[APP][4.2+] Bento Launcher Alpha - Android Apps and Games

Hey guys, I've been a longtime member of xda-developers and I've been working on this app for the past few months with a team. I'd love to get your feedback on it.
Bento is an intelligent android launcher with a personalized stream of cards (similar to Google now, but we think its better) http://www.bentoapp.com/
Sign up for the beta here
Features:
Search including apps, contacts, play store, locations and Google
Ranked and organized notifications
Dock with recently used apps
Personalized Yelp, Uber, concert, Soundcloud and Youtube recommendations
Local weather card
Calendar card
and many more cards!

Signed up for the alpha. Will respond as soon as I can download.

Very nice idea. Reminds me of aviate launcher mixed with Google now launcher, but looks way awesomer. Signed for the alpha too. Very interested in this project

Chillz88 said:
Very nice idea. Reminds me of aviate launcher mixed with Google now launcher, but looks way awesomer. Signed for the alpha too. Very interested in this project
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're absolutely right. Also, Aviate has changed a lot since the acquisition by Yahoo. This project looks great.

Waiting for download link to appear

Signed up... Waiting for the alpha version.

We just launched our website and put up a blog post
We also launched version 0.3 today which includes the following changes:
- A YouTube Music card personalized to your music preferences
- A brand new on-boarding experience for new users
- A new Settings area to let you add, edit, and delete Saved Locations
- Major algorithmic improvements for the Contextual Apps card
- Bug fixes
-- Fix cards flashing when stream updates
-- Fix bug that allowed swiping card to left
-- Fix for swiping away of cards when scrolling vertically
-- Fixes for Notification card syncing and ranking
If you signed up for the alpha but for some reason never got in please PM me.

Signed up to test it out

Signed up for Beta, however says it is not on Play Store as of yet. Got an APK we can download by chance?

Signed up as well looks promising, joined group just getting 0 of 0

Nooblet said:
Signed up for Beta, however says it is not on Play Store as of yet. Got an APK we can download by chance?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you try going here http://www.bentoapp.com/ and clicking join the beta? We've changed the sign up a bit. You should be able to immediately access the beta google group from there. Once you've joined the google group, you should see a link to the beta. Let me know if this doesn't work for you.

There is no link shows up for me also. Just a blank Group Page.

Blank group for me as well. Also tried to use desktop mode. Brings me to the welcome message in the group with a playstore link. Playstore link does not work.

Download link not working
Download link after joining beta from your website is not working.
edit: Works after manually copying and pasting link!

can't download from play store, item not found
edit: downloaded, some playstore or phone bug

Looks promising.

Signed up but it's just an empty Google groups page. Um, what do I do?

EXV said:
Signed up but it's just an empty Google groups page. Um, what do I do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here.
Sent from my LG G2 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

We're really sorry about the blank google groups page. This is the link to download the app. https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.bento.launcher . There have been multiple issues with the way play store beta membership groups work and we have tried to fix all of the issues.
If clicking on the above link takes you to a page that says "App doesn't exist" or "Page not found", you could try a few things:
Please wait a few minutes and open the link again.
Ensure that the default account you used to sign into your browser is the same as used to sign up for the Bento Beta Google group.
Ensure that your play store account is using the same email you used to sign up for the Bento Beta Google group
If all else fails, please email [email protected]

Joined beta group from site without at hitch, got from Play, installed and ran. Playing with this, looks quite interesting. Later, google+ did not have me in the "community" so requested that as well.
First and second reactions:
1. Intriguing concept. Looks like it belongs in Ubuntu.
2. Weather card should be location-based (maybe it is). Default units should be locale based. How to set up?
3. To facilitate testing, might be better as a launcher overlay rather than a full launcher. But it is very easy to switch homes from settings (was not always the case). Actually, it will run as an app except that the app-drawer or screen from which it is run remains visible behind the app folders.
4. App runs as app from app-drawer or folder. Runs (and labeled as) Bento Settings from Bento's app drawer. So found how to get my Celcius and km. Cannot place Bento Settings on the folders.
5. A refresh (or "more") button on cards pane might be in order. Can be mostly blank for long periods of time.
6. Got a "tomorrow" card. Never got "today."
7. Quickly learned how to arrange the folders, add, remove apps. More-or-less just like current stock launchers.
8. Like it or not, we are still part of the Google universe (though Cyanogen/Microsoft and Rational would like to change that). So normal calendar, maps, google+ will be around and should fit in. Google Now should also fit into this scheme.
9. Problem on my ArmV6 dinosaur: Cannot use Google's off-line speech recognition which will crash. I get text into Google Now using a voice search wrapper widget which links with older VoiceSearch on-line recognition (that app also did phone searches like Bento!). Voice input to keyboards, most apps crashes. There is a settings->language&input->voice-recognition choice which should be polled and respected. When Bento has more traction, might persuade the wrapper's dev to do a version that feeds Bento's searchbox intent.
10. The thing has no clock. On other launchers I use chronus so took the clock off status bar. Bento runs immersive mode anyway. (Another reason this is more and app than a launcher.)
11. Getting typed text into search bar is problematic sometimes. KB comes up but does not enter.
More to come ...

Related

All new Play store(former Market) 3.5.15

What's New
1. You now have the Installed and All tabs you can swipe between. The former one is what we used to have before - it lists all apps installed on your device. The latter lists all apps you've ever installed in case you want to download them again or travel down the memory lane. This is quite handy, and I've seen this list before in the Play Store on the web, so it's great to get it here in the mobile app.
2. The All tab contains a handy dropdown with all your accounts (if you added more than one) and lets you switch between them very easily (as opposed to clicking Menu, etc).
3. The list of apps you have purchased but uninstalled or haven't installed yet has moved to the All tab... which means it's now mixed in with the free apps you no longer have on the device. I'm not sure how I feel about that - on one hand, I like that it's gone from the first list, but ideally there should be a way to filter paid apps from free in the All list. Maybe someday...
4. A few of the stock apps that apparently never got linked to the Play Store before got identified and picked up this time, and updates to such orphans were waiting for me when I fired the Store up. I've complained about this very bug in my last rant, and it looks like someone listened.
5. Just like in the web Play Store:
- reviews now show the device used by the reviewer
- reviews can now be sorted by Most Helpful first or Newest first
- you can now filter reviews to show ones for the latest version of the app as well as made by only the device you are using
Thanks to androidpolice.com
Now download and enjoy!
Some screenshots would help
Sent from my Xperia neo V using SwiftKey!
Thanks, but one thread is enough
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1549660

Updated google play store 3.5.15

Here is the Link, http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25795010/com.android.vending-3.5.15.apk
Thanks Android Police.
Whats new:
You now have the Installed and All tabs you can swipe between. The former one is what we used to have before - it lists all apps installed on your device. The latter lists all apps you've ever installed in case you want to download them again or travel down the memory lane. This is quite handy, and I've seen this list before in the Play Store on the web, so it's great to get it here in the mobile app.
The All tab contains a handy dropdown with all your accounts (if you added more than one) and lets you switch between them very easily (as opposed to clicking Menu, etc).
The list of apps you have purchased but uninstalled or haven't installed yet has moved to the All tab... which means it's now mixed in with the free apps you no longer have on the device. I'm not sure how I feel about that - on one hand, I like that it's gone from the first list, but ideally there should be a way to filter paid apps from free in the All list. Maybe someday...
A few of the stock apps that apparently never got linked to the Play Store before got identified and picked up this time, and updates to such orphans were waiting for me when I fired the Store up. I've complained about this very bug in my last rant, and it looks like someone listened.
Just like in the web Play Store:
- reviews now show the device used by the reviewer
- reviews can now be sorted by Most Helpful first or Newest first
- you can now filter reviews to show ones for the latest version of the app as well as made by only the device you are using
hahahahaha....I always love threads like this, they'll be about 100 of these by the end of the day!
Also you should search before posting ESPECIALLY with a thread like this.....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1534295

NEW 11-17-12 Google Play 3.10.9

Courtesy of Android Police
FULL Article here http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/11/17/download-latest-google-play-store-3-10-9/#whats-new
Download: Latest Google Play Store 3.10.9 HERE http://db.tt/0LhMhT0D
Google is pushing out an updated Google Play Store version 3.10.9 that follows the previous versions 3.9.16 and 3.9.17.
What's New
New screen that pops up after you start installing new apps. The screen serves as an interstitial between the last installation step we're all used to and jumping back to the screen with the progress. It does help shine additional spotlight on app discovery thanks to a clickable Users Also Installed block of apps, but it feels more like an annoying filler page that you want to skip when opening an article on something like Forbes.com. The additional screen only increases the amount of clicks needed to install a new app and go back to other parts of the Play Store, so I'm definitely not a fan. To be clear, Keep Shopping returns you to the app you are installing (also shown on the right):
Next up: a Remove icon in My Wishlist similar to the icon that was added to the All tab of My Apps last time around. A small but welcome change for quicker wishlist cleanup.
Update #1: The Play Store now requests two more permissions: ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION and ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION - both location permissions of varying accuracy. It's unclear right now what it uses them for.
Update #2: A large chunk of the additional space (300KB) is taken up by a new library Google has bundled in called keyczar. I don't think there's anything interesting here, as the Wallet APK (and probably other Google apps) bundles it as well, and it's related to cryptography.
Update #3: There is a new Translate button next to app descriptions that shows up if your system language is set to something other than English (or maybe it tries to match the declared app language with your system language - I'm not sure). Either way, it's a great addition for those of you who may need help with translation (thanks, Floris and Marius for spotting this change!):
Update #4: There is now an Improve these recommendations button at the top of Recommended for You (thanks for spotting this one, ZZ!). I'm not too sure exactly how it works, as clicking each name just opens up the Google Voice circles dialog, and clicking Add adds people to the Friends circle. I suppose, adding people to your Google Plus circles will help the recommendation algorithm behind the scenes. I'd like to clear this up right now though: you cannot see other people's apps - this is not a way to share app lists explicitly.
Also, perhaps the new location permissions are related to finding people you may know and determining your area more accurately (some apps are recommended based on popularity in your area).
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2
Running....
Been running since it popped up on the grid late last night.
Works as stated. No issues so far. Have not tried any DPI changes or anything of the sort. Using normally.
Like the keep shopping and others downloaded section... will make finding new interesting and related apps easier.
:good:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=34256262
Multi DPI version available here. Just white for now, but inverted will be available soon I'm sure. It never takes more than a day or so.
Sent from my CvD Nibbled Skyrocket
Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati

Be Careful When Installing Google Maps 7.0

When I saw that Google had a new version of maps available last night I was really excited. However, that excitement died down really fast when I saw how much they'd stripped from it. Just read the 1- and 2-star rating comments that this app is now getting on Google Play if you don't take my word for it.
Here's just some of the big disappointments:
- No more Google Latitude, though in fairness this isn't really a problem with Maps per se, because Google is SHUTTING DOWN Latitude on August 9th. They want us to use Google+ and its Locations feature as a replacement, but Locations is mere toy compared to what Latitude was able to do. It's a sad joke. To make matters worse, the location sharing feature of Google+ only works if the app is a SYSTEM APP. If your phone didn't come with it and you initially installed Google+ from the Play Store, Locations WILL NOT WORK. You must have a rooted phone on which you can assign Google+ to a system app using a tool such as Titanium Backup.
- No more Labs functions. One of the features I used to adore on my S4 was the "Larger Text" lab. This worked great on phones with 1080p screens, as the native text was just too small. The new maps app has small text, especially on a 1080p screen.
- No access to "My Maps". I read somewhere that this will be restored IN THE FUTURE, but until then you won't have access to your custom routes and maps if you upgrade to 7.0.
- No more zoom buttons on the map, though it is apparently possible to double-tap, and the swipe up or down to change the zoom. However, this still isn't as convenient under some circumstances.
- No more scale on the map. Okay, not everyone used this, but I liked knowing how far 1 km (or 1 mile) was on the map at the current zoom level.
- The Pegman in Streetview is gone and overall this feature seems less usable than it was before.
- Offline maps are still available, but they've been hidden. It's rather like an Easter Egg now, in that you must type (or say) "OK Maps" to get it to cache what you are zoomed in on at the time. However, it doesn't store as large an area as before and there is NO WAY to list or administer your cached local maps.
- Many people have reported that Navigation is now quite buggy, though I haven't had a chance to try it myself.
- You can no longer create navigation shortcuts and no Navigation icon appears on your phone. To use Navigation you must start Maps first and go through that.
- No more Terrain layer.
------------------------------------------------
So, if you are curious about trying Maps 7.0, then I strongly recommend that you backup your copy of the older maps first (if you have Titanium Backup or another apps for backing up your apps). Failing that, Google has made the old version available for downloading, if you can find it.
If you have Titanium Backup, use it to remove Maps from Play Store list so that it won't keep popping up as an update. You might accidentally install it.
Double tap, hold and swipe over the screen to zoom with one finger. Worked in maps 6.x and still works with maps 7.
To get access to your places, you just have to simply press the icon on the right side of the search bar, and there they are.
neluba said:
Double tap, hold and swipe over the screen to zoom with one finger. Worked in maps 6.x and still works with maps 7.
To get access to your places, you just have to simply press the icon on the right side of the search bar, and there they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was not aware of the double-tap shortcut for zoom, but I tried it and it certainly does work. I edited the original post to reflect this.
However, I think you might have misunderstood what I meant concerning the second issue. I'm not so much interest in "My Places", but the sub-category of that called "My Maps". These are custom routes and maps you can create with the desktop version of Maps and they were loadable on Maps for Android prior to version 7.0. I double-checked to make sure they weren't there on 7.0, and they definitely aren't. I edited the original post to say just "My Maps" to clarify this point.
You can still launch navigation by voice, but it opens maps then navigation. What I'm not liking about this is that I often launch navigation by voice and like being able to change my route and check off avoid tolls and/or highways. This now has to be done from maps before launching navigation. A bit inconvenient.
Steve Punter said:
- You can no longer create navigation shortcuts and no Navigation icon appears on your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I still have a separate Navigation icon? Takes me right to the 'choose destination' screen in Navigation...?
Sent from my LG-LS970 using xda premium
Another thing to note which is now missing (I believe) is the separate "Car Mode" Maps display.
This was a quasi 3d display, similar to the old all-in-one GPS units, that followed the car movement from behind. This used to pop up automatically when my 'car mode' was activated. This mode would not screen time-out. Now it just pops up with the standard maps display, which will time-out and not follow along/scroll with your car position.
The offline maps feature has been added back in a small update. Still not done right, but it's at least accessible and not an easter egg.
I think latitude's features are supposed to be rolled into G+ before latitude itself is shut down.
Hadn't heard about the rest, but several sound like serious leaps backwards.
Well that's 3 google apps I'm leaving old versions now, all within the last few months I had to stop applying updates, I gave it a try and I agree, it sucks
Maps, GMail, and Talk.
I'm so disappointed in Google lately, nothing good has come out of their updates. I bought in to their infrastructure and now they're just ****ing around with me as they please. I wish they had a competitor worth a damn (Bing's worse imo).
Fire their new UI guys and let engineers develop apps again, sick of this design first philosophy that doesn't work.
what's remained ???
i will update and see what happens
waylo said:
Another thing to note which is now missing (I believe) is the separate "Car Mode" Maps display.
This was a quasi 3d display, similar to the old all-in-one GPS units, that followed the car movement from behind. This used to pop up automatically when my 'car mode' was activated. This mode would not screen time-out. Now it just pops up with the standard maps display, which will time-out and not follow along/scroll with your car position.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is mainly what I use Google Maps for in my car, had to downgrade to 6.x to get this back
I used Latitude a lot... now I have to use a separate (broken) app to see my latitude contacts? Shouldn't that be in the MAPS program?
Double tab to zoom,, it works to my phone in this last maps..:good::good:
Everyone talking about the update but how come I still can't get it!!! I'm on ICS 4.0.4 ...usa
Sent from my C5170 using xda premium
I also have the difficulty to see the tiny street name on the map. Why won't Google make the font size user adjustable.
I probably have to keep using the old version of Google maps unless a larger text is allowed.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Steve Punter said:
I was not aware of the double-tap shortcut for zoom, but I tried it and it certainly does work. I edited the original post to reflect this.
However, I think you might have misunderstood what I meant concerning the second issue. I'm not so much interest in "My Places", but the sub-category of that called "My Maps". These are custom routes and maps you can create with the desktop version of Maps and they were loadable on Maps for Android prior to version 7.0. I double-checked to make sure they weren't there on 7.0, and they definitely aren't. I edited the original post to say just "My Maps" to clarify this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just installed version 7 and no ``My Places``, how do we downgrade to the old version?
Downgrade?
raczyk said:
Just installed version 7 and no ``My Places``, how do we downgrade to the old version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur but don't know how to do that. I want the old version back. Anyone?
Thanks

Question How to sync Google Keep with Watch 4 Classic

I have installed Keep on my watch it just says notes syncing. I have granted files permission. Anyone got Keep working? Phone is Note 20 ultra 5g android 10.
How did you install on watch? I tried multiple ways with no success. When I go out to play page I'm only able to install to phone.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.keep
Play store on watch
I have installed Google keep on watch and it has synced my notes, however it is missing a Search button/function which makes the app worthless for me...
stakoz said:
I have installed Google keep on watch and it has synced my notes, however it is missing a Search button/function which makes the app worthless for me...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you install it? Did you have to change any permissions or anything on the phone to get it to sync?
Hi, I don't remember any specific issues, just went to the Play store and tapped on the option available/install on other devices (GW4). If you have issues, you may try to look up the APK (from APKmirror or similar) and ADB side load it on the watch. As I have tried sideloading on the watch also the phone app (because of the missing search function on the watch app) and it opens but does not seem to be able to search either and frequently crashes maybe because of insufficient RAM. Finally I tried using a chrome browser app on my watch (sideloaded again from a watch APK) and by using the web interface of Google Keep and it works but is a mixed experience due to interface not being optimized for a watch/ circular screen etc
Anyone have any luck getting Google Keep to stop syncing? I've tried reinstalling on the watch and phone, clearing various caches, etc. No luck. I only have five notes, so it shouldn't be a heavy lift.
I´ve also installed keep on my GW4 from the play store on the watch. And it also keeps syncing. When I´m fast enough after app start and click on one of my 3 notes, it opens and I can edit successfully.
I had these issues in the past also on notes for smartphone but on some update they fixed it. I guess we have to wait for an app update from Google. In the meantime, we´ve to pull out our smartphone during shopping
Similar to the previous post, if I open Keep and quickly select "Show All", it'll of course post the "Syncing" banner.
But then, I leave the app (right swipe), open Keep again and quickly scroll down my Notes before the banner can display, I'll see my million+ notes.
Sometimes I have to re-enter the app again and scroll quickly to the bottom of the list again before the banner displays, but it'll work - at least for me.
Hope this helps!
And I hope Google fixes this! Don't they test their code??
Have the same issue. Literally nothing works on this POS.
MKchrias said:
I have installed Keep on my watch it just says notes syncing. I have granted files permission. Anyone got Keep working? Phone is Note 20 ultra 5g android 10.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got an update to Keep on the phone today, and it appears to have fixed the syncing issue! You'll have to uninstall Keep from your watch, then re-install it, but so far so good!

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