My bootloader is locked. Any way to remove softkeys permanently? - Sony Xperia XA Ultra Questions & Answers

Hi guys, long time lurker.
So I've had this phone since last summer and I've been following this area for a while now looking for a way to root. But since my bootloader was locked I haven't had any luck.
Anyways, I really hate softkeys. They look ugly to me and since I'm right-handed, the placement of the back button the left has been very inconvenient. I've been using pie controls since my galaxy nexus and found it much easier to navigate.
I was wondering if there was any way to tweak the phone to either remove the softkeys permanently so I can just rely on pie controls. I know there are apps that temporarily do this, but another reason why I would rather have it permanently removed is so that my dock can align with the very bottom of the screen.
This question is kinda niche since I'm sacrificing more function for design and if pie controls crash I'll need to reset, but that's just how I am. I was just curious on what my options are. This phone is a beaut and it's a shame I can't root

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[Q][View][Flyer] enable all capacitive buttons?

Hope everyone is having a good time off!
Just a question I've been wondering the past few days.
Is it possible, for GB and future HC releases (if we get HC capacitive working someday) to make both the portrait and landscape buttons working at the same time?
So that would mean, while on landscape, being able to use the portrait buttons as well as landscape.
Reason I am asking about this is because it allows us, or rather me, to hold the tablet more natively at a non-awkward position. So you could grip both sides in landscape, press the back button there with your thumb without having to move your hand down to the buttons below.
Not to worry, in Honeycomb and ICS the buttons are all disabled by default as they are no longer needed since the on screen system bar replaces those functions. IN GB a clever developer can do anything, but its such a special case, not sure its worth the effort. It's certainly not easy.
DigitalMD said:
Not to worry, in Honeycomb and ICS the buttons are all disabled by default as they are no longer needed since the on screen system bar replaces those functions. IN GB a clever developer can do anything, but its such a special case, not sure its worth the effort. It's certainly not easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Evidently the HC code can be edited to enable the keys; according to a thread about the Dell device that still utilizes the feature. I'd further like to see the system bar disappear, or move to another edge, like windows OS's allows.
With enough time and money, software can be changed by clever developers to do anything including making the buttons flash, rotate and change colors, but for now, there is no option to turn them back on in HTCs HC implementation. Hard buttons are not part of Goggles base software.
HC Hardkeys Mod
Just FYI, this is being implemented in an upcoming Kernal/Rom by LeeDroid.. I was able to find TheManii have a mod and it has lead Lee to 100% hardkeys functionality

CM7 features MIUI needs

Not sure if this is impossible, easy, or even already accomplished, but coming from CM7 to MIUI there are two CM7 features that I am sorely missing:
1. Lockscreen gestures. I want to secure my device, but I've always hated that with Android you have to get past your "slide this there" lockscreen, THEN enter your pin or draw your pattern before you can get to the phone. With CM7, you can turn off the slides/rotaries/tabs/whatever that normally appear on the lockscreen (so it's just your lockscreen background, clock, and music controls) and set it to unlock when you draw whatever special invisible lockscreen gesture (which I also feel is more secure/less susceptible to onlookers than connecting dots on the Android pattern grid) you specified. This feature is great, and I think a lot of people misunderstand it!
If that isn't possible, does anyone know how you can at least turn off the conventional lockscreen if you have the pattern lock on? I really just hate the redundancy of the two-step unlock process.
2. (Screen off) long press volume-button track skipping. Simple as that. I need to be able to skip tracks without looking at my device (when running, driving, working out, whatever). Even lockscreen music controls don't cut it, because you have to click the screen on, look at it, poke the right button, relock the screen etc. When you're running, being able to long press on the volume up button to skip a track is HUGE.
I'm loving MIUI otherwise. Looking forward to Ace getting a handle on the wakelock, and sound/games/media issues.
As an aside, I do wish Xiamoi would release source code for people to comb through...it seems weird to me that a corporation--Chinese or otherwise--would sink untold dollars/development hours perfecting and making freely available a product that offers no clear monetization strategy. Furthermore, Huawei and Baidu's longstanding cooperation with Chinese Intelligence agencies makes me leery of Chinese corporate interest)
Gestures would be cool especially since on the default lock screen you have over half the screen of nothing.
(Accidentally hit reply. Oops.)
Kevin M said:
(Accidentally hit reply. Oops.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wondering, if you accidentally hit reply, why "submit" the comment? You could have still avoided it.
Just found this flashable MIUI mod for the volume track skipping:
http://forums.miuiandroid.com/showthread.php?7356-MOD-Skip-track-via-volume-press
I haven't given it a shot yet, but if it works, it might be a good one to build into Ace's MIUI (like he inbuilt the extended settings mod).
Still keeping my eyes out for a lockscreen gesture mod.

hiding or locking icons

hello. i am wondering if there's a way to lock or hide icons that are on my nook after i rooted it? i would just like to hide or lock the icons that have to do with the root itself. i'm just worried that my 4 year old son will get his hands on the nook and start touching all the icons thinking they're games.
i also would like to know why my screen for zynga poker is way too big? the buttons to bet, send chips to friends, etc... are all way too big and the wording inside the buttons are sticking out past the buttons themselves? is there a setting that i need to adjust for the screen or something or do i need to download something else so that the screens are adjusted automatically? i'm new to the b&n root as well as rooting all together. any help and patience is appreciated! thanks!

[Q] Is there a good thumbwheel UI I can use with one hand?

I've been using my HOX+ for almost six months now, fairly light use but I'm mostly happy with it. I'm still running unrooted stock, just installed the official 4.2.2 update. This is my first real smartphone, I had an unsubsidized $100 3.14" Android smartphone last year that I don't think really qualifies.
The big complaint I have with the jump to a 4.7" screen is that one-handed use is uncomfortable and requires me to stretch to reach the corners, where the buttons are often stupidly located, or sometimes even to slide the phone up and down in my hand to make the buttons accessible, not exactly easy to do with one hand without dropping the phone. I would really like a phone that is comfortable to use one-handed, but I don't want to compromise by buying a smaller screen phone, say 4.3" or god forbid the 4" size of the iPhone, as I'm not exactly thrilled with the "looking through a keyhole" quality of 4.7" either.
I think the right solution would be a thumbwheel UI in the bottom right corner, placed in the arc right where my thumb is, so I can use it one-handed with my thumb and not have to reach with my fingers. As long as it let me virtually hit all the buttons on the screen, even native app buttons like the menu button at the top or the tab switcher button at the top in Chrome, I could even buy a phablet if there was something like this, maybe a 5.5+ inch screen that I could use comfortably one-handed with just my thumb in the bottom-right corner.
The closest thing I've been able to find like this is the Splay launcher, but I don't think such launchers actually let me control menus within apps, only launch apps. This guy wrote a small app earlier this year to do something similar, seems to be a great article talking about the idea but I don't think that effort went anywhere.
Is there any effort within the xda community to integrate a one-handed control interface like this? This is a feature that would actually make me root and install a ROM, as I haven't had the need to go to the trouble yet. I'd love to see an effort like this on Android, wonder what everyone else thinks.
joakim_one said:
I've been using my HOX+ for almost six months now, fairly light use but I'm mostly happy with it. I'm still running unrooted stock, just installed the official 4.2.2 update. This is my first real smartphone, I had an unsubsidized $100 3.14" Android smartphone last year that I don't think really qualifies.
The big complaint I have with the jump to a 4.7" screen is that one-handed use is uncomfortable and requires me to stretch to reach the corners, where the buttons are often stupidly located, or sometimes even to slide the phone up and down in my hand to make the buttons accessible, not exactly easy to do with one hand without dropping the phone. I would really like a phone that is comfortable to use one-handed, but I don't want to compromise by buying a smaller screen phone, say 4.3" or god forbid the 4" size of the iPhone, as I'm not exactly thrilled with the "looking through a keyhole" quality of 4.7" either.
I think the right solution would be a thumbwheel UI in the bottom right corner, placed in the arc right where my thumb is, so I can use it one-handed with my thumb and not have to reach with my fingers. As long as it let me virtually hit all the buttons on the screen, even native app buttons like the menu button at the top or the tab switcher button at the top in Chrome, I could even buy a phablet if there was something like this, maybe a 5.5+ inch screen that I could use comfortably one-handed with just my thumb in the bottom-right corner.
The closest thing I've been able to find like this is the Splay launcher, but I don't think such launchers actually let me control menus within apps, only launch apps. This guy wrote a small app earlier this year to do something similar, seems to be a great article talking about the idea but I don't think that effort went anywhere.
Is there any effort within the xda community to integrate a one-handed control interface like this? This is a feature that would actually make me root and install a ROM, as I haven't had the need to go to the trouble yet. I'd love to see an effort like this on Android, wonder what everyone else thinks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A "Whole" UI made especially for one hand usage? Well I know the second best solution.
Install "Pie Controls" and assign it to any corner/side of the screen, it will allow you to launch apps but for the function that you want, you will need to root. Once you are rooted PIE has extra features like "Back, Home, Sleep, Menu, Recent Apps" ..etc.
A Second best is "LMT" launcher ALSO requires root. Once you have it, you will be able to have PIE Controls as well, PLUS a unique feature to have gestures working in all screens. You can swipe down to bring up the notification bar or swipe up for recent apps. The reason i put it as second best was because I don't really like it ..
Ofcourse there are normal launchers , like nova launcher ..etc. that allows you to swipe down to bring up the notifications but sadly that only works on the home screen.
There are also ROMS like AOKP (For us Carbon rom or something similar) which has a stock feeling but extra buttons in the Power menu. When you hold down the power menu , under the normal "Power off, restart, screenshot, airplane" you will also find "Back, Home, Recent apps"
I honestly think that PIE Controls is the best app to have out of them all since it works on all ROMs . Though for full features you should buy the Pro version.
P.S: All apps that you are looking for will require ROOT access.
Ghand0ur said:
A "Whole" UI made especially for one hand usage? Well I know the second best solution.
Install "Pie Controls" and assign it to any corner/side of the screen, it will allow you to launch apps but for the function that you want, you will need to root. Once you are rooted PIE has extra features like "Back, Home, Sleep, Menu, Recent Apps" ..etc.
A Second best is "LMT" launcher ALSO requires root. Once you have it, you will be able to have PIE Controls as well, PLUS a unique feature to have gestures working in all screens. You can swipe down to bring up the notification bar or swipe up for recent apps. The reason i put it as second best was because I don't really like it ..
Ofcourse there are normal launchers , like nova launcher ..etc. that allows you to swipe down to bring up the notifications but sadly that only works on the home screen.
There are also ROMS like AOKP (For us Carbon rom or something similar) which has a stock feeling but extra buttons in the Power menu. When you hold down the power menu , under the normal "Power off, restart, screenshot, airplane" you will also find "Back, Home, Recent apps"
I honestly think that PIE Controls is the best app to have out of them all since it works on all ROMs . Though for full features you should buy the Pro version.
P.S: All apps that you are looking for will require ROOT access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all the info. I tried the Pie Control app by coolace based on your recommendation, but it didn't seem to do anything on my unrooted HOX+. I'll look into the other stuff you talked about.
joakim_one said:
Thanks for all the info. I tried the Pie Control app by coolace based on your recommendation, but it didn't seem to do anything on my unrooted HOX+. I'll look into the other stuff you talked about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How didn't it function?
Well here is a good video that will help you install it : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBud1hk27Rw
Although to have full features you will require to BUY the pro version and root, the free version on an unrooted version should have some functions that will work like launching apps and other stuff. Try to clarify what you meant
Ghand0ur said:
How didn't it function?
Well here is a good video that will help you install it : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBud1hk27Rw
Although to have full features you will require to BUY the pro version and root, the free version on an unrooted version should have some functions that will work like launching apps and other stuff. Try to clarify what you meant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed the app and set it to work on the left, right, and bottom, then configured two short-click apps in level 1. I would then long-press at those edges and nothing happened with pie control: HTC Sense would send me to widget configuration instead.
I just watched your video and he does a slight swipe from the edge, instead of the long-press I was trying. I just installed the app again and tried that on the home screen and within a couple other apps, again no pie controls. If I do it on the home screen, it starts to scroll to the next home screen, as it always did.
There may be something about HTC Sense that it's not giving control to the pie app for gestures, or maybe there's some other switch I have to hit somewhere to actually enable the pie gestures?
joakim_one said:
I installed the app and set it to work on the left, right, and bottom, then configured two short-click apps in level 1. I would then long-press at those edges and nothing happened with pie control: HTC Sense would send me to widget configuration instead.
I just watched your video and he does a slight swipe from the edge, instead of the long-press I was trying. I just installed the app again and tried that on the home screen and within a couple other apps, again no pie controls. If I do it on the home screen, it starts to scroll to the next home screen, as it always did.
There may be something about HTC Sense that it's not giving control to the pie app for gestures, or maybe there's some other switch I have to hit somewhere to actually enable the pie gestures?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh yeah I forgot to tell you. Although HOX+ and S3 have the same screen size, for the PIE to activate you just need to increase the activation area width. Just thought of installing Pie again after a while of not using it and just remembered. Now it's working fine
I remember there was a small bug of the activation area width being reset everytime you open the app if I can remember correctly. That or everytime you press on the activation width area. Can't really remember but my point is, while using the app if it suddenly doesnt appear anymore just increase the width again and it will work.
Sorry it took me a while to reply since I couldn't really remember
Sent from my HTC One x+ using XDA developers app
Ghand0ur said:
Oh yeah I forgot to tell you. Although HOX+ and S3 have the same screen size, for the PIE to activate you just need to increase the activation area width. Just thought of installing Pie again after a while of not using it and just remembered. Now it's working fine
I remember there was a small bug of the activation area width being reset everytime you open the app if I can remember correctly. That or everytime you press on the activation width area. Can't really remember but my point is, while using the app if it suddenly doesnt appear anymore just increase the width again and it will work.
Sorry it took me a while to reply since I couldn't really remember
Sent from my HTC One x+ using XDA developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, now it shows up. I'll mess around with it and let you know what I think.

Is it possible to disale keyboard fullscreen in landscape mode?

Hi all
I have used a rooted S2 ever since I got it. But with rooting being as it is right now and not wanting to lose fingerprint sensor, trip KNOX etc. I do not want to root for now.
Surprisingly I really like the samsung keyboard. However, just like any other keyboard I tried, it switches to fullscreen in landscape mode. Which on such a big screen is completely unnecessary and annoying.
Is there any way of disabling this without root access? Any way at all?
Thanks guys!... and gals
I would love to know also. ..
Can tasker be used to switch to floating keyboard in landscape?
probably only with root

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