I've seen a few third party apps that add the close button to Chrome and Firefox. I have root access and I'd rather do it myself. What file do I need to modify, and what change do I need to make?
Partial success! Quit option restored on Firefox, see the last paragraph of this post if you wish to skip my rather long winded complaint. Any help getting the quit option back on Chrome would be greatly appreciated.
I swear I think Google search is making this intentionally difficult. The quit button went away with Jelly Bean. Many were not pleased. Searching Google for various likely keywords and phrases produces lots of requests but no solutions.
What makes me suspicious is two things. First I recall seeing a post when Jelly Bean was new about a text file to edit (root access required). Now, despite much diligent searching that is nowhere to be found.
Second, what is to be found is plenty of responses to requests for restoring the quit option to the menu. All are along the lines of "you don't need it", "just hit the back button", "it does no harm to keep it running", "unused ram is wasted ram"," the ram will be released if needed, I promise".
This is all male bovine excrement! On a mobile device, it wastes battery and data, and this is not theoretical. I once wasted a significant portion of my admittedly miserly monthly data allotment by inadvertently leaving a news site running in the background. It kept refreshing the page and used up data.
As for just hitting the back button, yeah, it is just SO convenient to hit the back button a few hundred times in a row (this is sarcasm, for those people with broken sarcasm meters).
Ok, on to the good news. Here is the add on that restores the quit option to Firefox. The bad news is that despite a large number of five star reviews, a lot of recent reviews indicates it may be broken either in latest versions of Firefox or perhaps by KitKat.
I can say, with a certainty, it is working for me with Jelly Bean 4.3 and Firefox 29. After using the quit button from the menu key (it does not add an "X" button to the browser window), Firefox does not appear in the list of running apps.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/android/addon/quitnow/
Related
I am noticing after I installed a number of games and some apps from the market shows that the smooth movements during swipes changes to a bit of stutters.
Mainly I am noticing this in the home screen when I wipe to scroll through the number of home screens it was not smooth as before-i can spot minor stutters, not smooth as cake!
Is it only me or this can be overcome?
That's what I found too.
This is what I found too.
From my observation, I am thinking that a lot of Android's applications on the market are:
1. poor quality with very little QC by Google. Google may be too focus on releasing as much application as possible to catch up with iphone rather than quality.
2. request too much permissions from the user, such as full internet access, running in the background etc etc. A lot of applications that don't necessary need these permissions are asking for it anyway and I don't know why they needed it.
3. this last point is my PURE speculation, so do correct me if I am wrong. Most applications are ad-support, they needed to download ads to show on your phone. That means each application on your phone that are ad-supported need to connect to a server somewhere. I don't know how google manages ads, but I sure hope that it doesn't allows these applications to connect to different ads server in the background.
i found this slightly too, doesnt the new firmware updates (unofficial) and the lag fix (putting the apps in the nand) fix this though?
im still waiting for samsung to give me the update, wont be waiting much longer though
kcharng said:
3. this last point is my PURE speculation, so do correct me if I am wrong. Most applications are ad-support, they needed to download ads to show on your phone. That means each application on your phone that are ad-supported need to connect to a server somewhere. I don't know how google manages ads, but I sure hope that it doesn't allows these applications to connect to different ads server in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you just wrote the last sentence in a confusing manner. I think your point is "I sure hope it doesn't allow these applications to connect to ad servers in the background", if so I'm with you.
However, if you mean it the way I interpreted the more direct writing of the post. (disclaimer: I also don't know how they handle ads), but I think that more than just admob exists as a service for developers to use, and if that's the case and they do allow any connection in the background...then I think some would have to connect to different servers since the ads would be hosted by different hosting services (admob, company x, company y). All that said, Admob does (just about?) every ad I see that I happen to look at the host of.
sany said:
I am noticing after I installed a number of games and some apps from the market shows that the smooth movements during swipes changes to a bit of stutters.
Mainly I am noticing this in the home screen when I wipe to scroll through the number of home screens it was not smooth as before-i can spot minor stutters, not smooth as cake!
Is it only me or this can be overcome?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I experience 0 lag during homescreen scrolling.
I use LauncherPRO, in advanced settings I have "High quality scrolling" enabled (Keeps high quality graphics while scrolling, but reduces performance) and then in Advanced Settings subsection "memory usage present" I have "Use homescreen caches" (creates caches of your homescreens for smoother scrolling" checked. I have over 150 programs. 7 homescreens, though 2 are at least half blank, but I have 5 rows of icons on each screen (20% more icons to slow me down).
LauncherPRO typically uses up 20-25MB of memory for me due to my settings. If you don't have it, check it out. If you have it, look into your settings to optimize performance.
alovell83 said:
I think you just wrote the last sentence in a confusing manner. I think your point is "I sure hope it doesn't allow these applications to connect to ad servers in the background", if so I'm with you.
However, if you mean it the way I interpreted the more direct writing of the post. (disclaimer: I also don't know how they handle ads), but I think that more than just admob exists as a service for developers to use, and if that's the case and they do allow any connection in the background...then I think some would have to connect to different servers since the ads would be hosted by different hosting services (admob, company x, company y). All that said, Admob does (just about?) every ad I see that I happen to look at the host of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as long as they dont take any credit card details stored with the market or anywhere in the device.
S
Thoughts on Multi-tasking and "Exit" in Android. Developers please read and respond.
Having done extensive reading on the topic, I understand why developers don't see the need for an "Exit" option for most Android programs. For behind the scenes management, it isn't required. The problem is that our needs as end-users are different than that and should take precedence.
The classic example of needing an "Exit" option is the web browser. If you have been browsing a while, you may need to back through several pages to get the thing to close, which is a pain in the neck. Another example may be a music player. I might not want it to pick up where I left off when I start it next time.
End-users want to be able to choose from options like these when leaving an application.
1) Pause - exactly what it sounds like. This is pretty much what happens most of the time when leaving an application, but it should set a priority flag of some sort so it is one of the last things to get "ruthlessly killed" to recover memory.
2) Exit - stop everything and reset to a default state so that the next time it is started it is a fresh run.
3) Background run - this is true multitasking by user choice. The app continues doing whatever task I set it to while I go do something else. Much like what happens with music players or Navigation programs when the Back key is used.
4) Home or Back key - it would be handled in the current default manner, letting Android decide what is correct.
I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I believe a proper multi-screen launcher should allow you to start different apps on different screens and go back to the app started on a particular screen automatically when you return to that screen. So for example I could be doing e-mails on screen one and have my music player open on screen 2 and perhaps be reviewing a spreadsheet on screen 3 and go back and forth between them as my music mood changed or I looked something up in the spreadsheet or on the web on screen 4 then went back to my e-mail to include that new information without closing one and opening the other and so on going back and forth. Android could decide if the app is paused or actually running while I go to a different screen, but anything open on a screen should be the last thing to be killed before essential services.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on what an OS needs to be able to do before it can call itself multi-tasking, as well as the kind of control us users want on our phones. After all, they are OUR phones, right?
"[MOD][XPOSED] ActivityForceNewTask"
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2646504
"Introduction:
Apps can launch other apps' activities inside their task. This makes it impossible to switch back and forth between the two. This module sets the FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK flag when starting a new activity, which 'fixes' that (note to devs: only startActivity is hooked for obvious reasons; intents that are expected to return something are not modified.)
Originally requested by jacknicholson here."
Not sure if this was an intended consequence or not, but if you have xposed installed, and have always been annoyed sometimes when you click a link, playstore for example in the stock browser, and see it open in the same multiwindow, instead of its own, and thus negate the option to have these two windows open side by side........then you might be interested in this module.(assuming that this is not a bug that only i have)
Pretty sure it'll work for other apps aswell, it also allows you to switch between the apps through the recent tasks button, whereas before, with some apps, say a third party app like loaderdroid, you had to close the recently opened app, (i use long press back button) in order to go back to the previous app.
Hope this helps someone, ive been waiting so long myself for this to be fixed, looks like the community pulled through again, "major" corps should be taking NOTES
Little guy : 1 big guy : 0
Got the new phone other day, really nice so far.
BUT when i choose an uploader button on forums, craigslist or google image search etc… the choose an action menu pops up like normal, but NO gallery icon.
SO how can i upload? Taking a new pic each time is pretty annoying. BTW this worked fine on all my previous droid devices WITHOUT a special craigslist app or google app etc…..
vdubjim said:
Got the new phone other day, really nice so far.
BUT when i choose an uploader button on forums, craigslist or google image search etc… the choose an action menu pops up like normal, but NO gallery icon.
SO how can i upload? Taking a new pic each time is pretty annoying. BTW this worked fine on all my previous droid devices WITHOUT a special craigslist app or google app etc…..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not clear what you are objecting to. What your droid did is irrelevant. It's not reasonable to expect every phone to be identical for your favourite features. And if that is somehow critical to you.. why did you buy a non-droid phone?
As far as I can tell, you are accustomed to having the gallery icon show up on the action menu and don't like that it's (apparently) not there on your S5. Did you try clicking, "documents" on the action menu? I bet that takes you right into the gallery or a file browser.
Or there are a million other ways to do the same thing too - my files (the stock file browser, various apps, upload from your browser, long press on the recents (left soft) key to access a conventional context menu, the command line.. etc, etc.
If you want, go grab the Google gallery apk and install it and I bet it shows up on the action menu..
.
Umm thanks I guess??
Yes document worked.
The other 12 paragraphs you typed why?
Wtf are you talking about ? I guess htc, Sony and Samsung don't count. Lol
fffft said:
It's not clear what you are objecting to. What your droid did is irrelevant. It's not reasonable to expect every phone to be identical for your favourite features. And if that is somehow critical to you.. why did you buy a non-droid phone?
As far as I can tell, you are accustomed to having the gallery icon show up on the action menu and don't like that it's (apparently) not there on your S5. Did you try clicking, "documents" on the action menu? I bet that takes you right into the gallery or a file browser.
Or there are a million other ways to do the same thing too - my files (the stock file browser, various apps, upload from your browser, long press on the recents (left soft) key to access a conventional context menu, the command line.. etc, etc.
If you want, go grab the Google gallery apk and install it and I bet it shows up on the action menu..
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
* plonk *
Dear Vdubjim,
To be completely honest with you the answer you received was quite sensible - outlining many options you do have and hope they can be resolved.
Do note - "droid" - means a Motorola phone with that word in the name (a/p gsmarena.com 4 pieces produced). Therefore - the whole rant about other options in other device maker's skins for Android.
The thing is - there are a lot of people in those forums who do not bother to google for answers and who simply want everything put before them on a plate. This always results in a somewhat sarcastic reply - and personally I'm not surprised. The answer you received was mild and non-offensive - please do take note of that.
Cheers!
Thank you for the insight.
Next time I'll post my search logs.
rnrnrn said:
Dear Vdubjim,
To be completely honest with you the answer you received was quite sensible - outlining many options you do have and hope they can be resolved.
Do note - "droid" - means a Motorola phone with that word in the name (a/p gsmarena.com 4 pieces produced). Therefore - the whole rant about other options in other device maker's skins for Android.
The thing is - there are a lot of people in those forums who do not bother to google for answers and who simply want everything put before them on a plate. This always results in a somewhat sarcastic reply - and personally I'm not surprised. The answer you received was mild and non-offensive - please do take note of that.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must have a unique way of using my devices because I've never seen this issue reported on the forum.
Firstly, I just want to say that lastreadingpoint.db seems to be something of a garbage bin. I'm working with one of my older devices right now (formerly my principal reader) and the db is filled with books that were deleted long ago. Now, perhaps, cleanup of this file is supposed to happen when books are removed via UMS since that's the only provision B&N made for removing side-loaded content, but I doubt it. Since I just use a file manager, I may be frustrating some grand design that would keep the db file tidy. NOT.
But I digress. My real beef is the unpredictability of the button. When I select a new book from the library and move along a few pages to the first chapter, I often return to the home page to deal with some other things and then set the device aside until I'm ready to start my new book. But when I do return and tap that button, I generally get the last book I just finished (at the last page....). If I have deleted that book already then I'll get some other book, maybe an anthology I frequent, wherever I left off.
Inspection of lastreadingpoint.db shows no indication that I ever selected a new book.
I have struggled with this for a long time and realize that without knowing exactly when and under what circumstances the db would actually be updated, this is really difficult to run down. I just tried another experiment and put the device to sleep manually after starting a new book (book still displayed). Then I woke it up and returned to the home screen (i.e., my launcher, not the B&N Home). The "now reading" button worked correctly! And repeatedly.
BUT...A look at lastreadingpoint.db still did not show that the new book had been opened! This helps explain why my overtures with sqlite were not having much effect.
It's a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, enclosed in a B&N box.
I just want the #$%&*% button to do what you would expect it to do without a lot of nonsense. It's easier to get it to consistently open a current Kindle book then to open an epub in the stock reader.
Why?
Edit: The next day: I accessed the book one more time this morning without any problem and copied out the database again. This time it finally showed an entry for the book with the correct access time.
Edit: 9-12-22 Nothing seems to work consistently except for one change. I have installed on my devices a little app called "NookReader". It's buried deep in the old posts of the forum and its purpose is to allow epubs to be opened via a file manager (which I never do). In effect it creates a "listener" which the stock system lacks.
Well, it seems the stock system doesn't like eavesdropping. When I uninstalled the app from the device I had been experimenting with the effect was immediate and I was able to move from selection to selection, each time returning to the most recent book correctly using the "now reading" button. Another device required an uninstall as well as a reboot in order to start behaving properly.
Moral: if you're not using it, get rid of it!
nmyshkin said:
I have struggled with this for a long time and realize that without knowing exactly when and under what circumstances the db would actually be updated, this is really difficult to run down. I just tried another experiment and put the device to sleep manually after starting a new book (book still displayed). Then I woke it up and returned to the home screen (i.e., my launcher, not the B&N Home). The "now reading" button worked correctly! And repeatedly.
BUT...A look at lastreadingpoint.db still did not show that the new book had been opened! This helps explain why my overtures with sqlite were not having much effect.
It's a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, enclosed in a B&N box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@nmyshkin ... even i've struggled with something like this ... inconsistencies of the last reading point actions ...
nmyshkin said:
Edit: 9-12-22 Nothing seems to work consistently except for one change. I have installed on my devices a little app called "NookReader". It's buried deep in the old posts of the forum and its purpose is to allow epubs to be opened via a file manager (which I never do). In effect it creates a "listener" which the stock system lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you referring to the app that goes by 'dev.nookreader.apk' ? ... for now i've just renamed it to 'dev.nookreader.apk.bkp' so its as good as removed ...
some database problems i think i can report, one that i've annoyingly encountered, in this I've sometimes found the order of the books in the default library aren't displayed as they should have ... Iam referring to the 'Most Recent' sorting option where the last opened/accessed book should ideally show up at the top most ... BUT SADLY IT DOESN'T !!! ...
Most annoying is when i search a book open and read it and expect it to show up on the top or at least in the first few pages of the library ... but they don't ... search is the only option to reopen such a book ...
Aren't the books that are opened using the 'Search' option of the library not supposed to show high up the library ?
I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO GET THIS ANNOYANCE RID OF ... i would love to find all the last accessed books in the topmost sorting order as its supposed to work ...
I don't even know what database records the last accessed book information ... any and all help appreciated to identify and fix this annoyance.
PS : Are "New"' books(Lend Me) installed from the B&N store supposed to show up at the topmost ?
Update : strangely the searched book shows up in the B&N Home under 'READING Now' section but its not showing in the Library as the topmost book in it ... another inconsistent DB recording ???
aiamuzz said:
Update : strangely the searched book shows up in the B&N Home under 'READING Now' section but its not showing in the Library as the topmost book in it ... another inconsistent DB recording ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, well, I can't say that I know a lot more now than when I started this thread.
What I can say is that the device seems to work with a copy of the database in RAM or else keeps variables in RAM that are not written to the database until much, much later (like during or after a nap).
I began to think about how I use the device vs. how B&N intended it to be used so I made a few tests going from the B&N Home to the Library, to a book. Then, there is really only one way to get out of the book and that is through the QuickNav buttons. I thought that maybe the trigger to the database update was somewhere in there, but I saw the same inconsistent results and delayed updating of the file as with my own sequence.
This is why I eventually abandoned the database as a source of info for my SetCover app and started relying (at least partly) on my own data. All I can say for "sure" at this point is that a good nap on the open book seems to aid in the correct information making its way into the database. Not very technical, I know.
If you are getting really spurious behavior from your lastreadingpoint.db or you find that it is full of deadwood, you can clean out the entire thing as here. Of course you will lose absolutely everything in the database if you do that, so it's a "last gasp" scenario.
For me, things seem to have calmed down if I just leave an epub open in the stock reader for awhile. And after all, what's the rush to get back to the home screen? (in general). That's not how the reader was probably meant to be used.
aiamuzz said:
Update : strangely the searched book shows up in the B&N Home under 'READING Now' section but its not showing in the Library as the topmost book in it ... another inconsistent DB recording ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you run this test ?
1. Open stock library.
2. Search for some book that is buried in the last pages of the Library.
3. Open that book from the search results.
4. Flip a few pages to emulate that you've read that book.
Ideally that book should be the Last Read (Reading Now) ... WHICH INDEED DOES WORK SO !!!
Having been a recent book that one has read ...
The Library app should also show that book on the very first page as its the most recent one ... BUT IT DOES NOT SHOW SO IN THE LIBRARY !!!
I would really like the searched and opened books to move to the front pages of the Library App and stay there and get moved down as and when other books are opened ... at worst it should be easily locatable in the first few pages of the Library App ... the 'recent' book sorting option in the Library and the place where this info is stored may have to be trouble shot ...
aiamuzz said:
Can you run this test ?
1. Open stock library.
2. Search for some book that is buried in the last pages of the Library.
3. Open that book from the search results.
4. Flip a few pages to emulate that you've read that book.
Ideally that book should be the Last Read (Reading Now) ... WHICH INDEED DOES WORK SO !!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, there you are. I've never used the "search" function on the NST for anything! But I did, just to humor you, and I see that it actually turns up a "hit".
I use the Library almost exclusively in shelf format. What I personally would like is for the @%W$#% Library to remember that. Of course, it will not, because then I would not see all the nifty new books I just purchased (NOT) from B&N as they are delivered.
Any "adjustments" to the Library behavior are beyond my pay grade and you won't get you-know-who interested in that either, as she has her own Library app. I've looked at a lot of Library alternatives. There were many promising looking ones in the early days but all seem to have been abandoned at some incomplete point by their developers (except for the one mentioned above).
I just live with it. I don't have hundreds of books on my device. When I finish a book I actually delete it (gasp!) [except for something like the Bible].
But it would be nice to understand the rules or thinking behind the "reading now" business. However, since the database doesn't seem to accept input (although you can read from it), it doesn't matter much I guess.