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About to bite the bullet and goto a monthly contract with O2, was trying to get the HTC HD, but they said they wont be getting it within the next three months. Is that because Orange as a timed exclusive? Or because its a direct rival to the iphone?
Anyhoo, think I will be getting the Sony Xperia...i keep reading reviews saying its really slow when switching between panels, the user interface isnt too good etc.
Now, I know you guys here at xda-dev know your $hit and would be the best to ask.
What you think? Yeah or Neigh?
I have a few questions if anybody with an Xperia can answer?
1)
Hows it for video playback? Does it take up the full screen when you switch to landscape?
2)
Does it play full 700mb dvdrips ok via core media player or do you still need to convert them with some encoder
3)
Web browsing with Opera (with Flash)...any good?
4)
Speed of the overall user-interface, is it as slow as the reviews make out? Or if you use one xda-devs custom roms does this get round it?
5)
TV out, i read somewhere on this forum that it might have tv out? Or am i talking $hite
Thanks for any advice and tips folks!
Hey fracmo2000
Welcome to xda-developers.com
Here's a few answers, hope it helps.
1)It obviously depends on the aspect ratio of the video, when using core player i have it set to automatically stretch the video to the screen size and it works perfect.
2) I have been able to play dvdrips via core player, with no lag whatso ever!!
3)Opera Mobile is great, the no scrollbars idea takes quite a lot of getting used to, for example scrolling down to the x1 thread on xda developers takes quite a while.
Sorry I cannot give any feedback on flash
4)This is a fast phone, who has reviewed it to be slow. But yes the custom roms here makes it blazing fast
5)No TV- OUT sorry, just gonna have to live with that
I've had this phone for a month now, was on holiday and didnt really look into customizing it untill recently, so as stock phone it was amazing.
Then i descovered xda-developers.com and havent been able to stop.
Some times i do however regret choosing this phone, but thats only cause its not completely finger friendly, but the people here are working on that and as soon as there's a proper landscape fixed tf3d cooked rom or pointui 2 is released this will be one of the best phones i've ever used, or seen.
Good phone, love it
1. I'm able to watch using all the width in landscape mode
2. I've watch 350mb TV rips using CorePlayer fine.
3. I like Opera, Flash is a bit useless as it supports early versions (but this is the same with all WinMos)
4. Other than the odd time opening Messaging taking 5 seconds, everything else is really fast.
5. No sign of TV out at the mo.
artesea
How is that?
My messaging opens blazing fast, keep it in the background.
How many emails you have??
As for flash, it's great since it supports YouTube.
It's about a one in three when messaging needs to open from scratch. Have no more than 50 emails in the box. Not a massive problem though.
Strange,
I got like 500 in 3 accounts and it's so fast...
Hey there fellow xperia user wannabe.....
I went from noob to pro using xda developers and here is my take on the x1.
1 - Perfect. Yes.
2 -Yous till need to convert them for best results. Core player doesn't support hardware acceleration...YET.
3 - Amazing. As good as my PC.
4 - The reviewers had earlier versions of the phone with unfinished software. The x1 is laggy sometimes but overall its faster than any other machine i had previously owned or touched.
5 - Nope
Let me add that the possibilities of customization are infinite...
Maybe you have to consider this one too. I am very dissappointed ...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=447211
I hope they willfix this but i don't know should i wait couple of months more...
Got myself a shiney new Xperia Whooooooooooo! Wanted it in black, but o2 doesnt do it for whatever reason.
Well pleased with it, only a few gripes but tis all good! Been reading up on the ROMs...does it make that much difference? I read some people where having stability issues?
http://gizmodo.com/5340981/software-update-fixes-the-htc-heros-only-real-problem
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYV9NNoI8Hc
Well, this changes things. Right after it came out, Matt called the HTC Hero "tragically flawed." Why? Because the otherwise fantastic Sense UI was slooooow. HTC, presumably run by competent, rational human beings, has fixed this.
From the review in July:
The Hero is flawed, though, in ways that are truly depressing in light of its potential and how much it does get truly right: It's often sluggish, which absolutely destroys the user experience. It's a particularly unfortunate affliction as the iPhone 3GS and Palm Pre emphasize speed, making the Hero feel that much slower.
This was all but a dealbreaker, this frustrating slowness. But! Paul at MoDaCo has a preview of HTC's forthcoming update, which was vaguely announced yesterday, without much mention of what it would actually do. Now we know: It's about speed. And as someone who's been using a Hero for a few weeks now, this video makes by fingers tingle, ever so slightly.
Best of all, this update, due in a few weeks, looks like it could be ready before the Hero even shows up on whatever US carrier it's destined for, by which I mean, Sprint. Now, excuse me while I go remove the asterisk from that "Best Android Phone Ever" title. [MoDaCo via Slashgear]
Can I get a 'Hell yeah!'?
awesome
Can't wait. Loving my hero so far, except for the lagginess.
Rebooting helps but that's just a bit too "windows mobile" for my taste
I come from an iphone and i really like the openness.
I've got an unbranded urban brown so i should be able to get the update when they release it.
One thing i've noticed from the video is that the clock widget thingie is no longer animated but is now just a static picture.
It's very un-HTC like to actually release an update so quickly and to actually *gasp* fix things
But OTOH, they really set out to prove something with this phone, they can't afford to screw the pooch on this one.
HTC guys, we deffinately know you read these boards and all i can say is ... if this proves to be true and you keep releasing updates on a regular schedule ... i think you will win a lot of customers and dominate the android market.
Take Care,
-Kevin
does the new update lets HERO play video files encoded at 3p FPS ??
and what about the keyboard messaging speed?? is it better now??
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
ghoonk said:
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The keyboard can get very slow in webpages I find.
I hope that this update also fixes the missing text messages issue, lots of angry peeps because I don't reply to them!
ghoonk said:
I have no problems running videos at 3 fps. Keyboard text input does get unbearably sluggish at times though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually i meant 30 fps...LOL i made a mistake by typing 3 only...lol 3fps is supported by even the most basic video phone!
thank God...
I really wanted to love the Hero (but the speed problem totally made me reconsider, having had a slow Diamond before) as the UI really is one of the best among the likes of the iPhone, and despite the fact that I am still using WinMo now I must admit that the iPhone UI is just a hell of a lot more out there. The Hero's UI is the first I see on any phone that really does match the iPhone's UI (if not exceed it).
If it actually speeds up so much with the update, it would be absolutely perfect, and I will buy one.
nin2thevoid said:
I really wanted to love the Hero (but the speed problem totally made me reconsider, having had a slow Diamond before) as the UI really is one of the best among the likes of the iPhone, and despite the fact that I am still using WinMo now I must admit that the iPhone UI is just a hell of a lot more out there. The Hero's UI is the first I see on any phone that really does match the iPhone's UI (if not exceed it).
If it actually speeds up so much with the update, it would be absolutely perfect, and I will buy one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. I've just boxed/RMAd my Hero for return. I thoroughly enjoyed the time i spent with it but as it is now, its just not practical for me. Plus i dunno how HTC do their updates and if they truly fix anything useful or just random fixes no one cares about, which is why i wasn't willing to gamble.
If the update does improve things significantly then i'll come back or simply wait for the next iteration but in the meantime i'm returning to my trusty iPhone. Yes its UI is dated, yes it sucks at multitasking, yes the app store policy is draconian, yes battery life sucks. However the little things the iPhone does, it does well and is dependable for me.
I'm looking for a phone to buy in the next 2/3 months and if the hero gets as fast as we can see on the video, my choice is done. Otherwise I'll stick with my old phone waiting for a real Iphone competitor...
Speed the only problem?
I'd say that functional shortcomings are even worse. The speed-issue is mostly a feature of true multitasking. Don't expect good performance from a low-end CPU when it's trying to run all the fancy widget applications simultaneously. Optimisation is always appreciated though.
More important issues IMHO are:
Email not able to display messages with digital signatures. Never mind verification of the signature, but there's no good reason why the unencrypted message body can't be displayed. K9mail from the market handles it, as well as the mail-app in a stock android 1.5 dev.kit.
Email has no option to specify the path for IMAP folders. No folders other than the inbox can be read from servers which require the path to be specified.
The currently used 2.6.27.x kernel has serious issues with wi-fi (performance issues, temporary loss of connection). There are good reasons why the entire wi-fi stack was replaced shortly after (see kernel mailing-list) and we should hopefully soon see Android built with kernel 2.6.30 or later.
LEDs and trackball lights have stopped working on some units. It's been claimed that these problems are software related.
The music-player needs more consistent sorting of songs. Now it sorts songs alphabetically when browsing all tracks from an artist, while the default should be sort by album+disc_number+track_number. Similarly when you browse all albums the ordering of tracks within an album seems random. The natural order here would be by track-number.
Fade out-in between music tracks can be more smooth, as can the fade in/out of alarms and phone-calls.
Peep needs fixing so that it doesn't drain the battery when there's no twitter account configured. I don't know what it does, but it certainly can't be idle when it reduces the standby-time to 6-8 hours. Kill Peep, or give it a valid twitter user-name/password and the problem is gone.
The dialler and phone-book could do with some optimisation. This is the only place I've found where lagging actually causes a problem as it sometimes leads to calls being accidentally initiated.
These are just some of the problems I've found. I'm sure people with other priorities and who use the device differently have other issues.
I really would like that person to post a video showing the contacts app THEN we can know if performance issues have been really solved.
Hero lag can't be worse than what the Pre has in just about every program. Looking forward to playing with one in person so I can check it out for myself. Palm has done a terrible job of implementing a good idea.
Aridon said:
Hero lag can't be worse than what the Pre has in just about every program. Looking forward to playing with one in person so I can check it out for myself. Palm has done a terrible job of implementing a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pre was very zippy/responsive when i played with it
Speaking of terrible jobs of implementing good ideas, how about the fact that despite creating a fancy new UI for Android, including an innovative widget idea, yet again HTC have given us an essentially useless music player. Why on earth didn't HTC learn from the Diamond's problems in order to implement a music player that did not skip during tracks. Unbelievable! I'm so furious about this. And before someone tells me that if I want a music player I should use a seperate player, if the phone cannot perform the most basic function of any music player, which is to play music uninterrupted, it should not be included at all; I am not an HTC tester.
I have a class 6 micro SD card coming soon, if this doesn't help, it's bye bye Hero and hello iphone. It may not multitask and have a bland UI and have a draconian app store (frankly, who cares!?), but what it can do, it does very well indeed.
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
What a bum deal.
Yours sincerely,
A fed up HTC customer.
simcarloc said:
Speaking of terrible jobs of implementing good ideas, how about the fact that despite creating a fancy new UI for Android, including an innovative widget idea, yet again HTC have given us an essentially useless music player. Why on earth didn't HTC learn from the Diamond's problems in order to implement a music player that did not skip during tracks. Unbelievable! I'm so furious about this. And before someone tells me that if I want a music player I should use a seperate player, if the phone cannot perform the most basic function of any music player, which is to play music uninterrupted, it should not be included at all; I am not an HTC tester.
I have a class 6 micro SD card coming soon, if this doesn't help, it's bye bye Hero and hello iphone. It may not multitask and have a bland UI and have a draconian app store (frankly, who cares!?), but what it can do, it does very well indeed.
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
What a bum deal.
Yours sincerely,
A fed up HTC customer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Hero never skips when playing music not that I do so that often. Its so much better than my Diamond was.
simcarloc said:
As for the update, I like many cannot get too excited about this because I am with Orange and their update will no doubt follow in 2015.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that may not be entirely true.
The Jones - listen more often and you will experience it. Unless of course, it's a problem only affecting certain handsets, in which case there are serious inconsistencies in HTC's manufacturing at work here, I doubt it though.
What audio formats you are using? With mp3 and wma (some are high bitrate) I use both wired and ad2p heastets about 4 hours a day and never experienced stuttering. I have a brown one from mobiles.co.uk with vodafone.
Also, while listening to music usually a few applications such as browser or news readers are being used as well.
Interesting sproxy, mine is also from Mobiles.co.uk on Orange and I get no skipping here either, listened to music loads on the phone over the last couple of days. Mine is also one of the ones with no lag, or screen gap I wonder they had a newer "fixed" batch or something?
Hello-
I was hoping any and all users can giver their 2 cents here. What are the real world limitations of this device? I have done a fair amount of research and this phone seems to fit the bill, but wanted some feedback on it. I know I want an Android based smartphone, and I must stick with AT&T as it's what my company has and it's the ONLY provider in my rural part of Texas.
While the phone has been labeled "mid-spec" it still seems pretty impressive. I also know being tied to AT&T means I'm REALLY limited, and I do not want an iPhone. My wife has one, I've tried it... It completly DIED after 3 months. I know in other posts people have said iPhone still best bang for the buck for AT&T smartphone, but a smartphone that does not work as a phone, doesn't show the net as it really appears, and has updates that seemingly copy Android does not seem too "smart" to me. Yes, iTunes looks pretty, and I could play "Words w/ Friends," but seems like a lot of fluff.
I have found due to hardware Aria cannot run Google Earth, is there anything else it cannot do? I know there is debate about Gingerbread being compatible, but that seems a ways down the road. I'm really torn, as I like the size of this thing: it still looks like a phone and not a flat panel TV, but the car guy side of me thinks "no replacement for displacement" when it comes to a processor.
That would mean getting a Nexus One, but I worry about the trackball popping out like my sister-in-laws Blackberry, and the cost is hard to swallow. The Desire looks AWESOME but if I have read correctly it will not work on 3G for data, only voice, and it is expensive. Then there is the Samsung Captivate which is coming, but it seems HUGE, or does the camera add 10 lbs???. I'd like to limit the physical size to an iphone-esque size at most so it is pocketable. I also have read Samsung can be difficult to work with from a consumer standpoint with respect to updates, etc.
I also like the Sense UI as it seems elegantly simple and worked well while I messed with the phone in the store.
Overall, I want the most bang for the buck phone. A true "dream machine" would be an Aria sized phone, with the Desire specs, that does it all on 3G. What really would be the closest thing to such a device? I'm open to any ideas and suggestions, but again I CANNOT change providers; seriously, AT&T is the ONLY provider with coverage in my area.
Thanks in advance for any and all answers and help!!!
The phone does have some limitations (you have done your homework). If you want a great phone on att, this is a good choice. The galaxy s (coming soon to ATT) may be better if you must have a high end device.
I would say that if you are stuck with AT&T, the Aria may be your phone. I have a had HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and Apple phones and HTC has been the most solid of all of them. I just came from an iPhone and I can honestly say it has better reception, call quality, and adaptability than my 3GS. Phones seem to be almost a matter of taste, some people will deal with the most ridiculous shortcomings if it has a feature they feel is the most important. That being said, I played with a lot of phones and found the Aria to be the best package for a smartphone on AT&T at this moment. That could change as soon as another high end phone hops on but for now, I'm very pleased. I will say this, the battery life takes some getting used to, but its right in the same area and any other smartphone. Also, the speaker phone is quiet but since I never use it, it doesn't even make my list for pros vs cons. Being that it is locked down to certain apps and such is annoying, but coming from an iPhone makes it seem like a walk in the park to get other apps and such on it. I would say read a little more of these forums to see what some complaints are and see if any of them make your list of important features. But otherwise, you have on recommendation here.
Some of the gripes I have with this phone include:
* The screen isn't quite adequate in size for reading ebooks, which I didn't expect I would do at the time of purchase.
* The speaker is pretty crappy. It's not very loud and it sounds irritating at volume - very tinny.
* It doesn't appear to support very many video file formats. In fact, the only format I've gotten to work with Act1 video player are the base h264 and h263 formats. To my understanding, it is up to the manufacturer to include any extra codecs, so you're SOL if you're planning on using this as a mobile media player.
* It doesn't come with live wallpapers or an option to sideload apps. You can enable both of these by rooting the phone (which is a pain in the ass, by the way), but I've found that the processor isn't up to the task of running some of the more complex live wallpapers (like the mario wallpaper). I'm hoping this will be less of a problem with Froyo and the JIT.
* It gets a little warm when you have the gps on in navigation, but not enough to scald your junk if you're keeping it on your lap. It's actually not that big of a deal, just makes me worry about damaging the battery.
* Typing is a bit hard in portrait mode. Some applications seem to crash in landscape mode, like 'better terminal emulator', but I suspect that's more of a problem with the program and not the Aria.
* The camera is a bit mediocre and doesn't include a flash, but to be fair, it's primarily a phone and not a camera (I have yet to see a phone's camera be on par with a midrange point & shoot).
* Sense UI can't be disabled/enabled as an option, like on the Evo 4g.
I was going to test Google Earth for you, but I can't seem to find it in the Market.
Anyway, in summary, it has a few shortcomings, it's a midrange phone after all, but I love it regardless. It's slips into my pocket comfortably and feels solid in the hand. The interface is nice and smooth (unless you have some crazy live wallpaper enabled). It doesn't bog down when you fill the screens with widgets, and the browser experience thus far has been great. All in all, it was definitely worth the $50 I paid for it from Amazon.com.
P.S. I was considering holding out for something higher spec'd to come along on AT&T, but who knows when that will happen? The Dell Aero was supposed to be out months ago. Likewise, we are actually supposed to have 3 HTC phones running Android to choose from right now, and yet we only have the Aria. The Samsung Captivate is supposed to be 'coming in the next few months,' but I've grown to distrust AT&T's timelines. A major part of why I got the Aria was because I was simply tired of waiting for ATT to get their act together.
I went to an AT&T Retail Store here in Corpus Christi, TX to look at it again and see what they could do for me deal wise because I'm mid-cycle in my contract. The Mgr. told me he is suppose to get the "sample" Captivate on Friday, and it's suppose to be on sale the 15th. I guess to go head-to-head with the X??? I'll wait til Friday to see if it true. He claims there is a lot to coming down the pike with Android OS as it's the "next big thing..." (Well, for AT&T I guess....) I've waitd this long, another couple of days won't kill me to see it, and help reduce buyer's remorse...
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
I went to an AT&T Retail Store here in Corpus Christi, TX to look at it again and see what they could do for me deal wise because I'm mid-cycle in my contract. The Mgr. told me he is suppose to get the "sample" Captivate on Friday, and it's suppose to be on sale the 15th. I guess to go head-to-head with the X??? I'll wait til Friday to see if it true. He claims there is a lot to coming down the pike with Android OS as it's the "next big thing..." (Well, for AT&T I guess....) I've waitd this long, another couple of days won't kill me to see it, and help reduce buyer's remorse...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good luck fighting the urge!
modest_mandroid said:
* It doesn't appear to support very many video file formats. In fact, the only format I've gotten to work with Act1 video player are the base h264 and h263 formats. To my understanding, it is up to the manufacturer to include any extra codecs, so you're SOL if you're planning on using this as a mobile media player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly. Do a search on 'Rock Player'. It's a media player that's still in Beta, and it expands upon the selection of video codecs that are handled by the standard media libraries.
It plays DivX-encoded videos like a CHAMP.
EDIT: Actually, here's the forum for it: http://www.diffthink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4
Regards,
Corporate Dog
* It doesn't appear to support very many video file formats. In fact, the only format I've gotten to work with Act1 video player are the base h264 and h263 formats. To my understanding, it is up to the manufacturer to include any extra codecs, so you're SOL if you're planning on using this as a mobile media player.
I was planning on using it as a media player... So, in simple English for my simple mind, what does this mean: that it can only use those two formats? Does it mean it's limited to what can be seen via the internet or does it mean I'm limited to the type of video formats I could directly load from my computer, or both???? Is there a way around these limitations because I want to be able to have infotainment in one device and do not want to drag around multiple devices. (Sorry if this seems like a dumb question but I am FAR from well versed in this field.)
Also, thanks again for the replies and info.. It is GREATLY appreciated!!!
Corporate Dog said:
Not exactly. Do a search on 'Rock Player'. It's a media player that's still in Beta, and it expands upon the selection of video codecs that are handled by the standard media libraries.
It plays DivX-encoded videos like a CHAMP.
EDIT: Actually, here's the forum for it: http://www.diffthink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4
Regards,
Corporate Dog
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll check it out when I get home, don't have any divx files to play here.
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
I was planning on using it as a media player... So, in simple English for my simple mind, what does this mean: that it can only use those two formats? Does it mean it's limited to what can be seen via the internet or does it mean I'm limited to the type of video formats I could directly load from my computer, or both???? Is there a way around these limitations because I want to be able to have infotainment in one device and do not want to drag around multiple devices. (Sorry if this seems like a dumb question but I am FAR from well versed in this field.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my understanding, there isn't any "CorePlayer" equivalent. I dunno if you're coming from a Windows Mobile world or not, but CorePlayer could run pretty much anything your desktop computer could.
What I meant by my comment was that the Aria appears to be limited to the .mp4 format for videos (I have not tested .flv). So, if you wanted to toss some movies onto the sd card and use the stock media player or Act1 video player (appears to be pretty popular in the market), then you're stuck re-encoding all your videos to h264 .mp4. The iPhone is limited in this way too, or so I hear.
But, from what I've seen with RockPlayer just now, it's seems to be very bare on options but looks like it can play a very wide range of formats. I just played some mp4 videos I had on my sd card and they run flawlessly. Hopefully this program is in active development and will turn into Android's CorePlayer.
Thanks for the info and links; you both cleared up the questions I had. I just want to cover every aspect so when my iFamily tells me I made a poor choice I can show them it does EVERYTHING I want it to and more, not what the manufacturer thinks I need it to do or should do...
I just am not seeing where you can go wrong with this thing compared to other devices.....
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
I just am not seeing where you can go wrong with this thing compared to other devices.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the small size can either be a huge plus or killing minus depending on your habits/needs
for me it s a definate plus
lonestarmotorcyclist said:
Thanks for the info and links; you both cleared up the questions I had. I just want to cover every aspect so when my iFamily tells me I made a poor choice I can show them it does EVERYTHING I want it to and more, not what the manufacturer thinks I need it to do or should do...
I just am not seeing where you can go wrong with this thing compared to other devices.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are buying the phone for yourself or are you replacing iphones for your family?
Corporate Dog said:
Not exactly. Do a search on 'Rock Player'. It's a media player that's still in Beta, and it expands upon the selection of video codecs that are handled by the standard media libraries.
It plays DivX-encoded videos like a CHAMP.
EDIT: Actually, here's the forum for it: http://www.diffthink.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4
Regards,
Corporate Dog
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using rock player on my Aria for a while, and I am hoping this is just cause it is still beta, but SD AVI files run like molasses. If there is more than one thing going on on screen the video lags and gets out of sync with the audio. You have to pause the video, wait for it to catch up and play it again.
This is my only gripe about this phone, but it may be the program, not the phone.
Whatever phone I get will be just for me. My in-laws got their 3Gs' about a yr ago and like most, thought they were the greatest thing sinced bread. So then my wife "needed" one. I've played with it and it is nice to be able to access the web, and have music right there, but.... there seemed something lacking. I like the concept, but I also like to tinker with stuff. I'll admit, I LOVED the Droid ad campaign of "Droid Does" and since my phone has died, I started looking to get something new. It just seems better in everyway I can think of, but I want to know all I can to properly inform those who will tell me I'm wrong when I get my new phone. (And there will be a lot, I know...)
I just don't see how they really can be compared. Everyone I know who has an iPhone loves them, but they use them for the web, Facebook, Words W/ Friends, and as an iPod. I think it's great there are 200K apps, but I don't know anyone that uses more than 1% of them and every "cutting edge feature" seems to be copied from Android. I guess there is also the fact that there are a truckload of docks and cases to "personalize" them, but I think I rather personalize the stuff that matters.
In reality, I want to blow their socks off with what it can do and know it inside and out as soon as I get it. (You know, the ones that were excited about folders and backgrounds on iPhones. Does that make me a bad person??? Or just honest???)
My wife has an Aria, I have a Nexus One. I'm REALLY surprised when I use her phone, it's actually smoother than my Nexus. Long lists scroll like butter, the launcher scrolls extremly smooth, apps list, etc... I've never seen the phone slow down, it's all very smooth.
She doesn't watch videos on it, but she will eventually load her iTunes music onto it, but hasn't yet. She loves the smaller size, but you're right that it is a tad touchier to type on.
She raves about how fast the browser is.. And how everything just opens, bam... And her GCal euphoria moment was pretty awesome too; suddenly she can see my entire calendar, add to my calendar, see when I'm in a meeting until 5...
She's really been looking for something to complain about moving from her iPhone and so far I don't think she's found anything.
Just an update on the video playback capabilities in RockPlayer - I tested it with a 320x240 mpeg, 700x500 divx, 640x480 .mp4 and a 720p mkv video. The mpeg and mp4 ran perfectly fine, the divx ran pretty slow (maybe 10fps) and the sound was constantly desychronizing, and the mkv was unwatchable. It didn't scale down to the Aria screen size, and it ran so slow that you could see the individual frames (like 2-4fps).
Considering the speed difference between the .mp4 and the divx, I'm assuming this is a lack of hardware acceleration issue with some codecs?
Finally my day off!
This has been a busy week at work and a lot of changes happening so quickly I haven’t had a proper chance to use my Adam as I wanted, but now I can give you a proper review of my experience so far.
First of all I want to share some information about me just so you don’t think im a biased person or working for Notion Ink.
My name is Bruno Alexandre, im 27 years old and im from Portugal, I work in a ISP and in a daily base I deal with equipments of every kind and all kind of applications.
I’m a gadget lover, I simply adore every details that a manufacturer places on a equipment and im very picky about build quality and software design, I prefer a practical design to something with a “bling” effect.
I started following the Adam back on CES 2010, Rohan ideas and vision attracted me, his way of thinking was just what I was looking for, a project that isn’t thought to the “elites” and accessible to everyone, the concept he had back then of the Adam was simple but practical and the way he just showed Slashgear a working concept, instead of just a video or something has we've seen recently on others, shown me he wasn’t there to fool anyone and he believed in it and so did I and that’s how I started to follow Notion Ink. Every update afterwards and the open communication he had with the community was something I have never seen before and I always hoped for from other companies, the project started to get even better with the first sketches of the Adam and continuous information he kept revealing about the hardware and the design behind, to a point I could not stand any more not having it and offered to pay ahead for my Adam, even before the Pre-order was known to public. I think when a project has a future, even coming from a company we never heard before is worth investing it is worth to support, and help in anyway possible.
Hardware & Design
As you have all seen the Adam hardware is no big news, every person that likes gadgets have heard of Tegra 2, Pixel Qi and all the other features, the Adam doesn’t bring nothing new in terms of technological innovation but it does bring a innovation in design.
The way it was built is just great, it was thought to be used on a daily base in any situation imaginable, the golden ratio does make a difference! The past 2 days I have used the Adam as a console, media player, work support and as a organizer, it fulfilled every expectation I had, it felt great in any handling position, feels strong being handled in any situation I came to face during my work, there's no crackling sound or protection caps coming off easily, the fingerprints are as bad as in a smartphone, you even cant feel the real weight it has and balances perfectly even by holding with just one hand while typing with the other! Have you ever tried to use the IPAD like that ? It just wobbles on your hand unless you have a case.
My colleagues at work also tried it and they were astonished how a small company from India was able to produce such equipment, they never even heard of Notion Ink or Adam, and they just loved to work with it. One of the biggest praises was the responsiveness of the touch screen and how smooth it was on Canvas to draw a line compared with a smartphone, the processing power and the speed of opening apps, video playback and specially the sniffer, many of them were Android users and they loved it.
Everything looks too perfect doesn’t it, well now its time for the bad parts, the screen protector first of all was awful, as bad as HTC screen protectors for smart-phones all the glare and reflections plus washed out colours made me rage, so I took it off and it felt much better.
The viewing angles of Adam are not very good either, not when compared with my Asus 1005HA LED Backlit screen or the Ipad, but it wasn’t meant to be looked from the side but head-on to be able to read so I take this as a small drawback.
The screen calibration in terms of brightness to contrast ratio is very bad, you notice it more when using at dark environment like the video shows below, but this is something that I think it could be easily fixed if we had the proper tools to mess with it like a normal desktop monitor OSD. (if there’s such tool please tell me since im a android newbie)
Pixel Qi, well this really does feel great, even tho sun is lacking here in Portugal this past days, ive used the Adam on the outside a lot and I love how the pixel qi works, it feels amazing being able to read everything without any problems, unique experience. Indoors even with low light conditions for example in bed with the night stand lamp it was readable or ( you will lol ) in the toilet !
Sound quality was just .. man it was awesome, its louder than the Asus 1005HA and the bass is much better, connected to a sound system is just gives enough juice to make it worth, lacks some equalizer but I think there’s apps out there to do the job.
Camera is one of those things there’s not much to talk about, it's a 3.2 camera like many phones have, the swivel does make it good because you can just point it to what you want, using Google Goggles with it is very cool, the design here helps again, with one hand you can easily stabilize the Adam while the responsiveness of the screen helps out the shooting.
The battery when tested at work was empty after 8 hours of people messing with it, playing watching videos, testing VPN connections, downloading and navigating using the canvas, it was madness the number of fingerprints on the Adam, but it was still very readable. You could only notice the fingerprints on the borders.
Software
Well the software is another issue, the idea behind Eden is good and I love the leaves, but not every application seem to have gone under proper testing or QA, they don’t fit well with each other and don’t respond properly sometimes to the commands you give to it, one of the examples is facebook tool, the cramped look of it and the minimized information makes it really annoying to work with.
The lack of Android Market to be able to get some of the Google Apps made the experience even worst, if Genesis isn’t ready yet then the Android Market should still exist in the meanwhile.
Mail app is very good, I enjoy the UI and how simple it looks while having every feature you need, its also very useful in a job like mine where im constantly receiving emails.
QuickOffice is also great, I work a lot with excel, acrobat, word and having the Adam around is a excellent working tool, I can give support to my colleagues in real time without having to go from one side to the other getting the information they need and taking time which is essential in my job.
The browser, I was kinda of disappointed with the UI from the browser, it felt.. wrong.. hard to explain, but once I got to work with the tabs I just loved how it felt, the idea of placing them like that helps a lot when you are consulting online or trying to get updated with the latest news in the gadget world, it was a fast experience with flash always loading in the websites quickly and with no issues.
The Video Player, had some issues, as you may have noticed on the video above, the sound and video were de-sync, I was using .wmv tried also .mkv and other formats, thought it was a issue with the internal SD Card, used my external one Class 6 and had the same issue, must be codec wise.
In the end I just preferred on having the LauncherPRO as my main screen since I could customize with every widget I wanted, with no limitations whatsoever as you can see on the video below, at least until NI can deliver a better interface or Honeycomb is out.
Conclusion
I'm not an expert reviewer, nor I have experience in reviewing equipments, some of you may not agree with me on some aspects but in the end this was my experience, and I just wanted to share with you all. I enjoy every day with the Adam I have, and it will be my main support at home and works to organize my life.
Do I regret buying the Adam ? No I do not, the Adam is a great tablet.
Would I prefer the Xoom over the Adam ? I wont pay $700 for a barometer, but … I wouldn’t mind having the quality of its screen. Also I had Motorola equipments before and my experience was bad.. not with 1 but more than 4..
Hope you enjoyed.
Thanks for your review bro. I have been looking for a down to earth review for a while. I am probably waiting for the Asus transformer but I would love to try out an Adam and see if it would change my mind. I guess in the end the question is, will it get Honeycomb?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
jorny32 said:
Thanks for your review bro. I have been looking for a down to earth review for a while. I am probably waiting for the Asus transformer but I would love to try out an Adam and see if it would change my mind. I guess in the end the question is, will it get Honeycomb?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rohan mentioned that they are working on honeycomb. If NI doesn;t bring it, the adam is pretty close to ASOP android, so I'm sure that the developers here will port it to the adam.
Thats what i hope also.
hmm..intresting review. Friend can you post some more of your experiences with Adam in detail. I would like to see how different application like
1) Rockplayer (for MKV,avi)
2) Laputa ebook reader
3) Google earth
and some good HD Games with motion sensors.
Video Playback
Do you think the video playback de-sync is because of the player?
Meaning that with another player this would not happen?
Good Review
zabaknilesh said:
hmm..intresting review. Friend can you post some more of your experiences with Adam in detail. I would like to see how different application like
1) Rockplayer (for MKV,avi)
2) Laputa ebook reader
3) Google earth
and some good HD Games with motion sensors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure ill post tomorrow probably.
Thanks for this review man. Appreciated. Looking forward to updates on your ongoing use.
Very nice and honest review. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Have you already rooted and installed market with NIH/XDA root packs? Or just using the update released by NI?
Thanks for the review.
I have been using Eden UI on G-Tab for a few days now, and I agree that it takes a little getting used to...and some of the Apps like Mail'd are good. Browser is so-so...and the keyboard could have used "Autoprompts" for words.
Thanks LeviathanPT for the review. I'll wait to pre-order my NI 3G+Pixel QI for the "general public".
Its good to read e-books and Comics?
Thanks
@ zabaknilesh
1) Rockplayer (for MKV,avi) - Still has the same desync issue even with rockplayer
2) Laputa ebook reader - Very cool app, i like the flipping pages transition and its very smooth and accurate, the books can be read very well. Also the thick part of the adam is excelent to grab and makes the reading experience much higher.
3) Google earth - Doesnt launch just crashes
4) Some good HD Games with motion sensors. - Is there any free games i could try ?
@tokyobreeze
Yes i have rooted using NIH since genesis isnt out and i dont want a limited (by software) equipment .
@SimonCt
Yeah reading e-books is awsome, comics is something i havent tried as a appbut ive been at some comic websites and its very cool.
Try jjComics Viewer if you can, The main use for me is read e-books and comics....
For ebooks im using Aldiko, that can be conected with Calibre
Thanks for your review. Very informative!
thanks
Thanks for this usefull review!
Very good review!
Did you try to re-load google earth and still crash?
Edit:
I see they got it working on the Viewsonic over here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=10100271&highlight=google+earth#post10100271
Thanks for the comments guys, the google earth seems not to be compatible using the web android market and that guy doesnt supply the files needed :|
Flash
Have you been able to use a browser as the Skyfire with flash on it??
Hey guys I have made a review from my new adam with pixel qi! I also added a lot of pictures and two videos (showing eden, hardware, pixel qi outside, also made a comparison from screens of galaxy s and macbook pro, ... pictures and videos are on the second page) The review is in german, but pictures and videos can say more than 1000 words
Adam Tablet PC review with pictures and videos
please click on "gefällt mir" or I like button in the facebook fan box
Thanks!
Hey guys,
I have a Xoom and recently tried to use the movie studio...maybe I can't figure it out, but I am disappointed with how generic it is.
The ability to add clips/pictures is fine, but it is annoying that I cannot trim clips before I put it into the timeline.
Also, this is huge, but why can't I put multiple audio files into the movie? It plays ONE song, over and over for the entire movie...I want to be able to trim audio clips and even MUTE the original video clip...iMovie can do all of this, and it seems like this movie studio is just a generic rushed POS that Google put out just to get it out.
Honestly, I am severely disappointed in the movie studio....BUT maybe it is my fault...thats why I am asking if there is any documentation for the studio.
Like when I click on audio files, there is one option at the top right that does not seem to do anything. It looks like a box with sound waves in it that get bigger or smaller depending if I toggle it...but it doesn't do ****.
Any thoughts?
It's a basic and free app included with the OS. If you want to do extended editing, get a computer or wait for a better app to come out.
And wow, comparing it with iMovie? Honeycomb is a new OS, and this is the very first offering and you're *****ing about it.
iMovie is a paid app ($5 I think) and NOT available for the iPad.
iMovie works with iPhone 4,
fourth-generation iPod touch, and iPad 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
who cares if its a first offering...I am still disappointed in it. It is a lacking movie editor.
iMovie was Apple's first attempt at it with the IP4 on a mobile device and it was already much better than the Movie Studio...being a "first" iteration is not an excuse for something sucking.
And I dont think the movie studio has anything to do with Honeycomb...I love honeycomb
frenzy757 said:
who cares if its a first offering...I am still disappointed in it. It is a lacking movie editor.
iMovie was Apple's first attempt at it with the IP4 on a mobile device and it was already much better than the Movie Studio...being a "first" iteration is not an excuse for something sucking.
And I dont think the movie studio has anything to do with Honeycomb...I love honeycomb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So put forth your money and buy one of the paid apps if you want something more.
My point, don't complain about something that was thrown in as a little bonus for free. If you paid something for it, sure, complain, but you didn't, and you're comparing it to a paid application on another system that isn't even comparable to the Xoom (iPhone vs Tablet).
And I can guarantee that iMovie on the iPad 2 is going to be at least twice as much as the iPhone version, maybe even more knowing how Apple likes to soak their users. I'm guessing $15
What paid one do you suggest...
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Never needed one since I don't do much video. Check out the market?
https://market.android.com/apps/MEDIA_AND_VIDEO/
There's only 1 in the market and it just takes any video clip u have and you can edit that one clip
I agree with the op. Google seems to always release beta software. I would love to record a couple videos, clip them and mix them together, add more than one music track I would even pay for an app that does all this.
I don't even want to show the app to any of my apple loving friends because it just makes the xoom look even more unfinished
I honestly think people need to chill out around here. The op was stating a couple things he didn't like about an app on his xoom whether it's free or not doesn't matter, he's got the right to complain about what ever the hell he wants. And furthermore he's really just asking for some type of documentation because maybe he missed something. And this lame ass excuse that because this is Google's first shot at a tablet os is starting to get old. Just because honeycomb is the first tablet os doesn't mean that google shouldn't be held accountable for their **** ups. For example, the ****ing market. Who's genius idea was it to remove the ability to comment on apps from the device? Whoever that was is an asshole. /rant
Sent from my Xoom using XDA App
The video editing software is just made for basic video editing...features that you find in window video editing software.
exactly. Thanks.
I was stating how bad I thought it was then was asking for some/any documentation...
Does anyone know what the heck the button is on the top right when you click on the audio track? It looks like sound waves....and clicking it makes them flatter or larger but I can't see or hear what it does.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
frenzy757 said:
exactly. Thanks.
I was stating how bad I thought it was then was asking for some/any documentation...
Does anyone know what the heck the button is on the top right when you click on the audio track? It looks like sound waves....and clicking it makes them flatter or larger but I can't see or hear what it does.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm baffled too. my first guess would be it helps eliminate crackles or background noise from your audio as my first guess. music files shouldnt have any background distortion.
How to get video off device?
I have another video editor. How can I get the video file off of the xoom? I have tried:
- email as attachment in gmail
- email as attachment in isp mail service
- ftp
None of these actually transmit the file.
Thank you
Tom
Usefulness of the application aside. Google could have done more on documentation for Movie Studio.
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=169129
http://www.google.com/support/mobile/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1197893
page 115
any answer on the music button? Figured out what it does yet?
I wish we could fade the music at the end instead of an abrupt ending...I'd rather have that than multiple songs in a short clip.
Export problem
I have flashed my Galaxy GT-I9000M with IGS 4.0.3 SGS rom RC4.2.
I cannot export anything with Movie Studio, each time I want to export, the screen appear at 0% and exit after few second and say "error occur, cannot export"
I have try just to import one clip and export it, not work. Try different quality and resolution, don't work.
Exporting folder not created?
Writing permission ??
Any idea ???