Develop Bugs

[REQ] SMS / Missed Call Alert - Visual Notification

I was looking at my HD today and had an idea.
I use a silicone cover/case, and hence it covers the power button (LED light)... so my idea was some sort of visual notification via the display for various items (such as missed call, new SMS, etc.)
This idea comes in part from the Diamond's visual notification via the round circle/d-pad.
I think this would be possible... here is my thinking:
Since the phone already "wakes up" during a call/missed call... and there is the "wake on SMS" option as well -- then after either, have a program change the screen to black (hide TouchFLO or Today Screen), and display a design or color pattern on the screen. I think the program would also have to prevent the screen from going to sleep and/or offer a timer setting for this. In any case, displaying something on the screen to alert you to a missed call... something like a screen saver.
Once a program is created, then the fun part will be creating new designs / patterns / colors for the screen.
Any ideas on this?
Thanks.

Anyone?
Or anyone at least think this is a good idea? Or perhaps, are there other programs out there like this?
Thanks!

I think it's a great idea, to be honest.
With the creativity of people in these forums, it shouldn't be an impossible mission

keithrl79 said:
I was looking at my HD today and had an idea.
I use a silicone cover/case, and hence it covers the power button (LED light)... so my idea was some sort of visual notification via the display for various items (such as missed call, new SMS, etc.)
This idea comes in part from the Diamond's visual notification via the round circle/d-pad.
I think this would be possible... here is my thinking:
Since the phone already "wakes up" during a call/missed call... and there is the "wake on SMS" option as well -- then after either, have a program change the screen to black (hide TouchFLO or Today Screen), and display a design or color pattern on the screen. I think the program would also have to prevent the screen from going to sleep and/or offer a timer setting for this. In any case, displaying something on the screen to alert you to a missed call... something like a screen saver.
Once a program is created, then the fun part will be creating new designs / patterns / colors for the screen.
Any ideas on this?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds interesting I wonder how it would be on the battery though. I think it would be nice if the screen would light up but maybe not as bright as the notification on the Raphael but something to that effect. I like the idea though.

i like it too.. i think im gonna try writing something for this one!

Any updates on this one?
Or any one know of any other programs out there that might do something similar. I hate not knowing I have missed calls/SMS.
Thanks all...

I saw in an other post a program that vibrates/sounds the device in a set interval until you acknowledge the missed call/sms.
No idea where it's located, but the search functionallity can do wonders.

I use S2U2, and if I understand your requirements correctly, it does exactly that.
I usually have the phone switched off using the power button (so the screen is blank). If there is a missed call or a new sms, my phone automatically wakes up and S2U2 gives me notifications about new SMS and/or missed call.
Under the Windows power settings, I have the phone configured to turn off backlight after 10 seconds, and the the option 'Turn off device if not used for' option disabled. This makes sure my device does not go back to sleep if there is a missed call or SMS. You also need to have the option to show missed calls and SMS alerts in S2U2 settings enabled. So when a call is missed or new SMS, my phone will be awake with backlight switched off. If I tap on the screen, S2U2 will show my anything I have missed.
I think you also need 'Wake up on new SMS' option enabled in HD Tweak.

PhoneAlarm
Or you can use Phone Alarm, this can be set to repeat alarm noticifcations for missed calls, messages, etc including vibration and sound options for each type of alarm. Also, offers an otpion whether or not the backlight comes on. Have been using this softwarte for years, also provides profile options.
www.pocketmax.net

Hennyb said:
Or you can use Phone Alarm, this can be set to repeat alarm noticifcations for missed calls, messages, etc including vibration and sound options for each type of alarm. Also, offers an otpion whether or not the backlight comes on. Have been using this softwarte for years, also provides profile options.
www.pocketmax.net
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Checked out the Website, Looks Good... Does it work with TF3D??
Tnx

Thanks for the replies,
I actually already use PhoneAlarm from Pocketmax. It works GREAT on my Touch HD. What's neat about it, is that it has an option where it makes a softkey at the bottom to toggle between your Today Screen and TouchFLO.
What exactly I was looking for was some "visual" notification of a missed call/sms. This would be both functional and "cool" to see.
The thought comes from the HTC Diamond, where the light around the d-pad flashes in a circle.
Of course on the Touch HD, the only option would be on the display. So I was thinking of cool screen designs (like a screensaver), where if you had a missed call or SMS, the phone would "wake up" but then show some sort of design.
[As I was typing this I paused at this point and went to research S2U2 more... and I am going to try it out right now -- it does seem to do what I am looking for!]
However, if anyone reads what I mentioned above and has any other ideas (or even a more of a simple program) that would do the same, let us know... THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!
-Keith

I installed S2U2 and i didn't find it of any use (My original intention was to install to provide the Iphone Like Slier). I recall it does show you on screen if you have received a text, not sure if their was a visual notification.
I will have to read up on S2U2 and see what other benefits it has.
So many Apps out their that do so many different things, it's like being a kid in a sweetshop. I guess it's about deciding which app to use based on what you need it for.
Nevertheless...Absolutely brilliant work from all those who actually take time out to develop these apps - and can't thank them enough!
Let me know how S2U2 works for you and meanwhile i'll read up on it again
All the best...

I tried phonealarm, but
Heh Keith,
I actually love phonealarm and have used it for years. But now, though I've been in touch with the developer who btw provides excellent cs, I'm quite convinced that PA is causing a heavy battery drain. I've been experimenting with PA on, then uninstall it, reinstall it, etc. Yesterday, started with a full charge and with PA, 5 hours later down to 60%. I was able to uninstall PA with about 60% charge remaining and immediately, the drain stopped. Charge stayed above 60% for the next several hours. BTW, this is on a fuze. I've also checked all settings in PA. The developer says he did note that he saw a big power drop from the PA logs, but couldn't determine what caused it. Curious how PA is working for you.

I just don't get it
So maybe I'm making a fool of myself-talking to myself at least. I just did a whole day's worth of testing with and without PA. Now there seems to be no difference or perhaps just a very little. The only things that I did different this time was loaded PA after I installed all of the other apps (rather than before) and I didn't enable touch flo support. I wonder if that could be it. With touch flo support enabled, then touch flo runs in the background? Did I read that somewhere in another thread?

If you dont want/need all the bells & whistles & want a 'light' program try alarm pal by the same mob as phone alarm.
I've been using it for awhile on the HTC HD.
If I miss a call/sms/mail it plays an alert every few minutes till I acknowledge it.
I figure I am more likely to 'hear' an alert than 'see' an alert
http://www.pocketmax.net/alarmPal.html

[Q] WP7 – night mode, or quiet time etc?

Like I suspect most people, I don’t need my emails downloading while I sleep (or any other data transfer for that matter).
There doesn’t appear to be a ‘night mode’, or whatever you want to call it.
So in the interests of saving the battery, what do people do?
There are three options:
1. Turn off mobile
2. Turn on flight mode
3. Turn off cellular

'Tron said:
Like I suspect most people, I don’t need my emails downloading while I sleep (or any other data transfer for that matter).
There doesn’t appear to be a ‘night mode’, or whatever you want to call it.
So in the interests of saving the battery, what do people do?
There are three options:
1. Turn off mobile
2. Turn on flight mode
3. Turn off cellular
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I leave mine as is, but if I could get into a routine, I would practice the habit of tapping airplane mode.

I let it roll - if I need to be contacted in the middle of the night my phone needs to work (so airplane mode isn't an option). However, what I would like are notification profiles (which I would assume are similar to network profiles in principle, if not in function). I'd like the phone to automatically go into vibrate during a meeting, stop vibration/sound notification for e-mails at 'night,' and change the volume during 'game.'

GProfile
I used to use GProfile when I was using my Fuze with WM 6.5.X and it was great. Still waiting for something like this for WP7.

I suppose the fourth option is to put it on charge? That's what I do but, yeah alright, that doesn't conserve the battery.
The ideal situation would be to allow us to custom define our own profiles and to also differentiate between system (ringtone/notifications) and application (music/games) sound.

Unfortunately, my job dictates that I be on call 24-hrs a day if any of my staff/system crashes need me. So I have to actually turn up the ringer to full every night to assure it wakes me up... ugh...
(no, not in IT)

Driving Safety Script- Automation?

Hello,
I use my Evo everyday for work. I rely heavily on Google Maps, what always bothers me is that I operate in two different modes during the day. When I am driving I like to turn off all distractions.
One mode where I have:
-Orientation set to Lock portrait
-Auto Sync set to On
-Text Messages auto receive on
-GPS Off
Then when I drive I usually spend a couple minutes changing it to:
-Orientation set to Lock landscape
-Auto Sync set to off (disables K-9 mail sync)
-Text Messages auto receive off
-GPS on
Is there a way to create a application or script that I can easily run to switch back and forth between these manual modes? Thank you,

Have you tried Tasker? There's a free 7 day trial on the Tasker website, you can try it out and see if you can get it set up to do what you're wanting. After the 7 days you'll have to purchase it, I think it's $6-$7. There are free alternatives to it that may do what you need as well, like Settings Profile Lite and Llama. I've never used the free ones, and I only tried Tasker for the trial period because I didn't really have a use for it. There's a bit of a learning curve, so you may want to read some tutorials on it.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Great I will take a look at Tasker. I wonder if anyone else has had a similar need. Thank you for your reply.

Yep. Tasker is what you want.
For instance, my in-car setup is:
When connected to power AND AUX audio cable are plugged in:
Media volume 15
Silent Mode OFF
Bluetooth ON
Set secondary profile to auto-reply to sms messages
Turn off button LEDs
Display brightness 30 if after 7:35pm OR 255 if before 7:35pm
Load app Car Home
When power or headphones are unplugged, it reverts back to the way it was set before it ran the profile. It's really cool.
I have a few other profiles setup too. Mostly to put the phone in silent mode when I'm at work, or flash the battery % on the screen at unlock when its below a certain point.
Fun stuff to play around with, having root lets you use a lot more of the features.

Yes tasker is the app for me. Heres to Safe Driving! Thank you,

Looking for an app

On my BlackBerry, I could tell the thing to turn off/on the attenna at certain times. This allowed me to disable notifications at night and resume them when I got up.
If there isn't one, is there one for sound? Sometimes I forget to turn it off and woken up multiple times due to incoming messages at night.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

gksmith said:
On my BlackBerry, I could tell the thing to turn off/on the attenna at certain times. This allowed me to disable notifications at night and resume them when I got up.
If there isn't one, is there one for sound? Sometimes I forget to turn it off and woken up multiple times due to incoming messages at night.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have some tech/application savvy, then get Tasker in the Marketplace for a couple bucks. It's like a custom feature development program; basically it lets you establish 'profiles' i.e., conditions under which certain 'tasks' are triggered, then the tasks themselves.
So for example, you would create a profile called 'Sleepy Time'; you could set that profile to activate when you hit a toggle switch, or you can even set it to turn on at a pre-specified hour. Hell, you can even set it to turn on at a pre-specified hour unless you have an active data session running.
The possibilities are somewhat limitless, but that's why I recommend it for more savvy users, because you have to 'build' the profiles and tasks manually (it's not very difficult, but it's not like your one-and-done single-purpose apps). Also, some folks post their purpose-specific pre-built profiles on the developers wiki for others to use.
Same goes for sound. You can have it disable all sounds except your alarm clock starting at a certain hour, you can even program it to disable all sounds unless you receive a call from, e.g., your wife/girlfriend/mistress.
Other than that, Juice Defender (also marketplace app), also has customized profiles for night, etc. and is much easier to configure (though you are more limited on WHAT you can configure). You need the Ultimate (paid) version for access to the most granular optimizations (e.g., disable all data synchronization between 1:30AM and 6:30 AM unless the screen is on, auto-disable my wi-fi when I'm not home, etc.).
As a recovering Blackberry user, I can empathize with some of your withdrawal symptoms. If you do end up with Tasker, PM me and and I will send you a copy of the profiles/tasks I built to replicate the Blackberry 'Sound Profiles' feature using a one-touch widget.

Juice defender, a couple bucks on the market saves your sleep. A few profiles and your set plus good training to get you started for the future. The extra battery life is just sauce for the goose

[Guide] A simple list of easy Quality-of-Life changes for your XZ1C!

Hey everyone! I just got an XZ1C myself a few days ago, and I'd like to share a few of the little quality of life changes I personally use to make the everyday experience with this phone more to how I like it. I figured maybe everyone could contribute a few ideas here and there to help other users deal with things they might be frustrated with, but not know a solution for.
A couple of notes - I gave up the root life a while ago, so all of these solutions are non-root! Also, some of these apps are paid apps (though they might have lite or free versions). Sorry! But as a software developer myself, I have the obligation to pay it forward when I find a nice app.
So here goes!
Making the volume keys default to Media Volume:
Having owned a Samsung phone before, this is one of the things I miss most in almost any other Android phone. But, as they say, there's an app for that! There's a very simple app called Media Volume Only (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=catchpower.gogo.mediavolumeonly&hl=en), which binds your volume keys to Media by default. It asks for Call permissions to see if you're in a call, where it will then bind the volume keys to call volume. Otherwise, it will always be Media, which is great!
However, that means there isn't a super easy way to changing your ring volume, unless you first press the volume key to bring up the sliders and hitting the down arrow to show the rest of the sliders....which brought me to:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
I am using Central Europe .374 + US oem file to get Fingerprint+VoLTE on T-mobile; I'm not sure if it's because of the CE1 region or whatever else, but I couldn't find any button in the quick settings that would just toggle the phone to ring mode, vibrate mode or silent.
To remedy this, I use Shortcutter (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.leedroid.shortcutter&hl=en). This allows you to enable a ton of different switches in the quick settings dropdown, though some of them may not work properly without root and only with other phones. After installing Shortcutter, swipe over to the "Pull-Down" tab, then hit "System Setting Tiles". In this list, scroll down and you'll find "Ring Mode". Turning this switch on will put the Ring Mode icon into the box of icons you can edit your quick settings with. Finally, pull down your quick settings, click the pencil icon to modify the quick settings and scroll down to find Ring Mode.
This way, it's easy to switch the phone to silent before going into a movie, or a meeting at work.
Fixing the crazy stock backlight control:
The stock backlight is a little crazy right now. It jumps around when the room is dark and it does not transition smoothly. A great app for controlling backlight is Lux (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vito.lux&hl=en). It even allows you to keep different profiles and define exactly how bright you want the screen to be in any lighting situation, and it will keep a map of your selections for you! You can control all sorts of variables, like how quickly it will transition, if it should only transition given what % of lighting change, so on and so forth. It's really very powerful and useful. I haven't had any trouble with the XZ1C display since installing Lux, which I've used on previous phones as well. Highly recommend this one! There's a free version called Lux Lite (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitocassisi.luxlite&hl=en), but I've never tried it so YMMV.
Alternative for No Double Tap to Wake (or not having Ambient Display):
This is another one I have almost always used on phones that aren't Nexii/Pixel or Motorola. Gravity Screen (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.plexnor.gravityscreenofffree&hl=en) gives you a ton of different ways to automatically wake up the phone to the lockscreen. I find that using ONLY the Proximity Sensor setting to turn ON the screen (and turning everything else off) has negligible effect on the battery, and maintains extreme usefulness. With just that setting, when my phone is on the desk I can poke the phone where the proximity sensor is (as if I one-tap it) and it will wake up. If I take the phone out of my pocket, the phone turns on and is already waiting for me by the time I look at it. Super convenient!
UPDATE: Another user (quack3d) mentioned the app WaveUp(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jarsilio.android.waveup) which does exactly how I have Gravity Screen set up. If you want just that, this seems to be a great and simpler alternative! Thanks!
If you want more options, it has all sorts of other things like turn on by motion, etc. etc....I personally don't use those though, so I can't vouch for how well they work.
Double Tap to Sleep
I'm pretty sure you have to pay for this one, but Nova Launcher Prime (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher.prime&hl=en) is an incredible launcher, and it allows you to specify custom gestures on the desktop. The gestures can trigger all sorts of things, one of which is Screen Lock. If you select the Time-Out method of locking the screen, it will work with fingerprint unlocking.
Custom Auto-Rotation Switching:
Normally, I don't like auto-rotation. I use my phone a lot in bed (lying sideways), but I still want to use it in portrait. So, I prefer to have my phone default to NO auto-rotation. That being said, it's annoying when you pull up a funny gif or the photo album or youtube and you want to just flip your phone over to watch a video. Sure, you can drag down the quicksettings and flip that switch, but there's a better way! That's where Automate (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.llamalab.automate&hl=en) comes in! Automate allows you to program your phone to do just about anything (especially if you have root) based on custom triggers.
In Automate, if first select "More flows..." and search for a script called "Auto Enable Rotation" by the author Anthony Beaumont. Once you download this script and run it, it will present you with 2 options, either to "start" the script service, or to "modify" the list of apps. You'll want to "modify" the list of apps and start a new one. To this, you can add apps such as Album, Youtube, Twitch and whatever else you want to watch in landscape mode. Finally, once that's done, stop the script and start it again, but this time select "start". (You can also select in the 3 dot menu to have this script run at start-up. Highly recommended!) Now, when you open Album/Youtube/Twitch etc. the phone should automatically flip to auto-rotation.
Enter all your app and website passwords automatically with fingerprint:
For better or for worse, I keep all of my online passwords saved in Lastpass. It turns out that once you have an account and saved passwords, Lastpass has an incredible app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.lpandroid&hl=en) that can pop up over Chrome and just about any other app on your phone that can fill in the username/password fields for you using your fingerprint! It doesn't work for all the different browsers out there (I just use Chrome), and there may have been a pay wall for the in-app password filling, I forgot (sorry!). That said, it's super convenient to head to any site and just tap the fingerprint to log in.
Additionally, if you're a Lastpass user already, they also have a Lastpass Authenticator (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lastpass.authenticator&hl=en) that works in place of the Google Authenticator (you can add Google Authenticator 2factor sites to the LastPass one), which is IMHO superior because the keys are linked to your account rather than to the physical phone. Also, if you have LP Authenticator + the Chrome addon on your PC/Mac, on some sites you don't even have to enter the Authenticator number, you can just press "approve" on your phone to get into the website on your PC. Awesome!
Send links from your PC to phone or phone to PC
Ever read something on your PC and wish you could link it to your phone super quickly and not have to go through emailing it to yourself? I use Pushbullet (Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pushbullet.android&hl=en PC: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pushbullet/chlffgpmiacpedhhbkiomidkjlcfhogd?hl=en), which allows you to directly link webpages from PC to phone and vice versa. Additionally, if you give it the permissions, it can hook up your phone's notifications to your Windows notifications (not sure about mac), including allowing you to read and send SMS from your PC. I believe it also has file transfer capabilities, but I don't use it.
I think that's it for now...I'll add more when I think of them. These are just a few of the mods I run which makes using the phone more effortless and enjoyable; please, feel free to add more and I'll add them to the list if there's something you want to share! Hope this helps someone out there!:highfive:

maidguitar said:
Re-adding the missing Ring/Vibrate Mode switch to quick switches:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alternative implementation that I use: Add a toggle on the home screen to quickly switch between Ring/Vibrate/Silent modes
First install Media-Mute [free & ad-free]. What this app does is automatically mute the media volume whenever the ringer volume is also muted, which applies to both Vibrate mode and Silent mode.
For some reason, since Android 4.x Google has decided that Silent mode should only apply to the ringer, instead of silencing everything that can make sounds out of the speaker. Media-Mute fixes that.
Next, install Silent Mode Toggle [free & ad-free], then add the widget on the home screen. Switching modes is now super easy, just tap on the toggle.
What I really appreciate about this app is that it allows customization to the toggle order. For example, I never use the vibrate mode, so I can set it to toggle between Ringer > Silent only.
As a bonus, it also lets you use your own custom icons for the toggle, super cool and makes it possible to perfectly complement your home screen layout.
Hide the annoying "running in the background" notification that comes with Android 8.0
With Android 8.0 Oreo, Google thought it would be a great idea to permanently remind you of any background processing currently running in the form of an impossible to dismiss notification.
While the intention was well meaning, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
Thankfully, there's an app for that! Just install this cleverly named app Hide "running in the background" Notification [free & ad-free], problem solved!
Vibrate phone when call connects, ends
Yet another app to the rescue! VibCall [free & ad-free] brings this useful feature found on some OEM phones to any compatible Android device.
Basically, your phone will vibrate once to let you know that a call has connected, and twice when a call has ended. It's something that once you've used, you wonder why it's not baked into the Android system as a default option.
Add a fingerprint (Smart Lock) compatible screen lock toggle on the home screen
So Sony has unilaterally decided to remove double tap to sleep feature with no sign of bring it back. But I still want to turn off the screen and lock the device by tapping on the screen instead of waiting for the system to hibernate or hitting the power button.
The OP listed a paid solution which brings back double tap to sleep, but for those looking for a free alternative, this is the solution I'm currently using - Smart Screen Lock Pro [free & ad-free].
It's not a double tap anywhere convenience, but a toggle that is better than nothing, and most importantly it's compatible with fingerprint unlock. I've tried numerous screen off apps in the Play store, and this is the only one that I was satisfied with.
IMPORTANT: Take the time to carefully read and follow setup instructions, it's necessary for it to work properly due to OS restrictions. Once it's setup correctly, simply add a shortcut on the home screen and tap it to lock.
It's worth mentioning that it's not a true "instant" screen off and lock, but without root this is probably the best solution we'll get.
Non-root ad blocking
Ads are a necessary evil for the current economics of the Internet, but aside from the annoyance factor, they eat up precious mobile data, plus there's also very real security risks with ad networks, potentially hogging your phone's resources and draining the battery.
Whatever the argument, if you do decide to block ads, there are quite a lot of ad blockers to choose from.
Personally, I use dns66 [free & ad-free]. In my experience, it's very lightweight, and I haven't seen any ads in my browser or apps.
It does have its quirks though, sometimes downloads fail, such as OTA update or file in browser, for one reason or another (the author says it's a bug with the Android OS itself, see linked post).
But it's easy to workaround, just temporarily disable dns66 by tapping pause on the notification, and download again. After download has completed, tap the notification again to resume.
By the way, this is also the main reason I installed the hide background notification app.