[Q] Screen shrink app? - Samsung Galaxy Nexus

I realize this will sound like sacrilege to many here, but I'm looking for an app that can be used to shrink the viewable portion of the screen.
Why?
There are certain times when I'm using the phone and don't need the full screen for the task at hand. Additionally, since the touchscreen extends so far to the edge of the device, there are times when I accidentally "press" the outer edges of the screen with the meaty portion of my thumb (i.e. holding the phone in my right hand, trying to tap something in the upper-left corner, my palm might hit the lower-right corner)
My further hope is that battery drain could be reduced while using this.
So does any app like this exist?
If not, would the creation of such an app be possible?
Is it possible to shrink what is being viewed to a smaller portion of the screen?
Is it possible to "turn off" touch functionality for certain areas (i.e. the outer edge) of the touchscreen, or is it all-or-none?

byrong said:
I realize this will sound like sacrilege to many here, but I'm looking for an app that can be used to shrink the viewable portion of the screen.
Why?
There are certain times when I'm using the phone and don't need the full screen for the task at hand. Additionally, since the touchscreen extends so far to the edge of the device, there are times when I accidentally "press" the outer edges of the screen with the meaty portion of my thumb (i.e. holding the phone in my right hand, trying to tap something in the upper-left corner, my palm might hit the lower-right corner)
My further hope is that battery drain could be reduced while using this.
So does any app like this exist?
If not, would the creation of such an app be possible?
Is it possible to shrink what is being viewed to a smaller portion of the screen?
Is it possible to "turn off" touch functionality for certain areas (i.e. the outer edge) of the touchscreen, or is it all-or-none?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know its possible to turn off the touch around the bezel, there is an app for it. Off top I cant remember what the name of it is, but I will check for you and get back.
EDIT: I believe this is the app I was thinking of. There may be another different one or two. I know there is one to do exactly what you are asking.. you set a screen area around the bezel to prevent accidental touches. Let me know if this app works for you.

Thanks for the heads up, WiredPirate. That thread also led me to find "Invisible Grip" and as you said, it blocks touches around the edges of the screen, and does work on my device. At some point I'll probably plunk down the $0.99 to get the Pro version, which allows setting the size of each border, etc.
I wonder if a resizing app already exists as well.

byrong said:
Thanks for the heads up, WiredPirate. That thread also led me to find "Invisible Grip" and as you said, it blocks touches around the edges of the screen, and does work on my device. At some point I'll probably plunk down the $0.99 to get the Pro version, which allows setting the size of each border, etc.
I wonder if a resizing app already exists as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know that a resizing app exists, I haven't seen one but that doesn't make it nonexistent. If I do stumble upon one in the future I will let you know. I know there is a resizable app for playing video, but that's much different than shrinking the screen.

Related

Zoom Bar Hacks Wanted

I'm assuming that the zoom bar is just an extension of the resistive touch screen beyond the visible screen, so what are the chances someone will make a program/hack that will let you use it for other functions, like a dpad and a mouse?
TD2 users already have it sort of working as a scroll wheel.
I've been watching the M900 on Pocketnow, and while I'm not swayed, the potential of the navigation functions of the biosensor do wow me. It'd be a welcome addition I think. I'm new to xda-dev, but whenever I've come across the name/link, it's always with effusive praise and admiration. I figure if anyone will, it will be someone here.
Bump for this one!!
As soon as I saw the zoom bar on the TD2 and TP2 and the limited functionality of usage only in messaging, web browsers and pictures, it just screamed hack hack hack
I was also thinking gestures like the Palm Pre...
ooooh... I'm intrigued! I'd like to see what some developers can put together for this. That would be a sweet feature to hack.
evojulz said:
As soon as I saw the zoom bar on the TD2 and TP2 and the limited functionality of usage only in messaging, web browsers and pictures, it just screamed hack hack hack
I was also thinking gestures like the Palm Pre...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. The zoom bar seemed like a good idea when I first read about it, given the multitouch zooming was a no go with the resistive screen. But then in the reviews, it just seemed so under-utilized.
I'd love to have a configuration utility that let you use it in different ways in different applications, kind of like some screen rotating apps let you set up rotation differently for different apps.
Or like the Jog Dial on the hermes. (only wished the TP2 had that, and it would have been perfect. One handed control of the device...). But it will have to be pretty precise, and it isn't yet.
If it can register touch pressure (tapping) I would like 2 see 4 sectors (up down left right)
quarintus said:
Or like the Jog Dial on the hermes. (only wished the TP2 had that, and it would have been perfect. One handed control of the device...). But it will have to be pretty precise, and it isn't yet.
If it can register touch pressure (tapping) I would like 2 see 4 sectors (up down left right)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
D2 Zoombar as buttons request asks for 3 buttons. Hopefully someone will do more.
Would LOVE to see 3 or 4 buttons on the zoom bar!!
(And maybe sliding button 1 to the right or button 4 to the left still means scrolling)
Bright.Light said:
Would LOVE to see 3 or 4 buttons on the zoom bar!!
(And maybe sliding button 1 to the right or button 4 to the left still means scrolling)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main screen can tell the difference between a press and a flick, so I imagine the zoom bar could have assigned buttons and still scroll.
Hi All
For my TP2, i'd really like to have Zoom Bar that zooms ....everything!!
I would like to just zoom the screen (any screen) to a larger size. I did kinda think (or at least hope) that it was what it was going to do anyway, not just zooming pictures, browser etc.
I would like the simple (??) funtion of being able to zoom any app, any screen, anything - to be able to read stuff maybe a little more easier.
I do use glasses for reading only and it is a real drag to have to get them out to read a text clearly, or see whose calling or just to get a better look in daylight etc.
A zoom 'anything' or 'any screen' would be really awesome and a supremely useful utilisation of something that is already there. Then you couild just drag the screen around to get to what you want to see better (yes, just like a picture, so basically i guess, the current screen becomes like a picture).
The other ideas of buttons, d pads and so on all sound great too, but this would probably benefit so many people get better use out of their devices.
I wonder if it can be done...????
Cheers and happy TP2ing.
Jabberoo
jabberoo said:
I would like to just zoom the screen (any screen) to a larger size. I did kinda think (or at least hope) that it was what it was going to do anyway, not just zooming pictures, browser etc.
I would like the simple (??) funtion of being able to zoom any app, any screen, anything - to be able to read stuff maybe a little more easier.
I do use glasses for reading only and it is a real drag to have to get them out to read a text clearly, or see whose calling or just to get a better look in daylight etc.
A zoom 'anything' or 'any screen' would be really awesome and a supremely useful utilisation of something that is already there. Then you couild just drag the screen around to get to what you want to see better (yes, just like a picture, so basically i guess, the current screen becomes like a picture).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably better than just magnifying the screen, for readability in text heavy apps at least, would be setting font sizes to the zoom bar--zoom up, Font Sizes get larger, zoom down, they get smaller. I think that might actually be enabled in some text apps already, but I'm not sure. The touchpad on my Acer Aspire One does this in some word processors.
For things like Caller ID, a screen magnifier would be needed. I'm guessing you'd need a resident program to be able to do this anywhere and everywhere.
Thx fortunz
All true, but wouldn't the simple 'magnify the whole screen' thing be a really (really) good thing to have - and logical too. Just an extension of the way it works for images. Just seems like something that it should do.
I did notice on the HTC Manila 2.5 demo video from Germany, in the Settings area, under 'Other', there was a setting for 'HTC Magnify'.
Uncertain of any further details, but it could be just what i am talking about, maybe!
Cheers to all
Jabberoo
jabberoo said:
Thx fortunz
All true, but wouldn't the simple 'magnify the whole screen' thing be a really (really) good thing to have - and logical too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't disagree at all.
zoom as scroll and on manila start screen not only inside
I just wish the zoom ball zommed in on pictures (going towards center of picture) rather than how it works in opera (the upper left corner)
Bump...
Anybody anything?
i would be interested to know if this is possible too.
I would luv the zoom bar to wash my car and mow the lawns for me... any chance?
....LOL....
Yeah, the zoom bar is really under-utilized. I often forget it's there and go to screen -> larger text to increase my fonts... Guess it's because it only works in a few apps. Without realizing, I've gone to settings -> screens before I realize I have a zoom bar...
Would love to see some gurus here hack this to a mini d-pad, or at least and up/down arrow. Currently, I have the vol up/down to do this using AEB.
i agree with all of these .. we need a genius programmer to make some kind of super aeb where you could have different button profiles and set a shortcut to profiles on the homescreen .. my perfect setup would be to have zoom be able to switch open applications and somehow map the back conference mute thing to play/pause in music player .. or have zoom button be able to switch songs for you (like with screen off/lock on) and hold for running applications list ... then have it all skinned pretty like some translucent palm pre thing .... lol .. just dreaming..
games
they can also utilize in racing games like as steering wheel instead of touching the screen

screen calibration

I have found a little problem.
The touch screen work good with a keyboard, but it has a little error with precision while drawing with a program like magicmarker or any others applications. On the left size of the screen the point i touch is not centered like on the right size.
Example :
- on right size the points i draw are perfectly in the middle of my finger
- on left size the points i draw are about 2-3 millimeters and the right of the middle of my finger
How can i fix it ?
hi there,
The desire has a capacative display, which works by measuring the capacitance change when you touch the screen, by way of the magnetic field of your body, this way the screen does not need calibrating because of the way it works.
Hope this helps.
im sure someone will correct me if im wrong
I tend to agree with the original post. I wondered earlier here if there is a way to align the screen (such as with WinMo). Especially when browsing I easily click the wrong links, I have carefully checked where my finger tip touches the area, but the wrong link etc is actioned. There is a way to somehow correct it for typing, but think thast all.... ??

[Q] The 4.65" AMOLED screen on Galaxy Nexus

I have switched from my Galaxy s2 to GN. I have few things not satisfy with the GN. First, the screen. I brought this phone, because it is 4.65", but the 3 buttons as the physical buttons, it appear all the time. These three buttons on home screen is fine, but it appear when web browsing, viewing document, photos....etc. it is the same size to g2. It is not true 4.65" it made me very unhappy. Why Google not design hide it when browsing, viewing docs, photos....etc. Second, the color not .good such as white, it seem to buff. If you compare g. Note. G.note much better. The os is slower than 2.3.6. Camera quality so bad. I really hope google will improve the above.
Soft keys disappear when watching a video, which is the only real time you need them to go (maybe a game as well).
If I want to see a photo full screen it goes on my PC
I think the soft keys are a brilliant idea. If the keys were to disappear when you're using the web browser, how would you get them back? ICS is faster than Gingerbread. There are a few little quirks with the GN but nothing is perfect at all.
Tbh, why didn't you look at reviews, both written and video.
Meaple said:
I think the soft keys are a brilliant idea. If the keys were to disappear when you're using the web browser, how would you get them back? ICS is faster than Gingerbread. There are a few little quirks with the GN but nothing is perfect at all.
Tbh, why didn't you look at reviews, both written and video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. How the hell would you navigate your phone if they were hidden during browsing?
The only few times I wish the black space of the keys would disappear is when playing a game or watching Flash video. If I'm using the full screen Flash player on a website, it should be as if I was watching a YouTube video. Not Google's problem as much as it is Adobe in this instance though.
I do enjoy the soft keys, but yes, I wish there was a way to make them "disappear" at certain times. For instance, while playing a game or a watching a video. I realize some apps such as 'MX Video Player' will go true fullscreen(as it was programmed to do so), but not all will as it's dependent upon the app. I think it would be cool if they added in a shortcut of sorts to make them disappear/re-appear. There's the screenshot VOL DOWN+PWR option, how about a VOL UP+PWR for the soft keys?
Google can make it hide when web browsing, gaming, viewing docs....etc. the softkey will appear again when you touch the screen. You also can return page. It should be better.
HTCHDHK said:
Google can make it hide when web browsing, gaming, viewing docs....etc. the softkey will appear again when you touch the screen. You also can return page. It should be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would hate the phone if this became a reality. I definitely do not want the softkeys disappearing/reappearing constantly. Say I wanted to navigate back on a web page, I would have to touch the screen once to bring up the buttons, then touch the back button - no thank you! I think Google has it worked out perfectly. They are there when you need them, and disappear when you don't (which, like stated above, is only necessary when watching videos).
These threads are getting really old...
I think a double or maybe triple tap function that hid the status bar and soft keys could be cool
Sent from my Google phone
ChongoDroid said:
I think a double or maybe triple tap function that hid the status bar and soft keys could be cool
Sent from my Google phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A swipe up from the edge. On my tablet I have an app that hides the bar when you touch the middle of it(I use it a lot)
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
HTCHDHK said:
I have switched from my Galaxy s2 to GN. I have few things not satisfy with the GN. First, the screen. I brought this phone, because it is 4.65", but the 3 buttons as the physical buttons, it appear all the time. These three buttons on home screen is fine, but it appear when web browsing, viewing document, photos....etc. it is the same size to g2. It is not true 4.65" it made me very unhappy. Why Google not design hide it when browsing, viewing docs, photos....etc. Second, the color not .good such as white, it seem to buff. If you compare g. Note. G.note much better. The os is slower than 2.3.6. Camera quality so bad. I really hope google will improve the above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you trying to tell me that the scren magically shrinks down 0.35 inches because of some on screen buttons?
The colors are supposed to be realistic, Google made it this way, the screen on the Note is over saturated, which many people prefer (including me), but it's not a problem at all.
I agree that it's kind of laggy in 4.0.1, but the new patch fixed it, so your point is invalid.
I would like a auto-hide bar option. Obviously there are people that would not like it and people that would, so it should be an option. Think of Windows taskbar. If you want it always there, it is, but if not, you just move your mouse to the bottom of the screen and there it is. A simple swipe up from the bottom of the screen (sortof the opposite of opening your notifications) would be perfect... for me. Then it could auto-hide after say 3 or 4 seconds or whatever they choose, or make it user-changeable. Not only would this give you slightly more screen real estate, it would also help protect the screen from burn-in.
I worried they would be annoying and take up space I wanted at first too. Now I'm never going back. You're just having a knee jerk reaction to the change....itll get better, don't worry.
I imagine it costs about the same for adding buttons ot having a slightly larger screen ...so why not the screen? Makes sense, right?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
If you haven't tried the Labs features under Browser > Settings > Labs i would highly recommend it.
First, you can enable the quick controls from Honeycomb that makes it so you have to swipe in from a screen edge to reveal browsing options (tabs, url bar, seetings etc)
Also you can enable Full Screen which still keeps the 3 buttons but ditches the Notifications bar.
It would be nice to have Home and Back options on the Quick Controls if it meant we could lose the 3 buttons, otherwise having to refit the page so the bar could popup would be annoying
HTCHDHK said:
I have switched from my Galaxy s2 to GN. I have few things not satisfy with the GN. First, the screen. I brought this phone, because it is 4.65", but the 3 buttons as the physical buttons, it appear all the time. These three buttons on home screen is fine, but it appear when web browsing, viewing document, photos....etc. it is the same size to g2. It is not true 4.65" it made me very unhappy. Why Google not design hide it when browsing, viewing docs, photos....etc. Second, the color not .good such as white, it seem to buff. If you compare g. Note. G.note much better. The os is slower than 2.3.6. Camera quality so bad. I really hope google will improve the above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a question?
I do agree when it comes to screen size. They advertise a 4.65 screen so you would THINK it would be bigger than a 4.3 or 4.5 screen but it really isn't PLUS the fonts and icons are so tiny due to the higher res. I knew it going in, but it is a bit of fudging specs in the advertising. "Usable space" 99% of the time isn't near 4.65".
Nokia n9 ftw.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Meaple said:
I think the soft keys are a brilliant idea. If the keys were to disappear when you're using the web browser, how would you get them back? ICS is faster than Gingerbread. There are a few little quirks with the GN but nothing is perfect at all.
Tbh, why didn't you look at reviews, both written and video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could make them reappear by using the proximity sensor.
I hate the soft buttons too, waste of screen space and people are already getting screen burn in problems.
I hope they get rid of them eventually and go back to hardware buttons.
Why are people complaining about this? Don't buy it if that's going to bug you. As for advertisement purposes, it is 4.65 inches. Period. Also, we are able to customize the buttons because it's part of the OS. Just like the rest of the screen.
As for font being too small.. there's a setting for that.
would that cause more burnt in on that area since it is always there?
how about that, keep 3 spots on the same position, while the background changed from black to the same web browser content,,,
should be cool and avoid burning the image on the amoled permanantly.

Different screen zoom/text size per screen?

Curious if there's a way to have different screen zoom and text sizes per screen. On the front.. obviously like it a little bigger. Opened, I like the screen zoom to small with a slightly smaller text size. Also the screen zoom changes some apps to tablet mode, not ideal for the small screen. Any ideas?
Wondering about this as well. I've yet to find anyway of doing this. At the moment, 'Medium' Zoom looks better for the outside screen but too big for the Inner. I've just set it to 'Small' as the best you can get for now. Any change in developer setting (to make even smaller) makes the outside screen practically unusable due to its tiny size.
yeah from what i understand, the text size setting is completely global which is unfortunate.
with their expensive team of "experts", you would wonder why this was such an oversight.
Iv noticed on small screen you can pinch to zoom which iv used a lot
Someone suggested on Reddit that you can use Tasker to create two different profile for open and closed state with separate dp… The downside is, it will have maybe half a sec delay when you open or close due to switching res...

Question Why would Samsung limit font size to be universal on front, and inside screen??

Am I missing something? I want a bigger font on outside and smaller on inside. I see no option for this. Wtf? Seems dumb.
I agree. I also want the font on the front keyboard to be bigger on the front screen. I haven't found a workaround.
Try using Bixby routines.
mezdroid said:
Try using Bixby routines.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Or Tasker.
Yeah I'm with you on this one front fonts are way to small
I played around with the minimum width numbers in developer options and adjusted the numbers to where i like them from with in the inner screen. I've noticed that when you go in the minimum width settings from the front screen the numbers are different then when u go in from the inside screen and if you try and adjust them from the front outer screen they won't stick they just default to there original numbers ?
Just tested with Bixby Routine but if doesn't work well. It often doesn't change as it is actually configured which is annoying.
Samsung will probably get around to enabling it latter...

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