(Q) Start menu equivalent. - EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

One of the things I miss most from winmo is that, on WinMo, you always can access your 'all programs' drawer from the notification bar/start menu. You could use your phone heavily all day and only see the Home screen once.
I've searched high and low for an Android equivalent, but find nothing. Anyone know of anything?
Closest I've found is multitask manager, it attaches to search button, and let's you put preferred apps in it, but you can't put 'launcher' or 'rosie' in it.
Anyone know what I'm trying to describe? Or have any suggestions ?
Thanks
Also, I just realized this is probably in wrong subforum, toast or MOD, feel free to move it. Thanks. Sorry.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

i am not sure the question here. are you saying you want it so that you have to go to the home screen to launch the app draw or are yous aying you dont want to have to go to the home screen to launch the app draw?
I am not sure what you are using but i dont have to go to the home screen to launch app draw. also you may try playing with launcher pro you can set up the dock to have apps on it. i use a combination of app organizer and launcher pro. I have the favorites group mapped to my dock and then i can favorite apps and get to them from that dock button. Works well for me.

I think you can set up the Power Strip app to show your app drawer.

omegasun18 said:
i am not sure the question here. are you saying you want it so that you have to go to the home screen to launch the app draw or are yous aying you dont want to have to go to the home screen to launch the app draw?
I am not sure what you are using but i dont have to go to the home screen to launch app draw. also you may try playing with launcher pro you can set up the dock to have apps on it. i use a combination of app organizer and launcher pro. I have the favorites group mapped to my dock and then i can favorite apps and get to them from that dock button. Works well for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He means he wants a universal way to access the app drawer from anywhere. In WinMo, the start icon / app drawer is always on the status bar.

Yeah, awardtour, you nailed it. Thanks. I see i accidentally used a double negative in my OP, making it confusing.
Yeah, i want to be able to launch my app drawer from the notification bar, or search button (any 'button' that is always present).
I use adw EX and LPP a lot, but have never found a way, within android, to acheive this functionality. If anyone knows, please share. Thank you.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

I'm not sure of the name, but I'm pretty sure there's a gesture based app launcher on the market (or maybe here) somewhere that allows you to program a gesture to a app launcher so no matter what you're doing you can swipe the gesture and have an app menu come up. I'll see if I can find it for u.....

fitz420 said:
I'm not sure of the name, but I'm pretty sure there's a gesture based app launcher on the market (or maybe here) somewhere that allows you to program a gesture to a app launcher so no matter what you're doing you can swipe the gesture and have an app menu come up. I'll see if I can find it for u.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zeam launcher has something like that, but you'll have to be on one of your homescreens though...

scottspa74 said:
Yeah, awardtour, you nailed it. Thanks. I see i accidentally used a double negative in my OP, making it confusing.
Yeah, i want to be able to launch my app drawer from the notification bar, or search button (any 'button' that is always present).
I use adw EX and LPP a lot, but have never found a way, within android, to acheive this functionality. If anyone knows, please share. Thank you.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, this is what I was thinking of. Create a list of apps, call up via gestures from anywhere.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mobilemerit.wavelauncher
It actually looks pretty cool. I think I'm gonna buy it. I'll report back and give my opinion

Did you try this app alt. drawer?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1154299

Will check these out. Thanks to all you guys.
Lol i think i posted this like a year ago, and stumbled on it today thru my control panel, made a comment, now im getting hits
Thanks guys.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

Hey, I tried wave launcher, its free on getjar right now. Its EXACTLY WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR! !!! Thanks for the suggestions. You can launch the wave no matter where you are (i.e. browser, messaging, app, etc) and and can have the app drawer button on the wave.
Hell, without even using the wave aspect, if you just hold the hotspot for a sec (to launch wave) it'll automagically open app drawer! !!!! Pure awesomeness. Just thought I'd share and thank.
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

Related

how can i hide my apps from the drawer?

I really need a way to hide my apps from the app drawer,
do I have to be rooted? Someone please help, if this is
Already answered somewhere sorry, lol I suck at forums. Need help!
Thanks
Go to the market and get ADW launcher. Awesome app that you don't need root to use. Has a slide bar on the bottom to hide any app you want. Other than that, I'm not sure of a way off the top of my head to do so.
Sent from my myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App
jedinyte said:
I really need a way to hide my apps from the app drawer,
do I have to be rooted? Someone please help, if this is
Already answered somewhere sorry, lol I suck at forums. Need help!
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say you are trying to hide apps from the app drawer....what do you mean? I dont think you can actually hide them from the app drawer if they are installed unless the app is designed to be hidden after install, such as "mobile defense" is. If you want to restrict access of apps so that someone cant just open your phone and get into your apps, there are apps out there that will require you to put in a password to gain access to your apps. I think the name of one of them is app protector.
If you are looking to hide them on your homescreen (ie: your app drawer dock)
then the best launcher to use would be "Launcher pro" or "ADW Launcher" In my personal experiance, I like Launcher Pro alot better. ADW has more settings options but there are a few functions on Launcher pro that I like more especialy the dock and app drawer ones.
Advanced launcher was in older versions of CyanogenMod. It had this feature. I don't know if the launcher is still being developed, but these new launchers should really take a cue from that. I found the feature useful, and I could definitely use it now. It also allowed you to put folders in your app drawer, which I thought was pretty cool.
I believe app safe will hide them. Its from the people that made photosafe and video safe and what not. Check the market for it. But I'm not entirely sure.
ADW is the only simple easy way. With ADW you can still have the app on your screens but hidden from the launcher drawer. You can also use the keyboard and type the app name and it shows up.
launcher pro just added this feature as well
poetik517 said:
launcher pro just added this feature as well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for pointing that out. He hasn't updated the changelog on his blog so I didn't know what made it into the updates.
At least now I don't have to see my bloatware.

Accessing Active Applications

Is there a FAST way to switch between active applications? i came from WebOS and found switching apps the way it does extremely easy and fast, i am wondering if there's a way to do something similar in android.
Just hold the home button and you can switch between your recent opened applications.
An app called swipe pad. It can be found in the market. Allows you to open up 12 apps of your choosing to open up whenever. Sounds good?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Of course, holding the home button you will see your recently used apps and can effectivly swotcj between them.
If you're really missing webOS then wavelauncher from the market is definitely for you. TONS of options and works just like webOS mulit-tasking. Hope you like
those are good, but i am looking for something that tells me the active application like task manager, but easier to get to. and something that makes it obvious what apps i have running. the recent app doesn't tell me what is running tho
The paid version of wave launcher can do all of that and then some. The options and settings are extensive.
TylerMF said:
The paid version of wave launcher can do all of that and then some. The options and settings are extensive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like Swipe pad cuz wave launcher gets in the way when dismissing you're notification bar
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
I also really enjoy swipe pad. It's what I used before I switched to wave launcher. It's a great app, but personally I just like the feel and the way it handles better on wave launcher. And you can turn that setting off for the notifications thing in the options btw. I think it under a setting called something like "close notification on gesture area tap" or something. I don't like that feature either, so I just leave it turned off.
Yea I know u can turn it off but I like the gesture area in the top right corner
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
i would get wave launcher but i dont want to start spending money on apps yet.
i'm using swipe pad with bottom swipe up (like webos) and have the task manager right above the samsung logo so i can quickly get to task manager and switch between tasks. good work around

[Q] shortcuts on the home screens?

Been playing with my new phone for less that 24 hours. Something has been bothering me and I don't know if I am going crazy or not. Where did the shortcuts go? on gingerbread when you long pressed on the home screen you had the option to do widgets, and also application shortcuts... I don't know where those are now since widgets are now in the app drawer. Did they kill the shortcut in ICS?
they did, but somehow you can still do it since people have said they have desktop visualizer and folder organizer working.
If anyone knows how to do it please share.
Hold down on app icons in the main app directory. Widgets are also in this directory by using the widget tab at the top of the directory or swiping right beyond the apps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
rob6raham said:
Hold down on app icons in the main app directory. Widgets are also in this directory by using the widget tab at the top of the directory or swiping right beyond the apps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That will just add a shortcut to the app on the main screen. I am looking for info on how to activate the shortcuts that some apps have. IE with touchdown email you can have a shortcut to your inbox... I can't find that functionality in ICS.
EDIT: Nevermind, misunderstood. No delete function here?
Most of the shortcuts seem to now be classified under Widgets. If a third party app is missing a shortcut it should have then that app will probably need to be updated for ICS.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Chrono_Tata said:
Most of the shortcuts seem to now be classified under Widgets. If a third party app is missing a shortcut it should have then that app will probably need to be updated for ICS.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found that GO laucher brings back many features that I was used to in Gingerbread...
Please post questions in Q&A
Thread moved
balto said:
Been playing with my new phone for less that 24 hours. Something has been bothering me and I don't know if I am going crazy or not. Where did the shortcuts go? on gingerbread when you long pressed on the home screen you had the option to do widgets, and also application shortcuts... I don't know where those are now since widgets are now in the app drawer. Did they kill the shortcut in ICS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on JB 4.2.1 and I have just downloaded "Touchdown" software to understand your problem because I never used this software
Anyway, maybe what you want to do can be accomplished by a Widget called "Touchdown for Smartphone" (1x1). I have selected it, placed it on the main screen then it asked me to "Select the shortcut you want to add".
I hope this solves your issue

Double click or gesture to bring up Task Manager?

I don't like to hold the home button to get the task manager. Are there other options like double clicking or maybe a gesture? I'm using Go Launcher EX.
I had Apex Launcher on captivate and saved my settings from there where swipe up would bring up my task manager. It worked on my S3 as well but if i reset my settings to blank i wouldnt be able to save it...
the best thing to do that might work which im gonna try since i just switced to Go Launcher is to bring my settings over to my captivate and then use the task manager as the swipe up gesture and then load the settings saved from there back on my device.
I'm using nova prime and I have double tap to open up recent apps works perfectly
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Check out this app called task changer in the market. You can set swipe gestures to open ics switcher.
os91 said:
Check out this app called task changer in the market. You can set swipe gestures to open ics switcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BEST RECOMMENDATION EVER.
Back in the Nexus S days I'd always hope that a dev would switch out the search key for recent apps, but this app totally makes up for the lack of that hardware key!
THANKS
os91 said:
Check out this app called task changer in the market. You can set swipe gestures to open ics switcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't find that app?
task+manager search results:
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=task+changer+&c=apps
edit: N/m, Google Play buried it on the second page.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...mNvbS5mdXRvbnJlZGVtcHRpb24udGFza21hbmFnZXIiXQ..
edit 2: I see why now.
* This app is no longer supported. It will be taken off the market in a few months. Thank you for your support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So this is how I run my phone. I gesture everything from the right side of the phone since my thumb is always there. Lower half leads to 12 shortcuts that I always use. Swipepad beats going to the homescreen. And top half has multitasking options. Remember to hit the thanks button if you use either of these apps. Both are free
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.conduction.swipepad.android
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pacosal.taskchangertitanium
try apex. I have double tap on homescreen to open facebook. Should work for the task manager too
Sent from my SGH-T999
You could always put a shortcut to the taskbar onto your desktop.
I put all my favorite apps into folders on my launcher.
The stripe at the top left is a slider for my screen brightness.
This keeps my desktop clean for when I use my animated fishtank desktop.
You can also use wave launcher btw. You can just swipe to bring it up
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app
Thanks everyone. I went with Wave Launcher. Very easy to set up.
CZ Eddie said:
I can't find that app?
task+manager search results:
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=task+changer+&c=apps
edit: N/m, Google Play buried it on the second page.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...mNvbS5mdXRvbnJlZGVtcHRpb24udGFza21hbmFnZXIiXQ..
edit 2: I see why now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app is called Task Changer, and search for it by:
"task changer"
With the quotations. Otherwise the stupid play store doesn't give you the exact hit.
I got the Samsung task manager to be a gesture when I swipe up in Go Launcher ex
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
grkmaster said:
I got the Samsung task manager to be a gesture when I swipe up in Go Launcher ex
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ahhhh i use apex launcher which also supports gestures but theres no way for it to take me to the built in samsung task manager, i also use swipepad and cant find a shortcut to take me to the samsung task manager....very frustrating =/
I'm not sure if its considered a task manager, but my newest app does contain a Recent Apps feature.
Here's a link to a preview video I made http://youtu.be/UIEIqQYU0ZI
You basically create gestures to do all kinds of things and you're also able to move the little Trigger to quick-activate a gesture.
In the video, you'll see that if I drag my Trigger icon up and release, it'll launch out Recent Apps even if I didn't create a Recent Apps gesture. You can customize that part however you want.
Besides Recent Apps, other features are
Launching Apps
Changing Settings, including a whole Profile
Creating and launching App Panels (In the video I set the drag right action to be launch an App Panel that holds all my apps, so I can access all my apps no matter where I am)
Pulling Notification Bar
Opening a Webpage
And just... a whole lot more. The beginning of the video is a preview of the gestures that can be created.
The app will be released as soon as I am able to fully test out all its features on my Galaxy S III that is arriving tomorrow. Release date should be in the next 2-3 days and no later than the 15th.
erikikaz said:
The app is called Task Changer, and search for it by:
"task changer"
With the quotations. Otherwise the stupid play store doesn't give you the exact hit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi all,
the Task Changer Titanium is better http://market.android.com/details?id=com.pacosal.taskchangertitanium
Try it for several days and you will see.
BTW, I am the developer.
Thanks
MMontanez347 said:
ahhhh i use apex launcher which also supports gestures but theres no way for it to take me to the built in samsung task manager, i also use swipepad and cant find a shortcut to take me to the samsung task manager....very frustrating =/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you can do that i did is you can save your Launcher settings to your SD card and go back to your previous galaxy S and load it there.
I had Slim ICS on my Captivate and had gotten Task manager to install on the phone. Since it became a actual app it showed on my list for gestures. I saved the settings back to the SD and transferred back to the S3 and works .. just dont remove the gesture in the options in your launcher on your S3 or youll have to reload the settings again !
how to input license number?
pacosal said:
Hi all,
the Task Changer Titanium is better
Try it for several days and you will see.
BTW, I am the developer.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Mr "Task Changer Titanium" Developer
I just bought a license and gave 5 star reviews on the app and the license app .... I got the thank-you pop up with the license number, telling me to enter it into the settings ... but I don't see anywhere in the TCT settings to enter it and I am still getting the periodic pop-up saying "you need to buy a license to run this ...."
JUST SO happy to have a touch/capacitive HOME solution again !!!
Thanks for you help
Alice the Brit - in currently sunny, steamy & wet Florida
- wanting to get above minimum posts so I can post pics of home screens and such
Also guy's there's a app made just for the Galaxy S III to provided this shortcut. It's in the Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/...5kcm9pZGFoZWFkLmdhbGF4eXMzX3Rhc2ttYW5hZ2VyIl0.

[Q] App to toggle between two apps using gestures?

I ran into an issue recently while using spotify and navigation while driving.
I wanted to keep the screen on spotify but check the map a few times while not taking my eyes off of the road for any length of time.
Long pressing the home button and choosing between the running apps was a pain. I was looking for an app that would just toggle between two chosen apps via a gesture such as a left or right swipe.
An app called "switcher" seemed to be what I wanted but it's no where to be found.
Can some one help find switcher or point me to something that will fill the bill?
You might want to try SwipePad its something like what your looking for. I think it might help
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
qo2520 said:
You might want to try SwipePad its something like what your looking for. I think it might help
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could also probably accomplish that with Tasker.
ewingr said:
You could also probably accomplish that with Tasker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tasker...how would I do that?
rpavich said:
I have tasker...how would I do that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Switching between two different apps will take more thought than I have time to provide, but with the info below, you should be on a good start.
In this example you would create a gesture to load a given app:
Create a profile based on an event; the even would be based on sensor; then you would select gesture or shake
NOTE: The Shake or Gesture will then have settings you play with to get it like you want
Then create a task based on App/Load App
The above would launch an app, or change to that app if running in background. Also, there is a function in the App Task to Load Last App. I suspect a different gesture for that would be used (in a new/different profile) which would then switch back to the previous app.
I haven't tested any of that, but I think the theory is sound.
Let us know how it goes.
Thanks for all the good suggestions; I tried Swipe Pad and it was very good but not what I was looking for. I'll take a look at the tasker thing (thanks very much for that)
In the mean time, I'm using "Car Home Ultra" that lets you assign "big buttons" to functions and I've just assigned an app switch and kill app function...it seems to be working.

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