TouchWiz...Why do you like it? - Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I've yet to find a reason to use this over Launcher Pro...lack of customization, sloppy UI, among other things. What do you like about TW and why?

Sdobron said:
I've yet to find a reason to use this over Launcher Pro...lack of customization, sloppy UI, among other things. What do you like about TW and why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I liked its simplicity (fat, basic icons on the bottom). I also discover liking having the drawer button on the far right.
I use ZEAM currently, with a 4 application setup and app drawer on the far right. The reason why I switched was because I couldn't set up TouchWiz to have my choice of the default home screen.

Cosmetics for me. I like the looks of it over the other Launchers, that all look too plain in comparison.
Plus, the music player app is the best.
Then again, I'm one of those people that always liked the looks of Windows XP, so my opinion probably doesn't mean much... ;-)

Likely for the reason that the whole world likes Super Mario Bros.
: non-offensive
: visually neutral/appealing to gaze upon
: Dummy/Idiot proof
: simple language such as "edit" "move" "delete" with no need to further pull out the Google Lexicon
: Light/transparent/translucent glass-like feel and look
: Color scheme Frost/Gray/w/shades of green is visually soothing
most of all: the glass/homogenous/smooth/surface mates very well with theme and motif of the phone. For lack of a better word, straight out of the box, T-Wiz seems like it "fits" the phone with the background/launcher/dock and subtle animations/transitions of the stock implementation.
Keep in mind that the first impression one should get before, during, and after one sees, picks up, touches, plays with, utilizes, then subsequently puts down the phone should be an entire experience that is streamlined to appeal to the general consumer and phone user either Android or non-android mobile phone buyer. Also, parallel to the aforementioned is that unlike the XDA group (present company included), the everyday shopper may not want to or know how to mod the Vibrant. As such, Samsung's target audience has been baited and hooked into the whole appeal and presentation of the Vibrant in Stock Tmobile T-Wiz form. Furthermore, without having exposure to alternative roms/themes/mods like we have here, they find the T-Wiz implementation very attractive and pleasing, as did I when I first saw the Vibrant.
So, as much as you may disagree, I can promise that the T-Wiz implementation was one of the first things that drew your attention toward it only to be negated and trampled upon once you found XDA.
I still appreciate T-Wiz as a whole package. As I use individual components of T-Wiz however, I find it cumbersome, laggy, and ultimately unsatisfying. Yet without knowing better (i.e. visiting XDA), one would no be in a position to make comparisons/distinctions between what "can be" rather than "what is." In fact, the general user of Vibrant outside the XDA community only has the T-Wiz to use, so for all we can gather, they are happy campers with it.
So, pertaining to bashing T-Wiz, I can understand, given the array of options that we have here at XDA. But perhaps we are too quickly jaded and woe-begone by the constant changing landscape executed with deliberate speed by our resident developers and developer teams such that we may want to slow down and realize,
1. how many times we've actually *FLASHED* our poor phones.
2. how many times the incessant urge of fickleness pervades the daily passing of time resulting in some *mod* to the phone or some *change* to the settings/ programs/ theme/ or otherwise.
3. how many times we have *Soft Bricked our phones
4. how many times we sign onto XDA for the sake of posterity, despite the fact that we may have an entire desk or naval battle ship's worth of paperwork to get through.
5. how many times we unilaterally and upon our own volition pique our own curiosity to *find what other *accessories (cases, car mounts, desk docks, screen protectors etc. . ) are available NOW (albeit only 10 minutes later than the last time we checked)
6.
7.
8. so on and so forth.
. . . . taking #1-8 into account and expand upon that, the idea that the rest of America who doesn't know or care about XDA are likely very happy with their Vibrants in its T-Mobile/ Out-of-the-box /factory / stock/ bland / watching-paint-dry/ watching-grass-grow/ non-offensive/ drab form and appearance.
Maybe, just maybe, worth thinking about.
I realize, the above is a long-winded answer to your unpalatable and pointless initial post. But hopefully, I did answer it.
Cheers.

After flashing/using many launchers, I just got sick of reconfiguring my setup after each flash. From day one, I was using custom "home" launchers, and just got tired trying to remember all my settings. Once I started using tw it isn't that bad.
Sent from my Vibrant using a chihuahua

^ You do realize all of these you can BACKUP your settings and it saves them on your internal memory.... wipe/flash a new rom and you can be back EXACTLY as you were in seconds.

s15274n said:
^ You do realize all of these you can BACKUP your settings and it saves them on your internal memory.... wipe/flash a new rom and you can be back EXACTLY as you were in seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like wiping everything...back then I didn't care enough to use tb. Even now, I prefer a clean slate.
Sent from my Vibrant using a chihuahua

Ahh... It was the whole
I just got sick of reconfiguring my setup after each flash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that got me... I Understand wanting a clean slate.

I don't like TW at all, it looks tacky, and iPhonish.
As far as backing up the settings, Launcher Pro (well at least the paid version) has an option to backup and restore your settings without the need of TB, but IMHO TB in itself is absolutely a must for any Android user, even if you do not want to customize/flash ROM'ss on your phone.

Related

[Q] Show me the NUMBERS!

So, if rooting the g tablet is the way to go, it surely must stand up to a few simple speed checks. Has anyone posted various root's numbers or have some to post?
Stuff like, time to boot? Time to load common apps? Time to open the same web page? Frames on games? Time to download? Max browser pages open? Other relevant numbers welcome...
As far as I can tell, without any objective numbers comparing root performance, a lot of this rooting fad raves could just be subjective reported elation about being able to be different.
Granted, originally, the Gtab OS had some flaws. That's old news, get over it. How do the current roots compare with OTA version 3588? I'm somewhat shocked not one of the pack of geeks that have rooted their G tab hasn't backed up their raves with real numbers...
Granted, being rooted to the latest vegan might get access to the full Android market, and perhaps even future updates in Android... However, if I'm finding most of what I want at Amazon Android, is rooting worth the trouble until the roots and android versions stabilize? Show us the NUMBERS...!
I've been there done that with this subjective stuff long enough not to be swayed without real numbers...
Also, do any of these roots do OTA auto updates or do root updates require a download & re-root? Just asking...
Jesus christ if you can't do a simple search for benchmark tests then I highly suggest getting the ipad2. I hear that the ipad 2 reads your mind so out don't have to do any search. We've only had a kazillion threads on this.
Edit
This is not to mention all the YouTube vids on this people have posted.
Edit again.
Actually, here are a few.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1047098&highlight=benchmark+2011
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12984546&postcount=9
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12986416&postcount=10
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12986416&postcount=10
Edit again.
I'm serious, I highly suggest the ipad 2 to everyone I talk to. Speaking as someone who repairs computers as a side job, I'm fully aware that most people want to be spoon fed everything, which is why the ipad 2 is the ideal device for most people. If people want to complain about nothing, let apple deal with them.
Thanks for the links.
However, as best as I can tell, they seem to verify that the OTA updated Gtablet is about the same speed as Vegan in the benchmarks when the CPU speeds are similar.
However, do the benchmarks used translate into much of relevance to speed of actually using the tablet to open programs, boot the tablet, download & open web pages. Stuff that people actually do with the tablet... Unless that's what the benchmarks are testing... But that info isn't provided in the links. Again -- weak...
The numbers and detail provided in these links deserve barely more than a C grade, if that... And what they provide seems to be at equal speeds, the current OTA updated gtab OS works fine... As long as you don't need the full Adroid market...
You Tube links? As best as I can tell, not one of them is an objective comparison with the OTA 3588 update gtab. They are just videos of vegan working... As far as real world numbers and comparisons -- Grade D-...
Where are the Grade A numbers? It's not that I don't believe the ROMs are not an improvement, it's just where are the numbers to support these raves?
What exactly are you looking for? There are no hard numbers when it comes to real world use, just your user experience versus mine.
You're not telling us what you want. You said you wanted numbers so I gave you a bunch. Then you say you don't want those numbers. So, I ask again. What do you want?
I'll be brutally honest on this one. Vegan isn't that fast. From all my tests, Calkulin+Clemsyn combo is by far the fastest custom rom+kernel for the gtab.
After trying out everything, I'm back to Calkulin+Clemsyn combo.
Would you like me to make a video of myself openning various programs and post it for you? What do you want?
I'm thinking you should drop that 'r' from your handle.
You also have a misconception of what rooting is/does.
To become root in Linux/Android is to gain administrative privileges. In windows root would be called Administrator. Gaining root privileges gives you the ability to change system files and settings, NOTHING MORE. By itself it does nothing.
Now boys...
The fact is that if you need numbers, reports,testimonials or anything else to justify mucking around with the gtab thenyou probably should just get an iPad. Nothing to prove then -everyone "knows" its the best-no numbers needed! The gtab is for people that don't mind the hardware and software quirks as long as they have the freedom to mess around. Its not about the numbers -its about the experience.
[Q] Why should we ..?!
Droofus said:
I've been there done that with this subjective stuff long enough not to be swayed without real numbers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I am not sure anyone here is trying to sway you in one direction or the others.
Here is how things go in community forums like this one:
- People search for what they got in mind first.
- If they didn't find its either undoable or not that interesting for the community that no one bothered doing it.
- In both case those people are expected to either drop whatever they are wishing for or pursuit it on there own and then share their findings with the community.
In other words, why the heck am I supposed to go beyond whatever benchmarks readily available on the market to show YOU how good/bad are custom firmwares compared to stock ones when :
- custom firmwares are volatile and each couple of days there is a new rom or rom add on or a kernel released (am I supposed to maintain the stats for every single update released ? else how meaningful would be my outdated stats to you? when it represents a ROM that is no longer a candidate)
- the whole flash back and forth and in between roms is a 10~20 minutes process of YOUR time which would suffice to answer all your questions.
If you still need some usability tests (you can use your own stop watch to time through the videos) you might want to check here.
Best of luck,
Zaphod-Beeblebrox said:
I'm thinking you should drop that 'r' from your handle.
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Click to collapse
I think this was the best answer.
The information you are demanding is indicating your ignorance. As was already stated rooting does nothing for performance. If you want numbers you can install each rom and test with each kernel setting whatever your heart desires. Its not likely anyone else even cares as most people only care about stability and a lack of lag
Droofus said:
So, if rooting the g tablet is the way to go, it surely must stand up to a few simple speed checks. Has anyone posted various root's numbers or have some to post?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting itself does nothing other than giving you root - the speed of your device before and after rooting is identical.
Now, if you want to talk about the speeds with or without an overclocked kernel, or with a custom Froyo vs custom Ginger vs stock rom, as others have said there are plenty of posts out there.
Mine lasted on the stock rom for exactly one boot after opening the box - so I could copy on the bits to begin the rooting/custom rom flashing goodness.
cu_ninja said:
What exactly are you looking for? There are no hard numbers when it comes to real world use, just your user experience versus mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I'm looking for is defined, at least in part, in the first post. Copy and pasted here for your convenience.
Stuff like, time to boot? Time to load common apps? Time to open the same web page? Frames on games? Time to download? Max browser pages open? Other relevant numbers welcome...
If I go to a notebookcheck.net/Computer-Games-on-Laptop-Graphic-Cards, the various card performances in various games are reviewed. The reviews are very professionally and objectively done with detail. Clicking on any specific card opens a detailed review of that card. This allows users to make decisions based upon what sorts of (graphic game) uses they might actually have.
It seems a similar but much smaller objective set of benchmarks could be performed on the various g tablet roots using a set of common uses in part noted above. It doesn't need to be as elaborate or detailed as the video card review site noted above. Just objectively testing a few simple end user tasks would seem to be adequate to get beyond the subjective raves that one commonly sees about this or that OS change...
FYI, part of this is related to my background as a doctor (plus a computer background dating back beyond the Apple II to programming FORTRAN and COMPASS on mainframes in the 1960s). As doctors we are constantly bombarded with all sorts of anecdotal raves about this or that treatment all the time, only to find that they aren't supported by actual objective research -- some cause harm, not healing. Fortunately for those promoting software changes related to raves and fads don't have the potential to cause anyone significant harm... Excuse me if I'd like to see similar objective professional 'standards of care' when it comes to reviewing and analyzing software/hardware fads. I'm sure there are plenty of others in the audience who'd feel the same...
So is this a religious thread, I see Jesus was mentioned.
Actually sometimes you modders act like it.
I'll get the other times later. Here is the startup time.
Droofus said:
FYI, part of this is related to my background as a doctor (plus a computer background dating back beyond the Apple II to programming FORTRAN and COMPASS on mainframes in the 1960s). As doctors we are constantly bombarded with all sorts of anecdotal raves about this or that treatment all the time, only to find that they aren't supported by actual objective research -- some cause harm, not healing. Fortunately for those promoting software changes related to raves and fads don't have the potential to cause anyone significant harm... Excuse me if I'd like to see similar objective professional 'standards of care' when it comes to reviewing and analyzing software/hardware fads. I'm sure there are plenty of others in the audience who'd feel the same...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, while I can see your point, I also have to point out the other side of the argument. I am an engineer. Last year, we got a college graduate who, from the outlook, had all the numbers and credentials. He graduated with almost a perfect gpa. Sounds nice, right? He had all the numbers. The problem was as soon as he began working with us we figured out very quickly that we had a book smart-absolutely no common sense person with us. I swear, he pulled me aside one time and asked me why they were "watering the concrete slabs" in the lab. It got worse from there. I had to explain to him very basic engineering concepts and applications like stirrups, slippage, etc.
This guy actually went through college getting the grades and everything without actually understanding any of it. He graduated with a structural engineering degree without knowing the very simple practical processes of curing concrete or reinforcing footings.
The point is numbers can be deceiving if you ignore annecdotal (aka common sense) evidence. You need both objective numbers and common sense to work in reality. Sure, I've heard plenty of annecdotal nonsense like creationist BS, religious miracles, and homeopathic crap. I'll give you that. But you seem to be on the other extreme side, which is to ignore all personal evidence and place all your bets on pure numbers.
I'm telling you now. We got both the numbers and personal evidence. I'll try to get them for you.
Doofus
I like the list of missing benchmarks you listed. Why don't you measure them and report back?
Droofus said:
What I'm looking for is defined, at least in part, in the first post. Copy and pasted here for your convenience.
Stuff like, time to boot? Time to load common apps? Time to open the same web page? Frames on games? Time to download? Max browser pages open? Other relevant numbers welcome...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All those numbers are identical before and after rooting your device since nothing changes before and after root, other than you now have root access.
That was easy.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Theres some more random numbers
While watching everyone bash eachother here has its entertainment i have some advice.
Droofus
1 i would recomend not comming into a community forum and bashing people who put a lot of effort into making the product you own better. These people don't get paid for the hours of work they put in.
2 if you don't like how thing are done around here take the time to be a good example and do it better. You clearly have an idea in your head on how to make a professional stastical representation of the roms so do it.
3 what some people are trying to tell you is that it is not all about the numbers. Some people want gingerbread features. Right now all of the gingerbread roms suck for video performance due to driver issues so i don't use them. I like the gingerbread features but i watch videos a lot so i use a froyo rom. Others really care about performance so they give up some stability and overlock.
4 people around here get upset when the same question gets asked over and over again. If you have done some reasearch reference other articles to show that.
5 this is a dual core tablet, what are you doing that you care that much about preformance.
This thing is faster than my netbook.
6 dropping your title on us just makes you sound pretentious. There are a lot of very intellgent successful people here who are not impressed by doctors or your past experience. If you have useful skills to the community don't brag just use them and people will be grateful.
7 people were a little rude about it but they are right. I tell people that if they want something that is easy go buy an ipad or a xoom. If you want something for under 300 then buy a g tab and understand that with some effort it can be great.
Everyone
1 relax... starting flame wars with someone who doesn't know their way around isn't going to help anyone.
I forgot to mention that traditionally us geeks are known for our lack of formal documentation.
P.s. while many of us proudly wear the badge of geek calling us a pack of geeks is a little adversarial.

[Q] Few Questions about the Galaxy S II...

Hey there, I'm pretty new here. (first post ) And I got a few questions about the Galaxy S II.
So I'm thinking about getting one, or actually I am deciding between this or the iPhone 4.
Well I know the Galaxy S II beats the iPhone 4 in nearly every point, except for resolution of the display, but i think its good enough.
I currently am an iPhone user, and I do love all Apple Stuff, call me fanboy.. BUT! I think I'm not dumb
I dont want to be blind and go out and just buy an iPhone, because I know there are better phones out there. Well the iPhone 4 came last year and all this stuff is developing pretty fast, but nevertheless I do like the iPhone. So my decision will be made after I got to know, what I didn't get about the Galaxy S II.
1. When the phone is locked, and you press the Home Button, does this really, completely unlock the phone, without the need to do an unlock, like sliding the picture away, or doing some gestures? I saw this in a review, and thought, this is not good
2. Some users here in the forums were posting things like, their phones getting hot, or that its lagging while browsing through the homescreens sometimes.. and i was like: ?! how can such a beast of phone even think about lagging?!^^^'
So have you had problems using it, like overheating or lagging?
3. I really do like the iPhone's taskswitcher. And I think that the one coming with touchwiz is the only one (as far as i know) that does something similar..
So can you access the taskswitcher in EVERY app by longpressing the home button?
4. I actually do like, that every app must be confirmed by apple before entering the app store. so there are no apps that crash or stuff like that.. i know that most android fans love that android is an open platform. but when i'm reading reviews of apps in the marketplace, most stuff i read is: bad, forces restart, crashes... stuff like that.. most of all the facebook app, this would be something i really need, but i don't want it to be buggy and crashing all the time..
I can't belief, that Android is getting so famous when the apps are as bad as they are said to be in the market...
So are the apps you are using reliable? Or do they crash and stuff..?
I don't want to be offensive or what, but i won't get this on contract. I'll have to pay something like 600€ for it and i dont want to do this if i'm not 100% sure.
Thanks
Sorry for so much text
DeadKid_Relive said:
Hey there, I'm pretty new here. (first post ) And I got a few questions about the Galaxy S II.
I
1. When the phone is locked, and you press the Home Button, does this really, completely unlock the phone, without the need to do an unlock, like sliding the picture away, or doing some gestures? I saw this in a review, and thought, this is not good
Not until its customised in the future its swipe to unlock screen .
2. Some users here in the forums were posting things like, their phones getting hot, or that its lagging while browsing through the homescreens sometimes.. and i was like: ?! how can such a beast of phone even think about lagging?!^^^'
No lag at all
4. I actually do like, that every app must be confirmed by apple before entering the app store. so there are no apps that crash or stuff like that.. i know that most android fans love that android is an open platform. but when i'm reading reviews of apps in the marketplace, most stuff i read is: bad, forces restart, crashes... stuff like that.. most of all the facebook app, this would be something i really need, but i don't want it to be buggy and crashing all the time..
I can't belief, that Android is getting so famous when the apps are as bad as they are said to be in the market...
So are the apps you are using reliable? Or do they crash and stuff..?
95% reliable and most are updated frequently and MANY ARE FREE
Really its a move from a closed but carefully controlled environment where you do what Apple wants you to do and Flash is bad for you .
To a more open environment where you are far more free and not as tightly controlled .
Plus of Apple is that for many it is tightly locked down a child can use IPhone as its all simple .Thats actually a plus point as well as a negative point .
For me its a simple choice IPhone top class phone but compared to SGS1 dont mind the SGS 2 it is vastly overpriced . I want music in my format not Steve's etc . Apps got all the apps i want and none that i know of from Apple i am missing .So a simple choice but somebody else may well be willing to pay the premium .
Some IPhone user do find it hard to adapt to a different method of working .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thanks for the fast answer!
I think i get what you meant with: "Plus of Apple is that for many it is tightly locked down a child can use IPhone as its all simple .Thats actually a plus point as well as a negative point ."
And thats one of the points, that may keep me from buying an iPhone. Because if i get the new iphone theres nothing really new. well its faster and got a better cam but its still the os im using already, which is not bad at all, but its nothing new and its sooooooo easy^^^' nearly boring
Don't want to call me dev, but besides writing apps, i like to get most out of a device, psp, ds, iphone... on iphone there are posiblities but i think android got better ones.
still gotta make up my mind a little, maybe wait what iOS 5 will look like, seriously apple has to catch up a little . SGS 2 launches May 27nd here and iOS 5 Event is on June 6th. Think i'll be able to wait a few days, but probably they wont get to where android is right now.
Good to hear, that theres no lag and apps are not that bad. Actually all the answers are good
thanks alot!

Honeycomb "upgrade" is a downgrade

I have not updated my Evo View Tablet to Honeycomb for the unacceptable flaws in its' design. I can't believe more people are not in uproar about this.
I used a View Tablet with the Honeycomb update, and it has some major design flaws, here they are:
-The top 25% of the screen can not be used to place widgets and/or apps
-The white soft-key buttons are disabled (how does it make sense to render a piece of hardware on the device useless? )
-The menu icon on the bottom appears while in certain situations and migrates to the top in other situations
-The notification pull down (or pull up rather) menu is scattered and sloppy.
-The main settings window has a glaring white background , where as on all other android software , it has always been a black background.
the GO-launcher is necessary in order to actually utilize the entire screen, and to ofcoarse customize the grid sizes , icon sizes, resize widgets, but the bottom on-screen buttons end up creating a sort of glitch at the bottom of the screen.
Threads like these have been made before, the most common "gb vs hc". Similar opinions have been expressed there. No need to create a new thread to explain and whine about what has been explained and whined about. Don't like it? Downgrade. Nobody is stopping you.
AidenM said:
Threads like these have been made before, the most common "gb vs hc". Similar opinions have been expressed there. No need to create a new thread to explain and whine about what has been explained and whined about. Don't like it? Downgrade. Nobody is stopping you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can't downgrade , unless you "root" the thing.
Im sorry, i was not aware there was "gb vs hc" threads, i haven't found any on this forum.
You know..there are a few things I want from my tablet not currently offered..
Once the pen functionality gets imported into an ICS rom, no one is even going to care about HC or Gb anyway..
And if they release the code for that we will be able to perfect the fujitsu cheapo version.. too...
Hm.. I really need to set up my comp to contribute to a project. x.x
see , you guys are adept at installing custom roms and "rooting" but for those of that just want to stick with factory default software, we're at mercy to these ridiculous flaws . Luckily , Gingerbread works perfectly , especially in conjunction with GOLauncherEx
Scoh said:
-The white soft-key buttons are disabled (how does it make sense to render a piece of hardware on the device useless? )
-The menu icon on the bottom appears while in certain situations and migrates to the top in other situations
-The main settings window has a glaring white background , where as on all other android software , it has always been a black background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While there are some valid points to your criticisms, it's important to recognize that the blame for some of these items doesn't rest with Honeycomb. Where the menu icon appears is dictated within the app itself. It's true that the placement is inconsistent but I think that stems from some apps being optimized for phones (when it's on the bottom) and some being optimized for tablets (when it's on the top right).
While it may be sub-optimal to turn of the soft keys, it's still better than if they had been actual physical buttons, and it was HTC's decision in the first place to release a tablet that doesn't run the tablet OS. I feel that they actually did a decent job dealing with the issue, as I don't notice the soft keys now that they're off. Would I turn them back on, given the option? Maybe - I don't know yet. Would the menu button work consistently in all apps? I don't know that either.
I think some of the issues you have deal with HTC Sense, especially within the Settings. I too hate how the settings look, but the stock Honeycomb Settings (and dialog boxes, etc) are much less offensive.
Snow_fox said:
You know..there are a few things I want from my tablet not currently offered..
Once the pen functionality gets imported into an ICS rom, no one is even going to care about HC or Gb anyway..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too am hoping ICS becomes reality on the Flyer/View, but in all fairness it's not going to drastically change the user experience compared to HC. The HC-specific complaints here apply to ICS too.
mmmatches said:
I too am hoping ICS becomes reality on the Flyer/View, but in all fairness it's not going to drastically change the user experience compared to HC. The HC-specific complaints here apply to ICS too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except that can active the hardware buttons and remove the onscreen buttons thus offering you more screen space...
Scoh said:
see , you guys are adept at installing custom roms and "rooting" but for those of that just want to stick with factory default software, we're at mercy to these ridiculous flaws . Luckily , Gingerbread works perfectly , especially in conjunction with GOLauncherEx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the ability to read you have the ability to learn, therefore you have the ability to root.
If you don't want to root/jailbreak your at the mercy of ridiculous flaws no matter what.
Every device has flaws that most people would love to change from the iphone to android to all the windows mobile phones.
If you don't believe me, examine the "jailbreak culture".
Not trying to be mean, but if a device doesn't do what you want and your not willing to do something about it.. then it is hard to take your complaints entirely seriously..
A lot of people here put forth a lot of time and energy fixing the things your complaining about. When your unwilling to read and use their solutions and you complain anyway.. your complaints are likely to be met with some degree of hostility.
The culture of XDA isn't "epinions" or "newegg reviews" it is one of learning, teaching and hands on experience.
I respect the fact that people want different things in their devices, and even request things here.. But, when your not requesting, your not asking if something is possible to work on it yourself.. Your essentially saying "WAH i don't want to put forth the effort to fix something that is possible to be fixed, but I want you guys to listen to me complain anyway!"..
I have learned the hard way that within the more nerdy subculture of modding there is a tendency of "Read, learn, or go find someone who cares".
I like my flyer
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium
[email protected] said:
Except that can active the hardware buttons and remove the onscreen buttons thus offering you more screen space...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TIL - interesting. The thing I keep running into, mentally, with ICS is that it still has two distinct interfaces, one for phones and the other for tablets. While the UI is now more consistent, phone ICS retains the top status bar like GB while tablet ICS is not too different from HC.
Won't any ICS build that ends up on the Flyer/View be tablet-based? If so, it seems that the status bar would always be on the bottom, buttons or not. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
mmmatches said:
TIL - interesting. The thing I keep running into, mentally, with ICS is that it still has two distinct interfaces, one for phones and the other for tablets. While the UI is now more consistent, phone ICS retains the top status bar like GB while tablet ICS is not too different from HC.
Won't any ICS build that ends up on the Flyer/View be tablet-based? If so, it seems that the status bar would always be on the bottom, buttons or not. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the major points of ICS is to provide flexibility to all needed hardware.
Even if tablet based, they will probably account for the buttons.
ICS is essentially HC with a few new features thrown in and the ability to run on smaller screens. They even share most of the same source code. Since ICS is built on top of HC, don't expect drastic changes. Most of what people whine about can already be easily gotten on rooted ROMs and it will continue to be that way with ICS. Rooting gives you the opportunity to have it your way to a greater extent. But you can't have it your way all the way, that only happens at Burger King.
Considering HTC designed tablet HW for the outdated GB OS, its not that bad. Yeah the hard buttons are now a relic of the late 90s, but the Flyer still screams and look pretty darn good with HC.
And since we are on a rant thread. Why the @%## can't we have a thread about important stuff like this from the CES show?
http://www.tomshardware.com/picturestory/584-ces-2012-booth-babe-model.html#xtor=RSS-182
The View with Honeycomb is a true small tablet. With GB it's really a big phone. Some people want a tablet, some want a phone. Your call on what you want. I love HC and would love even more to see ICS. With cypher-rom and dolphin browser, my tablet pulls up web pages just as fast as my girlfriend's transformer prime, which is shocking to me at least. Can't wait till we get an OC kernel for honeycomb on the view.
abhaxus said:
The View with Honeycomb is a true small tablet. With GB it's really a big phone. Some people want a tablet, some want a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a great way to describe it. With ICS' flexibility it will be interesting to see if someone makes a ROM with the phone status bar and HW buttons - would be very GB-like!
Scoh said:
I can't believe more people are not in uproar about this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read around this forum just a little, you would know the these issues have been discussed ad nauseum.
I disagree that HC is a downgrade. Yes there are downsides (and you pointed most of them out, but left off a couple of others such as the reduction in the number of home screens) but there are two major upsides that seal the deal for me:
1) The ability to use the pen in all apps is huge. I've got drawing programs that were simply begging for pen input in GB that suddenly fulfil their full potential in HC. Also, if you ever RDP to a windows worstation, having the pen available for choosing tiny menu items is a vast improvement over having to use your big fat finger.
2) Honeycomb fixes the bug in Gingerbread in which when placed in landscape mode and paired to a bluetooth keyboard the arrow keys do not map correctly. In Honecomb they do, and given the amount of writing I do on my Flyer this, too, is massive.
mmmatches said:
This is a great way to describe it. With ICS' flexibility it will be interesting to see if someone makes a ROM with the phone status bar and HW buttons - would be very GB-like!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is the number 2 reason I want ICS... Number one is full HW acceleration makes a single core tab feel very dual core (gf has a nexus s with cm9, the difference was astonishing). Actually... Number 2 is the task switching is very webos
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
The only two negatives I have since updating are the battery seems to drain faster and I miss the hardware buttons. Other than that I think HoneyComb is better. The internet no longer crashes, use to crash at least twice a day with Gingerbread. Also like being able to better organize the icons on the home screen.
mcord11758 said:
I like my flyer
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said.
10chcar
Snow_fox said:
If you have the ability to read you have the ability to learn, therefore you have the ability to root.
If you don't want to root/jailbreak your at the mercy of ridiculous flaws no matter what.
Every device has flaws that most people would love to change from the iphone to android to all the windows mobile phones.
If you don't believe me, examine the "jailbreak culture".
Not trying to be mean, but if a device doesn't do what you want and your not willing to do something about it.. then it is hard to take your complaints entirely seriously..
A lot of people here put forth a lot of time and energy fixing the things your complaining about. When your unwilling to read and use their solutions and you complain anyway.. your complaints are likely to be met with some degree of hostility.
The culture of XDA isn't "epinions" or "newegg reviews" it is one of learning, teaching and hands on experience.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Well said. I don't mean it in a harsh way either. I was completely phone/computer impaired before I decided I didn't want to wait for voice to text (2.1) on my moto droid. It took about ten minutes to root and flash that phone. Now I'm hooked, and I learned a TON of stuff in the process. If your upset enough to post about it, shouldn't you be motivated enough to spend a few minutes just fixing it yourself
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium

Why on earth did Google remove Tablet UI?

It makes no sense on a 10-inch tablet.
Frankly, the navbar should be on the side, because that's how you hold it in both portrait and landscape. But at least with the old TabletUI, it was in the corner, which is sort-of to-the-side. Phablet UI on a huge 10-inch tablet just makes no sense to me.
It works just fine for me. Heck, i even used the tablet UI when i had AOKP on it, didn't see the hype, went back to phablet. Same with pie controls.
Everyone likes everything. Any change made is always going to please one and displease another.
---------- Post added at 02:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:27 PM ----------
It works just fine for me. Heck, i even used the tablet UI when i had AOKP on it, didn't see the hype, went back to phablet. Same with pie controls.
Everyone likes everything. Any change made is always going to please one and displease another.
fredryk said:
Phablet UI on a huge 10-inch tablet just makes no sense to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They did this to unify the Android experience. I think this was an important step. With KitKat, every app can hide the navbar if need be. I think this is a good compromise, at least in the long run.
(The N10 has this feature too, right?)
philosopher09 said:
They did this to unify the Android experience. I think this was an important step. With KitKat, every app can hide the navbar if need be. I think this is a good compromise, at least in the long run.
(The N10 has this feature too, right?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate not havind tablet UI. I find Phablet mode annoying. It is one of the biggest reasons I root and mod, then I can custom my UI the way I like. If google were run with half a brain they would understand the importance of being able to customize the user experience but they have proven their inability to manage responsibility just with their lack of announcements allowing potential customers to plan ahead, so I expect ignorance on a colossal scale when dealing with any sort of reliability or customer service issues when it comes to this giant waste of potential we call Google.
philosopher09 said:
They did this to unify the Android experience. I think this was an important step. With KitKat, every app can hide the navbar if need be. I think this is a good compromise, at least in the long run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It they want to better unify the Android experience I wish they would do it by adding features to the phone (auto rotate quick setting, option to select the channel when using the volume buttons) instead of taking useful things away from the tablet!
In my opinion, the only thing potentially out of place is the nav bar buttons positions. Being in the centre makes it a bit hard to reach if you are holding your tablet with both hands. Which is why I have the ability to reposition the buttons in my custom ROM... other than that, I love the unified UI... I always hated the old tablet UI...
When i had Xoom on 4.1.2 I couldn't wait to get the phablet mode that was introduced in 4.2. When I got it in my hands I really liked it, specially the two notification bars (one for notifications and one for settings). Then I got Nexus 10 and never willed to have the tablet UI back, as I really enjoyed this one. However the only thing that I really disliked in KitKat update was the settings app! I think it's important to unify android now, as we're talking about many devices worldwide, but leave tablet stuff for tablets and phone stuff for phones!
If you don't like the UI you can flash a custom ROM and bring it back I believe.
sad news for many...
A lot of people on a Google+ Paranoid Android thread upset about this.
conan1600 said:
I hate not havind tablet UI. I find Phablet mode annoying. It is one of the biggest reasons I root and mod, then I can custom my UI the way I like. If google were run with half a brain they would understand the importance of being able to customize the user experience but they have proven their inability to manage responsibility just with their lack of announcements allowing potential customers to plan ahead, so I expect ignorance on a colossal scale when dealing with any sort of reliability or customer service issues when it comes to this giant waste of potential we call Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't agree with much of this. If it was as you say then you would not be able to ever modify anything. The reason you were able to root and do your modifications is because Google does listen and releases source code for android. They could keep it closed. Then people could kiss their Roms goodbye. People that modify, root, and change their phones are still in the minority. Sure if you come here it will seem like everyone does, but in truth we are a small minority. My son is the only person besides myself that I personally know that roots. So what Google is trying to do is create a uniform look and experience. They are trying to get developers to follow the model. Android is still basically new, but has come a long way. If they get enough requests they may bring the feature back. But if not, I am sure it will continue to evolve.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4
a heads-up would be respectful...
It's hard to disagree with conan1600's suggestion that some type of changelog prior to upgrades would be extremely helpful.
Bigralphn said:
I can't agree with much of this. If it was as you say then you would not be able to ever modify anything. The reason you were able to root and do your modifications is because Google does listen and releases source code for android. They could keep it closed. Then people could kiss their Roms goodbye. People that modify, root, and change their phones are still in the minority. Sure if you come here it will seem like everyone does, but in truth we are a small minority. My son is the only person besides myself that I personally know that roots. So what Google is trying to do is create a uniform look and experience. They are trying to get developers to follow the model. Android is still basically new, but has come a long way. If they get enough requests they may bring the feature back. But if not, I am sure it will continue to evolve.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simply by taking options away invalidated your beliefs. That I can modify my tablet is not an issue regardles of google. All locked bootloader tablets are eventually broken. But Google makes you do it this way. Add features and make defaults but NEVER take features people like. Also it wouldn't be hard for google to easily say, hey guys we are going to refresh this or that device, or we are not would show common courtesy. Google or most other big brands know nothing of customer appreciation.
Apple and Microsoft frequently remove features when they upgrade. In fact I have seldom seen any Of that doesn't remove something in an upgrade. Sometimes they are added back, but more often than not it never is. There are always people that are upset when this happens but they hope that most are happy with what they have improved or added. Windows does this over and over. There are things I miss also in this version. One is tablet mode. But for me it is not a deal breaker. And yes, unlocking a device allows you to modify the device, but if the Operating System can't be modified like Google allows by providing AOSP then all your tweaks can't happen. Android is to phones like Linux is to PC. Apple and Microsoft do not allow the flexibility. I understand your frustration, we all hate losing things we use. Like I said, I am not real happy about losing tablet mode. I just do not think Google is terrible like you say. I see steady performance improvement and a desire to added useful features. Are they perfect? Hardly, but they are trying.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 05:32 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 AM ----------
Bigralphn said:
Apple and Microsoft frequently remove features when they upgrade. In fact I have seldom seen any Of that doesn't remove something in an upgrade. Sometimes they are added back, but more often than not it never is. There are always people that are upset when this happens but they hope that most are happy with what they have improved or added. Windows does this over and over. There are things I miss also in this version. One is tablet mode. But for me it is not a deal breaker. And yes, unlocking a device allows you to modify the device, but if the Operating System can't be modified like Google allows by providing AOSP then all your tweaks can't happen. Android is to phones like Linux is to PC. Apple and Microsoft do not allow the flexibility. I understand your frustration, we all hate losing things we use. Like I said, I am not real happy about losing tablet mode. I just do not think Google is terrible like you say. I see steady performance improvement and a desire to added useful features. Are they perfect? Hardly, but they are trying.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also wanted to add that Google didn't decide what devices get updated. In fact Kitkat was specifically designed so more device could handle updates. It is the carrier/device manufacturer that decides that. Google sends them the updated system then it is up to them to modify source and prepare it for the device. Luckily we have some great ROM makers who are capable of doing this themselves.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
openness...
The Open Source Project was a brilliant business decision which has been hugely successful in accomplishing what Google has referred to as ''our most important goal... widespread adoption of the software....'' They go on to say, ''Openness is vital to the long-term success of a platform, since openness is required to attract investment from developers.... to make sure there would always be an open platform available for carriers, OEMs, and developers to use to make their innovative ideas a reality.''
Has Android succeeded at attracting the creativity of developers? For sure. And I'm glad they have... Android is awesome that way! But let's not forget that Android's openess was born of a business decision, to attract not only developers but end-users as well.
Google: ''We also wanted to make sure there was no central point of failure, so no single industry player could restrict or control the innovations of any other.''
I'd like that to include allowing Paranoid Android to continue using Tablet UI to give us a more tablet-friendly environment... and, for that matter, CM to be free to introduce MultiWindows without facing a dictator's wrath. CM's MultiWindows would be kick-ass on the Nexus 10!
conan1600 said:
...Add features and make defaults but NEVER take features people like. Also it wouldn't be hard for google to easily say, hey guys we are going to refresh this or that device, or we are not would show common courtesy. Google or most other big brands know nothing of customer appreciation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's encouraging to see Google emphasize tablet apps more in the Play Store, but discouraging to see them de-emphasize tablets in Android itself... especially when it's a surprise. Google could be a lot more 'open' about what they've done... at the time they release Android updates.
I assume, conan1600, when you talk about Google refreshing devices, you're talking about it's own Nexus brand. I guess that's kind of obvious since this is a Nexus thread. Also, I read you as wanting to hold Google to its own standards of openness, not to the low bar set by Microsoft and Apple.
If I understand you right, it's not enough to say there are worse tyrants... we love Android precisely because it promises freedom from tyranny.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
'The people of Spain in the 1930s would have taken no solace in hearing that Franco wasn't as bad as Mussolini or Hitler.'
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
fredryk said:
It makes no sense on a 10-inch tablet.
Frankly, the navbar should be on the side, because that's how you hold it in both portrait and landscape. But at least with the old TabletUI, it was in the corner, which is sort-of to-the-side. Phablet UI on a huge 10-inch tablet just makes no sense to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
conan1600 said:
I hate not havind tablet UI. I find Phablet mode annoying. It is one of the biggest reasons I root and mod, then I can custom my UI the way I like. If google were run with half a brain they would understand the importance of being able to customize the user experience but they have proven their inability to manage responsibility just with their lack of announcements allowing potential customers to plan ahead, so I expect ignorance on a colossal scale when dealing with any sort of reliability or customer service issues when it comes to this giant waste of potential we call Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could not agree more.
Found this while searching for tabletui options for the nexus 7.
I guess this is it with android. By moving everything to closed source and removing features like tabletui, Google is showing itself to be just as bad, if not worse than others.
With baytrail win8 tablets landing, I would say this might be a costly mistake for Google.
I love my android phone, but if Google declared war on tablets, then I will leave ... And it looks like I won't be the only one.
midnite_blue said:
I assume, conan1600, when you talk about Google refreshing devices, you're talking about it's own Nexus brand. I guess that's kind of obvious since this is a Nexus thread. Also, I read you as wanting to hold Google to its own standards of openness, not to the low bar set by Microsoft and Apple.
If I understand you right, it's not enough to say there are worse tyrants... we love Android precisely because it promises freedom from tyranny.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
'The people of Spain in the 1930s would have taken no solace in hearing that Franco wasn't as bad as Mussolini or Hitler.'
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This goes far beyond simple decisions such as tablet UI. It is the demeanor of Google in taking Tablet UI that does show their direction of thinking though. Android was freedom, it was different than cookie cutter icrap.
Yes I am talking about nexus. It makes no sence whatsoever to refrain from at least making loyal customers aware if they should continue to wait on our chosen favorite devices. However I do not consider this high standards at all but simple common sense. By being so introverted they have driven me and several loyal nexus fans into the arms of others on both the 7 and 10 inch lines. Its not specs or trade secrets we are looking for but simply is there going to be another one or should I look elsewhere. But so many companies have become so large and powerful they dont even care about pissing a few thousand off with rudeness. And then there are the fan boys who defend bad business practices. Secrecy is one thing. Stupidity is another.
I came to android because I felt trapped by Apple and Itunes. As you can see by my sig I like android, and those are just the devices I personally used. This household has 5 times that many devices. Lately though I see Google forcing Google plus on me, i see google messing up youtube comments, I see Google making decisions about a few killobyte lines of code that could easily be defaulted rather than done away with, I see Google being closed mouthed about simple things such as if there will even be a new nexus tablet in a timely manner, and I see Google forgetting why we, the customer, made them great. the first page of a google search is almost entirely adds now. Over all I have been a Google backer, however I find myself pulling away from the monstrosity that I once saw as a bright and more transparent company than Apple or Amazon.
So yes Microsoft is becoming more appealing to me again. At least they had the decency to say, hey we took a butt kicken on surface rt but you can count on us making a surface 2. People knew they would get a refresh and could easily decide if they wanted to wait on it or buy from another company.
I most likely will stay with Android this year but Nexus has lost me simply because of the unreliability of the parent company and its inability to show courtesy. Fortunately other manufacturers of Android tablets are as yet not so crazy.
Another great invention by Matias Duarte?
Like the non rotating portrait UI on the Nexus 7...
I think the guy should really GTFO.
Cholo981 said:
Another great invention by Matias Duarte?
Like the non rotating portrait UI on the Nexus 7...
I think the guy should really GTFO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I miss the days of how fast, beautiful, and functional GIngerbread was. Come on man.
Greg Tolan said:
Yes I miss the days of how fast, beautiful, and functional GIngerbread was. Come on man.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, we are basically coming back to gingerbread, without the tablet UI...
Everything come after ICS in terms of interface, was worst. IMHO.
They wanted the experience to be the same across all of their devices. I personally prefer the tablet UI on a ten inch screen, but whatcha gonna do? Still beats a physical home button!
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 4
Cholo981 said:
Dude, we are basically coming back to gingerbread, without the tablet UI...
Everything come after ICS in terms of interface, was worst. IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There have been a lot of what people argue are missteps (these generally being wildly up in the air; even the tablet vs. unified layout debate rages on months later), but a wealth of subtler improvements that take us far and beyond Gingerbread. The comparison is juvenile at best, both at an aesthetic level (Holo has been refined significantly since Ice Cream Sandwich, and the new "Cards" style UI is starting to come into favor) and at a performance level (Project Butter and Project Svelte, among other things).

Ugh. EMUI is so broken that it is pointless trying to theme this phone.

EMUI sure is strange when it comes to support for themes or modifications of any kind to the interface. Without the 3rd party support of an entire host of apps to make changes actually possible, the stock 'theme app' is entirely useless. Okay, so you have to install a spammy app for theme support. Then you need to install another one for fonts, and to actually be able to change them. Then you install a few more, all of which can't directly do anything but inject imported stuff into the official app. Pro tip, you always need to kill the official app before launching it from these 3rd party apps - or the app won't see your new stuff.
That would all be fine, and manageable, but the way EMUI handles themes in general is too broken to bother. Their own official 'dark themes' are broken beyond use, and so are the 'PRO' 3rd party ones. There is no point in forcing a dark background to apps if you aren't going to ensure that the font colour of those same apps or EMUI dialogue menus isn't going to adjust to contrast it. In other words, you can really screw yourself over to the point where you can't even read anything to undo the damage. Crank your brightness to max if this happens.
Even that could be worked around with enough tinkering, but what *cannot* be fixed is the way EMUI handles the onscreen nav icons. For one thing, WHY don't these automatically slip away for ALL apps, and in the OS itself?! They do for games, and they most certainly do for any decent Rom made in the past five years. Nope, instead they are just stuck there like a sore thumb ALL THE TIME outside of games, and this makes something like the dock in Nova Launcher just look terrible. Yeah, and if you haven't used a Rom that makes these disappear properly all the time, wow you don't know how much better it is supposed to be.
That isn't the real problem, though. What makes all of this meaningless is that the OS/EMUI fails to automatically adjust the outline colour of these icons depending on what you are doing. With a gray or fire type theme, it looks fantastic on the homescreens. Sadly, anything you load that falls back to a black background for dealing with fullscreen/aspect ration issues makes the icons disappear altogether. There is no way to fix this, period. It is irritating beyond measure. Don't get me started on how broken that 'sorta fullscreen' implementation is, I can list a dozen AAA+ games for Android that result in you being completely locked out of bringing back the nav icons in either mode. Again, other Roms have figured this stuff out years ago, since Huawei knew they were going to have a wonky aspect ration and the need to dance around a notch... There is no excuse for this.
I am holding out hope for Roms now that we have unlocked bootloaders back on the menu, and what looks like working TWRP/Magisk support. In the meantime, I give up trying to make the phone pretty. I know I could hack and slash at various things in ADB to force fallback to 8.x style nav stuff/gestures along with various different launcher tweaks to get around this, but I don't need the headache. Come on Huawei, this is a flagship phone on what is supposed to be cutting edge and mature OS. Why do major pieces of the UI feel like drunken alpha release code?
How much theming is available on Pixel phones which are supposed to offer the best and most pure Android interface? None whatsoever unless you decide to root the phone and use Substratum. As far as I know Pixel phones still don't have a native dark mode.
Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei are pretty much the only companies that offer theming options on their stock ROMs.
Out of curiosity, exactly what stock ROM are you comparing the supposedly broken theming on EMUI to?
I have seen your posts and you seem to pretty much only start threads when you have something negative to say.
If you hate Huawei phones there are plenty of other options.
Solution: Don't buy Huawei, buy Nokia Symbian
jhs39 said:
How much theming is available on Pixel phones which are supposed to offer the best and most pure Android interface? None whatsoever unless you decide to root the phone and use Substratum. As far as I know Pixel phones still don't have a native dark mode.
Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei are pretty much the only companies that offer theming options on their stock ROMs.
Out of curiosity, exactly what stock ROM are you comparing the supposedly broken theming on EMUI to?
I have seen your posts and you seem to pretty much only start threads when you have something negative to say.
If you hate Huawei phones there are plenty of other options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've "seen my posts" have you? Wow. I don't remember saying anything about 'stock roms'. I also don't remember saying I hate Huawei phones. I'll just pm you my login information and you can make my posts for me, okay? Just don't criticize the way Huawei handles themes, though. WHAT ABOUT YOUR PIXEL STRAWMAN?!

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