Database Develop

This phone is not a graphics device, its a business tool.

OK, rather than hijack a thread, this is what I posted last night in the class action thread:
Steve-C said:
What he said...but I am a little under the influence right now. To be honest, my phone works for GPS, works for email, works for web browsing, sync's via activesync, plays movies just fine (no slider issues when adjusting sound), allows me to read ebooks, works with office mobile (though I would like to be able to save Word documents as .DOC files, not .DOCX). Guess I'm with the 99% because I really don't see any issues with the phone that cause me to get on a soapbox. I really don't care if this makes me unpopular, but I'm so sick of people coming on this forum and moaning about video driver issues. Show me one other device that does all the things that a Kaiser can do? iPhone, no GPS and limited open source unless you want to run the risk of bricking the device, Nokia? Please, I had the 9xxx series of communicators for years. I had the choice between the latest comunicator series or the Kaiser, I went with the Kaiser as Symbian sucked. The N95, QWERTY keyboard???
This phone is not designed as a graphics device, its a business tool. If you want DVD quality movies, buy a portable DVD player, graphic intensive games, get a PSP. I have a Nokia 2110 mobile from 10 years ago that can't handle MID files, a Garmin Sat-Nav the size of a house brick and a digital camera that uses 3.5" floppy discs cause memory cards hadn't been invented when it was launched. HTC have packed an MP3 player, sat-nav, laptop computer, digital camera, mobile phone (...the list goes on) inside a device the size of a packet of cigarettes. Personally I think this is amazing, lets give them a bit of credit for doing this!
[/drunk rant off...]
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These were the responses:
forcedalias said:
So, are you saying that just because it's business-oriented, its camera should continue to suffer from video driver issues? That it should be slower to process anything with some graphics in it, business-related, entertainment or otherwise?
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omikr0n said:
GPS, email, office - fine.
Web browsing - not at all - see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qbaDLzOU_Y
Syncing - fine, except mine disconnects randomly when connected via bluetooth
Movies - I haven't seen a single movie playing fluently on TyTN II
Is this really acceptable for you? Especially for such expensive device? I paid nearly $1000 for device that my 5 (!) year old iPaq h2210 can easily outperform at ANYTHING?
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Click to collapse
I've never understood the driver issues, as I haven't witnessed them. Looking at the YouTube video posted, that is very worrying, but I would like to know how were such poor results achieved?
This is my Kaiser (running the stock o2 ROM). Firstly it shows a video being played on my laptop, second the same section of the same video on my Kaiser. Then a web page in PIE, followed by a bit of surfing on Opera. From my video, it seems to perform just fine. So am I just really lucky, or am I missing something?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrHwG6xpc-E

Nope I get the same results.

Well, i dont have big issues with movies.
However, i notice a lot of "lag" effects sometimes when scrolling. Of course installed the scrolling fix for IE, which makes it far better, but still, there is interface lag.
This lag is easily noticeable when you try to close an app and need to point your stylus like 3 or 4 times on the top right X before anything appears.
Also noticeable when you scroll in the "programs" window , interface lag, the scrolling is bad, really... The icons in the programs windows look like they disappear (this part of the screen becomes totally blank/white) then half-reappear then disappear etc... It is UGLY. When scrolling in program window, what should be SEEN would be real scrolling icons, fluid and all ! It should be nice, fluid, and shouldnt look like the screen refresh is 1 frame / second.
With such a processor and the included ATI thingy i would have thought of a faster interface avoiding such lag tbh.

The Stargate video that you're showing on your tilt in your video, did you conver that first?
If not, I'd like to know the stats on the video. Whats the resolution, file size, etc.
I've copied music videos to my phone and they play like crap. I had to spend $30 on conversion software and wait for the media to be converted down before I was able to watch anything.
Stargate Atlantis episodes that are 350mb take a long time to convert. To me it's a waste of time. I'd rather have a fully functional device with proper video support. Software rendering makes the screen draw slow and makes the device lag.
So, have you copied any video files at all to your phone and had them not play correctly? Or are you saying that every video you've tried has worked fine?
That has NOT been my experience. I have to convert everything to 320x240 at 640 bitrate before my phone will play video smoothly.

There is no need to argue, the phone is capable of doing more, why not just face the fact.. If it can do more, what's the use on arguing "its already good enough??" No its not, the camera is the worse thing ive ever seen.
Dont get me wrong, the phone is great. I love it. The reception is the best ive ever seen.. But we just want them to correct the video driver issue, that is all. Its not harming you... is it? No need to drunk rant ..
Oh and by the way, technology is supposed to improve, the phone is an upgrade. Did it upgrade? No. I see no improvements..
Oh wait!, we got GPS .. I'll give you that.. Even then the GPS takes like 20 minutes to find a satallite. but it is great once its up and running.

I WOULD like to be able to turn on the eye candy and not destroy the usability of my device... even for business purposes

As the video seems to be really low res (QVGA at most) it should work, (we don't know about the bitrate but I'm assuming it's fairly low too).
Most of us who are complaining want a seamless experience. Ie we want to watch the regular videos we want on our computers on our mobile device.
IE scrolling seems nice enough, that seems to differ a bit between ROMs.
I can just share my experience from strart to "finish":
I read up on what device to get. Kaiser was very much hyped at the time. I took the time to read their webpage where they claim that the phone is "more powerful than any other mobile communicator". The same text says that the device is equally good for business and pleasure. It also reccomends using it for gaming:
http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_tytn_II.htm
"More powerful than any mobile communications device you've seen before"
"perfectly for reading and creating e-mails, using applications, or even just playing games."
"Always ready for business - and pleasure"
I also took the time to check out the MSM7200 processor and what that was all about.
Now my primary focus is business. I wanted Office Mobile and a nice contact manager etc. I have no gripes there.
The problem started showing up when I came to the gaming/pleaasure part.
I tried dragging and dropping some TV shows (700kbps 512x384 res) and the playback is prety lousy.
So I went out and bought CorePlayer for 25 bucks. First result was even worse. So then I figured out that I actually had to turn off the standard Windows Mobile rendering interface called DirectDraw. Seemed strange enough as this is THE standard interface for drawing video on a windows mobile device. With a lot of tweaking I got semi acceptable playback in the end.
A day later I started playing around with the camera. It took me about five seconds to realize that it was utterly flawed. Shutter speed (or rather the processing speed) makes the delay from the point where you click the button to where the picture is taken was so slow that none of my pictures came out right.
It's also exceedingly difficult to use the viewfinder seeing as it runs at less than 5 fps and with extreme blur.
Capturing video was also a downer. Instead of the 30 fps @ VGA resolution that the chipset touts I'm getting 10-15 fps and I might add that to me it looks like it's even less than that. Utterly unwatchable.
So ok, video playback and the camera was pretty awful. But as I said I mainly intended to use this for business so I didn't think much more of it.
So I tried surfing a bit on the web. I run a website and I wanted to check my bak account.
What I noticed was that as soon as I visited a "non-Mobile" website everything slowed down. Scrolling takes forever, and also simply rendering the page takes "too" long.
The mobile pages of my service provider works like a charm, but that's a no brainer seeing as they are meant to work on everything from the cheapest 50 dollar phones and up.
Then came the weekend. I was off to some friends that live out in the country. I had to go there by train.
So "hey, great time to load it up with some games".
Some of the games I've heard of was legend of steel and call of duty 2.
Well call of duty 2 was just as mess, with no open gl support.
legend works pretty well unless you actually try to play the game. As soon as the stylus hits that screen everything start going in slow motion.
I resorted to playing bubble breaker and tetris for the trip.
By this time I was pretty annoyed since my 3 year old Sony Ericsson el cheapo 3G-phone gave me a much better gaming experience than this.
So then I resorted to emulators. I really wanted to try out some nice emulating but again, performance was too low.
I didn't expect the TyTN II to be a Playstation Portable challenger but I didn't expect it to be just a typing machine with a calendar attached to it either.
I found this forum and surely enough I found out about the lack of drivers and everything suddenly made sense.
And the thing that bugs me the most about this is that the drivers are readily available to HTC, they just choose not to provide them to us.
So personally I'm a bit pissed off and I surely won't consider HTC a first hand alternative the next time I go shopping for a new PDA phone.
/Scincerele signed "Business users who expected more"
there you go (actually a true story even though a made it cheesy on purpose. )
oh yeah, PS I'm also pretty irritated by the lag that you get when you put the phone in landscape mode or vice versa. And the slight lag that happens when you start programs (you can actually see how the device renders in approx 10-20 lines at a time) it's not a deal breaker but I certainly expected more, especially since I've used similar phones using both pal, symbian and windows mobile and other OSes (even really cheap ones) that don't exhibit the same symptoms.
Still it's only a minor gripe...

The page you shown doesn't prove anything, it is contains for too less content. Try open forum.xda-developers.com you'll see the huge lag...

undac said:
As the video seems to be really low res (QVGA at most) it should work, (we don't know about the bitrate but I'm assuming it's fairly low too).
Most of us who are complaining want a seamless experience. Ie we want to watch the regular videos we want on our computers on our mobile device.
IE scrolling seems nice enough, that seems to differ a bit between ROMs.
I can just share my experience from strart to "finish":
I read up on what device to get. Kaiser was very much hyped at the time. I took the time to read their webpage where they claim that the phone is "more powerful than any other mobile communicator". The same text says that the device is equally good for business and pleasure. It also reccomends using it for gaming:
http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_tytn_II.htm
"More powerful than any mobile communications device you've seen before"
"perfectly for reading and creating e-mails, using applications, or even just playing games."
"Always ready for business - and pleasure"
I also took the time to check out the MSM7200 processor and what that was all about.
Now my primary focus is business. I wanted Office Mobile and a nice contact manager etc. I have no gripes there.
The problem started showing up when I came to the gaming/pleaasure part.
I tried dragging and dropping some TV shows (700kbps 512x384 res) and the playback is prety lousy.
So I went out and bought CorePlayer for 25 bucks. First result was even worse. So then I figured out that I actually had to turn off the standard Windows Mobile rendering interface called DirectDraw. Seemed strange enough as this is THE standard interface for drawing video on a windows mobile device. With a lot of tweaking I got semi acceptable playback in the end.
A day later I started playing around with the camera. It took me about five seconds to realize that it was utterly flawed. Shutter speed (or rather the processing speed) makes the delay from the point where you click the button to where the picture is taken was so slow that none of my pictures came out right.
It's also exceedingly difficult to use the viewfinder seeing as it runs at less than 5 fps and with extreme blur.
Capturing video was also a downer. Instead of the 30 fps @ VGA resolution that the chipset touts I'm getting 10-15 fps and I might add that to me it looks like it's even less than that. Utterly unwatchable.
So ok, video playback and the camera was pretty awful. But as I said I mainly intended to use this for business so I didn't think much more of it.
Then came the weekend. I was off to some friends that live out in the country. I had to go there by train.
So "hey, great time to load it up with some games".
Some of the games I've heard of was legend of steel and call of duty 2.
Well call of duty 2 was just as mess, with no open gl support.
legend works pretty well unless you actually try to play the game. As soon as the stylus hits that screen everything start going in slow motion.
I resorted to playing bubble breaker and tetris for the trip.
By this time I was pretty annoyed since my 3 year old Sony Ericsson el cheapo 3G-phone gave me a much better gaming experience than this.
So then I resorted to emulators. I really wanted to try out some nice emulating but again, performance was too low.
I didn't expect the TyTN II to be a Playstation Portable challenger but I didn't expect it to be just a typing machine with a calendar attached to it either.
I found this forum and surely enough I found out about the lack of drivers and everything suddenly made sense.
And the thing that bugs me the most about this is that the drivers are readily available to HTC, they just choose not to provide them to us.
So personally I'm a bit pissed off and I surely won't consider HTC a first hand alternative the next time I go shopping for a new PDA phone.
/Scincerele signed "Business users who expected more"
there you go (actually a true story even though a made it cheesy on purpose. )
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Click to collapse
What he said!!! This is why I left sprint. I got the Mogul, was advertised GPS when it came out. Well to this date, they are waiting for a "rom update".

woo, we really don't need to go into this because by token of that same logic:
Your computer is a business tool, not an entertainment device.
Your car is a business tool and necessity. You don't need a cd player or radio.
etc. etc.
Now why is this a big issue? Because it was false advertising. Because what we bought wasn't just a big mac and some fries. And because what we bought wasn't worth $15. What we bought was worth more than $500 US. What we bought was a device that could do everything and more. Like a car, you didn't just buy it for business, but for pleasure. And to falsely advertise and prey on the good faith of us consumers isn't just bad. It's criminal.

The point is, even if you consider that the TyTN II a business phone and don't care about it preforming way below it's possibilities, the other HTC devices based on the MSM7200 and MSM7500 chipsets, like the Touch Dual and Touch Cruise, which suffer from the same problems, are certainly meant for 'fun user', not 'business user'. And their PREDECESSORS did all of this fine.
So everything you said is still BS.

The youtube Video demonstrates the Kaiser PIE Scroll bug issue, not the Video driver issue btw. That bug was fixed here. Most cooked ROMs now incorporate the fix.

Yes this will be corrected on the site (the GDI video is way better for demonstration anyway, too bad it's not a comparison).. and the new support reports will be added. But if you ask me this is just a distraction. They know full well what the problem is, this is just to give the illusion they really didn't know, and are trying to figure it out, so they can say it really wasn't their fault. They're just acting out a play.
Really, the responce changing not 24 hours after the sites were launched (and they were informed of this, after all) and only 2 or 3 hours after a fairly large tech site frontpaged it? That is not a coincidence.

I have an ipod touch for entertainment. Kaiser for work/travel. Best of both worlds.

Scott_F said:
I have an ipod touch for entertainment. Kaiser for work/travel. Best of both worlds.
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Click to collapse
You are an idiot with way too much money and time to spend on two inferior products.

Scott_F said:
I have an ipod touch for entertainment. Kaiser for work/travel. Best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a Kaiser which has the power to do both. Too bad it doesn't. By the way, since you seem to be such a huge fan of having multiple devices for doing multiple things, you should probably sell that Kaiser to get a flip phone, buy a PDA, get yourself a dedicated GPS receiver, and a Walkman radio, since having an all-in-one would be far too much integration for you.

Nick Collision said:
You are an idiot with way too much money and time to spend on two inferior products.
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Awesome.
I bout my Tilt for 588 USD, totally ignoring my upgrade date, with the hopes that i would no longer need two devices. Until they fix the issue, making the device into what I thought I was buying, I will continue to be pissed about this.

this phone is not a graphics device? have you ever seen the datasheet of the MSM2700? THAT WAS THE REASON FOR I GOT MY KAISER!! (and the keyboard)

Nick Collision said:
You are an idiot with way too much money and time to spend on two inferior products.
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Just because he has something made by Apple, doesn't mean it's time to talk ****. I personally don't like apple, but they have created some innovative features for the smart phone world.

Nick Collision said:
You are an idiot with way too much money and time to spend on two inferior products.
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Click to collapse
You dont need to insult people because they have different opinion on something.

[Q] Do you recommend me to buy a NC?

Hey guys,
I want to buy a cheap tablet! I was wondering if NC can act like a tablet after rooting...
Here's what I need it to do:
1. Read PDFs without lag (using 3rd party apps).
2. Watch average quality AVI files smoothly using RockPlayer.
3. Decent web browsing experience.
4. Running basic games like Angry Birds without lag.
5. Using it as a portable device, carrying it all time (weight & size aspect).
Also would you tell me which screen protector is good to get? Clear one or Anti-Glare?
Thanks in advance.

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes
The NC has a glass screen so a screen protector is not necessary... unless you drop it on the edge of a rock. If that's the case, you'll probably have bigger problems than a scratch. Get some glass cleaner for all the finger prints the NC will accumulate.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

ricoishere2 said:
Get some glass cleaner for all the finger prints the NC will accumulate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? It doesn't have any of that coating on it that resists finger printing (like the EVO)? I was starting to think that was standard.

I have the BN brand screen protector on mine mostly because I'm paranoid, but I do like the fact that it has a slight texture to it that feels like paper. It does reduce glare quite a bit as well, I could easily see my face reflected on the screen before I put the protector on and it's not nearly as noticable now.
On the subject of a cheap tablet, I would say the NC is great. I got mine primarily to use as an e-reader, but after the easy root procedure I now have a LOT of additional functionality that make it an amazing device. I've been playing Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja on it, both run beautifully. I've got a bigger SD card on order so I can start storing some movies and TV on it as well. For $249 you can't go wrong here.

sidepart said:
Really? It doesn't have any of that coating on it that resists finger printing (like the EVO)? I was starting to think that was standard.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't aware of any coating on the HTC Evo. My evo gets pretty good fingerprints on it every day, and I try to wipe the glass once a week. Not much of a big deal, just the price of dealing with glass I guess. Once the lcd comes on, you can't see the prints anyway. The amount of finger prints on my Evo and my nook color seem to be the same.

Eienkei said:
Hey guys,
I want to buy a cheap tablet! I was wondering if NC can act like a tablet after rooting...
Here's what I need it to do:
1. Read PDFs without lag (using 3rd party apps).
2. Watch average quality AVI files smoothly using RockPlayer.
3. Decent web browsing experience.
4. Running basic games like Angry Birds without lag.
5. Using it as a portable device, carrying it all time (weight & size aspect).
Also would you tell me which screen protector is good to get? Clear one or Anti-Glare?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Haven't tried a PDF on it yet
2) Haven't tried a locally stored AVI yet
3) Its an awesome web browsing experience, assuming you dont use the stock browser. Dolphin, Firefox.. both work amazing, and the screen is just beautiful for calrity and reading web pages
4) Surprisingly, Angry birds isn't that basic, and can make use of a good GPU. Thankfully, i can happily say that the nook runs AB great, as it does other 3D games (Asphalt 5).
5) Just be careful with the screen (yes its glass, but glass can break too, especially with no cover), and yes, it could easily be portable. Gaming all day will probably kill your battery by days end, but things like web browsing and such should be no problem all day.

I'm looking at this device as well. Can anyone report on:
1) YouTube app--is it working smoothly? (Under android 2.2, I mean)
2) Skyfire browser (specifically watching flash videos, on engadget for example; the videos they produce don't run well with the flash plug-in on my nexus one)
I imagine they'll work smoothly, but would love to hear about someone's first-hand experience. Thanks in advance.

Eienkei said:
Hey guys,
I want to buy a cheap tablet! I was wondering if NC can act like a tablet after rooting...
Here's what I need it to do:
1. Read PDFs without lag (using 3rd party apps).
2. Watch average quality AVI files smoothly using RockPlayer.
3. Decent web browsing experience.
4. Running basic games like Angry Birds without lag.
5. Using it as a portable device, carrying it all time (weight & size aspect).
Also would you tell me which screen protector is good to get? Clear one or Anti-Glare?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mrwed said:
I'm looking at this device as well. Can anyone report on:
1) YouTube app--is it working smoothly? (Under android 2.2, I mean)
2) Skyfire browser (specifically watching flash videos, on engadget for example; the videos they produce don't run well with the flash plug-in on my nexus one)
I imagine they'll work smoothly, but would love to hear about someone's first-hand experience. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root is necessary, but you already knew this.
1. Yes, I just use Adobe PDF Reader. Works great.
2. Maybe, Have not tested on NC, but Rockplayer works great on my Evo.
3. Yes, I'm using Dolphin mini
4. Yes, Angry Birds runs great
5. Yes, very portable. I would recommend a small case or sleeve.
1) YouTube app-Yes, no problems here, but I have read reports of others with issues. Follow Nookdev's walk-through word for word, and you should have no problems.
2) Skyfire browser - Have not tested, but I'll give it a shot and update later.
The NC is a great product if you plan to root. As an ereader, not so great. B&N have made a great device and their Library/Store app are great, but if you really want to read books, nothing beats e-ink. As a rooted device, its hard to pass up this cheap Android tablet.
I wasnt a fan of the screen without a screen protector. LOTS of smudges and my finger tends to stick to the screen when trying to drag. I just picked up the anti glare screen protector. That should solve the stickt/tackiness. I had both gloss and anti-glare on my Evo. AG has better tactile feedback, but the gloss looks better.

Thanks leeh41. Any results w/ skyfire yet? If skyfire videos work smoothly this would be a very nice tablet for surfing.
Sent from my Evo using XDA App

mrwed said:
Thanks leeh41. Any results w/ skyfire yet? If skyfire videos work smoothly this would be a very nice tablet for surfing.
Sent from my Evo using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry not yet. Was busy playing with adding magazines and books to my home screen last night. It would not play flash videos on some sites when using Dolphin or the stock Browser.

There is a lack of tablet optimized apps.. really?

So I read an article a while ago about how Google is really pushing for dev's to build more tablet optimized apps, I also read comments all over the place about how there's no good tablet apps etc..
I've only had my Nexus 7 for a month or so now but I haven't yet come across an app I use which isn't tablet optimized.. Falcon Pro for Twitter, Google+, Flipboard, Feedly to name a few..
I'm a dev and am looking to build my first tablet focused app but I don't want to clutter the market with needless imitations.. Am I missing something and there's an area you guys find particularly lacking or, was this issue just grossly over exagerated?

Totally over exaggerated... Android apps scale nicely to any screen size anyway, so devs don't really have to do much if they don't want to.
This seems to be something that iPad users try to use as an argument against Android.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium

It's 90% Apple spin.
Android applications are designed to support many any aspect ratio, and a single APK can support lots of different layouts, either tablet/phone, or even S/M/L/XL with all the buisness logic in shared classes.
In the Apple world, you have to buy the application twice, once for tablet aspect ratio and once for phones, and even then it's fixed to certain aspect ratios and sizes (hence the black bars problem in many iPhone apps when run on the iphone5).
Apple's solution is clearly very week, and they are keen to beat up Android over the fragmentation myth and lack of tablet apps myth, when the reality is, THEY are the ones with all the scalability problems....

I'll second that.. granted, I'm only on a 7" Nexus 7, but I haven't noticed anything like I did when upscaling an iPhone app on my iPad.. My N7 apps all look good, bar none.

Here's an example: Facebook. That app, up until the latest update, was incredibly slow and terrible. Now they made it faster, but it sucks to use in landscape view. Friendcaster is also a poor substitute, all 3rd party Facebook apps have problems.
XDA doesn't scale well. In fact the "tablet" version is worse than the regular one.
Sent from my LG-P999 using xda app-developers app

I just had to login to reply to this one.
CrazyPeter said:
In the Apple world, you have to buy the application twice, once for tablet aspect ratio and once for phones, and even then it's fixed to certain aspect ratios and sizes (hence the black bars problem in many iPhone apps when run on the iphone5).
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Click to collapse
That is pretty much completely incorrect, the majority of iOS apps are universal but just like in the Android market there are apps that are for tablets only, that is completely up to the developer's discretion. iOS apps only have a fixed number of resolutions to handle and any quality, well maintained app will handle all the resolutions. Yes there is an issue or at least was with a lot of iPhone apps not supporting the iPhone 5's extra screen size but what do you expect them to do instead of the black bars until support is provided just scale/stretch the UI to fit?
Apple's solution is clearly very week, and they are keen to beat up Android over the fragmentation myth and lack of tablet apps myth, when the reality is, THEY are the ones with all the scalability problems....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a shortage of tablet apps in the Android market, you can't deny it. There are some apps that look gorgeous on a tablet like Plume, the stock Google apps, baconReader & gReader Pro but there are a lot of apps that aren't tablet optimized that look like crap like all weather apps for example.
I do love my Nexus 7 but I have found there to be a shortage of quality tablet apps, I've looked all through the market and only a small number of apps are good enough for me to keep installed where on my iPad I have a ridiculous number of apps that all look gorgeous and fully support the tablet interface with the only app that doesn't being Speedtest.net.

What exactly are you thinking "tablet optimized" means? There's no argument that apps designed for phones will scale up and fill the nexus7's screen without blurring and pixelation. What I think it being optimized for a tablet means is a new layout to better use the available screen space. I suppose in many cases, this would be just including an extra pane in the app that helps to navigate or provide buttons for common functions.

Android was never the place to go when it comes to "High Quality Apps"
Its clear that Apple has that down pact all the way. That also explains why games operate and look so much better on the iOS side of the world.
Im not a troll or against Android in any way. But its clear as day. Im currently on the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 and although there are a good handful of quality games and apps, theres no where near the number of high quality games on iOS.
The game department and "Quality" department is an area that Google could step up on. BUT, with Android on so many different devices made by so many different companies with so many screen size / resolutions / CPU and GPU SOCs. The quality will never be up there with iOS since those apps are geared twords about 4 different phone "iphone 3 - 3s - 4 - 4s - 5 and the small number of tablets ipad 1 - 2 - 3 - mini ect....

Android is much better at scaling apps for different sizes/resolutions than iOS. iOS has alot more apps that aren't optimised for the retina display. When it comes to the quality of the app though.....iOS is only 1 device whereas android has too much fragmentation.
There are exceptions obviously....i'm not a big fan of the twitter and youtube apps the way they are on the tablet now. Youtube was better with it's 3d carousel than the stretched phone app. Twitter is just twitter, they don't want too much hassle for so many devices.

ace9988 said:
Android is much better at scaling apps for different sizes/resolutions than iOS. iOS has alot more apps that aren't optimised for the retina display. When it comes to the quality of the app though.....iOS is only 1 device whereas android has too much fragmentation.
There are exceptions obviously....i'm not a big fan of the twitter and youtube apps the way they are on the tablet now. Youtube was better with it's 3d carousel than the stretched phone app. Twitter is just twitter, they don't want too much hassle for so many devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldnt have said it any better!!!!
".iOS is only 1 device whereas android has too much fragmentation."
I like my Nexus 7, but when the funds come available Im try to pick up a iPad or IPMini.

Wow lots of great replies so it seems it was highly exaggerated.. I think tho based on the comments maybe instead of tablet optimized I just meant tablet apps in comparison to the ipad.. I've never used one for any period of time so I couldn't determine what's missing or we don't have.. Someone mentioned a weather app.. Also I agree the xda app is really wasted on a Nexus 7..
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

I don't think there's much need in tablet-specific (a.k.a. HD) apps since most of the normal apps still look good and are pretty much usable on the tablet. Best example would be XDA app - the regular version still looks and works nice on N7, same as phone - just stretched out on the full screen and there's no pixelization unlike like iPhone apps on iPad
In case of iOS there are universal apps that are optmized for both iPhone and iPad displays + you only have to pay for the app once on one device and then just install it on the other one (kinda like Cross-Buy with PS3 and PSVita), but if an app is NOT universal - then you'll have troubles with awfully pixelized app on the iPad or you'll have to use the app strictly on one device, this is especially sad when "HD" version has some unique features that a regular one does not
So the so-called problem actually doesn't exist on Android but it does on iOS
At least I haven't seen a single app that would look wrong or pixelized or whatever on a tablet compared to how it would on a phone

It is definitly highly exaggerated. Granted. There are veryyyyyy few that actually aren't. Only one I've noticed so far is glass tower 3+
Sent from my MB612 using xda app-developers app

not exaggerated,
but I feel like at this point, there should be more tablet optimized/designed apps. the iOS store has wayyyyy more tablet optimized apps.
A lot of android developers just scale up the phone app and don't utilize basic UI philosophy to make the app more tablet friendly. oh well who cares? the N7 is still great.

Clearly there is a lack of understanding what "tablet optimized" even means. Those who say things like "iOS store has wayyyyy more tablet optimized apps" is implying that for an app to be tablet optimized it needs to be coded to work ONLY on tablets or some other such nonsense (maybe it needs to merely say "Tablet version" in the title?) The whole concept of "tablet optimization" is different...COMPLETELY different between iOS and Android.
As a few pointed out and many still don't seem to get, Android *can be* coded to work with multiple screen formats. From as small as a 320x200 craptastic whatever device to resolutions higher than the "retina" display (eg. Nexus 10) and look PERFECT in every resolution. How scalable and "optimized" the app is to the tablet world is up to the developer. Most apps I use work just fine on my Galaxy Nexus as they do on my Nexus 7 as they did on my Evo 3D before that. By "just fine" I mean they looked nice, responded correctly, and seemed pretty F-ing "optimized" to me.
I've never understood why this is SOOOO hard for people to get? Crack open pretty much any beginning Android programming book and go to the part that talks about UI development and you will see exactly what I'm talking about. It's not a hard concept to get.
Perhaps it's just easy to ***** about a lack of tablet optimized apps though... I would say ignorance is bliss...but seriously, ignorance is ignorance. Do some research!

I've tried around ~100 apps and games now from the play store and I can't think of any that stood out as being poorly fitted to the screen etc. Personally I think it's a non issue.
ETA: also Paranoid Android rom helps the formatting too IMHO.

Well... Yelp is one. Trip Advisor is another. So is eBay, Amazon, and countless others here. All are just big screened versions of a phone app, where there are simple lists of monolithic screens, requiring the same "back and forth" navigation that is required for a 3 or 4 inch screen.
You may not have a problem with this type of interface, but it is decidedly NOT tablet optimized.

Solutions Etcetera said:
Well... Yelp is one. Trip Advisor is another. So is eBay, Amazon, and countless others here. All are just big screened versions of a phone app, where there are simple lists of monolithic screens, requiring the same "back and forth" navigation that is required for a 3 or 4 inch screen.
You may not have a problem with this type of interface, but it is decidedly NOT tablet optimized.
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I have to say both Amazon and EBay look great.
Maybe you would want a different format - but I can see nothing to improve.
I do use these apps in portrait mode (one-handed tablet holder here) - and they are not just scaled up from my phone version.
They fill the screen perfectly - no side-to-side scrolling.

In regards to apps you think the play store is lacking in for tablets, I think we could use a dedicated tablet music player so far the best I've seen is Select! Music Player, but it would really be nice to have a player in HD, with themes, and a built in equalizer.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

EBay and Amazon desktop websites work just fine on the Nexus 7. Optimizing online shopping sites for tablets as apps simply seems like a waste of effort to me.
Everything else I have used is perfectly scaled.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

I want to upgrade to Xperia Z, but i have some questions first.

hi, i have an htc one s and i want to upgrade. after some searches i think that XZ is the phone for me. but first i have some questions
1) I have read that after the 4.2.2 patch the phone can support exFAT microSD cards, is this true? (it is important to me because i want to transfer files bigger than 4gb)
2)If the previous is true, how do you format the microSD cards? from the phone or from pc?
3) any idea on the availability of the 4.2.2 patch? i live in romania and i want to know if it's available
4) i have read on sony forums that after the 4.2.2 patch some users complained of lag in various areas, such as swaping through menus, gallery, games etc. anyone else experience this?
5) i watch movies A LOT, i often go to friends and mirror the movies from my phone to their tv through the MHL. Currently i have a samsung MHL adapter, do i need to buy another one or does this one suffice?
6) can the Xperia Z play 720p/1080p @ 48fps mkv/mp4 movies without any stutter?
7) what can you say about the camera? i mean shutter speed, low light quality, good light quality. if anyone else can compare this to an htc one s i would appreciate it.
8) how good is the screen, in your oppinion? im fairly satisfied with the amoled on the One S, and i think that switching to the Z will feel like a slight downgrade in terms of screen quality.
9) how durable is it? i dislike my one s because i feel i have to treat it like a new born baby, its made of aluminum and gets scuffs and scratches very easily.
and the most important questions:
does it blend?

All great questions. I just ordered the Z so I cannot answer them. I will let you know when I review the unit.

Warmo said:
hi, i have an htc one s and i want to upgrade. after some searches i think that XZ is the phone for me. but first i have some questions
1) I have read that after the 4.2.2 patch the phone can support exFAT microSD cards, is this true? (it is important to me because i want to transfer files bigger than 4gb)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's true.
2)If the previous is true, how do you format the microSD cards? from the phone or from pc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pc or Phone
Phone: Settings>Storage> Unmount Sd Card > Mount SD Card and it should be done.
3) any idea on the availability of the 4.2.2 patch? i live in romania and i want to know if it's available
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not an issue, just download an FTF file from this forum, doesn't really matter from which country.
(Btw Sal)
4) i have read on sony forums that after the 4.2.2 patch some users complained of lag in various areas, such as swaping through menus, gallery, games etc. anyone else experience this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They were probably to lazy not to do a full wipe before installing 4.2.2.
I underCLOCKED my cpu to 1ghz and I have no lag and I'm not even a wizard...
5) i watch movies A LOT, i often go to friends and mirror the movies from my phone to their tv through the MHL. Currently i have a samsung MHL adapter, do i need to buy another one or does this one suffice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I'm corrrect the one from Samsung works, not sure tho.
On the SonyMobile site you can buy one for about 30Euro
6) can the Xperia Z play 720p/1080p @ 48fps mkv/mp4 movies without any stutter?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldn't be a problem @ 30 fps, not sure about 48
7) what can you say about the camera? i mean shutter speed, low light quality, good light quality. if anyone else can compare this to an htc one s i would appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd like to refer you to this topic and judge for yourself:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2172712
Look from page 35 or something.
8) how good is the screen, in your oppinion? im fairly satisfied with the amoled on the One S, and i think that switching to the Z will feel like a slight downgrade in terms of screen quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also came from an Amoled phone (Galaxy Note) and I have no complaints, but that's just me, you have to judge it for yourself.
9) how durable is it? i dislike my one s because i feel i have to treat it like a new born baby, its made of aluminum and gets scuffs and scratches very easily.
Just make sure to get screen protectors before you use the phone and you should be ok, also don't forget to get a case.
and the most important questions:
does it blend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does blend, but it DOES NOT BEND! So don't try it!
Pa:highfive::silly:

7) what can you say about the camera? i mean shutter speed, low light quality, good light quality. if anyone else can compare this to an htc one s i would appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera is not that great. I am an amerture photographer and I was more impressed with my last phone (i9100). Main issue is Sony overcompress the images so there is quite a lot of noise. Low light is pretty poor really but that is my opinion. If the lighting is favourable then the quality is more than acceptable.
8) how good is the screen, in your oppinion? im fairly satisfied with the amoled on the One S, and i think that switching to the Z will feel like a slight downgrade in terms of screen quality
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The screen is very sharp and brightness is good. Compared to the AMOLED of the samsungs the colours are more natural which I like. Blacks are not as good though but the Sony screen is a joy to work with none the less.
9) how durable is it? i dislike my one s because i feel i have to treat it like a new born baby, its made of aluminum and gets scuffs and scratches very easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Given the Xperia is mostly glass on the outside it would be more likely to break than an aluminium one or at least twice as likely for you to end up with broken glass (ie the back or the front). Also the glass comes pre coverd with anti shatter platic film which is very easy to scratch and cannot be replaced. That said I dont use any protection with mine and I'm not that fussed. I don't expect it to look like new when I'm done with it though and I like it to be naked so it isn't bulky in my pocket. I've droped mine a couple of times and it bounced pretty well. The only marks are from when I put it it my pocket with my keys and the sharp car key marked the screen protector.

3) any idea on the availability of the 4.2.2 patch? i live in romania and i want to know if it's available
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should try ftf for generic europe or central, or unbranded spain: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2336874
8) how good is the screen, in your oppinion? im fairly satisfied with the amoled on the One S, and i think that switching to the Z will feel like a slight downgrade in terms of screen quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, i was a bit afraid of screen angles, because a lot of people don't reccomend z because of that, however when i finally turn on the phone, i was impressed. Maybe you won't be able to check the clock when you're in bed if you have bright wallpaper, but the resolution, brightness quickly cover this minus
9) how durable is it? i dislike my one s because i feel i have to treat it like a new born baby, its made of aluminum and gets scuffs and scratches very easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a tough guy, better buy some kind of case, or pay some attention to it. It fell once for me from around 50-60 cm, but fortunately, nothing happend to him

thanks for all the answers, much appreciated. Only questions that are still a concern to me are 4) and 6).
so what can you tell me about the fluidity of the 4.2.2 patch and how it runs 720p/1080p @48 fps movies? i'm asking for 48 fps movies because after Pete Jackson's "The Hobbit" every single HD/fullHD movie on the internet went from ~24 fps to 48fps...

Warmo said:
thanks for all the answers, much appreciated. Only questions that are still a concern to me are 4) and 6).
so what can you tell me about the fluidity of the 4.2.2 patch and how it runs 720p/1080p @48 fps movies? i'm asking for 48 fps movies because after Pete Jackson's "The Hobbit" every single HD/fullHD movie on the internet went from ~24 fps to 48fps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say link us a 48fps clip and we can test it for ya.

Dsteppa said:
I'd say link us a 48fps clip and we can test it for ya.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.lukeletellier.com/[email protected]+48fps+-+High+Quality.flv

I came from one s and had no regrets at all. But mine was villec2. Screen wise, I prefer z to one s.
Sent from my C6603

DrKrFfXx said:
http://www.lukeletellier.com/[email protected]+48fps+-+High+Quality.flv
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nopes.
Of course it does play, but with hiccups and not in sync at all.
I tried it with MX Player.

(4) First, like Dsteppa (@ #3 post) said, laggy or not depends mostly on how one updates to 4.2.2 (from 4.1.2). Full wipe / factory reset / clean install do really help to avoid lagging.
I've tried serveral approaches to update my XZ to 4.2.2, and finally achieved "no lag" by doing this: format whatever partition I can think of on the phone (system, data etc.) hence resulted in "soft-brick" (phone won't boot but stuck at the SONY logo screen), then plug the phone to SONY's Update Service to repair by flashing the latest 4.2.2 onto it, followed by installing every single app back to the phone 'manually' and not through backups from Titanium Pro.
Second, lagging or not may also be app related. 2 out of 103 apps that I installed do result in sluggish and heat up when run; one is a local weather app, and the other one is Chrome. Both are running good and smooth on 4.1.2 but not on 4.2.2. My wild guess is that they're not optimized for XZ 4.2.2 yet. Freeze them with Titanium Pro (root required) and my XZ is running smooth and ice cold now.
Anyway, I believe if you get a new XZ right now, it should be with 4.2.2 out of the box, so, there shouldn't be any problem, just be aware of what app to use and you'll be fine.
(about my XZ: stock rom 423, Generic HK R4B, odexed, rooted, mod with PureXAudio v18 / Navigation Bar 36dpi)
- - - - - - -
(6) The 'stock' movie player does have some limitations to play those formats you mentioned. "MX Player" does not.
I have tried 480/720/1080, interlaced/progressive, 23.976(or 24)/.../60fps, level 3.0/.../5.1, H.264/AVC/mpeg, AAC/Dolby AC-3/DTS (custome codec required for DTS), mkv/mp4, subtitle(s) with UTF-8 format, 10gb+ a file... etc with MX Player Pro on my XZ, play smooth and no problem so far EXCEPT those files with 10-bit color-rendering instead of the normal use of 8-bit (since 10-bit is not yet supported by hardware acceleration).
I don't have any mkv/mp4 file with HFR 48fps since I only render my DVDs and Blu-rays with framerate set as source, and there is no DVD/Blu-ray disc comes with 48fps so far in the market, including the blu-ray release of Pete Jackson's "The Hobbit", which is using 24p instead of the HFR 48fps like it's theatrical release. Reason is that today's commercial grade blu-ray player and TV doesn't support such framerate for it is not a standard yet; well, in the future yes may be. If you really want to play HFR 48 materials, you will need some industrial grade equipments, like those for use in studios.
So I doubt if XZ can really support 48fps playback; if yes, XZ won't be this small in size, plus, it won't be selling at this price.
Just a side note, movie that you download from Internet which claims itself running at 48fps, is just a gimmick and use 'fake' frame to achieve it's so-called 48fps, not true HFR 48. When playback, it won't do any good but harm your system/player since extra computing power is required to handle/correct those fake frames, which are supposingly not being there.
Hope this help.

tab s reviews

I've been reading on some new and not so new reviews from sites like gsmarena, phonearena, androidcentral, android authority engadget etc. And all the reviews have been glowing except for the verge well because it's theverge lol. Do u guys agree with most of the reviews?

I agree about the display, to an extent. The black are great on Netflix and the movie Gravity (Galaxy Gift), but when you watch streaming services from Cable provider, (Comcast Xfinity), the blacks have extreme Pixelation and ghosting. It gets so bad that it's annoying and ruins the whole viewing experience.

isnt that comcast's fault though?
So far no alarmingly bad review so im excited to pick this baby up along with a gear fit

avenging said:
isnt that comcast's fault though?
So far no alarmingly bad review so im excited to pick this baby up along with a gear fit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It shouldn't be. The movies and TV shows are broadcast in HD. it works fine on my Asus Infinity Transformer. I read that the Netflix and youtube apps were optimized for this device.
So I have a feeling all other media will suffer.

xRevilatioNx said:
It shouldn't be. The movies and TV shows are broadcast in HD. it works fine on my Asus Infinity Transformer. I read that the Netflix and youtube apps were optimized for this device.
So I have a feeling all other media will suffer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ah i see well lets hope that gets tackled too in newer reviews but i remember josh from android authority watched breaking bad on it and he seemed to not have any issues.
by the way, how do you like the color scheme? gsmarena says its kinda gaudy but in android central forums they say the bronze is nice

I just streamed the latest Star Trek movie on Netflix and it was absolutely gorgeous. Same thing with Avengers. Remember you need to give the player about 30 seconds to buffer before judging the picture quality. Once the full HD buffers it looks amazing. HD YouTube content is also glorious.
---------- Post added at 09:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:36 AM ----------
The Verge can write an entire review talking about how perfect and amazing something is then end up docking it two stars because it ISN'T APPLE. CNET is same way. According to these guys you would think the single most important feature of a tablet is what the back of the damned thing is made of.

I love the tab but hate the gold/gray....better than white...but why the tacky gold?????

As I said in my previous post. Youtube and Netflix have been optimized for this device. So the picture is going to be amazing. It's other streaming and video services that may suffer. Such as my Xfinity Go App, Crackle . All the blacks gets extreme Pixelation and ghosting. It's horrible

suzook said:
I love the tab but hate the gold/gray....better than white...but why the tacky gold?????
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Click to collapse
At first I thought the same about the gold but now I don't even notice it. I have a white 10.5 with titanium book cover and honestly it looks pretty good.
Remember this tablet is made by Asians and Asians love gold. I think they did it to get away from the "cheap materials" moniker. Also to make it look different than the Pro line.

8.4 ESPN Go
Watching ESPN waiting on the game, the picture is gorgeous. Go USA!

this ipad lover gave it a very good review :highfive:
http://www.itproportal.com/reviews/...eed:+itproportal/rss+(Latest+ITProPortal+News)

The reviews that "count" are the ones from real users at retail sites like BestBuy. Right now the Tab S 10.5 is getting 4.9 out of 5 stars with about 40 or so reviews in. If you know BestBuy, scoring anywhere close to a perfect 5.0 is rare.
Most of these guys that do reviews for tech sites have an altar to iPad in their bedroom at home. And yeah, TheVerge hates everything, lol. I've seen them give a review with nothing but superlatives thoughout then in their conclusion call the device "disappointing" and give it 7.5 stars. They enjoy being snobs.

mitchellvii said:
The reviews that "count" are the ones from real users at retail sites like BestBuy. Right now the Tab S 10.5 is getting 4.9 out of 5 stars with about 40 or so reviews in. If you know BestBuy, scoring anywhere close to a perfect 5.0 is rare.
Most of these guys that do reviews for tech sites have an altar to iPad in their bedroom at home. And yeah, TheVerge hates everything, lol. I've seen them give a review with nothing but superlatives thoughout then in their conclusion call the device "disappointing" and give it 7.5 stars. They enjoy being snobs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think the verge dislikes any product unless it has the apple logo on it lol

avenging said:
isnt that comcast's fault though?
So far no alarmingly bad review so im excited to pick this baby up along with a gear fit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it's Samsung GPU not processing the HD video properly. It's not only comcast but there are other websites that's showing this on the tab s too. My iPad displays all the same video just fine. I hope it's just software and Samsung will have a fix in it's next update because I'm a tv show buff and this is not acceptable for such a beautiful amoled tablet.

Yeah and the verge knock a star off Samsung tabs for being "too pricey" when there the same price as the iPad which has less specs but they never mention the price on them. Isheel
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

NixxonExxo said:
Nope, it's Samsung GPU not processing the HD video properly. It's not only comcast but there are other websites that's showing this on the tab s too. My iPad displays all the same video just fine. I hope it's just software and Samsung will have a fix in it's next update because I'm a tv show buff and this is not acceptable for such a beautiful amoled tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're seeing the ghosting and Pixelation (in dark scenes) on third party apps?

another positive review
http://www.mensjournal.com/gear/electronics/a-legitimate-ipad-mini-competitor-20140718
Im impressed so far almost all the reviews are positive (reminds me of galaxy S2 again)

NixxonExxo said:
Nope, it's Samsung GPU not processing the HD video properly. It's not only comcast but there are other websites that's showing this on the tab s too. My iPad displays all the same video just fine. I hope it's just software and Samsung will have a fix in it's next update because I'm a tv show buff and this is not acceptable for such a beautiful amoled tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far on YouTube, Netflix and Hulu my 10.5 GPU has performed flawlessly. That leads me to believe this problem is only a software patch away as the GPU is well up to the task with many popular streaming sites.
Quote from the Men's Journal review above:
Compared with the iPad mini with Retina display, the Tab S - even with a higher resolution - never felt sluggish. We put it to the test by reading the entire book Unbroken using the Google Play app. The result? No raging headache. Even movies looked better: The Liam Neeson thriller Non-Stop had more vibrant colors than an iPad mini, which we watched*side-by-side with the Samsung during the same action scene. Once the movie started, the display became brighter and more saturated, maintaining its clear picture*both indoors*and out. You can thank the tablet's Super AMOLED display and its adaptive features, which streamline the switch*between a movie and a book without having to manually adjust the way the screen looks (brightness, colors, saturation)*every time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although I do not doubt the honesty of those experiencing lag, stutter and generally poor performance, I think the feedback from the marketplace is telling us this may be isolated and by my guess, the result of a bad batch of parts. The percentage of those experiencing problems in this forum while still a minority is probably disproportionately large as those having problems come to forums such as these seeking help while those who are satisfied do not.

so I've used the xfinity app and watched some stuff and honestly my black levels look fine, just like Netflix does...
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

jayochs said:
so I've used the xfinity app and watched some stuff and honestly my black levels look fine, just like Netflix does...
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Penny Dreadful is where I saw it at its worse. It was horrible.