https://plus.google.com/+MarcKrenn/posts/eo6GWmCsrHk said:
(This is an open letter to the Android Design Team regarding the current state of the navigation bar. Long read ahead, you've been warned )
Dear Android Design Team,
I've always been a strong believer in Android's navigation concept and I'm confident it's a corner stone of Android's success. Sure, it might not be the most elegant or transparent solution ("What exactly will happen if I tap on the Back-button?"), but it just works perfectly 99% of the time and that's quite an achievement!
I personally see Android's Back- and Home-button as the ESC-button of the smartphone and tablet generation - even more than Apple's ever so awkward one-button-does-all-solution. Back and Home not only act as universal panic button and therefore reduces the user's fear of doing something wrong but they also make Android more consistent, easier to use across all the different apps (you don't have to search the app-dependent Back-button/solution - if there is one) and they reduces the user's cognitive load, freeing up their cognitive resources for more important tasks.
However, the way we access those wonderful functions - Back, Home and Recent Apps - is completely broken, for three main reasons:
1. Roughly speaking, it's always there when I don't need it, significantly reducing the active screen estate by 48dp, and when it's not there - for instance in fullscreen apps - I realize I'd need it. Yikes! Yes, it sounds paradoxical, but if you think about it, you come to the conclusion that the navigation bar probably doesn't belong on the screen.
Now, I know your reasoning behind the decision to scrap hardware navigation buttons altogether, but maybe the current visualization and placement of the navigation bar is just not optimal.
2. Talking about the placement of the navigation bar, it's probably the worst aspect about it's current implementation. Placing the bar on the bottom of the screen makes it nearly impossible to reach it without hassle - at least when navigating the phone with one hand, which should be considered the standard way of using a phone. At best, the over 90°-movement of your thumb looks and feels awkward, however for most people, especially younger and older ones, reaching the Back-button with their thumbs is just an impossible task. And the bad news don't stop here: The bigger the screen, the worse it gets, making 5"+ phone impossible to navigate with one hand, no matter how great your motor functions are.
I know, it isn't as aesthetically pleasing as the current implementation, but for the sake of ergonomics the current navigation bar should rather be located at the top of screen rather than at the bottom. And the order of the buttons should be altered: The Back-button, which is undeniable the most used one, should be the easiest to reach, so it should belong to the top right (for righties at least).
3. As mentioned above, the current Back-button doesn't provide any visual cues of what's going to happen next, when tapped. The user might ask himself:
"Will I go back within my current app, or will it send me back either to another app or my home screen?"
Since those cues are missing, people have to either remember their previous navigational history as a mental map (unnecessary cognitive load!) or they simply won't know what is going to happen if the tap the button, resulting in fear of doing something potentially wrong.
...
Here's my proposal
Okay, now let's stop criticizing the current implementation, since we all know it's easy to criticize but way harder to come up with better solutions. I tried my best though and came up with a different approach to navigating the Android OS. It's in a form of a video mockup and you can watch it enclosed to this post. Please read my annotations in this video.
I'm using this very kind of navigation - sans the visualization, of course - since I got my Nexus 4 over a year ago, using an app called GMD Gestures while hiding the navigation bar.
And well, it's a blast. It's way faster, ergonomic and simply better than any other current solution available right now - like, for instance the "pie navigation" implemented in some ROMs, which has some major interference with existing apps. I'd like to ask you to try it out yourself using GMD Gestures. After a day you won't go back to the standard navigation bar, I promise.
To wrap it up, here's a short list of pros and con of my proposal:
Pros:
+ coherently visualized, making it more graspable compared to other solutions
+ again, more ergonomic than the standard implementation
+ apps are always fullscreen and there's no need to swipe the navigation bar up when needed
+ 99% software based - only a tiny physical or visual cue must be added to the hardware itself to mark the start area of the gestures
+ conception-wise it integrates nicely into the idea of the beloved card-style apps like Google Now, G+,...
+ only very minor interference to current apps
+ adapts nicely to the various requirements of differently skilled users (see video annotations)
Con:
- small learning curve, like with all gestures, but you guys have never been too afraid of that, right?
...
It'd be really cool to hear back from you guys and pals just to let me know what you think. Thanks for reading and watching my stuff and I wish you
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,
Marc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Picked that one up on G+ and I think he might be on something. You may check out the comments here.
Amazing concept!!! I would love to see this implemented in a rom. The only problem is the learning curve for regular users.
Great!
Just great!! :good:
Learning curve too steep. This is good for "power users" but not for everyone.
Related
Hi guys
I am a software engineering student, eager xda reader and in my (little) free time i like to mess around with my android phone. So i developed a little game over the last half year. It's called Shape Rotate.
I wanted to do a simple but new game, not another flappy bird clone. So finally i put the first version online in the playstore yesterday, here is a short description:
In my game you always see two equal shapes, in random rotations. Your task is to rotate the outer shape so that it is equally aligned to the inner one - once they are aligned equally tap the screen anywhere to get the next one. That sounds easy, but since time is not on your side (you gain some extra time every time you get the two shapes aligned identically) it gets really tricky once the shapes are not that obvious any more. The goal is to survive as long as you can.
It would be really great if you check it out, i would really appreciate feedback (or, even better: positive reviews )
Here is the playstore link: Shape Rotate in google play
It is of course free (no in-app purchases or what-so-ever), and i plan to add a lot more different shapes in the future! I attached some screenshots of the app, and i also added a demo video in the playstore description.
Great game. Has great potential to be a time waster. There does seem to be some lag between the shape changes that can prematurely end your game. Get that timing down and you've hit a home run.
As for some suggestions to add. Maybe have levels to unlock similar to an angry birds setup. In level one hand similar shapes with minimal colors, next thing to unlock, add another shape or two with an additional color. Thus making each level progressively harder.
ph37rd said:
Great game. Has great potential to be a time waster. There does seem to be some lag between the shape changes that can prematurely end your game. Get that timing down and you've hit a home run.
As for some suggestions to add. Maybe have levels to unlock similar to an angry birds setup. In level one hand similar shapes with minimal colors, next thing to unlock, add another shape or two with an additional color. Thus making each level progressively harder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for your feedback! Regarding the lags, may i ask which device you are using?
I tested it on several devices from an I9000 to my Nexus 4. The only lag i found was that on older devices it takes some time to start the game, but once it displays the first shape i haven't found any lag :s
Yes i already thought about such a thing - creating different "shape packages" and unlocking them time after time. That is definitely a good suggestion for the future and i will soon start working on this. This now is just a first version where i wanted to check out how the game mechanics work and how people react to it.
Varjo said:
Thx for your feedback! Regarding the lags, may i ask which device you are using?
I tested it on several devices from an I9000 to my Nexus 4. The only lag i found was that on older devices it takes some time to start the game, but once it displays the first shape i haven't found any lag :s
Yes i already thought about such a thing - creating different "shape packages" and unlocking them time after time. That is definitely a good suggestion for the future and i will soon start working on this. This now is just a first version where i wanted to check out how the game mechanics work and how people react to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running on an N4 with KK 4.4.4 and hellscore b47, most kernel settings default.
To be sure I'm understood, I solve one shape and before the transition to the next set of shapes, there is a noticeable pause.
This is a good concept. There’s a lag also when rotating the outer shapes. Though this might be because of my slow samsung galaxy tab.
Overall, this is a good gameplay.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B48cqoutz8n3dDFnbTJvRm1XOVU/edit?usp=docslist_api
There should be an mp4 video to illustrate the lag.
Seems there may be an issue with the timer as well.
ph37rd said:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B48cqoutz8n3dDFnbTJvRm1XOVU/edit?usp=docslist_api
There should be an mp4 video to illustrate the lag.
Seems there may be an issue with the timer as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hm, well it could be that what you think is a lag is actually my poor description and/or implementation?
The playing mechanics should be: you rotate the outer shape so that it is correctly aligned. IF it is so, then you tap anywhere on the screen to "submit" it. if it is correct you get the next shapes.
(The reason why it cannot "auto submit" the moment it is correctly aligned is because then it would be trivial, you would just rotate it until it snaps in - thats why you need that extra "next shape please"-tap)
The possible rotation is actually split into 12 different angles, so there are 11 different angles with which shapes can appear.
The best way to control it is to drag with a finger on the border of the screen (or use two fingers as in normal rotation gestures). you have to drag the finger a bit until the shape snaps in to the next one.
so could it be that it's because i didn't explain the intended controls enough? If so, do you have any suggestions to improve that, or how to better explain the way to play it?
really really appreciating your feedback btw :good:
Varjo said:
hm, well it could be that what you think is a lag is actually my poor description and/or implementation?
The playing mechanics should be: you rotate the outer shape so that it is correctly aligned. IF it is so, then you tap anywhere on the screen to "submit" it. if it is correct you get the next shapes.
(The reason why it cannot "auto submit" the moment it is correctly aligned is because then it would be trivial, you would just rotate it until it snaps in - thats why you need that extra "next shape please"-tap)
The possible rotation is actually split into 12 different angles, so there are 11 different angles with which shapes can appear.
The best way to control it is to drag with a finger on the border of the screen (or use two fingers as in normal rotation gestures). you have to drag the finger a bit until the shape snaps in to the next one.
so could it be that it's because i didn't explain the intended controls enough? If so, do you have any suggestions to improve that, or how to better explain the way to play it?
really really appreciating your feedback btw :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may not have read it if you wrote it. When initially testing something like this I go for intuitive. The extra tap isn't.
What about doing the the auto next based on a touch release. You know when the shape is being rotated, the screen is being touched. Can you detect when a finger is removed? There would be no more rotation and wouldn't allow just spinning randomly to get it to snap as you describe.
EDIT:
Looking it up it's called a touch event using MotionEvent class with ACTION_DOWN and ACTION_UP
ph37rd said:
What about doing the the auto next based on a touch release. You know when the shape is being rotated, the screen is being touched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is actually a quite interesting suggestion! I tried it out, and it feels kind of nice. it also makes the game easier, maybe i have to reconsider the additional time gain... I created a debug build, would be nice if you would download and try it and tell me what you think ( you have to deinstall the appstore version first, since this one is signed with my local debug key)
It now checks the correct alignment each time you lift your finger from the screen.
Edit: i think that is a gamebreaker because it makes the game way to easy. you just have to swipe very quickly on the border, and due to the "auto" check you always get the alignment correct very quickly.
another version would be this one. here it is also checked on touchUp but if the alignment is wrong it jumps back in the initial state. that makes it even a bit harder, but also requires more focus and looking.
what do you think?
OK, going to leave this one up to you. I didn't catch a difference between the two in how they play. The first one appears to be snappier and jerky, as opposed to the second one being smoother and slower.
Either way, you nailed what I was saying. What do you think? I think this is far more intuitive. Now you just need to figure out the levels of difficulty.
The ultimate would be to have the shapes and colors auto generated with random attributes. You would not have to map anything out, the app would automagically create them.
Ok i found some issues that caused the touch input to be way to sensitive or way to unresponsive - that fixed i got some feedback that the overall control is way better now (especially on high res devices).
ph37rd said:
Either way, you nailed what I was saying. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still like the idea, but it brings some new issues that i need to figure out. Once you got the current control mechanism people don't think to much about it - so i'm not quite sure if it is really that much benefit. I will test that out over the next iterations and try gathering more feedback (about the current control and about how much people think it's good/bad).
ph37rd said:
The ultimate would be to have the shapes and colors auto generated with random attributes. You would not have to map anything out, the app would automagically create them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the second big point on my todo list. but i don't really know how to start.
The best way that comes to my mind is to define different "base shapes" that are then just colored randomly. but that again would require alot of different base shapes to keep up a good variety?
at the moment i add hand drawn shapes with each update (around 170 now and using .gif its not that of a size problem anymore)
I'm not a developer or programmer (although I could learn how to, but by the time I figured out how to create a program, the Note Edge 3 would be released), but being an end user of the phone and with first hand experience, I can always comes up with ideas that may improve the functionality and accessibility of the device. Below are some of the ideas on different panels/apps that I think can greatly improve the functionality of the Edge screen.
Music Control - This definitely needs to happen. It would be amazing to be able to control your music app (play, pause, stop, fast forward, rewind, etc.) while using your phone for other tasks without having to open up the music app.
Multi-Window Functions - Why can't we use the edge screen as the multi-windows toolbar? Instead of having to hold the back button for the toolbar to appear, we can just drag the apps from the Edge screen and start multi-windows.
Task List - Tasks on the Edge screen where we can tap it to mark it as complete and a new task will show up. This could also be a shopping list and will most definitely be useful for Black Friday.
Bubble Level - There's a ruler...why can't there be a bubble level too?
Battery Bar - I know there's a battery bar at the top of the screen, but it would be nice to have a larger battery bar that's actually color coded based on the percentage of life left. And it could also displays percentage of battery life as well as remaining usage time.
Fantasy Score Updates - I play Fantasy Football and Basketball and would love to see updates on my Fantasy scores without having to open up the Fantasy apps.
What do you think of some of the ideas? Do you have any ideas you would like to share? Hopefully a developer/programmer will read this thread and create some of the highly requested/useful panels/apps for the Edge screen.
There is a thread with a list going. My company will be building a suite of apps that accomplishes many of these items.
jribbe101 said:
There is a thread with a list going. My company will be building a suite of apps that accomplishes many of these items.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a link to the thread by any chance? And what's the name of your company so that I may follow the progress of the suite? Thank you in advance.
When I first saw the edge, the first thing I thought of was my fantasy team lol. Fantasy points would be amazing. Yahoo already has a sports ticker, I'm unsure if Yahoo has any api that will allow other apps to pull points, but that would be so amazing.
I like the idea of a bubble level too. Seems like a no-brainer now that you mentioned it.
I'd like to see web browsers take advantage of the edge and place navigation buttons there so you wont have to hit menu->forward or menu->reload or menu->load desktop site anymore.
I'm also interested in being linked to that other thread with edge app ideas as well, please
ok dudes, let me get some of this work off my plate tonight and tomorrow, I'll probably make an official post or something for this. I responded to a few people in different threads so I went quickly and copied them here to give you guys something to ponder on, and add suggestions. This is a aggregation of things requested.
Ultimately the goal is to make apps that make it productive for business, and then make a few extra general apps. I was thinking a suite of 4-6 depending on the complexity to build.... which given how I design, the apps are usually complex to build. But with the limited space and functions of what we are making, these may not be to bad on time.
Some of these apps may exist, but I won't have my phone til Monday to see what comes preloaded. If I feel there is a lack of functionality, like in the messaging widget I'll build a better mousetrap.
WIDGETS
1. A rss feed type panel where user could add their own feeds.
2. A To Do list (integrates with outlook... so it can pull my data from there)
3. Messaging alert and reader. -- (so you can switch between sms/email/etc and use your finger to swipe left/right like a ticker to read the messages.. and maybe swipe up and down to cycle messages... still in thought)
4. Level tool
5. Music controls while using the phone
6. Twitter timeline
7. A converter tool.
8. Ir favorite channel edge panel
9. swipe or knock to turn screen on
feel free to add on!
Thanks for the reply.
So the Edge has an IR Blaster? If that's the case, I'd go further than just a favorite channels bar and add Volume up/down/mute as well as power too.
seeking said:
So the Edge has an IR Blaster?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea... its something another user asked for.
seeking said:
So the Edge has an IR Blaster?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, both the Note 4 and Note Edge come with the IR Blaster. It has been confirmed by many Tech and phones sites.
seeking said:
When I first saw the edge, the first thing I thought of was my fantasy team lol. Fantasy points would be amazing. Yahoo already has a sports ticker, I'm unsure if Yahoo has any api that will allow other apps to pull points, but that would be so amazing.
I'd like to see web browsers take advantage of the edge and place navigation buttons there so you wont have to hit menu->forward or menu->reload or menu->load desktop site anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You and me both! The first time I saw it presented at CES 2013, I said to myself that it would be neat to see Fantasy updates on that side of the screen while at the bar or pub. lol.
And yes, I would love to have all the browsers navigation bar on Edge, it would make web browsing so much better and more efficient.
@jribbe101
Thanks for listening to the community feedback on creating apps for the Edge, I greatly appreciate it and I'm sure I'm not the only one! I look forward to supporting your company in the near future and am excited to experience your apps firsthand.
no problemo. Speaking of a fantasy widget... I am currently working on something that would probably blow y'alls minds, lol. I'm designing the UI now, and will have a running beta for March Madness and TNT (cable channel). So maybe I will integrate it with the edge... A small easter egg for our "limited" community
jribbe101 said:
no problemo. Speaking of a fantasy widget... I am currently working on something that would probably blow y'alls minds, lol. I'm designing the UI now, and will have a running beta for March Madness and TNT (cable channel). So maybe I will integrate it with the edge... A small easter egg for our "limited" community
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be fantastic! I look forward to seeing it in action, hopefully soon!
jribbe101 said:
ok dudes, let me get some of this work off my plate tonight and tomorrow, I'll probably make an official post or something for this. I responded to a few people in different threads so I went quickly and copied them here to give you guys something to ponder on, and add suggestions. This is a aggregation of things requested.
Ultimately the goal is to make apps that make it productive for business, and then make a few extra general apps. I was thinking a suite of 4-6 depending on the complexity to build.... which given how I design, the apps are usually complex to build. But with the limited space and functions of what we are making, these may not be to bad on time.
Some of these apps may exist, but I won't have my phone til Monday to see what comes preloaded. If I feel there is a lack of functionality, like in the messaging widget I'll build a better mousetrap.
WIDGETS
1. A rss feed type panel where user could add their own feeds.
2. A To Do list (integrates with outlook... so it can pull my data from there)
3. Messaging alert and reader. -- (so you can switch between sms/email/etc and use your finger to swipe left/right like a ticker to read the messages.. and maybe swipe up and down to cycle messages... still in thought)
4. Level tool
5. Music controls while using the phone
6. Twitter timeline
7. A converter tool.
8. Ir favorite channel edge panel
9. swipe or knock to turn screen on
feel free to add on!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi jribbe101,
Its great to see you're giving user suggestions serious consideration. Can't wait see some of these ideas come alive. These apps potentially makes the edge seriously useful.
Good luck!
invisiblesense said:
Hi jribbe101,
Its great to see you're giving user suggestions serious consideration. Can't wait see some of these ideas come alive. These apps potentially makes the edge seriously useful.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, all these reviews talking about it being a gimmick.. I can actually see some good use for that screen in my daily business scenarios that would make small things more efficient. So, maybe we can make them eat those words @[email protected]!
Which forum should I post my thread on? General or Q&A? I'm going to start the new thread with this username and want to make sure it's under the right area. It will be a starter thread to aggregate ideas to pick which apps should be made.
Yes it has an IR blaster and comes with Smart Remote app (the same thing that was on the note 3 just renamed and themed a bit)
I was the one asking for frav Ch. IR. I think it would be cool to just swap over and tap the top 5 ch you watch.
There could also be one for vol up and down or even channel.
For those that arent use to the power button on top. You can get a screen off/power off app from the market and short cut it to the edge.
So far there isnt much i can think of for apps for the edge. Most of the stuff i can think of would have to be updated via the main app.
i.e.
facebook status scrolling,
ebay ending soon count down
TV guide reminders
I would love to be able to put any app that I have in the drawer to the edge screen instead of just the basic ones. Then you can put any of your favorite apps or most used apps in edge screen for easy access, or more sports ticker options for sports scores, yahoos one basic doesnt have any NCCA college football options.
Probably not the right thread but it's Q&A so I thought I would give it a shot , problem is I can't get the side panel to turn on without turning on the whole screen , I've read and read , your supposed to just activate it by running your finger or thumb up and down the side panel , but no matter what I do I can't get it to work without turning on the whole screen , am I missing something , I couldn't even get the night clock to work as it is supposed to , now to be fair I haven't had the phone for even 24 hrs yet , but have set everything up and messed around with it for a few hrs ...? Stumped ....any help or suggestion's would be greatly appreciated , I'm beginning to think I got a lemon , Thank's in advance ....
Philly Jim said:
Probably not the right thread but it's Q&A so I thought I would give it a shot , problem is I can't get the side panel to turn on without turning on the whole screen , I've read and read , your supposed to just activate it by running your finger or thumb up and down the side panel , but no matter what I do I can't get it to work without turning on the whole screen , am I missing something , I couldn't even get the night clock to work as it is supposed to , now to be fair I haven't had the phone for even 24 hrs yet , but have set everything up and messed around with it for a few hrs ...? Stumped ....any help or suggestion's would be greatly appreciated , I'm beginning to think I got a lemon , Thank's in advance ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a Note Edge yet for reference, but I recall reading somewhere that you can "wake" the Edge panel by swiping your finger right and then left on it. Then once you wake it, you can use your thumb to swipe up and down to look at the different panels.
I do not believe that the edge panel turns on with the main screen still off.
seeking said:
I do not believe that the edge panel turns on with the main screen still off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does. With the screen off, swipe back and forth on the sharpest part of the curve. That's the most sensitive part of the edge display. That will turn on the clock/notifications/weather (wait a bit, and it'll start scrolling to show your notifications). To access your panels, slide left or right on the edge as you would when the screen is on. once again the sharpest part of the curve is most sensitive.
jooniloh said:
Yes, it does. With the screen off, swipe back and forth on the sharpest part of the curve. That's the most sensitive part of the edge display. That will turn on the clock/notifications/weather (wait a bit, and it'll start scrolling to show your notifications). To access your panels, slide left or right on the edge as you would when the screen is on. once again the sharpest part of the curve is most sensitive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirmed that this works. Just put your thumb on the edge screen with your thumb covering the whole side of the edge, and slide/drag it up and down.
working on the EDGE ALERT for messages...
Hi guys!
I just installed Pac rom KK, which works great. I'm almost fully done playing with it
Unfortunately I get stuck at the very end with something that to me (as a user, not a dev) seems quite trivial.
Seeing how I've tried to find different solutions for many hours without making any progress, I turn to you in desperation.
What I want to achieve is a clean home screen (like a painting, and nothing else, not even navigation bar) along with no use of physical buttons.
I've set everything up with full screen, gestures, pie control, and all the good stuff which makes the phone easy to navigate.
What I have left to do, and where I am stuck is:
- adding app drawer to something other than the icon, and physical buttons (basically meaning quick settings, pie control or gestures)
- removing app drawer logo from the home screen, along with the home screen dot (the one showing which home screen, and if more also how many there are)
- also locking home screen (meaning that it won't bounce)
For you who have taken the energy to read this far (which I very much thank you for), I'm sure you realize that these are easy fixes.
Thing is...I don't want to use a launcher such as nova or AWD.
...I don't want do download another pie control for the sake of having one where you simply (being the keyword) can add app drawer.
....I have removed navigation bar (which I want removed), so can't use navigation actions.
I'm sorry for being so extremely picky, but I've spent to many hours trying to get this juuuust right. I hate basically dumping this on you guys, but I'm really at loss here.
The "easiest" workaround I could come up with was to write a small app, which only function would be to open the app drawer, and then hook it up to Pie Control. Only problem is, I can't code for sh#t. I do have Xposed, so a nice and slim Xposed solution would suit me just fine. The only thing I want to keep away from is apps doubling in function (one gesture app doing this and that) and/or apps that might have a problem interacting.
If anyone would care to help me with this, I would be so grateful.
Thank you so much on beforehand!
Summary of specs: Xperia Z2 (d6503), Pac-man Rom KK (RC-3) (4.4.4), Xposed
munte89 said:
Hi guys!
I just installed Pac rom KK, which works great. I'm almost fully done playing with it
Unfortunately I get stuck at the very end with something that to me (as a user, not a dev) seems quite trivial.
Seeing how I've tried to find different solutions for many hours without making any progress, I turn to you in desperation.
What I want to achieve is a clean home screen (like a painting, and nothing else, not even navigation bar) along with no use of physical buttons.
I've set everything up with full screen, gestures, pie control, and all the good stuff which makes the phone easy to navigate.
What I have left to do, and where I am stuck is:
- adding app drawer to something other than the icon, and physical buttons (basically meaning quick settings, pie control or gestures)
- removing app drawer logo from the home screen, along with the home screen dot (the one showing which home screen, and if more also how many there are)
- also locking home screen (meaning that it won't bounce)
For you who have taken the energy to read this far (which I very much thank you for), I'm sure you realize that these are easy fixes.
Thing is...I don't want to use a launcher such as nova or AWD.
...I don't want do download another pie control for the sake of having one where you simply (being the keyword) can add app drawer.
....I have removed navigation bar (which I want removed), so can't use navigation actions.
I'm sorry for being so extremely picky, but I've spent to many hours trying to get this juuuust right. I hate basically dumping this on you guys, but I'm really at loss here.
The "easiest" workaround I could come up with was to write a small app, which only function would be to open the app drawer, and then hook it up to Pie Control. Only problem is, I can't code for sh#t. I do have Xposed, so a nice and slim Xposed solution would suit me just fine. The only thing I want to keep away from is apps doubling in function (one gesture app doing this and that) and/or apps that might have a problem interacting.
If anyone would care to help me with this, I would be so grateful.
Thank you so much on beforehand!
Summary of specs: Xperia Z2 (d6503), Pac-man Rom KK (RC-3) (4.4.4), Xposed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well tasker can do most of this, like mapping the action of opening the app draw on certain events on the pie controllers or hardware button press. the only thing it cannot do is hide the app draw button. as far as I'm aware, this cannot be archived without changing the launcher. although perhaps changing its icon to a transparent one may help in this matter.
angelus0w said:
Well tasker can do most of this, like mapping the action of opening the app draw on certain events on the pie controllers or hardware button press. the only thing it cannot do is hide the app draw button. as far as I'm aware, this cannot be archived without changing the launcher. although perhaps changing its icon to a transparent one may help in this matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much for your help!
I will look into it, and I'll repost my fix
Since you guys peruse here and reddit.
-Stay awake while reading/holding
The same way the sony xperia series detects the phone is upright and being held, delays the screen time out.
- Setting to adjust the bottom round corner overlays
There two overlays at the bottom of the screen. Would be great to add some setting stop adjust.
-Hide Navbar
Similar to the GS8 That give you granular control over when it's hidden.
-Auto Pin unlock
Again the on the xperia series, the check mark is removed, so once you put the correct pin the phone accepts and unlocks.
More to come....
So most of the things suggested above are actually pretty gimmicky, imo.
Only thing I miss coming from other phones is gesture support for things like camera and flashlight with screen off. Double tap power for camera works fine, but no way to get to flashlight without turning the screen on, pulling down quick toggles, and clicking flashlight. Maybe holding down the volume down button with screen off?
Moto has the best gestures, then oneplus, then everyone else. Unfortunately, there is hardware support required for these to work without killing the battery, so totally understand if we never get gestures like these.
Those are pretty lame requests.. Essential runs AOSP.
A request that are needed & needs addressing:
- manual mode for camera
- hdr auto toggles the flash on??
- release system images already
- beta program/Oreo
- timely security updates (just getting October?)
- fix touch issues and scrolling
- fp scanner causing lockups
Let's get the OS polished and working better before we add more features
tlxxxsracer said:
Those are pretty lame requests.. Essential runs AOSP.
A request that are needed & needs addressing:
- manual mode for camera
- hdr auto toggles the flash on??
- release system images already
- beta program/Oreo
- timely security updates (just getting October?)
- fix touch issues and scrolling
- fp scanner causing lockups
Let's get the OS polished and working better before we add more features
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Click to collapse
I mean, those requests of yours are already what they're doing, and bug fixes. So like duh list.
As for essential running aosp. They do, and they are already adding stuff on top.
The elegant solution for the status bar is to run devices in full screen, then manually
bring back the nav bar and status bar. So options for that would just be additional to what they are doing.
The rounded corners. They are already overlaying black corners on top. So options for that would just be additional to what they are doing.
Double click power button for cam isn't aosp last I checked.
So hence "feature requests" not just another list asking for "do it faster". :good:
Fix the camera.
Show us you can do this and smash the naysayers. Please don't just throw in the towel and let companies like Razer come in and show you up.
I would like Oreo like everyone else, but keep the guns pointed at the cameras.
There's seriously no rush to race to Essential phone 2.
You have reduced the price and now have the stage yet again. (Not to mention a ton of dedicated customers waiting with faith and phone in hand. )
Seize the moment an knock it out of the park.
This is the perfect time for you to take gobs of consumers away from the Pixel line. Google is against the ropes with its own set of issues.
Now that your price is set where margins are thin, its time to prove your name. Fix the camera and move units like crazy to get it in as many hands as possible.
Essential Phone 2 will help when you user base confidently upgrades ans recommends your product.
I bought an Essential phone for tight finish. (Software & Hardware)
Oreo will clean up a lot of peoples wants.
Again though, make the hardware work to it full potential.
Essential, you put yourself in this position with Stock android promises coupled with exceedingly high end hardware.
If I wanted bells/whistles with headaches, I would have zero troubles finding and OEM for that.
I essentially want you to focus on the hardware and leverage what you have to a higher standard and level.
Fix the EIS
Bring the camera levels to LG G6 results since the parts are the same.
Fix the Camera Icon (The only one you created) - Its ridiculously amateur and sticks out like a sore thumb.
Keep up the AMA's
Stay focused and steady.
Don't just kick the can down the road.
Another point:
I feel you should point out and lean your American roots. Lots of consumers purchase phones from offshoot companies that are created outside of the USA. Subsequently, many of them have been busted by running data collecting and or malicious algorithms.
You will not have more attention than you do now. Get cracking on it and show us what your made of.
Show us you can do this!
I agree totally with Maven1975 this phone is an awesome piece of equipment, I think that the weak link is the stock camera app and the way it processes the photos taken (compression) I have been able to take some pretty good looking photos with the stock app, but both The GCam port and FV-5 take far better pics but why?
Over the past year I owned the G6 which took some really nice pics, I sold it to purchase the S8 which took some amazing pics but I just couldn't deal with the UI of either of those phones even with the themes and the S8 wasn't user friendly for myself because of how I hold a phone I need me some side bezels with how I hold phones. I ended up getting the U11 and I love HTC and the UI but the phone was "big" but it took the best pictures out of the three.
Then the Essential PH-1 came out with it's awesome form factor and amazing quality and design I figured hey it has the same image sensor as the G6 with newer hardware and dual camera setup I bought into the"Image Fusion" hype and figured the photos should be somewhere in between the G6 and U11
Fix the camera, give us a Pro/Manual Mode and Release the System Image
I love stock Android, so keep the updates quick and the owners of this high quality phone will be some of your best advertisement "bang for the buck"
Become part of the development community and make this a "flash happy" phone ..... I come from a time when the HTC Hero had so many options for flashing different roms and apps it was so pleasing make the Essential PH-1 an ICON like the Hero
Now in every new android release since kitkat there has been regressions, but in PIE I noticed this one has a fair few so I googled and I observed that almost every article was only praising the release as if they just there to promote and suck up to google developers.
Then I found this very honest post from a guy on reddit.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Android/co...eatures_since_the_pie_update_and_the/ejrdwnp/
I will quote also.
Neutered navigation bar with an increased focus on gestures rather than buttons (wit the bar using up the same amount of space with decidedly half-baked gestures). Some companies at least maintained the options of buttons or gestures, but I think the Google Pixel 3 prevents users from having the option of using the classic navigation buttons.
Horizontal Recents/Overview screen instead of a vertical variant - this "feature" is more subjective, I guess.
Enforced 3-icon limit for notifications in the status bar, all thanks to notches - for certain phones, this change completely removed the option to have as many icons in the status bar as you have space for.
The Digital-Clock/Time's position was enforced on the left instead of the classic right-side position - again, all thanks to notches..
The Volume Slider got changed to a "vertical" variant if I recall correctly, and I think that certain volume sliders can only be changed by actually diving into Settings, whereas the Android 8/Oreo implementation gave a simple quick drop-down to change all 4 at once, and Samsung even added the option to switch the controlled volume default from Ringtone to Media.
Removal of easy access to viewing System Uptime in Android Info (WHY? It's a useful metric that just sits there harmlessly!).
The DevCheck application thankfully still indicates System Uptime, although the read-out isn't as "fluid" (doesn't refresh as much) from what I've seen.
Neutering of the "Quick Toggles" pop-up thing, where you can adjust certain quick-toggles' settings quickly without actually diving into the Settings screen.
certain "Do Not Disturb" mode capabilities/workflows that were possible in Android 8/Oreo are apparently harder, if not impossible, to achieve in Android 9/Pie.
I think that the Android 8/Oreo Easter Egg got removed..? (if one counts that as a feature).
Call Recording got heavily hampered.. I'm not sure of Screen Recording... Custom theming on Samsung devices also seems like it will be harder to achieve in the near future (going by a recent changelog entry for the "Theme Galaxy" application), although "One User Interface (One UI)" seems to be softening the blow.
as others have mentioned, the method to access Android-native "Split-screen/Multi-Window view" has been altered a bit...
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Click to collapse
For me on a personal level the nasty ones are the removal of battery saving location from UI (the underlying code still supports it), removal of expanded controls from quick toggles, and the call recording hampering.
Now personally I dont think I have recorded more than a few calls in my lifetime on a smartphone, but I believe in user's been in control of their own device and user choice. The change to quick toggles is just mind baffling and makes no sense whatsoever, the changes to GPS may possibly make sense but it needs to be explained to users, instead of just silently removing the feature and have the media pretend its not happened.
Their minds would be better focused on fixing the flaws in the UI so e.g.
Black themes that are inconsistent so e.g. I have a black theme enabled but the navigation bar is white, and the notification boxes are white.
More control over UI elements, allow more freedom to do things like resize notification boxes (they way too large on stock android), reposition every icon and so forth. No choice on vertical or horizontal recent apps screen.
Consistency in UI, so e.g. on quick toggles when expanded you see text labels, when not expanded you dont, there is no reason for that, its just bad consistency.
I also hear of future regressions like plans to replace navigation buttons entirely with gestures, that I think is a disaster in the making as many users dont use gestures, and prefer buttons.
I think its clear changes are been made for the sake of change rather than functional improvement. I feel android UI peaked with kitkat.
Ironically that reddit thread has people praising samsung for adding sanity and reversing the changes, google dont like samsung changing the UI, but you cannot blame samsung when google are doing stupid things to the UI.
I am half tempted to go back to samsung on next phone, my oneplus6 is lightning fast tho and my s7 is really laggy and slow by comparison. But there is no doubt samsung phones have a better UI and feature set.
One thing that has always baffled me, is some users on XDA feel they must always be on the latest version of android, I seen users abandoning things like xposed, useful mods etc. just because they only support a rom version that might only be a few months out of date. This is baffling when you consider that new android versions usually have more regressions than new useful features. As an example on oneplus6 people are abandoning renovate ice because it only supports up to 9.0.6.
I will probably add my own quick toggles with tasker for GPS modes, still looking for call recording solution, as well as black notification theming, I expect the theming for navigation bar is not fixable tho. I had black notifications on havocos and to say they look better is an understatement.
Google sort out your UI department as its pretty bad right now.
rant over.
Also to mods if this post is in the wrong place, please move it rather than just removing it or warn me before removal so I can copy and paste the content to repost in right place, thanks.
Should have posted this on Google's forum, not a hacking forum