SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

[Trip]

Yeah, I'm thinking it's related to Android 10 somehow, because my other phones with Android 8 do not have this issue.  (I'll double-check a bit later, but I feel like I would remember if I'd seen it before.)  I've separately sent you a screencap of the error message I see in an e-mail; might be in the diagnostics as well, but just in case.

EDIT:  I just upgraded my T-Mobile E5 Play with Android 8 and did not experience the issue.

I don't really have a problem with it personally, but I worry about how others who are less technical than I am might react to similar behavior.

- Trip

[mikejeep]

@mdob07 and any others who had the issue with the blank/invalid 5G-NR blocks appearing -- is that resolved in the latest update?

@Trip are the color adjustments working how you hoped? Accent color goes by PLMN first then falls back to the provider name if it's not in the list, and added Shentel. Tweaked the text color options to hopefully make them more visible too.

[mdob07]

11 hours ago, mikejeep said:

@mdob07 and any others who had the issue with the blank/invalid 5G-NR blocks appearing -- is that resolved in the latest update?

@Trip are the color adjustments working how you hoped? Accent color goes by PLMN first then falls back to the provider name if it's not in the list, and added Shentel. Tweaked the text color options to hopefully make them more visible too.

I'm still seeing it, just sent you a report.

[mdob07]

3 minutes ago, mdob07 said:

I'm still seeing it, just sent you a report.

Well, I'm still seeing it on my AT&T phone but on my T-Mobile phone is disappears when I force B12. 

[mikejeep]

Well, I'm still seeing it on my AT&T phone but on my T-Mobile phone is disappears when I force B12. 

 

Weirdness. Could you send reports from both? just note which is showing it and which isn't -- I don't get the actual display in the diagnostics. Thank you!

[mdob07]

1 hour ago, mikejeep said:

 

Weirdness. Could you send reports from both? just note which is showing it and which isn't -- I don't get the actual display in the diagnostics. Thank you!

Just sent them, for consistency I had both locked to B12. 

[Trip]

14 hours ago, mikejeep said:

@Trip are the color adjustments working how you hoped? Accent color goes by PLMN first then falls back to the provider name if it's not in the list, and added Shentel. Tweaked the text color options to hopefully make them more visible too.

On Monday I'll be going back out of town and will have to test them out in the car.  But I did test out T-Mobile in magenta today and found it too dark to read in the car; I switched it back to white.  Also, it looks like the general text color and the text color in the header is different; I suspect the header color would be easier to read, but maybe not easy enough.

See here:  https://imgur.com/a/7L0l4uJ

Separately, did you intend for there to be two accent lines, as seen here?  https://imgur.com/a/Nnuvwrr

If not, I must say I'd rather like to be able to manually set a color for that upper line.  My whole reason for wanting to use different text colors is because I now have four Moto E5 Play phones, one each for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and US Cellular, and they're nearly impossible to tell apart at a glance, and harder still if I'm in an area without service.  Setting a matching text color would be one way to tell, but being able to set a color somewhere on SCP would also work.

- Trip

[mikejeep]

4 hours ago, Trip said:

On Monday I'll be going back out of town and will have to test them out in the car.  But I did test out T-Mobile in magenta today and found it too dark to read in the car; I switched it back to white.  Also, it looks like the general text color and the text color in the header is different; I suspect the header color would be easier to read, but maybe not easy enough.

The text color in each of those spots uses the same exact variable, but I see the same anomaly on all of my devices. It must be how Android renders the ActionBar title vs regular display text. (EDIT: I think I found a way to resolve it) I tested many different variants of each color across 3 devices with different displays, and tried to choose the one that was the most visible to me. Funny how drastic the differences can be on different phones, even from the same line (Pixel 3 to Pixel 4 is very noticeable). I'm trying to find a simple way to implement a user-defined custom color choice.

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Separately, did you intend for there to be two accent lines, as seen here?  https://imgur.com/a/Nnuvwrr

Nope! That's a bug.. it's actually the non-LTE line (1X/GSM/WCDMA/etc) not being hidden properly. I was just made aware of it earlier today so I'll be looking into it.

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If not, I must say I'd rather like to be able to manually set a color for that upper line.  My whole reason for wanting to use different text colors is because I now have four Moto E5 Play phones, one each for Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and US Cellular, and they're nearly impossible to tell apart at a glance, and harder still if I'm in an area without service.  Setting a matching text color would be one way to tell, but being able to set a color somewhere on SCP would also work.

I was thinking of adding an option to set the text color based on the provider, so basically it would match the accent line..? My design skills are not great, and I try to keep a 'clean' look to the app so I'm trying not to go overboard with cheesy graphics, but I understand the desire to be able to identify things like that at a quick glance.

[Trip]

Mike,

My big concern, the reason for the text color or looking at an "accent" color for the top isn't to tell what I'm connected to, but rather, which phone I'm looking at.  My US Cellular phone might be roaming on AT&T or T-Mobile or Sprint, but when I glance at it, I want to be able to tell I'm looking at my US Cellular phone.  Similarly for my Verizon phone which might be roaming on US Cellular, or my T-Mobile phone might be roaming on US Cellular or AT&T, etc.  That's why I'm looking at text colors (which I'm not sure are the solution unless they're lighter than current options) or at some other kind of accent colors.  Because SCP is always in the foreground on them, SCP is probably the best way to do that short of hoping a sticker will stay stuck to the front of the phones, which I doubt will work.

I fully agree with your goal of keeping the app clean.  I'm just trying to find a way to tell these things apart.

- Trip

[mdob07]

Noticed this today while out in southern Illinois. SCP showing it as 10x10 but its really 15x15.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[mikejeep]

On 8/30/2020 at 7:45 PM, Trip said:

My big concern, the reason for the text color or looking at an "accent" color for the top isn't to tell what I'm connected to, but rather, which phone I'm looking at.....That's why I'm looking at text colors (which I'm not sure are the solution unless they're lighter than current options) or at some other kind of accent colors.

I found a solution that I think might work well for you, and others hopefully find useful. The text and background colors for the action bar and main display can now be independently configured -- and no more fixed color options.. you can set anything you want.. see attached screenshots.

The best news is that it's available in the latest beta, which is rolling out right now and should be available sometime later today! It should also fix the extra accent line and pesky disconnected 5G block that keeps coming back. Hopefully this proves to be bug-free.. let me know!  ***The update went live on Google Play at 5PM Eastern

[RAvirani]

10 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

That's looks awesome - great work Mike. 

[mikejeep]

45 minutes ago, mdob07 said:

Noticed this today while out in southern Illinois. SCP showing it as 10x10 but its really 15x15.

That 10x10 indicator is based off a previously confirmed GCI pattern.. I'm sure things have been changing lately. I feel like this might have come up a few months ago as well but I don't remember the outcome of the discussion.. does anyone have a suggestion for a better label? Or is it now so inconsistent it shouldn't be given a unique label at all?

[mdob07]

The best news is that it's available in the latest beta, which is rolling out right now and should be available sometime later today! It should also fix the extra accent line and pesky disconnected 5G block that keeps coming back. Hopefully this proves to be bug-free.. let me know!  ***The update went live on Google Play at 5PM Eastern

Just updated but I'm still seeing the empty 5G info block when not connected to 5G. Diagnostic report sent.

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

[Trip]

I love the new color options!  I can now easily ID my phones by the color of the "SignalCheck Pro" text at the top.  If I decide that's not obvious enough, I'll switch it to the Action Bar background color. 

- Trip

[mikejeep]

On 9/1/2020 at 7:01 PM, mdob07 said:

Just updated but I'm still seeing the empty 5G info block when not connected to 5G. Diagnostic report sent.

I just looked a little deeper at your diagnostic report.. go to Preferences > Display Settings > Hide Disconnected Types.. it looks like you have that set to WiFi-only. Try changing it to "Hide All" and see what happens. Your "bug" might actually be a "feature" -- although until this release, I would say it wasn't working properly because you weren't seeing that "No Connection" indicator you see now.

 

On 9/1/2020 at 9:02 PM, Trip said:

I love the new color options!  I can now easily ID my phones by the color of the "SignalCheck Pro" text at the top.  If I decide that's not obvious enough, I'll switch it to the Action Bar background color.

Very glad to hear it! Have you noticed any bugs with it? Until I was able to get some real-world testing, I left the old color options in the code, just hid the options from the menu.. I would love to purge it all. My testing so far has been solid.

[mdob07]

2 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

I just looked a little deeper at your diagnostic report.. go to Preferences > Display Settings > Hide Disconnected Types.. it looks like you have that set to WiFi-only. Try changing it to "Hide All" and see what happens. Your "bug" might actually be a "feature" -- although until this release, I would say it wasn't working properly because you weren't seeing that "No Connection" indicator you see now.

 

That fixed it. 🤦‍♂️I don't remember ever changing that to wifi only. That explains why it was only doing it on one phone. 

[Trip]

44 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

Very glad to hear it! Have you noticed any bugs with it? Until I was able to get some real-world testing, I left the old color options in the code, just hid the options from the menu.. I would love to purge it all. My testing so far has been solid.

Not really a bug per se, but if the Action Bar color is set to red, for example, then the "Mobile Data: Inactive" is invisible when it's in that status because the text and the background are the same color.  I'm not sure there's an obvious solution to that, or if one is even necessary, but I thought it was worth pointing out.  That said, I've left it black on my devices so far.  Having the text color in the Action Bar is sufficient for my purposes.  I'm now able to easily glance at my devices and tell which one is which, for the first time in a while.  (It was a lot easier when all my phones were different models, naturally.)

- Trip

[mikejeep]

New beta is rolling out now, in conjunction with a new public release. The only update for the Beta Crew is the issue with extra accent line appearing should be fully resolved now. Thank you to all of you for your help with this update, it was a long process with some big changes. I sincerely appreciate it!

EDIT: The update is still being processed, 26+ hours after I submitted it.. unfortunately Google Play does not provide an ETA.

[mdob07]

Anyone else having issues with the app freezing up? In the last week or so I've had several instances where I try to go back into SCP and its frozen. It either will show old data thats not updating or just a black screen. I have to go force stop the app to fix the issue. 

[chamb]

Yes, when SCP is running in the background and I bring it up on the full screen, I have a receive level that is bad.  Maybe something like -118.  If I leave it alone for 15 seconds or more ,it will correct and show a correct level of maybe -100.   I do not have to force stop the app.

I need to get into the menus to see if the phone is sort of going to sleep when idle or if SCP is not doing a query quickly or what.   If I keep SCP displayed on the screen the levels have been slow updating and generally not dependable for months since a software update on the phone.

I tend to blame the Samsung s9 rather than SCP.   I THINK the phone is not reporting the level as often as it did in the past. Probably to save the battery or something like that. Not good for us however.

[mikejeep]

23 hours ago, mdob07 said:

Anyone else having issues with the app freezing up? In the last week or so I've had several instances where I try to go back into SCP and its frozen. It either will show old data thats not updating or just a black screen. I have to go force stop the app to fix the issue. 

Hmm.. I haven't gotten any recent reports of this.. any other software updates recently?

 

4 hours ago, chamb said:

Yes, when SCP is running in the background and I bring it up on the full screen, I have a receive level that is bad.  Maybe something like -118.  If I leave it alone for 15 seconds or more ,it will correct and show a correct level of maybe -100.   I do not have to force stop the app.

I need to get into the menus to see if the phone is sort of going to sleep when idle or if SCP is not doing a query quickly or what.   If I keep SCP displayed on the screen the levels have been slow updating and generally not dependable for months since a software update on the phone.

I tend to blame the Samsung s9 rather than SCP.   I THINK the phone is not reporting the level as often as it did in the past. Probably to save the battery or something like that. Not good for us however.

When I updated SCP to "target" Android 10, many users started seeing behavior like this, although I'm not sure why you are experiencing it unless Samsung's software update is implementing things it shouldn't be. Android 10+ rate-limits signal status updates under typical circumstances -- which as you said, is not good for us. I rolled back the target version to Android 9 which resolved the issue, however I will be forced to target Android 10 (or 11) for any updates rolled out after October 31 per Google Play policy. There is supposed to be a method to force a refresh of the cell information, but in my limited testing, it did not work as expected. This issue is going to be a priority in my next beta cycle since there is a hard deadline that is approaching quickly. If I can't resolve it, SCP releases after that date are going to be somewhat crippled.

EDIT: Have either of you tried enabling the option under Preferences > General Settings > Use Stale Data Workaround?

Edited September 11, 2020 by mikejeep

[chamb]

23 hours ago, mikejeep said:

Hmm.. I haven't gotten any recent reports of this.. any other software updates recently?

EDIT: Have either of you tried enabling the option under Preferences > General Settings > Use Stale Data Workaround?

It has been acting badly for months.  Probably started with Android 10. Very slow updates to signal levels. I do have the stale data workaround checked, but I am not sure it is helping anything.

[mikejeep]

It has been acting badly for months.  Probably started with Android 10. Very slow updates to signal levels. I do have the stale data workaround checked, but I am not sure it is helping anything.

Try watching it while in a vehicle or some other situation where the phone will clearly know it is not stationary.. any improvement? Trying to narrow down the possible reasons.

[mdob07]

On 9/11/2020 at 6:12 PM, mikejeep said:

Hmm.. I haven't gotten any recent reports of this.. any other software updates recently?

I don't believe so. It does seem to only affect my AT&T phone, but that is also the one I use 95% of the time. It seems to only happen after I've had SCP open for a long period of time, then put it in the background and open something else, then when I go back to SCP it'll have the data still on it from when I went out of it, or just a blank screen. The app is completely frozen when this happens, I can't get the menu to come up to exit that way or send diagnostics. The only way to clear it and get it to start working again is to force close SCP via the system settings menu. Used to happy very infrequently, like one or twice a month tops. It just seems to be happening more frequently now. It may be some power saving feature where it sees it drawing more power than usual when I have it open for a long period of time that it tries to compensate for once it moves to the background. I just changed the power setting to exclude SCP when putting apps to sleep to see if that makes a difference.