Help MultiWindow vs Settings button

[charles_s]

I'm sure I can't be the only person having this problem. Just got the Note 4 last week and it is becoming very frustrating. With previous Android (Note 2), the button below and to the left of the screen was (when you were in an app) the Settings button and that was it. Now it evidently serves two (or maybe three or four, for all I know) purposes.

Example: when I am in the browser and I press and hold this button, sometimes I get the multiscreen mode display of recently opened apps, sometimes I get an abbreviated settings menu showing just "New Tab" and "Incogito Mode" and a few others, sometimes I get the full actual settings window (the one that will allow me, among other things, to add a link to the Home Page screen). There seems to be no way to predict which one I get. I am finding that if I want to get to the third of these, sometimes it will come up right away, sometimes I have to sit there and hit the key repeatedly ten or twenty times until eventually I get to it. Am I missing something here ? On the Note 2, it was settings and that was it, always easy to get to.

If anyone can explain, I would appreciate it.

Charles S

 

[EarlyMon]

Apps are supposed to always have an overflow button (3 dots) or an overflow method otherwise (swipe right for options screen, etc etc).

Problem is three-fold.

First, a lot of devs never got the new architecture and just replaced the Settings or Menu button action as overflow, often causing missed features on many phones.

Second, despite the myth that Android only really supports on-screen buttons now, the truth is that it's a property switch in Android - do you have on-screen buttons or not.

Third, some devs don't understand that a hybrid is required while others don't respect the switch at all.

Samsung decided to fix this with a long press on your multitasking button (lower left yeah?). That tends to try to work as the overflow/menu button when all else fails from the dev. And yeah, that's varied some across KitKat and TouchWiz. (Updated TouchWiz doesn't always behave the same as new TouchWiz even when the version numbers match for an update. Yeah. I know.)

Case in point, Google Sky Map. Never shows the overflow button and has no alternative method. (Still carries the name, but isn't a Google app any more. Built originally in the pre-on-screen days.) On their Group support page, they make no apologies and the advice there for Sammy owners is a long press on your multitasking button (still called recent apps button in many corners).

And because browsers all love to pack features, you get the situation you have.

Not really an answer but hope this helps.

 

[charles_s]

Sounds like a mess, for sure.

It would help however if at least, within an app, buttons always behaved the same way. Or is that not as easy to implement as it sounds ? Why is it that the same button can do three or four different things within the same app, just randomly, with no apparent relation to how long or how short it is pressed, and sometimes, in the same app, do nothing at all ? Press the button for the same length of time and it will do one thing; ten seconds later, press it for the same length of time and it will do something else. Or nothing.

I guess this is just something you have to live with. Can you imagine if desktop apps that were used for real business purposes worked that way ?

Charles S

 

[EarlyMon]

I'd say that's a bad app - or maybe a bad install?

If it's from the Play Store, uninstall and reinstall, see if it helps.


Or - is your phone somehow busy doing something else, and it's missing the button presses in the foreground app?

That sounds crazy even to me but...

 

[Palmetto Fellow]

I had no idea I could long press the "task" button to revert back to what that button used to do.

Coming from an S3, I can sympathize with the OP. It took a while to stop pressing that button when I wanted those additional settings. I’m finally (after 7 weeks) getting used to looking for the 3 vertical dots instead. The first week was the hardest. Every single time, I'd press it expecting the other function, and now, I pretty much stay away from that button until I need to switch apps.


What I haven’t experienced yet is that button behaving differently in the same app randomly, though, I’ve just now started long-pressing it so we’ll see what happens.

 

[charles_s]

The app generally is the standard Internet browser, so I don't think uninstall and reinstall would be of much help. Though maybe clearing the cache might.

There seems to be a delay that maybe has to do with load time, or with the number of other apps that are running, memory usage, etc. Sometimes the settings menu will come up right away with a long press and also using the three dots. Sometimes it comes up with neither and I get only the shorter menu (with New Tab, Incognito Mode), etc. Doing things to reload the window and hitting menu keys repeatedly will (frustrastingly) only make things worse.

I will try looking for the three dots, which I was not aware of up to yesterday. Sometimes they are there and sometimes not, and, even then, sometimes I get one menu and sometimes the other

 

[Palmetto Fellow]

When a page is loading, the 3 dots, or a long-press only will bring up the condensed menu. Once the page has loaded, you can get the full menu with the long-press or the 3-dot button...at least, that's what just happened on my Note 4. This would account for the variability you've been experiencing. Wait for the blue status bar to complete and test this out. Then do it while loading.

Also, when the 3-dot button is gone, can you see the URL or not? The whole top row of things will disappear when you start to scroll to give you more screen real estate.

 

[charles_s]

Makes sense. Also makes sense that refreshing the page just makes things worse. Too bad there is no indication as to when a page is loading and when it is fully loaded ... if it is extensive, it can be pretty hard to tell.

As far as the three-dot visibility: yes, the screen pulls up at a certain point to hide them. Maybe this is one way to know when a page has been fully loaded ? Will have to experiment with that.

Thanks for all the replies

 

[Palmetto Fellow]

Too bad there is no indication as to when a page is loading and when it is fully loaded ... if it is extensive, it can be pretty hard to tell.

Are you aware of the blue loading progress bar? It's right below the URL and fills from left to right. Once the page loads (and the blue bar fills up), the URL (along with the 3-button) auto-hides.

 

[charles_s]

Ah ! No I was not. I will definitely have to check that out. Thanks for your help !