Database Users

Find Phone by whistling - like the retro keychain finder

hey guys. do you still remember those keychain finder, where you just need to whistle and the keychain answers with a loud sound to let you locate where it comes from?
i searched the whole droidpit but nothing found like this for android. woudn't it be an idea for a new app? start it as a service on boot and when you're thinking about where you put your phone again, just whistle and our android answers with an alarm ... maybe a skillful developer can punch in some lines of code to realize this app ... or would that drain the battery too much?
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good idea to say the least, but would probably cause severe battery drain since it would have to always be running(at least when screen goes to sleep) not to mention how many times you would be in public and your phone would make an obscenely loud sound out of nowhere(you know it would!)

Interesting, but much easier to send it a text and have it sound an alarm

jsapp said:
Interesting, but much easier to send it a text and have it sound an alarm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hard to send a text if its the only phone you have an you're alone somewhere.
This is a good idea, but might be a little hard to implement.

Send a little text via twitter would be the best method I guess.
You displaced your phone, write a little twitter-message with your computer and your phone will answer with an alarm.

and what if you either don't have your computer or your second phone at hand? ... if I misplace my phone at home i just give it a call from my fixed-line. send twits or email is not a solution if I don't have 3g enabled or don't have a data plan - that said I need an other device for sending at first ...

usrname said:
and what if you either don't have your computer or your second phone at hand? ... if I misplace my phone at home i just give it a call from my fixed-line. send twits or email is not a solution if I don't have 3g enabled or don't have a data plan - that said I need an other device for sending at first ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yaa OR what if your phone is on silent, then sending a tweet, text, or call would have no effect...
BUT on the other hand, I do believe that this would kill the battery, considering not only does it have to be running in the background, but it would have to be constantly scanning for the whistle sound, using the microphone every second while it's asleep.
Unless someone knows another way to achieve this aside from constantly scanning... hmmmm
Let's put our brains together.

i wanted this too! who cares about battery drain i have a charger at home in the can and in the office if out and about can close the app whistle fonder whould be no use if you lose it in town etc

There is an app called "Where's my droid", that will turn your ringer on, volume up, and ring for up to 5 minutes by sending a text.

Thats a GREAT idea! I would heavily use such an app. Ill subscribe to this thread, I dont want to miss anything.

BUMP! I want this to happen!!

There's a open source project called musicg sound api about it:
http://code.google.com/p/musicg-sound-api/
btw you can have a look on the relevant app too:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.whistleapp

I'm thinking it should require that you record a whistle for it (something short and relatively simple, but unique), and it only responds to whistling that resembles that (maybe write an algorithm that requires... say... 80% recognition?).
Seems kinda complicated, but also seems like the only way to protect against it going off anytime you're out in public and someone whistles.

You could have the app check some additional things before checking for the whistle... Check to see if the screen is off (obvious one), maybe also check to see if it's moving using the accelerometer (if you can't find it then it's most likely sitting still somewhere). This could keep it from draining the battery, and it would also keep the phone from going off if someone whistles while it's in use port being carried. This app is a great idea.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Moves app - it still uses a lot of battery

As reported in some Nexus 5 reviews as well as on the Moves google play page reviews, the Moves app that comes on our phones seems to use quite a bit of battery. If you installed it, you can take a look on your own phone by pulling down settings and clicking on the battery icon.
Yes, I know they talk about how it uses much less power than other ways of tracking movement, but it still seems to be a noticeable amount.
According to Moves help, you can turn if off inside the Moves app settings by turning off tracking. At first I thought it came on the phone, but as others pointed out I installed it from google play..

I don't see any apps called moves? Is it hidden?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

yaconsult said:
As reported in some Nexus 5 reviews as well as on the Moves google play page reviews, the Moves app that comes on our phones seems to use quite a bit of battery. You can take a look on your own phone by pulling down settings and clicking on the battery icon.
Yes, I know they talk about how it uses much less power than other ways of tracking movement, but it still seems to be a noticeable amount.
According to Moves help, you can turn if off inside the Moves app settings by turning off tracking. If you don't need/want/use Moves, did you turn it off?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must of turned it off some how... stock unrooted here.. i dont see it anywhere, not even in settings - apps - all.
*edit*
ahh it doesn't come with our phones, i dont have it installed even.

You actually have to download it from the play store. It doesn't come with the phone.

Crikey didn't know it used that much battery :/ might get rid of it lol
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I see at least 10% battery drain due to Moves. Can't tell whether this is supposed to be expected.

Runtastic Pedometer has been doing much better for me battery-wise. Can leave it running all day and it is at the bottom of my list. Somethings not working right with Moves.

If you turn off tracking within the Moves app, won't that defeat the purpose of the Moves app? Ouch... Just checked mine and it's at 36%. I think i'm going to remove it for a while.

[Q] Serious Problem: Galaxy S4 I9500 Lockscreen Shutdown Enabled

Hello everyone, this is my first post on xda forums. I hope someone out there might be able to help me out.
I accidentally found out that on my galaxy s4 I9500 lock screen, I can still press and hold power button and it gives me options to power off/restart my phone. I have pattern lock enabled. I tried and successfully powered off the phone straight from my lock screen, not to mention that it scared me out. What if it gets stolen? Anybody can turn if off and I wont be able to track it down or enable any thing via SMS commands etc.
What's the purpose of lock screen if the phone can be turned off, if not unlocked, and I couldn't do anything about it.
I recently updated android 4.4 and I am not sure whether or not this issue persisted before that. I am attaching a screenshot of it. Looking forward for someone to sort this out for me. Thanks.
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Same behaviour here also
Sent from my SM-T310

dave106 said:
Same behaviour here also
Sent from my SM-T310
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you just find out after reading this post or were you aware of it before?

And have you not thought that even if it is as you describe what is the benefit
not so great
If someone steals your phone much easier to remove the battery and that is even faster than pressing buttons
this is just my personal opinion

pda4g said:
And have you not thought that even if it is as you describe what is the benefit
not so great
If someone steals your phone much easier to remove the battery and that is even faster than pressing buttons
this is just my personal opinion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you're absolutely right, but then again it raises a big question mark on all the tracking and anti-theft apps as well as Google's own android device manager feature a bunch of crappy apps which do no good at all except for playing sirens via laptop on your own phone and thinking it actually works.
Plus if the thief is within the room, he wont go through all the trouble of removing the protective case, back cover and then removing battery itself. He'd simply turn it off and wait.

It has been like this since I can remember, way before 4.4. In GS3 and GS4, probably in SGII too, this I don't remember.

shiraz.malik990 said:
Yes, you're absolutely right, but then again it raises a big question mark on all the tracking and anti-theft apps as well as Google's own android device manager feature a bunch of crappy apps which do no good at all except for playing sirens via laptop on your own phone and thinking it actually works.
Plus if the thief is within the room, he wont go through all the trouble of removing the protective case, back cover and then removing battery itself. He'd simply turn it off and wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this topic can be seen from different angles
best - keep your phone
and good friends for company
this is a joke
no one knows what can happen
My Galaxy Note many times I turn it off that way
I don't remember ever had to unlock before that S4
I don't remember

Screen off gestures

Hi guys!
I know there are some old threads about tap2wake feature and so on. But I want to point your attention to a different perspective: gestures. Wouldn' it be useful to launch some apps (camera, google translate,whatsapp, qr code scanner etc) from a simple gesture on your screen when it is off? I think it would be. I'm not a dev, just an android enthusiast. I have no idea how much the implementation of these features can be difficult. But I l'd like to have some opinions by someone who know more than me about the principal difficulties to realize it. If I'm not wrong Nexus 5 has these features(at least tap2wake) thanks to elementalX kernel, it has snapdragon 800 as note 3, so i think it would be possible to implement. Just curious, I'm not saying "please do this, my life depends on it", I'm feeling really good with my note 3 as it is, but I think it would be useful and cool[emoji13] [emoji13].

I asked this a while ago but got no response So i don't know if it even possible to do so, I think the devs knew that the digitzer couldn't be turned out with out the display being on. saying that it's an amoled display so displaying black on it, makes it turned off. But i'm no Kernel Developer so i don't know much about the Kernel

Maybe you're right about amoled. But I tried Knockr app, that puts your screen black and you can use gesture with "screen off" or blacked screen. So I think digitizer is on and screen is off, but as app is in memory and active it keeps wakelocks keeping CPU at high frequencies. So it will drain the battery, and it is not such a good thing. Surely a kernel solution would be more battery friendly, avoiding cpu wakelocks or at least putting cpu at lowest frequencies.

Yep

As already stated, it would require kernel-level support, and even then, would likely be an increased drain on the battery. There's no reason it couldn't be done, though.
Personally, I'm not a fan of the idea. I'd rather use lock screen shortcuts. It only takes a fraction if a second to press a button and bring up the lock screen, and there's no worrying about accidentally inputting any 'gesture' while the phone's in your pocket. But that's just my opinion...

About gestures in your pocket I think it will be quite difficult since we had a capacitive touchscreen, at least I never had such problem. But you're right if you can customize your lockscreen shortcut launch an app won't take too long. But you need to have the possibility to customize your lockscreen shortcuts like in cm-based ROMs. For example I really like TW lockscreen, I don't want any third part app to replace it. By the way, thanks to say your opinion, have different points of view is a good thing.[emoji6]
So I'm asking to myself why nobody implement this feature, if it is possibile, maybe development will take too much time for a feature few people wants.

You're probably right about not having to worry about activating gestures in your pocket. Like I said, I've never tried such a thing. That was just the first thought that came to mind lol.
TW does actually have native lock screen shortcuts that are somewhat customizable, but it takes a bit of work to make it functional (at least on my device).
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A little OT. Where is this option, or better, on which ROM have you got it? [emoji13]

cruor.am said:
A little OT. Where is this option, or better, on which ROM have you got it? [emoji13]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen it enabled in any ROMs by default, but it may be on some other devices. I've been playing around with it on my Note 3 running Alliance, but I don't have it quite 100% functional yet.

Part of the screen is being cut off on some games/apps

Certain games and apps on the Essential Phone have the issue of part of the image being cropped out of the frame. I've already tried using the Essential Layout Whitelist Editor, but nothing changes. Some screenshots of the issue are below:
Layton's Mystery Journey
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Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice
Like I said, the Essential Layout Whitelist Editor does nothing to fix this. Is there any other way?

I've only had that problem when adding to whitelist. Even then if I rotated the phone, it would be fine. Only cropped when turned the wrong way. I know, shouldn't matter, fixed soon I hope.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

dpackerz said:
I've only had that problem when adding to whitelist. Even then if I rotated the phone, it would be fine. Only cropped when turned the wrong way. I know, shouldn't matter, fixed soon I hope.
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rotating also does not help, whitelisted or not. In Ace Attorney in particular, there's a giant border on the left, and the game is cut off on the right. Rotating the device around (and every which way) doesn't change it. It's always cut off on the right.

ChronoShot said:
Rotating also does not help, whitelisted or not. In Ace Attorney in particular, there's a giant border on the left, and the game is cut off on the right. Rotating the device around (and every which way) doesn't change it. It's always cut off on the right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try unlisting everything including systems files? Could be a system setting that was whitelisted that's doing it and not the app itself. Do you also have the navigation hidden? I would uncheck all the navigation including systems settings and see if that help.

I have an issue with some games being stretched and looking weird. I don't know what whitelisting is or how to do it.

AITT said:
Did you try unlisting everything including systems files? Could be a system setting that was whitelisted that's doing it and not the app itself. Do you also have the navigation hidden? I would uncheck all the navigation including systems settings and see if that help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I unchecked everything from both Fill Status and Hide Navigation. Nothing changed. Then for good measure I checked everything on Fill Status, everything on Hide Navigation, and then both together.
No combination of settings seem to fix the problem.

Sounds like a app im compatibility

Well, I suppose if this isn't fixed by Essential the phone's going back to Best Buy. I've only found a handful of apps that do this (all by different developers), but I'm sure there's more. And considering how small the audience of this phone is, I seriously doubt any app developers will be putting out dedicated fixes for it.
It's not really something I'm willing to put up with on a $700 phone.

I get the impression that this problem is an app incompatibility issue. But is there anything we can do about it if the app does not update to address the issue

I notice this happens to me sometimes on clash of clans, i thought it had someting to do with having a certain notification open wihch i just restart the phone and it fixes it.