Two puzzlements

[Dominosdad]

I don't see anything much on the web about either of these "features" but they leave me very puzzled.

1.) Gallery: As far as I can work out it displays all the images on the phone, and doesn't (directly) allow any form of organisation. I can't order the pictures unless it does so automatically in some unspecified way, I'd want it ordered chronologically ( as in these are the pictures I took of my kids today and these are older ones).
It only allows folders if these are created in a third party app, first.
It doesn't show any labels/file names unless you individually long click on a specific picture and go to the menu.

The puzzlement is WHY? Why are these basic bits of functionality not built in.

2.) Screen and keyboard. On my old Pocket PC device there was a screen calibration option. On the Interactive white board there is one. And that way I could make sure that where my finger/stylus touched the screen matched with what I wanted to touch. Even using a fine stylus on the PPC that was useful. On my Android device I often find that where I think I'm touching is a fraction lower or to the right than where I thought, i.e. so that I type the wrong letter.
But there is no way to calibrate the screen to my touch. As far as I can tell. If the Microsoft Pocket PC OS could do this donkeys years ago, again why doesn't the Android. It isn't too much to ask, is it? I'm sure I'm not the only user who doesn't have the fingers of a surgeon. (Admittedly mine are more like fish fingers).

I just thought of a third puzzlement. Hiding apps. There are all these icons for apps that come with my phone. Some will never be used-like Adobe reader's Icon for a start. You don't launch Reader from the icon. But they just get in the way when I'm looking for the one I want. On my Blackberry I could just hide the ones I couldn't remove. Is it too much to ask to be able to get the Twitter icon out of sight? Or the wi-fi hotspots? If I ever felt an urgent need to find them again I'd go looking for them. But for now, if I can't remove them ( and I can't) I want them out of my face.

 

[chanchan05]

1. I have a Samsung device so I can't be accurate here. Samsungs display taken pictures as newest to oldest. Otherwise you can go into the file system using a file manager app, navigate to DCIM>Camera then organize the pictures as you see fit. Put the pictures in folders and these folders will appear as separate albums in the gallery.

2. The older devices have screen calibration because they are using a resistive screen technology. Basically, this consists of two pieces of screens where one is bendable. You push on the bendable screen and it detects where the two screens touch each other and see that as your selection. Obviously this is not very accurate because the bulge occupies quite some space. So you have the option to manually calibrate it. However newer devices use a capacitive screen. Basically your finger touching it creates an electrical signal (because your finger is conductive) on where you touched it, and it is read as the signal. Basically they thought it doesn't need calibration because its as accurate as you can get. It can't be any more accurate, and any inaccuracy is not the technology's fault anymore. What you can do is get a different keyboard from the Play Store that allows multiple detection correction. For example, Perfect Keyboard detects not the accurate touches but an entire area spanning two keys, and registers a touch depending on several parameters (is your touch nearer the left letter? What was the previous letter you typed? etc). Other keyboards also have better layouts which you may find easier to type on. I personally prefer Swype.

3. Not really sure what the problem here is, unless you are doing something I don't know with your homescreens. Androids can hold at least 5 homescreens for your most used apps (HTC and Samsung default launchers reach up to 7), and your app drawer serves as the repository for all your apps. Think of it as something like a Windows Desktop and the Start Menu. The Start Menu has all of your installed programs, but you put the ones you use the most on your desktop. In Android, basically you arrange your apps in your homescreens and almost never need to open the app drawer. However, alternative launchers like Go, Apex, and Nova does have the option to hide apps in the app drawer.

 

[!on]

I like the way gallery works, but did take some getting used to coming from 'conventional' phones.

If I save something from tapatalk, then there will be a folder in gallery for tapatalk*.

If I take pictures, maybe even use a different camera app, then there will be a folder in gallery for those apps' download folder*.

* Some apps will have their own download directory. Most of them will let you change the path to whatever place you want to download to, & gallery will reflect those changes. Browsers are known for this; some download to your default downloads folder, others create their own.

Each app will have their own settings, so it's good to have a look in there & set it up how you want, before you use the app. Otherwise you might have to move downloads manually, if you want stuff in one place.

 

[Dominosdad]

Thanks, I think it's the "App Drawer" that I was referring to.
But then, I keep my Windows Start menu very organised with no unwanted icons, with specific folders for different kinds of programmes, and my desktop clear of all but the most frequently used stuff. I don't like clutter. I like a fairly minimalist set-up.
I don't want to have more than my current three home screens, I like to keep things simple and have just one main one and one on either side.
To me ( and maybe it's just me) the "app drawer" should be where all the icons for stuff that I may use live. But that doesn't mean it should have useless icons. Unless it's a programmes folder, with the actual programmes stored there, and not just a folder full of icons. I've assumed the latter, but maybe I was wrong.

The gallery probably does store in chronological order. But it gives no indication of the relative age of the images. So if I've taken sets of similar pictures over time I won't know when they were taken. Which is a nuisance once the number gets big.

 

[chanchan05]

Not sure on HTC's new launcher, but Samsung allows folders in the appdrawer by dragging one icon on top of the other and hovering there for a short while before letting go. You can try it. Otherwise your only choice would be to use a different launcher to make folders in app drawer or hide stuff.