[M96] App switch aka ALT+TAB aka long press home

[machinogodzilla]

Hi,


In M96 sadly neither the physical nor the on-screen home button provide the same functionality as ALT+TAB on my computer or long press home in my phone for quickly switching between recently opened programs (or books for that matter).

Normally I have to press on-screen home at the top of the screen to quit the reader, then click on Apps at the bottom, then unluckily the app's name that I happen to use the most frequently starts with A so tap near the top again. Then to get back to my book I have to tap home and then press the thumbnail under Now Reading heading. All in all a painful process.

Unless someone has a better solution for that I feel it's a strong case for a legit feature request. Ideally I would like to have a couple of home-like icons, one for switching between apps, and another one for switching between the books


Meanwhile I have followed the advice from this article and installed Nova Launcher. It requires some tweaking before becoming usable (change the wallpaper to white, all the labels to black, disable animations as much as possible, set Home button to Recent Apps...). All this hassle to get to something that saves me one click but removes recent books list and is not optimised for e-reader use. I found it unsatisfactory.

Has anyone had better experiences in this area?

[mixx22]

Hi
try "My Home Button"

[eb00ker]

Originally Posted by machinogodzilla

Meanwhile I have followed the advice from this article and installed Nova Launcher. It requires some tweaking before becoming usable (change the wallpaper to white, all the labels to black, disable animations as much as possible, set Home button to Recent Apps...). All this hassle to get to something that saves me one click but removes recent books list and is not optimised for e-reader use. I found it unsatisfactory.

Has anyone had better experiences in this area?

yes,
i changed my blunt and non-multitasking M96 to something pretty useful in conjunction with the following apps:

ADW Launcher (Highly customizable home replacement app)
full!screen (for hiding the systembar and adding replacement buttons)
Smart Task Launcher (fastest function(Apps, Shortcut, etc.) launcher.
Assistive Zoom (allows you to 'pinch to zoom' with a stylus -)
FX File Explorer (great file explorer for managing everything...)

for some Apps your device should be rooted ...

[nknouf]

Thanks for suggesting full!screen, it looks like it would work wonderfully; however, when I have it enabled, it seems to disable the ability to force a screen redraw by long-holding the hardware menu button on the left. Does it do that for you?

[eb00ker]

Originally Posted by nknouf

Thanks for suggesting full!screen, it looks like it would work wonderfully; however, when I have it enabled, it seems to disable the ability to force a screen redraw by long-holding the hardware menu button on the left. Does it do that for you?

Yes, unfortunately this is normal. I hope this will be fixed by Booxtor in a later update

[nknouf]

Okay, thanks for letting me know. Strange how these side effects interact sometimes!

[afainber]

full!screen "hides" the status bar by killing the process that is responsible for displaying it. This process has other UI-related roles as well - such as forcing the refresh. The Onyx devices have a graceful way to hide and show the status bar without the side effects, but it requires some programming skills/Tasker. In one of the threads here I provided a link to a small app I wrote (http://www15.zippyshare.com/v/17452187/file.html) that shows and hides the status bar.
Those of you who need this functionality - can you tell a bit more about the use cases? I can try to adjust this app/provide an alternative solution for you.

[eb00ker]

Originally Posted by afainber

full!screen "hides" the status bar by killing the process that is responsible for displaying it. This process has other UI-related roles as well - such as forcing the refresh. The Onyx devices have a graceful way to hide and show the status bar without the side effects, but it requires some programming skills/Tasker. In one of the threads here I provided a link to a small app I wrote (http://www15.zippyshare.com/v/17452187/file.html) that shows and hides the status bar.
Those of you who need this functionality - can you tell a bit more about the use cases? I can try to adjust this app/provide an alternative solution for you.

Hi afainber,

your selfmade 'ToggleFullscreen.apk' works really great on my M96.
A big thanks to you! The force refresh home button is now working as it should...

[Image violates posting guidelines for size - MODERATOR]

BTW: Could you add some replacement buttons with configurable functionality to your app ?
just like we have seen in the "full!screen" app... (check picture above)- this would be really top-notch.

Plus, I wish there would be a widget for turning on the fullscreen-mode instantly from my desktop... an autostart option wouldn't be wrong either

@booxtor: maybe you could implement this useful app in your future firmware updates?

eb00ker

[afainber]

@eb00ker: Which Launcher do you use? As far as I know, the Onyx launcher does not support widgets on the desktop, but if you use a more standard one, I'll see what I can do.

[eb00ker]

Originally Posted by afainber

@eb00ker: Which Launcher do you use? As far as I know, the Onyx launcher does not support widgets on the desktop, but if you use a more standard one, I'll see what I can do.

Hello afainber,
I'm using the ADW.Launcher

Thanks for your help :-)

eb00ker

[kuskro]

Originally Posted by machinogodzilla

Hi, in M96 sadly neither the physical nor the on-screen home button provide the same functionality as ALT+TAB on my computer or long press home in my phone for quickly switching between recently opened programs (or books for that matter).

With Button Savior app you can switching between recently opened programs (through long-press home icon) and create a popup windows with 9 different app shortcuts.

[afainber]

Originally Posted by eb00ker

Hello afainber,
I'm using the ADW.Launcher

Thanks for your help :-)

eb00ker

I don't know when I'll have the time to do it, but when I do - you'll get the widget :-)

[eb00ker]

Originally Posted by afainber

I don't know when I'll have the time to do it, but when I do - you'll get the widget :-)

Great

[florianbw]

Also, have a look at Floating Toucher Ex. It adds a small icon (just as assistive zoom) and when you click it you have an overlay menu. When you double-click it, you will get the recent apps, by default.

[Dr. Drib]

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