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Does anyone think that there could be great potential in the Galaxy Nexus' soft key area at the bottom of the screen? As soon as they announced that the GN would have on-screen buttons, customization came to mind right away.
We've already seen Paul O'Brien's begin with his UI patches here, but I feel like we are only scratching the surface of what can be done.
For example, with my limited pondering, I was hoping that a dev or maybe CM could soon allow us to put shortcuts on that bottom bar for quick access to the certain apps that you always use. For me, I would love for Google Talk to have a permanent shortcut on that bar that I can access from anywhere as I use it almost religiously. Also, a shortcut that emulates the power button would be highly convenient as well so that I don't have to reach up to the side button as often. I can also foresee some themeing or button rearrangement and so forth.
Do you guys have any other ideas? As I'm not a dev of any sort, maybe I'm out of line in thinking that the bottom bar is flexible enough to customize. However, if it could be done (and Paul O'Brien already has demonstrated that maybe it could), the possibilities could be endless.
As a webOS user, I'd love some swipe gestures implemented for 'back' and a swipe up to open the app drawer
a swipe up for the drawer would really nice
Damn, I didn't even think of swipe gestures at all. Now my mind is really running wild.
bump for more ideas!
swype gestures are already available on go launcher
subxero123 said:
swype gestures are already available on go launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But we're not talking about the launcher. Didn't read the post huh?
I wish we could swipe down to make the thing disappear, which allows us to take advantage of the full 4.65 inch screen.
Swipe down - disappear
Swipe up - appear again
I think would be awesome if we could swipe the regular buttons to the side, showing new options (like we do with dock bar in almost every popular launcher). There, we could use app shortcuts, power widgets and other stuff, like the search and the option buttons.
I agree, I hope this is just a tip of the iceberg, it seems pointless to have all this potential and not utilize it.
how about instead of the soft keys have it scroll:
"wwwwwaaaaaasssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!" w/ flashing text.
seriously though, being able to make them appear/disappear anytime would be a big plus in my book.
or say if you're playing a game/watching a movie, and someone calls you... rather then having the call notification pop up & take over, have the notification just appear in the soft key area.(i guess same for texts)
I think instead of putting toggles with the notification bar, a scrolling dock with these would be even better.
Like you guys said, swipe on the dock to the left or right to reveal Wifi/BT/GPS/etc. This seems easier than swiping down on the notification bar to bring it down.
On honeycomb we could hide them and theme them. Change animations and icons.
They didn't figure out how to add more or change up the order or add functionality because honeycomb wasn't open source like gingerbread and ICS.
So yea. Expect lots of cool stuff.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer
Since Android came out, I was hoping we would switch to soft-keys. Now we can fully customize the buttons, select preferred positions, preferred icon style, and which icons you actually have...
I'd be pretty content to just Swap the Menu and task manager buttons... I dont need a permanent task manager button that takes as much time to operate as it does to just navigate to the apps icon itself.. the menu button on the other hand I use in just about every app I launch.
sodequis said:
I'd be pretty content to just Swap the Menu and task manager buttons... I dont need a permanent task manager button that takes as much time to operate as it does to just navigate to the apps icon itself.. the menu button on the other hand I use in just about every app I launch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought this too until I actually got down to using it on the GN.
I never used the task switcher on my other Android devices as it seemed too difficult and took too long for it to be worth it. However, having been using the GN for a couple of days now, I find its implementation (just a single tap) to be much more friendly and useful. I find myself using it all the time now to switch between what I am doing and can't imagine not having it.
player911 said:
On honeycomb we could hide them and theme them. Change animations and icons.
They didn't figure out how to add more or change up the order or add functionality because honeycomb wasn't open source like gingerbread and ICS.
So yea. Expect lots of cool stuff.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd just like to know what devs to talk to in order to make it happen
I was hoping for some app specific keys. For instance in the browser have a Forward, Back, Stop/Reload, Home, etc.
id love to see the buttons replaced with like gif animations. so cool
Enhanced said:
I thought this too until I actually got down to using it on the GN.
I never used the task switcher on my other Android devices as it seemed too difficult and took too long for it to be worth it. However, having been using the GN for a couple of days now, I find its implementation (just a single tap) to be much more friendly and useful. I find myself using it all the time now to switch between what I am doing and can't imagine not having it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But, why not just allow the "Home" button to be the task-switching button via long-press like before? Is that extra pause for the long-press what you're referring to when you say it took too long?
Anyway, I, too, would like the Menu button back, but more importantly I want the Search button back. I can't wait for the ability to get rid of the G Search widget, put a dedicated Search button back in the soft touch area, and have the Home button as the task-switcher.
Brandon
I've been realizing lately how amazing android really is and customizable it is with this phone. Off topic but I kinda hated the fact. Of a recent app button and the fact that I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones). The devs here realized it and gave me the ability to have my menu button, get my search button back, and make recent apps come up by holding the home button. Got to love them. Shout out to our fantastic devs.
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
nice idea, kind of like the microsoft touch mouse. I would like to see someone make that possible and see how it works out.
Shaquiel Harris said:
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?
Kalavere said:
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about lmt? Fyi: it's now also available for android/gsn...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Shaquiel Harris said:
I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You never lost the menu button, it's just not on screen 100% of the time anymore, where it would just waste space otherwise.
I think its great idea!
Another few things that would be cool to see would be, resizing the Navigation Bar to be maybe a little thinner, and being able to slide the nav bar left or right, to reveal a icons to launch other apps, and maybe swiping down to hide the navbar all together.
Like you said being able to customize android and change every aspect of it is what makes this OS so awesome.
You guys ever use gesture area on webOS phones? Much better than using back key, would be a great idea. It also used visual feedback so a white line would go in the swipe direction. Currently the only phone using something similar to this is the N9 probably, which has swiping through the sides of screen to control apps.
I was just thinking about WebOS when reading this as well. Would be nice.
Just having the soft keys area as a gesture area? cool!
Maybe you could customize your gestures?
A big thing to me would be the ability to have a fully loaded package and be able to switch between stock softkeys, added search/menu softkeys, and gestures. Everything customizeable by user rather than through flashing?
menu bar like in windows 8
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.
MrBIMC said:
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.
Enhanced said:
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.
I came to Android from webOS after HP shot themselves in the foot several times and one of the things I miss most is the gesture bar you had at the bottom of the screen. With the advent of the soft button area in ICS I see a real option to enable the area to work in a similar fashion. Hell yes!
The webOS gestures were:
A single swipe up would show you your running apps.
Swiping 2 fingers up would show you the launcher (app drawer).
A leftward swipe would go back.
A full swipe across the entire area going either right or left would take you to the next or previous running app.
Besides the wireless charging, the gesture area was one of the webOS killer features you very quickly learned to take for-granted. So long as gesture detection was implemented well I don't see why you couldn't have the soft buttons as they are now and gestures all working at the same time.
Call me old fashioned, but I also don't like the gestures idea.
Dolphin is just about the only program on android that I have tried to use gestures with, and it's not the sort of feature i'd personally like integrated into my phone.
That said, customizing how different people can use their phones, within the same operating system, so two people can use the exact same phone in two totally different ways, is the way to go
j.go said:
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your idea of having the pie control from the stock browser available all over android. I had the idea a while back but was just too lazy to implement it. Today I did a small working prototype and I think I will add the pie control feature to my gesture app "LMT"...
good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!
Huntlaar said:
good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If implemented properly, you might be able to do away with the bottom bar and take advantage of the full screen. You can't see it with the nexus browser, but if you have a tablet running ICS and enable browser quick controls, the app hides the tabs and address bar, instantly adding an inch of usable screen real estate at the top.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
The big nasty problem with having hidden buttons or, for that matter, any trigger point area(s) on the devices main screen is you'll always end up triggering something when you didn't want to or it interferes with a ui element in one or more apps e.g. game scroll bars / buttons. I've tried plenty and they all interfered with one app or another to the point I stopped using them.
The quick controls idea is fine but you're still having to watch what you're doing. The beauty of gestures in webOS was that you wouldn't have to take your eyes of what you were doing to find a button - your finger just flicked below the screen content while your eyes looked towards what you were going to do next.
I realise it's hard to imagine if you've never done it before but (weak analogy approaching...) think of it like walking up a thin and narrow set of steps as opposed to thick wide ones while trying to read a book. On the narrow steps you have to look down to hit the next step thus breaking the flow of your reading. While on the bigger wider ones you can carry on reading as the step is big enough your foot can find it without taking your eyes of your book.
Anyroad, IMHO, gestures need to be out of the way of app content so as not to interfere with app usage patterns and shouldn't require the user to take their eyes off what they're doing.
I've been looking for a way to multitask more easily than holding down Home, which i find a bit uncomfortable.
After trying wave launcher, Home2, and many other multitaking-ap switching etc. apps, I've now found a solution that I like, and thought I'd share with you all.
What this solutions allows, is that you swipe your finger from the bottom of the screen and up, and the default multitasking bar appears. (You can swipe/press anywhere.)
I've used an very smart litle program called "Swipe Starter" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tora.mamma.swipestart&feature=also_installed
Don't let the logo fool you it's very good. The only thing is that it's translated to english very poorly, so I dont think I know all of the dunctions, but it works.
Once installed, open the app and go to "markersetting". Press "The first marker". Check start. Choose to start, select "activity", and select "Recent apps" ( which is multitask shortcut). Position; I've chosen bottom center Marker colour: none Marker thick: large.
(vibration also has to be ticked, then unticked, under "Appsetting", and then it won't vibrate).
Then you swipe from the bottom, and your multitask menu will appear!
Link to multitask shortcut: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=grandmastersoftware.togglerecentapps&hl=da
I use Nova Launcher, Apex Launcher can also do the same.
Depending on what launcher you use there are ways to do it without the need of this app. Nova launcher has a few was to do this. 1st is Gestures and Buttons options in setting menu. Alternatively you can set a gesture to any of the icons you have in the dock .This is the one i us ,touch my apps icon it opens the drawer ,swipe on it it shows recent/open apps .
But good find all the same for those that choose not to use differing launchers.
The launcher can only do their gestures if you're on the home screen as far as I know ?
Making them pretty much useless multitasking..
This works in every app.
real_per said:
The launcher can only do their gestures if you're on the home screen as far as I know ?
Making them pretty much useless multitasking..
This works in every app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sad how they didnt realize this
real_per said:
The launcher can only do their gestures if you're on the home screen as far as I know ?
Making them pretty much useless multitasking..
This works in every app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, so it does. But do you not find it very laggy?
jhericurls said:
Ah, so it does. But do you not find it very laggy?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Laggy ?
No, the multitasking menu pops up instantly. Have you tried it ?
Try GMD Gesture and you will love it. Much more customizable than you mentioned in your post.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
I can't choose recent app for somehow? I'm running a custom ROM..
Sendt fra min GT-I9300
oakgrove said:
I can't choose recent app for somehow? I'm running a custom ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why you need to install the second app "multitask"
alfred5191 said:
Try GMD Gesture and you will love it. Much more customizable than you mentioned in your post.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ty
Pitnefor said:
ty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2nd that! :good: GMD Gesture just scored another buyer!
Give Trigger a try
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.varience.triggerlimited
You can create gestures for a lot of settings including things like pulling the notification bar or switching to the previous app.
Recent apps is one of the possible gestures.
For this app, you could create a gesture to be drawn or you can set one of the quick-actions to be one of the actions.
I set the swipe up action to be Recent Apps, swipe left to be go back to the previous app, swipe right to show All My Apps, and swipe down to lock the phone.
Give it a try. Its unbelievably useful!
Varience said:
Give Trigger a try
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.varience.triggerlimited
You can create gestures for a lot of settings including things like pulling the notification bar or switching to the previous app.
Recent apps is one of the possible gestures.
For this app, you could create a gesture to be drawn or you can set one of the quick-actions to be one of the actions.
I set the swipe up action to be Recent Apps, swipe left to be go back to the previous app, swipe right to show All My Apps, and swipe down to lock the phone.
Give it a try. Its unbelievably useful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trigger is like My Gesture Shortcut Launcher where there's something permanent on the screen that you have to click to activate the gestures.
GMD is better because you can do it without clicking on anything but GMD doesn't support custom gestures unless you pay.
I personally use LMT that can be downloaded from XDA itself. It's similar to GMD but we can't create custom gestures though..
lukesky said:
Trigger is like My Gesture Shortcut Launcher where there's something permanent on the screen that you have to click to activate the gestures.
GMD is better because you can do it without clicking on anything but GMD doesn't support custom gestures unless you pay.
I personally use LMT that can be downloaded from XDA itself. It's similar to GMD but we can't create custom gestures though..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, there's a difference.
With the app, Trigger, you don't have to click on anything to activate gestures.
That's only if you want to activate the actions that you've drawn gestures for.
There's another feature, called "Pulling the Trigger", which is pre-setting 4 actions. Then when you just swipe the trigger in the pre-set directions and let go, it'll activate that action.
In that aspect, its similar to the GMD part about activating without clicking anything. The real killer part is that any of the actions that can be set as gestures can also be set as a quick-action. So you can customize everything freely. That feature is available in the free version.
Maybe with SwipePad?
On my SGSII I used SwipePad to make a "hot corner" on the upper left side of the screen (statusbar) which triggered a menu-selection of apps and shortcuts.
I just tried it to trigger the "nova launcher recent apps" shortcut but it doesn't work right (not every time) but maybe with the "multitask shortcut" you mentioned...
EDIT: SwipePad is the more beautiful app but it seems to have problems with ICS. I've tried the nova launcher shortcut and the mentioned app "multitask shortcut" -> both doesn't work reliable.
jhericurls said:
I use Nova Launcher, Apex Launcher can also do the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice one! I didn't know Nova Launcher did this, much better than long pressing that awkward home button!
Varience said:
Actually, there's a difference.
With the app, Trigger, you don't have to click on anything to activate gestures.
That's only if you want to activate the actions that you've drawn gestures for.
There's another feature, called "Pulling the Trigger", which is pre-setting 4 actions. Then when you just swipe the trigger in the pre-set directions and let go, it'll activate that action.
In that aspect, its similar to the GMD part about activating without clicking anything. The real killer part is that any of the actions that can be set as gestures can also be set as a quick-action. So you can customize everything freely. That feature is available in the free version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow ok, I'll give it a shot then, though I don't think it'll be better for me than LMT but let's see how.
Update : Ok after trying I think the pulling the trigger is pretty good.. it's like the double finger gestures in LMT except it's with 1 finger. only thing the trigger icon is quite ugly and even if i change it to something more discrete, I still have something always there on the screen. I love the "switch to previous app" function, very handy for multitasking.
Pros and cons I guess.
The multitask app is a paid one. Any alternatives for free?
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk
Very similiar
real_per said:
I've been looking for a way to multitask more easily than holding down Home, which i find a bit uncomfortable.
After trying wave launcher, Home2, and many other multitaking-ap switching etc. apps, I've now found a solution that I like, and thought I'd share with you all.
What this solutions allows, is that you swipe your finger from the bottom of the screen and up, and the default multitasking bar appears. (You can swipe/press anywhere.)
I've used an very smart litle program called "Swipe Starter" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tora.mamma.swipestart&feature=also_installed
Don't let the logo fool you it's very good. The only thing is that it's translated to english very poorly, so I dont think I know all of the dunctions, but it works.
Once installed, open the app and go to "markersetting". Press "The first marker". Check start. Choose to start, select "activity", and select "Recent apps" ( which is multitask shortcut). Position; I've chosen bottom center Marker colour: none Marker thick: large.
(vibration also has to be ticked, then unticked, under "Appsetting", and then it won't vibrate).
Then you swipe from the bottom, and your multitask menu will appear!
Link to multitask shortcut: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=grandmastersoftware.togglerecentapps&hl=da
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest this looks very similar to the already well known and supported Swipe Pad, i havent tried this myself yet but from the screen shots it doesnt look as polished as Swipe Pad is. It gives you the option of setting a corner or spot on the edge of the screen to swipe from. you can select set shortcuts, apps, widgets, multitask apps, recently and favourite contacts if you get the addons.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.conduction.swipepad.android&feature=more_from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwibW9iaS5jb25kdWN0aW9uLnN3aXBlcGFkLmFuZHJvaWQiXQ..
The edge zooming gesture in the stock browser is driving me crazy. Its the 'feature' where the browser changes the display zoom when you scroll near the edge of the screen.
I normally don't use the stock browser, but it is used as the embedded browser in applications such as Flipboard, Pulse, etc.
Is there any way to disable this scroll to zoom gesture?
I don't think you can. I've personally think it's great and convenient. But i'd rather zoom in like Google Maps where you double tap anywhere on the screen and while holding down with your second tap slide your fingers up or down to zoom.
I was trying to figure this out too.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
You guys using them?
It is good and I wanted to use them badly but one main thing I am missing is the additional gestures that the navigation buttons had with them.
I use to double tap on recent button to switch screen off which is not possible to do with new gestures.
Having additional app or using the physical button is what I wanted to avoid.
have been using them long time ago with the app swipe navigation. Works perfectly once you get used to it.
I'm a minimalist. I have my dock & notification bar hidden also. Love that clean approach. Best part is if anyone finds/steals it, that are clueless.
Has there been a port of the new swipe guestures to nougat? I'm on 7.1.1
I am using gesture swipes, it is nice way to use phone without buttons... For double tap to lock, there is way if you are using Nova for example.....
With Beta 7 you can double tap to sleep without nav bar
You lose all of the additional gestures you have with the navbar, but in my opinion it looks way cleaner and really emphasizes the big display. And also one less spot risking permanent burn-in!
While I do like the off-screen gestures, and do use them, I actually prefer Motorola's gestures where you can quickly 'wave' you're phone in the air and the flashlight turns on, or how you can give the phone a flick and the camera app open. It's faster IMO.
But I still would prefer a Oneplus 5t over any Motorola anyday.
Love em, with an advanced launcher like Action or Nova you've got a ton more gestures that can be assigned covering the lost shortcuts on the nav buttons and then some. Speaking for myself I've got leftover swipes and taps that remain unassigned and can get to anything I use with regularity with a single touch. I liked some of the Motorola stuff myself, like Oneplus they've kept to a mostly stock experience with genuinely useful adds that don't detract from the "stockness". For some reason I really liked being able to change the ok google command to whatever I wanted and that would probably be my top pick if Oneplus were to, ahem, borrow, something from them.
Disabled them all got tired of accidentally turning the flashlight on
What I think would be the most useful feature is iPhone's double tap (not click) to bring down UI on top. Android should support this native long ago...
Needs tweaking..Still using xposed edge gestures, because I'd like for swipe up Near back button for back, swipe up near home bottom to home, and swipe up near recents to recents. i only use this mode to disable annoying nav bar easily
Siljorfag said:
What I think would be the most useful feature is iPhone's double tap (not click) to bring down UI on top. Android should support this native long ago...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This can be done with many of the launchers although swipe down (anywhere) fits in better with the notification shade as it already expands via swipe down. I suspect the reason it and many other things aren't standard is a lack of consensus. With the shade already working with swipes many of us have double tap allocated elsewhere the most common usage probably being for sleep and wake purposes.
It's always hard to tell the level of experience users have so don't take this the wrong way... Your post suggests you might want to consider taking a few launchers for a test drive because no matter what you like there is one that works better than what came stock.