N8 Shortcuts widget is acting up

I have a small problem with adding a shortcuts widget to my home screen. No matter how I try, there is always 1 or 2 "?" on it. I add the programs or bookmarks I want but there is always this question mark.
Any thoughts on this?
Former owner of E90, N97 x2, E72, N8 and current owner of E7.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

I have the exact same thing,
Somehow I managed to successfully edit one of the original shortcut menys on the home page (removed the other), but now as soon as I try to add a shortcut meny it's goofed up.
I also have x - videos - youtube - viasat, in that order and no matter how I try to change any of the later three nothing happens - and to change the first one I need to change the last:
I edit
x - videos - youtube - viasat
and replace it with
x - videos - youtube - notes
I will end up with
notes - videos - youtube - viasat
If I try to change any of the first three shortcuts nothing happens, other than the fourth shortcut ends up first:
viasat - videos - youtube - viasat
I don't know if I made it more complicated than it is when trying to explain, but basically the only thing that happens when I edit and change something is that the fourth shortcut in edit mode is placed first and the 2,3,4 remain constant...
I think I managed to edit the original shortcuts before using the update center to uppdate it with the midnight theme and a 'phone apps' update on 11.22, no clue if its the phone apps that messed it up, gonna check if i can uninstall it.

Similar Messages

X3-02 Shortcut widget/Brightness

I like the phone, but find the User Guide for the X3-02 singularly unhelpful in lots of ways.
Where/what is the Shortcut Widget please? And I gather that I cannot alter the brightness in the X3 despite what the User Guide says.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Cosmo,
The shortcut widget can be edited, changed or deleted by pressing and holding any of the shortcuts you have already set on you homescreen.(assuming you have the homescreen view enabled) in: menu/settings/display/homescreen.
You can not adjust the brightness of this screen. The closest option to this, is to change the theme to eg Light.nth, this will help with visibility when youre outdoors.
Hope that helps.
Andy.

N8 using bookmarks on shortcuts widget

HI, you can on the homescreen use the widget to put 4 links too applications or bookmarks or folders. Now i encountered the problem that i wanted to put in 4 bookmarks on in that widget. But the problem is it shows exactly the same icon for every bookmark. So there is nu visual que to see which bookmark i put where. Except clicking on them.
Am i missing something? Is it possible to make a distinction between the bookmarks? Ofc people might think, just bloody remember which bookmark you put where. But let's assume i dont remember.
p.s. sorry for the bad english

Yeah that's certainly a problem needs fixing. I say email nokia about that, hopefully they will do something about that. and don't worry about your english, its pretty good.
Nokia N80
Nokia N82
Nokia N97
Nokia N8 Dark Gray- RM-596

App Shortcut Widget - Ovi Sync available, but not ...

I've set up a SyncML profile for Google Contacts (so I don't have to waste my MfE) account using the Sync app on my N8.
I want to add an application shortcut of "Sync" (not Ovi Sync) to the shortcut bar.
When I browse the list of applications, it is nowhere in the list.
I would be happy with a "main menu" item if that is all we have available. I set one shortcut to "Tools" which shows "Ovi Sync" as a menu item, but not plain old "Sync".
When I browse the available apps using the Grid Application (from Ovi Store), I can see an Ovi Sync, and a Sync icon.
So why can't I select plain old Sync from the apps menu?
Am I missing something really basic here?
Nokia N8

Hi Spamthroat,
When you see Shazam in the updates available, it means that you can download this application and install it in your mobile. For this, it is not mandatory to have it installed already.
If you want to install this application, go ahead and install it by updating. If that fails you can also try installing the same by downloading the same from OVi store too.
If you dont need to install the application, you can ignore that update
Regards,
Diwa
If you like my post, kindly acknowlege the same by giving a kudos to me

Belle - how to disable text of homescreen widget/i...

Is tnere a way to do this?
There is nothing useful in this ''feature''...
In fact it is an eye sore and defeats the purpose of the homescreen shortcut/widget fezture..It completely breaks the Ui and good looking themes become UGLY!!!..The readability is practcally nil as it is too smsll..It is a complete distraction as it partially covers the icon bcos of which the purpose of quickly using an app by the icon is completely defeatec...The people who thought of this shud hv thought of providing a switch on/off homescreen icon text under phone display settings...
Another such brilliance can be seen in tne removal setting inbox view as tne default for messages (not just for new messages)...and the forced popup for notifications...
These are complete UI breakers that disrupt use of the phone
Requeseting Nokia to take notice and provide a soln in their next patch for belle (HOPE there will b one but probably wud not bet on it :-))
But wud like to say that Belle is a gr8 update...and such irrtants do take the shine off it...
Tnx

You described exactly how to do it. Simply connect the device and then deselect the option to launch iTunes when the device is connected.
There is also an option in Edit > Preferences > Devices to prevent iDevices from syncing automatically.

N97 Internet Shortcut problem

I just updated to the latest firmware update using NSU (11.0.021), now that it has been rolled out on 3 network (UK) and have one slight problem with my Internet shortcut on the top shortcut bar on the home screen.
The icon has changed from the usual large globe, to a small white page with WWW running up vertically and a small globe next to it. When selecting the internet shortcut I am taken straight to a web page, as opposed to opening my bookmarks menu.
I have changed the setting to open straight to the bookmarks menu and when going in through Menu > Web it opens to my bookmarks but to matter what I do, the Internet shortcut on my home screen always tries to take me directly to a website and bypasses my bookmarks menu (and it is either Planet 3 (network's homepage) or Google Mobile!) depending on whether I connect through the network or through Wifi. I have made sure the shortcut is directed to Applications > Internet and not a bookmark.
Also, when changing themes to one with a different icon set, the Internet shortcut icon stays like this and no longer changes to the icon which came packaged with the theme for internet.
Anyone have any ideas on what happened or has had this problem following the firmware update? I just want my large globe icon pack on my home screen (it is still the large globe in the Menu) and want it to take me to my bookmarks menu NOT a website!
Thanks
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi there
I had the same problem when i upgraded mine and found it most annoying - however i did manage to fix it and its relatively simple. Hold down your finger on the widget and then select settings (assuming you have it on the 4 icon favourite shortcut widget if that makes sense) - click on the shortcut you want to change (i think it will say internet but can't remember) basically change that shortcut to the application thats called 'web' thats it - The icon will change to the globe again and it will then go to your default homepage.
hope that helps

Installer does not allow for shortcut changes or more than one

I have been trying to create a shortcut for the Start Menu and the Desktop. I can create the two shortcuts except they are exactly setup the same. I try to change one or the other and they both revert back to the original settings. In the attached images you will see that I change the subdirectory to nothing. When I come back to the shortcuts area, the subdirectory is back. If I create a second shortcut, it is the same as the first... I cannot change it.
photo 1: this is how it starts, default
photo 2: My changes... subdirectory is removed
photo 3: I leave the shortcuts area
photo 4: I return to the shortcuts area and the subdirectory is back.
If I create another shortcut, it will act exactly the same. Both shortcuts will be setup as the first photo. No changes stay.
What is going on here?
Attachments:
shortcuts_setup_anomaly.zip ‏161 KB

What LabVIEW version is this?
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .

Who'd like to test a new Drag and Drop Interactive Widget?

It's taken about 6 months of every spare minute we could find but we're finally ready to do a round of Alpha testing for our new Drag and Drop Interactive Widget for Cp4 and 5. This post is to ask for a handful of volunteers to test the new widget over the next week creating drag and drop interactions in both Cp4 and Cp5.
If you've already tried our well-known Drag and Drop Lite Question Widget, but were a bit frustrated by the limitations that the quiz question format placed on your creativity, we think you'll be blown away by what this new Interactive Widget can do. It does everything the current question widget does, aside from the aspects that are unique to question types (Review Area, Retake Quiz, etc) plus a whole lot more. Due to the extra functionality, this widget has twice as much code as our last one.
Some of the features:
You can have as many widgets as you want on a single slide and each can be addressing a different drag and drop scenario.
You can reference the same drag and target objects from different widgets to create different.
Since they are interactive widgets, you can use the widget success/failure criteria to trigger Advanced Actions. This opens up a lot of possibilities for game interactions.
You can score each widget differently so that OnSuccess they will each report different scores for dragging the same objects. This means you can have Conditional Scoring and more than one correct answer for a given problem.
You can set one of the widgets to have its Preferences be used for all widgets on the slide so that you don't need to set all widget preferences individually, thus saving a lot of time.
You can set Preference Priority for each widget to configure which widgets will have "right of way" if there is a potential conflict in preferences. For example, if one widget wants one type of snapping behaviour on an object but another widget wants the same object to snap differently, the widget with the higher Preference Priority will dominate.
You can nominate other interactive objects (including clickboxes or other widgets) to act as Submit button and Clear button to create a simulated quiz question.
Since this widget is an Interactive widget, it also has the same advanced Pausing override behaviours we built into our Event Handler widget (http://www.infosemantics.com.au/eventhandler) So you can have users stay on the same slide playing with the drag and drop interaction for as long as they like without progressing to the next slide until they want to.
Plus other stuff I can't think of right now.
If you decide to volunteer to participate in this Alpha testing, please don't use this widget for any production Captivate projects you may have. The Alpha and Beta versions of the widget will be time-bombed to stop working after a couple of weeks so that we don't have buggy versions running around later.
As I said at the beginning, we only need a handful of testers, we need people using either Cp4 or Cp5, and you need to do this testing over the next week so that we can then address any issues you find and release a debugged Beta version for more testing.
Anyone wanna play?
If you do want to volunteer, send me a private message on this forum with your email address so I can send you a widget and instructions. We'll only be taking the first dozen or so people that are willing to contribute time and feedback.
Cheers,
Rod Ward

Hi Sandy,
If you hover the mouse over Rod's avatar, there is an e-mail address visible. For a private message; double-click on his avatar and you'll find the button private message in that dialog box,
Lilybiri

Created widget is not entering in the SAP system.

I have created a simple widget to directly enter in the se38 transaction in SAP-ABAP.I have created 2 files.
My tra.sap file contains---[System]
Name="AD4"
Client="100"
[User]
Name="in016508"
Password="mandar"
Language=EN
[Function]
Command=SE38
Title=ABAP Editor
Type=Transaction.
And my se38.kon file contains --
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<widget version="4.5" minimumVersion="2.1">
   <debug>off</debug>
   <window title="Shortcut Widget">
       <name>ShortCut</name>
       <width>128</width>
       <height>128</height>
       <visible>1</visible>
   </window>
   <image src="winter.png">
     <name>IconImage</name>
     <onMultiClick>
            filesystem.open("tra.sap");
     </onMultiClick>
   </image>
</widget>
After executing with the help of yahoo widget engine,the widget is not able to login in SAP sysytem and giving error message as--
Input field contains prohibited characters(already deleated).
If the user is already loged on the system then widget is running fine.
widget foundation is also installed on the system.
So what is the appropriate solution to this problem?

Jaideep,
Your widget is good, but I guess takes into account the standard saplogon.ini
But what if we are not given an saplogon.ini and we just configure the SAPlogon via User Definable way, without a saplogon.ini? Then it will not find our system list (i.e. BW8) on saplogon.ini, thus widget will not work.
When executing main.sap (by the way on your article you state execute main.kon, which is wrong. It should be main.sap. When i execute, it comes back with a SAPGUI popup warning.
Logon to SAP failed.
The System description 'BW8' cannot be found in the system list.
Make sure that saplong.ini exists and choose an existing description in the system list
We do not use saplogon.ini files.
Regards,
James

N8 widget vs.. Application

Hi All,
Just got the phone and love it. I get the application vs. widget thing, but still have a few questions.
Can you add an application to a home screen WITHOUT the shortcut widget? I love the TopApps widget which came loaded with the phone. However, it's only available as an app on the Ovi Store. Does that mean: 1) I can't find it as a widget. 2) There's a way to load Apps as Widgets? 3) Is it an RSS feed in which case does anyone know where the feed is?
How do you know if an item on the Ovi Store is a Widget or App? One would think there would be a section of the store for each.
Finally, is it possible to move a widget from one home screen to another with removing and readding.
Thanks...

FYI...this worked from Nokia support!!!'
We are always pleased to be of assistance to all of our customers. In response to your inquiry about widgets, if I may verify, is the catalogue that you are referring is when you want to edit the Homescreen? If yes, for you to have the topApps on the widget catalogue, please uninstall it first then reinstall again. Please follow the steps provided below:
1. Press the Menu button.
2. Go to Settings.
3. Then Application manager.
4. Look for TopApps.
5. Touch and hold the said application then remove or uninstall.
Reinstall again the said application. Once it was installed, press options on your homescreen and check if topApps is now on the widgets catalogue.

How can I reset the calculator widget? (Mac OS 10.8)

Hi there,
My calc widget is acting up. Whenever I press a number, it comes back with double digits. i.e. i press 8 once, i get 88. I have deleted the plist files, but still no luck.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

try deleting the widget and bringing it back within dashboard by hitting the minus sign (or holding down option while hovering over the widget)
then hit the plus sign and add it back.
this might be an issue with your keyboard or mac.
have you tried resetting the PRAM
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

Widget Launcher... anyone else think it's needed?

Is anyone else left as frustrated and lost as i am when using the dashboard "dock" that os x uses by default to launch widgets?
It seems to me that the widgets i have are never where I want them to be. If i want to launch a specific widget, it seems like im scrolling through page after page for way too long, just to find the one I am looking for.
I think there needs to be a huge improvement to the usability of the dashboard. We should at least be able to drag and drop to edit the display order of the widgets in the tray to put those we use most frequently on the first "page".
I think an iPhone-Like interface on a new widget that acts as a launcher for widgets would work great, we just need something that allows widgets to be located and launched quickly and easily.

I do think it can be messy, and poorly worded errors or even what it will do.
I still can't for some unknown reason(s).
It does work, but maybe only in a pristine lab clean room pure environment.
Likely those pre-existing conditions are still haunting your iPod. Seriously.
I made the mistake of not having my married computer and account handy and just wanted to plug into A computer. Not as safe as thought. And then had to wait for some special iPod A/C plugs so I could recharge and work / use it without being tethered to its one and one monogomous partner.
We have three computers with three accounts on each. Works fine, but not when the "WRONG" computer, or wrong account is the one open and you are absent minded tired or wish you could just "use" the device (all the computers have the same Apple ID btw).
it's never worked right for me before...
And therein lies the rub....

Slow widgets...not worth using anymore

recently, my widgets started acting up. two i use all the time now are very slow to respond. one allows me to print envelopes, it can search my address book and return addresses. The other is for a quick fax for FaxSTF.
they both take a long time to type in, then stop text entry for a bit then resume again. anyone ever heard of this.
i have and do repair permissions often, i run some auto maintence scripts and i shut down every night.

Please post Photoshop Elements related queries over at
http://forums.adobe.com/community/photoshop_elements

Ihab's Lenovo K900 Review

Hello everyone How are you all doing? I just finished the write up of the Lenovo K900 Reivew. I hope you like it, and if you would like to see larger/full resolution images of the ones posted here you can check out the review over at ihabstech.com. Enjoy!
Yes, Lenovo make smartphones worldwide now. I thought that would be an appropriate opening since I keep getting the question mark look on people’s faces when looking at the phone placed in front of me and then ask “Lenovo make phones?”.
At first I didn’t even realize they had phones and when I did, I was surprised they actually had quite a decent range. Not only that, they had their own Lenovo UI of Android. It seems they have been working really hard to get great devices out and guess which device I managed to get my hands on? The flagship. How exciting! So, lets take a look at this phone.
That is not a perfectly angled shot to make the device appear really thin.. Okay it is, but the device really is thin! it’s stated at 6.9mm only!
Quick Spec Sheet
You have to re-think your understanding of big phones with the K900, the dimensions are 157 x 78 x 6.9 mm! So it is pretty huge, but in exchange for carrying the sizeable device (or phablet if you want to call it that) you get a 5.5 inch Full HD IPS screen with about 400 PPI with the screen resolution of 1920×1080 (It is very responsive and even recognizes use with fingernails and pens) above the screen sits an aray of sensors and a 2MP fixed-focus camera. Taking a step deeper into the device, we find an Intel® Atom™ Z2760 Dual Core™ 4-thread processor running up to 2.0 GHz with 2GB of RAM. The graphics centre is an Intel® GMA graphics with 533MHz clock, and both assist in running Android 4.2.1. All this powerful hardware comes in a Brushed Stainless Steel, Polycarbonate and Corning® Gorilla® Glass 2 package that weighs 162 grams. On the back is the 13MP camera with auto-focus and dual flash, capable of full 1080[ video at 30 FPS. In regards to communication, it has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and HSPA+ (up to 42MBPS) and wireless hotspot functionality. As for sensors, the K900 has A-GPS, Gravitation (I am guess a gyroscope?), Ambient light sensor and a Proximity sensor.
Box Contents
This is always the excitement of opening a box of a brand you have never dealt with before, I had no clue what to expect.
The box had a cover which had the K900 branding in a huge cut out. Being that the box was black it didn’t make sense. Till..
The inside of that cover was in red! So taking the box out lights up the K900 branding. Sexy! Lifting the cover reveals the phone. In first impressions I thought the phone was going to be smaller than the big box, turns out it was the size of the box.
I know there isn’t anything out of the ordinary to expect in an unboxing, and so nothing unusual here. A Micro-USB Cable, a pair of ordinary Headphones and a SIM-Card ejector tool attached to the small manuals card. Weirdly, I have not received a wall charger, but I have so many of them laying around there is no problems and of course, the retail units will have one without a doubt.
Design, Body and Display
The device is a very good looking device despite its large size. I have used many devices over the past few months from iPhones, Galaxies, HTC Ones (Normal and Mini) and others and not a single one got the stares and questions asked as the Lenovo K900. It does have a personality and it is eye catching.
To start things off, lets talk about the front (Apologies for the low quality pictures) From the top sits a small cut out for the speaker and to the left the front facing camera. The sensors are nearly impossible to notice, perfect integration that is. Lenovo branding in the center and then the huge screen all the way till the bottom where three Android buttons sit, Back, Home and Options/Settings.
Flipping the phone to the back is where things start to get an even more premium look. Up top sits the 13MP camera, Dual-Flash and the secondary noise cancelling microphone, then comes what appears to be a back cover, but it isn’t removable. It’s in stainless steel brushed with 4 corner screws to make it look somewhat industrial? I think it has a nice touch. There is an engraved Lenovo logo towards the top and below sits the Intel logo. Finally towards the bottom sits the loud speaker.
For all of you wondering about the stainless steel durability with us, yes the sides do scratch up a bit. I could recommend trying to find a case but I just think it looks so good without one. Also, not too sure you can find a case that easily as well.
They kept the design clean, which means there is nothing to the top of the device. I think with a device this big, anything on the top would be suicidal because it would drop functionality dramatically. Fortunately, the 3.5mm headphone jack, Micro-USB port and primary microphone are on the bottom with nothing on the top. Thanks Lenovo.
The volume buttons are found to the left of the device, but as one button. To the right side sits the lock/power button and towards the middle, the SIM-Card tray. Please be gentle with the tray if you get one, because as with my past experiences with metal trays, if this bends just a tiny bit, it will ruin the look and the flatness will never return again. Either way, pretty straight forward and all buttons feel metallic while the lock/power button have a little pattern on them.
The feedback on the buttons are good but the lock/power button is slightly too soft, which may click on while holding the device in one’s hand.
So yes, the size… Here is the K900 beside the Nokia Lumia 925 and HTC One Mini.
The Nokia has a 4.5 Inch screen while the HTC has a 4.3 inch one, clearly being 5.5 makes it huge, plus the device is actually quite tall.
The device feels really nice in the hands, but it does need a lot of getting used to being a phone of this size. It does slightly stick out of my jeans pocket. I have almost dropped it a few times because I am not used to using such a big device. Certainly if people are used to 5+ inch devices this might not seem too big, but I have never gone over 5 in my pockets before. It is a big device, that I started to get used to after about a week or two of use. I started to carry it differently, more towards a small notepad than a normal smartphone. I got used to it eventually! The metal back does get cold quickly especially in air conditioned areas so picking the phone up does feel special.
As for the screen, it is absolutely brilliant. The clarity is amazing, the brightness can go up to levels that could be uncomfortable (but means brilliant in the sun). The only downside to the brightness is in the OS side as it can only be set at 30%, 60% and 100%, I would have preferred a slider but I am just being picky. Being 400PPI no pixels can be seen and the color representation is just brilliant, one of the best screens I have used in a smartphone, should be thankful to the IPS technology then. This is possibly the most inviting smartphone I have ever had in terms of wanting to watch videos on it, and I often just load videos from the laptop to the device to watch it there instead.
Memory and Data
This is where things complicated, and a bit unusual. Essentially the device comes with 16 GB of internal storage, which supposedly nearly 10 GB is free to the user, but what makes no sense is how it is managed..
The device states that internal storage is 4.68 GB out of which I have nearly 600 MB free, and the USB storage is 9.77GB. On the bottom is the option to erase the SD card. There is no SD card. At first glance, it seems that the device has 5 GB of internal memory and like 10 GB of a separate internal memory, but this is actually a security thing that Lenovo has implemented, they have partitioned the drive so the system’s section of the storage remains untouched. Connecting the device to the computer, or accessing the built in file manager only displays the 9.77 GB partition.
Sadly, as I have often stated, getting 16 GB of storage on a smartphone today is a low amount of storage, especially considering only nearly 10GB is only ever free with no external memory card slot option. Being on Android, every single cloud storage platform has an app, but Lenovo do not provide any free cloud storage on any service.
As with typical modern day Android device (The K900 was launched in January in some markets) it comes with 2GB of RAM. With normal use, I average around 700-900 MB of free RAM. So the system seems to be managing its RAM fairly decently, and I have never experienced any memory issues in my use.
Camera
The K900 comes with a 13 MP camera with every option one could need on a smartphone.
I wanted to really show the settings and viewfinder, but the K900′s screen shot utility is limited to only areas where the notification center is accessible, and all attempts to get a decent screen shot app without rooting failed miserably (before I forget, rooting this device is not an easy task, near impossible to find sources online)
On the bottom left of the screen is where the main settings live and it has three main sections. The Basic section includes toggles for switching between cameras, flash settings, resolution, scenes (normal, low light, motion, etc), adjustments (brightness, contrast, etc), image quality settings and guide lines. The Advanced section covers the ISO, white balance, stroscopic settings and a toggle to enable or disable image capture by touching the screen. The last section is the other settings where the user can control GPS tagging, sounds, animation, focus modes and a reset tool.
On the left of the screen there are two quick toggles for the flash and switching to the front camera. towards the right there is even more settings! on the top there is a small tool to display the selected settings in tiny icons and a arrow button to set the camera modes (HDR, low light, smile detection, macro, timed photos, burst shot, panorama, and night portrait mode.
To the bottom of that.. is even MORE settings! well okay, not settings but there is a button that opens a whole table of effects for the photography, there is about 24 different effects to play with. To the far right sits the buttons to switch to video mode, capture an image and a thumbnail of the last photo taken.
Here are some sample pictures taken with the K900 in various real world situations.
A nice, decent lit Macro soft of the Blackberry Q5 (Review of the Q5 can be found here)
Low light shot of the HTC One Mini (Review of the One Mini can be found here)
A shot with decent lighting of a new packaged headset, lit well but notice how the device itself is over exposed.
Decent interior lighting, the text is fairly clear at zoom, the disclaimer line is blurred though.
Outdoor shot in daylight
Indoor shot with decent lighting of a portrait (best focus and lighting on the picture).
The quality is really good, one of the best cameras I have come across in smartphones. The best? No, but very close I have to admit.
So is it all perfect? Almost. Although there is a nice hidden feature where pressing the volume down and capture button on the screen will activate burst mode without having to go through the settings, the zooming is bad. Not the zooming itself, but the on screen controls for zooming. Tapping the screen will bring the 4x zoom bar, and it is really thin and 9 times out of 10 trying to zoom in or out, it will focus on that spot on the view finger rather than lower/increase the zoom, its very hard to zoom effectively and the volume keys don’t adjust the zoom which I think is a waste of the keys but in essence of taking pictures, it does a very good job.

Operating System
The K900 runs on Android version 4.2.1 with Lenovo’s own UI. It is a very interesting looking system, with tons of customizable features. No, I mean seriously, tons. Almost every single aspect of the experience can be changed, from the icon sets, size of the icons, backgrounds of the icons, special effects, tens of page transitions for the home page and various transitions for the apps page, automatic clean up (where inactive apps can be automatically removed), desktop layout backup, tens of built in apps, with up to 9 desktops!
And I wish that was it.. there is a lot more to this OS that I thought, Lenovo did a great job.
Let me start things off at the home screen and this essentially gives you an idea of how the operating system looks like. Pressing the menu button brings up the list of options (most of which are mentioned above) but this gives an almost unlimited amount of customization. Tapping and holding on an empty spot brings up the tools for transitions (known as effects), and the options to add apps, shortcuts, widgets and more! Lenovo’s power app has its own widget as well, which shows estimated time before battery runs out and quick toggles.
Although most of our smartphone use doesn’t include phone calls or sms somehow, it is the base of a phone. Lenovo has done a great job here with their all in one approach. Call log, messages and contacts are all under one section. They have done it in a smart way where the dialler is on top of the log instead of two pages, certainly is more productive. The messages have a very interesting look to them, which I thought looked nice. Moving all the way into info center brings up a set of settings including a way to backup and restore contacts. It may not be a big deal to many but i think this all in one spot is a nice touch.
The took the extra step in small touches, for instance when you call someone, the phone will vibrate the second the receiver picks up, not sure if any other manufacturer has that or not (never paid attention to it) but it is really cool especially in noisy situations.
Before I go on, Lenovo has done something to this phone that evokes a sense of professional use or focus that has driven the development of the user interface, in my opinion.
The applications list/page is a typical experience, but Lenovo has put their own touch. The device comes with built-in applications such as Flashlight, a whole array of google apps, file manager, evernote, uc browser, skype and a few others. The transitions are various as well, and can be set to flip as a cylinder, apps snake through each other and others.
The device does stutter and lag a bit sometimes, but the general transitions are always smooth. I guess this always goes back to the optimization aspect, because the device is certainly more than capable, hardware-wise.
The notification center is the typical Android 4.2.1 with a strip of quick toggles and the whole list is just a tap away. Activating Lenovo’s power app also adds a little information strip for the battery life and active functions. Two finger swipe down brings out the whole short-cut list.
Another important aspect of the device (being the most used feature) is the keyboard. The keyboard is nice, smooth and easy to type on, no troubles there but there are a few loose ends. One of which, is the feedback vibrations. Initially it would vibrate when tapping and then suddenly it would stop vibrating for no apparent reason.
In SMS mode, the enter button only appears when the keyboard is in Capital mode. Surely, these aren’t concerns but with an attempt to be so refined, they could have entirely eliminated keyboard issues. The numbers and symbols are a tap and hold away although I wish they applied more symbols in the same way throughout the keyboard.
The settings menu is a whole operating system on its own! Under common settings the user will find the typical essential settings of the phone. Under Feature Settings is where things start to get interesting. The Lenovo K900 has many smart sensory features like engaging maximum volume when it detects its in a pocket, decreasing of volume when device is picked up while ringing, enabling the volume keys to turn the screen on, shake to lock the device and knock to turn the screen on.
Do these really work? They all do but not without fault. The shake to lock the phone comes in handy because the device is huge and if it is being held one handed, it would eliminate the need to go up to press the button. The problem with this is, it would lock when moving around the device. In regards to the knock to unlock, it works by sudden movement rather than tapping/knocking the screen, which in my use, meant the screen came on when I would move about or place the phone on a table or anything solid. The rest worked fine. Cool features just need to be optimized perhaps.
Under All Settings, the device can be almost completely be adjusted to liking from communications, application and account settings, device storage and running applications and finally system settings and all these can be seen above.
In typical Lenovo way, everything built in has its own Lenovo touch. The file manager is quite smart! It allows traditional folder access, search, history, etc and also an automatic access of files based on their categories.
Lenovo has done a very good job with their own Android UI. There are various applications built in, a lot of customizable options to keep things individual and all transitions and UI related functions run flawlessly. The processor I believe is the only source of things being out of hand. It runs up to 2.0Ghz, with no mention of what it’s general speed is and due to that, there are times when there would be stutters and lags. When the processor is running on full speed, everything is super smooth but I cannot deny when it is not.
Applications on the K900 run absolutely smooth being in full 1080p. I have not experienced any applications having any issues what so ever, but what did have negative experiences was some games. The general non-resource hungry games always work, but games like Real Racing 3 were really out of order. It would stutter and eventually crash. I even downloaded Asphalt 8 (just out by the way, nice game, I somehow prefer 7 till now) and although it didn’t crash, it would lag! I tried it earlier today and it ran for much longer than the last time, then lagged.
Again I believe this must be due to the processor’s optimization and Lenovo’s focus on professional use I guess. Without a doubt it isn’t a slow or weak device, just lacks a little.
The imaging on the K900 is called SuperCamera and the image viewer is called SuperGallery. The self-claimed Super Gallery is quite feature-full and it allows creation of combined images and GIFs. It also is capable of providing the complete details of an image (such as size, resolution, device used for capture, etc)
Multitasking is taken care off in the typical Android way, but for some reason, there is no button to clear all open applications and being that there is no limit to open apps in the list, it can get a bit annoying swiping away all the open applications to clear it.
Aside from those few criticisms, with the huge and beautiful screen on the K900, and good performance (especially when its running at maximum juice) it is a very solid device in regards to the operating system.
Performance
There is no doubt in my mind that this is a powerful device, because it really is but with the processor feeling not entirely optimized, there is slight sluggishness while operating the device. Is it evident enough and noticeable? Slightly. There are times when I unlocked the device and the home page is still loading its widget, or swipe to another page and the icons pop up but weren’t already ready.
Switching between applications and running applications is really smooth, the processor really does handle it well, but I wish the processor ran on 2.0 Ghz the whole time because I feel when it is idle or nor running at maximum performance is when it gets sluggish. I have tried several attempts to really work up the processor and then try the general OS transitions and everything was perfectly smooth. I feel the Intel processor isn’t the best for Android or at least isn’t optimized well enough.
In typical, simple, basic ihabstech fashion, here is the quick fish tank test, which gives a rough idea of how good the device’s graphics and processor can be.
(running at 980×440 resolution)
With 100 fish, it held 18-21 FPS
With 250 fish, it held 11-13 FPS
With 500 fish, it held 9-11 FPS
Keeping in mind the HTC One had a 1.7 GHZ Quad Core Snapdragon processor, it had about an average of 1-3 FPS less, the Lenovo K900 is a performer!
To try it out the Fishtank Test for yourself, you can visit this link, and I think I shall be using this with future device reviews too.
Battery
The battery of the K900 is an interesting topic. Before getting into my experiences, the Lenovo Power application that integrates into the OS, is pretty cool.
This is the essential app, where there are quick toggles for the system tools and an estimated time, in the best case scenario, till the battery would die. There are also several battery modes and a custom mode with estimated battery life for each.
The following are two sample battery life tests I have experienced.
In first test, I managed to pull out 12 hours of battery life with nearly 6 hours of standby time.
While this second attempted pulled out 16 and a half hours of battery life with roughly 8 hours of standby time.
The shocker is that I have once managed to drain the battery in less than 6 hours of use. What this essentially tells me is that the battery life of the 2500mAh sized battery in the K900 is very variable to the users use of the device. I am sure if I had set things up rather than running at max, I could get a whole day’s use. I recommend anyone who buys this device to play and test a lot with the battery application and find the best of both worlds, battery life and active functions. It essentially has a decent battery, even though I have no idea how they fit that battery in there.
Wrap up
The Lenovo K900 has been a delight. Yes, the device does need polishing up in various aspects, but that does not take away the fact that this device is solid, right now.
The build of the device is phenomenal, the blend of stainless and full glass front is just a beauty and the device doesn’t even think of creaking. The camera is really powerful, full of features, and speaking of features the system really feature-full and is speedy, efficient and very smart. Sure, it does have a few loose ends in terms of battery management, operating system and processor optimization but for professional and ordinary use of the device, it runs near perfect.
I am sure Lenovo are already working on the next generation of models, including a new flagship, and if this is how they handled things early 2013, I can just imagine they would do really well in the smartphone market!
Device Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Brilliant build quality
- Slim profile
- High resolution camera with good imaging features
- Excellent Full HD 1080p IPS screen
- Lenovo’s UI has well optimized applications and a lot of customization
Cons:
- Hardware isn’t fully optimized for software (some apps don’t run smoothly)
- OS is sluggish at times and transitions aren’t always smooth
- Device is very big for most people
- Questionable battery life
- Not all gestures work well in real world use
- Limited storage
Thanks for reading and please do leave your comments, thoughts and questions below

Xperia Ray after ICS 4.0.3

Hi!
Yesterday I connected my RAY to PC companion for some backup, and notice that the new Android version 4.0.3. was available.
I was expecting it, since we always like to have the latest features on our phones, so I did the update to the new version.
The update went ok! No issues during the process.
Few hour past since the update process and I already went from a great feeling of having a "new" RAY to the terrible feeling of wishing not to made the update. I believe that this is the worst feeling that a costumer can feel about having a new release for its great phone.
My RAY went from a great tool to a malfunction piece of high end technology.
So I would like to share here, some of the "after ICS" issues I'm experiencing:
1 - RING TONE VOLUME CONTROL:
The ring tone volume control is now terrible. I'm not able to really low the volume. The volume goes lower from the top to the mute state, but the high is really high and the low is like middle in the previous 2.3. The level after mute, that should be lower and discreet is now very audible in a moderate noisy place, so I'm just using mute + vibe. Is its really bad. I test it with Audio Manager Pro, and different sound as ring tone, but I did not get any positive result. The volume control behaviour is OK for media and alerts sounds.
2 - WIFI:
Wifi is now a feature that i can't get it to work. All my previous stored Wifi hotspots are now dead, even after edit each one.
I try to store the same hotspots from a fresh search and I still can't get them to work. All the Wifi spots I have stored are working perfectly and no setting was changed, so the issue I'm getting is from the RAY.
3- GALLERY (now XPERIA GALERIA):
The gallery crashes very often, mostly on landscape position and during swipe trough photos. After the update, I can only see 4 to 6 photos of each album before it crashes and returns to gallery root folder or phone main menu.
4 - MULTIMEDIA shortcuts widget:
There is a problem with the MULTIMEDIA shortcuts widget, since it almost doubled the space it takes on the screen. Actually the visual size of this widget is just fine, the problem is the area around it that is oversized.
5 - THE PHONE:
Making or answering a call is now a trouble... and this is the major purpose of this equipment...
The phone freezes very often while receiving a call and takes too long (sometimes more than 10 second) to open the phone feature. Sometimes it crashes while trying to open the phone feature and there's is the need to take battery out (since yesterday... happen twice).
6- OVERALL
The new android version for this model is pretty, but there are several issues to be solved. Along with the ones I believe are really serious, I'm experiencing a great decrease in phone performance. Screen animations between pages and menus are now almost imperceptible and the ones that still exist are not fluid (jumps, like a low frame rate on a video footage), moving from a page to another is now slower and jumpy and feels like I own a first generation Android phone with low tech capabilities. Scrolling is now different too. It is slower, and the acceleration is not so great like in previous 2.3
7- MEMORY
The available RAM is now lower than when I had 2.3... and i did not have more apps working... at least I did not start them. So he new 4.0 must gave some more processes running, I believe.
8 - SCREEN FLASHES RED AND GREEN (added on April 27)
RecentlyI found another "not so bad, but annoying issue".
Sometimes, the screen flashes fully red or green for a second, during:
Menus swipes, camera access, skype camera change (from rear to front and vice versa), when Draw something app loads, and browser opens...
So, here is my "less than 24hours" Xperia"ence" with the ICS for RAY... Not happy with it and looking forward to see it solved, or to roll it back to 2.3.
If there is no visible solution for this and many other issues, this will probably be my last SE phone, from a long and solid history with this brand.
Kind regards and best wishes to everyone.
Bruno
Message was edited by: Zamzibar

Hi ply17410,
Thank you very much for your contribution!
The RAY I own is the ST18i purchased as a standalone mobile, no carrier dependant.
I'm using a portuguese Vodafone SIM card and these are my RAY's unit versions:
Phone software version: 1248-9545_4.1.A.0.562,
Boot version: 1241-3656 R9A028,
Customization version: 1252-0929_R20D
File system version: WORLD-i_4.1.A.0.562
No SIM lock applied, and bootloader unlock allowed.
The wifi issue is getting worst, right now I can only access web via 3G data connection.
Bluetooth works fine for audio and data transfer.
Today I found another "not so bad, but annoying issue".
Sometimes, my screen flashes fully red or green for a second, during:
Menus swipes, camera access, skype camera change (from rear to front and vice versa), when Draw something app loads, and browser opens...
Kind regards,
Bruno
Lisbon, Portugal

N8 Shortcuts widget is acting up

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