Rotation Sensor Switching Application - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I hope this is the correct place for this thread, my apologies if it is not.
After some searching i did not find anything.
I'm just wondering if there is currently an app out there that allows certain applications to use the rotation sensor on our phones, but not other applications.
For instance i like to text message in landscape mode sometimes but when i go to my home screen and tilt my phone at all, the home screen will go to landscape which i don't like because it takes a long time to switch back and forth between portrait and landscape and seems to be overly sensitive to the axis of my phone.
Does this application exist? If not, how hard would it be to create? i feel like i'm not the only person who would enjoy this application so any help would be wonderful.

I don't know if an app already exists specifically for your needs but your home launcher itself should have an option to turn off the screen rotation altogether without turning it off for everything else.
MoPhoACTV Initiative

Yes i know about this feature. I'm looking for something for allowing it to switch for certain apps but not all. any idea how hard this would be to create?

Have you tried Smart Rotator? Seems like it may do what you want. Available in the Market.

Try this, maybe it'll help for what you need?
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.friedflow.autorotate
MoPhoACTV Initiative

Ah! thank you very much macellaio, this seems to be EXACTLY what i was looking for, although it does seem to take up a good chunk of RAM (25MB) thank you very much. no clue why i couldn't find that.

Related

Ex-blackberry guy pulling hair out

Overall, I think the move from Blackberry to Android/Note was the right one but the transition has been painful in a few areas. I'll list them in this one post instead of inundating the forums with single posts with only one question.
Phone Application -
Admittedly, this is the most frustrating part about going with the Note (outside of the loss of a physical keyboard). The phone application is ridiculously inefficient compared to Blackberry.
Is there a way to prevent the phone from locking (PIN required) when I navigate away from the phone application while on a call? There is nothing more frustrating than having to enter my PIN to simply hang up a phone call. Also, while on a phone call only (meaning I don't navigate away from phone), the screen times out and turns off... forcing me to press the side key to get back into phone. Is there a program that can map the capacitive search key while on a phone call so I can hang up a call?
Regarding "Contacts", is there a way to default to keyboard entry upon opening Contacts? Does Android think the average person has only 6 contacts??... Because that's how many contacts show up when you enter Contacts. This forces me to press "search contacts" every single time I enter Contacts... and the magnifying glass is all the way at the tip top of the screen. Using one hand, it's impossible to comfortably extend my thumb all the way to the top of the screen after pressing my Contacts application icon on the very bottom of the screen. Then I am forced to pull all the way back down to the keyboard just to enter the first letter of the person I'm searching for! I call out of my Contacts list 50-100 times a day so this gets very, very cumbersome and time consuming.
Is there a way to change the text size in my contacts list? I'd like to see more than 6 contacts per page... the phone screen is HUGE!
Now this complaint I'm sure a lot of ex Blackberry people can relate with... Blackberry (via an available OPTION) would consolidate call logs into each individual contact. Android, for some strange reason, does not consolidate history to each individual contact. So when I pull up recent history, the top 100 entries can be from only 10 or 15 people Wouldn't it make more sense to have ONE entry PER CONTACT? I wouldn't have to go into Contacts as often if Android actually consolidated phone call logs into one log per contact because I could go into the phone log and call out people from there... instead of seeing a sea of missed, outgoing, incoming calls... from the same person. I really hope there is a way to consolidate these logs.
S Memo -
There is an option to pull up the S Memo pad in phone but for some strange reason, it always defaults to "drawing" mode instead of entering text. I'm often in a flustered state when on a phone call and/or listening to voicemail and trying to jot down notes... so having to punch that tiny little "T" at the very upper left hand corner of the screen is a pain.
Is there a way to decrease the font size? I never did understand why some native programs have no adjustments for font size... not everyone is 80 years old w/bad vision. I mean... what's the point of having such a high res screen if the font size is a quarter inch tall? Blackberry allowed text size to be adjusted in ALL native applications.
I'm assuming there is no way to increase the amount of text I can enter onto one S Memo page? It seems extremely limited (about ~100 words max).
Am I the only one that seems to have notes that don't save? I recall entering text into several notes and backing out supposedly automatically saves what was inputed... but often times the text is not there when I return to the note. Are others having this issue?
Finally, is there an alternative memo program that anyone could recommend that is as simple and easy to search as Blackberry's memopad?
Alarm Clock -
I realize that there are a ton of alarm apps out there but I've heard horror stories about apps that crash and/or don't work properly. I need a reliable alarm clock so would prefer to stick with the native application. It actually works perfectly... except that the alarm lasts for only 60 seconds. I've slept right through the alarm several times already. Is there any way to make it loop for a longer period? Say 5 or 10 minutes?
I have a ton of other questions but if anyone can help with these for now it would be much appreciated!
U have a button dedicated to search at the bottom. I use dw contacts. Not the cheapest solution but very customizable
There's an app to increase/decrease font size, I haven't used it but I saw someone mentioning it here the other day, the alarm is fine, I have never had any issues with any android alarm, and you can add as many alarms as you want, I get up at 3am to go to work and I can't ever be late so I have set like 4 alarms to go off in set times in order so if I don't hear one the others will follow.
As the issue with being able to reach the full length of the screen one handed , it is what it is, a big a$$ screen that for the most part demands two handed control.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Do you have to use a PIN?
Go to settings, display, screen timeout. You can change how quickly or slowly your screen times out on you.
On your contacts app, just hit the magnifying glass at the bottom right and it'll pull up your keyboard and search function. Or there's teh alphabet running down the right hand side, just click on the letter the name starts with. Or for more customization and ease, install exdialer. It looks good, easy to use, font is small, etc. Exdialer also consolidates your call logs.
There are a ton of memo apps in the market. Personally I love Gnotes. It syncs with google, saves everything, is easy to use, and you can inbed pics, etc.
I don't know about the spen. So far I've only used it to make cute pics to send to my wife and to draw up soccer drills and practice plans.
esincho said:
U have a button dedicated to search at the bottom. I use dw contacts. Not the cheapest solution but very customizable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I'll give it a try. Does the phone still maintain its ability to keep a log and back up the calls to my computer?
roloracer said:
There's an app to increase/decrease font size, I haven't used it but I saw someone mentioning it here the other day, the alarm is fine, I have never had any issues with any android alarm, and you can add as many alarms as you want, I get up at 3am to go to work and I can't ever be late so I have set like 4 alarms to go off in set times in order so if I don't hear one the others will follow.
As the issue with being able to reach the full length of the screen one handed , it is what it is, a big a$$ screen that for the most part demands two handed control.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried the program Big Font but unfortunately while the font size decreases, it does nothing to decrease the size of the useless silhouette image next to the contact name. So I still only get 6 contacts per massive page. I'm hoping there is another solution.
kiltedthrower said:
Do you have to use a PIN?
Go to settings, display, screen timeout. You can change how quickly or slowly your screen times out on you.
On your contacts app, just hit the magnifying glass at the bottom right and it'll pull up your keyboard and search function. Or there's teh alphabet running down the right hand side, just click on the letter the name starts with. Or for more customization and ease, install exdialer. It looks good, easy to use, font is small, etc. Exdialer also consolidates your call logs.
There are a ton of memo apps in the market. Personally I love Gnotes. It syncs with google, saves everything, is easy to use, and you can inbed pics, etc.
I don't know about the spen. So far I've only used it to make cute pics to send to my wife and to draw up soccer drills and practice plans.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, unfortunately I do need to use a PIN or some other form of security. I just don't think it makes any sense to require a PIN if I already entered one and then make a phone call. It's just silly that Android would require a PIN if you're clearly using the phone (on a call). Apparently Google thinks that using the phone does not include being on a phone call. Absurd.
As for your advice about using the magnifying glass, it doesn't work. Because if you pull up the contact via the magnifying glass, you cannot dial from it (swipe right for dial, left for text like you would if you clicked the text box at the top of the phone). You have to click on it and then click once again on what you would like to do. Not sure why it's like that but there are a lot of Android "features" that leave me scratching my head.
I'll give Gnote a try. Thanks!
pj737 said:
I tried the program Big Font but unfortunately while the font size decreases, it does nothing to decrease the size of the useless silhouette image next to the contact name. So I still only get 6 contacts per massive page. I'm hoping there is another solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please don't mix up Google and Samsung. You see Samsung customizes the Android OS, and the stock contacts app is different than the stock Google one. Everything you see is what Samsung did not Google.
If you don't like it I suggest you switch phones or you try third-party apps like exdialer(excontacts comes with it), and it is a very popular choice people use as an alternative. Also, I if you have rooted your phone you can change the DPI, so everything will be smaller and more things can fit on the screen, but like I said you will need ROOT. Download a DPI changer app and go for 240dpi.
Sent from my GT-i9220 using Tapatalk
Or if you're brave enough you can always change the lcd density in the build.prop but beware if you make a mistake editing It will brake the rom and unless you have it backed up like in cwm you'll be forced to flash it to bring it back to life.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
roloracer said:
Or if you're brave enough you can always change the lcd density in the build.prop but beware if you make a mistake editing It will brake the rom and unless you have it backed up like in cwm you'll be forced to flash it to bring it back to life.
Sent from my awesome Galaxy Note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just use LCD resolution from the market. Much simpler for a novice

S-Pen App Idea (Lost Magic + Activator)

Hey all,
I've thought up what I think is a good idea for Samsung's "Smart App Challenge". As you can probably guess by the forum this is in, this would be primarily an S-Pen app, although you could use it without one. I would make this app myself, but have no experience writing apps and if I were to take the time to learn (which I do plan on doing), the contest will be over. *End rambling* Here's the idea:
Have an app that allows the user to press the side button of the pen (or maybe use some other shortcut, eg long press menu, home, etc). This would make whatever you're doing fade and you can write on the screen with your pen. You can assign different symbols or drawings or whatever to perform different actions, such as launching apps, opening bookmarks, changing settings, etc.
It's sort of a cross between "Activator" on jailbroken iOS and "Lost Magic" for the DS. I'm sure this has been thought of before, but no one (to my knowledge) has ever actually done it. Not sure if anyone has the ability to write something like this, but if you do and are looking for an idea, I think this has potential.
Thoughts?
Sounds like a decent idea to me, assuming you use the SPen a lot. I've used mine just a handful of times personally, but your idea makes some sense to me. Gestures for screenshot, specific apps, etc, sounds like a good idea.
I won't be using a TW based ROM any more, so unless the SPen stuff can be compiled into CM9/CM10 I won't be seeing your app but good luck
Thanks for the feedback! Alternatively, you could do this without an s-pen, allowing you to set up different gestures and actions to trigger different events or change different settings.
For example:
Let's say you use your phone as a flashlight a lot, and want to make it easier to access on your non-cm/aokp based rom. Theoretically, you could set long-pressing the home button to turn your flash on. (Or, using the s-pen, you could press the side button and draw a circle or a lightbulb or something.) I know there are a lot of launchers that incorporate simple gesture recognition, but this would have a broader application, changing the way we interact with our phones. Another example, you could set s-pen input to only be used for gestures. So if you wanted to turn your flashlight on, you simply pull out your s-pen and write "light" or draw the gesture of your choosing on the screen and your flashlight turns on. There are so many ways people could potentially do things, and I think there should be an app that focuses on tailoring your phone to best suit your own personal needs.
xxBrun0xx said:
Hey all,
I've thought up what I think is a good idea for Samsung's "Smart App Challenge". As you can probably guess by the forum this is in, this would be primarily an S-Pen app, although you could use it without one. I would make this app myself, but have no experience writing apps and if I were to take the time to learn (which I do plan on doing), the contest will be over. *End rambling* Here's the idea:
Have an app that allows the user to press the side button of the pen (or maybe use some other shortcut, eg long press menu, home, etc). This would make whatever you're doing fade and you can write on the screen with your pen. You can assign different symbols or drawings or whatever to perform different actions, such as launching apps, opening bookmarks, changing settings, etc.
It's sort of a cross between "Activator" on jailbroken iOS and "Lost Magic" for the DS. I'm sure this has been thought of before, but no one (to my knowledge) has ever actually done it. Not sure if anyone has the ability to write something like this, but if you do and are looking for an idea, I think this has potential.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are several gesture-based app but here's one that pretty much does what you are suggesting.
My Gesture Shortcut Launcher
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInNvbmcueS5qLm15Z2VzdHVyZSJd
xxBrun0xx said:
Hey all,
I've thought up what I think is a good idea for Samsung's "Smart App Challenge". As you can probably guess by the forum this is in, this would be primarily an S-Pen app, although you could use it without one. I would make this app myself, but have no experience writing apps and if I were to take the time to learn (which I do plan on doing), the contest will be over. *End rambling* Here's the idea:
Have an app that allows the user to press the side button of the pen (or maybe use some other shortcut, eg long press menu, home, etc). This would make whatever you're doing fade and you can write on the screen with your pen. You can assign different symbols or drawings or whatever to perform different actions, such as launching apps, opening bookmarks, changing settings, etc.
It's sort of a cross between "Activator" on jailbroken iOS and "Lost Magic" for the DS. I'm sure this has been thought of before, but no one (to my knowledge) has ever actually done it. Not sure if anyone has the ability to write something like this, but if you do and are looking for an idea, I think this has potential.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's kind of like the lock screen gestures on cm7, which I really miss, but having it anywhere would be awesome. Great idea!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
ArborRes said:
There are several gesture-based app but here's one that pretty much does what you are suggesting.
My Gesture Shortcut Launcher
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsInNvbmcueS5qLm15Z2VzdHVyZSJd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This looks pretty sweet. Had no idea this existed, but looks interesting. What it has that I don't really like is that big green "G" that's always sitting on top of what you're doing (from what I gather reading the description). I think we need a more elegant way to activate the system.

Custom rom for father with Alzheimers, where to begin?

My father has early onset Alzheimers and I need to create a rom that when the device is powered on all he sees is 3 buttons call, end call, and text which brings up the plain texting option. Call shows square photos of people and services..etc.. tap on one it calls that person. I Would also like to do things like change the power button so it cant fully shut down the phone with out a specific combination of buttons or a pattern. Where do I begin to learn how to do this? I would really like to learn to do this on my own.
Hi there. Sorry to hear about your father. I've had a couple members of my family suffer from this and it's difficult, to say the least. As far as what you are looking for, well, I'm not sure you need to go all in and make a custom rom for this. I think many of the things you are trying to do can be done with existing mods.
As far as the power button, you can look into using the Xposed Framework and the Xposed Additions module which allows you to customize the activity of the hardware buttons.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/framework-xposed-rom-modding-modifying-t1574401
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/mod-xposed-additions-t2294274
For the buttons on screen for Call / End Call - Well, the Call with a link to favorite contacts with pictures is easily done with most launchers or a favorite contact widget. The End Call option though, I'm not so sure about. Reason being is that any time you're going to make a call, it's going to open the dialer app and the end button will be there. I can't really think of a way around that. I looked into adding a shortcut to that activity with Nova Launcher, but it's not an option available (though there are a dozen other shortcuts).
But with a launcher like Nova, you will have the ability to add / delete anything off the main screen besides what you want. You can lock the home screen so he can't inadvertently make changes to it and enable a gesture he wouldn't be likely to use to allow you to access the app drawer (like 2 fingers swipe up, etc). You can also use one of the variety of locking apps that will prevent access to any unwanted apps by requiring a password or PIN.
Ooh. Custom ROMs. A lot of work for such simple need. Maybe use Tasker instead? You can accomplish this with a scene and some profiles/tasks setup on stock ROM. Only disadvantage I see compared to making your own rom is long boot time. You can bypass everything in regards to Android UI just by making the scene fullscreen and disabling keyguard with a on-boot profile. That way, when he turns the screen back on, it goes right to your scene setup with no "slide-to-unlock" crap. I am very experienced in Tasker, so if you need any help, I can help you. I'd be willing to develop this for you, it would be about a half hour on my part
All the best,
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app
Thanks for the suggestions, these are great places to start.

Swipe search feature

Since installing Lollipop 5.02 I notice that when there now appears to be a "feature" that calls in google search when a swiping up from the bottom of the screen in the region of the home button.
I find this to be a flipping nuisance when scrolling through pages of info - I seem to have a tendency to place my swiping finger near the middle of the screen and keep getting google starting up all the time.
I don't recall seeing this in KitKat so I assume it came with Lollipop.
Does anyone know where to disable this "feature", it's driving me up the wall.
wooly1 said:
Since installing Lollipop 5.02 I notice that when there now appears to be a "feature" that calls in google search when a swiping up from the bottom of the screen in the region of the home button.
I find this to be a flipping nuisance when scrolling through pages of info - I seem to have a tendency to place my swiping finger near the middle of the screen and keep getting google starting up all the time.
I don't recall seeing this in KitKat so I assume it came with Lollipop.
Does anyone know where to disable this "feature", it's driving me up the wall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is extremely annoying. I know some Xposed modules for HTC phones have an option to disable it all together, but so far I haven't seen anything similar for Sony's UI.
I use this app to make it less annoying..it just reassigns the Google shortcut to the app itself, which then makes the swipe up do nothing (except for the brief animation): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AdrianCampos.swipeuputility
Thank you, thank you, thank you for that link.
There has to be an app for everything nowadays!
So it appears the function is baked into the firmware, that explains why I could not find a way of disabling it.
At least this app minimises the disruption to workflow and restores a little bit of sanity.
Anyone being bugged by the swipe up feature - install this app and be happy

[Easy Guide] Force dual screen wide view on ALL apps

Hello all!
I've seen it somewhat posted throughout the comments here but no thread on it directly. I figure the potential of this this deserves it's own thread and tutorial for those who are coming from Google to try and do exactly this without reading through a few threads.
Anyways:
How to enable Wide View on every app:
Download this app,G8x WideMode.
This puts a new icon in the top bar in the notification shade. If you don't see it, pull down twice and hit the pencil to edit the icons. Find the new one and place it somewhere near the top to keep it close by.
When the dual screen is open, tapping that will force wide screen in every app! There are some limitations:
Intent changes seem to revert the phone back to two separate pages. For instance, the mobile Reddit app Sync closes wide screen if I click any link to an external picture, video or site.
Some apps do f play nice in wide screen due to this, and you can't keep the phone permanently in the mode like a tablet, but it's a great improvement to a great phone idea.
This is super simple so I didn't think pictures were necessary, but let me know if I wasn't clear on anything or if you have problems somewhere!
This is very much appreciated! It works like a charm. It's not the floating dual screen thingy but the toggle buttons that you swipe down from the top. Make sure you add it.
Hey, this app seems to work great! I did have an issue with one app called Steam Link. Steam Link allows you to connect to a computer running Steam and remotely control it from your Android device. When I launch a game and try to use WideMode the Steam Link app refreshes and goes back to a single screen. I would love to be able to play some of my steam games over both screens.
Is there any way to make landscape apps go left/right instead of top/bottom?
bakedpotete said:
Is there any way to make landscape apps go left/right instead of top/bottom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand. couldn't you just auto rotate? you can also use the rotation control app to lock rotation, which helps with wide Mode
bh_ said:
I don't understand. couldn't you just auto rotate? you can also use the rotation control app to lock rotation, which helps with wide Mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
auto rotation did not work because some apps are forced landscape/portrait.
I did end up using the rotation control app with the per-app conditions. :good:
Next nice thing would be if some apps would restart at the new resolution, instead of stretching the single-screen app - some apps/games work perfectly, but others don't (and I think they should have a similar resolution compatible because I've used the axon M, which has "dual screen" retained through home with those apps).

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