Database Users

What I dont like about PointUI...

While I was fascinated about the idea of a new UI for WM, the introduction of PointUI was a bit of a damp squib. The story of PointUI is like the story of the emperors clothes: its far from perfect but nobody wants to speak out against the overwhelming hype.There are a few things about the interface that irritate me. Hope fully the updates will take care of this:
1. You cant close any programs from within the UI,only minimise. You get to see running programs after looking through many menus only to find that you have to exit/minimise the UI to really close the program.
2. No app shortcuts. The first screenshots of the UI gave the impression that you could access shortcuts via pages which could be accessed through a simple left or right sliding motion. The current setup puts it just below a properly configured HTC Home with 6 tabs. Whats the point of seeing two versions of the time and the calendar?
3. Screen locking is ridiculous. In this day and age of slide to unlock programs with dpad unlocking and additional information displayed,it seems the prog prioritised being different rather than being practical, especially with the apparent lack of a clock.
Then again, I could be wrong....

hmm
i think PointUI are just in its early stages, however i do agreen with some of your points. We just need to give the developers some time. they have started off with a great base.

they have a fix for the first problem you listed
check the pointui forums for it
its still in beta..so i'm still awaiting how the final product will be
im sure they'll be making some major improvements and additions to it

Vukile said:
1. You cant close any programs from within the UI,only minimise. You get to see running programs after looking through many menus only to find that you have to exit/minimise the UI to really close the program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
press title of the running program ... you get to the same screen as going through the running programs.
but with the rest i agree its very inefficent to start a program ... efficent handling has to be priored ... not just eyecandy. so i don't use it anymore...

if you are in a program tap where the start button used to be top left and you will get the option to force close.
I also find it better when changing the setting object navigation to slide navigation for getting to my apps.

however
One must admit that it does have an amazing UI. i feel is much better than the iphone UI

# 3 is also addressed by allowing 3rd party screen lock progs like S2U2. Their latest official build 1.01b enables this. I applaud their efforts. Not because its free. Not just cuz its new. But because it is pretty well thought out and performs more smoothly than any other shell app out there, esp w.r.t. animations and transitions.

I second that. I have good expectations for it.

jomo25 said:
# 3 is also addressed by allowing 3rd party screen lock progs like S2U2. Their latest official build 1.01b enables this. I applaud their efforts. Not because its free. Not just cuz its new. But because it is pretty well thought out and performs more smoothly than any other shell app out there, esp w.r.t. animations and transitions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like PointUI,then youll love SPB Shell. My main problem with this UI is that I can get better efficiency with HTC Home and a couple MortButtons shortcuts. I can access anything faster with that combination than with PointUI. Its not a revolution,its a fancy skin.

Does anyone else find the scrolling to be annoying? How it's inversed and extremely painful to scroll through large content?

chunga168 said:
Does anyone else find the scrolling to be annoying? How it's inversed and extremely painful to scroll through large content?
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Click to collapse
Its supposed to be like that. Like you are grabbing the page and flicking it. Have you tried "flicking" its fun.
In fact, I don't like ftouchflo because it doesn't seem to allow me to flick like I want to.
Things I don't like about PointUI:
1) clocks, calendars all don't need to be on seperate screens. Would be nice to have a home screen that shows time/date/appoints/etc and the be able to flick over to application.
2) Not integrated (same problem I have with the cube). Along with the cube, its useful getting to stuff, but when you actually open the program it usually requires a stylus.
Thins I like about PointUI:
1) Smooth scrolling and animations. Honestly its amazing.

Vukile said:
1. You cant close any programs from within the UI,only minimise. You get to see running programs after looking through many menus only to find that you have to exit/minimise the UI to really close the program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the new patch on the point UI forum posted by the devolepers 2 test, it has the x buttom insted of the - minimise buttom and it closes the programmes ....

@ Vukile: Don't count me in the camp of people who need to have access to "everything in as few clicks as possible". I'd rather have a simple to understand, clean, uncluttered interface, even if it takes a few extra gestures/taps to do it. Very frequently used stuff should be quick, and less frequent, further away. While I understand how some want to have every function within one screen, I'd prefer otherwise. So, I actually like the promise of this more than SPB Shell...But to each his/her own.
@ Chunga168: I also intuitively prefer the iPhone/PocketCM type scrolling, however, the method they have implemented is actually better for long lists. If you have to "iPhone flick" to the bottom of a long list, it could take a while. Being able to have it scroll while holding is actually faster for some. It's a case of preferences IMO, so I hope (and expect) they will implement both and make it optional.

I dont know...ive been trying everything from spb products to all kind of invented cubes...but i guess i will stay longer with pointui because IMO its so interacitve and fast...but a hiccup here and there is normal...but the developer is going to take all of our [email protected] to improve...

Well I've really enjoyed Pointui. It's good that there are developers taking a good look at the Windows Mobile UI, although to be fair HTC themselves have been working on obvious improvements, and Lg might be worth keeping an eye on.
Pointui.Home is beautifully animated, looks good and feels good to use, the developer team seem pretty dedicated, and it has the potential to be an amazing phone interface.
However that is my niggle, see to me, my Artemis is not a phone with a PDA attached, but a PDA with a phone attached, and for all it's graphical loveliness Pointui.Home actually makes using my PDA more complicated. I enjoyed Spb Mobile Shell, it's NOW screens were great, and it's version of finger friendliness with big chunky thumbable buttons worked well. Funnily enough the reason I stopped using it was because it was bloated and buggy, and I wanted to give HTC Home a good run for it's money.
But to me Aesthetics are important, it's nice to use a good looking interface, and Pointui seems to be top for that, but I'm already tempted to remove it, and even tempted to forgive Spb's faults.

Fantastic and I cant wait for some updates, but I really don't like it forcing the left soft button into its own home button!!

daverage said:
Fantastic and I cant wait for some updates, but I really don't like it forcing the left soft button into its own home button!!
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Click to collapse
I agree, it should at least give you the option of choosing what you put on the soft keys. It sits on the top bar anyway, why map it? Only seasoned users of PDAs will appreciate the need for simplicity before aesthetic,much in the same direction that Android is headed. Try this exercise for example : uninstall a program using the PointUI and then try it the old fashioned way. The old way is quicker.

does the calendar on the main screen suppose to highlight the days with appointments,etc.? If not, then the calendar is not very useful, and there should be an option to turn it off. Same thing with the analog clock.
A better app launcher is definitely needed. I have suggested in other posts having an icon based launcher a la iPhone when you press the botton down arrow button on the screen, or at least on the main scrolling screen, give us about 4 user definable icons for apps...or have BOTH.

PointUI has a pretty nice interface but is really not that time efficient.
Has anyone tried to remove this program?... Its a headache! I had to find various reg entries and delete them to fully remove it

daverage said:
Fantastic and I cant wait for some updates, but I really don't like it forcing the left soft button into its own home button!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is something you can easily change

so who like the phone so far...

and wat are your pros and cons

pros:
nice graphics
touch screen
cons:
notification sounds not loud enough even at highest setting
syncing contacts from outlook
camera can't disable sound
camera need white balance
camera needs 'manual' settings

mute the g1 and there is no more camera sound

Pros
Screen & Resolution
Street View
Touch Screen
3g
Full Keypad
Internet - very fast!
Room for unlimited growth
Cons
Setting wallpaper
No access to storage card
No task manager
no internet sharing
Clock on homescreen
No document viewer
Of course most if not all of my cons will be addressed I'm sure so in short I friggin love this phone and it took me all of 5 minutes to forget my dash!

Pros:
It's BAD ASS!
Cons:
Can be fixed with software
Except the no 3.5 headphone jack WTF HTC?

stats555 said:
Cons
No video player
Can't edit bookmarks
Setting wallpaper
No access to storage card
No task manager
no internet sharing
Clock on homescreen
No document viewer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Video player is on the market
Wallpapers can be changed out.
accessing card would fall under a file manager, use your computer for now lol

Pros.... what they said
For the most part it is a great phone
Cons
No root access with ADB
No Shell
No File Manager
No SSHD

The fun is great. You have to realized that whatever is missing will be develop in the next couple of months. Now grading android system -> The best phone I've ever had by far, and I have been to lots and lots of Smarts phones....

Addressing some of the cons
Video Player: Available on market, but very, very limited (i miss tcpmp)
Setting Wallpaper: While ur on the Home screen, press the Menu button, wallpaper will be a selectable option
Editing Bookmarks: Open your browser, then press the Menu button, select Bookmarks, on the bookmarks screen, press and hold on the bookmark u want to edit until a screen pops up. Edit bookmark is there.
Clock on Home screen: to move it, just press and hold on the clock until it 'detaches' from the home screen.
to delete it, press and hold until it detaches from the screen then move it to your tab bar which you'll notice changed from an arrow to a trash bin.
to add one, while on the home screen, press the Menu button, select Add, Widget, Clock. then just place it wherever u want.
Something i had an issue with that i posted elsewhere was an rss reader. Google has one on its homepage, ur looking for Reader. Just sign-in and setup your links. Hopefully this'll help some people.

I've got the same pro's and con's as everyone else. I really like this phone much more then my TYTN II. I might have had a bunk TYTN though.
I'm missing the software keyboard, sim contact manager, and file explorer from WM phones though.
Otherwise I'm happy that I drove a long way to get this phone.

Hello fellow G1 users.
Ever since the news about OS came a while back I have been sold on android (well it’s potential).
There is obviously a software shortage… however, the community and google will fill the gaps with time, I think.
One big issue I have the battery capacity.
I would like to hear from you guys/girls:
What have you done to make the battery last longer?
Here are some of the things I have done (currently testing this configuration)
1. Stopped sync on all items….. I only kept calendar (sharing it with my wife)
2. Stopped using the gmail app. Instead I setup all of my email accounts via second email app with all POP (not IMAP <- drains battery like crazy) where I can control frequency with which the app checks mail (10-15 min apart for me).
3. turned off location service from GPS and network towers because I think one these are invoked, they do not turn off
4. Last: the usual…. Screen time out to shortest timeout and screen brightness to lowest comfortable level for me.

misha said:
I would like to hear from you guys/girls:
What have you done to make the battery last longer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never leave home without my charger lol. I walk to the corner store with my charger in my pocket in case lol

papito2181 said:
I never leave home without my charger lol. I walk to the corner store with my charger in my pocket in case lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear you.....
I picked up a second charger yesterday for work so that I can charge it.... if anything.

Pros: pretty good v1 Android OS, nice touch screen, fast (almost no lag), decent 3G speed, pretty good marketplace, room for growth
Cons: no virtual keyboard, need full BT profiles, no desktop sync, no task manager, no file manager, no 3.5mm headphone jack, no video recording

now that i seen everyone elses views time for me
ok i love this phone but i still carry around m dash as a picture/video recorder
the camera on the g1 sucks to me especially on how long it takes to snap
in my opinion my dash takes better pictures.
the battery definately sux nomore words about it lol
we realy do need an onscreen keyboard im starting to get tired of opening the phone to type lol
really wish there was a task manager
now for the good
great phone quaity i can hear anybody so clear
very fast touch screen
very fast internet
i love it just a few minor priblems that i kno google will fix later on, best phone i ever invested money in

its a boring phone! I don't like it. looks oddly shaped. ill stick with my non oddly shaped iphone. thatnkyou. Try again google/htc/tmobile...

papito2181 said:
Video Player: Available on market, but very, very limited (i miss tcpmp)
Setting Wallpaper: While ur on the Home screen, press the Menu button, wallpaper will be a selectable option
Editing Bookmarks: Open your browser, then press the Menu button, select Bookmarks, on the bookmarks screen, press and hold on the bookmark u want to edit until a screen pops up. Edit bookmark is there.
Clock on Home screen: to move it, just press and hold on the clock until it 'detaches' from the home screen.
to delete it, press and hold until it detaches from the screen then move it to your tab bar which you'll notice changed from an arrow to a trash bin.
to add one, while on the home screen, press the Menu button, select Add, Widget, Clock. then just place it wherever u want.
Something i had an issue with that i posted elsewhere was an rss reader. Google has one on its homepage, ur looking for Reader. Just sign-in and setup your links. Hopefully this'll help some people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip on bookmarks! Afraid to delete clock, what is the replacement like? Any better?

I've heard everyone complaining about the battery life and while its not the greatest I don't think its as horrible as everyone makes it out to be. Batt lasted me 12 hours yesterday with heavy internet use!

WhatzinyourphonE said:
its a boring phone! I don't like it. looks oddly shaped. ill stick with my non oddly shaped iphone. thatnkyou. Try again google/htc/tmobile...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
atleast we have removable storage/ removable batery/mms messaging lolz anything else xda wanna add??
atleast when our battery is messed up we can go buy one instead of sendin the enrtire phone to get fixed and be stuck witout one

chaos2myst said:
mute the g1 and there is no more camera sound
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what if i don't want it muted?

x10 Wish List

We x10 users are growing in numbers by the second and it will be a while before we have the luxury of rooting, themes and fixes but what interests me more is having my gripes being herd so the stock phones little issues, bugs and failures software wise are highlighted before the major update in September is released.
So I’m thinking lets list our finding in this thread. From anger causing faults to suggestions to make current features better. Being an SE fan since the T610 I know that SE has a very odd relationship with its fans and something’s don’t hit home when they are staring them in the face but I’m hoping some things will stick.
Once some ideas come in I’d like to create a voting system but I’m not sure how to but I’m willing to take advice. Voting would be useful as I doubt all requests would be seen and acted upon (if any) but it would at least show a priority amongst the x10 users/developers.
So to be clear note software issues that could actually be corrected, improved or implemented. Posting this link on blogs near and far would get our wishes on the radar so please do so as I will. Starting with this one I reckon: http://blogs.extranet.sonyericsson.com/products/

To get the ball rolling...
Generally:
Hit areas for most of the UI seems a little out, maybe a calibration tool like that one found on windows mobile would solve this issue phone wide.
Selecting any audio file give an option to assign to the main ring ringtone. An additional option to assign to a contact seems only natural to be added.
Mediascape:
The track scrub bar is so random and dearly needs its hit area working on.
Old SE features like shake to shuffle, rock clockwise or anti-clockwise to skip forward or backwards/previous, hold on the volume rocker to skip forward or backwards/previous when the phone is locked.
These features are signature SE and I find it odd that they aren’t part of the phones features
Timescape:
It become apparent that this is simply a fancy viewer but it would be amazing for this application to actually be useful and enable the user to send messages in facebook mail and chat. The same for tweeter would make this app more than something people play with for a day.
Viewing the messages via the infinity button looks great, can this not be the default view when actually texting a contact. Contact Pictures and highlighted/different coloured threads.
There’s more but I can add them later.

Mediascape
This is not a bad player at all. But it has too many issues and shortcomings.
1) Its home page is almost useless, because the content in it is hardly what I'm looking for. When I click an album in the home page, I just want to hear that album.
2) I usually just want to browse for artists and albums, and to do this I have to press the little button in the upper right corner of the home screen. So, I would a much more simple, responsive and finger friendly interface. The slider is also very difficult to use.
3) When I disconnect the phone from A2DP, the current now playing list disappears and I can't resume it.
4) I just want indexed audio files in the /sdcard/music folder. Now I get indexed also ringtones and other audio files in SD card (for example, sound effects of a game) and this is a bit annoyance.
5) No way to control playback with device locked. My old SE phones allowed that by long pressing volume keys.
Timescape
After some tests, I no longer use it. I use the GMail client and the stock Facebook application. So I would like to be able to disable timescape and its integration with Contacts and Phone functionality.
Battery
If it is possible to do something via software to improve battery life, do it!
Hardware
I know it is impossible to do a "hardware patch", however I have found 4 basic issues that will drive my choice when I will buy my next smartphone, so this is actually a wish list for the next Xperia:
1) with this hardware design, it is almost impossible to do a good cradle/car holder, and given the very good GPS, this is a HUGE issue...
2) USB connector on top: this is related to the cradle issue, but it is also very uncomfortable speaking at phone when charging the device at home. The USB connector HAS TO BE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DEVICE!
3) the maximum volume of the speaker is unacceptably low.
4) I really miss some kind of "joystick" to quickly navigate the UI without the touch.

Nice topic!
General:
* It should be possible to stop certain apps (moxier, maps, voice dialer, etc) from autostarting.
E-mail:
* Should be possible to set this app to download only headers. This is such a basic feature.
* Should be possible do discard/not show the oldest messages in inbox. It is already taking a while to load my inbox, what will happen in 6 months?
* Need to be able to attach other types of files than photos.
* When adding e-mail addresses from e-mails to existing contacts, the contact's name should not be overwritten.
Mediascape:
* Definitely needs the possibility to change track during key lock (i.e. holding volume keys).
* It annoys me that long track titles aren't centered.
Photos/camera:
* Need easy access to flashlight!
* Face recognition/identification is messed up, keeps forgetting added names and assigning random new ones. Needs a lot of work!
* When adding a photo as contact photo, it should not be necessary to scroll through all contacts starting from A. Should be possible to choose the first letter (as in contact list), or start spelling.
Contact list:
* When adding a photo to a contact, it should check if I have labeled that contact in any pictures, and suggest those (not just camera roll or standard icons).
Timescape:
* Should be able to display MMS. For example, use image as background and text as text.
* Should be able to display (scroll) longer facebook statuses, rather than sending me to the website.Widget for enabling/disabling wifi, GPS, etc should also include APN, which is not very easily accessible from the menus (many clicks).
Keyboards/language:
* I am missing an easy way to switch between languages (dictionaries)
* Should be possible to delete isolated words that the phone has automatically picked up. Don't want the phone to suggest all my misspelled words in the future. Deleting ALL saved words is not an option.

General
Definitely needs to be a way to disable included apps you're not using (Moxier and Timescape for me)
Info from the Testing menu (dial *#*#4636#*#*) should be available through the standard Settings menu.
Should be a way to adjust the various volumes on the fly without having to go through the Settings menu (pressing the volume keys only changes the Ringer volume, unless actively using Media, in which case Media volume is adjusted).
Would be nice to have a simple app to turn the camera light on and off for use as a flashlight.
Timescape
I don't find it useful at all. The information presented is too limited and the application is dog slow until it's all loaded and updated. Dedicated Facebook and Twitter apps are far better, as is Gmail.
Mediascape
I find it can be slow loading up file lists.
As lornova stated, the home page is useless. I'd rather be taken directly to my files.
Definitely needs lock screen controls. The lack thereof is the primary reason I switched to bTunes for music.
Needs support for DivX, XVid, and other common video codecs (FLV would be a bonus).
Contacts
Lacks options for standard fields from Gmail, such as "website" and "birthdate".
Needs to use the Facebook integration more extensively, automatically linking profiles to contacts and pulling contact photos in (if you choose an option to do so).
Facebook app needs to be registered as a link handler for Facebook links.
Camera
Needs a toggle for the camera light in the main camera UI.
Would be nice if the camera light could be used as a proper flash.
That's it at the moment. I may add more later.
...
I do want to mention, that despite the above issues/requests, I do love my X10 and am very pleased with it overall. But nothing is perfect afterall.

Great thread and I agree with most of the above.
Timescape - I don't use it and perhaps it is a little ahead of it's time. I still see Facebook / Email / SMS as seperate communication methods with seperate purposes, Timescape merges them into one (OK, I know you can seperate them, but still..) it does not still feel natural to merge them into one continuous thread. Perhaps in 5 years time this sort of view will be natural but today I still like to access Facebook / Email / SMS seperately.
Mediascape - The X10 is great as a music player and actually sounds better than my iPOD. Mediascape is almost there but to repeat what has been said above, why does the mediascape homescreen list the recently played as default ? If I have just played an album, why would I want to play it again next time? It would be so much more useful to have random album selections on the front page, or semi-random choices based on the types of tracks recently played.
The 'More' button to get to albums/artists is tricky to press when you are stood in a crowded train, make it biGGER !
The slider for artists/albums/tracks/playlists is almost impossible to use without at least 5 attempts to select the wanted option. SE must have done a field trial with the X10 before the release, why were such simple things not picked up or corrected ?
Battery - Not so much a complaint as it was a week ago, I now manage 30+ hours charge life with reasonable heavy usage, using Moxier/GPS/Bluetooth (no WiFi!), I need to sleep at least 7 hours a day so I have no problem with my phone doing/charging the same. However there are some strange things in regards to battery life on the X10, I have had everything from 7 hours to 35 hours life for a complete charge. I have given up worrying about it but feel convinced that WiFi is the root cause for fast battery drain, even when switched off.
Regardless to the above, I think my X10 is great, the positives far outweigh the negatives and the majority of the negatives could (SHOULD) be easily addressed in a software update. I have friends with Nexus ONE's and HTC phones and I still prefer the X10 WoW, indeed some of my Nexus ONE friends prefer the X10 WoW but still ask is it worth the extra cost ? (I believe it is !!)
I think many of the 'issues' are driven by Android still being an immature OS, the iPhone still feels more smoother and more together than the Android, but the real benefit of Android is the possibilites for customizations... I love being able to see email/rss/news updates on the home screen each time I switch on, rather than having to open up individual apps as I do on the iPhone....

I won't repeat all of the good comments so far.. I agree with most of them..
So, some additional points.
The "Sleep" button on the top of the phone shouldn't be used differently when you're on a call.. I'd like to be able to lock my handset when I'm on a bluetooth call, not wait for it to time out.
More end user customisation in the feature apps would be a great feature (ie.. being able to define your own home screen on Mediascape, so you can make it what suits your needs).
A better photo viewer (This is one thing that the iphone does much better). The standard one is a bit clunky...
A few people have suggested a bigger button to go to the "more" screen.. why not just do what everything else does and allow you to swipe across to it (surely that's the most natural thing to do?!)
When you've named someone.. an option for the phone to go and fetch all other photo's featuring that person would be good..
built in options to manage the start-up of apps.. and monitor your phones performance.
If I think of anything else.. I'll re-post.
A built in deskside alarm clock - that replicates a normal digital clock; I've not found any in the market that really do a good job.
Calendar option - ability to goto a specific date in the calendar rather than having to scroll through to find it.. ("Fancy going to see x in concert on the 23rd Sept?", "ooh, I don't know, give me 5 minutes to find that date in my calendar")

Dialer
Smart Dialing, ability to select different logs.
UI Buttons & selectable text like phone numbers in Person Information
They are just too tiny to click it right. Requires to touch at a precise place. Plus, gets very hard to call someone while driving.
MediaScape
Need to be able to creat playlists.
Need to be able to add a track to current playing queque.
TimeScape
Tweeter/Facebook tiles should have option to pick up Photos from contacts when available. Also improve UI to make text more readable like have a bubble like layer to display text.
headphone/mic
While listening to music, if we get a call it requires us to unplug the headphones to speak on phone. That should be fixed to use the mic on phone.
Lock/Unlock
When on call, the power button should work as screen lock instead of ending the call.
The center Home button should not turn on display when pressed. This is making the display turn on/off constantly when you have phone in pant pocket and is probably draining the battery.
Plus most of the items already listed...

my wishlist:
- increase call volume
- cure wifi bug where wifi drops when the phone loses the mobile network signal
Mediascape
- put in an equalizer
- allow forward/rewind of tracks via the volume rockers when screen is off, just like on all other SE phones
PIM
- make Contacts show birthdays
- then allow Calendar to import birthdays from Contacts!
- incorporate tasks ( and please allow repeatable tasks) into Calendar
- cure Google Calendar sync issues (i have NEVER been able to sync with Google Calendar as yet)
^^
all very basic PIM stuff, although i realize that this is more a Google issue than an SE one
otherwise, i LOVE my X10. a fantastic piece of kit!

How would you improve SE UI

Hi all,
Since it is very clear that rooting this phone is almost impossible and we might not be getting it sooner, I say we give Sony a review of their UI. If SE gives us 2.1 by Q3, then its good, but we better tell them what we did not like and they should change them.
Timescape: It’s pretty slow; there should be an option to turn it off. If you chose this as your home screen then you don’t get weather report. They should have their own customized weather UI.
Mediascape: Did use it so don’t know.
Dialer and Contacts: When I go to the contact of a person and want to call him; by mistake I often press the msg or home number (instead of mobile). The problem is narrow line for each field. Every day I make this mistake (there could be icons, instead of txt field).
Other Improvement: Since we don’t have a call button, like htc devices, we should have a UI like ADW launcher; where there is always two quick launch buttons. The digital clock in the slide screen is bigger and perfect for the 4’’ screen, but in home screen it is pretty small. There should be a color change option for it too. Tethering app included.
Please put your improvement ideas of SE UI too. We could send this to SE and hope to get them soon.

Bikram said:
Hi all,
Since it is very clear that rooting this phone is almost impossible and we might not be getting it sooner, I say we give Sony a review of their UI. If SE gives us 2.1 by Q3, then its good, but we better tell them what we did not like and they should change them.
Timescape: It’s pretty slow; there should be an option to turn it off. If you chose this as your home screen then you don’t get weather report. They should have their own customized weather UI.
Mediascape: Did use it so don’t know.
Dialer and Contacts: When I go to the contact of a person and want to call him; by mistake I often press the msg or home number (instead of mobile). The problem is narrow line for each field. Every day I make this mistake (there could be icons, instead of txt field).
Other Improvement: Since we don’t have a call button, like htc devices, we should have a UI like ADW launcher; where there is always two quick launch buttons. The digital clock in the slide screen is bigger and perfect for the 4’’ screen, but in home screen it is pretty small. There should be a color change option for it too.
Please put your improvement ideas of SE UI too. We could send this to SE and hope to get them soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good list of things to be told to SE, i think they should include flash player also for web browser , make more than 3 homescreens , change the blue theme to a one that is suitable with most of wallpapers or make an option to change this blue theme , and finally port some options that is included in froyo roms ,if they are not planing for a froyo update

My one wish for SE to change their looks would be simple. Ship with a default, like it is now and then add the option "Enable customisation" which would leave the OS stock Android without the added SE bits.
Majority of people would stick with the default, just look at how few "non-geek" people even change their wallpaper. Let alone going all out to change their UI. But it'd be an awesome option for us powerusers and would take minimal effort on SE's behalf. Give us that option and we'd probably turn in to a great PR machine since the HW is pretty excellent.

Make the volume rocker not increase/decrease the ringer volume when I'm on the home screen. I would make it more like original Sony Ericsson phones and have it bring up the phone's status.
Put some effort into the dialler. My last 3 Sony Ericsson dumb phones have had smart dialling features, this Android Smart phone has the dumbest dialler since the Nokia 3310.
The least they could do is plagiarize the dialler from their own phones.

Simple.
Sony Ericsson = Sony, so they should have gone with XMB from PS3
I like that interface. The only thing is screen. So maybe something like LG Crystal but then in XMB (Xross Media Bar) style

In Mediascape, I would like to be able to set "Music" to always go to my playlists.
Actually, even better would be to have separate mediascape shortcuts for music/video/photo on my homescreen and be able to set what each one defaults to.

Bikram said:
Hi all,
Timescape: It’s pretty slow; there should be an option to turn it off. If you chose this as your home screen then you don’t get weather report. They should have their own customized weather UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used it a bit but found useless and confusing, so I disabled it. I don't think that any improvement would help. I would like to just get rid of it.
Bikram said:
Mediascape: Did use it so don’t know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is actually the best media player I found on Android. I just would like to have a more finger friendly interface and some minor fixes.
Bikram said:
Dialer and Contacts: When I go to the contact of a person and want to call him; by mistake I often press the msg or home number (instead of mobile). The problem is narrow line for each field. Every day I make this mistake (there could be icons, instead of txt field).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly: again the problem is a more finger friendly interface. I also would like to get rid of Timescape things I don't use in the Contact screen.

.
I would like an option to access the media-volume from the home screen, atm i can only access phone-volume and it annoys me
They should also implement a virtual "Accept" or "Deny" button when you receive a call rather then a slide bar, like the iphone for instance.
And of coarse ... the interface! more userfriendly please.. bigger buttons, less text buttons..
Also i am very disappointed with the Top bar on your homescreen, some time ago i was used at using windows mobile and when you tapped the Bar on top with (battery, Signal strength etc) you could actually tap one of these features and you would go directly to the settings for it, for instance with windows mobile if you tapped the Signal strength you went directly to a menu where you could manage your 2G, 3G, GPS, Wifi, bluethooth etc with just one tap and now you cant, or even if you pressed the time you went directly to your alarm, clock, calendar and i would like this to be possible with SE aswell
And one more thing, since we are using a 1ghz processor its obvious we have spare power most of the time and there should be an option to set your device to Low-medium-max performance just like Windows mobile, this will save us tons of battery.
I know i'm whining about windows mobile, but to be honest that were the only 2 features i like about it

What I would like to see improved..
Okay I've had this phone for a while so I feel qualified to speak on this.
1.) I actually love timescape but recognize performance and more options such as changing the background to more animated backgrounds or figuring out a way to add more filters to it (i.e picassa , myspace,etc )
2.) I also like how the messages appear in the infinite screen on a contact and wished it stayed in that view when responding to messages.. That would be hot!!!!
3.) Also the best improvement they could do is allowing pictures from facebook to be saved to the contact when you don't have the contact picture assigned already. That would be helpful and windows mobile had that feature on my prior xperia devices.

clintax said:
They should also implement a virtual "Accept" or "Deny" button when you receive a call rather then a slide bar, like the iphone for instance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that they did, if you press the power button it denies the call. I know that's wiered right?

My experience with CM10 so far XD (and maybe a feature wishlist)

First of all, how awesome is this forum !!!
I consider myself a pretty "upright" forum user as in I usually read the pinned, "read this first", Q&A, and search before I make new posts. Whenever I come upon people who don't do that, I kinda frown to my computer screen but beyond that seems like nothing much can be done? The "Here are the similar threads we found:" section is just pure brilliance.
Sorry about the rambling but I will start with a tiny background story first.
So once upon a time, I got warned thru my gmail that my account apparently was "compromised". After I did some preliminary verification to make sure they are not spams, I decided to try the google "2-step verification" process. And I bet most of you knew what comes next: I keep getting bad password popups. After some hours of frustrating struggle, I fixed my gmail on my phone. But Gtalk would not let me do that 1-time psasword verification thing, and thus my play store won't work. (God really who designed them to be linked!? I did not launch Gtalk once in my life.) Before this happened, I was happy with my stock launcher from Samsung and always have the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" motto. In the end, I decided it is "certified broken" and I thought this might be a good time to look into upgrading to Jelly Bean.
hm.. i think i'm making this post unnecessary long so I will just cut through the chase. I never thought "stock" stuff would come in any quality. But amazingly in my first day experience of CM10, I am already missing a bunch of features that I used to take for granted. I have no desire to go back to the last launcher (as this in theory should be a step up overall, i believe). So if anyone have tips for me to how to get these features back, I would very much like some pointers! Thanks in advance.
Just some clarification in case this matter: I bought my phone unlocked in Hong Kong. So there is no service-provider-associated stuff that came with the stock launcher I got.
EDIT: I used the 11-02 nightly build of CM10 and its corresponding Gapp package.
1) Contact list
+ Improved: To my amaze, my chinese contacts got sorted by their pronunciation in english! The original stock launcher lumped all of them in the end of the list.
- What I missed: Slide left on names will message the contact and slide right will call them.
# What I tried: Of course my first solution is to search on App store to find a replacement. For some reasons, only two (with good rating) showed up. Did the search got dumber? Or it got smarter but just not doing what I want?
Go Contacts: I think i remember trying it and personally not a big fan of the GO packages. I didn't give it a second try.
Contants+ with a penguin icon: There's a function that lets you "Hold" on a contact to call them. This is very much inferior to the slidings : ( I need recommendations for contact list app.
2) App drawer
+ I like how the widgets got attached to the horizontal pages. Much nicer option than Homescreen-> menu and keep scrolling through the 1x4 area LOL. I love widgets and I have a lot of them. Yes it was painful.
- You can't custom organize the drawer. You can sort by Name or Install Date and that's it. I used to organize them by functionality. I have over 160 apps on my phone. I don't use all of them all the time but I would say I use close to 70% of them at least once in a while. So while my homescreen is really reserved for Widgets, App drawer is where I launch my less-used apps. I really like the "menu -> edit" function in my old launcher. I can create new page, move the apps around and even uninstall the app right there (with a minus sign on the top right corner of the app icon. Yes I didn't use to understand why one would even need uninstaller app from the store). Please don't hate me if you really just rather sort by Name.
# Funny the problem this time is not about how I can't find a suitable app from the play store to do a better job with the drawer. It's that I CAN'T move the original app drawer icon of the launcher from the bottom middle area. I imagine there's probably a way to replace it but it's obviously not a readily available option or I am missing something.
3) Task manager?
+ I think it's just recent launched apps (or apps in the background) now. It's in a way good that it goes beyond the last 6. Not that I find that old limit bothering really.
- Where's my task manager? I'm a bit OCD when it comes to ram usage and processes/services. Oh how i missed the Hold home button -> recent app screen with a task manager button -> Kill all task. LOL It's not much but it shows just enough: total ram usage, running apps, processes, and even storage space. Scratch that, it's actually very much.
# Right now I am resort to Auto Memory Manager with a blue fish icon. It's sufficient. But I can't access it anywhere.
4) Misc. stuff that I missed and would like help to find them. Note: these have nothing to do with the launcher.
- I used to have this "Windy Weather" live wall paper (or what i believed it was called). There were some wind turbines running on a grass field. It reflects the current weather. I scour the store and I couldn't find anything remotely like that besides having to go back to the GO family or you have to pay. I know it's not recommended but I tried titanium back up to restore it from my old system - no luck.
- Ap news widget. The widget was 2x4. It does not refreshes on its own and only do so with a tiny refresh button on the bottom right corner. It cycles through headlines with pictures that fully stretches the whole 2x4 window (beautifully). Can't find it in the store.
- Pinch on the home screen zooms out and gives you a quick view of all 7(now 5, but I can live with that) pages of home screen.
- That's all for now. I think I am still missing a few things I wanted to mention but I forgot what they are at the moment
anyway, sorry about some of the ranting. Here are some features i like:
+ File Manager is awesome.
+ Camera is great as well. And I love the quick browse gallery. It's weird that the actual gallery don't even have to pinch function while they put it here.
+ The pull down menu is clean. I kinda missed the "auto-rotation" quick set. But it's minor. I usually don't allow auto rotation anyway. I also like the setting button in there. But I used it so much I have to put a short cut on the home screen anyway.
+ The animation when you turn off the screen is COOL
+ The lock screen which gives you direct access to the camera is very convenient as well.

There is no sammy like app with swipe unfortunately.(edit :didnt know ex dialer has it sry_
Try apex launcher,nova launcher,adw ex launcher(i prefer this at the moment,pletora of settings)
autorotation ,play with toggle settings in system settings menu.
Don't bother with ram,free ram is wasted ram.
That windmill wallpaper i think go has something similar to it but i dont use it as it is a huge battery hogger .I just use a plain wallpaper.
I suggest u stay playing a bit with the lockscreen/system settings

Hi, i use ex dialer and it have slide right to call and slide left to sms.
Cheers!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

For dialer I recommend Dialer Ex from Play. I also missed the swipe to call & message function from Sammy roms. This app does it(it also has other great features like theme support etc.!)
Sent from my premium potato

1) ExDialer. You will never look back. You can customize it to your taste and it has the features you ask.
2) You need to use another launcher for that, but in my case I got accustomed to search for apps instead of looking for icons. It's easier and can be done from everywhere in your launcher if you click and hold the Menu key. You can also have folders in the Home screen, that's also a nice way to organize. Why I ended doing this? Because other launchers have too many options.
3) You shouldn't care about running apps. You can kill them by pressing Menu key on the Home and selecting manage apps. There, in "Running" you have the apps that are currently working on the background, the memory they use and you can eventually kill them. I'm against that unless you have an issue with an app (like Media Scanner going rogue).
4) GO Weather. You can download it from the web if it's not on the store and side-load it. But I have it available. I can't help you with the news widget as I never found one useful enough to my usage patterns. I don't think the default launcher can show you all Home screens at once.

Thanks for all the help guys. You are quick to reply : )

android manages ram efficiently u dont need to free ram if u still want to have a kill apps button on recent apps its part of aokp and if u want to have it on cm10 try pacman rom