App to turn off the screen WITHOUT locking the phone

[Anidamo]

Hi,

I've had my droid for almost two months now and I absolutely love it. It really DOES do everything. >__>

However, there's one small thing that's been bugging me about it lately. With my blackberry I had the option of setting two separate timeouts: a screen timeout and a lock timeout. After the screen timeout elapsed the screen would turn off, but the phone would remain unlocked, so if I pressed a key the screen would turn back on and I wouldn't have to retype my password. The blackberry would only lock itself after the lock timeout elapsed, which I usually set to around 15 minutes. This was really useful, especially while texting or while using the web browser to quickly look multiple things up.

With my Droid, it's a little irritating to have to unlock the phone every time I want to turn the screen back on. Plus, another benefit is that I could set the screen timeout on my berry to 15 seconds, greatly improving battery life (something I DESPERATELY need on the Droid) since I rarely remember to turn the screen off on my own. If I set the backlight timer that low on my Droid I'd kill myself from having to enter the pattern so often.

So ultimately my question is are there any apps I can use to make the screen shut off independently of the lock timeout? I've searched a bit and I haven't found anything, but before I start coding my own app to do this I'd like to make sure there isn't something already available. If not, well, I'm going to see if I can make one.

(Longest thing I've ever typed on a virtual keyboard... By the way if you haven't tried smartkeyboard, a multitouch keyboard app, check it out!)

Thanks.

 

[jsh1120]

Take a look at Screebl, myLock, and Screen Mode Widget. Among them, they'll solve your problems.

 

[Anidamo]

Wow, that was fast O_O

I've used screebl before but it doesn't do what I need exactly. I hold my phone in too many different ways, and I often type while laying it flat on some kind of surface, so relying on the orientation wouldn't work for me. Screenmodewidget looked like it was almost exactly what I needed, though I'd prefer to not have to toggle anything at all. Ill check it out though, thanks for that.

Couldn't find mylock on the Market, but I'll dig through its website to see if it's what I need.

Thanks for the quick response.

 

[faxman75]

mylock is exactly what you need. It's also what I need. I was apparently a day late as I went to download it yesterday and it was gone. I even scanned those code looking things from a few places on line with my bar code scanner and it couldn't find the app so I have given up and assume it will return some time in the near future because a lot of people here have it.

 

[Anidamo]

mylock is exactly what you need. It's also what I need. I was apparently a day late as I went to download it yesterday and it was gone. I even scanned those code looking things from a few places on line with my bar code scanner and it couldn't find the app so I have given up and assume it will return some time in the near future because a lot of people here have it.

Trying myLock now. It's not on the Market anymore, but they do have a website and Google Code project set up, which has a download link.

Downloads - mylockforandroid - Project Hosting on Google Code

Here's a direct link to the .apk so you can install it from the phone:
http://mylockforandroid.googlecode.com/files/myLock_complete_previewBeta1.apk

You'll need to allow Android to install apps from unknown sources, which you can do by going to Settings >> Applications >> Check 'Unknown sources'.

 

[Anidamo]

Hmmm... mylock is close, but not exactly what I need, since it requires me to manually toggle it on/off. I'd like something to basically lock the phone after a certain length of time, without my interaction. It was close though, thanks for the help.

Maybe I will have to write one myself. Fun!