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[APP] NoLED v6.0.19 - Use the AMOLED screen for incoming notifications

Before asking questions, please read the FAQ.
Introduction:
I saw the idea posted somewhere previously that instead of getting the capacitive lights on, we really should be putting the phone's AMOLED screen to work ! specially that it doesn't consume any backlight energy when displaying a black screen. So I developed an app that does just that: upon receiving a notification, it will display a black screen with a dot or icon somewhere in the screen. I really should put these in bullet points..
Description:
the application does the following:
1. When your phone receives a notification, it switches the screen on and displays a notification. The notification bounces around every 3 seconds (changeable via an option). This will guarantee using different LEDs so that the same ones won't be burned out.
2. You can customize whether to have a dot or an icon for each type of supported notification. Users may also customize the colors of these icons/dots.
3. NoLED will work with SMS/MMS, Gtalk, Gmail, Missed calls, Voicemail, Calendar and K-9 (email client) without any additional permissions. Any other 3rd party software (e.g. Whatsapp, Email app, Yahoo Mail and Hotmail) will need to be checked under Monitored Apps and will require granting Accessibility rights to NoLED.
4. The app runs as a service, after installing, you have two ways to activate the app. (a) by restarting. (b) by loading the widget into your home screen and clicking on it.
5. To get rid of the notification screen, you may use the home or the back key. You can enable dismissal via more keys in the Miscellaneous submenu. Once your notifications are dismissed, all notifications disappear and will not come back up.
I have also logged the touch drivers and saw that although I'm displaying a black screen and setting flags to not respond to touch messages, android is still receiving touch messages when you touch any spot on the screen. This, I imagine, consumes resources! So I disabled the touch drivers when the black screen is active. Dismissing the notifications should reactive the touch drivers. If your screen is unresponsive to touch even after the notification screen is dismissed, a simple restart should take care of it. There is also an option to completely disable that feature. The touch drivers are only disabled on the Samsung Galaxy S variants, all other devices are still receptive to touch events.
Now the touchscreen drivers were a lot easier to mess around with. The sourcecode given by samsung helped me achieve the activation/deactivation of the screen. Things are not the same with the capacitive buttons. You'll notice that when the black screen is on, if you touch any of the soft buttons, they'll light up (although am suppressing them programatically). On some other devices like the Nexus S, these backlights cannot be switched off once the screen is turned on programatically. This is a bug from Google and more info is in the FAQ.
Video review:
Thank you totallydubbedHD for giving us this neat preview of the app:
Themes:
Want to change the default icons that ship with NoLED?
Check out Themes:
http://www.devasque.com/noled/themes.php
Official web site:
http://www.devasque.com/noled/
Translations:
NoLED is translated into several languages thanks to our army of volunteers ! More details can be found at: http://www.devasque.com/noled/translations.php
If you think you can help expand that list, please see this link
I appreciate all the help we can get on this.
Enjoy ! Comments and feedback will be appreciated
Update 8/11/2010: Application is now on the Android Market.
If you like this work and want to motivate and encourage further development, please consider a donation
Thanks

Change log
v6.0.19 6/5/2013
Added Vietnamese, updated Italian and Ukranian (Thanks nhh1994, 4lex and Olex)
Support Gmail 4.5 and new tabbed inbox
NoLED will insert a .nomedia in the custom themes folder so as not to show these themes in your Gallery app
Please go to http://www.devasque.com/noled/change.php for the complete change log.
NoLED Weather
v0.8 10/23/2012
Weather should now reflect current city more accurately; it will choose the first returned search result.
v0.7 10/10/2012
Weather was not automatically updating after a restart. Now it does.
v0.5 9/13/2012
Fixed an issue where geolocator was causing auto-update to stop working.
v0.4 9/6/2012
Updated language files
Changed weather provider to MSN. Google just quietly killed their APIs
Changed geolocator timeout to 90 seconds (used to be 20 seconds)
v0.3 1/26/2012
Added Geolocation using Wireless networks (no physical GPS will be used).
-it will give up wireless location discovery after 20 seconds (will release all wakelocks).
-if timedout, weather will query the latest weather location on record.
Removed the noled weather icon from the app launcher (i personally found it so ugly and useless). Instead, you access the weather app/plug-in via the NoLED settings under toggle notifications (requires NoLED > v5.0.1b).
FAQ
Please go to http://www.devasque.com/noled/FAQ.php.

Can this dot be made to look like a mail icon for SMS ... "!" for missed call etc?

Perfect, BIG thanks. One less issue with SGS

this is a very clever idea.
I tried it out, but it isnt working for me on my Samsung Captivate

andy2na said:
this is a very clever idea.
I tried it out, but it isnt working for me on my Samsung Captivate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange, it really should work.
Did you lock the screen and unlock once after installation ? Try sending a sms to yourself from another phone while the screen is off. Then wait for about 10 seconds (enough time for the whole screen to light up, go off, and then show a notification). Let me know if this still doesn't work, the captivate might have different screen timeouts than our galaxy S.

No working
Its now working on my SGS.
The reason could be > I have lost my default notifications after sd card fix. I do have a media folder on my sdcard/sd with default samsung tones which i copied before the fix on to my ext sd.
Any solutions ?

rkadve said:
Its now working on my SGS.
The reason could be > I have lost my default notifications after sd card fix. I do have a media folder on my sdcard/sd with default samsung tones which i copied before the fix on to my ext sd.
Any solutions ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would say try to sms from another phone, or give yourself a missed call to see if the application is running. These should work regardless of where you placed your notification tones.
If these do work, then make sure you place your notification tones in /sdcard/sd/media/audio/notifications , playing any of them should trigger the notification.

Unfortunatly not working for me too. Using JG1 and modaco´s r2. All default ringtones selected.
Would love to get this working.

Bajo76 said:
Unfortunatly not working for me too. Using JG1 and modaco´s r2. All default ringtones selected.
Would love to get this working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you go to Settings > Applications > Running Services and see whether NoLED is listed there ?

suggestions that i don't think would consume too much power:
Have different images for different notifications, as suggested before: phone icon for call, mail icon for mail, sms icon for sms etc.
Also make possible to have all the different icons at once, so if i have missed a text message and a mail, there would be 2 icons on the screen at the same time.
Also have a number for how many of missed text's, mails i have missed on the corresponding icon.
Make the image jump to a different random spot every few second, so it won't just stay in one place and so be bad for the panel. (dunno if this would consume too much energy).

madmack said:
Can you go to Settings > Applications > Running Services and see whether NoLED is listed there ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it is listed

yep, locked and unlocked it. it is also listed in the running services

buddy01 said:
suggestions that i don't think would consume too much power:
Have different images for different notifications, as suggested before: phone icon for call, mail icon for mail, sms icon for sms etc.
Make the image jump to a different random spot every few second, so it won't just stay in one place and so be bad for the panel. (dunno if this would consume too much energy).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think these are two great ideas. I'll try to implement them if I get sometime. I will try to set a different icon/color for each notification, and make them move around every few seconds. This might have a hit on cpu utilization, but its well worth a try.
Bajo76 said:
yes it is listed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With what are you testing the application btw ? Are you sending an email to yourself ? If you turn the screen off, send an email that has a default samsung ringtone, do you receive anything?

I tested it with my phone at home calling my mobile. And i´m getting emails all the way but unfortunatly no red dot on screen.

Is this app in the market? I can't see it in the op on the xda app.

Now it is working. Changed the ringtone (the old one selected was also a dtandard ringtone) and rebooted.
Now it works!

How come this method got so quickly made, but the other method still isn't functional? (talking about the other thread)

INeedYourHelp said:
How come this method got so quickly made, but the other method still isn't functional? (talking about the other thread)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, the android SDK allows for programs like this to exist, the SDK has no APIs to support lighting up the soft buttons. that's why.
also, the drivers for the backlight are disabled and enabled in ways that we don't fully understand yet.

Very impressed so far! Definitely something I'll donate to in the future if it gets a few more features.
What I'd like to see:
- Custom colours for different notifications/multiple notifications.
- The dot slightly higher up or have it configurable where the dot is/how big it is.
That's about all I can think of for now, great work .

[TUT][TASKER] Clear SMS Popup Notifications when Using Texter

ABSTRACT (i.e., TLDR version)
I present a way to integrate Texter; Tasker; a preferred SMS app that also gives popup notifications; and SL4A+Perl such that when using Texter, I can mark incoming SMS as read; clear notifications; clear popups; and re-sleep the phone. Profiles+scripts in the second post.
INTRODUCTION
In a nutshell: I wanted to use Tasker to remove notifications of unread SMS messages while using Texter. This proves difficult because I use an SMS app that has popup notifications. These profiles+scripts exit the popup notification, clear the unread notification, then puts your phone back to sleep.
Texter is an Android app/Google Chrome extension that lets you send SMS messages from your computer with your phone number. Super cool! It's kind of glitchy at times but overall a solid app, and it'll get better with time. It's currently in closed beta but they're adding new people all the time. I'd hop on that ASAP.
Texter clears unread SMS notifications when you hit "Close" or "Reply", but by Android design it cannot clear the notification bar and LED. I keep my phone on my desk when using my computer, so having the unread notification on both my phone and my computer are kind of annoying. So I wanted to use Tasker to clear those notifications. Turns out Tasker cannot mark messages as read itself, so I use SL4A and the Android port of my favorite scripting language, Perl. It's easy to write a script using SL4A and Perl for Android (or your language of choice - but I provide a Perl script, so you may as well use that) to clear unread SMS notifications for you.
OVERVIEW OF PROFILES
This first post will be a discussion of each profile I use; next post will have the profiles/scripts themselves, and possibly a changelog as I mess around with this system.
My system consists of 5 profiles and 1 widget-task:
WIDGET-TASK: USE TEXTY
This task simply sets or clears a variable %TEXTY, to denote if we are at a computer and would prefer to use Texter vs our phones to send SMS messages. It also sets a permanent notification and changes the widget icon to show that you're in Texter-mode vs regular SMS mode.
PROFILE: TEXTY ACTIVE
This is the heart and soul of the profile scheme. When you receive an SMS, if %TEXTY is set it fires the Perl script that clears your SMS notification, then opens your preferred SMS app to clear the notification bar. Bonus: if you use a popup SMS notification (GO SMS, Handcent, Chomp, etc), this will also clear the popup for you!
PROFILE: TEXTY DISPLAY ON/OFF
Naively using %SCREEN to denote if the screen is on/off to enable or disable Texter functionality does not work all the time - I have found that my phone sometimes lags between receiving a text message and actually popping up the notification. So if %SCREEN ~ on, the main profile might not fire the go-back-to-sleep tasks.
Thus we need a way to account for this lag. I created a new variable %TEXTYSCN that denotes when the screen is on/off, accounting for that lag. Basically, I wait 15 seconds after screen on before setting %TEXTYSCN = on; if the screen has been on for that long, it's probably because I wanted to use it.
When I set %TEXTYSCN = off, I wait 15 seconds beforehand IF IT'S ALREADY SET TO OFF. This seems weird at first, but it's kind of like an interrupt handling mechanism - if you receive a text, your screen will turn on. That starts the 15 second count before %TEXTYSCN = on - until those 15 seconds are up, %TEXTYSCN ~ off. Now that the popup notification is cleared, the display shuts off. If we flipped %TEXTYSCN = off right now and we're inside that 15 second timer, %TEXTYSCN will get set back to on - and subsequent popup notifications won't get cleared. Note that I only wait if %TEXTYSCN ~ off. If it's on, that means we're choosing to sleep the phone after we've used it for something.
[NOT SURE IF NEEDED, NEEDS MORE TESTING] PROFILE: PHONE OFFHOOK/IDLE
Not sure if I need these profiles yet - all it does is disable the main profile if we're on a call, and restart it once we hang up. GO SMS doesn't popup notify when I'm in a call, and after a call I can clear the notifications as I please. I'm not entirely sure of using the main profile during calls yet (what happens if I get a text in the middle of a call and my screen was off at the time? It'll run the main profile, GO HOME, then display off. This might be disorienting the next time I look down and I'm at the Home screen rather than the In-Call screen) so I'll just disable the clear-SMS. Maybe in a later iteration I'll disable the go-home part but clear SMS.
ON TO POST #2!

APPS YOU NEED
See post #1 for links to all required apps.
Android 2.2+
Tasker
Texter
SL4A
Perl for Android (or your interpreter of choice, but the script I provide is for Perl)
INSTALLATION <----VERY IMPORTANT! DOES NOT WORK STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX.
Download Tasker_Texty_V1.2.zip. Place all files ending with "prf.xml" into /sdcard/Tasker/profiles . Place Texty.tsk.xml into /sdcard/Tasker/tasks . Import all profiles and tasks by opening Tasker; hit Menu; hit Profile Data; "Import One Profile" and "Import One Task". Place markSMSread.pl into /sdcard/SL4A/scripts .
Create the Texty (it's now officially named Texter, but I didn't want to bother changing the words in the profiles, not to mention "Texty" sounds way better to me) widget on your home screen. Check out the Tasker website if you need help on how to do this.
Open up the "Texty Profile" profile. Change "Load App" from "Messaging" to your favorite SMS app (or keep it as default if that's what you prefer.)
Remove the "Type: System Lock" action, and replace it with "Display->System Lock". You will need to give Tasker administrative capabilities.
As necessary, change the "wait" values in the Texty Active; Texty Display On; and Texty Display Off profiles. See below, "Scripts and Profiles", on the rationale for this.
Enjoy the wonderful amalgamation of Texter, Tasker, and Android! Happy texting
ADVANCED: SCRIPTS AND PROFILES
I include this section redundantly so people can see what exactly goes into the setup. This way you can be confident that you're customizing your profiles exactly how you want to, and you can see my rationale for why I used certain numbers, variables, etc.
Tasker cannot clear the unread SMS notification on its own, so I use SL4A to do it. Here is the Perl script I use (you can of course use your own script and programming language if you'd like):
Code:
use strict;
use warnings;
use Android;
# See http://goo.gl/Qw0WK for original code
my $droid = Android->new();
my $msgs = $droid->smsGetMessageIds(1);
my $i = 0;
while ($msgs->{result}[$i]){
$droid->smsMarkMessageRead([$msgs->{result}[$i]], 1);
$i++;
}
I will assume you're familiar with Tasker language. At some point I will just post profiles you can import. If you need help with any steps, just ask! I'll do my best to respond in a timely fashion.
Note before importing/creating profiles: You need to make sure %TEXTY is clear on boot. I don't know if variables are cleared on phone restarts; I took no chances and wrote into my Boot profile to clear %TEXTY. If someone can let me know, that would be appreciated.
WIDGET-TASK: "TEXTY"
Initial Icon: Texty app look
Notes: You may need to write everything without the "Set Widget Icon"; make the widget; then edit the task and re-make the widget. Tasker looks for widgets to change icons, and it can't change the icon of a non-existent widget.
1) If %TEXTY ! Set
2) Notify (title: "Texty Active"; icon: whatever you want; permanent: ON)
3) Set Widget Icon (name: Texty; icon: whatever you want, I use the stock SMS icon)
4) Variable set (%TEXTY to 1)
5) Stop
6) End If
7) If (%TEXTY Is Set)
8) Set Widget Icon (name: Texty, icon: original Texty icon)
9) Notify Cancel (title:"Texty Active")
10) Variable Clear: %TEXTY
11) End If
PROFILE: TEXTY ACTIVE
Condition: Event: Received Text
Notes: Mess around with the wait statements to see if there's a sweet spot. You might find a 2 second wait might open and close your SMS program before the popup notify comes up. I'm still trying to find all the right numbers myself. (I think I've settled on 5, but that could change all willy-nilly like)
1) If %TEXTY is set
2) Wait 5 seconds
3) IF %TEXTYSCN !~ on
4) Load App: your SMS app of choice (to clear the notification bar and/or popup notifies)
5) SL4A: markSMSread.pl
6) Wait 1 second
7) Go Home
8) System Lock
9) End If
10) End If
PROFILE: DISPLAY ON
Condition: Event: Display On
Notes: Adjust the wait: if it's too long, the main profile will clear your popup notify and sleep your phone if you receive a message soon after starting to use your phone; too short and the main profile might not clear your popup notify at all [see the wait statement in the Texty Active profile]
1) If %Texty Is set
2) Wait 10 seconds
3) Variable set: %TEXTYSCN to on
4) END IF
PROFILE: DISPLAY OFF
Condition: Event: Display Off
Notes: Adjust the wait: if it's too long, the main profile won't clear your popup notify if you receive a text shortly after display turns off; too short and %TEXTYSCN might accidentally get flipped to on.
1) If %Texty is set
2) Wait 15 seconds IF %TEXTYSCN ~ off
3) Variable set: %TEXTYSCN to off
4) End if
PROFILE: PHONE OFFHOOK
Condition: Event: Phone Offhook
1) Profile Status: Texty Active -> Off IF %TEXTY is set
PROFILE: PHONE IDLE
Condition: Event: Phone Idle
1) Profile Status: Texty Active -> ON
PROFILE: CLEAR TEXTYSCN
Condition: Event: Variable cleared: %TEXTY
1) Variable Clear: %TEXTYSCN
Conclusion
I hope my work has helped anyone else as obsessive as I am about the meshing of their technology. I am of the school of thought that anything I do on my phone I should be able to do on my computer, and vice versa - I use Chrome to Phone, android2cloud, etc - I don't ever want to be tethered to any single device. These Tasker profiles have gotten me one step closer to realizing that dream.
CREDITS
brandall: for his excellent Tasker work! He was the inspiration for me to write this post up.
Max from the android-scripting Google group: for helping me create the markSMSread.pl script.
The developers of Texty, Tasker, GO SMS, and SL4A. Without them, there wouldn't be us.
TO DO
further testing to find edge cases, etc
CHANGELOG
Code:
v1.2:
-->fixed import bug - because System Lock action requires admin capabilities, Tasker would not import. Now requires user to manually add action.
-->restored markSMSread.pl workaround - Texter only clears SMS when you hit "close" or "reply", but the notification does not go away.
-->added more installation instructions
v1.1:
-->removed markSMSread.pl workaround - Texter now clears SMS notifications on its own.
-->added v1.1 .zip to easily import profiles.
v1.0:
-->initial release
Please hit the Thanks button if I helped you with your Texter experience!

Nice work mate!
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA Premium App

Tasker profiles updated to v1.1! Texter now clears the SMS notification when you hit "Reply" or "Close" in Chrome. So I removed the SL4A workaround to clear SMS notifications for you. I am still testing for edge cases, and might bring back the workaround if the SMS doesn't clear the vast majority (or all) of the time. Also finally added profile .zip so you can just import your tasks instead of fiddling with the UI so much.

The Texty Active profile won't load into Tasker. It gives me an error.

bartimeus said:
The Texty Active profile won't load into Tasker. It gives me an error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the error say? Details would be nice to help out on this.

Sorry about that, forgot my manners.
"Error: import of Texty_Active.prf.xml
failed: failed to import profile data."
Thank you for coming up with and supporting these.

bartimeus said:
Sorry about that, forgot my manners.
"Error: import of Texty_Active.prf.xml
failed: failed to import profile data."
Thank you for coming up with and supporting these.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, that's not a very illuminating error message What version of Tasker are you running, and what version of Android? The "Screen Lock" task in this profile requires Tasker to get admin capabilities; maybe Tasker does not allow one to import anything that requires root/admin capability.
Also, do you have the stock Messaging app installed? I use "Load App: Messaging" by default.
I am not at home right now but when I get home I will upload a profile that does not have the "Screen Lock" task. If that imports properly, you will have helped me close a tough bug thanks!

I am running version 1.0.17, Android 2.3(Cyanogenmod 7 Nightly 100) Phone is Inspire 4G.
I have the stock messaging app but use Handcent as my main one.

bartimeus said:
I am running version 1.0.17, Android 2.3(Cyanogenmod 7 Nightly 100) Phone is Inspire 4G.
I have the stock messaging app but use Handcent as my main one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to import the attached profile. I removed the "System Lock" task. I have a feeling that'll let you import.
In other news, I think I will add back the markSMSread.pl SMS-clearing workaround. Without it, the popup notify is killed but the unread notification remains. Once you hit close/reply in Texter, it will mark the SMS as read - but that doesn't clear the notification. Once I get verification that the "System Lock" task is what's causing problems, I'll update to v1.2.

Okay, it let me import that file. Now I have all 6 profiles and the task imported. How do I switch the app it uses from Messaging to Handcent?

bartimeus said:
Okay, it let me import that file. Now I have all 6 profiles and the task imported. How do I switch the app it uses from Messaging to Handcent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great. In the Texty Active profile, hit "Open App" and select Handcent from it.
You'll also need to re-add the System Lock action (hit the plus sign, Display->System Lock) and put it under "Go Home" if you want the screen to dark after it receives a text message.
Thanks for verifying this bug for me. As I said, I will upload v1.2 with the markSMSread.pl workaround as soon as I can. I'll also remove the System Lock action; users will have to add them themselves.

Version 1.2 added to second post. It brings back the Perl workaround - Texter only clears the unread SMS notification when you hit "Reply" or "Close". Even though it clears the unread notification in the system, it does NOT clear the notification bar. (This is especially true if you're not using the stock Messaging app.)
Also, there was a bug (feature?) where Tasker could not import the "Texty Active" profile - this is because the "System Lock" action I use to sleep the phone requires admin capability. You must add this action yourself and allow Tasker admin privileges, if it asks.
Finally, install instructions updated to reflect the use of the Perl script and adding the "System Lock" action.
Thanks to bartimeus for helping debug!

Running into the same error as before when I try to import the Texty: Active profile....
What do we do after we make the widget? Do we have to hit it and activate the task and just leave it running all the time?
I couldn't find anything called "Perl for Android" on the market so I only installed SL4A, do I have to DO anything with this once I have it installed and the script in the correct folder?
Lastly, when I go in and add the the Lock command it asks me for code, what do I need to enter? It says "Error: Code: Please enter text"

bartimeus said:
Running into the same error as before when I try to import the Texty: Active profile....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
crap. i'll look into what could be causing that. Did you import before installing SL4A? I wonder if the profile can't find SL4A upon import and then fails. In the meantime, I do list the exact steps you need to produce the profile on your own, so you could create the profile yourself. I'm really sorry about that - this is my first time writing profiles and sharing them with other people, so I'm sure there will be issues in the process.
What do we do after we make the widget? Do we have to hit it and activate the task and just leave it running all the time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hit the widget whenever you want to use Texty at your computer. When you're done, hit it again. I think it would only be useful to turn off the popup notify and kill the new-SMS notification if we're sitting at the computer. So yes, when you're using Texty, you should leave the task running the entire time.
I couldn't find anything called "Perl for Android" on the market so I only installed SL4A, do I have to DO anything with this once I have it installed and the script in the correct folder?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the link to Perl for Android in the first post. This is absolutely required - SL4A does not provide the script interpreters, just the API to use them
Lastly, when I go in and add the the Lock command it asks me for code, what do I need to enter? It says "Error: Code: Please enter text"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that there is a difference between "Lock" and "System Lock". You should be using the latter, not the former.

Okay, I figured out that it is a passcode that it wants. I couldn't find something called System Lock under Display but I will look again.

Nevermind. I am dumb. I found System Lock
I guess tasker hadn't updated in forever or something but I have it all working now. Perl Installed and SL4A installed. All seems well enough, just need to wait for a text now =P
Thank you.

bartimeus said:
Nevermind. I am dumb. I found System Lock
I guess tasker hadn't updated in forever or something but I have it all working now. Perl Installed and SL4A installed. All seems well enough, just need to wait for a text now =P
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, no worries! Non-market Tasker doesn't really remind you to update that often. I guess I should put in the OP that you need the latest version of Tasker; I can't guarantee older versions, as you just found.
I appreciate any feedback about the profile system I set up. I'm always trying to tweak it, and really I find myself playing with the numbers kind of regularly to hit the "sweet spot".

Been looking for something like this...great job....errr, I should say, just set this up, hope it works and if it does, then great job.
Now if only I could get something similar for all the other notifications I take action on on my computer (calendar appts, gchat etc.) Gmail works fine

I know this is wicked old, but the Perl Script does not work anymore... I have a 4.2.2 ROM and it won't mark them as read.

Android 5.0 totally sucks

I don't even want to compare Android 5.0 to iOS or Windows Phone. Let's compare it with Android 4.4:
1) In new Android long pressing a power button only shows "Switch Off" whereas in Android 4.4 you could enable/disable flight mode and enable/disable silent mode/vibration. In new Android to do the same you have to use a volume slider and then press the screen at least several times.
1a) How can you hide the panel which changes the priority mode? Nothing works - it just hides on its own after a while!
2) Recent Apps button shows phantom apps I removed from the recents.
3) Recent Apps button often shows bad previews (visually distorted).
4) The lock screen doesn't automatically show an unlock widget - once again, an extra swipe just to unlock your phone.
5) To remove all removable notifications you have to scroll them all down! In Android 4.4 the "Mark all read" button was always present at the top!
6) There's too much white everywhere and the whole palette feels inconsistent even among different Google(TM) apps.
7) Quick settings which you pull from the top totally suck. In Android 4.4, e.g. long pressing Wi-Fi icon called a Wi-Fi networks dialog - in Android 5.0 you have to go to settings (a tiny icon at the right top corner).
7a) Quick Settings occupy 100% of the screen estate and they are ridiculously sparse (it looks like 75% of screen space if filled with void).
8) The flow of notifications is totally ****ed up. New temporary notification appear on top of the list and hide permanent apps, so to view the latter you have to scroll the list. I don't know why but permanent notifications at least for me are equally or more important.
9) 12 and 13 Wi-Fi channels for 802.11n are totally disabled no matter which Nexus device you own (US or the rest of the world).
Other annoyances:
1) There's no way to configure the keyboard click sound or its volume - in Android 4.4 I could clearly hear keypresses, in Android 5.0 they are practically mute.
2) There's no gallery app and the Photos app is an abomination. The Gallery app from 4.4 hardly works (it crashes when you try to edit a photo).
3) Backup settings have been modified and now they don't allow to specifically backup /sdcard/DCIM - now it's done via Photos.
To tell you the truth I cannot find a single worthy Android 5.0 feature that I really love and appreciate.

I only use my gmail account for the play store and hangouts. I have zero interest in my gmail email, I've got my own exchange server and work's. So I don't have the gmail syncing emails, contacts or calendar so why is it that the new calendar is full of gmail entries and emails from my wife show her gmail image rather than the image I've added to her exchange contact? The contact app shows the right image so why not when accessing my own exchange server? If I get an email from her work address which is on the same exchange contact I get the right image.
In the new form over function calendar there's no option for month view. Sure you can tap the month but in 4.4 you could open it up at the month view and see exactly what days had events on them.
Unless someone who's played around with it more than I have has some solutions I'll be heading back to 4.4 as 5 adds nothing for me.

[Android 5.0+] Contacts vs Phone - setting shortcuts and switching between to two

Hi all, I only recently switched to Lollipop and I'm not quite sure how Contacts and Phone are meant to work together.
For example, if I try to make a shortcut to Phone using PIE or any similar app, it always sends me to Contacts instead. And then, once I'm in Contacts, there doesn't seem to be a way to open up the dialer keypad to directly punch in phone numbers to call. I don't know if I'm just missing something but it's rather inconvenient; I'd like to be able to access the dialer keypad from anywhere for quick calling instead of needing a shortcut on my homescreen or fumbling through my contacts or app drawer.
TIA!

Link the Phone app instead. You can access contacts from there anyway

That's the problem though - linking the Phone app often results in it automatically sending me to Contacts instead. It doesn't make any sense!

Direct Dial Icon Help

I am setting up a new Moto G7 Power (1955-2) running Android Pie. My current phone is an LG Stylo 3 with Android 8.
On the LG I made liberal use of the direct dial widget to have a page of one-touch dial icons for people I regularly called. The nice thing was that the DD widget icon shows 'Mobile", or, "Home", or, "Work" directly on the icon with the person's name as the label. That way, I could have multiple numbers for the same person side-by-side on the page and easily distinguish which icon to touch to dial. Works really well.
Now, on the Moto G7 Power with Android 9, the same direct dial widget icon process results in an icon that shows a handset object on the icon with no indication of which number is programmed. So, there is no way to tell the difference for mobile, home, and work DD widgets for the same person.
Any suggestions on how to get the same functionality on my new G7?
Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

jlsatt4 said:
I am setting up a new Moto G7 Power (1955-2) running Android Pie. My current phone is an LG Stylo 3 with Android 8.
On the LG I made liberal use of the direct dial widget to have a page of one-touch dial icons for people I regularly called. The nice thing was that the DD widget icon shows 'Mobile", or, "Home", or, "Work" directly on the icon with the person's name as the label. That way, I could have multiple numbers for the same person side-by-side on the page and easily distinguish which icon to touch to dial. Works really well.
Now, on the Moto G7 Power with Android 9, the same direct dial widget icon process results in an icon that shows a handset object on the icon with no indication of which number is programmed. So, there is no way to tell the difference for mobile, home, and work DD widgets for the same person.
Any suggestions on how to get the same functionality on my new G7?
Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you specify which app exactly you use? I can't find "direct dial widget" ...

Go to a home page with some open space.
Press and hold. The screen will pop up with choices.
Select widgets.
Scroll down to Contacts. There should be at least three choices for contacts. Direct Message, Direct Dial, and, Contact.
Press and hold on Direct Dial. Drag it to an open spot on the page.
A list of contacts and their numbers will pop up. Chose one.
The widget will be on the home page.

jlsatt4 said:
Go to a home page with some open space.
Press and hold. The screen will pop up with choices.
Select widgets.
Scroll down to Contacts. There should be at least three choices for contacts. Direct Message, Direct Dial, and, Contact.
Press and hold on Direct Dial. Drag it to an open spot on the page.
A list of contacts and their numbers will pop up. Chose one.
The widget will be on the home page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it got it - maybe the only fix of the problem is to have different names for each number for the contacts you want in the widget :>

Right now, the best solution I can find is to link to the complete contact record instead of a single number for that contact. So, instead of a quick, direct dial for a person, I touch the contact icon first, and then chose the telephone number I want to dial.
I wonder if changing to another launcher, like Nova Launcher, would give more options.....?