[Q] Increase Background Tasks - Windows 8 General

So it seems that ModernUI has an arbitrary limit on how many apps can run in the background. As I understand it, even apps that don't have lockscreen information *must* be placed in one of the lockscreen slots in order to run in the background.
Any way to get rid of this stupid rule? I have 2 apps that actually use the lockscreen, and my "lockscreen is full" from various other apps I use, so I pretty much can't use the damned thing.

link68759 said:
So it seems that ModernUI has an arbitrary limit on how many apps can run in the background. As I understand it, even apps that don't have lockscreen information *must* be placed in one of the lockscreen slots in order to run in the background.
Any way to get rid of this stupid rule? I have 2 apps that actually use the lockscreen, and my "lockscreen is full" from various other apps I use, so I pretty much can't use the damned thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just found out the same and this is not good at all. This means that I can only have 7 apps to run in the background? If so then the whole purpose of live tiles are gone since I want more than 7 apps to show live tiles.
Installed the Aperion Clock to get a tile with a clock and it stopped working when I remove it from the slot on the lock screen.
Is this really the case and if so, how can we change this?

Related

Suggestions for scene widgets please

Hi Folks
Just wondered if anyone has any suggestions for full size widgets for the hero?
Basically my home screen has clock,weather widget and a couple of other freqently used widgets.Swipe to the left and I have a full page of 16 other widgets.Swipe to the left again and i have a full size music player.Last swipe to the left and i have the full size bookmarks widget. If I swipe right from my homescreen then I have my camera album and thats it! The next two pages are empty
Now i for some reason dont like it I dont like to see the unused space but i'm struggling to find anything to put in them. I dont use twitter and not bothered about the footprints widget.
I have had a search on the net for something but as of yet been unsuccsesfull.
Anybody have any suggestions? Dont matter if its a novelty kind of widget or whatever....I'll give it a look!
Thanks in advance
Gaz
I too currently have an empty page
Mainly due to the fact bookmarks widget is not working on latest build of VillainRom.
Can't think of anything to place on that page at all.
The more widgets then generally the slower the UI and faster the battery drains. If you don't desperately need something there I would leave it blank.
cyberkid2002 said:
The more widgets then generally the slower the UI and faster the battery drains. If you don't desperately need something there I would leave it blank.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this just because there is more on the screen graphically or do the widgets themselves slow it down? I was under the impression that the widgets are only shortcuts to the programs and so obviously use no memory untill launched!?
Gaz
Gazaman said:
Is this just because there is more on the screen graphically or do the widgets themselves slow it down? I was under the impression that the widgets are only shortcuts to the programs and so obviously use no memory untill launched!?
Gaz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
since widgets are "active" shortcuts they are executed the moment you go to the screen they are on. how would it display weather or news when it is a "dead" shortcut?
kendong2 said:
since widgets are "active" shortcuts they are executed the moment you go to the screen they are on. how would it display weather or news when it is a "dead" shortcut?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The weather widget that i use is the one on the clock so not an independant widget. I just assumed that this one was opened when i first chose this clock and just stays open.
Please go easy on me here as im still getting to grips with the whole 'mechanics' of the phone.
So all widgets that i have on my phone scene are active? Most (if not all) are just executable programs like google maps,google sky maps,shazam,flixter,meebo etc and as far as i'm aware dont require to be constantly updated via internet connection(unless opened).
Why would these be active?
If they are constantly active then why would people use task killers? It seems pointless if they are always active anyway!
Like i said,I'm sorry if this is all a bit basic but would be nice to now how it all works as i have actually noticed my phone seems quite slow lately and for some reason notifications on the top notification bar aren't disspearing when i have read my messages etc.
Maybe i have too many active widgets?!?
Thanks
Gaz
you have to make a difference between a widget and a shortcut to an app. the clock is a clock widget with integrated weather support. it is triggered if you go to the screen it is on and by time change (to display the correct time for example). as it has the weather feature it can also activate the background weather service.
a shortcut is the same thing as those on your windows desktop. it is nothing else than a link to the app, and doesn't do anything until you click on it.
check the way you add a shortcut and a widget, after pressing the + sign you have to choose which one you want to add.
It is a gray area as to what a widget is and not all widgets are active. The weather one is active. So is the one I use to give me London Tube status - as others have said they update as soon as you switch to the window (in fact I thought they did it in the background all the time, but i may well be wrong on that).
On the other hand the widget that switches BT or wifi or GPS on or off are not active unless you touch them then they do what is required (switch it on or off) and then become inactive. In reality they are a little mini-programme in their own right, but they are still called widgets.
Shortcuts are not the same as widgets - all they do is open a programme when touched - so Google maps etc are not widgets they are shortcuts.
I have filled all of my screens - any space left after the widgets is now filled with shortcuts to programmes I use most often. Doesn't appear to slow down the phone at all.

[Q] Disable ticker.

Is there a way to completely disable the ticker? Would that decrease cpu usage and allow apps to preform better?
dooms33ker said:
Is there a way to completely disable the ticker? Would that decrease cpu usage and allow apps to preform better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to down on you for this, but what would be the point of that? It seems to be one of the integral "features" to this particular phone.
It's not for me. I got it over the other Samsung Galaxy phones because it cost me 100 bucks, not because of the ticker.
sadly, you can't. it's in the firmware, and in order to deactivate it you would need to go into that and modify the kernel. which i would not recommend.
i don't really know, i'm done with samsung in general, but, good luck with it!.
Even if I/we could disable the ticker, which I have accidentally done before, that would leave an unattractive black space below the softkeys.... I don't think anyone would want that... If you want battery savings, get root... Then delete the weather bug app, ticker tape history app, and all of the z7 apps (email, im, etc)... Oh, and all the rss apps too.. Then the ticker would still be there, but none of the apps it uses would be...
Sent from my SCH-I400 using XDA Premium App
Now if we could move the softkeys down to the ticker and put the dock in the shaded area.... then we'd be in business....
Ever since I got my phone I thought it would be cool to have the dock in the ticker instead. It would definitely give more real estate on the main screen

[Q] Remove or hide the clock in the status bar

After searching high and low on Google, I'm unable to find the answer to one question:
How do I remove or hide the system clock in the status bar of my Verizon Galaxy Note 3?
I've already turned off most of the phone's unnecessary bells and whistles, I've deactivated as many unnecessary or unwanted crapware apps as I can, but I can't find a way to perform the simple action of turning the status bar's clock off.
I'm not a rooter, so that isn't an option. I'm hoping that someone can point me towards a well-hidden system setting or a simple app that can get rid of the clock.
Just FYI - I want to get rid of the clock because I don't need it since my Accuweather widget displays the date and time, and I like to keep the status bar as clean as possible. I'm a clean freak when it comes to my computers & devices.
Any suggestions?
If you're not a rooter... you're not a clean freak... :silly:
As much as I'd love to remove every single byte of bloatware and take 100% control over my phone, I don't want to risk being forced to pay full retail for a new device because I bricked the one that I currently own. Therefore, I have to be a "clean freak" within the boundaries and limitations of an out-of-the-box OS installation.
Only way I know of, is with root, xposed framework and wanam xposed.
Well if you use Nova launcher you can completely remove the status bar, or really it's just hidden. However it reappears when going into apps. Here's a pic
Sent from my SM-N900V using xda app-developers app

[Q] Custom quick settings tiles (as in slimroms): How do you get those?

Hello,
I'm using Slimkat 4.4.4.8269 since its release. It has a neat feature called the custom tiles which is the feature that keeps me on that rom because I was unable to find a similar function in another ROM.
The Slimroms custom tiles basically lets you set unlimited "custom" tiles in the quicksettings which you can set with apps, os functions or whatever. They take a second action for a long press and they can cycle through multiple apps on that one tiles.
This is basically a quickstarter for apps. The thing that makes this marvelous is actually that opening an app doesn't get that app into the foreground, that statusbar stays in the foreground such that I can open a second and third, etc. app through very few taps.
An example what I use this for: My worst but not rare case here:
Navigation+speedcam warner+mozilla stumbler(wifi and cell existance to gps mapper)+openwlanmap.org (wifi to gps mapper)+openbmap.org (wifi and cell to gps mapper).
The best approach is to use a directory on the homescreen, if my launcher supported it. This way i don't have to search in the app drawer.
So I would open the directory, start app 1, press home screen, start app 2 and so on.
Until i started the 5 apps, I have done (swipes and presses+ app-open-taps combined) 15 actions.
Using custom tiles as slimkat offers it in the status bar I swipe to open the quick settings and then open my apps, 1 swipe+5 taps=6 actions.
This is for me much faster and allows me to pay much less attention to my phone while starting what I want.
However, I would like to update to Lollipop or M, anyways, go with CM most likely but that feature isn't there. I found out that the GravityBox with the xposed framework offers some kind of similar features but it only features 2 custom apps, currently I have a bit more than 20 in my status bar.
I could use "Tasker" for this approach as well, but actually that configuration is rather weird and static to one action/app (condition) which I first have to fulfill. That approach fails if one of the apps is already started and I only want to start one app especially if that meets Taskers condition. I end up using the app drawer and search for my app.
This post pretty much covers the configuration and outcome of the custom tile in Slimroms in two pictures:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/orig-development/rom-slimkat-hammerhead-stable-5-0-t2511512/post51495728#post51495728
Have you seen any other ROM with decent updates (that seems to be only CM for the hlte at the point of writing) or way to accomplish something similar? It doesn't need to be in the statusbar, even though that is quite easy to access.
Parts of my post I took from my post to a CM feature request at JIRA:
https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-2227?jql=text%20~%20%22custom%20tiles%22
Thanks in advance!
Try Layers, http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/themes-apps/systemui-overlays-5-0-t3025183
Thanks for the reply. I think layers is some sort of theming app overlaying the normal icons with other colors. This is something new to me and interesting, but not what I wanted in this thread.
I found something that goes a bit in that direction: Hangars. It displays some appbar in the notification area. Upon opening an app the area disappears and I would have to open the notification area again. Still better than the homelauncher and its folders.
Something I tested previously going into the same direction is the PIE control as well as some sidelaunchers like omnirom and such. Still the custom tiles allow a faster operation.
If anyone is interested in those, you could vote for this as well:
https://jira.cyanogenmod.org/browse/CYAN-2227, It enclosed this feature.
From time to time I changed to CM or something like it, but return very quickly to my custom quick tiles as they are irreplacible and other roms waste time and I can hardly operate them blindly like slimkat.
Just heads up, Google finally may have thought those tiles to be useful and they were added in Marshmallow. You can only go there using the System UI tuner (google for it, if you don't know what it is. You'll need another app to configure those nicely, like custom quick settings. Due a bug you can't add more than 18 tiles in total, but if you like it and don't need more go ahead. Right now I have 40+ and they're in color.
So far I can't think of changing from the lovely slimkat.

6.0.1 customization advice

Have: Nexus 6P stock 6.0.1. Need: some customization. Items in green have a solution.
I've enabled Developer Mode and System UI Tweaker. I'd like to do this without root, or anything that would affect individual Google Play-installable apps. (The reason is, I need this device for final user release testing, so it should be what users have just from factory reset + install apps and normal OS upgrades):
Different wallpaper on Lock Screen than behind icons and widgets. (Tried: http://forums.androidcentral.com/an...-lock-screen-wallpaper-help-how-can-i-do.html - No triple dot menu visible in Wallpaper)
Full brightness on Lock screen instead of 90%, independent of brightness settings. ("OK" option: same brightness as manual brightness in Settings) (http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/help/home-lockscreen-brightness-t1704705 - no Lock Screen Options in Settings)
Disable peeking globally. ("OK" option: put them in the statusbar like 4.4.4) (I don't want to disable peeking for every new app I install: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Here...ifications-in-Android-6.0-Marshmallow_id75408) Temporary solution: I will manually disable peeking for every new app that shows them.
Global saturation setting for icons. (They're all saying "click ME!", that's an icon designer's job. With an excellent high-contrast screen like this, it's a crowd shouting.) ("OK" option: some other way of getting icons to look more Zen.) Icon packs for launchers are that "OK option", browsing tons on Google Play left Hexacon and Dual Shadow. So Hexacon.
Remove the Google Now bar from my Home Screen (without disabling any services). (As in, I taught the device my voice, so I don't need it there for me to tap. Tried: https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-remove-the-google-search-bar-from-your-android-homescreen - it's not long-tappable nor draggable, nor does it appear under Google Apps in Widgets.) Best solution so far: Nova Launcher.
I'd like to be able to do this:
Some quick way (preferably swipe) to access a more compact Quick Settings widget, like on my Xperia Z. I've reduced it to 9, can't remove "Invert Colors" and Location toggles.
Global Night Mode for everything in the System UI - to make it look similar to the Quick Settings. (This is a "like to" only because it's been promised in N. I really need it like, now. ) Best solution so far: Nova Launcher.
Basically I have the greatest phone, so I want it to look good at all times, and with the aim Clean, Fresh, Zen.
I posted here bc the forum was most specific. Feel free to refer or advise me how to best get answers as I joined tonight.
Any & all advice on single questions is appreciated Not possible is a valid answer, and I'm also prepared to wait for N if that's the answer.
I used to think of "ok google" as a novelty but its become more polished and if it remains reliable Ill continue to use it more& more. As it applies to keeping things clean it sort of does eliminate need for extra widgets.
If you have ok google everywhere u can just say " ok google...launch settings". Same goes for music apps, podcasts, youtube videos etc.
Started using a new app other day you might like called sesame edge. I set it on the right edge, virtually invisible and it brings up quick access to apps.
KLit75 said:
I used to think of "ok google" as a novelty but its become more polished and if it remains reliable Ill continue to use it more& more. As it applies to keeping things clean it sort of does eliminate need for extra widgets.
If you have ok google everywhere u can just say " ok google...launch settings". Same goes for music apps, podcasts, youtube videos etc.
Started using a new app other day you might like called sesame edge. I set it on the right edge, virtually invisible and it brings up quick access to apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, trying it out. Also tried Sesame in the hope that it would let me set a different lock screen wallpaper, but it only had "their automatic lock screen wallpaper or off" as setting. I sent feedback to them, so let's see.
HenrikErlandsson said:
Thanks, trying it out. Also tried Sesame in the hope that it would let me set a different lock screen wallpaper, but it only had "their automatic lock screen wallpaper or off" as setting. I sent feedback to them, so let's see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont use a lockscreen but on Pure Nexus which Im using now there is an option to set lockscreen wallpaper.
I use action launcher 3 which doesnt allow me to remove google bar (i dont think) but nova will let u do that. I like the bar cuz on action launcher i can put several shortcuts for whatever i want.
ASAP launcher is very minimal. Again you cant REMOVE the bar but swipe down and it turns into a simple clock widget.
KLit75 said:
I dont use a lockscreen but on Pure Nexus which Im using now there is an option to set lockscreen wallpaper.
I use action launcher 3 which doesnt allow me to remove google bar (i dont think) but nova will let u do that. I like the bar cuz on action launcher i can put several shortcuts for whatever i want.
ASAP launcher is very minimal. Again you cant REMOVE the bar but swipe down and it turns into a simple clock widget.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx, tried Nova and it gives me Night Mode. Thanks for that Still, no way to have a different wallpaper on the lock screen than on the home screen, and I can find no Prime option for it either. Pure Nexus requires CM.
Can I mix and match this type of apps? Will they interfere with each other? Sesame seems to work with Nova at least.
What about Hi Locker? http://android.wonderhowto.com/how-to/get-back-lock-screen-customization-android-lollipop-0160204/
Can custom lock screens lock me out of my phone, make me butt dial, hog battery? I just want to change the gdmn background!
As I wrote, if some feature comes in N I'd rather wait than mess up my new phone.
HenrikErlandsson said:
Thx, tried Nova and it gives me Night Mode. Thanks for that Still, no way to have a different wallpaper on the lock screen than on the home screen, and I can find no Prime option for it either. Pure Nexus requires CM.
Can I mix and match this type of apps? Will they interfere with each other? Sesame seems to work with Nova at least.
What about Hi Locker? http://android.wonderhowto.com/how-to/get-back-lock-screen-customization-android-lollipop-0160204/
Can custom lock screens lock me out of my phone, make me butt dial, hog battery? I just want to change the gdmn background!
As I wrote, if some feature comes in N I'd rather wait than mess up my new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems Im constantly tweaking things and having problems recalling exactly what I used. I know making lockscreen different from desktop is something Ive done many times. Do u have xposed? Pretty sure gravitybox has that option.
As far as butt dials, I use sweep to wake & it was a problem. Always remember to put it in your pocket screen facing out. I also need to do that when using bt headphones or else i get distortion. Anyways if i find something relevant Ill let u know.
Thx for suggestions!
I want weather, clock, and a background that matches my high-end case on the lock screen AND NOTHING ELSE, and then wherever there are icons I want a neutral background or just a color so I can see them properly. I think that's being a normal user with sensible demands.
Right now a huge dark gray or white slate COVERS the background anyway. I don't mind it, it lets me see the icons of all manner of variety and quality against something neutral, still... just allowing a background to set behind your icons seems to be an easy addition... since Froyo... Anyway, end rant about Simple Things. Android at least lets you customize them.
I'm battling notifications now. Light Manager is recommended for the 6P - testing it out now for notifications that are actually important, will report.

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