GS4 (VZW) - Gripes & Issues To Be Aware Of

[mpax9]

I'm having a hard time adopting to Touch Wiz restrictions - this new phone really made me understand why people are willing to pay unsubsidized prices for a pure Android experience (I came from a Motorola Droid Razr and found it way more freeing). Examples include:

- Inability to remove toggles from notification pulldown (not to mention no wifi button but rather an always-on wifi ongoing reminder line item)
- Enabled toggles appear as constant icons on the top right hand of your screen - making it cluttered and taking away real estate from actual notifications
- Lock screen widgets are unable to be added with a pattern lock (dashclock included)
- Samsung Tec Tiles are not supported with the GS4 apparently and the package I purchased from Amazon gives me a 'Tag Not Supported' error (apparently the GS4 requires a new format)
- I can't seem to force YouTube videos to play in YT app when I click on them in browser (I tried clearing defaults, different browsers - everything but no success)

Am I the only one - any sympathizers and/or problem solvers out there?

 

[reybie]

I agree on the first three items you have listed, the last two I have not tried or do not use that often. The ongoing stuff is annoying, I wish we had a way to acknowledge that. I also want to be able to reduce the font size of the pull down content, maybe even the size of the font/icons in the notification area. Widgets would be cool in the lock screen but like you mentioned my pattern lock is enabled.

 

[z96Cobra]

Rooting will allow you to fix some of those issues. I've removed the Ongoing Wifi Notification and the 911/GPS icon on the status bar. With Xposed Framework, you can customize lots of other stuff too. Go to XDA and check out all of the threads there for the hacks/mods.

 

[ktklein72]

My wife, son and I all just picked up the Galaxy S4 on Verizon since we had old phones. While I'm still getting used to TouchWiz for the life of me I cannot get the hover (air view) feature and swipe gestures working. I've watched numerous YouTube videos and have tried disabling and reenabling those options but I just cannot get them to work. I know someone with a Spring GS4 and the hover feature works very well. Is there something I'm missing or is the issue with the VZW GS4 in general?