News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by kgwxd on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:13AM (#15643948)
Just last week I discovered I could disable animations in Android through the hidden developer options. It's fabulous. The only initial quirk was no visual feedback when a picture is successfully taken, so it felt like i missed the button, but I've gotten used to it already.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by paulddraper on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:21AM (#15644046)
!!!!!

That is a amazing!!! I had no idea developer meant "interested user".

> Make sure developer options are enabled. If they're not, go to Settings > About phone, then tap on Build number several times to enable it

> Go to Settings > Developer options, and scroll down to Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale.

> Tap on each of the animation options and turn them off.

https://lifehacker.com/disable-animations-on-android-to-impr...

Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by setzer22 on Thursday November 09, 2017 @01:09AM (#15660256)
There are also various visual feedback options, such as a CPU load indicator, or a debug renderer for screen touches which allows you to see if your touchscreen is misbehaving and how (happens to me when I plug my charger, for example).
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by sevensor on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @01:00PM (#15645763)
This is the best thing I've learned all day.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by jasonkostempski on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:57AM (#15644438)
On my first try I accidentally tapped "Android version" instead of "Build number" :)
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by gokhan on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @11:32AM (#15644760)
on 7.x, that leads to an easter egg.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by paulddraper on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @01:44PM (#15646230)
:( I am still on Android 6.

I thought the Google Nexus 5 phone would be getting updates often...but I guess not.

Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by nirv on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @04:17PM (#15647735)
If you you're comfortable with custom ROM, LineageOS[1][2] is very stable and snappy on Nexus 5.

[1] https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/hammerhead

[2] https://download.lineageos.org/hammerhead

Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by jasonkostempski on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @01:04PM (#15645804)
8.0 too
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by jbb67 on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:52AM (#15644393)
Wow that makes an huge difference to usability. My phone feels like it's several times as fast now. Who knew that it felt slow and laggy on purpose!

It's really good!

Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by Chaebixi on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @02:05PM (#15646417)
> Just last week I discovered I could disable animations in Android through the hidden developer options. It's fabulous. The only initial quirk was no visual feedback when a picture is successfully taken, so it felt like i missed the button, but I've gotten used to it already.

Are you talking about this: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/speed-up-your-android-by-adjusti... ?

I set mine to "0.5", and everything's much snappier, but they still play so I still get some feedback.

Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by xnzakg on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:17AM (#15644009)
You can also speed them up a bit. Makes the phone seem a lot snappier without breaking apps that seem to rely on animations for timing (I'm looking at you, messenger's "share" feature which doesn't have a send delay if you disable animations)
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by Declanomous on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:18AM (#15644021)
Another bonus is how much longer your battery lasts without animations. I'm pretty sure battery saver just turns off tactile response, and disables animations for the most part (in addition to changing the gps update speed if you are using location services)
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by sliverstorm on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @04:03PM (#15647613)
Try setting just "Animator duration scale" to 0.5x while leaving the others off. This will fix the camera problem, as well as makes things like closing apps in the "recent" list less janky, and you still get the rest of the benefit.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by zeveb on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @09:19AM (#15652586)
It's a real pity that there isn't a .25x setting, or even a .125 setting; the .5x setting feels nice, but still a bit slow-ish. I understand that the intent here is to simulate slow phones (try using the phone with the 10x setting — it's horrid!), but it'd be nice to simulate a fast phone instead!
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by sliverstorm on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @11:12AM (#15653819)
Even on the 0.5x setting things like the refresh pinwheel spin a little too fast, so 0.25x might be a bit much. It just controls too many different animations.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by tome on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @11:10AM (#15644542)
Does anyone know if you can do the same with iPhone?
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by kec on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @11:23AM (#15644677)
Settings -> General -> Acessibility -> Reduce Motion
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by tome on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @11:54AM (#15644995)
Oh nice, thanks! Unfortunately it seems that apps still animate.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by SilasX on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @05:01PM (#15648067)
Yeah and I still see a lag from opening apps.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by goldenkey on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @12:44PM (#15645605)
If you have root you can write a MobileSubstrate hook that calls UIView setAnimationsEnabled:NO in a hooked constructor of UIView (then call super.)
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by manmal on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @02:16PM (#15646530)
Completely disabling animations would break many apps, because a lot is going on in completion blocks of animations. Setting animation durations to a very low value would work though (that’s also what you have to do for UI tests).
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by loxs on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @11:18AM (#15644620)
Only if you jailbreak
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by ashleyn on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:16AM (#15643991)
I've done this as well. It reminds me of when I upgraded PalmOS devices in Ye Olde Days and home would appear instantly when you tapped it.
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by sclangdon on Wednesday November 08, 2017 @03:34AM (#15650653)
There is a similar setting in Windows, in case anyone is interested.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\MenuShowDelay

Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by bramjans on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @10:48AM (#15644349)
Wow! Didn't know this existed, thanks for the tip!
Re:Almost everything on computers is perceptually slower tha... by Macuyiko on Tuesday November 07, 2017 @02:04PM (#15646405)
This is simply amazing! Thanks for sharing!