kahun
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by kahun on Feb 5, 2015 10:01:45 GMT
Hi guys, Just to make things easier for everyone I'm making a topic where everyone can request a feature for the Andromium developers to see. I will keep the list updated daily. Here are some of my suggestions so far, feel free to post here and I will add it to the list, will also update which features have been added. Suggested Features: - Ability to change DPI (Possibly root required) - Ability to search for files using File Explorer - Ability to place Android Widgets on the Desktop - Ability to create shortcuts to apps to place on the Desktop - Ability to change the background - Ability to use hardware in the browse for uploading files, doing video chats etc. (Java I suppose?) - Ability to open links in a new tab on the browser. - Ability to customize task bar colour - Ability to resize the icons in system tray - 2 Options one is Shutdown other is Sleep. What Shutdown is it kills the app completely, have to start it again. What sleep does it leaves it in notification, exactly what shutdown does now (or Close/Minimize Andromium) - Ability to right click to bring up extra functions
Concept idea by Smiler Online (Exactly how I would want it )
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Post by purplemikey on Feb 5, 2015 11:35:18 GMT
I would add to that
-background
-ability to use hardware from websites Such as hard drive for photos and documents (linking files, sending photos) or our cell phone camera as a webcam on video chat such as chatroulette or Facebook.
-being able to open links in a new tab. When chatting if someone send me a link I have to write it myself in a new tab and somes are long as an highway
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Post by Smiler Online on Feb 6, 2015 9:19:01 GMT
I would like to personalize the UI to look more like this image which I have created as an example. Also, task bar colour customization may be nice. Smaller icons in the system tray area. And on the Andromium home page add a section called 'Make your applications compatible with Andromium' to encourage devs to support the project. *EDIT* Also consider Transparency, I have previously developed an app which was transparent, to show the home screens wallpaper behind my apps buttons, etc, you may want to look into trying something like this to enable your customers to feel that the UI is more personalized. But remember that there are multiple ways to make the app transparent, and one of the ways show the standard home screens icons etc, which we obviously wouldn't want to see, but there is definitely a way to show just the wallpaper from the home screen and nothing else. You will find info on this at the link below: stackoverflow.com/questions/2176922/how-to-create-transparent-activity-in-android?rq=1
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kahun
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by kahun on Feb 6, 2015 9:46:02 GMT
Updated,I wouldn't want smaller icons as on my tablet they are already tiny on a high res display but an ability to resize them yourself would be nice.
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Post by purplemikey on Feb 6, 2015 13:50:06 GMT
What about right clicks? Long click on Android gives you options on a top bar (copy, paste and all) if we want to make this a desktop PC or at least replace it... We should have the right click giving us the options available. On a link it could be follow the link, new tab, copy link...
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Post by Smiler Online on Feb 6, 2015 14:05:15 GMT
What about right clicks? Long click on Android gives you options on a top bar (copy, paste and all) if we want to make this a desktop PC or at least replace it... We should have the right click giving us the options available. On a link it could be follow the link, new tab, copy link... Right clicks or long clicks could also enable a pop up menu to adjust desktop related settings too (ie: change wallpaper/add widgets). I would also like the Shutdown button renamed to 'Close Andromium' and as previously suggested, a sleep button to keep it running in the background/notification bar. Though that could be displayed as 'Minimize Andromium'.
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Post by Smiler Online on Feb 6, 2015 21:35:31 GMT
Also in order to reduce the battery consumption try lowering the devices display brightness as I believe that the brightness setting only affects the primary/local device display and not the external display.
But only when an external display is connected in order to avoid this affecting users that want to use the app on their tablets primary/local display for example.
This could potentially boost battery life considerably as the local/primary display probably has the biggest impact on battery life.
Here is an example of how you could do that in the desktop UI activities code:
int User_brightness_setting = 255; boolean External_display_connected = false; @Override public void onCreate(){ //Your code... User_brightness_setting = getUserBrightnessSetting(); if(External_display_connected == true) { setBrightness(0); } }
@Override public void onDestroy(){ //Your code... setBrightness(User_brightness_setting); finish(); }
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Post by Gordon on Feb 7, 2015 0:48:35 GMT
Hi guys great suggestions keep them coming Just some updates and feedbacks: 1) Widget functionality is already fully baked into Andromium OS, however we encountered frequent low memory issues (RAM) when running widgets on the Desktop. Widgets wasn't meant to be using in a simultaneously multitask environments, so Android hasn't been very nice about releasing and cleaning widget memories until it goes to sleep/pause. For the beta we disable the ability to add and remove widget for now, so many users with lower spec devices (1GB ram...) can still try out Andromium. We plan to reintroduce it in the later phase of the Beta test, possibility only limited to devices with 3GB of Ram or higher, to lessen the memory issue. 2) File explore search function is planned, but low priority for now, primary focus of Beta is bug fixes and device compatibility testings. 3) DPI changes currently require ROOT permission access. To allow Andromium to reach as wide audience as possible we currently are staying away from all ROOT level permission API(s). we still searching for a way to do custom DPI change on the fly without ROOT permission. (What we have done so far is ignoring Android DPI setting and implemented custom DPI scaling in Andromium OS, but it is work in progress, and only works for Andromium Apps) 4) Changing wallpaper is actually not difficult, we originally had that functionality enable as well. Will probably reintroduce it during the later phase of the Beta. No particular reason that we took it out, except that our UI designer wanted a consistent look and feel for the initial release 5) Ability to add apps to desktop and the taskbar shortcut area will be supported once we have the Andromium App Store and developer SDK publicly available. We plans to only allow Andromium App shortcuts on the desktop and the shortcut bar, as a way to promote development of Andromium Apps 6) Right click is currently partially supported, but it is manufacturer dependent. Unfortunately mouse behaves differently for different Android OEMs (driver issue). For our Samsung device users, their right click mouse button should work (currently minesweeper and file explorer app both have right click support). We're still working on creating universal device right click support, but it is work in progress. Until that problem is solved, we not planning to add additional right click functionalities in any of the existing apps. 7) Theme support is currently low priority, but will be something we look into after this summer (SDK, App store come first). But in theory Andromium OS should be able to support themes for most, if not all UI elements. 8) Sleep support is something we been discussion, for when user undocks and as a command item on the start menu. Unfortunately it is a major undertaking on our side, in order to do it correctly and not keep a large chuck of RAM in use, when Andromium OS is not actively running. It most likely will be a future enhancements after SDK and App Store. 9) The ability to disable phone backlight when Andromium OS is running requires root permission. Lowering screen brightness might be an alternative, but most phone's lowest brightness setting still eats up a lot of battery. For users who have devices with ROOT, Screen Standby IMO is still the best solution. This is something we will continue to explore a the Beta progresses. I hope everyone is excited after having a chance to try out Andromium in the last week. Many of our users seem to be app developers, so we hope that we can count on you as our first group of developers once our SDK is available. Best Regards -Gordon
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Post by purplemikey on Feb 7, 2015 1:47:48 GMT
Thanks for keeping us up to date Gordon I would had to the list, keep tabs active so we can play songs on YouTube and surf the web at the same time
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Post by Smiler Online on Feb 10, 2015 20:38:52 GMT
I have created the image below to show you what I think the notification should look like. The normal space can manually launch Andromium (as it currently does), and then you have the extra options added below, to enable you to offer what the customers/beta testers are asking for (ie: Force close the app and launch the settings activity). From personal experience, I know that it is quite easy to add the extra buttons in the expandable space, allowing for more functions outside of the Main UI. If the user clicks 'Force stop', then they could restore the notification by clicking the apps launcher icon. And the settings button would give the user a way to access the settings activity without the need to open the main activity/desktop UI first in order to get to the settings activity.
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kahun
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by kahun on Feb 11, 2015 8:44:04 GMT
I have created the image below to show you what I think the notification should look like. The normal space can manually launch Andromium (as it currently does), and then you have the extra options added below, to enable you to offer what the customers/beta testers are asking for (ie: Force close the app and launch the settings activity). From personal experience, I know that it is quite easy to add the extra buttons in the expandable space, allowing for more functions outside of the Main UI. If the user clicks 'Force stop', then they could restore the notification by clicking the apps launcher icon. And the settings button would give the user a way to access the settings activity without the need to open the main activity/desktop UI first in order to get to the settings activity. Force stop would be really good for people who are not rooted. No problem for me as when I hold down the back button it kills the app that is open.
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Post by Smiler Online on Feb 11, 2015 8:51:00 GMT
I have created the image below to show you what I think the notification should look like. The normal space can manually launch Andromium (as it currently does), and then you have the extra options added below, to enable you to offer what the customers/beta testers are asking for (ie: Force close the app and launch the settings activity). From personal experience, I know that it is quite easy to add the extra buttons in the expandable space, allowing for more functions outside of the Main UI. If the user clicks 'Force stop', then they could restore the notification by clicking the apps launcher icon. And the settings button would give the user a way to access the settings activity without the need to open the main activity/desktop UI first in order to get to the settings activity. Force stop would be really good for people who are not rooted. No problem for me as when I hold down the back button it kills the app that is open. Its not difficult to force stop the app on non-rooted devices, if the user knows their way around Android, but I think that most typical users like to stay out of the devices settings, especially the apps area. So just bringing this button to the notification would make it easier for more people to force close it if they wish, rather than uninstall it to remove the notification.
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kahun
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by kahun on Feb 11, 2015 9:13:13 GMT
Force stop would be really good for people who are not rooted. No problem for me as when I hold down the back button it kills the app that is open. Its not difficult to force stop the app on non-rooted devices, if the user knows their way around Android, but I think that most typical users like to stay out of the devices settings, especially the apps area. So just bringing this button to the notification would make it easier for more people to force close it if they wish, rather than uninstall it to remove the notification. Yeah not difficult for us but difficult for people who don't know how to use an Android device.
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Post by Smiler Online on Feb 12, 2015 17:59:47 GMT
A few ideas for alternative input solutions below:
Show a custom cursor when someone touches the screen to confirm where they last touched, if no mouse input is detected.
Game controller input, this would be another way to use the custom cursor when the user doesn't have a mouse but they do have a game controller. the left analog stick should be able to move the custom cursor, but obviously hide the custom cursor when a mouse is detected and let it use the default Android one.
Option to use your devices accelerometer to control the custom cursor with the volume buttons acting as the left & right click buttons. Of course, there will be a need to offer a sensitivity option for this as I assume that people will want to adjust that to be more appropriate for the distance that they are sitting from the display, but just implementing a demo version for MWC might be a nice idea to promote the app when you are there.
The game controller API's should allow for other compatible alternative inputs too.
If the user enables the accelerometer cursor you may want to automatically disable touch input.
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Post by merkvilson on Feb 14, 2015 22:59:34 GMT
I have some ideas... - Ability to change themes ( Lollipop Desktop - Material design ) . - Ability to change size, speed and colour of cursor. - Ability to switch from phone interface to tablet interface in non andromium apps (phone apps are too big, on tv screen). - Recycle bin on Desktop. - Ability to controll Scroll Bar with knob.
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