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Hi all,
I'm wonsering if true multitasking is possible...
I have been using the sgs2 for a few days now.and its.my first android.phone.
Im very happy with it but jus missing one feature...
When Im watching video in a browser or app Id like to be able to quickly do something else while the.audio keeps.playing.
Is this possible?
I do know that some apps have this featur (audio players etc.)
But id like to do this with the browser or cnn app
Greetings, dutchy
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I'm not sure if it would be possible, although the video is kept in memory, it has to close in order to open another app, I don't think you could have audio playing in background during a different application. My thought, though I'm still kinda n00b-ish with Android myself.
@SgtDutchyNL
It's possible for sure, but browsers intentionally pauses/stops playback when they're "minimized", because this is what most people want in most cases. I don't know any browser app which does run flash content in the background.
Shame there isnt an option for it, maybe its possible by editing some code?
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Coming from a Palm Pre (WebOS) I really hate multi-tasking on Android devices, switching from app to app sometimes doesn't even let you carry on where you started.
Bawezy said:
Coming from a Palm Pre (WebOS) I really hate multi-tasking on Android devices, switching from app to app sometimes doesn't even let you carry on where you started.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really, I've never had an issue switching between browser, sms, email, contacts and maps, all whilst listening to music.
As for video in the browser, Flash has been built to only run whilst in focus to stop the battery from draining when animation is running in a tab in the background.
To help the issue of multitasking, try installing wavelauncher on market. it is exactly like the wave launcher in webos. but it still wont fix the fact that android will close your program in the background when it needs more memory (which is why you have to restart from scratch when you "alt-tab" around)
I have a Palm Pixi Plus which I use for work email. No doubt WebOS is amazing when it comes to multi tasking, their ecosystem(h/w and s/w) should mature but I doubt if it can reach anywhere near Android. For that matter I doubt if M$ or RIM or Intel can ever achieve this.
I've been using Android for the past 2+ yrs. I must admit Android's muti tasking is rubbish. All we need is a simple button X (similar to Windows PC) to close any damn app than closing/killing in a different way in each app/phone. Its confusing at times. Good thing is Galaxy S II is a very good phone. A complete package must say..
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You guys misunderstood, i dont hate android's multitasking, in my opinion it doesnt match that of webOS as that was the mobile os where true multitasking was derived from. As gd as the android operating system is, Galaxy s2 is making me like android more.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I've also noticed the problem when using sites like mega upload where you have to wait a certain amount of time before downoading a file. If the counter is on 30 seconds, I think I have time to check an e-mail or a few tweets while waiting, so I do that and when I come back to the browser the counter is still at 30 seconds...
It's usually not a big deal but I find it amusing that android fanboys made fun of iOS because it doesn't have true multitasking, although from what I can see android just saves the state of your apps and restores it when you go back to the app... it's OK in most situation but it's hardly multitasking.
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BlueScreenJunky said:
I've also noticed the problem when using sites like mega upload where you have to wait a certain amount of time before downoading a file. If the counter is on 30 seconds, I think I have time to check an e-mail or a few tweets while waiting, so I do that and when I come back to the browser the counter is still at 30 seconds...
It's usually not a big deal but I find it amusing that android fanboys made fun of iOS because it doesn't have true multitasking, although from what I can see android just saves the state of your apps and restores it when you go back to the app... it's OK in most situation but it's hardly multitasking.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Most sites like that do this on the desktop now to keep your focus on their ads. Not sure if megaupload does but a lot do so i could just be this.
mark2222 said:
Most sites like that do this on the desktop now to keep your focus on their ads. Not sure if megaupload does but a lot do so i could just be this.
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Click to collapse
Yes, this happens if you try the same on your computer too.
Huh ? Never happened to me on the computer but I'll check (it would make sense and seems doable w/ javascript), it could be that indeed.
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BlueScreenJunky said:
It's usually not a big deal but I find it amusing that android fanboys made fun of iOS because it doesn't have true multitasking, although from what I can see android just saves the state of your apps and restores it when you go back to the app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, Android has true multitasking, but that doesn't mean every app should or have to use it, does it? If I browse through internet, I'm on a site with dynamic Flash/Javascript content and I exit browser then I want it to freeze any dynamic content to minimize power consumption. This is exactly what most of people want in most situations and this is why you have problems with Megaupload. It's possible to create a browser which will run Megaupload counter in the background, but no one has created one so far, because it wouldn't be that good.
You all should understand this isn't a technical issue, it's a design concern. If you switch/exit an app then OS (no matter: mobile or desktop one) has to do one of the following:
run it normally in the background
pause it
close it
give user a choice
Each of above has its pros and cons. Desktop OSes use first option, because they don't care about power and RAM consumption. They also use last option, because on a big screen, with mouse and full keyboard there is no problem to add such controls.
But using same solution on a phone would be a disaster, I think. Older mobile OSes use third option: they close app after exiting it, they don't have MT at all. iOS is somewhere between pause and close. Android is between pause and run: it pauses apps by default, but gives them a possibility to run in the background if they want. And this is a big difference between iOS and Android. On the iOS app can't run in the background even if both its developer and user want that. On the Android it depends fully on a developer choice.
What I want to say is: there is no single, perfect solution to this problem. If clicking "home" button would not pause an app by default then OS would be a piece of **** to me. Even if it would give me a possibility to easily pause/close an app - still POS. Pause should be a default action to make OS easy to use, so I think Android design is really good. One thing which could be done is to give more control to user. E.g. an option to resume/not pause an app on demand, so it will run similarly to foreground mode.
And how does work this awesome MT of webos (I don't really know)? Please, don't say it runs apps in the background by default - if so then sorry, but as I said it's a POS to me.
Brut.all said:
And how does work this awesome MT of webos (I don't really know)? Please, don't say it runs apps in the background by default - if so then sorry, but as I said it's a POS to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Multitasking on a WebOS, for those who haven't yet seen it: http://youtu.be/wZht-a0VlD8
Brut.all said:
No, Android has true multitasking, but that doesn't mean every app should or have to use it, does it? If I browse through internet, I'm on a site with dynamic Flash/Javascript content and I exit browser then I want it to freeze any dynamic content to minimize power consumption. This is exactly what most of people want in most situations and this is why you have problems with Megaupload. It's possible to create a browser which will run Megaupload counter in the background, but no one has created one so far, because it wouldn't be that good.
You all should understand this isn't a technical issue, it's a design concern. If you switch/exit an app then OS (no matter: mobile or desktop one) has to do one of the following:
run it normally in the background
pause it
close it
give user a choice
Each of above has its pros and cons. Desktop OSes use first option, because they don't care about power and RAM consumption. They also use last option, because on a big screen, with mouse and full keyboard there is no problem to add such controls.
But using same solution on a phone would be a disaster, I think. Older mobile OSes use third option: they close app after exiting it, they don't have MT at all. iOS is somewhere between pause and close. Android is between pause and run: it pauses apps by default, but gives them a possibility to run in the background if they want. And this is a big difference between iOS and Android. On the iOS app can't run in the background even if both its developer and user want that. On the Android it depends fully on a developer choice.
What I want to say is: there is no single, perfect solution to this problem. If clicking "home" button would not pause an app by default then OS would be a piece of **** to me. Even if it would give me a possibility to easily pause/close an app - still POS. Pause should be a default action to make OS easy to use, so I think Android design is really good. One thing which could be done is to give more control to user. E.g. an option to resume/not pause an app on demand, so it will run similarly to foreground mode.
And how does work this awesome MT of webos (I don't really know)? Please, don't say it runs apps in the background by default - if so then sorry, but as I said it's a POS to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx for this very informative post.
And indeed I think the best solution would be for each app to have a default behavior as it is right now, but let the user force the app to keep running at all times if they need to for some reason and don't care about the performance hit.
Ty for all the info, but still, I just want the option to run some app normally in the background, its annoying when youre watching a movie and quickly need to check mail, i like having it playing on
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Intresting to me that good old WM 6.5 was true multitasking and could run for the best part of a week in standby Android in all it's forms, with background program managment, can barely do a couple of days !
Interesting in the video that I didn't see any evidence of true multitasking
Like some1 mentioned already, android is a multiple task/thread OS. So you can pretty much do anything. It's down to the developer. If you wanted music/vid to play in the background when not active in foreground tis easy to extend your application to have a service that constantly runs, and the app (UI) is just the controller. A good example of multitasking is seeing 2 things update where both are either critical data or processor intense. An example being your widgets update while live wallpaper is doing something. So to me, there is either multitasking or not, not really true multitasking. I think from the video of webOs I would call it a task/app/thread visual controller, and not a few words like "true multitasking".
Just my brain dumb on the issue
I HATE mini apps on my Galaxy Tab 10.1...
That feature alone is enough to make me want to return the device.
Seriously? Why would Samsung want to decide for me my what apps I want at my finger tips? Then not only that, they use their own cheesy versions of available apps. I have already found the solutions I want to use through my Android phone. I want to carry over the same apps to the tab so that my experience is a little less fragmented.
The "mini apps" constantly get in the way. I'm brushing against the bottom bar causing the apps to pop up... none of which I ever use, completely unintentionally. Annoying! If I could only decide what apps showed up!
Total pain in the REAR!
Then Samsung loads on a bunch of unnecessary software. I HATE having 5 apps that do exactly the same thing on my device... The abundance of music players is asinine. Having three book programs (none of which you can remove) is stoopid.
Why can't you get a piece of hardware without the software all screwed up by the vendor these days?
Why is root necessary every time I put my hands on an Android device to make it useful?
Why can't I purchase an Android product with a Google backed Vanilla version of the current OS installed?
Why?
Why?
Why?
I'm so pissed that this $600 tablet requires an additional 15 dollars in apps and a good 6-12 (or more) hours of set-up time and research to get it properly rooted and operating the way I like it.
Sorry... that made me feel so much better.
Maybe an ipad would have been a better choice for you. I like tinkering with my toys so I chose the tab.
I HATE mini apps on my Galaxy Tab 10.1... do YOU?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may have opened the mini apps tray 3-4 times unintentionally (in the 10 weeks I have the tablet) and I use the "calculator" mini app quite regularly. So no, they don't bother me but I wouldn't miss them if they were gone either.
SGPMan said:
Maybe an ipad would have been a better choice for you. I like tinkering with my toys so I chose the tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Them there are fighting words...
I enjoy tinkering as well. I have loved customizing my original Incredible and now Incredible 2. They have an excellent following with a lot of very reputable ROM "artists". However, their original UI wasn't that bad to start with. And with the CM nighties, my phone is near perfect.
With the Galaxy Tab 10.1, my initial experience (3 days) I have found it to be laggy and glitchy, which I was shocked about. I want this tab to work for me, but it seems that I'm trying awful hard to make this work. I think it's the fact that my phone is setup so well and runs so well... I figured the tablet would be so much better. I set my expectations high, only to be disappointed so far.
I have rooted and removed a bunch of unnecessary apps, but haven't figured out how to remove that dam mini app bar. As far as custom ROM's go... I haven't loaded any since I am still trying to figure which has the best reputation for stability and speed.
I am trying to figure out something, other wise by Thursday this thing is headed back to Best Buy. Sad thing is... I don't want an apple device, but if that's what is comes to, then I will retire my Android phone as well to keep everything streamlined. Sucks!
gokpog said:
I may have opened the mini apps tray 3-4 times unintentionally (in the 10 weeks I have the tablet) and I use the "calculator" mini app quite regularly. So no, they don't bother me but I wouldn't miss them if they were gone either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Real Calc regularly, a donate (paid) app which can handle higher level math functions. I wish I could just substitute it in place of the basic Samsung/Android version.
Agree with you, mini-apps are boring me every time i wanna play a fullscreen game, like "fruit ninja thd"... This "rolling dock" is not a great feature.
SGPMan said:
Maybe an ipad would have been a better choice for you. I like tinkering with my toys so I chose the tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, the reason most of us choose Android is that we aren't forced into "one man's vision" and have the ability to choose for ourself. The mini-app bar forces us into one company's vision. I have to agree with the OP about this.
We should at least have the ability to turn it off.
Meh...it's there, it's unobtrusive, and at least my experience with it is that I really have to try to get it to come up when I want it. Have never accidentally brought it up. Sometimes the calc and the memo pad are useful.
Can't see why people hate it so much.
MMcCraryNJ said:
Meh...it's there, it's unobtrusive, and at least my experience with it is that I really have to try to get it to come up when I want it. Have never accidentally brought it up. Sometimes the calc and the memo pad are useful.
Can't see why people hate it so much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So...
Try a vs party on "Fruit Ninja THD", you'll see ^^
Just hide the status bar with this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1265397
problem solved!!!
I actually don't mind having mini app tray. I use task manager, calculater and memo pad for taking notes from web regularly. The only thing I don't like is accidentally hitting the screenshot button. But I totally agree with the original post. An option to turn it off would be nice.
Personally I like them. Two of them I use on a daily basis. Most of the others occasionally.
JHeal77 said:
As far as custom ROM's go... I haven't loaded any since I am still trying to figure which has the best reputation for stability and speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Task360/Phantom "In Paris"
v.2 works great for me, but v.4 is coming "soon"(tm)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1284355
Really not a massive fan of them being there tbh, but I don't accidentally press the button (not like the screenshot one...grr!) and I don't use the apps in it. I just ignore it and get on my way.
If there was an option of getting rid of it though, I would.
I found this thread while searching for a way to at least configure this menu bar... unfortunately it looks like the whole thing is embedded in the ROM and the only way to hide it is to patch the ROM and/or completely replace it (thanks for the links in the thread).
I fully agree with the OP on a lot of his rant. This is an awesome peice of hardware that comes out of the box with some insanely bad software. I'm still deciding on what launcher to replace the stock version with, but so far both Go and Launcher Pro are tons faster, more configurable, and better looking than the laggy default version that doesn't even let you use the full display.
The status bar menu is kind of a nice idea, but the execution is terrible. If I could configure what apps and quick commands I wanted on the menu and easily hide it, it would be a great feature.
But as it is, the choices of what to put there seem really bizarre. I can't for the life of me figure out why "screen shot" was deemed important enough for most users to justify space on an "always on" menu. I have to routinely go delete unwanted screenshots taken by accidentally brushing that menu option.
The choices of what to put on the quick launch app menu are even worse. Holding the "home" button on the main menu for a couple seconds pops up the task manager so why do I need a whole other button dedicated to pulling up this app? The world clock is just plain terrible compared to other clock apps. The calander is alright, but there are better widgets out there that serve the purpose better than a quick launch menu. The memo and calculator are again terrible and need to be replaced by 3rd party apps so you should be able to replace them on this menu too. The music player is the only one of the apps that serves my purposes, but again there are better 3rd party apps and you should be able to configure what is on a system wide quick launch bar.
From the perspective of an average consumer the out-of-box experience is fairly poor due to the OEM software rather than the hardware or system software. It should be easy for a user to fix this with simple market based apps and configuration options rather than having to apply warantee voiding ROM patches and rooting the OS. Allowing OEM's to "lock" bad software is a really bad policy. If an OEM wants me to use their software, they should develop or license best in class versions of those apps rather than locking the software on the system and forcing me to root the system to get rid of poor quality software.
You can disable all of these functions with some XML editing if it really annoys you that much
I'd happily do all these changes for you for a little donation of just a couple of quid
Try one of the sweet new cm9 kangs, I'm on the 7500 version. So much better then tw honeycomb.
I Agree!!
hate it so much, but now on overcome rom,
its at least slightly less annoying. just ever so SLIGHTLY.
at least in this rom, a swipe upward wont activate it.
wont disturb me during fruit ninja.
but still sometimes press it when i wana press spacebar.
stupid piece of crap tray.
the motorola xoom already has ICS.
samsung will be the slowest tab to get it cos of this touch widz.
Sometimes i feel sorry for samsung.
i have a hunch there is some kind of conspiracy goin on at the back,
where google force manufacturers to implement their own skin. (why else would samsung waste effort to make rubbish that people dont want?)
and google can sell their overprice nexus device to make money.
just imagine, if samsung can sell or upgrade the galaxy S2 and note with the pure and stock vanilla android, and upgrade them to ICS without touch widz, would anyone buy galaxy nexus?
nexus has lausy hardware. last gen GPU and horrible camera. (not due to the 5MP, but generally a weak camera compare to S2 and note)
Luv'em why we have android
Pop up windows that are independent of screen, getting closer to desktop experience. I would like to swap some out but overall, (calc, note, calendar, calculator, & music player) work great. Allow true multitasking.
I just installed OverSkreen which gives me a windowed web browser on top of screen. I really like them.
I am on an ICS KANG version by Mabalito
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1461240
With this ROM, I don't have a bottom row of mini apps.
I am using GO Launcher EX HD
http://golauncher.goforandroid.com/2012/03/go-launcher-hd-v1-0-beta/
With the launcher, I able to hide the bottom bar whenever I want.
This is awesome when I watch video and play games
as most of you may have probably learned .. windowsandroid lets you use android (I.C.S) in windows without emulation ... so i have side-loaded 2 or 3 apps but when i press them in windowsandroid .. it opens the app then suddenly closes it .. does this happen to you also ?? and how can i increase its resolution to run it in "tablet mode" ???
Someone help plz !
Maybe this'll help...a little
If you're into disappointment, maybe, that is.
I was interested in the same thing (among other things), with this emu (which, basically it is).
I found this Reddit post on the topic; basically, it says you should merely ADD the following line to the 'build.prop' file in the WindowsAndroid root folder--that's right, just ADD it, no reason to plug it in anywhere specific, or use it to replace anything there:
ro.sf.lcd_density=120
It's important to note, however, this is a density setting rather than a resolution setting, and so caused my own installation to show up in tablet mode, but, as I'm using an older low-res LCD Projector as my monitor (and, er, Windows knows this quite too well, BTW), my copy kept showing up with the screen out of registration--in fact, it looks like you're in 'settings', choosing between active screens (see my screenshot).
Ooops--my writing compositional skills must be lapsing, because--how do I know this stuff about your monitor res having anything to do with anything in this app?
Glad you asked!
An answer posted to a well-worded question that ended up on this site:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/...in-socketeqs-windowsandroid/14885130#14885130
Note I reverse-answered his question with the same stuff I posted here--I'm so cheap!
So, for people using regular ole hi-res monitors, and not lower (pretty much 1024x768 for me, the trade-off being it's HUGE!) monitors, this may be okay for you.
Lol thx ... Have you tried side loading apps .. If yes do they work ?
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Turned-off notifications...sorry
Yarp...if you count merely dumping them into the '[root]\system\app' folder (methinks)...tried that the first night, and got so many that didn't work (even pretty simple, 'non-graphicky' ones) that I gave up on this OS that very first night...'til later...maybe.
Too much janky behavior from that otherwise very cool idea. I got into some other things temporarily--I'll look back in (some things in mind) in a week or so.
That thing was locking up pretty consistently every time I ran an app on it other than the 'system apps' that came with it...I was interested in trying out my favorite old news & weather app--the 'geniewidget.apk' I loved from Froyo on (see here), post by username VJKotts with attachment--worked for me!
I may have time to list apps that worked, and didn't, later today, but many of them are specific to me (like, my over-use of the Ulysse speedometer while driving my last car, which didn't have a working speedo, so, that was priceless!).
Some various media player apps are of interest to me, since I build HTPCs, and am getting into using the Android OS for the same purpose (with portability offered by the new Android mini PC's!)
Some reviewers of that thing are reporting tons of happy success with using them as basic HTPCs, and lots of people love XBMC and Plex (not me necessarily--I've had limited success with each of these, and resort to much simpler playback of my own 'Windows-Recorded TV' files using Skifta, so I'm happy with that app.
sebas98619 said:
Lol thx ... Have you tried side loading apps .. If yes do they work ?
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Click to collapse
Alright, So we've seen Firefox running on Android Wear, however we can't enter any menus due to no softkeys on the device. I have been trying to install apps such as "Virtual Button Bar" and SoftKeys for Root Users onto the watch and they install and run. But only the home button works. Neither the back or menu button seems to work in any application.
Has anyone else attempted to get some softkeys for controls in unsupported apps that may be able to enlighten me more on why these keypresses seem to be ignored by the OS..
ShadowEO said:
Alright, So we've seen Firefox running on Android Wear, however we can't enter any menus due to no softkeys on the device. I have been trying to install apps such as "Virtual Button Bar" and SoftKeys for Root Users onto the watch and they install and run. But only the home button works. Neither the back or menu button seems to work in any application.
Has anyone else attempted to get some softkeys for controls in unsupported apps that may be able to enlighten me more on why these keypresses seem to be ignored by the OS..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With LMT all the keys that can get on-screen are working just fine in apps that support them but the problem is the app can't be launched (FC-most probably because it has an action bar) so you can't edit the buttons or the size of them, they just work but are over sized.
Ranomez said:
With LMT all the keys that can get on-screen are working just fine in apps that support them but the problem is the app can't be launched (FC-most probably because it has an action bar) so you can't edit the buttons or the size of them, they just work but are over sized.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if you can install LMT on your phone, customize it first, then go to /data/data/... or an appropriate location to grab the config and push it into the watch.
I'm also considering buying a GW, so if this somehow works, please let me know.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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AndyYan said:
I wonder if you can install LMT on your phone, customize it first, then go to /data/data/... or an appropriate location to grab the config and push it into the watch.
I'm also considering buying a GW, so if this somehow works, please let me know.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
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Click to collapse
Yes ofc it will work but the problem with that is that it will take a lot of time to customize the settings right for the watch and each time you copy the files to data/data remember that you will need to set the right permissions, owner and SELinux context for each and every file and considering that currently SELinux contexts can differ from one device to an other and from one ROM to an other that will be really time consuming and hard as you will have to find an app on your watch that has the same types of files to see the SELinux contexts for each of them.
To say it short yes you can do that but it will probably take you at least 1 day and I don't have the time or patience to do that and I doubt many people on this forum will but ofc if you do buy a G Watch have a go at it and tell us just how much time you've wasted.
Ranomez said:
Yes ofc it will work but the problem with that is that it will take a lot of time to customize the settings right for the watch and each time you copy the files to data/data remember that you will need to set the right permissions, owner and SELinux context for each and every file and considering that currently SELinux contexts can differ from one device to an other and from one ROM to an other that will be really time consuming and hard as you will have to find an app on your watch that has the same types of files to see the SELinux contexts for each of them.
To say it short yes you can do that but it will probably take you at least 1 day and I don't have the time or patience to do that and I doubt many people on this forum will but ofc if you do buy a G Watch have a go at it and tell us just how much time you've wasted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I doubt it would take that much effort, because I've tried manually moving config for some other apps without even touching the permissions, and they seem to fix that automatically. System apps don't like that way, though.
But seeing how Android Wear hates ActionBar, thus making many of my apps unavailable, I don't know if I'd still buy one. Yes I do want something Android on my wrist, but if it's just time-telling and Google Now (which is not even available here in China), then I'm not paying that chunk for it.
What apps do you have, then?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
AndyYan said:
Hmm, I doubt it would take that much effort, because I've tried manually moving config for some other apps without even touching the permissions, and they seem to fix that automatically. System apps don't like that way, though.
But seeing how Android Wear hates ActionBar, thus making many of my apps unavailable, I don't know if I'd still buy one. Yes I do want something Android on my wrist, but if it's just time-telling and Google Now (which is not even available here in China), then I'm not paying that chunk for it.
What apps do you have, then?
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you are talking about moving configs to the same phone I guess? Also if not were you on android 5.x+ cause if yes SELinux has became really strict, to the point that if you mess up some contexts on any file in the data partition you could even get a bootloop (happened to me) or have all your apps disappear and be unable to install any app until you fix up the SELinux context (again happened to me), which you will have to do using adb in that state if you don't happen to have and file manager with root capabilities installed in /system/app or /system/priv-app.
Also to answer your question: yes most normal android apps don't work but there are some that do, even some games and some are even really playable, moreover there are enough useful android wear apps out there, I don't know what you plan to use your watch for but for me it does way more than enough, after all it's a watch, it's not like I'll ever want to spend a lot of time looking at it doing anything but I can do some fast reading on it when I need (not like I'll ever read a whole book on it, that's why I have an android e-book reader or even my phone in the worst case scenario), browsing the internet fast (ofc it needs to be connected to a phone with a data connection), receive and send messages, reject calls, even some light or not so light gaming, even things as Temple Run 2, can play music when I don't have my phone using a bluetooth headset/speaker), the only thing I miss is a full office suite, really, I am writing a novel at the moment and never know when I get some inspiration and have to write down what I have in my mind pretty fast so I don't forget, would love to just be able to write on the watch and not have to take out my phone for that.
Also I would suggest that if you have the money you should go with a watch that has wi-fi like the G Watch R or Urbane cause then you will be able to use the internet without a phone, also the screen of the G Watch is really bad in the sun, I had a Sony Smartwatch 2 before and that was way more limited software wise (and for that reason had a battery life of over 1 week) but the screen was miles ahead, I could see everything in powerful sun light without even setting the brightness to the maximum, on the G Watch I can barely see anything with the brightness at maximum in not so powerful sun light.
Does LMT contain the menu button by default? I could care less if it's a little oversized (as long as it's not to big for 150-175 DPI), but I'm about to reset my watch using the restore tools because I screwed up root while trying to get SoftKeyz (EDIT: I believe was the name of the softkey app I was trying to make work, can't remember and just finished resetting) to work correctly.
Ranomez said:
Well you are talking about moving configs to the same phone I guess? Also if not were you on android 5.x+ cause if yes SELinux has became really strict, to the point that if you mess up some contexts on any file in the data partition you could even get a bootloop (happened to me) or have all your apps disappear and be unable to install any app until you fix up the SELinux context (again happened to me), which you will have to do using adb in that state if you don't happen to have and file manager with root capabilities installed in /system/app or /system/priv-app.
Also to answer your question: yes most normal android apps don't work but there are some that do, even some games and some are even really playable, moreover there are enough useful android wear apps out there, I don't know what you plan to use your watch for but for me it does way more than enough, after all it's a watch, it's not like I'll ever want to spend a lot of time looking at it doing anything but I can do some fast reading on it when I need (not like I'll ever read a whole book on it, that's why I have an android e-book reader or even my phone in the worst case scenario), browsing the internet fast (ofc it needs to be connected to a phone with a data connection), receive and send messages, reject calls, even some light or not so light gaming, even things as Temple Run 2, can play music when I don't have my phone using a bluetooth headset/speaker), the only thing I miss is a full office suite, really, I am writing a novel at the moment and never know when I get some inspiration and have to write down what I have in my mind pretty fast so I don't forget, would love to just be able to write on the watch and not have to take out my phone for that.
Also I would suggest that if you have the money you should go with a watch that has wi-fi like the G Watch R or Urbane cause then you will be able to use the internet without a phone, also the screen of the G Watch is really bad in the sun, I had a Sony Smartwatch 2 before and that was way more limited software wise (and for that reason had a battery life of over 1 week) but the screen was miles ahead, I could see everything in powerful sun light without even setting the brightness to the maximum, on the G Watch I can barely see anything with the brightness at maximum in not so powerful sun light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for compiling such a long response for me :thumbup:
As my signature says most of my devices are on 5.1. Moving some game saves across devices works nicely, though moving contacts database involves modifying owner and permission, but not SEL context - to be honest, I don't even know that ever matters.
Sure I don't have many things in mind when it comes to "what to do with GW"... Back when I was using the Gear, I had quite some apps on it, but most of the time I use it as a timekeeper. But not being compatible with ActionBar is so shocking - I can't imagine how many apps I've used on the Gear so nicely won't work with GW, the most important of which are Greenify, LMT and Root Explorer. Looks like I still have to do much research before I decide on a purchase.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
AndyYan said:
Thanks for compiling such a long response for me :thumbup:
As my signature says most of my devices are on 5.1. Moving some game saves across devices works nicely, though moving contacts database involves modifying owner and permission, but not SEL context - to be honest, I don't even know that ever matters.
Sure I don't have many things in mind when it comes to "what to do with GW"... Back when I was using the Gear, I had quite some apps on it, but most of the time I use it as a timekeeper. But not being compatible with ActionBar is so shocking - I can't imagine how many apps I've used on the Gear so nicely won't work with GW, the most important of which are Greenify, LMT and Root Explorer. Looks like I still have to do much research before I decide on a purchase.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just looked at your signature and now I know why you had no problem with moving data from one device to an other: all your devices are running CM so they will all use the same security contexts but CM's security contexts are different from normal stock AOSP's contexts and both are different from the contexts used in Samsung TW ROM's, I can bet that if you try to move the data to a stock nexus or some other device running a manufacturer ROM or an other custom ROM than CM (most do use the same contexts but some don't) you will get into problems. SELinux contexts seem to be now just as important as permissions, sometimes you can get around with the wrong owner but if you have wrong Permissions or SELinux contexts you might mess up more than what you were changing.
Also about the app compatibility thing....I don't really miss many apps that I run on my normal devices, the only one I can actually think of is Titanium Backup (and an office app as I said), I found a good replacement for root explorer in MiXplorer, greenify is totally un-needed and wouldn't be too useful even if it worked (I'm actually not sure if it does or not, to me that layout looked like the action bar is either a non-default implementation so it might work without it) because the xposed installer doesn't work (FC-same reason, action bar) but I think xposed could work if someone adapted the installer (doesn't seem to me that the OS-level differences are so big, it's more of the framework), didn't yet try but just for a lol will flash the xposed lollipop zip and see if I can still boot.
An other option for you might be to buy a Gear S, as far as I can see there is some development going on towards running (initially) android wear on it and further afterwards full android.
Ranomez said:
I just looked at your signature and now I know why you had no problem with moving data from one device to an other: all your devices are running CM so they will all use the same security contexts but CM's security contexts are different from normal stock AOSP's contexts and both are different from the contexts used in Samsung TW ROM's, I can bet that if you try to move the data to a stock nexus or some other device running a manufacturer ROM or an other custom ROM than CM (most do use the same contexts but some don't) you will get into problems. SELinux contexts seem to be now just as important as permissions, sometimes you can get around with the wrong owner but if you have wrong Permissions or SELinux contexts you might mess up more than what you were changing.
Also about the app compatibility thing....I don't really miss many apps that I run on my normal devices, the only one I can actually think of is Titanium Backup (and an office app as I said), I found a good replacement for root explorer in MiXplorer, greenify is totally un-needed and wouldn't be too useful even if it worked (I'm actually not sure if it does or not, to me that layout looked like the action bar is either a non-default implementation so it might work without it) because the xposed installer doesn't work (FC-same reason, action bar) but I think xposed could work if someone adapted the installer (doesn't seem to me that the OS-level differences are so big, it's more of the framework), didn't yet try but just for a lol will flash the xposed lollipop zip and see if I can still boot.
An other option for you might be to buy a Gear S, as far as I can see there is some development going on towards running (initially) android wear on it and further afterwards full android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, you got a good point there. I also move data between one of the CM phones and the TF300TL tablet, but SEL is nonexistent in Android 4.2, so I guess you're right.
Gear S is way out of my reach - if I had that cash I'd buy a ZenWatch, a 360 or even an Omate TrueSmart without hesitation. But thanks for letting me know all this anyway - I choose not to look at GW and Android Wear at this moment.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
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AndyYan said:
Hmm, you got a good point there. I also move data between one of the CM phones and the TF300TL tablet, but SEL is nonexistent in Android 4.2, so I guess you're right.
Gear S is way out of my reach - if I had that cash I'd buy a ZenWatch, a 360 or even an Omate TrueSmart without hesitation. But thanks for letting me know all this anyway - I choose not to look at GW and Android Wear at this moment.
Sent from Google Nexus 4 @ CM12.1
[WARNING: XDA Premium 4.0.13+ lacks Signature function - do not update]
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Click to collapse
You could instead look at a Gear Live then, it at least has a heart rate sensor and a way better screen for outdoors and at least in my country it is in the same price range as the G Watch (actually cheaper) but yes, I can't totally recommend android wear as it is right now, it's good enough (at least for me) but I can also see why a normal pure android watch could be way better yet I have faith that this will change.
Also I really can't recommend the Omate or any other MediaTek smart watch as 1st most of them have no resistance to water whatsoever, 2nd they have no support from and 3rd the firmware on them has so many security holes and other flaws it looks like a schweizer.
EDIT: I forgot to say that if you want full android you could search for a SmartQ Z-watch, as far as I know that is a pretty good one and also pretty cheap (on pandawill when it was on "last time sale" it was sold for 30$ and I am talking about the normal not the lite one, the lite one isn't worth it) but I don't think it will be updated anymore, yet android 4.4 is pretty good compared to other android smart watches.
Ranomez said:
You could instead look at a Gear Live then, it at least has a heart rate sensor and a way better screen for outdoors and at least in my country it is in the same price range as the G Watch (actually cheaper) but yes, I can't totally recommend android wear as it is right now, it's good enough (at least for me) but I can also see why a normal pure android watch could be way better yet I have faith that this will change.
Also I really can't recommend the Omate or any other MediaTek smart watch as 1st most of them have no resistance to water whatsoever, 2nd they have no support from and 3rd the firmware on them has so many security holes and other flaws it looks like a schweizer.
EDIT: I forgot to say that if you want full android you could search for a SmartQ Z-watch, as far as I know that is a pretty good one and also pretty cheap (on pandawill when it was on "last time sale" it was sold for 30$ and I am talking about the normal not the lite one, the lite one isn't worth it) but I don't think it will be updated anymore, yet android 4.4 is pretty good compared to other android smart watches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Z Watch? No thanks, I've tried that *before* the Gear, and I sold it within a week and lost $15 in the process - crappy 1GHz MIPS which is not only slow but also lacks compatibility for almost everything I throw at it - not even a custom launcher or a weather app would work. Omate's MTK is indeed unfavorable, and that's why I haven't already got one. And there aren't many people who sell Gear Live here. Which leaves me zero feasible choice.
I guess I could call it an end to my hunt of smartwatches, until something like Neptune Pine (but thinner and lighter) shows up. Thanks for helping me analyze the situation all this time!
AndyYan said:
Z Watch? No thanks, I've tried that *before* the Gear, and I sold it within a week and lost $15 in the process - crappy 1GHz MIPS which is not only slow but also lacks compatibility for almost everything I throw at it - not even a custom launcher or a weather app would work. Omate's MTK is indeed unfavorable, and that's why I haven't already got one. And there aren't many people who sell Gear Live here. Which leaves me zero feasible choice.
I guess I could call it an end to my hunt of smartwatches, until something like Neptune Pine (but thinner and lighter) shows up. Thanks for helping me analyze the situation all this time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the compatibility thing has changed as ingenic released a compatibility layer (something like libhoudini for intel CPU's) so as far as I can see from a friend's Z Watch it can run almost anything one would throw at it (ok, anything a bit rational, only apps that can actually be useful on a watch) but yes that CPU is not the fastest and the firmware is not really optimized enough so you would need a custom ROM and perhaps some RAM management script like L Speed to get it lag-free yet I can say my friend's z watch behaves pretty well on Dj Droid, it wasn't really lag-free the 2 weeks time we exchanged watches so I could test it but that's just cause I was using xposed and quite a few modules and also had about 100 apps installed, the lag wasn't really the problem for me, the annoying thing for me was the app load times, it would take me up to 1 minute to launch a 3d game.
This being said I would still recommend you to wait for something better, smartwatches right now are good but I see a lot more potential and I am sure in a few years we will see amazing ones, perhaps as good as our older phones in regards to app compatibility and flexibility, who knows, perhaps they'll even be as powerful as our current phones (as far as it goes phones in 1 year will probably be much powerful than our current phones so anything's possible).
EDIT: I also forgot to say that many apps have been adapted for MIPS since then so even without the compatibility layer there are enough apps working on the Z Watch.
Hi guys,
as the pen works really phenomenal on our Tablet and My S7+ is like made for drwaing, I wanted to ask which app you use for that?
The already installed Samsung apps are not what I'm really looking for.
On the Computer I use Paintshop Pro to paint and to work on Fotos.
Which one would be best to get the features from PaintShop Pro?
If it is freeware, I would be even more happy
I would recommend SketchBook 100%. Im using it myself and its full of features every artist needs.
SketchBook
Sketchbook was what I found so far.
Fits most of what I need. Just wanted to know if there is something even better.
I mostly want to work on existing Fotos and there are not so many filters and things for that.
I've tried most now and the best I've come across is infinite painter. It has a minimalistic ui but this is deceiving, spend some time with it and you'll find that it's very capable.
I've used Sketchbook for years. It's excellent, but they seem to have stopped updating it since it went 100%
I also use Infinite Painter, it has some really good brushes and the grids/guides are amazing. It's had a major update on iOS and the new features are headed to Android soon.
I've also tried out Clip Studio Pain at the TAB S7+ comes with a free trial. It is amazing, but I don't like the subscription pricing.
If you want to see my drawings, check out @sketchUK on instagram - I usually include the app name in the description, so you can see what I've used.
Infinite Painter FTW
It's as close to a Photoshop android app as I've been able to find.
You might want to check out Krita. It's an open source app designed for desktop, but ported to Android.
With this screen, it should work out well. My device isn't here yet, but the app is free.
ETA: YouTube video link:
Infinite Painter is Crapware - Spyware - Malware
Tried Infinite Painter after reading here. First of all I got alarm about two trackers. After starting message appears that the app does not run without play services.
So far so good.
Tried to uninstall the app to find out that it was not possible to uninstall.
I had to do a factory reset to get the app off my tablet.
The device is new and untouched, I should not have to use adb tool to actually get rid of this crapware.
Keep your fingers off this app
I seem to always find myself back using Medibang paint. it's for the most part free and easy to navigate and use also with a whole online community and database of online tools and downloads. Cloud saving. Frequent updates.
ericDraven77 said:
Hi guys,
as the pen works really phenomenal on our Tablet and My S7+ is like made for drwaing, I wanted to ask which app you use for that?
The already installed Samsung apps are not what I'm really looking for.
On the Computer I use Paintshop Pro to paint and to work on Fotos.
Which one would be best to get the features from PaintShop Pro?
If it is freeware, I would be even more happy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Krita
Krita
Krita is a professional FREE and open source painting program. It is made by artists that want to see affordable art tools for everyone.
krita.org
..and to see just how capable it is, always go to the user manual; that's where the real story is told.
Welcome to the Krita 5.0 Manual!
docs.krita.org
Not sure about S-pen compatibility, though...
EDIT: I did a search of this thread for 'krita', saw no results, made this post, then saw that it was already mentioned by @undrwater
TiTiB said:
Not sure about S-pen compatibility, though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From here:
The developers of the editing program have converted the full version of Desktop 4.29 to Android environment. This implies that the interface is not 100% suitable for touch control, but works great on tablets with a stylus, as is the case with the Samsung Galaxy Tab. We tested Krita on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite and the feeling was very positive: the app not only allows editing of images and lines, it is also very well suited for use with the S Pen. It even detects different pressure levels for drawing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Krita is working really well with S Pen.
You can also deactivate touch input for any painting and then your palm will not "paint" while using the S Pen.
Also the pressure is really nicely configurable within Krita.
Can fully recommend this app, thanks for mentioning it here - as I didn't know it before
I'm also looking for a good drawing app right now. I want to try it and learn how to draw in the application. This will make my work easier and faster. For now, I only draw on paper and improve my skills. The drawing ideas on partnersinfire.com help me with this. However, I understand that now is the time that I need to learn to be friends with technology. There are many areas where all artists work in applications, and I understand this. So if anyone can recommend a good app, I'll be grateful.
I’m using a samsung galaxy tab s7+ (12,4 inches),and you can use clip paint studio painting app on it, which you can synchronise with your pc/mac. The stylus is great and drawing experience is excellent.
Here is an article that should help you choose a android drawing app: https://pctechtest.com/20-best-digital-art-drawing-software