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Had my Touch Pro2 for about a week now, and I'm loving it (coming from a TyTN II) I've found a ROM I like, set it up the way I want it, and I'm very happy apart from a couple of little niggles. It's so fast and smooth compared to my old phone!! And the screen is gorgeous
Anyway, I've been a member of these fantastic forums for a long time now, and I don't ask many questions, since usually I can find the answers I am looking for (I like figuring things out for myself!) but I have searched and searched for an answer to these questions to no avail.
So, here goes:
1. Is there any way to disable the transparency of the task bar and soft key bar on the start menu? It annoys me having the background show through. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and don't like the fact that it's the ONLY place where it happens, I'd like a consistent experience Why on earth did Microsoft decide to do this? If it's going to be transparent then apply it everywhere! It looks a little weird since the ROM I am using (which is awesome, btw ) has custom task bar icons, and little squares show up around them when the task bar goes transparent. I guess I'm just being picky but if anyone knows a reg tweak or some other way of doing this that would be great!
2. Has anybody found any way to change tracks in WMP without taking the device out of your pocket? On my old phone, when using WMP's Toggle Screen feature, I could feel for and use the DPad in my pocket to change tracks and volume without the device waking up. On the TP2 I can change the volume using the volume keys but changing tracks causes it to wake up and go crazy in my pocket! (I've used advanced keyboard config to assign the windows key and back key to DPad left and right, since I find having both hardware and software buttons in WM6.5.X a little pointless). If I lock the phone, then the volume keys still work, which is very useful, but obviously non of the other keys do so no track changing.
I know there is a program that allows you to use the voice command button on the HTC headphones to change tracks on the HTC music tab, but I have to use custom headphones because my ears are a funny shape and normal headphones don't stay in xD Also I don't like the music tab, it seems slow and doesn't show all the album art properly. I actually like WMP, it's always worked fine for me, don't know why everyone hates it so much BTW I've disabled the standard 6.5 lockscreen and am just using the soft key unlock like in 6.1
Sorry for the epic long post and thanks in advance!
Hey, the title say it all. When gaming in galaxy nexus, does the soft button will disappear? Anyone of Galaxy nexus owner can answer me? It is kind of fun if disappear so that it can play with 1280x720 HD resolution and HDMI to TV with no letterbox.
As far as i know right now, no. But im thinking that can possibly be managed in the future.
I invented cyberspace. You're trespassing.
Unless some app developer figures out a way around it, no. The three possible states for the on-screen buttons are visible (which is typical), low-profile mode (reduced to three dots), and hidden (i.e. fullscreen). When the buttons are hidden, any user input (touching the screen, pushing the volume or power buttons, etc.) will make the buttons visible again. So at best, games on the GN will have the buttons be in low-profile mode, at least until there comes to be another solution to that
It isn't a built in feature in HC but there are apps in the market to hide them... I wonder if they work in ICS? If not, its only a matter of time.
G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV
player911 said:
It isn't a built in feature in HC but there are apps in the market to hide them... I wonder if they work in ICS? If not, its only a matter of time.
G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure you'll be able to hide the bar completely. With root access of course
Doesn't the Videoplayer and the Easteregg of ICS did it? For me it looked like that in some Videos so I think there should be a way to use the full screen without the buttons in ICS.
edit: There at second 15 you can ses what I mean. It goes to fullscreen and uses the area where the buttons where before for fullscreen too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHPhrhIpkE4
MysteriousDiary said:
Doesn't the Videoplayer and the Easteregg of ICS did it? For me it looked like that in some Videos so I think there should be a way to use the full screen without the buttons in ICS.
edit: There at second 15 you can ses what I mean. It goes to fullscreen and uses the area where the buttons where before for fullscreen too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHPhrhIpkE4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like hyperdude already said, the buttons will come back as soon as you touch the screen, so you can't hide it completely while playing games.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
What about Youtube full screen, in call, photo library and Browser, do the Soft B dissapear?
Thank you,
robrob777 said:
What about Youtube full screen, in call, photo library and Browser, do the Soft B dissapear?
Thank you,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that when you watch videos fullscreen (including Youtube) the soft buttons disappear. That's all I know at this point, considering I don't have a GN.
robrob777 said:
What about Youtube full screen, in call, photo library and Browser, do the Soft B dissapear?
Thank you,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouTube full screen: hidden
Photo gallery and in-call: discrete mode
Browser: stays on
Edit: It goes into discrete mode in call.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
_hyperdude said:
Unless some app developer figures out a way around it, no. The three possible states for the on-screen buttons are visible (which is typical), low-profile mode (reduced to three dots), and hidden (i.e. fullscreen). When the buttons are hidden, any user input (touching the screen, pushing the volume or power buttons, etc.) will make the buttons visible again. So at best, games on the GN will have the buttons be in low-profile mode, at least until there comes to be another solution to that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I figured a idea which make possible useful for 720p display for gaming especially HDMI to TV. That is when playing games the soft button will completely disappear but when you pause the game, the soft button will immediately pop out. This make useful when multitasking/home screen or others.
Does anyone agree with me ?
w1nter456 said:
Well, I figured a idea which make possible useful for 720p display for gaming especially HDMI to TV. That is when playing games the soft button will completely disappear but when you pause the game, the soft button will immediately pop out. This make useful when multitasking/home screen or others.
Does anyone agree with me ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android will never let an app decide when to show the navigation bar after it's been hidden - that's not good security. There's a reason why it's designed so that an app can only hide the navigation bar until the user interacts with the device.
A good solution to this problem has been proposed by some others: have the power button double as a navigation bar activator. Double tap the power button to hide the bar, double tap it again to bring it back up. This lets you hide the bar without relying on apps to determine when to show and hide it. It would be better if there were a dedicated button on the Galaxy Nexus for this, but alas there isn't.
The buttons do not hide when playing Shadow Gun and I find I exit to home screen during the middle of some frantic shooting. Tres Frustrating!
chandlerweb said:
The buttons do not hide when playing Shadow Gun and I find I exit to home screen during the middle of some frantic shooting. Tres Frustrating!
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Click to collapse
Argh, I was really hopeful that ICS would address this when I saw the virtual keys. This is one of the things that pissed me off the most about soft keys - they don't go well with games. Plus the extra screen space is awesome.
I hope cm9 will be able to address this.
---------- Post added at 08:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 AM ----------
Chirality said:
Android will never let an app decide when to show the navigation bar after it's been hidden - that's not good security. There's a reason why it's designed so that an app can only hide the navigation bar until the user interacts with the device.
A good solution to this problem has been proposed by some others: have the power button double as a navigation bar activator. Double tap the power button to hide the bar, double tap it again to bring it back up. This lets you hide the bar without relying on apps to determine when to show and hide it. It would be better if there were a dedicated button on the Galaxy Nexus for this, but alas there isn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think spamming the power button is a good solution - it's a physical button so it'll wear out if it's pressed so many times. I'd prefer to see a simple gesture, perhaps two fingers from bottom to top.
Wait, won't this screw up the dimensions/ratio/whatever you call it?
With the buttons present, wouldn't this make the games/content scrunched up (vertically)? That SUCKS
I do not own a Nexus but it's one of the phones im thinking about buying. So most of the time (except in youtube and video player) you actually don't have all of the 4.65 inch screen available to you for viewing your content? In your opinion how big is the screen when navigation buttons are available? 4.3, 4.4 inch?
br Zola
About 4.3.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Tnx.
br Zola
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.
Basically my HU is one capactive buttons but only for home, volume up/down, and back. They don't work all that great so I'm looking for a launcher perhaps can incorporate some custom buttons at the bottom or side of all screens sort of like the top bar w/ the home and back buttons. I'd like to put a navi, volume+/-, and a pandora button where I can easily switch apps without having to go back then to the app. Currently I'm using next launcher.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Dave
which head unit do you currently have?
This one
i was looking at one of those, what goes wrong with the buttons?
Nothing really it just seems the way I have my install it is hard to get an entire finger onto the button to activate it.
Dave
TT_Vert said:
Nothing really it just seems the way I have my install it is hard to get an entire finger onto the button to activate it.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh, I see how that could be a problem
Yeah it is behind a bezel so it looks flush but it eats up a bit of real estate since it the bezel on top of it is curved. I just hope I can find a launcher that has software buttons on the bottom.
Dave
TT_Vert said:
Yeah it is behind a bezel so it looks flush but it eats up a bit of real estate since it the bezel on top of it is curved. I just hope I can find a launcher that has software buttons on the bottom.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about a xposed module? I think Gravity box allows adding of pie controls.
Researching this now but can it be always there rather than triggered by touch?
I've played w/ pie and it isn't what I need. Really want perm. buttons down there that I can program. IE, volume up/down, navi, pandora, next, previous play. Even if it just shifted everything up a hair, i'll have to see if there is a launcher to do this.
Dave
TT_Vert said:
I've played w/ pie and it isn't what I need. Really want perm. buttons down there that I can program. IE, volume up/down, navi, pandora, next, previous play. Even if it just shifted everything up a hair, i'll have to see if there is a launcher to do this.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2270198 Not sure if it would work on our devices. I returned my unit with the capacitive buttons on the side and went with one that has actual push buttons so you can get property feedback from them.
I'm looking or one that will not float atop other apps but rather occupy a predefined amount of space and push up the apps. I would lose maybe 3/8" of screenspace but then I can access apps directly from thoese buttons. I found an app called auto hide softkeys which allows me to sort of customize a bar but i need to swipe up to activate it. I can only add volume up/down and apps but i cannot find a way to add buttons to pause or skip songs. I'm looking into that apps XML file now but I don't thinK i can edit it.
Dave
You can always try adding the line
Code:
qemu.hw.mainkeys=0
to the build.prop file, might not work since I think it is heavily dependent on the framework, but its meant to force the soft navigation bar by tell the ROM that there are no hardware buttons. I'm not sure you will be able to customize it fully the way you want. Does your car not have steering wheel controls?
Right but I also need to customize the navigation bar. I will try to modify that line and see. That app you linked me to is just like what I've been playing with and neither has the option to allow forward/next of audio.. Changing that line to 0 just messed up resolution and didn't actually make that bar permanent. Even if I have to swipe up it isn't a huge deal but I do need to find a way to get a next button.
TT_Vert said:
Right but I also need to customize the navigation bar. I will try to modify that line and see. That app you linked me to is just like what I've been playing with and neither has the option to allow forward/next of audio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The xposed module xposed additions allows you to remap the buttons, but I don't think you can add additional ones.
I think you will find you have an either or choice, either you can have a permanent navbar that you can't customize or you can have a floating 'widget' that you can customize.
jakejm79 said:
The xposed module xposed additions allows you to remap the buttons, but I don't think you can add additional ones.
I think you will find you have an either or choice, either you can have a permanent navbar that you can't customize or you can have a floating 'widget' that you can customize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps I can find a launcher that has this capability built in. Even the customized navbar doesn't allow me to skip to next song in pandora. Not a deal breaker but it'd be nice if I could find something that would display the navbar permanently even at the expense of a bit of screen space.
Dave