Q: Possible workaround to softkey apps? - Nook Color General

If we currently had access to the notification bar, we wouldn't need softkey apps, right?
My question is: Is there something we can edit that reports a resolution/size less than fullscreen (a size that will show the bottom bar)?
-A.

+1
I'd like to second this inquiry. If somebody could work their Wizarding Awesome Sauce then I would be much obliged.

I don't have any coding experience at all but if I understand this correctly we're looking for two distinct screens within one LCD, both part of the same Android OS, both able to talk to each other, both able to control each other. Essentially something along the lines of a Windows status bar with the start button and everything else.
I'd say this is definitively doable, what is going to present a huge, maybe impossible challenge, is that software written for actual computers takes the Windows bar in account when maximizing the screen. Software that covers the whole scren, such as games, take in account two other constants, the Windows key and CTRL+ALT+DEL. Since we don't have these constant we're stuck with what we've got... and the NC isn't a massively mainstream device to prompt someone to get to work.

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What's Wrong with Windows Mobile (and how it should be fixed) (aka my little Rant)

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 .

Apache! Track Ball! Landscape View! (questions)

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.

[Q] Several questions about WP8 and Nokia 920

Hello every one,
I just acquired a Nokia 920 yesterday. So far the handset is about the finest thing I have ever held, It just begs to be used when its in your hand. All is not perfect though, I have some questions. Any recommendations for solutions are greatly appreciated.
I started using PDA's in the early 90's, my first smart phone was a Blackberry, I switch to Android when they dropped the ball. I am of the opinion that the win8 ecosystem is the future for enterprise and productivity. Basically I expect a lot from a smart phone, I expect it to be a top notch PDA, a phone, and a good device for killing time.
1) How do you turn off the haptic feedback on the three hard buttons? I can't overstate how much I hate haptic feedback, this has me on the edge of returning the phone. I want to throw the phone across the room every time I feel it.
2) How do I turn off the touch points on the keyboard? I find having a little flag pop up with the letter I just pressed is annoying. Better yet, where can I get a decent keyboard? The installed keyboard is as bad as the iPhone one - crap. I can span 13 keys on a piano, I want my keyboard to span the screen, I want it to have alternate symbols accessible by long pressing, and it would be cool if it was skinnable, though the built in skin is nice for me. I tried the market place and all I could find was foreign alphabet keyboards.
3) Color coded emails. I did figure out how to merge both my calendars and my email accounts to a single tile. It would be nice to have some kind of color coding for the inbox so I don't have to open the email to see what account it is from.
4) recommend a good calendar. The default one only shows events for the same day. It would be nice to have the live tile show upcoming events in the future. The app must be able to let me make appointments as well. Did not find anything nice in the store.
5) A decent music player. As near as I can tell, Nokia music is just MS music re-skinned. When I hit the music tile, I want to see what I am currently listening too with buttons to skip/pause/etc. and a link to my library to change artists. Nokia Music is pure bloat, I have to navigate past market place stuff, then navigate around to find a pause button. Pretty much sucks to use. The mixer is buried inside the setting menu, so when I change music styles, I have to navigate down through the settings to change the mixer, then navigate back around to the music player. This whole set-up is about as crappy as anything I have ever seen. To make matters worse, the mixer is not pin able. I would love to have something comparable to PowerAmp.
Thanks in advance. I've used XDA for years, and always found my answers buried somewhere in these forums.
P.S. anyone who can get the sexy Samsung voice ported over to Nokia Drive deserves a special prize
joshua43214 said:
Hello every one,
1) How do you turn off the haptic feedback on the three hard buttons? I can't overstate how much I hate haptic feedback, this has me on the edge of returning the phone. I want to throw the phone across the room every time I feel it.
2) How do I turn off the touch points on the keyboard? I find having a little flag pop up with the letter I just pressed is annoying. Better yet, where can I get a decent keyboard? The installed keyboard is as bad as the iPhone one - crap. I can span 13 keys on a piano, I want my keyboard to span the screen, I want it to have alternate symbols accessible by long pressing, and it would be cool if it was skinnable, though the built in skin is nice for me. I tried the market place and all I could find was foreign alphabet keyboards.
3) Color coded emails. I did figure out how to merge both my calendars and my email accounts to a single tile. It would be nice to have some kind of color coding for the inbox so I don't have to open the email to see what account it is from.
4) recommend a good calendar. The default one only shows events for the same day. It would be nice to have the live tile show upcoming events in the future. The app must be able to let me make appointments as well. Did not find anything nice in the store.
5) A decent music player. As near as I can tell, Nokia music is just MS music re-skinned. When I hit the music tile, I want to see what I am currently listening too with buttons to skip/pause/etc. and a link to my library to change artists. Nokia Music is pure bloat, I have to navigate past market place stuff, then navigate around to find a pause button. Pretty much sucks to use. The mixer is buried inside the setting menu, so when I change music styles, I have to navigate down through the settings to change the mixer, then navigate back around to the music player. This whole set-up is about as crappy as anything I have ever seen. To make matters worse, the mixer is not pin able. I would love to have something comparable to PowerAmp.
Thanks in advance. I've used XDA for years, and always found my answers buried somewhere in these forums.
P.S. anyone who can get the sexy Samsung voice ported over to Nokia Drive deserves a special prize
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I have not yet seen a Nokia 920 yet, but in Samsung Omnia W/Samsung Flash, you can go to Settings->Extra Settings and remove it from there, check if you have a similar setting, you can request Nokia to add such a setting as its possible in Samsung and should be possible in Nokia too. If they get similar requests they may add it soon
2) AFAIK you cannot install another keyboard, but long pressing many keys you can have alternate symbols coming up. Did you try long pressing some keys? You can change the language of they keyboards via settings.
3) Dont merge the emails and have 2 separate very small tiles instead. Should solve your problem.
4) & 5) not sure yet. But since the SDK is updated with calender access soon you should get many apps with calender.
my question
does the lumia 920 or any win phone 8 device have FM radio??? if it doesnt, is it supported in win phone 8??
monotheist said:
1) I have not yet seen a Nokia 920 yet, but in Samsung Omnia W/Samsung Flash, you can go to Settings->Extra Settings and remove it from there, check if you have a similar setting, you can request Nokia to add such a setting as its possible in Samsung and should be possible in Nokia too. If they get similar requests they may add it soon
2) AFAIK you cannot install another keyboard, but long pressing many keys you can have alternate symbols coming up. Did you try long pressing some keys? You can change the language of they keyboards via settings.
3) Dont merge the emails and have 2 separate very small tiles instead. Should solve your problem.
4) & 5) not sure yet. But since the SDK is updated with calender access soon you should get many apps with calender.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply
Only thing in the Nokia extra settings is phone info, no actual settings at all.
Long pressing gives some alternate letter forms like hats, or umlauts. It does not work on all the letters, and you don't know what the long press gives you until you try it. Stuff like beta is on the lower case s, not the upper case. Like I said its a crap keyboard
I actually use 5 email accounts, though only 3 feed my calendar. Thanks for the suggestion though.
All devices support it as far as I know, but the software didn't made it to RTM. It will be in a upcoming update.
It's widely heralded as one of the best and most responsive keyboards ever...
- There is no built-in option to turn off haptic feedback on those keys. Manufacturer needs to develop an app (with interop level or higher access) to disable it, Microsoft needs to update the OS to add such an option, or someone has to hack the thing to turn it off. Considering that the first two probably won't happen in a timely fashion, and that WP8 has yet to be "hacked", don't expect this to change anytime soon.
- Keyboard cannot be changed. As someone mentioned, its actually heralded as one of the best keyboards on the market, and I agree. Once you get used to it, its a joy to use and is tons better than anything on Android, and as good as, if not better than the iOS keyboard. Seeing as how you said this is your first time in Windows Phone land, it may take some time for you to adjust to it, but it really is a wonderful keyboard. I do understand that it isn't for everyone, and unfortunately there is no way to change it if you happen to hate it. You also cannot disable the letter flags that appear on the screen when you tap on the keyboard.
- No color-coding for a combined inbox... yet. Not sure if this is something they are considering, and I don't think I've ever read someone suggesting it, but it makes sense, and I'd love to see this happen.
- Considering developers only really just got Calendar access with the WP8 SDK, I doubt there will be anything useful in the Store just yet. This a brand new platform that just launched, so its gonna take some time for people to figure out what they can or cannot do, and then put it on the Store for us to use.
- Xbox Music or Nokia Music will be as decent as it gets currently. Apps are able to pull from your media collection (like Nokia Music does), but I have not seen anything mind-blowing yet. I'm more than happy with Xbox Music, as it fulfills all my needs. I don't watch videos aside from stuff on YouTube though, so while I don't care for video codec support, I can understand not having total codec flexibility like you can on more open platforms or on apps like VLC.
It really sounds like that you, coming from Android, are expecting a lot more than Windows Phone 7/8 was designed to do. Windows Phone 8 can do a lot, but this OS was built from the ground up to be rather different than your typical PDA operating system. You will not get the same kind of flexibility on Windows Phone 8 that you would with Android.
For comparison:
- Windows Phone 7/8 is more like iOS. Relatively stable/reliable, curated store, locked down, relatively consistent.
- Android is more like old Windows Mobile. Infinitely more customizable and flexible, open market, relatively nonrestrictive, not very consistent, not completely reliable/stable.

[Q] is this concept possible?

I found a concept on uservoice (not in the first ranks lol). I doubt that Microsoft will ever consider that, but do you think it is possibile to realize it in alternative way? Take a look and tell me what do you think about that (it's a poor quality image)
http://it.tinypic.com/view.php?pic=fmt5i1&s=5
I find it very simple and effective..so sorry that Microsoft will never realize those very good ideas..and instead of it, there will probably come a notification center As a separate app :s :s
Is it possible? Yes, of course (no offense, but this is a silly question; there's nothing technically difficult about it). Is it possible for homebrew (as opposed to Microsoft) developers to implement? Not at this time, but in concept, not hard. We just don't have the ability to replace the system binaries yet, or a few other pieces that we need. But assuming the existence of a unified notification system, and knowing where the switches for toggleable services are in the OS, we could combine those pieces easily enough.
One issue with that image: putting it on the Start button is kind of a stupid suggestion. For one thing, Start already does things on both normal press and press-and-hold. For another thing, the app switcher is already displayed when the user presses-and-holds the Back button. Changing that around now would just be confusing. I could imagine (but do not ever expect to see, at least not officially) a setting that lets the user choose what to do with each button... but for the mean time, they should keep the defaults as-is. They already screwed over the Search button...
No offense, don't worry your answers are always welcome because I can understand a lot from them. Anyway I suppose (and it's only mu tought) that this concept is concentrated on windows button because Microsoft in next releases will kill the back button (probably it will be replaced by an on-screen button)..or at least there are rumors about that. To be honest I find a clean phone more elegant than the ones with soft touch buttons..of course is only an estethical consideration
I'd like this concept, one of the best things of WP8 is that it's almost all C#. And C# code can be easily patched/decompiled/recreated. We just need to find a way to replace system binaries.
In any case, considering we have interop-unlock and can access some registry entries, I will not get surprised if we could replace the application that manages the home screen(which also manages the task manager) just by changing registry entries.

New ideas thread

I don't know if someone did this already but I have some great ideas for the phone to implement. Feel free to critique and add your I own, maybe they'll be implemented someday. Feel free to share anywhere as well (possibly OnePlus forums for more attention)
My 1st idea is programmable gestures:
Since we already have basic gestures how hard would it be to add more and make them programmable. For example, adding numbers 0-9 which could easily be drawn with one stroke could be used for speed dial. Something like 0 could be reserved for emergency services (I remember this from the power button thing in India but correct me if I'm wrong, this way they'll be able to use double press on power to launch camera and also have access for emergency dialing). And maybe the alphabet too but letters like A changed to a triangle since it's hard to write it with one stroke. Doing it over and over should make the system better at recognizing them and I feel like it will add a lot of convenience to the phone.
My 2nd idea is not really an idea but more of a change:
I don't know if you noticed but during video the focus seems to shift a lot and create weird effects during recording. I feel like that's something they should work on.
Anyway that's all from me for now. I feel like the phone has great hardware but if it had a little better software I think this could definitely keep on killing flagships in the future.

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