Related
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.
Hi everyone. I just purchased my Droid X last week, and I'm having some migrating pains coming from Windows Mobile 6.5 (HTC Touch Pro 2, Mighty ROM) over to Android. I'm wondering if the fine folks here at XDA can help me ease into the Android OS a little easier.
Here are the things I miss most about WinMo, maybe you can tell me some viable alternatives.
1) The Dialer. - Skip the next 3 paragraphs if you're familiar with HTC Sense on WinMo.
The dialer absolutely sucks compared to the TP2. Having to click different tabs juts annoys me. In the TP2, the dialer and recent calls were displayed in a single window, so if I wanted to dial Steve, I had 2 ways of doing it.
The first way was to dial 7(S), 8(T). The phone would recognize I am spelling out Steve, and list everyone who fits the ST criteria sorted by most recently called. The more I spelled out his name, the narrower the results got.
The second method was to dial his number. Pretend Steve's number is (123) 456-7890. If I dialed 123, it would sort all contacts with numbers who matched the area code, and it would narrow the results as I typed more of his phone number.
I really hate having to tap between Contacts (there is a contacts soft button next to the dialer anyway), I would just click that if I wanted to from the beginning.
Are there any dialers out there closer to the HTC Dialer?
2) Contacts.
There has to be a better contact manager. Not being able to quickly tap a letter to get to contacts is really dumb.
3) Ninja Applications.
Why do I keep seeing applications running that I never started when I load Advance Task Killer. It's really annoying when I load up an App, and go to close it, and see Skype and CityID running when I never launched either of them. I'm almost afraid to set up AIM on my phone at this point.
4) GPS.
If I keep my GPS on, my battery gets killed. With my TP2, it would only use the GPS when it needed it, so for weather updates, and Google Maps, otherwise it stayed off (or was in a suspend state). I turned the GPS on my first day and had 0 battery by around 2 (left the house at 8). Is there any way to set the GPS to only be used, as needed?
5) APPLICATIONS EVERYWHERE.
Is there anyway to sort these into folders? Also, is there anyway to add an X to the application so I can close it when I'm done with it rather than having to launch an App just to close the App I just used?
I really liked the Sense way of doing it, where I had an X in the Application, and a drop down on the home screen that would list the open Apps so I could close them 1 at a time.
6) MotoBlur.
Ugh, I really hate this UI. Has anyone had any experience with SenseX?
7) Custom Roms.
I've seen a handful of Custom ROMs, and I'm planning on putting one on when I have some time next week. I need a good way to backup contacts, after I just spent an hour linking everyone, but I'd like to know if there is a decent Apples to Apples comparison of the ROMs. They don't seem to be outlines as detailed as I'm used to.
On this topic, are there any problems setting up things like MMS once you install a Custom ROM? It was a nightmare on the TP2, but those ROMs were also made for multiple carriers, which isn't a problem with this phone, so I imagine it shouldn't be an issue.
----------------------------------
Thank you for taking the time to read this wall of text.
Other than the 7 things listed, I love the phone. Finding MortPlayer for Droid made my day. I'm looking forward to unlocking it's true potential, and I hope my list isn't a bunch of things I'm just going to have to adjust to.
Thank you again, have a great day.
EDIT:
Also, it's really annoying that every time I connect my phone to my PC, it launches a Verizon web site. Is there anyway to disable this?
Ok... I will take a stab at this.
FIRST, You DO NOT have to settle for the apps that come preinstalled on your phone! Just had to clear that up... Ok, here we go:
Check an app called "Dialer One" and see if that fits your needs... I haven't used it in a while... but heard it still a great replacement for the stock dialer.
Searching for a better Contact Manager is on my To-Do list.. hope someone comes in and help out a little more with that one
Don't worry about the "ninja" apps TOO much. Android Froyo has an amazing task manager and even though you SEE the apps as "running applications", they are not really RUNNING. They are more like... in a queue.. so they are ready for whenever you come back to them....but you still have to watch what the apps are doing. Some do not play nicely and hog memory. I'll link a good post here in a minute explaining that a little better.
There is a widget that can help you out here.. it's called "Power Control" put that bad boy on your homescreen and the option to turn on/off wifi, bluetooth, gps, etc is at your fingertips (for even more controls... check out "Extended Controls" in the market. It cost like $1 and some change)
I'm... not really following this one. For one.. you CAN use folders on your homescreen and put whatever your heart desires in them.. and label it accordingly. I'm not sure what you mean by the "X" in the app
SenseX?? What is that?? Anyway.. as you will find out soon, 99% of the Droid X community despise MotoBlur!! You can use a different Home Launcher and not use Blur. Two of the major Home Launcher replacements are Adw.launcher & LauncherPro... which one is better is a whole different story. They are both great and only YOU can choose which one is best. There many threads comparing them and they run neck to neck mostly. I'm on LauncherPro personally
Custom Roms?? Eh.. I personally do my own developments and theming on my phone and do not use them... there not really all what they cracked up to be because whatever they have on them... I can do myself. So I'm not much of an help on that one... Somebody else maybe will chime in.
P.S-To fix the Verizon thing, go to the "M" in the taskbar at the bottom of your screen by the clock on your PC and right click it.. there should be an option saying to tell it to NOT send you to the Verizon site when you connect your phone. I don't know the EXACT wording of the option menu.. I'm on a mac
Thank you for your reply.
I will check out the Dialer. Thank you very much.
Darn!
A friend of mine told me that, but it's hard for me to not be a bit OCD about background Applications. I've been a Windows user most of my life, and coming from WinMo, background apps really kill performance.
More than anything, my issue is with things like Skype loading when I do not want to be signed in. I want auto-login when I launch the Application, but I don't want the application loading when it feels like it, and me getting a random IM or call from someone when I didn't even tell it to log in.
It also bothers me that Amazon MP3, something I've never even loaded, has turned itself on. It makes me feel like I don't have control over my phone.
I do have a widget that lets me turn these things on and off, I was just hoping for a way to set it up so that the GPS is "pinged" and only used as needed, and turned back off. My TP2 did this, and was a great battery saver. Having to turn the GPS on and off just to get a weather update based on location is a bit annoying.
I didn't mean on the home-screen, I meant in the application list. So when I hit the application list, I can sort them by "Games", "Google", etc.
For the "X", what I mean is in reference to closing an App. In WinMo, the top right of the screen had an X, and if I touched that X, the app would close. Now, once I exit the App, I need to use an application killer to close said App.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764840
Looks like Sense for the Droid X. In Beta now, so I'm waiting for a stable release.
Really, it's just to get rid of bloatware and take advantage of some performance optimizations that have been made.
A couple of other things that have come up.
I need a better keyboard. One with arrows so I can navigate text. Touching isn't precise enough, and I don't have a stylus with this phone. Today I voiced a text message, and I went to correct an error, but I couldn't get the curse to go in the exact spot I needed it to go into. My old OSK had arrow soft-keys I could tap to navigate with.
Also, I notice when I pull my phone out of the leather pouch I have, when I hit the power button it comes up in landscape, and the accelerometer doesn't pick up on the turn. I need to turn the screen off and turn it back on.
Finally, I'm having extender issues, but I think I need to call VZW for that. When leaving my house, I can't reconnect to Data without a power-cycle.
Thank you for the reply.
my .02
3. Break yourself from the taskiller need. If you have programs allways running that you dont need, ie skype or city id. Root and delete those SOB's. you can look around and there are plenty of articles of why not to use them. Android is a linux based os. Linux is far supirior to Win in memeory management. You dont need task killers.
4. if your gps is turned on its not always running. It only runs when needed. Is by chance your wifi on? that will run all the time by searching for access points. if not you might have maps running, make sure to always back out of maps and not just hit home. That way it closes and doesnt just run in background. (actually goes for most apps)
5 organization- you cant sort the app drawer, you can hide apps (just the icons) using launcher pro, not sure if ADW has that option. Useing folders or the app "app manager" is your best bet
extra. swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.
I came from winmo- so I know all about your "X" pains. But I say forget about a task killer or even killing tasks (except maybe maps and navigation). I did a little reading about pros and cons and decided to try the "no task killer" approach. I haven't had any problems. the task killer is a pain anyways. you can kill apps all day long and there are a bunch of them that are just going to repopulate themselves in like 5 minutes. I just said, "fegetaboutit". My phone runs great.
if you open the dialer and are on the contacts tab just long press the menu button (the physical button) and your keyboard will pop up. start typing and contacts will appear.
I like "Zeam Launcher". There is a thread here on XDA. I have Launcher Pro+ -but actually liked Zeam so much I use it. Just different preferences though.
that's all i got for now.
Thank you for your replies.
I will try to be a bit less OCD regarding my tasks. I did kill a couple of services of applications that kept starting, like Skype.
I'll check out those launchers and see if I like them better.
Any good stock widgets?
EDIT:
So I just tried to check my location on Google Maps with GPS turned off, and it says I need to turn it on.
How do I set it up to use the GPS as needed?
I leave location services on (GPS)
My theory is that applications will only enable GPS when they need them, so if you have a application running that wants GPS, it will use it.
The GPS icon appears in the notification bar when I'm using something that is using GPS, so I assume its only actually on when this icon is present. Leave it on in settings just makes is available.
Any widget or application that has a setting for manual location (Weather, IMDB) I use it, and disable GPS location, to keep GPS from running all of the time.
To exit an app you are using, either hit the back button or the home button.
If you are worried about "ninja" apps using cpu and memory, you can try a minfree adjustment application such as AutoKiller Memory Optimizer. It fine tunes android's inner memory manager to be a bit more aggressive in closing applications.
I use another Rom (rubiX, link in sig) that already has minfree adjusted (according to the author) and it does help in keeping the X smooth. It also removes all (well most) of Blur and default installed apps as well, so you start with a very clean X.
The default home screen (blur) is crap. I would also suggest replacing it with LauncherPro or ADW
For removing the pre-installed applications. Follow this guide
http://www.droidxforums.com/forum/d...ta-3-ways-super-easy-safe-safe-easy-free.html
Some apps in /system/app/ are not named what they are
(IE. mynet.apk = 3g Hotspot)
For a keyboard anywhere, you can hold the menu button, and it will pop up.
Swype is really a few keyboards. Swype from the icon to the SYM button, it will give you the edit panel (arrows, home, end, copy, paste, etc...) press the ABC button to go back.
Swype from the icon to the f key, it will turn into a number pad. Press the ABC button to go back to the normal keyboard.
Run the tutorial on Swype too, it will give you some very nice pointers on it's use. I used Swype on windows mobile and I found out a few things about Swype I never knew.
Also, as for touching where your cursor is in a text field, if you press and hold, and magnifying bubble will pop up. This makes moving the cursor easier
Did you find a dialer yet? I saw these posted and thought about this thread...
http://www.appbrain.com/app/kz.mek.DialerOne
http://www.appbrain.com/app/acontacts/kz.mek.aContacts
Haven't had a chance to try them yet.
bad4u6669 said:
.... swype has arrows. swype from the swype icon to abc and it will bring up a new keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG. thanks. been loving swype but that has been driving me nuts. Thanks for the info.
Thank you for the replies.
One of the things I liked about my TP2, is I could leave location services on, and it used very little battery.
I guess Weather Bug just SUCKS battery out like crazy. I turned on the GPS last night for something, and decided to see how well it did with battery today. It turns out that some grocery shopping app I wanted to try was sucking my GPS dry (no idea why)... yet another "ninja app" that just started up because it felt like it (this kind of **** really makes me , programs should only start up when I tell them to, not when a component of my phone turns on).
I live in an apartment that has really bad signal (I actually have a Network Extender), so that might be my GPS constantly trying to update when I'm at home killing my battery.
WeatherBug is set to update every hour, so I'm going to see what happens tomorrow with the GPS turned on. It would be nice if I could just set it and forget it, not need to turn it off every time I come home.
Thank you for the contact program, I might check it out. I've been pretty content since I got DialerOne and found out I can get the keyboard up by holding the options.
I tried LauncherPro, and I LOVED it at first, and my phones performance was fantastic!
Then I found out it charges me to resize widgets... WTF is that crap?
I'm going to try some other launchers and see what happens. I'm getting the hang of it, but I still do not like things starting up on their own. Regardless of memory management, my phone should not just decide to boot up programs on it's own.
the phone only does what the app or the user tells it to do. If theirs an app that you don't like, delete it.
And complaining that launcher pro charges for every thing it offers is ridiculous. Every thing it offers for free already ( 7 home screens, 10 rows and columns, unreal speed improvement, etc. ) then to get the extras its less than most people throw away on a daily basis. Where as this three dollars its money that pays off on a daily basis
Adw and lp should be paid apps from the start for all they offer.
You have 3 options, write your own program, use the stock launcher, find a free one.
-end rant
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
I usually leave my location setting on "Use Wireless Networks" and don't bother with GPS other than for maps and navigation. Works fine for all of my other apps that need a location (e.g., weather).
There are apps out there that can turn GPS on and off automatically when you run a particular app, such as Tasker (which can do a whole host of things, but that is one one of them). Tasker is a paid app, but there might be something free out there that does something similar.
Also, I agree with the previous poster re: Launcher Pro. It's really a fantastic home launcher and well worth a few bucks to support the developer. The LP Plus widgets are also a lot better than any of the Blur widgets.
In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.
EtherBoo said:
In the end, I probably will buy it, but I'm going to play around with some of the free ones first.
Tasker sounds like it might be worth it for that feature alone (being able to turn the GPS on and off at will). I'm just surprised a feature like this wasn't built in to begin with, considering WinMo has had it for years.
On an unrelated note, can anyone recommend a good media player? I'm going to be flying soon and want to test the battery out on Airplane mode while watching a movie from the SD card. I need something that can decode a variety of formats, mostly XviD for stuff like digital movie copies and TV shows.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might want to look into RockPlayer. That's the only one I found so far that decodes ALMOST anything on the spot.
The "Ninja Applications" are running because Android is a true multi tasking OS.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I hope necromancy isn't frowned upon on this board, so my apologies if it is.
I found a new problem because I had the nerve to attempt to update a contact photo after Facebook had saved it's picture to it.
This is especially frustrating because I'm going to want to override a lot of these photos very soon.
Apparently, updating the photo updates the Google Contact photo, but the phone only displays the Facebook photo. This is a bug confirmed by Moto that will be fixed in a future update.
This leaves me with 2 options.
De-Sync FB, which I'm not thrilled about only because I like getting the most recent status update prior to receiving a call, and There is a lot of info that FB fills in for me.
Copy down all the FB info, and fill it in manually. With Google Contacts not being the best contact manager (I'm very OCD about uniformity in the way things are formatted), I really don't want to do this.
So I figure I need a new contact manager. I tried AContacts, and it crashed every time I tried to edit a contact.
I would love something like the HTC one that comes with WinMo, or maybe even the iPhone one.
I would be willing to pay for this.
P.S.
I'm now rooted and running a custom ROM (zapX I think it's called). I'm loving my phone much more now. My battery life has skyrocketed, and my performance is amazing now. Very iPhone smooth (one thing I was always jealous of, and I hate the iPhone).
I contacted spearoid via PM to respond to a post of his on the development forum, because at that time, I didn't have enough posts to post in the dev forum... Anyhow, his issue was with Google Navigation. He would switch to another app, say the messaging app (because I don't actually remember his example, and I can't find the post from him on this issue), and then switch back to the Google Navigation app and it was as if he hadn't launched it just a few seconds ago. He had to wait for GPS the lock and then enter the navigation information again... Yeah, I agree, what a PITA (pain in the arse).
I sent him the PM to check out my post on fixing the launcher respawning as I thought the issue was similiar. Well, it is, however, I can't figure out what line to enter to replace the ro.HOME_APP_ADJ... Dang! I then went back to zepplinrox OP here in XDA (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=991276). I paid special attention to the The Nitty Gritty... For Geeks! and the history sections where he talks about the default minfree values. Bingo!
Using AMM (Auto Memory Manager), I looked at my memory settings, but I had already done this, so I don't know what the defaults are. Using AMM, I used the advanced settings in the menu and manually put in 6, 12, 45, 60, 80, 90. If you are wondering, "Why so high?", check out the thread by androcheck, rather than reinvent the wheel, and post the majority of his post here, I'll just link to it. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=622666.
I have found that when I need to switch to an app for a few moments, and come back to the one I was just running (I did try this with Google Navigation and it works), it seems to work. Now, the only flaw I found was if I stay on the second app for a longer period of time, say 2 minutes or so, Google Navigation was killed. Then, why are you sending a text message while driving?!?! (Just kidding.)
Hope this helps. When I find information, I prefer to share it and help others!
Ciao!
Hi guys, I'm currently working on a Watch Face based on the fallout Pipboy HUD, I based the idea when I saw one for the Samsung Gear and after looking for one I couldn't find one for our Wear devices so here we are.
Currently the Watch Face is working fine on square devices (I have a Samsung Gear Live and is working like a charm). The only problem is that the square layout is not so good for a round device, so I made two different layouts, round and rect.
I tried to test it on a round emulator, but without GPU acceleration the Watch Faces won't paint up. And if you activated it, the round emulator breaks up. So here's my request: Can someone with a Moto360 be my guinea pig, the only thing that I need is a couple of screenshots.
Here's the source to the APK: PipBoyWear
Also I'm attaching some pictures how it looks in a Samsung Gear Live and how it should look like in a round device.
In case that the watch face crashes (I hope not), just remove the app from the Phone and the Watch Face will return to the default one.
Thanks in advance,
BTW the application is free and if everything goes fine, It should be available at the playstore in a couple of days.
Ninja Edit: Also I forgot to tell but the Pipboy health status is related with your battery status, e.g. if the battery is at 50% the Pipboy will have an arm and both legs crippled, also his face will change to an unhappy one.
Edit 2
Ok guys thanks to Finagle69 the app is now up at the PlayStore and is free. Hope you like it. Peace.
Bless you for doing this. I LOVE the idea. It looks great in general, but you'll need to do some real tweaking to get it to fit right. See pic.
---------- Post added at 10:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 AM ----------
Also, you'll get a lot more responses if you post this in the Moto 360 subforum.
Perfect thanks men, yeah the think is that the device is using the Rect layout instead of the circular one. I'll have to check my logic and see what's wrong. I'll keep posting about the changes.
And yes maybe I'll make other post in the Moto360 forum.
Ok I have uploaded a new application build, now I somehow manage to test it on the Round AVD so it should work fine in the Moto360 (in theory). Feel free to test it whenever you can.
And thanks in advance!
Finagle69 said:
Bless you for doing this. I LOVE the idea. It looks great in general, but you'll need to do some real tweaking to get it to fit right. See pic.
---------- Post added at 10:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:55 AM ----------
[/COLOR]Also, you'll get a lot more responses if you post this in the Moto 360 subforum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just uninstalled the old and installed the new APK build in your Drive folder. Unfortunately, no change to the face. It's still the same as I posted the pic of yesterday.
Ok, I have a good work around for the problem. Try to install it again, now two different watch faces will be available, one for the squared devices and another for round. Use the round.
Hope this is the good one.
Finagle69 said:
I just uninstalled the old and installed the new APK build in your Drive folder. Unfortunately, no change to the face. It's still the same as I posted the pic of yesterday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works! There are three issues as I see them.
1) The time should be raised so as to not obscure the text at the bottom of the image.
2) The battery % is stuck at 100% (my batt is 62% at time of picture).
3) The dimmed mode is not black and white as in the square version. B&W would be much more preferable to the color dimmed that is has now due to the crap battery life of the moto 360 :\
I srsly need to try to take better pics.
EDIT: As a general request, can the date/time locations be swapped? I'm not sure how the square faced watches function with this face, but the Moto 360's time would be covered by any notification in this implementation.
Ok, I have fixed the 3 issues that you mentioned, so the screen should dim now.
Also I take into account your request and moved the date/time locations. And yes it makes more sense to have the time at the top.
The new APK is up and ready to install.
Finagle69 said:
Works! There are three issues as I see them.
1) The time should be raised so as to not obscure the text at the bottom of the image.
2) The battery % is stuck at 100% (my batt is 62% at time of picture).
3) The dimmed mode is not black and white as in the square version. B&W would be much more preferable to the color dimmed that is has now due to the crap battery life of the moto 360 :\
I srsly need to try to take better pics.
EDIT: As a general request, can the date/time locations be swapped? I'm not sure how the square faced watches function with this face, but the Moto 360's time would be covered by any notification in this implementation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a home run, man. Maybe some little tweaking of the date being a tad higher or something so it looks a little more even. But overall, it's now my favorite face for my watch. And I love you for it.
Better pics. Both on and dim. Really love the smiley face when lit and frown when dim. Great touch!
EDIT: Now that i study it. When you first select the watch face and apply, it's got the smiley face and lit up. Then when it dims, it frowns. When you activate the watch either by bringing it to your face or pressing the button, it goes lit again, but stays with the frown. Like the only way to make it be smiley again is to change faces then back. I hope that makes sense?
Double EDIT: I just reread your OP. Seeing it now, my guy is crippled on purpose! LOL. Great job, don't change a think there.
Perfect, thanks yo tour help men!
About the first "problem" the changing faces of the PipBoy, at start the information of the battery is not available so that's why when the device is dimmed, the UI is redrawn to use low contrast colors, showing the correct values of the battery. Nevertheless I added a new condition to prevent that on the first time the WatchFace is shown.
Also I added a little more space to the date/hour, hope it looks better.
The new changes are up if you want to get it.
And again thanks for your help, I think now the App is ready for the playstore.
I'll keep you posted.
Finagle69 said:
It's a home run, man. Maybe some little tweaking of the date being a tad higher or something so it looks a little more even. But overall, it's now my favorite face for my watch. And I love you for it.
Better pics. Both on and dim. Really love the smiley face when lit and frown when dim. Great touch!
EDIT: Now that i study it. When you first select the watch face and apply, it's got the smiley face and lit up. Then when it dims, it frowns. When you activate the watch either by bringing it to your face or pressing the button, it goes lit again, but stays with the frown. Like the only way to make it be smiley again is to change faces then back. I hope that makes sense?
Double EDIT: I just reread your OP. Seeing it now, my guy is crippled on purpose! LOL. Great job, don't change a think there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just updated to your latest. It displays perfectly right from the start of choosing the face, and the date looks much better. You've done a great job with this. Thanks again!
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.
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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.