Before I got my WP7 phone, the general consensus I was getting is that the notification system was better than iOS, yet worse than Android.
Now that I'm using the phone I can't really figure out what exactly is better about the notification system?
Is there some kind of Android-like notification cache that allows you to view recently ignored notifications? As far as I can tell the only improvement over iOS is that the notifications are out of the way (rather than popping up right in the center of the screen) and that they can be seen on the lock screen.
I disagree. I find WP7 to be the best and I think it will only get better with time. Android is too primitive and gets out of control quickly -kind of like Android the OS is.
But I agree, a nice list of recent notifications would be useful.
Sent from my SGH-T849 using XDA App
In what way is it better than iOS?
The only advantage seems to be the lock screen notifications. Aside from that I'm not sure in what way it's better than iOS.
Well I believe the Live Tiles help you with the notifications. If you miss one, it will most likely be on the tile. Yea, it does kinda suck if the app that uses notifications doesn't use the live tile but that's up to the developer. But also sucks that if the application that notified you isn't on your main screen, you won't know. So I understand your frustration. The main notifications you would want are text messages, emails, and phone calls, which you said are on the lock screen. I guess Microsoft will have to grow from there.
For me it's the Live Tiles that does it - they provide instant notification.
The toast notifications on the other hand are really a waste of space if you ask me, they don't stay on-screen for long enough to action. In most cases I'll hear the toast coming in with my phone in my pocket, and by the time I pull the phone out all I see is the notification sliding away to the side - we really need something like Android's system for these.
I was hoping there would be something like Android's notification shade. Some kind of central repository for notifications. It completely changes the way you handle notifications.
I don't find it annoying, it isn't in your face like iOS. Plus, you can't dismiss them in iOS.
The lockscreen notification really does it for me. Since there is a dedicated icon for every notification, I can note where to go.
geoken said:
I was hoping there would be something like Android's notification shade. Some kind of central repository for notifications. It completely changes the way you handle notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
webOS, their notification system is better than Android's to be honest.
canadariot2312 said:
I don't find it annoying, it isn't in your face like iOS. Plus, you can't dismiss them in iOS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm fairly certain you can dismiss it in iOS. On the lock screen you can't dismiss it, but if you get a notification for a text message while using the phone you have the option to reply or dismiss.
geoken said:
I'm fairly certain you can dismiss it in iOS. On the lock screen you can't dismiss it, but if you get a notification for a text message while using the phone you have the option to reply or dismiss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A swipe to the right on the notification bar dismisses them on WP7, it is quite quick.
jz9833 said:
A swipe to the right on the notification bar dismisses them on WP7, it is quite quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was just responding to a comment above that was saying notifications couldn't be dismissed on iOS. I wasn't suggesting that notifications couldn't be dismissed in WP7, sorry if it came off like that.
WP7 doesn't interrupt your workflow. The fact that the notification takes over the entire phone when you get one on iOS is ridiculous.
I agree with Android > WP7 > iOS in the notification department.
all windows phone needs is a full down notification system like android has (or perhaps a swipe to a third left screen). on this screen it could show more then just notifications but also a full time line of everything related... phone calls made/received/missed, messages received/sent, calendar appointments, alarms, etc. aggregate them all together into one scrolling view.
though it could be a bit overly cluttered, but would provide for a great way to absorb everything in a time line format on your screen.
Android-Oh, I'll just unlock the phone, slide my laggy lock screen, wait for the page to pull up entirely, slide down the notification bar, oh what's that? a text? ok, ill pull up the app via that notification and wait for it to load. Way too many taps for me if its quicker on another os... and like others have said, iOS just encompasses too much of the screen.
The Gate Keeper said:
all windows phone needs is a full down notification system like android has (or perhaps a swipe to a third left screen). on this screen it could show more then just notifications but also a full time line of everything related... phone calls made/received/missed, messages received/sent, calendar appointments, alarms, etc. aggregate them all together into one scrolling view.
though it could be a bit overly cluttered, but would provide for a great way to absorb everything in a time line format on your screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely second this one. Another screen for the notifs would be brilliant.
Let's say there is a notification on the live tile. Then, after another notification comes, does the one that was there before go away?
LIVE tile notifications not working.
Recently all the apps that have LIVE tile notification have stopped working on my WP7.
These include Beezzapp, Flixster and WeatherBug - they haven't worked for over 3 weeks now. The pre-installed notifications still work.
Anyone else been experiencing the same problem?
sameerabedi said:
Recently all the apps that have LIVE tile notification have stopped working on my WP7.
These include Beezzapp, Flixster and WeatherBug - they haven't worked for over 3 weeks now. The pre-installed notifications still work.
Anyone else been experiencing the same problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
weatherbug I've experienced, gone back to the weather channel app. Got rid of beezz, decided sesmic was better. Flixster isn't on my home screen so I can't comment.
You guys make it seem like WP7 saves notifications (I'm talking about toast notifications here, the ones appearing at the top of your screen) until you "action" them (either by tapping it or sliding it to the side) - is this really how it is supposed to work because it doesn't for me.
Let's say I have my phone locked on the desk next to me and a toast comes thru, all that seems to happen for me is - screen turns on, displays the notification at the top and unless I touch the screen it turns back off within a few seconds. If I then go on to turn on the display again the notification is gone.
The same happens if the phone is unlocked, with the screen on, when receiving a toast - the notification is displayed for a few seconds but unless I tap it or slide it to the side it disappears itself within a few seconds.
For example, I have toasts activated in Beezz, but I hardly ever get to see the notification because in the time it takes me to get to my phone (it may be in my pocket or behind me) the notification is already gone. At which point I can only guess that it was a Twitter mention/message, tap Beezz, wait for it to load the feed and tap mentions/messages.
Are you all saying it works differently for you guys? If so, is there a setting somewhere? Cause I'm seeing this behaviour on three different devices.
z33dev33l said:
Android-Oh, I'll just unlock the phone, slide my laggy lock screen, wait for the page to pull up entirely, slide down the notification bar, oh what's that? a text? ok, ill pull up the app via that notification and wait for it to load. Way too many taps for me if its quicker on another os... and like others have said, iOS just encompasses too much of the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see how it's any faster one WP7?
First off, most Android phones have LED's for notifications so you're already a step ahead.
Secondly, you can see the notification bar while you're on the lockscreen in Android so that matches WP7's lockscreen icons. WP7 has an advantage were the lockscreen notifications give you more info (i.e. number of emails and calendar appointment) but Android makes up for it by allowing third party apps to push notifications to the notification bar and by extension the lockscreen.
Finally, once the phones unlocked I don't see where WP7's advantage is. In WP7 I now need to go in and individually click on the icons of the various apps to check my email or texts or missed calls. This is no different from Android except Android will let me pull down the notification shade which will give me handy shortcuts to all the apps with notifications. If you think the extra action of pulling down the notification shade is such a tremendous waste of time you can simply skip it and just tap the email icon or messaging icon, at which point the amount of actions you've taken is exactly identical to what you would have done with WP7.
geoken said:
I'm fairly certain you can dismiss it in iOS. On the lock screen you can't dismiss it, but if you get a notification for a text message while using the phone you have the option to reply or dismiss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blah, I was using iOS and the notification system is kind of bad on the lockscreen.
Apparently BlackBerry OS is similar to Android's approach. Android's notification system, although cool, still can't hold a candle to webOS. I don't want a notification system that takes up the whole screen.
Okay, so I love AOSP. My biggest beef with it though is notifications go missed much easier on my android than on any other phone. For example. I use expanded desktop, so no status bar. HALO is a great ticker, but it doesn't show up on the lockscreen. I have to use dashclock to keep a counter on my lock screen to see if I miss texts, HALO so I can see it on any other app or homescreen, and then my device still doesn't wake up for texts which is a feature I would love. My requests:
1. Are there better apps than dashclock or any really slick designs for UCCW for counters of missed texts and stuff, that aren't destroyed by putting it on the lock screen (usually the smaller widget design messes up UCCW on the lock screen)
2. Are there any apps that will wake my device whenever I get a new text?
3. GOOGLE: 4.3 better effing notifications besides the status bar, thats the way of the past (at least for me)
SOLVED: from Carbon Discussion on google+ someone recommended NiLS which is an app that does everything I wanted! SO SICK
aeppacher said:
Okay, so I love AOSP. My biggest beef with it though is notifications go missed much easier on my android than on any other phone. For example. I use expanded desktop, so no status bar. HALO is a great ticker, but it doesn't show up on the lockscreen. I have to use dashclock to keep a counter on my lock screen to see if I miss texts, HALO so I can see it on any other app or homescreen, and then my device still doesn't wake up for texts which is a feature I would love. My requests:
1. Are there better apps than dashclock or any really slick designs for UCCW for counters of missed texts and stuff, that aren't destroyed by putting it on the lock screen (usually the smaller widget design messes up UCCW on the lock screen)
2. Are there any apps that will wake my device whenever I get a new text?
3. GOOGLE: 4.3 better effing notifications besides the status bar, thats the way of the past (at least for me)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Handcent SMS
BWolf56 said:
Handcent SMS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry, handcent is one of the ugliest things in my opinion, I ended up using NilS, its amazing
Hi,
Can I flash something or install something (not an app because the original and the new lockscreen that I create with the app get mixed up and I sometimes have two lockscreens and sometimes I don't have one at all) to look like AOSP or AOKP. I also want it to be able to lock with a pattern. I want it to look like the first two pictures combined, I have posted, or the third picture I have posted where the widget is expanded (when I wake up the phone the widget is already expanded and I don't have to expand it and have a pattern lock on the phone too). But I prefer the first lockscreen with the unlock options of the second (go directly to message or Talk or Google) (I really like how the weather Widget is, and would like to know how to do that). A ROM with this would be perfect, but I want to keep all the Samsung features(s-beam, NFC, Air View, Motions and Gestures and stuff like that).
Thank You
Hi all,
From a processing overhead and memory standpoint, I was wondering if it's better to have one big widget or many smaller widgets. I have a big widget that has a lot of functionality, but I've noticed that it tends to make my phone (Galaxy Note 3) jumpy, especially in things like games. If I remove the widget from my home screen, everything smooths back out. I know that Zooper takes all of the widget elements and renders them as a single unit, so I didn't know if maybe it would help smooth things out if I broke the widget up into smaller ones. Or would that just make it worse?
Thanks,
Jeremy
Sorry to hi-jack but have a similar question
Is it would be better to have one app, say zooper or UCCW taking care of all my widget or many app, Zooper, UCCW, simple calendar, beautifull widget. And in addition, one big widget or many small... would be on a lg g3.
Any hint?
Well I found that one big widget does a few things.
Multiple widget configuration:
First. A bunch of small widgets have redraw issues (widget disappears then redraws on the screen and reappears) Especially if widgets overlap.
Second. It becomes a nightmare for hotspots to not overlap.
Third. There's quit a few issues with which widget to keep up front and which widget to move to back. (Becomes a juggling act getting everything just right)
One big widget with lots of modules:
First. Way easier to make a apk for playstore.
Second: Very little redraw issues.
Third. Way easier to make multiple different colored versions of the same screen.
Fourth: Can get very confusing to yourself and others if you didn't name the modules as you went along.
Fifth: if you share your creation, the end user will need to change there background to add close as possible to your widget color, because there will be some type of margin somewhere on that screen, even if set to none.
So in conclusion, I find better performance with full screen pages. It makes my life easier. Plus list glitches from redraw.
Of course your milage will very though.
thinker5555 said:
Hi all,
From a processing overhead and memory standpoint, I was wondering if it's better to have one big widget or many smaller widgets. I have a big widget that has a lot of functionality, but I've noticed that it tends to make my phone (Galaxy Note 3) jumpy, especially in things like games. If I remove the widget from my home screen, everything smooths back out. I know that Zooper takes all of the widget elements and renders them as a single unit, so I didn't know if maybe it would help smooth things out if I broke the widget up into smaller ones. Or would that just make it worse?
Thanks,
Jeremy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As someone who cut down from over 30 individual Zooper widgets to 9 large-ish ones, I'll have to say that I strongly prefer fewer larger ones. Previously, Nova often crashed and notified me it was due to any one of the 30 or so Zoopers which had crossed the limit of my device.
Furthermore, as @sandman7793 says quite rightly, redraws are a pretty major issue whenever booting up or switching between apps/homescreen pages.
In addition, it is much easier to manage large number of modules in fewer widget than jumping to and fro between several smaller ones to copy a slight adjustment you may have made to one of them. Simply put: fewer widgets, fewer hassle.
Thanks for the info. Guide me in one direction. As for battery life, one better than the other, since you tried both ways?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app
ere1nion said:
Thanks for the info. Guide me in one direction. As for battery life, one better than the other, since you tried both ways?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, it's a bit hard to tell. I never tested Zooper in isolation for its effect on battery life. However, based on the performance improvements with fewer widgets, including decreased redraw issues and just fewer homescreen widgets to power at any one time, I'd say fewer widgets of little variety probably has better battery life (although, the effect may be minimal to none at all).
Is it possible to have one widget cover the entire screen? I thought 4x4 was the biggest available.
Also, is there a way of combining two widgets into one? For example, I have a 4x1 weather widget and a 4x3 weather bitmap icon which, by the sounds of it, would work better as a single widget.
TheStretchedElf said:
Is it possible to have one widget cover the entire screen? I thought 4x4 was the biggest available.
Also, is there a way of combining two widgets into one? For example, I have a 4x1 weather widget and a 4x3 weather bitmap icon which, by the sounds of it, would work better as a single widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is possible to have one widget over the entire screen, but it may depend on your launcher. Some launchers, like Lightning, Nova and Themer, allow for easy resizing of widgets to be as big or as small as you want. The best way to do it is to place a new Zooper widget on your home screen, and before you tap it to start editing it, resize it to the size you want. Then when you go into edit mode, Zooper will pick up on that size and behave accordingly. For example, I have a 6x5 and a 6x3, neither of which are available options when dropping a new widget initially.
As for combining widgets, I haven't found a good way of doing that yet. I think you'd have to create a new widget, import the one with the most elements into it, and then manually create the rest of the elements from the other widget and configure them. An alternative may be to export the .xml for both of them to a computer and add the two together there. This way you should at least be able to get all of the elements into one widget, but then when you load it into Zooper, you'll need to move the elements around because they'll probably overlap at that point.
Other than that, if someone knows of a better way, I'd be happy to hear it.
Referring back to my original question that kicked this thread off, thanks to everyone for your input. @sandman7793 especially had some great points, which I really appreciate. I've done some more digging, and it looks like some of my performance issue was actually related to Greenify rather than Zooper. I was seeing jumpiness in things like games because I had them under my list of apps to forcibly keep hibernated. Oops. Once I figured that out, everything is working smooth again.