Develop Bugs

[THINK TANK] Gesture bar instead of soft key bar

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.

[REQ] Hide Nav bar mod

Good day fellas,
Wanted to know if anyone knows of an app compatible with JB on Nexus 7 that will hide the Nav bar with the soft buttons off the screen.
I'm looking for something simple along the lines of 2 finger swipe from the bottom of the screen will show it, whereas 2 finger swipe off the screen on the bottom will hide it.
Thank you,
Khar00f
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Khar00f said:
Good day fellas,
Wanted to know if anyone knows of an app compatible with JB on Nexus 7 that will hide the Nav bar with the soft buttons off the screen.
I'm looking for something simple along the lines of 2 finger swipe from the bottom of the screen will show it, whereas 2 finger swipe off the screen on the bottom will hide it.
Thank you,
Khar00f
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
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I'd also love to find something similar. I was watching a show on MX video player last night and couldn't get the bar to go away.

dezixn said:
I'd also love to find something similar. I was watching a show on MX video player last night and couldn't get the bar to go away.
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Was just thinking the same thing. Anyone figured it out?

Gmd gesture in play store. Requires root though.

the apk in this thread works with the Nexus 7. just remember you have to reboot for it to take effect. this will permanently remove the nav buttons but you can just use the apk to get them back. make sure to have LMT or some other nav buttons app before using this apk. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1497558
here's the LMT thread, i find it useful even with the soft buttons.

I have to say it does drive me insane in some games. I have one game that I just keep pressing and dragging up (because that is how the game is played), and get that idiotic Now screen. It makes me spit! I know it should be disabled by the app, but it should be removable.

FullScreenToggleV2
just installed FullScreenToggleV2.apk and Button Savior from google play and it works like a dream no my nexus 7 stock room /rooted, really love it not to have the stupid thick navigation bar there, Button Savior is just tiny dot with pop up navigation menu that can be placed anywhere around.

SGT7 and Glazed Rom both have hide nav bar obtions through swipe or power options.

[Q] On-Screen Nexus buttons

Hey guys Ive never used this Nexus interface and the on-screen buttons for home, back and other apps seems to be wasting too much screen space for me.... Is there a way to customize these buttons??? that would be awesome.

I use pie controls from cm 10.2 on mine

Get a cusom ROM. Then modify it's framework-res.apk to match your requirements.

Custom ROMs have tons of flexibility over these. Change the size, icons, transparency, color, shape, location, hide, auto-hide, etc.
I'm using CM10.2 Kanged. It has the options you want.
For example you can hide the bar and setup swipe gustures. Like swipe left for Back, swipe up for recents, swipe down for home.
Or use PIE Controls.
Or some other app.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

How to enjoy Nexus 7 in Fullscreen
Karbooo said:
Hey guys Ive never used this Nexus interface and the on-screen buttons for home, back and other apps seems to be wasting too much screen space for me.... Is there a way to customize these buttons??? that would be awesome.
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This can be achieved in multiple ways, my recommendations as follows:
Using Stock ROM
First, you need to have root access. Search the forums on how to root your nexus 7. (Its quite easy)
Then, install the Gesture Control app from play store - it allows you to use configurable gestures to perform back/home/menu etc actions.
Finally, using ES File Explorer or some other root explorer, you can modify the build.prop file in the system partition to hide the bottom navigation bar:
Code:
qemu.hw.mainkeys=1
Then you'd be able to enjoy your nexus 7 in fullscreen.
Using Cynaogenmod
Alternatively, you can use Cyanogenmod 10.2 ROM, which allows you to switch to fullscreen mode by holding the power button and selecting "Expanded Desktop". Cyanogenmod also includes a Pie Control app, which allows you to swipe your finger from the edge to reveal a navigation control. All this can be configured under Settings > System.
This is how I am using my nexus at the moment. Highly recommend.

pie stable?
I liked using pie on my n4, but I found it to be temperamental. Has the stability been improved now? I'm not a massive fan of the on screen nav buttons.

duvall87 said:
I liked using pie on my n4, but I found it to be temperamental. Has the stability been improved now? I'm not a massive fan of the on screen nav buttons.
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Not in my experience. I'm still waiting for someone to port tablet ui to cm 10.2

The real estate you are getting with the buttons still there is 1080p. Do you need more than that? Full sreening movies will distort the image to fit your space. Like everyone said, a custom rom will do you well. My only issue is that I like having the menu button down there.
Sent from my HTCONE

Thanks for the replies everyone I went with the clean rom and a beta kernel that allows for tap-to-wake which is great and I've been using GMD gestures to navigate throughout my tablet it's very very good our also works to hide the status bar with a single swipe.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

If you have root, my app can hide/show navigation bar without reboot - GMD Auto Hide Soft Keys

hey dude thanks for this tip it did exactly what i wanted!!!...I'm running CleanROM which i didnt want to change so i modified the build.prop file and it worked like a charm.
As for replacement for the soft keys I'm using the customizable pie keys from LMT launcher by a dude from tha XDA community: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150 SICK app.
and Stupididea nice to meet you dude I bought your gestures app and i use it for my Galaxy S4 and the Nexus 7 it's amazing! especially with the side launchers...Is there any way to back up the custom gestures? i gotta do em everytime i flash :\.

[Q] Changing the Navbar Position

So something that's always bugged me about how Android currently handles the navbar, on a phone, if you go into landscape mode, the navbar stays in the same position as in portrait mode. This makes sense, as you'll be holding it from the sides.
Is there a way to make a tablet do this, via kernal mod or something better? Having the navbar on the bottom, especially on a Nexus 7, doesn't make sense for a 7" tablet.
Help would be appreciated

Search for GMD Auto Hide Soft Keys in play store.

huyem83 said:
Search for GMD Auto Hide Soft Keys in play store.
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This app won't work. Plus I find it a bit of a messy solution if it were to. I don't want to hide the navbar, I simply want to move it to the right, or left, side of the screen.

Ultimate Dynamic Navbar and GMD do have the option to move the navbar to the right when in landscape mode but it also disappear .

[Q] Change location of Navigation Bar (Softbuttons) in Landscape mode?

I just bought the Nexus 7 2013, and coming from the original Galaxy Tab (2010) the absence of hardware buttons drives me crazy because of the Navigation Bar (I hope this is the right term for it) which I dont like.
Reasons:
- I press the buttons accidentally when using the keyboard
- It is a waste of vertical screen space when in landscape mode
So is there any way to put the navbar to the right in landscape mode (like on most phones)? Like some magic build.prop hack?
I am currently on cm11 official nightlies, but changing roms or patching the source myself if necessary is an option too.
Any hints?

areshinakya said:
I just bought the Nexus 7 2013, and coming from the original Galaxy Tab (2010) the absence of hardware buttons drives me crazy because of the Navigation Bar (I hope this is the right term for it) which I dont like.
Reasons:
- I press the buttons accidentally when using the keyboard
- It is a waste of vertical screen space when in landscape mode
So is there any way to put the navbar to the right in landscape mode (like on most phones)? Like some magic build.prop hack?
I am currently on cm11 official nightlies, but changing roms or patching the source myself if necessary is an option too.
Any hints?
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Its not an ideal solution, bit you can use phab7 -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/mod-phab7-v0-99-reboot-ui-switcher-t2545080
Chose phone ui, and it will put them on the right in landscape. I say its not ideal because it spread's the buttons out and causes the Google now ring to be off center. Unfortunately it doesn't support tablet ui (apparently google took it out in 4.4+), but phone ui, and split menus work on KitKat.
I personality use pie controls from gravity box, and force immersive on any apps I want fullscreen with Xutilites -
http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.nagopy.android.xposed.utilities
So all my games/chrome/play magazines/etc. automatically go immersive, I hated having to switch it on and off all the time, so this worked for me. I also use gravity box to make the nav bar smaller, so when it is there it takes up less room. The nav bar will still pop up with the keyboard if you go this rout tho. You could disable it completely with gravity box, but you would have to really like pie controls for that lol. Gravity box -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/app-gravitybox-v2-9-1-tweak-box-android-t2554049
These are all Xposed framework mods BTW, I am assuming you'd be comfortable with this since your running a custom ROM. I hate the lost pixels as well. Best of luck reclaiming the rest your screen

Thanks for the detailed reply :good:
I am very satisfied with the results with phab7.
Adding a 4th icon to the navigation bar was necessary to have them look centered again.
I am completely gapps free - so the google now problem does not apply to me