Idea for handy screensaver app... - General Topics

If any of you have ever owned a recent Sony Ericsson phone you'll know they have a handy digital clock screensaver which runs without the backlight, just using high contrast colours; black background with white text. I know you can do this with spb Time, but the slightly newer SE phones (eg. k700i) also show icons for missed calls and messages on this screen, which I think is very useful.
I often find myself staring at the LED waiting for it to flash orange or green so I know if I have a message or not, or having to turn it on and off quickly, which seems a bit pointless!
I've only ever coded in Pascal and VB myself, so I'm not that experienced. Would be grateful if someone could let me know how I can write this sort of thing easily (needs to run full screen and lock buttons, unlock buttons when receiving a call, etc), preferably without having to put the eVB runtime on everyone's PDA!
Let me know what you think of this idea. Obviously I'd have to test how much more battery power it uses than keeping it in standby, so that may be a problem.
Joe

This is not quite the answer to the problem, but I've knocked this together for my own use, but it might help.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=27357&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
You use a hardware key (say record?) to switch on the PDA, show you your Today screen for as long as you hold down the button, and then switch off when you release - quickly check appointments, missed calls etc.
I'll be working on a screensaver, but for now, this suits my needs.
Vijay

MortSaver does it all. Clock (when you push a button) and missed calls/sms (when you push a button). In 5 secs the device is auto powered off. unless you unlock it with the unlock buttons you specified at installation. www.sto-helit.de, freeware.

even though screensaver is prob the wrong word imho
then one thing which would intrest me was how much shorter the
batt time would be using such a program compared to just turning it
of because when you turn it off you dont just turn off the screen you aslo
disable all programs and put the cpu in a sleeplike state
this would not happen when a "screen saver" were being used

Related

Configuring Standby screen

Hi,
I'm considering buying a WM5 device but I heard it doesn't allow configuring the Standby screen which is always dead blank. What I need to be shown there is 1) Clock; 2) received texts and 3) missed calls. Like in Nokia/Sony Ericsson mobiles. Any ideas how it can be achieved? By a registry hack or a custom application?
Thanks
Well, in a way WM5 devices do have configurable stand-by screen.
Before I start, do you have experience with a Windows phone before? If not, you may not able to understand something I will be saying. Others members, please leave your comments.
Anyway, for WM5, you can configure your Todayscreen to display everything that you've mentioned below (or more, see some of the Today screen that other posted). Then, you can use this today screen as your 'stand-by screen', of which you need to (screen) lock your phone (using one of the Today's plugins). If you were to unlock your buttons, with screen lock, you can have your phone, press any button to wake the phone up to display the Today screen with all the infor you want. Feasible.
Easier, just wake it and sleep it using your power button. Just a button click away.
Thanks, Hanmin. Well, "Just a button click away" is exactly what I want to avoid. Standby for me means when it's not in use, some screensaver gets invoked. And in some phones, this can be configured to show the details I need (clock, texts and calls), in others it is just dead blank and requires this very "button click" to show the required info. Seems like WM5 devices fall into the second category which is not what I need. But as it has a highly configurable OS, I thought I could find a way to make it show it anyway. So my question is: I have a WM5 phone which I put on the desk and don't use it for, say, 5 or 10 minutes. It is in a silent mode so I don't hear a noise and I don't feel a vibe. But I look at it once in a while to see if there's any news or just to check the time. So how can I do this last thing without actually touching the phone?
p.s.I do have an Axim which isn't really a phone but based on WM5 anyway.
Well.. hmm.. come to think of it.. depends on if you are in ext power. Since you have a Dell PDA with you, you ought to try keeping the unit on while on external power (e.g. on your table), it should gives you the Today screen without the backlight. And you can have a big Today clock whihc you can see without backlight.
If you are on battery, you ought to able to get your notifications via the LEDs (depending on your phone, Charmer doesn't seem to be able to do that). So, you will know if anything happens by looking at the LEDs, but you won't be able to read the clock on it (wear a watch )
Thanks again, Hanmin. Yes, this is what I was originally told. I just thought you folks are experts in mobile Windows so you may know how to tweak it. Like in normal Windows you can do pretty much anything with the OS, I hoped the same is with its younger sibling. I am planning at some stage to get closer involved with this particular version but for now just needed an expert advice. Thanks!

Tapping the screen to wake up from standby.

Hello all, I'm new here and I'm also new to the xda world. I just had my Atom few days ago.
I used to use Symbian where I would only need to tap the screen to wake the device so, is it possible to make Xda Atom to wake from standby mode by tapping the screen, instead pressing the "power button"?
Pressing the "power button" few times a day to wake the device could and might wear the button and it won't take long to make it unusable.
I have done my home work as a noob by searching the forum. Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=307481
I do not really mind with the power drop. So, is there any solution to make this possible?
Thank you in advance and any help would be appreciated.
Go to Start>Settings>System>Power >Advanced and untick Turn of device if not used for X minutes.
Now your device will be always on, unless you use the power button, and the screen should just dim when you dont use it after a minute or 2, and come back on when you touch it.
Let us know how it works out.
Surur
Thank you for the hint, Surur. It works, however it's not exactly what I had in mind. By letting it to show the today view all the time, it would take too much.
I was thinking to let the screen to go completely off, but the screen is still active (touch only), or only part of the screen. So, when the device goes to blank or standby, it would wake when I tap on the screen... or some part of the screen if it could help to preserve some power.
In Symbian, I could set the time for the screen to go completely off. And when the screen is completely off, each time I tap on the screen, the screen would go on. And if no input from user, it would go off again, according to the time I set before.
Note: the device does automatic lock, so even if it gets tap by something, the display would show or awake but would not open an app or do something unwanted, until user unlocked it using combination. So, I never need to touch any button with Symbian, completely using screen only.
Is there an application that able to do something similar or better than what Symbian does? I'm even willing to pay for someone to make this kind of program.
I don't know if it's allowed to double posts or not, if not please let me know.
Here is a testimony to back up my point of view regarding the power button:
"Naturally I set it to the power button, but after a while, that button got worn down and stopped "working" so I naturally set it to recognize any other button.
This experience has taught me the hard way, that its a good choice to have (or maybe even a necessity in some cases) that other buttons to wake the unit up in case of situations like this."
Taken from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=315329
So, please someone create an application to allow user to use screen to wake from standby.
Here is what I had in mind:
1. Lock the screen if standby
2. On standby mode. If I tap some part of the screen (some part of screen only to save some batt power), then it would show option to unlock.
3. If I tap but do nothing or do not unlock, it would goes to standby again.
Again, I would pay the good person who's willing to make this kind of application. Or maybe it's already available?
MDCT said:
Hello all, I'm new here and I'm also new to the xda world. I just had my Atom few days ago.
I used to use Symbian where I would only need to tap the screen to wake the device so, is it possible to make Xda Atom to wake from standby mode by tapping the screen, instead pressing the "power button"?
Pressing the "power button" few times a day to wake the device could and might wear the button and it won't take long to make it unusable.
I have done my home work as a noob by searching the forum. Here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=307481
I do not really mind with the power drop. So, is there any solution to make this possible?
Thank you in advance and any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try the keylock in the settings, that will not wake your device by tapping the screen, but it will wake up by pressing any key...
Thanks for trying to help, ai6908. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the keylock in the settings, and it still needs button to be pressed.
I do not feel comfortable pressing button. I used p800, using it, Symbian was able to be operated without the need of any button.
Depending on button, it could decrease the value of the mobile, I mean pressing button(s) few times a day would surely wear the button(s) over time. Movable parts are more easily to get broken or wear. And It would decrease the value if the mobile is going to be sold later on. With p800, I could keep the state like new for many years, thanks to the UI that allows us to fully control from the touchscreen alone.
It seems like a Microsoft and mobile manufactures scheme to make user to buy another device when the button goes wear from waking up from standby. I can't believe Windows Mobile depends on the need of button to be operated. I even have to use button to take picture with Atom.
I know many also like to use button, but I believe there are other who do not like or like me. I hope MS is flexible about this like Symbian. Someone could help me on this issue?
Keylock is under settings/system...you can try it, but it is not like the symbian one that you mentioned...
I couldn't find Keylock in the settings/system, maybe it's a separate application. Thanks ai6908 for trying to help me, unfortunately it's not like what I had in mind. If I couldn't find the solution that I want, I would surely use your advice.
Someone told me that the display panel is "connected" with the touch. So when the display is off, the touch capability will be off too.
Because of that, I was thinking maybe an application that would set the backlight to very minimal (so it would make the screen to go blank) after a defined period of time could do the job.
Has someone tried this before? Or is it also not possible?

Problem with hitting screen buttons when pulling phone out of pocket

When my phone rings, the screen turns on. It doesn't matter if I lock ir or not. The Answer and Ignore buttons are still pressable on the screen. Is there any registry setting I can change to make it so the screen stays locked when the phone rings?
I still want to have the option of pressing the Answer and Ignore physical buttons on my phone, but I keep accidently hitting answer or ignore on my screen when pulling the phone out of my pocket.
Thanks
If you install ACs Slide 2 Unlock then you will need to slide to answer or ignore a call. Should stoip the accidental pressing of on screen buttons.
That is not an option. It cuts my standby battery life down to half a day. w/o it I can standby w/o recharging for about a week including phone calls. I probably only talk on the phone a few hours a week though.
BTW I failed to mention that I am on WM6.1
What exactly what you like to do?
If you use a regular dialer the phone will turn on anyways.
If you want something else, like S2U2.. you'll have to accept it's requirements.
Tho, I'm not aware of the battery drain issue. my phone's running S2U2 and it's fine.
try playing with the preferences.

HTC Diamond - backlight not off after inactivity - just fading out a little

Ok so I have a little problem with my HTC Diamond. In options I set to turn-off the backlight after 10s of inactivity which is standard. The problem is that after those 10s I can see that the screen backlight is fading out but it doesn't fade out completly - if you look from an angle it might appear that it's off but if you look at the front of the phone or simply in the dark you can see that the backlight is still on only set to something near 10 or 5%. As you know the battery just sucks in this device and I don't want the backlight to drain it so any ideas or tips on this matter? Of course I can put the phone to sleep mode but I'd just prefer to make the backlight turning off so I can take a look at the screen to for example check the time without having to press any buttons...
Same problem here
After those 10s the screen is not turning off completly, just fading to 5, 10 %. The screen with all the info, the home page let us say, is still visible and drains the battery. I also could just press the power button to turn is completly off, but I would also prefer it to do this manually after ten second.
Did you find a solution to this problem yet?
Help Battery Drain
Same thing here, and my Backlight is stuck to 100% i think,
anyone found a solution to this? any hints?
Guys, i assume youve set the "turn off device if not used for xxx mins" correctly whilst in battery and external power correctly?
If you have, what roms are you using as you give us no information to help any further
Hello,
I had the same problem with ROM 2.03.421.2, date 12/24/08.Back then I had SPB mobile shell installed and a very few applications and I couldn't find the problem. I made a hard reset so now, with nothing installed, the device also enters standby. You should take care because it is possible that the device is not entering standby either and it is making calls. When I had this problem my friends were complaining that I kept calling them and not talking. It is strange as I'm sure I put the device to sleep with the power button. But still, somehow, it was making calls...

USB/ActiveSync to stay connected when screen off

I've searched for this one but can't find any mention of it...
I'm finally switching back to an o2 Serra / Touch Pro after they finally admitted to having some in stock again! (Not through sales channels though, and it took a five page letter complaining about their Customer Service!).
Anyway, over the last 3 months I've had to make do with an SE xPeria X1.
The one thing about the X1 (other than the WVGA screen) that I preferred with the X1 was that you could hit the power button to turn the screen off and ActiveSync (and therefore MyMobiler) would stay connected. Nice!
Is there any way to make the Touch Pro do the same?
Cheers,
FM
fatmonk said:
I've searched for this one but can't find any mention of it...
I'm finally switching back to an o2 Serra / Touch Pro after they finally admitted to having some in stock again! (Not through sales channels though, and it took a five page letter complaining about their Customer Service!).
Anyway, over the last 3 months I've had to make do with an SE xPeria X1.
The one thing about the X1 (other than the WVGA screen) that I preferred with the X1 was that you could hit the power button to turn the screen off and ActiveSync (and therefore MyMobiler) would stay connected. Nice!
Is there any way to make the Touch Pro do the same?
Cheers,
FM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Find a program that only shuts the screen off like HandyMenu.
The power button puts the phone in standby.
I use Pocket controller to view the phone on my PC and use Haandy Menu to turn off the screen.
Is there much difference in power consumption between standby and just screen off?
What I'm thinking is, is it a good idea to change the function of the power button (I know there are tools to do that) to only switch off the screen in normal use as well or am I going to just make the short battery life more of an issue?
Cheers,
FM
I might have missed the point here, but why would you only want to turn the screen off in normal use?
I can understand not wanting the screen on (in line of sight) if its in a cradle syncing all day, but unless you're wanting to have programs running & working all day (gps mapping something i guess) i cant see any advantage.
Finally, i'm not sure if you can unmap the power button, you can almost certainly re-map it, but that may not remove the original function (i cant test today, mine's off for repair).
fatmonk said:
The one thing about the X1 (other than the WVGA screen) that I preferred with the X1 was that you could hit the power button to turn the screen off and ActiveSync (and therefore MyMobiler) would stay connected. Nice!
Is there any way to make the Touch Pro do the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've often wondered the same thing. My phone sits on ActiveSync all day at work with the screen un-necessarily on. There has to be a fix other than a paid application...
Essentially I'd like to replicate the power button function of the SE X1 on the Touch Pro.
The X1 seems to only power off the screen rather than going into standby - ie all apps keep running, bluetooth and wifi stay connected etc.
This means that when the phone is connected using MyMobiler or similar the screen can be off as I am displaying the screen contents on my PC screen.
Rather than having a seperate function to switch the screen off (I'm going to try EdgeWat PocketPC Utils for that), it would be nice if the power button could be mapped to just switch the screen off.
My concern is that if I swap the functionality of the power button (their do seem to be a few apps that allow you to re-assign the power button funtion) I won't just be using it this way when the phone is connected to a PC, I will ALWAYS be just switching the screen off. So, when I am out and about would doing this cause a big increase in battery drain?
-FM
And I would guess this functionality must be possible in software as it seem the Pandora client does it when you are running it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=534319&page=7
-FM

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