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Hey there,
There is a Settlers of Catan game for the iPhone. I'm wondering if anyone knew of that game being ported to Android any time soon? All I can find for Android is the 'Better Settlers' which helps with setting up the board.
Thanks in advance for any info!
Jeremy
shameless "bump!"
I would guess there would be copyright issues or some such :S
well you could try developing your own game..
I'd like to see settlers of catan on this platform too!
Me too, if someone is interested in doing the gameplay, maybe graphics, or whatever else. I would be happy to do the development.
Doesn't neccessarily have to be clone as such, it can have similar gameplay. Try playing something like Travian, it's similar but not exact.
It's a game I'd love to have on my phone . . . don't know it well enough to have a go at dev, but I'd be happy to alpha/beta/gamma test if someone gave it a crack . . .
there was a flash game i found a while ago - never got it working on my mogul though. Also I could help with graphics if a new game was designed
I'd love a SoC game for my Evo. Any new info on this?
Sent from my HTC Evo using Tapatalk + Swype
This would really be great. Id like a version where you could play with others on different phones via wifi/3g. It would be a lot of fun to play with friends and coworkers through out the day (or week as needed)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
mesasone said:
This would really be great. Id like a version where you could play with others on different phones via wifi/3g. It would be a lot of fun to play with friends and coworkers through out the day (or week as needed)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. This would be an awesome
Multi-player app especially if you could save and resume a game. You'd almost have to have one person host the game so the data is all housed on one SD card.
Other thoughts are the ability to change the rules before starting, built in chat and or push to talk functionality, bartering alerts, next turn alerts, review of score and previous actions, the list goes on.
If someone is serious about developing this then I am totally willing to help think it through and create graphics. Send me a PM.
Sent from my HTC Vogue FroYo using XDA App
Settlers of Catan Android game in the works
I've been having a dabble with android development and have been working on a Settlers of Catan game as it is such a great game and it's a good way to learn android dev.
I'm ready to admit that someone might beat me to it, whether by making the iphone version available to android or whatever, but still if anyone is interested in a) helping out on the project b) doing some testing or c) pimping the game, let me know! You can contact me on cettlersofsatan at gmail dot com.
It's currently in SVN online in a single user repository. But I would happily move it to Google Code or something if others were interested.
I'm as eager as everyone else to see this project pull through. And stone do NOT lose faith. It is always better to have an option then only one option for a game/app.
I have assembled a list of people who expressed interest in helping:
stoneskin - work in progress
niknah - dev
Willuknight - graphics
ii Candor ii - graphics/thinktank
DJGibbon - test
You guys should really get together especially with stone and get cracking! Heard some good ideas and plenty of offers to help. The XDA community NEEDS A SETTLERS!
Thanks guys!
I'd love to help too. I don't think can commit the time to help with development though. Real life is just too hectic lately. However, I'd love to help testing.
If the time opens up, I'm interested in helping with development.
As to graphics, just no skills to bring to the table. Although, I did have a thought last night on this subject. The game might be more playable with simpler graphics. Instead of trying to have an understandable picture of sheep/ore/... on the hexes, just use colors. Light green for wool/sheep, dark green or brown for lumber, goldenrod/yellow for wheat, dark grey for ore and dark red for brick.
Work in progress!
Gino, Latenk, thanks for the feedback. Here's the deal.
I agree, simple graphics to start with, I've uploaded a screenshot, but before anyone analyses it too much , let me state what I want from the project initially.
1) The basic game (i.e. no expansions) in full.
2) Multi-player (up to 4 initially) or single-player (with AI) on one phone.
3) Basic graphics, but a clean separation in implementation so that the graphics, special effects, zoom, board rotation, whatever the monkey-magic one wants, can be added ON TOP OF the rest of the app.
4) Game is free (shouldn't be any copyright issues right?) and would be great if it could get onto Android Market or equivalent.
5) Open source?
I hate graphics, hate the tweaking, fiddling, pixel-adjusting and so on, so I've knocked up the simplest GUI imaginable. I've slapped on a handful of buttons which as you can see, have rubbish little text labels - RD = Roll Dice (in one of the screenshots it's displaying the number rolled), BR/BS/BC are build road/settlement/city, MR = Move Robber, C=Cancel, D=Done, X=exit.
In these shots I'm not even playing a game, I'm in a test mode where I'm just free-building. My colour is white. So a hex-side is painted white for a road, the small circles are settlements, the large circle is a city. The large red circle is me selecting a vertices. As you can see, the current player (Bob) has no resources (free-building) but resources are laid out with shoddy little cards.
So the graphics are v. poor. But I'm not too concerned right about it right now.
Where have I got to?
I've got the basic 'model' in place. That is the game model that maintains hexes, vertices, hex-sides and their roads/settlements/cities.
I haven't even touched on AI, ports, trading.
I'm trying to build the app cleanly, so the views have no concrete knowledge of the game model, and any calls to it are interfaced out.
But this is my first Android app, so I'm learning from scratch, possibly comitting all sorts of Android crimes.
I'm a full-time .Net developer, so I'm kinda fitting this in around job/family and so on, so progress is slow.
Here are my thoughts. I'll aim to get this to a clean/stable state within the next week or so, then if others want to get involved in dev I'll create a Google Code project (or equivalent) and sort it out from there.
I'm currently building against 1.6 because I have an X10 mini. It would be great to support up to the latest API versions.
Ok, uploading the images now. Graphics ARE AWFUL but I'm focussing on the game at the moment.
By the way, if anyone knows what licensing/copyright issues there are with something like this please let me know. I've currently called the project 'Cettlers of Satan' 'cos that made me smile. If rights issues meant it can't go through market places then so be it, but would be great if someone could research this.
Haha, you know that is a basic layout but gets the job done! What you could do is have the game map be at least twice as large as say the resolution of a N1 screen. Enable finger scrolling and/or pinch to zoom (comlpex perhaps but a thought) and let people move around the game map as needed. That'd allow for better graphics, larger maps, and a larger feel to the game. The HUD could possibly go up either side of the game map. In fact I'd say make landscape mode MANDATORY so you have the extra real estate.
Check this out: http://games.asobrain.com/
That is what I envision this game like. That game is everything this game COULD be and he even found ways around copyright. Check that game out, play a round or two and it will give you plenty to think about/use as inspiration. Obviously no need to copy, but you can use it for ideas.
Lastly, the previous statement someone made about notifications is pure gold. Allow people to play their turns then pass to the next with a notification appearing. Great ideas.
I've been there before, but a while ago and he's closed all unactive accounts and stopped registration unfortunately.
If you are a member maybe you could upload a couple of screenshots or explain to me how the GUI works in more detail.
I love the idea of finger scrolling/pinch/zoom etc. I'm gonna give some of that a go tomorrow. But like I say, what I'm initially trying to achieve is
GUI
Model
in a clean separation. So any visual representation would be possible. I'll try and knock out some basic zoom/finger scroll effects just to convince myself that my rudimentary framework will hold together.
Thanks for the quick feedback mate.
This shows the basic layout, how it all works, the HUD and such. Again this would have to be adjusted for the handheld, but in general it looks and works great!
In the top left is a pane for the players in the game. It shows Player Name, Player Color, a count of the cards in the players hand, any held and/or played D cards. This pane can be hidden if the player wishes.
The pane on the bottom left shows all things the plyer can buy and what it takes for the player to buy them. (in the android version I imagine this being a tab you can bring up to buy/see what you need and have.
Below that pane is Played Cards, and Table cards which speak for themselves.
Of course along the bottom you see your hand.
On the bottom right you have 3 buttons, claim victory, trade, and end turn.
And of course you see the dice.
Top right is the chat box.
All of this again is simply for inspiration and not for copying. This gives you a great idea of a fleshed out game and how it could look on a handset.
This is a trade window.
Two things of note here. First notice the top left. WHen a player gets cards on a roll, they show up face up for a brief moment. GREAT idea if possible to implement something similar.
Secondly, bottom right is what appears to be a chart. That shows how many times a number has been rolled. This is more advanced than what we'd need, but an interesting idea and prob easy to implement.
Now on this one a couple things to point out. Look at how they do cities and roads. Similar to what you've suggested. I was thinking maybe circles with symbols on the top (kind of like tokens or markers). Of course maybe more intricate and detailed models could be added later.
Also, that speech bubble that popped up shows where the person played their road or city or settlement. This is ESSENTIAL in some form or another on this game. Plan to include SOMETHING like it.
And lastly, this picture shows what it looks like when a person trades succesfully. Again not necessary but certainly handy.
I must repeat again that I DO NOT CONDONE OUTRIGHT PLAGIARISM with anything Asobrain has done. This is purely for inspiration and research. This should give you PLENTY of ideas!
I've got tons!
This is a beautiful start. Couple thoughts.
- The desert color isn't clearly distinct from wheat.
- The name will have to be something other than "Settlers of Catan". I'd avoid the current name for two reasons. One, a lot of us will take some degree of exception to the Satan reference. Two, it's not really different enough to dodge trademark concerns.
- I despise needing to scroll around in a game to see everything. This is my main complaint with "Pirates & Traders".
- On such a small screen, keep the UI as simple as possible. AsoBrain is wonderful. But, it is designed for a largish screen. (BTW, I hate that he killed old accounts when closing registration. I was away for just about the exact period to get locked-out).
- As we proceed, I'd like to plan for a multi-device/network play. This game would be awesome in a peer-to-peer, networked model.
Thanks for getting this started.
P.S. I *REALLY* like how you did the board. The buttons: meh. The board: Wow!
GinoAMelone said:
This is a beautiful start. Couple thoughts.
- The desert color isn't clearly distinct from wheat.
- The name will have to be something other than "Settlers of Catan". I'd avoid the current name for two reasons. One, a lot of us will take some degree of exception to the Satan reference. Two, it's not really different enough to dodge trademark concerns.
- I despise needing to scroll around in a game to see everything. This is my main complaint with "Pirates & Traders".
- On such a small screen, keep the UI as simple as possible. AsoBrain is wonderful. But, it is designed for a largish screen. (BTW, I hate that he killed old accounts when closing registration. I was away for just about the exact period to get locked-out).
- As we proceed, I'd like to plan for a multi-device/network play. This game would be awesome in a peer-to-peer, networked model.
Thanks for getting this started.
P.S. I *REALLY* like how you did the board. The buttons: meh. The board: Wow!
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Click to collapse
1. Agreed, the desert should be a tan, and wheat clearly a gold.
2. Also agree. It cannot even closely resemble Settlers. We can worry about the name when we have a game worth naming (I was thinking something like Travista, or something resembling travelers).
3. That is why it'd also be prudent to include a pinch to zoom or zoom controls. Let the player get in close if they wish, or let them sit way back and view it all from a distance.
4. Agreed. Simple yet elegant/complex in its design is what I'd like to see. Again give the player the option of getting as complicated as they wish. This can be easily accomplished with tabs that the player can pull out as needed. The only thing that should remain on the screen is the players hand, and a few essential buttons. Look at a game called PocketEmpires, use that idea for assembling tabs. I do feel that certain tabs should be entirely devoted to one type of action (like a building tab).
5. Once you have a basic game framework laid, you can work on making it work across the board and with all devices. The dev should focus on getting it to work native first, then move onward. As for a p2p network GREAT IDEA! If there is a way we can link this either by device or via a server that'd be the best way. Allow players to run through an entire game, or let players take their turns and move on to another player (IE pass it back and forth via notifications, similar to how Scrabble works on the iPhone).
I only wish I knew any code/dev tools to help with. All these ideas and nothing to do about it!
For those who like the Football Manager series for the PC, the Android version has recently arrived!
http://www.sigames.com/news/14114/Football+Manager+Handheld+makes+Android+debut
http://www.sigames.com/news/14115/Football+Manager+Handheld+for+Android+out+now
I bought it earlier and I must say...very impressive, however...it only has a lower resolution and doesn't make full use of the 1200x860 resultion for the Galaxy Note but that is being considered by Sports Interactive!
the lower res is keeping me from buying it, for now.
and its rubbish
I didnt play it yet but the resolution is just crap!!!
Sent from my N-7000 using hands...
thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharing with us, but the video isnt about FH 2012...
I agree but for $9 I expect a quality product that at LEAST takes advantage of the entire screen.... Not some half assed compatibility
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
mauaus said:
I agree but for $9 I expect a quality product that at LEAST takes advantage of the entire screen.... Not some half assed compatibility
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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Thats your right - I've done my best to ensure the game works on as many devices as possible, now the game is out we're looking to provide additional skins for devices during updates to the game.
I apologise that we couldn't get these ready for release, but to be honest we're still trying to assess which of the myriad of different devices/resolutions are the most important to support at present (I looked at automatically scaling the display to fill the screen but on a text heavy game it ended up rendering in a blurry manner and I felt it better to go with crisp text in a bordered window than give people headaches).
Marc Vaughan said:
Thats your right - I've done my best to ensure the game works on as many devices as possible, now the game is out we're looking to provide additional skins for devices during updates to the game.
I apologise that we couldn't get these ready for release, but to be honest we're still trying to assess which of the myriad of different devices/resolutions are the most important to support at present (I looked at automatically scaling the display to fill the screen but on a text heavy game it ended up rendering in a blurry manner and I felt it better to go with crisp text in a bordered window than give people headaches).
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I really didn't mean to come off as an ass haha I hope you will support the note, it sold pretty well and has a solid following.. Lots of people mentioning the note in the si boards and in Google play reviews.
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mauaus said:
I really didn't mean to come off as an ass haha I hope you will support the note, it sold pretty well and has a solid following.. Lots of people mentioning the note in the si boards and in Google play reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Note does appear to be popular and I hope that we will be able to support a HD skin for it in the near(ish) future - we're doing the utmost we can to support the game to the best of our ability and will be rolling out updates for the game as promptly as possible.
In case its of interest to people this is the current 'state of the update'' taken from the SI Games bug forum:
#3.4a - First Android Update
Improve alignment of text on dialog box (HD Skin)
Add warning if app is run on a device with inadequate resolution
Welsh Manager Performance Award Fix
Port Vale Point deduction
Fix rare issue in European comps if a minor club wins major competition
Fix for Vans Trophy issue if a conference club qualifies for Europe
Minor text fixes (grammar and translations)
Improve the manner in which players react to bankruptcy
Added apostrophe to keyboard
Fix crash if you slide out physical keyboard while scout search is happening
Improve accuracy of required storage space calculation
Fix very rare corruption of player history in long term saves
Hardware Back button now does 'back' in the game when applicable
(Please note we won't indicate any items on here until they're completed - this included new skins, so the fact that something isn't present doesn't mean it won't be done - just that its not completed at present)
I'm suprised you didn't develop for a tablet target screen and scale down. Rather than aim for the small screen and scale up. Alas though it doesnt quite fill the screen I have many other niggles with the game that irritate me a lot more than the res!
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davexeno said:
I'm suprised you didn't develop for a tablet target screen and scale down. Rather than aim for the small screen and scale up. Alas though it doesnt quite fill the screen I have many other niggles with the game that irritate me a lot more than the res!
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Click to collapse
I looked at that approach but found that the different aspect ratios between the various devices available made it untenable - simply put as you scaled down the text became blurry and unacceptable for reading imho.
As such the safest approach was to implement skins for various resolutions and use them, the current HD skin works on all devices - but isn't optimal for the larger tablets at present.
If you have other niggles then please by all means post away - any constructive feedback you can give will help me continue to improve the game (I like people actively complaining about my products so long as they do so in a constructive manner ...people just saying 'its great' don't help it improve as much as someone explaining what I might do to improve it).
Marc Vaughan said:
I like people actively complaining about my products
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Well that must have come in handy over the years!
Very impressed with the level of support as always, Marc.
I will buy this but I might wait until there's a Note skin.
-
A dream piece of functionality for a handheld FM game would be drawn 'playbooks' which would be perfect with the Note's pen input - tap two points to indicate a pass, draw a line to indicate a move and scribble to tell Pav to "just f-ing run around a bit" - that sort of thing.
JolyonS said:
A dream piece of functionality for a handheld FM game would be drawn 'playbooks' which would be perfect with the Note's pen input - tap two points to indicate a pass, draw a line to indicate a move and scribble to tell Pav to "just f-ing run around a bit" - that sort of thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I LOVE that sort of concept - but its a long term thing I'm afraid, it takes time to move an application forward, especially with a small team (the FMH team across all three platforms (Android, iOS and PSP) consists of me and Richard Jones as the only developers) ... I've lots of plans in this direction don't worry (along with various sketches of how I want the HD skin to eventually look.
Please bear with me - its a long journey to where we're heading, but I hope you enjoy the ride
Marc, between the SI forums and here (probably others too) I'm surprised you find any time for development. Appreciate the time taken to improve the game.
I'd like to have the option of telling players what to do at set pieces, both attacking and defending; 'cover the far post', 'pressure the keeper', that sort of thing. Also the option to give the team a right b0llocking at half time would be good.
Really enjoying playing FM again though, even with the black borders. Nothing else is getting a look in, game-wise, at the moment.
I shall update with my niggles when I get more chance to fully 'absorb' myself into the game. Little things like easily comparing player stats is one, but as I'm a bit of a noob to this game it could well be there's an option I've missed!
raines43 said:
Marc, between the SI forums and here (probably others too) I'm surprised you find any time for development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not a big believer in sitting around idle while I wait for things, as a developer there are frequently times in the day when you're waiting for a build to be done or a test to finish ... when thats the case I often nip online and try and make a post or two.
Appreciate the time taken to improve the game.
I'd like to have the option of telling players what to do at set pieces, both attacking and defending; 'cover the far post', 'pressure the keeper', that sort of thing. Also the option to give the team a right b0llocking at half time would be good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know I'll be expanding the game feature set in the future HOWEVER its vital imho that I keep the game flow nice and fast and easy to pick up and use, its for this reason I'm not rushing to put such options into the game... this isn't to say I won't do it, but I want to ensure its done right and the speed and feel of FMH remains intact when I do so (ie. watch this space, but its probably not something I'll do quickly as part of an update).
Really enjoying playing FM again though, even with the black borders. Nothing else is getting a look in, game-wise, at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool - glad you're enjoying the game
---------- Post added at 06:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:17 PM ----------
davexeno said:
I shall update with my niggles when I get more chance to fully 'absorb' myself into the game. Little things like easily comparing player stats is one, but as I'm a bit of a noob to this game it could well be there's an option I've missed!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're correct that there isn't currently a 'compare' option in the game - its something I want to add in, but its the actual 'UI' approach to it which I haven't got down 'pat' yet .... once I come up with a system I think is intuitive and easy to use I'll definitely look to add that in.
Update is out for the game and it now runs at full screen (it's actually 1280x720 but you can't tell it isn't full screen). Haven't checked out everything else that the update does but what I've noticed so far: The ball animation is jerkier on the game highlights, as are some player movements. Also one of my players hit a shot over the goal and onto the roof behind but it gave it as a goal. That hadn't happened in the 5 seasons I've played before the upgrade. Still, happier having the full screen mode than not and still loving the game.
Another bizarre 'goal', my player kicked the ball out over the half way line (off the bottom of the screen) and it was given as a goal.
Have to ask why has the exit game button been removed from the main menu screen? To leave the game I now have to press the home button and then close FM2012 in the task manager. A bit clunky.
raines43 said:
Another bizarre 'goal', my player kicked the ball out over the half way line (off the bottom of the screen) and it was given as a goal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check into this.
Have to ask why has the exit game button been removed from the main menu screen? To leave the game I now have to press the home button and then close FM2012 in the task manager. A bit clunky.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 'exit' button had to be removed I'm afraid as a very small minority of devices (5 reports) had problems with it working - the effect of these problems was severe for the individuals concerned (ie. crashed the devices or caused issues with the SD Card) and so I felt it was better to remove it as I couldn't track down the reason it was occurring for them.
I am however planning on including an 'invisible' exit option in the next update - ie. clicking the 'back' button on the game entry page will then bring up a 'are you sure you want to quit the app' option - hopefully that'll be the best of all worlds for everyone (he says optimistically ).
Thanks Marc, I've played quite a few more matches and nothing else weird has happened since the halfway line 'goal'. Unless you count Barnsley being 3rd in the Premier League as weird.
Hi all,
I am starting a series of videos that will look at every aspect of the Surface RT tablet. I do reviews on different aspects of the device, basic tutorials to learn how to use the device and app reviews on the best, most useful and free apps.
I have previously done very successful videos on the Asus Transformer Prime (150 videos) and the Nexus 7 (100 videos) but I see this as being my biggest project to date since Windows 8 is such a radical departure from previous version that I'll be posting many videos as I learn new and interesting things. Here are a few videos just to give you a flavour of my work.
I am literally scratching the surface (every pun intended) of this device and will be kicking out a couple of videos everyday for a good few weeks. I'll be updating this thread regularly. I hope you find them useful, entertaining and informative.
Thanks in advance,
vgjfelix
Cool - Couple of comments.
On the Tile Screen, if you drag one app way to the bottom, it will also shrink the size of the start screen overall, making it easier to drag long distances accross many groups. I am finding this crucial, since my start screen is getting really long - over 70 apps. Which brings me to my next comment - Hopefully MS or a 3rd party developer will come up with an option to group tiles into folders as you can do on Ipads and Android, as app management is going to be an issue with the current layout and no ability to group into folders
Regarding the charging cable - I am surprised you made no comment how tough it is sometimes to get the magnetic connection to seat properly and start charging even though it appears to be connected - I think MS failed on the design. Apparent in your video when you are using 2 hands to get it seated correctly. I had heard this can be fixed by filing the sharp edges of the connector but have not been brave enough to do it yet.
Other than that - Good job - Keep them coming . .
guitar1969 said:
Cool - Couple of comments.
On the Tile Screen, if you drag one app way to the bottom, it will also shrink the size of the start screen overall, making it easier to drag long distances accross many groups. I am finding this crucial, since my start screen is getting really long - over 70 apps. Which brings me to my next comment - Hopefully MS or a 3rd party developer will come up with an option to group tiles into folders as you can do on Ipads and Android, as app management is going to be an issue with the current layout and no ability to group into folders
Regarding the charging cable - I am surprised you made no comment how tough it is sometimes to get the magnetic connection to seat properly and start charging even though it appears to be connected - I think MS failed on the design. Apparent in your video when you are using 2 hands to get it seated correctly. I had heard this can be fixed by filing the sharp edges of the connector but have not been brave enough to do it yet.
Other than that - Good job - Keep them coming . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the comment. Thanks for the app drag tip. I am learning just like everyone else at the moment so whenever someone tells me something like this I think 'this needs a video' so I'll probably do one about it.
I have noticed since doing the plug review that is it a little tricky to connect up the charger. I might bring this up in a later video.
vgjfelix
Two more videos here.
First of all I know this review is completely out of number sequence, I just wanted to put this one up as soon as I did because this topic is important to me.
Font sizes. Once again another tablet fails to deliver when it comes to giving us the freedom to set font sizes how we would like. That's what we do a lot of the time with tablets, and you can always resize fonts in books readers. So why doesn't this extend to apps and the tablet (and I'm talking about tablets in general here) eco system as a whole. Well one app in this video proves it is possible with a brilliant feature.
And the second one: here begins my App-Snack videos. First one is a simple live clock and date tile:
vgjfelix
A quick look on my experiences (so far) of how the tablet lock and unlocks
If you use the legacy (non-Metro) control panel, you can adjust the DPI to enlarge text and everything in the screen. However, this may push the display below the minimum resolution to use metro-style apps.
This video is a quick test about using the tablet in a confined space:
Today is a quick look at an odd problem with the youtube reply button on the browser.
Just in case you didn't know. You don't have to get an official HDMI cable:
This is a video about some of my first impressions tile arrangement on the start screen:
This one is a quick look at the lack of uniformity when changing settings. Why is the same option accessed by different methods.
Another quick look, this time at frustrating experiences of the App store search function (am I really doing something wrong?):
As I start to get a grip on this operating system, more and more Basics tutorial videos will start to come out. In this one I look at the offscreen swipe gestures (on the startscreen).
Another quick look, this time at my shrinking storage:
Another quick look in this one regarding High Contrast Mode:
A look at an excellent Tech news app that's arrived early on Surface RT
A guide and impressions of the app store in this one:
In this video I show you how to quickly move tiles around your startscreen,
So the Surface RT is seriously telling me that it won't support the resolution of my television so I can't watch movies on it? Very disgruntled! Help someone!
A quick basic video about lock screen passwords.
First off - I'm a hater, okay? And this topic is complete hatred against what's called 'upgrade/development' of Android OS.
Second - I don't care at all if you disagree with me. I express my personal opinion and whoever feels the same – you’re welcome! For the rest - I just disagree with you! Totally, full, absolutely disagree and insist my opinion is right from my standpoint. Also I need to express what I think as this just helps me dissipate my anger which is a lot nowadays.
I'm going start like this: something wrong happened between Android OS ver. 4.4.x and 5.0.x and on... something terribly wrong! Why? -A 100 reasons... I'll give a few:
The total change of the background color from dark to light in App Menu/Settings, most stock applications: Dialer, Messages, etc. I simply don't get it! How on earth is it possible to completely transform the outlook of a system from one spectrum of the color to the other without giving a chance to choose between just two options, making my eyes hurt facing this bright display each time I turn it on, especially at night; and -please pay attention - almost all high-end Samsung device is equipped with AMOLED Display, and everybody knows, that this type of display consume power for emitting light for every pixel light up. It is a battery killer sentence!
Basically this change does only two things:
- Hurts my eyes
- Kills the battery
Why should it be necessary to spend time on unlocking bootloader, rooting phone and installing third-party applications just to be able to change the background color of the menus? This is complete non-sense to me!!! Seriously, guys, I'm not a programmer, but as far as I know, it's just a differences from #ffffff to #000000 - should it be that damn difficult? Really?
Recent Application List - Now if you compare the two designs on 4.4.x and 5.0.x you'll notice how neat and easy is to navigate on 4.4.x and how hard it is to distinguish between apps on 5.0.x. Simply by making a space between the apps, the mind can easily separate the information and quickly choose. Making an animated rolling stack of screens on 5.0.x is really confusing and not practical for me, period.
Melting the Wi-Fi and Network Signal bars as one - there used to be a distinguishable number of bars on both Wi-Fi and Network Signal on 4.4.x. It was very easy to tell if you have 2, 3 or 4 bars coverage. On 5.0.x they are just 'more' or 'less' - total stupidity. Moreover, the Wi-Fi had two arrows under the bars, which showed whether there is Download/Upload activity - very clever, very useful! Again - no (easy) option to choose between what I am used to; what worked well for me, and what the new design is.
Battery percentage - almost invisible - on 4.4.x. there was an option to choose between Battery in Bars or as Percentage. As I have never ever in my life thought I could use Bars for this purpose, the size of the text showing the Percentage was big enough, readable and clear. Now, on the 5.0.x the text is inside the battery icon, making it so tiny, I have to gaze in the screen. And since I'm using a phone with e-ink display as secondary display, it is almost impossible to read from it, making the presence of the e-ink display practically pointless in this regard. Again - I am forced to install third party app to have a regular size text, thus giving the phone's resources away!
Trend in Stock Applications Development - beside the white backgrounds, basic Google apps like Calendar, Clock, Maps, YouTube, Chrome, Drive, Gmail and so on, are ever more heavier, complicated, less responsive, more resource-consuming, more ads-annoying.
-The Calendar is totally messed-up.
-YouTube is full of sh't.
-So is Maps - should I drive or should I response to the hundred questions I've been constantly asked, Google Maps?
-Clock/Alarm has a funny colors, disproportionally big digits – total design flaw! (I actually had to pretend to be a programmer as I did decompile of the Clock 5.2, edited the code and recompile, using Apktool 2.3.0 (credits to iBotPeaches))
-And, guess what - I still use the Calculator, but I had to install ver. 1.0.6, because I simply can't stand how the buttons are melted together on ver. 6.0.1, so the fingers don't know where is the end of one button and the beginning of the other. And the History option is omitted (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?)! Total insanity!
-Google Search bar has a persistent presence on 5.0.1, so I was forced to Destroy it using gsb destroyer within Xposed Module Repository - why should I have to do that anyway, damn it!?
-Every update of Google Play services requires more space and RAM.
-Location, Wi-Fi usage and Statistical information send to the Google Servers are ever more hidden in the background, less accessible - total control of the Giant.
The list goes on and on and on…
//Slight off-topic: I have to admit that years ago I was freaking mad on having the latest version of every piece of software I got on my computer or on my smartphone. At one point I realized it's just pointless to 'repair something that works' and it is more or less like this with the current updates. So now I don't update something which serves its function.//
I believe the following philosophy applies to any business - if you sell a product on the market, which people like and are used to, a sudden change; a complete change overnight, will let many people down. Those who used to buy your product will be disappointed and might as well reorientate their interest to another brand. Constant supply and steady quality is vital!
If we have a look in the Nature - the changes/mutations aren't happening too fast; everything evolves step-by-step! Using the successful features of the predecessors, adapting and evolving gradually.
Google has a different approach - in my opinion they shoot in random directions, regardless of what has been achieved so far; regardless of the successful features; changing everything overnight. Well, I don't like that! It simply doesn't fit my needs. And I don't understand why should I change from soothing dark background to hurtful to my eyes light.
What I embrace and need is OPTIONS! I need to be able to choose what and how I want my device to look and act like. This gives me freedom to satisfy my preferences and be happy with MY choices. But this should not come with the price of countless hours of modifying and customizing by tedious programming. I'm not a developer, I'm not intending to become one, but that doesn't mean customization shouldn't be available for me. It's simple as that!
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There's probably a lot more to share on the topic, but I feel what I've said so far is giving me some sort of relief, so I'll stop here.
absolutely agree ; KK ftw.:good:
fear a life unlived , not death
I think some things are changed for the sake of changing. Development has somewhat become stale as new versions of Android continue to roll out with no earth shattering changes.
Brands are chasing each other and as a result we're getting bigger screens and better cameras. But software development isn't what it once was. ?
You have a Yota phone??¿????????????
shanegarm said:
You have a Yotaphone??¿????¿????¿??
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Is that a question and how is it related to the topic?
I've got several devices and I've had many others before - like most of the people in this forum. What I'm talking about here is software, which has little to do with hardware. That's another story; another topic.
tashev2078 said:
Is that a question and how is it related to the topic?
I've got several devices and I've had many others before - like most of the people in this forum. What I'm talking about here is software, which has little to do with hardware. That's another story; another topic.
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I was merely impressed with the fact that you had said device...
Well it's true that Android updates are hit/miss at the same time. However, the updates usually offer better battery management and performance so you end up getting them. I still use custom roms to get functionality that has been lost/changed such as the recents panel, the colors and so on...
ZareliMan said:
Well it's true that Android updates are hit/miss at the same time. However, the updates usually offer better battery management and performance so you end up getting them. I still use custom roms to get functionality that has been lost/changed such as the recents panel, the colors and so on...
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Is that really the reason most people want updates?
For me the improvements in battery and performance would have to be quite significant to would want to risk a stable and familiar system for it. My main reasons for sometimes regretting being stuck on 4.4.2 are security issues and compatibility problems with newer apps. The latter more than the former tbh - nowadays so many apps require at least LP
To add to the OP's list of things that were(/are) nice on KK, but seem to have been abolished on newer Androids: Lockscreen Widgets
Damn... Your life must be terrible without the option of choosing between two colors. I think whole life is messed up. So why not Android? You need to make the best off by yourself in life. So with Android too. Android gets bigger and bigger and has at least the option to make it yours. My opinion said xda becomes bigger and bigger about that. And we all got our own personalized phone. Or you have an iPhone? How easy life can be with options. My decision is without.
Google I/O is an annual developer keynote where many breakthrough technologies are announced. This event is always met with some hype and often a few leaks that can give us an idea of what to expect. This is where developers will get a first look at the newest Android build, followed by a beta that can be downloaded to specific devices. This year, Google is showing us the new features in Android 12. While the focus on the newest Android update takes up the majority of the keynote, there are still many more Announcements to cover.
Don't miss these great Google I/O articles from the XDA News team (and check out our amazing recap here):
Google FINALLY Shows Pending App Installs on the Android home screen
Android 12 Beta 1 Hands-on: A RADICAL Redesign comes to Android
Android 12 Generates AMAZING Themes from your Wallpaper
It's About Time! Google Overhauls Widgets in Android 12
Get Android 12 Beta for Google Pixel and other Android devices - RIGHT NOW
Android 12’s privacy controls Have TONS of NEW FEATURES
Android 12Right before the event began, Google released the first beta build for Android 12. This is one of the most significant updates that Android has seen. If you own a compatible Pixel phone, you'll be able to experience the beta right away. The beta can be installed as an OTA update, but if you prefer to manually install it, you can download the update from the list below.
Google Pixels
DeviceOTAFactory ImageGoogle Pixel 3Download LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 3 XLDownload LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 3aDownload LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 3a XLDownload LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 4Download LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 4 XLDownload LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 4aDownload LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 4a 5GDownload LinkDownload LinkGoogle Pixel 5Download LinkDownload Link
GSI Downloads
[The Android 12 Beta GSI download links and the installation guide can be found here.]
ArchitectureGSI Packagex86+GMSDownload LinkARM64+GMSDownload Linkx86_64Download LinkARM64Download Link
Once you are ready to install the Android 12 beta 1, you can use the Android Flash Tool. The web-based installer comes with a handy GUI-based wizard that greatly simplifies the flashing process. Instead of focusing on the changes that were introduced in Android 12 Beta 1, Google released a more detailed press release that talks about the changes that will be seen in the next version of the OS.
New Features
The new Color Extraction feature will pull colors from your current wallpaper and implement them throughout the system, as a new theme. It uses a clustering algorithm to determine which shades are dominant and which are less dominant. This design, along with the rest of the new “Material You” changes, are coming to Google Pixel phones first in the fall.
Then there’s dynamic lighting, a feature wherein your lockscreen expands from darkness based on where you press the power button or unlock the phone. One feature we also spotted is that, on the lock screen, there’s a new button for Quick Wallet Access (Google Pay cards). Furthermore, the Quick Settings space has redesigned to include Google Pay and Home controls.
Another strong focus is the new privacy features. First, a new privacy dashboard to see a timeline of apps using a particular permission has been added. Furthermore, this privacy dashboard also gives easy access to manage that permission. Next, there are now privacy indicators in the top right to see when an app is using the camera or microphone. New Quick Settings toggles to disable camera or microphone access have been added. Finally, all machine learning processing (for features like smart reply, Now Playing, etc.) happens on-device under a new Private Compute Core software partition.
Google has reworked the Widgets API to enhance the user experience across different platforms, Android skins, and launchers. We see a consistent spread of the Google Sans font, flat icons, and cohesive color palettes, all of which together give widgets a more modern look. Widgets in Android 12 get new dynamic controls allowing you to interact with checkboxes, radio buttons, and switches without entering an app. The widget picker will now also offer responsive previews for widgets of different sizes.
Material YouAndroid's look is getting a complete redesign. These new design standards are called Material You. The colors of your Android theme can now be generated by your wallpaper. Android will pull a color pallet based on your own custom wallpaper, and apply it to different aspects of your phone. This gives a consistent and new look to your device, every time you change your wallpaper. As per the keynote at Google I/O 2021, the colors will apply uniformly across elements such as the lockscreen, quick settings, notifications panel, and even the newly-added adaptive widgets.
"We mix color science with years of investment in the disciplines of interaction design and engineering to make it possible to tailor any app—not just Google’s—to the user’s unique Material palette in real time. Material You includes users as co-creators, delivering a mode for every mood." - Google
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Material You will arrive as part of Android 12, and Google says it will share more details in the coming weeks. The design shift is described as a “multiyear journey,” so much like the original rollouts of Material Design and Google’s Material Theme (also known as ‘Material Design 2.0’), it will likely be a while before all of Google’s apps are migrated to the new style.
WearOS NewsGoogle has put effort into bringing some big updates to Wear OS. This update comes as a collaboration between Google and Samsung, in an attempt to revamp the OS. This keynote was the first time we got to see many of these new features in action.
Google transitioned from Google Play Music to YouTube Music last year, and one of the several issues users faced due to this transition was the lack of a Wear OS app for Google’s new music streaming service. Google has now confirmed that it will release a YouTube Music app for Wear OS later this year. The app will come with features like smart downloads that will let users download music to their watches for offline listening while they’re on the go.
Furthermore, Google announced that it’s making it easier for developers to build new Wear OS apps and Tiles with a couple of new tools. These include a new Tiles API and a watch face design editor built by Samsung. Apps from developers like Strava, Adidas Running, Bitmoji, and more will also make their way to the platform later this year.
"New tools, like a Tiles API and a watch face design editor built by Samsung, make it a breeze to develop new experiences on wearables." - Google
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Smart CanvasOne of the first announcements of the event was a new service called Smart Canvas. This is a team collaboration service that integrates Google Meet and Docs. Think of it as a replacement for services like Slack or Asana. Google showed an example of a team tracking an advertising campaign from beginning to end. The process first starts like an idea board, which evolves as the project goes on. You can assign and track tasks for specific team members.
Google Meet is being integrated into Docs, as a part of Smart Canvas. Now when you're working on a document with the team, you can start a call from within your doc. This is an easy way to collaborate with your team while tackling one project. Features similar to this are being added that have the goal of unifying all of Google's different work/office tools.
Android Augmented Reality APIARCore for Android will be receiving some important upgrades, according to the I/O keynote. The company's augmented reality platform powers more than 850 million Android smartphones worldwide. ARCore relies on your phone’s existing hardware and sensors to collect data on depth, motion tracking, and light estimation to help developers build interactive AR experiences. This API is essential for developers to continue to create advanced AR apps for the Android platform.
Now Google introduces the raw Depth API, which builds upon the Depth API to provide more detailed representations of surrounding objects by generating raw depth maps with corresponding confidence images. While the Depth API focused on generating smoothed depth maps with depth estimates for all pixels, the Raw Depth API aims to capture more realistic depth maps with confidence images providing a per-pixel depth estimate.
Another area of improvement is the hit-test which now uses depth maps instead of planes to provide more hit-test results even on non-planar and low-texture floors. TeamViewer’s LifeAR app has utilized the depth hit-test to integrate AR capabilities into video calls.
Continue to follow XDA's coverage of the 2021 Google I/O and the first beta build of Android 12.
this is the first android version in a long time that looks so vastly different. i personally love it..
Pixel 3a is compatible with Materia You? OR It will work on new Pixel phones (Pixel 5 and newer) only?