73 replies to this topic

[j006]

Well I killed the SPB Mobile shell process yesterday morning and watched to see what happened.  I'm using iPhoneToday, so I really don't need both anyway.  The result was that the AutoCallLocker.exe process is still closing for some reason.  Mostly it closes after making one phonecall, but sometimes it will last thru two calls.  Strange really.  I love the program but I can't get it to stay running.

I will say that using the accelerometer method alone is completely unreliable for me.  When I hold the phone to my ear, the angle it's at is anyway from 20 to 45 degrees, so I have to set the threshold pretty low.  When I bring the phone down to view it, it has to be almost flat in order to keep the screen from locking.  It may just be me, but it doesn't work really at all functionally.  Using the light sensor works great, but it's hard to get a good setting since light conditions vary so much.  If it's bright outside it won't lock, so I have to raise the threshold, but then if I'm in the dark it's locked all the time.  It's definitely hard to find that equilibrium.  I'm not sure how to even improve that honestly from a coding perspective.  The iPhone uses it's accelerometer and somehow it works flawlessy.  I'd love to know exactly how they are doing that.

Cheers.

[JohKarJes]

Hi Joo6 (and all other readers),

Thanks for the update.
This will be tricky to resolve, due to the device limitations. Perhaps I could come up with some kind of mix between accelerometer and light sensor as proposed before.
Please note that the Iphone works with a completely different approach.
As far as I know this one uses a infrared receiver transmitter combination to detect an object near the device. This approach has even been patented.
Probably they use such a complicated system because of the limitations of using an accelerometer and light detector.

My update:
I found a problem in the routine that handles the accelerometer. This one explains why the app is acting strange in some situations.
The scenario: When holding the phone upright just over the 90 degrees angle, or shake it a little up/down in this position (while in a call), the phone keeps locking/unlocking.
I already mastered this bug, but I'm also busy trying to find the why the app closes unexpectedly.
I'm planning to do another release when this has been solved.

regards
JohKarJes

[j006]

JohKarJes, on Oct 17 2009, 14:18, said:

Please note that the Iphone works with a completely different approach.
As far as I know this one uses a infrared receiver transmitter combination to detect an object near the device. This approach has even been patented.
Probably they use such a complicated system because of the limitations of using an accelerometer and light detector.

You were absolutely right.  I did some quick research and found out the iPhone has a dedicated proximity sensor for blanking the screen when you bring it to your face.  Apparently the 3GS has two of these!  Wow.

Still can't get the process to stay open for some reason, and it doesn't seem to be SPB mobile shell.  Wish I could figure this one out.  

[JohKarJes]

j006, on Oct 19 2009, 14:44, said:

.....Still can't get the process to stay open for some reason, and it doesn't seem to be SPB mobile shell.  Wish I could figure this one out.  

I think I found the problem. The theory is as follows (if you're interested... ):
Your system is short on resources; it will politely ask the apps to close the app or to free resources, which is refused by AutoCalllocker.
But...if the system is still short on resources, it will forcefully terminate the least used application(s).
Since this app is the likely to be the least used running app (it has no GUI when running in the background), it will be closed.

In short, there is not much you can do except maybe installing as many apps as possible in flash memory to keep your RAM memory free.

But...I am working on a solution; by running the application in a different way which makes pretty sure the OS cannot close it anymore.
Unfortunately this has a big impact on the current code, so it will take at least a week to finish this fix. Hope you can wait....

greetz JohKarJes.

[cuongking]

I want to use G-seson to answer the call as the iPhone

[drgun]

Good job, it looks very practical.
Did anybody try it on the Omnia2 ( I8000 ) running WinMo 6.5 ? I would like to try it on mine but I want to make sure it works because of the 480 x 800 resolution.

[amb123]

I like the application. I don't find to many problems on my omnia. I use original  ROM dxhh3/dzhh3-pda and dxhh3-phone parts. Accelerometer works fine for me as well as light sensor. Everything works fine if I got a call and my device is in unlocked state at the moment. However, if it is locked to begin with then when I get a call the screen is rapidly toggling back and forth between "unlock" and "cancel" options. I can see this toggling in horizontal position (the screen is "on") and in vertical I know it is happening because of the constantly firing haptic feedback (the screen is "off"). If I disable the haptic feedback, it is fine it does not interfere with a conversation. I think the problem is that this program does not override OS lock. I guess there is might be a conflict between OS and AutoCallLocker that is not handled well just yet. For me it is not a major bug but it would be nice to have it fixed. I'll be more than happy to donate, because the application is extremely useful.

[JohKarJes]

amb123, on Oct 24 2009, 19:22, said:

I like the application. I don't find to many problems on my omnia. I use original  ROM dxhh3/dzhh3-pda and dxhh3-phone parts. Accelerometer works fine for me as well as light sensor. Everything works fine if I got a call and my device is in unlocked state at the moment. However, if it is locked to begin with then when I get a call the screen is rapidly toggling back and forth between "unlock" and "cancel" options. I can see this toggling in horizontal position (the screen is "on") and in vertical I know it is happening because of the constantly firing haptic feedback (the screen is "off"). If I disable the haptic feedback, it is fine it does not interfere with a conversation. I think the problem is that this program does not override OS lock. I guess there is might be a conflict between OS and AutoCallLocker that is not handled well just yet. For me it is not a major bug but it would be nice to have it fixed. I'll be more than happy to donate, because the application is extremely useful.

Hi,

This will be solved in the next build (if we are talking about the same bug). I was able to reproduce something similar while in a call, and holding the device just over a 90 degr. angle.
Before I will release I want to fix a reported closing bug as well. This one is hard to solve, and some parts of the code had to be rewritten.
Anyway, you can expect this probably end this week !

regards, JohKarJes

[Grassguy]

Just wanted to report a bug i had with 004...when i'm on a call and i hold my phone straight (screen facing forward, not up) the vibration goes crazy and locks and unlocks every half a second.  

Great app!  Lovin 003!

Thanks for your contribution!

[blazingwolf]

Grassguy, on Oct 27 2009, 12:19, said:

Just wanted to report a bug i had with 004...when i'm on a call and i hold my phone straight (screen facing forward, not up) the vibration goes crazy and locks and unlocks every half a second.  

Great app!  Lovin 003!

Thanks for your contribution!

That is a known bug that will hopefully be fixed in the next version.

[tzatziki]

This is perhaps the best application I have seen for my Omnia so far... it has been my dearest wish for a long time now, to have such an application installed to my phone.
There are however some bugs, none of which is unknown to you. The first one is the inadequate on and off switching while using the accelerometer, the second one (which is the biggest problem for me) is the inability to switch on the screen when I am in an entirely dark enviroment (which makes it impossible for the light sensor to switch the screen back on). I have read the explanation about the proximity sensor and whatsoever, and I get that we are facing hardware restrictions here (namely that the omnia only has a light sensor), but it would be nice if the screen could be switched back on by using a simple key, eg. the volume control. What happens now in a dark room is that even if I try to press the volume control the screen flashes up for a fraction of a second and then goes dark again, making it unable for me to have a proper look at my phone. Why does it go dark again? If we are in an entirely dark room then the light sensor should switch the screen on if it senses the backlight of my phone, shouldn't it? I have set the sensitivity to 1, and still it does not work properly: continues to turn on and off in the dark environment lit by my backlight.
Hope I was understandable.

Anyway, discovering this masterpiece of work has been the greatest surprise to me ever since I got my omnia. Fantastic work, JohKarJes!

Edited by tzatziki, 29 October 2009 - 07:58 PM.

[Ste-V-illage]

can you add time range? I use light sensor and have problem when using in dark, even I set light sensor to 1, it still lock my fone.

[cuongking]

blazingwolf, on Oct 27 2009, 23:43, said:

That is a known bug that will hopefully be fixed in the next version.

can you also use G-sensor functions to answer the call? thansks alot!!!

[snickle]

Great app.  One oddity though.  When using it in my car mounted in a cradle with power supplied.  Once you are in a call the screen flash on and off continuously until the call is over.

Any ideas?

[SilverPony2001]

Been using this app for awhile, and just had a suggestion.  As someone stated before, somehow using the light sensor and g sensor together, what if it could work like this...  The light sensor would be the main factor to determine if the phone locks or not... however, if you answer a call and the light sensor detects RIGHT AWAY that it is already past the threshhold to lock, it switches to the g sensor.  Example, the the light sensor usually works good for me, except in dark places, or at night in my car.  If there was a way for the program to recognize that you just answered a call, and it is already to dark, but obviously you didn't answer the phone with it already to your ear, then it would use the G sensor to lock for that specific call.  I hope this makes sense.

[JohKarJes]

Hi all,

I just finished and uploaded a new version: V1005.  On the outside not much has changed, but under the surface it is working in a totally different way.
The app works as a kind of service now, and is almost impossible to close by the OS when it is short of memory. This should fix closing bug definitely.

Further I have fixed the problem that the device would lock/unlock repeatedly when holding the device in a 90 degrees angle, using the accelerometer.
And last but not least, I have added a 'buy me a coffee'  link to keep me going...

Next thing on my list is adding some more features (unless you come up with bugs that must be solved   ...).
Probably I start with the combination of using the light sensor and accelerometer in a more intelligent way as proposed in some posts earlier (sound like good ideas !).

regards and again enjoy,

JohKarJes

Edited by JohKarJes, 05 November 2009 - 10:08 PM.

[Grassguy]

Sweet!  Thanks!  Will give it a go!

[Grassguy]

So far so good all bugs fixed!  Will donate on pay day.

[lioryte]

New V works great with both 23504&23088- Thanks for a great app

[amb123]

I really like this application. Unfortunately there are some issues. Comparing versions 4 and 5, I've noticed a couple of things so far. Version 4 has worked great for me with the exception of a small bug I mentioned in my previous post. Version 5 has the bug fixed but introduced another important one - compatibility with s2u2. It took me a while to figure out the right combination of options in s2u2 and Autocallocker (ACL) to make them both work. In general, s2u2 overrides ACL most of the time. In my current combination, during a phone call, the device gets locked/unlocked according to its position but the screen doesn't  go blank. If I select the "Blank screen" option in  ACL then s2u2 activates as soon as the phone in the vertical position and locks the screen;so, it does not matter in what position the phone is after that, it stays locked. I need to slide to unlock the screen then I can see phonepad again. This has practically the same effect as annoying Samsung's original  phonepad lock. I did not have this problem with version 4.
Also, I need to mention that before installing version 5, I decided to uninstall v.4 first. I was unable to do so. Even digging and cleaning through Windows folder and registry did not help. Even registry restoration did not help. After several attempts to get rid of it I gave up. I tried to install v.5 on or reinstall v.4, well... no luck. So, I had to hard reset and do a clean install of v.5.
Now, I want to go back to v.4. but I am afraid to touch it because I don't want to go through the hard reset again.
However, don't get me wrong I think that it is a great application. I am not complaining. It is a just report of what my experience is, so far.
I do appreciate and admire your work JohKarJes and I'll be experimenting with any new versions you'll come up with.