[Ragbert]

I also have a new LE and I'm brand new to Android, so I've spent the last 2 days learning the OS as well as I can, and reading tons of advice in these forums. I'll be activating it with Verizon (it's a BBE-100-5 model) but I wanted to make sure hardware and software work correctly first.

So far most of it is going great. Hub+ works reasonably well, I managed to get my email account set up, checked out the settings in Hub+ vs the overall OS settings, etc.

The only thing I can't figure out is that sometimes, out of the blue, all my open apps (might be only 2, might be 6 or 7) will start resizing their app windows at once, and jumping from side to side, corner to corner of the screen. This is usually accompanied by incessant vibrating behind those 3 geometric buttons at the bottom of the screen. It all happens so suddenly and so fast, that shutting the phone down is sometimes my only way out of it. In fact I had intended to post this from my new phone but the Android CB Forums app just wouldn't hold still.

A few times I saw an error msg fly by that said something like "split screens not supported by this app". It does seem like some of the smaller flying windows have "handles" along their bottom borders to pull them down. But I have no clue what is triggering this or what triggers a split screen in the first place.

The tech details:
PRD-65005-002
Android 8.1.0
Update ACI448

I installed the Yalp and APKPure stores, but the only apps I've installed so far (from APKPure) are the Android CB Forums app, Firefox Focus, and a few card games. I downloaded Telegram but haven't installed it yet.

I have not used Chrome, Google Photos, or signed into anything that requests a Google account, and I am hoping not to have to. I also haven't yet transferred my files and data over from BB10.

Hope that's enough info to help me out with why my open apps jump all over the place. Thanks in advance, everyone!

Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

[Ragbert]

Figured it out with some help from the Interwebs...

I guess split-screen was a feature added to Android Nougat, so that you could run 2 apps at the same time, with a draggable border between them. Problems arise when there are multiple other apps running in the background, some of which don't support split-screen. When this happens, the apps that have to be full screen wreak havoc with the split screen display, and then everything open tries to adjust and you're left with an urban rumble which can get so out of hand you have to shut down the device and reboot.

Two solutions: 1) Close all but the 2 apps you want to use split screen - before you go into split-screen mode. Or 2) Go into developer mode (Settings»System»About»Build, tap 7 or 8 times on Build number), then go to Settings»System» Developer options, and enable "Force activities to be resizable".

No more jumping app windows!

I also have a new LE and I'm brand new to Android, so I've spent the last 2 days learning the OS as well as I can, and reading tons of advice in these forums. I'll be activating it with Verizon (it's a BBE-100-5 model) but I wanted to make sure hardware and software work correctly first.

So far most of it is going great. Hub+ works reasonably well, I managed to get my email account set up, checked out the settings in Hub+ vs the overall OS settings, etc.

The only thing I can't figure out is that sometimes, out of the blue, all my open apps (might be only 2, might be 6 or 7) will start resizing their app windows at once, and jumping from side to side, corner to corner of the screen. This is usually accompanied by incessant vibrating behind those 3 geometric buttons at the bottom of the screen. It all happens so suddenly and so fast, that shutting the phone down is sometimes my only way out of it. In fact I had intended to post this from my new phone but the Android CB Forums app just wouldn't hold still.

A few times I saw an error msg fly by that said something like "split screens not supported by this app". It does seem like some of the smaller flying windows have "handles" along their bottom borders to pull them down. But I have no clue what is triggering this or what triggers a split screen in the first place.

The tech details:
PRD-65005-002
Android 8.1.0
Update ACI448

I installed the Yalp and APKPure stores, but the only apps I've installed so far (from APKPure) are the Android CB Forums app, Firefox Focus, and a few card games. I downloaded Telegram but haven't installed it yet.

I have not used Chrome, Google Photos, or signed into anything that requests a Google account, and I am hoping not to have to. I also haven't yet transferred my files and data over from BB10.

Hope that's enough info to help me out with why my open apps jump all over the place. Thanks in advance, everyone!

Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

[Ben xfg]

Yay! Glad you could figure it out.

[Ragbert]

Thanks, Ben. It's still not 100% perfect, but it's much improved. I did some more searching online, and apparently there's no way in Android (at least through Oreo) to simply disable split screen entirely. But there are lots of people who would like to!

[Thud Hardsmack]

You've got something else happening that might need addressed. Split screen was introduced prior to Android Nougat, and while some apps were coded for it others were not. Those that aren't configured to use it should do nothing other than display a message in a window saying that it can't be done when the attempt is made. If you have a warranty or can use RMA, get it fixed or better yet replaced. You could always try a factory data reset but if it's new just swap it out.

[Ragbert]

Ack, really? I'm still within my 14 days of allowable free return/exchange, but I thought I'd made it through so far ok.

I found by disabling some notifications and nags for things I don't use anyway, that calmed things down a bit also.

I know some apps and games weren't made to support split screen, and sometimes I do see them say so. But they try anyway, resizing back and forth really fast. Sometime when only one app is open, it fights with the other blank half of the split screen, even when there's no other app open for it to fight.

So you really think I should return it to factory settings and call for an exchange? *sigh*

By the way, why on earth did they not make Split Screen capable of being turned off? Everything else seems to be.

Thanks for your comments, Thud. Not what I was hoping for but... I'll contact the store and see what's involved.

You've got something else happening that might need addressed. Split screen was introduced prior to Android Nougat, and while some apps were coded for it others were not. Those that aren't configured to use it should do nothing other than display a message in a window saying that it can't be done when the attempt is made. If you have a warranty or can use RMA, get it fixed or better yet replaced. You could always try a factory data reset but if it's new just swap it out.

Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

[Thud Hardsmack]

So you really think I should return it to factory settings and call for an exchange? *sigh*

That's been my policy with new and/or things I'm less familiar with - if it's not working correctly right out of the box it's most likely going to always be a problem or have problems, and I'll send it back while I have the opportunity.

[Ragbert]

Well I'm not convinced it's not just my settings. I'm trying to go the Google-less route, no Play Store, Services, gmail, a few others I didn't even recognise. Google tried hard with notifications and reminders and popups to get me to enable and use its native apps, but I finally succeeded in disabling enough settings that the Google family has remained quiet for a while. But those reminders were wreaking havoc with my installed apps before I finally quashed them.

Since I won't have time to do anything about returning it before the weekend anyway, I continued to poke around some more in Settings. Under Display, I turned off "Ambient Display" (Wake screen when you receive notifications.) I had noticed that the jumping around got excessively bad when I received a new email, because the inbox would automatically open half screen and sit in the background until I gave it my attention. Meanwhile the game I was playing or the CB Forums app would resist being squeezed into the other half of the screen, and the window jumping would continue.

So far... (fingers and toes crossed!) things seem to have calmed down after I turned Ambient Display off. If by the end of this weekend things are still not calm, I'll think about returning it. But I really think it's not a hardware fault.

That's been my policy with new and/or things I'm less familiar with - if it's not working correctly right out of the box it's most likely going to always be a problem or have problems, and I'll send it back while I have the opportunity.

Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

[Thud Hardsmack]

Well I'm not convinced it's not just my settings. I'm trying to go the Google-less route, no Play Store, Services, gmail, a few others I didn't even recognise. Google tried hard with notifications and reminders and popups to get me to enable and use its native apps, but I finally succeeded in disabling enough settings that the Google family has remained quiet for a while. But those reminders were wreaking havoc with my installed apps before I finally quashed them.

Since I won't have time to do anything about returning it before the weekend anyway, I continued to poke around some more in Settings. Under Display, I turned off "Ambient Display" (Wake screen when you receive notifications.) I had noticed that the jumping around got excessively bad when I received a new email, because the inbox would automatically open half screen and sit in the background until I gave it my attention. Meanwhile the game I was playing or the CB Forums app would resist being squeezed into the other half of the screen, and the window jumping would continue.

So far... (fingers and toes crossed!) things seem to have calmed down after I turned Ambient Display off. If by the end of this weekend things are still not calm, I'll think about returning it. But I really think it's not a hardware fault.





Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

That's still abnormal behavior. Disabling Google software doesn't cause display issues - there's something really wrong with that device.

[Thud Hardsmack]

I've de-bloated both these devices - I went a little extreme on my old G6 just to see what would happen, and it's still 100% usable and gets better battery life than it did when it was my daily driver. OnePlus 6t, also de-bloated but with my normal deployment of apps for comparison. You should be able to do the same with no adverse effects.

[johnsliderbb]

By the way, why on earth did they not make Split Screen capable of being turned off? Everything else seems to be.





Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

Eh?

Split screen standard is turned off.

It is only activated when you as user activate it by pushing the “square” block for longer than 1 second while you have one app open.

That open app will than be the top half of your screen. In the bottom half then you can pick one of the app also open in the back ground or start a new one.

Once done with running 2 apps on the foreground just drag the divider up or down will push one of the 2 foreground apps to the background and you are back to normal screen.

This is how split screen should work. If it doesn’t then if guess follow advise of previous posters.


For reference:

Short pushing the square will show you the apps you have currently open btw

My Android phones also are degoogled. Has no impact on split screen. Nor anything else actually except for push message delivery of eg WA and those nagging messages to enable stuff.

[johnsliderbb]

To add. As you have Yalp already, assume Fdroid you already have as well? Good place for open source non google dependant apps.

[Ragbert]

Oh! I did figure out that tapping the square shows you which apps are running. But I didn't know a long press on the square triggers the split screen. Maybe I've rested a finger there accidentally while holding the phone sideways - I will have to pay attention next time. I also know other things trigger it - e.g. a new email notification will do it. Or a clock alarm going off. Or pretty much anything running at the same time as the game you're playing.

The thing is, once the split screen is triggered, there should be a way to instantly kill it too, and I haven't found that yet. Ideally, I'd like to permanently disable ANYTHING triggering split screen.

Eh?

Split screen standard is turned off.

It is only activated when you as user activate it by pushing the “square” block for longer than 1 second while you have one app open.

That open app will than be the top half of your screen. In the bottom half then you can pick one of the app also open in the back ground or start a new one.

Once done with running 2 apps on the foreground just drag the divider up or down will push one of the 2 foreground apps to the background and you are back to normal screen.

This is how split screen should work. If it doesn’t then if guess follow advise of previous posters.


For reference:

Short pushing the square will show you the apps you have currently open btw

My Android phones also are degoogled. Has no impact on split screen. Nor anything else actually except for push message delivery of eg WA and those nagging messages to enable stuff.

[Ragbert]

Yes I have F-droid for open source apps - some nice stuff in there!

Yalp hasn't been working- it can't use its credentials to log into the G Playstore - fails every time. I searched for info online and some other people have said the same thing, but recommended Aurora, a Yalp fork. So I downloaded the Aurora apk file from Github, but I can't see how to install it. Double-clicking it in the Downloads folder does nothing.

So far, Android is not impressing me as an OS. It just makes me appreciate and mourn BB10 even more.

To add. As you have Yalp already, assume Fdroid you already have as well? Good place for open source non google dependant apps.

[Thud Hardsmack]

Oh! I did figure out that tapping the square shows you which apps are running. But I didn't know a long press on the square triggers the split screen. Maybe I've rested a finger there accidentally while holding the phone sideways - I will have to pay attention next time.

This is normal behavior.

I also know other things trigger it - e.g. a new email notification will do it. Or a clock alarm going off. Or pretty much anything running at the same time as the game you're playing.

None of these things should be triggering split screen, it's only available in the recently screen or a long press on the recently button. If it's doing it in its own you have a major error,send it back unless you want to do a factory reset and set up completely from scratch (no restore).

The thing is, once the split screen is triggered, there should be a way to instantly kill it too, and I haven't found that yet. Ideally, I'd like to permanently disable ANYTHING triggering split screen.

If split screen was behaving normally in your device, you'd just pull down on the edge to maximize again.

[Ragbert]

I have pulled down on the edge to maximise. Sometimes that works. But usually it snaps back up again like a cheap window shade. Sometimes it even snaps back up all the way into that little strip with the white symbols at the very top of the screen. Then I have to tap the square again to get it back.

This is normal behavior.

If split screen was behaving normally in your device, you'd just pull down on the edge to maximize again.

[johnsliderbb]

Yes I have F-droid for open source apps - some nice stuff in there!

Yalp hasn't been working- it can't use its credentials to log into the G Playstore - fails every time. I searched for info online and some other people have said the same thing, but recommended Aurora, a Yalp fork. So I downloaded the Aurora apk file from Github, but I can't see how to install it. Double-clicking it in the Downloads folder does nothing.
.

Is the Browser you used already heaving “install” rights? If not then indeed installation shouldnt start. However I would expect a query on whether you want to allow that Browser to have install rights.

Aurora is working at the moment. And can be found on Fdroid as well.

[Ragbert]

Yes, I'm using Firefox and it does have install rights. But maybe it can't install something I downloaded directly from Github and not from a "store" ? I'll try downloading Aurora from F-droid then and see if that works, thanks.

Is the Browser you used already heaving “install” rights? If not then indeed installation shouldnt start. However I would expect a query on whether you want to allow that Browser to have install rights.

Aurora is working at the moment. And can be found on Fdroid as well.

[Ragbert]

Installed Aurora Play store - very nice! I'm happy to be using Pandora again! I even was finally able to find and install BBMe for the first time (although getting it activated will have to be the topic of another thread - ugh).

Yes, I'm using Firefox and it does have install rights. But maybe it can't install something I downloaded directly from Github and not from a "store" ? I'll try downloading Aurora from F-droid then and see if that works, thanks.

[Ragbert]

Well, I've made an executive decision - I'm keeping the device. I am absolutely sure the problem is not the hardware, but the way I'm using it. (I'm holding it wrong, haha!).

I've been long-pressing things when I didn't mean to, and am still getting a feel for the screen sensitivity. I finally succeeded in dragging a bottom split window border, so that it wouldn't keep popping back up - by snapping down quickly, instead of dragging it slowly and carefully. I still wish split screen could be disabled permanently but apparently it can't - so be it.

I could do a factory reset without losing anything - I still haven't transferred anything over from my BB10 device, nor have I done the Verizon activation yet. But I really don't have the time to send it back and test another device - my weekends are sometimes just as busy as my week days. And I really do think I just need more time to get a feel for it. It's big for my hands, I'm still hitting buttons when I pick it up, and the screen is way more sensitive than what I'm used to. The mystery shapes and icons are hard to remember which does what, without text labels. A manual would have been appreciated, but since it doesn't come with one, it's all experimentation and new muscle memory. But I'll get there, and hope to be able to save others new to Android the same frustration I've had.

And finally, huge THANK YOUs to @Thud Hardsmack, @johnsliderbb, and @Ben xfg for your advice and encouragement. I appreciate all your nuggets of knowledge more than you know. :-)

That's still abnormal behavior. Disabling Google software doesn't cause display issues - there's something really wrong with that device.

[anon(10622733)]

Well, I've made an executive decision - I'm keeping the device. I am absolutely sure the problem is not the hardware, but the way I'm using it. (I'm holding it wrong, haha!).

I've been long-pressing things when I didn't mean to, and am still getting a feel for the screen sensitivity. I finally succeeded in dragging a bottom split window border, so that it wouldn't keep popping back up - by snapping down quickly, instead of dragging it slowly and carefully. I still wish split screen could be disabled permanently but apparently it can't - so be it.

I could do a factory reset without losing anything - I still haven't transferred anything over from my BB10 device, nor have I done the Verizon activation yet. But I really don't have the time to send it back and test another device - my weekends are sometimes just as busy as my week days. And I really do think I just need more time to get a feel for it. It's big for my hands, I'm still hitting buttons when I pick it up, and the screen is way more sensitive than what I'm used to. The mystery shapes and icons are hard to remember which does what, without text labels. A manual would have been appreciated, but since it doesn't come with one, it's all experimentation and new muscle memory. But I'll get there, and hope to be able to save others new to Android the same frustration I've had.

And finally, huge THANK YOUs to @Thud Hardsmack, @johnsliderbb, and @Ben xfg for your advice and encouragement. I appreciate all your nuggets of knowledge more than you know. :-)

You'll get there. If you really want solid advice stick to the Rehab if you know what I mean wink wink

[Ragbert]

LOL

You'll get there. If you really want solid advice stick to the Rehab if you know what I mean wink wink

Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

[Thud Hardsmack]

Well, I've made an executive decision - I'm keeping the device. I am absolutely sure the problem is not the hardware, but the way I'm using it. (I'm holding it wrong, haha!).

I've been long-pressing things when I didn't mean to, and am still getting a feel for the screen sensitivity. I finally succeeded in dragging a bottom split window border, so that it wouldn't keep popping back up - by snapping down quickly, instead of dragging it slowly and carefully. I still wish split screen could be disabled permanently but apparently it can't - so be it.

I could do a factory reset without losing anything - I still haven't transferred anything over from my BB10 device, nor have I done the Verizon activation yet. But I really don't have the time to send it back and test another device - my weekends are sometimes just as busy as my week days. And I really do think I just need more time to get a feel for it. It's big for my hands, I'm still hitting buttons when I pick it up, and the screen is way more sensitive than what I'm used to. The mystery shapes and icons are hard to remember which does what, without text labels. A manual would have been appreciated, but since it doesn't come with one, it's all experimentation and new muscle memory. But I'll get there, and hope to be able to save others new to Android the same frustration I've had.

And finally, huge THANK YOUs to @Thud Hardsmack, @johnsliderbb, and @Ben xfg for your advice and encouragement. I appreciate all your nuggets of knowledge more than you know. :-)

If you haven't fully set up then a factory reset shouldn't be a big deal. Here's hoping it fixes the glitches.

[Ragbert]

Not even sure I'm going to bother. (One more thing I don't know how to do yet on this device haha). Once I agreed to let Play Protect scan my non-Google-downloaded apps for security issues (it found none), DTEK gave me an Excellent score. Honestly, the split-screen glitches I ran into at the beginning have improved greatly as I have grown more careful with the interface.

If you haven't fully set up then a factory reset shouldn't be a big deal. Here's hoping it fixes the glitches.

Posted with my Classic, SQC100-3/10.3.3.3204

[anon(10622733)]

If you haven't fully set up then a factory reset shouldn't be a big deal. Here's hoping it fixes the glitches.

Hey Thud, what Key Devices do you have?