I used to be able to tap on the microphone on the first page of the
desktop and say "Open [app name]", but now it just opens the web
browser and searches for the app. Of course that does me no good, but I
guess it makes sense because there is a colorful G at the left end of
the field, so it's a google field now.

I tried saying "Open *app* app-name" but that didn't help.

How can get the microphone to open one of my phone's already installed
apps?

2) On a previous phone there was a field at the top of the page (every
page?) and I could search for an installed app by typing in a few
characters. But this phone doesn't have that field.

How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging through and looking
for the icon?

micky wrote:
> I used to be able to tap on the microphone on the first page of the
> desktop and say "Open [app name]", but now it just opens the web
> browser and searches for the app. Of course that does me no good, but I
> guess it makes sense because there is a colorful G at the left end of
> the field, so it's a google field now.
>
> I tried saying "Open *app* app-name" but that didn't help.
>
> How can get the microphone to open one of my phone's already installed
> apps?
>
> 2) On a previous phone there was a field at the top of the page (every
> page?) and I could search for an installed app by typing in a few
> characters. But this phone doesn't have that field.
>
> How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging through and looking
> for the icon?

Again it's software that does all that.
Different phone?
Different version of android. Different version of Google.

BTW, my phone's Google just produces website lists, even though I've
tried multiple alternatives to "Open {app name}".
I never use the microphone "talk to Google" thing. It seems too
pretentious and idle to me, apart from being antisocial. So I don't know
if previous versions of Google acted differently.

Ed

On 9/19/23 13:19, Ed Cryer wrote:
> BTW, my phone's Google just produces website lists, even though I've
> tried multiple alternatives to "Open {app name}".
> I never use the microphone "talk to Google" thing. It seems too
> pretentious and idle to me, apart from being antisocial. So I don't know
> if previous versions of Google acted differently.
>
> Ed
>

I'd imagine it used to act more like most assistants, googling as a last
resort.. guess they really want that adspace

--
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote

> How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging
> through and looking for the icon?

The best free adfree gsfree app manager has been discussed umpteen times
so I'll just repeat it will find any package installed on any device.

*App Manager* - Android package manager by Muntashir Akon
A full-featured open source package manager for android.
<https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager>
<https://muntashirakon.github.io/AppManager/en/>
<https://f-droid.org/packages/io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager/>

In comp.mobile.android, on Tue, 19 Sep 2023 15:09:25 -0500,
candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote:

Yes, I still have the other phone, a lower prices Samsung, and all the
pages** have a search field at the top that searches for the app, even
if you only type part of the name. **The one on the first page has a G
and may not work that way.

The new phone is a Xiaomi and only the first page has the seach box, but
it has other advantages, like an option not to go through a lock screen.
>On 9/19/23 13:19, Ed Cryer wrote:
>> BTW, my phone's Google just produces website lists, even though I've
>> tried multiple alternatives to "Open {app name}".
>> I never use the microphone "talk to Google" thing. It seems too
>> pretentious

I don't have many opportunities to be pretentious, so this is it.

> and idle to me,

I'm happy to be idle.

>apart from being antisocial.

Well I don't socialize with the phone anyhow. (Oh, I'm usually alone
when I do this.)

>>So I don't know
>> if previous versions of Google acted differently.
>>
>> Ed
>>
>
>I'd imagine it used to act more like most assistants, googling as a last
>resort..

On the samsung, the first page is totally google. Tapping the empty
field opens google.

On the remaining pages to search for the app on one's phone, tapping
opens a keyboard and even using the microphone gives the app icon.

What really bad is when the app is in a folder so I scroll from one page
to another but I never see it. But I've learned to look in folders
too.

>guess they really want that adspace
>
>--

In comp.mobile.android, on Tue, 19 Sep 2023 21:53:10 +0100, Wally J
<walterjones@invalid.nospam> wrote:

>candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote
>
>
>> How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging
>> through and looking for the icon?
>
>The best free adfree gsfree app manager has been discussed umpteen times
>so I'll just repeat it will find any package installed on any device.
>
> *App Manager* - Android package manager by Muntashir Akon
> A full-featured open source package manager for android.
> <https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager>
> <https://muntashirakon.github.io/AppManager/en/>
> <https://f-droid.org/packages/io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager/>

Thanks a lot. Looking at it now.

On Tue, 19 Sep 2023 11:43:08 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
| I used to be able to tap on the microphone on the first page of the
| desktop and say "Open [app name]", but now it just opens the web
| browser and searches for the app. Of course that does me no good, but I
| guess it makes sense because there is a colorful G at the left end of
| the field, so it's a google field now.
| | I tried saying "Open *app* app-name" but that didn't help.
| | How can get the microphone to open one of my phone's already installed
| apps?
| | 2) On a previous phone there was a field at the top of the page (every
| page?) and I could search for an installed app by typing in a few
| characters. But this phone doesn't have that field.
| | How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging through and looking
| for the icon?

On my phone (Pixel 4) swiping up on any page takes me to an alphabetical
list of all installed app, even if the don't have an icon on any of the
home pages.

Apps start normally from here, or you can hold and drag to create an
icon on whichever home page you want.

--
Reverend Paul Colquhoun, ULC. http://andor.dropbear.id.au/
Asking for technical help in newsgroups? Read this first:
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#intro

On 9/24/23 00:38, Paul Colquhoun wrote:
> On Tue, 19 Sep 2023 11:43:08 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
> | I used to be able to tap on the microphone on the first page of the
> | desktop and say "Open [app name]", but now it just opens the web
> | browser and searches for the app. Of course that does me no good, but I
> | guess it makes sense because there is a colorful G at the left end of
> | the field, so it's a google field now.
> |
> | I tried saying "Open *app* app-name" but that didn't help.
> |
> | How can get the microphone to open one of my phone's already installed
> | apps?
> |
> | 2) On a previous phone there was a field at the top of the page (every
> | page?) and I could search for an installed app by typing in a few
> | characters. But this phone doesn't have that field.
> |
> | How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging through and looking
> | for the icon?
>
>

Why does your quoting use | instead of >?
--
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

On Sun, 24 Sep 2023 12:59:00 -0500, candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote:
| On 9/24/23 00:38, Paul Colquhoun wrote:
|> On Tue, 19 Sep 2023 11:43:08 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
|> | I used to be able to tap on the microphone on the first page of the
|> | desktop and say "Open [app name]", but now it just opens the web
|> | browser and searches for the app. Of course that does me no good, but I
|> | guess it makes sense because there is a colorful G at the left end of
|> | the field, so it's a google field now.
|> |
|> | I tried saying "Open *app* app-name" but that didn't help.
|> |
|> | How can get the microphone to open one of my phone's already installed
|> | apps?
|> |
|> | 2) On a previous phone there was a field at the top of the page (every
|> | page?) and I could search for an installed app by typing in a few
|> | characters. But this phone doesn't have that field.
|> |
|> | How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging through and looking
|> | for the icon?
|>
|>
| | Why does your quoting use | instead of >?

It's a configurable setting in the software I use. I've forgotten why I
picked that option, because it was probably over 20 years ago when I did
it.

--
Reverend Paul Colquhoun, ULC. http://andor.dropbear.id.au/
Asking for technical help in newsgroups? Read this first:
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#intro

In comp.mobile.android, on Mon, 25 Sep 2023 18:36:30 +1000, Paul
Colquhoun <newsposter@andor.dropbear.id.au> wrote:

>On Sun, 24 Sep 2023 12:59:00 -0500, candycanearter07 <no@thanks.net> wrote:
>| On 9/24/23 00:38, Paul Colquhoun wrote:
>|> On Tue, 19 Sep 2023 11:43:08 -0400, micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>|> | I used to be able to tap on the microphone on the first page of the
>|> | desktop and say "Open [app name]", but now it just opens the web
>|> | browser and searches for the app. Of course that does me no good, but I
>|> | guess it makes sense because there is a colorful G at the left end of
>|> | the field, so it's a google field now.
>|> |
>|> | I tried saying "Open *app* app-name" but that didn't help.
>|> |
>|> | How can get the microphone to open one of my phone's already installed
>|> | apps?
>|> |
>|> | 2) On a previous phone there was a field at the top of the page (every
>|> | page?) and I could search for an installed app by typing in a few
>|> | characters. But this phone doesn't have that field.
>|> |
>|> | How do I open an app when I can't find it by paging through and looking
>|> | for the icon?
>|>
>|>
>|
>| Why does your quoting use | instead of >?
>
>
>It's a configurable setting in the software I use. I've forgotten why I
>picked that option, because it was probably over 20 years ago when I did
>it.

Forte Agent allows you to pick the symbol you use and lets you list
several symbols, to treat like >. In old days I was up to 8 different
symbols iirc.

I hate when people do more than one letter (one has always been a space)
however.

Why? I've never done this but maybe it's easier to find one person's
words when that matters. Or maybe a certain type of text commonly
used in some trade starts with >? Probably not. Maybe they just
wanted a versatile standard and versatile program.