Develop Bugs

enable 3rd part notification on lockscreen

as most of you know, microsoft is taking suggestions to improve wp7
i believe this is easier and better than a notification center, if you agree please vote.
thanks.
http://windowsphone.uservoice.com/f...3rd-part-notification-on-lockscreen?ref=title

Interesting idea, but I would still prefer a notification center outside of the lock screen.

Yea great idea, but will MS actually do what we suggest or trick us again by creating features with fancy names that dont do exactly what we ask.

3 votes from my side.
ty

[Concept][08/01] Android 4.0 Concept User Interface Improvements

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I'll be designing various UI concept improvements for Android and I'll keep them uploaded here.
If you have any ideas then please, let me know
8th January - Notification Concept Improvements Part 1
My first concept interface is done and ready for viewing - as well as feedback and comments.
This concept goes over some of my notification concepts which I feel would make Android a little more functional and fluid. Let me know what you think.
This user interface concept improvement video covers 3 simply tweaks, which I feel improve the functionality of Android.
1) Bigger Notifications
These bigger notifications show the contact picture,and are large enough so the message can be read. They appear over the top of the default notification bar to save space.
Clicking on the notification takes you to the application for which the notification is for. In this case, its the Messaging App
2) Quick Reply
Something I feel that has been missing from Android for some time. When the message arrive, clicking on the message itself will open quick reply.
Quick Reply extends the notification area so you can reply to the message right from the notification area, without leaving the application you are currently in.
3) Swipe to Close/Mark
Notifications have already easy to close in Android by either pressing the 'X' or in Android 4.0, by swiping the notification away.
However, there is no way to mark a message or email as read if you close it from the notification area. This concept means that you can do this. Simply wipe the notification to the left to close it, or swipe it to the right to mark it as read and close it.
There were 2 other videos that didn't make it into the final video - the only reason for this is that they are longer and the size of the video came to about 600mb for a HD one. Hence why they were left out of this video.
You can find more information about these at this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21179299&postcount=62
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All feedback and comments are welcome. Feel free to message me on any of the sites above.
These are just concepts, unfortunately I dont have the coding skills required to make this a reality. However if I can get ideas and make concepts up, a dev from the forums, the cyanogen mode team or perhaps Google themselves if we're lucky will see this and help make them become a reality.
If you would like to incorporate these ideas into a ROM, application etc, then please contact me first
Find me on the following websites:
Twitter
Google+
Facebook

Honestly there isn't much I'd change right now. I haven't noticed much that I would change.
In terms of performance, they NEED to fix the autorotate function. Yes, it's nice now that it shows an animation, but it takes waaaay too long to rotate. This was the same gripe I had with Honeycomb tablets. I'm positive that it's intentional by Google, because other phone running ICS with skins rotate faster (I have a Sensation to compare).
This second one is gonna get a bit long.
Second, they need to change the response time of the recent apps button. After extended use and several apps running, there will be a slight delay between pressing the button and the list opening up. I'm actually fine with the fact that there's a delay, it's just where the delay is. The way it runs is you touch the button, there's a delay(lag, whatever you want to call it), then the phone vibrates, the button lights up, and the list comes up. What google needs to do is change the way it functions. Make sure the haptic feedback functions and the button lights up the instant your finger touches it. Then it can delay and the list can come up. In other words G needs to make the illumination and haptic feedback first priority. Then it could work on the multitasking process.
I think if it was done in this manner, the lag would be much less noticeable. It's the same as showing some sort of screen or animation when starting an app. If you touch an app and nothing happens (the screen doesn't change at all, not even a press animation) until the apps fully loaded and running it'll be seen as lag. If you touch an app and immediately see a loading screen or an animation (just examples) then you know the app started up already, and it's perceived as loading instead of lag.
Phew. That was a mouthful. It needed to be said. Come on now Google. All of both of these are just a little tweak in software. Entirely doable. Or maybe it's already done. I don't know for sure since I'm still running 4.0.1
Other than that ICS is great.
EDIT: oh and Google should change the notification to mirror that of tablets. I don't see why they removed the quick settings; it seems unlike them. Just the basics like in Honeycomb: wifi toggle, brightness, bluetooth and autorotate. I've seen mods include it, so I'm sure they could come up with an elegant solution

They need to add the ability to get rid of the Google Search bar on all homescreens or make it less intrusive on the homescreen.

Evostance said:
All,
Just doing a bit of research.
Even though we all love Android, its still got its gripes. One of those for me is that the interface isn't as fluid or as function as it could be.
As many of you have seen ICS now, what type of enhancements to the interface would you like to see?
To give you an idea of what i'm after: I personally still dont like the notifications. I feel that they are a bit limited as to whats on offer, so I would like to see more function added to them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fixing notifications is easy. Just drag and drop custom sounds into notifications, alarm and ringtones folder. Using same nokia notification for text ever since my first smartphone. I have the usual buzzer alarm since ics didnt include it. I would also like option of no search bar or at least pinning it to desired homescreen. It would be nice if google included more in house options for themes, colors and backgrounds. Sms, gmail, calendar and email are ridiculously white. I'd like more black background white text options. We also need a toggle for the gpu clocks or coolbho3000 to hook us up in setcpu. Options for amount of home screens. 32GB and/or micro sd. Better clock options. Damn pogo pins car dock already.
My grandma beat me down and took my nexus. Sent from a jitterbug with beats by dre.

tsunami1609 said:
Honestly there isn't much I'd change right now. I haven't noticed much that I would change.
In terms of performance, they NEED to fix the autorotate function. Yes, it's nice now that it shows an animation, but it takes waaaay too long to rotate. This was the same gripe I had with Honeycomb tablets. I'm positive that it's intentional by Google, because other phone running ICS with skins rotate faster (I have a Sensation to compare).
This second one is gonna get a bit long.
Second, they need to change the response time of the recent apps button. After extended use and several apps running, there will be a slight delay between pressing the button and the list opening up. I'm actually fine with the fact that there's a delay, it's just where the delay is. The way it runs is you touch the button, there's a delay(lag, whatever you want to call it), then the phone vibrates, the button lights up, and the list comes up. What google needs to do is change the way it functions. Make sure the haptic feedback functions and the button lights up the instant your finger touches it. Then it can delay and the list can come up. In other words G needs to make the illumination and haptic feedback first priority. Then it could work on the multitasking process.
I think if it was done in this manner, the lag would be much less noticeable. It's the same as showing some sort of screen or animation when starting an app. If you touch an app and nothing happens (the screen doesn't change at all, not even a press animation) until the apps fully loaded and running it'll be seen as lag. If you touch an app and immediately see a loading screen or an animation (just examples) then you know the app started up already, and it's perceived as loading instead of lag.
Phew. That was a mouthful. It needed to be said. Come on now Google. All of both of these are just a little tweak in software. Entirely doable. Or maybe it's already done. I don't know for sure since I'm still running 4.0.1
Other than that ICS is great.
EDIT: oh and Google should change the notification to mirror that of tablets. I don't see why they removed the quick settings; it seems unlike them. Just the basics like in Honeycomb: wifi toggle, brightness, bluetooth and autorotate. I've seen mods include it, so I'm sure they could come up with an elegant solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stole the words out of my mouth. It sounds like nit-pickey stuff but it really would bring it all together nicely.

tsunami1609 said:
Honestly there isn't much I'd change right now. I haven't noticed much that I would change.
In terms of performance, they NEED to fix the autorotate function. Yes, it's nice now that it shows an animation, but it takes waaaay too long to rotate. This was the same gripe I had with Honeycomb tablets. I'm positive that it's intentional by Google, because other phone running ICS with skins rotate faster (I have a Sensation to compare).
This second one is gonna get a bit long.
Second, they need to change the response time of the recent apps button. After extended use and several apps running, there will be a slight delay between pressing the button and the list opening up. I'm actually fine with the fact that there's a delay, it's just where the delay is. The way it runs is you touch the button, there's a delay(lag, whatever you want to call it), then the phone vibrates, the button lights up, and the list comes up. What google needs to do is change the way it functions. Make sure the haptic feedback functions and the button lights up the instant your finger touches it. Then it can delay and the list can come up. In other words G needs to make the illumination and haptic feedback first priority. Then it could work on the multitasking process.
I think if it was done in this manner, the lag would be much less noticeable. It's the same as showing some sort of screen or animation when starting an app. If you touch an app and nothing happens (the screen doesn't change at all, not even a press animation) until the apps fully loaded and running it'll be seen as lag. If you touch an app and immediately see a loading screen or an animation (just examples) then you know the app started up already, and it's perceived as loading instead of lag.
Phew. That was a mouthful. It needed to be said. Come on now Google. All of both of these are just a little tweak in software. Entirely doable. Or maybe it's already done. I don't know for sure since I'm still running 4.0.1
Other than that ICS is great.
EDIT: oh and Google should change the notification to mirror that of tablets. I don't see why they removed the quick settings; it seems unlike them. Just the basics like in Honeycomb: wifi toggle, brightness, bluetooth and autorotate. I've seen mods include it, so I'm sure they could come up with an elegant solution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your second point is fixed in 4.0.3
I agree with the OP I hope google does something new with the notifications.
Even just adding them to the lockscreen like iOS would be awesome
I also dislike how the notifications have a character limit, it would be cool if you had the dropdown open long enough the text would scroll

- I'd love to have swiping away a text or email mark it as read. And while we're on notifications I don't get why contact pics don't display in the drop-down bar for texts, only for emails.
- Swiping away a recent app actually kills it
- Option to easily switch between the phone & people apps
- Option to mute shutter sound right in camera menu
- Notification bar toggles like in CyanogenMod or AOKP

daandman said:
- I'd love to have swiping away a text or email mark it as read. And while we're on notifications I don't get why contact pics don't display in the drop-down bar for texts, only for emails.
- Swiping away a recent app actually kills it
- Option to easily switch between the phone & people apps
- Option to mute shutter sound right in camera menu
- Notification bar toggles like in CyanogenMod or AOKP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swiping away apps actually does kill them, you can see the process dying in the logs when removing from recent app list

I would like a new SMS app theme. The current one is pretty ugly. Something like Windows Phone 7's messaging theme would be much nicer.

BlackDino said:
Your second point is fixed in 4.0.3
I agree with the OP I hope google does something new with the notifications.
Even just adding them to the lockscreen like iOS would be awesome
I also dislike how the notifications have a character limit, it would be cool if you had the dropdown open long enough the text would scroll
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason I ask is im just doing a concept design for ICS. Not a custom launcher but actual improvements to stock.
For notifications i actually meant the looks and functionality of it. The first concept ive done is to change how the text notifications work.
I don't like the character limit or how restrictive it is, so I've changed it.
Hopefully when I've got my concepts together, someone will be able to help make them a reality, be it a dev, the cyanogen team or google themselves lol.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

I would really like a change to the lockscreen while listening to music. I want the bottom half of the screen to be transparent, or to show the wallpaper instead of beeing black. I have been searching through SystemUI, framework-res and android.policy.jar to try and find it, but haven't as of yet.

tristan202 said:
I would really like a change to the lockscreen while listening to music. I want the bottom half of the screen to be transparent, or to show the wallpaper instead of beeing black. I have been searching through SystemUI, framework-res and android.policy.jar to try and find it, but haven't as of yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean where the soft buttons would sit?
You'd like to see music controls in there?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Soft button area supporting gestures
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.
For those that are unfamiliar with it it's basically an area at the bottom of the screen blocked off from apps that registers simple finger gestures. This made the basics of actually using a device a breeze and pleasure i.e. no looking for a particular button / tapping the wrong button when you weren't looking and the gestures were consistent no matter what app was running.
The 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 yeah, I'd like the soft button area to handle gestures in case you haven't guessed already

Northernmost said:
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.
For those that are unfamiliar with it it's basically an area at the bottom of the screen blocked off from apps that registers simple finger gestures. This made the basics of actually using a device a breeze and pleasure i.e. no looking for a particular button / tapping the wrong button when you weren't looking and the gestures were consistent no matter what app was running.
The 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 yeah, I'd like the soft button area to handle gestures in case you haven't guessed already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok ill see what I can mock up. I've done a basic notification text, just need to add another feature before i finalise it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Go you! I was hoping this was something Matias Duarte would bring to Android himself.

Evostance said:
Do you mean where the soft buttons would sit?
You'd like to see music controls in there?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's the black part of this screenshot I'd like changed.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

tristan202 said:
No, it's the black part of this screenshot I'd like changed.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh wow. Thats actually what it looks like when playing music
I think that black part may be for album art?

Evostance said:
Oh wow. Thats actually what it looks like when playing music
I think that black part may be for album art?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it just shows the album art at the very top. Up where the media buttons are.

tristan202 said:
No, it just shows the album art at the very top. Up where the media buttons are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How stupid. Definitely a tweak that should be there

Honestly, the only two things I want to be changed in terms of the UI are
1.) The ability to hide the soft keys at will for example, if I'm playing a game I want to be able to utilize the entire screen. I think a gesture to hide + bring back the soft keys is the solution. Highly unlikely to be implemented anytime soon
2.) Such as many launchers which have the functionality to have scrollable docks, I would like the soft keys to be scrollable. It would be pretty awesome to be able to have different toggles such as wifi, Bluetooth and even apps always available since unlike the notification bar, the soft keys never disappear regardless of the current app.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

The evolution of Live Tiles

Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?

937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.

937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.

Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

PG2G said:
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your ideas, you got something going there, we can build off of that, reason i made this thread to reflect on ideas as such

They look and work fine for me.

vetvito said:
Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These ideas should definately be implemented, I totally agree

falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon

937dytboi said:
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile

falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I agree with you as of not but, the color selection is lame, I want to customize my phone a little. Right now besides using a hack to change or add colors, there is no way to really do that.
I would like to see some type of texture or something to jazz up the tiles a little.
They work great now but, just need a little tweaking in my eyes...

Magpir said:
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

LexusFman said:
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
vetvito said:
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.

My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.

Peew971 said:
My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By 'police' I wasn't sure if you meant font size? Or Tile width?
As a developer you're limited by Microsoft to hardly any text on the front of a tile (and only in one specific position), and only the option of a large-ish font on the back of a tile (often too big as you say to display say a full news headline).
You can see what a developer is allowed to change on a tile here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202948(v=vs.92).aspx
i.e. a single number, a small bit of text on the front, some text on the back, and a background image. I think it's too limiting at the moment.
You can get round these limitations a bit by dynamically generating the tile background (for front or back) as an image (e.g. of some smaller font text). That's not easy to code though, especially if you're trying to dynamically generate the image on the phone through say a wp7 background agent. It's a bit easier doing it on a server - but that means it won't work when there's no mobile signal. Having to generate the whole thing as an image (especially just to display smaller font text) also feels a little bit like using a sledgehammer to knock in a nail.
Similarly I think Microsoft should let developers create double width tiles - they could even make it a marketplace certification requirement that the user should have an option of specifying single/double width tile in the app. As long as the user has the option of choosing I can't see the harm.
Microsoft should be giving developers full and easy access to what happens in those 173 by 173 squares of tile pixels. Perhaps even give the user the option in-app as to whether the developer is allowed to make the Tile animate or not - I think then Tiles would become a lot more interesting.

Yeah I meant font size, sorry I'm French
On your app (loving it by the way) the text on the back is usually fine because it displays scores but on BBC News or WPCentral for instance you only get half a headline or something like that which is totally useless as you then need to open the app to know what's going on. It goes against the concept of Live Tiles, I don't get it. On the other hand, on the Me tile the font size adapts to the text there is to display so it is possible, it's just Microsoft not giving access to devs, totally stupid.

link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lie much? For every tile on WP7 I have a widget. Left Widgets behind? What planet are you on?
Tiles offer absolutely no function, only partial information.
Mesh together? Nearly every app implements good tile practices? Sure they do, sure...
Sense is fat and not that good? However your other post perfectly describes Sense.
But yeah
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.

LexusFman said:
Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, the animation of the People tile has seemed pretty useless. There doesn't seem to be any meaning behind what people are displayed and why. If there is, I haven't seen it. I love the People Hub, but the Tile just doesn't provide much value to me.
To me, I would much rather have settings to determine which people would show on the tile. Then disappear once acknowledged, like the email indicators. So, if a contact updates Facebook, I may want to see it. But, I don't care if most of my contacts update things. So, in an ideal world a persons picture would only appear if they had updated something. Then it would be hidden and remain hidden once I acknowledged it. Then if something else would be updated, it would appear. And the users this would apply to would be set by me.
Effectively the animation of the People Tile just seems like noise.
Animation for the sake of animation is just distracting and consumes additional power.

I want the ability to control the app from the tile itself. Kind of like toggle switches.

Hardware limitations
Hi all
I think that some of the limitations on Live tiles are due to hardware considerations. Regular live tiles are limited to one background update per 30 minutes. This is because MS is keen to maintain performance and battery life. I think that as hardware improves, particularly mobile processors, we will see live tile functionality expand.
Cheers
andrew-in-woking

[APP][TRIAL] DeskBar Launcher will replace your soft buttons and more!

Hello!
I'm an Android developer and I almost finished a new app called Deskbar Launcher.
I created it for many reasons. First I was fed up by the look of the system bar with Home/Back/Recent Apps and the huge waste of space it makes. Like many others I tried alternative solutions like HideBar and the likes but then I looked at my laptop and at its ribbon bar which I use all the time and I thought it would be a good idea to have something similar on Android.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Download links are now in the new thread here. If you have any comments, suggestions or problems, please report there. Thanks
Features :
-can replace your soft buttons (sadly Back button needs root, after lots of search I don't think it is possible otherwise)
-add shortcuts to your favorite apps on the bar
-music controllers to go to pause/go to next/previous song in any apps
-volume controllers
-lock button to minimize accidental input of your bar and soft buttons
-access all your apps in StartMenu as well as categories such as Pictures, Music, Settings, etc.
-(experimental)(ROOT)fullscreen mode.
Future features:
-Folders
-Themes
-Reboot button for root users
-etc
I developed it mainly on Nexus7, that's why I post here before releasing it on the Play Store. It is a Trial version of 10days and when you launch it you need internet access for verification, after it's not necessary except if you reload it. A licence key will soon be available.
There might be some bugs!
Questions
Q:I don't have Root and not having a back button is not possible for me, it seems I can't use your app.
Q:I already got rid of my system bar, it will cover screen content so it's not usable for me too.
A: You can! Deskbar Launcher has an autohide feature so you can still access your back button. Bring it up only when it's needed!
Q: I have one bar for soft buttons and notifications (no status bar on top) . Your app will cover the notification part and I won't be able to access my notifications
A. There is a setting especially for that so the Deskbar takes only half your device's width, in the future the width of Deskbar might be more customizable.
Q : Can I use it on my other tablet/phone ?
A. Yes! It is theoretically compatible with all 2.2 or + Android devices! There might be some problems on specific rom or with some manufacturers. Please report to me in this case.

i'll try and report,i haven't mean exactly what does (using it is more intuitive!)
thanks for now mate!

Will be testing this for sure!
Edit
Light usage so far
Pros:
- Quick easy access to your music, photos, and documents
- Completely changes look and feel of the bottom nav bar without need for root or new ROM
- can view and switch to apps of your choice quickly with out exiting current app
- in-depth settings with good amount of customization
- work around for non-rooted users
Cons:
- visual appeal isn't appealing( to me at least)
- nav buttons feel a little too close together
- cannot change the color of the bar
- auto hide feature needs work as it seems finicky
What I would like to see:
- short cuts to user defined app in menu
- options to change colors
- quick toggles in menu (WiFi, Bluetooth, etc...)
Other then that I really like it and its a good change. Will love to see the advancement of this project later down the road! Great work indeed!
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Thanks for your feedback!
About suggestions and bad points:
-Yeah visual appeal is kind of generic, I'm not the best at design/art . Themes should give a workaround for those who don't like it in one of the next updates. (By the way there was a bug with the start button not showing the glowing icon when start menu was displaying . It's fixed in the new version, it's the same download link, uninstall is needed if you have the previous version.
-I plan on adding a setting to have custom distance between buttons because on some device space is precious and on others there's plenty of it.
-Themes should also address this issue
-Not sure what you mean by this, I admit it's not ideal because there's no animation, it just goes down after a 3seconds delay. I will add a smooth movement option in the future.
-user-defined shortcuts in menu is planned, as well as folders containing app shortcuts
-I'll try to add Theming fast
-Quick Toggles is indeed interesting, I'll think of ways to add it in the Menu.

Awesome! I see this as being a good hit
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

This damn thing is INTUITIVE. Seriously, I love the feel of it and it really looks quite nice on my N7. Cheers for letting us try this, I think its a really good fit and shows promise of something in the future. Killjoy question: what will the licensing price new?

Im really loving this! I do have have more thing that I would like to see added and that would be having resizeable options for the menu its self. More so users can choose exactly how many pixels the pull up menu actually takes up. I'm also picky like that though.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Very minor complaint: after about an hour of use, it starts to feel a bit sluggish. That is, I'll tap on home, back it recent and it'll take about a second to respond. I rebooted my tablet and suddenly I got my groove back. Maybe it's a memory issue? Just thought I'd chime in, I'm really enjoying this mod!

Love it so far!
Two little things:
-ability to change icons/icon sets of shortcuts
-expanded version of the menu to see more apps at once
Thanks

Sharpen3d said:
Killjoy question: what will the licensing price new?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. 2.49 probably.
Sharpen3d said:
Very minor complaint: after about an hour of use, it starts to feel a bit sluggish. That is, I'll tap on home, back it recent and it'll take about a second to respond. I rebooted my tablet and suddenly I got my groove back. Maybe it's a memory issue? Just thought I'd chime in, I'm really enjoying this mod!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll need more info on this one, I did not encounter this problem. Was it only the soft buttons ? Did the other buttons (shortcuts, music, startbutton) worked correctly ? Did you add a lot of shortcuts ?
soloman56 said:
Love it so far!
Two little things:
-ability to change icons/icon sets of shortcuts
-expanded version of the menu to see more apps at once
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First is already in the works. For the second one maybe the default size is not big enough ?

Lots of force close on my device, Samsung Showcase. Like the idea though.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

PenguinxEnjoi said:
Lots of force close on my device, Samsung Showcase. Like the idea though.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello!
Can you tell me when it's happening and if it's after a precise action ? Could you use the CatLog app (or any similar one) to get me a crash report ? Thanks!
You might be low on memory and the system decide to stop the app to free some.

srelyt said:
I'll need more info on this one, I did not encounter this problem. Was it only the soft buttons ? Did the other buttons (shortcuts, music, startbutton) worked correctly ? Did you add a lot of shortcuts ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Music buttons worked great, as did the launcher button. No shortcuts added. I'm wondering if the error came from my rom or what, I'm running slim bean beta 2 with faux beta 14b01. Haven't had any issues since restarting, maybe it was a fluke?

New version uploaded which uses less memory and has a new welcome screen ( not so well done but I wanted one to have a link to the video tutorial I finished ).
Link updated in OP

Sharpen3d said:
Music buttons worked great, as did the launcher button. No shortcuts added. I'm wondering if the error came from my rom or what, I'm running slim bean beta 2 with faux beta 14b01. Haven't had any issues since restarting, maybe it was a fluke?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe, or it's the way to simulate virtual buttons that can sometimes go wrong, it's kind of a hack but there isn't really any alternative. It should work most of the time and as well as similar apps offering virtual buttons alternative.
I have to go, I'll be back tomorrow.
EDIT:I forgot to add if you already installed it, erase app data before uninstalling and installing the new one because the way data was saved as changed.

Greats Job, Please add volume button up/down on navigation bar, thanks

PenguinxEnjoi said:
Lots of force close on my device, Samsung Showcase. Like the idea though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found what it was, it concerned all devices with Android version under 3.0. It's fixed (new version in OP) except maybe for the "Switch App" button.
Could you test for me or someone else with a device on 2.2/2.3 ? Thanks
brium13 said:
Greats Job, Please add volume button up/down on navigation bar, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Added to the todo-list, I'll do it soon I think.

Re: [APP][BETA][TRIAL] DeskBar Launcher will replace your soft buttons and more!
As soon as I noticed the trail 10 days crap I uninstalled it. Sigh. Why can't people do things without money motivating them?
I can see if it was finished but its not even close.

Re: [APP][BETA][TRIAL] DeskBar Launcher will replace your soft buttons and more!
What a great idea. Please keep the 10 day trial available once its more refined, I will definitely try and probably buy.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Re: [APP][BETA][TRIAL] DeskBar Launcher will replace your soft buttons and more!
So far so good. I really like the idea and the way it works. I'll report back if I have any problems.
Sent from under your bed...

Question Bigger grid?

Just got the fold 4, it's my first fold. I don't really care for OneUI but it's the only thing that lets me properly configure the home screen when folded or unfolded. The only issue I haven't been able to overcome so far is the lack of home screen grids.
Best I'm getting right now is 5x6. I'm mostly ok with 5 columns although I would prefer 6, but only 6 rows it's painful! It's there any way to up this?
I grabbed good lock and installed home up, but they are disabled in there and cannot be changed.

Use folders. Every pixel you light is sucking energy and causing wear on the oleds.
Or use One Handed Operation plus, not sure how that will work on the fold.
I have over a dozen hidden touch or swipe shortcuts on this homepage, 4 are on the Digi Clock.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

You need to download good lock from the galaxy store. Then download home up module within good lock. There's TONS of customization options in good lock

erick161 said:
You need to download good lock from the galaxy store. Then download home up module within good lock. There's TONS of customization options in good lock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
God I can't thank you enough!!! Any other hidden gems like this one?

Smittyzz said:
God I can't thank you enough!!! Any other hidden gems like this one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem! I've used good lock for years...it's one of the most amazing hidden gems of samsung. Why they don't push that more is beyond me!
I haven't found many more. Then again...good lock covers almost all the bases IMO when it comes to tweaking the UI.

blackhawk said:
Use folders. Every pixel you light is sucking energy and causing wear on the oleds.
Or use One Handed Operation plus, not sure how that will work on the fold.
I have over a dozen hidden touch or swipe shortcuts on this homepage, 4 are on the Digi Clock.
View attachment 5698061
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm already using folders. One of my issues is a widget I've used for years looks absolutely terrible when it's as thick as it is. If I could increase the rows more it would get thinned out enough to look good.
erick161 said:
You need to download good lock from the galaxy store. Then download home up module within good lock. There's TONS of customization options in good lock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did already mention that i did this. The problem is the grid size is locked in the home up app.

PMad said:
I'm already using folders. One of my issues is a widget I've used for years looks absolutely terrible when it's as thick as it is. If I could increase the rows more it would get thinned out enough to look good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try resizing the widget or throw on the 2nd page.
One UI is a great launcher once you learn it's capabilities. It's the best one for Samsung's and it's rock solid stable. The Edge clipboard stores multiple copies, very useful. Much of the Samsung ecosystem is great but it has its quirks I like virtual navigation keys, hate swipe, no problem with Samsung. One Handed Operation plus lets you do a bunch of tricks too, including this. Useful when an app locks navigation.
DIGI Clock is slick, one of my favorite apps. I use as a launcher constantly. Very customizable clock too.

blackhawk said:
Try resizing the widget or throw on the 2nd page.
One UI is a great launcher once you learn it's capabilities. It's the best one for Samsung's and it's rock solid stable. The Edge clipboard stores multiple copies, very useful. Much of the Samsung ecosystem is great but it has its quirks I like virtual navigation keys, hate swipe, no problem with Samsung. One Handed Operation plus lets you do a bunch of tricks too, including this. Useful when an app locks navigation.
View attachment 5699461
DIGI Clock is slick, one of my favorite apps. I use as a launcher constantly. Very customizable clock too.
View attachment 5699447
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried resizing them but they wont go thinner than the rows themselves, which leaves them super thick. I'd like these widgets im using (there's 10 total, its the "Crypto Ticker Widget") to be roughly half the height they are, but its seeming like this is going to be impossible.
I understand the Samsung ecosystem, my household has always had Samsung phones, and im the tech guy so im always using them and learning them, but none of the methods i've found work for the Fold 4. I've attached a screenshot so you can see what i mean. I do have cover screen mirroring on so the unfolded phone's desktop is 2 separate desktop columns instead of one big one. I like this better and had even more issues when i didnt do it this way.

PMad said:
I've tried resizing them but they wont go thinner than the rows themselves, which leaves them super thick. I'd like these widgets im using (there's 10 total, its the "Crypto Ticker Widget") to be roughly half the height they are, but its seeming like this is going to be impossible.
I understand the Samsung ecosystem, my household has always had Samsung phones, and im the tech guy so im always using them and learning them, but none of the methods i've found work for the Fold 4. I've attached a screenshot so you can see what i mean. I do have cover screen mirroring on so the unfolded phone's desktop is 2 separate desktop columns instead of one big one. I like this better and had even more issues when i didnt do it this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn. That be slug ugly. No way you want that on your homepage. Throw on the 2nd page if you must have it. No other size widgets for it?
People over on Samsung forum might have more ideas for you.

blackhawk said:
Damn. That be slug ugly. No way you want that on your homepage. Throw on the 2nd page if you must have it. No other size widgets for it?
People over on Samsung forum might have more ideas for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah there's no other sizes. I've spent hours looking at other crypto widgets and none of them give me the features I want. I already have 5 pages of stuff, so I'm thinking I may just have to view it as a whole portfolio within an app instead, which really sucks.

PMad said:
Yeah there's no other sizes. I've spent hours looking at other crypto widgets and none of them give me the features I want. I already have 5 pages of stuff, so I'm thinking I may just have to view it as a whole portfolio within an app instead, which really sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That drive me nuts having that many pages, lol I'm bad enough with browser tabs. Strange they're displaying so badly; Samsung has a large share of the market.

blackhawk said:
That drive me nuts having that many pages, lol I'm bad enough with browser tabs. Strange they're displaying so badly; Samsung has a large share of the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree! I have one screen that I sit on most of the time. I usually swipe left to see my first list for the day (asking with a few other things like keep notes), and to the right for gaming and my calendar. This phone is different though... Since there's a lack of rows, now I have to use more pages. I guess it's time to either make my own fold launcher, or rethink my idea of a home screen haha. I think I'll go with the rethink. I'm tired of programming.

PMad said:
I completely agree! I have one screen that I sit on most of the time. I usually swipe left to see my first list for the day (asking with a few other things like keep notes), and to the right for gaming and my calendar. This phone is different though... Since there's a lack of rows, now I have to use more pages. I guess it's time to either make my own fold launcher, or rethink my idea of a home screen haha. I think I'll go with the rethink. I'm tired of programming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the homepage mostly. The folder are more inconvenient but save battery and display.
The shortcuts I use the most are on Digi Clock's quad switch or on the sides, One Handed Operation plus. The second page is a scratch page.
My biggest grip about Samsung is that the File Manager can't be set to sort by date photo was taken. Idiots.
Renumbering photos isn't easy either... and that will lead to problems. Canon's Zoom Browser or DPP sure by nice to have on Android...

PMad said:
I've tried resizing them but they wont go thinner than the rows themselves, which leaves them super thick. I'd like these widgets im using (there's 10 total, its the "Crypto Ticker Widget") to be roughly half the height they are, but its seeming like this is going to be impossible.
I understand the Samsung ecosystem, my household has always had Samsung phones, and im the tech guy so im always using them and learning them, but none of the methods i've found work for the Fold 4. I've attached a screenshot so you can see what i mean. I do have cover screen mirroring on so the unfolded phone's desktop is 2 separate desktop columns instead of one big one. I like this better and had even more issues when i didnt do it this way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like widgets but want them minimized check out pop widget.

What about Smart Widget feature built into One UI?

wes53177 said:
If you like widgets but want them minimized check out pop widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldnt find Pop Widget, but i did see Popup Widget 3, is that it?
Szadzik said:
What about Smart Widget feature built into One UI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did try this but it actually makes my widgets even taller! I like the idea but it doesnt work so well with stock/crypto widgets like this.

When you scroll down in the settings you can edit to any size.

Depending on the developer some of the Galaxy store icon packs may not display or respond to all setting options correctly. You need to test each; if one doesn't display correctly try another.