My problems with/suggestions for current HTC Sense - Android Software Development

Not quite sure whether this is the exact location something like this should go.. but over time I've just put together a list of some issues I have with the current Sense (Mainly its apps) and changes/additions I'd like to see in further updates.
I'm using HTC Legend unrooted.
Ones with asterisk are more significant.
General
*Ability to select default location on sd card to be used by apps for cache/data storage (so root is not clustered with folders)
*Option to choose whether the long press home button action shows recently used apps or currently running apps - latter could be more useful.
*Built in flashlight app which uses camera flash as a torch (so I don't have to root. Don't see why HTC doesnt have this already.. very practical and useful)
Ability to change timestamp on Footprints. For creating footprints of past events/locations.
When manually selected network becomes unavailable, the screen annoyingly switches to the mobile network list to choose a new one, annoyingly interrupting any current tasks. Will continue to switch back to network list periodically if you ignore it. Show alert in notification bar instead.
Allow selecting/copying of text in sms messages. (select text in long press menu)
Allow manual selection of location for weather (seems to not update location until I'm connected to some form of internet.. even though it can figure it out from GPS/phone network)
Sometimes time on clock widget and notification bar are not synchronized (when traveling between timezones, notification bar has manually selected time of the new location, widget keeps time and weather data of previous location)
360 degree rotate angles (does not go landscape when rotated clockwise)
Interface
*Turning page animation for clock widget, hero has it, looks better (doesn't work on my Legend, seen a Desire where it doesn't turn pages either, must be because of the updated 2.1 version.. defeats the purpose of the page-looking background though)
*When pressing home button or otherwise going back to home screen, have a transition effect where current window minimizes to center of screen with home screen objects coming in from the edges when (like effects in nexus one). Currently the home screen sort of slides in from the side... the minimizing and fading into the centre looks much more appealing
*Nice looking orientation rotate effect when rotating phone (like iphone)
When in pinch zoom out mode on home screen (where you can see small versions of each home screen), allow the dragging and re-arrangement of the order of home screens. (Touchwiz is adding this feature, LauncherPro does I believe, need to keep up with the competition)
Music
Re-do cover art display, there's room to move things and make album art larger, have a nicer looking display with maybe 3D effects, something similar to Itunes Cover Flow
Smooth, fast scrolling through cover art without changing song until actually pressing on album.
When pressing search button in library mode, search all fields not just one currently active.
Music sync capability of htc sync.
Be able to select album art from sd card/search online.
Photo
*Display color gradients better. (currently sometimes shows gradients very badly, rough and obviously ugly, same for picture set as lock screen wallpaper)
*Be able to choose which folders to find media (so it doesnt pick up all the images used by apps etc)
*Be able organize albums e.g. folders within folders.
*Separate videos from photos - have separate tab thing down the bottom, like where it has Albums, Facebook etc, for videos
Better updating when SD contents is modified, takes forever and initially leaves doubles of media and albums, shows nonexistent albums until finished.
Better caching - not show "searching for media" loading notification every time even if the album list had been loaded seconds before. Especially since it does not properly search for and detect new media.
Add option to add folders/search/refresh manually.
Allow creation of custom albums.
Camera
*Easier switch between camcorder and camera like nexus one and iphone camera app with constant visible slide toggle. The slide out options bar is laggy and inconvenient to change between modes.
*Audio record quality in camcorder is terrible - atleast at high volumes. Recording video at a concert and the sound was so distorted it was impossible to distinguish any of the music, while my relatively cheap Powershot camera recorded it fine.. a phone's mic should be better than a camera's right?
*Use volume rocker for zooming in and out (currently does nothing in camera mode), screen swipe zoom is often unresponsive
People
For a contact links, often does not keep selected display name.
Typing in a phone number of a contact in the global search (press search button while on home screen) does not find that contact
Ook thats it for now. I just wanted to put this up to see if anyone had similar ideas/problems, maybe ways to fix certain ones. Also is there any place to suggest this kind of thing directly to HTC? Silly I know, like they'd care about the opinions of one whiny guy, I can imagine how much emails from people begging for things in updates (see user KISS1 on these two threads:
htt p:// community.htc. com/na/htc-forums/android/f/22/t/4169.aspx
htt p:// community.htc. com/na/htc-forums/android/f/22/t/35.aspx)
lol

yep..People widget too ambitious,but sometimes does not keep selected display name.hope HTC will fix this bugs

Related

[Q] New HD Sense UI

Will the HTC Evo 4g receive a update for the new sense ui? I have been wanting this implementation for a while now. Also what does HD in the new HTC Desire mean?
probably high definition, high definition is more of a buzzword then a term, technically the first "hd" tv was invented back around the 50s, its definitely above 480p (enhanced definition) but below the current standard of high definition (720i) the current trend of android phones support 800 x 480 while the highest standard for edtv i believe it 576p(pal resolution)
What's so HD about the HTC Desire? I mean it's like a beefed up verson of the Evo without the kickstand. Also I hope the new sense ui comes out soon!
are there any major differences? I can't tell by looking at some of the pictures out there. what is new in sense?
"-New flip clock animation. There also aren't that many clock widgets,
-There is a blocked callers app, HTC Hub app for your HTC Sense account. For people who just get this new phone, they have an App where they can transfer over their data from their other phone over a bluetooth connection.
-Messaging app: UI overhaul. You have an option for push messages. In the settings you have the option to forward messages to your phone or email addres. Inside the thread there is a sort of new view. It displays the contacts name and number at the same time.
-There is also an app that will link your contacts with the social networking websites, that was demonstrated in that video. It's nothing really new, it just gives you the option to link the twitter and facebook once you add a new contact to the phone.
-The personalize button is the same thing as long pressing on the screen, but it's more personal. A lot more options are put all together in the same place, but essentially the same thing.
-People Widget: There is a new People widget, and by default it displays the contact photos and their facebook/twitter status. But once you get a message or they update any one of those, it replaces the previous status. So if you got a text message, it would show up next to their name, you can tap it and be redirected to the messaging app.
-New Live Wallpaper: There is a wallpaper that you can set that will be based off of pictures you select, so that every time you unlock the phone or go back to the homescreen from any app, you see a new wallpaper. The default images on this rom are great, and i love seeing a new image, its my favorite wallpaper.
-Notifications: Inside your notification pulldown, it displays all recent apps, so you no longer have to hold down the home button, just drag down and select. Also, what htey didnt talk about is how if you're playing music, you have the option to pause the song from the notification pulldown.
-There is a power saver feature
-There is an option for the ringer to become quiet once the phone is moved, and for the ringer to become louder when it's in your pocket.
-New HTC Keyboard, and a new calibration app that looks sexy as hell
-HTC Skins
-Over all higher resolution
-Internet browser: No more fullscreen mode, but you have the refresh button and a new RSS button. Also, next to the RSS button is a button for bookmarking. YOu have the option to disable animated gif animations.
-This is true froyo, so it restores your apps when you load up the app, but only if you were on a version of froyo that had that option, like cyanogenmod
-for search, i never really used it so this may not be new, but you can search every single thing on your phone. i mean, down to a specific word in a text message
-this isnt on my rom but i remember seeing it..you had the option to have these nice power control widgets. one of them that i used was the wireless and settings widget. which contained htc sync, wifi, roaming, mobile network and a button that took you to the settings section under settings
-iPhone magnifying glass when it comes to editing text. It's not the exact same (obviously) it's a square."
I posted that on reddit some weeks ago,thats just some of the new stuff i noticed in the new rom
ms79723 said:
"-New flip clock animation. There also aren't that many clock widgets,
-There is a blocked callers app, HTC Hub app for your HTC Sense account. For people who just get this new phone, they have an App where they can transfer over their data from their other phone over a bluetooth connection.
-Messaging app: UI overhaul. You have an option for push messages. In the settings you have the option to forward messages to your phone or email addres. Inside the thread there is a sort of new view. It displays the contacts name and number at the same time.
-There is also an app that will link your contacts with the social networking websites, that was demonstrated in that video. It's nothing really new, it just gives you the option to link the twitter and facebook once you add a new contact to the phone.
-The personalize button is the same thing as long pressing on the screen, but it's more personal. A lot more options are put all together in the same place, but essentially the same thing.
-People Widget: There is a new People widget, and by default it displays the contact photos and their facebook/twitter status. But once you get a message or they update any one of those, it replaces the previous status. So if you got a text message, it would show up next to their name, you can tap it and be redirected to the messaging app.
-New Live Wallpaper: There is a wallpaper that you can set that will be based off of pictures you select, so that every time you unlock the phone or go back to the homescreen from any app, you see a new wallpaper. The default images on this rom are great, and i love seeing a new image, its my favorite wallpaper.
-Notifications: Inside your notification pulldown, it displays all recent apps, so you no longer have to hold down the home button, just drag down and select. Also, what htey didnt talk about is how if you're playing music, you have the option to pause the song from the notification pulldown.
-There is a power saver feature
-There is an option for the ringer to become quiet once the phone is moved, and for the ringer to become louder when it's in your pocket.
-New HTC Keyboard, and a new calibration app that looks sexy as hell
-HTC Skins
-Over all higher resolution
-Internet browser: No more fullscreen mode, but you have the refresh button and a new RSS button. Also, next to the RSS button is a button for bookmarking. YOu have the option to disable animated gif animations.
-This is true froyo, so it restores your apps when you load up the app, but only if you were on a version of froyo that had that option, like cyanogenmod
-for search, i never really used it so this may not be new, but you can search every single thing on your phone. i mean, down to a specific word in a text message
-this isnt on my rom but i remember seeing it..you had the option to have these nice power control widgets. one of them that i used was the wireless and settings widget. which contained htc sync, wifi, roaming, mobile network and a button that took you to the settings section under settings
-iPhone magnifying glass when it comes to editing text. It's not the exact same (obviously) it's a square."
I posted that on reddit some weeks ago,thats just some of the new stuff i noticed in the new rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice summary.
Sent From My HTC Evo 4G Using Tapa Talk Pro!
god does this get new thread every day?
Thanks for summary.
Is this just an updated list... ie: is the new Sense UI still in development.
rockky said:
Thanks for summary.
Is this just an updated list... ie: is the new Sense UI still in development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The new Sense UI is complete, because its already on the Desire HD and Z. Only things that is constantly being updated is the stuff for the HTC Hub. But thats just themes, ringtones, wallpapers, skins and whatnot.
New Sense = SEX.
I can't stop using it...
The Mail app and widget have also been greatly improved on the new Sense UI. It adds a universal inbox as well as batch actions. Much nicer to need only one Mail widget now on the homescreen for those people with mutliple email addresses.
i wish they would release an update to the sense ui for the non HD Desire :/

[CHANGE LOG] XWKI8 / XXKI3 (2.3.5) - Full list

XWKI8 - For Nordic Countries
No differences found as yet, only that its much quicker than KI3 and also has improved battery life.
Stuff we already know:
1. Over scroll glow (a yucky one that too) - NO more bounce effect (THANK GOD!)
2. New firmware number (umm… )
3. More detailed power saver mode (under settings)
4. If profile is "Sound + Vibration" a vibration logo appears in the notification bar (BUG)
5. Endless loop scrolling between home screens
6. SIP no longer supported
7. Improved battery life
8. Improved sound quality
9. You can now change discovery period for BT devices. -rickytenzer
OTHER GENERAL STUFF NOTICED:
1. More blueness across the board added, maybe bracing for ICS?
2. Ridiculously smooth notification pull downs and smoother graphics and animation rendering everywhere.
3. At least 30% quicker than my older KG1.
4. Back button works lethally fast.
5. Anti-aliasing on fonts a leap better than older builds
6. Faster and better response in Voice talk app
7. New video maker app (not sure if that’s new ☹ )
8. Notification icons take lesser space in the notification bar
9. Support pulled for many older bluetooth devices
More detailed Changelog:
CLOCK:
1. Multiple alarm entries can be selected and deleted at one go. (in alarms press menu> delete)
2. World clock is revamped, where the clock goes dark if indicating time of a country that is currently sleeping.
3. New desk clock feature (in clock, scoll the top tab where alarms, world clock etc are located to your left)
4. Overall, the themes are going more blue across the board.
CALENDAR:
1. Week view is more comprehensive now (not meant for the big thumbed!)
2. Improvements in creating calendar entries.
MUSIC PLAYER:
1. Still sucks like hell!
2. New animation when changing songs by swiping the cover in the “now playing” screen.
3. Wider sound stage, better sound management, better 5.1
4. Lower volumes via speakers and Bluetooth headsets
BROWSER (INTERNET):
1. New animation and look when switching tabs.
2. Removed tab numbers in the open tabs overview
3. Speed improvements.
4. New animation when opening a new tab
5. C-Grade over scroll glow, but non intrusive.
6. Still didn’t fix multi touch on the browser. (Try moving around the page using 2 fingers touched) – BUMMER!
CAMERA:
1. Improved cam quality
2. Improved UI and multi touch support when viewing recently clicked via camera.
GALLERY:
1. Now can directly access camera from Gallery (Top right)
2. New revamped path bar (on the top, when accessing folders or pictures)
3. Much faster thumb-nailing scripts and quicker rendering
4. Revamped options bar (the one that comes up at the bottom of every pic with options send via and delete)
5. Can see picture previews before entering any folder (just pinch any bunch outward to see a photo flow)
6. New zoom in and zoom out buttons when viewing pictures (on top right)
MARKET:
1. New market (takes some time to update after flashing)
2. Minor speed improvements
MY FILES:
1. Option to view as thumbnails.
2. UI improvements
GTALK:
1. UI improvements (look at your username, much smaller / look at the look of the bubble representing open chats)
VIDEOS:
1. Revamped UI when playing videos.
2. Now supports portrait playback (and will need to rotate for landscape view)
3. Power button while playback locks the screen (didn’t do that in some builds)
4. Can trim video (press menu while playback and select trim)
SETTINGS:
1. More options under “Call”
2. New vibrations options under “Sound”
3. New “Battery usage” link under “Applications”
Thanks for pointing them out, Nice. Can you share the Swype version too?
ithehappy said:
Thanks for pointing them out, Nice. Can you share the Swype version too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Swype version now 3.8.86.28077 - if that helps in your desicion
other issues.
pptp vpn over 3g still not working...
damn when will they fix this.
Does flash video from the stock browser play in proper full screen? Or do they still have the bug that always displays the top notification bar?
Finally I can create appointments in Exchange Calendar marked as private
LouisJB said:
Does flash video from the stock browser play in proper full screen? Or do they still have the bug that always displays the top notification bar?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know.
Doesn't do on YouTube atleast
Do you know when this will be available through Kies? Nordic.
I just got 2.3.4, but battery sucks, so I'm not happy. If I'll have to wait a long time, then I guess I'll have to learn to deal with Odin and rooting...
How's the Yellow Tint?
I don't know if it's me or what, but when I unlock my phone I see a flash image of my homescreen and then the lockscreen appears.
Happenning to someone else?
rj.camargo said:
I don't know if it's me or what, but when I unlock my phone I see a flash image of my homescreen and then the lockscreen appears.
Happenning to someone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i got that too!!
Battery usage link under applications was always there.
i think the vibrate icon is NOT a bug, i think they changed that to!
because..
when you put your profile on Ringtone+ vibration, the vibrate icon appears right ?
now drag down the notification bar and put it on silent, you wil get an icon of a speaker with a \ stripe( a new silent mode icon?)
so i think they did this on purpose, as i have never seen the speaker icon appear when myh phone needed to be silent( not that i ever put it to silent, but i have never seen this icon!)
Grtz
Can someone upload the TwLancher.apk from this firmware please????
rj.camargo said:
I don't know if it's me or what, but when I unlock my phone I see a flash image of my homescreen and then the lockscreen appears.
Happenning to someone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same here..
skimminstones said:
same here..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed tthis right away. It seems to have something to do with deep sleep.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
rj.camargo said:
I don't know if it's me or what, but when I unlock my phone I see a flash image of my homescreen and then the lockscreen appears.
Happenning to someone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has happened in 2.3.3 and 2.3.4 for me also. I think 2.3.5 was better..just in my case anyways. Could be that the phone is running a bit quicker
hey guys, if i use the browser and browse to www.wieistmeineip.de (german ip identify and speed test site) and stay there for some seconds my browser just close and go to homescreen... same problem by anyone else? Maybe some Webelementbug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hm i revisit this site and now it works perfect... maybe an advertisement crashed the browser... sorry for posting
rj.camargo said:
I don't know if it's me or what, but when I unlock my phone I see a flash image of my homescreen and then the lockscreen appears.
Happenning to someone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, it does it on all stock builds I used so far.
Any improvements on the gradient colour banding with 2.3.5?

Google posts full Android 4.1 Jelly Bean changelog

Google has posted up a big, bullet-filled page with all the stuff it has added in since 4.0.
Android 4.1, Jelly Bean
Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, is the fastest and smoothest version of Android yet. Jelly Bean improves on the simplicity and beauty of Android 4.0, and introduces a new Google search experience on Android.
Everything in Jelly Bean feels fast, fluid, and smooth. Moving between home screens and switching between apps is effortless, like turning pages in a book.
Jelly Bean features improved performance throughout the system, including faster orientation changes, faster responses when switching between recent apps, and smoother and more consistent rendering across the system through vsync and triple buffering.
Jelly Bean has more reactive and uniform touch responses, and makes your device even more responsive by boosting your device's CPU instantly when you touch the screen, and turns it down when you don't need it to improve battery life.
What's new in Jelly Bean
Accessibility
With Jelly Bean, blind users can use 'Gesture Mode' to reliably navigate the UI using touch and swipe gestures in combination with speech output.
With the new accessibility focus feature, you can move a cursor between controls to maintain a target for the next action or a source for the next navigation event. You can double tap anywhere to launch the current item with accessibility focus.
Text traversal in accessibility now gives you more control – choose to move between pages, paragraphs, lines, words or characters.
TalkBack, a screenreader for Android, now supports gestures to trigger actions, to navigate applications, and traverse text.
Get full support for braille accessibility services (download BrailleBack on Google Play).
Android Beam
With Android Beam, you can now easily share your photos and videos.
Instantly pair your phone or tablet to Bluetooth devices like headsets or speakers that support the Simple Secure Pairing standard by just tapping them together.
Audio Accessories
Support for USB audio docks, shipping later this year.
Browser and WebView
Browser has improved performance, CPU and memory efficiency. With better performance for animations and HTML5 canvases and an updated JavaScript Engine (V8), pages load faster and feel smoother.
Browser now has better HTML5 video support, and has a new user experience. Just touch the video to play and pause, and smoothly transition into and out of fullscreen mode.
Browser now supports the updated HTML5 Media Capture specification on input elements.
WebView now supports vertical text, including Ruby Text and other vertical text glyphs.
Calendar
Calendar is more buttery. Content fades in, animations are sprinkled throughout, and swiping/paging between days is smoother.
Calendar will now display event colors if you've given your event a color on your PC.
The 'Today' button on the action bar now shows the current day. When viewing an event's details, you can now email all the guests with a single tap.
Notifications for upcoming events now display more of the event description to let you quickly see relevant details without having to open the app.
Notifications for upcoming events now let you email all the guests without opening the app, and you can choose a quick response such as "Be there in 10 minutes" or type your own.
A new option in Calendar settings lets you create your own default quick responses for emailing guests.
You can now snooze an upcoming event reminder right from the notification.
Calendar has a new 7" tablet layout that is optimized for the form factor.
When viewing Calendar in portrait orientation on tablets, you can hide or expand controls to give you complete control over how you view your Calendar space.
Calendar will now remember whether you've chosen to hide or expand controls so you have a consistent experience viewing Calendar whenever you open it.
Camera and Gallery
You can now swipe from the camera viewfinder to quickly review photos you've taken without having to leave the camera app. You can swipe back to the camera viewfinder to start snapping photos again.
When viewing photos in Gallery, you can pinch to zoom out to enter "filmstrip mode" and rapidly review photos. When viewing photos in filmstrip mode, you can swipe up or down to delete an individual photo. You can also undo the delete with a single tap.
When taking a photo, a new animation sweeps your photo off the screen. There is now a new paging animation when swiping between photos
Camera features a new animation for switching between the front-facing and back cameras.
When focusing on an object in Camera, a new animation gives you visual feedback on your focus state.
Gallery features a new animation when selecting a photo from within the album view and back.
Data Usage
You can now dismiss a data usage warning without changing the data threshold set for warning notifications.
Disable background data usage on certain Wi-Fi SSIDs by designating them as mobile hotspots.
Android now automatically detects when one Jelly Bean device is tethered to another's WiFi hotspot, and intelligently enables or disables background data usage on the SSID.
Face Unlock
Face Unlock is now faster and more accurate, and startup is smoother with a new animation.
You can improve face matching accuracy by calibrating your face in different conditions and with different accessories (e.g. hat, glasses).
Face Unlock can now optionally require a 'blink' to verify that a live person is unlocking the device rather than a photo.
Internationalization
Jelly Bean adds support for bidirectional text and more input languages to make the platform accessible to more people around the world.
There is improved support for Arabic and Hebrew, including a new Arabic font, in the platform.
You can now enter text in one of 18 new input languages, including Persian, Hindi and Thai. Additional Indic languages Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam are now supported by the platform.
Emoji from Unicode 6.0 will now render when received or viewed.
If the system language is set to Japanese, Japanese specific versions of glyphs will now be properly rendered.
Keyboard
The platform's dictionaries are now more accurate and more relevant.
The language model in Jelly Bean adapts over time, and the keyboard features bigram prediction and correction.
You can now switch languages quickly with the dedicated language selector key on keyboard.
You can use custom keyboard input styles for more than 20 languages, with keymaps for QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY, Dvorak, Colemak, and PC styles.
You can choose the input styles that you want to use for each keyboard, and use a hotkey to switch between them while typing
Messaging and Talk
New notifications display the full text of incoming SMS messages. When receiving an MMS, you can view the full photo in a notification.
When entering recipients for an SMS or MMS, a new UI collects recipients as chips, making it easier to compose messages.
Talk features a new notification style.
Notifications
You can now take action on notifications directly from the redesigned notifications shade.
Notifications from the same application are grouped together, and the first item is automatically expanded. You can also pinch notifications to expand or collapse them.
You now get an image preview in notifications after taking a screenshot. You can quickly share the screenshot directly from the notification.
You can lock automatic display rotation from the notifications shade on 7" tablets.
For Wi-Fi only devices, quickly see the SSID of the access point you're connected to from the notifications shade.
You can now touch-hold a notification to identify the application that created it and turn off notifications from that application if needed, as well as uninstall the application.
Networking
Wi-Fi protected setup is now supported with WPS push button and PIN support.
A new setting lets you stay on mobile data and avoid nearby Wi-Fi networks with poor connections.
News and Weather
News and Weather is updated to improve freshness and power consumption.
People
The People app is more buttery with smoother animations and improved search performance.
The People app now retrieves high res photos automatically for Google contacts with public Google+ profiles and displays higher res photos (720x720) on certain devices.
High res photos set on Google accounts will be backed up and synced across devices.
The People app has a new 7" tablet layout that is optimized for the form factor.
You can now quickly add your favorite contacts to a home screen, directly from the contact's details page.
The People app helps you organize your contacts and reduces duplicates with an Improved auto-joining algorithm.
You can now clear the frequently contacted list from the favorites tab in the People app.
Phone
When you miss a call, a new notification lets you return the call or reply by SMS with a single touch.
Incoming visual voicemails are displayed in a new notification that lets you play the message with a single touch.
When a call is ongoing, a new notification lets you hang up the call with one touch.
As part of Project Butter, the dial pad is more responsive. Call log scrolling is buttery smooth, and swiping between tabs in Phone is quick and fluid.
You can now clear your frequently contacted list in the favorite tab of Phone.
You can now add phone numbers from the call log to existing, read-only contacts.
Settings
Accounts are now displayed in the primary Settings view so you can easily see all the accounts you're signed into on your device.
You can now easily access all Google Privacy Settings in one place by selecting your Google account from Settings.
System
Device encryption is now more reliable, and periodically reminds you to decrypt your device. Now, SMS messages and calls are declined when waiting for decryption.
You can long press the 'Power Off' option in the power menu to boot your device to safe mode.
A new 'Reset app preferences' button lets you quickly reset default applications for specific activities, background data restrictions, notifications suppressions, and more.
A redesigned dialog with larger icons lets you intuitively choose your preferred application for specific activities.
Google Apps Device Policy on your device may now override the 'keep screen awake' option from developer settings.
Text-to-speech
Jelly Bean introduces a new conversational text-to-speech voice in US English, available as both a network engine and an embedded engine via the TTS API.
Voice Typing
A new embedded speech recognizer lets you use Voice Typing even when you don't have an Internet connection.
Widgets
Jelly Bean makes it easier to personalize your home screen. As you place widgets on the screen, everything else automatically moves to make room.
When they're too big, widgets resize on their own. If you choose to resize a widget, apps and widgets will now also move out of the way.
You can now quickly remove apps or widgets from any home screen by picking them up and flinging them to the edge of the screen.
Launching apps and returning back home are now faster and smoother.
The new Google experience on Android
Google Search
With Jelly Bean, a redesigned experience uses the power of the Knowledge Graph to show you search results in a richer way. It's easier to quickly get precise answers to search queries and explore and browse search results.
Get to Google Search faster: Google Search can be opened directly from the lock screen by swiping up. For devices with software navigation keys, you can now swipe up from the system bar to quickly access Google Search with Google Now. For devices with a hardware search key, you can tap it to launch Google Search.
If you're using a wired headset, long press the headset's button to activate Voice Search. You can quickly perform a search query by voice and have the result read back to you.
You can say "Google" to activate Voice Search from within Google Search.
For many search queries performed through Voice Search, you can now hear a spoken answer.
Voice Search recognition is now significantly faster so you can search quickly on the fly.
Voice Search can now recognize queries even when you have a poor network connection.
Google Now
Google Now brings you just the right information at just the right time. Cards appear throughout the day at the moment you need them, and appear as a notification when they're important.
Weather card: When you start your day, Google Now shows weather for your current location and work.
Traffic card: Get traffic conditions and alternate routes before you leave home or work.
Transit card: When you're near a bus stop or a subway station, this card shows you what buses or trains are next.
Places card: When you're on the go, Google Now will suggest nearby bars, restaurants, and places of interest.
Flight card: See flight delays and traffic conditions to the airport for flights you've recently searched for.
Sports card: You can see live scores and upcoming games and also buy game tickets on the fly.
Currency card: When you're traveling, quickly check the local conversion rate.
Translation card: When you're in a foreign country, you can quickly translate words into the local language.
Google Apps
Google+
As you swipe through the stream, large bold photos now fall into place with animations giving you a more interactive browsing experience.
Google+ on tablets has a new magazines layout in the stream.
You can now create and manage Google+ Events right from your device. Posts and photos are saved to the event so you can relive the party any time.
Party Mode lets you instantly upload and share photos during an Event so you capture all the right moments in one place.
New notifications let you +1, comment, or reshare without having to open the Google+ app.
You can now see live video streams of all participants in a Hangout.
A new navigation menu lets you easily navigate through the app and quickly see Google+ notifications.
When viewing a post, you can now swipe to expand and view comments.
Gmail
Gmail has an optimized view for 7" tablets in portrait orientation to give you a better experience reading email.
Gmail and Email feature updated notifications will give you a preview and digest of your inbox. Notifications will also now display the full text of new mail.
YouTube
YouTube has a new, more intuitive user interface, including a guide that provides quick access to your channel subscriptions.
YouTube can now preload videos from subscribed channels for seamless playback even on slower networks.
With a new integrated menu, you can easily watch YouTube on the big screen with Nexus Q or YouTube TV.
Maps
With support for offline maps, you can select an area to cache and access it even when you don't have a data connection.
Compass Mode for indoor views and street view is more accurate and responsive with gyroscope support.
With Zagat ratings and reviews built in to Maps, you can quickly get the information you need about places you search for.
You can now browse Google Offers within Maps to find local deals.
Get indoor walking directions in Maps.
Currents
With performance enhancements throughout the application and updates to the user interface, you can browse articles quickly and intuitively. With an enhanced layout engine for articles, you can enjoy dramatic, large images on a variety of articles.
Currents now uses hardware acceleration to make moving between articles smoother.
Currents has a new 7" tablet layout that is optimized for the form factor.
For editions written in other languages, you can now translate text into your preferred language.
Google Play
A new set of recommendations widgets use a variety of signals — content that people with similar tastes have purchased, stuff that's popular around where you live, content people in your Google+ circles have +1'ed, and more — to recommend new content like apps, games, music, and movies.
A new My Library widget, which displays all of your recent movies, books, music, and magazines and dynamically changes based on what you've been engaging with recently.
Smart App Updates ensure that only the parts of an application that have changed will be downloaded when you next update it, saving on time, bandwidth, and battery when updating apps.
Jelly Bean introduces app encryption for paid apps
.
Google Play Books
Embedded audio tracks and videos can now be easily streamed directly within the book you're reading.
You can now add bookmarks to remember important information for later or pick up where you left off reading.
Play Books now offers fixed layout books, optimized for tablet-reading of books with beautifully designed graphics and layouts, like children's books and comic books.
For visually impaired users, automatic text-to-speech settings have been enabled
.
Google Play Movies and TV Shows
Movies and TV shows can be quickly downloaded for viewing offline, now with just one tap.
When you make a new purchase from Google Play, that item will be synced directly to the Play Movies and TV Shows app, ready for you to watch when you open the app.
You can watch Movies and TV Shows with Nexus Q by using the integrated media routing menu.
You can zoom in during video playback.
Google Play Music
A new Sound Search widget lets you identify songs you hear and purchase them directly from Google Play.
The Google Play Music widget now lets you thumbs up songs as their playing and features a new design for better readability.
Playlist art is automatically created based on the album art of songs in that playlist.
In the now playing bar, you can swipe between screens.
The Recent screen features larger album art.
You can delete tracks within the app.
There is a Now Playing queue of tracks.
There is an integrated media routing menu for listening to tracks on Nexus Q, bluetooth audio devices and headsets.
You can set a song as your ringtone from Play Music, and the new ringtone editor lets you crop that track to the exact section you'd like to use for the ringtone.
Wow, sounds.......... buttery
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Mr Woolf said:
Wow, sounds.......... buttery
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it sure does,can't wait for a stable release
now u have to wait 5 or 6 month to get the sammy update until that time android 5 will be on the doors
yahyoh said:
now u have to wait 5 or 6 month to get the sammy update until that time android 5 will be on the doors
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We'll see
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
yahyoh said:
now u have to wait 5 or 6 month to get the sammy update until that time android 5 will be on the doors
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'am waiting this update for the S3 "the Beast" jaja

[Q] After upgrading - Some S4 settings are missing

I've just upgraded from Galaxy S4, and surprisingly I am missing some useful options and settings:
1. Dropbox folder on Gallery - In S4 the Gallery app display every photo folder on dropbox as a separate album (like "Summer vacation 2013" etc). In S5 all of the thousands of photos in my dropbox cloud are merged into a single album, named "Dropbox".
2. Lock Screen - unlike S4, no option to define applications on the button of lock screen for fast loading. Only the camera.
3. Widgets on Lock Screen - unlike S4, no option to insert widgets on lock screen, including option to swipe in lock screen to the right camera) and to the left other widgets).
4. Torch - no option to press volume-up to light the torch
5. Air Gesture - no option to put my hand above the phone when off, to get fast info about clock, messages, battery etc.
And few more problems (not related to the S4 options):
1. Home Screen - I often need to press it TWICE in order for it to work (both when phone is off and on). I'm not talking about the lag. Is it normal?
2. Geo News - in which countries does it works?
I have an official rom, not custom.
Thank you
mattan said:
I've just upgraded from Galaxy S4, and surprisingly I am missing some useful options and settings:
1. Dropbox folder on Gallery - In S4 the Gallery app display every photo folder on dropbox as a separate album (like "Summer vacation 2013" etc). In S5 all of the thousands of photos in my dropbox cloud are merged into a single album, named "Dropbox".
2. Lock Screen - unlike S4, no option to define applications on the button of lock screen for fast loading. Only the camera.
3. Widgets on Lock Screen - unlike S4, no option to insert widgets on lock screen, including option to swipe in lock screen to the right camera) and to the left other widgets).
4. Torch - no option to press volume-up to light the torch
5. Air Gesture - no option to put my hand above the phone when off, to get fast info about clock, messages, battery etc.
And few more problems (not related to the S4 options):
1. Home Screen - I often need to press it TWICE in order for it to work (both when phone is off and on). I'm not talking about the lag. Is it normal?
2. Geo News - in which countries does it works?
I have an official rom, not custom.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simple answer. Certain reviewers on mobile websites (who don't use the S4) complained that the S4 has a lot of features that they deemed unnecessary, so samsung listened to these reviewers and removed them.
But some of these were very useful features. e.g. Widgets on home screen, a very helpful feature, Additional shortcuts like contacts, phone button on the home screen. The camera in S5 click when you press the volume button rather then enable zoom! For zoom you are forced to go thru the screen based zoom Isn't this odd?.
Why would anyone deem these as not helpful. It is high time that someone on Samsung reviews the user experience versus online reviewers (some of them may not be expressing unbiased opinions).

[APP] Dash Home, Android HOME Launcher

Download from Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thunderstick.cardash
Or get the APK from here
http://goo.gl/PmqoFO
Use dash home to replace your default home launcher app, use a your car home launcher or use as a stand alone app that can be triggered to launch when connected to power and/or specified blue tooth devices.
Never leave your home screen again
Feature packed home launcher for Android let's your phone do the organizing and you do the playing.
Dash Home will automatically categorize your apps for you.
Using an extensive database of Android Apps, Dash home is able to also display app data after you long press the app icon.
Simply long pressing the category folder icons will place the category folder on your home screen, long pressing it again removes it from the home screen.
Dash home also keeps track of your app usage and places your most recently used apps in a seperate folder for easy access.
Unlike other apps, Dash home focuses on leaving your home screen for quick glances and actions.
-Swipe your finger from 6 different sections of your screen to quickly and efficiently launch Android actions.
all configurable from the settings screen. All settable to be launched from different areas of your screen.
*Swiping Areas
(Left Side Top, Left Side Middle, Left Side Bottom, Right Side Top, Right Side Middle and Right Side Bottom)
*Actions
(Phone, SMS app, Navigation, Most Recent App,Voice Search, Listen For Music, Contacts, Google Now, Web Browser or Camera)
-Dash home comes with built in plugins phone/sms,music player, weather and calendar
*Clicking the date on the top bar will diplay your upcoming calendar events.
*The phone/SMS plugin displays recent call data and recent SMS information allowing quick glances at your most recent and important information.
Clicking the icon on the plugin launches either the SMS app to the most recent conversation or opens the phone dialer with the number typed in already so all you have to do is press call.
*The music plugin is among the best there is. It has the ability to display data from any music app currently playing music on your device.
It will display album art, song information and provide a shortcut to the app most recently used for music.
In other words, one widget to control them all... pause for evil laughter... Ooh ha ha
*Access your system setting right from the home screen as well. Change network settings, Change Screen rotation settings and location access settings directly from the control bar at the top.
And of course there is tons of eye candy with eye popping animations for many actions.
The ad at the top is to help compensate for all of the time I put in to developing this app.
If you feel this app needs a paid version and would be worth paying for please leave a positive comment and I will see what I can do.

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