Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Nexus 7: Long press on screen to change wallpaper
Want to change the wallpaper of the Nexus 7 tablet? Yes you can.
The routine way is to go through Settings -> Display -> Wallpaper, then choose the wallpaper from Gallery, Live Wallpapers, Wallpapers.
There is other way to do it.
Instead of going through Settings,
you may try to long press on the left or the right edge of the display (when there are apps icons using the screen space), or press at any area of the screen (when there is not any app icons on the screen), or press the area not occupied by the app icons, then a popup view would be display with tile "Choose wallpaper from", listing three options, i.e., "Gallery", "Live Wallpapers", "Wallpapers", each of them are tied to their icons respectively.
The routine way is to go through Settings -> Display -> Wallpaper, then choose the wallpaper from Gallery, Live Wallpapers, Wallpapers.
There is other way to do it.
Instead of going through Settings,
you may try to long press on the left or the right edge of the display (when there are apps icons using the screen space), or press at any area of the screen (when there is not any app icons on the screen), or press the area not occupied by the app icons, then a popup view would be display with tile "Choose wallpaper from", listing three options, i.e., "Gallery", "Live Wallpapers", "Wallpapers", each of them are tied to their icons respectively.
Screenshot of the home screen with popup of wallpaper options after pressing the edge of the screen
(screenshot was taken by pressing the volume down button and the power button)
Friday, August 10, 2012
Nexus 7: use your mice
In the section of Connect to Devices of "Nexus 7 Guidebook", it is mentioned that Nexus 7 tablet can be connected to other devices by the USB cable and adapter.
I happened to have a USB wireless mice, and just tried to connect it with Nexus 7, and it worked well. I can use the mouse to click on the items on the screen, even at 3 meters away. The system handles the mouse event very well and smooth, including scrolling the home screen with the center wheel of the mouse.
Clicking on the 3 navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen also works well. On some of the android phones, clicking on the 3 navigation buttons with the mouse does not work, though it works well for other mouse events. Looks like the 3 navigation buttons on the phones I tested are not on the LCD display, that is the reason the mouse even can not reach to the 3 navigation buttons.
While I also tried the Android sample code of FingerPaint under the category of Graphics. I can use the mouse to do the painting, and other events. But looks like the app would not handle the finger touch and mouse event at the same time, this is truce for the finger touch and mouse motion events on the home screen.
I happened to have a USB wireless mice, and just tried to connect it with Nexus 7, and it worked well. I can use the mouse to click on the items on the screen, even at 3 meters away. The system handles the mouse event very well and smooth, including scrolling the home screen with the center wheel of the mouse.
Clicking on the 3 navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen also works well. On some of the android phones, clicking on the 3 navigation buttons with the mouse does not work, though it works well for other mouse events. Looks like the 3 navigation buttons on the phones I tested are not on the LCD display, that is the reason the mouse even can not reach to the 3 navigation buttons.
While I also tried the Android sample code of FingerPaint under the category of Graphics. I can use the mouse to do the painting, and other events. But looks like the app would not handle the finger touch and mouse event at the same time, this is truce for the finger touch and mouse motion events on the home screen.
Windows 8: want to use "traditional" desktop UI?
Windows 8 boots up with the tiled style UI, it was called "Metro", with each application displayed on the screen as a tile, you can put a lot of tiles on the screen as long as you feel comfortable and there is space for you to do it.
Since the first release of Windows 8 Preview, users are providing feedback about the UI and UX, and want to use the traditional desktop UI. To do it, it is as simple as just hitting one key on the keyboard of your PC, but to my own experience, I need to click the "Desktop" tile first in the "Metro" mode, which means the traditional desktop UI needs to be running on the CPU, then the click on the windows key on the PC's keyboard will switch me from Metro style to traditional style.
The other way to do it is to put your mouse at the lower left corner of the screen, then the icon of traditional desktop would show, and you can click it to switch. Or just put your mouse at the lower left corner, and do the left click on your mouse to switch back and forth between these 2 modes, this is the most easy way to do it.
After switching to the traditional desktop UI, you may find that there is not the "Star tup" button. Now in the social media, people are talking about Microsoft's latest decision to disable any 3rd party software capable of putting back the "Start up" button. One of the work around is to stick the app to the task bar.
Windows 8 provides similar functions of "Start up" button in other ways.
Please try to move your mouse to the lower right corner of the screen, which is near the end of the task bar, then a vertical menu would show up on the right side of the display, which has the options of "Search", "Share", "Start", "Devices" and "Settings". Putting mouse on the upper right corner of the screen would also work. I feel the motion event of the mouse is mimic the touch event on the screen, I think on tablet, user just need to touch the right corners of the display to show the menu.
In "Search", it would allow you to search the app you would like to you, and display a list of apps let you to choose. This feature provides quite the same function of "Start up" button which would list the apps when user clicks on it.
There seems to be no need to get the traditional "Start up" button back and put it at the lower left corner of the screen.
Users can also point the mouse to the left lower corner of the screen, then do the right click on the mouse, a menu would pop up and a list of options would be displayed there allowing user to choose.
User can choose "Search" to look for the apps. It would display quite the same screen mentioned above.
To get back to the desktop from the search screen, you just need to move the mouse to the upper left corner and click on the 'Desktop" icon, or try to move the mouse to the lower left corner again, and do the right click on your mouse, then from the menu, select "Desktop". Or simply put your mouse at the left lower corner, and do the left click on your mouse.
Since the first release of Windows 8 Preview, users are providing feedback about the UI and UX, and want to use the traditional desktop UI. To do it, it is as simple as just hitting one key on the keyboard of your PC, but to my own experience, I need to click the "Desktop" tile first in the "Metro" mode, which means the traditional desktop UI needs to be running on the CPU, then the click on the windows key on the PC's keyboard will switch me from Metro style to traditional style.
The other way to do it is to put your mouse at the lower left corner of the screen, then the icon of traditional desktop would show, and you can click it to switch. Or just put your mouse at the lower left corner, and do the left click on your mouse to switch back and forth between these 2 modes, this is the most easy way to do it.
After switching to the traditional desktop UI, you may find that there is not the "Star tup" button. Now in the social media, people are talking about Microsoft's latest decision to disable any 3rd party software capable of putting back the "Start up" button. One of the work around is to stick the app to the task bar.
Windows 8 provides similar functions of "Start up" button in other ways.
Please try to move your mouse to the lower right corner of the screen, which is near the end of the task bar, then a vertical menu would show up on the right side of the display, which has the options of "Search", "Share", "Start", "Devices" and "Settings". Putting mouse on the upper right corner of the screen would also work. I feel the motion event of the mouse is mimic the touch event on the screen, I think on tablet, user just need to touch the right corners of the display to show the menu.
In "Search", it would allow you to search the app you would like to you, and display a list of apps let you to choose. This feature provides quite the same function of "Start up" button which would list the apps when user clicks on it.
There seems to be no need to get the traditional "Start up" button back and put it at the lower left corner of the screen.
Users can also point the mouse to the left lower corner of the screen, then do the right click on the mouse, a menu would pop up and a list of options would be displayed there allowing user to choose.
User can choose "Search" to look for the apps. It would display quite the same screen mentioned above.
To get back to the desktop from the search screen, you just need to move the mouse to the upper left corner and click on the 'Desktop" icon, or try to move the mouse to the lower left corner again, and do the right click on your mouse, then from the menu, select "Desktop". Or simply put your mouse at the left lower corner, and do the left click on your mouse.
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
Nexus 7: Settings and menu issues
In my last post, I talked about the network options on Nexus 7 tablet, and mentioned that there is not data service or option of "internet pass through".
Now if you open Play Books application, click the menu at the upper right corner of the display, you would see "Settings" option, which means it is a "Setting" option you can use to set Play Books.
Now when you open the "Settings" option, you would see
a. Auto-rotate screen, under which it says "Use system setting", and you can not change it, and if you want to change it, you would need to go to the "system setting".
b. Download over Wi-Fi only, under which it says "To reduce carrier data charges, don't download over mobile networks", and you can check on or off the box on the right side. Because the current version of Nexus 7 is Wi-Fi only, there is not feature of network data service, so this option item is meaningless, no matter you check it on or off, you would be always downloading data over Wi-Fi.
c. Automatically read aloud, under which it says "Automatically read aloud when application starts if accessibility is set", and there is a check box on the right side.
So basically, only item c need to be listed on this view, and allow user to choose, item a and b should be invisible and hidden.
Oh, there is other issue when you compare the menu of Play Book and menu of Play Magazines.
On the menu of Play Books, there are the following option items:
a1. Make available offline
b1. View as list (or View as carousel)
c1. Refresh
d1. Accounts
e1. Settings
f1. Help.
On the menu of Play Magazines,
a2. View by title (or View recent)
b2. Show archived magazines
c2. Manage subscriptions
d2. Refresh
e2. Settings
f2. Help
It is very obvious that the order of the items is not the same.
At least, the last 3 menu items in Play Books would be
Refresh
Settings
Help
and the first two items would be
View as list
Make available office
which would make it a little bit better.
And for Play Magazines, in "Settings", there is an item "Account",
which has similar function of "Manage subscription".
Looks like "Play Books" and "Play Magazines" are designed by two teams/designers,
and developed by two separate teams also. Otherwise, this kind of issue would not happen in the these two products.
If you look at other apps, such as Play Movies, Music, YouTube, they have similar issues on the menu.
Now if you open Play Books application, click the menu at the upper right corner of the display, you would see "Settings" option, which means it is a "Setting" option you can use to set Play Books.
Now when you open the "Settings" option, you would see
a. Auto-rotate screen, under which it says "Use system setting", and you can not change it, and if you want to change it, you would need to go to the "system setting".
b. Download over Wi-Fi only, under which it says "To reduce carrier data charges, don't download over mobile networks", and you can check on or off the box on the right side. Because the current version of Nexus 7 is Wi-Fi only, there is not feature of network data service, so this option item is meaningless, no matter you check it on or off, you would be always downloading data over Wi-Fi.
c. Automatically read aloud, under which it says "Automatically read aloud when application starts if accessibility is set", and there is a check box on the right side.
So basically, only item c need to be listed on this view, and allow user to choose, item a and b should be invisible and hidden.
Oh, there is other issue when you compare the menu of Play Book and menu of Play Magazines.
On the menu of Play Books, there are the following option items:
a1. Make available offline
b1. View as list (or View as carousel)
c1. Refresh
d1. Accounts
e1. Settings
f1. Help.
On the menu of Play Magazines,
a2. View by title (or View recent)
b2. Show archived magazines
c2. Manage subscriptions
d2. Refresh
e2. Settings
f2. Help
It is very obvious that the order of the items is not the same.
At least, the last 3 menu items in Play Books would be
Refresh
Settings
Help
and the first two items would be
View as list
Make available office
which would make it a little bit better.
And for Play Magazines, in "Settings", there is an item "Account",
which has similar function of "Manage subscription".
Looks like "Play Books" and "Play Magazines" are designed by two teams/designers,
and developed by two separate teams also. Otherwise, this kind of issue would not happen in the these two products.
If you look at other apps, such as Play Movies, Music, YouTube, they have similar issues on the menu.
Nexus 7: limitations of networking options
The versions of Nexus 7 tablet o the market right now provide the networking options of Wi-Fi, NFC, and Android Beam. There is not model with network service from carriers/operators, and for the current version the internet pass through feature is not available either.
In the past two weeks, the NBC channel has been casting an advertisement for Nexus 7 tablet. The father and the son pair go out for camping and use their Nexus 7 to kill time. While watching the ad, I was wondering how they could check the emails, make a VOIP call, or do a video chat with their families and friend, share their outing photos, because there is not network data service feature for Nexus 7, they would not do it without other help, such as a mobile device with network data service as a hotspot, or connect the Nexus 7 tablet to the Ethernet cable.
If they choose to the hotspot of other mobile device, they have to bring at least one additional gadget, together with the charger and cables of this device. Or you may say that there may be public Wi-
Fi available for them to use. Of cause that is an option, but the problem is in most of outing sites (camping, picnic, beach), there would not be public Wi-Fi service. So probably they would need to bring a mobile hotspot with them.
Now look at the option of connect to Ethernet cable. I heard that this feature is disabled, but did not think the OEM would do this to Nexus 7. When manipulating the settings, I did not see that option, and did not dig into it further. Yesterday, when I tried to download a movie from Google Play, I tried to use the Ethernet connection, then did a search, people already found this issue. Some of them pointed out that a Ethernet adapter would be needed to connect Nexus 7 USB cable and the Ethernet cable. In the evening I dropped by the Staple's store near my home, and sales person said they do not have the adapter, and do not think people are using it anymore. I told the gentleman I would like to connect my Nexus 7 to Ethernet to download movies. He asked me why I would not use the Wi-Fi connection.
I told him I do not feel comfortable thinking about myself submersed in the Wi-Fi EMF fields.
He told me I can take a look at Amazon's online store. Yeah, Amazon, they sell almost everything.
Hopefully in the future, Google and OEM would enable the internet pass through feature on Nexus 7 tablet, and offer a version with network data service.
In the past two weeks, the NBC channel has been casting an advertisement for Nexus 7 tablet. The father and the son pair go out for camping and use their Nexus 7 to kill time. While watching the ad, I was wondering how they could check the emails, make a VOIP call, or do a video chat with their families and friend, share their outing photos, because there is not network data service feature for Nexus 7, they would not do it without other help, such as a mobile device with network data service as a hotspot, or connect the Nexus 7 tablet to the Ethernet cable.
If they choose to the hotspot of other mobile device, they have to bring at least one additional gadget, together with the charger and cables of this device. Or you may say that there may be public Wi-
Fi available for them to use. Of cause that is an option, but the problem is in most of outing sites (camping, picnic, beach), there would not be public Wi-Fi service. So probably they would need to bring a mobile hotspot with them.
Now look at the option of connect to Ethernet cable. I heard that this feature is disabled, but did not think the OEM would do this to Nexus 7. When manipulating the settings, I did not see that option, and did not dig into it further. Yesterday, when I tried to download a movie from Google Play, I tried to use the Ethernet connection, then did a search, people already found this issue. Some of them pointed out that a Ethernet adapter would be needed to connect Nexus 7 USB cable and the Ethernet cable. In the evening I dropped by the Staple's store near my home, and sales person said they do not have the adapter, and do not think people are using it anymore. I told the gentleman I would like to connect my Nexus 7 to Ethernet to download movies. He asked me why I would not use the Wi-Fi connection.
I told him I do not feel comfortable thinking about myself submersed in the Wi-Fi EMF fields.
He told me I can take a look at Amazon's online store. Yeah, Amazon, they sell almost everything.
Hopefully in the future, Google and OEM would enable the internet pass through feature on Nexus 7 tablet, and offer a version with network data service.
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