Develop Bugs

IE9 usability in Mango Beta2

In general I love Mango B2, and IE9 funtionality is great.
In terms of usability though, I think MS is missing a trick.
We've got larger screen real estate now that the address bar and menu bar is combined, but at a cost.
For example, I have two sites that I check daily. To update the first one when I open IE is menu > favourites > select fave. Then to switch to another, menu > tabs > select tab > menu > favourites > select favourite. Six key presses - not efficient.
Given the pivot style in the rest of WP, why can't I just swipte left/right to flick through my tabs?!? Or maybe/also keep the menu open when I select a new tab so I can action the new tab (Bing already creates a new tab, so mostly opening a new tab is to select a favourite, right?)
Once the tabs are all open you can use the multi-task keypress to reach all the open tabs quickly, but they disappear as other apps populate the multi-task screen.
I dunno, pivoting to different tabs seems like such a natural thing to be able to do in IE...

Believe me, many of us are not happy with the new browser chrome either.
The address bar should be able to slide left and right to expose additional buttons/functions eg. tabs and favorites.

This has been covered already. I create a simple template, which I think would solve the problem. You can see it in this post. My idea would be to keep the menu bar the same as IE8 was before Mango & keeping the address up top. Make it thinker to more finger friendly & add forward & back buttons. Finally, it would autohide once you finished entering a URL. To access it, you swipe down from the top of the screen. Here's the Photoshoped image I made;
Not perfect, but you get the point.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

drkfngthdragnlrd said:
This has been covered already. I create a simple template, which I think would solve the problem. You can see it in this post. My idea would be to keep the menu bar the same as IE8 was before Mango & keeping the address up top. Make it thinker to more finger friendly & add forward & back buttons. Finally, it would autohide once you finished entering a URL. To access it, you swipe down from the top of the screen. Here's the Photoshoped image I made;
Not perfect, but you get the point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that would make it too much like the iOS browser which is pretty much the same amount of real estate

eric12341 said:
that would make it too much like the iOS browser which is pretty much the same amount of real estate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I told you already, stop stalking my posts. Stop stalking everyone who complains about efficient things in WP7. Don't make me report you again!
It also has a lot more real estate than the iOS browser;
PS: Sorry to everyone else for this post. Added him to my ignore list...

drkfngthdragnlrd said:
I told you already, stop stalking my posts. Stop stalking everyone who complains about efficient things in WP7. Don't make me report you again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said nothing in that last post that violates the TOS. I just said it would be similar to the iOS browser which is already inferior to IEM9.

drkfngthdragnlrd said:
This has been covered already. I create a simple template, which I think would solve the problem. You can see it in this post. My idea would be to keep the menu bar the same as IE8 was before Mango & keeping the address up top. Make it thinker to more finger friendly & add forward & back buttons. Finally, it would autohide once you finished entering a URL. To access it, you swipe down from the top of the screen. Here's the Photoshoped image I made;
Not perfect, but you get the point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would actually hate moving the address bar back to the top, and I think it looks too cluttered there tbh, especially when people rarely use a forward button, to give it priority like that.
On a side note, and no disrespect to you I just wanted to touch it with the whole "don't make me report you again!" comment, I think acting too much like the forum police, on every single thing that may not be perfect, is going to distract people from your helpful posts. Not sure what happened between you and this guy, but it seems like every thread I go to I see you "moderating" it, and it really takes away from how helpful you really are, just my opinion.

FiyaFleye said:
I would actually hate moving the address bar back to the top, and I think it looks too cluttered there tbh, especially when people rarely use a forward button, to give it priority like that.
On a side note, and no disrespect to you I just wanted to touch it with the whole "don't make me report you again!" comment, I think acting too much like the forum police, on every single thing that may not be perfect, is going to distract people from your helpful posts. Not sure what happened between you and this guy, but it seems like every thread I go to I see you "moderating" it, and it really takes away from how helpful you really are, just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is kind of cluttered looking, but isn't final, just a quick thought of how to make it better. It can of course, be done better & I'm sure MS can come up with something better, but I think it really needs to be up top to make room in the menu bar. The swipe to the left the other guy said, seems no better then using a menu though IMO.
Sent you a PM on the side note.

Why not put the back, forward and refresh buttons on the bottom bar - there's plenty of room next to the others. You can then auto-hide the address bar - it's only really useful to see what page you're on when the page is loading (who actually types in URLs on a mobile browser?).
Also "Add to Favorite" does not need a dedicated button as you favourite new websites rarely - this feature can be hidden in the bookmarks menu. The bottom bar should be hide-able too - often i'd prefer space for my website over buttons.

Aphasaic2002 said:
Why not put the back, forward and refresh buttons on the bottom bar - there's plenty of room next to the others. You can then auto-hide the address bar - it's only really useful to see what page you're on when the page is loading (who actually types in URLs on a mobile browser?).
Also "Add to Favorite" does not need a dedicated button as you favourite new websites rarely - this feature can be hidden in the bookmarks menu. The bottom bar should be hide-able too - often i'd prefer space for my website over buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
without starting a flamewar about browsers or os's...
i'm currently enjoying:
scroll to top for menubar, no swiping or sliding or keypress needed.
menubar has www.---------- waiting for you to type in the rest. no bookmarks button, nothing at all.
for additional things like forward/back, a menu button is pressed... and it works very well. bookmarking is rare, as history goes back a week or three. it's easy enough to search in history on a topic to find the URL.
tabs... menu button -> all tabs.
just a hint in what might be the right direction. if ios/palm/whoever does it differently, it might just be better. try it out !

I really like ie9 in beta 2. It finally remembers location and zoomed state when going to previous page..
With that said when I upgraded from nodo to mango the address bar drove me nuts. I was used to having 4-5 tabs open all the time. Now I only have one open. I got used to working in just one tab. Its less of an hassle to use one tab than switching between them.
Slidable address bar is an excellent idea. I would definitely support something like this.
Sent from my T8788 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

I hope they implement something like the SGSII...zoom gestures to switch between tabs.

Aphasaic2002 said:
Why not put the back, forward and refresh buttons on the bottom bar - there's plenty of room next to the others. You can then auto-hide the address bar - it's only really useful to see what page you're on when the page is loading (who actually types in URLs on a mobile browser?).
Also "Add to Favorite" does not need a dedicated button as you favourite new websites rarely - this feature can be hidden in the bookmarks menu. The bottom bar should be hide-able too - often i'd prefer space for my website over buttons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought about this too last night. My new thought, have the following buttons on the menu bar, Address Toggle/Back/Forward/Favorites/Tabs. The Address Toggle toggles the menu bar between default menu & the address bar. When address bar is shown, you have the refresh button. I'll create a quick template shortly.

Here's the new template;

sorry dude but all your buttons are not good
people cant find the backwards button, (its the hardware key)
or even the forward button (in sub menu aka right click)
so u think they will ever find out about swiping over the adressbar to make other icons apear?
i would like to pinch out to fullscreen, and if u pinch further, tabs will apear..
also more think of gestures instead of buttons..
touch one finger
double touch one finger
swipe one finger -direction (8 directions minimum)
touch and hold one finger
touch two fingers
double touch two fingers
swipe two fingers -direction
touch and hold one finger
touch three fingers
double touch three fingers
swipe three fingers -direction
touch and hold three finger
etc... lots of unused stuff....
btw, i know you can include ie9 in your apps, so cant your app be there to improove ie9 ?

webwalk® said:
sorry dude but all your buttons are not good
people cant find the backwards button, (its the hardware key)
or even the forward button (in sub menu aka right click)
so u think they will ever find out about swiping over the adressbar to make other icons apear?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gestures = Overrated gimmick. A simple single tap beats any swipe/pinch/what ever gesture. I can't count how many times I've let someone use my phone & how unnatural they look trying to swipe. Swipe is good for scrolling, pinch is good for zooming, other than that, they're overrated. A nice gimmick, but still a gimmick.
Secondly, read what I wrote, there's a toggle like the keyboard has the number/letter toggle.
The hardware back button should not be used for in app navigation. The hardware buttons should be static across all screens. Any option that requires more than one simple tap, on the main menu is inefficient (Other than pinch to zoom/swipe scrolling). I don't swipe up for menu, I tap the 3 dots. I don't swipe left & right, I tap on the tab title if available. Far easier than swiping.
Back = Close App/Previous App (The current/Mango use does not fit with the rest of WP7.)
Start = Start Screen (Already Static)
Search = Bing (Fixed in Mango)

That many buttons goes against the WP experience
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express

FiyaFleye said:
That many buttons goes against the WP experience
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How so, there are apps that have 5 buttons. This is why MS choose icons over text. You can fit more & it looks cleaner. Also, if there is the ability for 5 buttons, than it is within MS's standards. Beside the fact, these are just ideas. Please show me your own ideas?

FiyaFleye said:
That many buttons goes against the WP experience
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can't tell him that because now he's gonna block u jaja.

There has to be a compromise between style and usability. It seems to me that the new design of IE9 in Mango will be less efficient for most people, and these ideas might improve that. At the very least, they help convey the concern that many people have.

I have mixed feelings about the software buttons

android phones are prone to hangs due to incompatible and poorly managed apps, i have custom roms installed, all optimized and stuff but occasionally i still need to restart my phone using the three button combo because my phone wont respond at all, the home button is a physical button that is sure to send a signal to the underlying hardware which is very useful for overriding stuff, in the event of hangs, how does the gnex deal with it? the power and down button is already reserved for screenshot..sigh..guess be prepared to take out the battery then..
another thing is, the home button is a quick go to action for exiting no matter what you're doing and its location is fixed, with a software home button, it changes location and even hides, not very intuitive..
if they really have wanted a maximum real estate, why didnt they just put the home button at the top or the side but maintain it as a hardware button
i guess well just have to see from reviews when the gnex comes out, after all honeycomb tablets have no physical home buttons anyway

Maybe they use the same thing as on the sgs II. Long press of the power button and it reboots.
And I like the fact that it doesn't have hardware buttons (except volume and power) because of two things:
1. Clean front (looks great).
2. Hardware buttons could brake.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Keep in mind that apps run in a java virtual machine but the buttons will probably run in the OS itself. Meaning home will still be an override.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using XDA Ultimate App

LordButtersI said:
Keep in mind that apps run in a java virtual machine but the buttons will probably run in the OS itself. Meaning home will still be an override.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but that is the problem
how would "home" button work, if the screen is hung, and the buttons are not responding, when say you were in a game or playing a video, and it hung, then you have no access to the "home" button
that's why i prefer a real button or at the very least the capacitive buttons, than a software button

Remember that when it comes down to it, hardware buttons on the front interface with the phone's software too. If the screen is hanging, the hardware buttons won't work any better than a row of software buttons would.

martonikaj said:
Remember that when it comes down to it, hardware buttons on the front interface with the phone's software too. If the screen is hanging, the hardware buttons won't work any better than a row of software buttons would.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app

AllGamer said:
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess what the other posts are trying to say is this:
Even if a specific app may freeze completely, the software buttons should still work. Crashing apps normally don't freeze the whole OS because they're running in a Java Virtual Machine, but since they're often fullscreen, you need to press the HOME to exit the app. This should still work with the software buttons (as long as they're visible in the app) because they're running outside the frozen Virtual Machine.
I have an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer since its release. It runs Honeycomb and comes without hardware buttons as well. But the Transformer never got totally unresponsive, some apps froze, but the software buttons still worked perfectly normal.
edit: the post below this one is actually a better explanation than this, read it and you'll get it

AllGamer said:
i had many many cases where the app/game whatever hung, but the hard button or capacitive buttons were still responding
so i was able to summon Taks Manager to kill the hung app, that would not let me switch to other apps
so in this scenario when you have no buttons to press, you wont be able to invoke the Task Manager to kill the hung app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchscreen presses are captured by the OS and then passed onto app event handlers. With past Android versions, when an app hang, the OS is still responding to and dispatching touchscreen events, but because the app in the foreground handling the events isn't doing anything, it looks like the system is not responding to touchscreen events.
With ICS, the OS has handlers for touchscreen events, not just apps, due to the software buttons. The OS makes sure that if the system bar is hidden, any sort of interaction with the system, including touchscreen events, bring up the system bar. Thus if the foreground app hangs, touching the screen should still bring up the system bar and let you press one of the three keys.

if that works as designed, then it should be safe to have software button

My phone only has power and volume hardware keys, then 4 captive touch. People keep freaking out about this but it's not all that different. The captive touch are sensors but they only react with the OS (and sometimes freeze up).
They are looking at it from the point of view that most phones are using captive touch buttons, which is very similar tech to the rest of the screen so they just made it a little adaptable. Now you can theme all your buttons (minus power and volume).
I don't know, I am probably being naive, but I see little difference between on screen and captive buttons. I have been just fine with the later so I see no issues and only new possibilities.

degeneration said:
My phone only has power and volume hardware keys, then 4 captive touch. People keep freaking out about this but it's not all that different. The captive touch are sensors but they only react with the OS (and sometimes freeze up).
They are looking at it from the point of view that most phones are using captive touch buttons, which is very similar tech to the rest of the screen so they just made it a little adaptable. Now you can theme all your buttons (minus power and volume).
I don't know, I am probably being naive, but I see little difference between on screen and captive buttons. I have been just fine with the later so I see no issues and only new possibilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, they are very similar. The problem is that both are sub-optimal solutions. One the one hand you don't get physical keys with tactile feedback. On the other hand you don't get to use the space taken up by the buttons to display other things when the buttons aren't needed. If Google's goal in designing ICS/GN is to maximize the screen real estate through the use of hideable system buttons, then they went halfway and stopped short and ended up with a solution that isn't particularly good for anything. To go all the way with this idea, you'd need a dedicated home button somewhere else, like on the side as the OP suggested. Then the system keys can truly become part of the application, rather than a constant part of the system, and can be hidden, customized, etc. depending on application context, and allows full screen apps to truly take advantage of the screen real estate. As it stands now, only video playback can take advantage of the whole screen, with anything else you are frequently interacting with the device and the buttons will pretty much be there the whole time.

They take up quite a bit of screen real-estate. If they could be auto-hidden without popping back up every time you touch the screen, it would be vastly superior. I still maintain there should be an option for a bezel swipe gesture to show the buttons, which would auto-hide after 5 seconds or so of disuse.
Or at least, make them smaller. I checked out a Galaxy Nexus screenshot on my Droid 2 - the on-screen keys occupied more vertical space than the capacitive keys on my phone, and that's on a screen a full inch smaller.
In any case it isn't going to turn me off the phone - I'm sure some clever developer will make a 'fix' for it (and will definitely receive a donation from me when they do ) and it's still an unbeatable screen besides.
Also, I don't terribly mind the lack of bezel-reduction, because the phone still looks so damn slick.

I'm sure someone will come up with a ROM that hides the buttons etc. fairly shortly.
I've had a year with the Nexus S, and the only real difference is on that the buttons are etched onto the bezel - it's still handled in software exactly the same way. Never had an issue with it.
On my tablet, software buttons are really handy since the charging cable is (for me) on the wrong side.. so I hold it the other way up and the buttons obligingly flip onto the other side for me.

Sjael said:
Or at least, make them smaller. I checked out a Galaxy Nexus screenshot on my Droid 2 - the on-screen keys occupied more vertical space than the capacitive keys on my phone, and that's on a screen a full inch smaller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your thinking might be a tad flawed there. Due to the greater pixel density of the screen, the buttons will actually be smaller in absolute size than they were on your Droid 2's screen. They will take up a smaller percentage of the screen as a result.

mastapsi said:
Your thinking might be a tad flawed there. Due to the greater pixel density of the screen, the buttons will actually be smaller in absolute size than they were on your Droid 2's screen. They will take up a smaller percentage of the screen as a result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took a 100% screenshot from the Nexus and viewed it on my Droid 2 at my screen's native res (854x480, 16:9 just like the nexus.) Difficult to describe what I mean, so have a photo:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
The ICS buttons in the screenshot are pretty much the same size as the Droid 2 capacitive keys, however on the Nexus, that very same image will be displayed but 1" larger, so the buttons will be quite a bit larger on the Prime.
Also I erroneously said that they were bigger than the capacitive keys in my last post, which isn't correct on second inspection.

AllGamer said:
if that works as designed, then it should be safe to have software button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty big "if". I'm a bit miffed that the search button is gone now as well. I use it more than I think do; let's just say.

My home button never hangs on my xoom so im sure all will be ok.

the_colombian said:
My home button never hangs on my xoom so im sure all will be ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for my Galaxy Tab.
Have had some apps crash/hang using custom rom on it but the home button have still worked so I think we are safe with SGN

I really use my search button a lot. On home screen I use it to bring up a Google search bar, in other apps I use it to search within the app itself.
So its kinda stupid of Google to basically shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their own OS and hardware spec for no apparent reason. There's plenty of room down there for a search icon.
I'd really like to know their thought process on this one.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using Tapatalk

Tornlogic said:
I really use my search button a lot. On home screen I use it to bring up a Google search bar, in other apps I use it to search within the app itself.
So its kinda stupid of Google to basically shoot themselves in the foot and cripple their own OS and hardware spec for no apparent reason. There's plenty of room down there for a search icon.
I'd really like to know their thought process on this one.
Sent from my SCH-I400 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the homescreen the search bar is on every screen.
In the app, they expect devs to implement a search button/bar within the app (or its options menu). It's really not that hard to understand.

Suggestion for new fullscreen mod.

Hi, i didn't want to make trash of development section so I came here to ask or suggest of making mod that will allow us to use 100% of the screen without any on screen buttons visible.
I know that there is a mod that is doing same thing, but it's uncomfortable to use. (You press on the screen corner and then on screen buttons magically appear)
So here's my suggestion how could it work.
You will have to put your finger under the screen on the left, right or center depending on which action you want to launch. Then swype your finger up and release it.
For example I want to go back from settings so I press back button:
I put finger on the bottom left of the phone and then swype it up to the screen and release it.
If any developer could make that kind of gesture readable by phone, and attach it to a proper action would be great
Sorry for my "not best English" I tried how I could to present my idea most clearly.
And please don't say that screen is big enough so this kind of mod is unnecessary..
Edit: See attached image below
Tapped from Defy

This actually has been suggested before and I thought it was a really good idea, but the majority of the community ripped the OP of the other thread a new one and told him to just use button savior or LMT launcher or something. It was pretty messed up. Hopefully we can actually get that sooner or later!

I completely agree. I use LMT, but it seems like it would be more convenient the way you suggested. Also less accidental presses if you swiped from the bottom.

joshuajones said:
I completely agree. I use LMT, but it seems like it would be more convenient the way you suggested. Also less accidental presses if you swiped from the bottom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought of extending lmt to support also that feature. But I would more see completely configurable touch/swipe areas. They could be placed on the left, right and also at the bottom. What do you think?
Sent from my Nexus 7

Have a look at GMD gesture control. It does exactly what you want
I also did that for myself.
App Thread: google "gmd gesturce control xda" (I cannot post any links)

Thank you for comments
I've attached image showing my idea (go to first post), so everything is clear now. I'm sure you can't do this with LMT.

Krokogator said:
Hi, i didn't want to make trash of development section so I came here to ask or suggest of making mod that will allow us to use 100% of the screen without any on screen buttons visible.
I know that there is a mod that is doing same thing, but it's uncomfortable to use. (You press on the screen corner and then on screen buttons magically appear)
So here's my suggestion how could it work.
You will have to put your finger under the screen on the left, right or center depending on which action you want to launch. Then swype your finger up and release it.
For example I want to go back from settings so I press back button:
I put finger on the bottom left of the phone and then swype it up to the screen and release it.
If any developer could make that kind of gesture readable by phone, and attach it to a proper action would be great
Sorry for my "not best English" I tried how I could to present my idea most clearly.
And please don't say that screen is big enough so this kind of mod is unnecessary..
Edit: See attached image below
Tapped from Defy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm... interesting

greivel2 said:
Have a look at GMD gesture control. It does exactly what you want
I also did that for myself.
App Thread: google "gmd gesturce control xda" (I cannot post any links)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just installed lite version of GMD gesture tool and it seems to work
Unfortunately, to use custom gestures I will have to buy full/paid version but it's worth it's money!!

Yeah its really worth the money
I tried your way of gestures and it works a hundred precent

i like the idea
now i use button savior (not good as your idea)

greivel2 said:
Yeah its really worth the money
I tried your way of gestures and it works a hundred precent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's very accurate. Even if someone is having problems, try to recalibrate borders, changing border detection area and gesture size
I found this apk very useful on my Motorola Defy to activate recent apps by swyping from the top of the screen

[MOD][HOW-TO] Enable Software Keys

I can not take full credit for this, I've gotten help from others and have two threads that have provided tons of information (both will be linked at the bottom of this). Samsung's big selling point for the GN2 was the S-Pen, one big gripe that some had was the fact that you couldn't use the S-Pen to interact with the physical buttons and the question of "why didn't they enable the software buttons the Nexus devices use?" So I searched around and found out how to enable the Software buttons on the GN2.
{
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Now I'm still tinkering with the Key values to disable the menu and back buttons and possibly re-map the home button...input on this would be great.
Step One: You must be Rooted to do this
Step Two: Use your favorite File Manager (I used Solid Explorer) to navigate to the build.prop file (sysytem>build.prop)
Step Three: Add the following to the bottom of your build.prop file (without the quotes);
"qemu.hw.mainkeys = 0"
Step Four: Save build.prop file, exit file explorer, and reboot the your phone
Step Five: Enjoy your new software buttons
You can turn off the backlight to the menu and back buttons in Settings>Display>Touch key light duration>Always Off. Again this will not disable the physical buttons, I'm still working to figure out what values need to be changed. I'll post the "known" values in the next post.
source info:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1918166
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/29153-mod-411-jelly-bean-soft-key-mods-with-menu-and-search-stockbb/
For those that want "the bleeding edge" of things (like myself) I suggest giving PIE from ParanoidAndroid a try. Senior Member noname81 has created an app that can be sideloaded to your rooted device and enables the PIE style navbar and can be found HERE. For more on PIE check HERE. Check it out and let us know what you think.

From the info found in the SGS3 thread the values that need to be changed are;
key 172 Home
key 158 Back
key 139 Menu
found in these files;
/system/usr/keylayout/sec_touchkey.kl
/system/usr/keylayout/gpio-keys.kl
/system/usr/keylayout/sec_keys.kl
Now the GN2 does not have all of these files but the key values are the same. Instead we have;
/system/usr/keylayout/Generic.kl
/system/usr/keylayout/gpio-keys.kl
/system/usr/keylayout/qwerty.kl
/system/usr/keylayout/sii9234_rcp.kl
and the values I've found are (grouped as found in the above files);
Generic.kl (Only effected files need to be modified)
key 127 Menu Wake_Dropped (No effect)
key 139 Menu Wake_Dropped (Effect)
key 158 Back Wake_Dropped (Effect)
key 172 Home (Effect)
gpio-keys.kl (This file MUST be edited)
key 172 Home Wake (Effect)
qwerty.kl (This file can be left intact)
key 158 Back Wake_Dropped (No effect)
key 229 Menu Wake_Dropped (No effect)
key 139 Menu Wake_Dropped (No effect)
key 59 Menu Wake_Dropped (No effect)
key 102 Home Wake (No effect)
sii9234_rcp.kl (This file can be left intact)
key 10 Menu Wake_Dropped (No effect)
key 14 Back Wake_Dropped (No effect)
Step One: Disable the physical keys
Step Two: Making a flashable script to edit build.prop and change key values to disable physical keys
Step Three: Get popular key re-map ideas
Step Four: Make additional flashable scripts for popular key re-maps
Now I'm currently at work so disabling the physical keys might take me a little while of playing around but ill keep you posted. As for the flashable script I turn to the community to lend a hand on that, that's still a bit out of my league. Same goes for the key re-map scripts. Enjoy everyone.

I removed the above listed values completely from their respective files and have successfully disabled the physical buttons after a reboot. I'm going to re-input those values in one by one to see what the least amount of edit we need to make this work. I'll edit the second post with my findings.
edit: While testing values it seems something breaks the power/lock and volume buttons...battery pull turns phone off (obviously) and the power button will power on the phone but it won't lock it nor will it bring up the shut down/restart menu...replacing keylayout values and removing build.prop edit fixes those buttons...have to look into it further. Also it seems some modification to the size of the software buttons might have to be made as it overlaps the camera button when the camera is in use, this might be fixed by using an AOSP based ROM like CM10...once I get a port ill check it out.
For now if you want to play around with the software buttons to see what it feels/looks like just modify the build.prop file and turn off the backlight for the physical buttons, they will still work but won't be seen.
Apps that don't play nice with this mod;
Camera
Phone

Please note that the camera app doesn't quite play nicely with this mod. It cuts the buttons in half.

natboy said:
Please note that the camera app doesn't quite play nicely with this mod. It cuts the buttons in half.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stated in third post...I'll be going to an unoffical CM10 tomorrow so I can play a little more with this then

natboy said:
Please note that the camera app doesn't quite play nicely with this mod. It cuts the buttons in half.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also the phone dialpad/recent call log, and landscape softkeys are really screwy...

ScottRTL said:
also the phone dialpad/recent call log, and landscape softkeys are really screwy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx for that...I think once we get an AOSP ROM like CM that allows for a navbar some of these issues will go away. Haven't had the chance to try that out tho
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

any way to get the software buttons to appear only when the S pen is used?
great mod, but I don't need them out all the time.

jstrayy said:
great mod, but I don't need them out all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point of the mod is to eventually replace the physical buttons and be more like a nexus device
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

Can I get some input on layout? How would you like to see the following options arranged?
MENU
RECENT APPS
HOME
BACK
SEARCH
Not all options need to be used. (eg. Recent Apps, Search, Home, Back)

Thanks for your work on this. I personally would love to see :
menu-home-back
I almost never use recent and don't need search, got a widget for that. If power is possible, I'd put it to the left of menu.
Btw, I got a nice (slightly lighter than ICS) blue theme I'm working on for the soft keys.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using XDA Premium HD app

Chronzy said:
Thanks for your work on this. I personally would love to see :
menu-home-back
I almost never use recent and don't need search, got a widget for that. If power is possible, I'd put it to the left of menu.
Btw, I got a nice (slightly lighter than ICS) blue theme I'm working on for the soft keys.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool...thanks for the input...just waiting on a "stable" enough AOSP ROM so I can look at the framework.apk and the navbar options that are baked in to CM.

If anyone figures out how to fix the recent call log please let me know. Having soft keys is amazing. I don't think that I could ever go back.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

-Sn1PeR- said:
If anyone figures out how to fix the recent call log please let me know. Having soft keys is amazing. I don't think that I could ever go back.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now I am just using rocketdial... not as good as aosp with softkeys... but pretty decent..
Sent from my Galaxy Note II on Rogers Wireless

Hey monster,
Where are you on this? I would love to have a fully working setup. As far as key layout I use cm10 on my t989 S2 and have the nav bar mimicking the hardware button layout. I however would not want to disable my hardware buttons on my note2 just incase something goes wrong.
Thx
Casperi
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium

casperi said:
Hey monster,
Where are you on this? I would love to have a fully working setup. As far as key layout I use cm10 on my t989 S2 and have the nav bar mimicking the hardware button layout. I however would not want to disable my hardware buttons on my note2 just incase something goes wrong.
Thx
Casperi
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kind of at a stand still at this point, some family stuff goin on, and im kind of waiting on a CM build so I can tie into the build in navbar settings. Ive been following the dev of cm for us very closely and it seems very close to being something...yay...so ill start looking at their framework.apk and the systemui.apk to see what I can do...then ill most likely build a script based off the s3 script thats already out...and we'll go from there...as far as layout I was kind of thinking menu, home, search, back...but I want to see the menu situation inside CM so menu might go away and it would be search, home, back but we'll see
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

Ok thx alot I really appreciate you taking a look at it. I would offer to help but i can't code to save my life. If you need any other type of help like testing or place to host your dev files I can do that.
Take care
Casperi
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

I have done quite a bit of key re-mapping, including the home button on other devices, and there's usually smali coding involved, as well, so shoot me a pm if you want some info. Can't say I know it all, but more than nothing...
Steve
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium

sk806 said:
I have done quite a bit of key re-mapping, including the home button on other devices, and there's usually smali coding involved, as well, so shoot me a pm if you want some info. Can't say I know it all, but more than nothing...
Steve
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx dude once I get there ill def hit u up
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app

ok so some great news...CM10 is "officially" running on the AT&T Note 2 (my phone) and I have gotten the navbar running, also CM has navbar settings/customizations built right in. I am currently looking at a navbar set up in the following manner Menu Home Search Back. If you love AOSP as much as I do and want CM on your phone, heres all you need to get this working:
- http://www.mediafire.com/?a6hl8qlv5v261q1 (the link to Madmack's CM10)
- gapps (optional and you'll have to get them yourself, im using 20121011)
- once you've booted into CM and gotten all your stuff set back up add "qemu.hw.mainkeys = 0" to the bottom of your build.prop file
- save changes and reboot
- you now have the navbar
- to edit go to system settings>system>NAVIGATION BAR (this only shows if you edit your build.prob)
- follow the on screen instructions and you're good to go
I'll try and post a screen shot later as well but I'm having some storage issues at the moment. Otherwise enjoy.

Launcher with buttons on bottom/side?

Basically my HU is one capactive buttons but only for home, volume up/down, and back. They don't work all that great so I'm looking for a launcher perhaps can incorporate some custom buttons at the bottom or side of all screens sort of like the top bar w/ the home and back buttons. I'd like to put a navi, volume+/-, and a pandora button where I can easily switch apps without having to go back then to the app. Currently I'm using next launcher.
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Dave

which head unit do you currently have?

This one

i was looking at one of those, what goes wrong with the buttons?

Nothing really it just seems the way I have my install it is hard to get an entire finger onto the button to activate it.
Dave

TT_Vert said:
Nothing really it just seems the way I have my install it is hard to get an entire finger onto the button to activate it.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh, I see how that could be a problem

Yeah it is behind a bezel so it looks flush but it eats up a bit of real estate since it the bezel on top of it is curved. I just hope I can find a launcher that has software buttons on the bottom.
Dave

TT_Vert said:
Yeah it is behind a bezel so it looks flush but it eats up a bit of real estate since it the bezel on top of it is curved. I just hope I can find a launcher that has software buttons on the bottom.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about a xposed module? I think Gravity box allows adding of pie controls.

Researching this now but can it be always there rather than triggered by touch?

I've played w/ pie and it isn't what I need. Really want perm. buttons down there that I can program. IE, volume up/down, navi, pandora, next, previous play. Even if it just shifted everything up a hair, i'll have to see if there is a launcher to do this.
Dave

TT_Vert said:
I've played w/ pie and it isn't what I need. Really want perm. buttons down there that I can program. IE, volume up/down, navi, pandora, next, previous play. Even if it just shifted everything up a hair, i'll have to see if there is a launcher to do this.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2270198 Not sure if it would work on our devices. I returned my unit with the capacitive buttons on the side and went with one that has actual push buttons so you can get property feedback from them.

I'm looking or one that will not float atop other apps but rather occupy a predefined amount of space and push up the apps. I would lose maybe 3/8" of screenspace but then I can access apps directly from thoese buttons. I found an app called auto hide softkeys which allows me to sort of customize a bar but i need to swipe up to activate it. I can only add volume up/down and apps but i cannot find a way to add buttons to pause or skip songs. I'm looking into that apps XML file now but I don't thinK i can edit it.
Dave

You can always try adding the line
Code:
qemu.hw.mainkeys=0
to the build.prop file, might not work since I think it is heavily dependent on the framework, but its meant to force the soft navigation bar by tell the ROM that there are no hardware buttons. I'm not sure you will be able to customize it fully the way you want. Does your car not have steering wheel controls?

Right but I also need to customize the navigation bar. I will try to modify that line and see. That app you linked me to is just like what I've been playing with and neither has the option to allow forward/next of audio.. Changing that line to 0 just messed up resolution and didn't actually make that bar permanent. Even if I have to swipe up it isn't a huge deal but I do need to find a way to get a next button.

TT_Vert said:
Right but I also need to customize the navigation bar. I will try to modify that line and see. That app you linked me to is just like what I've been playing with and neither has the option to allow forward/next of audio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The xposed module xposed additions allows you to remap the buttons, but I don't think you can add additional ones.
I think you will find you have an either or choice, either you can have a permanent navbar that you can't customize or you can have a floating 'widget' that you can customize.

jakejm79 said:
The xposed module xposed additions allows you to remap the buttons, but I don't think you can add additional ones.
I think you will find you have an either or choice, either you can have a permanent navbar that you can't customize or you can have a floating 'widget' that you can customize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps I can find a launcher that has this capability built in. Even the customized navbar doesn't allow me to skip to next song in pandora. Not a deal breaker but it'd be nice if I could find something that would display the navbar permanently even at the expense of a bit of screen space.
Dave