was just wondering, i rarely catch myself using it, atleast.
Taking pictures, going through screens. But it's most practical use for me is usually selecting small links in web pages when I'm too lazy to zoom in.
I use it every day for:
-Recovery
-Answering / ending calls
-Selecting text / moving cursor / other text functions
There are plenty of other things I use it for, but less frequently.
That goofy little track pad is one of the features I miss most on my Tbolt. Instead, I get HTC's standard arrows to do the same job, and it sucks and doesn't work in Clockwork. I used it for editing text mostly. I wish you could adjust it's sensitivity like on a BlackBerry. I came from a BlackBerry so it felt very natural and useful. For many tasks, it simply the fastest, easiest way to get the job done. I gave up the case I was using on it for a while so I could use it more effectively.
I use it for Recovery
I'm constantly using it for stuff like navigating recovery and clicking on links in the browser. I got big hands and constantly click wrong links even when zoomed in, so the track pad is a life saver.
That is what's keeping me from getting another phone! Ha ha
I use it for recovery, track advance for music, cursor, taking pictures, you name it.. Very useful to me.
I used it for text fields and recovery. There was also one game that had a trackpad control scheme.
Moving around in text is all i use it for.
loonatik78 said:
I wish you could adjust it's sensitivity like on a BlackBerry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the right kernel, you can:
chad0989 said:
As for the OJ, you can adjust settings at /sys/devices/platform/curcial_oj
There's lots of settings but the easiest way is to increase normal_th and sensitivity will go down
just:
echo 4 > /sys/devices/platform/curcial_oj/normal_th
and replace 4 with whatever value you want. Higher value = less sensitive. You'll have to put it in a script in /etc/init.d if you want to set it on boot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
byrong said:
With the right kernel, you can:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish I would have know that a year ago, but I was all over Ziggy's kernels. My girlfriend hardly messes with it so I'm not going to screw with it. Thank you for the post though.
I love my trackpad. It's keeping me on this phone. No other phone feels right without it and I constantly search for it on any phone I use.
Sent from my ADR6300 using xda premium
I use to use it all the time, but CM7 never got the driver working quite right for it, with out gingersource at least.
copy pasting
byrong said:
-Answering / ending calls
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no idea you could do it this way. Saves more trouble than waiting for the screen to turn on and then end the call.
I mostly use it for moving the cursor, it's a huge help because a lot of times it just doesn't go exactly where I want it to go when I press the touch screen- so I move it over 1 or 2 characters via trackball. I use this pretty frequently too.
Mostly for Recovery navigation and selection, but for cursor movement, too. And before the proximity sensor worked right, for the answer/end call thing, too. But now it seems to always know when to turn the screen on or off, even in the dark... That's with MIUI.us.
POQbum said:
I had no idea you could do it this way. Saves more trouble than waiting for the screen to turn on and then end the call.
I mostly use it for moving the cursor, it's a huge help because a lot of times it just doesn't go exactly where I want it to go when I press the touch screen- so I move it over 1 or 2 characters via trackball. I use this pretty frequently too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I LOVE the trackball and use it all the time for moving the cursor and copy/paste. I am reluctant to get a new phone without one.
I use it a good bit - flipping through screens, moving cursor - but gained some new tips in this thread!
I use it ALL the time to move the cursor because I make typos all the time in portrait mode. I guess my fingers are too big for the screen keyboard.
When I switch to my iPhone, I am constantly looking for the trackpad when I make a typo. Trackpad is much better than iPhone's crappy magnifier.
I use it to move the cursor to edit something I mis-swyped. That's about it.
Related
Ok.. so i wont bore you with my mock review until the end, so that I can get some questions out first : (Im coming from a Wizard)
1) In the wizard, I was able to click on telephone numbers in MOST applications and dial straight from there. Specifically the web browser. I would search for the name of a place, the first link in google would have the address and number, I would click on the number and be dialing. Im guessing this was a PIE thing, but wanted to see what the deal was
2) The most annoying thing so far, is my inability to highlight multiple items. In my Wizard, I was able to go to the email screen and if there were 8 messages there, I could press firmly into the first message, slide my finger down to the last message and click delete. I am not able to highlight multiple items, and ive tried different pressure settings etc. Help.
3) Similar to 2.... I am unable to highlight text, atleast with my finger, for coy paste purposes
4) I am not able to get the setting where face down will mute the ringer. Ive tried Diamond Tweak, manual registery editing, nothing. Face down... the phone will ring everytime
5) When someone sends me a youtube link in an email and I click on it, it takes me to the youtube page (im on edge so, slowly) but cant get the youtube video to play. It loads the page, except the video window
6) What is the ideal screen sensitivity and pressure settings in the registry. Its the one thing that im a bit surpsied by, I know it is not a capacitive screen, but it takes some getting used to how much pressure it requires compared to an iPhone screen for example
I will write about my impressions after two more days to give myself ample time to get used to it so there is no wizard bias... :0
taimoorhusain said:
6) What is the ideal screen sensitivity and pressure settings in the registry. Its the one thing that im a bit surpsied by, I know it is not a capacitive screen, but it takes some getting used to how much pressure it requires compared to an iPhone screen for example
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is something I'd be particularly interested in .
Even though I use currently a phone with a capacitive screen I own a Wizard too. How would you say is the difference to the Wizard respectively how would you rate the sensitivity generally?
I'm answering to what I know...
2) The most annoying thing so far, is my inability to highlight multiple items. In my Wizard, I was able to go to the email screen and if there were 8 messages there, I could press firmly into the first message, slide my finger down to the last message and click delete. I am not able to highlight multiple items, and ive tried different pressure settings etc. Help.
In the message screen go to "Menu->Select->Some" then you will be able to select a group of items.
3) Similar to 2.... I am unable to highlight text, atleast with my finger, for coy paste purposes
This works for me!
5) When someone sends me a youtube link in an email and I click on it, it takes me to the youtube page (im on edge so, slowly) but cant get the youtube video to play. It loads the page, except the video window
This is due to lack of flsh support in Opera 9.5. You can play flash videos within CorePlayer.
chiccusmaximus said:
I'm answering to what I know...
2) The most annoying thing so far, is my inability to highlight multiple items. In my Wizard, I was able to go to the email screen and if there were 8 messages there, I could press firmly into the first message, slide my finger down to the last message and click delete. I am not able to highlight multiple items, and ive tried different pressure settings etc. Help.
In the message screen go to "Menu->Select->Some" then you will be able to select a group of items.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet.. I can live with that. Thanks
chiccusmaximus said:
5) When someone sends me a youtube link in an email and I click on it, it takes me to the youtube page (im on edge so, slowly) but cant get the youtube video to play. It loads the page, except the video window
This is due to lack of flsh support in Opera 9.5. You can play flash videos within CorePlayer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yikes.. ok... blindsided by this one, so whats the roadmap on it?
drzoid said:
This is something I'd be particularly interested in .
Even though I use currently a phone with a capacitive screen I own a Wizard too. How would you say is the difference to the Wizard respectively how would you rate the sensitivity generally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an iPhone, gave it to my wife... the iphone screen is awesome, from day one, responsiveness, finger touch etc etc. The Wizard screen was ok, the feel wasnt there, but then again it wasnt big and i wasnt doing much with my finger anyway. Compared to the Wizard, the Touch HD is better, but since you are doing so much more on the screen and with your finger, it isnt as good as it needs to be. Twice the pressure is needed from the iphone, it doesnt "feel" good under my finger, feels like i have to fight against it to scroll the TF3D scroll thing (again comparing a resisitve screen to a capacitive one). Touch wise, it is excellent, I dont have to force buttons or anything. Im mainly complaining about gestures and TF3D. Overall finger friendliness, if the iphone is an 8, then the touch HD is a 6 and the wizard is a 4.
For 4: It can be done, I've been lurking around here for days now and I recall seeing an app that covers this exact thing - I *think* it's either SKTools or the Advanced Customisation Tool - I'm about to load up on or the other shortly, so if I find out I'll be back and let oyu know (if you haven't found it already in the meantime of course!)
6 : again I've seen some mention of registry setting alteerations to adjust this - but for me, I've used the same method as I did on my diamond and my screen is VERY sensitive - enough for me anyway.
Go and fire up the screen alignment process again - this time when doing it use the stylus and hover over the cross hair then very lightly rest it on the cross hair center - applying a tiny amount more pressure until it moves (it moves with a v. small amount of pressure) - seems to set pressure from this process to some extent. Whether or not this REALLY works, or it's utter placebo I truly dont know - but mine's totally fine and that's all I did Worth a shot I guess
The TouchFLO interface might mean that finger pressure always translates as scrolling, but if you want to select anything then you have to use a fingernail or the stylus. This is how it works on my Touch (Elf) - to scroll the screen I have to use the pad of my finger. If I use a more pointed pressure then I'm selecting stuff. I quite like this system - it differentiates between sweeping gestures and detailed touches.
Try using the stylus or a fingernail to select text or multiple emails. It might work.
(If it doesn't then I'll be annoyed too!)
blackb1ade said:
For 4: It can be done, I've been lurking around here for days now and I recall seeing an app that covers this exact thing - I *think* it's either SKTools or the Advanced Customisation Tool - I'm about to load up on or the other shortly, so if I find out I'll be back and let oyu know (if you haven't found it already in the meantime of course!)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I tried it all Schaps advanced config, Diamond tweak, Registery edits (havent tried SKtools yet) The option is there, in DIamond Tweak and in the registry. Jsut doesnt do anything...
blackb1ade said:
6 : again I've seen some mention of registry setting alteerations to adjust this - but for me, I've used the same method as I did on my diamond and my screen is VERY sensitive - enough for me anyway.
Go and fire up the screen alignment process again - this time when doing it use the stylus and hover over the cross hair then very lightly rest it on the cross hair center - applying a tiny amount more pressure until it moves (it moves with a v. small amount of pressure) - seems to set pressure from this process to some extent. Whether or not this REALLY works, or it's utter placebo I truly dont know - but mine's totally fine and that's all I did Worth a shot I guess
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worth a shot.. did it.. nothing changed
I too would like to know if Opera can do what the OP wants in question 1?? That is one thing I love about my Iphone as it doesn't have a cut and paste but I can just click on the number in safari.
Can Opera do this? I was also looking at Skyfire today and was wondering if it did this and also when/if it will be available soon in the UK?
The select several option for email works.. so one problem down. Also ive realized that the screen sensitivity is just something I will have to get used to.
I have installed Flash Lite 3.1 for you tube and it seems to be working fine.
More updates as I have em. Anyone know why number links arent clickable in the browser?
Good thread, clears some things up.
I wonder how the pressure thing is.
How does it compare to an Elf (my current/old device) for example?
My HD should be in the mail tomorrow, but you never know with TNT mail.
I think its one of those things... you jsut need to get used to it...
Hi,
The last two phones I had have both been Blackberry's.
I tried an iPhone recently (1 week) and just found myself pausing to do things that I would do on the blackberry very quickly.
It was almost like I had to completely stop what I was doing and give all my attention
and thought to navigating my way around the iphone, where as with the bb, I seem
to be able to do many tasks with one hand and dont have to think about the task
too much.
I'm wondering if I switch to a G1 how will I go on. Will I find myself waiting for the OS to catch up, continually opening the keyboard to do simple tasks etc?
I like the idea of placing shortcuts on the home screen to dial numbers etc, are there other shortcuts like this?
One task I find myself doing on the bb a lot is taking a quick photo and sending it to a single email address. (the same address every time).
Would this be possible on the G1?
I press the side camera button which opens the camera app,
take the photo by pressing the trackball,
move the trackball to the right and press once.
This gives me the sharing options, "send as email" is the top one.
Click the trackball which adds the photo as an attachment,
type my two letter alias in the To field,
scroll to the subject, type something.
Click the trackball once more and press send.
It sounds a lot when you read it but its pretty quick and simple. Any way of doing this without opening the keyboard?
Thanks
Mike
The camera after taking a pic will offer 4 options, Save/Set As/Share/Delete.
With SnapShotPro you get these options, Save/Delete/Share/Edit.
Touch Share and it will give you a list of options....Gmail/Email/MMS/Myspace/Picsay...the more apps that are able to use your camera the more options...
You only need to open the keyboard to start typing the contact and it will autofind the name for you. But you will still need to open it since there isnt a onscreen keyboard for it yet.
I love snapphoto.. but jesus it's slow to save a photo.
Dirky said:
Hi,
The last two phones I had have both been Blackberry's.
I tried an iPhone recently (1 week) and just found myself pausing to do things that I would do on the blackberry very quickly.
It was almost like I had to completely stop what I was doing and give all my attention
and thought to navigating my way around the iphone, where as with the bb, I seem
to be able to do many tasks with one hand and dont have to think about the task
too much.
I'm wondering if I switch to a G1 how will I go on. Will I find myself waiting for the OS to catch up, continually opening the keyboard to do simple tasks etc?
I like the idea of placing shortcuts on the home screen to dial numbers etc, are there other shortcuts like this?
One task I find myself doing on the bb a lot is taking a quick photo and sending it to a single email address. (the same address every time).
Would this be possible on the G1?
I press the side camera button which opens the camera app,
take the photo by pressing the trackball,
move the trackball to the right and press once.
This gives me the sharing options, "send as email" is the top one.
Click the trackball which adds the photo as an attachment,
type my two letter alias in the To field,
scroll to the subject, type something.
Click the trackball once more and press send.
It sounds a lot when you read it but its pretty quick and simple. Any way of doing this without opening the keyboard?
Thanks
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The biggest hindrance to super quick operations on the G1 is the lack of on screen keyboard. Without one you'll be much happier on a BB.
hopefully we will get an on screen kb soon. Perhaps with cupcake or it ported over from another phone. It would be so useful for small simple tasks like thsi
axion68 said:
hopefully we will get an on screen kb soon. Perhaps with cupcake or it ported over from another phone. It would be so useful for small simple tasks like thsi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm being drawn to the G1, an on screen keyboard for occasional use will be very nice.
I'm not keen on the G2 as this will only have an on screen keyboard so it seems?
IMO the real problem is developers making user workflows that require using a keyboard. In many cases I feel that if an app is written properly the need for a keyboard (flip-out or onscreen) should be minimized unless you're doing heavy data entry. As the apps get better over time it's my hope this situation will improve.
I am new to Android and loving my Aria so far. The only thing that is really bugging me is the text input. I am having a little separation anxiety from my keyboard and it seems like I must be missing something. First I am using the swype keyboard but I don't think that is related to my question.
When you enter text into any input, say the body of an email in the gmail app, is there an easy way to go back and edit that text? I often find myself tapping 5 or 6 times to try to get the cursor back to the exact place that I need to edit and it gets really frustrating? On the iPhone when you want to edit text a search window pops up where your finger is and you can slide it back and forth to find the exact spot that you are looking for. Is there anything like this for Android?
Thanks for any feedback.
cj
Slide your finger over the little track pad between the menu and back button at the bottom of the phone. (Its the small silver circle). I think some people think that is the microphone but its not.
Ki77erB said:
Slide your finger over the little track pad between the menu and back button at the bottom of the phone. (Its the small silver circle). I think some people think that is the microphone but its not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aaah. I did know that was an optical input but I did not even think of it. I rarely use it since scrolling and selecting is so easy.
Thanks,
cj
chrisjaffe said:
I am new to Android and loving my Aria so far. The only thing that is really bugging me is the text input. I am having a little separation anxiety from my keyboard and it seems like I must be missing something. First I am using the swype keyboard but I don't think that is related to my question.
When you enter text into any input, say the body of an email in the gmail app, is there an easy way to go back and edit that text? I often find myself tapping 5 or 6 times to try to get the cursor back to the exact place that I need to edit and it gets really frustrating? On the iPhone when you want to edit text a search window pops up where your finger is and you can slide it back and forth to find the exact spot that you are looking for. Is there anything like this for Android?
Thanks for any feedback.
cj
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i hate trying to get the cursor back to edit a word glad someone asked
never thought about using the trackball sure makes things lot easier
Optical TrackPad FTW!
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
Even better than the optical trackpad, Smart Keyboard has an arrow layout option that let's you navigate text way faster. The board is real nice too.
i'm asking this because it sucks when i want to get to the bottom of a contacts list or a long text file and I have to scroll it down manually. only some apps support the movement of the "scroll button" on the right (i hope you get what i mean, it's where the button gets bigger). is there any work around to this?
yeah i guess your right. Some of the system menus have that bigger "quick scroll" button, some dont. If the ones that dont end up having many items in them they can annoying, even though the momentum scrolling can go really fast its still not ideal. Unless there is something I am not aware of, I would have to agree with you
there must be some work around. if winmo can, so why can't android?
No I think its great!
you must be using mattc froyo 1.0
tdizzle404 said:
No I think its great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great how? do you find 20 seconds of scrolling to get to the end of a page great?
dapoharoun said:
you must be using mattc froyo 1.0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm using the latest nexushd2.
I don't see how it sucks.... Not matter how long the file is, you just flick it up quickly and it will most likely scroll right to the bottom. Obviously depending on how many lines but it won't take you 20 times to scroll....
Willievi said:
I don't see how it sucks.... Not matter how long the file is, you just flick it up quickly and it will most likely scroll right to the bottom. Obviously depending on how many lines but it won't take you 20 times to scroll....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but still, the ability to go straight to the bottom would be nice. imagine if you're in a life or death situation where your life depends on a data at the bottom of a text file.
You suck at the scrolling of the names maybe? Maybe your phone make seperate post that say "do human with tiny fingers suck at scrolling maybe".................
Titties
dan138zig said:
but still, the ability to go straight to the bottom would be nice. imagine if you're in a life or death situation where your life depends on a data at the bottom of a text file.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put google search widget on home. Type name of contact. The name pop right up in search after 2-3 letters.
Titties
Don't blame Android, blame the dev of the app that doesn't have it. Android provides the option, and some apps are better off without such a quick scroll handle, so I'm glad it's an option and not forced.
Ok, this is going to probably sound really dumb, but it's driving me nuts.
I've used Android for a few years now, and I've never sorted out if there's a way to scroll left and right in a text area.
No matter what keyboard I've used, I just end up deleting the whole dang thing, and typing from scratch, if it's text in a small window.
For example, if I typed a long url, and I realized after hitting enter that I must have made a typo. I'd like to go left to right in that bar and look for it easily.
I guess this has plagued me on every Apple and Android device I've owned. On RIM it was easy enough, and on older Symbian it was fine.
What the heck am I missing here?
Thanks!
Tap anywhere on the entered text - wait - there will be a blue arrow cursor below the text. Drag it whenever you want to start typing from.
/thread
Fatal1ty_18_RUS said:
Type anywhere on the entered text - wait - there will be a blue arrow cursor below the text. Drag it whenever you want to start typing from.
/thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nifty. That works in the URL bar, but what about other input areas?
I can't seem to make that work in say the google search input window.
bladebarrier said:
Nifty. That works in the URL bar, but what about other input areas?
I can't seem to make that work in say the google search input window.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works for me.
Fatal1ty_18_RUS said:
Works for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, it's a Firefox issue then. I tried chrome and it works in that (though I never really use chrome).
Ok thanks.
I was hoping there would be a convenient left and right key option on the keyboard itself, so that it wouldn't matter what app I'm using, but I guess it's tied to the app itself. That kind of stinks. It's rather awkward in design.
Do you know of an alternative keyboard that supports that type of functionality? I like the "Swpe-like" setup in the stock keyboard, but I'd much rather have an easier correction method built in.
You can enable the function to move the cursor using the volume rocker. It's in Settings - Language and Input - and that option will be down below the input methods
I miss the big keyboard with arrows from HTC Flyer though - it's pretty awesome to use in portrait mode, though not as useful in landscape since it takes much more space than N7's does
And no, I don't know about other keyboard since I don't use them, I prefer stock
Fatal1ty_18_RUS said:
You can enable the function to move the cursor using the volume rocker. It's in Settings - Language and Input - and that option will be down below the input methods
I miss the big keyboard with arrows from HTC Flyer though - it's pretty awesome to use in portrait mode, though not as useful in landscape since it takes much more space than N7's does
And no, I don't know about other keyboard since I don't use them, I prefer stock
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent. That will work just fine.
Thanks a bunch for your help!