Much Awaited Windows Mobile 7 - General Questions and Answers
The much awaited windows mobile 7 interface and all other info below
Microsoft is currently developing Windows Mobile 7, the first revolutionary change to its mobile device operating system. Recently, I was given a document by a source inside Microsoft that details the touch and gesture plans for Mobile 7.
Below, you’ll find over 3,000 words detailing my notes from the document. I can’t publish the document here, at least not until after the product is announced, to protect my sources. I will provide the document to trusted journalists in order to share and show proof of this information. If there is anything I leave out, please don’t hesitate to ask and I will try to provide a screenshot or answer.
Windows Mobile 7 will dramatically change the way we use mobile devices. It will emphasize the use of touch on the device, as well as motion gestures created by using the device. It is, absolutely, Microsoft’s effort to beat back the iPhone, and the iPhone is referenced several times in the document.
Windows Mobile 7 will use touch gestures, similar to how the iPhone does. You will be able to flick through lists, pan, swipe sideway, draw on the screen. A lot of emphasis has been put on making navigation easier and doing away with scrollbars, including a new scroll handle that allows for multiple ways of finding items extremely fast.
Windows Mobile 7 will use motion gestures, something the iPhone does not. It will not use an intricate and complicated series of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Instead, it will use the camera on the phone to detect motions and create appropriate actions. You will be able to shake, twist and otherwise manipulate the phone and get things done. The phone will be able to perform actions when placed face down on a surface, and it will know when it is in your pocket or bag.
Windows Mobile 7 will have an exciting locking screen, that will allow you to play around with it, draw on it, shake it and completely otherwise mess with it.
Windows Mobile 7 will have dramatically improved visuals, different from the iPhone and much more similar to the dark and futuristic visuals of Windows Vista. It will feature graphical transitions, subtle effects, and other things to make it more interesting to look at. This is not detailed in the document, but featured in the multitude of screenshots.
Windows Mobile 7 is designed to use the finger, not the stylus, though many devices will be required to include a stylus. It is designed to be easy to use with the hand, including one-handed, and to be fun to use and easy to understand. It is designed to be used on devices with no buttons, few buttons, lots of buttons, full keyboards, and devices without touch screens.
Windows Mobile 7 is clearly designed for better media playback, with screenshots indicating a much-improved Media Player and photo gallery application. There is talk in the document of a games mode. Mobile Internet Explorer runs full-screen web pages in a minimalistic interface, and has “tabbed” browsing, except you can switch tabs by shaking the phone.
The keyboard has been improved, but plans for a full touch keyboard, a la the iPhone, have been shelved until a future version of Windows Mobile.
Below are my detailed notes. Some of it is raw, some of it is very detailed. It is accompanied by screenshots direct from the document which show off other features planned for Windows Mobile 7.
Goals of the New User Interface.
Touch, gestures, scrolling, and direct manipulation. Also, animations, transitions, motion gestures, and codenames “Phosphur” and “Starburst”.
Goal: Finger optimized, best in class touch experience that users are comfortable with everywhere.
Requirements: simple, memorable and fun; consistent, predictable and interesting; natural movements, natural animations and transitions; and enhance the mobile experience, not degrade it.
Goal is to support hardware with buttons, hardware with buttons and touch screens, and touch screen-only devices. The Touch-only devices are specifically referenced as “iPhone compete”.
User experience requirements: consistent UI interaction across the device (up and down should always scroll up and down lists, not something else), should not be overloaded. The new UI will not be opt-in for applications, but required, so old applications will all get it. There will be a “game mode”, where games will be allowed to override the UI requirements and use similar movements for different actions, allowing games to have more complicated controls than the average app.
There will be audio and visual feedback, only where appropriate, like indicating the top and bottom of a list, which objects are touchable, and a “ring of fire” indicating where you press and hold down your finger.
Designed to be used by a finger, without a stylus. Microsoft Research is researching the size of the average fingertip/tap size. Currently, they are working with the assumption of a 7.6×7.6 millimeter fingertip size. The goal is a device that can be used almost entirely one-handed with the thumb of the hand holding the device.
There were plans to implement the Soft Input Panel (the on-screen keyboard) as a finger accessible portion of the UI (like the iPhone does), but it was cut for Windows Mobile 7.
Tap drills down in a list, but some lists will have you tab once to select, once again to drill down the list. Interface elements will be designed so there is no fear of users making a mistake and missing their target. It will be able to dynamically resize elements of the user interface, prioritizing them and making them easier to hit. Corners, like the close button, scrollbars, icons and the title bar/status bar, will all be able to grow to make things easier on the user.
A stylus will be required on devices meeting certain screen size, orientation, DPI and resolution marks. User interface elements will scale their size and be prioritized in order to make hitting them easier, especially scrollbars, corner elements, icons, the title bar and the status bar.
Touch may be the actual product name as it stands.
Gestures for scrolling (horizontal and vertical), task and menu access, press and hold controls, list items, press and drag, and launching shortcuts. The device will be able to detect finger velocity, scrolling further if the user’s finger moves faster.
They are considering the need for scroll bars when users are scrolling with gestures. Current plan is to show them on Touch devices when flicking through a list, but not show them on button-only devices when scrolling.
When a dialog is longer than the screen and needs to be scrolled horizontally, they are considering replacing the scroll bar with a visual indicator, like text fading off the edge of the screen. Pressing and holding launched the context (right-click) menu, as it does now.
By default in a list, tapping drills down items, but there will be visual and audio feedback if drilling doesn’t occur and the user is merely focusing on an item.
A stylus will be required for device makers to include, based on screen size, screen orientation, and screen resolution.
Microsoft is considering if it needs to support screens and drivers that do multi-touch, but multi-touch is not a base feature of Windows Mobile 7. Multi-finger touch is shown for cropping and rotating photos, but there is no indication if this is software based or requires multi-touch hardware.
Motion Gestures.
There will be various finger motion gestures, used for scrolling vertically and horizontally, task and menu access, pressing and holding on controls, list items, pressing and dragging, and launching shortcuts.
Some UI elements, called Spinner and Pivot, will have a gesture where you swipe them from left to right. In a Spinner, you have a single item with left and right buttons next to it, but instead of hitting the left and right buttons, you can just swipe to change the option.
There will also be motion gestures, where the user moves the device to invoke certain commands. Microsoft Research has a technology concept that uses the device’s camera as a motion sensor, enabling motion control while using the device. This means devices will not need accelerometers and other complicated gyroscopes to get these features, and that existing Windows Mobile devices could be upgraded to full Windows Mobile 7 functionality. These gestures will require the camera to be operating all the time a gesture may be used, which will affect battery life.
There would need to be support for gestures when the device is locked, including slider control, which hints at a similar locking mechanism to the iPhone. It will also support changing screen orientation when turning the device sideways, just like the iPhone does, but using the camera, not a gyroscope.
Windows Mobile 8 will support gestures in the auxiliary screen. Windows Mobile 7 will not.
Gestures shown include in music or a slideshow, shaking the phone left or right to go to the previous or next song or photo, and shaking the phone in order to shuffle it. Here’s an image, which may only be a mockup, or it is showing us what Windows Media Player will look like on Windows Mobile 7, as well as the picture viewer:
As you see, Media Player has an emphasis on album art along with other cool visual elements. Also notice the ever-present battery and signal strength indicators have been placed inside the soft key buttons at the bottom of the screen, saving screen real estate and making them a lot cooler.
Another gesture: When pressing the directional pad down in a full-screen media application, such as a photo application, you can move the device forward and backward to zoom in and out of the image.
windows mobile 7 continue
The web browser will incorporate gestures for back and forward actions. Here’s an image:
Notice the differences in Internet Explorer. The interface is simpler and much nicer, with just an address bar and go button, the web page is a desktop version, just like on the iPhone, and the browser has tabbed browsing, used by gesturing through a series of graphical thumbnails. This is very impressive.
The camera will also cause certain actions based on light sensitivity. For example, if you put your phone in your pocket or in a bag, it will shut off the screen, and can even make the ringer louder or put it on vibrate, as directed. It can also turn the screen on automatically when taking the phone out, trigger the timer on the phone’s camera when the phone is placed face down on a surface, automatically activate the camera flash based on available light, snooze the phone’s alarm when waving your hand over the phone’s camera, taking a picture when anyone walks past the phone (or any other desired action, like making a noise), or remotely connecting to other devices when the phone sees them.
Waking Up and the Lock Screen.
Here’s an example of a gesture, shaking the phone to wake it up:
The document says that gestures should be distinct, convenient, easy to use, and they should also be fun and have feedback that responds to the user’s action. They shouldn’t be hard motion, but simple jiggles or shakes, with the screen reacting to the amount of shaking, the number of shakes, that sort of thing.
An example of the screen showing a transition from the device being asleep to awake:
As you see, it’s a very nice and detailed, but subtle graphical transition. Microsoft never cared about transitions before, but it looks like Windows Mobile 7 will be different.
There’s also a part talking about allowing the user to “doodle” on the screen (their word, not mine), letting users draw doodles on the device lock screen, as well as shake the screen to affect the wallpaper (like making water run, or blurring an image). The iPhone’s lock screen is an iconic part of the device, and Microsoft wants to have a cool lock screen without copying Apple, so the plan is to give you fun things to do on the lock screen.
Here’s an image showing the user doodling. Notice the use of two fingers, hinting at software-based simple multi-touch, or perhaps the image assumes the device has multi-touch hardware?
And a screen that has been shook or doodled on:
That makes for a pretty cool locked phone.
Touch Scrolling/Flicking.
Users will be able to flick their way through lists and swipe sideways for certain actions and pivoting views. When scrolling through lists, letters are shown to indicate as the user makes his way through the alphabet, as well as the addition of a scroll bar. There will be a visual bump when reaching the end of a list.
Besides flicking up and down, the user will be able to pivot sideways between different hotlists. The user can swipe to pivot between each, tap a selection in the pivot wheel, or hit an arrow to launch a pivot selector for all available pivots.
An example of pivoting in the Recent Programs menu:
Here’s a screenshot of Outlook’s inbox:
Also shown is flicking and swiping through an unnamed maps application, based on Windows Live Maps, and flicking based on the velocity of the user’s finger. Other types of finger gestures include the use of spinners and sliders, and unrestricted omni-directional movement.
A screenshot of panning in the maps application:
Those arrows on the sides of the screen are shown as being used in all applications, including IE Mobile, to let the user know when they are panning the screen.
When hitting buttons/icons on the screen, the UI will try to prioritize items and determine which one the user wanted to hit, so users who are sloppy with their fingers will still get the desired result. It will use this smart targeting when using your finger, but not when using the stylus, a very smart design decision. When using the keyboard, the letter enlarges and appears above your finger when you hit it, just like on the iPhone. When highlighting text, a zoom/edit box appears above it to show what you are highlighting. When in full page view in IE Mobile, if you hit an area with links it will zoom in with a bubble and help you choose from the links. Observe:
Notice Word Mobile. It has the Office 2007 Ribbon, but it appears to be lifted directly from Word 2007 and far too small to be used on a mobile device. Assume that this was put in for the mockup, and not an actual application screenshot, but also assume that they are going in the direction of a Ribbon-based user interface for Office Mobile.
There is handwriting recognition listed for OneNote Mobile.
An example of a context menu, activated by pressing and holding in an area (like right-clicking on a PC):
Other examples of what Microsoft calls Press N Hold UI elements include an application launcher and a quick scroller (for quickly moving through a list with a scrollbar and the first letter of list items):
Currently, when scrolling down a screen with the directional pad, the selector moves to the bottom of the screen, then scrolls downward one item at a time. In Windows Mobile 7, the list scrolls upwards as the selector moves downwards, acting in sync so that the selector does not reach the bottom of the screen until it reaches the end of the list. This gives the user feedback on how long the list is and where the user currently is within the list.
When the user flicks to scroll within a list, a scroll handle will appear on the side. If the user touches it, the user can drag the scroll handle up and down for faster scrolling. This replaces the scroll bar. The more the handle is moved, the faster the screen will scroll. A screenshot:
Scroll bars in Windows Mobile 7 will never be part of the screen, but rather floating transparent visual elements on top of it. They will only be used when necessary.
A filmstrip view is shown, with the music filmstrip clearly showing a Zune icon with the option to purchase the song:
There are many pages showing other UI elements, including radio buttons, Spinners, sliders, text entry boxes, combo boxes, drop down menus and such, that I have left out. If anyone desperately wants to see them, let me know and I can add screenshots.
There’s a list of gestures that are being explorer and may or may not make it into Mobile 7, including a gesture to dismiss an on-screen notification by shaking it off the screen, a gesture to automatically take you to a Smart Search notification panel, turning the phone like turning a key to unlock it, Pivoting by gesturing the phone sideways, moving through lists by shaking the phone up or down, switching the camera into black and white or other modes by shaking it down, adjusting camera aperture and shutter speed by rotating the camera, sending a file by “tossing” it to another device.
I left out most of these, but if there are any more you want to see, just let me know and I will try to accommodate. Here’s the camera gesture, just because the UI is so cool:
There’s a list of list view options that are likely cut, including expandable/collapsible headers in grid view (I also didn’t cover grid view), a carousel view (sort of like a vertical pivot), scrolling one item at a time with touch, accelerometer gestures.
Windows Mobile 7 will ship in 2009, according to the document. This makes sense with the Mobile 6.1 point release that is coming around now. Hopefully, Bill Gates will announce Windows Mobile 7 at CES tonight, but if not, you now have advance notice of what is coming next year. Microsoft clearly has a lot planned to make Windows Mobile 7 the revolution it needs to be to compete with Apple, and Mobile 7 is going to bring some cool and excitement to Microsoft’s smart phones.
welcome to yesterday
A quick link to the same old story would have saficed...
this sounds so familiar...
hmmm thx for the "new" information i wouldnt have known if it wasnt for u thankyou
Did they say how many times a day it would crash and reboot itself?? lol
Sorry, I was being rude to the original poster! Thanks for the informative highlights of WM7 and I look forward to all future threads concerning this subject.
**Note** I aim saying this under direst from my wife who thinks I'm being rude....
mchapman007 said:
Sorry, I was being rude to the original poster! Thanks for the informative highlights of WM7 and I look forward to all future threads concerning this subject.
**Note** I aim saying this under direst from my wife who thinks I'm being rude....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The documentation is really huge.... i will have to sit and sort it out ..!
if you want a peek through this , visit http://www.htcclub.net/en/shownews.php?ID=294
i just wanted to help the homies right here ...
let me know who needs further clarification
SpringfieldXD45C said:
Did they say how many times a day it would crash and reboot itself?? lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i will ask them and let you know... how many times exactly it will ... crash ...
i have a feeling these new gestures will take using (read: failing to use) the phone while drunk to new levels!
constantly using the camera as a light sensor is going to be just great for battery life......
Related
LectureNotes app
I'm curious about peoples' opinions of the app "LectureNotes" by Acadoid Developer and how it stacks up against the other main players in the active digitizer game. I've only been using my TPT for a few days' worth of note taking and haven't settled on a specific app yet, so I would like to hear thoughts on how you chose your primary note taking app.
i use ezpdf reader usually and just annotate my notes onto the pdf lecture slides. if i need free form writing, i use free-note as it has keyboard + pen input or quill if i just need pen input. personally i haven't tried lecture notes, but it seems like MyScript Notes Mobile preloaded with the TPT
Wow, pretty good app. I didn't know about it. Thanks!
I've been using TPT for about 2 weeks now, and like the OP, I haven't really quite settled on a specific handwriting app.. Key uses for me are: - taking notes during meetings - something to help me in my Japanese language study - some silly doodling/sketching fun Some apps I've tried: - Notesmobile - Antipaper - Writepad stylus - Lecture notes - Asus' supernotes - Freenote - Quill For lecture notes specifically, I like that I can choose checkered pattern for the background and set the pattern size, as that is perfect for writing in Japanese. But I found that it lags quite a bit when writing, and there isn't an easy way for me to scroll between pages. So I haven't really been using it much in the past week. For the moment, I've sort of settled with using a mix of Writepad, Supernote and Antipaper. Sadly, neither Supernote nor Antipaper has stylus only option Still waiting for the one app that can do it all! Might never come, but I can always hope, can't I?
I use Lecture Notes and have more or less canned every other note software. Lecture Notes just has way more features that I need. It can export in many ways. It can backup all my notes to dropbox, great support for inserting images and easy to change color, pen thickness etc. Only think missing is better organization of the notebooks themselves. When that's here, it will be perfect. It's also by far the most stable of Quill, Notes mobil and asus supernotes.
Personally, I have tried a lot of handwriting notes apps until I cam to this one. At that time this one worked the best overall in my opinion. When I first started using it didn't have everything it has now. But it was already robust and never crashed. I had one issue after a full system crash and reboot that wiped out the content of one notebook. But I simply loaded my backup from the day before without issue and kept rolling. I have about 15 different notebooks on there now and I use them daily for work notes as I am walk around the office working on equipment or meeting notes. It doesn't have the handwriting recognition features you find in other apps but I think that is what keyboard are for and I wouldn't write a document up that way anyway. My good things list. First, The developer is always adding things per user requests. Options for everything you can think of. Second, it is being developed directly on the TPT and it seems to be one of the only ones able to be truly palm rejection friendly by only allowing the app to pull input from the pen (Option can be disabled for those that don't have a pen). Third, and again the endless options... every type of custom settings, scrolling options (one finger, two finger, scroll bars and bar thickness), export options, backup options, sharing options, zoom options, page size - color - patterns, simple drawing tools, cut paste - copy paste, and on and on... every time I turn on the tablet it seems there is anther update to this app. The dev listens to the feedback and finds ways of making the ideas work. I have submitted several ideas that have become reality. It isn't free... but I would buy it a second and third time if I could just to support the dev team. I see a brighter and brighter future of this app.
Hi folks, I am the author of LectureNotes, I was glad to read that the app is useful for you. Sorry for joining this forum and this thread so late, but I learned only very recently that there are couple of forum threads related to LectureNotes. Note that I uploaded v1.12.2 today with a couple of minor additions, the most important one probably being the possibility to choose the directory where the app stores your notebooks. Best regards, Markus
acadoid said: Hi folks, I am the author of LectureNotes, I was glad to read that the app is useful for you. Sorry for joining this forum and this thread so late, but I learned only very recently that there are couple of forum threads related to LectureNotes. Note that I uploaded v1.12.2 today with a couple of minor additions, the most important one probably being the possibility to choose the directory where the app stores your notebooks. Best regards, Markus Click to expand... Click to collapse I am using the trial version, but i am already convinced of buying the full version. I have a suggestion to make : The software really needs a laso eraser it will make it more feature-full
Dear trt44, LectureNotes has a `lasso´ eraser, moving the eraser in a closed path so that start and end point are close deletes the interior. Best regards, Markus
Perfect, i just tried the laso eraser and it works like a charm, so i bought the software . I have another suggestion : The software lacks the ability to draw basic shapes (rectangles, circles, lines...), and from my humble point of view, basic shapes are very important for fast and accurate drawing when taking notes.
Many thanks for purchasing the app. The app contains simple drawing primitives, they are part of the pencil toolbox (as long as you do not disable this in the settings). Choose `Show pencil toolbox´ in the pencil menu to get the toolbox displayed, click-and-hold to move it around. A single click on one of the standard or custom pencils chooses the pencil and a double-click on one of the custom pencils opens the `Custom pencil settings´ dialog; a click on one of the drawing tools activates the drawing tool, another click inactivates it.
OK, thank you, i will try it once i get home.
acadoid said: Many thanks for purchasing the app. The app contains simple drawing primitives, they are part of the pencil toolbox (as long as you do not disable this in the settings). Choose `Show pencil toolbox´ in the pencil menu to get the toolbox displayed, click-and-hold to move it around. A single click on one of the standard or custom pencils chooses the pencil and a double-click on one of the custom pencils opens the `Custom pencil settings´ dialog; a click on one of the drawing tools activates the drawing tool, another click inactivates it. Click to expand... Click to collapse OK, so far this is the best note taking application for android platform, it works exactly the way it should. But the UI is a bit ugly frankly you should work it more. A software like yours deserve a sexy fantastic UI : - Attractive icons cause the actual ones looks dead to me, note Books icons for example looks horrible - The ability to go forward and back in pages using forward and back buttons (more convenient sometimes instead of just scrolling or doing a notebook overview and select the page from there) - Notebook overview should have an icon in the top tools bar for easy access One last thing, when you use palm heuristic there is no way to zoom but using the zoom function in the menu witch have a fixed zoom ratio, i suggest to add a zoom slider in the top tools bar where you can specify how much you want to zoom when using (or not) palm heuristic. Thank you for the fantastic software and keep the good work on .
Many thanks for your kind comments. I certainly agree that the icons can be improved, but I am not an artist and I do my best. The app allows to go forward and backward page-wise by using `One page forward` or `One page backward´ in the hand menu; alternatively, to move quickly through your notebook without changing mode or switching to notebook overview, switch on `Permanently display scroll bars´ in the settings and drag on the scroll bars (the bar thickness can be increased in the settings). `Notebook overview´ is just two clicks away in all modes (one click on main menu and one click on the item), I do not think that it is worthwhile to add an extra icon. When using the heuristic palm rejection, one or two fingers gestures for scrolling and zooming are restricted to the hand mode, but being in this mode you can scroll and zoom continuously. Besides that, there is a zoom slider at the left side, you can change zoom by dragging it (the bar thickness can also be increased in the settings).
Just wanted to say hello to you Markus and thank you for your amazing app. I am loving your app more and more. I appreciate your email correspondence about features I asked about. It truly puts you and your application above the rest. Cheers.
I just uploaded v1.13 into Google Play. The major new feature is to allow folders of notebooks (and folders of folders of notebooks, etc.), but I also added LectureNotes as an image receiver (so that the app shows up when you share an image) and fixed a bug that could cause the app to crash when using a template for a new notebook. To allow folders affects all parts of the app (notebooks board, notebook content view, notebook overview, notebook index, notebooks board index, ...). I carefully double- and triple-checked all features and things should work as before. Please drop an email to me in case you noticed something unexpected and I will do my very best to fix it quickly. Best regards, Markus
Sweet, I requested this feature cause of large number of notes Works good, but maybe change the icon of folders so they stand out more from the regular.
acadoid said: I just uploaded v1.13 into Google Play. The major new feature is to allow folders of notebooks (and folders of folders of notebooks, etc.), but I also added LectureNotes as an image receiver (so that the app shows up when you share an image) and fixed a bug that could cause the app to crash when using a template for a new notebook. To allow folders affects all parts of the app (notebooks board, notebook content view, notebook overview, notebook index, notebooks board index, ...). I carefully double- and triple-checked all features and things should work as before. Please drop an email to me in case you noticed something unexpected and I will do my very best to fix it quickly. Best regards, Markus Click to expand... Click to collapse This is a wonderful feature Markus that I didn't realize I needed until just recently. Love it I like the idea of changing the icon on the folders so they stand out more. I also love the new storage location setting, it eases my mind to know it is on my external_sd. Also, I dunno if I am just being dense, but I cannot seem to figure out the navigation menu when enabled in settings. Within settings, under Settings > Menu > Enable app's launcher icon menu and it says it provides a navigation menu at the app's launcher icon. I've always assumed this was an extra navigation menu in the top left corner, but cannot seem to ever be able to use it. Any thoughts?
I am glad to hear that you like the new feature. In case you switch on the menu at the app's launcher icon, you should see a menu when clicking on the icon in the left upper corner (in difference to the case when this option is off, then you get a message that there is no functionality assigned, with the exception of notebook content view where the changed pages are flushed to the file system). What happens in your case? Does the icon highlight when you click on it?
acadoid said: I am glad to hear that you like the new feature. In case you switch on the menu at the app's launcher icon, you should see a menu when clicking on the icon in the left upper corner (in difference to the case when this option is off, then you get a message that there is no functionality assigned, with the exception of notebook content view where the changed pages are flushed to the file system). What happens in your case? Does the icon highlight when you click on it? Click to expand... Click to collapse It doesn't seem to do anything when I click on it, with either my finger or with the pen. And it doesn't seem to matter if I have it enabled or not. Neither scenario causes the icon to do anything. It doesn't highlight or say/do anything. It also does not matter what screen I am at, the icon never does anything. Whether I am within a notebook, folder or at the notebooks board screen. Odd. Would this have anything to do with that I am running ICS?
Android Multi-Window proposal
Samsung’s Multi-Window feature is one of the more fascinating aspects of the company’s recent devices. Working in two apps side-by-side is an incredible boon to multi-tasking and productivity. However, this feature has been limited to only Samsung devices. Attempts to add it custom ROMs have been aggressively shut down by Google itself. However, what if instead of baking this functionality into a ROM, it was provided through an application launcher? This proposal takes it roots in a device that was poorly executed. The Notion Ink Adam (first generation)’s interface was designed in a panel view, allowing quick access to certain services. While a sound idea in theory, this concept and the device were poorly designed. However, the idea remains a viable prospect. What if this panel view was baked into a launcher application? What if the homescreen was a space that could be manipulated to show up to three applications? When Android was unified under ICS, Google introduced the Fragments API to assist in developing paneled applications (ie. tablet optimized applications) and applications that could host multiple user interfaces (ie. Gmail phone and tablet UI). What if, theoretically, an application was designed using the Fragments API that created panels for hosting applications? Multiple applications could be utilized at once, side-by-side, much like Samsung’s Multi-Window feature. The home screen would be a blank screen with the frames outlined in some manner. Layout options would ideally include a three panel layout (each panel occupying a third of the screen) or a two panel layout (one panel occupying two-thirds of the screen, the second occupying the remaining third), always in landscape orientation. I haven’t fully thought out how a portrait mode would work. The app drawer would be accessible via a swipe from the right side of the screen moving to the left side of the screen. To ensure the drawer could be opened with a swipe without disrupting applications using swipes, there would be an active region to detect the swipe, like in the Sidebar application. With the app drawer, a short touch would open up the application in full screen. However, a long press on the application would provide a menu of options regarding which frame the application would be sent to. Widgets would not be utilized in this launcher, as there is no space or need for them. This is simply a proposal. I don’t have the coding knowledge or experience to be able to begin experimenting with this, or to know if this is even possible. However, I thought I’d at least make this post to see what people thought. Creative criticism and ideas are appreciated, but please, nothing incredibly negative. Basic mockups using a Nexus 10 were made and are available below. These are incredibly basic, so be warned.
[APP][FREE]Finger Android App. All your Android through one move
Finger v2.7. All your Android through one move I am the developer of the app and I would like to let you know about Finger App. I cant post links yet, so if you want to check Finger´s Google play site, search "carlosdelachica" in the Google Play search engine. Hope you enjoy it. There is nothing better than having a good shortcut system that allows us to use our Android device in the fastest and easiest way. Such systems typically consist of launchers, through which significantly improves user experience. The use of these launchers is based on our pc desk, trying to simulate its behaviour and even improving it. Using this simple app you can elevate to absolute limits the use and customization of our shortcuts in our Android device. Finger This beneficial app will be very useful as your launcher if you tend to use different applications at the same time, such as chatting with someone while we are surfing the internet or have a conversation on Facebook while writing with another person in Whatsapp. By using Finger you can jump from one app to another simply by drawing a gesture with your finger on the screen. Finger consists of two distinct parts. On the one hand we have the configuration screen by which we manage our shortcuts. The configuration screen has features such as add, modify or delete your gestures but also allows you to enable / disable "Finger drawer", which is a floating button that gives meaning to the app. Finger drawer is a floating button by which acts as a launcher that can place a transparent window on top of other applications running, where we can draw a pre-configured gesture with our finger and access to the application configured. Finger drawer implements drag & drop functionality which allows the user to place the button at the edges of your screen, preventing it to be placed in an undesirable place. Another interesting feature is the lock screen functionality by using double clicking on Finger drawer launcher, or the ability to hide it with a long press. In addition to the possibility of having our own shortcuts by any gesture to be able to open applications, Finger offers also the possibility to change or toggle system settings, simulate the home button, lock the screen and many more. Finger´s advantages are clear in terms of usability. You do not have to navigate between windows to access your applications, accelerating and streamlines the use of your Smartphone, at the same time Finger enables us to continue interacting with other applications installed in the system.
Share your thougts about ios 7
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
We heard it would be flat. We heard it would be black and white. We heard that it would be a totally different experience. It is. iOS 7, the latest version of Apple’s flagship mobile operating system, is here, and it’s almost entirely different from the versions that came before. Gone are the skeuomorphic designs and 3D effects, replaced by Sir Jony Ive’s “flat design.” Rumors had been flying for weeks about the new OS and now it’s here and it is, at least at this early reckoning, a massive change for the six year old operating system. First, we must remember that Ive, Apple’s industrial designer now in control of software following the departure of Scott Forstall, isn’t a believer in interfaces that copy real-world objects. In the past, making the Notes app look like a legal pad or the calendar app look like a Moleskine calendar notebook were part of the iOS design philosophy, as ingrained in the OS as “Slide To Unlock.” All that is gone now. Are you ready for a whole new world? New Look: iOS 7 has a new font leading the way, which seems to be a sort of Helvetica Neue Ultra. It’s very skinny, clean, and it was hinted at in the iOS 7 banners that went up for WWDC yesterday. Instead of white bars on a black background, Apple will now tell you what kind of service coverage you have with five little dots, which are white and grey depending on how strong the signal is across a translucent background. The lock screen is changed for the first time in iOS’s history, with no more shine top or bottom bars for slide to unlock or the clock. Instead, Slide to unlock is translucent above the background image. Default app icons are now flatter, but not quite flat, just as predicted. Jony Ive’s hand has had its way with iOS notifications. The notifications panel isn’t laced with dark grey linen anymore, but actually has a very flat look to it. There is a today view, that lets you see friends birthdays, upcoming invitations, calendar, stocks, and a quick look at tomorrow. The apps all seem to have a white base, except for the stocks app which has a black background and the weather app, which shows motion in the background to convey the current weather. The keyboard is more white, than grey, with a translucency that lets you see what’s underneath the keyboard. New Features Control Center Control Center is a pull-up tray that is available in your lock screen. You can adjust brightness, volume, and other settings including Wifi, Airplane mode, rotation lock, or Bluetooth. The Control Center even offers a flashlight, along with tabs for music, camera, and other quick-access apps. The Control Center takes on the environment it’s in, so if you swipe up while you’re in mail, it will have the same blue and white coloring under that translucent panel. Multitasking iOS 7 lets you multitask between all third-party apps with much better battery consumption. You can double-tap the home button to enter into multi-tasking mode, just like always, but the interface for multitasking has been revamped. It appears to offer live previews, but Apple wasn’t clear about that. Safari Safari opens straight into full screen mode now, with the option to pull down to bring up the search bar at the top. The search field has been improved to be a unified smart search field, which lets you have access to all your favorite websites with a single tap. Tabs come with a totally new interface, scrolling in a vertical carousel, and there are no longer any limits. In other words, you can have as many tabs as you want, as opposed to just 8 like before. Swipe a tab off to the side to throw it away. The new Safari is integrated with iCloud keychain from OS X Mavericks, and also comes with parental controls. AirDrop You can share sharesheets with other people by simply tapping their name. No NFC required. Airdrop supports iPhone 5, iPad 4th gen, iPad Mini Camera And Photos The Camera app lets you swipe between your various camera types, such as panorama or HDR so you can quickly take a pic instead of fumbling around with settings. Photos marks the first update to the photo gallery on iOS since it was introduced. You can search based on date, and location, within the photos app. Instagram must be flattered — Apple has introduced photo filters so you can add a little professionalism to the picture. Users can share via AirDrop, iCloud photo- sharing, as well as shared Photo Streams. You can even share video with iCloud photo- sharing. Siri: Siri has a new voice! It sounds similar, but also weird. You can choose a male or female voice, if you like. Voices include languages like French, German, and other languages “over time.” The visual UI has also been upgraded, with a sound wave going along the bottom. Siri has also been integrated with settings, letting you tell her to turn on bluetooth, or lower the screen brightness. The company has also added support for Twitter, Wikipedia, and shows web search results direct from Bing. iOS in the Car iOS in the Car depends a lot on Siri. It puts the iOS homescreen on the screen of your car, and lets you search for directions, listen to music, etc. App Store You can now search for apps based on location. In other words, search for apps by the Louvre and see a lot of French museum apps. The App Store also automatically updates apps for you in the background now. Hallelujah again! iTunes Radio: Apple has finally introduced the much- anticipated iTunes Radio, which gives a Genius- like experience to the entire 26-million title iTunes catalog. You can see the full list of songs on each station by clicking history, with purchase and preview buttons built right in to send you to the iTunes store. iTunes Radio also lets you customize each station by clicking a star to show that you want more of this type of music. iTunes Match users will get an ad-free experience, but others will be able to use the app for free with a few audio and text ads. Activation Lock: This is for those of us who have had an iPhone stolen. If a thief steals your phone and tries to turn off Find My iPhone, they can no longer turn the device back on without your iCloud password. Users can also block messages and calls from other users. Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium
I tell you what I think: lol.
Thread closed: this discussion should be held on a more Apple friendly website....
[APP] Jotter - The Most Practical Note Taking App
Instantly jot down stuff by doodling on your lock screen without even looking! Have you ever found yourself fumbling over the little keyboard to quickly write something while on the go? Have you ever wanted to hastily jot down something, so you won't forget it, but had trouble finding the "right" app? Ever disturbed the natural flow of a conversation to note down a date, phone number or an address? If yes, then JOTTER is here to solve all your problems! Jotter works like a real-life notepad where you can instantly ‘jot’ down anything by doodling with your fingers. It sits on the top of your lock screen so when you press the power button, you can take notes right then and there! No need to browse the app drawer and no need to carefully type using little keyboard. Just scribble on the screen and double-tap to save it. This can even be done without looking! You can personalize the Jotter notepad by changing the pen color and the ‘slide to unlock’ bar color. This means that you can even take ‘secret notes’ by setting these colors to completely black. This way, you can jot down anything in front of anyone and nobody will notice what you have been jotting. Jotter can be used in many situations. Some example use-cases are listed below: • You are talking with someone and want to note down an important date or information without disturbing the conversation flow. • You are on the go and see something which you need to write down for reminder. • You are at workplace and have to note a non-permanent, unpreserved piece of information e.g. a code, number, etc. • Someone is dictating you his phone number or address. • You meet someone and want to write down his name. • You hear a unique word or phrase or product name and want to jot it down. How to use it: When you enable the app using the Switch, then every time you try to unlock your device using the power button, Jotter will appear on top of your lock screen. You can write notes there with your finger. Press twice (double tap) on a written note to save it. To view saved notes, slide up the screen from the ‘Slide to unlock’ bar present at the bottom of the screen. You can dismiss the Jotter notepad by using the ‘Slide to unlock’ bar. In order to have a completely ‘secret’ and inconspicuous notepad, you can customize the colors to black or other dark colors. (Remember that the ‘Slide to unlock’ bar will still be there but will become invisible so do it with caution). Note: This is not a replacement for your lock screen and will sit on top of your default lock screen. See it in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPnEu9Qv0TA Download Jotter from Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appsbyusman.jotter I really urge the xda users to try out this app because this is not like other conventional notepads. I have based the development of this app on my actual real life scenarios and I personally find it helpful at my workplace.