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Hello all
As a relatively new user of the G1 it raised some questions in my mind about its design.
The thing is that all the exciting things are there but some basic things are missing.
First did the designers intention was to enable only English speaking users to use it? Why there is no built in multi language support? Even if the user itself speak English but he is a Japanese and wants to comunicate with friends and relatives not speaking English - he can not.
Second - did the designers realy thought that 256MB of internal memory will not run out of space very quickly, when the whole idea of the phone with the Market is to download applications for it? Why not give the user to choose where to install the application at the installation time? It is like that on my Nokia E65.
What about all the trivial little things that I was so sure they are there, that I did not bother to ask about them, things like choosing where user data - like contacts etc - will be saved, copying the contacts and other user data to the SD card weather or from the SD card to backup or restore them. Again my Nokia has it and it is basic function on any Hand Held device.
When you mount the phone on a PC what do they have to hide when showing only the SD card content?
What is the result - talented people here and else where like JF are trying to Hack/Fix/Go around all these flaws in the design - and realy doing a great job - instead of focusing on developing new and exciting applications for us the users of the phone.
Does any body have an explanation for these design flaws?
Have a good day and thanks to all the developers out there fixing the designers poor design (at least on some basic functionality).
Ophir
New os, first device running the os, they just wanted to present something. The first car ever produced sucked too, it just happens.
ophirb said:
When you mount the phone on a PC what do they have to hide when showing only the SD card content?
Ophir
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you mount the phone to the PC, it only mounts the SDcard. No ones hiding anything, but if you're using a stock G1 then thats all you really have access to anyways, and thats prolly the way google intended it, considering the OS is open source, so im sure while android was being developed they couldnt figure the need to hack a device thats already open source. So why would they make it to where any everyday user can just hook up the phone, delete the whole system "accidently", and then have a $400 brick? Cuz you know thats what everybody would do if they could...theyd go deleting things that they dont know what the hell they even do, then go whining to google or tmobile when their phone is ruined. Who wants to shell out all the money to replace all the phones that were bought by complete and utter MORONS who will settle for nothing less than to go messing with stuff they dont understand until they've rendered their phone completely USELESS? Not me, and surely not google, either. So if you want to have the phone mount the whole system, then make your own build and add that functionality. Thats the beauty of an open source platform, they made it SAFE FOR ALL USERS, and then advanced users who actually know what theyre doing can change it any way they want. So dont complain about the way android was released because it is, by no means, a finished product. So if you dont like it, CHANGE IT. Or pay someone else to change it for you. Whatever. But the point and the beauty of this OS is that YOU CAN change it, you arent just stuck with ****ty functionality, you can change whatever you want to make your device do whatever you want. Dont just sit around crying about the current state of android...get out there and make it better, for yourself, for all of us, or accept it the way it is and leave it alone.
-BMFC
Mine is multilingual... Under regional settings I change the language to spanish.
RSchmauk said:
Mine is multilingual... Under regional settings I change the language to spanish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ditto. Even though the hardware keyboard is English, there are plenty of alternative Virtual Keyboards on the market that have multi-language support, including middle-eastern and Asian ones.
Re: 256MB int memory... That's a huge "WTF" in my book. This phone should've had HTC Hero's specs of 512MB RAM and 256MB ROM.
Installing apps to SD card can be accomplished with custom ROMs. For everything else - "there's an app for that".
Keep in mind that Android is still in its infancy. As the OS and SDK mature, you will see all those features, and many more.
CBowley said:
New os, first device running the os, they just wanted to present something. The first car ever produced sucked too, it just happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your saying the Ford Model A sucks? haha
What Should have been
The first car though did have four wheels an engine a steering wheel etc all teh BASIC stuff where there.
Today we have all the other goodies AC, ABS, Stereo etc.
In the G1 it is like they started with the goodies and left the basic out.
Since the OS is open source it can be modified, but if installing a modified ROM, it voids the warrenty.
So if you spent a lot of money buying the G1 discovered these flaws in the design and wants to rectify it by using a modified ROM you loose your warrenty.
Bare in mind that this is not a cheap device and so is expected to perform and have MORE functionality then a cheap device.
I whould not even bring all this up if it was a cheap device.
ophirb said:
Since the OS is open source it can be modified, but if installing a modified ROM, it voids the warrenty.
So if you spent a lot of money buying the G1 discovered these flaws in the design and wants to rectify it by using a modified ROM you loose your warrenty.
B
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could always just flash with stock firmware and perform a hard reset.
Don't get me wrong, in general I like it, it is just that it seems to me careless not to include those basic features. They, as a professional designers should be able to figure out the design better and it is not that they did not have anything to rely on, many smart phones are out there to learn the good and the bad from.
ophirb said:
it voids the warrenty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you come up with THAT nonsense?
If you change the software and the LCD quits, the LCD is STILL under warranty.
There are zero in the Marketplace.
Is there some kind of technical limitation of Android that prevents this most rudimentary of features of a computing device with a screen? I just don't get it at all. It can't be that nobody has asked for one. So there must be a limitation of Android that prevents a screenshot from being generated?
REQUEST: Can anyone write an app that solves this? I think there were would be great demand.
I think if it was possible, there would be one by now. Most likely it's not.
It can't be that nobody has asked for one. So there must be a limitation of Android that prevents a screenshot from...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you answered your own question; )
In order to take a screen print, data from the video RAM must be extracted. root access is required for this.
Sent from my HTC Desire using the XDA mobile application powered by Tapatalk
Yeah, you can pretty much rule out anything that requires direct access to hardware. Hardware access is limited to what is accessible via APIs. By the look of it, that does not include access to the video RAM. There are many other things (flashlight for example) which, although they seem simple, are not included in the standard APIs and therefore are not possible without root access to the device.
bcmobile said:
Yeah, you can pretty much rule out anything that requires direct access to hardware. Hardware access is limited to what is accessible via APIs. By the look of it, that does not include access to the video RAM. There are many other things (flashlight for example) which, although they seem simple, are not included in the standard APIs and therefore are not possible without root access to the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I'm not a developer so I didn't know these limitations existed. This OS has developed so fast -- less than 2 years old... and yet, I would have thought this kind of thing would have been handled long ago, just from end-user expectation: "I can print-screen" or screen grab on my full size computer, so i probably can screen grab from my hand held computer.
But re flashlight -- maybe there is one specific function/app you are referring to, but on my Hero, unrooted, thru the Market, i must have downloaded and tried about 6 different flashlights, all with basic function of using the white light of the screen as a light source... some that enabled you to change the color of the screen to blue, red, etc... One even has this cop-car alternating red-blue flashing light display.
I am probably misunderstanding you though.
I think ultimately I am just surprised certain things are not further along -- and it's a stark contrast to a thread I was just visiting way across the other side of the XDA forums universe -- called WP7 - epic fail --- in which many die hard WM developers lament the passing of an OS that gave amazing levels of access to devs, yet the UI of the OS itself was beyond dated, it was dysfunctional and impractical in today's world.
It's just interesting to read the perspectives of developers touting Symbian as the most open OS and most efficient (less battery drain) -- and last I knew I thought it was being killed off. Wrong again.
I'm extremely happy with Android -- but then there are these few blindspots where I have to say -- wow -- i could do THAT 5 years ago on my old T-Mobile MDA WM 5x phone ... like 100%-reliable voicetags for phone calling contacts, opening apps etc, vs speech recognition, ... like the abilities the resistive screen gave me in drawing elaborate sketch at a meeting -- or my being able the take really quick notes with -- yes -- a stylus -- not an alltogether stupid idea -- and have a 90% success rate at character recognition and conversion to text ... the precision of controlling a color slider bar on a resistive screen --- i understand that's not OS but screen properties -- but I am just collectively observing that while I absolutely loved my HERO, and now am discovering my DESIRE, there are still some very basic things I can't do with allegedly the best smartphone in the marketplace.
I'm very agnostic about hardware and software, never been a fanboy -- I'm a usability designer... so functionality rules, end users rule. And basic things like this -- a screenshot -- they may be very explainable by devs... And my question may sound like it's very annoying to some, and I'm just a dumb **** (not you, you were respectful), but I think, as a end user advocate, it's pretty stupid -- and seems senseless to me that this phone can do 1001 backflips with video, and yet it can't let me "record" what I see on my screen. I get it that it's not yet released by Google, but they're who I'm calling stupid for not solving something so elementary by now.
I have every right to say this without any android architecture knowledge.
I can see your point, but in all modern operating systems, there is no direct hardware control, for any purpose, no matter how benevolent the purpose might be.
This is done only through api programming and libraries of calls, which are also restricted most of the time.
The reason is simple and can be summarized to one word, security.
As phones are becoming more and more capable of doing sensitive activities like online banking transactions and on top of that hold every personal info one has,
security will become an even greater concern.
Windows so far, have been the least secure platform for every day use to date. This is also true for windows mobile.
I know it looks like you are getting less usability than you did, but at least in this case its not just to inflate someone's wallet with extra money, through proprietorial lock down of services and apis, which would be "opened" at a later date for some more cash.
I m sure that in no time we ll be seeing full blown firewalls and antivirus suites for superphones like the desire.
All it will take is a few more viruses-trojans targeting mobile platforms like jailbroken iphones or rooted android devices.
I guess the same limitations are to be blamed for not having a proper voice recorder, i.e. one that can record both parts of a phone conversation.
reason you arent getting a non root screenshot app(if memory serves correctly):
the screenshot app takes a dump of the display file in /dev/ and then uses image processing to output a jpg/png/whatever. At the momment we can see the contents of /dev/ with (adb shell ls /dev/) but any attempt to read/write/copy (adb pull /dev/lightsensor ./lightsensor)(yes i know that is the light sensor but couldnt remember what the display file was called) anything is met with a "permission denied".
First of all, forgive me for a less than cogent post. This is an issue that has been on my mind and I'd like to have some other power users weigh in on this.
I am a user of both [jailbroken] iOS and Android. As you can see from my signature, I am fortunate enough to have a lot of different devices and as such have a firm understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each platform. I have to say, Android is wonderful for it's openness and customizability (custom ROMs, themes, open apps, torrents, Swype, Power Strip, etc.). It's great that it's open source and freely modifiable by anyone (Except honeycomb, don't get me started). That said, it has some built in drawbacks. Architecturally, iOS seems to be a more solid platform, but some of the things in iOS that hold your hand are the same things that are considered a major hindrance to power users like us ("walled garden" app store, weird multitasking APIs like the 10 minute timeout, etc). I love how everything in the OS, including the apps, are composited (read: hardware accelerated). The SDK is amazing, and helps developers make incredible looking, cohesive applications. At the end of the day however, I am willing to sacrifice some of the usability for my freedom. Just as I live in the United States (not discriminating against any overseas users) and as such have to put up with some bull**** in order to have my civil liberties, I am eager to drop Apple completely on my laptop, desktop, tablet, and phone. I truly believe that they are an evil corporation and don't give a **** about anything except money and are unwilling in the slightest to cater to power users because of their [reasonable] fear of piracy and people breaking their devices. But I will no longer support them in their quest for erosion of my freedom in the name of profit. They will not get any more of my money.
So now that you have a little background on what I see, I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help me with as I try to transition to a fully Apple-free lifestyle.
1. I use an app called MyWi Ondemand to automatically tether my iPad to my iPhone over bluetooth whenever it needs an Internet connection (it's wifi only). Is there an app that is similar where I can tether my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to my Atrix 4G automatically, over bluetooth, as needed?
2. Is there an app that can automatically kill apps after a given amount of time (say 2 minutes - 20 minutes) for apps that persist in the background that I don't need hogging my battery (for instance, I have IM+ and it supports push notifications, but I don't want to have to hit menu->exit every time). I want to have it be killed when I hit the home button.
3. Where do you see the Android platform going? With Ice Cream Sandwich on the horizon, do you think that we'll get real hardware acceleration for scrolling and apps, etc.? Do you think we'll get an SDK that will help developers create great-looking apps across the board?
4. For former/current iOS users, what are some of the things you miss about iOS and how do you work around them or what solutions have you come up with?
5. Why did you choose Android over iOS? (I guess most Atrix 4G users in the states are on AT&T)
5. Anything you wanna say on topic!
I really don't wanna bring any fanboyism into this. Please understand, I don't want a flame war or "APPLE IS TEH SUX LOL!!!11" or "Android pwnz bc i hax0r!" I want people's honest opinion about why they made the decisions they did and hopefully the answers to my questions. Thanks so much!
1. its built into the os. WIRELESS AP. it doesnt use bluetooth, but it makes your phone into a wireless access point
2. instead of hitting the home button when leaving an app, hit the back button. it should kill the app. the home button doesnt exit, just allows you to swap to a different app. if android senses the app is resource hogging and you arent using it, it will kill it on its own.
3. dont know
4. as an iphone user for 3 years, i can honestly say, nothing. there is nothing i miss about IOS
5. i love to tinker
brashmadcap said:
First of all, forgive me for a less than cogent post. This is an issue that has been on my mind and I'd like to have some other power users weigh in on this.
I am a user of both [jailbroken] iOS and Android. As you can see from my signature, I am fortunate enough to have a lot of different devices and as such have a firm understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each platform. I have to say, Android is wonderful for it's openness and customizability (custom ROMs, themes, open apps, torrents, Swype, Power Strip, etc.). It's great that it's open source and freely modifiable by anyone (Except honeycomb, don't get me started). That said, it has some built in drawbacks. Architecturally, iOS seems to be a more solid platform, but some of the things in iOS that hold your hand are the same things that are considered a major hindrance to power users like us ("walled garden" app store, weird multitasking APIs like the 10 minute timeout, etc). I love how everything in the OS, including the apps, are composited (read: hardware accelerated). The SDK is amazing, and helps developers make incredible looking, cohesive applications. At the end of the day however, I am willing to sacrifice some of the usability for my freedom. Just as I live in the United States (not discriminating against any overseas users) and as such have to put up with some bull**** in order to have my civil liberties, I am eager to drop Apple completely on my laptop, desktop, tablet, and phone. I truly believe that they are an evil corporation and don't give a **** about anything except money and are unwilling in the slightest to cater to power users because of their [reasonable] fear of piracy and people breaking their devices. But I will no longer support them in their quest for erosion of my freedom in the name of profit. They will not get any more of my money.
So now that you have a little background on what I see, I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help me with as I try to transition to a fully Apple-free lifestyle.
1. I use an app called MyWi Ondemand to automatically tether my iPad to my iPhone over bluetooth whenever it needs an Internet connection (it's wifi only). Is there an app that is similar where I can tether my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to my Atrix 4G automatically, over bluetooth, as needed?
2. Is there an app that can automatically kill apps after a given amount of time (say 2 minutes - 20 minutes) for apps that persist in the background that I don't need hogging my battery (for instance, I have IM+ and it supports push notifications, but I don't want to have to hit menu->exit every time). I want to have it be killed when I hit the home button.
3. Where do you see the Android platform going? With Ice Cream Sandwich on the horizon, do you think that we'll get real hardware acceleration for scrolling and apps, etc.? Do you think we'll get an SDK that will help developers create great-looking apps across the board?
4. For former/current iOS users, what are some of the things you miss about iOS and how do you work around them or what solutions have you come up with?
5. Why did you choose Android over iOS? (I guess most Atrix 4G users in the states are on AT&T)
5. Anything you wanna say on topic!
I really don't wanna bring any fanboyism into this. Please understand, I don't want a flame war or "APPLE IS TEH SUX LOL!!!11" or "Android pwnz bc i hax0r!" I want people's honest opinion about why they made the decisions they did and hopefully the answers to my questions. Thanks so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: There's an app for everything in the market now
2: Advanced task killer and others can be put into different modes depending on how much control you give it. Beware of battery life though:https://market.android.com/details?id=biz.stachibana.TaskKiller&feature=search_result
3: Since we'll hopefully be getting ice cream sandwich roms the hardware we have is just the beginning: http://androidandme.com/2011/08/new...ming-consoles-will-be-replaced-by-snapdragon/
4: There's nothing to miss about ios except that the iphone's hardware is built to help speed up the ui. If you miss it too much then just use MIUI which is the leading competitor to Cyanogenmod (which i prefer).
5: I personally chose android since it's SUPER open and there's people like Kenneth Penn who's a badass. Also I hate apple since they sue everyone like HTC and motorola since HTC and motorola are coming out with better technology and hardware before they are.
As a former ios user, and on my second android device, the only thing I miss is the full backup capability of ios/itunes. It was nice to plug in a new phone and have it be exactly the way the old one was. Being on my second atrix this sucked caused the market was still only recognizing my previous atrix. But small price to pay for my freedom.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Pirateghost said:
1. its built into the os. WIRELESS AP. it doesnt use bluetooth, but it makes your phone into a wireless access point
2. instead of hitting the home button when leaving an app, hit the back button. it should kill the app. the home button doesnt exit, just allows you to swap to a different app. if android senses the app is resource hogging and you arent using it, it will kill it on its own.
3. dont know
4. as an iphone user for 3 years, i can honestly say, nothing. there is nothing i miss about IOS
5. i love to tinker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Tethering over Wifi is specifically what I'm trying to avoid. I don't want to have to turn it on and off, I just want the tablet to query the device ONLY WHEN IT NEEDS A CONNECTION, then time out once it no longer needs it. Tethering over bluetooth, on demand. I assure you, this is a slick solution. It doesn't rape your battery.
2. I hate to sound callous, but that's absolutely untrue. Android will kill a background app only if it needs new resources for another app that's being loaded into memory at that time. And some apps can tell the OS that they HAVE to stay in memory; like a do not kill flag. Some ROMS like cyanogenmod, MIUI, do have an option to LONG HOLD the back button to force close an app however.
Thanks for your input.
shadowskorch said:
soles-will-be-replaced-by-snapdragon/[/url]
4: There's nothing to miss about ios except that the iphone's hardware is built to help speed up the ui. If you miss it too much then just use MIUI which is the leading competitor to Cyanogenmod (which i prefer).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MIUI is great, I agree. I'll be excited when it comes out for the Atrix. The iPhone's SOFTWARE is built to speed up the UI, not the other way around. That's why an iPhone 3GS/4 screen scrolls more smoothly than an Atrix 4G or HTC Sensation, despite having an inferior 3D accelerator.
Once again, I'm not trying to insult anyone here and I'm grateful for the input. I'm trying to have an open dialogue so that we can all have some mutual understanding on this topic. Thanks for weighing in!
brashmadcap said:
First of all, forgive me for a less than cogent post. This is an issue that has been on my mind and I'd like to have some other power users weigh in on this.
I am a user of both [jailbroken] iOS and Android. As you can see from my signature, I am fortunate enough to have a lot of different devices and as such have a firm understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each platform. I have to say, Android is wonderful for it's openness and customizability (custom ROMs, themes, open apps, torrents, Swype, Power Strip, etc.). It's great that it's open source and freely modifiable by anyone (Except honeycomb, don't get me started). That said, it has some built in drawbacks. Architecturally, iOS seems to be a more solid platform, but some of the things in iOS that hold your hand are the same things that are considered a major hindrance to power users like us ("walled garden" app store, weird multitasking APIs like the 10 minute timeout, etc). I love how everything in the OS, including the apps, are composited (read: hardware accelerated). The SDK is amazing, and helps developers make incredible looking, cohesive applications. At the end of the day however, I am willing to sacrifice some of the usability for my freedom. Just as I live in the United States (not discriminating against any overseas users) and as such have to put up with some bull**** in order to have my civil liberties, I am eager to drop Apple completely on my laptop, desktop, tablet, and phone. I truly believe that they are an evil corporation and don't give a **** about anything except money and are unwilling in the slightest to cater to power users because of their [reasonable] fear of piracy and people breaking their devices. But I will no longer support them in their quest for erosion of my freedom in the name of profit. They will not get any more of my money.
So now that you have a little background on what I see, I have a few questions that maybe you guys can help me with as I try to transition to a fully Apple-free lifestyle.
1. I use an app called MyWi Ondemand to automatically tether my iPad to my iPhone over bluetooth whenever it needs an Internet connection (it's wifi only). Is there an app that is similar where I can tether my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to my Atrix 4G automatically, over bluetooth, as needed?
2. Is there an app that can automatically kill apps after a given amount of time (say 2 minutes - 20 minutes) for apps that persist in the background that I don't need hogging my battery (for instance, I have IM+ and it supports push notifications, but I don't want to have to hit menu->exit every time). I want to have it be killed when I hit the home button.
3. Where do you see the Android platform going? With Ice Cream Sandwich on the horizon, do you think that we'll get real hardware acceleration for scrolling and apps, etc.? Do you think we'll get an SDK that will help developers create great-looking apps across the board?
4. For former/current iOS users, what are some of the things you miss about iOS and how do you work around them or what solutions have you come up with?
5. Why did you choose Android over iOS? (I guess most Atrix 4G users in the states are on AT&T)
5. Anything you wanna say on topic!
I really don't wanna bring any fanboyism into this. Please understand, I don't want a flame war or "APPLE IS TEH SUX LOL!!!11" or "Android pwnz bc i hax0r!" I want people's honest opinion about why they made the decisions they did and hopefully the answers to my questions. Thanks so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) There are tons of tethering apps out there. I dont use tethering so I dont know of any specifics, but I'm sure what your looking for does exist.
2) Yep, they're called task killers. I would advise you be VERY careful with them, since improper usage can hurt your phone's performance and battery life due to conflicts with Android's own internal memory management. Read up on them (there are plenty of articles on the subject) and make sure its really something you need to run on your phone before installing. If you do install one, I've heard good things about Advanced Task Killer
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.rechild.advancedtaskkiller&hl=en
3) Hardware acceleration will probably come in the future, although nobody knows exactly when it will. I dont think it'll be ICS though, because that would be a big feature that Google would want to advertise. However, I think on hardware like the Atrix, hardware acceleration isnt really needed.
The SDK is constantly improving. Already its ahead of iOS in terms of being able to create scaling apps. As proof, look at how non-tablet optimized android apps run on tablets compared to iOS. On iOS, it has to blow the display up and make everything pixelated, and there's still a border because iOS runs on fixed resolutions. On Android, thats not an issue since everything is relative instead of fixed; while the layout might not be optimal, applications will run full-screen and look great on a tablet.
Google's also made some changes to the market that allow an application to contain multiple APKs, so developers can target tablets and phones from the same app in the same way Apple can.
4) I used to use a dumbphone with an ipod touch. The only thing I've really missed was smooth scrolling in the web browser. Using Opera Mobile (not Mini) solves that problem, just as smooth.
The other thing I missed was a jailbreak tweak called Multiflow, which gave iOS's multitasking a WebOS like card interface. While similar apps exist for Android, none currently work with the Atrix. I've gotten used to working without it, but if an Atrix compatible solution ever came up I'd jump to it without hesitation.
5) You've certainly made the right choice, choosing to abandon Apple because of how they treat power users. Even their desktop computers are starting to get locked down. Sure, you can still download stuff outside the app store in Lion, but I'll bet that wont last. Before too long their desktop OS will be just as limited as iOS is.
Jotokun said:
5) You've certainly made the right choice, choosing to abandon Apple because of how they treat power users. Even their desktop computers are starting to get locked down. Sure, you can still download stuff outside the app store in Lion, but I'll bet that wont last. Before too long their desktop OS will be just as limited as iOS is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly why I jumped ship my man. I saw the writing on the wall. OS X will be iOS in one or two releases. Plus I hear there is an ARM-based MacBook Air in the works. Makes me cringe. Way to destroy the best operating system evar, Apple.
Thanks!
brashmadcap said:
1. Tethering over Wifi is specifically what I'm trying to avoid. I don't want to have to turn it on and off, I just want the tablet to query the device ONLY WHEN IT NEEDS A CONNECTION, then time out once it no longer needs it. Tethering over bluetooth, on demand. I assure you, this is a slick solution. It doesn't rape your battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wifi tethering can be setup to "timeout" and turn itself off when not in use (it just doesn't currently turn itself back on which is why I have a widget on my home screen so I can turn it back on quicker ).
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
brashmadcap said:
1. Tethering over Wifi is specifically what I'm trying to avoid. I don't want to have to turn it on and off, I just want the tablet to query the device ONLY WHEN IT NEEDS A CONNECTION, then time out once it no longer needs it. Tethering over bluetooth, on demand. I assure you, this is a slick solution. It doesn't rape your battery.
2. I hate to sound callous, but that's absolutely untrue. Android will kill a background app only if it needs new resources for another app that's being loaded into memory at that time. And some apps can tell the OS that they HAVE to stay in memory; like a do not kill flag. Some ROMS like cyanogenmod, MIUI, do have an option to LONG HOLD the back button to force close an app however.
Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont know about using bluetooth to tether, but theres an app for just about anything you want to do, and if you are technically inclined, you could just build your own solution.
as far as your comment on the background apps, what you are saying goes against pretty much everything i have read about how the processes work.
If the user leaves a task for a long time, the system clears the task of all activities except the root activity. When the user returns to the task again, it’s as the user left it, except that only the initial activity is present. The idea is that, after a time, users will likely have abandoned what they were doing before and are returning to the task to begin something new.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Activities, on the other hand, provide the user interface. They’re in a long-running conversation with the user and may remain active, even when idle, as long as the conversation continues. Similarly, services may also remain running for a long time. So Android has methods to shut down activities and services in an orderly way:
An activity can be shut down by calling its finish() method. One activity can shut down another activity (one it started with startActivityForResult()) by calling finishActivity().
A service can be stopped by calling its stopSelf() method, or by calling Context.stopService().
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when more memory is needed.
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when it’s done doing what it needs to do.
Android is hard coded to automatically kill a task when you haven’t returned to it in a long time.
Most services (while possibly running in the background) use very little memory when not actively doing something.
A content provider is only doing something when there is a notification for it to give. Otherwise it uses very little memory.
Killing a process when it isn’t ready only causes it to have to reload itself and start from scratch when it’s needed again.
Because a task is likely running in the background for a reason, killing it will only cause it to re-spawn as soon as the activity that was using it looks for it again. And it will just have to start over again.
Killing certain processes can have undesirable side effects. Not receiving text messages, alarms not going off, and force closes just to name a few.
The only true way to prevent something from running at all on your phone would be to uninstall the .apk.
Most applications will exit themselves if you get out of it by hitting “back” until it closes rather than hitting the “home” button. But even with hitting home, Android will eventually kill it once it’s been in the background for a while.
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disclaimer: i am not necessarily arguing with you, but presenting items i have read and the way i understand them to be. this is just adding to the discussion and not meant to be confrontational.
Pirateghost said:
dont know about using bluetooth to tether, but theres an app for just about anything you want to do, and if you are technically inclined, you could just build your own solution.
as far as your comment on the background apps, what you are saying goes against pretty much everything i have read about how the processes work.
disclaimer: i am not necessarily arguing with you, but presenting items i have read and the way i understand them to be. this is just adding to the discussion and not meant to be confrontational.
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Wow! Thanks for the comprehensive clarification!
in regards to tablet tethering through bluetooth "pdanet tablet beta" does exactly that.
1. Google "Wifi Tether for Root Users" and download the latest apk. Bluetooth tethering.
2. Advanced Task Killer. I'd advise against setting a kill time for all apps for the same reasons others have mentioned. It can jack up phone performance if used too much, but you can leave a link to the app within your notification bar for quick access during those times when you know a few rogue apps are running out of your control and they need to be killed.
The one thing I miss most about iOS is apps like BiteSMS that allows you to compose a text message from *any* application by just pressing volume up, then tapping the center of the screen. Even from the lockscreen.
It saves so much time from entering my PIN to unlock my device every time I want to send a message.
And note: I know apps exist that allow you to *reply* to a message even from the lockscreen. I'm talking about composing an entirely new one.
m0biusace said:
The one thing I miss most about iOS is apps like BiteSMS that allows you to compose a text message from *any* application by just pressing volume up, then tapping the center of the screen. Even from the lockscreen.
It saves so much time from entering my PIN to unlock my device every time I want to send a message.
And note: I know apps exist that allow you to *reply* to a message even from the lockscreen. I'm talking about composing an entirely new one.
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Handcent and ChompSMS (literally, the same developers of biteSMS, duplicate program just on android) offer this. Just configure it, hold the search key, and viola! Just no MMS from that screen.
First off,
Congrats GOOG, looks like we have a great (and affordable) tablet to play with! Some of the issues like missing SD, HDMI (has this been confirmed?) are really no big deal for me, 16GIG is huge, cheap storage is really spoiling us
Second,
I haven't used an Android product yet (this will be my first), moved from my amazing Motorola E6 (it was Linux/EZX based, a rooted device ran most linux ported apps for EZX, xmms baby) to the slick Nokia E71, and to Apple (currently on 4S). I have always known that Android is the way, but didn't move (too many choices in hardware?)
Ques 1) Will all Android market place apps work on the Nexus Tablet? I have seen some power apps (incredibly we have Total Commander port for android, Christian rocks, waiting for Alex to release DC port now)
Ques 2) How well do android spread sheet applications work on Tablets? Has anyone really stress tested complex excel / open office functions on Tablets? How will a spreadsheet feel on a 7 inch? Can I open Spreadsheets from email, edit, save a copy and send back on the fly?
Ques 3) Do you guys login in to remote VNC sessions using your tablet? What has been your experience on Android tablets? Is it smooth? My wife uses an iPad, and we use that to remote control a laptop connected to our LCD, I hate the experience
Ques 4) I intend to use this tablet for a lot of reading (black background, grey text), will Nexus 7 have any application that could render PDF text having unicode UTF-8 fonts + ability to reflow the text so that it fits the page width? I haven't seen any such application in the Apple iOS space, but incredibly Adobe did this on Symbian (UTF-8 with text reflow).
Quest 5) How do Android tablets fair in terms of productivity tools? (PIM, Task Management, Email, Reminders)
... I actually have a bunch of more questions, but I guess I will have to hold until we get more reviews of the Nexus 7.
Oops... I didn't realize my Sony T1 reader is an Android device. So this makes Nexus 7 my second, my bad.
Besides, *bump*
hashibahoohaa said:
First off,
Ques 2) How well do android spread sheet applications work on Tablets? Has anyone really stress tested complex excel / open office functions on Tablets? How will a spreadsheet feel on a 7 inch? Can I open Spreadsheets from email, edit, save a copy and send back on the fly?
Ques 3) Do you guys login in to remote VNC sessions using your tablet? What has been your experience on Android tablets? Is it smooth? My wife uses an iPad, and we use that to remote control a laptop connected to our LCD, I hate the experience
Quest 5) How do Android tablets fair in terms of productivity tools? (PIM, Task Management, Email, Reminders)
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Click to collapse
2) In my experience the basic excel functions work (sum, avg, etc.) I have had trouble with some of the more technical ones, and IIf statements do not work at all.
3) If you are talking about remote desktop...it still sucks.
5) I like android for productivity there are lots of apps and widgets, and they claim there is even newer and better stuff in 4.1 that this tablet will take advantage of.
Welcome to Android! Unfortunately I'm new to the tablet space, but I can answer your first question.
1) Android apps were made to be versatile. Well coded apps (key word there), will usually scale correctly according to what screen size you have. So a dev who makes a good phone app, should have it scale to a tablet screen.
Unfortunately, the lack of Android tablet success has led to a lack of "tablet specific" layouts for apps. So tablet users tend to have blown up versions of phone apps instead of UI's that take advantage of the extra real estate. But I think the success of the Nexus 7 might change a few developers minds.....
Edit- So just to clarify, most market apps will work on both phones and tablets. Unfortunately the wide variety of devices out there means you are much more likely to get occasional compatibility issues. Just a sacrifice you have to make for all the choice Android offers.
StyleNSkillz said:
2) In my experience the basic excel functions work (sum, avg, etc.) I have had trouble with some of the more technical ones, and IIf statements do not work at all.
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Click to collapse
Actually if N7 can do Google docs without the horrible text box (save / cancel) rendering for individual cell edits, I would be very comfortable. Google docs is fully portable with my Open Office (Libre Office) sheets.
3) If you are talking about remote desktop...it still sucks.
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Nope, VNC as in running a TighVNC server on Windows/Linux and accessing it using a VNC client from the tablet. I am worried now, with my wife's iPad, I at-least get real estate to vent my frustration on, with 7 inch I may need a wall next to me (to bang my head on)
5) I like android for productivity there are lots of apps and widgets, and they claim there is even newer and better stuff in 4.1 that this tablet will take advantage of.
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Can you please name a few of tablets?
Nospin said:
Welcome to Android!
Edit- So just to clarify, most market apps will work on both phones and tablets. Unfortunately the wide variety of devices out there means you are much more likely to get occasional compatibility issues. Just a sacrifice you have to make for all the choice Android offers.
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Click to collapse
Thanks mate - I think 4s is my last apple device, I am moving.
But too many hardware options with Android - none perfect, I wonder why GOOG bought Motorola Mobility
hashibahoohaa said:
First off,
Ques 1) Will all Android market place apps work on the Nexus Tablet? I have seen some power apps (incredibly we have Total Commander port for android, Christian rocks, waiting for Alex to release DC port now)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I took the Samsung Tab for a spin yesterday, not bad at all (the slate with all those ports missing in N7 making users drool over it, it's nice. I installed a couple of applications from the market (TC for one), very smooth indeed. Thanks for confirming this. I hope I will need very little applications besides the stock applications on the tablet.
Ques 2) How well do android spread sheet applications work on Tablets? Has anyone really stress tested complex excel / open office functions on Tablets? How will a spreadsheet feel on a 7 inch? Can I open Spreadsheets from email, edit, save a copy and send back on the fly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this as well yesterday on the Samsung tab - I tried the Acer 7 tab as well, but I think it was a old android version (HC). Polaris Office Spreadsheet may fit my needs - but really need to spend an hour or 2 to really know if it gets the job done.
Ques 4) I intend to use this tablet for a lot of reading (black background, grey text), will Nexus 7 have any application that could render PDF text having unicode UTF-8 fonts + ability to reflow the text so that it fits the page width? I haven't seen any such application in the Apple iOS space, but incredibly Adobe did this on Symbian (UTF-8 with text reflow).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If anybody has used a PDF reader which does UTF8 + text re-flow + font adjust, please let me know - this would be killer feature for me if it works.
Quest 5) How do Android tablets fair in terms of productivity tools? (PIM, Task Management, Email, Reminders)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like K9 could be my email solution - has anybody ported mutt to android yet?
The Wear SDK doesn't appear to have anything similar to the Pebblekit JS Framework. Does this mean that any watch app that wants to access the internet (such as a simple weather app) will need a dedicated companion phone app? Or am I missing something?
The Wear emulator technically looks like Android, but on a small screen, and with a different "launcher".
You can run many existing Android apps on it. I tried one of mine, and it worked, more or less, but the UI was squished as would be expected.
This is why it's called "Android Wear". It's just an Android variant. There may be some "normal" Android APIs it won't support, and there will be watch specific APIs I'm sure.
IMO, it makes sense and is smart of Google to do this. I don't want to deal with 10 different smartwatch OS's.
NOW is the time for a bigger, richer smartwatch OS, because it's now possible to put enough ARM compute power in a watch sized device.
I presume that Google Play will support watch apps at some point. And I'm looking forward to seeing custom watch ROMs. I hope there won't be too much locking down of devices, or at least a Nexus watch or 2 that can be unlocked.
I agree with all of your comments, but I also think the cool thing about pebble is that I can write a watch app that will, for example, get weather from a JSON source on the internet without requiring the user to install another phone app. I don't think you can do that with Wear.