Android: Phone News and Discussion Thread
#241
Safety Car
Good luck whenever you decide to do it. Once you get that Custom Clockwork Recovery loaded you're pretty much in. Its kinda hard to brick a phone flashing a custom rom. (I change roms once a week. Sometimes 3 times in a day. lol.) Bricking only usually happens when you're flashing a hboot, spl or radio update. All of which you're not doing so I say the chance of you bricking is very low. But anything is possible I guess. Just make sure you don't pull the battery unless you waited a long time. By long, I mean more than 10 minutes. Sometimes, the first boot takes a while.
In other news. it looks like HTC released an HTC Sync update yesterday that allows sideloading of apps without root. Might want to check it out:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/11/c...sideload-apps/
#242
Suzuka Master
Good luck whenever you decide to do it. Once you get that Custom Clockwork Recovery loaded you're pretty much in. Its kinda hard to brick a phone flashing a custom rom. (I change roms once a week. Sometimes 3 times in a day. lol.) Bricking only usually happens when you're flashing a hboot, spl or radio update. All of which you're not doing so I say the chance of you bricking is very low. But anything is possible I guess. Just make sure you don't pull the battery unless you waited a long time. By long, I mean more than 10 minutes. Sometimes, the first boot takes a while.
In other news. it looks like HTC released an HTC Sync update yesterday that allows sideloading of apps without root. Might want to check it out:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/11/c...sideload-apps/
In other news. it looks like HTC released an HTC Sync update yesterday that allows sideloading of apps without root. Might want to check it out:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/11/c...sideload-apps/
/thread hijack
Yes Froyo looks real nice!
#243
Safety Car
Froyo is sweet. My phone has the same components of the G1 and it feels brand new. I'm not sure if its a placebo effect or not but launching apps and multitasking is far smoother on my phone. It may have to do with the JIT component but I've run a hacked JIT before in Eclair and it wasn't as smooth and stable as this. For the most part, the ROM is complete with a few bugs here and there but so far I'm enjoying it better than Eclair.
#245
Safety Car
http://developer.android.com/sdk/and...ighlights.html
The 3D Gallery also now has a pinch to peek feature like in the iPad. So if you pinch on the folder, it'll show the pictures inside of it. Its pretty neat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLl32iNz-3o
They also added a bunch of bluetooth support, and Wifi N support for the phones that have it. I think with the custom ROMs you can now add bluetooth keyboards and mouse as well. I know you can do it with CM6 not sure about the others. The custom ROMs added a bunch of new features for the Nexus One such as 720P recording and they just got FM Radio to work last night. Should be coming in the future it looks like.
The most notables for me are:
Official HIMEM support for RAM > 256 MB
Eclair was stuck to only see 256 MB but with Froyo it can now see the full 512 MB found in the Nexus One, Evo and all the recent high end Android phones. If you used a custom ROM then you probably already took advantage of this feature. If not, then think smoother and better multitasking than currently.
JIT (Just In Time) Compiler
Without getting too technical:
"The JIT is a software component which takes application code, analyzes it, and actively translates it into a form that runs faster, doing so while the application continues to run."
http://android-developers.blogspot.c...alvik-jit.html
You can test this difference out using LinPack or any of the other benchmarking programs. Compare your scores now at stock vs. when you have JIT on. You'll most likely see 2-4x more MFLOPs. Since my phone's components are outdated I get around 1 MFLOP more compared to no JIT which is still a significant improvement. I'm seeing my apps and switching between tasks a lot smoother with Froyo.
Enhanced V8 Engine for Javascript
ArsTechnica recently did an article on this, followed by Engadget's piss poor attempt to make the iPhone/iPad look good which the they got called out for. lol.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...benchmarks.ars
Basically, the stock browser should be rendering webpages faster than it currently is especially on webpages heavily coded in java.
Chrome to Phone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oyCWEUqNvY
I'm really looking forward to this one. Imagine what the app developers can do with this idea. You can already send webpages, and maps. So many possibilities.
Official Flash 10.1 support
This one is self explanatory. lol. Too bad it leaves out the older generation of phones thought. At least SkyFire is there.
Last edited by CGFebTSX04; 07-12-2010 at 07:47 AM.
#248
Safety Car
With that said, I'm sure it will get hacked eventually. Considering that the Milestone was launched outside of the US, support for it was a lot less than the original Droid which had an open bootloader in the states. If the X becomes popular (which it most likely will) just like the original Droid, then it'll happen.
Even if it doesn't get hacked though, Motorola seems to have good support for their flagship phones and it'll get updates for a while. And the phone looks pretty awesome and has some nice specs to boot.
#250
Too bad Motorola locked down the bootloader for the X exactly like they did with the Milestone. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to crack the bootloader yet. HTC is the only true company that seems to be in with the custom ROM crowds.
With that said, I'm sure it will get hacked eventually. Considering that the Milestone was launched outside of the US, support for it was a lot less than the original Droid which had an open bootloader in the states. If the X becomes popular (which it most likely will) just like the original Droid, then it'll happen.
Even if it doesn't get hacked though, Motorola seems to have good support for their flagship phones and it'll get updates for a while. And the phone looks pretty awesome and has some nice specs to boot.
With that said, I'm sure it will get hacked eventually. Considering that the Milestone was launched outside of the US, support for it was a lot less than the original Droid which had an open bootloader in the states. If the X becomes popular (which it most likely will) just like the original Droid, then it'll happen.
Even if it doesn't get hacked though, Motorola seems to have good support for their flagship phones and it'll get updates for a while. And the phone looks pretty awesome and has some nice specs to boot.
#251
AM Flakes still Drippin'
I think the Evo has been overclocked to 1.26 Ghz. Froyo is definitely a nice improvement. I'm running it on my Droid clocked at 1.25 Ghz and it flies!
#252
Safety Car
Is it undervolted as well? Got any screens of the rom? With SetCPU you can set profiles so it can automatically overclock and downclock on depending on use. I have my Google Ion set at the lowest possible when the screen is off and overclocked until its at about 25% of battery life and I can squeeze about 1-2 days before I have to worry about charging my phone.
#253
AM Flakes still Drippin'
^ Nice, yea SetCPU is a great app to govern the processor. Not only are you more than doubling your speed, you get better battery life because you can underclock when not in use. I am using a medium volt kernel. What phone are you using?
EDIT: Oh and I'm running the stock Froyo release FRF84B. Bugless Beast is a rom I usually hop to as well.
EDIT: Oh and I'm running the stock Froyo release FRF84B. Bugless Beast is a rom I usually hop to as well.
Last edited by HosTL Moderation; 07-12-2010 at 11:33 AM.
#254
Safety Car
Using a Google Ion. Its the developer version of the HTC Magic. Not really much difference other than the blue trim on the phone instead of the ugly grey and no carrier branding.
#255
AM Flakes still Drippin'
Oh nice, yea having full root access is nice since you can do anything you want. This is my first Android phone and it's crazy to see how much you can tweak these devices.
#256
Safety Car
Even without root you can pretty much do just about anything with it. With root, it just adds to the oppenness. You can customize every little detail from the icons and the fonts. And the crazy thing is, these Froyo roms are still in beta and they're performing crazy good.
Cyanogen should be releasing his mod for the Evo. For those new to Android he's basically the standard that all the devs put themselves against. He makes the base, stable roms from the original source code and all the other devs use a modification of his code to tweak and improve the performance of it.
Also, the PSX and N64 emulators are coming soon.
http://www.zodttd.com/wp/2010/07/are...r-for-android/
Zodttd said it actually performs better on the Nexus One than the iPhone. Probably has to do with the open nature of the OS and access to the source code. Can't wait!
Oh and the Android market is about to reach 100,000 apps. That's crazy. Its growing at an exponential rate!
http://www.unwiredview.com/2010/07/1...e-end-of-july/
Cyanogen should be releasing his mod for the Evo. For those new to Android he's basically the standard that all the devs put themselves against. He makes the base, stable roms from the original source code and all the other devs use a modification of his code to tweak and improve the performance of it.
Also, the PSX and N64 emulators are coming soon.
http://www.zodttd.com/wp/2010/07/are...r-for-android/
Zodttd said it actually performs better on the Nexus One than the iPhone. Probably has to do with the open nature of the OS and access to the source code. Can't wait!
Oh and the Android market is about to reach 100,000 apps. That's crazy. Its growing at an exponential rate!
http://www.unwiredview.com/2010/07/1...e-end-of-july/
#258
AM Flakes still Drippin'
Even without root you can pretty much do just about anything with it. With root, it just adds to the oppenness. You can customize every little detail from the icons and the fonts. And the crazy thing is, these Froyo roms are still in beta and they're performing crazy good.
Cyanogen should be releasing his mod for the Evo. For those new to Android he's basically the standard that all the devs put themselves against. He makes the base, stable roms from the original source code and all the other devs use a modification of his code to tweak and improve the performance of it.
Also, the PSX and N64 emulators are coming soon.
http://www.zodttd.com/wp/2010/07/are...r-for-android/
Zodttd said it actually performs better on the Nexus One than the iPhone. Probably has to do with the open nature of the OS and access to the source code. Can't wait!
Oh and the Android market is about to reach 100,000 apps. That's crazy. Its growing at an exponential rate!
http://www.unwiredview.com/2010/07/1...e-end-of-july/
Cyanogen should be releasing his mod for the Evo. For those new to Android he's basically the standard that all the devs put themselves against. He makes the base, stable roms from the original source code and all the other devs use a modification of his code to tweak and improve the performance of it.
Also, the PSX and N64 emulators are coming soon.
http://www.zodttd.com/wp/2010/07/are...r-for-android/
Zodttd said it actually performs better on the Nexus One than the iPhone. Probably has to do with the open nature of the OS and access to the source code. Can't wait!
Oh and the Android market is about to reach 100,000 apps. That's crazy. Its growing at an exponential rate!
http://www.unwiredview.com/2010/07/1...e-end-of-july/
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...XxfKe2w2m2az2g
#259
AM Flakes still Drippin'
The Froyo version that I am running (FRF84B) backed up most of my apps through my Gmail account (a few apps for root users weren't backed up). Titianium Backup (especially the donated version) will back up all your apps. If you donate to the developer, you'll get a key to have them all reinstall with one click instead of individually installing each app.
#260
1st TL-S on air in
iTrader: (2)
The Froyo version that I am running (FRF84B) backed up most of my apps through my Gmail account (a few apps for root users weren't backed up). Titianium Backup (especially the donated version) will back up all your apps. If you donate to the developer, you'll get a key to have them all reinstall with one click instead of individually installing each app.
#261
Safety Car
The time it takes to restore will depend on how many apps you have. You can also backup sms messages with titanium backup. The only thing you'll have to setup would be your widgets on your home screen and system settings. I had some problem with the market links in my Froyo version but it could be due to it being beta. Regardless, the apps are all installed fine and I'm gonna hold off manually relinking each one until a more stable build comes out.
And yes, Google now backsup all your apps on their servers with Froyo. So if you update to say another Froyo rom. It'll automatically download the legit apps you bought when you sign in.
#262
Safety Car
The Froyo version that I am running (FRF84B) backed up most of my apps through my Gmail account (a few apps for root users weren't backed up). Titianium Backup (especially the donated version) will back up all your apps. If you donate to the developer, you'll get a key to have them all reinstall with one click instead of individually installing each app.
#266
AM Flakes still Drippin'
The most current Froyo is FRF91. Like I said, once Cyanogen releases his version, expect yours to get even faster if thats even possible. lol. He should be releasing it any time soon since all the files are pretty interchangeable. Just a few modifications here and there.
#267
Safety Car
I don't know about you but it felt realistic. That'll be the closest I get to owning one. lol.
Here's an unboxing of the upcoming Samsung Captivate coming to AT&T:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61eV_...layer_embedded
It looks so sleek. Still debating on whether to get this or the European version with the front facing camera. I'm gonna have to wait and see what the ROM devs have to say. Can't wait for this phone though. That screen looks amazing with that contrast and colors. It has TV Out support which works with the Nokia N95 video out cable which luckily I already have or DLNA if you have the newer Samsung TV's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQBAx_BDfk
Here's an unboxing of the upcoming Samsung Captivate coming to AT&T:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61eV_...layer_embedded
It looks so sleek. Still debating on whether to get this or the European version with the front facing camera. I'm gonna have to wait and see what the ROM devs have to say. Can't wait for this phone though. That screen looks amazing with that contrast and colors. It has TV Out support which works with the Nokia N95 video out cable which luckily I already have or DLNA if you have the newer Samsung TV's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQBAx_BDfk
#271
Safety Car
And like I thought, the Samsung Captivate has been rooted using the same root method for the European version:
http://androidandme.com/2010/07/hack...-u-s-versions/
The phone doesn't come out until this Sunday by the way. The AT&T reps are still sticking with the $349 no contract price. Very tempting. Have to resist pulling the trigger on this one and wait.
Samsung’s Galaxy S lineup has yet to arrive in U.S. stores, but it looks like all their devices will be easily rooted thanks to a hack discovered on the international version. Russian developer LeshaK of Samdroid was the first to gain root access on the Galaxy S (i9000) and the community over at XDA-developers has taken his work and ported it to the U.S. versions of the phone.
Gaining root access is as simple as flashing an update.zip file and it has already been confirmed to work on the AT&T Captivate and T-Mobile Vibrant. Only a single modification to the update script is required for each device so this should also work on the Sprint Epic 4G and Verizon Fascinate when they arrive.
Paul O’Brien of Modaco has already created a custom ROM for the international version, but it has yet to be tested on any of the U.S. models. All the Galaxy S devices are nearly identical so future ROMs should be compatible with minor tweaks.
Now that Google has released the source code for Android 2.2 and Samsung released their code for the Galaxy S, it should only be a matter of time before the community has a stock version of Android 2.2 up and running. Given that this phone is coming to all four tier 1 carriers in the U.S. (and a couple regional ones), I expect a sizable development community will support this device.
Gaining root access is as simple as flashing an update.zip file and it has already been confirmed to work on the AT&T Captivate and T-Mobile Vibrant. Only a single modification to the update script is required for each device so this should also work on the Sprint Epic 4G and Verizon Fascinate when they arrive.
Paul O’Brien of Modaco has already created a custom ROM for the international version, but it has yet to be tested on any of the U.S. models. All the Galaxy S devices are nearly identical so future ROMs should be compatible with minor tweaks.
Now that Google has released the source code for Android 2.2 and Samsung released their code for the Galaxy S, it should only be a matter of time before the community has a stock version of Android 2.2 up and running. Given that this phone is coming to all four tier 1 carriers in the U.S. (and a couple regional ones), I expect a sizable development community will support this device.
http://androidandme.com/2010/07/hack...-u-s-versions/
The phone doesn't come out until this Sunday by the way. The AT&T reps are still sticking with the $349 no contract price. Very tempting. Have to resist pulling the trigger on this one and wait.
#274
Safety Car
The Samsung is running a 1 GHz Hummingbird with PowerVR-SGX450 graphics.
From my earlier post:
Hummingbird > Snapdragon. Samsung's Hummingbird processor is actually the same processor in the iPhone 4 but clocked at 1 GHz and in 45 nm meaning its more efficient power wise. The PowerVR-SGX450 is a 45nm version of the iPhone's PowerVR-SGX535 so once again, its power efficient and pushing out the same amount of polygons if not more. Samsung isn't playing around with their upcoming phone.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon Adreno is no match to the PowerVR-SGX450 thats why if you see the gaming comparisons, Samsung wipes the floor on the Nexus One, Evo and all other Snapdragon phones which use the Adreno. The Droid X is running a TI OMAP 3630 processor which is comparable to the Hummingbird but it will be running a PowerVR-SGX530 for the GPU so its not too far behind. If I had to rate the phones now in terms of pure performance, it would go like this:
Samsung Galaxy S > Droid X > Evo = Nexus One = Desire
Qualcomm's Snapdragon Adreno is no match to the PowerVR-SGX450 thats why if you see the gaming comparisons, Samsung wipes the floor on the Nexus One, Evo and all other Snapdragon phones which use the Adreno. The Droid X is running a TI OMAP 3630 processor which is comparable to the Hummingbird but it will be running a PowerVR-SGX530 for the GPU so its not too far behind. If I had to rate the phones now in terms of pure performance, it would go like this:
Samsung Galaxy S > Droid X > Evo = Nexus One = Desire
Depending on where the state of gaming goes for Android, you can expect the HTC Evo to not be able to run the future 'HD' Gaming due to the gpu demand. Here's AndroidandMe's GPU benchmark test of the Samsung vs. Nexus One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4p5...layer_embedded
The Nexus One and HTC Evo are essentially the same phone. The HTC Evo just has a 4.3" screen. With that said, the HTC Evo is still a nice phone. The Captivate will be lacking a front facing camera and camera flash. Two things the Evo has. So we'll have to wait and see where Android goes with gaming.
All the new Samsung Galaxy phones coming out in the next couple of weeks will all be similar just tailored to each carrier. The best one, however, will be Sprint's Epic 4G. It will have a keyboard, front facing camera, camera flash and whole nine yards. It'll be the top of the line Samsung Android phone once it comes out.
#275
Safety Car
I think this one will be different, however. First off, the Galaxy S is being launched worldwide to 110 mobile partners. They have a lot of stake on this phone. Instead of just pissing off North American customers, they'll piss off the whole world should they decide not to support this phone. This is their baby just in much the same way the Nexus One is Google's baby. So they won't abandon this one that quickly. They already sold 300,000 in South Korea in the past few weeks since its launched.
No, it won't get the updates as fast as Google but I think this phone will get updates. How far along will we get Android updates? Can't say for sure. They already released their source code WITH drivers for Froyo. Prior to this, they released source codes late and without access to the drivers which pissed off a lot of custom ROM devs. So we'll at most get Froyo for now. Is this a change from their practices before? Well hopefully so.
They're trying to steal HTC's market share and if they screw this one up, then they'll never have that chance ever again. And the price they're letting the Captivate go, thats a steal for all the specs of this phone...
#276
Safety Car
Here's one more comparison of the HTC Evo vs. the Samsung:
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=17125
http://alienbabeltech.com/main/?p=17125
The Samsung Galaxy S with a 45 nm Hummingbird beating for a heart looks to be the most powerful ARM SoC available in the near future, however, the 45 nm Snapdragons and the Cortex-A9 TI OMAP 4 series will almost certainly reclaim that title later this year and onwards into 2011. The EVO 4G, while having an impressive set of specifications, still runs a 65 nm chip that is less power efficient and pales in terms of graphics performance when compared to the Galaxy S. If you happen to live under Sprint’s WiMAX umbrella and can’t resist a 4.3-inch screen, the EVO 4G may be a hard opportunity to resist. But if you’re looking for the better performer and display with unsurpassed quality, a Samsung Galaxy S looks like the choice to make assuming it lands on a carrier that works for you. AT&T is likely, signs point to T-Mobile as well, and it’s speculated that it’ll eventually end up on all 4 major US carriers. Both phones are headed our way in “Summer 2010”. One thing is certain; it’s not going to be an easy wait!
#277
Safety Car
Oh yeah, Samsung will be releasing an Android Tablet soon as well that goes along with their Galaxy S line:
http://www.samsunghub.com/2010/07/13...efore-october/
They look like giant Galaxy S. lol. But I would use this is as another reason why I don't think they'll abandon these phones too quickly. If they did, they're aiming to fail pretty hard.
http://www.samsunghub.com/2010/07/13...efore-october/
They look like giant Galaxy S. lol. But I would use this is as another reason why I don't think they'll abandon these phones too quickly. If they did, they're aiming to fail pretty hard.
#278
1st TL-S on air in
iTrader: (2)
so gpu is the major difference for the two phones. When does the samsung galaxy s come out to sprint? I will have to be purchasing a phone for my son but i might as well purchase this phone and out right buy a cheap phone for him. Thanks for the info. As of right now cyanogen's release should be here in the next week or too. Reason i like this rom so much better than the other roms is that he writes the codes, while other just cook a piece by piece rom to get it to work. You can check out his work as it is happening for those who dont know much about Froyo.
Twitter: cyanogen
Website: http://www.cyanogenmod.com
Forum: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com
Issue Tracker: http://code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/issues/list
Wiki: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com
GitHub: http://github.com/CyanogenMod
Twitter: cyanogen
Website: http://www.cyanogenmod.com
Forum: http://forum.cyanogenmod.com
Issue Tracker: http://code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/issues/list
Wiki: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com
GitHub: http://github.com/CyanogenMod
#279
Safety Car
Release date hasn't been announced yet. I think they're saying August though cause the Fascinate is supposed to come in September to Verizon.
Yeah, Cyanogen is awesome. I'm hoping he picks up working on the Samsung, then I'm all over it, no doubt. I believe they're about to release the FM transmitter for the Nexus One. They're also trying to improve the 720P code for the Nexus One as well.
Last edited by CGFebTSX04; 07-13-2010 at 05:58 PM.
#280
1st TL-S on air in
iTrader: (2)
interesting you brought up about samsung amoled. According to this two sites, samsung is part of the cause for a shortage of Evo's.
http://www.mobilitysite.com/2010/07/...ts-evo-4g-too/;
http://phandroid.com/2010/07/12/dan-...-in-our-plans/
http://www.mobilitysite.com/2010/07/...ts-evo-4g-too/;
http://phandroid.com/2010/07/12/dan-...-in-our-plans/