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Idea for handy screensaver app...

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

How do I REALLY turn my xda exec "OFF"

Excuse me I'm almost suicidal.
I hold the two keys down that bring up the hardware control panel, I turn off the mobile phone, bluetooth, wifi, and activesync, I open the task manager and stop any active processes, I turn my xda off (at least I think I do) and BEHOLD in just a few short minutes the stinking thing turns itself back on again, and stays on.
My PC informs me it has an activesync connection yet my hardware panel says its turned off, I try move some files around and sure enough I can gain access to my memory card, I run task manager and despite the hardware panel telling me activesync is not working the task manager knows different.
Not only has activestink decided its gonna work even though I've told it not to I HAVE AN INTERNET CONNECTION! , talk about a security risk.
WTF is in control of this pile of junk, me or the hardware/software.
Please tell me there is a fix for this, when I turn something off I expect it to stay turned off (completely) until I turn it back on again.
Now if you don't mind I'm going to lay down and have a nervous break down.

Dude you really need to chill.
These things do require some potions .
I do not know the exec in person but all HTC and most other WM 5 devices shut down completely when you hold the "standby" button for 10 seconds or more. (On the exec i believe it is a small round metal color button on one of the sides.)

levenum said:
Dude you really need to chill.
These things do require some potions .
I do not know the exec in person but all HTC and most other WM 5 devices shut down completely when you hold the "standby" button for 10 seconds or more. (On the exec i believe it is a small round metal color button on one of the sides.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi'
Been there, pressed that, still turns itself back on, even tried a factory reset and it still does it.
Probably micro$oft being insane again.

Perhaps buying a device with a Microsoft OS was not the right choice if you think they are insane?
The Universal doesn't have the full off feature as some other devices do, and if you use pushmail solutions, it will sometimes turn itself on if you have the screen open.
It also does this on a few other devices.
Using the device lock option on the doday screen prevents the problem, there may be other fixes by now, but that, or closing the screen are the simplest.
Some other today plugins, I forget the name, will give you an auto lock option when you press the power.
That said though, I use pushmail, and mine doesn't come on that I have noticed, but my Wizard does unless I lock it.

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?

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

[Q] Disable reboot on power button long press?

Hi,
I've had my HTC titan for a few weeks now (since UK launch), and I am having a problem with the phone rebooting itself in my pocket, when I sit down. Now I am pretty sure that this is actually a windows phone bug AKA "Feature", but one that is more evident on the Titan due to it's size.
The problem is that when I sit down and lean forward (e.g. to tie my shoes), the power button gets pressed into my hip and is held down..and then after a few seconds the phone reboots. This is even with the locking enabled and pin protection.
Has anyone else come across this issue? Is there a way to prevent the phone rebooting from a long press of the power button? I am seriously regretting switching over to windows mobile again because of this issue..it's a real pain..I don;t mind if there is an app/mod I can install to fix this if it's not possible via standard settings (something like pShutXP for WM6) ..any ideas at all would be *very* welcome!
Thanks,
Spud/Pete

so, let me get this straight:
1) you want to disable the power button? How would you turn off the phone afterwards?
2) to turn off the phone, you need to slide down the lockscreen, and this is very unlikely to happen
3) if "you are tying your shoes" long enough, this will initiate hard shutdown of the device
So no, no way, carry the phone elsewhere.

Yeah, I'm confused by this too - as of Mango, simply holding down the power button won't ever turn off the phone (though it will show half the lock screen, with a prompt to slide it down fully to turn the phone off). Since the Titan comes with Mango... yeah, confused.

No..I am not talking about turning off the phone - thats completely different as you say, you have to slide down the screen and as its capacitive..that's pretty unlikely to happen in my pocket.
I am talking about the phone rebooting - I can replicate it in my hand by holding down the power button and the phone will reboot itself without touching the screen.
I don't want to disable the power button - I want to disable this reboot on long press functionality..as it's a right pain.
Maybe this is peculiar to the Titan rather than a general WinMob feature..but try it on your mango phone - lock the phone, and hold down the power button for around 10 seconds..don't touch the screen. Does it reboot?
Ideally holding down the button should just show the "slide to turn off" screen and nothing else, there is no need for that kind of hard reboot function when you can take the battery out on these devices..
Suggesting that I just don't have my phone in my pocket is not very helpful tbh- where else should I carry it?

No, my HD7 does not reboot if I hold the power button. I almost wish it would, since if the screen locks up I can't power-cycle the phone without removing the battery.
If there's not anyway to carry the phone such that it doesn't hit the power button (not a problem I have with my HD7, but I've never tried carrying a Titan in my pocket), consider getting a case - many of them can make the power button a little "stiffer" and less likely to be pressed accidentally.

I can confirm the problems Spud1 has!
Just like him i own myself a HTC Titan and with WP7.5 you can reboot the phone even when you don't slide down to shut down the pohone.
And that is VERY VERY annoying, even so much that i almost want to switch back for an android phone...
You can replicate this "feature" bij locking the phone when you push the start button on the top and put the phone in rest. (black screen) Then hold down the start button and do nothing. You get the half"Slide down screen to shut down the phone. Still don't do anything, no sliding, just hold the button. After 6/7seconds the phone wil just reboot!
This happens me also and can be replicated at least also on a HTC Trophy (it just shuts down) i believe it can be replicated on the Samsung omnia7.
This is something were i had contact over by chat and phone with HTC. But they will not help or are in no position to sort this out... A brick wall, and i got dissapointed by service.
I dont know how to get in contact with MS, otherwise i would love to do this!
So people, try it out, en then someone to solve this thing, i would rather pull my battery for a restart than this "feature"
PS. sorry for my typo's as a first post..

I've got this too on my trophy !!!!!

I can confirm this problem also on my Mozart.
It is probably one of the 500 innovations in mango.
Sent from my 7 Mozart using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Innovations i can understand, but the Titan is an 4,7inch phone.
When you have this in the pocket of your jeans, like 85% of the people does, there is problem with this so called innovation.
And believe me, supportdesk at HTC in the Netherlands make me feel stupid about our complaints. The freaking phone restarts after 6 seconds while sitting on your knees or bend over to tie your shoe's...
Is there anybody over here who knows how to deal with this/disable it or has connections to discuss this problem with HTC or MS?

I can confirm this problem on HTC Trophy too(custom rom)
If i hold down Power button ,slider shows up .If i continue to press Power Button and do nothing my phone is power down (not restart)

It's a standard WP7 behavior, why do all of you complain? It's not a problem but standard feature (to be able to reboot phone if touchscreen stop working). Buy another, not so tight, jeans or belt phone holder or protective case.

Who said i wear tide jeans?
There are also people on a Dutch forum that had problems with some protecting cases or just in a bag. And that was with the Trophy.
I finally love the system itself, but this is a 4.7 inch phone where i payed a lot of money for, so i'm allowed to expect something.
Apparently the Systems features and the size make it a combined "problem".
a lot of people get this problem now and in the future when Sales go up!

BAM., there is nothing what you can do. I think it's by hardware design so there are no registry settings to disable power button. But what you expected is absolutely irrelevant to the current WP7 products

That is a straight forward answer! Until now HTC didn't give a proper explanation..
If it is hardware related, this is the only thing that s#cks on wp7/HTC Titan. But i still don't think so, because other ones, like the trophy just shut down.. No restart!
It just feels so dissapointing... Because i really started to like WP7.
Hopefully there will come a MS answer somewere/sometime for this.
thnx anyway!

Omnia 7 has the same behavior (press and hold makes the scroll down menu appear, keep holding and the device reboots) so it's not restricted to HTC devices.
Fortunately, I tie my shoes really fast

lg quantum here, same thing lol

Confirmed on my HTC Surround, phone shuts down. Also on my Blackberry 8350i (although power button is right below the screen and it comes with a holster so not really an issue). Pretty sure that the Evo Shift I used to have for work would do the same thing.
It's a pretty logical function though. If your phone were to lock up for some reason, there's no soft reset button that you can press. This serves the same function. Try holding down the power button of your PC for a few seconds. You'll find that it does the same thing. When you first press it your computer will (probably) start the shutdown process but if you keep holding it then it goes straight to off.

It's logical for a PC, or maybe even for a device where you cannot remove the battery or there is no other way to reboot the phone if it locks up (but who's to say that this "feature" will even work when the phone locks up anyway..)
But for a mobile phone where the power button can easily be pressed accidentally, where a device has to deal with much more than just sitting on a desk..no that is just poor design.
I understand that for many people it won't be an issue - but the fact remains that for lots of us it is (it's good to see that it's not just me!)...and calling it a "feature" doesn't help (thats a long running trick in the software trade..many features are just bugs/poor design disguised as such!).
I suspect that to fix this problem we are going to have to wait for a full unlock for HTC mango devices, so that we can load native apps who can potentially resolve the problem. I don't know enough about WM7 development yet to know if you can get at the Hardware Interrupts or not but if we can do that, then I am sure we can fix it. It's possible there will be some registry/configuration options too buried deep in the system, but without the interop-unlock we're stuck I think..
HTC/MS support sure as hell won't help us out as it's definitely going to be called a feature, no matter how big of an annoyance it is.
This combined with the discovery of how terrible Bing searching is has really put me off Windows Phone 7 though (the terrible search is the worst thing)..I'll be jumping back to iPhone next yearwhen Apple release their redesigned one, can't see a reason not to anymore. Which is a shame as I love the device + UI

Spud1, the long power button press can be handled by hardware schematics, not a firmware or drivers (but actually I don't know exactly, of course). So, your hope is very weak...

True it can - but you could override this kind of behaviour in WM 6.x..and WP7 is still just windows CE with a layer over the top really, so there is a good chance that it's doable.
The thing that makes me think it's possible is that people who have upgraded their devices to Mango from NoDo seem to have the same issue - which leads me to believe that it's partly to do with Mango rather than down to specific devices..but to be sure more people who have those kind of devices (and particularly those without a HTC device) need to read this thread and reply