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Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
04-30-2023, 07:52 AM
Post: #1
Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
I use both real HP50 and emulated on Android phone (Honor 7x).
The emulator works great, but if compared to real calc the interaction with keyboard is really poor.
As a matter of fact user input on emulator is (for me) much slower and error-prone compared to real calc, mainly due to poor tactile feedback.
Same problem for HP48, partially mitigated by better keyboard layout.
Is there any way to improve Emu keyboard feedback?
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04-30-2023, 10:35 AM
Post: #2
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
Using Emu 48 for 4 years now on a couple of mobiles. My 48GX runs really great on it.
I agree with you that an actual keyboard is better than touchscreens but I would not blame the haptic feedback but touchscreens themselves. I've always found the vibration (25-30 ms) very useful to realize when I lost a character.
Do you find this poor tactile feedback in other apps in your mobile or just in Emu48?
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04-30-2023, 01:13 PM
Post: #3
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
(04-30-2023 10:35 AM)rlionspain Wrote:  Using Emu 48 for 4 years now on a couple of mobiles. My 48GX runs really great on it.
I agree with you that an actual keyboard is better than touchscreens but I would not blame the haptic feedback but touchscreens themselves. I've always found the vibration (25-30 ms) very useful to realize when I lost a character.
Do you find this poor tactile feedback in other apps in your mobile or just in Emu48?
It is more a matter of finger size vs keys size.
In physical calc I feel the key under my finger before pressing, on touch screen it is impossible and I often press the wrong key
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04-30-2023, 09:45 PM
Post: #4
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
The only thing that gives me problems on the phone is when I have to "hold down" a shift key while pressing another. It's awkward and the phone often interprets the action as an attempt to resize the screen.

I think this is an inherent problem with touch screen interfaces, not with EMU48 in particular. This is why many of us prefer physical calculators.
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05-01-2023, 01:13 AM
Post: #5
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
Emu48 for Android is just too sensitive for the screen-resize feature. I accidentally hit it all the time too. Maybe Regis can make it less sensitive in a future release...
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05-01-2023, 03:25 AM (This post was last modified: 05-01-2023 11:07 AM by Steve Simpkin.)
Post: #6
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
(04-30-2023 09:45 PM)John Keith Wrote:  The only thing that gives me problems on the phone is when I have to "hold down" a shift key while pressing another. It's awkward and the phone often interprets the action as an attempt to resize the screen.

I think this is an inherent problem with touch screen interfaces, not with EMU48 in particular. This is why many of us prefer physical calculators.

Because of this, I usually turn “Allow Pinch to zoom” off in the EMU48 settings. This is for my tablet which is large enough to comfortably see the entire calculator without zooming.

Edit: Also turning on the options to hide the Navigation and Status bars makes the calculator larger on small screens.
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05-01-2023, 06:42 AM
Post: #7
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
(04-30-2023 09:45 PM)John Keith Wrote:  Because of this, I usually turn “Allow Pinch to zoom” off in the EMU48 settings.

Mee too; and "Fill screen" layout also seems avoid this kind of problems.

I'm really happy with this version of Emu. It works stunningly on my Pixel 6 with a beautiful and realistic picture. Thank you, Eric. ?
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05-01-2023, 06:03 PM
Post: #8
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
(05-01-2023 06:42 AM)rlionspain Wrote:  I'm really happy with this version of Emu. It works stunningly on my Pixel 6 with a beautiful and realistic picture. Thank you, Eric. ?

I'm only a minor contributor. Regis did all the work for the Android port. The Windows version has been maintained by Christoph for close to 25 years. Initial development was Sebastien. Saturn+ enhancements were by Cyrille.

All I did was merge code to reconcile different code bases, fix a few minor bugs, add a few minor features, and make the KML/image skin and key setup.
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05-01-2023, 06:14 PM
Post: #9
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
(05-01-2023 06:03 PM)Eric Rechlin Wrote:  [

I'm only a minor contributor.

I know, I know... just referring to the picture and kml file in my previous post.
I know well Emu48 story and I'm using it for Wndows since... I can't remember! Just these 4 years in Android.
I've even been able to thank Regis for his work for Android.
The 48 with Metakernel, Erable, Alg48 and a lot of other stuff is a daily tool for me at work for more than 20 years, and running it on modern hardware is wonderful (in spite of the lack of an actual keyboard)
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05-01-2023, 07:15 PM
Post: #10
RE: Emu48/Android - Keyboard feedback
(05-01-2023 03:25 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  Because of this, I usually turn “Allow Pinch to zoom” off in the EMU48 settings.

Thanks, that's a big help. Smile
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