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Hi,
I'm a big Magic Button fan, but it doesn't look very good with WM6 (it would require skinning or something, because it assumes that the background to the top bar is a flat colour), and it looks as though the manufacturers of Magic Button (Trancreative) are no longer functioning (the website exists, but the eMail addresses are dead, and the forum looks deserted apart from Porn messages).
Can anybody suggest an alternative? Ideally, I'm looking for something that:
a) Provides the facility to properly close applications easily.
b) Gives an easy way to task switch between open programs
c) Has a good battery monitor (the strip across the very top of the screen is still the best monitor I've seen).
d) An easy way to return to the Today screen.
e) Works seamlessly and looks great with WM6.
Cheers,
Steve.
Apart from e) I recommended you take a look at Small Menu or Small Menu Plus.
Matt
Is there anywhere that has good information about customizing the cube when you install touchflo? The cube I am using is the one that installed when I installed touchflo (it is black, 3 sides, contacts on one side, 6 apps on one side, 3 apps on the other).
Since I have buttons for the apps I use most often on the home page anyway, I don't want/need the sides of the cube with the apps on it. What WOULD be incredibly useful is to have contacts on all 3 sides of the cube.
Before I start tearing into it and (inevitably) crashing and re-loading my phone, is there an easy way to do this, or good information somewhere or an SDK or something?
Thanks
I would like to see a today plugin that features quick contacts (Kind of like the HTC home plugin).
The features I would like to see are:
* Today plugin
* Either use photo or set text for each contact.
* Opens contact in default contacts app, doesn't just dial (ie so you can choose to send an SMS)
* Vertical or horizontal list scrolled by gesture. Vertical or horizontal option would be nice, but vertical scroll probably more important - a lot of cube apps (eg ultimatelaunch) are controlled by horizontal gesture, if we could have this contacts app controlled with vertical gesture it would not interfere.
Please note that I mean a gesture controlled list WITHIN the today screen window, not as a seperate full screen app - plenty of things already do this.
* No add contact interface would be required, adding contacts to be included in dialer into a regular outlook category would be perfectly acceptable. Showing photo if contact has one or name if not would also be perfectly acceptable rather than an interface to select that.
V2R Photo Dialer 2 is almost exactly what I want but is controlled by horizontal gesture only. I tried to contact V2R to request this change but I received no response.
[Edit: Thinking about it, it doesn't need to be a favorites dialler, it could just have tickboxes for each category - if you want to use it as a favorite contacts launcher, just set it to the "favorites" category only, or you could leave all categories on to show the whole contacts list]
I'm using Face Contact which has all you've asking for, except horizontal but if you use Ultimate Launch then you can exclude the plugin from the gestures of Ultimate Launch.
http://www.cnetx.com/products/contact/
Nice app - I prefer it to the V2R one. I have emailed the author asking for the option of vertical gesture to scroll the list. I don't care if the list spins horizontally as it is, as long as I can spin it with a vertical gesture so it don't interfere with ultimatelaunch.
evilc said:
I would like to see a today plugin that features quick contacts (Kind of like the HTC home plugin).
The features I would like to see are:
* Today plugin
* Either use photo or set text for each contact.
* Opens contact in default contacts app, doesn't just dial (ie so you can choose to send an SMS)
* Vertical or horizontal list scrolled by gesture. Vertical or horizontal option would be nice, but vertical scroll probably more important - a lot of cube apps (eg ultimatelaunch) are controlled by horizontal gesture, if we could have this contacts app controlled with vertical gesture it would not interfere.
Please note that I mean a gesture controlled list WITHIN the today screen window, not as a seperate full screen app - plenty of things already do this.
* No add contact interface would be required, adding contacts to be included in dialer into a regular outlook category would be perfectly acceptable. Showing photo if contact has one or name if not would also be perfectly acceptable rather than an interface to select that.
V2R Photo Dialer 2 is almost exactly what I want but is controlled by horizontal gesture only. I tried to contact V2R to request this change but I received no response.
[Edit: Thinking about it, it doesn't need to be a favorites dialler, it could just have tickboxes for each category - if you want to use it as a favorite contacts launcher, just set it to the "favorites" category only, or you could leave all categories on to show the whole contacts list]
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Click to collapse
You can do horizontal scrolling photodial with my app, throttlelauncher.... It's free, so if you want to, try it . You can install it from http://www.throttlelauncher.com. After making the full instalation (use the exe setup or install both cabs) here you have a little setup cab for a theme showing only a contact row (if you're interested, you can have much more showing app's and other stuff in multiple pages). So to sum up:
- Go to http://www.throttlelauncher.com/
- Ensure you install everything on the same media (SD or device)
- Install both cab or use the desktop instalation in full mode.
- Install the cab attached to this thread.
- Enable throttletoday today plugin (it might take a little bit to load)
- Add as much contacts as you wish to the row .
Feel free to post any comments, requests or constructive critics . You can customize an xml to make the photos biger, order them in multiple rows, remove the ad delete icons, etc. Hope it matches what you're looking for....
Thanks for that, but the ThrottleLaunch PhotoDialer only allows scrolling of contacts via a horizontal gesture. I need to control it with a *vertical* (up/down) gesture. Also, ThrottleToday will not show inside ultimatelaunch - it will show if I put it on the main Today screen, but trying to add it as a today plugin in ultimatelaunch does nothing.
I did get an encouraging response from the makers of Face Contact yesterday though:
Hello,
thanks for your feedback.
At first thought, the idea of using a vertical gesture and having the list scroll horizontally appears a little bit disturbing, but we think we understand the rationale behind your suggestion.
We will indeed play around with UltimateLaunch to see if you can find out an option that is both intuitive and that allows Face Contact to be usable within their interface.
As it is now a possible solution is to exclude our plugin from being affected by Ultimate Launch gestures, so that when our plugin is active (and only in this circumstance) the left-right gestures will actually scroll the contact list instead than spinning the cube. Then, as soon as you apply the left/right gestures outside of our plugin, the cube will take control.
When developing Face Contact we left the door open to the possibility of having a vertical layout of the contact list, though, of course, this doesn't fit well with the current Today screen organization, which assumes all plugins are placed horizontally. In other words, it wouldn't be that difficult for us to layout the whole list vertically instead than horizontally,
So, we will definitely keep your comment in mind, as it is possible that within a different context (such as Ultimate Launch), we could actually provide both a vertical layout and vertical gesture, which would indeed make quite a lot of sense.
At this stage, having just released Face Contact a couple of days ago, we are currently gathering feedback to see how to move on with further releases and updates.
So, your feedback is very welcome: thanks again.
Best regards,
The CNetX Support Team
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Click to collapse
I downloaded Face Contact last night, and so far I am liking it. The reason I went with Face over VR2 is the space issue. VR2 looked to take a lot of space up in the Today screen, and being on a 240x240, space is a big issue. Face seemed to take a minimum of memory and leave room on my screen. I have it in a Shell tab with the native Palm picture dialer. The only option I could think of adding is the ability to dial automatically when the picture is pressed. I know that can lead to a lot of mis-dialings, but maybe a setting like normal usage until the pic is pressed for a second or so, and then the chosen primary number is dialed. If that makes sense great, if not, please let me know and I will try to explain better!!
Here is a screen shot of where I have Face on my Today screen:
im using face contact. it does everything you are asking for. im also using ultimatelaunch, the two make beautiful music together. especially if you choose the "disable gesture" feature when you enable it in ul. ive played with this quite a bit, and it is very intuitive how smooth everything STILL works. especially for these to be a first version for both apps. experiment with it. the result is perfect
Lots of nice feedback here: thanks guys.
syrguy1969 said:
...
The only option I could think of adding is the ability to dial automatically when the picture is pressed. I know that can lead to a lot of mis-dialings, but maybe a setting like normal usage until the pic is pressed for a second or so, and then the chosen primary number is dialed. If that makes sense great, if not, please let me know and I will try to explain better!!
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I'm not sure if this is referred to Face Contact, or to other software you are using. If you are actually talking about FC, then please note that you can easily reassign the TAP and TAP & HOLD actions to trigger different commands, including CALLING the selected contact. Just check the "Action Settings" screen and you'll find the options there.
Also note that when Face Contact is the active plugin you should be able to CALL the selected contact by simply pressing the START CALL key of your phone. This is usually easier and less error-prone than having to tap or tap and hold. And, if you call by using the START CALL key, you can use the tap and tap&hold actions for other things, such as displaying the shortcut menu, or accessing the Face Contact Manager.
PS: we have included quite an extensive help file, with lots of tips and tricks and information on things like this. Maybe you may want to give it a quick look.
I guess I missed the tap+hold part, that is exactly what I was getting at!!! I guess this app has just about it all for me then, I will keep testing like crazy, but so far I am very pleased with it!!!
i'm using throttle now, but the pics look like garbage. I'm seriously OCD about the dumbest stuff, so I'm still looking for an answer. I just want face contact to have a transparent background, and I'd buy it.
J Shed said:
...
I just want face contact to have a transparent background, and I'd buy it.
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Click to collapse
Hey Shed, please have a look at my post concerning the plugin background in the Face Contact thread here...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=378145&page=7
evilc said:
Thanks for that, but the ThrottleLaunch PhotoDialer only allows scrolling of contacts via a horizontal gesture. I need to control it with a *vertical* (up/down) gesture. Also, ThrottleToday will not show inside ultimatelaunch - it will show if I put it on the main Today screen, but trying to add it as a today plugin in ultimatelaunch does nothing.
I did get an encouraging response from the makers of Face Contact yesterday though:
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Hi evilc!
Sorry for the delay on the answer. Vertical scroll on throttlelauncher is planned for a further release (probably 1.0), it's still alpha so many things are missing but I thought It will mach what you where looking for... Any way, I've install UL and find out why the plugin is not showing... seem's that UL doesn't work exactly like the today screen when hosting today plugins (probably to save some memory) so the today plugin exe is not launching. To sum up, to make throttletoday plugin show inside UL the only thing needed is running manually the ThrottleTodayPlugin.exe located on the throttlelauncher instalation path. At least that worked for me. Also as you've said the horizontal scrolling will interfer with the tab change gesture so disabling os setting a time out it is needed by now....
J Shed said:
i'm using throttle now, but the pics look like garbage. I'm seriously OCD about the dumbest stuff, so I'm still looking for an answer. I just want face contact to have a transparent background, and I'd buy it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi shed!
If contact photos don't look good you can try playing with the config.xml file to change the contact photo width an height values (I recommend to keep the 3/4 ratio if you use standar photo dial photos). The config.xml file will be inside the PhotoDialer1Row (or 2Row if you use this one) on your setups folder on your throttlelauncher instalation path. All you need to do is search for the allcontactswithphoto tag and play with it's height and width attribute.
Gabibbo:
I saw your post and had already replied. I'm just waiting for the version to show up.
APBilbo:
I have thinkered with that setting, the problem is in just how throttle scales the images. I don't recall the terms, but the scaled images are distorted.
@evilc .... I too use face contacts in a UL panel. When you use the disable gesture feature, It only disables the gestures from being passed to UL in the active plugin area. You can still spin the cube via gesture in an inactive area of the panel. Or if combined with something else, an area that does not otherwise respond to a gesture. Try it out.... In my case I have found that though it is a great idea, the vertical gesturing is not necessary for a fully functional solution.
J Shed said:
...
APBilbo:
I have thinkered with that setting, the problem is in just how throttle scales the images. I don't recall the terms, but the scaled images are distorted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, thanks for the info... I'll take a look at that... It's NET.CF the one scaling the images.... probably there's a smother method to get it...
nextpimp said:
@evilc .... I too use face contacts in a UL panel. When you use the disable gesture feature, It only disables the gestures from being passed to UL in the active plugin area. You can still spin the cube via gesture in an inactive area of the panel. Or if combined with something else, an area that does not otherwise respond to a gesture. Try it out.... In my case I have found that though it is a great idea, the vertical gesturing is not necessary for a fully functional solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I realised that a while ago, it is OK if you have something else in the UL tab without gestures disabled, so that you can gesture left in that area to spin the cube.
I think overall, the interface I would like would be gesture left/right between the faces, then up/down to scroll info on each face. I think for this interface, a vertical list would be more suitable than horizontal scrolling icons, it would just work better visually.
I really like the music browser in conduits pocket player - I would kill for one of those in a UL face along with a contacts list done in a similar manner on another face, thumbcal (with scroll month by vertical gesture) on another face... That would be nirvana for me.
Hello guys!
I think many of us came to the thinking that, though TouchFLO 3D is great UI, we should make something alternate, something that better fits our needs. And now, i think i'm ready to create one, but first we should decide how should it look like and how should it operate.
So, i propose a kind of "brainstorming contest" where you decide about the look of a new UI. But to avoid this turning into an annoying feature request list ("more tasks on today! please! please! please!" ), here are the rules:
- NO text-only suggestions - every post s/b illustrated with pen-and-paper drawing
- NO screenshots or photoshop cooks - only hand-drawings or something that look like em (yes, you can use digitizer tablet )
- drawings are NOT required to be professional - just something to illustrate you thoughts
- you are NOT required to develop the complete UI - you may just post suggestions about UI parts, but preferred things are unique navigation idea (try to forget about tabs), apps\tabs convergence, brand new useful apps/tabs
- best contributors ideas (possible with Manila API) will be implemented and their names will be listed in "About..." screen
Posts that violate rules (even best of them), will be ignored.
That's it.
maybe this is too open ended.. do you haev some ideas of your own that you might want to put forward?
omniwolf said:
maybe this is too open ended.. do you haev some ideas of your own that you might want to put forward?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm already implementing ideas of my own
I just wanted to know what do folks think/dream about
show us whatcha go then!
I think D-MAN666 doesn't want to influence people, this is a brainstorming If he starts with his idea, it is probable that nobody will post a completely different concept...
This might be a useful start for interface design:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=397220
One thing I would love to see is a radial menu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu
Similar to tap-and-hold for a context menu, but instead of a list popping up, a radial menu appears. You could fit 8-12 options around the circle, which would cover TF3d's pages.
So in usage, tap for the popup radial menu, then:
- swipe up for Contacts
- swipe right for Music
- swipe down for Home
- etc
IMO, it's much easier to be accurate in swiping at different angles/directions than it is to be precise with the default TF3d slider tabs, so you could really speed your way through the interface. The same could apply elsewhere: tap and hold a contact, then swipe up to call, left to SMS, right to email, etc.
For other thoughts, here's a read on interface optimization (for the technically inclined):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitts's_law
And maybe later if I'm bored I'll draw some mockups
http://microsoft.blognewschannel.co...bile-7-to-focus-on-touch-and-motion-gestures/
sorry for breaking the rules, but everyone else is lol...thats a link to the WM7 concept design...along with theoretical gestures...i really digg the battery bar on the bottom and the reception bar...
Ill be the first then...
A quick drawing i knocked up... manila stays very much the same but basicaly show page navigation on the manila both horizontal and vertical..
I hope its clear enough
2 ideas here
I am going to break the rules since I'ma t work and can't really be seen drawing lol.
Here they are:
- Make use of the touch capacitative ability of the the buttons panel. It's made up of three touch panels. Maybe a swipe from left to right to unlock and right to left to lock.
- Display applications within tabs. Ex: Being able to display Icontact when sliding to the contact tab.
And for UI inspiration, I would look here:
http://www.throttlelauncher.com/portal/setupsaskins/45-091setups/69-new-minimal-flow-theme
Ok, here's my concept
The general idea is to keep most of manilla look'n feel, just remove useless animations/transitions, and change the home screen.
Changes : on the right side of the screen, a scrollbar similar to the "contacts" one appears. It controls the content of the box under the clock.
On the left, a button to maximize (take the place of the clock) the box, and a fast vibrator/ring permutation button.
So, by scrolling the bar, the content of the box changes, could be call log, contacts, fast program launcher, music player, and so on.
The idea is to keep complex functionalities (camera, tv, etc) needing full screen accessible by the manilla bar, and quick&fast features such as logs, sms, player accessible on the main screen.
Nice idea, man
Hi there,
just a thought on a possible gui for the UI, instead of tabs, layers (don't know if that's possible, but it would be very cool imho)
you could have multiple layers, and have the layers in the backgound fade out and become smaller (perspective) and use a swipe up or down to navigate
Anything happening on here?
Just wondering
SinnerNL said:
Hi there,
just a thought on a possible gui for the UI, instead of tabs, layers (don't know if that's possible, but it would be very cool imho)
you could have multiple layers, and have the layers in the backgound fade out and become smaller (perspective) and use a swipe up or down to navigate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great idea!
like the game u can get on Playstation 3... where u 'swim' around collecting stuff and going thru lvls....
I'm thinking that the Ximoon idea is quite good but one thing that should be included is landscape option and I'm not talking about TP version but one with the same functions like the portrait one
I like the idea of the circular menus...
well first of all thanks to you guys you are doing awsome work and its always funn spendin my free time in your forums
now to my idea
does anybody know the film : the lawnmower man? theres one scene almost at the end of the film where he tries to escape to the internet i think the idea is quite amazing movn in a bowl and havin litle windows to select.
what do ya think
this is the link to the movie scene just skip it forward to about 5 minutes
Edit: sry forgot the link :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doAnB5_eDnw&feature=related
I am looking for some help from the many people on here more talented than me, I have very basic programing skills but am hoping to learn more though this process.
The plan : Create an app for winmo that can do similar to this http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/14/email_n_walk/ ideally for texting as well as email.
My ideas so far (very early stages):
1. Use the generic windows messaging screen and replace the white standard background with a transparent one, probably with shaded area for tx to make it readable, and call the camera app behind it.
2. Use the tf3d messaging screen and use something like MunBackground all tabs to again run the camera view instead of a static picture.
In an ideal world I would only like to use one of these methods meaning that text/email could be written with or without the camera app running.
I would appriciate any input and help with this, I am well aware this will be made more difficult with my lack of experience, but am hopful that the wealth of knowlege here can help.
Im sorry, i cant offer my help, but you have my support; this would be great, especially for wvga devices.
If I understanded, you want transparent screen to send messages?
I'd be willing to donate some money toward anyone who could create such an application.
I'm sure came across this before as an idea if i'm reading it correct, the problem being that when we walk we don't hold the phone up infront so we'd be viewing the floor infront of our feet
One way would be to take a picture every x ms and draw it and additional items like rectangles and text in the paint method of a panel control.
P.S.: How would it look like in manila? Remember this fake/bug live camera image in home screen?
bug description
stylez said:
I'm sure came across this before as an idea if i'm reading it correct, the problem being that when we walk we don't hold the phone up infront so we'd be viewing the floor infront of our feet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Possibly not completely upright, but maybe 45 deg, and would still stop you tripping over stuff!!
heliosdev said:
One way would be to take a picture every x ms and draw it and additional items like rectangles and text in the paint method of a panel control.
P.S.: How would it look like in manila? Remember this fake/bug live camera image in home screen?
bug description
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my head, it would ideally be a seperate way of opening/writing text/email to save battery life when not needed, and would probably be a video/camera image behind, with a semi transparent overlay/greyed out area where message text was typed to enable the text to be readable.
Will try out that diamond bug/fake