While I'm loving my Transformer and finding new ways to make excuses to use it for everything I can, I've found one issue particularly annoying. The Honeycomb notification area only displays something like 5 active notifications at a time without opening the full tray. If I have an SD card plugged in, the tablet on the dock, and headphones plugged in, it creates static notifications for all of those right away. Then I have LBE Privacy Guard thing going so that's 4, and then I may have opened some music or podcasting or chat app or whatever, and that's 5. I get an email or whatever, and the real notifications that I want to be NOTIFIED about are now lost to the tray if I didn't notice them at the time.
Is there any way to hide some of the stupid "keyboard connected" or "headphones plugged in" or whatever notifications, or maybe a way to increase how many are shown in the bottom bar? There's so much empty space down there that it's super annoying to have it only displaying 5 items. My 4" Epic will show like 7!
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I know this is a hot topic and there may be other threads on this, but hear me out for a second...
This is a cleaner version of a thought I had posted in a WP7 I started a while back (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1925656), influenced by news that MSFT is planning to add a notification centre to the joy of many - i rather they added more functionality to the lockscreen but to each his own. After more thoughts, I figured it was more appropriate to give this its own thread an post it here.
Here's what I'd do as an option for a notification centre while maintaining the OS look and not going the Android/iOS route:
1. Use the solid bar when a more than one type of notification comes in to maintain the minimalistic UI look. Use the following statement to be shown in the bar: "you have x notifications".
- Color code this bar to a shade of color that couls be specific to the app. If Twitter is purple, you would see a purple bar if there is one tweet waiting, but once there is more than one unread tweet or other another unread notification comes in, the color of the bar can either:
a) Shifts to the standard accent color for the whole UI chosen by the user.
b) Retain the color associated with the original app
2. Allow swipes to remove that notification bar. This means:
a) The only ways to access the notifications are:
- swipe left once from the home screen
- swipe twice if starting from the applications list
- double tap the special notification icon on the lockscreen (more on double tapping below)
b) the bar would be permanently removed from the top of the lockscreen. This avoids making the lockscreen look too “cluttered” or “busy”.
3. Use a special icon for the notification bar. This will be visible both in the notification bar itself AND on the lock screen. This means MSFT keeps the up to 5 icons limit and the double tapping on the 6th icon (the notification) allows transitions that open the notifications hub.
4. Double tap on ANY notification icon to open the the associated app itself from the lockscreen. If you've got dual cores, let them work via pretty transitions! Also, double tap reduces accidental press from single tap.
5. Have the following options in settings called Notifications:
- Allow the user to decide how long they want that solid notification bar to be visible on the home screen and app list screen in the same way you have the screen blackouts after inactivity. Conversely, MSFT could determine that for the user.
- Vibrate only, LED flash only or LED and Vibrate after "x amount of time for x number of times" to remind user of notifications. This allows OEMs to build LEDs if they want to take advantage and add to differentiation. Or, MSFT could just standardize the vibrations and LED flashes without taking away the OEM option to build the LED into the handset.
Either way, this ties into the option of having the solid notification bar too above. For example, if the user feels the phone vibrate with the screen off, then they will see either the solid bar or notification icon on lockscreen. If they were on a call or in an app the vibration would help them exist and thus seeing the solid status bar.
- Level of detail: MSFT can either a number count for the notification of a preview of the notification. This should not be user determined in the settings. If preview is activated, and multiple notifications come from different people for the same app (i.e. texts or tweets from separate people) show name and number count.
- Give the user the option in settings to either use the different colors or choose the notifications to have the same accent color as the rest of the UI. Place this either under Notifications or Accent colors.
6. From the start screen, swiping left brings up a notification hub automatically as a standard action.
a) Give this simple hub look by giving each app with notification its own shade of a color separate from the chosen UI color. - This color would apply for single shade in the notification list here, as well as in the bar mentioned in point #1 above.
Or:
Instead of each app having its own shade, use group accent colors based on app types listed in the Windows Store. For example, one shade of yellow for social media apps, one shade for Navigation apps, etc.
b) split the notification hub in half: have a top part of the hub with the following icons: WiFi, Bluetooth, Tethering, Battery percent, Kids mode, and settings (this should not be user selected). Display each options as either:
- Tappable words and the same switches we see to activate/deactivate in the setting already, or
- Use some tappable icons + the switches.
c) Allow each tab (whether tappable word or icon) to open directly to its own specific option within the settings hub - that way you're not digging through extra menus.
d) make tapping the bar and or the notification icon open the transition window to come from the left.
7. When kid mode is active, if there are double taps on icons on lock screen let password prompt come up to access the notification first.
8. If you want the Notification hub to be a full fledge hub itself to make the ideas above seem less cluttered, it can be a three paned hub with the following:
- main start pane has recent notifications
- swipe left for the toggles to get to the following icons: WiFi, Bluetooth, Tethering, Battery percent, Kids mode, and settings.
- swipe right for similar apps relating to settings such as system information (this can be optional)
9. More lockscreen functionality: Double tap the name of the song playing to open the music app directly.
I wish I could do same screen shots for all the stuff I laid out, but I’m not that great with graphics like that…:crying:but I could post shots of existing apps that show the visuals to some of my ideas above.
WP8 could be the minimum requirement for some or all of these ideas. Some of these might be more customization options like Android and some MSFT could just user decide. Either way, it’s still in the same framework to allow that middle road of options WP offers to users in comparison to Android and iOS.
Thoughts?
Just license the Notification center from Nokia, specifically how it was used and implemented on the N9.
bmstrong said:
Just license the Notification center from Nokia, specifically how it was used and implemented on the N9.
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I'm not sure how well that would go over...maybe MSFT doesn't want to use too lunch Nokia stuff at the expense of upsetting the other OEM partners...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
trappxl said:
I'm not sure how well that would go over...maybe MSFT doesn't want to use too lunch Nokia stuff at the expense of upsetting the other OEM partners...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I thought they pit elop there to run Nokia into the ground, then buy the company for pennies and use ALL their patents... why not start early with some navigation?
I'm not too bothered about notifications. It's a feature that started to annoy me with iOS, all the constant updates and screen coming on all of the time. I found my life to be a lot more productive since getting a Windows Phone. The only notifications you really need are messages and calls and they're both shown on the screen, it's not life or death if you miss what someone is saying on twitter.
ohgood said:
I thought they pit elop there to run Nokia into the ground, then buy the company for pennies and use ALL their patents... why not start early with some navigation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps...but because Nokia needs money other than the handouts from MSFT, they pushed the Lumia brand really hard when they jumped into WP. If you notice now, when people think of WP they first think of Nokia. MSFT doesn't want that, which is why they teamed up with the old partner HTC who was more than willing to back to its past tactic: make a phone with another company's brand name in the title - hence the WP8X by HTC. MSFT also used HTC like that because they have better pull with US carriers than Nokia right now, especially with VZW.
So people in the know (OG WP adopters) will lean more to Nokia...Nokia now powers the whole WP maps. It makes no sense for MSFT to license a notification centre from Nokia, and they would only run Nokia into the ground to buy it if Nokia's WP are the ONLY ones that sell. Nokia shouldn't allow that, even with Elop there, because they are one of the OG companies (Moto the other) and having a more controlling owner like MSFT might hurt both companies' brands...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
gilesjuk said:
I'm not too bothered about notifications. It's a feature that started to annoy me with iOS, all the constant updates and screen coming on all of the time. I found my life to be a lot more productive since getting a Windows Phone. The only notifications you really need are messages and calls and they're both shown on the screen, it's not life or death if you miss what someone is saying on twitter.
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Click to collapse
See, that's one of the beauties of the design of WP I like, and many others do. But there are folks who love the annoying notifications and their phone blowing up with all sorts of activity. This is why MSFT is compelled to add a notification centre to appeal to more folks and get the cross over adopters and new smartphone buyers who have friends with Android and iOS that are used to notifications. I could live with a notification centre in WP, but I think design wise they are in a fresh and unique place...perhaps a decentralized setup by adding more functionality to the live tiles, toast bar and lock screen is better than that all in one status bar notification...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
trappxl said:
See, that's one of the beauties of the design of WP I like, and many others do. But there are folks who love the annoying notifications and their phone blowing up with all sorts of activity. This is why MSFT is compelled to add a notification centre to appeal to more folks and get the cross over adopters and new smartphone buyers who have friends with Android and iOS that are used to notifications. I could live with a notification centre in WP, but I think design wise they are in a fresh and unique place...perhaps a decentralized setup by adding more functionality to the live tiles, toast bar and lock screen is better than that all in one status bar notification...
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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that's a lot of words instead of :
" turn off notifications in app settings that don't matter"
you don't need a "hub" to do this if its implemented well inside each app.
ohgood said:
that's a lot of words instead of :
" turn off notifications in app settings that don't matter"
you don't need a "hub" to do this if its implemented well inside each app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. You're right...I've got a rambler's habit whenever I get the juices flowing talking technology...
I agree with that approach of simply improving the notifications in each app. I like not having a hub because I don't need to be notified of every little occurrence. But, since MSFT wants to make cash they will cave in an put a notification hub in. I'm not sure if they will give us the option to turn it off fully if they do.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
A swipe to the left of the main home screen for home screen and quick settings.. thats what i thoght of..
Since I got the Note 3 a week ago, I've spent most of that time trying to find a way to get proper lockscreen notifications. "Proper" in this case means pretty much what LockInfo IV did on jailbroken iPhones (if you're familiar with that):
Each notification chosen by the user is displayed on the lockscreen as a separate entity
Each notification (text or email) can be viewed in its entirety on the lockscreen, if the user chooses that option (such as by tapping to expand each notification)
Notifications are persistent, in that they remain visible on the lockscreen whenever the phone is brought out of sleep mode.
I've tried LockerPro, Nils, Pop-up Notifier, and others and they all fail in one way or another. I'm led to believe that lockscreen notifications are limited by the way that Android populates the notifications panel. The big problem is that if you get more than one email or text, they all get lumped together into a single, useless "You have <x> number of new messages" entry, which means you have to unlock the phone and launch the respective app to see who it's from and what it says.
This completely defeats the purpose of screening notifications on the lockscreen.
I'd appreciate recommendations for any app that will make lockscreen notifications useful. Thanks to designgears, my phone is rooted now, if that makes a difference.
Try dynamic notifications. It mimics the moto x.
Won't show everything though.
Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried that one and it didn't do it for me, but I'll give it another shot at some point.
For now, I've stopped worrying about lockscreen notifications, since push email is basically broken on the Note 3 anyway. It's like a time machine back to 1995.
barnabydog said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried that one and it didn't do it for me, but I'll give it another shot at some point.
For now, I've stopped worrying about lockscreen notifications, since push email is basically broken on the Note 3 anyway. It's like a time machine back to 1995.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey - I was looking for the same for my N3....i've been trying Dynamic Notifications on and off for awhile now. At first it works, and then just stops. Maybe give Knock2 +V2..I'm testing it now and so far it seems to work flawlessly for me
Hey all, I'm looking for a weather app or module that will give me either a constant notification (like the google weather card but just needs to be constant) or sits somewhere in the quick settings (like the one integrated in CM12 is exactly what I would like). A lot of the apps I have tried do give the constant notification BUT they also keep an icon in the status bar which I am trying to avoid. A small handful, such as BrightWeather, offer the option to hide it and is the current one I am using so far. So does anyone have any suggestions on this?
I think amber has option for blank notification icon
Yeah it does, the only problem with Amber is that despite setting refresh interval to 3 hrs, I wakes my device a lot more often than that. I think it had woken to do something >15 times/hour. Tried to go through all the settings and not really sure what it was doing, but the battery drain was too significant
I'm just getting used to my new Yotaphone 2, it is living up to my expectations so far but I've got a couple of questions...
1. Can you disable yota cover? The manual mentions an option to disable it but I can't find it on the yota hub settings, the scenario is I have a lock screen with swipe pattern to unlock the device, so the yota cover is unnecessary. when mirroring, I end up removing the yota cover, then putting the unlock pattern in , the EPD is all about convenience for me and this double step to unlock is annoying.
2. The "next event" widget should be awesome but it doesn't display "all day events" from the calendar so its somewhat crippled, a true agenda widget would be better but any how my question is why the hell is an address in Moscow showing up as the location of all my calendar events when displayed on the "next event" widget on the EPD?? Any one else getting this?
3. Anyone else getting stuck notifications only on the "any other notifications" icon (the bell) if so how are you removing or resetting the counter?
Thanks for any advice you can give me
Sent from my YD201 using XDA Free mobile app
Hey dude, just spotted this thread, sorry didn't answer sooner. You may have figured the answers to your own questions out by this point but i'll reply anyway -
1. Not sure about stopping yotacover, have you tried simply removing each page (via menu > remove in yotacover) until none are shown? Haven't tried it but might work.
2. The next event widget is working fine for me, showing all day events and the address it shows is fine. Perhaps this has been fixed in an update?
3. I get stuck notifications occasionally, mostly they come from apps that leave a notification, whether invisible or not, like ad block plus. These tend to go away eventually and stop showing up after a time, maybe the phone gets used to them. Occasionally there are random notifications that I assume are left over from when there were actually things I had not dealt with or swiped away from notification drawer. These also tend to go away, and I think this has been addressed a little bit in the recent update.
Hope you got the issues sorted and if not I hope you get some use out of this.
Thanks for the input, to add my findings since my original post.....
1. I've got used to yotocover and how it works so it's not bothering me so much now, I may try your en suggestion tho and delete the set up of the yota covers to see if that stops it.
2. The next event is working as I would expect now, it shows all day events and the Moscow location has stopped showing up on my events thank goodness. I'm guessing this improvement is due to the software updates that have been coming via the play store.
3. One of the notifications I was getting was from the google now weather notification that shows up in the notification shade but not on the top bar, also avg notifications do the same. Any notification what so ever will flag the " bell" on the EPD, it would be nice if we could configure that. Or give is an android wear notification yota panel, now that would be awesome!
Sent from my GT-N8010 using XDA Premium HD app
For years I have hidden the notification drawer on the top of the screen, most of the info there is duplicated in my widgets, and I just don't like the clutter. However with the V20, hiding the notification drawer also turns off my second screen...which then gets rid of one of the marquee features of this phone.
I've tried on multiple launchers (Nova and Next), and the same result. I've tried permanently hiding it, and using gestures to toggle on and off.
Does anybody have any suggestions? Any rooted users know if this is a problem after root? This one little problem annoys me to no end.
Thanks a lot.
I'm on a non-rooted Verizon V20.
There is a setting that might help that allows it to be active when the display is in fullscreen mode. It's meant for videos so it might not have full functionality.
I'm rooted and I get the same thing. I use Nova and the "toggle notification bar" shuts the second screen off along with the notification bar. I don't know why they're tied together like that, it's annoying...
The second screen's "show time while content is shown" option will leave it on with the notification bar toggled off, but it doesn't do anything, it just shows time and notifications up there. You can't scroll it to get to anything.