I was just reading about webOS and how good its interface is when dealing with multi-tasking and I realised how poor androids multi-tasking interface is. The only way I know to switch between running apps is to hold home button for a few seconds...
I personally think this can be improved by having thumbnails of open apps popup when the home button is single pressed on a home screen. Just as at the moment previews of all the home screens popup I think this should be switched with open app previews. I rarely ever use the home screen preview thing so i think its wasted, but I definitely would use app selector if little thumbnails showed.
Anybody have any thoughts on this? Im not a developer so I have no idea if this is possible but I think it would be a good feature to add and improve android. Do any devs think they can implement this??
Moved to general as not ROM development.
This would be a feature for a launcher app, so might be worth suggesting to someone like Fede who develops Launcher Pro, or cyanogenmod people that make ADW?
yes you are right. thanks. I was too lazy to find the relevant section to post under. will try contacting anderweb. or fede.
There are a couple of apps which overlays a screen on top of the current app you are in by tapping home twice, you can then open apps/access widgets without having to go back to homescreen first.
Currently im using 'smart taskbar', you can set the activation mode to be (1) tapping on a half-circle spot on either side of your screen or (2) swiping from one side to another. You can then open from a list of 5 'pinned' apps or choose from the mini apps drawer below, or click a tab called 'running' which seems the same as the current holding on home button behavior.
check out power strip. allows you to get a popup window where ever you are by doubble tapping home button (ore long press search button). there you can have quick access to widgets, shortcuts etc. really cool.
smiskkissen said:
check out power strip. allows you to get a popup window where ever you are by doubble tapping home button (ore long press search button). there you can have quick access to widgets, shortcuts etc. really cool.
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Click to collapse
just downloaded both power strip and the one mentioned above. Will try them both out and report back on whether its what i was suggesting. Thanks for your suggestions.
Related
Just thought I'd share this one I found.
If you hold down the "home" button for about a second you get an easy task switcher to any app that was running in the background. It's faster than hitting back till you get to the menu or getting to the menu and then finding the app you are after .
Sliding your finger across the notification window just as it drops down changes the brightness of the screen.
Any others that people have found?
You can add shortcuts to phone numbers and messages on the home screen by holding your finger down and selecting shortcuts on the home screen somewhere. This also appears to work with a lot of apps, like kindle shortcuts to a specific book.
All android phones do this, Holding the Home button is a standard android way to "Switch fast" between apps
A few things I found out reading the SGS forum here:
1. You can control the brightness by sliding your finger left to right when pulling down the notification bar. Just keep your finger on the edge of the pull down window.
2. You can have the SGS announce the title/artist of a song from the Music player by pressing and holding the Up Volume button while a song is playing.
3. You can "lock screen" while watching video by pressing Power Button while a video is playing. This is great at preventing unintended clicks while holding the phone watching a video.
tenshi888 said:
A few things I found out reading the SGS forum here:
1. You can control the brightness by sliding your finger left to right when pulling down the notification bar. Just keep your finger on the edge of the pull down window.
2. You can have the SGS announce the title/artist of a song from the Music player by pressing and holding the Up Volume button while a song is playing.
3. You can "lock screen" while watching video by pressing Power Button while a video is playing. This is great at preventing unintended clicks while holding the phone watching a video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the third one, but didn't know the first two. Thank you tenshi, for sharing.
However, I don't quite understand how exactly you can change the brightness in the day you described, cos I can't seem to do it.
Also, I got the feeling that to effect number 2, there is a monthly subscription that I need to pay to Optus. They gave me a 7 day free trial before continuing, and I did not continue.
eaglesteve, for #1, make sure auto-brightness is off in your display settings, now when you slide the notification bar panel down try sliding your finger left to right and you'll notice the display brightness change.
for #2, I don't think its connected to your provider as it doesn't even need a data connection to work, it's just using text to speech. You might have to enable or download it the first time.
eaglesteve said:
I know the third one, but didn't know the first two. Thank you tenshi, for sharing.
However, I don't quite understand how exactly you can change the brightness in the day you described, cos I can't seem to do it.
Also, I got the feeling that to effect number 2, there is a monthly subscription that I need to pay to Optus. They gave me a 7 day free trial before continuing, and I did not continue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tenshi888 said:
eaglesteve, for #1, make sure auto-brightness is off in your display settings, now when you slide the notification bar panel down try sliding your finger left to right and you'll notice the display brightness change.
for #2, I don't think its connected to your provider as it doesn't even need a data connection to work, it's just using text to speech. You might have to enable or download it the first time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My auto-brightness is already off, but I still can't seem to change the brightness when sliding from left to right or right to left while pulling down the notification curtain. Any other clue?
For 2, you're right, once I downloaded the voice synthesising software from the market place, it works. I need to make sure the music player is in the foreground for this to work, right?
spenceee said:
If you hold down the "home" button for about a second you get an easy task switcher to any app that was running in the background. It's faster than hitting back till you get to the menu or getting to the menu and then finding the app you are after .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically it's a "most recently used" list rather than a list of apps running in the background. For example if you have just exited a navigation app, or killed an app from a process manager, it will still appear in this list.
Interesting thread.
I just want to add some "shortcuts" I discovered myself using the Galaxy (maybe they aren't so hidden. I am a lousy user, don't like to read manuals. So maybe they are very obvious )
Close pull down window/curtain, close desktop layer folders and close keyboard by tapping back key
Access to the bookmark button and address bar in the brower by tapping the menu button (no need to scroll all the way up)
Open soft D-Pad by tap-and-hold the "?123" key on the standard Samsung Keyboard
Quick and reliable GPS reception by editing the ntp server in the gps.conf file
Someone I only just learnt...
Pressing and holding the power button performs a reset. (Keep pressing it after you get the shut down/mute/airplane options and the phone will suddenly restart. Have to keep the button pressed for 5 secs atleast).
dagrim1 said:
Someone I only just learnt...
Pressing and holding the power button performs a reset. (Keep pressing it after you get the shut down/mute/airplane options and the phone will suddenly restart. Have to keep the button pressed for 5 secs atleast).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool
holding menu key for about a second brings up google search.Im sure its probably a feature of all android phones and probably in the manual but im new to android and dont read manuals much.
If you´re in "contacts"
slide to the right for an instant call or slide to the left for messaging the contact
mazurson said:
If you´re in "contacts"
slide to the right for an instant call or slide to the left for messaging the contact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool, this is handy when you're driving
i usually double tap the contact, but if your car goes over a bump or pot hole, then the 2nd tap is missed, and wont work.
mazurson said:
If you´re in "contacts"
slide to the right for an instant call or slide to the left for messaging the contact
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SWEET, this is a great way to dial and text people from contacts
Thx for the info
1. Browsing in the Gallery
When browsing your large list of photo's in the 'Gallery', click the icon on the right to group them into date taken ~ makes browsing much more manageable.
2. Locking the Camera
If you wish to leave the camera on but worried you may accidentally touch the scrren/controls you can lock the camera.
Once you have the camera set up how you want it, simply briefly press the Power button. You will then see a white padlock appear on screen. Now you can hold the camera and phone how you like until you are ready to shoot.... When ready again briefly press the Power button, the padlock disappears and you can take your shoot/video.
sammy555 said:
holding menu key for about a second brings up google search.Im sure its probably a feature of all android phones and probably in the manual but im new to android and dont read manuals much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, it's samsung's replacement for the search button that's a Google requirement. They don't have a button for it, so they assigned long-press menu for search, whereas on the Nexus One, it'll make force the soft-'board to come up.
yes it works...
eaglesteve said:
My auto-brightness is already off, but I still can't seem to change the brightness when sliding from left to right or right to left while pulling down the notification curtain. Any other clue?
For 2, you're right, once I downloaded the voice synthesising software from the market place, it works. I need to make sure the music player is in the foreground for this to work, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At first it didn't worked for me also, because I understand bad.
Not pulling down. Go to the upper of the screen, press till the botton of the dropdown curtain appears, but don't slide it down. Once that appears the BAR move left or right your finger, and it will adjust.
pafh99 said:
At first it didn't worked for me also, because I understand bad.
Not pulling down. Go to the upper of the screen, press till the botton of the dropdown curtain appears, but don't slide it down. Once that appears the BAR move left or right your finger, and it will adjust.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes, I got it to work too. The trick is not to pull it down but just to make the curtain barely appear before you slide.
Thanks for your excellent explanation.
sammy555 said:
cool
holding menu key for about a second brings up google search.Im sure its probably a feature of all android phones and probably in the manual but im new to android and dont read manuals much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, didn't know this one. Very useful and now I can get rid of the google search bar on the desktop too
when receiving a call press the volume down button to mute th ringer
old but cool
I'm looking for a task switcher that shows all running apps (and not like the default android one which only shows the 6 most recent). The ones I've come across seem to require a long press of the search button to activate, but the SGS lacks a dedicated search button.
Does anyone know of one that uses another shortcut, long press home / double tap home for example?
This is exactly what I'm looking for, but I've been searching through in market place for something that let's me assign program to hardware key action. No luck so far. Any experienced folks know if it's possible to customize the phone this way?
I have used taskswitcher and prehome..both function pretty much the same way...tap home button once shows all running apps and hitting it once more from the app switch screen takes you to the home screen. I kinda prefer prehome as it seems to use less memory but then again theres really not much of a difference imo..hope this helped..
audit8321 said:
I have used taskswitcher and prehome..both function pretty much the same way...tap home button once shows all running apps and hitting it once more from the app switch screen takes you to the home screen. I kinda prefer prehome as it seems to use less memory but then again theres really not much of a difference imo..hope this helped..
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Click to collapse
Great recommendation. Will try it out. Thank you very much for sharing is.
Lovely. Pressing home will show the truly still running task instead of recently used ones. It's lets you kill or switch to any active program.
So, long press home to show last 6 most recently used programs
single press home will invoke the task manager, allowing killing and switching.
Double press home to really go to home.
Sounds like what I want. Seems a little buggy, but I'm happy with it at least for now.
On my Evo LTE running CM10 the recent apps button on short press opens settings and long press opens recent apps. I like this function vs having to have a shortcut on the desktop or getting to it from notifications. On most newer phones/tablets running ICS/JB there are mods that remap this function but I've not seen this anywhere for the Nexus. I"m running stock but rooted and would prefer to stay that way if i can. Does anyone either know how to do it or if there's a mod floating around that i was unable to find using "search"?
I would also love to customize what app is opened when sliding up from the soft keys, if that's related.
Pezo said:
I would also love to customize what app is opened when sliding up from the soft keys, if that's related.
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Click to collapse
No that's not exactly what i'm talking about but i would like to do that as well. If i understand correctly if you hold any of the software key/button (IE back, home, or recent apps) and slide your finger up there is a dotted circle with google search button at the top. If i could place the settings app there that would get me by. As for now when i hit the recent apps button i would prefer that to be the settings button or being able to long press the button to open settings. I think what i want is a limitation of the launcher but who knows. Anyone who does have any idea how to do this please let me know. I did attempt to edit the keys file in system/usr/keylayout by trying to add an extra key for settings but it didn't work.
Just got the N4 yesterday and love it but for one really irksome thing -- that the back button, which I use a lot, is on the left while the "running apps" button, which I don't, is on the right. It's a big phone so having stuff as near as possible to the bottom right-hand corner is key to one-handed operation (for righties, of course). So when I'm using Google Reader, the back button is at bottom left, and the "Up to category list" button is at top left. Really slows things down.
Am I the only one annoyed by this? Is there a fix short of a new ROM?
A rom may allow you to swap the buttons around. It doesnt bother me I hold my phone in my left hand a lot.
That was a big reason why I decided to root and go to an AOKP rom. Back button on the right side now and I'm so much happier.
It bothered me at first when moving from a Galaxy S (back on right side) to the Galaxy Nexus (back on left side). Got used to it after about a month though.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Never noticed! But I prefer to get rid of them for the screen real estate.
It's more of a design choice rather than a pragmatic decision. Back on the left makes more sense. Some apps move the screen to the right when they go back, so tapping back on the left side and having the screen goes left makes sense thematically. I came from a Galaxy S which also had a right-side back button, and I have accustomed myself to the left-side back button with little effort. It fits the flow of apps better.
However, I'm strongly against the removal of the Search button that started in 3.x. I used Search for many apps, and it was an amazing shortcut. Fullscreen browser? Press search and you got access to the URL bar. Looking for a contact? Search button. Want to do a search in a file explorer? There's a familiar button for that. Recents should have stayed as a long press of the Home button.
Hung0702 said:
It's more of a design choice rather than a pragmatic decision. Back on the left makes more sense. Some apps move the screen to the right when they go back, so tapping back on the left side and having the screen goes left makes sense thematically. I came from a Galaxy S which also had a right-side back button, and I have accustomed myself to the left-side back button with little effort. It fits the flow of apps better.
However, I'm strongly against the removal of the Search button that started in 3.x. I used Search for many apps, and it was an amazing shortcut. Fullscreen browser? Press search and you got access to the URL bar. Looking for a contact? Search button. Want to do a search in a file explorer? There's a familiar button for that. Recents should have stayed as a long press of the Home button.
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Click to collapse
I disagree with long press on home as recents. Many android noobs didn't even know there was a a "alt tab" in Android until they've heard it from someone or was told by someone.
It's more intuitive when theres a recents button. As far as search, it's supposed to be on the top right of an app same with the legacy menu. On contacts, its on the bottom left.
IMO they should go back to the 4 capacitive buttons. Menu, Home, Back, Search. There was NOTHING wrong with this setup. Search was arguably the weakest one but with Google now, I'd say it's just as important as the rest of them. I get the fact that not all apps will have Menu, but Home and Back are just about universal, and Menu is used quite a bit too. The capacitive buttons free up screen real-estate too. I don't like styling things just for style's sake.
se1000 said:
IMO they should go back to the 4 capacitive buttons. Menu, Home, Back, Search. There was NOTHING wrong with this setup. Search was arguably the weakest one but with Google now, I'd say it's just as important as the rest of them. I get the fact that not all apps will have Menu, but Home and Back are just about universal, and Menu is used quite a bit too. The capacitive buttons free up screen real-estate too. I don't like styling things just for style's sake.
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Click to collapse
That's the app's fault for not implementing the menu button on their app, regardless you have the legacy menu button the bottom right.
If you don't like it then install a custom ROM and change the navigation bar to your liking. It's simple as that, no reason to debate about this and how it should be on stock android.
zephiK said:
That's the app's fault for not implementing the menu button on their app, regardless you have the legacy menu button the bottom right.
If you don't like it then install a custom ROM and change the navigation bar to your liking. It's simple as that, no reason to debate about this and how it should be on stock android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have, and I like my current setup (Menu, Home, Back). I'm just saying that I'd rather have the 4 capacitive buttons back.
zephiK said:
I disagree with long press on home as recents. Many android noobs didn't even know there was a a "alt tab" in Android until they've heard it from someone or was told by someone.
It's more intuitive when theres a recents button. As far as search, it's supposed to be on the top right of an app same with the legacy menu. On contacts, its on the bottom left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If only recents was actually comparable to Windows' Alt+tab. As it is, recents is no more useful to me than it was in Gingerbread
The best button choice for me would have been, in the order, BACK, HOME, MENU. You need to go to settings? Just press the "menu" button. Need to open recent apps? Just press and hold the "home" button. Simple as that.
It was all so much more consistent when the menu button was integrated in the system. Now you have to go and look for it in a place that differs from app to app... jeez, I feel like I'm holding an iPhone.
No menu and a dedicated, invasive multitasking app is a double step backwards for me.
SkippyFlipjack said:
Just got the N4 yesterday and love it but for one really irksome thing -- that the back button, which I use a lot, is on the left while the "running apps" button, which I don't, is on the right. It's a big phone so having stuff as near as possible to the bottom right-hand corner is key to one-handed operation (for righties, of course). So when I'm using Google Reader, the back button is at bottom left, and the "Up to category list" button is at top left. Really slows things down.
Am I the only one annoyed by this? Is there a fix short of a new ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's how us lefty's feel living in a right handed world
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Hung0702 said:
It's more of a design choice rather than a pragmatic decision. Back on the left makes more sense. Some apps move the screen to the right when they go back, so tapping back on the left side and having the screen goes left makes sense thematically. I came from a Galaxy S which also had a right-side back button, and I have accustomed myself to the left-side back button with little effort. It fits the flow of apps better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree that design-wise it makes sense; the aesthete in me would take issue with a left-facing arrow button sitting on the right side, which sort of looks like it's telling you to press the button in the middle. I just think that these larger phones should design where possible for one-handed operation (and have a lefty mode too!)
note: by 'one-handed operation' no, I don't mean I'm watching porn
I have my V20 navigation controls hidden for almost all apps because I like the full 5.7" screen always displayed, but it's a pain sometime to swipe up to get access to them. Is there any way to get a 3rd party app that you can put into the Second Screen as an app shortcut, and when you click the app shortcut icon it will navigate DIRECTLY with the one press on the second screen (i.e. go to home screen and back button, mainly)? I don't think it could be a widget because you can't load widgets as a app shortcut on the 2nd screen. Note that I am NOT rooted.
Probably not but I just thought I'd ask.
This actually works in the nav bar as a return to home button, although will not appear on recent apps when used. Now looking for a back button
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.devjackey.homebutton
If you have any sort of experience with Tasker I'm sure you can create a simple task that goes back, and just assign it to a button that you throw on the 2nd screen though I just checked and some widgets don't actually work in the 2nd screen. Greenify works fine but my mobile payment app doesnt't.
Seems like it can't be a widget or floating button. Can't find a back button that works by clicking the app shortcut icon like the home button does above (i.e. no app options - click and executes the one function directly). Oh well at least I have half what i need.
A pain to swipe up but easier to reach all the to the top of the screen? Smh. Doesn't make sense.
@rbiter said:
A pain to swipe up but easier to reach all the to the top of the screen? Smh. Doesn't make sense.
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Click to collapse
I'm often at the top of my screen switching apps and want to get to the home screen. Plus ONE press on a button instead of a swipe up and press and have it hide again. My thumb is on average in the middle of the screen so up and down or the same. Plus if holding the phone in my left hand it's easier to get at the top with my right hand index finger. Just tried the home button above and definitely faster and less annoying then the hidden nav bar. Doesn't seem like there is a similar back button anywhere that i can find.
Tony
All I have to say is software nav FTW!