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Android |OT|

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G

gcubed

Member
Greyface said:
Sony isn't like other hardware-focused manufacturers. Sony is more like Amazon; Sony can provide content to go along with their tablets. The Playbook bombed (similar hardware to the Kindle Fire), practically all Android tablets bombed (similar software to the Kindle Fire) and yet when Amazon stuck their name behind one it's now selling millions. If Sony bought webOS and put up a proper content store on it, from their movies to playstation games, they might be able to get the ball rolling. Of course Sony hasn't actually been able to do that on Android either, and I have little faith that they'd be able to execute on webOS, but the potential is there. They are certainly a better fit than HP ever were.
Click to expand...

eh, the kindle fire is successful because its $199 more so then any name attached to it.

Thats a massive undertaking though for a company looking to shed weight and start making money. If MS can't break into the market Sony sure as hell can't.
 
T

tino

Banned
Greyface said:
Sony isn't like other hardware-focused manufacturers. Sony is more like Amazon; Sony can provide content to go along with their tablets. The Playbook bombed (similar hardware to the Kindle Fire), practically all Android tablets bombed (similar software to the Kindle Fire) and yet when Amazon stuck their name behind one it's now selling millions. If Sony bought webOS and put up a proper content store on it, from their movies to playstation games, they might be able to get the ball rolling. Of course Sony hasn't actually been able to do that on Android either, and I have little faith that they'd be able to execute on webOS, but the potential is there. They are certainly a better fit than HP ever were.
Click to expand...
Again, forking Android 4.0 is still a better option than any scenerio you can come up with for webOS.
 
The Faceless Master

The Faceless Master

Member
Greyface said:
Sony isn't like other hardware-focused manufacturers. Sony is more like Amazon; Sony can provide content to go along with their tablets. The Playbook bombed (similar hardware to the Kindle Fire), practically all Android tablets bombed (similar software to the Kindle Fire) and yet when Amazon stuck their name behind one it's now selling millions. If Sony bought webOS and put up a proper content store on it, from their movies to playstation games, they might be able to get the ball rolling. Of course Sony hasn't actually been able to do that on Android either, and I have little faith that they'd be able to execute on webOS, but the potential is there. They are certainly a better fit than HP ever were.
Click to expand...
yeah, $199 has nothing to do it.

why would Sony buy webOS when they already have tons of Android experience?
 
P

panda21

Member
yeah it baffles me why google havent made UI rendering a separate thread with absolute priority.

i'm pretty sure it would be possible without requiring a rewrite of apps as well, if you did an iOS style animate smoothly and let content appear when its ready paradigm.

instead it looks like they are changing the suggested way to do animation in ICS, that will just make things better but not fix it.

if they dont sort their shit out soon i'm going apple with my next phone. "wait for android 5 for smooth scrolling" is a joke.
 
F

Futureman

Member
walbertsmith said:
Follow up to the Google+ post from Dianne Hackborn regarding "Android graphics true facts":

https://plus.google.com/100838276097451809262/posts/VDkV9XaJRGS
Click to expand...

I was confused at first because I went back a day or so in the Android OT to find the original post about the Hackburn article. I couldn't find it, then realized it was posted in the Galaxy Nexus topic. The GN OT is almost becoming the Android topic in a way.

I'm gonna read both articles in an hour or so though, looks very interesting.
 
G

gcubed

Member
panda21 said:
yeah it baffles me why google havent made UI rendering a separate thread with absolute priority.

i'm pretty sure it would be possible without requiring a rewrite of apps as well, if you did an iOS style animate smoothly and let content appear when its ready paradigm.

instead it looks like they are changing the suggested way to do animation in ICS, that will just make things better but not fix it.

if they dont sort their shit out soon i'm going apple with my next phone. "wait for android 5 for smooth scrolling" is a joke.
Click to expand...

thats kind of silly since i haven't had any more hiccups in ICS then i have seen on a friends 4s... with the apparent inherent advantage of not having shit pause on me while i scroll around... but if your panties are in that much of a knot from an article by an intern thats worked there for a few months, then i guess go crazy
 
S

Salaadin

Member
Is this the thread to ask this or is there a separate Android Hardware thread that I cant find?

My Droid incredible is almost 2 years old so Im looking to upgrade. Are the Razr and Bionic my 2 best Verizon choices?

Im seeing some rumblings about the Galaxy Nexus but no price or release date yet. How does that phone compare to the Razr and Bionic? From what Im reading, theyre pretty comparable except the Nexus is Android 4.0 which has me leaning slightly in its direction. Anything else Im missing there?

Lastly, Are Verizon and Amazon the best places to watch for deals on these phones? Ill bite at 200 bucks but cheaper than that would be awesome.
 
P

panda21

Member
gcubed said:
thats kind of silly since i haven't had any more hiccups in ICS then i have seen on a friends 4s... with the apparent inherent advantage of not having shit pause on me while i scroll around... but if your panties are in that much of a knot from an article by an intern thats worked there for a few months, then i guess go crazy
Click to expand...

well from what i've heard ICS fixes that just by being faster, rather than sensibly designed. when my SGS2 struggles with scrolling a plain text menu up and down whilst not doing anything else (e.g the settings screen) something is wrong.

its nothing to do with the guy being an intern or that article, i've thought the same thing myself ever since i noticed the bad fps on simple scrolling in android. i assumed they might have had the good sense to put rendering in a high priority thread in ICS, but apparently not..

the one update away from greatness meme is back yet again
 
T

TouchMyBox

Member
Is the "lagginess" of android really that big of a deal anymore? My Nexus One is ancient by today's standards of hardware, but it's plenty smooth with cyanogenmod. Sure, installing stuff will make it lag, but other than that it's not like it's night and day compared to my iPod Touch.
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
TouchMyBox said:
Is the "lagginess" of android really that big of a deal anymore? My Nexus One is ancient by today's standards of hardware, but it's plenty smooth with cyanogenmod. Sure, installing stuff will make it lag, but other than that it's not like it's night and day compared to my iPod Touch.
Click to expand...

It's pretty much a non-issue with me running ICS. I do a lot of browsing on my phone and my main gripe was that very heavy sites would slow scrolling to a crawl. Not anymore with ICS, and it's still early going with the port I'm running.
 
G

gcubed

Member
panda21 said:
well from what i've heard ICS fixes that just by being faster, rather than sensibly designed. when my SGS2 struggles with scrolling a plain text menu up and down whilst not doing anything else (e.g the settings screen) something is wrong.

its nothing to do with the guy being an intern or that article, i've thought the same thing myself ever since i noticed the bad fps on simple scrolling in android. i assumed they might have had the good sense to put rendering in a high priority thread in ICS, but apparently not..

the one update away from greatness meme is back yet again
Click to expand...

the hardware of the GNex is a decent bit slower then the SGS2's hardware. Honeycomb was the first piece of software that had a good amount of the UI hardware rendered. Its hard to draw any kind of conclusions from gingerbread to ICS for a phone. I've yet to run into any kind of abnormal stuttering in a little under a week with ICS. I'm not saying the guy is wrong, but with the blazing speed in which phone hardware is advancing, it could be a moot point with the added advantage of not having the phone stop everything to perform a UI function
 
P

panda21

Member
gcubed said:
the hardware of the GNex is a decent bit slower then the SGS2's hardware. Honeycomb was the first piece of software that had a good amount of the UI hardware rendered. Its hard to draw any kind of conclusions from gingerbread to ICS for a phone. I've yet to run into any kind of abnormal stuttering in a little under a week with ICS. I'm not saying the guy is wrong, but with the blazing speed in which phone hardware is advancing, it could be a moot point with the added advantage of not having the phone stop everything to perform a UI function
Click to expand...

i guess, if it really isn't an issue on ICS then I'll be happy. its just from a programmers point of view, the fix is obvious, fairly simple, and would make it run nicely even on low end hardware. the fact that they havent done that even in ICS is worrying and suggests they don't get it.
 
B

Binabik15

Member
Is this the right place for generic help?

I have a stock HTC Sensation and I want it to vibrate when I get calls or texts. But every light touch of the side button when taking it out, putting it away or even just having it in my pocket sets it to silent mode, it doesn´t rumble and I miss half my calls. I set it to vibrate in the menu, but it still didn´t vibrate when I was walking home.

IS there a way to make 1000000% sure that´ll always vibrate? I could do it on my battered old SE W800, surely a fancy smartphone can do it?
 
K

kehs

Banned
Binabik15 said:
Is this the right place for generic help?

I have a stock HTC Sensation and I want it to vibrate when I get calls or texts. But every light touch of the side button when taking it out, putting it away or even just having it in my pocket sets it to silent mode, it doesn´t rumble and I miss half my calls. I set it to vibrate in the menu, but it still didn´t vibrate when I was walking home.

IS there a way to make 1000000% sure that´ll always vibrate? I could do it on my battered old SE W800, surely a fancy smartphone can do it?
Click to expand...
Under sounds you should have a vibration section, choose always.
 
A

AndyD

aka andydumi
Binabik15 said:
Is this the right place for generic help?

I have a stock HTC Sensation and I want it to vibrate when I get calls or texts. But every light touch of the side button when taking it out, putting it away or even just having it in my pocket sets it to silent mode, it doesn´t rumble and I miss half my calls. I set it to vibrate in the menu, but it still didn´t vibrate when I was walking home.

IS there a way to make 1000000% sure that´ll always vibrate? I could do it on my battered old SE W800, surely a fancy smartphone can do it?
Click to expand...

Also if you use a non stock app for calls and texts it might have its own notification settings.
 
T

tino

Banned
Binabik15 said:
Is this the right place for generic help?

I have a stock HTC Sensation and I want it to vibrate when I get calls or texts. But every light touch of the side button when taking it out, putting it away or even just having it in my pocket sets it to silent mode, it doesn´t rumble and I miss half my calls. I set it to vibrate in the menu, but it still didn´t vibrate when I was walking home.

IS there a way to make 1000000% sure that´ll always vibrate? I could do it on my battered old SE W800, surely a fancy smartphone can do it?
Click to expand...

You can use a profile manage to trigger the "vibrate only" setting every hour. It will kill all unwanted volume change.
 
A

Arken2121

Member
Hey guys, between the razr, rezound and the nexus, which would you suggest? It seems like the hyped nexus is running on old hardware and some older smart phones might be able to out perform it?
 
Z

Zombie James

Banned
walbertsmith said:
Follow up to the Google+ post from Dianne Hackborn regarding "Android graphics true facts":

https://plus.google.com/100838276097451809262/posts/VDkV9XaJRGS
Click to expand...

Article is getting debunked at Hacker News:

He seems like a smart kid, but he's clearly not developed anything on iOS. One of the key things you learn as you're learning how to build an iOS app is that all UI code must be run on the main thread. It even says so right there in the [UIView class reference](http://developer.apple.com/library/...kit/reference/uiview_class/uiview/uiview.html)
Click to expand...

Agreed. The writer here doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. The reason things like WebKit tiles and images in tables don't populate while you're actively scrolling is because of an intentional choice on the part of the programmer. When you're touching the screen the run loop is put into a different mode than the default, and authors tend to write code such that expensive operations (like populating thumbnails in a table) simply don't occur unless the run loop is in the default mode. In fact, a naïve implementation of a tableview with thumbnails will populate those thumbnails as you scroll, and this has a noticeable effect on frame rates.
Click to expand...

The great part about Android being open source is that you can go look at the source to see that the UI thread is not a "normal priority" thread. There are very few things that run at higher priority (and they're listed right there): the threads related to audio and the hardware interaction (power buttons, etc.).

Last time I tried it, Android did not let you create a thread with higher priority than the UI thread.
Click to expand...
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Preview of the new ICS MIUI. Im hoping it drops soon, looks mint.
k4aY6.jpg
HveOI.jpg

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bh6zL.jpg
170625nkdaqezktlqkloq7.jpg

BGMqA.jpg
BvdOt.jpg
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Arken2121 said:
I'm very new to the smart phone market so you're gonna have to explain to me what that is Enduin. =)
Click to expand...

Custom android rom out of china, it replaces your existing android os with a customized one, they even developed their own phone, but the rom is up on the net for free and supported by the community on most phones. It requires you to root your phone and install the rom through clockwork recovery.
 
J

Jintor

Member
Quick question for you smart folks - are there any cool Android media players up on the marketplace? The one built into my phone doesn't have a seperate category for podcasts like my old one did, and absorbs every mp3 on my SD card into it, so when I shuffle my music I keep getting Japanese sentences from my flashcard program and podcasts.
 
jobber

jobber

Would let Tony Parker sleep with his wife
Jintor said:
Quick question for you smart folks - are there any cool Android media players up on the marketplace? The one built into my phone doesn't have a seperate category for podcasts like my old one did, and absorbs every mp3 on my SD card into it, so when I shuffle my music I keep getting Japanese sentences from my flashcard program and podcasts.
Click to expand...

Moboplayer for video

Stitcher & Google Listen for podcast
 
I

iavi

Member
'Listen,' it's about time that buggy thing was folded into Google Music. I'm surprised they haven't already.
 
T

TouchMyBox

Member
That MIUI music app looks pretty sleek... I'm guessing there's no chance of it working with Google Music though, right? No API and all that... Get on it, Google!

Miri said:
'Listen,' it's about time that buggy thing was folded into Google Music. I'm surprised they haven't already.
Click to expand...

Well, Google does seem keen on consolidating all of its services where it makes sense lately, and really, Google Music's app is finally so good that podcast support is the only significant improvement I can think of.
 
A

Arken2121

Member
Sorry for the bump but I could use some assistance with a VWZ phone. I'm about to join their network and am looking for my first flagship smart phone. Any recommendations?
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
miui looks terrible, why wouldnt it be in english?
 
D

Deleted member 22576

Unconfirmed Member
I'm bad at trolling, I'll just leave it to copernicus.
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Zombie James said:
The new MIUI looks great so far but a bit too bright for AMOLED.
Click to expand...

Well its not like youre forced to keep the color scheme or much of any of it for that matter, there are about a thousand different themes for the thing. I mean in theme support is one of the single biggest additions the rom has over others out there. I myself prefer the dark theme and none of the orangeness along with a different icon set and font.
 
Z

Zaraki_Kenpachi

Member
Is there any phone coming out between now and the beginning of january that is better than the Samsung Galaxy SII on T-Mobile in the US? I don't be able to get the plan until january but they have the white galaxy SII on sale at newegg for cheaper than the black at T-mobile so I'm tempted to jump on it.
 
Y

Yeah_its_Bob

Member
Zaraki_Kenpachi said:
Is there any phone coming out between now and the beginning of january that is better than the Samsung Galaxy SII on T-Mobile in the US? I don't be able to get the plan until january but they have the white galaxy SII on sale at newegg for cheaper than the black at T-mobile so I'm tempted to jump on it.
Click to expand...

I don't think the gsm version of the phone gets 3g at all on T mobile unless is the T mobile branded one?
 
C

Cruceh

Banned
MIUI looks awful. Guess I'll keep the AOSP look. I just wish it wasn't blue, but I'm sure someone will be able to change it.
 
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