yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] itsjusttim:
Why not just install a custom rom?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] VCURamEngineer:
You can order the tags preformatted as NDEF. Buynfctags will format them for $0.05/pc. I got 5 sticky tokens formatted and shipped for less than $10.00.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] brobits:
I bought 14 tags from tagstand.com. They have a wide variety of tags (as small as 25mm I believe), as well as "outdoor" styled tags. Their prices are competitive ($1.00 USD/ea), and they have an option to pre-format the tags for you.

I should receive the tags in a week, and I'll post back if they work well.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] s.m.knipe:
I just bought some of the outdoor ones from them as well, I can't wait to play around with them
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TulpiX:
Do you guys know a good shop for nfc tags. Located in Europe? Or that delivers fast and cheap to Europe?

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] VCURamEngineer:
http://www.jwksoftware.com/nfc-tags
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] s.m.knipe:
These guys are in Finland, and it looks like they are doing some pretty cool stuff with custom logos and such. I have no idea about how good/bad they are to do business with though...

http://www.tagage.net/tagage-shop/
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] supercrw:
It looks like the big ones are jumping on the ship as Sony has presented xperia tags.

w ww.sonyericsson.com/cws/products/accessories/overview/xperia-smarttags?cc=gb&lc=en#view=overview

I can't post links yet...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ohrensessel:
I created a new user account for their shop. three minutes later I got an email stating that I should have a look at some page where the problems around unformated tags and the galaxy nexus are explained. and they format them for free if you ask them to do so.

i'm living in hamburg, germany, they are from finland. ordered on the 4th of january, got them on the 9th. (I ordered the starter pack)

so from my point of view I would totally recommend them.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TulpiX:
Thanks.

I will look into that
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shanedroid:
Trying to understand the benefits of using something like tasker to automate tasks versus NFC tags?

Any reason to go with NFC or are you just enjoying the new technology?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilbur-force:
Im wondering this too. Surely something like Llama does the same thing ....

Is it just 'shiny new toy' syndrome ? .... and i dont mean that as a criticism :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shanedroid:
After reading the 20+ pages from the creator of the NFC Task Launcher it seems the advantages are being able to make things happen instantly via the tag in very specific situations.

For example one next to your bed to turn on your alarm put the phone on silent and dim the screen. One on your coffee table to turn your tv on and change the channel. People are getting creative so it seems like if you have multiple things you want to do in one location these NFC stickers will be more useful than tasker.

Also you can program the NFC chip to execute a tasker profile or command, not too familiar with tasker but you can make the NFC sticker execute tasker.

Needless to say I bought 10 stickers to try them out, for only being 1$ it's something that is worth it to try.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] krohnjw:
For me the usefulness comes in that you can specify a physical location (or portable in some uses) using an NFC tag.

Placing a tag in a car dock that sets my phone up in a car profile when it is put into the dock automatically isn't something offered by Tasker/Llama/Locale. I want it to work if my car is in my garage, in a parking garage, in the airport parking lot or outside of a restaurant. Using location based or time based profiling just doesn't work in a lot of these instances.

Having the ability to limit the profile/actions to a physical scan means I can be in my bedroom and have my phone operate normally, and when I choose to got to bed (At any time) it's a simple touch to set the phone up for a night mode on the night stand. I am not reliant on it being before or after a specific time (as I don't want it switching to night mode when I am up late and still awake). And I am not reliant on GPS polling for my physical location.

Again, Tasker / Locale / Llama all have their place and uses. For what I wanted to accomplish though they just don't work well.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jordo_99:
One really cool use I've seen is business card with NFC so that it automatically loads up a new contact with all the information filled in...you just edit what you want (name probably) and then save.

Another is foursquare (though I don't use it)...you touch the tag and it automatically pulls up the stuff so you only need hit submit to update.

One last one would be labels on posters/merchandise...you could essentially use NFC tags to launch up a review/demo of the product...you could also use this to perhaps launch a webpage-based trailer for a movie just by swiping past the box it's in.

I'm sure there's much more creative ideas on the horizon...basically anything that can be done via launching a URL can be done immediately...Places (starbucks comes to mind, could possibly have a tag that launches the android market page for their app at the counter).

PS, Google Wallet essentially runs off NFC too
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Dakota0206:
You mean QR Codes are outdated?

I think I am going to play around with this. already LOVE Google Wallet. I have three quick questions though.

1. Is it recommend/necessary to purchase pre-formatted tags to use with the Verizon LTE Galaxy Nexus? I have just switched to Gummy ROM based on 4.0.3 (I know need to update my signature). From what I have read 4.0.3 will support formatting, but is it just easier to purchase pre-formatted tags? Better question: Is there a down side to buying pre-formatted tags?

2. Which app would you recommend to program the tags with?

3. Anyone know a reputable supplier of NFC tags for someone in the U.S.?

I appreciate any advice.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] :
I definitely want to play with this! Does anyone know a shop in the Netherlands or a webshop that ships to the Netherlands that sells smaller amounts of these NFC stickers?

thx
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] krohnjw:
There is no downside outside of a small additional cost sometimes. If you are on a properly done 4.0.3 rom it should format. With that said it won't hurt to get them formatted.

It doesn't matter. All apps use the same NdefFormatable class to format the tags NDEF, there is no difference in implementation, it's all done on the system side.

Tagstand.com

I've listed quite a few shops that I've personally used here: http://www.jwksoftware.com/nfc-tags

See the link above. There are quite a few shops based in the UK/Europe that ship around Europe.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] tjhart85:
QR codes definitely take longer. You have to launch an application and then point the camera at it, line it up, wait for it to focus and then it goes.

With NFC, you touch your phone to the tag and it goes.

Its a relatively small difference all things considered, but it can be the difference between a person using it & not bothering.

1. With 4.0.3, it doesn't really make a difference. No plus and no minus. The only minus would be if you paid extra to have it formatted.

2. I've been using NFC Task Launcher [it's like $2 ... use the money you save by not buying pre-formatted to buy this].

3. I bought the hobbyist kit from tagstand.com It came within a few days (I chose unformatted since they wanted additional $ to program.

Obviously, if you aren't on 4.0.3, then buy pre-formatted, but otherwise there isn't really a point.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Dakota0206:
I purchased some tags from tagstand.com. Just FYI to anyone reading, tagstand.com's purchase process was smooth and hassle free. No registration or account setup needed. In a day and age that I can't even walk into a store and purchase a pair of jeans without giving name, email, and phone number I found it refreshingly simple.

I did go ahead and spring for the pre-formatted. who knows I may one day flash back to a 4.0.2 ROM like ARHD someday.

Thank you everyone for the input. I think I got the thanks button on everyone :D
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] geemaan:
I have a bunch of ski passes that have NFC chips in them. Is there an app that can use them to trigger actions on my phone or do I have to order blanks?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lexcyn:
I would buy from tagstand but the shipping to Canada is absolutely ridiculous. ($25 USPS for stickers?!?!)

Has anyone ordered from http://www.tagage.net/ ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] rman18:
Yeah, I bought from them too and it was easy to do, but I asked for preformatted and they weren't, so I had to switch roms to AOKP... also I ordered the better tags and they sent me cheaper ones... eh, Oh well... they work great, either way.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TulpiX:
So ordered on Sunday from tagage. Today I received my starter kit. Asked them to format the tags ndef. Tested one seems ok. So all went well there.

Now I have 2 questions.

1) is there a way to read tags without unlocking the phone?

2) is there a good tasker plugin? That just uses tasker?

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] krohnjw:
1.) No

2.) What do you mean? I have integrated Tasker support into NFC Task Launcher so that you can launch Tasker tasks. As far as a native plugin for reading NFC within tasker though I am not aware of one.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TulpiX:
Thanks I will look into nfc task launcher then

Its sad for point 1 I really would have loved this. So I would not have to unlock to do stuff.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] krohnjw:
It used to be that was in Gingerbread. They changed it in ICS though :-/
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TulpiX:
Is there any information why they changed it? Or if they plan to change it back?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] krohnjw:
I haven't seen any, but I haven't looked too hard. My guess would be for security as it relates to Google Wallet and mobile payments.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] shanedroid:
Security 100%.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] TulpiX:
I understand the security concerns. But i would prefer the checks for unlock to be in the aplication rather than system wide.

Something like apps could register to nfc tag scanning while locked and others not. So you could use automatisation while locked and apps like google wallet would not work.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Lithoss:
Alright, now i feel like a dummy working with NFC Task Launcher. When i open the app all i see is a set preferences below window. I can't do anything else with the program. I don't see an OK button, or any way to get out of the set preferences below window... Am I missing something?

edit: Nevermind.. seems you need the pay version to create anything useful...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] nfc-supplies:
You also got another 25mm tag :-)

Thanks for the kudos, we're learning as we're going!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] gnapoleon:
I ordered pre-formatted tags from Amazon, that was very easy: http://amzn.to/xtnnAP
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] eddie_gordo:
When you guys say that with < 4.0.3 we have to buy pre-formatted tags, what do you mean? We have to ask the store to prepare the tags to do the tasks we want? Or just format them in the NDEF format and then we can write the tasks with 4.0.1 or 4.0.2? Or am I just saying crap? :D

I wasn't able to understand this, need some clarity here... :) I need to know if I can order some now or wait until I get 4.0.3..

Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] nfc-supplies:
We also sell formatted tags on Amazon's UK site under nfc-supplies (ebay as well) and tappitag. nfcdog.com is a little cheaper though :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] krohnjw:
It just means they have to come already formatted with ANY NDEF message. It doesn't matter what it is. Once it's NDEF Android can use write from the NDEF library without a problem to overwrite the contents.

The issue is that the NdefFormatable tech isn't showing up for BLANK tags so they cannot be formatted NDEF (from non-NDEF).
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] eddie_gordo:
Ok so I'll be good to write my tasks with NFC Task Launcher in a NFC tag NDEF formatted, with Android 4.0.2, right? I thought I wouldn't be able to write the tasks I wanted to perform... ;) thanks!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] krohnjw:
Yes 10 chars
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bushbrother:
Got the tags last night, awesome! They work with no problem and are so tiny!

FYI I am on GSM Galaxy Nexus 4.0.2

I bought the app discussed in another thread from the market to do all the profile changes etc. Works like a charm.

Oh, and thanks for the free tag and honest statement about postage nfc-supplies!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] gnapoleon:
I wrote a quick blog post on setting those up. I did it for fun mostly but I find it a great use of technology to make your phone more usable in general:

http://www.frenchguys.com/wordpress/nfc-tags-android-galaxy-nexus/

Shutting off Bluetooth & Wi-fi this way also happens to save battery as I don't have them running for no reason.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] pascanu:
Nice but not as useful as expected

Just got my tags today (ordered from TagAge, delivered in 5 days, got a Starter Kit, highly recommended for europeans). Using NFC Task Launcher and Tasker. After playing for several hours with it my conclusion is that it's more a "new toy syndrome" than a useful thing and here's why:

- NFC actions are one time actions; i.e. you touch the tag, the phone performs an action; there's no "exit task" (it's not like the phone is monitoring if it's still close to the tag), you have to touch the tag a second time to toggle a switch or touch another tag to perform a different task.

- ICS does not allow apps to turn on/off GPS so you can't use NFC for that (I was planning to enable GPS when the phone is in it's car holder)

- there's a beep every time you touch a tag; when you're in a quiet environment (e.g. bedroom) it's annoying; I haven't found a way to change the tone or silence it

- tags are pretty small, the largest I got could hold 1K. I tried putting a contact on it but it wouldn't fit, it was > 5 times bigger (photo?!). Other complex tasks can also get pretty big, bigger that can fit on smaller tags (most of them are 64 or 128 bytes). The workaround is to use Tasker: you create a Task that holds all the actions and use NFC Task Launcher only to read the tag and launch the Task. In this case using NFC is just ... geeky, you could do the same by putting a shortcut on your screen.

I just hope someone comes up with a much more powerful app, I feel there's more potential to be unleashed.
[HTC Sensation] Skip-Breezy:
I just flashed the newest version of the HyperSensation ROM & the keyboard is constantly freezing, causing my applications to freeze up as well. What to do?
[HTC Sensation] M pro:
You need to disable predictive txt in the keyboard..

I had the same problem
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] DuranC:
This is somewhat of a basic question regarding ICS.

I set the default video player to the stock one on ICS accidentally, and I cannot change the default video player to BSPlayer now (which is also installed on my system).

I went to Settings>Apps and tried to look for the stock ICS Video Player but I cannot find it to change the "Launch By Default" selection.

Can anyone help with this? Thanks in advance.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] DuranC:
Never mind. I figured it out. "Gallery" is what the stock ICS video app is called.

I used Default App Manager to figure this out.
[Asus  Eee Pad Transformer Prime] jcblued:
Gallery

a year later... i have a similar problem.

I receive *.mov files on my mail - and i also accidentally chose the default Video player for my HTC - ICS.

so now its unable to play the file directly and says "Cannot play video - Sorry this video cannot be played" when i click on the attachment

I have already reset MX player reset to default - and also reset the "Gallery" to default but still the same thing - i still cannot play the video directly after downloading the mov attachment.

appreciate your inputs.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilskywalker:
Hi all,

I was wondering with all the fantastic softkey modifications so far, would it be possible to incorporate the app drawer launcher button in the softkey bar? This would simplify the interface at the bottom of the stock launcher screen and create more desktop real estate. For people like myself who like a minimal-istic look with full view of the wallpaper it would be great too!

I have attached an image to better explain what I mean.

Button function would be as follows:

Back key: Back & long press to kill current app.

Home Key: Home.

App key: Open/Close app drawer.

Multi-task key: Multi task.

Menu key: Context sensitive menu & long press for Search.

Many thanks folks! :D
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bryannh:
very awesome idea, i like it!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] paedigut:
I like that one too; is it even possible to access the app drawer directly out of an app ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Soulfl:
Wow that is exactly what i want out of my soft keys!...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Redflea:
Interesting idea. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] 9kracing:
Yes, wave launcher can already do this
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] 9wire:
I would like this as well, good idea.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Nitroz:
+1 for this idea. If I knew how to write fresh code and went down the developer path I may of taken this on...why oh why did I have to take the theming path :p

Great idea all the same, lets hope a talented dev can get this done.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] yuyudroid:
very awesome idea +1 ^^
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilskywalker:
Ah fantastic, thanks for the great response folks, I'm glad people like the idea too. I only wish I had the coding knowledge to work on it myself... I'm slowly trying to learn as much as I can, but this is well out of my league currently lol!

Hopefully one of our many talented devs will like the idea as well and be able to put something together :D
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] :
that is one amazing concept, I suggest we all make requests for this at the thread of the ROM we're each currently using, a lot of our awesome devs take requests!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] WRrobby:
You could do what I do is use a third party launcher such as ADW and turn off the dock. Set the home button binding to open and close the app drawer.

Just throwing out a suggestion. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Nitroz:
I'd suggest contacting RomanBB, he's working on AOKP adding options and ROM control to his ROM. I'm guessing he might know what to do
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Soulfl:
Thanks for the help Nitroz and by the way im running black exodus on Bixixe 8 and i love it, the look the feel the everything...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Drewmungus:
Basically You would need to create a shortcut to to the app drawer in a specific launcher. Or a shortcut to a specific app like 3d app drawer.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] hxdrummerxc:
This would be awesome. I love the minimalistic look....

I already modded my stock launcher to not have the white line above the icons.... and then deleted my icons just for the sole purpose of keeping it minimal and maxing wallpaper space.

I would love the ability to add a launcher button to the soft keys, but what would the button do while the launcher is already up... or an app is open? Would it dissapear.... that would be cool.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] wilskywalker:
Thanks :)

Having had the original idea, I really would like to code this myself therefore giving something back to the community, but as I said I really wouldn't know where to start.

My assumption based on what I've read is that this would require modifications to the system ui apk?

Anyone who could help me with this it would be much appreciated.

How did you remove the line above the launcher icons as this would need to be part of the mod, perhaps if I start with simple changes I could move on from there?

I was thinking 'ClearLauncher' as a mod name too??? :D

Thanks

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SwiftLegend:
Since we have a dedicated recent apps button, I think it'd be cool if we could long press the home button for the app drawer. It would make it even more minimalistic
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] hxdrummerxc:
Yea.... all the modding for the new soft key icon should be within SystemUI.apk. there is tutorial on rootzwiki showing how to add buttons like search to the soft keys. It was all done within systemui. It should be the same process, except i have no idea what the code would be for the app drawer. I can send a link to the tutorial when i get on my computer.

Also, to remove the white line..... that was part of the launcher. Launcher2.apk. it was just an image edit. Changed the .png from white to transparent. I dont know the exact filename off the top of my head, but ill post that too when i get on my computer.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Enhanced:
I've ventured into modding the softkeys keys with help from this thread:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=21258064#post21258064

You must know how to decompile/recompile the SystemUI.apk in order to get started. Once you open the appropriate .xml, you need to edit the "keycode" values of the buttons which can obtained from here:

http://developer.android.com/reference/android/view/KeyEvent.html

The only problem is is that keycode actions are limited. This means that only certain buttons can appear in the navigation bar. If you look at the Android dev site, the only useful ones I've found through my testing that actually worked were:

KEYCODE_POWER - This powers off the device.

KEYCODE_CALL - Launches the "Phone" app.

KEYCODE_EXPLORER - Launches the "Browser" app.

KEYCODE_MUSIC - Launches the "Music" app.

KEYCODE_CONTACTS - Launches the "Contacts" app.

KEYCODE_CALCULATOR - Launches the "Calculator" app.

KEYCODE_CALENDAR - Launches the "Calendar" app.

I was hoping KEYCODE_CAMERA and KEYCODE_NOTIFICATION would allow me to go into the Camera app and bring down the notification bar respectively but they didn't work with my testing. KEYCODE_CAMERA only takes a picture when you are in the Camera app already which isn't useful.

So as you can see, a softkey for the App Drawer isn't possible through these means as there lacks a "keycode" for it. I assume if it's even possible for the ability to launch any app, such as the app drawer, it would require some deep hacking which I'm not familiar with by any means. A real dev would have to take on this task. However, if you want buttons in the nav bar that can launch those above, it's easy. I've personally added a button to power off the device as seen below:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SwiftLegend:
Based on this information, couldn't we just duplicate the KEYCODE_CALL and edit it to point to an app drawer instead? It'd have to be a dedicated app drawer app I assume, not something like the app drawer in ADW or LPP. I'm pretty sure there is an app like that, I just don't know the name.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] nbeebe24:
A link I found that someone has already mentioned here: http://rootzwiki.com/topic/13730-how-totutsoftkey-mod/
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] arrtoodeetoo:
Anyone make any progress on this?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] twistkill:
this looks and sounds so perfect for the nexus!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ElectronicYank:
really like that idea!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] android01:
Do want
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] gogodu5sU:
- Download the latest Apex Launcher

- In Apex settings set the home button to app drawer

- remove the dock in Apex setting

Now if you press the home button while on the homescreen, the app drawer will come up.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] blckngldhwk:
My setup...

Soft keys I have search home and back.

Hold search brings up voice search. Home goes to home screen. If im on the home screen it pulls up app drawer. Holding home brings up recents.

I'm on kang aosp rom. Options are in from control and Nova settings.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] kronikings:
With nova you already can press home to open the app drawer. I'm waiting for gestures to be implemented making it so you can swipe up to open the app drawer..
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] scottspa74:
This is a great mod request. Coming to android from WinMo, for the last 18mo, I've been so pissed that in order to get to app drawer, you have to go to home screen first (as opposed to winmo persistent start menu bar).

However, after 16mo., I finally found out Wave launcher fixes this. Can launch app drawer from any app, no matter where you are in your phone.