I've been realizing lately how amazing android really is and customizable it is with this phone. Off topic but I kinda hated the fact. Of a recent app button and the fact that I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones). The devs here realized it and gave me the ability to have my menu button, get my search button back, and make recent apps come up by holding the home button. Got to love them. Shout out to our fantastic devs.
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
nice idea, kind of like the microsoft touch mouse. I would like to see someone make that possible and see how it works out.
Shaquiel Harris said:
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
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As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?
Kalavere said:
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?
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Are you talking about lmt? Fyi: it's now also available for android/gsn...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Shaquiel Harris said:
I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones).
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You never lost the menu button, it's just not on screen 100% of the time anymore, where it would just waste space otherwise.
I think its great idea!
Another few things that would be cool to see would be, resizing the Navigation Bar to be maybe a little thinner, and being able to slide the nav bar left or right, to reveal a icons to launch other apps, and maybe swiping down to hide the navbar all together.
Like you said being able to customize android and change every aspect of it is what makes this OS so awesome.
You guys ever use gesture area on webOS phones? Much better than using back key, would be a great idea. It also used visual feedback so a white line would go in the swipe direction. Currently the only phone using something similar to this is the N9 probably, which has swiping through the sides of screen to control apps.
I was just thinking about WebOS when reading this as well. Would be nice.
Just having the soft keys area as a gesture area? cool!
Maybe you could customize your gestures?
A big thing to me would be the ability to have a fully loaded package and be able to switch between stock softkeys, added search/menu softkeys, and gestures. Everything customizeable by user rather than through flashing?
menu bar like in windows 8
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.
MrBIMC said:
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.
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That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.
Enhanced said:
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.
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How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.
I came to Android from webOS after HP shot themselves in the foot several times and one of the things I miss most is the gesture bar you had at the bottom of the screen. With the advent of the soft button area in ICS I see a real option to enable the area to work in a similar fashion. Hell yes!
The webOS gestures were:
A single swipe up would show you your running apps.
Swiping 2 fingers up would show you the launcher (app drawer).
A leftward swipe would go back.
A full swipe across the entire area going either right or left would take you to the next or previous running app.
Besides the wireless charging, the gesture area was one of the webOS killer features you very quickly learned to take for-granted. So long as gesture detection was implemented well I don't see why you couldn't have the soft buttons as they are now and gestures all working at the same time.
Call me old fashioned, but I also don't like the gestures idea.
Dolphin is just about the only program on android that I have tried to use gestures with, and it's not the sort of feature i'd personally like integrated into my phone.
That said, customizing how different people can use their phones, within the same operating system, so two people can use the exact same phone in two totally different ways, is the way to go
j.go said:
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.
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I like your idea of having the pie control from the stock browser available all over android. I had the idea a while back but was just too lazy to implement it. Today I did a small working prototype and I think I will add the pie control feature to my gesture app "LMT"...
good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!
Huntlaar said:
good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!
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If implemented properly, you might be able to do away with the bottom bar and take advantage of the full screen. You can't see it with the nexus browser, but if you have a tablet running ICS and enable browser quick controls, the app hides the tabs and address bar, instantly adding an inch of usable screen real estate at the top.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
The big nasty problem with having hidden buttons or, for that matter, any trigger point area(s) on the devices main screen is you'll always end up triggering something when you didn't want to or it interferes with a ui element in one or more apps e.g. game scroll bars / buttons. I've tried plenty and they all interfered with one app or another to the point I stopped using them.
The quick controls idea is fine but you're still having to watch what you're doing. The beauty of gestures in webOS was that you wouldn't have to take your eyes of what you were doing to find a button - your finger just flicked below the screen content while your eyes looked towards what you were going to do next.
I realise it's hard to imagine if you've never done it before but (weak analogy approaching...) think of it like walking up a thin and narrow set of steps as opposed to thick wide ones while trying to read a book. On the narrow steps you have to look down to hit the next step thus breaking the flow of your reading. While on the bigger wider ones you can carry on reading as the step is big enough your foot can find it without taking your eyes of your book.
Anyroad, IMHO, gestures need to be out of the way of app content so as not to interfere with app usage patterns and shouldn't require the user to take their eyes off what they're doing.
this is a Passionate Desperate Plea to all Developers. Please, Please, Please (in my culture the amount of times you say please infers the passion of the plea) include an option in the ROMS to remap and customize the way the menu function works in ICS.
after having used the Galaxy Nexus extensively i am fond of having my menu options on the action bar and am even willing to have my screen real estate reduced by the now infamous 3dots
all current mods move the menu button around the physical buttons but this still removes the action button on any ICS native apps, thereby defeating the purpose.
so my suggestion would be to have the following:
STOCK ICS with 3 Dots
Menu on Recent Apps
Menu on Hold Home
and have this as an option in all ROMS if possible including CM9, AOKP etc, for all ICS roms on all phones
Wrong section mate ...
please advise me on where i should put it
And also, no longer an issue, except maybe in AOSP-based ROMs because the new 4.0.4 Sense base has much better native functionality for reassignment of the 'Recent Apps' key with no affect on native apps.
lt iibad said:
this is a Passionate Desperate Plea to all Developers. Please, Please, Please (in my culture the amount of times you say please infers the passion of the plea) include an option in the ROMS to remap and customize the way the menu function works in ICS.
after having used the Galaxy Nexus extensively i am fond of having my menu options on the action bar and am even willing to have my screen real estate reduced by the now infamous 3dots
all current mods move the menu button around the physical buttons but this still removes the action button on any ICS native apps, thereby defeating the purpose.
so my suggestion would be to have the following:
STOCK ICS with 3 Dots
Menu on Recent Apps
Menu on Hold Home
and have this as an option in all ROMS if possible including CM9, AOKP etc, for all ICS roms on all phones
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1. can be found in Cyanogen 9
2. the option is given by HTC on their newest base (2.05)
3. possible with older base and 3dotMOD...see in AROMA...with new base its on hold recent apps...
thanks ill check out a 2.0x ROM, downloading one as we speak. the thing is I saw it in the MIUI ROM as well. thought itw as native to ICS, let me see
I'm running AOKP, and I can enable the menu bar like a Nexus. And I can disable the back lighting for the capacitive keys, but I can't figure out how to completely disable the capacitive keys. So it's still subject to accidental key presses, which is annoying.
I've read about some hack for the S3 to disable the capacitive keys, but have found no fix for the s4. Anyone have any info on this?
kukabuka said:
I'm running AOKP, and I can enable the menu bar like a Nexus. And I can disable the back lighting for the capacitive keys, but I can't figure out how to completely disable the capacitive keys. So it's still subject to accidental key presses, which is annoying.
I've read about some hack for the S3 to disable the capacitive keys, but have found no fix for the s4. Anyone have any info on this?
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Aokp should have a settings menu for hardware keys where you can reassign the functions of the capacitive buttons to anything you want. Including nothing.
Sent from your phone. You should be careful where you leave that thing.
entcim very
Skipjacks said:
Aokp should have a settings menu for hardware keys where you can reassign the functions of the capacitive buttons to anything you want. Including nothing.
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That would certainly do the trick, but I am unable to find it. There is a place to full customize the menu bar with what buttons you want and what they do, but not the built in capacitive buttons.
kukabuka said:
That would certainly do the trick, but I am unable to find it. There is a place to full customize the menu bar with what buttons you want and what they do, but not the built in capacitive buttons.
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I'm using SlimBean rom so I can't check the menu set up on AOKP easily.
But in SlimBean this feature is under Navigation -> Hardware Keys
I cna' verify that AOKP has this feature.
I know it exists in Carbon and Slim ROM
If AOKP doesn't have it and thsi is a must have feature for you, give Slim or Carbon a shot. If you use regular Phone UI instead of Tablet or Phablet UI that is available in AOKP you will find that Carbon are Slim are VERY similar as far as available features adn tweaks.
Yeah, doesn't look like it exists on AOKP. It's not a deal breaker for me, but but if Slim and Carbon have the feature, I will definitely check them out. Thanks for the info!