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Would this be the case? I enjoy having good selection of ROMs with different looks
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Can't see why that would be the case, unless you're thinking about Gingerbread roms, which would make no sense.
FISKER_Q said:
Can't see why that would be the case, unless you're thinking about Gingerbread roms, which would make no sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know its a dumb question but would htc and samsung etc make phones with no buttons? I believe you can use ics with physical buttons as shown on nexus s.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
jay_993 said:
Would this be the case? I enjoy having good selection of ROMs with different looks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well why would you want a Gingerbread ROM ported to the Galaxy Nexus? That's the only way you'd have an issue.
Once custom ROMs are based on 4.0, it'll already have the hooks to run with on-screen buttons and not hardware buttons. That's part of ICS, not just this particular release.
Problem solved...
jay_993 said:
I know its a dumb question but would htc and samsung etc make phones with no buttons? I believe you can use ics with physical buttons as shown on nexus s.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but all ICS releases will be made for phones with no buttons, unless you're anticipating someone building ROMs on Android 2.3 for some reason.
Any custom ROM that comes out will be ICS based, so there's really no reason to worry. The ONLY one that might be in some trouble at first is MIUI, but I'm sure some intrepid dev out there will fix it.
SomeGuyDude said:
Yeah, but all ICS releases will be made for phones with no buttons, unless you're anticipating someone building ROMs on Android 2.3 for some reason.
Any custom ROM that comes out will be ICS based, so there's really no reason to worry. The ONLY one that might be in some trouble at first is MIUI, but I'm sure some intrepid dev out there will fix it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt ICS releases will assume phones have no buttons. The emulator in the SDK for ICS is still button-based. I think the ICS base software will be agnostic to the button arrangement, and then vendor-specific hardware drivers will then determine whether virtual buttons or physical buttons are used to interface with the OS.
Chirality said:
I doubt ICS releases will assume phones have no buttons. The emulator in the SDK for ICS is still button-based. I think the ICS base software will be agnostic to the button arrangement, and then vendor-specific hardware drivers will then determine whether virtual buttons or physical buttons are used to interface with the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well of course the emulator will be button based, as you can't touch the screen of your laptop
But yes, I get your point. The idea is the manufacturer chooses whether to use buttons or not. I think they'd be stupid to include buttons though, when the soft buttons will obviously make the experience much better.
jay_993 said:
Would this be the case? I enjoy having good selection of ROMs with different looks
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS will work if you have or don't have physical buttons.
http://gizmodo.com/5853298/will-your-android-phones-buttons-still-work-with-ice-cream-sandwich
I think the focus is ports such as MIUI... but either they'll include the hooks for the buttons or 3rd party controls... or custom launchers like the ICS launchers we have now.
Not to worry
G2x - 2.3.7 CM7
Transformer - 3.2 Revolver OC/UV
martonikaj said:
Well of course the emulator will be button based, as you can't touch the screen of your laptop
But yes, I get your point. The idea is the manufacturer chooses whether to use buttons or not. I think they'd be stupid to include buttons though, when the soft buttons will obviously make the experience much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You didn't really think through your point...
If you can't simulate touchscreen input on the emulator, how are you going to perform all those touch-based actions in Android on the emulator? Did you think that on the emulator, you press buttons to do everything?
The answer is that with the emulator, you use mouse presses to simulate touchscreen input. Which means that, if the softkeys are a standard, always-present part of ICS, then in the emulator for ICS those softkeys would be on the screen. However they are not, which means ICS works just fine with hardware buttons, and hides the softkeys when they are present.
Chirality said:
You didn't really think through your point...
If you can't simulate touchscreen input on the emulator, how are you going to perform all those touch-based actions in Android on the emulator? Did you think that on the emulator, you press buttons to do everything?
The answer is that with the emulator, you use mouse presses to simulate touchscreen input. Which means that, if the softkeys are a standard, always-present part of ICS, then in the emulator for ICS those softkeys would be on the screen. However they are not, which means ICS works just fine with hardware buttons, and hides the softkeys when they are present.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was making a joke about it. Easy tiger.
They're just simply running 4.0 in the old emulator so the emulator interface is the same whether you're running a 2.3 or 4.0 AVD.
martonikaj said:
I was making a joke about it. Easy tiger.
They're just simply running 4.0 in the old emulator so the emulator interface is the same whether you're running a 2.3 or 4.0 AVD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought you might have been making a joke, so I wasn't overly critical, but tone doesn't come across well over the web...
Sure, they reused the old emulator interface. But that already tells you everything you need to know. If ICS doesn't work with physical buttons, then they would either need to revamp the emulator, disable the physical buttons and put on-screen buttons on the emulator display, or just leave the physical buttons there, but they would do nothing and on-screen buttons would be displayed. The fact that the emulator works without change, already tells you that ICS supports physical buttons and can hide the on-screen buttons when they are not needed.
Chirality said:
I thought you might have been making a joke, so I wasn't overly critical, but tone doesn't come across well over the web...
Sure, they reused the old emulator interface. But that already tells you everything you need to know. If ICS doesn't work with physical buttons, then they would either need to revamp the emulator, disable the physical buttons and put on-screen buttons on the emulator display, or just leave the physical buttons there, but they would do nothing and on-screen buttons would be displayed. The fact that the emulator works without change, already tells you that ICS supports physical buttons and can hide the on-screen buttons when they are not needed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I'm 100% sure ICS is set up to work with either on-screen or hardware buttons. Its pretty well exemplified by the SDK ports of ICS running just fine on a Nexus S with hardware buttons, and the fact that manufacturers are saying old phones (pre GN) are getting ICS upgrades. I think Goog would be stupid to make it only work on all-screen phones.
All I was saying is that I think manufacturers would be dumb to make new phones with hardware buttons and ICS, as the software buttons work so much better. Just as we saw with honeycomb, a few tablets used a hardware home key or something like that, but most just used on-screen buttons.
Most likely we will see more phones with hardware based buttons in the future. The button-less design will be standard for high-end phones but on the smaller phones with smaller screens where the size of software buttons will take up to much space. I think that the option to use hardware buttons will stay as an options for years to come.
martonikaj said:
Oh I'm 100% sure ICS is set up to work with either on-screen or hardware buttons. Its pretty well exemplified by the SDK ports of ICS running just fine on a Nexus S with hardware buttons, and the fact that manufacturers are saying old phones (pre GN) are getting ICS upgrades. I think Goog would be stupid to make it only work on all-screen phones.
All I was saying is that I think manufacturers would be dumb to make new phones with hardware buttons and ICS, as the software buttons work so much better. Just as we saw with honeycomb, a few tablets used a hardware home key or something like that, but most just used on-screen buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How exactly do software buttons work better? I would much prefer hardware buttons with real tactile feedback because it's much harder to accidentally press them.
Chirality said:
How exactly do software buttons work better? I would much prefer hardware buttons with real tactile feedback because it's much harder to accidentally press them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well for one they're dynamic, meaning they can adapt to whatever changes in lighting, orientation, etc.
They can also be changed after the fact, for example if Google decides that there should be a search button instead of, or in addition to, the button(s), then they will adapt it on the software side.
Failure of the buttons is also dependant on the touch sensor failing, and not just wear and tear from the user, i know the trackball on my Nexus One was becoming increasingly frustrating because of that.
Lastly as for the con that it's easier to accidentally press, i disagree. I can't speak for Google's implementation, but there are a variety of software options to prevent stuff like that from happening.
For example the already existing capacative buttons cannot be activated unless you actually click on them, or atleast that's how it is on my phone, yes the touch required is otherwise light, but could likewise be adjusted in the software.
FISKER_Q said:
Well for one they're dynamic, meaning they can adapt to whatever changes in lighting, orientation, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are no advantages to this. If you have hardware buttons with real tactile feedback, you can press them in your pocket without looking at it. You don't need fancy virtual buttons that change icons and dim, all you need are real, physical buttons.
FISKER_Q said:
They can also be changed after the fact, for example if Google decides that there should be a search button instead of, or in addition to, the button(s), then they will adapt it on the software side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While this is a potential pro, the chances of this happening are slim to none. For this to work, Android would have to truly do away with physical buttons and make software buttons an integral part of the platform. Physical buttons and virtual buttons remain viable options for the platform, which means that the platform can't make changes to the button specification at will.
FISKER_Q said:
Failure of the buttons is also dependant on the touch sensor failing, and not just wear and tear from the user, i know the trackball on my Nexus One was becoming increasingly frustrating because of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to see some statistics to back up the claim that physical buttons fail before touchscreens do.
FISKER_Q said:
Lastly as for the con that it's easier to accidentally press, i disagree. I can't speak for Google's implementation, but there are a variety of software options to prevent stuff like that from happening.
For example the already existing capacative buttons cannot be activated unless you actually click on them, or atleast that's how it is on my phone, yes the touch required is otherwise light, but could likewise be adjusted in the software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchpanel makers have been trying for years to master the technology to prevent accidental presses, but none of them work as well as a real button that you have to depress to activate. I think if you were honest with yourself you'd agree with this, any reasonable person would.
Lil Jones said:
Most likely we will see more phones with hardware based buttons in the future. The button-less design will be standard for high-end phones but on the smaller phones with smaller screens where the size of software buttons will take up to much space. I think that the option to use hardware buttons will stay as an options for years to come.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if you're thinking this through. When you remove the hardware buttons, the screen gets larger. The net real-estate you have for screen+buttons stays the same, but now the buttons can change/move.
Chirality said:
How exactly do software buttons work better? I would much prefer hardware buttons with real tactile feedback because it's much harder to accidentally press them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you don't need the buttons (games, videos, camera, etc.) they go away. Leaving you with MORE screen then you had before.
Software buttons can dynamically change. They get brighter or dimmer with the screen, they rotate with the phone, and the buttons can change (add or remove menu button for legacy apps) depending on where in the OS you are.
Not to mention that with ICS software buttons, the positioning is standardized. No more rearranging of the buttons from android device to android device and manufacturer to manufacturer.
---------- Post added at 12:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 PM ----------
Chirality said:
There are no advantages to this. If you have hardware buttons with real tactile feedback, you can press them in your pocket without looking at it. You don't need fancy virtual buttons that change icons and dim, all you need are real, physical buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why do you need to press the home/menu/back/search buttons on your phone in your pocket?
While this is a potential pro, the chances of this happening are slim to none. For this to work, Android would have to truly do away with physical buttons and make software buttons an integral part of the platform. Physical buttons and virtual buttons remain viable options for the platform, which means that the platform can't make changes to the button specification at will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its pretty clear that ICS is moving Android towards a buttonless design. When the Nexus comes out with no physical buttons, I think they're sending a pretty serious message about what they want manufacturers to do and what Google sees as the future of Android.
martonikaj said:
When you don't need the buttons (games, videos, camera, etc.) they go away. Leaving you with MORE screen then you had before.
Software buttons can dynamically change. They get brighter or dimmer with the screen, they rotate with the phone, and the buttons can change (add or remove menu button for legacy apps) depending on where in the OS you are.
Not to mention that with ICS software buttons, the positioning is standardized. No more rearranging of the buttons from android device to android device and manufacturer to manufacturer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sense there is some conceptual confusion here. Both you and FISKER_Q said something about on-screen buttons being dynamic and can change with what the software is doing. Let's clarify things a bit.
We are actually talking about two different kinds of buttons here. The first kind are the button widgets displayed on the screen, they can have different appearances and functions and appear and disappear depending on what the software is doing. Let's call them dynamic buttons. The second kind are buttons that are always present and always do the same thing. Let's call them static buttons.
Obviously a touchscreen mobile device needs dynamic buttons, they are an integral part of the current UI paradigm. But does it need static buttons? Well...it needs at least one, the power button. Without it, you won't be able to turn the phone on. But does it need a second one? The answer is yes, it needs a home button. Without it you won't be able to return from a full screen application that wasn't designed with an exit function. This is why the iPhone has a giant button underneath the screen. And in fact, in ICS, the three virtual buttons only go away during video playback. They are still there, possibly dimmed, during any games or other apps. And this is only because the video playback app is a standard part of the OS, so it's safe to let that app hide the home button until a user taps the screen. Imagine if any app could hide the home button. Then you can write a malicious app that hides the home button and doesn't let you exit the app, forcing you to restart your phone.
So we established that a mobile device needs at least a second static button. Now the question becomes, given that you need this button to be always present and always doing the same thing, why make it into a dynamic, virtual button? Why do you need it to dim, change orientation, change function, move around? You want this button to be static, predictable, easy to locate. Users should be able to press this button without any graphic indicating what and where it is. This is why I said physical buttons can be pressed in your pocket without looking at it: not because you would ever need to do that, but because with a physical button, particularly as few as 1 to 3, they are so easy to locate and press that you don't even need any lights or graphics indicating where they are.
Obviously Android realizes the necessity of at least two static buttons, that's why they designed the home button to behave the way it does on ICS, where it is treated differently from other buttons. Now it is the decision of the Android designers to include not just one, but three static buttons as a standard part of the system. But here we are not concerned with this design choice, what we are concerned with is the fact that there needs to be at least one of these static buttons besides the power button, and the properties that these buttons must have. Given these properties, why should these static buttons be dynamic, be able to dim, be able to change orientation, be able to change function based on context? Why shouldn't they simply be physical buttons that can always be easily located, easily pressed, and difficult to trigger accidentally?
Chirality said:
Obviously a touchscreen mobile device needs dynamic buttons, they are an integral part of the current UI paradigm. But does it need static buttons? Well...it needs at least one, the power button. Without it, you won't be able to turn the phone on. But does it need a second one? The answer is yes, it needs a home button. Without it you won't be able to return from a full screen application that wasn't designed with an exit function. This is why the iPhone has a giant button underneath the screen. And in fact, in ICS, the three virtual buttons only go away during video playback. They are still there, possibly dimmed, during any games or other apps. And this is only because the video playback app is a standard part of the OS, so it's safe to let that app hide the home button until a user taps the screen. Imagine if any app could hide the home button. Then you can write a malicious app that hides the home button and doesn't let you exit the app, forcing you to restart your phone.
So we established that a mobile device needs at least a second static button. Now the question becomes, given that you need this button to be always present and always doing the same thing, why make it into a dynamic, virtual button? Why do you need it to dim, change orientation, change function, move around? You want this button to be static, predictable, easy to locate. Users should be able to press this button without any graphic indicating what and where it is. This is why I said physical buttons can be pressed in your pocket without looking at it: not because you would ever need to do that, but because with a physical button, particularly as few as 1 to 3, they are so easy to locate and press that you don't even need any lights or graphics indicating where they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, we didn't establish anything. You established that you think the phone needs a 2nd static button. And why? Because you're worried about malware taking over the buttons? You can write a malicious app now that disables your hardware home button (or any other button, for that matter) too. How is that ANY different? Just because its hardware doesn't mean that it doesn't link to software at some point. If you think about it, Android already has software buttons, they're just linked to hardware switches on the front of the phone....
Obviously Android realizes the necessity of at least two static buttons, that's why they designed the home button to behave the way it does on ICS, where it is treated differently from other buttons. Now it is the decision of the Android designers to include not just one, but three static buttons as a standard part of the system. But here we are not concerned with this design choice, what we are concerned with is the fact that there needs to be at least one of these static buttons besides the power button, and the properties that these buttons must have. Given these properties, why should these static buttons be dynamic, be able to dim, be able to change orientation, be able to change function based on context? Why shouldn't they simply be physical buttons that can always be easily located, easily pressed, and difficult to trigger accidentally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, android actually hasn't realized the necessity for at least 2 buttons. Its actually quite the opposite. They've gone from wanting 5 static buttons, to ICS+Galaxy Nexus only having 1, the power button. The home button will always be in the same place when you need it, it is just able to disappear in full-screen apps to allow them to use the full real estate of the phone's front panel (and not just movies. Books, games, web pages, etc.).
You make it sound like because the software buttons are able to rotate with the phone or fade out during watching a movie or reading a book that they won't come back when you need them in the exact same spot when you're done with the full-screen task. It is just as easy for a user to remember where a software button is as it is to know where a hardware button is. Software just brings more consistency across the platform, where software buttons will always be in the same spot.
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!
Click to expand...
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
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.
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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.
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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.
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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 !!
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If implemented properly, you might be able to do away with the bottom bar and take advantage of the full screen. You can't see it with the nexus browser, but if you have a tablet running ICS and enable browser quick controls, the app hides the tabs and address bar, instantly adding an inch of usable screen real estate at the top.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
The big nasty problem with having hidden buttons or, for that matter, any trigger point area(s) on the devices main screen is you'll always end up triggering something when you didn't want to or it interferes with a ui element in one or more apps e.g. game scroll bars / buttons. I've tried plenty and they all interfered with one app or another to the point I stopped using them.
The quick controls idea is fine but you're still having to watch what you're doing. The beauty of gestures in webOS was that you wouldn't have to take your eyes of what you were doing to find a button - your finger just flicked below the screen content while your eyes looked towards what you were going to do next.
I realise it's hard to imagine if you've never done it before but (weak analogy approaching...) think of it like walking up a thin and narrow set of steps as opposed to thick wide ones while trying to read a book. On the narrow steps you have to look down to hit the next step thus breaking the flow of your reading. While on the bigger wider ones you can carry on reading as the step is big enough your foot can find it without taking your eyes of your book.
Anyroad, IMHO, gestures need to be out of the way of app content so as not to interfere with app usage patterns and shouldn't require the user to take their eyes off what they're doing.
I love everything about the One series, wish they'd used software buttons like ICS is supposed to have.
e.g. on most legacy apps, we'll now have a whole bar just to show the menu button. Thus you have a row for the menu button, and below it another for the capacitive ones. With soft-keys, they get combined and you have more screen space.
Plus software can modify the button bar to put other details and buttons, change orientation etc. Soft-keys are simply better.
ECrispy said:
I love everything about the One series, wish they'd used software buttons like ICS is supposed to have.
e.g. on most legacy apps, we'll now have a whole bar just to show the menu button. Thus you have a row for the menu button, and below it another for the capacitive ones. With soft-keys, they get combined and you have more screen space.
Plus software can modify the button bar to put other details and buttons, change orientation etc. Soft-keys are simply better.
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Couldn't disagree more. Legacy apps will be updated over time; physical buttons don't need anywhere near as much power to backlight as an LCD display, and require essentially no processing power to operate. By placing the buttons on the screen, you're requiring an inefficient LCD backlight to light those buttons, wasting processing power on rendering the screen, and not to mention that since those on-screen buttons can't be disabled, you're permanently wasting valuable LCD real-estate (and hence forcing a non-standard screen aspect ratio, since LCD panels are an off-the-shelf part and aren't typically designed to add extra menu bar pixels to the standard aspect.)
This will in not too long provide a better aspect ratio and more on-screen real estate in well-coded apps, doesn't sacrifice any screen real estate over a screen that always has the menu bar because it lacks physical buttons, and it will measurably improve battery life over a display providing the same real estate for apps *plus* a full-time LCD menu bar.
It's a big win, as far as I'm concerned, that is largely misunderstood so far by people not thinking about the bigger picture.
Software buttons can be disabled for more screen real estate.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
joshnichols189 said:
Software buttons can be disabled for more screen real estate.
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They certainly can't in ICS on tablets, I must admit I haven't tried an ICS phone yet.
Of course they can be disabled, e.g in video playback they go away. And there are ICS api's developers can call to modify the buttons. There are custom rom's that features such as search button to the button bar, which isn't possible with hard buttons of course.
ECrispy said:
...e.g in video playback they go away...
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Don't know about on a phone but on a tablet they don't go away they are just replaced with very small dot. So the bar is still there and you still lose the screen space.
I really like hardware buttons, I don't like the "menu" bar but as you said this is for legacy apps so the pressure should be put on the app developers to update their apps inline with ICS.
Like said prev, hardware buttons give more screen, correct aspect ratios, use less power, and in the long run the menu button will become redundant.
ECrispy said:
Of course they can be disabled, e.g in video playback they go away. And there are ICS api's developers can call to modify the buttons. There are custom rom's that features such as search button to the button bar, which isn't possible with hard buttons of course.
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They certainly don't "go away" on ICS tablets. The bar is still there, the buttons are just replaced with less-distracting dots.
I love the physical touch buttons on the bottom, rather have them than touch screen ones anyday
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA
Google themselves have said that Android is moving in a direction where there should be no physical buttons. e.g. lets say Jellybean removes/adds a button, now some phones will need to be redesigned for it, just like they had to remove search & menu when moving to ICS. But a phone with software buttons doesn't need to change the hardware. It's more future proof.
I think this kind of change will take a while but eventually it will happen. There are still many people who prefer hw buttons and HTC wanted to accomodate them I guess.
I don't have an ICS tablet, I'd guess the reason is there is enough space on a tablet screen so they don't go away.
I prefer hardware buttons, BUT:
If using soft button means that the phone actually gets smaller,
i choose soft buttons.
ECrispy said:
But a phone with software buttons doesn't need to change the hardware. It's more future proof.
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Frankly, future-proofing is meaningless for as long as Google requires that end users go through a carrier and/or a manufacturer to get updates, and in the process guarantees that almost all Android products will be abandoned by the wayside before they've even stopped being sold (and the few that get updates will get them late, if ever.)
I just don't understand why they had to abandon the menu button, it was perfect...
I don't understand why we need a multitask button when you could just keep home pressed for the same result.
I didn't use a GN so won't comment on the software buttons much, I think it could really work if they added options for it in default ics so people who don't use custom roms and such could deal with them as they wish.
as for the menu bar on htc one.. it will eventually have a option to hide it (a V arrow on the bar)
it did in a previous software version but I guess they forgot to add it in the final build
and if you wanted it back all you had to do is keep multitask button pressed
@OP: drop by GNexus forum, there's quite some guys not happy with the screen size they loose with softbuttons. There's even an option on AKOP ROM to disable softbar.
I'm quite happy with hard buttons on One X, I just find stupid the solution HTC found to replace the menu button.
Disabling the soft buttons on the Galaxy Nexus is a commonly requested feature because tons of app developers haven't yet updated their apps to hide them while in full screen, not because of some half-baked idea that the loss of that extra 84 pixels of height somehow detracts from the user experience. Furthermore, the loss of screen real estate doesn't mean anything when 99% of the current apps are configured for the old 5:3 aspect ratio. Lots of old games look funky when you disable the soft buttons, because all the OS does is stretch it to fit.
Soft buttons are better because nobody can make up their minds on the design of the UI, so you might as well just leave it open to customization. Don't blame Google, blame the app developers.
HTC listened...
Maybe HTC listened to the majority of the HTC users and followed through with hardware buttons or maybe it is an HTC thing to keep hardware buttons as to Apple with their Home button.
I just want my search button back... that was perhaps the one (and only )good addition the US carriers made to their devices. IMO.
I can't find the article but an HTC executive was quoted as saying it's necessary to support Sense.
I'm happy they did it. The buttons on the galaxy nexus look like crap, the black isn't black enough to use it for passive buttons.
H-Cim said:
I'm happy they did it. The buttons on the galaxy nexus look like crap, the black isn't black enough to use it for passive buttons.
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The.majority of GN roms alow you to change both the brightness and colour of the on-screen buttons so that isn't an issue for most people. I actually prefer them, particularly as you can add or change the configuration of the buttons easily.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
This is the one thing that really annoys me about the One X!
Is it easy to fix and remove, will doing so (rooting) affect future OTA updates?
Any guides for it anywhere? Thanks in advance.
the problem is that remove it all together will make some apps unusable as sometimes you need the menu
I guess the best think would be to map the mutlitasking button to the Menu key instead, then remove the 3 dots
or make a floating 3 dot icon in the corner
somehow...
Me and another XDA member we talking about this yesterday. I'm wondering if it's because we have physical buttons vs the Gnex that has screen buttons. In addition, there is no physical "menu" button anymore (I'm coming from an Inspire 4G which had one) so they needed to put it somewhere for functionality. It also probably depends on the App. For example, Gapps like Google+ has the three dots in the top right corner of the screen with everything else. We'll just have to wait for app developers to adopt this idea since we don't have on screen buttons.
Dtguilds said:
This is the one thing that really annoys me about the One X!
Is it easy to fix and remove, will doing so (rooting) affect future OTA updates?
Any guides for it anywhere? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that it affects the OTA updates.When i wanted to update from 1.28 to 1.29 the 1.29 update kept stopping and i didn't know why.After i found an old 1.28 nandroid backup i've restored it and after that the 1.29 update worked.So i think that the OTA updates don't work if you have mods installed allready,so my advice is to make a nandroid backup of the stock rom without any mods on it in case the OTA doesn't work (like in my case).
I've used a fix found on these forums to remove the 3-dot menu and replace the "multitasking button" with a menu button. The phone has been a LOT more enjoyable for me now
Requires root though.
This has been discussed to death. You can modify it to disappear when a small arrow is clicked, you can kill it off and remap to the multitasking button with multitasking mapped to a long press. These require root and modification.
The menu button is indeed displayed because we have hard buttons, normally it would share the space with the back, home and recent apps.
The thing that worries me is that I'm not sure that app developers will make the change because on handsets without hard buttons (most of them) it doesn't seem out of place at all next to the back, home and recent apps buttons.
I have been talking to the writers of Dolphin browser about it and they do intend to integrate the menu function in to their UI. The best thing we can do is give apps low scores and reviews which mention the issue on our HOX's but even that may not get the devs to take it on.
It is a minor issue but an irritating one none the less. I actually wish we didn't have the hardware buttons, or, that we had a menu button, which clearly in NOT obsolete in ICS, that'd be a quick solution for everyone but we do, so we must hope the devs change their apps. I will root after a month or two if nothing is changing and remap to the recent apps button but that is the only temptation to root for me at the moment.
farnsbarns said:
I actually wish we didn't have the hardware buttons, or, that we had a menu button, which clearly in NOT obsolete in ICS, that'd be a quick solution for everyone but we do, so we must hope the devs change their apps.
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I couldn't agree more. I do prefer hardware buttons vs onscreen buttons but now I really see the pros to having on screen buttons and wish they became the norm for all ICS devices. More Fragmen... I can't bring myself to say it...
otakonx said:
Me and another XDA member we talking about this yesterday. I'm wondering if it's because we have physical buttons vs the Gnex that has screen buttons. In addition, there is no physical "menu" button anymore (I'm coming from an Inspire 4G which had one) so they needed to put it somewhere for functionality. It also probably depends on the App. For example, Gapps like Google+ has the three dots in the top right corner of the screen with everything else. We'll just have to wait for app developers to adopt this idea since we don't have on screen buttons.
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Click to collapse
In fact, we do have screen buttons. If you try and test your touchscreen (Developer Options in Settings), you can see that the lower part of the screen is also responsive to touch. Therefore, I assume I'd be possible to strap a small part of the lower bar with buttons, to a menu-button-function. You just can't see the button, but I'd be still there.
i don't mind the button at all....am i the only one?
yeah its annoying aswell.. although i do not want to root just yet.. only had HOX for a week.
So i take it, this affects off phone with hard buttons... and that the GSIII will be fine as they have a menu button instead of a back button? (if thats what i see in the screenshots)
So it really only the HTC ones that will look rubbish on.?
Dtguilds said:
This is the one thing that really annoys me about the One X!
Is it easy to fix and remove, will doing so (rooting) affect future OTA updates?
Any guides for it anywhere? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is ! wait till the app you are using becomes ICS truly compatible...
Yeah, I really don't see HTC's thinking here.
You have to understand that it's part of the ICS design style to have the 3 dot menu somewhere in your app. Those apps that pull up the black bar on the bottom like that, aren't designed properly for ICS.
However, HTC decided to go with hard buttons rather than using a full action bar all the time, but they decided to leave out the menu button, so now you get the silly action bar with just the 3 dot menu button on apps that aren't properly designed to the ICS standard. In a perfect world, everyone would upgrade their apps and this wouldn't be an issue. In a realistic world, HTC made a design decision that's sure to be obnoxious for quite a while to come.
I agree though, the best thing to do is write your app developers and ask them to upgrade their app to fit the ICS style guide with the 3 dot menu in the app somewhere so this doesn't have to pop up. Other than that, you can do some mods to get rid of it, change functionality, or be able to hide it, but all of those could result in loss of some kind of functionality of the phone.
even if the Design guide for ICS is to use the 3 dots and no Menu button... it still make no big deal to have a Menu button key as most of the time you want to go in to the program options, so the button as a quick way to it.
the multitask button is useless.. its just so pointless to have and could easily have been a long press on another button.
and a few times i have seen Youtube have the 3 dots at the bottom, usually i think when its launched from a link in the browser.
any ho.. very annoying and once thing too look forward to when rooted (although not for a long time yet)
kazgor said:
even if the Design guide for ICS is to use the 3 dots and no Menu button... it still make no big deal to have a Menu button key as most of the time you want to go in to the program options, so the button as a quick way to it.
the multitask button is useless.. its just so pointless to have and could easily have been a long press on another button.
and a few times i have seen Youtube have the 3 dots at the bottom, usually i think when its launched from a link in the browser.
any ho.. very annoying and once thing too look forward to when rooted (although not for a long time yet)
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I agree. I wish they'd just keep the 4 capacitive buttons. I don't want an action bar like on the GN, I definitely don't want an action bar JUST for the menu. If no one has done it by the time I get my phone, I may look into making the multitask button a menu button on click and multitask on long click. I think it's been replaced, but I don't think it's been replaced with a long press to still get to multitasking. I would like to keep that feature if at all possible since I've become to accustomed to it.
I wonder what will happen with all the 2.3 devices that get ICS later, will the also get the 3 dots + there hardware Menu button or no 3 dots?
kazgor said:
I wonder what will happen with all the 2.3 devices that get ICS later, will the also get the 3 dots + there hardware Menu button or no 3 dots?
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I think nearly all 2.3 devices have a hardware menu button, so they wouldn't get that.
I recommend that you root your phone, pick a custom rom and enjoy the HOX as it was meant to be.
Faster, smoother and no 3 dots.
The OTA updates are not an issue as all you need to do is revert to stock and flash an RUU to get the latest Radio and Hboot.
Then, reflash the custom rom again.
Voiding the HTC warranty is why I pay insurance.
Just my opinion
Just noticed this mod: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1582506
It does remap the recent apps, and to home which, honestly for me is a better spot since I'm used to Samsung devices that have the task manager mapped to home long press in pre-ICS versions and is the task switcher in ICS builds. Looks like the best solution to me. Didn't notice before that it did that. I'm still browsing around and seeing what you guys have done so far.
I don't know why people get their panties in a wad over this. The Galaxy Nexus has the same issue, only worse since that bottom bar is ALWAYS there. The SGS3 wont be the bees knees when in 6 months when its hardware menu button doesn't do anything in most apps.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
NO, the gal nex has a soft menu, so the 3 dots appears dynamically in the row of buttons and there is no extra screen taken up punching you in the face