[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] JaedenRuiner:
Okay,

So, I finally upgraded from my old POS HTC TP2 and got a Samsung Siii, which so far is beyond description. However, being that I'm primarily a Windows Developer, and VERY used to the way windows operates, I am finding it rather difficult to adjust to system level configurations with the Android OS.

Like, in windows there's a Registry, which on the phone or on the computer if you know what you are doing you can configure manually and effect massive changes to the system. But I can't seem to find anything like that for the Android OS, which make some sense, but there are some things I'd like to change:

Screen real-estate.

So I go from this TP2 which had like a 2 inch screen, and 480x600 or something, to this SIII with a 4.6 inch screen and damn near double the resolution. but on my Tp2 I could see like 10-12 emails/texts listed, and with Cookie's Home Screen, I could have up to 25 apps on one screen.

Given Screen Dynamics, I should very simply be able to see 20 emails/texts on screen, and 60 apps, but like people who move from a 1280x1024 desktop to a 2048x1280, their resolution goes up, but they also increase the size of the icons and fonts so effectively their desktop real-estate hasn't changed. Working visual Studio (and most other editors not used for WYSIWYG documents like Word) my font size is like 7-8pt type on 1680x1050 resolution. I am not visually impaired here, so I can read small print on a big screen, yet I even with the smallest font setting the default applications and text are MASSIVE. I can see like 8 text conversations and 7 emails. When you browse to a website the size is tiny, and I can zoom to an appropriate level, which currently provides 10 times the amout of information than the default home and app screens provide. Instead of "Small,Medium,Large" etc, is there any low level configuration where I can define the icon/font DPI to say that true 7pt type is perfectly acceptable for me? Are there any Apps that do this?

Texts & Emails.

Not to say that I'm much of a nay-sayer, but do we have to have stupid little bubbles for my chat screen? I mean, simply list them out in text. It's called texting, not "comic book bubbling". the bubbles get in the way and I'd simply like to make them a simple line by line. Sure the emote icons can be drawn in, and with other graphics to indicate attachments and such, but can I turn off "bubble texting" and just so me a direct list. This (with the font changes) would allow me to follow two weeks worth of text history with any one contact instead of having to remember my bubbles are on the right theirs on the left. (of course a good starting point would be to be able to reverse that). Can any of this be done easily?

As for Email, well It was an "add on" to my old TP2, but I would like a simple one-click way to "Mark all as read". I do not use GMail nor ever will. I own two domain names and my emails come through there. So the GMail client is out. The default client, as aforementioned, only shows like 7 emails in either a categorized today,yesterday,etc view, or a conversation threaded view. I just want a list: Line 1: Sender and Date, Line 2: Subject. And a simple button to click at the top that says: Mark All Read. I shouldn't have to check each email and then mark read, and with the categories if any emails are already read, the option defaults to mark unread so I have to check, mark unread, check, and mark read to get them all. I have like 6 different email accounts, with multiple aliases, and I'm on many newsletters and other such things, so I get quite a few emails daily, but I don't always need to read them. So far i've looked around and haven't found much in the way of email applications that will do what I want, which Mozilla Thunderbird (and my old TP2) do quite readily.

Mostly, I'm looking for ways to truly manipulate this device to the max, so that I can truly treat it like a portable computer. I used my old tp2 (while it was functioning) is a primary universal communications device, and I know I will do the same with the SIII, but to make my experience more enjoyable I need some starting points to determine if I can easily configure this thing to work my way. (Nah, i'm not a control freak, :p)

Thanks

Jaeden "Sifo Dyas" al'Raec Ruiner