Develop Bugs

Possibilities with the soft key UI

Does anyone think that there could be great potential in the Galaxy Nexus' soft key area at the bottom of the screen? As soon as they announced that the GN would have on-screen buttons, customization came to mind right away.
We've already seen Paul O'Brien's begin with his UI patches here, but I feel like we are only scratching the surface of what can be done.
For example, with my limited pondering, I was hoping that a dev or maybe CM could soon allow us to put shortcuts on that bottom bar for quick access to the certain apps that you always use. For me, I would love for Google Talk to have a permanent shortcut on that bar that I can access from anywhere as I use it almost religiously. Also, a shortcut that emulates the power button would be highly convenient as well so that I don't have to reach up to the side button as often. I can also foresee some themeing or button rearrangement and so forth.
Do you guys have any other ideas? As I'm not a dev of any sort, maybe I'm out of line in thinking that the bottom bar is flexible enough to customize. However, if it could be done (and Paul O'Brien already has demonstrated that maybe it could), the possibilities could be endless.

As a webOS user, I'd love some swipe gestures implemented for 'back' and a swipe up to open the app drawer

a swipe up for the drawer would really nice

Damn, I didn't even think of swipe gestures at all. Now my mind is really running wild.

bump for more ideas!

swype gestures are already available on go launcher

subxero123 said:
swype gestures are already available on go launcher
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But we're not talking about the launcher. Didn't read the post huh?

I wish we could swipe down to make the thing disappear, which allows us to take advantage of the full 4.65 inch screen.
Swipe down - disappear
Swipe up - appear again

I think would be awesome if we could swipe the regular buttons to the side, showing new options (like we do with dock bar in almost every popular launcher). There, we could use app shortcuts, power widgets and other stuff, like the search and the option buttons.

I agree, I hope this is just a tip of the iceberg, it seems pointless to have all this potential and not utilize it.

how about instead of the soft keys have it scroll:
"wwwwwaaaaaasssssssssssuuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppp!!!!!!!!" w/ flashing text.
seriously though, being able to make them appear/disappear anytime would be a big plus in my book.
or say if you're playing a game/watching a movie, and someone calls you... rather then having the call notification pop up & take over, have the notification just appear in the soft key area.(i guess same for texts)

I think instead of putting toggles with the notification bar, a scrolling dock with these would be even better.
Like you guys said, swipe on the dock to the left or right to reveal Wifi/BT/GPS/etc. This seems easier than swiping down on the notification bar to bring it down.

On honeycomb we could hide them and theme them. Change animations and icons.
They didn't figure out how to add more or change up the order or add functionality because honeycomb wasn't open source like gingerbread and ICS.
So yea. Expect lots of cool stuff.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer

Since Android came out, I was hoping we would switch to soft-keys. Now we can fully customize the buttons, select preferred positions, preferred icon style, and which icons you actually have...

I'd be pretty content to just Swap the Menu and task manager buttons... I dont need a permanent task manager button that takes as much time to operate as it does to just navigate to the apps icon itself.. the menu button on the other hand I use in just about every app I launch.

sodequis said:
I'd be pretty content to just Swap the Menu and task manager buttons... I dont need a permanent task manager button that takes as much time to operate as it does to just navigate to the apps icon itself.. the menu button on the other hand I use in just about every app I launch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought this too until I actually got down to using it on the GN.
I never used the task switcher on my other Android devices as it seemed too difficult and took too long for it to be worth it. However, having been using the GN for a couple of days now, I find its implementation (just a single tap) to be much more friendly and useful. I find myself using it all the time now to switch between what I am doing and can't imagine not having it.

player911 said:
On honeycomb we could hide them and theme them. Change animations and icons.
They didn't figure out how to add more or change up the order or add functionality because honeycomb wasn't open source like gingerbread and ICS.
So yea. Expect lots of cool stuff.
-Galaxy Nexus
-Asus Transformer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd just like to know what devs to talk to in order to make it happen

I was hoping for some app specific keys. For instance in the browser have a Forward, Back, Stop/Reload, Home, etc.

id love to see the buttons replaced with like gif animations. so cool

Enhanced said:
I thought this too until I actually got down to using it on the GN.
I never used the task switcher on my other Android devices as it seemed too difficult and took too long for it to be worth it. However, having been using the GN for a couple of days now, I find its implementation (just a single tap) to be much more friendly and useful. I find myself using it all the time now to switch between what I am doing and can't imagine not having it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But, why not just allow the "Home" button to be the task-switching button via long-press like before? Is that extra pause for the long-press what you're referring to when you say it took too long?
Anyway, I, too, would like the Menu button back, but more importantly I want the Search button back. I can't wait for the ability to get rid of the G Search widget, put a dedicated Search button back in the soft touch area, and have the Home button as the task-switcher.
Brandon

[THINK TANK] Gesture bar instead of soft key bar

I've been realizing lately how amazing android really is and customizable it is with this phone. Off topic but I kinda hated the fact. Of a recent app button and the fact that I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones). The devs here realized it and gave me the ability to have my menu button, get my search button back, and make recent apps come up by holding the home button. Got to love them. Shout out to our fantastic devs.
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

nice idea, kind of like the microsoft touch mouse. I would like to see someone make that possible and see how it works out.

Shaquiel Harris said:
Now the point of this thread was just I wanted to know how you guys thought about a gesture bar instead of having buttons. So swipe on the bar to go back, maybe swipe up to go home etc? Just trying to think of creative ideas on how to use this huge screen and since everything is virtual, why can't this be possible. What you guys think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?

Kalavere said:
As a technical exercise it sounds like a very good idea, but I know for one I wouldn't use it. Dolphin HD has had gesture support for such a long time and I used it as my main web browser on my Desire but I didn't ever use the gesture support.
Even my HD2 running WM 6.5.x had an app that allowed you to launch any app/program by configuring a gesture, but again I didn't use it.
I guess it's just easier to place my thumb than to move about when holding the phone in one hand. Is this an idea you were thinking of implementing yourself, or are you looking for someone to pick the idea up and run with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you talking about lmt? Fyi: it's now also available for android/gsn...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

Shaquiel Harris said:
I lost the menu button (honestly the most used button on all my other phones).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You never lost the menu button, it's just not on screen 100% of the time anymore, where it would just waste space otherwise.

I think its great idea!
Another few things that would be cool to see would be, resizing the Navigation Bar to be maybe a little thinner, and being able to slide the nav bar left or right, to reveal a icons to launch other apps, and maybe swiping down to hide the navbar all together.
Like you said being able to customize android and change every aspect of it is what makes this OS so awesome.

You guys ever use gesture area on webOS phones? Much better than using back key, would be a great idea. It also used visual feedback so a white line would go in the swipe direction. Currently the only phone using something similar to this is the N9 probably, which has swiping through the sides of screen to control apps.

I was just thinking about WebOS when reading this as well. Would be nice.

Just having the soft keys area as a gesture area? cool!
Maybe you could customize your gestures?
A big thing to me would be the ability to have a fully loaded package and be able to switch between stock softkeys, added search/menu softkeys, and gestures. Everything customizeable by user rather than through flashing?

menu bar like in windows 8
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.

MrBIMC said:
I think gesture is pretty good, but i`d like to see menu bar(home, recent, etc) like in win8: it is hidden until you swype from bottom-outside up, than it become unhidden. see any wideo with windows 8 tablert, you`ll see what i mean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.

Enhanced said:
That would get annoying pretty quickly. I don't want to have to add extra steps to navigate my phone. Back, home and recent app are buttons you use all the time, why add a barrier to get to em? More screen real estate isn't worth the extra hassle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.

I came to Android from webOS after HP shot themselves in the foot several times and one of the things I miss most is the gesture bar you had at the bottom of the screen. With the advent of the soft button area in ICS I see a real option to enable the area to work in a similar fashion. Hell yes!
The webOS gestures were:
A single swipe up would show you your running apps.
Swiping 2 fingers up would show you the launcher (app drawer).
A leftward swipe would go back.
A full swipe across the entire area going either right or left would take you to the next or previous running app.
Besides the wireless charging, the gesture area was one of the webOS killer features you very quickly learned to take for-granted. So long as gesture detection was implemented well I don't see why you couldn't have the soft buttons as they are now and gestures all working at the same time.

Call me old fashioned, but I also don't like the gestures idea.
Dolphin is just about the only program on android that I have tried to use gestures with, and it's not the sort of feature i'd personally like integrated into my phone.
That said, customizing how different people can use their phones, within the same operating system, so two people can use the exact same phone in two totally different ways, is the way to go

j.go said:
How about navigational controls similar to the quick controls in the stock browser? Touch the bottom edge of the screen and out pops a semi-radial menu that can contain: back, home, recent apps, menu, search and can be used to add quick shortcuts to your most used apps like messaging, contacts, browser, etc., or app specific commands, like say refresh for browser, check mail for, well, email, and so on. Touching the edge requires less effort and movement as compared to swiping up or down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your idea of having the pie control from the stock browser available all over android. I had the idea a while back but was just too lazy to implement it. Today I did a small working prototype and I think I will add the pie control feature to my gesture app "LMT"...

good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!

Huntlaar said:
good idea but put ot optionaly! maybe it is not practical ! iwould rather hidden button ! like Video player amaing full screen with hidden buttons !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If implemented properly, you might be able to do away with the bottom bar and take advantage of the full screen. You can't see it with the nexus browser, but if you have a tablet running ICS and enable browser quick controls, the app hides the tabs and address bar, instantly adding an inch of usable screen real estate at the top.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

The big nasty problem with having hidden buttons or, for that matter, any trigger point area(s) on the devices main screen is you'll always end up triggering something when you didn't want to or it interferes with a ui element in one or more apps e.g. game scroll bars / buttons. I've tried plenty and they all interfered with one app or another to the point I stopped using them.
The quick controls idea is fine but you're still having to watch what you're doing. The beauty of gestures in webOS was that you wouldn't have to take your eyes of what you were doing to find a button - your finger just flicked below the screen content while your eyes looked towards what you were going to do next.
I realise it's hard to imagine if you've never done it before but (weak analogy approaching...) think of it like walking up a thin and narrow set of steps as opposed to thick wide ones while trying to read a book. On the narrow steps you have to look down to hit the next step thus breaking the flow of your reading. While on the bigger wider ones you can carry on reading as the step is big enough your foot can find it without taking your eyes of your book.
Anyroad, IMHO, gestures need to be out of the way of app content so as not to interfere with app usage patterns and shouldn't require the user to take their eyes off what they're doing.

Suggestion for new fullscreen mod.

Hi, i didn't want to make trash of development section so I came here to ask or suggest of making mod that will allow us to use 100% of the screen without any on screen buttons visible.
I know that there is a mod that is doing same thing, but it's uncomfortable to use. (You press on the screen corner and then on screen buttons magically appear)
So here's my suggestion how could it work.
You will have to put your finger under the screen on the left, right or center depending on which action you want to launch. Then swype your finger up and release it.
For example I want to go back from settings so I press back button:
I put finger on the bottom left of the phone and then swype it up to the screen and release it.
If any developer could make that kind of gesture readable by phone, and attach it to a proper action would be great
Sorry for my "not best English" I tried how I could to present my idea most clearly.
And please don't say that screen is big enough so this kind of mod is unnecessary..
Edit: See attached image below
Tapped from Defy

This actually has been suggested before and I thought it was a really good idea, but the majority of the community ripped the OP of the other thread a new one and told him to just use button savior or LMT launcher or something. It was pretty messed up. Hopefully we can actually get that sooner or later!

I completely agree. I use LMT, but it seems like it would be more convenient the way you suggested. Also less accidental presses if you swiped from the bottom.

joshuajones said:
I completely agree. I use LMT, but it seems like it would be more convenient the way you suggested. Also less accidental presses if you swiped from the bottom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought of extending lmt to support also that feature. But I would more see completely configurable touch/swipe areas. They could be placed on the left, right and also at the bottom. What do you think?
Sent from my Nexus 7

Have a look at GMD gesture control. It does exactly what you want
I also did that for myself.
App Thread: google "gmd gesturce control xda" (I cannot post any links)

Thank you for comments
I've attached image showing my idea (go to first post), so everything is clear now. I'm sure you can't do this with LMT.

Krokogator said:
Hi, i didn't want to make trash of development section so I came here to ask or suggest of making mod that will allow us to use 100% of the screen without any on screen buttons visible.
I know that there is a mod that is doing same thing, but it's uncomfortable to use. (You press on the screen corner and then on screen buttons magically appear)
So here's my suggestion how could it work.
You will have to put your finger under the screen on the left, right or center depending on which action you want to launch. Then swype your finger up and release it.
For example I want to go back from settings so I press back button:
I put finger on the bottom left of the phone and then swype it up to the screen and release it.
If any developer could make that kind of gesture readable by phone, and attach it to a proper action would be great
Sorry for my "not best English" I tried how I could to present my idea most clearly.
And please don't say that screen is big enough so this kind of mod is unnecessary..
Edit: See attached image below
Tapped from Defy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm... interesting

greivel2 said:
Have a look at GMD gesture control. It does exactly what you want
I also did that for myself.
App Thread: google "gmd gesturce control xda" (I cannot post any links)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just installed lite version of GMD gesture tool and it seems to work
Unfortunately, to use custom gestures I will have to buy full/paid version but it's worth it's money!!

Yeah its really worth the money
I tried your way of gestures and it works a hundred precent

i like the idea
now i use button savior (not good as your idea)

greivel2 said:
Yeah its really worth the money
I tried your way of gestures and it works a hundred precent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's very accurate. Even if someone is having problems, try to recalibrate borders, changing border detection area and gesture size
I found this apk very useful on my Motorola Defy to activate recent apps by swyping from the top of the screen

[Q] ROM/APP: permanent nav buttons on screen?

My home, back and recent buttons on the phone are broken. I hpermanent ave root but that's not the reason.
So, is there an app or Rom which can put those buttons permanent on bottom of screen, and then make the rest of the screen the display. So it should lower the height of the viewport, and put those buttons in the remaining space below.
I've tried "button savior" app, but I don't want those buttons as an overlay.
The screen on the phone is big enough to use some of it as a permanent button area I think.

thomashygum said:
My home, back and recent buttons on the phone are broken. I hpermanent ave root but that's not the reason.
So, is there an app or Rom which can put those buttons permanent on bottom of screen, and then make the rest of the screen the display. So it should lower the height of the viewport, and put those buttons in the remaining space below.
I've tried "button savior" app, but I don't want those buttons as an overlay.
The screen on the phone is big enough to use some of it as a permanent button area I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most aosp roms and some sense roms have the option to show the "nav bar" at the bottom, some even have the option to change the colour of the buttons

thomashygum said:
My home, back and recent buttons on the phone are broken. I hpermanent ave root but that's not the reason.
So, is there an app or Rom which can put those buttons permanent on bottom of screen, and then make the rest of the screen the display. So it should lower the height of the viewport, and put those buttons in the remaining space below.
I've tried "button savior" app, but I don't want those buttons as an overlay.
The screen on the phone is big enough to use some of it as a permanent button area I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the ParanoidAndroid ROM.
You can enable those buttons in there and you can even customize them exactly the way you want them to be! (the size, color, etc...) :victory:

StiQuezNL said:
Try the ParanoidAndroid ROM.
You can enable those buttons in there and you can even customize them exactly the way you want them to be! (the size, color, etc...) :victory:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
perfect! Can you also help me by telling me exactly where one can enable those buttons in that rom? And maybe give me link to latest version of that rom?

Pie Launcher which is for root users also provides some features..try it

thomashygum said:
perfect! Can you also help me by telling me exactly where one can enable those buttons in that rom? And maybe give me link to latest version of that rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for not replying for so long.
Those buttons are enabled by default, so that shouldn't be a problem. The latest version of this ROM can be found here. However, why didn't you just have a look yourself? It can be found pretty easily in the Original Development section

Must have app for S2: Button Savior!

So, I don't know 'bout you, but I use my S2 in landscape mode more often than not and find it a bit awkward using the capacitative buttons on the side for navigation. I've used the recommended app on nearly every device I've owned but never have I found it more useful than on this tablet vs. anything else. The app is called Button Savior and it puts three pages of (configurable w/ pro version) navigation buttons on your screen. There are some cool themes with the free version and the pro version allows you to add an HD theme pack (see screen shot - that one's called Liquid Metal 2). It rarely gets in the way of screen content, but just hitting the circled X at the top collapses the panel into a small tab with an arrow that has configurable size and transparency. Of course there are other methods for soft key navigation but I'm a big fan of Button Savior, and to summarize... I would recommend it!
*As I mentioned there are other "soft key" solutions for navigation, but I find the above mentioned app the most convenient/intuitive. I actually have a few installed myself but don't really use them unless I need a particular function that Button Savior lacks (such as "kill app"). As you can see in the screen shot, I have a navbar courtesy of Gravity Box. For some reason though, the keys are only present in portrait mode, when I don't really need them. What's up with that? Anyways, I also use LMT (the actual app, not the Gravity Box version because it's much more configurable), but a lot of apps have slide-out menus from the left (these days...) which interferes with triggering it sometimes. However, using the LMT app, you can basically add whatever you want such as scripts and other such fanciness; I use it mostly for "kill app" whenever (rarely) something's non-responsive. Anyway, I can upload the apk if anyone wants it, but there's probably a newer version so you might be better off tracking it down. Here's a Play Store link for Button Savior: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.smart.swkey&hl=en Check it out!

Sorry to be the party pooper, but all these solutions (LMT, Button Savior etc.) are not the real deal.
The only real convenient solution is GMD Gesture Control.
For any action you can think of (including Tasker actions etc.) you can freely configure gestures and the screen areas in which the gestures are recognized.
All the other solutions need too many actions to trigger an event, and/or they take up screen estate.

hasenbein196601 said:
Sorry to be the party pooper, but all these solutions (LMT, Button Savior etc.) are not the real deal.
The only real convenient solution is GMD Gesture Control.
For any action you can think of (including Tasker actions etc.) you can freely configure gestures and the screen areas in which the gestures are recognized.
All the other solutions need too many actions to trigger an event, and/or they take up screen estate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like GMD too. I have GMD S-pen Control and have used it on all of my Note devices. I've found that I prefer soft key solutions though for the following reason: I tend to set up GMD and use it for a while, then take a break from using it for whatever reason, then tend to forget most of the gestures that I set up.
GMD is definitely awesome, IME it just needs to be used consistently though. I might give Gestures a try as it might be more practical than S-pen control

Er, how about simply NOT intermittently stopping using GMD???
You must admit that your reason for not using GMD is quite hilarious
(And, additional tip: Use the gestures wisely and don't add too many gestures - then you won't be confused )
I use GMD on all my devices now for years (so unrootable devices won't ever be bought by me), and it's second nature...

hasenbein1966 said:
Er, how about simply NOT intermittently stopping using GMD???
You must admit that your reason for not using GMD is quite hilarious
(And, additional tip: Use the gestures wisely and don't add too many gestures - then you won't be confused )
I use GMD on all my devices now for years (so unrootable devices won't ever be bought by me), and it's second nature...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL :laugh: I think it has to do with the S-pen. Normally I just go through periods where I use it more or less. I think that it'd be easier with gestures.

Pie controls works amazing. It's on the app store

James.Markham0757 said:
Pie controls works amazing. It's on the app store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed I have Button Savior set to trigger on the right side of the screen which I use mostly for "simple" navigation (although it has many more functions... 3 pages that you can scroll through) and PIE set to trigger on the left side. I mostly use PIE for more complex functions that I have mapped to long presses. I like Button Savior because the pro version looks nice with the HD themes, is completely unobtrusive, and faster and slightly easier to trigger than PIE even if collapsed. PIE definitely comes in handy if I ever need to kill an unresponsive app or something like that :good:

A better solution to Button Savior is already built into the Tab S2. It is called Assistant Menu. Go into Settings, Accessibility, Dexterity & Interaction, Assistant Menu then turn it on.

tsg2513 said:
A better solution..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd agree that the already *build in* navigation assistant is better but, NO. You cannot change the background color (it is snow white). You cannot change the color of the floating navigation assistant button nor does it auto hide itself.
All other suggested apps need *root*. :x

I use this. It's simple and no root. I just need back, home and recent, but you can set more. Its completely transparent. The app is called "all in one gestures" and free.

tsg2513 said:
A better solution to Button Savior is already built into the Tab S2. It is called Assistant Menu. Go into Settings, Accessibility, Dexterity & Interaction, Assistant Menu then turn it on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This seems to be gone with the Nougat update...

I found a much better one,
Handy Soft Keys Pro.
Small, ultra fast, no ads and with fade out feature.