New UI

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TYA
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:32 am

New UI

Post by TYA » Thu Aug 01, 2013 11:23 am

Hi Dmitry,

Can you answer some question ?

1. Why RMS bars not to show in main ui screen (player scr)?
Is it suitable to appears on EQ page as in new ver? I think it is no so fine logic.
Those bars make neutron different from all others app in visual term.

2. Can you add it back ?

In my opinion, I do love the old main ui screen with rms bars, song title, counter. ..at the top (if take away two small rectangle at 2 side , and clock button , will be excellent ui).
I look at the new ui, it seems to be same same with others players (you may feel it too)..... sad.

Thanks alot.
Rgds.

snake785
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2012 11:22 pm

Re: New UI

Post by snake785 » Thu Aug 01, 2013 1:32 pm

I personally like the new UI. It looks much cleaner than before. Although I do miss the seeing the technical info - the sample rate, codec, # of channels, path to file and the rms bars.

Perhaps it could be possible to switch between the album artwork and the rms bars/technical info maybe by long pressing somewhere in the area where the artwork is displayed? Or even just including the technical info on the EQ screen..although that would probably be an odd place for that.

dmitrykos
Site Admin
Posts: 1914
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:15 pm

Re: New UI

Post by dmitrykos » Thu Aug 01, 2013 2:37 pm

Hi TYA!

I am sorry that you are feeling not that comfortable with new UI layout :( May be this is just a first emotion and you will get used to new layout?

What are the main benefits of the new layout to my view:

- Having no spectrum analyzer always visible made it possible to improve CPU utilization and if user does not touch UI and in Playing Now or Database screen Neutron will decrease update speed to once per second (just for timer update) and it saves a lot of CPU. On devices with slow GPU or CPU new layout makes UI actions more dynamic.

- Earlier Playing Now and Controls screens had duplicate buttons: Play/Stop, Prev, Next, Shuffle, Loop. It was eating space. Now space is freed and it was possible to add controls to more DSP functions which were hidden in Settings.

- On platform without MENU button (BalckBerry, Android pads since 3.0) to access Settings button user would need to: go to Media Database screen -> return to the top-level of it to see the gear icon in the bottom, now it became extremely easy to access Settings and additional functionality which did not fit to the Controls screen layout.

- Due to easily accessible Settings it is now possible to add frequently used functions, like Clock.

- Earlier spectrum analyzer on Display are was truncated to fit the timer under self and thus its practical usability was almost useless. Now in Controls screen yu have high-res spectrum analyzer screen which is displaying whole range of frequencies of the track. User can easily guess whether track is too much compressed (and thus has lost high frequencies) or not, it is useful for the streaming audio for example.

- Earlier to access full-screen spectrum analyzer you would need to re-orient device to the landscape view and press on spectrum analyzer under the running timer of the track. That was the only possibility to invoke it. Now in Portrait/Landscape you can press on spectrum analyzer display in Controls screen and invoke full-screen spectrum analyzer.

- It is now easier to implement/display visualization of Neutron's Parametric EQ and utilize spectrum display too.

- Due to always visible Display area the usable screen area was cut with proportion 25% for Display (on top), 75% for other things. Now Controls screen can fit more functional elements, Playing Now screen can show only album art and consume 0% of CPU on UI in such mode (when panels are hidden), Media Database screen can show more entries and thus it is easier to scroll through long lists.

- Earlier if user enabled OS's Status Bar the whole layout was compressed and on screens with 480x800 or similar resolution elements were too small and Status Bar was interacting with UI if user wanted to press CLOCK button, now Status Bar does not really affect layout and its symbiosis with Neutron's UI is much better.

- Earlier landscape mode was obscuring album art without inability to see it in full. Now it is possible. Also the Controls screen was not looking ok, too much free space with too few functional controls. Now Landscape view of Controls screen has the same functionality as Portrait. The same can be said about Playing Now screen.

- Easier navigation to the lists of other categories where track exists from Playing Now screen by pressing the category icon (on the left from the tags).

- New layout offers access to screens with simple press and controls are easily visible. It is now much more usable in dynamic environment and personally I find it more convenient in the car for example.

As to your questions:

> 1. Why RMS bars not to show in main ui screen (player scr)?

Do you mean RMS bar near the Gain slider in Controls screen? You do not see it because of optimized CPU usage. If you have tracks normalized or AGP is switched off then RMS calculation is not needed and thus Neutron can save some CPU time. Calculating RMS in real time is not easy (for CPU) task: core need to listen to output audio data, collect it (copy operations), calculate RMS (additions and multiplications), made it ready for UI. So RMS UI bar is visible if RMS core is working when AGP is switched on and tracks are not normalized. I can propose that in next update setting is added to Settings -> AGP which will force RMS core operation without those conditions and thus its UI part will always be visible (as before). What do you think about it?

> 2. Can you add it back ?

In the way it was I do not think so because of the Pros I mentioned above. From the code development point old UI layout was too much inside the player core and it needs cleanup anyway. New layout brought new approach inside the code of the player and now it is much more modular and allows more freedom in additional functionality. So 1.74 has new UI layout but the code framework improved too. We can think how to advance current layout and may be add functional ideas of the old layout which could be activated as options by user choice from Settings or switched on by specific buttons/controls.

> it seems to be same same with others players (you may feel it too)

Well, yes and no. The Display is only missing in new layout. Instead of it the same panel with playback controls became higher to the size of tags in the Playing Now screen, Controls screen is practically the same but with more controls and Media Database screen got more space for more entries. Everything else is the same actually, in Neutron's style.

As you noticed the development never stops so new layout will be advanced more anyway.

Best regards,
Dmitry.

Jason
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:51 pm

Re: New UI

Post by Jason » Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:30 am

Yes, I too miss the technical info, - the big digital counter, sample rate, codec, # of channels, path to file and the rms bars. So, I'm sticking with the 1.73 version until they're hopefully brought back in the future. I love the player though, no matter what it looks like!

TYA
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:32 am

Re: New UI

Post by TYA » Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:32 am

Hi Dmitry.

Thanks for fast reply.
I know your nonstop dev, you listened to members and acting for
better app.

I see good points of new ui, I agree with you, but my 1st post mention to
not yet goods point only.
It was extractly as 2nd member in 2nd post : freq response analyse bars on Main ui
(Player scr). Also the tech infor of song, digital conuter, is it crossfeed on off.....

We want to see it. You can allow sw on off depending on deviece hw, by user like, etc....
You said the battery. Not at this time you do, the old exam. 1.50 also allow sw on off smt with
Save batt. Mode in Ui setting. It is more satisfaction.

In short, my dreaming ui are :
Mix of the old and the new.
Delete 3 small deepth black rectangular buttons (One R , one L and a top with "clock") from
Player scr. Keep player section as the old and above album art area,, change nxt, bak, play/fause as the new
Add symbol of alarm, clock, eq.... as the new BUT move it to be bottom
(It is not nice and rarely be look in comparison to freq response bars, big digital clock...)
Keep saving battery mode in ui setting as old.
All other implementation are keep as the new.



Thanks alot.
Rgd
Trung Nc

TYA
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:32 am

Re: New UI

Post by TYA » Fri Aug 02, 2013 2:56 am


HokieMatt
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:52 pm

Re: New UI

Post by HokieMatt » Fri Aug 02, 2013 12:52 pm

Dmitry,

Thanks for making this update, personally I think it looks much cleaner than before. The star rating and repeat/shuffle buttons are much easier to see and use as well. I do have a couple of questions/requests:
  • Would it be possible to keep an elapsed/remaining time counter on screen when the control bar is hidden? I would love to see this in a similar font to the small time counters on the new screen, but maybe 2x-3x that size. I always thought the huge LED-style numbers were a bit much, and I don't need to see thousandths of a second, but I would still like to be able to see the time situation with a quick glance.
  • When the controls bar is set to auto-hide, can the top bar hide with it, so all you see is the album art (and hopefully an optional counter)?
Thanks again for the constant development. Love this player!

-- Matt

HokieMatt
Posts: 26
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 5:52 pm

Re: New UI

Post by HokieMatt » Tue Aug 13, 2013 6:20 pm

Dmitry,

Thanks for listening and continuing to update Neutron. I like the recent changes in 1.74.2; is there any chance the timer labels could be bumped up even more? Maybe even a slider in the Settings area, similar to the upper & lower banner transparency? I typically listen in my car, and trying to read the ET/time remaining is difficult with my device mounted on the dashboard about 18" away.

Virtualizer
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 10:47 pm

Re: New UI

Post by Virtualizer » Wed Sep 04, 2013 10:56 pm

Using Neutron for about 2 years now I can say that for me the UI changes are very nice.
For my car setup it has a nicer main screen and I can switch between setups (EQ, Surround, etc.) in a more efficient way than before the UI updates.
Though a dedicated EQ screen would be very nice because on the road it is sometimes still difficult to tune the EQ gains (actually using the 7-inch Nexus7 tablet).

Thanks and waiting for new UI optimizations ;)

TYA
Posts: 158
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2012 2:32 am

Re: New UI

Post by TYA » Mon Sep 09, 2013 3:57 pm

Hi Dmitry,

Now I am more familiar to new ui. And start loving it.

Now I give two point , hope you will say ok.

1. As this imagine.pls download and check.
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?aj8zdqmm7jtz3wm

Eq changer : change eq profile
Eq name : follow up eq profile
Freq peak : add peak point mark (exam Foobar2000).
2. Can you give option in setting , Ui that allow user to
hide album artist ?
(I like default app art than album art or artists art. And
it is not always matching the transparent ui , if set)

Thanks alot.

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