Feedback on new UI

[Spork98765]

Android back exits the app now. Is it functioning differently for you?

This doesn't happen on any of my Devices; Nexus 5 and Shield Tablet.

Pressing back on the home screen of TPA will "Close" it but bring the app out of the drawer of recent apps does not restart the app, like it does with most apps, or did previously. This tells me it doesn't actually close the app out of memory.

I get the same effect of "Closing" TPA by pressing the home button on the android soft keys, as I do by pressing the back key from the TPA home screen.

 

[AnvilCloud]

This doesn't happen on any of my Devices; Nexus 5 and Shield Tablet.

Pressing back on the home screen of TPA will "Close" it but bring the app out of the drawer of recent apps does not restart the app, like it does with most apps, or did previously. This tells me it doesn't actually close the app out of memory.

I get the same effect of "Closing" TPA by pressing the home button on the android soft keys, as I do by pressing the back key from the TPA home screen.

I'm wondering if that is more of a feature of your android OS. You are using a newer version, like MM? I believe the newer android OSs like to pre load in a manner of speaking so that your apps appear to open more quickly.

I tend to never use the latest android OS because I'd rather customize and control my experience. That and I dislike Google and the direction they've taken Android. For me, I can go to the recents menu and simply tap n hold the app which gives me the options to clear data & cache, kill, etc

Edit: read again... BTW throwing an app to the background doesn't necessarily clear it from memory, the OS is supposed to take care of that itself actually, closing apps automatically when more memory is required. Try to see if you can hold down a recent and simply kill that way. Or clear it from recents

 

[Shardz]

After I finally manage to exit the app, Cleaner Master pops up a window to clean out the memory. If it doesn't, I will use another app to flush the memory by killing all processes. From what I have seen, PA leaves about 273MB of residual memory usage after the app is closed.

 

[Spork98765]

I'm wondering if that is more of a feature of your android OS. You are using a newer version, like MM? I believe the newer android OSs like to pre load in a manner of speaking so that your apps appear to open more quickly.

I tend to never use the latest android OS because I'd rather customize and control my experience. That and I dislike Google and the direction they've taken Android. For me, I can go to the recents menu and simply tap n hold the app which gives me the options to clear data & cache, kill, etc

Edit: read again... BTW throwing an app to the background doesn't necessarily clear it from memory, the OS is supposed to take care of that itself actually, closing apps automatically when more memory is required. Try to see if you can hold down a recent and simply kill that way. Or clear it from recents

Putting the app in the background acts exactly the same as how FarSight is telling us to "close" the app right now.

As I have been saying since the release of the new UI pressing back from the UI home screen does not close it. If it was closed then bringing up from recent apps, which I can remove it from, should cause me to see the whole touch to continue blah blah again. However, this does not happen. Hence TPA is not closing!

Sure, I could go into developer options and limit background processes or enable strict control about how apps function, but I shouldn't have to do this to get this app to close properly. Now if FarSight would just put in a proper close confirmation, or exit procedure then this could be a dead issue.

 

[Shardz]

Going into processes, you will notice there is a PA memory resident entry of about 3MB that constantly insists on being in memory unless you are rooted and turn it off. Why this needs to be constantly in memory is beyond me. Normally I will delete games that pull this stunt, but I had to make an exception for this game.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Unless you guys are having memory issues, what do you feel the disadvantages are of letting android manage RAM and resources dynamically? Like its designed to do.

 

[Shardz]

I have a paltry 1GB of RAM on the tablet I play PA on. It runs fine, but other apps can be difficult like web browsers with multiple tabs, so I constantly look for memory eaters and eliminate them as I can. Having 2GB or more isn't an issue, but first generation devices need a more watchful eye.

 

[jaredmorgs]

I have a paltry 1GB of RAM on the tablet I play PA on. It runs fine, but other apps can be difficult like web browsers with multiple tabs, so I constantly look for memory eaters and eliminate them as I can. Having 2GB or more isn't an issue, but first generation devices need a more watchful eye.

Yeah, that's a fair call.

 

[AnvilCloud]

I have a paltry 1GB of RAM on the tablet I play PA on. It runs fine, but other apps can be difficult like web browsers with multiple tabs, so I constantly look for memory eaters and eliminate them as I can. Having 2GB or more isn't an issue, but first generation devices need a more watchful eye.

Just a heads up to anyone who is using less than 2gb ram devices and has slowdowns and other issues, try restarting the device maybe once or twice a week. Clear background apps before playing TPA... You'll most likely get the best play from a freshly restarted device. Especially with older devices that haven't had updates.

Off topic, side note on older devices: removable batteries, as an option need to get brought back. My old Galaxy(believe it's a Tab 2 model) can do many lower-end processing things just fine... Stream/play music, some gaming, dedicated reader, etc. Only problem is the battery has issues holding a charge..... And it's non replaceable

 

[Shardz]

I play with my devices plugged in, so battery is no issue for me. For some reason, the devices don't get warm playing PB like other games, which can get my Nexus 7 2012 smoking hot. I also turn off the tablet when I sleep and let it rest and cool off over night, especially in this heat. I used to have Cleaner Master manage memory before playing, but I never really had slowdown issues with PB and deleted that app since they started spamming ads too much. Even my old Galaxy Nexus phone (2011) runs the game just fine with no problems, amazingly enough.

 

[bigfatbass]

Found a work around for anyone else having the pop-up ad issue. If you start the game from the "game set-up" menu you don't get the ad glitch. You can now restart a game without risking a crash every time. All the other issues remain, and wondering if the tourny day will be new table of the month day, too.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Found a work around for anyone else having the pop-up ad issue. If you start the game from the "game set-up" menu you don't get the ad glitch. You can now restart a game without risking a crash every time. All the other issues remain, and wondering if the tourny day will be new table of the month day, too.

Wonder if we should start documenting these workarounds more publicly?

I've been writing https://jaredmorgs.gitbooks.io/pinball-arcade-for-android-new-ui-help-center/content/ to begin working around interface issues.

 

[Spork98765]

Unless you guys are having memory issues, what do you feel the disadvantages are of letting android manage RAM and resources dynamically? Like its designed to do.

I don't think this is the issue being raised, at least not by me, WRT to TPA not closing.

I took the comment by @AnvilCloud with some seriousness and did some further testing with the one remaining Android L tablet I had.

Android 5.1.1 : "closing" TPA with the back key from the home page of the UI is indistinguishable from putting in in the background with the home key. The only difference on Android L vs Android M I can still see is that on L there is still the problem with the UI sliding to the left, so you can see the old UI animation behind, when coming out of the back ground.


I suspect that this video covers both our sides on the issue of whether TPA needs an exit, or at minimum a close dialogue, similar to zen or just abut every other app that doesn't need to remain in the background or run as a service.

 

[jaredmorgs]

I don't think this is the issue being raised, at least not by me, WRT to TPA not closing.

I took the comment by @AnvilCloud with some seriousness and did some further testing with the one remaining Android L tablet I had.

Android 5.1.1 : "closing" TPA with the back key from the home page of the UI is indistinguishable from putting in in the background with the home key. The only difference on Android L vs Android M I can still see is that on L there is still the problem with the UI sliding to the left, so you can see the old UI animation behind, when coming out of the back ground.


I suspect that this video covers both our sides on the issue of whether TPA needs an exit, or at minimum a close dialogue, similar to zen or just abut every other app that doesn't need to remain in the background or run as a service.

Good research there.

I do agree that devs should take responsibility for proper memory management in their apps.

It only contributes to the overall stability of the platform, and that is a good thing.

 

[AnvilCloud]

Putting the app in the background acts exactly the same as how FarSight is telling us to "close" the app right now.

As I have been saying since the release of the new UI pressing back from the UI home screen does not close it. If it was closed then bringing up from recent apps, which I can remove it from, should cause me to see the whole touch to continue blah blah again. However, this does not happen. Hence TPA is not closing!



Sure, I could go into developer options and limit background processes or enable strict control about how apps function, but I shouldn't have to do this to get this app to close properly. Now if FarSight would just put in a proper close confirmation, or exit procedure then this could be a dead issue.

Hmm... Unless that's intentional, that sounds issue with the code that manages the apps life cycle, like your onpause, onresume etc

 

[jaredmorgs]

Guys, thanks for these reports about app state.

I'll bring this up in the beta forum and see if Andrew can improve how this is managed.

 

[AnvilCloud]

I don't think this is the issue being raised, at least not by me, WRT to TPA not closing.

I took the comment by @AnvilCloud with some seriousness and did some further testing with the one remaining Android L tablet I had.

Android 5.1.1 : "closing" TPA with the back key from the home page of the UI is indistinguishable from putting in in the background with the home key. The only difference on Android L vs Android M I can still see is that on L there is still the problem with the UI sliding to the left, so you can see the old UI animation behind, when coming out of the back ground.


I suspect that this video covers both our sides on the issue of whether TPA needs an exit, or at minimum a close dialogue, similar to zen or just abut every other app that doesn't need to remain in the background or run as a service.

Interesting video. BTW for clarity I should note that the change in how android manages resources was implemented for LP, so you would notice differences between say KK and LP but maybe not so much between LP and MM.

Edit: from my memory it was when Google decided to switch from JIT compiler.

 

[Spork98765]

Interesting video. BTW for clarity I should note that the change in how android manages resources was implemented for LP, so you would notice differences between say KK and LP but maybe not so much between LP and MM.

Edit: from my memory it was when Google decided to switch from JIT compiler.

You're probably right, but the only other older device I have access to is a Gingerbread one that has 512MB of RAM and a screen resolution of 320x480. I have doubts that I could even sideload TPA on it for testing purposes.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Shield Tablets are now certified for Low Latency audio. I haven't put in headphones to see how the FAM is working with that new system.

 

[kinggo]

one thing that annoys me a lot in new UI is that "press to start" invisible button. Why do we need that now?