Recent Apps Menu & Lock Screen - AOSP Style - Huawei Mate S

Hey guys,
considering the Mate S but don't really like the way recent apps menu looks and works. Did anyone replace it with something more stock like?
Does the app Fancy Switcher work with the Mate S, could somebody check this please?
And what about the lock screen - has anybody replaced that with an alternative lock screen app? Will the fingerprint scanner still unlock the device using an alternative lock screen?
Thx for your answers,
vercetti.

vercetti said:
Hey guys,
considering the Mate S but don't really like the way recent apps menu looks and works. Did anyone replace it with something more stock like?
Does the app Fancy Switcher work with the Mate S, could somebody check this please?
And what about the lock screen - has anybody replaced that with an alternative lock screen app? Will the fingerprint scanner still unlock the device using an alternative lock screen?
Thx for your answers,
vercetti.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, here in the UK on the latest build for Lollipop I was unable to install Fancy Switcher, as it said it wasn't compatible with my device.
I'm not very keen on the stock recents however I believe the marshmallow update change's this from 4 apps on a screen to a single app per screen
Lock screen, not very nice and ability to set apps as sensitive to stop them displaying the app sender or message (for example in WhatsApp) which is something I really miss from previous Lollipop and Marshmallow that I had on a HTC One M8 running Google Play Edition. I've tried 'Next' lock screen app from Microsoft but unable to unlock with fingerprint so its probably only a function that works with the stock lock screen. As Marshmallow has native support for fingerprint sensors maybe the update will bring additional functionality however we will have to wait and see.
I did register for Marshmallow beta testing but don't appear to have been selected unless rollout is slow.
I like the phone but almost wish I had waiting and tried a Mate 8. The extra battery size and already on Marshmallow may make it a better choice.
I've always been a stock android or custom ROM person however I quite like some features of the EMUI skin...just wish there were a few more customisations and built in features that were enabled as standard...like the ability to change the cycle date of your mobile data plan.
Gavin

hey gavin,
thx for the nice reply.
the recent apps menu in marshmallow makes it even worse if only 1 app is available per screen. to get to the 5th app you'd have to swipe 5 times (compared to now with just one swipe)! that really sucks - 1 app per screen?!?
too bad about fancy switcher, that would look nice if it worked. i found switcher so far but it doesn't work 100% on my note 2. would you try that one out for me?
lock screen - how are notifactions presented? would you have a screenshot? and they can be swiped away right from the lockscreen?
thx for your help,
vercetti.

hey,
i just saw a video on youtube of emui 4 and the recent apps menu could be seen for short time.
it's improved a lot for my taste: yes, you can only see one app but you flick it to the left and all the others appear. so you only need one swipe to make the other apps slide into appearance and you can swipe them away if they're not wanted anymore.
so yes, you only see one app once the menu is opened but it's seemless once you start swiping.
here's the link to the video. there are probably much better videos, i just came across this one.
the recent apps menu appears on 00:10 seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPgATGXaFcA
greetz,
v.
p.s. in the 5 seconds you see the person using the recent apps menu it looks very laggy/unresponsive but i suppose it's a demo or prototype phone. i'm sure it works fine.

vercetti said:
hey,
i just saw a video on youtube of emui 4 and the recent apps menu could be seen for short time.
it's improved a lot for my taste: yes, you can only see one app but you flick it to the left and all the others appear. so you only need one swipe to make the other apps slide into appearance and you can swipe them away if they're not wanted anymore.
so yes, you only see one app once the menu is opened but it's seemless once you start swiping.
here's the link to the video. there are probably much better videos, i just came across this one.
the recent apps menu appears on 00:10 seconds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPgATGXaFcA
greetz,
v.
p.s. in the 5 seconds you see the person using the recent apps menu it looks very laggy/unresponsive but i suppose it's a demo or prototype phone. i'm sure it works fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had just tried Switchr, not sure if I was using it correctly but when I swiped in from the side it said "No Recent Apps" although I had just opened WhatsApp and Clock.
With regards to Lock Screen, I have't got a screenshot at the moment, but what I can say is you can swipe left to remove the lock screen notification or swipe right to open the app that the notification has come from, this presents the numeric pad for you to enter your unlock pin, but just touch the fingerprint reader and the phone unlocks.
Regards
Gavin

brumgav said:
I had just tried Switchr, not sure if I was using it correctly but when I swiped in from the side it said "No Recent Apps" although I had just opened WhatsApp and Clock.
With regards to Lock Screen, I have't got a screenshot at the moment, but what I can say is you can swipe left to remove the lock screen notification or swipe right to open the app that the notification has come from, this presents the numeric pad for you to enter your unlock pin, but just touch the fingerprint reader and the phone unlocks.
Regards
Gavin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx Gavin,
that's exactly what happens with my note 2 when i install Switcher. The only thing that worked is to set up favorite apps within the Switcher app. Then it will always show you the icons of those apps. But without a preview of the app, just the icon.
I found a few more videos on youtube with Emui 4.0 and i'd be fine with their latest version of the recent apps menu. And it's just a matter of time til the Mate S gets the marshmallow update.
About the lockscreen: so even if i don't activate a pin code, sliding a notification to the right to open the app will still bring me to a numberpad where i should enter a pin? and then i'd have unlock that with the fingerprint ID? sounds very weird. i can't just slide the notifation to the right and it opens the app diectly?
thx,
v.

vercetti said:
Thx Gavin,
that's exactly what happens with my note 2 when i install Switcher. The only thing that worked is to set up favorite apps within the Switcher app. Then it will always show you the icons of those apps. But without a preview of the app, just the icon.
I found a few more videos on youtube with Emui 4.0 and i'd be fine with their latest version of the recent apps menu. And it's just a matter of time til the Mate S gets the marshmallow update.
About the lockscreen: so even if i don't activate a pin code, sliding a notification to the right to open the app will still bring me to a numberpad where i should enter a pin? and then i'd have unlock that with the fingerprint ID? sounds very weird. i can't just slide the notifation to the right and it opens the app diectly?
thx,
v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I got that slightly wrong...it appears you can not dismiss a notification from the lockscreen by sliding left, however once unlocked you can dissmiss all notification by double tap on fingerprint reader
If you are using the fingerprint ID you have to set a PIN....but what I meant was if you slide the notification to the right...it brings up the screen to unlock so you can either enter the PIN or you can press the finger print reader....you dont have to do both of them.
I guess if you dont set a PIN or fingerprint then it will just open the app but i prefer the security of having my phone locked securely with fingerprint.

brumgav said:
I think I got that slightly wrong...it appears you can not dismiss a notification from the lockscreen by sliding left, however once unlocked you can dissmiss all notification by double tap on fingerprint reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
too bad you cannot get rid of the notifications right off the lockscreen.
instead unlock -> pull down status bar -> double tap fingerprint
If you are using the fingerprint ID you have to set a PIN....but what I meant was if you slide the notification to the right...it brings up the screen to unlock so you can either enter the PIN or you can press the finger print reader....you dont have to do both of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and this will get me to the app? in whatsapp for example, will it jump into the conversation where the new message has been posted or it will simply open whatsapp and present the conversation list?
thx,
v.

vercetti said:
too bad you cannot get rid of the notifications right off the lockscreen.
instead unlock -> pull down status bar -> double tap fingerprint
and this will get me to the app? in whatsapp for example, will it jump into the conversation where the new message has been posted or it will simply open whatsapp and present the conversation list?
thx,
v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When on the lock screen - you can't pull down the status bar or the quick settings tiles at all.....(now that is dissappointing) as I would like to be able to quickly disable mobile data something without unlocking or turn off GPS without unlocking.
With WhatsApp it takes you straight to the conversation that the message was posted in.

brumgav said:
When on the lock screen - you can't pull down the status bar or the quick settings tiles at all.....(now that is dissappointing) as I would like to be able to quickly disable mobile data something without unlocking or turn off GPS without unlocking.
With WhatsApp it takes you straight to the conversation that the message was posted in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx on the Whatsapp-notification-clarification
Yeah, i heard that you can't pull down status bar on lockscreen. That is really a pity.
But the doubletap to wake and/or the fast fingerprint scanner can perhaps compensate this issue. Double tap and then pull down the status bar. Oh wait, double tap probably only wakes the device up again, right? That'll just take you to the unlock screen which, then again, has to be unlocked...
Lots of little "problems". Maybe i could get used to them. I'm sure there are more than just the lock screen, right?
How are you getting along coming from AOSP?
Have you rooted? That would be my top priority. Changing DPI is a must to me.
greetz,
v.

vercetti said:
Thx on the Whatsapp-notification-clarification
Yeah, i heard that you can't pull down status bar on lockscreen. That is really a pity.
But the doubletap to wake and/or the fast fingerprint scanner can perhaps compensate this issue. Double tap and then pull down the status bar. Oh wait, double tap probably only wakes the device up again, right? That'll just take you to the unlock screen which, then again, has to be unlocked...
Lots of little "problems". Maybe i could get used to them. I'm sure there are more than just the lock screen, right?
How are you getting along coming from AOSP?
Have you rooted? That would be my top priority. Changing DPI is a must to me.
greetz,
v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The double tap on the fingerprint scanner only works when the phone is unlocked. Once unlocked u can swipe down on the fingerprint scanner to bring down notification bar and then double tap fingerprint scanner to clear all the notification, this is really nice feature.
I really miss some of the AOSP things but its outweighed by some the fact of having a fingerprint scanner...The guest mode is great, either set a different PIN (or for a family member register one of their fingerprints) and if they want to use your phone they can use it in guest mode so they can only see, Apps that you allow them to see, and galleries that you allow them to see), plus you can also lock Apps so that they require a fingerprint to open which is good too, perhaps for your banking app or something like that.
I did root, but unrooted in order to allow an OTA update to be installed.
I also wiped the phone and converted it to a chinese variant which brings lots of chinese bloatware (uninstalled) but some extra features like permissions manager, virus scanner, mobile data plan cycle date manager..
I'm back converted to a european variant now though becuase I registered to be MM beta tester although I dont seem to have been accepted yet, unless they havent released to the UK yet. I'm still waiting for it to come OTA.
I'm really hoping that the MM update and EMUI 4.0 update bring lots of new features.
I brought an iPhone 6 Plus a month ago to have a look at it, as I had the opportunity to buy one, have a play and sell it without making a loss and I admit I really quite liked some of its features...considering the CPU the iPhones are so fast but I hated the notification centre, Android really have a great notification system and I prefered being able to customise lots of features, particulary with ROMs like Cyanogen. I sold it and after seeing the Mate S online thought it looked great and thought performance would be better....for example graphics performance isn't very good at all...but I only play things like Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Sim City not nothign that requires heavy frame rates. I'm sure it would handle games liek Asphalt okay but have't tried.
I have seen youtube videos comparing Galaxy S6 and Mate 8 (yes the bigger Mate S with better CPU) however the S6 still wsa very powerful on graphics.
Like I said, hopeing the MM and EMUI update brings some improvement however, for jsut a normal phone user that uses phone on train during morning commute for 40 minutes I'm more than happy with it. Finger print sensor on the rear is perfect, I've barely opened the front cover of my phone case and just natural position of my hand and first finger is perfect so the phone is unlocked ready for me. I think my thumb was at risk of being strained on my HTC One M8 which I had pattern unlock....when I look back I don't know how I managed to keep doing that pattern so many times, and also the risk that a pick pocket could learn my pattern over time.
Hope this is helping you.

brumgav said:
The double tap on the fingerprint scanner only works when the phone is unlocked. Once unlocked u can swipe down on the fingerprint scanner to bring down notification bar and then double tap fingerprint scanner to clear all the notification, this is really nice feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hey, sorry for the mixup: i didn't mean the double tap on the fingerprint scanner but the feature "double tap to wake" which is somewhere in the emui settings. with that you simply doubletap the screen to wake it from standby but i'm guessing this won't unlock it, it will just activate the lockscreen.
I really miss some of the AOSP things but its outweighed by some the fact of having a fingerprint scanner...The guest mode is great, either set a different PIN (or for a family member register one of their fingerprints) and if they want to use your phone they can use it in guest mode so they can only see, Apps that you allow them to see, and galleries that you allow them to see), plus you can also lock Apps so that they require a fingerprint to open which is good too, perhaps for your banking app or something like that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
those are all very nice features, yes. and the fingerprint scanner is also one of my reasons why i'm looking to upgrade.
i also think the camera results are good enough and that especially the camera app itself is nice (pro mode too).
i'm looking for a 5,5" screen with fingerprint scanner on the back (one reason why the oneplus2 doesn't match my interest even though otherwise it seems to be a nice phone too - its fingerprint sensor is on the home button like with the samsung models).
build quality is also great.
i usually would never go for a phone that doesn't have lots of custom roms available by the time i buy it. but somehow i think i'll be making an exception here. with an AOSP custom rom i would lose all the fingerprint sensor features, the camera app (its features and resulting images) and other EMUI features that i feel might come in handy (like you summed it up in your last post). so having this phone with an AOSP rom would make it sort of pointless in a way. the features we both miss from AOSP is the price we need to pay in order of getting all the mate s features. we just can't have it both i'm afraid
I did root, but unrooted in order to allow an OTA update to be installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's my plan. root it as soon as i get it. and once the marshmallow update is available i'd set it back, go stock, update to marshmallow and then root it again (hope it won't take long for someone to figure out how to root on marshmallow).
I also wiped the phone and converted it to a chinese variant which brings lots of chinese bloatware (uninstalled) but some extra features like permissions manager, virus scanner, mobile data plan cycle date manager..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
perhaps there are certain apps (root) that provide these features, instead of using the chinese mate s rom?
I'm back converted to a european variant now though becuase I registered to be MM beta tester although I dont seem to have been accepted yet, unless they havent released to the UK yet. I'm still waiting for it to come OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
probably not out yet...
thought performance would be better....for example graphics performance isn't very good at all...but I only play things like Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Sim City not nothign that requires heavy frame rates. I'm sure it would handle games liek Asphalt okay but have't tried.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not really a gamer, so i don't worry too much about the limiting graphics performance.
Hope this is helping you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes indeed, thanx a whole lot, i appreciate it very much.
greetz,
v.

vercetti said:
hey, sorry for the mixup: i didn't mean the double tap on the fingerprint scanner but the feature "double tap to wake" which is somewhere in the emui settings. with that you simply doubletap the screen to wake it from standby but i'm guessing this won't unlock it, it will just activate the lockscreen.
those are all very nice features, yes. and the fingerprint scanner is also one of my reasons why i'm looking to upgrade.
i also think the camera results are good enough and that especially the camera app itself is nice (pro mode too).
i'm looking for a 5,5" screen with fingerprint scanner on the back (one reason why the oneplus2 doesn't match my interest even though otherwise it seems to be a nice phone too - its fingerprint sensor is on the home button like with the samsung models).
build quality is also great.
i usually would never go for a phone that doesn't have lots of custom roms available by the time i buy it. but somehow i think i'll be making an exception here. with an AOSP custom rom i would lose all the fingerprint sensor features, the camera app (its features and resulting images) and other EMUI features that i feel might come in handy (like you summed it up in your last post). so having this phone with an AOSP rom would make it sort of pointless in a way. the features we both miss from AOSP is the price we need to pay in order of getting all the mate s features. we just can't have it both i'm afraid
that's my plan. root it as soon as i get it. and once the marshmallow update is available i'd set it back, go stock, update to marshmallow and then root it again (hope it won't take long for someone to figure out how to root on marshmallow).
perhaps there are certain apps (root) that provide these features, instead of using the chinese mate s rom?
probably not out yet...
not really a gamer, so i don't worry too much about the limiting graphics performance.
yes indeed, thanx a whole lot, i appreciate it very much.
greetz,
v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem, your welcome.
I just wish there was more stuff going on for this device, ROMs, support, chat etc...its very quiet hardly anyone replies to things in this forum.

brumgav said:
No problem, your welcome.
I just wish there was more stuff going on for this device, ROMs, support, chat etc...its very quiet hardly anyone replies to things in this forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, no development...
But it's understable: most developers are proabably located in USA and hardly anyone owns a mate s there. also the processor is kirin and not qualcomm. not much info coming from huawei about their kirin processors (which the developers would need).
i have another question about looks:
i saw that there are many themes available from huawei and that they change many parts of the user interface. what happens with these themes if i use an alternative launcher, say nova launcher?
will nova launcher override the background pic of the lockscreen or generally the way the lockscreen looks or does the lockscreen stay untouched by nova? same goes for the notifications that appear once you pull down the status bar. will the background of the notification "curtain" stay unchanged or does nova change different things here? colors and icons in settings also are changed when using different huawei themes - do they stay intact when using an alternative launcher?
All my questions short: does Nova (or any other alternative launcher for what it matters) only change what it is known for - leaving everything else the way you set it up with one of the hundred huawei themes? hope yoou know what i mean.
ok, for better demonstration: take the attached pic here for example. from left to right will only screen #2 and #3 be changed and the lockscreen #1, quick toggles #4 and whatsapp #5 remain unaltered with the chosen huawei theme still intact?
thx,
v.

vercetti said:
Yeah, no development...
But it's understable: most developers are proabably located in USA and hardly anyone owns a mate s there. also the processor is kirin and not qualcomm. not much info coming from huawei about their kirin processors (which the developers would need).
i have another question about looks:
i saw that there are many themes available from huawei and that they change many parts of the user interface. what happens with these themes if i use an alternative launcher, say nova launcher?
will nova launcher override the background pic of the lockscreen or generally the way the lockscreen looks or does the lockscreen stay untouched by nova? same goes for the notifications that appear once you pull down the status bar. will the background of the notification "curtain" stay unchanged or does nova change different things here? colors and icons in settings also are changed when using different huawei themes - do they stay intact when using an alternative launcher?
All my questions short: does Nova (or any other alternative launcher for what it matters) only change what it is known for - leaving everything else the way you set it up with one of the hundred huawei themes? hope yoou know what i mean.
ok, for better demonstration: take the attached pic here for example. from left to right will only screen #2 and #3 be changed and the lockscreen #1, quick toggles #4 and whatsapp #5 remain unaltered with the chosen huawei theme still intact?
thx,
v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try and take a look at a different launcher and the themes thing later tonight when home from work.
Just a quick point though, the lockscreen notifications only work with a particular lockscreen type called Magazine Unlock... This is a type of lockscreen that cycles through a gallery of images....not sure if the images are customisable.
Here is a snapshot of a normal lockscreen with limited notification details compared with the magazine lockscreen. You can see one has the message details and the other is very basic with just an icon.

hey, now that sucks! only magazine lockscreen gives you more info on notifications? all the others simply show the icon?!? wow, that is really disappointing...
thx for trying later today, can't wait!

from a quick internet search I think it's possible to stop the switching pix in the magazine lockscreen. also which pix should be used. so you can actually control which and also how many (or only 1) are used.

The Magazine lockscreen doesn’t necessarily cycle background images. You can set whatever single image you want. I have it set to the same as my normal wallpaper, so it looks like it just changes icons when you unlock.
Sadly the lockscreen is one of the worst features of EMUI. You can't pull down the notification bar, you can't dismiss notifications by side swiping, and you can't touch to open the notifications. The notifications also doesn't quit fit the EMUI theme, they are more material design. Some notifications won't show at all (yes, I turned it on), like Soundcloud. You do however get music control for Spotify, but this is a completely different lockscreen (which can't be changed). And then your notifications won't show up. I don't know how Huawei managed to scrap the stock lockscreen, which works very well and looks nice, and replace it with something far worse. You can install lockscreen apps, but you can't use them with the fingerprint scanner, so it's not really an option imho.
The app switcher, which was mentioned in the OP, I actually prefer to the stock android one. The most useful feature is that you can long press the app switcher icon to return to the last app (like Alt+Tab). As far as I understand, this not a stock feature, but from Cyanogen.
vercetti said:
i have another question about looks:
i saw that there are many themes available from huawei and that they change many parts of the user interface. what happens with these themes if i use an alternative launcher, say nova launcher?
will nova launcher override the background pic of the lockscreen or generally the way the lockscreen looks or does the lockscreen stay untouched by nova? same goes for the notifications that appear once you pull down the status bar. will the background of the notification "curtain" stay unchanged or does nova change different things here? colors and icons in settings also are changed when using different huawei themes - do they stay intact when using an alternative launcher?
All my questions short: does Nova (or any other alternative launcher for what it matters) only change what it is known for - leaving everything else the way you set it up with one of the hundred huawei themes? hope yoou know what i mean.
ok, for better demonstration: take the attached pic here for example. from left to right will only screen #2 and #3 be changed and the lockscreen #1, quick toggles #4 and whatsapp #5 remain unaltered with the chosen huawei theme still intact?
thx,
v.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Nova launcher. It will override the icons from the EMUI themes. Nova does however not influence the lockscreen at all, nor the pulldown meny, settings menues or other apps. So yes to your last question.

Thx for clarifying this suprman.
Lockscreen doesn't sound very good unfortunately...
which theme and lockscreen do you use?
I read in older Huawei threads that one can change the lockscreen style. "halo" style got rid of the 4 standard shortcuts on the bottom (which to my knowledge are also not modifiable...) and instead let's you set up 4 custom shortcuts. but maybe huawei did away with this feature nowadays.
which design (theme) do you use?
thx,
vercetti.

suprman said:
The Magazine lockscreen doesn’t necessarily cycle background images. You can set whatever single image you want. I have it set to the same as my normal wallpaper, so it looks like it just changes icons when you unlock.
Sadly the lockscreen is one of the worst features of EMUI. You can't pull down the notification bar, you can't dismiss notifications by side swiping, and you can't touch to open the notifications. The notifications also doesn't quit fit the EMUI theme, they are more material design. Some notifications won't show at all (yes, I turned it on), like Soundcloud. You do however get music control for Spotify, but this is a completely different lockscreen (which can't be changed). And then your notifications won't show up. I don't know how Huawei managed to scrap the stock lockscreen, which works very well and looks nice, and replace it with something far worse. You can install lockscreen apps, but you can't use them with the fingerprint scanner, so it's not really an option imho.
The app switcher, which was mentioned in the OP, I actually prefer to the stock android one. The most useful feature is that you can long press the app switcher icon to return to the last app (like Alt+Tab). As far as I understand, this not a stock feature, but from Cyanogen.
I use Nova launcher. It will override the icons from the EMUI themes. Nova does however not influence the lockscreen at all, nor the pulldown meny, settings menues or other apps. So yes to your last question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the comments, that summarised what I was going to so with the themes later.
Did you know you can open the app from the lockscreen by swiping it to the right...and then touching fingerprint sensor?

Related

4.2 Lockscreen - a step backward?

Hi all,
I cannot but tell you this huge doubt that has been haunting me since I got my Nexus 4: is this new 4.2 lockscreen really an improvement?
For me, it can be considered as a step forward (widgets) and two steps backward (camera and Google Now).
Let me explain:
Step back 1: the camera is now accessible only by swiping the screen to the right
Step back 2: Google Now is hidden as a tiny, little, dotted ring in the far bottom of the screen (see attached image)
Step forward: widgets to the left screen
This is all related to the new circle lock widget, that now allows you only to unlock the phone by dragging the center to whatever position in the borders (see attached image).
And you wanna now why Google did this? I'm strongly convinced they did it because of Apple's lockscreen patent. No joke and no flame intended here. If you read the patent, it clearly says that
The device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a predefined gesture for unlocking the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, with this upgrade the "predefined gesture" exists no more. Before Android 4.2, the only way you could slide to unlock was to move from point A (center) to point B (right): that's exactly what we call a "predefined gesture". Now you can slide to unlock from point A (center) to point B (right), or point C (left), or point D (bottom), and so on. In Android 4.2 the user is free to unlock to whatever position he or she feels like, Google is safe from Apple lawtrolls, but my impression is that we all lose here.
If this is not the reason, I can't figure out why they did this.
Honestly, who cares to unlock to whatever position? It is an automated gesture, I hardly see anyone saying "Oh, thank God, I really needed to swipe left and now I can, good job Google".
Now, instead of having three of the most useful apps in one place, and unlocking them immediately, we have to break this process in three different procedures. This is not immediate, this is awful and I'd like Google to revert to how things were before. They can leave the widgets, but the circle lock widget has to be restored as we have seen it in 4.1.
What do you think? Is this new lockscreen really this big improvement or, like me, do you see more cons than pros?
overall, im ok with it. like the google now thing is fine. but sliding left and right can sometimes be bothersome, but it wont kill me
It is just the start. They will build on it.
sent via xda premium with nexus 7-Xbox live-loneleppard add me
I was worried as well, After using it on my GNex i have to say i like it, Alot of 3rd party apps have updated and are usable like Hd Widgets and Falcon for twitter. Im sure many more will follow.Getting to the camera and google now still only take 1 swipe. I see where you are coming from but adding functionality is hardly a step back. You dont have to use widgets and getting to Gnow and the camera are just as simple
i really do like the google now being down there. its where the home button actually is, which makes sense since you do drag up from the home button to get to google now quickly when on any screen (besides the lock screen of course). a bit more organized and less confusing for those who are coming to this phone for the first time
I just want my clock widget to get better from the black eye it's got.
What I'm saying is that the overall third party widget idea is more than welcome, but Google could have done much better by keeping Google Now and the Camera app within the lock circle and giving more space to widgets: that would have been accessible not only by swiping to the left, but also to the right.
0.0 said:
i really do like the Google Now being down there. its where the home button actually is, which makes sense since you do drag up from the home button to get to Google Now quickly when on any screen (besides the lock screen of course). a bit more organized and less confusing for those who are coming to this phone for the first time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know, at first I thought they had eliminated Google Now completely, then a friend of mine told me that it was in fact hidden behind that little dotted circle.
Every time you unlock in 4.1, you see a giant Google Now logo; in 4.2, if you want to get access to it in the lock screen, you have to go figure it out.
UltimateGoblin said:
You know, at first I thought they had eliminated Google Now completely.
A friend of mine had to tell me that it was in fact hidden behind that little dotted circle.
Every time you unlock in 4.1, you see a giant Google Now logo.
In 4.2, if you want to get access to it in the lock screen, you have to go figure it out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but youre used to it being on the lock screen, like sliding it up. im saying more for those who are new to the phone. they may be like "oh, sliding up on the home button gives me google now. cool!" then they will think that, and when going to the lock screen, it'll be the same process for them. now thats only my speculation. but i understand what you mean
It looks like a bug for me!!! The 4.1 lockscreen was way better!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Old lockscreen found running on 4.2 Nexus 4
Thought this might interest you, also I would love to know how this is possible.
Here in the UK I tried out a Nexus 4 in a Carphone Warehouse store yesterday. We opened the box for the first time, booted up the phone and it presented us with the 4.1 version of the lockscreen .
The thing is, the phone was running on Android 4.2, I checked the settings, it was confirmed to be Android 4.2.
I am desperately trying to find a way to restore the old lock screen. The camera loads slower, the widgets are rubbish and I hate the new clock typeface.
Does anyone else know how this could be possible? The phone was unboxed and came straight from Google.
alexmasters said:
Thought this might interest you, also I would love to know how this is possible.
Here in the UK I tried out a Nexus 4 in a Carphone Warehouse store yesterday. We opened the box for the first time, booted up the phone and it presented us with the 4.1 version of the lockscreen .
The thing is, the phone was running on Android 4.2, I checked the settings, it was confirmed to be Android 4.2.
I am desperately trying to find a way to restore the old lock screen. The camera loads slower, the widgets are rubbish and I hate the new clock typeface.
Does anyone else know how this could be possible? The phone was unboxed and came straight from Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you read reviews on the device, they were running 4.2 without the lockscreen widgets. the OTA implemented the functionality. idk why everyone thinks its bad. im ok with it. maybe the devs will include the option to have the old lockscreen in a custom ROM in the future
0.0 said:
if you read reviews on the device, they were running 4.2 without the lockscreen widgets. the OTA implemented the functionality. idk why everyone thinks its bad. im ok with it. maybe the devs will include the option to have the old lockscreen in a custom ROM in the future
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh now that is interesting, I'm very surprised Google didn't allow people to retain the old lock screen. One can only hope they listen to complaints and roll out an option to toggle widgets, customise clock typeface, etc.
I find accessing the camera by swiping to be a slower experience than before. It makes all that work speeding up the shutter seem a little pointless.
Not only that but sliding between widgets is very awkward when you have a phone case on. Step backwards indeed.
Initially I didn't like it, but it's kinda grown on me now. And I actually like the look of the clock with the hour in bold :victory:
If it's ever too humid or I'm too sweaty, making the phone that easy to unlock one way or another leads to some nasty accidents in the pocket. One time I ended up pocket calling two people over 20 times in the period of an hour. And that was with the original slide to unlock. It was so bad I had to put a pin lock on it temporarily.
For those complaining about the bold hour font on the clock you can easily download a mod to change it.
I didn't like the two flashing boxes that appeared for the widget screens so I downloaded a mod and now I just see the clock and the pattern unlock.
mshaw03 said:
For those complaining about the bold hour font on the clock you can easily download a mod to change it.
I didn't like the two flashing boxes that appeared for the widget screens so I downloaded a mod and now I just see the clock and the pattern unlock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds great, which specific mod is that good sir?
I dont Understand why People are complaining about Smth so small
Sent from my Apple iPhone using Tapatalk 2
The lock screen is too buggy
Posted from my Sweet Lil' Nexus
arzbhatia said:
The lock screen is too buggy
Posted from my Sweet Lil' Nexus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I haven't found any bugs whatsoever in 4.2 so far.

Question And FeedBack about Custom Stock Lollipop Lockscreen

Dear All,
I just published my first module on xPosed. Don't be hard with me if there are any trouble. However if you describe the bugs, I would be glad to solve it. I have done a few set of test on my Nexus 5 but it should works on any device with stock Android Lollipop. This module allows you to change the two shortcuts on the stock lockscreen.
You can use this thread if you have any question or feedback about the module.
PS: English is not my native language, please don't mind for the spelling & grammar mistakes.
UPDATE 12/03/2016:
A new module is available to do the same thing but on Marshmallow devices (HERE)
Changelog 2.1 :
-You can change the color of the ClockView, Icon Tint, ...
-You can resize the icons
Changelog 2.0 : (Due to deep changes, you may need to reinstall the app or reselect your shortcuts after update)
- You can now use « real android shortcuts » (like google maps route, voice recognition, inbox reminder,…)
- You can choose your icon directly from your gallery
- Improved some interface details (Better material design integration)
- Minor bug fixes.
Changelog 1.2 :
- Minor bug fixes.
- You can now activate or deactivate shortcuts
- Tablet support for the left shortcut (I do not have any tablet to test so I hope it works :\, just tell me if it’s not)
Changelog 1.1 :
- Improved some interface details and minor bug fixes.
- Bug about the camera preview when you launch a shortcut fixed
- You can now edit the text which appear when you hit a shortcut on the lockscreen
- You can now activate or deactivate the “natural white tint” of the icon shortcut on the lockscreen
-List of apps sort by alphabetical order
Works great on my HTC One M7 running CM12 and Xposed, thanks! Been looking for a way to do this.
Love how it changes the icons and makes them white. Have it set to whatsapp and chrome atm
Tried on my M7 too and it works
But I found that if I click on an icon instead of swiping the tip is in your language (I think..) like "balayer l'ecran vers la droite"
Lorenzo196 said:
Tried on my M7 too and it works
But I found that if I click on an icon instead of swiping the tip is in your language (I think..) like "balayer l'ecran vers la droite"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys for feedback, I appreciate.
I know it is in french and I'm sorry about that. My first goal was to make a module as quickly as possible to change shortcuts on the lockscreen. However I work on an update which enable you to customize this text.
Works great on my m7 with gpe lollipop.
But would it be possible to add a option to choose a image or color instead of what can be seen on the attached pictures?
It's kinda odd to see the grey screen with a camera symbol while opening WhatsApp
Thanks alot, will definitely keep an eye on this!
swarls said:
Works great on my m7 with gpe lollipop.
But would it be possible to add a option to choose a image or color instead of what can be seen on the attached pictures?
It's kinda odd to see the grey screen with a camera symbol while opening WhatsApp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I know that's really strange. OP can't you set it to be just like the left shortcut? The left shortcut (previously the phone shortcut) does not have this problem and it has a nice transition
I'm on it. I will try to publish an update before the end of the week-end
New update 1.1
Would you be able to add the ability to change the lockscreen wallpaper? There's no easy way to change just the wallpaper on the lockscreen, while having the main wallpaper be different.
Will be able to add a shortcut left from the tablet in the future?
Great job on this mod! I only want 1shortcut with the other shortcut set as NONE. Is there a way to do that? Thanks
It would be amazing if you could implement slim lock screen shortcuts :fingers-crossed:
Is it possible if you can make it able to change lockscreen clock as well?
Nice module, great work!!!
Would be nice if you can select a shortcut instead of an app, for example a shortcut to a tasker task.
stu5797 said:
Great job on this mod! I only want 1shortcut with the other shortcut set as NONE. Is there a way to do that? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i second that one I'm looking to remove them both
stu5797 said:
Great job on this mod! I only want 1shortcut with the other shortcut set as NONE. Is there a way to do that? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ratcom said:
yes i second that one I'm looking to remove them both
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also +1
Currently my workaround is to set my launcher (nova) as app for the shortcuts, so that after unlocking, it will go straight to the homescreen. Not a perfect solution, because unlocking still takes longer because of the app starting process (which also seems to take longer with this module if I choose the contact app compared to the stock setting with the contact app) :/
Funny, it seems most people here want LESS from the lockscreen, while I want more.
I don't know exactly how you would do it with the current setup, but I would love something akin to the lock ring targets found in 4.x roms. I loved being able to launch right into 5 or 6 programs right from the lockscreen. I've tried so, so many third party ones but none of them have the same ease of use or functionality that the stock one employs while also being a seamless experience.
With that being said, I would obviously love if someone were able to get more targets (an idea that I had was to start to pull up and THEN have the targets appear above or something, but I don't know how feasible this is)
guyverzero said:
Funny, it seems most people here want LESS from the lockscreen, while I want more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have a problem with shortcuts on the lockscreen, I just have a problem with the way they are implemented in Lollipop. For unlocking you have to swipe up, but I usually swipe kind of diagonal from down left to up right (seems to be a habit from kitkat and prior). That works like 90% of the time. In 10% I accidentally open the dialer, which is very annoying, since it costs time.
Thats why I want to kill the dialer shortcut
Now that you mention it I had that problem when I started to use Lollipop with that. At this point it's mostly resolved but every now and again I do end up going straight into an app
If you are using pin or pattern lock, every time you need to swipe up first to input the unlock pattern, is there a way to default to input pattern? And swipe down if I want to go back to the lock screen? I wish Google made the shortcuts optional....

Lockscreen notifications problem

Hi,
I do not receive lockscreen notifications on my P9.
According to the Huawei rep in their Brussels flagship store this is due to the fact that I use fingerprint unlock.
It is "unsafe" according to them to see or have access to the notifications or even my musicplayer or podcast player controls on the lockscreen when locked...
Is this possible? It's annoying altough the fingerprint unlock is really, really quick and 100% correct (in contrast to the iphone 6S or Samsung S7)...
thanks,
Pieter
I disabled the huawei lockscreen notifications all together and using this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.roymam.android.notificationswidget
Works quite well and even supports music controls (the standalone Sony Xperia from xda works great).
It's a workaround but it does the job and is fully customizable.
Thanks, works good indeed, still a pity that the emui 4.1 does not do the job, I like this version of Android a lot, no lag and stutter and more options than stock Android...
Yeah options are always nice but they tend to forgot the option to turn stuff off you dont need stock Android notifications are pretty much perfect imho.
But I think this phone is gonna be popular at least here in central Europe. It's all over the shops right next to the apples and Samsungs. Which means mods are likely to happen.
My P9 now states that the Nils app is using lots of battery...
I sold my iPhone 6sPlus and I'm very satisfied with the P9. I owned only android phones before (nexus 4, Note 3 and 4) but wanted to try out ios, I did for 5 months but never again... -
But for all the things I did not like about ios and iPhone hardware (fingerprint on forefront and body/screen ratio) I have to admit that on the software front everything works on ios as it should...
I start noticing that the camera takes some time loading as well, 2x pushing volume down and it takes 2s for the picture to be taken...
FutureYota said:
My P9 now states that the Nils app is using lots of battery...
But for all the things I did not like about ios and iPhone hardware (fingerprint on forefront and body/screen ratio) I have to admit that on the software front everything works on ios as it should...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree some things are annoying on the software side with Android and especially with custom skins like emui. But just because a mechanism informs you that a certain process uses more battery than others doesn't mean it's bad. On ios there might be processes draining your battery like crazy but they never tell you about it. Just food for thought.
If someone asks me what phone they should get and they say that it should just work and do basic things and money doesn't matter I often suggest apple. But that is not my cup of tea.
All you need to do is change the lockscreen to a magazine lockscreen in the designs app. After that there's an option in the settings to enable them. They won't work with the iPhone style lockscreen for some reason.
Thanks, that does work indeed
But I still don't get my Pocketcasts and Google play controls on my lockscreen...
but well it's already better now
MoervYO said:
All you need to do is change the lockscreen to a magazine lockscreen in the designs app. After that there's an option in the settings to enable them. They won't work with the iPhone style lockscreen for some reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where in settings? Set alot of apps to notifications on lock screen in the notification center. But still doesn't notify me Got magazine lock screen chosen, but my own picture.
---------- Post added at 11:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 PM ----------
Figured it out. Have to go in and deny and then allow apps that has been allowed to send notifications as standard to make it work...
Magazine lock screen is amazing with notifications showing up BUT it darkers the background so hard its ridiculous. I'd like to use other lock screens like one of the defaults where the clock shows up on the top side of the screen, but sadly that one doesn't show notifications T_T
iaitoo said:
Where in settings? Set alot of apps to notifications on lock screen in the notification center. But still doesn't notify me Got magazine lock screen chosen, but my own picture.
---------- Post added at 11:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 PM ----------
Figured it out. Have to go in and deny and then allow apps that has been allowed to send notifications as standard to make it work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't find the option to deny and then reenable notifications. Any help pls?
Sent from my NEXT using XDA-Developers mobile app
MoervYO said:
All you need to do is change the lockscreen to a magazine lockscreen in the designs app. After that there's an option in the settings to enable them. They won't work with the iPhone style lockscreen for some reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey! that did the trick...I was driving crazy to make notifications work on lockscreen... (even if it is better for battery to do now awake the display) but now is a choice..!!! before werent working!!
Hard to find what "hell" was those magazine on spanish translation i took me days to find the workaround until I found your post!!
Thanks... could be useful for those are are new on EMUI to have some screenshots about the lockscreen mode
Thanks agian.
I can get notifications to show but they are not expandable or actionable. Is there a way to make them work as per stock or is this as good as it gets?
Roboffabike said:
I can get notifications to show but they are not expandable or actionable. Is there a way to make them work as per stock or is this as good as it gets?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree it's annoying if you are used to a stock behaivour... This point is a point to improve...
Enviado desde mi EVA-L09 mediante Tapatalk
Hello everyone,
do you know a way for disabling lockscreen notification white to white, changing text color in black? Default EMUI lockscreen magazine is impossible to read.
Thanks
Hi,
I am playing around with this lock screen/magazine/ ... for a day now and can't get notifications on my lockscreen. E.g. the netflix controls are also missing.
I have a Mate 9 with Emui 5.
This really sucks, I would prefer the stock lock screen from the nexus/pixel devices a lot.
Could please someone write in detail how to get the notification working?
The NiLS App works like a dream.
Pitscho said:
Hi,
I am playing around with this lock screen/magazine/ ... for a day now and can't get notifications on my lockscreen. E.g. the netflix controls are also missing.
I have a Mate 9 with Emui 5.
This really sucks, I would prefer the stock lock screen from the nexus/pixel devices a lot.
Could please someone write in detail how to get the notification working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The NiLS App works like a dream... I am using Huawei P9 Plus - (EMUI 5.0 / Android 7.0) Go for it guys....
I was sick tired of making the notifications to work on Lockscreen other than the Magazine. I guess I finally found some solace.
Nils definitely works but I was bothered by not getting the normal android notifications. They seem to be working well now. This is my environment - B138, running Dark Theme and lockscreen Magazine with changed wallpaper. I enabled all apps to show lockscreen notification. I prevented wanted apps from being closed in power management. I locked wanted apps in recent drawer. I downloaded Blue Mail & Yaata sms and all notifications are immediate. I favor these apps anyways and want push email. Gave up on the stock sms and Gmail as they would not show on lockscreen. If using themes, make sure to keep magazine lockscreen. Just change wallpaper later. Not sure about other apps. Irritating project for sure!
Make sure you Use the theme that has magazine style lockscreen. That allows the apps with lockscreen notifications to work.
Settings-> Lock screen and password-> screen lock style-> magazine style lock screen
This is the key to get the notifications to work. Under lock screen and password you can also turn on screen when receiving notification.
I have just upgraded to Android 7 and the notifications used to show a tiny Icon at the top of the lock screen but no message detail ie if ifs a whatsapp persons pic would show. With the upgrade it either shows the whole message nothing at all or contents hidden, is there any way to amend the notifications to just show the whatsapp logo or email logo or whatever?

Useful tips and tricks Mate 20 Pro

Hey guys,
I wanted to create a thread to share some tips and little tricks I've found and to everyone to share what you found to make the overall experience better, so here's what I've found, most of them you have to be using EMUI launcher (I gave up Nova so I can use native gestures):
1. To unlock when you use fingerprint but it doesn't recognize it at first try, face unlock will kick in and most of the time you'll see a screen saying "slide to unlock after successful facial recognition" the little trick is: you don't have to lift finger from screen then slide, so to make a smother experience I'm trying to make an habit to unlock to do this movement: press+hold+slide(as soon as you see screen turn on) and it unlocks 95% of the time.
2. Raise to wake works better and faster if you stop your natural movement ABRUPTLY and at the end of me movement the phone is tilted a little in upright position when it is in front of you. If I don't do this I just keep staring like a fool for a few seconds at the always on display and end up using fingerprint sensor or power button.
3. GESTURES:
*For the back gesture you have to start from the very edge to work, if you're using a case try to tap on the actual case then slide
*Similar for the home/recents gesture try to place your finger outside the screen on the small black bezel/chin then slide
*For the home gesture just slide and release quickly but to make the recents gesture work better, slide up then the little trick is (okay this is a big deal for me so I'll just bolds) to turn HORIZONTALLY (see screenshot attached for example path) as soon as you turn horizontally it'll lock recents app (you'll feel the vibration) if you just slide up and don't do the little turn you have to wait a while until it locks
UPDATE: I think it works even better and faster if you slide straight up around 1/6 of the screen then slightly straight down.
4. There's no double tap to lock which is something I missed but if you're using EMUI launcher there's is a lock scren widget which you can use to lock the screen without any delays like third party apps usually do with 5 seconds timeouts. Pretty handy little icon!
5. If you're using native launcher and want to rearrange icons, first press and hold in an empty area then you can select several icons to move in batches to a folder or even moving one by one you don't have to tapal and hold for a long time before you can start sliding to move icon (see screenshots).
6. For additional gestures (previous app, start split screen, google assistant, show volume slider, etc.) I'm using the "Edge gestures" app, obviously horizontal functions do not work because it will trigger the native "back" gesture instead but vertical gestures work pretty well without delay (see screenshot).
7. Best browser experience I've found since Samsung internet browser is unusable (4-8 seconds delay to switch tabs) is:
Yandex browser + Adguard extension app
because of this MUST haves for me:
*It actually blocks ads
*It supports split screen
*It's fast
*It has controls on the bottom of the scren instead of on top for a lot easier one hand operation
8. Use "SystemUI tuner" app to hide icons on status bar such as bluetooth, NFC, wifi, etc and make room for notifications
9. Use NCleaner app to hide unwanted permanent notifications such as "X app is displaying over other apps"
10. This isnpretty general and not just of this phone but in case someone uses youtube frequently and uses original app, do yourself a favor and download YouTube Vanced (from vanced website) and vidmate if you need to download videos.
I might be returning this phone and going back to Note 9 because of the awful screen, tinny speakers, terrible ram management, not so great signal strength in my area and all the EMUI bugs but I'll update this post if I find extra tips, please share what you've found!
11. How to avoid EMUI system from closing apps running in the background:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-pro/how-to/guide-how-to-avoid-emui-closing-apps-t3862911
I'd suggest Brave for ad-blocking browser instead.
vwite said:
7. Best browser experience I've found since Samsung internet browser is unusable (4-8 seconds delay to switch tabs) is:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Samsung Internet Browser Beta and get only about 1 second delay to switch tabs (with Adblock extension installed).
Maybe if the number of open tabs is large the delay might increase.
randomA said:
I'd suggest Brave for ad-blocking browser instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried this before but didn't like it, I don't remember if it was controls on the very top of the screen or that it didn't support split screen, but what advantages does it have compared to Yandex with AdGuard?
themissionimpossible said:
I use Samsung Internet Browser Beta and get only about 1 second delay to switch tabs (with Adblock extension installed).
Maybe if the number of open tabs is large the delay might increase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmm, that's weird, I tried both the regular and the beta and tried uninstalling and installing them again and both take a very long time to open the tabs menu, even with only one tab opened. On my Note 9 it also has around 1 second delay (for opening all tabs, if you just swipe on bar to switch to next or previous tab is faster) so I think that's normal but 4-8 seconds is unusable for me
On the mate 20 pro I am on build .122, which one do you have?
9.0.0.122 patch02
Mate 20 Pro no brand
vwite said:
I've tried this before but didn't like it, I don't remember if it was controls on the very top of the screen or that it didn't support split screen, but what advantages does it have compared to Yandex with AdGuard?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you earn BAT for using it, it's a chrome fork (basically a chrome clone), has a builtin ad-suppressor , doesnt track you, etc. without having to donwload other apps/extensions.
themissionimpossible said:
I use Samsung Internet Browser Beta and get only about 1 second delay to switch tabs (with Adblock extension installed).
Maybe if the number of open tabs is large the delay might increase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest kiwi browser. Adblocking, bottom bar, black theme, open source, chromium based, super fast
henihazbay said:
I suggest kiwi browser. Adblocking, bottom bar, black theme, open source, chromium based, super fast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazing find, thank you! I already switched back to Note 9 so I'm using samsung browser beta again but this is the first chrome based I've tried that has the option to show bar on the bottom of the screen, I'll test how ad blocking works but I might actually switch from samsung broswer to this! Night mode is also nicer since it changes the colors but doesn't decrease brightness
vwite said:
.
I might be returning this phone and going back to Note 9 because of the awful screen, tinny speakers, terrible ram management, not so great signal strength in my area and all the EMUI bugs but I'll update this post if I find extra tips, please share what you've found!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny thing is I'm having none of those issues you mentioned. Ram management is great, screen is great and the speakers are good enough. I knew EMUI would be this phones Achilles heel so it my expectations were properly set.
Sent from my HUAWEI LYA-L0C using XDA Labs
HI, I tried Tip #6 but for me Edge Gestures does not work for me at all.
Not one Gesture does work on my phone.
EDIT: SORRY ... my fault ... it works
'1. To unlock when you use fingerprint but it doesn't recognize it at first try, face unlock will kick in and most of the time you'll see a screen saying "slide to unlock after successful facial recognition" the little trick is: you don't have to lift finger from screen then slide, so to make a smother experience I'm trying to make an habit to unlock to do this movement: press+hold+slide(as soon as you see screen turn on) and it unlocks 95% of the time.'
Much easier to go to Settings > Security & Privacy > Face Recognition and then selecting Direct Unlock. This way, it will unlock the screen direct from Face Recognition without having to slide.
This is an accident find but haven't read about it anywhere - apologies if it's widely known.
Long pressing the "trash can" in the Recent Apps section brings up All Apps - nice shortcut.
ero69 said:
This is an accident find but haven't read about it anywhere - apologies if it's widely known.
Long pressing the "trash can" in the Recent Apps section brings up All Apps - nice shortcut.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I didn't know that. Cheers.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
where can I find NCleaner?
charliebigpot said:
where can I find NCleaner?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.easy4u.ncleaner
Nice tips.. Any other tips?
vwite said:
Hey guys,
(...)
9. Use NCleaner app to hide unwanted permanent notifications such as "X app is displaying over other apps" (...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is really nice!
mrnovanova said:
Funny thing is I'm having none of those issues you mentioned. Ram management is great, screen is great and the speakers are good enough. I knew EMUI would be this phones Achilles heel so it my expectations were properly set.
Sent from my HUAWEI LYA-L0C using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree - no issues at my end too.
One thing I just found out that in face unlock settings There is a require eye contact setting. I've tried closing my eyes and asked a family member if my screen unlock, it doesn't and as soon as I opened them it unlocked.
Sent from my HUAWEI LYA-L09 using XDA Labs

First thoughts on X4 Pie

So I was curious what people thought after they got their Pie updates? (I'm still waiting)
-Is it faster/slower?
-Any change in battery life?
-Thoughts on Google gestures?
-Any other thoughts?
sleze said:
So I was curious what people thought after they got their Pie updates? (I'm still waiting)
-Is it faster/slower?
-Any change in battery life?
-Thoughts on Google gestures?
-Any other thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same speed for me.
Battery seems the same.
Gestures are worthless.
sleze said:
So I was curious what people thought after they got their Pie updates? (I'm still waiting)
-Is it faster/slower?
-Any change in battery life?
-Thoughts on Google gestures?
-Any other thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems about the same speed/battery life for me.
The recent apps view is a big step backwards to me, the side scrolling cards is not as easy nor helpful as the vertical view was. I still think Samsung's multiwindow mode is better than Google's and I do not think 9.0 improved it.
Adding a dark theme is nice, but implementation is inconsistent. I am surprised basic things like the settings pages do not use it. But it is nice for the keyboard, messages, and phone.
I'd agree the new pill gesture setup isn't great. The motorola fingerprint gestures is nicer.
The tiny settings icon in the notification drop-down is annoying enough I've given up on it.
Other than some other gui changes (icons and the like), it isn't that different from 8.1.
That's kind of the impression I have been getting for a while. Our phones already have great battery life and moto actions.
I am losing excitement for this update...
It was faster, the battery runs faster than 8.1, I do not like gestures, even though I feel that applications still need to be polished for Pie.
Return to 8.1 for these last two dimensions.
Just installed the update tonight. Performance-wise, it feels the same. Don't know yet about the battery life, since I just got it about an hour ago.
I also found that the pill gesture setup was not up to par. It doesn't add anything extra to the original setup. It still occupies the same bottom screen space.
Dark mode is nice, but I wish it was implemented system wide instead of just by individual app. But probably this depends more on the app developers. But even system apps such as settings don't always have the dark mode.
Lastly, to access the gear settings icon, now you have to pull the notifications bar twice. Correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't it used to be just once?
jb2112 said:
Lastly, to access the gear settings icon, now you have to pull the notifications bar twice. Correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't it used to be just once?
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Yes. I noticed this too. The gear was accessible from the notification bar.
I pretty much agree with what others have said so far. Based either on actual speed improvements, tweaks to the animations, or the update placebo effect, 9.0 does feel a bit snappier switching between apps than 8.1.
The only thing I don't like is that the update seems to have made SwiftKey fonts bigger which is mildly annoying.
Pretty disappointed with this version of Android. The recent apps is now destroyed. It's a worse way to interact with your recent apps. Don't even bother with the gestures. Totally half baked. One button nav is superior in every way. The notification pull down is just hideous. The clock is on the wrong side and no way to change it. Why there's no way to change it is beyond stupid. The dark theme option is extremely inconsistent. Won't even darken the settings window for instance. You now have to pull the notification share down twice to access settings versus only one with Oreo. Seems that we've lost a lot of functionality and are being told it's a feature. Perfect example are the volume controls. What a joke.
The whole thing just looks like an iPhone rip off. And the general graphic style sucks. Material design is dead.
Performance and battery seem to stay the same. Overall a poor effort from Google on this. Going to have to root this thing so I can deal with some of the idiotic things they decided to go with. Worst Android update since I can remember. Can't wait to go back to Oreo.
A couple more observations. The volume bar is now on the right side of the screen, next to the volume buttons. It also allows direct access to sound settings. I don't mind this as it feels more intuitive to me. If you long press the power button, now there's an option to take screenshot. I like this since I don't have to fumble again with two hands to take screenshot.
A big change is split screen. Previously, you can just long press the overview button to use split screen. Now you have to tap the overview button (or swipe up from the pill, if you use that), then long press on the icon on top of the app, then select split screen. If you use split screen a lot, this change is annoying to say the least.
cpthornman said:
The clock is on the wrong side and no way to change it.
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That change throws me off. I keep looking for the clock on the right side. And I agree with you; Google copied some of iOS UI while kept some of their own, making it an inconsistent experience.
Fingerprint Lock
I can no longer lock my phone using the fingerprint sensor. I think this is a bug because it is selected in the "Lock Screen Preferences" settings but it does not lock the phone. This may seem like a small thing but it completely disrupts how I'm used to using the phone. I'm using the Google Fi Android One version.
mandarip said:
I can no longer lock my phone using the fingerprint sensor. I think this is a bug because it is selected in the "Lock Screen Preferences" settings but it does not lock the phone. This may seem like a small thing but it completely disrupts how I'm used to using the phone. I'm using the Google Fi Android One version.
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Click to collapse
I am on the same version, and it works ok for me.
Edit: I am using One Button Nav
jhedfors said:
I am on the same version, and it works ok for me.
Edit: I am using One Button Nav
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I don't seem to have the one button nav option. Unless I'm not looking in the right place - Moto Actions?
mandarip said:
I don't seem to have the one button nav option. Unless I'm not looking in the right place - Moto Actions?
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Click to collapse
If you have the Android One variant, one button nav is disabled on it.
jb2112 said:
If you have the Android One variant, one button nav is disabled on it.
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Yes, that's what I suspected and I suppose that could be the reason the fingerprint lock does not work after the update as well.
mandarip said:
I don't seem to have the one button nav option. Unless I'm not looking in the right place - Moto Actions?
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Click to collapse
It is disabled in A1 version. You can get the option enabled by removing the following prop:
ro.mot.android_one
If you are using Magisk, there is a module that you can use for this:
MagiskHide Props Config
Confirmed that this works on Oreo and Pie.
Edit: updated 12/27
mandarip said:
Yes, that's what I suspected and I suppose that could be the reason the fingerprint lock does not work after the update as well.
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Click to collapse
Fingerprint lock works on my Android One model without one button nav. Have you tried removing and adding your fingerprints again?
mandarip said:
Yes, that's what I suspected and I suppose that could be the reason the fingerprint lock does not work after the update as well.
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Click to collapse
Fingerprint lock still works for me though. I also have A1 variant.
This update is underwhelming for me little changes that are just seemingly random and pointless. I'm especially disappointed that the update broke Google pay , prior to pie I've been taking ota's fine with no impact on gpay.
Jizzylax said:
Fingerprint lock works on my Android One model without one button nav. Have you tried removing and adding your fingerprints again?
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Yep tried that. It's weird because I can unlock the phone with my fingerprint but I can't lock it again. It's obviously recognizing the fingerprint but not for locking purposes.
jhedfors said:
It is disabled in A1 version. You can get the option by removing the following prop:
ro.mot.android_one
I toggled it off and the fingerprint lock works. I would be curious to hear from others...
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I haven't rooted this phone yet, but this will be the first thing I do if I go that route.

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