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Over the past 24 hours, I've been playing with a multitude of different ROMs and apps to try dialing in that "perfect" setup. I think I have narrowed it down, but it seems like I am forced to make a tradeoff and I'd like some advice.
The Sense UI seems to be considered a pig. Not the tasty, goes-great-with-everything bacon variety, but the Unicron planet consuming memory type. Based on what I have read, it seems that using a less invasive launcher increases performance and improves the battery life.
Unfortunately, Sense has a REALLY nice feature that I can't seem to replicate on the EVO when using AOSP. On the Evo 4G, Sense has elegant toggle switches for:
4G
Mobile Internet
Wi-FI
GPS
Mobile Hotspot
Bluetooth
Airplane
Slap a Brightness and Ringer control from the MP in there, and you have yourself a one stop shot of virtual dip switches to control everything about your phone that sucks down juice.
Unless I am missing something, there doesn't seem to be any solutions in the Marketplace that can duplicate this functionality. There are some apps that provide shortcuts to certain toggles, but nothing that gives you an "at a glance" feature like the Sense UI provides.
So my question is this: what do you all do? I love love LOVE that idea of controlling my connections easily to save on battery, but at the same time feel a lot more comfortable using LauncherPro and boycotting the closed-sourceness that is HTC's custom interface of bloat.
Either way I still end up with the best phone on the market, I just feel like its forcing me to make a compromise when I am so close to perfection.
Thanks in advance!
The SwitchPro widget from the market has everything but 4g. I use it all the time.
http://www.appbrain.com/app/alei.switchpro
The only thing about switchpro that threw me for a loop is that when placed side by side with the Sense widgets (and power options) is that even though the Mobile dip for Sense can "turn on" the Mobile connection in Switchpro, the Switchpro widget does not do the same for the Sense one.
This could simply be a misreport, but I was concerned that it simply was not disabling the service.
Then again...I can't really do anything with the phone web-wise...
double post...
If you search the market place of "onoff" or "toggle" you should find widgets that replace the switch functionality of the sense UI. Combine that with this for 4g and you can have your cake and eat it too:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=695056
does anyone know if there is a way to get the stock launcher home screen to rotate to landscape mode? i have spare parts installed and couldnt find a way to enable it. i didnt want to use another launcher just for this, i would love the landscape mode for tv out (yes phone is rooted) help muh help muh
There's no way to get the homescreen to rotate unless you download launchers such as launcher pro or adw.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant
Tairen said:
There's no way to get the homescreen to rotate unless you download launchers such as launcher pro or adw.
Sent from my Samsung Vibrant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm i guess ill have to go with another launcher, thanks!
the captive has the home screen rotation?
When I launch avatar it automatically rotates the screen and then stays that way to display the drm warning. Not really a fix, more of a bug you could take advantage of of you just want it rotated for games. As a real solution I would recommend launcher pro.
Sent from my Vibrant
How does one benefit from swiping through their home screens in landscape mode?
Another thing that proves people like what they like. I hate my homescreen to rotate. I use LauncherPro and disabled it.
^ that could have been my post exactly.
To each his own, I guess. This really bothered me, so I started using Launcherpro and can't see myself going back...Touchwiz is pretty good, but coming from my G1 running CM6, it made me feel too locked down.
flying_squirrel42 said:
To each his own, I guess. This really bothered me, so I started using Launcherpro and can't see myself going back...Touchwiz is pretty good, but coming from my G1 running CM6, it made me feel too locked down.
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Technically speaking, TouchWiz changes much more than just the launcher and home screen.
Using a custom launcher only overwrites the TouchWiz launcher, it doesn't remove TouchWiz altogether.
Honestly I really like the fact that the home screen does not rotate. It was one thing that used to drive me a little bonkers with some of the G1 builds. Do I flip it left or do I flip it down.
Of course that was just my opinion of course.
Well, for me personally it would be nice if it rotated while I have it sitting on my desk dock. That would be about the only time I would want it to.
HOME screen Rotation
I am running froyo Jpm on the S and I am really missing the HOME screen rotation, Really. And was hoping and hoping with all my heart that someone from xda dev could come up with a home screen rotation fix.. If someone has please point me in the right direction and also one more thing Home Screen rotation Rocks!haha. And it should be there when you wont it.. So please help us home screen rotation Lovers. Thanks
Reason to have landscape.
I have a phone case that has a kickstand allowing for my phone to be set long ways (on its left hand side, so the cable is coming out of the left at the bottom of the phone) because when I stand it up and plug it in it jsut falls over all the time. (The USB cable that came with the phone is REALLY stiff, compared to the MTS3GSlide/Cliq/G1) So it would be really nice if it would go to landscape mode allowing for horizontal scrolling across screens ( I guess that the widgets would also have to be able to handle on the fly the switch betweens[ can that even work?] or be removed) And also have the status bar be across the top (like normal) while it sets sideways. I mean most of the games, video players etc already auto switch to landscape so you can have the width to handle the frames anyway. And so that when my phone is on its side (which is roughly 9 hrs/day minus lunch and smoke breaks) I can still read the stuff properly. I guess that the pulldown on the status bar would also have to work and so on. I wish I knew enough programming to make this happen myself. But that is the ONE biggest thing I miss the most about the G1, landscape homescreens. I'd seriously take that over a lag fix any day.
I have a concept homescreen replacer where there are no "pages", instead there is one single horizontal scrolling strip, much like a film strip. Think Windows Phone 7, but with widgets, icons, folders etc and horizontal.
Look at the attachment if you dont understand. I would put the image in the post but I cant post outside links yet.
Yes, it is possible to see half a widget, but I thought about it and decided it will be to the user to scroll so it is displayed right.
I have no experience in coding but I am pretty good in graphics like my picture
Tell me what you think
I've been thinking about and attempting to create (with limited success so far.) something similar to your home replacement but Vertical Scroll rather than horizontal. To give you an idea it would look similar to The Zune Launcher or the but also be able to take widgets. Again no snap to screen (cant figure that bit out).
Good luck with this, it would be interesting to see what experiences you gain and what problems you run into. Similar to you I am fantastic with graphics but not too good at coding (not done any since C++)
When I "jailbroke" my ipod ages ago, there was a tweak that was called "smooth scrolling" and it did the exact same thing described here. I think it would be awesome to have a free-scrolling home screen. I am working on a home replacement myself and it features a vertically scrolling home screen where the icons and widgets can be placed anywhere (not snap to a grid). If you would like to help, click on the logo in my signature to be taken to my site to see what I am working on. I could use a hand in graphics, myself. PM me if you're interested
I would prefer something that is like infiniboard for iOS
This would technically allow widgets to stretch past the 1 page limit in LauncherPro, as in, you could have widgets large enough that they cut off, allowing for some GREAT theming and future uses.
hmmm....interested but why vertical? feels a little to Windows Phone to me and i think widgets would work better scrolling horizontally. I looked up smooth scrolling for iOS and yep thats what i want with widgets and gridless.
I just want to subscribe to this and give my two cents:
I think any seamless homescreen app should still have the option at least of enabling a grid for apps and widgets. The idea of this as a functioning homescreen replacement could certainly get me to switch over from ADW, but only if it could satisfy my OCD needs for everything to be lined up juuuust so.
I think this would be a great thing to have, but I also would like to have an option for the widgets & apps to line up on a grid. while it is great to have the seamless scrolling (preferably horizontal & not vertical...maybe there could be an option for that as well) I like things to line up too.
I could definitely make that an option for my home-replacement. I just want to know what people would want out of a home replacement so that I can model mine around the general consensus of what everybody wants. Oh, and why does everybody want vertical scrolling? Because its different. Sure Windows phone 7 has it. But it does it in its own way. Android is know for its open-ness and widgets. The wonder of Android is that anyone can do anything with Android, and its free.
At first I want to say that the idea of a seamless lauchner is brilliant.
I had that idea by myself but I have no experience in programming.
I think I would prefer somewalls original concept with icons that fit into a grid and horizontal scrolling. To me it seems to be more useful on portrait format screens compared to vertical scrolling.
But anyway, I hope the best for you guys.
I think vertically scrolling widgets will work buggy this way. Unless there would be some kind of listener that stops the horizontal scrolling when interacting with a vertically scrolling widget.
Else both ways of scrolling will interfere.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I like the idea, it's something that I would love to have on my phone! Just one suggestion.. I would like to see both horizontal and vertical scrolling, if it could be developed. As in, the user decides what kind of scrolling he wants, either vertical, horizontal.. or may be both? I don't if it's possible or not, I have no "serious" coding experience, as you may call it since am just in school!
I have just recently booted and rooted my new tablet. Im curious about some interesting uses of Tasker in a tablet as opposed to phones.
Thanks for making this stuff so easy!
nothing different bro
you will have to use the same way for the tablet at well...just a diff if u using in car it would enhance
wrathofnero said:
I have just recently booted and rooted my new tablet. Im curious about some interesting uses of Tasker in a tablet as opposed to phones.
Thanks for making this stuff so easy!
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If you're into a "hubs" style look for your tab, using Tasker with Minimalistic Text provides an easy way for links to navigate the various screens set up.
I'm no tasker wizz, but I find it useful to have the screen remain on when AC power is connected. I take my tab to work and this lets me to see incoming messages, change songs, etc., while I use my PC.
Maris_ said:
If you're into a "hubs" style look for your tab, using Tasker with Minimalistic Text provides an easy way for links to navigate the various screens set up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious about these hubs. I've seen the minimalistic text, but I hadn't really had time to solidify a use for it.
Hubs are great until you realize how much extra resources these additional widgets take up to suppor them. Depending on number of home screens and images used multipicture livewallpaper can take up a bunch of memory. Minimalistic text takes some too. It can all add up culminating in pauses and stutters jumping from app to app or screen to screen as the OS tries to shift resources around. With some work though things can be optimized to minimize impact.
Sent from my SCH-I905 using Tapatalk
Check out this link for more details on hubs: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1232357
There are some great ideas, examples, and instructions in there.
I suppose if someone goes overboard with widgets on homescreens it could impact battery life, whether using hubs or not. I haven't noticed any difference, personally.
i got really annoyed with minimalist text because you could only make icons that are really small
so what ive done is just find my wallpaper images and on photoshop overlay the hubs then use multipic to make a differenT wallpaper for each homescreen then make transparent icons that swich between homescreens and put them ontop of the writing i have overlayed in photoshop kinda confusing but it works !
look at any of my themes and all of them in the screenshots have my homescreen with this setup
I set my tasker to change my wifi settings to off when screen is off and always on when I am listening to pandora or streaming radio so that I can save some power by not having to have the screen on all of the time while streaming, but that is all.
cliff notes: you cant change the lock screen icons or remove them at all.
so it seems the biggest gripe i have with this phone, albeit, not a huge gripe.....
you cannot pick and choose which icons show up on your lock screen tray. it reflects what you have in your unlocked home screen tray.
so if you dont want any icons in your lock screen, then you have to remove them from your homescreen tray.
i have seen many videos of other HTC phones that you can personalize the lock screen, however, on the 816 you do not even have that subfolder for lock screen personalization.
i cannot even remember the last time that i wasnt able to customize the lock screen with whatever icons i wanted to show up or none at all (which is my preference). I guess LG is a little more flexible about this one than HTC.
it has been confirmed per HTC online chat.
do keep in mind, i have no plans on rooting or running a customer rom, nor do i want to hear anyone saying i should, because you're wasting your time.
this isnt something i should have to hack my phone for or to install a launcher or separate lock screen app to do this.
this phone is limited in storage and i shouldnt have to load it up with this crap.
Thread cleaned. People argue over the stupidest stuff on the internet. Everybody take a breather and let it go.
Customization on stock HTC ROMs has gone backwards for years. I've been an HTC user for almost four years and remember when lockscreen shortcuts could be changed, but they've been unchangable separately from the tray since Sense 4. So, it's not just this phone. And I agree it is a step backwards although I think removing skins was a step backwards in customizing HTC phones too. But, I guess that's their choice.
I tried to find a way to remove them, but the only option would be to remove them from the launcher and then use a different launcher which you don't want to do.
If you had wanted to add an app without running a custom launcher or lockscreen, you could enable widgets on the lockscreen. On my HTC One, you go to Settings, Security, Enable lock screen widgets (I'm sure yours is similar). You could then add a widget to whatever app you want (assuming one is available).
Thanks for cleaning up the thread, it certainly needed it. Also thanks for actually giving an adult type response. These responses is what you should look for in a forum not the ones that were deleted from this thread.
the HTC phones I had were before sense 4, I've been on an lg phone kick lately and they've been great. But I came across the 816 phablet and it seems exactly like what I wanted. This issue is a very small one and won't cause me much frustration other than the fact that I don't want them there. But I do use them because they are there, but my preference is that they were not.
OK, this isn't really for OP because he doesn't want to root but for anyone else that wants to use different apps on the lock screen...
Install the Xtended Settings module for Xposed. That will allow you to accomplish what OP wanted. Xtended Settings along with Sense6 Toolbox will allow you to change EVERY DAMNED THING on your Desire 816. And by everything I honestly mean it. I don't think I've found a color or setting that couldn't be changed.
Make sure you have a backup before you play around with things though because there is a lot and if you just play with it and test different things you might forget how to set it back.
sirrx7 said:
Xtended Settings along with Sense6 Toolbox will allow you to change EVERY DAMNED THING on your Desire 816.
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Click to collapse
Nice find. I've heard of Sense 6 Toolbox but not Xtended settings. It's unfortunate that rooting is the only way to change things.
will it let me get rid of the battery saver mode notification icon?