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Hi all Xperia owners,
As a owner of this hyped phone, it has comed to my greatest astonishment that the Panels cannot be "used" concurrently.
For example:
If I wished to activate the multimedia panel to listen to some MP3 while at the same time do FaceBook panel , there is no way this can happen.
Or, whats the point of just staring at the FM Radio panel when I could be viewing some photos in the photo album while having my favourite FM Station running in the background?
To further add salt to wound, Sony did not bother to put these programs to be executable from the native Windows/Program folder.
Am I missing a point here from Sony as in this multitasking windows environment, they have decided to make their Panel technology run serially? Or maybe i did miss out some important settings ?
I agree with your statement above, panels are not multitask-friendly. My guess is that it was an attempt from SE to make their winmo distro more stable, preventing these processes from overlapping each other and taking up memory. I've noticed that the video playback performance is better on the Sony media experience panel than coreplayer (go ahead flame me) although not as flexible. Something similar happens with the popular iPhone, if you've ever messed around with one you'll notice it's basically unitasking, one app at a time, the only apps you can multitask with are the ipod and phone, but rarely crashes.
Actually, I was thinking about this. I, like many people, thought that the panels would just sit there, with nine different apps running side by side. Obviously this isn't the case. Could it be that this is just the first stage in the panel interface, a kinda test run? What about the next Xperia? X2 or X5 or whatever it's gonna be. Maybe it'll deliver what most people expected from the panels...
I think you guys are missing the point of panels.
If that's the case, you don't need panels, you just need applications running concurrently.
zenkinz said:
I think you guys are missing the point of panels.
If that's the case, you don't need panels, you just need applications running concurrently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally have found the SE media panel to be the most useful of all. For everything else that I don't demand high system priorities for, just run them as regular apps concurrently.
zenkinz, in your opinion, what's the point of panels? Please read my post above about what I think they are for (stability and performance).
if they were there would be much much less ram and cpu juice left
the arm cpu's are not as powerfull as computer cpu's
so believe me if they were you would suffer
wrong thread... edited out.
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
cmloo said:
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Xperia was designed by HTC based on SE's standards. What I did with mine was flash it with one of the cooked roms in the roms section which gave me the TF3D and it's pretty fast. I also added the panels, but for the sole reason of the SE media experience panel which I like for playing smoother video. In the end, it's all software, and it doesn't lack multitasking, only among panels. The rest is all good old winmo.
yeah, panels are a disapointment, the should let do some multitasking or at least run panels as an application (facebook one for example).
anyways, I think we currently have a "beta" rom in our xperias, since it's from august/08... maybe next mont we get a big update... let's hope...
this, or just a cooked rom without problems
The thing about Panels is that they allow you to change the look and feel of your device. On one hand i have a simple Today screen, on another i have the detailed today screen... then i have an SPB screen... and now we have Touch HD's TF3D as a panel too! Soon... we'll have more panels, like a home screen that allows you to navigate with ease (navigation panel). The main point is that regardless of the panel of your choice, you have access to all the windows mobile software along-side it.
I think panels are a really powerful feature of the phone! And as far as multi-tasking is concerned... you can run media player or the more famous core player and write messages, etc. and work with your selected panel of choice without much lag. And this to me is very powerful. not taking into consideration the likes of iPhone, but going straight to Symbian... Symbian too is powerful, but i consider windows mobile to be further ahead. What you can do with symbian, you could do with a simple windows mobile phone without panels or TF3D or gadgets and so on...
In my opinion; Xperia delivers what it set out to do... a powerful experience. Sure there are lags at certain times... but overall it is the perfect windows mobile device!
Sure two panels don't run simultaneously... and it would be awesome if in a future update we do get something like that... but overall it works great!
rpereira said:
I personally have found the SE media panel to be the most useful of all. For everything else that I don't demand high system priorities for, just run them as regular apps concurrently.
zenkinz, in your opinion, what's the point of panels? Please read my post above about what I think they are for (stability and performance).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the point of panel is to offer different "theme" of Today screen based on your primary usage of your phone at that particular point in time.
It's always good to have quick access to your next appointment, or tasks, but really you probably only do that when you are in meeting, or while you are working. When you are at outside office hours, you probably be spending time listening to music, watching video, or just simply idling. You may get a new email notification, or have to reply an incoming sms, but after taking action for these sporadic events you will be back to the 'Today' screen that offers you the theme you are in..
That's why I came out with the idea of Car navigation panel, where I need not worry about fumbling with new email notification, or having to switch to media player to change albums, as I can always go back to 'Today' screen easily.
In anycase, that's just my view (or maybe how I like to think that way), because if it's meant to be a concurrent active desktops, you might be better off with just running the programs and using taskmanager to switch from process to process.
I'm very happy with the panels too
maybe the real questions is one of expectations
if people belived they were getting 9 pda's they could switch
between it would likely be an disappointment
but it's not likely to be the last with these pda phones
cmloo said:
Which in actuality proves my point that the Panels are nothing more than fancy graphics or multiple "todays" screen.
Any WinMo/Symbian device today without Panels can definitely do Media browsing and FM Radio/Music and MORE without the slightest sign of sluggishness while Xperia with its powerful processor and available RAM lacks multitasking due to its much talked about "Panels"?
Strip its Panels and a slightly longer (but not wider) display , Xperia does not even come close to the Touch Pro with TF3D, G-Sensor, better sound and built quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to each his/her own.
I find Touch Pro no better than my Xperia. TF3D is just a flashy interface that offers limited function. The tabs acts like a panel, but there's so limited you can do within the tab (e.g. music player, stock quote or photo browser, they are just plug-in rather than full blown application)
TP is also nowhere near (imho) to Xperia in terms of performance (Xperia is so much responsive and fast), design (curvy body versus brick design) and keyboard ergonomic (many would disagree, I go for overall experience over total number of keys)
Just my own opinion only
Rudegar said:
I'm very happy with the panels too
maybe the real questions is one of expectations
if people belived they were getting 9 pda's they could switch
between it would likely be an disappointment
but it's not likely to be the last with these pda phones
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree, and also, it's one thing about providing 9 active panels with 1 glance (as some folks are frowing over lack of the capability), it's another being able to consume all the information offered by all the 9 panels at one go, not to mention the miniature fonts you have to handle ..
Makes sense. If i were depending on my navigator to show me the way while driving, it would really suck to get random notifications from other programs, so I think your panel idea will be quite useful.
I'm also sideing with the "Panels are good" guys.
I love the versatility that they give me, and am just patiently waiting to see what comes out of the Panel Development Competion, S.E. are supposed to be running.
I have had as many as 5 different UI's set up on different panels, as much to test them out, as to give me different screen "looks" when i felt like a change.
My latest way is to use different panels as "software themes". Like, I can set up a multimedia panel with all my video, and audio players shortcutted into it. A navigation panel, with all my sat nav style apps set up .
etc. etc.
It can only get better, in my opinion.
I do think 50% of people are missing the potential of Panels, tho.
i dont mind the panels too much. however what i am unhappy about is that sony ericsson advertised the panels as being active. therefore theoretically you could press the xpanel button and the 9 panels shown would update in realtime. currently the panels are little more than shortcuts to some fancy apps or homescreens
msalmank said:
The thing about Panels is that they allow you to change the look and feel of your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't agree more and I am satisfied w/ the panel too.
One important fact many people forget about is WM as of right now has a max limit of 32 processes (including background that run your phone). Some tricks can be done to workaround this issue but there's still a limit and the OS will close some of the non active processes if you reach that. It doesn't matter how fast your CPU or how many ram you got.
I'm coming to believe that the applications runing on Panels are just on top of another layer instead of running straight on top of the OS.
iPhone and BB have no problem filling the "desktop" with icons that are no more that a call to the program. Functionally they are more efficient to reach any where that even Touchflo 3D
What's the purpose to have a whole panel to run a program. That's stupid. for exmaple FM radio or FaceBook.
The Panels are not more that an ill conceived idea, with some BS marketing ideology behind them. All they did was destroy one one best smartphones ever built.
I've been looking forward to this for a *long* time:
http://www.pointui.com/products/home-2
Direct Link VGA/WVGA Cab:
http://downloads.pointui.com/public/home2/cabs/free/Pointui.Home2.VGA.WVGA.Free.Latest.cab
Direct Link Xperia Panel:
http://downloads.pointui.com/public/home2/cabs/free/Pointui.Home2.X1.Free.Latest.cab
We still have to wait a bit more for the Pro version though.
Thoughts?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have the ambition to keep this first post updated with PointUI related
material (applets, themes, modifications etc) as they start to appear
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Applets]
* BigClock by MarcLandis: http://www.marclandis.com/home2applets/bigclock_vga.zip
Thread: http://community.pointui.com/topic/applet-bigclock
* FlipClock by Scottcrsi: http://community.pointui.com/topic/appletvgaqvga-flipclock-v01-beta
* CommManager by Orlando: http://ken.lives-in.eu/CommMgr.zip
Thread: http://community.pointui.com/topic/appletvga-commmanager-1
* Home 2 Applets Showcase:
http://community.pointui.com/forum/applet-showcase
* The Applets Store:
http://community.pointui.com/topic/applets-the-applets-store
[Themes]
* The Themes Store:
http://community.pointui.com/topic/themes-the-themes-store
[Resources]
* Adding your own city to the World/Today applets:
http://community.pointui.com/topic/cities-and-wheather
AccuWeather RSS Center:
http://www.accuweather.com/rss-center.asp
- You may also change to the RSS Feed of your choice by editing the Cities.xml-files described at the page above
* VGA Backgrounds:
http://community.pointui.com/topic/home-2-backgrounds-vga-collection
* Documentation:
http://docs.pointui.com/
* How to Make Themes:
http://docs.pointui.com/Home_2_Themes
* Derliebewolf's Guide to Home 2 Customization (only in German as of now):
http://www.ppc-welt.info/community/showthread.php?t=141557
[Trouble Shooter]
* If your battery icon disappears after installing PointUI, try entering Settings/System/Clock & Alarm and deselect the "Always Show Clock in Titlebar" option
bell ui works fine on my xperia. i think its the same as pro not sure though
try it it has more features than this version http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3013840#post3013840
Also runs as a panel. Seems to be pretty good so far (2 mins worth of play).
Thanks i'll check it out.
It's really fast and smooth. Seems like an exceptionally well thought-out UI, good solutions. One of the better I have seen for WinMo. I'd say I'll get the Pro version as soon as it is released!
point UI is an example on how software should be written. its small, fast, very optimized and highly functional. sony should have hierd these guys to write their joke (panels)
seems to have a lot of potental but what i noticed so far:
-the arabic text does not work on this (works fine everywhare else)
-there is a lot of wasted spaces on the wvga version
-some parts are not finger friendly
-looks a little too plane. tf3d looks better
-not enough customization
-email and SMSs should show more text with all the free spaces unused
I expected more from the program.
I don't like it. Don't ask me why. Just doesn't feel right...
Any way to disable the RSS feed on the home page of the UI?
Here's how to add your own city:
http://community.pointui.com/topic/cities-and-wheather
fatso485, I think the wasted space is there because they have no separate version for WVGA which utilizes the extra space - they just use the VGA code and unfortunately ignore to take advantage of the additional pixels. Perhaps in the final release? And there's applets and themes, I think they might change that
Russian language does not work at all.
they've done too much hipe...
useless panel, as said, too much wasted space and the info is not really accesible easily.
I'm back to SE panel, looks better and it's great for home screen: calendar, date, weather, connectivity buttons, launcher, agenda, tasks, missed things... all at glance in a single panel, no need to go to submenus.
program launcher is better using the startmenu>programs and for contacts, they are too small, icontact does a better job.
also, I think TouchFlo does a better job than this pointui thing... I think I was specting too much from the 2.x update T_T
does it works in landscape mode?
cursor said:
they've done too much hipe...
also, I think TouchFlo does a better job than this pointui thing... I think I was specting too much from the 2.x update T_T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read on their website that Touchflo 3D actually is a customized version of PointUI Home, and I'd say Home 2 seems to have potential that goes beyond Touchflo. Especially with the built-in support for customization and applets.
MapleDouglas said:
Here's how to add your own city:
http://community.pointui.com/topic/cities-and-wheather
fatso485, I think the wasted space is there because they have no separate version for WVGA which utilizes the extra space - they just use the VGA code and unfortunately ignore to take advantage of the additional pixels. Perhaps in the final release? And there's applets and themes, I think they might change that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. . That seems like a lot of work to add something that most apps come populated with. I'll leave a note on their board.
sidvizioso said:
does it works in landscape mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, sure does
doesnt work on my xperia. Everything is very small and all the icons seem out of place. Also no text labels on anything. Ill stick with Bell UI for now methinks
vinokirk said:
doesnt work on my xperia. Everything is very small and all the icons seem out of place. Also no text labels on anything. Ill stick with Bell UI for now methinks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try to install the VGA/WVGA version
shock82 said:
try to install the VGA/WVGA version
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stuff that install the special X1 version
wow... gotta say, I could use this... installed the free panels version - looks really good!
My idea :
To actually have all the menus, scrollbar, default program backgrounds,the dropdown menu(the 1 on whcih we click when in File-explorer to jump from My Device to Storage Card),the Contacts Background,the Messaging Background..etc.
All of them transparent like Glass..This is just a Personal thought as in to change the feel n look of the OS.
WM6.5 all ready has titanium with the kind of glass panels m talking about.
Due to which it enhances the Wallpaper used i mean u can use almost any wallpaper.
And about the Visibility issue which will occur in almost everyone's mind after reading this post i think we can make it translucent the same way it becomes when we click on start menu..the icons r very much visible even with a complete white background.
So i think the backgrounds in the programs like file-explorer,windows media player-library,my pictures,SMS,Contacts etc. can be made the same.
I Wish some expert graphic designers and Programmers make my imagination come true and give all us Windows users a completely new interface.
I think for this .pngs & .jpgs of the system will have to be altered or replaced with the new ones and program them accordingly.
I am not at all good at programming and neither Graphics and i dont even know whether my idea can actually be implemented or no?
so many views n no single reply..
I am no coder, but Windows Mobile does not support transparencies like that. Only specific applications that are contained in themselves (aka titanium renders over itself so it has transparency. Mobile shell renders over itself so it has it too, etc.) But i could be wrong.
i don know either even m not sure about my concept..but i think .pngs can be useful...lets c..i have just put forward an idea..
Ive always wanted that feature too, part of the reason why I like Titanium so much, but as Shadowline pointed out, I think it's a limitation of the OS itself, even WM 6.5.
Then again, hope someone can prove us wrong.
yaah hoping for the same!!
Let's flood microsoft with this so they put it in wm7.
I am currently working on a new framework to use on top of CF, that allows for fingerfriendly development on Windows Mobile phones, and would like to hear your thoughts and ideas (of cause this is a really early version).
The idea is to mimic the way that you create winform applications, but since it is based on the GDI+, you have the possibility to use it all the way from throwing a few buttons in an application, all the way down to just using the graphical manager to take care of load balancing.
Have a bit more details on my blog along with the first sample video showing the scroll feature, and the transistion effect between panels (basicly the same as forms).
The video
The blog
So if there are any features that you would like, please write me.
Acknowledgement: Infinity is in a very early development stage,it's not yet a finished application,this review doesnt reflect the final completed software,the purpose of this review is to let devolopers and would-be users to contribute ideas in order to make final completed software more perfect.
please see full review with pictures in the following link:
http://forum.ageye.de/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=1461&p=7600#p7600
The Infinity v0.2.1 is apparently not compatible with WM6.5 very well, I even cannot set background picture for the desktop,so there must be some buttons missing.
Generally it looks very promising,compared to Touchflo 3D,it’s much more customizable,you can put any shortcuts and widgets in anywhere of the desktop,this is the feature millions are looking for;Compare to SPB Mobile Shell, the Infinity looks very similar but more agile and you can set everything neat and usable immediately.
Like SPB Mobile Shell,the Ageye Infinity let you do two most important things:
One,you put all your most important shortcuts and widgets on the desktop,NOTE any location of the desktop. While for Touchflo 3D,you basically cannot do much about the desktop, this sucks badly and I am suffercating every time I see Touchflo 3D.
Two,you put less important or less frequently used shortcuts in Favorite Folder (in SPB Mobile Shell,it’s called Launcher,in Infinity,it’s the middle button I saw when I tested it in my HTC Pro2 with WM6.5 rom).
As I didn’t see the Infinity Manual,it took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to use it, I should say it’s more or less close to SPB Mobile Shell when it comes to customization of desktop and Favorite Folder.
The difference is,for example,you want to place Contacts in the desktop,first you need to add “Shortcut” in the desktop,this Shortcut is an empty icon,then you click on this Shortcut icon to find the path of the Contacts.
If you are interested to try out Infinity v0.2.1,please download(probably need registration):
http://forum.ageye.de/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=1369
Install to your main memory,then in programs you can find a Infinity program icon,click to run.
Suggestions to developers:
1. how to set the background for desktop,the default background is not-so-good-looking,there is no button that can set this,please update based on WM6.5.
2. where is the general configuration? How to set Infinity to replace Today? How to change language? How to set the number of pages of desktop?
3. how to change the size of icons in the desktop? In SPB Mobile Shell,it got this feature,you can make the icon small,big,professional,transparent etc etc.
4. about the right and left soft key configuration,it seems that the option is very limited,can we assign any programs and widgets for the right and left soft key?
5. For Infinity own widgets, I suggest you to add Task Manager, this is most often used tool,In addition,if we can put this Task Manager in the right soft key,that will be very convenient! I saw SPB Mobile Shell has a great Task Manager widget,users can use Shell extension tool to put it beside the Launcher.
Looking forward to your great update soon!
INFINITY is an alpha release
karandras24 said:
INFINITY is an alpha release
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! And it's already pretty amazing.
This UI seems to be alot like PointUI.. I dont know a lot about coding but it seems like a very early version of the same UI
I dont doubt that it is entirely different that's just my two cents from screen shots of Infinity.
Pointui you can use tons and tons of different themes and wigets etc as well.
ie:Pointui Sense, Nexus One, Mac OS... the list really is endless.
Just some food for thought. If you like Infinity you should definaly give pointui a try. That said...... if you're the developer and just trying to spread the word about Infinity.. My bad! I looks promising!
Aaron McCarthy said:
This UI seems to be alot like PointUI.. I dont know a lot about coding but it seems like a very early version of the same UI
I dont doubt that it is entirely different that's just my two cents from screen shots of Infinity.
Pointui you can use tons and tons of different themes and wigets etc as well.
ie:Pointui Sense, Nexus One, Mac OS... the list really is endless.
Just some food for thought. If you like Infinity you should definaly give pointui a try. That said...... if you're the developer and just trying to spread the word about Infinity.. My bad! I looks promising!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not really like PointUI - it doesn't crash as often
No, I've tried (bought) PointUI and other than the PointSense theme (which has been abandoned by its developer) there's nothing much about PointUI to get excited about Add to that the fact that PointUI hasn't seen an update from its developers in a very long time...
I think that Infinity shows more promise than both SPB Mobile Shell and PointUI combined. People are forgetting that what they've seen so far is only an ALPHA version!
About the task manager, try to press on the top bar...