[REQ]Car friendly UI - Android Apps and Games

I am thinking of installing an Android tablet into my car as a carpc. Android is not very vehicle (minimal attention) friendly so an app maybe a home screen type application could solve this.
I have an idea of what it could look like nothing to complex. I attached a mock up. The buttons on the right can be bigger or more of them and can be customizable (auto call text playlist) the volume on the right could be a stage up down (more clicks the louder long press for mute) or slider whichever. Perhaps digital OBD II gauges could be added as well if screen size is big enough.
Haptic feed back and definitive clicks sounds should be optional so you know you have hit a key.
The wall paper behind everything should be customizable maybe visualizer or album art users choice.
I think simple gesture could be implemented as well slide for new song up or down for voice activities (voice search or vlingo) I'd have no idea what to do on the programing side, but I could learn and help.
Any ideas or volunteers leave a comment if this is done I'll delete but I could not see such an app not that I knew what to search for. this could be quite popular in the CarPC forums if it has not been done before. Market wise ad supported with a one time payment pro version (2-5$) would probably have best sales. (I just want the app take the idea nothing expected here, except maybe I get it free ;-). I'll help test)

bump it up

Android Car Dock available in 2.2+
Its a stock app

Not quite what I'm looking for all that is is short cuts to non mobile friendly apps. It also doesn't look as seamless as a single solution would.

Try Desktop Visulizer, it can create as big icons as you want, selecting custom images.

A new home screen and widgets seem to be the best choice at this point. "Where I'm at" widget is great for the maps part and a volume up down widget works great for volume. I haven't found a reliable media mute widget tho. Just about any music player has a mobile friendly widget.
A voice command app that pauses music correctly would really help though lol.

I'm interested send me a pm with more info and ill look into it
Sent from my HTC Hero CDMA using Tapatalk

it is possible to have a map view in the middle of the application but not a navigation view as it is not documented by the api and simple odb2 data is easy its just serial data but not being able to ingrate navigation posses a problem

I was talking to the developer of "Where I'm At" and he said he would look into it. Could an alternative GPS app be used or even a 2x1 widget with next turn direction. Sounds like the best bet would be a new app with everything built in already. That would take away from customization of different music apps unless an option was coded in.

jjcd51590 said:
I was talking to the developer of "Where I'm At" and he said he would look into it. Could an alternative GPS app be used or even a 2x1 widget with next turn direction. Sounds like the best bet would be a new app with everything built in already. That would take away from customization of different music apps unless an option was coded in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only if it was open source because most navigation apps are paid and it is against the terms of service to use
Sent from my HTC Hero CDMA using Tapatalk

Related

au courant ideas for upcomming builds

post em'. new ideas guys, let me hear it..
I've been rather inactive on the forums lately (life is catching up with me ), and reading through a hundred extra pages doesn't seem logically fathomable for me to do.
A contacts app that matches the dialer app on the H build would be nice. But as far as usefull i cant think of anything right now.
The ability to shoot lasers.
well i upgraded myself from touchpro to g1 and one thing that i really miss is Flash player support and equalizers in music player.
guys pls do them. and i think that my voice will be echoed by many.
hoping that we will beat iphone iconic status one day as this plateform as enormous poential
thanks
I would really like widgets ...Weather Stocks...and such
any feature we want? how about if we tap the edge of the screen, a little virticle bar comes up on the side of the screen where we can control volume, and maybe on the other side of the screen, a bar to adjust the brightness. would be convenient, but there are volume buttons on the side of the phone lol, but still, some apps don't change the appropriate volume.
how about a seem edit to make the phone a little louder? i'm sure that it can get much louder. i dont know how throughly you can edit these builds.
will add stuff later.
Multitouch!
I second that.... multi-touch, at least in browser, hopefully in maps as well.
Umm H build is perfect lol, but umm adding the multitouch code to the browser wont hurt.
ankjain said:
well i upgraded myself from touchpro to g1 and one thing that i really miss is Flash player support and equalizers in music player.
guys pls do them. and i think that my voice will be echoed by many.
hoping that we will beat iphone iconic status one day as this plateform as enormous poential
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THIS IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN UNTIL ADOBE RELEASES SOMETHING. I don't think haykuro is offering to make new programs for you. Don't be stupid. He's asking you what he can do to the builds to make them better. For an example, like somebody mentioned a GOOD IDEA and SOMETHING HE CAN DO: MULTITOUCH. Because he can modify a few files and somebody has already done it in a previous build, thus he can do it in this build. Correct me if I'm wrong. My heck people, enough whining for things like Flash Players. Don't you think that if it was so easy to do, it would have been done before? Haven't you morons figured out that having a GOOGLE phone, you could simply use GOOGLE for searching? Wow, that's a crazy idea, right? Using Google? Half you numbskulls could find what you're actually complaining about if you used it.
If you loved your HTC Pro blah blah blah whatever the crap it was, use that phone and stop complaining and asking for things that aren't going to happen until Adobe comes out with it. Go bug Adobe for it. Or Google. No developer is going to do it for you.
use the HTC VK as the default
focus on fixing the background noise during calls
multitouch would be awesome
i will update with more later...
@ankjain
Boy... I would like Flash too... lets hope Adobe pulls through with it's promise
this is a for fix for an issue I have not found elsewhere.
I have noticed with Bluetooth enabled listening to my A2DP headset (Plantronics A590)although the buttons on the headset work, they automatically start up the default music app when pressed... even if I am using another app.... So currently I am forced to use either the default music app, or use the controls on the phone not the headset.
Some sort of built in setting (like in open home or DXtop) to be able to select from multiple themes and icon sets and the ability to hide them in the drawer like open home.
an app switcher that can be re-located to the bar like in the app bar-control or can be used with a button combo.
Thanks for all of your hard work, I am very satisfied being able to use build currently... fixes are always welcome and improvements are a bonus
Bring back some how the
"Myfavs"
Zoom on browser
More widgets.
try fixing the quality of the pictures displayed when receiving a call... they are very pixelated

What are your favorite widgets?

Let me apologize in advance for this first post in this thread, I didn't want to create a bunch of separate threads for my opinion and experience with the G Tablet, and I didn't want a bunch of threads about my uses for the tablet and the apps I use. So instead, I'll first ask the original topic and then I'll give you some information about how I use the tablet and the widgets/apps/etc. that I use. Hopefully someone from Google will find this insightful, because I think my setup could be a great generic "spring board" for anyone who wanted to use this tablet for taking notes on images, and personalize it to their needs.
What are your favorite widgets?
Does anyone know of some widgets that do the following (screenshots are greatly appreciated as well!):
- I wouldn't mind a news reader that displayed more than just the first line of the news article and/or title. Currently I am using Express News, but it only does one line... it's better than the others I've tested, but it doesn't even automatically scroll the news. You have to tap left/right to make it change.
- Is there some weather widget that perhaps does 5 or 7 day forecasts ? I'm using Fancy Widgets right now, it says the temperature, the high and low, and the time. I dont really need the time, not a big deal since it already says it on the top right.
- I wouldn't mind a task management widget, a decent sized one would be nice.
Some other thoughts:
With the new G Tablet I got yesterday, I've quickly discovered the screen is quite HUGE (obviously). I have a Evo 4G, rooted since the day I got it, and I've got some favorite apps. But being a tablet, it has some different purposes that it works better at, than a phone.
For instance, as a bathroom reader, the tablet works great. The phone is kind of small, hard to read a lot at a time, constant scrolling, etc. The tablet also makes playing games like Slice It, a lot more fun.
I'm a web developer and manager of a small team, so sometimes it's nice to be able to take screenshots of a site we're working on and add arrows and notes to it - the best solution I've found that lets you load images and write on them and save it, is called "Pocket Sketchbook Pro" - and it switches to landscape mode automatically THANK GOD! Honestly, one of the main reasons I bought a tablet is because I wanted to be able to sketch things on a "near" paper sized display, and then immediately share it via Bluetooth to my computer or Email it or print it. My printer is a HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus, my point in telling you that is because it has its own email address. If I email my printer, it will print the email & attachment I send it. Very useful when I'm out with a client and I want to print off my notes or mockups, etc. so that I have it waiting for me when I get back.
Forgot to mention that I'm using Toshiba Home Launcher, on my phone I use LauncherPro (paid version) and I love both. They've both got their benefits, Toshiba Launcher is just amazing on a tablet. Vegan 5.1 Beta.
One of my few complaints (other than many apps not switching to landscape mode..) is that when I'm holding the tablet in portrait mode, sometimes my screen will turn off. I guess the power button is receiving enough weight/pressure on it that it's going off. And then sometimes it will reboot on me when I go to wake it up! How annoying is that?! I know that I could just switch the tablet upside down.. but I should be able to hold it any way I want.
Oh, and the Rain-X idea was great. Definitely fewer finger prints and my fingers seem to glide across the screen now.
Also, Multi Picture Live Wallpaper is great.. I was getting tired of seeing the scrunched/weirdly resized wallpapers!
Lastly, Dolphin HD with a few addons = awesome. Web2PDF so I can email the PDF to my printer, Screen cropper which lets me save as an image so I can write notes on it with Pocket Sketchbook Pro, and the Blue Theme make it really awesome.
Weather Widget
Weather forecast widget is free, but the text is too crumped together and the 4x1 just doesn't look right.
Then I tried "weather widgets", but it kind of sucked.
Then I found out that Fancy Widget has a Pro version which does what I need for $1.99 - works great.
Task Widget
Taskos looked very promising, as it syncs with Google Tasks and offers a 4x4 widget on the home screen - something I was excited about. What killed my excitement was placing the widget on my home screen and finding out that - yeah it's 4x4 alright, with only 2x2 actually having any freaking content!! The rest of it was black! On the phone it looks correct, so this is definitely a tablet issue. That sucks hard.
So finally I found one that actually works, it's called Ultimate To-Do List, the licensed version is $5 and it syncs with ToodleDo which costs $14.95/yr and up (if you require subtasks like me).
I haven't done any digging yet on a good news widget. With almost 100 page views I'm surprised nobody has any widgets they recommend
Scrollable news widget and a home launcher that allows you to change the number of rows and columns on your screen. I have mine set to 10 columns and 7 rows and I can make my news widget as large as I want and it will fill the Widgets space
Oh and springpad is one of the best to do lists ever with a very nice expandable widget as well
kpowr82 said:
Scrollable news widget and a home launcher that allows you to change the number of rows and columns on your screen. I have mine set to 10 columns and 7 rows and I can make my news widget as large as I want and it will fill the Widgets space
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LauncherPro lets you set your own # col/row and you can drag widgets to resize them on the screen, but I like the Toshiba launcher more because of the nice scrollable application list and they way they cleaned it up and put it at the bottom even though it's landscape mode - I love it. I can live with the defined # of cols/rows and screens, thats not a big deal. I know I'm limiting myself to just the widgets that exist that can take advantage of the tablet's size, but there has to be SOMETHING out there by now, right?
kpowr82 said:
Oh and springpad is one of the best to do lists ever with a very nice expandable widget as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I will check that out, thanks
For weather related Widgets I recommend this app:
Palmary weather app. Tried to paste the appbrain link here but my GTab wont let me!

[Q] Notification Music Widget

Is there anything available that can put in a music widget (play/pause next and song title/artist) that can go in the notification area?
I know there are a handful of Power Control widgets that have been able to be put in the notification but I'm looking for a way to change/pause songs without having to always leave the app (browser/certain games/ etc.) that I am currently using.
I have a fully rooted HTC Evo with Fresh Evo 3.5.0.1 (but i change roms often as I am trying to find one that fits my needs best) If a music widget can be put in the notification area that would be great!
-Sorry if this has been developed already, I've been searching for a while and cant find it anywhere thank you to all who help out I'm kind of new to this scene.
I am curious to know if others find this useful and will add a poll to this to hopefully see if it's something people want.
try MixZing
http://androidcommunity.com/app/showlink.php?l=8&catid=searchresults&searchid=10570
Not Quite
Nice app, but not what I'm looking for, what i want specifically is in the *Notification* area, I'm looking for play/pause and next song buttons for when I pull down the notification bar, so I don's have to leave the browser just to change songs or pause.
I'm not sure what phone you have but CM7 has this
Touchwiz builtin music player has one, but I don't know if it has been ported to other devices.
Nope it has not been ported.. :c
btw touchwiz has the best music player for android right now
**** Samsung and their strong framework thingys D:!

Theme or ROM?

So I'm curious about looks vs. functionality
Each one of my little drawings here satisfy both.
First off, I apologize for being a retard and using cam scanner to make these images sideways (although they were right side up originally).
Seeing as I can't attach images directly from my phone onto this site, I had to email them to myself, download them and then re attach.
Also another retard thing, I made a home button (app) thing on both of them even though there is a physical one on the phone itself.
Have a look
Also clarify with me which is which (theme or ROM).
How hard is it to design/engineer this and actually have everything function properly?
Theme/ROM 1
Them/ROM
it looks like you want to pull the whole status bar to the bottom of your phone. i didnt think you could just move that stuff around. a Dev would would be able to give u a yes or no.
im leaning more towards a theme than a Rom. but you can only theme what the Rom has. and NO rom has that, that i know of. so its like a combination of both.
Those drawings appear to be a significant layout overhaul, a la Sense and Touchwiz
It would either be:
1) a full-blown ROM
2) A replacement for a number of system apps (but could be an add-on), at the very least the launcher and probably the lockscreen
More than just basic theming, that's for sure.
Well it certainly gives the phone a neater, "in my opinion more efficient" functionality.
The one with the radial app dial, that spins, (you guys probably could tell that already) can fit either 7 or 8 apps.
When you press the home button the phone app automatically aligns directly above the said home button (non physical assuming there are 7 apps not 8).
The apps that go on the radial thing-a-ma-jig are your primary apps.
However since that non-physical home button is not needed, then the phone would be in the center or perhaps you'd like the browser.
In any case whichever app you use most extensively (ie #1).
I certainly cannot do any of the ROM creating but I was hoping to spark interest with the ones who are able to do so with ease.
The one with the triangle side bars (next image) these have 1-3 icons on them, when you tap that icon the first time a box will come up over lapping everything else in the background (or with slight opacity) and that gives you more detail rather than just an icon.
I think it would be neat as hell if this was done.
So is it like, theme = aesthetics ; rom = function
In this case I'd like to do both.
Also the capability to assign any app in that 7-8 slot (radial) would also be nice.
Perhaps done through the command prompt.
This is a feature I picked up from a blackberry (ability to assign any icon to a specific design/theme).
Thanks for the interest, I'm going to try and fix the orientation.
Some of what you're looking to do (the home-dial concept) may be doable without any ROM development at all - after all, plenty of launchers are installable as apps and what you're describing there is a launcher concept.
Notification bar moving could be a lot harder though.
FYI I'm a kernel guy not an app developer, so I can't help you much other than say that I'm fairly certain one of the features you want to implement can be done as a launcher app for any ROM.
Alright alright, we're sifting through sonething here.
I have very little knowledge od 'kernel' 'launchable' 'rom' as far as developing them goes. Are there tutorials ? (search bar probably)
Thanks for your contributions
What about color (borders keys etc)
Nice drawings man
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
Hey thanks DevilDogAK
It's one thing to draw the idea by hand but to actually create it with code...
That's where the tires hit the road one might say.
I need to do some reading to get an idea of what I have to accomplish.
Thanks for the interest, as always it starts with a dream
I'll let you guys know whats up when I actually get to the point of dev
But team work goes a long way (hint hint hint)
sweet... great concept imo, & hey, cyanogen started with just a concept. wish i knew more to help you out, but we're with you in spirit nice drawings too lol
from Sams inFuse... inFused GB
About the launcher comment, does having two mean more computing power needed to run the first and second launcher or can I just do one primary launcher?
If I can just move things around, what about putting some notification components under the wheel? Components such as the wifi toggle and the data image or perhaps the data and battery.
Anyone smart enough to do that probably isn't dicking around on XDA. You never know though.
Well... I'm here
Haha just kidding, I do wish somebody with some experience knowledge (ie developer of Serendipity etc... ) a man can dream... a man can dream.

[Q] graphical task switcher

Hey,
Looking for the good visual/graphical task switcher on the Note.
In IOS as used to have "Mutiflow" that was very good, but i cannot find any decent one on Android.
An advice ?
stylobic said:
Hey,
Looking for the good visual/graphical task switcher on the Note.
In IOS as used to have "Mutiflow" that was very good, but i cannot find any decent one on Android.
An advice ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Swipepad.
Really awesome. Its free but for the addons u have to pay.
This one worked perfect in sgsII and my dell streak.
However in note u have to take a little more effort to initialize the app. i.e u have to swipe real carefully. U will understand it once u install it.
Another one is taskchanger pro.... Lots of good reviews ,
Easy to initialise the app but however did not work well for me in note. I had some glitches like app , restarts and looses settings and so on.
Try swipepad first .
visual task switcher doesnt seem to work on the note since it doesnt support 2.3.
but smart task switcher works well enough. not as pretty as visual task switcher but it does the job.
Swipepad looks interesting and I will check it out.
For some time now (both on my previous phone and now on the Note) I've been using Perfect Task Switcher and am pretty much happy with it.
I checked swipepad, it's nice, but it's mainly a laucher...the task switcher is an paid option, unfortunately.
edit: Task Switcher wouldbe Perfect if we could assign the double press to home button to lauch the switcher
Well, i tryed a few apps for task switching, and i don't find nothing comparable to my IPhone. So, i can stick to a non graphical app.
in addition, I cannot find one lauched with double press home button.
any help ? because i already regret Ios, despite the small screen
stylobic said:
Well, i tryed a few apps for task switching, and i don't find nothing comparable to my IPhone. So, i can stick to a non graphical app.
in addition, I cannot find one lauched with double press home button.
any help ? because i already regret Ios, despite the small screen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i dont think you'll be able to find one. i may be wrong, but iirc, double press home button is reserved by android. you cant really override it with software options. on my old atrix, i would just map the task switcher to the search button, but the note doesnt have the search button.
First of all - long home press = inbuilt task switcher. It's probably obvious but it took me a week and the manual to find that out, so chances are some people still don't know it.
For my own purposes I use Wave Launcher with recents on - this way I always have the access to all my most important apps + drawer + few last ones and this is spot on for me and works ALWAYS - no matter what app is in the foreground I naver had a problem of not being able to access Wave Launcher. I have been using PowerStrip for a long time for the same purposes but Wave is more natural.
The big advantage is the ability to access widgets this way - great if you need to for example change the screen brightness with SwitchPro while playing a full screen 3D game that hides the taskbar (so you can't use taskbar power controls). It works fine, apps don't crash.
I don't remember coming across any app similar to Multiflow but I must admit I was never looking for one because for me it beats the purpose - multitasking is all about efficiency, I need one gesture to access what I want. Double home + swipe + tap is too much work
Give it some time, it takes a while to find a perfect combination of apps to get that smooth user experience. I bet it took you a bit with iOS too.
pjm77 said:
First of all - long home press = inbuilt task switcher. It's probably obvious but it took me a week and the manual to find that out, so chances are some people still don't know it.
For my own purposes I use Wave Launcher with recents on - this way I always have the access to all my most important apps + drawer + few last ones and this is spot on for me and works ALWAYS - no matter what app is in the foreground I naver had a problem of not being able to access Wave Launcher. I have been using PowerStrip for a long time for the same purposes but Wave is more natural.
The big advantage is the ability to access widgets this way - great if you need to for example change the screen brightness with SwitchPro while playing a full screen 3D game that hides the taskbar (so you can't use taskbar power controls). It works fine, apps don't crash.
I don't remember coming across any app similar to Multiflow but I must admit I was never looking for one because for me it beats the purpose - multitasking is all about efficiency, I need one gesture to access what I want. Double home + swipe + tap is too much work
Give it some time, it takes a while to find a perfect combination of apps to get that smooth user experience. I bet it took you a bit with iOS too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
long press home shows you your recent task list. it doesnt tell you which ones are still running. you'd have to go into the task manager for that.
and task switchers like smart task switcher show you what apps, background apps and processes are running as well and give you a quicker way to close them.
while it might not seem useful to some people, i found it quite useful on my motorola atrix since it would allow me to free up more ram before multitasking. i find that my galaxy note with touchwiz doesnt manage the ram as efficiently, so if i dont free up some ram, it will close some of my active apps to free up ram for the game or browser or app in the foreground.
Ur right. But I was under the impression that the author of this thread was looking for an easy way to multitask rather than to know what is running or not or easy way of closing it. I might be wrong, it's not 100% clear.
yeah I could be more clear because you may not know Multiflow on IOS.
It takes over original multitasking (which is not real multitasking by the way) and lets you leave running in background some apps that you can recall easily by selecting the thumbnail in an additional graphic viewer.
I don't really need a similar design, but i need to open and leave some apps running, and switch between them.
Assigning to long/double press home button would be great !
swipepad could be ok because of the swipe action to open it, but the switching function is a paid option that i cannot try before, so i will not buy.
stylobic said:
...
I don't really need a similar design, but i need to open and leave some apps running, and switch between them.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's pretty much that Perfect Task Switcher enables you to do. Except that it's not bound to long home press, but just a single press.
So, here's how it works:
- when you install it you can configure in its settings (via the small gear icon that appears when it opens up) which is your preferred launcher;
- when you double-press the home button you jump to your home screen.
- when you single-press the home button the task switcher displays (in an overlay of whatever you are in at the moment) a graphical list of you currently running apps - you can switch between applications in this way.
hi 111bits
I tryed it already, but I don't get the same results as you.
I cannot make appear home screen by double click. nothing happens.
Then fo r the same effect, i have to click once, and touch home icon to do this.
why this double click dosn't work ???
And by the way, i have no preview in the multitask windows...

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