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I have been using dutty's rom with cube for the tilt and maybe I just don't get it by why is anyone putting it on their kaiser?
Don't get me wrong, I can see the point of it on the touch but why with the kaiser?
Yes, it is kinda cool to show it off to other people but it is such a waste to use. For example, slide finger over and over till you find the internet button and hit that OR just one quick hit for the internet button on the front of the phone.
Use the same cube moves to get to contacts or just one quick click on the front of the htc rom.
Using the cube is MUCH more time consuming then just using the phone as it was meant to be. Is everyone just so caught up with the "wow factor" of the touch cube or am I missing something?
Wow factor... It's rather retarded IMO
I agree with argo. At some point you still have to whip out the stylus to input information, doesn't matter if you used the cube to get you to contacts or if you used the hardware key to get to contacts. I've installed some of the finger friendly add-ons (not the cube) and it helps with simple taks, but if I'm opening an app, I usually still do it from the stylus. Old habits die hard...
yup, eye candy.
Mostly Eye Candy...
..but also for me, it's an attempt to have a fully functional device with one hand/one finger---without any need for the stylus.
With THE CUBE, FTOUCHFLO, Home Plugin, FFF, OtO, TekSoft FingerTouch and a few others, I don't remember the last time I actually had to whip out the stylus...
...oh WAIT! It was earlier today!!!
Oh well!!
TEC
I am using Touch-Commander simply to multiply the number of contacts I can speed-dial while driving without scrolling down an endless list. I also like the fact that I can SMS my faves as well as call them from their icon.
I was playing with the HTC Photo Album, but it is just not as efficient at finding the pics you want as is the Resco app.
Of all of the "touchy-feely" apps that have come along recently, FFF is, IMHO the one really fantastic one.
dgduris said:
Of all of the "touchy-feely" apps that have come along recently, FFF is, IMHO the one really fantastic one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also agree that the Cube, and the obsession around it, is kinda overkill. Functionally, I don't see the sube as an advancement. Yes, the other parts of TouchFLO are valuable to me, and the recent creations to make the phone more finger-friendly otherwise like FFF are also useful to me. But the cube? I could do without.
I almost think the general obsession with the cube became more of a Mt Everest type of "we have to climb that mountain" quest more than anything else. Yes, its eye candy, but to be honest, its not even that great of eye candy. The iPhone "eye candy-wise" has it topped by far, and believe me, I'm not an Apple fanboy in any way shape or form. So, congrats to those who were able to scale the mountain. I envy your skill and your determination. Really, I do.
As for the recent programs that I like and think are functionally great, and to be honest minimize to very large degree the need for me to use my stylus are:
- FFF (easily the greatest, little, free, simple programs ever IMO)
- HTC Home
- S2U2 (much better at locking and yes its pretty also )
- PCM Keyboard (not the contacts prog, but the keyboard)
- Opera Mini 4
- Google Maps and Live Search
- PocketPlayer 3.5
Just my 2 cents. Honestly, since I installed these apps, I go days without even touching my stylus...Only when I do something non-routine, would I need to do so.
i think it would serve alot more purpose if we were able to customize it, maybe we can, but i know i have no idea how to. half the apps in it i never use. bout all i use it for is for the fav. people side. just a quick flick of the finger and i can free up some space on home screen
I seldom used the cube...on my old device, herald p4350
But I cooked roms, and ofcourse the cube was something ppl would say "wow" to, and then tell me how impressed they are..blahblah.
Some ppl drive stick, some automatic.....a matter of taste I guess.
Well, I think the cube is a cool invention, but the consept has a long road ahead before I will implement it again in my own rom.
But im sure HTC has a plan, and im sure they have many cool apps waiting, or in development that will make our devices more and more independent of the stylus.
HTC is spitting out cool devices faster then my granpa changed underwear....And im pretty sure all the new future features will be quite available for us all as they come.
I heard a rumor they are developing a touch type calendar, operated "similar" to htc album and some part the random access, but dont ask how that will operate, cant picture it exactly, but im sure its fun
Another rumor I heard is that htc are making a new innovative web browser, witch can operate over wifi/bluetooth against activesync/mobile center, zooming like htc album, flicking your finger left-right gestures to move forward and back..there was something about support for streaming many types of fileformats directly in the browser...
But...its just rumors I heard, I have not seen any proof of this anywhere...
Hoping someone has heard similar rumors????
And this is the one thing I like about the iPhone. Is I think it was sort of a wake up call for software developers to think of new programs and new ways to interact with existing functionality. So I thank them for spawning alot of disucssion and ideas about how to make a convergence device better and more practical/usable!
Now, if we can just get HTC to implement a screen as nice and sensitive as the one on that other thing...
I installed the cube successfully and gave it up twice. The main reason is that when I touch a small fav photo on the dialer of the HTC Home pluggin, the call goes out immediately to the ONE phone (mobile or home or whatever) of the person that I have assigned it to. With the cube, it just goes to the contact, and then I have to press the specific phone of the two or three assigned to the contact to make the call. Overall (one stroke to turn on the cube, another to get to the fav icons of the dialer, another to get to the right phone choice) it takes three keystrokes to make a call versus just one in the HTC Home plugin. Cube is nice, but not convenient.
cube
well I think everyone is correct it is eye candy it is mt everest and can be (or is now less effective) the cube is kinda a waste of memory ill agree. but the kaiser has only been out for 10-11 weeks that's it. the cube now is trying to catch up to what the elf is. with the elf the cube and the on screen keyboard is very effective. I've played with it. right now the elfs cube is a touch snapier (probaly because of the bugs still in there). but lets take that contacts situation from before htc home is 2 moves and 3 on the cube now. but what if u edited the registry so it dials mr jones mobile instead of mr jones subscreen (its been done already look in the elf thread). then u set the cube to always launch the contacts page (not done yet but the cube gods are discussing it). when the cubes final it will probaly behave better and quicker. so half a swipe up and the cubes launched and u land your finger on your contact. now your action took one quick fluent movement and it looks cool. not only that the original htc cube is three faces not too exciting but what if they make it a real cube with 6 sides. along with some original apps as previously discussed we might be very close to being without a stylus
In my opinion, the cube has some advantages. For example somtimes I wanna write my girlfiend an SMS, somtimes I want to call her, so for me the Contact Menu ist no disadvantage. Another example is, that the move with my thumb to open the cube is much more easier, than klick the smaller icons on the home screen. And the Cube opens on the Side it was closed. So in my case, I only need one thumb move to get to my contacts.
The Cube is 2008. No cube is oldsk00l
Now but I just like the design of it. I personaly only use the first screen and sometimes the contact screen. But IE, Comm, E-mail etc I never use cause i have keys that open those things.
Hmmmm....I do find it weird that there are people complaining about the cube on the Tytn II simply because last time I checked...it didn't ship with the cube
If you don't like, you don't have to go through the hassle of putting it on your device. Simple as that. Some people like it for the "wow" factor...good for them. Sometimes when you pay a lot of money for something, you may want to show of a bit (I know I do lol)
Personally, I use Dutty's rom with built in cube and I use the cube quite a lot for media such as my photo's (as it directs me to HTC Album which I like a lot), Video (which directs me to TCMP player) and my Music (Audio manager)
Anything that makes you feel good about owning something, even if it's purely aesthetic, can't be a bad thing.
Which is why I'll never get an i-Phone. I played with my mates one the other day and although its very seductive, its too limited fot me and I quickly got bored.
Personalisation is the key!
kireol said:
yup, eye candy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, I still don't have a Tytn II, I have a HTC Touch, I never use the cube, I only show it to people.
its all 4 show..
cube off = the way to roll.
Yeah, I stay away from roms with the cube
I like the cube!!
Is interesting to see the comments, because I actually like the cube for a few reasons...
But before that a little side comment. The cube (at the moment) is still probably aesthetics over functionality but you have to wonder if this is such a bad thing...look at the iphone - the ultimate example of style over true substance. It had my wife's total attention for 20 minutes in the O2 shop the other day - something my PPC had never done. Now that might be a comment on my wife but the sales figures would suggest otherwise
I'm using slither's cube and what it has done for me is allowed me to clean up my today screen of all those icons I used just enough to want to have close but not every 5 minutes.
The end result is my whole device runs faster for a few thumbswipes worth of effort.
As the cube develops it will get better and functionality and aesthetics will improve because you can bet the iphone wont stand still and we musn't either because I CANT STAND APPLE and the tripe they pour out.
Rant over. I'll get my coat now
I contacted HTC and asked them if they had a tilt sensor SDK, or had plans to release one, and they basically said "no". So, I decided to see what I could come up with to get tilt response integrated into my little pet-project, and to my surprise, managed to figure out how to get some basic data out of the existing tilt sensor DLL on the Diamond.
If you'd like, you can see my "hello world"-level app using the tilt sensor here on my blog. I've included the source so others can play with the few tidbits I've figured out. The app itself is pretty boring, it'll really only be of interest to developers looking to integrate tilt into their app, and even then, it's still a boring app =)
If accessing the tilt sensor is well known, feel free to ignore me.
Well done, thats great!
You should also probably look at this and talk to CharlyV, he might be able to add some info.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=403939
That's great news !
Now developers might use such information to release usefull applications and funny games !
Yes, I was wondering, for my car I use the G-tech for acceleration-measurement.
Is this sensor sensitive / good enough to also do those kind of things?
Also, navigation programs can be a lot more precise by knowing when accelerating, cornering or braking.
Riel said:
Yes, I was wondering, for my car I use the G-tech for acceleration-measurement.
Is this sensor sensitive / good enough to also do those kind of things?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question: I might try to write some sort of logging program and see what kind of data I can get out of a car trip. That's a bit off for now.
Also, I made a minor update the project, I determined a few more of the unknown values that the API returns.
perhaps you or some other guys are capable to work with some tools mentioned in this post??
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2373447&postcount=56
Is there any chance to develop a calibration tool for this sensor?? Mine drifts to lower-left and thats annoying because Opera always means, I rotate my phone :-(
Thank you
I updated the project to include a sample of how to use the event driven notification of different orientations that Opera uses (instead of polling the sensor constantly to determine the current orientation).
I'll have to do some digging to see if there's any way to calibrate the sensor. It'd be nice (mine is a bit off too), but I don't see anything immediatly obvious.
Perfect news!
I hope there are devs, who will make apps or games for this. My idea of a new game is "Black Circle".
(Side in German bug game in English, dont worry)
http://spiele.isnichwahr.de/r432-spin-the-black-circle.html
What do you tink about it?
I wrote a managed wrapper based on Scott's work:
http://blog.enterprisemobile.com/2008/07/using-htc-diamonds-sensor-sdk-from-managed-code/
I think it would be possible to calibrate the sensor by replacing the HTCSensorSDK.dll with one that acts as a pass through to the real thing. Then it could "massage" the returned values with calibration adjustments.
Teeter -> HTCSensorSDK.dll (one we roll that tweaks values) -> RealHTCSensorSDK.dll (the real DLL)
I don't think that the DLL is replaceable unless the device is flashed with a new ROM.
Thoughts?
I've been using Windows Mobile for about a year now, and have yet to see any improvement on it by Microsoft. It seems all other companies except the software giant are destroying it. Of course, I still like Windows Mobile, or I wouldn't be using it, but is there still enough going for it to keep using it?
First, let me start out with the interface...
Today Screen
This is what greets us when we turn on the device. Now, I'm not saying there's not a lot to love about this. You could use a new theme everyday and last for months. But how well does it go with the rest of the system? When you leave the today screen, you practically leave the customization, and are most likely in a typical windows mobile app (and have to wait in an un-animated manner for it to load). To fix: make all apps work together! make it more finger friendly, more customizable, and finally, MORE ANIMATED!
Notifications
Now, this is where windows mobile just... sucks (for lack of better words...)
Typically, you can either have a 90's pop-up window on the bottom of the screen, or a little tiny icon on the top. HTC has made it a little better by making the tap of the top screen enlarge the icons, but it is still very annoying to use. To fix: both the iPhone and Android have great notification systems. A nice, graphical window pops up in the middle of the screen, giving you an easy way to read and react to it,and escape it if need be. How hard would it be to implement a new way of getting notifications?
The bottom bar
I don't know about everyone, but I HATE the bottom bar. To me, it just seems like a waste of space. It shouldn't be there as much as it is. It should be smarter, and more finger friendly. To fix: make it not there unless it is really needed. Rely more on gestures, and when it is needed, make it larger and more graphical, with easy to use and useful buttons/links.
Scroll bars
I think we can all agree on this one. Windows Mobile has the smallest scroll bars I think I've ever seen in an OS. A toddler could barely use them! Android and the iPhone both have their own solutions, and I think a combination of them should be implemented. To fix: make them not need to be there. Use touch gestures instead. And when they do need to be there, have a large little "pull bar" (like Android) to move, and when it is not needed, have it disappear.
derekwilkinson said:
I've been using Windows Mobile for about a year now, and have yet to see any improvement on it by Microsoft. It seems all other companies except the software giant are destroying it. Of course, I still like Windows Mobile, or I wouldn't be using it, but is there still enough going for it to keep using it?
First, let me start out with the interface...
Today Screen
This is what greets us when we turn on the device. Now, I'm not saying there's not a lot to love about this. You could use a new theme everyday and last for months. But how well does it go with the rest of the system? When you leave the today screen, you practically leave the customization, and are most likely in a typical windows mobile app (and have to wait in an un-animated manner for it to load). To fix: make all apps work together! make it more finger friendly, more customizable, and finally, MORE ANIMATED!
Would make it more slow, no?
Notifications
Now, this is where windows mobile just... sucks (for lack of better words...)
Typically, you can either have a 90's pop-up window on the bottom of the screen, or a little tiny icon on the top. HTC has made it a little better by making the tap of the top screen enlarge the icons, but it is still very annoying to use. To fix: both the iPhone and Android have great notification systems. A nice, graphical window pops up in the middle of the screen, giving you an easy way to read and react to it,and escape it if need be. How hard would it be to implement a new way of getting notifications?
No answer.
The bottom bar
I don't know about everyone, but I HATE the bottom bar. To me, it just seems like a waste of space. It shouldn't be there as much as it is. It should be smarter, and more finger friendly. To fix: make it not there unless it is really needed. Rely more on gestures, and when it is needed, make it larger and more graphical, with easy to use and useful buttons/links.
use dcinobar
Scroll bars
I think we can all agree on this one. Windows Mobile has the smallest scroll bars I think I've ever seen in an OS. A toddler could barely use them! Android and the iPhone both have their own solutions, and I think a combination of them should be implemented. To fix: make them not need to be there. Use touch gestures instead. And when they do need to be there, have a large little "pull bar" (like Android) to move, and when it is not needed, have it disappear.
buy ftouchsl and use advanced config to hide the scroll bars(hard to scroll through windows folder though)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hope that helps
There are just too many TOUCH's in your FIXES!
Keep in mind: Windows Mobile - yes, even WM6.1 - is basically meant to be used with a STYLUS! I personally do not like to touch my screen all the time with my fingers; I sure know a lot of people like it and there is nothing wrong with that, however, I am one of the few out there actually using the stylus!
Also, your list is quite 'outdated' considering the fact that WM7 is in the making (just google it in the internet and you will see that all of your wishes is been working on!). For everything else, well, there are 3rd party application or hacks and tweaks available!
If WM wouldn't be the way it is, we would not have such a great place as XDA Developers.
The strength of WM is its customizability. My WM device is almost exclusively touch friendly. No stylus needed. I have a front end that is totally finger friendly (spb pocket plus), contacts (icontact), keyboard (pocket cm keyboard), image viewer (imageviewer), a finger friendly WMP skin (plus S2P).
Devin
I agree somewhat with what the OP has said, and I do agree that WM could use an overhaul (and it is getting one).
That said, I would be perfectly happy with the current WM setup if we could just get some better touch screens on these things. When all is said and done, I still like my Tilt much more than my iPhone, except for the touch screen. I can actually touch a very small object on the screen of that one with the pad of my thumb, it's so sensitive...on my Tilt, I often feel like the the screen is fighting with me whenever I try and touch it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that, for me at least, WM needs an overhaul in the hardware department first.
Most of the issues can be modified with the infinite programs/options on this great site, but it´s a fact that WM needs to do something serious before he starts to get slow on the race...
WM 6.5? some say soon, but nothing really impressive I think
WM7? It looks promosing but let´s see...
LOL!!!
WinMo and I have a love/hate relationship.
For the general graphics of WM, like the scrollbars and buttons, they seemed to be the same basic crap from the first release.
Like orb3000, I too have a love/really hate relationship with WM. It does have its share of great software support (honestly can you run full screen videos on any other mobile as smoothly as tcpmp?, though i did not try iPhone ). But then it looses out on some very basic requirements like proper and systematic contact management, which most S60 3rd Edition devices have .
I have been reading this site for just about a year now. I think this might be my first post! If I missed this with my searches, please give me the correct terms to search with.
I like the idea of "GScroll", but the only feature of this application that was appealing to me was the "double tap" for instant applications.
I realize that this is only $4.99.
I also have been reading on how unreliable this application is! I do not want to waste my money....
Can anyone here make a simple to install (cab) that has something similar to this feature of GScroll? But more reliable!
Thanks!!
I myself bought gscroll and have had no problems with it. Like u i mostly wanted to be able to edit the capacitive buttons. But i have gotten to where i really like the task switcher also. If you have more than one program running u can simply swipe ur finger across the buttons and get a nifty task switcher like ALT+TAB in windows.
Agreed. gScroll is the best $5 software I have ever purchased. The funny thing is, the name implies that it is for using the g-sensor for scrolling by tilting. That's the unreliable part and the one I have disabled.
The app switcher is, perhaps, the best feature on the phone. I can now officially laugh at iPhone users that can't even run two apps at once, and we get a swipe to switch in between? Shoot, it's not even funny.
The double tap launch is also great. I've got all 5 zones set up to launch a browser, podcatcher, the camera, hTorch flashlight and a 'close' current program button. It is easy to accidentally launch a program with this, but it's not horrible. The convenience is better than the risk of launching an errant program. Between this and editing the long press values of the touchpad keys & PTT button, there are 12 customizable commands at our fingertips. The start menu becomes a rare occurrence.
Also, I have the right side of the touchpad working like my d-pad and the left side running the screen scrolling. I now touch the actual screen much less, and have a reliable d-pad... really, it's sweet.
Anyway, I say it's worth it... don't back away just because the tilt scrolling feature doesn't work worth a darn. Even if it did, it's just not intuitive.
Thanks for the assuring responses!
It looks like I will be purchasing GScroll soon!
~J
Yeah, I don't use the launcher much, but in my experience it works pretty well; you do get the occasional accidental launch, but you're going to get that with anything, aren't you? The g-scrolling has never really worked for me, and I haven't tried it in a couple months. Finger scrolling is pretty easy, so I don't think it's all that necessary.
Any chance there's a way to run Apache Home Server on my CDMA Hero?
Not looking for anyone who wants to convince me not to, I would just like to know if it's possible/doable.
Also, rather than making a seperate topic,
Is there any way we can:
1) Make a pointer for the track ball? Even, at the very least, while using the browser? I mean, really... why has this not been done yet?
2) Make it so our Home Screens turn when the Accelerometer changes to wide view. When sliding the keyboard out on the Droid and (I believe G1) the viewing automatically changes to landscape. I would love this feature as well. Is this doable, possible?
Thanks in advance, any advice given is appreciated!
bump...
>.>
if you compile apache and all the libs and whatever it depends on for android then it should be possible. afaik there is a webserver for android out there, any reason why it needs to be apache? i think it is way to complex for android, a small lightweight webserver should be no problem in theory.
a trackball pointer might be possible, but not trivial. personally i don't see the reason, when using the trackball in the browser the selected link is highlighted green, what do you need a pointer for?
again, theoretically doable is also the rotated homescreen. you "just" need to redesign sense ui for landscape view. which might be really hard, as it is more than just a small app, and it is closed source (because it is part of htc's modifications, not part of the original android). tbh, don't wait for it to happen unless htc does it.
and last but not least: no offense, but give your posts a few hours, not everything is answered directly.
kendong2 said:
if you compile apache and all the libs and whatever it depends on for android then it should be possible. afaik there is a webserver for android out there, any reason why it needs to be apache? i think it is way to complex for android, a small lightweight webserver should be no problem in theory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't need to be Apache, I'm just more familiar with that particular server software. If there are other options I would be glad to explore them. There are a few things I would like to test that I think would be kind of cool depending on the type of webserver I can run.
a trackball pointer might be possible, but not trivial. personally i don't see the reason, when using the trackball in the browser the selected link is highlighted green, what do you need a pointer for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A track ball would help out in a lot of ways. If open to the OS it would let me select programs, etc. while wearing gloves. It would open up the option of navigating without having to actually use the touch screen in case the scenario presents itself (again, gloves).
If just the browser it could help with games and those types of things. One important thing I have noticed is that I can't scroll within a frame on the browser. If I had a pointer I could, at the least, be able to click and drag the inner frame down without moving the main browsing page. This is somewhat vital to me as my College's Blackboard System is completely based on these types of web pages.
again, theoretically doable is also the rotated homescreen. you "just" need to redesign sense ui for landscape view. which might be really hard, as it is more than just a small app, and it is closed source (because it is part of htc's modifications, not part of the original android). tbh, don't wait for it to happen unless htc does it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a shame. The one problem I have is the amount of rotating I have to do. I would prefer to have the home screens locked in landscape rather than how they are now. It's just a little ridiculous to be watching a video on the phone and texting someone... but every time you want to reply/text you have to rotate the phone. It just seems tedious and I'm a man of efficiency if I can help it.
Maybe I can convince HTC.
and last but not least: no offense, but give your posts a few hours, not everything is answered directly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about that. XDA is very popular and I assumed my post had already become lossed in the fray. I posted on my lunch break and bumped one hour before having to go home so I had hoped I would get one response before then.
Thanks!
And anymore information would be appreciated. Not just from you but anyone else who has any information.
fatkitty420 said:
2) Make it so our Home Screens turn when the Accelerometer changes to wide view. When sliding the keyboard out on the Droid and (I believe G1) the viewing automatically changes to landscape. I would love this feature as well. Is this doable, possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this is being done in the 2.1 Sense that HTC have promised us...sometime.
But imo its really ugly, nothing seems to be the right proportions (I'm a designer, so it kinda bugged me)
fatkitty420 said:
A track ball would help out in a lot of ways. If open to the OS it would let me select programs, etc. while wearing gloves. It would open up the option of navigating without having to actually use the touch screen in case the scenario presents itself (again, gloves).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that can be solved, press menu on homescreen, from there on you can use the trackball to navigate to all programs and then navigate through the menu.
i got myself some gloves from north face, which have a conducting fabric on the tips of thumb and index finger, so i can use the touchscreen natively with them. works great, actually got them before i had the hero because they are cool anyway
for the rest: i see your point now, but can't help. and tbh i don't think htc will take too much interest in your concerns... but try anyway, at least they should know about it!
For the web server you might want to try PAW server for Android. Although it's still in beta, it has a lot of built-in goodies like call log, send SMS and so on.
And you can serve your own static or dynamic (BeanShell) pages.