HTC Wastes the LED

[mightyfacundo]

I told you the big deal....

Situation 1: at a business meeting I have screen off and all sounds and buzzes off. (Even buzz is frowned upon) LED notifications would be nice even after 5 minutes. I can't stare at my phone during meetings but I can glance at the led periodically

Situation 2: phone screen is off and left in another room for an hour. I can pick up phone and waste battery life turning it on or look for led notifier. The led notifier COULD tell me if I have a personal email. A work email, an sms, or any combination of the 3. I used to have this with light flow app pre gb update. HTC locked developers out of led control in gb update.

My life doesn't depend on this functionality but it WAS one of the nice advantages of android over iphone that HTC has dumped for no reason.

That explains one thing for me; I kept thinking they would just update the app to work with GB. Have you tried contacting HTC about it? I know you've been thinking about rooting, and this might be one more reason for you to do it. Any idea if BAMF Forever allows you to change the LED's to your liking?

 

[dontlookatme]

I had og Droid. Missed that feature too. Tried many apps. And none have the ability to change the led notification color. I also had it to tell me if I had missed call, txt, or email.

 

[BattleSwine]

The only two thins I miss from BlackBerry days are selective permissions and BeBuzz custom LED notifications. Colors and patterns I could even tell who had generated the notifications.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[recDNA]

Even droid didn't do that. A different color for each notifier and a steady light that stays on indefinitely is all I ask. Developers could do that but HTC locked access to LED in gb ota. I can't imagine a reason why. They already have much bigger security issues imo.

 

[recDNA]

I had og Droid. Missed that feature too. Tried many apps. And none have the ability to change the led notification color. I also had it to tell me if I had missed call, txt, or email.

Light flow did and still does if you're froyo. 3 colors, orange, green, and yellow.

 

[johndabeast]

I downloaded it and got orange, red-orange, and green, only problem is they stay on indefinitely and don't blink.

 

[recDNA]

You can shut them off by reading the email, text, or whatever. Try twice if you have to or just open the light flow app and it shuts them off. I used to keep the lightflow shortcut on the desktop. Just click and they turn off. I prefer no blink cuz it is brighter.

 

[Eric The Duke]

I must be missing something because I only have one functional eye and I havent noticed any issues with seeing the led when device is on my desk at work or home, I know when I have a missed message or call at a simple glance.

What am I missing is the issue?

The best way to understand what I'm talking about is too see what the LED looks like on any blackberry. There's no comparison.

 

[rage151]

Here is the response I got back on 5/1/2010. Haven't heard anything since.

As Simon Cowell would say, "Rubbish".

HTC's response:
These are very legitimate questions that you're bringing to the table here, and from a Technical Support standpoint I can go over these things but will mostly have to forward this to our design team as feedback for further review and internal discussion. To be honest, I do not know why the LED notification only blinks for 5 minutes. I suspect that it is intended to preserve the battery life of the device already has a number of other areas that we are working on best utilizing to preserve the battery. However, I do think it should be an option to keep the LED going until you actually check it if you wish.

To send a reply to this message or let me know I have successfully answered your question log in to our ContactUs site using your email address and your ticket number 11USCW19ENA000178.

Sincerely, Philip

HTC Want to see what others are saying? Have a question to ask other HTC fans? Become a fan of HTC facebook.com/htc Follow us on Twitter twitter.com/htc Subscribe to our YouTube Channel youtube.com/htc Explore our development resources developer.htc.com

 

[quantumiq]

I spent a few years on a blackberry, Pearl then the Storm 2. Notification lights and BBM are the only things i miss.

 

[bkorver]

This is going to sound crazy, but every once in a while, I will actually touch the phone (crazy, I know) and hit the power button and check my lock screen for messages, then I will hit the power button again and turn the screen off. Unless there is a message, then I'm going to look at it. In the rare chance I am in a meeting and can't look at the message, what does it matter if I know it is there? I can't look at anyways, right? If you want a blackberry led, buy a blackberry.

 

[Tower72]

when I had the Evo, it was a LITTLE known fact that it had a secondary light on the other side of the speaker grill. Someone wrote a little app that allowed us Evo users to use THAT light instead of the charging one for notifications. Even if HTC blocked its use in the gb ota, couldnt someone who makes custom roms "based" on the ota, enable it like someone did on the Evo?

 

[recDNA]

Yes they could but wat about stock users?

 

[Randomhero180]

when I had the Evo, it was a LITTLE known fact that it had a secondary light on the other side of the speaker grill. Someone wrote a little app that allowed us Evo users to use THAT light instead of the charging one for notifications. Even if HTC blocked its use in the gb ota, couldnt someone who makes custom roms "based" on the ota, enable it like someone did on the Evo?

I saw the article about the evo. Had anyone confirmed that the tbolt has the same secondary led?

 

[droid747]

Does the led shut off after 5 or 10 minutes when on cm7?

 

[worwig]

This is going to sound crazy, but every once in a while, I will actually touch the phone (crazy, I know) and hit the power button and check my lock screen for messages, then I will hit the power button again and turn the screen off. Unless there is a message, then I'm going to look at it. In the rare chance I am in a meeting and can't look at the message, what does it matter if I know it is there? I can't look at anyways, right? If you want a blackberry led, buy a blackberry.

Yea, fine.

But.......

It is simple software. The LED is there (though poorly placed). It is a simple bit of code that could properly flash the LED for a better duration. That would make it more convenient for everyone.

I look at software differently. I have to turn my phone on, look at it, and turn it off. Takes 5 seconds. I do that about 12 times a day. One minute total per day. Ten thousand or so (probably a LOT more) other people do the same thing, or ten thousand minutes a day of time are wasted. 3,650,000 minutes a year of peoples time are wasted because the LED which is there, is not used properly. That works out to over 2534 days per year of peoples life are wasted hitting the power button simply because of a few lines of code. That is like having about 7 people who do nothing else with their life but press that button on a Thunderbolt 24/7.

Yea, you can probably tweak those number down (or even up), and it is a bit of an exaggeration, but my point remains. Easy software tweaks to improve life should be obvious.

Or course, it is also entirely possible that someone has patented the idea of a blinking LED indicating notifications like we want, and they simply can't do it legally.

Now excuse me but I have to get back to pressing that power button.

 

[FrankXS]

Easy software tweaks to improve life should be obvious.

From my experience, meeting development milestones/timelines is a lot like a car race or a football game. You never lose the race or lose the game, you just run out of time. Seriously.

-Frank

 

[recDNA]

I don't know anything about the second led (if there is one). I do know in froyo an app called light flow will keep the led steady on indefinitely (if u set it that way). It will even assign one of three different colors. It worked well so I miss it. In order to use light flow you must be in froyo or rooted. I don't know which of the popular rooted roms run this app but I do know that some of them do. Nevertheless it should be available to stock gb users as well.
The only reason it isn't available is vzw locked developers out of led control in gb ota.

 

[Bond32]

I agree on wasting the LED. Motorola for example, every phone I have used from them has a big bright LED that is outside the speaker grill. It is really easy to see. Not so much with HTC. And here I am wanting a Samsung which doesn't even have an led LOL

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

 

[recDNA]

The led is bright enough as is when constantly on or set to slow.blink.

Rooted to get it back. Happy now. Still, stock users deserve the same access too.