Related
***** Updated June 3, 2011 *****
Thanks again to everyone who helped with the beta testing. Just wanted you to know that I just posted version 1 to the Android Market. It's free and you can get it here:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.greggreno.whattowatch
-Gregg
***** Updated May 5, 2011 *****
Uploaded a new version to the same location. Here are the changes:
- Improved the scrolling position after adding more titles to the bottom, but still not perfect
- Fix bug leaving the Netflix registration window open
- Set maximum title list retrieval to 50 at a time
- Fixed bug with extra Edit Search Criteria icon showing in apps list
- Fixed size and look of loading images
- Added ability to turn off ads by buying an unlocker from the Android market
Netflix still hasn't fixed their problems with TV series and getting the data right in their API
***************************
Hi all. I've been working on a new Honeycomb only app called What To Watch, and I'm looking for some beta testers. Anyone interested in helping out?
I wanted a better way to browse for Netflix movies and also manage my queues. For example, I wanted to do something like "show me all Sci Fi movies available on Instant with a 3 star rating or higher, rated PG-13 or R, sorted by release date". I couldn't find any other web site or app to do this, so I figured I would build it myself.
There are 3 main sections:
1) My Searches - this is where you can create your own searches and save them for later. I create two to start with. Click on one and it will display the list in the panel on the right, 25 at a time. Once you click on one of the My Seaches items, you can edit it by long pressing it or clicking the Edit button at the top. Note that this uses a beta API from Netflix called OData. It's the only API that lets you do sophisticated searches like this, but unfortunately it is subject to change from Netflix and it may not always be current with the main Netflix library.
2) Netflix Queues - what you would expect. For example, what is in your DVD and Instant queues.
3) Top Lists - this comes from the Netflix web site rather than the API. It shows what the top titles are for each category. This method won't show the star ratings until you drill into a particular title.
You can download the apk here (note this is case sensitive):
http://jigawattlabs.com/temp/WhatToWatch.apk
Known issues:
This is the first release. Should probably call it an Alpha!
Authenticating with Netflix isn't quite right yet. You may wind up with the web browser still open after exiting the app, and you may get another instance of the app. But just exit everything and it should be ok
There is a bug with the Netflix API with TV series and specials. This is a problem on their end, so you might get some unexpected results when browsing TV shows
I would appreciate any and all comments in terms of general UI impressions, bugs, performance, usability.
You can reach me directly at [email protected].
Thanks!
-Gregg Reno
I just tried it out, seems to work great. I just wish there was a way to actually watch Netflix on my zoom
Thanks for trying it out. I'd love to be able to watch netflix movies as well, and I think we will see that at some point. Hopefully once Netflix makes that possible, I can integrate that into the app.
I'm also going to implement a friends feature, where you can mark your favorite movies and share it with friends, and see what their favorites are.
Comments from other folks are welcome!
My first impression of the app is that it has some shared elements with amazon's web page, which is great. But the reason I say first impression is that it isn't registering with netflix.
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
chbennett - thanks for testing. Can you give me some more info on the problem you had registering? When clicking almost anything it should prompt you to register. If you say ok, it should take you to a Netflix web page. You may have to log in and then it should prompt you to give permission to the What To Watch application. If you approve,it should take you back to the app and you should be able to run any of the searches on the left.
Where did you run into problems?
I installed it on my XOOM. Log in into Netflix without any problems. Searching also good, but could be good to add additional information about movie like Availability (for some of it shows when it will be available in stream).
It's a pity that we still missing Hulu or Netflix apps on our XOOM. Get used to watch it on my iPad(
greno1 said:
chbennett - thanks for testing. Can you give me some more info on the problem you had registering? When clicking almost anything it should prompt you to register. If you say ok, it should take you to a Netflix web page. You may have to log in and then it should prompt you to give permission to the What To Watch application. If you approve,it should take you back to the app and you should be able to run any of the searches on the left.
Where did you run into problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically all it did for me (ill try it again) was stall out on the "registering with netflix" in app pop up, going no further.
Edit: still doesn't work
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
Great app! Forcecloses when I click on New Instant Choices under Top Lists category
Also when going into the Instant Que list; I click one of the movies and it takes me to the description. I can also click on Similar, Drop from Instant or Add to Disc. If I choose Drop from Instant and click the back arrow it still shows in the Instant Que listing. Can we have the option of clicking the Instant Que button on the top left corner in the movie description to go back to the Instant Que listing and if we do happen to press the back arrow could the Instant Que listing automatically update with the removal of the movie?
Kozdoba - I will be adding additional information like directors and awards, but I'll also look at adding availability. Do you have an example title in mind I can test with?
bishop72 - thanks for finding the problem with the New Instant choices. I'll look at that one, but it may be because that's a really big list and I'm not handling it correctly. Also, good idea about removing titles from the instant titles if you click the remove from instant button. But the problem with that for me is if I remove it from the list, it should probably close that title window because it's no longer in the instant queue. Maybe someone hit the remove button by mistake and they want to re-add it?
Also I notice that there is some type of caching going on with the adding and removing from queues. When you add or remove, it does that action and then sends another request to netflix to get the current status. But it may not register that quickly. So you may hit remove from instant, and then I get back a status from Netflix saying it's still in the instant queue. If you click it again, it shows up ok.
I appreciate the feedback - good or bad!
greno1 said:
Kozdoba - I will be adding additional information like directors and awards, but I'll also look at adding availability. Do you have an example title in mind I can test with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look this series soon will be available online.
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Death_Note/70081003?trkid=2361637
downloaded the apk to nook but just got a parse error failed to load. I really love my netflix and was looking forward to tablet style look on nc.
The app installed fine, the Netflix login auth worked fine as well. The fit & finish look good as well. Some of the images and searches render a bit slow, but that could be my wifi. I will play with it more through the day and report back.
I believe i heard that Netflix was going to do a live stream with Netflix only productions, so a Top List of Netflix Original or something would be good.
Everyone - thanks for testing and for the comments. I really appreciate it! It's interesting it worked for some but didn't work for dbolton. Not sure why that is.
dbolton - can you post a screen shot of your error, or email it to me at [email protected]? I also took a few screen shots so you can see what it should look like:
http://jigawattlabs.com/w2w/screen1.png
http://jigawattlabs.com/w2w/screen2.png
kiteOregon - once Netflix posts a list of their own content in some type of list, I'll definitely look at adding that. For the Top Lists section, I'm just using the Netflix RSS feeds linked from the bottom of the page. Modified it somewhat to return no more that 50 at a time though since it would load too slow.
Thanks again!
-Gregg
Thus far all is working well. I really like the interface too, great job!
I am going to keep tinkering with it and let you know if I run into any issues or have any suggestions.
Thanks for the great app!
chbennett said:
Basically all it did for me (ill try it again) was stall out on the "registering with netflix" in app pop up, going no further.
Edit: still doesn't work
Sent from my Xoom the way it should be, rooted and with SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard that Netflix was having problems with authorization from 3rd party apps. As a work around the suggest launching your browser and log into Netflix. Leave the browser running, and then launch the app and try to register again. Can you let me know if that works?
-Gregg
garyh2 said:
Thus far all is working well. I really like the interface too, great job!
I am going to keep tinkering with it and let you know if I run into any issues or have any suggestions.
Thanks for the great app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Working to add more features.
somehow I now have a 'edit search criteria' icon (same as main apps icon) in my app drawer as if it were a separate app.
My initial reaction is very positive, but I have the same issue as garyh2. When I tell it to uninstall, I am informed that it is part of the main application so obviously I left it there. This is a weird bug though...
The only other thing I noticed is that the placeholder icons that appear before titles and images populate are slightly larger than the images and titles that replace them. This doesn't really cause problems but is slightly distracting.
I really like the power search function and the ability to save searches and haven't really seen this functionality elsewhere. Good job!
Thanks garyh2 and vidriera - ill take a look at that. The edit screen is a separate activity rather than a fragment, which is probably its somehow getting its own icon. Just one of the differences with honeycomb I need to figure out.
Also good point about the loading graphic. I'll fix that too.
So there are a few threads of apps that plain work on the NST, but I want apps that are optimized (i.e. black and white/no animations/useable). Below are my findings.
Battery drain
First off, let's say you've rooted and installed some basics gapps. I found that some things seems to cause some pretty fierce battery drain (I remember on my G1 that calendar sync was buggy, resulting in constant syncing attempts and bad battery drain). Now this is on a per-user basis, but I basically removed everything but the core gapps files and gmail. Here's a list of stuff you can "safely" remove (remember, ALWAYS backup).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Launchers
I've tried them all, but the ADW with the minimalistic black theme is the best IMO. You can make the background white of the app drawer, remove all but one page, and turn off everything that moves (I set all the options to max/0 to ensure that I do not see any animations of any sort).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Navigation
So depending on how you achieved root, you may or may not have button savior installed. I didn't want extra stuff cluttering up my screen, so I removed it. For those of you who want a high contrast eink button savior, you've got it here. Buy the pro and support the dev. If you want to use the hardware buttons, you have to get this (which you may already have if you have rooted via Nooter).
I set the top left button as back, top right as menu, bottom left as pagedown, and bottom right as pageup. The page up and page down are from the normal left side, so they appear as LEFT_PAGEDOWN and LEFT_PAGERIGHT. I also disabled the BN menu when you press the N and made it just go to ADW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps
Sorry to disappoint, but since I want to get rid of as many distractions as possible, I only have a few:
Android PDF Reader: Has optimizations for eink devices, is quick to redraw, and page up and down work.
Sparse RSS: I've been working with the dev and have gotten page up/down to work. I have a dev build if interested, but I'm sure he'll publish an update soon with it working on the market (1.3.1 does not work, but the next version should have the fix).
Some of the other random eink optimized apps floating around the Apps section here.
SetCPU: Allows for changing the governor and you can underclock if you wish. I have to 600 MHz, and it's fine for reading. I setup the scale up preference to 80, and the Powersaving Bias to 300. Feel free to look up and mess around with these...it's pretty safe.
Coolreader: Has some nice eink optimized settings (can change how the page is partially refreshed/how often/etc. You can also set it as the main reader app in the NookSimple Tools apps, so when you click the book in the top left if opens Coolreader. The standard BN library and reader aren't bad, though (except for PDFs that are not meant for reflow, like tech. documents).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Here is a NST optimized (and slightly customized) version I did for Simon Tatham's Puzzles Collection (including source).
github.com/marspeople/sgtpuzzles/downloads
ace7196, could you post the "page up/down" patch for Sparse RSS? Also, I've noticed a interface bug (also present in NewsRob) when you go back to the article list, it loses which list position it was previously, that is pretty annoying.
Here's the latest release dev build of Sparse RSS.
I know the left side buttons for page up/down are mapped, not sure if he mapped the right side equivalent as well.
Also, I've noticed on a few rss readers (as mentioned above) that once you touch the screen and make is scroll, the titles of the articles change, but not that content. I only plan on using the hard keys, so now that I have an RSS reader that works with that...
What is the checkbox under Feed URL when you're adding a feed? Other than that, seems to work great!
Tired_ said:
What is the checkbox under Feed URL when you're adding a feed? Other than that, seems to work great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure....try checking it
ace7196 said:
Not sure....try checking it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Installed it on my phone, turns out it's "Only Sync over Wifi". Kind of a useless setting for us Nookies, but it's good to know I guess.
Sparse RSS is really great though the right buttons are not mapped.
Also, is there a way to remove the "Goto link" bar at the bottom of each page?
It blocks the last line of text on every page. It is also kind of distracting and I will never need to go to the full page or use the onscreen touch buttons since the buttons are mapped
Got email from the author that right button support will be added, and will be published this week (will let you know when).
Latest Sparse RSS Reader with left and right button support:
http://code.google.com/p/sparserss/downloads/list
Launcher
too add...
I'm finding Relaunch as optimized launcher.
I'm happy with it, give it a spin.
(well you might need to spend some time in enabling adb to install non market apps)
I've attached the screens (not screenshots taken in nook, but a pic by phone)
the home, app list and the settings
marspeople said:
Here is a NST optimized (and slightly customized) version I did for Simon Tatham's Puzzles Collection (including source).
github.com/marspeople/sgtpuzzles/downloads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyone happen to have an APK kicking around for this eink optimized version of Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection that MarsPeople made so long ago? I've been using the regular version for years and just ignoring about half the puzzles since they require color. It would be great to have an eink version.
I contacted the author, but he doesn't have an APK anymore. He did point me to his other GitHub, which is still up and has his modified forkof the source, but no APK. I don't have any environment for building Android apps and I don't relish trying to set one up for Eclaire.
https://github.com/marcelogp/sgtpuzzles
Hey folks,
Bored of IE and annoyed by bad browsing-experiences of third party apps?
Use all features of the default webbrowser and enjoy some additional
tweaks implemented by me to improve your everyday web usage:
- Unlimited trial (no annoying ads in important areas)
- up to 10 tabs
- custom urlBar position
- multiple startpages
- integrated Back/Forward & search functions
- scalable brightness
- LiveTile support
- orientation-lock
- custom contextmenu
- individual style
- 100% fullscreen
- run under locked screen
- back-up-feature
- pin to start feature
UPDATE: submitted for certification
while 1.1 is going to arrive in marketplace soon, I'm already working on 1.2 which will include:
A more IE-like,stunning mainpage
A more responsive UI (input-feedback)
auto-full screen option
progressbar
Bugfixes
post feedback, bugs, complaints (...) HERE or email/PM me.
mail: [email protected], also found on the aboutpage.
Let me know what u think, everything positive and negative
So far, hope theres some use for it
roqstr
added in 1.1:
userAgent switcher (desktop,mobile)
scrollable urlbar
scalable imagequality
bugfixes
*********CHANGE-LOG*********
in-app now!
Can you give details on the app. Is it using the IE Engine or you have it from scratch etc.
wpxbox said:
Can you give details on the app. Is it using the IE Engine or you have it from scratch etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, i should have mentioned this. It's completely based on IE
Everybody who couldn't install yet, try this:
1. copy the zune-link i sent you.
2. write a mail to yourself.
3. open it on your phone.
for the 12 folks that are already in i sent a mail to their live-inbox.
hope that solves the installation issue.
Installing got no problem.Try google you tube it's quite fast and manage toplay video without any problem.The only thing I must get used to the tab.Well so far there's not any bug yet .
When I make a new tab it seems I can't search when I type xda developers it says ERROR Invalid url.I think every tab that we make if possible make to the home page.
Ttblondey said:
Installing got no problem.Try google you tube it's quite fast and manage toplay video without any problem.The only thing I must get used to the tab.Well so far there's not any bug yet .
When I make a new tab it seems I can't search when I type xda developers it says ERROR Invalid url.I think every tab that we make if possible make to the home page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search isn't implemented yet, will be in soon.
The home-page can be set in settings-> general-> new tab
thanks for fast feedback
BETA tester
My response from BETA-testing. (Note: Even if you have posted some bugs I'll still fill my list with what I experience)
Phone: LG Optimus 7
Status: Works perfectly!
My current status: Stopped BETA testing.
Positive:
100% fullscreen
Customization!
Live tile with information about current session!!
Slide up the URL tab on fullscreen to get to normal view without fullscreen.
Fast web browser
Share page function (lovely!!)
It's now my official MAIN browser!
-
-
Things to maybe improve & suggestions:
First startpage is google.de, could have been google.com (but nothing special actually)
Maybe you could make your own videoplayer to play eg. youtube videos on, instead of using the phone's player (not required since the videoplayer of the phone is also good)
Also have the abillity to press the favorites url instead of only the visit button at the bottom. But keep it.
Maybe slide with 2 or 3 fingers down on the screen for entering/exiting fullscreen mode?
-
-
Negative and or Currently found bugs:
When entering fullscreen mode, it's hard to get back to regular. I had to tap like 5 times on the black button at the bottom left. (hard to use the button)
If the application opens without internet connection it will say ERROR, no network available. But it does say it when I change to other menus such as settings (keep spamming ERROR everywhere)
Theres no suggestion of websites when entering a url for eg. if you enter www.fa it could show up some suggestions like facebook or failblog.
-
I'll edit this post with more when I find
thanks for that wonderful feedback, so much inspiration
some response to the bugs:
- i'm currently working on the suggestionlist, shouldn't be that difficult.
- for the fullscreen-button i got a new solution, what should make it much
easier.
- the Network-check must be fixxed, thanks for your discovery.
@Ttblondey: search function is now included
I have given my review here and video review here.
Overall I found the app to be very nice and smooth. A good alternative for sure but there are few things you can look into except the bugs which is already reported.
1) One is integration with skydrive for syncing bookmarks etc.
2) More Gestures
3 ) Open up option for both Google and Bing as search engine.
4 ) cookie turn on and off.
Rest is all good, keep us rolled in beta.
wpxbox said:
I have given my review here and video review here.
Overall I found the app to be very nice and smooth. A good alternative for sure but there are few things you can look into except the bugs which is already reported.
1) One is integration with skydrive for syncing bookmarks etc.
2) More Gestures
3 ) Open up option for both Google and Bing as search engine.
4 ) cookie turn on and off.
Rest is all good, keep us rolled in beta.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm really pleased about your review.
1) 2) & 4) are noticed.
for 3) view my changelog
could you sent me this app? [email protected]
thanks
Please read the first post carefully
I would like a "Search for text" function in the functions menu Would be awesome to be able to search for words on a page
And else I can say that I'm really happy with the browser, works well, and hopefully soon releasing? Because then you could like update with small minor updates incase something is needed
Happy New Year roqstr!
there's a search for text function ;O it's just not my own at the moment, a provisional solution,if you will
Yea, but i always find features that shouldn't be missing in the release-version, to make it working right
next week i'll be busy with school, shouldn't fail my exams
afterwards, i'd be able to release an open beta, just for some extra feedback
next step is fixing last issues and then i'll release ;P
if somebody do have experience with apphub, pubcenter & co, he can pm me to help me understanding
thanks, hope you all enjoyed New Year's Eve, i did ;P
Still waiting to test this thing
it looks nice, can't wait for release :O
I wrote a browser, based on IE its in my signature.
I'll be happy to test your browser and get better result to my and your app.
Biggest issue at the moment is the picture-viewer, but I hope I can handle this soon.
@sma6871: I'll test it and message you when I have questions or suggestions.
Unfortunately I forget to set trial mode, but now I send a trial mode enable update, and it will be up to date soon.
open beta out now. read 1st post!
Here is my feedback :
1.Dropdown to switch between search engines
2 Where did Advance Main Colour Gone ?
3. When I try yo change Main Colour Accent Colour it gives me sorry message "You Should not Overwrite the accent style"
4. Find Text Crashes the app
5. You can think of ignoring pics which are of very small size in the Picture view.
6. Picture viewer also picks up YouTube thumbnail as picture but does not display anything.
Hello
And happy new year to everyone!
This is my first week on Lumia 735 after being 6 years with Android.
I like very much it's desktop, but there are some simple things that I thought until now I would figure out but I cannot find a solution....
1. How can I download a PDF from an email and then attach it to another email?
2. Is there a way to have a shortcut on notification bar for data connection?
3. Is there a way to remove Bing and get Google as default engine?
4. Is there a way to tide up settings? I feel that are randomly scattered...
5. Is there a way to open a new tab in internet explorer, but open in background? Cause we are always transferred to the new tab.
Thanks!
I'm on the same phone since about 4-5 days, so I have not yet answers for you, but another question to add:
- why on some apps the keyboard doesn't turn in landscape mode when I flip the phone? I found it working on some apps only, but in Bing search (just an example) it remains in portrait
EDIT: a bit of googling partially answers to 3: I'm a newbie so I don't know if I can link external sites here, but it seems you can change the default search engine in Internet Explorer in the browser settings (so when you type words in the address bar, it uses Google instead of Bing). Regarding the phone search button, maybe the trick is not so easy...
1. did you see download in email message? click on that link to download file to your phone.
2. with latest WP OS 8.10.14219.341 you can add mobile data shortcut in action center
or use Quick Launch app from store
3. settings - applications - internet explorer, select advanced settings and change to google
4. no... latest updated is always at end of list...
5. not exactly... try UC Browser 8.1, maybe you like it better than IE
Download a app named File attacher,it can help you to attach any files into outlook client.
Sent from my AT&T Nokia Lumia 920 using Tapatalk for Windows Phone
1) Download the file to your phone. You can then open it from the email (which will let you choose what PDF viewer to open it with, if you have more than one installed; some of them directly support sharing) or you can then switch to a file manager app (Files, Pocket File Manager, Aerize Explorer, etc.), go to the Downloads directory, and share the file from there. When "sharing" the file, one option will be to use email; this will attach the file to the email. This approach also works for other file types, by the way.
2) As dxdy says, you need to be on a new OS version (you may need to be using the "Preview for Developers" app) to get the ability to add mobile data specifically to the Action Center (swipe-from-top notification area thing) but there are lots of other ways (tons of free apps, for example) to pin a link to it on your Start screen. You can also have both WiFi and Airplane Mode toggles on the Action Center, even in less-than-newest versions.
3) Not unless you're in Russia, I think? You may be able to change the IE default search engine using the method dxdy posted above, but if you want to change the search button behavior, that's trickier. I think in Russia (or possibly just tell your phone you are), if you have the Google app installed, it may run that... haven't tried, though.
4) Settings are, unfortunately, not directly orderable. The default order for Microsoft-provided settings is basically "what MS has found people use most often", thus things like visual and audio customization are at the top, WiFi is on the first page, and stuff like Backup requires scrolling down a bunch. There's also OEM customizations, which are technically just Store apps that are pre-installed and use the Settings hub instead of the normal app list; those are always listed underneath all the Microsoft settings, and (as dxdy says), the one that was most recently installed/updated is at the top of that section ('top of the bottom of the list' if you will).
5) Doesn't seem to be any such way in IE, but there's lots of other browsers. Most of them just wrap the IE rendering engine, so pages will look the same as on IE but the UI can be totally different. This includes changes to tab management. They won't sync with your other devices, at least not by default, though. There's also a beta of Opera for WP8; it still has some bugs but mostly works and has a very different UI from IE. Annoyingly, though, Microsoft doesn't allow any of those apps to be set as the default browser (you can't change the URI association for http:/https: for example).
@axxel84: It depends on whether the app supports landscape mode. That requires work from the developer, since they have to change the layout of everything, so a lot of apps don't support it. If the app doesn't support it, then it will be locked in one orientation no matter how you turn it, keyboard included. Some apps (mostly games) are also locked in landscape mode only, and don't support portrait.
Hi guys, thanks for the help but I am still finding difficult to compose with windows after coming from fully updated Android phones.
- pdf attachments, not possible. You can see that you download files but no where to be seen in order to attach them in another email! What????
- the option to change Bing to Google was in the past, but they don't have it on new phones. And this is the company that wants to increase market share? With these kind of acts I don't think they will last many years...
- I found a way to have a shortcut on desktop that takes me to settings and there to click on for data. But why don't they include this in notification option? How difficult is this?????
- the other frustrating thing I am feeling, is that most other times when resuming an app when I go out and then in, it starts the"resuming" screen and takes 5 seconds to load... For example viber, I can't chat instantly with someone, I have to leave the program on continuously to do this
- no led notification. I should have known earlier by reading reviews, but there is no led notification!!
- no major apps as official pinterest, dropbox, instagram, sms backup to gmail. My biggest disappointment is Dropbox... I am thinking of selling the phone now and going back to Android. Having two small twins, I take continuously videos and photos, and I don't want to think about backup. I found another application but doesn't sync videos automatically. And also the backup app of windows doesn't do automatically the job... If I was windows I would hire people to help these companies develop the "big" apps...
- notification center doesn't always work. for example when a new app is downloaded, nothing comes app on notification. Or in viber you might get 10 messages on notification, if you click one and then in viber you read all, they remain on notification
Nobody seems to have emailed me a PDF recently, but I can download them from the web and they show up in my Downloads folder (on my SD card, since that's where I told Storage Sense to put new downloads). From there, I can see it in Aerize Explorer, select it, Share it, and choose an email account; a new message is created with the file attached.
Some new phones have the option for Google search, but it's not in all regions.
As you have ALREADY been told, the option to toggle data service from the Action Center is available in the latest version. It's also largely un-needed; Data Sense and related settings should give you enough control over your data usage to make it fairly unimportant. Mind you, I agree that it should have been there from the start, but asking rhetorical questions isn't actually helpful.
The "Resuming..." screen can come up for two reasons (or a combo thereof):
1) Badly-coded app that does a bunch of stuff immediately on resume, before it lets you use the app.
2) Your phone ran low on RAM and removed the app from background execution ("tombstoned" it, sort of like hibernating a laptop), so it needs to be restored from the Flash storage and then resumed.
Lots of phones don't have notification LEDs. That's not a WP8 thing, that's a "if this feature is important to you then you ought to buy a phone with that feature" thing. My HTC has a notification LED, my Samsung did not. Both are/were WP8 devices.
Automatic backup of photos and videos is included in the OS, has been included since WP7 actually, but it goes to OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) instead of Dropbox. Microsoft software uses Microsoft services; this isn't really surprising.
SMS is automatically backed up as well, just not to Google. Why would Microsoft include a feature to back up your messages to a competitor's service?
Lack of official apps is somewhat annoying/disappointing, but you could have easily enough checked that before buying, and the apps will come in time. In the meanwhile, there's usually third-party versions of those apps.
App downloads are fast, and you know when you started them. Why would you need a notification for that? As for the thing with Viber, it's not the OS' fault that the app doesn't report when a message is read. Notifications are really easy to clear though, just swipe them to the right and all notifications for that app will clear (or hit the "clear all" button to get rid of all of them at once).
5-31-21 I've ceased development on this app because I think there is a better alternative. See post #7.
*updated to version 1.3, adding error trap for discontinued or blank feeds*
It's been awhile since the demise of the last working version of Genie Widget (aka Google News and Weather) but not so long since the big G retooled news.google.com so that our browsers can no longer deal with it and also put the kibosh on the Google News RSS feeds. Sigh.
I have a work-around
Google News 1.3 for the NST/G exploits the "alerts" that Google offers on news topics. These alerts can be optioned in the form of RSS feeds. My app downloads the HTML source for the feed, picks out all the good stuff and trashes all the rest, then builds up a local HTML document which is easily displayed by our browsers (I highly recommend Opera Mobile for ease of scrolling and general all-around function). You can build up your own topics, change your mind, mix them about, read that one more story you didn't get to the first time around, etc. I'm not saying that your browser will negotiate every target link. Some newspaper sites have just become too much. That was true even when Genie Widget was still working. But updating Opera Mobile for TLS 1.2 solves much of that. See this post for details.. The beauty of this app is in the simplicity. It's entirely browser-based once the feeds are downloaded, so you're not going back and forth between the app and your browser (like the current Google News app.......). Designed for both portrait and landscape.
Requirements
1. Android 2.1 has a security issue with opening local HTML files. In order for Google News to work properly you need to address that. Included in the zip below is a tiny app, android-open-in-browser-0.0.4-4-debug. Install that. It's not my app but I have used it for years and wish I could credit the originator.
2. This is a Tasker-generated app. If you already have one of my other Tasker-generated apps or have previously installed GApps, you don't need the two Google maps library files included in the zip and can delete them. If you do need them, copy the two files into the locations shown below:
/system/etc/permissions/com.google.android.maps.xml
/system/framework/com.google.android.maps.jar
Set permissions for both files to rw-r--r-- and reboot. Without these files resident, the app will not install.
3. Create a folder in the root directory of your sdcard: Google News (exactly as shown)
4. Install the app itself, Google News.1.apk
How to use
Before you run the app you need to select some news categories, set up the feeds, get the URLs, blah-blah-blah. All of this is covered in the PDF included with the zip. It may seem a little annoying at the start, but it goes quickly once you get started and it's not like you have to do it every time you use the app. You're just setting up your news topics, just as if you were using the current Google News (either the app or the web version). Once you have your topics and URLs and have edited the included text file google_rss_feeds.txt, copy that into the Google News folder of your sdcard.
Note: recently (June 2019) the big G has not been very consistent with the RSS feeds. Some days they are "empty" but come back the next day with lots of stories. Some feed topics simply "die" and a minor change in the topic will resurrect them (change "World" to "World news", as an example). Version 1.3 includes a trap for these eventualities so that the app should not crash, even if your first feed comes up empty. To inspect/edit your feeds, point your browser (on your PC) to your Google Alerts page. If you are signed in this will be found among the options on the Google home page, in the upper right corner where the "apps" grid is shown.
Now you're good to go. Start the app, make sure you're connected to WiFi. There are only three buttons on the app screen. The first one, "Fetch the news" does just that. You will see a little toast that the first news category is being prepared. Once that is done, you will be taken to the browser and that page will open. Meanwhile the remaining pages are being downloaded and reconstructed in the background.
The news page is very simple. I tried to aim for readability over all other considerations (this is the reason the news items are in bold black, even though they are the external links). I have my Opera Mobile set to 100% page zoom. It looks good to me, but you could probably get away with 75%. External websites are another matter. At the title bar left is a drop-down menu button that gives you access to your other news topics. Since no fixed navbar schemes work under Android 2.1, there is a duplicate drop-up menu bar at the end of the page. The use of NoRefresh, or to a lesser extent FastMode, is a plus.
Edit: you cannot use this app with Opera Mini. It lacks the ability to open local HTML files.
The second option on the opening screen, "Read old news" sounds a bit daft, but I just thought maybe someone might have been looking at the topic pages, saw something that interested them and then got interrupted. So this option opens the first local file in the browser again and you can navigate from there. Strictly speaking, WiFi is not needed to browse the local files once they have been created, but it is needed to pursue any stories.
The third option simply dismisses the app screen.
Whew! So this is new...and I think I exterminated all the bugs, but I did not try other browsers. I'm open to suggestions and would appreciate feedback.
Google alert change? No option for RSS alerts anymore...
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm away from home right now but my copy of the app is working so the RSS feeds must still exist. I'll have to sit down with my instructions in front of the computer and see what mischief they've done. Thanks for letting me know.
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, so I've run through the instructions sitting at my PC. Everything is correct although Firefox no longer wants to open the RSS feed page as anything other than an xml "text" file. That just means the image on page 4 needs updating.
As far as page 3, everything is currently exactly as shown. Just to be sure, you have to be signed in to Google on your browser before you do any of this. Then when you get to the screen depicted on page 3 you need to change the "Deliver to" option to RSS feed. But even before that, it's important not to get sucked into the email alert business back on page 2. Do NOT click on "Create Alert" there, only on "Show options". That's how you get to the screen I show on page 3.
When you finally get to click on the little RSS symbol shown on the lower half of page 3, you (at least on Firefox) may end up at a page of xml code, or perhaps your browser may show a news feed page. Regardless, the URL shown for the page is the same and it's what you need to copy, just as described on page 4.
Let me know if you are still having issues with this.
v619284 said:
First off, thanks so much for putting the time and effort into this app. I would love to have a more "future-proof" news reader solution for my NST. Sadly however, in typical Google fashion of constantly dropping/messing with feature support, it seems that there is no longer an option to deliver Google alerts to RSS feeds (only email addresses). If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So a few days after I wrote my last post, the app stopped working for me. It just hangs on "Preparing......News"
Google has apparently changed the format of their RSS xml file. Right in the middle of something else at the moment, but I will get it fixed.
Nope, nix that. After fooling around with the app and an xml file from the Big G, I find nothing out of place and it seems the app is now working again
They're just messing with us.
Edit: Indeed they are. Today I caught another malfunction but this time looked at the Tasker routines for an error. Google is sending out (at least today) RSS feeds with empty content fields. That messes up my app. So I wrote an error trap for that. Updated in first post. Have to watch the big G like a hawk....
v619284 said:
If I'm reading this thread and your PDF correctly, I'm worried that this may break the app. In any case I'm stuck on page 3 of your setup PDF since I can't figure out how to get the RSS alert string from Google anymore. Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whilst looking around for a solution to a different issue, I came across this: https://medium.com/@cassandragraft/...tion-not-appearing-heres-the-fix-bf842ca32b88
It appears to address the issue you describe. I never encountered the issue, but obviously some people have.
The Big G is making me very angry lately. Even version 1.2 with a new error trap is crashing. I'm finding that some of my feeds are "empty". The skeleton of the RSS file is there but there is no content populating the file. A category as ordinary as "world" is simply blank. This is new and very annoying. Just a change of topic to "world news" brings up a list of stories longer than your arm. I encountered this before with "science" and fixed it with a slight change in name, so I should have seen this coming. It's a nasty game Google seems to be playing....
Anyway, if the app crashes on the first topic it leaves an overlay artifact behind when you exit. To remove this, go to the App Manager and force stop the app. I will work on a fix which will alert you to the effect that the feed appears dead but allow the app to complete the download of whatever is still working and exit properly.
Grr....
Edit: App updated to v1.3 in first post. I hope that solves the problems. For now.
As I mentioned in my edit of the first post, I think my app is exhibiting creakiness already owing to Opera Mobile's increasing difficulty negotiating many websites.
I have an alternative to suggest, however, that is totally browser based. It seems to work "OK" with Opera Mobile although text display is a bit small with a default zoom of 100%. In Opera Mini, however, it shines, especially with NoRefresh.
Thanks to XDA member @SJT75 , I found out about a list of text-only news sites. One of them is a text version of Google News! The list is at: https://greycoder.com/a-list-of-text-only-new-sites/
While the Google News option does not allow for custom categories (hey, there's an app for that!), it does cover all the usual suspects. Even better, all of the links lead to text-only versions of the sources. Occasionally you go to a page and find it could not be fetched by whatever mechanism the author is using, but pages (even those error ones) include a link to the original source
Also notable on the list are the NPR and CNN sites. Both work well.