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Twinview 3 feedback & ideas
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03-25-2021 10:34 PM
Hey gamers. Got a ROG 3 at US launch, honestly in love with it. Decided recently to pick up the accessories for final boss mode, twinview first. I feel kinda burned. I've owned innumerable Asus products and this dock is the only one I think missed its full potential. I have a few ideas I think could be implemented in software that would drastically improve the experience. Sorry if they've been discussed before, I couldn't find them in search.
Portrait mode is my #1 most desired feature. I knew going in that games supporting both screens at once would be almost nonexistent, but the prospect of full screen multi-tasking attached to a battery bank still had me sold. Unfortunately, that dream is just okay - neutered severely by the dock forcing landscape unless the app says otherwise. If auto-rotate actually worked, I would never take my phone out of the dock. I would bust this bad boy out anywhere and get some serious work and play done on it. I would have a glowing review. I would think it a much more attractive option than other fold-out/roll-out phones even at full price for the kit. As of now, it actually makes multitasking more awkward and provides little value to gaming, kind of frustrating because I can easily imagine earnestly recommending it in an alternate universe.
An option in Armoury Crate to force the keyboard to always show up on the bottom screen would be a game-changer for landscape mode. It's not too bad to reach up and tap an input field, but repositioning completely to type into an app running on the top screen is awkward and another point against comfortable multitasking. Way less important than portrait mode, but a decent usability stop-gap until then.
A more interesting and ambitious idea would be a sort of single-screen mode - hear me out on this. One of the least immersive parts of mobile gaming is your hands (and smudges!) covering your view of the action. Imagine the bottom screen is largely blacked out to really stretch that second battery, maybe a few stats along the top like Game Genie's real-time info panel. Only the top display is accessible to run apps, and the bottom display's input is redirected to it. Small transparent circles are overlaid on the top screen for visual feedback on touch position. I think even if this were to introduce some small input lag, it would be a solid value add and slight competitive edge. It would also make the dock much more suited to movie watching on planes and such, being a nicely adjustable stand without using as much power on pixels you aren't using. To extend this idea, maybe the entire bottom screen could become a re-configurable virtual controller, with buttons being capable of representing standard inputs or touch behavior, even macros.
It seems display calibration settings and the night mode filter aren't applied to the second screen. There's a constant white balance discrepancy that kind of ceaselessly hints at the idea that this accessory was an afterthought. The navigation bars being two different sizes on my device is also slightly jarring. These details are the least important issues though.
Regardless, I would like to thank all you developers and forum contributors reading this - you all contribute to our favorite sweet machines. I know the reality of commercial development is that you don't always get every feature you want, sometimes you just have to ship the product... I've always appreciated the ROG line for pushing boundaries, this just feels undercooked. Looking forward to what's next, hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there!
Portrait mode is my #1 most desired feature. I knew going in that games supporting both screens at once would be almost nonexistent, but the prospect of full screen multi-tasking attached to a battery bank still had me sold. Unfortunately, that dream is just okay - neutered severely by the dock forcing landscape unless the app says otherwise. If auto-rotate actually worked, I would never take my phone out of the dock. I would bust this bad boy out anywhere and get some serious work and play done on it. I would have a glowing review. I would think it a much more attractive option than other fold-out/roll-out phones even at full price for the kit. As of now, it actually makes multitasking more awkward and provides little value to gaming, kind of frustrating because I can easily imagine earnestly recommending it in an alternate universe.
An option in Armoury Crate to force the keyboard to always show up on the bottom screen would be a game-changer for landscape mode. It's not too bad to reach up and tap an input field, but repositioning completely to type into an app running on the top screen is awkward and another point against comfortable multitasking. Way less important than portrait mode, but a decent usability stop-gap until then.
A more interesting and ambitious idea would be a sort of single-screen mode - hear me out on this. One of the least immersive parts of mobile gaming is your hands (and smudges!) covering your view of the action. Imagine the bottom screen is largely blacked out to really stretch that second battery, maybe a few stats along the top like Game Genie's real-time info panel. Only the top display is accessible to run apps, and the bottom display's input is redirected to it. Small transparent circles are overlaid on the top screen for visual feedback on touch position. I think even if this were to introduce some small input lag, it would be a solid value add and slight competitive edge. It would also make the dock much more suited to movie watching on planes and such, being a nicely adjustable stand without using as much power on pixels you aren't using. To extend this idea, maybe the entire bottom screen could become a re-configurable virtual controller, with buttons being capable of representing standard inputs or touch behavior, even macros.
It seems display calibration settings and the night mode filter aren't applied to the second screen. There's a constant white balance discrepancy that kind of ceaselessly hints at the idea that this accessory was an afterthought. The navigation bars being two different sizes on my device is also slightly jarring. These details are the least important issues though.
Regardless, I would like to thank all you developers and forum contributors reading this - you all contribute to our favorite sweet machines. I know the reality of commercial development is that you don't always get every feature you want, sometimes you just have to ship the product... I've always appreciated the ROG line for pushing boundaries, this just feels undercooked. Looking forward to what's next, hope you're all staying safe and healthy out there!
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03-27-2021 12:50 AM
Great stuff. The TwinView Dock is definitely one of the biggest draws to the phone for me, as well. I use it mainly for running two Pokémon GO accounts at once, with no need for a second phone or split screen. 🙂
I do agree that there is more potential for the accessory with some software tweaks and options.
I totally agree about needing an option for portrait mode. I've requested that in a thread I made previously: https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/44182/twinview-dock-questions-suggestion
I really like the idea of the "single screen mode" you suggested. as it stands, using a keyboard while in landscape mode is really awkward, due to how much space the keyboard takes up. But if it worked like you suggested, that'd no longer be an issue. Using the bottom screen as a virtual controller for a game on the top screen could be pretty useful, too.
... Somewhat related, but I wonder if someone's attempted getting Nintendo DS/3DS emulation working on this using both screens... that could be pretty cool.
... And I don't know how practical this would be, but perhaps a different kind of "single screen mode" where say, a web browser is stretched across both screens, giving you a bigger view of a webpage.
Additionally, Asus should be trying to reach out to more developers to add support for the TwinViewDock. It's kinda sad how few games actually support it (and honestly, I'm not interested in any of them).
I do agree that there is more potential for the accessory with some software tweaks and options.
I totally agree about needing an option for portrait mode. I've requested that in a thread I made previously: https://zentalk.asus.com/en/discussion/44182/twinview-dock-questions-suggestion
I really like the idea of the "single screen mode" you suggested. as it stands, using a keyboard while in landscape mode is really awkward, due to how much space the keyboard takes up. But if it worked like you suggested, that'd no longer be an issue. Using the bottom screen as a virtual controller for a game on the top screen could be pretty useful, too.
... Somewhat related, but I wonder if someone's attempted getting Nintendo DS/3DS emulation working on this using both screens... that could be pretty cool.
... And I don't know how practical this would be, but perhaps a different kind of "single screen mode" where say, a web browser is stretched across both screens, giving you a bigger view of a webpage.
Additionally, Asus should be trying to reach out to more developers to add support for the TwinViewDock. It's kinda sad how few games actually support it (and honestly, I'm not interested in any of them).
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