto rotate, silences phone, and enables DND when playing games.
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I've used Tasker a lot years ago, but really wish this was backed into the OS. Everything feels very hacky and janky setting up routines via Tasker. Some apps supported Tasker which was nice, but for ones that didn't, using AutoInput was such a pain. Having official support on the OS level would be so nice. Apple Shortcuts is like the only thing I think iOS does better than Android.
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Some Android versions let you map the flashlight to the volume buttons and you can toggle it by pressing both at the same time. The option can be found in the system settings. If your OS does not have the setting, you can map the keys with an app like Torchie. It's probably the feature I use the most on my phone, I couldn't live without it at this point.
FlashDim on F-Droid can do this as well, if you look for an open source option (don't know Torchie, maybe it's OSS as well, then I at least brought up another option)
Thanks for the suggestion, Torchie is also on F-Droid :)
Yeah, stupidly checked after posting...
Although it shows up to be compiled for an earlier Android version and might not be compatible
Well, at least an option more... ;-)
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Digital Wellbeing. Enforce the decisions you made about app usage. Honestly it's kinda saved my sanity, particularly this year.
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Scheduled text messages. This should be in every single messaging app. I schedule reminders for other people, I schedule messages that I think of at ridiculous hours to go out at reasonable times, I even schedule messages so that sometime else reminds me to do something.
If you use the 3 button navigation, there are options for long press of buttons. "Kill foreground app" as back button long-press action is just indispensable when something goes wrong.
Used to use the hell outta that.
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Check out the eye gaze function. Also Action Blocks. They're both cool assistive tech things that can be helpful, but trying them out shows you how difficult and exhausting it would be to have to use them for every task.
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