[Q] Bored of the "On Screen Buttons" Nexus 7 - Nexus 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hey guys,
I've had my Nexus for just over a month now and apart from a few minor issues I'm really enjoying my experience with my Nexus.
BUT: One thing that really p*sses me off is the total waste of screen real estate being the "on screen buttons". I can sort of understand the device having as few as possible buttons is pretty cool but when it starts invading your screen size that is NOT COOL.
I have a few questions for google: Why oh why did you make the background for the navigation buttons black?? Why not transparent? Or transparent with a blur effect? Personally I would prefer just transparent with faint white back, home and app switcher buttons. It would make more of the screen available to see.
If I were to root my device, are these things that i could schange in the System or Framework RES folders? Or would it be much more complicated than that (i.e. changing color hex's in .xml files?)?

Search for how to enable the tablet UI. I had to enlarge the font to make things a bit more comfortable for me, but I really do like the true tablet UI.
sikodemon said:
Hey guys,
I've had my Nexus for just over a month now and apart from a few minor issues I'm really enjoying my experience with my Nexus.
BUT: One thing that really p*sses me off is the total waste of screen real estate being the "on screen buttons". I can sort of understand the device having as few as possible buttons is pretty cool but when it starts invading your screen size that is NOT COOL.
I have a few questions for google: Why oh why did you make the background for the navigation buttons black?? Why not transparent? Or transparent with a blur effect? Personally I would prefer just transparent with faint white back, home and app switcher buttons. It would make more of the screen available to see.
If I were to root my device, are these things that i could schange in the System or Framework RES folders? Or would it be much more complicated than that (i.e. changing color hex's in .xml files?)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

You can make it smaller.
Here's a guide.http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1844878
Beamed from my Grouper

Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.

sikodemon said:
Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it was carried over from the gnex.
It's black on the gnex to take advantage of the AMOLED screen.
Beamed from Maguro

Hi
sikodemon said:
Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Presumably it is because it is dead space. Applications don't/can't expand into that area as it is protected. For example if you had an application open to the maximum behind translucent soft buttons, and that application required you to press something towards its bottom edge, you can't as it is now behind the menu buttons.
Ideally the buttons would be below the display and printed onto the touch screen as they are with my HTC One X, presumably they are not for either cost reasons or flexibility of the design.
Regards
Phil

sikodemon said:
Hmm, nearly, but I still don't understand why the navbar background color has to be black, I just really don't get what the advantage is. It would just make so much more sense if it were see through.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd guess that it doesn't make sense for it to be transparent because there is nothing under the navbar. Its a part of the screen that is separate from the application, if you allowed the navbar to be imposed over the application and transparent then the bottom part of the screen would be unusable in the application because touching it would activate the navbar buttons rather than the applications.
That said on the launcher it would be easy to just extend the wallpaper over the navbar and make it transparent and in apps you could colour the navbar with the average colour of the application background etc, though of course Apple has a patent waiting for that http://www.phonearena.com/news/Appl...xed-video_id34472?ratelimit=-10&sort=threaded

Not true because you can hide the nav bar on certain roms and that space it was using up is definitely usable. Hey OP I forgot what it's called but there's a launcher somewhere based on nothing but gestures so you don't even need a nav bar and you can use that extra screen space you seem to desperately need.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

sikodemon said:
Hey guys,
I've had my Nexus for just over a month now and apart from a few minor issues I'm really enjoying my experience with my Nexus.
BUT: One thing that really p*sses me off is the total waste of screen real estate being the "on screen buttons". I can sort of understand the device having as few as possible buttons is pretty cool but when it starts invading your screen size that is NOT COOL.
I have a few questions for google: Why oh why did you make the background for the navigation buttons black?? Why not transparent? Or transparent with a blur effect? Personally I would prefer just transparent with faint white back, home and app switcher buttons. It would make more of the screen available to see.
If I were to root my device, are these things that i could schange in the System or Framework RES folders? Or would it be much more complicated than that (i.e. changing color hex's in .xml files?)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agreed with you. Is there anyone that can port Motorola's Transparent Software Buttons, so it will be better?

slick_rick said:
Not true because you can hide the nav bar on certain roms and that space it was using up is definitely usable. Hey OP I forgot what it's called but there's a launcher somewhere based on nothing but gestures so you don't even need a nav bar and you can use that extra screen space you seem to desperately need.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're both right and wrong. The launcher you're thinking of is probably the PIE launcher available on many custom ROMs, as well as its app equivalent (which I believe is called LMT). But your reasoning as far as hiding the navbar is incorrect. If you hide the navbar on a ROM (or even the way it's done in many games and the YouTube app), the navbar disappears, i.e. it's no longer protecting the screen space that it's not using. Making it transparent would do no such thing, and even if you forced an app to use the space beneath the navbar, you'd wind up with three floating navigation items that would probably conflict with an app's bottom navigation.
Pegasus195 said:
I agreed with you. Is there anyone that can port Motorola's Transparent Software Buttons, so it will be better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to look into custom ROMs, some will allow you to mess around with your navbar icons/actions (the main one I like is the replace Recent Apps with a Last App switcher). Paranoid Android also allows you to change the color (and I believe that includes alpha transparency), including a "chameleon"-style bar that changes color based on the active app's predominant scheme.
Also, to respond to something from earlier: black is better because as a static color, it uses less resources to draw and has the benefit of being power-efficient on AMOLED screens. In addition, while it might look neat, it's pretty well accepted in UI/UX lore that you should keep navigational elements as clearly and visually distinct as possible to make them easier to hit. Shoving white/grey buttons on top of an active-blurred background can create quite a headache.
There's a great example of this in the screenshots of Apple's control center for iOS 7. For some backgrounds, the control center is clearly visible despite the background bleeding through, but on others, you basically can't read the buttons because the blur is too distracting.

Related

[ROM] or [MOD] for [VZW] Humble Requests

First off...many thanks to ALL you devs who have already contributed and will contribute in the future. Your work is necessary as phone manufacturers ship less than perfect handsets. You guys truly make these products sooooo much better.
From what I've been gathering...a number of folks would like some of these ideas listed added to this wonderful phone. Donations shall be in order of course for all the hard work.
- The ability to hide the ever present location "bullseye" Icon
- Replace the battey icon with a custom one (I always thought that multicolored round one with the percent in the middle was coooooollll), or shrinking the stock percentage and placing it on top the battery.
- Bottom speaker gain control
- knock off works if you tap the empty area of the home-screen in a 3rd party launcher (the stock ui sees it as one big app, which is why it won't work unless you double tap the top status bar.)
- Keeping the top status bar and the lower nav buttons transparent in 3rd party launchers (the stock ui again sees it as one big app, rendering the bars opaque)
- Black or gray theme for settings menu....the white is a bit harsh.
- Double tapping the home nav button brings up LG Voice Mate...or that voice control LG app thingy.
Hide the brightness and volume sliders in the notification panel please!
Geekybiker said:
Hide the brightness and volume sliders in the notification panel please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm...I have this done already on my stock unrooted verizon handset.
I forgot how I did it lol
IB4TL
Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk 4
Rinzler said:
Hmmm...I have this done already on my stock unrooted verizon handset.
I forgot how I did it lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The VZW model never had them in the first place.
This is a request thread and should go in Q/A or general.
Thank you!
Namtaru said:
The VZW model never had them in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahhhh
scrosler said:
This is a request thread and should go in Q/A or general.
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apologies...can a mod make the appropriate move.
Rinzler said:
Ahhhh
Apologies...can a mod make the appropriate move.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They will soon.
No worries.
I'm working on these atm..
but I have F320 Systemui..
no one sent me the Verizon of At&t systemui.apk..
And for the 1% Battery MOD, Framework.res & Lge.res is also required..
EDIT: My friend here, djkinetic sent me those files.. I cannot see or test anything..so i will send it to him for testing. But not everything at once, one by one slowly..
How about removal of the AM/PM please and location icon (as was mentioned)
What kind of bottom speaker control are you asking for?
I support the dark settings theme.
At least you can change the navbar to be black instead of white, and the settings menu to be tabbed instead of one gigantic list. I was worried during initial reviews when they said you couldn't change those.
I'd like to add - ability to customize navbar to add other button types, or at least the customization of the navbar hold-n-drag options (currently holds voice search, Google Now, and something else).
spitzaf said:
What kind of bottom speaker control are you asking for?
I support the dark settings theme.
At least you can change the navbar to be black instead of white, and the settings menu to be tabbed instead of one gigantic list. I was worried during initial reviews when they said you couldn't change those.
I'd like to add - ability to customize navbar to add other button types, or at least the customization of the navbar hold-n-drag options (currently holds voice search, Google Now, and something else).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to be able to turn up the speaker volume.
Certainly donations are in order
Here are a few requests....
- white or ICS blue status bar with no gps icon, add center clock, battery with percentage in the middle
- recents button in the nav bar - remove menu
- no more wifi connected to in notification drop down
- louder notification sounds
OR CM10 with knock knock
jmill75 said:
OR CM10 with knock knock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
All in good time. The beauty of a flagship device is very highly likely CM support.
AOSP please
How about a permanent Back, Home, Multitask, Menu button layout in AOSP style with a semi transparent background on the homescreen...
Of course, I'd prefer complete AOSP.
jmill75 said:
Certainly donations are in order
Here are a few requests....
- white or ICS blue status bar with no gps icon, add center clock, battery with percentage in the middle
- recents button in the nav bar - remove menu
- no more wifi connected to in notification drop down
- louder notification sounds
OR CM10 with knock knock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sitting here streaming Slacker radio, dawned on me:
customizable knock patterns! like 2 knocks for skipping a track, change wake up to 3 knocks, etc.
- knock off works if you tap the empty area of the home-screen in a 3rd party launcher (the stock ui sees it as one big app, which is why it won't work unless you double tap the top status bar.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use Nova gesture double tap + tasker task to lock the screen.
Viper76269 said:
AOSP please
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why buy the G2 if all you want is AOSP? You might as well have waited for the N5.. I don't understand why people buy a phone that has some pretty cool features, only to flash AOSP and lose most of it... I get that a lot of what the G2 does can be built into AOSP with different apps but i guess I'm the only one who buys the phone for the experience that was intended by the manufacturer.
Ok guys, was able to make many things and tested them too! Need to fix a few things. Its 4 am here,by 11am i will make a new thread in themes section

Hiding Status Bar/Nav Bar to Prevent Burn-in?

I'm looking to get a Nexus 6P, but I'll be using it for around two years (give or take, depending on what devices I can choose from in two years), and I've heard that AMOLED burn-in may become prevalent within a year or so. For some probably won't notice, even I probably wouldn't if I didn't find out that burn in exists, but I'm paranoid, so I'm thinking to use GMD's Hide Nav Bar (Root) app that I've been using on my Nexus 4 (for the sake of extra screen real-estate).
I'm wondering if this will minimize and effectively prevent burn-in of the Nav/Status bars? My main concern is the Nav bar, as Samsung's devices don't have them, making burn-in far less of an issue.
well it does minimize the effect but honestly I did not notice the burn in on my N6. I didn't even know that such thing exists. after reading an article about it, I downloaded an app and saw how nav bar area was worn out more than the rest of the screen. I was able to notice that only because the app creates a high contrast ratio between the nav bar and the rest of the screen.
valapsp said:
well it does minimize the effect but honestly I did not notice the burn in on my N6. I didn't even know that such thing exists. after reading an article about it, I downloaded an app and saw how nav bar area was worn out more than the rest of the screen. I was able to notice that only because the app creates a high contrast ratio between the nav bar and the rest of the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I don't think I would notice it either if I didn't know about it, but since I'm paranoid I'll probably get root and at least hide the nav bar
A launcher like Nova can hide the bar without having to root.
grubbster said:
A launcher like Nova can hide the bar without having to root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not in apps though, which isn't as nice as being able to make use of the extra space.
custom roms like pure nexus have options for expanded desktop which hide the status and nav bars until you swipe up from the bottom of the screen. which after you swipe up they only appear for as long as you need them.
ncsuwolfs said:
custom roms like pure nexus have options for expanded desktop which hide the status and nav bars until you swipe up from the bottom of the screen. which after you swipe up they only appear for as long as you need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, the app I'm using is pretty much the same. The status bar/nav bar are the only places that are still affected by this issue nowadays, no? Unless I leave a static image on for hours, of course.

Transparent navbar system wide

So as title says, how can i get transparent navigation bar system wide? Please do not offer pie controls or stuff like that, i just want navigation buttons on completely transparent background just like on home screen but system wide. Any ideas?
+1
I'd like this too, especially since I heard about burn-in on oled screens. But mostly I just like the way it looks on my home screen now.
Maybe there's a CMTE or layers theme that offers this?
No one knows? Doesnt sound like such a hard customisation, there are loads of navbar mods, but im yet to find one to do what i want
Yeah would love too see this myself. I'm not sure why Google doesn't have a way to do it as it would make Android look so much better then black bars.
Seems impossible for now, looked everywhere didnt find a solution
I have been looking for a while how to do this myself. It seems like something Google enforced to align the color shift from app to app. Which while is a neat take on style is not my preference. I would much rather have a consistent look and feel but to each there own.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Pure curiosity][Mod idea] Is there any way to extend the screen to the secondary?

Since most of today's phones have a notch, why not this one too?
Imo, it would look better using the secondary display as a part of the main display.
Only the notification icons would need to be shifted a little more to the right.
Like, is it even possible to disable the hardware keys, enable a navbar and on the navbar modify HTC's immersive mode button to not only hide the navbar, but the secondary screen too?
And, like on any other HTC, when you's swipe up from the bottom of the screen it would show the navbar again, but this time also the secondary screen.
Myrmeko said:
Since most of today's phones have a notch, why not this one too?
Imo, it would look better using the secondary display as a part of the main display.
Only the notification icons would need to be shifted a little more to the right.
Like, is it even possible to disable the hardware keys, enable a navbar and on the navbar modify HTC's immersive mode button to not only hide the navbar, but the secondary screen too?
And, like on any other HTC, when you's swipe up from the bottom of the screen it would show the navbar again, but this time also the secondary screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha. I just need Android P for now. Hope HTC not dead until released Android P. ?
Look at this:
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...share_tid=3811043&share_fid=3793&share_type=t
Extended screen. Maybe is the way to set icon properly on secend screen.
Przecin said:
Look at this:
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink?ur...share_tid=3811043&share_fid=3793&share_type=t
Extended screen. Maybe is the way to set icon properly on secend screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's dope. I guess it just needs a little bit more tinkering to show stuff properly the right way up.

icons without frame for pie on galaxy s9 s9+ note 9

anybody knows how to bring back icons without frame feature for pie on galaxy s9,s9+ or note 9 without launcher? These circle icons with white background are driving me crazy
White Frames and OneUI Icons in general
youngtg said:
anybody knows how to bring back icons without frame feature for pie on galaxy s9,s9+ or note 9 without launcher? These circle icons with white background are driving me crazy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree. What's even worse is if you have CONTACTS icons on your home screen (e.g. using contact shortcut widget). They all get a white frame, when the contact pictures were already round framed. The contact faces now get shrunk to a minimum, and they look small, sad and terrible in the frame.
**** What were they thinking? ****
The option to remove the frame has been dropped from the UI. The only option is to load a custom icons set from Themes... I did that and it sort of fixes the issue. Only problem then is I don't really like any of the icons set I've seen in half hour (can't spend more time on this), and after switching icons I now see Icon badges don't show when they should.
Pretty mad altogether. Why, oh why must Samsung always do something to spoil an otherwise very good update?
Also (off topic, but I need screaming about this...) - In my entirely personal opinion, the new PIE icons are ***** to begin with. They have nothing to do with the style of the device and are just goofy. I wasn't a particular fan of the OREO icons, but, in the end, they were WAY better for this device than the new ones.
gaurast said:
Also (off topic, but I need screaming about this...) - In my entirely personal opinion, the new PIE icons are ***** to begin with. They have nothing to do with the style of the device and are just goofy. I wasn't a particular fan of the OREO icons, but, in the end, they were WAY better for this device than the new ones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using this icon set, looks pretty Oreo-like to me:
http://apps.samsung.com/theme/ProductDetail.as?appId=minuhome.Zero_icon.appiconpack&SITE_CODE=fr
Mwyann said:
I'm using this icon set, looks pretty Oreo-like to me:
http://apps.samsung.com/theme/ProductDetail.as?appId=minuhome.Zero_icon.appiconpack&SITE_CODE=fr
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, you made my day Literally HATE those Pie icons
Very good and nice for me:
http://apps.samsung.com/theme/Produ...ideadesigns.Monolith.appiconpack&SITE_CODE=ro

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