I was wondering, with the Windows Mobile Marketplace coming in 2 weeks, whether it will step up app standards, particularly graphical standards? Comparing primarily to the iPhone (sorry), and focusing on differences I find mainly with gaming (;}), WM's applications are behind in some of these areas:
Software Icons
WM 6.5 is a step forward graphically. The icons actually properly blend! However, I see many developers overlook icon creation. Well I'm picky, and I see too many icons with poor use of colours, jagged edges or edges that are blended to white (instead of transparent, if you know what I mean). And it can be done - SPB Mobile Shell replaces some of the ugly WM6.0 icons with fantastic ones.
Menus and Controls
The iPhone has games and apps that have menus that utilize scrolling and finger-friendliness. This is one of the issues with supporting WM6.0 and WM6.1 - they don't have WM6.5's kinetic scrolling. While some apps create their own scrolling (ThumbCal and Resco Contact Manager, quite a few developers seem to opt for simple menus. Most games I've tried that use menus or numerous controls on the display make them small - therefore less finger-friendly. Some of the great games I've played were developed without touch really considered - small controls & menus, not utilizing touch gestures and scrolling...
On the topic, how do options and settings show up on WM6.5? They are so ugly on WM6.0 (why I haven't flashed? I'm waiting for a final release of 6.5, based on the official ROM).
Graphics of the UI
Some games have proven to be kind of PSP-graphical standard. Not as in all the action, but that many corners and edges aren't blended properly (giving that jagged edge look). Some just look plain terrible. Sharper graphics that also look good are possible(Warfare Incorporated), but 1 game has stunned me. My Little Tank by AstraWare / Binoteq. It's a game that matches the iPhone in perfect blending and stunning graphics, and imagine if all WM apps were like that...
Unified Graphics
Many of the iPhone's apps have headings and interfaces that match the overall OS. It would be nice if you could identify an app as a WM app. Certain games (Warfare Incorporated) have their own UIs, and that is effective to fit in with gameplay. However, some apps don't even have a unified graphics within the app itself. If anyone has tried the game Towers Trap by Zone Projects (tower defense game), I found the graphics also superb, but the title menu (and gameplay controls) looked so lame compared to the gameplay. On a side note, there was rather awkward spelling in that - completion of a game gave the text 'CONGRATULATION!!!', and you could build 'ROCKET LUNCHERS'.
Fullscreen Apps
Is there a proper way to make them? I minimized some games with the end key on my Elf; when I maximize them the 'taskbar' of WinMo hides, but takes over the space (i.e. tapping the screen where the taskbar should be functions like a taskbar is there)...
Multitasking is a big feature of WinMo, hopefully it gets prettier (and admittedly I can't use it much due to the ridiculously under-spec'd Elf), but it should work right.
Price
At what price will apps enter the MarketPlace at? I understand they probably can't get as cheap as the iPhone's (Microsoft's price on releasing an app + a smaller target audience), but currently a good app can cost quite abit. And often I find myself using expensive apps to replace what should be perfectly fine with an OS (calendar, contacts, file explorer - you name it).
Oh well, apologies, my rant is now finished.
Uploaded images as attachments, sorry.
Anyways, what are your thoughts?
I have recently moved from an Axim x51v (WM6.1) to HD2 and am keen to move all my old, favourite apps to the HD2. Mostly I have had successes eg Recordian, Mindmap, HandBase4, Listpro, etc. Some glitches with selecting from the drop down calendar under HTC Sense were solved by a registry tweak, and the command display bar at the bottom of the screen was sorted in these old apps when I got spbShell. So pretty happy with the move, though I am yet to find a dibber for the HD2 that works - have tried 3 different patterns, all useless, but have not yet faced up to the high cost of the Digi Stylus which is the last type to try (foam rubber and solid rubber ends just don't work for me). Battery life is accpetable if I keep the juice hogs like Wi-Fi and BT only turned on when needed; the 400mA charging rate means I can use an external Lion battery Proporta Mobile Device charger in my case) if I run into low battery situations.
However ... I am stuck on Journal Pro, so the question is to someone who uses this ancient, but excellent app: how to get the display font to appear at the same size as the input font. The HD2 weirdly displays 2 font sizes in this app - one huge one which is the stored text, and also a reasonable size when inputting, one over laid on the other in the text window. There must be a registry tweak but it doesn't appear under Journal Pro, I've tried hunting the obvious stuff. Has anyone experience of Journal Pro?
Hi, I'm using Google Maps app and I've found out that this phone does not have inertia. Why is this happening? How is it possible, since Maps app is generic for all devices (I'm pretty sure that all the Samsung Galaxy Core 2's have this problem).
No Samsung Music player, weird Touchwiz version, no inertia in Maps... what the hell is going on with this phone?
It seems to be a chinese replica of a Samsung phone that comes without official firmware and weird apps!
rambomhtri said:
Hi, I'm using Google Maps app and I've found out that this phone does not have inertia. Why is this happening? How is it possible, since Maps app is generic for all devices (I'm pretty sure that all the Samsung Galaxy Core 2's have this problem).
No Samsung Music player, weird Touchwiz version, no inertia in Maps... what the hell is going on with this phone?
It seems to be a chinese replica of a Samsung phone that comes without official firmware and weird apps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Inertia - slide is currently disabled because of the different android OS/API/JS workaraund
https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api...ed+Summary+Stars+ApiType+Internal&cells=tiles
Why weird apps ? The only thing not fixed enaught from start is boot / recovery.
Other apps are written specialy for this type of phone. A lot of things not needed by release nas been changed by Samsung the references weren't deleted, so don't wory about some chinese leftowers
And about the player : The player is Samsung's and made specialy for this phone, just like the libs for it and all other libs for mix,effects ...
And maps and other apps are not "generic" for all "devices" !
It depends on the phone's API and other compatibility issues and references/components.
I don't know why people always messing about that things, you can always install other launcher/app and make it default or disable app/system package.
StratOS_HTC said:
Inertia - slide is currently disabled because of the different android OS/API/JS workaraund
https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api...ed+Summary+Stars+ApiType+Internal&cells=tiles
Why weird apps ? The only thing not fixed enaught from start is boot / recovery.
Other apps are written specialy for this type of phone. A lot of things not needed by release nas been changed by Samsung the references weren't deleted, so don't wory about some chinese leftowers
And about the player : The player is Samsung's and made specialy for this phone, just like the libs for it and all other libs for mix,effects ...
And maps and other apps are not "generic" for all "devices" !
It depends on the phone's API and other compatibility issues and references/components.
I don't know why people always messing about that things, you can always install other launcher/app and make it default or disable app/system package.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, here's the story, I had like 1 month ago 3 devices: Samsung Galaxy Young 2, Galaxy Core 2 and Express 2. All of them with Android 4.4.2, with all the apps up to date, and everything mostly the same.
So, Young 2 and Core 2 were almost the same weird experience in terms of software, and the Express 2 was a Samsung like any other Samsung out there, let me explain:
1. Maps in the first 2 devices had no inertia, whereas Express 2 had it. Same app version. Someone explain that to me.
2. Touchwiz in the first 2 devices had this weird version with only 4 icons in the lower bar, different interface, different menu options (worse), and you know, it simply wasn't the same Touchwiz I saw in every other Samsung.
3. No Samsung Music player, what the hell, in the first 2 devices.
4. YouTube app was not the same, yeah, it was different. The search button was in the menu option, while in any other Samsung it was right in the middle of the upper bar/section. Same YouTube app. I had no idea what was going on. Like a week or so, YT got updated and this is fixed now, but anyways, that was really weird.
5. I don't know, those 2 devices had many other different things in settings that made me feel like If I was using a chinese copy of a Samsung phone. I couldn't even put a shortcut to Manage Applications with that weird Mass Launcher version of Touchwiz.
6. The Dialer menu, contacts interface and all of that is simply ugly, poorly implemented (my old Neo V showed contact's pictures in a much higher resolution), it's not the same as all the other Samsung's interfaces.
And also, I have 1 big hardware problem, and I think it's not my phone, but all the Galaxy Core 2's. The touchscreen limit is wrong, it does not recognize the very end of the 4 screen sides (the 4 edges), it only starts to recognize your fingers like 4mm or more from the edge, and that hinders many gestures, specially when scrolling a right side bar, or sweeping from the left to show up a menu, or moving a song's time bar to the beginning (I can only move it to 0:04 sec, cause I can't move it more to the left).
The mix of these bad experiences is what makes me feel like I'm not using a Samsung phone. Besides, the screen of this phone is one of the worst screens I have ever seen. It's way superior the screen of my old Neo V. The viewing angles are a joke, I know it's a budget phone, low-cost and all that, but seriously, the screen is SO awful, you rotate just 1 º your phone and the colors are starting to change and they get distorted. My Neo V was also a budget phone and had an amazing screen. I'm not protesting about the resolution, or colors, they are good enough, I wasn't looking for a Super Amoled screen, but man, this screen is so bad.
Yeah, I know I can install another launcher. Actually the true is that I didn't know 'till I got this phone in my hands. That mass launcher version was so awful that I started reading about Home screen (launcher) and discovered what a launcher was, and "thanks" to the awful Touchwiz version, I'm using Nova launcher, that totally rocks and I really really love it. I don't care about Samsung's player neither, I use jetAudio plus, which is far better, but you know, you don't like when a Samsung phone comes without a Samsung player (just like all the Samsung phones out there). And Maps and YouTube weird behaviors, and a ultra low resolution photos in the Conctacts interface (and when receiving a call too), and all those things make you really question if you're actually using a original Samsung. You gotta think too about the people can't spend time reading and learning what is a launcher and all that stuff.
After a month of use, I can really complain about the horrendous screen and the dialer weird app, though that doesn't remove the very first bad experience. That's all. No, stop, I was forgetting something, If it was't for you, I'd still getting mad at Samsung because when you volume up to 80%, this freaking weird phone shows up a warning saying that listen to loud music can damage your ears. I'm root, I have Gravity Box, and I can completely remove that warning from hell. You can't deactivate it without Gravity Box and being root. That's another BIG joke, man. Samsung, what the hell. Thanks God I found your post and I could root the phone and install Xposed framework.
rambomhtri said:
OK, here's the story, I had like 1 month ago 3 devices: Samsung Galaxy Young 2, Galaxy Core 2 and Express 2. All of them with Android 4.4.2, with all the apps up to date, and everything mostly the same.
So, Young 2 and Core 2 were almost the same weird experience in terms of software, and the Express 2 was a Samsung like any other Samsung out there, let me explain:
1. Maps in the first 2 devices had no inertia, whereas Express 2 had it. Same app version. Someone explain that to me.
2. Touchwiz in the first 2 devices had this weird version with only 4 icons in the lower bar, different interface, different menu options (worse), and you know, it simply wasn't the same Touchwiz I saw in every other Samsung.
3. No Samsung Music player, what the hell, in the first 2 devices.
4. YouTube app was not the same, yeah, it was different. The search button was in the menu option, while in any other Samsung it was right in the middle of the upper bar/section. Same YouTube app. I had no idea what was going on. Like a week or so, YT got updated and this is fixed now, but anyways, that was really weird.
5. I don't know, those 2 devices had many other different things in settings that made me feel like If I was using a chinese copy of a Samsung phone. I couldn't even put a shortcut to Manage Applications with that weird Mass Launcher version of Touchwiz.
6. The Dialer menu, contacts interface and all of that is simply ugly, poorly implemented (my old Neo V showed contact's pictures in a much higher resolution), it's not the same as all the other Samsung's interfaces.
And also, I have 1 big hardware problem, and I think it's not my phone, but all the Galaxy Core 2's. The touchscreen limit is wrong, it does not recognize the very end of the 4 screen sides (the 4 edges), it only starts to recognize your fingers like 4mm or more from the edge, and that hinders many gestures, specially when scrolling a right side bar, or sweeping from the left to show up a menu, or moving a song's time bar to the beginning (I can only move it to 0:04 sec, cause I can't move it more to the left).
The mix of these bad experiences is what makes me feel like I'm not using a Samsung phone. Besides, the screen of this phone is one of the worst screens I have ever seen. It's way superior the screen of my old Neo V. The viewing angles are a joke, I know it's a budget phone, low-cost and all that, but seriously, the screen is SO awful, you rotate just 1 º your phone and the colors are starting to change and they get distorted. My Neo V was also a budget phone and had an amazing screen. I'm not protesting about the resolution, or colors, they are good enough, I wasn't looking for a Super Amoled screen, but man, this screen is so bad.
Yeah, I know I can install another launcher. Actually the true is that I didn't know 'till I got this phone in my hands. That mass launcher version was so awful that I started reading about Home screen (launcher) and discovered what a launcher was, and "thanks" to the awful Touchwiz version, I'm using Nova launcher, that totally rocks and I really really love it. I don't care about Samsung's player neither, I use jetAudio plus, which is far better, but you know, you don't like when a Samsung phone comes without a Samsung player (just like all the Samsung phones out there). And Maps and YouTube weird behaviors, and a ultra low resolution photos in the Conctacts interface (and when receiving a call too), and all those things make you really question if you're actually using a original Samsung. You gotta think too about the people can't spend time reading and learning what is a launcher and all that stuff.
After a month of use, I can really complain about the horrendous screen and the dialer weird app, though that doesn't remove the very first bad experience. That's all. No, stop, I was forgetting something, If it was't for you, I'd still getting mad at Samsung because when you volume up to 80%, this freaking weird phone shows up a warning saying that listen to loud music can damage your ears. I'm root, I have Gravity Box, and I can completely remove that warning from hell. You can't deactivate it without Gravity Box and being root. That's another BIG joke, man. Samsung, what the hell. Thanks God I found your post and I could root the phone and install Xposed framework.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1.Default stock google maps in GC2 is specialy made for different GC2, try deinstaling or disable and install from Market.
2.Same with touchwiz stock, specialy made for GC2 devices
3.GC2 uses specialy made modules, libs and mixer
About other stuff, like "resolution", margin borders,screen grids, effects and transitions, speed between them
Different launcher uses different configs, it's not just touch error or prog error, all can be reset or changed.
I'm not here to judge about that things and what crapy phone I'm using too, just trying to make the best of it, but sometime it is the best to use other progs and see what's the difference and how are things with other apps.
Stock apps/system apps are made specialy for those models.
Have noticed it myself while trying to make updated version of google apps as system apps ( Custom rom - specialy google play services ).
Have noticed that the update version via Market works good, but if you try to update updated version as default system ( as custom rom ) apps you will end with corner, too much dependencies and rechanged or modified libs, modules are "ported" or recreated to GC2 phones, FC problems are literary problem for custom stock roms.
That is the primary deal this types of phones won't stand stable support and updates.
The major problem is that some apps are not generic ( from stock rom ) so they are different and made specialy for this type of model.
API's should work fine and they are carefully indexed, just like apps, but frameworks are not fully compatible or they are partialy ported/recreated/changed to this type of model. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't know how to say it right.
Regards
android 10 seems to be in testing by samsung for our Tab S6 LTE (T865)
http://fota-cloud-dn.ospserver.net/firmware/DBT/SM-T865/version.test.xml
I read, it should be out in next spring ... .
m.
I hope earlier... Maybe some beta one ui 2. Tab s6 is only newest snapdragon Samsung which is not updated yet
... I hope so too but as you know hope dies last
m.
Chances are so slim, of course
Good to know thank you. I'm still pretty happy with android 9. I received android 10 on my note 10 plus and honestly it's not a big jump for me.
ivanox1972 said:
Chances are so slim, of course
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the S10 series got it 2-3 months earlier than the roadmap, the S9/Note9 is getting it now, instead of the projected April 2020 release, so one would guess Samsung will also release it for the S6 earlier as well. Given how it's the current flagship tablet and all.
I think, earliest possible is March
aznmode said:
Good to know thank you. I'm still pretty happy with android 9. I received android 10 on my note 10 plus and honestly it's not a big jump for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also already have 10 on my pixel 3xl and to be honest I just turn on night mode on my S6 and it feels the same.
The only feature I really looked forward to was dark mode.
I'm hoping for a better DeX mode. Current works, but some apps are iffy, and some functionality is missing:
- always on top windows
- a more organised apps screen
- Improved taskbar with less clutter (gesture navigation should help with that)
- resizable handwriting keyboard
I hope for vibration settings, like on the phones. They are pretty limited on our tab s6. And rotation of the volume buttons with the screen orientation like in my old tab s. There are a lot of details that are not very nice on our flagship
m.
Don't forget about the boot animation that is shown in portrait mode.
A lot of little annoyances unfortunately.
Yep, exactly! Not really made with love the software
m.
fonix232 said:
I'm hoping for a better DeX mode. Current works, but some apps are iffy, and some functionality is missing:
- always on top windows
- a more organised apps screen
- Improved taskbar with less clutter (gesture navigation should help with that)
- resizable handwriting keyboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll add to that:
- using the keyboard to launch apps is a mess. Needs revamping.
- Mousing is bad. Outside of DeX [middle-click] = [home] and [right-click] = [back]. This is so stupid that even if by some stroke of awful luck someone actually got used to it Samsung turns it off in DeX because of course [right-click] should trigger context menus!! But, DeX handles [middle-click] in a way that prevents apps from understanding it. So it doesn't send [home] anymore but it just doesn't work either. If you wonder what apps use middle-click try a mouse with Chrome on any Pixel device. It works like it does on PC. Let's mention scrolling. The mouse wheel can only scroll in-focus apps in DeX. Like old school Windows. The OEM trackpad can scroll background apps because someone at Samsung apparently tested that. Free windows in AOSP Android since v8 scroll background windows fine, just DeX has this problem.
- Keyboard nav isn't great and I don't mean the OEM hardware. I have so far noticed the [ESC] key appears to send [back] instead of [ESC] and that's a no-go for some work loads and just breaks the paradigm for no good reason.
-My 10+ in screen really needs the notification shade centered and consuming 6 in of width?
I am used to a Pixel C and before that a Nexus 10. Neither had DeX mode and neither had an S-Pen but both tablets knew how a friggin mouse works. Both tablets knew what the [ESC] key is for. Both could be made to feel like large screen landscape tablets. Both had serious flaws but I didn't think input devices would be a problem for the Tab S6. Realize the OEM trackpad doesn't allow right clicking outside of DeX because it would send the [back] command every time someone tapped with 2 fingers! This thing feels more cobbled together every time I use it (and I am a long time Android tablet user haha).
I'm annoyed and it's because I want this to be better and it feels close like it was rushed or something and could have been better.
Hello Guys, any chance someone would like to make a cover screen app/widget for cycling. Honestly, a huge 6"+ phone on a handle bar looks kinda stupid to me. I know I could use the cover screen tool but a dedicated widget would make more sense. I would definitely pay for that kind of widget.
When I ride I usually use the cover screen launcher from goodlock and I use that to launch whatever app I need in the moment. TBH you shouldn't be worrying about that stuff while riding, pay attention to the road/trail and be safe brotha
I don't think your idea is workable - first there are 3 ways to use the cover screen:
1) Samsung's proprietary cover screen/widgets - there are no 3rd party widgets available, by design
2) SamSprung - it's a launcher, I don't believe it allows widgets. You can run apps, and they often run OK
3) CoverScreen OS - you can add widgets to your cover screen.
However, you then have the screen timeout issue, CoverScreenOS allows you to go up to 30 seconds iirc. I'm not sure about SamSprung, but there is abundant documentation on the thread in this forum.
All the same, when on a bike I personally would appreciate using all the screen with a standard cycling app. And with the Flip3, I am not sure about all the vibrations and that folding mechanism. (just as an aside, iPhones' cameras break - the optical stabilization - if you use them on motorbikes at least!)
I wanted to use my phone on my motorbike, and I ended up using an old candybar phone on my bike, tethered to the Flip3 in my pocket
paul c said:
I don't think your idea is workable - first there are 3 ways to use the cover screen:
1) Samsung's proprietary cover screen/widgets - there are no 3rd party widgets available, by design
2) SamSprung - it's a launcher, I don't believe it allows widgets. You can run apps, and they often run OK
3) CoverScreen OS - you can add widgets to your cover screen.
However, you then have the screen timeout issue, CoverScreenOS allows you to go up to 30 seconds iirc. I'm not sure about SamSprung, but there is abundant documentation on the thread in this forum.
All the same, when on a bike I personally would appreciate using all the screen with a standard cycling app. And with the Flip3, I am not sure about all the vibrations and that folding mechanism. (just as an aside, iPhones' cameras break - the optical stabilization - if you use them on motorbikes at least!)
I wanted to use my phone on my motorbike, and I ended up using an old candybar phone on my bike, tethered to the Flip3 in my pocket
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SamSprung allows widgets and will start on the last used one when leaving off there. It also has custom screen timeout from the default 3 seconds up to 60 seconds.
That said, only the stock widgets are really designed for the screen space and even those are questionable when riding.