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Hi peeps,
I expect to get flamed for posting a repeat thread, for not fully searching the forums before posting, etc etc,
So instead of asking anything specific I'm just gonna share my experience so far with my Sprint Galaxy Note 2 and if any of you have any helpful tips for the issues I'm encountering, fire away.
I have searched for a few weeks now, and what I'm about to describe is where I'm at AFTER lots of experimenting and searching both this and other forums as well as plain old google web searches.
I researched devices before buying for something with enough processing power and RAM to replace my ASUS netbook, which, though small, wouldn't fit on my bike handlebars and was all around too bulky for outdoor adventures. Offline GPS app use, bike computer apps, taking videos in its handlebar mount as I rolled down the highway, etc, etc. I also fancied the idea of connecting it to the (usually 1080 16:9) TVs found in the hotel rooms across the country, most of which these days have an HDMI port on them. Also in my plans is to hack together some kind of case with a mini bluetooth keyboard in it.
I use Photoshop all the time on my Windows machines so I wanted something that would run Photoshop Touch. I downloaded PS Touch from the Amazon app store (paid for it legally) since Google Play wouldn't let me download it. I knew it was't officially supported before purchasing.
Then I set about hacking into things to get more content, icons, menus visible on the screen and tried to get PS Touch to display properly.
First I rooted the phone, installed super user, etc. Left the stock ROM on there. Then I modified the Build.prop for 180 pixel density, and voila, Photoshop Touch worked great, the full menus were visible. But a host of other problems presented themselves.
Some of the UI elements scaled to the display fine. 3rd party apps ALL look fine. They all scale correctly. The most obvious issue was that the home pages were still showing the same amount of icons, the grid count was the same, but all the icons where in the middle of the screen with lots of space around them. I noticed that the clock on the lockscreen was now in the upper left corner, and that Chrome was now showing (desktop/tablet style) tabs at the top. So I realized that some aspects of the UI and certain apps were coded to display different depending on the pixel density.
I'm wondering where in the APK's manifest.xml (or elsewhere) this is specified.
To get things looking better on the home screens and to enable landscape homescreens, I installed Nova Launcher, and I prefer it over the stock launcher. It's a more desktop like environment. I figured I could set up a homescreen page with lots of big widgets on it for fumbling with it on the go (making things big and easy to touch like with a 320 pixel density setting), and then I could have a bunch of icons on another homescreen page for the "desktop" style view when close to my face or connected to an external display.
All of this was fine except several of the widgets not longer worked, or didn't even show up in the widget list anymore. My list of issues follows:
- The multi-window app-chooser bar scales correctly when it's at the top or bottom of the screen, but does not completely span the display when on either side of the screen (in portrait OR landscape mode).
- The multi-window separator bar (between the 2 displayed apps) does not span the entire display, though it works otherwise
- In the stock e-mail app, landscape view works fine, but portrait view of the messages list and of the emails themselves is cropped to only the left side of the display, with blank space on the right.
- The drop-down notification drawer is the same number of pixels as it used to be (I believe) and therefore no longer scales to the entire display. In landscape mode, it's not only too small, but off-center as well. This is something I haven't been able to hack, there doesn't seem to be any notification drawer replacement apps.
- The alarm clock app (which honestly I liked better than any thrid party ones) stopped working completely. When I tap the Clock icon in the apps drawer, it starts up but only displays a black screen and then I get the error message that Clock has stopped. Bummer.
- The numeric keypad for the stock dialer app is up in the middle of the screen (vertically) and at the left edge.
- The UI elements, buttons, etc on the camera app don't scale, leaving buttons floating off of the gray background strips and over the top of the image viewfinder area. I prefer the interface of Camera JB+ anyway, which works great. But you can't use Camera JB+ with the stock messaging app if you wanna snap a quick pic to attach to a message. Unless you take the pic with Camera JB+, then go to messaging, then attach it from the stock gallery app. This leads me to one of my biggest questions. I'm sure it's been covered, but I don't know the terminology and numerous searches have yielded no answers...if someone just tell me what it's called, I'll do my best to search for it myself...I wanna know how to tell one app to allow me to use another app to import content What I mean is when, for instance, I go to attach a pic to a message, a list of sources comes up, gallery, camera, etc. But certain apps are't on that list...only the stock camera shows up, only the stock gallery app...sometimes this isn't the case...when I am in the stock contacts app, and I go to add a photo to a contact...it lets me choose from the various camera and gallery apps I have installed...when I click on the little button to message the contact, it lets me choose Handcent, etc...but the messaging app and the lockscreen wallpaper chooser in the settings menu don't let me choose images from anything but the stock gallery app, wheras the homescreen wallpaper can be chosen from any of my gallery apps. I want to know where to hack in and change this to "link" or "associate" the apps. Or at least I wanna know what this type of link between apps is called so I can search for it myself.
- The stock weather widget is just plan missing now. Don't know where it went. I liked it better than any of the ones I've downloaded.
I'm also noticing decreased battery life...not sure why, as I have a bunch of bloat apps removed and I'm running the same ROM. Maybe that's in my head.
So I'm looking at installing a custom ROM...but not sure where to start...I have searched and read about a bunch of ROMs for the Note 2. But nowhere did I see anything about how well the ROM's UI elements and included apps would scale to a 180 pixel density display...
I'd like a ROM that works well with my display settings, includes options for the number of icons on the home screen, where all the included apps see each other, and where I can ad any program to the multi-window list without hacking into each and every APK to enable it (I know there's really no way to do that, but perhaps an included feature to help you through the process without using a PC would be cool). I want everything deodexed so backups and restores are easy (I backed up a bunch of system apps and uninstalled them, creating a backup from ES File Explorer, AND saving the APK and ODEX files...but was unable to re-install them...).
Anybody have a good suggestion for a ROM that works well with different pixel settings?
jd14771 said:
I think you would REALLY benefit from installing the XPOSED app mod. Essentially, it changes the DPI value, but instead of changing the DPI for EVERY app, it only changes the dpi for the app you select.
so assuming you start from the normal 320 dpi, you can then assign Photoshop touch to run at 180 dpi, therefore ONLY affecting that app and leaving everything else the same.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2067303
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AWESOME tool to know about, thanks. That sounds like it would do what I need...though I'd still like more/smaller icons on the home screen....Which I think you can do at stock pixel density with Nova Launcher paid version...
Researching XPOSED now...some people complain about longer phone startup...is it the kind of thing where you can use the app to modify the APK, then uninstall the app? I'm gonna find out...THANKS.
There is also a thread in the app/theme section regarding resized stock apps. The dialer, camera, keyboard etc were are scaled to a lower dpi. That might help some of your issues
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
---------- Post added at 07:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 PM ----------
Here's a link to that thread I referenced.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001143
[MOD] 240 DPI apps for samsung roms [updated 30/11/12]
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
KB112 said:
There is also a thread in the app/theme section regarding resized stock apps. The dialer, camera, keyboard etc were are scaled to a lower dpi. That might help some of your issues
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
---------- Post added at 07:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:38 PM ----------
Here's a link to that thread I referenced.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001143
[MOD] 240 DPI apps for samsung roms [updated 30/11/12]
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate y'all takin the time to help me with this, Helps me out a lot......I have one question about android and scaling of graphics in general...The notification drop-down drawer...is that technically an "app"? Like is it one of the services, or hidden system apps or something...or is that "part of the frame work" and not skinable or changeable without changing ROMs? because I'm wondering how to scale that...but also just so I understand the OS better, what is that status drawer part of? Cause it's obviously not part of the launcher...
I'm about to try all these things out...thanks.
For email, pull the note 10.1 email apk and exchange apk from a 10.1 rom and put it in system/app reboot and enjoy!
That and as mentioned...xposed app is full of win. I personally use go launcher or apex launcher to fix the whole launcher issue.
The drop down is customizable. .you may really benefit from spending an hour or so reading through the themes and apps section
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda app-developers app
spaceturd3000 said:
I appreciate y'all takin the time to help me with this, Helps me out a lot......I have one question about android and scaling of graphics in general...The notification drop-down drawer...is that technically an "app"? Like is it one of the services, or hidden system apps or something...or is that "part of the frame work" and not skinable or changeable without changing ROMs? because I'm wondering how to scale that...but also just so I understand the OS better, what is that status drawer part of? Cause it's obviously not part of the launcher...
I'm about to try all these things out...thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its part of systemui.apk which includes the status bar, notification pull down, etc
I like to break stuff!
Android ui is the lock screen and context menus btw.
System ui for task bar.
Xposed is awesome for low dpi settings
Sent from my SPH-L900 using xda premium
Dudes....thanks a ton. I got all of that up and running. I'm able to set it up just as I want and with the tip about which app controls the context menus, that answered my next question. Totally tweakable. My only issue is that the stock dialer and stock contacts are really within the same app...I wanted to keep the dialer at default dpi and scale the contacts to be smaller....I'm guessing that's what a "shared package" is....which isn't supported yet....but I'll try that 240 dpi version mention above and see how that works.
I really like the idea of some of the features from paranoid android. halo, pie, and extended desktop are the 3 features I wanted to use most on a daily bases. The problem for myself was that on the ports gps didn't work neither did wifi AP or samsungs smart dock which i use daily, not only that but Samsungs rom and kernel are more programmed for the phone itself as apposed to an aosp rom(which means better performance or so i'm told). So what i have done is used a few apps to replicate the features I want from paranoid android on my Touchwiz rom(cleanrom 4.7).
1. halo: To get this feature I used an app called floating notifications. It's not as feature rich as halo but it can display the text of my notifications like sms and gmail and I can click on them to open the app.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2263987&nocache=1&z=4138043767306953
2. Pie: I used lmt launcher, I assume most people are familiure with it by now. If not check out the link below.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
3. extended desktop: This one is a little tricky, i used hide bar by good mood droid (GMD). This doesn't just hide the bar it shutdowns that process making it unusable. Plus resents must be tied into that process because I can't use that either. To help not being able to access the toggles and other info in my notification shade I used an app called glovebox, which is a side bar app. I put some widgets in it for weather and toggles for easy access. Losing the ability to use resents isn't that bad I can deal with it but I use next and previous app in lmt launcher to help
get around.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...t#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5nbWQuaGlkZWJhciJd
So what does everyone think?
*I would like to thank all of the developers of these various apps. The flexibility of android is what makes it great.
I dunno about #2 but the first couple would be best solved with a new rom. Flash clean rom 4.9
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Floating notifications is nothing like halo unless they have a hidden option to open the entire app in a pop up then floating notifications shouldnt be there
Sent from my SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
fabster530 said:
Floating notifications is nothing like halo unless they have a hidden option to open the entire app in a pop up then floating notifications shouldnt be there
Sent from my SGH-I317 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right I know that, It won't display the app but my notifications that normally show up in my notification shade show up in the app floating notifications.
What changes would you like for your UI ?
Maybe possible suggestions can be forwarded to the Huawei developers so that they add into the new firmware upgrades. :victory:
Let me start with one : An LG G2 type guest user login option. I got no idea if its possible but ...
Another suggestion would be to get rid of the iphone looking theme with those box icons. I always stayed away from the iphone because of that.
And yes as some other user on this forum asked for, a more detailed notification on the lock screen. :good:
It would be nice if we had possible to switch to vanilla android look
More black.
Settings menu, phone, notification panel,...
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using xda app-developers app
A Motorola droid type wheel menu for the camera. Maybe they could just add the profile switching wheel for the camera too.
google play edition
make google play edition
that would be great!
I manufactured a rumour and posted on facebook:
Okay guys this is what the insider sources tell me on the upcoming Emotion 2.0 upgrade.
- Firstly chucking the old iphone looking theme for a more premium look and finish theme with a default standard brand huawei theme.
- The lock screen would allow the guest login mode.
- The bottom tray app icons would be swipe to scroll type making room for more.
- New Huawei exclusive live widgets and floating apps including a floating sms/email app.
- There is going to be selection of animated pet or figure (also targeting Asian users having a craze for Hello Kitty, Rilakuma, etc) which would be possible to pop open from anywhere and through this pet all notifications, alarms, internet search, floating apps, voice control, camera, connectivity toggles, etc would be possible. The pet can be awakened with a phone shake.
- The smart scroll feature that scrolls according to head movements making reading user friendly.
- Message reading is going to be upgraded with lot of swipe features like the swipe to delete or swipe to send feature.
- Swipe call feature on contacts if you want to directly call from contacts rather than the two step process of entering into the contact.
And many more nice tweaks which i don't remember right now. But from the sound of what he said, something big is coming soon by before last quarter or first quarter next year along with the latest android version.
Support Huawei everyone !!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol:laugh:
rosiusyves said:
More black.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2nd that.
+ black background for softw. buttons, get rid of that ugly gray.
+ google edition
+ app drawer
koper1 said:
2nd that.
+ black background for softw. buttons, get rid of that ugly gray.
+ google edition
+ app drawer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why just black ? Why not user customizable along with theme and with less visibility so that wallpapers show behind it like Windows desktop bottom bar ?
I didn't see much use with the app drawer. All the frequent use apps i put on the front for quicker use and so my usage of app drawer was once in a while. Id say they have to come up with something new for placing the not so frequently used apps.
I thought, would be nice to talk separetly about the KitKat International B510 firmware. Also we can write reviews.
My FIRST impression about this KitKat update is mixed. I missing a lot of features, like Permission manager for push services?!
Video playing is really bad! Standalone and online also. If i open videos online, and rotate the screen, i only hear the sound but the screen flashing all the time. Also video image slides alot!
Sometimes the launcher freez, when scrolling to another page. At multi-tasking when i close app with gesture, (not clicking on "X") it closes not smoothly.
Permission manager is gone? A lot of apps needed that, to work properly. For example: Facebook Messenger Cheat heads blocked, so i cant use it because of that.
Others? Whats your imressions overall?
benjaminbodoky said:
I thought, would be nice to talk separetly about the KitKat International B510 firmware. Also we can write reviews.
My FIRST impression about this KitKat update is mixed. I missing a lot of features, like Permission manager for push services?!
Video playing is really bad! Standalone and online also. If i open videos online, and rotate the screen, i only hear the sound but the screen flashing all the time. Also video image slides alot!
Sometimes the launcher freez, when scrolling to another page.
Permission manager is gone? A lot of apps needed that, to work properly. For example: Facebook Messenger Cheat heads blocked, so i cant use it because of that.
Others? Whats your imressions overall?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is BETA, so it's undestandable to have some issues and missing apps. All apps will be there in the official release.
Is it worth upgrading from B507 to B510 ?
warea said:
Is it worth upgrading from B507 to B510 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Give it a shot, it is much faster and all the new functions are running very smooth. The performance is much better.
Update this beta version through OTA (I attended to do beta tester).
No problem with standalone and online video, about launcher seems slightly less fluid, I recommend using a theme created for 2.3 EMUI version.
About the permission manager, I suppose it's changed the method of management with the app "phone management"
I love the new keyboard and the new lock screen !
interdan said:
Update this beta version through OTA (I attended to do beta tester).
No problem with standalone and online video, about launcher seems slightly less fluid, I recommend using a theme created for 2.3 EMUI version.
About the permission manager, I suppose it's changed the method of management with the app "phone management"
I love the new keyboard and the new lock screen !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, im okey with changes, but if it's working well. In phone management you'll not finding any options to set up, permissions neither push options. So it's not a good "change".
benjaminbodoky said:
Yes, im okey with changes, but if it's working well. In phone management you'll not finding any options to set up, permissions neither push options. So it's not a good "change".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find instead the new implementation significantly easier to use than before, for example, the widget is really functional and also the new management once you understand how it works, I do not mind at all.
It is true, I have not found the settings about notifications, but the rest is "smarter" :highfive:
for me no problem with video playback ( i sugest hwreset)
and Permission manager is now phone manager... so nothing is missing at all ;p
it runs good as for day of usage ;p
interdan said:
I find instead the new implementation significantly easier to use than before, for example, the widget is really functional and also the new management once you understand how it works, I do not mind at all.
It is true, I have not found the settings about notifications, but the rest is "smarter" :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im curious about future updates. They said, at the end of july they will release the final version. doubt that we will have a newer beta. I hope everybody will gave a feedback to them. The wierd thing, is we have official beta for 2.3 but china didnt.
meilbox said:
for me no problem with video playback ( i sugest hwreset)
and Permission manager is now phone manager... so nothing is missing at all ;p
it runs good as for day of usage ;p
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Half true. Phone manager, is a cleaner + harrasment filter. But without push services settings etc.
benjaminbodoky said:
Half true. Phone manager, is a cleaner + harrasment filter. But without push services settings etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And without Boot Manager & Background Manager.
Cannot be rooted. VRoot fails to root this firmware.
ShahKashif said:
Cannot be rooted. VRoot fails to root this firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not the way to root the device. You must install KK TWRP and that will root your device.
@BeyondTheHorizon (assuming your working for Huawei)
My impressions, after updating from B506 to B510. Note that since i have already used Emui2.3 beta (B014) and Emui 2.0 (official) i will not get into mentioning its improvements over Emui1.6.
- Magazine lockscreen is awesome. But i don't understand why magazine option is enabled only for a selected theme, while a few other theme have weather option on lockscreen, and why not instead have them all for all themes. (Also haven't figured out what the "link" option is within the magazine lockscreen menu).
- Overall there is lags and inconsistency in transition and animation speeds everywhere.
Examples:
> Pulling down notification panel has slower animation then when pulling it back up. While on the other hand there is also a jamming lag when notification panel goes back up.
>Random lags when moving about homscreen pages.
> lag in settings sections when entering each settings item.
- I personally dont like the splitting of drop down panel into two "notification" and "switches". The combined was much better. Even in the split form, there is design inconsistency, for example in the switch panel there is lot of free empty space on the bottom half and there is no point in having a slide down arrow to reveal just one row of switches. Furthermore it would have made sense to have the switches fill the bottom half, as it makes it easier for one hand usage. But i still prefer the the combined form which just two rows of switches and brightness option, while the rest hidden under the slide down.
- Thankfully the weather 4x2 widget is proper size, compared to the huge size on B506 and B014. But the transparent clock widget (first introduced on Honor 3c & 3x) is not yet available on this rom.
- The video player app is missing (and like others mentioned, the permission and startup apps manager, one hand option and navigation bar hiding option is missing too)
- I was hoping for changes in the "customize" section of the theme changer app. The old problem of swiping right/left a lot to get to the end of the lockscreen styles, or icons types, etc remains a burden.
- As someone said, its time to change the grey color of navigation bar. Either allow users to customize it, or have a number of colors that changes according to apps.
- In contacts "favorite" section, there is Chinese fonts.
- I don't think there is a need to have all the google apps pre-installed. Just a couple of them would be enough, while the rest can be downloaded from playstore.
- The water mark option in camera is nice. Cant find the "Cheeze" to take pics option. The photo editor is great and fun too. Video recorded on camera comes out dark. In case of taking selfie pics, once you hit the shoot button, the screen weirdly gets all yellow before taking the pic. Photos looks grainy too. But im no expert on camera, so i could be wrong.
- The Chinese rom had an app center app, and at times the latest version of the Huawei apps would be available on that. Such app updates are not available on this rom.
- The types of transition effects for homescreen keeps decreasing with every new rom update, when instead we should be getting newer ones added.
- The homescreen icons on this rom appear slightly bigger compared to them on the Chinese rom. Can be noticed when applying emui2.0 theme icons on this emui2.3 launcher.
Good and bad in B510
Good
- Magazine lockscreen is really good. I like it, hope more themes are like that.
- I like the splitting of drop down panel into two "notification" and "switches". But I hope they could have a setting to enable/disable it.
- Floating apps are awesome.
- Torch in notifications is very useful.
- Ultra power saving mode changes UI to dark black --> seems convincing that it will save battery life. Overall this rom has decent battery life.
- External SD settings
Bad
- Just hope that when I use other music players it can get the controls on the lock screen. Also, if there was a music slider to skip a few seconds of music was available on lockscreen that would be good.
- Hope that the default launcher could have a drawer. Having all the apps on the screen is messy.
- The radio widget still isn't transparent while the other huawei widgets are. It stands out and looks ugly.
- No permissions manager. It blocks facebook chatheads by default because it draws over other apps. No way to unblock it because permission settings are missing.
- The grey color of navigation bar is horrendous. Hopefully they notice this and they make it black or able to customize.
- Camera pictures look grainy.
- GPS still sucks. Don't know if it is a hardware issue.
- No ART mode
Other
- I don't know what to think about the carrier name. I feel like it's ok, don't hate it or like it.
The carrier name HAS to go! Why do they need to put it there anyway?
I agree with @warea about the notification panel that is better in Emui 2.0. Having it separate could work if you can change the settings of how you want it to be opened.
I find that the rom is a bit laggy most of the time, but for a beta I can live with it.
miz_pimp said:
The carrier name HAS to go! Why do they need to put it there anyway?
I agree with @warea about the notification panel that is better in Emui 2.0. Having it separate could work if you can change the settings of how you want it to be opened.
I find that the rom is a bit laggy most of the time, but for a beta I can live with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At least the cursor is back.
I missed it.
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using Tapatalk
bokchoi2020 said:
At least the cursor is back.
I missed it.
Sent from my HUAWEI P6-U06 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, right? It's awesome having it back! [emoji16]
I'm also glad that the day of the week is back in the notification panel.
miz_pimp said:
The carrier name HAS to go! Why do they need to put it there anyway?
I agree with @warea about the notification panel that is better in Emui 2.0. Having it separate could work if you can change the settings of how you want it to be opened.
I find that the rom is a bit laggy most of the time, but for a beta I can live with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The carrier name it's something new for this update. And everything else it's really just a matter of opinion. The most important thing is that this ROM must run smooth and fast without any lag when it will be released as official/final. Everything else is just customization that can be added or removed by rooting and installing third party apps.
Also noticed, my phone is really hot, even for simple use. And the battery is really bad on this rom.
BB
Is there a Rom or Intl Rom(9005) which have Note 4 features for our beloved Note 3. Any idea OmniSwitch works as intended on TouchWiz? I am sticking with AOSP PAC and missing the S Pen, Camera and One Hand.
jhbalaji said:
Is there a Rom or Intl Rom(9005) which have Note 4 features for our beloved Note 3. Any idea OmniSwitch works as intended on TouchWiz? I am sticking with AOSP PAC and missing the S Pen, Camera and One Hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, actually I am using OmniSnitch on my N3 and it works great. I actually found the app as an inclusion (system app) in the ROM that I flashed on the Note 10.1 2014 (p607t). The ROM is xKat, and was actually built for the p605 (international LTE variant), but awesomely, the hardware that T-Mobile sells is simply a re-branded p605 so any development work for the p605 works fine on the Tmo hardware :good:
Anyway, OmniSnitch is a great, super-useful app. I actually froze flashbarservice and replaced the multi window feature on the side of my screen with OmniSnitch, Flippr (another awesome app that allows you to access widgets or shortcuts from any page - even games. Crazy useful for "remote" widgets like Yatse, AnyMote, etc.) and PIE.
I'm not really sure about your first question, as I'm a Tweaked devotee, but can definitely confirm that OmniSnitch works fantastically, I don't see why it couldn't be installed on any phone / ROM. I don't think it even needs root.
@jazzmachine Thats great! Is there a HALO kind of thing available for TouchWIZ Note?
Why yes there is, and I happen to use it since it's much more versatile than split windows or pen windows. I was actually going to mention that in my last post, guess I should have :laugh:
Just installing the XHalo xposed module gets the job done. One example of a nice feature it adds is that if you open up an app via tapping on a notification, no matter if your at your launcher or have any app running, the app will open up in a window on top of whatever app you're using at the time. If you long tap a notification, in addition to being able to open App Info, you now also have the option to "open the app normally", which is self explanatory.You can also select a group of frequently used apps and tick the option to display them in the notification panel, then you can insta-launch them in a halo window from anywhere. After installing the XHalo module, don't reboot yet because there's one more module you need (for full functionality.... Halo works w/o it, but the windows won't be resizeable or movable, like they're supposed to be, if you don't also install the module "FixVisabilityOfMultipleFullScreenActivites". Basically what that one does is it fixes the visibility of multiple full screen activities.
JK, well, that is what it does, but the effect is that Halo works properly. Before installing that my halo windows were always statically positioned in the center of the screen and the didn't have the bar at the top that allows moving or resizing the window. It also allows you to open multiple Halo windows, IOW, it just fixes Halo to act like it's supposed to. If your setup is similar to mine, and you "repurpose" the edges of your screen, and you don't really use native mutliwindow (I have a ton of apps installed, and since certain ROMS (Tweaked) auto-add all apps to the sidebar and penwindow launcher, particularly the latter would take like, a while, to launch. There's no lag whatsoever with this modified (and more functional IMO) setup. Anyway, I was going to recommend freezing flashbarservice (multi window) in Titanium of something. For me, doing that released a good chunk of RAM, so if you don't use, or are trying to replace the multi-window functionality, definitely freeze if you're not using. Additionally, the frees the long press back for reassignment to another function, should you be inclined to do so. I reassign the hell out of my hard keys, even adding an activity to just pulling the S pen out and pushing it back in.
Modified S Pen functionality is the last thing I'll describe about my setup, so that this time I can answer before you ask I REALLY like GMD S Pen Control. I turned off air command, and have been working on and off on configuring that app with the goal of being able to launch anything (even obscure "secret code" menus) just by scribbling something on my screen. It's awesome, you just have to get into the habit of using the paths that you've configured regularly so that you don't forget them. So far I've just configured launching frequently used apps and settings toggles (the app also allows you to create, I think 5 launcher bars w/ 8 items (actions, tasks, shortcuts, toggles, a ton of stuff) each of which you can launch, of course, with a pen path).
So with my setup, I've pretty much taken the "Touch" out of the "Wiz".... wait, no, the "Wiz" ou... err, that's much worse. OK, first and last time using any variation of that description. what I'm saying here is that the TW "features" that I've replaced could be used on any device / ROM... so perhaps I've got my eye on an Nexus 6. Well, it was in my field of vision when I was playing with the N4 in the store yesterday (I can't resist activating dev mode on store demos... I mean I like to take a look at the settings there, but it's a thing.... if I pick up a demo model, I'm in About device tapping on the build #) on the N4 I was surprised to see that one of the first options was toggling the runtime between Dalvik and ART, but I didn't think the N4 was able to use ART yet, so I turned it on and the phone rebooted... I then saw the guy who's helped me out the most there was free so I went over to talk to him and ask a few questions and I forgot to check out the N4 set to ART before I took off. Really wish I did, but whatevers. I'll likely have my very own (hand picked perfection, totally perfect uniform display :victory:
So that was pretty OT, this a little less, but a complaint that I keep seeing about the N4 is lag with the recents panel launched. OmniSnitch seems like the perfect app to avoid that issue. For those unfamiliar, OmniSnitch is launched via a persistent (customizeable) half bubble / handle thing. A bar opens up (on any screen) and first you have a row of recently used apps. You can also assign persistent "favorites" that you can launch by tapping the arrow below the row of app icons, and you can immediately switch to a previous app or launch a favorite instanly - Lag + recent apps + OmniSnitch = complete non-issue. Attached a couple screen of how it looks (I don't think the app icons would be themed if you don't use Unicon, I'm not really sure about the general availability of this app. I actually pulled it off of the ROM that I installed on my Note 10.1 - so system app on tablet, but user app on phone. Works the same either way. I'd be happy to upload it, but don't feel like I should do so without permission from... I have no idea. Searching the Play store, the only result is called Fancy Switcher, which looks like a not so successful attempt to copy the app and (unnecessarily IMO) 'fancy it up'. Meh. So hopefully it's available on xda somewhere, but if anyone happens to know the dev if they could ask if they mind their app being shared in this thread, then write up a statement to that effect, both of you sign it (in blood), and send it to me via certified mail... I don't know. If people want it but can't find it, try to find out if it's FOSS, or GPLed or something, just post in here and if it's cool I'm happy to share