Database Develop

FlyScreen. (what? I don't get it!)

I've just come across a new app called FlyScreen (sorry if you already know about it). It claims to be a much more interesting lock screen with widgets, search box, social networking, kinetic scrolling etc. which is fair enough but........WHY?!
I mean wtf, surely the whole point of the lock screen is that the phone is.....LOCKED and hence NOT performing random google searches or using Twitter of it's own accord in your pocket!
Maybe I'm completely missing the point but to me this seems like something that should have just been made for the home screen and would probably be very well received as such but for some reason the devs got a ridiculous idea that it would be better somewhere else for novelty value?!

Not sure but why is the lady that's IM'ing on the mytouch saying the new facebook app on the iphone is much better than anything else.
Then you have the guy IM'ing a link which leads to http://www.rackspace.com/email_hosting/blog/2009/08/free-snow-leopard. Which goes with what he was saying in his message.
Then if you sign up you see binary which says "This is the Droid you're looking for!"

Wow that looks awesome, thanks for telling me about this I'm def gonna get it

MikLSP said:
I've just come across a new app called FlyScreen (sorry if you already know about it). It claims to be a much more interesting lock screen with widgets, search box, social networking, kinetic scrolling etc. which is fair enough but........WHY?!
I mean wtf, surely the whole point of the lock screen is that the phone is.....LOCKED and hence NOT performing random google searches or using Twitter of it's own accord in your pocket!
Maybe I'm completely missing the point but to me this seems like something that should have just been made for the home screen and would probably be very well received as such but for some reason the devs got a ridiculous idea that it would be better somewhere else for novelty value?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was watching the app and is ok for some people. In the hero ROM it comes some features that permit fast changes without unlock but answering to sms's and things like this, this one only allows to watch (I think, by the printscreens), it can be useful!

Multi-touch on Nexus One

I'm considering a N1 but from what I heard from reviews, it doesn't support multi-touch out of the box (stock)
What are the necessary things to do to enable multi-touch?

Supports pinch to zoom and other similar gestures, not multi-touch. Yes, it is out of the box.

it DOES support multi touch out of the box. just search. pinch to zoom, web browser, pictures, etc all works just perfect. it just cant do 3 points or more.

Alright...so two-finger gestures are available out of the box
How above pinch and pan in Google maps? Or just pinch to zoom is supported?

ctbear said:
Alright...so two-finger gestures are available out of the box
How above pinch and pan in Google maps? Or just pinch to zoom is supported?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes pinch to zoom works flawlessly in all apps, google maps, gallery pics, web browser.

RogerPodacter said:
yes pinch to zoom works flawlessly in all apps, google maps, gallery pics, web browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
10char

RogerPodacter said:
yes pinch to zoom works flawlessly in all apps, google maps, gallery pics, web browser.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flawlessly is a stretch, but yes it works for basic tasks.

Yeah, the implementation in google maps is sub-par. it always scales from the center of the screen not the median pinch point. This is much more obvious in Froyo due to the nice fade between map zoom levels (finally!) The browser implementation is good though.

SilentMobius said:
Yeah, the implementation in google maps is sub-par. it always scales from the center of the screen not the median pinch point. This is much more obvious in Froyo due to the nice fade between map zoom levels (finally!) The browser implementation is good though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you explain this more? i'm not sure i understand.

RogerPodacter said:
can you explain this more? i'm not sure i understand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The action of pinch to zoom creates a "center point". Move close to the center point and it zooms out, move further away and it zooms in.
Up until recently the coding for pinch to zoom always put the center point in the center of the screen, regardless of where your started the pinch action.
This creates a little bit of a mental disjoin. The latest coded for mutli touch in android addresses it and puts the center point in between the two input points.

Flawlessly is a stretch, but yes it works for basic tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Sometimes it does work flawlessly, other times not so much...

JCopernicus said:
The action of pinch to zoom creates a "center point". Move close to the center point and it zooms out, move further away and it zooms in.
Up until recently the coding for pinch to zoom always put the center point in the center of the screen, regardless of where your started the pinch action.
This creates a little bit of a mental disjoin. The latest coded for mutli touch in android addresses it and puts the center point in between the two input points.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Froyo the center-point is between your fingers and not in the middle of the screen and it feels much more natural. In addition the "Pinch-to-pan" API has been added to the 2.2 SDK which allows the iPad-like maps natigation that I think the OP is referring to. I would be surprised if that wasn't in maps for the official Froyo drop.

ctbear said:
I'm considering a N1 but from what I heard from reviews, it doesn't support multi-touch out of the box (stock)
What are the necessary things to do to enable multi-touch?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won't tell the difference.
People just like to complain a lot. I'm playing several games from Gameloft which have joystick/buttons on the same axis on the screen, and it works 100%.
Pinch to zoom is not on the same axes (usually), so it's irrelevant.
Don't even worry about it.

anstosa said:
In Froyo the center-point is between your fingers and not in the middle of the screen and it feels much more natural. In addition the "Pinch-to-pan" API has been added to the 2.2 SDK which allows the iPad-like maps natigation that I think the OP is referring to. I would be surprised if that wasn't in maps for the official Froyo drop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah okay, missed the panning part.

anstosa said:
In Froyo the center-point is between your fingers and not in the middle of the screen and it feels much more natural. In addition the "Pinch-to-pan" API has been added to the 2.2 SDK which allows the iPad-like maps natigation that I think the OP is referring to. I would be surprised if that wasn't in maps for the official Froyo drop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not quite right. The currently available froyo build does scale the current map image based on the center of your pinch point _but_ as soon as you release it "re-applies" the zoom you just requested as if you was performed at the center of the screen. Though this may be a side effect of having no pan-while-pinch in maps.
Though I agree that it may be corrected for the official Froyo release

Pinch to zoom and pan is implemented in the gallery in froyo. But that's the only place. Its not great, no where near as on the iPhone.

lorin.bute said:
Pinch to zoom and pan is implemented in the gallery in froyo. But that's the only place. Its not great, no where near as on the iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. And that's the one and only one reason I'm also considering iPhone4

Hi guys - sorry to hijack this thread slightly
I've just got a HTC Desire which I'm really happy with but the inability to zoom in properly in google maps is really doing my head in
I'd made a post to the official google help forum for maps but haven't got a response.
From your posts can does this mean this is an underlying deficiency within Android, rather than the Maps app?
The current behaviour is that during the action of zoom, the screen does correctly pan to the centre point of my pinch action (which would suggest to me it is capable of following where I want to be) However, as soon as you take your fingers off the map re-draws based on the original centre point. It makes maps practically unusable as you constantly have to re-centre the screen, and unless you're absolutely spot on anything but a gradual zoom throws you completely off where you thought you were. In fact it would be better if it didn't follow your finger point at all and simply zoomed in to the centre like the buttons do - at least you'd be able to follow it.
Obviously there's nothing I can do about it but I just wanted to clarify if this is something that might get fixed in another maps build or an underlying deficiency in the Android hardware or APIs. (I've got another 8 days in which I can take the phone back)
Seems that you're all taking about 2.2 builds having this behaviour but as a stock HTC Desire user I'm on 2.1 and have the same experience so it doesn't seem like any improvement from the new android
Thanks
Lee

leeevans said:
Hi guys - sorry to hijack this thread slightly
I've just got a HTC Desire which I'm really happy with but the inability to zoom in properly in google maps is really doing my head in
I'd made a post to the official google help forum for maps but haven't got a response.
From your posts can does this mean this is an underlying deficiency within Android, rather than the Maps app?
The current behaviour is that during the action of zoom, the screen does correctly pan to the centre point of my pinch action (which would suggest to me it is capable of following where I want to be) However, as soon as you take your fingers off the map re-draws based on the original centre point. It makes maps practically unusable as you constantly have to re-centre the screen, and unless you're absolutely spot on anything but a gradual zoom throws you completely off where you thought you were. In fact it would be better if it didn't follow your finger point at all and simply zoomed in to the centre like the buttons do - at least you'd be able to follow it.
Obviously there's nothing I can do about it but I just wanted to clarify if this is something that might get fixed in another maps build or an underlying deficiency in the Android hardware or APIs. (I've got another 8 days in which I can take the phone back)
Seems that you're all taking about 2.2 builds having this behaviour but as a stock HTC Desire user I'm on 2.1 and have the same experience so it doesn't seem like any improvement from the new android
Thanks
Lee
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im on stock froyo frf91 and youre right on point about pinch in google maps, its unbearable. Especially compared to the stupid f*****g iphone. Its a google os yet its maps app works horrible compared to google maps on the iphone. If you pinch less than half way, it just bounces back out to where you started, hysterically cheap. And everytime i pinch further it just keeps zooming to a different point, then of course it has to load a new image. If you notice, it never stays at the zoom level its on when you remove your fingers, it changes a lot. Its really bad ive complained before but i thought i was the only one.
I guess with just a couple people noticing how bad it is we shouldnt be holding our breath for improvement. But yeah its pretty surprising after using the iphone, you'd certainly think google would be more interested in making google maps a really smooth, solid, reliable application since its one of the most popular if not the most popular application. My iphone-owning friend used it the other day during a trip and completely gave up and we used his old ass iphone 3g it was drastically more smooth and enjoyable than my superphone

Back on original topic - N1 has dual-touch, not true multi-touch. This is pretty much irrelevant except for a few key points:
1) Palm rejection is not as good (you have to be a bit careful how you hold the device or it will use your palm as an input)
2) You can't use more than two fingers
3) "Axis snapping" - coordinates are reported separately as 2 X's and 2 Y's. Since there is ALWAYS a delay between the first and second finger press - even if it's only a few milliseconds - the phone can simply "pair" the coordinates on touch. However, if you cross the X or Y axis of the other input, you have a 50% chance of the phone mixing them up.
I've never run into problems 2 or 3, personally, and I DO game quite a bit on my phone. 1 is a simple adjustment issue, and the way you need to hold it comes naturally after a couple of weeks of use.

WP7 Maps = Garbage

I decided to take the GPS and maps on my HD7 WP7 for a spin today. I'm usually more articulate with my words. I feel I'm well versed in grammar but the only word I had for the shock of maps was garbage.
I really miss google maps and Bing mobile or even my co-pilot. Talk about a limited app in functionality and value.
I couldn't tell for the most part whether my phone was connected via GPS or using aGPS. The circle was always pulsating from tiny to the whole screen.
A lot of the missing features have already been noted but I just never realized how useless it was. It just got me craving my HD2.
I really hope Google releases Google maps for WP7 so that MS can wake up.
Other than the maps it seems my GPS location is always off more than a couple feet. Is anyone else experiencing this?

I agree, Maps could use some work. Good news is that Maps is part of the big January update.

I think the Bing map has gotten a lot better in a short time.... I have no complaints myself and I've had quick and steady locks.
I'm looking forward to navigation via the update, but I'm happy at this point.
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express

Same here. My Maps is accurate and on point every time. And the smooth little animations are awesome as well. for me its a much better experience than I had on my hd2 and samsung vibrant. I believe if your having problems with the maps on hd7 there must be something causing it.

Yeah Bing Maps on WP7 is very poor. I'm out in Mumbai at the moment, where Bing's map data is nearly useless, but even in NY, it's atrociously poor. GPS takes time to update, but that's ok if the map displays fine. The "minimalist" UI doesn't display anything (no one zoom view will give all the names for the roads shown on the map).
What use is it to see a bunch of criss-crossing lines (see below) if I don't know what they are? Especially if you're navigating in a new area and are looking for cross-streets, landmarks, etc., the WP7 Maps UI paradigm is highly counter-productive (vs. Google Maps, or even Bing on other platforms, which show traditional, much more useful, maps).

amb9800 said:
Yeah Bing Maps on WP7 is very poor. I'm out in Mumbai at the moment, where Bing's map data is nearly useless, but even in NY, it's atrociously poor. GPS takes time to update, but that's ok if the map displays fine. The "minimalist" UI doesn't display anything (no one zoom view will give all the names for the roads shown on the map).
What use is it to see a bunch of criss-crossing lines (see below) if I don't know what they are? Especially if you're navigating in a new area and are looking for cross-streets, landmarks, etc., the WP7 Maps UI paradigm is highly counter-productive (vs. Google Maps, or even Bing on other platforms, which show traditional, much more useful, maps).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Switching out of Ariel/Satellite view might really help there

You want to live in the UK - Bing totally rubbish compared with good old Google Maps on my old WM.
Searched for my local takaway and it couldn't even find it - really frustrating!
Come on MS get your act together!
CD (UK)

I live in NJ and I have no Issues with Bing maps. No doubt Google maps spoiled me, but Bing is good too. I am sure they would improve on these in their next iteration. C'mon guys, you got to know it only gets better from this point. MS has learnt a huge lesson with their Windows Mobile. They realized that if they don't keep up, other OS will walk all over them. With their first iteration of this OS, it's smooth like butter... and Everything works as its suppose to. Now they would start refining stuff...

I Agree!

alabij said:
I decided to take the GPS and maps on my HD7 WP7 for a spin today. I'm usually more articulate with my words. I feel I'm well versed in grammar but the only word I had for the shock of maps was garbage.
I really miss google maps and Bing mobile or even my co-pilot. Talk about a limited app in functionality and value.
I couldn't tell for the most part whether my phone was connected via GPS or using aGPS. The circle was always pulsating from tiny to the whole screen.
A lot of the missing features have already been noted but I just never realized how useless it was. It just got me craving my HD2.
I really hope Google releases Google maps for WP7 so that MS can wake up.
Other than the maps it seems my GPS location is always off more than a couple feet. Is anyone else experiencing this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The indicator showing where you were pulsating from tiny to your exact location to the entire screen was your signal; it has nothing to do with the phone, or the maps.

Paul Nur said:
The indicator showing where you were pulsating from tiny to your exact location to the entire screen was your signal; it has nothing to do with the phone, or the maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what you mean by it has nothing to do with the phone. The signal is the phone. My point in my OP is that when I stand at a point in an open space it pulsates. Common sense tells me that if the bubble is a dot then its using GPS; if its a big circle the size of the screen it's using AGPS or not enough satellites are locked.
Of all the phones I've had if I stand in an open space and I'm stagnant and aquire a GPS signal I'm locked. my devices will never loose the satellites or switch to AGPS. My HD7 seems to do that.
The quality of the hardware and the algorithm the OS or the chips use determines the quality of the signal other than the obvious being my physical location.

It might be a software issue though. It is version 1.0...
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express

alabij said:
I don't know what you mean by it has nothing to do with the phone. The signal is the phone. My point in my OP is that when I stand at a point in an open space it pulsates. Common sense tells me that if the bubble is a dot then its using GPS; if its a big circle the size of the screen it's using AGPS or not enough satellites are locked.
Of all the phones I've had if I stand in an open space and I'm stagnant and aquire a GPS signal I'm locked. my devices will never loose the satellites or switch to AGPS. My HD7 seems to do that.
The quality of the hardware and the algorithm the OS or the chips use determines the quality of the signal other than the obvious being my physical location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't wait for the first update. It will be a good judgment of how future updates will look and how much power MS is putting into this new product.
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express

Hi,
Anyone has problem with Maps like mine? My Maps app only has 2 icons: "Me" and "Search". I don't have the "Direction" icon, so I can't search for direction, and the "Search" function doesn't work as well When I click search, it returns me to the Bing Search, not Maps search.

arthoang said:
Hi,
Anyone has problem with Maps like mine? My Maps app only has 2 icons: "Me" and "Search". I don't have the "Direction" icon, so I can't search for direction, and the "Search" function doesn't work as well When I click search, it returns me to the Bing Search, not Maps search.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haven't run across that.

I'm in the UK and I too have not been impressed with Bing Maps. It's fine if you are ona main road but I had to go to a side street of Brick Lane last week and not many of the streetnames were showing up on the map. The streets were there, just no names.
Bing and Google Navigator on WM did not support trun by turn Navigation in the UK, I hope this improves under WP7.
Come on Tomtom, Garmin Co-Pilot, pull your fingers out!!!!

arthoang said:
Hi,
Anyone has problem with Maps like mine? My Maps app only has 2 icons: "Me" and "Search". I don't have the "Direction" icon, so I can't search for direction, and the "Search" function doesn't work as well When I click search, it returns me to the Bing Search, not Maps search.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same with me. My biggest complaint so far is the search feature. I typed in "KFC" as in Kentuck Fried Chicken and it said "No Results" lol. Really??
And tried a local store and in showed me results in another part of the country.
I can be patient for the update but still prefer google maps.

Got the same issue and no clue about how solve it. If you find one could you msg me?
Btw I tried to reset the phone and NOK

Oh and I forgot how much I hate how when typing a location it doesn't start auto-suggesting like Google Maps does. Instead it forces you to type what your searching for letter by letter 100% correctly. And you better hope you do otherwise you're like me I spelled the street name "Britiania Rd" with 2 t's like "Brittania Rd" and ended up 150 miles away from what I was actually looking for. And it didn't even give me the choice to choose between the two!!!

Not sure how everybody else feels... I don't see a need to cry about everything, but I'm ASSUMING that since MS put out such a cool version of Bing Maps for the iTurd that they will do the same if not better for their own OS.
But at the same time I'm hoping for a Google hook-up too. I'd like to see a Google Hub where you can add the G-services you use... Maps, Gmail, Calendar, voice, Picasa, etc. Being able to access my "places" on GMaps would be kinda handy... but then again I have it saved on Bing too, so yeah... c'mon MS.

[Q] Ebook reader on glass

Hi everyone,
I don't know how to develop software in Android, but I eventually hope to. I mainly registered to put forward an idea, and to know if it's already available or if it's even possible.
I want to read mathematics books while I run and bike. So far this has not been possible. But with the launch of Google Glass this looks possible. I enjoy the exercise and the scenery while running and biking. But the problem is that it's also huge waste of time for me. So I don't go running as much as I could. There's nothing to think about other than what's around you and just putting one foot in front of the other, so it even gets boring sometimes. It would be better if I can get some of my work done while I'm running, and enjoy the exercise, fresh air and the scenery at the same time.
Typically people can listen to audiobooks when they run. Or there are android apps that will read from a text ebook so they can listen to it. But you can't listen to a mathematics book because there are symbols, and those symbols are most often there as graphics, not text.
It would be great if Google Glass has an ebook reader on it, or can tether with a smartphone and display the screen, so a runner could read a book while running. You'd need some controls to turn the pages, maybe zoom, go left, right, up and down, while the book is open. And a navigation system to open a new book.
What are your thoughts? Can it be done?
Thanks.

omoplata1 said:
Hi everyone,
I don't know how to develop software in Android, but I eventually hope to. I mainly registered to put forward an idea, and to know if it's already available or if it's even possible.
I want to read mathematics books while I run and bike. So far this has not been possible. But with the launch of Google Glass this looks possible. I enjoy the exercise and the scenery while running and biking. But the problem is that it's also huge waste of time for me. So I don't go running as much as I could. There's nothing to think about other than what's around you and just putting one foot in front of the other, so it even gets boring sometimes. It would be better if I can get some of my work done while I'm running, and enjoy the exercise, fresh air and the scenery at the same time.
Typically people can listen to audiobooks when they run. Or there are android apps that will read from a text ebook so they can listen to it. But you can't listen to a mathematics book because there are symbols, and those symbols are most often there as graphics, not text.
It would be great if Google Glass has an ebook reader on it, or can tether with a smartphone and display the screen, so a runner could read a book while running. You'd need some controls to turn the pages, maybe zoom, go left, right, up and down, while the book is open. And a navigation system to open a new book.
What are your thoughts? Can it be done?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) It could be done, but that is not what glass is meant for. Glass is designed for less than 30 second, limit one minute, interactions.
2) Watching a youtube video on glass for 3 minutes in the latest update hurts my eyes because i'm staring at it for so long. Its like when you're developing for it, you get eyestrain if you constantly look at it. Looking at Glass for long periods of time hurts.
3) It would be hard to see since it has some viewing problems in light.
4) It would be plain awkward to be running around, constantly looking up and to the right. Plus, you might run into something xD

[UT]Ubuntu Touch First Look - a personal Review

Hey guys! I’m doing a personal review of Ubuntu Touch on the Nexus4 device, and I thought I could share it with you.
It’s kind of a “Pros and cons” thing, but since I tend to get off-topic easily and babble a lot I’ve divided things in sections,
so you don’t have to read everything should you not want to.
Here it goes - Ubuntu Touch on the Google Nexus 4 (mako).
Installing Ubuntu has always been a pleasant experience for me. It feels open. Feels different. Feels fresh. Feels UBUNTU.
Installing any linux distribution on any PC makes mu blood run like crazy and Ubuntu Touch makes no difference.
It’s exciting to see something new and beautiful done for phones. And it’s even more exciting when you see it’s done with taste.​
Now just to be clear – when it comes to Pros and Cons I guess the “Cons” section would be obviously much larger,
but hey: it’s a developers preview of what we should be expecting so I’m willing to suck some things up.
Pros:
1. Design.
Ubuntu Touch feels like Ubuntu in your hand. I just have to say this. I’m not sure if it’s the fonts or the wallpapers or the
transitions or the launch pad on the left or something else that I couldn’t quite grasp and understand,
but the fact is UT feels right. Feels Ubuntu.
2. Screen usage
Almost every other mobile OS has some buttons be it hardware or software (eg. Android’s software buttons on the screen + the 3-dot thingy).
Ubuntu gives you the whole screen to have for yourself and your app. It’s amazing how even the “Contacts” app feels bigger and more open.
3. Docking
I haven’t had the chance to go through the UT docking experience yet. I don’t even know if it’s quite baked yet, but what
I’ve seen on videos and ads is pretty awesome. The very idea of it makes it way cool. Chuck Norris cool.
The vision that one can have his PC in his pocket at all times is nothing but genius.
4. Compatibility
Ubuntu aims to be compatible with lots of devices. Which is good, I guess. I just hope compatibility doesn’t come
at the expense of stability or power management or something else that might come along and present itself as an issue.
5. Stability
I am yet to witness an app to crash or force-close or just close or anything like that.
I do get some strange freezes for a few seconds every now and then though.
Cons:
1. Installation
Installation can present itself to be harsh on someone who know nothing about using the terminal. There was a small step
missing in the installation tutorial which can cause some people to get confused. Mainly people with no
prior unlocking/rooting/flashing ROMs experience.
2. Boot
No boot animation. First time the phone booted it needed quite some time and there wasn’t even a splash screen indicating
something was working. The screen had the backlight on and that was it. No shutdown animation as well. And while we’re
still on the subject: there is no shutdown menu, which was kind of strange – I mean when you hold the power button the
phone just shuts down – no questions asked. I guess that might be good in some situations, but I’d rather have the shutdown menu.
3. Overall performance
Overall performance is laggy. The “use-of-edge” design is pretty neatly thought of, but in real life it need polishing. A LOT of polishing.
Swipes act strange, I move from app to app by accident.. My personal guess is that one can get used to it in a couple days
but the swipes should take a step towards being more intuitive as well.
I didn’t like the fact that the music page doesn’t stream anything, but takes you to the browser and when you hit play on some
hit you’re supposed to hear you get a message that flash is not supported or crashed or something like that. It’s kind of frustrating.
I think a native app should be replacing that page on the home screen real soon.
4. Social media
Neither Facebook nor Twitter have native apps. All you get is a mobile version in the browser. I don’t think it needs further explanation.
I hope both Facebook and Twitter do something about this. I don’t think it’s up to Canonical to make apps for those… or up to the
community for that matter. Anyway. I didn’t see a LinkedIn, Pinterest or any other social platform on the suggested apps, so
I guess I’ll just stop here.
5. Graphical glitches
Sometimes things will shift aside or up and down and text would overlap. It’s not something you can’t live with – a simple swipe one
way or another – fixes it, but I think all would agree it’s not an eye-candy feature. There are a few of these throughout the system.
It’s nothing serious in my opinion, but I couldn’t bring myself to put it in the “Pros” section.
The clock disappeared form everywhere except the clock app. I mean it – everywhere. It’s not on the homescreen,
it’s not in the “notification bar”, it’s nowhere. It happened after I rebooted the device for the first time. Also alarms don’t
seem to be working at all.
//* after a second reboot clock reappeared. Alarms still don’t work though.
Another thing is after picking up a call and finishing it – when you put the phone away from your ear the screen won’t turn on by itself.
That’s kind of odd if you ask me. It’s like it knows I’m saying “goodbye” and saves my battery or something. It’s a minor setback,
but still. I noticed that during the dialing process screen lights up if you take the phone away from your ear. I haven’t read a lot of
UT documentation, so it might be on purpose – I’m just stating what I’ve experienced.
6. Navitagion
Navigation is bad right now, I think. It looks like the OS isn’t sure how to respond to your swipe. Transitions are slow in my opinion.
They should be a tad faster. A major setback is the back button. I mean seriously – how many times do you misclick on something
and want to go right back. Think about it. It’s at least a few times a day. I think the back button should be visible the first few seconds
along with the rest of the app menu – should there be one. Or maybe just put it in the top left corner next to the search. If you think there
is no space – the search can always morph into “just a button” ... Other than that I can’t complain about navigation – it’s pretty neat,
actually. Menus are simple and understandable.
7. Hardware glitches
Everytime I wake my device up my Bluetooth is ON and I need to turn it off manually.
I can’t say I like that at all but considering that is all I have to say about hardware glitches I think it's not that bad.
8. 3G
3G is really important. AND it works! There’s just now way to shut it off.
I mean sure – you can turn off the mobile data, but when it comes to choosing whether to use 3G or 2G Networks Only – you don’t really have a choice.
You’re stuck with 3G and all the disadvantages that come with it as well as the advantages.
//* We all know what happens to your battery when using 3G and I’m the kind of guy that doesn’t like to turn his mobile data ON and OFF all the time – it just stays enabled all the time and saves me whole lotta thinking. Not having the choice of switching back to “2G networks only” sends you straight in hell in terms of battery life.
9. Syncing
Since I’m obviously new to Ubuntu Touch I just recently started using Ubuntu One, but my gosh! Syncing contacts with Google is a
real pain in the ass. Since the Gmail app is not a native app, but a HTML5 client instead, syncing appears to be impossible at this point.
Users are forced to hook their devices up to a PC running Ubuntu and write a bunch of commands in the terminal over and over again,
since syncing only works for no more than 50 contacts at a time. That being said I have over 600 so I had to run the damn thing 12 times
in a row. Aside from that should you choose to add a new contact it won’t sync with Google automatically and upload your new contact
into the cloud where you can have access to it at anytime.
//*Note: AFAIK: iOS, WM and Android have pretty easy ways to sync contacts with Google. I think this is one of the things the guys at Canonical should focus on. Slick mail application and neat contacts syncing is vital to a lot of people and is a major reason why they never switch phones.
Final thoughts:
Ubuntu Touch aims to deliver something different and really special to consumers: a PC inside a phone. I think what they are truly
missing here is an app store of some kind. The OS suggests apps but I couldn't see an app for that and I'm guessing that is somewhat of a
setback as well. They’ve been doing really well and while for now the “Cons” section is significantly larger than the “Pros”
I have hope and faith that Canonical will pull this off eventually.
Aside from the hard installation and the lack of an eye-candy boot animation… and maybe some other minor tickles - the OS looks
and feels nice and really pretty in the palm of one’s hand. They still have a lot of work to do if they ever want to catch up with Android or iOS
in terms of usability, syncing, MTP and other stuff that average consumers don’t know and don’t need to worry about but would miss a lot.
If you don’t don't mind the fact it’s a developers preview and the camera doesn’t always start off properly and you have to shut it down and run it again it’s pretty impressive!
Conclusion:
There are a lot of words one can use to describe Ubuntu Touch, but in my opinion the high order bid is “Inspiring”.
Yes, there are some glitches here and there. There is a lot to do. But after seeing it and touching it with my own eyes and fingers well…
I have to say this – I am thrilled and I can’t hardly wait to see what will they make of it.
​

littlegreen said:
Yes, there are some glitches here and there. There is a lot to do. But after seeing it and touching it with my own eyes and fingers well…
I have to say this – I am thrilled and I can’t hardly wait to see what will they make of it.
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Honestly, i think this is nothing new and nothing special ;/.
UPD: The problem is your article is too generalised, viewing stuff too objectively. Your article must show your personal opinion and vision on stuff, more than boring facts.
And don't use Pros/Cons style, when it's all about cons, not pros. Just don't.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

reqmon said:
Honestly, i think this is nothing new and nothing special ;/.
UPD: The problem is your article is too generalised, viewing stuff too objectively. Your article must show your personal opinion and vision on stuff, more than boring facts.
And don't use Pros/Cons style, when it's all about cons, not pros. Just don't.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well since I only have a few hours of experiencing the OS I don't think generalising is an option per say.
Besides - I am an optimist. I try to see the good in everything and that is why I have the "Pros" list. Thanks for the advice though.

well i find your review interesting to learn about the basics of ubuntu
Can you report about the battery performance?