slide to unlock

[xenoxxxx]

Hello,
I like to know if there is a option to disable the slide to unlock function after pressing the power button.

On the iphone / ipod it makes sense to do this gesture because
the slider is directly on top of the home button.

But on the N900 i dont see the advantage.
And second its just not the same to move a slider with a resistive touch. I hope there is a option to disable it.

If not, please add it till the final release :-)

[qwerty12]

1) You can always use the dedicated lock button on the side to unlock, bypassing that screen;
2) You can disable the automatic lock when the display goes off in its Display settings.

[Maerkus]

I don't understand your argument that a slider doesn't make sense on the N900. (Maybe only the Iphone part because I never had/will never have one.)

I don't have the N900 yet but I watched some videos and there the slider was the only option to have a quick view on a clock.

It would also be nice if you can see missed calls or the number of new text messages/e-mails. (I never saw these features in videos so I guess these aren't there however I'm open to being convinced otherwise.) I think this would be nice for the final release. ;-)

[christexaport]

xenoxxx, can you explain why you think "its just not the same to move a slider with a resistive touch"? I've used both resistive and capacitive, and I equate capacitive to a felt tip marker and resistive to a ball point pen, but both are easy to write with. What do you think?

[pycage]

xenoxxx, can you explain why you think "its just not the same to move a slider with a resistive touch"? I've used both resistive and capacitive, and I equate capacitive to a felt tip marker and resistive to a ball point pen, but both are easy to write with. What do you think?

This is a good analogy. I would equate capacitive even with a brush. It's so easy to make strokes, but you have less precision.

[ysss]

From cursory examination (photos, videos), it seems the that the slider may work better vertically.. judging from the thumb's position when holding the device.

On the iPhone\Touch it seems that the slider is designed as close as possible to the activation button (home button, directly below the screen on portrait orientation) with the natural input gesture as minimal as possible to unlock the device.. with a single finger.

[xenoxxxx]

as ysss wrote "On the iPhone\Touch it seems that the slider is designed as close as possible to the activation button (home button, directly below the screen on portrait orientation) with the natural input gesture as minimal as possible to unlock the device.. with a single finger."

i think a swipe on a resistive touch will not be detected as smooth
as on a capacitive touch.

I dont have a Iphone but i have an Ipod touch.
I preorderd the N900 already and cant wait to have one.

If there is no way to disable it and i still dont like it after i hold the phone in my hands i can try myself in editing the maemo soure :-)

[jayhule]

I love the idea of being able to use the slide to unlock feature,

buut unfortunately I don't like how its designed at all, it kind of gives me the impression the team just threw one up there just to show that "its got a slide to unlock feature"

I'm trying to come up with some ideas to make it nicer and hopefully I can put something in brainstorm or something, it may be a minor thing but its a feature that theoretically will be used often

[daveb70]

I'm trying to come up with some ideas to make it nicer and hopefully I can put something in brainstorm or something, it may be a minor thing but its a feature that theoretically will be used often

I'd rather implement voice recognition with waveform pattern matching and skip some silly finger gesture altogether. I want to be able to say "Open sesame!" and ZING! I'm in. :)

Other touch/gesture ideas which may or may not be practical to implement:

1. uNlock: Rather than a simple swipe to unlock, spruce it up with a big (or whatever size is reasonable) N graphic that you draw out in one stroke.

2. ROYGBIV: Generate a pattern of touches that use colors to distinguish one from another, along the lines of the Simon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_(game))game of yesteryear. Get real sophisticated and have a dynamic element that will change the layout/order of the color buttons on the screen so you truly have to memorize the color pattern, not just the physical location. (so one time you unlock it red will be on the top of the input image, the next time it may be to the right or bottom)

3. Fingerword: I still think we need to be able to record continuous input from the touchscreen and be able to access it/replay it/manipulate it. For the purpose of an unlock function, using a touch-input recording app (maybe someone can crank one out if it doesn't already exist) you'd simply draw out your unlock pattern on a screen in one stroke (or if the app is capable enough, maybe multiple) which is then stored and retrieved for matching when you go to unlock your device. So you could use a "pin" of 4 or more digits but rather than entering it on a keypad, you'd be writing it out (invisibly) onscreen. Or you could draw a simple picture (invisibly) or write a word/name or whatever you choose to be your fingerword..

4. Moveword: Take the cheat code ideas from console games and apply it to the accelerometer- record a pattern of movement that has to be reproduced in order to unlock the device. Such as tilting the N900 forward+backward+forward+backward+left+right. I wonder if spinning could be captured and mixed in? Simple/short movewords may fail in the real world with everyday jostling and handling of the device.

All but the first idea fall into more of a security integrated design than a simple unlock function. But with a touchscreen interface, open source, and the great minds of the community there's no reason something more creative can't be put together.

Forget passwords, we want new ____words!

[jayhule]

I love them all!

When I wrote my post I was thinking along the lines of having a making kind of a sliding in a circular motion in the right corner top or bottom, like a 1/4 circle, so it could be easy for landscape or portrait.

Currently if the phone is in portrait from the videos that I've seen it just looks so silly to unlock it

My thought kind of incorporates the "N" idea tracing a shape rather than a straight line, and probably can have some colors like the rainbow idea :) (I know not an accurate description)

-Another more for "security" like you were saying was to implement the wheels like when setting up the dates in the setup, it immediately reminded me of a locker combination type deal to unlock the phone.

[daveb70]

@jayhule - I like the idea of tracing a shape- anything besides a generic swipe. If the main unlock screen part of Nokia's code is released/made open, it shouldn't take much to modify it to yield something more attractive. I also understand what you're describing with the locker combination.
On that idea I'll spin it and take it even further by making the "wheels" contain more than simply 0-9. Add the alphabet, allow character fonts (such as wingdings or from other languages) that require you to spin the correct combination of letters, numbers, characters, maybe even utilize FOSS clip art images.

Here's another one. Have small colored shapes- square, triangle, circle, etc. laid out so as to form a circle/ring with an empty target space in the middle. Now you have to drag the correct shapes into the middle, in the correct order. They can either be solid shapes or wireframe (go Asteroids!) and either vanish once moved to the middle or remain so you can see the color/shape combination being formed. Again, randomly change the colors of the shapes each time you have to unlock it so you have to remember the color sequence rather than the shape.

My visions are more akin to an active type of security interface, along the lines of a Flash app at least in design/function. I can't imagine Flash could be coded into the lock/sleep screen but it's fun to dream.

Heck, I'm somewhat doubtful the unlock portion of the device code will even be opened up. There are certain things that Nokia needs to maintain control and thus quality over. Wouldn't it be awful to install someone's custom security-based unlocker app only to find you couldn't unlock your N900 because of a bug?! Granted, perhaps these would be items to create then hand off to Nokia for approval so they can ensure it makes the grade. That's where sticking to basic customizations to the basic 'slide to unlock' design wouldn't pose any threat to the user experience if it failed- you'd simply use the hardware button instead.

[pelago]

I'm trying to come up with some ideas to make it nicer and hopefully I can put something in brainstorm or something, it may be a minor thing but its a feature that theoretically will be used often

I wonder if this is something that the community can develop. In other words, if there are places we can hook into to supply our own unlock feature. If the unlock code is part of the desktop code, I believe that will be open-source.

[xenoxxxx]

I hope it is open, because Nokia always mentions that maemo is open.
@daveb70, i like your idea with the Fingerwords

[mikec]

There's a friggin hardware unlock slider LOL

Mike C