[M96] App switch aka ALT+TAB aka long press home

[JimMcLaren]

Originally Posted by machinogodzilla

Hi,
Has anyone had better experiences in this area?

I just got a T68 and have the same issue with recent apps. I use Button Savior and hold down the Home key on it. That's two keystrokes instead of one but it works for me. I also heavily use the PopControl to have apps available quickly. I don't think I'll install a different launcher.

You really need to use the HD Themes for this to work and I've purchased the Pro version. I think (but am not sure) that you need pro to install the other themes. I know you need pro to rearrange the buttons and to show them all at once like I do.

[machinogodzilla]

Originally Posted by florianbw

Also, have a look at Floating Toucher Ex. It adds a small icon (just as assistive zoom) and when you click it you have an overlay menu. When you double-click it, you will get the recent apps, by default.

This is great, a nice alternative to Swapps. The only problem I have with Floating Toucher is that when I switch between Onyx Neo Reader and Onyx Notes with it the Notes app always opens the list of notes and not the actual note I was just editing. Swapps does it right. I wish you could also disable the recent apps animation.

On the other hand I prefer tapping the little dot to having to drag Swapps menu from the edge of the screen. You can't have everything...

Finally, Notes is very possessive of the screen and you cannot normally touch the dot or drag the drawer from the side of the screen. The trick is to tap on the cog icon in the top right corner which sends the note layer below and then you can do either.

[mdp]

As posted here, I just tried App Switcher (com.milansamardzic.recentapp) from Milan Samardžić and it seems to work well, although its animation should really be disabled.

Is there any app switcher that can be bound to the long press of the hardware button?
I see in this thread that it is possible to bind to a long tap on the "Home" icon - but the mentioned application looked overkill.

[mdp]

...But as I said, I did not like the type of "recent task switcher" implemented in App Switcher (animations are not EPD friendly), so I developed my own, for the benefit of the community. You can see it still uses the good ideas of Samardžić's - the notification icon, the free memory indicator.

Please find attached 'Boox Task Switcher' - "Boox", since it re-implements the Task Switcher of Android 4.0.4, that we do not normally see on Onyx devices since they miss the "Home" button (the Task Switcher would appear upon long-press of the Home button).

I developed and tested it (<rant>for too many troubleshooting hours, developing for Android seems one of the most uselessly protracted effort ever</rant>) on a T68, I suppose it will work on all other devices/firmwares (but currently forced to 4.0.4, for the weak reason that I cannot test on a higher version).

Usage:

• start the application to get a new icon in the notification area (it does not autostart, you choose if/when you want it to run - then it stays in the background);
• tap on the notification area of the status bar an then on the relevant row of the so-called "expanded notification area" to get the "recent task switching" dialogue.

To install, remove the added '.zip' exension, needed to upload here (I cannot directly upload .apk in the forum).

Of course, I take no responsibility etc.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by mdp

find attached 'Boox Task Switcher' - "Boox", since it re-implements the Task Switcher of Android 4.0.4, that we do not normally see on Onyx devices since they miss the "Home" button (the Task Switcher would appear upon long-press of the Home button).

And this is a screenshot of the "recent task switching" dialogue. Having the notification bar clogged with icons, you cannot see the Boox Task Switcher app icon there - but it is not relevant: you just tap in any zone of the notification area which is not a "toggle" (not wi-fi nor bluetooth) to open the "expanded notification area".