Please replace the battery icon with the percentage number

In the next firmware updates for the Fuze, Clip, and Clip+ please replace the battery icon with the percentage number. It drives me crazy to have to navigate to the system information every time I want to see this. Why must this be buried? Why can’t this be on the screen all the time?

… or at least make it an option to have either a vague decreasing bar or a more useful percentage.

LOL! I have a 20+ year old portable AM/FM digital radio that instead of having a number displayed for the frequency tuned to, it has a series of bars that simulate the tuning dial of an an analog radio. It is so silly and so annoying. It is hard to figure out exactly where you are. They went through all this trouble to take precise information(the frequency tuned to) and display it in a very imprecise manner. It is otherwise a great radio, however they mucked it up with this display. That is how I feel about the battery icon.

@jk98 wrote:
In the next firmware updates for the Fuze, Clip, and Clip+ please replace the battery icon with the percentage number. It drives me crazy to have to navigate to the system information every time I want to see this. Why must this be buried? Why can’t this be on the screen all the time?

This really would not be of any use. The percantage number does not go down in a linear fashion, so it’s not any more useful than the battery bar. I noticed the lack of linearity in battery runtime tests I did with both Fuze and Clip. If it really was to operate in a linear manner, then I would be on board with this request.

The battery gauge isn’t perfect, but it is the best we have. I too have noticed it sometimes making sudden drops. I still think a number would be much better than the battery icon though.

One problem with your suggestion is there would still have to be a battery icon (eating up additional real estate on the screen), otherwise it could be unclear exactly what the percentage indicated. “My player says 86%. 86% of what?!?”

The current setup is satisfactory for everyday use. You can get a general idea of the battery life remaining, and if for some reason you need a more precise level, it is available. Maybe just make “Info” the first option on the Settings screen, and don’t bury it under Settings>System Settings on the Fuze.

An option to chose would be better. The batter icon looks better. Even though I like the idea of a percentage indicator, it wouldn’t look too good on the small screen.

How about any easier way of seeing the number then?

It would look no worse than the clock that is already in the same area (albeit the left rather than the right side) of the screen…

@gwk1967 wrote:

One problem with your suggestion is there would still have to be a battery icon (eating up additional real estate on the screen), otherwise it could be unclear exactly what the percentage indicated. “My player says 86%. 86% of what?!?”

 

People running Rockbox don’t have an issue with this. Depending on the creator, some themes have a graphical image of battery charge level, some show a numerical indicator (time left or percentage), and still others have both.

     

@tapeworm wrote:


@gwk1967 wrote:

One problem with your suggestion is there would still have to be a battery icon (eating up additional real estate on the screen), otherwise it could be unclear exactly what the percentage indicated. “My player says 86%. 86% of what?!?”

 


People running Rockbox don’t have an issue with this. Depending on the creator, some themes have a graphical image of battery charge level, some show a numerical indicator (time left or percentage), and still others have both.

 

     

 

 

 

Please God, not another person advocating Rockbox! Next thing I expect to hear is that a rockbox-equipped Fuze will be the nav system for the Space Shuttle! ( right after they find a cure for Ebola and AIDS ) :stuck_out_tongue:

@marvin_martian wrote:

Please God, not another person advocating Rockbox! Next thing I expect to hear is that a rockbox-equipped Fuze will be the nav system for the Space Shuttle! ( right after they find a cure for Ebola and AIDS ) :stuck_out_tongue:

Sorry Marvin, I was just pointing out that there are people who prefer just the battery icon, and people who want to ‘play by the numbers’. And then there are some who just want it all. And there is plenty of room for both and a lot more on those little screens. Of course

But you gotta admit, some of the RB themes people have writen/created are pretty impressive. You should see the KITT theme (above) in action. The red lights pulsate and move just like car’s dashboard in the original TV series.

Bersides, the shuttle could probably use a system update anyway. It’s been a few years back, but I once heard that a lowly 386 system was the brains behind the brawn on the space shuttle. :dizzy_face:

@marvin_martian wrote:

Please God, not another person advocating Rockbox! Next thing I expect to hear is that a rockbox-equipped Fuze will be the nav system for the Space Shuttle! ( right after they find a cure for Ebola and AIDS ) :stuck_out_tongue:

Sorry Marvin, I was just pointing out that there are people who prefer just the battery icon, and people who want to ‘play by the numbers’. And then there are some who just want it all. And there is plenty of room for both and a lot more on those little screens. Of course, if you want album art you gotta give up some other luxuries.

But you gotta admit, some of the RB themes people have writen/created are pretty impressive. You should see the KITT theme (above) in action. The red lights pulsate and move just like car’s dashboard in the original TV series.

Bersides, the shuttle could probably use a system update anyway. It’s been a few years back, but I once heard that a lowly 386 system was the brains behind the brawn on the space shuttle. :dizzy_face:

@marvin_martian wrote:

Please God, not another person advocating Rockbox! Next thing I expect to hear is that a rockbox-equipped Fuze will be the nav system for the Space Shuttle! ( right after they find a cure for Ebola and AIDS ) :stuck_out_tongue:

Sorry Marvin, I was just pointing out that there are people who prefer just the battery icon, and people who want to ‘play by the numbers’. And then there are some who just want it all. And there is plenty of room for both and a lot more on those little screens. Of course, if you want album art you gotta give up some other luxuries.

But you gotta admit, some of the RB themes people have writen/created are pretty impressive. You should see the KITT theme (above) in action. The red lights pulsate and move just like car’s dashboard in the original TV series.

Besides, the shuttle could probably use a system update anyway. It’s been a few years back, but I once heard that a lowly 386 system was the brains behind the brawn on the space shuttle. :dizzy_face:

@tapeworm wrote:


@marvin_martian wrote:

Please God, not another person advocating Rockbox! Next thing I expect to hear is that a rockbox-equipped Fuze will be the nav system for the Space Shuttle! ( right after they find a cure for Ebola and AIDS ) :stuck_out_tongue:


Sorry Marvin, I was just pointing out that there are people who prefer just the battery icon, and people who want to ‘play by the numbers’. And then there are some who just want it all. And there is plenty of room for both and a lot more on those little screens. Of course, if you want album art you gotta give up some other luxuries.

 

But you gotta admit, some of the RB themes people have writen/created are pretty impressive. You should see the KITT theme (above) in action. The red lights pulsate and move just like car’s dashboard in the original TV series.

 

Besides, the shuttle could probably use a system update anyway. It’s been a few years back, but I once heard that a lowly 386 system was the brains behind the brawn on the space shuttle. :dizzy_face:

Oh, I realize that there’s an awful lot it can do, and I don’t mean to bash Rockbox itself.  It’s more the fans of it endlessly crowing about it and it being the solution to everything that gets a little old. Every DAP forum I visit, it seems like the majority of players’ native firmware is derided as being inferior, and the countdown to an upcoming RB port is discussed endlessly, if the port does not exist already. There are Rockbox forums out there,why aren’t these discussions taking place there?  /rant

You’re probably right about the Shuttle, by the way.:smileyvery-happy:

@marvin_martian wrote:

 

Every DAP forum I visit, it seems like the majority of players’ native firmware is derided as being inferior, and the countdown to an upcoming RB port is discussed endlessly, if the port does not exist already. There are Rockbox forums out there,why aren’t these discussions taking place there?  /rant

 

The folks at the Rockbox forum run a pretty tight ship, and frankly will not allow such trivial ramblings to take place. They will flame you into the ground for asking a question that has been asked before, or strongly suggest you ‘read the wiki’. This they’ll do once. After that, you’re likely to be banned if the stupidity continues.

Nothing at all like what is allowed or tolerated here.

The battery icon has ten steps, allowing a “thumbnail” view of battery status.  I prefer it to a numeric display, as a ten per cent resolution is just right for the application.

The Space Shuttle has a quintet (5) onboard GPCs, or “general purpose” computers, with a redundant system of “polling” or “voting” between them.  In the event of a failure, the remaining computers can choose to press on while ignoring the one that’s in trouble.  It was pretty cool stuff, especially if you consider the lead time between engineering and production.

This stuff was designed in the 1970s, folks.  And I’m referring to final revisions here- there were years of preliminaries leading up to it.  So, think of the personal computer in those years.  Oh, no such thing yet, even on the horizon.

I remember in the mid 80s seeing the GRiD Compassused on flights.  In 1985 dollars, a cool $8000.  My brother and I salivated at that old dinosaur at the time.

The Space Shuttle was never used for its original purpose, assembling a Mars rocket in Earth orbit, along with a space station.  I have some of the original drawings, showing the cool nuclear engines (yes, nook-ya-ler for the technology-impaired) fitted in the shuttle payload bay.  The size of the bay was dependent upon the requirements of this new engine.  The reaction assembly, the big “bell” nozzle, actually folded over to fit in the bay!

I felt an incredible sadness as I heard Jimmy Carter slouch his pronunciation of nuclear in every speech.  Admiral Rickover must have blown a hernia over that sad display of ignorance.  Or, in retrospect, shall I say arrogance.  An atomic engine could have provided the necessary specific impulse to get us to Mars before the astronauts become great grandfathers.  Chemical rockets are just too inefficient and slow, in cases of interplanetary journies.

If NASA were my project, I would have shaved about 11,000 or so administrators from the government pay grade, and with the savings, hired plenty of young engineers to do what they aspire to do best: advance mankind.  Could you imagine the difference?  We wouldn’t be blundering about today, actually spending the same amount for NASA annually as during the Space Race (remember, we’re talking about a ten per cent resolution on the Fuze battery display here).

Hey, NASA would like another three billion per annum, up from eighteen.  The current executive genius?  They spent that first three billion playing automotive scrap yard.  Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Bob  :cry: