Interface and user interaction¶
Main screen (Desktop)¶
When you start the device, unlock the screen, or explicitly go to the main screen, you are greeted with the following interface:
On top of the screen there is, from left to right:
Application menu button
Status menu (tap on status area)
Desktop settings button (appears when you touch anywhere on the main screen)
Application menu¶
If you tap on the Application menu button, the Application menu is displayed, which shows the installed applications.
Status area¶
In the status area you have in short, the status of the device, and of its main functions.
To the left there’s the clock display, then, some icons representing the status of different functions.
An alarm is active
Battery level
Mobile signal strength
Current mobile network generation 4G, 3.5G, 3G, 2.5G or 2G
Silent profile
An USB connection is active
The mobile data connection is active
A wifi connection is active
Bluetooth is on
Bluetooth is connected
SIM card not available
GPS location is actve
A phone call is in progress
Your status is Online
Your status is Away
Your status is Busy
Your status is Offline
Your status is Custom, if configured from #. New status
Note
If you tap on the status area, you will get the Status menu
Current mobile network¶
When there is an active mobile network connection, the name of the network is written on top of the screen.
Note
The network name is displayed on top of the screen only when you’re in the main screen. Otherwise, the name of the app is displayed there instead.
Desktop settings button¶
Tapping anywhere on the screen will make the settings button appear on the top right of the screen.
Tapping on this button will allow you to Customize the main screen
Status menu¶
Tap on status area on top of the screen.
You are then greeted with the following menu:
You will have the following options (from top to down, and left to right):
Internet connection menu button
Profile selector button
Availability button
Availability is present only when there are VoIP and IM accounts already configured.
Battery (read only)¶
The battery charging level is displayed here.
Internet connection menu¶
By tapping on the Internet connection button in the Status menu, you will be greeted with the following menu:
From here you can enable the currently available Wi-Fi or mobile data connections, or disable the currently active one.
Tip
This is different than the Internet connections section in Settings. From here it’s easier to connect to new Wi-Fi networks.
You connect to a Wi-Fi or mobile data connection by tapping on it.
The connection that has the “Disconnect” prefix, and has a green check button, is the currently active internet connection.
Tap on it to disconnect from it.
The symbols to the right of each connection give information about the connection.
The connection is already saved on the device
The Wi-Fi connection is secured (and password protected) using WPA.
The Wi-Fi connection is secured (and key protected) using WEP.
The Wi-Fi connection is not secured (and not password protected).
Volume slider¶
The volume level can be adjusted by dragging this slider, from minimum, to the left, to maximum, to the right.
Tip
You can also adjust the volume level by pressing the volume keys, if your device has them. See Device specific info [wip].
You will have feedback on the volume level adjustment through the presence of this volume indicator:
Profile selector¶
From here you can switch sound profiles, between the available ones.
To edit the default normal and silent profiles, or to create new custom profiles, go to Profiles in Settings.
Checking the Vibrate option besides each of the profiles in the list enables vibration when that profile is active.
Availability¶
This option is present when you have VoIP and IM accounts already configured.
The dot in front of Availability represents current status. The default ones are:
Online - a green dot
Busy - a white stripe on a red dot
Offline - a gray X on a white dot (this also means that the account is disconnected)
An exclamation mark over the availability indicator means that the account is disconnected from the server.
Tip
Check the internet connection, from Internet connection menu.
Tapping on the Availability button takes you to the My availability menu.
Here you have the following options:
Press Save after you are done setting your status.
Select the availability status¶
Here you can select your status, so that your contacts will know what’s your availability.
Type your status message¶
Type here the status message, that your contacts will see next to your name.
My location¶
Select here if and which level of location information to be displayed next to your status message, that your contacts will see next to your name.
List of accounts¶
Your VoIP and IM accounts accounts will be shown here.
Accounts¶
This will take you to the list of existing VoIP and IM accounts, from where you can also edit them, or add new ones.
New status¶
Along the default (Online, Away, Busy, Offline) statuses, you can configure new ones.
You have the following options:
Name - Type in the name of the status option. See Input and keyboard about how to input text.
Icon - Select the icon associated to the status (displayed when the status is active)
Account Online/Offline - Whether this status will trigger the account being Online or Offline.
Tap Save when done configuring.
Brightness slider¶
The brightness level of the display can be adjusted by dragging this slider, in five steps, from minimum, to the left, to maximum, to the right.
Note
Unexpected behavior: From the five steps available, the last two seems to correspond to the same brightness level (tested using Droid 4), so this means that there are only four brightness levels.
Note
This function is not installed by default. You need to install it manually, using the Application Manager.
Tapping on the screen icon to the left of the slider, shows the following menu:
Open Display Settings… - This takes you to Display settings.
Keep display on - This will keep the display on, disabling screen turning off after a specific time of inactivity, equivalent of setting Backlight time-out to zero seconds (and independently of the value of that setting, the screen will stay on).
Note
When enabling Keep display on, the background of the icon left of the brightness slider will turn red:
Power options menu¶
Here you can choose actions related to device power.
This menu appears when you press the power button. Usually any device should have one, but in any case, check Device specific info [wip].
Available actions:
Switch off!¶
Turn the device off (power it down).
Offline mode¶
Disconnect from all networks (similar to Airplane mode).
Lock screen and keys¶
Lock the device (screen and keys).
Warning
If you have Device lock activated, to unlock the device you will have to input the lock code.
Tip
To lock screen and keys, you can also press two times fast (double click) the power button.
Secure device¶
End current task¶
End the current task (application).
Note
This option is present only when inside of an application.
Customize the main screen¶
Tapping on the Desktop settings button will allow you to customize the Main screen (Desktop).
The screen background will fade-out, and the shortcuts on the current desktop view will be shown. If there are none, an empty screen will be displayed.
Here you can change the positioning on the screen of the existing shortcuts. To add new shortcuts, access the In-app menu and Add shortcut,.
Note
Unexpected behavior: It’s not possible to move a shortcut from another desktop view then the currently displayed one (you need to see it in order to select it), so make sure you move to the correct one before tapping on the settings button. Adding a new shortcut, though, is possible, from any desktop view.
From here, you can access the In-app menu of the desktop settings, to customize the current desktop view.
The following menu will be shown:
You will have the following options:
Add shortcut¶
When you select the Add shortcut option, a list of available shortcuts will be shown.
Select the desired shortcut, from the list. It will be placed on the first available free spot in the current desktop view.
From there, tap and drag it to move it anywhere on the screen.
You can then add more, and move them to organize them.
Tapping on the small X on the top right of each shortcut, deletes it.
Moving a shortcut to the right or left edge of the screen, allows you to move it to another screen.
Manage views¶
Tapping on Manage views will show you the list of desktop views.
You can enable or disable views. Check a view to enable it.
The default number of views is four, and the maximum is nine views.
Warning
Unexpected behavior: Disabling a view will delete the shortcuts from that particular view, without warning. Make sure you move the shortcuts you want to keep to another view, before disabling the view. One way to tell which screen is which, is by comparing wallpapers of each view. Otherwise you will have to add them again, see Add shortcut.
Change background¶
Tapping on Change background will allow you to change the desktop background.
One way to change the desktop background is to select one of the available Themes.
Note
Leftovers: Get more from Ovi Store option doesn’t work, since this is part of the old Maemo system, and thus the Ovi Store is not available.
Tapping on more allows you to use custom images as background image.
Navigate through the File System, to the desired image file.
Note
Unexpected behavior: Manually changing the desktop image (outside of a theme) will only change the image of the current desktop view. Each view should then have a different image, and if any fluid transition between views is desired, then that particular image should be prepared (split accordingly) in advance, in an external program.
Themes¶
Tapping on themes gives you a list of the available themes that you can pick from, to have an uniformous design look of the interface.
UI Navigation¶
To navigate through the device’s interface, you have three areas of control:
Top-left area¶
Depending on where you are, here the following can be shown:
The App menu (Task launcher) button
Tapping on it will take you to the Application menu
The dashboard (Task switcher) button
Tapping on it will take you to the Task switcher
The blinking dashboard (task switcher) button
When the dashboard button is blinking, it means that you have unread Notifications.
Top-right area¶
Depending on where you are, here the following can be shown:
The X button
Tapping on it will close the current application. See In-app navigation.
The back arrow
Tapping on it will take you to the previous window/menu of the current application. See In-app navigation.
Task switcher¶
Tapping on the task switcher button in the Top-left area will take you to the task switcher, showing stacked snapshots of all the currently running applications, from where you can switch between apps.
Depending on how many apps you have open, they there will be shown stacked on more or fewer rows.
Tapping on a app snapshot will switch to that app, and will show it on full-screen.
Tapping on the small X button on top right of each application window, will close that particular app.
When in the task switcher, the button in the Top-left area switches to App menu (Task launcher) button.
Tip
To open the task switcher, you can also use the home button (if the device has it), see Device specific info [wip].
Pressing it while already in the Task switcher takes you to the App menu (Task launcher).
Tip
From an application, tap on the task switcher button once, to switch to another application, or tap on it twice, to start a new application without closing the current one.
In-app navigation¶
The windows in an application are stacked.
When you select an option, press a button, or open a menu, the previous window will be go to the back as you navigate further through the application.
In the Top-right area, depending on whether you are in the main application window or not, the button shown will either be:
The X button, which closes the application, will switch to a back arrow, when you navigate away from the main window of the application.
Tapping on that arrow will take you back to the previous window or menu, until you will reach the main window of the application, when the back arrow will switch back to the X button.
Tip
To go back, you can also use the back hardware button (if the device has it), see Device specific info [wip]
Progress indicator¶
When this rotating graphical symbol (also called a throbber) is being shown next to a menu or window title, it means that something is being worked out, or processed, and that you should wait until the current action is finished, until taking another action.
In-app menu¶
Touching the title of a currently application or window, will open the in-app menu, where you can access settings of that application/window.
The presence of the in-app menu is (sometimes, see note below) signaled by this down-pointing arrow.
Note
Unexpected behavior: Even if this arrow is not shown, tapping on the title of the application will show the in-app menu.
Tip
To access the in-app menu, you can also use the menu hardware button (if the device has it), see Device specific info [wip]
Menus don’t have a In-app menu of themselves, only windows have it.
Notifications¶
Notifications appear as part of the Task switcher.
When there are new notifications, the dashboard button in the Top-left area will be highlighted/blinking.
When you have more applications open, and more active notifications, the Task switcher (dashboard) will look like this:
Types of notifications:
For missed calls¶
When you fail to pick up a call, the following pop-up with the text Missed call and the phone number will be shown:
Then, the missed call will be notified in the Task switcher (dashboard). Here, three calls were successively missed:
For received SMS¶
When you receive an SMS, and the screen is unlocked, a pop-up with the text of the message and the phone number will be shown:
Unread SMS messages are notified in the Task switcher (dashboard). Here, there are two unread messages:
For received emails¶
When you receive an email, and the screen is unlocked, a pop-up with title of the message and the name of the sender will be shown:
Unread emails are notified in the Task switcher (dashboard):
The number after the @ email logo represents the number of unread emails, here, two.
The same way, the number of unread emails is also shown on the lockscreen:
Input and keyboard¶
Hardware keyboard¶
Some devices have hardware keyboards, others don’t.
For details about what a particular model has, and how the keys of the hardware keyboard match the layout, see Device specific info [wip]
Virtual keyboard¶
The virtual keyboard is especially useful when the device is being used in portrait mode (for devices with a sliding keyboard), or for devices without a hardware keyboard. See Device specific info [wip]
The first layer of the keyboard contains the lowercase letters, and some of the most used punctuation marks:
You get to the second layer of the keyboard by pressing the Shift key:
The second layer contains the capital (uppercase) letters, and the other most used punctuation marks:
You get to the third layer of the keyboard, by pressing the Numeric key:
The third layer of the keyboard contains the numbers, and other punctuation marks and symbols:
By pressing both the Numeric and Shift keys, you get to the fourth layer, which contains less used punctuation marks and symbols:
To quickly access some tools related to the keyboard, tap on the Keyboard menu key:
A menu will be shown, from which you can choose the following:
Cut (move the selected text somewhere else)
Copy (Copy the selected text somewhere else)
Paste (insert here the text you cut, or copied from somewhere else)
If you have two languages set for Text input, they will be visible in this menu, too, and you can switch between them from here:
Keyboard layout¶
You can set the layout for the hardware keyboard, and two layouts for the virtual keyboard from Text input in Settings.
You can then switch between the two preset layouts of the virtual keyboard, from the Keyboard menu of the Virtual keyboard.
Editing text¶
To select text, swipe your finger from the start point to the end point of the text you want to select.
To copy text, press CTRL (The actual key on the keyboard might differ, see Device specific info [wip]) and C
To paste copied text, press CTRL (The actual key on the keyboard might differ, see Device specific info [wip]) and V
To copy or move text using the virtual keyboard, use the options from the menu of the Virtual keyboard.
You can also move text by dragging the selected text to another position.
