Related
Is there an HTC widget available for brightness? I am usually on auto, but at times I need to change it. It is a lot of swipes to do so in the interface.
I know there are some in market, but all the ones I see dont work with the auto setting.
the Power widget will let you adjust brightness from auto>full>minimum.
Weather & Toggle Widgets has an awesome brightness widget.
SwitchPro has a nice configurable widget bar, I like it better than Powerstrip.
It does, cost .99 where Powerstrip is free, but you can always refund if you end up not liking it.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/alei.switchpro
edit: Powerstrip doesn't work with auto brightness anyway, SwitchPro does.
i use brigtness level widget. it's got a slider and predefined quick settings.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Will try them out.
GumboChief said:
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Will try them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not quite finished it but I've been editing a widget I got in the Market to match the style of the HTC ones. I'm a complete noob at the process so I've been going in circles but am nearly done. I'll be happy to send it to you when I'm done.
okolowicz said:
I'm not quite finished it but I've been editing a widget I got in the Market to match the style of the HTC ones. I'm a complete noob at the process so I've been going in circles but am nearly done. I'll be happy to send it to you when I'm done.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd love it if it could look like this:
GumboChief said:
I'd love it if it could look like this:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the basic design:
The images were the easy part. Getting them to show up on the home screen correctly has been a pain in the *ss. I've been tweaking the XML of a widget I got in the market but haven't yet perfected it. Schedule is prettyl light today so I am hoping to finish it tonight.
okolowicz said:
Here is the basic design:
The images were the easy part. Getting them to show up on the home screen correctly has been a pain in the *ss. I've been tweaking the XML of a widget I got in the market but haven't yet perfected it. Schedule is prettyl light today so I am hoping to finish it tonight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perfect look. What would the functionality be? Would the switch control auto-brightness?
How would one access the sliding scale?
I'm playing around with a widget that has five settings. Tapping the widget cycles through the different settings.
Ideally I'd like to have one with the same functionality of the Dazzle widget which has 4 settings including Auto as well as a sliding scale. If you know of a free brightness widget other than Dazzle with that functionality I'll give it a try. The Dazzle one looks to be a bit more difficult to edit.
Just to update you. I am making progress but not finished. I'm editing a widget with a sliding scale and that displays the current setting.
I've got the Widget to display at the right size but I am having trouble figuring out how to get a background to the label. It shouldn't be too hard to reposition the value setting so that it is centered in the widget at which point I'll redesign it to be cleaner. But, need to figure out the shadow first...
[/IMG]
Looks great. Can't wait to see the final product!
The value level number is killer
P.S. I kinda like the number right where it is
GumboChief said:
P.S. I kinda like the number right where it is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, if you put it that way
I got the spacing figured out for the text label (it was skewing to the left before). And, I changed the brightness icon from blue to gray because I thought there was too much blue if the value indicator is going to stay.
That said, there are still two issues I've yet to figure out:
1. I've yet to add the background behind the text label. This is not a big deal with dark wallpaper, as you can see in the pic. But, with lighter wallpaper it looks like sh*t (see earlier screenshot).
2. Because this is merely an edited Market App there is a good chance the Marketplace will still prompt for an update if there is one. I need to figure out how to remove whatever signature is there to prevent that.
Needless to say, I'm still working on it... But, since it is currently usable with a dark wallpaper, I've added a link so you can download and use it while I figure the rest out.
link removed (updated versions in later posts)
Will install now, and let you know what I think in the morning.
Thanks so much for the effort!
Also, with appbrain, it is easy to tell it "ignore market updates"
When an update is found, click on the X and it is an option.
Very quick feedback-
If auto is set in the HTC settings, it overrides the slider in about half a second.
If I turn off auto in HTC settings, then slider works as expected.
Is there a way to make this compatible with "auto"?
I use auto most of the time, except in the dark, when auto is still too bright.
Genius. Thanks for sharing. Works great!
PS A little blue in the center wouldn't be bad. Would go along with the other HTC Settings widgets better.
Either way though, this is a great little tool.
yeah I think this is awesome, cant wait to see how it goes with the little fixes you wanted.
Great job!
Playing with the Desire rom on my HTC HD2 and have hit some questions that I need to google for answers. I'm hoping for some help to see what normal is & what can be tweaked & so on.
- When my device is off and I get a sms page, I get a sound notification & a vibration - but the screen doesn't turn on. Is this normal or a bug in the way I am using the rom on my HD2?
- When I turn on the device, on the lock screen I see a bit of the missed page - but no way I can see to jump to the sms message. I can just unlock the phone & manually go see what it was. Would like a 1-step solution. This normal?
- The hardware buttons at the bottom of my device can light up (and do in Windows Mobile) but not running Droid. Once again, dunno if it's a bug in the way I'm using Droid or if the Desire simply doesn't have light up hardware buttons.
- I check a few web pages daily for WinMo news & new apps. Anyone have recommendations of must read Android web pages?
I know I had some others that I've forgotten already.
I will be researching these questions myself (as 3 kids 3 & under permit) & if I find answers I will post them myself. Thanks for your time.
First two are normal and you just need to slide down the notifications tray at the top to get to messages.
steve228uk said:
First two are normal and you just need to slide down the notifications tray at the top to get to messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Much better then trying to figure out a bug.
Good time for me to look into lock screen replacements. Any suggestions?
Edit:
Made this my research project of the night - going to test out WidgetLocker Lockscreen.
Program launcher question - I dislike the big list of programs all mixed together. I'd like to make a folder/subfolder structure so I click on the main button, then pick games (possibly then breaking it down into game types, etc).
Are their apps that replace the program launcher portion without replacing the whole home screen?
If not, how about a program that is just a stand alone launcher? IE - I run the program from a shortcut & get the feature I'm looking for?
Found one that does it perfectly - 'Folder Organizer'
Also like the WidgetLocker lockscreen. Love using the Photo Gallery widgets that cycle through pix every 30 minutes.
Little by little I'm getting there.
I took me a while to get used to it too but you have to adopt the homescreens for your favourite apps where you can have folders, icons, widgets, and shortcuts. I only ever dive into the app drawer for the odd app I rarely used but like Calculator.
If you click Menu > List it'll alphabetise it and you can scroll using the bar too!
Just want to give a couple of suggestions for sites to check out to keep up-to-date on Android news.
www.engadget.com - Sure, they cover a vast number of topics but I find that they report a lot of the top Android news as well. Plus, it's always good to stay informed with other tech stuff.
www.pocketnow.com - These guys used to be strictly a Windows Mobile site. But they've since expanded their coverage to include Android and Apple stuff. Lots of good videos on their youtube channel.
www.androidcentral.com - Strictly Android-only site. They give decent App recommendations from time to time.
Quick question - when I pull the power to my phone (say after charging @ night) - it turns on! Any setting to keep it from turning itself on when I pull the power out?
I've never had it turn on if it was off!
WP Screenshot
Latest PC version: 0.2 | Latest phone version: 0.3
** About:
This is another Windows Phone Mango screenshot tool that works a bit differently from other implementation(s). It sends screenshots over the network to a PC application, so that you can instantly show your phone's screen on your monitor or projector.
** Usage:
Start "WP Screenshot.exe" on your computer and make sure that port 50560 is open (or simply allow the application to access the network when Windows Firewall pops up).
Start "WP Screenshot" on your Windows Phone device, enter the IP address of your computer (use local IP in case of running both parts on the same local network) and tap "Connect and start".
Now, when you press any of the selected buttons, a screenshot should be sent to your PC (there you can do some neat things with it, try CTRL+H).
When you want to stop the background worker, simply open the application again and tap "Stop".
** Current issues/limitations:
There can be some annoying lag when there is bad WiFi coverage.
It won't capture screens from games (XNA) and videos.
** Requirements:
developer unlocked Windows Phone (to deploy the application)
.NET Framework 4 (you need this if the PC application won't start)
** New in version 0.3:
ability to use volume buttons for taking screenshots (phone)
** New in version 0.2:
toast notification after 5 minutes of inactivity (phone)
autosave mode - screenshots get automatically saved into a desired folder (PC)
ability to stretch screenshot to fit to current window size (PC)
The screen capturing part is based on "The DllImport project (by fiinix)".
I am looking forward to all the feedback and I'll do my best to fix and improve this application in the future.
Suggestion : Auto Save to folder so if I want to take multiple screenshoot quickly I dont have to come to my desktop every time.
Worked over my Samsung Focus. And Many many thanks for this.
Another suggestion will be to turn off the background process if its idle for too long. Good if people forget to turn it off
---------- Post added at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------
After playing for couple of hours now. The shortcut for the server app doesn't work all the time. I had to try sometimes like 2-3 times to get it working.
Nice app
Thankx a lot man !!
wpxbox said:
Another suggestion will be to turn off the background process if its idle for too long. Good if people forget to turn it off
---------- Post added at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------
After playing for couple of hours now. The shortcut for the server app doesn't work all the time. I had to try sometimes like 2-3 times to get it working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the suggestions, I'll include both in the next version.
About the shortcut... do you mean the hotkeys (CTRL+S,...) or something else? There can be some issues with detecting key combinations as you must hold down CTRL and then press AND release the other key while still holding CTRL down. I'll do my best to make this work as it should.
Yes the Hot keys aren't working properly. Also for the windows software,
1. The Window can be reduced in size.
2. You can set it sit in taskbar once auto save is included.
wpxbox said:
Yes the Hot keys aren't working properly. Also for the windows software,
1. The Window can be reduced in size.
2. You can set it sit in taskbar once auto save is included.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't get it to capture any screenshots on my HTC Titan. It connects, but half press of the camera button does nothing
link68759 said:
I can't get it to capture any screenshots on my HTC Titan. It connects, but half press of the camera button does nothing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it disconnect after pressing the camera button (does "Waiting for client...." appear?) or is there simply no picture on the PC?
Version 0.2 is here - autosave, inactivity notification.
My Suggestion.
1. Auto Save Location needs to configured everytime, not a good idea. We need settings page.
2. Notification should also disable the connection.
3. The Windows Size of the server software needs to be reduced. Takes much of screen
Rest works as stated. Thanks !!
Cool app ! I really like it.
A suggestion:
after taking a screenhot there should be a way to stop the capture process, maybe an automatic notification (stop capturing ? YES/NO).
contable said:
Cool app ! I really like it.
A suggestion:
after taking a screenhot there should be a way to stop the capture process, maybe an automatic notification (stop capturing ? YES/NO).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi contable, what's the application that you use to regroup "OEM" and "Homebrew" ?? ... it's Folders of Jaxbot ?
poloche said:
Hi contable, what's the application that you use to regroup "OEM" and "Homebrew" ?? ... it's Folders of Jaxbot ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it´s Jaxbot´s folder app, but I have added my own tile background icon...
Hey, this looks very good and would work for me (I've tried it), but since there's no camera button on my HD2 I can't use it. Is there any way to configure another button to do the same thing? (I'm afraid not...)
Anyway, will be featured in the portal!
Livven said:
Hey, this looks very good and would work for me (I've tried it), but since there's no camera button on my HD2 I can't use it. Is there any way to configure another button to do the same thing? (I'm afraid not...)
Anyway, will be featured in the portal!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I'll play with the volume keys next week. Maybe I can get the screenshot before music controls show up and make this at least partly usable on HD2.
Thanks a lot man! Do you think it would be possible to control it on the PC, that is, capture a screenshot using some keyboard shortcut or similar?
Very good app.....i like so much.....Thanks a lot!
Acouple Questions & sugjestions!
1.
I would think that the window on pc needs to be at 480x800 rez or...
800x480 & also a buton to switch betwen portret & landscape mode!
2.
I have no camira button on my htc hd2. How can I take pictures with this?
could you implement a small soft key overlay?
3.
I apsolutly love the diler pad its not so big as default & much better for what I am use to on cell phone I think I could text & dial better with it personaly I am very use to only the 9 buttons call me old fashen I gess but having the hole abc's with small buttons making it hard for me to text I would realy like to use it as default dialer for my phone and for texting to. Would you mind shareing the code for devs to cook with?
or is it public code I could use?
jackrabbit72380 said:
Acouple Questions & sugjestions!
1.
I would think that the window on pc needs to be at 480x800 rez or...
800x480 & also a buton to switch betwen portret & landscape mode!
2.
I have no camira button on my htc hd2. How can I take pictures with this?
could you implement a small soft key overlay?
3.
I apsolutly love the diler pad its not so big as default & much better for what I am use to on cell phone I think I could text & dial better with it personaly I am very use to only the 9 buttons call me old fashen I gess but having the hole abc's with small buttons making it hard for me to text I would realy like to use it as default dialer for my phone and for texting to. Would you mind shareing the code for devs to cook with?
or is it public code I could use?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. You can press CTRL+R to rotate current screenshot and later CTRL+D to fit window size to the actual screenshot size.
2. I have now added an option to use volume keys for capturing screenshots (version 0.3). All HTC HD2 users, please try this feature.
3. It's http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.textbox.inputscope(v=vs.95).aspx. In my case: <TextBox ... InputScope="TelephoneNumber" ... />
N37-L0RD said:
1. You can press CTRL+R to rotate current screenshot and later CTRL+D to fit window size to the actual screenshot size.
2. I have now added an option to use volume keys for capturing screenshots (version 0.3). All HTC HD2 users, please try this feature.
3. It's http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.textbox.inputscope(v=vs.95).aspx. In my case: <TextBox ... InputScope="TelephoneNumber" ... />
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! Very much nice work!!!!
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.
937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.
Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
PG2G said:
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your ideas, you got something going there, we can build off of that, reason i made this thread to reflect on ideas as such
They look and work fine for me.
vetvito said:
Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These ideas should definately be implemented, I totally agree
falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon
937dytboi said:
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile
falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I agree with you as of not but, the color selection is lame, I want to customize my phone a little. Right now besides using a hack to change or add colors, there is no way to really do that.
I would like to see some type of texture or something to jazz up the tiles a little.
They work great now but, just need a little tweaking in my eyes...
Magpir said:
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
LexusFman said:
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
vetvito said:
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.
Peew971 said:
My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By 'police' I wasn't sure if you meant font size? Or Tile width?
As a developer you're limited by Microsoft to hardly any text on the front of a tile (and only in one specific position), and only the option of a large-ish font on the back of a tile (often too big as you say to display say a full news headline).
You can see what a developer is allowed to change on a tile here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202948(v=vs.92).aspx
i.e. a single number, a small bit of text on the front, some text on the back, and a background image. I think it's too limiting at the moment.
You can get round these limitations a bit by dynamically generating the tile background (for front or back) as an image (e.g. of some smaller font text). That's not easy to code though, especially if you're trying to dynamically generate the image on the phone through say a wp7 background agent. It's a bit easier doing it on a server - but that means it won't work when there's no mobile signal. Having to generate the whole thing as an image (especially just to display smaller font text) also feels a little bit like using a sledgehammer to knock in a nail.
Similarly I think Microsoft should let developers create double width tiles - they could even make it a marketplace certification requirement that the user should have an option of specifying single/double width tile in the app. As long as the user has the option of choosing I can't see the harm.
Microsoft should be giving developers full and easy access to what happens in those 173 by 173 squares of tile pixels. Perhaps even give the user the option in-app as to whether the developer is allowed to make the Tile animate or not - I think then Tiles would become a lot more interesting.
Yeah I meant font size, sorry I'm French
On your app (loving it by the way) the text on the back is usually fine because it displays scores but on BBC News or WPCentral for instance you only get half a headline or something like that which is totally useless as you then need to open the app to know what's going on. It goes against the concept of Live Tiles, I don't get it. On the other hand, on the Me tile the font size adapts to the text there is to display so it is possible, it's just Microsoft not giving access to devs, totally stupid.
link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lie much? For every tile on WP7 I have a widget. Left Widgets behind? What planet are you on?
Tiles offer absolutely no function, only partial information.
Mesh together? Nearly every app implements good tile practices? Sure they do, sure...
Sense is fat and not that good? However your other post perfectly describes Sense.
But yeah
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.
LexusFman said:
Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, the animation of the People tile has seemed pretty useless. There doesn't seem to be any meaning behind what people are displayed and why. If there is, I haven't seen it. I love the People Hub, but the Tile just doesn't provide much value to me.
To me, I would much rather have settings to determine which people would show on the tile. Then disappear once acknowledged, like the email indicators. So, if a contact updates Facebook, I may want to see it. But, I don't care if most of my contacts update things. So, in an ideal world a persons picture would only appear if they had updated something. Then it would be hidden and remain hidden once I acknowledged it. Then if something else would be updated, it would appear. And the users this would apply to would be set by me.
Effectively the animation of the People Tile just seems like noise.
Animation for the sake of animation is just distracting and consumes additional power.
I want the ability to control the app from the tile itself. Kind of like toggle switches.
Hardware limitations
Hi all
I think that some of the limitations on Live tiles are due to hardware considerations. Regular live tiles are limited to one background update per 30 minutes. This is because MS is keen to maintain performance and battery life. I think that as hardware improves, particularly mobile processors, we will see live tile functionality expand.
Cheers
andrew-in-woking
the app is pretty beautiful. first of all, it don't lags as Facer. when i'm trying to see all my watchfaces on FACER, it always lacks and lagging... so the "Beautiful Watches" never does it. love the functionality and interface.
so, now about the CONS:
1. please make a support for seconds hand - I'd like to make it as an analog watch seconds hand, not like an quartz mechanizm steps, you'll see what i mean.
2. please fix the color picker function - it lags and lacking when I'm trying to choose a color, so after that it's just closing the app accidently and all the watch design being deleted.
3. add a save button on all steps, so i mean that, the user could save the watchface on every step, whenever wants, on all steps or whatever.
4. ooh, yeah, by the way also ADD a #HEX code color picker please
that's it for now, cause I'm still testing it, but anyway, it's the best wear app ever i tryed. keep it up!!! great job!!! :good:
Agree - I am also loving the possibilities it offers and switch often between this and Facer. I think the UI is much smoother on this.
I think the color picker could be faster though and show hex codes.
Also I am waiting for some new battery and weather themes, otherwise I am very happy with this app.
One more thing
Couldn't agree more with you guys, wonderful app!!
Additional item that i'm missing is rearranging the watch face layers when editing.
Long pressing an item/layer, only allows deletion of the layer, not rearranging its location.
You can reorder layers - you go into edit mode, then long press again to drag whichever layer you need.
New update to facer doesn't lag when viewing watch faces and now includes sweeping seonds
Yes you are right - the sweeping hands are much better in Facer now.
Looks like Beautiful Watches has changed its name to WatchMaker - I think thats a much better name!
Must finish my watch today!
Can you provide a link to the app?
I like the new name WatchMaker - its a great app.
There are a bunch of weather and battery themes in the new WatchMaker beta, which make life much easier than creating multiple conditional layers.
Only thing I am still pushing the devs of Facer and WatchMaker for is a wifi widget - anyone figured this out yet?
I have had nothing but great things to say about this app!
I have made 6 watch faces in the lalast week! The same amount of time I have havery the Moto 360...lol
fell in love with it!
I even told my supervisor about it after he told me aabout Facer. I showed him what I could do with WatchMaker and he wound up downloading it....lol
---------- Post added at 01:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 AM ----------
mixeili said:
the app is pretty beautiful. first of all, it don't lags as Facer. when i'm trying to see all my watchfaces on FACER, it always lacks and lagging... so the "Beautiful Watches" never does it. love the functionality and interface.
so, now about the CONS:
1. please make a support for seconds hand - I'd like to make it as an analog watch seconds hand, not like an quartz mechanizm steps, you'll see what i mean.
2. please fix the color picker function - it lags and lacking when I'm trying to choose a color, so after that it's just closing the app accidently and all the watch design being deleted.
3. add a save button on all steps, so i mean that, the user could save the watchface on every step, whenever wants, on all steps or whatever.
4. ooh, yeah, by the way also ADD a #HEX code color picker please
that's it for now, cause I'm still testing it, but anyway, it's the best wear app ever i tryed. keep it up!!! great job!!! :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like they added it...the Hex feature!