[Touch Diamond, MDA Compact IV Themes and Apps] milesdyson214:
tilt2 problem

i have 2.78 on the tilt 2.

i have tried and removed g-off before finding this. g-off worked

as it said but then i saw that screenchanger works with proximity

as i wanted.

however, firstly, as a side note 2.78 didn't do any rotation by default even with the two default checks it had. adding exceptions does work quite well, and with the sensitivity in the middle i love this feature. i'd probably actually want this no-rotation by default behavior anyway, but just thought i'd mention it.

the issue i'm having is that the proximity sensor doesn't seem to work right. i have all lights on in the room and the appropriate option to only turn off if there is no light checked. but if i just tilt the device towards face down enough it will turn off the screen even with light. this isn't a show stopper because i doubt i'll actually be using the device at enough of a tilt to cause issues.

so anyway, i find that rarely, it will not turn off the screen when flipped over while maintaining no proximity / keeping light (specifically, i turn it over above my head and look to see if it turns off--and no i'm not covering the proximity sensor with my finger--unless there is one that i don't know about its in or next to the speaker above the screen). if i cover the sensor while keeping it already flipped _should_ it turn off the screen (or rather could it?), because it doesn't for me. but regardless of this rarity, 99% of the time the screen goes off just by being face down even with light.

i have yet to find a case where it won't turn off when simply put face down on a flat surface, or even my couch. this all leads me to ask the question: how exactly do the accelerometers work? they can sense the pull of gravity at all times right? i mean, a basic springed weight accelerometer could detect gravity by the position of the weight, for example. so then it is not the actual motion i'm putting the device through that triggers your program, right? the sensitivity adjustment is only to help adjust the angle at which the program triggers the screen off right? in other words, the speed and continuity of acceleration to actually put the device in the final face down position is not a factor here right? because it seems most times when i get it to leave the screen on after i've put it face down (in the air so there's light) that it left it on perhaps because of how slowly i moved it into position.

finally, now that i think about it, why do we even need the g-sensors at all for turning the screen off when face down? shoudn't it just work exactly like it does during a phone call---all the time!? i mean in a phone call, if i put my finger over the sensor regardless of orientation, the screen goes off. when i take my finger away it goes on again without having to hit power. incidentally i found there are no issues with turning the device back on during a phone call if i have put the phone face down (keeping light) so that it turns off with your program (as opposed to the built in functionality). just a side note of course, because in the end here's what i'm thinking.

there really isn't a situation where the proximity sensor should see darkness but the backlight should be on---except possibly before first turning the screen on! in other words, if you are going to try to use the device in enough darkness that the proximity sensor would see darkness _until_ you turned the screen on (and therefore, it would see the light from the screen), the power button simply needs to momentarily override the basic rule that the screen should be off when the sensor is dark, and on when there is light.

and i see few reasons why one would want to have to hit power to turn the screen back on. maybe when first taking the device out of pocket (while it was on but screen was off due to darkness), one might want it to preserve its screen off state _until_ manually told otherwise (by hitting power for example). but this behavior is almost exactly replicated by the darkness rule if the user just takes the device out of pocket and immediately puts it face down! maybe there's a couple situations in which users have belt mounts whereby the screen is not covered (unlikely because it needs protection) or there isn't a surface flat enough to induce darkness in your immediate vicinity. for these few situations, actually, the behavior of g-off detecting upside down direction only, and then staying off until turned on, would be desirable.

also, i am interested in developing for these sensors myself. i just want to play around with it for now... any recommendations getting started?

thanks for the excellent app as it is.