Removal of scrolling wallpapers... Why? Thoughts? - EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

So, I've noticed that in most if not all new Android builds, scrolling wallpapers have been removed... My first question is... Why!?! Second, does anyone have any thoughts on this? Or solutions to enable this feature manually?
Ribbett, Ribbett, BANG!
HTC EVO 4g

I hate that too. Mostly, I hate that if you lose scrolling wallpapers, you can't use a 480x800 image for your wallpaper. It still will only let you use 960x800, so you can't even see half of the image you're trying to use.

I wonder if there is a way to use a command line or something to enable scrolling wallpapers, I think it makes the home screens look a lot nicer. Especially in Roms with scrolling wallpapers that the lockscreen displays the last part of the homescreen/wallpaper you were viewing.
Ribbett, Ribbett, BANG!
EVO 4g

I found the only way to do this is install some kind of launcher,like ADW,which allows scrolling wallpaper.

My only problem with adding a launcher is that the ROM that I'm using is a little demanding when it comes to phone storage... that and I REALLY like the way it looks as is. I'm using the new WARM ROM, 340mbs if I'm correct...
Ribbett, Ribbett, BANG!
EVO 4g

If you're talking about ICS, scrolling wallpapers do work, but you have to change to a different launcher [at the time being]. Its still being worked on. There were just more important matters before scrolling wallpapers, like overall stability and the camera.

I'm talking about most new builds, I know the ICS builds are still alpha builds, so they don't count.
Ribbet, Ribbett, BANG!
EVO 4g

Related

[UPDATED] WP7 LATEST BUILD OS Walk-through Video [UPDATED with NYC 23/06/2010 Demo]

It looks to be coming along very nicely indeed. Seems much faster and smoother than the build shown at the MIX event some months ago...
http://www.clubic.com/smartphone/wi...remix-2010-premier-contact-windows-phone.html
UPDATED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cj7LPsd6M8
Looks slick
UPDATED 23/062010
This is the best video yet, which shows a nice example of the deep integration that can be found on WP7. Oh and its even faster, smoother and more responsive than the build shown above.
Nice video. It looks extremely smooth. Even as good as the iphone to me. I can't wait to get one in my hands.
Defiantly faster and has promise but I am not feeling the boxes. It makes the display look thrown together. With both Android and the iPhone providing more vibrant today screens I hope the final release version allows for background images, transparency on tiles and program shortcuts and things of that nature.
Jokes On You said:
Defiantly faster and has promise but I am not feeling the boxes. It makes the display look thrown together. With both Android and the iPhone providing more vibrant today screens I hope the final release version allows for background images, transparency on tiles and program shortcuts and things of that nature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
possibily more vibrant, but the live tiles brings more usefulness to the wp7 homescreen.
More usefulness than the iPhone springboard maybe, but certainly a lot less usefulness than the Android homescreen.
And I'm not even sure whether it's more user friendly than the iPhone, because you only get to see 8 tiles without scrolling. With most applications only being representated by icons and not displaying any information, this is a huge waste of space. Normal application icons should only be as big as one quarter of a tile, instead of taking one eighth of the whole home screen.
The Android home screen clearly is a much better concept, with the ability to mix icons and widgets, so that every element on the home screen only takes as much space as it needs.
gom99 said:
possibily more vibrant, but the live tiles brings more usefulness to the wp7 homescreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the current market this can be a detriment to windows. You cant give functionality and usefulness lessons in a 15 second commercial so what the users see must be something that grips them and doesn't let go. I personally dont think this homescreen does that.
shaundalglish said:
More usefulness than the iPhone springboard maybe, but certainly a lot less usefulness than the Android homescreen.
And I'm not even sure whether it's more user friendly than the iPhone, because you only get to see 8 tiles without scrolling. With most applications only being representated by icons and not displaying any information, this is a huge waste of space. Normal application icons should only be as big as one quarter of a tile, instead of taking one eighth of the whole home screen.
The Android home screen clearly is a much better concept, with the ability to mix icons and widgets, so that every element on the home screen only takes as much space as it needs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That Android method sounds like it can lead to a "cluttered" look if all items would vary in size. I haven't used Android so I dont know its functionality but I definitely agree that the WP7 functionality can be improved.
Well, there is a grid (4x4), the items can't take any size and position.
Also, whether it looks "cluttered" is up to you. If you like, you can place icons only, like on the iPhone, to have it look that clean, or you can arrange icons and widgets in a pattern, or you can mix them... you're free to customize it any way you like.
I agree that the tiles could result in cleaner look, which is good, but not at the expense of functionality. Unfortunately, developers can't choose what size their applications should be on the home screen (the choice between an icon that's a quarter of a tile, a whole tile or a double-wide tile would make sense).
Again, I'm a fan of clean looks, symmetry and not too many colors, but that must not come at the expense of functionality.
shaundalglish said:
I agree that the tiles could result in cleaner look, which is good, but not at the expense of functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say functionality what do you mean? What functionality does the WP7 screen offer that the others don't?
That's the issue. It does have a cleaner look, but lacks functionality that would make it more user friendly, like e.g. Android's home screen. I think the clean look should not come at the expense of functionality. They must think of ways to have both, e.g. making icon-only tiles smaller and allowing developers to choose from different sizes.
I hate the style of WP7 i prefer android or windows mobile 6 series
Well that's a matter of taste. I'm a fan of "clean" looks. Nevertheless, user friendliness and functionality are more important and WP7 unfortunately lacks both. The Android home screen is much more user friendly/functional.
I love the clean look of WP7.
Although, to me, iPhone OS may not have the "at a glance" info, it (and android) look way more polished to me.
That said, being able to choose the colour of tiles, a choice of background, and a choice of transparency for the tiles would probably help a great deal.
One more thing:
YESSS!! They've finally made the Internet Explorer tile icon white!!
It looks so much more in tune with the rest of the OS now.
looks good, I thing WP7 would be being awesome with a wheel like HTC Tilt or something similar. Would make things so much easier scrolling about the screen so you don't always have to touch the screen to do what needs to be done
~style1~
I wish that guy would keep his hand still! lol. It gets very distracting!
I see the tile background for pictures and the music and video are different on this guys phone. So that leads me to believe that we'll at least be able to customise those
I think the blank spaces (where a user removes a tile) are strange though. I would have expected that the tiles below would shift up to fill the space cos it just looks odd.
Casey
P.S. Need to brush up on my French!
Casey_boy said:
I wish that guy would keep his hand still! lol. It gets very distracting!
I see the tile background for pictures and the music and video are different on this guys phone. So that leads me to believe that we'll at least be able to customise those
I think the blank spaces (where a user removes a tile) are strange though. I would have expected that the tiles below would shift up to fill the space cos it just looks odd.
Casey
P.S. Need to brush up on my French!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those tiles actually show you the last image shown/last song played.
Btw, being a french speaking guy, the developer of the game said that it will be ready for a "October" launch...
Dunno the validity of that date though...
I can't watch this video. That guy's right hand is driving me insane.
weird people about, forget the guys hand. a lot of people are physical speakers that naturally make gestures as they speak. its hardly even worth commenting on being this is a thread about the phone and all
~style~
style1 said:
weird people about, forget the guys hand. a lot of people are physical speakers that naturally make gestures as they speak. its hardly even worth commenting on being this is a thread about the phone and all
~style~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you'd be surprised. I'm not criticizing what he is doing. I understand a lot of people do that. But it's literally making me uncomfortable and borderline nauseous. No kidding.
shaundalglish said:
Well that's a matter of taste. I'm a fan of "clean" looks. Nevertheless, user friendliness and functionality are more important and WP7 unfortunately lacks both. The Android home screen is much more user friendly/functional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find the UI very functional and user friendly. Its clean, fluid, fast and the idea of grouping 3 different apps into a single hub is brilliant. With this idea, the 8 hubs could actually give you access to 24 different applications.
I currently own a HTC Desire and to watch a video i have to go into an app for it, then to play music its another app and then the radio is another app. On WP7 its all in one place, one hub, one icon instead of 3 and thats just one example of many possibilities.
I find Android home screens aren't very intuitive when it comes to arranging widgets/programs its extremely clunky and can be very frustrating.
It's not one Icon instead of three. You have to ho into the hub, then into Zune or radio or... That's at least two clicks.
How many clicks until you're in an app in Android? Maximum two.
And instead of grouping apps into a hub, you can group them into a folder on Android. Or onto one homescreen (like a "music" screen, a "pictures" screen and so on). Or place widgets.
All the things in WP7, you can have them on Android, but better.
Tiles are like widgets, but widgets are better.
Hubs mean integration, but the integration posibilities on Android are much greater. You don't need Hubs, because Android already gives lots of integration possibilities, much more than WP7.
You can have information, shortcuts, favorites on your home screen, but you can have more on Android...

Wondering what Android 2.3.5 will bring us

Not sure if there is already another thread on this.
I think 2.3.5 improved network performance on the Nexus S - not sure if it will help with our network performance.
http://pocketnow.com/android/samsung-rolls-out-galaxy-s-ii-android-235-update
Sure, I'm looking forward to Ice Cream but it could be a while before we get that for our particular phones.
Taken from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1276872.
"Since there is a 2.3.5 leaked. There are lot of people asking for changes so Just wanted to make a thread keep to collective list.
Here is my take .....
Fonts are back to normal now. No more bold fonts.
Launcher now has circular scrolling on home screen n widget selection screen.
Sadly say bye bye to overscroll bounce and welcome bluish overscroll all over the place. Even in browser.
Better quadrant score almost 4000. For those who love benchmark.
Oveall faster than 2.3.4.
SIP support disabled.
No new GTalk. Sadly true.
Gallery UI is little change. There also you will see overacroll effect.
There is now noise reduction feature added when you call.
Reported by many users about Improved Sound Quality !!! . Its true !
When you set Vibration to Always, Icon remains in status bar even though ring volume is set !"
They have a tread going over there about all the changes people have noticed.
Thanks - hopefully they'll come out with an update for the Epic Touch 4G.
With the only real obstacle being CDMA, I think we'll get updates much quicker. Well, I hope anyway.

How to Change The Resolution of Your Phone / A Must if You Have Root!

So it has been mentioned throughout a lot of threads but I figured I would give a step by step and overview for the people who do not know about this or are unsure what it means and does. You must be rooted to use this.
When you compare our phones to a phone that has a qHD display you will see that the qHD display will have smaller text and will allow you to view more on the screen at one time then our WVGA screen allows. Well this is how you can even the playing field and view your phone like it was a qHD or even a 720p screen.
No more super large text like your phone was built for the blind. Also, a great feature if you use an alternate launcher you can set the screen to 5x5 or even 6x6 depending on the resolution you pick.
You will need the 2 apps from below.
First you need to install busybox. Download the app and then open it. From there it will ask you to install. Just choose okay for all the defaults and don't change anything.
https://market.android.com/details?...t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInN0ZXJpY3Nvbi5idXN5Ym94Il0.
Next app is lcd resolution. This is where you change the resolution.
https://market.android.com/details?...NvbS53ZW1vYnMuYW5kcm9pZC5sY2RyZXNvbHV0aW9uIl0.
There are 2 settings I use, 200 which is almost identical to qhd. qHD is 960x540 and the app allows you to set it at 960x576. You can also set it at 160 which is 720p. You can use all the settings in-between as well but I stick to these 2. You can do your own testing and see what works best for you. Make sure when testing that you do not click save on boot in case your Rom does not play nice with that resolution. I have found that 200 works almost everything but 160 can be a little more tricky, especially with certain themes. You top bar will be all blurry. A reset will put you back to stock if your Rom does not like the resolution as long as you did not click set on boot.
By doing this hack, TW launcher will not play nice so you must use an alternative. All other launchers will work. The stock dialer will also not work. You can use Go contacts, dialer one or Ex Dialer. They all look and function great. You will also need an alternate calendar and calculator app. Their are a ton to choose from.
When setting your system to 200, you might encounter an error message saying certain apps are not compatible with your phone in the market. This is because this setting while close to qhd is not exactly the same resolution so the market app does not think is is compatible as it is not a standard resolution. There are 2 ways around this. You can install the app through Amazon market as it does not know the resolution you are running on your phone or you can switch back to stock (240) then clear market data and you can download the app. Then switch back to 200. This won't happen with every app as a lot will still download when st to 200.
When running at 160 (720p) you will not have this issue in the market as this is a native resolution of Android and is recognized by every app.
I think that covers it all for now and I cannot imagine going back to a WVGA resolution as it looks sooooooo much better running at a near qhd res.
Below are 2 picks showing the difference. One is stock, one is set to 200 (qhd) and the other to 160 (720p).
Stock (240)
qHD (200)
720p (160)
I like 720p. Also, you can edit your build.prop manually and modify:
ro.sf.lcd_density=240
Does anyone know how to modify a theme to make it work with this?
bertm13 said:
I like 720p. Also, you can edit your build.prop manually and modify:
ro.sf.lcd_density=240
Does anyone know how to modify a theme to make it work with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah TW theme built for 720p setting would be a keeper.
bertm13 said:
I like 720p. Also, you can edit your build.prop manually and modify:
ro.sf.lcd_density=240
Does anyone know how to modify a theme to make it work with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That works as well but the app makes it much quicker to jump between resolutions then having to edit the file.
When i changed it with LCD density the resolution changed but there was lots of space under the home screen # indicator, can you do a shot of your home screen and wallpaper to see what it looks like?
xlGmanlx said:
When i changed it with LCD density the resolution changed but there was lots of space under the home screen # indicator, can you do a shot of your home screen and wallpaper to see what it looks like?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can't use Touchwiz. Need another launcher, and dialer. On some roms the camera and music apps break too if you go too low (like 720p), likely others.
I am confused, if the resolution can be improved via software, then how come the manufacturers are not doing it, what is the catch?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
kingsway8605 said:
I am confused, if the resolution can be improved via software, then how come the manufacturers are not doing it, what is the catch?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to take issue with OP's terminology but decided to not be 'that guy'...
...but here we are.
This doesn't actually change the resolution of the panel at all. You always have the same amount of pixels. Period. All this does is scale the UI. at a screen density of 160 our screen will display things at the size that a 720p screen of identical size would display them. However we lose detail on fonts whereas a 720p screen would have the same amount of detail at 160 as we would at 240....roughly. If you can live with smaller and slightly blocky fonts, go for it.
I can. It's awesome.
another confusing but interesting tidbit: LCD Pixels are made up of red green and blue subpixels. Our panel and the 720p Galaxy Nexus panel have an identical amount of subpixels. But the 720p panel achieves a higher resolution by using less subpixels for each pixel. That is why it is said to have a "pentile" display, as each pixel is composed an arrangement of 5 sub-pixels whereas we have 12 sub-pixels for each pixel. This also explains why 800x480 (WVGA) "pentile" panels look like crap...err...ahem...receive so much criticism. (See: motorola displays)
EDIT: Also, more sub-pixels per pixel means better 'sub-pixel hinting'...which is an effect used to enhance text on LCD panels. The fact that we have so many sub-pixels is probably the only reason why we can pull this off. Of course I'm assuming that android takes advantage of subpixels.
Just a reminder to everyone to nandroid before doing anything like this;
My phone won't boot after doing this. I can get into CWM, but anytime I try to reboot it gets stuck in a loop at the Sprint / 4g animation. I suspect it has something to do with busybox installation but who knows.
I did NOT have the "Set on Boot" selected in the LCD density app. I think I already had busybox support... maybe trying to install the market busybox app borked something.
Anyhoo... always do a nandroid, kids!
As Dan mentioned, it does not actually change the resolution in the true sense but for the purpose of this thread I didn't get into that detail.
I think our screens look 10x better then the Evo 3d and the photon screens when our screens are set to WVGA compared to their qhd display. This only makes it better. With a screen this large it only makes sense to shrink things down to get more on the screen.
Now the Galaxy Nexus screen, I am expecting that to be a killer screen.
Ok thanks, it was leaving like choke real estate under the page number on the screens, I actually like Touchwiz but thanks for the heads up
daneurysm said:
you can't use Touchwiz. Need another launcher, and dialer. On some roms the camera and music apps break too if you go too low (like 720p), likely others.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xlGmanlx said:
Ok thanks, it was leaving like choke real estate under the page number on the screens, I actually like Touchwiz but thanks for the heads up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think if we could yank touchwiz off of a Galaxy Note it would do 720p (160) and if not whatever the density setting is on the Galaxy Note would make it fit perfectly.
As far as I've seen, touchwiz isn't ingrained in Android at all. I could be wrong, but, it seems like just a launcher. It's nothing like Sense which has it's big fat tentacles way up Android's ass.
...though I'm not a fan of Touchwiz, so, it really doesn't bother me at all. It's not that I hate touchwiz--I was actually astonished to find how nice it was after all of the Sense-o-philes bashed the crap out of it--I just love me some Launcher Pro and/or ADWex, depending on the time of day....though every now and then I throw on Launcher7 for giggles.
I think you are right on all accounts. I actually like its styling (well with ICS + ICS Twist) but the fact that the launcher is hardware accelerated is too much to give up
daneurysm said:
I think if we could yank touchwiz off of a Galaxy Note it would do 720p (160) and if not whatever the density setting is on the Galaxy Note would make it fit perfectly.
As far as I've seen, touchwiz isn't ingrained in Android at all. I could be wrong, but, it seems like just a launcher. It's nothing like Sense which has it's big fat tentacles way up Android's ass.
...though I'm not a fan of Touchwiz, so, it really doesn't bother me at all. It's not that I hate touchwiz--I was actually astonished to find how nice it was after all of the Sense-o-philes bashed the crap out of it--I just love me some Launcher Pro and/or ADWex, depending on the time of day....though every now and then I throw on Launcher7 for giggles.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
xlGmanlx said:
I think you are right on all accounts. I actually like its styling (well with ICS + ICS Twist) but the fact that the launcher is hardware accelerated is too much to give up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has this been verified? I stopped caring about it once I got LP/ADW up and running and it seems supernaturally smooth. Though I have to admit that the transition to the app drawer in TW is phenomenally smooth...aside from that, though, I don't really see it.
...and if only TW is hardware accelerated that must be via an API. Samsung proprietary? Considering the popularity of the SGS2 worldwide I'd imagine there would have to be another launcher that would take advantage of these hooks.
Honestly if we do, in fact, have hardware acceleration (and I believe we do) why wouldn't that be system wide? Once you go into settings you are out of the launcher and if anyone remembers Cupcake or Donut holy crap was that a painful experience for what was at the time super fast 528-800mhz phones (g1/hero and moment).
this is a great find I think, I really like the tight resolution, not too keen on having to change the type of launcher either
Has anyone noticed the jacked up notification on the notification bar?
And too bad there's not a way to make the dialer and home screens fit the screen now!
Thanks for the hint
Tried this at 160 using go launcher on starburst 1.9.8r with the beta ICS theme and it looked great except the status bar was screwed up. Do you think it might be the theme or rom?
psych2l said:
Tried this at 160 using go launcher on starburst 1.9.8r with the beta ICS theme and it looked great except the status bar was screwed up. Do you think it might be the theme or rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it a theme you added on to the Rom? If so, you can try it without the theme.
I am running Calk's 1.5a Rom and it works at 160 by itself, with the honey theme and the ICS mixup theme as well...
Tried it at 200 but didn't like how it screwed the dialer up and went back to 240.
tenaciousj said:
Tried it at 200 but didn't like how it screwed the dialer up and went back to 240.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download GoContacts, it comes with GoDialer. Both better than stock apps and free and work at any density.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Anyone figure out a way to replicate a true qHD resolution? Being that it is a little off you get the apps not compatible message in the market. If you were able to replicate the exact res like 720p does you would not get that message.

[conv] motion capabilities

hey all
i would just like to start a thread talking about the motion capabilities of our phone, commenting on them, and also thinking about new motion uses that may be able to be implemented into roms!
firstly, i love the motion features on the phone, i use the zooming very often in the gallery and browser. I never use the motion to switch icons from screen to screen, particularly because i only use 1 homescreen and i use ADW and i dont think it works with ADW.
one thing that bothers me is that the two finger motion zooming does not work when you are viewing images in the camera app, you HAVE to be in the gallery app. why when you click on the image icon in the camera app it brings you to a different viewer and not the gallery, is there anyway we can change this?
maybe it would be pretty cool to be able to switch pages in a program like Google Currents by quickly flicking the phone left or right from your wrist....any thoughts?
id like to see a feature like the incredible 2 has, that when your phone rings on a table, the volume of the ringer quiets as you lift it up. i would like this in addition to the flip mode, which is pretty friggin sweet too
what great ideas for motion features do all you have? and what do you think about the current useage of it?

Lockscreen Wallpaper Dark/Blue?

So, when I pick my own wallpaper for the lockscreen, which is a picture of my family, it shows on the lockscreen as fairly dark/blue-ish. However, when I use a wallpaper from the phone, like say, the live Earth one, it's totally fine. I've tried a few different pictures, all are the same. If I tap the screen it lightens up even. Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a way to fix it? The same pictures showed fine on my s7 edge.
They also show fine as a regular wallpaper FYI.
Seriously? No one else?
The lockscreen has a slight darkened filter over whatever image you put. Unlock and it's fine. I just tried with my own and Living Universe wallpapers, even the live Earth one. Looks like that's just the way it is.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

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