1. revtech's Avatar
    Alright, I'm going to finally stick my neck out and ask this. I'm hoping to get a thoughtful/helpful answer or three along with the sarcastic ones

    When they talk about active frames they say "you don't need to go in and out like android/ios". But you still need to swipe up to get rid of it, and tap on another frame to choose that one; I guess I don't see how that is different from (on android) clicking the recently used apps button and choosing what I want - its still two clicks, and I still go back to where I left off in the recently used app. So I guess I'm not seeing the benefit there.

    Then as for the hub they talk about one swipe and you see all your incoming stuff, can't you just swipe down from the top on android and see the notification shade, and from there I can ignore it and go back to what I'm doing or choose it? Again, seems like the same gesture, so I guess I'm missing the point on that too.

    And to say that active frames aren't widgets or live tiles seems like semantics/splitting hairs too, because it displays updated info and when you click it it goes into the app; isn't that what widgets and live tiles do too?

    Seriously, I'm not bashing the product, I am assuming that I'm the one who doesn't get it; but I would like it if someone could help me see the distinctions as they just seem kind of esoteric to me.

    Thanks
    01-30-13 02:30 PM
  2. austriker's Avatar
    Well the active frames are completely different than widgets.

    For example the active frames display information from your apps that can change based on the app's guidelines.

    And the widgets display information from the apps that can change based on the app's guidelines.

    Oh wait a second there..

    Ha, sorry I couldnt resist. Perhaps someone cooler than me can actually answer your question.
    revtech, Admorris and PiotrJot like this.
    01-30-13 02:41 PM
  3. Angelo_Campher's Avatar
    Well the active frames are completely different than widgets.

    For example the active frames display information from your apps that can change based on the app's guidelines.

    And the widgets display information from the apps that can change based on the app's guidelines.

    Oh wait a second there..

    Ha, sorry I couldnt resist. Perhaps someone cooler than me can actually answer your question.
    Android widgets are separately downloadable. With BlackBerry 10 the app itself acts like a widget in the active frames screen. If I'm not mistaken the developer decides what info gets displayed in the frame.
    01-30-13 02:50 PM
  4. revtech's Avatar
    Nope, sorry guys . . . anybody else wanna try?
    01-30-13 03:41 PM
  5. cfoxx's Avatar
    I was gobsmacked that they chose the 'hub' as one of their lead features for the launch. We've had a 'unified message inbox' for years on BlackBerry - and it's rubbish! There's an icon on my BlackBerry 7 screen right now called 'Messages' where the phone dumps Facebook messages, emails, Twitter messages, App World notifications and more... and it's a total fricken mess.

    Why on Earth is this one of their flagship features on BB10?!
    01-30-13 03:50 PM
  6. samab's Avatar
    Nope, sorry guys . . . anybody else wanna try?
    On a practical level of say a simple weather app --- there is really not much difference between live tile in windows 8 phone and active frames in BB10 --- it just show the city, the temperature and a sunny/cloudy icon.

    Active frames are the ACTUAL apps --- which means that theoretically you can play a video inside the active frames. Of course, it would be impractical in real life given the small size of the frame itself.
    revtech likes this.
    01-30-13 03:51 PM
  7. cfoxx's Avatar
    Active frames are the ACTUAL apps
    Basically then, active frames are live tiles that require the app to be open and running to be displayed, otherwise you just get the icon?

    In other words, they're worse than live tiles?
    01-30-13 03:55 PM
  8. ssbtech's Avatar
    I was gobsmacked that they chose the 'hub' as one of their lead features for the launch. We've had a 'unified message inbox' for years on BlackBerry - and it's rubbish! There's an icon on my BlackBerry 7 screen right now called 'Messages' where the phone dumps Facebook messages, emails, Twitter messages, App World notifications and more... and it's a total fricken mess.

    Why on Earth is this one of their flagship features on BB10?!
    You're right, I don't get it either. I hate seeing all my emails, missed phone calls, IM's, etc... in one big list.

    I also never used the unified contacts feature on the PlayBook. It jumbles in contacts from several different sources. If someone happens to spell their name differently in one place (Dave vs. David) for example, you end up with multiple contacts.
    01-30-13 04:08 PM
  9. samab's Avatar
    Basically then, active frames are live tiles that require the app to be open and running to be displayed, otherwise you just get the icon?

    In other words, they're worse than live tiles?
    But a BB10 app developer doesn't have to spend time to write a separate live tile.

    On a practical level, a simple weather app is a simple webworks app --- it ain't going to kill your system resources.
    01-30-13 04:14 PM
  10. kfh227's Avatar
    Alright, I'm going to finally stick my neck out and ask this. I'm hoping to get a thoughtful/helpful answer or three along with the sarcastic ones
    OK
    When they talk about active frames they say "you don't need to go in and out like android/ios".
    In and out refers to opening app A via tile, then going "home" thus closing app A (sometimes it stays open in memory, sometimes not), then finding app B via tile and opening it. Then going "home" closing app B, then finding app A via tile again.

    The Yahoo Mail! app is an example of an app that always opens as though it was never opened before in Android. BB10 would keep it open even when not in use.
    But you still need to swipe up to get rid of it, and tap on another frame to choose that one; I guess I don't see how that is different from (on android) clicking the recently used apps button and choosing what I want - its still two clicks, and I still go back to where I left off in the recently used app. So I guess I'm not seeing the benefit there.
    BB10:
    Open App A via tile. gesture up and then gesture left (I think) till App B found via tile, open it. To get back to A, you just gesture up and it can be found quicklly in your live tiles. To get back to B again, just gesture.
    If I worded this poorly there are a few key differences:
    Apps are ALWAYS in memory.
    The last 8 you opened are a gesture away. there is no need t find the tile for them.
    For those trying to save time, BB10 made transitioning between apps faster and easier.

    Then as for the hub they talk about one swipe and you see all your incoming stuff, can't you just swipe down from the top on android and see the notification shade, and from there I can ignore it and go back to what I'm doing or choose it? Again, seems like the same gesture, so I guess I'm missing the point on that too.
    Hub integrates all social media into one place. If you actually want to open any correspondance, the hub app is already running. There is no delay in actually getting to that actual e-mail or facebook post other than thefetch to the Yahoo! or Facebook server.
    And to say that active frames aren't widgets or live tiles seems like semantics/splitting hairs too, because it displays updated info and when you click it it goes into the app; isn't that what widgets and live tiles do too?
    Someone else would have to get into the nuances.

    Seriously, I'm not bashing the product, I am assuming that I'm the one who doesn't get it; but I would like it if someone could help me see the distinctions as they just seem kind of esoteric to me.
    Thanks
    My best advice is to start watching videos on these. They were available yesterday. I can only imagine that YouTube is full of examples. I know for a fact that there are iOS and Android side by sides. If no one has tackled your questions, soemone should. If anyone at carckberry is reading this, you have those BB10 phones, right?
    01-30-13 04:17 PM
  11. kfh227's Avatar
    Android widgets are separately downloadable. With BlackBerry 10 the app itself acts like a widget in the active frames screen. If I'm not mistaken the developer decides what info gets displayed in the frame.
    I think this is also how Windows 8 works.
    01-30-13 04:20 PM
  12. cfoxx's Avatar
    You're right, I don't get it either. I hate seeing all my emails, missed phone calls, IM's, etc... in one big list.

    I also never used the unified contacts feature on the PlayBook. It jumbles in contacts from several different sources. If someone happens to spell their name differently in one place (Dave vs. David) for example, you end up with multiple contacts.
    Yes! Absolutely agree, the contacts mashup was absolute garbage. Why would I want Twitter friends or Facebook friends whose phone number I don't have in my contacts book?

    Why would I want Tweets mixed in with my emails? If I want to Tweet, I use the Twitter app! If I want to Facebook, I use the Facebook app.
    01-30-13 04:32 PM
  13. anon(1005582)'s Avatar
    A widget can never be removed (ie, if you close the music app, the music widget is still present, as with any other widget that has an app attached to it). Active frames are live. Remember the QNX kernal is an active kernal. So if for example you have twitter open in BB10 (which also means the active frame is open) and you get a tweet, the active frame will change to that tweet and if you click on that active frame, u will be taken right to that point without the app having to reload the app. On Android (note I don't know the following for sure). If you have a twitter widget and get a tweet, when you open the twitter app, it will have to load every time.
    austriker likes this.
    01-30-13 04:53 PM
  14. anon(1005582)'s Avatar
    @ cFoxx
    Maybe if you were listening to the videos posted, you don't have to have all your social networks mixed together. You have the choice to have what shows up in the HUB. If you only want email than don't add your Twitter app to the HUB. Troll much
    kfh227 likes this.
    01-30-13 04:55 PM
  15. mikeo007's Avatar
    Basically then, active frames are live tiles that require the app to be open and running to be displayed, otherwise you just get the icon?

    In other words, they're worse than live tiles?
    Not worse, just different. Every multitasking approach is different between BB10, WP8, iOS and Android. I don't think there's any clear-cut winner, each has it's pros and cons.

    A widget can never be removed (ie, if you close the music app, the music widget is still present, as with any other widget that has an app attached to it). Active frames are live. Remember the QNX kernal is an active kernal. So if for example you have twitter open in BB10 (which also means the active frame is open) and you get a tweet, the active frame will change to that tweet and if you click on that active frame, u will be taken right to that point without the app having to reload the app. On Android (note I don't know the following for sure). If you have a twitter widget and get a tweet, when you open the twitter app, it will have to load every time.
    You are wrong. First, this ability nothing to do with QNX. Second, your assumption about how Android would handle your scenario is incorrect.
    01-30-13 05:03 PM
  16. cjcampbell's Avatar
    Ok... I'll take my shot at this one.....Active frames are minimized, running versions, of the app you are in. By swiping up, you are minimizing it. In it's minimized state, it is still running so that when you go back to it, it opens right away, no loading of the app, and, if the app is dynamic and makes changes, you will not be where you left off, but where the content is currently at. Now, many people have more than 1 page of icons on their phones. What this does, is let's you keep what's running and being used, active and accessable as opposed to having to go home, swipe over a couple of pages, and re enter an app you were just in. I know iOS has the double tap of the home button, but that shows what's running with no displayed content. Not sure how Android does it.

    As for the Hub, the difference between bringing down your notification screen, is that once you've checked, say the latest text you got, it's gone. If you have no NEW messages, that screen is empty. With the hub, it's all right there..... read or not. When I get a FB message, and I look at it, it does not launch my FB app, but lets me reply from there and then get back to what I was doing. This saves having to have FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, etc, open. It all comes right there and minimizes the need to have open, running, active apps.

    I hope this was ok... I'm sure I've missed something and I'm sure others could explain far better than I but I had to take a shot at it.
    dusdal and revtech like this.
    01-30-13 05:22 PM
  17. joeldf's Avatar
    To those complaining about the hub being just the unified inbox again, have you seen the demos?

    It doesn't look or act at all like the unified inbox of OS 6 and 7. I agree that the messages box is a mess. If set for it, everything goes in there and you can't tell which email account a message belongs to. I have two accounts and I dis-associated both from the unified inbox - anything that can be disconnected from it, is. I like to see my email messages separated by email account.

    The hub looks like it's one place for all messages and notifications, but within that, all message apps and accounts are listed separately, and from there you can go into each account.

    Seems reasonable to me, and not at all what we have now.
    austriker likes this.
    01-30-13 05:34 PM
  18. calicocat2010's Avatar
    To those complaining about the hub being just the unified inbox again, have you seen the demos?

    It doesn't look or act at all like the unified inbox of OS 6 and 7. I agree that the messages box is a mess. If set for it, everything goes in there and you can't tell which email account a message belongs to. I have two accounts and I dis-associated both from the unified inbox - anything that can be disconnected from it, is. I like to see my email messages separated by email account.

    The hub looks like it's one place for all messages and notifications, but within that, all message apps and accounts are listed separately, and from there you can go into each account.

    Seems reasonable to me, and not at all what we have now.
    Ok one thing I am not understanding is if the social network apps are baked in to the Hub, do we really even need the apps themselves installed on our BB10?
    01-30-13 10:16 PM
  19. cjcampbell's Avatar
    Ok one thing I am not understanding is if the social network apps are baked in to the Hub, do we really even need the apps themselves installed on our BB10?
    Yes... say you want to browse FB or search on Twitter, you won't be able to do things like that via the Hub. The Hub is for all your messages and alerts. You can read and respond but it isn't the full app experience.
    01-30-13 10:51 PM
  20. Masahiro's Avatar
    I've said this before, but the Android pull-down menu is garbage. I hate it, compared to the one key access to my unified inbox on my 9900. It's not ergonomic, having to reach up to the top of the screen with my thumb and hand in awkward positions. It doesn't show older messages, causing me to have to look back through different applications depending on what I'm looking for. The point is, it's simply not enjoyable to use, and for something that I have to use hundreds of times on a daily basis, that's a BIG deal.
    That's why the BlackBerry Hub is one of the biggest draws for the Z10 for me. It might not be as quick as just pressing the convenience key on the side to bring me straight to the inbox, but it should come damn close (and I don't have to sometimes fiddle around to find the button when I pull the phone out of my pocket).

    As for the active frames, I think that may be a lot harder to explain until I actually get my hands on a Z10. What I know with my Android is that I only use the app switcher to swipe away apps that I've forgotten about, not so much to switch apps. With Active Frames, I'd be constantly aware of what apps I have running, and can close them as soon as I don't need them. That would probably make switching between tasks a lot easier without having a bunch of open applications to sort through (or swipe away).
    I don't know for sure. Like I said, I'd have to try it out myself. I'm used to my 9900 where everything I needed was hotkeyed and I wasn't more than two button presses away from launching an app. Android feels...cumbersome in comparison, and hopefully BB10 is better in that regard.
    cjcampbell and austriker like this.
    01-30-13 11:49 PM
  21. Masahiro's Avatar
    Oh, and slightly off topic, but have I ever mentioned how angry it makes me when I'm typing out a message on the virtual keyboard (I sure hope the one on BlackBerry 10 is significantly better, otherwise I'm done with non-physical keyboards for good) and I accidentally hit the home button instead of the space bar? Sometimes when that happens, I just want to
    01-31-13 12:08 AM
  22. afh81's Avatar
    With regards to the people bashing the contacts from multiple areas (this is now way off topic from the original questions. Sorry.) I agree to an extent. When I first tried to sync stuff to my playbook it was a nightmare. I got a GS3 back in June and when I imported my contacts, I thought I would try and sync photos from facebook (LIKE THE BLACKBERRY DID.....WELL). I clicked sync, and yes, I got their photos synced from my contacts, I also got EVERY BLOODY facebook friend added into my contact list. Hundreds of people that I often don't speak too, with no info other than they were my facebook friend. It was insane.

    I guess, to end this quickly is, you have the OPTION of what you want to sync in your hub. Myself, it would just be emails, texts, and twitter. MAYBE bbm, but that might be pushing it.

    Finally, no phone cleans your data very well, so really it's down to the user to make sure you have solid contact data in your own device. It requires a bit of upkeep from time to time
    01-31-13 02:08 AM

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