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Hi All,
Has anyone come across a way of getting the HTC Touch weather plug in to pull in weather details based upon your GPS location? It'd seem an obviously useful and cool thing to do...
Seems like a cool idea, but that would take a while to update since it would have to activate the GPS, lock onto satellites, and then down load info based on your location. But if it could use your location based on cell sites info, that would be quicker. Like the locate feature on the new version of Google Maps. That would be cool.
yes, it would...!
shawndh said:
Seems like a cool idea, but that would take a while to update since it would have to activate the GPS, lock onto satellites, and then down load info based on your location. But if it could use your location based on cell sites info, that would be quicker. Like the locate feature on the new version of Google Maps. That would be cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i like this idea a lot. anyone fancy coding it?
How do I set Google Maps to use metric measurements?
I can't find any setting for it. We don't use primitive measurements here in Oz and any help will be appreciated
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
This is a problem with maps in general. Its.the same on a pc. Google use your location to set the type of units . Is it the same on your pc?
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
Still no go, also tried setting the locale, and still doesn't work. Does anyone who have an android phone, show distances in metric, when you use the ruler tool, and also touching a point on a street to bring up the info?
Driving directions are in KM though, everything else is in miles.
Bump for great JUSTICE!!!!
So far Google Maps 4.4 is out and THERE IS STILL NO WAY TO SET IT TO METRIC! I really can't believe it. I used MoreLocale2 to change it to en-AU, still STONE AGE measurements, but when I set it to a non-English language, it shows in metric.
Seriously, does anyone know how to fix this? I've searched everywhere. It has happened in both the default Telstra 2.1, and also the WWE Froyo official ROM.
I seriously feel sorry for fellow Aussies, Kiwis, Singaporeans, Canadians and any other English speaking country who uses metric measurements, who are forced to live with this stupid oversight.
Sorry, but it's just plain annoying.
Miles and yards ftw!!!
Aren't car speedos in Oz in MPH?? Thought they were...EDIT: No, you're backwards on KMH
No Aussie cars have their speedometers in km/h, and we ditched MPH back in 1974. All road signs including speed limits are in metric. Plus I grew up with metric measurements too.
Backwards? Pah. How many feet in a yard? How many yards to a mile?
Better yet how many countries use caveman measurements? I count four. The Poms, The Yanks, Liberians, and Burmese.
Now let's stop trolling and get back on the rails please?
Does anyone have a fix for my problem? My phone is already rooted if thats any help.
cheers
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
BUMP! I take it you just can't do it?
Well the new version of maps are out but still no fix. I can't seem to force the maps app to en-au to try and set the damn thing to metric as it defaults to en-gb. I did manage to get rid of the American terminology in Places at least but it still measures in miles.
I wish someone would help, surely there has to be someone who would know or even tried instead of cocky people who hasn't been or lived outside of the UK or US and give me smartarse comments.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Hard to believe that no one has an answer. My Galaxy S2 shows it correctly in km where my Xoom shows it in miles. Googling gave nothing and still couldn't find an answer
Mate i'm from Oz and my maps show correctly in km.. Not sure how though sorry :/
Swyped from my CM7.1 Desire using XDA Premium App
it used to show Metric units till update 6.10
back when it was metric I set the language to English(China)
Hope this helps
Go to settings --> general settings--> international--> Region Format = United States
Sorry to resurrect a very old thread - I was searching for an answer on this and have found a workaround:
Sign out of your normal Google ID, then choose a domain country that uses the units you want to use. I am in the UK and usually sign in to Google.co.uk. If I log in to Google.fr (France), then sign in, I can still see my saved places, etc., but the units are now in metres.
Today I tried to use Bing Maps for ANYTHING.
Poland. Country where WP7 is officially sold.
Well this native app is a total useless crap.
The only thing I can find there is cities. THAT'S IT!
It is not able to find ANY STREET neither any place I am looking for.
Nothing.
So in fact it's a useless ****. The question is:
1. When Google will provide a WORKING app for WP7
2. Or do we know when MS will move it's ass and support countries they sell devices in?!
Yes, yes it is.
Oh and to answer your question.
1. I am guessing that Google doesn't really help the competition. There Google search app looks really bad on WP7.
2. Most likely, it will come with an update when they decided turn by turn navigation. Pretty certain of that because the website shows street names.
doministry said:
Today I tried to use Bing Maps for ANYTHING.
Poland. Country where WP7 is officially sold.
Well this native app is a total useless crap.
The only thing I can find there is cities. THAT'S IT!
It is not able to find ANY STREET neither any place I am looking for.
Nothing.
So in fact it's a useless ****. The question is:
1. When Google will provide a WORKING app for WP7
2. Or do we know when MS will move it's ass and support countries they sell devices in?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that it is very limited, but I have found a way to make it work in Sweden. I have to set System locale abd Browser & search language to English (United Kingdom). Then you search for adresses with this exact formula: Streetname number, city, country. With these settings and formula, Bing maps have found every adress I've wanted in Sweden.
Strutten said:
I agree that it is very limited, but I have found a way to make it work in Sweden. I have to set System locale abd Browser & search language to English (United Kingdom). Then you search for adresses with this exact formula: Streetname number, city, country. With these settings and formula, Bing maps have found every adress I've wanted in Sweden.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I have my device set to these values.
But nothing. It says cannot find a desired place. The only thing it understands is cities. Even when I write it with the formula you showed.
BTW, you write it with comas?
Doesn't matter, whatever I do - nothing.
Pure crap.
doministry said:
Thanks. I have my device set to these values.
But nothing. It says cannot find a desired place. The only thing it understands is cities. Even when I write it with the formula you showed.
BTW, you write it with comas?
Doesn't matter, whatever I do - nothing.
Pure crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats very strange... Whitout comas, it works 90% of the times. With comas, it works every time.
The maps are, however, very outdated. Buildings and streets that are three years old does show up in the searches, but they are not shown in the satelite pictures.
It might suck for you, but here in the UK, it works absolutely perfectly.
GenkaiMade said:
It might suck for you, but here in the UK, it works absolutely perfectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ditto
Obviously can't comment outside of UK, but it does suck if it doesn't work in other countries without cocking about
It absolutely doesn't work besides city name search.
Doesn't find anything in Poland.
That makes me reconsider using this OS.
I have no slight piece of information when this will ever happen.
There will be google maps at some point. Google has a different business model to most other companies, it doesn't matter that they have android the idea is that they push as many google services out to as many people as possible (and that will include Windows Phone 7 users).
More users = more viewers/clicks on google ads = more revenue. About 80% of google's revenue comes from Advertising.
doministry said:
Today I tried to use Bing Maps for ANYTHING.
Poland. Country where WP7 is officially sold.
Well this native app is a total useless crap.
The only thing I can find there is cities. THAT'S IT!
It is not able to find ANY STREET neither any place I am looking for.
Nothing.
So in fact it's a useless ****. The question is:
1. When Google will provide a WORKING app for WP7
2. Or do we know when MS will move it's ass and support countries they sell devices in?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is. The whole system is crap right now. And it won't be anything good for a whole friggin year. I've been waiting for voice nav for a long time and then I find out it won't make it in for at least a year, if even then.
have you tried using 'justanothermaps' i think its called, its based on google maps...might work better for you
Bing Maps sucks indeed
Bing Maps is just a terrible program...A real shame actually
I cannot use it in my country.
Bing Maps sucks...
Bing maps is FAIL! they should take it off as it destroys the platform. in my city, it only shows 4 roads! we need google maps now!
sergioiacobucci said:
have you tried using 'justanothermaps' i think its called, its based on google maps...might work better for you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. But I can't buy this because of the Marketplace not supported in my country!!!!!
slighmd said:
Bing maps is FAIL! they should take it off as it destroys the platform. in my city, it only shows 4 roads! we need google maps now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe take it off in countries it does not work, but in the UK it's great and I would prefer to have it.
The fact is it support almost nothing in countries like Poland.
doministry said:
Thanks. But I can't buy this because of the Marketplace not supported in my country!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this could help
http://wmpoweruser.com/wp7-marketplace-enabler-brings-marketplace-to-new-countries/
domineus said:
this could help
http://wmpoweruser.com/wp7-marketplace-enabler-brings-marketplace-to-new-countries/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but I don't want to screw my PC.
And I don't use the PC version to buy apps but the phone one.
The U.S.
I can't believe Microsoft would sell a phone and not fully support the area that they are selling it in. It seems like something small and extremely stupid Microsoft would do. Hopefully they will fix that along with the many other little things that they decided to leave out on their system. From the U.S. standpoint though, I have got to say I actually like Bing maps a whole lot more than Google maps. I have used Android for a long time and I use everything Google. I decided to go with WP7, because it was newest and I loved the size of the HD7. Bing maps is amazing, it is what free GPS programs should be. I hope other companies take a look at this and I hope Microsoft updates maps to make it a worthwhile application everywhere.
doministry said:
Thanks. I have my device set to these values.
But nothing. It says cannot find a desired place. The only thing it understands is cities. Even when I write it with the formula you showed.
BTW, you write it with comas?
Doesn't matter, whatever I do - nothing.
Pure crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried to open a contact and tap on the (map home) address. Then it should find the address at the map.
After playing briefly with WP7 I decided i wanted to try it out more officially so I picked up a Focus from cowboom and after 4 days with it here's my thoughts.. I am coming from a CM7 Captivate BTW
Hardware is super nice, screen is gorgeous, battery life rocks, and the gps is dead on (something im not used to on my captivate).. no complaints here at all
Software is great to use, I have 1st gen and ZuneHD so I knew id love that.. the transitions and effects are fantastic touches... but
A. maps is garbage: couldnt even find a store one block from me ( gave results in MS instead) still trying to find a good replacement app.
B. is there a way to have keyboard vibrate when on silent?
C. Only microsoft would install updates one at a time and restart over and over between.
D. Google Calenders wont sync right, I have several calenders i use from my account but it only shows me the default one. Any fix for that?
over all im really impressed, still trying to find apps to replace/match my android setup... but now i really want to be able to dive deeper into the hacks but it seems Chevron option has disappeared.. for now..
micro2112 said:
After playing briefly with WP7 I decided i wanted to try it out more officially so I picked up a Focus from cowboom and after 4 days with it here's my thoughts.. I am coming from a CM7 Captivate BTW
Hardware is super nice, screen is gorgeous, battery life rocks, and the gps is dead on (something im not used to on my captivate).. no complaints here at all
Software is great to use, I have 1st gen and ZuneHD so I knew id love that.. the transitions and effects are fantastic touches... but
A. maps is garbage: couldnt even find a store one block from me ( gave results in MS instead) still trying to find a good replacement app.
B. is there a way to have keyboard vibrate when on silent?
C. Only microsoft would install updates one at a time and restart over and over between.
D. Google Calenders wont sync right, I have several calenders i use from my account but it only shows me the default one. Any fix for that?
over all im really impressed, still trying to find apps to replace/match my android setup... but now i really want to be able to dive deeper into the hacks but it seems Chevron option has disappeared.. for now..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@D - I don't think is possible still.
@A - are you using bing?
@C - yes.
@B - i'm not sure, but I would imagine so?
So basically I have no idea. And I've had it for over a year.
A. Bing is getting better, but it is still no replacement for Google (at least for me). For example, I have two Costco stores in my area. One is about 4 miles from my house, the other is about 20 miles. Until about a month ago, searching for Costco would always try to direct me to the more distant one, even though the closer one has been around much, much longer. (Disclaimer - of course, I have no trouble finding Costco, but it was a good barometer of the incompleteness of Bing data in my area).
B. I don't know of any way to turn on haptic feedback from the keyboard when the phone is silenced.
C. Yeah, I suppose the update process still has room for improvement.
D. Contrary to Microsoft's official statements that only your primary Google calendar is supported, you can sync secondary and shared calendars on your phone. Here is a link with instructions (they are a bit arcane, but they do work - I have three calendars syncing to my phone right now):
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/sync-multiple-google-calendars-with-windows-phone-7-mango/
micro2112 said:
After playing briefly with WP7 I decided i wanted to try it out more officially so I picked up a Focus from cowboom and after 4 days with it here's my thoughts.. I am coming from a CM7 Captivate BTW
Hardware is super nice, screen is gorgeous, battery life rocks, and the gps is dead on (something im not used to on my captivate).. no complaints here at all
Software is great to use, I have 1st gen and ZuneHD so I knew id love that.. the transitions and effects are fantastic touches... but
A. maps is garbage: couldnt even find a store one block from me ( gave results in MS instead) still trying to find a good replacement app.
B. is there a way to have keyboard vibrate when on silent?
C. Only microsoft would install updates one at a time and restart over and over between.
D. Google Calenders wont sync right, I have several calenders i use from my account but it only shows me the default one. Any fix for that?
over all im really impressed, still trying to find apps to replace/match my android setup... but now i really want to be able to dive deeper into the hacks but it seems Chevron option has disappeared.. for now..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A: agreed
B: no
C: what? As far as I know, Android update process wipes the phone, thus deletin all user data, and you complain about the update process?
D: fix it on stupid googles side, head over to m.google.com/sync and select calendars you want to sync, it´s their problem, EAS is open protocol, they have changed it, blame them
Snake. said:
A: agreed
B: no
C: what? As far as I know, Android update process wipes the phone, thus deletin all user data, and you complain about the update process?
D: fix it on stupid googles side, head over to m.google.com/sync and select calendars you want to sync, it´s their problem, EAS is open protocol, they have changed it, blame them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android update doesnt delete anything flashing between roms you have to but that is what TiBu is for.
when i go to m.google.com/sync from the phone it doesnt have anything there to select. Can this work from IE, the directions in prev post say Safari but i feel that was copied from iphone directions.
No, the instructions are very clear. You must use Safari (from your PC), because it allows you to set the user agent to appear as an iOS device. It will not work from Firefox or IE. Again, follow the instructions exactly as described in the article I linked and you will see your calendars.
[Edit]
I think I see the source of confusion. It says to use Safari on your "device". For "device", in that case, substitute "PC". So, to sum up:
1 - Make sure you have set up a Google account on your phone to sync your primary calendar, and that it is working properly.
2 - Follow the Safari instructions on your PC to find and enable your secondary calendars (and be sure to remember to click the "Save" button on the page).
3 - Force a manual sync of your Google account on the phone to confirm that the additional calendars are syncing.
RoboDad said:
No, the instructions are very clear. You must use Safari (from your PC), because it allows you to set the user agent to appear as an iOS device. It will not work from Firefox or IE. Again, follow the instructions exactly as described in the article I linked and you will see your calendars.
[Edit]
I think I see the source of confusion. It says to use Safari on your "device". For "device", in that case, substitute "PC". So, to sum up:
1 - Make sure you have set up a Google account on your phone to sync your primary calendar, and that it is working properly.
2 - Follow the Safari instructions on your PC to find and enable your secondary calendars (and be sure to remember to click the "Save" button on the page).
3 - Force a manual sync of your Google account on the phone to confirm that the additional calendars are syncing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for that, I recognized the steps from when I had an iphone and when it said "from your device" I assumed it meant that, just as it did with an iphone.
any one have tips on unlock codes since chevron is out of them?
Also is there a way to disable screen rotation?
I wouldn't go as far as saying that Bing maps is garbage. It tends to find everything I'm looking for in my area and in metro St Louis when I was there back in August. However it can't seem to find the pizza hut in my town that opened in June but neither can google maps or the pizza hut app.
prohibido_por_la_ley said:
I wouldn't go as far as saying that Bing maps is garbage. It tends to find everything I'm looking for in my area and in metro St Louis when I was there back in August. However it can't seem to find the pizza hut in my town that opened in June but neither can google maps or the pizza hut app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it's still depending on where you are.
I occassionally check it and even on website versions there are things I cannot find in big polish cities what is kinda shame.
doministry said:
Well it's still depending on where you are.
I occassionally check it and even on website versions there are things I cannot find in big polish cities what is kinda shame.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I live in a mid sized suburb of the 3rd largest city in the US. it's expanding so if its not fully developed in Poland it will very soon be. Especially since the deal with NAVTEQ/Nokia.
Bing Maps doesnt have business hours, something I miss the most.
Snake. said:
A: agreed
B: no
C: what? As far as I know, Android update process wipes the phone, thus deletin all user data, and you complain about the update process?
D: fix it on stupid googles side, head over to m.google.com/sync and select calendars you want to sync, it´s their problem, EAS is open protocol, they have changed it, blame them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android updates typically do not wipe the phone. I've done like 4 updates on this phone and none of them got wiped. I don't know what you're talking about.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
N8ter said:
Android updates typically do not wipe the phone. I've done like 4 updates on this phone and none of them got wiped. I don't know what you're talking about.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heading off the rails, for the both of you. No one cares---well I certainly don't.
prohibido_por_la_ley said:
However it can't seem to find the pizza hut in my town that opened in June but neither can google maps or the pizza hut app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that's because they pull data from that crappy CitySearch.com, instead working together with someone that does it better or building their own repository.
As for the OP's prob with GPS, didn't people say that gMaps app in the marketplace is good?
vetvito said:
Bing Maps doesnt have business hours, something I miss the most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does on some businesses. I wish it was more widespread though.
ScottSUmmers said:
As for the OP's prob with GPS, didn't people say that gMaps app in the marketplace is good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried the gMaps program, it's better at some things. the mango update helped bing maps a lot but it's still no google..
micro2112 said:
I have tried the gMaps program, it's better at some things. the mango update helped bing maps a lot but it's still no google..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, well I suppose you can either shell out money for a full blown GPS program offered like Telenav, or Navigon; buy a chevronlabs unlock token and put nokia drive on your phone; or wait for Telenav's html5 solution that'll probably be out in a few months.
UPDATE: Chevron and interop unlocked, battery percent tile, tethering enabled.. all simple touches but have made great improvements
did notice one issue.. when looking up a phone number in IE, clicking on it does not bring up the dialer.. is this always true? any fixes for that?
micro2112 said:
UPDATE: Chevron and interop unlocked, battery percent tile, tethering enabled.. all simple touches but have made great improvements
did notice one issue.. when looking up a phone number in IE, clicking on it does not bring up the dialer.. is this always true? any fixes for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, that's true .. And, there's no fix ..
micro2112 said:
UPDATE: Chevron and interop unlocked, battery percent tile, tethering enabled.. all simple touches but have made great improvements
did notice one issue.. when looking up a phone number in IE, clicking on it does not bring up the dialer.. is this always true? any fixes for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
diaryno286 said:
Sadly, that's true .. And, there's no fix ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh? How are you guys looking up the phone number?
Hey guys, came across this great article about jelly bean and I wonder what you guys think about it. I really agree with some of the points he makes.
http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/09/18/ux-things-i-hate-about-android/
Read this article as well and yes he does make some good and valid points. However, Android is still a work in progress according to Matias Duarte. As much as Jelly Bean has improved the user experience there is still a ways to go to polishing the OS.
Here is a good follow up article you might want to check out:
http://www.androidcentral.com/duarte-i-m-third-way-where-i-want-be-android
He makes some good points, but also shows that he doesn't seem to understand Android programming at all.
If you open something within an app directly from a widget (his Gmail example), then obviously the back key would go one layer higher within the app. Opening an email from a widget layers home->gmail->email, not home->email.
Also, icons opening the "wrong" app. He uses Maps and Latitude as an example. Well, considering that Latitude is built on the Maps framework (and presumably calls an instance of Maps in order to operate), it makes complete sense that opening Maps would open the active Latitude session when one exists.
Other items just seemed like whining. For example, the section regarding the Google Voice icon. He makes the base assumption that people use it primarily for texting when texting is certainly not the primary function of the app. The app's primary function is voicemail, followed closely by VOIP calling. Texting is easily a tertiary function, even if it has been embraced by the community. [Edit: As mentioned below, I was incorrect regarding VOIP, which would make texting the secondary function of the app.]
Don't get me wrong. There were some good points, but I was shaking my head through a lot of that article.
Cilraaz said:
The app's primary function is voicemail, followed closely by VOIP calling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is no voip from the google voice app itself. when you make a call with it, it basically calls the GV number + the number you are actually wanting to call.
Zepius said:
there is no voip from the google voice app itself. when you make a call with it, it basically calls the GV number + the number you are actually wanting to call.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mistake. I assumed it was VOIP rather than call-chaining, based on the app prompting if Voice should be used for international calls. So at that point, texting would become the secondary function.
Thanks for the info.
Cilraaz said:
He makes some good points, but also shows that he doesn't seem to understand Android programming at all.
If you open something within an app directly from a widget (his Gmail example), then obviously the back key would go one layer higher within the app. Opening an email from a widget layers home->gmail->email, not home->email.
Also, icons opening the "wrong" app. He uses Maps and Latitude as an example. Well, considering that Latitude is built on the Maps framework (and presumably calls an instance of Maps in order to operate), it makes complete sense that opening Maps would open the active Latitude session when one exists.
Other items just seemed like whining. For example, the section regarding the Google Voice icon. He makes the base assumption that people use it primarily for texting when texting is certainly not the primary function of the app. The app's primary function is voicemail, followed closely by VOIP calling. Texting is easily a tertiary function, even if it has been embraced by the community.
Don't get me wrong. There were some good points, but I was shaking my head through a lot of that article.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although you are totally right, you have to look at it from a consumer's point of view. And they won't think "hey, of course the back button goes to the underlying Gmail menu", they'll think "wtf.? I was on the home screen before I tapped that mail on the widget. Why did it take me into the Gmail overview now?"
The same is even more true for Latitude. It is obvious for us tech-enthusiasts that Latitude is just more or less a part of maps. But I guess most other people never even give a thought to this, so they're just confused why the Maps icon would open a (seemingly) completely different service.
Also I'm sure the author of the article knows all this as well as anybody. But he tries to look from the consumer's point of view.
To the article: I mostly agree with his points. Play store not remembering my scroll position and the different sizes of some icons (and even more the almost overlapping icon names sometimes) are things that bugged me too. But mixed UI designs and that calculator bug are just things that happen if you roll out such a major update with significant UI changes. It's nothing I get even slightly mad about.
qwer23 said:
Although you are totally right, you have to look at it from a consumer's point of view. And they won't think "hey, of course the back button goes to the underlying Gmail menu", they'll think "wtf.? I was on the home screen before I tapped that mail on the widget. Why did it take me into the Gmail overview now?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can understand it from a consumer's point of view, but how would it be resolved programmatically? If we start requiring a pointer to where a screen was opened from, you increase the memory footprint of every app. It might also cause some problems with app deconstruction. In the Gmail example, pressing the back button deconstructs the single email instance, but if a pointer were to tell it to go back to the home screen because we got to it from a widget, do we deconstruct the base Gmail app also? What if the widget puts you 4 layers into an app? Not only would the pointers again add to the app's memory footprint, but we have the deconstruction issue on a larger level.
I'm not the greatest programmer (especially in Java), but the "inelegant" way that it works now seems to have a few positives for both devs and users.
qwer23 said:
The same is even more true for Latitude. It is obvious for us tech-enthusiasts that Latitude is just more or less a part of maps. But I guess most other people never even give a thought to this, so they're just confused why the Maps icon would open a (seemingly) completely different service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, I understand the consumer side of things, but is Maps opening Latitude more confusing than having Maps kill off Latitude? The user would then just try to re-open Latitude and be confused as to why the prior instance wasn't running. If Maps wouldn't kill off Latitude, then it would have to create a second instance of itself, which again has a negative impact on the app's memory footprint.
------------
I understand a general "hey, it should work like this instead", but there are plenty of reasons why it works the way it does now. Android might be able to get "perfect" functionality, but it would likely require some dumbing down of multitasking (either more process suspension instead of true(r) multitasking or the memory manager would be more likely to kill off background processes). I don't at all doubt these are discussions going on at Google, though.
Cilraaz said:
[...]
I understand a general "hey, it should work like this instead", but there are plenty of reasons why it works the way it does now. Android might be able to get "perfect" functionality, but it would likely require some dumbing down of multitasking (either more process suspension instead of true(r) multitasking or the memory manager would be more likely to kill off background processes). I don't at all doubt these are discussions going on at Google, though.
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Thanks Cilraaz, you really shed some light upon the deeper reasons for the sometimes odd behaviour of the back button and app layers. I'm no programmer at all, so I didn't know all this would add to the memory footprint of the apps and would affect developing in such a major way.
After reading your post I suggest we can be happy with some minor incosistencies and enjoy true multitasking instead of dumbing down our phones Again thanks for your nice clarification!
Some good stuff in this thread.
"complains about back button not taking him home, doesn't use home button"
crixley said:
"complains about back button not taking him home, doesn't use home button"
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That's not what he complained about. He complained about the back button behaving inconsistently.
I find it actually works very logically. If i click on one email in my widget to read it and then use the back button to go back, it makes sense to be taken to my inbox so i can read more messages, instead of being taken back to home screen and selecting a new email from there. Its more practical in case you get like 10 emails at one, which won´t fit in the widget all at once anyway. If i wanted to go back to the home screen, hey there is the home button.
That sounds like one corner case where the behaviour works in your favor, that doesn't mean it's right. It used to work better. For example if you have Navigation open, and select and email from the notification then you are brought to the email. Then when you hit back it brings you to your Inbox (which you have no reason to go to) then when you hit back again it brings you to your home screen. In previous versions of Android when you hit back from the email you are reading it would take you directly back to Navigation. That is what you most likely want, and that is what the Android documentation says should happen. But all too often it does not.
Totally agree with this article. I love Jelly Bean, and Android, but ultimately, it lacks a hell of a lot of polish. This is where iOS is still leagues ahead (and for that matter, so is WP7/8), I forgive it because it is a very open and powerful platform, but it is still a platform for the techie, and has a long way to go before it is as friendly and approachable as its rivals IMO.
The same sorts of arguments have been leveled at PCs for years and are equally valid.
Like it or not, most people AREN'T techies and this is why the likes of Apple are so successful, because they understand this and bring out an OS that is generally intuitive to average joe. Ironically I find some of the ways their software works confusing in places (particularly OSX) but that is more down to my "techie" approach and being set in my ways, as most techies are.
Well, he has some valid ponts, but most of the time, he is wrong. Especially for the back button.
e34v8 said:
Well, he has some valid ponts, but most of the time, he is wrong. Especially for the back button.
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Could you please tell me how he is wrong, specially if Android documentation says that the function of back button is X, and, sometimes you get Y, sometimes you get Z, and sometimes you get X?
Either document that back button has a bunch of functions that no one knows until you use it in a given context with a given app, or, give it a consistent behavior (and I'm not discussing which one would be better).... It is understandable when 3rd party software doesn't behave 100% as documented, but, built in phone apps should be consistent and provide the same experience...
Great article. A lot of those things drive me nuts, the icon size and back button in particular.
Another annoying thing the back button does is, for example, if you have been using the Play Store before, then you open an app that links to a Play Store page. Once you have seen the page and press back, rather than it taking you back to the app, the back button will just traverse through all the pages that you have been looking at on the Play Store in your previous session.
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crixley said:
"complains about back button not taking him home, doesn't use home button"
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Yeah I found that amusing as well.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
pfmiller said:
That sounds like one corner case where the behaviour works in your favor, that doesn't mean it's right. It used to work better. For example if you have Navigation open, and select and email from the notification then you are brought to the email. Then when you hit back it brings you to your Inbox (which you have no reason to go to) then when you hit back again it brings you to your home screen. In previous versions of Android when you hit back from the email you are reading it would take you directly back to Navigation. That is what you most likely want, and that is what the Android documentation says should happen. But all too often it does not.
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Maybe the "back" button should be replaced by a "higher level" (hope it's the right term ) button. Maybe in this case his function would be more logical.
However I agree on almost every point in the article