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As an Android nut and graphic/industrial/UI designer I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and just had to get it off my chest. Here goes:
UI styling should be about the content, not the interface. Glossy elements just distract from their actual content. There should be a move away from what Apple does with iOS (emulating analogue elements digitally) towards what Microsoft did with WP7. WP7 showed that you can have an interface without any sort of shininess/gradient or analogue elements and still have it be completely usable and beautiful at the same time.
But what I'm really interested in is the future of Android. Gingerbread was a great step ahead in terms of UI styling. But I wonder what we will see when Sense UI, Motoblur, TouchWiz etc. are updated to 2.3? Sense is notorious for faux glossiness and TouchWiz is notorious for being plain ugly. Will WP7 and Gingerbread help these companies realize that the trend is moving away from iOS-eque styling and towards WP7-esque styling? Or will they continue to blindly copy iOS and ignore Google's attempts to beautify Android? My guess is that they will eventually catch on, but it might take a while. Perhaps if WP7 takes off and commands a decent market share these companies will take notice. We've already seen previews of Sony Ericsson's 2.3 TimeScape skin and LG's 2.3 whatever-it's-called skin and they both appear to have abandoned Gingerbread's gradient-less notifications bar and title bar and replaced them with gradients. Too bad.
Also, what will Honeycomb bring? We've now seen previews of the tablet version, and I can see many 2.3 styling cues in 3.0. One thing I noticed though is that it uses blue as the 'accent color'. Gingerbread strongly reinforced orange as Android's accent color so I wonder why they would change this. What I'm hoping is that the accent color can be changed- it's certainly plausible, as the accent color seems to play a huge part in the Honeycomb previews I've seen. Or perhaps phones will remain orange and tablets will be blue? It seems like a strange differentiation.
Hints at UI change in the phone-version of Honeycomb include new text-entry fields (looks like the Android keyboard spacebar symbol but stretched), a new look and swiping interaction for tabs within apps (seen in the leaked Music 3.0 app, the 2.1 News and Weather app and the new YouTube app), and like I mentioned, color accents everywhere. Videos of Honeycomb show pop-ups, scroll bars, loading rings/bars and menus featuring the glowing blue accent.
What I'm wondering about is this 'UI overhaul' that everyone is talking about. Is it going to be mostly visual like the stuff I mentioned above or is it going to completely change the UI paradigms of Android? I think a huge change in UI akin to the WM6.5 > WP7 transition would alienate a lot of users and break a lot of apps. Therefore I'm thinking 3.0 is going to be a few tweaks to the interaction part of the UI, but a huge change to the visuals. I predict they will update almost all of the core apps to match the graphics we are seeing in 2.3 and 3.0, to finally put to rest those complaints that Android looks 'hacked together'. The changes in 2.3 were probably a catalyst, to get developers thinking in this new design language. Google needs a name for it, just like WP7 'Metro'. After all it's up to the developers to make apps that match this style.
I'm a Nexus fan and would never buy a phone without stock Android so maybe this is just me dreaming of an end to carrier/manufacturer skins, but what do you think?
As long as it have the look and feel of ADW.Launcher. It can have what ever UI.
chrizzled said:
As an Android nut and graphic/industrial/UI designer I've been thinking a lot about this recently, and just had to get it off my chest. Here goes:
UI styling should be about the content, not the interface. Glossy elements just distract from their actual content. There should be a move away from what Apple does with iOS (emulating analogue elements digitally) towards what Microsoft did with WP7. WP7 showed that you can have an interface without any sort of shininess/gradient or analogue elements and still have it be completely usable and beautiful at the same time.
But what I'm really interested in is the future of Android. Gingerbread was a great step ahead in terms of UI styling. But I wonder what we will see when Sense UI, Motoblur, TouchWiz etc. are updated to 2.3? Sense is notorious for faux glossiness and TouchWiz is notorious for being plain ugly. Will WP7 and Gingerbread help these companies realize that the trend is moving away from iOS-eque styling and towards WP7-esque styling? Or will they continue to blindly copy iOS and ignore Google's attempts to beautify Android? My guess is that they will eventually catch on, but it might take a while. Perhaps if WP7 takes off and commands a decent market share these companies will take notice. We've already seen previews of Sony Ericsson's 2.3 TimeScape skin and LG's 2.3 whatever-it's-called skin and they both appear to have abandoned Gingerbread's gradient-less notifications bar and title bar and replaced them with gradients. Too bad.
Also, what will Honeycomb bring? We've now seen previews of the tablet version, and I can see many 2.3 styling cues in 3.0. One thing I noticed though is that it uses blue as the 'accent color'. Gingerbread strongly reinforced orange as Android's accent color so I wonder why they would change this. What I'm hoping is that the accent color can be changed- it's certainly plausible, as the accent color seems to play a huge part in the Honeycomb previews I've seen. Or perhaps phones will remain orange and tablets will be blue? It seems like a strange differentiation.
Hints at UI change in the phone-version of Honeycomb include new text-entry fields (looks like the Android keyboard spacebar symbol but stretched), a new look and swiping interaction for tabs within apps (seen in the leaked Music 3.0 app, the 2.1 News and Weather app and the new YouTube app), and like I mentioned, color accents everywhere. Videos of Honeycomb show pop-ups, scroll bars, loading rings/bars and menus featuring the glowing blue accent.
What I'm wondering about is this 'UI overhaul' that everyone is talking about. Is it going to be mostly visual like the stuff I mentioned above or is it going to completely change the UI paradigms of Android? I think a huge change in UI akin to the WM6.5 > WP7 transition would alienate a lot of users and break a lot of apps. Therefore I'm thinking 3.0 is going to be a few tweaks to the interaction part of the UI, but a huge change to the visuals. I predict they will update almost all of the core apps to match the graphics we are seeing in 2.3 and 3.0, to finally put to rest those complaints that Android looks 'hacked together'. The changes in 2.3 were probably a catalyst, to get developers thinking in this new design language. Google needs a name for it, just like WP7 'Metro'. After all it's up to the developers to make apps that match this style.
I'm a Nexus fan and would never buy a phone without stock Android so maybe this is just me dreaming of an end to carrier/manufacturer skins, but what do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just my two cents here but.... I don't get everyone saying android has no polish. I love my Nexus One, I love stock (vanilla) android. I think Touchwiz is an abomination and said as much when that thread came out to put touchwiz on the N1. Sense is pretty but too bloated in my opinion. Don't get me started on Motoblur... I agree earlier versions of android needed work. >2.2 {in my opinion} Personally I think android is fine. (iOS IS pretty, but so what it's also got an evil ecosystem...) The tweaks done to
2.3 are nice but unnecessary (IMHO). I love the way Android looks.... Oh, and I heartily agree with your statement that "UI styling should be about content...."
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
If android could come up with a functional UI I might jump back aboard. Til they do WP7 is the only way to go.
Love the look of stock Android on my Nexus One. Love the new Gingerbread visual tweaks and look forward to the OTA.
HATE 3rd party U.I.
z33dev33l said:
If android could come up with a functional UI I might jump back aboard. Til they do WP7 is the only way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android HAS a perfectly functional UI. Thank you.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Babydoll25 said:
Android HAS a perfectly functional UI. Thank you.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to think so too... now it just seems laggy regardless of launcher...
z33dev33l said:
I used to think so too... now it just seems laggy regardless of launcher...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What lag? {unless ur using a SGS} I have never experienced this lag u speak of sir. My N1 flies I tell you, flies!!! (I have seen in Samsung's phones however...)
(That is why I don't buy them...)
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Babydoll25 said:
What lag? {unless ur using a SGS} I have never experienced this lag u speak of sir. My N1 flies I tell you, flies!!! (I have seen in Samsung's phones however...)
(That is why I don't buy them...)
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didnt notice it on my Nexus one til I got WP7, now I just gave the nexus to my brother... just seems slow and jumbled by comparison
im glad the orange accents are gone in honeycomb, the blue looks way better, also im glad the green icons didnt made the cut, i really hope this look becomes the standard for both the tablet and the smartphone versions of the os
Android is ok but can be boring....
Personally I love the idea to have more than 1 OS on your device, so you can easily change whenever you want
With Matias Duarte on board we should see some drastic changes in the UI in the upcoming versions.
Look at the Honeycomb on tablets, we're now not required to have physical buttons, virtual controls are there, the switch tasking panel now actually shows us the current snapshot of the appss in the background - awesome idea from WebOS if you ask me.
z33dev33l said:
Didnt notice it on my Nexus one til I got WP7, now I just gave the nexus to my brother... just seems slow and jumbled by comparison
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a phone addict and I try out almost every phone and OS that comes out. I still don't see what you are talking about, WP7 didn't feel any faster or more polished. It's got a new look and has some ooomph too it, but nothing that noticeable.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Babydoll25 said:
I'm a phone addict and I try out almost every phone and OS that comes out. I still don't see what you are talking about, WP7 didn't feel any faster or more polished. It's got a new look and has some ooomph too it, but nothing that noticeable.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As am I and I will still admit that the nexus one was the smoothest experience I recieved from an android phone. In all honesty I never thought I'd jump ship and I thought live tiles looked completely retarded. I didnt really think a GPU accelerated UI would mean anything but it did... its just smoother... virtually lag free and though I'm not trying to insult I dont see how you cant see the difference....
z33dev33l said:
As am I and I will still admit that the nexus one was the smoothest experience I recieved from an android phone. In all honesty I never thought I'd jump ship and I thought live tiles looked completely retarded. I didnt really think a GPU accelerated UI would mean anything but it did... its just smoother... virtually lag free and though I'm not trying to insult I dont see how you cant see the difference....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean don't get me wrong, live tiles rock (and roll) but maybe it's just my N1 {and Sparky's but I set his up so...}, but I didn't see an overwhelming difference even with the hardware acceleration. I guess it all boils down to (after a certain point) how you have your individual phone configured... I have not yet seen anything worthy of N1 abandonment...t least not yet.
Sent from my Llama powered N1 courtesy of the xda app! Llama Power!!
I thought my N1 was smooth until I tried a Nexus S... now I can't go back.
The Gingerbread stock launcher is silky smooth. WP7 smooth. The scrolling and 3D app drawer is much smoother than LauncherPro or ADW Launcher. Live Wallpapers do not affect performance at all. The new UI elements make android look much more refined. The screen-off animation and the scrolling overshoot glow are amazing. And that's just the UI...
Long live stock Android and Nexus devices!
UI of Android
- The current browser UI is driving me crazy! Especially the back operation could jump to another app is un-acceptable.
- We need to have a mechanism for something like a pop up app. For example, when reading, a quick pop-up to look up a word or access wikipedia. It just need to : select, open with selection. Since Android let all apps open, the user just go back to the last app to continue
- I agree that data is important. The contact is the central of a phone. It can be mail, phone, sms, im, photo, calendar, ... The owner is of-cause need to be part of the contact. And there should be able to browse, jump, classify contacts quickly. I would like to suggest allow tags. An extendable contact db will be very nice.
- Moreover, for tabalet, there should be multi-users, switching profiles, encrypt data, etc. the lock screen should allow change of user
- Please consider the actual usage of a phone or tabalet together with other devices. Android should be part of a bigger system instead of a single computer. Cross interaction with desktop, other tabalets, is a must: ssh should be a standard on every device. There should be neighbour or friends nodes (not people, but devices) that can registers long term or short. There should be a easy way to find the new ip or connection method(bt) for the device. a bluetooth message send to allow register the device and provide a instant connection is good. Porting synergy allow share keyboard, (mouse) and clipboard is good, but need to address the situation where mouse is missing. Send screen shot is useful too. exchange pic, contacts, calendar events, ....
- Make index a ready service, update of index can be done when charging. It can be a mode call sleep, which will do house keeping like : update indexing, clean up space, calculate statistics, exchange data with cloud. The phone would work but will be slow. User can understand that the phone go sleep a while to keep healthy. The index is very valuable : provide fast browsing for things, faster search, and support a multi-dimension browsing experiende.
- clipboard : with multi-history
- Please check lePhone : use of gesture instead of soft key.
- Fast switch between opened apps
- notice : allow user to block call, sms, ... to interrupt. There can be a priority and the user can set the current lock level, priority lower the lock level would not sound, visual or virbaton
- I am not very sure about this : there should be scene : like meeting, driving, atHome, atOffice, etc. which can be auto-detect by various sensers. But too smart a phone can also be troublesome.
allow two phones to compare the app list, find common contacts, temporary play a game with connection (like NDS download play), peer chat (group of devices), share camera, audio, borrow book
current desktop background is not good. Make it easier for user to dress up their phone.
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
Game Launcher
Hyperlapse
Motion panorama
Quick Call
Bye-Bye-App-drawer
New Edge UI
Always On Display
Motion Panorama.
too many to list. but I guess off the top of my head:
the display:
literally the best consumer display in the world with virtually perfect professional reference level color fidelity, paper-like clarity with no diagonal edge bias (due to innovative proprietary diamond subpixel arrangement), infinite contrast and eye punching brightness that maintains perfectly even saturation and contrast unlike with lcd. Moreover the Screen calibration feature allows for various color space standards which is a must-have for professional photography or graphic work. Extremely High sensitivity screen allows for gloved use. Only just enough bezel to allow for screen edge swiping with a case installed leaving the device as narrow as possible making it much more nimble for one handed use and a bit less pants pocket stretching. Always on display is great as it allows me to check the time, date and notifications without having to turn on my phone--far superior in so many ways to the old way of decoding the color and speed of the flashing led.
Samsung pay:
their proprietary technology allows the device to simulate a magnetic card swipe which works anywhere unlike android pay and apple pay which only work on certain terminals. It constantly amazes everyone.
IP68 water and dust proof:
As beautiful as the S7 is it is indeed a fingerprint magnet. This is a problem with many phones so stylishly slick but unlike other phones when the S7 loses its lustre you can simply rinse it off under the sink and polish it off with a bath towel--good as new.
Powered USB otg with support for so many add ons:
gaming controllers, midi keyboards, file storage, keyboards, mice. I was surprised to find that I can charge another device with my phone and even spin up and operate a USB hard disk without any need for additional power cables.
the camera:
so amazing I use it for augmented vision. Not only can I inspect from the distance whether that little spot on the wall is a fly or a spider without getting off my lazy ass but I can see and read things where it would otherwise be far too dim for my eyes to see without need for additional lighting. Oh yea, and it also takes amazing pictures in just two clicks. I never miss a shot because even in the rare times when I would I can rely on motion photo to reverse time and recapture the picture just how I wanted. The expanding library of camera modes just kick it over the edge of awesomeness. In real world use I tend to switch between auto, pro, rear selfie, slow motion, and gif maker. I use burst a lot too which is available whenever you press and hold the shoot button.
ui:
I've found split screen and pop up mode more and more useful for working with and between multiple apps. Web browsing and reading while streaming music or watching YouTube and/or chating just feels great. I use my laptop so little these days which is so much better for my posture. Text selection is also improved paired with the hypersensitive screen. You can rely on the precision of the tip of your thumbnail and not the blunt tip of your finger. The adjustable dpi hack gives you more work space immediately expanding the usefulness of large screen.
I haven't even begun to touch on so many other things but I can definitely go on if anyone wants me to.
This is by far the most satisfied I've ever been with a phone and I've been using smart phones since when they were called PDAs. I never thought I'd be so satisfied with a non rooted android device but I don't find myself missing anything except perhaps the stereo sound hack and the Xposed framework but with all the features I'm discovering and looking forward to the gear vr Im sure I'll find enough ways not to care.
I don't use any of the features you listed, but i'd say my favorite "features" are (no particular order)
-Double tap home for camera shortcut
-Theme engine
-Split screen
-triple tap home for one handed use
Best hardware features are easily the screen and the camera. Build quality is amazing, honestly feels better in the hand than metal IMO, and IP68 is just an awesome feature to have.
Samsung has activated Display scaling in the newest Galaxy S7 firmware, it gives the user greater control over how much information is packed onto the screen.
That one isn't hidden anymore. Nice!
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
jamesava said:
Samsung has activated Display scaling in the newest Galaxy S7 firmware, it gives the user greater control over how much information is packed onto the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how do you get to that setting?
konoplya said:
how do you get to that setting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the display menu if you received the last update, otherwise you have to download Nova Launcher and activate through a specific nova action (you can then uninstall Nova).
Steps to follow :
Step 1: Head on over to the Google Play Store and download Nova Launcher
Step 2: Launch Nova Launcher. There's no need to set it as a default.
Step 3: Do a long-press on the home screen and tap on Widgets.
Step 4: Look for the Activities widget and bring it to the home screen.
Step 5: Look for Settings and tap on .DisplayScalingActivity. This will create a shortcut on the home screen.
Step 6: Tap on the newly created shortcut. There you have it, the option to go either Standard or Condensed.
exploreresp said:
In the display menu if you received the last update, otherwise you have to download Nova Launcher and activate through a specific nova action (you can then uninstall Nova).
Steps to follow :
Step 1: Head on over to the Google Play Store and download Nova Launcher
Step 2: Launch Nova Launcher. There's no need to set it as a default.
Step 3: Do a long-press on the home screen and tap on Widgets.
Step 4: Look for the Activities widget and bring it to the home screen.
Step 5: Look for Settings and tap on .DisplayScalingActivity. This will create a shortcut on the home screen.
Step 6: Tap on the newly created shortcut. There you have it, the option to go either Standard or Condensed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the last update you're talking about is the one from T-Mobile? I have T-Mobile and I got one update from Samsung and one from T-Mobile.
Nop, it's a Sammy update that began to roll out a couple days ago fixing some side touching issues, photo stuff too and a lot of other things too
S7 here..Stock..TouchWiz Launcher..T-Mobile carrier
#1 Feature: Samsung Pay. When I saw my wife use her Note 5 to pay at WalMart, my MotoX Pure suddenly became obsolete.
#2. SD Card has returned. 32GB onboard isn't sufficient for me and now with 128GB extra, I'm content.
#3, Android 6.0.1. Battery Optimizations net me 20 total hours on battery with a 4-6 hour Screen On Time. Wow!
#4 Gear VR compatibility. I have the VR and it is stunning and so next-generation.
#5 Speaker is loud. While not idea for cranking up the tunes, it's perfect for voice calls and voicemail.
#6 SideSync and SmartSwitch. These two apps fill in the features that iTunes backup and Continuity brought to iOS.
#7 TouchWiz is scaled down enough to not get in the way of using the phone. Still packed with options, but it works right out of the box.
Hello guys,
As some of you may already know - Samsung announced their Galaxy Note 7 and it has an interesting power-saving feature. Namely, it can drop screen resolution from 1440x2560 to 720x1280 in order to save power. I'm curious if we can this thing on our Galaxy S7/Edge devices too. The main problem with simply doing that with root is that the system framework (and apps) are usually not suitable for DPI different than stock so Contacts, Camera etc etc etc get cut, badly aligned, misplaced... : ) Since Note 7 apparently has this function, this means that probably it's system apps + framework no longer suffer from such problems and can be used with a custom DPI too!
If my thoughts are correct - maybe we can get a feature like this on our devices (by porting the framework + system apps) and achieve this functionality?
Looks like they'll also need to disable whatever it is that reduces performance (in medium mode) and all network access (high mode). It's not just a resolution switch
.... Edit, I stand corrected - you can make your own preset
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk
ZeroCGTI said:
Hello guys,
As some of you may already know - Samsung announced their Galaxy Note 7 and it has an interesting power-saving feature. Namely, it can drop screen resolution from 1440x2560 to 720x1280 in order to save power. I'm curious if we can this thing on our Galaxy S7/Edge devices too. The main problem with simply doing that with root is that the system framework (and apps) are usually not suitable for DPI different than stock so Contacts, Camera etc etc etc get cut, badly aligned, misplaced... : ) Since Note 7 apparently has this function, this means that probably it's system apps + framework no longer suffer from such problems and can be used with a custom DPI too!
If my thoughts are correct - maybe we can get a feature like this on our devices (by porting the framework + system apps) and achieve this functionality?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd argue we'll get the exact same features once the Note 7 is officially released; officially from Samsung and unofficially via XDA.
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.