Develop Bugs

[THINK TANK] Gesture bar instead of soft key bar

I've been realizing lately how amazing android really is and customizable it is with this phone. Off topic but I kinda hated the fact. Of a recent app button and the fact that I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones). The devs here realized it and gave me the ability to have my menu button, get my search button back, and make recent apps come up by holding the home button. Got to love them. Shout out to our fantastic devs.
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

nice idea, kind of like the microsoft touch mouse. I would like to see someone make that possible and see how it works out.

Shaquiel Harris said:
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
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As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?

Kalavere said:
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?
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Are you talking about lmt? Fyi: it's now also available for android/gsn...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Shaquiel Harris said:
I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones).
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You never lost the menu button, it's just not on screen 100% of the time anymore, where it would just waste space otherwise.

I think its great idea!
Another few things that would be cool to see would be, resizing the Navigation Bar to be maybe a little thinner, and being able to slide the nav bar left or right, to reveal a icons to launch other apps, and maybe swiping down to hide the navbar all together.
Like you said being able to customize android and change every aspect of it is what makes this OS so awesome.

You guys ever use gesture area on webOS phones? Much better than using back key, would be a great idea. It also used visual feedback so a white line would go in the swipe direction. Currently the only phone using something similar to this is the N9 probably, which has swiping through the sides of screen to control apps.

I was just thinking about WebOS when reading this as well. Would be nice.

Just having the soft keys area as a gesture area? cool!
Maybe you could customize your gestures?
A big thing to me would be the ability to have a fully loaded package and be able to switch between stock softkeys, added search/menu softkeys, and gestures. Everything customizeable by user rather than through flashing?

menu bar like in windows 8
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.

MrBIMC said:
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.
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That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.

Enhanced said:
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.
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How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.

I came to Android from webOS after HP shot themselves in the foot several times and one of the things I miss most is the gesture bar you had at the bottom of the screen. With the advent of the soft button area in ICS I see a real option to enable the area to work in a similar fashion. Hell yes!
The webOS gestures were:
A single swipe up would show you your running apps.
Swiping 2 fingers up would show you the launcher (app drawer).
A leftward swipe would go back.
A full swipe across the entire area going either right or left would take you to the next or previous running app.
Besides the wireless charging, the gesture area was one of the webOS killer features you very quickly learned to take for-granted. So long as gesture detection was implemented well I don't see why you couldn't have the soft buttons as they are now and gestures all working at the same time.

Call me old fashioned, but I also don't like the gestures idea.
Dolphin is just about the only program on android that I have tried to use gestures with, and it's not the sort of feature i'd personally like integrated into my phone.
That said, customizing how different people can use their phones, within the same operating system, so two people can use the exact same phone in two totally different ways, is the way to go

j.go said:
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.
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Click to collapse
I like your idea of having the pie control from the stock browser available all over android. I had the idea a while back but was just too lazy to implement it. Today I did a small working prototype and I think I will add the pie control feature to my gesture app "LMT"...

good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!

Huntlaar said:
good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!
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If implemented properly, you might be able to do away with the bottom bar and take advantage of the full screen. You can't see it with the nexus browser, but if you have a tablet running ICS and enable browser quick controls, the app hides the tabs and address bar, instantly adding an inch of usable screen real estate at the top.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

The big nasty problem with having hidden buttons or, for that matter, any trigger point area(s) on the devices main screen is you'll always end up triggering something when you didn't want to or it interferes with a ui element in one or more apps e.g. game scroll bars / buttons. I've tried plenty and they all interfered with one app or another to the point I stopped using them.
The quick controls idea is fine but you're still having to watch what you're doing. The beauty of gestures in webOS was that you wouldn't have to take your eyes of what you were doing to find a button - your finger just flicked below the screen content while your eyes looked towards what you were going to do next.
I realise it's hard to imagine if you've never done it before but (weak analogy approaching...) think of it like walking up a thin and narrow set of steps as opposed to thick wide ones while trying to read a book. On the narrow steps you have to look down to hit the next step thus breaking the flow of your reading. While on the bigger wider ones you can carry on reading as the step is big enough your foot can find it without taking your eyes of your book.
Anyroad, IMHO, gestures need to be out of the way of app content so as not to interfere with app usage patterns and shouldn't require the user to take their eyes off what they're doing.

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.
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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
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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)
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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
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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

App: All in one Gestures (without Root)

A large tablet comes with the price of greater hand/arm travel distance when working with the screen. I am by no means complaining any sore elbows here. But it does take some getting used to, especially for those coming from smaller (7" - 8") tablets. Over and over again when my hand moves up and down between the screen and the (home and capacitive) buttons, I can't help but wish I had multi-touch gestures like on an iPad.
If my GNP were rooted, GMD Gestures would have solved my problem. But I am not ready to trip that stupid Knox counter yet. So here we are.
I came across this app called All in one Gesture. It doesn't have multi-touch, but at least some simple 'swiping from edges' functions.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phoenixstudios.aiogestures
Let me share with you my experience on working with this app. First, after installation, you need to enable the app under Accessibility in Settings before you can activate/use the gestures. But soon, Android will warn you of disabling a whole bunch of functions as a result, including Multi window. See attachment.
The good news is, some of those functions can be re-enabled to work with All-in-one-Gesture without issues. I tested Multi window, Air view and Direct pen input and they all seemed to be working fine after re-enabling. (I don't use the others, but I suspect some other ones would work too). But you should exercise cautious when doing so. For example, Multi window requires swiping from right edge to activate; and so I should not use the swiping from right edge gesture. Currently, I only use swiping from left for the 'back' function, and swiping from bottom for the 'home' function.
The Back and Home functions are universal in all apps; e.g., they will work in Chrome browser, where I can swipe from left edge to go back to previous page, and swipe from bottom to exit app.
I also changed some settings in All in one Gestures. For example, I made the 'Edge Width' longer under 'Edge Preference', and also made the touch area transparent under 'Transparency and Color'. There are also settings for tweaking the swipe area and sensitivity. I haven't played with them to much, but they may become useful for certain games to avoid accidentally triggering the actions.

ikeny said:
A large tablet comes with the price of greater hand/arm travel distance when working with the screen. I am by no means complaining any sore elbows here. But it does take some getting used to, especially for those coming from smaller (7" - 8") tablets. Over and over again when my hand moves up and down between the screen and the (home and capacitive) buttons, I can't help but wish I had multi-touch gestures like on an iPad.
If my GNP were rooted, GMD Gestures would have solved my problem. But I am not ready to trip that stupid Knox counter yet. So here we are.
I came across this app called All in one Gesture. It doesn't have multi-touch, but at least some simple 'swiping from edges' functions.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.phoenixstudios.aiogestures
Let me share with you my experience on working with this app. First, after installation, you need to enable the app under Accessibility in Settings before you can activate/use the gestures. But soon, Android will warn you of disabling a whole bunch of functions as a result, including Multi window. See attachment.
The good news is, some of those functions can be re-enabled to work with All-in-one-Gesture without issues. I tested Multi window, Air view and Direct pen input and they all seemed to be working fine after re-enabling. (I don't use the others, but I suspect some other ones would work too). But you should exercise cautious when doing so. For example, Multi window requires swiping from right edge to activate; and so I should not use the swiping from right edge gesture. Currently, I only use swiping from left for the 'back' function, and swiping from bottom for the 'home' function.
The Back and Home functions are universal in all apps; e.g., they will work in Chrome browser, where I can swipe from left edge to go back to previous page, and swipe from bottom to exit app.
I also changed some settings in All in one Gestures. For example, I made the 'Edge Width' longer under 'Edge Preference', and also made the touch area transparent under 'Transparency and Color'. There are also settings for tweaking the swipe area and sensitivity. I haven't played with them to much, but they may become useful for certain games to avoid accidentally triggering the actions.
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Click to collapse
Thanks! Sounds interesting! Will try this asap!

i found it today and it's very close to the perfect app i was looking for!
has anyone noticed a degrade in battery life? which are your views?

Fingerprint sensor shortcut

Hi,
Is there any way/app to use fingerprint sensor as a shortcut launcher?
For example, double press fingerprint to launch camera....etc
Thanks,
Jack

ubcjack said:
Hi,
Is there any way/app to use fingerprint sensor as a shortcut launcher?
For example, double press fingerprint to launch camera....etc
Thanks,
Jack
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Click to collapse
That would be interesting, but you do know double pressing the power button is the camera shortcut

buru898 said:
That would be interesting, but you do know double pressing the power button is the camera shortcut
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Click to collapse
I do know that but power button is a lot harder to press than fingerprint sensor....
Don't you feel that?

cool idea but would probably cause a lot of unintended triggering

ubcjack said:
Hi,
Is there any way/app to use fingerprint sensor as a shortcut launcher?
For example, double press fingerprint to launch camera....etc
Thanks,
Jack
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This would be awesome. Huawei is doing something like this, I believe, a swipe down on the fingerprint reader will bring down notification. I like the idea of a double tap or swipe to launch camera. or any shortcut. You could even get advance with it and do tap patterns for multiple shortcuts.
I could see devs interested in this being a feature in their Roms. I do not believe false reads will be an issue for a scan of the finger should still be required. Randomly touching the sensor with your skin should not activate it.

Fingerprint has so much potential for many uses but so far I feel the big sensor is wasting a lot of space on our phone and only thing it does is unlock.
I have wear so if Google allows smart unlock to skip lock screen, I don't even use fingerprint sensor at all.

It'd be really cool if they let you use it as a mini-trackpad. Imagine scrolling up and down a page without touching the screen.

smac7 said:
It'd be really cool if they let you use it as a mini-trackpad. Imagine scrolling up and down a page without touching the screen.
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Click to collapse
This is even more interesting.

The funny thing is those sensors allow that kind of feature, they call it navigation mode.
However it appears that this mode is not enabled.

What's everyone thoughts on the gesture swipes?

You guys using them?

It is good and I wanted to use them badly but one main thing I am missing is the additional gestures that the navigation buttons had with them.
I use to double tap on recent button to switch screen off which is not possible to do with new gestures.
Having additional app or using the physical button is what I wanted to avoid.

have been using them long time ago with the app swipe navigation. Works perfectly once you get used to it.

I'm a minimalist. I have my dock & notification bar hidden also. Love that clean approach. Best part is if anyone finds/steals it, that are clueless.

Has there been a port of the new swipe guestures to nougat? I'm on 7.1.1

I am using gesture swipes, it is nice way to use phone without buttons... For double tap to lock, there is way if you are using Nova for example.....

With Beta 7 you can double tap to sleep without nav bar

You lose all of the additional gestures you have with the navbar, but in my opinion it looks way cleaner and really emphasizes the big display. And also one less spot risking permanent burn-in!

While I do like the off-screen gestures, and do use them, I actually prefer Motorola's gestures where you can quickly 'wave' you're phone in the air and the flashlight turns on, or how you can give the phone a flick and the camera app open. It's faster IMO.
But I still would prefer a Oneplus 5t over any Motorola anyday.

Love em, with an advanced launcher like Action or Nova you've got a ton more gestures that can be assigned covering the lost shortcuts on the nav buttons and then some. Speaking for myself I've got leftover swipes and taps that remain unassigned and can get to anything I use with regularity with a single touch. I liked some of the Motorola stuff myself, like Oneplus they've kept to a mostly stock experience with genuinely useful adds that don't detract from the "stockness". For some reason I really liked being able to change the ok google command to whatever I wanted and that would probably be my top pick if Oneplus were to, ahem, borrow, something from them.

Disabled them all got tired of accidentally turning the flashlight on

What I think would be the most useful feature is iPhone's double tap (not click) to bring down UI on top. Android should support this native long ago...

Needs tweaking..Still using xposed edge gestures, because I'd like for swipe up Near back button for back, swipe up near home bottom to home, and swipe up near recents to recents. i only use this mode to disable annoying nav bar easily

Siljorfag said:
What I think would be the most useful feature is iPhone's double tap (not click) to bring down UI on top. Android should support this native long ago...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This can be done with many of the launchers although swipe down (anywhere) fits in better with the notification shade as it already expands via swipe down. I suspect the reason it and many other things aren't standard is a lack of consensus. With the shade already working with swipes many of us have double tap allocated elsewhere the most common usage probably being for sleep and wake purposes.
It's always hard to tell the level of experience users have so don't take this the wrong way... Your post suggests you might want to consider taking a few launchers for a test drive because no matter what you like there is one that works better than what came stock.