Develop Bugs

Smartwatches: Think Tank (Attn: SONY SMARTWATCH, WIMM, PEBBLE, METAWATCH,MOTO

Having extensive experience with both phone watches and BT-enabled watches, I want to make an important remark to firmware/software developers for these devices, more so after having recently acquired a SONY Smartwatch.
It is simple: NOTIFICATIONS NEED TO BE PUSHED ALL THE WAY. ALL GOODS NEED TO BE DELIVERED.
In the Sony Smartwatch, a vibration accompanied by a Gmail logo is useless. Having me awake the watch, click on ‘Events’, click again on the message and only then being able to see the email message defeats the purpose of immediateness. Probably easier for me to reach out to the phone and see what the notification is about.
The right way to go is simple: everything the phone has in terms of message info needs to be pushed to the watch notification:
“Email from John Doe
To [email protected]
Subject: Dinner on Tue
->And the entire body”
Same with SMS, IM notifications, or anything. Having only the SMS or Gmail or Whatsapp logos and have to hunt down for the message in the watch is absurd.
The way the MBW-150 worked offered way more info at a glance; Sony is moving backward with this minimalistic notification approach. More is needed.
Secondly: let me disable BT on the watch (say when batt is low or overnight) without forcing me to shut down the device -> no time telling anymore.
Third: watch brightness needs to be adjustable from the watch itself (let me manage battery life myself, I’m a grown up).
Fourth: an audio beep won’t kill anyone. When I’m driving, for instance, I cannot feel the phone vibration. A CASIO-style ‘beep-beep’ cannot hurt. While I understand this may involve additional hardware and pose operational complexities, this is a nice-to-have feature.
First two remarks are KEY, and I’d appreciate not only Sony but everybody involved in such development to think a bit smart before pouring a fortune into development.
Anyone has anything else worth highlighting?
Thanks

Sure dude. But first things first... I would scream that let these things display the clock at all times. Failure to do so defeats the whole watch disguise!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Which app are you using to get Gmail notifications?

jairmoreno said:
Which app are you using to get Gmail notifications?
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I am messing with Customnotifier, GMail notifier (not 2), and RSS (which works best but drains the battery on the phone if set to frequent checks).
In any event, on the watch I only get an icon on the screen, no further info.
Rgds

Well they are moving in the right direction. With the updated firmware, that was released today, you are able to do a couple more things. You now have an option of leaving new watch faces on at all times. Also with notifications, you can now single tap the new notification icon and it will take you straight to the notification!

gtdRR said:
Well they are moving in the right direction. With the updated firmware, that was released today, you are able to do a couple more things. You now have an option of leaving new watch faces on at all times. Also with notifications, you can now single tap the new notification icon and it will take you straight to the notification!
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Click to collapse
Yes indeed. Touchscreen seems a tad more responsive now also, more polished.
Still, notifications need to appear spontaneously -no need to tap- and bightness should be adjustable -too much backlight for me; always staying indoors.
But it's a good step fwd and the app in the phone is more efficient.

Hi, I'm Considering buying this watch simply cos I'm a geek I guess, but, if it is possible for sony to update the firmware/create new apps, and others also to create new apps etc, isn't it almost inevitable that more detailed notifications will be developed eventually? Or am I wrong, is it up to just sony to develope new apps etc, meaning we'll have to wait for just them to decide, taking ages etc? (Unlinke the wimm one for example)..
It does look great, but I agree, notifications really MUST include details, and if this is a future possibility, then I'll get one. (Mainly due to the wimm one not being on sale over here yet! Arrghh!)

jmpcrx said:
Hi, I'm Considering buying this watch simply cos I'm a geek I guess, but, if it is possible for sony to update the firmware/create new apps, and others also to create new apps etc, isn't it almost inevitable that more detailed notifications will be developed eventually? Or am I wrong, is it up to just sony to develope new apps etc, meaning we'll have to wait for just them to decide, taking ages etc? (Unlinke the wimm one for example)..
It does look great, but I agree, notifications really MUST include details, and if this is a future possibility, then I'll get one. (Mainly due to the wimm one not being on sale over here yet! Arrghh!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The notifications seem detailed to me I mean you see the icon if you want to read the message tap the icon once. I like the screen always on update but I won't use it often since I rather have the battery last through the week.
I've checked back ever so often and there new apps popping up so I think development will only improve. Its honestly one of my favorite phone accessories I would recommend trying it out.

general forceps said:
Yes indeed. Touchscreen seems a tad more responsive now also, more polished.
Still, notifications need to appear spontaneously -no need to tap- and bightness should be adjustable -too much backlight for me; always staying indoors.
But it's a good step fwd and the app in the phone is more efficient.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree I can't wait til they update to allow adjustment of of the backlight. The notifications I find using the MMS notifier over Sony's I get no delay in the notifications. The Gmail notifier app I use for Gmail sends me the notice without delay also.

Have you looked at the Metawatch at all? That ended up being my choice. Waiting for delivery.

RedRamage said:
Have you looked at the Metawatch at all? That ended up being my choice. Waiting for delivery.
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Click to collapse
Good choice RedRamage. I have the analog Metawatch and expect the new iOS digital version any day. Latest phone console release and functions here

OP - fullly agree with the "at a glance" concept. Metawatch provided this for me and I have the Sony, WIMM, original Liveview and MotoACTV also.
Only very recently I was able to stop using MetaWatch and switch to the Sony only for this. See my blog @ augmentedtraffic.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/finally-true-real-time-at-a-glance-notifications-on-sony-smart-watch (you need to cut & paste into a browser since I have < 10 posts).
I use Tasker/K-9 combined with my app to get "at a glance' on a SonyWatch!
I am still testing battery life, but it seems OK. I haven't put the app on the market as yet as it is very customized to my use cases and it may be a bit too much for others to use. The only thing I am currently missing from the MetaWatch is the next upcoming appointment. I have everything else I was using (notifications at a glance, phone battery life, location, weather). I even added my last Withings scale weigh-in

Ok, I've got both of the 1st Gen MetaWatch models (The bt2 Analog and Digital ones), and maintain a popular fork of the Android MW software (see link in my sig), so I'll try and answer your points in relation to that watch.
1) Yes, MW will display your notifications as soon as the phone does - gmail is a little tricky as google keeps changing/modifying/revoking permissions with the official gmail app, so the information available to the watch manager app can be a little sketchy. If you use k-9 mail, you'll see the sender and subject. It doesn't display body text yet, but that is doable. Gmail would also be fixable by just making the app go to the gmail server directly and pull the message text when the new mail notification comes in.
The fork I maintain has an "Other notifications" Option, that lets you selectively display any android notification, although the OS limits how much information we can actually pull. If anyone has requests for additional notification support, then I'm happy to try adding it, assuming the developer of the app has provided intents or an api to access that information.
Currently notifications will stay on screen for a few seconds, then disappear (except for the SMS notifications, which, on the digital watch can be set to stay on screen until dismissed, as you can see the full body, and scroll) - On the digital watch you can configure a button to redisplay the last notification again if you missed it, and there's an on watch menu of all the previous notifications which is only a few button presses away.
2) Yes, all the MW models have a menu option (on the watch) that let you disable BT without turning off the watch, so you can still tell the time
3) Yes, the Analog MW model has menu options to configure the OLED brightness. There's nothing to configure on the Digital model, as it has an always on LCD screen (though there's an option in my fork of the app to automatically turn on its light when a notification comes in)
4) The MWs don't have a speaker, but they do have a powerful vibrator inside - it's pretty hard to miss it when it does vibrate, and the app lets you configure different vibration patterns for different notifications, so you can know what sort of message it was without even looking.
Let me know if you've got any other questions!

MW has some very good stuff, I'm quite familiar with it.
Pity -both for MW and SW- is the poor pixel density. I believe MOTO has a much better display.
B/W displays appear sub-optimal to me and definitely not the direction the market wants to move toward.
Also, beyond the immediate 'at-a-glance' notification, can you read within the watch the full email or notification in MW? This is also a key element.
One more topic I missed on SW is that once connection is lost we need not only vibration but some on-screen display, like a warning sign or something. This feature prevented me from leaving behind a SGSII in a bar when I was using my ancient MBW-150. Vibration won't typically suffice.
I survive 2.5 full days with heavy notification traffic with my SW. How long you stay unplugged with MW under heavy traffic?
Thanks for the good discussion.

general forceps said:
Also, beyond the immediate 'at-a-glance' notification, can you read within the watch the full email or notification in MW? This is also a key element.
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Click to collapse
As I said, the current software doesn't support that, but it's something I'm planning on adding.
SMS messages currently support this - you can page through a long message, then dismiss it when you're done, so I just need to add the code to pull out (and strip html from) the body text - I know for certain that it's easily possible using k-9 mail, gmail will probably need work to talk to google's mail server directly to get the message text.
general forceps said:
One more topic I missed on SW is that once connection is lost we need not only vibration but some on-screen display, like a warning sign or something. This feature prevented me from leaving behind a SGSII in a bar when I was using my ancient MBW-150. Vibration won't typically suffice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it'll display a "No watch connection" icon in the top right of the time display, which is pretty hard to miss!
general forceps said:
I survive 2.5 full days with heavy notification traffic with my SW. How long you stay unplugged with MW under heavy traffic?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to get 2 or 3 days, depending on what I'm doing - 3 days for medium traffic, 2 for heavy traffic (usually when I'm developing features, so pushing lots of data to the watch)
3 days = Taken off the charger on Monday morning, needs to go back on the charger Wednesday evening before I go to bed.
I could probably get much longer battery life if I manually turned bt off each night, and back in the morning, but I like having my watch vibrate in the morning when the alarm goes off! Perhaps adding a "bt sleep" mode to the firmware would be a good addition.

How long does your battery last on the Sony Smartwatch if you keep the small digital clock on at all times?
I've had my watch a little over a week and haven't been able to make it through the day yet even with minimal notifications. The battery life has been very disappointing.

@benjymous:
I forgot to note that I shut it down when I go to sleep. In the morning I turn it on with no pairing issues, so we'd be looking at 18h/day actual uptime, for a total of say 45h per charge. Not stellar by any means.
@tjrhine:
It didn't even cross my mind to have the screen on full-time. It is obvious you won't make it tremendously far (I think the bat has a capacity below 130). No way. I push the button to get the time, I can live with this.
I also need to report that the glass is far from scratchproof. That's something that really pisses people off. Next HW release should DEFINITELY include at least Gorilla Glass and certainly a bigger battery. The thickness of the plastic clip and the strap can be each reduced by about half a millimeter that combined gives you 1mm that they should invest in a bigger capacity batt.
And obviously, a standard usb port.
Please keep ideas coming folks, thanks.

And this is how the notification queue should look like:
http://www.slashphone.com/media/data/767/inPulse_SmartWatch-2.jpg

I'm having exact same problem - Battery lasts barely 8-10 hrs. Do we need replacement watches?

general forceps said:
And this is how the notification queue should look like:
w ww.slashphone. com/media/data/767/inPulse_SmartWatch-2.jpg
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Looks like chinese product

[Q] Calendar

I just had a quick question which google can't seem to answer for me. I am sort of torn between the 360 and the galaxy gear solo and for the mean reason of the wifi. I often leave my phone some where and walk off with my watch on for extended periods of time. So if I have an appointment or reminder etc... I would like still be notified of it. Basically is this possible with android wear? can it locally cache data (say for a day) and still send notifications without a smart phone (obviously I realise this is not indefinite)
Sorry I realise this is more of a wear of question than a moto 360 question, so apologies if this is posted in the wrong place.
Thanks for all your help in advance.
Many thanks
James

Android Wear caches nothing. In fact, if you dismiss a notification to get it off screen, it is gone for good; not only on the watch, but your phone as well. I wanted this primarily for notifications, but its management of them is so poor I found it unusable.

Thats a shame, this may stop me from buying an andriod wear device at this moment in time. Thank you very much for the help
Ah this is really annoying, theres no undo button like in google now screen?
I have seen some launchers and widgets you can use for andriod wear in the play store, does anyone know if I could achieve the same thing through using them?

The watch does very little on its own. My recollection is time and date, timer, stopwatch, heart rate, and pedometer.

The watch stores the current day's worth of calendar entries locally. See https://support.google.com/androidwear/answer/6056862

Newbie trying to find features

So I've just got a OP3, moving from a Lumia 930 and several years with Microsoft mobile OS's and am trying to find a few answers about my new toy. I've searched Google but can't seem to find the answers I'm looking for.
Here goes, please don't flame me:
1. WP allowed me to automatically set quiet hours so only select contacts could get through and I wasn't bothered by notifications at night. I can't seem to find this option despite several walk throughs, the options listed aren't there. I know I can use the slider but sometimes when you go to bed tired you forget
2. Also looking for driving mode, when connected to Bluetooth the phone would only allow calls and texts to notify to stop distractions from other notifications.
3. Music player randomly opens, bit embarrassing when it fires up in the middle of a meeting
4. Phone screen doesn't always go off when taking a call, though this only seems to happen if I was using an app at the time the call came in.
5. I want to be able to block calls without installing an app, surely this should be a standard feature?
Think that's it currently, still getting my head around how to do things on Android and I'm sure there'll be more questions though hopefully I'll be able to find the answers myself
Thank you in advance

I can give you a few answers / recommendations. First take a look at an app called Silence Premium in the app store. This provides similar functionality to the slider but also allows the function to be time based. For example I have it set to silence all and only allow calls to come through after 11pm. At 6am I have it automatically un-silence all. This way I eliminate all the dings and beeps from Email or texts once I go to bed. The slider still functions normally as well. This should cover your first question. Note the trial version of the app is called Do not Disturb. Not sure why they chose different names for the paid and free versions.
For your second option, I use an app called Tasker to automatically enable an auto-reply to any texts that come in while driving. This feature is automatically enabled and disabled upon connecting to the Bluetooth in the car. Tasker is a pretty powerful app and can do a ton of different things. However it does have a bit of a learning curve and can definitely be intimidating. A similar app exists called Automate that might provide similar functionality. I haven't used it yet so can't really comment.
Hope this helps.

1 Month with the PD - thoughts

It has been a month since I got the PD.
Some brief thoughts based upon my experience with the phone.
I was an Apple user since they launched the iPhone in 2007. Nothing to do with the perpetual Apple vs. Android debate, just iOS suited my purposes, that's all.
I was using the HTC 10/BB DTEK50/Priv for a while, as a second phone.
I got fairly used to the operating system and to be honest, they are all very similar. But carrying 2, sometimes 3 phones was becoming a right pain, so looked for a good dual sim phone that would run two What's app accounts simultaneously.
Enter the PD. Easily love at first sight. I said this was my "jumping off point".
Wasn't very easy to get hold of, where I live, so had to wait almost a month and PAID-A-LOT-!! LOL
What a truly beautiful phone. I have used every Apple phone ever made, every BB phone made, 2 Vertu's (UGHH), and hand on my heart can say, I still cannot stop looking at it.
I had a major issue after setting it up, which is discussed in another thread.
I had no home screen icons or apps visible, only a blank screen that allowed calls and messages to come through in the status bar, could enter settings, but that was it.
The eventual solution, after almost suffering a heart attack, was to load both sims in, and then ejecting the sim tray. The apps just popped up instantly. Very strange, indeed.
After that, everything has been super easy.
-Stellar Battery (and I am a heavy user)
-2 whatsapp accounts running - awesome.
-What a lovely screen!
-No complaints with the camera. I like it. Even the slightly synthetic "Leica" look in the Wide Aperture Mode.
-The Fingerprint sensor is absolutely instant.
-EMUI is easy and nice to navigate
-The ability to edit the quick launch(?) icons in the pull down menu is excellent.
Now the bits that are bugging me.
1) No firmware updates. The last one was, I believe, in December, and I still am on B138. This is something that Huawei needs to look into post haste. I have written to them 5 times, till today. No response whatsoever.
2) Notifications - this is the elephant in the room. They are random at best.
All the Settings - Unlimited data Access, Battery Optimizations, Battery Ignore Whitelists, Priority Notifications, etc. are all on, as is oft discussed, and checked, but whatsapp and emails sometimes still do not give me a notification, until I open the app. This IS an issue for me. I am missing time constrained messages all the time. If anyone has a fix or solution for this, I will be very grateful.
3) Keyboard, Sometimes, the keyboard will freeze if the screen sleeps whilst the keyboard is open in an app, and I reopen it.
I have to collapse the keyboard and bring it up again. Not a huge deal, but an annoyance, none the less. Maybe a GBoard thing?
4) Screen Auto Brightness - Takes an age to organize itself. In the dark, it will blind you, before thinking to itself, that it is, indeed, night, and the screen should be a wee bit less bright. The exact opposite in the day - Very dim and then will eventually get off its backside and decide to brighten up the screen. Very annoying.
5) How do I change the name of my phone. It's not the Bluetooth and Wifi name. My car still picks it up as Huawei LON-L29, as do apps like Photosync and whilst connecting to my Mac.
6) Photos. Now this may not be a PD Specific issue, but when I transferred my 22,000 images across, they all came as a big jumbled mess. No date-wise organization. So looking for specific images, is well, impossible.
7) Music - No equalizer settings in the stock music app. For my specific purposes, unusable, because in my car's bluetooth radio, the bass is overwhelming.
So, apart from these minor points (and 1 big one), I love the phone. I wonder how they could possibly improve it...Firmware, Huawei! Firmware!

For photos delete the cache. That'll sort the jumbled up mess.
For Music Player Google removed the EQ option a few months ago, I hate Play Music now. I use Captune. It has its shortcomings but its the best EQ.
Keyboard - I use Swift with no problems.
My worst issues are the crappy screen protector (GG3) and the lack up updates. I'll be selling it shortly.

I'm enjoying my phone,the only gripe I have with it is the UPDATES.
As for keyboards Try downloading Blackberry Keyboard or Google Keyboard.

Thank you for your suggestions, guys.
I tried clearing the cache, but no joy there. I tried an app called Quickpic, that is apparently supposed to deal with this. Didn't help either.
I was wondering, even if I had to reimport all my image and video files, is there any way they could be sorted by date taken?
This is turning out to be as big of an issue as the notification one, as I depend on images and videos, to send and discuss with my clients. And needless to say, I can't find anything. So am relegated to carrying an iPhone 6s+ just for my media, so I can send the required files via email or WhatsApp. Really, Not an ideal situation.
I will try the BB Keyboard.
Regarding the packaged screen protector, agreed, it is appalling. Before I buy the 2.5/3D tempered glass screen protector, has anyone had any experience with it?
Bonerp, Captune works for me, Thank you.
Have any of you'll worked around the notification bug?
For example, WhatsApp notifications sometimes do not wake the screen, but when a second or third WhatsApp message comes through, it may wake...Or not.
Seriously, if this is such a widely publicized bug, why is Huawei not looking into this?

ap10046 said:
Thank you for your suggestions, guys.
I tried clearing the cache, but no joy there. I tried an app called Quickpic, that is apparently supposed to deal with this. Didn't help either.
I was wondering, even if I had to reimport all my image and video files, is there any way they could be sorted by date taken?
This is turning out to be as big of an issue as the notification one, as I depend on images and videos, to send and discuss with my clients. And needless to say, I can't find anything. So am relegated to carrying an iPhone 6s+ just for my media, so I can send the required files via email or WhatsApp. Really, Not an ideal situation.
I will try the BB Keyboard.
Regarding the packaged screen protector, agreed, it is appalling. Before I buy the 2.5/3D tempered glass screen protector, has anyone had any experience with it?
Bonerp, Captune works for me, Thank you.
Have any of you'll worked around the notification bug?
For example, WhatsApp notifications sometimes do not wake the screen, but when a second or third WhatsApp message comes through, it may wake...Or not.
Seriously, if this is such a widely publicized bug, why is Huawei not looking into this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried a curved tempered glass protector and it was awful so binned it. It had tape on the edges and just didn't look good and lost sensitivity.
Have you tried clearing cache at the boot screen or from settings/storage? Might help with the notification bug.
I've sent Huawei several things to fix and just had a 'thank you' response and nothing more. I'm not aware of a notification bug though. I definitely had one on the mate 9 until the first pre release fix was received, but not on this one.
Only other thing I can suggest re pics is delete data, or delete google account, delete cache then add your account again.

How do you guys work around the copy-paste thing?
I mean to having to bring out a paper and pen for copying an email address, phone number, passage from a message or an email is just unacceptable, when this is a widely utilized convenience on other platforms and, I believe, some Android UI's too?
I have tried a few apps that claim they can do this, but no joy.
Also, sharing contacts from the contacts app, only allows vcard, text message and attach to email, no What'sApp, Outlook or any app, for that matter. Can this option be changed somewhere?

quick question
I am looking to get the mate 9 pro; which is the same phone as the PD, just without the fancy branding..
Are any of you on Tmobile in the USA, and, do you get 4G/LTE?
The reseller I have been emailing with on Amazon says you do NOT get 4GLTE on Tmobile in the USA with this phone, but I have read that you do.
Thanks if you can help with this! :good::good:

Is the GT 2 really this limited, I must be missing something?

Just got myself a GT 2 - love the hardware and just hope I will be able to live with the software. There are a few thing I haven't found, can you please let me know if I'm missing something?
Is there no way to adjust the step goal per day? It is set to 10.000 steps and I want to change it.
Can't I receive notifications while in the workout mode, like a walk och running?
If I get a notification on my phone and delete it from the phone it is still visible on my watch. And if I delete a notification on my watch it is still visible on my phone. This can't be right?
Is there no way to see coming calendar entries?
I got a Gmail but could only see the subject and sender, nothing of the content?
Is it likely that more features will be added, maybe when GT 3 is released?
After an update incomming phone calls do not show up on my watch. And in the list in the Health app I can no longer enable notifications from "Phone". Anyone else with this issue?
Would really appreciate if someone could comment on the above.
Thanks a lot!

You're right, hardware is great, software is limited.
#1, change step goal in Health app on phone (settings, goal).
#2-5, unfortunately correct.
Having said that, I'm wearing this watch since December, day and night, only taking out during shower. I have latest Samsung watches, have few Wear watches, like all of them, but GT2 just looks great and does just enough job (tell time and show notifications). I've loaded multiple custom watches and love it.

ddavtian said:
You're right, hardware is great, software is limited.
#1, change step goal in Health app on phone (settings, goal).
#2-5, unfortunately correct.
Having said that, I'm wearing this watch since December, day and night, only taking out during shower. I have latest Samsung watches, have few Wear watches, like all of them, but GT2 just looks great and does just enough job (tell time and show notifications). I've loaded multiple custom watches and love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks @ddavtian! I have been through every single menu without finding step goal, can you please help me find it? I consider myself as a "power user" so this is really embarrassing

Health app: Me, Settings, Goal
There you can set weight and steps goals
6. I do jot think so.
7. What firmware version are you on? Did incommig call work correctly before update?

bokyfly said:
Health app: Me, Settings, Goal
There you can set weight and steps goals
6. I do jot think so.
7. What firmware version are you on? Did incommig call work correctly before update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that one wasn't there until I switched to English language on my phone. Now it was there and I could finally change it. What a bug
Regarding incoming call I cannot even find "Phone" under notification settings in the long list of all available apps. It worked just fine when I got the watch a week ago. Do you have "Phone" in the app list in the Health app under "Notifications"?
Firmware: 1.0.6.32
Health app version: 10.0.5.317

No, if you gave Health app permissions, it will do its work, no need for separate settings, just watch needs to be connected to phone via bluetooth.