Looking for an Android phone that...

Number29 · 19 Oct 2013 at 13:52

I'm after something that meets the following criteria:

Has lock screen notifications like the iPhone that can be swiped to take you to that notification (including a PIN lock)

Ability to use voice control from the lock screen without unlocking the phone (call someone, skip music tracks etc).

Physical home button to wake the phone.

Anyone know where I can get such a thing?

Many thanks.

Number29 · 19 Oct 2013 at 14:38

Orcvader said:
Any android phone can do that. In fact I'm pretty sure they had it first before the iPhone... If not then there's 3rd party lockscreen apps that can do the job.

Apparently the upcoming Nexus 5 may be able to do this. There's also the Moto X but that seems to be US only. Not sure about any other phones.

Pretty much all android phones with a physical home button can do this.

What's your budget? It may be best to wait for the Nexus 5 as that should be announced within a couple of weeks.

Budget is anything really. I've already got a Razr I but it can't/doesn't do any of the things I mentioned hence I'm looking for an Android device that can.

Number29 · 19 Oct 2013 at 16:08

Frozennova said:
The Note III has a physical home button to wake the phone. It can also do voice control from the lock screen by double pressing the home button.

Cant recall if it does the notifications that are swipeable on the lock screen but as said this can be solved with third party apps

Thanks for the suggestion. However, something else I need is a very good quality speaker as I listen to a lot of podcasts on my iPhone. I've read that the Note 3 speaker is pretty lousy which would count that out.

I've just tried S-Voice on my partner's S3 and it'll only come up from the lock screen when there's no PIN. Any idea how to get it to work when there's a PIN set?

Number29 · 19 Oct 2013 at 22:02

Frozennova said:
I'm not sure if you can with a screen lock set. I don't have any qualms with the speaker, a lot better than my Galaxy S2, I'd say it's a little better than that of my ipod touch to my ears as well

Bummer, that counts that out then.

Number29 · 20 Oct 2013 at 13:02

Skellig said:
Pretty much all the Samsung Galaxy range from the S3.

S3, Note 2, S4 and Note 3 can do all that. S4 & Note 3 now have a more robust notification system on the lock screen including widget swipe because they're on 4.2 & 4.3.

How do you get S-Voice to work from a PIN locked screen? I couldn't get it to work on the S3.

Number29 · 20 Oct 2013 at 18:54

Access the phone bypassing a security lock screen? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a security lock screen?

I want to be able to make calls and skip tracks from the lock screen like you can with Siri (this is a must for when I'm driving).

Number29 · 20 Oct 2013 at 19:05

geuben said:
Why not set it up so that when you are driving the screen never locks. That is what I do.

How would I do that?

Number29 · 20 Oct 2013 at 19:40

geuben said:
I use and NFC tag to trigger a tasker task which sets the screen timeout to never

Certainly my Razr I doesn't have NFC.

Number29 · 20 Oct 2013 at 22:33

Pinkribbonscars said:
Why not just stick with an iPhone if it does everything you need? It's unlikely an Android phone will behave exactly how you were used to without a bit of messing around. (This is coming from an Android owner who will probably never own an iPhone).

That said, the Moto X would probably do everything you want, but you can't get it in the UK (nice one, Motorola!!!). Might be worth waiting for the Nexus 5 announcement as well, that may do what you need.

It seems increasingly likely the iPhone is the best option based on the responses so far.

Number29 · 21 Oct 2013 at 13:47

Nexus18 said:
It takes about 10 minutes to install the above apps and set everything up, not exactly much faff required

Don't know what the iphone way is like but I can say that all the above apps I linked work wonderfully (although you need root for some features in hover controls) and honestly can't think of a better way for them to work

Don't think google now allows you to change tracks, however, you can install the hover controls to allow motion based gestures to change tracks etc. so in other words you just wave your hand in front of the device (no need to look exactly at it and screen doesn't even need to be on)

Thanks for the suggestions above. I had a play with DynamicNotifications on my Razr i last night but I'm not sure if it's really what I'm looking for. On the iPhone each notification will show me who the sender is and each notification will be displayed seperately in a list so I can pick and chose which to act on from the lock screen. DynamicNotifications appears to just show a big icon to alert you to there being a notification, but no further information as to who it is from etc, which is what I need/want.

This is the way I'd like notifications to appear

http://www.digitalmcgyver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/lock-screen-notifications.png

Does anyone know of any other app to do this?

Many thanks

#29

Number29 · 21 Oct 2013 at 14:01

Nexus18 said:
Ah I see how you want it to work now.

Dynamic works the same way as the moto X, so when you see that big icon, hold down on it and you will see the sender, some content/subject, time etc. and from there you can choose to either open the app to reply back, dismiss the notification (screens turns back of) or if you want, launch a completely different app via swyping to the sides or up, down.

Not aware of any 3rd party apps like what you want.

However, HTC phones running sense have a very similar method to the iphone layout:

http://cdn.gsmarena.com/vv/reviewsimg/htc-one-x/sshots/gsmarena_004.jpg

Ah I wasn't aware that pressing and holding the icon showed some context to the notification. I'll have to give that a try tonight. Granted, it's an extra step in comparison to the glancable view on the iPhone, but it's a start at least.