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111
Living Room / Re: Better scrolling with smartphones and tablets than by sweeping?
« on: January 22, 2017, 06:10 PM »
Hi.

In the map direction thread, my answer has vanished, will try to repost. This thread I find in Living Room, while I thought it was a software question, but no problem. I am sorry, the Smartphone thread was here in "Living Room", so I myself, inadvertently, put this thread herein, so no chance to find it in the main category "General Software Discussion". So all my fault and my fault alone.

I opened up a second thread because I did not want to mix this general iOS/Android screen navigation issue with map navigation, and as said, I mainly think of navigation in web pages, it's absolutely correct that for maps, zooming in an zooming out would be best, and/or shifting the screen in any direction, but for web pages, most of the time, the smartphone PgDn equivalent is needed.

Thank you for mentioning Android macro apps, I'm not sure they can do what I want. After posting yesterday, I had a second thought.

First, I did not think of lefthanders. So this tap area of 1 cm2 should be in every screen corner, perhaps optionally right OR left or right AND left. Second, functionality would switch with landscape/portrait direction of the device, as with every other app for smartphones/tablets. Third, if the tap area is only 1 cm2 and square, it would be reasonable to have Home (top) and End (bottom) by 2 quick tabs, and PgUp/PgDn by single taps. Home and End being the equivalent to the pc keyboard keys, so Home/End would go to the start/end of the current page, and PgUp/Dn would shift by 1 screen length.

Perhaps I do not understand smartphone programming correctly but since those apps function with a sensitive/touch screen, and apps being independent from each other, I had thought that any tap on the screen could only reach that app which is directly under the pixels of that screen region, so if your browser app has the full screen, normally top layer, I wasn't aware that a second app could be, invisibly, be laid on top of the current app, but with the browser app, which is under it, second layer now, getting all other screen taps etc. notwithstanding, except for a cm2 in each corner, which should react to the macro app.

This evening, I spent several hours trying with Android emulators, Bluestacks, then Andy. According to Bluestacks, my graphics card was fine, but then, installation never went through, and Andy told me, again after downloading the whole program, that there was something wrong with my graphics card - I know that Android does graphics in another way than Windows.

So I was not able to try anything out, let alone scrolling by tapping, by lack of a touchscreen to begin with, but I had hoped I could perhaps mimic that with mouseclicks.

I am not sure I'll be happy with Android since I also need a database, or more correct, an sql database viewer, and here it seems there is better software available for the iPad - hence my unsuccessful tries to try Android at least on my pc, in order to decide upon the OS before buying.

I had hoped somebody already uses some additional app with their browser, for Home/End, PgUp/PgDn and thus could tell that it works, or even that this is possible with Android but not with iPad, or the other way round - by lack of special macro app or for technical reasons, so that such an app is not even possible here or there -, as to make my decision which OS to buy, for me.

112
Living Room / Better scrolling with smartphones and tablets than by sweeping?
« on: January 21, 2017, 08:54 PM »
Hi.

I have another questions about smartphones and tablets. I had been in a store in order to have a look, and I liked mini tablets (Apple iPad Mini and Samsung S2 8.0) since you can hold them in one hand, but now that I decided I need the tablet for car navigation, too, it's evident they are both too tiny, so I need a full-size tablet.

But I was very surprised scrolling is as bad as that. Bot iOS and Android force you to sweep to the top if you want to go down to the next page, and while only iOS seems allow for tapping on top of the screen in order to mimic the home key of your pc/Apple keyboard, there is no way, with both systems, to tap somewhere in order to mimic end, pgup and, much more important, pgdn, pgdn being a missing key you would need to press again and again though.

Further web research brought that there are even more and more orthopedic problems arising from this, after years of sweeping, instead of being a tap area in the bottom 10 % of the screen. Some macro apps allow for using the Android side buttons for pgup and pgdn, but these buttons are obviously not made for being pressed hundreds of times each day, and with iOS, there are not even side buttons in needed number.

I suppose that app developers could, individually, put pgup/pgdn buttons in the right top and down corners of their app, but most app developers do not seem to do that, I tried that out with apps on smartphones of friends of mine.

So my question, after having searched for such a solution in vain, is, do you know any macro app, for iOS or for Android or even for both which will put such buttons, or better, a home button in top corner and a pgdn button in bottom corner, onto any app? Or perhaps that is not possible technically since it would imply laying out an additional layer onto the screen, over current app, but in these areas alone, 1 cm2 each would be sufficient, and it would acceptable that any screen element of the current app which is under these areas would not be responsive anymore for that app, but only for the macro app.

Besides, most screen readers, or many of them at least, do have physical buttons for next/previous page, so I cannot understand why smartphones and tablets do not have such physical buttons, so much needed for web browsing, all the more so since most modern pages are now constructed by multiple pages in one big page which calls for scrolling down.

113
Living Room / Re: Looking for smartphone
« on: January 21, 2017, 08:29 PM »
Hi.

I'm sorry. The other thread is just 1 month old, but I didn't pay attention to it, and its page 4 is a mine of information indeed, thanks to you.

I wasn't aware of there being several signal sources, had just heard of gps, but after posting yesterday, I thought there probably are quality differences between the gps devices in the phones/tablets/navigation devices, so it would probably be a good idea to search for comparative tests looking for that.

Now there are so many different signal sources, I suppose that not every map software is able to get data from all of these, so that would be another factor.

I admit my compass misunderstanding or better not understanding compasses has grown. First. You say electronic compasses sense the magnetic field of the earth, but then they probably would be deviated by car magnetism in some way, as magnetic compasses do, since for sensing magnetism, there would be some magnetism, some magnetic sensor? But perhaps they do it differently, after all.

Second, I always thought that both direction and position were calculated from the difference of signal strength of different gps satellites, so if a device, smartphone, etc., gets its position, it also gets the info where is North, since different gps satellites also send some sort of positional data of their own, so the device knows where they are, and hence can calculate the compass data, without sensing the magnetic field?

While in the other thread, it's said - between what is worded I mean - that for pedestrian purposes, a compass should be there since you would have to march straight into one direction for some time in order for the device establishing gps data history, from which then only it could identify both direction and position, and from that only, compass data?

Besides, my wish for a N/E/S/W arrow within the 10 o'clock and the 2 o'clock range was understood to be mutually exclusive, I meant one big arrow, with either a big N, E, S or W character, just one of them, within that screen part, in order to indicate the direction in which you are heading on-the-spot, while a full compass, with N AND E, S and W is much less able to indicate your direction with just one quick glance when driving, possible in narrow streets. I know that range is a third of a full circle, but I really meant just a quarter of a full circle, something between minus 8 and plus 7 minutes there, so that just one direction arrow would appear there at any time, not two, and if that's South, it goes without saying that to your left, it's East, and West to your right, and so on.

114
General Software Discussion / Re: Directional map functionality for navigation device or tablet with gps?
« on: January 20, 2017, 09:20 PM »
Hi.

An additional compass I had missed yesterday, was going to add it: Either a North arrow to the North direction (which of course could then point to anywhere near 6 o'clock) or, much better, a direction arrow for North, East, South or West but anywhere in the range of 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock - in practice, you probably will have a compass like in your pic, somewhere to the side, with all four directions, which is not as immediately comprehensive.

It's interesting you say that besides a gps, also a compass has to be integrated into the device. I hadn't thought of this, all the less so since I did some tries with several compasses, including car compasses, and all of them were heavily distorted from the electronics within the instrument panel. Only when I held them far away from that, with my arm behind my back, near the back seats, the showed the North correct again. Since navigation devices are fixed on/near the instrument panel, I wonder how a compass in them could be precise, from these tries.

From your description, I become aware that I did not clearly enough distinguish the different problems. When you are as a tourist in some other country, being online data-wise can quickly become quite onerous, especially if heavy data traffic (mapping) is involved. On the other hand, most navigation devices do not download their maps in real time but have them stored in the device itself and use some web services just for gps, or even get gps positions from some satellite, for free, so they do not need any web communication at all.

I admit I only superficially know navigation systems from some years ago, so I hadn't been aware of their map functionality today, which is different from their route functionality and which had been the only one I knew. So after reading you, I downloaded a manual from Garmin, and from TomTom each, and I found that map functionality, but without a manual turning function for the map and with rather bad or missing compass: No pic for Garmin, rather poor pic for TomTom, in both cases I downloaded manuals for rather expensive devices.

It seems - the descriptions were not precise, so I could be mistaken about this - they both automatically present the map in a way that your current route/street driving direction goes more or less up, not down the screen, but that up also can be just slightly up and decidedly to the right or the left instead, and there does not seem to be any manual way of turning the map, but zoom they have.

All of them function without web access, the maps are bought and downloaded into the device once and for all. The same for asmand.net for Android from your example, and which is free, and there seem to be lots of such apps for Android and also some for iPad.

Garmin/TomTom can be bought as apps, which frees you from the rather tiny screens of navigation devices, more expensive ones will be at risk anyway in the parked car, so it seems reasonable to buy a tablet instead, of 10" size, and to fix it near the steering wheel with some holder, then clip it out when you leave the car, ready to use it in a more general way then - I was going to buy some 7" mini tablet but that would be too tiny for maps in the car since when driving, the least fiddling around with the screen is best, so a bigger screen will be better, needing lesser fiddling.

As for the compass you speak of, I got some interesting info from some Apple help forum where they speak of electronic compasses which are in-built into iPhones, but not into iPads, according to them, and they say iPhone and iPad apps are different and not only different in screen size, as I had thought you could use the same Apple app on both which is not the case then, but, and here it gets interesting, they say some map applications (!) have an in-built electronic compass, which obviously means that an electronic compass is not a real compass which then transfers its data electronically to some app, but it's not a compass at all but just software which checks history of gps data and calculates the direction of the movement of the device from that, so if I'm not mistaken here, the problem with physical compasses will not be relevant anymore.

But if the device doesn't move, there is no recent history of different gps data, so you would need an internal compass, as you say, and you are obviously speaking of a real - magnetic - internal compass - or how would it be done otherwise?

As for google maps which you mention, I always use them on my pc - and I print out screenshots as get-there-maps and destination maps from them which I use in the car, so I'm thankful for red lights - so I don't know of their functionality on the move, but it seems evident from past searches on that matter that google maps need web access for heavy map downloading.

Considering prices only, I should very probably buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10,1 with a robust car holder, since it has got a resolution of 1920x1200 pix and seems to be reasonably fast, and then trial free and paid map software for/on it, iPads start at double the Tab A price, with some 30 p.c. better resolution and probably not being faster at their starting prices.

But an internal compass neither of them have, while the Samsung Tab 3 - but which is old and slow and quite bad, screen resolution a mere 1024x800, has got one, physically it seems, and lots of apps rely on that internal compass, googling "samsung/android tab compass" will bring discussions on problems arising from missing compasses, so, even without really getting why there is a problem, I think a missing compass could become a problem, according to the app, even on the move, so that criterion should probably not be discarded too early.

Anyway, thank you very much for your very helpful info, 4wd, which was new for me: It seems that my problem can be quite easily resolved with the right hardware and the right software, with some tablet and perhaps a paid map app, since to be frank I quite abhor the look of Openstreetmap. Besides, Bing Maps are really beautiful, so I use them more and more on my pc instead of google maps, at least for big, standard towns where they are precise enough, which is not always the case elsewhere.

115
General Software Discussion / Directional map functionality for navigation device or tablet with gps?
« on: January 19, 2017, 06:59 PM »
Hi.

I have a question with regards to navigation devices. Modern ones come with gps functionality, meaning they know, more or less precisely, where the car is in which they are installed. They are used to get from point A to point B, so you enter the target address, and they tell you how to go there.

My intention to use such a device for a different purpose. Imagine you don't know some town which you visit, and you want to do some sightseeing, for example as a tourist, or you are new in that town and want to know that town better, after having relocated there or even before relocating there, for example in order to check in which precinct you would like to search for a flat, or what precincts to avoid.

That's why you would need different functionality than the one described above. In the old days, you would have taken a map with you, and you would have tried to identify your position within that map, which for most people, after some turns, would not have been possible anymore, the distance between your eyes and the map on the other seat being too big anyway.

Or even, you could have cut up the map in pieces rather large but tiny enough in order to glue them to your steering wheel, and, depending on the kind of the glue, it would even have been possible to turn the map piece around with every turn, in order to always have your current direction at around twelve o'clock before your eyes.

I've done this description in order to make me better understood in what functionality I am searching for within a navigation device, or with a tablet, Android or iPad:

- has gps, thus knows where you are, with more or less precision

- knows your direction from a combination of gps positions history checked against the street data in the map: streets assumedly taken - directions, lengths - I know this may not be entirely accurate since the device is in the car but not electronically relied to the car, so it does not know turns from your steering wheel but only from gps positions checked again the street data

- has some prefigured zoom level, as with google maps - it should be possible to change zoom levels quickly, in order to see every narrow lane, or in order to see where you are going within a big picture - perhaps 1 tap for zooming in, 2 quick taps for zooming out

- will shift the map to be displayed on the screen in accordance with your movement out of the map - assumes you want to see a maximum of map in front of you, and not so much behind you

- will turn the map with your turns, at least some time after your turn when by checking the new gps data against the map data, it then knows your new direction - will accordingly shift the map area, too - since with a 90 degrees turn, what had been sideways becomes front and should hence be enlarged, so the software would turn the map and step back, too

- a big red, wandering point will show your current position in the map, at far as the device can identify your position - in fact, that position indicator missing is the factor that makes you lose position when trying to cope with printed maps spread on the passenger seat

Does anybody know such functionality, inbuilt in a navigation device or as additional software - application - for a navigation device, or for a tablet, even in rudimentary form, instead of the elaborated version I've dreamed of above?

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