Froyo has no Alarm Clock shortcut? Help!

[Feoen]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum so pardon my informalities.

My Moto Droid just got FroYo 2.2 a few hours ago. It installed well, and is smooth as silk. I'm loving it.

However, unless I'm blind, I've come across a major bug that this forum post alerted me to: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-general-discussions/66904-little-things-froyo-you-like.html

When I was on 2.1, I used my Alarms like it was my day job, so I had Alarm Clock as a shortcut on my phone. That shortcut has been renamed to "Alarms" with FroYo.

My concern is that it is not possible to find this shortcut anywhere else on the phone. The person in that forum post was saying that there's now no easy way to get to your Alarms; you have to go through Clock. I can go directly to Alarms because I had Alarm Clock on my desktop BEFORE I updated.

However, it seems that for people who did not have Alarm Clock on their desktop before they updated to 2.2, they have no way to get a shortcut to their Alarms because it's not under Shortcuts, Widgets, or Applications.

Or I'm just blind and it's somewhere that isn't obvious? Please help.

 

[neoj2]

You could try on the Market "Better Alarm" its exactly the same a free one and a paid one. Only this one can customize more like text and music instead of alarm. Hope this helps.

 

[Feoen]

You could try on the Market "Better Alarm" its exactly the same a free one and a paid one. Only this one can customize more like text and music instead of alarm. Hope this helps.

Thanks! A 3rd party solution is always welcome, but I like the new layout of the FroYo alarm and I think that a shortcut functionality like this is an oversight and should be fixed.

Here's some pictorial proof of my "Alarms" icon:

So, to repeat with a summary:

I had Alarm Clock on my desktop on 2.1

I upgraded to 2.2

Alarm Clock turned to "Alarms"

In 2.1, you could go into your Applications and put Alarm Clock onto the desktop.

Now, there is no such Application as "Alarms" despite my having it, as far as I can tell.

 

[sroach23]

you just open the clock app and the alarm is on the bottom left.

 

[Feoen]

you just open the clock app and the alarm is on the bottom left.

That is TWO steps. This means I have to hit Clock THEN click the Alarm button.

Why is it, then, that I have an "Alarms" button that, when clicked, goes STRAIGHT to the Alarms screen?

This shortcut should be available to everyone. If I want to quickly turn an alarm on or off, I don't want to have to go through the Clock screen first if it's doable in less clicks.

Yes I realize it's a very minor issue, BUT it's an inconsistency in the programming. I have an "Alarms" shortcut that technically does not exist for the end-user. IMO all end-users should be able to have a shortcut like this, because 2.1 had that feature.

 

[neoj2]

You could try on the Market "Better Alarm" its exactly the same a free one and a paid one. Only this one can customize more like text and music instead of alarm. Hope this helps.

Thanks! A 3rd party solution is always welcome, but I like the new layout of the FroYo alarm and I think that a shortcut functionality like this is an oversight and should be fixed.

Here's some pictorial proof of my "Alarms" icon:

So, to repeat with a summary:

I had Alarm Clock on my desktop on 2.1

I upgraded to 2.2

Alarm Clock turned to "Alarms"

In 2.1, you could go into your Applications and put Alarm Clock onto the desktop.

Now, there is no such Application as "Alarms" despite my having it, as far as I can tell.

Yeah i freaked out when they got rid of it as a separate app and included it with clock on the bottom left. Better Alarm is like that though. You can move the shortcut to the desktop of your phone just like the previous alarm or have it customized to beautiful widget on beautiful home when you click on the time like i do, check it out.
digging your background here's mine.

 

[Feoen]

You could try on the Market "Better Alarm" its exactly the same a free one and a paid one. Only this one can customize more like text and music instead of alarm. Hope this helps.

Thanks! A 3rd party solution is always welcome, but I like the new layout of the FroYo alarm and I think that a shortcut functionality like this is an oversight and should be fixed.

Here's some pictorial proof of my "Alarms" icon:

So, to repeat with a summary:

I had Alarm Clock on my desktop on 2.1

I upgraded to 2.2

Alarm Clock turned to "Alarms"

In 2.1, you could go into your Applications and put Alarm Clock onto the desktop.

Now, there is no such Application as "Alarms" despite my having it, as far as I can tell.

Yeah i freaked out when they got rid of it as a separate app and included it with clock on the bottom left. Better Alarm is like that though. You can move the shortcut to the desktop of your phone just like the previous alarm or have it customized to beautiful widget on beautiful home when you click on the time like i do, check it out.
digging your background here's mine.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to install it, but I'm very very buggy (no pun intended) about inconsistencies in OSes. There is no reason I should have an Alarms shortcut that other people cannot get. This needs to be fixed.

Oh nice! Your background definitely looks nice. Thanks for the compliment... I was just called some very not-nice things on another forum I posted on about this issue. Was told to hang myself for having an anime background. People, people, people...

 

[neoj2]

Thanks! A 3rd party solution is always welcome, but I like the new layout of the FroYo alarm and I think that a shortcut functionality like this is an oversight and should be fixed.

Here's some pictorial proof of my "Alarms" icon:

So, to repeat with a summary:

I had Alarm Clock on my desktop on 2.1

I upgraded to 2.2

Alarm Clock turned to "Alarms"

In 2.1, you could go into your Applications and put Alarm Clock onto the desktop.

Now, there is no such Application as "Alarms" despite my having it, as far as I can tell.

Yeah i freaked out when they got rid of it as a separate app and included it with clock on the bottom left. Better Alarm is like that though. You can move the shortcut to the desktop of your phone just like the previous alarm or have it customized to beautiful widget on beautiful home when you click on the time like i do, check it out.
digging your background here's mine.

Yeah, I'm definitely going to install it, but I'm very very buggy (no pun intended) about inconsistencies in OSes. There is no reason I should have an Alarms shortcut that other people cannot get. This needs to be fixed.

Oh nice! Your background definitely looks nice. Thanks for the compliment... I was just called some very not-nice things on another forum I posted on about this issue. Was told to hang myself for having an anime background. People, people, people...

Funny because that's all I have on my desktop on my phone so your not alone bro

 

[aminaked]

Funny because that's all I have on my desktop on my phone so your not alone bro

That's really the only thing you have on your desktop? That's a little creepy for some reason.

***

Hey, so you can't add a link to it by long-pressing the desktop and adding a shortcut or something? If not: GOOGLE FAIL.

***

Eww...just thought of something crazy...maybe if you DELETE your last precious Alarm shortcut, it will re-appear in the app dock. Don't do it, man!

 

[MotoCache1]

Does your alarm shortcut actually still work? I deleted mine (temporarily -- I thought) to move some things around and then was irritated when I couldn't re-create it.

 

[Feoen]

Does your alarm shortcut actually still work? I deleted mine (temporarily -- I thought) to move some things around and then was irritated when I couldn't re-create it.

Yes, it goes STRAIGHT to the alarm screen, which is why I'm very surprised that it isn't in the applications for everyone to use.

 

[Turtle Droid]

I use Digi Clock Widget. Works great! I have 5 different alarm times setup.

 

[MotoCache1]

Does your alarm shortcut actually still work? I deleted mine (temporarily -- I thought) to move some things around and then was irritated when I couldn't re-create it.

Yes, it goes STRAIGHT to the alarm screen, which is why I'm very surprised that it isn't in the applications for everyone to use.

Of course now I have to muck around in my phone and see where the darn shortcuts on the home page get stored so I can have you tell me what yours says. Then I can see if I can make one again.

 

[MotoCache1]

Does your alarm shortcut actually still work? I deleted mine (temporarily -- I thought) to move some things around and then was irritated when I couldn't re-create it.

Yes, it goes STRAIGHT to the alarm screen, which is why I'm very surprised that it isn't in the applications for everyone to use.

Of course now I have to muck around in my phone and see where the darn shortcuts on the home page get stored so I can have you tell me what yours says. Then I can see if I can make one again.

OK, I found it. If you want to check yours and see what the setting is I can probably make something that will re-create that shortcut.

Are you rooted? If so, in Root Explorer, go to:

/data/data/com.android.launcher/databases/

Then tap on launcher.db. Don't worry, you can't change anything unless you install the SQLite editor -- this will be browsing only.

When it asks what you want to do with launcher.db, tap the "Internal Viewer" button. Now you're looking at the database. Tap "favorites". You should see a favorite with a title of "Alarm Clock". The "intent" column tells you what the shortcut is. Unfortunately on my Droid the column isn't wide enough to read the whole thing and I don't see a way to make it wider or copy/paste from it. I need to get SQLite Editor to make changes anyway.

Well, anyway, if you want to let me know if you're rooted or not and whether or not you can view the database we'll be headed in the right direction.

 

[MotoCache1]

Even though my phone doesn't have it anymore, the 2.2 AVD's in the SDK do. I added the Alarm Clock shortcut to the home page and then grabbed the database.

The string is:

Alarm Clock#Intent;action=android.intent.action.MAIN;category=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER;launchFlags=0x10200000;component=com.android.alarmclock/.AlarmClock;end

It's getting late, but when I get a chance I'll put SQLite editor on and create a new record with this string in the "intent" field and see what happens.