Make ambiences great again! [Feature-request]

asked 2018-03-09 22:44:34 +0200

minojolla gravatar image

updated 2019-11-07 19:50:18 +0200

I would like the ambience to be saved in one file, downloadable, sharable and easy to install like swapping the Other Half in Jolla 1. A sort of .ambience file that contains the audio files, the background image, the settings.

I think this could encourage the creation and sharing of ambiences, perhaps in a section of the Jolla Store.

Something similar happened years ago (2008-2010) with ringtones for iphone 2G 3G! Apple monetised as usual creating a Store with paid ringtones, but there were tools to create free ringtones from MP3

Sailfish 3 could be an opportunity to reorganize the ambience files.

Thank you

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Comments

1

Ambience - they were never great to begin with. I'd like to see the concept gone altogether and let end users have themes that contrast correctly and let you see what is actually on the screen of your phone instead of it being diminished by some soppy semi-artistic photo or contrived drawing. Many users don;t seem to give a damn about ambience and of course, initially, the ambience came with each TOH purchased from the now, non-existent jolla shop, which in turn also means no more TOH's being dreamt up/manufactured and at €39 a piece......admittedly, I bought a few!, but looking back, I should have kept my money.

Currently, ambience packages are not accepted in the Store, this I know as I did try to submit a package to store a few years ago and it was promptly rejected.

Spam Hunter ( 2018-03-10 07:44:04 +0200 )edit

So, there was a place for ambiences in Jolla Store, or you mean the old jolla shop site?

minojolla ( 2018-03-10 11:07:52 +0200 )edit
2

It might be simple to create an automatic ambience-packager, but DRM introduces quite severe limitations.

Imagine this
You have created an ambience background, added custom sounds and chosen light/dark mode (promised for Sailfish OS 3). A new option in the pull menu creates an ambience package for sharing. Now you have all the stuff in that .ambience file. All is good.

But is that .mp3 snippet yours to share? Was that sunset photo from Bali taken by you? If the packager needs to keep track of what files are free to use then there are some rough waters ahead.

And...
There are also some technical things to solve. Will the format of the .ambience file change? Will .ambience files be different from .ambience3? What about backwards compatibility?

Here are some examples of what I hope for in ambiences in the future.

  • There could be more layouts for the home screen. Now it is four or nine app covers at equal size. With new layouts it would be possible to have one cover that is larger than today while the other covers are kept at the smallest size.

  • Ambiences could be populated with certain apps. Think of this as switching between different sets of apps.

  • There is a colour setting for each ambience. Would it possible to add a contrast setting too?

  • What would Sailfish OS be like if Situations is part of the base system?

vattuvarg ( 2018-03-10 12:11:45 +0200 )edit

@vattuvarg: that is essentially what Ambiences were always supposed to be, if you look at the early concept videos of Sailfish. I suppose they're still planned to eventually work that way (which, essentially, is not very different from switching users on a regular GNU/Linux distribution).

nthn ( 2018-03-10 13:13:04 +0200 )edit

@minojolla - No, there is was never a place for ambience packages in Jolla apps store.

Jolla had an online shop where you could buy the original Jolla phone and TOH (the other halves), but the shop no longer exists.

Spam Hunter ( 2018-03-10 13:31:02 +0200 )edit