[Q] Rooted, Flashed... Now What? Please Help Me Set Up My Gear on null!

Hopefully I get bonus points for not posting the typical 'Halp! I bricked my Gear!' or 'Halp! I can has no roots!' type threads. :laugh:

I've been searching and I can't seem to find what I'm looking for. I've got my Gear rooted w/Recovery & null 23 flashed. Generally that's the hard part of rooting but I've never done this on a watch before and now I'm not sure how to set it up. I have a Sony Smartwatch 2 also and really like most of the functionality of that watch but wanted something that didn't look quite so... dated. I got a Gear and the functionality was a joke in comparison so I opted to root/flash it to get it to do what I want it to do. Now that I've done that I'm not really sure where to go but I'd like it to function similar to my SW2 with a little bit more customization. For instance, when I flashed null 23 there were a LOT of options I wasn't sure if I wanted and needed. I did some searching but all I could find was mostly people having difficulty doing the processes I've already done. Nothing on post-root/flash setup.

Which launcher do I want? I have Nova & Apex and I'm not really sure which one is better and why.

Notifications? How do I set these up? On my SW2 I really like how it handled notifications for apps like Gmail, Hangouts, SMS, etc. and I'd like to replicate this on this watch too. When I go into my Gear Manager on my phone all of the apps under notifications are grayed out. I'm assuming this app no longer controls my watch or perhaps it does when the stock launcher is activated?

Is there a description somewhere that explains each of the options when you flash the ROM? I have a feeling that I installed a LOT of things I don't need but since it was my first time and I hand't yet messed with it I erred on the side of more than less so I could maybe see what it all was.

I would like a home/watch screen with a custom watch of some sort, the current weather conditions, & a few shortcuts maybe. I miss how I could double tap the power button and set that to launch an app. I used this for the Media Controller app which allowed me quick access to controlling the audio on my phone which is one of the big features I need.

I guess in all I'm just confused by what all I want/need since it's basically a Motorola Droid on my wrist w/o a cellular or WiFi radio or GPS and rather than a full featured device I just need a better smartwatch. If someone can point me in the right direction via some links or something or if a few people want to hold my hand through a few more specific questions I have while I get this figured out I would appreciate it.

Thanks for reading.

Brendo said:

Up to the user. I like apex these days (phone and watch), used to use nova

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Why? What would you say are the primary differences?

Brendo said:

That doesn't sound right. What phone/rom are you using?

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SGS4. Rooted but factory ROM still.

Brendo said:

Trial and error. I haven't installed it ina long time, but I'm pretty sure it was self explanatory

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No, they aren't. I watched a video on how to install and all of the options he had while installing were self explanitory. My install of null 23 had lots of screens of options and I only understood what about half of them did. I would like a page somewhere that explains what they all do so I can make up my mind prior to installing and know what I want & don't want.

Brendo said:

Using custom launcher allows you to add any widgets you like to a home screen. Power button [annoyingly] isn't really a power button; there is details how to change this in null faq. People like gesture or pie control type apps for launcher programs

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I understand adding any widgets I want but I see other people's screens and their screen looks much different than anything I've seen on an Android device so I'm not sure how to go about that.

I'd like to know the differences because I can choose which one of the two to install during ROM flash and I'd rather not flash the one that I'm not going to use.

Yes, 4.3 and the latest version of Gear Manager. However I just noticed something quite odd... the 'Other Notifications' on/off slider was set to off this time. I know for a fact that it wasn't last time because I checked that when I checked on 'Additional notifications' and they were gray. I went back and for a few times checking and it was set to 'on' and green. After a reboot they were grayed out again but this time I noticed that little slider on the previous screen was set to off. Slid it on and now all of my additional notifications are active and I can check and uncheck them. So I've got Gmail, Hangouts & one other one checked. I should be getting notifications on the watch now?

I know what Gapps is and I found what the power button mod thingy does in another thread. Seems if you want the power button to function on the 3rd party launchers the way it does on the stock launcher you need that installed. I did see where this can create issues at times with other functionality so I will keep an eye on that to see if it's going to create any issues for me. Still not 100% clear on that but I think I chose the right option. I also installed the stock apps because there's a media player controller and a couple of others that I really like as they are.

I guess I just keep seeing people with screens that look entirely different than mine. Mine the clock is kind of cut off on the top and the bottom and I know the top is cut off because I selected to install the status bar at the top (which I would likely not do next time I flash the ROM.. kinda pointless) but I can't understand why the bottom part is cut off. I disabled the little dots that show which home page you're on and it still gets cut off by the dock. Not really sure what I'm doing wrong.

So how will this work for notifications and phone controls? Like I know with my SW2 I could enable/disable WiFi, BT as well as a few other options and even mute, silence and normal my ring tone. Can I do this somehow from this watch with these launchers? What about notifications? I've enabled those as I stated earlier while I was typing this and still haven't got a single notification on the watch. Do I have to install the full Gmail & Hangouts APK to get the notifications and if this is the case I'm not sure it's going to behave the way I'm looking for. I really just want basic popups with the sender and the message the way my SW2 does and I'm not sure that a miniature Android device is going to be able to do this. Edit: while I was typing this I just got a notification for Hangouts & it was a full screen pop-up with the sender and the message for a few seconds so maybe this will do what I need it to do. Nothing for Gmail yet though.

Also, since I know I want the status bar across the top gone I will likely boot into recovery & flash the ROM again with that feature disabled. When I do that I will take the time to list each option that I see as well as if I know what it is or not and maybe someone can answer the questions I have about it and then I can go through with the flash with the options I want and don't want correctly set.