Oldschool Win/PC user bought his first Android

[thewheelworks]

Hi everyone!

I think I'm suffering from some sorta UI-culture shock.

I'm a bit of an oldschool Win C/C++ developer with a comp sci background, mouse+keyboard guy, with a fairly quad-core 64bit box running WinXP+7 (mostly). I don't normally give a damn about mobile technology, I park at the PC to get stuff done and recreate, and when out and about, aside from loud music, prefer to ignore technology.

Gotta have a break sometimes, right?:thrasher:

Bought a low-end Android (intentionally), a Huawei M660 (wanted a mobile hotspot and a physical QWERTY, I learned to type when young so I type with my eyes on the text, and feel for the keys).

The phone is actually fairly decent, but sadly, I am not.

I realize I will learn to adapt in time, and adapting is a Good Thing... but what I'm after:

1) Screen calibration (can't for the life of me find the feature?)*
2) Cursor keys**
3) Disabling or fine-tuning of gestures - I go to click a section of text, and turns out I've activated some random app... or worse.
4) External mini-keyboard and mouse
5) Classic Windows-like desktop-environment, or at least best-possible.***


*The calibration seems to be off vertically. I have to click/tap above what I'm after, but also, my forefinger is much, much larger than a pixel or single character. Should I grow a fingernail out and file it with a sharp point in the middle?

**I found "Hacker's Keyboard" - but that's touchscreen, I want to map some existing keys as cursor keys + HOME and END, if possible).

***Scrollbar behavior is a good example. I'd much rather drag a scrollbar downward to scroll down, vs. the common "push it up" behavior - seems it's easy to select something and perform an inadvertent action.

That's enough for now. If you're a snob about UI's who feel users should adapt to developers' preferences vs. the other way around, I am uninterested in your opinion. That's why they make 31+ flavors of ice cream vs. vanilla.

Kind regards,
-thewheelworks [already]

 

[nickdalzell]

1. you don't need to calibrate the touch screen. that became obsolete when resistive touch screens became replaced with what is known as 'capacitive' touch screens. the stylus also became obsolete with the capacitive screen. notice your phone has none

2. some third-party keyboards offer arrow keys to move the cursor around. Android has yet to accurately get the cursor where you want it if you have big fingers and a smallsy phone screen

3. depending on the launcher or setting (every phone is different!) the gestures can be turned off or modified. unfortunately i am not familiar with Huweii and i make a point never to buy brands one has never heard of. i stick to brands i know like Sony, Samsung, LG, etc

4. external keyboards do exist if you have Bluetooth abilities. most Android phones have supported Bluetooth.

5. there are many themes that can turn your Android device into any kind of desktop you like. some require another launcher, all can be found in the Play Store (the app store on your phone). you can mimic anything from Apple's iOS, RIM's BlackBerry, 3-D launchers, Nokia's WebOS, or even Microsoft Windows Phone (the latter is quite easy.)

 

[Hadron]

Hi thewheelworks, and welcome to AF

Don't bother sharpening the fingernail! It's a capacitative touchscreen, like a laptop trackpad, so responds to conductivity rather than pressure, and hence won't work at all if your nail is too long.

I think that to remap the keyboard you'd need to root the device, i.e. gain administrator access in Windows terminology. I found some stuff about remapping hardware keyboards for different devices (Droid4, Desire Z), and it seems that you'll need to edit files in /system/usr/keylayouts at least, and you'll need root access to do that. Always back up /system before modifying it! The problem is that how you root depends on the device, and this one seems to have very little support (no forum here or at XDA-Developers, for example), so I don't know whether or how you can do this.

The type of scrolling you mention is available in some apps, e.g. my contacts and music player apps do this - start scrolling and a little handle appears at the right which you can drag down. It's an app feature though, and I've only met it in apps which have long lists to scroll through. Whether it can be enabled globally I don't know for sure - it may well have to be enabled by the app developer - and if it can it will require root and most likely a custom ROM (custom software for rooted phones), which unfortunately is going to be limited for this device. But if we're lucky maybe someone will know more.

 

[chanchan05]

I think that the screen calibration thing you are having problems with is that you are trying to use your finger nail. A capacitive touchscreen normally wont react to a finger nail, it needs the skin of your finger. So basically your finger nail is tapping near the top of the icon, but what's actually doing the press that is detected is your finger which is placed exactly on the icon, if you get my drift.

As for the keyboard, you will find that options for hardware keyboards on Android are very limited, and I would advise to just take the plunge to full touch screen, and just get a bigger device. There are several rather cheaper end phones with large screens anyway, even from the likes of Samsung. It takes a little getting used to, but you'll come around in time. Check out a video of Swype on Youtube, you might find that you like it.

 

[jonbanjo]

The type of scrolling you mention is available in some apps, e.g. my contacts and music player apps do this - start scrolling and a little handle appears at the right which you can drag down. It's an app feature though, and I've only met it in apps which have long lists to scroll through. Whether it can be enabled globally I don't know for sure - it may well have to be enabled by the app developer - and if it can it will require root and most likely a custom ROM (custom software for rooted phones), which unfortunately is going to be limited for this device. But if we're lucky maybe someone will know more.

I wish I could be more helpful with this but I think it depends on the layouts and views we use in the apps. This is commonly defined in xml although you can add elements of the fly. Veiws can be nested, eg, a ScrollView could be wrapped around other views to make a page scroll.l

If it's of any intererst,.here is one brief outline of how some layouts may be defined and used. Android Layouts: Linear Layout, Relative Layout and Table Layout

 

[umerhaf]

1. you don't need to calibrate the touch screen. that became obsolete when resistive touch screens became replaced with what is known as 'capacitive' touch screens. the stylus also became obsolete with the capacitive screen. notice your phone has none

2. some third-party keyboards offer arrow keys to move the cursor around. Android has yet to accurately get the cursor where you want it if you have big fingers and a smallsy phone screen

3. depending on the launcher or setting (every phone is different!) the gestures can be turned off or modified. unfortunately i am not familiar with Huweii and i make a point never to buy brands one has never heard of. i stick to brands i know like Sony, Samsung, LG, etc

4. external keyboards do exist if you have Bluetooth abilities. most Android phones have supported Bluetooth.

5. there are many themes that can turn your Android device into any kind of desktop you like. some require another launcher, all can be found in the Play Store (the app store on your phone). you can mimic anything from Apple's iOS, RIM's BlackBerry, 3-D launchers, Nokia's WebOS, or even Microsoft Windows Phone (the latter is quite easy.)

Thanks for your help, this is helpful for me to large extent

 

[Stuntman]

2) Cursor keys**[/quotes]

If you are using a physical keyboard, you are limited to the keys it has. If you are willing to try a touch screen keyboard, you will find some that do have cursor keys. SwiftKey has a keyboard layout with cursor keys.

5) Classic Windows-like desktop-environment, or at least best-possible.***[/COLOR]

You likely will not find anything of this sort. The reason is that these small mobile devices lead to a different way to effectively access all of the functions. A mobile device is not simply a scaled down version of a PC. You will need to make the adjustment to a different interface.

[/COLOR]
*The calibration seems to be off vertically. I have to click/tap above what I'm after, but also, my forefinger is much, much larger than a pixel or single character. Should I grow a fingernail out and file it with a sharp point in the middle?

The calibration is not off. It is just the nature of capacitive screens. They rely on the conductivity of your skin to register the location of the touch. I had make the same adjustment when transitioning from a resistive touch screen on older phones to a capacitive touch screen on modern phones. On resistive touch screens, I have to aim lower. On capacitive touch screens, I have to aim higher. You'll get used to it. As another member mentioned, it does appear you are trying use your finger nail. Your nail is not conductive. Your skin is and that is what being registered.

***Scrollbar behavior is a good example. I'd much rather drag a scrollbar downward to scroll down, vs. the common "push it up" behavior - seems it's easy to select something and perform an inadvertent action.

That is app dependent. Some apps have a scroll bar. Most apps you have to do the drag. If you are inadvertently selecting something, you are probably holding down your touch too long before you drag your finger up or down. You'll have to get used to quickly dragging your finger upward without too much delay after tapping the screen. Many of the functions on a touch screen device is activated with a long tap. A long tap is like a right mouse click in Wndows.

That's enough for now. If you're a snob about UI's who feel users should adapt to developers' preferences vs. the other way around, I am uninterested in your opinion. That's why they make 31+ flavors of ice cream vs. vanilla.

If you want developers to change their UI to something fundamentally different than was is commonly done, each app in the Play Store does have a way to contact the developer. As it is right now, I don't know of a way to say add a scroll bar to an app that does not have that feature. I am just letting you know how things work and at least with my personal experience, I have gotten used to most of the nuances of the Android UI. If you use a phone with another mobile OS, you will have similar issues. I know of no modern mobile UI on a phone that work the same as on your PC.

I do share your desire for cursor keys and physical keyboards. Unfortunately, it seems that physical keyboards are on their way out. The only really high end mobile device you will find with a physical keyboard is a BlackBerry. All high end Android phones do not have a physical keyboard. I tried to resist the trend as long as possible. In the end, I found that the touch screen solution I have found enable me to type faster and more accurately than I ever did with a physical keyboard on a phone.

The size of a phone calls for a different way to use the device. Its small size make for less accuracy when making selections on a touch screen compared to a mouse, a full size keyboard and a large screen. You have to make certain trade-offs with mobile devices and the UI used on it.

With all new UI's, there will be an adjustment period. It took some getting used to when I first used a mouse-based UI. The same with the various mobile UI's I have used as well.

 

[boyo1991]

Hey welcome to AF. There's been some really good information here, but I will throw my two cents into the ring. As far as calibration, its been said that since the new screens are here, we don't need to calibrate. It's sort of embeded in the phone. One of the sad downsides to buying a low end phone is a hardly capable touch screen.

Also as for external keyboard and mouse, you can find Bluetooth devices that work just the same. However, its much more worth it to learn the virtual keyboard. If you have it set to buzz on keypress, it can be quite similar to what you are used to.

As for a traditional windows looking desktop, you may not want that on such a small screen. There are a whole lot of launchers and lynched themes you could look at which are basically what your after. I personally use go launcher. Much nicer than HTC sence.

I am also a programmer, and fear I will enjoy Firefox os too much.

On a final note, what I would like to see you do is see android devices and yes other mobile platforms as an actual computing device. Android is an actual distro of linux (since its been brought back into the family entirely) also processors are running quad cores, clocking up to 2.5GHz, and more! (If overclocked, not too safe however) this may not seem like a whole lot from where you come from, but even the highest accelerated, CPU hogging apps can't put a dent into most modern CPUs. Another reason to not cheap out on your phone.

Also please don't think I am badgering you into going high end, I totally understand its your first android phone, and most likely your first experience with a smartphone. Personally, all I use my desktop for anymore is programming and for netflix. I don't have to sit at the desk, my desk is in my hands and anywhere I want to be.

I hope you enjoy your experience with android!

 

[nickdalzell]

as far as assuming that a developer should cater to the lower 1% of users who still want a Windows 95 style interface to their Android (Linux) phone, let's say that it is a lot like those who hate EFI and buy a modern car and expect to retrofit a carburetor onto it. it just isn't going to happen.

i have been messing with computers since DOS and CP/M. i remember Windows back when it was nothing more than a fancy GUI running on top of DOS, before the start menu. now Windows has no start menu. i was never married to the start menu. i have therefore gotten used to Windows 8. i am sure most will get used to the way mobile OS work or would just buy a cheap flip phone if that fails. the market these days has adapted and carb-nuts and start menu fanatics are getting outdated these days.

Sadly, there are still a few 1980s holdovers who wish modern computing was text-driven and in a command line interface. a lot of them are using command lines in Linux these days. ("hey, why would you ever need a mouse? the keyboard is so much faster!")

 

[Hadron]

Sadly, there are still a few 1980s holdovers who wish modern computing was text-driven and in a command line interface. a lot of them are using command lines in Linux these days. ("hey, why would you ever need a mouse? the keyboard is so much faster!")

What's sad about wanting to use a faster interface?

I drive my Macbook that way - works better for the things I do. I only occasionally use a terminal on my phone though

 

[mikedt]

as far as assuming that a developer should cater to the lower 1% of users who still want a Windows 95 style interface to their Android (Linux) phone, let's say that it is a lot like those who hate EFI and buy a modern car and expect to retrofit a carburetor onto it. it just isn't going to happen.

Of course not, you just keep the car with the carburetor going, it's quite easy for low cost home servicing. And long after the expensive EFI and ECU have crapped out and spares are not available, the carburetor car with a bit of TLC should still be going.

 

[mikedt]

Also as for external keyboard and mouse, you can find Bluetooth devices that work just the same. However, its much more worth it to learn the virtual keyboard. If you have it set to buzz on keypress, it can be quite similar to what you are used to.

The buzz will tell you you've done a keypress, but it doesn't tell you which one. Problem with virtual non-tactile glass keyboards, you have to look at them to see which letters, number and symbols you're typing. Rather than looking at the work or thinking about what you're typing. I learned touch typing the old fashioned way with a manual typewriter. The first thing they did was to cover the keyboard with a piece of card, so you couldn't look at the keyboard. And that's why every keyboard has raised pips on the F and J home keys, so you can locate them by touch alone.

 

[Stuntman]

The buzz will tell you you've done a keypress, but it doesn't tell you which one. Problem with virtual non-tactile glass keyboards, you have to look at them to see which letters, number and symbols you're typing. Rather than looking at the work or thinking about what you're typing. I learned touch typing the old fashioned way with a manual typewriter. The first thing they did was to cover the keyboard with a piece of card, so you couldn't look at the keyboard. And that's why every keyboard has raised pips on the F and J home keys, so you can locate them by touch alone.

Exactly. On a touch screen, you cannot determine which key you are about to press before you press it. On tactile keyboard, you can feel and ensure that your finger is going to press the right key before you actually press it.