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Closing program with hw-key, goddommit!

Im slowly going mad with Raphael, HTC didnt make this easy for me.
I only want simple things. Like, one hw-button on top panel of device, that really closes program. I mean REALLY, and EVERY TIME. Not casually, or just leave it hanging there on the background.
But no, this is a luxury I cant have. I always have to try to hit my big thumb into little X at right upper corner.
Lets have an example. Fire up File Explorer. Ok Im done with it and want to close program (by pressing nice and big hw-key, not aiming for small X). Options:
1. I press Home-button. I'm back at home screen and File Explorer running on background.
2. I press Back-button. I'm back at home screen and File Explorer running on background.
3. I press Endcall-button. I'm back at home screen and File Explorer running on background.
...Seriously, WTF??? Why do we have THREE hw-buttons in top panel of Raphael, that do exactly the same thing? And as far as I have observerd, there is no really good solutions yet for remapping these hw-keys.
All I want is:
1. Button that takes me back to Home-screen (obviously Home-button)
2. Button that changes from program to another (alt+tab, I could use Back-button for this)
3. Button that really closes program (obvious choise would be Endcall-button).
Goddommit.

The Back button is really the OK button from previous devices like the Hermes. I agree the Home button is probably useless, but I suppose it's a fast way to get to the Home screen when you're in a call, since pressing Hangup while you're in a call will... hangup the current call.
With all the RAM in the device, is there any reason to really close any apps?

AEBPlus can handle all of them,but the Back button not. Unfortunately the Home button can be handled,but after hitting it,it jumps to Todayscreen and makes the command defined in AEBPlus,so it is unusable. I want to use those 2 buttons for something different as well as some of the keys on keyboard(SMS to OK/Close). As I don't understant 3 buttons for same functions,I don't understand,why we have 2 hw-keys for entering the messaging on the keyboard.

Taajuus said:
All I want is:
1. Button that takes me back to Home-screen (obviously Home-button)
2. Button that changes from program to another (alt+tab, I could use Back-button for this)
3. Button that really closes program (obvious choise would be Endcall-button).
Goddommit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that would be perfect in my eyes

WM 6.5 new UI - app close and task manager.

I've tried a bunch of new 6.5 UI roms and I am facing this problem with all of them.
1. The OK button (bottom right) does not close applications. It simply minimizes them. This is really frustrating since I dont know what apps are open until i pull up the task manager. This also drains battery life. How do i make the OK button close an app? (detailed instructions appreciated)
2. The earlier UI used to have a quick task manager on the top right corner from which we could switch apps and close them. that doesnt come anymore, instead i get this new and useless notification bar. How do i make it show the quick task manager? (detailed instructions appreciated)
The above 2 make it really annoying to switch/close apps because once u minimize, the only way to go back to them it seems is to pull up dot fred task manager.
3. Pressing the home button on the device while running an app (the home iconed hardware button under the screen) takes me to the opened start menu not the home screen. when i exit out of the start menu it takes me back to the app, so i cannot access my homescreen unless i press ok on the app and minimize it, is there any way to make the hom button take me to the homescreen?
Thank you in advance?

1 & 2 : use showcase : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=4030896
3 : use end button instead of home (which is an HTC non-sense, get the start menu like your rom is configured is really a better idea)

fantastic app - showcase. that solves my task manager problem, but i still have to press start, go to apps and press showcase to bring it up, can i have it mapped on the notification area so i can simply fire it up without having to go to the start menu?
thanks.

I have been having issues with Showcase not wanting to install or run properly on the newest 6.5 build 23071. If I load v1.0.1 It will work for the most part and I can configure it to still to close a program by clicking on the clock.. How ever when I switch to the newer 1.1.0 build I can not get the lower X to close thing like it should by either holding it or by setting to single tap.
I'm currently doing a hard reset because of trying taskfacade and trying to go back to Showcase.

i just installed 1.1.0 and it seems to be working fine. i even managed to figure out how to bring it up from any app. just tap and hold the win key and it comes up. very nice software.

Ya I have it back up and working. The only other issue to look forward to with Showcase is that some report it closing tmail.exe from time to time. I also map my PTT short press to open it for those programs that take the full screen and do not have the Windows icon.

You can also check out AEButton+. You have to pay for it, but it's pretty cheap. I got it last week, and have no idea why I didn't get it sooner. Haven't tried it on the newer com3 builds yet (still using com2), but I'm pretty sure it will close things. It isn't tied into the displaced 'X' button like a lot of task managers. You can close apps with a button push, and it also has a nice little task manager pop-up that you can also map to a button push (similar to the htc quick menu). You also get ~dozen more mappable button pushes on a fuze. It's really worth it, although I haven't tried a com3/4 6.5 build yet.

Newer WM6.5.1 builds such as 23071... clicking on the clock brings up the new drop down taskbar...
Running HTC Task Manager, you have to tap and hold, then release to get the task manager to shop up. Does Showcase experience this as well?
It seems to be with the new builds. I would assume Showcase would function the same.

Why don't you people just use inbuilt taskmanager.exe from Windows folder? I've configured it to open with long press "send" key (talk button), and it's working great.

I use aebutton and tie it to my Ok/Back key to close apps and it's working like a treat. that's the best way to really close apps I feel

i have a custom winmo 6.5 rom aslo, everything runs good on it, except the onscreen keyboard is useless now, all i can seem to enter are numbers only and i have messed with the input settings to see if that can correct it and so far to no avail or maybe im just one of the weird people who actualy use the onscreen compact qwerty i dunno.

soft keyboard behavior and breakage. re-install? good replacement?

for as long as I've had my phone, which, of course, is as long as I've had it rooted, my messaging app has acted extremely odd.
Using the arrow keys and the back-space key causes strange, and often app-breaking, behavior. it seems to be registering the key presses in at least 2 other areas of the app. it always scrolls to the top of the conversation, it highlights conversations in the main message window, and it highlights options in the menus before I even have them open. it seems that the window that lists the conversations, as well as the options menu, are still listening to key presses, even when I'm writing a text. often, the arrow keys and the back-space key stop working all together until I back out of the text-input and re-open the keyboard. this happens litterally every time i write a text message, which is a lot.
all I want the arrow keys to do when I'm in a text field is move the cursor, not jump the highlight to the send button, not scroll through auto-complete options, not jump to the conversation window and scroll through individual texts, and certainly not control the selection of items in windows and menus that I don't even have open.
Also, when pressing 2 keys in quick succession, it often only registers one, TH, especially. I'd say its just registering the second press as a movement of the first contact point, istead of a second touch, like old laptop track-pads, but this device is more than capable of registering multi-touch. also, if you hold one key, and press another, the letter from the first appears on the second key for a brief second...
I'm using virtuous ville v.1.4.0 stock, but I've installed and uninstalled a couple other keyboard apps, can I re-install the stock ICS keyboard? is it a sense keyboard? is this happening to anyone else with this rom or with the 4.0.3 os?
thanks for your help
-Peter
god I miss my G1... stupid friggin slabs. this was the first, and will be the last phone that I ever buy without a real keyboard. this touch-screen only nonsense is ridiculous. it would be fast if it were possible to be accurate and keys weren't literally touching each other. why can't I tell it how much space I want between the keys, so I press nothing, instead of the wrong key? there would be no haptic feedback so I knew to press it again, and I wouldn't constantly be pressing the shift, space, and num keys, which the auto-correct doesn't account for in the slightest, instead of the A key or any of the bottom row of letters .I'm tired of sacrificing so much functionality just so phones can look slicker and break easier.

Don't know why it fails, sorry.... The stock ICS keyboard is not a sense keyboard, there is one on market looks like this one https://play.google.com/store/apps/....android.inputmethod.latin.ice_cream_sandwich
Or you could grab a keyboard from any CM9 or AOKP rom zip file, it's named Latin-IME.apk iirc. The jellybean keyboard is similar but nicer somehow, possible it works on ICS. Also SwiftKey is really good.

Thanks for the suggestions! I do, in fact, have a sense keyboard and I do need arrow keys, which the non-sense keyboards, including the jellybean apk don't seem to have. I still can't fathom why anyone would ever prefer these to a real keyboard and a d-pad... also, the jellybean keyboard still has the same trouble with TH's. has anyone here, who shares my frustration with soft keyboards, found a decent keyboard app?
I wish there were decent quality, mini keyboards, too. Wireless or micro-usb would both work, as I'd probably make a case to hold it with my phone. I've only seen a couple, and they're either too big to be practical, or poor quality.
I apologize for my negative attitude. this is just frustrating, as texting is my main form of communication, and I post to forums from my phone quite often, so typing is important to me.
thanks again
-Peter

This is what SwiftKey 3 looks like if you activate the arrows and the Holo theme... One month trial.

Rooting to re-map softkeys for Handcent Quick Compose

I want to be able to bring up Handcent's Quick Compose pop-up window by long-pressing the back key on my verizon GS3.
By reading things online, I think the only way to do this is to root the phone right? If I do choose to go ahead and root it, is it then just a simple alterating of some file that controls the function of each key?
Would this actually work?
Just by rooting the phone, I am not changing how the phone runs, its battery performance, or its appearance as long as I dont flash a custom ROM right?

Why don't you throw nova launcher on (prime is $. 25 right now for another 20 hrs or so). It won't let you change the long press of the menu or back key, but will do the home key. The gestures are awesome, you can set it to launch handsent by simply swiping up (or anyway you want). It's an awesome launcher, best one available in my opinion.
Start there, as I think you need a lot more research under your belt before modifying your device.
Sent from my VZW GS3 running Synergy/Trinity/Dark Horse Rises

I just bought Nova Prime.
It will let me launch the Handcent SMS app with a gesture, but it won't let me launch Handcent's Quick Compose pop up (or at least I haven't found a way).
EDIT: Wait nvm it works. I have to go into Activities and there is a long list of menus and sub-menus, with one of the options being Quick Compose. THanks so much!
EDIT 2: But this only works when I'm on my home screens. When I long press menu while in a web browser, it reverts back to search. Any way to make this permanent in every app?

Try the choosing shortcuts instead of apps in gesture menu. Not familiar with handsent at all.
Sent from my VZW GS3 running Synergy/Trinity/Dark Horse Rises

Yeah, I went into shortcuts> Activities>Handcent SMS>Quick Compose.
Now, when I long press menu, Handcent quick compose pops up as desired, but it only works when I'm on the homescreens. When I am in an app like Browser or Google Play, long press menu brings up the default search function.

Menu App or button changes?

Looking to see if there is any ability to get the right capacitive key to do anything other than switch/clear open apps? I sure do miss being able to hit the right key on my old phone and it would typically bring up menu options for whatever app you happened to be in and also a shortcut into your settings when on one of the home screens. What a PITA having to go up to the top right side of each app, hit the 3 little menu dots and change menu options that way.
Anybody figure any work-arounds or other 3rd party apps that can help out with this?
It would be nice if Alcatel would allow the right capacitive key to access the settings or menu of an app with a long hold of the button. Short hold of the button accesses the open apps. That would be intuitive. My old phone was the opposite, a short tap would open a backdoor to menu options and a long hold would open the active apps for dismissal or switch.
Very much an extra effort reaching up to the right when in Chrome to have to go to your bookmarks...that's just one example.
Any 3rd party launchers include something of this ability?
Also a PITA having to reach allllllll the way up to the top of the phone to pull down the notification panel. My old phone with KK 4.4.4 all you had to do was slide down anywhere on the home screen and the notification panel would come down. Vice versa, sliding up on a home screen would open the backdoor to your settings menu.
These are my two biggest *****es 24 hours into having this phone. Everything else I've tried so far seems pretty good.

I can propose solutions to two of your problems ..
(a) For bookmarks, could a bookmark widget help ? I believe Chrome has its own , but you could also use the stock widget and have it open any browser. Of course this only works in you are not already inside the browser. You can also try a browser with gestures. I think dolphin can do that.
(b) For the notification shade, you can use a launcher than offers a swipe down gesture. I use Apex which has gestures for free, and I have swipe down set for the notification shade.

Cool, thanks! Hopefully Alcatel is taking notes for future updates?

Did your phone have a custom room or Launcher? Those are not standard gestures for kit kat or stick Launcher.
Sent from my Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 using Tapatalk