camera module - Hardware Hacking General

can i replace my galaxy 551 camera module with nokia n95

pretty hard.. unless u know the piouts and hardware ( cam and co circuits) . in one word nearely impossible
send from my hd2 @ miui 1.12.2

Agreed with @showlyshah . Nearly impossible. Theoretically to do this you need to first get the camera module, then write a driver and HAL (look for camera.h and camera.c mostly). Then compile Android with the camera driver within Android source (efore that you'll need proprietary drivers which I think you can get by running some sh script in the CM source tree and plugging in your CM7-loaded phone. Then create the OTA package and flash using fastboot. In the first place, I doubt most of these are available in the first place for your phone. A much much much easier way would be to buy the whole phone company (I think 51% shares are enough?). By then you may as well ask the engineering section and the R&D section to custom make an awesome high end phone with high end stuff like cut diamonds using the company's money. Point is, its not worth it..

Related

Android: will it work on current devices ?

Hi !
Does anyone actually know if android can be installed / flashed on current devices ? Or it's only for certain devices that come with it preinstalled ?
Please don't post things like: "i would love it if it did" or "omg, android is great"...
I'm looking for an answer from someone who actually knows or someone who knows exactly how this stuff works...
Thanks
PS: Menneisyys, i hope you'll post something
I don't think that you'll be getting your answer any time soon as nobody has seen the thing yet.
But i would speculate that as HTC is one of the partners, it might be possible. HTC probably wont reinvent their phones again for the android.
Not a programmer...
but i was listening to leo laport yesterday and it seems that ggls world domination strategy would be all including. so it seems very likely that they would allow some version of it for use on other phones.
http://techguylabs.com/radio/ShowNotes/Show403#toc5
At this point, since there there is no release yet and nobody has/can play with it, it's probably hard to say. However, knowing Google, there is a good possibility they will come out with an app that allows you to use your current phone (speculation).
I heard that Android based on some Java-sintacsys - maybe it is good for us?
Well, the SDK has been released, get it here: http://code.google.com/android/. A demo video is available on the page to show you what it's capable of thus far--looks promising. I'm no coder, but I wish someone would develop this for current HTC devices. As an incentive, Google launched an Android Developer Challenge (http://code.google.com/android/adc.html), where developers of "innovative, useful apps" can win up to $275,000.
leetsauce said:
Well, the SDK has been released, get it here: http://code.google.com/android/. A demo video is available on the page to show you what it's capable of thus far--looks promising. I'm no coder, but I wish someone would develop this for current HTC devices. As an incentive, Google launched an Android Developer Challenge (http://code.google.com/android/adc.html), where developers of "innovative, useful apps" can win up to $275,000.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I grabbed the SDk and got a basic hello world up and running. From what the video said and what I can glean from various sites. The Android OS is designed to run on existing hardware. I would imagine that includes HTC machines. Its a complete OS though not an app so I would imagine you have to blow away WM6 and put android on in order to take advantage of its functionality. The actual coding appears to be extremely easy.
I can see google or the community releasing a "shell" of Android.
The more people with it the more money for them. If you watched the video they are really trying to push the location based services from GPS, cell towers, IP address... can anyone say more cash for ads.
I wouldn't mind having it on WM and its open source so there a good chance we will see it.
Alpine would be perfect for Android
Alpine would be a perfect phone if recycled with android !!
Good processor, lots of mem and a big screen for touch sensasions!!
Is it a dream or could that become reality?
Is Android compatible with HTC Touch-style hardware or does it require the numberpad?
There is a linux-2.6.23-android-m3-rc20.tar.gz kernel file on the android google code project site, there is also ADB utility - Android Debug Bridge (comes with SDK), it has an option of flashing a device (over usb) or an emulator (which is also included in the package)...the question is how to compile that kernel and make it run on our HTCs, and what kindof boot loader does it require? Maybe guys from Xanadux know better
It's also interesting how JAVA is being used after becoming open source, it appears that android is mostly independent from the JAVA API, the only relevance I found was only basic stuff like java.util, java.io and etc (included in the android.jar)...
i think that android will work on htc devices because pretty much they are the ones that will be releasing the first devices preloaded with android and i think that white device was made from htc. I see a potential here so i ask some one to make a thread on porting android to any or a specific device. good luck and may the force be with you.
ps. i hope its a htc wizard
I'd say we'd be waiting to see the HDK come out before we can put it on our own devices, can't wait though.
A dream
The Android SDK includes an emulator, see here http://www.ohadev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15
Quote: "It seems that the main binary is emulator; this includes a qemu-0.8.2, which runs (in system mode) the ARM kernel image at lib/images/kernel-qemu.
Two more images are mounted from lib/images : the system.img (which appears to be the rootfs, and userdata.img, which gets replicated (and mounted from there) at $HOME/.android/userdata.img."
This guy (http://mamaich.uni.cc/fr_pocket.htm) got Qemu compiled for ARM, buggy/crashing, no visible update for several years, see also here http://www.pocketpcmag.com/blogs/in...e_to_running_ms_dos_8_12&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Question: Anyone have any more recent news/experiences about Qemu on ARM/HTC?
So, theoretically one could try running the Android Kernel image from the SDK emulator on Qemu on PocketPC.
Even if it works (highly unlikely), this megasandwich AndroidImage->Qemu->PocketPC would probably be fantastically slow, with dodgy/absent I/O support.
Real solution is to wait for a modifyable Kernel which can run natively on the HTC ARM processor.
Did not someone from google mentioned at the day of the release that android will run on any ARM9 based device?
dirac said:
Real solution is to wait for a modifyable Kernel which can run natively on the HTC ARM processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no such thing as "HTC ARM processor". All major ARM-based CPUs
are supported by Linux, it's the device drivers for external hardware that are
often missing because of the missing documentation.
cr2 said:
There is no such thing as "HTC ARM processor". All major ARM-based CPUs
are supported by Linux, it's the device drivers for external hardware that are
often missing because of the missing documentation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im sure that HTC will release drivers for all their devices since they are partners in the Open Handset Alliance..
prodinho said:
Im sure that HTC will release drivers for all their devices since they are partners in the Open Handset Alliance..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some doubts that the (future) drivers will be released as free software, and not some binary blobs like nvidia, ati and m-systems did it in the past.
Binary linux kernel drivers are evil

Google's Android - why isnt there more development for this?

http://code.google.com/android/
incase anyones not familiar with android, check that site out.
im not sure why there isnt more development or developers that are going after this in terms of getting it working on all devices? im currently using it on my vogue and its amazing. definately better UI in terms of EVERYTHING. its open source, so i think developers should be all over this! has so much potential its kind of ridiculous
vogue thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=382265
its working about 80% now thanks to amazing developer martin.
the browser and everything (overall UI) are so much better and smoother than windows mobile! and being that its open source with google ENCOURAGING development of apps and themes and skins and whatnot, i think this is the next best thing to happen to ppc's.
THIS is the actual iphone killer.
just some samples
on a vogue (very smooth)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0z9bWiAT44
just a demo of the browser (mine is actually a little smoother than this)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FpDDEVWtk
the reason im posting this here is because i was the first one to post in this section with manilla2d (when udk first released it), asking whether we can get this on other devices, and look what happened with that. if we can get the amazing developers from here to work on this like they worked on m2d, then wow this will be amazing!
Yeah, even I'm suprised at the low level of excitement of porting this to all devices. Hoping for some real development . Btw, those videos are pretty impressive.
Akshay
Yeah... I'm a little surprised too.
I have a Vogue now, so I'm OK, but I'd love to see somebody pick this project up for the Touch Pro. It seems to be very similar to the G1, so the porting would be a lot more complete than the porting to the Vogue.
Hopefully somebody with the skills (read: not me) will undertake this.
it'll pick up. i say in 6 months to a year people will snap out of the apple app dev craze. but from a dev point of view, apple is where its at right now. the amount of money you could make is a driver by all means.
htc will also be a key part in this. when they start to release better looking hardware, perhaps something on par with the diamond....you'll see a user increase. and user increase translate into dev interest. so just hang in there....i think you'll get what you want soon.
A ppc that works only on 80 Percent ? And no additional Software, no outlook syncronisation? Thats at the moment somthing for freaks or people with a second device
If there would be a 100 Percent Android i would install it, believe me, because i´m not very happy with windows anymore.
So i think we must wait and hope.
My next Device in half a year will be hopefully the Touch HD with Android rolleyes
because it makes no sense to port androud to a phone that is not 3G with GPS.
the only advantage of the g phone that I saw was the service. 3G and free GPS! i'm like, how much for the puppy in the window?
I honestly think that porting it to my wizard would be senseless.
without the service the gphone is just a phone wothout service.
S.V.I said:
because it makes no sense to port androud to a phone that is not 3G with GPS.
the only advantage of the g phone that I saw was the service. 3G and free GPS! i'm like, how much for the puppy in the window?
I honestly think that porting it to my wizard would be senseless.
without the service the gphone is just a phone wothout service.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course it is always pointless. We do it because we can (and because we don't want to do anything while at work)
(and much like bluemetal, we are all tired of the same old look and functionality in our WM devices). Then again, it can always be worse....
we could all have iphones
Anyways, I am looking forward to someone porting this to the Blue Angel.
The bigest stumbling block for me is lack of Exchange support. GPS isn't really necessary with the cell tower triangulation available. The accuracy is getting better. It will never be as tight as GPS but close is good enough for me. I can do with out 3G (I wish I had it) I don't enjoy the experience with the little screen. It's like looking at the ocean through a porthole. A 5 inch screen with much better resolution would be great. I use it for quick info but surfing is not fun.
I do like the idea of going linux on the phone. It would be that much closer to having a truely mobile desktop. We wouldn't have to install resource hogging shells that ride on top of an already bloated today screen to get better customization.
I think the biggest problem overall though is the hardware needed will put a lot of older equipment like my little wizard out to pasture. I don't have the funds to rush out an purchase a new phone. And yes I think all the bugs will need to be shaken out for a while before I take the plunge. Maybe by the 2nd or third generation of Android things will be a little less "bleeding edge". It all looks great now but I rely on my phone too much to gamble on an untried system.
To be completely honest, I too am suprised by the lack of progress.
This is a complete replacement for Windows Mobile: something we've all only dreamed about up until now. It will have a wicked Dev community around it soon enough.
There were a hell of a lot of efforts to get the Beta running. But now... nothing?
*so confused
The worst part is, it'd be gorgeous on my LG KS20, but I doubt we'll see it anytime soon: no one loves us KS20 owners. Guess you were all just jealous of our drivers.
bluemetalaxe said:
A ppc that works only on 80 Percent ? And no additional Software, no outlook syncronisation? Thats at the moment somthing for freaks or people with a second device
If there would be a 100 Percent Android i would install it, believe me, because i´m not very happy with windows anymore.
So i think we must wait and hope.
My next Device in half a year will be hopefully the Touch HD with Android rolleyes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i don't know if you read my whole post, but i never said "hey everyone lets run something 80% finished on our ppcs."
waiting and hoping isnt going to do anything, thats why i started this thread. to get more attention instead of sitting and waiting for something we arent sure is going to ever happen.
im glad a lot of other people are on the same page as me, wondering why there is barely any development for this. thanks for the support guys
lets get some devs in here to weigh in on this!
Well, there's a number of quite simple reasons...
- Porting Android to another device isn't as simple as "Hey, it's Open Source, you just have to compile and install". First of all, you'd need to find a working cross compiler for ARM in the first place (one using Windows' API, like those used for PPC apps isn't much help). Then you'd need to write drivers for usually undocumented hardware with this cross compiler or in ARM assembler (reusing existing WM drivers, like in cooked ROMs, wouldn't work in Linux). Finally, you need to find a way to flash that system to your PPC (that's a bit more work than a patched/cooked variation of an already existing WM ROM), and so on. That's work for the kind of freaks who would do their taxes binary in mind...
- Writing apps for a system almost nobody own so far isn't that attractive. It's even less attractive if the potential developer doesn't own one - the real experience is always a bit different to an emulator, and usually would like some use for himself, too (what good is an mobile app for you if you'd need a laptop with emulator to use it? ). So far, there's only one official Android device out there, and aside from the fact it's still a bit "first try, for developers only" (no Outlook sync, ugly design, ...), you only get it in very few parts of the world or in overpriced eBay auctions. Inofficial ports with reduced functionality and maybe buggy or slow "beta" drivers aren't that great, too...
- While the Android API is quite close to common Java style, it's still something completely new, which requires some time to get into the framework's basic style, the available functions, the loopholes and small tricks, etc. With WM, the gap to common Windows (desktop) programming is way smaller, and I guess it's similar with the iPhone and Mac programming.
Or, in other words: Give Andoid some time to grow up. IMHO, G1 and the few existing ports are a playground for hackers and early adopters, so they can get startet with fixing (security holes, missing functionality, ...). Then, in some months, more devices with a "hacker improved" Android will be published, and when developers buy those, they also will start writing apps if they are missing something.
you'd think more people would be starting to port.. because god is that g1 terrible, you have to have sharpened pencils for fingers to type on that flush keyboard)
Mort said:
Well, there's a number of quite simple reasons...
- Porting Android to another device isn't as simple as "Hey, it's Open Source, you just have to compile and install". First of all, you'd need to find a working cross compiler for ARM in the first place (one using Windows' API, like those used for PPC apps isn't much help). Then you'd need to write drivers for usually undocumented hardware with this cross compiler or in ARM assembler (reusing existing WM drivers, like in cooked ROMs, wouldn't work in Linux). Finally, you need to find a way to flash that system to your PPC (that's a bit more work than a patched/cooked variation of an already existing WM ROM), and so on. That's work for the kind of freaks who would do their taxes binary in mind...
- Writing apps for a system almost nobody own so far isn't that attractive. It's even less attractive if the potential developer doesn't own one - the real experience is always a bit different to an emulator, and usually would like some use for himself, too (what good is an mobile app for you if you'd need a laptop with emulator to use it? ). So far, there's only one official Android device out there, and aside from the fact it's still a bit "first try, for developers only" (no Outlook sync, ugly design, ...), you only get it in very few parts of the world or in overpriced eBay auctions. Inofficial ports with reduced functionality and maybe buggy or slow "beta" drivers aren't that great, too...
- While the Android API is quite close to common Java style, it's still something completely new, which requires some time to get into the framework's basic style, the available functions, the loopholes and small tricks, etc. With WM, the gap to common Windows (desktop) programming is way smaller, and I guess it's similar with the iPhone and Mac programming.
Or, in other words: Give Andoid some time to grow up. IMHO, G1 and the few existing ports are a playground for hackers and early adopters, so they can get startet with fixing (security holes, missing functionality, ...). Then, in some months, more devices with a "hacker improved" Android will be published, and when developers buy those, they also will start writing apps if they are missing something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok now these reasons make a lot of sense. im just surprised that not as many people are trying to get it started so they can get started on fixing, like you said. but ok, all of your other reasons make complete sense. im sure the future releases of android will only get better.
android just seems like exactly what many of us have been looking for in wm devices, basically, a complete UI replacement endorsed/created by a large company (other than microsoft lol).
jakub_w said:
im just surprised that not as many people are trying to get it started so they can get started on fixing, like you said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who knows? AFAIK, the order numbers aren't that bad, and all those reviewers give some feedback, too. I mean, it's only a week since the G1 is available at all, and, as said, it's not very attractive so far. Not everybody wants to spend hundreds of dollars just to provide Google with requests and code changes and T-Mobile and HTC with money...
android just seems like exactly what many of us have been looking for in wm devices, basically, a complete UI replacement endorsed/created by a large company (other than microsoft lol).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think the UI is the really big thing about Android. You can even replace it completely, and I don't know (yet) where the limits / design guides are for applications. I just hope it doesn't get as confusing as Linux on the desktop, where even a Gnome or KDE desktop can be modified so far that it's almost as hard to switch distros as switching from Windows to MacOS...
The important things about Android are more in the basic technology, imho, like
- A stable, timeless system core (*nix is older than me, so "modern" is not quite correct - that goes for MacOS X, too, btw...)
- Seamless integration of connection management and phone functions (opposed to WM, where it still acts like a makeshift patchwork, and with every update less APIs are working...)
- Portable application framework (Java, lots of system APIs)
- Simple application installation (no "is this EXE a PC setup or the PPC executable?", "How the hell do I install a CAB file?", ...)
However, I still wonder how/if Andoid will support direct PC synchronization (for shared files, contacts, appointments, music, ...) and how fast and memory consumptive the required Java VM is... (Well, at least none of the G1 reviews I read complained about that, so it seems to be faster than .NET on WM...)
i was just playing around with android and in the dev tools or api demos theres a section called opengl es. i have a vogue and i tried these, they ran extremely smoothly. isnt this something that everyone has been saying is impossible? (specifically for getting tf3d to run on the vogue) i think this proves that software driven 3d is more than capable of handling tf3d. just a thought.
jakub_w said:
i was just playing around with android and in the dev tools or api demos theres a section called opengl es. i have a vogue and i tried these, they ran extremely smoothly. isnt this something that everyone has been saying is impossible? (specifically for getting tf3d to run on the vogue) i think this proves that software driven 3d is more than capable of handling tf3d. just a thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely agree with you on that. Thing is though is that this is a completely different environment with a different set of drivers (and rules) which makes (for example) modifying their parameters to allow for keys normally used for certain functions in WM to be used for something completely different. Also OpenGL (ES) is all that is used on *nix OSes whether or not they run on full or embedded hardware. All that's needed is the driver for the graphics chip. Microsoft wants you to use their proprietary D3D not OpenGL (ES) hence why it was impossible to have OpenGL (ES) before. Also TF3D uses DirectX and not OpenGL ES AFAIK.
Android is great. Only thing I need is a way to get the SDcard image working and a HTC Touch Pro to port Android, Angstrom and/or OpenMoko to, I'd be set.
why would you develop software for an operating system that isn't even fully ported yet?
joel2009 said:
why would you develop software for an operating system that isn't even fully ported yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weeell....
- It's Linux and Open Source (some people wouldn't touch a closed system with a stick...)
- It's nice to be prepared when you get the running system
- There is a device with that OS
- The documentation is way better than Microsoft's
- There's a good chance the API will remain compatible, so it doesn't hurt to start early (opposed to WM, where some basic features can/could only be done with device dependant or inofficial APIs, which were dropped in newer updates...)

[Q] 8 megapixels image sensor datasheet

Hi every one,
I need help in a project i am doing.
I need to activate a camera module with an external controller.
The camera I want to operate is the rear cam of the Iphone 4s.
I searched a bit and found that it is Sony's camera and the name is IMX-145.
This was made by chipworks.
But I cant find any datasheet or some clues about this module or its structure.
Can you help me ?
Thanks
XDA is for android. Try an iPhone forum
I need documentation on 8 MegaPixel cam.
It does not matter to me if its IPhone or Samsung Galaxy S II.
I need a good camera (part of a smart phone) documenting, eg datasheet pinout or ICD.
Can anyone help ?
Where can I find this sort of documentation?
amirke said:
It does not matter to me if its IPhone or Samsung Galaxy S II.
I need a good camera (part of a smart phone) documenting, eg datasheet pinout or ICD.
Can anyone help ?
Where can I find this sort of documentation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think what the meant was that the majority of the people here specialize in Android based devices/parts/etc.
It would be more prudent to go to an iPhone web forum to find the information you are seeking, maybe an iPhone modding scene or something like that
... The fact that the OP is asking for a hardware datasheet it boggles my mind how the above responders think that it has anything to do with what software is accessing said controller/sensor. They must be complete Derp's to think it matters if its android or ios, and negate the fact that what is being asked for has nothing to do with it.
To the OP:
If its a new revision of said sensor, then getting a new datasheet will be extremely hard to come by. You'd probably be able to find said datasheet for earlier revisions unless its protected as a proprietary piece of hardware of Chipworks.
I would guess that maybe something would be found buried in the chipworks website on the matter. Generally though for newer hardware or revisions of existing hardware, datasheets are not released to public until they've been replaced with newer models/revisions.
As it stands It looks like they can only be bought.
https://chipworks.secure.force.com/catalog/ProductDetails?sku=SON-IMX145&viewState=DetailView&cartID=&g=&parentCategory=&navigationStr=CatalogSearchInc&searchText=circuit
XDA is for android
This forum (xda) just for ANDROID...
XDA is for Android, Windows Phone, Web OS, Meego, Bada, etc. And yes, there is even a link for iPhones on the main page.
Besides, Apple doesn't necessarily have an exclusivity deal on the camera sensors. The iPhone 4 used the same sensor that many HTC phones did, but the sensor itself can only do so much. The post processing and especially the optics are what makes or breaks a camera.
I'd find someone working for IT company and ask him to send request there - http://www.ovt.com/ and maybe to Toshiba asking for datasheet and samples of some sensor if you need only sensor. But, as xHausx said, you may need also camera-processor so you may want to look for ready sensor+processor fused modules. And these seems to me to have all very similiar interface (on ARM SoCs you can find camera handling modules - these are universal), though reversing ready device or getting datasheet for proper I2C/SPI communicating with such thing may be needed, which is rather model-specific.
iPhone from hardware level remains the very same device as all other Android devices and iPhone-developers doesn't have strictly hardware-modding forum as XDA does. So XDA is more appropriate place to ask for such things IMO.
//edit:
And check out this - http://www.mipi.org/specifications/camera-interface

[Q] ICS - A question of money?

Ok here's the thing. As far as i can see, from what I have read, even if the source was avalable we wouldent have a moded ICS because of Samsung not coughing up the source code for wifi.
If samsung wont cough up the code for HC why would we think thay will for ICS ?
Can the code needed be bought?
What will it cost?
How could Samsung even release the source for HC with out releasing the stuff needed
To make everything work?
The reason to believe that Samsung may release the wifi source code with ICS is because of the source drops for the i9100, n7000, and i9300, all of which have had (to some extent) support for our tab and all of which contained a wifi driver for our tab.
It is easy to release the source for HC without the wifi driver. The wifi driver they used for HC (the ar6000 module) was/is licensed under the Apache license, so they could make modifications without releasing them. That module is not really support anymore my Atheros, which is probably the reason why they are moving to the ath6kl module (or at least appear to be moving to the ath6kl driver from source drops). Since the ath6kl module is GPL, they will have to release any modifications they make to it.
Ok now i am realy puzzled.
Are he mods that are made to to a driver that is out of support realy worth withholding?
I do understand that code writeing is a hard thing and doing it properly is like majic to me.
But, ah the " but " come on samsung I am sure you will get the credit you diserve for writeing
Code that works for the 6800. Dont be tight Cat, share that code.
Any opportunity a company has to hold onto something they MIGHT make money off of later (through sales, licensing or lawsuits), they will. Anything they legally must release they'll try to avoid unless its in their best interest.
The WORST thing samsung could do right now is drop android....even though that's EXACTLY what they're gonna do. They're signed up to make the next nexus phone, but don't count on long term android/samsung marriage. My guess is Google bought motorola so they'd always have an outlet for android, and NOT be dependent on other manufacturers who simply butcher the OS anyway.
Samsung doesn't realize what a hit they'll take from android enthusiasts. I have android because I run linux on EVERYTHING--especially my macbook pro. He open mobile handset alliance is a bunch of strange bedfellows. Its destined to not last forever.
----The indefinite microcosm becomes the indefinite macrocosm in a definite manner and by definite means...and vice versa.---

[Q] Xperia Z2 OmniROM

Hello guys
May i ask if OmniROM will ever make it to the Xperia Z2 (Sirius)?
Been missing it for ages now
Keep up the great work
mariotme said:
Hello guys
May i ask if OmniROM will ever make it to the Xperia Z2 (Sirius)?
Been missing it for ages now
Keep up the great work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I normally just report device requests, but since I've done a lot of the Sony bringups:
I wanted a Z2. I really, really wanted one.
However I don't buy greymarket imports, and Sony refused to sell the Z2 in North America until after the Z3 was launched. Even now, the purchasing link is nearly impossible to find (it is not listed for sale anywhere on sonymobile.com)
Z3 is a possibility if it goes on sale unlocked in North America in a timely fashion. (Which is unlikely...) Z2 is a possibility if some maintainer picks it up, of course, but considering the device's successor is out now, that's pretty unlikely.
Entropy512 said:
I normally just report device requests, but since I've done a lot of the Sony bringups:
I wanted a Z2. I really, really wanted one.
However I don't buy greymarket imports, and Sony refused to sell the Z2 in North America until after the Z3 was launched. Even now, the purchasing link is nearly impossible to find (it is not listed for sale anywhere on sonymobile.com)
Z3 is a possibility if it goes on sale unlocked in North America in a timely fashion. (Which is unlikely...) Z2 is a possibility if some maintainer picks it up, of course, but considering the device's successor is out now, that's pretty unlikely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally understand Entropy512! Thanks for your input buddy. Appreciate all your efforts man. Keep it up :good:
Entropy512 said:
I wanted a Z2. I really, really wanted one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer, yes that's the best smartphone I've ever got! Why the hell do they think they don't need to sell their devices in america??
As I know you are a major developer of OmniRom, I really hope you will be able to get an Xperia Z4, and hopefully port the ROM on it..
Thanks for your work!:good:
May I Taste said:
Thanks for your answer, yes that's the best smartphone I've ever got! Why the hell do they think they don't need to sell their devices in america??
As I know you are a major developer of OmniRom, I really hope you will be able to get an Xperia Z4, and hopefully port the ROM on it..
Thanks for your work!:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll probably skip the Z4 thanks to Sony's crazy 6-month product cycle.
I have a Z3 but so far it's stock. This device is holding a record for the longest I've gone without root/unlocking the BL.
Sony did an awesome job with the stock firmware on the SIM-unlocked Z3.
Entropy512 said:
I'll probably skip the Z4 thanks to Sony's crazy 6-month product cycle.
I have a Z3 but so far it's stock. This device is holding a record for the longest I've gone without root/unlocking the BL.
Sony did an awesome job with the stock firmware on the SIM-unlocked Z3.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your kind answer and I can understand you. It seems however that the Z4 will now last for one year as flagship. Anyway I'll make sure to stay tuned if by chance you work on OmniROM for it.
Have a wonderful year, you and your whole family!
There some unofficial builds for the Sony Sirius floating around...
http://infectedbuilds.net/downloads/sirius/omni_lp/
From my very brief play with it, there's no Cam or NFC but everything else seems pretty useable.
A number of Omni team members are working with the Sony AOSP guys. Short-term it means a lot of things are broken that aren't in CM since Sony AOSP is reworking a bunch of stuff onto a newer unified kernel that will support a large variety of devices. Long-term it'll allow us to support more Sony devices with less effort.
I think one of the guys working this has a sirius... I forget who.
I just synced all the Omnirom repos and compiled for the Z2. It works ok, just no Camera, recovery and there seems to be a bug around internal storage, as it thinks there is no space left.
I'd be interested in helping to fix these things, I'm pretty comfortable using git and gerrit and know some Java and C++ but I have no idea where to start.
Code:
adb logcat | grep camera
- waiting for device -
E/CameraService( 373): Could not load camera HAL module
W/ResourcesManager( 1057): Asset path '/system/framework/com.google.android.camera2.jar' does not exist or contains no resources.
I/CameraManagerGlobal( 1057): getCameraService: Reconnecting to camera service
E/CameraService( 373): getCameraVendorTagDescriptor: camera hardware module doesn't exist
W/CameraManagerGlobal( 1057): Failed to set up vendor tags: The camera device is removable and has been disconnected from the Android device, or the camera service has shut down the connection due to a higher-priority access request for the camera device.
So I'd guess I'd have to find out why the camera HAL module can't be loaded?
mikeysteele said:
I just synced all the Omnirom repos and compiled for the Z2. It works ok, just no Camera, recovery and there seems to be a bug around internal storage, as it thinks there is no space left.
I'd be interested in helping to fix these things, I'm pretty comfortable using git and gerrit and know some Java and C++ but I have no idea where to start.
Code:
adb logcat | grep camera
- waiting for device -
E/CameraService( 373): Could not load camera HAL module
W/ResourcesManager( 1057): Asset path '/system/framework/com.google.android.camera2.jar' does not exist or contains no resources.
I/CameraManagerGlobal( 1057): getCameraService: Reconnecting to camera service
E/CameraService( 373): getCameraVendorTagDescriptor: camera hardware module doesn't exist
W/CameraManagerGlobal( 1057): Failed to set up vendor tags: The camera device is removable and has been disconnected from the Android device, or the camera service has shut down the connection due to a higher-priority access request for the camera device.
So I'd guess I'd have to find out why the camera HAL module can't be loaded?
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Click to collapse
Camera is far away from being supported. The blobs are completely missing, because they simply won't work with our kernel.
There's work being done, however a lot of it has to be done by someone within Sony and that results in stuff having to go through a legal approval process.
In theory it might be possible with some work to get 5.0 camera blobs working with a lot of kernel hacking, but most people are focusing on a cleaner approach that will take longer and unfortunately has dependencies on Sony's lawyers.
Entropy512 said:
Camera is far away from being supported. The blobs are completely missing, because they simply won't work with our kernel.
There's work being done, however a lot of it has to be done by someone within Sony and that results in stuff having to go through a legal approval process.
In theory it might be possible with some work to get 5.0 camera blobs working with a lot of kernel hacking, but most people are focusing on a cleaner approach that will take longer and unfortunately has dependencies on Sony's lawyers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the update. I noticed there weren't any camera blobs in the source, so I assumed it wasn't as simple as just adding them in. I see on github the CM guys hacked their kernel to be able to use the old Jellybean camera blobs which looks painful. Hopefully Sony's lawyers aren't too obstructionist. Although to their credit the Sony stock rom isn't actually too bad. Nothing compared to Omni Rom though.
mikeysteele said:
Thanks for the update. I noticed there weren't any camera blobs in the source, so I assumed it wasn't as simple as just adding them in. I see on github the CM guys hacked their kernel to be able to use the old Jellybean camera blobs which looks painful. Hopefully Sony's lawyers aren't too obstructionist. Although to their credit the Sony stock rom isn't actually too bad. Nothing compared to Omni Rom though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. They used a kernel backcompat hack, and are using old 4.3 rhine blobs because those are the last ones that were completely 100% DRM-free.
DRM issues have caused all sorts of problems with rhine/shinano cameras ever since 4.4 - Workarounds for many of these have been found, but not all. But the kernel backcompat hacks would still be needed (potentially multiple hacks for each device supported by the Sony AOSP kernel) and that gets nasty.
So the current plan is to have a unified set of sensor drivers in the kernel, with blobs provided as part of the Sony AOSP project. However I think this is going to be easier said than done - it's not just Sony lawyers, but Qualcomm lawyers. It really sucks that the entirety of Qualcomm's mm-camera subsystem is proprietary and there's no way for an opensource developer to write modules for it, which prevents any of the community side of the Sony AOSP project from working on some things. Otherwise it would probably be not too difficult to replace Sony's noise reduction algorithm (likely with a better one... Sony's NR algorithm got slammed for being too aggressive and killing sharpness over in a dpreview review... All that DRM protection for something some people actually prefer to have gone.)
Edit: And yes, Sony's stock firmwares are amazing. My Z3 holds the record for longest I've ever owned a device without even bothering to root it.
Another thing, my phone is the China Mobile version (L50t) and OmniRom runs perfectly on it, I just have to change the radio and wlan firmware. I can supply the required files and be a tester if you wanted to add official support for this varient.

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