[XAP] [Source] [Mango] MultiTaskToggle 1.1.1 - Windows Phone 7 Development and Hacking

Hi hackers,
Threw together something fun for you: a one-click (don't sue me, Bezos) app for enabling or disabling multitasking (no-dehydrate) on Mango. Fast app switching + full multitasking = awesome! Disabling multitasking when you need to save battery = convenient!
Credit to Jaxbot for working out the no-dehydration registry change. That's all this app is, just a convenient way to toggle that registry value.
I'm going to try to add support for more devices (Samsung Focus S and HTC phones that have lost the ability to use COMRegRW.dll).
UPDATE 1.1.1: Case sentitivity recognizing SAMSUNG now fixed, Samsung and LG confirmed!
UPDATE 1.1: Better Samsung support, possible LG support.
Features:
Secondary tile with deep linking! Shows current multitask state and toggles it when tapped.
Supports HTC, LG, Samsung phones.
HTC phones need to not have the latest HTC updates, as those break the Registry driver I used.
The latest DFT ROM works, and others that support TouchXplorer probably do too.
I'm working on a way to make it work with official ROMs as well - you can help out here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1335862
Works on Mango! Uses no homebrew DLLs.
Limitations:
No Dell/Asus/Toshiba/Nokia/etc. support yet (find me a registry function and I'll add them, though).
Doesn't work pre-Mango; it's a 7.1 app (could be downgraded pretty easily).
Requires interop-unlock.
Instructions:
Unpack ZIP file and find the XAP in MultiTaskToggle\Bin\Debug.
Install app on an interop-unlocked Mango phone.
Run app and ensure it loads the current value.
[Optional] Select the value you want; it will set immediately.
[Optional] Tap "Live Tile" button to create a tap-to-toggle secondary live tile.
This app is a simple wrapper for the OEM registry edit DLLs to make use of Jaxbot's hack. I wrote it largely just for familiarity with mango homebrew. The source is a bit of a mess right now - I took an existing homebrew library and beat it savagely until it worked on Mango, but didn't really put the pieces away neatly afterward - but it's simple enough I expect somebody else can use it for good things. Personally, I plan to make an app that allows easy general-purpose registry edits on Mango, though I still don't see any way to do registry browsing.
Thanks to XDA member MarysFetus for taking the time to do a visual overhaul of the app, with nice icons and such. It's much more artistic than my solid-color tiles with simple text! Grab the xap directly below. You can also visit the site: http://www.suicideclown.com
Thanks to XDA member singularity0821 for doing more visuals for the app, with a new (and flipping) live tile. I've included that XAP below as well.

Downloading to test now.
Oh. wow nice tool.Fast toggle MultiTask no need to edit registry by using touchexplorer and connection setsetup

Doesn´t run on OMNIA 7.
"System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMExeption (0x80070032)..."

Custom Skin
Great App,
but personally wanted to do an custom design, so I've changed color values in the MainPage.xaml file, but for some reason I am getting an error while building the xap.
Anyone knows how to fix that?
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Error Code is in German.
@Moderators: delete if this necessary.

MarysFetus said:
Great App,
but personally wanted to do an custom design, so I've changed color values in the MainPage.xaml file, but for some reason I am getting an error while building the xap.
Anyone knows how to fix that?
Error Code is in German.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Error in English;
Code:
C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\Silverlight for Phone\v4.0\Microsoft.Silverlight.Common.targets(249,9): error : Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Phone.InteropServices, Version=7.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=24eec0d8c86cda1e' or one of its dependencies. Strong name validation failed. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8013141A)

Thank u very much.....
It works great in my HTC Mozart....
regards

work on HTC HD2 Mango 7720 (BTTF)
edit:
change between Dehydrating and Multitasking with Live Tile also working

MarysFetus said:
Great App,
but personally wanted to do an custom design, so I've changed color values in the MainPage.xaml file, but for some reason I am getting an error while building the xap.
Anyone knows how to fix that?
Error Code is in German.
@Moderators: delete if this necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read: http://thounsell.co.uk/2010/11/avoiding-reflection-adding-the-interopservices-library-to-the-wp7-sdk/

fiinix said:
Read: http://thounsell.co.uk/2010/11/avoiding-reflection-adding-the-interopservices-library-to-the-wp7-sdk/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure to read the comments about using Visual Studio Command Prompt. I had to do this after copying in the dll & editing the filelist XML.

Yeah, I had to get around the Strong Name Validation too, before it would compile. People have said it shouldn't be necessary but I ran into it all the time.
Thanks for testing, folks! Let me know if you find any bugs or have feature requests.

contable said:
Doesn´t run on OMNIA 7.
"System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMExeption (0x80070032)..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Contable,
That's unfortunate, but I need more info to fix it. There should be a stack trace; can you tell me where in my code the exception is coming from? It's probably either the way I'm accessing the registry on Samsung, or the way I'm deciding whether it's a Samsung device or not. Either one can probably be fixed, if I know what's broken.
Unfortunately, the old way of determining what device I'm on (checking a registry key) doesn't work until I know what registry reader to use (the generic reader doesn't work in mango).
Big thanks if you help me get this working!

Hah... you ever felt like a total idiot before, doing something the unreliable and hard way when there's no need to? Yeah... there's an official API to get the OEM name. LOL @ all those registry-based versions.
New version coming soon. Fixes to Samsung support; please test again. Possible LG support too, please test that also! Still needs Mango.
EDIT: Update is live, now! Please let me know if it works on non-HTC, and give me a bug report if it doesn't. Thanks!

GoodDayToDie said:
Hi Contable,
That's unfortunate, but I need more info to fix it. There should be a stack trace; can you tell me where in my code the exception is coming from? It's probably either the way I'm accessing the registry on Samsung, or the way I'm deciding whether it's a Samsung device or not. Either one can probably be fixed, if I know what's broken.
Unfortunately, the old way of determining what device I'm on (checking a registry key) doesn't work until I know what registry reader to use (the generic reader doesn't work in mango).
Big thanks if you help me get this working!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here my reply:
V1.1 doesn´t work either. After starting the app on my screen appears a message: "Unknown Manufacturer: SAMSUNG Please report at XDA..."

GoodDayToDie said:
Hah... you ever felt like a total idiot before, doing something the unreliable and hard way when there's no need to? Yeah... there's an official API to get the OEM name. LOL @ all those registry-based versions.
New version coming soon. Fixes to Samsung support; please test again. Possible LG support too, please test that also! Still needs Mango.
EDIT: Update is live, now! Please let me know if it works on non-HTC, and give me a bug report if it doesn't. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just downloaded latest and installed on LG Quantum. app works fine, live tile works fine as well. not sure if it does what it says though. still tinkering to see if the settings actually have an effect. should I see a change o fthe setting under settings/background tasks?
That always lists Tasks "on", irrespective of what I do with your app.
edit1: hmm. just tried to turn the Tasks under background tasks in WP7 to off. Now I can't turn it back on. any idea why that is?
edit2: in addition to the observation above it seems some of my multitask programs stopped working in multitasking (they crash on resume, or refresh instead of resume - e.g. bbc news mobile, wpcentral). Is it possilbe your program can have this effect and how to fix it?
edit3: it seems it's only bbc news that crashes. others seem to work fine. maybe that wasn't working before I sideloaded your app (likely).

contable said:
Here my reply:
V1.1 doesn´t work either. After starting the app on my screen appears a message: "Unknown Manufacturer: SAMSUNG Please report at XDA..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL case sensitivity fail. Thanks for testing though, try version 1.1.1

GoodDayToDie said:
LOL case sensitivity fail. Thanks for testing though, try version 1.1.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks button is pushed.
V1.1.1 is confirmed to work on OMNIA 7.
I like the concept of the live-tile toggle. A Bluetooth toogle is still a dream...

derausgewanderte said:
just downloaded latest and installed on LG Quantum. app works fine, live tile works fine as well. not sure if it does what it says though. still tinkering to see if the settings actually have an effect. should I see a change o fthe setting under settings/background tasks?
That always lists Tasks "on", irrespective of what I do with your app.
edit1: hmm. just tried to turn the Tasks under background tasks in WP7 to off. Now I can't turn it back on. any idea why that is?
edit2: in addition to the observation above it seems some of my multitask programs stopped working in multitasking (they crash on resume, or refresh instead of resume - e.g. bbc news mobile, wpcentral). Is it possilbe your program can have this effect and how to fix it?
edit3: it seems it's only bbc news that crashes. others seem to work fine. maybe that wasn't working before I sideloaded your app (likely).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the report that it works on LG! First post updated.
You can read more about the change by reading about Jaxbot's multitasking hack - that's all this is, a convenient way to enable or remove it. The simple asnwer to "what does it do" is that if you background an app (hit Start, hit Camera, hit Search, lock the screen, answer a phone call, tap on a streen-top toast, switch apps uing Mango's fast app switcher, etc.) the app you were running won't exit. This means it doesn't need to be re-loaded when you switch back, and also means that if it's running a timer or similar in the background, that can still run. However, it also consumes RAM and may decrease battery life.
Mango is completely un-aware of this hack, even though it makes fast app switching work better. Settings -> Background Tasks (a new Mango control panel) has nothing to do with it and shows no changes when I enable or disable the hack.
If you want to test if it's working, this is easy. Enable multitasking using the app. Then, open any NoDo app with a significant load time (anything from Facebook to Plants vs. Zombies). Once that app is loaded, hit the Start button. Then, hit the Back button. If the hack is working, the app will resume instantly, no re-loading at all.

contable said:
Thanks button is pushed.
V1.1.1 is confirmed to work on OMNIA 7.
I like the concept of the live-tile toggle. A Bluetooth toogle is still a dream...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks for testing and reporting!

GoodDayToDie said:
Thanks for the report that it works on LG! First post updated.
Mango is completely un-aware of this hack, even though it makes fast app switching work better. Settings -> Background Tasks (a new Mango control panel) has nothing to do with it and shows no changes when I enable or disable the hack.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for the clarification. Got it. It's good to know it's flying under Mango's radar. Just wasn't sure. The change in the Background Tasks I see must be something else. Apparently something I do not understand at this point. It showed "on" before, now after turning it "off" I can't turn it back to "on".

Wait wait hold up... Are you telling me you have interop working on Mango?
Looks like I've been out of it for the last few months. Good work, to all the developers who have been working towards this, and hey, glad to see my hack is still useful come Mango time

Related

MY|MESSAGES

Hi,,
a few weeks ago, I made and give away the program MY PHONE which allows you to preview your last phone and SMS on Today Screen.
I updated this program finally, today. Stay a freeware. But I stopped to write it more. It's still here myphone.
Just because I made a new program MY|MESSAGES with much more improvemented features and stability. And with SMS auto-reply with pre-defined text.
It's here mymessages, and this program is a shareware with 7 days trial.
Here's brief descriptions:
This program displays on Today Screen, your last phone calls, SMS and email messages.
Additionally, it allows you to reply to SMS sender, without the needs to open the Inbox dialog.
Program features:
- preview phone calls log
- preview up to 5 your email accounts
- preview SMS account
- preview ActiveSync account
- show/hide any account independently
- show/hide list of message by tapping the title line
- show/hide details of every mesage independently or together
- show/hide battery, memory and external card status
- quick reply to SMS sender with one of pre-defined text
Program settings:
- select the number of messages to display from 1, 3, 5 or 10
- select only the today's messages to display
- select the name or number/email to display
- show/hide fonts shadows
- show/hide the standard icons
- display the red title line if the last phone call is missed
- display the red title line if the last message is unread
- blink the title line (and icon) if the status changed
- define up to 4 auto-reply text with up to 100 characters
- select the SMS number format - change this setting if you get message: "cannot send SMS", because it depends from your cellular network preferences
Program specials:
- if the last phone call is missed, the preview of number is displayed automatically
- if the last message is changed or unread, the preview of sender name and subject is displayed automatically
- if the one of above happen, the icon beside the line changes to the red picture
- tap any message's sender name will display subject text
- tap any account title line will hide the list and all details at once
- the menu displays preview of your own pre-defined SMS reply text, only if you tap on SMS message
- tap the resources line changes between MB and percentage values
Program requirements:
- PPC2002 or Windows Mobile Phone Edition (Second Edition too)
- 60kB of free memory
The Trial Version works 7 days without limits. Red message "shareware" will display every 5 minutes. Then auto-reply and preview of details will not run.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Menu changes dynamically:
Settings are simple:
STAY AWAY!!!!
STAY AWAY!!!!
I highly suggest not to touch any piece of software this guy publishes!!! he's extremely unreliable, doesn't support his users, abandons projects days or weeks after he publishes them, has tons of bugs which he doesn't fix, he rather play with his features than fix bugs. I was one of many who paid about $30 for his "Profiles Seriously" or whatever it was called, it was packed with bugs which were never fixed.
This guy is a joke as a software developer!!!
STAY AWAY!!!!
please
mr. new-to-image
I'm Janusz Gerszberg,
just check the newest PHONE PROFILES SE version 7.0.
and firstly test this MY|MESSAGE software before you say anything.
I dont see any bugs. as many my customers.
and please do not stay anonymously.
if you have opinion.
:x
For a reference of this guy's previous "success" in the software industry, check this thread and see how many complaints are posted from users, many of which also paid $30:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=5169
Who's to say this new software won't display similar "syndromes". The fact if Mr. JGUI, you've more than proved yourself to be unreliable and an amateur, so you pretty much deserve any criticism, and as for my anonymity, it's my god given right on the Internet, and is entirely irrelevant to the objective criticism I post here.
Pissed off about my post?? Damn good, so am I regarding the $30 I paid for your piece of crappy software and the endless time I've spent on the forum with other members complaining and asking again and again for you to fix all the bugs, while you were showing off your latest "features", playing with them like an infantile instead of fixing the bugs we had, like a serious developer should have done. :evil:
You've got no-one to blame but yourself, you created your own reputation, now live with it!
Therefor I stay by my previous warning: STAY AWAY!!!! Don't give this guy any money for his so called "software", if he wants to give it out for free like Zendrui's marvelous PocketZenPhone (a fine example of how software SHOULD be written) then fine, but don't pay for it!!!
very good
Qtek2020 said:
very good Software
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After reading the tread new_to_imate mentioned, I can imagine he's utterly reluctant to any new software written by JGUI.
I for one cannot imagine why a developer who asks money for software he wrote does not fix bugs faced by a number of his customers. Just the fact JGUI cannot reproduce the bugs these customers face does not imply he shouldn't care about it at all. Instead, he should find a way to reproduce these bugs, on way or another, or otherwise simply return money back!
Having said that, on the other hand I do not understand why people hand over their hard-earned money when they are able to try it out for a certain period before paying for the full version. However, if the shareware version works flawlessy and the full version contains bugs, then JGUI should fix them a.s.a.p.
I tried both Phones Seriously and Zendrui's PocketZenPhone and this new MY|MESSAGES, and I must admit I couldn't get Phones Seriously get to work properly. PocketZenPhone works like a charm, and it is free too!
MY|MESSAGES worked perfectly too, but a pricetag of $12,85 is WAY to high for the given functionality...
AAARRGGHHH !!!
How do I uninstall "Myphone" ?? It is not what I want or thought it would be but do you think i can kill it and remove it ?
The file myphone.dll will not die !!
What a POS !!
marcuskeeler said:
AAARRGGHHH !!!
How do I uninstall "Myphone" ?? It is not what I want or thought it would be but do you think i can kill it and remove it ?
The file myphone.dll will not die !!
What a POS !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try unchecking the MyPhone plug-in in the Today Screen settings? This should normally unload the DLL, so that it can be deleted.
Cheers
Daniel
Yup--JGUI has pissed off his customer base. Not only on this board, but others around the Internet and on Handango as well.
Give up JGUI--you should have listened to your angry customers by fixing your bugs and stop "playing" with your new features.
JS (no hiding here)
i second that one
Yea... I was just browsing posts (looking for new ways to screw up my phone) and ran into this one. I vividly remember this MORON and his "software development" skills.
This is one guy whose software I DEFINITELY won't try.
Peace.
i'm also going to stay away from jgui's software. yesterday i was unchecking the my|phone plug-in in today screen settings. right after clickinig 'ok' i got my first (and unintended) hard reset on my xda2 :-( and now i am re-installing all the fine stuff i had installed before and restoring my personal data.
i don't like having software-caused hard resets without my permission. the accidental hard reset was (in my opinion) caused by the installed my|phone 1.4 but i will surely not install the 1.5 (that was the reason for me trying to de-install 1.4) and not at all this new stuff my|message.
this experience is very annoying for me but it would be more annoying if i had payed some money for the software.
so jgui, before you try to earn some money by your software please get it stable and reliable or clearly point out that you only offer unsupported versions (where nobody would pay any cent for, i guess).
guys,
I did not implemented in my software any hard-reset feature.
And because Pocket PC has WM_HIBERNATE inside, this is not possbile
that some software make hard-reset due conflicts inside there.
So please peter, your hard-reset was not by my fail. be serious.
PEOPLE.
I give away free trial versions of all my software. So please try, you dont like - you dont have to pay. and use.
but dont say "it does not work at all" because many people use it successful with no problems.
of course I'm sorry for any problems, and still I made many fixes resolved problems which users reported to me.
this is my final word in this forum thread.
I to have got a hardreset from My|Phone.
It´s FULL of bugs, and not just a few but many!
I will never use Jgui´s software again, until he has a good rumor as a reliable
programmer, and not just a showoff as he is right now.
I looked around for an alternative to My|Phone, and found TodayPhone.
I bought the program, and it works flawlessly without any bugs!
They also released a new version of it, just a week ago and it added a
few new features and small fixes...
Jgui should learn from others! :roll:
I did not implemented in my software any hard-reset feature.
And because Pocket PC has WM_HIBERNATE inside, this is not possbile
that some software make hard-reset due conflicts inside there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, right. I got a message, tapped on the new message to display the short preview of it. Then it frooze, stood there for a few seconds. And then hardreseted...
Im eager to hear the version of it not beeing caused by My|Phone.
I give away free trial versions of all my software. So please try, you dont like - you dont have to pay. and use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fair enough and a nice idea. However, if you can't remove it if we don't like it, or the bugs, that's just NASTY !!
this is my final word in this forum thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You promise ?
Did you try unchecking the MyPhone plug-in in the Today Screen settings? This should normally unload the DLL, so that it can be deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, did that with no use, still can't remove it. In the end I renamed it and removed it after a reset, but it still won't leave my "installed progs" list now. Grrrrrrr !!!!!
At least I haven't experienced the hard reset problem, yet.
I also can confirm that my XDA rebooted when I attempted to uninstall MY|PHONE.
This guy should focus on learning real development without bugs, before ever starting to customize his forms for Windows mobile 2003 SE !!!
Considering we are beta testing his so-called software, that he does not listen to people wills and that the sofwares are bug-factories, I think *he* should pay us for that bag of ****.
You want a good software try PocketZenPhone.
Works almost flawlessly and when there's a problem it is fixed before you knew what happen.
And, it's free
You want a good today plugin about your missed calls and so on, try PhoneDashboard.
http://www.pocket.at/pocketpc2/phonedashboard.htm
JGUI has stolen most of the concept behind this nice piece of code that rocks (it's 14.99$ and I believe it is worst it)
Myphone.dll
marcuskeeler said:
AAARRGGHHH !!!
How do I uninstall "Myphone" ?? It is not what I want or thought it would be but do you think i can kill it and remove it ?
The file myphone.dll will not die !!
What a POS !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also had this problem but also had a memeory leak that, surprise, surprise, went away once I renamed and deleted myphone.dll. Definitley will avoid softwate from this amateur in future.
this is my final word in this forum thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep the day job!!!
Interesting reading this - i installed My|Phone on both my XDA and XDA 2 - getting rid of it on either was a complete nightmare (not to mention the problems it caused). IMHO you need to be very careful about installing software on your PPC, as one dire bit of code can kill it so darn easily.

(STOPPED) New Omnia graphic shell

The development of this project has come to a stop.
I'll post any future update here, in case the project will resume.
Thanks for your support.
------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE 03/12/08 - Images added + Lock Screen Demo
Hey all,
i've been following the board for a little. I'm an lucky Omnia owner and i really love it, particularly it's versatility.
I just regret the lack of cool interfaces (put Manilla 2d aside, it's awesome, but it's like having an htc device on our phones, not very exclusive).
Here are some quick layouts of an idea I had today, it's practically just eyecandy stuff, maybe not the top usability around but, you know, in our life we must satisfy ourselves...
So here they are, a portrait and a landscape view of what's laying in my mind:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
the home screen design:
the lock device screen:
-the audio profile control
- Programs folder
- Contacts page
the idea is to have a spinning wheel of icons, that allow to navigate between the main ambients of a mobile shell when tapped, just like SPB mobile shell or manilla, only more "graphic". The thing is conceived to be touch driven, with hrizontal sliding to spin the icons wheel and a vertical slide to access a secondary menu.
Actually the design phase is still underway, more screens will come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OMNIA USERS ONLY
>>>HERE<<< is the FIRST RELEASE OF THE SCREEN LOCK, coded by DeimosLP at MoDaCo.
Just unzip it everywhere you want and launch OmniLock.exe.
THIS ISN'T MEANT TO BE USED EVERYDAY at the moment, probably it drains battery very fast, haven't tried yet on long usage times.
A few notes about it:
- this is somehow a mockup since not everything has been implemented properly and we are still working on performance issues
- the main goal of this release is to get feedback and new ideas so we can improve the usability
what has been done :
- clock+date
- missed calls counts/sms count/mails count
- swing to unlock
- fade out on unlocking
- cool breathing "swing" logo
- fade in/out of the clock digits
what remains to be done:
- phone status and audio profile integration (as seen in the design)
- xml configuration file
- close the application on incoming call
- a lot of code cleaning/performance fixing
- interact with Speleomaniac's launcher
Cheers.
Hellbender.
this is a neat idea, here's what i think would make it even more practical for use and won't just fall off after its been developed. Cuz the problem with good ideas is that they aren't good enough to keep and people always switch back to some other interface...
here's my thought:
Take the portrait pic you have posted for example... Maybe you should shift that Spinner of tabs closer to the top of the screen, then have a spinner on the bottom half of screenshots of running programs, something like taskfacade or visualtaskswitch in the spinner style as well!! I think that would be freakin AWESOME and would really be functional from that front screen.
Its simple, attractive and would be incredibly functional... what else would ya need?
So yeah, 2 spinners, one of tabs, one of screenshots of open tasks (maybe even a zoom animation when you tap on an open task, just like visual task switcher)
whatdya think?
Yah, the idea is to have differente spinners of icons layered vertically (the green arrow pointing up means you can go up another level).
In landscape view looks difficult to have the secondo wheel visible, but the portrait version could be more useful with more than one visible at a time.
About the open task switcher, that would be awesome! I thought about it but i didn't want to push it too far from the beginning, but i agree it would be really useful. And i agree about zoom animation.
The only problem right now is that i need a programmer to do the "dirty" job, cause i'm just a designer, i don't have the knowledge to do that.
Still waiting for a sign
Cheers.
Hellbender
maybe, when you turn landscape, the icons just twist 90degrees, and the spinner becomes up/down, rather than left/right...
I'm a designer too, so i feel your pain... I throw together some wicked ideas but can't seem to find someone who will put it together... developing is VERY time consuming Wish i knew how
it will be difficult to remove the window bars and softkeys while keeping the touchflo.
This will have to be done in C++ (basically rework the whole frontend.) -meaning we need to know alot about each API to be able to create a flawless frontend that works with WM6.0+ backend
This will be quite a project.
I like how it looks
Integration will be the most beneficial way and with the best performance
zeezee said:
...Integration will be the most beneficial way and with the best performance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm prone to get to an accomodation with the Os limits, could be great just having that with bars, i tought it was cool without, but not essential. Performance are, indeed, crucial.
This is ment to be kinetic, so it must be as quick as possible mantaining a cool appearance. Initially i proposed an app made in flash lite thinking that could have some os interface tweaking overridden with a fullscreen app (and keep things easier for me to animate), but i suppose it isn't performing like a full c++ app.
Still looking for a coding partner
S2P
The album selection in the S2P software is somehow similar to what you are looking for, maybe you could ask it's developer for some help.
Please make it customizable: Let each one chose what software each icon is gonna open. It's easier if each icon opens a panel where you can configure any plugin you want. Make it a Launcher.
Great Idea!
dmro said:
The album selection in the S2P software is somehow similar to what you are looking for, maybe you could ask it's developer for some help.
Great Idea!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know, i'm sure he follows these boards, so if he haven't gave a word here it is because he doesn't like the project, or have no time to spare. I don't want to bug anyone to take a part on my project, that's not a job.
dmro said:
Please make it customizable: Let each one chose what software each icon is gonna open. It's easier if each icon opens a panel where you can configure any plugin you want. Make it a Launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's what it mean to be right now. And i thought that customizable icons/apps was a must feature, cause everyone uses his fave apps for everything, and it's difficult to write an entire suit of applications with this visual approach, many tasks would bel impossible.
hellbender_it said:
Don't know, i'm sure he follows these boards, so if he haven't gave a word here it is because he doesn't like the project, or have no time to spare. I don't want to bug anyone to take a part on my project, that's not a job.
It's what it mean to be right now. And i thought that customizable icons/apps was a must feature, cause everyone uses his fave apps for everything, and it's difficult to write an entire suit of applications with this visual approach, many tasks would bel impossible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would presume he didn't see your thread since the first time you read it, it looks to be about some special interface for the omnia, and he doesn't own one. Just PM him anyway.
I would suggest you change your thread name to one which attracts the attention of the appropriate people.
I would love to see development for this project, and I'll do my best to help, I have an omnia, so atleast I can BETA test it out and provide feedback or w/e required.
Akshay
Something like flShow Carousel...
Click on the different examples...
http://www.flshow.net/carousel_examples.php
That would be awesome
EDIT: And make it for all devices!!!!
WildSioux said:
Something like flShow Carousel...
Click on the different examples...
http://www.flshow.net/carousel_examples.php
That would be awesome
EDIT: And make it for all devices!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, same concept, but touch driven and with inertia. Very cool examples.
About the all devices subject, well if that depends on me i can make the graphic assets for every platform i think, with the given time obviously.
hellbender_it said:
Exactly, same concept, but touch driven and with inertia. Very cool examples.
About the all devices subject, well if that depends on me i can make the graphic assets for every platform i think, with the given time obviously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know anything about coding for PPC/WM. But I have used the above examples of flShow Carousel that I posted above for a website.
Aside from the flash in that, it uses XML. Since dazzlingdaz built a GUI using only XML http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=407900 I wonder if its possible to implement the flShow XML in that somehow?
BTW, the flShow Carousel uses inertia as seen in the "Mouse Interaction" example.
EDIT: I just noticed this on the flShow website...
Stand alone applications
The Carousel can be used in stand alone applications (like Delphi and C++ applications). Provided that you know how to embed flash movies in applications (and you also know how to handle fscommands issued by the movie), you simply have to associate fscommands to your photos:
<photo href="fscommand:mycmd" target="myparm">path/image.jpg</photo>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen some here developing apps under C++ Lets make this happen. With my limited knowledge, I could try helping with some XML code.
mhhh... I'm thinking about a c++ fullscreen app embedding a flash application, this could keep things easy especially when porting the app on other devices (flash lite friendly), so resizing the movie to different resolutions should be like a snap, and the c++ base would allow to access device parameters that are not accessible directly from flash.
Furthermore using flash will allow more control over animations and visual quality from the design side.
Could that be a way?
hellbender_it said:
mhhh... I'm thinking about a c++ fullscreen app embedding a flash application, this could keep things easy especially when porting the app on other devices (flash lite friendly), so resizing the movie to different resolutions should be like a snap, and the c++ base would allow to access device parameters that are not accessible directly from flash.
Furthermore using flash will allow more control over animations and visual quality from the design side.
Could that be a way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no easy way of doing. Either you do it complicated in C++ or you do it with C++ and complicated flash.
zeezee said:
There is no easy way of doing. Either you do it complicated in C++ or you do it with C++ and complicated flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, i'll stop talking about things i don't know.
Things are moving a bit at MODACO
http://www.modaco.com/content/i900-...to-build-a-new-graphical-interface-for-omnia/
There's an interface demo done by a guy over on MoDaCo which is pretty decent for a quick mockup
http://www.modaco.com/content/i900-o...ace-for-omnia/
There's an interface demo done by a guy over on MoDaCo which is pretty decent for a quick mockup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just posted a skinned version.
A little UP cause i'm slipped past the tenth page ...
*bump*
A li'l help from the guyz at xda would be appreciated, things are really moving at modaco and I'm sure they wouldn't mind a little hand from the xda experts.

How to get the best experience for Android. Tips and advice here :)

This thread will be dedicated for people posting about things they have done to improve the experience of using Android on their device.
I'll start of by posting some already known but may be new to new users.
In spare parts turn off animations and speed of transistion of windows. This should make navigating faster.
By doing this it should also automatically turn it off in the settings app.
Based upon your needs you can change how many apps may be open at any given time.
Dark Man X: i set in dev-tools (development settings) a process limit to 3 apps, now my diamond is much more stable and smooth
maybe someone helps who doesnt know this feature (like me)
Also first boot is always sluggish due to Android setting up everything. After you see the homescreen you should give it a good 5 minutes to settle in. Then reboot and reload haret again. You should notice the system is now more responsive and smooth.
[text removed to save space]
babijoee said:
This thread will be dedicated for people posting about things they have done to improve the experience of using Android on their device.
I'll start of by posting some already known but may be new to new users.
In spare parts turn off animations and speed of transistion of windows. This should make navigating faster.
By doing this it should also automatically turn it off in the settings app.
Based upon your needs you can change how many apps may be open at any given time.
Dark Man X: i set in dev-tools (development settings) a process limit to 3 apps, now my diamond is much more stable and smooth
maybe someone helps who doesnt know this feature (like me)
Also first boot is always sluggish due to Android setting up everything. After you see the homescreen you should give it a good 5 minutes to settle in. Then reboot and reload haret again. You should notice the system is now more responsive and smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I restricted the process limit to 3 or even 4 apps in development settings I found that my exchange email started messing up. I could open the message list, but couldn't actually get an email to open. It kept closing out to the home screen. Removing the limit brought it good again. Was repeatable by selecting and removing limits. This is on a DIA100.
robh1234 said:
When I restricted the process limit to 3 or even 4 apps in development settings I found that my exchange email started messing up. I could open the message list, but couldn't actually get an email to open. It kept closing out to the home screen. Removing the limit brought it good again. Was repeatable by selecting and removing limits. This is on a DIA100.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
probally recommended for light users of android.
eg texting, phone, web and music.
Mr.Sir said:
It works great except for:
1. Camera doesn't work.
2. It literally EATS my battery and heats up the device a lot more than winmo. It's even a bit warm in hibernate.
I have no stability, lag or other animation issues. Fix those two points and we won't even need winmo anymore, except for booting android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please read the topic before posting. we know this already, back onto topic.
I turned off auto-rotate display under display settings, this increased speed for screen tilts and removes the instability with launcher pro when extending/closing the hw keyboard. Eq no more force quit on launcher-pro when doing tilt+extend keyboard or.
Seems like launcher pro get's dual inputs both sensor and physical keyboard extend.
You will lose the auto landscape if keyboard is not extented, byt I never use landscape without keyboard anyway.
XDAndroid 2.2 Froyo 1.7.10 Beta
Sent from my HTC Touch Pro(RAPH100) using XDA App
CeasarRAPH100 said:
You will lose the auto landscape if keyboard is not extented, byt I never use landscape without keyboard anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, which is why it's really not a big deal to turn off that rotation sensor feature
CeasarRAPH100 said:
I turned off auto-rotate display under display settings, this increased speed for screen tilts and removes the instability with launcher pro when extending/closing the hw keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im new To android on my verizon touch pro and my main complaint was how it would freeze trying to rotate all the time. I just tried this tip and now it is way more smooth.
Sent from my MSM using XDA App
Android 2.2b2
Verizon touch pro cdma
Screen of death / SoD work around
This may be device dependent (it might or it might not work for your device) but you can download batterybooster; free download from market and the website HERE
Once you've installed it, run the application and look for the icon that looks like a sun, far right hand corner, and tap it. Set it to Never and it should never time out! Keep in mind, this work around circumvents the automatic back lgiht feature. So, you will need to manually turn off the screen (usually power key). The intent of this work around is to have the screen to remain ALWAYS on.
Additionally, if you haven't already enabled the installation from unknown sources, when you run the .apk, Android should walk you through this process. Also, if you are installing this from the market, it won't hurt to set the automatic screen off to greater than 10 minutes.
n-Joie! (Enjoy)
Good read!
Some interesting reading on THIS site; specifically for devs and ROM builders.
nueDriverProject is a project to eventually rewrite all existing HTC drivers in C to aid in optimization and other efforts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i cannot find stk menu on xdandroid and anyone knows how to install stk service?
reker said:
i cannot find stk menu on xdandroid and anyone knows how to install stk service?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stk menu? stk service?
Please, explain more - I have not a clue what you are talking about.
stk = stock maybe Or are you talking about the SDK? Two entirely different trains of thought there, my friend. Also, which version are you running? There are quite a few out there as we speak!
Do, get back with us when you can!
arrrghhh said:
stk menu? stk service?
Please, explain more - I have not a clue what you are talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
STK=SIM TOOL KIT
see wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_Application_Toolkit
the sim card sell in china contain a built-in menu and it can perform some predefined functions, such as get the weather forecast or news thru sms, watch how many contacts the sim card can store, change my password of the sim, blablabla
in winmo, the stk service is built-in the rom, the service name is STK_Service, the filename is STK_Service.dll and i can access stk menu by running STK_UIPPC.exe
but in xandroid, i cannot find a useable stk service installer, i searched and found a stk.apk but i cannot install it on xandroid, when i try to intall it, it just tells me the application cannot be installed.
i noticed that the official android has included stk (com.android.stk can be found in /system/app/) but xandroid not include it
so.. does anyone know how to install it?
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
reker said:
STK=SIM TOOL KIT
see wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_Application_Toolkit
the sim card sell in china contain a built-in menu and it can perform some predefined functions, such as get the weather forecast or news thru sms, watch how many contacts the sim card can store, change my password of the sim, blablabla
in winmo, the stk service is built-in the rom, the service name is STK_Service, the filename is STK_Service.dll and i can access stk menu by running STK_UIPPC.exe
but in xandroid, i cannot find a useable stk service installer, i searched and found a stk.apk but i cannot install it on xandroid, when i try to intall it, it just tells me the application cannot be installed.
i noticed that the official android has included stk (com.android.stk can be found in /system/app/) but xandroid not include it
so.. does anyone know how to install it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is outside of the scope of XDAndroid, it seems to be carrier-specific. We try to support all carriers, but that doesn't mean we can support every single function of every single carrier.
Stick to WinMo if this is a problem for you, or figure out how to get the apk working and let everyone know how you did it .
no, it's not carrier-specific, in fact, near half of carriers in the world use stk.
stk is supported by official android and the source of stk.apk could be found at packages/apps/stk in the android source code, but it cannot be installed on xdandroid
reker said:
no, it's not carrier-specific, in fact, near half of carriers in the world use stk.
stk is supported by official android and the source of stk.apk could be found at packages/apps/stk in the android source code, but it cannot be installed on xdandroid
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is carrier-specific, and besides this is all for so-called 'value-added services'. You can't expect those to work on our port... If it's causing you grief either get a native Android device or go back to WinMo!!!!
@reker
It may not be supported by XDAndroid (the dev project) BUT it doesn't mean that you can not figure out how to support it and share this info. Keep in mind, ALL of this is made possible through the work and development of us, the members! If it was "so important" wouldn't you think that there would be support for it already?
GPS woes
At the moment, it has been reported that GPS does NOT work for Gingerbread. However, GPS should work in FroYo/FRX06(latest release to-date). It has been said that getting a lock(GPS lock) while in winmo, CAN reduce the length of time it takes to get a lock while in Android. Also, if you are running a ROM with QuickGPS, it is suggested to run it once before you run haret. This will also get a quicker GPS lock while in FroYo.

New Windows Phone Tango Features and Changes

Hi guys,
With the leak of Windows Phone Tango dump, let's make a list of newly discovered features
Please include screenshots if possible.
----------------------
----------------------
eric1204 said:
Thank you HD2Owner for this world first Tango Rom.
TANGO 8773 have 8 background tasks + main Tiles.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
8 background tasks memory in use. (seems no more than 256mb?)
8773 vs 8107 boot(no task) memory in use.(seems less than mango 8107)
and some changes (messaging/maps setting)
In Tango Unlocked Emulator preview that location Icon seems not yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks to eric1204 for the list.
Source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=23600141&postcount=2098
Russian site WP7forum says that Tango will include
- The ability to export contacts to SIM (not confirmed)
- Manage domestic / international roaming (not confirmed)
- Handle multiple attachments in a single MMS message
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source: http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/15/2799870/windows-phone-tango-screenshots-leak
How about languages?
As all are aware, tango build will support 120 languages.
Does any one have the list of languages supported by tango?
I am just curious about Indian languages.. (which or any will be supported)
Aslo not sure how they will be supported?
- Will it include UI in those languages
- Or only tango will be able to render apps and websites developed in those languages
Fantastic...
How is IE9? Is the promised "Find on Page" feature back? Also did they add a tabs button? Or do we really have to wait a full year for this?
Anyway the other changes in Tango are minor bt very welcomed, certainly the rotation of the maps and the 8 multitask cards.
Are there any changes in the setting... specifically ability to setup mms with unlocked devices? Also curious if there is the ability to leave wifi on during "sleep" mode (screen off).
My phone has had those maps settings for a long time now... unless you are talking about the fact that yours is missing the 'tap to read directions' setting.
Is there a heading pointer in the maps app in Tango, like on every other phone. I can't use WP7 as a GPS device because I make wrong turns due to not knowing which way I'm facing on the map in unfamiliar places.
Still need to tap while navigating? Playing with your phone while driving is now illegal here and they can pull you over for it even if you've done nothing else wrong...
Can you send video off the device in eMail or MMS yet?
Is there a URL auto-shortening for SkyDrive links sent yet?
N8ter said:
Is there a heading pointer in the maps app in Tango, like on every other phone. I can't use WP7 as a GPS device because I make wrong turns due to not knowing which way I'm facing on the map in unfamiliar places.
Still need to tap while navigating? Playing with your phone while driving is now illegal here and they can pull you over for it even if you've done nothing else wrong...
Can you send video off the device in eMail or MMS yet?
Is there a URL auto-shortening for SkyDrive links sent yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are 3rd party GPS apps that do that. Same as all other OS's.
See above...
MMS yes, don't know about Email.
::Shrugs:: & don't care. It'll be hard integrated into the OS. Why would you need the URL's?
P.S. Here we go again... ::sigh::
Marvin_S said:
Also did they add a tabs button? Or do we really have to wait a full year for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tabs button is already present in Mango under "..."
I can't wait for the first Tango HD7s ROM.
pvt_nemesis said:
Tabs button is already present in Mango under "..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
of course but I mean a button not a menu item, like in pre mango. Since there were a lot of complaints about the lack of a tabs button and missing "find on page". I would like to know if users will have to wait for a year for a feature to come back if MS decides to take it out against the will of the public.
About the maps, does it utilize the compass and does rotation now works while walking? Or does it still only works when navigating? This should not require a third party app imo.
Marvin_S said:
About the maps, does it utilize the compass and does rotation now works while walking? Or does it still only works when navigating? This should not require a third party app imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The built in app auto rotates the map as you navigate. While walking or driving. This is already in there from Mango.
i'm really not looking forward to tombstoning being back. I wonder if they'll just make it so it's done on devices w/ <=256mb RAM? that'd be fine w/ me... Fast app switching is so freaking handy when doing serious multitasking, i do not want to see it go!
bc3tech said:
i'm really not looking forward to tombstoning being back. I wonder if they'll just make it so it's done on devices w/ <=256mb RAM? that'd be fine w/ me... Fast app switching is so freaking handy when doing serious multitasking, i do not want to see it go!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tombstoning will only happen on devices with 256MB Ram. Other devices will be able to continue to use the regular method of multitasking.
bc3tech said:
i'm really not looking forward to tombstoning being back. I wonder if they'll just make it so it's done on devices w/ <=256mb RAM? that'd be fine w/ me... Fast app switching is so freaking handy when doing serious multitasking, i do not want to see it go!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it never left, mango just made it less noticeable.
Apps will tombstone when they are far enough back in the back stack and the phone runs low on memory. So if you have an App consuming the maximum 90 MB allowed on 256 MB devices and it gets pushed back it tombstones immediately when a new App starts.
But if the first App useses only 8 MB and all the others as well you get to start ~ 10 Apps before the first gets thrown out of memory and therefore has to be tombstoned.
On regular devices it is the same but they have more time before they run out of memory (unless there's lots of background tasks consuming memory as well but they are rather limited in that regard (aside from the resource intensive task which only runs while on charging power).
drkfngthdragnlrd said:
The built in app auto rotates the map as you navigate. While walking or driving. This is already in there from Mango.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I know, I thought for a second they implemented rotation by the compass in the maps app, without the need to actually navigate, like iOS has. That when you open the app it will rotate in the direction you are pointing it to. Currently the maps app is just static if you dont navigate.
No IE changes?
Multitasking
Does it still have multiple instances of the same app while multitasking? For instance, do the settings still take up multiple windows? It would be great to know that an app I was previously running won't be knocked off the list because the messaging app is open in like 4 different windows.
Ryken100 said:
Does it still have multiple instances of the same app while multitasking? For instance, do the settings still take up multiple windows? It would be great to know that an app I was previously running won't be knocked off the list because the messaging app is open in like 4 different windows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is so annoying. It also happens with browser tabs. Open a couple of tabs while browsing and an app gets knocked off the list.

[APP] PRadio - Pandora for Windows 8

PRadio is a Windows 8 Store App for Pandora. Unlike IE, this app allows users to stream music from Pandora recommendation service in the background. It works great on tablets such as Microsoft Surface. This app works only in the US. If you want to use it in other countries you need a US based proxy or VPN software such as openvpn.net
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Features Supported
* Add radio stations via the search charm
* Search for Genre, Album, Artist and Songs
* Delete radio stations via the app bar
* Pin radio stations to start menu
* Play/Pause/Skip songs
* Multimedia Keyboard Support
* Support for snapped view and portrait layout.
* History of Songs Played
* Share Song Information with other applications via share charm
* Provide feedback for a song
* Background Streaming
* Support for touch and tablets
To download the released version please visit the Windows Store and search for PRadio or open the following link in IE.
http://bit.ly/Yt9qT5
The app is only available in the US Store, if you are in another country you can switch to the US Store by going to "Control Panel\Clock, Language, and Region\ Change region."
[Update 12/14/2012]:
If you want to try out the latest version that will be available shortly on the store you will need to sideload the app. This version supports background music streaming on Surface RT even when the device is locked (Connected Standby).
Please follow the instructions given below:
1. Download Pandora_0.0.4.8_AnyCPU_Test and unzip to any folder e.g. xyz.
2. Open powershell as an administrator
3. Execute the following commands in powershell
a) set-executionpolicy unrestricted
b) cd xyz\Pandora_0.0.4.8_AnyCPU_Test
c) .\Add-AppDevPackage.ps1
[Note: Installation process might ask you to login to your Microsoft Account which is necessary to get the necessary certificates from the windows store to sign the package]
If you have feedback on the app, please post below.
What is Pandora?
Pandora Internet Radio, an automated music recommendation service and "custodian" of the Music Genome Project whose service in full is only available in the United States, with limited access in Australia and New Zealand. The service plays musical selections similar to song suggestions entered by a user. The user provides positive or negative feedback for songs chosen by the service, which are taken into account for future selections.
Wow, very nicely implemented for a third-party client! The snapped interface is very good as well. The interface when something *else* is snapped (which means it only has about 1040 pixels of width on the Surface) isn't perfect though (usable, but some stuff gets covered).
I'd be happy to sideload and test a new version.
EDIT: A bit more feedback: the app doesn't handle being backgrounded very gracefully. It will stop playing after the current song. I suppose that *could* be intentional, but it's annoying.
GoodDayToDie said:
Wow, very nicely implemented for a third-party client! The snapped interface is very good as well. The interface when something *else* is snapped (which means it only has about 1040 pixels of width on the Surface) isn't perfect though (usable, but some stuff gets covered).
I'd be happy to sideload and test a new version.
EDIT: A bit more feedback: the app doesn't handle being backgrounded very gracefully. It will stop playing after the current song. I suppose that *could* be intentional, but it's annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback, I just posted instructions to sideload the new version.
It should not stop playing after the current song, this is not intentional. Can you send me the following PRadioInformation.log file which should be present in
%appdata%\..\Local\Packages\28268splashtetra.PRadio_80qntxqrmk3vj\LocalState folder
Sorry, I should correct myself: it won't start the next song if the screen is off. Turning the screen on by itself won't start playing agian, either; you either have to use the media control and hit Play, or log in and have the app at least partially in the foreground.
If you still need the log I'll post it here in a bit.
GoodDayToDie said:
Sorry, I should correct myself: it won't start the next song if the screen is off. Turning the screen on by itself won't start playing agian, either; you either have to use the media control and hit Play, or log in and have the app at least partially in the foreground.
If you still need the log I'll post it here in a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using a Surface RT or an ARM based tablet? If yes, I believe it is going into connected standby. In connected standby, windows does not let the app get the next playlist. I need to use a different set of API to support this scenario. As soon as I get hold of an ARM tablet I will add support for this. If this is not an ARM based tablet then please send me the logs.
GoodDayToDie said:
Sorry, I should correct myself: it won't start the next song if the screen is off. Turning the screen on by itself won't start playing agian, either; you either have to use the media control and hit Play, or log in and have the app at least partially in the foreground.
If you still need the log I'll post it here in a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi GoodDayToDie or any Surface RT user,
I have created a new version 0.3.3 of the PRadio which hopefully should work in your machine. Can you give it a try? I do not own one yet so I cannot try it myself.
Instructions are given below.
Thanks
Instructions:
1. Download Pandora_0.0.3.3_AnyCPU_Test and unzip to any folder e.g. xyz.
2. Open powershell as an administrator
3. Execute the following commands in powershell
a) set-executionpolicy unrestricted
b) cd xyz\Pandora_0.0.3.3_AnyCPU_Test
c) .\Add-AppDevPackage.ps1
[Note: It might ask you to login to your Microsoft Account that is necessary to get the necessary certificates to sign the package]
Thanks! Yes, I'm using Surface RT. I'm sideloading your app now and will report later.
EDIT: Works fine! I had to uninstall the current (store) version first, but it preserved my configuration (you using the roaming AppData?) so that was no problem.
The music playback did cut out eventually, but I'm guessing that's intentional (just the "are you still there?" check, perhaps) since it was after an hour or so of inactivity, and as soon as I brought he app forward again it resumed. I'm on a free account, BTW (used to subscribe, but between them not creating a WP7 app and the advantages of Zune Pass instead, I let it lapse).
One piece of feedback: you could put a lot more info on the About page. Version would be good, for example, and I didn't actually see attribution for the CC-licensed artwork, just a mention that it was CC-BY. Other than that, love it!
Seems to be working all nice and proper for me now too, on RT.
Eats far less CPU than letting IE run in desktop mode.
Edit: Every once in a while there seems to be a delay for it loading the next song of 30-45 seconds. Not critical, just noting.
Edit2: More feedback.
1) I can't forward to the next song from the volume menu.
2) It seems to stop playing after an hour and a half or so, on a Pandora One account.
3) It'd be nice if it could remember the last station and start playing on launch
4) Related, it'd be nice if it automatically logged in on launch, not sending you to the login screen. Perhaps a settings option to clear the stored user settings, and make it log in automatically?
5) I suspect this is more of an OS issue, but outputting through a USB sound card and putting the device to sleep causes the audio to become garbled and broken.
6) The formatting seems to be a bit off in portrait mode, the 'Log Out' button on the top clips over the station name, and there's a considerable amount of deadspace at the bottom of the screen (probably a good 1/3 of the screen is wasted)
And, are the advertisements on it yours or Pandora's? If they're Pandora's, it'd be nice if you could detect if it's a Pandora One account.
does this work for cdn. IP addresses? regular pandora won't let cdn IP users
i know on android, you have to use ORBIT something app, forgot the name, and on iphone you use that hot shield free VPN
Thanks for the feedback GoodDayToDie & netham45.
The music playback did cut out eventually, but I'm guessing that's intentional (just the "are you still there?" check, perhaps) since it was after an hour or so of inactivity
>> I know why it fails to play after an hour....Connected Standby, I will fix this in the next release.
>> you could put a lot more info on the About page. Version would be good, for example, and I didn't actually see attribution for the CC-licensed artwork, just a mention that it was CC-BY
I will add version in About page. Currently if you run the app and in taskmanager search pandora.exe, right-click and go to properties you can see the version. I will add attribution too. Good catch!!
>> I can't forward to the next song from the volume menu.
Forwarding is currently disabled as Pandora does limit the number of skips after some time. If a users keeps on skipping he/she will eventually hit this limit and there is no UI to message this to the user. This also prevented my app to be certified in the store so i decided to disable it for now till i figure out a better way to deal with this.
It'd be nice if it could remember the last station and start playing on launch
Good feedback, I will add in the next release.
Related, it'd be nice if it automatically logged in on launch, not sending you to the login screen. Perhaps a settings option to clear the stored user settings, and make it log in automatically?
Currently it should automatically login based on the credentials stored on the machine. Do you want a way to clear the settings?
I suspect this is more of an OS issue, but outputting through a USB sound card and putting the device to sleep causes the audio to become garbled and broken
Interesting....Thanks for reporting it. I would need to get hold of a USB sound card to try this out. Was this on the RT device?
The formatting seems to be a bit off in portrait mode, the 'Log Out' button on the top clips over the station name, and there's a considerable amount of deadspace at the bottom of the screen (probably a good 1/3 of the screen is wasted)
Thanks Log Out button should not have appeared. Will fix it and i will try to make better use of the real estate.
And, are the advertisements on it yours or Pandora's? If they're Pandora's, it'd be nice if you could detect if it's a Pandora One account.
The advertisements are mine...Not Pandora's maybe i can reduce the number of advertisements if that is a big eye sore. Thanks again for the feedback.
cobyman7035 said:
does this work for cdn. IP addresses? regular pandora won't let cdn IP users
i know on android, you have to use ORBIT something app, forgot the name, and on iphone you use that hot shield free VPN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use any VPN software to connect to US based server (I tried openvpn.net although has a data limit) you should be able to use the app to listen to pandora via the app. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
hsalps said:
Thanks for the feedback GoodDayToDie & netham45.
Related, it'd be nice if it automatically logged in on launch, not sending you to the login screen. Perhaps a settings option to clear the stored user settings, and make it log in automatically?
Currently it should automatically login based on the credentials stored on the machine. Do you want a way to clear the settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sends me to the login screen most of the time when I launch it, or if I come back to it if it's been inactive for 5-6 hours.
hsalps said:
Thanks for the feedback GoodDayToDie & netham45.
I suspect this is more of an OS issue, but outputting through a USB sound card and putting the device to sleep causes the audio to become garbled and broken
Interesting....Thanks for reporting it. I would need to get hold of a USB sound card to try this out. Was this on the RT device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I'm using RT, though further testing shows that I get the same result no matter what music app I use, so I blame the OS.
netham45 said:
It sends me to the login screen most of the time when I launch it, or if I come back to it if it's been inactive for 5-6 hours.
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Click to collapse
Can you send me the PRadioInformation.log file which should be present in %appdata%\..\Local\Packages\28268splashtetra.PRadi o_80qntxqrmk3vj\LocalState folder? This should help me understand why it is not saving the password on RT.
netham45 said:
Yes I'm using RT, though further testing shows that I get the same result no matter what music app I use, so I blame the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you also give details of the USB audio device like Manufacturer, Version etc? I will report this to Microsoft.
Superb app good sir! lives on my second monitor if not just for the cool background
Thanks!
cammykool said:
Superb app good sir! lives on my second monitor if not just for the cool background
Thanks!
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Click to collapse
Thanks cammykool!!
why not put it up in the windows store?
The previous version is actually already up there. We've been helping test the next release, at which point hsalps will presumably release a store update.
hsalps said:
Can you send me the PRadioInformation.log file which should be present in %appdata%\..\Local\Packages\28268splashtetra.PRadi o_80qntxqrmk3vj\LocalState folder? This should help me understand why it is not saving the password on RT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't seem to get it to replicate it now. =/
hsalps said:
Can you also give details of the USB audio device like Manufacturer, Version etc? I will report this to Microsoft.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried it with two Microsoft LifeChat LX-3000 headsets and a generic unlabeled USB audio card.
so im using a test build?
cammykool said:
why not put it up in the windows store?
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Click to collapse
The store guys are approving the latest version of the app right now (Takes 7 days ). I will update this thread when it is available on the windows store. The older release is already in the store.

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