Sounds like an interesting idea. Perhaps a gesture could be used to swap, not sure how you would make that clear to a user though.
I need to carve out some coding time :S -Pete On 12/08/07, Derek Pressnall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > One of the things that I've found on most pda-phones/smartphones is > that they make the phone capabilities feel like just another > application. But when you want to use the device as a phone, it would > be nice for the rest of the features to melt into the background. The > Motorola A780 does this nicely; it is a pda-phone when the flip is > opened, but with the flip closed it becomes a regular feature-phone. > > So, that gives me an idea for UI layout. First, have the interface > support two virtual desktops, most likely via the window manager. The > primary desktop (PDA desktop) would remain how OpenMoko has it > currently laid out. The second desktop (PHONE desktop), however, > should resemble the face of a normal phone. The bottom half (or two > thirds, whatever) of the screen would have a permanent phone keypad > displayed (the keypad app), includuding directional buttons and > several special-purpose buttons (answer/disconnect, function-A, > function-B, Menu, OK, etc.). Any application running in the Phone > desktop would only be able to write to the window in the upper part of > the screen, and they would receive their input through the keypad app > runnin in the bottom. The keypad app could have an API so that apps > can request that certain keys be re-labled when that app is in the > forground, but other than that the keypad would always display a > similar layout for any running app. This would enforce a consistant > feel among the various apps. > > Now any app that wants to use the secondary Phone desktop would have > to be specifically coded for it; I'm thinking that apps such as the > Dialer would be running in the background, and have an active > connection to the Phone desktop along with the PDA desktop. The list > of apps that should have Phone desktop capabilities would include the > Dialer, SMS/Email, Media player, Calculator. > > Also, I haven't decided what the best method of switching between > desktops should be -- should a common button that appears in both > desktops toggle between the two, or should there be two buttons that > appear on each desktop, at opposite sides of the screen, so that you > know that hitting the lower left corner of the display will always > bring up the Phone desktop (even if it is already displayed). Or > maybe have one of the hardware buttons assigned to this task. > > _______________________________________________ > OpenMoko community mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community >
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