[Q]Lack of Search Button - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

This isn't a too much of a big deal, but curiosity kills me. Since the SGS 2 looks like it lacks a dedicated search button, I wonder if it has a substitute?
What I appreciated on my Nexus One is the search button which is excellent to Google something on the fly and to activate Voice Search. So I'm just wondering if the SGS 2 will have something to generate a quick search or if the U.S. variants will have search buttons?

like the first galaxy S i9000 , you will be able to long press the menu button to simulate the search button
And for the voice search double pressing the home button will do the trick as seen on the vids floating the web

Search seems like the biggest waste of.a button ever. Never missed it on the i9000 at all.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

touness69 said:
like the first galaxy S i9000 , you will be able to long press the menu button to simulate the search button
And for the voice search double pressing the home button will do the trick as seen on the vids floating the web
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never used my search-button as it is now, but if the menu-button long-press is assigned to search, how do you switch on and off the on-screen keyboard?
On other android-devices a long-press of the menu-button will activate/deactivate the on-screen keyboard.

SBS_ said:
I never used my search-button as it is now, but if the menu-button long-press is assigned to search, how do you switch on and off the on-screen keyboard?
On other android-devices a long-press of the menu-button will activate/deactivate the on-screen keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Hero, never ever have I had to long press the menu button to get the keyboard up/down. It comes up when it's needed, it disappears with a press of the "hide keyboard" button or the back button!

Ayrlupine said:
I have a Hero, never ever have I had to long press the menu button to get the keyboard up/down. It comes up when it's needed, it disappears with a press of the "hide keyboard" button or the back button!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The hide keyboard button is only on HTCs Sense keyboard no? It's certainly not there on the stock android keyboard.
I've had instances where the keyboard blocked part of the screen and if I had pressed the back button the program would've closed/gone to a previous screen and I wouldn't have been able to do what I wanted without pulling down the keyboard with a long press of the menu-button.
It might not be a big problem or something that occurs often, but it can be annoying and that's why I ask.

SBS_ said:
I never used my search-button as it is now, but if the menu-button long-press is assigned to search, how do you switch on and off the on-screen keyboard?
On other android-devices a long-press of the menu-button will activate/deactivate the on-screen keyboard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just hit the "Back" button to hide the keyboard

As he just explained, in certain programs (very few) pressing the "back" button to switch off the on-screen keyboard can quit the progrmam you are actually using. But samsung made a very neat trick for that since the first version of the Galaxy S i9000, just swipe down from the upper part of the keyboard to the bottom and the keyboard will disappear, no need for a specific button. I find it very intuitive personnaly, and in the same situation you can also swipe left or right in the keyboard area to switch from letters to numbers view back and forth.

That is an excellent feature. Do any other phones do this?

I don t know any other phone that do so natively, but there is some third party keyboards that copied that (just like CyanogenMod and everyone else copied the wifi, bluetooth etc toggles in the notification bar) "smart keyboard" or "better keyboard" I think.

Meh, I love the design but I love my search button; using Vlingo, I can hold the button and tell my phone to do whatever I want, much better than tgr default Google voice command app.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA Premium App

That's no big deal, you can easily fix it with a third party app.
And btw it's a matter of time for Android 2.4 Ice cream to come.. and there are rumors that it won't need buttons at all...

d3sm0nd said:
That's no big deal, you can easily fix it with a third party app.
And btw it's a matter of time for Android 2.4 Ice cream to come.. and there are rumors that it won't need buttons at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doubtful... Why would I want screen real estate taken up with buttons? It works on a tablet, It would be nonsensical on a phone.

samsung hasn't actually officially confirmed if there will be a 2.4 update...

touness69 said:
I don t know any other phone that do so natively, but there is some third party keyboards that copied that (just like CyanogenMod and everyone else copied the wifi, bluetooth etc toggles in the notification bar) "smart keyboard" or "better keyboard" I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They haven't confirmed that the SGS will get Gingerbread either yet I'm running XXJVK which is Android 2.3.3.

Related

[Q] Best multitasking switcher?

I've tried nearly every multitasking switcher on the market and I still cant find one that works correctly. Is there a switcher that goes to ADW on single tap home and goes to the switcher on either long press or double tap?
heres a list of what I've tried (issues are in parentheses)
powerstrip (too small, single tap access)
Quickdesk pro (doesn't work, makes screen flash black and go crazy)
perfect task switcher (single tap access, wonky)
MultiTask Manager (single tap access)
TaskOS (no home button setting)
Underground (takes over the screen, isn't really a task switcher,ugly list)
Appswipe (clunky, ugly, paid to set to home button)
Softkeys- Would be awesome, if I could get the settings to work as advertised (see below)
Prehome (best task switcher BUT single tap access)
Softkeys:
Softkeys has an option for setting single tap home (ADW) and then an option for long press home (PreHome). This would be the perfect solution, but for some reason the long press home doesn't work no matter what I do. Any Ideas?
The Ideal task switcher for me would be anything simple (a bar or box with icons) that could be brought up with double or long click home. If you know of any I'd love to try them out.
I would like to figure this out as well. Haven't seen anything about it around here
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
motitas said:
Softkeys:
Softkeys has an option for setting single tap home (ADW) and then an option for long press home (PreHome). This would be the perfect solution, but for some reason the long press home doesn't work no matter what I do. Any Ideas?
The Ideal task switcher for me would be anything simple (a bar or box with icons) that could be brought up with double or long click home. If you know of any I'd love to try them out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Softkeys works for me, I have it set for single tap home and double tap softkeys. I don't believe Softkeys supports long button presses, I think that option is referring to the virtual home button that Softkeys presents on screen when called up.
thecubed said:
Softkeys works for me, I have it set for single tap home and double tap softkeys. I don't believe Softkeys supports long button presses, I think that option is referring to the virtual home button that Softkeys presents on screen when called up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does not support long press on the physical button, that would be nice... As said above, it's a long-tap on the Home button on the popup.
Any ideas if we are using button Savior instead of soft keys?
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
motitas said:
I've tried nearly every multitasking switcher on the market and I still cant find one that works correctly. Is there a switcher that goes to ADW on single tap home and goes to the switcher on either long press or double tap?
heres a list of what I've tried (issues are in parentheses)
powerstrip (too small, single tap access)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Powerstrip does single or double tap. I currently have mine setup with ADW EX. Single tap to Homescreen and double tap to invoke.
I might use power strip then, is there a way to make it larger? As for the long press on home, hopefully we'll see cm on the nc
EDIT:
I got powerstrip working pretty well, but as I said before I wouldn't mind it being slightly bigger, also the "recent apps" folder has a few issues of its own. When a large game (or grooveshark) is in the recent apps and you try to launch it you get an "activity no found" error.
I found PreHome to work best.
I have the physical button mapped to PreHome, then when have PreHome open SoftKeys.
I like button savior. It pull the last 6 apps that u have used when you long press the soft home button.
seeddemon said:
I like button savior. It pull the last 6 apps that u have used when you long press the soft home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
........as does softkeys..
Try swipepad beta... I dig it.
Works from anywhere in an app or not
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
You may want to check out Taskswitcher (free). Once set up it uses single press on physical home key to invoke recent apps list and allows you to set up your own home app for double tap. Long press is not supported I don't think. If anyone knows of apps that allow setting long press actions (recent apps or otherwise) please share. I did notice in the DEV forum that someone made a custom Froyo version with custom home button behavior including long press so maybe someone could share how to set that up in 2.1 if thats possible.
seeddemon said:
I like button savior. It pull the last 6 apps that u have used when you long press the soft home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this tip! I replaced SK with BS a day or two after rooting, and had no idea this functionality was built into BS!
If you turn off the sk service check mark you can double press the nook button and still use bs
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
rbebber said:
If you turn off the sk service check mark you can double press the nook button and still use bs
Sent from my LogicPD Zoom2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SK Service?
What is this and where do i find it.
seeddemon said:
SK Service?
What is this and where do i find it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SK Service is the SoftKeys service. If it's running, you get a curly arrow in a circle that allows you to bring up the home, back, menu, and search buttons. It should be installed by default if you autonooter. Otherwise, it's available in the Dev section of the forum.

[Q] Ice Cream Sandwich - Where is the menu button

Hi guys,
Does anybody knows where is the menu button in ICS... it looks it has 3 button, back, home and multitask...
I hope that the menu won't be in each app becasude that will mean no old app until huge upgrade...
They said the buttons change as you need then I'm sure a menu button will pop up if needed.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App
odst0016 said:
They said the buttons change as you need then I'm sure a menu button will pop up if needed.
Sent from my R800x using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but I saw all the videos and sometimes 3 dots appear next to the multitask button but is not clear if that is the menu button or what it does. I think they should have left multitask to the longpress home and give us a menu button always there... It will be a pain in the ass for older apps and for cooking. For now this is a fail as for the absence of smart dialing
my questions is this -> will it be able to remove the on screen buttons and use the hardware ones for older phones?
I had the ask loaded and built am ICS emulator, I'll test on one of my apps this morning and report back.
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I would hope so...that would take up some much needed screen real estate on a smaller screen.
Just tried in the emulator and I had no buttons, I will have to look into updating my app for ICS.
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So my fears are real... no menu button for third party apps... that is so wrong
Right, a have to update the apps to show the buttons.
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Endr1 said:
So my fears are real... no menu button for third party apps... that is so wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nonono, the way it works (based on my understanding and playing with the 4.0 emulator) is this:
On a device with no hardware buttons (Galaxy Nexus):
Menu button shows up if the app has a menu (makes sense)
On a device with hardware buttons (most devices):
Soft keys don't show up, multitasking comes up by long-pressing home button (confirmed in emulator)
That's how it works I believe
The soft-keys don't show up in the emulator because it's emulating a device with hardware keys
---------- Post added at 06:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:40 PM ----------
The one big UI change you could make to your apps to really take advantage of 4.0 is adding an Action Bar to your app (they demonstrated this in the Gmail app I believe).
No action would be needed to support regular menus though
What about the search button? I always use it. sigh.
And I'm guessing on older phones, they can access the multitask menu by holding down home?
Question - I installed the ICS SDK and was trying to tinker with it to make the soft buttons appear, but it's not happening. What settings do you use for an instance of the emulator to force the soft buttons to exist?
marty331 said:
Just tried in the emulator and I had no buttons, I will have to look into updating my app for ICS.
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Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How'd you get the emulator to show the soft buttons?
I have not figured out how to get the soft buttons to appear, the emulator still shows the hard buttons from previous versions.
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Endr1 said:
Yes but I saw all the videos and sometimes 3 dots appear next to the multitask button but is not clear if that is the menu button or what it does. I think they should have left multitask to the longpress home and give us a menu button always there... It will be a pain in the ass for older apps and for cooking. For now this is a fail as for the absence of smart dialing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How? if older apps have Menu button functionality, the Menu button will appear. Not really that hard to understand.
they should do away with the menu button. i've personally found the best apps don't utilize it or utilize it very little. the more you have to dig into menus and settings the worse it is for user experience. if i recall, the new native google apps have the equivalent menu function in the top right corner. iOS apps essentially have the settings button in the same spot too. if ICS is all about UI and user experience, we need to see some consistency. for non-native android users, the menu button is not intuitive.
long press
does the soft keys have long press ?? if yes may be long press on multi task button gives u menus
Hey guys,
I guess this question is answered with this video ...
dipito31 said:
Hey guys,
I guess this question is answered with this video ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...
And what video might that be?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk
substance12 said:
they should do away with the menu button. i've personally found the best apps don't utilize it or utilize it very little. the more you have to dig into menus and settings the worse it is for user experience. if i recall, the new native google apps have the equivalent menu function in the top right corner. iOS apps essentially have the settings button in the same spot too. if ICS is all about UI and user experience, we need to see some consistency. for non-native android users, the menu button is not intuitive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why should they do away with the menu button? Who cares if it's not intuitive for non-native Android users? Why take the menu button and all of the options that come with it away from the people who are smart enough to use it because some people aren't smart enough to use it? The people who don't know it's there wouldn't know any difference in the first place if it was done away with. The rest of us would.
Has anyone figured anything else out about this now that there are videos everywhere? I still haven't seen any evidence that the menu button exists. Google added the menu button to all of their apps, are all the other apps left out?

So now with Ice Cream Sandwich the menu button is useless ?

What do you think google is going to do with the menu button on the actual devices? Make it the contextual menu button or make it the multitasking button? the multitasking button would be nice imo
I can see them keeping the function for the "legacy devices"
The contectual buttons will prolly not show up on hardware button devices.
Like the people above me said, its probably gonna be contextual on new phones, and still work with "old" touch keys..
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
can be used like camera button
HotlipsH said:
The contectual buttons will prolly not show up on hardware button devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I'm thinking for SGS2... In the end, bottom menu does what real button does only. Nothing extraordinary...
and what about the multitasking button, an onscreen button?
Chad_Petree said:
and what about the multitasking button, an onscreen button?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that the developers or carriers should hide that part of the launcher in this device. Because if you are going to use your sgs2 for at least 2 years, i will be mad seeing every time the software and hardware button at the same time
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
bigcvm said:
I think that the developers or carriers should hide that part of the launcher in this device. Because if you are going to use your sgs2 for at least 2 years, i will be mad seeing every time the software and hardware button at the same time
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im sure there will be no onscreen buttons for "home" and "back" but what will happend with the "recents apps" button?
Recent apps = hold the home button, just like how it already works.
Actully there is no devices with ice cream sandwitch for smartphone so it's difficult to judge
Z4muZ said:
Actully there is no devices with ice cream sandwitch for smartphone so it's difficult to judge
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol you are right
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Does the Galaxy Nexus even have a menu button? No, the menu buttons are onscreen (they differ with each app).
My guess is that the menu button on our GS II will be the multitask button.
It would be awesome if the existing hardware buttons will be like the ICS on-screen nav buttons with one difference: menu button will open multitasking tool. After all, the existing "menu" icon won't look to bad to be interpreted as "multitasking."
That's if and only if the ICS on-screen buttons are always just the three: back, home, and multitasking tool. This way, GS2's hardware buttons won't really make the device outdated. Just something that doesn't rotate landscape. No biggie. Even arguably better in some cases.
Yes but why can't we keep the menu button! I like it, It keeps the screen clean of crap do we really want to turn into the Iphone with software buttons for everything... And On screen is just stupid, Sure then can rotate and the menu button could appear in old apps when it is needed but menu is a part of android... I don't want to click a gear on the app to open the menu when the button did that fine. If Samsung / CM don't implement 4.0 in such a way that menu means menu then I will personally develop a rom that does, Multitasking should be long press of home... That is how we already view recent apps. It just works better.
epichappy said:
That is how we already view recent apps. It just works better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you are sure of that, how?
It isn't even released yet, you can't really judge >.>
Any news here?

Swap Capacitive Search Button With Multitask

Sort of just been pondering about how useless the capacitive search button is to me (and probably a lot of other people) and how I'm a little envious of the physical home button on the International Note, then I came across an article about how a HTC rom dev had switched their capacitive multitask button to perform the function: menu due to app incompatibility. Now I didn't know capacitive buttons could have their function switched but it kind of had me flirting with the idea of how insanely epic a menu/home/back/multitask capacitive layout would be on Ice Cream Sandwich. I wouldn't be jealous of the International Note's physical home button at all if that were the case. I thought this was a little day dream of mine worth sharing. From what I've read it's just a file in system/usr that needs to be edited, I took a quick look but haven't quite figured out which it is yet.
What about you guys, do you like the capacitive search function or would you like to see it something else?
inb4: yo dawg u can just hold down home
multitask with long-press for search would work for me. maybe there is something in the play store than can do this
The galaxy tab has a button remapping app. I used mine to screen off.
rangercaptain said:
The galaxy tab has a button remapping app. I used mine to screen off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I get a link to test?
sam.jh said:
Can I get a link to test?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=865526
I just tried it and it doesn't work.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I love the search button, especially since it's app-aware for context. I see your inb4, but can you explain why reassigning the search button is better than just holding down home? Is it just a second of time you're trying to recover?
I have my long pressed search button mapped to an app called "AltTabApps" which gives me a longer list of recent/installed apps. Long pressing the home button only gives you 6 recent used apps, which sometimes isn't enough.
I think the button does enough multitasking. Short press to search, then long press to voice search or voice talk"hi galaxy" control... I like the voice search because you don't have to access the s voice controls. You could just simply long press search then select voice search and say text blank, "come over after 3" and it will do it... So having there separate functions under one button works for me great.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using XDA
I wanted to do this for a while now and finally I got around to it. Basically all I did was to replace search key 217 in system/usr/keylayout/generic.kl to APP_SWITCH. Rebooted and now I have search key remapped to recent apps.
BlackZenith said:
I have my long pressed search button mapped to an app called "AltTabApps" which gives me a longer list of recent/installed apps. Long pressing the home button only gives you 6 recent used apps, which sometimes isn't enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is showing 13 recent apps right now. Have seen more than that before.
I use the search button extensively. Wouldn't want to change it.
Edit: just saw how old that post was.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
Id love to switch the search button for S voice, and set long press to nothing. Then just tap the search button and it opens s voice.
dacho said:
I wanted to do this for a while now and finally I got around to it. Basically all I did was to replace search key 217 in system/usr/keylayout/generic.kl to APP_SWITCH. Rebooted and now I have search key remapped to recent apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked perfectly, thanks!!
If you have the Google Now apk installed, the search button launches it.

Any app to avoid the to click the Home button?

Hi!
I don't like the feel of the Home button. Is there any option or app to add another option with the home button properties?
Thank you!
Sent from my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 Rooted
I would say use a different launcher that will let you assign to different buttons.
I don't use the home button that much because I back out of 99% of apps (old habit from G1 days) and since I use Nova Launcher, I assigned S-Voice to the menu long-press. The only time I use the home button is coming out of the browser and the odd time when I truly multi-task (usually copy/paste from one app to another).
TitaniumBarbell said:
Hi!
I don't like the feel of the Home button. Is there any option or app to add another option with the home button properties?
Thank you!
Sent from my AT&T Samsung Galaxy S3 Rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Taskbar task switcher. Can add a line to Taskbar dropdown for "Return to desktop"
Yeah, this home button is ridiculously annoying.

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