[Announce] ProximityClock
 

Hello,

I've just released a first version of ProximityClock.
ProximityClock is a simple application that basically shows a fullscreen digital clock when you "close" the proximity sensor. The application can be enabled/disabled through an home widget.

Garage Page
Extras-testing link

Feeedback/comments are more than welcome ;)
P.S. : this is my first qt app :D

Latest Version: 0.3

Best Regards,
Daniele Maio.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

How would I typically use ProximityClock? I mean, I know how to activate it, but why?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

interesting, you should something so the clock doesnt stay there the whole time like 3 sec timeframe or so.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

any screenshots ? and how do you close the proximity sensor ?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

The current timeout is set to one minute, maybe having it configurable would be better.

I usually use it during the night, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and trying to see the time in a wristwatch is a bit harder....with ProximityClock I can simply pass my hand over my N900 and it show me a big clock simpler to understand ;)

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

I didn't take any screenshot because they are useless. The app is simply composed by an home widget (that is a button with an icon) and a fullscreen digital clock.
Maybe I can make a video that would be more useful.
You can "close" the proximity sensor by passing your finger over it. The proximity sensor is place just under the front camera (top left corner).

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

I decided to try it out today, i found it pretty useful generally. But the default time out period is somewhat long IMO, i mean is it meant for checking the clock and immediately disappear, or it's a persistent clock?

24 hours/12hours choice would be a nice addition as well. But great work nonetheless :)

Here some screenshots if you don't mind:

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/9...1020415004.png

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3...1020415005.png

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Would it be possible to have the options in settings menu instead of the widget?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

tried this app, didnt appeal to me, removed it. if i had my finger etc over proximity, the phone would constantly vibe. reboot fixed this problem.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Hey Chrome, your screen shot shows nice icon backgrounds; what theme are you using?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

very useful, thanks. A few comments/suggestions:

1) could it be made less sensitive - I need to put my hand pretty close to the phone (almost touching) for a considerable time in order to activate the clock. I'd prefer it to trigger when it detects something further from the sensor (eg my hand waving quickly past, 5cm or so).

2) agree that a config for timeout of the clock would be good. Allowing colour choice would be a nice touch too :-)

3) could the widget be made smaller - I don't need any text description, just the green/amber icon (similar to how recaller works) would be sufficient as, if you use it at all you re likely to use it before going to bed every night, and so will quickly get familiar with it?

4) would it be possible to enable/disable via command line rather than by interaction with widget? I'd like to be able to use alarmed to have this enabled at 1am and disabled at 7am to avoid having to remember to do it manually each night

regardless, another very useful addon, great stuff :-)

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

nice, looks like a good concept... is this compatible with mediabar?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

I think you might mean MORE sensitive. less means you will probably have to whack it with a stick before it responds :)

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

This is quite impossible, since the proximity sensor has only two state, and there is no way to say if something is 5cm near etc etc :(

Definitely, I only need to understand the best place where to add this cumstomizable settings...I would avoid making a control panel applet or something similar...

Sounds good.

I'm not sure but you can use the clock binary (/usr/bin/proximityclock-clock) to start the fullscreen clock. To close it you need to simply kill it (maybe you have to do a simple shell script)



Regards,
Daniele.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Sorry, I don't know what mediabar is :o

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

its a proximity sensor controlled shortcut bar that MAG has released a few weeks ago

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Hmm yes, as far as I can tell they should live togheter without problems ;)

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

the idea of running as a scheduled app would be to have proximity detection active during set hours so that the clock would show if proximity was triggered - but outwith those hours it would be disabled. just running the clock binary as a timed job wouldn't - I don't think? - activate proximity detection. I did try running the binary from xterm before posting, but it didn't seem to respond to prox sensor. No problem, manual it is!

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Does this only detect your hand? or would it be triggered when i'm walking and it's in my pocket with a packet of gum or something, would the gum set it off and waste my battery? i know it wouldn't waste much but the amount i use my n900 i need all the battery i can get! :D

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

@xrobby: you presumably wouldn't activate the widget when the phone is going to be in your pocket (because it WOULD trigger on your gum, or just the inside of your pocket). it's really just meant for use when the phone is located on a table or bedside cabinet etc.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Good point, but say if the widget is on and you have a phone call, you answer it and the sensor blanks the screen but because your face is close to it would it activate and interfere with the call?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

worst case you'd just have the full screen clock app on-screen during the call, which is not at all interactive (you'd need to ctrl-backspace to get out of it while the display is on). I suspect that the phone app would "trump" the clock anyway when a call came in, but either way I don't see a problem. try it out if you are concerned, no need to use it if it doesn't meet your needs :-)

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Great idea for an app! One of such kind, you never now you missed it until you got it ;)
Some config options would be really great such like timeout and color. And the 'button' may really be as tiny as a button. Even config options like binary clock app offers would be great, but maybe hard to implement.

Oh, and +1 for commandline switching of app state! Would be useful not only with alarmed but also with desktop activities or SleepAnalyser which can run custom scripts where one could put the call to ProximityClock.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

i would love this I have this on my e66, press the single button and the clock would show and stay on until you remove your hand.

very useful on the table or when i dont want to unlock or slide open, also the clock is much bigger.

http://images.intomobile.com/wp-cont.../new_clock.jpg

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

and what happens when its in your pocket? will the clock just drain the bat?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

This is why I made a home widget ;)

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

I would love the ability to change the colour. White/grey is too bright for my eyes in the dark.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Hello,

I've just upload a new version (0.3) to extras-testing.
With this new version you can change the color of the clock's background and the numbers. You can also set the clock timeout (in seconds).
All these settings are accessible through the home widget's setting button.
Test&Vote ;)
Tank you.



Best Regards,
Daniele Maio.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

so how many times a second does this thimg poll the proximity sensor?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

You can change (in second) the time the clock will stay on screen.
The sensor's poll timeout is not configurable.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

I did not read the code, but I think you and the OP are not understandig each other because the thing should not poll the sensor. The sensor is polled via HW and a dbus signal is emitted. Then there are interfaces exposed to react to those signal. More on your original thread which I found looking about that. BTW congrats for this app idea though I won't use it becuase while sleeping I am sleepanalized, I think it's really useful for who could need it :)

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Nice new word: sleepanalized :D
I'm using both of them, SleepAnalyser and ProximityClock. As my phone is laying beside my pillow it's not covered all night and I can easily open the clock by skimming over the device. Very useful!

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Orly? THen why must I install the proximityd package to get the proximity sensor to emit a signal on dbus? Further more proximityd works by polling the sensor (by a user configerable sample rate). This leads me to believe that the proximity sensor is not connected to a hardware interrupt and is 'read' whenever it's state is needed to be known.

Unless you are using some custom magical way for reading the sensor you are polling it.

So, how many times a second are you polling the sensor OR are you just using the proximityd defaults?

Are you even using proximityd at all?

What is this thing programmed in?

Has anyone run powertop while this thing is running?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

nice app that I did not know I wanted!
Could it be made so that when the device is locked and the app wakes it up to show the time, afterwards it locks itself again?
Also perhaps another way to exit in addition to timeout could be if you tap the screen.

I tried powertop
first result is with proximityclock inactive and second when it is active
Total wakeups 4009, 133.6/s | IRQ 3184, 106.1/s | Timers 825, 27.5/s
HW wakeups 191, 6.4/s | Real gp_timers expired 141, 4.7/s

Total wakeups 7863, 262.1/s | IRQ 5767, 192.2/s | Timers 2096, 69.9/s
HW wakeups 52, 1.7/s | Real gp_timers expired 36, 1.2/s

with top, cpu usage when active between 0,3 and 0,9.
I can not really interpret them, but they seem good numbers.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

@vi_ : I didn't use proximityd or dbus. I simply read the state (through the /sys file) every 100ms only when the daemon is active.

@evan: thanks. Your request sounds good, maybe I'll implement it ;)
I've also tested the behavior with top, and I think that it use not so much in term of resources.


Best Regards,
Daniele.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Any chance you could be a bro and post your code?

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Sure, (as always) the code is uploaded into the garage's svn : https://garage.maemo.org/plugins/scm...proximityclock

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Great app!! Thanks a lot!

Works fine, except that the colours don't seem to work: I can change them but the end-result is always white numbers on black background.

An other remark is when I activate it by moving in front of the proximity sensor when my screen is on stdby, I am seeing (for a split-second) my home screen before seeing the time. This may be due to a slow unit...?

Edit: I also discovered that if you receive a phone call while Proximityclock is ON, the screen remains sensitive! So you have to be careful not to press your ear too hard against the screen...

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Hi all

Nice app i realy like it.

2 Features:
Could you add, date and list of future alarm with time reamining.

Thx for your work.

Re: [Announce] ProximityClock
 

Is it possible to make the app only work when the phone is locked? Also when my phone is locked it unlocked it’s self when using proximityclock.