Google's Nexus 6 Almost Had Tap To Wake Feature

[DroidModderX]

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One of the great features of the Nexus 9 is the tap to wake feature which allows you to wake your devices screen without the need to search and find the power button. This feature almost found its way to the Nexus 6. A code commit from September 10th actually shows the feature as present. It looks like Google decided to yank the feature before releasing the phone. Google gives no explanation for the lack of tap to wake other than just to clarify that it is not a feature of the Nexus 6. There are apparently no plans to add it. However there is an Ambient display feature which allows the display to wake briefly when notifications come in. I had to turn off this feature instantly since it caused my phone to wake in my pocket and the screen to turn on killing my battery. The tap to wake feature may be better in the regard that you would have to actually double tap the screen in order to wake it, and it would be a bit more difficult to wake the screen on accident. I can't imagine that there won't soon me a mod or addon released by the dev community to build this feature back into the Nexus 6.

Via AndroidPolice

 

[FoxKat]

Seems to me that either the Proximity sensor or the Ambient Light sensor should be able to tell that the phone is in your pocket and prevent it from waking. My Turbo doesn't do that.

 

[Ollie]

My Note 3 doesn't do it either and I have the dynamic notifications running.

I wonder if the tap to wake is a patent issue? Another OEM has this implement already.

 

[Garemlin]

I thought double tap to wake was a feature built in to Android 5.0. Not device specific.

And I don't understand how this ambient display is causing waking problems in the pocket either. Should work the same way as the Droid Turbo.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Although I'm sure many users would find it handy, I think I'm so well trained to tap the power button to wake the device as I pull it from my pocket or reach for it where it's laying that I don't think I'd actually use such a feature.

Seems like there was a lockscreen replacement or something that offered this feature as well, but I could be remembering wrong.

One less thing always waiting for my input = less battery consumed on standby.

 

[Ollie]

Wasn't it LG that had tap to wake?

Edit... Come to think of it my SGS2 had this as well.

 

[Garemlin]

Wasn't it LG that had tap to wake?

Edit... Come to think of it my SGS2 had this as well.

I thought the LG G2 was the first with tap to wake and sleep.

 

[Ollie]

I was tapping the S2 for something. It had to be lockscreen or voice commands.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

I was tapping the S2 for something. It had to be lockscreen or voice commands.

I think you just like to poke things.

 

[Rognish]

really? how difficult is it to press the power button?

 

[akhenax]

The LG G2 was the first to have tap to wake. I don't know if they patented the feature, but they should have to prevent other OEMs from playing copycat. If Android 5.0 has it, then Google must have licensed it from LG.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

The LG G2 was the first to have tap to wake. I don't know if they patented the feature, but they should have to prevent other OEMs from playing copycat. If Android 5.0 has it, then Google must have licensed it from LG.

I have to disagree with you there. I get protecting intellectual property, but some of the things these companies patent are ridiculous. They're not fostering innovation. Let somebody take a simple idea like "Swipe to Unlock" and improve upon it rather than slap them with another lawsuit.

Do I want a bunch of clone phones running around? No, but I think there should be stricter guidelines on how innovative a feature like this has to be to be patented. It's all just a money grab. They've got this patent on this simple little feature, so they can charge more because they're the only ones that have it, they can charge others whatever they want to use it, and they can take others to court for creating features that are similar, but different. All of which drives costs up for the consumer.

 

[Garemlin]

really? how difficult is it to press the power button?

It isn't hard at all. But....

A. Much easier to reach over and unlock when it is sitting on the table or desk by tapping.

B. Saves wear on the power button

I loved the back buttons on my G2. But I loved it even more that I never even had to touch them for anything. Knock on/off and volume slider widget cured that.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Come to think of it, I use the Home button on my Note 4 (and did so on the s4) just as often as I use the power button to wake the device. Maybe even more, depending on whether it's sitting in my pocket or on a table/chair.

 

[Ollie]

It was voice control on the S2!