Even though the P2 can be considered large with a 5.5" display, the lower region of the screen is occupied by the on-screen navigation bar. While there's an option to turn off the navigation bar and use the fingerprint button exclusively, I still find this alternative lacking in many fronts:
1. I can't tell you how many times I return to the home daily; it gets tiring to always have to push down the fingerprint button.
2. You need to touch the fingerprint button for a second or so before the recent apps window is launched. If you've ever had the need to flip between apps quickly, you would know how irritating this delay is.
3. Because one button is used for three functions (back, home, recent apps), there's no way to quickly switch between apps (like alt+tab in windows).
4. I sometimes find myself lying on my side, holding the phone with one hand, and finding it almost impossible to reach all the way down to the navigation bar, let alone the fingerprint button.
Fortunately, I have a solution that I believe addresses all of the problems above and that is to navigate the phone through the use of gestures.
I've been using GMD GestureControl for about a week now and I think I've found an optimal combination of gestures that don't only work but are also intuitive to use. There's nothing you can lose by giving it a try.
It can take a bit of time to set it up the way I have mine set up. So, if you don't feel like spending some time doing it yourself, you can just "restore" my "titanium backup" backup. Download it from here. Just extract the zip file and copy the content into your "titanium backup" folder. Open "titanium backup" and restore.
If instead, you would like to set it up yourself, here's how I currently have mine set up:
1. After installing the app, the first thing to do is go to "Device Setup" by pressing the menu button on the top right corner of the screen. Change your values to the one you see in the first attached image below. Then go to "Settings", and change the values to those in the second attached image.
2. To create a gesture: press the plus button > Select a gesture > create path. You can see all the gestures I created in the third attached image. Recreate all of them.
3. You can decide which region of the screen a gesture is detected by choosing the appropriate zone in the "select starting zone" option.
4. You need to go to "advanced options" (attached image no. 4) at the bottom of the screen to decide whether or not the gesture can be triggered when the keyboard is active. I have most of the gestures disabled when the keyboard is active because I sometimes swipe to type and I don't want to accidental swipe to trigger something. For this reason, I have duplicated most of the gestures for the only the top half of the screen (above the keyboard) so that the gestures still continue to work when the keyboard is activated.
5. Make sure you enable "evaluate on release" on all gestures so that a gesture is only triggered after you lift your finger off the screen.
If you've gone through all the steps, it's now time to start trying things:
1. To open resent apps, just make a small ^ sign anywhere on the screen.
2. To go home, just make a small V sign anywhere on the screen.
3. To flip between apps, just make a small < or > sign anywhere on the screen, starting from the top.
4. To press back, swipe away from left or the right edge.
5. To open the launchpad, swipe up on the left or right edge.
1. I can't tell you how many times I return to the home daily; it gets tiring to always have to push down the fingerprint button.
2. You need to touch the fingerprint button for a second or so before the recent apps window is launched. If you've ever had the need to flip between apps quickly, you would know how irritating this delay is.
3. Because one button is used for three functions (back, home, recent apps), there's no way to quickly switch between apps (like alt+tab in windows).
4. I sometimes find myself lying on my side, holding the phone with one hand, and finding it almost impossible to reach all the way down to the navigation bar, let alone the fingerprint button.
Fortunately, I have a solution that I believe addresses all of the problems above and that is to navigate the phone through the use of gestures.
I've been using GMD GestureControl for about a week now and I think I've found an optimal combination of gestures that don't only work but are also intuitive to use. There's nothing you can lose by giving it a try.
It can take a bit of time to set it up the way I have mine set up. So, if you don't feel like spending some time doing it yourself, you can just "restore" my "titanium backup" backup. Download it from here. Just extract the zip file and copy the content into your "titanium backup" folder. Open "titanium backup" and restore.
If instead, you would like to set it up yourself, here's how I currently have mine set up:
1. After installing the app, the first thing to do is go to "Device Setup" by pressing the menu button on the top right corner of the screen. Change your values to the one you see in the first attached image below. Then go to "Settings", and change the values to those in the second attached image.
2. To create a gesture: press the plus button > Select a gesture > create path. You can see all the gestures I created in the third attached image. Recreate all of them.
3. You can decide which region of the screen a gesture is detected by choosing the appropriate zone in the "select starting zone" option.
4. You need to go to "advanced options" (attached image no. 4) at the bottom of the screen to decide whether or not the gesture can be triggered when the keyboard is active. I have most of the gestures disabled when the keyboard is active because I sometimes swipe to type and I don't want to accidental swipe to trigger something. For this reason, I have duplicated most of the gestures for the only the top half of the screen (above the keyboard) so that the gestures still continue to work when the keyboard is activated.
5. Make sure you enable "evaluate on release" on all gestures so that a gesture is only triggered after you lift your finger off the screen.
If you've gone through all the steps, it's now time to start trying things:
1. To open resent apps, just make a small ^ sign anywhere on the screen.
2. To go home, just make a small V sign anywhere on the screen.
3. To flip between apps, just make a small < or > sign anywhere on the screen, starting from the top.
4. To press back, swipe away from left or the right edge.
5. To open the launchpad, swipe up on the left or right edge.
Attachments
Last edited:
