Develop Bugs

HTC Touch on Universal ?

Hi,
as many of you allready know, HTC released the new HTC Touch as a response to Apple's iPhone.
I looked at some videos on youtube and some technical specs of the phone.. and it simply seems a program that runs on a WM6. So it shouldn't be some difficult to port it to other devices, I don't think that the HTC Touch has some special hardware or touchscreen.
The only thing I read is that it has different touchscreen drivers, but that shouldn't be a problem: I already saw here on xda-dev many other ports or programming miracles
Ok it's a program native for QVGA... that sucks and could possibly cause many problems to port it on the Universal.
It could also be that it wouldn't have decent performance playing the animantions (page flip,...) because of the VGA resolution.
I don't know.... but I would like to create this thread in order to see the progress and the news of the Touch Technology (let's call it so) port on Universal.
Helmi, Midget and all other gurus of the universal... please help us with this cool Touch Tech
Videos of the HTC Touch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI9h3TRndhY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj8PMcvYTZo
...and here is some basic infos and some dumps:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=311225
I've to say that the today plugin and the rest of the menus are very similar to Spb Mobile Shell... the only thing more are the gestures that you can make on the touchscreen and the animations between the menus.
Ok let's go!
We'll see how it goes on now

So...
It's kinda just a new interface for Windows Mobile?

Yep
markymanxxx said:
So...
It's kinda just a new interface for Windows Mobile?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep I think so too. It doesn't seem to me that there are significant hardware differences between the HTC Touch and other PocketPCs.
But let's wait and see what our gurus say to it

Sorry to dissapoint....
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news guys & gals, but over at the Athena and Hermes forums and some others over at 4winmobile have been looking into this for some time now and there is a major difference other than the .dll driver.
The Touch has a new technology screen that is completely different from what has been in PPC's before. Most of the software can be ported from the HTC Touch/Elf, and will work on QVGA WM5/6 devices and some conversions will be necessary for our VGA devices, but the actual Cube Touch GUI will NOT work without the right hardware.
see here for more info:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=310459&page=3
mackaby007 said:
Been following a cool thread over at 4winmobile.com about the whole HTC Touch themes, cabs and interface etc...Looks like everything else is transferable, except the cube GUI, as......
Also...
Sorry peeps. Looks like new screen hardware after all But no one is giving up on an alternative.
Anyway, take a look at that thread anyway as it is very interesting all the same.
http://www.4winmobile.com/forums/hermes-black-rom-announcements/9739-black-iv-shadow-preview.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

have to confirm that it is new hardware, and that the plugins/programs have the resolution hard-coded into them so nothing useful for our uni yet...
interestingly enough though the biotouch (what they call it) calls use native windows mobile dll's (albeit new functions that previously were not in there, so we can speculate that this isnt a one off and more devices will be seen with these type of screens)

dll's and VGA
Basically when I see how they use this touchscreen I see no big difference between an old one.
For the cube GUI the system has only to recognize a "touch & drag" on the screen. If this function isn't in our dll's they could somehow be ported on our uni
But the most big problem I see is the VGA resolution.....
Anyone knows the HTC Touch specs? Has it some new and high performance graphic chip (perhaps nvidia or something similar?)
Because we have to consider that VGA = 4x QVGA (number of pixels) and as I know our beatuful Uni hasn't a luxus graphic processor. I remember some benchmarks and compared to other devices it had a somehow slower graphic chip.
I'm afraid that if we can port the gui to Uni on VGA it won't work with decent performance
Does anyone know more of the Cube GUI? Is it precalculated (only an animation) or is it a realtime rapresentation of the current objects flipping over the faces of a cube?
To be honest I think it's precalculated graphics... Why make it realtime and performance-cost? The cube turns very fast and it would very difficult to see the difference between a simple animation and a real 3d rendering.
And when we think how many open processes a user has on his pocketpc; I could easly imagine that if we only were listening to music with an mp3 player, with a resident antivirus (lol) and some other background apps....the cube would have big problems to be rendered at a decent framerate.
Ok these are only speculations, I have no idea of how the HTC Touch really works. I only saw the youtube presentation
If the cube won't be ported on Uni... I'll wait for someone to adapt Beryl for PocketPC eheheheh lol
Go on folks...
Greets

Touch on..... Prophet.
I made some changes in touch rom and it can run on my prophet, but i have alot of bugs like battery bug and touchscreen bug.

Silver_Gost said:
I made some changes in touch rom and it can run on my prophet, but i have alot of bugs like battery bug and touchscreen bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the cube GUI work (even partially) ?

are there no news for the Universal??

IPhone's interface

Hi ! I have my Touch HD since around 1 week now.
I'm very happy with it , but and i wonder if it would be possible to modify the manilla interface in order to have something silimar to the Iphone's interface.
I find great to have an instant access to most used programs and functions on the first page, and i believe it's possible to have this feature on our HD.
I've tried to load the "IFonz" but without any success (http://thedogcorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/ifonz-112.html)
Moreover, IFonz is not available for WVGA... so if there would be a kind developper that would make me this present for X'mas, it would be great !!!!
Please help the "deseperate housemen" i am !!!:

roger18 said:
Hi ! I have my Touch HD since around 1 week now.
I'm very happy with it , but and i wonder if it would be possible to modify the manilla interface in order to have something silimar to the Iphone's interface.
I find great to have an instant access to most used programs and functions on the first page, and i believe it's possible to have this feature on our HD.
I've tried to load the "IFonz" but without any success (http://thedogcorner.blogspot.com/2008/10/ifonz-112.html)
Moreover, IFonz is not available for WVGA... so if there would be a kind developper that would make me this present for X'mas, it would be great !!!!
Please help the "deseperate housemen" i am !!!:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it doesn't exist yet as far as I know but the best way to do it would be with WAD2 (Wisbar Advanced Desktop 2). You should grab it and start toying with ideas there is a thread that discusses wisbar and HD here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=462785
and just for you here is a link to others testing out wisbar iphone themes on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wisbar+iphone&search_type=&aq=f

Waouw ! WAD2 looks very promising !!!
Tks a lot ! (1 beer for u, bro )
Same as u : i don't understand too why this topic isn't hotter
I'll try to bring my modest contribution when i have some time...
Cheeeers !

Most of us who chose the hd had one specific thing in mind and that is not to be an apple sheep.
ps. all the programs that you want in any order you like is just one swipe away, if that is too much work for you I think you are better off with the real iphone

Ifonz run good on my Toshiba G900, 480x800 pixel, then I think it will run on HD too. I've to wait another 2 days to have my HD, when I'll have it, I'll test .
If you don't have framework 3.5 installed, try to install it first.

...
I guess I am not an Apple sheep, but Iphone is a really unique piece of HW. I just don´t like its SW limitations. On my previous device I was very happy with iFonz. It looks cool and is very fast and responsive and you can customize it as well. Much better than Mobile Shell and others..
But I am looking forward to having new pointui on my HD. I hope they finish their project soon.

Did you try to keep TF3D, but you change the order of tabs, and put the progs tab in first ?

iPhone Similar Interface
Hello
You may want to try out a commercial software package called Winterface, it's gives a similar interface as found on the iPhone.
KaidM

Wait till Point UI v2 and then tell me if you want the iphones limited interface!
the ultimate device the HD + Point UI v2 = iphone killer!

umexed said:
Wait till Point UI v2 and then tell me if you want the iphones limited interface!
the ultimate device the HD + Point UI v2 = iphone killer!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where can i find this point ui for the hd (with wvga)

umexed said:
Wait till Point UI v2 and then tell me if you want the iphones limited interface!
the ultimate device the HD + Point UI v2 = iphone killer!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are completely right, I consider Point UI v2 the right compromise between iphone interface and TF3D. I hope it will be out soon becouse as you have sad, HD will be the real iphone killer

Decided to give the iphone interface a go with WAD2 and it works great. This is just the front page but all notifications work for texts, missed calls, VM, email etc. In addition the calendar works ont he front and the date and day changes right there on the front page. The weather temp also changes and im pretty sure I know how to make the sun change to the current weather conditions but the IPhone doesn't do that so i may not since i want it to be a perfect replica I see no reason why WAD2 cant recreate IPhone interface perfectly

Lugia said:
where can i find this point ui for the hd (with wvga)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PointUi 1 came the first of january 2008, so i think PointUi 2 will come the first of January 2009
Video: http://www.pointui.com/

Lugia said:
where can i find this point ui for the hd (with wvga)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check it out
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=464332

anyone got VSpainter working?

I have downloaded vspainter LE from here:
http://www.virtualspaghetti.com/index.php?index=3&language=en
But when i start it it immediately crashes back to programs. It should be compatible right? its in the compatible software list on the xda wiki. Can anyone explain to me how to get it working?
Greetings.
edit: just installed vsbenchmark, and that completely froze my device... :-( really hope they fix those programs soon.

In order to use VSPainter, you have to install the WVGA Fix, and then switch your screen to 640*480, cause VSPainter doesn't work with a 800*480 resolution.

damnit! it would be soooo awesome in 800x480

I completely agree. It's a shame to see all these programs for WinMo which seem to have the resolution "hardcoded" in them, where every applications on a regular computer can adapt to any resolution you're using.

Zaza le Nounours said:
I completely agree. It's a shame to see all these programs for WinMo which seem to have the resolution "hardcoded" in them, where every applications on a regular computer can adapt to any resolution you're using.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you, you would think adaptive resolution wouldnt be that hard to create, even if its only getting bigger and bigger.
anyway, can someone advise me another drawing app, wich does work at 800 x480?

Snuurtje said:
you, you would think adaptive resolution wouldnt be that hard to create, even if its only getting bigger and bigger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must confess I don't know anything about programming. But even if the resolution of a program is not adaptive, the programs could been at least coded for the different resolutions used on telephones, as there isn't a lot of them : SQVGA, QVGA, SVGA, VGA, WVGA... and that's about it.

i know about programming (not professional) and imo its not that hard to program adaptive windows, especially because there is almost always an area that isnt fix (like a toolbar or something), which is the only thing that has to adapt.
anyways.. its a shame many programs dont work, especially vspainter which looks pretty good. there is lots of programming involved and i bet much more complex than an adaptive window

I guess they are just currently working on new versions (also for their other apps) to match the wvga resolution which is gaining momentum with the HD and the X1.
I use VirtualNotepad2 and they released a bug fix for WVGA but this leaves a lot to be desired since it just stretches the current graphics to WVGA mode making them a little bit blurry. I am really looking forward to their normal WVGA versions.

allright good to hear they are working on it. But i still need a little schetch app, if it were only to paint black lines and save it to .jpg Anyone able to recommend one that works?

Yaaaay, i found a great painting app! It's called pocket artist, it does a LOT i want a painting and photo editing to do. The only thing i havent managed to find is a layers function like in photoshop. Furthermore it does have a lot of similar functions photoshop does. Im in the process of uploading a youtube video i just shot.
here is the link its still converting though, should be up shortly:
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=vmfNqOHJxPU

this isn't so good, VSpainter is more powerful

To me Vspainter is worthless without it working fullscreen. By the way i have discovered layers in this app. You can do a lot with it what can be done with photoshop aswell. Precise selection, layers. gradient, text, diverse filters, cropping, resizing rotating.

Alternative UIs?

I have been doing some looking around already, even before I got my Touch HD or joined this forum but I don't seem to have dug up much so far.
Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, I don't know - I'm still rather new to WinMo, so it's a distinct possibility.
Basically, I'm not hugely fussed on TouchFlo.
I mean don't get me wrong, it's not terrible and I can think of far worse interfaces but half the reason I went for a WinMo handset was to be able to customise and tweak it.
So whilst I'm far from hating my phone, I am wondering if maybe there's something better out there.
So far, in terms of alternatives, I'm aware of the Xperia panels (which currently don't work on the HD), whatever exactly the name is of Samsung's UI that runs on the Omnia (which I just don't like the look of), something called 'PointUI' (which seems to resemble a rather simplistic TouchFlo clone, from what I've seen in screendumps) and Winterface I think it's called (but if I wanted a phone with the iPhone's UI, I wouldn't've bought an HTC).
I'm also aware that other companies who also make WinMo handsets have their own UIs as well but the only one I've read anything about so far is the UI that Asus use and what I read wasn't good. Plus, obviously, there's the UI for the up-coming TG01 but it doesn't really jump out at me.
What I'm wondering than is if there's any notable exceptions from the group I've listed, or even any not-so-notable/relatively unheard-of ones.
I'm just looking for something... different. I know that's not much to go on but I suppose the truth is that I don't really know myself what I'm after.
Something that stands out is probably about as close a description as I can offer up.
Any help or advice will, of course, be greatly appreciated.
edit: apologies for posting this in the wrong place.

You could try Wisbar Advance Desktop with one of the WVGA skins you find here, or even make one yourself.
WAD is highly customizable, you can create almost anything you like.
Another UI is Bell UI, which is pretyy similar to TouchFlo.

hello,
on my side I have chosen UltimateLaunch. Quite satisfying for its simplicty and customization possibilities.

I actually did not like TF3D at first, now I've been seduced by it !
BUT, I have SecondToday running so at a touch of my right softkey I have a new today screen which now is full of PocketBreeze and various other today plugins on the vertical Tabs.

Cheesy Dave said:
I actually did not like TF3D at first, now I've been seduced by it !
BUT, I have SecondToday running so at a touch of my right softkey I have a new today screen which now is full of PocketBreeze and various other today plugins on the vertical Tabs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My objective (when I stabilize my installation ...) is to have the TF3D as a plugin inside the first Tab of my UltimateLaunch UI.

You could try some of the cubes,
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Cube

Cheesy Dave said:
I actually did not like TF3D at first, now I've been seduced by it !
BUT, I have SecondToday running so at a touch of my right softkey I have a new today screen which now is full of PocketBreeze and various other today plugins on the vertical Tabs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just set this up a day ago - works very well indeed. 2ndToday is launched from the Left softkey (as detailed elsewhere in this forum) and pocketbreeze can fill the screen nicely.

[REQ]TouchCube on HD?

I owe both a Polaris and a Blackstone and, in my opinion, TouchCube is far better than TF3D. TF3D looks nice but let's face it... it eats up system resources, it's laggy, when browsing through tabs it's not very thumb friendly (you have to bend your thumb to the max), you can't customize the tabs position (it would help if they were placed on one side because it would be easier to scroll through the same number of items having at least 30% more room to place the tabs), the so called customization... is way too limited (you get to change the fonts, the tab order, the shortcuts... in the end you'll get the same layout), the multimedia section was divided with the unhappy default association of the video files with an application clearly meant for photos...
So... my question: can the TouchCube be ported on the Blackstone and, along with it the Polaris Audio Manager? Can the Album application be "broken" in two applications one handling the photos and the other the videos?

I was thinking just the other day "what happened to the cube?"
It was pretty cool. Think it would be good a replacement for the action screen thats floating about?

Try duttys ROM with new manila, TF3D is uber fast

Sallcho said:
Try duttys ROM with new manila, TF3D is uber fast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and what about ergonomics?

So... I get it that no developer is interested in porting the Cube to Blackstone

I have never tried it, but how about the option "Cube" under HTC TouchFLO when using Advanced Config. How about changing that to Enabled, will that do the job?

I'll make it my next project
I'm currently finishing an animated today screen for this phone while docked but when I'm done that that I'll start work on a cube launcher that replaces the current Program's tab with a custom app that gives you a cube with multiple options for launching programs... icon view, rotate to list view, rotate to cover-flow view etc

Did you try the cube here : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=336234
Maybe you just have to adapt to wvga screen ?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=336234
I tried this one instead... installs ok but it's for qvga it starts and then it goes to the top-left corner. the animations work just fine, some of the links must be rebuilt... and that's about it. But... i mus admit it... i don't have the knowledge to port it to WVGA...

I know it won't be free, but what about something like SPB Mobile 3 due out at the end of March? Have a look at around 58 seconds in here:
http://www.wmexperts.com/update-spb-mobile-shell-3
edit...
Just found a video showing it on a Touch HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8DDNE3lgA&feature=related

Cookie999
I appreciate the work of the people at SPB. It seams they did a good job. But... I am not a phonecentric person and something like the cube suites me better. SPBM3 looks like it requires a lot of time to be customized and even when you think you got it you wake up with a fully texted today screen and a directions map to help you swipe through screens...
The HTC TouchCube might seam blunt compareing it to SPBM3 but this is what I like about it... an easy way to launch/hide, easy recognition of the page you're in... i can't explain it very well but for me... the TouchCube is more natural, more organized and a better interface than the windows start menu when it comes to basic tasks.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPB Mobile 3 looks great... forget what I wrote before. No need to write what they have already written

Cookie999 said:
I know it won't be free, but what about something like SPB Mobile 3 due out at the end of March? Have a look at around 58 seconds in here:
http://www.wmexperts.com/update-spb-mobile-shell-3
edit...
Just found a video showing it on a Touch HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8DDNE3lgA&feature=related
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude! That looks freeking awesome and just think I neally bought an iPhone 3G

=]
nice i like it...
Cookie999 said:
I know it won't be free, but what about something like SPB Mobile 3 due out at the end of March? Have a look at around 58 seconds in here:
http://www.wmexperts.com/update-spb-mobile-shell-3
edit...
Just found a video showing it on a Touch HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8DDNE3lgA&feature=related
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

looks great!!
it moves really good!

Please resize the cube for vga/wvga would love it!!
yea spb mobile shell 3.0 does look good buuuuuuttttttttttttt its not free cost almost $30 and to be honest like many of you have been saying, i do miss the cube app from the htc touch...that app was very cool an useful plus i loved how when you needed it you just swiped up an when you were done you swiped down an that was that... SO I TO HOPE THAT IT CAN BE RESIZED FOR VGA AND WVGA!!!!!

Mrferrari23
If only I could... I'd do it myself

If it was posible id like the touchcube too, it's more finger friendly imo and it's faster to use. Like said before, if I knew how to do it myself, I would..

Bell UI
Browsing the internet I found the Bell UI. Looks quite nice.
To all the chefs out there... is there a chance to port this to HD? 'Cause I'm kinda' giving up the idea of the Cube being ported to the HD...