Related
Hello, I've just been thinking about using our devices in the car and have an idea, that I'm not sure has been developed, but I think would be useful for a lot of people on here:
It's nothing fancy, but I would like an application that allows programs to be made active by pressing a button. What I'm thinking is that if I'm driving I would like too have ready access to a handfull of applications (TomTom, MP3 player, FM Radio, G-Meter, Google maps, phone)
How this would work is that when the program is running a button press would move to the next application in a pre-defined list, and a second button would move to the previous application in the list. The 'next' and 'previous' app buttons should be configurable to take into account peoples devices and their preferences and the applications on the list and their order should be fully configurable.
As I said, the idea is to make using the device in-car a bit more practical, so I would like a couple of additional features, the application could be setup with a number of startup options, for example I would like to run the application and have it load up any of the listed applications that aren't already running and have a specific application as the default start position. I'd also like wi-fi to turn off if the phone isn't on charge and bluetooth to turn on and connect to my headset. Other options people might want are to turn the phone off, turn 3g off or close all other programs, or anything else to improve performance or battery life., such as turning off g-sensors, light sensors etc. it would be good if the notification preferences could be changed, so that for example emails don't pop up over TomTom, or a separate screen that shows the new message enlarged to full screen perhaps, then goes back to TomTom. Closing the application could also return everything to the way it was before hand. I'm sure you all have loads of ideas for in-car options as well.
I'm basically thinking, one screen press and the device becomes optimised for use in-car, close the application and it goes back the way it was.
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud, I don't have the skills required to take something like this beyond the ideas stage as my programming skills don't extend beyond modifying other people's html, but I'm hoping someone will see this and think its a good enough idea to be worth putting into practice.
Cheers
Paul.
No one think this would be useful?
I like the idea, but to develop it could be a bit too much...
for use in car especially with tomtom i believe that task managers like dynamo, taskfacade or mortbuttons are very useful:
one button and you switch from apps to apps without stylus...
having already used it while driving, i think its very comfortable to use...
another existing app that can be useful is voicecommand... clik and speak to run the app, it works great if your car is not too noisy (so not in my case lol )
Oh ok, I'll have a look at those programs, see if I can make those work. The only thing I'm thinking is that it might be quite important to have two different setups for in-car and normal use.
Don't suppose you know any apps that can be used to turn on bluetooth and attach to my headset through on press of the screen do you?
ht buttoon sllows you to use one button for multiple applications, but i dunno about the task manager stuff.... basically you want a program from different profiles, kind of like airplane mode
Might not be exactly what you are looking for but what about using a launcher like Throttlelauncher and setting up a custom tab with only the application buttons you need to use in the car? At the moment I use TomTom and Audio Manager together and find it very easy to switch between the two while driving using Throttlelauncher.
Not sure about notifications off though - maybe a script?
Just my thoughts out loud too.
its too hard to develop i hope u r thinking motivate someone
Thanks for the replies, I'm playing around with Mortbuttons to see if it'll do what I want and will have a look at a few other things.
A couple of people have said it is too difficult to develop, I know I don't know very much about whats involved, but I would have thought it would be much easier than most of the applications that are developed on here. What I'm looking for is basically a script that when run will load a list of applications, then use two of the hardware buttons to 'scroll' from one app to the next. I did list other things that would be good additions, but the basic premise seems pretty straightforward and wouldn't have any graphical element, other than the configuration menu.
Anyway, if someone wants to have a go, I'm sure it would prove very popular with the drivers on here!
Cheers.
Just create your own theme using something like WAD2.
My sister lost her vision last year at the age of 24 due to diabetic retinapothy. She is missing be able to text message, facebook, celeb gossip... you know, the important things in life We initially bought the Droid X for her, but It's going back in exchange for the Droid 2, which should be here on 9/9/10.
Problem with the X is the Android Eyes Free Shell and the Talking Dialer make use of either a trackball or a directional pad. The Droid X has neither. It's also difficult to navigate pretty much everything blind without a d-pad. Should of thought of that earlier. Oh well, the exchange process is very easy. The Android Eyes Free team developed the software around the Nexus one i assume, which has a trackball. Personally i think a d-pad is better for a blind person, as you can press down once to go down once. A trackball you might go down 2 or 3 depending on how much you rotate it.
I'm going to be updating this thread with our progress as well as what steps we took along the way. Hopefully this will end up being helpful for someone else in a similar situation. Blind people DO use the internet (even youtube!).
Here are the initial changes I want to make:
Locating Touch Sensitive buttons
I will go to a craft store and find something to put below the 4 touch sensitive buttons on the front of the phone, this way she will be able to find them. Im thinking 4 drops of some puffy glitter glue or something to that effect. Being diabetic she's also lost somesensitivity in her fingers, so something with texture will be needed.
Removing the Lock Screen
Slide to unlock is basically an impossible task for a blind person. The Droid 2 uses the stock vanilla lock screen I believe, does anyone know how to remove it? I could potentially replace it with a "shake to unlock" or whatever, and ideas here are appreciated.
Answering the phone
Again, here slide to answer isn't going to fly. Does anyone know: If you slide the keyboard out while the phone is ringing does it answer the call? Most slider phones I've seen operated like that, I'm hoping the Droid 2 does too. She will also have a bluetooth headset which should make it easy to answer, but if your blind trying to find your bluetooth headset in time to answer the call can be a problem, so i'd like her to be able to answer the phone without a headset as well.
Hanging up the phone
Can you slide the keyboard shut to end a call? What happens if your on a call and you slide the keyboard out and then closed, does that hang up the call? Another solution would be to make it so the power button hangs up the call, surely it can be remapped do that. Or is there an end call button somewhere on the hardware qwerty?
Ok, those are the first major things. Actually dialing a call is no problem once we get past the lock screen issue. She can double tap the home button to launch the voice dialer, or she can use the Android Eyes Free "Talking Dialer" to dial a number with her finger using swipe motions. It's pretty neat actually, give it a try if you haven't already. The Eyes Free Shell and the Moto Voice Command will take care of pretty much everything else.
Thanks in advance for your help!
I can confirm that the Droid 2 does NOT answer when sliding the phone open and does NOT hang up when sliding closed. Just tested this.
Edit: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=762101
View that thread and search the app "no lock" in the market. Seems to do what you are looking for in the marketplace. You may also want to contact the developer to see about source code or see if it was a .apk that was removed.
Also in response to the glue idea:
I would test on another device because the screen has to be able to sense your impulse as well because it wont trigger unless it has a touch by a human hand. My guess it it reads the electronic pulse by the skin and that is how it picks it up.
about the unlock screen, I can say is once you do it enough times you know where is on the screen, I usually unlock mine while its not even all the way out of my pocket, also it vibrates when you touch the unlock area and it vibrates again as you pull it to the right...hope this helps
I don't have an Android phone yet, but I've seen a nice replacement for the stock locker, called WidgetLocker. You can modify it a lot (add your own apps, widgets etc.) but the most important thing for you is that you can move the unlock slider down to the bottom of the screen so it would be easier to unlock it.
Of course, the best solution is to remove completely the locker, but I don't know whether it's possible, so I'm just giving you another option
Kamill said:
I don't have an Android phone yet, but I've seen a nice replacement for the stock locker, called WidgetLocker. You can modify it a lot (add your own apps, widgets etc.) but the most important thing for you is that you can move the unlock slider down to the bottom of the screen so it would be easier to unlock it.
Of course, the best solution is to remove completely the locker, but I don't know whether it's possible, so I'm just giving you another option
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This page has been a big help: http://eyes-free.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/documentation/android_access/basics.html
Above link talked about No Lock, an app on the market that removes the lock screen. Although it turns out she is actually able to unlock the phone blindly, but it usually takes her a few tries. For now we are going with no lock...
Also the Droid 2 has an option in the Accessibility page to enable "use power button to end call" so that has been a big help.
So far the biggest problem with the Droid 2 is the keyboard really sucks for a blind person. The navigation keys are kind of awkwardly placed, and the keys are very flat. I wish I would of known about the LG Ally, as the appears to be the best Android phone for a blind person. Has physical buttons on the front to start/end calls, and the keyboard is WAY better (for a blind person anyways). Unfortunately Verizon only lets you exchange a phone 1 time, and we already bought the Droid X. So looks like I'd have to sell the Droid 2 and buy the LG Ally on eBay. Not sure if we are going to go that route.. might just try and make the best of it with the Droid 2.
I have a LG Ally wits a protective rubber case, invisible shield screen protector, and 2 batteries which I'm not currently using. I'll do a straight up trade for your Droid 2.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Made my account to reply to this (And because I got my Droid 2 2 days ago). Will be watching this thread. My son is 2 and nearly blind. We are exploring any and all ways to work around it. I'm currently learning braille so I can teach him, and looking into how to make phones and computers more usable for him. Hopefully your sister handles what's happened well and finds ways to keep up her life, goals, and hobbies
Thanks for posting this. Good luck with the project and keep us updated, please!
Need some help here too
Hi there,
This seems to be the only forum that I can find on this subject. I will definitely be checking out the LG Ally but I'm also looking at the Droid 2 Global (which my partner has bought for himself and I have been testing out).
I am a blind person with little vision and I have to find a smart phone that works for me, as I have hit the point where I need to access my work email, work calendar, and browser functions do be more efficient and effective.
The blackberry is out, as it doesn't work for blind people through Verizon.
The IPhone, though just coming out from Verizon, does seem to have a great VoiceOver application which works great for a blind person. However, I'm not sure I'm patient enough to type without a keyboard--though it is possible for a blind person to use it.
Your points about the LG Ally are helpful for me. Does it have an accessibility application like the Droid 2 Global?
In testing out the Droid Two Global, I have enabled the "accessibility application" and checked the read out checkbox in the settings. It has abled me to see most stuff and some of the pieces you put up on the post will help. What I am struggling with is the following:
When I access any part of the browser application, it doesn't read the page of the web site or any of the links. I'm wondering if there are key combinations I am not femiliar with that would make this work or does it do it at all?
Also, the calendar is not reading things to me as well. Any ideas?
In general, is there a button that I can press, that will get it to repete something or to read a screen. I currently am just arrowing back and forth to choose something. I also can hit the OK button when typing a message to read what is in the edit box.
The last issue, though I think it would get much easier as I used it, is that to dial just a phone number seems to take a bit longer. But, I just tried using the voice dialer and it quickly got much easier. lol
I also wonder if the Accessibility application is the only one you are installing. Should I be installing something else to give me more functionality
Sorry for the long-winded questions but I really can't seem to find other assistance on this.
Thanks,
Jeremy Grandstaff
614-519-3026
Hi Jeremy,
I think you will get the best answers to your questions on Google's eyes-free group (I'm not allowed to post outside links on this forum, or I would have given you the URL).
On that list many blind Android phone users report accessibility issues and workarounds, and the list is monitored by Google's Android accessibility developers. Android web accessibility is indeed still very limited, as is text editing support.
Best regards,
Posted my question also to the eyes-free group
Thanks for the reply. I did post my message to the Google eyes-free group, but felt I would get a fuller response here as well.
Hello,
I am a new G2 owner (moved up after my trusty Nokia N97 was pickpocketed and boy was I living in the past there with Symbian).
So far. I've installed CyanogenMod 9.0.0-RC0 BETA 5, flashed the Beta 7 Kernel and ran the Supercharger v6 script and am very happy with the results, I just have some hopefully, very easy to answer n00bish questions that I think relate to this mod specifically, so excuse me if the questions seem silly...
1. How do I turn off the cyonogen boot animation, I cant for the life of me find the option in settings!
2. Is there any way to stop my phone vibrating when unlocking from sleep. Again, this may be obvious to all, but I reallly cant find this particular option, after a few days tinkering with the phone.
3. Customising the keyboard, I've seen threads with specific custom keyboards, but is there anyway I can customize my keyboard with this mod to use the custom buttons on my physical keyboard (I'd love to be able to make one of these buttons skip to the next song for example on the default music player....
Thanks
Richard.
83nn0 said:
Hello,
I am a new G2 owner (moved up after my trusty Nokia N97 was pickpocketed and boy was I living in the past there with Symbian).
So far. I've installed CyanogenMod 9.0.0-RC0 BETA 5, flashed the Beta 7 Kernel and ran the Supercharger v6 script and am very happy with the results, I just have some hopefully, very easy to answer n00bish questions that I think relate to this mod specifically, so excuse me if the questions seem silly...
1. How do I turn off the cyonogen boot animation, I cant for the life of me find the option in settings!
2. Is there any way to stop my phone vibrating when unlocking from sleep. Again, this may be obvious to all, but I reallly cant find this particular option, after a few days tinkering with the phone.
3. Customising the keyboard, I've seen threads with specific custom keyboards, but is there anyway I can customize my keyboard with this mod to use the custom buttons on my physical keyboard (I'd love to be able to make one of these buttons skip to the next song for example on the default music player....
Thanks
Richard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not experienced in cyanogen but if there is no option to disable boot animation, you can flash a stock one
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Take a look in performance options for boot animation. Not running cm9 currently so not entirely sure.
Sent from my Desire Z using xda premium
Thats not questions of begginer
Boot animation you can change with some zip package, you can find them somwhere here or you can install another rom which provides changing boot screen. I believe aokp has this. There are no options for disabling vibrate by unlocking Im affraid. And I leave the last question without answer, because I dont know anything about this stuff.
Sent from potato
havent used this rom yet so im not sure if there specific settings for any of these
1: if there is no option you can flash a different one (4ext recovery has an easy way) there are many .zips that can be found all over xda you can flash. or you can get romtoolbox from the market (paid and free) here you can also easily change it along with many things in your rom
2. again havent used this rom so your question may be answered better by the developer, many other roms dont do this so if you get to annoyed there are many other choices
3. just like #2 there are ways but if its not listed as an option under settings than it may be a bit too difficult - may need to try out other roms that have this as a built in function
4. dont know why im bothering to answer this for i obviously dont have answers for you
You really shouldn't be using a non-stable aftermarket rom. Move over to Cyanogen 7.1 Stable if you value your sanity. Beta class roms are not usable as daily drivers and you will encounter gamebreaking bugs.
As to address your specific questions:
1: You cannot disable boot animations directly. You can replace the file, located in system>media>bootanimation.zip or delete it completely. Note: this location is relevant for Gingerbread roms, I do not know the location in ICS based roms.
2: I haven't ever encountered this design decision but it sounds dumber than a cat jumping into molasses. I swear to god some people should not be coding for a hobby.
3: Remapping keyboard keys to do the custom functions that you're requesting is not possible without detailed technical knowledge of the code interface. Do not attempt it. Learn to live with holding down the volume rocker to switch songs.
Flashed back to andromadus testing and the feature to disable boot animation is indeed in setting>performance. It may not be there in cm9 beta. You can always jump ship to either andro build. They are both very good.
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium
Thanks for all the replies guys!
I perhaps did jump in at the deep end with a beta mod but other than my minor issues I've been very happy with what seems a very stable beta...
I will indeed look up some custom boot animations but its a shame about the unlock/vibrate issue (my boss sits close to me so its not ideal for me when I'm trying to be discreet!)
With regards to wanting a keyboard button to 'skip to next track'; the main reason i wanted it was for when i have the phone plugged into an fm transmitter while driving....having a button to press (like the dpad on the nokia n97) means i can change songs easily without looking....unless i find a better solution, Real Player Beta has a rather large and clear lock screen which isn't so bad, I'm getting better at skipping songs using touch screen without looking (or crashing).
Thanks again, loving this phone, largely to do with all the advice I'm reading here.
After the recent JB upgrade, there is no longer any way to bring up the small task Manager by holding down the home button. This used to bring up a windowed floating version of task Manager in ICS.
Now it brings up a circular app selector that contains only one available choice: Google Now
Any ideas?
PS:
I Know about the task manager inside the task switcher button. You had that in ICS too. Except in ICS, you also had the option of calling a floating version of the task manager directly, by holding the Home button.
klau1 said:
After the recent JB upgrade, there is no longer any way to bring up the small task Manager by holding down the home button. This used to bring up a windowed floating version of task Manager in ICS.
Now it brings up a circular app selector that contains only one available choice: Google Now
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is still there there go to recent apps and click on task manager
I think you do it wrong. I still have the small task mananger, all you do is holding you finger shortly on the home button and swipe up, then you get google now and stuff. Try the icon right to the home-icon haha, then it shall work. And not long press, a shortly tip on it is enough. Long press has another function...
| Know about the task manager inside the task switcher button.
You had that in ICS too.
Except in ICS, you also had the option of calling a floating version of the task manager directly, by holding the Home button.
klau1 said:
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click the up arrow at the bottom to bring up the list of multi-widow applications. The task manager is to the right.
Re: Hold Home : Small Task Manager GONE
If you use multi window manager you can make it floating.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
klau1 said:
Except in ICS, you also had the option of calling a floating version of the task manager directly, by holding the Home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And now you don't and most likely never will again. There were dozens of new features added in JB and some of the things that were in ICS are either gone or work differently. If full screen and a different approach to palm rejection in S Note along with being able to get task manager up by long pressing the home button are more important to you than those new features downgrade to ICS. Starting numerous new threads harping about changes made in JB that are clearly intentional isn't going to bring them back. And there are dozens of us that have been using JB since November so things you're unhappy with aren't exactly new.
The Task Manager widget is resizable and when you enlarge it's scrollable and gives you the ability to close individual apps. Try that.
Thanks for the tip regarding the task Manager.
I don't see any problem with bringing up User interface issues that were once working Perfectly in a previous Version.
If you like the interface component,You can chime in on the merits of it , or even start a whole thread about it.
But I see no problem with bringing up an issue to see if there are others with the Same opinion. If enough people agree, then the issue will have clout to affect change.
Introducing New features are no excuse for broken functionality of previously working features.
Otherwise, what the hell is the point of software updates if you lose existing features?
Just because we want working palm rejection Means we should give up our entitled upgrades like Multi-Window Functionality and other things in JB?
What kind of argument is that?
I replied nicely to you in the palm rejection thread about that problem. The fact that you are oposing and denying a problem, that affects other people, so furiously says a lot about your ability to empathize with others.
That being said, full screen & task manager may not be important issues, but palm rejection certainly is,
klau1 said:
Introducing New features are no excuse for broken functionality of previously working features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows 8 changed a ton of features over Windows 7. Some of those changes are disliked. Samsung changed a lot of features in the Note 10.1's JB update. Some of those changes are disliked. Both are what they are.
It's great to discuss work-arounds or what changes between versions mean. You're entitled to your opinion but the "thumbs down" and capitalized "GONE" in your original post for an issue that others by their comments have already dismissed seems a little dramatic. How often do you use Task Manager that by having to access it via "applications" (one additional key stroke) warrants the change "a problem" worthy of a thumbs down? Certain previous versions of S Note were borked and people using those versions couldn't import PDF's until Samsung updated it. That to me is worthy of a big thumbs down.
Again, dozens of people here have been on JB for months and are living with the issues you're raising. So it’s pretty safe to say your reaction to them is stronger than others. Regardless, other than offering work-arounds, no one here is going to bring full screen S Note back or change the way palm rejection works. So people are now aware that those features have changed along with the way Task Manager’s invoked. Beyond that there's nothing else anyone here can do that's going to change anything. Knowing that, what do you see the threads you’ve created accomplishing?
Bringing up the issue stirs up the conversation, attracts awareness, maybe as a result more people will complain to Samsung about it, as some already have.
Enough of this happening affects change. And yes, it always takes a First person to open the floodgates.
Since when has stirring up people online ever accomplished anything? Ever heard of the Facebook revolution and the Arab Spring?
In any case, I already mentioned, Full screen and task manager are not too important. But at least make Palm rejection work.
People shouldn't have to relearn how to hold a Pen just to use a electronic device.
PS: for your pleasure, I've uncapitalized "GONE". Inducing such an defensive response based on capitalization was not my intention.
I also was disappointed with the loss of TM on my note but I found a solution thanks to my gs3..
As you may or may not know the gs3 has a TM app listed in application manager but there was no way to call it up. Yuval Sharon created an app to do just that and it works flawlessly on the gs3.
Tried it on my note and it works just as well as it does on my gs3.
Give it a try, see if works for you too.
if it works for you, give thanks.
Credit goes to Yuval Sharon for creating this app.
I just got my Honor 7 and I like it a lot! It's a cool feature that the fingerprint reader supports gestures, but I don't find the preset function very useful. Instead I'd like to use it like a universal scroll both horizontally and vertically. It would be great if it's possible to use it in any app just like swiping the front screen. That way one could scroll through websites etc while seeing the whole screen.
I'm new to android development, so I wonder if it's even possible to achieve? Would it require low level programming or is it accessible through some api? Is it possible to make an app that catches the gestures and transform it to what I want, or would I need to root the phone and hack on a custom rom?
I will probably not have time to implement this, but I'm curious wether or not it's possible. If anyone else is inspired by the challenge, you're welcome to hack along
Did you find anything??
Sent from my EVA-L09 using XDA-Developers mobile app
swipe left and right for skipping music would be a great feature too.
somebody knows if its possible?
Sorry, didn't find anything. I still think it would be a killer feature, but I'm not sure how accurate the sensor is. My guess is that it would be pretty hard to hack it, and it's far out of my league.
if you have a look at your finger sensor menu, you can see, that both directions (up and down) are used for other functionality!
I think it is impossible to use this fingerprint otherwise without getting trouble with it.
non-toxic said:
if you have a look at your finger sensor menu, you can see, that both directions (up and down) are used for other functionality!
I think it is impossible to use this fingerprint otherwise without getting trouble with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, both directions are optionally used for other functionality. This is what got me thinking that it might be possible to catch the swipe gestures, but use it for something else. Don't really know where to start though. As you say, it's a big chance to get trouble with it, conflicting the other behavior etc.